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conacre ::: v. t. --> To underlet a portion of, for a single crop; -- said of a farm. ::: n. --> A system of letting a portion of a farm for a single crop. Also used adjectively; as, the conacre system or principle.
con ::: adv. --> Against the affirmative side; in opposition; on the negative side; -- The antithesis of pro, and usually in connection with it. See Pro. ::: v. t. --> To know; to understand; to acknowledge. To study in order to know; to peruse; to learn; to commit
con- ::: --> A prefix, fr. L. cum, signifying with, together, etc. See Com-.
conarium ::: n. --> The pineal gland.
conation ::: n. --> The power or act which directs or impels to effort of any kind, whether muscular or psychical.
conative ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to conation.
conatus ::: n. --> A natural tendency inherent in a body to develop itself; an attempt; an effort.
concamerate ::: v. t. --> To arch over; to vault. To divide into chambers or cells.
concameration ::: n. --> An arch or vault. A chamber of a multilocular shell.
concatenated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concatenate
concatenate ::: v. t. --> To link together; to unite in a series or chain, as things depending on one another.
concatenating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concatenate
concatenation ::: n. --> A series of links united; a series or order of things depending on each other, as if linked together; a chain, a succession.
concause ::: n. --> A joint cause.
concavation ::: n. --> The act of making concave.
concave ::: a. --> Hollow and curved or rounded; vaulted; -- said of the interior of a curved surface or line, as of the curve of the of the inner surface of an eggshell, in opposition to convex; as, a concave mirror; the concave arch of the sky. Hollow; void of contents. ::: n.
concaved ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concave ::: a. --> Bowed in the form of an arch; -- called also arched.
concaveness ::: n. --> Hollowness; concavity.
concaving ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concave
concavities ::: pl. --> of Concavity
concavity ::: n. --> A concave surface, or the space bounded by it; the state of being concave.
concavo-concave ::: a. --> Concave or hollow on both sides; double concave.
concavo-convex ::: a. --> Concave on one side and convex on the other, as an eggshell or a crescent. Specifically, having such a combination of concave and convex sides as makes the focal axis the shortest line between them. See Illust. under Lens.
concavous ::: a. --> Concave.
concealable ::: a. --> Capable of being concealed.
concealed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Conceal ::: a. --> Hidden; kept from sight; secreted.
concealed ::: kept from being seen, found, observed, or discovered; hidden. conceals, concealing, all-concealing, deep-concealed.
concealer ::: n. --> One who conceals.
concealing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Conceal
concealment ::: n. --> The act of concealing; the state of being concealed. A place of hiding; a secret place; a retreat frem observation. A secret; out of the way knowledge. Suppression of such facts and circumstances as in justice ought to be made known.
conceal ::: v. t. --> To hide or withdraw from observation; to cover; to cover or keep from sight; to prevent the discovery of; to withhold knowledge of.
conceded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concede
concede ::: v. t. --> To yield or suffer; to surrender; to grant; as, to concede the point in question. To grant, as a right or privilege; to make concession of. To admit to be true; to acknowledge. ::: v. i.
conceding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concede
conceit ::: 1. An excessively favourable opinion of one"s own ability, importance, wit, etc. 2. Something that is conceived in the mind; a thought; idea. 3. Imagination; fancy. 4. A fanciful thought or idea. conceits.
conceited ::: a. --> Endowed with fancy or imagination. Entertaining a flattering opinion of one&
conceitedly ::: adv. --> In an egotistical manner. Fancifully; whimsically.
conceitedness ::: n. --> The state of being conceited; conceit; vanity.
conceitless ::: a. --> Without wit; stupid.
conceit ::: n. --> That which is conceived, imagined, or formed in the mind; idea; thought; image; conception. Faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension; as, a man of quick conceit. Quickness of apprehension; active imagination; lively fancy. A fanciful, odd, or extravagant notion; a quant fancy; an unnatural or affected conception; a witty thought or turn of
conceivable ::: a. --> Capable of being conceived, imagined, or understood.
conceive ::: 1. To form or hold an idea. 2. To begin, originate, or found (something) in a particular way (usually used in the passive). 3. To apprehend mentally; understand. 4. To be created or formed in the womb; to be engendered; begotten. conceives, conceived, self-conceived.
conceived ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Conceive
conceiver ::: n. --> One who conceives.
conceive ::: v. t. --> To receive into the womb and begin to breed; to begin the formation of the embryo of. To form in the mind; to plan; to devise; to generate; to originate; as, to conceive a purpose, plan, hope. To apprehend by reason or imagination; to take into the mind; to know; to imagine; to comprehend; to understand. ::: v. i.
conceiving ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Conceive
concelebrate ::: v. t. --> To celebrate together.
concentered ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concentre
concentering ::: p. pr & vb. n. --> of Concentre
concenter ::: v. i. --> Alt. of Concentre ::: v. t. --> Alt. of Concentre
concent ::: n. --> Concert of voices; concord of sounds; harmony; as, a concent of notes. Consistency; accordance.
concentrated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concentrate
concentrated
concentrate ::: v. t. --> To bring to, or direct toward, a common center; to unite more closely; to gather into one body, mass, or force; to fix; as, to concentrate rays of light into a focus; to concentrate the attention. To increase the strength and diminish the bulk of, as of a liquid or an ore; to intensify, by getting rid of useless material; to condense; as, to concentrate acid by evaporation; to concentrate by washing; -- opposed to dilute.
concentrating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concentrate
concentration ::: “Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” Letters on Yoga
concentration ::: n. --> The act or process of concentrating; the process of becoming concentrated, or the state of being concentrated; concentration. The act or process of reducing the volume of a liquid, as by evaporation. The act or process of removing the dress of ore and of reducing the valuable part to smaller compass, as by currents of air or water.
concentration ("s) ::: exclusive attention to one object; close mental application.
concentrative ::: a. --> Serving or tending to concentrate; characterized by concentration.
concentrativeness ::: n. --> The quality of concentrating. The faculty or propensity which has to do with concentrating the intellectual the intellectual powers.
concentrator ::: n. --> An apparatus for the separation of dry comminuted ore, by exposing it to intermittent puffs of air.
concentred ::: --> of Concentre
concentre ::: v. i. --> To come to one point; to meet in, or converge toward, a common center; to have a common center. ::: v. t. --> To draw or direct to a common center; to bring together at a focus or point, as two or more lines; to concentrate.
concentric ::: a. --> Alt. of Concentrical ::: n. --> That which has a common center with something else.
concentrical ::: a. --> Having a common center, as circles of different size, one within another.
concentrically ::: adv. --> In a concentric manner.
concentric ::: having a common center.
concentricity ::: n. --> The state of being concentric.
concentring ::: --> of Concentre
concentual ::: a. --> Possessing harmony; accordant.
concept ::: 1. An idea, esp. an abstract idea or notion. 2. An idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct. 3. A directly conceived or intuited object of thought. concept"s, concept-maps.
conceptacle ::: n. --> That in which anything is contained; a vessel; a receiver or receptacle. A pericarp, opening longitudinally on one side and having the seeds loose in it; a follicle; a double follicle or pair of follicles. One of the cases containing the spores, etc., of flowerless plants, especially of algae.
conceptibility ::: n. --> The quality of being conceivable; conceivableness.
conceptible ::: a. --> Capable of being conceived; conceivable.
conception ::: 1. Origin or beginning. 2. The act or power of forming notions, ideas, or concepts. 3. The act of conceiving; the state of being conceived; fertilization; inception of pregnancy. 4. Something conceived in the mind; a concept, plan, design, idea, or thought. conception"s.
conceptional ::: a. --> Pertaining to conception.
conceptionalist ::: n. --> A conceptualist.
conception ::: Madhav: Conception is an effort made by the cognising faculty, the intellect. Concept is allied to ideas which lead to thoughts.” Sat-Sang Vol. IX
conception ::: n. --> The act of conceiving in the womb; the initiation of an embryonic animal life. The state of being conceived; beginning. The power or faculty of apprehending of forming an idea in the mind; the power of recalling a past sensation or perception. The formation in the mind of an image, idea, or notion, apprehension. The image, idea, or notion of any action or thing which
conceptious ::: a. --> Apt to conceive; fruitful.
conceptive ::: a. --> Capable of conceiving.
concept ::: n. --> An abstract general conception; a notion; a universal.
conceptual ::: a. --> Pertaining to conception.
conceptualism ::: n. --> A theory, intermediate between realism and nominalism, that the mind has the power of forming for itself general conceptions of individual or single objects.
conceptualist ::: n. --> One who maintains the theory of conceptualism.
conceptual ::: of or relating to concepts or mental conception.
concerned ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concern ::: v. t. --> Disturbed; troubled; solicitous; as, to be much concerned for the safety of a friend.
concernedly ::: adv. --> In a concerned manner; solicitously; sympathetically.
concerned ::: was of interest or importance to; mattered to.
concerning ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concern ::: prep. --> Pertaining to; regarding; having relation to; respecting; as regards. ::: a.
concern ::: v. t. --> To relate or belong to; to have reference to or connection with; to affect the interest of; to be of importance to. To engage by feeling or sentiment; to interest; as, a good prince concerns himself in the happiness of his subjects. ::: v. i. --> To be of importance.
concertante ::: n. --> A concert for two or more principal instruments, with orchestral accompaniment. Also adjectively; as, concertante parts.
concertation ::: n. --> Strife; contention.
concertative ::: a. --> Contentious; quarrelsome.
concerted ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concert ::: a. --> Mutually contrived or planned; agreed on; as, concerted schemes, signals.
concertina ::: n. --> A small musical instrument on the principle of the accordion. It is a small elastic box, or bellows, having free reeds on the inside, and keys and handles on the outside of each of the two hexagonal heads.
concerting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concert
concertino ::: n. --> A piece for one or more solo instruments with orchestra; -- more concise than the concerto.
concertion ::: n. --> Act of concerting; adjustment.
concertmeister ::: n. --> The head violinist or leader of the strings in an orchestra; the sub-leader of the orchestra; concert master.
concerto ::: n. --> A composition (usually in symphonic form with three movements) in which one instrument (or two or three) stands out in bold relief against the orchestra, or accompaniment, so as to display its qualities or the performer&
concertos ::: pl. --> of Concerto
concert ::: v. t. --> To plan together; to settle or adjust by conference, agreement, or consultation. To plan; to devise; to arrange. Agreement in a design or plan; union formed by mutual communication of opinions and views; accordance in a scheme; harmony; simultaneous action. Musical accordance or harmony; concord. A musical entertainment in which several voices or
concessionist ::: n. --> One who favors concession.
concession ::: n. --> The act of conceding or yielding; usually implying a demand, claim, or request, and thus distinguished from giving, which is voluntary or spontaneous. A thing yielded; an acknowledgment or admission; a boon; a grant; esp. a grant by government of a privilege or right to do something; as, a concession to build a canal.
concessions ::: things conceded or granted.
concessive ::: a. --> Implying concession; as, a concessive conjunction.
concessively ::: adv. --> By way of concession.
concessory ::: a. --> Conceding; permissive.
concetti ::: pl. --> of Concetto
concettism ::: n. --> The use of concetti or affected conceits.
concetto ::: n. --> Affected wit; a conceit.
conchal ::: a. --> Pertaining to the concha, or external ear; as, the conchal cartilage.
concha ::: n. --> The plain semidome of an apse; sometimes used for the entire apse. The external ear; esp. the largest and deepest concavity of the external ear, surrounding the entrance to the auditory canal.
conchifera ::: n. pl. --> That class of Mollusca which includes the bivalve shells; the Lamellibranchiata. See Mollusca.
conchifer ::: n. --> One of the Conchifera.
conchiferous ::: a. --> Producing or having shells.
conchiform ::: a. --> Shaped like one half of a bivalve shell; shell-shaped.
conchinine ::: n. --> See Quinidine.
conchite ::: n. --> A fossil or petrified conch or shell.
conchitic ::: a. --> Composed of shells; containing many shells.
conch ::: n. --> A name applied to various marine univalve shells; esp. to those of the genus Strombus, which are of large size. S. gigas is the large pink West Indian conch. The large king, queen, and cameo conchs are of the genus Cassis. See Cameo. In works of art, the shell used by Tritons as a trumpet. One of the white natives of the Bahama Islands or one of their descendants in the Florida Keys; -- so called from the commonness of the conch there, or because they use it for food.
conchoidal ::: a. --> Having elevations or depressions in form like one half of a bivalve shell; -- applied principally to a surface produced by fracture.
conchoid ::: n. --> A curve, of the fourth degree, first made use of by the Greek geometer, Nicomedes, who invented it for the purpose of trisecting an angle and duplicating the cube.
conchological ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or connected with, conchology.
conchologist ::: n. --> One who studies, or is versed in, conchology.
conchology ::: n. --> The science of Mollusca, and of the shells which they form; malacology.
conchometer ::: n. --> An instrument for measuring shells, or the angle of their spire.
conchometry ::: n. --> The art of measuring shells or their curves; conchyliometry.
concho-spiral ::: n. --> A kind of spiral curve found in certain univalve shells.
conch-shells :: 1. The spiral shell of a gastropod, often used as a horn. 2. The fabled shell trumpet of the Tritons.
conchylaceous ::: a. --> Alt. of Conchyliaceous
conchyliaceous ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to shells; resembling a shell; as, conchyliaceous impressions.
conchyliologist ::: n. --> Alt. of Conchyliology
conchyliology ::: n. --> See Conchologist, and Conchology.
conchyliometry ::: n. --> Same as Conchometry.
conchylious ::: a. --> Conchylaceous.
conciator ::: a. --> The person who weighs and proportions the materials to be made into glass, and who works and tempers them.
concierge ::: n. --> One who keeps the entrance to an edifice, public or private; a doorkeeper; a janitor, male or female.
conciliable ::: n. --> A small or private assembly, especially of an ecclesiastical nature. ::: a. --> Capable of being conciliated or reconciled.
conciliabule ::: n. --> An obscure ecclesiastical council; a conciliable.
conciliar ::: a. --> Alt. of Conciliary
conciliary ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to, or issued by, a council.
conciliated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Conciliate
conciliate ::: v. t. --> To win ower; to gain from a state of hostility; to gain the good will or favor of; to make friendly; to mollify; to propitiate; to appease.
conciliating ::: p. pr & vb. n. --> of Conciliate
conciliation ::: n. --> The act or process of conciliating; the state of being conciliated.
conciliative ::: a. --> Conciliatory.
conciliator ::: n. --> One who conciliates.
conciliatory ::: a. --> Tending to conciliate; pacific; mollifying; propitiating.
concinnate ::: v. t. --> To place fitly together; to adapt; to clear.
concinnity ::: n. --> Internal harmony or fitness; mutual adaptation of parts; elegance; -- used chiefly of style of discourse.
concinnous ::: a. --> Characterized by concinnity; neat; elegant.
concionate ::: v. i. --> To preach.
concionator ::: n. --> An haranguer of the people; a preacher. A common councilman.
concionatory ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to preaching or public addresses.
concise ::: a. --> Expressing much in a few words; condensed; brief and compacted; -- used of style in writing or speaking.
concisely ::: adv. --> In a concise manner; briefly.
conciseness ::: n. --> The quality of being concise.
concision ::: n. --> A cutting off; a division; a schism; a faction.
concitation ::: n. --> The act of stirring up, exciting, or agitating.
concite ::: v. t. --> To excite or stir up.
conclamation ::: n. --> An outcry or shout of many together.
conclave ::: n. --> The set of apartments within which the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church are continuously secluded while engaged in choosing a pope. The body of cardinals shut up in the conclave for the election of a pope; hence, the body of cardinals. A private meeting; a close or secret assembly.
conclaves ::: 1. Secret or confidential meetings. 2. Assemblies or gatherings, esp. those that have special authority, power, or influence.
conclavist ::: n. --> One of the two ecclesiastics allowed to attend a cardinal in the conclave.
concluded ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Conclude
concludency ::: n. --> Deduction from premises; inference; conclusion.
concludent ::: a. --> Bringing to a close; decisive; conclusive.
concluder ::: n. --> One who concludes.
conclude ::: v. t. --> To shut up; to inclose. To include; to comprehend; to shut up together; to embrace. To reach as an end of reasoning; to infer, as from premises; to close, as an argument, by inferring; -- sometimes followed by a dependent clause. To make a final determination or judgment concerning; to judge; to decide.
concludingly ::: adv. --> Conclusively.
concluding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Conclude
conclusible ::: a. --> Demonstrable; determinable.
conclusion ::: n. --> The last part of anything; close; termination; end. Final decision; determination; result. Any inference or result of reasoning. The inferred proposition of a syllogism; the necessary consequence of the conditions asserted in two related propositions called premises. See Syllogism. Drawing of inferences. An experiment, or something from which a conclusion may
conclusive ::: a. --> Belonging to a close or termination; decisive; convincing; putting an end to debate or question; leading to, or involving, a conclusion or decision.
conclusively ::: adv. --> In the way of conclusion; decisively; positively.
conclusiveness ::: n. --> The quality of being conclusive; decisiveness.
conclusory ::: a. --> Conclusive.
concocted ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concoct
concocter ::: n. --> One who concocts.
concocting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concoct
concoction ::: n. --> A change in food produced by the organs of nutrition; digestion. The act of concocting or preparing by combining different ingredients; also, the food or compound thus prepared. The act of digesting in the mind; planning or devising; rumination. Abatement of a morbid process, as a fever and return to a normal condition.
concoctive ::: a. --> Having the power of digesting or ripening; digestive.
concoct ::: v. t. --> To digest; to convert into nourishment by the organs of nutrition. To purify or refine chemically. To prepare from crude materials, as food; to invent or prepare by combining different ingredients; as, to concoct a new dish or beverage. To digest in the mind; to devise; to make up; to contrive; to plan; to plot.
concolor ::: a. --> Of the same color; of uniform color.
concolorous ::: a. --> Of the same color throughout.
concomitance ::: n. --> Alt. of Concomitancy
concomitancy ::: n. --> The state of accompanying; accompaniment. The doctrine of the existence of the entire body of Christ in the eucharist, under each element, so that the body and blood are both received by communicating in one kind only.
concomitant ::: a. --> Accompanying; conjoined; attending. ::: n. --> One who, or that which, accompanies, or is collaterally connected with another; a companion; an associate; an accompaniment.
concomitantly ::: adv. --> In company with others; unitedly; concurrently.
concordable ::: a. --> Capable of according; agreeing; harmonious.
concordance ::: n. --> Agreement; accordance. Concord; agreement. An alphabetical verbal index showing the places in the text of a book where each principal word may be found, with its immediate context in each place. A topical index or orderly analysis of the contents of a book.
concordancy ::: n. --> Agreement.
concordant ::: a. --> Agreeing; correspondent; harmonious; consonant.
concordantly ::: adv. --> In a concordant manner.
concordat ::: an agreement, a compact, esp. an official one.
concordat ::: n. --> A compact, covenant, or agreement concerning anything. An agreement made between the pope and a sovereign or government for the regulation of ecclesiastical matters with which both are concerned; as, the concordat between Pope Pius VII and Bonaparte in 1801.
concordist ::: n. --> The compiler of a concordance.
concord ::: n. --> A state of agreement; harmony; union. Agreement by stipulation; compact; covenant; treaty or league. Agreement of words with one another, in gender, number, person, or case. An agreement between the parties to a fine of land in reference to the manner in which it should pass, being an acknowledgment that the land in question belonged to the complainant.
concords ::: harmony or agreement of interests or feelings; accords.
concorporate ::: v. t. & i. --> To unite in one mass or body; to incorporate. ::: a. --> United in one body; incorporated.
concorporation ::: n. --> Union of things in one mass or body.
concourse ::: n. --> A moving, flowing, or running together; confluence. An assembly; a gathering formed by a voluntary or spontaneous moving and meeting in one place. The place or point of meeting or junction of two bodies. An open space where several roads or paths meet; esp. an open space in a park where several roads meet. Concurrence; cooperation.
concreate ::: v. t. --> To create at the same time.
concremation ::: n. --> The act of burning different things together.
concrement ::: n. --> A growing together; the collection or mass formed by concretion, or natural union.
concrescence ::: n. --> Coalescence of particles; growth; increase by the addition of particles.
concrescible ::: a. --> Capable of being changed from a liquid to a solid state.
concrescive ::: a. --> Growing together, or into union; uniting.
concrete ::: 1. Formed by the coalescence of separate particles or parts into one mass; solid. 2. Made real, tangible, or particular as opposed to abstract.
concrete ::: a. --> United in growth; hence, formed by coalition of separate particles into one mass; united in a solid form. Standing for an object as it exists in nature, invested with all its qualities, as distinguished from standing for an attribute of an object; -- opposed to abstract. Applied to a specific object; special; particular; -- opposed to general. See Abstract, 3.
concreted ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concrete
concretely ::: adv. --> In a concrete manner.
concreteness ::: n. --> The quality of being concrete.
concreting ::: p. pr & vb. n. --> of Concrete
concretional ::: a. --> Concretionary.
concretionary ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or formed by, concretion or aggregation; producing or containing concretions.
concretion ::: n. --> The process of concreting; the process of uniting or of becoming united, as particles of matter into a mass; solidification. A mass or nodule of solid matter formed by growing together, by congelation, condensation, coagulation, induration, etc.; a clot; a lump; a calculus. A rounded mass or nodule produced by an aggregation of the material around a center; as, the calcareous concretions common in beds of clay.
concretive ::: a. --> Promoting concretion.
concretively ::: adv. --> In a concrete manner.
concreture ::: n. --> A mass formed by concretion.
concrew ::: a. --> To grow together.
concrimination ::: n. --> A joint accusation.
concubinacy ::: n. --> The practice of concubinage.
concubinage ::: n. --> The cohabiting of a man and a woman who are not legally married; the state of being a concubine. A plea, in which it is alleged that the woman suing for dower was not lawfully married to the man in whose lands she seeks to be endowed, but that she was his concubine.
concubinal ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to concubinage.
concubinarian ::: a. & n. --> Concubinary.
concubinaries ::: pl. --> of Concubinary
concubinary ::: a. --> Relating to concubinage; living in concubinage. ::: n. --> One who lives in concubinage.
concubinate ::: n. --> Concubinage.
concubine ::: n. --> A woman who cohabits with a man without being his wife; a paramour. A wife of inferior condition; a lawful wife, but not united to the man by the usual ceremonies, and of inferior condition. Such were Hagar and Keturah, the concubines of Abraham; and such concubines were allowed by the Roman laws. Their children were not heirs of their father.
conculcate ::: v. t. --> To tread or trample under foot.
conculcating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Conculcate
concultated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Conculcate
concupiscence ::: n. --> Sexual lust; morbid carnal passion.
concupiscence ::: strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.
concupiscent ::: a. --> Having sexual lust; libidinous; lustful; lecherous; salacious.
concupiscential ::: a. --> Relating to concupiscence.
concupiscentious ::: a. --> Concupiscent.
concupiscible ::: a. --> Exciting to, or liable to be affected by, concupiscence; provoking lustful desires. Exciting desire, good or evil.
concupiscibleness ::: n. --> The state of being concupiscible.
concupy ::: n. --> Concupiscence. [Used only in "Troilus and Cressida"]
concurred ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Concur
concurrence ::: n. --> The act of concurring; a meeting or coming together; union; conjunction; combination. A meeting of minds; agreement in opinion; union in design or act; -- implying joint approbation. Agreement or consent, implying aid or contribution of power or influence; cooperation. A common right; coincidence of equal powers; as, a concurrence of jurisdiction in two different courts.
concurrency ::: n. --> Concurrence.
concurrent ::: a. --> Acting in conjunction; agreeing in the same act or opinion; contributing to the same event or effect; cooperating. Conjoined; associate; concomitant; existing or happening at the same time. Joint and equal in authority; taking cognizance of similar questions; operating on the same objects; as, the concurrent jurisdiction of courts. Meeting in one point.
concurrently ::: adv. --> With concurrence; unitedly.
concurrentness ::: n. --> The state or quality of being concurrent; concurrence.
concurring ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Concur ::: a. --> Agreeing.
concur ::: v. i. --> To run together; to meet. To meet in the same point; to combine or conjoin; to contribute or help toward a common object or effect. To unite or agree (in action or opinion); to join; to act jointly; to agree; to coincide; to correspond. To assent; to consent.
concussation ::: n. --> A violent shock or agitation.
concussion ::: n. --> A shaking or agitation; a shock; caused by the collision of two bodies. A condition of lowered functional activity, without visible structural change, produced in an organ by a shock, as by fall or blow; as, a concussion of the brain. The unlawful forcing of another by threats of violence to yield up something of value.
concussive ::: a. --> Having the power or quality of shaking or agitating.
concuss ::: v. t. --> To shake or agitate. To force (a person) to do something, or give up something, by intimidation; to coerce.
condemnable ::: --> Worthy of condemnation; blamable; culpable.
condemnation ::: n. --> The act of condemning or pronouncing to be wrong; censure; blame; disapprobation. The act of judicially condemning, or adjudging guilty, unfit for use, or forfeited; the act of dooming to punishment or forfeiture. The state of being condemned. The ground or reason of condemning.
condemnatory ::: a. --> Condemning; containing or imposing condemnation or censure; as, a condemnatory sentence or decree.
condemned ::: 1. Pronounced judgment against; sentenced. 2. Forced into a specific state or activity. condemning.
condemned ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Condemn ::: a. --> Pronounced to be wrong, guilty, worthless, or forfeited; adjudged or sentenced to punishment, destruction, or confiscation. Used for condemned persons.
condemner ::: n. --> One who condemns or censures.
condemning ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Condemn
condemn ::: v. t. --> To pronounce to be wrong; to disapprove of; to censure. To declare the guilt of; to make manifest the faults or unworthiness of; to convict of guilt. To pronounce a judicial sentence against; to sentence to punishment, suffering, or loss; to doom; -- with to before the penalty. To amerce or fine; -- with in before the penalty. To adjudge or pronounce to be unfit for use or service;
condensability ::: n. --> Capability of being condensed.
condensable ::: a. --> Capable of being condensed; as, vapor is condensable.
condensated ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Condensate
condensate ::: v. t. --> Made dense; condensed. To condense.
condensating ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Condensate
condensation ::: n. --> The act or process of condensing or of being condensed; the state of being condensed. The act or process of reducing, by depression of temperature or increase of pressure, etc., to another and denser form, as gas to the condition of a liquid or steam to water. A rearrangement or concentration of the different constituents of one or more substances into a distinct and definite compound of greater complexity and molecular weight, often resulting in
condensative ::: a. --> Having the property of condensing.
condensed ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Condense
condenser ::: n. --> One who, or that which, condenses. An instrument for condensing air or other elastic fluids, consisting of a cylinder having a movable piston to force the air into a receiver, and a valve to prevent its escape. An instrument for concentrating electricity by the effect of induction between conducting plates separated by a nonconducting plate. A lens or mirror, usually of short focal distance, used
condense ::: v. t. --> To make more close, compact, or dense; to compress or concentrate into a smaller compass; to consolidate; to abridge; to epitomize. To reduce into another and denser form, as by cold or pressure; as, to condense gas into a liquid form, or steam into water. ::: v. i.
condensible ::: a. --> Capable of being condensed; as, a gas condensible to a liquid by cold.
condensing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Condense
conder ::: n. --> One who watches shoals of fish; a balker. See Balker.
condescended ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Condescend
condescendence ::: n. --> Alt. of Condescendency
condescendency ::: n. --> Condescension.
condescendingly ::: adv. --> In a condescending manner.
condescending ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Condescend
condescend ::: v. i. --> To stoop or descend; to let one&
condescension ::: n. --> The act of condescending; voluntary descent from one&
condescent ::: n. --> An act of condescension.
condign ::: a. --> Worthy; suitable; deserving; fit. Deserved; adequate; suitable to the fault or crime.
condignity ::: n. --> Merit, acquired by works, which can claim reward on the score of general benevolence.
condignly ::: adv. --> According to merit.
condignness ::: n. --> Agreeableness to deserts; suitableness.
condiment ::: n. --> Something used to give relish to food, and to gratify the taste; a pungment and appetizing substance, as pepper or mustard; seasoning.
condisciple ::: n. --> A schoolfellow; a fellow-student.
condite ::: a. --> Preserved; pickled. ::: v. t. --> To pickle; to preserve; as, to condite pears, quinces, etc.
conditioD, without reservation so that all in you shall belong to the Divine Mother and nothing be left to the ego or given to any other power.
conditional ::: a. --> Containing, implying, or depending on, a condition or conditions; not absolute; made or granted on certain terms; as, a conditional promise. Expressing a condition or supposition; as, a conditional word, mode, or tense. ::: n.
conditionality ::: n. --> The quality of being conditional, or limited; limitation by certain terms.
conditionally ::: adv. --> In a conditional manner; subject to a condition or conditions; not absolutely or positively.
conditionate ::: v. t. --> Conditional. To qualify by conditions; to regulate. To put under conditions; to render conditional.
conditioned ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Condition ::: a. --> Surrounded; circumstanced; in a certain state or condition, as of property or health; as, a well conditioned man. Having, or known under or by, conditions or relations; not independent; not absolute.
conditioned ::: made suitable for a given purpose.
conditioning ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Condition
conditionly ::: adv. --> Conditionally.
condition ::: n. --> Mode or state of being; state or situation with regard to external circumstances or influences, or to physical or mental integrity, health, strength, etc.; predicament; rank; position, estate. Essential quality; property; attribute. Temperament; disposition; character. That which must exist as the occasion or concomitant of something else; that which is requisite in order that something else should take effect; an essential qualification; stipulation; terms
conditions ::: circumstances that are indispensable to the appearance or occurrence of another; prerequisites.
conditories ::: pl. --> of Conditory
conditory ::: n. --> A repository for holding things; a hinding place.
condog ::: v. i. --> To concur; to agree.
condolatory ::: a. --> Expressing condolence.
condoled ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Condole
condolement ::: n. --> Condolence. Sorrow; mourning; lamentation.
condolence ::: n. --> Expression of sympathy with another in sorrow or grief.
condoler ::: n. --> One who condoles.
condole ::: v. i. --> To express sympathetic sorrow; to grieve in sympathy; -- followed by with. ::: v. t. --> To lament or grieve over.
condoling ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Condole
condonation ::: n. --> The act of condoning or pardoning. Forgiveness, either express or implied, by a husband of his wife or by a wife of her husband, for a breach of marital duty, as adultery, with an implied condition that the offense shall not be repeated.
condoned ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Condone
condone ::: v. t. --> To pardon; to forgive. To pardon; to overlook the offense of; esp., to forgive for a violation of the marriage law; -- said of either the husband or the wife.
condoning ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Condone
condor ::: n. --> A very large bird of the Vulture family (Sarcorhamphus gryphus), found in the most elevated parts of the Andes.
condottiere ::: n. --> A military adventurer of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, who sold his services, and those of his followers, to any party in any contest.
condottieri ::: pl. --> of Condottiere
conduced ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Conduce
conducent ::: a. --> Conducive; tending.
conduce ::: n. --> To lead or tend, esp. with reference to a favorable or desirable result; to contribute; -- usually followed by to or toward. ::: v. t. --> To conduct; to lead; to guide.
conducibility ::: n. --> The state or quality of being conducible; conducibleness.
conducible ::: a. --> Conducive; tending; contributing.
conducibleness ::: n. --> Quality of being conducible.
conducibly ::: adv. --> In a manner to promote.
conducing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Conduce
conducive ::: a. --> Loading or tending; helpful; contributive; tending to promote.
conduciveness ::: n. --> The quality of conducing.
conducted ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Conduct
conductibility ::: n. --> Capability of being conducted; as, the conductibility of heat or electricity. Conductivity; capacity for receiving and transmitting.
conductible ::: a. --> Capable of being conducted.
conducting ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Conduct
conduction ::: n. --> The act of leading or guiding. The act of training up. Transmission through, or by means of, a conductor; also, conductivity.
conductive ::: a. --> Having the quality or power of conducting; as, the conductive tissue of a pistil.
conductivity ::: n. --> The quality or power of conducting, or of receiving and transmitting, as heat, electricity, etc.; as, the conductivity of a nerve.
conduct ::: n. --> The act or method of conducting; guidance; management. Skillful guidance or management; generalship. Convoy; escort; guard; guide. That which carries or conveys anything; a channel; a conduit; an instrument. The manner of guiding or carrying one&
conductor ::: n. --> One who, or that which, conducts; a leader; a commander; a guide; a manager; a director. One in charge of a public conveyance, as of a railroad train or a street car. The leader or director of an orchestra or chorus. A substance or body capable of being a medium for the transmission of certain forces, esp. heat or electricity; specifically, a lightning rod.
conductory ::: a. --> Having the property of conducting.
conductress ::: n. --> A woman who leads or directs; a directress.
conduit ::: n. --> A pipe, canal, channel, or passage for conveying water or fluid. A structure forming a reservoir for water. A narrow passage for private communication.
conduplicate ::: a. --> Folded lengthwise along the midrib, the upper face being within; -- said of leaves or petals in vernation or aestivation.
conduplication ::: n. --> A doubling together or folding; a duplication.
condurango ::: n. --> See Cundurango.
condurrite ::: n. --> A variety of the mineral domeykite, or copper arsenide, from the Condurra mine in Cornwall, England.
cond ::: v. t. --> To con, as a ship.
condylar ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to a condyle.
condyle ::: n. --> A bony prominence; particularly, an eminence at the end of a bone bearing a rounded articular surface; -- sometimes applied also to a concave articular surface.
condyloid ::: a. --> Shaped like or pertaining to a condyle.
condyloma ::: n. --> Alt. of Condylome
condylomata ::: pl. --> of Condylome
condylome ::: n. --> A wartlike new growth on the outer skin or adjoining mucous membrane.
condylomes ::: pl. --> of Condylome
condylopod ::: n. --> An arthropod.
cone ::: 1. A solid whose surface is generated by a straight line, the generator, passing through a fixed point, the vertex, and moving along a fixed curve, the directrix. 2. Anything that tapers from a circular section to a point.
cone-in-cone ::: a. --> Consisting of a series of parallel cones, each made up of many concentric cones closely packed together; -- said of a kind of structure sometimes observed in sedimentary rocks.
cone ::: n. --> A solid of the form described by the revolution of a right-angled triangle about one of the sides adjacent to the right angle; -- called also a right cone. More generally, any solid having a vertical point and bounded by a surface which is described by a straight line always passing through that vertical point; a solid having a circle for its base and tapering to a point or vertex. Anything shaped more or less like a mathematical cone; as, a volcanic cone, a collection of scoriae around the crater of a volcano,
confessional ::: a small enclosed stall in which a priest hears confessions.
confess ::: to admit as true. confessed.
confidante ::: a woman to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed.
confidence ::: 1. Full trust or faith in a person or thing. 2. A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance.
confident ::: 1. Having or showing confidence or certainty; sure. 2. Sure of oneself; having no uncertainty about one"s own abilities, correctness, successfulness, etc.; self-confident; bold.
confine ::: 1. To enclose within bounds, limit, restrict. 2. To shut or keep in; prevent from leaving a place because of imprisonment, illness, discipline, etc. confined.
confines ::: 1. The limits of a space or area; the borders. 2. A bounded scope. 3. Restraining elements.
confirm ::: 1. To make valid or binding by a formal or legal act; ratify. 2. To support or establish the certainty, or validity of; verify. 3. To reaffirm (something), so as to make (it) more definite. confirmed.
conflicting ::: in disagreement or opposition.
confront ::: 1. To come up against; encounter. 2. To come face to face with, especially with defiance or hostility. **confronts, confronting.**
confused ::: 1. Lacking logical order or sense. 2. *adj. Disordered and difficult to understand or make sense of. *3. Chaotic; jumbled.
conjecture ::: the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence; guess. conjecture"s, world-conjecture"s.
conjunction ::: 1. The state of being joined. 2. Astronomy: The position of two celestial bodies on the celestial sphere when they have the same celestial longitude, especially a configuration in which a planet or the Moon lies on a straight line from Earth to or through the Sun.
conquer ::: 1. To defeat or subdue by force, especially by force of arms. 2. To overcome (an enemy, army, etc.); defeat. 3. To overcome or surmount by physical, mental, or moral force. conquers, conquered, conquering.
conqueror ::: someone who is victorious by force of arms. conqueror"s.
conquest ::: 1. The act or process of conquering, being victorious. 2. Something, such as territory, acquired by conquering. conquests.
consanguinity ::: 1. Relationship by blood or by a common ancestor. **2*.** *A close affinity or connection.
conscience ::: that part of one"s mind which holds one"s knowledge or sense of right and wrong; inner knowledge. half-conscience.
conscient ::: fully conscious.
conscious ::: 1. Having an awareness of one"s environment and one"s own existence, sensations, and thoughts. 2. Conscious implies being awake or awakened to an inner realization of a fact, a truth, a condition. half-conscious, half-consciously.
conscious being ::: see being, conscious
conscious force
conscious force ::: Sri Aurobindo: "For the Force that builds the worlds is a conscious Force, . . .” *The Life Divine
consciousness ::: “Consciousness is a fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence—it is the energy, the motion, the movement of consciousness that creates the universe and all that is in it—not only the macrocosm but the microcosm is nothing but consciousness arranging itself.” Letters on Yoga
consciousness in the scale of evolution where the demands of the body dominate.”
consciousness
consciousness with the physical experience of oneness, the pre- sence of the Beloved in every part, in c^'ery cell of the body.
consecrated ::: solemnly dedicated to or set apart for a high purpose.
consecrates ::: dedicates solemnly to a service or goal. consecrated.
consecration ::: a sanctification of something by setting it apart as dedicated to God.
consecration ::: “Consecration becomes in its fullness a devoting of all our being to the Divine; therefore also of all our thoughts and our works.” The Synthesis of Yoga
consequence ::: 1. Something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition. 2. Significance; importance.
consequence ::: “ Karma is nothing but the will of the Spirit in action, consequence nothing but the creation of will. What is in the will of being, expresses itself in karma and consequence. When the will is limited in mind, karma appears as a bondage and a limitation, consequence as a reaction or an imposition. But when the will of the being is infinite in the spirit, karma and consequence become instead the joy of the creative spirit, the construction of the eternal mechanist, the word and drama of the eternal poet, the harmony of the eternal musician, the play of the eternal child.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
conserved ::: 1. Prevented the waste or loss of; preserved. 2. Carefully protected; preserved.
considering ::: thinking carefully about, esp. in order to make a decision; contemplating; reflecting on.
consigned ::: handed over or given into the care or charge of another; entrusted.
consistency ::: agreement or harmony between parts of something complex; compatibility.
consisting of small, disconnected parts.
consonant ::: a speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by any of various constrictions of the speech organs, such as (p), (f), (r), (w), and (h).
consort ::: n. 1. A companion or partner. consort"s. *v. 2. To keep company; associate. *consorts.
conspiracies ::: evil, unlawful, treacherous or surreptitious plans formulated in secret by two or more persons; plots.
conspire ::: to act or work together toward the same result or goal. conspires, conspired.
constancy ::: the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation.
constant ::: 1. Unchanging in nature, value, or extent; invariable. 2. Continuing without pause or letup; unceasing. 3. Steadfast; firm in mind or purpose; resolute.
constellated ::: formed or caused to form a group or cluster.
constellations ::: any of the 88 groups of stars as seen from the earth and the solar system, many of which were named by the ancient Greeks after animals, objects, or mythological persons.
constituent ::: serving as part of a whole; component.
constraints ::: limitations or restrictions; bounds.
constructed ::: formed by assembling or combining parts; built. constructing.
constructions ::: things fashioned or devised systematically.
consumed ::: destroyed totally; destroyed or expended by use. consuming.
consummation ::: an ultimate goal or end; fulfilment.
contact ::: 1. A coming together or touching, as of objects, surfaces or people. 2. The state or condition of touching or of immediate proximity. contact"s, contacts.
contagion ::: a harmful, corrupting influence.
contain ::: 1. To be capable of holding. 2. To halt the spread or development of; check, esp. of opposition. 3. To hold or keep within limits; restrain. contained, contains, containing, all-containing, All-containing.
contemning ::: treating or regarding with disdain, scorn, or contempt.
contempt ::: the feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless; scorn.
contemptuous ::: manifesting or feeling contempt; scornful. contemptuously.
contending ::: striving in opposition or against difficulties; struggling.
contents ::: things contained or held, as in a receptacle. Often used in the plural.
content ::: the state of being satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else. contents, contented.
contest ::: to try to disprove; call in question.
context ::: 1. The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. 2. The set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.
continent ::: 1. Mainland as opposed to islands. 2. A continuous extent of land. Also fig. continents.
continual ::: occurring without interruption; continuous in time.
continues ::: goes on with a particular action or in a particular condition; persists. continuing.
continuous ::: uninterrupted in time, sequence, substance, or extent.
contorts ::: twists, wrenches, or bends severely out of shape.
contours ::: outlines of figures or bodies, edges or lines that define or bound shapes, objects or forms.
contract ::: an agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law.
contraction (‘s) ::: the act of contracting, i.e. reducing in size by drawing together; shrinking, or the state of being contracted.
contract ::: to reduce in size by drawing together; shrink; concentrate. contracting.
contradiction ::: 1. The act of going against; opposition; denial. 2. Inconsistency; discrepancy. contradictions.
contradict ::: to assert or express the opposite of (a statement). contradicted, contradicting.
contrariety ::: an instance of such opposition; discordance; inconsistency; discrepancy.
contrary ::: something that is opposite in nature or character; diametrically or mutually opposed. contraries.
contrary to fact; false; erroneous.
contrary to one"s will; against one"s wish or desire; reluctantly.
contrast ::: a difference, especially a strong dissimilarity, between entities or objects compared.
contrivance ::: 1. The act or faculty of devising or adapting; inventive skill or ability esp. in a negative sense. 2. The act or manner of contriving; the faculty or power of contriving. inventing or making with thought and skill; invention.
contrived ::: planned with cleverness or ingenuity; devised.
contrivings ::: clever and ingenious designs, plans, schemes.
control ::: n. 1. Power to direct, determine or command. 2. A means of regulation or restraint; curb; check. v. 3. To exercise authoritative control or power over. 4. To hold in restraint; check, esp. one"s emotions. controls, controlled, controlling.
control-room ::: a room housing control equipment where certain operations are conducted.
Con* and milk ::: Vcdic image. In the Veda the Cow is the
CONCENTRATION ::: Fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.
A gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g. the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point.
Concentration is necessary, first to turn the whole will and mind from the discursive divagation natural to them, following a dispersed movement of the thoughts, running after many-branching desires, led away in the track of the senses and the outward mental response to phenomena; we have to fix the will and the thought on the eternal and real behind all, and this demands an immense effort, a one-pointed concentration. Secondly, it is necessary in order to break down the veil which is erected by our ordinary mentality between ourselves and the truth; for outer knowledge can be picked up by the way, by ordinary attention and reception, but the inner, hidden and higher truth can only be seized by an absolute concentration of the mind on its object, an absolute concentration of the will to attain it and, once attained, to hold it habitually and securely unite oneself with it.
Centre of Concentration: The two main places where one can centre the consciousness for yoga are in the head and in the heart - the mind-centre and the soul-centre.
Brain concentration is always a tapasyā and necessarily brings a strain. It is only if one is lifted out of the brain mind altogether that the strain of mental concentration disappears.
At the top of the head or above it is the right place for yogic concentration in reading or thinking.
In whatever centre the concentration takes place, the yoga force generated extends to the others and produces concentration or workings there.
Modes of Concentration: There is no harm in concentrating sometimes in the heart and sometimes above the head. But concentration in either place does not mean keeping the attention fixed on a particular spot; you have to take your station of consciousness in either place and concentrate there not on the place, but on the Divine. This can be done with eyes shut or with eyes open, according as it best suits.
If one concentrates on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses.
There is no method in this yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force to transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be.
Powers (three) of Concentration ::: By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself. By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of that which is still ungrasped, still beyond us; this power, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently sincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can use for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not for the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to grasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one subject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself we can become whatever we choose ; we can become, for instance, even if we were before a mass of weaknesses and fears, a mass instead of strength and courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a single universal soul of Love ; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to become not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now are, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action and attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration can only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual training of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards their grand and unique object.
Stages in Concentration (Rajayogic) ::: that in which the object is seized, that in which it is held, that in which the mind is lost in the status which the object represents or to which the concentration leads.
Concentration and Meditation ::: Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or one object and in a single condition Meditation can be diffusive,e.g. thinking about the Divine, receiving impressions and discriminating, watching what goes on in the nature and acting upon it etc. Meditation is when the inner mind is looking at things to get the right knowledge.
vide Dhyāna.
Concentration in the heart is the way to get rid of them, but there must also be a detachment of the consciousness so that it can stand back from the attack and feel separate from it.
Concentration of the will to get the results of sadhani and to conquer the lower nature.
Conch is the call to realisation ; perhaps the proclamation of victory.
CONCH ::: vide Symbol.
Conditions essfntitd for meditation ::: There are no essential external conditions, but solitude and seclusion at the time of meditation as as stillness of the body arc helpful, sometimes almost necessary to the beginner. Bui one should not bound b' external conditions. Once the habit of meditation is formed, it should be mads possible to do it in all circumstances, l.ving. sitting, walking, alone, in company, in silettce or in the midst of noise etc. The first imeroal condition necessary is concentration of the will against the obstacles to meditation. i.e. wandermg of the mind, forgetfulness, sfeep, phjsieal and nervous impatience and restlessness etc. The second is an increasing purity and calm of the inner consciousness (citia) out of which thought and emotion arise, i.e. a freedom frona all disturb i ng reactions, such as anger, grief, depression, anxiet>' about w-orldly happenings etc. Mental perfection and moral are always closely allied to each other.
Conditions for reception of intuition ::: To have the true intui- tion one must get rid of the mind’s self-will and vital’s also, their
Conditions lor equality ::: Complete samata takes long to establish and it is dependent on three things ::: the soul’s self- giving to the Divine by an inner surrender, the descent of the spiritual calm and peace from above and the steady, long and persistent rejection of all egoistic, rajasic and other feelings that contradict samata.
Conditions of descent t Thece must be a total and sincere surrender ; there must be an cxcIosHt self-opening to the divine
Conditions of Transformafirm ::: If you desire this transforma- tion, put yourself in the hands of the Mother and her Powers without cavil or resistance and let her do unhindered her work within you. Three things you roust have, consciousness, plasti- city, unreserved surrender. For you must be conscious in your mind and soul and heart and life and the very cells of your body, aware of the Mother and her Powers and their working ; for although she can and does work in yt)u even in your obscurity and your unconscious parts and moments, it is not the same thing as when you are in an awakened and living communion with her. All your nature must be plasUc to her touch, — • not questioning as the self-sufficient ignorant mind questions and doubts and disputes and is the enemy of its enlightenment and change ; not insisting on its own movements as the vital In man insists and persistently opposes its rcfractoiy desires and ill-wilt to every divine influence ; not obstructing and entrenched m
CONFESSION. ::: Helps to purge the consciousness of ham- pering elements and clears the inner air and makes for a closer and more intimate relation between the Guru and the disciple.
Confidence in the Divine and the unshakable certitude of the
CONFIDENCE. ::: The sense of security that goes with trust.
Conquest of desire for food ::: There are two ways of con- quering it ::: one of detachment, learning to regard food as only a physical necessity and the vital satisfaction of the stomach and the palate as a thing of no importance ; the other is to be able to take without insistence or seeking any food given and to find in it the equal rasa, not of the food for its own sake, but of the universal ananda.
CONSCIENCE. ::: A power of perception, half mental, half intuitive.
Consciousness and Being, a separation created by the Ignorance
Consciousness and bring its Truth down into the lower mem- bers. With the Truth all the necessary powers will come, not as one’s own, but as the Divine’s.
Consciousness and detachment ::: Consciousness is not by its nature detached from the mental and other acUvities. It can be detached, it can be involved. In the human consdousness, it Is as a rule always involved, but it has developed the pow'er of detaching itself — a thing which the lower creation seems unable to do. As the consciousness develops, this power of detachment also develops.
Consciousness and energy ::: Consdousness is that which is aware of things ; energy is a force put in action which does things. Consciousness may have energy and keep it in or put it out, but that does not mean that it has to go out when the energy goes out and that it cannot stand back and observe the energy in action.
Consciousness and mind ; For human beings who have not got deeper into themselves, mind and consciousness are synony- mous. Only when one becomes more aware of oneself by a growing consciousness, mernaV ■vhai, physica\, psytJiic, spiiiiuai.
Consciousness for true action ::: If you want the consciousness for true action very much and aspire for it, it may come in one of several ways ::: (1) You may gel the habit or faculty of watch- ing your movements in such a way that you see the impulse to action coming and can see too Its nature. (2) A consciousness may come which feels uneasy whenever a wrong thought or impulse to action or feeling is there, (3) Something within you may warn and stop you when you are going to do the wrong action.
Consciousness has not taken up the entire control of our God- ward endeavour. The working of the DIvme Force in m under the conditions of the transition and the tight of the psychic being turning us alw’aj'S towards a conscious and seeing obedience to that higher impulsion and away from the demands and instiga- tions of the Forces of the Ignorance, these between them create an ever progressive inner Jaw of our action which continues rilJ the spiritual and supramental can be established in our nature.
Consciousness in Kannayoga ::: The calm consciousness from above supporting and the strength from above doing the work, with that the ilhakti which feels it to be the Mother’s conscious- ness present and working,
Consciousness in physical things ::: Physical things have a consciousness within them which feels and responds to care and in sensitive to careless touch and rough handling. To know or feel that and learn to be careful of them is a great progress of consciousness.
Consciousness is not only power of awareness of self and things, it is or has also a dynamic and creative energy. It can determine its own reactions or abstain from reactions ; it can not only answer to forces, but create or put out from itself forces. Consciousness is cit but also cit sakti.
Consciousness is usually identified with mind, but mental consciousness is only the human range. There are ranges of consciousness above and below the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem to it uncons- cious, — supraroental or overmental and submental ranges.
By consciousness is meant something which is essentially the same throughout but variable in status, condition and operation, in which in some grades or conditions the activities we call consciousness exist cither in a suppressed or an unorganised or a differently organised state.
It is not composed of parts, it is fundamental to being and itself formulates any parts it chooses to manifest, developing them from above downward by a progressive coming down from spiri- tual levels towards involution in matter or formulating them In an upward working in the from what wc call evolution.
Consciousness or else under the control of the Divine Power.
Consciousness.
CONSCIOUSNESS ::: The faculty of being aware of anything through identification. The Divine Consciousness is not only aware but knows and effects. To be aware of a vibration, for instance, does not mean that you know everything about it.
Consciousness ; there is a dynamic union of likeness or oneness of nature between That and our instrumental being here. The lirst is the liberation from the Ignorance and identification with the Real and Eternal, inokfa, sayuj}a. which is the characteristic aim of the Yoga of Knowledge. The second, the dwelling of the soul with or in the Divine, sdmipia, salokya, is the intense hope of all Yoga of love and beatitude. The third, identity in nature, likeness to the Divine, to be perfect as That is perfect, sadhannya, is the high intention of all Yoga of power and perfection or of divine works and service. The combined completeness of the three together, founded here on a multiple Unity of the self-
Consciousness — two elements ::: Consciousness is made up of two elements, awareness of self and things and forces and conscious-power. Awareness is the first thing necessary, you have to be aware of things in the right consciousness, in the right way, seeing them in their truth ; but awareness by itself is not enough.
Consciousness which is waiting above us. To concentrate in the heart centre with the offering of oneself to the Divine and the aspiration for this inward opening and for the Presence in the heart is the first way and, if it can be done, the natural begin- ning ; for its result once obtained makes the spiritual path far more easy and safe than if one begins the other way.
ConsciousTorcc which forms and moves the worlds. This outer side appears here to be mechanical, a play of the forces, giinas, etc. Behind it b the living Consciousness and Force of the
CONSECRATION. ::: A process by which one trains the consciousness to give itself to the Divine ; becomes in its fullness a devoting of all our being to the Divine, therefore also of all our thoughts and our works.
Consecration in work ::: Tbe signs of the consecration of iJw vital in action are these among others :::
Consecration vs. Conversion ::: Conversion is a spontaneous movement of the consciousness, a turning of it away from external things towards the Divine. It comes as well as is the result of a touch from within and above. Self-consecration may help one to open to the touch or the touch may come of itself.
Consume my heart away; sick with desire
Contemplate, for a moment, this wondrous reply in six lines, of Satyavan to his father’s gentle scolding of Savitri.”at noon leaving this house of clay”, for in the epic his death in the forest takes place at noon, not a departure of an early morning soul or one who leaves enfolded in the dark rooms of night, but at a time when the sun is at its most brilliant, showering the earth with light.
CONTRADICTIONS. ::: Every man is full of contradictions because he is one person, no doubt, but made up of different personalities. So long as one does not aim at unity in a single dominant intention, like that of seeking and self-dedication to the Divine, they get on somehow together, alternating or quar- relling or muddling through or else one taking the lead and compelling the others to take a minor part — but once you try to unite them in one aim, then the trouble becomes evident.
Control of speech is very necessary for the physical change.
CONVERSION. ::: A tuiuing of the being away from lower things towards the Divine.
CONVICTION. ::: Intellectual belief held on what seems to be good reasons.
TERMS ANYWHERE
1. Accompanying in a circumstantial relation; going with as a concomitant; closely consequent. 2. Following closely. 3. Waiting for, awaiting, expecting (a future time, event, result, decision, etc.)
1. A distinctive and pervasive quality or character; air; atmosphere. 2. A subtle emanation from and enveloping living persons and things, viewed by mystics as consisting of the essence of the individual.
1. Spirited and original; daring; bold. 2. Fearlessly, often recklessly daring; bold; defiant; insolent; brazen; unrestrained by convention or propriety.
abandon ::: 1. To give oneself up, devote oneself to (a person or thing); to yield oneself without restraint. 2. To withdraw one"s support or help from, especially in spite of duty, allegiance, or responsibility; desert: leave behind. 3. To give up; discontinue; withdraw from. abandons, abandoned, abandoning.
abased ::: lowered, humbled, degraded in condition, character, feelings, etc.
"A conscious being, no larger than a man"s thumb, stands in the centre of our self; he is master of the past and the present . . . he is today and he is tomorrow. — Katha Upanishad. (6)” The Life Divine - See *conscious being.
abide ::: 1. To wait, stay, remain. 2. To remain in residence; to sojourn, reside, dwell. 3. To remain with; to stand firm by, to hold to, remain true to. 4. To continue in existence, endure, stand firm or sure. abides, abode, abiding.
absolute ::: adj. 1. Free from all imperfection or deficiency; complete, finished; perfect, consummate. 2. Of degree: Complete, entire; in the fullest sense. 3. Having ultimate power, governing totally; unlimited by a constitution or the concurrent authority of a parliament; arbitrary, despotic. 4. Existing without relation to any other being; self-existent; self-sufficing. 5. Capable of being thought or conceived by itself alone; unconditioned. 6. Considered independently of its being subjective or objective. n. 7. Something that is not dependent upon external conditions for existence or for its specific nature, size, etc. (opposed to relative). Absolute, Absolute"s, absolutes, absoluteness.
absolute reality ::: Sri Aurobindo: "I would myself say that bliss and oneness are the essential condition of the absolute reality, and love as the most characteristic dynamic power of bliss and oneness must support fundamentally and colour their activities; . . . .” Letters on Yoga
absolve ::: 1. To free from guilt, blame or their consequences; discharge (from obligations, liabilities, etc.). 2. To set free, release. 3. To clear off, discharge, acquit oneself of (a task, etc.); to perform completely, accomplish, finish. absolves, absolved.
abstract ::: adj. 1. Withdrawn or separated from matter, from material embodiment, from practice, or from particular examples; theoretical. 2. In the fine arts, characterized by lack of or freedom from representational qualities. n. 3. Something that concentrates in itself the essential qualities of anything more extensive or more general, or of several things; essence.
abstruse ::: 1. Concealed, hidden, secret. 2. Hard to understand; difficult, recondite.
accept ::: 1. To take or receive (a thing offered) willingly, or with consenting mind; to receive (a thing or person) with favour or approval. 2. To take formally (what is offered) with contemplation of its consequences and obligations; to take upon oneself, to undertake as a responsibility. 3. To agree or consent to. 4. To regard as true or sound; believe. accepts, accepted, accepting.
accompany ::: 1. To go in company with, to go along with. 2. To add as companion; to associate; to add or conjoin to. accompanied.
accurate ::: 1. Exact, precise, correct, as the result of care. 2. Free from error or defect; consistent with a standard, rule, or model; precise, exact.
ache ::: a continuous or abiding pain, in contrast to a sudden or sharp one. Used of both physical and mental sensations.
aching ::: 1. Having the sensation of continuous or ever-recurring pain, throbbing painfully. 2. Full of or precipitating nostalgia, grief, loneliness, etc.
::: "A cosmic Will and Wisdom observant of the ascending march of the soul"s consciousness and experience as it emerges out of subconscient Matter and climbs to its own luminous divinity fixes the norm and constantly enlarges the lines of the law — or, let us say, since law is a too mechanical conception, — the truth of Karma.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
acquiescing ::: assenting tacitly; submitting or complying silently or without protest; agreeing; consenting. acquiescence.
action ::: 1. The process or condition of acting or doing (in the widest sense), the exertion of energy, influence, power or force. 2. A way or manner of moving. 3. A thing done, a deed**. action"s, actions, self-action.
"Action is a resultant of the energy of the being, but this energy is not of one sole kind; the Consciousness-Force of the Spirit manifests itself in many kinds of energies: there are inner activities of mind, activities of life, of desire, passion, impulse, character, activities of the senses and the body, a pursuit of truth and knowledge, a pursuit of beauty, a pursuit of ethical good or evil, a pursuit of power, love, joy, happiness, fortune, success, pleasure, life-satisfactions of all kinds, life-enlargement, a pursuit of individual or collective objects, a pursuit of the health, strength, capacity, satisfaction of the body.” The Life Divine*
A Dictionary of Words and Terms in Sri Aurobindo"s SavitriLexicon of an Infinite MindNarad (Richard Eggenberger)
adjunct ::: joined or added (to anything); connected, annexed; subordinate in position, function, character, or essence. adjuncts.
"Adjustment for practical purposes of rival courses of action, systems, or theories, conflicting opinions or principles, by the sacrifice or surrender of a part of each. . . .” Essays Divine and Human*
admires ::: 1. Regards with pleased surprise, or with wonder mingled with esteem, approbation, or affection; and in modern usage, gazed on with pleasure. admired, admiring. adj. 2. Regarded with admiration; wondered at; contemplated with wonder mingled with esteem, etc.
admit ::: 1. To allow to enter, let in, receive (a person or thing). 2. Fig. To allow a matter to enter into any relation to action or thought. 3. To accept as true, or as a fact, to acknowledge, concede. 4. To allow, permit, grant. admits, admitted, admitting.
adverse ::: acting against or in opposition to, opposing, contrary; antagonistic in purpose or effect; actively hostile.
adversity ::: the condition of adverse fortune or fate; a state opposed to well-being or prosperity; misfortune, distress, trial, or affliction.
"Aesthesis therefore is of the very essence of poetry, as it is of all art. But it is not the sole element and aesthesis too is not confined to a reception of poetry and art; it extends to everything in the world: there is nothing we can sense, think or in any way experience to which there cannot be an aesthetic reaction of our conscious being. Ordinarily, we suppose that aesthesis is concerned with beauty, and that indeed is its most prominent concern: but it is concerned with many other things also. It is the universal Ananda that is the parent of aesthesis and the universal Ananda takes three major and original forms, beauty, love and delight, the delight of all existence, the delight in things, in all things.” Letters on Savitri
affair ::: a thing that concerns any one; a concern, a matter.
affinity ::: 1. Causal relationship or connexion (as flowing the one from the other, or having a common source). 2. A psychical or spiritual attraction believed by some sects to exist between persons.
affront ::: to face in defiance; confront. affronted, affronting.
afloat ::: 1. Floating or borne on the water; in a floating condition. 2. From the state of a ship or other body floating on the sea, having liberty of motion and buoyancy.
a game in which a blindfolded player tries to catch and identify one of the other players. The game has been around for at least 2000 years and probably longer. It is known to have been played in Greece about the time of the Roman Conquest.
agony ::: 1. Anguish of mind, sore trouble or distress, a paroxysm of grief. 2. The convulsive throes, or pangs of death; the death struggle. 3. Extreme bodily suffering, such as to produce writhing or throes of the body. agonies.
agree ::: 1. To be in harmony or unison in opinions, feelings, conduct, etc.; to be in sympathy; to live or act together harmoniously; to have no causes of variance. 2. To give consent; assent (often followed by to). agreed.
agreement ::: a contract or other document delineating an arrangement that is accepted by all parties to a transaction. (Sri Aurobindo capitalizes the word.)
alas ::: an exclamation expressive of unhappiness, grief, sorrow, pity, or concern.
::: "All conscious being is one and indivisible in itself, but in manifestation it becomes a complex rhythm, a scale of harmonies, a hierarchy of states or movements.” The Upanishads
"All change must come from within with the felt or the secret support of the Divine Power; it is only by one"s own inner opening to that that one can receive help, not by mental, vital or physical contact with others.” Letters on Yoga
allied ::: related; connected by nature, properties, or similitude; kindred.
all- ::: prefix: Wholly, altogether, infinitely. Since 1600, the number of these [combinations] has been enormously extended, all-** having become a possible prefix, in poetry at least, to almost any adjective of quality. all-affirming, All-Beautiful, All-Beautiful"s, All-Bliss, All-Blissful, All-causing, all-concealing, all-conquering, All-Conscient, All-Conscious, all-containing, All-containing, all-creating, all-defeating, All-Delight, all-discovering, all-embracing, all-fulfilling, all-harbouring, all-inhabiting, all-knowing, All-knowing, All-Knowledge, all-levelling, All-Life, All-love, All-Love, all-negating, all-powerful, all-revealing, All-ruler, all-ruling, all-seeing, All-seeing, all-seeking, all-shaping, all-supporting, all-sustaining, all-swallowing, All-Truth, All-vision, All-Wisdom, all-wise, All-Wise, all-witnessing, All-Wonderful, All-Wonderful"s.**
All these centres are in the middle of the body; they are supposed to be attached to the spinal cord; but in fact all these things are in the subtle body, suksma deha , though one has the feeling of their activities as if in the physical body when the consciousness is awake.” Letters on Yoga
altar ::: 1. A block, pile, table, stand, mound, platform, or other elevated structure on which to place or sacrifice offerings to a deity. 2. With reference to the uses, customs, dedication, or peculiar sanctity of the altar. 3. A place consecrated to devotional observances. altar"s, altars, altar-burnings, mountain-altars.
alter ::: to make otherwise or different in some respect; to make some change in character, shape, condition, position, quantity, value, etc. without changing the thing itself for another; to modify, to change the appearance of. alters, altered, altering.
altruism ::: the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others (opposed to egoism ).
ambush ::: 1. An act or instance of lying concealed so as to attack by surprise. 2. The concealed position itself. ambushes.
ambushed :::concealed so as suddenly to burst forth, come in view, or take by surprise.
anarchy ::: a state of society without government or law ; lawlessness, confusion, chaos, disorder.
"An Avatar, roughly speaking, is one who is conscious of the presence and power of the Divine born in him or descended into him and governing from within his will and life and action; he feels identified inwardly with this divine power and presence.” Letters on Yoga
**Angel of the Way *Sri Aurobindo: "Love fulfilled does not exclude knowledge, but itself brings knowledge; and the completer the knowledge, the richer the possibility of love. ‘By Bhakti" says the Lord in the Gita ‘shall a man know Me in all my extent and greatness and as I am in the principles of my being, and when he has known Me in the principles of my being, then he enters into Me." Love without knowledge is a passionate and intense, but blind, crude, often dangerous thing, a great power, but also a stumbling-block; love, limited in knowledge, condemns itself in its fervour and often by its very fervour to narrowness; but love leading to perfect knowledge brings the infinite and absolute union. Such love is not inconsistent with, but rather throws itself with joy into divine works; for it loves God and is one with him in all his being, and therefore in all beings, and to work for the world is then to feel and fulfil multitudinously one"s love for God. This is the trinity of our powers, [work, knowledge, love] the union of all three in God to which we arrive when we start on our journey by the path of devotion with Love for the Angel of the Way to find in the ecstasy of the divine delight of the All-Lover"s being the fulfilment of ours, its secure home and blissful abiding-place and the centre of its universal radiation.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
animal ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God?” *The Life Divine
anomalous ::: deviating from or inconsistent with the common order, form, or rule; irregular; abnormal.
antithesis ::: opposition; contrast.
"A philosophy of change?(1) But what is change? In ordinary parlance change means passage from one condition to another and that would seem to imply passage from one status to another status. The shoot changes into a tree, passes from the status of shoot to the status of tree and there it stops; man passes from the status of young man to the status of old man and the only farther change possible to him is death or dissolution of his status. So it would seem that change is not something isolated which is the sole original and eternal reality, but it is something dependent on status, and if status were non-existent, change also could not exist. For we have to ask, when you speak of change as alone real, change of what, from what, to what? Without this ‘what" change could not be. ::: —Change is evidently the change of some form or state of existence from one condition to another condition.” Essays Divine and Human
apocalypse ::: 1. Any revelation or prophecy. 2. A prophetic revelation, esp. concerning a cataclysm in which the forces of good permanently triumph over the forces of evil.
appalled ::: filled or overcome with horror, consternation, or fear, resulting in the loss of courage in the face of something dreadful.
appear ::: 1. To come into sight; become visible; come into view, as from a place or state of concealment, or from a distance; esp. of angels, spirits, visions. 2. To come into existence; be created. 3. To be clear to the understanding. 4. To seem or look to be. appears, appeared, appearing.
appearance ::: 1. The act or fact of coming forward into view ; becoming visible. 2. The state, condition, manner, or style in which a person or object appears; outward look or aspect. 3. Outward show or seeming; semblance. appearances.
appease ::: 1. To bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe. 2. To satisfy, allay, or relieve.
approach ::: v. 1. To come near or nearer to; draw near. 2. To come near to a person: i.e. into personal relations; into his presence or audience; or fig. within the range of his notice or attention. 3. To come near in quality, character, time, or condition; to be nearly equal. approaches, approached, approaching.* *n. 4. Any means of access or way of passage, avenue. 5. The act of drawing near. approaches.**
approve ::: 1. To confirm or sanction formally; ratify. 2. To speak or think favourably of; pronounce or consider agreeable or good; judge favourably. approves, approved.
apsaras ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.
arbitrary ::: 1. Based on or subject to individual will, judgment or preference: judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one"s discretion. 2. Capricious; unreasonable; unsupported. 3. Derived from mere opinion or preference; capricious; uncertain. 4. Having unlimited power; uncontrolled or unrestricted by law; despotic; tyrannical.
arch ::: 1. An upwardly curved construction, for spanning an opening, consisting of a number of wedgelike stones, bricks, or the like, set with the narrower side toward the opening in such a way that forces on the arch are transmitted as vertical or oblique stresses on either side of the opening, either capable of bearing weight or merely ornamental; 2. Something bowed or curved; any bowlike part: the arch of the foot. 3. An arched roof, door; gateway; vault; fig. the heavens. arches.
arch- ::: a combining form that represents the outcome of archi- in words borrowed through Latin from Greek in the Old English period; it subsequently became a productive form added to nouns of any origin, which thus denote individuals or institutions directing or having authority over others of their class (archbishop; archdiocese; archpriest): principal. More recently, arch-1 has developed the senses "principal” (archenemy; archrival) or "prototypical” and thus exemplary or extreme (archconservative); nouns so formed are almost always pejorative. Arch-intelligence.
architecture ::: 1. The profession of designing buildings and other artificial constructions and environments, usually with some regard to aesthetic effect. 2. The character or style of building. 3. Construction or structure generally. architectures.
arcturus ::: a giant star in the constellation Boötes. It is the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere and the fourth brightest star in the sky, with an apparent magnitude of 0.00; sometimes referring to the Great Bear itself.
art ::: v. archaic** A second person singular present indicative of be, now only poet., not in modern usage. All other references are to art as the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance. Also, the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria. art"s, arts, art-parades.
ascetic ::: one who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals, whether by seclusion or by abstinence from creature comforts, and practices extreme self-denial, rigorous self-discipline or self-mortification. ascetic"s, ascetics.
as it would be if; as though. (Introducing a supposition, or way of conceiving some entity or situation, that is not to be taken literally, but yields some insight or convenience in metaphysics.)
::: "Aspiration is to call the forces. When the forces have answered, there is a natural state of quiet receptivity concentrated but spontaneous.” Letters on Yoga
assemblage ::: a number of persons gathered together; a gathering, concourse. (Less formal than assembly.)
assent ::: 1. Agreement, as to a proposal; concurrence. 2. Acquiescence; compliance, concession. assents, assenting.
assured ::: 1. Made certain; guaranteed. 2. Certified, verified. 3. Made secure or certain; confirmed. 4. Confident, characterized by certainty or security; satisfied as to the truth of something. assuring.
astonished ::: 1. Amazed, filled with sudden and overpowering surprise or wonder. 2. Filled with consternation; dismayed. astonishing.
aswapati ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Aswapati, the Lord of the Horse, her [Savitri"s] human father, is the Lord of Tapasya, the concentrated energy of spiritual endeavour that helps us to rise from the mortal to the immortal planes; . . . .” (From a letter written by Sri Aurobindo) Aswapati"s.
athwart ::: 1. Across from side to side; crosswise or transversely; contrary to the proper or expected course; against; crosswise. 2. Of motion; from side to side.
atom ::: 1. A unit of matter, the smallest unit of an element, having all the characteristics of that element and consisting of a dense, central, positively charged nucleus surrounded by a system of electrons. 2. The smallest component of an element having the chemical properties of the element. 3. An extremely small part, quantity, or amount. The smallest conceivable unit of an element or of anything. atom"s, atoms, atomic.
attached ::: joined; connected; bound.
author ::: 1. An originator or creator, one who originates or gives existence to anything. 2. He who gives rise to or causes an action, event, circumstance, state, or condition of things. 3. The composer or writer of a treatise, play, poem, book, etc. authors.
awakened ::: 1. Aroused from sleep, sloth, or inaction. 2. Made aware; cognizant; conscious. half-awakened.
awake ::: v. 1. To arouse from sleep or inactivity. 2. Fig. To rise from a state resembling sleep, such as death, indifference, inaction; to become active or vigilant. 3. To come or bring to an awareness, to become cognizant, to be fully conscious, to appreciate fully (often followed by to). awakes, awoke, awaking. *adj.* 4. Not asleep; conscious; vigilant, alert. half-awake.
aware ::: having knowledge; cognizant; conscious.
axis ::: 1. The pivot on which any matter turns. 2. A straight line about which a body or geometric object rotates or may be conceived to rotate.
babble ::: 1. v. To utter sounds or words imperfectly, indistinctly, or without meaning. 2.* **n. *A murmuring sound or a confusion of sounds.
babbling ::: making a continuous, murmuring sound.
babel ::: "The reference is to the mythological story of the construction of the Tower of Babel, which appears to be an attempt to explain the diversity of human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and tower ‘with its top in the heavens". God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The tower was never completed and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Glossary and Index of Proper Names in Sri Aurobindo"s Works Sri Aurobindo: "The legend of the Tower of Babel speaks of the diversity of tongues as a curse laid on the race; but whatever its disadvantages, and they tend more and more to be minimised by the growth of civilisation and increasing intercourse, it has been rather a blessing than a curse, a gift to mankind rather than a disability laid upon it. The purposeless exaggeration of anything is always an evil, and an excessive pullulation of varying tongues that serve no purpose in the expression of a real diversity of spirit and culture is certainly a stumbling-block rather than a help: but this excess, though it existed in the past, is hardly a possibility of the future. The tendency is rather in the opposite direction. In former times diversity of language helped to create a barrier to knowledge and sympathy, was often made the pretext even of an actual antipathy and tended to a too rigid division. The lack of sufficient interpenetration kept up both a passive want of understanding and a fruitful crop of active misunderstandings. But this was an inevitable evil of a particular stage of growth, an exaggeration of the necessity that then existed for the vigorous development of strongly individualised group-souls in the human race. These disadvantages have not yet been abolished, but with closer intercourse and the growing desire of men and nations for the knowledge of each other"s thought and spirit and personality, they have diminished and tend to diminish more and more and there is no reason why in the end they should not become inoperative.” The Human Cycle
background ::: n.** 1. The general scene or surface against which designs, patterns, or figures are represented or viewed. 2. Fig. The complex of physical, cultural, and psychological factors that serves as the environment of an event or experience; the set of conditions against which an occurrence is perceived. backgrounds. adj. 3.** Of, pertaining to, or serving as a background.
baffled ::: 1. Confused, bewildered, or perplexed. 2. Frustrated or confounded; thwarted. baffles, baffling.
balance ::: n. **1. A state of equilibrium or equipoise; mental, psychological or emotional. 2. A weighing device, especially one consisting of a rigid beam horizontally suspended by a low-friction support at its center, with identical weighing pans hung at either end, one of which holds an unknown weight while the effective weight in the other is increased by known amounts until the beam is level and motionless. 3. An undecided or uncertain state in which issues are unresolved. v. 4. To have an equality or equivalence in weight, parts, etc.; be in equilibrium. adj. 5. Being in harmonious or proper arrangement or adjustment, proportion. 6. Mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behaviour, judgement. balanced, balancing.**
balcony ::: a platform that projects from the wall of a building and is surrounded by a railing, balustrade, or parapet.
barrels ::: large cylindrical containers, usually made of staves bound together with hoops, with a flat top and bottom of equal diameter.
based ::: 1. Formed or established as a base. 2. Supported as a base. 3. Conceived as the fundamental principle or underlying concept.
base ::: n. 1. The fundamental principle or underlying concept of a system or theory; a basis, foundation. 2. A fundamental ingredient; a chief constituent. adj. 3. Having or showing a contemptible, mean-spirited, or selfish lack of human decency; morally low. base"s. baser.
bastioned ::: 1. Anything seen as preserving or protecting some quality, condition, etc. 2. A well-fortified position, a defensive stronghold.
battalion ::: 1. An army unit typically consisting of a headquarters and two or more companies, batteries, or similar subunits. 2. A large body of organized troops in battle gear. 3. A large indefinite number of persons or things.
battlefield ::: 1. The field or ground on which a battle is fought. 2. An area of contention, conflict, or hostile opposition. battlefields.
battle ::: n. 1. An encounter between opposing forces; armed fighting; combat. v. 3. To fight against. Also fig. 4. To contend, struggle against. 5. To work very hard or struggle; strive. battled.
battling ::: engaging in or as if in battle or conflict.
baying ::: 1. Uttering a deep and prolonged bark as a dog in pursuit. 2. The chorus of barking raised by hounds in immediate conflict with a hunted animal. bayings
bazaar ::: a market consisting of a street lined with shops and stalls, especially one in the Orient.
concealed ::: kept from being seen, found, observed, or discovered; hidden. conceals, concealing, all-concealing, deep-concealed.
conceit ::: 1. An excessively favourable opinion of one"s own ability, importance, wit, etc. 2. Something that is conceived in the mind; a thought; idea. 3. Imagination; fancy. 4. A fanciful thought or idea. conceits.
conceive ::: 1. To form or hold an idea. 2. To begin, originate, or found (something) in a particular way (usually used in the passive). 3. To apprehend mentally; understand. 4. To be created or formed in the womb; to be engendered; begotten. conceives, conceived, self-conceived.
concentrated
concentration ("s) ::: exclusive attention to one object; close mental application.
concentric ::: having a common center.
concept ::: 1. An idea, esp. an abstract idea or notion. 2. An idea of something formed by mentally combining all its characteristics or particulars; a construct. 3. A directly conceived or intuited object of thought. concept"s, concept-maps.
conception ::: 1. Origin or beginning. 2. The act or power of forming notions, ideas, or concepts. 3. The act of conceiving; the state of being conceived; fertilization; inception of pregnancy. 4. Something conceived in the mind; a concept, plan, design, idea, or thought. conception"s.
conceptual ::: of or relating to concepts or mental conception.
concerned ::: was of interest or importance to; mattered to.
concessions ::: things conceded or granted.
conch-shells :: 1. The spiral shell of a gastropod, often used as a horn. 2. The fabled shell trumpet of the Tritons.
conclaves ::: 1. Secret or confidential meetings. 2. Assemblies or gatherings, esp. those that have special authority, power, or influence.
concordat ::: an agreement, a compact, esp. an official one.
concords ::: harmony or agreement of interests or feelings; accords.
concrete ::: 1. Formed by the coalescence of separate particles or parts into one mass; solid. 2. Made real, tangible, or particular as opposed to abstract.
concupiscence ::: strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.
condemned ::: 1. Pronounced judgment against; sentenced. 2. Forced into a specific state or activity. condemning.
conditioned ::: made suitable for a given purpose.
conditions ::: circumstances that are indispensable to the appearance or occurrence of another; prerequisites.
cone ::: 1. A solid whose surface is generated by a straight line, the generator, passing through a fixed point, the vertex, and moving along a fixed curve, the directrix. 2. Anything that tapers from a circular section to a point.
confessional ::: a small enclosed stall in which a priest hears confessions.
confess ::: to admit as true. confessed.
confidante ::: a woman to whom secrets are confided or with whom private matters and problems are discussed.
confidence ::: 1. Full trust or faith in a person or thing. 2. A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance.
confident ::: 1. Having or showing confidence or certainty; sure. 2. Sure of oneself; having no uncertainty about one"s own abilities, correctness, successfulness, etc.; self-confident; bold.
confine ::: 1. To enclose within bounds, limit, restrict. 2. To shut or keep in; prevent from leaving a place because of imprisonment, illness, discipline, etc. confined.
confines ::: 1. The limits of a space or area; the borders. 2. A bounded scope. 3. Restraining elements.
confirm ::: 1. To make valid or binding by a formal or legal act; ratify. 2. To support or establish the certainty, or validity of; verify. 3. To reaffirm (something), so as to make (it) more definite. confirmed.
conflicting ::: in disagreement or opposition.
confront ::: 1. To come up against; encounter. 2. To come face to face with, especially with defiance or hostility. **confronts, confronting.**
confused ::: 1. Lacking logical order or sense. 2. *adj. Disordered and difficult to understand or make sense of. *3. Chaotic; jumbled.
conjecture ::: the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence; guess. conjecture"s, world-conjecture"s.
conjunction ::: 1. The state of being joined. 2. Astronomy: The position of two celestial bodies on the celestial sphere when they have the same celestial longitude, especially a configuration in which a planet or the Moon lies on a straight line from Earth to or through the Sun.
conquer ::: 1. To defeat or subdue by force, especially by force of arms. 2. To overcome (an enemy, army, etc.); defeat. 3. To overcome or surmount by physical, mental, or moral force. conquers, conquered, conquering.
conqueror ::: someone who is victorious by force of arms. conqueror"s.
conquest ::: 1. The act or process of conquering, being victorious. 2. Something, such as territory, acquired by conquering. conquests.
consanguinity ::: 1. Relationship by blood or by a common ancestor. **2*.** *A close affinity or connection.
conscience ::: that part of one"s mind which holds one"s knowledge or sense of right and wrong; inner knowledge. half-conscience.
conscient ::: fully conscious.
conscious ::: 1. Having an awareness of one"s environment and one"s own existence, sensations, and thoughts. 2. Conscious implies being awake or awakened to an inner realization of a fact, a truth, a condition. half-conscious, half-consciously.
conscious being ::: see being, conscious
conscious force ::: Sri Aurobindo: "For the Force that builds the worlds is a conscious Force, . . .” *The Life Divine
*consciousforce. ::: Sri Aurobindo: "In actual fact Mind measures Time by event and Space by Matter; but it is possible in pure mentality to disregard the movement of event and the disposition of substance and realise the pure movement of Conscious-Force which constitutes Space and Time; these two are then merely two aspects of the universal force of Consciousness which in their intertwined interaction comprehend the warp and woof of its action upon itself. And to a consciousness higher than Mind which should regard our past, present and future in one view, containing and not contained in them, not situated at a particular moment of Time for its point of prospection, Time might well offer itself as an eternal present. And to the same consciousness not situated at any particular point of Space, but containing all points and regions in itself, Space also might well offer itself as a subjective and indivisible extension, — no less subjective than Time.” The Life Divine
consecrated ::: solemnly dedicated to or set apart for a high purpose.
consecrates ::: dedicates solemnly to a service or goal. consecrated.
consecration ::: a sanctification of something by setting it apart as dedicated to God.
:::consent
consequence ::: 1. Something that logically or naturally follows from an action or condition. 2. Significance; importance.
conserved ::: 1. Prevented the waste or loss of; preserved. 2. Carefully protected; preserved.
considering ::: thinking carefully about, esp. in order to make a decision; contemplating; reflecting on.
consigned ::: handed over or given into the care or charge of another; entrusted.
consistency ::: agreement or harmony between parts of something complex; compatibility.
consonant ::: a speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by any of various constrictions of the speech organs, such as (p), (f), (r), (w), and (h).
consort ::: n. 1. A companion or partner. consort"s. *v. 2. To keep company; associate. *consorts.
conspiracies ::: evil, unlawful, treacherous or surreptitious plans formulated in secret by two or more persons; plots.
conspire ::: to act or work together toward the same result or goal. conspires, conspired.
constancy ::: the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation.
constant ::: 1. Unchanging in nature, value, or extent; invariable. 2. Continuing without pause or letup; unceasing. 3. Steadfast; firm in mind or purpose; resolute.
constellated ::: formed or caused to form a group or cluster.
constellations ::: any of the 88 groups of stars as seen from the earth and the solar system, many of which were named by the ancient Greeks after animals, objects, or mythological persons.
constituent ::: serving as part of a whole; component.
constraints ::: limitations or restrictions; bounds.
constructed ::: formed by assembling or combining parts; built. constructing.
constructions ::: things fashioned or devised systematically.
consumed ::: destroyed totally; destroyed or expended by use. consuming.
consummation ::: an ultimate goal or end; fulfilment.
contact ::: 1. A coming together or touching, as of objects, surfaces or people. 2. The state or condition of touching or of immediate proximity. contact"s, contacts.
contagion ::: a harmful, corrupting influence.
contain ::: 1. To be capable of holding. 2. To halt the spread or development of; check, esp. of opposition. 3. To hold or keep within limits; restrain. contained, contains, containing, all-containing, All-containing.
contemning ::: treating or regarding with disdain, scorn, or contempt.
contempt ::: the feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior, base, or worthless; scorn.
contemptuous ::: manifesting or feeling contempt; scornful. contemptuously.
contending ::: striving in opposition or against difficulties; struggling.
contents ::: things contained or held, as in a receptacle. Often used in the plural.
content ::: the state of being satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else. contents, contented.
contest ::: to try to disprove; call in question.
context ::: 1. The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. 2. The set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, etc.
continent ::: 1. Mainland as opposed to islands. 2. A continuous extent of land. Also fig. continents.
continual ::: occurring without interruption; continuous in time.
continues ::: goes on with a particular action or in a particular condition; persists. continuing.
continuous ::: uninterrupted in time, sequence, substance, or extent.
contorts ::: twists, wrenches, or bends severely out of shape.
contours ::: outlines of figures or bodies, edges or lines that define or bound shapes, objects or forms.
contract ::: an agreement between two or more parties, especially one that is written and enforceable by law.
contraction (‘s) ::: the act of contracting, i.e. reducing in size by drawing together; shrinking, or the state of being contracted.
contract ::: to reduce in size by drawing together; shrink; concentrate. contracting.
contradiction ::: 1. The act of going against; opposition; denial. 2. Inconsistency; discrepancy. contradictions.
contradict ::: to assert or express the opposite of (a statement). contradicted, contradicting.
contrariety ::: an instance of such opposition; discordance; inconsistency; discrepancy.
contrary ::: something that is opposite in nature or character; diametrically or mutually opposed. contraries.
contrast ::: a difference, especially a strong dissimilarity, between entities or objects compared.
contrivance ::: 1. The act or faculty of devising or adapting; inventive skill or ability esp. in a negative sense. 2. The act or manner of contriving; the faculty or power of contriving. inventing or making with thought and skill; invention.
contrived ::: planned with cleverness or ingenuity; devised.
contrivings ::: clever and ingenious designs, plans, schemes.
control ::: n. 1. Power to direct, determine or command. 2. A means of regulation or restraint; curb; check. v. 3. To exercise authoritative control or power over. 4. To hold in restraint; check, esp. one"s emotions. controls, controlled, controlling.
control-room ::: a room housing control equipment where certain operations are conducted.
beacon ::: 1. A source of guidance or inspiration. 2. A signalling or guiding device or warning signal as a light or signal fire.
beat ::: n. 1. A stroke or blow. 2. A regular sound or stroke. 3. The rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries with each beat of the heart. 4. A pulsating sound. 5. A forceful flapping of wings. beats, nerve-beat, hammer-beats, heart-beats, heart-beats", moment-beats, rhyme-beats. v. 6. To strike or pound with repeated blows. 7. To shape or break by repeated blows, as metal. 8. To sound in pulsations. 9. To throb rhythmically; pulsate, as the heart. 10. To flap, especially wings. 11. To strike with or as if with a series of violent blows, dash or pound repeatedly against, as waves, wind, etc. beats, beaten, beating. *adj. *sun-beat.
behaviour ::: 1. Manner of behaving or conducting oneself. 2. The aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation, or the manner in which a thing acts under such circumstances. behaviour"s.
being ::: 1. The state or quality of having existence. 2. The totality of all things that exist. 3. One"s basic or essential nature; self. 4. All the qualities constituting one that exists; the essence. 5. A person; human being. 6. The Divine, the Supreme; God. Being, being"s, Being"s, beings, Beings, beings", earth-being"s, earth-beings, fragment-being, non-being, non-being"s, Non-Being, Non-Being"s, world-being"s.
Sri Aurobindo: "Pure Being is the affirmation by the Unknowable of Itself as the free base of all cosmic existence.” *The Life Divine :::
"The Absolute manifests itself in two terms, a Being and a Becoming. The Being is the fundamental reality; the Becoming is an effectual reality: it is a dynamic power and result, a creative energy and working out of the Being, a constantly persistent yet mutable form, process, outcome of its immutable formless essence.” *The Life Divine
"What is original and eternal for ever in the Divine is the Being, what is developed in consciousness, conditions, forces, forms, etc., by the Divine Power is the Becoming. The eternal Divine is the Being; the universe in Time and all that is apparent in it is a Becoming.” Letters on Yoga
"Being and Becoming, One and Many are both true and are both the same thing: Being is one, Becomings are many; but this simply means that all Becomings are one Being who places Himself variously in the phenomenal movement of His consciousness.” The Upanishads :::
"Our whole apparent life has only a symbolic value & is good & necessary as a becoming; but all becoming has being for its goal & fulfilment & God is the only being.” *Essays Divine and Human
"Our being is a roughly constituted chaos into which we have to introduce the principle of a divine order.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
being, conscious ::: Sri Aurobindo: "We have to conceive one indivisible conscious being behind all our experiences. . . . That is our real self.” *The Life Divine
being, Master of ::: Sri Aurobindo: " Vamadeva goes on to say, "Let us give expression to this secret name of the clarity, — that is to say, let us bring out this Soma wine, this hidden delight of existence; let us hold it in this world-sacrifice by our surrenderings or submissions to Agni, the divine Will or Conscious-Power which is the Master of being.” The Secret of the Veda
belied ::: shown to be false; contradicted; gave a false representation to; misrepresented.
belief ::: 1. Confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof. 2. Trust or confidence, faith. 3. Something believed; an opinion or conviction. beliefs.
Question: "Sweet Mother, l don"t understand very clearly the difference between faith, belief and confidence.”
Mother: "But Sri Aurobindo has given the full explanation here. If you don"t understand, then. . . He has written ‘Faith is a feeling in the whole being." The whole being, yes. Faith, that"s the whole being at once. He says that belief is something that occurs in the head, that is purely mental; and confidence is quite different. Confidence, one can have confidence in life, trust in the Divine, trust in others, trust in one"s own destiny, that is, one has the feeling that everything is going to help him, to do what he wants to do. Faith is a certitude without any proof. Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 6.
betray ::: 1. To be false or disloyal to. 2. To lead astray; deceive. 3. To divulge, disclose in a breach of confidence, a secret. 4. To show signs of; reveal; indicate. betrays, betrayed, betraying, moon-betrayed.
bewilder ::: to confuse utterly; puzzle completely. bewildered.
beyond ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The language of the Upanishad makes it strikingly clear that it is no metaphysical abstraction, no void Silence, no indeterminate Absolute which is offered to the soul that aspires, but rather the absolute of all that is possessed by it here in the relative world of its sojourning. All here in the mental is a growing light, consciousness and life; all there in the supramental is an infinite life, light and consciousness. That which is here shadowed, is there found; the incomplete here is there the fulfilled. The Beyond is not an annullation, but a transfiguration of all that we are here in our world of forms; it is sovran Mind of this mind, secret Life of this life, the absolute Sense which supports and justifies our limited senses.” The Upanishads *
bind ::: 1. To restrain or confine with or as if with ties. 2. To place (someone) under obligation; oblige. 3. To fasten together. Also fig. **binds, bound, binding.**
"Birth is an assumption of a body by the spirit, death is the casting off [of] the body; there is nothing original in this birth, nothing final in this death. Before birth we were; after death we shall be. Nor are our birth and death a single episode without continuous meaning or sequel; it is one episode out of many, scenes of our drama of existence with its denouement far away in time.” Essays Divine and Human*
bizarre :::conspicuously or grossly unconventional or unusual in style or appearance; strange.
bizarrerie ::: strangeness or grotesqueness, especially strange or unconventional behaviour.
blank ::: n. 1. Fig. Any void space. blanks. adj. 2. Empty, without contents, void, bare. 3. Devoid of activity, interest, or distinctive character; empty. 4. Mere, bare, simple. 5. Lacking expression; expressionless, showing no interest or emotion, vacant. 6. Absolute; complete. blankness.
blaspheme ::: to speak in an irreverent, contemptuous or disrespectful manner; curse; (esp. God, a divine being or sacred things).
blazoned ::: proclaimed loudly or displayed ostentatiously or conspicuously.
blessing ::: 1. Something promoting or contributing to happiness, well-being, or prosperity; a boon. 2. A ceremonial prayer invoking divine protection, grace, etc.
blind ::: adj. 1. Unable to see; lacking the sense of sight; sightless. Also fig. 2. Unwilling or unable to perceive or understand. 3. Lacking all consciousness or awareness. 4. Not having or based on reason or intelligence; absolute and unquestioning. 5. Not characterized or determined by reason or control. 6. Purposeless; fortuitous, random. 7. Undiscriminating; heedless; reckless. 8. Enveloped in darkness; dark, dim, obscure. 9. Dense enough to form a screen. 10. Covered or concealed from sight; hidden from immediate view. 11. Having no openings or passages for light; (a window or door) walled up. blindest, half-blind. v. 12. To deprive of sight permanently or temporarily. 13. To make sightless momentarily; dazzle. blinded.* n. 14. A blind person, esp. as pl., those who are blind. 15. Fig.* Any thing or action intended to conceal one"s real intention; a pretence, a pretext; subterfuge.
bloom ::: n. **1. The flower of a plant. 2. Fig. A condition or time of vigour, freshness, and beauty; prime. 3. Fig. Glowing charm; delicate beauty. blooms. v. 4. To bear flowers; to blossom. Also fig. 5. To be in a healthy, glowing, or flourishing condition. 6. To flourish or grow. 7. To cause to flourish or grow; to flourish. Chiefly fig. blooms, bloomed.**
"Body is the outward sign and lowest basis of the apparent division which Nature plunging into ignorance and self-nescience makes the starting-point for the recovery of unity by the individual soul, unity even in the midst of the most exaggerated forms of her multiple consciousness.” The Life Divine
bog ::: wet, spongy ground consisting of decomposing vegetation.
boldness or daring without regard for conventional thought or other restrictions.
border ::: n. 1. A part that forms the outer edge of something. 2. The line or frontier area separating political divisions or geographic regions; a boundary. 3. A strip of ground, as that at the edge of a garden or walk, an edging. borders. v. 4. To form the boundary of; be contiguous to. fig. To confine. 5. To lie adjacent to another. bordered.
bosom ::: 1. The breast. 2. Something likened to the human breast, such as the bosom of the earth, the sea. 2. The breast, conceived of as the centre of feelings or emotions. 3. Centre of; heart of. bosom"s, bosoms, bosomed, white-bosomed.
bound ::: n. 1. A boundary; a limit. bounds, earth-bounds. *v. *2. To constitute the limit of; contain; enclose. bounds.
bow ::: a weapon consisting of a curved, flexible strip of material, especially wood, strung taut from end to end and used to launch arrows.
bow ::: to bend (the head, knee, or body) to express greeting, consent, courtesy, acknowledgement, submission, or veneration. bows, bowed.
breadth ::: 1. The measure or the second largest dimension of a plane or solid figure; width. 2. Freedom from narrowness or restraint; liberality. 3. Tolerance; broadmindedness. breadths.
breaking-point ::: the point at which a condition or situation becomes critical.
breaks out or from ::: bursts or springs out from restraint, confinement, or concealment. Said of persons and things material, also of fire, light, etc.
break ::: v. 1. To destroy by or as if by shattering or crushing. 2. To force or make a way through (a barrier, etc.). 3. To vary or disrupt the uniformity or continuity of. 4. To overcome or put an end to. 5. To destroy or interrupt a regularity, uniformity, continuity, or arrangement of; interrupt. 6. To intrude upon; interrupt a conversation, etc. 7. To discontinue or sever an association, an agreement, or a relationship. **8. To overcome or wear down the spirit, strength, or resistance of. 9. (usually followed by in, into or out). 10. To filter or penetrate as sunlight into a room. 11. To come forth suddenly. 12. To utter suddenly; to express or start to express an emotion, mood, etc. 13. Said of waves, etc. when they dash against an obstacle, or topple over and become surf or broken water in the shallows. 14. To part the surface of water, as a ship or a jumping fish. breaks, broke, broken, breaking.* *n. 15.** An interruption or a disruption in continuity or regularity.
breathe ::: 1. To be alive; live. 2. To take air, oxygen, etc., into the lungs and expel it; inhale and exhale; respire. Also fig. 3. To control the outgoing breath in producing voice and speech sounds. 4. To utter, especially quietly. 5. To make apparent or manifest; express; suggest. 6. To exhale (something); emit. 7. To impart as if by breathing; instil. 8. To move gently or blow lightly, as air. breathes, breathed, breathing. ::: To breathe upon fig. To taint; corrupt.
bribe ::: something, such as money or a favour, offered or given to a person in a position of trust to influence that person"s views or conduct.
bricked :::constructed, lined, or paved with brick. Also Fig.
bridge ::: n. 1. A structure spanning and providing passage over a gap or barrier, such as a river or roadway. bridges, bridge-like. v. 2. To build or provide a bridge over something; span. Also fig. 3. To join by or as if by a bridge; link, connect. bridged, bridging.
brief ::: a memorandum of points of fact or of law for use in conducting a case. (All other references are as: short lived, fleeting, transitory. briefer, brief-lived.)
brim ::: the rim or uppermost edge of a hollow container or natural basin, bowl, etc.
broken ::: 1. Forcibly separated into two or more pieces; fractured. 2. Crushed in spirit or temper; discouraged; overcome. 3. Incomplete. 4. Interrupted disturbed; disconnected. 5. Torn; ruptured. (Also pp. of break.)
brood ::: n. 1. Offspring; progeny; in one family. 2. A breed, species, group, kind or race with common qualities. v. 3. To think deeply on; dwell or meditate upon, contemplate. broods, brooded.
bud ::: 1. A rudimentary inflorescence, i.e. flower bud. 2. *Fig. Something in an undeveloped or immature condition. *buds, honey-buds, lotus-bud.
build ::: 1. To construct; erect; lit. and fig. (sometimes with up). 2. To mould, form, create. 3. To found, form or construct (a plan, system, etc.) on a basis. 4. To develop or give form to according to a plant or process; create; construct (something immaterial). builds, built, building.
building ::: 1. The act or action of constructing; erecting. Also fig. **2. **Something that is built, as for human habitation; a structure.
built ::: pt. and pp. of build. dream-built, high-built, low-built, mind-built, new-built. *adj. *built in. Constructed or included as an integral part of. adj. built-up. Built by the fastening together of several parts or enlarged by the addition of layers.
buried ::: v. 1. Deposited or hid under ground; covered up with earth or other material. Also fig. **2. Plunged or sunk deep in, so as to be covered from view; put out of sight. adj. 3. Put in the ground or in a tomb; interred. 4. Consigned to a position of obscurity, inaccessibility, or inaction. 5.* Fig.* Consigned to oblivion, put out of the way, abandoned and forgotten.
burn ::: 1. To be very eager; aflame with activity, as to be on fire. 2. To emit heat or light by as if by combustion; to flame.. 3. To give off light or to glow brightly. 4. To light; a candle; incense, etc.) as an offering. 5. To suffer punishment or death by or as if by fire; put to death by fire. 6. To injure, endanger, or damage with or as if with fire. 7. Fig. To be consumed with strong emotions; be aflame with desire; anger; etc. 8. To shine intensely; to seem to glow as if on fire. burns, burned, burnt, burning.
business ::: 1. One"s rightful or proper concern or interest. 2. A specific occupation or pursuit; an action in which one is engaged.
"But in the path of knowledge as it is practised in India concentration is used in a special and more limited sense. It means that removal of the thought from all distracting activities of the mind and that concentration of it on the idea of the One by which the soul rises out of the phenomenal into the one reality.” The Synthesis of Yoga*
butt ::: a person or thing that is the object of wit, ridicule, sarcasm, contempt.
byways ::: secondary or side path, road or way little travelled (as in the countryside).
cabin ::: 1. A small, roughly built house; a simple cottage. 2. An enclosed space; a confined area.
cabined :::confined in an enclosed space like a cabin. fig. hampered, hindered, impeded, in ability to think or act.
call ::: Sri Aurobindo: "All Yoga is in its nature a new birth; it is a birth out of the ordinary, the mentalised material life of man into a higher spiritual consciousness and a greater and diviner being. No Yoga can be successfully undertaken and followed unless there is a strong awakening to the necessity of that larger spiritual existence. The soul that is called to this deep and vast inward change, may arrive in different ways to the initial departure. It may come to it by its own natural development which has been leading it unconsciously towards the awakening; it may reach it through the influence of a religion or the attraction of a philosophy; it may approach it by a slow illumination or leap to it by a sudden touch or shock; it may be pushed or led to it by the pressure of outward circumstances or by an inward necessity, by a single word that breaks the seals of the mind or by long reflection, by the distant example of one who has trod the path or by contact and daily influence. According to the nature and the circumstances the call will come.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
calm ::: n. 1. Serenity; tranquillity; peace. 2. Nearly or completely motionless as a condition of no wind. Calm, Calm"s, calms, calmness. adj. 3. Not excited or agitated; composed; tranquil; 4. Without rough motion; still or nearly still. calmer, calm-lipped, stone-calm. *adv. calmly.
Sri Aurobindo: "Calm is a still unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect — it is a less negative condition than quiet.” Letters on Yoga*
"Calm is a positive tranquillity which can exist in spite of superficial disturbances.” *Letters on Yoga
"Calm is a strong and positive quietude, firm and solid — ordinary quietude is mere negation, simply the absence of disturbance.” *Letters on Yoga
"But more powerful still is the giving up of the fruit of one"s works, because that immediately destroys all causes of disturbance and brings and preserves automatically an inner calm and peace, and calm and peace are the foundation on which all else becomes perfect and secure in possession by the tranquil spirit.” Essays on the Gita
The Mother: "Calm is self-possessed strength, quiet and conscious energy, mastery of the impulses, control over the unconscious reflexes.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 14*.
camouflage :::concealment by some means that alters or obscures the appearance.
camp ::: n. 1. A place where tents, huts, or other temporary shelters are set up, as by soldiers, nomads, or travelers. 2. The people using such shelters. 3. Temporary living quarters for soldiers or prisoners. v. 4. To make or set up a camp. or to live temporarily in or as if in a camp or outdoors. 5. To settle down securely and comfortably; become ensconced. camps, camped.
cam"st ::: a native English contracted form of the verb, to come, now only in formal and poetic usage.
canalise ::: to divert into certain channels; give a certain direction to or provide a certain outlet for, in order to control or regulate. canalises, canalised.
captive ::: n. 1. One, such as a prisoner of war, who is forcibly confined, subjugated, or enslaved. captives. v. 2. Those taken and held as a prisoners. captived. adj. 3. Kept under restraint or control; confined. 4. Enraptured, as by beauty; captivated.
care ::: n. **1. A burdened state of mind, as that arising from heavy responsibilities; worry. 2. An object of or cause for concern. 3. Watchful oversight; charge or supervision. 4. An object or source of worry, attention, or solicitude. care, cares. v. 5. To be concerned or interested, have concern for. cares, cared.**
carrier ::: something or someone that transports or conveys.
cased ::: sheathed, enclosed, covered or protected, contained within.
casked ::: placed or stored in a sturdy cylindrical container for storing liquids; put in a barrel. Also fig.
cast ::: v. 1. To throw with force; hurl. 2. To form (liquid metal, for example) into a particular shape by pouring into a mould. Also fig. 3. To cause to fall upon something or in a certain direction; send forth. 4. To throw on the ground, as in wrestling. 5. To put or place, esp. hastily or forcibly. 6. To direct (the eye, a glance, etc.) 7. To throw (something) forth or off. 8. To bestow; confer. casts, casting.
catch ::: n. 1. A concealed, unexpected, or unforeseen drawback or handicap. 2. Anything that is caught, esp. something worth catching. v. **3. To take, seize, or capture, esp. after pursuit. 4. To become cognizant or aware of suddenly. 5. To receive. 6. catches, caught, catching.**
ceaseless ::: without stop or pause; constant. ceaselessly.
cease ::: v. 1. To come to an end; stop. 2. To put an end to a condition or state of being; discontinue. 3. To come to an end; pass away; no longer exist. ceases, ceased* *n. 4.** Cessation.
cell ::: 1. A small humble abode, such as a hermit"s cave or hut. 2. A narrow confining room, as in a prison or convent.
cell ::: biology: The smallest structural unit of an organism that is capable of independent functioning, consisting of one or more nuclei, cytoplasm, and various organelles, all surrounded by a semipermeable cell membrane. cells.
cessation ::: a ceasing or stopping; discontinuance; pause. cessations.
chained ::: restrained or confined as if with chains. love-chained.
chainless ::: free of restraint; unconstrained.
chain ::: n. 1. A series of things connected or following in succession. 2. Something that binds or restrains. chains. v. 3. Fig. To restrain or confine with or as with a chain.
challenge ::: 1. A call or summons to engage in a contest, fight, or competition. 2. A demand for explanation or justification; a calling into question. v. **3. To invite; arouse; stimulate; provoke. challenges, challenged, challenging.**
chance ::: n. 1. The absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled: often personified or treated as a positive agency. 2. The happening of events; the way in which things happen; fortune. 3. An opportune or favourable time; opportunity. 4. Fortune; luck; fate. Chance, chances. *adj.* 5. Not planned or expected; accidental. v. 6. To happen by chance; be the case by chance.** chanced.
changeful ::: often changing; inconstant; variable.
changeless ::: unchanging, constant.
change ::: v. 1. To make the form, nature, content, future course, etc. of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. 2. To become different or undergo alteration. changes, changed, changing, ever-changing.* n. 3. The act or fact of changing; transformation or modification of anything. Change, changes, soul-change.
channel ::: n. **1. A course through which something may be transmitted or through which something may be moved or directed onward. 2. The bed of a stream or river, etc. v. 3. To direct or convey something through (or as through) a channel. channels.**
chantiers ::: unfinished construction sites; workshops.
chaos ::: 1. The infinity of space or formless matter supposed to have preceded the existence of the ordered universe. 2. A condition, place, or state of great disorder or confusion. 3. A disorderly mass; a jumble. Chaos.
chaste ::: pure in thought and conduct.
check ::: v. 1. To investigate, examine or verify as to correctness; examine carefully or in detail; to ascertain the truth about. 2. To inspect so as to determine accuracy, authenticity, quality, or other condition; test. checked.* n. *3. A person or thing that stops, limits, slows, or restrains.
chiaroscuro ::: 1. The arrangement of light and dark elements in a pictorial work of art. 2. *Poetic*: Contrasting sense as in, darkness and light, ‘joy and gloom", ‘praise and blame," etc.
circumscribe ::: to enclose or restrict within limits; confine. circumscribed, circumscribing.
circumstance ::: 1. A condition, fact or detail attending an event and having some bearing on it; a determining or modifying factor. 2. A particular incident or occurrence. Circumstance.
citadel ::: **A fortress that commands a city and is used in the control of the inhabitants and in defence during attack or siege. citadels.**
clamouring ::: 1. Raising an outcry for; seeking, demanding, or calling importunately for, or to do a thing. 2. Making a clamour; shouting, or uttering loud and continued cries or calls; raising an outcry, making a noise or din of speech.
clash ::: n. 1. A loud, harsh noise, such as that made by two metal objects in collision. 2. An encounter between hostile forces; a battle or skirmish. 3. A conflict, as between opposing or irreconcilable ideas. v. 4. To engage in a physical conflict or contest, as in a game or a battle (often followed by with). 5. To come into conflict; be in opposition. clashes, clashed, clashing.
clauses, items, points, or particulars in a contract, treaty, or other formal agreement; conditions or stipulations in a contract.
clay ::: 1. A natural earthy material that is plastic when wet, consisting essentially of hydrated silicates of aluminium: used for making bricks, pottery, etc. 2. The material which is said to form the human body. 3. The human body, esp. as opposed to the spirit. clay-kin.
clear ::: 1. Not obscured or darkened; bright. 2. Free from darkness, obscurity, or cloudiness; transparent. 3. Serene; calm; untroubled. 4. Free from doubt or confusion; certain. 5. Easily perceptible to the eye or ear; distinct. 6. Easily understood; without ambiguity. 7. Free from impediment, obstruction, or hindrance; open. clearer, sun-clear, surface-clear.
clearing ::: a tract of land, as in a forest, that contains no trees or bushes.
climes ::: 1. Poetic: Regions or their climates; atmospheres. 2. The prevailing attitudes, standards or conditions of a group, period, or place.
cling ::: 1. To come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation 2. To hold fast or adhere to as if by embracing. 3. To be emotionally or intellectually attached or remain close to. 4. To hold on tightly or tenaciously to. 5. To remain attached as to an idea, hope, memory, etc. clings, clung, clinging.
cloak ::: 1. A loose outer garment, such as a cape. 2. Anything that covers or conceals. 3. Something that covers or conceals; a disguise. world-cloak.
code ::: 1. A system of symbols, letters, or words given certain arbitrary meanings, used for transmitting messages requiring secrecy or brevity. 2. A systematic collection of regulations and rules of procedure or conduct. codes.
coerce ::: 1. To compel or restrain by force or authority without regard to individual wishes or desires. 2. To dominate or control, esp. by exploiting fear, anxiety, etc. 3. To bring about through the use of force or other forms of compulsion. coerced, coercing.
coeval ::: 1. Of the same era, period or age. 2. A contemporary.
coevals ::: persons belonging to the same age or generation; contemporaries.
coil ::: n. **1. A series of connected spirals or concentric rings formed by gathering or winding. 2. Such a series resembling a serpent or a vine. v. 3. To form concentric rings or spirals. 4. To move in a spiral course. coils, coiled, coiling, coilings.**
coin ::: 1. A small piece of metal, usually flat and circular, authorized by a government for use as money. 2. A mode of expression considered standard, a symbol; token.
colloques :::converses with; holds colloquy.
colloquy ::: a formal conversation, dialogue or conference. colloquies.
coma ::: a state of deep, often prolonged unconsciousness, usually the result of injury, disease, or poison, in which an individual is incapable of sensing or responding to external stimuli and internal needs.
combs ::: a structure of hexagonal, thin-walled cells constructed from beeswax by honeybees to hold honey and larvae.
comet ::: a celestial body that travels around the sun, usually in a highly elliptical orbit: thought to consist of a solid frozen nucleus part of which vaporizes on approaching the sun to form a gaseous luminous coma and a long luminous tail.
comforts ::: a condition or feeling of pleasurable ease, well-being, and contentment.
command ::: n. 1. An order; mandate. 2. The possession or exercise of controlling authority. Command. v. 3. To direct with specific authority or prerogative; order. 4. To give orders. 5. To have or exercise authority or control over; be master of; have at one"s bidding or disposal. commands, commanded.
communicated ::: 1. Had an interchange, as of ideas. 2. Conveyed information about; imparted knowledge of; made known. communicates, communicating.
companion ::: 1. A person who accompanies or associates with another; a comrade. 2. Astronomy. The fainter of the two stars that constitute a double star. companions, companionless.
compendium ::: 1. A brief treatment or account of a subject, esp. an extensive subject; concise treatise. 2. A short, complete summary; an abstract.
competitors ::: those who strive to outdo others, engage in a contest, or seek an object in rivalry with others also seeking it.
complaint ::: an expression of pain, dissatisfaction, discontent or resentment.
complete ::: adj. 1. Having all necessary or normal parts, components, or steps; entire. 2. Thorough; consummate; fully realised. n. completeness. *v. *3. To bring to a finish or an end.
composed ::: to be made up, formed, compounded of (a material, or constituent elements); to be constituted; to consist of.
compressing ::: pressing together to force into less space; condensing.
compression ::: 1. The act or process of compressing. 2. The process or result of constricting; becoming smaller or pressed together.
compromise ::: 1. A settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions.
com"st ::: a native English contracted form of the verb, to come, now only in formal and poetic usage.
"Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.” Letters on Yoga
"Concentration simply means a fixing of consciousness on something.” Guidance from Sri Aurobindo by Nagin Doshi - Vol. 1
::: "Consciousness is not only power of awareness of self and things, it is or has also a dynamic and creative energy. It can determine its own reactions or abstain from reactions; it can not only answer to forces, but create or put out from itself forces. Consciousness is Chit but also Chit Shakti.” Letters on Yoga
::: "Consciousness is usually identified with mind, but mental consciousness is only the human range which no more exhausts all the possible ranges of consciousness than human sight exhausts all the gradations of colour or human hearing all the gradations of sound — for there is much above or below that is to man invisible and inaudible. So there are ranges of consciousness above and below the human range, with which the normal human has no contact and they seem to it unconscious, — supramental or overmental and submental ranges.” *Letters on Yoga
::: ‘Consecration" generally has a more mystical sense but this is not absolute. A total consecration signifies a total giving of one"s self; hence it is the equivalent of the word ``surrender"", not of the word (soumission} which always gives the impression that one accepts'' passively. You feel a flame in the wordconsecration"", a flame even greater than in the word offering''. To consecrate oneself isto give oneself to an action""; hence, in the yogic sense, it is to give oneself to some divine work with the idea of accomplishing the divine work.” Questions and Answers, MCW Vol. 4*.
"Consecration is a process by which one trains the consciousness to give itself to the Divine.” Letters on Yoga
cope ::: to contend or strive with difficulties and act to overcome them.
copy-book ::: a book containing models, usually of penmanship, for learners to imitate. Hence adj. commonplace; stereotyped.
cornices ::: prominent, continuous, horizontally projecting features surmounting a wall or other construction, or dividing it horizontally for compositional purposes; i.e. to crown or complete a building.
corridor ::: a hallway or passage connecting parts of a building. corridors.
corrupt ::: 1. To destroy or subvert the honesty or integrity of. 2. To ruin morally; pervert. 3. To cause to become rotten; spoil. 4. To taint; contaminate. corrupted, corrupting.
cosmic consciousness
cosmic force ::: Sri Aurobindo: ". . . universal force and universal consciousness are one, — cosmic force is the operation of cosmic consciousness.” *The Life Divine
cosmicity ("s) ::: a word coined by Sri Aurobindo. The suffix ity is used to form abstract nouns expressing state or condition. Hence, cosmicity refers to a cosmic state or condition.
cosmic mind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Nevertheless, the fact of this intervention from above, the fact that behind all our original thinking or authentic perception of things there is a veiled, a half-veiled or a swift unveiled intuitive element is enough to establish a connection between mind and what is above it; it opens a passage of communication and of entry into the superior spirit-ranges. There is also the reaching out of mind to exceed the personal ego limitation, to see things in a certain impersonality and universality. Impersonality is the first character of cosmic self; universality, non-limitation by the single or limiting point of view, is the character of cosmic perception and knowledge: this tendency is therefore a widening, however rudimentary, of these restricted mind areas towards cosmicity, towards a quality which is the very character of the higher mental planes, — towards that superconscient cosmic Mind which, we have suggested, must in the nature of things be the original mind-action of which ours is only a derivative and inferior process.” *The Life Divine
"If we accept the Vedic image of the Sun of Truth, . . . we may compare the action of the Higher Mind to a composed and steady sunshine, the energy of the Illumined Mind beyond it to an outpouring of massive lightnings of flaming sun-stuff. Still beyond can be met a yet greater power of the Truth-Force, an intimate and exact Truth-vision, Truth-thought, Truth-sense, Truth-feeling, Truth-action, to which we can give in a special sense the name of Intuition; . . . At the source of this Intuition we discover a superconscient cosmic Mind in direct contact with the supramental Truth-Consciousness, an original intensity determinant of all movements below it and all mental energies, — not Mind as we know it, but an Overmind that covers as with the wide wings of some creative Oversoul this whole lower hemisphere of Knowledge-Ignorance, links it with that greater Truth-Consciousness while yet at the same time with its brilliant golden Lid it veils the face of the greater Truth from our sight, intervening with its flood of infinite possibilities as at once an obstacle and a passage in our seeking of the spiritual law of our existence, its highest aim, its secret Reality.” The Life Divine
"There is one cosmic Mind, one cosmic Life, one cosmic Body. All the attempt of man to arrive at universal sympathy, universal love and the understanding and knowledge of the inner soul of other existences is an attempt to beat thin, breach and eventually break down by the power of the enlarging mind and heart the walls of the ego and arrive nearer to a cosmic oneness.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
"[The results of the opening to the cosmic Mind:] One is aware of the cosmic Mind and the mental forces that move there and how they work on one"s mind and that of others and one is able to deal with one"s own mind with a greater knowledge and effective power. There are many other results, but this is the fundamental one.” Letters on Yoga
"The cosmic consciousness has many levels — the cosmic physical, the cosmic vital, the cosmic Mind, and above the higher planes of cosmic Mind there is the Intuition and above that the overmind and still above that the supermind where the Transcendental begins. In order to live in the Intuition plane (not merely to receive intuitions), one has to live in the cosmic consciousness because there the cosmic and individual run into each other as it were, and the mental separation between them is already broken down, so nobody can reach there who is still in the separative ego.” Letters on Yoga*
cosmic Self ::: Sri Aurobindo: "When one has the cosmic consciousness, one can feel the cosmic Self as one"s own self, one can feel one with other beings in the cosmos, one can feel all the forces of Nature as moving in oneself, all selves as one"s own self. There is no why except that it is so, since all is the One.” Letters on Yoga (See also Cosmic Spirit)
"Impersonality is the first character of cosmic self; . . . .” *The Life Divine
"An eternal infinite self-existence is the supreme reality, but the supreme transcendent eternal Being, Self and Spirit, — an infinite Person, we may say, because his being is the essence and source of all personality, — is the reality and meaning of self-existence: so too the cosmic Self, Spirit, Being, Person is the reality and meaning of cosmic existence; the same Self, Spirit, Being or Person manifesting its multiplicity is the reality and meaning of individual existence.” The Life Divine
"But this cosmic self is spiritual in essence and in experience; it must not be confused with the collective existence, with any group soul or the life and body of a human society or even of all mankind.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"It is the Cosmic Self and Spirit that is in and behind all things and beings, from which and in which all is manifested in the universe — although it is now a manifestation in the Ignorance.” Letters on Yoga*
cosmic Spirit ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Cosmic Spirit or Self contains everything in the cosmos — it upholds cosmic Mind, universal Life, universal Matter as well as the overmind. The Self is more than all these things which are its formulations in Nature.” *Letters on Yoga
"[The Divine in one of its three aspects] . . . is the Cosmic Self and Spirit that is in and behind all things and beings, from which and in which all is manifested in the universe - although it is now a manifestation in the Ignorance.” Letters on Yoga
". . . the cosmic spirit, the one self inhabiting the universe, . . . .” *The Life Divine
"For the cosmic Spirit inhabits each and all, but is more than all; . . . .”The Life Divine
cosmic Truth ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Cosmic Truth is the view on things of a cosmic consciousness in which things are seen in their true essence and their true relation to the Divine and to each other.” *Letters on Yoga
cosmic Will ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Agni is the Deva, the All-Seer, manifested as conscious-force or, as it would be called in modern language, Divine or Cosmic Will, first hidden and building up the eternal worlds, then manifest, ``born"", building up in man the Truth and the Immortality.” *The Secret of the Veda
cosmologist ::: one who studies the physical universe considered as a totality of phenomena in time and space.
councils ::: assemblies of persons summoned or convened for consultation, deliberation, or advice.
count ::: n. 1. The act of counting; or calculating. v. 2. To take account of; reckon to another"s credit. 3. To have merit, importance, value, etc.; deserve consideration. counts, counted, counting.
courage ::: the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery.
course ::: 1. A direction or route taken or to be taken. 2. The path, route, or channel along which anything moves. 3. Advance or progression in a particular direction; forward or onward movement. 4. The continuous passage or progress through time or a succession of stages. chariot-course.
court ::: 1. The room or building in which a tribunal sits and justice is administered. 2. A judicial tribunal duly constituted for the hearing and determination of legal cases.
cover ::: n. 1. Fig. Something, such as darkness, that screens, conceals, or disguises. v. 2. To spread over a surface to protect or conceal or warm something. 3. To hide from view or knowledge; conceal. covers, covered, covering.
covert ::: 1. Secret or hidden from view or knowledge; not openly practiced or engaged in, shown or avowed. 2. Concealment; secrecy. 3. A covered place or shelter; hiding place.
cramped ::: closed in; restricted; confined in space, action, etc.
creed ::: 1. A formal statement of religious belief; a confession of faith. 2. Any system or codification of belief or of opinion. creeds.
crooked ::: 1. Bent, angled or winding; deformed or contorted. 2. Dishonest or unscrupulous; fraudulent; perverse.
cross ::: 1. A structure consisting essentially of an upright and a transverse piece, upon which persons were formerly put to a cruel and ignominious death by being nailed or otherwise fastened to it by their extremities. 2. A representation or delineation of a cross on any surface, varying in elaborateness from two lines crossing each other to an ornamental design painted, embroidered, carved, etc.; used as a sacred mark, symbol, badge, or the like. 3. A trouble, vexation, annoyance; misfortune, adversity; sometimes anything that thwarts or crosses. v. 4. To go or extend across; pass from one side of to the other: pass over. 5. To extend or pass through or over; intersect. 6. To encounter in passing. crosses, crossed, crossing.
crowd ::: n. 1. A large number of persons gathered tightly together; a throng. 2. The masses. 3. A large number of things or people gathered or considered together; a multitude. crowds. v. 4. To press together into a confined space; assemble in large numbers. 5. To fill, occupy or cram things tightly together. 6. To advance by pressing or shoving. crowds, crowded, crowding.
crowned ::: 1. Invested with regal power; enthroned. 2. Ultimate; perfect; sovereign. 3. Having the finishing touch added to; completed worthily; brought to a successful consummation.
crowning ::: the successful conclusion, the consummating event.
crush ::: 1. Fig. To conquer by force. 2. To put down; subdue completely 3. To hug, especially with great force. crushed.
cube ::: 1. A regular solid having six congruent square faces. 2. A block having the general shape of a cube. cubes.
culture ("s) ::: the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.
cunning ::: 1. Skill or adeptness in execution or performance; dexterity. 2. Artfully subtle or shrewd. 3. Cunning implies a shrewd, often instinctive skill in concealing or disguising the real purposes of one"s actions. cunningly.
cup ::: 1. A small open container, usually with a flat bottom and a handle, used for drinking, or something resembling it. cup"s 2. *Fig.* Something that one must endure; one"s lot to be experienced or endured with pain or happiness, as these lines in Savitri:
curb ::: to check, restrain, or control. curbed, curbing.
**curled** ::: 1. Formed into a coiled or spiral shape. 2. Bent or raised the upper lip slightly on one side, as an expression of contempt or scorn. foam-curled.
current ::: 1. (esp. of water or air) A steady usually natural flow in a particular direction. 2. A flow of electric charge through a conductor. current"s, currents.
curtained ::: shut off or concealed with or as if with a curtain.
customs-line ::: an area (or line) where a governmental agency checks baggage or merchandise for contraband and goods subject to duty.
cynic ::: 1. A person who believes all people are motivated by selfishness and whose outlook is scornfully and often habitually negative. 2. *adj. *Bitterly or sneeringly distrustful, contemptuous, or pessimistic.
dark ::: adj. 1. Lacking or having very little light. 2. Concealed or secret; mysterious. 3. Difficult to understand; obscure. 4. Characterized by gloom; dismal. 5. Fig. Sinister; evil; absent moral or spiritual values. 6. (used of color) Having a dark hue; almost black. 7. Showing a brooding ill humor. 8. Having a complexion that is not fair; swarthy. darker, darkest, dark-browed, dark-robed.* n. 9. Absence of light; dark state or condition; darkness, esp. that of night. 10. A dark place: a place of darkness. 11. The condition of being hidden from view, obscure, or unknown; obscurity. *in the dark: in concealment or secrecy.
darkness ::: 1. Absence of light or illumination. 2. Fig. Absence of moral or spiritual values. 3. Obscurity; lack of knowledge or enlightenment; an unenlightened state. 4. A condition of secrecy, mystery, characterized by things hidden. 5. Wickedness or evil. Darkness, darkness", darknesses.
"Death has no reality except as a process of life. Disintegration of substance and renewal of substance, maintenance of form and change of form are the constant process of life; death is merely a rapid disintegration subservient to life"s necessity of change and variation of formal experience. Even in the death of the body there is no cessation of Life, only the material of one form of life is broken up to serve as material for other forms of life.” The Life Divine
::: "Death is the question Nature puts continually to Life and her reminder to it that it has not yet found itself. If there were no siege of death, the creature would be bound for ever in the form of an imperfect living. Pursued by death he awakes to the idea of perfect life and seeks out its means and its possibility.” *Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
"Death is there because the being in the body is not yet developed enough to go on growing in the same body without the need of change and the body itself is not sufficiently conscious. If the mind and vital and the body itself were more conscious and plastic, death would not be necessary.” Letters on Yoga
debate ::: 1. A discussion involving opposing points; an argument. 2. A formal contest in which the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition are advocated by opposing speakers.
decadence ::: 1. The act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay. 2. Moral degeneration; turpitude.
deceit ::: the act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating.
dedicate ::: to set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate. dedicated.
deduction ::: logic. A process of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from the premises presented, so that the conclusion cannot be false if the premises are true.
deeply ::: adv. 1. At or to a considerable extent downward; well within or beneath a surface. 2. With deep feeling or emotion; greatly, thoroughly, intensely, acutely.
deep ::: n. 1. A vast extent, as of space or time; an abyss. 2. Fig. Difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge; as an unfathomable thought, idea, esp. poetic. Deep, deep"s, deeps. adj. 3. Extending far downward below a surface. 4. Having great spatial extension or penetration downward or inward from an outer surface or backward or laterally or outward from a center; sometimes used in combination. 5. Coming from or penetrating to a great depth. 6. Situated far down, in, or back. 7. Lying below the surface; not superficial; profound. 8. Of great intensity; as extreme deep happiness, deep trouble. 9. Absorbing; engrossing. 10. Grave or serious. 11. Profoundly or intensely. 12. Mysterious; obscure; difficult to penetrate or understand. 13. Low in pitch or tone. 14. Profoundly cunning, crafty or artful. 15. The central and most intense or profound part; "in the deep of night”; "in the deep of winter”. deeper, deepest, deep-browed, deep-caved, deep-concealed, deep-etched, deep-fraught, deep-guarded, deep-hid, deep-honied, deep-pooled, deep-thoughted. *adv. *16. to a great depth psychologically or profoundly.
defeatist ::: marked by the attitude of one who admits, expects, or no longer resists defeat, as because of a conviction that further struggle or effort is futile.
deliberate ::: 1. Carefully weighed or considered; studied; intentional. 2. Leisurely and steady in movement or action; slow and even; unhurried.
delicacy ::: fineness of appearance, construction or execution; elegance.
delicate ::: 1. Distinguishing subtle differences. 2. Of instruments: precise, skilled, or sensitive in action or operation. 3. Marked by sensitivity of discrimination and skillful in expression, technique, etc. 4. Exquisitely or beautifully fine in texture, construction, or finish. 5. Exquisite, fine, or subtle in quality, character, construction, etc. 6. (of colour, tone, taste, etc.) Pleasantly subtle, soft, or faint.
::: "Delight is the soul of existence, beauty the intense expression, the concentrated form of delight.” The Future Poetry*
delirium ::: 1. A more or less temporary disorder of the mental faculties, as in fevers, disturbances of consciousness, or intoxication, characterised by restlessness, excitement, delusions, hallucinations, etc. 2. A state of violent excitement or emotion.
den ::: 1. The shelter or retreat of a wild animal; a lair. 2. A cave used as a place of shelter or concealment. 3. A squalid or vile abode or place.
denial ::: 1. A refusal to accept or believe something, such as a doctrine or belief. 2. A refusal to grant the truth of a statement or allegation; a contradiction; a disavowal. denial"s, denials.
denouement ::: the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel; solution, conclusion.
deny ::: 1. To refuse to recognize or acknowledge; disavow. 2. To declare untrue; contradict. 3. To refuse to fulfil the requests or expectations; refuse to give. 4. To give a refusal to; turn down or away. 5. To withhold the possession, user, or enjoyment of. denies, denied, denying.
depth ::: 1. The quality of a state of consciousness. 2. Beyond one"s knowledge or capability. 3. Emotional intensity, profundity. 4. The quality of being deep; deepness. 5. Complexity or profundity. 6. The extent, measurement, or distance downwards, backwards, or inwards. depths, depths", spirit-depths, wave-depths.
despised ::: regarded with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain; scorned; loathed.
despotism ::: 1. The rule of a despot; the exercise of absolute authority. 2. Absolute power or control; tyranny.
destruction ::: 1. The act of destroying. 2. The condition of having been destroyed; annihilation. Destruction"s.
"Destruction is always a simultaneous or alternate element which keeps pace with creation and it is by destroying and renewing that the Master of Life does his long work of preservation. More, destruction is the first condition of progress. Inwardly, the man who does not destroy his lower self-formations, cannot rise to a greater existence. Outwardly also, the nation or community or race which shrinks too long from destroying and replacing its past forms of life, is itself destroyed, rots and perishes and out of its debris other nations, communities and races are formed. By destruction of the old giant occupants man made himself a place upon earth. By destruction of the Titans the gods maintain the continuity of the divine Law in the cosmos. Whoever prematurely attempts to get rid of this law of battle and destruction, strives vainly against the greater will of the World-Spirit.” Essays on the Gita
detached ::: 1. Impartial or objective; disinterested; unbiased. 2. Not involved or concerned; aloof. ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Detachment means that one stands back from [imperfections and weakness of the nature, etc.] , does not identify oneself with them or get upset or troubled because they are there, but rather looks on them as something foreign to one"s true consciousness and true self, rejects them and calls in the Mother"s Force into these movements to eliminate them and bring the true consciousness and its movements there.” Letters on Yoga
detail ::: 1. A minor or an inconsequential item or aspect; a minutia. 2. An individual part or item; a particular. details.
device ::: 1. Something devised or framed by art or inventive power; an invention, contrivance for some particular purpose. 2. A plan or scheme, especially a malign one. 3. Something elaborately or fancifully designed. devices.
"Each person follows in the world his own line of destiny which is determined by his own nature and actions — the meaning and necessity of what happens in a particular life cannot be understood except in the light of the whole course of many lives. But this can be seen by those who can get beyond the ordinary mind and feelings and see things as a whole, that even errors, misfortunes, calamities are steps in the journey, — the soul gathering experience as it passes through and beyond them until it is ripe for the transition which will carry it beyond these things to a higher consciousness and higher life.” Letters on Yoga*
::: "Even Science believes that one day death may be conquered by physical means and its reasonings are perfectly sound. There is no reason why the supramental Force should not do it. Forms on earth do not last (they do in other planes) because these forms are too rigid to grow expressing the progress of the spirit. If they become plastic enough to do that there is no reason why they should not last.” Letters on Yoga
::: " . . . for Dawn is the illumination of the Truth rising upon the mentality to bring the day of full consciousness into the darkness or half-lit night of our being.” The Secret of the Veda
"For each birth is a new start; it develops indeed from the past, but is not its mechanical continuation: rebirth is not a constant reiteration but a progression, it is the machinery of an evolutionary process.” The Life Divine
"For the essence of consciousness is the power to be aware of itself and its objects, . . . .” The Life Divine
"Here we live in an organisation of mortal consciousness which takes the form of a transient world; there we are liberated into the harmonies of an infinite self-seeing which knows all world in the light of the eternal and immortal. The Beyond is our reality; that is our plenitude; that is the absolute satisfaction of our self-existence. It is immortality and it is ‘That Delight".” The Upanishads *beyond
"High beyond the Intelligence is the Great Self, beyond the Great Self is the Unmanifest, beyond the Unmanifest is the Conscious Being. There is nothing beyond the Being, — that is the extreme ultimate, that the supreme goal.” — Katha Upanishad. (4) (Sri Aurobindo"s translation) The Life Divine
"I have said that the Avatar is one who comes to open the Way for humanity to a higher consciousness —. . . .” Letters on Yoga
"I may say that the opening upwards, the ascent into the Light and the subsequent descent into the ordinary consciousness and normal human life is very common as the first decisive experience in the practice of yoga and may very well happen even without the practice of yoga in those who are destined for the spiritual change, especially if there is a dissatisfaction somewhere with the ordinary life and a seeking for something more, greater or better.” Letters on Yoga*
::: ". . . in such a view, the word consciousness changes its meaning. It is no longer synonymous with mentality but indicates a self-aware force of existence of which mentality is a middle term; below mentality it sinks into vital and material movements which are for us subconscient; above, it rises into the supramental which is for us the superconscient. But in all it is one and the same thing organising itself differently. This is, once more, the Indian conception of Chit which, as energy, creates the worlds.” *The Life Divine
". . . in the Avatar there is the special manifestation, the divine birth from above, the eternal and universal Godhead descended into a form of individual humanity, âtmânam srjâmi, and conscious not only behind the veil but in the outward nature.” Essays on the Gita
"In the subconscient knowledge or consciousness is involved in action, for action is the essence of Life.” The Life Divine
"It [death] has no separate existence by itself, it is only a result of the principle of decay in the body and that principle is there already — it is part of the physical nature. At the same time it is not inevitable; if one could have the necessary consciousness and force, decay and death is not inevitable. But to bring that consciousness and force into the whole of the material nature is the most difficult thing of all — at any rate, in such a way as to annul the decay principle.” Letters on Yoga
"It is a call of the being for higher things — for the Divine, for all that belongs to the higher or Divine Consciousness.” Guidance
"It is not possible for the individual mind, so long as it remains shut up in its personality, to understand the workings of the Cosmic Will, for the standards made by the personal consciousness are not applicable to them. A cell in the body, if conscious, might also think that the human being and its actions are only the resultant of the relations and workings of a number of cells like itself and not the action of a unified self. It is only if one enters into the Cosmic Consciousness that one begins to see the forces at work and the lines on which they work and get a glimpse of the Cosmic Self and the Cosmic Mind and Will.” Letters on Yoga
"Man, born into the world, revolves between world and world in the action of Prakriti and Karma. Purusha in Prakriti is his formula: what the soul in him thinks, contemplates and acts, that always he becomes. All that he had been, determined his present birth; and all that he is, thinks, does in this life up to the moment of his death, determines what he will become in the worlds beyond and in lives yet to be. If birth is a becoming, death also is a becoming, not by any means a cessation.” Essays on the Gita
"Mind, life and body, the soul in the succession of Time, the conscient, subconscient and superconscient, — these in their various relations and the result of their relations are cosmos and are Nature.” The Life Divine
"Moreover we see that this cosmic action or any cosmic action is impossible without the play of an infinite Force of Existence which produces and regulates all these forms and movements; and that Force equally presupposes or is the action of an infinite Consciousness, because it is in its nature a cosmic Will determining all relations and apprehending them by its own mode of awareness, and it could not so determine and apprehend them if there were no comprehensive Consciousness behind that mode of cosmic awareness to originate as well as to hold, fix and reflect through it the relations of Being in the developing formation or becoming of itself which we call a universe.” The Life Divine
n. 1. Acceptance or approval of what is planned or done by another; acquiescence. v. 2. To give assent, as to the proposal of another; agree. consents, consented, consenting.
n. 1. The point, axis, or pivot about which a body rotates. 2. A point, area, or part that is approximately in the middle of a larger area or volume. 3. A person or thing that is a focus of interest or attention. 4. A point of origin. centre"s, centres. v. 5. To focus or bring together. 6. To move towards, mark, put, or be concentrated at or as at a centre. 7. centred. Brought together to a centre, concentrated.
"Ordinarily we mean by it [consciousness] our first obvious idea of a mental waking consciousness such as is possessed by the human being during the major part of his bodily existence, when he is not asleep, stunned or otherwise deprived of his physical and superficial methods of sensation. In this sense it is plain enough that consciousness is the exception and not the rule in the order of the material universe. We ourselves do not always possess it. But this vulgar and shallow idea of the nature of consciousness, though it still colours our ordinary thought and associations, must now definitely disappear out of philosophical thinking. For we know that there is something in us which is conscious when we sleep, when we are stunned or drugged or in a swoon, in all apparently unconscious states of our physical being. Not only so, but we may now be sure that the old thinkers were right when they declared that even in our waking state what we call then our consciousness is only a small selection from our entire conscious being. It is a superficies, it is not even the whole of our mentality. Behind it, much vaster than it, there is a subliminal or subconscient mind which is the greater part of ourselves and contains heights and profundities which no man has yet measured or fathomed.” Letters on Yoga
"Perishable and transitory delight is always the symbol of the eternal Ananda, revealed and rapidly concealed, which seeks by increasing recurrence to attach itself to some typal form of experience in material consciousness. When the particular form has been perfected to express God in the type, its delight will no longer be perishable but an eternally recurrent possession of mental beings in matter manifest in their periods & often in their moments of felicity.” Essays Divine and Human*
"Pulling comes usually from a desire to get things for oneself — in aspiration there is a self-giving for the higher consciousness to descend and take possession — the more intense the call the greater the self-giving.” Letters on Yoga
regards as resulting from a specified cause; considers as caused by something or someone. attributing.
Sri Aurobindo: "A compromise is a bargain, a transaction of interests between two conflicting powers; it is not a true reconciliation.” *The Life Divine
*Sri Aurobindo: "Action is the first power of life. Nature begins with force and its works which, once conscious in man, become will and its achievements; therefore it is that by turning his action Godwards the life of man best and most surely begins to become divine.” The Synthesis of Yoga
*(Sri Aurobindo: "And finally all is lifted up and taken into the supermind and made a part of the infinitely luminous consciousness, knowledge and experience of the supramental being, the Vijnana Purusha.” The Synthesis of Yoga*) ::: Angel of the House. The guardian spirit of the home.
Sri Aurobindo: "As there are Powers of Knowledge or Forces of the Light, so there are Powers of Ignorance and tenebrous Forces of the Darkness whose work is to prolong the reign of Ignorance and Inconscience. As there are Forces of Truth, so there are Forces that live by the Falsehood and support it and work for its victory; as there are powers whose life is intimately bound up with the existence, the idea and the impulse of Good, so there are Forces whose life is bound up with the existence and the idea and the impulse of Evil. It is this truth of the cosmic Invisible that was symbolised in the ancient belief of a struggle between the powers of Light and Darkness, Good and Evil for the possession of the world and the government of the life of man; — this was the significance of the contest between the Vedic Gods and their opponents, sons of Darkness and Division, figured in a later tradition as Titan and Giant and Demon, Asura, Rakshasa, Pisacha; the same tradition is found in the Zoroastrian Double Principle and the later Semitic opposition of God and his Angels on the one side and Satan and his hosts on the other, — invisible Personalities and Powers that draw man to the divine Light and Truth and Good or lure him into subjection to the undivine principle of Darkness and Falsehood and Evil.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "Birth is the first spiritual mystery of the physical universe, death is the second which gives its double point of perplexity to the mystery of birth; for life, which would otherwise be a self-evident fact of existence, becomes itself a mystery by virtue of these two which seem to be its beginning and its end and yet in a thousand ways betray themselves as neither of these things, but rather intermediate stages in an occult processus of life.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "But if the individual is a persistent reality, an eternal portion or power of the Eternal, if his growth of consciousness is the means by which the Spirit in things discloses its being, the cosmos reveals itself as a conditioned manifestation of the play of the eternal One in the being of Sachchidananda with the eternal Many.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "By aesthesis is meant a reaction of the consciousness, mental and vital and even bodily, which receives a certain element in things, something that can be called their taste, Rasa, which, passing through the mind or sense or both, awakes a vital enjoyment of the taste, Bhoga, and this can again awaken us, awaken even the soul in us to something yet deeper and more fundamental than mere pleasure and enjoyment, to some form of the spirit"s delight of existence, Ananda.” *Letters on Savitri
Sri Aurobindo: "Chance is not *in this universe; the idea of illusion is itself an illusion. There was never illusion yet in the human mind that was not the concealing [?shape] and disfigurement of a truth.” Essays Divine and Human
Sri Aurobindo: "Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” *Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Confidence — the sense of security that goes with trust.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Consciousness is a fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence — it is the energy, the motion, the movement of consciousness that creates the universe and all that is in it — not only the macrocosm but the microcosm is nothing but consciousness arranging itself.” *Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Consecration becomes in its fullness a devoting of all our being to the Divine; therefore also of all our thoughts and our works.” *The Synthesis of Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Conviction — intellectual belief held on what seems to be good reasons.” Letters on Yoga
*Sri Aurobindo: "Creation is not a making of something out of nothing or of one thing out of another, but a self-projection of Brahman into the conditions of Space and Time. Creation is not a making, but a becoming in terms and forms of conscious existence.” The Upanishads*
*Sri Aurobindo: ". . . desires come from outside, enter the subconscious vital and rise to the surface. It is only when they rise to the surface and the mind becomes aware of them, that we become conscious of the desire. It seems to us to be our own because we feel it thus rising from the vital into the mind and do not know that it came from outside.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Destiny in the rigid sense applies only to the outer being so long as it lives in the Ignorance. What we call destiny is only in fact the result of the present condition of the being and the nature and energies it has accumulated in the past acting on each other and determining the present attempts and their future results. But as soon as one enters the path of spiritual life, this old predetermined destiny begins to recede. There comes in a new factor, the Divine Grace, the help of a higher Divine Force other than the force of Karma, which can lift the sadhak beyond the present possibilities of his nature. One"s spiritual destiny is then the divine election which ensures the future.” *Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "In the very atom there is a subconscious will and desire which must also be present in all atomic aggregates because they are present in the Force which constitutes the atom.” *Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "I suppose the golden child is the Truth-Soul which follows after the silver light of the spiritual. When it plunges into the black waters of the subconscient, it releases from it the spiritual light and the sevenfold streams of the Divine Energy and, clearing itself of the stains of the subconscient, it prepares its flight towards the supreme Divine (the Mother).” (Reply to a question in the chapter Visions and Symbols.) Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "It might be said again that, even so, in Sachchidananda itself at least, above all worlds of manifestation, there could be nothing but the self-awareness of pure existence and consciousness and a pure delight of existence. Or, indeed, this triune being itself might well be only a trinity of original spiritual self-determinations of the Infinite; these too, like all determinations, would cease to exist in the ineffable Absolute. But our position is that these must be inherent truths of the supreme being; their utmost reality must be pre-existent in the Absolute even if they are ineffably other there than what they are in the spiritual mind"s highest possible experience. The Absolute is not a mystery of infinite blankness nor a supreme sum of negations; nothing can manifest that is not justified by some self-power of the original and omnipresent Reality.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: " Karma is nothing but the will of the Spirit in action, consequence nothing but the creation of will. What is in the will of being, expresses itself in karma and consequence. When the will is limited in mind, karma appears as a bondage and a limitation, consequence as a reaction or an imposition. But when the will of the being is infinite in the spirit, karma and consequence become instead the joy of the creative spirit, the construction of the eternal mechanist, the word and drama of the eternal poet, the harmony of the eternal musician, the play of the eternal child.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Matter, body is only a massed motion of force of conscious being employed as a starting-point for the variable relations of consciousness working through its power of sense.” *Essays on the Gita
Sri Aurobindo: ” See God everywhere and be not frightened by masks. Believe that all falsehood is truth in the making or truth in the breaking, all failure an effectuality concealed, all weakness strength hiding itself from its own vision, all pain a secret & violent ecstasy. If thou believest firmly & unweariedly, in the end thou wilt see & experience the All-true, Almighty & All-blissful.” Essays Divine and Human*
::: Sri Aurobindo: "Spiritual force has its own concreteness; it can take a form (like a stream, for instance) of which one is aware and can send it quite concretely on whatever object one chooses. This is a statement of fact about the power inherent in spiritual consciousness. But there is also such a thing as a willed use of any subtle force — it may be spiritual, mental or vital — to secure a particular result at some point in the world. Just as there are waves of unseen physical forces (cosmic waves etc.) or currents of electricity, so there are mind-waves, thought-currents, waves of emotion, — for example, anger, sorrow, etc., — which go out and affect others without their knowing whence they come or that they come at all, they only feel the result. One who has the occult or inner senses awake can feel them coming and invading him.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "The cosmic consciousness is that of the universe, of the cosmic spirit and cosmic Nature with all the beings and forces within it. All that is as much conscious as a whole as the individual separately is, though in a different way. The consciousness of the individual is part of this, but a part feeling itself as a separate being. Yet all the time most of what he is comes into him from the cosmic consciousness. But there is a wall of separative ignorance between. Once it breaks down he becomes aware of the cosmic Self, of the consciousness of the cosmic Nature, of the forces playing in it, etc. He feels all that as he now feels physical things and impacts. He finds it all to be one with his larger or universal self.” *Letters on Yoga
*Sri Aurobindo: ". . . the divine Ananda, the principle of Bliss [is that] from which, in the Vedic conception, the existence of Man, this mental being, is drawn. A secret Delight is the base of existence, its sustaining atmosphere and almost its substance. This Ananda is spoken of in the Taittiriya Upanishad as the ethereal atmosphere of bliss without which nothing could remain in being. In the Aitareya Upanishad Soma, as the lunar deity, is born from the sense-mind in the universal Purusha and, when man is produced, expresses himself again as sense-mentality in the human being. For delight is the raison d"être of sensation, or, we may say, sensation is an attempt to translate the secret delight of existence into the terms of physical consciousness.” The Secret of the Veda
Sri Aurobindo: "The motion of the world works under the government of a perpetual stability. Change represents the constant shifting of apparent relations in an eternal Immutability.” The Upanishads
*Sri Aurobindo: "There are some who often or almost invariably have the contact whenever they worship, the Deity may become living to them in the picture or other image they worship, may move and act through it; others may feel him always present, outwardly, subtle-physically, abiding with them where they live or in the very room, but sometimes this is only for a period. Or they may feel the Presence with them, see it frequently in a body (but not materially except sometimes), feel its touch or embrace, converse with it constantly — that is also a kind of milana. The greatest milana is one in which one is constantly aware of the Deity abiding in oneself, in everything in the world, holding all the world in him, identical with existence and yet supremely beyond the world — but in the world too one sees, hears, feels nothing but him, so that the very senses bear witness to him alone — . . . .” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "There is no ignorance that is not part of the Cosmic Ignorance, only in the individual it becomes a limited formation and movement, while the Cosmic Ignorance is the whole movement of world consciousness separated from the supreme Truth and acting in an inferior motion in which the Truth is perverted, diminished, mixed and clouded with falsehood and error.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "There is no necessity in the essential nature of mind, sense, life that they should be so limited: for the physical sense-organs are not the creators of sense-perceptions, but themselves the creation, the instruments and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic sense; the nervous system and vital organs are not the creators of life"s action and reaction, but themselves the creation, the instruments and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic Life-force; the brain is not the creator of thought, but itself the creation, the instrument and here a necessary convenience of the cosmic Mind. The necessity then is not absolute, but teleological; it is the result of a divine cosmic Will in the material universe which intends to posit here a physical relation between sense and its object, establishes here a material formula and law of Conscious-Force and creates by it physical images of Conscious-Being to serve as the initial, dominating and determining fact of the world in which we live. It is not a fundamental law of being, but a constructive principle necessitated by the intention of the Spirit to evolve in a world of Matter.” The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "The word ‘descend" has various meanings according to the context — I used it here in the sense of the psychic being coming down into the human consciousness and body ready for it.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "This truth of Karma has been always recognised in the East in one form or else in another; but to the Buddhists belongs the credit of having given to it the clearest and fullest universal enunciation and the most insistent importance. In the West too the idea has constantly recurred, but in external, in fragmentary glimpses, as the recognition of a pragmatic truth of experience, and mostly as an ordered ethical law or fatality set over against the self-will and strength of man: but it was clouded over by other ideas inconsistent with any reign of law, vague ideas of some superior caprice or of some divine jealousy, — that was a notion of the Greeks, — a blind Fate or inscrutable Necessity, Ananke, or, later, the mysterious ways of an arbitrary, though no doubt an all-wise Providence.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga *Ananke"s.
Sri Aurobindo: "We mean by the Absolute something greater than ourselves, greater than the cosmos which we live in, the supreme reality of that transcendent Being which we call God, something without which all that we see or are conscious of as existing, could not have been, could not for a moment remain in existence. Indian thought calls it Brahman, European thought the Absolute because it is a self-existent which is absolved of all bondage to relativities . . . The Absolute is for us the Ineffable.” *The Life Divine
Sri Aurobindo: "What the "void" feels as a clutch is felt by the Mother only as a reminding finger laid on her cheek. It is one advantage of the expression ‘as if" that it leaves the field open for such variation. It is intended to suggest without saying it that behind the sombre void is the face of a mother. The two other ‘as if"s have the same motive and I do not find them jarring upon me. The second is at a sufficient distance from the first and it is not obtrusive enough to prejudice the third which more nearly follows. . . .” Letters on Savitri
*Sri Aurobindo: "When there is some lowering or diminution of the consciousness or some impairing of it at one place or another, the Adversary — or the Censor — who is always on the watch presses with all his might wherever there is a weak point lying covered from your own view, and suddenly a wrong movement leaps up with unexpected force. Become conscious and cast out the possibility of its renewal, that is all that is to be done.” Letters on Yoga
Sri Aurobindo: "Yet all the time the universal forces are pouring into him without his knowing it. He is aware only of thoughts, feelings, etc., that rise to the surface and these he takes for his own. Really they come from outside in mind waves, vital waves, waves of feeling and sensation, etc., which take particular form in him and rise to the surface after they have got inside. But they do not get into his body at once. He carries about with him an environmental consciousness (called by the Theosophists the Aura) into which they first enter. If you can become conscious of this environmental self of yours, then you can catch the thought, passion, suggestion or force of illness and prevent it from entering into you. If things in you are thrown out, they often do not go altogether but take refuge in this environmental atmosphere and from there they try to get in again. Or they go to a distance outside but linger on the outskirts or even perhaps far off, waiting till they get an opportunity to attempt entrance.” *Letters on Yoga
"Stability and movement, we must remember, are only our psychological representations of the Absolute, even as are oneness and multitude. The Absolute is beyond stability and movement as it is beyond unity and multiplicity. But it takes its eternal poise in the one and the stable and whirls round itself infinitely, inconceivably, securely in the moving and multitudinous.” The Life Divine
The Apsaras then are the divine Hetairae of Paradise, beautiful singers and actresses whose beauty and art relieve the arduous and world-long struggle of the Gods against the forces that tend towards disruption by the Titans who would restore Matter to its original atomic condition or of dissolution by the sages and hermits who would make phenomena dissolve prematurely into the One who is above phenomena. They rose from the Ocean, says Valmiki, seeking who should choose them as brides, but neither the Gods nor the Titans accepted them, therefore are they said to be common or universal. The Harmony of Virtue
"The Avatar does not come as a thaumaturgic magician, but as the divine leader of humanity and the exemplar of a divine humanity. Even human sorrow and physical suffering he must assume and use so as to show, first, how that suffering may be a means of redemption, — as did Christ, — secondly, to show how, having been assumed by the divine soul in the human nature, it can also be overcome in the same nature, — as did Buddha. The rationalist who would have cried to Christ, ‘If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross," or points out sagely that the Avatar was not divine because he died and died too by disease, — as a dog dieth, — knows not what he is saying: for he has missed the root of the whole matter. Even, the Avatar of sorrow and suffering must come before there can be the Avatar of divine joy; the human limitation must be assumed in order to show how it can be overcome; and the way and the extent of the overcoming, whether internal only or external also, depends upon the stage of the human advance; it must not be done by a non-human miracle.” Essays on the Gita
"The call of God is imperative and cannot be weighed against any other considerations.” Essays on the Gita*
"The call, once decisive, stands; the thing that has been born cannot eventually be stifled. Even if the force of circumstances prevents a regular pursuit or a full practical self-consecration from the first, still the mind has taken its bent and persists and returns with an ever-increasing effect upon its leading preoccupation. There is an ineluctable persistence of the inner being, and against it circumstances are in the end powerless, and no weakness in the nature can for long be an obstacle.” The Synthesis of Yoga
"The child (when it does not mean the psychic being) is usually the symbol of something new-born in some part of the consciousness.” Letters on Yoga
::: "The Conscious Being, Purusha, is the Self as originator, witness, support and lord and enjoyer of the forms and works of Nature.” *The Life Divine
"The cosmic consciousness is that in which the limits of ego, personal mind and body disappear and one becomes aware of a cosmic vastness which is or filled by a cosmic spirit and aware also of the direct play of cosmic forces, universal mind forces, universal life forces, universal energies of Matter, universal overmind forces. But one does not become aware of all these together; the opening of the cosmic consciousness is usually progressive. It is not that the ego, the body, the personal mind disappear, but one feels them as only a small part of oneself. One begins to feel others too as part of oneself or varied repetitions of oneself, the same self modified by Nature in other bodies. Or, at the least, as living in the larger universal self which is henceforth one"s own greater reality. All things in fact begin to change their nature and appearance; one"s whole experience of the world is radically different from that of those who are shut up in their personal selves. One begins to know things by a different kind of experience, more direct, not depending on the external mind and the senses. It is not that the possibility of error disappears, for that cannot be so long as mind of any kind is one"s instrument for transcribing knowledge, but there is a new, vast and deep way of experiencing, seeing, knowing, contacting things; and the confines of knowledge can be rolled back to an almost unmeasurable degree. The thing one has to be on guard against in the cosmic consciousness is the play of a magnified ego, the vaster attacks of the hostile forces — for they too are part of the cosmic consciousness — and the attempt of the cosmic Illusion (Ignorance, Avidya) to prevent the growth of the soul into the cosmic Truth. These are things that one has to learn from experience; mental teaching or explanation is quite insufficient. To enter safely into the cosmic consciousness and to pass safely through it, it is necessary to have a strong central unegoistic sincerity and to have the psychic being, with its divination of truth and unfaltering orientation towards the Divine, already in front in ::: —the nature.” Letters on Yoga*
". . . the cosmic Force, masked as a material Energy, hides from our view by its insistent materiality of process the occult fact that the working of the Inconscient is really the expression of a vast universal Life, a veiled universal Mind, a hooded Gnosis, and without these origins of itself it could have no power of action, no organising coherence.” The Life Divine
"The Cosmic Will is not, to our ordinary consciousness, something that acts as an independent power doing whatever it chooses; it works through all these beings, through the forces at play in the world and the law of these forces and their results — it is only when we open ourselves and get out of the ordinary consciousness that we can feel it intervening as an independent power and overriding the ordinary play of the forces." Letters on Yoga
::: The Mother: "Consciousness is the faculty of becoming aware of anything through identification. The Divine Consciousness is not only aware but knows and effects.” Words of the Mother, MCW Vol.15*. Consciousness.
The Mother: "In the physical world, of all things it is beauty that expresses best the Divine. the physical world is the world of form and the perfection of form is beauty. Beauty interprets, expresses, manifests the Eternal. Its role is to put all manifested nature in contact with the Eternal through the perfection of form, through harmony and a sense of the ideal which uplifts and leads towards something higher. On Education, MCW Vol. 12.
The Mother (to a young person): "It is very simple, as you will see. 1) The Infinite is the inexhaustible storehouse of forces. The individual is a battery, a storage cell which runs down after use. Consecration is the wire that connects the individual battery to the infinite reserve of forces. Or 2) The Infinite is the river that flows without cease; the individual is the little pond that dries up slowly in the sun. Consecration is the canal that connects the river to the pond and prevents the pond from drying up.” Some Answers from the Mother, MCW *Vol. 16.
*The Mother: "To conquer the Adversary is not a small thing. One must have a greater power than his to vanquish him. But one can liberate oneself totally from his influence. And from the minute one is completely free from his influence, one"s self-giving can be total. And with the self-giving comes joy, long before the Adversary is truly vanquished and disappears.”
::: The Mother: "True art means the expression of beauty in the material world. In a world wholly converted, that is to say, expressing integrally the divine reality, art must serve as the revealer and teacher of this divine beauty in life.” On Education, MCW Vol. 12.
"The spiritual change is the established descent of the peace, light, knowledge, power, bliss from above, the awareness of the Self and the Divine and of a higher cosmic consciousness and the change of the whole consciousness to that.” Letters on Yoga
"The surface mental individuality is, in consequence, always ego-centric; even its altruism is an enlargement of its ego: . . . . ” The Life Divine*
"The vital is the. . . being behind the Force of Life; in its outer form in the Ignorance it generates the desire-soul which governs most men and which they mistake often for the real soul. ::: The vital as the desire-soul and desire-nature controls the consciousness to a large extent in most men, because men are governed by desire.” Letters on Yoga
"This body of ours is a symbol of our real being. . . .” Letters on Yoga ::: ". . . the body itself is only a constant act of consciousness of the spirit.” Essays on the Gita
"This universal aesthesis of beauty and delight does not ignore or fail to understand the differences and oppositions, the gradations, the harmony and disharmony obvious to the ordinary consciousness; but, first of all, it draws a Rasa from them and with that comes the enjoyment, Bhoga. and the touch or the mass of the Ananda. It sees that all things have their meaning, their value, their deeper or total significance which the mind does not see, for the mind is only concerned with a surface vision, surface contacts and its own surface reactions. When something expresses perfectly what it was meant to express, the completeness brings with it a sense of harmony, a sense of artistic perfection; it gives even to what is discordant a place in a system of cosmic concordances and the discords become part of a vast harmony, and wherever there is harmony, there is a sense of beauty. ” Letters on Savitri*
those who assist, guide, wait upon, accompany, give service or follow another to contribute to the fulfilment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose; subordinate companions.
"To me, for instance, consciousness is the very stuff of existence and I can feel it everywhere enveloping and penetrating the stone as much as man or the animal. A movement, a flow of consciousness is not to me an image but a fact. If I wrote "His anger climbed against me in a stream", it would be to the general reader a mere image, not something that was felt by me in a sensible experience; yet I would only be describing in exact terms what actually happened once, a stream of anger, a sensible and violent current of it rising up from downstairs and rushing upon me as I sat in the veranda of the Guest-House, the truth of it being confirmed afterwards by the confession of the person who had the movement. This is only one instance, but all that is spiritual or psychological in Savitri is of that character. What is to be done under these circumstances? The mystical poet can only describe what he has felt, seen in himself or others or in the world just as he has felt or seen it or experienced through exact vision, close contact or identity and leave it to the general reader to understand or not understand or misunderstand according to his capacity. A new kind of poetry demands a new mentality in the recipient as well as in the writer.” Letters on Savitri
transformed or transitioned from one state, condition, or phase to another.
v. **1. Focused attention, thought, etc., on (something). adj. 2. Directed or drawn toward a common center; focussed. concentrating.**
"We are not the body, but the body is still something of ourselves. With realisation the erroneous identification ceases — in certain experiences the existence of the body is not felt at all. In the full realisation the body is within us, not we in it, it is an instrumental formation in our wider being, — our consciousness exceeds but also pervades it, — it can be dissolved without our ceasing to be the self.” Letters on Yoga
"We arrive then necessarily at this conclusion that human birth is a term at which the soul must arrive in a long succession of rebirths and that it has had for its previous and preparatory terms in the succession the lower forms of life upon earth; it has passed through the whole chain that life has strung in the physical universe on the basis of the body, the physical principle.” The Life Divine
::: "We have to face the future"s offer of death as well as its offer of life, and it need not alarm us, for it is by constant death to our old names and forms that we shall live most vitally in greater and newer forms and names.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
::: "Wherever thou seest a great end, be sure of a great beginning. Where a monstrous and painful destruction appals thy mind, console it with the certainty of a large and great creation. God is there not only in the still small voice, but in the fire and in the whirlwind.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga
"Yet there is still the unknown underlying Oneness which compels us to strive slowly towards some form of harmony, of interdependence, of concording of discords, of a difficult unity. But it is only by the evolution in us of the concealed superconscient powers of cosmic Truth and of the Reality in which they are one that the harmony and unity we strive for can be dynamically realised in the very fibre of our being and all its self-expression and not merely in imperfect attempts, incomplete constructions, ever-changing approximations.” The Life Divine*
78 Arthur Conan Doyle
47 Confucius
46 Michael Connelly
45 Anonymous
27 Ally Condie
25 Francis Bacon
24 Joseph Conrad
20 Madonna Ciccone
13 Conor McGregor
10 Ovid
10 Laozi
10 Cameron Conaway
9 Lauren Conrad
8 Pat Conroy
8 Claudia Connor
7 Heraclitus
6 Lao Tzu
5 William Shakespeare
5 Virgil
5 Victor Hugo
1:The profession of shaman has many advantages. It offers high status with a safe livelihood free of work in the dreary, sweaty sense. In most societies it offers legal privileges and immunities not granted to other men. But it is hard to see how a man who has been given a mandate from on High to spread tidings of joy to all mankind can be seriously interested in taking up a collection to pay his salary; it causes one to suspect that the shaman is on the moral level of any other con man. But it is a lovely work if you can stomach it.
~ Robert Heinlein, Notebooks Of Lazarus Long, from Time Enough for Love (1973).,
#KEYS
2:Death & Fame
When I die
I don't care what happens to my body throw ashes in the air, scatter 'em in East River bury an urn in Elizabeth New Jersey, B'nai Israel Cemetery
But I want a big funeral St. Patrick's Cathedral, St. Mark's Church, the largest synagogue in Manhattan
First, there's family, brother, nephews, spry aged Edith stepmother 96, Aunt Honey from old Newark,
Doctor Joel, cousin Mindy, brother Gene one eyed one ear'd, sister-in-law blonde Connie, five nephews, stepbrothers & sisters their grandchildren, companion Peter Orlovsky, caretakers Rosenthal & Hale, Bill Morgan--
Then, most important, lovers over half-century Dozens, a hundred, more, older fellows bald & rich young boys met naked recently in bed, crowds surprised to see each other, innumerable, intimate, exchanging memories
"He taught me to meditate, now I'm an old veteran of the thousandday retreat --"
"I played music on subway platforms, I'm straight but loved him he loved me"
"I felt more love from him at 19 than ever from anyone"
"We'd lie under covers gossip, read my poetry, hug & kiss belly to belly arms round each other"
"I'd always get into his bed with underwear on & by morning my skivvies would be on the floor"
"Japanese, always wanted take it up my bum with a master"
"We'd talk all night about Kerouac & Cassady sit Buddhalike then sleep in his captain's bed."
"He seemed to need so much affection, a shame not to make him happy"
"I was lonely never in bed nude with anyone before, he was so gentle my stomach shuddered when he traced his finger along my abdomen nipple to hips-- "
"All I did was lay back eyes closed, he'd bring me to come with mouth & fingers along my waist"
"He gave great head"
So there be gossip from loves of 1948, ghost of Neal Cassady commin-gling with flesh and youthful blood of 1997 and surprise -- "You too? But I thought you were straight!"
"I am but Ginsberg an exception, for some reason he pleased me."
"I forgot whether I was straight gay queer or funny, was myself, tender and affectionate to be kissed on the top of my head, my forehead throat heart & solar plexus, mid-belly. on my prick, tickled with his tongue my behind"
"I loved the way he'd recite 'But at my back allways hear/ time's winged chariot hurrying near,' heads together, eye to eye, on a pillow --"
Among lovers one handsome youth straggling the rear
"I studied his poetry class, 17 year-old kid, ran some errands to his walk-up flat, seduced me didn't want to, made me come, went home, never saw him again never wanted to... "
"He couldn't get it up but loved me," "A clean old man." "He made sure I came first"
This the crowd most surprised proud at ceremonial place of honor--
Then poets & musicians -- college boys' grunge bands -- age-old rock star Beatles, faithful guitar accompanists, gay classical con-ductors, unknown high Jazz music composers, funky trum-peters, bowed bass & french horn black geniuses, folksinger fiddlers with dobro tamborine harmonica mandolin auto-harp pennywhistles & kazoos
Next, artist Italian romantic realists schooled in mystic 60's India, Late fauve Tuscan painter-poets, Classic draftsman Massa-chusets surreal jackanapes with continental wives, poverty sketchbook gesso oil watercolor masters from American provinces
Then highschool teachers, lonely Irish librarians, delicate biblio-philes, sex liberation troops nay armies, ladies of either sex
"I met him dozens of times he never remembered my name I loved him anyway, true artist"
"Nervous breakdown after menopause, his poetry humor saved me from suicide hospitals"
"Charmant, genius with modest manners, washed sink, dishes my studio guest a week in Budapest"
Thousands of readers, "Howl changed my life in Libertyville Illinois"
"I saw him read Montclair State Teachers College decided be a poet-- "
"He turned me on, I started with garage rock sang my songs in Kansas City"
"Kaddish made me weep for myself & father alive in Nevada City"
"Father Death comforted me when my sister died Boston l982"
"I read what he said in a newsmagazine, blew my mind, realized others like me out there"
Deaf & Dumb bards with hand signing quick brilliant gestures
Then Journalists, editors's secretaries, agents, portraitists & photo-graphy aficionados, rock critics, cultured laborors, cultural historians come to witness the historic funeral Super-fans, poetasters, aging Beatnicks & Deadheads, autograph-hunters, distinguished paparazzi, intelligent gawkers
Everyone knew they were part of 'History" except the deceased who never knew exactly what was happening even when I was alive
February 22, 1997
~ Allen Ginsberg,
#KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:The true artist can only labor con amore. ~ victor-hugo, @wisdomtrove
2:Me volví loco, con largos intervalos de horrible cordura. ~ edgar-allan-poe, @wisdomtrove
3:Either they're trying to con you or they're trying to con themselves. ~ warren-buffet, @wisdomtrove
4:Las personas con un alto nivel de tolerancia al aburrimiento tienen tiempo de sobra para pensar. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove
5:The whole secret to our success is being able to con ourselves into believing that we're going to change the world because statistically we are unlikely to do it. ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove
6:Advertising signs: they con you into thinking you're the one That can do what's never been done That can win what's never been won Meantime life outside goes on all around you ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove
7:You can con God and get away with it, Granny said, if you do so with charm and wit. If you live your life with imagination and verve, God will play along just to see what outrageously entertaining thing you'll do next. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove
8:We have never worried about numbers. In the market place, Apple is trying to focus the spotlight on products, because products really make a difference. You can't con people in this business. The products speak for themselves. ~ steve-jobs, @wisdomtrove
9:God doesn't want us to live timid, shy, weak, wimpy, fearful, boring lives. He wants us to be bold, con dent and courageous, unafraid to try new things. And it never ceases to amaze me what God will do through a person who simply steps out in faith. ~ joyce-meyer, @wisdomtrove
10:Self-esteem is reliance on one's power to think. It cannot be replaced by one's power to deceive. The self-confidence of a scientist and the self-confidence of a con man are not interchangeable states, and do not come from the same psychological universe. The success of a man who deals with reality augments his self-confidence. The success of a con man augments his panic. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove
*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:living con smania, ~ Mark T Sullivan,
#NFDB
2:I mean, I love Comic-Con. ~ Seth Rogen,
#NFDB
3:La letra con sangre entra ~ Chris Kyle,
#NFDB
4:avanzar con precaución. ~ Bella Forrest,
#NFDB
5:NetLimiter con Windows ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
6:oigo mencionarlos con mucha ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
7:I haven't been to Comic-Con. ~ Jeff Bridges,
#NFDB
8:You cannot con an honest man. ~ Ally Carter,
#NFDB
9:AL INFIERNO CON LA GUERRA ~ Smedley D Butler,
#NFDB
10:love is the biggest con of all ~ Ally Carter,
#NFDB
11:Vaya con Dios, mi amigo loco, ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
12:comentarios e ideas con nosotros. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
13:Hablan con sombras en la lengua. ~ Jean M Auel,
#NFDB
14:Pintar es escribir con luz ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
15:Quien pisa con suavidad va lejos". ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
16:una triste con vocación de alegre. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
17:WLAN conconexión UMTS, ========== ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
18:La paz comienza con una sonrisa ~ Mother Teresa,
#NFDB
19:No hay libertad con hambre ~ Ildefonso Falcones,
#NFDB
20:Todo vuelo comienza con una caída — ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
21:From a cell to a jet call it Con-Air ~ Lil Wayne,
#NFDB
22:I know a con when I see one. ~ Michael Bloomberg,
#NFDB
23:I love con-men characters in film. ~ Simon Baker,
#NFDB
24:Suicide is very contagious. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,
#NFDB
25:Te amo con fuerza te odio a momentos ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
26:Give me an honest con man any day. ~ J D Salinger,
#NFDB
27:Nadie Anda Con Dios
~ Alphonsus de Guimaraens,
#NFDB
28:A few years back, a con to trick ~ Janet Evanovich,
#NFDB
29:Con la emoción, nos vienen ideas. ~ Laura Esquivel,
#NFDB
30:Escribir es besar con la mente. ~ Daniel Glattauer,
#NFDB
31:Loki, who put the con in conniving. ~ Rick Riordan,
#NFDB
32:Two words to improve any dish. Ba, Con ~ Ted Allen,
#NFDB
33:Con un buen disparo y falta de miedo, ~ Morgan Rice,
#NFDB
34:UN MUNDO QUE NO EMPIEZA CON EL PORQUÉ ~ Simon Sinek,
#NFDB
35:Zola nunca se encontró con Dreyfus. ~ David Markson,
#NFDB
36:...con una nostalgia del futuro... ~ Juan Jos Mill s,
#NFDB
37:Non fare i patti con il diavolo, ~ Patricia Cornwell,
#NFDB
38:Prefiero andar con locos que con falsos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
39:SÉ POSITIVO CON RESPECTO A TI MISMO 7: ~ Joel Osteen,
#NFDB
40:alinear las aspiraciones con la realidad, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
41:Con la lluvia, llega el fin del mundo. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
42:Ser positivo con respecto a ti mismo 3. ~ Joel Osteen,
#NFDB
43:Cada flor vuelve a dormir con la tierra. ~ Suzy Kassem,
#NFDB
44:El alma se cura estando con niños ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
45:I've always wanted to come to Comic Con. ~ Jon Huertas,
#NFDB
46:Joel Campbell ya entrenó con el Villarreal ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
47:La vida se desperdicia con los vivos ~ Mathias Malzieu,
#NFDB
48:Nunca hay que escribir con la concha ~ Claudia Pi eiro,
#NFDB
49:Podrías ahogarte con tanto silencio. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,
#NFDB
50:Se con Dio non si lotta, Dio è morto. ~ Guido Ceronetti,
#NFDB
51:The true artist can only labor con amore. ~ Victor Hugo,
#NFDB
52:Todo pasa. Con el tiempo todo pasa. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
#NFDB
53:Cuidado con la tristeza. Es un vicio. ~ Gustave Flaubert,
#NFDB
54:Los sueños se quiebran con facilidad ~ Maggie Stiefvater,
#NFDB
55:Sé amable con el halcón y daña al gorrión. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
56:Tutto quello che ho fatto con te era amore. ~ Amy Hempel,
#NFDB
57:Con Dios en el corazón, lo demás es relativo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
58:Con el tiempo uno se acostumbra a todo. ~ Nicholas Sparks,
#NFDB
59:Multitud de niñas ricas con mente pobre. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
60:You name the TV psychic - they're con men. ~ Bruno Heller,
#NFDB
61:Cuidado con ese último paso, es un asesino. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
62:mandassero con lei il suo seguito, il ~ Henryk Sienkiewicz,
#NFDB
63:Saber no tiene nada que ver con ser. ~ Christopher Paolini,
#NFDB
64:Se casaron con amor, más que por amor. ~ Fernando Aramburu,
#NFDB
65:Ser amado con pasión no basta para amar ~ Daniel Glattauer,
#NFDB
66:A con artist’s only weapon is his brain. ~ Frank W Abagnale,
#NFDB
67:El miedo acaba con más sueños que el fracaso. ~ Suzy Kassem,
#NFDB
68:¿Has confundido la necesidad con el amor?”. ~ Robert Fisher,
#NFDB
69:La perfección no se consigue con prisas... ~ Gennifer Albin,
#NFDB
70:Luôn có một con đường tốt nhất để trở lại ~ Khaled Hosseini,
#NFDB
71:Oh perforar con vino la suave necesidad de ser. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
72:ser tú mismo con la mayor intensidad posible, ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
73:camino. Busqué y tomé su mano con firmeza, ~ Stephenie Meyer,
#NFDB
74:Con endoesqueletos accionados con servomotor. ~ Ernest Cline,
#NFDB
75:con la variedad compensó la incertidumbre. ~ John Katzenbach,
#NFDB
76:Hay una generación entera que confunde con . ~ Caitlin Moran,
#NFDB
77:pero él empezó deliberadamente con los libros. ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
78:Si hemos de morir, que sea con música. ~ Svetlana Alexievich,
#NFDB
79:Si no podés con la vida, probá con la vidita. ~ Pedro Mairal,
#NFDB
80:con en la pelvis el signo de Antonin Artaud, ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
81:Con un sorriso così, non hai bisogno di occhi. ~ Markus Zusak,
#NFDB
82:Con Usted al lado, todo es el mejor destino ~ Cheyenne McCray,
#NFDB
83:La gente debe enamorarse con los ojos cerrados. ~ Andy Warhol,
#NFDB
84:Perché la perdita si misura con l'amore? ~ Jeanette Winterson,
#NFDB
85:quiere decirse que rezamos con pólvora. ~ Benito P rez Gald s,
#NFDB
86:Uno no emplea un león para acabar con una rata. ~ Brent Weeks,
#NFDB
87:A falta de hablar con ella, hablaba de ella. ~ Mathias Malzieu,
#NFDB
88:el propósito de la vida es una vida con propósito. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
89:I'm not being outspoken or pro or con abortion. ~ Barbara Bush,
#NFDB
90:la naturaleza no procede jamás con apresuramiento. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
91:La vida es para asumirla con valentía. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville,
#NFDB
92:Mejor discutir con un amigo que apoyar enemigos. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
93:Nadie acierta a su objetivo con los ojos cerrados. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
94:no se sabe muy bien qué hacer con los muertos, ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
95:Su guerra plateada se paga con sangre roja. ~ Victoria Aveyard,
#NFDB
96:toda idea nace con una deficiencia: no está hecha. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
97:«...traicionan al tiempo con falsas urgencias.» ~ Jack Kerouac,
#NFDB
98:Un camino de mil millas comienza con un primer paso. ~ Lao Tzu,
#NFDB
99:3Sacaréis aguas con gozo de la fuentes de la salud. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
100:El mundo tiene humanos; mejor vivir con ello. ~ Terry Pratchett,
#NFDB
101:Non è semplice vedere se stessi con lucidità. ~ Dinah Jefferies,
#NFDB
102:¡Oh, con qué lentitud corren las pesadillas! ~ Vladimir Nabokov,
#NFDB
103:Puedes romper mi corazón. Haz lo que quieras con él ~ Jenny Han,
#NFDB
104:After all, love was the ultimate con, wasn't it? ~ Sabrina Paige,
#NFDB
105:Antes de caer en la nada con el último diástole ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
106:Con un poco de esfuerzo podría levantarse sola. ~ Paolo Giordano,
#NFDB
107:Creed que para ser libre basta con creer serlo. ~ Sylvain Tesson,
#NFDB
108:Fantaseó con una cerilla y un bidón de gasolina. ~ Stieg Larsson,
#NFDB
109:From the Latin, con clavis: 'with a key'. ~ Robert Harris,
#NFDB
110:Había tenido que tejer el amor con recuerdos... ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
111:Hola, hola, mi pequeño ángel con alas de mariposa ~ Raine Miller,
#NFDB
112:las personas con destino no deberían hacer planes ~ Laini Taylor,
#NFDB
113:«Nadie está intentando matarme con engaños». ~ Lawrence Freedman,
#NFDB
114:Con voi, mio caro conte, non si vive, si sogna. ~ Alexandre Dumas,
#NFDB
115:El café con leche es como el café, pero con leche. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
116:...el encaprichamiento se crece con las críticas. ~ H P Lovecraft,
#NFDB
117:Hay cosas que no se curan con un par de pociones ~ Iria G Parente,
#NFDB
118:¨La tristeza no se resuelve con quietudes¨ ~ Albert S nchez Pi ol,
#NFDB
119:No basta con ser amigable. Tienes que ser un amigo. ~ R J Palacio,
#NFDB
120:Pero le gustaban los lugares así, con pasado. ~ Maggie Stiefvater,
#NFDB
121:Politics, in a sense, has always been a con game. ~ Joe McGinniss,
#NFDB
122:Sí, con todo, sé lo que es el amor, lo sé por ti. ~ Hermann Hesse,
#NFDB
123:Somos bestias emocionales con cerebro de mono. ~ Mike Michalowicz,
#NFDB
124:Un judío sigue siendo judío, con o sin piernas ~ Simon Wiesenthal,
#NFDB
125:Usa BitLocker con Windows o FileVault con OS X. ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
126:You can either be a con or a man—you can’t be both. ~ Peter Burke,
#NFDB
127:Con una mirada te puedes ahorar cien palabras ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,
#NFDB
128:el paisaje de la vida de los ronquidos con el del día. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
129:I miss it like an ex-con misses the other inmates. ~ Megan Miranda,
#NFDB
130:Nada que de verdad importe se consigue con la belleza. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
131:quay về các trạng thái như thời trẻ con hoặc mang tỉnh ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
132:Si vas a hacer trampa, hazla con todas tus fuerzas ~ Matt Groening,
#NFDB
133:Ten cuidado con lo que deseas. Podrías conseguirlo. ~ Rani Manicka,
#NFDB
134:Yo hablo con ella como si hablara conmigo mismo. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
135:Capturar su corazón fue como luchar con un oso. ~ Alexandra Bracken,
#NFDB
136:Con người là một cái gì đó cần phải vượt qua. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,
#NFDB
137:Es grave confundir la anestesia con la esperanza. ~ Camilo Jos Cela,
#NFDB
138:La economía tiene que ver con la decisión de Yang Li. ~ Tim Harford,
#NFDB
139:la respuesta más obvia es con frecuencia la correcta. ~ Kate Morton,
#NFDB
140:Nadie le decía: Toñito, no juegues con la soga. ~ Silvina Ocampo,
#NFDB
141:No puedo hablar con mi voz sino con mis voces. ~ Alejandra Pizarnik,
#NFDB
142:nuestra mision es estar en paz con nosotros mismos. ~ Doreen Virtue,
#NFDB
143:Parole: con quelle si fa e si disfa come si vuole. ~ Elena Ferrante,
#NFDB
144:Uno no puede responder con nada a la ausencia. ~ Simone de Beauvoir,
#NFDB
145:Cuando estoy con él, me siento viva, no solo inmortal ~ Aimee Carter,
#NFDB
146:de tolerancia social con el fracaso individual. ~ Andr s Oppenheimer,
#NFDB
147:«El que almuerza con la soberbia cena con la vergüenza». ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
148:Entre ustedes y yo: El espíritu muere con la muerte. ~ Nicanor Parra,
#NFDB
149:Nadie que conozca su capacidad tropieza con perjuicio. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
150:No hay que confundir una coincidencia con el destino. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
151:[Nunca es segura la alianza con el poderoso.] ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
152:Señor La jaula se ha vuelto pájaro Qué haré con el miedo ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
153:Are you still making that man sing? It must be love, dude ~ Con Riley,
#NFDB
154:Dios perdona no con un decreto, sino con una caricia». ~ Pope Francis,
#NFDB
155:El pasado tiene un futuro con el que nunca contamos". ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
156:En una vida con la que sin embargo no sabía qué hacer. ~ Albert Camus,
#NFDB
157:Ésa fue la primera noche que soñé con Edward Cullen ~ Stephenie Meyer,
#NFDB
158:...está muy cansada de sentirse agradecida con la gente. ~ Kelly Link,
#NFDB
159:Facebook comenzó únicamente con estudiantes de Harvard: ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
160:Los momentos con comida basura significaban nostalgia. ~ Jens Lapidus,
#NFDB
161:No necesito a nadie —susurró él con la voz rasgada. ~ Nicholas Sparks,
#NFDB
162:Non gioco con le parole, sono loro che giocano con me. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
163:Non sono snob con le parole. E' solo che mi piacciono ~ Julie Buxbaum,
#NFDB
164:Nunca salgas de viaje con una persona que no amas. ~ Ernest Hemingway,
#NFDB
165:Pero no basta con querer algo para que sea verdad. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
166:«Quien decide con prontitud, pronto se arrepiente» ~ Geoffrey Chaucer,
#NFDB
167:saber demasiado es incompatible con la felicidad. ~ Juan Gomez Jurado,
#NFDB
168:Sắc đẹp, con gái yêu ơi, nó không bao giờ là mãi mãi”. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
169:Un faetón bajo con un buen par de jacas sería lo ideal. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
170:«Ama a quien quieras pero cásate con los de tu clase» era ~ Harper Lee,
#NFDB
171:«Dios perdona no con un decreto, sino con una caricia». ~ Pope Francis,
#NFDB
172:...era imposible quedar bien con Dios y con el diablo. ~ Enrique Serna,
#NFDB
173:—¿Está bien?
Asiente con la cabeza y miente.
—Sí. ~ Markus Zusak,
#NFDB
174:For me the curse is a crutch, but the con is everything. ~ Holly Black,
#NFDB
175:Kegenix: con un sabor más parecido al ácido Kool-Aid ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
176:Lui resterà con me. Non perché deve, ma perché vuole. ~ Winston Graham,
#NFDB
177:«Nada hay tan peligroso como el poder con impunidad», ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
178:People still go to Comic-Con because they love comics. ~ Rashida Jones,
#NFDB
179:Si bastase con amar, las cosas serían demasiado sencillas. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
180:Todo depende de los espejitos de colores con que nos miren ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
181:Un hombe es lo que hace, con lo que hicieron de el. ~ Jean Paul Sartre,
#NFDB
182:Amar es soñar con mares en mitad de un largo insomnio. ~ Xavier Velasco,
#NFDB
183:Con người chỉ là vật mọn
Công lý mới là trên hết. ~ Robert van Gulik,
#NFDB
184:Con te qualsiasi discorso psicologico è psicoillogico. ~ Tiziano Sclavi,
#NFDB
185:Incluso las rocas terminan erosionándose con la lluvia. ~ Arthur Golden,
#NFDB
186:Lo único que llega con seguridad es la muerte. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
187:no hay goce alguno de las cosas si no se comparten con otros. ~ Erasmus,
#NFDB
188:Vea con buen humor sus fracasos y no los tome muy en serio ~ Sam Walton,
#NFDB
189:Active management is little more than a gigantic con game. ~ Ronald Ross,
#NFDB
190:con su maldad se había mezclado el sentimentalismo. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
191:Cuando hablo conmigo mismo, es con ella con quien hablo ~ Hanif Kureishi,
#NFDB
192:Era más fácil vivir con la verdad que con una mentira. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
193:¿es que no habrá plan ninguno para vivir con cierto decoro? ~ P o Baroja,
#NFDB
194:Fate ciò che potete, con ciò che avete, dove siete. ~ Theodore Roosevelt,
#NFDB
195:I think thy horse will sooner con an oration than ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
196:La belleza es una dictadura que acaba con el tiempo. ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
197:La gente fa così, è cattiva con quelli che perdono. ~ Alessandro Baricco,
#NFDB
198:La libertad es lo q haces con lo q está hecho para ti ~ Jean Paul Sartre,
#NFDB
199:Nunca hablo con gente que apunta cosas. Norma militar. ~ Terry Pratchett,
#NFDB
200:Obrar por ignorancia y obrar con ignorancia no son lo mísmo. ~ Aristotle,
#NFDB
201:Para que dos se amen, basta con separarlos. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
#NFDB
202:peñazo de verdad —le decía George a Fred con tristeza—. Pero ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
203:Quando sarò al buio voglio pensarlo alla luce, con te. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
204:Un país gana más con un año de paz que con diez de guerra. ~ Jean Plaidy,
#NFDB
205:Vogliamo i libri. Amiamo i libri. Viviamo con i libri ~ Genevieve Cogman,
#NFDB
206:- Aló, ¿con la Casa de la Cultura?
- Sí conchetumadre. ~ Nicanor Parra,
#NFDB
207:Body-con dresses have never been something I've been into. ~ Karen Walker,
#NFDB
208:Con la Guadaña es mejor pedir perdón que pedir permiso. ~ Neal Shusterman,
#NFDB
209:Cuando amas, imaginas el futuro de acuerdo con tus sueños. ~ James Salter,
#NFDB
210:El miedo es un pobre cincel con el que labrar el futuro’”. ~ Andy Andrews,
#NFDB
211:el vago rosa trémulo que se ve con los ojos cerrados, ~ Jorge Luis Borges,
#NFDB
212:Eres todos los colores en uno, con su máxima intensidad. ~ Jennifer Niven,
#NFDB
213:Estoy ante un túnel oscuro que debo recorrer con ella. ~ Daniel Glattauer,
#NFDB
214:io sono una minuscola lumaca con le converse ai piedi ~ Delphine de Vigan,
#NFDB
215:la cui bellezza si era decantata con la maturità ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
216:La notte ha una mistica affinità con la letteratura. ~ Christopher Morley,
#NFDB
217:(…) lo odiaba con la virulencia de los impotentes. ~ Albert S nchez Pi ol,
#NFDB
218:Many a lash in the dark doth con science give the wicked. ~ Thomas Boston,
#NFDB
219:Organizas tu vida con lo que tienes, no con lo que te falta ~ Kate Morton,
#NFDB
220:Quizá me equivoque". "Me equivoco con tanta frecuencia... ~ Dale Carnegie,
#NFDB
221:Sé cruel, hermanita, o el mundo te tratará con crueldad. ~ Anna Godbersen,
#NFDB
222:todo fuego, veneno y con la agresividad de la paranoia. ~ Terry Pratchett,
#NFDB
223:Un esfuerzo rico, educado y concontactos funciona mejor. ~ Carol S Dweck,
#NFDB
224:—¡Y decidí irme a México, porque México se escribe con x! ~ Alfonso Reyes,
#NFDB
225:¡Con qué rapidez invade la piedad los corazones nobles! ~ Geoffrey Chaucer,
#NFDB
226:Creamos dioses y luchamos con ellos; y ellos nos bendicen. ~ Hermann Hesse,
#NFDB
227:El tiempo que pierdes con tus miedos, no lo recuperas nunca ~ David Safier,
#NFDB
228:Imaginar ese futuro te mantiene con vida, pero nunca escapas. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
229:Lo peor que podría hacer es atropellarla con una bicicleta. ~ Gayle Forman,
#NFDB
230:Los pájaros protegieron con sus cuerpos el fuego robado. ~ Eduardo Galeano,
#NFDB
231:Organizas tu vida con lo que tienes, no con lo que te falta. ~ Kate Morton,
#NFDB
232:Solo los bárbaros y los locos disfrutan con el combate. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
233:Superarse a uno mismo es un beso con lengua al amor propio ~ Elvira Sastre,
#NFDB
234:Te quiero, Jacinda, con todo mi ser y con todo mi aliento. ~ Sophie Jordan,
#NFDB
235:Un comienzo no desaparece nunca, ni siquiera con un final. ~ Harry Mulisch,
#NFDB
236:Vivir sin leer es peligroso, obliga a conformarse con la vida, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
237:Con cierta parte de nuestro ser vivimos todos fuera del tiempo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
238:Da gustosamente, 2 pues con ello sólo puedes beneficiarte. ~ Helen Schucman,
#NFDB
239:Haz caso al diablo y te recompensará con el infierno ~ Laura Gallego Garc a,
#NFDB
240:Io non volevo vivere la mia vita con la paura del male. ~ Patricia Cornwell,
#NFDB
241:I teatri sono come vascelli rovesciati, con la stiva in alto. ~ Victor Hugo,
#NFDB
242:Lo importante no es curarse sino vivir con sus enfermedades. ~ Albert Camus,
#NFDB
243:Me volví loco, con largos intervalos de horrible cordura. ~ Edgar Allan Poe,
#NFDB
244:Nadie sube al metro con el corazón palpitante de alegría. ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
245:No se debe confundir la verdad con la opinión de la mayoría. ~ Jean Cocteau,
#NFDB
246:No se sentía con fuerzas para preocuparse por su salud ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
247:Sabía que tu amor podía retornarme la vida con desearlo. ~ Stephanie Garber,
#NFDB
248:Sé por experiencia que nada puede competir con un recuerdo. ~ Tarryn Fisher,
#NFDB
249:Si cada uno cumpliera con su deber, el mundo sería un paraíso. ~ Karel apek,
#NFDB
250:tallados con hacha, las tejuelas «de cabeza circular», muy ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
251:Ta luôn luôn ở cạnh những kẻ đi theo con đường mình tự chọn. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
252:todos los placeres están íntimamente emparentados con el dolor. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
253:-Un día nos correremos solo con mirarnos. Lo sabes ¿no? ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
254:Vivir con otra persona es muy difícil. Vivir solo es imposible. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
255:Well, everyone con master a grief but he that has it. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
256:Casi siempre tenía que ver con su capacidad para escuchar, ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
257:Comic-Con is nerd Christmas. People go wanting to have fun. ~ Chris Hardwick,
#NFDB
258:Cómo se acuerda con los pájaros la traducción de sus idiomas? ~ Pablo Neruda,
#NFDB
259:Con las espaldas cubiertas se ataca mejor al enemigo, ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
260:Con un gran poder... vienen grandes ganas de tomar una siesta ~ Rick Riordan,
#NFDB
261:El fanatismo, venga de donde venga, termina con todo. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
262:La coquetería es un vicio que no se sacia con nada. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
263:la Mano de Dios siempre guía a aquel que sigue su camino con fe. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
264:Me sonrió con una melancolía que no se merecían sus años ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
265:No puedes con el lenguaje. El lenguaje no puede por ti. ~ Alejandra Pizarnik,
#NFDB
266:Odiar de veras es un talento que se aprende con los años ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
267:para comer con el demonio hace falta una cuchara muy larga. ~ Benjamin Black,
#NFDB
268:Perezca yo con tal que mis seres queridos sean felices. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
269:¿Por qué no tentar suerte con la enfermera si la amo? ~ Alejandro Jodorowsky,
#NFDB
270:¿Qué sucede con el puño si la mano se abre? Proverbio Zen ~ Carlos Monsiv is,
#NFDB
271:Te amo —dijo con la voz ronca—. Te amo mas que nada. ~ Jennifer L Armentrout,
#NFDB
272:Un Hombre es todo lo que hace, con lo que hicieron de el. ~ Jean Paul Sartre,
#NFDB
273:When you con for revenge, you might not know when you’ve won. ~ Karina Halle,
#NFDB
274:Ahora que tenían algo que hacer, trabajaron con entusiasmo. ~ William Golding,
#NFDB
275:Continuamente estamos lanzando hechizos con nuestras opiniones. ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
276:El desarrollo es un viaje con más náufragos que navegantes. ~ Eduardo Galeano,
#NFDB
277:El hambre agudiza el ingenio, concluía siempre con una carcajada. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
278:Es sastre. Horrible. Nunca vayas a hacerte un traje con él. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
279:Funny how she keeps using my name. Like a nurse. Or a con man. ~ Fiona Barton,
#NFDB
280:La muerte es el pan diario con el que nos alimenta la corrupción. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
281:La propuesta es: Hagamos con la vida posible... lo mejor posible. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
282:Ngay cả con vật hung dữ nhất còn biết xót thương-Shakespear ~ Guillaume Musso,
#NFDB
283:Odiar de veras es un talento que se aprende con los años. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
284:Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool. ~ Mark Twain,
#NFDB
285:si te reporta mucho, si te permite actuar con autonomía, si ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
286:Solo un necio desconfía de lo que ve con sus propios ojos. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
287:tanto se apasionan con sus errores estas hermosas adivinas. ~ Charles Dickens,
#NFDB
288:A veces, creer en algo es tan importante como saberlo con certeza. ~ Matt Haig,
#NFDB
289:cada resultado que deseamos, empieza con lo mismo: una decisión. ~ Simon Sinek,
#NFDB
290:«Combatieron con roedor encono, y se separaron unidos por la amistad.» ~ Homer,
#NFDB
291:El alma del mundo se alimenta con la felicidad de las personas. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
292:Es fácil olvidar la claridad con que ven las cosas los niños. ~ Katherine Webb,
#NFDB
293:Florida is not going to vote for a con artist like Donald Trump. ~ Marco Rubio,
#NFDB
294:If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of Congress? ~ Will Rogers,
#NFDB
295:La mujer amada nunca existió, la había construido con sueños. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
296:La observó con tal concentración que hasta dejó de existir ~ Jeffrey Eugenides,
#NFDB
297:los jóvenes no tienen vergüenza, la vergüenza llega con la edad. ~ Andr Aciman,
#NFDB
298:No tratar con la gente permite atribuirle todas las perfecciones ~ Victor Hugo,
#NFDB
299:No voy a coquetear con mi edad ni a jugar a las adivinanzas. ~ Sylvain Reynard,
#NFDB
300:Si no puedes reír con frecuencia y autenticidad, no tienes alma. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
301:«Si quieres volar con las águilas, ¡no nades con los patos!». Yo ~ T Harv Eker,
#NFDB
302:«Ten cuidado con lo que pides, Zampa, porque puede que te lo den». ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
303:XII con su graciosa crueldad. Sin embargo, Florentino ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
304:Aunque hablar estaba prohibido, ellos hablaban con las manos. ~ Eduardo Galeano,
#NFDB
305:Càng lớn tuổi, con người ta càng nói ít đi. Họ nghĩ nhiều hơn. ~ Nguy n Nh t nh,
#NFDB
306:Con dizir flama non se quema la boca (refrán sefardí) ~ Rafael S nchez Ferlosio,
#NFDB
307:con su visión recuperada, bajaba los ojos para no tener que ver. ~ Jodi Picoult,
#NFDB
308:De los aztecas al PRI, con esa pelota nunca hemos jugado aquí. ~ Carlos Fuentes,
#NFDB
309:Deseamos con nuestras manos; eso es lo que hacemos los artistas. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
310:Đồ vật, những vật vô tri, có thể diễn đạt tình cảm của con người. ~ Paul Auster,
#NFDB
311:El hombre olvida que es un muerto que conversa con muertos. ~ Jorge Luis Borges,
#NFDB
312:Es culpa mía si las cosas me hieren con más fuerza que a otros ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
313:Estoy cansada de no saber con quién estaré o si estaré con alguien. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
314:Một khi ta trở thành ai đó, con người cũ của ta cũng chết đi. ~ Khaled Hosseini,
#NFDB
315:Nadie debería tener que lidiar con mis problemas, salvo yo. ~ Chelsea M Cameron,
#NFDB
316:Napoleón: cubrir tu mano de hierro con un guante de terciopelo. ~ Robert Greene,
#NFDB
317:No, dijeron. Yo apestaba aún, pero con una fetidez que me agradaba. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
318:Nunca habían hablado con esa voz, nunca se habían callado así. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
319:Ogni civiltà inizia con la teocrazia e finisce con la democrazia. ~ Victor Hugo,
#NFDB
320:Realmente la vida es generosa con quien vive su leyenda personal ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
321:Ser impecable con tus palabras es no utilizarlas contra ti mismo. ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
322:Te quiero de verdad Ian. …. Te quiero con toda mi alma.-Wanda ~ Stephenie Meyer,
#NFDB
323:The Atlantic con el título: «Hacking the President’s DNA». Si ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
324:un buen narrador puede atrapar una audiencia con una sola frase. ~ Ren e Ahdieh,
#NFDB
325:Uno no peca por lo que hace, sino por la intención con que lo hace. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
326:Aquí hay un enlace real de lo conocido con lo totalmente desconocido ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
327:Chi è molto buono con gli altri sa anche essere molto crudele. ~ Agatha Christie,
#NFDB
328:creo que el amor se expresa con acciones y no con reacciones ~ Emerson Eggerichs,
#NFDB
329:Cuando alguien está muy enojado con la realidad, finge que no existe ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
330:El mundo no se hizo en el tiempo, sino con el tiempo. ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo,
#NFDB
331:No hace falta estar familiarizado con la muerte para reconocerla. ~ Nicci French,
#NFDB
332:No puede haber amor si no se es uno mismo con todas sus fuerzas. ~ Italo Calvino,
#NFDB
333:Odiar de veras es un talento que se aprende con los años. Me ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
334:[...] pintar es como contar con dibujos en lugar de palabras. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
335:Si tienes dos camisas, vende una y con el dinero compra una flor”. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
336:That was a classic anger boner. Always a shame to waste one of them. ~ Con Riley,
#NFDB
337:Todos nos estremecíamos con cada disparo y cada grito que oíamos. ~ Ruta Sepetys,
#NFDB
338:Tú eres el promedio de las cinco personas con las que convives más”, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
339:viví experiencias que no podrían comprarse ni con mil millones ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
340:Who is going to believe a con artist? Everyone, if she is good. ~ Andy Griffith,
#NFDB
341:Yo estaré siempre con ustedes, hasta el fin del mundo". Mateo 28:20b ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
342:Aprende a contentarte con lo que tienes, aprende a ser autosuficiente ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
343:Clearly human females made males insane.
-Con's thoughts ~ Savannah Stuart,
#NFDB
344:¿Cuál es la utilidad de ser bueno con un pobre? Preguntó Cicerón. ~ David Markson,
#NFDB
345:El verdadero problema es el de las relaciones del Poder con el poder. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
346:hay momentos en que no basta con no hacer lo incorrecto. Aunque ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
347:La gente simpatiza más a gusto con la desgracia que con la felicidad. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
348:La guerra está llegando, lo quieras o no, y con ella viene la muerte. ~ Dan Wells,
#NFDB
349:Los ojos son ciegos. Hace falta buscar con el corazón. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
350:Me habían criado con amor, pero siempre me había sentido sola. ~ Banana Yoshimoto,
#NFDB
351:no es victoria verdadera la que se obtiene con armas ajenas. ~ Niccol Machiavelli,
#NFDB
352:Padre rico decía: “Trabaja para aprender, no para ganar.” Con ~ Robert T Kiyosaki,
#NFDB
353:... por Dios, no discutas con un regalo que el destino te ha dado. ~ Lisa Kleypas,
#NFDB
354:Por tanto, toda startup debería empezar con un mercado muy pequeño. ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
355:Quien miente con arte se acerca a la verdad más de lo que imagina. ~ Fritz Leiber,
#NFDB
356:Se vuoi qualcosa con tutte le tue forze, prima o poi la ottieni ~ Neal Shusterman,
#NFDB
357:Sí, así es mi padre. En comparación con él, Batman es superfiable. ~ Chris Colfer,
#NFDB
358:Todas las fuerzas comprimidas con exceso desgarran y destrozan. ~ Charles Dickens,
#NFDB
359:utilizo un vehículo conconductor en cualquier parte del mundo. ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
360:El problema con la vida era que era la idea de alguien más. ~ Benjamin Alire S enz,
#NFDB
361:El Queso Nuevo puede ser una relación nueva con la misma persona ~ Spencer Johnson,
#NFDB
362:Es mi culpa mÍa si las cosas me hieren con más fuerza que a otros ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
363:It is not lost on me that I'm spending my honeymoon at Comic Con. ~ George Clooney,
#NFDB
364:La muerte tiene mucho más en común con el amor de lo que imagináis. ~ Rick Riordan,
#NFDB
365:Los nombres se sufren, los apodos siempre se eligen con mayor acierto. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
366:Me basta mirarte para saber que con vos me voy a empapar el alma. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
367:Ningún loco está loco si uno se conforma con sus razones. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
368:¿No es la descortesía con todos los demás, la misma esencia del amor ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
369:Para eso están las religiones: para calmar las angustias con certezas. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
370:Ponte algo con lo que te sientas a gusto. Así seguro que no fallas. ~ Gayle Forman,
#NFDB
371:Pues bien, Dios diseñó a la máquina humana para que funcionara con Él. ~ C S Lewis,
#NFDB
372:The one sure mark of a con, though, is the promise of free money. ~ Michael Hudson,
#NFDB
373:Trató de pensar con coherencia y
simplemente no pudo
hacerlo. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
374:Turning music into digital was just a con, a record-company con. ~ John Mellencamp,
#NFDB
375:Chính số phận đã chia các con bài, nhưng chúng ta mới là người chơi. ~ Randy Pausch,
#NFDB
376:El artista es uno con el anarquista; son términos intercambiables. ~ G K Chesterton,
#NFDB
377:El vino usado con moderación es medicina para el ánimo y para el cuerpo: ~ Voltaire,
#NFDB
378:Es con estas pequeñas desgracias como los niños se van haciendo adultos ~ Quim Monz,
#NFDB
379:Hay algunas cosas que no pueden volverse realidad sólo con tus sueños. ~ Inio Asano,
#NFDB
380:Hay relaciones que duran diez años en las que habría bastado con cinco. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
381:If 'pro' is the opposite of 'con' what is the opposite of 'progress'? ~ Paul Harvey,
#NFDB
382:La imagen interior del hombre no debe confundirse con su atuendo. ~ Joseph Campbell,
#NFDB
383:Morir por un a religión es más simple que vivirla con plenitud. ~ Jorge Luis Borges,
#NFDB
384:«No hay nadie con quien preferiría ver el amanecer mas que contigo.» ~ Ren e Ahdieh,
#NFDB
385:No sabía con certeza de qué huía, a menos que fuera de la gente. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
386:—¿Quieres hacerte viejo? Entonces vive siempre con la misma vieja. ~ Carlos Fuentes,
#NFDB
387:Tal vez un deseo no era sino una esperanza anhelada con más intensidad. ~ Matt Haig,
#NFDB
388:Ten la naturaleza de un derviche; entonces usa con un gorro elegante. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
389:Ven, bendiceme con tu esperanza y quedate todo el tiempo que puedas. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
390:Cada mujer es un paisaje propio, con sus rincones hermosos y sus cualidades. ~ Ne ra,
#NFDB
391:Cargar a otras personas con sus decisiones podía ser un acto de egoísmo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
392:Con el tiempo, eso es lo que gana, lo que ha elegido la memoria. ~ Delphine de Vigan,
#NFDB
393:cuando me encontré de frente con su firme culo, perfectamente esculpido. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
394:El Fuego se propaga, y si nosotros ardemos tu arderas con nosotros ~ Suzanne Collins,
#NFDB
395:El mundo es más brillante con la felicidad de los niños y niñas ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,
#NFDB
396:El orgullo y los halagos con frecuencia nublan nuestra razón. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
397:el que está realmente comprometido con la vida jamás deja de caminar. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
398:I sogni a volte si avverano, ma questo non accade con facilità. ~ Josephine Angelini,
#NFDB
399:Las historias tristes siempre empiezan con un... TENEMOS QUE HABLAR. ~ Lorena Franco,
#NFDB
400:La vida ya es demasiado triste como para amargarla además con odio. ~ Gustav Meyrink,
#NFDB
401:Mejor que con palabras, la sinceridad se muestra con acciones. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
402:Mejor resultar herido por la verdad que consolare con una mentira. ~ Khaled Hosseini,
#NFDB
403:Me vuelvo hacia mi alma. Ella es la que tiene que dar con la verdad. ~ Marcel Proust,
#NFDB
404:«Ningún loco está loco si uno se conforma con sus razones». ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
405:no puedo vivir a la orilla de un río y lavarme las manos con saliva. ~ Chinua Achebe,
#NFDB
406:No serás más que un recuerdo que morirá con el caer del primer sol. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
407:sin apenas certezas, pero con un montón de dudas, un montón de preguntas ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
408:Si tratas de curar la maldad con maldad, sumarás más dolor a tu destino. ~ Sophocles,
#NFDB
409:Todo lo que podemos decidir es qué haremos con el tiempo que nos dieron. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
410:Aquello que se ama con violencia acaba siempre por matarle a uno. ~ Guy de Maupassant,
#NFDB
411:Con el tiempo, incluso los malos recuerdos se disfrazan de blanco ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
412:con una perseverancia que sólo podía entenderse por el amor, ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
413:El verdadero liderazgo comienza con un propósito, no con un plan ~ R Albert Mohler Jr,
#NFDB
414:La gente que uno quiere debería morirse con todas sus cosas. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
415:La madurez es el arte de vivir en paz con lo que es imposible cambiar. ~ C sar Lozano,
#NFDB
416:Narrar es jugar al póquer con un rival que puede mirarte las cartas. ~ Ricardo Piglia,
#NFDB
417:No sabía bien que era la vida porque no sabía con que contrastarla. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,
#NFDB
418:Para ella la lectura estaba relacionada directamente con el placer y ~ Roberto Bola o,
#NFDB
419:Por mucho que uno se deleite con la luna, también necesita del sol. ~ Mathias Malzieu,
#NFDB
420:prefería las preguntas a obtener respuestas con las que no podría vivir. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
421:Preferiría que me hablara con toda claridad y sin poner ejemplos ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
422:si no logramos ese "estar conmigo", difícilmente podamos estar con otro. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
423:adoctrinado con algún manual que había oscurecido su capacidad de asombro, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
424:anotó en un cuaderno de apuntes con la pulcra caligrafía de un analfabeto. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
425:Either they're trying to con you or they're trying to con themselves. ~ Warren Buffett,
#NFDB
426:El orgullo y los halagos con frecuencia nublan nuestra razón... ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
427:estar en África, en Egipto... La caravana con la que iba se había ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
428:¨Hay ocasiones en que negociamos nuestro futuro con el pasado.¨ ~ Albert S nchez Pi ol,
#NFDB
429:mejor resultar herido por la verdad que consolarse con una mentira.» ~ Khaled Hosseini,
#NFDB
430:—Mi novia quiere salir con otro hombre, no hay de qué preocuparse. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick,
#NFDB
431:—No estés triste —lo dice con tanto cariño que el aire cambia de color. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
432:Pero los hombres se destruyen con el hierro y se compran con el oro. ~ Giovanni Papini,
#NFDB
433:Por no tener con quién hablar acabarán un día sin tener nada que decir. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
434:¿Por qué trabajar con un grupo de personas que ni siquiera se caen bien? ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
435:qué sucede cuando la atención trae una nueva información a la con ciencia. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
436:Se l'amore non ha rapporto con la verità non supera la prova del tempo. ~ Pope Francis,
#NFDB
437:«Si se vive de acuerdo con la conciencia, la fe no es tan importante.» ~ Espido Freire,
#NFDB
438:Soy un hombre complicado con necesidades muy simples pero muy concretas ~ Ashlee Vance,
#NFDB
439:Una mujer que con su sola presencia aligeraba la pesadumbre de vivir. ~ Miguel Delibes,
#NFDB
440:Wenn scheissen Blut con Messer spritz dehn geht schon alles gut. ~ William S Burroughs,
#NFDB
441:Adquiere estatus de estrella con su juego nocturno de «El gato loco». ~ Suzanne Collins,
#NFDB
442:Dame gente con habilidades blandas, que yo después los actualizo’. ~ Andr s Oppenheimer,
#NFDB
443:Dios es un incendio, hermano León. Arde. Y nosotros ardemos con Él. ~ Nikos Kazantzakis,
#NFDB
444:El amor consiste en encontrar a alguien con quien compartir tus rarezas. ~ Rosa Montero,
#NFDB
445:El amor es una locura pasajera que se cura con el matrimonio. AMBROSE BIRCE ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
446:el azar nos ofrece su doble vía vos con tus soledades yo con las mías ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
447:El fuego se propaga. Y si nosotros ardemos, tú arderás con nosotros". ~ Suzanne Collins,
#NFDB
448:El problema con pensar era que, en cuanto empezabas, continuabas haciéndolo ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
449:El que es hábil con el martillo tiende a pensar que todo es un clavo. ~ Stephen R Covey,
#NFDB
450:hay en el Senado quien hasta para halagar salpica con la saliva. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
451:Las dunas cambian con el viento, pero el desierto sigue siendo el mismo. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
452:Las grandes oportunidades no se ven con los ojos sino con la mente. ~ Robert T Kiyosaki,
#NFDB
453:Los errores son imprescindibles para dar con aciertos y progresar. ~ Christophe Galfard,
#NFDB
454:los incas de la nobleza rara vez tenían consideraciones con su pueblo. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
455:Los niños deben ser muy indulgentes con las personas grandes ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
456:Mi papá vive solo en el desierto. Dice que no se lleva bien con la gente. ~ Sam Shepard,
#NFDB
457:Mis pensamientos son estrellas con las que no puedo formar constelaciones. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
458:Nada que no asuma un riesgo calculado con la fealdad puede ser bello. ~ Alain de Botton,
#NFDB
459:No hay que confundir poesía con vaselina; vigor, con camiseta sucia. ~ Oliverio Girondo,
#NFDB
460:No tenemos derecho a comparar el valor de una vida humana con otra. ~ Elizabeth Gaskell,
#NFDB
461:-Pero los ojos son ciegos. Hay que buscar con el corazón. Yo ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
462:—Pero los ojos son ciegos. Hay que buscar con el corazón. Yo ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
463:Por mucho que uno se deleite con la luna, también necesita del sol... ~ Mathias Malzieu,
#NFDB
464:Sinceridad: no se alegra con las injusticias, se regocija con la verdad. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
465:34 Pon tu esperanza en el SEÑOR y marcha con paso firme por su camino. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
466:¿Acaso creías que podías bailar con el diablo y no pagar un precio por ello? ~ Anne Rice,
#NFDB
467:Cautivar a una persona libre con amor es mejor que liberar a mil esclavos. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
468:Con las palabras todo cuidado es poco, mudan de opinión como las personas ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
469:—El amor es la única piedra que siempre tropieza con el mismo hombre ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
470:Ella no podrá saber nunca de qué me estaba salvando con esas palabras. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
471:El soñar con algo improbable tiene un nombre. Lo llamamos "esperanza". ~ Jostein Gaarder,
#NFDB
472:en vez de hablar con el ocupante del cuarto, lo hice con sus paredes vacías. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
473:Hay cosas que merece la pena perseguir con independencia de su coste. ~ Stephanie Garber,
#NFDB
474:La memoria es una amante cruel con la que todos debemos aprender a bailar. ~ Kate Morton,
#NFDB
475:La vita non è ciò che ci accade, ma ciò che facciamo con ciò che ci accade. ~ Fabio Volo,
#NFDB
476:Mis pensamientos son estrellas con las que no puedo formar constelaciones.) ~ John Green,
#NFDB
477:No soy yo quien juega con las palabras, son ellas las que juegan conmigo. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
478:pánico viaja con facilidad en la ficción, o en lo que uno vive como tal. ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
479:Para el inteligente y con suerte, todos los caminos están abiertos! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,
#NFDB
480:Pero los Sufis trabajan EN el mundo, y por lo tanto CON 'cosas del mundo'. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
481:Porque un muerto puede ser feliz con su situación irremediable. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
482:Se miró las uñas con sus puntos blancos que decían prueba de la mentira ~ Carlos Fuentes,
#NFDB
483:Se sentía asustado, con un susto que era, a un tiempo, vago y específico. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
484:siempre que te encuentres con alguien le digas en tu cabeza “te quiero ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
485:¡Tenemos un pacto con la muerte y estamos en concierto con el infierno! ~ Peter Benchley,
#NFDB
486:Te querría en cualquier cuerpo, en cualquier mundo, con cualquier pasado. ~ Claudia Gray,
#NFDB
487:VISTA es lo que ves con tus ojos. VISIÓN es lo que ves con tu mente. ~ Robert T Kiyosaki,
#NFDB
488:Cada uno vuela con su propia especie: paloma con paloma, halcón con halcón. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
489:Carente de contacto con el mundo exterior, era un universo en sí misma. ~ Arthur C Clarke,
#NFDB
490:Dime algo que sea verdad y con lo que muy poca gente esté de acuerdo”.» ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
491:El amor hace y deshace. Atrae la dicha y la desdicha con igual intensidad. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
492:El populismo es el uso demagógico de la democracia para acabar con ella. ~ Enrique Krauze,
#NFDB
493:El problema con mi vida era que se le había ocurrido a alguien más ~ Benjamin Alire S enz,
#NFDB
494:en el lago del alma había entrado la noche que pasé con tanta angustia. ~ Dante Alighieri,
#NFDB
495:Es estúpido echar de menos a alguien con quien ni siquiera te llevabas bien. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
496:Hacer una salsa con buenos ingredientes es como hacer el amor con un experto. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
497:—La memoria es una amante cruel con la que todos debemos aprender a bailar. ~ Kate Morton,
#NFDB
498:L'ennemi est con, il croit que c'est nous l'ennemi alors que c'est lui ~ Pierre Desproges,
#NFDB
499:Llegó el otoño con su espléndido cortejo de oros, malvas y rojos. ~ Torcuato Luca de Tena,
#NFDB
500:«Los sueños se realizan cuando mantenemos nuestro compromiso con ellos». ~ John C Maxwell,
#NFDB
501:Particularmente no se comprende con este proceder cómo surge el objeto mismo, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
502:Pero no sé qué ganará con verme. Hago mal a todos los que se me acercan. ~ Ernesto Sabato,
#NFDB
503:Porque el presente es el punto en el que el tiempo coincide con la eternidad. ~ C S Lewis,
#NFDB
504:Possiamo chiudere con il passato, ma il passato non chiude con noi. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
505:...protegía su amistad como un dragón su tesoro: en silencio y con avaricia. ~ Celeste Ng,
#NFDB
506:Scrum resulta adecuado en proyectos con requisitos inciertos y, o inestables. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
507:Si tu realidad empieza con tus sueños, tus sueños se convertirán en realidad. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
508:Tu riqueza está en tu esencia: Quien eres, los talentos con los que naciste. ~ Mabel Katz,
#NFDB
509:7El ministerio que causaba muerte, el que estaba grabado con letras en piedra, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
510:casi todas nuestras penas surgen de nuestras relaciones con otras personas. ~ Irvine Welsh,
#NFDB
511:Con Dios todo es posible. Incluso, que la Divinidad habite en la imperfección. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
512:Con las palabras todo cuidado es poco, mudan de opinión como las personas”. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
513:Donde haya una cosa verdadera o útil, con seguridad habrá una falsificación. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
514:el muchacho se encontró con el viejo a mediodía. Traía seis ovejas consigo. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
515:Era una cazadora de sombras, y el dolor era algo con lo que debía vivir. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
516:Escribe llubia porque en su campito nunca vio que lloviera con ve corta. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
517:Es fácil vivir con los ojos cerrados, interpretando mal todo lo que se ve... ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
518:Hay solo dos cosas con las que uno se puede acostar: Una persona y un libro ~ Ray Bradbury,
#NFDB
519:La abundancia de una clase se compensa con la indigencia de la otra. ~ Henry David Thoreau,
#NFDB
520:Mae West decía: "Solo se vive una vez, pero si se vive bien, con una vez basta ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
521:Nacemos con el derecho a ser felices, con el derecho a disfrutar de la vida. ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
522:«Nada es más creativo o destructivo que una mente brillante con un propósito.» ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
523:Nada tiene arreglo: evidencia que hay que llevar con asco y resignación. ~ Camilo Jos Cela,
#NFDB
524:Pactos alocados con Dios, del tipo «si soy capaz de eso, sucederá aquello»; ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
525:Permanece mucho a solas con Jesús, y tendrás mucha firmeza; pero ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
#NFDB
526:Podía mentir con una mirada tan sincera y tranquila como la de un ángel. ~ Terry Pratchett,
#NFDB
527:—Porque no sólo hay que leer aquello con lo que se está de acuerdo. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
528:Se aferraba con desesperación a las palabras que le habían salvado la vida. ~ Markus Zusak,
#NFDB
529:¿Se puede vivir con un infierno en el corazón y en la mente? Volverás ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
530:... Y con facilidad perdonaría su orgullo si no hubiera mortificado el mío". ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
531:Aunque me quisiera con toda su alma, sería igualmente un amor de muerta. ~ Jean Paul Sartre,
#NFDB
532:-Cada vez que me acuesto con una chica me enamoro de ella durante horas ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
533:con amor siempre se es feliz, puesto que la felicidad está en uno mismo. Egor ~ Leo Tolstoy,
#NFDB
534:Con la ayuda de sus bellos ojos destrozó de la peor manera a la próspera Troya. ~ Euripides,
536:Cuando deseas algo con todo tu corazón, estás más próximo al Alma del Mundo. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
537:Cuando digas algo que valga la pena contestar, con mucho gusto te responderé. ~ Abbi Glines,
#NFDB
538:Dentro de mi, alguien, algo, se irá. Con la mirada baja, sin una palabra. ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
539:el pánico viaja con facilidad en la ficción, o en lo que uno vive como tal. ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
540:El trabajo del novelista es hacer visible lo invisible con palabras. ~ Miguel ngel Asturias,
#NFDB
541:En lugar de compararse con otros, enfóquese en ser lo mejor que pueda ser. ~ John C Maxwell,
#NFDB
542:Escribir es como besar, pero sin labios. Escribir es besar con la mente. ~ Daniel Glattauer,
#NFDB
543:Es en la oscuridad más profunda cuando se ven las cosas con mayor claridad. ~ Sof a Segovia,
#NFDB
544:Es la logica Adrian Ivashkov. No trates de entenderla, solo rueda con ella. ~ Richelle Mead,
#NFDB
545:Grazie a te mi piace ciò che sono, ciò che divento quando sei con me, Oliver. ~ Andr Aciman,
#NFDB
546:La vida es una partida y hay que vivirla de acuerdo con las reglas del juego ~ J D Salinger,
#NFDB
547:Le guerre sono belle, ma tendono a interferire con faccende più importanti. ~ David Eddings,
#NFDB
548:Lo que comenzó mal, rara vez y con muchísima dificultad concluirá bien". ~ Geoffrey Chaucer,
#NFDB
549:Mi chiedo se le persone passino di moda con la stessa rapidità dei cappellini. ~ Tracy Rees,
#NFDB
550:No hay nada peor que la fama, y la realidad tiene esa fama con creces. ~ Enrique Vila Matas,
#NFDB
551:Non si va in giro con un cric in mano se si pensa "non sarà nulla". ~ Jennifer L Armentrout,
#NFDB
552:¿Por qué habría de querernos el que señalamos nosotros con tembloroso dedo? ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
553:¿Por qué rogarías para estar con alguien que trataste con tal indiferencia? ~ Tarryn Fisher,
#NFDB
554:Quienquiera que estuviese con él siempre quería que estuviera con otra persona. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
555:Si hubiera asesinado a Watson, no se iría de esta habitación con vida. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle,
#NFDB
556:sus ojos, así, llenaban aquel semblante en flor con la luz de su belleza. ~ Horacio Quiroga,
#NFDB
557:Those who willingly accept being conned are as corrupt as those who con them. ~ Tom Robbins,
#NFDB
558:al general Medina Barrón con el 30° Batallón situado en Teotihuacán, ~ Paco Ignacio Taibo II,
#NFDB
559:Bajo la ducha, con Carmina Burana de Carl Orff a todo volumen y el agua caliente ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
560:Che immensa responsabilità è vivere da creatura che vive con principi morali. ~ Isaac Marion,
#NFDB
561:Che madre è quella che prova tristezza con dei bambini sani intorno? ~ J n Kalman Stef nsson,
#NFDB
562:Con diferencia, lo peor que puedes hacer es tener un consejo demasiado grande. ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
563:Cuando despierte - dijo- , recuérdame que me voy a casar con ella ! ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
564:Dejalo victoria, con lo mucho que le quieres, y casi lo matas, por mi ~ Laura Gallego Garc a,
#NFDB
565:El momento presente no tiene más fundamento que su parentesco con el pasado. ~ Juan Jos Saer,
#NFDB
566:Había tenido la suerte de no encontrarse con su patrona en la escalera. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
567:la ceguera es una cuestión privada entra la persona y los ojos con que nació. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
568:Las mujeres juegan con su belleza como los niños con un cuchillo, y se hieren. ~ Victor Hugo,
#NFDB
569:La vida es una guerra sin tregua, y se muere con las armas en la mano. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer,
#NFDB
570:Never do yourself, what you can con professionals into doing for you. ~ Lois McMaster Bujold,
#NFDB
571:Os ataco con espinas y respondéis con plomo. ¿No es ése el centro del problema? ~ Greg Rucka,
#NFDB
572:para emprender este camino, hay que animarse a ir a tomar un café con uno mismo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
573:Pero me encontré con Elsbeth y me contó que estabais aquí. He venido enseguida. ~ Sarah Lark,
#NFDB
574:Precisamente en jerarquías allanadas es posible atreverse con la shitstorm. ~ Byung Chul Han,
#NFDB
575:So far I’m not seeing a lot of difference between me and a carnival con-man. ~ Richelle Mead,
#NFDB
576:Solo el hombre con mente libre puede alcanzar los infinitos horizontes! ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,
#NFDB
577:Sradica l'albero genealogico dell'avversario con la forza del turpiloquio. ~ Luther Blissett,
#NFDB
578:Todos tenían frases de canciones pop que tenían algo que ver con el futuro ~ Stephen Chbosky,
#NFDB
579:Un hombre conconciencia... lo más peligroso del mundo.
Nasuada ~ Christopher Paolini,
#NFDB
580:Vive de manera transparente. Ama de manera auténtica. Y lidera con valentía. ~ Brian Houston,
#NFDB
581:12Yo, la sabiduría, habito con la discreción, Y hallo la ciencia de los consejos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
582:-Ángel, siempre te he querido. Siempre te querré. Siempre -dijo con fiereza. ~ Kirsty Moseley,
#NFDB
583:Cieli, pensò Old Bailey con una sorta di compiacimento. Mai due di essi uguali. ~ Neil Gaiman,
#NFDB
584:Controla esa lengua de víbora, o al final te envenenarás con tu propio veneno ~ Megan Maxwell,
#NFDB
585:En el mundo exterior la gente no suele hablar con franqueza, ¿no es cierto? ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
586:—¿Has estado alguna vez en Galveston? —le pregunté. Ella negó con la cabeza. ~ Nic Pizzolatto,
#NFDB
587:Không gì có thể làm cho con người yếu mềm hơn sự cô độc, ngoại trừ tính tham lam. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
588:«La experiencia no es lo que te pasa a ti. Es lo que haces con lo que te pasa». ~ Rick Warren,
#NFDB
589:La manera más rápida de extinguir el fuego de la ira es con un balde de oración. ~ Max Lucado,
#NFDB
590:la obscuridad adoptó la iluminación con objeto de hacerse visible ~ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky,
#NFDB
591:La repugnancia a hacer la guerra no debe confundirse con la negativa a luchar ~ Eric Hobsbawm,
#NFDB
592:Las gentes con el alma pequeña siempre tratan de empequeñecer a los demás ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
593:Las mentiras tienen cierto sabor fúnebre, guardan relación con la mortalidad. ~ Joseph Conrad,
#NFDB
594:Los argumentos contra la locura caen con un leve sonido ahogado capa sobre capa.. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
595:Los que matan en la guerra deberían celebrar cada conquista con un funeral. ~ Eduardo Galeano,
#NFDB
596:Mentre la baciavo con l’anima sulle labbra, l’anima d’improvviso mi fuggì ~ Edgar Lee Masters,
#NFDB
597:Noches que con gran cuidado eliminaste de la desordenada baraja de tu pasado ~ William Gibson,
#NFDB
598:Non si vede che con il cuore. L'essenziale è invisibile agli occhi ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
599:Pactar con uno mismo una disciplina es esencial para poder dar el siguiente paso. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
600:People dressed up like me, at the comic-con in San Antonio. It's very rewarding. ~ Bray Wyatt,
#NFDB
601:—¡Queremos abolir a Dios! —declaró Gregory abriendo los ojos con fanatismo—. ~ G K Chesterton,
#NFDB
602:Si hablas con Dios, eres religioso; si es Dios el que te habla, eres un psicótico ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
603:Si mucho te contentas con el orden, se dice, te vas convirtiendo en piedra. ~ Marcela Serrano,
#NFDB
604:si naciste con
la fragilidad de caer
naciste con
la fuerza de levantarte ~ Rupi Kaur,
#NFDB
605:Sólo podemos saber que alguien está loco si hay un cuerdo con quien compararlo. ~ Rick Yancey,
#NFDB
606:Sono sempre stato un malinconico con la vocazione di essere una persona allegra. ~ Fabio Volo,
#NFDB
607:Y el principito añadió: —Pero los ojos son ciegos. Hay que buscar con el corazón. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
608:18Si es posible, en cuanto de ustedes dependa, estén en paz con todos los hombres. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
609:19Vale más humillarse con los oprimidos que compartir el botín con los orgullosos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
610:Acabada la dependencia, acaba la correspondencia, y con ella la estimación. ~ Baltasar Graci n,
#NFDB
611:A la muerte se le toma de frente con valor y después se le invita a una copa ~ Edgar Allan Poe,
#NFDB
612:debes entrenarte para afrontar las críticas (o incluso disfrutar con ellas). ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
613:Để giúp đỡ thật lòng đôi khi con tim phải biết lạnh lùng đến như là vô cảm. ~ Nguy n Ph ng Mai,
#NFDB
614:«El hombre que no cuenta con ningún objetivo en la vida, tiene que creárselo». ~ Stanis aw Lem,
#NFDB
615:El que no esta con Roma, sus leyes y sus libertades, está contra Roma. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero,
#NFDB
616:Es al separarse cuando se siente y se comprende la fuerza con que se ama. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
617:Explicar con palabras de este mundo que partió de mí un barco llevándome. ~ Alejandra Pizarnik,
#NFDB
618:Ha sido encontrada.
¿Qué? La Eternidad.
Es el mar aliado con el sol. ~ Arthur Rimbaud,
#NFDB
619:Hay que apartar de nosotros el mal gusto de querer coincidir con muchos. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,
#NFDB
620:I ragazzi apprendono come comportarsi dalle persone con cui vivono. [...] ~ Elizabeth Chandler,
#NFDB
621:Lo que pasa es que la coquetería es un vicio que no se sacia con nada ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
622:Me había enamorado de Amy porque con ella podía ser la versión definitiva de Nick. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
623:Nadie tiene tanta compasión con un embustero como alguien de su condición. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
624:no confundas mi respeto con temor, no confundas mi franqueza con miedo. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
625:Pensar positivamente es sincronizar el pensamiento con el fluir de la vida. ~ Eric Butterworth,
#NFDB
626:¡Por eso la mató, se mató con todos sus amigos, inventó la inmortalidad! ~ Adolfo Bioy Casares,
#NFDB
627:Probablemente no hay escasez de chicas que quieren jugar a la enfermera con él. ~ Gayle Forman,
#NFDB
628:Querer algo con todas las fuerzas no es malo, convertirlo en imprescindible, sí. ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
629:Quien quiere de verdad quiere en silencio, con hechos, nunca con palabras. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
630:- Riditemelo, Bartleboom. Proprio con quel tono lì, vi prego. Riditemelo. ~ Alessandro Baricco,
#NFDB
631:Sólo se ve bien con el corazón. Lo esencial es invisible a los ojos ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
632:Tengo dieciocho años. Estoy genéticamente programada para discutir con mis padres ~ Kiera Cass,
#NFDB
633:The mythology of freedom under capitalism for the average person is a con job. ~ Bryant McGill,
#NFDB
634:Y cuando uno duerme con alguien y se da besos de amor pues se tiene que casar. ~ Megan Maxwell,
#NFDB
635:Asombrar con gestos amorsos a quien nos rechaza es, ante todo, una grosería. ~ Alejandro Dolina,
#NFDB
636:¿Cómo seguiré en la tortura de vivir con Faustine y de tenerla tan lejos? ~ Adolfo Bioy Casares,
#NFDB
637:Cuando limpiamos, lo hacemos para estar en paz con el dolor, en paz con el cáncer. ~ Mabel Katz,
#NFDB
638:Cuando un equipo con talento no gana un evento, debemos examinar el liderazgo. ~ John C Maxwell,
#NFDB
639:dios escribe derecho con renglones torcidos, y son esos mismos los que prefiere. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
640:El humor es otra de las armas con las que el alma lucha por su supervivencia. ~ Viktor E Frankl,
#NFDB
641:«Esposos, amen a sus esposas, y no sean duros con ellas» (Colosenses 3.19). ~ Emerson Eggerichs,
#NFDB
642:Hablaron de cosas muy triviales, con perfecta discreción de personas maduras. ~ Horacio Quiroga,
#NFDB
643:Hai thứ tốt nhất trên đời là bánh sừng bò nóng và một con đường về nhà nhanh chóng. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
644:La esperanza es esa cosa con plumas que se posa en el alma y canta sin parar. ~ Emily Dickinson,
#NFDB
645:La gente con i soldi si stupisce sempre che gli altri non ne abbiano. ~ Alicia Gim nez Bartlett,
#NFDB
646:La Medicina es el arte de acompañar con palabras griegas al sepulcro. ~ Enrique Jardiel Poncela,
#NFDB
647:La quería con la eternidad que concede
la brevedad de un momento inolvidable ~ Elvira Sastre,
#NFDB
648:Las reglas de las mayúsculas son muy injustas con las palabras que están en medio. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
649:Le cose più preziose della vita non sono quelle che si comprano con il danaro ~ Albert Einstein,
#NFDB
650:Mediante la unión con Cristo en Su muerte somos liberados del poder del pecado. ~ Jerry Bridges,
#NFDB
651:Me doro con ponientes supuestos, pero lo supuesto está vivo en la suposición. ~ Fernando Pessoa,
#NFDB
652:nunca hay que hacer caso a las flores, basta con mirarlas y olerlas. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
653:Prefieres crear una fantasía de alguien en tu cabeza que estar con la persona real. ~ Jenny Han,
#NFDB
654:quien quiere de verdad quiere en silencio, con hechos y nunca con palabras. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
655:Quiero estar sola, pero no siempre, quiero estar con alguien, pero no todo el rato, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
656:Scrivere è come baciare, solo senza labbra. Scrivere è baciare con la mente. ~ Daniel Glattauer,
#NFDB
657:Siempre se piensa mejor con el estómago lleno, dicen los que tienen estómago. ~ Eduardo Mendoza,
#NFDB
658:Sinceridad: “no se alegra con la injusticia, sino que se regocija con la verdad. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
659:Una: no les gustamos. Dos: tienen miedo al compromiso (con nosotras en particular). ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
660:Una persona che sa scrivere una lunga lettera con facilità non può scrivere male. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
661:Y es sorprendente lo que la gente puede lograr con un poco de esperanza y un sueño. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
662:Al diablo con la psicología. Debería haber cont inuado con t oda la cosa de evit ar. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
663:Cualquier hombre con carácter y valor siempre ha sido inquetante para los demás. ~ Hermann Hesse,
#NFDB
664:Cuando Eleanor conoce a Park, recordarás tu primer amor, y con qué fuerza te derribó ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
665:Cuando te conviertes en sabio, controlas tu vida con el corazón, no con la cabeza. ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
666:Dígame una verdad importante para usted con la que concuerden muy pocas personas») ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
667:El amor es tener un gesto amable con alguien sin esperar recibir nada a cambio ~ Sylvain Reynard,
#NFDB
668:El tiempo hace con el cuerpo lo que la estupidez hace con el alma. Lo pudre. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
669:El trato con los semejantes fomenta el cinismo. ¿Debería evitarlo por esa causa? ~ E M Delafield,
#NFDB
670:En suma: si decía que estaba solo, no era más que porque no tenía con quién hablar. ~ C sar Aira,
#NFDB
671:¿Era necesario confrontar sus sueño con la realidad aún a riesgo de verlos fracasar? ~ Marc Levy,
#NFDB
672:Era un hombre corpulento y rollizo, casi sin cuello, aunque con un bigote inmenso. ~ J K Rowling,
#NFDB
673:es más importante viajar con esperanza en el corazón que llegar sano y salvo. ~ Jacqueline Kelly,
#NFDB
674:Los más talentosos nunca están del todo satisfechos con lo que han logrado. ~ Andr s Oppenheimer,
#NFDB
675:No, no era una superheroína, pero era otra cosa. Era una persona... con recursos. ~ Rachel Caine,
#NFDB
676:No se ve bien sino con el corazón,lo esencial es invisible a los ojos ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
677:Nunca malos o aviesos fines se pueden justificar con medios aparentemente nobles. ~ Benito Taibo,
#NFDB
678:Ricco no" disse, "sono un povero con i soldi, che non è la stessa cosa. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
679:Se diferente para que la gente te pueda ver con claridad entre la multitud. ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,
#NFDB
680:Se imaginó raspándole la piel con la lengua: un poquito salada, un poquito picante. ~ Kate Perry,
#NFDB
681:Ser cuidadoso con la gente y con las palabas era una cosa rara y hermosa. ~ Benjamin Alire S enz,
#NFDB
682:Ser Valiente pero Prudente: Normativa necesaria para alcanzar la Armonía con el Cosmos ~ Lao Tzu,
#NFDB
683:Si fuéramos de naturaleza ideal, podríamos conformarnos con los movimientos del sol. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
684:Simplemente volvieron juntos a casa, con los pies doloridos y el corazón cansado. ~ Markus Zusak,
#NFDB
685:Si somos tolerantes con los demás, es más fácil aceptar nuestros propios errores. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
686:Sólo entonces comprendí que morir es no estar nunca más con los amigos. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
687:un cerebro que puede pensar bien, creará con el tiempo un pensador. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
#NFDB
688:«Uno no puede enemistarse con las personas e influir en ellas al mismo tiempo». ~ John C Maxwell,
#NFDB
689:«Dígame una verdad importante para usted con la que concuerden muy pocas personas». ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
690:El alma que hablar puede con los ojos también puede besar con la mirada. ~ Gustavo Adolfo B cquer,
#NFDB
691:El hombre ha nacido libre y por doquiera se encuentra sujeto con cadenas. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau,
#NFDB
692:Es el tiempo que has perdido con tu rosa lo que la hace tan importante ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
693:Es fácil cometer errores. Lo difícil es vivir con las consecuencias. (Aquerón) ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon,
#NFDB
694:Hojas de flor flotan al viento. Con cada una envejece la rama del ciruelo. BUSON ~ Byung Chul Han,
#NFDB
695:il domani potrà albeggiare solo con una certa dose di delirio e di follia. ~ Subcomandante Marcos,
#NFDB
696:«La obra maestra más grande y gloriosa del hombre es cómo vivir con un propósito». ~ Wayne W Dyer,
#NFDB
697:La vida siempre sigue aunque tenga que arrastrarte con ella, pateando y gritando. ~ Tarryn Fisher,
#NFDB
698:Me dijeron que era usted médico, pero con tal de que sea un gato me da igual ~ F Scott Fitzgerald,
#NFDB
699:Me pregunté por qué, puestos a tener banderas, no escogían una con un dibujo erótico. ~ Matt Haig,
#NFDB
700:No podía dejar de mirar a Darcy con frecuencia, aunque cada mirada la convencía más ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
701:No se ve bien sino con el corazón, lo esencial es invisible a los ojos ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
702:Omnia mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis. Todo cambia, y nosotros cambiamos con ello ~ Neil Gaiman,
#NFDB
703:Pero si pudiera hacerme unos pantalones con la hierba de este jardín lo haría ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
#NFDB
704:—¿Qué les pasa a los hombres con sus autos? Parece que son una extensión de su pipí. ~ Kate Perry,
#NFDB
705:Sueño a veces con un amor lejano y vaporoso como la esquizofrenia de un perfume.. ~ Emil M Cioran,
#NFDB
706:Y este instinto de la vida ha sido colocado en el hombre para que pueda, con ayuda de ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
707:Casi todas nuestras penas provienen de nuestras relaciones con otras personas. ~ Juan Gomez Jurado,
#NFDB
708:Con suficiente información es casi imposible "no" predecir las acciones de la gente. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
709:...cualquiera con fanatismo, poder e impunidad puede transformarse en una bestia. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
710:Cuidado con lo que haces, pues si no, nos pierdes a ambos perdiéndote tú. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
711:Ella, mientras dormía, pronunciaba palabras de amor con los dedos de los pies. ~ Yasunari Kawabata,
#NFDB
712:El olor a castañas asadas se mezcla con el anhídrido carbónico de los escapes. ~ Bret Easton Ellis,
#NFDB
713:«el requisito previo para un buen matrimonio es contar con la licencia de ser infiel». ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
714:El tiempo que perdiste con tu rosa hace que tu rosa sea tan importante. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
715:En aquellas noches de insomnio, rememoraba los recuerdos con toda su intensidad. ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
716:En su presencia, cada nervio de mi cuerpo se sentía cableado con electricidad. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick,
#NFDB
717:He encontrado el amor cuando menos lo buscaba y con la persona que menos esperaba. ~ Megan Maxwell,
#NFDB
718:Incluso la guerra era absurda, aunque con la ventaja de que mataba a no poca gente. ~ D H Lawrence,
#NFDB
719:La búsqueda de inteligencia extraterrestre —que todos abreviaban con las siglas SETI, ~ Carl Sagan,
#NFDB
720:Lee poco pero con gusto, parecerás más leído que el que lo hace mucho pero aburrido. ~ Orhan Pamuk,
#NFDB
721:Nadie sobrevive una guerra civil con un ápice de dignidad del que presumir. Mi ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
722:người ta chỉ nhìn thấy thật rõ bằng trái tim. Cái cốt yếu thì con mắt không nhìn thấy. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
723:nos propuso con las pupilas brillantes celebrar una orgía erótica los tres juntos. ~ Hermann Hesse,
#NFDB
724:No tengo placer con qué matar el tiempo, si no es observar mi sombra al sol. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
725:Quería irme a dormir con él y despertarme con él. Quería todo el combo. Quería más. ~ Jenn Bennett,
#NFDB
726:Reír es lo más importante del mundo: y humorismo se escribe con hache... ~ Enrique Jardiel Poncela,
#NFDB
727:Sólo se ve bien con el corazón. Lo esencial es invisible para los ojos. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
728:Sự bất hạnh trả lại cho con người những phẩm hạnh mà sự sung túc lấy mất E. Delacroix, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
729:Ve con cuidado mañana, eres el mejor de los hombres, el mejor de los mirmidones. ~ Madeline Miller,
#NFDB
730:Yo sé que el Caso Penta puede terminar con papeles que incriminen a la mafia de la UDD ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
731:adopta el hábito más importante de quienes destacan y disfrutan con ello: actuar. ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
732:Así padeció el exilio, buscando la manera de matarla con su propia muerte. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
733:Demasiada amabilidad para con el zorro podría significar la perdición para el conejo. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
734:El hombre que cabalga sobre los cuernos de un dilema termina con el culo pinchado. ~ Alison Goodman,
#NFDB
735:El viento lo observa todo con indiferencia. Al fin y al cabo, no es más que el viento. ~ Libba Bray,
#NFDB
736:Es un buen libro aquel que se abre con expectación y se cierra con provecho”. ~ Amos Bronson Alcott,
#NFDB
737:I've always loved movies about con men. I think con men are as American as apple pie. ~ Bill Paxton,
#NFDB
738:La idea de estar con alguien que es capaz de apreciar la inteligencia me pone mucho. ~ Chris Colfer,
#NFDB
739:La mejor manera de equilibrar el poder con el que hemos nacido es sacrificarse. ~ Alexandra Bracken,
#NFDB
740:Mormont tomaba la cerveza siempre con limón, decía que por eso conservaba la dentadura. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
741:Nada más excitante (escribió) que salvarse a uno mismo con el simple acto de despertar. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
742:Necesitamos un par de días malos con el fin de mantener los buenos en perspectiva. ~ Colleen Hoover,
#NFDB
743:Nếu bạn đối xử với một chó như một con người, nó sẽ đối xử với bạn như một con chó ~ Nguy n Nh t nh,
#NFDB
744:Non si vede bene che con il cuore. L'essenziale è invisibile agli occhi. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
745:- No salgo con extraños.
- Suerte que yo si. Pasaré a recogerte a las cinco. ~ Becca Fitzpatrick,
#NFDB
746:Nos interesamos cada vez más en ver con qué podíamos contribuir a la vida. ~ A A World Services Inc,
#NFDB
747:No tengo nada que ver con este sistema, ni siquiera lo necesario para oponerme a él. ~ Walt Whitman,
#NFDB
748:Para que nuestra amistad con Dios sea sólida, debemos comunicarnos regularmente con él. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
749:Pies encadenados en presencia de amigos es mejor que vivir en un jardín con extraños. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
750:Siempre es "Adiós" con la boca y "Hasta que nos encontremos de nuevo" con el corazón. ~ Leah Raeder,
#NFDB
751:Si las revoluciones no se hacen con palabras, las ideas no se implantan con decretos. ~ Octavio Paz,
#NFDB
752:Supongo que con algo te tienes que obsesionar antes de saber que existe el sexo. ~ Becky Albertalli,
#NFDB
753:Tất cả chúng ta đều là những con người bất toàn sống trong một thế giới bất toàn. ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
754:Una voz fuerte no puede competir con una voz clara, aunque esta sea un simple murmullo. ~ Confucius,
#NFDB
755:Ahora el invierno de nuestro descontento se vuelve verano con este sol de York ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
756:Alma mía, toma la cruz con gran consuelo, que ella sola es el camino para el cielo. ~ Teresa of vila,
#NFDB
757:A veces me gustaría volver a ser el que era cuando soñaba con llegar a ser el que soy. ~ Jorge Bucay,
#NFDB
758:Comparamos de manera continua todo con todo, y así lo nivelamos para hacerlo igual, ~ Byung Chul Han,
#NFDB
759:Con người, đôi khi, chỉ cần sống một cách đáng tự hào cũng là đang giúp ai đó rồi. ~ Keigo Higashino,
#NFDB
760:creo en un Dios solo y eterno, que los cielos todos mueve inmóvil, con amor y con deseo; ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
761:È bello parlare con gli altri”
“Sì, ma solo se quando parli c’è uno che risponde ~ Elena Ferrante,
#NFDB
762:El odio es una puerta con cien cerraduras y el Amor es una mano con mil llaves. ~ Mehmet Murat ildan,
#NFDB
763:È più facile ingannare le masse con una fandonia esagerata che con una piccola bugia. ~ Adolf Hitler,
#NFDB
764:Es fácil vivir con los ojos cerrados, interpretando mal todo lo que se ve... JOHN LENNON ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
765:«Ha sido un placer estar con vosotros tantos años. Os llevaré siempre en mi corazón. ~ Lorena Franco,
#NFDB
766:Invertir no significa comprar, tiene que ver en realidad con tener conocimiento. ~ Robert T Kiyosaki,
#NFDB
767:I think that, if the world was a bit more like Comic-Con, we'd all be a little happier. ~ Matt Smith,
#NFDB
768:La matemática es la religión de las gentes con cerebro, por eso tiene tan pocos adeptos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
769:L'amore, con il solo amare, e senza operare null'altro, compie un’eroica fatica. ~ Miguel de Unamuno,
#NFDB
770:... la prudencia no suele acompañar a las personas que se encolerizan con facilidad... ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
771:«Lucio la miró con inquietud en los ojos, como si temiera daňarla de alguna forma...» ~ Laura Tejada,
#NFDB
772:Marks forget that whenever something's too good to be true, that's because it's a con. ~ Holly Black,
#NFDB
773:Nguyên tắc sâu sắc nhất trong bản tính con người đó là sự thèm khát được tán thưởng. ~ William James,
#NFDB
774:Nos acostumbramos con mayor facilidad de lo previsto a lo que parece insoportable. ~ David Foenkinos,
#NFDB
775:pero cualquiera con fanatismo, poder e impunidad puede transformarse en una bestia, ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
776:Procuremos inventar pasiones nuevas o reproducir las viejas con pareja intensidad. ~ Jos Lezama Lima,
#NFDB
777:Procuremos inventar pasiones nuevas, o reproducir las viejas con pareja intensidad. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
778:Quando la gente odia con tanta foga, vuol dire che odia qualcosa che ha dentro di sé. ~ Evelyn Waugh,
#NFDB
779:¿Qué es el éxito? Es ser capaz de irse a la cama cada noche con el alma en paz. ~ Arianna Huffington,
#NFDB
780:Qué significa vivir con la guerra, recordarla? Significa que nunca estás solo. ~ Svetlana Alexievich,
#NFDB
781:Solo quello che vedi con la coda dell'occhio ti tocca nel profondo.
(E.M. Forster) ~ Alan Bennett,
#NFDB
782:Un hombre que no pasa el suficiente tiempo con su familia no merece ser llamado hombre. ~ Mario Puzo,
#NFDB
783:Ana, yo me quedo en buenas manos. Yo me quedo en buenas voces y con miles de gargantas. ~ Luna Miguel,
#NFDB
784:Así padeció el exilio, buscando la manera de matarla con su propia muerte... ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
785:Bisogna essere prudenti con i libri, perché le parole hanno il potere di cambiarci. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
786:Cualquier tipo de pago en efectivo tiene más que ver con el presente que con el futuro. ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
787:Cuando un hombre está dominado por la ansiedad no puede orar con fe; cuando ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
#NFDB
788:-Cuarenta talentos -dijo Devi con rabia -Tarifas del gremio. Y me acuesto contigo. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
789:Dicho del Profeta
La lengua
Un hombre resbala más con su lengua que con sus pies. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
790:El amor es comprender a una persona, quererla, compartir con ella la dicha y la desdicha. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
791:Elegimos aquellos que nos gusta, con los que amamos, no tenemos voz en el asunto. ~ Mignon McLaughlin,
#NFDB
792:El hombre que renace es siempre el mismo, cada vez más él mismo con cada renacimiento. ~ Henry Miller,
#NFDB
793:El país con mayor número de gitanos del mundo es Turquía, en donde vivirían 2-5 millones. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
794:El que es un miserable no se vuelve generoso con los años...se vuelve más miserable. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
795:El secreto de una buena vejez no es mas que un pacto honrado con la soledad. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
796:el valor del conocimiento abstracto se encuentra siempre en su relación con el intuitivo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
797:El verdadero amor cambia con el tiempo y crece y descubre nuevas maneras de expresarse ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
798:Es fácil vivir con los ojos cerrados, interpretando mal todo lo que se ve ...‐John Lennon ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
799:Fue lectora voraz desde muy corta edad, con los peligros que esa costumbre conlleva. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
800:Había querido creer que saldríamos adelante con soplos de miseria y de esperanza. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
801:La Naturaleza se satisface con muy poco y que la necesidad es madre de la invención. ~ Jonathan Swift,
#NFDB
802:La vida es maravillosa, querido. Depende del color del cristal con que se mira ~ Alexandre Dumas fils,
#NFDB
803:Lo malo de gobernar por el miedo es que al final tú mismo acabas viviendo con miedo; ~ Javier Negrete,
#NFDB
804:Lo que creo es que la creatividad consiste precisamente en saber trabajar con el cambio. ~ Ed Catmull,
#NFDB
805:Me niego a que algo físico determine a quién debo querer y con quién quiero vivir. ~ Eva Garc a S enz,
#NFDB
806:No existen los valientes, sólo las personas que aceptan ir codo a codo con su miedo. ~ Luis Sep lveda,
#NFDB
807:no importa que el paisaje cambie o se rompa me alcanza con tus valles y con tu boca ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
808:No se ve bien más que con el corazón; lo esencial es invisible a los ojos. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
809:para gentes como ella(la maga) el misterio empezaba precisamente con la explicación. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
810:Pero la publicidad importa porque funciona. Funciona con los nerds, y funciona contigo. ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
811:Por un tiempo se extraviaron en una intimidad absoluta que confundieron con el amor. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
812:Que ella que con su muerte le dice a nuestro César:
"Me conquisté yo misma". ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
813:Ser cuidadoso con las personas y con las palabras era una cosa rara y hermosa. ~ Benjamin Alire S enz,
#NFDB
814:Sí, tengo una edad y el año que viene tendré otra, y es asunto mío lo que haga con ellas. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
815:tal vez lo único que realmente cuenta en la vida, sea prepararse para morir con dignidad. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
816:Tanto vale bersi l'oceano con un cucchiaino piuttosto che discutere con un innamorato. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
817:Una buena moraleja, milord: no basta con hablar, hay que hablar con discreción. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
818:Ya sabe cómo es esto de la vida, lo único que sabemos con certeza es que moriremos. ~ Dolores Redondo,
#NFDB
819:§7 Con respecto a todo el análisis que hasta ahora hemos desarrollado, hay que hacer notar ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
820:9El hipócrita con la boca daña á su prójimo: Mas los justos son librados con la sabiduría. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
821:Al fin y al cabo, yo era una página casi en blanco, tenía muy poco con qué impresionar. ~ Sheridan Hay,
#NFDB
822:Casi todas las heridas sanan con cariño, Irina. Tienes que amarte a ti y amarme a mí. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
823:Comic-Con fans are so affectionate, and it's always a lovely way to start a new season. ~ Kunal Nayyar,
#NFDB
824:Con comprensión y compasión serás capaz de curar las heridas de tu corazón y las del mundo ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
825:Con los años no es que se profundice lo peor de uno, sino que por fin sale a la luz. ~ Claudia Pi eiro,
#NFDB
826:El Mal debía manifestarse y cumplir con su papel para que el Bien pudiese vencer al final. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
827:el verdadero amor cambia con el tiempo y crece y descubre nuevas maneras de expresarse. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
828:Entre las penas con que nuestra vida está tejida, luce siempre un chispazo de alegría. ~ Nikolai Gogol,
#NFDB
829:era necesario tratar con cuidado los libros porque llevan una persona dentro, el autor. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
830:Es con lo que es con lo que tenemos que vivir, no con lo que sería o podría haber sido, ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
831:Eso pasa con la edad: las historias del pasado cobran vida y se nos pegan en la piel. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
832:Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it. ~ Paul Thomas Anderson,
#NFDB
833:Inteligencia Emocional”, enseña qué son nuestras emociones y qué podemos hacer con ellas…. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
834:La experiencia se logra con trabajo, y el raudo fluir del tiempo la perfecciona. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
835:Las lágrimas son el material con el cual el paraíso entreteje su más brillante arco iris. ~ Max Lucado,
#NFDB
836:lo que atrae al ego no ayuda a tu crecimiento espiritual. Con estas técnicas tan simples puedes ~ Osho,
#NFDB
837:Los perros no pueden decidir con quién viven. Las personas decidían nuestro destino. ~ W Bruce Cameron,
#NFDB
838:Para ver claro, basta con cambiar la dirección
de la mirada. ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
839:¡Pero cómo se le va a ocurrir separar el sujeto del verbo con una coma, hombre! ~ Ricardo Silva Romero,
#NFDB
840:Podrán romperme los huesos con palos y piedras, pero las palabras jamás podrán herirme. ~ Robert Bloch,
#NFDB
841:si bien una palabra suya podía hacerme tan feliz, otra me destruiría con igual facilidad ~ Andr Aciman,
#NFDB
842:Trova il tuo stile con coraggio, perché bisogna essere coraggiosi quando si corre da soli ~ Lucy Foley,
#NFDB
843:Aprende a utilizar tus emociones para pensar, pero no pienses con tus emociones. En ~ Robert T Kiyosaki,
#NFDB
844:«Con razón se dice que vale más tener malos sargentos que generales inútiles.» ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
845:Desde que yo soy yo, en las ciudades no nos matan con tiros sino con decretos. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
846:El tiempo que uno pierde tapizando la propia vida con una vegetación humana y parásita. ~ Marcel Proust,
#NFDB
847:Es así la vida, va dando con una mano hasta que llega el día que quita todo con la otra. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
848:Es fácil vivir con los ojos cerrados, interpretando mal todo lo que se ve … – John Lennon ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
849:Forse il coraggio è solo il volto con cui l'umanità confeziona la sua follia collettiva. ~ Amie Kaufman,
#NFDB
850:Ha cuore chi conosce la paura ma la domina, chi guarda l'abisso, ma con fierezza. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,
#NFDB
851:he sufrido no pocos descalabros y he llegado al retiro en paz con Dios y con mi conciencia. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
852:la conoscenza ha inizio con la demolizione delle illusioni, la de-lusione [Ent-täuschung] ~ Erich Fromm,
#NFDB
853:La ira puede cambiar con el tiempo a alegría; el enojo puede ser reemplazado por el contento. ~ Sun Tzu,
#NFDB
854:¿Nos conformamos con el mundo tal como es, o trabajamos para que sea como debería ser? ~ Michelle Obama,
#NFDB
855:Pasear, paradójicamente, hace posible la quietud. Pasear es trazar un mapa con los pies. ~ Lauren Elkin,
#NFDB
856:Si me exige tanto esfuerzo mantener algo con vida, no puede tener demasiada solidez, ¿no? ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
857:Sono poche le cose che non si possono sistemare con una tazza di tè preparata come si deve ~ Jojo Moyes,
#NFDB
858:Viana se acurrucó entre sus raíces y escuchó su canción, y después cantó con él. ~ Laura Gallego Garc a,
#NFDB
859:Ya sé que eres traidora y que me tienes buena voluntad. Lo bueno crece junto con lo malo. ~ Elena Garro,
#NFDB
860:You don’t have to control everything,” she says. “You can’t control everything. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,
#NFDB
861:Al hablarme, me miraba con una sonrisa estereotipada, un tanto comercial y un tanto mundana, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
862:Baste con decir que la existencia del brócoli en ningún caso afecta al gusto del chocolate. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
863:clave de la manipulación es poner en contacto a los hombres con sus deseos más intensos. ~ Marcos Chicot,
#NFDB
864:Como dice san Pablo: « Con el corazón se cree […], y con los labios se profesa » (Rm 10,10). ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
865:El mundo se ha llevado de mí muchas horas y años con sus tareas anodinas y rutinarias ~ Charles Bukowski,
#NFDB
866:El poder -dicen- es como un violín. Se toma con la izquierda y se toca con la derecha. ~ Eduardo Galeano,
#NFDB
867:En esta vida son pocos los momentos que se resuelven con un sí o con un no. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
#NFDB
868:En la medida en que vivimos con la gente, no somos más que lo que la gente piensa que somos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
869:Es como su estuviera desesperada por casarme con él, perdí la voz. Mis opiniones. A mí. ~ Colleen Hoover,
#NFDB
870:Hay cosas que sólo pueden hacerse con violencia. El amor físico es impensable sin violencia. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
871:La storia della vita di un povero è scritta sul suo corpo, con una matita ben temperata. ~ Aravind Adiga,
#NFDB
872:La última vez que había cometido ese error con una
mujer le había costado el alma. ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon,
#NFDB
873:La vida no da garantías. A nadie. No espera a nadie. No tiene consideraciones con nadie. ~ Sof a Segovia,
#NFDB
874:Mi problema con la soledad es que la compañía de otros nunca ha sido una cura para ella. ~ Joseph Heller,
#NFDB
875:No he necesitado palabras donde las acciones han hablado por sí mismas con tanta claridad. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
876:No te sientas “mala” o “malo” por actuar de manera coherente con lo que piensas y sientes. ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
877:Pero no pudo resistirse a su sonrisa . Aquella sonrisa podía con guerras y curar el cáncer. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
878:¿Qué significa que las pesadillas sueñen con la paz? ¿Que lassombras suspiren por la luz? ~ Melissa Marr,
#NFDB
879:Si mi madre me había enseñado algo en la vida era no ser vista con tus emociones afuera. ~ Tarryn Fisher,
#NFDB
880:Sólo con el corazón se puede ver bien; lo esencial es invisible a los ojos... ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
881:Sólo un sentido común con imaginación de poeta podría haber sido el inventor de la rueda. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
882:Soy más del tipo de chica de hacerse-ovillo-con-un-libro-en-una-cómoda-silla-junto-al-fuego. ~ E L James,
#NFDB
883:Una parte de mí deseaba darle un buen golpe en la cabeza con una herramienta de carpintería. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
884:Un hombre que no sabe qué hacer con el tiempo ignora lo que es meterse en el de los demás. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
885:Un imperio no se escinde dando un apretón de manos, sino cortándolas con una cuchilla. ~ Roberto Saviano,
#NFDB
886:"We understand the ego as the complex factor to which all con- scious contents are related." ~ Carl Jung,
#NFDB
887:Y cómo todos esos dolores acumulados habían evolucionado con los años hacia la locura. ~ John Katzenbach,
#NFDB
888:yo te quiero y te respeto muchísimo. Pero acabaré con tu vida antes de que termine este día… ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
889:Así es la política — dijo Adrian. — La gente con poder nunca juega bajo las mismas reglas ~ Richelle Mead,
#NFDB
890:Aunque nuestra relación con Cristo es personal, la intención de Dios no es que sea privada. ~ Rick Warren,
#NFDB
891:[...] Con un coraggioso slancio tra le ombre, Jim baciò Jinny sul polso e si alzò. [...] ~ Winston Graham,
#NFDB
892:E cos'è, dopotutto, uno scoiattolo? Un topo con un buon ufficio stampa. Niente di più. ~ Katherine Pancol,
#NFDB
893:Éste es un país con oportunidades inigualables… con tal de que casi todos se resignen. ~ Carlos Monsiv is,
#NFDB
894:Hay belleza o cuando menos interés en todo, si se ve con un ojo suficientemente perspicaz. ~ Susan Sontag,
#NFDB
895:La verità è una cosa meravigliosa e terribile, e per questo va trattata con grande cautela. ~ J K Rowling,
#NFDB
896:—La vida no da garantías. A nadie. No espera a nadie. No tiene consideraciones con nadie. ~ Sof a Segovia,
#NFDB
897:Lei era Rosalba, la luce con cui rinasce tutti i giorni la speranza di un giorno buono. ~ Silvana de Mari,
#NFDB
898:Los libros se hacen con lo que se tiene y no necesariamente con lo que se quiere. ~ Paco Ignacio Taibo II,
#NFDB
899:Mejor estaría con diablos: de siete veces seis no saben lo que ellas mismas quieren. ~ Giovanni Boccaccio,
#NFDB
900:Mi gente sabe cómo luchar contra los mejores, pero con palabras, con montones de palabras. ~ Gayle Forman,
#NFDB
901:molte volte
ce la prendiamo con altri
perché non fanno ciò
che dovevamo fare da soli ~ Rupi Kaur,
#NFDB
902:ninguno debe ofendernos que alguien se conforme con nosotros, a falta de quien fue mejor. ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
903:Nos queríamos con amor prematuro, con la violencia que a menudo destruye vidas adultas ~ Vladimir Nabokov,
#NFDB
904:Pareces un muchacho de esos que se creen que cantan pero solo hablan y blasfeman con ritmo ~ Clara Cort s,
#NFDB
905:Qué fácil es seducir a cualquiera o ser seducido’, pensé, ‘con qué poco nos conformamos’, ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
906:Se había atado a él con la obstinación con que uno se ata a las cosas que lo perjudican. ~ Paolo Giordano,
#NFDB
907:Sólo con el corazón se puede ver bien. Lo esencial, es invisible a los ojos... ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
908:Solo con el corazón se puede ver bien; lo esencial es invisible para los ojos. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
909:Sólo con el corazón se puede ver bien, lo esencial es invisible para los ojos. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
910:Sólo con el corazón se puede ver bien; lo esencial es invisible para los ojos. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
911:Somos seres inconstantes y estúpidos con mala memoria y un don para la autodestrucción. ~ Suzanne Collins,
#NFDB
912:Todo el mundo tiene sueños que no llegan a cumplirse —respondió ella con un tono suave. ~ Nicholas Sparks,
#NFDB
913:Toma el sendero recto, aunque sea largo; no te cases con viuda alguna, aunque sea una hurí. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
914:Vũ trụ có một ý nghĩa, và chính con người, khi hiểu nó, đã trao cho nó cái ý nghĩa đó. ~ Tr nh Xu n Thu n,
#NFDB
915:Al hacer las cosas con otros pierdo, por lo menos una cosa, que es hacer las cosas solo. ~ Fernando Pessoa,
#NFDB
916:A medida que luchamos en la vida cristiana, a veces lidiamos con nuestra seguridad en Cristo. ~ R C Sproul,
#NFDB
917:A veces confundimos querer estar solos con la necesidad de estar con la persona adecuada. ~ Javier Ruescas,
#NFDB
918:Casi se había preguntado si no habría subestimado gravemente las notitas con caras sonrientes. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
919:Comic-Con is definitely grown from just being about comics to being about all forms of media. ~ Eric Wight,
#NFDB
920:Cuando pienso en ti, y no estás ahí, siempre te veo en mi mente con un libro en la mano. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
921:Cuando te acaricié me dí cuenta que había vivido toda mi vida con las manos vacías. ~ Alejandro Jodorowsky,
#NFDB
922:El peor mal de un carácter indeciso y débil es que jamás se puede contar con él enteramente. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
923:El sufrimiento surge de una sola fuente: de comparar nuestra realidad con nuestros ideales. ~ Kristin Neff,
#NFDB
924:—Entonces ¿cómo pagan por el placer de tu compañía? —Con secretos —responde en voz baja. ~ Suzanne Collins,
#NFDB
925:E' sbagliato pensare di risolvere grossi problemi con il solo ausilio delle patate fritte. ~ Douglas Adams,
#NFDB
926:espero que un día cualquiera no sé cómo, ni sé con qué pretexto, por fin me necesites. Así, ~ Benito Taibo,
#NFDB
927:Hay puntos en que confluyen unos mundos con otros, y puntos en los que no se superponen. ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
928:Hay que contar siempre con lo peor, y luego hay que hacer contra ello todo lo que se pueda. ~ Michael Ende,
#NFDB
929:Hemingway dice en alguna parte que el buen escritor compite únicamente con los muertos. ~ Raymond Chandler,
#NFDB
930:Humbert era perfectamente capaz de tener relaciones con Eva, pero suspiraba por Lilith. ~ Vladimir Nabokov,
#NFDB
931:irradiaba una especie de calma interior, por lo que discutir con él resultaría exasperante. ~ David Brooks,
#NFDB
932:La mejor defensa es siempre atacar antes que el enemigo, con fuerza y por sorpresa. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
933:Las obras de arte son soledades infinitas y con nada son menos alcanzables que con la crítica. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
934:Las respuestas que se esperan con impaciencia siempre llegan cuando uno no está en casa. ~ Alexandre Dumas,
#NFDB
935:La verdadera pasión se expresa con gritos, con suspiros fastidiosos para el hombre frío. ~ Honor de Balzac,
#NFDB
936:La verdad. Es una cosa terrible y hermosa, y por lo tanto debe ser tratada con gran cuidado. ~ J K Rowling,
#NFDB
937:Lo que hace más importante a tu rosa, es el tiempo que tú has perdido con ella. ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
938:Los mediocres presentan una visión trillada de la vida con un lenguaje también trillado. ~ Edward St Aubyn,
#NFDB
939:Mis libros son el equivalente literario a un Big Mac con una gran ración de patatas fritas. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
940:No soy una bobalicona dominada por las hormonas y con un cerebro de algodón de azúcar rosa. ~ Kerstin Gier,
#NFDB
941:pueden, en realidad, ser una fuete de crecimiento cuando las abordamos con coraje y sabiduría. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
942:Qué haré ahora con mis labios sin su boca para llenarlos? ¿Qué haré de mis adoloridos labios? ~ Juan Rulfo,
#NFDB
943:Sabía que sin fe no ocurre nada de lo que debería ocurrir, y con fe casi siempre tampoco. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
944:Tú confundes el amor con la obediencia. A mí me obedecerás sin amarme y sin que yo te ame. ~ Pauline R age,
#NFDB
945:ustedes estarán de acuerdo en que el problema de la realidad no se enfrenta con suspiros. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
946:Amas a las personas a las que has prometido amar. Cuando las encuentras, cumples con tu promesa ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
947:Antes de que el antídoto llegue de Iraq, el hombre con la picadura de serpiente habrá muerto. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
948:Cada minuto que compartimos con alguien le da parte de nuestra vida y nos da parte de la suya ~ Ally Condie,
#NFDB
949:Cada minuto que pasas con alguien le das una parte de tu vida y le robas una parte de la suya ~ Ally Condie,
#NFDB
950:Coqueteé ocasionalmente con la desesperación, nunca por gusto sino porque ataca sin avisar; ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
951:el acto del amor y el acto del conocimiento se designaran en hebreo con la misma palabra. ~ Viktor E Frankl,
#NFDB
952:Ella era una mezcla entre John Rambo y Polly Pocket; Dakota Fanning cruzada con Death Wish 4. ~ Mark Millar,
#NFDB
953:El ser humano es un miserable que está condenado a destruirlo todo con sus ansias de poder. ~ Lorena Franco,
#NFDB
954:Entonces advierte en él algo que muchas veces leyó en los libros: se ha reído con los ojos. ~ Liliana Heker,
#NFDB
955:Estás en medio de la gente, callada, encogida, con aire de querer escapar a cada instante. ~ Carmen Laforet,
#NFDB
956:La ocultación podía ser sinónimo de poder. Como andar por la casa con un revólver cargado. ~ Lionel Shriver,
#NFDB
957:Me encontré con la Luna, que era una mujer gorda y desnuda, sentada en el horizonte. ~ Antonio Di Benedetto,
#NFDB
958:... nadie siente tanto desdén por los pobres diablos como los pobres diablos con uniforme. ~ Ernesto Sabato,
#NFDB
959:Nella vita le sventure ci colgono di sorpresa, spesso con violenza, proprio come l'amore. ~ Andrew Davidson,
#NFDB
960:Nothing so good as bein’ right with Jesus, my sister.” I was being evangelized by an ex-con. ~ Faith Hunter,
#NFDB
961:paradójico, las empresas de efectos de red deben empezar con mercados especialmente pequeños. ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
962:por mi parte tendrá honores quienquiera que cumpla con el estado, tanto en muerte como en vida. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
963:Sean siempre humildes y amables. Sean pacientes unos con otros y tolérense las faltas por amor. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
964:si hay algo para lo que nunca jamás estamos preparados es para sufrir con los hijos. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
965:También la moral es un asunto de tiempo, decía, con una sonrisa maligna, ya verás. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
966:Tratar con un matrimonio es como tratar con una sola persona contradictoria y desmemoriada. ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
967:—Tu madre no está sola, Daniel. Está con Dios. Y con nosotros, aunque no podamos verla. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
968:Un demonio guapo con un ojo del color de una promesa y el otro del color de un secreto. ~ Maggie Stiefvater,
#NFDB
969:3 El dolor no es sino un testigo de los errores del Hijo con respecto a lo que él cree ser. ~ Helen Schucman,
#NFDB
970:Con Dios están la sabiduría y la fuerza. Las palabras sabias y el entendimiento pertenecen a Él. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
971:Con ese libro hacía llevaderas sus horas de ocio y se sentía consolado en las de abatimiento. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
972:¡Con razón presumía Narsel de que los barcos de Agshar no se atrevían a atacar a los suyos! ~ Javier Negrete,
#NFDB
973:cuando una mujer no desea tener un hijo, generalmente cuenta con buenas razones para ello. ~ Steven D Levitt,
#NFDB
974:él estaba cumpliendo con su deber, estaba haciendo no lo que quería sino lo que tenía que hacer ~ Gay Talese,
#NFDB
975:Ella lo esperaba con tal ansiedad que la sola sonrisa de él le devolvía el aliento. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
976:Empecé con terror a pensar si yo también seré inmortal y si será inmortal en mí mi odio. ~ Miguel de Unamuno,
#NFDB
977:Eran antiguos árboles negros con ramas retorcidas que parecían espinas y gruesas hojas negras. ~ Morgan Rice,
#NFDB
978:Facebook alimenta las neuronas de la gente con información que la gente quiere recibir, ~ Andr s Oppenheimer,
#NFDB
979:Hemos sido inevitablemente retenidos por el mundo. Cuenta con volver a vernos cuando nos veas. ~ Neil Gaiman,
#NFDB
980:Khi con người nằm trong đám đông, kẻ ngu dốt và nhà bác học đều không có khả năng nhận xét. ~ Gustave Le Bon,
#NFDB
981:La idea de una revolución pacífica en democracia y con plena libertad era un contrasentido. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
982:—Los humanos no fueron hechos para cargar con el peso de otros. Apenas podemos con el propio ~ Tarryn Fisher,
#NFDB
983:Me acordé de la indiferencia atormentada con que asistía al espectáculo de la vida. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
984:Nếu bạn đánh giá một con cá qua khả năng leo cây, thì cả đời nó sẽ nghĩ răng mình ngu ngốc ~ Albert Einstein,
#NFDB
985:«No fue la perfidia de mis enemigos sino la diligencia de mis amigos lo que acabó con mi gloria. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
986:¨Nunca confesaría su amor al prójimo con palabras, pero le dedicaría todos sus actos¨ ~ Albert S nchez Pi ol,
#NFDB
987:Perdone señor, nos preguntábamos cuáles podrían ser sus intenciones, con respecto a comernos. ~ Ransom Riggs,
#NFDB
988:Que esto me sirva para adornarme con tu amistad... pues sí, tu amistad siempre me adornó ~ Fernando del Paso,
#NFDB
989:Que no puedes ser amigo de la persona con la que estaba escrito que pasarías el resto de tu vida ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
990:Que seas exigente contigo misma. Que no te conformes. Viste con orgullo esos leotardos a rayas. ~ Jojo Moyes,
#NFDB
991:Sé que parece injusto lo que digo, pero la vida, a veces, con frecuencia, es injusta. ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
992:Si se inventara un coche que funcionase con bromas estúpidas, tú llegarías bastante lejos. ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
993:Sólo existe certeza con respecto al pasado, y con respecto al futuro, la certeza de la muerte. ~ Erich Fromm,
#NFDB
994:Ta không nên bỏ mặc con tàu của mình trong bão tố chỉ vì không thể hô mưa gọi gió theo ý mình. ~ Thomas More,
#NFDB
995:The bad news is we don’t have any control. The good news is you can’t make any mistakes. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,
#NFDB
996:Uno solo puede ver claramente con el corazón, lo esencial es invisible a los ojos ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
997:Weston H. Agor le llama intuición a “lo que sabemos con seguridad sin saberlo con certeza”. ~ John C Maxwell,
#NFDB
998:Ya que las espadas fueron diseñadas para matar, hicieron bien en hacerlas con forma de lengua. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
999:y empezaba a sentir añoranza por el mundo de antaño; como un ancla en un mar con mal tiempo. ~ Thomas Harris,
#NFDB
1000:Así es la muerte de cabrona, acaba con las vueltas, las disquisiciones, las opciones. ~ Paco Ignacio Taibo II,
#NFDB
1001:Como no te has dado cuenta de que tus ojos me atrapan igual que te ocurre a ti con los míos ~ Kristin Cashore,
#NFDB
1002:Con artists rely heavily on the willing participation and self-delusion of the people they con. ~ Gary Whitta,
#NFDB
1003:cuando el supraconsciente subjetivo se funde con el inconsciente objetivo se alcanza la plenitud. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1004:Cubre la memoria de tu cara con la máscara de la que serás y asusta a la niña que fuiste ~ Alejandra Pizarnik,
#NFDB
1005:El sabio nada desea, no juzga no hace planes, mantiene su mente abierta y su corazón con paz ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1006:Gridò, se si può dir che gridi chi parla senza emetter quasi suono ma con tutta la sua forza. ~ Italo Calvino,
#NFDB
1007:If the people of Comic-Con ruled the world...then tomorrow would be invented every day. ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson,
#NFDB
1008:La tragedia del empeño humano consiste en que con tanta frecuencia permanece invisible e insospechada. ~ Saki,
#NFDB
1009:–La vida es una sala de espera –dijo el señor calvo, pisando el cigarrillo con mucho cuidado ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
1010:lo habían encuadernado cuidadosamente con un papel de aguas azul que hacía recordar los sueños. ~ Orhan Pamuk,
#NFDB
1011:Mientras estuviera en el mundo deseaba vivir con plenitud, sin cuidarse de nada, invencible. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1012:Nadie puede salir indemne de tanto sufrimiento.
—La cuestión es aprender a vivir con ello- ~ Julia Navarro,
#NFDB
1013:No es necesario conquistar el mundo. Basta con que lo hagamos de nuevo. Nosotros. Hoy. ~ Subcomandante Marcos,
#NFDB
1014:¿No estás de acuerdo en que hasta la venganza más terrible empieza con una simple pregunta? ~ John Katzenbach,
#NFDB
1015:Non c'é più bello che condividere con una persona la propria vita. Pero bisogna prima averne una ~ Fabio Volo,
#NFDB
1016:No sentía miedo, sólo asumió con frialdad que tal vez la muerte había pasado lentamente por allí. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1017:-Pero tú pareces feliz- musitó Holly con voz teblorosa.
-Ser y parecer algo no es lo mismo ~ Cecelia Ahern,
#NFDB
1018:Querría morirme en este mismo instante. No soy nada comparado con Tyler. Estoy desamparado. ~ Chuck Palahniuk,
#NFDB
1019:-Quizá un objeto adquiera belleza con el uso.
-Quizá un objeto se use según su belleza. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
1020:sólo con el corazón se puede ver bien; lo esencial es invisible para los ojos. —Lo ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
1021:Te querría en cualquier cuerpo, en cualquier mundo, con cualquier pasado. No lo olvides nunca. ~ Claudia Gray,
#NFDB
1022:Ya nunca volvería a moverse con gracia y elegancia al compás de una música que solo él oía. ~ John Katzenbach,
#NFDB
1023:y más tarde su mujer no trabaje nunca. Yo concluyo que identifica el ocio con la virginidad. ~ Carlos Fuentes,
#NFDB
1024:Yo, que nunca estaba seguro ni de la hora que era, asentí con la convicción del ignorante ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
1025:Y se precipitaron el uno en la otra con la inevitabilidad de una ola rompiendo en la playa. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
1026:Ahora, con la perspectiva del tiempo, revivir resultaba aún más doloroso que vivir. ~ Mercedes Pinto Maldonado,
#NFDB
1027:Barrabás llegó a la familia por vía marítima, anotó la niña Clara con su delicada caligrafía. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1028:Creo en mujeres concretas. Con sexo. Con nombre. Con biografía. Con experiencia. Con destino. ~ Carlos Fuentes,
#NFDB
1029:«Cuando se va a vender una cosa hay que poner la misma cara con que se va a comprar.» ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1030:El aprendizaje de scrum técnico es el primer paso aconsejable para familiarizarse con la agilidad. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1031:Hablaba con los ojos, con la boca, con toda mi cara, lo hacía con el alma cuando hablaba con el ~ Jorge Franco,
#NFDB
1032:hay ciertos deseos que deben ser sujetados con alfileres como las alas de una radiante mariposa. ~ Andr Aciman,
#NFDB
1033:la friccionaba con aceite de almendras dulces para evitar las estrías en la piel del vientre, ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1034:La música siempre hace bien, desata los nudos con que los nervios se aferran a las emociones. ~ Elena Ferrante,
#NFDB
1035:La verdadera seguridad se fundamenta solo en algo que no te pueden quitar: tu relación con Dios. ~ Rick Warren,
#NFDB
1036:Lo sé― dijo con voz rota―. Nunca me convencí de que yo fuera lo suficientemente bueno para ti. ~ Jamie McGuire,
#NFDB
1037:Lo soñado se confunde con lo pensado. La realidad y la irrealidad se vuelven continuas. ~ Santiago Roncagliolo,
#NFDB
1038:los planes no son compatibles con la improvisación. Y tienes que ser capaz de improvisar. Tienes ~ Jason Fried,
#NFDB
1039:Mi tragedia es mi madre. Viviendo con ella, vivo en el ataúd de mis aspiraciones nonatas ~ Katherine Mansfield,
#NFDB
1040:mundo suele ser cruel con el nuevo talento, con las creaciones nuevas. Lo nuevo necesita amigos.» ~ Ed Catmull,
#NFDB
1041:Paulo Coelho: «Si piensas que la aventura es peligrosa, prueba con la rutina. Es letal». No ~ Martin Lindstrom,
#NFDB
1042:Pensando all'ideale dimenticò il presente e con la filosofia dimenticò d'essere prigioniero. ~ Alexandre Dumas,
#NFDB
1043:Porque hasta cuando sabes que no puedes confiar en nadie te topas con que tienes que confiar. ~ Xavier Velasco,
#NFDB
1044:-Que Dios se apiade del pobre desgraciado que decide que quiere darse un baño con el patito. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
1045:Ragnar est communiste et ne s'en cache pas: «soit on est communiste, soit on est con.» ~ Einar M r Gu mundsson,
#NFDB
1046:Se ha estipulado la misión de la mujer: es un artefacto de lujo con capacidad reproductiva. ~ Carlos Monsiv is,
#NFDB
1047:siempre he mirado con antipatía y hasta con asco a la gente, sobre todo a la gente amontonada ~ Ernesto Sabato,
#NFDB
1048:son nuestros ojos, de acuerdo con nuestros miedos, los que hacen de ella una gigante. Pobrecita ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
1049:También la moral es un asunto de tiempo, decía, con una sonrisa maligna, ya lo verás. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1050:una locura con un inconfundible toque de inteligencia, porque provocará que me sume a ella.» ~ John Katzenbach,
#NFDB
1051:Yo, que nunca estaba seguro ni de la hora que era, asentí con la convicción del ignorante. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
1052:¿Amar con reservas? Sí, con la firme convicción de que amarte no implica negociar mis principios. ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
1053:Avanzar con eficiencia hacia una dirección errónea es peor que no avanzar hacia ninguna parte ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
1054:cada vez más universidades están ofreciendo carreras con certificados y diplomas en línea. ~ Andr s Oppenheimer,
#NFDB
1055:Con el pésame más profundo y las bendiciones de Dios por la pérdida de alguien tan querido ~ Cristina Henriquez,
#NFDB
1056:Con las piedras que con duro intento los críticos te lanzan, bien puedes erigirte un monumento. ~ Immanuel Kant,
#NFDB
1057:Cuando la magia y la fantasía se alían con la realidad… dejan de existir los sueños imposibles. ~ Lorena Franco,
#NFDB
1058:Desde niños nos enseñan a sufrir con dignidad las derrotas, concepción que no carece de grandeza. ~ Octavio Paz,
#NFDB
1059:È invariabilmente triste guardare con occhi nuovi cose alle quali ci eravamo già adattati. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald,
#NFDB
1060:El aya sabia que quien quiere de verdad quiere en silencio, con hechos y nunca con palabras ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
1061:El problema con las monedas es que cuando una cara está boca arriba, la otra está boca abajo ~ Orson Scott Card,
#NFDB
1062:En los momentos de crisis, con mucha frecuencia las mujeres tratamos de calmarnos escribiendo. ~ Elena Ferrante,
#NFDB
1063:I enjoyed retirement the right way linguine con vongole, red wine and plenty of truffle cheese. ~ Craig Kilborn,
#NFDB
1064:la definición de la humanidad es la oportunidad de maravillarse con la majestuosidad de la creación ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1065:Las personas con un alto nivel de tolerancia al aburrimiento tienen tiempo de sobra para pensar. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
1066:Le imprese più ardite vanno vissute con l'animo più semplice. (Cosimo Piovasco Barone di Rondò) ~ Italo Calvino,
#NFDB
1067:Los dioses no nos condenan, nos condenamos nosotros mismos con nuestras palabras y acciones. ~ Sherrilyn Kenyon,
#NFDB
1068:Los que escriben con claridad tienen lectores, los que escriben oscuramente tienen comentaristas ~ Albert Camus,
#NFDB
1069:nadie tiene derecho a sonreír en un mundo podrido como éste salvo que tenga pacto con el Diablo ~ Nicanor Parra,
#NFDB
1070:No podemos volver jamás sobre nuestros actos pasados, ni siquiera con un reloj en el corazón. ~ Mathias Malzieu,
#NFDB
1071:-No te calles por mi culpa, Kvothe -dijo con dulzura-. Echaría de menos el sonido de tu voz. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
1072:Sólo hay una cosa más jodida que tener cáncer a los dieciséis años, y es tener un hijo con cáncer. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
1073:Trẻ con đâu phải những quyển tập tô màu. Anh không thể bôi đầy nó bằng những màu anh ưa thích ~ Khaled Hosseini,
#NFDB
1074:«Una batalla se puede ganar con el corazón, pero una guerra sólo se gana con la cabeza.» ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
1075:Un barco está seguro amarrado en puerto, pero ningún barco ha sido construido con esa finalidad. ~ Adam Silvera,
#NFDB
1076:Y así quedaba probado una vez más que es gran ganancia ser temeroso de Dios y contentarse con poco. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1077:Y si intento describirlo aquí es sólo con el fin de no olvidarlo. Es muy triste olvidar a un amigo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1078:Con không bao giờ thực sự hiểu một người cho đến khi con xem xét mọi việc từ quan điểm của người đó ~ Harper Lee,
#NFDB
1079:Coraline nunca había comprendido qué motivo había llevado a alguien a pintar un cuenco con frutas. ~ Neil Gaiman,
#NFDB
1080:Cuando te asocias con otra persona por tanto tiempo, es difícil volver a ser tu propia persona. ~ Colleen Hoover,
#NFDB
1081:Cuesta tanto seguir con vida -le susurró a la mente de la dama-. Morir es fácil. Déjame morir. ~ Kristin Cashore,
#NFDB
1082:Definiciones de Mulla Do-Piaza
Un tonto: un hombre tratando de ser honesto con los deshonestos. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
1083:Desde luego, la ciencia ha logrado cosas maravillosas, pero yo preferiría, con mucho, ser feliz. ~ Douglas Adams,
#NFDB
1084:El contacto con el hombre blanco continúa siendo, para el indígena, el contacto con la muerte. ~ Eduardo Galeano,
#NFDB
1085:El hombre y la sociedad se enfrentan con la más profunda crisis de valores que registra su evolución ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1086:El único cometido en esta vida es procurar ver a Dios con los ojos de nuestro corazón ~ Saint Augustine of Hippo,
#NFDB
1087:E' sempre triste guardare con occhi diversi cose alle quali, con fatica, ci siamo adattati. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald,
#NFDB
1088:Estaba tan lejos de sus hijos, que era incapaz de mantener un diálogo con ellos sin acabar a gritos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1089:Es una comunidad separada construida alrededor de un jardín precioso adornado con arbustos floridos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1090:Hay ocasiones en que tienes que romper con tus amigos para entender el significado de la amistad. ~ Henry Miller,
#NFDB
1091:la oportunidad de hacer un trabajo insustituible ante un desafío único junto con grandes personas. ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
1092:La poesía se escribe con lágrimas, la novela con sangre y la historia con agua de borrajas”, ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
1093:La soledad es un estado interior que puede practicarse, incluso, estando con otra gente, cree. ~ Claudia Pi eiro,
#NFDB
1094:La vida es una partida, muchacho. La vida es una partida que uno juega de acuerdo con las reglas. ~ J D Salinger,
#NFDB
1095:Lo importante no es cómo te sientas con respecto a tu carácter. Lo importante es lo que hagas con él ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1096:lo largo de mi vida no me he encontrado con mujer alguna que conservara el sostén entre sábanas. ~ Javier Mar as,
#NFDB
1097:Me consta que estoy jugando con fuego, pero la triste verdad es que una parte de mí quiere quemarse. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1098:Me desperté en el sofá de mi hermana con una resaca terrible y el deseo de asesinar a mi esposa. ~ Gillian Flynn,
#NFDB
1099:mi estrategia es que un día cualquiera no sé cómo ni sé con qué pretexto por fin me necesites. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1100:Mi limito a dire alle persone quello che già sanno, ma hanno paura di ammettere con sé stesse. ~ Nicholas Sparks,
#NFDB
1101:Mi madre siempre dice que nací con treinta y cinco años y que cada año me vuelvo más madura... ~ Stephenie Meyer,
#NFDB
1102:Mi padre amaba el mundo. Con todas sus consecuencias. Por eso solía estar siempre triste. ~ Laura Gallego Garc a,
#NFDB
1103:No está muerto quien puede yacer eternamente, y con el paso de los años la misma muerte puede morir. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1104:No true fan wants to go to Comic-Con and get assaulted with a marketing blitz about just any old show. ~ Jim Lee,
#NFDB
1105:Perché con tutta la tua intelligenza tu sei l'uomo più stupido che io abbia mai incontrato. [...] ~ Dino Buzzati,
#NFDB
1106:Puede que sea imposible disfrazarse con una identidad sin convertirse en lo que se finge ser. ~ Orson Scott Card,
#NFDB
1107:... qué cabeza cortar si siempre quedará otra más autoritaria. (Lucas, sus luchas con la hidra) ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
1108:—¿Qué esperabas, Goodfellow? —Grimalkin pasó con la cola en alto y no nos miro—.
Soy un gato. ~ Julie Kagawa,
#NFDB
1109:(...) sapere che coloro ai quali tu aneli, vi resistono con severa inaccessibilità, fa molto male. ~ Thomas Mann,
#NFDB
1110:Servir, servir, servir Al Ejército de la Nación Servir, servir, servir Con mucha dedicación ~ Mario Vargas Llosa,
#NFDB
1111:Si los seres humanos no dejan de hacer ejercicio con los labios, su cerebro empieza a funcionar. ~ Douglas Adams,
#NFDB
1112:aquel que razona con eficacia es capaz de hallar los medios seguros para combatir cualquier epidemia. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1113:Certo... sai che musica però... con quelle mani, due, destre... se solo c’è un pianoforte... ~ Alessandro Baricco,
#NFDB
1114:Ciertamente no hay nada tan fatuo como la ignorancia combinada con la convicción de que uno sabe mucho. ~ Erasmus,
#NFDB
1115:con el primer conocimiento se presenta también él (el tiempo) con toda su infinitud en ambos sentidos ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1116:Curar la enfermedad británica con el socialismo era como intentar curar la leucemia con sanguijuelas. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1117:de equilibrar la seguridad con la libertad: dos valores igualmente indispensables pero obstinadamente ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1118:Đó là sự yên lặng của những con người nghĩ rằng mình không còn cần thiết cho thế giới này nữa. ~ Banana Yoshimoto,
#NFDB
1119:El camino empieza con la esperanza, se hace más fuerte con la fe y se afirma con el conocimiento. ~ Deepak Chopra,
#NFDB
1120:El momento lo es todo cuando estás a punto de decirle a alguien que soñaste con él en tu corazón. ~ Tarryn Fisher,
#NFDB
1121:El sabio nada desea, no juzgam no hace planes , mantiene su mente abierta y su corazón con paz". ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1122:Es un error creer que cualquier problema importante puede solucionarse con ayuda de unas patatas. ~ Douglas Adams,
#NFDB
1123:La combinación del GST con AcroYoga (capítulo AcroYoga: «Thai and fly») ha remodelado mi cuerpo ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
1124:La eliminación física de la Bestia es bien vista por Dios si con ella se libera a un pueblo. ~ Mario Vargas Llosa,
#NFDB
1125:La «filosofía del budismo Zen» se alimenta de un «filosofar sobre» y «con» el budismo Zen. Tiene ~ Byung Chul Han,
#NFDB
1126:Las heridas no duelen menos cuando te obsesionas con repartirlas entre sus posibles causantes. ~ Daniel Glattauer,
#NFDB
1127:Las personas mueren, pero nuestras relaciones con ellas no. Perviven y se transforman por siempre. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
1128:La vida nos arrastra de muchas maneras que no podemos controlar y casi nada permanece con nosotros. ~ Paul Auster,
#NFDB
1129:Lo que ocurra con el país, y con el mundo, depende de lo que hagamos con lo que otros nos han legado. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1130:Me gustan los poemas cortos con rima extraña, porque así es la vida. Sí. Rima, pero no como esperas. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
1131:... me pregunto si es posible ser sincero con uno mismo; si uno puede decirse toda la verdad ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
1132:¡Míralo! Me temo que vas a echar a arder como siga mirándote de ese modo con esos ojazos naranjas. ~ Laini Taylor,
#NFDB
1133:Một xã hội toàn cấm đoán là một xã hội của sự bất lực và mất hoàn toàn niềm tin với con người. ~ Nguy n Ph ng Mai,
#NFDB
1134:No elegimos nuestra vida, pero decidimos qué hacer con las alegrías y las tristezas que recibimos. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1135:Nosotros somos los censores que creemos tener derecho a decidir cómo se debe vivir y con qué aspecto. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1136:No vivimos únicamente en nuestro propio tiempo. También llevamos con nosotros nuestra historia. ~ Jostein Gaarder,
#NFDB
1137:(...) pasajero. Una hoja de verano que se aferraba con todas sus fuerzas a una rama desnuda". ~ Maggie Stiefvater,
#NFDB
1138:Pero con ella instalada en mi existencia, ya no habrá más soledad. Es decir: ojalá que no haya. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1139:pluralismo (aceptar las diferencias civilizadas y convivir con ellas sin reprimirlas ni ofenderse). ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
1140:Por supuesto que añoraba todo eso con los ojos resecos porque los animales de ciudad no lloran. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1141:Quante volte mi sono trovato su un trampolino con sotto il mare azzurro, e non mi sono tuffato ~ Lorenzo Mattotti,
#NFDB
1142:Recogí con todo cuidado mi amor por Maxon y lo guardé en mi corazón, algo asustada de lo que sentía. ~ Kiera Cass,
#NFDB
1143:Scrivere è come baciare, solo senza labbra. Scrivere è baciare con la mente. Emmi, Emmi, Emmi. ~ Daniel Glattauer,
#NFDB
1144:Si el hombre que tiene lengua no es capaz de conquistar con ella a una mujer, no es hombre. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
1145:Solo con el corazón se puede ver bien, lo esencial es invisible a los ojos" - El zorro ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
1146:Sus cabellos estaban hechos con el oro de los viejos maestros y peinados lo justo, pero no demasiado. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1147:The economy is just a metaphorical device, it’s not real. That's why it's got the word con in it. ~ Russell Brand,
#NFDB
1148:Una profecía proveniente de Dios fue siempre verdadera y congruente con las Escrituras. Por ~ John F MacArthur Jr,
#NFDB
1149:Un enamoramiento no es eterno. El amor es un don mágico que hay que construir con infinita paciencia ~ Joan Bauer,
#NFDB
1150:Usted no está enseñándole a su hijo de dieciséis años a tener responsabilidad con sus gastos cuando ~ Dave Ramsey,
#NFDB
1151:VLADIMIRO.— He ahí un hombre de una pieza que la toma con su calzado cuando la culpa la tiene el pie. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1152:Adesso prentiti un po' di sonno", disse il nano, con quella che Tas definiva la Voce di Suo Nonno. ~ Margaret Weis,
#NFDB
1153:afilaré bien las palabras que emerjan de mi boca con la piedra dura y poderosa de la verdad ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
1154:Ah, confundían comida con espíritu, creían que podían llegar a ser mejores personas comiendo, ~ Karl Ove Knausg rd,
#NFDB
1155:Creo que estamos actuando con imprudente indiferencia hacia nuestro futuro en el planeta Tierra. ~ Stephen Hawking,
#NFDB
1156:El pecado empieza con el rechazo de uno mismo. El mayor pecado que cometes es rechazarte a ti mismo. ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
1157:El Señor del universo se identificó con los más excluidos y los más pequeños de la raza humana. ~ Timothy J Keller,
#NFDB
1158:En La colmena, Camilo José Cela relacionaba el miedo con una vibración ligera del labio inferior. ~ Domingo Villar,
#NFDB
1159:En la pampa legendaria donde relincha el peludo había una yegua muerta con una flor en el culo. ~ Alejandro Dolina,
#NFDB
1160:En los tres capítulos siguientes examinaremos con detalle estas nuevas oportunidades de nego cio. ~ Chris Anderson,
#NFDB
1161:La comunión íntima de Jehová es con los que le temen y a ellos hará conocer su pacto” (Salmo 25:14). ~ John Bevere,
#NFDB
1162:La espiritualidad cristiana propone un crecimiento con sobriedad y una capacidad de gozar con poco. ~ Pope Francis,
#NFDB
1163:La música más hermosa, que converge con la pura dicha, quizá suene precisamente en los infiernos. ~ Byung Chul Han,
#NFDB
1164:La oportunidad es una diosa arrogante que no malgasta el tiempo con los que no están preparados. ~ George S Clason,
#NFDB
1165:La palabra ha sido concedida al hombre para que éste disfrace con ella su pensamiento. R. P. MALAGRIDA. ~ Stendhal,
#NFDB
1166:Lời chúc phúc vọng xuống như một bản thánh ca, và tôi cầu nguyện.
'Con muốn mình mạnh mẽ hơn ~ Banana Yoshimoto,
#NFDB
1167:Lo importante no es cómo te sientas con respecto a tu carácter. Lo importante es lo que hagas con él. ~ Kiera Cass,
#NFDB
1168:No hay ventura ni desgracia en el mundo, sino la comparación de un estado con otro, he ahí todo. ~ Alexandre Dumas,
#NFDB
1169:No te apropies de cosas negativas, sustitúyelas, suplántalas, con cosas positivas y constructivas. ~ Emmet Fox,
#NFDB
1170:Pelo grasiento, con michelines y las cejas unidas, ¿Satisfecha? - pregunto volviendo a sonreír ~ Becca Fitzpatrick,
#NFDB
1171:Porque las personas se fascinan con pinturas y palabras y terminan olvidando el Lenguaje del Mundo. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1172:«Que no está muerto lo que yace eternamente y con el paso de los evos, aun la muerte puede morir» ~ H P Lovecraft,
#NFDB
1173:Se encerraba a cal y canto en su caparazón y marcaba en todo momento una distancia con su entorno. ~ Stieg Larsson,
#NFDB
1174:si salís con pensamientos de caridad, de dulzura y de paz, valdréis más que todos nosotros. Mientras ~ Victor Hugo,
#NFDB
1175:Sólo porque alguien no te ame como tu quieres, no significa que no te ame con todo su ser ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1176:The roots of the word “compete” are the Latin con petire, which meant “to seek together. ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi,
#NFDB
1177:Toda persona con un lunar en el camino de las lágrimas está destinada a pasarse toda su vida llorando. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1178:Un hombre que se ahoga no puede saber cuál fue la gota de agua que detuvo con su último aliento. ~ Nicholas Sparks,
#NFDB
1179:Un talento reconocido y elogiado hasta la saciedad se convierte con el tiempo en un señor muy comodón. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1180:Asentí con la cabeza. Al fin y al cabo asentir no puede considerarse exactamente una mentira, ¿no? ~ Hanif Kureishi,
#NFDB
1181:Bao giờ mà chẳng thấy buồn khi nhìn lại những gì mình đã quá quen thuộc bằng một con mắt khác. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald,
#NFDB
1182:Boquiabierto, avancé despacio hacia aquel castillo tramado con todos los libros jamás escritos. ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
1183:Con frecuencia me he encontrado en otras partes este tipo de mentes absurdas, soberbias y retrógradas ~ Thomas More,
#NFDB
1184:Con frecuencia, quienes prosperan en el mundo real no son los inteligentes sino los temerarios. ~ Robert T Kiyosaki,
#NFDB
1185:con la idea tallada a cincel en su mente de que ayudar al perseguido es un deber moral ineludible. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1186:con un odio intenso, con ese odio que sólo por un cabello está separado del amor más ardiente. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
1187:cordilleras chilenas con la ayuda de unas mulas; el resto de la gente iría en el Duncan por la costa. ~ Jules Verne,
#NFDB
1188:Dos de las maneras más rápidas para conectarse con otra persona son hacer preguntas y pedir ayuda. ~ John C Maxwell,
#NFDB
1189:El sacro emperador Carlos V pretendía casar a su hijo Felipe con María Tudor, reina de Inglaterra. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1190:El sentimiento de culpa es el miedo a nuestra propia vileza. No guarda relación con otras personas. ~ Tara Westover,
#NFDB
1191:El tiempo pasa y yo sigo viviendo, con los dolores y las ausencias de siempre pero sigo viviendo. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1192:Es más fácil acabar con el amor que alguien siente por ti que acabar con el que sientes tú por él ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
1193:-¿Es música mágica? -preguntó con los ojos como platos. Volví a reír.
-Hay gente que lo cree. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
1194:Estamos tejidos de idéntica tela que los sueños, y nuestra corta vida se cierra con un sueño. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
1195:Every decent con man knows that the simplest truth is more powerful than even the most elaborate lie. ~ Ally Carter,
#NFDB
1196:I continued with whatever 'qualified climbers' I could con into this rather unpromising venture. ~ Warren G Harding,
#NFDB
1197:Le persone con cui attraversi gli inferi sono amici.
Le persone con cui scampi agli inferi sono amici. ~ Wu Ming,
#NFDB
1198:los adultos con TDA presentan una elevada tasa de pensamiento original y mayores logros creativos. ~ Daniel Goleman,
#NFDB
1199:Los monstruos que salían de sus tumbas no son nada comparados con los que llevamos dentro del corazón. ~ Max Brooks,
#NFDB
1200:Non c'è niente di più stancante del dover lottare, non con il proprio spirito, ma con un'astrazione. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
1201:No sé si quiero ser una mitad perdida —objeto con franqueza—. Me parece que necesito mi propia alma. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
1202:No surge con este proceder la evidencia de que y por qué la inteligencia haya de actuar así justamente. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1203:Para ser una adicta a la información de su calibre, le reconcomía demasiado no saberlo con certeza. ~ Stieg Larsson,
#NFDB
1204:Por medio de la crítica nunca provocamos cambios duraderos, y con frecuencia creamos resentimientos ~ Dale Carnegie,
#NFDB
1205:Que para eso nos manda el universo las señales, para que hagamos con ellas lo que nos convenga. ~ Juan Gomez Jurado,
#NFDB
1206:¿quiere Dios que te cases con la chica que se creyó que yo era un francés con el síndrome de Tourette? ~ John Green,
#NFDB
1207:Saphira era un bálsamo para la frustración de Eragon porque con ella podía hablar libremente. ~ Christopher Paolini,
#NFDB
1208:Se encerró con tranca dentro de sí mismo, y la familia terminó por pensar en él como si hubiera muerto. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1209:Se requiere mucho coraje para ser sincero con uno mismo, para ser fiel a lo que te dicta el corazón. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
1210:SIRÁCIDES1 La Sabiduría. don del Señor Sir1:1Toda sabiduría viene del Señor, y con él está por siempre. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1211:Sólo porque alguien no te ame como tú quieres, no significa que no te ame con todo su ser. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1212:..tratando quizas de reconstruir el esplendor de antano con las cenizas de sus nostalgias. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1213:aunque nazca uno con algún talento, el arte de escribir no se aprende repentinamente. Remití ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau,
#NFDB
1214:A veces lo único que necesitas es tener a alguien agradable a tu lado mientras lidias con las cosas. ~ Gail Honeyman,
#NFDB
1215:bisogna svelarsi come il solo malvagio fra tutte le nobili persone con le quali si spartisce la vita ~ Sigmund Freud,
#NFDB
1216:cada noche se embriaga con el grito de la tormenta que hacia los cielos escupen sus litorales desiertos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1217:Cada uno debe ser como le dicte su naturaleza, su entendimiento y lo aprendido con el paso del tiempo ~ Benito Taibo,
#NFDB
1218:¡Con permiso! … Ah, y le sugiero que para la próxima vez que se enamore, ¡no sea tan cobarde! Tita, ~ Laura Esquivel,
#NFDB
1219:Elegimos a nuestros padres, que suelen ser almas con las que hemos interactuado en vidas anteriores. ~ Brian L Weiss,
#NFDB
1220:Elinor concordó con todo ello, porque no creía que él mereciera el cumplido de una oposición racional. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
1221:El truco está en olvidar lo que se ha perdido... y en aprender a seguir viviendo con lo que se tiene. ~ Lisa Kleypas,
#NFDB
1222:El verdadero descubrimiento no consiste en encontrar nuevos paisajes, sino en mirar con nuevos ojos. ~ Marcel Proust,
#NFDB
1223:En alguna novela he escrito que el amor consiste en encontrar a alguien con quien compartir tus rarezas. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1224:Ese adicto al crack podía fumarse cualquier cantidad de dólares con la velocidad de un demonio. ~ Guillermo del Toro,
#NFDB
1225:Es más fácil acabar con el amor que alguien siente por ti que acabar con el que sientes tú por él. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
1226:Il piacere di leggere è doppio quando si vive con qualcuno che divide con te gli stessi libri. ~ Katherine Mansfield,
#NFDB
1227:La automotivación será, junto con la educación, la mejor credencial para lograr un buen empleo. ~ Andr s Oppenheimer,
#NFDB
1228:La fe […] comienza con los movimientos del infinito, y sólo más tarde pasa a los de lo infinito. ~ S ren Kierkegaard,
#NFDB
1229:La gente rara vez se da cuenta que miente con sus labios y dice la verdad con sus ojos todo el tiempo ~ Tahereh Mafi,
#NFDB
1230:La poesía no es de nadie, es de todos. Se hace cada vez que alguien con cosas que decir abre la boca. ~ Benito Taibo,
#NFDB
1231:Las únicas armas eran las palabras, por lo que no tarde en aprender a blandirlas con mucha habilidad. ~ Ernest Cline,
#NFDB
1232:(...)lo curioso es que cuando
me miro en sus ojos
es como si me enfrentara con mi alma. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1233:Los productos que forman hábitos cambian la conducta del usuario y crean un gran compromiso con ellos. El ~ Nir Eyal,
#NFDB
1234:¿Por qué tolerar la oscuridad? Todo ya está aquí y está claro si sabemos mirar con la atención debida. ~ Yann Martel,
#NFDB
1235:Si sus besos algo indicaban, el sexo con Greg sería la locura. Un doce en la escala de amor de Richter. ~ Kate Perry,
#NFDB
1236:«Tu sei il mio migliore amico, Ed».
«Lo so.»
Si può uccidere un uomo con una frase come questa. ~ Markus Zusak,
#NFDB
1237:Algo comienza para terminar: la aventura no admite añadidos;
sólo cobra sentido con su muerte. ~ Jean Paul Sartre,
#NFDB
1238:Algunos creen q para ser amigos basta con querer, como si para estar sanos bastara con desear buena salud ~ Aristotle,
#NFDB
1239:Cada uno debe ser como le dicte su naturaleza, su entendimiento y lo aprendido con el paso del tiempo. ~ Benito Taibo,
#NFDB
1240:Ci sono troppe ingiustizie nel mondo e, nonostante ciò, ciascuno contribuisce con le proprie. ~ J n Kalman Stef nsson,
#NFDB
1241:Come Mo aveva detto un giorno, scrivere storie, in fin dei conti, ha un po' a che fare con la magia. ~ Cornelia Funke,
#NFDB
1242:Con quién te has besado? ¿Con Pigwidgeon? ¿O tienes una fotografía de tía Muriel debajo de la almohada? ~ J K Rowling,
#NFDB
1243:Cuando eres niña solo sueñas con ser mayor, y cuando ya eres mayor te gustaría volver a ser una niña. ~ Lauren Oliver,
#NFDB
1244:Descubrí que, cuando uno ansía algo con todas sus fuerzas, las consideraciones éticas pierden relevancia. ~ Liu Cixin,
#NFDB
1245:Di solito si ottiene con tutta sicurezza e assai presto ciò che non si ha fretta di ottenere. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau,
#NFDB
1246:El amor no ve con los ojos sino con el alma.” —William Shakespeare, Sueño de una noche de verano ~ Guillermo del Toro,
#NFDB
1247:El cielo está tan alto, y mis ojos tan sin mirada, que vivía contenta con saber dónde quedaba la tierra. ~ Juan Rulfo,
#NFDB
1248:En un libro, todo habría salido de acuerdo con el plan, pero la vida es tan jodidamente desordenada... ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
1249:Estar con cuatro pies en la tierra, una cabeza hecha de follaje, mirando el mundo con el corazón. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
#NFDB
1250:Hay una generación entera que confunde ''feminismo'' con ''cualquier cosa relacionada con la mujer''. ~ Caitlin Moran,
#NFDB
1251:He estado demasiado tiempo en la medicina para no saber que la justicia no esta distribuida con equidad ~ V C Andrews,
#NFDB
1252:In this vale of sorrows, we should be careful about allowing abundance to con us out of hunger. ~ Robert Farrar Capon,
#NFDB
1253:Juegue con nuestras mascotas y con nuestros niños, y jugaremos con usted. Ignórelos, y lo ignoraremos. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1254:La disfunción se establece cuando usted busca su identidad en ella y la confunde con lo que usted es. ~ Eckhart Tolle,
#NFDB
1255:La mariposa no mira hacia atrás a la oruga que fue con cariño ni nostalgia: simplemente continúa volando. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1256:La verdad es un acuerdo que permite que los inocentes no tengan que convivir con la realidad. —No ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
1257:medimos al hombre desde el punto de vista humano, terminamos con una tabla de limitaciones. Cuando ~ Eric Butterworth,
#NFDB
1258:Me paso el día sin hacer nada. Sería un consuelo para mí estar con alguien que tampoco hiciera nada. ~ Lionel Shriver,
#NFDB
1259:No escogemos nuestras vidas, pero sí decidimos que hacemos con las alegrías y tristezas que recibimos. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1260:Non so con quali armi si combatterà la Terza guerra mondiale, ma la Quarta sì: con bastoni e pietre ~ Albert Einstein,
#NFDB
1261:Nos miramos a los ojos con una de esas miradas que desnudan las almas, nos vimos éstas al desnudo ~ Miguel de Unamuno,
#NFDB
1262:—No tema por mí —responde el señor Crisparkle con serena sonrisa—. Yo no temo por mí personalmente. ~ Charles Dickens,
#NFDB
1263:Podrás monitorear la posición de tu dinero todos los días con sólo ver tu cuenta bancaria. Entras. ~ Mike Michalowicz,
#NFDB
1264:quien habla mucho tiene algo que esconder; en cambio, quien calla con coherencia está convencido de algo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1265:—Saber qué hacer con un batallón es fácil —dijo Ender—. Conseguir que lo hagan es lo difícil. ¿Por ~ Orson Scott Card,
#NFDB
1266:Sólo los sacerdotes y los locos no tienen miedo a nada, y yo nunca me he llevado muy bien con Dios ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
1267:Tal vez no hicieron nada que no hubieran hecho con otros, pero es muy distinto hacer el amor amando. ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1268:Tal vez todos los libros se escriben sólo porque los malos juegan con ventaja y eso es insoportable. ~ lvaro Enrigue,
#NFDB
1269:Tiempo, pensó. Tiempo y perspectiva. Hay que darle eso. Si le obligas, le perderás con toda seguridad. ~ Stephen King,
#NFDB
1270:Ahora no es el momento de pensar en lo que no tienes. Piensa en lo que puedes hacer con lo que hay. ~ Ernest Hemingway,
#NFDB
1271:Basta con poner tu atención y deseo en ser bueno contigo mismo en cualquier cosa que hagas. Recuerda ~ Marcus Aurelius,
#NFDB
1272:Cuando eres malo contigo mismo te vuelves malo con todos los demás, incluso con aquellos a los que amas. ~ Mitch Albom,
#NFDB
1273:Cuando queremos a alguien,no nos conformamos conconocer solo su alma,deseamos saber cómo es su cuerpo. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1274:Cubrir los inconvenientes: «Cada una de estas [personas] está obsesionada con no perder dinero. Pero ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
1275:El cuarto día nos despertamos con un viento que no era de este mundo, no señor, soplaba que torcía la luz, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1276:El querer no tiene que ver tanto con el que quiere, sino con lo que hace sentir en el que es querido. ~ Javier Ruescas,
#NFDB
1277:El tiempo, comprendió, siempre fluye con velocidad inversa a la necesidad de quien lo vive. Volvió ~ Carlos Ruiz Zaf n,
#NFDB
1278:Escucha en silencio, porque situ corazon esta lleno con otras cosas no podras escuchar la voz de Dios. ~ Mother Teresa,
#NFDB
1279:La diferencia entre un atracador de bancos y un teórico de CMM es que con el atracador se puede negociar"… ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1280:La madurez del hombre es haber vuelto a encontrar la seriedad con la que jugaba cuando era niño. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,
#NFDB
1281:Las dunas cambian con el viento, pero el desierto sigue siendo el mismo. Así sucederá con nuestro amor. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1282:Lo que buscaba Diógenes con su linterna era un indiferente... ========== Breviario de Podredumbre (Cioran) ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1283:Los ricos de hoy han olvidado que el dinero es un medio, no un fin. Ya no saben qué hacer con él. ~ Fr d ric Beigbeder,
#NFDB
1284:Ma spesso ci si deve accontentare se i corpi possono riacquistare vigore e salute con un dolore non eccessivo. ~ Plato,
#NFDB
1285:Medía su felicidad con una fórmula elemental: «Un buen día más otro buen día igual a una buena vida». ~ Isabel Allende,
#NFDB
1286:No jures a Dios, Henry. Sabes lo que dicen. Ese es tu primer paso hacia tener un trato con el diablo ~ Nicole Williams,
#NFDB
1287:Pero ¿se puede saber quién eres tú? ¿La Wikiquote con patas? Nos estás acribillando con tus citas... ~ Federico Moccia,
#NFDB
1288:Que siempre se puede seguir adelante con voluntad, amor a Dios y un empujoncito de Johnnie Walker. ~ Juan Gomez Jurado,
#NFDB
1289:She can’t help it. She loves the con. I tell myself I’m not like her, but I have to admit I love it too. ~ Holly Black,
#NFDB
1290:Si una planta no puede vivir de acuerdo con su naturaleza muere, y lo mismo le ocurre al hombre. ~ Henry David Thoreau,
#NFDB
1291:Tienes que dejar de llenar el vacío de aquello que quieres con cosas que no te hacen sentir feliz. ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
1292:Todo había ocurrido con la catastrófica rapidez de un sueño... y con el irreal horror de una pesadilla. ~ Isaac Asimov,
#NFDB
1293:Traeré a Mi gente de regreso hacia Mí. No les negaré Mi amor, porque ya no estoy enojado con ellos. —OSEAS ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1294:Tutto quello che importa si ottiene con un po' di dolore. La storia si lava solo con il sangue. ~ Santiago Roncagliolo,
#NFDB
1295:una llovizna gris y sucia de hollín que era poco más que niebla con un ligero problema de sobrepeso. ~ Terry Pratchett,
#NFDB
1296:Y lo bueno que tenía clavar una estaca en el corazón era que también funcionaba con los no vampiros. ~ Terry Pratchett,
#NFDB
1297:Yo agonicé con él, yo morí con él, yo de algún modo me he perdido con él; por eso, fui implacable. ~ Jorge Luis Borges,
#NFDB
1298:Ahí están los nobles cuyo número exorbitado vive como zánganos a cuenta de los demás. Con tal de aumentar ~ Thomas More,
#NFDB
1299:Con el tiempo, todas las cosas se cansan y comienzan a buscar algún oponente que las salve de sí mismas. ~ Clive Barker,
#NFDB
1300:con la mentalidad adecuada y la enseñanza apropiada, la gente es capaz de mucho más de lo que pensamos. ~ Carol S Dweck,
#NFDB
1301:¿Conseguirás con tu trabajo que tus hijos vivan en un mundo mejor que el que tus padres te dejaron a ti? ~ Emilio Bueso,
#NFDB
1302:El corazón de su primo latía con la misma impávida tranquilidad que los corazones de las montañas. ~ Federico Navarrete,
#NFDB
1303:El hecho de que alguien no te ame como tú quieras, no significa que no te ame con todo su ser. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1304:El profesor señala con el dedo a un alumno y le dice: «¡Refúteme a Buñuel!» Y es cuestión de dos minutos. ~ Luis Bu uel,
#NFDB
1305:El resultado es que con frecuencia parecemos obligados a escoger entre el utilitarismo y el intuicionismo. ~ John Rawls,
#NFDB
1306:Entonces un guardia ataviado con la cinta roja se situaba detrás de Celeste y le pegaba un tiro en la nuca. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1307:Es el hombre completo quien, desde su completez, lleva a cabo, con su maestría, el trabajo de un esclavo. ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
1308:Es en la oscuridad más profunda cuando se ven las cosas con mayor claridad - El murmullo de las abejas. ~ Sof a Segovia,
#NFDB
1309:Estoy completamente satisfecha con mi vida. Creo que la infelicidad viene de las expectativas sin cumplir. ~ Kasie West,
#NFDB
1310:La Libertad — bramó Wednesday — es una ramera con la que hay que acostarse sobre un colchón de cadáveres. ~ Neil Gaiman,
#NFDB
1311:la obsesión con la variedad tiene mucho que ver con la pérdida del talento para saborear un modesto tomate, ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1312:la pobre virgencita rústica que espera que su caballero deje de hacer el tonto con la princesa malvada ~ Edmund Crispin,
#NFDB
1313:Leerlos (libros) se parecía a adentrarse en el mar con la barca, la nariz era la proa, las líneas, olas. ~ Erri De Luca,
#NFDB
1314:Los grandes cambios rara vez resultan oportunos y consecuentes con nuestro particular estado de ánimo. ~ Miguel Delibes,
#NFDB
1315:Los seres humanos abandonan la vida cuando no pueden lidiar con el dolor. Es una salida fácil para ellos. ~ Abbi Glines,
#NFDB
1316:Más amables de lo necesario. Porque no basta con ser amables. Uno debería ser más amable de lo necesario. ~ R J Palacio,
#NFDB
1317:Mi felicidad consiste en que sé apreciar lo que tengo y no deseo con exceso lo que no tengo. LEÓN TOLSTÓI ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
1318:Ningún hombre carga su mente con asuntos pequeños, salvo que tenga algún buen motivo para hacerlo. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle,
#NFDB
1319:No me gustan los intelectuales hombres de las letras con sus conversaciones sobrecargadas de citas. ~ Theodore Sturgeon,
#NFDB
1320:Non sei morto”, mormorai.
Quasi si strozzò con una risata. “Anch’io sono contento di vederti, cara”. ~ Richelle Mead,
#NFDB
1321:Para los europeos América del Sur es un hombre de bigotes, con una guitarra y con un revólver. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1322:Perdón, temo pedirlo y que me lo concedan... ¿Cómo hace el culpable para vivir con el perdón a cuestas? ~ Liliana Bodoc,
#NFDB
1323:¿Por qué hice tal y cual cosa?' está muy bien. Pero qué hay con '¿De qué otra forma podría haberlo hecho? ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
1324:«Porque no quiero». Tita con estas tres palabras había dado el primer paso hacia la libertad. Mientras ~ Laura Esquivel,
#NFDB
1325:qué curioso, qué extraño sería para nosotros otro tipo de vida, con discusiones, llantos, estallidos. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1326:si estando con él hubiera un terremoto, no notaría la diferencia, de tan fuerte que sacudió todo mi mundo. ~ Kate Perry,
#NFDB
1327:Si me entrego a ese placer con tanta prudencia y circunspección, dejará de ser placer para mí. LOPE DE VEGA. ~ Stendhal,
#NFDB
1328:Si tu bendita soledad
se funde con la mía
ya no sabré si soy en vos
o vos terminás siéndome. ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1329:Soy la criatura más dichosa del mundo. Tal vez otros lo hayan dicho antes, pero nadie con tanta justicia. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
1330:Su gusto, sus opiniones... creo que las conozco mejor que las mías, y con toda seguridad las aprecio más. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
1331:tanto se padece por exceso de goces como por defecto. No es poca dicha atinar con el justo medio. ~ William Shakespeare,
#NFDB
1332:Todo lo que se mide se controla. Peter Drucker, galardonado con la Medalla Presidencial de la Libertad ~ Timothy Ferris,
#NFDB
1333:Una mirada de él podía hacerla temblar con una mezcla de odio y anhelo. Era como veneno en las venas. ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
1334:Ya sabes, es como con cualquier cosa: una vez que das el primer paso, el siguiente es mucho más fácil. ~ Tabitha Suzuma,
#NFDB
1335:Besos como el suyo deberían venir con una etiqueta de advertencia. No pueden ser buenos para el corazón ~ Colleen Hoover,
#NFDB
1336:Cada beso que te doy se acomula. Con todos los que te dé en mi vida tendré el más especial, piernas. ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
1337:¿Cómo puedes estar resentido con alguien que está enfermo? La única respuesta apropiada es la compasión. ~ Eckhart Tolle,
#NFDB
1338:Con la aparición de Dean Moriarty comenzó la parte de mi vida que podría llamarse mi vida en la carretera ~ Jack Kerouac,
#NFDB
1339:Conté cuántos éramos: cuarenta y seis personas hacinadas en una jaula con ruedas, quizá un ataúd rodante. ~ Ruta Sepetys,
#NFDB
1340:Conviene que de vez en cuando los jóvenes se vean obligados a pensar por sí mismos y a obrar con libertad. ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
1341:Cuando queremos a alguien, no nos conformamos conconocer solo su alma, deseamos saber cómo es su cuerpo. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1342:Dicen que ninguno de nosotros cambia realmente con el paso del tiempo, que sólo nos volvemos más como somos. ~ Anne Rice,
#NFDB
1343:don’t know. I’m just telling you what I can observe, an essential skill of scientists and con men alike. ~ Samantha Hunt,
#NFDB
1344:El Alma del Mundo se alimenta con la felicidad de las personas. O con la infelicidad, la envidia, los celos. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1345:El amor es el estado de ánimo en que el hombre ve con preferencia los cosas tal como éstas no son. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche,
#NFDB
1346:El hecho de que alguien no te ame como tú quieras, no significa que no te ame con todo su ser". ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1347:En buena parte, la razón por la que vine a este rincón del mundo era con la esperanza de encontrarte. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
1348:En una palabra, hemos roto definitivamente con el pasado, y esto, a mi juicio, constituye un éxito. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
1349:Even the longest con was never more than an assortment of moments that were in themselves very very short. ~ Ally Carter,
#NFDB
1350:Ha de salvar a aquella humilde Italia por quien murió Camila, la doncella, Turno, Euríalo y Niso con heridas ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1351:I love nerds. Comic-Con junkies are the tastemakers of tomorrow. Isn't that funny? The tables have turned ~ Kristen Bell,
#NFDB
1352:las estrellas, al igual que las personas, sienten esa imperiosa necesidad de juntarse las unas con las otras ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1353:La solitudine non è mai con voi; è sempre senza di voi, è soltanto possibile con un estraneo attorno: ~ Luigi Pirandello,
#NFDB
1354:Mrs Palissey and I tended to have the same conversations over and over and slightly too often.
~ Dick Francis,
#NFDB
1355:Người lớn nào thì thoạt tiên cũng là trẻ con. (Nhưng ít người trong bọn họ nhớ được điều đó.) ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
1356:no quería ya decir por favor y gracias y perdón. Era una lástima. ¿Con qué iba yo a bandearme, en el futuro? ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1357:Nunca me sentí a gusto en el mundo real. No conectaba bien con su gente. Durante toda mi vida tuve miedo. ~ Ernest Cline,
#NFDB
1358:Pensavo di avere più tempo, ma talvolta il domani non arriva e si rimane solo con i ricordi di ieri ~ Brittainy C Cherry,
#NFDB
1359:pero la vida en un transatlántico, con su inevitable promiscuidad, obliga al olvido. Al otro día, ~ Vicente Blasco Ib ez,
#NFDB
1360:Quisiera ser el pez - pensó - con todo lo que tiene frente a mi voluntad y mi inteligencia solamente. ~ Ernest Hemingway,
#NFDB
1361:Se sei sempre arrabbiata con gli altri, se non fai che dargli addosso, vuol dire che dipendi da loro. ~ Banana Yoshimoto,
#NFDB
1362:Si a veces pienso con más claridad que tú, se debe a que lo he practicado desde hace mucho más tiempo. ~ Kristin Cashore,
#NFDB
1363:Si se estudia un problema con orden y método, no hay dificultad alguna en resolverlo (Hércules Poirot) ~ Agatha Christie,
#NFDB
1364:¿Si te das de bruces contra una pared psíquica, acabas con moretones psíquicos?. pensó ella. [pp. 245] ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
1365:Son heresiarcas con sus secuaces, de toda secta, y muchas más son las tumbas que no creyeras pobladas. ~ Dante Alighieri,
#NFDB
1366:Tomaré tu alma en mis manos, un color se posará sobre mi hombro y te llevaré conmigo con suma delicadeza. ~ Markus Zusak,
#NFDB
1367:TRI-Con and the techniques to be described may elicit not only cognitive load but also anxiety in examinees. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1368:Una sociedad con una ciencia tan avanzada debe poseer valores morales igualmente evolucionados. interrogador ~ Liu Cixin,
#NFDB
1369:Una vez más, bienvenido a mi casa. Ven libremente, sal con seguridad; deja algo de la felicidad que traes. ~ Bram Stoker,
#NFDB
1370:Aaron looks like a con man who got hit with a shrink ray and you look like you're going to Catholic school. ~ Holly Black,
#NFDB
1371:—Ay, hijo —suspiró—. A mí me bastaría con estar seguro de que tú y yo existimos en este momento. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1372:Basta solo con mantenerse firme una sola vez en la vida y en una hora puedo cambiar todo mi destino. ~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky,
#NFDB
1373:―¿Cómo se siente? ―gruñe, casi a nariz con nariz conmigo―. ¿Cómo se siente ser utilizada, Mare Barrow? ~ Victoria Aveyard,
#NFDB
1374:cuando dice que no pasa nada, lo que quiere decir es que sabe que puede sobrevivir con lo mínimo. ~ Christina Baker Kline,
#NFDB
1375:Cuando hablo con Ubertino me da la impresión de que el infierno es el paraíso visto desde la otra parte. No ~ Umberto Eco,
#NFDB
1376:Debemos, pues, evitar las palabras inútiles, sin caer en el laconismo, que es incompatible con la delicadeza. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1377:De haber sabido que te perdería, te hubiera besado con más fuerza esta mañana, habría hecho eterno cada beso. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1378:Diciembre llegó como una primavera imprevista, como descrito en un libro. Y con él llegó Martín. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1379:El problema es que todo el mundo siempre compara a todos con todos y que eso le quita mérito a la gente ~ Stephen Chbosky,
#NFDB
1380:El recuerdo de los hombres nunca surge con esa deslumbrante luminosidad que acompaña al de las mujeres ~ Marguerite Duras,
#NFDB
1381:El verdadero atractivo del mal es la seductora facilidad con la que uno puede aventurarse por ese camino ~ Salman Rushdie,
#NFDB
1382:hago esto para que escuches y no te quepa duda alguna, un hombre sabio contempla con temor la noche sin luna» ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1383:hay cosas que sentimos en la piel, otras que vemos con los ojos, otras que nomas nos laten en el corazon ~ Carlos Fuentes,
#NFDB
1384:Không có nghề cao quý, chỉ có con người cao quý. Không có kiếm pháp vô địch, chỉ có con người vô địch. ~ Miyamoto Musashi,
#NFDB
1385:La gente rara vez se da cuenta de que dice mentiras con sus labios y verdades con sus ojos todo el tiempo. ~ Tahereh Mafi,
#NFDB
1386:La gloria está en el movimiento y en la osadía. Al carajo con la muerte. Es hoy y es hoy y es hoy. Sí. ~ Charles Bukowski,
#NFDB
1387:lo que define la sabiduría es tomar el pasado y el futuro con pinzas, lo necesario, sin culpa y sin angustia. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1388:Ma ci pensi, che follia? Come se l'amore si potesse promettere, il tutto con l'aggravante dell'infinito. ~ Donato Carrisi,
#NFDB
1389:No estás obligado a dejar de tener miedo. Lo único que necesitas es aprender a vivir con tus angustias. ~ Mathias Malzieu,
#NFDB
1390:Oh, Alan Ryves," she said. "You're such a fantastic liar. You are the smoothest con man of them all. ~ Sarah Rees Brennan,
#NFDB
1391:Podrás olvidar a las personas con las que reíste, pero nunca olvidarás a las personas con las que lloraste ~ C sar Lozano,
#NFDB
1392:¿Por qué hice tal y cual cosa?" está muy bien. Pero qué hay con "¿De qué otra forma podría haberlo hecho?". ~ Idries Shah,
#NFDB
1393:(Porque ser asaltado con toallas sanitarias es una gran manera de ganar amigos e influir sobre las personas). ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1394:puede atribuirse a este entendimiento la unidad general de su uso con el fin de una total experiencia posible ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1395:Quienes veían el supermercado automatizado con buenos ojos superaban a los críticos por nueve a uno. ~ Andr s Oppenheimer,
#NFDB
1396:Tenemos que cambiar este mundo celebrando, bailando, cantando, con música, con meditación, con amor. No con lucha. ~ Osho,
#NFDB
1397:tenía la actitud relajada y tranquila de algunos hombres que viven en paz consigo mismos y con el mundo. ~ Benjamin Black,
#NFDB
1398:Thất bại là khi con người không có khả năng đạt được những mục tiêutrong cuộc sống, bất kể đó là mục tiêu gì ~ Og Mandino,
#NFDB
1399:tropezó de pronto con un espacio de lucidez dentro de la locura, y tembló ante la incertidumbre del porvenir. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1400:Y con la amistad pasa como con el amor físico: para que sea auténtica tiene que ser ante todo libre. ~ Simone de Beauvoir,
#NFDB
1401:Amor u obsesión, lo que había tras sus sentimientos era tan fuerte que prefería destruirla a verla con otro ~ Wendy Walker,
#NFDB
1402:But the downside of being con artist is that it very hard to con. Even if the lies you tell are to yourself. ~ Ally Carter,
#NFDB
1403:Con bastante frecuencia, jovencita, parece que no llegamos a ninguna parte, cuando de hecho ya estamos allí. ~ A C H Smith,
#NFDB
1404:con ella había aprendido que, si le quitabas el cinismo, oías una verdad hecha de cansancio y soledad. ~ Maggie Stiefvater,
#NFDB
1405:Con la gente, solo encontré a los vivos que ahora estaban muertos; en los libros, en la música clásica. ~ Charles Bukowski,
#NFDB
1406:Cosa curiosa: con tantos vivos que hablan sin decir, en nuestras tierras hay muertos que dicen callando. ~ Eduardo Galeano,
#NFDB
1407:El coronel Aureliano Buendía entendió, que la vejez, no es mas que un pacto honrado con la soleda ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1408:El elefante vino hasta donde lo trajeron, la fuerza y la resistencia nacieron con él, no son virtud propia. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
1409:El enemigo siente que ataca con más violencia cuando sabe que Dios te tiene reservado algo excelente. Cuando ~ Joel Osteen,
#NFDB
1410:El Primer Acuerdo consiste en ser impecable con tus palabras. Parece muy simple, pero es sumamente poderoso. ~ Miguel Ruiz,
#NFDB
1411:En las promesas se cree o no. Las promesas se cumplen o no. Pero con las evidencias no hay quien pueda. ~ Guadalupe Nettel,
#NFDB
1412:Esdras es en verdad el padre del Judaísmo, con sus tres ideas esenciales: la Raza elegida, el Templo y la Ley. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1413:Ingredientes: una acera, una piedrita, un zapato, y un bello dibujo con tiza, preferentemente de colores. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
1414:La ignorancia emocional se conoce con el nombre de alexitimia, y significa incapacidad de lectura emocional. ~ Walter Riso,
#NFDB
1415:La Literatura te conecta con el espíritu de una persona, incluso con el espíritu de personas muertas. ~ Michel Houellebecq,
#NFDB
1416:«La mala suerte no tiene resquicios – dijo él con profunda amargura-. Nací hijo de puta y muero hijo de puta.» ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1417:La mayor parte de los filósofos son muy poco filosóficos con respecto a muchos aspectos de la filosofía. ~ Edgar Allan Poe,
#NFDB
1418:«Las batallas se pueden ganar con el corazón, pero las guerras sólo se pueden ganar con la cabeza.» ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
1419:Legrand se hallaba en uno de sus ataques —¿Con qué otro término podría llamarse aquello?— de entusiasmo. ~ Edgar Allan Poe,
#NFDB
1420:Llena tu mente con los conceptos de armonía, salud, paz y buena voluntad, y ocurrirán milagros en tu vida. ~ Joseph Murphy,
#NFDB
1421:Lo abracé con fuerza y no dije nada, sin dejar de decirle en silencio que era amado. Oh, pero cómo era amado. ~ Jojo Moyes,
#NFDB
1422:Lo que quiero decir es que ella era libre porque yo dije a todo que sí, y con el sí, me cerré puertas. ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
1423:lo que somos puede transmitirse con una elocuencia mucho mayor que cualquier cosa que digamos o hagamos. ~ Stephen R Covey,
#NFDB
1424:No es el mismo vacío vivir sin algo que te llene que rozarlo con los dedos y tener que dejarlo marchar ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
1425:No es posible estimar con precisión, ni el trabajo de un requisito, ni el tiempo necesario para desarrollarlo. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1426:No importa a donde vayas o con que te distraes, la realidad termina tocando a tu puerta en algún momento. ~ Kody Keplinger,
#NFDB
1427:No podemos vivir arrepintiéndonos de aquello que hicimos con la mejor intención aunque nos hayamos equivocado. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1428:Ở đời, ít người biết nhìn bằng con mắt thương yêu. Vì vậy họ ác độc với nhau, họ không tha thứ cho nhau. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh,
#NFDB
1429:Piangi con me, supplica il padre di non uccidere tua sorella: anche i bambini si rendono conto delle sciagure. ~ Euripides,
#NFDB
1430:Porque logran fingir orgasmos con la misma calidad artística de la más famosa y talentosa estrella de cine. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1431:Qué extraño es estar hecha de carne, equilibrada sobre hueso, y llena con un alma que nunca has conocido. ~ Colleen Hoover,
#NFDB
1432:"Sei abile con la lingua.
Ma non conosco nessun uomo onesto
che trovi parole belle per ogni circostanza ~ Sophocles,
#NFDB
1433:Solo hay una cosa en el mundo más jodida que tener cáncer a los dieciséis años, y es tener un hijo con cáncer. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1434:Solo hay una cosa en el mundo más jodida que tener cáncer a los dieciséis años, y es tener un hijo con cáncer ~ John Green,
#NFDB
1435:Thất bại là khi con người không có khả năng đạt được những mục tiêu trong cuộc sống, bất kể đó là mục tiêu gì ~ Og Mandino,
#NFDB
1436:The third factor is research, the big difference between the hard-nosed criminal and the super con man. ~ Frank W Abagnale,
#NFDB
1437:Una barrita de proteínas Clif Builder de veinte gramos con sabor a chocolate y mantequilla de cacahuete. ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
1438:Un hombre se confunde, gradualmente, con la forma de su destino; un hombre es, a la larga, sus circunstancias. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1439:Vivo con los ojos bien abiertos y lúcidos, sin vergüenza, sin remordimientos, y contemplo mi propia existencia ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1440:ahora ella estaba viviendo una experiencia con la que nunca había soñado: el asilo, la locura, el manicomio. ~ Paulo Coelho,
#NFDB
1441:Ci fabbrichiamo storie con un capo e una coda, con una logica inventata per dare una parvenza di senso alla vita. ~ Jo Nesb,
#NFDB
1442:Compramos cosas que no necesitamos con dinero que no tenemos a fin de impresionar a personas que no queremos. ~ Dave Ramsey,
#NFDB
1443:Deve farcela con le sue forze."
"Può darsi che sia vero, ma questo non significa che debba restare solo. ~ Alan Campbell,
#NFDB
1444:—dijo Harry—. ¿Estás loca? ¿Con todas las oportunidades que tuve de morir, y no lo logré? Estarán furiosos... ~ J K Rowling,
#NFDB
1445:El contacto con otros universos cuánticos que no estén en coherencia con nosotros parece bastante improbable. ~ Michio Kaku,
#NFDB
1446:El miedo es un derroche de energía; impide a las personas cumplir con aquello para lo cual fueron enviados. ~ Brian L Weiss,
#NFDB
1447:El perdón es una fuerza que resucita a una vida nueva e infunde el valor para mirar el futuro con esperanza. ~ Pope Francis,
#NFDB
1448:El primer contacto físico con mademoiselle Nina me lo había imaginado más romántico cuando soñaba despierto. ~ David Safier,
#NFDB
1449:-En una escala del uno al diez, ¿hasta que punto te molestaba que fuera al baile con otro?
-Infinito ~ Elizabeth Eulberg,
#NFDB
1450:George Bernard Shaw observó: “El mayor problema con la comunicación es la ilusión de que se llevó a cabo”. ~ John C Maxwell,
#NFDB
1451:había juntado actores de diferentes partes de la península itálica, se había hecho con los servicios ~ Santiago Posteguillo,
#NFDB
1452:Hay historias y nosotros, que por no hilar ya no hilamos ni un verso con otro. Ni tu nombre con el mío. ~ El sabet Benavent,
#NFDB
1453:Il migliore argomento contro la democrazia è una conversazione di cinque minuti con l'elettore medio. ~ Winston S Churchill,
#NFDB
1454:Incontrarsi e separarsi è il movimento unico e necessario con cui si traccia il nostro passaggio nel vuoto. ~ Stefano Benni,
#NFDB
1455:in origine il cervello umano è come un attico vuoto che uno deve riempire con i mobili che preferisce. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle,
#NFDB
1456:-Jamás me conformaría con pasar una sola noche a tu lado -respondió Adhárel-. Necesito estar toda la vida. ~ Javier Ruescas,
#NFDB
1457:La etiqueta es un puñado de normas que la gente utiliza para poder ser grosera en público con los demás. ~ Patrick Rothfuss,
#NFDB
1458:La moral política es como una capa con tantos remiendos, que no se sabe ya cuál es el paño primitivo. ~ Benito P rez Gald s,
#NFDB
1459:La storia degli uomini è la storia dei loro fraintendimenti con dio, né lui capisce noi, né noi capiamo lui. ~ Jos Saramago,
#NFDB
1460:La verdad es que mientras más enojado estoy con este país y más lejos viajo, más mexicano me siento. ~ Jorge Ibarg engoitia,
#NFDB
1461:—Me quedaré en mi dormitorio, sin hacer ruido para que no se note que estoy —dijo Harry, con voz inexpresiva. ~ J K Rowling,
#NFDB
1462:một con người có thể làm tổn thương một con người khác, duy nhất bởi vì anh ta tồn tại và là chính anh ta ~ Haruki Murakami,
#NFDB
1463:Nació con el don de la risa y con la sensación de que el mundo estaba loco. Y ese era todo su patrimonio. ~ Rafael Sabatini,
#NFDB
1464:nadie más espantada que yo, más empantanada, con mis hermosos sentimientos y mi fabulosa sensibilidad. ~ Alejandra Pizarnik,
#NFDB
1465:no con la esperanza de derrotar en esa forma la soledad, sino todo lo contrario, para sustentarla. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1466:Parte de tu misión en la vida debe ser, pues, compartir tus dones y tu valía con la máxima gente posible. Eso ~ T Harv Eker,
#NFDB
1467:Pienso que la ficción está comprometida con su tiempo. Nosotros no tenemos por qué preocuparnos de eso. ~ Jorge Luis Borges,
#NFDB
1468:por muy contentos que estuvieran mis padres de tenerme con ellos, yo era el alfa y la omega de su sufrimiento. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
1469:Qué culpa tiene madre con tanto orgullo y tanto título en la frente de que sus hijos huyan para hacerse crecer. ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1470:Que Dios me perdone si yo estaba siendo egoísta, pero no quería nada más que permanecer con él para siempre. ~ Julie Kagawa,
#NFDB
1471:Recuerda nuestra pregunta paradójica: ¿con qué verdad importante para usted concuerdan muy pocas personas? Si ~ Peter Thiel,
#NFDB
1472:Scratch a professor and you find a paranoiac, Barlow thought. But scratch a dean and you find a con artist. ~ Paul La Farge,
#NFDB
1473:Sé bien que la palabra "hubiera" se conjuga siempre con el adjetivo "imposible" tomado firmemente de la mano ~ Benito Taibo,
#NFDB
1474:Siamo creature stupide e incostanti, con la memoria corta e un grandissimo talento per l'autodistruzione. ~ Suzanne Collins,
#NFDB
1475:Solo hay una cosa en el mundo más jodida que tener cáncer a los dieciséis años, y es tener un hijo con cáncer. ~ John Green,
#NFDB
1476:Una persona podía odiar la navidad, pero aun así sentir la necesidad de hacer algo con significado ese día. ~ Tarryn Fisher,
#NFDB
1477:Voy a hacer un rompeolas con mi alegria pequena. No quiero que sepa el mar que por mi pecho van penas. ~ Julia de Burgos,
#NFDB
1478:-¿Y entonces qué?
-Entonces verás el mundo como es: infinito -repuso él con una seca sonrisa. [pp.187] ~ Cassandra Clare,
#NFDB
1479:¿cómo podés irte y dejarme a solas conmigo, a solas con mis manos poderosamente nostálgicas esta noche? ~ Alejandra Pizarnik,
#NFDB
1480:Comprendo con inquietud creciente que las personas caídas del cielo se pueden marchar con la misma facilidad. ~ Jandy Nelson,
#NFDB
1481:—Cuéntate a ti misma eso, valkiria. —Se inclinó para capturar sus jadeos con sus labios—. Tanto como quieras. ~ Kresley Cole,
#NFDB
1482:-De acuerdo, pues vuelve a hacerlo. Se me hace raro conversar con un zorro.
-Dijo el hombre-bestia ~ Laura Gallego Garc a,
#NFDB
1483:El coronel Aureliano Buendía entendió, que la vejez, no es mas que un pacto honrado con la soledad. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1484:El Dios eterno te permite disfrutar de Su gracia eterna para que puedas vivir con una perspectiva eterna. ~ Paul David Tripp,
#NFDB
1485:el querer no tiene que ver tanto con el que quiere, sino con lo que hace sentir en el que es querido. ~ Laura Gallego Garc a,
#NFDB
1486:En lugar de simplificar tu alma, tendrás que acoger cada vez más mundo con tu alma dolorosamente ensanchada. ~ Hermann Hesse,
#NFDB
1487:es imposible contentar a todos
antes que con un coro afirmativo
es mejor que nos digan un quién sabe ~ Mario Benedetti,
#NFDB
1488:Estamos en contacto con la revelación divina cuando somos conscientes de la gloria de Dios en la naturaleza. La ~ R C Sproul,
#NFDB
1489:Había nacido como las grandes reinas de la historia con el cordón umbilical enrollado en el cuello. ~ Gabriel Garc a M rquez,
#NFDB
1490:He descubierto que no hay forma más segura de saber si amas u odias a alguien que hacer un viaje con él o ella. ~ Mark Twain,
#NFDB
1491:It was con; my mind was blank; I only wanted a halfpint of Grandad and six or seven tall cool beers . . . ~ Charles Bukowski,
#NFDB
1492:La ciencia no es solamente compatible con la espiritualidad, sino que es una profunda fuente de espiritualidad. ~ Carl Sagan,
#NFDB
1493:La NutriBullet, una pequeña batidora de vaso extraíble que él regala con frecuencia. Bate, bebe y enjuaga. ~ Timothy Ferriss,
#NFDB
1494:Lo que lo hace hermoso es algo invisible...los ojos no siempre ven. Hay que buscar con el corazón ~ Antoine de Saint Exup ry,
#NFDB
1495:Menos mal que ni vos ni yo somos cursis, porque de aquí salía uno muerto y el otro con las esposas puestas. ~ Julio Cort zar,
#NFDB
1496:Me pregunto quién sería el primero en descubrir la eficacia de la poesía para acabar con el amor." - Elizabeth ~ Jane Austen,
#NFDB
1497:Mi sono seduto sul bordo della vita e con i piedi a penzoloni ho guardato l'infinito respirando il suo profumo. ~ Fabio Volo,
#NFDB
1498:No es necesario tener nada en qué creer. Basta con creer que en algún sitio hay algo digno de creer en ello. ~ Alfred Bester,
#NFDB
1499:No existe ningún problema que no pueda curarse con un baño de agua caliente, un vaso de whisky y un devocionario ~ Anonymous,
#NFDB
1500:Non stare più con la persona con cui vorresti stare significa allungare la mano di notte nel buio per cercarla. ~ Fabio Volo,
#NFDB
IN CHAPTERS [300/7066]
3734 Integral Yoga
1406 Poetry
319 Occultism
283 Philosophy
209 Fiction
196 Christianity
140 Yoga
115 Mysticism
92 Psychology
82 Islam
43 Philsophy
40 Science
33 Hinduism
32 Kabbalah
31 Sufism
26 Education
21 Mythology
20 Theosophy
16 Integral Theory
14 Buddhism
8 Cybernetics
6 Baha i Faith
4 Zen
4 Taoism
1 Thelema
1 Alchemy
2050 The Mother
1645 Sri Aurobindo
1232 Satprem
586 Nolini Kanta Gupta
199 Walt Whitman
168 William Wordsworth
152 Aleister Crowley
120 H P Lovecraft
110 Percy Bysshe Shelley
91 Carl Jung
86 John Keats
82 Muhammad
81 Friedrich Nietzsche
75 William Butler Yeats
69 James George Frazer
67 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
66 Plotinus
63 Robert Browning
62 Friedrich Schiller
57 Sri Ramakrishna
48 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
43 Ralph Waldo Emerson
43 Jorge Luis Borges
38 Swami Vivekananda
37 Swami Krishnananda
35 Jalaluddin Rumi
34 Saint Augustine of Hippo
32 Rabbi Moses Luzzatto
32 Lucretius
31 Anonymous
30 Saint John of Climacus
30 Franz Bardon
30 A B Purani
29 Saint Teresa of Avila
29 Aldous Huxley
26 Rabindranath Tagore
25 Rudolf Steiner
23 Aristotle
22 Rainer Maria Rilke
21 Vyasa
20 Kabir
20 Edgar Allan Poe
19 Farid ud-Din Attar
14 Nirodbaran
13 Ovid
12 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
12 Plato
12 Peter J Carroll
12 Paul Richard
12 Hafiz
11 Ibn Arabi
11 George Van Vrekhem
10 Sri Ramana Maharshi
10 Hsuan Chueh of Yung Chia
9 Ramprasad
9 Lewis Carroll
8 Norbert Wiener
8 Joseph Campbell
7 Li Bai
7 Jordan Peterson
7 Henry David Thoreau
7 Hakim Sanai
7 Baha u llah
7 Alice Bailey
6 Thubten Chodron
6 Al-Ghazali
5 Solomon ibn Gabirol
5 Saint John of the Cross
5 Patanjali
5 Jetsun Milarepa
5 Ibn Ata Illah
5 Bokar Rinpoche
4 Symeon the New Theologian
4 Lalla
4 Chuang Tzu
4 Allama Muhammad Iqbal
3 Taigu Ryokan
3 Shankara
3 Saint Clare of Assisi
3 R Buckminster Fuller
3 Omar Khayyam
3 Naropa
3 Moses de Leon
3 Mechthild of Magdeburg
3 Mansur al-Hallaj
3 Ken Wilber
3 Bulleh Shah
3 Boethius
2 William Blake
2 Thomas Merton
2 Saint Therese of Lisieux
2 Saint Francis of Assisi
2 Saadi
2 Ravidas
2 Rabbi Abraham Abulafia
2 Nachmanides
2 Mahendranath Gupta
2 Lu Tung Pin
2 Jorge Luis Borges
2 Jean Gebser
2 Jakushitsu
2 Jacopone da Todi
2 Italo Calvino
2 H. P. Lovecraft
2 Guru Nanak
2 Genpo Roshi
2 Dadu Dayal
2 Baba Sheikh Farid
2 Alfred Tennyson
2 Alexander Pope
2 Abu-Said Abil-Kheir
826 Record of Yoga
254 Prayers And Meditations
188 Whitman - Poems
186 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
168 Wordsworth - Poems
144 The Synthesis Of Yoga
138 Agenda Vol 01
136 Agenda Vol 13
124 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
120 Lovecraft - Poems
118 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
110 Shelley - Poems
99 Agenda Vol 08
96 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
94 Letters On Yoga III
92 Agenda Vol 10
92 Agenda Vol 09
91 Agenda Vol 12
86 Keats - Poems
85 Magick Without Tears
83 Agenda Vol 11
82 Quran
81 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
81 Agenda Vol 07
81 Agenda Vol 06
81 Agenda Vol 03
80 Agenda Vol 04
75 Yeats - Poems
73 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
73 Agenda Vol 02
69 The Golden Bough
69 Agenda Vol 05
68 Thus Spoke Zarathustra
68 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
65 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
63 Browning - Poems
62 Schiller - Poems
60 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
56 The Life Divine
56 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
55 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
53 Liber ABA
52 Questions And Answers 1956
49 Savitri
49 Letters On Yoga IV
49 Letters On Yoga II
43 Emerson - Poems
41 Questions And Answers 1953
38 Mysterium Coniunctionis
37 The Study and Practice of Yoga
37 Questions And Answers 1955
36 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
35 Words Of Long Ago
35 Questions And Answers 1954
32 Of The Nature Of Things
32 Letters On Poetry And Art
32 General Principles of Kabbalah
31 The Divine Comedy
30 The Ladder of Divine Ascent
30 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
30 Essays On The Gita
30 Collected Poems
29 The Perennial Philosophy
29 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
28 The Bible
27 Words Of The Mother II
27 Letters On Yoga I
27 Goethe - Poems
27 Essays Divine And Human
26 On Education
26 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
25 Tagore - Poems
24 The Practice of Psycho therapy
24 The Human Cycle
24 Labyrinths
23 Poetics
22 The Future of Man
22 Rumi - Poems
22 Rilke - Poems
22 City of God
21 Vishnu Purana
21 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
21 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
21 Faust
20 Bhakti-Yoga
19 The Way of Perfection
19 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
19 Poe - Poems
18 Let Me Explain
18 Initiation Into Hermetics
18 Crowley - Poems
18 Borges - Poems
17 On the Way to Supermanhood
15 The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
15 Songs of Kabir
15 Isha Upanishad
14 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
14 The Secret Of The Veda
14 The Phenomenon of Man
14 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
14 Some Answers From The Mother
14 Aion
13 Vedic and Philological Studies
13 Twilight of the Idols
13 Theosophy
13 The Confessions of Saint Augustine
13 Metamorphoses
13 Hymn of the Universe
12 The Practice of Magical Evocation
12 Talks
12 Raja-Yoga
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 03
12 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
12 Liber Null
11 Preparing for the Miraculous
11 Kena and Other Upanishads
11 Hafiz - Poems
11 Dark Night of the Soul
11 Anonymous - Poems
10 The Problems of Philosophy
10 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
10 The Integral Yoga
10 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
10 Amrita Gita
10 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
9 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
9 Arabi - Poems
9 Alice in Wonderland
9 5.1.01 - Ilion
8 Words Of The Mother III
8 The Hero with a Thousand Faces
8 The Blue Cliff Records
8 Song of Myself
8 Cybernetics
7 Words Of The Mother I
7 Walden
7 Maps of Meaning
7 Li Bai - Poems
7 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 The Red Book Liber Novus
6 The Alchemy of Happiness
6 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
5 Writings In Bengali and Sanskrit
5 Tara - The Feminine Divine
5 Patanjali Yoga Sutras
5 Milarepa - Poems
4 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
4 Sefer Yetzirah The Book of Creation In Theory and Practice
4 Chuang Tzu - Poems
4 Beating the Cloth Drum Letters of Zen Master Hakuin
3 The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma
3 The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep
3 The Lotus Sutra
3 The Book of Certitude
3 Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking
3 Sex Ecology Spirituality
3 Ryokan - Poems
3 Naropa - Poems
2 The Gateless Gate
2 The Ever-Present Origin
2 The Essentials of Education
2 The Castle of Crossed Destinies
2 Symposium
2 Selected Fictions
2 Notes On The Way
2 God Exists
2 Agenda Vol 1
2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E
00.00 - Publishers Note A, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The present volume consists of the first seven parts of the book The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo which has run into twelve parts, as it stands now; of these twelve, parts five to nine are based upon talks of the Mother (given by Her to the children of the Ashram). In this volume the later parts of the Talks (8 and 9) could not be included: they are to wait for a subsequent volume. The talks, originally in French, were spread over a number of years, ending in about 1960. We are pleased to note that the Government of India have given us a grant to meet the cost of publication of this volume.
13 January 1972
00.00 - Publishers Note B, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The present volume consists of five parts of the book Yoga of Sri Aurobindo which has now run into twelve parts. Of these five parts, eight and nine are based on talks of the Mother given by Her, in French, to the children of the Ashram.
We are pleased to note that the Government of India have given us a grant to meet the cost of publication of this volume.
00.00 - Publishers Note, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We have pleasure in presenting the Se cond Volume of the Collected Works of Sri Nolini Kanta Gupta. The six books in this volume were originally published separately. The Essays are mainly concerned with Mysticism and Poetry.
We are happy to note that the Government of India have given to our Centre of Education a grant to meet the cost of publication of this volume.
--
ST. AUGUSTINE, confessiones, xiii. 9
[We ascend the ascending grades in our heart
0 0.01 - Introduction, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This AGENDA ... One day, another species among men will pore over this fabulous document as over the tumultuous drama that must have surrounded the birth of the first man among the hostile hordes of a great, delirious Paleozoic. A first man is the dangerous contradiction of a certain simian logic, a threat to the established order that so genteelly ran about amid the high, indefeasible ferns - and to begin with, it does not even know that it is a man. It wonders, indeed, what it is. Even to itself it is strange, distressing. It does not even know how to climb trees any longer in its usual way
- and it is terribly disturbing for all those who still climb trees in the old, millennial way. Perhaps it is even a heresy. Unless it is some cerebral disorder? A first man in his little clearing had to have a great deal of courage. Even this little clearing was no longer so sure. A first man is a perpetual question. What am I, then, in the midst of all that? And where is my law? What is the law? And what if there were no more laws? ... It is terrifying. Mathematics - out of order. Astronomy and biology, too, are beginning to respond to mysterious influences. A tiny point huddled in the center of the world's great clearing. But what is all this, what if I were 'mad'? And then, claws all around, a lot of claws against this uncommon creature. A first man ... is very much alone. He is quite unbearable for the pre-human 'reason.' And the surrounding tribes growled like red monkies in the twilight of Guiana.
One day, we were like this first man in the great, stridulant night of the Oyapock. Our heart was beating with the rediscovery of a very ancient mystery - suddenly, it was absolutely new to be a man amidst the diorite cascades and the pretty red and black coral snakes slithering beneath the leaves. It was even more extraordinary to be a man than our old confirmed tribes, with their infallible equations and imprescriptible biologies, could ever have dreamed. It was an absolutely uncertain 'quantum' that delightfully eluded whatever one thought of it, including perhaps what even the scholars thought of it. It flowed otherwise, it felt otherwise. It lived in a kind of flawless continuity with the sap of the giant balata trees, the cry of the macaws and the scintillating water of a little fountain. It 'understood' in a very different way. To understand was to be in everything. Just a quiver, and one was in the skin of a little iguana in distress. The skin of the world was very vast.
To be a man after rediscovering a million years was mysteriously like being something still other than man, a strange, unfinished possibility that could also be all kinds of other things. It was not in the dictionary, it was fluid and boundless - it had become a man through habit, but in truth, it was formidably virgin, as if all the old laws belonged to laggard barbarians. Then other moons began whirring through the skies to the cry of macaws at sunset, another rhythm was born that was strangely in tune with the rhythm of all, making one single flow of the world, and there we went, lightly, as if the body had never had any weight other than that of our human thought; and the stars were so near, even the giant airplanes roaring overhead seemed vain artifices beneath smiling galaxies. A man was the overwhelming Possible. He was even the great discoverer of the Possible.
--
Or become one more nauseating little worshipper - which was not on our program. 'We are the enemy of our own conception of the Divine,' She told us one day with her mischievous little smile.
The whole time - or for seven years, in any event - we fought with our conception of God and the
'spiritual life': it was all so comfortable, for we had a supreme 'symbol' of it right there. She let us do as we pleased, She even opened up all kinds of little heavens in us, along with a few hells, since they go together. She even opened the door in us to a certain 'liberation,' which in the end was as soporific as eternity - but there was nowhere to get out: it WAS eternity. We were trapped on all sides. There was nothing left but these 4m2 of skin, the last refuge, that which we wanted to flee by way of above or below, by way of Guiana or the Himalayas. She was waiting for us just there, at the end of our spiritual or not so spiritual pirouettes. Matter was her concern. It took us seven years to understand that She was beginning there, 'where the other yogas leave off,' as Sri Aurobindo had already said twenty-five years earlier. It was necessary to have covered all the paths of the Spirit and all those of Matter, or in any case a large number geographically, before discovering, or even simply understanding, that 'something else' was really Something Else. It was not an improved
Spirit nor even an improved Matter, but ... it could be called 'nothing,' so contrary was it to all we know. For the caterpillar, a butterfly is nothing, it is not even visible and has nothing in common with caterpillar heavens nor even caterpillar matter. So there we were, trapped in an impossible adventure. One does not return from there: one must cross the bridge to the other side. Then one day in that seventh year, while we still believed in liberations and the collected Upanishads, highlighted with a few glorious visions to relieve the commonplace (which remained appallingly commonplace), while we were still considering 'the Mother of the Ashram' rather like some spiritual super-director (endowed, albeit, with a disarming yet ever so provocative smile, as though
She were making fun of us, then loving us in secret), She told us, 'I have the feeling that ALL we have lived, ALL we have known, ALL we have done is a perfect illusion ... When I had the spiritual experience that material life is an illusion, personally I found that so marvelously beautiful and happy that it was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, but now it is the entire spiritual structure as we have lived it that is becoming an illusion! - Not the same illusion, but an illusion far worse. And I am no baby: I have been here for forty-seven years now!' Yes, She was eighty-three years old then. And that day, we ceased being 'the enemy of our own conception of the Divine,' for this entire Divine was shattered to pieces - and we met Mother, at last. This mystery we call
Mother, for She never ceased being a mystery right to her ninety-fifth year, and to this day still, challenges us from the other side of a wall of invisibility and keeps us floundering fully in the mystery - with a smile. She always smiles. But the mystery is not solved.
--
TRULY to the conquest of the new. The 'new' is painful, discouraging, it resembles nothing we know! We cannot hoist the flag of an un conquered country - but this is what is so marvelous: it does not yet exist. We must MAKE IT EXIST. The adventure has not been carved out: it is to be carved out. Truth is not entrapped and fossilized, 'spiritualized': it is to be discovered. We are in a nothing that we must force to become a something. We are in the adventure of the new species. A new species is obviously contradictory to the old species and to the little flags of the alreadyknown. It has nothing in common with the spiritual summits of the old world, nor even with its abysms - which might be delightfully tempting for those who have had enough of the summits, but everything is the same, in black or white, it is fraternal above and below. SOMETHING ELSE is needed.
'Are you conscious of your ceils?' She asked us a short time after the little operation of spiritual demolition She had undergone. 'No? Well, become conscious of your cells, and you will see that it gives TERRESTRIAL results.' To become conscious of one's cells? ... It was a far more radical operation than crossing the Maroni with a machete in hand, for after all, trees and lianas can be cut, but what cannot be so easily uncovered are the grandfa ther and the grandmo ther and the whole atavistic pack, not to mention the animal and plant and mineral layers that form a teeming humus over this single pure little cell beneath its millennial genetic program. The grandfa thers and grandmo thers grow back again like crabgrass, along with all the old habits of being hungry, afraid, falling ill, fearing the worst, hoping for the best, which is still the best of an old mortal habit. All this is not uprooted nor entrapped as easily as celestial 'liberations,' which leave the teeming humus in peace and the body to its usual decomposition. She had come to hew a path through all that. She was the Ancient One of evolution who had come to make a new cleft in the old, tedious habit of being a man. She did not like tedious repetitions, She was the adventuress par excellence - the adventuress of the earth. She was wrenching out for man the great Possible that was already beating there, in his primeval clearing, which he believed he had momentarily trapped with a few machines.
She was uprooting a new Matter, free, free from the habit of inexorably being a man who repeats himself ad infinitum with a few improvements in the way of organ transplants or monetary exchanges. In fact, She was there to discover what would happen after materialism and after spiritualism, these prodigal twin brothers. Because Materialism is dying in the West for the same reason that Spiritualism is dying in the East: it is the hour of the new species. Man needs to awaken, not only from his demons but also from his gods. A new Matter, yes, like a new Spirit, yes, because we still know neither one nor the other. It is the hour when Science, like Spirituality, at the end of their roads, must discover what Matter TRULY is, for it is really there that a Spirit as yet unknown to us is to be found. It is a time when all the 'isms' of the old species are dying: 'The age of
--
something to be played forever as the one great game of the world; a who-knows-what that left this sprig of a pensive man in the middle of a clearing; a little 'something' that beats, beats, that keeps on breathing beneath every skin that has ever been put on it - like our deepest breath, our lightest air, our air of nothing - and it keeps on going, it keeps on going. We must catch the light little breath, the little pulsation of nothing. Then suddenly, on the threshold of our clearing of concrete, our head starts spinning incurably, our eyes blink into something else, and all is different, and all seems surcharged with meaning and with life, as though we had never lived until that very minute.
Then we have caught the tail of the Great Possible, we are upon the wayless way, radically in the new, and we flow with the little lizard, the pelican, the big man, we flow everywhere in a world that has lost its old separating skin and its little baggage of habits. We begin seeing otherwise, feeling otherwise. We have opened the gate into an in conceivable clearing. Just a light little vibration that carries you away. Then we begin to understand how it CAN CHANGE, what the mechanism is - a light little mechanism and so miraculous that it looks like nothing. We begin feeling the wonder of a pure little cell, and that a sparkling of joy would be enough to turn the world inside out. We were living in a little thinking fishbowl, we were dying in an old, bottled habit. And then suddenly, all is different. The Earth is free! Who wants freedom?
00.01 - The Approach to Mysticism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A scientist once thought that he had clinched the issue and cut the Gordian knot when he declared triumphantly with reference to spirit sances: "Very significant is the fact that spirits appear only in closed chambers, in half obscurity, to somnolent minds; they are nowhere in the open air, in broad daylight to the wide awake and vigilant intellect!" Well, if the fact is as it is stated, what does it prove? Night alone reveals the stars, during the day they vanish, but that is no proof that stars are not existent. Rather the true scientific spirit should seek to know why (or how) it is so, if it is so, and such a fact would exactly serve as a pointer, a significant starting ground. The attitude of the jesting Pilate is not helpful even to scientific inquiry. This matter of the Spirits we have taken only as an illustration and it must not be understood that this is a domain of high mysticism; rather the contrary. The spiritualists' approach to Mysticism is not the right one and is fraught with not only errors but dangers. For the spiritualists approach their subject with the entire scientific apparatus the only difference being that the scientist does not believe while the spiritualist believes.
Mystic realities cannot be reached by the scientific consciousness, because they are far more subtle than the subtlest object that science can contemplate. The neutrons and positrons are for science today the finest and profoundest object-forces; they belong, it is said, almost to a borderl and where physics ends. Nor for that reason is a mystic reality something like a mathematical abstraction, -n for example. The mystic reality is subtler than the subtlest of physical things and yet, paradoxical to say, more concrete than the most concrete thing that the senses apprehend.
Furthermore, being so, the mystic domain is of infinitely greater potency than the domain of intra-atomic forces. If one comes, all on a sudden, into contact with a force here without the necessary preparation to hold and handle it, he may get seriously bruised, morally and physically. The adventure into the mystic domain has its own toll of casualtiesone can lose the mind, one can lose one's body even and it is a very common experience among those who have tried the path. It is not in vain and merely as a poetic metaphor that the ancient seers have said
Kurasya dhr niit duratyay1
--
The mystic forces are not only of immense potency but of a definite moral disposition and character, that is to say, they are of immense potency either for good or for evil. They are not mechanical and amoral forces like those that physical sciences deal with; they are forces of consciousness and they are conscious forces, they act with an aim and a purpose. The mystic forces are forces either of light or of darkness, either Divine or Titanic. And it is most often the powers of darkness that the naturally ignorant consciousness of man contacts when it seeks to cross the borderline without training or guidance, by the sheer arrogant self-sufficiency of mental scientific reason.
Ignorance, certainly, is not man's ideal conditionit leads to death and dissolution. But knowledge also can be equally disastrous if it is not of the right kind. The knowledge that is born of spiritual disobedience, inspired by the Dark ones, leads to the soul's fall and its calvary through pain and suffering on earth. The seeker of true enlightenment has got to make a distinction, learn to separate the true and the right from the false and the wrong, unmask the luring Mra say clearly and unfalteringly to the dark light of Luciferapage Satana, if he is to come out into the true light and comm and the right forces. The search for knowledge alone, knowledge for the sake of knowledge, the path of pure scientific inquiry and inquisitiveness, in relation to the mystic world, is a dangerous thing. For such a spirit serves only to encourage and enhance man's arrogance and in the end not only limits but warps and falsifies the knowledge itself. A knowledge based on and secured exclusively through the reason and mental light can go only so far as that faculty can be reasonably stretched and not infinitelyto stretch it to infinity means to snap it. This is the warning that Yajnavalkya gave to Gargi when the latter started renewing her question ad infinitum Yajnavalkya said, "If you do not stop, your head will fall off."
The mystic truth has to be approached through the heart. "In the heart is established the Truth," says the Upanishad: it is there that is seated eternally the soul, the real being, who appears no bigger than the thumb. Even if the mind is utilised as an instrument of knowledge, the heart must be there behind as the guide and inspiration. It is precisely because, as I have just mentioned, Gargi sought to shoot uplike "vaulting ambition that o'erleaps itself" of which Shakespeare speaksthrough the mind alone to the highest truth that Yajnavalkya had to pull her up and give the warning that she risked losing her head if she persisted in her questioning endlessly.
For true knowledge comes of, and means, identity of being. All other knowledge may be an apprehension of things but not comprehension. In the former, the knower stands apart from the object and so can envisage only the outskirts, the contour, the surface nature; the mind is capable of this alone. But comprehension means an embracing and penetration which is possible when the knower identifies himself with the object. And when we are so identified we not merely know the object, but becoming it in our consciousness, we love it and live it.
The mystic's knowledge is a part and a formation of his life. That is why it is a knowledge not abstract and remote but living and intimate and concrete. It is a knowledge that pulsates with delight: indeed it is the radiance that is shed by the purest and intensest joy. For this reason it may be that in approaching through the heart there is a chance of one's getting arrested there and not caring for the still higher, the solar lights; but this need not be so. In the heart there is a golden door leading to the deepest delights, but there is also a diamond door opening up into the skies of the brightest luminosities.
For it must be understood that the heart, the mystic heart, is not the external thing which is the seat of emotion or passion; it is the secret heart that is behind, the inner heartantarhdaya of the Upanishadwhich is the centre of the individual consciousness, where all the divergent lines of that consciousness meet and from where they take their rise. That is what the Upanishad means when it says that the heart has a hundred channels which feed the human vehicle. That is the source, the fount and origin, the very substance of the true personality. Mystic knowledge the true mystic knowledge which saves and fulfilsbegins with the awakening or the entrance into this real being. This being is pure and luminous and blissful and sovereignly real, because it is a portion, a spark of the Divine consciousness and Nature: a contact and communion with it brings automatically into play the light and the truth that are its substance. At the same time it is an uprising flame that reaches out naturally to higher domains of consciousness and manifests them through its translucid dynamism.
The knowledge that is obtained without the heart's instrumentation or co-operation is liable to be what the Gita describes as Asuric. First of all, from the point of view of knowledge itself, it would be, as I have already said, egocentric, a product and agent of one's limited and isolated self, easily put at the service of desire and passion. This knowledge, whether rationalistic or occult, is, as it were, hard and dry in its constitution, and oftener than not, negative and destructivewi thering and blasting in its career like the desert simoom.
There are modes of knowledge that are occultand to that extent mystic and can be mastered by practices in which the heart has no share. But they have not the saving grace that comes by the touch of the Divine. They are not truly mystic the truly mystic belongs to the ultimate realities, the deepest and the highest,they, on the other hand, are transverse and tangential movements belonging to an intermediate region where light and obscurity are mixed up and even for the greater part the light is swallowed up in the obscurity or utilised by it.
The mystic's knowledge and experience is not only true and real: it is delightful and blissful. It has a supremely healing virtue. It brings a sovereign freedom and ease and peace to the mystic himself, but also to those around him, who come in contact with him. For truth and reality are made up of love and harmony, because truth is, in its essence, unity.
Sharp as a razor's edge, difficult of going, hard to traverse is that path!"
Auromaa - Mothers Talk on Savitri to Mona Sarkar
On the 18th January 1960; when a young sadhak met the Mother for a personal interview, She said to him: "I shall give you something special; be prepared." The next day, when he again met Her, She spoke in French first about how to kindle the psychic Flame and then in this connection started speaking about Sri Aurobindo`s great epic Savitri and continued to speak at length.
The sadhak, after returning from the Mother, wanted to note down immediately what She had said, but he could not do so because he felt a great hesitation due to his sense of incapacity to transcribe exactly the Mother`s own words.
--
But you must not read it as you read other books or newspapers. You must read with an empty head, a blank and vacant mind, without there being any other thought; you must concentrate much, remain empty, calm and open; then the words, rhythms, vibrations will penetrate directly to this white page, will put their stamp upon the brain, will explain themselves without your making any effort. Savitri alone is sufficient to make you climb to the highest peaks. If truly one knows how to meditate on Savitri, one will receive all the help one needs. For him who wishes to follow this path, it is a concrete help as though the Lord himself were taking you by the hand and leading you to the destined goal. And then, every question, however personal it may be, has its answer here,every difficulty finds its solution herein; indeed there is everything that is necessary for doing the Yoga.
*He has crammed the whole universe in a single book.* It is a marvellous work, magnificent and of an incomparable perfection.
--
In truth, the entire form of Savitri has descended "en masse" from the highest region and Sri Aurobindo with His genius only arranged the lines - in a superb and magnificent style. Sometimes entire lines were revealed and He has left them intact; He worked hard, untiringly, so that the inspiration could come from the highest possible summit. And what a work He has created! Yes, it is a true creation in itself. It is an unequalled work. Everything is there, and it is put in such a simple, such a clear form; verses perfectly harmonious, limpid and eternally true. My child, I have read so many things, but I have never come across anything which could be compared with Savitri. I have studied the best works in Greek, Latin, English and of course French literature, also in German and all the great creations of the West and the East, including the great epics; but I repeat it, I have not found anywhere anything comparable with Savitri. All these literary works seems to me empty, flat, hollow, without any deep reality - apart from a few rare exceptions, and these too represent only a small fraction of what Savitri is. What grandeur, what amplitude, what reality: it is something immortal and eternal He has created. I tell you once again there is nothing like in it the whole world. Even if one puts aside the vision of the reality, that is, the essential substance which is the heart of the inspiration, and considers only the lines in themselves, one will find them unique, of the highest classical kind. What He has created is something man cannot imagine. For, everything is there, everything.
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 In conscience 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 super conscience; 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.
All this is His own experience, and what is most surprising is that it is my own experience also. It is my sadhana which He has worked out. Each object, each event, each realisation, all the descriptions, even the colours are exactly what I saw and the words, phrases are also exactly what I heard. And all this before having read the book. I read Savitri many times afterwards, but earlier, when He was writing He used to read it to me. Every morning I used to hear Him read Savitri. During the night He would write and in the morning read it to me. And I observed something curious, that day after day the experiences He read out to me in the morning were those I had had the previous night, word by word. Yes, all the descriptions, the colours, the pictures I had seen, the words I had heard, all, all, I heard it all, put by Him into poetry, into miraculous poetry. Yes, they were exactly my experiences of the previous night which He read out to me the following morning. And it was not just one day by chance, but for days and days together. And every time I used to compare what He said with my previous experiences and they were always the same. I repeat, it was not that I had told Him my experiences and that He had noted them down afterwards, no, He knew already what I had seen. It is my experiences He has presented at length and they were His experiences also. It is, moreover, the picture of Our joint adventure into the unknown or rather into the Supermind.
These are experiences lived by Him, realities, supracosmic truths. He experienced all these as one experiences joy or sorrow, physically. He walked in the darkness of in conscience, even in the neighborhood of death, endured the sufferings of perdition, and emerged from the mud, the world-misery to brea the the sovereign plenitude and enter the supreme Ananda. He crossed all these realms, went through the consequences, suffered and endured physically what one cannot imagine. Nobody till today has suffered like Him. He accepted suffering to transform suffering into the joy of union with the Supreme. It is something unique and incomparable in the history of the world. It is something that has never happened before, He is the first to have traced the path in the Unknown, so that we may be able to walk with certitude towards the Supermind. He has made the work easy for us.Savitri is His whole Yoga of transformation, and this Yoga appears now for the first time in the earth- consciousness.
And I think that man is not yet ready to receive it. It is too high and too vast for him. He cannot understand it, grasp it, for it is not by the mind that one can understand Savitri. One needs spiritual experiences in order to understand and assimilate it. The farther one advances on the path of Yoga, the more does one assimilate and the better. No, it is something which will be appreciated only in the future, it is the poetry of tomorrow of which He has spoken in The Future Poetry. It is too subtle, too refined, - it is not in the mind or through the mind, it is in meditation that Savitri is revealed.
And men have the audacity to compare it with the work of Virgil or Homer and to find it inferior. They do not understand, they cannot understand. What do they know? Nothing at all. And it is useless to try to make them understand. Men will know what it is, but in a distant future. It is only the new race with a new consciousness which will be able to understand. I assure you there is nothing under the blue sky to compare with Savitri. It is the mystery of mysteries. It is a *super-epic,* it is super-literature, super-poetry, super-vision, it is a super-work even if one considers the number of lines He has written. No, these human words are not adequate to describe Savitri. Yes, one needs superlatives, hyperboles to describe it. It is a hyper-epic. No, words express nothing of what Savitri is, at least I do not find them. It is of immense value - spiritual value and all other values; it is eternal in its subject, and infinite in its appeal, miraculous in its mode and power of execution; it is a unique thing, the more you come into contact with it, the higher will you be uplifted. Ah, truly it is something! It is the most beautiful thing He has left for man, the highest possible. What is it? When will man know it? When is he going to lead a life of truth? When is he going to accept this in his life? This yet remains to be seen. 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
~ The Mother Sweet Mother The Mother to Mona Sarkar, [T0]
00.02 - Mystic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
These other worlds are constituted in other ways than ours. Their contents are different and the laws that obtain there are also different. It would be a gross blunder to attempt a chart of any of these other systems, to use an Einsteinian term, with the measures and conventions of the system to which our external waking consciousness belongs. For, there "the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the stars, neither these lightnings nor this fire." The difficulty is further enhanced by the fact that there are very many unseen worlds and they all differ from the seen and from one another in manner and degree. Thus, for example, the Upanishads speak of the swapna, the suupta, and the turya, domains beyond the jgrat which is that where the rational being with its mind and senses lives and moves. And there are other systems and other ways in which systems exist, and they are practically innumerable.
If, however, we have to speak of these other worlds, then, since we can speak only in the terms of this world, we have to use them in a different sense from those they usually bear; we must employ them as figures and symbols. Even then they may prove inadequate and misleading; so there are Mystics who are averse to all speech and expression they are mauni; in silence they experience the inexpressible and in silence they communicate it to the few who have the capacity to receive in silence.
--
We can make a distinction here between two types of expression which we have put together indiscriminately, figures and symbols. Figures, we may say, are those that are constructed by the rational mind, the intellect; they are mere metaphors and similes and are not organically related to the thing experienced, but put round it as a robe that can be dropped or changed without affecting the experience itself. Thus, for example, when the Upanishad says, tmnam rathinam viddhi (Know that the soul is the master of the chariot who sits within it) or indriyi haynhu (The senses, they say, are the horses), we have here only a comparison or analogy that is common and natural to the poetic manner. The particular figure or simile used is not inevitable to the idea or experience that it seeks to express, its part and parcel. On the other hand, take this Upanishadic perception: hirayamayena patrea satyasyphitam mukham (The face of the Truth lies hidden under the golden orb). Here the symbol is not mere analogy or comparison, a figure; it is one with the very substance of the experience the two cannot be separated. Or when the Vedas speak of the kindling of the Fire, the rushing of the waters or the rise of the Dawn, the images though taken from the material world, are not used for the sake of mere comparison, but they are the embodiments, the living forms of truths experienced in another world.
When a Mystic refers to the Solar Light or to the Fire the light, for example, that struck down Saul and transformed him into Saint Paul or the burning bush that visited Moses, it is not the physical or material object that he means and yet it is that in a way. It is the materialization of something that is fundamentally not material: some movement in an inner consciousness precipitates itself into the region of the senses and takes from out of the material the form commensurable with its nature that it finds there.
And there is such a commensurability or parallelism between the various levels of consciousness, in and through all the differences that separate them from one another. Thus an object or a movement apprehended on the physical plane has a sort of line of re-echoing images extended in a series along the whole gradation of the inner planes; otherwise viewed, an object or movement in the innermost consciousness translates itself in varying modes from plane to plane down to the most material, where it appears in its grossest form as a concrete three-dimensional object or a mechanical movement. This parallelism or commensurability by virtue of which the different and divergent states of consciousness can portray or represent each other is the source of all symbolism.
A symbol symbolizes something for this reason that both possess in common a certain identical, at least similar, quality or rhythm or vibration, the symbol possessing it in a grosser or more apparent or sensuous form than the thing symbolized does. Sometimes it may happen that it is more than a certain quality or rhythm or vibration that is common between the two: the symbol in its entirety is the thing symbolized but thrown down on another plane, it is the embodiment of the latter in a more concrete world. The light and the fire that Saint Paul and Moses saw appear to be of this kind.
Thus there is a great diversity of symbols. At the one end is the mere metaphor or simile or allegory ('figure', as we have called it) and at the other end is the symbol identical with the thing symbolized. And upon this inner character of the symbol depends also to a large extent its range and scope. There are symbols which are universal and intimately ingrained in the human consciousness itself. Mankind has used them in all ages and climes almost in the same sense and significance. There are others that are limited to peoples and ages. They are made out of forms that are of local and temporal interest and importance. Their significances vary according to time and place. Finally, there are symbols which are true of the individual consciousness only; they depend on personal peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, on one's environment and upbringing and education.
Man being an embodied soul, his external consciousness (what the Upanishad calls jgrat) is the milieu in which his soul-experiences naturally manifest and find their play. It is the forms and movements of that consciousness which clo the and give a concrete habitation and name to perceptions on the subtler ranges of the inner existence. If the experiences on these planes are to be presented to the conscious memory and to the brain-mind and made communicable to others through speech, this is the inevitable and natural process. Symbols are a translation in mental and sensual (and vocal) terms of experiences that are beyond the mind and the sense and the speech and yet throw a kind of echoing vibrations upon these lesser levels.
***
0 0.02 - Topographical Note, #Agenda Vol 1, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
From the time of Sri Aurobindo's departure (1950) until 1957, we have only a few notes and fragments or rare statements noted from memory. These are the only landmarks of this period, along with Mother's Questions and Answers from her talks at the Ashram Playground. A few of these conversations have been reproduced here insofar as they mark stages of the Supramental
Action.
--
Mother would be seated in this rather medieval-looking chair with its high, carved back, her feet on a little tabouret, while we sat on the floor, on a slightly faded carpet, conquered and seduced, revolted and never satisfied - but nevertheless, very interested. Treasures, never noted down, were lost until, with the cunning of the Sioux, we succeeded in making Mother consent to the presence of a tape recorder. But even then, and for a long time thereafter, She carefully made us erase or delete in our notes all that concerned Her rather too personally - sometimes we disobeyed Her.
But finally we were able to convince Her of the value inherent in keeping a chronicle of the route.
It was only in 1958 that we began having the first tape-recorded conversations, which, properly speaking, constitute Mother's Agenda. But even then, many of these conversations were lost or only partly noted down. Or else we considered that our own words should not figure in these notes and we carefully omitted all our questions - which was absurd. At that time, no one - neither Mother, nor ourself - knew that this was 'the Agenda' and that we were out to explore the 'Great Passage.'
Only gradually did we become aware of the true nature of these meetings. Furthermore, we were constantly on the road, so much so that there are sizable gaps in the text. In fact, for seven years,
Mother was patiently preparing the instrument that would be able to traverse the adventure without breaking along the way.
--
Church. There and then, they made us understand why She had pulled us from our forest, one day, and chosen as her confidant an incurable rebel.
00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Now, before any explanation is attempted it is important to bear in mind that the Upanishads speak of things experiencednot merely thought, reasoned or argued and that these experiences belong to a world and consciousness other than that of the mind and the senses. One should naturally expect here a different language and mode of expression than that which is appropriate to mental and physical things. For example, the world of dreams was once supposed to be a sheer chaos, a mass of meaningless confusion; but now it is held to be quite otherwise. Psychological scientists have discovered a methodeven a very well-defined and strict methodin the madness of that domain. It is an ordered, organised, significant world; but its terminology has to be understood, its code deciphered. It is not a jargon, but a foreign language that must be learnt and mastered.
In the same way, the world of spiritual experiences is also something methodical, well-organized, significant. It may not be and is not the rational world of the mind and the sense; but it need not, for that reason, be devoid of meaning, mere fancifulness or a child's imagination running riot. Here also the right key has to be found, the grammar and vocabulary of that language mastered. And as the best way to have complete mastery of a language is to live among the people who speak it, so, in the matter of spiritual language, the best and the only way to learn it is to go and live in its native country.
--
My suggestion is that the dog is a symbol of the keen sight of Intuition, the unfailing perception of direct knowledge. With this clue the Upanishadic story becomes quite sensible and clear and not mere abracadabra. To the aspirant for Knowledge came first a purified power of direct understanding, an Intuition of fundamental value, and this brought others of the same species in its train. They were all linked together organically that is the significance of the circle, and formed a rhythmic utterance and expression of the supreme truth (Om). It is also to be noted that they came and met at dawn to chant, the Truth. Dawn is the opening and awakening of the consciousness to truths that come from above and beyond.
It may be asked why the dog has been chosen as the symbol of Intuition. In the Vedas, the cow and the horse also play a large part; even the donkey and the frog have their own assigned roles. These objects are taken from the environment of ordinary life, and are those that are most familiar to the external consciousness, through which the inner experiences have to express themselves, if they are to be expressed at all. These material objects represent various kinds of forces and movements and subtle and occult and spiritual dynamisms. Strictly speaking, however, symbols are not chosen in a subtle or spiritual experience, that is to say, they are not arbitrarily selected and constructed by the conscious intelligence. They form part of a dramatization (to use a term of the Freudian psychology of dreams), a psychological alchemy, whose method and process and rationale are very obscure, which can be penetrated only by the vision of a third eye.
I. The Several Lights
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The Sun is the first and the most immediate source of light that man has and needs. He is the presiding deity of our waking consciousness and has his seat in the eyecakusa ditya, ditya caku bhtvakii prviat. The eye is the representative of the senses; it is the sense par excellence. In truth, sense-perception is the initial light with which we have to guide us, it is the light with which we start on the way. A developed stage comes when the Sun sets for us, that is to say, when we retire from the senses and rise into the mind, whose divinity is the Moon. It is the mental knowledge, the light of reason and intelligence, of reflection and imagination that govern our consciousness. We have to proceed farther and get beyond the mind, exceed the derivative light of the Moon. So when the Moon sets, the Fire is kindled. It is the light of the ardent and aspiring heart, the glow of an inner urge, the instincts and inspirations of our secret life-will. Here we come into touch with a source of knowledge and realization, a guidance more direct than the mind and much deeper than the sense-perception. Still this light partakes more of heat than of pure luminosity; it is, one may say, incandescent feeling, but not vision. We must probe deeper, mount higherreach heights and profundities that are serene and transparent. The Fire is to be quieted and silenced, says the Upanishad. Then we come nearer, to the immediate vicinity of the Truth: an inner hearing opens, the direct voice of Truth the Wordreaches us to lead and guide. Even so, however, we have not come to the end of our journey; the Word of revelation is not the ultimate Light. The Word too is clothing, though a luminous clothinghiramayam ptram When this last veil dissolves and disappears, when utter silence, absolute calm and quietude reign in the entire consciousness, when no other lights trouble or distract our attention, there appears the Atman in its own body; we stand face to face with the source of all lights, the self of the Light, the light of the Self. We are that Light and we become that Light.
II. The Four Oblations
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The duty of life consists, it is said, in the repaying of three debts which every man contracts as soon as he takes birth upon earth the debt to the Gods, to Men and to the Ancestors. This threefold debt or duty has, in other terms, reference to the three fields or domains wherein an embodied being lives and moves and to which he must adjust and react rightly -if he is to secure for his life an integral fulfilment. These are the family, society and the world and beyond-world. The Gods are the Powers that rule the world and beyond, they are the forms and forces of the One Spirit underlying the universe, the varied expressions of divine Truth and Reality: To worship the Gods, to do one's duty by them, means to come into contact and to be unitedin being, consciousness and activitywith the universal and spiritual existence, which is the supreme end and purpose of human life. The se conda more circumscribed fieldis the society to which one belongs, the particular group of humanity in which he functions as a limb. The service to society or good citizenship entails the worship of humanity, of Man as a god. Lastly, man belongs to the family, which is the unit of society; and the backbone of the family is the continuous line of ancestors, who are its presiding deity and represent the norm of a living dharma, the ethic of an ideal life.
From the psychological standpoint, the four oblations are movements or reactions of consciousness in its urge towards the utterance and expression of Divine Truth. Like some other elements in the cosmic play, these also form a quartetcaturvyha and work together for a common purpose in view of a perfect and all-round result.
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.
Hantakr is the appearance, the manifestation of the Divinity that which makes the worshipper cry in delight, "Hail!" It is the coming of the Dawnahanwhen the night has been traversed and the lid rent open, the appearance of the Divine to a human vision for the human consciousness to seize, almost in a human form.
Finally, once the Truth is reached, it is to be held fast, firmly established, embodied and fixed in its inherent nature here in life and the waking consciousness. This is Svadh.
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.
This interchange, or mutual giving, the High Covenant between the Gods and Men, to which the Gita too refers
--
The Gods are the formations or particularisations of the Truth- consciousness, the multiple individualisations of the One spirit. The Pitris are the Divine Fathers, that is to say, souls that once laboured and realised here below, and now have passed beyond. They dwell in another world, not too far removed from the earth, and from there, with the force of their Realisation, lend a more concrete help and guidance to the destiny that is being worked out upon earth. They are forces and formations of consciousness in an intermediate region between Here and There (antarika), and serve to bring men and gods nearer to each other, inasmuch as they belong to both the categories, being a divinised humanity or a humanised divinity. Each fixation of the Truth- consciousness in an earthly mould is a thing of joy to the Pitris; it is the Svadh or food by which they live and grow, for it is the consolidation and also the resultant of their own realisation. The achievements of the sons are more easily and securely reared and grounded upon those of the forefa thers, whose formative powers we have to invoke, so that we may pass on to the realisation, the firm embodiment of higher and greater destinies.
III. The Path of the Fathers and the Path of the Gods
One is an ideal in and of the world, the other is an ideal transcending the world. The Path of the Fathers (Pityna) enjoins the right accomplishing of the dharma of Lifeit is the path of works, of Karma; it is the line of progressive evolution that, man follows through the experience of life after life on earth. The Path of the Gods (Devayna) runs above life's evolutionary course; it lifts man out of the terrestrial cycle and places him in a superior consciousness it is the path of knowledge, of Vidya.4 The Path of the Fathers is the soul's southern or inferior orbit (dakiyana, aparrdha); the Path of the Gods is the northern or superior orbit (uttaryaa, parrdha)The former is also called the Lunar Path and the latter the Solar Path.5 For the moon represents the mind,6 and is therefore, an emblem that befits man so long as he is a mental being and pursues a dharma that is limited by the mind; the sun, on the other hand, is the knowledge and consciousness that is beyond the mindit is the eye of the Gods.7
Man has two aspects or natures; he dwells in two worlds. The first is the manifest world the world of the body, the life and the mind. The body has flowered into the mind through the life. The body gives the basis or the material, the life gives power and energy and the mind the directing knowledge. This triune world forms the humanity of man. But there is another aspect hidden behind this apparent nature, there is another world where man dwells in his submerged, larger and higher consciousness. To that his soul the Purusha in his heart only has access. It is the world where man's nature is transmuted into another triune realitySat, Chit and Ananda.
The one, however, is not completely divorced from the other. The apparent, the inferior nature is only a preparation for the real, the superior nature. The Path of the Fathers concerns itself with man as a mental being and seeks so to ordain and accomplish its duties and ideals as to lead him on to the Path of the Gods; the mind, the life, and the body consciousness should be so disciplined, educated, purified, they should develop along such a line and gradually rise to such a stage as to make them fit to receive the light which belongs to the higher level, so allowing the human soul imbedded in them to extricate itself and pass on to the Immortal Life.
And they who are thus lifted up into the Higher Orbit are freed from the bondage to the cycle of rebirth. They enjoy the supreme Liberation that is of the Spirit; and even when they descend into the Inferior Path, it is to work out as free agents, as vehicles of the Divine, a special purpose, to bring down something of the substance and nature of the Solar reality into the lower world, enlighten and elevate the lower, as far as it is allowed, into the higher.
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Agni is the divine spark in man, the flaming consciousness in the mortal which purifies and uplifts (pvaka) mortality into immortality. It is the god "seated in the secret heart, who is the possession of infinity and the foundation of existence," as Yama says to Nachiketas.8
Indeed, it was to this godhead that Nachiketas turned and he wanted to know of it and find it, when faith seized on his pure heart and he aspired for the higher spiritual life. The very opening hymn of the Rig Veda, too, is addressed to Agni, who is invoked as the vicar seated in the front of the sacrifice, the giver of the supreme gifts.
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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.
Agni in the physical consciousness is calledghapati, for the body is the house in which the soul is lodged and he is its keeper, guardian and lord. The fire in the mental consciousness is called daki; for it is that which gives discernment, the power to discriminate between the truth and the falsehood, it is that which by the pressure of its heat and light cleaves the wrong away from the right. And the fire in the life-force is called havanya; for pra is not only the plane of hunger and desire, but also of power and dynamism, it is that which calls forth forces, brings them into' play and it is that which is to be invoked for the progression of the Sacrifice, for an onward march on the spiritual path.
Of the three fires one is the upholderhe who gives the firm foundation, the stable house where the Sacrifice is performed and Truth realised; the se cond is the Knower, often called in the Veda jtaved, who guides and directs; and the third the Doer, the effective Power, the driving Energyvaivnara.
--
The five elements of the ancientsearth, water, fire, air and ether or spaceare symbols taken from the physical world to represent other worlds that are in it and behind it. Each one is a principle that constitutes the fundamental nature of a particular plane of existence.
Earth represents the material world itself, Matter or existence in its most concrete, its grossest form. It is the basis of existence, the world that supports other worlds (dhar, dharitri),the first or the lowest of the several ranges of creation. In man it is his body. The principle here is that of stability, substantiality, firmness, consistency.
Water represents the next rung the vital world, the world life-force (pra). Physiologically also we know that water is the element forming three-fourths of the constituents of a living body and that dead and dry are synonymous terms; it is the medium in which the living cells dwell and through which they draw their sustenance. Water is the veritable sap of lifeit is the emblem of life itself. The principle it represents is that of movement, continuity, perpetuity.
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.
Ether or Space is the infinitude of the Spirit, the limitless Presence that dwells in and yet transcends the body, the life the heart and the mind.
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The Science of the Five Agnis (Fires), as propounded by Pravahan, explains and illustrates the process of the birth of the body, the passage of the soul into earth existence. It describes the advent of the child, the building of the physical form of the human being. The process is conceived of as a sacrifice, the usual symbol with the Vedic Rishis for the expression of their vision and perception of universal processes of Nature, physical and psychological. Here, the child IS said to be the final fruit of the sacrifice, the different stages in the process being: (i) Soma, (ii) Rain, (iii) Food, (iv) Semen, (v) Child. Soma means Rasaphysically the principle of water, psychologically the 'principle of delightand symbolises and constitutes the very soul and substance of life. Now it is said that these five principles the fundamental and constituent elementsare born out of the sacrifice, through the oblation or offering to the five Agnis. The first Agni is Heaven or the Sky-God, and by offering to it one's faith and one's ardent desire, one calls into manifestation Soma or Rasa or Water, the basic principle of life. This water is next offered to the se cond Agni, the Rain-God, who sends down Rain. Rain, again, is offered to the third Agni, the Earth, who brings forth Food. Food is, in its turn, offered to the fourth Agni, the Father or Male, who elaborates in himself the generating fluid.
Finally, this fluid is offered to the fifth Agni, the Mother or the Female, who delivers the Child.
The biological process, described in what may seem to be crude and mediaeval terms, really reflects or echoes a more subtle and psychological process. The images used form perhaps part of the current popular notion about the matter, but the esoteric sense goes beyond the outer symbols. The sky seems to be the far and tenuous region where the soul rests and awaits its next birthit is the region of Soma, the own Home of Bliss and Immortality. Now when the time or call comes, the soul stirs and journeys down that is the Rain. Next, it enters the earth atmosphere and clothes itself with the earth consciousness. Then it waits and calls for the formation of the material body, first by the contri bution of the father and then by that of the mother; when these two unite and the material body is formed, the soul incarnates.
Apart from the question whether the biological phenomenon described is really a symbol and a cloak for another order of reality, and even taking it at its face value, what is to be noted here is the idea of a cosmic cycle, and a cosmic cycle that proceeds through the principle of sacrifice. If it is asked what there is wonderful or particularly spiritual in this rather naf description of a very commonplace happening that gives it an honoured place in the Upanishads, the answer is that it is wonderful to see how the Upanishadic Rishi takes from an event its local, temporal and personal colour and incorporates it in a global movement, a cosmic cycle, as a limb of the Universal Brahman. The Upanishads contain passages which a puritanical mentality may perhaps describe as 'pornographic'; these have in fact been put by some on the Index expurgatorius. But the ancients saw these matters with other eyes and through another consciousness.
We have, in modern times, a movement towards a more conscious and courageous, knowledge of things that were taboo to puritan ages. Not to shut one's eyes to the lower, darker and hidden strands of our nature, but to bring them out into the light of day and to face them is the best way of dealing with such elements, which otherwise, if they are repressed, exert an unhealthy influence on the mind and nature. The Upanishadic view runs on the same lines, but, with the unveiling and the natural and not merely naturalisticdelineation of these under-worlds ( concerning sex and food), it endows them with a perspective sub specie aeternitatis. The sexual function, for example, is easily equated to the double movement of ascent and descent that is secreted in nature, or to the combined action of Purusha and Prakriti in the cosmic Play, or again to the hidden fount of Delight that holds and moves the universe. In this view there is nothing merely secular and profane, but all is woven into the cosmic spiritual whole; and man is taught to consider and to mould all his movementsof soul and mind and bodyin the light and rhythm of that integral Reality.11
The central secret of the transfigured consciousness lies, as we have already indicated, in the mystic rite or law of Sacrifice. It is the one basic, fundamental, universal Law that upholds and explains the cosmic movement, conformity to which brings to the thrice-bound human being release and freedom. Sacrifice consists essentially of two elements or processes: (i) The offering or self giving of the lower reality to the higher, and, as a consequence, an answering movement of (ii) the descent of the higher into the lower. The lower offered to the higher means the lower sublimated and integrated into the higher; and the descent of the higher into the lower means the incarnation of the former and the fulfilment of the latter. The Gita elaborates the same idea when it says that by Sacrifice men increase the gods and the gods increase men and by so increasing each other they attain the supreme Good. Nothing is, nothing is done, for its own sake, for an egocentric satisfaction; all, even movements relating to food and to sex should be dedicated to the Cosmic BeingVisva Purusha and that alone received which comes from Him.
VII. The Cosmic and the Transcendental
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TheChhandyogya12 gives a whole typal scheme of this universal reality and explains how to realise it and what are the results of the experience. The Universal Brahman means the cosmic movement, the cyclic march of things and events taken in its global aspect. The typical movement that symbolises and epitomises the phenomenon, embodies the truth, is that of the sun. The movement consists of five stages which are called the fivefold sma Sma means the equal Brahman that is ever present in all, the Upanishad itself says deriving the word from sama It is Sma also because it is a rhythmic movement, a cadencea music of the spheres. And a rhythmic movement, in virtue of its being a wave, consists of these five stages: (i) the start, (ii) the rise, (iii) the peak, (iv) the decline and (v) the fall. Now the sun follows this curve and marks out the familiar divisions of the day: dawn, forenoon, noon, afternoon and sunset. Sometimes two other stages are added, one at each end, one of preparation and another of final lapse the twilights with regard to the sun and then ,we have seven instead of five smas Like the Sun, the Fire that is to say, the sacrificial Firecan also be seen in its fivefold cyclic movement: (i) the lighting, (ii) the smoke, (iii) the flame, (iv) smouldering and finally (v) extinction the fuel as it is rubbed to produce the fire and the ashes may be added as the two supernumerary stages. Or again, we may take the cycle of five seasons or of the five worlds or of the deities that control these worlds. The living wealth of this earth is also symbolised in a quintetgoat and sheep and cattle and horse and finally man. Coming to the microcosm, we have in man the cycle of his five senses, basis of all knowledge and activity. For the macrocosm, to I bring out its vast extra-human complexity, the Upanishad refers to a quintet, each term of which is again a trinity: (i) the threefold Veda, the Divine Word that is the origin of creation, (ii) the three worlds or fieldsearth, air-belt or atmosphere and space, (iii) the three principles or deities ruling respectively these worldsFire, Air and Sun, (iv) their expressions, emanations or embodimentsstars and birds and light-rays, and finally, (v) the original inhabitants of these worldsto earth belong the reptiles, to the mid-region the Gandharvas and to heaven the ancient Fathers.
Now, this is the All, the Universal. One has to realise it and possess in one's consciousness. And that can be done only in one way: one has to identify oneself with it, be one with it, become it. Thus by losing one's individuality one lives the life universal; the small lean separate life is enlarged and moulded in the rhythm of the Rich and the Vast. It is thus that man shares in the consciousness and energy that inspire and move and sustain the cosmos. The Upanishad most emphatically enjoins that one must not decry this cosmic godhead or deny any of its elements, not even such as are a taboo to the puritan mind. It is in and through an unimpaired global consciousness that one attains the All-Life and lives uninterruptedly and perennially: Sarvamanveti jyok jvati.
Still the Upanishad says this is not the final end. There is yet a higher status of reality and consciousness to which one has to rise. For beyond the Cosmos lies the Transcendent. The Upanishad expresses this truth and experience in various symbols. The cosmic reality, we have seen, is often conceived as a septenary, a unity of seven elements, principles and worlds. Further to give it its full complex value, it is considered not as a simple septet, but a threefold heptad the whole gamut, as it were, consisting of 21 notes or syllables. The Upanishad says, this number does not exhaust the entire range; I for there is yet a 22nd place. This is the world beyond the Sun, griefless and deathless, the supreme Selfhood. The Veda I also sometimes speaks of the integral reality as being represented by the number 100 which is 99 + I; in other words, 99 represents the cosmic or universal, the unity being the reality beyond, the Transcendent.
Elsewhere the Upanishad describes more graphically this truth and the experience of it. It is said there that the sun has fivewe note the familiar fivemovements of rising and setting: (i) from East to West, (ii) from South to North, (iii) from West to East, (iv) from North to South and (v) from abovefrom the Zenithdownward. These are the five normal and apparent movements. But there is a sixth one; rather it is not a movement, but a status, where the sun neither rises nor sets, but is always visible fixed in the same position.
Some Western and Westernised scholars have tried to show that the phenomenon described here is an exclusively natural phenomenon, actually visible in the polar region where the sun never sets for six months and moves in a circle whose plane is parallel to the plane of the horizon on the summer solstice and is gradually inclined as the sun regresses towards the equinox (on which day just half the solar disc is visible above the horizon). The sun may be said there to move in the direction East-South-West-North and again East. Indeed the Upanishad mentions the positions of the sun in that order and gives a character to each successive station. The Ray from the East is red, symbolising the Rik, the Southern Ray is white, symbolising the Yajur, the Western Ray is black symbolising the Atharva. The natural phenomenon, however, might have been or might not have been before the mind's eye of the Rishi, but the symbolism, the esotericism of it is clear enough in the way the Rishi speaks of it. Also, apart from the first four movements (which it is already sufficiently difficult to identify completely with what is visible), the fifth movement, as a separate descending movement from above appears to be a foreign element in the context. And although, with regard to the sixth movement or status, the sun is visible as such exactly from the point of the North Pole for a while, the ring of the Rishi's utterance is unmistakably spiritual, it cannot but refer to a fact of inner consciousness that is at least what the physical fact conveys to the Rishi and what he seeks to convey and express primarily.
Now this is what is sought to be conveyed and expressed. The five movements of the sun here also are nothing but the five smas and they refer to the cycle of the Cosmic or Universal Brahman. The sixth status where all movements cease, where there is no rising and setting, no ebb and flow, no waxing and waning, where there is the immutable, the ever-same unity, is very evidently the Transcendental Brahman. It is That to which the Vedic Rishi refers when he prays for a constant and fixed vision of the eternal Sunjyok ca sryam drie.
It would be interesting to know what the five ranges or levels or movements of consciousness exactly are that make up the Universal Brahman described in this passage. It is the mystic knowledge, the Upanishad says, of the secret delight in thingsmadhuvidy. The five ranges are the five fundamental principles of delightimmortalities, the Veda would say that form the inner core of the pyramid of creation. They form a rising tier and are ruled respectively by the godsAgni, Indra, Varuna, Soma and Brahmawith their emanations and instrumental personalities the Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas, the Maruts and the Sadhyas. We suggest that these refer to the five well-known levels of being, the modes or nodi of consciousness or something very much like them. The Upanishad speaks elsewhere of the five sheaths. The six Chakras of Tantric system lie in the same line. The first and the basic mode is the physical and the ascent from the physical: Agni and the Vasus are always intimately connected with the earth and -the earth-principles (it can be compared with the Muladhara of the Tantras). Next, se cond in the line of ascent is the Vital, the centre of power and dynamism of which the Rudras are the deities and Indra the presiding God (cf. Swadhishthana of the Tantras the navel centre). Indra, in the Vedas, has two aspects, one of knowledge and vision and the other of dynamic force and drive. In the first aspect he is more often considered as the Lord of the Mind, of the Luminous Mind. In the present passage, Indra is taken in his se cond aspect and instead of the Maruts with whom he is usually invoked has the Rudras as his agents and associates.
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?
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In Yajnavalkya's enumeration, however, it is to be noted, first of all, that he stresses on the number three. The principle of triplicity is of very wide application: it permeates all fields of consciousness and is evidently based upon a fundamental fact of reality. It seems to embody a truth of synthesis and comprehension, points to the order and harmony that reigns in the cosmos, the spheric music. The metaphysical, that is to say, the original principles that constitute existence are the well-known triplets: (i) the superior: Sat, Chit, Ananda; and (ii) the inferior: Body, Life and Mindthis being a reflection or translation or concretisation of the former. We can see also here how the dual principle comes in, the twin godhead or the two gods to which Yajnavalkya refers. The same principle is found in the conception of Ardhanarishwara, Male and Female, Purusha-Prakriti. The Upanishad says 14 yet again that the One original Purusha was not pleased at being alone, so for a companion he created out of himself the original Female. The dual principle signifies creation, the manifesting activity of the Reality. But what is this one and a half to which Yajnavalkya refers? It simply means that the other created out of the one is not a wholly separate, independent entity: it is not an integer by itself, as in the Manichean system, but that it is a portion, a fraction of the One. And in the end, in the ultimate analysis, or rather synthesis, there is but one single undivided and indivisible unity. The thousands and hundreds, very often mentioned also in the Rig Veda, are not simply multiplications of the One, a graphic description of its many-sidedness; it indicates also the absolute fullness, the complete completeness (prasya pram) of the Reality. It includes and comprehends all and is a rounded totality, a full circle. The hundred-gated and the thousand-pillared cities of which the ancient Rishis chanted are formations and embodiments of consciousness human and divine, are realities whole and entire englobing all the layers and grades of consciousness.
Besides this metaphysics there is also an occult aspect in numerology of which Pythagoras was a well-known adept and in which the Vedic Rishis too seem to take special delight. The multiplication of numbers represents in a general way the principle of emanation. The One has divided and subdivided itself, but not in a haphazard way: it is not like the chaotic pulverisation of a piece of stone by hammer-blows. The process of division and subdivision follows a pattern almost as neat and methodical as a genealogical tree. That is to say, the emanations form a hierarchy. At the top, the apex of the pyramid, stands the one supreme Godhead. That Godhead is biune in respect of manifestation the Divine and his creative Power. This two-in-one reality may be considered, according to one view of creation, as dividing into three forms or aspects the well-known Brahma, Vishnu and Rudra of Hindu mythology. These may be termed the first or primary emanations.
Now, each one of them in its turn has its own emanations the eleven Rudriyas are familiar. These are se condary and there are tertiary and other graded emanations the last ones touch the earth and embody physico-vital forces. The lowest formations or beings can trace their origin to one or other of the primaries and their nature and function partake of or are an echo of their first ancestor.
Man, however, is an epitome of creation. He embraces and incarnates the entire gamut of consciousness and comprises in him all beings from the highest Divinity to the lowest jinn or elf. And yet each human being in his true personality is a lineal descendant of one or other typal aspect or original Personality of the one supreme Reality; and his individual character is all the more pronounced and well-defined the more organised and developed is the being. The psychic being in man is thus a direct descent, an immediate emanation along a definite line of devolution of the supreme consciousness. We may now understand and explain easily why one chooses a particular Ishta, an ideal god, what is the drive that pushes one to become a worshipper of Siva or Vishnu or any other deity. It is not any rational understanding, a weighing of pros and cons and then a resultant conclusion that leads one to choose a path of religion or spirituality. It is the soul's natural call to the God, the type of being and consciousness of which it is a spark, from which it has descended, it is the secret affinity the spiritual blood-relation as it were that determines the choice and adherence. And it is this that we name Faith. And the exclusiveness and violence and bitterness which attend such adherence and which go "by the "name of partisanship, sectarianism, fanaticism etc., a;e a deformation in the ignorance on the physico-vital plane of the secret loyalty to one's source and origin. Of course, the pattern or law is not so simple and rigid, but it gives a token or typal pattern. For it must not be forgotten that the supreme source or the original is one and indivisible and in the highest integration consciousness is global and not exclusive. And the human being that attains such a status is not bound or wholly limited to one particular formation: its personality is based on the truth of impersonality. And yet the two can go together: an individual can be impersonal in consciousness and yet personal in becoming and true to type.
The number of gods depends on the level of consciousness on which we stand. On this material plane there are as many gods as there are bodies or individual forms (adhar). And on the supreme height there is only one God without a se cond. In between there are gradations of types and sub-types whose number and function vary according to the aspect of consciousness that reveals itself.
IX. Nachiketas' Three Boons
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Nachiketas is the young aspiring human being still in the Ignorancenaciketa, meaning one without consciousness or knowledge. The three boons he asks for are in reference to the three fundamental modes of being and consciousness that are at the very basis, forming, as it were, the ground-plan of the integral reality. They are (i) the individual, (ii) the universal or cosmic and (iii) the transcendental.
The first boon regards the individual, that is to say, the individual identity and integrity. It asks for the maintenance of that individuality so that it may be saved from the dissolution that Death brings about. Death, of course, means the dissolution of the body, but it represents also dissolution pure and simple. Indeed death is a process which does not stop with the physical phenomenon, but continues even after; for with the body gone, the other elements of the individual organism, the vital and the mental too gradually fall off, fade and dissolve. Nachiketas wishes to secure from Death the safety and preservation of the earthly personality, the particular organisation of mind and vital based upon a recognisable physical frame. That is the first necessity for the aspiring mortalfor, it is said, the body is the first instrument for the working out of one's life ideal. But man's true personality, the real individuality lies beyond, beyond the body, beyond the life, beyond the mind, beyond the triple region that Death lords it over. That is the divine world, the Heaven of the immortals, beyond death and beyond sorrow and grief. It is the hearth secreted in the inner heart where burns the Divine Fire, the God of Life Everlasting. And this is the nodus that binds together the threefold status of the manifested existence, the body, the life and the mind. This triplicity is the structure of name and form built out of the bricks of experience, the kiln, as it were, within which burns the Divine Agni, man's true soul. This soul can be reached only when one exceeds the bounds and limitations of the triple cord and experiences one's communion and identity with all souls and all existence. Agni is the secret divinity within, within the individual and within the world; he is the Immanent Divine, the cosmic godhead that holds together and marshals all the elements and components, all the principles that make up the manifest universe. He it is that has entered into the world and created facets of his own reality in multiple forms: and it is he that lies secret in the human being as the immortal soul through all its adventure of life and death in the series of incarnations in terrestrial evolution. The adoration and realisation of this Immanent Divinity, the worship of Agni taught by Yama in the se cond boon, consists in the triple sacrifice, the triple work, the triple union in the triple status of the physical, the vital and the mental consciousness, the mastery of which leads one to the other shore, the abode of perennial existence where the human soul enjoys its eternity and unending continuity in cosmic life. Therefore, Agni, the master of the psychic being, is called jtaveds, he who knows the births, all the transmigrations from life to life.
The third boon is the secret of secrets, for it is the knowledge and realisation of Transcendence that is sought here. Beyond the individual lies the universal; is there anything beyond the universal? The release of the individual into the cosmic existence gives him the griefless life eternal: can the cosmos be rolled up and flung into something beyond? What would be the nature of that thing? What is there outside creation, outside manifestation, outside Maya, to use a latter day term? Is there existence or non-existence (utter dissolution or extinctionDeath in his supreme and absolute status)? King Yama did not choose to answer immediately and even endeavoured to dissuade Nachiketas from pursuing the question over which people were confounded, as he said. Evidently it was a much discussed problem in those days. Buddha was asked the same question and he evaded it, saying that the pragmatic man should attend to practical and immediate realities and not, waste time and energy in discussing things ultimate and beyond that have hardly any relation to the present and the actual.
But Yama did answer and unveil the mystery and impart the supreme secret knowledge the knowledge of the Transcendent Brahman: it is out of the transcendent reality that the immanent deity takes his birth. Hence the Divine Fire, the Lord of creation and the Inner Mastersarvabhtntartm, antarymis called brahmajam, born of the Brahman. Yama teaches the process of transcendence. Apart from the knowledge and experience first of the individual and then of the cosmic Brahman, there is a definite line along which the human consciousness (or un consciousness, as it is at present) is to ascend and evolve. The first step is to learn to distinguish between the Good and the Pleasurable (reya and preya). The line of pleasure leads to the external, the superficial, the false: while the other path leads towards the inner and the higher truth. So the se cond step is the gradual withdrawal of the consciousness from the physical and the sensual and even the mental preoccupation and focussing it upon what is certain and permanent. In the midst of the death-ridden consciousness in the heart of all that is unstable and fleetingone has to look for Agni, the eternal godhead, the Immortal in mortality, the Timeless in time through whom lies the passage to Immortality beyond Time.
Man has two souls corresponding to his double status. In the inferior, the soul looks downward and is involved in the current of Impermanence and Ignorance, it tastes of grief and sorrow and suffers death and dissolution: in the higher it looks upward and communes and joins with the Eternal (the cosmic) and then with the Absolute (the transcendent). The lower is a reflection of the higher, the higher comes down in a diminished and hence tarnished light. The message is that of deliverance, the deliverance and reintegration of the lower soul out of its bondage of worldly ignorant life into the freedom and immortality first of its higher and then of its highest status. It is true, however, that the Upanishad does not make a trenchant distinction between the cosmic and the transcendent and often it speaks of both in the same breath, as it were. For in fact they are realities involved in each other and interwoven. Indeed the triple status, including the Individual, forms one single totality and the three do not exclude or cancel each other; on the contrary, they combine and may be said to enhance each other's reality. The Transcendence expresses or deploys itself in the cosmoshe goes abroad,sa paryagt: and the cosmic individualises, concretises itself in the particular and the personal. The one single spiritual reality holds itself, aspects itself in a threefold manner.
The teaching of Yama in brief may be said to be the gospel of immortality and it consists of the knowledge of triple immortality. And who else can be the best teacher of immortality than Death himself, as Nachiketas pointedly said? The first immortality is that of the physical existence and consciousness, the preservation of the personal identity, the individual name and formthis being in itself as expression and embodiment and instrument of the Inner Reality. This inner reality enshrines the se cond immortality the eternity and continuity of the soul's life through its incarnations in time, the divine Agni lit for ever and ever growing in flaming consciousness. And the third and final immortality is in the being and consciousness beyond time, beyond all relativities, the absolute and self-existent delight.
Rig Veda, X. 14-11, 12.
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The secularisation of man's vital functions in modem ages has not been a success. It has made him more egocentric and blatantly hedonistic. From an occult point of view he has in this way subjected himself to the influences of dark and undesirable world-forces, has made an opening, to use an Indian symbolism, for Kali (the Spirit of the Iron Age) to enter into him. The sex-force is an extremely potent agent, but it is extremely fluid and elusive and un controllable. It was for this reason that the ancients always sought to give it a proper mould, a right continent, a fixed and definite channel; the moderns, on the other hand, allow it to run free and play with it recklessly. The result has been, in the life of those born under such circumstances, a growing lack of poise and balance and a corresponding incidence of neuras thenia, hysteria and all abnormal pathological conditions.
Chhandyogya, II, III.
00.04 - The Beautiful in the Upanishads, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Upanishadic Symbolism A Vedic conception of the Poet
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta The Beautiful in the Upanishads
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Only, to some perhaps the beauty may not appear as evident and apparent. The Spirit of beauty that resides in the Upanishadic consciousness is more retiring and reticent. It dwells in its own privacy, in its own home, as it were, and therefore chooses to be bare and austere, simple and sheer. Beauty means usually the beauty of form, even if it be not always the decorative, ornamental and sumptuous form. The early Vedas aimed at the perfect form (surpaktnum), the faultless expression, the integral and complete embodiment; the gods they envisaged and invoked were gleaming powers carved out of harmony and beauty and figured close to our modes of apprehension (spyan). But the Upanishads came to lay stress upon what is beyond the form, what the eye cannot see nor the vision reflect:
na sandi tihati rpamasya
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it cannot be defined or figured in the terms of the phenomenal consciousness. In speaking of it, however, the Upanishads invariably and repeatedly refer to two attributes that characterise its fundamental nature. These two aspects have made such an impression upon the consciousness of the Upanishadic seer that his enthusiasm almost wholly plays about them and is centred on them. When he contemplates or communes with the Supreme Object, these seem to him to be the mark of its au thenticity, the seal of its high status and the reason of all the charm and magic it possesses. The first aspect or attri bute is that of light the brilliance, the solar effulgenceravituly-arpa the bright, clear, shadow less Light of lightsvirajam ubhram jyotim jyoti The se cond aspect is that of delight, the bliss, the immortality inherent in that wide effulgencenandarpam amtam yad vibhti.
And what else is the true character, the soul of beauty than light and delight? "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever." And a thing of joy is a thing of light. Joy is the radiance rippling over a thing of beauty. Beauty is always radiant: the charm, the loveliness of an object is but the glow of light that it emanates. And it would not be a very incorrect mensuration to measure the degree of beauty by the degree of light radiated. The diamond is not only a thing of value, but a thing of beauty also, because of the concentrated and undimmed light that it enshrines within itself. A dark, dull and dismal thing, devoid of interest and attraction becomes aesthetically precious and significant as soon as the artist presents it in terms of the values of light. The entire art of painting is nothing but the expression of beauty, in and through the modalities of light.
And where there is light, there is cheer and joy. Rasamaya and jyotirmayaare thus the two conjoint characteristics fundamental to the nature of the ultimate reality. Sometimes these two are named as the 'solar and the lunar aspect. The solar aspect refers obviously to the Light, that is to say, to the Truth; the lunar aspect refers to the rasa (Soma), to Immortality, to Beauty proper,
yatte suamam hdayam adhi candramasi ritam
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The perception of beauty in the Upanishadic consciousness is something elemental-of concentrated essence. It silhouettes the main contour, outlines the primordial gestures. Pregnant and pulsating with the burden of beauty, the mantra here reduces its external expression to a minimum. The body is bare and unadorned, and even in its nakedness, it has not the emphatic and vehement musculature of an athlete; rather it tends to be slim and slender and yet vibrant with the inner nervous vigour and glow. What can be more bare and brief and full to the brim of a self-gathered luminous energy than, for example:
yat prena na praiti yena pra
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Art at its highest tends to become also the simplest and the most un conventional; and it is then the highest art, precisely because it does not aim at being artistic. The aesthetic motive is totally absent in the Upanishads; the sense of beauty is there, but it is attendant upon and involved in a deeper strand of consciousness. That consciousness seeks consciousness itself, the fullness of consciousness, the awareness and possession of the Truth and Reality,the one thing which, if known, gives the knowledge of all else. And this consciousness of the Truth is also Delight, the perfect Bliss, the Immortality where the whole universe resolves itself into its original state of rasa, that is to say, of essential and inalienable harmony and beauty.
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Upanishadic Symbolism A Vedic conception of the Poet
00.05 - A Vedic Conception of the Poet, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga object:00.05 - A Vedic conception of the Poet author class:Nolini Kanta Gupta
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Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta A Vedic conception of the Poet
A Vedic conception of the Poet
'Kavi' is an invariable epithet of the gods. The Vedas mean by this attribute to bring out a most fundamental character, an inalienable dharma of the heavenly host. All the gods are poets; and a human being can become a poet only in so far as he attains to the nature and status of a god. Who is then a kavi? The Poet is he who by his poetic power raises forms of beauty in heavenkavi kavitv divi rpam sajat.1Thus the essence of poetic power is to fashion divine Beauty, to reveal heavenly forms. What is this Heaven whose forms the Poet discovers and embodies? HeavenDyaushas a very definite connotation in the Veda. It means the luminous or divine Mind 2the mind purified of its obscurity and limitations, due to subjection to the external senses, thus opening to the higher Light, receiving and recording faithfully the deeper and vaster movements and vibrations of the Truth, giving them a form, a perfect body of the right thought and the right word. Indra is the lord of this world and he can be approached only with an enkindled intelligence, ddhay man,3a faultless understanding, sumedh. He is the supreme Artisan of the poetic power,Tash, the maker of perfect forms, surpa ktnum.4 All the gods turn towards Indra and become gods and poets, attain their Great Names of Supreme Beauty.5 Indra is also the master of the senses, indriyas, who are his hosts. It is through this mind and the senses that the poetic creation has to be manifested. The mind spreads out wide the Poet's weaving;6 the poet is the priest who calls down and works out the right thinking in the sacrificial labour of creation.7 But that creation is made in and through the inner mind and the inner senses that are alive to the subtle formation of a vaster knowledge.8 The poet envisages the golden forms fashioned out of the very profundity of the consciousness.9 For the substance, the material on which the Poet works, is Truth. The seat of the Truth the poets guard, they uphold the supreme secret Names.10 The poet has the expressive utterance, the creative word; the poet is a poet by his poetic creation-the shape faultlessly wrought out that unveils and holds the Truth.11The form of beauty is the body of the Truth.
The poet is a trinity in himself. A triune consciousness forms his personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara. He has the direct vision, the luminous intelligence, the immediate perception.12 A subtle and profound and penetrating consciousness is his,nigam, pracetas; his is the eye of the Sun,srya caku.13 He secures an increased being through his effulgent understanding.14 In the se cond place, the Poet is not only Seer but Doer; he is knower as well as creator. He has a dynamic knowledge and his vision itself is power, ncak;15 he is the Seer-Will,kavikratu.16 He has the blazing radiance of the Sun and is supremely potent in his self-Iuminousness.17 The Sun is the light and the energy of the Truth. Even like the Sun the Poet gives birth to the Truth, srya satyasava, satyya satyaprasavya. But the Poet as Power is not only the revealer or creator,savit, he is also the builder or fashioner,ta, and he is the organiser,vedh is personality. First of all, he is the Knower-the Seer of the Truth, kavaya satyadrara, of the Truth.18 As Savita he manifests the Truth, as Tashta he gives a perfected body and form to the Truth, and as Vedha he maintains the Truth in its dynamic working. The effective marshalling and organisation of the Truth is what is called Ritam, the Right; it is also called Dharma,19 the Law or the Rhythm, the ordered movement and invincible execution of the Truth. The Poet pursues the Path of the Right;20 it is he who lays out the Path for the march of the Truth, the progress of the Sacrifice.21 He is like a fast steed well-yoked, pressing forward;22 he is the charger that moves straight and unswerving and carries us beyond 23into the world of felicity.
Indeed delight is the third and the supremely intimate element of the poetic personality. Dear and delightful is the poet, dear and delightful his works, priya, priyi His hand is dripping with sweetness,kavir hi madhuhastya.24 The Poet-God shines in his pristine beauty and is showering delight.25 He is filled with utter ecstasy so that he may rise to the very source of the luminous Energy.26? Pure is the Divine Joy and it enters and purifies all forms as it moves to the seat of the Immortals.27Indeed this sparkling Delight is the Poet-Seer and it is that that brings forth the creative word, the utterance of Indra.28
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On this Earth they hold everywhere in themselves all the secrets. They make Earth and Heaven move together, so that they may realise their heroic strength. They measure them with their rhythmic measurings, they hold in their controlled grasp the vast and great twins, and unite them and establish between them the mid-world of Delight for the perfect poise.30
All the gods are poetstheir forms are perfect, surpa, suda, their Names full of beauty,cru devasya nma.31 This means also that the gods embody the different powers that constitute the poetic consciousness. Agni is the Seer-Will, the creative vision of the Poet the luminous energy born of an experience by identity with the Truth. Indra is the Idea-Form, the architectonic conception of the work or achievement. Mitra and Varuna are the large harmony, the vast cadence and sweep of movement. The Aswins, the Divine Riders, represent the intense zest of well-yoked Life-Energy. Soma is Rasa, Ananda, the Supreme Bliss and Delight.
The Vedic Poet is doubtless the poet of Life, the architect of Divinity in man, of Heaven upon earth. But what is true of Life is fundamentally true of Art tooat least true of the Art as it was conceived by the ancient seers and as it found expression at their hands.32
Rig Veda, X. 124. 7
0.00a - Introduction, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
The age-old advice, "Know thyself," is more imperative than ever. The tempo of science has accelerated to such a degree that today's discoveries frequently make yesterday's equations obsolescent almost before they can be chalked up on a blackboard. Small wonder, then that every other hospital bed is occupied by a mental patient. Man was not constructed to spend his life at a crossroads, one of which leads he knows not where, and the other to threatened annihilation of his species.
In view of this situation it is doubly reassuring to know that, even in the midst of chaotic concepts and conditions there still remains a door through which man, individually, can enter into a vast store-house of knowledge, knowledge as dependable and immutable as the measured tread of Eternity.
For this reason I am especially pleased to be writing an introduction to a new edition of A Garden of Pomegranates. I feel that never, perhaps, was the need more urgent for just such a roadmap as the Qabalistic system provides. It should be equally useful to any who chooses to follow it, whether he be Jew, Christian or Buddhist, Deist, Theosophist, agnostic or atheist.
The Qabalah is a trustworthy guide, leading to a comprehension both of the Universe and one's own Self. Sages have long taught that Man is a miniature of the Universe, containing within himself the diverse elements of that macrocosm of which he is the microcosm. Within the Qabalah is a glyph called the Tree of Life which is at once a symbolic map of the Universe in its major aspects, and also of its smaller counterpart, Man.
Manly P. Hall, in The Secret Teachings of All Ages, deplores the failure of modern science to "sense the profundity of these philosophical deductions of the ancients." Were they to do so, he says, they "would realize those who fabricated the structure of the Qabalah possessed a knowledge of the celestial plan comparable in every respect with that of the modern savant."
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The Book of the Law states simply, "Every man and every woman is a star." This is a startling thought for those who considered a star a heavenly body, but a declaration subject to proof by anyone who will venture into the realm of his own Un conscious. This realm, he will learn if he persists, is not hemmed in by the boundaries of his physical body but is one with the boundless reaches of outer space.
Those who, armed with the tools provided by the Qabalah, have made the journey within and crossed beyond the barriers of illusion, have returned with an impressive quantity of knowledge which conforms strictly to the definition of "science" in Winston's College Dictionary: "Science: a body of knowledge, general truths of particular facts, obtained and shown to be correct by accurate observation and thinking; knowledge condensed, arranged and systematized with reference to general truths and laws."
Over and over their findings have been confirmed, proving the Qabalah contains within it not only the elements of the science itself but the method with which to pursue it.
When planning to visit a foreign country, the wise traveler will first familiarize himself with its language. In studying music, chemistry or calculus, a specific terminology is essential to the understanding of each subject. So a new set of symbols is necessary when undertaking a study of the Universe, whether within or without. The Qabalah provides such a set in unexcelled fashion.
But the Qabalah is more. It also lays the foundation on which rests another archaic science- Magic. Not to be confused with the conjurer's sleight-of-hand, Magic has been defined by Aleister Crowley as "the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will." Dion Fortune qualifies this nicely with an added clause, "changes in consciousness."
The Qabalah reveals the nature of certain physical and psychological phenomena. Once these are apprehended, understood and correlated, the student can use the principles of Magic to exercise control over life's conditions and circumstances not otherwise possible. In short. Magic provides the practical application of the theories supplied by the Qabalah.
It serves yet another vital function. In addition to the advantages to be gained from its philosophical application, the ancients discovered a very practical use for the literal Qabalah.
Each letter of the Qabalistic alphabet has a number, color, many symbols and a Tarot card attributed to it. The Qabalah not only aids in an understanding of the Tarot, but teaches the student how to classify and organize all such ideas, numbers and symbols. Just as a knowledge of Latin will give insight into the meaning of an unfamiliar English word with a Latin root, so the knowledge of the Qabalah with the various attri butions to each character in its alphabet will enable the student to understand and correlate ideas and concepts which otherwise would have no apparent relation.
A simple example is the concept of the Trinity in the Christian religion. The student is frequently amazed to learn through a study of the Qabalah that Egyptian mythology followed a similar concept with its trinity of gods, Osiris the father, Isis the virgin-mother, and Horus the son. The Qabalah indicates similar correspondences in the pantheon of Roman and Greek deities, proving the father-mother (Holy Spirit) - son principles of deity are primordial archetypes of man's psyche, rather than being, as is frequently and erroneously supposed a development peculiar to the Christian era.
At this juncture let me call attention to one set of attri butions by Rittangelius usually found as an appendix attached to the Sepher Yetzirah. It lists a series of "Intelligences" for each one of the ten Sephiros and the twenty-two Paths of the Tree of Life. It seems to me, after prolonged meditation, that the common attri butions of these Intelligences is altogether arbitrary and lacking in serious meaning.
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A good many attri butions in other symbolic areas, I feel are subject to the same criticism. The Egyptian Gods have been used with a good deal of carelessness, and without sufficient explanation of motives in assigning them as I did. In a recent edition of Crowley's masterpiece Liber 777 (which au fond is less a reflection of Crowley's mind as a recent critic claimed than a tabulation of some of the material given piecemeal in the Golden Dawn knowledge lectures), he gives for the first time brief explanations of the motives for his attri butions. I too should have been far more explicit in the explanations I used in the case of some of the Gods whose names were used many times, most inadequately, where several paths were concerned. While it is true that the religious coloring of the Egyptian Gods differed from time to time during Egypt's turbulent history, nonetheless a word or two about just that one single point could have served a useful purpose.
Some of the passages in the book force me today to emphasize that so far as the Qabalah is concerned, it could and should be employed without binding to it the partisan qualities of any one particular religious faith. This goes as much for Judaism as it does for Christianity. Neither has much intrinsic usefulness where this scientific scheme is concerned. If some students feel hurt by this statement, that cannot be helped. The day of most contemporary faiths is over; they have been more of a curse than a boon to mankind. Nothing that I say here, however, should reflect on the peoples concerned, those who accept these religions. They are merely unfortunate. The religion itself is worn out and indeed is dying.
The Qabalah has nothing to do with any of them. Attempts on the part of cultish-partisans to impart higher mystical meanings, through the Qabalah, etc., to their now sterile faiths is futile, and will be seen as such by the younger generation. They, the flower and love children, will have none of this nonsense.
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Much knowledge obtained by the ancients through the use of the Qabalah has been supported by discoveries of modern scientists- anthropologists, astronomers, psychiatrists, et al. Learned Qabalists for hundreds of years have been aware of what the psychiatrist has only discovered in the last few decades-that man's concept of himself, his deities and the Universe is a constantly evolving process, changing as man himself evolves on a higher spiral. But the roots of his concepts are buried in a race- consciousness that antedated Neanderthal man by uncounted aeons of time.
What Jung calls archetypal images constantly rise to the surface of man's awareness from the vast un conscious that is the common heritage of all mankind.
The tragedy of civilized man is that he is cut off from awareness of his own instincts. The Qabalah can help him achieve the necessary understanding to effect a reunion with them, so that rather than being driven by forces he does not understand, he can harness for his conscious use the same power that guides the homing pigeon, teaches the beaver to build a dam and keeps the planets revolving in their appointed orbits about the sun.
I began the study of the Qabalah at an early age. Two books I read then have played un consciously a prominent part in the writing of my own book. One of these was "Q.B.L. or the Bride's Reception" by Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones), which I must have first read around 1926. The other was "An Introduction to the Tarot" by Paul Foster Case, published in the early 1920's. It is now out of print, superseded by later versions of the same topic. But as I now glance through this slender book, I perceive how profoundly even the format of his book had influenced me, though in these two instances there was not a trace of plagiarism. It had not consciously occurred to me until recently that I owed so much to them. Since Paul Case passed away about a decade or so ago, this gives me the opportunity to thank him, overtly, wherever he may now be.
By the middle of 1926 I had become aware of the work of Aleister Crowley, for whom I have a tremendous respect. I studied as many of his writings as I could gain access to, making copious notes, and later acted for several years as his secretary, having joined him in Paris on October 12, 1928, a memorable day in my life.
All sorts of books have been written on the Qabalah, some poor, some few others extremely good. But I came to feel the need for what might be called a sort of Berlitz handbook, a concise but comprehensive introduction, studded with diagrams and tables of easily understood definitions and correspondences to simplify the student's grasp of so complicated and abstruse a subject.
During a short retirement in North Devon in 1931, I began to amalgamate my notes. It was out of these that A Garden of Pomegranates gradually emerged. I unashamedly admit that my book contains many direct plagiarisms from Crowley, Waite, Eliphas Levi, and D. H. Lawrence. I had incorporated numerous fragments from their works into my notebooks without citing individual references to the various sources from which I condensed my notes.
Prior to the closing down of the Mandrake Press in London about 1930-31, I was employed as company secretary for a while. Along with several Crowley books, the Mandrake Press published a lovely little monogram by D. H. Lawrence entitled "Apropos of Lady Chatterley's Lover." My own copy accompanied me on my travels for long years. Only recently did I discover that it had been lost. I hope that any one of my former patients who had borrowed it will see fit to return it to me forthwith.
The last chapter of A Garden deals with the Way of Return. It used almost entirely Crowley's concept of the Path as described in his superb essay "One Star in Sight." In addition to this, I borrowed extensively from Lawrence's Apropos. Somehow, they all fitted together very nicely. In time, all these variegated notes were incorporated into the text without acknowledgment, an oversight which I now feel sure would be forgiven, since I was only twenty-four at the time.
Some modern Nature-worshippers and members of the newly-washed and redeemed witch-cult have complimented me on this closing chapter which I entitled 'The Ladder." I am pleased about this. For a very long time I was not at all familiar with the topic of witchcraft. I had avoided it entirely, not being attracted to its literature in any way. In fact, I only became slightly conversant with its theme and literature just a few years ago, after reading "The Anatomy of Eve" written by Dr. Leopold Stein, a Jungian analyst. In the middle of his study of four cases, he included a most informative chapter on the subject. This served to stimulate me to wider reading in that area.
In 1932, at the suggestion of Thomas Burke, the novelist, I submitted my manuscript to one of his publishers, Messrs. constable in London. They were unable to use it, but made some encouraging comments and advised me to submit it to Riders. To my delight and surprise, Riders published it, and throughout the years the reaction it has had indicated other students found it also fulfilled their need for a condensed and simplified survey of such a vast subject as the Qabalah.
The importance of the book to me was and is five-fold. 1) It provided a yardstick by which to measure my personal progress in the understanding of the Qabalah. 2) Therefore it can have an equivalent value to the modern student. 3) It serves as a theoretical introduction to the Qabalistic foundation of the magical work of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. 4) It throws considerable light on the occasionally obscure writings of Aleister Crowley. 5) It is dedicated to Crowley, who was the Ankh-af-na-Khonsu mentioned in The Book of the Law -a dedication which served both as a token of personal loyalty and devotion to Crowley, but was also a gesture of my spiritual independence from him.
In his profound investigation into the origins and basic nature of man, Robert Ardrey in African Genesis recently made a shocking statement. Although man has begun the conquest of outer space, the ignorance of his own nature, says Ardrey, "has become institutionalized, universalized and sanctified." He further states that were a brotherhood of man to be formed today, "its only possible common bond would be ignorance of what man is."
Such a condition is both deplorable and appalling when the means are readily available for man to acquire a thorough understanding of himself-and in so doing, an understanding of his neighbor and the world in which he lives as well as the greater Universe of which each is a part.
May everyone who reads this new edition of A Garden of Pomegranates be encouraged and inspired to light his own candle of inner vision and begin his journey into the boundless space that lies within himself. Then, through realization of his true identity, each student can become a lamp unto his own path. And more. Awareness of the Truth of his being will rip asunder the veil of unknowing that has heretofore enshrouded the star he already is, permitting the brilliance of his light to illumine the darkness of that part of the Universe in which he abides.
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
world constitutes less than 17 percent of the subsequently-discovered-to-be-
spherical Planet Earth's surface. All the great empires of written history before A.D.
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spontaneous theater of popular historical conceptioning.
000.102 How did this pervading historical concept become outdated? What
changed the terrestrial conceptionings adopted by the leaders of the world's power
structures?
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Indochina, as it is an art and science that has traveled consistently westward. Over
3,000 years ago the Greeks made further magnificent contributions to geometry,
algebra, and calculation. Then about 2,000 years ago the Roman Empire all but
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Columbus' revised concepts of terrestrial navigation. It went on to instrument the
mechanical and leverage calculation capabilities of Leonardo; and in the art of shipdesign the cipher gave birth to structural and mechanical engineering, which made
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This inaugurated the supranational concept of two world-wide political classes and
two competing theories of political organization.
000.109 As a consequence of the discoveries of Malthus and Darwin all the great
political ideologies have since adopted a prime philosophy that says: "You may not
like our political system, but we are convinced that we have the fairest, most
logical, and ingenious method of coping with the inherent inadequacy of terrestrial
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"specialists" for exploitation by the supranational powers who divide to conquer
and divide to keep conquered.
000.111 Up until the 20th century reality consisted of everything that humans
could see, smell, touch, and hear. Then at the entry into the 20th century the
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now converts the ever-increasing work capacity per pound of materials invested
primarily to yield monetary profits for the government-subsidized private-enterprise
--
state that as a consequence of the myriad of more-with-less, invisible, technological
advances of the 20th century, and employing only well-proven technologies and
--
dwelling machines. When humans are convergent, they will dwell in domed-over
moon-crater cities that will be energy-harvesting and -exporting centers rather than
--
that science has ever found out is that the Universe consists of the most reliable
technology. They think of technology as something new; they regard it as
--
000.126 Nature's continuous self-regeneration is 100 percent efficient, neither
gaining nor losing any energy. Nature is not employing the three dimensional,
--
parallel. She operates in radiational divergence and gravitational convergence. She
grows outwardly by omniintertriangulated structuring from nuclei.
--
the omnitriangulated, equi-vector-edge tetrahedron. In respect to the conceptual pre-
time-size tetrahedron's volume taken as unity 1, with its six unit-vector-edge
structure, the always conceptual-independent-of-size family of primitive, pre-time-
size, least complex polyhedra have the following exact volumes-the vector-
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000.128 Nature is using this completely conceptual eight-dimensional coordinate
system that can be comprehended by anyone. Fortunately television, is
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of whole systems unpredicted by any part of the system as considered only
separately. The eternally regenerative Universe is synergetic. Humans have been
--
Malthusian concept of the fundamental inadequacy of life support, and so they have
misused their minds to develop only personal and partisan advantages, intellectual
cunning, and selfishness. Intellectual cunning has concentrated on how to divorcemoney from true life-support wealth; se cond, cunning has learned how to make
money with money by making it scarce. As of the 1970s muscle, guns, and
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may clarify for everyone the few scientific conceptions and mathematical tools
necessary for universal comprehension and individual use of nature's synergetic
0.00 - INTRODUCTION, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
SRI RAMAKRISHNA, the God-man of modern India, was born at Kamarpukur. This village in the Hooghly District preserved during the last century the idyllic simplicity of the rural areas of Bengal. Situated far from the railway, it was untouched by the glamour of the city. It contained rice-fields, tall palms, royal banyans, a few lakes, and two cremation grounds. South of the village a stream took its leisurely course. A mango orchard dedicated by a neighbouring zemindar to the public use was frequented by the boys for their noonday sports. A highway passed through the village to the great temple of Jagannath at Puri, and the villagers, most of whom were farmers and craftsmen, entertained many passing holy men and pilgrims. The dull round of the rural life was broken by lively festivals, the observance of sacred days, religious singing, and other innocent pleasures.
About his parents Sri Ramakrishna once said: "My mother was the personification of rectitude and gentleness. She did not know much about the ways of the world; innocent of the art of concealment, she would say what was in her mind. People loved her for her open-heartedness. My father, an orthodox brahmin, never accepted gifts from the sudras. He spent much of his time in worship and meditation, and in repeating God's name and chanting His glories. Whenever in his daily prayers he invoked the Goddess Gayatri, his chest flushed and tears rolled down his cheeks. He spent his leisure hours making garlands for the Family Deity, Raghuvir."
Khudiram Chattopadhyaya and Chandra Devi, the parents of Sri Ramakrishna, were married in 1799. At that time Khudiram was living in his ancestral village of Dereypore, not far from Kamarpukur. Their first son, Ramkumar, was born in 1805, and their first daughter, Katyayani, in 1810. In 1814 Khudiram was ordered by his landlord to bear false witness in court against a neighbour. When he refused to do so, the landlord brought a false case against him and deprived him of his ancestral property. Thus dispossessed, he arrived, at the invitation of another landlord, in the quiet village of Kamarpukur, where he was given a dwelling and about an acre of fertile land. The crops from this little property were enough to meet his family's simple needs. Here he lived in simplicity, dignity, and contentment.
Ten years after his coming to Kamarpukur, Khudiram made a pilgrimage on foot to Rameswar, at the southern extremity of India. Two years later was born his se cond son, whom he named Rameswar. Again in 1835, at the age of sixty, he made a pilgrimage, this time to Gaya. Here, from ancient times, Hindus have come from the four corners of India to discharge their duties to their departed ancestors by offering them food and drink at the sacred footprint of the Lord Vishnu. At this holy place Khudiram had a dream in which the Lord Vishnu promised to he born as his son. And Chandra Devi, too, in front of the Siva temple at Kamarpukur, had a vision indicating the birth of a divine child. Upon his return the husband found that she had conceived.
It was on February 18, 1836, that the child, to be known afterwards as Ramakrishna, was born. In memory of the dream at Gaya he was given the name of Gadadhar, the "Bearer of the Mace", an epithet of Vishnu. Three years later a little sister was born.
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At the age of six or seven Gadadhar had his first experience of spiritual ecstasy. One day in June or July, when he was walking along a narrow path between paddy-fields, eating the puffed rice that he carried in a basket, he looked up at the sky and saw a beautiful, dark thunder-cloud. As it spread, rapidly enveloping the whole sky, a flight of snow-white cranes passed in front of it. The beauty of the contrast overwhelmed the boy. He fell to the ground, un conscious, and the puffed rice went in all directions. Some villagers found him and carried him home in their arms. Gadadhar said later that in that state he had experienced an indescribable joy.
Gadadhar was seven years old when his father died. This incident profoundly affected him. For the first time the boy realized that life on earth was impermanent. Unobserved by others, he began to slip into the mango orchard or into one of the cremation grounds, and he spent hours absorbed in his own thoughts. He also became more helpful to his mother in the discharge of her household duties. He gave more attention to reading and hearing the religious stories recorded in the Puranas. And he became interested in the wandering monks and pious pilgrims who would stop at Kamarpukur on their way to Puri. These holy men, the custodians of India's spiritual heritage and the living witnesses of the ideal of renunciation of the world and all-absorbing love of God, entertained the little boy with stories from the Hindu epics, stories of saints and prophets, and also stories of their own adventures. He, on his part, fetched their water and fuel and
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At the age of nine Gadadhar was invested with the sacred thread. This ceremony conferred upon him the privileges of his brahmin lineage, including the worship of the Family Deity, Raghuvir, and imposed upon him the many strict disciplines of a brahmin's life. During the ceremony of investiture he shocked his relatives by accepting a meal cooked by his nurse, a sudra woman. His father would never have dreamt of doing such a thing But in a playful mood Gadadhar had once promised this woman that he would eat her food, and now he fulfilled his plighted word. The woman had piety and religious sincerity, and these were more important to the boy than the conventions of society.
Gadadhar was now permitted to worship Raghuvir. Thus began his first training in meditation. He so gave his heart and soul to the worship that the stone image very soon appeared to him as the living Lord of the Universe. His tendency to lose himself in contemplation was first noticed at this time. Behind his boyish light-heartedness was seen a deepening of his spiritual nature.
About this time, on the Sivaratri night, consecrated to the worship of Siva, a dramatic performance was arranged. The principal actor, who was to play the part of Siva, suddenly fell ill, and Gadadhar was persuaded to act in his place. While friends were dressing him for the role of Siva — smearing his body with ashes, matting his locks, placing a trident in his hand and a string of rudraksha beads around his neck — the boy appeared to become absent-minded. He approached the stage with slow and measured step, supported by his friends. He looked the living image of Siva. The audience loudly applauded what it took to be his skill as an actor, but it was soon discovered that he was really lost in meditation. His countenance was radiant and tears flowed from his eyes. He was lost to the outer world. The effect of this scene on the audience was tremendous. The people felt blessed as by a vision of Siva Himself. The performance had to be stopped, and the boy's mood lasted till the following morning.
Gadadhar himself now organized a dramatic company with his young friends. The stage was set in the mango orchard. The themes were selected from the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Gadadhar knew by heart almost all the roles, having heard them from professional actors. His favourite theme was the Vrindavan episode of Krishna's life, depicting those exquisite love-stories of Krishna and the milkmaids and the cowherd boys. Gadadhar would play the parts of Radha or Krishna and would often lose himself in the character he was portraying. His natural feminine grace heightened the dramatic effect. The mango orchard would ring with the loud kirtan of the boys. Lost in song and merry-making, Gadadhar became indifferent to the routine of school.
In 1849 Ramkumar, the eldest son, went to Calcutta to improve the financial condition of the family.
Gadadhar was on the threshold of youth. He had become the pet of the women of the village. They loved to hear him talk, sing, or recite from the holy books. They enjoyed his knack of imitating voices. Their woman's instinct recognized the innate purity and guilelessness of this boy of clear skin, flowing hair, beaming eyes, smiling face, and inexhaustible fun. The pious elderly women looked upon him as Gopala, the Baby Krishna, and the younger ones saw in him the youthful Krishna of Vrindavan. He himself so idealized the love of the gopis for Krishna that he sometimes yearned to be born as a woman, if he must be born again, in order to be able to love Sri Krishna with all his heart and soul.
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Ramkumar did not at first oppose the ways of his temperamental brother. He wanted Gadadhar to become used to the conditions of city life. But one day he decided to warn the boy about his indifference to the world. After all, in the near future Gadadhar must, as a householder, earn his livelihood through the performance of his brahminical duties; and these required a thorough knowledge of Hindu law, astrology, and kindred subjects. He gently admonished Gadadhar and asked him to pay more attention to his studies. But the boy replied spiritedly: "Brother, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education? I would rather acquire that wisdom which will illumine my heart and give me satisfaction for ever." --- BREAD-WINNING EDUCATION --
Hindu society during the eighteenth century had been passing through a period of decadence. It was the twilight of the Mussalman rule. There were anarchy and confusion in all spheres. Superstitious practices dominated the religious life of the people. Rites and rituals passed for the essence of spirituality. Greedy priests became the custodians of heaven. True philosophy was supplanted by dogmatic opinions. The pundits took delight in vain polemics.
In 1757 English traders laid the foundation of British rule in India. Gradually the Government was systematized and lawlessness suppressed. The Hindus were much impressed by the military power and political acumen of the new rulers. In the wake of the merchants came the English educators, and social reformers, and Christian missionaries — all bearing a culture completely alien to the Hindu mind. In different parts of the country educational institutions were set up and Christian churches established. Hindu young men were offered the heady wine of the Western culture of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and they drank it to the very dregs.
The first effect of the draught on the educated Hindus was a complete effacement from their minds of the time-honoured beliefs and traditions of Hindu society. They came to believe that there was no transcendental Truth; The world perceived by the senses was all that existed. God and religion were illusions of the untutored mind. True knowledge could be derived only from the analysis of nature. So atheism and agnosticism became the fashion of the day. The youth of India, taught in English schools, took malicious delight in openly breaking the customs and traditions of their society. They would do away with the caste-system and remove the discriminatory laws about food. Social reform, the spread of secular education, widow remarriage, abolition of early marriage — they considered these the panacea for the degenerate condition of Hindu society.
The Christian missionaries gave the finishing touch to the process of transformation. They ridiculed as relics of a barbarous age the images and rituals of the Hindu religion. They tried to persuade India that the teachings of her saints and seers were the cause of her downfall, that her Vedas, Puranas, and other scriptures were filled with superstition. Christianity, they maintained, had given the white races position and power in this world and assurance of happiness in the next; therefore Christianity was the best of all religions. Many intelligent young Hindus became converted. The man in the street was confused. The majority of the educated grew materialistic in their mental outlook. Everyone living near Calcutta or the other strong-holds of Western culture, even those who attempted to cling to the orthodox traditions of Hindu society, became infected by the new uncertainties and the new beliefs.
But the soul of India was to be resuscitated through a spiritual awakening. We hear the first call of this renascence in the spirited retort of the young Gadadhar: "Brother, what shall I do with a mere bread-winning education?"
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In 1847 the Rani purchased twenty acres of land at Dakshineswar, a village about four miles north of Calcutta. Here she created a temple garden and constructed several temples. Her Ishta, or Chosen Ideal, was the Divine Mother, Kali.
The temple garden stands directly on the east bank of the Ganges. The northern section of the land and a portion to the east contain an orchard, flower gardens, and two small reservoirs. The southern section is paved with brick and mortar. The visitor arriving by boat ascends the steps of an imposing bathing-ghat which leads to the chandni, a roofed terrace, on either side of which stand in a row six temples of Siva. East of the terrace and the Siva temples is a large court, paved, rectangular in shape, and running north and south. Two temples stand in the centre of this court, the larger one, to the south and facing south, being dedicated to Kali, and the smaller one, facing the Ganges, to Radhakanta, that is, Krishna, the consort of Radha. Nine domes with spires surmount the temple of Kali, and before it stands the spacious natmandir, or music hall, the terrace of which is sup- ported by stately pillars. At the northwest and southwest
corners of the temple compound are two nahabats, or music towers, from which music flows at different times of day, especially at sunup, noon, and sundown, when the worship is performed in the temples. Three sides of the paved courtyard — all except the west — are lined with rooms set apart for kitchens, store-rooms, dining-rooms, and quarters for the temple staff and guests. The chamber in the northwest angle, just beyond the last of the Siva temples, is of special interest to us; for here Sri Ramakrishna was to spend a considerable part of his life. To the west of this chamber is a semicircular porch overlooking the river. In front of the porch runs a foot-path, north and south, and beyond the path is a large garden and, below the garden, the Ganges. The orchard to the north of the buildings contains the Panchavati, the banyan, and the bel-tree, associated with Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual practices. Outside and to the north of the temple compound proper is the kuthi, or bungalow, used by members of Rani Rasmani's family visiting the garden. And north of the temple garden, separated from it by a high wall, is a powder-magazine belonging to the British Government. --- SIVA --
The temple of Radhakanta, also known as the temple of Vishnu, contains the images of Radha and Krishna, the symbol of union with God through ecstatic love. The two images stand on a pedestal facing the west. The floor is paved with marble. From the ceiling of the porch hang chandeliers protected from dust by coverings of red cloth. Canvas screens shield the images from the rays of the setting sun. Close to the threshold of the inner shrine is a small brass cup containing holy water. Devoted visitors reverently drink a few drops from the vessel. --- KALI The main temple is dedicated to Kali, the Divine Mother, here worshipped as Bhavatarini, the Saviour of the Universe. The floor of this temple also is paved with marble. The basalt image of the Mother, dressed in gorgeous gold brocade, stands on a white marble image of the prostrate body of Her Divine consort, Siva, the symbol of the Absolute. On the feet of the Goddess are, among other ornaments, anklets of gold. Her arms are decked with jewelled ornaments of gold. She wears necklaces of gold and pearls, a golden garland of human heads, and a girdle of human arms. She wears a golden crown, golden ear-rings, and a golden nose-ring with a pearl-drop. She has four arms. The lower left hand holds a severed human head and the upper grips a blood-stained sabre. One right hand offers boons to Her children; the other allays their fear. The majesty of Her posture can hardly be described. It combines the terror of destruction with the reassurance of motherly tenderness. For She is the Cosmic Power, the totality of the universe, a glorious harmony of the pairs of opposites. She deals out death, as She creates and preserves. She has three eyes, the third being the symbol of Divine Wisdom; they strike dismay into the wicked, yet pour out affection for Her devotees.
The whole symbolic world is represented in the temple garden — the Trinity of the Nature Mother (Kali), the Absolute (Siva), and Love (Radhakanta), the Arch spanning heaven and earth. The terrific Goddess of the Tantra, the soul-enthralling Flute-Player of the Bhagavata, and the Self-absorbed Absolute of the Vedas live together, creating the greatest synthesis of religions. All aspects of Reality are represented there. But of this divine household, Kali is the pivot, the sovereign Mistress. She is Prakriti, the Procreatrix, Nature, the Destroyer, the Creator. Nay, She is something greater and deeper still for those who have eyes to see. She is the Universal Mother, "my Mother" as Ramakrishna would say, the All-powerful, who reveals Herself to Her children under different aspects and Divine Incarnations, the Visible God, who leads the elect to the Invisible Reality; and if it so pleases Her, She takes away the last trace of ego from created beings and merges it in the consciousness of the Absolute, the undifferentiated God. Through Her grace "the finite ego loses itself in the illimitable Ego — Atman — Brahman". (Romain Holland, Prophets of the New India, p. 11.)
Rani Rasmani spent a fortune for the construction of the temple garden and another fortune for its dedication ceremony, which took place on May 31, 1855.
Sri Ramakrishna — henceforth we shall call Gadadhar by this familiar name —1 came to the temple garden with his elder brother Ramkumar, who was appointed priest of the Kali temple. Sri Ramakrishna did not at first approve of Ramkumar's working for the sudra Rasmani. The example of their orthodox father was still fresh in Sri Ramakrishna's mind. He objected also to the eating of the cooked offerings of the temple, since, according to orthodox Hindu custom, such food can be offered to the Deity only in the house of a brahmin. But the holy atmosphere of the temple grounds, the solitude of the surrounding wood, the loving care of his brother, the respect shown him by Rani Rasmani and Mathur Babu, the living presence of the Goddess Kali in the temple, and; above all, the proximity of the sacred Ganges, which Sri Ramakrishna always held in the highest respect, gradually overcame his disapproval, and he began to feel at home.
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Unable to resist the persuasion of Mathur Babu, Sri Ramakrishna at last entered the temple service, on condition that Hriday should be asked to assist him. His first duty was to dress and decorate the image of Kali.
One day the priest of the Radhakanta temple accidentally dropped the image of Krishna on the floor, breaking one of its legs. The pundits advised the Rani to install a new image, since the worship of an image with a broken limb was against the scriptural injunctions. But the Rani was fond of the image, and she asked Sri Ramakrishna's opinion. In an abstracted mood, he said: "This solution is ridiculous. If a son-in-law of the Rani broke his leg, would she discard him and put another in his place? Wouldn't she rather arrange for his treatment? Why should she not do the same thing in this case too? Let the image be repaired and worshipped as before." It was a simple, straightforward solution and was accepted by the Rani. Sri Ramakrishna himself mended the break. The priest was dismissed for his carelessness, and at Mathur Babu's earnest request Sri Ramakrishna accepted the office of priest in the Radhakanta temple.
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Born in an orthodox brahmin family, Sri Ramakrishna knew the formalities of worship, its rites and rituals. The innumerable gods and goddesses of the Hindu religion are the human aspects of the indescribable and incomprehensible Spirit, as conceived by the finite human mind. They understand and appreciate human love and emotion, help men to realize their secular and spiritual ideals, and ultimately enable men to attain liberation from the miseries of phenomenal life. The Source of light, intelligence, wisdom, and strength is the One alone from whom comes the fulfilment of desire. Yet, as long as a man is bound by his human limitations, he cannot but worship God through human forms. He must use human symbols. Therefore Hinduism asks the devotees to look on God as the ideal father, the ideal mother, the ideal husband, the ideal son, or the ideal friend. But the name ultimately leads to the Nameless, the form to the Formless, the word to the Silence, the emotion to the serene realization of Peace in Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. The gods gradually merge in the one God. But until that realization is achieved, the devotee cannot dissociate human factors from his worship. Therefore the Deity is bathed and clothed and decked with ornaments. He is fed and put to sleep. He is propitiated with hymns, songs, and prayers. And there are appropriate rites connected with all these functions. For instance, to secure for himself external purity, the priest bathes himself in holy water and puts on a holy cloth. He purifies the mind and the sense-organs by appropriate meditations. He fortifies the place of worship against evil forces by drawing around it circles of fire and water. He awakens the different spiritual centres of the body and invokes the Supreme Spirit in his heart. Then he transfers the Supreme Spirit to the image before him and worships the image, regarding it no longer as clay or stone, but as the embodiment of Spirit, throbbing with Life and consciousness. After the worship the Supreme Spirit is recalled from the image to Its true sanctuary, the heart of the priest. The real devotee knows the absurdity of worshipping the Transcendental Reality with material articles — clothing That which pervades the whole universe and the beyond, putting on a pedestal That which cannot be limited by space, feeding That which is disembodied and incorporeal, singing before That whose glory the music of the spheres tries vainly to proclaim. But through these rites the devotee aspires to go ultimately beyond rites and rituals, forms and names, words and praise, and to realize God as the All-pervading consciousness.
Hindu priests are thoroughly acquainted with the rites of worship, but few of them are aware of their underlying significance. They move their hands and limbs mechanically, in obedience to the letter of the scriptures, and repeat the holy mantras like parrots. But from the very beginning the inner meaning of these rites was revealed to Sri Ramakrishna. As he sat facing the image, a strange transformation came over his mind. While going through the prescribed ceremonies, he would actually find himself encircled by a wall of fire protecting him and the place of worship from unspiritual vibrations, or he would feel the rising of the mystic Kundalini through the different centres of the body. The glow on his face, his deep absorption, and the intense atmosphere of the temple impressed everyone who saw him worship the Deity.
Ramkumar wanted Sri Ramakrishna to learn the intricate rituals of the worship of Kali. To become a priest of Kali one must undergo a special form of initiation from a qualified guru, and for Sri Ramakrishna a suitable brahmin was found. But no sooner did the brahmin speak the holy word in his ear than Sri Ramakrishna, overwhelmed with emotion, uttered a loud cry and plunged into deep concentration.
Mathur begged Sri Ramakrishna to take charge of the worship in the Kali temple. The young priest pleaded his incompetence and his ignorance of the scriptures. Mathur insisted that devotion and sincerity would more than compensate for any lack of formal knowledge and make the Divine Mother manifest Herself through the image. In the end, Sri Ramakrishna had to yield to Mathur's request. He became the priest of Kali.
In 1856 Ramkumar breathed his last. Sri Ramakrishna had already witnessed more than one death in the family. He had come to realize how impermanent is life on earth. The more he was convinced of the transitory nature of worldly things, the more eager he became to realize God, the Fountain of Immortality. --- THE FIRST VISION OF KALI And, indeed, he soon discovered what a strange Goddess he had chosen to serve. He became gradually enmeshed in the web of Her all-pervading presence. To the ignorant She is, to be sure, the image of destruction; but he found in Her the benign, all-loving Mother. Her neck is encircled with a garland of heads, and Her waist with a girdle of human arms, and two of Her hands hold weapons of death, and Her eyes dart a glance of fire; but, strangely enough, Ramakrishna felt in Her breath the soothing touch of tender love and saw in Her the Seed of Immortality. She stands on the bosom of Her consort, Siva; it is because She is the Sakti, the Power, inseparable from the Absolute. She is surrounded by jackals and other unholy creatures, the denizens of the cremation ground. But is not the Ultimate Reality above holiness and unholiness? She appears to be reeling under the spell of wine. But who would create this mad world unless under the influence of a divine drunkenness? She is the highest symbol of all the forces of nature, the synthesis of their antinomies, the Ultimate Divine in the form of woman. She now became to Sri Ramakrishna the only Reality, and the world became an unsubstantial shadow. Into Her worship he poured his soul. Before him She stood as the transparent portal to the shrine of Ineffable Reality.
The worship in the temple intensified Sri Ramakrishna's yearning for a living vision of the Mother of the Universe. He began to spend in meditation the time not actually employed in the temple service; and for this purpose he selected an extremely solitary place. A deep jungle, thick with underbrush and prickly plants, lay to the north of the temples. Used at one time as a burial ground, it was shunned by people even during the day-time for fear of ghosts. There Sri Ramakrishna began to spend the whole night in meditation, returning to his room only in the morning with eyes swollen as though from much weeping. While meditating, he would lay aside his cloth and his brahminical thread. Explaining this strange conduct, he once said to Hriday: "Don't you know that when one thinks of God one should be freed from all ties? From our very birth we have the eight fetters of hatred, shame, lineage, pride of good conduct, fear, secretiveness, caste, and grief. The sacred thread reminds me that I am a brahmin and therefore superior to all. When calling on the Mother one has to set aside all such ideas." Hriday thought his uncle was becoming insane.
As his love for God deepened, he began either to forget or to drop the formalities of worship. Sitting before the image, he would spend hours singing the devotional songs of great devotees of the Mother, such as Kamalakanta and Ramprasad. Those rhapsodical songs, describing the direct vision of God, only intensified Sri Ramakrishna's longing. He felt the pangs of a child separated from its mother. Sometimes, in agony, he would rub his face against the ground and weep so bitterly that people, thinking he had lost his earthly mother, would sympathize with him in his grief. Sometimes, in moments of scepticism, he would cry: "Art Thou true, Mother, or is it all fiction — mere poetry without any reality? If Thou dost exist, why do I not see Thee? Is religion a mere fantasy and art Thou only a figment of man's imagination?" Sometimes he would sit on the prayer carpet for two hours like an inert object. He began to behave in an abnormal manner
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But he did not have to wait very long. He has thus described his first vision of the Mother: "I felt as if my heart were being squeezed like a wet towel. I was overpowered with a great restlessness and a fear that it might not be my lot to realize Her in this life. I could not bear the separation from Her any longer. Life seemed to be not worth living. Suddenly my glance fell on the sword that was kept in the Mother's temple. I determined to put an end to my life. When I jumped up like a madman and seized it, suddenly the blessed Mother revealed Herself. The buildings with their different parts, the temple, and everything else vanished from my sight, leaving no trace whatsoever, and in their stead I saw a limitless, infinite, effulgent Ocean of consciousness. As far as the eye could see, the shining billows were madly rushing at me from all sides with a terrific noise, to swallow me up! I was panting for breath. I was caught in the rush
and collapsed, un conscious. What was happening in the outside world I did not know; but within me there was a steady flow of undiluted bliss, altogether new, and I felt the presence of the Divine Mother." On his lips when he regained consciousness of the world was the word "Mother". --- GOD-INTOXICATED STATE Yet this was only a foretaste of the intense experiences to come. The first glimpse of the Divine Mother made him the more eager for Her uninterrupted vision. He wanted to see Her both in meditation and with eyes open. But the Mother began to play a teasing game of hide-and-seek with him, intensifying both his joy and his suffering. Weeping bitterly during the moments of separation from Her, he would pass into a trance and then find Her standing before him, smiling, talking, consoling, bidding him be of good cheer, and instructing him. During this period of spiritual practice he had many uncommon experiences. When he sat to meditate, he would hear strange clicking sounds in the joints of his legs, as if someone were locking them up, one after the other, to keep him motionless; and at the conclusion of his meditation he would again hear the same sounds, this time unlocking them and leaving him free to move about. He would see flashes like a swarm of fire-flies floating before his eyes, or a sea of deep mist around him, with luminous waves of molten silver. Again, from a sea of translucent mist he would behold the Mother rising, first Her feet, then Her waist, body, face, and head, finally Her whole person; he would feel Her breath and hear Her voice. Worshipping in the temple, sometimes he would become exalted, sometimes he would remain motionless as stone, sometimes he would almost collapse from excessive emotion. Many of his actions, contrary to all tradition, seemed sacrilegious to the people. He would take a flower and touch it to his own head, body, and feet, and then offer it to the Goddess. Or, like a drunkard, he would reel to the throne of the Mother, touch Her chin by way of showing his affection for Her, and sing, talk, joke, laugh, and dance. Or he would take a morsel of food from the plate and hold it to Her mouth, begging Her to eat it, and would not be satisfied till he was convinced that She had really eaten. After the Mother had been put to sleep at night, from his own room he would hear Her ascending to the upper storey of the temple with the light steps of a happy girl, Her anklets jingling. Then he would discover Her standing with flowing hair. Her black form silhouetted against the sky of the night, looking at the Ganges or at the distant lights of Calcutta.
Naturally the temple officials took him for an insane person. His worldly well-wishers brought him to skilled physicians; but no-medicine could cure his malady. Many a time he doubted his sanity himself. For he had been sailing across an uncharted sea, with no earthly guide to direct him. His only haven of security was the Divine Mother Herself. To Her he would pray: "I do not know what these things are. I am ignorant of mantras and the scriptures. Teach me, Mother, how to realize Thee. Who else can help me? Art Thou not my only refuge and guide?" And the sustaining presence of the Mother never failed him in his distress or doubt. Even those who criticized his conduct were greatly impressed with his purity, guilelessness, truthfulness, integrity, and holiness. They felt an uplifting influence in his presence.
It is said that samadhi, or trance, no more than opens the portal of the spiritual realm. Sri Ramakrishna felt an unquenchable desire to enjoy God in various ways. For his meditation he built a place in the northern wooded section of the temple garden. With Hriday's help he planted there five sacred trees. The spot, known as the Panchavati, became the scene of many of his visions.
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"O Mother," he would constantly pray, "I have taken refuge in Thee. Teach me what to do and what to say. Thy will is paramount everywhere and is for the good of Thy children. Merge my will in Thy will and make me Thy instrument."
His visions became deeper and more intimate. He no longer had to meditate to behold the Divine Mother. Even while retaining consciousness of the outer world, he would see Her as tangibly as the temples, the trees, the river, and the men around him.
On a certain occasion Mathur Babu stealthily entered the temple to watch the worship. He was profoundly moved by the young priest's devotion and sincerity. He realized that Sri Ramakrishna had transformed the stone image into the living Goddess.
Sri Ramakrishna one day fed a cat with the food that was to be offered to Kali. This was too much for the manager of the temple garden, who considered himself responsible for the proper conduct of the worship. He reported Sri Ramakrishna's insane behaviour to Mathur Babu.
Sri Ramakrishna has described the incident: "The Divine Mother revealed to me in the Kali temple that it was She who had become everything. She showed me that everything was full of consciousness. The image was consciousness, the altar was consciousness, the water-vessels were consciousness, the door-sill was consciousness, the marble floor was consciousness — all was consciousness. I found everything inside the room soaked, as it were, in Bliss — the Bliss of God. I saw a wicked man in front of the Kali temple; but in him also I saw the power of the Divine Mother vibrating. That was why I fed a cat with the food that was to be offered to the Divine Mother. I clearly perceived that all this was the Divine Mother — even the cat. The manager of the temple garden wrote to Mathur Babu saying that I was feeding the cat with the offering intended for the Divine Mother. But Mathur Babu had insight into the state of my mind. He wrote back to the manager: 'Let him do whatever he likes. You must not say anything to him.'"
One of the painful ailments from which Sri Ramakrishna suffered at this time was a burning sensation in his body, and he was cured by a strange vision. During worship in the temple, following the scriptural injunctions, he would imagine the presence of the "sinner" in himself and the destruction of this "sinner". One day he was meditating in the Panchavati, when he saw come out of him a red-eyed man of black complexion, reeling like a drunkard. Soon there emerged from him another person, of serene countenance, wearing the ochre cloth of a sannyasi and carrying in his hand a trident. The se cond person attacked the first and killed him with the trident. Thereafter Sri Ramakrishna was free of his pain.
About this time he began to worship God by assuming the attitude of a servant toward his master. He imitated the mood of Hanuman, the monkey chieftain of the Ramayana, the ideal servant of Rama and traditional model for this self-effacing form of devotion. When he meditated on Hanuman his movements and his way of life began to resemble those of a monkey. His eyes became restless. He lived on fruits and roots. With his cloth tied around his waist, a portion of it hanging in the form of a tail, he jumped from place to place instead of walking. And after a short while he was blessed with a vision of Sita, the divine consort of Rama, who entered his body and disappeared there with the words, "I bequeath to you my smile."
Mathur had faith in the sincerity of Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual zeal, but began now to doubt his sanity. He had watched him jumping about like a monkey. One day, when Rani Rasmani was listening to Sri Ramakrishna's singing in the temple, the young priest abruptly turned and slapped her. Apparently listening to his song, she had actually been thinking of a law-suit. She accepted the punishment as though the Divine Mother Herself had imposed it; but Mathur was distressed. He begged Sri Ramakrishna to keep his feelings under control and to heed the conventions of society. God Himself, he argued, follows laws. God never permitted, for instance, flowers of two colours to grow on the same stalk. The following day Sri Ramakrishna presented Mathur Babu with two hibiscus flowers growing on the same stalk, one red and one white.
Mathur and Rani Rasmani began to ascribe the mental ailment of Sri Ramakrishna in part, at least, to his observance of rigid continence. Thinking that a natural life would relax the tension of his nerves, they engineered a plan with two women of ill fame. But as soon as the women entered his room, Sri Ramakrishna beheld in them the manifestation of the Divine Mother of the Universe and went into samadhi uttering Her name. --- HALADHARI --
One day Haladhari upset Sri Ramakrishna with the statement that God is incomprehensible to the human mind. Sri Ramakrishna has described the great moment of doubt when he wondered whether his visions had really misled him: "With sobs I prayed to the Mother, 'Canst Thou have the heart to deceive me like this because I am a fool?' A stream of tears flowed from my eyes. Shortly afterwards I saw a volume of mist rising from the floor and filling the space before me. In the midst of it there appeared a face with flowing beard, calm, highly expressive, and fair. Fixing its gaze steadily upon me, it said solemnly, 'Remain in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness.' This it repeated three times and then it gently disappeared in the mist, which itself dissolved. This vision reassured me."
A garbled report of Sri Ramakrishna's failing health, indifference to worldly life, and various abnormal activities reached Kamarpukur and filled the heart of his poor mother with anguish. At her repeated request he returned to his village for a change of air. But his boyhood friends did not interest him any more. A divine fever was consuming him. He spent a great part of the day and night in one of the cremation grounds, in meditation. The place reminded him of the impermanence of the human body, of human hopes and achievements. It also reminded him of Kali, the Goddess of destruction. --- MARRIAGE AND AFTER --
The marriage ceremony was duly performed. Such early marriage in India is in the nature of a betrothal, the marriage being consummated when the girl attains puberty. But in this case the marriage remained for ever un consummated. Sri Ramakrishna lived at Kamarpukur about a year and a half and then returned to Dakshineswar.
Hardly had he crossed the threshold of the Kali temple when he found himself again in the whirlwind. His madness reappeared tenfold. The same meditation and prayer, the same ecstatic moods, the same burning sensation, the same weeping, the same sleeplessness, the same indifference to the body and the outside world, the same divine delirium. He subjected himself to fresh disciplines in order to eradicate greed and lust, the two great impediments to spiritual progress. With a rupee in one hand and some earth in the other, he would reflect on the comparative value of these two for the realization of God, and finding them equally worthless he would toss them, with equal indifference, into the Ganges. Women he regarded as the manifestations of the Divine Mother. Never even in a dream did he feel the impulses of lust. And to root out of his mind the idea of caste superiority, he cleaned a pariahs house with his long and neglected hair. When he would sit in meditation, birds would perch on his head and peck in his hair for grains of food. Snakes would crawl over his body, and neither would be aware of the other. Sleep left him altogether. Day and night, visions flitted before him. He saw the sannyasi who had previously killed the "sinner" in him again coming out of his body, threatening him with the trident, and ordering him to concentrate on God. Or the same sannyasi would visit distant places, following a luminous path, and bring him reports of what was happening there. Sri Ramakrishna used to say later that in the case of an advanced devotee the mind itself becomes the guru, living and moving like an embodied being.
Rani Rasmani, the foundress of the temple garden, passed away in 1861. After her death her son-in-law Mathur became the sole executor of the estate. He placed himself and his resources at the disposal of Sri Ramakrishna and began to look after his physical comfort. Sri Ramakrishna later spoke of him as one of his five "suppliers of stores" appointed by the Divine Mother. Whenever a desire arose in his mind, Mathur fulfilled it without hesitation.
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Very soon a tender relationship sprang up between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brahmani, she looking upon him as the Baby Krishna, and he upon her as mother. Day after day she watched his ecstasy during the kirtan and meditation, his samadhi, his mad yearning; and she recognized in him a power to transmit spirituality to others. She came to the conclusion that such things were not possible for an ordinary devotee, not even for a highly developed soul. Only an Incarnation of God was capable of such spiritual manifestations. She proclaimed openly that Sri Ramakrishna, like Sri Chaitanya, was an Incarnation of God.
When Sri Ramakrishna told Mathur what the Brahmani had said about him, Mathur shook his head in doubt. He was reluctant to accept him as an Incarnation of God, an Avatar comparable to Rama, Krishna, Buddha, and Chaitanya, though he admitted Sri Ramakrishna's extraordinary spirituality. Whereupon the Brahmani asked Mathur to arrange a conference of scholars who should discuss the matter with her. He agreed to the proposal and the meeting was arranged. It was to be held in the natmandir in front of the Kali temple.
Two famous pundits of the time were invited: Vaishnavcharan, the leader of the Vaishnava society, and Gauri. The first to arrive was Vaishnavcharan, with a distinguished company of scholars and devotees. The Brahmani, like a proud mother, proclaimed her view before him and supported it with quotations from the scriptures. As the pundits discussed the deep theological question, Sri Ramakrishna, perfectly indifferent to everything happening around him, sat in their midst like a child, immersed in his own thoughts, sometimes smiling, sometimes chewing a pinch of spices from a pouch, or again saying to Vaishnavcharan with a nudge: "Look here. Sometimes I feel like this, too." Presently Vaishnavcharan arose to declare himself in total agreement with the view of the Brahmani. He declared that Sri Ramakrishna had undoubtedly experienced mahabhava and that this was the certain sign of the rare manifestation of God in a man. The people assembled
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When, a few days later, Pundit Gauri arrived, another meeting was held, and he agreed with the view of the Brahmani and Vaishnavcharan. To Sri Ramakrishna's remark that Vaishnavcharan had declared him to be an Avatar, Gauri replied: "Is that all he has to say about you? Then he has said very little. I am fully convinced that you are that Mine of Spiritual Power, only a small fraction of which descends on earth, from time to time, in the form of an Incarnation."
"Ah!" said Sri Ramakrishna with a smile, "you seem to have quite outbid Vaishnavcharan in this matter. What have you found in me that makes you entertain such an idea?"
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According to the Tantra, the Ultimate Reality is Chit, or consciousness, which is identical with Sat, or Being, and with Ananda, or Bliss. This Ultimate Reality, Satchidananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute, is identical with the Reality preached in the Vedas. And man is identical with this Reality; but under the influence of maya, or illusion, he has forgotten his true nature. He takes to be real a merely apparent world of subject and object, and this error is the cause of his bondage and suffering. The goal of spiritual discipline is the rediscovery of his true identity with the divine Reality.
For the achievement of this goal the Vedanta prescribes an austere negative method of discrimination and renunciation, which can be followed by only a few individuals endowed with sharp intelligence and unshakable will-power. But Tantra takes into consideration the natural weakness of human beings, their lower appetites, and their love for the concrete. It combines philosophy with rituals, meditation with ceremonies, renunciation with enjoyment. The underlying purpose is gradually to train the aspirant to meditate on his identity with the Ultimate.
The average man wishes to enjoy the material objects of the world. Tantra bids him enjoy these, but at the same time discover in them the presence of God. Mystical rites are prescribed by which, slowly, the sense-objects become spiritualized and sense attraction is transformed into a love of God. So the very "bonds" of man are turned into "releasers". The very poison that kills is transmuted into the elixir of life. Outward renunciation is not necessary. Thus the aim of Tantra is to sublimate bhoga, or enjoyment into yoga, or union with consciousness. For, according to this philosophy, the world with all its manifestations is nothing but the sport of Siva and Sakti, the Absolute and Its inscrutable Power.
The disciplines of Tantra are graded to suit aspirants of all degrees. Exercises are prescribed for people with "animal", "heroic", and "divine" outlooks. Certain of the rites require the presence of members of the opposite sex. Here the aspirant learns to look on woman as the embodiment of the Goddess Kali, the Mother of the Universe. The very basis of Tantra is the Motherhood of God and the glorification of woman. Every part of a woman's body is to be regarded as incarnate Divinity. But the rites are extremely dangerous. The help of a qualified guru is absolutely necessary. An unwary devotee may lose his foothold and fall into a pit of depravity.
According to the Tantra, Sakti is the active creative force in the universe. Siva, the Absolute, is a more or less passive principle. Further, Sakti is as inseparable from Siva as fire's power to burn is from fire itself. Sakti, the Creative Power, contains in Its womb the universe, and therefore is the Divine Mother. All women are Her symbols. Kali is one of Her several forms. The meditation on Kali, the Creative Power, is the central discipline of the Tantra. While meditating, the aspirant at first regards himself as one with the Absolute and then thinks that out of that Impersonal consciousness emerge two entities, namely, his own self and the living form of the Goddess. He then projects the Goddess into the tangible image before him and worships it as the Divine Mother.
Sri Ramakrishna set himself to the task of practising the disciplines of Tantra; and at the bidding of the Divine Mother Herself he accepted the Brahmani as his guru. He performed profound and delicate ceremonies in the Panchavati and under the bel-tree at the northern extremity of the temple compound. He practised all the disciplines of the sixty-four principal Tantra books, and it took him never more than three days to achieve the result promised in any one of them. After the observance of a few preliminary rites, he would be overwhelmed with a strange divine fervour and would go into samadhi, where his mind would dwell in exaltation. Evil ceased to exist for him. The word "carnal" lost its meaning. The whole world and everything in it appeared as the lila, the sport, of Siva and Sakti. He beheld held everywhere manifest the power and beauty of the Mother; the whole world, animate and inanimate, appeared to him as pervaded with Chit, consciousness, and with Ananda, Bliss.
He saw in a vision the Ultimate Cause of the universe as a huge luminous triangle giving birth every moment to an infinite number of worlds. He heard the Anahata Sabda, the great sound Om, of which the innumerable sounds of the universe are only so many echoes. He acquired the eight supernatural powers of yoga, which make a man almost omnipotent, and these he spurned as of no value whatsoever to the Spirit. He had a vision of the divine Maya, the inscrutable Power of God, by which the universe is created and sustained, and into which it is finally absorbed. In this vision he saw a woman of exquisite beauty, about to become a mother, emerging from the Ganges and slowly approaching the Panchavati. Presently she gave birth to a child and began to nurse it tenderly. A moment later she assumed a terrible aspect, seized the child with her grim jaws, and crushed it. Swallowing it, she re-entered the waters of the Ganges.
But the most remarkable experience during this period was the awakening of the Kundalini Sakti, the "Serpent Power". He actually saw the Power, at first lying asleep at the bottom of the spinal column, then waking up and ascending along the mystic Sushumna canal and through its six centres, or lotuses, to the Sahasrara, the thousand-petalled lotus in the top of the head. He further saw that as the Kundalini went upward the different lotuses bloomed. And this phenomenon was accompanied by visions and trances. Later on he described to his disciples and devotees the various movements of the Kundalini: the fishlike, birdlike, monkeylike, and so on. The awaken- ing of the Kundalini is the beginning of spiritual consciousness, and its union with Siva in the Sahasrara, ending in samadhi, is the consummation of the Tantrik disciplines.
About this time it was revealed to him that in a short while many devotees would seek his guidance.
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Vaishnavism is exclusively a religion of bhakti. Bhakti is intense love of God, attachment to Him alone; it is of the nature of bliss and bestows upon the lover immortality and liberation. God, according to Vaishnavism, cannot be realized through logic or reason; and, without bhakti, all penances, austerities and rites are futile. Man cannot realize God by self-exertion alone. For the vision of God His grace is absolutely necessary, and this grace is felt by the pure of heart. The mind is to be purified through bhakti. The pure mind then remains for ever immersed in the ecstasy of God-vision. It is the cultivation of this divine love that is the chief concern of the Vaishnava religion.
There are three kinds of formal devotion: tamasic, rajasic, and sattvic. If a person, while showing devotion, to God, is actuated by malevolence, arrogance, jealousy, or anger, then his devotion is tamasic, since it is influenced by tamas, the quality of inertia. If he worships God from a desire for fame or wealth, or from any other worldly ambition, then his devotion is rajasic, since it is influenced by rajas, the quality of activity. But if a person loves God without any thought of material gain, if he performs his duties to please God alone and maintains toward all created beings the attitude of friendship, then his devotion is called sattvic, since it is influenced by sattva, the quality of harmony. But the highest devotion transcends the three gunas, or qualities, being a spontaneous, uninterrupted inclination of the mind toward God, the Inner Soul of all beings; and it wells up in the heart of a true devotee as soon as he hears the name of God or mention of God's attributes. A devotee possessed of this love would not accept the happiness of heaven if it were offered him. His one desire is to love God under all conditions — in pleasure and pain, life and death, honour and dishonour, prosperity and adversity.
There are two stages of bhakti. The first is known as vaidhi-bhakti, or love of God qualified by scriptural injunctions. For the devotees of this stage are prescribed regular and methodical worship, hymns, prayers, the repetition of God's name, and the chanting of His glories. This lower bhakti in course of time matures into para-bhakti, or supreme devotion, known also as prema, the most intense form of divine love. Divine love is an end in itself. It exists potentially in all human hearts, but in the case of bound creatures it is misdirected to earthly objects.
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While practising the discipline of the madhur bhava, the male devotee often regards himself as a woman, in order to develop the most intense form of love for Sri Krishna, the only purusha, or man, in the universe. This assumption of the attitude of the opposite sex has a deep psychological significance. It is a matter of common experience that an idea may be cultivated to such an intense degree that every idea alien to it is driven from the mind. This peculiarity of the mind may be utilized for the subjugation of the lower desires and the development of the spiritual nature. Now, the idea which is the basis of all desires and passions in a man is the conviction of his indissoluble association with a male body. If he can inoculate himself thoroughly with the idea that he is a woman, he can get rid of the desires peculiar to his male body. Again, the idea that he is a woman may in turn be made to give way to another higher idea, namely, that he is neither man nor woman, but the Impersonal Spirit. The Impersonal Spirit alone can enjoy real communion with the Impersonal God. Hence the highest est realization of the Vaishnava draws close to the transcendental experience of the Vedantist.
A beautiful expression of the Vaishnava worship of God through love is to be found in the Vrindavan episode of the Bhagavata. The gopis, or milk-maids, of Vrindavan regarded the six-year-old Krishna as their Beloved. They sought no personal gain or happiness from this love. They surrendered to Krishna their bodies, minds, and souls. Of all the gopis, Radhika, or Radha, because of her intense love for Him, was the closest to Krishna. She manifested mahabhava and was united with her Beloved. This union represents, through sensuous language, a supersensuous experience.
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One day Jatadhari requested Sri Ramakrishna to keep the image and bade him adieu with tearful eyes. He declared that Ramlala had fulfilled his innermost prayer and that he now had no more need of formal worship. A few days later Sri Ramakrishna was blessed through Ramlala with a vision of Ramachandra, whereby he realized that the Rama of the Ramayana, the son of Dasaratha, pervades the whole universe as Spirit and consciousness; that He is its Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer; that, in still another aspect, He is the transcendental Brahman, without form, attribute, or name.
While worshipping Ramlala as the Divine Child, Sri Ramakrishna's heart became filled with motherly tenderness, and he began to regard himself as a woman. His speech and gestures changed. He began to move freely with the ladies of Mathur's family, who now looked upon him as one of their own sex. During this time he worshipped the Divine Mother as Her companion or handmaid.
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One day, listening to a recitation of the Bhagavata on the verandah of the Radhakanta temple, he fell into a divine mood and saw the enchanting form of Krishna. He perceived the luminous rays issuing from Krishna's Lotus Feet in the form of a stout rope, which touched first the Bhagavata and then his own chest, connecting all three — God, the scripture, and the devotee. "After this vision", he used to say, "I came to realize that Bhagavan, Bhakta, and Bhagavata — God, Devotee, and Scripture — are in reality one and the same." --- VEDANTA --
Totapuri was the bearer of a philosophy new to Sri Ramakrishna, the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy, whose conclusions Totapuri had experienced in his own life. This ancient Hindu system designates the Ultimate Reality as Brahman, also described as Satchidananda, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Brahman is the only Real Existence. In It there is no time, no space, no causality, no multiplicity. But through maya, Its inscrutable Power, time, space, and causality are created and the One appears to break into the many. The eternal Spirit appears as a manifold of individuals endowed with form and subject to the conditions of time. The Immortal becomes a victim of birth and death. The Changeless undergoes change. The sinless Pure Soul, hypnotized by Its own maya, experiences the joys of heaven and the pains of hell. But these experiences based on the duality of the subject-object relationship are unreal. Even the vision of a Personal God
is, ultimately speaking, as illusory as the experience of any other object. Man attains his liberation, therefore, by piercing the veil of maya and rediscovering his total identity with Brahman. Knowing himself to be one with the Universal Spirit, he realizes ineffable Peace. Only then does he go beyond the fiction of birth and death; only then does he become immortal. 'And this is the ultimate goal of all religions — to dehypnotize the soul now hypnotized by its own ignorance.
The path of the Vedantic discipline is the path of negation, "neti", in which, by stern determination, all that is unreal is both negated and renounced. It is the path of jnana, knowledge, the direct method of realizing the Absolute. After the negation of everything relative, including the discriminating ego itself, the aspirant merges in the One without a Se cond, in the bliss of nirvikalpa samadhi, where subject and object are alike dissolved. The soul goes beyond the realm of thought. The domain of duality is transcended. Maya is left behind with all its changes and modifications. The Real Man towers above the delusions of creation, preservation, and destruction. An avalanche of indescribable Bliss sweeps away all relative ideas of pain and pleasure, good and evil. There shines in the heart the glory of the Eternal Brahman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute. Knower, knowledge, and known are dissolved in the Ocean of one eternal consciousness; love, lover, and beloved merge in the unbounded Sea of supreme Felicity; birth, growth, and death vanish in infinite Existence. All doubts and misgivings are quelled for ever; the oscillations of the mind are stopped; the momentum of past actions is exhausted. Breaking down the ridge-pole of the tabernacle in which the soul has made its abode for untold ages, stilling the body, calming the mind, drowning the ego, the sweet joy of Brahman wells up in that super conscious state. Space disappears into nothingness, time is swallowed in eternity, and causation becomes a dream of the past. Only Existence is. Ah! Who can describe what the soul then feels in its communion with the Self?
Even when man descends from this dizzy height, he is devoid of ideas of "I" and "mine"; he looks on the body as a mere shadow, an outer sheath encasing the soul. He does not dwell on the past, takes no thought for the future, and looks with indifference on the present. He surveys everything in the world with an eye of equality; he is no longer touched by the infinite variety of phenomena; he no longer reacts to pleasure and pain. He remains unmoved whether he — that is to say, his body — is worshipped by the good or tormented by the wicked; for he realizes that it is the one Brahman that manifests Itself through everything. The impact of such an experience devastates the body and mind. consciousness becomes blasted, as it were, with an excess of Light. In the Vedanta books it is said that after the experience of nirvikalpa samadhi the body drops off like a dry leaf. Only those who are born with a special mission for the world can return
from this height to the valleys of normal life. They live and move in the world for the welfare of mankind. They are invested with a supreme spiritual power. A divine glory shines through them.
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On the appointed day, in the small hours of the morning, a fire was lighted in the Panchavati. Totapuri and Sri Ramakrishna sat before it. The flame played on their faces. "Ramakrishna was a small brown man with a short beard and beautiful eyes, long dark eyes, full of light, obliquely set and slightly veiled, never very wide open, but seeing half-closed a great distance both outwardly and inwardly. His mouth was open over his white teeth in a bewitching smile, at once affectionate and mischievous. Of medium height, he was thin to emaciation and extremely delicate. His temperament was high-strung, for he was supersensitive to all the winds of joy and sorrow, both moral and physical. He was indeed a living reflection of all that happened before the mirror of his eyes, a two-sided mirror, turned both out and in." (Romain Rolland, Prophets of the New India, pp. 38-9.) Facing him, the other rose like a rock. He was very tall and robust, a sturdy and tough oak. His constitution and mind were of iron. He was the strong leader of men.
In the burning flame before him Sri Ramakrishna performed the rituals of destroying his attachment to relatives, friends, body, mind, sense-organs, ego, and the world. The leaping flame swallowed it all, making the initiate free and pure. The sacred thread and the tuft of hair were consigned to the fire, completing his severance from caste, sex, and society. Last of all he burnt in that fire, with all that is holy as his witness, his desire for enjoyment here and hereafter. He uttered the sacred mantras giving assurance of safety and fearlessness to all beings, who were only manifestations of his own Self. The rites completed, the disciple received from the guru the loin-cloth and ochre robe, the emblems of his new life.
The teacher and the disciple repaired to the meditation room near by. Totapuri began to impart to Sri Ramakrishna the great truths of Vedanta.
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Totapuri asked the disciple to withdraw his mind from all objects of the relative world, including the gods and goddesses, and to concentrate on the Absolute. But the task was not easy even for Sri Ramakrishna. He found it impossible to take his mind beyond Kali, the Divine Mother of the Universe. "After the initiation", Sri Ramakrishna once said, describing the event, "Nangta began to teach me the various conclusions of the Advaita Vedanta and asked me to withdraw the mind completely from all objects and dive deep into the Atman. But in spite of all my attempts I could not altogether cross the realm of name and form and bring my mind to the un conditioned state. I had no difficulty in taking the mind from all the objects of the world. But the radiant and too familiar figure of the Blissful Mother, the Embodiment of the essence of Pure consciousness, appeared before me as a living reality. Her bewitching smile prevented me from passing into the Great Beyond. Again and again I tried, but She stood in my way every time. In despair I said to Nangta: 'It is hopeless. I cannot raise my mind to the un conditioned state and come face to face with Atman.' He grew excited and sharply said: 'What? You can't do it? But you have to.' He cast his eyes around. Finding a piece of glass he took it up and stuck it between my eyebrows. ' concentrate the mind on this point!' he thundered. Then with stern determination I again sat to meditate. As soon as the gracious form of the Divine Mother appeared before me, I used my discrimination as a sword and with it clove Her in two. The last barrier fell. My spirit at once soared beyond the relative plane and I lost myself in samadhi."
Sri Ramakrishna remained completely absorbed in samadhi for three days. "Is it really true?" Totapuri cried out in astonishment. "Is it possible that he has attained in a single day what it took me forty years of strenuous practice to achieve? Great God! It is nothing short of a miracle!" With the help of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna's mind finally came down to the relative plane.
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Totapuri had no idea of the struggles of ordinary men in the toils of passion and desire. Having maintained all through life the guilelessness of a child, he laughed at the idea of a man's being led astray by the senses. He was convinced that the world was maya and had only to be denounced to vanish for ever. A born non-dualist, he had no faith in a Personal God. He did not believe in the terrible aspect of Kali, much less in Her benign aspect. Music and the chanting of God's holy name were to him only so much nonsense. He ridiculed the spending of emotion on the worship of a Personal God. --- KALI AND MAYA --
Thus, after nirvikalpa samadhi, Sri Ramakrishna realized maya in an altogether new role. The binding aspect of Kali vanished from before his vision. She no longer obscured his understanding. The world became the glorious manifestation of the Divine Mother. Maya became Brahman. The Transcendental Itself broke through the Immanent. Sri Ramakrishna discovered that maya operates in the relative world in two ways, and he termed these "avidyamaya" and "vidyamaya". Avidyamaya represents the dark forces of creation: sensuous desires, evil passions, greed, lust, cruelty, and so on. It sustains the world system on the lower planes. It is responsible for the round of man's birth and death. It must be fought and vanquished. But vidyamaya is the higher force of creation: the spiritual virtues, the enlightening qualities, kindness, purity, love, devotion. Vidyamaya elevates man to the higher planes of consciousness. With the help of vidyamaya the devotee rids himself of avidyamaya; he then becomes mayatita, free of maya. The two aspects of maya are the two forces of creation, the two powers of Kali; and She stands beyond them both. She is like the effulgent sun, bringing into existence and shining through and standing behind the clouds of different colours and shapes, conjuring up wonderful forms in the blue autumn heaven.
The Divine Mother asked Sri Ramakrishna not to be lost in the featureless Absolute but to remain, in bhavamukha, on the threshold of relative consciousness, the border line between the Absolute and the Relative. He was to keep himself at the "sixth centre" of Tantra, from which he could see not only the glory of the seventh, but also the divine manifestations of the Kundalini in the lower centres. He gently oscillated back and forth across the dividing line. Ecstatic devotion to the Divine Mother alternated with serene absorption in the Ocean of Absolute Unity. He thus bridged the gulf between the Personal and the Impersonal, the immanent and the transcendent aspects of Reality. This is a unique experience in the recorded spiritual history of the world. --- TOTAPURI'S LESSON --
About this time Totapuri was suddenly laid up with a severe attack of dysentery. On account of this miserable illness he found it impossible to meditate. One night the pain became excruciating. He could no longer concentrate on Brahman. The body stood in the way. He became incensed with its demands. A free soul, he did not at all care for the body. So he determined to drown it in the Ganges. Thereupon he walked into the river. But, lo! He walks to the other bank." (This version of the incident is taken from the biography of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Saradananda, one of the Master's direct disciples.) Is there not enough water in the Ganges? Standing dumbfounded on the other bank he looks back across the water. The trees, the temples, the houses, are silhouetted against the sky. Suddenly, in one dazzling moment, he sees on all sides the presence of the Divine Mother. She is in everything; She is everything. She is in the water; She is on land. She is the body; She is the mind. She is pain; She is comfort. She is knowledge; She is ignorance. She is life; She is death. She is everything that one sees, hears, or imagines. She turns "yea" into "nay", and "nay" into "yea". Without Her grace no embodied being can go beyond Her realm. Man has no free will. He is not even free to die. Yet, again, beyond the body and mind She resides in Her Transcendental, Absolute aspect. She is the Brahman that Totapuri had been worshipping all his life.
Totapuri returned to Dakshineswar and spent the remaining hours of the night meditating on the Divine Mother. In the morning he went to the Kali temple with Sri Ramakrishna and prostrated himself before the image of the Mother. He now realized why he had spent eleven months at Dakshineswar. Bidding farewell to the disciple, he continued on his way, enlightened.
Sri Ramakrishna later described the significance of Totapuri's lessons:
"When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive — neither creating nor preserving nor destroying —, I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active — creating, preserving, and destroying —, I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the distinction between them does not mean a difference. The Personal and the Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness, the diamond and its lustre, the snake and its wriggling motion. It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one."
After the departure of Totapuri, Sri Ramakrishna remained for six months in a state of absolute identity with Brahman. "For six months at a stretch", he said, "I remained in that state from which ordinary men can never return; generally the body falls off, after three weeks, like a sere leaf. I was not conscious of day and night. Flies would enter my mouth and nostrils just as they do a dead body's, but I did not feel them. My hair became matted with dust."
His body would not have survived but for the kindly attention of a monk who happened to be at Dakshineswar at that time and who somehow realized that for the good of humanity Sri Ramakrishna's body must be preserved. He tried various means, even physical violence, to recall the fleeing soul to the prison-house of the body, and during the resultant fleeting moments of consciousness he would push a few morsels of food down Sri Ramakrishna's throat. Presently Sri Ramakrishna received the command of the Divine Mother to remain on the threshold of relative consciousness. Soon there-after after he was afflicted with a serious attack of dysentery. Day and night the pain tortured him, and his mind gradually came down to the physical plane. --- COMPANY OF HOLY MEN AND DEVOTEES From now on Sri Ramakrishna began to seek the company of devotees and holy men. He had gone through the storm and stress of spiritual disciplines and visions. Now he realized an inner calmness and appeared to others as a normal person. But he could not bear the company of worldly people or listen to their talk. Fortunately the holy atmosphere of Dakshineswar and the liberality of Mathur attracted monks and holy men from all parts of the country. Sadhus of all denominations — monists and dualists, Vaishnavas and Vedantists, Saktas and worshippers of Rama — flocked there in ever increasing numbers. Ascetics and visionaries came to seek Sri Ramakrishna's advice. Vaishnavas had come during the period of his Vaishnava sadhana, and Tantriks when he practised the disciplines of Tantra. Vedantists began to arrive after the departure of Totapuri. In the room of Sri Ramakrishna, who was then in bed with dysentery, the Vedantists engaged in scriptural discussions, and, forgetting his own physical suffering, he solved their doubts by referring directly to his own experiences. Many of the visitors were genuine spiritual souls, the unseen pillars of Hinduism, and their spiritual lives were quickened in no small measure by the sage of Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna in turn learnt from them anecdotes concerning the ways and the conduct of holy men, which he subsequently narrated to his devotees and disciples. At his request Mathur provided him with large stores of food-stuffs, clothes, and so forth, for distribution among the wandering monks.
"Sri Ramakrishna had not read books, yet he possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of religions and religious philosophies. This he acquired from his contacts with innumerable holy men and scholars. He had a unique power of assimilation; through meditation he made this knowledge a part of his being. Once, when he was asked by a disciple about the source of his seemingly inexhaustible knowledge, he replied; "I have not read; but I have heard the learned. I have made a garland of their knowledge, wearing it round my neck, and I have given it as an offering at the feet of the Mother."
Sri Ramakrishna used to say that when the flower blooms the bees come to it for honey of their own accord. Now many souls began to visit Dakshineswar to satisfy their spiritual hunger. He, the devotee and aspirant, became the Master. Gauri, the great scholar who had been one of the first to proclaim Sri Ramakrishna an Incarnation of God, paid the Master a visit in 1870 and with the Master's blessings renounced the world. Narayan Shastri, another great pundit, who had mastered the six systems of Hindu philosophy and had been offered a lucrative post by the Maharaja of Jaipur, met the Master and recognized in him one who had realized in life those ideals which he himself had encountered merely in books. Sri Ramakrishna initiated Narayan Shastri, at his earnest request, into the life of sannyas. Pundit Padmalochan, the court pundit of the Maharaja of Burdwan, well known for his scholarship in both the Vedanta and the Nyaya systems of philosophy, accepted the Master as an Incarnation of God. Krishnakishore, a Vedantist scholar, became devoted to the Master. And there arrived Viswanath Upadhyaya, who was to become a favourite devotee; Sri Ramakrishna always addressed him as "Captain". He was a high officer of the King of Nepal and had received the title of Colonel in recognition of his merit. A scholar of the Gita, the Bhagavata, and the Vedanta philosophy, he daily performed the worship of his Chosen Deity with great devotion. "I have read the Vedas and the other scriptures", he said. "I have also met a good many monks and devotees in different places. But it is in Sri Ramakrishna's presence that my spiritual yearnings have been fulfilled. To me he seems to be the embodiment of the truths of the scriptures."
The Knowledge of Brahman in nirvikalpa samadhi had convinced Sri Ramakrishna that the gods of the different religions are but so many readings of the Absolute, and that the Ultimate Reality could never be expressed by human tongue. He understood that all religions lead their devotees by differing paths to one and the same goal. Now he became eager to explore some of the alien religions; for with him understanding meant actual experience. --- ISLAM --
Sri Ramakrishna visited Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jamuna, and then proceeded to Vrindavan and Mathura, hallowed by the legends, songs, and dramas about Krishna and the gopis. Here he had numerous visions and his heart overflowed with divine emotion. He wept and said: "O Krishna! Everything here is as it was in the olden days. You alone are absent." He visited the great woman saint, Gangamayi, regarded by Vaishnava devotees as the reincarnation of an intimate attendant of Radha. She was sixty years old and had frequent trances. She spoke of Sri Ramakrishna as an incarnation of Radha. With great difficulty he was persuaded to leave her.
On the return journey Mathur wanted to visit Gaya, but Sri Ramakrishna declined to go. He recalled his father's vision at Gaya before his own birth and felt that in the temple of Vishnu he would become permanently absorbed in God. Mathur, honouring the Master's wish, returned with his party to Calcutta.
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The Master took up the duty of instructing his young wife, and this included everything from housekeeping to the Knowledge of Brahman. He taught her how to trim a lamp, how to behave toward people according to their differing temperaments, and how to conduct herself before visitors. He instructed her in the mysteries of spiritual life — prayer, meditation, japa, deep contemplation, and samadhi. The first lesson that Sarada Devi received was: "God is everybody's Beloved, just as the moon is dear to every child. Everyone has the same right to pray to Him. Out of His grace He reveals Himself to all who call upon Him. You too will see Him if you but pray to Him."
Totapuri, coming to know of the Master's marriage, had once remarked: "What does it matter? He alone is firmly established in the Knowledge of Brahman who can adhere to his spirit of discrimination and renunciation even while living with his wife. He alone has attained the supreme illumination who can look on man and woman alike as Brahman. A man with the idea of sex may be a good aspirant, but he is still far from the goal." Sri Ramakrishna and his wife lived together at Dakshineswar, but their minds always soared above the worldly plane. A few months after Sarada Devi's arrival Sri Ramakrishna arranged, on an auspicious day, a special worship of Kali, the Divine Mother. Instead of an image of the Deity, he placed on the seat the living image, Sarada Devi herself. The worshipper and the worshipped went into deep samadhi and in the transcendental plane their souls were united. After several hours Sri Ramakrishna came down again to the relative plane, sang a hymn to the Great Goddess, and surrendered, at the feet of the living image, himself, his rosary, and the fruit of his life-long sadhana. This is known in Tantra as the Shorasi Puja, the "Adoration of Woman". Sri Ramakrishna realized the significance of the great statement of the Upanishad: "O Lord, Thou art the woman. Thou art the man; Thou art the boy. Thou art the girl; Thou art the old, tottering on their crutches. Thou pervadest the universe in its multiple forms."
By his marriage Sri Ramakrishna admitted the great value of marriage in man's spiritual evolution, and by adhering to his monastic vows he demonstrated the imperative necessity of self- control, purity, and continence, in the realization of God. By this unique spiritual relationship with his wife he proved that husband and wife can live together as spiritual companions. Thus his life is a synthesis of the ways of life of the householder and the monk. --- THE "EGO" OF THE MASTER In the nirvikalpa samadhi Sri Ramakrishna had realized that Brahman alone is real and the world illusory. By keeping his mind six months on the plane of the non-dual Brahman, he had attained to the state of the vijnani, the knower of Truth in a special and very rich sense, who sees Brahman not only in himself and in the transcendental Absolute, but in everything of the world. In this state of vijnana, sometimes, bereft of body- consciousness, he would regard himself as one with Brahman; sometimes, conscious of the dual world, he would regard himself as God's devotee, servant, or child. In order to enable the Master to work for the welfare of humanity, the Divine Mother had kept in him a trace of ego, which he described — according to his mood — as the "ego of Knowledge", the "ego of Devotion", the "ego of a child", or the "ego of a servant". In any case this ego of the Master, consumed by the fire of the Knowledge of Brahman, was an appearance only, like a burnt string. He often referred to this ego as the "ripe ego" in contrast with the ego of the bound soul, which he described as the "unripe" or "green" ego. The ego of the bound soul identifies itself with the body, relatives, possessions, and the world; but the "ripe ego", illumined by Divine Knowledge, knows the body, relatives, possessions, and the world to be unreal and establishes a relationship of love with God alone. Through this "ripe ego" Sri Ramakrishna dealt with the world and his wife. One day, while stroking his feet, Sarada Devi asked the Master, "What do you think of me?" Quick came the answer: "The Mother who is worshipped in the temple is the mother who has given birth to my body and is now living in the nahabat, and it is She again who is stroking my feet at this moment. Indeed, I always look on you as the personification of the Blissful Mother Kali."
Sarada Devi, in the company of her husband, had rare spiritual experiences. She said: "I have no words to describe my wonderful exaltation of spirit as I watched him in his different moods. Under the influence of divine emotion he would sometimes talk on abstruse subjects, sometimes laugh, sometimes weep, and sometimes become perfectly motionless in samadhi. This would continue throughout the night. There was such an extraordinary divine presence in him that now and then I would shake with fear and wonder how the night would pass. Months went by in this way. Then one day he discovered that I had to keep awake the whole night lest, during my sleep, he should go into samadhi — for it might happen at any moment —, and so he asked me to sleep in the nahabat." --- SUMMARY OF THE MASTER'S SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES We have now come to the end of Sri Ramakrishna's sadhana, the period of his spiritual discipline. As a result of his supersensuous experiences he reached certain conclusions regarding himself and spirituality in general. His conclusions about himself may be summarized as follows:
First, he was an Incarnation of God, a specially commissioned person, whose spiritual experiences were for the benefit of humanity. Whereas it takes an ordinary man a whole life's struggle to realize one or two phases of God, he had in a few years realized God in all His phases.
Se cond, he knew that he had always been a free soul, that the various disciplines through which he had passed were really not necessary for his own liberation but were solely for the benefit of others. Thus the terms liberation and bondage were not applicable to him. As long as there are beings who consider themselves bound. God must come down to earth as an Incarnation to free them from bondage, just as a magistrate must visit any part of his district in which there is trouble.
Third, he came to foresee the time of his death. His words with respect to this matter were literally fulfilled.
About spirituality in general the following were his conclusions: First, he was firmly convinced that all religions are true, that every doctrinal system represents a path to God. He had followed all the main paths and all had led him to the same goal. He was the first religious prophet recorded in history to preach the harmony of religions.
Se cond, the three great systems of thought known as Dualism, Qualified Non-dualism, and Absolute Non-dualism — Dvaita, Visishtadvaita, and Advaita — he perceived to represent three stages in man's progress toward the Ultimate Reality. They were not contradictory but complementary and suited to different temperaments. For the ordinary man with strong attachment to the senses, a dualistic form of religion, prescribing a certain amount of material support, such as music and other symbols, is useful. A man of God-realization transcends the idea of worldly duties, but the ordinary mortal must perform his duties, striving to be unattached and to surrender the results to God. The mind can comprehend and describe the range of thought and experience up to the Visishtadvaita, and no further. The Advaita, the last word in spiritual experience, is something to be felt in samadhi. for it transcends mind and speech. From the highest standpoint, the Absolute and Its manifestation are equally real — the Lord's Name, His Abode, and the Lord Himself are of the same spiritual Essence. Everything is Spirit, the difference being only in form.
Third, Sri Ramakrishna realized the wish of the Divine Mother that through him She should found a new Order, consisting of those who would uphold the universal doctrines illustrated in his life.
Fourth, his spiritual insight told him that those who were having their last birth on the mortal plane of existence and those who had sincerely called on the Lord even once in their lives must come to him.
During this period Sri Ramakrishna suffered several bereavements. The first was the death of a nephew named Akshay. After the young man's death Sri Ramakrishna said: "Akshay died before my very eyes. But it did not affect me in the least. I stood by and watched a man die. It was like a sword being drawn from its scabbard. I enjoyed the scene, and laughed and sang and danced over it. They removed the body and cremated it. But the next day as I stood there (pointing to the southeast verandah of his room), I felt a racking pain for the loss of Akshay, as if somebody were squeezing my heart like a wet towel. I wondered at it and thought that the Mother was teaching me a lesson. I was not much concerned even with my own body — much less with a relative. But if such was my pain at the loss of a nephew, how much more must be the grief of the householders at the loss of their near and dear ones!" In 1871 Mathur died, and some five years later Sambhu Mallick — who, after Mathur's passing away, had taken care of the Master's comfort. In 1873 died his elder brother Rameswar, and in 1876, his beloved mother. These bereavements left their imprint on the tender human heart of Sri Ramakrishna, albeit he had realized the immortality of the soul and the illusoriness of birth and death.
In March 1875, about a year before the death of his mother, the Master met Keshab Chandra Sen. The meeting was a momentous event for both Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab. Here the Master for the first time came into actual, contact with a worthy representative of modern India. --- BRAHMO SAMAJ --
Keshab possessed a complex nature. When passing through a great moral crisis, he spent much of his time in solitude and felt that he heard the voice of God, When a devotional form of worship was introduced into the Brahmo Samaj, he spent hours in singing kirtan with his followers. He visited England land in 1870 and impressed the English people with his musical voice, his simple English, and his spiritual fervour. He was entertained by Queen Victoria. Returning to India, he founded centres of the Brahmo Samaj in various parts of the country. Not unlike a professor of comparative religion in a European university, he began to discover, about the time of his first contact with Sri Ramakrishna, the harmony of religions. He became sympathetic toward the Hindu gods and goddesses, explaining them in a liberal fashion. Further, he believed that he was called by God to dictate to the world God's newly revealed law, the New Dispensation, the Navavidhan.
In 1878 a schism divided Keshab's Samaj. Some of his influential followers accused him of infringing the Brahmo principles by marrying his daughter to a wealthy man before she had attained the marriageable age approved by the Samaj. This group seceded and established the Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, Keshab remaining the leader of the Navavidhan. Keshab now began to be drawn more and more toward the Christ ideal, though under the influence of Sri Ramakrishna his devotion to the Divine Mother also deepened. His mental oscillation between Christ and the Divine Mother of Hinduism found no position of rest. In Bengal and some other parts of India the Brahmo movement took the form of unitarian Christianity, scoffed at Hindu rituals, and preached a crusade against image worship. Influenced by Western culture, it declared the supremacy of reason, advocated the ideals of the French Revolution, abolished the caste-system among its own members, stood for the emancipation of women, agitated for the abolition of early marriage, sanctioned the remarriage of widows, and encouraged various educational and social-reform movements. The immediate effect of the Brahmo movement in Bengal was the checking of the proselytizing activities of the Christian missionaries. It also raised Indian culture in the estimation of its English masters. But it was an intellectual and eclectic religious ferment born of the necessity of the time. Unlike Hinduism, it was not founded on the deep inner experiences of sages and prophets. Its influence was confined to a comparatively few educated men and women of the country, and the vast masses of the Hindus remained outside it. It sounded monotonously only one of the notes in the rich gamut of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus. --- ARYA SAMAJ The other movement playing an important part in the nineteenth-century religious revival of India was the Arya Samaj. The Brahmo Samaj, essentially a movement of compromise with European culture, tacitly admitted the superiority of the West. But the founder of the Arya Samaj was a ' pugnacious Hindu sannyasi who accepted the challenge of Islam and Christianity and was resolved to combat all foreign influence in India. Swami Dayananda (1824-1883) launched this movement in Bombay in 1875, and soon its influence was felt throughout western India. The Swami was a great scholar of the Vedas, which he explained as being strictly monotheistic. He preached against the worship of images and re-established the ancient Vedic sacrificial rites. According to him the Vedas were the ultimate authority on religion, and he accepted every word of them as literally true. The Arya Samaj became a bulwark against the encroachments of Islam and Christianity, and its orthodox flavour appealed to many Hindu minds. It also assumed leadership in many movements of social reform. The caste-system became a target of its attack. Women it liberated from many of their social disabilities. The cause of education received from it a great impetus. It started agitation against early marriage and advocated the remarriage of Hindu widows. Its influence was strongest in the Punjab, the battle-ground of the Hindu and Islamic cultures. A new fighting attitude was introduced into the slumbering Hindu society. Unlike the Brahmo Samaj, the influence of the Arya Samaj was not confined to the intellectuals. It was a force that spread to the masses. It was a dogmatic movement intolerant of those who disagreed with its views, and it emphasized only one way, the Arya Samaj way, to the realization of Truth. Sri Ramakrishna met Swami Dayananda when the latter visited Bengal. --- KESHAB CHANDRA SEN Keshab Chandra Sen and Sri Ramakrishna met for the first time in the garden house of Jaygopal Sen at Belgharia, a few miles from Dakshineswar, where the great Brahmo leader was staying with some of his disciples. In many respects the two were poles apart, though an irresistible inner attraction was to make them intimate friends. The Master had realized God as Pure Spirit and consciousness, but he believed in the various forms of God as well. Keshab, on the other hand, regarded image worship as idolatry and gave allegorical explanations of the Hindu deities. Keshab was an orator and a writer of books and magazine articles; Sri Ramakrishna had a horror of lecturing and hardly knew how to write his own name, Keshab's fame spread far and wide, even reaching the distant shores of England; the Master still led a secluded life in the village of Dakshineswar. Keshab emphasized social reforms for India's regeneration; to Sri Ramakrishna God-realization was the only goal of life. Keshab considered himself a disciple of Christ and accepted in a diluted form the Christian sacraments and Trinity; Sri Ramakrishna was the simple child of Kali, the Divine Mother, though he too, in a different way, acknowledged Christ's divinity. Keshab was a householder holder and took a real interest in the welfare of his children, whereas Sri Ramakrishna was a paramahamsa and completely indifferent to the life of the world. Yet, as their acquaintance ripened into friendship, Sri Ramakrishna and Keshab held each other in great love and respect. Years later, at the news of Keshab's death, the Master felt as if half his body had become paralyzed. Keshab's concepts of the harmony of religions and the Motherhood of God were deepened and enriched by his contact with Sri Ramakrishna.
Sri Ramakrishna, dressed in a red-bordered dhoti, one end of which was carelessly thrown over his left shoulder, came to Jaygopal's garden house accompanied by Hriday. No one took notice of the unostentatious visitor. Finally the Master said to Keshab, "People tell me you have seen God; so I have come to hear from you about God." A magnificent conversation followed. The Master sang a thrilling song about Kali and forthwith went into samadhi. When Hriday uttered the sacred "Om" in his ears, he gradually came back to consciousness of the world, his face still radiating a divine brilliance. Keshab and his followers were amazed. The contrast between Sri Ramakrishna and the Brahmo devotees was very interesting. There sat this small man, thin and extremely delicate. His eyes were illumined with an inner light. Good humour gleamed in his eyes and lurked in the corners of his mouth. His speech was Bengali of a homely kind with a slight, delightful stammer, and his words held men enthralled by their wealth of spiritual experience, their inexhaustible store of simile and metaphor, their power of observation, their bright and subtle humour, their wonderful catholicity, their ceaseless flow of wisdom. And around him now were the sophisticated men of Bengal, the best products of Western education, with Keshab, the idol of young Bengal, as their leader.
Keshab's sincerity was enough for Sri Ramakrishna. Henceforth the two saw each other frequently, either at Dakshineswar or at the temple of the Brahmo Samaj. Whenever the Master was in the temple at the time of divine service, Keshab would request him to speak to the congregation. And Keshab would visit the saint, in his turn, with offerings of flowers and fruits. --- OTHER BRAHMO LEADERS Gradually other Brahmo leaders began to feel Sri Ramakrishna's influence. But they were by no means uncritical admirers of the Master. They particularly disapproved of his ascetic renunciation and condemnation of "woman and gold".1 They measured him according to their own ideals of the householder's life. Some could not understand his samadhi and described it as a nervous malady. Yet they could not resist his magnetic personality.
Among the Brahmo leaders who knew the Master closely were Pratap Chandra Mazumdar, Vijaykrishna Goswami, Trailokyanath Sannyal, and Shivanath Shastri.
Shivanath, one day, was greatly impressed by the Master's utter simplicity and abhorrence of praise. He was seated with Sri Ramakrishna in the latter's room when several rich men of Calcutta arrived. The Master left the room for a few minutes. In the mean time Hriday, his nephew, began to describe his samadhi to the visitors. The last few words caught the Master's ear as he entered the room. He said to Hriday: "What a mean-spirited fellow you must be to extol me thus before these rich men! You have seen their costly apparel and their gold watches and chains, and your object is to get from them as much money as you can. What do I care about what they think of me? (Turning to the gentlemen) No, my friends, what he has told you about me is not true. It was not love of God that made me absorbed in God and indifferent to external life. I became positively insane for some time. The sadhus who frequented this temple told me to practise many things. I tried to follow them, and the consequence was that my austerities drove me to insanity." This is a quotation from one of Shivanath's books. He took the Master's words literally and failed to see their real import.
Shivanath vehemently criticized the Master for his other-worldly attitude toward his wife. He writes: "Ramakrishna was practically separated from his wife, who lived in her village home. One day when I was complaining to some friends about the virtual widowhood of his wife, he drew me to one side and whispered in my ear: 'Why do you complain? It is no longer possible; it is all dead and gone.' Another day as I was inveighing against this part of his teaching, and also declaring that our program of work in the Brahmo Samaj includes women, that ours is a social and domestic religion, and that we want to give education and social liberty to women, the saint became very much excited, as was his way when anything against his settled conviction was asserted — a trait we so much liked in him — and exclaimed, 'Go, thou fool, go and perish in the pit that your women will dig for you.' Then he glared at me and said: 'What does a gardener do with a young plant? Does he not surround it with a fence, to protect it from goats and cattle? And when the young plant has grown up into a tree and it can no longer be injured by cattle, does he not remove the fence and let the tree grow freely?' I replied, 'Yes, that is the custom with gardeners.' Then he remarked, 'Do the same in your spiritual life; become strong, be full-grown; then you may seek them.' To which I replied, 'I don't agree with you in thinking that women's work is like that of cattle, destructive; they are our associates and helpers in our spiritual struggles and social progress' — a view with which he could not agree, and he marked his dissent by shaking his head. Then referring to the lateness of the hour he jocularly remarked, 'It is time for you to depart; take care, do not be late; otherwise your woman will not admit you into her room.' This evoked hearty laughter."
Pratap Chandra Mazumdar, the right-hand man of Keshab and an accomplished Brahmo preacher in Europe and America, bitterly criticized Sri Ramakrishna's use of uncultured language and also his austere attitude toward his wife. But he could not escape the spell of the Master's personality. In the course of an article about Sri Ramakrishna, Pratap wrote in the "Theistic Quarterly Review": "What is there in common between him and me? I, a Europeanized, civilized, self-centred, semi-sceptical, so-called educated reasoner, and he, a poor, illiterate, unpolished, half-idolatrous, friendless Hindu devotee? Why should I sit long hours to attend to him, I, who have listened to Disraeli and Fawcett, Stanley and Max Muller, and a whole host of European scholars and divines? . . . And it is not I only, but dozens like me, who do the same. . . . He worships Siva, he worships Kali, he worships Rama, he worships Krishna, and is a confirmed advocate of Vedantic doctrines. . . . He is an idolater, yet is a faithful and most devoted meditator on the perfections of the One Formless, Absolute, Infinite Deity. . . . His religion is ecstasy, his worship means transcendental insight, his whole nature burns day and night with a permanent fire and fever of a strange faith and feeling. . . . So long as he is spared to us, gladly shall we sit at his feet to learn from him the sublime precepts of purity, unworldliness, spirituality, and inebriation in the love of God. . . . He, by his childlike bhakti, by his strong conceptions of an ever-ready Motherhood, helped to unfold it [God as our Mother] in our minds wonderfully. . . . By associating with him we learnt to realize better the divine attributes as scattered over the three hundred and thirty millions of deities of mythological India, the gods of the Puranas."
The Brahmo leaders received much inspiration from their contact with Sri Ramakrishna. It broadened their religious views and kindled in their hearts the yearning for God-realization; it made them understand and appreciate the rituals and symbols of Hindu religion, convinced them of the manifestation of God in diverse forms, and deepened their thoughts about the harmony of religions. The Master, too, was impressed by the sincerity of many of the Brahmo devotees. He told them about his own realizations and explained to them the essence of his teachings, such as the necessity of renunciation, sincerity in the pursuit of one's own course of discipline, faith in God, the performance of one's duties without thought of results, and discrimination between the Real and the unreal.
This contact with the educated and progressive Bengalis opened Sri Ramakrishna's eyes to a new realm of thought. Born and brought up in a simple village, without any formal education, and taught by the orthodox holy men of India in religious life, he had had no opportunity to study the influence of modernism on the thoughts and lives of the Hindus. He could not properly estimate the result of the impact of Western education on Indian culture. He was a Hindu of the Hindus, renunciation being to him the only means to the realization of God in life. From the Brahmos he learnt that the new generation of India made a compromise between God and the world. Educated young men were influenced more by the Western philosophers than by their own prophets. But Sri Ramakrishna was not dismayed, for he saw in this, too, the hand of God. And though he expounded to the Brahmos all his ideas about God and austere religious disciplines, yet he bade them accept from his teachings only as much as suited their tastes and temperaments.
^The term "woman and gold", which has been used throughout in a collective sense, occurs again and again in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna to designate the chief impediments to spiritual progress. This favourite expression of the Master, "kaminikanchan", has often been mis construed. By it he meant only "lust and greed", the baneful influence of which retards the aspirant's spiritual growth. He used the word "kamini", or "woman", as a concrete term for the sex instinct when addressing his man devotees. He advised women, on the other hand, to shun "man". "Kanchan", or "gold", symbolizes greed, which is the other obstacle to spiritual life.
Sri Ramakrishna never taught his disciples to hate any woman, or womankind in general. This can be seen clearly by going through all his teachings under this head and judging them collectively. The Master looked on all women as so many images of the Divine Mother of the Universe. He paid the highest homage to womankind by accepting a woman as his guide while practising the very profound spiritual disciplines of Tantra. His wife, known and revered as the Holy Mother, was his constant companion and first disciple. At the end of his spiritual practice he literally worshipped his wife as the embodiment of the Goddess Kali, the Divine Mother. After his passing away the Holy Mother became the spiritual guide not only of a large number of householders, but also of many monastic members of the Ramakrishna Order. --- THE MASTER'S YEARNING FOR HIS OWN DEVOTEES contact with the Brahmos increased Sri Ramakrishna's longing to encounter aspirants who would be able to follow his teachings in their purest form. "There was no limit", he once declared, "to the longing I felt at that time. During the day-time I somehow managed to control it. The secular talk of the worldly-minded was galling to me, and I would look wistfully to the day when my own beloved companions would come. I hoped to find solace in conversing with them and relating to them my own realizations. Every little incident would remind me of them, and thoughts of them wholly engrossed me. I was already arranging in my mind what I should say to one and give to another, and so on. But when the day would come to a close I would not be able to curb my feelings. The thought that another day had gone by, and they had not come, oppressed me. When, during the evening service, the temples rang with the sound of bells and conch-shells, I would climb to the roof of the kuthi in the garden and, writhing in anguish of heart, cry at the top of my voice: 'Come, my children! Oh, where are you? I cannot bear to live without you.' A mother never longed so intensely for the sight of her child, nor a friend for his companions, nor a lover for his sweetheart, as I longed for them. Oh, it was indescribable! Shortly after this period of yearning the devotees1 began to come."
In the year 1879 occasional writings about Sri Ramakrishna by the Brahmos, in the Brahmo magazines, began to attract his future disciples from the educated middle-class Bengalis, and they continued to come till 1884. But others, too, came, feeling the subtle power of his attraction. They were an ever shifting crowd of people of all castes and creeds: Hindus and Brahmos, Vaishnavas and Saktas, the educated with university degrees and the illiterate, old and young, maharajas and beggars, journalists and artists, pundits and devotees, philosophers and the worldly-minded, jnanis and yogis, men of action and men of faith, virtuous women and prostitutes, office-holders and vagabonds, philanthropists and self-seekers, dramatists and drunkards, builders-up and pullers-down. He gave to them all, without stint, from his illimitable store of realization. No one went away empty-handed. He taught them the lofty .knowledge of the Vedanta and the soul
-melting love of the Purana. Twenty hours out of twenty-four he would speak without out rest or respite. He gave to all his sympathy and enlightenment, and he touched them with that strange power of the soul which could not but melt even the most hardened. And people understood him according to their powers of comprehension.
^The word is generally used in the text to denote one devoted to God, a worshipper of the Personal God, or a follower of the path of love. A devotee of Sri Ramakrishna is one who is devoted to Sri Ramakrishna and follows his teachings. The word "disciple", when used in connexion with Sri Ramakrishna, refers to one who had been initiated into spiritual life by Sri Ramakrishna and who regarded him as his guru. --- THE MASTER'S METHOD OF TEACHING --
To those who became his intimate disciples the Master was a friend, companion, and playmate. Even the chores of religious discipline would be lightened in his presence. The devotees would be so inebriated with pure joy in his company that they would have no time to ask themselves whether he was an Incarnation, a perfect soul, or a yogi. His very presence was a great teaching; words were superfluous. In later years his disciples remarked that while they were with him they would regard him as a comrade, but afterwards would tremble to think of their frivolities in the presence of such a great person. They had convincing proof that the Master could, by his mere wish, kindle in their hearts the love of God and give them His vision.
Through all this fun and frolic, this merriment and frivolity, he always kept before them the shining ideal of God- consciousness and the path of renunciation. He prescribed ascents steep or graded according to the powers of the climber. He permitted no compromise with the basic principles of purity. An aspirant had to keep his body, mind, senses, and soul unspotted; had to have a sincere love for God and an ever mounting spirit of yearning. The rest would be done by the Mother.
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For the householders Sri Ramakrishna did not prescribe the hard path of total renunciation. He wanted them to discharge their obligations to their families. Their renunciation was to be mental. Spiritual life could not be acquired by flying away from responsibilities. A married couple should live like brother and sister after the birth of one or two children, devoting their time to spiritual talk and contemplation. He encouraged the householders, saying that their life was, in a way, easier than that of the monk, since it was more advantageous to fight the enemy from inside a fortress than in an open field. He insisted, however, on their repairing into solitude every now and then to strengthen their devotion and faith in God through prayer, japa, and meditation. He prescribed for them the companionship of sadhus. He asked them to perform their worldly duties with one hand, while holding to God with the other, and to pray to God to make their duties fewer and fewer so that in the end they might cling to Him with both hands. He would discourage in both the householders and the celibate youths any lukewarmness in their spiritual struggles. He would not ask them to follow indiscriminately the ideal of non-resistance, which ultimately makes a coward of the unwary. --- FUTURE MONKS But to the young men destined to be monks he pointed out the steep path of renunciation, both external and internal. They must take the vow of absolute continence and eschew all thought of greed and lust. By the practice of continence, aspirants develop a subtle nerve through which they understand the deeper mysteries of God. For them self- control is final, imperative, and absolute. The sannyasis are teachers of men, and their lives should be totally free from blemish. They must not even look at a picture which may awaken their animal passions. The Master selected his future monks from young men untouched by "woman and gold" and plastic enough to be cast in his spiritual mould. When teaching them the path of renunciation and discrimination, he would not allow the householders to be anywhere near them. --- RAM AND MANOMOHAN --
Manomohan at first met with considerable opposition from his wife and other relatives, who resented his visits to Dakshineswar. But in the end the unselfish love of the Master triumphed over worldly affection. It was Manomohan who brought Rakhal to the Master. --- SURENDRA Suresh Mitra, a beloved disciple whom the Master often addressed as Surendra, had received an English education and held an important post in an English firm. Like many other educated young men of the time, he prided himself on his atheism and led a Bohemian life. He was addicted to drinking. He cherished an exaggerated notion about man's free will. A victim of mental depression, he was brought to Sri Ramakrishna by Ramchandra chandra Dutta. When he heard the Master asking a disciple to practise the virtue of self-surrender to God, he was impressed. But though he tried thenceforth to do so, he was unable to give up his old associates and his drinking. One day the Master said in his presence, "Well, when a man goes to an undesirable place, why doesn't he take the Divine Mother with him?" And to Surendra himself Sri Ramakrishna said: "Why should you drink wine as wine? Offer it to Kali, and then take it as Her prasad, as consecrated drink
. But see that you don't become intoxicated; you must not reel and your thoughts must not wander. At first you will feel ordinary excitement, but soon you will experience spiritual exaltation." Gradually Surendra's entire life was changed. The Master designated him as one of those commissioned by the Divine Mother to defray a great part of his expenses. Surendra's purse was always open for the Master's comfort.
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Balaram Bose came of a wealthy Vaishnava family. From his youth he had shown a deep religious temperament and had devoted his time to meditation, prayer, and the study of the Vaishnava scriptures. He was very much impressed by Sri Ramakrishna even at their first meeting. He asked Sri Ramakrishna whether God really existed and, if so, whether a man could realize Him. The Master said: "God reveals Himself to the devotee who thinks of Him as his nearest and dearest. Because you do not draw response by praying to Him once, you must not conclude that He does not exist. Pray to God, thinking of Him as dearer than your very self. He is much attached to His devotees. He comes to a man even before He is sought. There is none more intimate and affectionate than God." Balaram had never before heard God spoken of in such forceful words; every one of the words seemed true to him. Under the Master's influence he outgrew the conventions of the Vaishnava worship and became one of the most beloved of the disciples. It was at his home that the Master slept whenever he spent a night in Calcutta. --- MAHENDRA OR M. Mahendranath Gupta, better known as "M.", arrived at Dakshineswar in March 1882. He belonged to the Brahmo Samaj and was headmaster of the Vidyasagar High School at Syambazar, Calcutta. At the very first sight the Master recognized him as one of his "marked" disciples. Mahendra recorded in his diary Sri Ramakrishna's conversations with his devotees. These are the first directly recorded words, in the spiritual history of the world, of a man recognized as belonging in the class of Buddha and Christ. The present volume is a translation of this diary. Mahendra was instrumental, through his personal contacts, in spreading the Master's message among many young and aspiring souls. --- NAG MAHASHAY Durgacharan Nag, also known as Nag Mahashay, was the ideal householder among the lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna. He was the embodiment of the Master's ideal of life in the world, unstained by worldliness. In spite of his intense desire to become a sannyasi, Sri Ramakrishna asked him to live in the world in the spirit of a monk, and the disciple truly carried out this injunction. He was born of a poor family and even during his boyhood often sacrificed everything to lessen the sufferings of the needy. He had married at an early age and after his wife's death had married a se cond time to obey his father's command. But he once said to his wife: "Love on the physical level never lasts. He is indeed blessed who can give his love to God with his whole heart. Even a little attachment to the body endures for several births. So do not be attached to this cage of bone and flesh. Take shelter at the feet of the Mother and think of Her alone. Thus your life here and hereafter will be ennobled." The Master spoke of him as a "blazing light". He received every word of Sri Ramakrishna in dead earnest. One day he heard the Master saying that it was difficult for doctors, lawyers, and brokers to make much progress in spirituality. Of doctors he said, "If the mind clings to the tiny drops of medicine, how can it conceive of the Infinite?" That was the end of Durgacharan's medical practice and he threw his chest of medicines into the Ganges. Sri Ramakrishna assured him that he would not lack simple food and clothing. He bade him serve holy men. On being asked where he would find real holy men, the Master said that the sadhus themselves would seek his company. No sannyasi could have lived a more austere life than Durgacharan. --- GIRISH GHOSH Girish Chandra Ghosh was a born rebel against God, a sceptic, a Bohemian, a drunkard. He was the greatest Bengali dramatist of his time, the father of the modem Bengali stage. Like other young men he had imbibed all the vices of the West. He had plunged into a life of dissipation and had become convinced that religion was only a fraud. Materialistic philosophy he justified as enabling one to get at least a little fun out of life. But a series of reverses shocked him and he became eager to solve the riddle of life. He had heard people say that in spiritual life the help of a guru was imperative and that the guru was to be regarded as God Himself. But Girish was too well acquainted with human nature to see perfection in a man. His first meeting with Sri Ramakrishna did not impress him at all. He returned home feeling as if he had seen a freak at a circus; for the Master, in a semi- conscious mood, had inquired whether it was evening, though the lamps were burning in the room. But their paths often crossed, and Girish could not avoid further encounters. The Master attended a performance in Girish's Star Theatre. On this occasion, too, Girish found nothing impressive about him. One day, however, Girish happened to see the Master dancing and singing with the devotees. He felt the contagion and wanted to join them, but restrained himself for fear of ridicule. Another day Sri Ramakrishna was about to give him spiritual instruction, when Girish said: "I don't want to listen to instructions. I have myself written many instructions. They are of no use to me. Please help me in a more tangible way If you can." This pleased the Master and he asked Girish to cultivate faith.
As time passed, Girish began to learn that the guru is the one who silently unfolds the disciple's inner life. He became a steadfast devotee of the Master. He often loaded the Master with insults, drank in his presence, and took liberties which astounded the other devotees. But the Master knew that at heart Girish was tender, faithful, and sincere. He would not allow Girish to give up the theatre. And when a devotee asked him to tell Girish to give up drinking, he sternly replied: "That is none of your business. He who has taken charge of him will look after him. Girish is a devotee of heroic type. I tell you, drinking will not affect him." The Master knew that mere words could not induce a man to break deep-rooted habits, but that the silent influence of love worked miracles. Therefore he never asked him to give up alcohol, with the result that Girish himself eventually broke the habit. Sri Ramakrishna had strengthened Girish's resolution by allowing him to feel that he was absolutely free.
One day Girish felt depressed because he was unable to submit to any routine of spiritual discipline. In an exalted mood the Master said to him: "All right, give me your power of attorney. Henceforth I assume responsibility for you. You need not do anything." Girish heaved a sigh of relief. He felt happy to think that Sri Ramakrishna had assumed his spiritual responsibilities. But poor Girish could not then realize that He also, on his part, had to give up his freedom and make of himself a puppet in Sri Ramakrishna's hands. The Master began to discipline him according to this new attitude. One day Girish said about a trifling matter, "Yes, I shall do this." "No, no!" the Master corrected him. "You must not speak in that egotistic manner. You should say, 'God willing, I shall do it.'" Girish understood. Thenceforth he tried to give up all idea of personal responsibility and surrender himself to the Divine Will. His mind began to dwell constantly on Sri Ramakrishna. This un conscious meditation in time chastened his turbulent spirit.
The householder devotees generally visited Sri Ramakrishna on Sunday afternoons and other holidays. Thus a brotherhood was gradually formed, and the Master encouraged their fraternal feeling. Now and then he would accept an invitation to a devotee's home, where other devotees would also be invited. Kirtan would be arranged and they would spend hours in dance and devotional music. The Master would go into trances or open his heart in religious discourses and in the narration of his own spiritual experiences. Many people who could not go to Dakshineswar participated in these meetings and felt blessed. Such an occasion would be concluded with a sumptuous feast.
But it was in the company of his younger devotees, pure souls yet unstained by the touch of worldliness, that Sri Ramakrishna took greatest joy. Among the young men who later embraced the householder's life were Narayan, Paitu, the younger Naren, Tejchandra, and Purna. These visited the Master sometimes against strong opposition from home.
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The Europeanized Kristodas Pal did not approve of the Master's emphasis on renunciation and said; "Sir, this cant of renunciation has almost ruined the country. It is for this reason that the Indians are a subject nation today. Doing good to others, bringing education to the door of the ignorant, and above all, improving the material conditions of the country — these should be our duty now. The cry of religion and renunciation would, on the contrary, only weaken us. You should advise the young men of Bengal to resort only to such acts as will uplift the country." Sri Ramakrishna gave him a searching look and found no divine light within, "You man of poor understanding!" Sri Ramakrishna said sharply. "You dare to slight in these terms renunciation and piety, which our scriptures describe as the greatest of all virtues! After reading two pages of English you think you have come to know the world! You appear to think you are omniscient. Well, have you seen those tiny crabs that are born in the Ganges just when the rains set in? In this big universe you are even less significant than one of those small creatures. How dare you talk of helping the world? The Lord will look to that. You haven't the power in you to do it." After a pause the Master continued: "Can you explain to me how you can work for others? I know what you mean by helping them. To feed a number of persons, to treat them when they are sick, to construct a road or dig a well — isn't that all? These, are good deeds, no doubt, but how trifling in comparison with the vastness of the universe! How far can a man advance in this line? How many people can you save from famine? Malaria has ruined a whole province; what could you do to stop its onslaught? God alone looks after the world. Let a man first realize Him. Let a man get the authority from God and be endowed with His power; then, and then alone, may he think of doing good to others. A man should first be purged of all egotism. Then alone will the Blissful Mother ask him to work for the world." Sri Ramakrishna mistrusted philanthropy that presumed to pose as charity. He warned people against it. He saw in most acts of philanthropy nothing but egotism, vanity, a desire for glory, a barren excitement to kill the boredom of life, or an attempt to soothe a guilty conscience. True charity, he taught, is the result of love of God — service to man in a spirit of worship. --- MONASTIC DISCIPLES --
Narendra was born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863, of an aristocratic kayastha family. His mother was steeped in the great Hindu epics, and his father, a distinguished attorney of the Calcutta High Court, was an agnostic about religion, a friend of the poor, and a mocker at social conventions. Even in his boyhood and youth Narendra possessed great physical courage and presence of mind, a vivid imagination, deep power of thought, keen intelligence, an extraordinary memory, a love of truth, a passion for purity, a spirit of independence, and a tender heart. An expert musician, he also acquired proficiency in physics, astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, history, and literature. He grew up into an extremely handsome young man. Even as a child he practised meditation and showed great power of concentration. Though free and passionate in word and action, he took the vow of austere religious chastity and never allowed the fire of purity to be extinguished by the slightest defilement of body or soul.
As he read in college the rationalistic Western philosophers of the nineteenth century, his boyhood faith in God and religion was unsettled. He would not accept religion on mere faith; he wanted demonstration of God. But very soon his passionate nature discovered that mere Universal Reason was cold and bloodless. His emotional nature, dissatisfied with a mere abstraction, required a concrete support to help him in the hours of temptation. He wanted an external power, a guru, who by embodying perfection in the flesh would still the commotion of his soul. Attracted by the magnetic personality of Keshab, he joined the Brahmo Samaj and became a singer in its choir. But in the Samaj he did not find the guru who could say that he had seen God.
In a state of mental conflict and torture of soul, Narendra came to Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. He was then eighteen years of age and had been in college two years. He entered the Master's room accompanied by some light-hearted friends. At Sri Ramakrishna's request he sang a few songs, pouring his whole soul into them, and the Master went into samadhi. A few minutes later Sri Ramakrishna suddenly left his seat, took Narendra by the hand, and led him to the screened verandah north of his room. They were alone. Addressing Narendra most tenderly, as if he were a friend of long acquaintance, the Master said: "Ah! You have come very late. Why have you been so unkind as to make me wait all these days? My ears are tired of hearing the futile words of worldly men. Oh, how I have longed to pour my spirit into the heart of someone fitted to receive my message!" He talked thus, sobbing all the time. Then, standing before Narendra with folded hands, he addressed him as Narayana, born on earth to remove the misery of humanity. Grasping Narendra's hand, he asked him to come again, alone, and very soon. Narendra was startled. "What is this I have come to see?" he said to himself. "He must be stark mad. Why, I am the son of Viswanath Dutta. How dare he speak this way to me?"
When they returned to the room and Narendra heard the Master speaking to others, he was surprised to find in his words an inner logic, a striking sincerity, and a convincing proof of his spiritual nature. In answer to Narendra's question, "Sir, have you seen God?" the Master said: "Yes, I have seen God. I have seen Him more tangibly than I see you. I have talked to Him more intimately than I am talking to you." continuing, the Master said: "But, my child, who wants to see God? People shed jugs of tears for money, wife, and children. But if they would weep for God for only one day they would surely see Him." Narendra was amazed. These words he could not doubt. This was the first time he had ever heard a man saying that he had seen God. But he could not re concile these words of the Master with the scene that had taken place on the verandah only a few minutes before. He concluded that Sri Ramakrishna was a monomaniac, and returned home rather puzzled in mind.
During his se cond visit, about a month later, suddenly, at the touch of the Master, Narendra felt overwhelmed and saw the walls of the room and everything around him whirling and vanishing. "What are you doing to me?" he cried in terror. "I have my father and mother at home." He saw his own ego and the whole universe almost swallowed in a nameless void. With a laugh the Master easily restored him. Narendra thought he might have been hypnotized, but he could not understand how a monomaniac could cast a spell over the mind of a strong person like himself. He returned home more confused than ever, resolved to be henceforth on his guard before this strange man.
But during his third visit Narendra fared no better. This time, at the Master's touch, he lost consciousness entirely. While he was still in that state, Sri Ramakrishna questioned him concerning his spiritual antecedents and whereabouts, his mission in this world, and the duration of his mortal life. The answers confirmed what the Master himself had known and inferred. Among other things, he came to know that Narendra was a sage who had already attained perfection, and that the day he learnt his real nature he would give up his body in yoga, by an act of will.
A few more meetings completely removed from Narendra's mind the last traces of the notion that Sri Ramakrishna might be a monomaniac or wily hypnotist. His integrity, purity, renunciation, and unselfishness were beyond question. But Narendra could not accept a man, an imperfect mortal, as his guru. As a member of the Brahmo Samaj, he could not believe that a human intermediary was necessary between man and God. Moreover, he openly laughed at Sri Ramakrishna's visions as hallucinations. Yet in the secret chamber of his heart he bore a great love for the Master.
Sri Ramakrishna was grateful to the Divine Mother for sending him one who doubted his own realizations. Often he asked Narendra to test him as the money-changers test their coins. He laughed at Narendra's biting criticism of his spiritual experiences and samadhi. When at times Narendra's sharp words distressed him, the Divine Mother Herself would console him, saying: "Why do you listen to him? In a few days he will believe your every word." He could hardly bear Narendra's absences. Often he would weep bitterly for the sight of him. Sometimes Narendra would find the Master's love embarrassing; and one day he sharply scolded him, warning him that such infatuation would soon draw him down to the level of its object. The Master was distressed and prayed to the Divine Mother. Then he said to Narendra: "You rogue, I won't listen to you any more. Mother says that I love you because I see God in you, and the day I no longer see God in you I shall not be able to bear even the sight of you."
The Master wanted to train Narendra in the teachings of the non-dualistic Vedanta philosophy. But Narendra, because of his Brahmo upbringing, considered it wholly blasphemous to look on man as one with his Creator. One day at the temple garden he laughingly said to a friend: "How silly! This jug is God! This cup is God! Whatever we see is God! And we too are God! Nothing could be more absurd." Sri Ramakrishna came out of his room and gently touched him. Spellbound, he immediately perceived that everything in the world was indeed God. A new universe opened around him. Returning home in a dazed state, he found there too that the food, the plate, the eater himself, the people around him, were all God. When he walked in the street, he saw that the cabs, the horses, the streams of people, the buildings, were all Brahman. He could hardly go about his day's business. His parents became anxious about him and thought him ill. And when the intensity of the experience abated a little, he saw the world as a dream. Walking in the public square, he would strike his head against the iron railings to know whether they were real. It took him a number of days to recover his normal self. He had a foretaste of the great experiences yet to come and realized that the words of the Vedanta were true.
At the beginning of 1884 Narendra's father suddenly died of heart-failure, leaving the family in a state of utmost poverty. There were six or seven mouths to feed at home. Creditors were knocking at the door. Relatives who had accepted his father's unstinted kindness now became enemies, some even bringing suit to deprive Narendra of his ancestral home. Actually starving and barefoot, Narendra searched for a job, but without success. He began to doubt whether anywhere in the world there was such a thing as unselfish sympathy. Two rich women made evil proposals to him and promised to put an end to his distress; but he refused them with contempt.
Narendra began to talk of his doubt of the very existence of God. His friends thought he had become an atheist, and piously circulated gossip adducing unmentionable motives for his unbelief. His moral character was maligned. Even some of the Master's disciples partly believed the gossip, and Narendra told these to their faces that only a coward believed in God through fear of suffering or hell. But he was distressed to think that Sri Ramakrishna, too, might believe these false reports. His pride revolted. He said to himself: "What does it matter? If a man's good name rests on such slender foundations, I don't care." But later on he was amazed to learn that the Master had never lost faith in him. To a disciple who complained about Narendra's degradation, Sri Ramakrishna replied: "Hush, you fool! The Mother has told me it can never be so. I won't look at you if you speak that way again."
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This was a very rich and significant experience for Narendra. It taught him that Sakti, the Divine Power, cannot be ignored in the world and that in the relative plane the need of worshipping a Personal God is imperative. Sri Ramakrishna was overjoyed with the conversion. The next day, sitting almost on Narendra's lap, he said to a devotee, pointing first to himself, then to Narendra: "I see I am this, and again that. Really I feel no difference. A stick floating in the Ganges seems to divide the water; But in reality the water is one. Do you see my point? Well, whatever is, is the Mother — isn't that so?" In later years Narendra would say: "Sri Ramakrishna was the only person who, from the time he met me, believed in me uniformly throughout. Even my mother and brothers did not. It was his unwavering trust and love for me that bound me to him for ever. He alone knew how to love. Worldly people, only make a show of love for selfish ends. --- TARAK --
Nitya Niranjan Sen was a disciple of heroic type. He came to the Master when he was eighteen years old. He was a medium for a group of spiritualists. During his first visit the Master said to him: "My boy, if you think always of ghosts you will become a ghost, and if you think of God you will become God. Now, which do you prefer?" Niranjan severed all connexions with the spiritualists. During his se cond visit the Master embraced him and said warmly: "Niranjan, my boy, the days are flitting away. When will you realize God? This life will be in vain if you do not realize Him. When will you devote your mind wholly to God?" Niranjan was surprised to see the Master's great anxiety for his spiritual welfare. He was a young man endowed with unusual spiritual parts. He felt disdain for worldly pleasures and was totally guileless, like a child. But he had a violent temper. One day, as he was coming in a country boat to Dakshineswar, some of his fellow passengers began to speak ill of the Master. Finding his protest futile, Niranjan began to rock the boat, threatening to sink it in mid stream. That silenced the offenders. When he reported the incident to the Master, he was rebuked for his inability to curb his anger. --- JOGINDRA Jogindranath, on the other hand, was gentle to a fault. One day, under circumstances very like those that had evoked Niranjan's anger, he curbed his temper and held his peace instead of threatening Sri Ramakrishna's abusers. The Master, learning of his conduct, scolded him roundly. Thus to each the fault of the other was recommended as a virtue. The guru was striving to develop, in the first instance, composure, and in the se cond, mettle. The secret of his training was to build up, by a tactful recognition of the requirements of each given case, the character of the devotee.
Jogindranath came of an aristocratic brahmin family of Dakshineswar. His father and relatives shared the popular mistrust of Sri Ramakrishna's sanity. At a very early age the boy developed religious tendencies, spending two or three hours daily in meditation, and his meeting with Sri Ramakrishna deepened his desire for the realization of God. He had a perfect horror of marriage. But at the earnest request of his mother he had had to yield, and he now believed that his spiritual future was doomed. So he kept himself away from the Master.
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With his woman devotees Sri Ramakrishna established a very sweet relationship. He himself embodied the tender traits of a woman: he had dwelt on the highest plane of Truth, where there is not even the slightest trace of sex; and his innate purity evoked only the noblest emotion in men and women alike. His woman devotees often said: "We seldom looked on Sri Ramakrishna as a member of the male sex. We regarded him as one of us. We never felt any constraint before him. He was our best confidant." They loved him as their child, their friend, and their teacher. In spiritual discipline he advised them to renounce lust and greed and especially warned them not to fall into the snares of men. --- GOPAL MA Unsurpassed among the woman devotees of the Master in the richness of her devotion and spiritual experiences was Aghoremani Devi, an orthodox brahmin woman. Widowed at an early age, she had dedicated herself completely to spiritual pursuits. Gopala, the Baby Krishna, was her Ideal Deity, whom she worshipped following the vatsalya attitude of the Vaishnava religion, regarding Him as her own child. Through Him she satisfied her unassuaged maternal love, cooking for Him, feeding Him, bathing Him, and putting Him to bed. This sweet intimacy with Gopala won her the sobriquet of Gopal Ma, or Gopala's Mother. For forty years she had lived on the bank of the Ganges in a small, bare room, her only companions being a threadbare copy of the Ramayana and a bag containing her rosary. At the age of sixty, in 1884, she visited Sri Ramakrishna at Dakshineswar. During the se cond visit, as soon as the Master saw her, he said: "Oh, you have come! Give me something to eat." With great hesitation she gave him some ordinary sweets that she had purchased for him on the way. The Master ate them with relish and asked her to bring him simple curries or sweets prepared by her own hands. Gopal Ma thought him a queer kind of monk, for, instead of talking of God, he always asked for food. She did not want to visit him again, but an irresistible attraction brought her back to the temple garden; She carried with her some simple curries that she had cooked herself.
One early morning at three o'clock, about a year later, Gopal Ma was about to finish her daily devotions, when she was startled to find Sri Ramakrishna sitting on her left, with his right hand clenched, like the hand of the image of Gopala. She was amazed and caught hold of the hand, whereupon the figure vanished and in its place appeared the real Gopala, her Ideal Deity. She cried aloud with joy. Gopala begged her for butter. She pleaded her poverty and gave Him some dry co conut candies. Gopala, sat on her lap, snatched away her rosary, jumped on her shoulders, and moved all about the room. As soon as the day broke she hastened to Dakshineswar like an insane woman. Of course Gopala accompanied her, resting His head on her shoulder. She clearly saw His tiny ruddy feet hanging over her breast. She entered Sri Ramakrishna's room. The Master had fallen into samadhi. Like a child, he sat on her lap, and she began to feed him with butter, cream, and other delicacies. After some time he regained consciousness and returned to his bed. But the mind of Gopala's Mother was still roaming in another plane. She was steeped in bliss. She saw Gopala frequently entering the Master's body and again coming out of it. When she returned to her hut, still in a dazed condition, Gopala accompanied her.
She spent about two months in uninterrupted communion with God, the Baby Gopala never leaving her for a moment. Then the intensity of her vision was lessened; had it not been, her body would have perished. The Master spoke highly of her exalted spiritual condition and said that such vision of God was a rare thing for ordinary mortals. The fun-loving Master one day confronted the critical Narendranath with this simple-minded woman. No two could have presented a more striking contrast. The Master knew of Narendra's lofty contempt for all visions, and he asked the old lady to narrate her experiences to Narendra. With great hesitation she told him her story. Now and then she interrupted her maternal chatter to ask Narendra: "My son, I am a poor ignorant woman. I don't understand anything. You are so learned. Now tell me if these visions of Gopala are true." As Narendra listened to the story he was profoundly moved. He said, "Yes, mother, they are quite true." Behind his cynicism Narendra, too, possessed a heart full of love and tenderness. --- THE MARCH OF EVENTS In 1881 Hriday was dismissed from service in the Kali temple, for an act of indiscretion, and was ordered by the authorities never again to enter the garden. In a way the hand of the Divine Mother may be seen even in this. Having taken care of Sri Ramakrishna during the stormy days of his spiritual discipline, Hriday had come naturally to consider himself the sole guardian of his uncle. None could approach the Master without his knowledge. And he would be extremely jealous if Sri Ramakrishna paid attention to anyone else. Hriday's removal made it possible for the real devotees of the Master to approach him freely and live with him in the temple garden.
During the week-ends the householders, enjoying a respite from their office duties, visited the Master. The meetings on Sunday afternoons were of the nature of little festivals. Refreshments were often served. Professional musicians now and then sang devotional songs. The Master and the devotees sang and danced, Sri Ramakrishna frequently going into ecstatic moods. The happy memory of such a Sunday would linger long in the minds of the devotees. Those whom the Master wanted for special instruction he would ask to visit him on Tuesdays and Saturdays. These days were particularly auspicious for the worship of Kali.
The young disciples destined to be monks, Sri Ramakrishna invited on week-days, when the householders were not present. The training of the householders and of the future monks had to proceed along entirely different lines. Since M. generally visited the Master on week-ends, the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna does not contain much mention of the future monastic disciples.
Finally, there was a handful of fortunate disciples, householders as well as youngsters, who were privileged to spend nights with the Master in his room. They would see him get up early in the morning and walk up and down the room, singing in his sweet voice and tenderly communing with the Mother.
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One day, in January 1884, the Master was going toward the pine-grove when he went into a trance. He was alone. There was no one to support him or guide his footsteps. He fell to the ground and dislocated a bone in his left arm. This accident had a significant influence on his mind, the natural inclination of which was to soar above the consciousness of the body. The acute pain in the arm forced his mind to dwell on the body and on the world outside. But he saw even in this a divine purpose; for, with his mind compelled to dwell on the physical plane, he realized more than ever that he was an instrument in the hand of the Divine Mother, who had a mission to fulfil through his human body and mind. He also distinctly found that in the phenomenal world God manifests Himself, in an inscrutable way, through diverse human beings, both good and evil. Thus he would speak of God in the guise of the wicked, God in the guise of the pious. God in the guise of the hypocrite, God in the guise of the lewd. He began to take a special delight in watching the divine play in the relative world. Sometimes the sweet human relationship with God would appear to him more appealing than the all-effacing Knowledge of Brahman. Many a time he would pray: "Mother, don't make me un conscious through the Knowledge of Brahman. Don't give me Brahmajnana, Mother. Am I not Your child, and naturally timid? I must have my Mother. A million salutations to the Knowledge of Brahman! Give it to those who want it." Again he prayed: "O Mother let me remain in contact with men! Don't make me a dried-up ascetic. I want to enjoy Your sport in the world." He was able to taste this very rich divine experience and enjoy the love of God and the company of His devotees because his mind, on account of the injury to his arm, was forced to come down to the consciousness of the body. Again, he would make fun of people who proclaimed him as a Divine Incarnation, by pointing to his broken arm. He would say, "Have you ever heard of God breaking His arm?" It took the arm about five months to heal. --- BEGINNING OF HIS ILLNESS In April 1885 the Master's throat became inflamed. Prolonged conversation or absorption in samadhi, making the blood flow into the throat, would aggravate the pain. Yet when the annual Vaishnava festival was celebrated at Panihati, Sri Ramakrishna attended it against the doctor's advice. With a group of disciples he spent himself in music, dance, and ecstasy. The illness took a turn for the worse and was diagnosed as "clergyman's sore throat". The patient was cautioned against conversation and ecstasies. Though he followed the physician's directions regarding medicine and diet, he could neither control his trances nor withhold from seekers the solace of his advice. Sometimes, like a sulky child, he would complain to the Mother about the crowds, who gave him no rest day or night. He was overheard to say to Her; "Why do You bring here all these worthless people, who are like milk diluted with five times its own quantity of water? My eyes are almost destroyed with blowing the fire to dry up the water. My health is gone. It is beyond my strength. Do it Yourself, if You want it done. This (pointing to his own body) is but a perforated drum, and if you go on beating it day in and day out, how long will it last?"
But his large heart never turned anyone away. He said, "Let me be condemned to be born over and over again, even in the form of a dog, if I can be of help to a single soul." And he bore the pain, singing cheerfully, "Let the body be preoccupied with illness, but, O mind, dwell for ever in God's Bliss!"
One night he had a hemorrhage of the throat. The doctor now diagnosed the illness as cancer. Narendra was the first to break this heart-rending news to the disciples. Within three days the Master was removed to Calcutta for better treatment. At Balaram's house he remained a week until a suitable place could be found at Syampukur, in the northern section of Calcutta. During this week he dedicated himself practically without respite to the instruction of those beloved devotees who had been unable to visit him oftener at Dakshineswar. Discourses incessantly flowed from his tongue, and he often went into samadhi. Dr. Mahendra Sarkar, the celebrated homeopath of Calcutta, was invited to undertake his treatment.
--
In the beginning of September 1885 Sri Ramakrishna was moved to Syampukur. Here Narendra organized the young disciples to attend the Master day and night. At first they concealed the Master's illness from their guardians; but when it became more serious they remained with him almost constantly, sweeping aside the objections of their relatives and devoting themselves whole-heartedly to the nursing of their beloved guru. These young men, under the watchful eyes of the Master and the leadership of Narendra, became the antaranga bhaktas, the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna's inner circle. They were privileged to witness many manifestations of the Master's divine powers. Narendra received instructions regarding the propagation of his message after his death.
The Holy Mother — so Sarada Devi had come to be affectionately known by Sri Ramakrishna's devotees — was brought from Dakshineswar to look after the general cooking and to prepare the special diet of the patient. The dwelling space being extremely limited, she had to adapt herself to cramped conditions. At three o'clock in the morning she would finish her bath in the Ganges and then enter a small covered place on the roof, where she spent the whole day cooking and praying. After eleven at night, when the visitors went away, she would come down to her small bedroom on the first floor to enjoy a few hours' sleep. Thus she spent three months, working hard, sleeping little, and praying constantly for the Master's recovery.
At Syampukur the devotees led an intense life. Their attendance on the Master was in itself a form of spiritual discipline. His mind was constantly soaring to an exalted plane of consciousness. Now and then they would catch the contagion of his spiritual fervour. They sought to divine the meaning of this illness of the Master, whom most of them had accepted as an Incarnation of God. One group, headed by Girish with his robust optimism and great power of imagination, believed that the illness was a mere pretext to serve a deeper purpose. The Master had willed his illness in order to bring the devotees together and promote solidarity among them. As soon as this purpose was served, he would himself get rid of the disease. A se cond group thought that the Divine Mother, in whose hand the Master was an instrument, had brought about this illness to serve Her own mysterious ends. But the young rationalists, led by Narendra, refused to ascribe a
supernatural cause to a natural phenomenon. They believed that the Master's body, a material thing, was subject, like all other material things, to physical laws. Growth, development, decay, and death were laws of nature to which the Master's body could not but respond. But though holding differing views, they all believed that it was to him alone that they must look for the attainment of their spiritual goal.
In spite of the physician's efforts and the prayers and nursing of the devotees, the illness rapidly progressed. The pain sometimes appeared to be unbearable. The Master lived only on liquid food, and his frail body was becoming a mere skeleton. Yet his face always radiated joy, and he continued to welcome the visitors pouring in to receive his blessing. When certain zealous devotees tried to keep the visitors away, they were told by Girish, "You cannot succeed in it; he has been born for this very purpose — to sacrifice himself for the redemption of others."
The more the body was devastated by illness, the more it became the habitation of the Divine Spirit. Through its transparency the gods and goddesses began to shine with ever increasing luminosity. On the day of the Kali Puja the devotees clearly saw in him the manifestation of the Divine Mother.
It was noticed at this time that some of the devotees were making an unbridled display of their emotions. A number of them, particularly among the householders, began to cultivate, though at first un consciously, the art of shedding tears, shaking the body, contorting the face, and going into trances, attempting thereby to imitate the Master. They began openly to declare Sri Ramakrishna a Divine Incarnation and to regard themselves as his chosen people, who could neglect religious disciplines with impunity. Narendra's penetrating eye soon sized up the situation. He found out that some of these external manifestations were being carefully practised at home, while some were the outcome of malnutrition, mental weakness, or nervous debility. He mercilessly exposed the devotees who were pretending to have visions, and asked all to develop a healthy religious spirit. Narendra sang inspiring songs for the younger devotees, read with them the Imitation of Christ and the Gita, and held before them the positive ideals of spirituality. --- LAST DAYS AT COSSIPORE --
It was at Cossipore that the curtain fell on the varied activities of the Master's life on the physical plane. His soul lingered in the body eight months more. It was the period of his great Passion, a constant crucifixion of the body and the triumphant revelation of the Soul. Here one sees the humanity and divinity of the Master passing and repassing across a thin border line. Every minute of those eight months was suffused with touching tenderness of heart and breath-taking elevation of spirit. Every word he uttered was full of pathos and sublimity.
It took the group only a few days to become adjusted to the new environment. The Holy Mother, assisted by Sri Ramakrishna's niece, Lakshmi Devi, and a few woman devotees, took charge of the cooking for the Master and his attendants. Surendra willingly bore the major portion of the expenses, other householders contributing according to their means. Twelve disciples were constant attendants of the Master: Narendra, Rakhal, Baburam, Niranjan, Jogin, Latu, Tarak, the-elder Gopal, Kali, Sashi, Sarat, and the younger Gopal. Sarada, Harish, Hari, Gangadhar, and Tulasi visited the Master from time to time and practised sadhana at home. Narendra, preparing for his law examination, brought his books to the garden house in order to continue his studies during the infrequent spare moments. He encouraged his brother disciples to intensify their meditation, scriptural studies, and other spiritual disciplines. They all forgot their relatives and their
worldly duties.
Among the attendants Sashi was the embodiment of service. He did not practise meditation, japa, or any of the other disciplines followed by his brother devotees. He was convinced that service to the guru was the only religion for him. He forgot food and rest and was ever ready at the Master's bedside.
Pundit Shashadhar one day suggested to the Master that the latter could remove the illness by concentrating his mind on the throat, the scriptures having declared that yogis had power to cure themselves in that way. The Master rebuked the pundit. "For a scholar like you to make such a proposal!" he said. "How can I withdraw the mind from the Lotus Feet of God and turn it to this worthless cage of flesh and blood?" "For our sake at least", begged Narendra and the other disciples. "But", replied Sri Ramakrishna, do you think I enjoy this suffering? I wish to recover, but that depends on the Mother."
NARENDRA: "Then please pray to Her. She must listen to you."
--
Narendra, consumed with a terrific fever for realization, complained to the Master that all the others had attained peace and that he alone was dissatisfied. The Master asked what he wanted. Narendra begged for samadhi, so that he might altogether forget the world for three or four days at a time. "You are a fool", the Master rebuked him. "There is a state even higher than that. Isn't it you who sing, 'All that exists art Thou'? First of all settle your family affairs and then come to me. You will experience a state even higher than samadhi."
The Master did not hide the fact that he wished to make Narendra his spiritual heir. Narendra was to continue the work after Sri Ramakrishna's passing. Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "I leave these young men in your charge. See that they develop their spirituality and do not return home." One day he asked the boys, in preparation for a monastic life, to beg their food from door to door without thought of caste. They hailed the Master's order and went out with begging-bowls. A few days later he gave the ochre cloth of the sannyasi to each of them, including Girish, who was now se cond to none in his spirit of renunciation. Thus the Master himself laid the foundation of the future Ramakrishna Order of monks.
Sri Ramakrishna was sinking day by day. His diet was reduced to a minimum and he found it almost impossible to swallow. He whispered to M.: "I am bearing all this cheerfully, for otherwise you would be weeping. If you all say that it is better that the body should go rather than suffer this torture, I am willing." The next morning he said to his depressed disciples seated near the bed: "Do you know what I see? I see that God alone has become everything. Men and animals are only frameworks covered with skin, and it is He who is moving through their heads and limbs. I see that it is God Himself who has become the block, the executioner, and the victim for the sacrifice.' He fainted with emotion. Regaining partial consciousness, he said: "Now I have no pain. I am very well." Looking at Latu he said: "There sits Latu resting his head on the palm of his hand. To me it is the Lord who is seated in that posture."
The words were tender and touching. Like a mother he caressed Narendra and Rakhal, gently stroking their faces. He said in a half whisper to M., "Had this body been allowed to last a little longer, many more souls would have been illumined." He paused a moment and then said: "But Mother has ordained otherwise. She will take me away lest, finding me guileless and foolish, people should take advantage of me and persuade me to bestow on them the rare gifts of spirituality." A few minutes later he touched his chest and said: "Here are two beings. One is She and the other is Her devotee. It is the latter who broke his arm, and it is he again who is now ill. Do you understand me?" After a pause he added: "Alas! To whom shall I tell all this? Who will understand me?" "Pain", he consoled them again, 'is unavoidable as long as there is a body. The Lord takes on the body for the sake of His devotees."
Yet one is not sure whether the Master's soul actually was tortured by this agonizing disease. At least during his moments of spiritual exaltation — which became almost constant during the closing days of his life on earth — he lost all consciousness of the body, of illness and suffering. One of his attendants (Latu, later known as Swami Adbhutananda.) said later on: "While Sri Ramakrishna lay sick he never actually suffered pain. He would often say: 'O mind! Forget the body, forget the sickness, and remain merged in Bliss.' No, he did not really suffer. At times he would be in a state when the thrill of joy was clearly manifested in his body. Even when he could not speak he would let us know in some way that there was no suffering, and this fact was clearly evident to all who watched him. People who did not understand him thought that his suffering was very great. What spiritual joy he transmitted to us at that time! Could such a thing have been possible if he had 'been suffering physically? It was during this period that he taught us again these truths: 'Brahman is always unattached. The three gunas are in It, but It is unaffected by them, just as the wind carries odour yet remains odourless.' 'Brahman is Infinite Being, Infinite Wisdom, Infinite Bliss. In It there exist no delusion, no misery, no disease, no death, no growth, no decay.' 'The Transcendental Being and the being within are one and the same. There is one indivisible Absolute Existence.'"
The Holy Mother secretly went to a Siva temple across the Ganges to intercede with the Deity for the Master's recovery. In a revelation she was told to prepare herself for the inevitable end.
One day when Narendra was on the ground floor, meditating, the Master was lying awake in his bed upstairs. In the depths of his meditation Narendra felt as though a lamp were burning at the back of his head. Suddenly he lost consciousness. It was the yearned-for, all-effacing experience of nirvikalpa samadhi, when the embodied soul realizes its unity with the Absolute. After a very long time he regained partial consciousness but was unable to find his body. He could see only his head. "Where is my body?" he cried. The elder Gopal entered the room and said, "Why, it is here, Naren!" But Narendra could not find it. Gopal, frightened, ran upstairs to the Master. Sri Ramakrishna only said: "Let him stay that way for a time. He has worried me long enough."
After another long period Narendra regained full consciousness. Bathed in peace, he went to the Master, who said: "Now the Mother has shown you everything. But this revelation will remain under lock and key, and I shall keep the key. When you have accomplished the Mother's work you will find the treasure again."
Some days later, Narendra being alone with the Master, Sri Ramakrishna looked at him and went into samadhi. Narendra felt the penetration of a subtle force and lost all outer consciousness. Regaining presently the normal mood, he found the Master weeping.
Sri Ramakrishna said to him: "Today I have given you my all and I am now only a poor fakir, possessing nothing. By this power you will do immense good in the world, and not until it is accomplished will you return." Henceforth the Master lived in the disciple.
0.00 - Publishers Note C, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The Fifth Volume concludes the first collected edition of the published works of Sri Nolini Kanta Gupta. His more recent as well as unpublished writings await publication.
The present volume consists of three books: Light of Lights, Eight Talks and Sweet Mother; there are also translations from Sanskrit, Pali, Bengali and French. These, along with the translations of the Dhammapada and Charyapada, have been mostly serialised in Ashram journals.
His original writings in French have also been included here. We are grateful to the Government of India for a grant towards meeting the cost of publication of this volume.
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
This book therefore consists of statements as nearly
true as is possible to human language.
--
exclamation. The other chapters contain sometimes a
single word, more frequently from a half-dozen to
--
pretation, others contain obscure allusions, play
upon words, secrets expressed in cryptogram, double
--
"It is interesting in this connection to recall how it
came into my possession. It had occurred to me to
--
my luck', by doing something entirely contrary to
my inclinations. In the midst of my disgust, the
--
beyond a convenient compendium of the more
important truths of Free Masonry.) He said that since
--
GOD the Father and Mother is concealed in Genera-
tion.
GOD is concealed in the whirling energy of Nature.
GOD is manifest in gathering: harmony: considera-
tion: the Mirror of the Sun and of the Heart.
--
Not-Being, the three possible modes of conceiving the universe.
The statement, Nothing is Not , technically equivalent to
--
Qabalah, and constitutes a sort of quintessential comment upon
that system.
--
The chapter many therefore be considered as the most complete
treatise on existence ever written.
--
phraseology of these two lines is so conceived that the
one contains the other more than itself.
Line 8 emphasises the importance of performing
--
identified with the four possible modes of conceiving the
universe; Horus unites these.
--
numbered 1, again connecting all these symbols with
the Phallus.
--
chapter to a contemplation of the Pentagram, con-
sidered as a glyph of the ultimate.
--
"God the Father and Mother is concealed in genera-
tion".
But Chesed, in the lower sense, is conjoined to
Microprosopus. It is the true link between the greater
--
Each world contained a thousand million spheres.
Each sphere contained a thousand million planes.
Each plane contained a thousand million stars.
Each star contained a many thousand million things.
Of these the reasoner took six, and, preening, said:
--
The Adept concentrates the Microcosm in Tiphareth,
recognising an Unity, even in the microcosm, but, qua
--
rises to a glimmer of the universal consciousness, while,
in the orgasm, the mind is blotted out.
--
Duality begat the conjunction.
The conditioned is Father of the Preposition.
The Article also marketh Division; but the Inter-
--
There is no apparent connection between the number
of this chapter and its subject.
--
Jod is the concealed Phallus as opposed to Tau, the
extended Phallus. This chapter should be studied in
--
thus identified with consciousness, the many, and both;
but within this is a secret unity which rejoices; this
unit being far beyond any conception.
[31]
-- concerning the Holy Three-in-Naught.
Nuit, Hadit, Ra-Hoor-Khuit, are only to be under-
--
They are above The Abyss, and contain all con-
tradiction in themselves.
--
predicate; nor is there the contradictory of either
of these things.
-- contradictories are also false, it seems as if That
which I uttered not were true.
-- contradicted, the author being a Master of the Temple.
He thereupon enters into his Samadhi, and he piles contradiction upon contradiction, and thus a higher
degree of rapture, with ever sentence, until his armoury
--
of the Yoni. This again connects with the IO and OI
of paragraph 1, and of course IO is the rapture-cry of
--
this is the cause of most religious controversies.
Paragraph 1, however, is Frater Perdurabo's formula-
-- consummation devoutly to be wished" (Shakespeare).
In the last paragraph the Master urges his pupils to
--
the Adept to mankind. Their hate and contempt are
necessary steps to his acquisition of sovereignty over
--
(11) This chapter must be read in connection with
Wagner's "Parsifal".
--
The chapter must be read in connection with
Chapters 1 and 16.
-- concealed from the leopard do thou feed at thy
pleasure.
--
stealth, a concealment of the real purpose of their lives;
in this way making the best of both worlds. This counsels
--
The universe is conceived as Buddhists, on the one
hand, and Rationalists, on the other, would have us do;
--
love, do barter, die. The wealth of a language con-
sists in its Abstracts; the poorest tongues have
wealth of concretes.
Therefore have Adepts praised silence; at least it
--
For the meaning of the word hriliu consult Liber 418.
[59]
--
The Absolute and the conditioned together make
The One Absolute.
--
The first paragraph should be read in connection
with our previous remarks upon the number 91.
--
But the vulgarians conceive of nothing beyond the
creator, and therefore call him The First.
--
course his nature is fourfold. This Four is conceived
of as the Dyad multiplied by the Dyad; falsehood con-
firming falsehood.
Paragraph 3 introduces a new conception; that of
the square within the hexagram, the universe enclosed
-- contrast to Chapter 15.
The Sorcerer is to be identified with The Brother of
--
Chapter 29 continues Chapter 28.
Note that the word Laylah is the Arabic for "Night".
--
Dreams are imperfections of sleep; even so is con-
sciousness the imperfection of waking.
--
even so is consciousness a disorder of life.
Dreams are without proportion, without good
sense, without truth; so also is consciousness.
Awake from dream, the truth is known:(16) awake
--
This chapter is to read in connection with Chapter 8,
and also with those previous chapters in which the
-- contradictions is definitely inculcated.
The reason is situated in Daath, which corresponds
--
reason under control.
As soon as the reason is vanquished, the garotte is
-- consciousness is a symptom of disease.
All that moves well moves without will.
All skillfulness, all strain, all intention is contrary to
ease.
--
This chapter should be read in conjunction with
Chapters 8 and 30.
--
which was conferred upon Frater P. in the year 1900
of the vulgar era by Don Jesus de Medina-Sidonia in
--
of all sensible cults; it is not to be confused with other
objects of the mystic aviary, such as the swan, phoenix,
--
Absolute and the conditioned are but forms of
THAT.
--
This chapter must be read in connection with
Chapters 1, 3, 4, 8, 15, 16, 18, 24, 28, 29.
The last sentence of paragraph 4 also connects with
the first paragraph of Chapter 26.
--
superior form, the absolute, and the conditions forming
the one absolute.
--
making Dhyana at least on any conceivable thing, at
a se cond's notice; otherwise, the practice would only
--
The same is true of moral and spiritual conditions.
[85]
-- contents of this new consciousness; yet they are
somehow vital. by use they become luminous.
--
reference, to connote partly "booby", partly "lout".
It would thus be a similar word to "Parsifal".
--
But these considerations are not to trouble such mind
as the Chela may possess; let him occupy himself,
--
But this concerns themselves and their administra-
tion; it concerneth none below the grade of
Exempt Adept, and such an one only by com-
--
in no way concern him.
The number 41 is that of the Barren Mother.
--
The chapter should be read most carefully in connection with
the 10th Aethyr. It is to that dramatic experience that it refers.
--
of contradiction.
The word "turbulence" is applied to the Ego to suggest the
--
True life, the life, which has no consciousness of "I", is said to
be choked by this false ego, or rather by the thoughts which its
--
described as a camel, not because of the connotation of the French
form of this word, but because "camel" is in hebrew Gimel, and
-- conical phallus. For wheels, see Chapter 78.
[97]
--
matics is only a matter of arbitrary conventions.
And yet doubt is a good servant but a bad master; a
--
fully studied in this connection. The attitude recom-
mended is scepticism, but a scepticism under control.
Doubt inhibits action, as much as faith binds it. All
--
not concern himself with facts; he does not care whether
a thing is true or not: he uses truth and falsehood in-
discriminately, to serve his ends. Slaves consider him
immoral, an preach against him in Hyde Park.
--
their art is the cause, result, or concomitant of their
private peculiarities.
-- consciousness. /
Yama and Niyama get rid of \ Voluntary
Ethical consciousness. / "Breaks"
Pratyhara gets rid of the Objective.
--
Samadhi destroys the consciousness (Vinnanam).
Homard a la Thermidor destroys the digestion.
--
may be connected with the penultimate paragraph.
The chapter consists of two points of view from which
to regard Yoga, two odes upon a distant prospect of the
--
The chapter should be read in connection with Chapter 31
for IT now reappears.
--
flower, common in Australia, and this connects the chapter
with Chapters 28 and 29; but this is only an allusion, for
--
who is conceived as the feminine counterpart of IT.
This does not agree very well with the common or orthodox
--
In connection with the number 49, see Liber 418, the
22nd Aethyr, as well as the usual authorities.
--
It seems sometimes as if beneath all conscious doubt
there lay some deepest certainty. O kill it! Slay the
--
This chapter should be read in connection with "The
Soldier and the Hunchback" of which it is in some sort
--
suggestion is further strengthened by the concluding phrase
in brackets, "Keep us from evil", since, although it is the
--
symbols connected with it in this place are feminine,
but {Aleph} is also a number of Samadhi and mysticism, and
--
should then be read in connection with Chapters 28, 29,
49.
--
non distributia medii. It is possible that considerations
with Sir Wm. Hamilton's qualification (or quantifica-
--
discover the most formidable secret of that degree con-
cealed in the paragraph.
--
fatherhood; the shame of sex consists in the usurpation
of its function by the unworthy. Sex is a sacrament.
-- conservatism; children must be weaned.
In the penultimate paragraph the words "the new
--
Obviously, that which differentiates your consciousness
from the absolute is part of the content of that con-
sciousness.
--
The chapter consists of a series of complicated puns on 1 and I, with regard
their shape, sound, and that of the figures which resemble them in shape.
--
Paragraph 2 shows the Lingam and Yoni as, in conjunction, the foundation of
ecstasy (I)!), and of the complete symbol I A O.
--
Tarot has a crosspiece. This is in connection with the Hindu doctrine, express
in their injunction, "Fry your seeds". Act so as to balance your past Karma,
-- conditioned-the Absolute.
Burning up i the Flame of his Prayer, and born
-- conSTANCY
I was discussing oysters with a crony:
--
"Yet the last height of consolation's cold:
Its pinnacle is-not to be consoled!
"And though I sleep with Janefore and Eleanor
-- conceived their task was finished: they retired.
I turned upon my friend, and, breaking bounds,
--
mission was to rouse him to confidence and action.
[139]
-- connect with Laylah.
[141]
--
the author exalts above God, in continuation of the
reasonings given in Chapter 56 and 63. She is
-- consume your dust to ashes!
[144]
--
prophets encountered similar difficulties in con-
vincing their hearers. (3) Their food was not equal to
--
kinetically considered, is the symbol of directed force.
In the first three paragraphs this formation of the
--
The remaining paragraphs continue the Gallic
symbolism.
--
to the confessions made by many witches.
I paragraph 7 is seen the meaning of the chapter;
--
There are three consecutive verses in the Pentateuch,
each containing 72 letters. If these be written beneath
each other, the middle verse bring reversed, i.e. as in
--
on several planes, and is not always conferred on all of these simultaneously.
Intellectual and moral perception of truth often, one might almost say usually,
--
one conceives the half-humorous attitude of the expert towards the beginner.
Paragraph 3 is a comment in the same tone of rough good nature. The word
--
Fourth conjugations.
The reason for thus addresing the reader is that he has now transcended the
--
he is actually crossing the Abyss; the student must consult the account of this
given in "The Temple of Solomon the King".
--
When NOTHING became conscious, it made a bad
bargain.
This consciousness acquired individuality: a worse
bargain.
--
The pain of consciousness, the curse of thought?
Even were I THAT, there still were one sore
--
indicated in various chapters. It is quite conventional
mysticism.
--
step 2, the concentration of Ain Soph Aour in Kether;
step 3, duality and the rest of it down to Malkuth;
--
the consequent ruin of the Tree of Life.
Part 2 show the impossibility of stopping on the
--
paragraph 1, the plover's egg being often contemporary
with the early strawberry.
--
No, some negative conception beyond the IT spoken of in Chapters 31, 49
and elsewhere.
--
No, the refusal to be content with any of this.
But all this is again only a glamour of Maya, as previously observed in the
--
The word "neigh" is a pun on "nay", which refers to the negative conception
already postulated as beyond IT. The suggestion is, that there may be somethin
--
The first section of the title is an analysis of 77 considered
as a mystic number.
--
humbly, yet with confidence-as a means of redemption to
the world of sorrowing men.
--
the TARO alone avails thee consciously.
Meditate long and broad and deep, O man, upon this
-- conventional mystic one; stop thought at its source!
Five wheels are mentioned in this chapter; all but
-- contemplated as a phenomenon in time.
[167]
--
its ecstasies are only transitory, is contemptible.
Paragraph 5. Coote is a blackmailer exposed by The
--
Frater P. continues the subject of Chapter 79.
He pictures himself as a vigorous, reckless, almost
--
The subject of the chapter is consequently corollary
to Chapters 79 and 80, the ethics of Adept life.
--
reduced the Many to Naught; as a consequence, he
is no longer afraid of the Many.
--
WORK; and the reward concerneth him no whit.
[178]
--
This continues the subject of Chapter 83.
The title refers to the mental attitude of the Master;
--
the circle of the conditions of the speaker.
Any yet again! Do we not find that the most robust
--
from below, and upon this condenses the original steam. Around this
flows the air, created by Earth and Water through the action of
--
in conjunction with the Yoni.
This word {Alpha-Iota-Theta-Eta-Rho} (Aethyr) is therefore a perfect hierogly
--
The reader should consult La Messe et ses Mysteres, par Jean
'Marie de V .... (Paris et Nancy, 1844), for a complete
--
UNPROFESSIONAL conDUCT
I am annoyed about the number 89.
--
This chapter is a sort of final confession of Faith.
It is the unification of all symbols and all planes.
--
The chapter consists of an analysis of this word, but
gives no indication as to the result of this analysis, as
--
PRO AND con TENTS
(dots?)
--
64. constancy.
65. Sic Transeat --- --
89. Unprofessional conduct.
90. Starlight.
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
When we leave the field of art for that of spiritual religion, the scarcity of competent reporters becomes even more strongly marked. Of the day-to-day life of the great theocentric saints and contemplatives we know, in the great majority of cases, nothing whatever. Many, it is true, have recorded their doctrines in writing, and a few, such as St. Augustine, Suso and St. Teresa, have left us autobiographies of the greatest value.
But, all doctrinal writing is in some measure formal and impersonal, while the autobiographer tends to omit what he regards as trifling matters and suffers from the further disadvantage of being unable to say how he strikes other people and in what way he affects their lives. Moreover, most saints have left neither writings nor self-portraits, and for knowledge of their lives, their characters and their teachings, we are forced to rely upon the records made by their disciples who, in most cases, have proved themselves singularly incompetent as reporters and biographers. Hence the special interest attaching to this enormously detailed account of the daily life and conversations of Sri Ramakrishna.
"M", as the author modestly styles himself, was peculiarly qualified for his task. To a reverent love for his master, to a deep and experiential knowledge of that master's teaching, he added a prodigious memory for the small happenings of each day and a happy gift for recording them in an interesting and realistic way. Making good use of his natural gifts and of the circumstances in which he found himself, "M" produced a book unique, so far as my knowledge goes, in the literature of hagiography. No other saint has had so able and indefatigable a Boswell. Never have the small events of a contemplative's daily life been described with such a wealth of intimate detail. Never have the casual and unstudied utterances of a great religious teacher been set down with so minute a fidelity. To Western readers, it is true, this fidelity and this wealth of detail are sometimes a trifle dis concerting; for the social, religious and intellectual frames of reference within which Sri Ramakrishna did his thinking and expressed his feelings were entirely Indian. But after the first few surprises and bewilderments, we begin to find something peculiarly stimulating and instructive about the very strangeness and, to our eyes, the eccentricity of the man revealed to us in "M's" narrative. What a scholastic philosopher would call the "accidents" of Ramakrishna's life were intensely Hindu and therefore, so far as we in the West are concerned, unfamiliar and hard to understand; its "essence", however, was intensely mystical and therefore universal. To read through these conversations in which mystical doctrine alternates with an unfamiliar kind of humour, and where discussions of the oddest aspects of Hindu mythology give place to the most profound and subtle utterances about the nature of Ultimate Reality, is in itself a liberal, education in humility, tolerance and suspense of judgment. We must be grateful to the translator for his excellent version of a book so curious and delightful as a biographical document, so precious, at the same time, for what it teaches us of the life of the spirit. -------------------- -- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna is the English translation of the Sri Sri Rmakrishna Kathmrita, the conversations of Sri Ramakrishna with his disciples, devotees, and visitors, recorded by Mahendranth Gupta, who wrote the book under the pseudonym of "M." The conversations in Bengali fill five volumes, the first of which was published in 1897 and the last shortly after M.'s death in 1932. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, has published in two volumes an English translation of selected chapters from the monumental Bengali work. I have consulted these while preparing my translation. M., one of the intimate disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, was present during all the conversations recorded in the main body of the book and noted them down in his diary. They therefore have the value of almost stenographic records. In Appendix A are given several conversations which took place in the absence of M., but of which he received a first-hand record from persons concerned. The conversations will bring before the reader's mind an intimate picture of the Master's eventful life from March 1882 to April 24, 1886, only a few months before his passing away. During this period he came in contact chiefly with English-educated Benglis; from among them he selected his disciples and the bearers of his message, and with them he shared his rich spiritual experiences. I have made a literal translation, omitting only a few pages of no particular interest to English-speaking readers. Often literary grace has been sacrificed for the sake of literal translation. No translation can do full justice to the original. This difficulty is all the more felt in the present work, whose contents are of a deep mystical nature and describe the inner experiences of a great seer. Human language is an altogether inadequate vehicle to express supersensuous perception. Sri Ramakrishna was almost illiterate. He never clothed his thoughts in formal language. His words sought to convey his direct realization of Truth. His conversation was in a village patois. Therein lies its charm. In order to explain to his listeners an abstruse philosophy, he, like Christ before him, used with telling effect homely parables and illustrations, culled from his observation of the daily life around him. The reader will find mentioned in this work many visions and experiences that fall outside the ken of physical science and even psychology. With the development of modern knowledge the border line between the natural and the supernatural is ever shifting its position. Genuine mystical experiences are not as suspect now as they were half a century ago. The words of Sri Ramakrishna have already exerted a tremendous influence in the land of his birth. Savants of Europe have found in his words the ring of universal truth.
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I have thought it necessary to write a rather lengthy Introduction to the book. In it I have given the biography of the Master, descriptions of people who came in contact with him, short explanations of several systems of Indian religious thought intimately connected with Sri Ramakrishna's life, and other relevant matters which, I hope, will enable the reader better to understand and appreciate the unusual contents of this book. It is particularly important that the Western reader, unacquainted with Hindu religious thought, should first read carefully the introductory chapter, in order that he may fully enjoy these conversations. Many Indian terms and names have been retained in the book for want of suitable English equivalents. Their meaning is given either in the Glossary or in the foot-notes. The Glossary also gives explanations of a number of expressions unfamiliar to Western readers. The diacritical marks are explained under Notes on Pronunciation.
In the Introduction I have drawn much material from the Life of Sri Ramakrishna, published by the Advaita Ashrama, Myvati, India. I have also consulted the excellent article on Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Nirvednanda, in the se cond volume of the Cultural Heritage of India.
The book contains many songs sung either by the Master or by the devotees. These form an important feature of the spiritual tradition of Bengal and were for the most part written by men of mystical experience. For giving the songs their present form I am grateful to Mr. John Moffitt, Jr.
In the preparation of this manuscript I have received ungrudging help from several friends. Miss Margaret Woodrow Wilson and Mr.Joseph Campbell have worked hard in editing my translation. Mrs.Elizabeth Davidson has typed, more than once, the entire manuscript and rendered other valuable help. Mr.Aldous Huxley has laid me under a debt of gratitude by writing the Foreword. I sincerely thank them all.
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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.
May this translation of the first book of its kind in the religious history of the world, being the record of the direct words of a prophet, help stricken humanity to come nearer to the Eternal Verity of life and remove dissension and quarrel from among the different faiths!
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In the life of the great Saviours and Prophets of the world it is often found that they are accompanied by souls of high spiritual potency who play a conspicuous part in the furtherance of their Master's mission. They become so integral a part of the life and work of these great ones that posterity can think of them only in mutual association. Such is the case with Sri Ramakrishna and M., whose diary has come to be known to the world as the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna in English and as Sri Rmakrishna Kathmrita in the original Bengali version.
Sri Mahendra Nath Gupta, familiary known to the readers of the Gospel by his pen name M., and to the devotees as Master Mahashay, was born on the 14th of July, 1854 as the son of Madhusudan Gupta, an officer of the Calcutta High Court, and his wife, Swarnamayi Devi. He had a brilliant scholastic career at Hare School and the Presidency College at Calcutta. The range of his studies included the best that both occidental and oriental learning had to offer. English literature, history, e conomics, western philosophy and law on the one hand, and Sanskrit literature and grammar, Darsanas, Puranas, Smritis, Jainism, Buddhism, astrology and Ayurveda on the other were the subjects in which he attained considerable proficiency.
He was an educationist all his life both in a spiritual and in a secular sense. After he passed out of College, he took up work as headmaster in a number of schools in succession Narail High School, City School, Ripon College School, Metropolitan School, Aryan School, Oriental School, Oriental Seminary and Model School. The causes of his migration from school to school were that he could not get on with some of the managements on grounds of principles and that often his spiritual mood drew him away to places of pilgrimage for long periods. He worked with some of the most noted public men of the time like Iswar Chandra Vidysgar and Surendranath Banerjee. The latter appointed him as a professor in the City and Ripon Colleges where he taught subjects like English, philosophy, history and e conomics. In his later days he took over the Morton School, and he spent his time in the staircase room of the third floor of it, administering the school and preaching the message of the Master. He was much respected in educational circles where he was usually referred to as Rector Mahashay. A teacher who had worked under him writes thus in warm appreciation of his teaching methods: "Only when I worked with him in school could I appreciate what a great educationist he was. He would come down to the level of his students when teaching, though he himself was so learned, so talented. Ordinarily teachers confine their instruction to what is given in books without much thought as to whether the student can accept it or not. But M., would first of all gauge how much the student could take in and by what means. He would employ aids to teaching like maps, pictures and diagrams, so that his students could learn by seeing. Thirty years ago (from 1953) when the question of imparting education through the medium of the mother tongue was being discussed, M. had already employed Bengali as the medium of instruction in the Morton School." (M The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda Part I. P. 15.)
Imparting secular education was, however, only his profession ; his main concern was with the spiritual regeneration of man a calling for which Destiny seems to have chosen him. From his childhood he was deeply pious, and he used to be moved very much by Sdhus, temples and Durga Puja celebrations. The piety and eloquence of the great Brahmo leader of the times, Keshab Chander Sen, elicited a powerful response from the impressionable mind of Mahendra Nath, as it did in the case of many an idealistic young man of Calcutta, and prepared him to receive the great Light that was to dawn on him with the coming of Sri Ramakrishna into his life.
This epoch-making event of his life came about in a very strange way. M. belonged to a joint family with several collateral members. Some ten years after he began his career as an educationist, bitter quarrels broke out among the members of the family, driving the sensitive M. to despair and utter despondency. He lost all interest in life and left home one night to go into the wide world with the idea of ending his life. At dead of night he took rest in his sister's house at Baranagar, and in the morning, accompanied by a nephew Siddheswar, he wandered from one garden to another in Calcutta until Siddheswar brought him to the Temple Garden of Dakshineswar where Sri Ramakrishna was then living. After spending some time in the beautiful rose gardens there, he was directed to the room of the Paramahamsa, where the eventful meeting of the Master and the disciple took place on a blessed evening (the exact date is not on record) on a Sunday in March 1882. As regards what took place on the occasion, the reader is referred to the opening section of the first chapter of the Gospel.
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After this re-settlement, M's life revolved around the Master, though he continued his professional work as an educationist. During all holidays, including Sundays, he spent his time at Dakshineswar in the Master's company, and at times extended his stay to several days.
It did not take much time for M. to become very intimate with the Master, or for the Master to recognise in this disciple a divinely commissioned partner in the fulfilment of his spiritual mission. When M. was reading out the Chaitanya Bhagavata, the Master discovered that he had been, in a previous birth, a disciple and companion of the great Vaishnava Teacher, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and the Master even saw him 'with his naked eye' participating in the ecstatic mass-singing of the Lord's name under the leadership of that Divine personality. So the Master told M, "You are my own, of the same substance as the father and the son," indicating thereby that M. was one of the chosen few and a part and parcel of his Divine mission.
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Sri Ramakrishna was a teacher for both the Orders of mankind, Sannysins and householders. His own life offered an ideal example for both, and he left behind disciples who followed the highest traditions he had set in respect of both these ways of life. M., along with Nag Mahashay, exemplified how a householder can rise to the highest level of sagehood. M. was married to Nikunja Devi, a distant relative of Keshab Chander Sen, even when he was reading at College, and he had four children, two sons and two daughters. The responsibility of the family, no doubt, made him dependent on his professional income, but the great devotee that he was, he never compromised with ideals and principles for this reason. Once when he was working as the headmaster in a school managed by the great Vidysgar, the results of the school at the public examination happened to be rather poor, and Vidysgar attri buted it to M's preoccupation with the Master and his consequent failure to attend adequately to the school work. M. at once resigned his post without any thought of the morrow. Within a fortnight the family was in poverty, and M. was one day pacing up and down the verandah of his house, musing how he would feed his children the next day. Just then a man came with a letter addressed to 'Mahendra Babu', and on opening it, M. found that it was a letter from his friend Sri Surendra Nath Banerjee, asking whether he would like to take up a professorship in the Ripon College. In this way three or four times he gave up the job that gave him the wherewithal to support the family, either for upholding principles or for practising spiritual Sadhanas in holy places, without any consideration of the possible dire worldly consequences; but he was always able to get over these difficulties somehow, and the interests of his family never suffered. In spite of his disregard for worldly goods, he was, towards the latter part of his life, in a fairly flourishing condition as the proprietor of the Morton School which he developed into a noted educational institution in the city. The Lord has said in the Bhagavad Git that in the case of those who think of nothing except Him, He Himself would take up all their material and spiritual responsibilities. M. was an example of the truth of the Lord's promise.
Though his children received proper attention from him, his real family, both during the Master's lifetime and after, consisted of saints, devotees, Sannysins and spiritual aspirants. His life exemplifies the Master's teaching that an ideal householder must be like a good maidservant of a family, loving and caring properly for the children of the house, but knowing always that her real home and children are elsewhere. During the Master's lifetime he spent all his Sundays and other holidays with him and his devotees, and besides listening to the holy talks and devotional music, practised meditation both on the Personal and the Impersonal aspects of God under the direct guidance of the Master. In the pages of the Gospel the reader gets a picture of M.'s spiritual relationship with the Master how from a hazy belief in the Impersonal God of the Brahmos, he was step by step brought to accept both Personality and Impersonality as the two aspects of the same Non-dual Being, how he was convinced of the manifestation of that Being as Gods, Goddesses and as Incarnations, and how he was established in a life that was both of a Jnni and of a Bhakta. This Jnni-Bhakta outlook and way of living became so dominant a feature of his life that Swami Raghavananda, who was very closely associated with him during his last six years, remarks: "Among those who lived with M. in latter days, some felt that he always lived in this constant and conscious union with God even with open eyes (i.e., even in waking consciousness)." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXXVII. P. 442.)
Besides undergoing spiritual disciplines at the feet of the Master, M. used to go to holy places during the Master's lifetime itself and afterwards too as a part of his Sdhan.
He was one of the earliest of the disciples to visit Kamarpukur, the birthplace of the Master, in the latter's lifetime itself; for he wished to practise contemplation on the Master's early life in its true original setting. His experience there is described as follows by Swami Nityatmananda: "By the grace of the Master, he saw the entire Kamarpukur as a holy place bathed in an effulgent Light. Trees and creepers, beasts and birds and men all were made of effulgence. So he prostrated to all on the road. He saw a torn cat, which appeared to him luminous with the Light of consciousness. Immediately he fell to the ground and saluted it" (M The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda vol. I. P. 40.) He had similar experience in Dakshineswar also. At the instance of the Master he also visited Puri, and in the words of Swami Nityatmananda, "with indomitable courage, M. embraced the image of Jagannath out of season."
The life of Sdhan and holy association that he started on at the feet of the Master, he continued all through his life. He has for this reason been most appropriately described as a Grihastha-Sannysi (householder-Sannysin). Though he was forbidden by the Master to become a Sannysin, his reverence for the Sannysa ideal was whole-hearted and was without any reservation. So after Sri Ramakrishna's passing away, while several of the Master's householder devotees considered the young Sannysin disciples of the Master as inexperienced and in consequential, M. stood by them with the firm faith that the Master's life and message were going to be perpetuated only through them. Swami Vivekananda wrote from America in a letter to the inmates of the Math: "When Sri Thkur (Master) left the body, every one gave us up as a few unripe urchins. But M. and a few others did not leave us in the lurch. We cannot repay our debt to them." (Swami Raghavananda's article on M. in Prabuddha Bharata vol. XXX P. 442.)
M. spent his weekends and holidays with the monastic brethren who, after the Master's demise, had formed themselves into an Order with a Math at Baranagore, and participated in the intense life of devotion and meditation that they followed. At other times he would retire to Dakshineswar or some garden in the city and spend several days in spiritual practice taking simple self-cooked food. In order to feel that he was one with all mankind he often used to go out of his home at dead of night, and like a wandering Sannysin, sleep with the waifs on some open verandah or footpath on the road.
After the Master's demise, M. went on pilgrimage several times. He visited Banras, Vrindvan, Ayodhy and other places. At Banras he visited the famous Trailinga Swmi and fed him with sweets, and he had long conversations with Swami Bhaskarananda, one of the noted saintly and scholarly Sannysins of the time. In 1912 he went with the Holy Mother to Banras, and spent about a year in the company of Sannysins at Banras, Vrindvan, Hardwar, Hrishikesh and Swargashram. But he returned to Calcutta, as that city offered him the unique opportunity of associating himself with the places hallowed by the Master in his lifetime. Afterwards he does not seem to have gone to any far-off place, but stayed on in his room in the Morton School carrying on his spiritual ministry, speaking on the Master and his teachings to the large number of people who flocked to him after having read his famous Kathmrita known to English readers as The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna.
This brings us to the circumstances that led to the writing and publication of this monumental work, which has made M. one of the immortals in hagiographic literature.
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In addition to this instinct for diary-keeping, M. had great endowments contri buting to success in this line. Writes Swami Nityatmananda who lived in close association with M., in his book entitled M - The Apostle and Evangelist: "M.'s prodigious memory combined with his extraordinary power of imagination completely annihilated the distance of time and place for him. Even after the lapse of half a century he could always visualise vividly, scenes from the life of Sri Ramakrishna. Superb too was his power to portray pictures by words."
Besides the prompting of his inherent instinct, the main inducement for M. to keep this diary of his experiences at Dakshineswar was his desire to provide himself with a means for living in holy company at all times. Being a school teacher, he could be with the Master only on Sundays and other holidays, and it was on his diary that he depended for 'holy company' on other days. The devotional scriptures like the Bhagavata say that holy company is the first and most important means for the generation and growth of devotion. For, in such company man could hear talks on spiritual matters and listen to the glorification of Divine attri butes, charged with the fervour and conviction emanating from the hearts of great lovers of God. Such company is therefore the one certain means through which Sraddha (Faith), Rati (attachment to God) and Bhakti (loving devotion) are generated. The diary of his visits to Dakshineswar provided M. with material for re-living, through reading and contemplation, the holy company he had had earlier, even on days when he was not able to visit Dakshineswar. The wealth of details and the vivid description of men and things in the midst of which the sublime conversations are set, provide excellent material to re-live those experiences for any one with imaginative powers. It was observed by M.'s disciples and admirers that in later life also whenever he was free or alone, he would be pouring over his diary, transporting himself on the wings of imagination to the glorious days he spent at the feet of the Master.
During the Master's lifetime M. does not seem to have revealed the contents of his diary to any one. There is an un confirmed tradition that when the Master saw him taking notes, he expressed apprehension at the possibility of his utilising these to publicise him like Keshab Sen; for the Great Master was so full of the spirit of renunciation and humility that he disliked being lionised. It must be for this reason that no one knew about this precious diary of M. for a decade until he brought out selections from it as a pamphlet in English in 1897 with the Holy Mother's blessings and permission. The Holy Mother, being very much pleased to hear parts of the diary read to her in Bengali, wrote to M.: "When I heard the Kathmrita, (Bengali name of the book) I felt as if it was he, the Master, who was saying all that." ( Ibid Part I. P 37.)
The two pamphlets in English entitled the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna appeared in October and November 1897. They drew the spontaneous acclamation of Swami Vivekananda, who wrote on 24th November of that year from Dehra Dun to M.:"Many many thanks for your se cond leaflet. It is indeed wonderful. The move is quite original, and never was the life of a Great Teacher brought before the public untarnished by the writer's mind, as you are doing. The language also is beyond all praise, so fresh, so pointed, and withal so plain and easy. I cannot express in adequate terms how I have enjoyed them. I am really in a transport when I read them. Strange, isn't it? Our Teacher and Lord was so original, and each one of us will have to be original or nothing.
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And Swamiji added a post script to the letter: "Socratic dialogues are Plato all over you are entirely hidden. Moreover, the dramatic part is infinitely beautiful. Everybody likes it here or in the West." Indeed, in order to be unknown, Mahendranath had used the pen-name M., under which the book has been appearing till now. But so great a book cannot remain obscure for long, nor can its author remain unrecognised by the large public in these modern times. M. and his book came to be widely known very soon and to meet the growing demand, a full-sized book, Vol. I of the Gospel, translated by the author himself, was published in 1907 by the Brahmavadin Office, Madras. A se cond edition of it, revised by the author, was brought out by the Ramakrishna Math, Madras in December 1911, and subsequently a se cond part, containing new chapters from the original Bengali, was published by the same Math in 1922. The full English translation of the Gospel by Swami Nikhilananda appeared first in 1942.
In Bengali the book is published in five volumes, the first part having appeared in 1902
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It looks as if M. was brought to the world by the Great Master to record his words and transmit them to posterity. Swami Sivananda, a direct disciple of the Master and the se cond President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, says on this topic: "Whenever there was an interesting talk, the Master would call Master Mahashay if he was not in the room, and then draw his attention to the holy words spoken. We did not know then why the Master did so. Now we can realise that this action of the Master had an important significance, for it was reserved for Master Mahashay to give to the world at large the sayings of the Master." ( Vednta Kesari Vol. XIX P 141.) Thanks to M., we get, unlike in the case of the great teachers of the past, a faithful record with date, time, exact report of conversations, description of concerned men and places, references to contemporary events and personalities and a hundred other details for the last four years of the Master's life (1882-'86), so that no one can doubt the historicity of the Master and his teachings at any time in the future.
M. was, in every respect, a true missionary of Sri Ramakrishna right from his first acquaintance with him in 1882. As a school teacher, it was a practice with him to direct to the Master such of his students as had a true spiritual disposition. Though himself prohibited by the Master to take to monastic life, he encouraged all spiritually inclined young men he came across in his later life to join the monastic Order. Swami Vijnanananda, a direct Sannysin disciple of the Master and a President of the Ramakrishna Order, once remarked to M.: "By enquiry, I have come to the conclusion that eighty percent and more of the Sannysins have embraced the monastic life after reading the Kathmrita (Bengali name of the book) and coming in contact with you." ( M
The Apostle and the Evangelist by Swami Nityatmananda Part I, P 37.)
In 1905 he retired from the active life of a Professor and devoted his remaining twenty-seven years exclusively to the preaching of the life and message of the Great Master. He bought the Morton Institution from its original proprietors and shifted it to a commodious four-storeyed house at 50 Amherst Street, where it flourished under his management as one of the most efficient educational institutions in Calcutta. He generally occupied a staircase room at the top of it, cooking his own meal which consisted only of milk and rice without variation, and attended to all his personal needs himself. His dress also was the simplest possible. It was his conviction that limitation of personal wants to the minimum is an important aid to holy living. About one hour in the morning he would spend in inspecting the classes of the school, and then retire to his staircase room to pour over his diary and live in the divine atmosphere of the earthly days of the Great Master, unless devotees and admirers had already gathered in his room seeking his holy company.
In appearance, M. looked a Vedic Rishi. Tall and stately in bearing, he had a strong and well-built body, an unusually broad chest, high forehead and arms extending to the knees. His complexion was fair and his prominent eyes were always tinged with the expression of the divine love that filled his heart. Adorned with a silvery beard that flowed luxuriantly down his chest, and a shining face radiating the serenity and gravity of holiness, M. was as imposing and majestic as he was handsome and engaging in appearance. Humorous, sweet-tongued and eloquent when situations required, this great Maharishi of our age lived only to sing the glory of Sri Ramakrishna day and night.
Though a very well versed scholar in the Upanishads, Git and the philosophies of the East and the West, all his discussions and teachings found their culmination in the life and the message of Sri Ramakrishna, in which he found the real explanation and illustration of all the scriptures. Both consciously and un consciously, he was the teacher of the Kathmrita the nectarine words of the Great Master.
Though a much-sought-after spiritual guide, an educationist of repute, and a contemporary and close associate of illustrious personages like Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Keshab Chander Sen and Iswar Chander Vidysgar, he was always moved by the noble humanity of a lover of God, which consists in respecting the personalities of all as receptacles of the Divine Spirit. So he taught without the consciousness of a teacher, and no bar of superiority stood in the way of his doing the humblest service to his students and devotees. "He was a commission of love," writes his close devotee, Swami Raghavananda, "and yet his soft and sweet words would pierce the stoniest heart, make the worldly-minded weep and repent and turn Godwards."
( Prabuddha Bharata Vol. XXXVII P 499.)
As time went on and the number of devotees increased, the staircase room and terrace of the 3rd floor of the Morton Institution became a veritable Naimisaranya of modern times, resounding during all hours of the day, and sometimes of night, too, with the word of God coming from the Rishi-like face of M. addressed to the eager God-seekers sitting around. To the devotees who helped him in preparing the text of the Gospel, he would dictate the conversations of the Master in a meditative mood, referring now and then to his diary. At times in the stillness of midnight he would awaken a nearby devotee and tell him: "Let us listen to the words of the Master in the depths of the night as he explains the truth of the Pranava." ( Vednta Kesari XIX P. 142.) Swami Raghavananda, an intimate devotee of M., writes as follows about these devotional sittings: "In the sweet and warm months of April and May, sitting under the canopy of heaven on the roof-garden of 50 Amherst Street, surrounded by shrubs and plants, himself sitting in their midst like a Rishi of old, the stars and planets in their courses beckoning us to things infinite and sublime, he would speak to us of the mysteries of God and His love and of the yearning that would rise in the human heart to solve the Eternal Riddle, as exemplified in the life of his Master. The mind, melting under the influence of his soft sweet words of light, would almost transcend the frontiers of limited existence and dare to peep into the infinite. He himself would take the influence of the setting and say,'What a blessed privilege it is to sit in such a setting (pointing to the starry heavens), in the company of the devotees discoursing on God and His love!' These unforgettable scenes will long remain imprinted on the minds of his hearers." (Prabuddha Bharata Vol XXXVII P 497.)
About twenty-seven years of his life he spent in this way in the heart of the great city of Calcutta, radiating the Master's thoughts and ideals to countless devotees who flocked to him, and to still larger numbers who read his Kathmrita (English Edition : The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna), the last part of which he had completed before June 1932 and given to the press. And miraculously, as it were, his end also came immediately after he had completed his life's mission. About three months earlier he had come to stay at his home at 13/2 Gurdasprasad Chaudhuary Lane at Thakur Bari, where the Holy Mother had herself installed the Master and where His regular worship was being conducted for the previous 40 years. The night of 3rd June being the Phalahrini Kli Pooja day, M.
had sent his devotees who used to keep company with him, to attend the special worship at Belur Math at night. After attending the service at the home shrine, he went through the proof of the Kathmrita for an hour. Suddenly he got a severe attack of neuralgic pain, from which he had been suffering now and then, of late. Before 6 a.m. in the early hours of 4th June 1932 he passed away, fully conscious and chanting: 'Gurudeva-Ma, Kole tule na-o (Take me in your arms! O Master! O Mother!!)'
SWMI TAPASYNANDA
0.00 - The Wellspring of Reality, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
We are in an age that assumes the narrowing trends of specialization to be logical, natural, and desirable. consequently, society expects all earnestly responsible communication to be crisply brief. Advancing science has now discovered that all the known cases of biological extinction have been caused by overspecialization, whose concentration of only selected genes sacrifices general adaptability. Thus the specialist's brief for pinpointing brevity is dubious. In the meantime, humanity has been deprived of comprehensive understanding. Specialization has bred feelings of isolation, futility, and confusion in individuals. It has also resulted in the individual's leaving responsibility for thinking and social action to others.
Specialization breeds biases that ultimately aggregate as international and ideological discord, which, in turn, leads to war.
We are not seeking a license to ramble wordily. We are intent only upon being adequately concise. General systems science discloses the existence of minimum sets of variable factors that uniquely govern each and every system. Lack of knowledge concerning all the factors and the failure to include them in our integral imposes false conclusions. Let us not make the error of inadequacy in examining our most comprehensive inventory of experience and thoughts regarding the evoluting affairs of all humanity.
There is an inherently minimum set of essential concepts and current information, cognizance of which could lead to our operating our planet Earth to the lasting satisfaction and health of all humanity. With this objective, we set out on our review of the spectrum of significant experiences and seek therein for the greatest meanings as well as for the family of generalized principles governing the realization of their optimum significance to humanity aboard our Sun circling planet Earth.
We must start with scientific fundamentals, and that means with the data of experiments and not with assumed axioms predicated only upon the misleading nature of that which only superficially seems to be obvious. It is the consensus of great scientists that science is the attempt to set in order the facts of experience.
Holding within their definition, we define Universe as the aggregate of allhumanity's consciously apprehended and communicated, nonsimultaneous, and only partially overlapping experiences. An aggregate of finites is finite. Universe is a finite but nonsimultaneously conceptual scenario.
The human brain is a physical mechanism for storing, retrieving, and re-storing again, each special-case experience. The experience is often a packaged concept.
Such packages consist of complexedly interrelated and not as-yet differentially analyzed phenomena which, as initially unit cognitions, are potentially re-experienceable. A rose, for instance, grows. has thorns, blossoms, and fragrance, but often is stored in the brain only under the single word-rose.
As Korzybski, the founder of general semantics, pointed out, the consequence of its single-tagging is that the rose becomes reflexively considered by man only as a red, white, or pink device for paying tribute to a beautiful girl, a thoughtful hostess, or last night's deceased acquaintance. The tagging of the complex biological process under the single title rose tends to detour human curiosity from further differentiation of its integral organic operations as well as from consideration of its interecological functionings aboard our planet. We don't know what a rose is, nor what may be its essential and unique cosmic function. Thus for long have we inadvertently deferred potential discovery of the essential roles in Universe that are performed complementarily by many, if not most, of the phenomena we experience.
But, goaded by youth, we older ones are now taking se cond looks at almost everything. And that promises many ultimately favorable surprises. The oldsters do have vast experience banks not available to the youth. Their memory banks, integrated and reviewed, may readily disclose generalized principles of eminent importance.
The word generalization in literature usually means covering too much territory too thinly to be persuasive, let alone convincing. In science, however, a generalization means a principle that has been found to hold true in every special case.
The principle of leverage is a scientific generalization. It makes no difference of what material either the fulcrum or the lever consists-wood, steel, or reinforced concrete. Nor do the special-case sizes of the lever and fulcrum, or of the load pried at one end, or the work applied at the lever's other end in any way alter either the principle or the mathematical regularity of the ratios of physical work advantage that are provided at progressive fulcrum-to-load increments of distance outward from the fulcrum in the opposite direction along the lever's arm at which theoperating effort is applied.
Mind is the weightless and uniquely human faculty that surveys the ever larger inventory of special-case experiences stored in the brain bank and, seeking to identify their intercomplementary significance, from time to time discovers one of the rare scientifically generalizable principles running consistently through all the relevant experience set. The thoughts that discover these principles are weightless and tentative and may also be eternal. They suggest eternity but do not prove it, even though there have been no experiences thus far that imply exceptions to their persistence. It seems also to follow that the more experiences we have, the more chances there are that the mind may discover, on the one hand, additional generalized principles or, on the other hand, exceptions that disqualify one or another of the already catalogued principles that, having heretofore held "true" without contradiction for a long time, had been tentatively conceded to be demonstrating eternal persistence of behavior. Mind's relentless reviewing of the comprehensive brain bank's storage of all our special-case experiences tends both to progressive enlargement and definitive refinement of the catalogue of generalized principles that interaccommodatively govern all transactions of Universe.
It follows that the more specialized society becomes, the less attention does it pay to the discoveries of the mind, which are intuitively beamed toward the brain, there to be received only if the switches are "on." Specialization tends to shut off the wide-band tuning searches and thus to preclude further discovery of the all-powerful generalized principles. Again we see how society's perverse fixation on specialization leads to its extinction. We are so specialized that one man discovers empirically how to release the energy of the atom, while another, unbeknownst to him, is ordered by his political factotum to make an atomic bomb by use of the secretly and anonymously published data. That gives much expedient employment, which solves the politician's momentary problem, but requires that the politicians keep on preparing for further warring with other political states to keep their respective peoples employed. It is also mistakenly assumed that employment is the only means by which humans can earn the right to live, for politicians have yet to discover how much wealth is available for distribution. All this is rationalized on the now scientifically discredited premise that there can never be enough life support for all. Thus humanity's specialization leads only toward warring and such devastating tools, both, visible and invisible, as ultimately to destroy all Earthians.
--
Living upon the threshold between yesterday and tomorrow, which threshold we reflexively assumed in some long ago yesterday to constitute an eternal now, we are aware of the daily-occurring, vast multiplication of experience generated information by which we potentially may improve our understanding of our yesterdays' experiences and therefrom derive our most farsighted preparedness for successive tomorrows.
Anticipating, cooperating with, and employing the forces of nature can be accomplished only by the mind. The wisdom manifest in the omni-interorderliness of the family of generalized principles operative in Universe can be employed only by the highest integrity of engagement of the mind's metaphysical intuiting and formulating capabilities.
--
While it takes but meager search to discover that many well-known concepts are false, it takes considerable search and even more careful examination of one's own personal experiences and inadvertently spontaneous reflexing to discover that there are many popularly and even professionally unknown, yet nonetheless fundamental, concepts to hold true in all cases and that already have been discovered by other as yet obscure individuals. That is to say that many scientific generalizations have been discovered but have not come to the attention of what we call the educated world at large, thereafter to be incorporated tardily within the formal education processes, and even more tardily, in the ongoing political-e conomic affairs of everyday life. Knowledge of the existence and comprehensive significance of these as yet popularly unrecognized natural laws often is requisite to the solution of many of the as yet unsolved problems now confronting society. Lack of knowledge of the solution's existence often leaves humanity confounded when it need not be.
Intellectually advantaged with no more than the child's facile, lucid eagerness to understand constructively and usefully the major transformational events of our own times, it probably is synergetically advantageous to review swiftly the most comprehensive inventory of the most powerful human environment transforming events of our totally known and reasonably extended history. This is especially useful in winnowing out and understanding the most significant of the metaphysical revolutions now recognized as swiftly tending to re constitute history. By such a comprehensively schematic review, we might identify also the unprecedented and possibly heretofore overlooked pivotal revolutionary events not only of today but also of those trending to be central to tomorrow's most cataclysmic changes.
It is synergetically reasonable to assume that relativistic evaluation of any of the separate drives of art, science, education, e conomics, and ideology, and their complexedly interacting trends within our own times, may be had only through the most comprehensive historical sweep of which we are capable.
There could be produced a synergetic understanding of humanity's cosmic functioning, which, until now, had been both undiscovered and unpredictable due to our deliberate and exclusive preoccupation only with the separate statistics of separate events. As a typical consequence of the latter, we observe our society's persistent increase of educational and employment specialization despite the already mentioned, well-documented scientific disclosure that the extinctions of biological species are always occasioned by overspecialization. Specialization's preoccupation with parts deliberately forfeits the opportunity to apprehend and comprehend what is provided exclusively by synergy.
Today's news consists of aggregates of fragments. Anyone who has taken part in any event that has subsequently appeared in the news is aware of the gross disparity between the actual and the reported events. The insistence by reporters upon having advance "releases" of what, for instance, convocation speakers are supposedly going to say but in fact have not yet said, automatically discredits the value of the largely prefabricated news. We also learn frequently of prefabricated and prevaricated events of a complex nature purportedly undertaken for purposes either of suppressing or rigging the news, which in turn perverts humanity's tactical information resources. All history becomes suspect. Probably our most polluted resource is the tactical information to which humanity spontaneously reflexes.
Furthermore, today's hyperspecialization in socioe conomic functioning has come to preclude important popular philosophic considerations of the synergetic significance of, for instance, such historically important events as the discovery within the general region of experimental inquiry known as virology that the as-yet popularly assumed validity of the concepts of animate and inanimate phenomena have been experimentally invalidated. Atoms and crystal complexes of atoms were held to be obviously inanimate; the protoplasmic cells of biological phenomena were held to be obviously animate. It was deemed to be common sense that warm- blooded, moist, and soft-skinned humans were clearly not to be confused with hard, cold granite or steel objects. A clear-cut threshold between animate and inanimate was therefore assumed to exist as a fundamental dichotomy of all physical phenomena. This seemingly placed life exclusively within the bounds of the physical.
The supposed location of the threshold between animate and inanimate was methodically narrowed down by experimental science until it was confined specifically within the domain of virology. Virologists have been too busy, for instance, with their DNA-RNA genetic code isolatings, to find time to see the synergetic significance to society of the fact that they have found that no physical threshold does in fact exist between animate and inanimate. The possibility of its existence vanished because the supposedly unique physical qualities of both animate and inanimate have persisted right across yesterday's supposed threshold in both directions to permeate one another's-previously perceived to be exclusive- domains. Subsequently, what was animate has become foggier and foggier, and what is inanimate clearer and clearer. All organisms consist physically and in entirety of inherently inanimate atoms. The inanimate alone is not only omnipresent but is alone experimentally demonstrable. Belated news of the elimination of this threshold must be interpreted to mean that whatever life may be, it has not been isolated and thereby identified as residual in the biological cell, as had been supposed by the false assumption that there was a separate physical phenomenoncalled animate within which life existed. No life per se has been isolated. The threshold between animate and inanimate has vanished. Those chemists who are preoccupied in synthesizing the particular atomically structured molecules identified as the prime constituents of humanly employed organisms will, even if they are chemically successful, be as remote from creating life as are automobile manufacturers from creating the human drivers of their automobiles. Only the physical connections and development complexes of distinctly "nonlife" atoms into molecules, into cells, into animals, has been and will be discovered. The genetic coding of the design controls of organic systems offers no more explanation of life than did the specifications of the designs of the telephone system's apparatus and operation explain the nature of the life that communicates weightlessly to life over the only physically ponderable telephone system. Whatever else life may be, we know it is weightless. At the moment of death, no weight is lost. All the chemicals, including the chemist's life ingredients, are present, but life has vanished. The physical is inherently entropic, giving off energy in ever more disorderly ways. The metaphysical is antientropic, methodically marshalling energy. Life is antientropic.
It is spontaneously inquisitive. It sorts out and endeavors to understand.
The over concentration on details of hyperspecialization has also been responsible for the lack of recognition by science of its inherently mandatory responsibility to reorient all our educational curricula because of the synergetically disclosed, but popularly uncomprehended, significance of the 1956 Nobel Prize-winning discovery in physics of the experimental invalidation of the concept of "parity" by which science previously had misassumed that positive-negative complementations consisted exclusively of mirror-imaged behaviors of physical phenomena.
Science's self-assumed responsibility has been self-limited to disclosure to society only of the separate, supposedly physical (because separately weighable) atomic component isolations data. Synergetic integrity would require the scientists to announce that in reality what had been identified heretofore as physical is entirely metaphysical-because synergetically weightless. Metaphysical has been science's designation for all weightless phenomena such as thought. But science has made no experimental finding of any phenomena that can be described as a solid, or as continuous, or as a straight surface plane, or as a straight line, or as infinite anything. We are now synergetically forced to conclude that all phenomena are metaphysical; wherefore, as many have long suspected-like it or not-life is but a dream.Science has found no up or down directions of Universe, yet scientists are personally so ill-coordinated that they all still personally and sensorially see "solids" going up or down-as, for instance, they see the Sun "going down." Sensorially dis connected from their theoretically evolved information, scientists discern no need on their part to suggest any educational reforms to correct the mis conceiving that science has tolerated for half a millennium.
Society depends upon its scientists for just such educational reform guidance.
--
Children freed of the ignorantly founded educational traditions and exposed only to their spontaneously summoned, computer-stored and -distributed outflow of reliable-opinion-purged, experimentally verified data, shall indeed lead society to its happy egress from all misinformedly conceived, fearfully and legally imposed, and physically enforced customs of yesterday. They can lead all humanity into omnisuccessful survival as well as entrance into an utterly new era of human experience in an as-yet and ever-will-be fundamentally mysterious Universe.
And whence will come the wealth with which we may undertake to lead world man into his new and validly hopeful life? From the wealth of the minds of world man-whence comes all wealth. Only mind can discover how to do so much with so little as forever to be able to sustain and physically satisfy all humanity.
0.01f - FOREWARD, #The Phenomenon of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
others see what happens to man, and what conclusions are forced
upon us, when he is placed fairly and squarely within the frame-
--
such is the kernel and conclusion of this book. But let us empha-
sise the point : union increases only through an increase in con-
sciousness, that is to say in vision. And that, doubtless, is why the
--
indulgence. To see or to perish is the very condition laid upon
everything that makes up the universe, by reason of the mysterious
gift of existence. And this, in superior measure, is man's condition.
But if it is true that it is so vital and so blessed to know, let us
--
which their consciousness could penetrate without being sub-
mitted to it or changing it. They are now beginning to realise
--
the conventions they adopted at the outset and by forms or
habits of thought developed in the course of the growth of
--
nature at which the convergent lines are not only visual but
structural. The following pages will do no more than verify and
--
ness of mind tends continually to condense for us in a thin layer
of the past ;
--
disjointed world. conversely, we have only to rid our vision of
the threefold illusion of smallness, plurality and immobility, for
--
the future (Survival) a single and continuing trajectory, the curve
of the phenomenon of man.
--
there would be a cosmic contradiction in imagining a man as
spectator of those phases which ran their course before the
--
pronounced individuality conceals from our eyes the whole to
which he belongs ; as we look at him our minds incline to break
--
to consider man as an object of scientific scrutiny except through
his body.
--
and realises that a universal will to live converges and is hominised
in him.
0.01 - I - Sri Aurobindos personality, his outer retirement - outside contacts after 1910 - spiritual personalities- Vibhutis and Avatars - transformtion of human personality, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen object:0.01 - I - Sri Aurobindos personality, his outer retirement - outside contacts after 1910 - spiritual personalities- Vibhutis and Avatars - transformtion of human personality author class:A B Purani
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The Evening Talks collected here may afford to the outside world a glimpse of his external personality and give the seeker some idea of its richness, its many-sidedness, its uniqueness. One can also form some notion of Sri Aurobindo's personality from the books in which the height, the universal sweep and clear vision of his integral ideal and thought can be seen. His writings are, in a sense, the best representative of his mental personality. The versatile nature of his genius, the penetrating power of his intellect, his extraordinary power of expression, his intense sincerity, his utter singleness of purpose all these can be easily felt by any earnest student of his works. He may discover even in the realm of mind that Sri Aurobindo brings the unlimited into the limited. Another side of his dynamic personality is represented by the Ashram as an institution. But the outer, if one may use the phrase, the human side of his personality, is unknown to the outside world because from 1910 to 1950 a span of forty years he led a life of outer retirement. No doubt, many knew about his staying at Pondicherry and practising some kind of very special Yoga to the mystery of which they had no access. To some, perhaps, he was living a life of enviable solitude enjoying the luxury of a spiritual endeavour. Many regretted his retirement as a great loss to the world because they could not see any external activity on his part which could be regarded as 'public', 'altruistic' or 'beneficial'. Even some of his admirers thought that he was after some kind of personal salvation which would have very little significance for mankind in general. His outward non-participation in public life was construed by many as lack of love for humanity.
But those who knew him during the days of the national awakening from 1900 to 1910 could not have these doubts. And even these initial misunderstandings and false notions of others began to evaporate with the growth of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram from 1927 onwards. The large number of books published by the Ashram also tended to remove the idea of the other-worldliness of his Yoga and the absence of any good by it to mankind.
This period of outer retirement was one of intense Sadhana and of intellectual activity it was also one during which he acted on external events, though he was not dedicated outwardly to a public cause. About his own retirement he writes: "But this did not mean, as most people supposed, that he [Sri Aurobindo] had retired into some height of spiritual experience devoid of any further interest in the world or in the fate of India. It could not mean that, for the very principle of his Yoga was not only to realise the Divine and attain to a complete spiritual consciousness, but also to take all life and all world activity into the scope of this spiritual consciousness and action and to base life on the Spirit and give it a spiritual meaning. In his retirement Sri Aurobindo kept a close watch on all that was happening in the world and in India and actively intervened, whenever necessary, but solely with a spiritual force and silent spiritual action; for it is part of the experience of those who have advanced in yoga that besides the ordinary forces and activities of the mind and life and body in Matter, there are other forces and powers that can and do act from behind and from above; there is also a spiritual dynamic power which can be possessed by those who are advanced in spiritual consciousness, though all do not care to possess or, possessing, to use it and this power is greater than any other and more effective. It was this force which, as soon as he attained to it, he used at first only in a limited field of personal work, but afterwards in a constant action upon the world forces."[1]
Twice he found it necessary to go out of his way to make public pronouncements on important world-issues, which shows distinctly that renunciation of life is not a part of his Yoga. "The first was in relation to the Se cond World War. At the beginning he did not actively concern himself with it, but when it appeared as if Hitler would crush all the forces opposed to him and Nazism dominate the world, he began to intervene."[2]
The se cond was with regard to Sir Stafford Cripps' proposal for the transfer of power to India.
Over and above Sadhana, writing work and rendering spiritual help to the world during his apparent retirement there were plenty of other activities of which the outside world has no knowledge. Many prominent as well as less known persons sought and obtained interviews with him during these years. Thus, among well-known persons may be mentioned C.R. Das, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sarala Devi, Dr. Munje, Khasirao Jadhav, Tagore, Sylvain Levy. The great national poet of Tamil Nadu, S. Subramanya Bharati, was in contact with Sri Aurobindo for some years during his stay at Pondicherry; so was V.V.S. Aiyar. The famous V. Ramaswamy Aiyangar Va Ra of Tamil literature[3] stayed with Sri Aurobindo for nearly three years and was influenced by him. Some of these facts have been already mentioned in The Life of Sri Aurobindo.
Jung has admitted that there is an element of mystery, something that baffles the reason, in human personality. One finds that the greater the personality the greater is the complexity. And this is especially so with regard to spiritual personalities whom the Gita calls Vibhutis and Avatars.
--
The gospel of the Supermind which Sri Aurobindo brought to man envisages a new level of consciousness beyond Mind. When this level is attained it imposes a complete and radical reintegration of the human personality. Sri Aurobindo was not merely the exponent but the embodiment of the new, dynamic truth of the Supermind. While exploring and sounding the tremendous possibilities of human personality in his intense spiritual Sadhana, he has shown us that practically there are no limits to its expansion and ascent. It can reach in its growth what appears to man at present as a 'divine' status. It goes without saying that this attainment is not an easy task; there are conditions to be fulfilled for the transformation from the human to the divine.
The Gita in its chapters on the Vibhuti and the Avatar takes in general the same position. It shows that the present formula of our nature, and therefore the mental personality of man, is not final. A Vibhuti embodies in a human manifestation a certain divine quality and thus demonstrates the possibility of overcoming the limits of ordinary human personality. The Vibhuti the embodiment of a divine quality or power, and the Avatar the divine incarnation, are not to be looked upon as supraphysical miracles thrown at humanity without regard to the process of evolution; they are, in fact, indications of human possibility, a sign that points to the goal of evolution.
--
"The Avatar comes to reveal the divine nature in man above this lower nature and to show what are the divine works, free, unegoistic, disinterested, impersonal, universal, full of the divine light, the divine power and the divine love. He comes as the divine personality which shall fill the consciousness of the human being and replace the limited egoistic personality, so that it shall be liberated out of ego into infinity and universality, out of birth into immortality."[7]
It is clear that Sri Aurobindo interpreted the traditional idea of the Vibhuti and the Avatar in terms of the evolutionary possibilities of man. But more directly he has worked out the idea of the 'gnostic individual' in his masterpiece The Life Divine. He says: "A supramental gnostic individual will be a spiritual Person, but not a personality in the sense of a pattern of being marked out by a settled combination of fixed qualities, a determined character; he cannot be that since he is a conscious expression of the universal and the transcendent." Describing the gnostic individual he says: "We feel ourselves in the presence of a light of consciousness, a potency, a sea of energy, can distinguish and describe its free waves of action and quality, but not fix itself; and yet there is an impression of personality, the presence of a powerful being, a strong, high or beautiful recognisable Someone, a Person, not a limited creature of Nature but a Self or Soul, a Purusha."[8]
One feels that he was describing the feeling of some of us, his disciples, with regard to him in his inimitable way.
This transformation of the human personality into the Divine perhaps even the mere connection of the human with the Divine is probably regarded as a chimera by the modern mind. To the modern mind it would appear as the apotheosis of a human personality which is against its idea of equality of men. Its difficulty is partly due to the notion that the Divine is unlimited and illimitable while a 'personality', however high and grand, seems to demand imposition, or assumption, of limitation. In this connection Sri Aurobindo said during an evening talk that no human manifestation can be illimitable and unlimited, but the manifestation in the limited should reflect the unlimited, the Transcendent Beyond.
This possibility of the human touching and manifesting the Divine has been realised during the course of human history whenever a great spiritual Light has appeared on earth. One of the purposes of this book is to show how Sri Aurobindo himself reflected the unlimited Beyond in his own self.
Greatness is magnetic and in a sense contagious. Wherever manifested, greatness is claimed by humanity as something that reveals the possibility of the race. The highest utility of greatness is not merely to attract us but to inspire us to follow it and rise to our own highest spiritual stature. To the majority of men Truth remains abstract, impersonal and far unless it is seen and felt concretely in a human personality. A man never knows a truth actively except through a person and by embodying it in his own personality. Some glimpse of the Truth- consciousness which Sri Aurobindo embodied may be caught in these Evening Talks.
***
0.01 - Letters from the Mother to Her Son, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
and contains several buildings with courtyards and gardens. We
have just bought, repaired and comfortably furnished one of
--
Written in connection with a newspaper article in which it was stated that the Mother
had not slept for several months.
--
lying down in a condition of absolute immobility in which the
whole being, mental, psychic, vital and physical, enters into a
--
and total immobility, while the consciousness remains perfectly
awake; or else I enter into an internal activity of one or more
states of being, an activity which constitutes the occult work
and which, needless to say, is also perfectly conscious. So I can
say, in all truth, that I never lose consciousness throughout the
twenty-four hours, which thus form an unbroken sequence, and
--
the Ashram at present consists of seventeen houses inhabited by
eighty-five or ninety people (the number varies as people come
--
I am also sending you conversations 14 and 15. I hope that
you have received, in several instalments, the complete series
--
a library and reading-room containing several thousand volumes, a photographic service, general stores containing a wide
variety of goods, nearly all imported from France, large gardens
--
as the two most popular figures in India. On the contrary it
is outside India that they are most popular; and for foreigners
--
it is certainly not confined to the small states of central Europe.
What you have described is pretty much the state of the whole
world: disorder, confusion, wastage and misery.
Series One - To Her Son
--
of the earth; and always, when confusion and destruction seem
to have reached their climax, something happens and a new
--
out of it; and, at the centre of it all, the Ashram is a condensation
of dynamic and active peace, so much so that all those who come
--
of convenience for the papers and signatures, since it is I who
"manage" everything, but not because I really own them. You
--
these forces get more and more out of their control and bring
about disastrous results. The earth seems to be shaken almost
--
ugly and could justifiably cause anxiety, and a great confusion
Series One - To Her Son
--
ended quite well, considering the difficult circumstances. But
now more than 14,000 workers are out of work. The largest
--
A small booklet is being published in Geneva, containing a talk
I gave in 1912, I think. It is a bit out-of-date, but I did not
--
and which move consciously towards certain ends. The play of
these forces is very complex and generally eludes the human
--
few conscious instruments at their disposal. It is true that in
this matter quality compensates by far for quantity. As for the
--
disaster was very close even though no human government consciously wanted it. But at any cost there was to be no war and
that is why war has been avoided - for the time being.
0.01 - Life and Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The conditions of the Synthesis
Chapter I
--
HERE are two necessities of Nature's workings which seem always to intervene in the greater forms of human activity, whether these belong to our ordinary fields of movement or seek those exceptional spheres and fulfilments which appear to us high and divine. Every such form tends towards a harmonised complexity and totality which again breaks apart into various channels of special effort and tendency, only to unite once more in a larger and more puissant synthesis. Se condly, development into forms is an imperative rule of effective manifestation; yet all truth and practice too strictly formulated becomes old and loses much, if not all, of its virtue; it must be constantly renovated by fresh streams of the spirit revivifying the dead or dying vehicle and changing it, if it is to acquire a new life. To be perpetually reborn is the condition of a material immortality. We are in an age, full of the throes of travail, when all forms of thought and activity that have in themselves any strong power of utility or any secret virtue of persistence are being subjected to a supreme test and given their opportunity of rebirth. The world today presents the aspect of a huge cauldron of Medea in which all things are being cast, shredded into pieces, experimented on, combined and recombined either to perish and provide the scattered material of new forms or to emerge rejuvenated and changed for a fresh term of existence. Indian Yoga, in its essence a special action or formulation of certain great powers of Nature, itself specialised, divided and variously formulated, is potentially one of these dynamic elements of the future life of humanity. The child of immemorial ages, preserved by its vitality and truth into our modern times, it is now emerging from the secret schools and ascetic retreats in which it had taken refuge and is seeking its place in the future sum of living human powers and utilities. But it has first to rediscover itself, bring to the surface
The conditions of the Synthesis
the profoundest reason of its being in that general truth and that unceasing aim of Nature which it represents, and find by virtue of this new self-knowledge and self-appreciation its own recovered and larger synthesis. Reorganising itself, it will enter more easily and powerfully into the reorganised life of the race which its processes claim to lead within into the most secret penetralia and upward to the highest altitudes of existence and personality.
In the right view both of life and of Yoga all life is either consciously or sub consciously a Yoga. For we mean by this term a methodised effort towards self-perfection by the expression of the secret potentialities latent in the being and - highest condition of victory in that effort - a union of the human individual with the universal and transcendent Existence we see partially expressed in man and in the Cosmos. But all life, when we look behind its appearances, is a vast Yoga of Nature who attempts in the conscious and the sub conscious to realise her perfection in an ever-increasing expression of her yet unrealised potentialities and to unite herself with her own divine reality. In man, her thinker, she for the first time upon this Earth devises self conscious means and willed arrangements of activity by which this great purpose may be more swiftly and puissantly attained.
Yoga, as Swami Vivekananda has said, may be regarded as a means of compressing one's evolution into a single life or a few years or even a few months of bodily existence. A given system of Yoga, then, can be no more than a selection or a compression, into narrower but more energetic forms of intensity, of the general methods which are already being used loosely, largely, in a leisurely movement, with a profuser apparent waste of material and energy but with a more complete combination by the great
--
Yogic methods have something of the same relation to the customary psychological workings of man as has the scientific handling of the force of electricity or of steam to their normal operations in Nature. And they, too, like the operations of Science, are formed upon a knowledge developed and confirmed by regular experiment, practical analysis and constant result. All
Rajayoga, for instance, depends on this perception and experience that our inner elements, combinations, functions, forces, can be separated or dissolved, can be new-combined and set to novel and formerly impossible workings or can be transformed and resolved into a new general synthesis by fixed internal processes. Hathayoga similarly depends on this perception and experience that the vital forces and functions to which our life is normally subjected and whose ordinary operations seem set and indispensable, can be mastered and the operations changed or suspended with results that would otherwise be impossible and that seem miraculous to those who have not seized the rationale of their process. And if in some other of its forms this character of Yoga is less apparent, because they are more intuitive and less mechanical, nearer, like the Yoga of Devotion, to a supernal ecstasy or, like the Yoga of Knowledge, to a supernal infinity of consciousness and being, yet they too start from the use of some principal faculty in us by ways and for ends not contemplated in its everyday spontaneous workings. All methods grouped under the common name of Yoga are special psychological processes founded on a fixed truth of Nature and developing, out of normal functions, powers and results which were always latent but which her ordinary movements do not easily or do not often manifest.
But as in physical knowledge the multiplication of scientific processes has its disadvantages, as that tends, for instance, to develop a victorious artificiality which overwhelms our natural human life under a load of machinery and to purchase certain forms of freedom and mastery at the price of an increased servitude, so the preoccupation with Yogic processes and their exceptional results may have its disadvantages and losses. The
The conditions of the Synthesis
Yogin tends to draw away from the common existence and lose his hold upon it; he tends to purchase wealth of spirit by an impoverishment of his human activities, the inner freedom by an outer death. If he gains God, he loses life, or if he turns his efforts outward to conquer life, he is in danger of losing
God. Therefore we see in India that a sharp incompatibility has been created between life in the world and spiritual growth and perfection, and although the tradition and ideal of a victorious harmony between the inner attraction and the outer demand remains, it is little or else very imperfectly exemplified. In fact, when a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on the path of Yoga, he is popularly supposed to be lost inevitably to the great stream of our collective existence and the secular effort of humanity. So strongly has the idea prevailed, so much has it been emphasised by prevalent philosophies and religions that to escape from life is now commonly considered as not only the necessary condition, but the general object of Yoga. No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a liberated and perfected human life or, in its method, not only permit but favour the harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in the divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a higher Existence descended into the material world in which it is possible for the lower to transfigure itself and put on the nature of the higher and the higher to reveal itself in the forms of the lower. To avoid the life which is given him for the realisation of that possibility, can never be either the indispensable condition or the whole and ultimate object of his supreme endeavour or of his most powerful means of self-fulfilment. It can only be a temporary necessity under certain conditions or a specialised extreme effort imposed on the individual so as to prepare a greater general possibility for the race. The true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplished when the conscious
Yoga in man becomes, like the sub conscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous with life itself and we can once more, looking out both on the path and the achievement, say in a more perfect and luminous sense: "All life is Yoga."
0.02 - II - The Home of the Guru, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
The Master, the Guru, set at rest the puzzled human mind by his illuminating answers, perhaps even more by his silent consciousness, so that it might be able to pursue unhampered the path of realisation of the Truth. Those ancient discourses answer the mind of man today even across the ages. They have rightly acquired as everything of the past does a certain sanctity. But sometimes that very reverence prevents men from properly evaluating, and living in, the present. This happens when the mind instead of seeking the Spirit looks at the form. For instance, it is not necessary for such discourses that they take place in forest-groves in order to be highly spiritual. Wherever the Master is, there is Light. And guru-griha the house of the Master can be his private dwelling place. So much was this feeling a part of Sri Aurobindo's nature and so particular was he to maintain the personal character of his work that during the first few years after 1923 he did not like his house to be called an 'Ashram', as the word had acquired the sense of a public institution to the modern mind. But there was no doubt that the flower of Divinity had blossomed in him; and disciples, like bees seeking honey, came to him. It is no exaggeration to say that these Evening Talks were to the small company of disciples what the Aranyakas were to the ancient seekers. Seeking the Light, they came to the dwelling place of their Guru, the greatest seer of the age, and found it their spiritual home the home of their parents, for the Mother, his companion in the great mission, had come. And these spiritual parents bestowed upon the disciples freely of their Light, their consciousness, their Power and their Grace. The modern reader may find that the form of these discourses differs from those of the past but it was bound to be so for the simple reason that the times have changed and the problems that puzzle the modern mind are so different. Even though the disciples may be very imperfect representations of what he aimed at in them, still they are his creations. It is in order to repay, in however infinitesimal a degree, the debt which we owe to him that the effort is made to partake of the joy of his company the Evening Talks with a larger public.
***
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
By his way of thinking, feeling, acting, each one emanates vibrations which constitute his own atmosphere and quite naturally
attract vibrations of similar nature and quality.
--
avoided. Your mental formation may be strong, but the contrary
formation is at least as strong as yours - and we must never
--
Go and see honestly, carefully, all round the place; consider
that thirty people or so are taking their meals there and if anything happened what a horrible thing it would be - and, with
--
reason. What is constant is a difference of appreciation in the
urgency of the needs and the importance attached to their fulfilment. I attach also some value to the power of imagination,
--
It is good sometimes to look backwards for a confirmation of
the progress made, but only if it is used as a lever to encourage
--
I thirst for Thy consciousness, O Sweet Mother, I become
one with Thee.
--
He asked me to give a concrete example. I described
an incident in which Mother found defects in my work,
--
which led to a subdued revolt in me and consequent
illness. He pointed to his fingers and said that he was
not conscious that any revolt or wrong attitude was the
cause of the pain in his fingers.
The wrong attitude can be in the body consciousness itself (lack
of faith or of receptivity) and then it is very difficult to detect
--
body consciousness being most often and in almost everybody
sub conscious.
--
It is by the concentration of our will and the intensity of our
aspiration that we can hasten the day of victory.
--
help from an invisible and silent Mother (who never contradicts
you openly) if he likes.
--
in the waking consciousness?
The movement comes from a sub conscient layer which is not
--
Is it because there is no mental control in the dream state
and hence the vital being is free to act as it likes?
--
No true and constant control is established in that part as yet.
An experiment: This morning while supervising work,
I prayed with concentration that each workman might
become conscious that he was working for Mother and
feel the joy of it. After concentrating like this for about
an hour, I felt fatigued and imperceptibly the concentration frittered away. What is the cause of this feeling of
fatigue? What is the difficulty in keeping such a concentration for all the 24 hours?
The physical being is always fatigued when it is asked to keep a
lasting concentration.
The concentration can be kept constantly but not by mental
decision.
--
The one that is done in the most perfect spirit of consecration.
20 August 1932
--
month. Two conflicting thoughts passed rapidly through
my mind when I said Yes: (1) When Mother says that it
--
I feel I am contradicting Mother. What should I do?
There is no contradiction in stating what you think. I am not
expecting you to be a prophet and that your thought should be
--
Nothing to be uneasy about. The spontaneous answers of the external consciousness are always vague and somewhat incorrect.
It needs a great vigilance to correct that - and a very firm resolution too. This incident may be meant to raise in you the
--
I told you already that if someone refuses to be conscientious
in his work, what can I do? It is true that the work suffers, but
--
"One must know how to soar in an immutable confidence; in the sure flight is perfect knowledge."9 I don't
understand this sentence. How can one soar? What is
-- consciousness, into a higher consciousness from which one can
see things from above, and thus see them more profoundly.
--
made, the conscious will loses nearly all control over them unless
a counter-formation is made to destroy them. Something like
--
there any connection between the fact that I gave him
the job of making rods for X's embroidery frame without
--
(About constructing a braced frame to support a swinging sieve)
Do you know what a swing is?
--
act and react on each other by contagion; the vibrations are contagious; that is to say, we readily pick up the vibration of
--
(The sadhak then related his heated conversation with
someone.) I regret having lost my temper while pronouncing these last sentences. I have noticed that even
when I am conscious, if I open my mouth I lose my self control. I get angrier and angrier from one sentence to
the next.
The conclusion is therefore obvious: it would be better not to
open your mouth. In certain cases, as in this one, it is wiser to
--
You must be calm and concentrated, never utter an unnecessary
sentence and have faith in the divine help.
--
(The sadhak recounted his conversation with Mr. Z, a
local French official. The conversation ends:)
Mr. Z: I have heard that Sri Aurobindo can communicate at a distance. Is it true?
--
I concentrate on Mother, ask Her to guide me and find
the solution. This is not unusual. It has happened several
--
putting a copy of the conversations in the tray for Mr. Z.
27 March 1934
--
Does this imply that the report of your conversation with Mr. Z
is inaccurate? This is very serious - you should not put words
--
I have a confession to make. My mind is flooded
with contradictions and doubts. I have struggled against
this onslaught desperately, but still I haven't found peace.
--
These things need to be considered carefully, not lightly as one
discusses a play or the pronunciation of French.
--
courage and confidence at the slightest setback, when things are
not, by my own doing, exactly as you had planned? I think it is
--
3) Lack of consciousness in some of the supervisors.
Naturally, No. 2 could be set right by increasing the number
--
But when we came to the details of carrying this out, we always found ourselves confronted with the same difficulty: whom
to dismiss? And according to your answers the difficulty seemed
--
buying houses; consequently there is no longer enough work
to keep all the workers busy. I am very sorry about this, but I
--
reservations without seeming to contradict or embarrass
Sweet Mother?
--
yoga, are still convinced that "a cat is a cat", as we commonly
say in French, and that one can rely only on one's physical eyes
--
always conspire to justify these doubts, and this for a reason
which is very easy to understand: doubt veils the consciousness
and the sub conscious sincerity, and into the action some small
--
enough to conceal any irregularities. The process was supposed
to be simple, rapid and fully satisfactory. I put forth all the
--
unfortunate tendency to believe that the consciousness of those
around me is, at least partially and in its limited working, similar
--
and limited consciousness compared with mine, but within its
limits, I have the illusion that its nature is similar to mine, and
--
arising from an affectionate confidence must come in: if there is
something you are unsure of, you must ask me about it; if you
--
material by identification of consciousness. Is this true?
Is it possible? For example, if there are cracks in a roof,
--
process is based on the power of concentration. One has to concentrate on the object to be known (in this case the roof)
--
(The sadhak suffered a headache after contact with a
fellow-worker.) I don't understand these two completely
--
avoid all contact with X, direct or indirect, and (2) the
other which sees any harmonious dealings between us
--
It may be the contradiction between these two movements which
is the cause of the headache. No. 1 wants peace with a minimum
of effort. No. 2 wants to conquer the difficulty, not run away
from it. I suggest that for the time being you avoid contact with
X as far as possible. But if contact is established, beware of
sub conscious reactions and be very vigilant.
--
"This is how I think it should be done." If he contradicts you
and gives a different opinion, you should simply answer: "All
--
I aspire for the blessed day when the conflict, the
momentary lack of faith, will cease forever and You will
--
of confidence.
My blessings are with you.
--
done for any of these personal considerations. The thing to be
done should be considered in itself, independent of all personal
questions. If the thing is right and good, one should do it. If not,
--
the case, and this is why I consult the people around me, because
they are able to move about. I do not want them to answer me
--
an absolute truth can conquer them.
This is the argument, almost word for word, that upset
--
people tell me! Whenever I am confronted with a fact, either
directly or indirectly, I look and judge for myself without the
--
that both of you open yourselves to a higher consciousness. This
needs time and a continuous effort of sadhana from both of you.
In the present conditions I think it would be better not to
persist in your attempt at friendly relations with him, for it only
--
the work, I am still not convinced of it. My impression is that
one always says far more than is necessary and that it is not with
--
Let the light of a luminous consciousness enter into you;
widen yourself into that vast consciousness so that every shadow
may disappear for ever.
0.02 - The Three Steps of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Yoga, a specialising and separative tendency which, like all things in Nature, had its justifying and even imperative utility and we seek a synthesis of the specialised aims and methods which have, in consequence, come into being.
But in order that we may be wisely guided in our effort, we must know, first, the general principle and purpose underlying this separative impulse and, next, the particular utilities upon which the method of each school of Yoga is founded. For the general principle we must interrogate the universal workings of Nature herself, recognising in her no merely specious and illusive activity of a distorting Maya, but the cosmic energy and working of God Himself in His universal being formulating and inspired by a vast, an infinite and yet a minutely selective
--
Afterwards we may more easily find the one common principle and the one common power from which all derive their being and tendency, towards which all sub consciously move and in which, therefore, it is possible for all consciously to unite.
The progressive self-manifestation of Nature in man, termed in modern language his evolution, must necessarily depend upon three successive elements. There is that which is already evolved; there is that which, still imperfect, still partly fluid, is persistently in the stage of conscious evolution; and there is that which is to be evolved and may perhaps be already
The conditions of the Synthesis
displayed, if not constantly, then occasionally or with some regularity of recurrence, in primary formations or in others more developed and, it may well be, even in some, however rare, that are near to the highest possible realisation of our present humanity. For the march of Nature is not drilled to a regular and mechanical forward stepping. She reaches constantly beyond herself even at the cost of subsequent deplorable retreats.
She has rushes; she has splendid and mighty outbursts; she has immense realisations. She storms sometimes passionately forward hoping to take the kingdom of heaven by violence.
--
Matter, which, however the too ethereally spiritual may despise it, is our foundation and the first condition of all our energies and realisations, and the Life-Energy which is our means of existence in a material body and the basis there even of our mental and spiritual activities. She has successfully achieved a certain stability of her constant material movement which is at once sufficiently steady and durable and sufficiently pliable and mutable to provide a fit dwelling-place and instrument for the progressively manifesting god in humanity. This is what is meant by the fable in the Aitareya Upanishad which tells us that the gods rejected the animal forms successively offered to them by the Divine Self and only when man was produced, cried out, "This indeed is perfectly made," and consented to enter in. She has effected also a working compromise between the inertia of matter and the active Life that lives in and feeds on it, by which not only is vital existence sustained, but the fullest developments of mentality are rendered possible. This equilibrium constitutes the basic status of Nature in man and is termed in the language of Yoga his gross body composed
The Three Steps of Nature
--
If, then, this inferior equilibrium is the basis and first means of the higher movements which the universal Power contemplates and if it constitutes the vehicle in which the Divine here seeks to reveal Itself, if the Indian saying is true that the body is the instrument provided for the fulfilment of the right law of our nature, then any final recoil from the physical life must be a turning away from the completeness of the divine Wisdom and a renunciation of its aim in earthly manifestation. Such a refusal may be, owing to some secret law of their development, the right attitude for certain individuals, but never the aim intended for mankind. It can be, therefore, no integral Yoga which ignores the body or makes its annulment or its rejection indispensable to a perfect spirituality. Rather, the perfecting of the body also should be the last triumph of the Spirit and to make the bodily life also divine must be God's final seal upon His work in the universe. The obstacle which the physical presents to the spiritual is no argument for the rejection of the physical; for in the unseen providence of things our greatest difficulties are our best opportunities. A supreme difficulty is Nature's indication to us of a supreme conquest to be won and an ultimate problem to be solved; it is not a warning of an inextricable snare to be shunned or of an enemy too strong for us from whom we must flee.
Equally, the vital and nervous energies in us are there for a great utility; they too demand the divine realisation of their possibilities in our ultimate fulfilment. The great part assigned to this element in the universal scheme is powerfully emphasised by the catholic wisdom of the Upanishads. "As the spokes of a wheel in its nave, so in the Life-Energy is all established, the triple knowledge and the Sacrifice and the power of the strong and the purity of the wise. Under the control of the LifeEnergy is all this that is established in the triple heaven."2 It is therefore no integral Yoga that kills these vital energies, forces them into a nerveless quiescence or roots them out as the source
annakos.a and pran.akos.a.
--
The conditions of the Synthesis
of noxious activities. Their purification, not their destruction, - their transformation, control and utilisation is the aim in view with which they have been created and developed in us.
If the bodily life is what Nature has firmly evolved for us as her base and first instrument, it is our mental life that she is evolving as her immediate next aim and superior instrument. This in her ordinary exaltations is the lofty preoccupying thought in her; this, except in her periods of exhaustion and recoil into a reposeful and recuperating obscurity, is her constant pursuit wherever she can get free from the trammels of her first vital and physical realisations. For here in man we have a distinction which is of the utmost importance. He has in him not a single mentality, but a double and a triple, the mind material and nervous, the pure intellectual mind which liberates itself from the illusions of the body and the senses, and a divine mind above intellect which in its turn liberates itself from the imperfect modes of the logically discriminative and imaginative reason. Mind in man is first emmeshed in the life of the body, where in the plant it is entirely involved and in animals always imprisoned. It accepts this life as not only the first but the whole condition of its activities and serves its needs as if they were the entire aim of existence. But the bodily life in man is a base, not the aim, his first condition and not his last determinant. In the just idea of the ancients man is essentially the thinker, the Manu, the mental being who leads the life and the body,3 not the animal who is led by them. The true human existence, therefore, only begins when the intellectual mentality emerges out of the material and we begin more and more to live in the mind independent of the nervous and physical obsession and in the measure of that liberty are able to accept rightly and rightly to use the life of the body. For freedom and not a skilful subjection is the true means of mastery. A free, not a compulsory acceptance of the conditions, the enlarged and sublimated conditions of our physical being, is the high human ideal. But beyond this intellectual mentality is the divine.
The mental life thus evolving in man is not, indeed, a
--
Indeed, the increasing effort towards a more intense mental life seems to create, frequently, an increasing disequilibrium of the human elements, so that it is possible for eminent scientists to describe genius as a form of insanity, a result of degeneration, a pathological morbidity of Nature. The phenomena which are used to justify this exaggeration, when taken not separately, but in connection with all other relevant data, point to a different truth. Genius is one attempt of the universal Energy to so quicken and intensify our intellectual powers that they shall be prepared for those more puissant, direct and rapid faculties which constitute the play of the supra-intellectual or divine mind. It is not, then, a freak, an inexplicable phenomenon, but a perfectly natural next step in the right line of her evolution.
She has harmonised the bodily life with the material mind, she is harmonising it with the play of the intellectual mentality; for that, although it tends to a depression of the full animal and vital vigour, need not produce active disturbances. And she is shooting yet beyond in the attempt to reach a still higher level.
--
We may perhaps, if we consider all the circumstances, come
The conditions of the Synthesis
to this conclusion that mental life, far from being a recent appearance in man, is the swift repetition in him of a previous achievement from which the Energy in the race had undergone one of her deplorable recoils. The savage is perhaps not so much the first forefa ther of civilised man as the degenerate descendant of a previous civilisation. For if the actuality of intellectual achievement is unevenly distributed, the capacity is spread everywhere. It has been seen that in individual cases even the racial type considered by us the lowest, the negro fresh from the perennial barbarism of Central Africa, is capable, without admixture of blood, without waiting for future generations, of the intellectual culture, if not yet of the intellectual accomplishment of the dominant European. Even in the mass men seem to need, in favourable circumstances, only a few generations to cover ground that ought apparently to be measured in the terms of millenniums. Either, then, man by his privilege as a mental being is exempt from the full burden of the tardy laws of evolution or else he already represents and with helpful conditions and in the right stimulating atmosphere can always display a high level of material capacity for the activities of the intellectual life.
It is not mental incapacity, but the long rejection or seclusion from opportunity and withdrawal of the awakening impulse that creates the savage. Barbarism is an intermediate sleep, not an original darkness.
Moreover the whole trend of modern thought and modern endeavour reveals itself to the observant eye as a large conscious effort of Nature in man to effect a general level of intellectual equipment, capacity and farther possibility by universalising the opportunities which modern civilisation affords for the mental life. Even the preoccupation of the European intellect, the protagonist of this tendency, with material Nature and the externalities of existence is a necessary part of the effort. It seeks to prepare a sufficient basis in man's physical being and vital energies and in his material environment for his full mental possibilities. By the spread of education, by the advance of the backward races, by the elevation of depressed classes, by the multiplication of labour-saving appliances, by the movement
The Three Steps of Nature
towards ideal social and e conomic conditions, by the labour of Science towards an improved health, longevity and sound physique in civilised humanity, the sense and drift of this vast movement translates itself in easily intelligible signs. The right or at least the ultimate means may not always be employed, but their aim is the right preliminary aim, - a sound individual and social body and the satisfaction of the legitimate needs and demands of the material mind, sufficient ease, leisure, equal opportunity, so that the whole of mankind and no longer only the favoured race, class or individual may be free to develop the emotional and intellectual being to its full capacity. At present the material and e conomic aim may predominate, but always, behind, there works or there waits in reserve the higher and major impulse.
And when the preliminary conditions are satisfied, when the great endeavour has found its base, what will be the nature of that farther possibility which the activities of the intellectual life must serve? If Mind is indeed Nature's highest term, then the entire development of the rational and imaginative intellect and the harmonious satisfaction of the emotions and sensibilities must be to themselves sufficient. But if, on the contrary, man is more than a reasoning and emotional animal, if beyond that which is being evolved, there is something that has to be evolved, then it may well be that the fullness of the mental life, the suppleness, flexibility and wide capacity of the intellect, the ordered richness of emotion and sensibility may be only a passage towards the development of a higher life and of more powerful faculties which are yet to manifest and to take possession of the lower instrument, just as mind itself has so taken possession of the body that the physical being no longer lives only for its own satisfaction but provides the foundation and the materials for a superior activity.
The assertion of a higher than the mental life is the whole foundation of Indian philosophy and its acquisition and organisation is the veritable object served by the methods of Yoga.
--
The conditions of the Synthesis
Yoga, the inner instrument.4 And Indian tradition asserts that this which is to be manifested is not a new term in human experience, but has been developed before and has even governed humanity in certain periods of its development. In any case, in order to be known it must at one time have been partly developed.
--
But what then constitutes this higher or highest existence to which our evolution is tending? In order to answer the question we have to deal with a class of supreme experiences, a class of unusual conceptions which it is difficult to represent accurately in any other language than the ancient Sanskrit tongue in which alone they have been to some extent systematised.
The only approximate terms in the English language have other associations and their use may lead to many and even serious inaccuracies. The terminology of Yoga recognises besides the status of our physical and vital being, termed the gross body and doubly composed of the food sheath and the vital vehicle, besides the status of our mental being, termed the subtle body and singly composed of the mind sheath or mental vehicle,5 a third, supreme and divine status of supra-mental being, termed the causal body and composed of a fourth and a fifth vehicle6 which are described as those of knowledge and bliss. But this knowledge is not a systematised result of mental questionings and reasonings, not a temporary arrangement of conclusions and opinions in the terms of the highest probability, but rather a pure self-existent and self-luminous Truth. And this bliss is not a supreme pleasure of the heart and sensations with the experience of pain and sorrow as its background, but a delight also selfexistent and independent of objects and particular experiences, a self-delight which is the very nature, the very stuff, as it were, of a transcendent and infinite existence.
antah.karan.a.
--
Do such psychological conceptions correspond to anything real and possible? All Yoga asserts them as its ultimate experience and supreme aim. They form the governing principles of our highest possible state of consciousness, our widest possible range of existence. There is, we say, a harmony of supreme faculties, corresponding roughly to the psychological faculties of revelation, inspiration and intuition, yet acting not in the intuitive reason or the divine mind, but on a still higher plane, which see Truth directly face to face, or rather live in the truth of things both universal and transcendent and are its formulation and luminous activity. And these faculties are the light of a conscious existence superseding the egoistic and itself both cosmic and transcendent, the nature of which is Bliss. These are obviously divine and, as man is at present apparently constituted, superhuman states of consciousness and activity. A trinity of transcendent existence, self-awareness and self-delight7 is, indeed, the metaphysical description of the supreme Atman, the self-formulation, to our awakened knowledge, of the Unknowable whether conceived as a pure Impersonality or as a cosmic Personality manifesting the universe. But in Yoga they are regarded also in their psychological aspects as states of subjective existence to which our waking consciousness is now alien, but which dwell in us in a super conscious plane and to which, therefore, we may always ascend.
For, as is indicated by the name, causal body (karan.a), as opposed to the two others which are instruments (karan.a), this crowning manifestation is also the source and effective power of all that in the actual evolution has preceded it. Our mental activities are, indeed, a derivation, selection and, so long as they are divided from the truth that is secretly their source, a deformation of the divine knowledge. Our sensations and emotions have the same relation to the Bliss, our vital forces and actions to the aspect of Will or Force assumed by the divine consciousness, our physical being to the pure essence of that Bliss and consciousness. The evolution which we observe and of which
--
The conditions of the Synthesis
we are the terrestrial summit may be considered, in a sense, as an inverse manifestation, by which these supreme Powers in their unity and their diversity use, develop and perfect the imperfect substance and activities of Matter, of Life and of Mind so that they, the inferior modes, may express in mutable relativity an increasing harmony of the divine and eternal states from which they are born. If this be the truth of the universe, then the goal of evolution is also its cause, it is that which is immanent in its elements and out of them is liberated. But the liberation is surely imperfect if it is only an escape and there is no return upon the containing substance and activities to exalt and transform them.
The immanence itself would have no credible reason for being if it did not end in such a transfiguration. But if human mind can become capable of the glories of the divine Light, human emotion and sensibility can be transformed into the mould and assume the measure and movement of the supreme Bliss, human action not only represent but feel itself to be the motion of a divine and non-egoistic Force and the physical substance of our being sufficiently partake of the purity of the supernal essence, sufficiently unify plasticity and durable constancy to support and prolong these highest experiences and agencies, then all the long labour of Nature will end in a crowning justification and her evolutions reveal their profound significance.
So dazzling is even a glimpse of this supreme existence and so absorbing its attraction that, once seen, we feel readily justified in neglecting all else for its pursuit. Even, by an opposite exaggeration to that which sees all things in Mind and the mental life as an exclusive ideal, Mind comes to be regarded as an unworthy deformation and a supreme obstacle, the source of an illusory universe, a negation of the Truth and itself to be denied and all its works and results annulled if we desire the final liberation. But this is a half-truth which errs by regarding only the actual limitations of Mind and ignores its divine intention.
--
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo was never a social man in the current sense of the term and definitely he was not a man of the crowd. This was due to his grave temperament, not to any feeling of superiority or to repulsion for men. At Baroda there was an Officers' Club which was patronised by the Maharajah and though Sri Aurobindo enrolled himself as a member he hardly went to the Club even on special occasions. He rather liked a small congenial circle of friends and spent most of his evenings with them whenever he was free and not occupied with his studies or other works. After Baroda when he went to Calcutta there was hardly any time in the storm and stress of revolutionary politics to permit him to lead a 'social life'. What little time he could spare from his incessant activities was spent in the house of Raja Subodh Mallick or at the Grey Street house. In the Karmayogin office he used to sit after the office hours till late chatting with a few persons or trying automatic writing. Strange dictations used to be received sometimes: one of them was the following: "Moni [Suresh Chakravarty] will bomb Sir Edward Grey when he will come as the Viceroy of India." In later years at Pondicherry there used to be a joke that Sir Edward took such a fright at the prospect of Moni's bombing him that he never came to India!
After Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondicherry from Chandernagore, he entered upon an intense period of Sadhana and for a few months he refused to receive anyone. After a time he used to sit down to talk in the evening and on some days tried automatic writing. Yogic Sadhan, a small book, was the result. In 1913 Sri Aurobindo moved to Rue Franois Martin No. 41 where he used to receive visitors at fixed times. This was generally in the morning between 9 and 10.30.
--
When Sri Aurobindo and the Mother moved to No. 9 Rue de la Marine in 1922 the same routine of informal evening sittings after meditation continued. I came to Pondicherry for Sadhana in the beginning of 1923. I kept notes of the important talks I had with the four or five disciples who were already there. Besides, I used to take detailed notes of the Evening Talks which we all had with the Master. They were not intended by him to be noted down. I took them down because of the importance I felt about everything connected with him, no matter how insignificant to the outer view. I also felt that everything he did would acquire for those who would come to know his mission a very great significance.
As years passed the evening sittings went on changing their time and often those disciples who came from outside for a temporary stay for Sadhana were allowed to join them. And, as the number of sadhaks practising the Yoga increased, the evening sittings also became more full, and the small verandah upstairs in the main building was found insufficient. Members of the household would gather every day at the fixed time with some sense of expectancy and start chatting in low tones. Sri Aurobindo used to come last and it was after his coming that the session would really commence.
He came dressed as usual in dhoti, part of which was used by him to cover the upper part of his body. Very rarely he came out with chaddar or shawl and then it was "in deference to the climate" as he sometimes put it. At times for minutes he would be gazing at the sky from a small opening at the top of the grass-curtains that covered the verandah upstairs in No. 9, Rue de la Marine. How much were these sittings dependent on him may be gathered from the fact that there were days when more than three-fourths of the time passed in complete silence without any outer suggestion from him, or there was only an abrupt "Yes" or "No" to all attempts at drawing him out in conversation. And even when he participated in the talk one always felt that his voice was that of one who does not let his whole being flow into his words; there was a reserve and what was left unsaid was perhaps more than what was spoken. What was spoken was what he felt necessary to speak.
Very often some news-item in the daily newspaper, town-gossip, or some interesting letter received either by him or by a disciple, or a question from one of the gathering, occasionally some remark or query from himself would set the ball rolling for the talk. The whole thing was so informal that one could never predict the turn the conversation would take. The whole house therefore was in a mood to enjoy the freshness and the delight of meeting the unexpected. There were peals of laughter and light talk, jokes and criticism which might be called personal, there was seriousness and earnestness in abundance.
These sittings, in fact, furnished Sri Aurobindo with an occasion to admit and feel the outer atmosphere and that of the group living with him. It brought to him the much-needed direct contact of the mental and vital make-up of the disciples, enabling him to act on the atmosphere in general and on the individual in particular. He could thus help to remould their mental make-up by removing the limitations of their minds and opinions, and correct temperamental tendencies and formations. Thus, these sittings contributed at least partly to the creation of an atmosphere amenable to the working of the Higher consciousness. Far more important than the actual talk and its content was the personal contact, the influence of the Master, and the divine atmosphere he emanated; for through his outer personality it was the Divine consciousness that he allowed to act. All along behind the outer manifestation that appeared human, there was the influence and presence of the Divine.
What was talked in the small group informally was not intended by Sri Aurobindo to be the independent expression of his views on the subjects, events or the persons discussed. Very often what he said was in answer to the spiritual need of the individual or of the collective atmosphere. It was like a spiritual remedy meant to produce certain spiritual results, not a philosophical or metaphysical pronouncement on questions, events or movements. The net result of some talks very often was to point out to the disciple the inherent incapacity of the human intellect and its se condary place in the search for the ultimate Reality.
But there were occasions when he did give his independent, personal views on some problems, on events or other subjects. Even then it was never an authoritarian pronouncement. Most often it appeared to be a logically worked out and almost inevitable conclusion expressed quite impersonally though with firm and sincere conviction. This impersonality was such a prominent trait of his personality! Even in such matters as dispatching a letter or a telegram it would not be a command from him to a disciple to carry out the task. Most often during his usual passage to the dining room he would stop on the way, drop in on the company of four or five disciples and, holding out the letter or the telegram, would say in the most amiable and yet the most impersonal way: "I suppose this has to be sent." And it would be for someone in the group instantly to volunteer and take it. The expression he very often used was "It was done" or "It happened", not "I did."
From 1918 to 1922, we gathered at No. 41, Rue Franois Martin, called the Guest House, upstairs, on a broad verandah into which four rooms opened and whose main piece of furniture was a small table 3' x 1' covered with a blue cotton cloth. That is where Sri Aurobindo used to sit in a hard wooden chair behind the table with a few chairs in front for the visitors or for the disciples.
--
Then, on 23 November 1938, I got up at 2 o'clock to prepare hot water for the Mother's early bath because the 24th was Darshan day. Between 2.20 and 2.30 the Mother rang the bell. I ran up the staircase to be told about an accident that had happened to Sri Aurobindo's thigh and to be asked to fetch the doctor. This accident brought about a change in his complete retirement, and rendered him available to those who had to attend on him. This opened out a long period of 12 years during which his retirement was modified owing to circumstances, inner and outer, that made it possible for him to have direct physical contacts with the world outside.
The long period of the Se cond World War with all its vicissitudes passed through these years. It was a priceless experience to see how he devoted his energies to the task of saving humanity from the threatened reign of Nazism. It was a practical lesson of solid work done for humanity without any thought of return or reward, without even letting humanity know what he was doing for it! Thus he lived the Divine and showed us how the Divine cares for the world, how He comes down and works for man. I shall never forget how he who was at one time in his own words "not merely a non-co-operator but an enemy of British Imperialism" bestowed such anxious care on the health of Churchill, listening carefully to the health-bulletins! It was the work of the Divine, it was the Divine's work for the world.
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The condition you were in while embroidering the "Silence"
flower1 cannot return as it was before, for in this world things
--
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.
--
I simply meant to say that you were happy and confident as a
child or an animal is confident and happy without knowing why.
Now you must learn to be happy and confident while knowing
Silence: the name given by the Mother to the Wild Passion-flower (passiflora incarnata).
--
I may remove the anger from the consciousness of my "little
smile" and give her back the joy and peace I want her always to
--
my blessings, my congratulations for the manner in which she
has passed her French test.
--
small, and it is only by identification with the Divine consciousness that one can attain and preserve the true unchanging
happiness.
Keep your confidence and your faith, my little smile, and
everything will be all right.
-- consecration is the wire that connects the individual battery to
the infinite reserve of forces.
-- consecration is the canal that connects the river to the pond
and prevents the pond from drying up.
--
and consciousness from above and allowing them to replace the
tamas in the external consciousness, is a much better and surer
way.
--
detach one's consciousness from it and let it run by itself without
running with it. Then it finds this less enjoyable and after some
--
well for your confessions to make me "serious". Besides, your confessions are not so terrible as all that, no matter what you
--
I had an imaginary conversation in my head with X.
I was not paying attention, but at one moment it came
--
suddenly the conversation stopped.
That is how I talk to people in my head; my mind
--
How then can I continue my practice of writing to
You in this state of depression and dis content?
--
Be careful, child, do not open the door to depression, discouragement and revolt - this leads far, far away from consciousness and makes you sink into the depths of obscurity
where happiness can no longer enter. Your great strength was
--
and with it your faith and confidence in me; in this condition, if
all the divine forces were to concentrate on you, it would be in
vain - you would refuse to receive them.
--
more the confident child you were, do not brood over your faults
and difficulties - it is your smile that will chase them away.
--
In your sleep you are becoming conscious of the noises that the
mechanical thoughts of the most material mind make in their
--
to remain confident and cheerful.
27 December 1932
--
and having confidence - all of these are bad perhaps.
Because I see that they have disappeared, at least for the
--
help thinking that if I remain in this condition all the time
and if I can't ever be happy, it will soon be impossible
--
about my condition in order to let You know about it.)
There are thieves in the subtle world just as in the outer world.
--
what was merely instinctive must now become conscious and
willed.
--
I write (in order, as You said, to keep the contact with
You)?
--
It will be good to continue like this.
14 January 1933
--
It means the consciousness that is not filled with the activities and influences of ordinary life, but is concentrated in an
aspiration towards the divine light, force, knowledge, joy.
--
exact image of life, where one must constantly undo what has
been done in order to redo it better.
--
Just a word is enough to keep the contact, and when you have
something interesting to tell me, you must do so.
--
quietly content. Did you feel anything?
25 November 1933
--
receiving Sri Aurobindo's blessing, it is better to remain concentrated and to keep one's joy locked inside oneself rather than to
throw it out by mixing and talking with others. The experiences
--
where I can live constantly with X and with all who love
You.
I have noticed that when I am concentrated, or
rather when I try to concentrate, I cannot smile at anyone and if I try to smile I feel as if I were smiling
superficially.
--
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,
--
My Mother, give me purity and constancy in my
aspiration.
Certain conditions in us (and pride is one of them) automatically
invite blows from the surrounding circumstances. And it is up
--
outward, and you will feel my presence as concretely (even more
so) as you feel the cold and the heat.
--
you should concentrate in the inner being, which has a life
independent of the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch).
--
yet concealing in itself the stream of life. Because of the resistance
of matter, this stream of life is freed only with difficulty and can
hardly emerge into the light. But with a little concentration and
insistence, the resistance of matter lessens and the life-forces are
--
it concerned you because you were present, and I took it as
a promise that your difficulties would give way and that you
--
beautiful than we had thought, and yet without considering you
write in a fit of bad temper: "I don't want to do this sari any
--
You have described your condition very well and since you
are so conscious of it, I feel that soon you will be able to master it.
It goes without saying that our help is always with you to
--
I know of only one way: to give oneself - a complete consecration to the Divine. The more one gives oneself, the more
one opens; the more one opens, the more one receives; and in
the intimacy of this self-giving one can become conscious of the
inner Presence and the joy it brings.
--
steadier. Remain confident, do not torment yourself - in this
way you will hasten its coming.
--
there is a great confusion which often brings a clouding of
the consciousness. You must not let this upset you too much,
but simply aspire with calm and perseverance for the light to
--
them - quite the contrary. But they are rather heavy and warm
and I prefer to keep them for wearing between November and
--
the connection between it and your exterior consciousness. And
I took your laughter for a sign of conversion!
Beware of false pride - it leads only to ruin. And do not
0.03 - The Threefold Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
NATURE, then, is an evolution or progressive self-manifestation of an eternal and secret existence, with three successive forms as her three steps of ascent. And we have consequently as the condition of all our activities these three mutually interdependent possibilities, the bodily life, the mental existence and the veiled spiritual being which is in the involution the cause of the others and in the evolution their result. Preserving and perfecting the physical, fulfilling the mental, it is Nature's aim and it should be ours to unveil in the perfected body and mind the transcendent activities of the Spirit. As the mental life does not abrogate but works for the elevation and better utilisation of the bodily existence, so too the spiritual should not abrogate but transfigure our intellectual, emotional, aesthetic and vital activities.
For man, the head of terrestrial Nature, the sole earthly frame in which her full evolution is possible, is a triple birth. He has been given a living frame in which the body is the vessel and life the dynamic means of a divine manifestation. His activity is centred in a progressive mind which aims at perfecting itself as well as the house in which it dwells and the means of life that it uses, and is capable of awaking by a progressive self-realisation to its own true nature as a form of the Spirit. He culminates in what he always really was, the illumined and beatific spirit which is intended at last to irradiate life and mind with its now concealed splendours.
Since this is the plan of the divine Energy in humanity, the whole method and aim of our existence must work by the interaction of these three elements in the being. As a result of their separate formulation in Nature, man has open to him a choice between three kinds of life, the ordinary material existence, a life of mental activity and progress and the unchanging spiritual beatitude. But he can, as he progresses, combine these three forms, resolve their discords into a harmonious rhythm and so create in himself the whole godhead, the perfect Man.
--
The characteristic energy of bodily Life is not so much in progress as in persistence, not so much in individual selfenlargement as in self-repetition. There is, indeed, in physical Nature a progression from type to type, from the vegetable to the animal, from the animal to man; for even in inanimate Matter Mind is at work. But once a type is marked off physically, the chief immediate preoccupation of the terrestrial Mother seems to be to keep it in being by a constant reproduction. For Life always seeks immortality; but since individual form is impermanent and only the idea of a form is permanent in the consciousness that creates the universe, - for there it does not perish, - such constant reproduction is the only possible material immortality.
Self-preservation, self-repetition, self-multiplication are necessarily, then, the predominant instincts of all material existence.
--
The characteristic energy of pure Mind is change, and the more our mentality acquires elevation and organisation, the more this law of Mind assumes the aspect of a continual enlargement, improvement and better arrangement of its gains and so of a continual passage from a smaller and simpler to a larger and more complex perfection. For Mind, unlike bodily life, is infinite in its field, elastic in its expansion, easily variable in its formations. Change, then, self-enlargement and selfimprovement are its proper instincts. Mind too moves in cycles, but these are ever-enlarging spirals. Its faith is perfectibility, its watchword is progress.
The characteristic law of Spirit is self-existent perfection and immutable infinity. It possesses always and in its own right the immortality which is the aim of Life and the perfection which is the goal of Mind. The attainment of the eternal and the realisation of that which is the same in all things and beyond all things, equally blissful in universe and outside it, untouched by the imperfections and limitations of the forms and activities in which it dwells, are the glory of the spiritual life.
--
He can subordinate this aim, but only to physical Nature's other instincts, the reproduction of the individual and the conservation of the type in the family, class or community. Self, domesticity, the accustomed order of the society and of the nation are the constituents of the material existence. Its immense importance in the e conomy of Nature is self-evident, and commensurate is the importance of the human type which represents it. He assures her of the safety of the framework she has made and of the orderly continuance and conservation of her past gains.
But by that very utility such men and the life they lead are condemned to be limited, irrationally conservative and earthbound. The customary routine, the customary institutions, the inherited or habitual forms of thought, - these things are the life-breath of their nostrils. They admit and jealously defend the changes compelled by the progressive mind in the past, but combat with equal zeal the changes that are being made by it in the present. For to the material man the living progressive thinker is an ideologue, dreamer or madman. The old Semites who stoned the living prophets and adored their memories when dead, were the very incarnation of this instinctive and unintelligent principle in Nature. In the ancient Indian distinction between the once born and the twice born, it is to this material man that the former description can be applied. He does Nature's inferior works; he assures the basis for her higher activities; but not to him easily are opened the glories of her se cond birth.
Yet he admits so much of spirituality as has been enforced on his customary ideas by the great religious outbursts of the past and he makes in his scheme of society a place, venerable though not often effective, for the priest or the learned theologian who can be trusted to provide him with a safe and ordinary spiritual pabulum. But to the man who would assert for himself the liberty of spiritual experience and the spiritual life, he assigns, if he admits him at all, not the vestment of the priest but the robe of the Sannyasin. Outside society let him exercise his dangerous freedom. So he may even serve as a human lightning-rod receiving the electricity of the Spirit and turning it away from the social edifice.
Nevertheless it is possible to make the material man and his life moderately progressive by imprinting on the material mind the custom of progress, the habit of conscious change, the fixed idea of progression as a law of life. The creation by this means of progressive societies in Europe is one of the greatest triumphs of Mind over Matter. But the physical nature has its revenge; for the progress made tends to be of the grosser and more outward kind and its attempts at a higher or a more rapid movement bring about great wearinesses, swift exhaustions, startling recoils.
It is possible also to give the material man and his life a moderate spirituality by accustoming him to regard in a religious spirit all the institutions of life and its customary activities. The creation of such spiritualised communities in the East has been one of the greatest triumphs of Spirit over Matter. Yet here, too, there is a defect; for this often tends only to the creation of a religious temperament, the most outward form of spirituality.
--
She demands their alliance in a complete effort before she will suffer a complete change in humanity. But, usually, these two great agents are unwilling to make to each other the necessary concessions.
The mental life concentrates on the aesthetic, the ethical and the intellectual activities. Essential mentality is idealistic and a seeker after perfection. The subtle self, the brilliant Atman,1 is ever a dreamer. A dream of perfect beauty, perfect conduct, perfect Truth, whether seeking new forms of the Eternal or revitalising the old, is the very soul of pure mentality. But it knows not how to deal with the resistance of Matter. There it is hampered and inefficient, works by bungling experiments and has either to withdraw from the struggle or submit to the grey actuality. Or else, by studying the material life and accepting the conditions of the contest, it may succeed, but only in imposing temporarily some artificial system which infinite Nature either rends and casts aside or disfigures out of recognition or by withdrawing her assent leaves as the corpse of a dead ideal. Few and far between have been those realisations of the dreamer in Man which the world has gladly accepted, looks back to with a fond memory and seeks, in its elements, to cherish.
1 Who dwells in Dream, the inly conscious, the enjoyer of abstractions, the Brilliant.
Mandukya Upanishad 4.
--
Mind finds fully its force and action only when it casts itself upon life and accepts equally its possibilities and its resistances as the means of a greater self-perfection. In the struggle with the difficulties of the material world the ethical development of the individual is firmly shaped and the great schools of conduct are formed; by contact with the facts of life Art attains to vitality, Thought assures its abstractions, the generalisations of the philosopher base themselves on a stable foundation of science and experience.
This mixing with life may, however, be pursued for the sake of the individual mind and with an entire indifference to the forms of the material existence or the uplifting of the race. This indifference is seen at its highest in the Epicurean discipline and is not entirely absent from the Stoic; and even altruism does the works of compassion more often for its own sake than for the sake of the world it helps. But this too is a limited fulfilment. The progressive mind is seen at its noblest when it strives to elevate the whole race to its own level whether by sowing broadcast the image of its own thought and fulfilment or by changing the material life of the race into fresh forms, religious, intellectual, social or political, intended to represent more nearly that ideal of truth, beauty, justice, righteousness with which the man's own soul is illumined. Failure in such a field matters little; for the mere attempt is dynamic and creative. The struggle of Mind to elevate life is the promise and condition of the conquest of life by that which is higher even than Mind.
That highest thing, the spiritual existence, is concerned with what is eternal but not therefore entirely aloof from the transient. For the spiritual man the mind's dream of perfect beauty is realised in an eternal love, beauty and delight that has no dependence and is equal behind all objective appearances; its dream of perfect Truth in the supreme, self-existent, self-apparent and eternal Verity which never varies, but explains and is the secret of all variations and the goal of all progress; its dream of perfect action in the omnipotent and self-guiding Law that is inherent for ever in all things and translates itself here in the rhythm of the worlds. What is fugitive vision or constant effort of creation in the brilliant Self is an eternally existing Reality in the Self that knows2 and is the Lord.
But if it is often difficult for the mental life to accommodate itself to the dully resistant material activity, how much more difficult must it seem for the spiritual existence to live on in a world that appears full not of the Truth but of every lie and illusion, not of Love and Beauty but of an encompassing discord and ugliness, not of the Law of Truth but of victorious selfishness and sin? Therefore the spiritual life tends easily in the saint and Sannyasin to withdraw from the material existence and reject it either wholly and physically or in the spirit. It sees this world as the kingdom of evil or of ignorance and the eternal and divine either in a far-off heaven or beyond where there is no world and no life. It separates itself inwardly, if not also physically, from the world's impurities; it asserts the spiritual reality in a spotless isolation. This withdrawal renders an invaluable service to the material life itself by forcing it to regard and even to bow down to something that is the direct negation of its own petty ideals, sordid cares and egoistic self- content.
--
2 The Unified, in whom conscious thought is concentrated, who is all delight and enjoyer of delight, the Wise. . . . He is the Lord of all, the Omniscient, the inner Guide.
Mandukya Upanishad 5, 6.
--
But if Progress also is one of the chief terms of worldexistence and a progressive manifestation of the Divine the true sense of Nature, this limitation also is invalid. It is possible for the spiritual life in the world, and it is its real mission, to change the material life into its own image, the image of the Divine. Therefore, besides the great solitaries who have sought and attained their self-liberation, we have the great spiritual teachers who have also liberated others and, supreme of all, the great dynamic souls who, feeling themselves stronger in the might of the Spirit than all the forces of the material life banded together, have thrown themselves upon the world, grappled with it in a loving wrestle and striven to compel its consent to its own transfiguration. Ordinarily, the effort is concentrated on a mental and moral change in humanity, but it may extend itself also to the alteration of the forms of our life and its institutions so that they too may be a better mould for the inpourings of the Spirit. These attempts have been the supreme landmarks in the progressive development of human ideals and the divine preparation of the race. Every one of them, whatever its outward results, has left Earth more capable of Heaven and quickened in its tardy movements the evolutionary Yoga of Nature.
In India, for the last thousand years and more, the spiritual life and the material have existed side by side to the exclusion of the progressive mind. Spirituality has made terms for itself with Matter by renouncing the attempt at general progress. It has obtained from society the right of free spiritual development for all who assume some distinctive symbol, such as the garb of the Sannyasin, the recognition of that life as man's goal and those who live it as worthy of an absolute reverence, and the casting of society itself into such a religious mould that its most customary acts should be accompanied by a formal reminder of the spiritual symbolism of life and its ultimate destination. On the other hand, there was conceded to society the right of inertia and immobile self- conservation. The concession destroyed much of the value of the terms. The religious mould being fixed, the formal reminder tended to become a routine and to lose its living sense. The constant attempts to change the mould by new sects and religions ended only in a new routine or a modification of the old; for the saving element of the free and active mind had been exiled. The material life, handed over to the Ignorance, the purposeless and endless duality, became a leaden and dolorous yoke from which flight was the only escape.
The schools of Indian Yoga lent themselves to the compromise. Individual perfection or liberation was made the aim, seclusion of some kind from the ordinary activities the condition, the renunciation of life the culmination. The teacher gave his knowledge only to a small circle of disciples. Or if a wider movement was attempted, it was still the release of the individual soul that remained the aim. The pact with an immobile society was, for the most part, observed.
The utility of the compromise in the then actual state of the world cannot be doubted. It secured in India a society which lent itself to the preservation and the worship of spirituality, a country apart in which as in a fortress the highest spiritual ideal could maintain itself in its most absolute purity unoverpowered by the siege of the forces around it. But it was a compromise, not an absolute victory. The material life lost the divine impulse to growth, the spiritual preserved by isolation its height and purity, but sacrificed its full power and serviceableness to the world. Therefore, in the divine Providence the country of the Yogins and the Sannyasins has been forced into a strict and imperative contact with the very element it had rejected, the element of the progressive Mind, so that it might recover what was now wanting to it.
We have to recognise once more that the individual exists not in himself alone but in the collectivity and that individual perfection and liberation are not the whole sense of God's intention in the world. The free use of our liberty includes also the liberation of others and of mankind; the perfect utility of our perfection is, having realised in ourselves the divine symbol, to reproduce, multiply and ultimately universalise it in others.
Therefore from a concrete view of human life in its threefold potentialities we come to the same conclusion that we had drawn from an observation of Nature in her general workings and the three steps of her evolution. And we begin to perceive a complete aim for our synthesis of Yoga.
Spirit is the crown of universal existence; Matter is its basis; Mind is the link between the two. Spirit is that which is eternal; Mind and Matter are its workings. Spirit is that which is concealed and has to be revealed; mind and body are the means by which it seeks to reveal itself. Spirit is the image of the Lord of the Yoga; mind and body are the means He has provided for reproducing that image in phenomenal existence. All Nature is an attempt at a progressive revelation of the concealed Truth, a more and more successful reproduction of the divine image.
But what Nature aims at for the mass in a slow evolution, Yoga effects for the individual by a rapid revolution. It works by a quickening of all her energies, a sublimation of all her faculties. While she develops the spiritual life with difficulty and has constantly to fall back from it for the sake of her lower realisations, the sublimated force, the concentrated method of Yoga can attain directly and carry with it the perfection of the mind and even, if she will, the perfection of the body. Nature seeks the Divine in her own symbols: Yoga goes beyond Nature to the Lord of Nature, beyond universe to the Transcendent and can return with the transcendent light and power, with the fiat of the Omnipotent.
But their aim is one in the end. The generalisation of Yoga in humanity must be the last victory of Nature over her own delays and concealments. Even as now by the progressive mind in Science she seeks to make all mankind fit for the full development of the mental life, so by Yoga must she inevitably seek to make all mankind fit for the higher evolution, the se cond birth, the spiritual existence. And as the mental life uses and perfects the material, so will the spiritual use and perfect the material and the mental existence as the instruments of a divine self-expression.
The ages when that is accomplished, are the legendary Satya or Krita3 Yugas, the ages of the Truth manifested in the symbol, of the great work done when Nature in mankind, illumined, satisfied and blissful, rests in the culmination of her endeavour.
--
0.04 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I beg to submit some facts for your gracious consideration. The weakest and smallest of the bullocks used by
X's cart-men are carrying more than 600 Dem of sand.
--
The bullocks are not mischievous. On the contrary, they are
very good and peaceful creatures, but very sensitive - unusually
--
roof I concentrated the power on the bullocks ordering them to
yield and obey and I found them quite receptive. To use a quiet,
steady, unwavering conscious will, that is the way, the only true
way really effective and worthy of an aspirant for Divine Life.
--
before too and it seems he wants to control her like that.
If truly he does it, it is brutal and stupid; apart from spoiling
0.04 - The Systems of Yoga, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
HESE relations between the different psychological divisions of the human being and these various utilities and objects of effort founded on them, such as we have seen them in our brief survey of the natural evolution, we shall find repeated in the fundamental principles and methods of the different schools of Yoga. And if we seek to combine and harmonise their central practices and their predominant aims, we shall find that the basis provided by Nature is still our natural basis and the condition of their synthesis.
In one respect Yoga exceeds the normal operation of cosmic
--
Yet it is always through something which she has formed in her evolution that Nature thus overpasses her evolution. It is the individual heart that by sublimating its highest and purest emotions attains to the transcendent Bliss or the ineffable Nirvana, the individual mind that by converting its ordinary functionings into a knowledge beyond mentality knows its oneness with the
Ineffable and merges its separate existence in that transcendent unity. And always it is the individual, the Self conditioned in its experience by Nature and working through her formations, that attains to the Self un conditioned, free and transcendent.
In practice three conceptions are necessary before there can be any possibility of Yoga; there must be, as it were, three consenting parties to the effort, - God, Nature and the human soul or, in more abstract language, the Transcendental, the Universal
The conditions of the Synthesis
and the Individual. If the individual and Nature are left to themselves, the one is bound to the other and unable to exceed appreciably her lingering march. Something transcendent is needed, free from her and greater, which will act upon us and her, attracting us upward to Itself and securing from her by good grace or by force her consent to the individual ascension.
It is this truth which makes necessary to every philosophy of Yoga the conception of the Ishwara, Lord, supreme Soul or supreme Self, towards whom the effort is directed and who gives the illuminating touch and the strength to attain. Equally true is the complementary idea so often enforced by the Yoga of devotion that as the Transcendent is necessary to the individual and sought after by him, so also the individual is necessary in a sense to the Transcendent and sought after by It. If the
Bhakta seeks and yearns after Bhagavan, Bhagavan also seeks and yearns after the Bhakta.1 There can be no Yoga of knowledge without a human seeker of the knowledge, the supreme subject of knowledge and the divine use by the individual of the universal faculties of knowledge; no Yoga of devotion without the human God-lover, the supreme object of love and delight and the divine use by the individual of the universal faculties of spiritual, emotional and aesthetic enjoyment; no Yoga of works without the human worker, the supreme Will, Master of all works and sacrifices, and the divine use by the individual of the universal faculties of power and action. However Monistic may be our intellectual conception of the highest truth of things, in practice we are compelled to accept this omnipresent Trinity.
For the contact of the human and individual consciousness with the divine is the very essence of Yoga. Yoga is the union of that which has become separated in the play of the universe with its own true self, origin and universality. The contact may take place at any point of the complex and intricately organised consciousness which we call our personality. It may be effected in the physical through the body; in the vital through the action of
Bhakta, the devotee or lover of God; Bhagavan, God, the Lord of Love and Delight.
--
those functionings which determine the state and the experiences of our nervous being; through the mentality, whether by means of the emotional heart, the active will or the understanding mind, or more largely by a general conversion of the mental consciousness in all its activities. It may equally be accomplished through a direct awakening to the universal or transcendent Truth and
Bliss by the conversion of the central ego in the mind. And according to the point of contact that we choose will be the type of the Yoga that we practise.
For if, leaving aside the complexities of their particular processes, we fix our regard on the central principle of the chief schools of Yoga still prevalent in India, we find that they arrange themselves in an ascending order which starts from the lowest rung of the ladder, the body, and ascends to the direct contact between the individual soul and the transcendent and universal
Self. Hathayoga selects the body and the vital functionings as its instruments of perfection and realisation; its concern is with the gross body. Rajayoga selects the mental being in its different parts as its lever-power; it concentrates on the subtle body. The triple Path of Works, of Love and of Knowledge uses some part of the mental being, will, heart or intellect as a starting-point and seeks by its conversion to arrive at the liberating Truth,
Beatitude and Infinity which are the nature of the spiritual life.
--
Hathayoga aims at the conquest of the life and the body whose combination in the food sheath and the vital vehicle constitutes, as we have seen, the gross body and whose equilibrium is the foundation of all Nature's workings in the human being. The equilibrium established by Nature is sufficient for the normal egoistic life; it is insufficient for the purpose of the Hathayogin.
For it is calculated on the amount of vital or dynamic force necessary to drive the physical engine during the normal span of human life and to perform more or less adequately the various workings demanded of it by the individual life inhabiting this frame and the world-environment by which it is conditioned.
The conditions of the Synthesis
Hathayoga therefore seeks to rectify Nature and establish another equilibrium by which the physical frame will be able to sustain the inrush of an increasing vital or dynamic force of
--
Nature the equilibrium is based upon the individualisation of a limited quantity and force of the Prana; more than that the individual is by personal and hereditary habit unable to bear, use or control. In Hathayoga, the equilibrium opens a door to the universalisation of the individual vitality by admitting into the body, containing, using and controlling a much less fixed and limited action of the universal energy.
The chief processes of Hathayoga are asana and pran.ayama.
By its numerous asanas or fixed postures it first cures the body of that restlessness which is a sign of its inability to contain without working them off in action and movement the vital forces poured into it from the universal Life-Ocean, gives to it an extraordinary health, force and suppleness and seeks to liberate it from the habits by which it is subjected to ordinary physical
Nature and kept within the narrow bounds of her normal operations. In the ancient tradition of Hathayoga it has always been supposed that this conquest could be pushed so far even as to conquer to a great extent the force of gravitation. By various subsidiary but elaborate processes the Hathayogin next contrives to keep the body free from all impurities and the nervous system unclogged for those exercises of respiration which are his most important instruments. These are called pran.ayama, the control of the breath or vital power; for breathing is the chief physical functioning of the vital forces. Pranayama, for the Hathayogin, serves a double purpose. First, it completes the perfection of the body. The vitality is liberated from many of the ordinary necessities of physical Nature; robust health, prolonged youth, often an extraordinary longevity are attained.
On the other hand, Pranayama awakens the coiled-up serpent of the Pranic dynamism in the vital sheath and opens to the Yogin fields of consciousness, ranges of experience, abnormal faculties denied to the ordinary human life while it puissantly intensifies such normal powers and faculties as he already possesses.
The Systems of Yoga
--
Rajayoga takes a higher flight. It aims at the liberation and perfection not of the bodily, but of the mental being, the control of the emotional and sensational life, the mastery of the whole apparatus of thought and consciousness. It fixes its eyes on the citta, that stuff of mental consciousness in which all these activities arise, and it seeks, even as Hathayoga with its physical material, first to purify and to tranquillise. The normal state of man is a condition of trouble and disorder, a kingdom either at war with itself or badly governed; for the lord, the Purusha, is subjected to his ministers, the faculties, subjected even to his subjects, the instruments of sensation, emotion, action, enjoyment. Swarajya, self-rule, must be substituted for this subjection.
First, therefore, the powers of order must be helped to overcome
The conditions of the Synthesis
the powers of disorder. The preliminary movement of Rajayoga is a careful self-discipline by which good habits of mind are substituted for the lawless movements that indulge the lower nervous being. By the practice of truth, by renunciation of all forms of egoistic seeking, by abstention from injury to others, by purity, by constant meditation and inclination to the divine
Purusha who is the true lord of the mental kingdom, a pure, glad, clear state of mind and heart is established.
This is the first step only. Afterwards, the ordinary activities of the mind and sense must be entirely quieted in order that the soul may be free to ascend to higher states of consciousness and acquire the foundation for a perfect freedom and self-mastery.
But Rajayoga does not forget that the disabilities of the ordinary mind proceed largely from its subjection to the reactions of the nervous system and the body. It adopts therefore from the Hathayogic system its devices of asana and pran.ayama, but reduces their multiple and elaborate forms in each case to one simplest and most directly effective process sufficient for its own immediate object. Thus it gets rid of the Hathayogic complexity and cumbrousness while it utilises the swift and powerful efficacy of its methods for the control of the body and the vital functions and for the awakening of that internal dynamism, full of a latent supernormal faculty, typified in Yogic terminology by the kun.d.alin, the coiled and sleeping serpent of Energy within. This done, the system proceeds to the perfect quieting of the restless mind and its elevation to a higher plane through concentration of mental force by the successive stages which lead to the utmost inner concentration or ingathered state of the consciousness which is called Samadhi.
By Samadhi, in which the mind acquires the capacity of withdrawing from its limited waking activities into freer and higher states of consciousness, Rajayoga serves a double purpose. It compasses a pure mental action liberated from the confusions of the outer consciousness and passes thence to the higher supra-mental planes on which the individual soul enters into its true spiritual existence. But also it acquires the capacity of that free and concentrated energising of consciousness on
The Systems of Yoga
--
Rajayoga aimed not only at Swarajya, self-rule or subjective empire, the entire control by the subjective consciousness of all the states and activities proper to its own domain, but included
Samrajya as well, outward empire, the control by the subjective consciousness of its outer activities and environment.
We perceive that as Hathayoga, dealing with the life and body, aims at the supernormal perfection of the physical life and its capacities and goes beyond it into the domain of the mental life, so Rajayoga, operating with the mind, aims at a supernormal perfection and enlargement of the capacities of the mental life and goes beyond it into the domain of the spiritual existence.
--
Rajayoga in that it does not occupy itself with the elaborate training of the whole mental system as the condition of perfection, but seizes on certain central principles, the intellect, the heart, the will, and seeks to convert their normal operations by turning them away from their ordinary and external preoccupations and activities and concentrating them on the Divine. It
The conditions of the Synthesis
differs also in this, - and here from the point of view of an integral Yoga there seems to be a defect, - that it is indifferent to mental and bodily perfection and aims only at purity as a condition of the divine realisation. A se cond defect is that as actually practised it chooses one of the three parallel paths exclusively and almost in antagonism to the others instead of effecting a synthetic harmony of the intellect, the heart and the will in an integral divine realisation.
The Path of Knowledge aims at the realisation of the unique and supreme Self. It proceeds by the method of intellectual reflection, vicara, to right discrimination, viveka. It observes and distinguishes the different elements of our apparent or phenomenal being and rejecting identification with each of them arrives at their exclusion and separation in one common term as constituents of Prakriti, of phenomenal Nature, creations of
Maya, the phenomenal consciousness. So it is able to arrive at its right identification with the pure and unique Self which is not mutable or perishable, not determinable by any phenomenon or combination of phenomena. From this point the path, as ordinarily followed, leads to the rejection of the phenomenal worlds from the consciousness as an illusion and the final immergence without return of the individual soul in the Supreme.
But this exclusive consummation is not the sole or inevitable result of the Path of Knowledge. For, followed more largely and with a less individual aim, the method of Knowledge may lead to an active conquest of the cosmic existence for the Divine no less than to a transcendence. The point of this departure is the realisation of the supreme Self not only in one's own being but in all beings and, finally, the realisation of even the phenomenal aspects of the world as a play of the divine consciousness and not something entirely alien to its true nature. And on the basis of this realisation a yet further enlargement is possible, the conversion of all forms of knowledge, however mundane, into activities of the divine consciousness utilisable for the perception of the one and unique Object of knowledge both in itself and through the play of its forms and symbols. Such a method might well lead to the elevation of the whole range of human intellect
The Systems of Yoga
--
Love and Bliss and utilises normally the conception of the supreme Lord in His personality as the divine Lover and enjoyer of the universe. The world is then realised as a play of the
Lord, with our human life as its final stage, pursued through the different phases of self- concealment and self-revelation. The principle of Bhakti Yoga is to utilise all the normal relations of human life into which emotion enters and apply them no longer to transient worldly relations, but to the joy of the All-Loving, the All-Beautiful and the All-Blissful. Worship and meditation are used only for the preparation and increase of intensity of the divine relationship. And this Yoga is catholic in its use of all emotional relations, so that even enmity and opposition to God, considered as an intense, impatient and perverse form of Love, is conceived as a possible means of realisation and salvation.
This path, too, as ordinarily practised, leads away from worldexistence to an absorption, of another kind than the Monist's, in the Transcendent and Supra-cosmic.
But, here too, the exclusive result is not inevitable. The Yoga itself provides a first corrective by not confining the play of divine love to the relation between the supreme Soul and the individual, but extending it to a common feeling and mutual worship between the devotees themselves united in the same realisation of the supreme Love and Bliss. It provides a yet more general corrective in the realisation of the divine object of Love in all beings not only human but animal, easily extended to all forms whatsoever. We can see how this larger application of the Yoga of
Devotion may be so used as to lead to the elevation of the whole range of human emotion, sensation and aesthetic perception to the divine level, its spiritualisation and the justification of the cosmic labour towards love and joy in our humanity.
--
The conditions of the Synthesis
purifies the mind and the will that we become easily conscious of the great universal Energy as the true doer of all our actions and the Lord of that Energy as their ruler and director with the individual as only a mask, an excuse, an instrument or, more positively, a conscious centre of action and phenomenal relation. The choice and direction of the act is more and more consciously left to this supreme Will and this universal Energy.
To That our works as well as the results of our works are finally abandoned. The object is the release of the soul from its bondage to appearances and to the reaction of phenomenal activities.
--
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
quite easy to feel my presence constantly.
With love and blessings.
--
make me conscious of you.
Peace be with you, my child, the peace of Certitude and of
--
to make you a strong and conscious man who is master of
himself - that is, in control of his lower nature and capable of
becoming a true Yogi if that be his aspiration. And the more this
-- consciousness that is constantly by your side, bringing you the
solicitude of my love.
--
the "plane" from which they come, it is surely the subtle physical, where the memory of all the conceptions and works of art
realised on earth is stored.
--
Learn to drink from the eternal source; it contains everything.
With my love.
--
and contemplate the Sun that is rising in your heart!
28 April 1934
--
Certainly I do not love you in the way you conceive of as
love; and I do see how it could be otherwise. You first have to
realise the Divine consciousness - only then will you be able to
know what true love is.
--
Human contact has done me much harm, but I
cannot give up this habit. I have made many efforts to
stop all human contacts, but I cannot. I don't know
what to do.
--
with those whose contact does not veil my presence. This is the
important point which should never be forgotten. All that leads
--
grateful to her for having taught me the discipline and the necessity of self-forgetfulness through concentration on what one
is doing.
--
from the fact that you are far too concerned about yourself. It
would be better for you to pay more attention to what you are
--
I constantly envelop you in my peace: you must learn to keep
it. I am constantly in your heart: you must become conscious
of my presence and receive and use the force that I am pouring
--
to work in you; then you will more and more dwell in constant
peace and joy.
--
world and concentrate on me. By turning your thoughts towards
me you will feel closer and closer to me and peace will come to
--
For you I want consciousness, knowledge, artistic capacity, selfmastery in peace and perfect equality, and the happiness that is
the result of spiritual realisation. Is this too grand and vast a
--
it is through a quiet and confident aspiration that you will receive
it. All my love is with you.
--
the repose that comes from concentrated energy.
Be sure that you will become strong and quiet, have faith in
--
it. The Force and consciousness are always with you, as well as
all my love.
--
You must never lose confidence in my unvarying love.
30 August 1934
--
My force is with you to conquer these things. And my love
never leaves you.
--
I am putting peace in your heart; but to become conscious
of it, you should repeat, as often as possible, mentally turning
--
want to console me by telling me this? When I look
within myself, not just now but over the past two years,
--
No, it is not to console you that I told you that you have
made progress. The progress is undeniable even though it may
--
feeling which does not conform to the truth.
Love from your mother.
--
For on the one hand you want to consecrate yourself to the
Divine and take your place in the divine life in the making.
--
and the pleasures of the vital - without considering, however,
that these pleasures can only be obtained through much struggle
--
to conquer the adversary who is trying to draw you towards the
lower animal consciousness.
Love from your mother who never leaves you.
--
This inner condition is getting worse and worse instead of better. You said to be patient, but as it is I am
becoming like a stone, without energy, inert, and more
--
I want to ask you something concerning my poetry.
It has stopped now. Is there some inner preparation
--
You have my full consent to write poetry, and Sri Aurobindo
says that there is no doubt about your poetic capacity. Today's
--
becomes more and more mental and you lose contact with the
Series Five - To a Child
--
unnecessary conflict in you.
Go to Lucknow, learn all you can there, and then you will
be able to consider the problem and make a definite decision concerning your future.
--
become very restricted in the present war conditions.
(2) You will live here, as all of us, night and day under the
--
support you, to guide you. By doing your work with conscientiousness, honesty and perseverance, you will feel my presence
closer and closer to you.
--
that I am close to you to console you and help you, and then the
hardest part will be over.
--
and the more you keep confidence, the quicker it will come.
With my love and blessings.
--
You need not worry and must continue as you are doing except,
perhaps, that you must not allow your superficial and somewhat
--
to do, and the most important if you want to conquer the
difficulty, is to obey.
--
for violent sensations can never be a remedy; on the contrary,
they increase the confusion and obscurity.
The only remedy lies in opening to the higher forces in
--
I know that you want to do well, that you want to conquer,
and that you aspire to overcome the weaknesses. When they
--
The peace is there in the depths of your heart; concentrate there
and you will find it.
--
peace, a deep and luminous silence, a calm and concentrated
force, and the immutable joy that comes from a constant contact
with the Light.
0.05 - The Synthesis of the Systems, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Y THE very nature of the principal Yogic schools, each covering in its operations a part of the complex human integer and attempting to bring out its highest possibilities, it will appear that a synthesis of all of them largely conceived and applied might well result in an integral Yoga. But they are so disparate in their tendencies, so highly specialised and elaborated in their forms, so long confirmed in the mutual opposition of their ideas and methods that we do not easily find how we can arrive at their right union.
An undiscriminating combination in block would not be a synthesis, but a confusion. Nor would a successive practice of each of them in turn be easy in the short span of our human life and with our limited energies, to say nothing of the waste of labour implied in so cumbrous a process. Sometimes, indeed,
Hathayoga and Rajayoga are thus successively practised. And in a recent unique example, in the life of Ramakrishna Paramhansa, we see a colossal spiritual capacity first driving straight to the divine realisation, taking, as it were, the kingdom of heaven by violence, and then seizing upon one Yogic method after another and extracting the substance out of it with an incredible rapidity, always to return to the heart of the whole matter, the realisation and possession of God by the power of love, by the extension of inborn spirituality into various experience and by the spontaneous play of an intuitive knowledge. Such an example cannot be generalised. Its object also was special and temporal, to exemplify in the great and decisive experience of a master-soul the truth, now most necessary to humanity, towards which a world long divided into jarring sects and schools is with difficulty labouring, that all sects are forms and fragments of a single integral truth and all disciplines labour in their different ways towards one supreme experience. To know, be and possess
The conditions of the Synthesis
the Divine is the one thing needful and it includes or leads up to all the rest; towards this sole good we have to drive and this attained, all the rest that the divine Will chooses for us, all necessary form and manifestation, will be added.
--
This system is the way of the Tantra. Owing to certain of its developments Tantra has fallen into discredit with those who are not Tantrics; and especially owing to the developments of its left-hand path, the Vama Marga, which not content with exceeding the duality of virtue and sin and instead of replacing them by spontaneous rightness of action seemed, sometimes, to make a method of self-indulgence, a method of unrestrained social immorality. Nevertheless, in its origin, Tantra was a great and puissant system founded upon ideas which were at least partially true. Even its twofold division into the right-hand and left-hand paths, Dakshina Marga and Vama Marga, started from a certain profound perception. In the ancient symbolic sense of the words Dakshina and Vama, it was the distinction between the way of Knowledge and the way of Ananda, - Nature in man liberating itself by right discrimination in power and practice of its own energies, elements and potentialities and Nature in man
The Synthesis of the Systems
--
If, however, we leave aside, here also, the actual methods and practices and seek for the central principle, we find, first, that Tantra expressly differentiates itself from the Vedic methods of Yoga. In a sense, all the schools we have hitherto examined are Vedantic in their principle; their force is in knowledge, their method is knowledge, though it is not always discernment by the intellect, but may be, instead, the knowledge of the heart expressed in love and faith or a knowledge in the will working out through action. In all of them the lord of the Yoga is the Purusha, the conscious Soul that knows, observes, attracts, governs. But in Tantra it is rather Prakriti, the Nature-Soul, the Energy, the
Will-in-Power executive in the universe. It was by learning and applying the intimate secrets of this Will-in-Power, its method, its Tantra, that the Tantric Yogin pursued the aims of his discipline, - mastery, perfection, liberation, beatitude. Instead of drawing back from manifested Nature and its difficulties, he confronted them, seized and conquered. But in the end, as is the general tendency of Prakriti, Tantric Yoga largely lost its principle in its machinery and became a thing of formulae and occult mechanism still powerful when rightly used but fallen from the clarity of their original intention.
We have in this central Tantric conception one side of the truth, the worship of the Energy, the Shakti, as the sole effective force for all attainment. We get the other extreme in the Vedantic conception of the Shakti as a power of Illusion and in the search after the silent inactive Purusha as the means of liberation from the deceptions created by the active Energy. But in the integral conception the conscious Soul is the Lord, the Nature-Soul is his executive Energy. Purusha is of the nature of Sat, the being of conscious self-existence pure and infinite; Shakti or Prakriti is of the nature of Chit, - it is power of the Purusha's self- conscious existence, pure and infinite. The relation of the two exists between the poles of rest and action. When the Energy is absorbed
The conditions of the Synthesis
in the bliss of conscious self-existence, there is rest; when the
Purusha pours itself out in the action of its Energy, there is action, creation and the enjoyment or Ananda of becoming. But if Ananda is the creator and begetter of all becoming, its method is Tapas or force of the Purusha's consciousness dwelling upon its own infinite potentiality in existence and producing from it truths of conception or real Ideas, vijnana, which, proceeding from an omniscient and omnipotent Self-existence, have the surety of their own fulfilment and contain in themselves the nature and law of their own becoming in the terms of mind, life and matter. The eventual omnipotence of Tapas and the infallible fulfilment of the Idea are the very foundation of all
Yoga. In man we render these terms by Will and Faith, - a will that is eventually self-effective because it is of the substance of
Knowledge and a faith that is the reflex in the lower consciousness of a Truth or real Idea yet unrealised in the manifestation.
It is this self-certainty of the Idea which is meant by the Gita when it says, yo yac-chraddhah. sa eva sah., "whatever is a man's faith or the sure Idea in him, that he becomes."
--
- and Yoga is nothing but practical psychology, - is the conception of Nature from which we have to start. It is the selffulfilment of the Purusha through his Energy. But the movement of Nature is twofold, higher and lower, or, as we may choose to term it, divine and undivine. The distinction exists indeed for practical purposes only; for there is nothing that is not divine, and in a larger view it is as meaningless, verbally, as the distinction between natural and supernatural, for all things that are are natural. All things are in Nature and all things are in God.
But, for practical purposes, there is a real distinction. The lower
--
The method we have to pursue, then, is to put our whole conscious being into relation and contact with the Divine and to call Him in to transform our entire being into His. Thus in a sense
God Himself, the real Person in us, becomes the sadhaka of the sadhana1 as well as the Master of the Yoga by whom the lower personality is used as the centre of a divine transfiguration and the instrument of its own perfection. In effect, the pressure of the
Tapas, the force of consciousness in us dwelling in the Idea of the divine Nature upon that which we are in our entirety, produces
Sadhana, the practice by which perfection, siddhi, is attained; sadhaka, the Yogin who seeks by that practice the siddhi.
The conditions of the Synthesis
its own realisation. The divine and all-knowing and all-effecting descends upon the limited and obscure, progressively illumines and energises the whole lower nature and substitutes its own action for all the terms of the inferior human light and mortal activity.
In psychological fact this method translates itself into the progressive surrender of the ego with its whole field and all its apparatus to the Beyond-ego with its vast and incalculable but always inevitable workings. Certainly, this is no short cut or easy sadhana. It requires a colossal faith, an absolute courage and above all an unflinching patience. For it implies three stages of which only the last can be wholly blissful or rapid, - the attempt of the ego to enter into contact with the Divine, the wide, full and therefore laborious preparation of the whole lower Nature by the divine working to receive and become the higher Nature, and the eventual transformation. In fact, however, the divine
Strength, often unobserved and behind the veil, substitutes itself for our weakness and supports us through all our failings of faith, courage and patience. It "makes the blind to see and the lame to stride over the hills." The intellect becomes aware of a Law that beneficently insists and a succour that upholds; the heart speaks of a Master of all things and Friend of man or a universal Mother who upholds through all stumblings. Therefore this path is at once the most difficult imaginable and yet, in comparison with the magnitude of its effort and object, the most easy and sure of all.
--
Yoga. Yet are there certain broad lines of working common to all which enable us to construct not indeed a routine system, but
The Synthesis of the Systems
--
Everything in us is seized by the hands of a mighty Artificer and transformed into a clear image of that which it now seeks confusedly to present. In that ever-progressive experience we begin to perceive how this lower manifestation is constituted and that everything in it, however seemingly deformed or petty or vile, is the more or less distorted or imperfect figure of some element or action in the harmony of the divine Nature. We begin to understand what the Vedic Rishis meant when they spoke of the human forefa thers fashioning the gods as a smith forges the crude material in his smithy.
Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world-environment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection. And we recognise in ourselves with opened eyes the method of God in the world, His purpose of light in the obscure, of might in the weak and fallen, of delight in what is grievous and miserable. We see the divine method to be the same in the lower and in the higher working; only in the one it is pursued tardily and obscurely through the sub conscious in
Nature, in the other it becomes swift and self- conscious and the instrument confesses the hand of the Master. All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.
An integral method and an integral result. First, an integral realisation of Divine Being; not only a realisation of the One in its indistinguishable unity, but also in its multitude of aspects which are also necessary to the complete knowledge of it by
The conditions of the Synthesis
the relative consciousness; not only realisation of unity in the
Self, but of unity in the infinite diversity of activities, worlds and creatures.
Therefore, also, an integral liberation. Not only the freedom born of unbroken contact and identification of the individual being in all its parts with the Divine, sayujya-mukti, by which it can become free2 even in its separation, even in the duality; not only the salokya-mukti by which the whole conscious existence dwells in the same status of being as the Divine, in the state of
Sachchidananda; but also the acquisition of the divine nature by the transformation of this lower being into the human image of the Divine, sadharmya-mukti, and the complete and final release of all, the liberation of the consciousness from the transitory mould of the ego and its unification with the One Being, universal both in the world and the individual and transcendentally one both in the world and beyond all universe.
By this integral realisation and liberation, the perfect harmony of the results of Knowledge, Love and Works. For there is attained the complete release from ego and identification in being with the One in all and beyond all. But since the attaining consciousness is not limited by its attainment, we win also the unity in Beatitude and the harmonised diversity in Love, so that all relations of the play remain possible to us even while we retain on the heights of our being the eternal oneness with the
Beloved. And by a similar wideness, being capable of a freedom in spirit that embraces life and does not depend upon withdrawal from life, we are able to become without egoism, bondage or reaction the channel in our mind and body for a divine action poured out freely upon the world.
--
functioning of the complex instrument we are in our outer parts, is the condition of an integral liberty. Its result is an integral beatitude, in which there becomes possible at once the Ananda of all that is in the world seen as symbols of the Divine and the Ananda of that which is not-world. And it prepares the integral perfection of our humanity as a type of the Divine in the conditions of the human manifestation, a perfection founded on a certain free universality of being, of love and joy, of play of knowledge and of play of will in power and will in unegoistic action. This integrality also can be attained by the integral Yoga.
Perfection includes perfection of mind and body, so that the highest results of Rajayoga and Hathayoga should be contained in the widest formula of the synthesis finally to be effected by mankind. At any rate a full development of the general mental and physical faculties and experiences attainable by humanity through Yoga must be included in the scope of the integral method. Nor would these have any raison d'etre unless employed for an integral mental and physical life. Such a mental and physical life would be in its nature a translation of the spiritual existence into its right mental and physical values. Thus we would arrive at a synthesis of the three degrees of Nature and of the three modes of human existence which she has evolved or is evolving. We would include in the scope of our liberated being and perfected modes of activity the material life, our base, and the mental life, our intermediate instrument.
Nor would the integrality to which we aspire be real or even possible, if it were confined to the individual. Since our divine perfection embraces the realisation of ourselves in being, in life and in love through others as well as through ourselves, the extension of our liberty and of its results in others would be the inevitable outcome as well as the broadest utility of our liberation and perfection. And the constant and inherent attempt of such an extension would be towards its increasing and ultimately complete generalisation in mankind.
The divinising of the normal material life of man and of his great secular attempt of mental and moral self-culture in the individual and the race by this integralisation of a widely perfect
--
spiritual existence would thus be the crown alike of our individual and of our common effort. Such a consummation being no other than the kingdom of heaven within reproduced in the kingdom of heaven without, would be also the true fulfilment of the great dream cherished in different terms by the world's religions.
The widest synthesis of perfection possible to thought is the sole effort entirely worthy of those whose dedicated vision perceives that God dwells concealed in humanity.
0.06 - INTRODUCTION, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
Dark Night as a separate treatise, though in reality it is a continuation of the Ascent
of Mount Carmel and fulfils the undertakings given in it:
--
therefore still conduct themselves as children. The imperfections are examined one
by one, following the order of the seven deadly sins, in chapters (ii-viii) which once
--
where the soul may abandon discursive meditation and enter the contemplation
which belongs to loving and simple faith.
Both these chapters have contri buted to the reputation of St. John of the
Cross as a consummate spiritual master. And this not only for the objective value of
his observations, but because, even in spite of himself, he betrays the sublimity of
-- consists in 'allowing the soul to remain in peace and quietness,' content 'with a
4Op. cit., Bk. I, chap. i, 1.
--
after leaving the first; on the contrary, they generally pass a long time, even years,
before doing so,10 for they still have many imperfections, both habitual and actual
--
fullness the nature of this spiritual purgation or dark contemplation referred to in
the first stanza of his poem and the varieties of pain and affliction caused by it,
--
impresses indelibly upon the mind the fundamental concept of this most sublime of
all purgations. Marvellous, indeed, are its effects, from the first enkindlings and
--
midst of these dark confines, feels itself to be keenly and sharply wounded in strong
Divine love, and to have a certain realization and foretaste of God.'11 No less
--
This contemplation is not only dark, but also secret (Chapter xvii), and in
Chapter xviii is compared to the 'staircase' of the poem. This comparison suggests to
--
which led it to journey 'in darkness and concealment' from its enemies, both without
and within.
--
spiritual night of infused contemplation, through which the soul journeys with no
other guide or support, either outward or inward, than the Divine love 'which
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You have said in your conversations that to prepare
oneself for the Yoga one must first of all be conscious.
To be conscious of the Divine Presence in us is our goal;
I don't see how I can be conscious from the beginning.
I have not said " conscious of the Divine Presence", I have said
--
manifested world so effectively conceals.
I don't think this is true; union with the outer nature brings more
--
The conflict is between that which aspires towards consciousness, the "sattwic" part of the being, and that which lets itself
be invaded and governed by the in conscience, the "tamasic"
--
My physical mind is not yet convinced that human life
is capable of overcoming all suffering and even death.
--
be a true one, that is, based on union in the divine consciousness.
Open your heart yet wider, yet better, and the distance will
--
eternal consciousness and it is of this that one must become
aware.
Whatever the reason may be, as soon as my consciousness loses You I become joyless and without energy.
At no moment do I forget you. Don't you rather allow too many
--
Mother, why is it so difficult to feel Your Presence constantly near me? In the depths of my heart I know well
that without You there is no meaning in life for me; yet
--
I am always with you, and to become conscious of the inner
Presence is one of the most important points of the sadhana.
--
or of mental imagination, it is a fact, absolutely concrete and
as real and tangible to the consciousness as the most material
phenomenon.
My beloved Mother, if only I could convince my ignorant
being that it is possible to find You in the centre of my
--
It is not a question of convincing your heart, you must get the
experience of this presence and then you will become aware
that in its depths your heart has always been conscious of this
presence.
--
me; for if you were not always present in my consciousness you
would not be able to think of me. So you may be sure of my
--
You must find the Divine first, whether in yourself by interiorisation and concentration, or in Sri Aurobindo and me through
love and self-giving. Once you have found the Divine you will
--
There are two ways of uniting with the Divine. One is to concentrate in the heart and go deep enough to find there His Presence;
the other is to fling oneself in His arms, to nestle there as a child
--
also a sort of reversal of consciousness in which it comes out of
its state of blind and falsifying ignorance and enters into a state
of truth, and when that reversal, that conversion takes place,
you will feel yourself always close to me.
--
without the possibility of seeing me daily, what contact will you
have with me in the present state of your consciousness? Are
you capable of feeling me, experiencing concretely my presence,
even when your physical eyes do not see me? I don't think so, for
--
know, on the contrary, that there is no separation and that in
the reality of your being we are always united.
--
What cannot be acquired or conquered during life can certainly
not be done after death. It is the physical life which is the true
--
identity of consciousness and will.
My sweet Mother, do You say that I ought to overcome
--
Mother, how can I feel You concretely near me, even
when my body is far from You?
By concentrating your thought.
Beloved Mother, there are twenty-four hours in a day,
--
present and ever near, quite concretely and tangibly.
Remain very quiet, open your mind and your heart to Sri Aurobindo's influence and mine, withdraw deep into an inner silence
--
The psychic being is constantly and invariably in contact with
the Divine and never loses this contact.
The Divine is constantly present in the psychic being and the
latter is quite conscious of this.
The psychic being is asleep in me.
The psychic being is not asleep. It is the connection with it which
is not well established because the mind makes too much noise
--
I have already told you that it is because the contact between
the outer consciousness and the psychic consciousness is not
well established. He in whom this contact is well established is
always happy.
--
and the ordinary consciousness of ignorant man.
Series Six - To a Young Sadhak
--
wish to progress, and consequently that it is not necessary for
me to make you aware of what is to be changed in you.
--
it with confidence and you will receive it.
Yes, my help is with you to master all the movements which are
--
After all, my whole life is consecrated to You; I shall
remain very calm without bothering about what happens
--
On the contrary, it is good to let me know immediately.
Nothing is better than a confession for opening the closed doors.
Tell me what you fear most to tell me, and immediately you will
--
The Divine is infinite and innumerable, and consequently the
ways of approaching Him are also infinite and innumerable,
--
my life constantly increases.
This does not depend upon any outer circumstance but on your
--
unshakable faith and confidence and in one's head the certitude
of victory. Drive away these shadows which come between you
--
certitude that you can become conscious of my presence.
The sadder you are and the more you lament, the farther you
--
soon become conscious of my presence always near you, and
that it will give you peace and joy.
--
for anything. The psychic feels my constant presence, is aware
of my love and solicitude, and is always peaceful, happy and
--
Radha is the symbol of loving consecration to the Divine.
Keep always your balance and a calm serenity; it is only thus
--
It is in your soul that the calmness can be found and it is by contagion that it spreads through your being. It is not steady because
the sovereignty of your soul is not yet definitively established
--
This can hardly be called a loss; I consider it an inestimable gain.
A love which is sufficiently strong can make a person the
--
preferable not to live in the sensations but to consider them as
something outside ourselves, like the clothes we wear.
--
going to be like this, and that you will strive to conquer your
two great enemies: jealousy and vanity. The more we advance
--
Only the Divine is the life of our life, the consciousness of our consciousness, the Power and Capacity in us. It is to Him that
--
My sweet beloved Mother, I read in the conversations:
" concentration alone will lead you to this goal." Should
-- concentration does not mean meditation; on the contrary, concentration is a state one must be in continuously, whatever the
outer activity. By concentration I mean that all the energy, all the
will, all the aspiration must be turned only towards the Divine
and His integral realisation in our consciousness.
To keep constantly a concentrated and in-gathered attitude is
more important than having fixed hours of meditation.
--
Or, better still, not to have thought at all but contemplated the
Divine Grace.
--
I have had the experience myself that one can be fully concentrated and be in union with the Divine even while working
physically with one's hands; but naturally this asks for a little
--
helpful for the contact with the Divine.
The yogic life does not depend on what one does but on how
--
strict discipline of beating regularly and constantly, you would
not be able to live upon earth.
--
I must find out how I can consecrate this being to You.
Keep always burning in you the fire of aspiration and purification which I have kindled there.
--
it up; on the contrary, the more difficult a thing is, the greater
must be the will to carry it out successfully.
Of all things the most difficult is to bring the divine consciousness into the material world. Must the endeavour then be
given up because of this?
--
in such a way that when they are contradicted it gets a shock
and this gives it pain. It must become calm and develop the habit
--
calm confidence, have faith in the Divine Grace, and you will
overcome all your difficulties.
--
Yes, it is in a calm and patient confidence that lies the certitude
of victory.
--
If you repeat it with sufficient constancy, the recalcitrant part
will at last be convinced.
Yes, you are right to have hope; it is hope which builds happy
--
remember that the conditions of our life are not quite ordinary conditions, and keep your trust in the Divine Power to organise
--
magnet and attracts what we fear. One must, on the contrary,
keep a calm certitude that sooner or later all will be well.
--
2nd: One loses confidence, begins to criticise, is not satisfied.
3rd: One revolts and sinks into falsehood.
--
It is good to be confident and to have a living and steady faith.
But in the matter of the adverse forces, it is good to be always
--
Yes, on condition that the "peace" is not that of a hardening but
of a conscious force.
Mother, I do not quite understand what a peace of
--
This is not at all correct; the experience of all recluses, all ascetics, proves indisputably the contrary. The difficulty comes
from oneself, from one's own nature, and one takes it along
wherever one goes, whatever the conditions one may be in. There
is but one way of getting out of it - it is to conquer the difficulty,
overcome one's lower nature. And is this not easier here, with
a concrete and tangible help, than all alone, without anyone to
shed light on the path and guide the uncertain footsteps?
--
This does not depend so much on outer conditions, but above
all on the inner state.
--
to fall into your ordinary consciousness.
What will be the result if I meditate on the thought that
--
for and one has the approbation of one's conscience to console
oneself.
--
It is very good to control one's anger. Even if it were only to
learn to do so, these contacts with others are useful.
I do not know of anything more foolish than these quarrels in
--
One must find the inner peace and keep it constantly. In the force
this peace brings, all these little miseries will disappear.
--
It must become aware of the immortality of the elements constituting it (which is a scientifically recognised fact), then it must
submit itself to the influence and the will of the psychic being
--
Evidently, this creates an atmosphere in which food predominates; this is not very conducive to spiritual life.
The vital is at once the place of desires and energies, impulses
--
No, it only shows that in your consciousness the mind takes
a bigger place than the vital. What I call the domination of
--
immediately controlled.
Mother dearest, the vital desires will vanish as gradually
--
Certainly not; quite on the contrary, to be able to conquer the desires of the vital one must have an excellent physical equilibrium
and sound health.
--
Should one always avoid a circumstance which is conducive to undesirable impulses? Or should one rather
accept the circumstance and try to be its master?
--
One has only to persist with a calm confidence and the vital will
stop going on strike.
--
In Your conversations You have said that the intellect is
like an intermediary between the true knowledge and its
--
If you don't want to learn a thing thoroughly, conscientiously
and in all its details, it is better not to take it up at all. It is
--
nothing except making people conceited, for they imagine they
know and in fact know nothing.
--
for a child. It asks for much consideration and reflection, and all
that one does unthinkingly may have unhappy consequences.
I am reading Molière; his writings are light.
--
first control yourself and never use brute force to impose your
will.
--
temper. If you don't have control over yourself, how can you
expect to control others, above all, children, who feel it immediately when someone is not master of himself?
The students cannot learn their lessons even when they
0.07 - DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL, #Dark Night of the Soul, #Saint John of the Cross, #Christianity
Exposition of the stanzas describing the method followed by the soul in its journey upon the spiritual road to the attainment of the perfect union of love with God, to the extent that is possible in this life. Likewise are described the properties belonging to the soul that has attained to the said perfection, according as they are contained in the same stanzas.
PROLOGUE
--
In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest.
3. In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me,
--
Begins the exposition of the stanzas which treat of the way and manner which the soul follows upon the road of the union of love with God. Before we enter upon the exposition of these stanzas, it is well to understand here that the soul that utters them is now in the state of perfection, which is the union of love with God, having already passed through severe trials and straits, by means of spiritual exercise in the narrow way of eternal life whereof Our Saviour speaks in the Gospel, along which way the soul ordinarily passes in order to reach this high and happy union with God. Since this road (as the Lord Himself says likewise) is so strait, and since there are so few that enter by it,19 the soul considers it a great happiness and good chance to have passed along it to the said perfection of love, as it sings in this first stanza, calling this strait road with full propriety 'dark night,' as will be explained hereafter in the lines of the said stanza. The soul, then, rejoicing at having passed along this narrow road whence so many blessings have come to it, speaks after this manner.
BOOK THE FIRST
--
IN this first stanza the soul relates the way and manner which it followed in going forth, as to its affection, from itself and from all things, and in dying to them all and to itself, by means of true mortification, in order to attain to living the sweet and delectable life of love with God; and it says that this going forth from itself and from all things was a 'dark night,' by which, as will be explained hereafter, is here understood purgative contemplation, which causes passively in the soul the negation of itself and of all things referred to above.
2. And this going forth it says here that it was able to accomplish in the strength and ardour which love for its Spouse gave to it for that purpose in the dark contemplation aforementioned. Herein it extols the great happiness which it found in journeying to God through this night with such signal success that none of the three enemies, which are world, devil and flesh (who are they that ever impede this road), could hinder it; inasmuch as the aforementioned night of purgative20 contemplation lulled to sleep and mortified, in the house of its sensuality, all the passions and desires with respect to their mischievous desires and motions. The line, then, says:
On a dark night
0.07 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
troubles and difficulties; it is entire self-giving and consecration
to the Divine.
--
I know, it is only to give her confidence.
No, I always mean what I say.
--
I have sunk very low in my consciousness and you
seem farther away than ever. You are the Infinite Mother
--
burning flame of a conscious Love.
Blessings.
--
My dear, dear child, let the Light of a conscious certitude and the
joy of an everlasting Presence be always with you - concretely
- in the sweetness of love divine.
--
people say; it would save you from many falls of consciousness.
This afternoon when I looked at you in silence I told you, "Be
--
sincerity it always contains a spark of divine light which can
grow into a full sun and illuminate the whole being. You can be
--
wanted to answer very concretely to your call... My love and
blessings to my very dear child.
--
with me. It is the same old thing, but nonetheless distressing. It is civil war, a conflict between two different
tendencies and ideals, a pull from two different types
--
There is no contradiction that cannot be solved and harmonised
in a synthesis if you rise high enough in the intuitive mind and
--
one good jump to the higher consciousness where all problems
Series Seven - To a Sadhak
--
Be always true to your love and all difficulties will be conquered.
Love and blessings to my dear child.
--
"Rise into the higher consciousness, let its light control
and transform the nature." Some time back you wrote to
me, "One good jump to the higher consciousness where
all problems are solved and you will get rid of your difficulties." Now what exactly is this higher consciousness
and how may I rise or jump into it? And again you have
--
be conquered." Is this higher consciousness the same
thing as a state of pure love and, if so, how would it be
--
The higher consciousness is a state of pure love but it is also a
state of pure openness to divine knowledge. There is no opposition there between these two kindred things; it is the mind that
--
and heart turned as constantly as possible towards the Divine.
The love for the Divine is the strongest force for doing this.
--
excuse me, but I feel tired of having to wage a constant
war against my whole outer being. And, anyway, it seems
--
called me" and that I remain convinced that it will be solved
successfully....
--
whole being around your highest consciousness and do not let
your mind work at random. Doubt is not a sport to indulge in
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The psychic change is the change that puts you in contact with
the immanent Divine, the Divine who is at the centre of each
--
The spiritual change puts you directly in contact with the
Supreme.
--
This process of development goes on tirelessly through innumerable lives, and if one is not conscious of it, it is because
one is not conscious of one's psychic being - for that is the
indispensable starting-point. Through interiorisation and concentration one has to enter into conscious contact with one's
psychic being. This psychic being always has an influence on the
--
In order to strengthen the contact and aid, if possible, the
development of the conscious psychic personality, one should,
while concentrating, turn towards it, aspire to know it and feel
it, open oneself to receive its influence, and take great care, each
--
one's being - these are the essential conditions for the growth
of the psychic being.
--
meditation, japa and concentration that one puts oneself in contact with these various forms of Energy.
--
ultimately nothing but energy condensed.
Our yoga being integral, all these various forms or kinds of
--
certain conditions. These images can move about (like cinema
images), but they have no substantial reality. It is the fear or
--
Divine Will at every opportunity and finally in a constant way.
For this, the first step is to understand that the Divine knows
--
to convince it that its perception and understanding are too
limited for it truly to be able to know and that it judges only
--
psychic consciousness, the consciousness of the soul, or into the
spiritual consciousness.
Those who have had the experience have always said that
--
soon as one is in conscious contact with the Divine.
So according to them, the question has no real basis and
--
You have written that to enter into conscious contact
with one's psychic being, one must "aspire to know it
--
it easier when I think of you, try to enter into contact
with you and open to you.
--
Is it possible to have control over oneself during
sleep? For example, if I want to see you in my dreams,
--
dreams, then gradually you remain more and more conscious
during your sleep, and not only can you control your dreams
but you can guide and organise your activities during sleep.
--
(1) concentrate your thought on the will to come and find
me; then pursue this thought, first by an effort of imagination,
--
sleeping consciousness, so that when you wake up you remember
what has happened.
--
purely subjective and depend on each one's reaction to contacts
coming from outside.
--
physically, is that which constitutes our life objectified in what
surrounds us.
--
Every morning at the bal cony, after establishing a conscious contact with each of those who are present, I identify myself
--
all His Light, His consciousness and His Joy, according to each
one's receptivity.
--
What is meant by the "silence of the physical consciousness"2 and how can one remain in this silence?
The physical consciousness is not only the consciousness of our
body, but of all that surrounds us as well - all that we perceive
with our senses. It is a sort of apparatus for recording and transmission which is open to all the contacts and shocks coming
from outside and responds to them by reactions of pleasure and
--
But if through meditation or concentration we turn inward
or upward, we can bring down into ourselves or raise up from
the depths calm, quiet, peace and finally silence. It is a concrete, positive silence (not the negative silence of the absence
of noise), immutable so long as it remains, a silence one can
--
which generally escape our control and cease neither by day nor
night.
--
less deep, or else by an effort of concentration which ends in
identification. It is this latter process that we adopt when we
listen to music with an intense and concentrated attention, to
the point of stopping all other noise in the head and obtaining
--
But since we usually give the name "dream" to a considerable number of activities that differ completely from one another,
the first point is to learn to distinguish between these various
--
Aurobindo so that they may enter into our consciousness
instead of being understood only by the mind?
--
them, it is enough to read with attention and concentration and
an attitude of inner good-will, with a desire to receive and live
--
the force contained in what one reads enter deep inside. This
force, received in calm and silence, will do its work of illumining
--
even a different personality of my being; and by concentrating
on the photo, one enters into relation with that special aspect or
--
image it conveys.
The photo is a real and concrete presence, but fragmentary
and limited.
--
can reveal of a passing psychological condition and fragmentary soul-state. Even if the photograph is taken under the best
possible conditions at an exceptional and particularly expressive
moment, it cannot in any way reproduce the whole personality.
--
asleep that it seems to be wholly devoid of consciousness; at any
rate, as in the stone, the mineral kingdom, the consciousness
there is entirely inactive and hidden. The history of the earth
--
But by evolution, this sleeping and hidden consciousness
gradually awakens through the vegetal and animal kingdoms,
--
appearance of mind in man, culminates in consciousness. This consciousness likewise is progressive, and in proportion as man
--
a zone corresponding to the overmind and an overmind consciousness, before one can rise above it, to the Supermind, or
open oneself to it.
--
are developed that one becomes conscious of those domains.
This consciousness is double, at first psychological and subjective, within oneself, expressing itself through thoughts, feelings,
emotions, sensations; then objective and concrete when one is
able to go beyond the limits of the body in order to move about
in the various cosmic regions, grow conscious of them and act
freely in them - it is this that is called "mastery"; it is this that
--
the ordinary consciousness, is Supernature.
Very often the word "Nature" is used as a synonym for
--
question more precisely, the context would be needed in order to
know on what occasion Sri Aurobindo spoke about Supernature.
--
who do not belong to the ordinary humanity, have a conscious
and organised overmind being and overmind life, and still fewer
--
It is difficult to reply without having the context. Which
"supreme faculties" are being referred to here? Those of man on
--
to constitute a definite basis for the various methods of selfdevelopment and self-discipline. That is why each philosophic,
educational or Yogic system has, as it were, its own division
--
Is it possible to have a correct conception of the
Divine?
No conception of the Divine can be correct; for conceptions are
mental activities, and no mental activity is fit to manifest the
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You must read with much attention and concentration, not
novels or dramas, but books that make you think. You must
--
have understood it. Talk little, remain quiet and concentrated,
and speak only when it is indispensable.
--
the summit of the tower, quite calm, in joyful contemplation.
Then, after a certain length of time, we would see the visitors
--
Have confidence, my child; everything will be all right.
5 June 1960
--
intimately in contact with You, we have the impression
that the Divine belongs to us exclusively (and not that
--
terrestrial evolution, until the time comes when the psychic being, fully formed and wholly awakened, becomes the conscious
sheath of the soul around which it is formed.
--
come into contact with it from time to time when we are
receptive?
When you have established contact with your psychic being, it
is, in effect, definitive.
But before this contact is established, you can, in certain
circumstances, consciously receive the psychic influence which
always produces an illumination in the being and has more or
--
which must be undertaken with sincerity and continued with an
increasing sincerity ever more scrupulous and integral.
--
Does an outer life of evil deeds and a base consciousness have an effect on the psychic being? Is there
a possibility of its degradation?
--
which retires into the depths of the higher consciousness and
sometimes even cuts off all relation with the body, which is then
--
The voice of the ordinary conscience is an ethical voice, a moral
voice which distinguishes between good and evil, encourages us
--
in ordinary life, until one is able to become conscious of one's
psychic being and allow oneself to be entirely guided by it - in
--
all egoism and become a conscious instrument of the Divine
Will. The soul itself, being a portion of the Divine, is above
--
height of consciousness? Sometimes I fall despite every
effort and aspiration.
--
of many different entities which are sometimes even contrary to
one another: some want the spiritual life, others are attached to
--
ecstasy because one is in contact with one's Personal
Divine. How to approach the Transcendent Divine?
It is utterly certain that if you were truly in contact with "your
personal divine", you would know perfectly well "how to approach the Transcendent Divine". For the two are identical; it is
--
we are in contact with a Presence to whom we feel an
imperative need to give ourselves and who is the object
--
My reply contained the answer to your question, for I understood very well that you were not claiming anything, but had
expressed yourself poorly.
--
The divine embraces are embraces of soul and of consciousness,
and they can be reproduced among human beings only by a
widening of the consciousness, understanding and feelings - a
widening that enables you to understand everything and love
--
Ashram, the conditions were a lot stricter and the discipline more rigorous. How and why have these conditions
changed now?
--
supramental Light, consciousness and Force.
26 April 1961
--
His constant and immutable Presence.
2 June 1961
--
psychic being and to raise one's consciousness?
The only way that can be rapid is to think only of that and to
01.01 - A Yoga of the Art of Life, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
When Sri Aurobindo said, Our Yoga is not for ourselves but for humanity, many heaved a sigh of relief and thought that the great soul was after all not entirely lost to the world, his was not one more name added to the long list of Sannyasins that India has been producing age after age without much profit either to herself or to the human society (or even perhaps to their own selves). People understood his Yoga to be a modern one, dedicated to the service of humanity. If service to humanity was not the very sum and substance of his spirituality, it was, at least, the fruitful end and consummation. His Yoga was a sort of art to explore and harness certain unseen powers that can better and ameliorate human life in a more successful way than mere rational scientific methods can hope to do.
Sri Aurobindo saw that the very core of his teaching was being missed by this common interpretation of his saying. So he changed his words and said, Our Yoga is not for humanity but for the Divine. But I am afraid this change of front, this volte-face, as it seemed, was not welcomed in many quarters; for thereby all hope of having him back for the work of the country or the world appeared to be totally lost and he came to be looked upon again as an irrevocable metaphysical dreamer, aloof from physical things and barren, even like the Immutable Brahman.
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As regards the possibility of such a consummation,Sri Aurobindo says it is not a possibility but an inevitabilityone must remember that the force that will bring about the result and is already at work is not any individual human power, however great it may be, but the Divine himself, it is the Divine's own Shakti that is labouring for the destined end.
Here is the very heart of the mystery, the master-key to the problem. The advent of the superhuman or divine race, however stupendous or miraculous the phenomenon may appear to be, can become a thing of practical actuality, precisely because it is no human agency that has undertaken it but the Divine himself in his supreme potency and wisdom and love. The descent of the Divine into the ordinary human nature in order to purify and transform it and be lodged there is the whole secret of the sadhana in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga. The sadhaka has only to be quiet and silent, calmly aspiring, open and acquiescent and receptive to the one Force; he need not and should not try to do things by his independent personal effort, but get them done or let them be done for him in the dedicated consciousness by the Divine Master and Guide. All other Yogas or spiritual disciplines in the past envisaged an ascent of the consciousness, its sublimation into the consciousness of the Spirit and its fusion and dissolution there in the end. The descent of the Divine consciousness to prepare its definitive home in the dynamic and pragmatic human nature, if considered at all, was not the main theme of the past efforts and achievements. Furthermore, the descent spoken of here is the descent, not of a divine consciousness for there are many varieties of divine consciousness but of the Divine's own consciousness, of the Divine himself with his Shakti. For it is that that is directly working out this evolutionary transformation of the age.
It is not my purpose here to enter into details as to the exact meaning of the descent, how it happens and what are its lines of activity and the results brought about. For it is indeed an actual descent that happens: the Divine Light leans down first into the mind and begins its purificatory work therealthough it is always the inner heart which first recognises the Divine Presence and gives its assent to the Divine action for the mind, the higher mind that is to say, is the summit of the ordinary human consciousness and receives more easily and readily the Radiances that descend. From the Mind the Light filters into the denser regions of the emotions and desires, of life activity and vital dynamism; finally, it gets into brute Matter itself, the hard and obscure rock of the physical body, for that too has to be illumined and made the very form and figure of the Light supernal. The Divine in his descending Grace is the Master-Architect who is building slowly and surely the many-chambered and many-storeyed edifice that is human nature and human life into the mould of the Divine Truth in its perfect play and supreme expression. But this is a matter which can be closely considered when one is already well within the mystery of the path and has acquired the elementary essentials of an initiate.
Another question that troubles and perplexes the ordinary human mind is as to the time when the thing will be done. Is it now or a millennium hence or at some astronomical distance in future, like the cooling of the sun, as someone has suggested for an analogy. In view of the magnitude of the work one might with reason say that the whole eternity is there before us, and a century or even a millennium should not be grudged to such a labour for it is nothing less than an undoing of untold millenniums in the past and the building of a far-flung futurity. However, as we have said, since it is the Divine's own work and since Yoga means a concentrated and involved process of action, effectuating in a minute what would perhaps take years to accomplish in the natural course, one can expect the work to be done sooner rather than later. Indeed, the ideal is one of here and nowhere upon this earth of material existence and now in this life, in this very bodynot hereafter or elsewhere. How long exactly that will mean, depends on many factors, but a few decades on this side or the other do not matter very much.
As to the extent of realisation, we say again that that is not a matter of primary consideration. It is not the quantity but the substance that counts. Even if it were a small nucleus it would be sufficient, at least for the beginning, provided it is the real, the genuine thing
Swalpamapyasya dharmasya tryate mahato bhayt1
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I have a word to add finally in justification of the title of this essay. For, it may be asked, how can spirituality be considered as one of the Arts or given an honourable place in their domain?
From a certain point of view, from the point of view of essentials and inner realities, it would appear that spirituality is, at least, the basis of the arts, if not the highest art. If art is meant to express the soul of things, and since the true soul of things is the divine element in them, then certainly spirituality, the discipline of coming in conscious contact with the Spirit, the Divine, must be accorded the regal seat in the hierarchy of the arts. Also, spirituality is the greatest and the most difficult of the arts; for it is the art of life. To make of life a perfect work of beauty, pure in its lines, faultless in its rhythm, replete with strength, iridescent: with light, vibrant with delightan embodiment of the Divine, in a wordis the highest ideal of spirituality; viewed the spirituality that Sri Aurobindo practisesis the ne plus ultra of artistic creation
The Gita, II. 40
01.01 - Sri Aurobindo - The Age of Sri Aurobindo, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A Vedic conception of the Poet Sri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems
Other Authors Nolini Kanta Gupta Poets and MysticsSri Aurobindo: The Age of Sri Aurobindo
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Someone has written to this effect: "This is not the age of Sri Aurobindo. His ideal of a divine life upon earth mayor may not be true; at any rate it is not of today or even of tomorrow. Humanity will take some time before it reaches that stage or its possibility. What we are concerned with here and now is something perhaps less great, less spiritual, but more urgent and more practical. The problem is not to run away with one's soul, but to maintain its earthly tenement, to keep body and soul together: one has to live first, live materially before one can hope to live spiritually."
Well, the view expressed in these words is not a new revelation. It has been the cry of suffering humanity through the ages. Man has borne his cross since the beginning of his creation through want and privation, through disease and bereavement, through all manner of turmoil and tribulation, and yetmirabile dictuat the same time, in the very midst of those conditions, he has been aspiring and yearning for something else, ignoring the present, looking into the beyond. It is not the prosperous and the more happily placed in life who find it more easy to turn to the higher life, it is not the wealthiest who has the greatest opportunity to pursue a spiritual idea. On the contrary, spiritual leaders have thought and experienced otherwise.
Apart from the well-recognised fact that only in distress does the normal man think of God and non-worldly things, the real matter, however, is that the inner life is a thing apart and follows its own line of movement, does not depend upon, is not subservient to, the kind of outer life that one may happen to live under. The Bible says indeed, "Blessed are the poor, blessed are they that mourn"... But the Upanishad declares, on the other hand, that even as one lies happily on a royal couch, bathes and anoints himself with all the perfumes of the world, has attendants all around and always to serve him, even so, one can be full of the divine consciousness from the crown of the head to the tip of his toe-nail. In fact, a poor or a prosperous life is in no direct or even indirect ratio to a spiritual life. All the miseries and immediate needs of a physical life do not and cannot detain or delay one from following the path of the ideal; nor can all your riches be a burden to your soul and overwhelm it, if it chooses to walk onit can not only walk, but soar and fly with all that knapsack on its back.
If one were to be busy about reforming the world and when that was done then alone to turn to other-worldly things, in that case, one would never take the turn, for the world will never be reformed totally or even considerably in that way. It is not that reformers have for the first time appeared on the earth in the present age. Men have attempted social, political, e conomic and moral reforms from times immemorial. But that has not barred the spiritual attempt or minimised its importance. To say that because an ideal is apparently too high or too great for the present age, it must be kept in cold storage is to set a premium on the present nature of humanity arid eternise it: that would bind the world to its old moorings and never give it the opportunity to be free and go out into the high seas of larger and greater realisations.
The ideal or perhaps one should say the policy of Real-politick is the thing needed in this world. To achieve something actually in the physical and material field, even a lesser something, is worth much more than speculating on high flaunting chimeras and indulging in day-dreams. Yes, but what is this something that has to be achieved in the material world? It is always an ideal. Even procuring food for each and every person, clothing and housing all is not less an ideal for all its concern about actuality. Only there are ideals and ideals; some are nearer to the earth, some seem to be in the background. But the mystery is that it is not always the ideal nearest to the earth which is the easiest to achieve or the first thing to be done first. Do we not see before our very eye show some very simple innocent social and e conomic changes are difficult to carry outthey bring in their train quite disproportionately gestures and movements of violence and revolution? That is because we seek to cure the symptoms and not touch the root of the disease. For even the most innocent-looking social, e conomic or political abuse has at its base far-reaching attitudes and life-urgeseven a spiritual outlook that have to be sought out and tackled first, if the attempt at reform is to be permanently and wholly successful. Even in mundane matters we do not dig deep enough, or rise high enough.
Indeed, looking from a standpoint that views the working of the forces that act and achieve and not the external facts and events and arrangements aloneone finds that things that are achieved on the material plane are first developed and matured and made ready behind the veil and at a given moment burst out and manifest themselves often unexpectedly and suddenly like a chick out of the shell or the young butterfly out of the cocoon. The Gita points to that truth of Nature when it says: "These beings have already been killed by Me." It is not that a long or strenuous physical planning and preparation alone or in the largest measure brings about a physical realisation. The deeper we go within, the farther we are away from the surface, the nearer we come to the roots and sources of things even most superficial. The spiritual view sees and declares that it is the Brahmic consciousness that holds, inspires, builds up Matter, the physical body and form of Brahman.
The highest ideal, the very highest which God and Nature and Man have in view, is not and cannot be kept in cold storage: it is being worked out even here and now, and it has to be worked out here and now. The ideal of the Life Divine embodies a central truth of existence, and however difficult or chimerical it may appear to be to the normal mind, it is the preoccupation of the inner being of manall other ways or attempts of curing human ills are faint echoes, masks, diversions of this secret urge at the source and heart of things. That ideal is a norm and a force that is ever dynamic and has become doubly so since it has entered the earth atmosphere and the waking human consciousness and is labouring there. It is always safer and wiser to recognise that fact, to help in the realisation of that truth and be profited by it.
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A Vedic conception of the Poet Sri Aurobindo: Ahana and Other Poems
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.
Not that this sovereign power will have anything to do with aggression or over-bearingness. It will not be a power that feels itself only by creating an eternal opponentErbfeindby coming in constant clash with a rival that seeks to gain victory by subjugating. It will not be Nietzschean "will to power," which is, at best, a supreme Asuric power. It will rather be a Divine Power, for the strength it will exert and the victory it will achieve will not come from the egoit is the ego which requires an object outside and against to feel and affirm itself but it will come from a higher personal self which is one with the cosmic soul and therefore with other personal souls. The Asura, in spite of, or rather, because of his aggressive vehemence betrays a lack of the sovereign power that is calm and at ease and self-sufficient. The Devic power does not assert hut simply accomplishes; the forces of the world act not as its opponent but as its instrument. Thus the New Man shall affirm his individual sovereignty and do so to perfection by expressing through it his unity with the cosmic powers, with the infinite godhead. And by being Swarat, Self-Master, he will become Samrat, world-master.
This mastery will be effected not merely in will, but in mind and heart also. For the New Man will know not by the intellect which is egocentric and therefore limited, not by ratiocination which is an indirect and doubtful process, but by direct vision, an inner communion, a soul revelation. The new knowledge will be vast and profound and creative, based as it will be upon the reality of things and not upon their shadows. Truth will shine through every experience and every utterance"a truth shall have its seat on our speech and mind and hearing", so have the Vedas said. The mind and intellect will not be active and constructive agents but the luminous channel of a self-luminous knowledge. And the heart too which is now the field of passion and egoism will be cleared of its noise and obscurity; a serener sky will shed its pure warmth and translucent glow. The knot will be rent asunderbhidyate hridaya granthih and the vast and mighty streams of another ocean will flow through. We will love not merely those to whom we are akin but God's creatures, one and all; we will love not with the yearning and hunger of a mortal but with the wide and intense Rasa that lies in the divine identity of souls.
And the new society will be based not upon competition, nor even upon co-operation. It will not be an open conflict, neither will it be a convenient compromise of rival individual interests. It will be the organic expression of the collective soul of humanity, working and achieving through each and every individual soul its most wide-winging freedom, manifesting the godhead that is, proper to each and every one. It will be an organisation, most delicate and subtle and supple, the members of which will have no need to live upon one another but in and through one another. It will be, if you like, a henotheistic hierarchy in which everyone will be the greatest, since everyone is all and all everyone simultaneously.
The New Humanity will be something in the mould that we give to the gods. It will supply the link that we see missing between gods and men; it will be the race of embodied gods. Man will attain that thing which has been his first desire and earliest dream, for which he coveted the gods Immortality, amritatwam. The mortalities that cut and divide, limit and bind man make him the sorrowful being he is. These are due to his ignorance and weakness and egoism. These are due to his soul itself. It is the soul that requires change, a new birth, as Christ demanded. Ours is a little soul that has severed itself from the larger and mightier self that it is. And therefore does it die every moment and even while living is afraid to live and so lives poorly and miserably. But the age is now upon us when the god-like soul anointed with its immortal royalties is ready to emerge and claim our salutation.
The breath and the surge of the new creation cannot be mistaken. The question that confronts us today is no longer whether the New Man, the Super-humanity, will come or if at all, when; but the question we have to answer is who among us are ready to be its receptacle, its instrument and embodiment.
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01.01 - The One Thing Needful, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
To find the Divine is indeed the first reason for seeking the spiritual Truth and the spiritual life; it is the one thing indispensable and all the resit is nothing without it. The Divine once found, to manifest Him, - that is, first of all to transform one's own limited consciousness into the Divine consciousness, to live in the infinite Peace, Light, Love, Strength, Bliss, to become that in one's essential nature and, as a consequence, to be its vessel, channel, instrument in one's active nature. To bring into activity the principle of oneness on the material plane or to work for humanity is a mental mistranslation of the Truth - these things cannot be the first true object of spiritual seeking. We must find the Self, the Divine, then only can we know what is the work the Self or the Divine demands from us. Until then our life and action can only be a help or a means towards finding the Divine and it ought not to have any other purpose. As we grow in inner consciousness, or as the spiritual Truth of the Divine grows in us, our life and action must indeed more and more flow from that, be one with that. But to decide beforeh and by our limited mental conceptions what they must be is to hamper the growth of the spiritual Truth within. As that grows we shall feel the Divine Light and Truth, the Divine Power and Force, the Divine Purity and Peace working within us, dealing with our actions as well as our consciousness, making use of them to reshape us into the Divine Image, removing the dross, substituting the pure Gold of the Spirit. Only when the Divine Presence is there in us always and the consciousness transformed, can we have the right to say that we are ready to manifest the Divine on the material plane. To hold up a mental ideal or principle and impose that on the inner working brings the danger of limiting ourselves to a mental realisation or of impeding or even falsifying by a halfway formation the truth growth into the full communion and union with the Divine and the free and intimate outflowing of His will in our life. This is a mistake of orientation to which the mind of today is especially prone. It is far better to approach the Divine for the Peace or Light or Bliss that the realisation of Him gives than to bring in these minor things which can divert us from the one thing needful. The divinisation of the material life also as well as the inner life is part of what we see as the Divine Plan, but it can only be fulfilled by an ourflowing of the inner realisation, something that grows from within outwards, not by the working out of a mental principle.
The realisation of the Divine is the one thing needful and the rest is desirable only in so far as it helps or leads towards that or when it is realised, extends and manifests the realisation. Manifestation and organisation of the whole life for the divine work, - first, the sadhana personal and collective necessary for the realisation and a common life of God-realised men, se condly, for help to the world to move towards that, and to live in the Light - is the whole meaning and purpose of my Yoga. But the realisation is the first need and it is that round which all the rest moves, for apart from it all the rest would have no meaning.
Yoga is directed towards God, not towards man. If a divine supramental consciousness and power can be brought down and established in the material world, that obviously would mean an immense change for the earth including humanity and its life. But the effect on humanity would only be one result of the change; it cannot be the object of the sadhana. The object of the sadhana can only be to live in the divine consciousness and to manifest it in life.
Sadhana must be the main thing and sadhana means the purification of the nature, the consecration of the being, the opening of the psychic and the inner mind and vital, the contact and presence of the Divine, the realisation of the Divine in all things, surrender, devotion, the widening of the consciousness into the cosmic consciousness, the Self one in all, the psychic and the spiritual transformation of the nature.
... the principle of this Yoga is not perfection of the human nature as it is but a psychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the action of an inner consciousness and then of a higher consciousness which works on them, throws out the old movements or changes them into the image of its own and so transmutes lower into higher nature. It is not so much the perfection of the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the substitution of a larger greater principle of knowledge - and so with all the rest of the being.
This is a slow and difficult process; the road is long and it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing nature resists and obstructs and difficulties rise one after another and repeatedly till they are overcome. It is therefore necessary to be sure that this is the path to which one is called before one finally decides to tread it.
01.01 - The Symbol Dawn, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
An unshaped consciousness desired light
And a blank prescience yearned towards distant change.
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Calling the adventure of consciousness and joy
And, conquering Nature's disillusioned breast,
Compelled renewed consent to see and feel.
A thought was sown in the unsounded Void,
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All grew a consecration and a rite. 1.35
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The deathless conquered by the death of things. 2.6
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The proud and conscious wideness and the bliss
She had brought with her into the human form,
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To live with grief, to confront death on her road,--
The mortal's lot became the Immortal's share.
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Her soul arose confronting Time and Fate. 2.41
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo's Yoga is in the direct line of Nature's own Yoga. Nature has a Yoga, which she follows unfailingly, and inevitably for it is her innermost law of being. Yoga means, in essence, a change or transformation of consciousness, a heightening and broadening of consciousness, which is effected by communion or union or identification with a higher and vaster consciousness.
This process of a developing consciousness in Nature is precisely what is known as Evolution. It is the bringing out and fixing of a higher and higher principle of consciousness, hitherto involved and concealed behind the veil, in the earth consciousness as a dynamic factor in Nature's manifest working. Thus, the first stage of evolution is the status of in conscient Matter, of the lifeless physical elements; the se cond stage is that of the semi- conscious life in the plant, the third that of the conscious life in the animal, and finally the fourth stage, where we stand at present, is that of the embodied self- conscious life in man.
The course of evolution has not come to a stop with man and the next stage, Sri Aurobindo says, which Nature envisages and is labouring to bring out and establish is the life now super conscious to us, embodied in a still higher type of created being, that of the superman or god-man. The principle of consciousness which will determine the nature and build of this new, being is a spiritual principle beyond the mental principle which man now incarnates: it may be called the Supermind or Gnosis.
For, till now Mind has been the last term of the evolutionary consciousness Mind as developed in man is the highest instrument built up and organised by Nature through which the self- conscious being can express itself. That is why the Buddha said: Mind is the first of all principles, Mind is the highest of all principles: indeed Mind is the constituent of all principlesmana puvvangam dhamm1. The consciousness beyond mind has not yet been made a patent and dynamic element in the life upon earth; it has been glimpsed or entered into in varying degrees and modes by saints and seers; it has cast its derivative illuminations in the creative activities of poets and artists, in the finer and nobler urges of heroes and great men of action. But the utmost that has been achieved, the summit reached in that direction, as exampled in spiritual disciplines, involves a withdrawal from the evolutionary cycle, a merging and an absorption into the static status that is altogether beyond it, that lies, as it were, at the other extreme the Spirit in itself, Atman, Brahman, Sachchidananda, Nirvana, the One without a se cond, the Zero without a first.
The first contact that one has with this static supra-reality is through the higher ranges of the mind: a direct and closer communion is established through a plane which is just above the mind the Overmind, as Sri Aurobindo calls it. The Overmind dissolves or transcends the ego- consciousness which limits the being to its individualised formation bounded by an outward and narrow frame or sheath of mind, life and body; it reveals the universal Self and Spirit, the cosmic godhead and its myriad forces throwing up myriad forms; the world-existence there appears as a play of ever-shifting veils upon the face of one ineffable reality, as a mysterious cycle of perpetual creation and destructionit is the overwhelming vision given by Sri Krishna to Arjuna in the Gita. At the same time, the initial and most intense experience which this cosmic consciousness brings is the extreme relativity, contingency and transitoriness of the whole flux, and a necessity seems logically and psychologically imperative to escape into the abiding substratum, the ineffable Absoluteness.
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.
SRI AUROBINDO
The Upanishads speak of a solar and a lunar Path in the spiritual consciousness. Perhaps they have some reference to these two linesone through the Mayic consciousness of the Overmind enters into the static Bliss, ecstatic Nihil, and the other mounts still farther to the solar status which is a mass, a sea, an infinity of that light and ecstasy but which can at the same time express and embody itself as the creative Truth- consciousness (srya svitr ).
In the Supermind things exist in their perfect spiritual reality; each is consciously the divine reality in its transcendent essence, its cosmic extension, its, spiritual individuality; the diversity of a manifested existence is there, but the mutually exclusive separativeness has not yet arisen. The ego, the knot of separativity, appears at a later and lower stage of involution; what is here is indivisible nexus of individualising centres of the one eternal truth of being. Where Supermind and Overmind meet, one can see the multiple godheads, each distinct in his own truth and beauty and power and yet all together forming the one supreme consciousness infinitely composite and inalienably integral. But stepping back into Supermind one sees something moreOneness gathering into itself all diversity, not destroying it, but annulling and forbidding the separative consciousness that is the beginning of Ignorance. The first shadow of the Illusory consciousness, the initial possibility of the movement of Ignorance comes in when the supramental light enters the penumbra of the mental sphere. The movement of Supermind is the movement of light without obscurity, straight, unwavering, unswerving, absolute. The Force here contains and holds in their oneness of Reality the manifold but not separated lines of essential and unalloyed truth: its march is the inevitable progression of each one assured truth entering into and upholding every other and therefore its creation, play or action admits of no trial or stumble or groping or deviation; for each truth rests on all others and on that which harmonises them all and does not act as a Power diverging from and even competing with other Powers of being. In the Overmind commences the play of divergent possibilities the simple, direct, united and absolute certainties of the supramental consciousness retire, as it were, a step behind and begin to work themselves out through the interaction first of separately individualised and then of contrary and contradictory forces. In the Overmind there is a conscious underlying Unity but yet each Power, Truth, Aspect of that Unity is encouraged to work out its possibilities as if it were sufficient to itself and the others are used by it for its own enhancement until in the denser and darker reaches below Overmind this turns out a thing of blind conflict and battle and, as it would appear, of chance survival. Creation or manifestation originally means the concretisation or devolution of the powers of conscious Being into a play of united diversity; but on the line which ends in Matter it enters into more and more obscure forms and forces and finally the virtual eclipse of the supreme light of the Divine consciousness. Creation as it descends' towards the Ignorance becomes an involution of the Spirit through Mind and Life into Matter; evolution is a movement backward, a return journey from Matter towards the Spirit: it is the unravelling, the gradual disclosure and deliverance of the Spirit, the ascension and revelation of the involved consciousness through a series of awakeningsMatter awakening into Life, Life awakening into Mind and Mind now seeking to awaken into something beyond the Mind, into a power of conscious Spirit.
The apparent or actual result of the movement of Nescienceof Involutionhas been an increasing negation of the Spirit, but its hidden purpose is ultimately to embody the Spirit in Matter, to express here below in cosmic Time-Space the splendours of the timeless Reality. The material body came into existence bringing with it inevitably, as it seemed, mortality; it appeared even to be fashioned out of mortality, in order that in this very frame and field of mortality, Immortality, the eternal Spirit consciousness which is the secret truth and reality in Time itself as well as behind it, might be established and that the Divine might be possessed, or rather, possess itself not in one unvarying mode of the static consciousness, as it does even now behind the cosmic play, but in the play itself and in the multiple mode of the terrestrial existence.
II
The secret of evolution, I have said, is an urge towards the release and unfoldment of consciousness out of an apparent un consciousness. In the early stages the movement is very slow and gradual; there it is Nature's original un conscious process. In man it acquires the possibility of a conscious and therefore swifter and concentrated process. And this is in fact the function of Yoga proper, viz, to bring about the evolution of consciousness by hastening the process of Nature through the self- conscious will of man.
An organ in the human being has been especially developed to become the effective instrument of this accelerated Yogic process the self- consciousness which I referred to as being the distinctive characteristic of man is a function of this organ. It is his soul, his psychic being; originally it is the spark of the Divine consciousness which came down and became involved in Matter and has been endeavouring ever since to release itself through the upward march of evolution. It is this which presses on continually as the stimulus to the evolutionary movement; and in man it has attained sufficient growth and power and has come so far to the front from behind the veil that it can now lead and mould his external consciousness. It is also the channel through which the Divine consciousness can flow down into the inferior levels of human nature. It is the being no bigger than the thumb ever seated within the heart, spoken of in the Upanishads. It is likewise the basis of true individuality and personal identity. It is again the reflection or expression in evolutionary Nature of one's essential selfjivtman that is above, an eternal portion of the Divine, one with the Divine and yet not dissolved and lost in it. The psychic being is thus on the one hand in direct contact with the Divine and the higher consciousness, and on the other it is the secret upholder and controller' (bhart, antarymin) of the inferior consciousness, the hidden nucleus round which the body and the life and the mind of the individual are built up and organised.
The first decisive step in Yoga is taken when one becomes conscious of the psychic being, or, looked at from the other side, when the psychic being comes forward and takes possession of the external being, begins to initiate and influence the movements of the mind and life and body and gradually free them from the ordinary round of ignorant nature. The awakening of the psychic being means, as I have said, not only a deepening and heightening of the consciousness and its release from the obscurity and limitation of the inferior Prakriti, confined to the lower threefold status, into what is behind and beyond; it means also a return of the deeper and higher consciousness upon the lower hemisphere and a consequent purification and illumination and regeneration of the latter. Finally, when the psychic being is in full self-possession and power, it can be the vehicle of the direct supramental consciousness which will then be able to act freely and absolutely for the entire transformation of the external nature, its transfiguration into a perfect body of the Truth- consciousness in a word, its divinisation.
This then is the supreme secret, not the renunciation and annulment, but the transformation of the ordinary human nature : first of all, its psychicisation, that is to say, making it move and live and be in communion and identification with the light of the psychic being, and, se condly, through the soul and the ensouled mind and life and body, to open out into the supramental consciousness and let it come down here below and work and achieve.
The soul or the true being in man uplifted in the supramental consciousness and at the same time coming forward to possess a divinised mind and life and body as an instrument and channel of its self-expression and an embodiment of the Divine Will and Purposesuch is the goal that Nature is seeking to realise at present through her evolutionary lan. It is to this labour that man has been called so that in and through him the destined transcendence and transformation can take place.
It is not easy, however, nor is it necessary for the moment to envisage in detail what this divinised man would be like, externallyhis mode of outward being and living, kimsita vrajeta kim, as Arjuna queriedor how the collective life of the new humanity would function or what would be the composition of its social fabric. For what is happening is a living process, an organic growth; it is being elaborated through the actions and reactions of multitudinous forces and conditions, known and unknown; the precise configuration of the final outcome cannot be predicted with exactitude. But the Power that is at work is omniscient; it is selecting, rejecting, correcting, fashioning, creating, co-ordinating elements in accordance with and by the drive of the inviolable law of Truth and Harmony that reigns in Light's own homeswe dame the Supermind.
It is also to be noted that as mind is not the last limit of the march of evolution, even so the progress of evolution will not stop with the manifestation and embodiment of the Supermind. There are other still higher principles beyond and they too presumably await manifestation and embodiment on earth. Creation has no beginning in time (andi) nor has it an end (ananta). It is an eternal process of the unravelling of the mysteries of the Infinite. Only, it may be said that with the Supermind the creation here enters into a different order of existence. Before it there was the domain of Ignorance, after it will come the reign of Light and Knowledge. Mortality has been the governing principle of life on earth till now; it will be replaced by the consciousness of immortality. Evolution has proceeded through struggle and pain; hereafter it will be a spontaneous, harmonious and happy flowering.
Now, with regard to the time that the present stage of evolution is likely to take for its fulfilment, one can presume that since or if the specific urge and stress has manifested and come up to the front, this very fact would show that the problem has become a problem of actuality, and even that it can be dealt with as if it had to be solved now or never. We have said that in man, with man's self- consciousness or the consciousness of the psychic being as the instrument, evolution has attained the capacity of a swift and concentrated process, which is the process of Yoga; the process will become swifter and more concentrated, the more that instrument grows and gathers power and is infused with the divine afflatus. In fact, evolution has been such a process of gradual acceleration in tempo from the very beginning. The earliest stage, for example, the stage of dead Matter, of the play of the mere chemical forces was a very, very long one; it took millions and millions of years to come to the point when the manifestation of life became possible. But the period of elementary life, as manifested in the plant world that followed, although it too lasted a good many millions of years, was much briefer than the preceding periodit ended with the advent of the first animal form. The age of animal life, again, has been very much shorter than that of the plant life before man came upon earth. And man is already more than a million or two years oldit is fully time that a higher order of being should be created out of him.
The Dhammapada, I. 1
The Supermind is not merely synthetic. The Supermind is synthetic only on the lowest spaces of itself, where it has to prepare the principles of Overmind,synthesis is necessary only where analysis has taken place, one has dissected everything, put in pieces (analysis), so one has to piece together. But Supermind is unitarian, has never divided up, so it does not need to add and piece together the parts and fragments. It has always held the conscious Many together in the conscious One.
***
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
What is the world that Sri Aurobindo sees and creates? Poetry is after all passion. By passion I do not mean the fury of emotion nor the fume of sentimentalism, but what lies behind at their source, what lends them the force they have the sense of the "grandly real," the vivid and pulsating truth. What then is the thing that Sri Aurobindo has visualised, has endowed with a throbbing life and made a poignant reality? Victor Hugo said: Attachez Dieu au gibet, vous avez la croixTie God to the gibbet, you have the cross. Even so, infuse passion into a thing most prosaic, you create sublime poetry out of it. What is the dead matter that has found life and glows and vibrates in Sri Aurobindo's passion? It is something which appears to many poetically intractable, not amenable to aesthetic treatment, not usually, that is to say, nor in the supreme manner. Sri Aurobindo has thrown such a material into his poetic fervour and created a sheer beauty, a stupendous reality out of it. Herein lies the greatness of his achievement. Philosophy, however divine, and in spite of Milton, has been regarded by poets as "harsh and crabbed" and as such unfit for poetic delineation. Not a few poets indeed foundered upon this rock. A poet in his own way is a philosopher, but a philosopher chanting out his philosophy in sheer poetry has been one of the rarest spectacles.1 I can think of only one instance just now where a philosopher has almost succeeded being a great poet I am referring to Lucretius and his De Rerum Natura. Neither Shakespeare nor Homer had anything like philosophy in their poetic creation. And in spite of some inclination to philosophy and philosophical ideas Virgil and Milton were not philosophers either. Dante sought perhaps consciously and deliberately to philosophise in his Paradiso I Did he? The less Dante then is he. For it is his Inferno, where he is a passionate visionary, and not his Paradiso (where he has put in more thought-power) that marks the nee plus ultra of his poetic achievement.
And yet what can be more poetic in essence than philosophy, if by philosophy we mean, as it should mean, spiritual truth and spiritual realisation? What else can give the full breath, the integral force to poetic inspiration if it is not the problem of existence itself, of God, Soul and Immortality, things that touch, that are at the very root of life and reality? What can most concern man, what can strike the deepest fount in him, unless it is the mystery of his own being, the why and the whither of it all? But mankind has been taught and trained to live merely or mostly on earth, and poetry has been treated as the expression of human joys and sorrows the tears in mortal things of which Virgil spoke. The savour of earth, the thrill of the flesh has been too sweet for us and we have forgotten other sweetnesses. It is always the human element that we seek in poetry, but we fail to recognise that what we obtain in this way is humanity in its lower degrees, its surface formulations, at its minimum magnitude.
We do not say that poets have never sung of God and Soul and things transcendent. Poets have always done that. But what I say is this that presentation of spiritual truths, as they are in their own home, in other words, treated philosophically and yet in a supreme poetic manner, has always been a rarity. We have, indeed, in India the Gita and the Upanishads, great philosophical poems, if there were any. But for one thing they are on dizzy heights out of the reach of common man and for another they are idolised more as philosophy than as poetry. Doubtless, our Vaishnava poets sang of God and Love Divine; and Rabindranath, in one sense, a typical modern Vaishnava, did the same. And their songs are masterpieces. But are they not all human, too human, as the mad prophet would say? In them it is the human significance, the human manner that touches and moves us the spiritual significance remains esoteric, is suggested, is a matter of deduction. Sri Aurobindo has dealt with spiritual experiences in a different way. He has not clothed them in human symbols and allegories, in images and figures of the mere earthly and secular life: he presents them in their nakedness, just as they are seen and realised. He has not sought to tone down the rigour of truth with contrivances that easily charm and captivate the common human mind and heart. Nor has he indulged like so many poet philosophers in vague generalisations and colourless or too colourful truisms that do not embody a clear thought or rounded idea, a radiant judgment. Sri Aurobindo has given us in his poetry thoughts that are clear-cut, ideas beautifully chiselledhe is always luminously forceful.
Take these Vedantic lines that in their limpidity and harmonious flow beat anything found in the fine French poet Lamartine:
--
or these that contain the metaphysics of a spiritual life:
King, not in vain. I knew the tedious bars
--
Is His conception of Himself unguessed.
He dawns upon us and we would pursue,
--
To humanise the Divine, that is what we all wish to do; for the Divine is too lofty for us and we cannot look full into his face. We cry and supplicate to Rudra, "O dire Lord, show us that other form of thine that is benign and humane". All earthly imageries we lavish upon the Divine so that he may appear to us not as something far and distant and foreign, but, quite near, among us, as one of us. We take recourse to human symbolism often, because we wish to palliate or hide the rigours of a supreme experience, not because we have no adequate terms for it. The same human or earthly terms could be used differently if we had a different consciousness. Thus the Vedic Rishis sought not to humanise the Divine, their purpose was rather to divinise the human. And their allegorical language, although rich in terrestrial figures, does not carry the impress and atmosphere of mere humanity and earthliness. For in reality the symbol is not merely the symbol. It is mere symbol in regard to the truth so long as we take our stand on the lower plane when we have to look at the truth through the symbol; but if we view it from the higher plane, from truth itself, it is no longer mere symbol but the very truth bodied forth. Whatever there is of symbolism on earth and its beauties, in sense and its enjoyments, is then transfigured into the expression of the truth, of the divinity itself. We then no longer speak in human language but in the language of the gods.
We have been speaking of philosophy and the philosophic manner. But what are the exact implications of the words, let us ask again. They mean nothing more and nothing lessthan the force of thought and the mass of thought content. After all, that seems to be almost the whole difference between the past and the present human consciousness in so far at least as it has found expression in poetry. That element, we wish to point out, is precisely what the old-world poets lacked or did not care to possess or express or stress. A poet meant above all, if not all in all, emotion, passion, sensuousness, sensibility, nervous enthusiasm and imagination and fancy: remember the classic definition given by Shakespeare of the poet
Of imagination all compact.. . .
--
The heart and its urges, the vital and its surges, the physical impulsesit is these of which the poets sang in their infinite variations. But the mind proper, that is to say, the higher reflective ideative mind, was not given the right of citizenship in the domain of poetry. I am not forgetting the so-called Metaphysicals. The element of metaphysics among the Metaphysicals has already been called into question. There is here, no doubt, some theology, a good dose of mental cleverness or conceit, but a modern intellectual or rather rational intelligence is something other, something more than that. Even the metaphysics that was commandeered here had more or less a decorative value, it could not be taken into the pith and substance of poetic truth and beauty. It was a decoration, but not unoften a drag. I referred to the Upanishads, but these strike quite a different, almost an opposite line in this connection. They are in a sense truly metaphysical: they bypass the mind and the mental powers, get hold of a higher mode of consciousness, make a direct contact with truth and beauty and reality. It was Buddha's credit to have forged this missing link in man's spiritual consciousness, to have brought into play the power of the rational intellect and used it in support of the spiritual experience. That is not to say that he was the very first person, the originator who initiated the movement; but at least this seems to be true that in him and his au thentic followers the movement came to the forefront of human consciousness and attained the proportions of a major member of man's psychological constitution. We may remember here that Socrates, who started a similar movement of rationalisation in his own way in Europe, was almost a contemporary of the Buddha.
Poetry as an expression of thought-power, poetry weighted with intelligence and rationalised knowledge that seems to me to be the end and drive, the secret sense of all the mystery of modern technique. The combination is risky, but not impossible. In the spiritual domain the Gita achieved this miracle to a considerable degree. Still, the power of intelligence and reason shown by Vyasa is of a special order: it is a sublimated function of the faculty, something aloof and other-worldly"introvert", a modern mind would term it that is to say, something a priori, standing in its own au thenticity and self-sufficiency. A modern intelligence would be more scientific, let us use the word, more matter-of-fact and sense-based: the mental light should not be confined in its ivory tower, however high that may be, but brought down and placed at the service of our perception and appreciation and explanation of things human and terrestrial; made immanent in the mundane and the ephemeral, as they are commonly called. This is not an impossibility. Sri Aurobindo seems to have done the thing. In him we find the three terms of human consciousness arriving at an absolute fusion and his poetry is a wonderful example of that fusion. The three terms are the spiritual, the intellectual or philosophical and the physical or sensational. The intellectual, or more generally, the mental, is the intermediary, the Paraclete, as he himself will call it later on in a poem9 magnificently exemplifying the point we are trying to make out the agent who negotiates, bridges and harmonises the two other firmaments usually supposed to be antagonistic and incompatible.
Indeed it would be wrong to associate any cold ascetic nudity to the spiritual body of Sri Aurobindo. His poetry is philosophic, abstract, no doubt, but every philosophy has its practice, every abstract thing its concrete application,even as the soul has its body; and the fusion, not mere union, of the two is very characteristic in him. The deepest and unseizable flights of thought he knows how to clo the with a Kalidasian richness of imagery, or a Keatsean gusto of sensuousness:
. . . . .O flowers, O delight on the tree-tops burning!
--
All the tragedy, the entire pathos of human life is concentrated in this line so simple, yet so grand:
Son of man, thou hast crowned the life with the flowers that are scentless,
--
We have in Sri Aurobindo a passage parallel in sentiment, if not of equal poetic value, which will bear out the contrast:
My mind within grew holy, calm and still
--
However spiritual a soul, Dante is yet bound to the earth, he has dominated perhaps but not conquered.
The Greek sings of the humanity of man, the Indian the divinity of man. It is the Hellenic spirit that has very largely moulded our taste and we have forgotten that an equally poetic world exists in the domain of spiritual life, even in its very severity, as in that of earthly life and its sweetness. And as we are passionate about the earthly life, even so Sri Aurobindo has made a passion of the spiritual life. Poetry after all has a mission; the phrase "Art for Art's sake" may be made to mean anything. Poetry is not merely what is pleasing, not even what is merely touching and moving but what is at the same time, inspiring, invigorating, elevating. Truth is indeed beauty but it is not always the beauty that captivates the eye or the mere aesthetic sense.
--
The superb and the right imperial tone instinct with a concentrated force of
Who art thou, warrior armed gloriously
01.02 - The Creative Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The difference between living organism and dead matter is that while the former is endowed with creative activity, the latter has only passive receptivity. Life adds, synthetises, new-createsgives more than what it receives; matter only sums up, gathers, reflects, gives just what it receives. Life is living, glad and green through its creative genius. Creation in some form or other must be the core of everything that seeks vitality and growth, vigour and delight. Not only so, but a thing in order to be real must possess a creative function. We consider a shadow or an echo unreal precisely because they do not create but merely image or repeat, they do not bring out anything new but simply reflect what is given. The whole of existence is real because it is eternally creative.
So the problem that concerns man, the riddle that humanity has to solve is how to find out and follow the path of creativity. If we are not to be dead matter nor mere shadowy illusions we must be creative. A mis conception that has vitiated our outlook in general and has been the most potent cause of a sterilising atavism in the moral evolution of humanity is that creativity is an aristocratic virtue, that it belongs only to the chosen few. A great poet or a mighty man of action creates indeed, but such a creator does not appear very frequently. A Shakespeare or a Napoleon is a rare phenomenon; they are, in reality, an exception to the general run of mankind. It is enough if we others can understand and follow themMahajano yena gatahlet the great souls initiate and create, the common souls have only to repeat and imitate.
But this is not as it should be, nor is it the truth of the matter. Every individual soul, however placed it may be, is by nature creative; every individual being lives to discover and to create.
--
Now the centre of this energy, the matrix of creativity is the soul itself, one's own soul. If you want to createlive, grow and be real-find yourself, be yourself. The simple old wisdom still remains the eternal wisdom. It is because we fall off from our soul that we wander into side-paths, paths that do not belong to our real nature and hence that lead to imitation and repetition, decay and death. This is what happens to what we call common souls. The force of circumstances, the pressure of environment or simply the momentum of custom or habit compel them to choose the easiest and the readiest way that may lie before them. They do not consult the demand of the inner being but the requirement of the moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure the impulsions that thrill the hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify the immediate and forget the eternal, we clutch at the shadow and let go the substance. We are carried away in the flux and tumult of life. It is a mixed and collective whirla Weltgeist that moves and governs us. We are helpless straws drifting in the current. But manhood demands that we stop and pause, pull ourselves out of the Maelstrom and be what we are. We must shape things as we want and not allow things to shape us as they want.
Let each take cognisance of the godhead that is within him for self is Godand in the strength of the soul-divinity create his universe. It does not matter what sort of universe he- creates, so long as he creates it. The world created by a Buddha is not the same as that created by a Napoleon, nor should they be the same. It does not prove anything that I cannot become a Kalidasa; for that matter Kalidasa cannot become what I am. If you have not the genius of a Shankara it does not mean that you have no genius at all. Be and become yourselfma gridhah kasyachit dhanam, says the Upanishad. The fountain-head of creative genius lies there, in the free choice and the particular delight the self-determination of the spirit within you and not in the desire for your neighbours riches. The world has become dull and uniform and mechanical, since everybody endeavours to become not himself, but always somebody else. Imitation is servitude and servitude brings in grief.
--
Not to do what others do, but what your soul impels you to do. Not to be others but your own self. Not to be anything but the very cosmic and infinite divinity of your soul. Therein lies your highest freedom and perfect delight. And there you are supremely creative. Each soul has a consortPrakriti, Naturewhich it creates out of its own rib. And in this field of infinite creativity the soul lives, moves and has its being.
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01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And keeps still lurking in our conscious acts
The trail of old forgotten thoughts and deeds,
--
Its beginning lost, its motive and plot concealed,
A once living story has prepared and made
--
Her being must confront its formless Cause,
Against the universe weigh its single self.
--
And hard sacrifice and tragic consequence. 3.15
--
A continent of self-diffusing peace,
An ocean of untrembling virgin fire;
--
And must confront the riddle of man's birth
And life's brief struggle in dumb Matter's night.
--
A conscious frame was here, a self-born Force. 4.19
--
Her being conscious of its divine founts
Asked not from mortal frailty pain's relief,
--
Its stark conventions met the flame of a soul. 4.38
--
He feels his witnessing self and conscious power;
His soul steps back and sees the Light supreme.
--
And burst the bounds of consciousness and Time.
End of Book I - Canto II
01.02 - The Object of the Integral Yoga, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
... the object of the Yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine Presence and consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine's sake alone, to be turned in our nature into nature of the Divine and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine. Its object is not to be a great Yogi or a superman (although that may come) or to grab at the Divine for the sake of the ego's power, pride or pleasure.
It is not for salvation though liberation comes by it and all else may come; but these must not be our objects. The Divine alone is our object.
To come to this Yoga merely with the idea of being a superman would be an act of vital egoism which would defeat its own object. Those who put this object in the front of their preoccupations invariably come to grief, spiritually and otherwise. The aim of this Yoga is, first, to enter into the divine consciousness by merging into it the separative ego (incidentally, in doing so one finds one's true individual self which is not the limited, vain and selfish human ego but a portion of the Divine) and, se condly, to bring down the supramental consciousness on earth to transform mind, life and body. All else can be only a result of these two aims, not the primary object of the Yoga.
The only creation for which there is any place here is the supramental, the bringing of the divine Truth down on the earth, not only into the mind and vital but into the body and into
Matter. Our object is not to remove all "limitations" on the expansion of the ego or to give a free field and make unlimited room for the fulfilment of the ideas of the human mind or the desires of the ego-centred life-force. None of us are here to "do as we like", or to create a world in which we shall at last be able to do as we like; we are here to do what the Divine wills and to create a world in which the Divine Will can manifest its truth no longer deformed by human ignorance or perverted and mistranslated by vital desire. The work which the sadhak of the supramental Yoga has to do is not his own work for which he can lay down his own conditions, but the work of the Divine which he has to do according to the conditions laid down by the Divine. Our Yoga is not for our own sake but for the sake of the Divine. It is not our own personal manifestation that we are to seek, the manifestation of the individual ego freed from all bounds and from all bonds, but the manifestation of the Divine. Of that manifestation our own spiritual liberation, perfection, fullness is to be a result and a part, but not in any egoistic sense or for any ego-centred or self-seeking purpose.
This liberation, perfection, fullness too must not be pursued for our own sake, but for the sake of the Divine.
01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Is there not a fundamental difference, difference not merely with regard to the poetic personality, but with regard to the very stuff of consciousness? There is direct vision here, the fullness of light, the native rhythm and substance of revelation, as if
In the dead wall closing from a wider self,
--
When the Spirit speaks its own language in its own name, we have spiritual poetry. If, however, the Spirit speaksfrom choice or necessity-an alien language and manner, e.g., that of a profane consciousness, or of the consciousness of another domain, idealistic or philosophical or even occult, puts on or imitates spirit's language and manner, we have what we propose to call mystic poetry proper. When Samain sings of the body of the dancer:
Et Pannyre deviant fleur, flamme, papillon! ...
Comme au travers d'uneeausoyeuse et continue;
Dans un divin clair, montrePannyrenue.4
--
It is not merely by addressing the beloved as your goddess that you can attain this mysticism; the Elizabethan did that in merry abundance,ad nauseam.A finer temper, a more delicate touch, a more subtle sensitiveness and a kind of artistic wizardry are necessary to tune the body into a rhythm of the spirit. The other line of mysticism is common enough, viz., to express the spirit in terms and rhythms of the flesh. Tagore did that liberally, the Vaishnava poets did nothing but that, the Song of Solomon is an exquisite example of that procedure. There is here, however, a difference in degrees which is an interesting feature worth noting. Thus in Tagore the reference to the spirit is evident, that is the major or central chord; the earthly and the sensuous are meant as the name and form, as the body to render concrete, living and vibrant, near and intimate what otherwise would perhaps be vague and abstract, afar, aloof. But this mundane or human appearance has a value in so far as it is a support, a pointer or symbol of the spiritual import. And the mysticism lies precisely in the play of the two, a hide-and-seek between them. On the other hand, as I said, the greater portion of Vaishnava poetry, like a precious and beautiful casket, no doubt, hides the spiritual import: not the pure significance but the sign and symbol are luxuriously elaborated, they are placed in the foreground in all magnificence: as if it was their very purpose to conceal the real meaning. When the Vaishnava poet says,
O love, what more shall I, shall Radha speak,
--
one can explain that it is the Christ calling the Church or God appealing to the human soul or one can simply find in it nothing more than a man pining for his woman. Anyhow I would not call it spiritual poetry or even mystic poetry. For in itself it does not carry any double or oblique meaning, there is no suggestion that it is applicable to other fields or domains of consciousness: it is, as it were, monovalent. An allegory is never mysticism. There is more mysticism in Wordsworth, even in Shelley and Keats, than in Spenser, for example, who stands in this respect on the same ground as Bunyan in his The Pilgrim's Progress. Take Wordsworth as a Nature-worshipper,
Breaking the silence of the seas
--
or these again equally fraught with an intense experience a quiet ingathered luminous consciousness:
I held my breath and from a world of din
--
This is spiritual matter and spiritual manner that can never be improved upon. This is spiritual poetry in its quintessence. I am referring naturally here to the original and not to the translation which can never do full justice, even at its very best, to the poetic value in question. For apart from the individual genius of the poet, the greatness of the language, the instrument used by the poet, is also involved. It may well be what is comparatively easy and natural in the language of the gods (devabhasha) would mean a tour de force, if not altogether an impossibility, in a human language. The Sanskrit language was moulded and fashioned in the hands of the Rishis, that is to say, those who lived and moved and had their being in the spiritual consciousness. The Hebrew or even the Zend does not seem to have reached that peak, that absoluteness of the spiritual tone which seems inherent in the Indian tongue, although those too breathed and grew in a spiritual atmosphere. The later languages, however, Greek or Latin or their modern descendants, have gone still farther from the source, they are much nearer to the earth and are suffused with the smell and effluvia of this vale of tears.
Among the ancients, strictly speaking, the later classical Lucretius was a remarkable phenomenon. By nature he was a poet, but his mental interest lay in metaphysical speculation, in philosophy, and unpoetical business. He turned away from arms and heroes, wrath and love and, like Seneca and Aurelius, gave himself up to moralising and philosophising, delving 'into the mystery, the why and the how and the whither of it all. He chose a dangerous subject for his poetic inspiration and yet it cannot be said that his attempt was a failure. Lucretius was not a religious or spiritual poet; he was rather Marxian,atheistic, materialistic. The dialectical materialism of today could find in him a lot of nourishment and support. But whatever the content, the manner has made a whole difference. There was an idealism, a clarity of vision and an intensity of perception, which however scientific apparently, gave his creation a note, an accent, an atmosphere high, tense, aloof, ascetic, at times bordering on the supra-sensual. It was a high light, a force of consciousness that at its highest pitch had the ring and vibration of something almost spiritual. For the basic principle of Lucretius' inspiration is a large thought-force, a tense perception, a taut nervous reactionit is not, of course, the identity in being with the inner realities which is the hallmark of a spiritual consciousness, yet it is something on the way towards that.
There have been other philosophical poets, a good number of them since thennot merely rationally philosophical, as was the vogue in the eighteenth century, but metaphysically philosophical, that is to say, inquiring not merely into the phenomenal but also into the labyrinths of the noumenal, investigating not only what meets the senses, but also things that are behind or beyond. Amidst the earlier efflorescence of this movement the most outstanding philosopher poet is of course Dante, the Dante of Paradiso, a philosopher in the mediaeval manner and to the extent a lesser poet, according to some. Goe the is another, almost in the grand modern manner. Wordsworth is full of metaphysics from the crown of his head to the tip of his toe although his poetry, perhaps the major portion of it, had to undergo some kind of martyrdom because of it. And Shelley, the supremely lyric singer, has had a very rich undertone of thought- content genuinely metaphysical. And Browning and Arnold and Hardyindeed, if we come to the more moderns, we have to cite the whole host of them, none can be excepted.
We left out the Metaphysicals, for they can be grouped as a set apart. They are not so much metaphysical as theological, religious. They have a brain- content stirring with theological problems and speculations, replete with scintillating conceits and intricate fancies. Perhaps it is because of this philosophical burden, this intellectual bias that the Metaphysicals went into obscurity for about two centuries and it is precisely because of that that they are slowly coming out to the forefront and assuming a special value with the moderns. For the modern mind is characteristically thoughtful, introspective"introvert"and philosophical; even the exact physical sciences of today are rounded off in the end with metaphysics.
The growth of a philosophical thought- content in poetry has been inevitable. For man's consciousness in its evolutionary march is driving towards a consummation which includes and presupposes a development along that line. The mot d'ordre in old-world poetry was "fancy", imaginationremember the famous lines of Shakespeare characterising a poet; in modern times it is Thought, even or perhaps particularly abstract metaphysical thought. Perceptions, experiences, realisationsof whatever order or world they may beexpressed in sensitive and aesthetic terms and figures, that is poetry known and appreciated familiarly. But a new turn has been coming on with an increasing insistencea definite time has been given to that, since the Renaissance, it is said: it is the growing importance of Thought or brain-power as a medium or atmosphere in which poetic experiences find a sober and clear articulation, a definite and strong formulation. Rationalisation of all experiences and realisations is the keynote of the modern mentality. Even when it is said that reason and rationality are not ultimate or final or significant realities, that the irrational or the submental plays a greater role in our consciousness and that art and poetry likewise should be the expression of such a mentality, even then, all this is said and done in and through a strong rational and intellectual stress and frame the like of which cannot be found in the old-world frankly non-intellectual creations.
The religious, the mystic or the spiritual man was, in the past, more or Jess methodically and absolutely non-intellectual and anti-intellectual: but the modern age, the age of scientific culture, is tending to make him as strongly intellectual: he has to explain, not only present the object but show up its mechanism alsoexplain to himself so that he may have a total understanding and a firmer grasp of the thing which he presents and explains to others as well who demand a similar approach. He feels the necessity of explaining, giving the rationality the rationale the science, of his art; for without that, it appears to him, a solid ground is not given to the structure of his experience: analytic power, preoccupation with methodology seems inherent in the modern creative consciousness.
The philosophical trend in poetry has an interesting history with a significant role: it has acted as a force of purification, of sublimation, of katharsis. As man has risen from his exclusively or predominantly vital nature into an increasing mental poise, in the same way his creative activities too have taken this new turn and status. In the earlier stages of evolution the mental life is se condary, subordinate to the physico-vital life; it is only subsequently that the mental finds an independent and self-sufficient reality. A similar movement is reflected in poetic and artistic creation too: the thinker, the philosopher remains in the background at the outset, he looks out; peers through chinks and holes from time to time; later he comes to the forefront, assumes a major role in man's creative activity.
Man's consciousness is further to rise from the mental to over-mental regions. Accordingly, his life and activities and along with that his artistic creations too will take on a new tone and rhythm, a new mould and constitution even. For this transition, the higher mentalwhich is normally the field of philosophical and idealistic activitiesserves as the Paraclete, the Intercessor; it takes up the lower functionings of the consciousness, which are intense in their own way, but narrow and turbid, and gives, by purifying and enlarging, a wider frame, a more luminous pattern, a more subtly articulated , form for the higher, vaster and deeper realities, truths and harmonies to express and manifest. In the old-world spiritual and mystic poets, this intervening medium was overlooked for evident reasons, for human reason or even intelligence is a double-edged instrument, it can make as well as mar, it has a light that most often and naturally shuts off other higher lights beyond it. So it was bypassed, some kind of direct and immediate contact was sought to be established between the normal and the transcendental. The result was, as I have pointed out, a pure spiritual poetry, on the one hand, as in the Upanishads, or, on the other, religious poetry of various grades and denominations that spoke of the spiritual but in the terms and in the manner of the mundane, at least very much coloured and dominated by the latter. Vyasa was the great legendary figure in India who, as is shown in his Mahabharata, seems to have been one of the pioneers, if not the pioneer, to forge and build the missing link of Thought Power. The exemplar of the manner is the Gita. Valmiki's represented a more ancient and primary inspiration, of a vast vital sensibility, something of the kind that was at the basis of Homer's genius. In Greece it was Socrates who initiated the movement of speculative philosophy and the emphasis of intellectual power slowly began to find expression in the later poets, Sophocles and Euripides. But all these were very simple beginnings. The moderns go in for something more radical and totalitarian. The rationalising element instead of being an additional or subordinate or contri buting factor, must itself give its norm and form, its own substance and manner to the creative activity. Such is the present-day demand.
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 se cond. 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:
To see a World in a grain of Sand,
--
And a considerable impact of it is vibrant and aglow in these lines of a contemporary Indian poet:
Sky-lucent Bliss untouched by earthiness!
--
This, I say, is something different from the religious and even from the mystic. It is away from the merely religious, because it is naked of the vesture of humanity (in spite of a human face that masks it at times) ; it is something more than the merely mystic, for it does not stop being a signpost or an indication to the Beyond, but is itself the presence and embodiment of the Beyond. The mystic gives us, we can say, the magic of the Infinite; what I term the spiritual, the spiritual proper, gives in addition the logic of the Infinite. At least this is what distinguishes modern spiritual consciousness from the ancient, that is, Upanishadic spiritual consciousness. The Upanishad gives expression to the spiritual consciousness in its original and pristine purity and perfection, in its essential simplicity. It did not buttress itself with any logic. It is the record of fundamental experiences and there was no question of any logical exposition. But, as I have said, the modern mind requires and demands a logical element in its perceptions and presentations. Also it must needs be a different kind of logic that can satisfy and satisfy wholly the deeper and subtler movements of a modern consciousness. For the philosophical poet of an earlier age, when he had recourse to logic, it was the logic of the finite that always gave him the frame, unless he threw the whole thing overboard and leaped straight into the occult, the illogical and the a logical, like Blake, for instance. Let me illustrate and compare a little. When the older poet explains indriyani hayan ahuh, it is an allegory he resorts to, it is the logic of the finite he marshals to point to the infinite and the beyond. The stress of reason is apparent and effective too, but the pattern is what we are normally familiar with the movement, we can say, is almost Aristotelian in its rigour. Now let us turn to the following:
Our life is a holocaust of the Supreme. ||26.15||
--
An in conscient Power groped towards consciousness,
Matter smitten by Matter glimmered to sense, ||39.10||
Here we have a pattern of thought-movement that does not seem to follow the lineaments of the normal brain-mind consciousness, although it too has a basis there: our customary line of reasoning receives a sudden shock, as it were, and then is shaken, moved, lifted up, transportedgradually or suddenly, according to the temperament of the listener. Besides, we have here the peculiar modern tone, which, for want of a better term, may be described as scientific. The impressimprimaturof Science is its rational coherence, justifying or justified by sense data, by physical experience, which gives us the pattern or model of an inexorable natural law. Here too we feel we are in the domain of such natural law but lifted on to a higher level.
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:
"Flyaway, far from these morbid miasmas, go and purify yourself in the higher air and drink, like a pure and divine liquor, the clear fire that fills the limpid spaces."18
--
Poetry, actually however, has been, by and large, a profane and mundane affair: for it expresses the normal man's perceptions and feelings and experiences, human loves and hates and desires and ambitions. True. And yet there has also always been an attempt, a tendency to deal with them in such a way as can bring calm and puritykatharsisnot trouble and confusion. That has been the purpose of all Art from the ancient days. Besides, there has been a growth and development in the historic process of this katharsis. As by the sublimation of his bodily and vital instincts and impulses., man is gradually growing into the mental, moral and finally spiritual consciousness, even so the artistic expression of his creative activity has followed a similar line of transformation. The first and original transformation happened with religious poetry. The religious, one may say, is the profane inside out; that is to say, the religious man has almost the same tone and temper, the same urges and passions, only turned Godward. Religious poetry too marks a new turn and development of human speech, in taking the name of God human tongue acquires a new plasticity and flavour that transform or give a new modulation even to things profane and mundane it speaks of. Religious means at bottom the colouring of mental and moral idealism. A parallel process of katharsis is found in another class of poetic creation, viz., the allegory. Allegory or parable is the stage when the higher and inner realities are expressed wholly in the modes and manner, in the form and character of the normal and external, when moral, religious or spiritual truths are expressed in the terms and figures of the profane life. The higher or the inner ideal is like a loose clothing upon the ordinary consciousness, it does not fit closely or fuse. In the religious, however, the first step is taken for a mingling and fusion. The mystic is the beginning of a real fusion and a considerable ascension of the lower into the higher. The philosopher poet follows another line for the same katharsisinstead of uplifting emotions and sensibility, he proceeds by thought-power, by the ideas and principles that lie behind all movements and give a pattern to all things existing. The mystic can be of either type, the religious mystic or the philosopher mystic, although often the two are welded together and cannot be very well separated. Let us illustrate a little:
The spacious firmament on high,
--
Whom thou conceiv'st, conceiv'd; yea thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother;
--
But all that is left far behind, when we hear a new voice announcing an altogether new manner, revelatory of the truly and supremely spiritual consciousness, not simply mystic or religious but magically occult and carved out of the highest if re condite philosophia:
A finite movement of the Infinite
--
Albert Samain: "Pannyre awe talons d'or"Aux Flancs du Vase. And Pannyre became flower, flame, butterfly.. . . As though through a silky continuity of water In a divine flash showed Pannyre naked.
Mallarme: "Les Fleurs". "Vermilion like the pure toe of the seraph Reddened by the blush of dawns it trampled through."
01.03 - Rationalism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
What is Reason, the faculty that is said to be the proud privilege of man, the sovereign instrument he alone possesses for the purpose of knowing? What is the value of knowledge that Reason gives? For it is the manner of knowing, the particular faculty or instrument by which we know, that determines the nature and content of knowledge. Reason is the collecting of available sense-perceptions and a certain mode of working upon them. It has three component elements that have been defined as observation, classification and deduction. Now, the very composition of Reason shows that it cannot be a perfect instrument of knowledge; the limitations are the inherent limitations of the component elements. As regards observation there is a two-fold limitation. First, observation is a relative term and variable quantity. One observes through the prism of one's own observing faculty, through the bias of one's own personality and no two persons can have absolutely the same manner of observation. So Science has recognised the necessity of personal equation and has created an imaginary observer, a "mean man" as the standard of reference. And this already takes us far away from the truth, from the reality. Se condly, observation is limited by its scope. All the facts of the world, all sense-perceptions possible and actual cannot be included within any observation however large, however collective it may be. We have to go always upon a limited amount of data, we are able to construct only a partial and sketchy view of the surface of existence. And then it is these few and doubtful facts that Reason seeks to arrange and classify. That classification may hold good for certain immediate ends, for a temporary understanding of the world and its forces, either in order to satisfy our curiosity or to gain some practical utility. For when we want to consider the world only in its immediate relation to us, a few and even doubtful facts are sufficient the more immediate the relation, the more immaterial the doubtfulness and insufficiency of facts. We may quite confidently go a step in darkness, but to walk a mile we do require light and certainty. Our scientific classification has a background of uncertainty, if not, of falsity; and our deduction also, even while correct within a very narrow range of space and time, cannot escape the fundamental vices of observation and classification upon which it is based.
It might be said, however, that the guarantee or sanction of Reason does not lie in the extent of its application, nor can its subjective nature (or ego-centric predication, as philosophers would term it) vitiate the validity of its conclusions. There is, in fact, an inherent unity and harmony between Reason and Reality. If we know a little of Reality, we know the whole; if we know the subjective, we know also the objective. As in the part, so in the whole; as it is within, so it is without. If you say that I will die, you need not wait for my actual death to have the proof of your statement. The generalising power inherent in Reason is the guarantee of the certitude to which it leads. Reason is valid, as it does not betray us. If it were such as anti-intellectuals make it out to be, we would be making nothing but false steps, would always remain entangled in contradictions. The very success of Reason is proof of its being a reliable and perfect instrument for the knowledge of Truth and Reality. It is beside the mark to prove otherwise, simply by analysing the nature of Reason and showing the fundamental deficiencies of that nature. It is rather to the credit of Reason that being as it is, it is none the less a successful and trustworthy agent.
Now the question is, does Reason never fail? Is it such a perfect instrument as intellectualists think it to be? There is ground for serious misgivings. Reason says, for example, that the earth revolves round the sun: and reason, it is argued, is right, for we see that all the facts are conformableto it, even facts that were hitherto unknown and are now coming into our ken. But the difficulty is that Reason did not say that always in the past and may not say that always in the future. The old astronomers could explain the universe by holding quite a contrary theory and could fit into it all their astronomical data. A future scientist may come and explain the matter in quite a different way from either. It is only a choice of workable theories that Reason seems to offer; we do not know the fact itself, apart perhaps from exactly the amount that immediate sense-perception gives to each of us. Or again, if we take an example of another category, we may ask, does God exist? A candid Rationalist would say that he does not know although he has his own opinion about the matter. Evidently, Reason cannot solve all the problems that it meets; it can judge only truths that are of a certain type.
It may be answered that Reason is a faculty which gives us progressive knowledge of the reality, but as a knowing instrument it is perfect, at least it is the only instrument at our disposal; even if it gives a false, incomplete or blurred image of the reality, it has the means and capacity of correcting and completing itself. It offers theories, no doubt; but what are theories? They are simply the gradually increasing adaptation of the knowing subject to the object to be known, the evolving revelation of reality to our perception of it. Reason is the power which carries on that process of adaptation and revelation; we can safely rely upon Reason and trust It to carry on its work with increasing success.
But in knowledge it is precisely finality that we seek for and no mere progressive, asymptotic, rapprochement ad infinitum. No less than the Practical Reason, the Theoretical Reason also demands a categorical imperative, a clean affirmation or denial. If Reason cannot do that, it must be regarded as inefficient. It is poor consolation to man that Reason is gradually finding out the truth or that it is trying to grapple with the problems of God, Soul and Immortality and will one day pronounce its verdict. Whether we have or have not any other instrument of knowledge is a different question altogether. But in the meanwhile Reason stands condemned by the evidence of its own limitation.
It may be retorted that if Reason is condemned, it is condemned by itself and by no other authority. All argumentation against Reason is a function of Reason itself. The deficiencies of Reason we find out by the rational faculty alone. If Reason was to die, it is because it consents to commit suicide; there is no other power that kills it. But to this our answer is that Reason has this miraculous power of self-destruction; or, to put it philosophically, Reason is, at best, an organ of self-criticism and perhaps the organ par excellence for that purpose. But criticism is one thing and creation another. And whether we know or act, it is fundamentally a process of creation; at least, without this element of creation there can be no knowledge, no act. In knowledge there is a luminous creativity, Revelation or Categorical Imperative which Reason does not and cannot supply but vaguely strains to seize. For that element we have to search elsewhere, not in Reason.
Does this mean that real knowledge is irrational or against Reason? Not so necessarily. There is a super-rational power for knowledge and Reason may either be a channel or an obstacle. If we take our stand upon Reason and then proceed to know, if we take the forms and categories of Reason as the inviolable schemata of knowledge, then indeed Reason becomes an obstacle to that super-rational power. If, on the other hand, Reason does not offer any set-form from beforehand, does not insist upon its own conditions, is passive and simply receives and reflects what is given to it, then it becomes a luminous and sure channel for that higher and real knowledge.
The fact is that Reason is a lower manifestation of knowledge, it is an attempt to express on the mental level a power that exceeds it. It is the section of a vast and unitarian consciousness-Power; the section may be necessary under certain conditions and circumstances, but unless it is viewed in its relation to the ensemble, unless it gives up its exclusive absolutism, it will be perforce arbitrary and misleading. It would still remain helpful and useful, but its help and use would be always limited in scope and temporary in effectivity.
***
01.03 - Sri Aurobindo and his School, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A considerable amount of vague misunderstanding and misapprehension seems to exist in the minds of a certain section of our people as to what Sri Aurobindo is doing in his retirement at Pondicherry. On the other hand, a very precise exposition, an exact formula of what he is not doing has been curiously furnished by a well-known patriot in his indictment of what he chooses to call the Pondicherry School of contemplation. But he has arrived at this formula by openly and fearlessly affirming what does not exist; for the things that Sri Aurobindo is accused of doing are just the things that he is not doing. In the first place, Sri Aurobindo is not doing peaceful contemplation; in the se cond place, he is not doing active propaganda either; in the third place, he is not doing prnyma or even dhyna in the ordinary sense of the word; and, lastly, he is not proclaiming or following the maxim that although action may be tolerated as good, his particular brand of Yoga is something higher and better.
Evidently the eminent politician and his school of activism are labouring under a Himalayan confusion: when they speak of Sri Aurobindo, they really have in their mind some of the old schools of spiritual discipline. But one of the marked aspects of Sri Aurobindo's teaching and practice has been precisely his insistence on putting aside the inert and life-shunning quietism, illusionism, asceticism and monasticism of a latter-day and decadent India. These ideals are perhaps as much obstacles in his way as in the way of the activistic school. Only Sri Aurobindo has not had the temerity to say that it is a weakness to seek refuge in contemplation or to suggest that a Buddha was a weakling or a Shankara a poltroon.
This much as regards what Sri Aurobindo is not doing; let us now turn and try to understand what he is doing. The distinguished man of action speaks of conquering Nature and fighting her. Adopting this war-like imagery, we can affirm that Sri Aurobindo's work is just such a battle and conquest. But the question is, what is nature and what is the kind of conquest that is sought, how are we to fight and what are the required arms and implements? A good general should foresee all this, frame his plan of campaign accordingly and then only take the field. The above-mentioned leader proposes ceaseless and unselfish action as the way to fight and conquer Nature. He who speaks thus does not know and cannot mean what he says.
European science is conquering Nature in a way. It has attained to a certain kind and measure, in some fields a great measure, of control and conquest; but however great or striking it may be in its own province, it does not touch man in his more intimate reality and does not bring about any true change in his destiny or his being. For the most vital part of nature is the region of the life-forces, the powers of disease and age and death, of strife and greed and lustall the instincts of the brute in man, all the dark aboriginal forces, the forces of ignorance that form the very groundwork of man's nature and his society. And then, as we rise next to the world of the mind, we find a twilight region where falsehood masquerades as truth, where prejudices move as realities, where notions rule as ideals.
This is the present nature of man, with its threefold nexus of mind and life and body, that stands there to be fought and conquered. This is the inferior nature, of which the ancients spoke, that holds man down inexorably to a lower dharma, imperfect mode of life the life that is and has been the human order till today. No amount of ceaseless action, however selflessly done, can move this wheel of Nature even by a hair's breadth away from the path that it has carved out from of old. Human nature and human society have been built up and are run by the forces of this inferior nature, and whatever shuffling and reshuffling we may make in its apparent factors and elements, the general scheme and fundamental form of life will never change. To displace earth (and to conquer nature means nothing less than that) and give it another orbit, one must find a fulcrum outside earth.
Sri Aurobindo does not preach flight from life and a retreat into the silent and passive Infinite; the goal of life is not, in his view, the extinction of life. Neither is he satisfied on that account to hold that life is best lived in the ordinary round of its unregenerate dharma. If the first is a blind alley, the se cond is a vicious circle,both lead nowhere.
Sri Aurobindo's sadhana starts from the perception of a Power that is beyond the ordinary nature yet is its inevitable master, a fulcrum, as we have said, outside the earth. For what is required first is the discovery and manifestation of a new soul- consciousness in man which will bring about by the very pressure and working out of its self-rule an absolute reversal of man's nature. It is the Asuras who are now holding sway over humanity, for man has allowed himself so long to be built in the image of the Asura; to dislodge the Asuras, the Gods in their sovereign might have to be forged in the human being and brought into play. It is a stupendous task, some would say impossible; but it is very far removed from quietism or passivism. Sri Aurobindo is in retirement, but it is a retirement only from the outward field of present physical activities and their apparent actualities, not from the true forces and action of life. It is the retreat necessary to one who has to go back into himself to conquer a new plane of creative power,an entrance right into the world of basic forces, of fundamental realities, into the flaming heart of things where all actualities are born and take their first shape. It is the discovery of a power-house of tremendous energism and of the means of putting it at the service of earthly life.
And, properly speaking, it is not at all a school, least of all a mere school of thought, that is growing round Sri Aurobindo. It is rather the nucleus of a new life that is to come. Quite naturally it has almost insignificant proportions at present to the outward eye, for the work is still of the nature of experiment and trial in very restricted limits, something in the nature of what is done in a laboratory when a new power has been discovered, but has still to be perfectly formulated in its process. And it is quite a mistake to suppose that there is a vigorous propaganda carried on in its behalf or that there is a large demand for recruits. Only the few, who possess the call within and are impelled by the spirit of the future, have a chance of serving this high attempt and great realisation and standing among its first instruments and pioneer workers.
01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Although consenting to mortal ignorance,
His knowledge shared the Light ineffable.
--
His fragile ship conveys through the sea of years
An incognito of the Imperishable.
--
Immortally she conceives herself in him,
In the creature the unveiled Creatrix works:
--
The conscious ends of being went rolling back:
The landmarks of the little person fell,
The island ego joined its continent.
Overpassed was this world of rigid limiting forms:
--
Abolished were conception's covenants
And, striking off subjection's rigorous clause,
--
A consciousness of brighter fields and skies,
Of beings less circumscribed than brief-lived men
--
A consciousness of beauty and of bliss,
A knowledge which became what it perceived,
--
Its throb of satisfaction and content
In all the sweetness of the gifts of life,
--
A contact thrilled of mighty unknown things.
Awakened to new unearthly closenesses,
--
Ever his consciousness and vision grew;
They took an ampler sweep, a loftier flight;
--
Packed with the deep contents of formlessness
Where world was into a single being rapt
--
The boundless with the boundless there consorts;
While there, one can be wider than the world;
--
He neared the still consciousness sustaining all.
The voice that only by speech can move the mind
--
His greater consciousness withdrew behind;
Dim and eclipsed, his human outside strove
-- A constant lodging in the Eternal's realm,
A safety in the Silence and the Ray,
--
From which the tree of cosmos was conceived
And spread its magic arms through a dream of space.
--
The world was a conception and a birth
Of Spirit in Matter into living forms,
01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
In the Yoga practised here the aim is to rise to a higher consciousness and to live out of the higher consciousness alone, not with the ordinary motives. This means a change of life as well as a change of consciousness. But all are not so circumstanced that they can cut loose from the ordinary life; they accept it therefore as a field of experience and self-training in the earlier stages of the sadhana. But they must take care to look at it as a field of experience only and to get free from the ordinary desires, attachments and ideas which usually go with it; otherwise it becomes a drag and hindrance on their sadhana. When one is not compelled by circumstances there is no necessity to continue the ordinary life.
It is not helpful to abandon the ordinary life before the being is ready for the full spiritual life. To do so means to precipitate a struggle between the different elements and exasperate it to a point of intensity which the nature is not ready to bear. The vital elements in you have partly to be met by the discipline and experience of life, while keeping the spiritual aim in view and trying to govern life by it progressively in the spirit of Karmayoga.
The best way to prepare oneself for the spiritual life when one has to live in the ordinary occupations and surroundings is to cultivate an entire equality and detachment and the samata of the Gita with the faith that the Divine is there and the Divine Will at work in all things even though at present under the conditions of a world of Ignorance. Beyond this are the Light and Ananda towards which life is working, but the best way for their advent and foundation in the individual being and nature is to grow in this spiritual equality. That would also solve your difficulty about things unpleasant and disagreeable. All unpleasantness should be faced with this spirit of samata.
I may say briefly that there are two states of consciousness in either of which one can live. One is a higher consciousness which stands above the play of life and governs it; this is variously called the Self, the Spirit or the Divine. The other is the normal consciousness in which men live; it is something quite superficial, an instrument of the Spirit for the play of life. Those who live and act in the normal consciousness are governed entirely by the common movements of the mind and are naturally subject to grief and joy and anxiety and desire or to everything else that makes up the ordinary stuff of life.
Mental quiet and happiness they can get, but it can never be permanent or secure. But the spiritual consciousness is all light, peace, power and bliss. If one can live entirely in it, there is no question; these things become naturally and securely his.
But even if he can live partly in it or keep himself constantly open to it, he receives enough of this spiritual light and peace and strength and happiness to carry him securely through all the shocks of life. What one gains by opening to this spiritual consciousness, depends on what one seeks from it; if it is peace, one gets peace; if it is light or knowledge, one lives in a great light and receives a knowledge deeper and truer than any the normal mind of man can acquire; if it [is] strength or power, one gets a spiritual strength for the inner life or Yogic power to govern the outer work and action; if it is happiness, one enters into a beatitude far greater than any joy or happiness that the ordinary human life can give.
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.
Apart from external things there are two possible inner ideals which a man can follow. The first is the highest ideal of ordinary human life and the other the divine ideal of Yoga.
I must say in view of something you seem to have said to your father that it is not the object of the one to be a great man or the object of the other to be a great Yogin. The ideal of human life is to establish over the whole being the control of a clear, strong and rational mind and a right and rational will, to master the emotional, vital and physical being, create a harmony of the whole and develop the capacities whatever they are and fulfil them in life. In the terms of Hindu thought, it is to enthrone the rule of the purified and sattwic buddhi, follow the dharma, fulfilling one's own svadharma and doing the work proper to one's capacities, and satisfy kama and artha under the control of the buddhi and the dharma. The object of the divine life, on the other hand, is to realise one's highest self or to realise
God and to put the whole being into harmony with the truth of the highest self or the law of the divine nature, to find one's own divine capacities great or small and fulfil them in life as a sacrifice to the highest or as a true instrument of the divine
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The spiritual life (adhyatma jvana), the religious life (dharma jvana) and the ordinary human life of which morality is a part are three quite different things and one must know which one desires and not confuse the three together. The ordinary life is that of the average human consciousness separated from its own true self and from the Divine and led by the common habits of the mind, life and body which are the laws of the Ignorance.
The religious life is a movement of the same ignorant human consciousness, turning or trying to turn away from the earth towards the Divine but as yet without knowledge and led by the dogmatic tenets and rules of some sect or creed which claims to have found the way out of the bonds of the earth- consciousness into some beatific Beyond. The religious life may be the first approach to the spiritual, but very often it is only a turning about in a round of rites, ceremonies and practices or set ideas and forms without any issue. The spiritual life, on the contrary, proceeds directly by a change of consciousness, a change from the ordinary consciousness, ignorant and separated from its true self and from God, to a greater consciousness in which one finds one's true being and comes first into direct and living contact and then into union with the Divine. For the spiritual seeker this change of consciousness is the one thing he seeks and nothing else matters.
Morality is a part of the ordinary life; it is an attempt to govern the outward conduct by certain mental rules or to form the character by these rules in the image of a certain mental ideal. The spiritual life goes beyond the mind; it enters into the deeper consciousness of the Spirit and acts out of the truth of the Spirit.
The principle of life which I seek to establish is spiritual.
Morality is a question of man's mind and vital, it belongs to a lower plane of consciousness. A spiritual life therefore cannot be founded on a moral basis, it must be founded on a spiritual basis. This does not mean that the spiritual man must be immoral - as if there were no other law of conduct than the moral. The law of action of the spiritual consciousness is higher, not lower than the moral - it is founded on union with the Divine and living in the Divine consciousness and its action is founded on obedience to the Divine Will.
01.04 - Motives for Seeking the Divine, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Let us first put aside the quite foreign consideration of what we would do if the union with the Divine brought eternal joylessness, Nirananda or torture. Such a thing does not exist and to drag it in only clouds the issue. The Divine is Anandamaya and one can seek him for the Ananda he gives; but he has also in him many other things and one may seek him for any of them, for peace, for liberation, for knowledge, for power, for anything else of which one may feel the pull or the impulse. It is quite possible for someone to say: "Let me have Power from the
Divine and do His work or His will and I am satisfied, even if the use of Power entails suffering also." It is possible to shun bliss as a thing too tremendous or ecstatic and ask only or rather for peace, for liberation, for Nirvana. You speak of self-fulfilment,
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Divine will bring Ananda, therefore it must be for the Ananda that we seek the union, is not true and has no force. One who loves a queen may know that if she returns his love it will bring him power, position, riches and yet it need not be for the power, position, riches that he seeks her love. He may love her for herself and could love her equally if she were not a queen; he might have no hope of any return whatever and yet love her, adore her, live for her, die for her simply because she is she. That has happened and men have loved women without any hope of enjoyment or result, loved steadily, passionately after age has come and beauty has gone. Patriots do not love their country only when she is rich, powerful, great and has much to give them; their love for country has been most ardent, passionate, absolute when the country was poor, degraded, miserable, having nothing to give but loss, wounds, torture, imprisonment, death as the wages of her service; yet even knowing that they would never see her free, men have lived, served and died for her - for her own sake, not for what she could give. Men have loved Truth for her own sake and for what they could seek or find of her, accepted poverty, persecution, death itself; they have been content even to seek for her always, not finding, and yet never given up the search.
That means what? That men, country, Truth and other things besides can be loved for their own sake and not for anything else, not for any circumstance or attendant quality or resulting enjoyment, but for something absolute that is either in them or behind their appearance and circumstance. The Divine is more than a man or woman, a stretch of land or a creed, opinion, discovery or principle. He is the Person beyond all persons, the
01.04 - Sri Aurobindos Gita, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
This neo-spirituality which might claim its sanction and authority from the real old-world Indian disciplinesay, of Janaka and Yajnavalkyalabours, however, in reality, under the influence of European activism and ethicism. It was this which served as the immediate incentive to our spiritual revival and revaluation and its impress has not been thoroughly obliterated even in the best of our modern exponents. The bias of the vital urge and of the moral imperative is apparent enough in the modernist conception of a dynamic spirituality. Fundamentally the dynamism is made to reside in the lan of the ethical man,the spiritual element, as a consciousness of supreme unity in the Absolute (Brahman) or of love and delight in God, serving only as an atmosphere for the mortal activity.
Sri Aurobindo has raised action completely out of the mental and moral plane and has given it an absolute spiritual life. Action has been spiritualised by being carried back to its very source and origin, for it is the expression in life of God's own consciousness-Energy (Chit-Shakti).
The Supreme Spirit, Purushottama, who holds in himself the dual reality of Brahman and the world, is the master of action who acts but in actionlessness, the Lord in whom and through whom the universes and their creatures live and move and have their being. Karmayoga is union in mind and soul and body with the Lord of action in the execution of his cosmic purpose. And this union is effected through a transformation of the human nature, through the revelation of the Divine Prakriti and its descent upon and possession of the inferior human vehicle.
Arrived so far, we now find, if we look back, a change in the whole perspective. Karma and even Karmayoga, which hitherto seemed to be the pivot of the Gita's teaching, retire somewhat into the background and present a diminished stature and value. The centre of gravity has shifted to the conception of the Divine Nature, to the Lord's own status, to the consciousness above the three Gunas, to absolute consecration of each limb of man's humanity to the Supreme Purusha for his descent and incarnation and play in and upon this human world.
The higher secret of the Gita lies really in the later chapters, the earlier chapters being a preparation and passage to it orpartial and practical application. This has to be pointed out, since there is a notion current which seeks to limit the Gita's effective teaching to the earlier part, neglecting or even discarding the later portion.
01.04 - The Intuition of the Age, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
All movementswhe ther of thought or of life, whether in the individual or in the massproceed from a fundamental intuition which lies in the background as the logical presupposition, the psychological motive and the spiritual force. A certain attitude of the soul, a certain angle of vision is what is posited first; all other thingsall thoughts and feelings and activities are but necessary attempts to express, to demonstrate, to realise on the conscious and dynamic levels, in the outer world, the truth which has thus already been seized in some secret core of our being. The intuition may not, of course, be present to the conscious mind, it may not be ostensibly sought for, one may even deny the existence of such a pre conceived notion and proceed to establish truth on a tabula rasa; none the less it is this hidden bias that judges, this secret consciousness that formulates, this unknown power that fashions.
Now, what is the intuition that lies behind the movements of the new age? What is the intimate realisation, the underlying view-point which is guiding and modelling all our efforts and achievementsour science and art, our poetry and philosophy, our religion and society? For, there is such a common and fundamental note which is being voiced forth by the human spirit through all the multitude of its present-day activities.
A new impulse is there, no one can deny, and it has vast possibilities before it, that also one need not hesitate to accept. But in order that we may best fructuate what has been spontaneously sown, we must first recognise it, be luminously conscious of it and develop it along its proper line of growth. For, also certain it is that this new impulse or intuition, however true and strong in itself, is still groping and erring and miscarrying; it is still wasting much of its energy in tentative things, in mere experiments, in even clear failures. The fact is that the intuition has not yet become an enlightened one, it is still moving, as we shall presently explain, in the dark vital regions of man. And vitalism is naturally and closely affianced to pragmatism, that is to say, the mere vital impulse seeks immediately to execute itself, it looks for external effects, for changes in the form, in the machinery only. Thus it is that we see in art and literature discussions centred upon the scheme of composition, as whether the new poetry should be lyrical or dramatic, popular or aristocratic, metrical or free of metre, and in practical life we talk of remodelling the state by new methods of representation and governance, of purging society by bills and legislation, of reforming humanity by a business pact.
All this may be good and necessary, but there is the danger of leaving altogether out of account the one thing needful. We must then pause and turn back, look behind the apparent impulsion that effectuates to the Will that drives, behind the ideas and ideals of the mind to the soul that informs and inspires; we must carry ourselves up the stream and concentrate upon the original source, the creative intuition that lies hidden somewhere. And then only all the new stirrings that we feel in our heartour urges and ideals and visions will attain an effective clarity, an unshaken purpose and an inevitable achievement.
That is to say, the change has been in the soul of man himself, the being has veered round and taken a new orientation. It is this which one must envisage, recognise and consciously possess, in order that one may best fulfil the call of the age. But what we are doing instead is to observe the mere external signs and symbols and symptoms, to fix upon the distant quiverings, the echoes on the outermost rim, which are not always faithful representations, but very often distorted images of the truth and life at the centre and source and matrix. We must know that if there has been going on a redistribution and new-marshalling of forces, it is because the fiat has come from the Etat Major.
Now, in order to understand the new orientation of the spirit of the present age, we may profitably ask what was the inspiration of the past age, the characteristic note which has failed to satisfy us and which we are endeavouring to transform. We know that that age was the Scientific age or the age of Reason. Its great prophets were Voltaire and the Encyclopaedists or if you mount further up in time, we may begin from Ba con and the humanists. Its motto was first, "The proper study of mankind is man" and se condly, Reason is the supreme organon of knowledge, the highest deity in manla Desse Raison. And it is precisely against these two basic principles that the new age has entered its protest. In face of Humanism, Nietzsche has posited the Superman and in face of Reason Bergson has posited Intuition.
The worship of man as something essentially and exclusively human necessitates as a corollary, the other doctrine, viz the deification of Reason; and vice versa. Humanism and Scientism go together and the whole spirit and mentality of the age that is passing may be summed up in those two words. So Nietzsche says, "All our modern world is captured in the net of the Alexandrine culture and has, for its ideal, the theoretical man, armed with the most powerful instruments of knowledge, toiling in the service of science and whose prototype and original ancestor is Socrates." Indeed, it may be generally asserted that the nation whose prophet and sage claimed to have brought down Philosophia from heaven to dwell upon earth among men was precisely the nation, endowed with a clear and logical intellect, that was the very embodiment of rationality and reasonableness. As a matter of fact, it would not be far, wrong to say that it is the Hellenic culture which has been moulding humanity for ages; at least, it is this which has been the predominating factor, the vital and dynamic element in man's nature. Greece when it died was reborn in Rome; Rome, in its return, found new life in France; and France means Europe. What Europe has been and still is for the world and humanity one knows only too much. And yet, the Hellenic genius has not been the sole motive power and constituent element; there has been another leaven which worked constantly within, if intermittently without. If Europe represented mind and man and this side of existence, Asia always reflected that which transcends the mind the spirit, the Gods and the Beyonds.
However, we are concerned more with the immediate past, the mentality that laid its supreme stress upon the human rationality. What that epoch did not understand was that Reason could be overstepped, that there was something higher, something greater than Reason; Reason being the sovereign faculty, it was thought there could be nothing beyond, unless it were draison. The human attribute par excellence is Reason. Exactly so. But the fact is that man is not bound by his humanity and that reason can be transformed and sublimated into other more powerful faculties.
Now, the question is, what is the insufficiency of Reason? How does it limit man? And what is the Superman into which man is asked or is being impelled to grow?
Reason is insufficient and unsatisfactory because, as Bergson explains, it does not and cannot embrace life as a whole, seize man and the world in an integral realisation. The greater part of the vast mystery of existence escapes its envergure. Reason is that faculty which is for analysing, defining, classifying and fixing things. It is a power that has grown in man in order that he may best manipulate the things of the world. It is utilitarian, practical in its nature and outlook. And as practical dealing requires that things should be stable and separate entities, therefore Reason cannot but see things in solid and in the fragments of a solid. It cuts up existence into distinct parts and diverse elements; and these again it seeks to relate and aggregate, in accordance with what it calls "laws". Such a process has been necessary for man in conducting life and action successfully. Originally a bye-product of active life, Reason gradually separated itself and came finally to have an independent status and function, became or sought to become the instrument of knowledge, of Truth.
But although Reason has been and is useful for the practical, we may say almost, the manual aspect of life, life itself it leaves unexplained and uncomprehended. For life is mobility, a continuous flow that has nowhere any gap or stop and things have in reality no isolated or separate existence, they merge and mingle into one another and form an indissoluble whole. Therefore the forms and categories that Reason imposes upon existence are more or less arbitrary; they are shackles that seek to bind up and limit life, but are often rent asunder in the very effort. So the civilisation that has its origin in Reason and progresses with discoveries and inventionsdevices for artfully manipulating naturehas been essentially and pre-eminently mechanical in its structure and outlook. It has become more and more efficient perhaps, but less and less soul-inspired, less and less-endowed with the free-flowing sap of organic growth and vitality.
So instead of the rational principle, the new age wants the principle of Nature or Life. Even as regards knowledge Reason is not the only, nor the best instrument. For animals have properly no reason; the nature-principle of knowledge in the animal is Instinct the faculty that acts so faultlessly, so marvellously where Reason can only pause and be perplexed. This is not to say that man is to or can go back to this primitive and animal function; but certainly he can replace it by something akin which is as natural and yet purified and self- consciousillumined instinct, we may say or Intuition, as Bergson terms it. And Nietzsche's definition of the Superman has also a similar orientation and significance; for, according to him, the Superman is man who has outgrown his Reason, who is not bound by the standards and the conventions determined by Reason for a special purpose. The Superman is one who has gone beyond "good and evil," who has shaken off from his nature and character elements that are "human, all too human"who is the embodiment of life-force in its absolute purity and strength and freedom.
This then is the mantra of the new ageLife with Intuition as its guide and not Reason and mechanical efficiency, not Man but Superman. The right mantra has been found, the principle itself is irreproachable. But the interpretation, the application, does not seem to have been always happy. For, Nietzsche's conception of the Superman is full of obvious lacunae. If we have so long been adoring the intellectual man, Nietzsche asks us, on the other hand, to deify the vital man. According to him the superman is he who has (1) the supreme sense of the ego, (2) the sovereign will to power and (3) who lives dangerously. All this means an Asura, that is to say, one who has, it may be, dominion over his animal and vital impulsions in order, of course, that he may best gratify them but who has not purified them. Purification does not necessarily mean, annihilation but it does mean sublimation and transformation. So if you have to transcend man, you have to transcend egoism also. For a conscious egoism is the very characteristic of man and by increasing your sense of egoism you do not supersede man but simply aggrandise your humanity, fashion it on a larger, a titanic scale. And then the will to power is not the only will that requires fulfilment, there is also the will to knowledge and the will to love. In man these three fundamental constitutive elements coexist, although they do it, more often than not, at the expense of each other and in a state of continual disharmony. The superman, if he is to be the man "who has surmounted himself", must embody a poise of being in which all the three find a fusion and harmonya perfect synthesis. Again, to live dangerously may be heroic, but it is not divine. To live dangerously means to have eternal opponents, that is to say, to live ever on the same level with the forces you want to dominate. To have the sense that one has to fight and control means that one is not as yet the sovereign lord, for one has to strive and strain and attain. The supreme lord is he who is perfectly equanimous with himself and with the world. He has not to batter things into a shape in order to create. He creates means, he manifests. He wills and he achieves"God said 'let there be light' and there was light."
As a matter of fact, the superman is not, as Nietzsche thinks him to be, the highest embodiment of the biological force of Nature, not even as modified and refined by the aesthetic and aristocratic virtues of which the higher reaches of humanity seem capable. For that is after all humanity only accentuated in certain other fundamentally human modes of existence. It does not carry far enough the process of surmounting. In reality it is not a surmounting but a new channelling. Instead of the ethical and intellectual man, we get the vital and aesthetic man. It may be a change but not a transfiguration.
And the faculty of Intuition said to be the characteristic of the New Man does not mean all that it should, if we confine ourselves to Bergson's definition of it. Bergson says that Intuition is a sort of sympathy, a community of feeling or sensibility with the urge of the life-reality. The difference between the sympathy of Instinct and the sympathy of Intuition being that while the former is an un conscious or semi- conscious power, the latter is illumined and self- conscious. Now this view emphasises only the feeling-tone of Intuition, the vital sensibility that attends the direct communion with the life movement. But Intuition is not only purified feeling and sensibility, it is also purified vision and knowledge. It unites us not only with the movement of life, but also opens out to our sight the Truths, the fundamental realities behind that movement. Bergson does not, of course, point to any existence behind the continuous flux of life-power the elan vital. He seems to deny any static truth or truths to be seen and seized in any scheme of knowledge. To him the dynamic flow the Heraclitian panta reei is the ultimate reality. It is precisely to this view of things that Bergson owes his conception of Intuition. Since existence is a continuum of Mind-Energy, the only way to know it is to be in harmony or unison with it, to move along its current. The conception of knowledge as a fixing and delimiting of things is necessarily an anomaly in this scheme. But the question is, is matter the only static and separative reality? Is the flux of vital Mind-Energy the ultimate truth?
Matter forms the lowest level of reality. Above it is the elan vital. Above the elan vital there is yet the domain of the Spirit. And the Spirit is a static substance and at the same a dynamic creative power. It is Being (Sat) that realises or expresses itself through certain typal nuclei or nodi of consciousness (chit) in a continuous becoming, in a flow of creative activity (ananda). The dynamism of the vital energy is only a refraction or precipitation of the dynamism of the spirit; and so also static matter is only the substance of the spirit concretised and solidified. It is in an uplift both of matter and vital force to their prototypesswarupa and swabhavain the Spirit that lies the real transformation and transfiguration of the humanity of man.
This is the truth that is trying to dawn upon the new age. Not matter but that which forms the substance of matter, not intellect but a vaster consciousness that informs the intellect, not man as he is, an aberration in the cosmic order, but as he may and shall be the embodiment and fulfilment of that orderthis is the secret Intuition which, as yet dimly envisaged, nevertheless secretly inspires all the human activities of today. Only, the truth is being interpreted, as we have said, in terms of vital life. The intellectual and physical man gave us one aspect of the reality, but neither is the vital and psychical man the complete reality. The one acquisition of this shifting of the viewpoint has been that we are now in touch with the natural and deeper movement of humanity and not as before merely with its artificial scaffolding. The Alexandrine civilisation of humanity, in Nietzsche's phrase, was a sort of divagation from nature, it was following a loop away from the direct path of natural evolution. And the new Renaissance of today has precisely corrected this aberration of humanity and brought it again in a line with the natural cosmic order.
Certainly this does not go far enough into the motive of the change. The cosmic order does not mean mentalised vitalism which is also in its turn a section of the integral reality. It means the order of the spirit, it means the transfiguration of the physical, the vital and the intellectual into the supernal Substance, Power and Light of that Spirit. The real transcendence of humanity is not the transcendence of one or other of its levels but the total transcendence to an altogether different status and the transmutation of humanity in the mould of that statusnot a Nietzschean Titan nor a Bergsonian Dionysus but the tranquil vision and delight and dynamism of the Spirit the incarnation of a god-head.
01.04 - The Poetry in the Making, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Is the artist the supreme artist, when he is a genius, that is to say conscious in his creation or is he un conscious? Two quite opposite views have been taken of the problem by the best of intelligences. On the one hand, it is said that genius is genius precisely because it acts un consciously, and on the other it is asserted with equal emphasis that genius is the capacity of taking infinite pains, which means it is absolutely a self conscious activity.
We take a third view of the matter and say that genius is neither un conscious or conscious but super conscious. And when one is super conscious, one can be in appearance either conscious or un conscious. Let us at the outset try to explain a little this psychological riddle.
When we say one is conscious, we usually mean that one is conscious with the mental consciousness, with the rational intelligence, with the light of the brain. But this need not be always so. For one can be conscious with other forms of consciousness or in other planes of consciousness. In the average or normal man the consciousness is linked to or identified with the brain function, the rational intelligence and so we conclude that without this wakeful brain activity there can be no consciousness. But the fact is otherwise. The experiences of the mystic prove the point. The mystic is conscious on a level which we describe as higher than the mind and reason, he has what may be called the overhead consciousness. (Apart from the normal consciousness, which is named jagrat, waking, the Upanishad speaks of three other increasingly subtler states of consciousness, swapna, sushupti and turiya.)And then one can be quite un conscious, as in samadhi that can be sushupti or turiyaorpartially consciousin swapna, for example, the external behaviour may be like that of a child or a lunatic or even a goblin. One can also remain normally conscious and still be in the super conscience. Not only so, the mystic the Yogican be conscious on infra conscious levels also; that is to say, he can enter into and identify with the consciousness involved in life and even in Matter; he can feel and realise his oneness with the animal world, the plant world and finally the world of dead earth, of "stocks and stones" too. For all these strands of existence have each its own type of consciousness and all different from the mode of mind which is normally known as consciousness. When St. Francis addresses himself to the brother Sun or the sister Moon, or when the Upanishad speaks of the tree silhouetted against the sky, as if stilled in trance, we feel there is something of this fusion and identification of consciousness with an infra- conscient existence.
I said that the supreme artist is super conscious: his consciousness withdraws from the normal mental consciousness and becomes awake and alive in another order of consciousness. To that superior consciousness the artist's mentalityhis ideas and dispositions, his judgments and valuations and acquisitions, in other words, his normal psychological make-upserves as a channel, an instrument, a medium for transcription. Now, there are two stages, or rather two lines of activity in the processus, for they may be overlapping and practically simultaneous. First, there is the withdrawal and the in-gathering of consciousness and then its reappearance into expression. The consciousness retires into a secret or subtle worldWords-worth's "recollected in tranquillity"and comes back with the riches gathered or transmuted there. But the purity of the gold thus garnered and stalled in the artistry of words and sounds or lines and colours depends altogether upon the purity of the channel through which it has to pass. The mental vehicle receives and records and it can do so to perfection if it is perfectly in tune with what it has to receive and record; otherwise the transcription becomes mixed and blurred, a faint or confused echo, a poor show. The supreme creators are precisely those in whom the receptacle, the instrumental faculties offer the least resistance and record with absolute fidelity the experiences of the over or inner consciousness. In Shakespeare, in Homer, in Valmiki the inflatus of the secret consciousness, the inspiration, as it is usually termed, bears down, sweeps away all obscurity or contrariety in the recording mentality, suffuses it with its own glow and puissance, indeed resolves it into its own substance, as it were. And the difference between the two, the secret norm and the recording form, determines the scale of the artist's creative value. It happens often that the obstruction of a too critically observant and self- conscious brain-mind successfully blocks up the flow of something supremely beautiful that wanted to come down and waited for an opportunity.
Artists themselves, almost invariably, speak of their inspiration: they look upon themselves more or less as mere instruments of something or some Power that is beyond them, beyond their normal consciousness attached to the brain-mind, that controls them and which they cannot control. This perception has been given shape in myths and legends. Goddess Saraswati or the Muses are, however, for them not a mere metaphor but concrete realities. To what extent a poet may feel himself to be a mere passive, almost inanimate, instrumentnothing more than a mirror or a sensitive photographic plateis illustrated in the famous case of Coleridge. His Kubla Khan, as is well known, he heard in sleep and it was a long poem very distinctly recited to him, but when he woke up and wanted to write it down he could remember only the opening lines, the rest having gone completely out of his memory; in other words, the poem was ready-composed somewhere else, but the transmitting or recording instrument was faulty and failed him. Indeed, it is a common experience to hear in sleep verses or musical tunes and what seem then to be very beautiful things, but which leave no trace on the brain and are not recalled in memory.
Still, it must be noted that Coleridge is a rare example, for the recording apparatus is not usually so faithful but puts up its own formations that disturb and alter the perfection of the original. The passivity or neutrality of the intermediary is relative, and there are infinite grades of it. Even when the larger waves that play in it in the normal waking state are quieted down, smaller ripples of un conscious or half- conscious habitual formations are thrown up and they are sufficient to cause the scattering and dispersal of the pure light from above.
The absolute passivity is attainable, perhaps, only by the Yogi. And in this sense the supreme poet is a Yogi, for in his consciousness the higher, deeper, subtler or other modes of experiences pass through and are recorded with the minimum aberration or diffraction.
But the Yogi is a wholly conscious being; a perfect Yogi is he who possesses a conscious and willed control over his instruments, he silences them, as and when he likes, and makes them convey and express with as little deviation as possible truths and realities from the Beyond. Now the question is, is it possible for the poet also to do something like that, to consciously create and not to be a mere un conscious or helpless channel? conscious artistry, as we have said, means to be conscious on two levels of consciousness at the same time, to be at home in both equally and simultaneously. The general experience, however, is that of "one at a time": if the artist dwells more in the one, the other retires into the background to the same measure. If he is in the over- consciousness, he is only half- conscious in his brain consciousness, or even not conscious at allhe does not know how he has created, the sources or process of his creative activity, he is quite oblivious of them" gone through them all as if per saltum. Such seems to have been the case with the primitives, as they are called, the elemental poetsShakespeare and Homer and Valmiki. In some others, who come very near to them in poetic genius, yet not quite on a par, the instrumental intelligence is strong and active, it helps in its own way but in helping circumscribes and limits the original impulsion. The art here becomes consciously artistic, but loses something of the initial freshness and spontaneity: it gains in correctness, polish and elegance and has now a style in lieu of Nature's own naturalness. I am thinking of Virgil and Milton and Kalidasa. Dante's place is perhaps somewhere in between. Lower in the rung where the mental medium occupies a still more preponderant place we have intellectual poetry, poetry of the later classical age whose representatives are Pope and Dryden. We can go farther down and land in the domain of versificationalthough here, too, there can be a good amount of beauty in shape of ingenuity, cleverness and conceit: Voltaire and Delille are of this order in French poetry.
The three or four major orders I speak of in reference to conscious artistry are exampled characteristically in the history of the evolution of Greek poetry. It must be remembered, however, at the very outset that the Greeks as a race were nothing if not rational and intellectual. It was an element of strong self- consciousness that they brought into human culture that was their special gift. Leaving out of account Homer who was, as I said, a primitive, their classical age began with Aeschylus who was the first and the most spontaneous and intuitive of the Great Three. Sophocles, who comes next, is more balanced and self- controlled and pregnant with a reasoned thought- content clothed in polished phrasing. We feel here that the artist knew what he was about and was exercising a conscious control over his instruments and materials, unlike his predecessor who seemed to be completely carried away by the onrush of the poetic enthousiasmos. Sophocles, in spite of his artistic perfection or perhaps because of it, appears to be just a little, one remove, away from the purity of the central inspiration there is a veil, although a thin transparent veil, yet a veil between which intervenes. With the third of the Brotherhood, Euripides, we slide lower downwe arrive at a predominantly mental transcription of an experience or inner conception; but something of the major breath continues, an aura, a rhythm that maintains the inner contact and thus saves the poetry. In a subsequent age, in Theocritus, for example, poetry became truly very much 'sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought', so much of virtuosity and precocity entered into it; in other words, the poet then was an excessively self- conscious artist. That seems to be the general trend of all literature.
But should there be an inherent incompatibility between spontaneous creation and self- consciousness? As we have seen, a harmony and fusion can and do happen of the super conscious and the normally conscious in the Yogi. Likewise, an artist also can be wakeful and transparent enough so that he is conscious on both the levels simultaneouslyabove, he is conscious of the source and origin of his inspiration, and on the level plain he is conscious of the working of the instrument, how the vehicle transcribes and embodies what comes from elsewhere. The poet's consciousness becomes then divalent as it werethere is a sense of absolute passivity in respect of the receiving apparatus and coupled and immisced with it there is also the sense of dynamism, of conscious agency as in his secret being he is the master of his apparatus and one with the Inspirerin other words, the poet is both a seer (kavih) and a creator or doer (poits).
Not only so, the future development of the poetic consciousness seems inevitably to lead to such a consummation in which the creative and the critical faculties will not be separate but form part of one and indivisible movement. Historically, human consciousness has grown from un consciousness to consciousness and from consciousness to self- consciousness; man's creative and artistic genius too has moved pari passu in the same direction. The earliest and primitive poets were mostly un conscious, that is to say, they wrote or said things as they came to them spontaneously, without effort, without reflection, they do not seem to know the whence and wherefore and whither of it all, they know only that the wind bloweth as it listeth. That was when man had not yet eaten the fruit of knowledge, was still in the innocence of childhood. But as he grew up and progressed, he became more and more conscious, capable of exerting and exercising a deliberate will and initiating a purposive action, not only in the external practical field but also in the psychological domain. If the earlier group is called "primitives", the later one, that of conscious artists, usually goes by the name of "classicists." Modern creators have gone one step farther in the direction of self- consciousness, a return upon oneself, an inlook of full awareness and a free and alert activity of the critical faculties. An un conscious artist in the sense of the "primitives" is almost an impossible phenomenon in the modern world. All are scientists: an artist cannot but be consciously critical, deliberate, purposive in what he creates and how he creates. Evidently, this has cost something of the old-world spontaneity and supremacy of utterance; but it cannot be helped, we cannot comm and the tide to roll back, Canute-like. The feature has to be accepted and a remedy and new orientation discovered.
The modern critical self- consciousness in the artist originated with the Romantics. The very essence of Romanticism is curiosity the scientist's pleasure in analysing, observing, experimenting, changing the conditions of our reactions, mental or sentimental or even nervous and physical by way of discovery of new and unforeseen or unexpected modes of "psychoses" or psychological states. Goethe, Wordsworth, Stendhal represented a mentality and initiated a movement which led logically to the age of Hardy, Housman and Bridges and in the end to that of Lawrence and Joyce, Ezra Pound and Eliot and Auden. On the continent we can consider Flaubert as the last of the classicists married to the very quintessence of Romanticism. A hard, self-regarding, self-critical mentality, a cold scalpel-like gaze that penetrates and upturns the reverse side of things is intimately associated with the poetic genius of Mallarm and constitutes almost the whole of Valry's. The impassioned lines of a very modern poet like Aragon are also characterised by a consummate virtuosity in chiselled artistry, conscious and deliberate and willed at every step and turn.
The consciously purposive activity of the poetic consciousness in fact, of all artistic consciousness has shown itself with a clear and unambiguous emphasis in two directions. First of all with regard to the subject-matter: the old-world poets took things as they were, as they were obvious to the eye, things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with them in the beauty of their normal form and function. The modern mentality has turned away from the normal and the obvious: it does not accept and admit the "given" as the final and definitive norm of things. It wishes to discover and establish other norms, it strives to bring about changes in the nature and condition of things, envisage the shape of things to come, work for a brave new world. The poet of today, in spite of all his effort to remain a pure poet, in spite of Housman's advocacy of nonsense and not-sense being the essence of true Art, is almost invariably at heart an incorrigible prophet. In revolt against the old and established order of truths and customs, against all that is normally considered as beautiful,ideals and emotions and activities of man or aspects and scenes and movements of Natureagainst God or spiritual life, the modern poet turns deliberately to the ugly and the macabre, the meaningless, the insignificant and the triflingtins and teas, bone and dust and dustbin, hammer and sicklehe is still a prophet, a violent one, an i conoclast, but one who has his own i con, a terribly jealous being, that seeks to pull down the past, erase it, to break and batter and knead the elements in order to fashion out of them something conforming to his heart's desire. There is also the class who have the vision and found the truth and its solace, who are prophets, angelic and divine, messengers and harbingers of a new beauty that is to dawn upon earth. And yet there are others in whom the two strains mingle or approach in a strange way. All this means that the artist is far from being a mere receiver, a mechanical executor, a passive un conscious instrument, but that he is supremely' conscious and master of his faculties and implements. This fact is doubly reinforced when we find how much he is preoccupied with the technical aspect of his craft. The richness and variety of patterns that can be given to the poetic form know no bounds today. A few major rhythms were sufficient for the ancients to give full expression to their poetic inflatus. For they cared more for some major virtues, the basic and fundamental qualitiessuch as truth, sublimity, nobility, forcefulness, purity, simplicity, clarity, straightforwardness; they were more preoccupied with what they had to say and they wanted, no doubt, to say it beautifully and powerfully; but the modus operandi was not such a passion or obsession with them, it had not attained that almost absolute value for itself which modern craftsmanship gives it. As technology in practical life has become a thing of overwhelming importance to man today, become, in the Shakespearean phrase, his "be-all and end-all", even so the same spirit has invaded and pervaded his aesthetics too. The subtleties, variations and refinements, the revolutions, reversals and inventions which the modern poet has ushered and takes delight in, for their own sake, I repeat, for their intrinsic interest, not for the sake of the subject which they have to embody and clothe, have never been dream by Aristotle, the supreme legislator among the ancients, nor by Horace, the almost incomparable craftsman among the ancients in the domain of poetry. Man has become, to be sure, a self- conscious creator to the pith of his bone.
Such a stage in human evolution, the advent of Homo Faber, has been a necessity; it has to serve a purpose and it has done admirably its work. Only we have to put it in its proper place. The salvation of an extremely self- conscious age lies in an exceeding and not in a further enhancement or an exclusive concentration of the self- consciousness, nor, of course, in a falling back into the original un consciousness. It is this shift in the poise of consciousness that has been presaged and prepared by the conscious, the scientific artists of today. Their task is to forge an instrument for a type of poetic or artistic creation completely new, unfamiliar, almost revolutionary which the older mould would find it impossible to render adequately. The yearning of the human consciousness was not to rest satisfied with the familiar and the ordinary, the pressure was for the discovery of other strands, secret stores of truth and reality and beauty. The first discovery was that of the great Un conscious, the dark and mysterious and all-powerful sub conscient. Many of our poets and artists have been influenced by this power, some even sought to enter into that region and become its denizens. But artistic inspiration is an emanation of Light; whatever may be the field of its play, it can have its origin only in the higher spheres, if it is to be truly beautiful and not merely curious and scientific.
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 in conscience 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 un conscious 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 super conscious 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 se condary 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.
I have spoken of the source of inspiration as essentially and originally being a super- consciousness or over- consciousness. But to be more precise and accurate I should add another source, an inner consciousness. As the super- consciousness is imaged as lying above the normal consciousness, so the inner consciousness may be described as lying behind or within it. The movement of the inner consciousness has found expression more often and more largely than that of over- consciousness in the artistic creation of the past : and that was in keeping with the nature of the old-world inspiration, for the inspiration that comes from the inner consciousness, which can be considered as the lyrical inspiration, tends to be naturally more "spontaneous", less conscious, since it does not at all go by the path of the head, it evades that as much as possible and goes by the path of the heart.
But the evolutionary urge, as I have said, has always been to bring down or instil more and more light and self- consciousness into the depths of the heart too: and the first result has been an intellectualisation, a rationalisation of the consciousness, a movement of scientific observation and criticism which very naturally leads to a desiccation of the poetic enthusiasm and fervour. But a period of transcendence is in gestation. All efforts of modern poets and craftsmen, even those that seem apparently queer, bizarre and futile, are at bottom a travail for this transcendence, including those that seem contradictory to it.
Whether the original and true source of the poet's inspiration lies deep within or high above, all depends upon the mediating instrument the mind (in its most general sense) and speech for a successful transcription. Man's ever-growing consciousness demanded also a conscious development and remoulding of these two factors. A growth, a heightening and deepening of the consciousness meant inevitably a movement towards the spiritual element in things. And that means, we have said, a twofold change in the future poet's make-up. First as regards the substance. The revolutionary shift that we notice in modern poets towards a completely new domain of subject-matter is a signpost that more is meant than what is expressed. The superficialities and futilities that are dealt with do not in their outward form give the real trend of things. In and through all these major and constant preoccupation of our poets is "the pain of the present and the passion for the future": they are, as already stated, more prophets than poets, but prophets for the moment crying in the wildernessalthough some have chosen the path of denial and revolt. They are all looking ahead or beyond or deep down, always yearning for another truth and reality which will explain, justify and transmute the present calvary of human living. Such an acute tension of consciousness has necessitated an overhauling of the vehicle of expression too, the creation of a mode of expressing the inexpressible. For that is indeed what human consciousness and craft are aiming at in the present stage of man's evolution. For everything, almost everything that can be normally expressed has been expressed and in a variety of ways as much as is possible: that is the history of man's aesthetic creativity. Now the eye probes into the unexpressed world; for the artist too the Upanishadic problem has cropped up:
By whom impelled does the mind fall to its target, what is the agent that is behind the eye and sees through the eyes, what is the hearing and what the speech that their respective sense organs do not and cannot convey and record adequately or at all?
Like the modern scientist the artist or craftsman too of today has become a philosopher, even a mystic philosopher. The subtler and higher ranges of consciousness are now the object of inquiry and investigation and expression and revelation for the scientist as well as for the artist. The external sense-objects, the phenomenal movements are symbols and signposts, graphs and pointer-readings of facts and realities that lie hidden, behind or beyond. The artist and the scientist are occult alchemists. What to make of this, for example:
Beyond the shapes of empire, the capes of Carbonek, over
--
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,
--
But the more truly modern mind looks at the thing in a slightly different way. The good and the evil are not, to it, contrary to each other: one does not deny or negate the other. They are intermixed, fused in a mysterious identity. The best and the worst are but two conditions, two potentials of the same entity. Baudelaire, who can be considered as the first of the real moderns in many ways, saw and experienced this intimate polarity or identity of opposites in human nature and consciousness. What is Evil, who is the Evil One:
Une Ide, uneForme, Un tre
--
In other words, the tension in the human consciousness has been raised to the nth power, the heat of a brooding consciousness is about to lead it to an outburst of new creationsah tapastaptva. Human self- consciousness, the turning of oneself upon oneself, the probing and projecting of oneself into oneselfself- consciousness raised so often to the degree of self-torture, marks the acute travail of the spirit. The thousand "isms" and "logies" that pullulate in all fields of life, from the political to the artistic or even the religious and the spiritual indicate how the human laboratory is working at white heat. They are breaches in the circuit of the consciousness, volcanic eruptions from below or cosmic-ray irruptions from above, tearing open the normal limit and boundaryBaudelaire's couvercle or the "golden lid" of the Upanishads-disclosing and bringing into the light of common day realities beyond and unseen till now.
Ifso long the poet was more or less a passive, a half- conscious or un conscious 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
Or lie embedded in earthly consciousness,
Still have we parts that grow towards the light,
--
Out of some vast superior continent
Knowledge breaks through trailing its radiant seas,
--
A wider consciousness opens then its doors;
Invading from spiritual silences
--
Uplifts its lonely tongue of conscious fire
Towards an undying Light for ever lost;
--
A Thought that can conceive but hardly knows
Arises slowly in her and creates
--
And conscious of the high things not yet won,
Ever she nurses in her sleepless breast
--
Determined casual deed and consequence?
Absorbed in a routine of daily acts,
--
He waits to see the consequence of his acts,
He waits to weigh the certitude of his thoughts,
--
And beauty conquer the resisting world,
The Truth-Light capture Nature by surprise,
--
A consciousness that knows not its own truth,
A vagrant hunter of misleading dawns,
--
A conjecture leaning upon doubtful proofs,
A message misunderstood, a thought confused
Missing its aim is all that it can speak
--
For without context reads the cosmic page:
Its signs stare at us like an unknown script,
--
Re-wed the closed finite's lonely consonant
With the open vowels of Infinity,
A hyphen must connect Matter and Mind,
The narrow isthmus of the ascending soul:
-- The crown of conscious Immortality, The godhead promised to our struggling souls
--
The conscious Force that acts in Nature's breast,
A dark-robed labourer in the cosmic scheme
--
Ponderous, brute-sensed, contains its luminous close,
Privy to a summit victory's vast descent
--
In objects wrought, in the persons she conceives,
Dreaming she chases her idea of him,
--
She has concealed her glory and her bliss
And disguised the Love and Wisdom in her heart;
--
He has consented to her passionate ways,
He is driven by her sweet and dreadful force.
--
His consciousness is a babe upon her knees,
His being a field of her vast experiment,
--
But conquering her, then is he most her slave;
He is her dependent, all his means are hers;
--
Obedient to World-Nature's dumb control,
Driven by his own formidable Power,
--
And gives consent to all that she can wish;
Whatever she desires he wills to be:
--
And the hazard of an unguessed consequence,
An omnipotent indiscernible Influence,
--
He chances on unimagined continents:
A seeker of the islands of the Blest,
--
This constant will she covered with her sport,
To evoke a Person in the impersonal Void,
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In an age when Reason was considered as the highest light given to man, Tagore pointed to the Vision of the mystics as always the still greater light; when man was elated with undreamt-of worldly success, puffed up with incomparable material possessions and powers, Tagore's voice rang clear and emphatic in tune with the cry of the ancients: "What shall I do with all this mass of things, if I am not made immortal by that?" When men, in their individual as well as collective egoism, were scrambling for earthly gains and hoards, he held before them vaster and cleaner horizons, higher and deeper ways of being and living, maintained the sacred sense of human solidarity, the living consciousness of the Divine, one and indivisible. When the Gospel of Power had all but hypnotised men's minds, and Superman or God-man came to be equated with the Titan, Tagore saw through the falsehood and placed in front and above all the old-world eternal verities of love and self-giving, harmony and mutuality, sweetness and light. When pessimism, cynicism, agnosticism struck the major chord of human temperament, and grief and frustration and death and decay were taken as a matter of course to be the inevitable order of earthlylifebhasmantam idam shariramhe continued to sing the song of the Rishis that Ananda and Immortality are the breath of things, the birth right of human beings. When Modernism declared with a certitude never tobe contested that Matter is Brahman, Tagore said with the voice of one who knows that Spirit is Brahman.
Tagore is in direct line with those bards who have sung of the Spirit, who always soared high above the falsehoods and uglinesses of a merely mundane life and lived in the undecaying delights and beauties of a diviner consciousness. Spiritual reality was the central theme of his poetic creation: only and naturally he viewed it in a special way and endowed it with a special grace. We know of another God-intoxicated man, the Jewish philosopher Spinoza, who saw things sub specie aeternitatis, under the figure or mode of eternity. Well, Tagore can be said to see things, in their essential spiritual reality, under the figure or mode of beauty. Keats indeed spoke of truth being beauty and beauty truth. But there is a great difference in the outlook and inner experience. A worshipper of beauty, unless he rises to the Upanishadic norm, is prone to become sensuous and pagan. Keats was that, Kalidasa was that, even Shelley was not far different. The spiritual vein in all these poets remains se condary. In the old Indian master, it is part of his intellectual equipment, no doubt, but nothing much more than that. In the other two it comes in as strange flashes from an unknown country, as a sort of irruption or on the peak of the poetic afflatus or enthousiasmos.
The world being nothing but Spirit made visible is, according to Tagore, fundamentally a thing of beauty. The scars and spots that are on the surface have to be removed and mankind has to repossess and clo the itself with that mantle of beauty. The world is beautiful, because it is the image of the Beautiful, because it harbours, expresses and embodies the Divine who is Beauty supreme. Now by a strange alchemy, a wonderful effect of polarisation, the very spiritual element in Tagore has made him almost a pagan and even a profane. For what are these glories of Nature and the still more exquisite glories that the human body has captured? They are but vibrations and modulations of beauty the delightful names and forms of the supreme Lover and Beloved.
Socrates is said to have brought down Philosophy from Heaven to live among men upon earth. A similar exploit can be ascribed to Tagore. The Spirit, the bare transcendental Reality contemplated by the orthodox Vedantins, has been brought nearer to our planet, close to human consciousness in Tagore's vision, being clothed in earth and flesh and blood, made vivid with the colours and contours of the physical existence. The Spirit, yes and by all means, but not necessarily asceticism and monasticism. So Tagore boldly declared in those famous lines of his:
Mine is not the deliverance achieved through mere renunciation. Mine rather the freedom that tastes itself in a thousand associations.1
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, e conomic, 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.
A modern idealist of the type of a reformer would not be satisfied with that role. If he is merely a moralist reformer, he will revolt against the "witness business", calling it a laissez-faire mentality of bygone days. A spiritual reformer would ask for morea dynamic union with the Divine Will and consciousness, not merely a passive enjoyment in the Bliss, so that he may be a luminous power or agent for the expression of divine values in things mundane.
Not the acceptance of the world as it is, not even a joyous acceptance, viewing it as an inexplicable and mysterious and magic play of, God, but the asp ration and endeavour to change it, mould it in the pattern of its inner divine realities for there are such realities which seek expression and embodiment in earthly life that is the great mission and labour of humanity and that is all the meaning of man's existence here below. And Tagore is one of the great prophets and labourers who had the vision of the shape of things to come and worked for it. Only it must be noted, as I have already said, that unlike mere moral reformists or scientific planners, Tagore grounded himself upon the eternal ancient truths that "age cannot wither nor custom stale"the divine truths of the Spirit.
--
Both the poets were worshippers, idolaters, of beauty, especially of natural physical beauty, of beauty heaped on beauty, of beauty gathered, like honey from all places and stored and ranged and stalled with the utmost decorative skill. Yet the difference between the two is not less pronounced. A philosopher is reminded of Bergson, the great exponent of movement as reality, in connection with certain aspects of Tagore. Indeed, Beauty in Tagore is something moving, flowing, dancing, rippling; it is especially the beauty which music embodies and expresses. A Kalidasian beauty, on the contrary, is statuesque and plastic, it is to be appreciated in situ. This is, however, by the way.
Sri Aurobindo: "Ahana", Collected Poems & Plays, Vol. 2
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.
The real secret of Nietzsche's philosophy is not an adoration of brute force, of blind irrational joy in fighting and killing. Far from it, Nietzsche has no kinship with Treitschke or Bernhard. What Nietzsche wanted was a world purged of littleness and ugliness, a humanity, not of saints, perhaps, but of heroes, lofty in their ideal, great in their achievement, majestic in their empirea race of titanic gods breathing the glory of heaven itself.
01.05 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Spirits Freedom and Greatness, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Its hard conditions for the mighty work,--
Nature's impossible Herculean toil
--
Its list of inseparable contraries.
The dumb great Mother in her cosmic trance
--
A conscious wideness filled the old dumb Space.
In the Void he saw throned the Omniscience supreme.
--
A conscious soul live in a conscious world.
As through a mist a sovereign peak is seen,
--
The harsh contract spurned and the diminished lease.
Only beginnings are accomplished here;
--
The incertitude of man's proud confident thought,
The transience of the achievements of his force.
--
His consciousness a torch lit to be quenched,
His hope a star above a cradle and grave.
--
He mounted burning like a cone of fire.
To a few is given that godlike rare release.
--
A mystic Form that could contain the worlds,
Yet make one human breast its passionate shrine,
--
All that represses our fallen consciousness
Was taken from him like a forgotten load:
--
Eternity's contact broke the moulds of sense.
A greater Force than the earthly held his limbs,
--
A conscious Nature's quick machinery
Armed with a latent splendour of miracle
--
He weaves his hidden threads of consciousness,
He builds bodies for his shapeless energy;
--
Mind can suspend or change earth's concrete law.
Affranchised from earth-habit's drowsy seal
--
And the control of a spiritual will.
A greater despot tamed her despotism.
--
Illumining the world's concrete images
Into significant symbols by its gloss,
--
In this drop from consciousness to consciousness
Each leaned on the occult In conscient's power,
--
In this soar from consciousness to consciousness
Each lifted tops to That from which it came,
--
The In conscient found its heart of consciousness,
The idea and feeling groping in Ignorance
--
Rending the night that had concealed the Unknown,
Giving to her her lost forgotten soul.
--
And took the confused refrain of human hopes
And made of them a sweet and happy call;
--
A many-miracled consciousness unrolled
Vast aim and process and unfettered norms,
--
Calm continents of potency were glimpsed;
Homelands of beauty shut to human eyes,
01.06 - On Communism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Communism is the synthesis of collectivism and individualism. The past ages of society were characterised more or less by a severe collectivism. In ancient Greece, more so in Sparta and in Rome, the individual had, properly speaking, no separate existence of his own; he was merged in the State or Nation. The individual was considered only as a limb of the collective being, had to live and labour for the common weal. The value attached to each person was strictly in reference to the output that the group to which he belonged received from him. Apart from this service for the general unit the body politicany personal endeavour and achievement, if not absolutely discouraged and repressed, was given a very se condary place of merit. The summum bonum of the individual was to sacrifice at the altar of the res publica, the bonum publicum. In India, the position and function of the State or Nation was taken up by the society. Here too social institutions were so constituted and men were so bred and brought up that individuality had neither the occasion nor the incentive to express itself, it was a thing that remained, in the Kalidasian phrase, an object for the ear onlysrutau sthita. Those who sought at all an individual aim and purpose, as perhaps the Sannyasins, were put outside the gate of law and society. Within the society, in actual life and action, it was a sin and a crime or at least a gross imperfection to have any self-regarding motive or impulse; personal preference was the last thing to be considered, virtue consisted precisely in sacrificing one's own taste and inclination for the sake of that which the society exacts and sanctions.
Against this tyranny of the group, this absolute rule of the collective will, the human mind rose in revolt and the result was Individualism. For whatever may be the truth and necessity of the Collective, the Individual is no less true and necessary. The individual has his own law and urge of being and his own secret godhead. The collective godhead derides the individual godhead at its peril. The first movement of the reaction, however, was a run to the other extremity; a stern collectivism gave birth to an intransigent individualism. The individual is sacred and inviolable, cost what it may. It does not matter what sort of individuality one seeks, it is enough if the thing is there. So the doctrine of individualism has come to set a premium on egoism and on forces that are disruptive of all social bonds. Each and every individual has the inherent right, which is also a duty, to follow his own impetus and impulse. Society is nothing but the battle ground for competing individualities the strongest survive and the weakest go to the wall. Association and co-operation are instruments that the individual may use and utilise for his own growth and development but in the main they act as deterrents rather than as aids to the expression and expansion of his characteristic being. In reality, however, if we probe sufficiently deep into the matter we find that there is no such thing as corporate life and activity; what appears as such is only a camouflage for rigorous competition; at the best, there maybe only an offensive and defensive alliancehumanity fights against nature, and within humanity itself group fights against group and in the last analysis, within the group, the individual fights against the individual. This is the ultimate Law-the Dharma of creation.
Now, what such an uncompromising individualism fails to recognise is that individuality and ego are not the same thing, that the individual may have his individuality intact and entire and yet sacrifice his ego, that the soul of man is a much greater thing than his vital being. It is simply ignoring the fact and denying the truth to say that man is only a fighting animal and not a loving god, that the self within the individual realises itself only through competition and not co-operation. It is an error to conceive of society as a mere parallelogram of forces, to suppose that it has risen simply out of the struggle of individual interests and continues to remain by that struggle. Struggle is only one aspect of the thing, a particular form at a particular stage, a temporary manifestation due to a particular system and a particular habit and training. It would be nearer the truth to say that society came into being with the demand of the individual soul to unite with the individual soul, with the stress of an Over-soul to express itself in a multitude of forms, diverse yet linked together and organised in perfect harmony. Only, the stress for union manifested itself first on the material plane as struggle: but this is meant to be corrected and transcended and is being continually corrected and transcended by a secret harmony, a real commonality and brotherhood and unity. The individual is not so self-centred as the individualists make him to be, his individuality has a much vaster orbit and fulfils itself only by fulfilling others. The scientists have begun to discover other instincts in man than those of struggle and competition; they now place at the origin of social grouping an instinct which they name the herd-instinct: but this is only a formulation in lower terms, a translation on the vital plane of a higher truth and reality the fundamental oneness and accord of individuals and their spiritual impulsion to unite.
However, individualism has given us a truth and a formula which collectivism ignored. Self-determination is a thing which has come to stay. Each and every individual is free, absolutely free and shall freely follow his own line of growth and development and fulfilment. No extraneous power shall choose and fix what is good or evil for him, nor coerce and exploit him for its own benefit. But that does not necessarily mean that collectivism has no truth in it; collectivism also, as much as individualism, has a lesson for us and we should see whether we can harmonise the two. Collectivism signifies that the individual should not look to himself alone, should not be shut up in his freedom but expand himself and envelop others in a wider freedom, see other creatures in himself and himself in other creatures, as the Gita says. Collectivism demands that the individual need not and should not exhaust himself entirely in securing and enjoying his personal freedom, but that he can and should work for the salvation of others; the truth it upholds is this that the individual is from a certain point of view only a part of the group and by ignoring the latter it ignores itself in the end.
Now, a spiritual communism embraces individualism and collectivism, fuses them in a higher truth, establishes them in an intimate and absolute harmony. The individual is the centre, the group is the circumference and the two form one whore circle. The individual by fulfilling the truth of his real individuality fulfils also the truth of a commonality. There are no different laws for the two. The individuals do not stand apart from and against one another, the dharma of one does not clash with the dharma of the other. The ripples in the bosom of the sea, however distinct and discrete in appearance, form but a single mass, all follow the same law of hydrodynamics that the mother sea incarnates. Stars and planets and nebulae, each separate heavenly body has its characteristic form and nature and function and yet all fulfil the same law of gravitation and beat the measure of the silent symphony of spaces. Individualities are the freedoms of the collective being and collectivity the concentration of individual beings. The same soul looking inward appears as the individual being and looking outward appears as the collective being.
Communism takes man not as ego or the vital creature; it turns him upside downurdhomulo' vaksakhah and establishes him upon his soul, his inner godhead. Thus established the individual soul finds and fulfils the divine law that by increasing itself it increases others and by increasing others it increases itself and thus by increasing one another they attain the supreme good. Unless man goes beyond himself and reaches this self, this godhead above, he will not find any real poise, will always swing between individualism and collectivism, he will remain always boundbound either in his freedom or in his bondage.
--
As a matter of fact, the individual is not and cannot be such an isolated thing as our egoistic sense would like to have it. The sharp angularities of the individual are being, at every moment, chastened by the very primary conditions of life; and to fail to recognise this is the blindest form of ignorance. It is no easy task to draw exactly the line of distinction between our individual being and our social or communal being. In actual life they are so blended together that in trying to extricate them from each other, we but tear and lacerate them both. The highest wisdom is to take the two together as they are, and by a gradual purifying processboth internal and external, internal in thought and knowledge and will, external in life and actionrestore them to their respective truth and lawSatyam and Ritam.
The individual who leads a severely individual life from the very beginning, whose outlook of the world has been fashioned by that conception, can hardly, if at all, enter at the end the communal life. He must perforce be either a vagabond or a recluse: But the recluse is not an integral man, nor the vagabond an ideal personality. The individual need not be too chaste and shy to associate with others and to give and take as freely and fully as he can. Individuality is not necessarily curtailed or mutilated in this process, but there is this other greater possibility of its getting enlarged and enhanced. Rather it is when you shut yourself up in your own self, that you stick to only one line of your personality, to a single phase of your self and thus limit and diminish yourself; the breadth and height and depth of your self, the cubic completeness of your personality you can attain only through a multiple and variegated stress by which you come in contact with the world and things.
So first the individual and then the commune is not the natural nor the ideal principle. On the other hand, first the commune and then the individual would appear to be an equally defective principle. For first a commune means an organisation, its laws and rules and regulations, its injunctions and prohibitions; all which signifies or comes to signify that every individual is not free to enter its fold and that whoever enters must know how to dovetail himself therein and thus crush down the very life-power whose enhancement and efflorescence is sought. First a commune means necessarily a creed, a dogma, a set form of being and living indelibly marked out from beforehand. The individual has there no choice of finding and developing the particular creed or dogma or mode of being and living, from out of his own self, along his particular line of natural growth; all that is imposed upon him and he has to accept and make it his own by trial and effort and self-torture. Even if the commune be a contractual association, the members having joined together in a common cause to a common end, by voluntarily sacrificing a portion of their personal choice and freedom, even then it is not the ideal thing; the collective soul will be diminished in exact proportion as each individual soul has had to be diminished, be that voluntary or otherwise. That commune is plenary and entire which ensures plenitude and entirety to each of its individuals.
Now how to escape the dilemma? Only if we take the commune and the individual togetheren bloc, as has already been suggested. This means that the commune should be at the beginning a subtle and supple thing, without form and even without name, it should be no more than the circumambient aura the sukshma deha that plays around a group of individuals who meet and unite and move together by a secret affinity, along a common path towards a common goal. As each individual develops and defines himself, the commune also takes a more and more concrete shape; and when at the last stage the individual rises to the full height of his godhead, takes possession of his integral divinity, the commune also establishes its solid empire, vivid and vibrant in form and name.
***
01.06 - Vivekananda, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A personal reminiscence. A young man in prison, accused of conspiracy and waging war against the British Empire. If convicted he might have to suffer the extreme penalty, at least, transportation to the Andamans. The case is dragging on for long months. And the young man is in a solitary cell. He cannot always keep up his spirits high. Moments of sadness and gloom and despair come and almost overwhelm him. Who was there to console and cheer him up? Vivekananda. Vivekananda's speeches, From Colombo to Almora, came, as a godsend, into the hands of the young man. Invariably, when the period of despondency came he used to open the book, read a few pages, read them over again, and the cloud was there no longer. Instead there was hope and courage and faith and future and light and air.
Such is Vivekananda, the embodiment of Fearlessnessabh, the Upanishadic word, the mantra, he was so fond of. The life and vision of Vivekananda can be indeed summed up in the mighty phrase of the Upanishads, nyam tm balahnena labhya. 'This soul no weakling can attain.' Strength! More strength! Strength evermore! One remembers the motto of Danton, the famous leader in the French Revolution:De l'audance, encore de l'audace, toujours de l'audace!
--
The consciousness that breathed out these mighty words, these heavenly sounds was in itself mighty and heavenly and it is that that touches you, penetrates you, vibrates in you a kindred chord, "awakening in you someone dead" till thenmrtam kcana bodhayant. More than the matter, the thing that was said, was the personality, the being who embodied the truth expressed, the living consciousness behind the words and the speech that set fire to your soul. Indeed it was the soul that Vivekananda could awaken and stir in you. Any orator, any speaker with some kind of belief, even if it is for the moment, in what he says, by the sheer force of assertion, can convince your mind and draw your acquiescence and adhesion. A leader of men, self- confident and bold and fiery, can carry you off your feet and make you do brave things. But that is a lower degree of character and nature, ephemeral and superficial, that is touched in you thereby. The spiritual leader, the Guide, goes straight to the spirit in youit is the call of the deep unto the deep. That was what Vivekananda meant when he said that Brahman is asleep in you, awaken it, you are the Brahman, awaken it, you are free and almighty. It is the spirit consciousness Sachchidananda that is the real man in you and that is supremely mighty and invincible and free absolutely. The courage and fearlessness that Vivekananda gave you was the natural attribute of the lordship of your spiritual reality. Vivekananda spoke and roused the Atman in man.
Vivekananda spoke to the Atman in man, he spoke to the Atman of the world, and he spoke specially to the Atman of India. India had a large place in Vivekananda's consciousness: for the future of humanity and the world is wedded to India's future. India has a great mission, it has a spiritual, rather the spiritual work to do. Here is India's work as Vivekananda conceived it in a nutshell:
"Shall India die? Then from the world all spirituality will be extinct." And wherefore is this call for the life spiritual? Thus the aspiring soul would answer:
--
"Man is higher than all animals, than all angels: none is greater than man. Even the Devas will have to come down again and attain to salvation though a human body. Man alone attains to perfection, not even the Devas." Indeed, men are gods upon earth, come down here below to perfect themselves and perfect the worldonly, they have to be conscious of themselves. They do not know what they are, they have to be actually and sovereignly what they are really and potentially. This then is the life-work of everyone:
"First, let us be Gods, and then help others to be Gods.
--
hard labour, of scrupulously untiring, conscientious work:
"It is struggle against nature
and not conformity to nature that makes man what he is."
Work and not abstention from work is the way, but not work for ignorant enjoyment:
"The dwelling-place of the Jivatman, this body, is a veritable means of work, and he who converts this into an infernal den is guilty, and he who neglects it is also to blame."
"No work is petty ... He who can properly prepare a chilam (pipe of tobacco) can also properly meditate."
These are luminous life-giving mantras and the world and humanity of today, sore distressed and utterly confounded, have great need of them to live them by and be saved.
***
01.07 - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
"The zeal for the Lord hath eaten me up." Such has indeed been the case with Pascal, almost literally. The fire that burned in him was too ardent and vehement for the vehicle, the material instrument, which was very soon used up and reduced to ashes. At twenty-four he was already a broken man, being struck with paralysis and neuras thenia; he died at the comparatively early age of 39, emulating, as it were, the life career of his Lord the Christ who died at 33. The Fire martyrised the body, but kindled and brought forth experiences and realisations that save and truths that abide. It was the Divine Fire whose vision and experience he had on the famous night of 23 November 1654 which brought about his final and definitive conversion. It was the same fire that had blazed up in his brain, while yet a boy, and made him a precocious genius, a marvel of intellectual power in the exact sciences. At 12 this prodigy discovered by himself the 32nd proposition of Euclid, Book I. At sixteen he wrote a treatise on conic sections. At nineteen he invented a calculating machine which, without the help of any mathematical rule or process, gave absolutely accurate results. At twenty-three he published his experiments with vacuum. At twenty-five he conducted the well-known experiment from the tower of St. Jacques, proving the existence of atmospheric pressure. His studies in infinitesimal calculus were remarkably creative and original. And it might be said he was a pioneer in quite a new branch of mathematics, viz., the mathematical theory of probability. We shall see presently how his preoccupation with the mathematics of chance and probability coloured and reinforced his metaphysics and theology.
But the pressure upon his dynamic and heated brain the fiery zeal in his mindwas already proving too much and he was advised medically to take complete rest. Thereupon followed what was known as Pascal's mundane lifea period of distraction and dissipation; but this did not last long nor was it of a serious nature. The inner fire could brook no delay, it was eager and impatient to englobe other fields and domains. Indeed, it turned to its own field the heart. Pascal became initiated into the mystery of Faith and Grace. Still he had to pass through a terrible period of dejection and despair: the life of the world had given him no rest or relaxation, it served only to fill his cup of misery to the brim. But the hour of final relief was not long postponed: the Grace came to him, even as it came to Moses or St. Paul as a sudden flare of fire which burnt up the Dark Night and opened out the portals of Morning Glory.
Pascal's place in the evolution of European culture and consciousness is of considerable significance and importance. He came at a critical time, on the mounting tide of rationalism and scepticism, in an age when the tone and temper of human mentality were influenced and fashioned by Montaigne and Rochefoucauld, by Ba con and Hobbes. Pascal himself, born in such an atmosphere of doubt and disbelief and disillusionment, had sucked in a full dose of that poison; yet he survived and found the Rock of Ages, became the clarion of Faith against Denial. What a spectacle it was! This is what one wrote just a quarter of a century after the death of Pascal:
"They can no longer tell us that it is only small minds that have piety. They are shown how it has grown best in one of the the greatest geometricians, one of the subtlest metaphysicians, one of the most penetrating minds that ever existed on earth. The piety of such a philosopher should make the unbeliever and the libertine declare what a certain Diocles said one day on seeing Epicurus in a temple: 'What a feast, what a spectacle for me to see Epicurus in a temple! All my doubts vainsh, piety takes its place again. I never saw Jupiter's greatness so well as now when I behold Epicurus kneeling down!"1
--
In his inquiry into truth and certitude Pascal takes his stand upon what he calls the geometrical method, the only valid method, according to him, in the sphere of reason. The characteristic of this method is that it takes for granted certain fundamental principles and realitiescalled axioms and postulates or definitionsand proceeds to other truths that are infallibly and inevitably deduced from them, that are inherent and implied in them. There is no use or necessity in trying to demonstrate these fundamentals also; that will only land us into confusion and muddle. They have to be simply accepted, they do not require demonstration, it is they that demonstrate others. Such, for instance, are space, time, number, the reality of which it is foolishness and pedantry to I seek to prove. There is then an order of truths that do not i require to be proved. We are referring only to the order of I physical truths. But there is another order, Pascal says, equally I valid and veritable, the order of the Spirit. Here we have another set of fundamentals that have to be accepted and taken for granted, matrix of other truths and realities. It can also be called the order of the Heart. Reason posits physical fundamentals; it does not know of the fundamentals of the Heart which are beyond its reach; such are God, Soul, Immortality which are evident only to Faith.
But Faith and Reason, according to Pascal, are not contraries nor irre concilables. Because the things of faith are beyond reason, it is not that they are irrational. Here is what Pascal says about the function and limitation of reason:
"The last movement of reason is to know that there is an infinity of things that are beyond it. It must be a very weak reason if it does not arrive there."2
--
The process of conversion of the doubting mind, of the dry intellectual reason as propounded and perhaps practised by Pascal is also a characteristic mark of his nature and genius. It is explained in his famous letter on "bet" or "game of chance" (Le Pari). Here is how he puts the issue to the doubting mind (I am giving the substance, not his words): let us say then that in the world we are playing a game of chance. How do the chances stand? What are the gains and losses if God does not exist? What 'are the gains and losses if God does exist? If God exists, by accepting and reaching him what do we gain? All that man cares forhappiness, felicity. And what do we lose? We lose the world of misery. If, on the other 'hand, God does not exist, by believing him to exist, we lose nothing, we are not more miserable than what we are. If, however, God exists and we do not believe him, we gain this world of misery but we lose all that is worth having. Thus Pascal concludes that even from the standpoint of mere gain and loss, belief in God is more advantageous than unbelief. This is how he applied to metaphysics the mathematics of probability.
One is not sure if such reasoning is convincing to the intellect; but perhaps it is a necessary stage in conversion. At least we can conclude that Pascal had to pass through such a stage; and it indicates the difficulty his brain had to undergo, the tension or even the torture he made it pass through. It is true, from Reason Pascal went over to Faith, even while giving Reason its due. Still it seems the two were not perfectly synthetised or fused in him. There was a gap between that was not thoroughly bridged. Pascal did not possess the higher, intuitive, luminous mind that mediates successfully between the physical discursive ratiocinative brain-mind and the vision of faith: it is because deep in his consciousness there lay this chasm. Indeed,Pascal's abyss (l' abme de Pascal) is a well-known legend. Pascal, it appears, used to have very often the vision of an abyss about to open before him and he shuddered at the prospect of falling into it. It seems to us to be an experience of the Infinity the Infinity to which he was so much attracted and of which he wrote so beautifully (L'infiniment grand et l'infiniment petit)but into which he could not evidently jump overboard unreservedly. This produced a dichotomy, a lack of integration of personality, Jung would say. Pascal's brain was cold, firm, almost rigid; his heart was volcanic, the faith he had was a fire: it lacked something of the pure light and burned with a lurid glare.
And the reason is his metaphysics. It is the Jansenist conception of God and human nature that inspired and coloured all his experience and consciousness. According to it, as according to the Calvinist conception, man is a corrupt being, corroded to the core, original sin has branded his very soul. Only Grace saves him and releases him. The order of sin and the order of Grace are distinct and disparate worlds and yet they complement each other and need each other. Greatness and misery are intertwined, united, unified with each other in him. Here is an echo of the Manichean position which also involves an abyss. But even then God's grace is not a free agent, as Jesuits declare; there is a predestination that guides and controls it. This was one of the main subjects he treated in his famous open letters (Les Provinciales) that brought him renown almost overnight. Eternal hell is a possible prospect that faces the Jansenist. That was why a Night always over-shadowed the Day in Pascal's soul.
Man then, according to Pascal, is by nature a sinful thing. He can lay no claim to noble virtue as his own: all in him is vile, he is a lump of dirt and filth. Even the greatest has his full share of this taint. The greatest, the saintliest, and the meanest, the most sinful, all meet, all are equal on this common platform; all have the same feet of clay. Man is as miserable a creature as a beast, as much a part and product of Nature as a plant. Only there is this difference that an animal or a tree is un conscious, while man knows that he is miserable. This knowledge or perception makes him more miserable, but that is his real and only greatness there is no other. His thought, his self- consciousness, and his sorrow and repentance and contrition for what he is that is the only good partMary's part that has been given to him. Here are Pascal's own words on the subject:
"The greatness of man is great in this that he knows he is miserable. A tree does not know that it is miserable.
--
Pascal's faith had not the calm, tranquil, serene, luminous and happy self-possession of an Indian Rishi. It was ardent and impatient, fiery and vehement. It had to be so perhaps, since it was to stand against his steely brain (and a gloomy vital or life force) as a counterpoise, even as an antidote. This tension and schism brought about, at least contri buted to his neuras thenia and physical infirmity. But whatever the effect upon his inner consciousness and spiritual achievement, his power of expression, his literary style acquired by that a special quality which is his great gift to the French language. If one speaks of Pascal, one has to speak of his language also; for he was one of the great masters who created the French prose. His prose was a wonderful blend of clarity, precision, serried logic and warmth, colour, life, movement, plasticity.
A translation cannot give any idea of the Pascalian style; but an inner echo of the same can perhaps be caught from the thought movement of these characteristic sayings of his with which we conclude:
" contradiction is not a mark of falsehood, nor is un contradiction a mark of truth."8
--
"La dernire dmarche de la raison, c'est de connatre qu'il y a une infinit de chases qui la surpassent. Elle est bien faible si elle ne va jusque-l
"Il faut savoir douter o il faut, se soumettre o il faut."
--
"Nous connaissons la vrit, non seulement par la raison, mais encore par Ie cur; c'est de cette dernire sorte que nous connaissons les premiers principes, et c'est en vain que Ie raisonnement qui n'y a point de part, essaye de leg combattre... Le coeur sent et la raison dmontre ensuite Les principes se sentent, leg propositions se concluent."
"Que Cera done l'homme en cet tat? Doutera-t-il de tout? . . . doutera-t-il s'il doute? doutera-t-il s'il est?. . En fait qu'il n'y ajamais eu de pyrrhonien effectif parfait."
"La grandeur de l'homme est grande en se qu'il se connat misrable. Un arbre ne se connat pas miserable. C'est done tre misrable que de se connatre miserable. Mais c'est tre grand que de connatre qu'on est misrable. Pense fait la grandeur de l'homme. L'homme n'est qu'un roseau, Ie plus faible de la nature, mais e'est un roseau pensant."
Ni la contradiction n'est marque de fausset, ni l'in contradiction n'est marque de vrit."
"La distance infinite des corps aux esprits figure la distance infiniment plus infinie des esprits la charit."
"Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connat point; ... Je dis que Ie coeur aime l'tre universel naturellement, et soi-mme naturellement, selon qu'il s'y donne; et il se durcit contre l'un ou l'autre, son choix. Vous avez rejet l'un et conserv l'autre. Est-ce par raison que vous aimez?"
" connaissez done, superbe, quel paradoxe vous tes vous-mme. Humiliezvous, raison impuissante: apprenez que l'homme passe infiniment l'homme, et entendez de votre matre votre condition vritable que vous ignorez. coutez Dieu.'.
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01.07 - The Bases of Social Reconstruction, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
And yet we have no hesitation today to call them Huns and Barbarians. That education is not giving us the right thing is proved further by the fact that we are constantly changing our programmes and curriculums, everyday remodelling old institutions and founding new ones. Even a revolution in the educational system will not bring about the desired millennium, so long as we lay so much stress upon the system and not upon man himself. And finally, look to all the religions of the worldwe have enough of creeds and dogmas, of sermons and mantras, of churches and templesand yet human life and society do not seem to be any the more worthy for it.
Are we then to say that human nature is irrevocably vitiated by an original sin and that all our efforts at reformation and regeneration are, as the Indian saying goes, like trying to straighten out the crooked tail of a dog?
It is this persuasion which, has led many spiritual souls, siddhas, to declare that theirs is not the kingdom upon this earth, but that the kingdom of Heaven is within. And it is why great lovers of humanity have sought not to eradicate but only to mitigate, as far as possible, the ills of life. Earth and life, it is said, contain in their last analysis certain ugly and loathsome realities which are an inevitable and inexorable part of their substance and to eliminate one means to annihilate the other. What can be done is to throw a veil over the nether regions in human nature, to put a ban on their urges and velleities and to create opportunities to make social arrangements so that the higher impulses only find free play while the lower impulses, for want of scope and indulgence, may fall down to a harmless level. This is what the Reformists hope and want and no more. Life is based upon animality, the soul is encased in an earth-sheathman needs must procreate, man needs must seek food. But what human effort can achieve is to set up barriers and limitations and form channels and openings, which will restrain these impulses, allow them a necessary modicum of play and which for the greater part will serve to encourage and enhance the nobler urges in man. Of course, there will remain always the possibility of the whole scaffolding coming down with a crash and the aboriginal in man running riot in his nudity. But we have to accept the chance and make the best of what materials we have in hand.
No doubt this is a most dismal kind of pessimism. But it is the logical conclusion of all optimism that bases itself upon a particular view of human nature. If we question that pessimism, we have to question the very grounds of our optimism also. As a matter of fact, all our idealism has been so long infructuous and will be so in the future, if we do not shift our foundation and start from a different IntuitionWeltanschauung.
Our ideals have been mental constructions, rather than spiritual realitiesrealities of the deepest and highest being. And the power by which we sought to realise those ideals was mainly the insistence of our emotional urges, rather than Nature's Truth-Power. For this must be understood that the mental, the vital and the physical form a nexus of reality which works in its own inexorable law and so long as we are within them we cannot but obey the laws that guide them. Of these three strata which form the human adhara, it is the vital which holds the key to man's nature. It is the executive power, the force that fashions the realities on the physical plane; it is what creates the character. The power of thought and sentiment is often much too exaggerated, even so the power of the body, that of physical and external rules and regulations. The mental or the physical or both together can mould the vital only to a limited extent, to the extent which is allowed by the inherent law of the vital. If the demands of the mental and the physical are stretched too far and are not suffered by the vital, a crash and catastrophe is bound to come in the end.
This is the meaning of the Reformist's pessimism. So long as we remain within the domain of the triple nexus, we must always take account of an original sin, an aboriginal irredeemability in human nature. And it, is this fact which a too hasty optimistic idealism is apt to ignore. The point, however, is that man need not be necessarily bound to this triple chord of life. He can go beyond, transcend himself and find a reality which is the basis of even this lower poise of the mental and vital and physical. Only in order to get into that higher poise we must really transcend the lower, that is to say, we must not be satisfied with experiencing or envisaging it through the mind and heart but must directly commune with it, be it. There is a higher law that rules there, a power that is the truth-substance of even the vital and hence can remould it with a sovereign inevitability, according to a pattern which may not and is not the pattern of mental and emotional idealism, but the pattern of a supreme spiritual realism.
What then is required is a complete spiritual regeneration in man, a new structure of his soul and substancenot merely the realisation of the highest and supreme Truth in mental and emotional consciousness, but the translation and application of the law of that truth in the power of the vital. It is here that failed all the great spiritual or rather religious movements of the past. They were content with evoking the divine in the mental being, but left the vital becoming to be governed by the habitual un-divine or at the most to be just illumined by a distant and faint glow which served, however, more to distort than express the Divine.
The Divine Nature only can permanently reform the vital nature that is ours. Neither laws and institutions, which are the results of that vital nature, nor ideas and ideals which are often a mere revolt from and more often an auxiliary to it, can comm and the power to regenerate society. If it is thought improbable for any group of men to attain to that God Nature, then there is hardly any hope for mankind. But improbable or probable, that is the only way which man has to try and test, and there is none other.
01.08 - A Theory of Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Yoga is another form of a normal function in man, it is the consciously regulated and heightened process of a habitual activity of the mind.
The recent science of Psycho-analysis has brought to light certain hidden springs and undercurrents of the mind; it has familiarised us with a mode of viewing the entire psychical life of man which will be fruitful for our present enquiry. Mind, it has been found, is a house divided, against itself, that is to say it is an arena where different and divergent forces continually battle against one another. There must be, however, at the same time, some sort of a resolution of these forces, some equation that holds them in balance, otherwise the mind the human being itselfwould cease to exist as an entity. What is the mechanism of this balance of power in the human mind? In order to ascertain that we must first of all know the fundamental nature of the struggle and also the character of the more elemental forces that are engaged in it.
There are some primary desires that seek satisfaction in man. They are the vital urges of life, the most prominent among them being the instinct of self-preservation and that of self-reproduction or the desire to preserve one's body by defensive as well as by offensive means and the desire to multiply oneself by mating. These are the two biological necessities that are inevitable to man's existence as a physical being. They give the minimum conditions required to be fulfilled by man in order that he may live and hence they are the strongest and the most fundamental elements that enter into his structure and composition.
It would have been an easy matter if these vital urges could flow on unhindered in their way. There would have been no problem at all, if they met satisfaction easily and smoothly, without having to look to other factors and forces. As a matter of fact, man does not and cannot gratify his instincts whenever and wherever he chooses and in an open and direct manner. Even in his most primitive and barbarous condition, he has often to check himself and throw a veil, in so many ways, over his sheer animality. In the civilised society the check is manifold and is frankly recognised. We do not go straight as our sexual impulsion leads, but seek to hide and camouflage it under the institution of marriage; we do not pounce upon the food directly we happen to meet it and snatch and appropriate whatever portion we get but we secure it through an elaborate process, which is known as the e conomic system. The machinery of the state, the cult of the kshatriya are roundabout ways to meet our fighting instincts.
What is the reason of this elaboration, this check and constraint upon the natural and direct outflow of the animal instincts in man? It has been said that the social life of man, the fact that he has to live and move as member of a group or aggregate has imposed upon him these restrictions. The free and unbridled indulgence of one's bare aboriginal impulses may be possible to creatures that live a separate, solitary and individual life but is disruptive of all bonds necessary for a corporate and group life. It is even a biological necessity again which has evolved in man a third and collateral primary instinct that of the herd. And it is this herd-instinct which naturally and spontaneously restrains, diverts and even metamorphoses the other instincts of the mere animal life. However, leaving aside for the moment the question whether man's ethical and spiritual ideals are a mere dissimulation of his animal instincts or whether they correspond to certain actual realities apart from and co-existent with these latter, we will recognise the simple fact of control and try to have a glimpse into its mechanism.
There are three lines, as the Psycho-analysts point out along which this control or censuring of the primary instincts acts. First, there is the line of Defence Reaction. That is to say, the mind automatically takes up an attitude directly contrary to the impulse, tries to shut it out and deny altogether its existence and the measure of the insistence of the impulse is also the measure of the vehemence of the denial. It is the case of the lady protesting too much. So it happens that where sub consciously there is a strong current of a particular impulse, consciously the mind is obliged to take up a counteracting opposite impulse. Thus in presence of a strong sexual craving the mind as if to guard and save itself engenders by a reflex movement an ascetic and puritanic mood. Similarly a strong unthinking physical attraction translates itself on the conscious plane as an equally strong repulsion.
Se condly, there is the line of Substitution. Here the mind does not stand in an antagonistic and protestant mood to combat and repress the impulse, but seeks to divert it into other channels, use it to other purposes which do not demand equal sacrifice, may even, on the other hand, be considered by the conscious mind as worthy of human pursuit. Thus the energy that normally would seek sexual gratification might find its outlet in the cultivation of art and literature. It is a common thing in novels to find the heroine disappointed in love taking finally to works of charity and beneficence and thus forgetting her disappointment. Another variety of this is what is known as "drowning one's sorrow in drinking."
Thirdly, there is the line of Sublimationit is when the natural impulse is neither repressed nor diverted but lifted up into a higher modality. The thing is given a new sense and a new value which serve to remove the stigma usually attached to it and thus allow its free indulgence. Instances of carnal love sublimated into spiritual union, of passion transmuted into devotion (Bhakti) are common enough to illustrate the point.
The human mind naturally, without any effort on its part, takes to one or more of these devices to control and conceal the aboriginal impulses. But this spontaneous process can be organised and consciously regulated and made to serve better the purpose and urge of Nature. And this is the beginning of yoga the conscious fulfilment of Nature. The Psycho-analysts have given us the first and elementary stage of this process of yoga. It is, we may say, the fourth line of control. With this man enters a new level of being, develops a new mode of life. It is when the automatism of Nature is replaced by the power of conscious control. Man is not here, a blind instrument of forces, his activities (both indulging and controlling) are not guided according to an ignorant submission to the laws of almost sub conscious impulsions. conscious control means that the mind does not fight shy of or seek to elude the aboriginal insistences, but allows them to come up freely, meets them squarely, recognises them and establishes an easy mastery over them.
The method of un conscious or sub conscious nature is fundamentally that of repression. Apart from Defence Reaction which is a thing of pure coercion, even in Substitution and Sublimation there always remains in the background a large amount of repressed complexes in all their primitive strength. The system is never entirely purified but remains secretly pregnant with those urges; a part only is deflected and camouflaged, the surface only assumes a transformed appearance. And there is always the danger of the superstructure coming down helplessly by a sudden upheaval of the nether forces. The whole system feels, although not in a conscious manner, the tension of the repression and suffers from something that is unhealthy and ill-balanced. Dante's spiritualised passion is a supreme instance of control by Sublimation, but the Divina Comedia hardly bears the impress of a serene and tranquil soul, sovereignly above the turmoils of the tragedy of life and absolutely at peace with itself.
In conscious control, the mind is for the first time aware of the presence of the repressed impulses, it seeks to release them from the pressure to which they are habitually and normally subjected. It knows and recognises them, however ugly and revolting they might appear to be when they present themselves in their natural nakedness. Then it becomes easy for the conscious determination to eliminate or regulate or transform them and thus to establish a healthy harmony in the human vehicle. The very recognition itself, as implied in conscious control, means purification.
Yet even here the process of control and transformation does not end. And we now come to the Fifth Line, the real and intimate path of yoga. conscious control gives us a natural mastery over the instinctive impulses which are relieved of their dark tamas and attain a purified rhythm. We do not seek to hide or repress or combat them, but surpass them and play with them as the artist does with his material. Something of this katharsis, this aestheticism of the primitive impulses was achieved by the ancient Greeks. Even then the primitive impulses remain primitive all the same; they fulfil, no doubt, a real and healthy function in the scheme of life, but still in their fundamental nature they continue the animal in man. And even when conscious control means the utter elimination and annihilation of the primal instinctswhich, however, does not seem to be a probable eventualityeven then, we say, the basic problem remains unsolved; for the urge of nature towards the release and a transformation of the instincts does not find satisfaction, the question is merely put aside.
Yoga, then, comes at this stage and offers the solution in its power of what we may call Transubstantiation. That is to say, here the mere form is not changed, nor the functions restrained, regulated and purified, but the very substance of the instincts is transmuted. The power of conscious control is a power of the human will, i.e. of an individual personal will and therefore necessarily limited both in intent and extent. It is a power complementary to the power of Nature, it may guide and fashion the latter according to a new pattern, but cannot change the basic substance, the stuff of Nature. To that end yoga seeks a power that transcends the human will, brings into play the supernal puissance of a Divine Will.
This is the real meaning and sense of the moral struggle in man, the continuous endeavour towards a transvaluation of the primary and aboriginal instincts and impulses. Looked at from one end, from below up the ascending line, man's ethical and spiritual ideals are a dissimulation and sublimation of the animal impulsions. But this is becauseas we see, if we look from the other end, from above down the descending lineman is not all instinct, he is not a mere blind instrument in the hands of Nature forces. He has in him another source, an opposite pole of being from which other impulsions flow and continually modify the structure of the lower levels. If the animal is the foundation of his nature, the divine is its summit. If the bodily demands form his manifest reality, the demands of the spirit enshrine his higher reality. And if as regards the former he is a slave, as regards the latter he is the Master. It is by the interaction of these double forces that his whole nature has been and is being fashioned. Man does not and cannot give carte blanche to his vital, inclinations, since there is a pressure upon them of higher forces coming down from his mental and spiritual levels. It is these latter which have deviated him from the direct line of the pure animal life.
Thus then we may distinguish three types of control on three levels. First, the natural control, se condly the conscious, i.e. to say the mental the ethical and religious control, and thirdly the spiritual or divine control. Now the spirit is the ultimate truth and reality, behind the forces that act in the mind and in the body, so that the natural control and the ethical control are mere attempts to establish and realise the spiritual control. The animal impulses feel the hidden stress of the divine urges that are their real essence and thus there rises first an un conscious conflict in the natural life and then a conscious conflict in the higher ethical life. But when both of these are transcended and the conflict is carried on to a still higher level, then do we find their real significance and arrive at the consummation to which they move. Yoga is the ultimate transvaluation of physical (and of moral) values, it is the trans-substantiation of life-power into its spiritual substance.
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01.08 - Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
What is day to us is night to the mystics and what is day to the mystics is night for us. The first thing the mystic asks is to close precisely those doors and windows which we, on the contrary, feel obliged to keep always open in order to know and to live and move. The Gita says: "The sage is wakeful when it is night for all creatures and when all creatures are wakeful, that is night for the sage." Even so this sage from the West says: "The more I sleep from outward things, the more wakeful am I in knowing of Jhesu and of inward things. I may not wake to Jhesu, but if I sleep to the world."
Close the senses. Turn within. And then go forward, that is to say, more and more inward. In that direction lies your itinerary, the journey of your consciousness. The sense-ridden secular man, who goes by his physical eye, has marked in his own way the steps of his forward march and progress. His knowledge and his power grew as he proceeded in his survey from larger masses of physical objects to their component molecules and from molecules to their component atoms and from atoms once more into electrons and protons or energy-points pure and simple, or otherwise as, in another direction, he extended his gaze from earth to the solar system, from the solar system to other starry systems, to far-off galaxies and I from galaxies to spaces beyond. The record of this double-track march to infinityas perceived or conceived by the physical sensesis marvellous, no doubt. The mystic offers the spectacle of a still more marvellous march to another kind of infinity.
Here is the Augustinian mantra taken as the motto of The Scale of Perfection: We ascend the ascending grades in our heart and we sing the song of ascension1. The journey's end is heavenly Jerusalem, the House of the Lord. The steps of this inner ascension are easily visible, not surely to the outer eye of the sense-burdened man, but to the "ghostly seeing" of the aspirant which is hazy in the beginning but slowly clears as he advances. The first step is the withdrawal from the outer senses and looking and seeing within. "Turn home again in thyself, and hold thee within and beg no more without." The immediate result is a darkness and a restless darknessit is a painful night. The outer objects of attraction and interest have been discarded, but the inner attachments and passions surge there still. If, however, one continues and persists, refuses to be drawn out, the turmoil settles down and the darkness begins to thin and wear away. One must not lose heart, one must have patience and perseverance. So when the outward world is no more-there and its call also no longer awakes any echo in us, then comes the stage of "restful darkness" or "light-some darkness". But it is still the dark Night of the soul. The outer light is gone and the inner light is not yet visible: the night, the desert, the great Nought, stretches between these two lights. But the true seeker goes through and comes out of the tunnel. And there is happiness at the end. "The seeking is travaillous, but the finding is blissful." When one steps out of the Night, enters into the deepest layer of the being, one stands face to face to one's soul, the very image of God, the perfect God-man, the Christ within. That is the third degree of our inner ascension, the entry into the deepest, purest and happiest statein which one becomes what he truly is; one finds the Christ there and dwells in love and union with him. But there is still a further step to take, and that is real ascension. For till now it has been a going within, from the outward to the inner and the inmost; now one has to go upward, transcend. Within the body, in life, however deep you may go, even if you find your soul and your union with Jesus whose tabernacle is your soul, still there is bound to remain a shadow of the sinful prison-house; the perfect bliss and purity without any earthly taint, the completeness and the crowning of the purgation and transfiguration can come only when you go beyond, leaving altogether the earthly form and worldly vesture and soar into Heaven itself and be in the company of the Trinity. "Into myself, and after... above myself by overpassing only into Him." At the same time it is pointed out, this mediaeval mystic has the common sense to see that the going in and going above of which one speaks must not be understood in a literal way, it is a figure of speech. The movement of the mystic is psychological"ghostly", it is saidnot physical or carnal.
This spiritual march or progress can also be described as a growing into the likeness of the Lord. His true self, his own image is implanted within us; he is there in the profoundest depth of our being as Jesus, our beloved and our soul rests in him in utmost bliss. We are aware neither of Jesus nor of his spouse, our soul, because of the obsession of the flesh, the turmoil raised by the senses, the blindness of pride and egoism. All that constitutes the first or old Adam, the image of Nought, the body of death which means at bottom the "false misruled love in to thyself." This self-love is the mother of sin, is sin itself. What it has to be replaced by is charity that is the true meaning of Christian charity, forgetfulness of self. "What is sin but a wanting and a forbearing of God." And the whole task, the discipline consists in "the shaping of Christ in you, the casting of sin through Christ." Who then is Christ, what is he? This knowledge you get as you advance from your sense-bound perception towards the inner and inmost seeing. As your outer nature gets purified, you approach gradually your soul, the scales fall off from your eyes too and you have the knowledge and "ghostly vision." Here too there are three degrees; first, you start with faith the senses can do nothing better than have faith; next, you rise to imagination which gives a sort of indirect touch or inkling of the truth; finally, you have the "understanding", the direct vision. "If he first trow it, he shall afterwards through grace feel it, and finally understand it."
It is never possible for man, weak and bound as he is, to reject the thraldom of his flesh, he can never purify himself wholly by his own unaided strength. God in his infinite mercy sent his own son, an emanation created out of his substancehis embodied loveas a human being to suffer along with men and take upon himself the burden of their sins. God the Son lived upon earth as man and died as man. Sin therefore has no longer its final or definitive hold upon mankind. Man has been made potentially free, pure and worthy of salvation. This is the mystery of Christ, of God the Son. But there is a further mystery. Christ not only lived for all men for all time, whether they know him, recognise him or not; but he still lives, he still chooses his beloved and his beloved chooses him, there is a conscious acceptance on either side. This is the function of the Holy Ghost, the redeeming power of Love active in him who accepts it and who is accepted by it, the dynamic Christ- consciousness in the true Christian.
Indeed, the kernel of the mystic discipline and its whole bearing consists in one and only one principle: to love Jhesu. All roads lead to Rome: all preparations, all trials lead to one realisation, love of God, God as a living person close to us, our friend and lover and master. The Christian mystic speaks almost in the terms of the Gita: Rise above your senses, give up your ego-hood, be meek and humble, it is Jesus within you, who embraces your soul: it is he who does everything for you and in you, give yourself up wholly into his hands. He will deliver you.
The characteristic then of the path is a one-pointed concentration. Great stress is laid upon "oneliness", "onedness":that is to say, a perfect and complete withdrawal from the outside and the world; an unmixed solitude is required for the true experience and realisation to come. "A full forsaking in will of the soul for the love of Him, and a living of the heart to Him. This asks He, for this gave He." The rigorous exclusion, the uncompromising asceticism, the voluntary self-torture, the cruel dark night and the arid desert are necessary conditions that lead to the "onlyness of soul", what another prophet (Isaiah, XXIV, 16) describes as "My privity to me". In that secreted solitude, the "onlistead"the graphic language of the author calls itis found "that dignity and that ghostly fairness which a soul had by kind and shall have by grace." The utter beauty of the soul and its absolute love for her deity within her (which has the fair name of Jhesu), the exclusive concentration of the whole of the being upon one point, the divine core, the manifest Grace of God, justifies the annihilation of the world and life's manifold existence. Indeed, the image of the Beloved is always within, from the beginning to the end. It is that that keeps one up in the terrible struggle with one's nature and the world. The image depends upon the consciousness which we have at the moment, that is to say, upon the stage or the degree we have ascended to. At the outset, when we can only look through the senses, when the flesh is our master, we give the image a crude form and character; but even that helps. Gradually, as we rise, with the clearing of our nature, the image too slowly regains its original and true shape. Finally, in the inmost soul we find Jesus as he truly is: "an unchangeable being, a sovereign might, a sovereign soothfastness, sovereign goodness, a blessed life and endless bliss." Does not the Gita too say: "As one approaches Me, so do I appear to him."Ye yath mm prapadyante.
Indeed, it would be interesting to compare and contrast the Eastern and Western approach to Divine Love, the Christian and the Vaishnava, for example. Indian spirituality, whatever its outer form or credal formulation, has always a background of utter unity. This unity, again, is threefold or triune and is expressed in those great Upanishadic phrases,mahvkyas,(1) the transcendental unity: the One alone exists, there is nothing else than theOneekamevdvityam; (2) the cosmic unity: all existence is one, whatever exists is that One, thereare no separate existences:sarvam khalvidam brahma neha nnsti kincaa; (3) That One is I, you too are that One:so' ham, tattvamasi; this may be called the individual unity. As I have said, all spiritual experiences in India, of whatever school or line, take for granted or are fundamentally based upon this sense of absolute unity or identity. Schools of dualism or pluralism, who do not apparently admit in their tenets this extreme monism, are still permeated in many ways with that sense and in some form or other take cognizance of the truth of it. The Christian doctrine too says indeed, 'I and my Father in Heaven are one', but this is not identity, but union; besides, the human soul is not admitted into this identity, nor the world soul. The world, we have seen, according to the Christian discipline has to be altogether abandoned, negatived, as we go inward and upward towards our spiritual status reflecting the divine image in the divine company. It is a complete rejection, a cutting off and casting away of world and life. One extreme Vedantic path seems to follow a similar line, but there it is not really rejection, but a resolution, not the rejection of what is totally foreign and extraneous, but a resolution of the external into its inner and inmost substance, of the effect into its original cause. Brahman is in the world, Brahman is the world: the world has unrolled itself out of the Brahmansi, pravttiit has to be rolled back into its, cause and substance if it is to regain its pure nature (that is the process of nivitti). Likewise, the individual being in the world, "I", is the transcendent being itself and when it withdraws, it withdraws itself and the whole world with it and merges into the Absolute. Even the Maya of the Mayavadin, although it is viewed as something not inherent in Brahman but superimposed upon Brahman, still, has been accepted as a peculiar power of Brahman itself. The Christian doctrine keeps the individual being separate practically, as an associate or at the most as an image of God. The love for one's neighbour, charity, which the Christian discipline enjoins is one's love for one's kind, because of affinity of nature and quality: it does not dissolve the two into an integral unity and absolute identity, where we love because we are one, because we are the One. The highest culmination of love, the very basis of love, according to the Indian conception, is a transcendence of love, love trans-muted into Bliss. The Upanishad says, where one has become the utter unity, who loves whom? To explain further our point, we take two examples referred to in the book we are considering. The true Christian, it is said, loves the sinner too, he is permitted to dislike sin, for he has to reject it, but he must separate from sin the sinner and love him. Why? Because the sinner too can change and become his brother in spirit, one loves the sinner because there is the possibility of his changing and becoming a true Christian. It is why the orthodox Christian, even such an enlightened and holy person as this mediaeval Canon, considers the non-Christian, the non-baptised as impure and potentially and fundamentally sinners. That is also why the Church, the physical organisation, is worshipped as Christ's very body and outside the Church lies the pagan world which has neither religion nor true spirituality nor salvation. Of course, all this may be symbolic and it is symbolic in a sense. If Christianity is taken to mean true spirituality, and the Church is equated with the collective embodiment of that spirituality, all that is claimed on their behalf stands justified. But that is an ideal, a hypothetical standpoint and can hardly be borne out by facts. However, to come back to our subject, let us ow take the se cond example. Of Christ himself, it is said, he not only did not dislike or had any aversion for Judas, but that he positively loved the traitor with a true and sincere love. He knew that the man would betray him and even when he was betraying and had betrayed, the Son of Man continued to love him. It was no make-believe or sham or pretence. It was genuine, as genuine as anything can be. Now, why did he love his enemy? Because, it is said, the enemy is suffered by God to do the misdeed: he has been allowed to test the faith of the faithful, he too has his utility, he too is God's servant. And who knows even a Judas would not change in the end? Many who come to scoff do remain to pray. But it can be asked, 'Does God love Satan too in the same way?' The Indian conception which is basically Vedantic is different. There is only one reality, one truth which is viewed differently. Whether a thing is considered good or evil or neutral, essentially and truly, it is that One and nothing else. God's own self is everywhere and the sage makes no difference between the Brahmin and the cow and the elephant. It is his own self he finds in every person and every objectsarvabhtsthitam yo mm bhajati ekatvamsthitah"he has taken his stand upon oneness and loves Me in all beings."2
This will elucidate another point of difference between the Christian's and the Vaishnava's love of God, for both are characterised by an extreme intensity and sweetness and exquisiteness of that divine feeling. This Christian's, however, is the union of the soul in its absolute purity and simplicity and "privacy" with her lord and master; the soul is shred here of all earthly vesture and goes innocent and naked into the embrace of her Beloved. The Vaishnava feeling is richer and seems to possess more amplitude; it is more concrete and less ethereal. The Vaishnava in his passionate yearning seeks to carry as it were the whole world with him to his Lord: for he sees and feels Him not only in the inmost chamber of his soul, but meets Him also in and I through his senses and in and through the world and its objects around. In psychological terms one can say that the Christian realisation, at its very source, is that of the inmost soul, what we call the "psychic being" pure and simple, referred to in the book we are considering; as: "His sweet privy voice... stirreth thine heart full stilly." Whereas the Vaishnava reaches out to his Lord with his outer heart too aflame with passion; not only his inmost being but his vital being also seeks the Divine. This bears upon the occult story of man's spiritual evolution upon earth. The Divine Grace descends from the highest into the deepest and from the deepest to the outer ranges of human nature, so that the whole of it may be illumined and transformed and one day man can embody in his earthly life the integral manifestation of God, the perfect Epiphany. Each religion, each line of spiritual discipline takes up one limb of manone level or mode of his being and consciousness purifies it and suffuses it with the spiritual and divine consciousness, so that in the end the whole of man, in his integral living, is recast and remoulded: each discipline is in charge of one thread as it were, all together weave the warp and woof in the evolution of the perfect pattern of a spiritualised and divinised humanity.
The conception of original sin is a cardinal factor in Christian discipline. The conception, of sinfulness is the very motive-power that drives the aspirant. "Seek tensely," it is said, "sorrow and sigh deep, mourn still, and stoop low till thine eye water for anguish and for pain." Remorse and grief are necessary attendants; the way of the cross is naturally the calvary strewn with pain and sorrow. It is the very opposite of what is termed the "sunlit path" in spiritual ascension. Christian mystics have made a glorious spectacle of the process of "dying to the world." Evidently, all do not go the whole length. There are less gloomy and happier temperaments, like the present one, for example, who show an unusual balance, a sturdy common sense even in the midst of their darkest nights, who have chalked out as much of the sunlit path as is possible in this line. Thus this old-world mystic says: it is true one must see and admit one's sinfulness, the grosser and apparent and more violent ones as well as all the subtle varieties of it that are in you or rise up in you or come from the Enemy. They pursue you till the very end of your journey. Still you need not feel overwhelmed or completely desperate. Once you recognise the sin in you, even the bare fact of recognition means for you half the victory. The mystic says, "It is no sin as thou feelest them." The day Jesus gave himself away on the Cross, since that very day you are free, potentially free from the bondage of sin. Once you give your adherence to Him, the Enemies are rendered powerless. "They tease the soul, but they harm not the soul". Or again, as the mystic graphically phrases it: "This soul is not borne in this image of sin as a sick man, though he feel it; but he beareth it." The best way of dealing with one's enemies is not to struggle and "strive with them." The aspirant, the lover of Jesus, must remember: "He is through grace reformed to the likeness of God ('in the privy substance of his soul within') though he neither feel it nor see it."
If you are told you are still full of sins and you are not worthy to follow the path, that you must go and work out your sins first, here is your answer: "Go shrive thee better: trow not this saying, for it is false, for thou art shriven. Trust securely that thou art on the way, and thee needeth no ransacking of shrift for that that is passed, hold forth thy way and think on Jerusalem." That is to say, do not be too busy with the difficulties of the moment, but look ahead, as far as possible, fix your attention upon the goal, the intermediate steps will become easy. Jerusalem is another name of the Love of Jesus or the Bliss in Heaven. Grow in this love, your sins will fade away of themselves. "Though thou be thrust in an house with thy body, nevertheless in thine heart, where the stead of love is, thou shouldst be able to have part of that love... " What exquisite utterance, what a deep truth!
--
The ultimate truth is that God is the sole doer and the best we can do is to let him do freely without let or hindrance. "He that through Grace may see Jhesu, how that He doth all and himself doth right nought but suffereth Jhesu work in him what him liketh, he is meek." And yet one does not arrive at that condition from the beginning or all at once. "The work is not of the hour nor of a day, but of many days and years." And for a long time one has to take up one's burden and work, co-operate with the Divine working. In the process there is this double movement necessary for the full achievement. "Neither Grace only without full working of a soul that in it is nor working done without grace bringeth a soul to reforming but that one joined to that other." Mysticism is not all eccentricity and irrationality: on the contrary, sanity seems to be the very character of the higher mysticism. And it is this sanity, and even a happy sense of humour accompanying it, that makes the genuine mystic teacher say: "It is no mastery to me for to say it, but for to do it there is mastery." Amen.
Ascendimus ascensiones in corde et cantamus canticum graduum." confessions of St. Augustine XIII. 9.
The Gita, VI. 31
01.09 - The Parting of the Way, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
To remain human means to continue the fundamental nature of man. In what consists the humanity of man? We can ascertain it by distinguishing what forms the animality of the animal, since that will give us the differentia that nature has evolved to raise man over the animal. The animal, again, has a characteristic differentiating it from the vegetable world, which latter, in its turn, has something to mark it off from the inorganic world. The inorganic, the vegetable, the animal and finally manthese are the four great steps of Nature's evolutionary course.
The differentia, in each case, lies in the degree and nature of consciousness, since it is consciousness that forms the substance and determines the mode of being. Now, the inorganic is characterised by un- consciousness, the vegetable by sub- consciousness, the animal by consciousness and man by self- consciousness. Man knows that he knows, an animal only knows; a plant does not even know, it merely feels or senses; matter cannot do that even, it simply acts or rather is acted upon. We are not concerned here, however, with the last two forms of being; we will speak of the first two only.
We say, then, that man is distinguished from the animal by his having consciousness as it has, but added to it the consciousness of self. Man acts and feels and knows as much as the animal does; but also he knows that he acts, he knows that he feels, he knows that he knowsand this is a thing the animal cannot do. It is the awakening of the sense of self in every mode of being that characterises man, and it is owing to this consciousness of an ego behind, of a permanent unit of reference, which has modified even the functions of knowing and feeling and acting, has refashioned them in a mould which is not quite that of the animal, in spite of a general similarity.
So the humanity of man consists in his consciousness of the self or ego. Is there no other higher mode of consciousness? Or is self- consciousness the acme, the utmost limit to which consciousness can raise itself? If it is so, then we are bound to conclude that humanity will remain eternally human in its fundamental nature; the only progress, if progress at all we choose to call it, will consist perhaps in accentuating this consciousness of the self and in expressing it through a greater variety of stresses, through a richer combination of its colour and light and shade and rhythm. But also, this may not be sothere may be the possibility of a further step, a transcending of the consciousness of the self. It seems unnatural and improbable that having risen from un- consciousness to self- consciousness through a series of continuous marches, Nature should suddenly stop and consider what she had achieved to be her final end. Has Nature become bankrupt of her creative genius, exhausted of her upward drive? Has she to remain content with only a clever manipulation, a mere shuffling and re-arranging of the materials already produced?
As a matter of fact it is not so. The glimpses of a higher form of consciousness we can see even now present in self- consciousness. We have spoken of the different stages of evolution as if they were separate and distinct and incommensurate entities. They may be described as such for the purpose of a logical understanding, but in reality they form a single progressive continuum in which one level gradually fuses into another. And as the higher level takes up the law of the lower and evolves out of it a characteristic function, even so the law of the higher level with its characteristic function is already involved and envisaged in the law of the lower level and its characteristic function. It cannot be asserted positively that because man's special virtue is self- consciousness, animals cannot have that quality on any account. We do see, if we care to observe closely and dispassionately, that animals of the higher order, as they approach the level of humanity, show more and more evident signs of something which is very much akin to, if not identical with the human characteristic of self- consciousness.
So, in man also, especially of that order which forms the crown of humanityin poets and artists and seers and great men of actioncan be observed a certain characteristic form of consciousness, which is something other than, greater than the consciousness of the mere self. It is difficult as yet to characterise definitely what that thing is. It is the awakening of the self to something which is beyond itselfit is the cosmic self, the oversoul, the universal being; it is God, it is Turiya, it is sachchidanandain so many ways the thing has been sought to be envisaged and expressed. The consciousness of that level has also a great variety of names given to it Intuition, Revelation, cosmic consciousness, God- consciousness. It is to be noted here, however, that the thing we are referring to, is not the Absolute, the Infinite, the One without a se cond. It is not, that is to say, the supreme Reality the Brahmanin its static being, in its undivided and indivisible unity; it is the dynamic Brahman, that status of the supreme Reality where creation, the diversity of Becoming takes rise, it is the Truth-worldRitam the domain of typal realities. The distinction is necessary, as there does seem to be such a level of consciousness intermediary, again, between man and the Absolute, between self- consciousness and the supreme consciousness. The simplest thing would be to give that intermediate level of consciousness a negative namesince being as yet human we cannot foresee exactly its composition and function the super- consciousness.
The inflatus of something vast and transcendent, something which escapes all our familiar schemes of cognisance and yet is insistent with a translucent reality of its own, we do feel sometimes within us invading and enveloping our individuality, lifting up our sense of self and transmuting our personality into a reality which can hardly be called merely human. All this life of ego-bound rationality then melts away and opens out the passage for a life of vision and power. Thus it is the poet has felt when he says, "there is this incalculable element in human life influencing us from the mystery which envelops our being, and when reason is satisfied, there is something deeper than Reason which makes us still uncertain of truth. Above the human reason there is a transcendental sphere to which the spirit of men sometimes rises, and the will may be forged there at a lordly smithy and made the unbreakable pivot."(A.E.)
This passage from the self- conscient to the super- conscient does not imply merely a shifting of the focus of consciousness. The transmutation of consciousness involves a purer illumination, a surer power and a wider compass; it involves also a fundamental change in the very mode of being and living. It gives quite a different life-intuition and a different life-power. The change in the motif brings about a new form altogether, a re-casting and re-shaping and re-energising of the external materials as well. As the lift from mere consciousness to self- consciousness meant all the difference between an animal and a man, so the lift again from self- consciousness to super- consciousness will mean the difference of a whole world between man and the divine creature that is to be.
Indeed it is a divine creature that should be envisaged on the next level of evolution. The mental and the moral, the psychical and the physical transfigurations which must follow the change in the basic substratum do imply such a mutation, the birth of a new species, as it were, fashioned in the nature of the gods. The vision of angels and Siddhas, which man is having ceaselessly since his birth, may be but a prophecy of the future actuality.
--
Nature has marched from the un conscious to the sub- conscious, from the sub- conscious to the conscious and from the conscious to the self- conscious; she has to rise yet again from the self- conscious to the super- conscious. The mineral gave place to the plant, the plant gave place to the animal and the animal gave place to man; let man give place to and bring out the divine.
***
01.09 - William Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The ideal was Blake's. It will not sound so revolting if we understand what the poet meant by Hell. Hell, he explains, is simply the body, the Energy of Lifehell, because body and life on earth were so considered by the orthodox Christianity. The Christian ideal demands an absolute denial and rejection of life. Fulfilment is elsewhere, in heaven alone. That is, as we know, the ideal of the ascetic. The life of the spirit (in heaven) is a thing away from and stands against the life of the flesh (on earth). In the face of this discipline, countering it, Blake posited a union, a marriage of the two, considered incompatibles and incommensurables. Enfant terrible that he was, he took an infinite delight in a spirit of contradiction and went on expatiating on the glory of the misalliance. He declared a new apocalypse and said that Lucifer, the one called Satan, was the real God, the so-called Messiah the fake one: the apparent Milton spoke in praise of God and in dispraise of Satan, but the real, the esoteric Milton glorified Satan, who is the true God and minimised or caricatured the counterfeit or shadow God. Here is Blakean Bible in a nutshell:
But first the notion that man has a body distinct from his soul is to be expunged.. . . If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
--
We welcome voices that speak of this ancient tradition, this occult Knowledge of a high Future. Recently we have come across one aspirant in the line, and being a contemporary, his views and reviews in the matter will be all the more interesting to us.2 He is Gustave Thibon, a Frenchman-not a priest or even a religious man in the orthodox sense in any way, but a country farmer, a wholly self-educated laque. Of late he has attracted a good deal of attention from intellectuals as well as religious people, especially the Catholics, because of his remarkable conceptions which are so often unorthodox and yet so often ringing true with an old-world au thenticity.
Touching the very core of the malady of our age he says that our modern enlightenment seeks to cancel altogether the higher values and install instead the lower alone as true. Thus, for example, Marx and Freud, its twin arch priests, are brothers. Both declare that it is the lower, the under layer alone that matters: to one "the masses", to the other "the instincts". Their wild imperative roars: "Sweep away this pseudo-higher; let the instincts rule, let the pro-letariat dictate!" But more characteristic, Monsieur Thibon has made another discovery which gives the whole value and speciality to his outlook. He says the moderns stress the lower, no doubt; but the old world stressed only the higher and neglected the lower. Therefore the revolt and wrath of the lower, the rage of Revanche in the heart of the dispossessed in the modern world. Enlightenment meant till now the cultivation and embellishment of the Mind, the conscious Mind, the rational and nobler faculties, the height and the depth: and mankind meant the princes and the great ones. In the individual, in the scheme of his culture and education, the senses were neglected, left to go their own way as they pleased; and in the collective field, the toiling masses in the same way lived and moved as best as they could under the e conomics of laissez-faire. So Monsieur Thibon concludes: "Salvation has never come from below. To look for it from above only is equally vain. No doubt salvation must come from the higher, but on condition that the higher completely adopts and protects the lower." Here is a vision luminous and revealing, full of great import, if we follow the right track, prophetic of man's true destiny. It is through this infiltration of the higher into the lower and the integration of the lower into the higher that mankind will reach the goal of its evolution, both individually and collectively.
But the process, Monsieur Thibon rightly asserts, must begin with the individual and within the individual. Man must "turn within, feel alive within himself", re-establish his living contact with God, the source and origin from which he has cut himself off. Man must learn to subordinate having to being. Each individual must be himself, a free and spontaneous expression. Upon such individual , upon individuals grouped naturally in smaller collectivities and not upon unformed or ill-formed wholesale masses can a perfect human society be raised and will be raised. Monsieur Thibon insistsand very rightlyupon the variety and diversity of individual and local growths in a unified humanity and not a dead uniformity of regimented oneness. He declares, as the reviewer of the London Times succinctly puts it: "Let us abolish our insensate worship of number. Let us repeal the law of majorities. Let us work for the unity that draws together instead of idolizing the multiplicity that disintegrates. Let us understand that it is not enough for each to have a place; what matters is that each should be in his right place. For the atomized society let us substitute an organic society, one in which every man will be free to do what he alone is qualified and able to do."
So far so good. For it is not far enough. The being or becoming that is demanded in fulfilment of the divine advent in humanity must go to the very roots of life and nature, must seize God in his highest and sovereign status. No prejudice of the past, no notion of our mental habits must seek to impose its law. Thus, for example, in the matter of redeeming the senses by the influx of the higher light, our author seems to consider that the senses will remain more or less as they are, only they will be controlled, guided, used by the higher light. And he seems to think that even the sex relation (even the institution of marriage) may continue to remain, but sublimated, submitted to the laws of the Higher Order. This, according to us, is a dangerous compromise and is simply the imposition of the lower law upon the higher. Our view of the total transformation and divinisation of the Lower is altogether different. The Highest must come down wholly and inhabit in the Lowest, the Lowest must give up altogether its own norms and lift itself into the substance and form too of the Highest.
Viewed in this light, Blake's memorable mantra attains a deeper and more momentous significance. For it is not merely Earth the senses and life and Matter that are to be uplifted and affianced to Heaven, but all that remains hidden within the bowels of the Earth, the subterranean regions of man's consciousness, the slimy viscous undergrowths, the darkest horrors and monstrosities that man and nature hide in their sub conscient and in conscient dungeons of material existence, all these have to be laid bare to the solar gaze of Heaven, burnt or transmuted as demanded by the law of that Supreme Will. That is the Hell that has to be recognised, not rejected and thrown away, but taken up purified and transubstantiated into the body of Heaven itself. The hand of the Highest Heaven must extend and touch the Lowest of the lowest elements, transmute it and set it in its rightful place of honour. A mortal body re constituted into an immemorial fossil, a lump of coal revivified into a flashing carat of diamond-that shows something of the process underlying the nuptials of which we are speaking.
The Life Divine
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
quite confidently. Not one of them disturbed me nor
did I disturb them. When I reached the Playground, I
--
You must continue to fight against the bad thoughts until you
gain a total victory. My help is always with you as well as my
--
because of our lack of solid concentration?
The cause of mediocre work is neither the variety nor the number
of activities, but the lack of power of concentration.
One must learn to concentrate and do all that one does with
full concentration.
4 July 1961
--
There are people here who see him and are constantly in contact
with him. They are those who love him sincerely and sufficiently
--
can be done at present! To change our consciousness and
become an elite will take a lot of time. At present, we
--
want, on the contrary, to feel an intense joy, a moment
of ecstasy. How can I obtain it?
--
I have certain things to confess to You, but I cannot
bring myself to do it. What shall I do? confess or let
past things be effaced by forgetting the past?
--
and contains it.
19 September 1961
--
I have noticed one thing: When I sit for a few minutes and make an effort to concentrate before going
to sleep, the next day I wake up quite early and am
quite fresh. I concentrate on the tiny luminous tip of an
"Only by perfect renunciation of desire or by perfect satisfaction of desire can the
--
On the contrary, there is a very concrete relation. When you concentrate before sleeping, then in your sleep you remain in
--
without any preliminary concentration, you sink into the in conscient and the sleep is more tiring than restful, and it is difficult
to come out of this sluggishness.
--
more conscious of the divine will and to give yourself more
entirely to it, until you have made enough progress to know
--
knowledge, but the sincerity of a state of consciousness and the
power of a living experience.
--
I am very lazy and I lack the fervour and perseverance to continue on the chosen path. I am like a flame
that is roused by the wind and rises upwards, but falls
--
discourage me, for I have full confidence in You.
Yes, you must persevere with courage and sincerity. You are sure
--
already said this a considerable number of times, and if you do
not know it, it is because you find it more convenient to forget it.
27 September 1962
--
If each one were more concerned with correcting his own faults
than with criticising those of others, the work would go more
--
The freedom I speak of is the freedom to consecrate oneself
wholly and without reserve to one's highest, noblest, divinest
--
I call that mental fermentation. As soon as your waking consciousness falls asleep or leaves your body, the brain-cells you
have not taken the trouble to quiet down begin to fidget restlessly
--
- some apparent happiness - a consolation has come
immediately to dispel my psychological pain. For something tells me: "All that happens is done for your own
--
Because you are more conscious, or rather less un conscious.
23 May 1963
--
There are hundreds of proofs to the contrary.
31 May 1963
--
would continue his career as a pilot. He is a man of
fantastic vitality, full of energy...
--
silence, full of force and conscious concentration, it is good. If
it is a tamasic and un conscious silence, it is harmful.
--
That happens when he has not taken care to organise his conscious being around the psychic centre, which is the Truth of his
being.
--
upon earth to fulfil a mission? That is not my conception
- what are beggars and people like that doing?
--
is continuous and endless.
7 July 1963
--
I still lack confidence in my work. I am too shy.
I think that in order to progress one should be a little
--
into the consciousness of Unity, then one can understand.
18 August 1963
--
instead of taking advantage of it to concentrate your efforts on
spiritual progress, you have enjoyed yourselves as much as you
--
and deeper consciousness which can discern the true causes of
reactions and feelings.
--
is not in contact with one's psychic being, it would be better to
strive always to do as well as possible and be as good as one
--
(Regarding X, who related her misfortunes to the captain, blaming herself for all her troubles) To console her,
I told her that blaming oneself was perhaps not always
--
is tainted with egoism. It is this egoism that she must conquer,
and as soon as she does she will no longer suffer.
--
of life. One can obtain true happiness and keep it constantly
only by discovering one's psychic being and uniting with it.
--
One can find in everything a chance to progress in consciousness and self-mastery. And this effort for progress immediately
makes the thing interesting, no matter what it is.
--
often long and unclear, others are short, but all contain mistakes
and often, very often, the same mistakes of gender, agreement
and conjugation which I have corrected many times.
One would think that even if you read your notebook when
--
is to lower the level of one's consciousness.
Mother, do You advise this only for those who are
--
remedy this deadly condition. But the aspiration is absent and
your soul is asleep!
--
and the awakening in your consciousness of a will to progress.
3 January 1964
--
at it once more. continue your translation of the Aphorisms; I
shall send you more at a time for correction.
--
but what are the conditions needed to be born to that
life and how can they be fulfilled?
The first condition is to decide not to live for oneself any more,
but to live exclusively for the Divine.
--
manifested in a constant and effective will.
29 April 1964
--
made to something real, tangible, concrete and beneficent. The
more sincere and assiduous one is, the sooner the experience
--
If one continues with persistence, this becomes very interesting and gets easier and easier.
20 May 1964
--
Just as there are tangible and concrete bodily exercises and disciplines for physical culture, is there not
something tangible and concrete for the progress of the
soul and the consciousness?
Since the most ancient times, each system of yoga has developed
--
knowledge but adapted to the needs and the condition of each
individual.
--
the example of a total consecration to the Divine Work and the
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
the condition of each person and his link with the whole.
8 July 1964
--
I am trying to concentrate in the heart and to enter
deep within as You advised me to do, but in vain. The
--
and your psychic consciousness awakens from the slumber in
which it lies.
--
with it. Physically, continue with what you are doing, develop
and control your body methodically, make yourself useful by
working at the Playground and your place of work, and try to
--
One must live in the consciousness of the Divine Unity to
see the Grace behind everything.
--
People often say that our food does not contain
enough vitamins and protein. The doctors claim that this
--
For those whose consciousness is centred in the body, who live
for the body, its desires and satisfactions, those for whom the
--
for their incompetence to cure on the external conditions of life.
If one wants to see the truth of the problem, it is this: only
--
Let those who have confidence in doctors do as they advise
and see if it helps them to suffer less!
--
a tamasic tendency to simplify the conditions of life in order to
avoid the effort of organising more complicated circumstances.
--
nature by establishing your consciousness firmly in a domain
that is free of all desire and attachment because it is under the
--
strongest - on the contrary. As the individuality perfects itself,
the power of the ego diminishes, and indeed it is by perfecting
--
It is always preferable not to try to assess the progress one is making because it does not help one to make it - on the contrary.
Aspiration for progress, if it is SINCERE, is sure to have an effect.
--
progress still remaining to be made is so considerable that there
is no reason to stop on the way to assess the ground one has
--
of development of the consciousness.
9 September 1964
--
advancing on the path continually, without stoppage.
The advance is rarely in a straight and continuous line because a
human being is made up of many different parts, and generally
--
to subdue the lower mind and establish a connection with higher
forces or with deities. These Japas must be given by the Guru,
--
Japa: continuous repetition of a mantra.
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
By widening one's consciousness and making it universal.
There is another way, but it is still more difficult. It is by
--
are sure to be conquered by Him). It is a humorous remark, but
it means that of all conditions, inertia is the worst.
Aspiration is the only remedy - an aspiration that rises
--
reach the goal. Few are ready for a total consecration. Many
children who have studied here need to come to grips with life
--
way, each one does his best and contributes as much as he can
to the transformation of the world which Sri Aurobindo has
--
One must learn to concentrate one's energies in the heart
- then, when one succeeds in that, silence comes automatically.
--
You will then see that he seems to have said the most contradictory things. But when one has read everything and understood
a little, one sees that all the contradictions complement one
another and are organised and unified in an integral synthesis.
--
which constitutes the falsehood of the material world.
I have already written to you that our gratitude should go
--
To feel deeply, intensely and constantly a total gratitude
towards the Divine is the best way to be happy and peaceful.
--
for another more important and conclusive experience.
The real landmarks on the way are the spontaneous experiences, not those that come from a mental formation and are
--
remember them. To construct a system of development is se condary and sometimes harmful.
17 March 1965
--
In a general way, a dream leaves a confused and fleeting impression, whereas an experience awakens a deep and lasting
feeling.
--
increase with the sincerity of your consecration.
31 March 1965
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mean exercise of concentration and will.
Mother, I have started reading French books - X has
--
What I call "being on the path" is being in a state of consciousness in which only union with the Divine has any value - this
union is the only thing worth living, the sole object of aspiration.
--
pitiful condition and reaffirm her greatness?
When she renounces falsehood and lives in the Truth.
--
for India. Sri Aurobindo held that this proposal conferred essential independence on
India by putting her on a par with the various Dominions already associated with the
--
It is in the depths of the consciousness, beyond the mind, that one
can in all sincerity have the experience that all is the Divine and
--
The two states of consciousness should be simultaneous and
complementary, not successive and contradictory, and this too is
possible only when the seat of consciousness is beyond the mind
and its limitations.
--
the divine consciousness? Am I completely disinterested in this
matter? Am I free of all desire and all ego?"
--
namely, "NO", the honest and sincere conclusion must be: "I
cannot judge, I do not have the elements needed for a true
--
What constitutes an individuality?
An individuality is a conscious being organised around a divine
centre. All the divine centres are essentially One in their origin,
--
human beings to become conscious of it is a fact which can in
no way affect the fact of the advent of these forces and powers
--
men will perceive it only when their consciousness has become
enlightened.
--
same which, in its pure form, constitutes the dynamis
towards transformation."23
--
You speak (in conversations) of the plunge we must
take in order to have the true spiritual experience. Is it
--
bad one has thought or done, of a fall in one's consciousness? If the cause is a mistake one has made, how can
one find out what it is?
--
normal consequence of an error, shortcoming or fault which
necessarily has consequences. Actually, everything in the world
is a question of equilibrium or disequilibrium, of harmony or
--
the law of aging; consequently the question of age will not arise
for them.
--
the nerve that conveys this sensation to the brain. How
can this be done?
I did not say "cut the nerve" - that would be a surgical operation! I said, cut the conscious connection with the brain.
It is an occult operation, certainly more difficult than the
--
and his most urgent work is to purify himself of it by a constant
aspiration.
--
I often feel, and very concretely too, that You are constantly protecting me from all the misfortunes of life.
--
The Indo-Pakistan conflict ended in a cease-fire on September 22. The Mother's
message, sent six days prior to the cease-fire, was: "It is for the sake and the triumph
--
But there are considerable obstacles to the realisation of this
hierarchy:
--
it does not have all the members necessary to constitute the
hierarchy and certain functions or intermediaries are missing.
--
You write in Your conversations: "Each time that
something of the Divine Truth and the Divine Force
--
is the resistance in the human consciousness to the New Force.
When the resistance is less, everything takes place harmoniously.
(2) And is the converse always valid: if there is a war or
a revolution, is it the sign of a descent of the Truth?
--
the standpoint of transformation, are gathered here to concretise
and synthesise the work of transforming the earth in order to
--
that my consciousness is flying around an impenetrable
fortress. What should I do to succeed in what You have
-- consciousness which does not have contact with the inner states
of being. You have to go out of this external consciousness and
penetrate into a subtler consciousness; then the fortress will no
longer be impenetrable.
--
There is a tendency among most of us here to conduct our lives and programmes according to the customs
of society. We say: "We must also think of the opinion of
--
taking advantage of the exceptional conditions of existence they
have here, without being worthy of enjoying them.
--
your possibilities. The only thing you lack is being conscious.
2 February 1966
--
are practising consciously?
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
is, they are incapable of doing it consciously?
YES.
--
The best way of seeing us in your dreams is to concentrate on us
before going to sleep. Do you do this now as you used to before?
--
the whole conversation, but the impression that remains
is that You are not very pleased with the questions I ask
--
of mental silence in concentration.
1 June 1966
--
of view and from Your answer I conclude that the American action is not at all justifiable. But, Mother, isn't the
world in danger of being swallowed by the Communists
--
seriously is not considerable...
But the Divine Grace is infinite!
--
have here, is the moral constraint of an external discipline.
Here one is free and the only constraint is the one that one
puts on oneself when one is SINCERE.
--
Why this chaotic condition in our present government? Is it the sign of a change for the better, for the
reign of Truth?
--
which is causing disorder, confusion and falsehood to spring
up everywhere in a refusal to be transformed.
--
thing that contains such a concentration of spontaneous beauty
- not man-made: spontaneous, a blossoming; one has only to
--
without being absolutely convinced that the Divine is there? We
call it the Divine - the Divine is tiny! (Mother laughs.) For me
--
Ashram is in a terrible financial condition, and from time
to time we clearly see this for ourselves. But, Mother, we
--
At least You give Your consent.
Sometimes.
--
a constant experience? Because the moment one throws
oneself into activity, the mental disturbance begins again!
--
method of "widening the consciousness"?
Widening the consciousness is necessary for all who want to live
a free and intelligent life, even without there being any question
--
In order to understand these apparent contradictions, one has
to rise to the intellectual level on which all opposite ideas can be
--
On the condition of the one to whom I write the card and on his
state of consciousness, which varies according to the moment
and the year.
--
The ordinary man is often guided in life by his conscience, isn't he? So what becomes of one who has no conscience, who has lost it by having disregarded it too
--
which can quite easily take possession of one who has disregarded the advice of his conscience.
But all this is a mental approximation of the Truth. It is not
--
physical contact?
(1) When one is more conscious in the physical than in the vital
and mental, the physical relation seems more real and tangible.
--
relation (which is always there even when they are not conscious
of it) but also a mental and vital relation, which makes the outer
--
I try to teach the others to widen their physical consciousness
so as to be able to benefit from my physical presence even at a
--
Not everyone is conscious of his soul and very few are those
who are guided by their soul.
--
it is translated in the psychic consciousness and according to the
psychic vibration of all the people present.
--
memory; it is rarely the events that mentally are considered
as the most memorable or most important in a lifetime, but
the moments when the psychic has participated - consciously
participated - in the event. And that is what remains.
--
we are not conscious of it. Only danger makes us recall
Your Presence so that we may have Your protection. But
--
it was very strong, even though we were not conscious
Series Ten - To a Young Captain
--
I was very strongly and consciously with you because X had
written to me that the tyres of the car were in poor condition.
You did not feel the danger because I did not want you to
--
All actions carry in themselves their fruits with their consequences.
According to its nature, an action brings one nearer to the
--
my "business" was - all I knew was that I had to concentrate on myself in order to perfect myself more and
more. Was that correct? Mother, what actually is my
--
to concentrate on the future, on the consciousness to be acquired
and on the development of the nature, which is almost unlimited
--
to be different. Or am I not conscious of my prayers?
Or is everything done for me, for my good, in spite of
--
one's state of consciousness. Some are entirely conscious of what
is done for them. Those who make an effort become conscious
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.
01.10 - Nicholas Berdyaev: God Made Human, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Nicholas Berdyaev is an ardent worker, as a Russian is naturally expected to be, in the cause of the spiritual rehabilitation of mankind. He is a Christian, a neo-Christian: some of his conclusions are old-world truths and bear repetition and insistence; others are of a more limited, conditional and even doubtful nature. His conception of the value of human person, the dignity and the high reality he gives to it, can never be too welcome in a world where the individual seems to have gone the way of vanished empires and kings and princes. But even more important and interesting is the view he underlines that the true person is a spiritual being, that is to say, it is quite other than the empirical ego that man normally is"not this that one worships" as the Upanishads too declare. Further, in his spiritual being man, the individual, is not simply a portion or a fraction; he is, on the contrary, an integer, a complete whole, a creative focus; the true individual is a microcosm yet holding in it and imaging the macrocosm. Only perhaps greater stress is laid upon the aspect of creativity or activism. An Eastern sage, a Vedantin, would look for the true spiritual reality behind the flux of forces: Prakriti or Energy is only the executive will of the Purusha, the conscious Being. The personality in Nature is a formulation and emanation of the transcendent impersonality.
There is another aspect of personality as viewed by Berdyaev which involves a bias of the more orthodox Christian faith: the Christ is inseparable from the Cross. So he says: "There is no such thing as personality if there is no capacity for suffering. Suffering is inherent in God too, if he is a personality, and not merely an abstract idea. God shares in the sufferings of men. He yearns for responsive love. There are divine as well as human passions and therefore divine or creative personality must always suffer to the end of time. A condition of anguish and distress is inherent in it." The view is logically enforced upon the Christian, it is said, if he is to accept incarnation, God becoming flesh. Flesh cannot but be weak. This very weakness, so human, is and must be specially characteristic of God also, if he is one with man and his lover and saviour.
Eastern spirituality does not view sorrow and sufferingevilas an integral part of the Divine consciousness. It is born out of the Divine, no doubt, as nothing can be outside the Divine, but it is a local and temporal formation; it is a disposition consequent upon certain conditions and with the absence or elimination of those conditions, this disposition too disappears. God and the Divine consciousness can only be purity, light, immortality and delight. The compassion that a Buddha feels for the suffering humanity is not at all a feeling of suffering; pain or any such normal human reaction does not enter into its composition; it is the movement of a transcendent consciousness which is beyond and purified of the normal reactions, yet overarching them and entering into them as a soothing and illumining and vivifying presence. The healer knows and understands the pain and suffering of his patient but is not touched by them; he need not contract the illness of his patient in order to be in sympathy with him. The Divine the Soulcan be in flesh and yet not smirched with its mire; the flesh is not essentially or irrevocably the ooze it is under certain given conditions. The divine physical body is composed of radiant matter and one can speak of it even as of the soul that weapons cannot pierce it nor can fire burn it.
***
01.10 - Principle and Personality, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Religious bodies that are formed through the bhakti and puja for one man, social re constructions forced by the will and power of a single individual, have already in the inception this grain of incapacity and disease and death that they are not an integrally self- conscious creation, they are not, as a whole, intelligent and wide awake and therefore constantly responsive to the truths and ideals and realities for which they exist, for which at least, their founder intended them to exist. The light at the apex is the only light and the entire structure is but the shadow of that light; the whole thing has the aspect of a dark mass galvanised into red-hot activity by the passing touch of a dynamo. Immediately however the solitary light fails and the dynamo stops, there is nothing but the original darkness and inertiatoma asit tamasa gudham agre.
Man, however great and puissant he may be, is a perishable thing. People who gather or are gathered round a man and cling to him through the tie of a personal relation must fall off and scatter when the man passes away and the personal tie loses its hold. What remains is a memory, a gradually fading memory. But memory is hardly a creative force, it is a dead, at best, a moribund thing; the real creative power is Presence. So when the great man's presence, the power that crystallises is gone, the whole edifice crumbles and vanishes into air or remains a mere name.
Love and admiration for a mahapurusha is not enough, even faith in his gospel is of little avail, nor can actual participation, consecrated work and labour in his cause save the situation; it is only when the principles, the bare realities for which the mahapurusha stands are in the open forum and men have the full and free opportunity of testing and assimilating them, it is only when individuals thus become living embodiments of those principles and realities that we do create a thing universal and permanent, as universal and permanent as earthly things may be. Principles only can embrace and unify the whole of humanity; a particular personality shall always create division and limitation. By placing the man in front, we erect a wall between the Principle and men at large. It is the principles, on the contrary, that should be given the place of honour: our attempt should be to keep back personalities and make as little use of them as possible. Let the principles work and create in their freedom and power, untrammelled by the limitations of any mere human vessel.
We are quite familiar with this cry so rampant in our democratic ageprinciples and no personalities! And although we admit the justice of it, yet we cannot ignore the trenchant one-sidedness which it involves. It is perhaps only a reaction, a swing to the opposite extreme of a mentality given too much to personalities, as the case generally has been in the past. It may be necessary, as a corrective, but it belongs only to a temporary stage. Since, however, we are after a universal ideal, we must also have an integral method. We shall have to curb many of our susceptibilities, diminish many of our apprehensions and soberly strike a balance between opposite extremes.
We do not speak like politicians or banias; but the very truth of the matter demands such a policy or line of action. It is very well to talk of principles and principles alone, but what are principles unless they take life and form in a particular individual? They are airy nothings, notions in the brain of logicians and metaphysicians, fit subjects for discussion in the academy, but they are devoid of that vital urge which makes them creative agencies. We have long lines of philosophers, especially European, who most scrupulously avoided all touch of personalities, whose utmost care was to keep principles pure and unsullied; and the upshot was that those principles remained principles only, barren and infructuous, some thing like, in the strong and puissant phrase of BaudelaireLa froide majest de la femme strile. And on the contrary, we have had other peoples, much addicted to personalitiesespecially in Asiawho did not care so much for abstract principles as for concrete embodiments; and what has been the result here? None can say that they did not produce anything or produced only still-born things. They produced living creaturesephemeral, some might say, but creatures that lived and moved and had their days.
But, it may be asked, what is the necessity, what is the purpose in making it all a one man show? Granting that principles require personalities for their fructuation and vital functioning, what remains to be envisaged is not one personality but a plural personality, the people at large, as many individuals of the human race as can be consciously imbued with those principles. When principles are made part and parcel of, are concentrated in a single solitary personality, they get "cribbed and cabined," they are vitiated by the idiosyncrasies of the man, they come to have a narrower field of application; they are emptied of the general verities they contain and finally cease to have any effect.
The thing, however, is that what you call principles do not drop from heaven in their virgin purity and all at once lay hold of mankind en masse. It is always through a particular individual that a great principle manifests itself. Principles do not live in the general mind of man and even if they live, they live secreted and un conscious; it is only a puissant personality, who has lived the principle, that can bring it forward into life and action, can awaken, like the Vedic Dawn, what was dead in allmritam kanchana bodhayanti. Men in general are by themselves 'inert and indifferent; they have little leisure or inclination to seek, from any inner urge of their own, for principles and primal truths; they become conscious of these only when expressed and embodied in some great and rare soul. An Avatar, a Messiah or a Prophet is the centre, the focus through which a Truth and Law first dawns and then radiates and spreads abroad. The little lamps are all lighted by the sparks that the great torch scatters.
And yet we yield to none in our demand for holding forth the principles always and ever before the wide open gaze of all. The principle is there to make people self-knowing and self-guiding; and the man is also there to illustrate that principle, to serve as the hope and prophecy of achievement. The living soul is there to touch your soul, if you require the touch; and the principle is there by which to test and testify. For, we do not ask anybody to be a mere automaton, a blind devotee, a soul without individual choice and initiative. On the contrary, we insist on each and every individual to find his own soul and stand on his own Truththis is the fundamental principle we declare, the only creedif creed it be that we ask people to note and freely follow. We ask all people to be fully self-dependent and self-illumined, for only thus can a real and solid re construction of human nature and society be possible; we do not wish that they should bow down ungrudgingly to anything, be it a principle or a personality. In this respect we claim the very first rank of i conoclasts and anarchists. And along with that, if we still choose to remain an idol-lover and a hero-worshipper, it is because we recognise that our mind, human as it is, being not a simple equation but a complex paradox, the idol or the hero symbolises for us and for those who so will, the very i conoclasm and anarchism and perhaps other more positive things as wellwhich we behold within and seek to manifest.
The world is full of ikons and archons; we cannot escape them, even if we try the world itself being a great ikon and as great an archon. Those who swear by principles, swear always by some personality or other, if not by a living creature then by a lifeless book, if not by Religion then by Science, if not by the East then by the West, if not by Buddha or Christ then by Bentham or Voltaire. Only they do it unwittingly they change one set of personalities for another and believe they have rejected them all. The veils of Maya are a thousand-fold tangle and you think you have entirely escaped her when you have only run away from one fold to fall into another. The wise do not attempt to reject and negate Maya, but consciously accept herfreedom lies in a knowing affirmation. So we too have accepted and affirmed an i con, but we have done it consciously and knowingly; we are not bound by our idol, we see the truth of it, and we serve and utilise it as best as we may.
***
01.11 - Aldous Huxley: The Perennial Philosophy, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
This latest work of Aldous Huxley is a collection of sayings of sages and saints and philosophers from all over the world and of all times. The sayings are arranged under several heads such as "That art Thou", "The Nature of the Ground", "Divine Incarnation", "Self-Knowledge", "Silence", "Faith" etc., which clearly give an idea of the contents and also of the "Neo-Brahmin's" own personal preoccupation. There is also a running commentary, rather a note on each saying, meant to elucidate and explain, naturally from the compiler's standpoint, what is obviously addressed to the initiate.
A similar compilation was published in the Arya, called The Eternal Wisdom (Les Paroles ternelles, in French) a portion of which appeared later on in book-form: that was more elaborate, the contents were arranged in such a way that no comments were needed, they were self-explanatory, divided as they were in chapters and sections and subsections with proper headings, the whole thing put in a logical and organised sequence. Huxley's compilation begins under the title of the Upanishadic text "That art Thou" with this saying of Eckhart: "The more God is in all things, the more He is outside them. The more He is within, the more without". It will be interesting to note that the Arya compilation too starts with the same idea under the title "The God of All; the God who is in All", the first quotation being from Philolaus, "The Universe is a Unity".The Eternal Wisdom has an introduction called "The Song of Wisdom" which begins with this saying from the Book of Wisdom: "We fight to win sublime Wisdom; therefore men call us warriors".
Huxley gives only one quotation from Sri Aurobindo under the heading "God in the World". Here it is:
--
"To its heights we can always come. For those of us who are still splashing about in the lower ooze, the phrase has a rather ironical ring. Nevertheless, in the light of even the most distant acquaintance with the heights and the fullness, it is possible to understand what its author means. To discover the Kingdom of God exclusively within oneself is easier than to discover it, not only there, but also in the outer worlds of minds and things and living creatures. It is easier because the heights within reveal themselves to those who are ready to exclude from their purview all that lies without. And though this exclusion may be a painful and mortificatory process, the fact remains that it is less arduous than the process of inclusion, by which we come to know the fullness as well as the heights of spiritual life. Where there is exclusive concentration on the heights within, temptations and distractions are avoided and there is a general denial and suppression. But when the hope is to know God inclusivelyto realise the divine Ground in the world as well as in the soul, temptations and distractions must not be avoided, but submitted to and used as opportunities for advance; there must be no suppression of outward-turning activities, but a transformation of them so that they become sacramental."
The neatness of the commentary cannot be improved upon. Only with regard to the "ironical ring" of which Huxley speaks, it has just to be pointed out, as he himself seems to understand, that the "we" referred to in the phrase does not mean humanity in general that 'splashes about in the lower ooze' but those who have a sufficiently developed inner spiritual life.
--
We fear Mr. Huxley has completely missed the point of the cryptic sentence. He seems to take it as meaning that human kindness and morality are a means to the recovery of the Lost Way-although codes of ethics and deliberate choices are not sufficient in themselves, they are only a se cond best, yet they mark the rise of self- consciousness and have to be utilised to pass on into the unitive knowledge that is Tao. This explanation or amplification seems to us somewhat confused and irrelevant to the idea expressed in the apophthegm. What is stated here is much simpler and transparent. It is this that when the Divine is absent and the divine Knowledge, then comes in man with his human mental knowledge: it is man's humanity that clouds the Divine and to reach the' Divine one must reject the human values, all the moralities, sarva dharmn, seek only the Divine. The lesser way lies through the dualities, good and evil, the Great Way is beyond them and cannot be limited or measured by the relative standards. Especially in the modern age we see the decline and almost the disappearance of the Greater Light and instead a thousand smaller lights are lighted which vainly strive to dispel the gathering darkness. These do not help, they are false lights and men are apt to cling to them, shutting their eyes to the true one which is not that that one worships here and now, nedam yadidam upsate.
There is a beautiful quotation from the Chinese sage, Wu Ch'ng-n, regarding the doubtful utility of written Scriptures:
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.
--
The rise of this spirit in modern times and conditions is a phenomenon that has to be explained and faced: it is a ghost that has come out of the past and has got to be laid and laid for good. First of all, it is a reaction from modernism; it is a reaction from the modernist denial of certain fundamental and eternal truths, of God, soul, and immortality: it is a reaction from the modernist affirmation of the mere e conomic man. And it is also a defensive gesture of a particular complex of consciousness that has grown and lives powerfully and now apprehends expurgation and elimination.
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 e conomical.
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.
Only, the religious spirit has to be bathed and purified and enlightened by the spirit of the renascence: that is to say, one must learn and understand and realize that Spirit is the thing the one thing needfulTamevaikam jnatha; 'religions' are its names and forms, appliances and decorations. Let us have by all means the religious spirit, the fundamental experience that is the inmost truth of all religions, that is the matter of our soul; but in our mind and life and body let there be a luminous catholicity, let these organs and instruments be trained to see and compare and appreciate the variety, the numberless facets which the one Spirit naturally presents to the human consciousness. Ekam sat viprh bahudh vadanti. It is an ancient truth that man discovered even in his earliest seekings; but it still awaits an adequate expression and application in life.
II
India's historical development is marked by a special characteristic which is at once the expression of her inmost nature and the setting of a problem which she has to solve for herself and for the whole human race. I have spoken of the diversity and divergence of affiliations in a modern social unit. But what distinguishes India from all other peoples is that the diversity and divergence have culminated here in contradictoriness and mutual exclusion.
The first extremes that met in India and fought and gradually coalesced to form a single cultural and social whole were, as is well known, the Aryan and the non-Aryan. Indeed, the geologists tell us, the land itself is divided into two parts structurally quite different and distinct, the Deccan plateau and the Himalayan ranges with the Indo-Gangetic plain: the former is formed out of the most ancient and stable and, on the whole, horizontally bedded rocks of the earth, while the latter is of comparatively recent origin, formed out of a more flexible and weaker belt (the Himalayan region consisting of a colossal flexing and crumpling of strata). The disparity is so much that a certain group of geologists hold that the Deccan plateau did not at all form part of the Asiatic continent, but had drifted and dashed into it:in fact the Himalayas are the result of this mighty impact. The usual division of an Aryan and a Dravidian race may be due to a memory of the clash of the two continents and their races.
However, coming to historical times, we see wave after wave of the most heterogeneous and disparate elementsSakas and Huns and Greeks, each bringing its quota of exotic materialenter into the oceanic Indian life and culture, lose their separate foreign identity and become part and parcel of the common whole. Even so,a single unitary body was formed out of such varied and shifting materialsnot in the political, but in a socio-religious sense. For a catholic religious spirit, not being solely doctrinal and personal, admitted and embraced in its supple and wide texture almost an infinite variety of approaches to the Divine, of forms and norms of apprehending the Beyond. It has been called Hinduism: it is a vast synthesis of multiple affiliations. It expresses the characteristic genius of India and hence Hinduism and Indianism came to be looked upon as synonymous terms. And the same could be defined also as Vedic religion and culture, for its invariable basis the bed-rock on which it stood firm and erectwas the Vedas, the Knowledge seen by the sages. But there had already risen a voice of dissidence and discord that of Buddha, not so much, perhaps, of Buddha as of Buddhism. The Buddhistic enlightenment and discipline did not admit the supreme authority of the Vedas; it sought other bases of truth and reality. It was a great denial; and it meant and worked for a vital schism. The denial of the Vedas by itself, perhaps, would not be serious, but it became so, as it was symptomatic of a deeper divergence. Denying the Vedas, the Buddhistic spirit denied life. It was quite a new thing in the Indian consciousness and spiritual discipline. And it left such a stamp there that even today it stands as the dominant character of the Indian outlook. However, India's synthetic genius rose to the occasion and knew how to bridge the chasm, close up the fissure, and present again a body whole and entire. Buddha became one of the Avataras: the discipline of Nirvana and Maya was reserved as the last duty to be performed at the end of life, as the culmination of a full-length span of action and achievement; the way to Moksha lay through Dharma and Artha and Kama, Sannyasa had to be built upon Brahmacharya and Garhasthya. The integral ideal was epitomized by Kalidasa in his famous lines about the character of the Raghus:
They devoted themselves to study in their boyhood, in youth they pursued the objects of life; when old they took to spiritual austerities, and in the end they died united with the higher consciousness.
Only this process of integration was not done in a day, it took some centuries and had to pass through some unpleasant intermediary stages.
And still this was not the lastit could not be the lastanti thesis that had to be synthetized. The dialectical movement led to a more serious and fiercer contradiction. The Buddhistic schism was after all a division brought about from within: it could be said that the two terms of the antinomy belonged to the same genus and were commensurable. The idea or experience of Asat and Maya was not unknown to the Upanishads, only it had not there the exclusive stress which the later developments gave it. Hence quite a different, an altogether foreign body was imported into what was or had come to be a homogeneous entity, and in a considerable mass.
Unlike the previous irruptions that merged and were lost in the general life and consciousness, Islam entered as a leaven that maintained its integrity and revolutionized Indian life and culture by infusing into its tone a Semitic accent. After the Islamic impact India could not be what she was beforea change became inevitable even in the major note. It was a psychological cataclysm almost on a par with the geological one that formed her body; but the spirit behind which created the body was working automatically, inexorably towards the greater and more difficult synthesis demanded by the situation. Only the thing is to be done now consciously, not through an un conscious process of laissez-faire as on the inferior stages of evolution in the past. And that is the true genesis of the present conflict.
History abounds in instances of racial and cultural immixture. Indeed, all major human groupings of today are invariably composite formations. Excepting, perhaps, some primitiveaboriginal tribes there are no pure races existent. The Briton, the Dane, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Norman have combined to form the British; a Frenchman has a Gaul, a Roman, a Frank in him; and a Spaniard's blood would show an Iberian, a Latin, a Gothic, a Moorish element in it. And much more than a people, a culture in modern times has been a veritable cockpit of multifarious and even in congruous elements. There are instances also in which a perfect fusion could not be accomplished, and one element had to be rejected or crushed out. The complete disappearance of the Aztecs and Mayas in South America, the decadence of the Red Indians in North America, of the Negroes in Africa as a result of a fierce clash with European peoples and European culture illustrate the point.
--
Islam comes with a full-fledged spiritual soul and a mental and vital formation commensurable with that inner being and consciousness. It comes with a dynamic spirit, a warrior mood, that aims at conquering the physical world for the Lord, a temperament which Indian spirituality had not, or had lost long before, if she had anything of it. This was, perhaps, what Vivekananda meant when he spoke graphically of a Hindu soul with a Muslim body. The Islamic dispensation, however, brings with it not only something complementary, but also something contradictory, if not for anything else, at least for the strong individuality which does not easily yield to assimilation. Still, in spite of great odds, the process of assimilation was going on slowly and surely. But of late it appears to have come to a dead halt; difficulties have been presented which seem insuperable.
If religious toleration were enough, if that made up man's highest and largest achievement, then Nature need not have attempted to go beyond cultural fusion; a liberal culture is the surest basis for a catholic religious spirit. But such a spirit of toleration and catholicity, although it bespeaks a widened consciousness, does not always enshrine a profundity of being. Nobody is more tolerant and catholic than a dilettante, but an ardent spiritual soul is different.
To be loyal to one's line of self-fulfilment, to follow one's self-law, swadharma, wholly and absolutelywithout this no spiritual life is possible and yet not to come into clash with other lines and loyalties, nay more, to be in positive harmony with them, is a problem which has not been really solved. It was solved, perhaps, in the consciousness of a Ramakrishna, a few individuals here and there, but it has always remained a source of conflict and disharmony in the general mind even in the field of spirituality. The clash of spiritual or religious loyalties has taken such an acute form in India today, they have been carried to the bitter extreme, in order, we venture to say, that the final synthesis might be absolute and irrevocable. This is India's mission to work out, and this is the lesson which she brings to the world.
The solution can come, first, by going to the true religion of the Spirit, by being truly spiritual and not merely religious, for, as we have said, real unity lies only in and through the Spirit, since Spirit is one and indivisible; se condly, by bringing down somethinga great part, indeed, if not the wholeof this puissant and marvellous Spirit into our life of emotions and sensations and activities.
If it is said that this is an ideal for the few only, not for the mass, our answer to that is the answer of the GitaYad yad acharati sreshthah. Let the few then practise and achieve the ideal: the mass will have to follow as far as it is possible and necessary. It is the very character of the evolutionary system of Nature, as expressed in the principle of symbiosis, that any considerable change in one place (in one species) is accompanied by a corresponding change in the same direction in other contiguous places (in other associated species) in order that the poise and balance of the system may be maintained.
It is precisely strong nuclei that are needed (even, perhaps, one strong nucleus is sufficient) where the single and integrated spiritual consciousness is an accomplished and established fact: that acts inevitably as a solvent drawing in and assimilating or transforming and re-creating as much, of the surroundings as its own degree and nature of achievement inevitably demand.
India did not and could not stop at mere cultural fusionwhich was a supreme gift of the Moguls. She did not and could not stop at another momentous cultural fusion brought about by the European impact. She aimed at something more. Nature demanded of her that she should discover a greater secret of human unity and through progressive experiments apply and establish it in fact. Christianity did not raise this problem of the greater synthesis, for the Christian peoples were more culture-minded than religious-minded. It was left for an Asiatic people to set the problem and for India to work out the solution.
01.12 - Goethe, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The year 1949 has just celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great force of light that was Goethe. We too remember him on the occasion, and will try to present in a few words, as we see it, the fundamental experience, the major Intuition that stirred this human soul, the lesson he brought to mankind. Goe the was a great poet. He showed how a language, perhaps least poetical by nature, can be moulded to embody the great beauty of great poetry. He made the German language sing, even as the sun's ray made the stone of Memnon sing when falling upon it. Goe the was a man of consummate culture. Truly and almost literally it could be said of him that nothing human he considered foreign to his inquiring mind. And Goe the was a man of great wisdom. His observation and judgment on thingsno matter to whatever realm they belonghave an arresting appropriateness, a happy and revealing insight. But above all, he was an aspiring soulaspiring to know and be in touch with the hidden Divinity in man and the world.
Goe the and the Problem of Evil
No problem is so vital to the human consciousness as the problem of Evilits why and wherefore It is verily the Sphinx Riddle. In all ages and in all climes man has tried to answer; the answers are of an immense variety, but none seems to be sure and certain. Goethe's was an ardent soul seeking to embrace the living truth whole and entire; the problem was not merely of philosophical interest to him, but a burning question of life and deathlife and death of the body and even of the soul.
One view considers Evil as coeval with Good: the Prince of Evil is God's peer, equal to him in all ways, absolutely separate, independent and self-existent. Light and Darkness are eternal principles living side by side, possessing equal reality. For, although it is permissible to the individual to pass out of the Darkness and enter into Light, the Darkness itself does not disappear: it remains and maintains its domain, and even it is said that some human beings are meant eternally for this domain. That is the Manichean principle and that also is fundamentally the dualistic conception of chit-achit in some Indian systems (although the principle of chit or light is usually given a higher position and priority of excellence).
The Christian too accepts the dual principle, but does not give equal status to the two. Satan is there, an eternal reality: it is anti-God, it seeks to oppose God, frustrate his work. It is the great tempter whose task it is to persuade, to inspire man to remain always an earthly creature and never turn to know or live in God. Now the crucial question that arises is, what is the necessity of this Antagonist in God's scheme of creation? What is the meaning of this struggle and battle? God could have created, if he had chosen, a world without Evil. The orthodox Christi an answer is that in that case one could not have fully appreciated the true value and glory of God's presence. It is to manifest and proclaim the great victory that the strife and combat has been arranged in which Man triumphs in the end and God's work stands vindicated. The place of Satan is always Hell, but he cannot drag down a soul into his pit to hold it there eternally (although according to one doctrine there are or may be certain eternally damned souls).
Goe the carries the process of convergence and even harmony of the two powers a little further and shows that although they are contrary apparently, they are not contradictory principles in essence. For, Satan is, after all, God's servant, even a very obedient servant; he is an instrument in the hand of the Almighty to work out His purpose. The purpose is to help and lead man, although in a devious way, towards a greater understanding, a nearer approach to Himself.
The Challenge and the Pact
There is on the earthly stage the play of a challenge, a twofold challenge, one between God and Satan and another, as a consequence, between Man and Satan.
Satan is jealous of man who is God's favourite. He tells God that his partiality to man is misplaced. God has put into man a little of his light (reason and intelligence and something more perhaps), but to what purpose? Man tries to soar, he thinks he flies high and wide, but in fact he is and will be an insect that "lies always in the grass and sings its old song in the grass." God answers that whatever the perplexity in which man now is, in the end he will come out and reach the Light with a greater and richer experience of it. Satan smiles in return and says he will prove otherwise. Given a free hand, he can do whatever he likes with man: "Dust shall he eat and with a relish." God willingly agrees to the challenge: there is no harm in Satan's trying his hand. Indeed, Satan will prove to be a good companion to man; for man is normally prone to inertia and sinks into repose and rest and stagnation. Satan will be the goad, the force that drives towards ceaseless activity. For activity is life, and without activity no progress.
--
The angels weave the symphony that is creation. They represent the various notes and rhythmsin their higher and purer degrees that make up the grand harmony of the spheres. It is magnificent, this music that moves the cosmos, and wonderful the glory of God manifest therein. But is it absolutely perfect? Is there nowhere any flaw in it? There is a doubting voice that enters a dissenting note. That is Satan, the Antagonist, the Evil One. Man is the weakest link in the chain of the apparently all-perfect harmony. And Satan boldly proposes to snap it if God only let him do so. He can prove to God that the true nature of his creation is not cosmos but chaos not a harmony in peace and light, but a confusion, a Walpurgis Night. God acquiesces in the play of this apparent breach and proves in the end that it is part of a wider scheme, a vaster harmony. Evil is rounded off by Grace.
The total eradication of Evil from the world and human nature and the remoulding of a terrestrial life in the substance and pattern of the Highest Good that is beyond all dualities is a conception which it was not for Goe the to envisage. In the order of reality or existence, first there is the consciousness of division, of trenchant separation in which Good is equated with not-evil and evil with not-good. This is the outlook of individualised consciousness. Next, as the consciousness grows and envelops the whole existence, good and evil are both embraced and are found to form a secret and magic harmony. That is the universal or cosmic consciousness. And Goethe's genius seems to be an outflowering of something of this status of consciousness. But there is still a higher status, the status of transcendence in which evil is not simply embraced but dissolved and even transmuted into a supreme reality of which it is an aberration, a reflection or projection, a lower formulation. That is the mystery of a spiritual realisation to which Goe the aspired perhaps, but had not the necessary initiation to enter into.
***
01.12 - Three Degrees of Social Organisation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Declaration of Rights is a characteristic modern phenomenon. It is a message of liberty and freedom,no doubt of secular liberty and freedomthings not very common in the old world; and yet at the same time it is a clarion that calls for and prepares strife and battle. If the conception of Right has sanctified the individual or a unit collectivity, it has also pari passu developed a fissiparous tendency in human organisation. Society based on or living by the principle of Right becomes naturally and inevitably a competitive society. Where man is regarded as nothing moreand, of course, nothing lessthan a bundle of rights, human aggregation is bound to be an exact image of Darwinian Naturered in tooth and claw.
But Right is not the only term on which an ideal or even a decent society can be based. There is another term which can serve equally well, if not better. I am obviously referring to the conception of duty. I tis an old world conception; it isa conception particularly familiar to the East. The Indian term for Right is also the term for dutyadhikara means both. In Europe too, in more recent times, when after the frustration of the dream of a new world envisaged by the French Revolution, man was called upon again to rise and hope, it was Mazzini who brought forward the new or discarded principle as a mantra replacing the other more dangerous one. A hierarchy of duties was given by him as the pattern of a fulfilled ideal life. In India, in our days the distinction between the two attitudes was very strongly insisted upon by the great Vivekananda.
Vivekananda said that if human society is to be remodelled, one must first of all learn not to think and act in terms of claims and rights but in terms of duties and obligations. Fulfil your duties conscientiously, the rights will take care of themselves; it is such an attitude that can give man the right poise, the right impetus, the right outlook with regard to a collective living. If instead of each one demanding what one considers as one's dues and consequently scrambling and battling for them, and most often not getting them or getting at a ruinous pricewhat made Arjuna cry, "What shall I do with all this kingdom if in regaining it I lose all my kith and kin dear to me?"if, indeed, instead of claiming one's right, one were content to know one's duty and do it as it should be done, then not only there would be peace and amity upon earth, but also each one far from losing anything would find miraculously all that one most needs and must have,the necessary, the right rights and all.
It might be objected here however that actually in the history of humanity the conception of Duty has been no less pugnacious than that of Right. In certain ages and among certain peoples, for example, it was considered the imperative duty of the faithful to kill or convert by force or otherwise as many as possible belonging to other faiths: it was the mission of the good shepherd to burn the impious and the heretic. In recent times, it was a sense of high and solemn duty that perpetrated what has been termed "purges"brutalities undertaken, it appears, to purify and preserve the integrity of a particular ideological, social or racial aggregate. But the real name of such a spirit is not duty but fanaticism. And there is a considerable difference between the two. Fanaticism may be defined as duty running away with itself; but what we are concerned with here is not the aberration of duty, but duty proper self-poised.
One might claim also on behalf of the doctrine of Right that the right kind of Right brings no harm, it is as already stated another name for liberty, for the privilege of living and it includes the obligation to let live. One can do what one likes provided one does not infringe on an equal right of others to do the same. The measure of one's liberty is equal to the measure of others' liberty.
--
What is required is not therefore an external delimitation of frontiers between unit and unit, but an inner outlook of nature and a poise of character. And this can be cultivated and brought into action by learning to live by the sense of duty. Even then, even the sense of duty, we have to admit, is not enough. For if it leads or is capable of leading into an aberration, we must have something else to check and control it, some other higher and more potent principle. Indeed, both the conceptions of Duty and Right belong to the domain of mental ideal, although one is usually more aggressive and militant (Rajasic) and the other tends to be more tolerant and considerate (sattwic): neither can give an absolute certainty of poise, a clear guarantee of perfect harmony.
Indian wisdom has found this other, a fairer terma tertium quid,the mystic factor, sought for by so many philosophers on so many counts. That is the very well- known, the very familiar termDharma. What is Dharma then? How does it accomplish the miracle which to others seems to have proved an impossibility? Dharma is self-law, that is to say, the law of the Self; it is the rhythm and movement of our inner or inmost being, the spontaneous working out of our truth- conscious nature.
We may perhaps view the three terms Right, Duty and Dharma as degrees of an ascending consciousness. consciousness at Its origin and in its primitive formulation is dominated by the principle of inertia (tamas); in that state things have mostly an undifferentiated collective existence, they helplessly move about acted upon by forces outside them. A rise in growth and evolution brings about differentiation, specialisation, organisation. And this means consciousness of oneself of the distinct and separate existence of each and everyone, in other words, self-assertion, the claim, the right of each individual unit to be itself, to become itself first and foremost. It is a necessary development; for it signifies the growth of self consciousness in the units out of a mass un consciousness or semi- consciousness. It is the expression of rajas, the mode of dynamism, of strife and struggle, it is the corrective of tamas.
In the earliest and primitive society men lived totally in a mass consciousness. Their life was a blind obedienceobedience to the chief the patriarch or pater familiasobedience to the laws and customs of the collectivity to which one belonged. It was called duty; it was called even dharma, but evidently on a lower level, in an inferior formulation. In reality it was more of the nature of the mechanical functioning of an automaton than the exercise of conscious will and deliberate choice, which is the very soul of the conception of duty.
The conception of Right had to appear in order to bring out the principle of individuality, of personal freedom and fulfilment. For, a true healthy collectivity is the association and organisation of free and self-determinate units. The growth of independent individuality naturally means at first clash and rivalry, and a violently competitive society is the result. It is only at this stage that the conception of duty can fruitfully come in and develop in man and his society the mode of Sattwa, which is that of light and wisdom, of toleration and harmony. Then only a society is sought to be moulded on the principle of co-ordination and co-operation.
Still, the conception of duty cannot finally and definitively solve the problem. It cannot arrive at a perfect harmonisation of the conflicting claims of individual units; for, duty, as I have already said, is a child of mental idealism, and although the mind can exercise some kind of control over life-forces, it cannot altogether eliminate the seeds of conflict that lie imbedded in the very nature of life. It is for this reason that there is an element of constraint in duty; it is, as the poet says, the "stern daughter of the Voice of God". One has to compel oneself, one has to use force on oneself to carry out one's dutythere is a feeling somehow of its being a bitter pill. The cult of duty means rajas controlled and coerced by Sattwa, not the transcendence of rajas. This leads us to the high and supreme conception of Dharma, which is a transcendence of the gunas. Dharma is not an ideal, a standard or a rule that one has to obey: it is the law of self-nature that one inevitably follows, it is easy, spontaneous, delightful. The path of duty is heroic, the path of Dharma is of the gods, godly (cf. Virabhava and Divyabhava of the Tantras).
The principle of Dharma then inculcates that each individual must, in order to act, find out his truth of being, his true soul and inmost consciousness: one must entirely and integrally merge oneself into that, be identified with it in such a manner that all acts and feelings and thoughts, in fact all movements, inner and outerspontaneously and irrepressibly well out of that fount and origin. The individual souls, being made of one truth-nature in its multiple modalities, when they live, move and have their being in its essential law and dynamism, there cannot but be absolute harmony and perfect synthesis between all the units, even as the sun and moon and stars, as the Veda says, each following its specific orbit according to its specific nature, never collide or haltna me thate na tas thatuh but weave out a faultless pattern of symphony.
The future society of man is envisaged as something of like nature. When the mortal being will have found his immortal soul and divine self, then each one will be able to give full and free expression to his self-nature (swabhava); then indeed the utmost sweep of dynamism in each and all will not cause clash or conflict; on the contrary, each will increase the other and there will be a global increment and fulfilmentparasparam bhavayantah. The division and conflict, the stress and strain that belong to the very nature of the inferior level of being and consciousness will then have been transcended. It is only thus that a diviner humanity can be born and replace all the other moulds and types that can never lead to anything final and absolutely satisfactory.
***
01.13 - T. S. Eliot: Four Quartets, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
and continues
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
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The Divine Love is a greater fire than the low smouldering fire that our secular unregenerate life is. One has to choose and declare his adhesion. Indeed, the stage of conversion, the crucial turn from the ordinary life to the spiritual life Eliot has characterised in a very striking manner. We usually say, sometimes in an outburst of grief, sometimes in a spirit of sudden disgust and renunciation that the world is dark and dismal and lonesome, the only thing to do here is to be done with it. The true renunciation, that which is deep and abiding, is not, however, so simple a thing, such a short cut. So our poet says, but the world is not dark enough, it is not lonesome enough: the world lives and moves in a superficial half-light, it is neither real death nor real life, it is death in life. It is this miserable mediocrity, the shallow uncertainty of consciousness that spells danger and ruin for the soul. Hence the poet exclaims:
. . . . Not here
--
Yes, that is the condition demanded, an entire vacuity in which nothing moves. That is the real Dark Night of the Soul. It is then only that the Grace leans down and descends, then only beams in the sweet Light of lights. Eliot has expressed the experience in these lines of rare beauty and sincerity :
Time and the bell have buried the day,
--
But Thompson was not an intellectual, his doubts and despondencies were not of the mental order, he was a boiling, swelling life-surge, a geyser, a volcano. He, too, crossed the Night and saw the light of Day, but in a different way. Well, I he did not march into the day, it was the Day that marched I into him! Yes, the Divine Grace came and seized him from behind with violence. A modern, a modernist consciousness cannot expect that indulgence. God meets him only halfway, he has to work up himself the other half. He has laid so many demands and conditions: the knots in his case are not cut asunder but slowly disengaged.
The modern temper is especially partial to harmony: it cannot assert and reject unilaterally and categorically, it wishes to go round an object and view all its sides; it asks for a synthesis and re conciliation of differences and contraries. Two major chords of life-experience that demand accord are Life and Death, Time and Eternity. Indeed, the problem of Time hangs heavy on the human consciousness. It has touched to the quick philosophers and sages in all ages and climes; it is the great question that confronts the spiritual seeker, the riddle that the Sphinx of life puts to the journeying soul for solution.
A modern Neo-Brahmin, Aldous Huxley, has given a solution of the problem in his now famous Shakespearean apothegm, "Time must have a stop". That is an old-world solution rediscovered by the modern mind in and through the ravages of Time's storm and stress. It means, salvation lies, after all, beyond the flow of Time, one must free oneself from the vicious and unending circle of mortal and mundane life. As the Rajayogi controls and holds his breath, stills all life-movement and realises a dead-stop of consciousness (Samadhi), even so one must control and stop all secular movements in oneself and attain a timeless stillness and vacancy in which alone the true spiritual light and life can descend and manifest. That is the age-long and ancient solution to which the Neo-Brahmin as well the Neo-Christian adheres.
Eliot seems to demur, however, and does not go to that extreme length. He wishes to go beyond, but to find out the source and matrix of the here below. As I said, he seeks a synthesis and not a mere transcendence: the transcendence is indeed a part of the synthesis, the other part is furnished by an immanence. He does not cut away altogether from Time, but reaches its outermost limit, its rim, its summit, where it stops, not altogether annihilated, but held in suspended animation. That is the "still point" to which he refers in the following lines:
--
Our poet is too self- conscious, he himself feels that he has not the perfect voice. A Homer, even a Milton possesses a unity of tone and a wholeness of perception which are denied to the modern. To the modern, however, the old masters are not subtle enough, broad enough, psychological enough, let us say the word, spiritual enough. And yet the poetic inspiration, more than the religious urge, needs the injunction not to be busy with too many things, but to be centred upon the one thing needful, viz., to create poetically and not to discourse philosophically or preach prophetically. Not that it is impossible for the poet to swallow the philosopher and the prophet, metabolising them into the substance of his bone and marrow, of "the trilling wire in his blood", as Eliot graphically expresses. That perhaps is the consummation towards which poetry is tending. But at present, in Eliot, at least, the strands remain distinct, each with its own temper and rhythm, not fused and moulded into a single streamlined form of beauty. Our poet flies high, very high indeed at times, often or often he flies low, not disdaining the perilous limit of bathos. Perhaps it is all wilful, it is a mannerism which he cherishes. The mannerism may explain his psychology and enshrine his philosophy. But the poet, the magician is to be looked for elsewhere. In the present collection of poems it is the philosophical, exegetical, discursive Eliot who dominates: although the high lights of the subject-matter may be its justification. Still even if we have here doldrums like
That the past has another pattern, and ceases to be a mere sequence
--
which make one wish to have more of the kind. Perhaps his previous works contained lines more memorable, for example, those justly famous
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
--
Here the poet is almost grimly tense, concentrated and has not allowed himself to be dissipated by thinkings and arguments, has confined himself wholly to a living experience. That is because the poet has since then moved up and sought a more rarefied air, a more even and smooth temper. The utter and absolute poetic ring of the Inferno is difficult to maintain in the Paradiso, unless and until the poet transforms himself wholly into the Rishi, like the poet of the Gita or the Upanishads.
"East Coker"
01.14 - Nicholas Roerich, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Ex oriente lux. Out of the East the Light, and that light is of the nature and substance of beauty, of creative and dynamic beauty in the life the spirit. This, I suppose, is Roerich's message in a nutshell. The Light of the East is always the light of the ample consciousness that dwells on the heights of our being in God.
The call that stirred a Western soul, made him a wanderer over the world in quest of the Holy Grail and finally lodged him in the Home of the Snows is symbolic of a more than individual destiny. It is representative of the secret history of a whole culture and civilisation that have been ruling humanity for some centuries, its inner want and need and hankering and fulfilment. The West shall come to the East and be reborn. That is the prophecy of occult seers and sages.
--
Is it not strange that one should look to the East for the light? There is a light indeed that dwells in the setting suns, but that is the inferior light, the light that moves level with the earth, pins us down to the normal and ordinary life and consciousness: it" leads into the Night, into Nihil, pralaya. It is the light of the morning sun that man looks up to in his forward march, the sun that rises in the East whom the Vedic Rishi invoked in these magnificent lines:
Lo, the supreme light of all lights is come, a vast and varied consciousness is born in us. . . .
It is not a mere notion or superstition, it is an occult reality that gives sanctity to a particular place or region. The saintly soul has always been also a pilgrim, physically, to holy places, even to one single holy place, if he so chooses. The puritan poet may say tauntingly:
--
Indeed, Roerich considers the Himalayas as the very abode, the tabernacle itself thesanctum sanctorumof the Spirit, the Light Divine. Many of Roerich's paintings have mountain ranges, especially snow-bound mountain ranges, as their theme. There is a strange kinship between this yearning artistic soul, which seems solitary in spite of its ardent humanism, and the silent heights, rising white tier upon tier reflecting prism like the fiery glowing colours, the vast horizons, the wide vistas vanishing beyond.
Roerich is one of the prophets and seers who have ever been acclaiming and preparing the Golden Age, the dream that humanity has been dreaming continuously since its very childhood, that is to say, when there will be peace and harmony on earth, when racial, cultural or ideological egoism will no longer divide man and mana thing that seems today a chimera and a hallucinationwhen there will be one culture, one civilisation, one spiritual life welding all humanity into a single unit of life luminous and beautiful. Roerich believes that such a consummation can arrive only or chiefly through the growth of the sense of beauty, of the aesthetic temperament, of creative labour leading to a wider and higher consciousness. Beauty, Harmony, Light, Knowledge, Culture, Love, Delight are cardinal terms in his vision of the deeper and higher life of the future.
The stress of the inner urge to the heights and depths of spiritual values and realities found special and significant expression in his paintings. It is a difficult problem, a problem which artists and poets are tackling today with all their skill and talent. Man's consciousness is no longer satisfied with the customary and the ordinary actions and reactions of life (or thought), with the old-world and time-worn modes and manners. It is no more turned to the apparent and the obvious, to the surface forms and movements of things. It yearns to look behind and beyond, for the secret mechanism, the hidden agency that really drives things. Poets and artists are the vanguards of the age to come, prophets and pioneers preparing the way for the Lord.
Roerich discovered and elaborated his own technique to reveal that which is secret, express that which is not expressed or expressible. First of all, he is symbolical and allegorical: se condly, the choice of his symbols and allegories is hieratic, that is to say, the subject-matter refers to objects and events connected with saints and legends, shrines and enchanted places, hidden treasures, spirits and angels, etc. etc.; thirdly, the manner or style of execution is what we may term pantomimic, in other words, concrete, graphic, dramatic, even melodramatic. He has a special predilection for geometrical patterns the artistic effect of whichbalance, regularity, fixity, soliditywas greatly utilised by the French painter Czanne and poet Mallarm who seem to have influenced Roerich to a considerable degree. But this Northerner had not the reticence, the suavity, the tonic unity of the classicist, nor the normality and clarity of the Latin temperament. The prophet, the priest in him was the stronger element and made use of the artist as the rites andceremoniesmudras and chakrasof his vocation demanded. Indeed, he stands as the hierophant of a new cultural religion and his paintings and utterances are, as it were, gestures that accompany a holy ceremonial.
A Russian artist (Monsieur Benois) has stressed upon the primitivealmost aboriginalelement in Roerich and was not happy over it. Well, as has been pointed out by other prophets and thinkers, man today happens to be so sophisticated, artificial, material, cerebral that a [all-back seems to be necessary for him to take a new leap forward on to a higher ground. The pure aesthete is a closed system, with a consciousness immured in an ivory tower; but man is something more. A curious paradox. Man can reach the highest, realise the integral truth when he takes his leap, not from the relatively higher levels of his consciousness his intellectual and aesthetic and even moral status but when he can do so from his lower levels, when the physico-vital element in him serves as the springing-board. The decent and the beautiful the classic grace and aristocracyform one aspect of man, the aspect of "light"; but the aspect of energy and power lies precisely in him where the aboriginal and the barbarian find also a lodging. Man as a mental being is naturally sattwic, but prone to passivity and weakness; his physico-vital reactions, on the other hand, are obscure and crude, simple and vehement, but they have life and energy and creative power, they are there to be trained and transfigured, made effective instruments of a higher illumination.
All elemental personalities have something of the un conventional and irrational in them. And Roerich is one such in his own way. The truths and realities that he envisages and seeks to realise on earth are elemental and fundamental, although apparently simple and commonplace.
0.11 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
announcement: The supramental consciousness will enter a phase of realising power in 1967."1
Have things advanced at the required speed?
--
May I try to make my nights conscious? I pray for
guidance.
1) A short concentration before going to sleep, with
an aspiration to remember the activities of the night
--
movement of the head and keep still for a few minutes, with a concentration to remember what happened
during your sleep.
--
of the consciousness of the soul and manifests it perfectly.
1 February 1967
--
The radical method is to cut off all mental and vital connection
with these people; but until you know how to do this, you
--
must persistently eliminate from your consciousness the effect
produced by their influence.
--
At the centre of each cell lies the Divine consciousness. By
aspiration and repeated self-giving, the cells must be made transparent.
--
"To be aware of the consciousness of the soul" - is this
the same thing as uniting with the Divine?
To become aware of the consciousness of the soul is the surest
and easiest way of uniting with the Divine.
--
The head is the original conceiving consciousness.
22 April 1967
--
around the psychic being, if we are conscious of it or at least
around the central aspiration. If this unification is not done, we
--
You. What should I do to contribute to its fulfilment?
Each time that you discover in yourself something that denies
--
Is it possible to make my hands conscious so that they
do nothing imperfect, incorrect or wrong? What is the
--
It is quite possible, by concentrating on the hands when they are
doing something.
The hands of painters, sculptors, musicians (especially pianists) are usually very conscious and always are skilful. It is a
question of training.
--
recognise one's faults in order to correct them, than to conceal
them in the hope that they will not be noticed.
--
future, and if this giving is constantly renewed, the past will fall
away by itself and no longer encumber you.
--
Sincere and constant aspiration.
6 July 1967
--
and feels quite concretely that it does not itself live and act, but
that only the Supreme Lord exists and that He alone lives and
--
psychic, all the conflicts due to clashing bad wills can no longer
exist.
--
rest at night from the effort of the day to become conscious.
When consciousness becomes all-powerful, shadow will no
longer be necessary and will disappear.
--
This is to say that yoga ordinarily consists in awakening the
physical consciousness and making it rise gradually towards the
Divine. Whereas Sri Aurobindo has said that to do his yoga,
--
then the consciousness descends through all the states of being
down to the most material, bringing the Divine Force with it so
--
Spontaneity in feelings and action comes from a permanent contact with the psychic, which brings order into the thoughts and
automatically controls the vital impulses.
30 September 1967
--
divine consciousness in the body, and now I pray to You
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.
--
When the body is converted, it knows how to collaborate.
29 November 1967
--
the Mahashakti - consciousness, Love, Truth and Life - cut
themselves off (separated themselves) from their Supreme Origin
--
Transformation demands a total and integral consecration. But
isn't that the aspiration of every sincere sadhak?
--
to establish contact with the Divine, but sincerity of aspiration.
19 December 1967
--
see the Truth that words cannot convey. What is it that
accompanies Your words?
--
Day and night hundreds of calls are coming - but the consciousness is always alert and it answers.
One is limited only materially by time and space.
--
It is because material wealth is controlled by the adverse forces
- and because they have not yet been converted to the Divine
Influence, though the work has begun.
--
Yes, it is a very conscious flower - I have had many proofs of
it.
--
Is constant remembrance of the Divine the beginning of
union?
A beginning of union comes even before constant remembrance.
When the remembrance is constant, one often feels a Presence
that imposes itself on the remembrance.
--
shall wait for the true consciousness to come in order to
have this knowledge. But yesterday I tried to note down
--
Yes, the land itself has a consciousness, even though this consciousness is not intellectualised and cannot express itself.
21 March 1968
--
that confronts me very often.
Politics and so-called justice are still, in humanity, what is most
closed to the Truth. But their turn for conversion will also come,
perhaps sooner than we think.
--
Can one say that all waste reflects a waste of consciousness?
Waste of any kind is the result of un consciousness.
--
In theory, it applies to everyone. But the vast majority of human beings fall into un consciousness, and if there is a contact
with pure Being it is quite un conscious. Very few persons are
--
During sleep the inner beings become consciously active. When
one wakes up, it is the waking being that is not conscious of the
activities of the night.
--
But it matters little, so long as I can continue to hold
myself at Your feet.
--
and calls for its release from the covering that conceals it in manifested Nature."
Sri Aurobindo
--
to eliminate. One should concentrate all one's effort on building up and strengthening the true consciousness, which will
automatically do the work of unifying the being.
--
(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
nights, because the activities of the night often contradict the
aspiration of the day and undo its work.
Vigilance, sincerity, continuity of effort, and the Grace will
do the rest.
--
To remain turned upwards and to live in the true consciousness - the two seem complementary to each other.
Are they not two ways of saying the same thing? - certainly
--
It is what is usually called conscience, but in fact it is the psychic
being. And one can hear it only if one is very attentive, because
--
The conversion of the Asuras.
24 June 1968
--
Similarly, a sincere consciousness lets divine vibrations
through without distorting them.
--
universe continues to be such as it is?
In the evolution, the individual is far ahead of the earth, but
--
But the condition of the earth is sure to become such that a
supramental being will soon be able to live on it.
--
entity follows its own path of conscious return to the Oneness.
28 September 1968
--
Now the conditions are such that every sincere effort must
necessarily tend towards this goal.
--
still are those who want to realise it consciously. This explains
Questions and Answers 1953, CWM, Vol. 5, p. 82.
--
all and everything should once more become consciously divine.
14 October 1968
--
One has to cut off all connection with the manifested world
in order to be immune.
--
Does this mean an intense, constant and integral
aspiration?
Yes, it means that the entire being is absorbed in its consecration.
24 October 1968
--
becomes active again and constitutes their dreams.
26 October 1968
--
It does not go away, but enters the sub conscient and continues
to act.
To remain conscious of it, one must reduce the range of the
sub conscient in oneself and thus increase the consciousness.
3 November 1968
--
To grow in consciousness is the very aim of life on earth. It is
through the experience of successive lives that the range of the
--
life, one hastens the work considerably and it can be done in a
few years.
--
These "instantaneous" conversions are most often the result
of many lives of preparation.
--
with constant union with the Divine?
If we call "perfect receptivity" the receptivity that receives only
--
It is the human mind that has the conception of success and
failure. It is the human mind that wants one thing and does not
--
be a docile and if possible a conscious instrument of the Divine
Will.
--
Similarly, can one say that the Supreme Divine carries the Mother in his eternal consciousness?
Beyond all question.
--
Cannot the ego consent to its own abolition?
The ego was created for the work of individualisation; when the
--
"When we eat, we should be conscious that we are giving
our food to that Presence in us.... "21
--
feel it. But each time that we are attentive and concentrated, we
become aware of a wonderful transformation in all things.
--
In order to be conscious of the constant Presence, is
memory a good aid?
Memory is a mental faculty and helps the mental consciousness.
But feeling and sensation must also participate.
--
When the Presence becomes concrete, does this indicate
the participation of feeling and sensation?
--
perception becomes concrete and tangible.
19 December 1968
--
Neither the one nor the other in their apparent contradiction
created by the separative consciousness, but something else that
our words cannot express.
In the present state of human consciousness, it is good for it
to think that aspiration and human effort can hasten the advent
--
That probably depends on the yogi and his condition.
But when one is united with the Supreme consciousness and
when the body is undergoing transformation, the body keeps its
--
of its content.
29 December 1968
--
yoga is not an escape from the physical consciousness but a
divinisation of that consciousness.
31 December 1968
0.12 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One concentrates at the Samadhi to grow in devotion and
to put oneself in contact with Sri Aurobindo in order to receive
his help.
--
You are born for a spiritual and conscious life - but perhaps
you are still too young to have the will to realise it.
--
It is the same for everybody as long as one has not consciously
unified the whole of one's being around the psychic centre.
--
illumination of the consciousness.
Do you want to do it?
--
You wrote to me that it is not easy to come in contact
with the psychic being. Why do You consider it difficult?
How should I begin?
I said "not easy" because the contact is not spontaneous - it
is voluntary. The psychic being always has an influence on the
thoughts and actions, but one is rarely conscious of it. To become conscious of the psychic being, one must want to do so, make
--
the habit of silent concentration and descent into the depths of
one's being.
--
certain that this consciousness has manifested in bodies other
than their present one and that it will survive the disappearance
--
we think about? Does being in contact with Nature help
us in any way?
--
It is not by thinking that one can be in contact with Nature, for
Nature does not think.
--
with her, that can help in widening the consciousness.
Blessings.
--
In either case the only truly effective remedy is conscious
union with the Divine. Indeed, as soon as one becomes conscious
of the Divine and is united with Him, one learns to love with
--
lacks control, isn't it? So what should I do to keep it
quiet at night?
--
can rest properly. A little concentration for that, before going to
sleep, will surely be effective.
--
cases as there are persons. But each one can learn which conditions are best for his rest.
You can become conscious of your nights and your sleep
just as you are conscious of your days. It is a matter of inner
development and discipline of the consciousness.
Blessings.
--
What do You mean by "becoming conscious"? Is
becoming conscious of the Divine Presence in oneself the
only thing or does becoming conscious of one's movements, of one's speech, etc. also count?
Series Twelve - To a Student
You may be sure that becoming conscious of the Divine Presence
in oneself considerably changes one's whole way of being and
gives an exceptional control over all activities, mental, vital and
physical.
And this control is infinitely more powerful and luminous
than anything one can obtain through external means.
--
A vital converted and consecrated to the Divine Will becomes a bold and forceful instrument that can overcome all
obstacles. But it first has to be disciplined, and this it consents
to only when the Divine is its master.
--
change of consciousness?
Passing from the general ignorant human consciousness to the
yogic consciousness founded on the knowledge of the Divine
Presence.
--
When you go to bed late and get up late, you contradict the
forces of Nature, and that is not very wise.
--
he who has become conscious of the Divine and become His
faithful instrument can avoid error, if he is careful to act only at
--
world and the whole universe - to become conscious once more
of being Him.
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I must say that at the present moment conditions are
particularly favourable.
--
It means to become conscious of the Divine Presence in oneself or on the spiritual heights, and, once one is conscious of
His Presence, to surrender to Him completely so that one no
--
When we sleep, our consciousness goes out, doesn't
it? But other people have dreams in which I appear. So
what happens? Does the consciousness divide itself or
are other people's dreams only their own imagination?
Most often, it is the vital consciousness that goes out of the body
and has the form, the appearance of the person's body. If one
--
that is to say, becoming conscious of the Divine in oneself and
identifying with Him.
--
and impulses, a luminous consciousness which is always present
and manifests the physical being.
Ordinarily, one becomes aware of the presence of this consciousness only when one has to face some danger or an unexpected event or a great sorrow.
One has, then, to come into conscious contact with that and
learn to do so at will. The rest will follow.
--
When the vital is converted, the impulses are good instead
of being bad; wickedness is replaced by kindness, avarice by
--
things and making them conscious? And why all these
misfortunes and sufferings?
--
Some have considered the problem more deeply and asked
themselves whether human beings, who are so small and limited,
--
come to the same conclusion: unite with the Divine and you will
understand.
--
going elsewhere? One can make a conscious effort and
Your protection is always there, isn't it?
--
The work of unifying the being consists of:
(1) becoming aware of one's psychic being.
--
be driven out of the consciousness so that they may never come
back again.
--
study here must make an effort to grow in consciousness (a thing
they could do more easily here than elsewhere). Unfortunately,
--
developed their consciousness and those who have not?
Those who have done it and done it well become conscious; the
others remain half conscious like the vast majority of human
beings. consciousness, the true consciousness, gives control over
one's own character and, to a large extent, over events.
--
the bondage of religions. Do you want to contradict his work
for the sake of a childish idle curiosity?
--
to their own means. The Divine has sent down His consciousness to give them light. All who are able to do so should profit
by it.
--
not sent His consciousness down upon earth? But the
whole creation has had the Divine in it from the very
--
have learned to be conscious. Now they are ready to manifest
a far higher consciousness, the consciousness that will act fully
in the superman; and that is why this consciousness has come
down on earth to work in all who are ready to receive it.
--
will be to man what man is to the animal. The consciousness of
this new race is already at work on earth to give light to all who
--
If the departed one is a person one loves, one should concentrate one's love on him in peace and calm, for that is what
can most help the one who has departed.
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
because the transformation begins with the opening of the consciousness to the action of the new forces; thus individuals have
a unique and wonderful opportunity to open themselves to the
--
Grant that we may become conscious and effective collaborators in the fulfilment of Thy Will.
5 December 1971
--
Our human consciousness has windows that open upon the
Infinite. But generally men keep these windows carefully closed.
--
Two conditions are necessary to open the windows:
(1) ardent aspiration;
--
Egos that are converted and wholly consecrated to the
Divine become especially powerful and effective instruments.
--
to concentrate on it by making it the witness of all your inner
movements and the judge of all that you should or should not
--
understanding and generous, wide and progressive. Its constant
effort is to understand and progress.
--
The psychic is conscious of its progressive formation during successive lives upon earth, so it has the memory of the important
moments in its previous lives.
--
are beginning to feel the need to find in your own being contact
with the Divine Presence. So you must concentrate in silence and
Series Fourteen - To a Sadhak
--
depths of your consciousness, beyond all mental activity.
16 December 1971
--
One moment of conscious communion with the Divine can
shatter all resistance, however powerful it may be.
--
have driven all defeatism out of our consciousness.
It is by perfecting our faith in the Divine Grace that we shall
be able to conquer the defeatism of the sub conscient.
20 December 1971
--
It is only in perfect union with the Divine that the consciousness
can emerge into the eternal delight. And this conscious union is
the true goal of earthly existence.
--
To know why we live: discovery of the Divine and conscious
union with Him.
The aspiration to concentrate solely on this realisation.
To know how to transform all circumstances into a means
--
I aspire to consecrate my life to Your service.
24 December 1971
The best thing we can do to express our gratitude is to overcome all egoism in ourselves and make a constant effort towards this transformation. Human egoism refuses to abdicate
on the grounds that others are not transformed. But that is
--
If men knew that this transformation, the abolition of egoism, is the only way to gain constant peace and delight, they
would consent to make the necessary effort. This, then, is the conviction that must awaken in them.
--
( 1 ) Those who live for themselves. They consider everything
in relation to themselves and act accordingly. The vast majority
--
(3) Those who consecrate their life to the service of humanity through some activity done not for personal satisfaction
but truly to be useful to others without calculation and without
--
effort required to find the Divine, to be conscious of His Will
and to work exclusively to serve Him.
--
finds the certitude of total fulfilment and a constant luminous
peace.
--
The result of the creation is a detailed multiplication of consciousness.
When the vision of the whole and the vision of all the details
are united in a single active consciousness, the creation will have
attained its progressive perfection.
--
In time and space no two human beings have the same consciousness, and the sum of all these consciousnesses is but a partial
and diminished manifestation of the Divine consciousness.
That is why I said "progressive perfection", because the
manifestation of the consciousness of detail is infinite and unending.
9 January 1972
The first condition is not to have one's own personal interest as
a goal.
--
And then to be conscious that one knows nothing compared
to what one ought to know, that one can do nothing compared
--
One must constantly progress in the light and peace that
come from the absence of personal desires.
--
In principle, everything is possible by uniting consciously with
the Divine Force.
--
The first condition is to have a physical nature that gives
energy rather than draws energy from others.
The se cond indispensable condition is to know how to draw
energy from above, from the inexhaustible impersonal source.
--
must be convinced that the possibility of progress is unlimited.
Progress is youth; one can be young at a hundred.
--
When the body has learned the art of constantly progressing
towards an increasing perfection, we shall be well on the way to
--
If the growth of consciousness were considered as the principal
goal of life, many difficulties would find their solution.
--
To learn constantly, not just intellectually but psychologically,
to progress in regard to character, to cultivate our qualities and
--
The first thing the physical consciousness must understand is
that all the difficulties we meet with in life come from the fact
--
come from the fact that men are nearly always convinced that
they know better than the Divine what they need and what
--
beings to conform to their expectations and circumstances to conform to their desires - therefore they suffer and are unhappy.
--
with one's psychic, one can know it. But the first condition is
not to be subject to one's desires and mistake them for the truth
--
In the depths of our being, in the silence of contemplation, a
luminous force floods our consciousness with a vast and luminous peace which prevails over all petty reactions and prepares
us for union with the Divine - the very purpose of individual
--
either to get converted or disappear.
8 February 1972
--
were convinced of it, they would all want to do yoga.
9 February 1972
Human consciousness is so corrupted that men prefer the miseries of the ego and its ignorance to the luminous joy that comes
from a sincere surrender to the Divine. So great is their blindness
--
"Supreme Lord, Perfect consciousness, You alone know
truly what we are, what we can do, what progress we must make
--
(1) To widen the field of one's consciousness.
(2) To understand ever better and more completely what
--
(1) To constantly enrich the possibilities of the instrument.
(2) To ceaselessly perfect the functioning of this instrument.
--
purify oneself of all that prevents one from being totally surrendered to the Divine. To make one's consciousness more and
more receptive to the Divine Influence.
--
will because its consciousness will be totally united with Yours.
23 February 1972
Grant that I may become conscious of Your Presence.
9 March 1972
--
that all in us may conform to Your Will.
12 March 1972
Lord, give us the silence of Your contemplation, the silence rich
with Your effective Presence.
--
we may be fully conscious of it.
Grant that we may know that You are our life, our consciousness and our being, and that without You everything is
merely illusion.
--
Grant that we may identify ourselves with Your Eternal consciousness so that we may know truly what Immortality is.
16 March 1972
To prepare for immortality, the consciousness of the body must
first identify itself with the Eternal consciousness.
17 March 1972
--
It is a subject for contemplative meditation.
18 March 1972
--
Let us do our best to prepare the coming of the New Being. The mind must fall silent and be replaced by the Truth consciousness - the consciousness of details harmonised with
the consciousness of the whole.
19 March 1972
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
At times, finding the world unready to receive Her, She contemplates withdrawing. But how cruel a loss this would be!
It is true that at present, her presence is more rhetorical than factual, since so far She has had no chance to manifest. Yet even so, She is a powerful instrument in the Work, for of all the Mothers aspects, She holds the greatest power to transform the body. Indeed, those cells which can vibrate at the touch of the divine Joy, receive it and bear it, are cells reborn, on their way to becoming immortal.
--
I didnt say She HAD gone. I said She was conTEMPLATING it at times, now and then.
But Mother, if She came down, She must have seen a possibility!
--
I dont say it was ineffectual, but between the result obtained and the result hoped for, there was a considerable difference. But as I said, you who are all so near, so steeped in this atmosphere who among you noticed anything?You simply went on with your little lives as usual.
I think it was in 1946, Mother, because you told us so many things at that time.
--
Try to change your consciousness.
(silence)
--
Oh! But you see, from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. From an external standpoint you could say that there are people in the world who are far superior to you (and I would not disagree!), but from an occult standpoint, it is a selection. There are It can be said that without a doubt the majority of young people here have come because it was promised them that they would be present at the Hour of Realization but they just dont remember it! (Mother laughs) I have already said several times that when you come down on earth, you fall on your head, which leaves you a little dazed! (laughter) Its a pity, but after all, you dont have to remain dazed all your lives, do you? You should go deep within yourselves and there find the immortal consciousness then you can see very well, you can very clearly remember the circumstances in which you you aspired to be here for the Hour of the Works realization.
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.
--
Yes, I have always said that it changed when we had to take the very little children. How can you envision an ascetic life with little sprouts no bigger than that? Its impossible! But thats the little surprise package the war left on our doorstep. When it was found that Pondicherry was the safest place on earth, naturally people came wheeling in here with all their baby carriages filled and asked us if we could shelter them, so we couldnt very well turn them away, could we?! Thats how it happened, and in no other way But, in the beginning, the first condition for coming here was that you would have nothing more to do with your family! If a man was married, then he had to completely overlook the fact that he had a wife and childrencompletely sever all ties, have nothing further to do with them. And if ever a wife asked to come just because her husb and happened to be here, we told her, You have no business coming here!
In the beginning, it was very, very strict for a long time.
The first condition was: Nothing more to do with your family Well, we are a long way from that! But I repeat that it only happened because of the war and not because we stopped seeing the need to cut all family ties; on the contrary, this is an indispensable condition because as long as you hang on to all these cords which bind you to ordinary life, which make you a slave to the ordinary life, how can you possibly belong to the Divine alone? What childishness! It is simply not possible. If you have ever taken the trouble to read over the early ashram rules, you would find that even friendships were considered dangerous and undesirable We made every effort to create an atmosphere in which only ONE thing counted: the Life Divine.
But as I said, bit by bit things changed. However, this had one advantage: we were too much outside of life. So there were a number of problems which had never arisen but which would have suddenly surged up the moment we wanted a complete manifestation. We took on all these problems a little prematurely, but it gave us the opportunity to solve them. In this way we learned many things and surmounted many difficulties, only it complicated things considerably. And in the present situation, given such a large number of elements who havent even the slightest idea why theyre here (!) well, it demands a far greater effort on the disciples part than before.
Before, when there were we started with 35 or 36 people but even when it got up to 150, even with 150it was as if they were all nestled in a cocoon in my consciousness: they were so near to me that I could constantly guide ALL their inner or outer movements. Day and night, at each moment, everything was totally under my control. And naturally, I think they made a great deal of progress at that time: it is a fact that I was conSTANTLY doing the sadhana2 for them. But then, with this baby boom The sadhana cant be done for little sprouts who are 3 or 4 or 5 years old! Its out of the question. The only thing I can do is wrap them in the consciousness and try to see that they grow up in the best of all possible conditions. However, the one advantage to all this is that instead of there being such a COMPLETE and PASSIVE dependence on the disciples part, each one has to make his own little effort. Truly, thats excellent.
I dont know to whom I was mentioning this today (I think it was for a Birthday3 No, I dont know now. It was to someone who told me he was 18 years old. I said that between the ages of 18 and 20, I had attained a constant and conscious union with the Divine Presence and that I had done this ALL ALONE, without ANYONES help, not even books. When a little later I chanced upon Vivekanandas Raja Yoga, it really seemed so wonderful to me that someone could explain something to me! And it helped me realize in only a few months what would have otherwise taken years.
I met a man (I was perhaps 20 or 21 at the time), an Indian who had come to Europe and who told me of the Gita. There was a French translation of it (a rather poor one, I must say) which he advised me to read, and then he gave me the key (HIS key, it was his key). He said, Read the Gita (this translation of the Gita which really wasnt worth much but it was the only one available at the timein those days I wouldnt have understood anything in other languages; and besides, the English translations were just as bad and well, Sri Aurobindo hadnt done his yet!). He said, Read the Gita knowing that Krishna is the symbol of the immanent God, the God within. That was all. Read it with THAT knowledgewith the knowledge that Krishna represents the immanent God, the God within you. Well, within a month, the whole thing was done!
--
But Im not at all discouraged, I just find it rather laughable. Only there are other far more serious things; for example, when you try to deceive yourselves that is not so pretty. One should not mix up cats and kings. You should call a cat a cat and a king a king and human instinct, human instinctand not speak about things divine when they are utterly human, nor pretend to have supramental experiences when you are living in a blatantly ordinary consciousness.
If you look at yourselves straight in the face and you see what you are, then if by chance you should resolve to But what really astounds me is that you dont even seem to feel an intense NEED to do this! But how can we know? Because you DO know, you have been told over and over again, it has been drummed into your heads. You KNOW that you have a divine consciousness within you. And yet you can go on sleeping night after night, playing day after day, doing your lessons ad infinitum and still not be not have a BURNING desire and will to come into contact with yourselves!With yourselves, yes, the you just there, inside (motion towards the center of the chest) Really, its beyond me!
As soon as I found outand no one told me, I found out through an experienceas soon as I found out that there was a discovery to be made within myself, well, it became THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in the world. It took precedence over everything else!
--
And how many years have you all been here, half-asleep? Naturally, youre happy to think about it now and thenespecially when I speak to you about it or sometimes when you read. But THATthat fire, that will which plows through all barriers, that concentration which can triumph over EVERYTHING
Now who was it that asked me what you should do?
--
It is very clear. So it is not I who can make Her stay. And I certainly cannot ask Her to stay for egotistical reasons. Moreover, all these Aspects, all these Personalities manifest constantly but they never manifest for personal reason. Not one of them has ever thought of helping my bodybesides, I dont ask them to because that is not their purpose. But it is more than obvious that if the people around me were receptive, She could permanently manifest since they could receive Herand this would help my body enormously because all these vibrations would run through it. But She never gets even a chance to manifestnot a single one. She only meets people who dont even feel Her when Shes there! They dont even notice Her, theyre not even aware of her presence. So how can She manifest in these conditions? Im not going to ask Her, Please come and change my body. We dont have that kind of relationship! Furthermore, the body itself wouldnt agree. It never thinks of itself, it never pays attention to itself, and besides, it is only through the work that it can be transformed.
Yes, certainly had there been any receptivity when She came down and had She been able to manifest with the power with which She came But I can tell you one thing: even before Her coming, when, with Sri Aurobindo, I had begun going down (for the Yoga) from the mental plane to the vital plane, when we brought our yoga down from the mental plane into the vital plane, in less than a month (I was forty years old at the time I didnt seem very old, I looked less than forty, but I was forty anyway), after no more than a month of this yoga, I looked exactly like an 18 year old! And someone who knew me and had stayed with me in Japan5 came here, and when he saw me, he could scarcely believe his eyes! He said, But my god, is it you? I said, Of course!
--
Well, I am only telling you all this because I thought someone might ask me about it, but otherwise I dont have that kind of relationship with Her. You see, if you consider this body, this poor body, it is very innocent: it in no way tries to draw attention to itself nor to attract forces nor to do anything at all except its workas best it can. And thats how it stands: its importance is proportionate to its usefulness and to the significance the world attri butes to itsince its action is for the world.
But in and of itself, it is only one body among countless others. Thats all.
0 1955-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I am not so absurdly pretentious as to blame the divine, nor yourself and I remain quite convinced that all this is my own fault. Undoubtedly I have not known how to surrender totally in some part of myself, or I do not aspire enough or know how to open myself as needed. Also, I should rely entirely upon the divine to take care of my progress and not be concerned about the absence of experiences. I have therefore asked myself why I am so far away from the true attitude, the genuine opening, and I see two main reasons: on the one hand, the difficulties inherent in my own nature, and on the other, the outer conditions of this sadhana. These conditions do not seem to be conducive to helping me overcome the difficulties in my own nature.
I feel that I am turning in circles and taking one step backward for each one forward. Furthermore, instead of helping me draw nearer to the divine consciousness, my work in the Ashram (the very fact of working for to change work, even if I felt like it, would not change the overall situation), diverts me from this divine consciousness, or at least keeps me in a superficial consciousness from which I am unable to unglue myself as long as I am busy writing letters, doing translations, corrections or classes.1 I know its my own fault, that I should know how to be detached from my work and do it by relying upon a deeper consciousness, but what can be done? Unless I receive the grace, I cannot remember the essential thing as long as the outer part of my being is active.
When I am not immediately engrossed in work, I have to confront a thousand little temptations and daily difficulties that come from my contact with other beings and a life that does indeed remain in life. Here, even more, there is the feeling of an impossible struggle, and all these little difficulties seem to gnaw away at me; scarcely has one hole been filled when another opens up, or the same one reappears, and there is never any real victoryone has constantly to begin everything again. Finally, it seems to me that I really live only one hour a day, during the evening distribution at the playground.2 It is scarcely a life and scarcely a sadhana! consequently, I understand much better now why in the traditional yogas one settled all these difficulties once and for all by escaping from the world, without bothering to transform a life that seems so untransformable.
I am not now going to renounce Sri Aurobindos Yoga, Mother, for my whole life is based upon it, but I believe I should employ other meanswhich is why I am writing you this letter.
By continuing this daily little ant-like struggle and by having to confront the same desires, the same distractions every day, it seems to me I am wasting my energy in vain. Sri Aurobindos Yoga, which is meant to include life, is so difficult that one should come to it only after having already established the solid base of a concrete divine realization. That is why I want to ask you if I should not withdraw for a certain time, to Almora,3 for example, to Brewsters place,4 to live in solitude, silence, meditation, far away from people, work and temptations, until a beginning of Light and Realization is concretized in me. Once this solid base is acquired, it would be easier for me to resume my work and the struggle here for the true transformation of the outer being. But to want to transform this outer being without having fully illumined the inner being seems to me to be putting the cart before the horse, or at least condemning myself to a pitiless and endless battle in which the best of my forces are fruitlessly consumed.
In all sincerity, I must say that when I was at Brewsters place in Almora, I felt very near to that state in which the Light must surge forth. I quite understand the imperfection of this process, which involves fleeing from difficulties, but this would only be a stage, a strategic retreat, as it were.
--
You may go to Almora if you think it will help you break this shell of the outer consciousness, so obstinately impenetrable.
Perhaps being far away from the Ashram for a while will help you feel the special atmosphere that exists here and that cannot be found anywhere else to the same extent.
--
For a long time, Satprem took care of the correspondence with the outside, along with Pavitra, not to mention editing the Ashram Bulletin as well as Mother's writings and talks, translating Sri Aurobindo's works into French, and conducting classes at the Ashram's 'International Centre of Education.'
Every evening at the Playground, the disciples passed before Mother one by one to receive symbolically some food.
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.
During the day, I live more or less calmly in my little morass, but as evening and the moment to meet you draw near, then the forces pinning me to the ground begin raging beneath your pressure, and I feel at times an unbearable tearing that burns and constricts in my throat like tears that cannot be shed. Afterwards, Truth regains possession of me but the following day it all begins again.
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.
--
Your case is not unique; there are others (and among the best and the most faithful) who are likewise a veritable battlefield for the forces opposing the advent of the truth. They feel powerless in this battle, sorrowful witnesses, victims without the strength to fight, for this is taking place in that part of the physical consciousness where the supramental forces are not yet fully active, although I am confident they soon will be. Meanwhile, the only remedy is to endure, to go through this suffering and to await patiently the hour of liberation.
While reading your prayer, I too prayed that it be heard.
0 1955-09-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
No matter where I concentrate, in my heart, above my head, between my eyes, I bang everywhere into an unyielding wall; I no longer know which way to turn, what I must do, say, pray in order to be freed from all this at last. Mother, I know that I am not making all the effort I should, but help me to make this effort, I implore your grace. I need so much to find at last this solid rock upon which to lean, this space of light where finally I may seek refuge. Mother, open the psychic being in me, open me to your sole Light which I need so much. Without your grace, I can only turn in circles, hopelessly. O Mother, may I live in you.
Your child,
0 1955-09-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother suddenly everything seems to have crystallizedall the little revolts, the little tensions, the ill will and petty vital demandsforming a single block of open, determined resistance. I have become conscious that from the beginning of my sadhana, the mind has led the gamewith the psychic behind and has held me in leash, helped muzzle all contrary movements, but at no time, or only rarely, has the vital submitted or opened to the higher influence. The rare times when the vital participated, I felt a great progress. But now, I find myself in front of this solid mass that says No and is not at all convinced of what the mind has been imposing upon it for almost two years now.
Mother, I am sufficiently awakened not to rebel against your Light and to understand that the vital is but one part of my being, but I have come to the conclusion that the only way of convincing this vital is not to force or stifle it, but to let it go through its own experience so it may understand by itself that it cannot be satisfied in this way. I feel the need to leave the Ashram for a while to see how I can get along away from here and to realize, no doubt, that one can really brea the only here.
I have friends in Bangalore whom I would like to join for two or three weeks, perhaps more, perhaps less, however long it may take to confront this vital with its own freedom. I need a vital activity, to move, to sail, for example, to have friends etc. The need I am feeling is exactly that which I sought to satisfy in the past through my long boat journeys along the coast of Brittany. It is a kind of thirst for space and movement.
Otherwise, Mother, there is this block before me that is obscuring all the rest and taking away my taste for everything. I would like to leave, Mother, but not in revolt; may it be an experience to go through that receives your approval. I would not like to be cut off from you by your displeasure or your condemnation, for this would seem to me terrible and leave me no other recourse but to plunge into the worst excesses in order to forget.
Mother, I would like you to forgive me, to understand me and, above all, not to deprive me of your Love. I would like you to tell me if I may leave for a few weeks and how you feel about it. It seems to me that I am profoundly your child, in spite of all this??
0 1955-10-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
3) To nestle in His arms, to melt in Him in a tender and absolute conFIDENCE.
These movements may be accompanied by three formulas, or any one of them, depending upon the case:
0 1956-02-29 - First Supramental Manifestation - The Golden Hammer, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was there present amongst you. I had a form of living gold, bigger than the universe, and I was facing a huge and massive golden door which separated the world from the Divine.
As I looked at the door, I knew and willed, in a single movement of consciousness, that THE TIME HAS COME, and lifting with both hands a mighty golden hammer I struck one blow, one single blow1 on the door and the door was shattered to pieces.
Then the supramental Light and Force and consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow.
Later added by Mother
0 1956-03-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The control over the movements of the vertebrae, lost a long time ago (which resulted in a kind of insensitivity and incapacity to move them at will) has returned to a great extent: the consciousness is once again able to express itself and the back can straighten up very visibly.
***
0 1956-03-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But the age of Communism, too, will pass. For Communism as it is preached is not constructive, it is a weapon to combat plutocracy. But when the battle is over and the armies are disbanded for want of employment, then Communism, having no more utility, will be transformed into something else that will express a higher truth.
We know this truth, and we are working for it so that it may reign upon earth.
0 1956-04-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Mother, two months ago I had a clear mental perception of what was asked of me: to spend the rest of my life here. This is the source of my difficulties and of the inner hell I have been living through ever since. Each time I try to emerge, there is this image that rises up in me: your-whole-life and this casts me into a violent conflict. When I came here, I thought of staying for two or three years; for me the Ashram was a means of realization, not an end.
I understand now that as long as my whole being has not ACCEPTED that it must finish its life here, there is no way out nor any recovery possible. Through my mental force alone, this acceptance is impossible; I have been turning infernally in circles these past two months, and the mind is in league with the vital. Therefore, a force greater than mine must help me accept that my way is here. I need you, Mother, for without you I am lost. I need you to tell me that the Truth of my being is indeed here and that I am truly ready to follow this path. Mother, I beseech you, help me to see the truth of my being, give me some sign that my way is here and not elsewhere. I beg of you, Mother, help me to know.
--
I am broken and battered in the depths of my being as I was in my flesh in the concentration camps. Will the divine grace take pity on me? Can you, do you want to help me? Alone I can do nothing. I am in an absolute solitude, even beyond all rebellion, at my very end.
Yet I love you in spite of all that I am.
0 1956-04-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The difficulties of the past weeks have taught me that as soon as one strays from the true consciousness, in however trifling a way, anything may happen, any excess, any aberration, any imbalance and I have felt very dangerous things prowling about me. Mother, you told me in regard to Patrick1 that the law of the manifestation was a law of freedom, even the freedom to choose wrongly. This evening, it has been my very deep perception that this freedom is virtually always a freedom to choose wrongly. I harbor a great fear of losing the true consciousness once again. I have become aware of how fragile everything in me is and that very little would be enough to carry me away.
Therefore, Sweet Mother, I come to ask a great grace of you, from the depths of my heart: take my freedom into your hands. Prevent me from falling back, far away from you. I place this freedom in your hands. Keep me safe, Mother, protect me. Grant me the grace of watching over me and of taking me in your hands completely, like a child whose steps are unsure. I no longer want this Freedom. It is you I want, the Truth of my being. Mother, as a grace, I implore you to free me from my freedom to choose wrongly.
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Those who are ready within, who are open and in touch with the higher forces, those who have had a more or less direct personal contact with the Supramental Light and consciousness, are capable of feeling the difference in the earth atmosphere.
But for this only like can know like. Only the Supramental consciousness in an individual can perceive the Supramental acting in the earth atmosphere. Those who, for whatever reason, have developed this perception can see it. But those who are not even remotely conscious of their inner beings, who would be quite at a loss to say what their souls look like, are certainly not ready to perceive the difference in the earth atmosphere. They still have quite a way to go for that. Because, for those whose consciousness is more or less exclusively centered in the outer beingmental, vital and physicalthings need to have an absurd or unexpected appearance to be noticeable. And then they call it a miracle.
But we do not call a miracle the constant miracle of the forces that intervene to change circumstances and human natures and which have very far-reaching consequences, for we see only the appearance, and this appearance seems quite natural. But in truth, if you were to reflect upon the least thing that happens, you would be forced to acknowledge that it is miraculous.
It is simply because you do not reflect upon it and assume things to be as they are, what they are, unquestioningly; otherwise you would have quite a number of opportunities everyday to say to yourself, But look! That is absolutely amazing! How did it happen?
--
Sweet Mother, what should be our attitude towards this New consciousness?
That depends upon what you want to do with it.
--
I knew some people who came here a long time ago, something like (Oh, I dont recall anymore, but quite a long time ago!), certainly more than twenty years ago; the first time someone died in the Ashram, they expressed a considerable dissatisfaction: But I came here because I thought this yoga would make me immortal! If you can still die, then why did I come here?
Well, its the same thing. People take the train to come herethere were about a hundred and fifty more people than usual1simply because they want to benefit. But this may be exactly why they have not benefited from it! Because This [the supramental consciousness] has not come to make people benefit in any way whatsoever!
They ask if their inner difficulties will be easier to overcome.
--
Mother, when the mind came down into the earth atmosphere, the ape did not make any effort to convert himself into a man, did he? It was Nature that supplied the effort. But in our case
But its not man who is going to convert himself into a superman!
No?
--
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.
If you had had a little inner contact, you would have recognized it immediately, dont you think so?
Well, in any event, that was the case for those who had a little inner contact; they recognized it, they felt it, and they said, Ah, there it is! It has come! But how is it that so many hundreds of peoplenot to mention the handful of those who really wanted only that, thought only of that, had staked their whole lives on thathow is it that they felt nothing? What can this mean?
It is well known that only like knows like. It is an obvious fact.
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.
--
What I call a descent is this: first of all, the consciousness climbs in ascent, then you catch the Thing up above and redescend with it. This is an INDIVIDUAL event.
When this individual event has taken place sufficiently to allow a more general possibility to emerge, it is no longer a descent but a manifestation.
What I call a descent is the individual movement in an individual consciousness. But when a new world is manifesting in an old worldas when similarly the mind spread over the earth I call it a manifestation.
You may call it whatever you like, it makes no difference to me, but we must understand each other.
What I call a descent takes place in the individual consciousness. In the same way, we speak of ascent (there is no ascent really, there is no high or low, no direction: its all a manner of speaking)we speak of ascent when we feel ourselves rising up towards something, and we call it a descent when, after having caught this thing, we bring it down into ourselves.
But when the doors are opened and the flood pours in, it can no longer be called a descent: it is a Force that spreads everywhere. Understood? Ah!
0 1956-08-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In fact, following the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, 1956, all of Mother's physical difficulties increased, as though all the obscurities in the physical consciousness were surging forth beneath the pressure of the new light. The same observation applies to the disciples who were around Mother and undoubtedly to the world as a whole. A strange 'mysterious acceleration' was beginning to take hold of the world.
***
0 1956-09-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I had had a somewhat similar experience at the time of the union of the supreme creative principle with the physical consciousness. But that was a subtle experience, while this was materialin the body.
I did not have the experience, I did not look at it: I WAS it.
0 1956-09-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I feel that I am your child in spite of all my contradictions and failings. I love you.
Signed: Bernard
--
You asked me what I see and whether your difficulties will not reappear upon your return to the Ashram. It may well be. If you return as you still are at present, it may be that after a very short period it will all begin again. That is why I am going to propose something to you but to accept it you will have to be heroic and very determined in your consecration to my work.
This possibility appeared to me while reading what you wrote about your sojourn in Brazil with W, the only good rich man you have known. Here is my proposal, which I express to you quite plainly, spontaneously, as it presented itself to me.
0 1956-10-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It was because I hadnt thought of it. It hadnt even grazed my consciousness. The divine will is not at all like that, it is not a will: it is a VISION, a global vision, that sees and No, it does not guide (to guide suggests something outside, but nothing is outside), a creative vision, as it were; yet even then, the word create does not here have the meaning we generally attribute to it.
And what is the Ashram? (I dont even mean in terms of the Universeon Earth only.) A speck. And why should this speck receive exceptional treatment? Perhaps if people here had realized the supermind. But are they so exceptional as to expect exceptional treatment?
--
People say, I gave everything, I sacrificed everything. In exchange, I expect exceptional conditionseverything should be beautiful, harmonious, easy.
But the divine vision is global. The people in the Ashram do not want this strike but what about the others? They are ignorant, mean, full of ill will, etc., but in their own way they are following a path, and why should they be deprived of the Grace? By the fact that their action is against the Ashram? It is certainly a Grace.
--
A consciousness and a vision. And one is filled with joy and
I used to be different (although I was said to be non-interfering); I acted, if at all, to defend myself But I understood very quickly that even this was a reaction of ignorance and that things would be set right automatically if one remained in the true consciousness.
A consciousness that sees and makes you see.
Which is why things go amiss when people try to force me to act: I am outside of myself, so to speak. As soon as I come back here, with no one around, then I see.
--
Mother is referring to a strike by the salaried workers of the Ashram, one of the numerous internal and external difficulties constantly assailing Her.
***
0 1956-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Two things which were parallel and concomitant that is, they are always together:
Oneidentity with the Origin, which imparts an absolute serenity and perfect detachment to the action.
The otheridentity with the supreme Grace, which obliterates and abolishes all errors committed in the action by whomsoever and whatsoever and which annuls all the consequences of these errors.
And the moment I perceived this, I saw that my third attitude in action, which is the will for progress for the whole earth as well as for each particular individual, was not the height of my being.
--
I wanted to take this little rose (Tenderness for the Divine), for I consider it to be the manifestation nearest to divine Love. Its disinterested, spontaneous, intimate.
This is what I wanted to take with me to my super-heaven, as the most precious thing in the human heart.
0 1956-10-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
One should beware of the charm of memories. What remains of past experiences is the effect they have had in the development of the consciousness. But when one attempts to relive a memory by placing oneself again in similar circumstances, one realizes quite rapidly how devoid they are of their power and charm, because they have lost their usefulness for progress.
You are now beyond the stage when the virgin forest and the desert can be useful for your growth. They had put you in contact with a life vaster than your own and they widened the limits of your consciousness. But now you need something else.
So far, your whole life has revolved around yourself; all you have done, even the apparently most disinterested or least egoistic act, has been done with a view to your own personal growth or illumination. It is time to live for something other than yourself, something other than your own individuality.
0 1956-12-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I feel that this Truth of my being, this self most intensely felt, is independent from any form or institution. As far back as I can reach in my consciousness, this thing has been there; it was what drove me at an early age to liberate myself from my family, my religion, my country, a profession, marriage or society in general. I feel this thing to be a kind of absolute freedom, and I have been feeling within me this same profound drive for more than a year. Is this need for freedom wrong? And yet is it not because of this that the best in me has blossomed?
This is actually what is happening in me: I never really accepted the W solution, and the solution of Somalil and doesnt appeal to me. But I feel drawn by the idea of Turkestan, as I already told you, and this is why:
0 1957-01-18, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The conflict that is tearing me apart is between this shadowy part of a past that does not want to die, and the new light. I wonder if, rather than escaping to some desert, it would not be wiser to resolve this conflict by objectify it, by writing this book I spoke to you about.
But I would like to know whether it is really useful for me to write this book, or whether it is not just some inferior task, a makeshift.
--
Could you tell me, as a favor, what this particular thing is in me which may be useful to you and serve you? If I could only know what my real work is in this world All the conflicting impulses in me stem from my being like an unemployed force, like a being whose place has not yet been determined.
What do you see in me, Mother? Is it through writing that I shall achieve what is to be achievedor does all this still belong to a nether world? But if so, then of what use am I? If I were good at something, it would give me some air to breathe.
0 1957-04-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For more than a year now, I have been hypnotized by the idea that if I give in, I will be condemned to remain here. Once more, forgive me for speaking so absurdly, for of course I know it is not a condemnation; and yet a part of me feels that it would be.
Thus I am so tense that I do not even want to close my eyes to meditate for fear of yielding. And I fall into all kinds of errors that horrify me, simply because the pressure is too strong at times, and I literally suffocate. Mother, I am not cut out to be a disciple.
0 1957-07-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have been asked if we are doing a collective yoga and what are the conditions of a collective yoga.
First, I could tell you that to do a collective yoga, there has to be a collectivity! And I could speak to you about the different conditions required to be a collectivity. But last night (smiling), I had a symbolic vision of our collectivity.
This vision took place early in the night and woke me up with a rather unpleasant feeling. Then I fell back to sleep and forgot about it; but a little while ago, when I was thinking of the question put to me, it returned. It returned with a great intensity and so imperatively that now, just as I wanted to tell you what kind of collectivity we wish to realize according to the ideal described by Sri Aurobindo in the last chapter of The Life Divinea gnostic, supramental collectivity, the only kind that can do Sri Aurobindos integral yoga and be realized physically in a progressive collective body becoming more and more divine the recollection of this vision became so imperative that I couldnt speak.
Its symbolism was very clear, though of quite a familiar nature, as it were, and because of its very familiarity, unmistakable in its realism Were I to tell you all the details, you would probably not even be able to follow: it was rather intricate. It was a kind of (how can I express it?)an immense hotel where all the terrestrial possibilities were lodged in different apartments. And it was all in a constant state of transformation: parts or entire wings of the building were suddenly torn down and rebuilt while people were still living in them, such that if you went off somewhere within the immense hotel itself, you ran the risk of no longer finding your room when you wanted to return to it, for it might have been torn down and was being rebuilt according to another plan! It was orderly, it was organized yet there was this fantastic chaos which I mentioned. And all this was a symbola symbol that certainly applies to what Sri Aurobindo has written here1 regarding the necessity for the transformation of the body, the type of transformation that has to take place for life to become a divine life.
It went something like this: somewhere, in the center of this enormous edifice, there was a room reservedas it seemed in the story for a mother and her daughter. The mother was a lady, an elderly lady, a very influential matron who had a great deal of authority and her own views concerning the entire organization. Her daughter seemed to have a power of movement and activity enabling her to be everywhere at once while at the same time remaining in her room, which was well, a bit more than a roomit was a kind of apartment which, above all, had the characteristic of being very central. But she was constantly arguing with her mother. The mother wanted to keep things just as they were, with their usual rhythm, which precisely meant the habit of tearing down one thing to rebuild another, then again tearing down that to build still another, thus giving the building an appearance of frightful confusion. But the daughter did not like this, and she had another plan. Most of all, she wanted to bring something completely new into the organization: a kind of super-organization that would render all this confusion unnecessary. Finally, as it was impossible for them to reach an understanding, the daughter left the room to go on a kind of general inspection She went out, looked everything over, and then wanted to return to her room to decide upon some final measures. But this is where something rather peculiar began happening.
She clearly remembered where her room was, but each time she set out to go there, either the staircase disappeared or things were so changed that she could no longer find her way! So she went here and there, up and down, searched, went in and out but it was impossible to find the way to her room! Since all of this assumed a physical appearanceas I said, a very familiar and very common appearance, as is always the case in these symbolic visions there was somewhere (how shall I put it?) the hotels administrative office and a woman who seemed to be the manager, who had all the keys and who knew where everyone was staying. So the daughter went to this person and asked her, Could you show me the way to my room?But of course! Easily! Everyone around the manager looked at her as if to say, How can you say that? However, she got up, and with authority asked for a key the key to the daughters roomsaying, I shall take you there. And off she went along all kinds of paths, but all so complicated, so bizarre! The daughter was following along behind her very attentively, you see, so as not to lose sight of her. But just as they should have come to the place where the daughters room was supposed to be, suddenly the manageress (let us call her the manageress), both the manageress and her key vanished! And the sense of this vanishing was so acute that at the same time, everything vanished!
So to help you understand this enigma, let me tell you that the mother is physical Nature as she is, and the daughter is the new creation. The manageress is the worlds organizing mental consciousness as Nature has developed it thus far, that is, the most advanced organizing sense to have manifested in the present state of material Nature. This is the key to the vision.
Naturally, when I awoke, I immediately knew what could resolve this problem which appeared so absolutely insoluble. The vanishing of the manageress and her key was an obvious sign that she was altogether incapable of leading what could be called the creative consciousness of the new world to its true place.
I knew this, but I did not have a vision of the solution, which means it has yet to manifest; this thing had not yet manifested in the building, this fantastic construction, although it is the very mode of consciousness which could transform this incoherent creation into something real, truly conceived, willed and materialized, with a center in its proper place, a recognized place, and with a REAL effective power.
(silence)
The symbolism is quite clear in that all the possibilities are there, all the activities are there, but in disorder and confusion. They are neither coordinated nor centralized nor unified around the central and unique truth and consciousness and will. So this brings us back precisely to this question of a collective yoga and of a collectivity capable of realizing it. What should this collectivity be?
It is certainly not an arbitrary construction of the type built by men, where everything is put pell-mell, without any order, without reality, and which is held together by only illusory ties. Here, these ties were symbolized by the hotels walls, while actually in ordinary human constructions (if we take a religious community, for example), they are symbolized by the building of a monastery, an identity of clothing, an identity of activities, an identity even of movementor to put it more precisely: everyone wears the same uniform, everyone gets up at the same time, everyone eats the same thing, everyone says his prayers together, etc.; there is an overall identity. But naturally, on the inside there remains the chaos of many disparate consciousnesses, each one following its own mode, for this kind of group identification, which extends right up to an identity of beliefs and dogma, is absolutely illusory.
Yet it is one of the most common types of human collectivityto group together, band together, unite around a common ideal, a common action, a common realization but in an absolutely artificial way. In contrast to this, Sri Aurobindo tells us that a true communitywhat he terms a gnostic or supramental communitycan be based only upon the INNER REALIZATION of each one of its members, each realizing his real, concrete oneness and identity with all the other members of the community; that is, each one should not feel himself a member connected to all the others in an arbitrary way, but that all are one within himself. For each one, the others should be as much himself as his own bodynot in a mental and artificial way, but through a fact of consciousness, by an inner realization.
(silence)
This means that before hoping to realize such a gnostic collectivity, each one must first of all become (or at least start to become) a gnostic being. It is obvious that the individual work must take the lead and the collective work follow; but the fact remains that spontaneously, without any arbitrary intervention of will the individual progress IS restrained or CHECKED, as It were, by the collective state. Between the collectivity and the individual, there exists an interdependence from which one cannot be totally free, even if one tries. And even he who might try, in his yoga, to free himself totally from the human and terrestrial state of consciousness, would be at least sub consciously bound by the state of the whole, which impedes and PULLS BACKWARDS. One can attempt to go much faster, one can attempt to let all the weight of attachments and responsibilities fall off, but in spite of everything, the realization of even the most advanced or the leader in the march of evolution is dependent upon the realization of the whole, dependent upon the state in which the terrestrial collectivity happens to be. And this PULLS backwards to such an extent that sometimes one has to wait centuries for the earth to be ready before being able to realize what is to be realized.
This is why Sri Aurobindo has also written somewhere else that a double movement is necessary: the effort for individual progress and realization must be combined with the effort of trying to uplift the whole so as to enable it to make a progress indispensable for the greater progress of the individual: a mass progress, if you will, that allows the individual to take a further step forward.
0 1957-09-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(A child's question concerning a vision in which Mother had appeared to her in a luminous body)
Why have you come as we are?
0 1957-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is no question of my abandoning the path and I remain convinced that the only goal in life is spiritual. But I need things to help me along the way: I am not yet ripe enough to depend upon inner strength alone. And when I speak of the forest or a boat, it is not only for the sake of adventure or the feeling of space, but also because they mean a discipline. Outer constraints and difficulties help me, they force me to remain concentrated around that which is best in me. In a sense, life here is too easy. Yet it is also too hard, for one must depend on ones own discipline I do not yet have that strength, I need to be helped by outer circumstances. The very difficulty of life in the outside world helps me to be disciplined, for it forces me to concentrate all my vital strength in effort. Here, this vital part is unemployed, so it acts foolishly, it strains at the leash.
I doubt that a new experience outside can really resolve things, but I believe it might help me make it to the next stage and consolidate my inner life. And if you wish, I would return in a year or two.
I shall soon have completed the revision1 of The Life Divine and The Human Cycle, so I believe I shall have done the best I could, at present, to serve you. October 30th is my birthday. Could I leave immediately thereafter?
0 1957-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
One of the very first results of the supramental manifestation was to give the body a freedom and an autonomy it has never before known. And when I say freedom, I dont mean some psychological perception or an inner state of consciousness, but something else and far betterit is a new phenomenon in the body, in the cells of the body. For the first time, the cells themselves have felt that they are free, that they have the power to decide. When the new vibrations came and combined with the old ones, I felt it at once and it showed me that a new world was really taking birth.
In its normal state, the body always feels that it is not its own master: illnesses invade it without its really being able to resist thema thousand factors impose themselves or exert pressure upon it. Its sole power is the power to defend itself, to react. Once the illness has got in, it can fight and overcome iteven modern medicine has acknowledged that the body is cured only when it decides to get cured; it is not the drugs per se that heal, for if the ailment is temporarily suppressed by a drug without the bodys will, it grows up again elsewhere in some other form until the body itself has decided to be cured. But this implies only a defensive power, the power to react against an invading enemyit is not true freedom.
--
We live perennially with a burden on our shoulders, something that bows our heads down, and we feel pulled, led by all kinds of external forces, we dont know by whom or what, nor where tothis is what men call Fate, Destiny. When you do yoga, one of the first experiences the experience of the kundalini, as it is called here in Indiais precisely one in which the consciousness rises, breaks through this hard lid, here, at the crown of the head, and at last you emerge into the Light. Then you see, you know, you decide and you realizedifficulties may still remain, but truly speaking one is above them. Well, as a result of the supramental manifestation, it is THIS experience that came into the body. The body straightened its head up and felt its freedom, its independence.
During the flu epidemic, for example, I spent every day in the midst of people who were germ carriers. And one day, I clearly felt that the body had decided not to catch this flu. It asserted its autonomy. You see, it was not a question of the higher Will deciding, no. It didnt take place in the highest consciousness: the body itself decided. When you are way above in your consciousness, you see things, you know things; but in actual fact, once you descend again into matter, it is like water running through sand. In this respect, things have changed, the body has a DIRECT power, independent of any outer intervention. Even though it is barely visible, I consider this to be a very important result.
And this new vibration in the body has allowed me to understand the mechanism of the transformation. It is not something that comes from a higher Will, not a higher consciousness that imposes itself upon the body: it is the body itself awakening in its cells, a freedom of the cells themselves, an absolutely new vibration that sets disorders righteven disorders that existed prior to the supramental manifestation.
Naturally, all this is a gradual process, but I am hopeful that little by little this new consciousness will grow, gain ground and victoriously resist the old forces of destruction and annihilation, and this Fatality we believed to be so inexorable.
***
0 1957-10-18, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I need a practical method corresponding to my present possibilities and to results of which I am presently capable. I feel that my efforts are dispersed by concentrating sometimes here, sometimes therea feeling of not knowing exactly what to do to break through and get out of all this. Would you point out some particular concentration to which I could adhere, a particular method that I would stick to?
I am well aware that a supple attitude is recommended in the Yoga, yet for the time being, it seems to me that one well-defined method would help me hold on1this practical aspect would help me. I will do it methodically, obstinately, until it cracks for good.
0 1957-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Three groups of examiners conduct these tests. Apparently they have nothing in common and their methods are so different, at times even so seemingly contradictory, that they do not appear to work towards the same goal, and yet they complete one another, they work together for a common aim and each is indispensable for the integral result.
These three categories of tests are: those conducted by the forces of Nature, those conducted by the spiritual and divine forces, and those conducted by the hostile forces. This latter category is the most deceptive in its appearance, and a constant state of vigilance, sincerity and humility is required so as not to be caught by surprise or unprepared.
The most commonplace circumstances, people, the everyday events of life, the most seemingly insignificant things, all belong to one or another of these three categories of examiners. In this considerably complex organization of tests, those events generally considered the most important in life are really the easiest of all examinations to pass, for they find you prepared and on your guard. One stumbles more easily over the little pebbles on the path, for they attract no attention.
The qualities more particularly required for the tests of physical Nature are endurance and plasticity, cheerfulness and fearlessness.
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 1957-12-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is a whole gradation of planes of consciousness, from the physical consciousness to my radiant consciousness at the very highest level, that which knows the Will of the Supreme. I keep all these planes of consciousness in front of me, working simultaneously, coordinatedly, and I am acting on each plane, gathering the information proper to each plane, so as to have the integral truth of things. Thus, when I have a decision to make in regard to one of you, I plug into you directly from that level of the supreme consciousness which sees the deep truth of your being. But at the same time, my decision is shaped, as it were, by the information given to me by the other planes of consciousness and particularly by the physical consciousness, which acts as a recorder.
This physical consciousness records all it sees, all your reactions, your thoughts, all the factswithout preference, without prejudice, without personal will. Nothing escapes it. Its work is almost mechanical. Therefore I know what to tell or to ask you according to the integral truth of your being and its present possibilities. Ordinarily, in the normal man, the physical consciousness does not see things as they are, for three reasons: because of ignorance, because of preference, and because of an egoistic will. You color what you see, eliminate what displeases you. In short, you see only what you desire to see.
Now, I recently had a very striking experience: a discrepancy occurred between my physical consciousness and the consciousness of the world. In some instances decisions made in the Light and the Truth produced unexpected results, upheavals in the consciousness of others that were neither foreseen nor desired, and I did not understand. No matter how hard I tried, I could not understand and I emphasize this word understand. At last, I had to leave my highest consciousness and pull myself down into the physical consciousness to find out what was happening. And there, in my head, I saw what appeared to be a little cell bursting, and suddenly I understood: the recording had been defective. The physical consciousness had neglected to register certain of your lower reactions. It could not have been through preference or through personal will (these things were eliminated from my consciousness long, long ago). But I saw that this most material consciousness was already completely permeated with the transforming supramental truth, and it could no longer follow the rhythm of normal life. It was much more attuned to the true consciousness than to the world! I couldnt possibly blame it for lagging behind; on the contrary, it was in front, too far ahead! There was a discrepancy between the rhythm of the transformation of my being and the worlds own rhythm. The supramental action on the world is slow, it does not act directlyit acts by infiltration, by traversing the successive layers, and the results are slow to come about. So I had to pull myself violently down in order to wait for the others.
One must at times know how not to know.
This experience showed me once more the necessity to be perfectly humble before the Lord. It is not enough merely to rise to the heights, to the ethereal planes of consciousness: these planes have also to descend into matter and illuminate it. Otherwise, nothing is really done. One must have the patience to establish the communication between the high and the low. I am like a tempest, a hurricaneif I listened to myself, I would tear into the future, and everything would go flying! But then, there would no longer be any communication with the rest.
One must have the patience to wait.
Humility, a perfect humility, is the condition for all realization. The mind is so cocksure. It thinks it knows everything, understands everything. And if ever it acts through idealism to serve a cause that appears noble to it, it becomes even more arrogant more intransigent, and it is almost impossible to make it see that there might be something still higher beyond its noble conceptions and its great altruistic or other ideals. Humility is the only remedy. I am not speaking of humility as conceived by certain religions, with this God that belittles his creatures and only likes to see them down on their knees. When I was a child, this kind of humility revolted me, and I refused to believe in a God that wants to belittle his creatures. I dont mean that kind of humility, but rather the recognition that one does not know, that one knows nothing, and that there may be something beyond what presently appears to us as the truest, the most noble or disinterested. True humility consists in constantly referring oneself to the Lord, in placing all before Him. When I receive a blow (and there are quite a few of them in my sadhana), my immediate, spontaneous reaction, like a spring, is to throw myself before Him and to say, Thou, Lord. Without this humility, I would never have been able to realize anything. And I say I only to make myself understood, but in fact I means the Lord through this body, his instrument. When you begin living THIS kind of humility, it means you are drawing nearer to the realization. It is the condition, the starting point.
***
(Note written by Mother in connection with the conversation of December 21, 1957)
At the very top, a constant vision of the Supremes will.
In the world, an overall vision of what is to be done.
--
In the external consciousness, the impersonal and mechanical recording of what is happening and of what are the people and things that comprise both the field of action and the limitations imposed upon this action. The recording is innately automatic and mechanical, without any kind of evaluation, as objective as possible.
***
0 1958-01-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Nature suddenly understood. She understood that this newborn consciousness does not seek to reject her, but wants to embrace her entirely. She understood that this new spirituality does not stand apart from life, does not timorously recoil before the awesome richness of her movement, but on the contrary wants to integrate all her facets. She understood that the supramental consciousness is not there to diminish her but to make her complete.
Then, from the supreme Reality came this command: Awaken, O Nature, to the joy of collaboration. And suddenly, all Nature rushed forth in an immense bounding of joy, saying, I accept! I will collaborate! And at the same time, there came a calm, an absolute tranquillity, to allow this receptacle, this body, to receive and contain without breaking and without losing anything of the Joy of Nature that was rushing forth in a movement of grateful recognition like an overwhelming flood. She accepted, she sawwith all eternity before her that this supramental consciousness would fulfill her more perfectly and impart a still greater force to her movement and more richness, more possibilities to her play.
And suddenly, as if resounding from every corner of the earth, I heard these great notes which are sometimes heard in the subtle physicalra ther like those of Beethovens concerto in Dwhich come at moments of great progress, as though fifty orchestras were bursting forth all at once without a single discordant note, to sound the joy of this new communion of Nature and Spirit, the meeting of old friends who, after a long separation, find each other once more.
Then came these words: O Nature, Material Mother, thou hast said that thou wilt collaborate, and there is no limit to the splendor of this collaboration.
--
I have one thing to add: we must not misinterpret the meaning of this experience and imagine that henceforth everything will take place without difficulties or always in accordance with our personal desires. It is not at this level. It does not mean that when we do not want it to rain, it will not rain! Or when we want some event to take place in the world, it will immediately take place, or that all difficulties will be abolished and everything will be like a fairy tale. It is not like that. It is something more profound. Nature has accepted into her play of forces the newly manifested Force and has included it in her movements. But as always, the movements of Nature take place on a scale infinitely surpassing the human scale and invisible to the ordinary human consciousness. It is more of an inner, psychological possibility that has been born in the world than a spectacular change in earthly events.
I mention this because you might be tempted to believe that fairy tales are going to be realized upon earth. The time has not yet come.
0 1958-01-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is an error to confuse Joy and Felicity. They are two very different things. Not only are their vibrations different, but their colors are different. The color of Felicity is blue, a clear silvery blue (the blue of the Ashram flag), very luminous and transparent. And it has a passive and fresh quality that refreshes and rejuvenates.
Whereas Joy is a golden rose color, a pale gold with a tinge of red, a very pale red. It is active, warm, fortifying, intensifying. The first is sweetness, the se cond is tenderness.
And Blisswhat I spontaneously call Blissis the synthesis of both. It is found in the very heights of the supramental consciousness, in a diamond light, an uncolored, sparkling light containing all the colors. Joy and Felicity form two sides of a triangle that has Bliss at its apex.
Bliss contains coolness and warmth, passivity and activity, repose and action, sweetness and tenderness, all at the same time. Divine tenderness is something very different from sweetnessit is a paroxysm of joy, a vibration so strong that the body feels it will burst, so it is forced to widen.
The diamond light of Bliss has the power to melt all hostile forces. Nothing can resist it. No consciousness, no being, no hostile will can draw near it without immediately being dissolved, for it is the Divine light in its pure creative power.
***
0 1958-02-03b - The Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Between the beings of the supramental world and men, there exists approximately the same gap as between men and animals. Sometime ago, I had the experience of identification with animal life, and it is a fact that animals do not understand us; their consciousness is so constituted that we elude them almost entirely. And yet I have known domestic animalscats and dogs, but especially catswho made an almost yogic effort of consciousness to understand us. But generally, when they watch us living and acting, they dont understand, they dont SEE US as we are and they suffer because of us. We are a constant enigma to them Only a very tiny part of their consciousness is linked to us. And it is the same for us when we try to look at the supramental world. Only when the link of consciousness has been built shall we see itand even then, only that part of our being which has undergone the transformation will be capable of seeing it as it isotherwise the two worlds would remain as separate as the animal world and the human world.
The experience I had on February 3 proves this. Before, I had had an individual, subjective contact with the supramental world, whereas on February 3, I went strolling there in a concrete wayas concretely as I used to go strolling in Paris in times pastin a world that EXISTS IN ITSELF, beyond all subjectivity.
It is like a bridge being built between the two worlds.
--
The supramental world exists in a permanent way, and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had proof of this today when my earthly consciousness went there and consciously remained there between two and three oclock in the afternoon: I now know that for the two worlds to join in a constant and conscious relationship what is missing is an intermediate zone between the existing physical world and the supramental world as it exists. This zone has yet to be built, both in the individual consciousness and in the objective world, and it is being built. When formerly I used to speak of the new world that is being created, I was speaking of this intermediate zone. And similarly, when I am on this side that is, in the realm of the physical consciousness and I see the supramental power, the supramental light and substance constantly permeating matter, I am seeing and participating in the construction of this zone.
I found myself upon an immense ship, which is the symbolic representation of the place where this work is being carried out. This ship, as big as a city, is thoroughly organized, and it had certainly already been functioning for quite some time, for its organization was fully developed. It is the place where people destined for the supramental life are being trained. These people (or at least a part of their being) had already undergone a supramental transformation because the ship itself and all that was aboard was neither material nor subtle-physical, neither vital nor mental: it was a supramental substance. This substance itself was of the most material supramental, the supramental substance nearest the physical world, the first to manifest. The light was a blend of red and gold, forming a uniform substance of luminous orange. Everything was like that the light was like that, the people were like thateverything had this color, in varying shades, however, which enabled things to be distinguished from one another. The overall impression was of a shadowless world: there were shades, but no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything worked smoothly and silently. At the same time, I could see all the details of the education, the training in all domains by which the people on board were being prepared.
This immense ship had just arrived at the shore of the supramental world, and a first batch of people destined to become the future inhabitants of the supramental world were about to disembark. Everything was arranged for this first landing. A certain number of very tall beings were posted on the wharf. They were not human beings and never before had they been men. Nor were they permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I was in charge of all this since the beginning and throughout. I myself had prepared all the groups. I was standing on the bridge of the ship, calling the groups forward one by one and having them disembark on the shore. The tall beings posted there seemed to be reviewing those who were disembarking, allowing those who were ready to go ashore and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training aboard the ship. While standing there watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all the people, to see how they had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to remain and continue their training. After awhile, as I was observing, I began to feel pulled backwards and that my body was being awakened by a consciousness or a person from here1and in my consciousness, I protested: No, no, not yet! Not yet! I want to see whos there! I was watching all this and noting it with intense interest It went on like that until, suddenly, the clock here began striking three, which violently jerked me back. There was the sensation of a sudden fall into my body. I came back with a shock, but since I had been called back very suddenly, all my memory was still intact. I remained quiet and still until I could bring back the whole experience and preserve it.
The nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, the clothes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufacturedit was a part of the body, made of the same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and outer means but by an inner working, by a working of the consciousness that gave the substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. There was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed the nature of its vibration according to the needs or uses.
Those who were sent back for more training were not of a uniform color; their bodies seemed to have patches of a grayish opacity, a substance resembling the earth substance. They were dull, as though they had not been wholly permeated by the light or wholly transformed. They were not like this all over, but in places.
The tall beings on the shore were not of the same color, at least they did not have this orange tint; they were paler, more transparent. Except for a part of their bodies, only the outline of their forms could be seen. They were very tall, they did not seem to have a skeletal structure, and they could take on any form according to their needs. Only from their waists to their feet did they have a permanent density, which was not felt in the rest of their body. Their color was much more pallid and contained very little red, it verged rather on gold or even white. The parts of whitish light were translucid; they were not absolutely transparent, but less dense, more subtle than the orange substance.
Just as I was called back, when I was saying, Not yet , I had a quick glimpse of myself, of my form in the supramental world. I was a mixture of what these tall beings were and the beings aboard the ship. The top part of myself, especially my head, was a mere silhouette of a whitish color with an orange fringe. The more it approached the feet, the more the color resembled that of the people on the ship, or in other words, orange; the more it went up towards the top, the more translucid and white it was, and the red faded. The head was only a silhouette with a brilliant sun at its center; from it issued rays of light which were the action of the will.
--
What I can say is that the criterion or the judgment was based EXCLUSIVELY on the substance constituting the peoplewhe ther they belonged completely to the supramental world or not, whether they were made of this very special substance. The criterion adopted was neither moral nor psychological. It is likely that their bodily substance was the result of an inner law or an inner movement which, at that time, was not in question. At least it is quite clear that the values are different.
When I came back, along with the memory of the experience, I knew that the supramental world was permanent, that my presence there is permanent, and that only a missing link is needed to allow the consciousness and the substance to connectand it is this link that is being built. At that time, my impression (an impression which remained rather long, almost the whole day) was of an extreme relativityno, not exactly that, but an impression that the relationship between this world and the other completely changes the criterion by which things are to be evaluated or judged. This criterion had nothing mental about it, and it gave the strange inner feeling that so many things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended upon the capacity of things and upon their ability to express the supramental world or be in relationship with it. It was so completely different, at times even so opposite to our ordinary way of looking at things! I recall one little thing that we usually consider bad actually how funny it was to see that it is something excellent! And other things that we consider important were really quite unimportant there! Whether it was like this or like that made no difference. What is very obvious is that our appreciation of what is divine or not divine is incorrect. I even laughed at certain things Our usual feeling about what is anti-divine seems artificial, based upon something untrue, unliving (besides, what we call life here appeared lifeless in comparison with that world); in any event, this feeling should be based upon our relationship between the two worlds and according to whether things make this relationship easier or more difficult. This would thus completely change our evaluation of what brings us nearer to the Divine or what takes us away from Him. With people, too, I saw that what helps them or prevents them from becoming supramental is very different from what our ordinary moral notions imagine. I felt just how ridiculous we are.
(Then Mother speaks to the children)
There is a continuation to all this, which is like the result in my consciousness of the experience of February 3, but it seems premature to read it now. It will appear in the April issue [of the Bulletin], as a sequel to this.
But one thing and I wish to stress this point to youwhich now seems to me to be the most essential difference between our world and the supramental world (and it is only after having gone there consciously, with the consciousness that ordinarily works here, that this difference appeared to me in what might be called its enormity): everything here, except for what happens within and at a very deep level, seemed absolutely artificial to me. Not one of the values of ordinary physical life is based upon truth. Just as we have to buy cloth, sew it together, then put it on our backs in order to dress ourselves, likewise we have to take things from outside and then put them inside our bodies in order to feed ourselves. For everything, our life is artificial.
A true, sincere, spontaneous life, as in the supramental world, is a springing forth of things through the fact of conscious will, a power over substance that shapes this substance according to what we decide it should be. And he who has this power and this knowledge can obtain whatever he wants, whereas he who does not has no artificial means of getting what he desires.
In ordinary life, EVERYTHING is artificial. Depending upon the chance of your birth or circumstances, you have a more or less high position or a more or less comfortable life, not because it is the spontaneous, natural and sincere expression of your way of being and of your inner need, but because the fortuity of lifes circumstances has placed you in contact with these things. An absolutely worthless man may be in a very high position, and a man who might have marvelous capacities of creation and organization may find himself toiling in a quite limited and inferior position, whereas he would be a wholly useful individual if the world were sincere.
It is this artificiality, this insincerity, this complete lack of truth that appeared so shocking to me that one wonders how, in a world as false as this one, we can arrive at any truthful evaluation of things.
0 1958-02-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Last night, I had the vision of what this supramental world could become if men were not sufficiently prepared. The confusion existing at present upon earth is nothing in comparison to what could take place. Imagine that every powerful will has the power to transform matter as it likes! If the sense of collective oneness did not grow in proportion to the development of power, the resulting conflict would be yet more acute and chaotic than our material conflicts.
***
0 1958-02-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Some people come to see me in utter despair, in tears, in what they call terrible moral suffering; when I see them like that I slightly shift the needle in that part of my consciousness containing all of you, and when they leave, they are completely relieved. It is just like a compass needle I slightly shift the needle in my consciousness, and its over. Naturally, through habit, it returns later on. But these are mere soap bubbles.
I too have known suffering, but there was always a part of me that knew how to hold itself back and remain aloof.
The only thing in the world that still appears intolerable to me now is all physical deterioration, physical suffering, the ugliness the powerlessness to express this capacity of beauty inherent in every being. But this, too, will be conquered one day. Here, too the power will come one day to shift the needle a little. Only, one has to climb higher in consciousness: the deeper into matter you want to descend, the higher must you ascend in consciousness.
It will take time. Sri Aurobindo was surely right when he spoke of a few centuries.
0 1958-03-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Since my departure, I have been feeling your Force continually, almost constantly. And I feel an infinite gratitude that you are there, and that this thread from you to me keeps me anchored to something in this world. Simply knowing that you exist, that you are there, that I have a goal, a centerfills me with infinite gratitude. On a street in Madras, the day after I left, I suddenly had a poignant experience: I felt that if that were not in me, I would fall to pieces on the sidewalk, I would crumble, nothing would be left, nothing. And this experience remains. Like a litany, something keeps repeating almost incessantly, I need you, need you, I have only you, you alone in the world. You are all my present, all my future, I have only you Mother, I am living in a state of need, like hunger.
On the way, I stopped at J and Es place. They are living like native fishermen, in loincloths, in a co conut grove by the sea. The place is exceedingly beautiful, and the sea full of rainbow-hued coral. And suddenly, within twenty-four hours, I realized an old dreamor rather, I purged myself of an old and tenacious dream: that of living on a Pacific island as a simple fisherman. And all at once, I saw, in a flash, that this kind of life totally lacks a center. You float in a nowhere. It plunges you into some kind of higher inertia, an illumined inertia, and you lose all true substance.
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.
--
We are still in Kataragama, and we shall only go up to northern Ceylon, to Jaffna, around the 15th, then return to India towards the beginning of May if the visa problems are settled. Only in India, at the temple of Rameswaram, can I receive the orange robe. I am living here as a sannyasi, but dressed in white, like a Hindu. It is a stark life, nothing more. I have seen however, that truth does not lie in starkness but in a change of consciousness. (Desire always finds a means to entrench itself in very small details and in very petty and stupid, though well-rooted, avidities.)
Mother, I am seeing all the mean pettiness that obstructs your divine work. Destroy my smallness and take me unto you. May I be sincere, integrally sincere.
--
P.S. My system is not in perfect condition due to this absurdly spiced food, and the river water that is used for everything.
***
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I saw and understood very well that by concentrating, I could have given it the attitude of the absolute authority of the eternal Mother. When Sri Aurobindo told me, You are She, at the same time he bestowed upon my body this attitude of absolute authority. But as I had the inner vision of this truth, I concerned myself very little with the imperfections of the physical body I didnt bother about that, I only used it as an instrument. Sri Aurobindo did the sadhana for this body, which had only to remain constantly open to his action.1
Afterwards, when he left and I had to do the Yoga myself, to be able to take his physical place, I could have adopted the attitude of the sage, which is what I did since I was in an unparalleled state of calm when he left. As he left his body and entered into mine, he told me, You will continue, you will go right to the end of the work. It was then that I imposed a calm upon this body the calm of total detachment. And I could have remained like that.
But in a way, absolute calm implies withdrawal from action, so a choice had to be made between one or the other. I said to myself, I am neither exclusively this nor exclusively that. And actually, to do Sri Aurobindos work is to realize the Supramental on earth. So I began that work and, as a matter of fact, this was the only thing I asked of my body. I told it, Now you shall set right everything which is out of order and gradually realize this intermediate supermanhood between man and the supramental being or, in other words, what I call the superman.
--
Thats where I am. I have renounced the un contested authority of a god, I have renounced the unshakable calm of the sage in order to become the superman. I have concentrated everything upon that.
We shall see.
--
In a considerable number of people, it is their body, the physical body, that obstinately resists.
The difficulty is greater for Westerners than for Indians. Its as though their substance were steeped in falsehood. It also happens with Indians, of course, but generally the falsehood is much more in the vital than in the physicalbecause after all, the physical has been utilized by bodies belonging to enlightened beings. The European substance seems steeped in rebellion; in the Indian substance this rebelliousness is subdued by an influence of surrender. The other day, someone was telling me about some Europeans with whom he corresponds, and I said, But tell them to read, to learn, to follow The Synthesis of Yoga!it leads you straight to the path. Whereupon he replied, Oh, but they say its full of talk on surrender, surrender, always surrender and they want none of it.
--
No. From the minute it is conscious, it is conscious of its own falsehood! It is conscious of this law, of that law, of this third law that fourth law, this tenth laweverything is a law. We are subject to physical laws: this will produce such and such a result if you do that, this will happen, etc. Oh! It reeks! I know it well. I know it very well. These laws reek of falsehood. In the body, we have no faith in the divine Grace, none, none, none, none! Those who have not undergone a tapasya2 as I have, say, Yes, all these inner moral things, feelings, psychology, all that is very good; we want the Divine and we are ready to But all the same, material facts are material facts, they have their concrete reality, after all an illness is an illness, food is food, and everything you do has a consequence, and when you are bah, bah, bah, bah, bah!
We must understand that this isnt trueit isnt true, its a falsehood, all this is sheer falsehood. It is NOT TRUE, it is not true!
If only we would accept the Supreme inside our bodies, if we had the experience I had a few days ago3: the supreme Knowledge in action along with the complete abolition of all consequences, past and future. Each se cond has its own eternity and its own law, which is a law of absolute truth.
When I had this experience, I understood that only a month ago I was still uttering mountain-sized imbecilities. And I laughed to the point of almost approving those who say, But all the same, the Supreme does not decide the number of sugar cubes you put in your coffee! That would be to project your own way of being onto the Supreme. But this is an Himalayan imbecility! It is a stupidity, the minds pretentious stupidity projecting itself onto the divine life and imagining that the divine life conforms to its own projection.
The Supreme does not decide: He knows. The Supreme does not want: He sees. And it is so for each thousandth of a se cond, eternally. Thats all. And it is the only true condition.
I know that the experience I had the other day is new and that I was the first person on earth to have it. But it is the only thing that is true. All the rest
I began my sadhana at birth, without knowing that I was doing it. I have continued it throughout my whole life, which means for almost eighty years (even though for perhaps the first three or four years of my life it was only something stirring about in un consciousness). But I began a deliberate, conscious sadhana at about the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, upon prepared ground. I am now more than eighty years old: I have thought of nothing but that, I have wanted nothing but that, I had no other interest in life, and not for a single minute have I ever forgotten that it was THAT that I wanted. There were not periods of remembering and forgetting: it was continuous, unceasing, day and night, from the age of twenty-four and I had this experience for the first time about a week ago! So, I say that people who are in a hurry, people who are impatient, are arrogant fools.
It is a hard path. I try to make it as comfortable as possible, but nevertheless, it is a hard path. And it is obvious that it cannot be otherwise. You are beaten and battered until you understand. Until you are in that state in which all bodies are your body. But at that point, you begin to laugh! You were upset by this, hurt by that, you suffered from this or that but now, how laughable it all seems! And not only the head, but the body too finds it laughable!
--
From the positive point of view, I am convinced that we agree upon the result to be obtained, that is, an integral and unreserved consecrationin love, knowledge and actionto the Supreme AND TO HIS WORK. I say to the Supreme and to his work because consecration to the Supreme alone is not enough. Now we are here for the supramental realization, this is what is expected of us, but to reach it, our consecration to it must be total, unreserved absolutely integral. I believe you have understood thisin other words, that you have the will to realize it.
From the negative point of view I mean the difficulties to be overcomeone of the most serious obstacles is that the ignorant and falsifying outer consciousness, the ordinary consciousness legitimizes all the so-called physical laws, causes, effects and consequences, all that science has discovered physically and materially. All this is an unquestionable reality to the consciousness, a reality that remains independent and absolute even in the face of the eternal divine Reality.
And it is so automatic that it is un conscious.
When it is a question of movements like anger, desire, etc., you recognize that they are wrong and must disappear, but when material laws are in questionlaws of the body, for example, its needs, its health, its nourishment, all those things they have such a solid, compact, established and concrete reality that it appears absolutely unquestionable.
Well, to be able to cure that, which of all the obstacles is the greatest (I mean the habit of putting spiritual life on one side and material life on the other, of acknowledging the right of material laws to exist), one must make a resolution never to legitimize any of these movements, at any cost.
To be able to see the problem as it is, it is absolutely indispensable, as a first step, to get out of the mental consciousness, even out of a mental transcription (in the highest mind) of the supramental vision and truth. A thing cannot be seen as it is, in its truth, except in the supramental consciousness, and if you try to explain, it immediately begins to escape you because you are obliged to give it a mental formulation.
As for me, I saw the thing only at the time of this experience,4 and as a result of this experience. But it is impossible to formulate even the experience itself, and as soon as I endeavored to formulate it and the more I was able to formulate it, the more the thing faded, escaped. 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.
Therefore, if we do not want to oppose the supramental action by an obscure, inert and obstinate resistance, we have to admit once and for all that none of these things should be legitimized.
0 1958-05-11 - the ship that said OM, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And these things act upon my body. It is strange, but it coagulates something: all the cellular life becomes one solid, compact mass, in a tremendous concentrationwith a single vibration. Instead of all the usual vibrations of the body, there is now only one single vibration. It becomes as hard as a diamond, a single massive concentration, as if all the cells of the body had
I became stiff from it. When the forest scene5 was over, I was so stiff that I was like that (gesture): one single mass.
0 1958-05-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As a matter of fact, my tendency is more and more towards something in which the role of these hostile forces will be reduced to that of an examinerwhich means that they are there to test the sincerity of your spiritual quest. These elements have a reality in their action and for the workthis is their great reality but when you go beyond a certain region, it all grows dim to such a degree that it is no longer so well defined, so distinct. In the occult world, or rather if you look at the world from the occult point of view, these hostile forces are very real, their action is very real, quite concrete, and their attitude towards the divine realization is positively hostile; but as soon as you go beyond this region and enter into the spiritual world where there is no longer anything but the Divine in all things, and where there is nothing undivine, then these hostile forces become part of the total play and can no longer be called hostile forces: it is only an attitude that they have adoptedor more precisely, it is only an attitude adopted by the Divine in his play.
This again belongs to the dualities that Sri Aurobindo speaks of in (The Synthesis of Yoga, these dualities that are being reabsorbed. I dont know if he spoke of this particular one; I dont think so, but its the same thing. Its again a certain way of seeing. He has written of the Personal-Impersonal duality, Ishwara-Shakti, Purusha-Prakriti but there is still one more: Divine and anti-divine.
0 1958-06-06 - Supramental Ship, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This morning while I was on the bal cony, I had an interesting experience: the experience of mans effort, in all its forms and through all the ages, to approach the Divine. And I seemed to be growing wider and wider so that all the forms and all the ways of approaching the Divine attempted by man would be contained in the present Work.
It was represented by a kind of image in which I was as vast as the Universe, and each way of approaching the Divine was like a tiny image containing the characteristic form of this approach. And my impression was this: Why do people always limit, limit themselves? Narrow, narrow, narrow! They understand only when it is narrow.
Take all! Take all within you. And then you will begin to understandyou will begin.
--
It was in 1910 that I had this sort of reversal of consciousness about which I spoke the other evening that is, the first contact with the higher Divine and it completely changed my life.
From that moment on, I was conscious that all one does is the expression of the indwelling Divine Will. But it is the Divine Will AT THE VERY CENTER of oneself, although for a while there remained an activity in the physical mind. But this was stilled two or three days after I saw Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1914, and it never started up again. Silence settled. And the consciousness was established above the head.
In the first experience [of 1910], the consciousness was established in the psychic depths of the being, and from that poise issued the feeling of no longer doing anything but what the Divine wantedit was the consciousness that the divine Will was all-powerful and that there was no longer any personal will, although there was still some mental activity and everything had to be made silent. In 1914, it was silenced, and the consciousness was established above the head. Here (the heart) and here (above the head), the connection is constant.
Does one exclude the other?
They exist simultaneously; its the same thing. When you start becoming truly conscious, you realize that it depends upon the kinds of activities you have to do. When you do a certain kind of work, it is in the heart that the Force gathers to radiate outwards, and when you do another kind of work, it is above the head that the Force concentrates to radiate outwards, but the two are not separate: the center of activity is here or there depending upon what you have to do.
As for the latest experience,1 I cant say for sure that no one has ever had it, because someone like Ramakrishna, individuals like that, could have had it. But I am not sure, for when I had this experience (not of the divine Presence, which I had already felt in the cells for a long time, but the experience that the Divine ALONE is acting in the body, that He has BECOME the body, yet all the while retaining his character of divine omniscience and omnipotence) well, the whole time it remained actively like that, it was absolutely impossible to have the LEAST disorder in the body, and not only in the body, but IN ALL THE SURROUNDING MATTER. It was as if every object obeyed without even needing to decide to obey: it was automatic. There was a divine harmony in EVERYTHING (it took place in my bathroom upstairs, certainly to demonstrate that it exists in the most trivial things), in everything, constantly. So if that is established in a permanent way, there CAN NO LONGER be illness it is impossible. There can no longer be accidents, there can no longer be illness, there can no longer be disorders, and everything should harmonize (probably in a progressive way) just as that was harmonized: all the objects in the bathroom were full of a joyful enthusiasmeverything obeyed, everything!
As it was the first experience, it started to fade slightly when I began having contact with people; but I really had the feeling that it was a first experience, new upon earth. For I have experienced an absolute identity of the will with the divine Will ever since 1910, it has never left me. It isnt that, its SOMETHING ELSE. It is MATTER BECOMING THE DIVINE. And it really came with the feeling that this thing was happening for the first time upon earth. It is difficult to say for sure, but Ramakrishna died of cancer, and now that I have had the experience, I know in an ABSOLUTE way that this is impossible. If he had decided to go because the Divine wanted him to go, it would have been an orderly departure, in total harmony and with a total will, whereas this illness is a means of disorder.
Is this experience of May 1 related to the Supramental Manifestation of 1956? Is it a supramental experience?
--
It is likely that the greatest resistance will be in the most conscious beings due to a lack of mental receptivity, due to the mind itself which wants things to continue (as Sri Aurobindo has written) according to its own mode of ignorance. So-called inert matter is much more easily responsive, much moreit does not resist. And I am convinced that among plants, for example, or among animals, the response will be much quicker than among men. It will be more difficult to act upon a very organized mind; beings who live in an entirely crystallized, organized mental consciousness are as hard as stone! It resists. According to my experience, what is un conscious will certainly follow more easily. It was a delight to see the water from the tap, the mouthwash in the bottle, the glass, the spongeit all had such an air of joy and consent! There is much less ego, you see, it is not a conscious ego.
The ego becomes more and more conscious and resistant as the being develops. Very primitive, very simple beings, little children will respond first, because they dont have an organized ego. But these big people! People who have worked on themselves, who have mastered themselves, who are organized, who have an ego made of steel, it will be difficult for them.
Unless they go beyond all this and have enough spiritual knowledge to be able to make the ego surrender in which case the realization will naturally be much greaterit will be more difficult to accomplish, but the result will be far more complete.
When you had this experience of February 3, 1958 [the supramental ship], the vision of your usual consciousness, which is nevertheless a Truth consciousness, no longer seemed true to you at all. Did you see things you had never before seen, or did you see things in another way?
Yes, one enters into another world.
This consciousness here is true in relation to this world as it is, but the other is something else entirely. An adjustment is needed for the two to touch, otherwise one jumps from one to the other. And that serves no purpose. A progressive passage has to be built between the two. This means that a whole number of rungs of consciousness are missing. This consciousness here must consciously connect with that consciousness there, which means a multitude of stairs passing from one to the other. Then we will be able to rise up progressively, and the whole will arise.
Its action will be somewhat similar to what is described in the Last Judgment, which is an entirely symbolic expression of something that makes us discern between what belongs to the world of falsehood which is destined to disappear and what belongs to this same world of ignorance and inertia but is transformable. One will go to one side and the other to the other side. All that is transformable will be permeated more and more with this new substance and this new consciousness to such an extent that it will rise towards it and serve as a link between the two but all that belongs incorrigibly to falsehood and ignorance will disappear. This was also prophesied in the Gita: among what we call the hostile or anti-divine forces, those capable of being transformed will be uplifted and go off towards the new consciousness, whereas all that is irrevocably in darkness or belongs to an evil will shall be destroyed and vanish from the Universe. And a whole part of humanity that has responded to these forces rather too zealously will certainly vanish with them. And this is what was expressed in this concept of the Last Judgment.
May 1, 1958.
0 1958-07-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Ramdas1 must be a continuation of the line of Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, etc .
(silence)
--
Something I have never said completely. On the one hand, there is the attitude of those in yesterday evenings film2: God is everything, God is everywhere, God is in he who smites you (as Sri Aurobindo wroteGod made me good with a blow, shall I tell Him: O Mighty One, I forgive you your harm and cruelty but do not do it again!), an attitude which, if extended to its ultimate conclusion, accepts the world as it is: the world is the perfect expression of the divine Will. On the other hand, there is the attitude of progress and transformation. But for that, you must recognize that there are things in the world which are not as they should be.
In The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says that this idea of good and bad, of pure and impure, is a notion needed for action; but the purists, such as Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and others, do not agree. They do not agree that it is indispensable for action. They simply say: your acceptance of action as a necessary thing is contrary to your perception of the Divine in all things.
How can the two be re conciled?
--
Ramdas does not at all consider that the world as it is, is good.
No, but I know all these people, I know them thoroughly! I know Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Ramdas thoroughly. They are utterly familiar to me. It doesnt bother them. These are people who live with a certain feeling, who have an entirely concrete experience and live in this experience, but they dont care at all if their formation they have not even crystallized it, they leave it like that, vague contains things that are mutually contradictory, because, in appearance, they re concile them. They do not raise any questions, they do not have the need for an absolutely clear vision; their feeling is absolutely clear, and thats enough for them. Ramakrishna was like that; he said the most contradictory things without being bothered in the least, and they are all exactly and equally true.
But this crystal clear vision Sri Aurobindo had, where everything is in its place, where contradictions no longer existthey never soared to that height. This was the thing, this really crystalline, perfect supramental vision, even from the standpoint of understanding and knowledge. They never went that far.
***
--
When the Grace acts on the collectivity, each thing, each element, each principle, is put in its place as the result of a karmic logic in the universal movement. This is what gives us the impression of disorder and confusion as we see it.
When the Grace acts on the individual, it gives to each the maximum position according to what he is and what he has realized.
--
Ramdas: a yogi from Northwest India who followed the path of love (bhakti). His whole yoga consisted in repeating the name Ram. He founded the Anand-ashram in Kanhargad, Kerala. He was born in 1884 and died in 1963.
Bishnupriya, a Bengali film.
0 1958-07-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have just explained to Z my program for getting out of the present difficulties,1 and I think if he has not concluded that I am totally mad, it is because he has an immense respect for me! But as always in these cases, there is such a joy in me, such an exultation: all the cells are dancing. I understand why people begin singing, dancing, etc. It takes a formidable power to remain like that (gesture of solidity): there is such a desire in the throat to sing!
***
0 1958-07-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This morning I asked myself the question, is money truly under Natures control? I shall have to see Because for me personally, she always gives everything in abundance.
When I was young, I was as poor as a turkey, as poor as could be! As an artist, I sometimes had to go out in society (as artists are forced to do). I had lacquered boots that were cracked and I painted them so it wouldnt show! This is to tell you the state I was inpoor as a turkey. So one day, in a shop window, I saw a very pretty petticoat much in fashion then, with lace, ribbons, etc. (It was the fashion in those days to have long skirts which trailed on the floor, and I didnt have a petticoat which could go with such things I didnt care, it didnt matter to me in the least, but since Nature had told me I would always have everything I needed, I wanted to make an experiment.) So I said, Well, I would very much like to have a petticoat to go with those skirts. I got five of them! They came from every direction!
--
She didnt do a thing! Nothing, absolutely nothing: a complete refusal. Did she refuse or was she unable to? It may be that I always saw that money was under the control of an asuric force. (I am speaking of currency, cash; I dont want to do business. When I try to do business, it generally succeeds very well, but I dont mean that. I am speaking of cash.) I never asked her that question.
You see, this is how it happened: theres this Ganesh2 We had a meditation (this was more than thirty years ago) in the room where Prosperity3 is now distributed. There were eight or ten of us, I believe. We used to make sentences with flowers; I arranged the flowers, and each one made a sentence with the different flowers I had put there. And one day when the subject of prosperity or wealth came up, I thought (they always say that Ganesh is the god of money, of fortune, of the worlds wealth), I thought, Isnt this whole story of the god with an elephant trunk merely a lot of human imagination? Thereupon, we meditated. And who should I see walk in and park himself in front of me but a living being, absolutely alive and luminous, with a trunk that long and smiling! So then, in my meditation, I said, Ah! So its true that you exist!Of course I exist! And you may ask me for whatever you wish, from a monetary standpoint, of course, and I will give it to you!
--
Health naturally depends upon the sadhana; but even that is not so sure: there are other factors. As for the se cond, the power over government, Sri Aurobindo looked at it, studied it, considered it very carefully, and finally he told me, There is only one way to have that power: it is TO BE the government. One can influence individuals, one can transmit the will to them, but their hands are tied. In a government, there is no one individual, nor even several who is all-powerful and who can decide things. One must be the government oneself and give it the desired orientation.
For the last, for money, he told me, I still dont know exactly what it depends on. Then one day I entered into trance with this idea in mind, and after a certain journey I came to a place like a subterranean grotto (which means that it is in the sub conscient, or perhaps even in the in conscient) which was the source, the place and the power over money. I was about to enter into this grotto (a kind of inner cave) when I saw, coiled and upright, an immense serpent, like an all black python, formidable, as big as a seven-story house, who said, You cannot pass!Why not? Let me pass!Myself, I would let you pass, but if I did, they would immediately destroy me.Who, then, is this they?They are the asuric4 powers who rule over money. They have put me here to guard the entrance, precisely so that you may not enter.And what is it that would give one the power to enter? Then he told me something like this: I heard (that is, he himself had no special knowledge, but it was something he had heard from his masters, those who ruled over him), I heard that he who will have a total power over the human sexual impulses (not merely in himself, but a universal power that is, a power enabling him to control this everywhere, among all men) will have the right to enter. In other words, these forces would not be able to prevent him from entering.
A personal realization is very easy, it is nothing at all; a personal realization is one thing, but the power to control it among all men that is, to control or master such movements at will, everywhereis quite another. I dont believe that this condition has been fulfilled. If what the serpent said is true and if this is really what will vanquish these hostile forces that rule over money, well then, it has not been fulfilled.
It has been fulfilled to a certain extent but its negligible. It is conditional, limited: in one case, it works; in another, it doesnt. It is quite problematic. And naturally, where terrestrial things are involved (I dont say universal, but in any case terrestrial), when it is something involving the earth, it must be complete; there cannot be any approximations.
Therefore, its an affair between the asuras and the human species. To transform itself is the only solution left to the human speciesin other words, to tear from the asuric forces the power of ruling over the human species.
You see, the human species is a part of Nature, but as Sri Aurobindo has explained, from the moment mind expressed itself in man, it put him into a relationship with Nature very different from the relationship all the lower species have with her. All the lower species right up to man are completely under the rule of Nature; she makes them do whatever she wants, and they can do nothing without her consent. Whereas man begins to act and to live as an equal; not as an equal in terms of power, but from the standpoint of consciousness (he is beginning to do so since he has the capacity to study and to find out Natures secrets). He is not superior to her, far from it, but he is on an equal footing. And so he has acquiredthis is a fac the has acquired a certain power of independence that he immediately used to put himself under the influence of the hostile forces, which are not terrestrial but extra-terrestrial.
I am speaking of terrestrial Nature. Through their mental power, men had the choice and the freedom to make pacts with these extraterrestrial vital forces. There is a whole vital world that has nothing to do with the earth, it is entirely independent or prior to earths existence, it is self-existentwell, they have brought that down here! They have made what we see! And such being the case This is what terrestrial Nature told me: It is beyond my control.
So considering all that, Sri Aurobindo came to the conclusion that only the supramental power (Mother brings down her hands) as he said, will be able to rule over everything. And when that happens, it will be all overincluding Nature. For a long time, Nature rebelled (I have written about it often). She used to say, Why are you in such a hurry? It will be done one day. But then last year, there was that extraordinary experience.5 And it was because of that experience that I told her, Well, now that we agree, give me some proof; I am asking you for some proofdo it for me. She didnt budge, absolutely nothing.
Perhaps it is a kind of it can hardly be called an intuition, but a kind of divination of this idea that made people speak of selling ones soul to the devil for money, of money being an evil force, which produces this shrinking on the part of all those who want to lead a spiritual life but as for that, they shrink from everything, not only from money!
Perhaps it would not be necessary to have this power over all men, but in any event, it should be great enough to act upon the mass. It is likely that once a certain movement has been mastered to some degree, what the mass does or doesnt do (this whole human mass that has barely, barely emerged into even the mental consciousness) will become quite irrelevant. You see, the mass is still under the great rule of Nature. I am referring to mental humanity, predominantly mental, which developed the mind but misused it and immediately set out on the wrong pathfirst thing.
There is nothing to say since the first thing done by the divine forces which emanated for the Creation was to take the wrong path!6 That is the origin, the seed of this marvelous spirit of independence the negation of surrender, in other words. Man said, I have the power to think; I will do with it what I want, and no one has the right to intervene. I am free, I am an independent being, IN-DE-PEN-DENT! So thats how things stand: we are all independent beings!
But yesterday, in fact, I was looking (with all these mantras and these prayers and this whole vibration that has descended into the atmosphere, creating a state of constant calling in the atmosphere), and I remembered the old movements and how everything now has changed! I was also thinking of the old disciplines, one of which is to say, I am That.7 People were told to sit in meditation and repeat, I am That, to reach an identification. And it all seemed to me so obsolete, so childish, but at the same time a part of the whole. I looked, and it seemed so absurd to sit in meditation and say, I am That! I, what is this I who is That; what is this I, where is it? I was trying to find it, and I saw a tiny, microscopic point (to see it would almost require some gigantic instrument), a tiny, obscure point in an im-men-sity of Light, and that little point was the body. At the same timeit was absolutely simultaneous I saw the Presence of the Supreme as a very, very, very, VERY immense Being, within which was I in an attitude of (I was only a sensation, you see), an attitude (gesture of surrender) like this. There were no limits, yet at the same time, one felt the joy of being permeated, enveloped and of being able to widen, widen, widen indefinitelyto widen the whole being, from the highest consciousness to the most material consciousness. And then, at the same time, to look at this body and to see every cell, every atom vibrating with a divine, radiant Presence with all its consciousness, all its Power, all its Will, all its Loveall, all, really and a joy! An extraordinary joy. And one did not disturb the other, nothing was contradictory and everything was felt at the same time. That was when I said, But truly! This body had to have the training it has had for more than seventy years to be able to bear all that without starting to cry out or dance or leap up or whatever it might be! No, it was calm (it was exultant, but it was very calm), and it remained in control of its movements and its words. In spite of the fact that it was really living in another world, it could apparently act normal due to this strenuous training in self- control by the REASONby the reasonover the whole being, which has tamed it and given it such a great cohesive power that I can BE in the experience, I can LIVE this experience, and at the same time respond with the most amiable of smiles to the most idiotic questions!
And then, it always ends in the same way, by a canticle to the action of the grace: O, Lord! You are truly marvelous! All the experiences I have needed to pass through You have given to me, all the things I needed to do to make this body ready You have made me do, and always with the feeling that it was You who was making me do itand with the universal disapproval of all the right-minded humanity!
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.
--
But isnt a dog more conscious, more evolved than a tiger, or higher in the spiral that is, nearer the Divine?
Its not a question of being conscious. There is no doubt that man is more evolved than the tiger, but the tiger is more divine than man. One shouldnt confuse things. These are two entirely different things.
The Divine is everywhere, in everything. We should never forget itnot for a se cond should we forget it. He is everywhere, in everything; and in an un conscious but spontaneous, therefore sincere, way, all that exists below the mental manifestation is divine, without mixture; in other words, it exists spontaneously and in harmony with its nature. It is man with his mind who has introduced the idea of guilt. Naturally, he is much more conscious! Theres no question about it, its a fact, although what we call consciousness (what we call it, that is, what man calls consciousness) is the power to objectify and mentalize things. It is not the true consciousness, but its what men call consciousness. So according to the human mode, it is obvious that man is much more conscious than the animal, but the human brings in sin and perversion which do not exist outside of this state we call consciouswhich in fact is not conscious but merely consists in mentalizing things and in having the ability to objectify them.
It is an ascending curve, but a curve that swerves away from the Divine. So naturally, one has to climb much higher to find a higher Divine, since it is a conscious Divine, whereas the others are divine spontaneously and instinctively, without being conscious of it. All our moral notions of good and evil, all of that, are what we have thrown over the creation with our distorted and perverted consciousness. It is we who have invented it.
We are the distorting intermediary between the purity of the animal and the divine purity of the gods.
0 1958-07-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But as soon as a man feels energetic, he immediately rushes into action. Or else, those who dont have the sense of doing something useful start gossiping. And still worse, those who have no control over themselves become intolerant and start arguing! If someone contradicts their will, they feel full of energy and they mistake that for a godlike wrath!
***
0 1958-07-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In the final analysis, seeing the world such as it is and seems meant to be irremediably, human intellect has decided that this universe must be an error of God and that the manifestation or creation is certainly the result of a desire, the desire to manifest, know oneself, enjoy oneself. So the only thing to do is to put an end to this error as soon as possible by refusing to cling to desire and its fatal consequences.
But the Supreme Lord answers that the comedy is not entirely played out, and He adds: Wait for the last act; undoubtedly you will change your mind.
0 1958-08-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Last night, I had many dreams (not really dreams, but ); I used to find them very interesting because they gave me certain indications, all kinds of things, but when I saw it all now, I said to myself, Good Lord! What a waste of time! Instead, I could be living in a supramental consciousness and seeing things. So during the night, I made a resolution to change all this too. My nights have to change. I am already changing my days; now my nights have to change. But then all this sub conscious in Matter, all this, it all has to change! Theres no choice, it has to be seen to.
Once you set to this work, it is such a formidable task! But what can I do?
0 1958-08-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its remarkable that things you have understood in your consciousness reappear as problems to be solved in the cells of the body.
In the cells, both things are there. The body is convinced of the divine Presence everywhere, that all is the Divineit lives in that; and at the same time, it shrinks from certain contacts! I saw that this morning, both things at once, and I said, Lord, I know nothing at all!
There (gesture above the head), everything has been resolved, I could write books on how to resolve this or that, how the synthesis is made, etc., but here (the body) I live this synthesis stumblingly. The two coexist, but it is still not THAT (gesture, hands clasped together, pointing upwards).
--
What problems come up! If there were a plague or cholera, for example, would the supramental Force in the cells, the supramental realization, be able to restore order out of the disorder that allows the epidemic to be? I dont mean on an individual levelindividually, if you are in a certain consciousness, you can remain untouched I am not speaking of that, I am speaking impersonally, as it were.
We know nothing. We believe we know, but as soon as it is a question of that (the body), we know nothing. As soon as we are in the subtle physical, we know everything, we live in bliss but here, we know nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing.
0 1958-08-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Evidently the gods of the Puranas are a good deal worse than human beings, as we saw in that film the other day1 (and that story was absolutely true). The gods of the Overmind are infinitely more egocentric the only thing that counts for them is their power, the extent of their power. Man has in addition a psychic being, so consequently he has true love and compassionwherein lies his superiority over the gods. It was very, very clearly expressed in this film, and its very true.
The gods are faultless, for they live according to their own nature, spontaneously and without constraint; it is their godly way. But if one looks at it from a higher point of view, if one has a higher vision, a vision of the whole, they have fewer qualities than man. In this film, it was proved that through their capacity for love and self-giving, men can have as much power as the gods, and even morewhen they are not egoists, when they can overcome their egoism.
Certainly man is nearer the Supreme than the gods. Provided he fulfills the necessary conditions, he can be nearerhe isnt so automatically, but he can be, he has the power, the potentiality to be.
Anusuya: wife of the rishi Atri and endowed with a great inner force. In her husband's absence, three gods came (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) disguised as brahmins and asked her for something to eat. Then they refused to eat unless she served them naked. Since they were brahmins, she could not send them away without feeding them, so by her inner power, she changed them into babies and served them naked. This film was shown at the Ashram Playground on August 5, 1958.
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont know when it begana very long time ago, before I came here, although some of them came while I was here. But in my case, they were always very short. For example, when Sri Aurobindo was here in his body, at any moment, in any difficulty, for anything, it always came like this: My Lord!simply and spontaneouslyMy Lord! And instantly, the contact was established. But since He left, it has stopped. I can no longer say it, for it would be like saying My Lord, My Lord! to myself.
I had a mantra in French before coming to Pondicherry. It was Dieu de bont et de misricorde [God of kindness and mercy], but what it means is usually not understoodit is an entire program, a universal program. I have been repeating this mantra since the beginning of the century; it was the mantra of ascension, of realization. At present, it no longer comes in the same way, it comes rather as a memory. But it was deliberate, you see; I always said Dieu de bont et de misricorde, because even then I understood that everything is the Divine and the Divine is in all things and that it is only we who make a distinction between what is or what is not the Divine.
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.
Seigneur, Dieu de bont et de misricorde
--
Seigneur, Dieu du silence et de la contemplation
Seigneur, Dieu de lumire et de connaissance
Seigneur, Dieu de vie et dimmortalit
--
Lord, God of silence and contemplation
Lord, God of light and knowledge
--
The words came afterwards, as if they had been superimposed upon the states of consciousness, grafted onto them. Some of the associations seem unexpected, but they were the exact expression of the states of consciousness in their order of unfolding. They came one after another, as if the contact was trying to become more complete. And the last was like a triumph. As soon as I finished writing (in writing, all this becomes rather flat), the impetus within was still alive and it gave me the sense of an all- conquering Truth. And the last mantra sprang forth:
Seigneur, Dieu de la Vrit victorieuse!
--
But what is going to come now? I constantly hear the Sanskrit mantra:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH1
--
As soon as I sit for meditation, as soon as I have a quiet minute to concentrate, it always begins with this mantra, and there is a response in the body, in the cells of the body: they all start vibrating.
This is how it happened: Y had just returned, and he brought back a trunk full of things which he then proceeded to show me, and his excitement made tight, tight little waves in the atmosphere, making my head ache; it made anyway, it was unpleasant. When I left, just after that had happened, I sat down and went like this (gesture of sweeping out) to make it stop, and immediately the mantra began.
--
And it has such a transformative power! I felt that if it continued, something would happen, something like a change in the equilibrium of the bodys cells.
Unfortunately, I was unable to continue, because I dont have the time; it was just before the bal cony darshan and I was going to be late. Something told me, That is for people who have nothing to do. Then I said, I belong to my work, and I slowly withdrew. I put on the brakes, and the action was cut short. But what remains is that whenever I repeat this mantra everything starts vibrating.
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.
--
Each time this music is played, it produces exactly the same effect upon the body. It is strange, as if all the cells were dilating, with a feeling that the body is growing larger It becomes all dilated, as if swollen with lightwith force, a lot of force. And this music seems to form spirals, like luminous ribbons of incense smoke, white (not transparent, literally white) and they rise up and up. I always see the same thing; it begins in the form of a vase, then swells like an amphora and converges higher up to blossom forth like a flower.
So for these mantras, everything depends upon what you want to do with them. I am in favor of a short mantra, especially if you want to make both numerous and spontaneous repetitionsone or two words, three at most. Because you must be able to use them in all cases, when an accident is about to happen, for example. It has to spring up without thinking, without calling: it should issue forth from the being spontaneously, like a reflex, exactly like a reflex. Then the mantra has its full force.
--
This one, this mantra, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, came to me after some time, for I felt well, I saw that I needed to have a mantra of my own, that is, a mantra consonant with what this body has to do in the world. And it was just then that it came.3 It was truly an answer to a need that had made itself felt. So if you feel the neednot there, not in your head, but here (Mother points to the center of her heart), it will come. One day, either you will hear the words, or they will spring forth from your heart And when that happens, you must hold onto it.
The first syllable of NAMO is pronounced with a short 'a,' as in nahmo. The final word is pronounced BHA-GAH-VA-TEH.
--
The different mantras or prayers that came to Mother and which She grouped under the heading Prayers of the consciousness of the Cells, are included as an addendum to the Agenda of 1959.
***
0 1958-10-01, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It was so strong, so strong that it was really inexpressible. The negative experience of no longer being an individual, or in other words, the dissolution of the ego, took place a long time ago and still takes place quite often: the ego completely vanishes. But this was a positive experience of being not just the universe in its totality, but something elseineffable, yet concrete, absolutely concrete! Unutterable1and yet utterly concrete: the divine Person beyond the Impersonal.
The experience lasted for only a few minutes. And I knew, then, that all our words all our words are empty. But circumstances were such that I had to speak
0 1958-10-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It must be strong enough to pull me from my concentration or my activity. If I knew when you concentrate or do your puja,1 I could tune into you, and shell I would know more; otherwise, my inner life is too l am not at all passive inwardly, you see, I am very active, so I dont usually receive your vibrations unless they impose themselves strongly or unless I have decided beforeh and to be attentive to what is coming from someone or other. If I know that at a given moment something is going to happen, then I open a door, as it were. But its difficult to speak of these things.
When you left on your journey,2 for example, I made a specie! concentration for all to go well so that nothing untoward happen to you. I even made a formation and asked for a constant, special help over you. Then I renewed my concentration every day, which is how I came to notice that you were invoking me very regulary. I Saw you everyday, everyday, with a very regular precision. It was something that imposed itself on me, but it imposed itself only because l had initially made a formation to follow you.
For people here in the Ashram, my work is not the same. It is more like a kind of atmosphere that extends everywherea very conscious atmospherewhich I let work for each one according to his need. I dont have a special action for each person, unless something requires my special attention. When I would tune into you while you were travelling, I clearly saw your image appear before me, as though you were looking at me, but now that you have returned here, I no longer see it. Rather, I receive a sensation or an impression; and as these sensations and impressions are innumerable, its rather like one element among many. It no longer imposes itself in such an entirely distinct way nor does it appear before me in the same manner, as a clear image of yourself, as though you wanted to know something.
As soon as I am alone, I enter into a very deep concentration,a state of consciousness, a kind of universal activity. Is it deep? What is it? It is far beyond all the mental regions, far, far beyond, and it is constant. As soon as I am alone or resting somewhere, thats how it is.
The other day when I was in this state of concentration, I had the vision that I mentioned to you. I felt I was being pulled, that something was pulling me and trying to draw my attention. I felt it very strongly. So I opened my eyes, my mental eyes (the physical eyes may remain opened or closed, it makes no difference either way; when I am concentrated, things on the physical plane no longer exist), I deliberately opened the minds eyes, for that is where I felt myself being pulled, and then I had this vision I told you of. Someone was trying to draw my attention, to tell me something. It takes someone really quite powerful, with a very great power of concentration, to do thatthere are certainly a great many people here and elsewhere who try to do this, yet I dont feel a thing.3
In the outer, practical domain, I might suddenly think of someone, so I know that this person is calling or thinking of me. When you left on your trip, I created a special link-up so that if ever, at any moment, you called me for anything, I would know it instantly, and I remained attentive and alert. But I do that only in exceptional cases. Generally speaking, when I havent made this special link-up, things keep coming in and coming in and coming in and coming in, and the answer goes out automatically, here or there or there or therehundreds and hundreds of things that I dont keep in my memory because then it would really be frightful. I dont keep these things in my consciousness; it is rather a work that is done automatically.
When you asked me if X4 were thinking of me, I consulted my atmosphere and saw that it was true, that even many times a day Xs thoughts were coming. So I know that he is concentrating on me, or something: it simply passes through me, and I answer automatically. But I dont particularly pay attention to X, unless you ask me a question about him, in which case I deliberately tune into him, then observe and determine whether its like this or like that. Whereas this vision the other day was something that thrust itself on me; I was in another region altogether, in my inner contemplation, my concentrationa very strong concentrationwhen I was forced to enter into contact with this being whose vision I had and who was obviously a very powerful being. After telling me what he had to tell me, he went away in a very peculiar way, not at all suddenly as most people appear and disappear, not at all like that. When I first saw him, there was a living form the being himself was there but upon leaving (probably to see the effect, to find out whether he had truly succeeded in making himself understood), he left behind a kind of image of himself. Afterwards, this image blurred and it left only a silhouette, an outline, then it disappeared altogether leaving only an impression. That was the last thing I saw. So I kept the impression and analyzed it to find out exactly what was involved; all this was filed away, and then it was over. I began my concentration once again.
I intentionally carry everybody in my active consciousness for the work, and I do the work consciously; but the extent to which people in the world, or those who are here in the Ashram, are conscious of this or receive the results depends upon them, though not exclusively.
The other day, for example, though I no longer recall exactly when (I forget everything on purpose)but it was in the last part of the night I had a rather long activity concerning the whole realization of the Ashram, notably in the fields of education and art. I was apparently inspecting this area to see how things were there, so naturally I saw a certain number of people, their work and their inner states. Some saw me and, at that moment, had a vision of me. It is likely that many were asleep and didnt notice anything, but some actually saw me. The next morning, for example, someone who works at the theater told me that she had had a splendid vision of me in which I had spoken to her, blessed her, etc. This was her way of receiving the work I had done. And this kind of thing is happening more and more, in that my action is awakening the consciousness in others more and more strongly.
Naturally, the reception is always incomplete or partially modified; when it passes through the individuality, it becomes narrowed, a personal thing. It seems impossible for each one to have a consciousness vast enough to see the thing in its entirety.
You said that our way of receiving your work or becoming conscious of it does not exclusively depend upon us. What do you mean?
It depends upon the progress in the consciousness. The more the action is supramentalized, the more its reception is IMPOSED upon the consciousness of each one. The actions progress makes it more and more perceptible IN SPITE OF each ones condition. The milieu obviously limits and altersdistortswhat it receives, but the quality of the Work acts upon this receptivity and imposes itself on it in a more and more efficient and imperious way.
There is an interdependence between the individual progress and the collective progress, between that which works and that which is worked upon. It proceeds like this (gesture of intermeshing), and as one progresses, the other progresses. The progress above not only hastens the progress below but brings the two nearer together, thus changing the distance in the relationship; that is, the distance will not remain the same, the ratio between the progress here and the progress above wont always be identical.
--
(Shortly afterwards, concerning the experience of Wednesday, October 1: the divine Person beyond the Impersonal)
Before, I always had the negative experience of the disappearance of the ego, of the oneness of Creation, where everything implying separation disappearedan experience that, personally, I would call negative. Last Wednesday, while I was speaking (and thats why at the end I could no longer find my words), I seemed suddenly to have left this negative phenomenon and entered into the positive experience: the experience of BEING the Supreme Lord, the experience that nothing exists but the Supreme Lordall is the Supreme Lord, there is nothing else. And at that moment, the feeling of this infinite power that has no limit, that nothing can limit, was so overwhelming that all the functions of the body, of this mental machine that summons up words, all this was I could no longer speak French. Perhaps the words could have come to me in Englishprobably, because it was easier for Sri Aurobindo to express himself in English, and thats how it must have happened: it was the part embodied in Sri Aurobindo (the part of the Supreme that was embodied in Sri Aurobindo for its manifestation) that had the experience. This is what joined back with the Origin and caused the experience I was well aware of it. And that is probably why its transcription through English words would have been easier than through French words (for at these moments, such activities are purely mechanical, rather like automatic machines). And naturally the experience left something behind. It left the sense of a power that can no longer be qualified,5 really. And it was there yesterday evening.
The difficultyits not even a difficulty, its just a kind of precaution that is taken (automatically, in fact) in order to For example, the volume of Force that was to be expressed in the voice was too great for the speech organ. So I had to be a little attentive that is, there had to be a kind of filtering in the outermost expression, otherwise the voice would have cracked. But this isnt done through the will and reason, its automatic. Yet I feel that the capacity of Matter to contain and express is increasing with phenomenal speed. But its progressive, it cant be done instantly. There have often been people whose outer form broke because the Force was too strong; well, I clearly see that it is being dosed out. After all, this is exclusively the concern of the Supreme Lord, I dont bother about itits not my concern and I dont bother about itHe makes the necessary adjustments. Thus it comes progressively, little by little, so that no fundamental disequilibrium occurs. It gives the impression that ones head is swelling so tremendously it will burst! But then if there is a moment of stillness, it adapts; gradually, it adapts.
Only, one must be careful to keep the sense of the Unmanifest sufficiently present so that the various things the elements, the cells and all thathave time to adapt. The sense of the Unmanifest, or in other words, to step back into the Unmanifest.6 This is what all those who have had experiences have done; they always believed that there was no possibility of adaptation, so they left their bodies and went off.
--
(Towards the end of the conversation, about money:)
Money belongs to the one who spends it; that is an absolute law. You may pile up money, but it doesnt belong to you until you spend it. Then you have the merit, the glory, the joy, the pleasure of spending it!
Money is meant to circulate. What should remain constant is the progressive movement of an increase in the earths productionan ever-expanding progressive movement to increase the earths production and improve existence on earth. It is the material improvement of terrestrial life and the growth of the earths production that must go on expanding, enlarging, and not this silly paper or this inert metal that is amassed and lifeless.
Money is not meant to generate money; money should generate an increase in production, an improvement in the conditions of life and a progress in human consciousness. This is its true use. What I call an improvement in consciousness, a progress in consciousness, is everything that education in all its forms can providenot as its generally understood, but as we understand it here: education in art, education in from the education of the body, from the most material progress, to the spiritual education and progress through yoga; the whole spectrum, everything that leads humanity towards its future realization. Money should serve to augment that and to augment the material base for the earths progress, the best use of what the earth can giveits intelligent utilization, not the utilization that wastes and loses energies. The use that allows energies to be replenished.
In the universe there is an inexhaustible source of energy that asks only to be replenished; if you know how to go about it, it is replenished. Instead of draining life and the energies of our earth and making of it something parched and inert, we must know the practical exercise for replenishing the energy constantly. And these are not just words; I know how its to be done, and science is in the process of thoroughly finding outit has found out most admirably. But instead of using it to satisfy human passions, instead of using what science has found so that men may destroy each other more effectively than they are presently doing, it must be used to enrich the earth: to enrich the earth, to make the earth richer and richer, more active, generous, productive and to make all life grow towards its maximum efficiency. This is the true use of money. And if its not used like that, its a vicea short circuit and a vice.
But how many people know how to use it in this way? Very few, which is why they have to be taught. What I call teach is to show, to give the example. We want to be the example of true living in the world. Its a challenge I am placing before the whole financial world: I am telling them that they are in the process of withering and ruining the earth with their idiotic system; and with even less than they are now spending for useless thingsmerely for inflating something that has no inherent life, that should be only an instrument at the service of life, that has no reality in itself, that is only a means and not an end (they make an end of something that is only a means)well then, instead of making of it an end, they should make it the means. With what they have at their disposal they could oh, transform the earth so quickly! Transform it, put it into contact, truly into contact, with the supramental forces that would make life bountiful and, indeed, constantly renewedinstead of becoming withered, stagnant, shrivelled up: a future moon. A dead moon.
We are told that in a few millions or billions of years, the earth will become some kind of moon. The movement should be the opposite: the earth should become more and more a resplendent sun, but a sun of life. Not a sun that burns, but a sun that illuminesa radiant glory.
0 1958-10-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When I am not in my body, I have all kinds of contacts with people, contacts of different types. And its not a thing decided in advance, it is not willed, it is not even thought out; it is simply observed.
Certain relationships are entirely within me, entirely. It is not a relationship between individuals, but a relationship between states of beingwhich means that with the same individual there may be many different relationships. If it were a single whole but I am still not sure if there is a single person with whom the relationship is global.
So there are parts which are entirely within me, entirely there is no difference; they are myself. There are other parts with which I am conscious of an exchangea very familiar, very intimate exchange. And there are parts outside of me with which I still have relationships, not exactly as with strangers but merely as acquaintances; it is still necessary to observe their reactions in order to do the correct thing. And the ratio between these different parts is naturally different depending upon the different individuals.
***
0 1958-10-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In all religious and especially occult initiations, the ritual of the different ceremonies is prescribed in every detail; all the words pronounced, all the gestures made have their importance, and the least infraction of the rule, the least fault committed can have fatal consequences. It is the same in material lifeif one had the initiation into the true way of living, one could transform physical existence.
If we consider the body as the tabernacle of the Lord, then medical science, for example, becomes the initiatory ritual of the service of the temple, and doctors of all kinds are the officiating priests in the different rituals of worship. Thus, medicine is really a priesthood and should be treated as such.
The same can be said of physical culture and of all the sciences that are concerned with the body and its workings. If the material universe is considered as the outer sheath and the manifestation of the Supreme, then it can generally be said that all the physical sciences are the rituals of worship.
We always come back to the same thing: the absolute necessity for perfect sincerity, perfect honesty and a sense of the dignity of all we do so that we may do it as it should be done.
--
It is the Supreme Lord who has ineluctably decreed the place you occupy in the universal concert, but whatever be this place, you have equally the same right as all others to ascend the supreme summits right to the supramental realization.
There is ones position in the universal hierarchy, which is something ineluctableit is the eternal lawand there is the development in the manifestation, which is an education; it is progressive and done from within the being. What is remarkable is that to become a perfect being, this positionwhatever it is, decreed since all eternity, a part of the eternal Truthmust manifest with the greatest possible perfection as a result of evolutionary growth. It is the junction, the union of the two, the eternal position and the evolutionary realization, that will make the total and perfect being, and the manifestation as the Lord has willed it since the beginning of all eternity (which has no beginning at all! ).
--
It brings up very interesting things. (What I am going to say now is very personal and consequently cannot be used, but it may be kept anyway:)
There are two parallel things that, from the eternal and supreme point of view, are of identical importance, in that both are equally essential for the realization to be a true realization.
On the one hand, there is what Sri Aurobindowho, as the Avatar, represented the supreme consciousness and Will on earthdeclared me to be, that is, the supreme universal Mother; and on the other hand, there is what I am realizing in my body through the integral sadhana.2 I could be the supreme Mother and not do any sadhana, and as a matter of fact, as long as Sri Aurobindo was in his body, it was he who did the sadhana, and I received the effects. These effects were automatically established in the outer being, but he was the one doing it, not II was merely the bridge between his sadhana and the world. Only when he left his body was I forced to take up the sadhana myself; not only did I have to do what I was doing beforebeing a bridge between his sadhana and the world but I had to carry on the sadhana myself. When he left, he turned over to me the responsibility for what he himself had been doing in his body, and I had to do it. So there are both these things. Sometimes one predominates, sometimes the other (I dont mean successively in time, but it depends on the moment), and they are trying to combine in a total and perfect realization: the eternal, ineffable and immutable consciousness of the Executrice of the Supreme, and the consciousness of the Sadhak of the integral Yoga who strives in an ascending effort towards an ever increasing progression.
To this has been added a growing initiation into the supramental realization which is (I understand it well now) the perfect union of what comes from above and what comes from below, or in other words, the eternal position and the evolutionary realization.
Then and this becomes rather amusing like lifes play Depending upon each ones nature and position and bias, and because human beings are very limited, very partial and incapable of a global vision, there are those who believe, who have faith, or to whom the eternal Mother is revealed through Grace, who have this kind of relationship with the eternal Mother and there are those who themselves are plunged in sadhana, who have the consciousness of a developed sadhak, and thereby have the same relationship with me as one has with what they generally call a realized soul. Such persons consider me the prototype of the Guru teaching a new way, but the others dont have this relationship of sadhak to Guru (I am taking the two extremes, but of course there are all the possibilities in between), they are only in contact with the eternal Mother and, in the simplicity of their hearts, they expect Her to do everything for them. If they were perfect in this attitude, the eternal Mother would do everything for themas a matter of fact, She does do everything, but as they arent perfect, they cannot receive it totally. But the two paths are very different, the two kinds of relationships are very different; and as we all live according to the law of external things, in a material body, there is a kind of annoyance, an almost irritated misunderstanding, between those who follow this path (not consciously and intentionally, but spontaneously), who have this relationship of the child to the Mother, and those who have this other relationship of the sadhak to the Guru. So it creates a whole play, with an infinite diversity of shades.
But all this is still in suspense, on the way to realization, moving forward progressively; therefore, unless we are able to see the outcome, we cant understand a thing. We get confused. Only when we see the outcome, the final realization, only when we have TOUCHED there, will everything be understood then it will be as clear and as simple as can be. But meanwhile, my relationships with different people are very funny, utterly amusing!
Those who have what I would call the more outer relationship compared to the other (although it is not really so)the relationship of yoga, of sadhana consider the others superstitious; and the others, who have faith OI perception, or the Grace to have understood what Sri Aurobindo meant (perhaps even before knowing what he said, but in any event, after he said it), discard the others as ignorant unbelievers! And there are all the gradations in between, so it really becomes quite funny!
--
The Lord will possess his universe only when the universe will have consciously become the Lord.
See Agenda 1957, p. 119
0 1958-10-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother brings with her the continuation of the first seven Sutras written by Her, probably in 1957.)
[See p. 119]
--
And then it continues (Mother reads):
8) All division in the being is an insincerity.
--
'If mankind only caught a glimpse of what infinite enjoyments, what perfect forces, what luminous reaches of spontaneous knowledge, what wide calms of our being lie waiting for us in the tracts which our animal evolution has not yet conquered, they would leave all and never rest till they had gained these treasures. But the way is narrow, the doors are hard to force, and fear, distrust and scepticism are there, sentinels of Nature to forbid the turning away of our feet from less ordinary pastures.'
Cent. Ed. Vol. XVII, p. 79
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.
--
And that is what always brings in complications, conflicts. I was surprised that the atmosphere [of the Ashram] is filled with conflict when he is here but that is the reason.2
Why arent people conscious of this identification while having it in a part of their being?
Between the outer consciousness and the deepest consciousness there are truly holeswhich are missing links between states of being and which have to be built, but they dont know how to do it. So their first reaction when they go within is panic! They feel they are falling into night, into nothingness, into non-being!
I had a Danish friend, an artist, to whom this happened. He wanted me to teach him how to go out of his body. He had interesting dreams so he thought it might be worthwhile to go there consciously. I helped him to go out but it was frightful! When he dreamed, a part of his mind indeed remained conscious, active, and a kind of link remained between this active part and his outer being, so he remembered some of his dreams, but it was only a very partial phenomenon. To go out of your body means that you must gradually pass through ALL the states of being, if you are to do it systematically. But already in the subtle physical it was almost non-individualized, and as soon as he went a bit further, there was no longer anything! It was unformed, nonexistent.
So they sit down (they are told to interiorize, to go within themselves), and they panic!Naturally they feel that they that they are disappearing: there is nothing! There is no consciousness!
Purusha: the Being or the Self that witnesses and supports the Becoming.
0 1958-11-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
All this together constitutes one collective entity, and the individual is lost in it. If I had to deal with this person or that person individually, it would be different. But all together, taking them all together as a collective entity, well, its not brilliant.
Mother is referring to the Ashram as a collectivity.
0 1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The gods of the Puranas are merciless gods who respect only power and have nothing of the true love, charity or profound goodness that the Divine has put into the human consciousness and which compensate psychically for all the outer defects. They themselves have nothing of this, they have no psychic.1 The Puranic gods have no psychic, so they act according to their power. They are restrained only when their power is not all-powerful, thats all.
But what does Anusuya represent?2
She is a portrait of the ideal woman according to the Hindu conception, the woman who worships her husb and as a god, which means that she sees the Supreme in her husband. And so this woman was much more powerful than all the gods of the Puranas precisely because she had this psychic capacity for total self-giving; and her faith in the Supremes presence in her husb and gave her a much greater power than that of all the gods.
The story narrated in the film went like this: Narada, as usual, was having fun. (Narada is a demigod with a divine position that is, he can communicate with man and with the gods as he pleases, and he serves as an intermediary, but then he likes to have fun!) So he was quarrelling with one of the goddesses, I no longer recall which one, and he told her (Ah, yes! The quarrel was with Saraswati.) Saraswati was telling him that knowledge is much greater than love (much greater in that it is much more powerful than love), and he replied to her, You dont know what youre talking about! (Mother laughs) Love is much more powerful than knowledge. So she challenged him, saying, Well then, prove it to me.I shall prove it to you, he replied. And the whole story starts there. He began creating a whole imbroglio on earth just to prove his point.
It was only a film story, but anyway, the goddesses, the three wives of the Trimurti that is, the consort of Brahma, the consort of Vishnu and the consort of Shivajoined forces (!) and tried all kinds of things to foil Narada. I no longer recall the details of the story Oh yes, the story begins like this: one of the three I believe it was Shivas consort, Parvati (she was the worst one, by the way!)was doing her puja. Shiva was in meditation, and she began doing her puja in front of him; she was using an oil lamp for the puja, and the lamp fell down and burned her foot. She cried out because she had burned her foot. So Shiva at once came out of his meditation and said to her, What is it, Devi? (laughter) She answered, I burned my foot! Then Narada said, Arent you ashamed of what you have done?to make Shiva come out of his meditation simply because you have a little burn on your foot, which cannot even hurt you since you are immortal! She became furious and snapped at him, Show me that it can be otherwise! Narada replied, I am going to show you what it is to really love ones husbandyou dont know anything about it!
Then comes the story of Anusuya and her husb and (who is truly a husb and a very good man, but well, not a god, after all!), who was sleeping with his head resting upon Anusuyas knees. They had finished their puja (both of them were worshippers of Shiva), and after their puja he was resting, sleeping, with his head on Anusuyas knees. Meanwhile, the gods had descended upon earth, particularly this Parvati, and they saw Anusuya like that. Then Parvati exclaimed, This is a good occasion! Not very far away a cooking fire was burning. With her power, she sent the fire rolling down onto Anusuyas feetwhich startled her because it hurt. It began to burn; not one cry, not one movement, nothing because she didnt want to awaken her husband. But she began invoking Shiva (Shiva was there). And because she invoked Shiva (it is lovely in the story), because she invoked Shiva, Shivas foot began burning! (Mother laughs) Then Narada showed Shiva to Parvati: Look what you are doing; you are burning your husbands foot! So Parvati made the opposite gesture and the fire was put out.
--
It should be said that we are speaking of the Puranic gods, because the Christians, for example, do not understand what this can mean. They have an entirely different conception of the gods.
It could apply to the old Greek mythology, though.
--
They are beings who belong to the progressive creation of the universe and who have themselves presided over its formation from the most etheric or subtle regions to the most material regions. They are a descent of the divine creative Spirit that came to repair the mischief in short, to repair what the Asuras had done. The first makers created disorder and darkness, an un consciousness, and then it is said that there was a se cond lineage of makers to repair that evil, and the gods gradually descended through realities that were ever moreone cant say dense because it isnt really dense, nor can one even say material, since matter as we know it does not exist on these planesthrough more and more concrete substances.
All these zones, these planes of reality, received different names and were classified in different ways according to the occult schools, according to the different traditions, but there is an essential similarity, and if we go back far enough into the various traditions, hardly anything but words differ, depending upon the country and the language. The descriptions are quite similar. Moreover, those who climb back up the ladderor in other words, a human being who, through his occult knowledge, goes out of one of his bodies (they are called sheaths in English) and enters into a more subtle bodyin order to ACT in a more subtle body and so forth, twelve times (you make each body come out from a more material body, leaving the more material body in its corresponding zone, and then go off through successive exteriorizations), what they have seen, what they have discovered and seen through their ascensionwhe ther they are occultists from the Occident or occultists from the Orientis for the most part analogous in description. They have put different words on it, but the experience is very analogous.
There is the whole Chaldean tradition, and there is also the Vedic tradition, and there was very certainly a tradition anterior to both that split into two branches. Well, all these occult experiences have been the same. Only the description differs depending upon the country and the language. The story of creation is not told from a metaphysical or psychological point of view, but from an objective point of view, and this story is as real as our stories of historical periods. Of course, its not the only way of seeing, but it is just as legitimate a way as the others, and in any event, it recognizes the concrete reality of all these divine beings. Even now, the experiences of Western occultists and those of Eastern occultists exhibit great similarities. The only difference is in the way they are expressed, but the manipulation of the forces is the same.
I learned all this through Theon. Probably, he was I dont know if he was Russian or Polish (a Russian or Polish Jew), he never said who he really was or where he was born, nor his age nor anything.
--
So personally, I am convinced that there was indeed a tradition anterior to both these traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, there is a similarity in the experiences. When I came here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from the occult standpoint, he always said that it conformed to the Vedic tradition. And as for certain occult practices, he told me that they were entirely tantric and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neither the Vedas nor the Tantras.
So very probably there was a tradition anterior to both. I have recollections (for me, these are always things I have LIVED), very clear, very distinct recollections of a time that was certainly VERY anterior to the Vedic times and to the Cabala, to the Chaldean tradition.
--
All these regions, all these realms are filled with beings who exist separately in their own realms, and if you are awake and conscious on a given plane for example, if while going out of a more material body you awaken on some higher planeyou can have the same relationship with the things and people of that plane as with the things and people of the material world. In other words, there exists an entirely objective relationship that has nothing to do with your own idea of things. Naturally, the resemblance becomes greater and greater as you draw nearer the physical world, the material world, and there is even a moment when one region can act directly upon the other. In any case, in what Sri Aurobindo calls the kingdoms of the overmind, you find a concrete reality entirely independent of your personal experience; whenever you come back to it, you again find the same things, with some differences that may have occurred DURING YOUR ABSENCE. And your relationships with the beings there are identical to those you have with physical beings, except that they are more flexible, more supple and more direct (for example, there is a capacity to change the outer form, the visible form, according to your inner state), but you can make an appointment with someone, come to the meeting and again find the same being, with only certain differences that may have occurred during your absence but it is absolutely concrete, with absolutely concrete results.
However, you must have at least a little experience of these things to understand them. Otherwise, if you are convinced that all this is just human fancy or mental formations, if you believe that these gods have such and such a form because men have imagined them to be like that, or that they have such and such defects or qualities because men have envisioned it that wayas with all those who say God is created in the image of man and exists only in human thoughtall such people wont understand, it will seem absolutely ridiculous to them, a kind of madness. You must live a little, touch the subject a little to know how concrete it is.
Naturally, children know a great dealif they have not been spoiled. There are many children who return to the same place night after night and continue living a life they have begun there. When these faculties are not spoiled with age, they can be preserved within one. There was a time when I was especially interested in dreams, and I could return exactly to the same place and continue some work I had begun there, visit something, for example, or see to something, some work of organization or some discovery or exploration; you go to a certain place, just as you go somewhere in life, then you rest a while, then you go back and begin againyou take up your work just where you left it, and you continue. You also notice that there are things entirely independent of you, certain variations which were not at all created by you and which occurred automatically during your absence.
But then, you must LIVE these experiences yourself; you yourself must see, you must live them with enough sincerity to see (by being sincere and spontaneous) that they are independent of any mental formations. Because one can take the opposite line and make an intensive study of the way mental formations act upon eventswhich is very interesting. But thats another field. And this study makes you very careful, very prudent, because you start noticing to what extent you can delude yourself. Therefore, both one and the other, the mental formation and the occult reality, must be studied to see what the ESSENTIAL difference is between them. The one exists in itself, entirely independent of what we think about it, and the other
--
There are subtle bodies and subtle worlds that correspond to these bodies; it is what the psychological method calls states of consciousness, but these states of consciousness really correspond to worlds. The occult process consists in becoming aware of these various inner states of being, or subtle bodies, and of mastering them sufficiently to be able to make one come out of the other, successively. For there is a whole hierarchy of increasing subtletiesor decreasing, depending upon the direction and the occult process consists in making a more subtle body come out from a denser body, and so forth, right to the most ethereal regions. You go out through successive exteriorizations into more and more subtle bodies or worlds. Each time it is rather like passing into another dimension. In fact, the fourth dimension of the physicists is only the scientific transcription of an occult knowledge.
To give another comparison, it could be said that the physical body is at the centerit is the most material and the most condensed, as well as the smallestand the more subtle inner bodies increasingly overlap the limits of this central physical body; they pass through it and extend further and further out, like water evaporating from a porous vase which creates a kind of steam all around it. And the more subtle it is, the more its extension tends to fuse with that of the universe: you finally become universal. It is an entirely concrete process that makes the invisible worlds an objective experience and even allows you to act in those worlds.
In Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's terminology, 'psychic' or 'psychic being' means the soul or the portion of the Supreme in man which evolves from life to life until it becomes a fully self- conscious being. The soul is a special capacity or grace of human beings on earth.
0 1958-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And I had the impression It was not an impression I saw it. I was descending into a crevasse between two steep rocks, rocks that appeared to be made of something harder than basalt, BLACK, but metallic at the same time, with such sharp edgesit seemed that a mere touch would lacerate you. It appeared endless and bottomless, and it kept getting narrower, narrower and narrower, narrower and narrower, like a funnel, so narrow that there was almost no more roomnot even for the consciousness to pass through. And the bottom was invisible, a black hole. And it went down, down, down, like that, without air, without light, except for a sort of glimmer that enabled me to make out the rock edges. They seemed to be cut so steeply, so sharply Finally, when my head began touching my knees, I asked myself, But what is there at the bottom of this this hole?
And as soon as I had uttered, What is there at the bottom of this hole? I seemed to touch a spring that was in the very depthsa spring I didnt see but that acted instantly with a tremendous power and it cast me up forthwith, hurled me out of this crevasse into (arms extended, motionless) a formless, limitless vast which was infinitely comfortablenot exactly warm, but it gave a feeling of ease and of an intimate warmth.
--
It seemed to contain a whole wealth of possibilities, and all this that was formless had the power to become form.
At the time, I wondered what it meant. Later, of course, I found out, and finally this morning, I said to myself, Ah, so thats it! It came to give me my message for the new year! Then I transcribed the experienceit cant be described, of course, for it was indescribable; it was a psychological phenomenon and the form it took was only a way of describing the psychological state to oneself. Here is what I wrote down, obviously in a mental way, and I am thinking of using it as my message.
--
And so, physically, the body followed. My body has been taught to express the inner experience to a certain extent. In the body there is the body-force or the body-form or the body-spirit (according to the different schools, it bears a different name), and this is what leaves the body last when one dies, usually taking a period of seven days to leave.2 With special training, it can acquire a conscious lifeindependent and consciousto such a degree that not only in a state of trance (in trance, it frequently happens that one can speak and move if one is slightly trained or educated), but even in a cataleptic state it can produce sounds and even make the body move. Thus, through training, the body begins to have somnambulistic capacitiesnot an ordinary somnambulism, but it can live an autonomous life.3 This is what took place, yesterday evening it was like that I had gone out of my body, but my body was participating. And then I was pulled downwards: my hand, which had been on the arm of the chair, slipped down, then the other hand, then my head was almost touching my knees! (The consciousness was elsewhere, I saw it from outsideit was not that I didnt know what I was doing, I saw it from outside.) So I said, In any case, this has to stop somewhere because if it continues, my head (laughing) is going to be on the ground! And I thought, But what is there at the bottom of this hole?
Scarcely had these words been formulated when there I was, at the bottom of the hole! And it was absolutely as if a tremendous, almighty spring were there, and then (Mother hits the table) vrrrm! I was cast out of the abyss into a vastness. My body immediately sat straight up, head on high, following the movement. If someone had been watching, this is what he would have seen: in a single bound, vrrrm! Straight up, to the maximum, my head on high.
--
Later Mother further explained: 'When one is exteriorized, this body-spirit retains a connection with the being that has gone out, and what has gone out has a power over itwhich is precisely why one isn't completely dead! The being that has gone out also has the power to make the body move.'
Later, Mother explained: 'I don't mean an autonomous will (it is the being that has gone out which has the power to make the body move), it has only acquired, through training, the capacity to express the will of the being with which it has kept a relationship through this link of the body-spirit which is broken only at death.'
0 1958-11-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is no preliminary thought, preliminary knowledge, preliminary will: all those things do not exist. I am only like a mirror receiving the experience, the simplicity of a little child learning life. It is like that. And it is the gift of the Grace, truly the Grace: in the face of the experience, the simplicity of a little child just born. And it is spontaneously so, but deliberately too; in other words, during the experience I am very careful not to watch myself having the experience so that no previous knowledge intervenes. Only afterwards do I see. It is not a mental construction, nor does it come from something higher than the mind (it is not even a knowledge by identity that makes me see things); no, the body (when the experience is in the body) is like that, what in English is called blank. As if it had just been born, as if just then it were being born with the experience.
And only little by little, little by little, is this experience put in the presence of any previous knowledge. Thus, its explanation and its evaluation come about progressively.
--
This is why I arrive at a verbal expression progressively, gropingly; these are not literary gropingsit is aimed at being precise, specific and concise at the same time.
When I write something, I dont expect people to understand it, but I try to avoid the least possible distortion of the experience or the image in this kind of shrinking towards expression.
--
But as soon as you want to express it, it escapes like water running through your fingers; all the fluidity is lost, it evaporates. A rather vague, poetic or artistic expression is much truer, much nearer to the truth something hazy, nebulous, undefined. Something not concretized like a rigid mental expressionthis rigidity that the mind has introduced right down into the In conscient.
This vision of the In conscient (Mother remains gazing for a moment) it was the MENTAL In conscient. Because the starting point was mental. A special In conscientrigid, hard, resistantwith all that the mind has brought into our consciousness. But it was far worse, far worse than a purely material In conscient! A mentalized In conscient, as it were. All this rigidity, this hardness, this narrowness, this fixitya FIXITYcomes from the presence of the mind in creation. When the mind was not manifested, the In conscient was not like that! It was formless and had the plasticity of something that is formless the plasticity has gone.
It is a terrible image of the Minds action in the In conscient.
0 1958-11-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Through my friends in Hyderabad, I can contact some people who are doing business in the forests of the Belgian congo. I want to go there, alone and far away from everything.
But there is always this wretched question of money. I need it to leave and to pay for the journey. Afterwards, I will manage. Anyway, it is all the same to me; I am not afraid of anything any longer.
0 1958-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The link between the two worlds has not yet been built, but it is in the process of being built; this was the meaning of the experience of February 3 1958, 1: to build a link between the two worlds. For both worlds are indeed therenot one above the other, but within each other, in two different dimensions. Only, there is no communication between them; they overlap, as it were, without being connected. In the experience of February 3, I saw certain people from here (and from elsewhere) who already belong to the supramental world in a part of their being, but there is no connection, no link. But now the hour has come in universal history for this link to be built.
What is the relationship between this experience of February 3 and that of November 7 (the almighty spring)? Is what you found in the depths of the In conscient this same Supramental?
The experience of November 7 was a further step in the building of the link between the two worlds. Where I was cast was clearly into the origin of the supramental creationall this warm gold, this tremendous living power, this sovereign peace. And once again I saw that the values governing the supramental world have nothing to do with our values here, even the values of our highest wisdom, even those we consider the most divine when we live constantly in a divine Presence: it is utterly different.
Not only in our state of adoration and surrender to the Supreme, but even in our state of identification, the QUALITY of the identification is different depending upon whether we are on this side, progressing in this hemisphere, or have passed to the other side and have emerged into the other world, the other hemisphere, the higher hemisphere.
The quality or the kind of relationship I had with the Supreme at that moment was entirely different from the one we have hereeven the identification had a different quality. One can very well understand that all the lower movements are different but this identification by which the Supreme governs and lives in us was the summit of our experience herewell, the way He governs and lives is different depending on whether we are in this hemisphere here or in the supramental life. And at that moment (the experience of November 13), what made the experience so intense was that I came to perceive vaguely both these states of consciousness at once. It was almost as if the Supreme Himself were different, or our experience of Him. And yet, in both cases, it was a contact with the Supreme. It is probably how we perceive Him or the way in which we translate it that differs, but the fact is that the quality of the experience is different.
In the other hemisphere, there is an intensity and a plenitude which are translated by a power different from the one here. How can I formulate it?I cannot.
The quality of the consciousness itself seems to change. It is not something higher than the summit we can attain here, it is not one MORE rung, not that. Here, we have reached the end, the summit, but its the quality that is different. The quality, in the sense that a fullness, a richness, a power is there (this is a translation, you see, in our way), but there is a something that that eludes us. It is truly a new reversal of consciousness.
When we begin living the spiritual life, a reversal of consciousness takes place which for us is the proof that we have entered the spiritual life; well, yet another occurs when we enter the supramental world.
And probably each time a new world opens up, there will again be a new reversal. This is why even our spiritual life, which is such a total reversal compared to ordinary life, seems something still so so totally different when compared to this supramental consciousness that the values are almost opposite.
It can be expressed in this way (but its quite approximate, more than diminished or deformed): its as if our entire spiritual life were made of silver, whereas the supramental life is made of goldas if our entire spiritual life here were a vibration of silver, not gold but simply a light, a light that goes right to the summit, an absolutely pure light, pure and intense; but in the other, in the supramental world, there is a richness and a power that make all the difference. This whole spiritual life of the psychic being and of all our present consciousness that appears so warm, so full, so wonderful, so luminous to the ordinary consciousness, well, all this splendor seems poor in comparison to the splendor of the new world.
I can explain the phenomenon like this: successive reversals such that an EVER NEW richness of creation will take place from stage to stage, making whatever came before seem so poor in comparison. What to us seems supremely rich compared to our ordinary life, appears so poor compared to this new reversal of consciousness. Such was my experience.
Last night, my effort to understand what was missing in order to help you completely and truly come out of the difficulty reminded me of what I said the other day about Power, the transforming power, the true realizing power, the supramental power. When you enter that, when you suddenly surge into that Thing, then you seeyou see that it is truly almighty in comparison to what we are here. So once again, I touched it, I experienced both states simultaneously.
--
And each time, you have the feeling of having lived on the surface of things. Its a feeling that is repeated over and over again. With each new conquest, you feel that until then you had lived only on the surface of thingson the surface of the realization, on the surface of surrender, on the surface of power. It was only the surface of things, the surface of the experience. Behind the surface, there is a depth, and only when one enters into this depth does one touch the True Thing. And it is the same experience each time: what seemed a depth becomes the surface. A surface, with all that it entails of inaccuracy, yes, of artificialityartificialan artificial transcription. It feels like something not really alive, a copy, an imitation: its an image, a reflection, but not THE Thing itself. You step into another zone and you feel you have uncovered the Source and the Power and the Truth of things; then this source and power and truth in turn become an appearance, an imitation, a mere transcription in comparison to something concrete: the new realization.
(silence)
0 1958-11-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I had two visions which are certainly related to this. The most recent one was yesterday, and it concerned a past life in India. It is something that took place in India about one thousand years ago, perhaps a little more (I am not yet sure about this). And it contains both things. Its strange, both things together the origin of the power of realization in this life and the obstacle to be conquered.
I had the last vision yesterday evening. You were much taller than you are now; you were wearing the orange robe, and you were backed up against a door of bronze, a bronze door like the door of a temple or a palace but at the same time it was symbolic (it was a fact, it actually took place like this, but at the same time it was symbolic). And unfortunately, it didnt last because I was disturbed. But it contained the key.
I was VERY HAPPY with the vision, for there was a great POWER, though it was rather terrible. But it was magnificent. When I saw that, I This vision was given to me because I had concentrated with a will to find the solution, a true solution, an enduring and permanent solution that is, I had this spontaneous gratitude which goes out to the Grace when it brings some effective help. Only, what followed was interrupted by someone who came to call me and that cut it short, but it will return.
But now I KNOWbefore I did not know. The other morning I saw, and I was told very clearly that it was a karma1 to be worked out; so then I told you, but at the time I didnt know what it was.
And I saw that with the new Power, the supramental power That is something absolutely new It used to be thought that nothing had the power to eliminate the consequences of karma and that only by exhausting it through a series of actions could its consequences be transformed exhausted, eliminated. But I KNOW that with the supramental power it can be done without following all the steps of the process.
In any event, one point is clear: it is something that happened in India, and the origin of the karma and the remedy of the karma go together. And it has to do with this initiation you received in Rameswaram.2
--
And it seems to me that its relatively easier than when you have to confront the thing all alone.
If you can when the attack comes, if you can cling to something that knows, or to something in you that has had the experience, and if you can hold onto that memory, even if it is only a memory, and cling to that in spite of all that denies and revolts Above all not To keep your head as still as possible. And not follow the movement, not succumb to the vibration.
--
Karma: positive (or negative) consequences of actions performed in past lives (every action is endowed with a self-perpetuating dynamism).
A temple-island in southern India where Satprem became a sannyasi.
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Even at a very young age, I had a kind of intuition of my destiny. I felt that something in me had to be exhausted, or that I had to exhaust myself. I dont know, as though I had to descend into the depths of the night to find the thing. I thought it was the concentration camps. Perhaps this was still not deep enough Do you see any meaning in all this?
It can hardly be formulated; these are merely impressions that follow one another. I know that when you thought of leaving with Swami,1 I saw that a door was opening, that it was the truth, that this was IT.
My immediate impression was that you were being put in direct contact with this this sort of Fatality that here they call karma, which is the consequence yes, something that must be exhausted, something that remains in the consciousness.
This is how it works: the psychic being passes from one life to another, but there are cases in which the psychic incarnates in order to to work out2 to pass through a certain experience, to learn a certain thing, to develop a certain thing through a certain experience. And so in this life, in the life where the experience is to be made, it can happen (there may be more than one reason) that the soul does not come down accurately in the place it should have, some shift or other may occur, a set of contrary circumstancesthis happens sometimesand then the incarnation miscarries entirely and the soul leaves. But in other cases, the soul is simply placed in the impossibility of doing exactly what it wants and it finds itself swept away by unfortunate circumstances. Not only unfortunate from an objective standpoint, but unfortunate for its own development, and then that creates in it the necessity to begin the experience all over again, and in much more difficult conditions.
And ifit can happenif the se cond attempt also miscarries, if the conditions make the experience the soul is seeking still more difficult for example, if one is in a body with an inadequate will or some distortion in the thought, or an egoism too too hardened, and it ends in suicide, it is dreadful. I have seen this many times, it creates a dreadful karma that can be repeated for lifetimes on end before the soul can conquer it and manage to do what it wants. And each time, the conditions become more difficult, each time it requires a still greater effort. And people who know this say, You cannot get out! In fact, it is this kind of desire to escape which pushes you into more foolish things3 that result in a still greater accumulation of difficulty. There are momentsmoments and circumstanceswhen no one is there to help you, and then things become so horrible, the circumstances become so abominable.
But if the soul has had but ONE call, but ONE contact with the Grace, then in your next life you are put in the conditions, once, whereby EVERYTHING can be swept away at one stroke. And at this present moment on earth, you cannot imagine the number of people I have met that is, the number of soulswho had reached out towards this possibility with such an intensity and they have all found themselves on my path.
At that point, sometimes a great courage is needed, sometimes a great endurance is needed, sometimes a true love is enough, sometimes, oh! if only faith were there, one thing, one tiny little thing is enough, and everything can be swept away. I have done it often; there are times when I have failed. But more often than not I have been able to remove it. But then, what is needed is a great, stoical courage or a capacity to endure and to SEE IT THROUGH. The resistance (especially in cases of former suicide), the resistance to the temptation of renewing this stupidity creates a terrible formation. Or else this habit of fleeing when suffering comes: flee, flee, instead of absorbing the difficulty, holding on.
--
But because it is karma, one must, one must DO something oneself. Karma is the construction of the ego; the ego MUST DO something, everything cannot be done for it. This is it, THIS is the thing: karma is the result of the egos actions, and only when the ego abdicates is the karma dissolved. One can help it along, one can assist it, give it strength, bestow courage upon it, but the ego must then make use of it.
(silence)
--
The other indication is what I told you the other day. When you thought of leaving to join Swami, I immediately saw a stream of light: Ah, the road is opening up! So I said, It is good. And while you were away in Ceylon, I followed you from day to day. You called much more than the se cond time, when you were in the Himalayas; and with the physical hardships you were undergoing, I was very, very close to you I constantly felt what was happening.
And then I saw a GREAT light, like a glory, when you were at Rameswaram. A great light. And when you returned here, this light was upon you, very strong and imposing. But at the same time, I felt that it needed protectingto be shielded, protected that it was not yet established. Established, ready to resist all that decomposes an experience. I would have liked to have kept you apart, under a glass case, but then I saw that this would have drawbacks as well as advantages. Also, I liked the way you wanted to fight against an uncomprehending reception due to your orange robes and your shaved head. Of course, it was a much shorter path than the other, but it was more difficult.
And then, more and more, I felt that if what I saw, as I saw it, could be realized I saw two things: a journeynot at all a pilgrimage as it is commonly understooda journey towards solitude in arduous conditions, and a sojourn in a very severe solitude, facing the mountains, in arduous physical conditions. The contact with this majesty of Nature has a great influence upon the ego at certain moments: it has the power to dissolve it. But all this complication, all these organized pilgrimages, all that it brings in the whole petty side of human life which spoils everything
Yes, that whole journey was odious
--
The other thing was the tantric initiation. But I wanted the conditions of this initiation to be at least as favorable as those in Rameswaram, by which I mean conducted by someone very capable and as far as possible free from the whole formalistic and external side. A TRUE initiationsomeone who would be capable of pulling down the Power and putting you in conditions rigorous enough for you to be able to hold this Power, to receive it and hold it.
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 se cond 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.
But when here the difficulties returned and because of their obstinacy, their appearance of an inevitable fatality I concluded that it was a karma, although I knew it with certainty only now.
But I always had a presentiment of the true thing: that only a VERY COURAGEOUS act of self-giving could efface the thingnot courageous or difficult from the material point of view, not that There is a certain zone of the vital in you, a mentalized vital but still very material, which is very much under the influence of circumstances and which very much believes in the effectiveness of outer measuresthis is what is resisting.
--
Only, and this is what I wrote to you the other day which you did not understand: it is precisely at the most painful point, at the time when the suggestions are strongest, that one must hold on. Otherwise, it has always to be done all over again, always to be re confronted. There comes a day, a moment, when it has to be done. And now, there is truly an opportunity on earth that is offered only once in thousands of years, a conscious help, with the necessary Power
But thats about all I know.
--
Yes, I dont know, this project of the Belgian congo,4 for example, it seemed to me
Pardon me, but that is childishness!
--
The disciple wanted to leave for the forest, the congo, to do the most unlikely things there.
***
0 1958-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
That is why the journey is so long, so difficult. For if one would truly consent no longer to be, everything would become so easy, so swift, so luminous, so joyousthough perhaps not in the way men conceive of joy and ease. At heart, there are very few beings who are not enamored of struggle. There are very few who would consent to having no darkness or who can conceive of light as anything other than the opposite of obscurity: Without shadow, there would be no painting. Without struggle, there would be no victory. Without suffering, there would be no joy. That is what they think, and as long as they think like that, they are not yet born to the spirit.
***
0 1958-11-27 - Intermediaries and Immediacy, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For example, one thing had always appeared unimportant to me in actionintermediaries between the spiritualized individual being, the conscious soul, and the Supreme. According to my personal experience, it had always seemed to me that if one is exclusively turned towards the Supreme in all ones actions and expresses Him directly, whatever is to be done is done automatically. For example, if you are always open and if at each se cond you consciously want to express only what the Supreme Lord wants to be expressed, it is done automatically. But with all that I have learned about pujas, about certain scriptures and certain rituals as well, the necessity for a process has become very clear to me. Its the same as in physical life; in physical life, everything needs a process, as we know, and it is the knowledge of processes that constitutes physical science. Similarly, in a more occult working, the knowledge and especially the RESPECT for the process seem to be much more important than I had first thought.
And when I studied this, when I looked at this science of processes, of intermediaries, suddenly I clearly understood the working of karma, which I had not understood before. I had worked and intervened quite often to change someones karma, but sometimes I had to wait, without exactly knowing why the result was not immediate. I simply used to wait without worrying about the reasons for this slowness or delay. Thats how it was. And generally it ended, as I said, with the exact vision of the karmas source, its initial cause; and scarcely would I have this vision when the Power would come, and the thing would be dissolved. But I didnt bother about finding out why it was like that.
--
That interested me very much. Because one of the obstacles I had felt was that although the Force was acting well, there was a time lag that appeared inevitable, a time element in the work which seemed unavoidablea play left to the forces of Nature. But with their knowledge of the processes, the tantrics can dispense with all that. So I understood why those who have studied, who are initiated and follow the prescribed methods are apparently more powerfulmore powerful even than those who are conscious in the highest consciousness.
What interested me is that in their case (those who follow tantric or other initiations), what is doubtful is whether or not they can succeed in receiving the response of the true Power, the divine power, the supreme power; they do everything they can, but this question still remains. Whereas for me, it is the opposite situation: the Power is there, I have it, but how can I make it act here in matter? The process for making it act immediately was missingthough not totally; I know from the psychological standpoint, but there is something other than the psychological power, there is the whole play of conscious, individualized forces that are everywhere in Nature and that have the right to exist. Since it was created this way, it must express something of the supreme Will, otherwise He wouldnt have made use of intermediaries but in His plan, it is obvious that the intermediary has a legitimate place.
It is like the story X told me of his guru2 who could comm and the coming of Kali (something which seems quite natural to me when one is sufficiently developed); well, not only could he commend the coming of Kali, but Kali with I dont know how many crores of her warriors! For me, Kali was Kali, after all, and she did her work; but in the universal organization, her action, the innumerable multiplicity of her action, is expressed by an innumerable multitude of conscious entities at work. It is this individualization, as it were, that gives to these forces a consciousness and a certain play of freedom, and this is what makes all the difference in action. It is in this respect that the occult system is an absolutely indispensable complement to spiritual action.
The spiritual action is direct, but it may not be immediate (anyway, thats my experience). Sri Aurobindo said that with the supramental presence, it becomes immediate and I have experienced this. But this would then mean that the supramental Power automatically commands all these intermediaries, whereas if its not present, even the highest spiritual power would need a specialized knowledge to act in this realm, a knowledge equivalent to an occult or initiatory knowledge of all these realms. This is why I told X, Well, you taught me many things while you were here. There is always something to learn.
--
It remains to be seen if all this has first to be mastered before there is even the possibility of holding the Supramental, of FIXING it in the manifestation. That is the great difference. For example, those with the power to materialize forces or beings lack the capacity to fix them, for these are fluid things which act and are then dissolved. That is the difference with the physical world where it is this condensation of energy that makes things (Mother strikes the arms of her chair) stable. All the things in the extraphysical realms are not stable, they are fluidfluid and consequently uncertain.3
The disciple's tantric guru.
0 1958-12-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Until these last days, I still thought I could count on some outer solution to resolve my problem, but now I am up against a wall; I see that nothing can be DONE and the only solution is what you said one day: consent no longer to be.
Mother, I have made many mistakes, I have often been rebellious and fallen into many holes. Help me to pick myself up, give me nonetheless a little of your Love. This has to change.
--
Otherwise, if you consider it preferable to wait, I could go join Swami in Rameswaram, discarding all my little personal reactions towards him. And I would try my best to find again the Light of the first time and return to you stronger. I dont know. I will do what you say. All this really has to change. I dont know, moreover, whether Swami wishes to have me.
Mother, I need you, I need you. Forgive me and tell me what I should do.
--
I have just received your letter which I read with all my love, the love that understands and effaces. When you return here, you will always be very welcome, and we shall certainly take up our work together again. I shall be happy, and it is very much needed. But first of all, it will be good for you to go to Rameswaram. I know that you will be welcome there. Stay there as long as necessary to find and consolidate your experience. Afterwards, come back here, stronger and better armed, to face a new period of outer and inner work. At the end of the labor is the Victory.
With all my confident love.
Signed: Mother
0 1958-12-15 - tantric mantra - 125,000, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
At the new moon, when I felt very down, he gave me the first tantric mantraa mantra to Durga. For a period of 41 days, I must repeat it 125,000 times and go every morning to the Temple, stand before Parvati and recite this mantra within me for at least one hour. Then I must go to the sanctuary of Shiva and recite another mantra for half an hour. Practically speaking, I have to repeat constantly within me the mantra to Durga in a silent concentration, whatever I may be doing on the outside. In these conditions, it is difficult to think of you and this has created a slight conflict in me, but I believe that your Grace is acting through Swami and through Durga, whom I am invoking all the time I remember what you told me about the necessity for intermediaries and I am obeying Swami unreservedly.
Mother, things are far from being what they were the first time in Rameswaram, and I am living through certain moments that are hell the enemy seems to have been unleashed with an extraordinary violence. It comes in waves, and after it recedes, I am literally SHATTEREDphysically, mentally and vitally drained. This morning, while going to the temple, I lived through one of these moments. All this suffering that suddenly sweeps down upon me is horrible. Yes, I had the feeling of being BACKED UP AGAINST A WALL, exactly as in your vision I was up against a wall. I was walking among these immense arcades of sculptured granite and I could see myself walking, very small, all alone, alone, ravaged with pain, filled with a nameless despair, for nowhere was there a way out. The sea was nearby and I could have thrown myself into it; otherwise, there was only the sanctuary of Parvati but there was no more Africa to flee to, everything closed in all around me, and I kept repeating, Why? Why? This much suffering was truly inhuman, as if my last twenty years of nightmare were crashing down upon me. I gritted my teeth and went to the sanctuary to say my mantra. The pain in me was so strong that I broke into a cold sweat and almost fainted. Then it subsided. Yet even now I feel completely battered.
I clearly see that the hour has come: either I will perish right here, or else I will emerge from this COMPLETELY changed. But something has to change. Mother, you are with me, I know, and you are protecting me, you love me I have only you, only you, you are my Mother. If these moments of utter darkness return and they are bound to return for everything to be exorcised and conqueredprotect me in spite of myself. Mother, may your Grace not abandon me. I want to be done with all these old phantoms, I want to be born anew in your Light; it has to beotherwise I can no longer go on.
Mother, I believe I understand something of all that you yourself are suffering, and the crucifixion of the Divine in Matter is a real crucifixion. In this moment of consciousness, I offer you all my trials and little sufferings. I would like to triumph so that it be your triumph, one weight less upon your heart.
Forgive me, Mother, for all the pain I may have thrown on you, but I am confident that with your Grace I will emerge from this victorious, your child unobscured, in all the fibers of my being. Oh Mother, how alone you are to bear all our suffering if only I could remember this in my moments of darkness.
I am at your feet. You are my Mother, my only support.
--
I have just received your letter of the 15th. Yes, I know that the hour is critical. It has been grave here as well. I had to stop everything, for the attack upon my body was too violent. Now it is better but I have not yet resumed any of my outer activities, and I remain in my room upstairs. The battle continues in the invisible and I consider it decisive. You are a very intimate part of this battle. This is to tell you that I am with you in the most integral sense of these words. I know what you are suffering, I feel it but you must hold on. The Grace is there, all-powerful. As soon as it is possible and without going through one minute more than needed to transform that which has to be transformed, the trial will reach its end and we shall emerge into the light and joy. So never forget that I am with youin youand that WE SHALL TRIUMPH:
With all that love can bring of solace and endurance,
0 1958-12-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Your last letter was a great comfort to me. If you were not there, with me, everything would be so absurd and impossible. I am again disturbing you because Swami tells me that you are worried and that I should write to you. Not much has changed, except that I am holding on and am confident. Yesterday, I again suffered an agonizing wave, in the temple, and I found just enough strength to repeat your name with each beat of my heart, like someone drowning. I remained as motionless as a pillar of stone before the sanctuary, with only your name (my mantra would not come out), then it cleared. It was brutal. I am confident that with each wave I am gaining in strength, and I know you are there. But I am aware that if the enemy is so violent it is because something in me responds, or has responded, something that has not made its surrender that is the critical point. Mother, may your grace help me to place everything in your hands, everything, without any shadow. I want so much to emerge into the Light, to be rid of all this once and for all.
I am following Swamis instructions to the letter. Sometimes it all seems to lack warmth and spontaneity, but I am holding on. I might add that we are living right next to the bazaar, amidst a great racket 20 hours a day, which does not make things easier. So I repeat my mantra as one pounds his fists against the walls of a prison. Sometimes it opens a little, you send me a little joy, and then everything becomes better again.
--
I love you, my child, and I am near you with confidence and tenderness.
Doubt not of the Victory, it is certain.
0 1958-12-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mother, I indeed suspect that you want to endure, to bear this struggle all alone. Oh, I think I understand a number of things about the mechanism of these attacks and their connection with me, about the Divine Love that embraces all and takes into itself the suffering and the evil of menall this overwhelms me with a sudden understanding. It seems to me that I am seeing and feeling all that you are facing, all that you are taking upon yourself for us. The suffering of the Divine in Matter has been an overwhelming revelation to meAh! I see, I want to fight, I want to be totally on your side; I am now and forever determined.
But you have enough to do with the higher beasts of prey without still having to fight the little scorpions. I beg of you, Sweet Mother, accept the help that is being offered to you, preserve your strength for the higher struggle. I quite understand that your Love can even go to the scorpions that are attacking you, but it is not forbidden to protect yourself from their venom. You have enough to do on other planes.
--
X has decided to continue his action upon me beyond the eight days foreseen, which doubtlessly corresponds to dosages that exceed my understanding.
Mother, I am fighting beside you, for you, for your Victory.
--
P.S. I shall propose to Swami to enter into contact with them at 8:45 p.m., if this time suits them.
***
0 1958 12 - Floor 1, young girl, we shall kill the young princess - black tent, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(This note was written by Mother in English. It concerns an attack of black magic that threatened her life and in the end completely changed her outer existence. A new stage begins.)
Two or three days after I retired to my room upstairs,1 early in the night I fell into a very heavy sleep and found myself out of the body much more materially than I do usually. This degree of density in which you can see the material surroundings exactly as they are. The part that was out seemed to be under a spell and only half conscious. When I found myself at the first floor where everything was absolutely black, I wanted to go up again, but then I discovered that my hand was held by a young girl whom I could not see in the darkness but whose contact was very familiar. She pulled me by the hand telling me laughingly, No, come, come down with me, we shall kill the young princess. I could not understand what she meant by this young princess and, rather unwillingly, I followed her to see what it was. Arriving in the anteroom which is at the top of the staircase leading to the ground floor, my attention was drawn in the midst of all this total obscurity to the white figure of Kamala2 standing in the middle of the passage between the hall and Sri Aurobindos room. She was as it were in full light while everything else was black. Then I saw on her face such an expression of intense anxiety that to comfort her I said, I am coming back. The sound of my voice shook off from me the semi-trance in which I was before and suddenly I thought, Where am I going? and I pushed away from me the dark figure who was pulling me and in whom, while she was running down the steps, I recognized a young girl who lived with Sri Aurobindo and me for many years and died five years back. This girl during her life was under the most diabolical influence. And then I saw very distinctly (as through the walls of the staircase) down below a small black tent which could scarcely be perceived in the surrounding darkness and standing in the middle of the tent the figure of a man, head and face shaved (like the sannyasin or the Buddhist monks) covered from head to foot with a knitted outfit following tightly the form of his body which was tall and slim. No other cloth or garment could give an indication as to who he could be. He was standing in front of a black pot placed on a dark red fire which was throwing its reddish glow on him. He had his right arm stretched over the pot, holding between two fingers a thin gold chain which looked like one of mine and was unnaturally visible and bright. Shaking gently the chain he was chanting some words which translated in my mind, She must die the young princess, she must pay for all she has done, she must die the young princess.
Then I suddenly realized that it was I the young Princess and as I burst into laughter, I found myself awake in my bed.
I did not like the idea of something or somebody having the power to pull me like that so materially out of my body without my previous consent. That is why I gave some importance to the experience.
Mother withdrew on December 9. In fact, She had been unwell for already more than a month before withdrawing. On November 26, the last 'Wednesday class' took place at the playground; on November 28 the last 'Friday class', on December 6, the last 'Translation class'; on December 1, the end of Mother's tennis and the last visit to the playground. On December 9, She again went down for the meditation around the Samadhi. From December 10, Mother remained in her room for one month. A great period had come to an end. Henceforth, She would only go out of the Ashram building on rare occasions.
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.
His action upon you is to continue for another five days, after which he is positive that you will be entirely saved. According to him, it is indeed a magic attack originating in Pondicherry, and perhaps even from someone in the Ashram!! He told me that this evil person would finally be forced to appear before you I am learning many interesting things from him.
Mother, by way of expressing to you my gratitude, I want to work now to open myself totally to your Light and become truly an egoless instrument, your conscious instrument. Mother, you are the sole Reality.
With love and gratitude, I am your child.
--
I have followed the vicissitudes of your struggle step by step and I know that it has been terrible, but my confidence in the outcome has not wavered for I know you are in good hands. I am so happy that X is taking good care of you, teaching you Sanskrit, speaking to you of the Tantra. It is just what I wanted.
His action here has been very effective and really very interesting. I still do not know whether someone has really done black magic, and the villain has yet to appear before me. But already several days ago the malefic influence completely disappeared without leaving any trace in the atmosphere. Also their mantric intervention did not stop at that, for it has had another most interesting result. I am preparing a long letter for Swami to explain all this to him
0 1959-01-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This morning, X told me that he would be most happy to continue his action upon you if it would help your work; he has continued it anyway, even after knowing that the malefic influence was expelled from the Ashram. By the way, X told me that this evil spirit is continuing to circle around the Ashram, but beyond its borders. Therefore, if you agree, it would be necessary for him to come to Pondicherry one of these days to come to grips directly with the evil one and finish him off in such a way that he can no longer come to disturb the sadhaks, or your work, upon the slightest pretext. Then X could force this spirit to appear before him, and thereby free the atmosphere from its influence. Anyway, this trip to Pondicherry would not take place in the near future, and it would be easy to give him an official excuse: seminars on the Tantra Shastra that will interest all the Sanskritists at the Ashram. Moreover, Xs work would be done quietly in his room when he does his daily puja. From here, from Rameswaram, it is rather difficult to attract Pondicherrys atmosphere and do the work with precision. Of course, nothing will be done without your express consent. Swami is writing you on his own to tell you of the revelation that X received from his [deceased] guru concerning your experience and the schemings of certain Ashram members.
In this regard, perhaps you know that X is the tenth in the line of Bhaskaraya (my spelling of this name is perhaps not correct), the great Tantric of whom you had a vision, who could comm and the coming of Kali along with all her warriors. It is from X that Swami received his initiation.
Your last letter gave us great pleasure, knowing that you have finally recovered physically. But we deeply hope that you will not again take up the countless activities that formerly consumed all your timeso many people come to you egoistically, for prestige, to be able to say that they are on familiar terms with you. You know this, of course
As for myself, a step has definitely been taken, and I am no longer swept away by this painful torrent. Depressions and attacks still come, but no longer with the same violence as before. X told me that 2/3 of the work has been done and that everything would be purged in twelve days or so, then the thing will be enclosed in a jar and buried somewhere or thrown into the sea, and he will explain it all to me. I will write and tell you about it.
--
This morning, I received your letter I am very happy about all that X is telling you and that he has found you fit to receive the tantric initiation. It was my feeling, I could say my conviction, to which he gives an enlightened confirmation. So all is well.
As for my health and the Ashram, I infinitely appreciate what he has done and what he would like to continue to do. His visit will make me very happy, and if he comes in about one month, a few days before the darshan, there will be no need to find any excuse for his visit, for it will appear quite natural.
My health is progressing well, but I intend to be very prudent and not burden myself with occupations. Yesterday, I began the bal cony darshan again, and it is all right. That is all for the moment.
0 1959-01-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mother, I have a kind of fear that all these mantras are not bringing me nearer to you I mean you in your physical body, for it is not upon you physically that I was told to concentrate. Also, I almost never see you in my dreams any longer, or else only very vaguely. Last night, I dreamed that I was offering you flowers (not very pretty ones), one of which was called mantra, but I did not see you in my dream. Mother, I would like to be true, to do the right thing, to be as you want me to be.
I am your child. I belong to you alone.
--
All is well I am enthusiastic and you can count on my conscious help to overcome all the obstacles and all the bad will that may try to stop or delay your progress. It is a matter of being more obstinate, much more obstinate than the enemy, and whatever the cost, to reach the goal in time.
Since my last letter, I have thought about it and I see that I will be able to go down in the morning three times a week for one hour, from 10 to 11, to work with you, but you will have to do only the strict minimum in order to have as much free time as you need for the other things.1
--
In constant communion in the effort towards victory; my love and my force never leave you.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-01-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
X knows very little about your true work and what Swami has been able to explain to him is rather inadequate, for I do not believe that he himself understands it very well. So I shall have to try to make myself understood quite clearly to X and tell him exactly and simply what it is you need. The word transformation is too abstract. Each mantra has a very specific actionat least I believe soand I must be able to tell X in a concrete way the exact powers or capacities you are now seeking, and the general goal or the particular results required. Then he will find the mantra or mantras that apply.
My explanations will have to be simple, for X speaks English with difficulty, thus subtleties are out of the question. (I am teaching him a little English while he is teaching me Sanskrit, and we manage to understand each other rather well all the same. He understands more than he can speak.)
--
Your letter, Sweet Mother, has filled me with strength and resolution. I want to be victorious and I want to serve you. I see very well that gradually I can be taught many useful things by X. The essential thing is first of all to lose this ego which falsifies everything. Finally, through your grace, I believe that I have passed a decisive turning point and that there is a beginning of real consecration and I feel your Love, your Presence. Things are opening a little.
Sweet Mother, I love you and I want to serve you truly.
--
I have received your letter of the 31st. In a number of ways it confirms my experience of these past days. We shall speak of all this when you return.
I have reflected a great deal on a possible mantra, and I have also seen the difficulty of receiving something that does not have a narrowing effect One must at least have an idea of the possibility (at least) of the supermind to understand what I need
0 1959-03-10 - vital dagger, vital mass, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(The disciple returned to the Ashram, but as he was very quickly seized again by his mania for the road, the Agenda of 1959, alas, is strewn with great gaps and is almost nonexistent. The following conversation is in regard to one of Mother's commentaries on the Dhammapada: 'Evil')
I spent a nighta night of battlewhen, for some reason or other, a multitude of vital formations of all kinds entered into the room: beings, things, embryos of beings, residues of beingsall kinds of things And it was a frightful assault, absolutely disgusting.
In this swarming mass, I noticed the presence of some slightly more conscious willswills of the vital plane and I saw how they try to awaken a reaction in the consciousness of human beings to make them think or want, or if possible, do certain things.
For example, I saw one of them trying to incite anger in someone so that this person would deliver a blowa spiritual blow. And this formation had a dagger in his hand (a vital dagger, you see, it was a vital being: gray and slimy, horrible), he was holding a very sharp dagger which he was flaunting, saying, When a person has done something like that (pretending that someone had done an unforgivable thing), this is what he deserves and the scenario was complete: the being rushed forward, vitally, with his dagger.
I, who know the consequences of these things, stopped him just in time I gave him a blow. Then I had enough of all this and it was over, I cleaned the place out. It was almost a physical cleaning, for I had my hands clasped together (I was in a semitrance) and I threw them apart in an abrupt movement, left and right, powerfully, as if to sweep something away, and frrt! immediately everything was gone.
But had that not happened I was watching, not exactly with curiosity, but in order to learnto learn what kind of atmosphere people live in! And it is ALWAYS like that! They are always pestered by HORDES of little formations that are absolutely swarming and disgusting, each one making its nasty little suggestion.
--
When you see them, oh! its suffocating. When youre in contact with that Really, you wonder how anyone can brea the in such an atmosphere. And yet people conSTANTLY live in that atmosphere! They live in it. Only when they rise above are they NOT in it. Or else there are those who are entirely below; but those are the toys of these things, and their reactions are sometimes not only unexpected but absolutely dreadfulbecause they are puppets in the hands of these things.
Those who rise above, who enter into a slightly intellectual region, can see all this from above; they can look down at it all, keep their heads above and breathe; but those who live in this realm
--
And I express this in my own way when I say1 that thoughts come and go, flow in and out. But thoughts concerning material things are formations originating in that world, they are kinds of wills coming from the vital plane which try to express themselves, and most often they are truly deadly. If you are annoyed, for example, if someone says something unpleasant to you and you react It always happens in the same way; these little entities are there waiting, and when they feel its the right moment, they introduce their influence and their suggestions. This is what is vitally symbolized by the being with his dagger rushing forward to stab youand in the back, at that! Not even face to face! This then expresses itself in the human consciousness by a movement of anger or rage or indignation: How intolerable! How ! And the other fellow says, Yes! We shall put an end to it!
It is quite interesting to watch it once, but it isnt very pleasant.
0 1959-03-26 - Lord of Death, Lord of Falsehood, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Behind the Titan attacking us particularly now, there is something else. This Titan has been delegated by someone else. He has been there since my birth, was born with me. I felt him when I was very young, but only gradually, as I became conscious of myself, did I understand WHO he was and what was behind him.
This Titan has been specially sent to attack this body, but he cant do it directly, so he uses people in my entourage. It is something fated: all those around me, who are close to me, and especially those capable of love, have been attacked by him; a few have succumbed, such as that girl in my entourage who was absorbed by him. He follows me like a shadow, and each time there is the least little opening in someone near me, he is there.
The power of this Titan comes from an Asura. There are four Asuras. Two have already been converted, and the other two, the Lord of Death and the Lord of Falsehood, made an attempt at conversion by taking on a physical bodythey have been intimately associated with my life. The story of these Asuras would be very interesting to recount The Lord of Death disappeared; he lost his physical body, and I dont know what has become of him.1 As for the other, the Lord of Falsehood, the one who now rules over this earth, he tried hard to be converted, but he found it disgusting!
At times he calls himself the Lord of Nations. It is he who sets all wars in motion, and only by thwarting his plans could the last war be won This one does not want to be converted, not at all. He wants neither the physical transformation nor the supramental world, for that would spell his end. Besides, he knows We talk to each other; beyond all this, we have our relationship. For after all, you see (laughing), I am his mother! One day he told me, I know you will destroy me, but meanwhile, I will create all the havoc possible.
This Asura of Falsehood is the one who delegated the Titan that is always near me. He chose the most powerful Titan there is on earth and sent him specially to attack this body. So even if one manages to enchain or kill this Titan, it is likely that the Lord of Falsehood will delegate another form, and still another, and still another, in order to achieve his aim.
0 1959-04-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
2) I am very pullednot constantly, but periodicallyby the need to write (not mental things) and exasperated by the fact that this Orpailleur is not published because I have not taken the time to carry out certain corrections. When I am in a good mood, I offer all this to you (is it perhaps a hidden ambition? But I am not so sure; it is rather a need, I believe) and when I am not in a good mood, I fume about not having the time to write something else.
Please, enlighten me, Sweet Mother.
--
Just now, I received your letter confirming my experience. It is good.
I read your P.S. and I understand. This too confirms my feeling. I am not happy that you are plagued with work, and especially urgent work that has to be done quicklyit is contrary to the inner calm and concentration so indispensable for getting rid of ones difficulties. I am going to do what is necessary to change this situation. Besides, this is why I have been telling you recently that my work is not urgent. But this work for the Bulletin should stop for the moment.
The other point also has its element of truthwe shall speak of it later.
0 1959-04-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Above, beginning with the center between the eyebrows, the work has been done for a long time. There it is blank. For ages upon ages upon ages, the union with the Supreme has been realized and is constant.
Below this center is the body. And this body has indeed the concrete sensation of the Divine in each of its cells; but it needs to become universalized. Thats the work to be done, center by center. I understand now what Sri Aurobindo meant when he repeatedly insisted, Widen yourself. All this must be universalized; it is the condition, the basis, for the Supramental to descend into the body.
According to the ancient traditions, this universalization of the physical body was considered the supreme realization, but it is only a foundation, the base upon which the Supramental can come down without breaking everything.
***
0 1959-04-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The divine perfection is always there above us; but for man to become divine in consciousness and act and to live inwardly and outwardly the divine life is what is meant by spirituality; all lesser meanings given to the word are inadequate fumblings or impostures.1
This text by Sri Aurobindo (The Human Cycle, Cent. Ed. Vol. XV p. 247) was translated into French by Mother on the occasion of writing to Satprem.
0 1959-05-19 - Ascending and Descending paths, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When you follow the ascending path, the work is relatively easy. I had already covered this path by the beginning of the century and had established a constant relationship with the SupremeThat which is beyond the Personal and the gods and all the outward expressions of the Divine, but also beyond the Absolute Impersonal. Its something you cannot describe; you must experience it. And this is what must be brought down into Matter. Such is the descending path, the one I began with Sri Aurobindo; and there, the work is immense.
The thing can still be brought down as far as the mental and vital planes (although Sri Aurobindo said that thousands of lifetimes would be needed merely to bring it down to the mental plane, unless one practiced a perfect surrender1). With Sri Aurobindo, we went down below Matter, right into the Sub conscient and even into the In conscient. But after the descent comes the transformation, and when you come down to the body, when you attempt to make it take one step forwardoh, not even a real step, just a little step!everything starts grating; its like stepping on an anthill And yet the presence, the help of the supreme Mother, is there constantly; thus you realize that for ordinary men such a task is impossible, or else millions of lives would be needed but in truth, unless the work is done for them and the sadhana of the body done for the entire earth consciousness, they will never achieve the physical transformation, or else it will be so remote that it is better not even to speak of it. But if they open themselves, if they give themselves over in an integral surrender, the work can be done for themthey have only to let it be done.
The path is difficult. And yet this body is full of good will; it is filled with the psychic in every one of its cells. Its like a child. The other day, it cried out quite spontaneously, O my Sweet Lord, give me the time to realize You! It did not ask to hasten the process, it did not ask to lighten its work; it only asked for enough TIME to do the work. Give me the time!
I could have begun this work on the body thirty years ago, but I was constantly caught up in this harassing ashram life. It took this illness2 to enable me truly to begin doing the sadhana of the body. It does not mean that thirty years were wasted, for it is likely that had I been able to start this work thirty years ago, it would have been premature. The consciousness of the others also had to develop the two are linked, the individual progress and the collective progress, and one cannot advance if the other does not advance.
I have also come to realize that for this sadhana of the body, the mantra is essential. Sri Aurobindo gave none; he said that one should be able to do all the work without having to resort to external means. Had he reached the point where we are now, he would have seen that the purely psychological method is inadequate and that a japa is necessary, because only japa has a direct action on the body. So I had to find the method all alone, to find my mantra by myself. But now that things are ready, I have done ten years of work in a few months. That is the difficulty, it requires time
And I repeat my mantra constantlywhen I am awake and even when I sleep. I say it even when I am getting dressed, when I eat, when I work, when I speak with others; it is there, just behind in the background, all the time, all the time.
In fact, you can immediately see the difference between those who have a mantra and those who dont. With those who have no mantra, even if they have a strong habit of meditation or concentration, something around them remains hazy and vague. Whereas the japa imparts to those who practice it a kind of precision, a kind of solidity: an armature. They become galvanized, as it were.
Original English.
0 1959-05-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As for you, I received your promise made very solemnly at a moment of clear consciousness, and I am sure you will not fail in it.
My love is with you.
--
There is someone here who could have saved me, whom I could have loved. Oh, it has nothing to do with all those things you might imagine! My soul loves her soul. It is something very serene. We have known each other for five years, and I had never even dreamed of calling it love. But all the outer circumstances are against us. And I do not want to turn anyone away from you. Anyway, if I sink into the depths of the pit, or so I tell myself, it is no reason to drag someone else along with me. So this too is one more reason for me to leave. I cannot continue suffocating all alone in my corner. (It is useless to ask her name, I will say nothing.)
You are imposing a new ordeal on me by asking me to go to Rameswaram. For you, I have accepted. But I shall go there sheathed in my sturdiest armor and I will not yield, because I know that it is always to be begun again. I do not want to become a great Tantric or whatever else it may be. I want only to love. And since I cannot love, I am leaving. I will arrive in Rameswaram at 2 in the morning, and will leave again by the 11 oclock train.
--
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 1959-05-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
After the wave of rebelliousness this morning, I was seized by a great sadness, a great bitterness, as though I were being confronted with a profound injustice.
There is a spiritual destiny in me, but there are three other destinies so intimately bound up with it that I cannot cut off any one without mutilating something of my living soulwhich is why, periodically, these suppressed destinies awaken and call to meand the dark forces seize upon these occasions to sow chaos within and drive me to ruin everything since I cannot really fulfill myself. And the problem is insoluble.
1) There is the destiny of the adventurer: it is the one in me that needs the sea or the forest and wide open spaces and struggles. This was the best part of my childhood. I can sit on it and tell myself that the adventure is within, and it might work for a while. But this untamed child in me continues to live all the same, and it is something very valuable in me. I cannot kill it through reasoning, even spiritual reasoning. And if I tell it that everything lies within, not without, it replies, Then why was I born, why this manifestation in the outer world? In the end, it is not a question of reasoning. It is a fact, like the wind upon the heaths.
2) There is the destiny of the writer in me. And this too is linked to the best of my soul. It is also a profound need, like adventuring upon the heaths, because when I write certain things, I brea the in a certain way. But during the five years I have been here, I have had to bow to the fact that, materially, there is no time to write what I would like (I recall how I had to wrench out this Orpailleur, which I have not even had time to revise). This is not a reproach, Mother, for you do all you can to help me. But I realize that to write, one must have leisure, and there are too many less personal and more serious things to do. So I can also sit on this and tell myself that I am going to write a Sri Aurobindo but this will not satisfy that other need in me, and periodically it awakens and sprouts up to tell me that it too needs to breathe.
--
So there remains the pure spiritual destiny, pure interiorization. That is what I have been trying to do for the last five years, without much success. There are good periods of collaboration, because one part of my being can be happy in any condition. But in a certain way this achievement remains truncated, especially when you base spiritual life on a principle of integrality. And these three destinies in me have their own good reasons, which are true: they are not inferior, they are not incidental, they are woven from the very threads that created the spiritual life in me. My error is to open the door to revolt when I feel too poignantly one or the other being stifled.
So you see, all this is insoluble. I have only to bow before these unfortunate circumstances. I perceive an injustice somewhere, but I have only to remain silent.
--
I have read your letter in its entirety and I remain convinced that one day all the parts of your being, without excluding any, will be fully satisfied. But we shall see about that later.
For the moment, I only want to tell you, from the bottom of my heartwhich is so deeply touchedthank you.
--
I did not utter the words that you heard I wanted to speak to you of my experience during the night, but I was paralyzed because I clearly felt that you no longer understood me. As soon as I received your letter, I concentrated on you in an effort to help you, and when night fell, just at the hour I enter into contact with X, I called for his helpwhereupon he sent me this little Kali whom he had already sent once before. So I went to your house, I took you in my arms and pressed you tightly to my heart to keep you as sheltered as possible from blows, and I let Kali do her warrior dance against this titan who is always trying to possess you, creating this rebelliousness in you. She must have at least partially succeeded in her work, because very early in the morning the titan went away somewhat discomfited, but while leaving, he flung this at me as he went by: You will regret it, for you would have had less trouble if he had left. I flung his suggestion back in his face with a laugh and told him, Take that, along with all the rest of your ugly person! I have no need of it! And the atmosphere cleared up.
I wanted to tell you all this, but I couldnt because you were still far away from me and it would have seemed like boasting. Also the misunderstanding created by the distance made you hear other words than those I uttered.
0 1959-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This was a first, hasty conversation, and we did not discuss things at length. I said nothing. I have no confidence in my reactions when I am in the midst of my crises of complete negation. And truly speaking, at the time of my last crisis in Pondicherry, I do not know if it was really Xs occult working that set things right, for personally (but perhaps it is an ignorant impression), I felt that it was thanks to Sujata and her childlike simplicity that I was able to get out of it.
In any event, since I left Pondicherry, I have been living like a kind of robot (it began in the train); I am empty, void of the least feeling for whomever it may be. I keep going by a kind of acquired momentum, but actually I feel completely anesthetized.
--
Suddenly, last evening, X went furiously on the warpath against the Indian congress3 and with an irrefutable tone, like someone who knows, began making very interesting predictions.
Before five months are over (in September, October or November), Pakistan will attack India with the help or the complicity or the military resources of the United States. And at about the same time, China will attack India because of the Dalai Lama, under the pretext that India is supporting the Dalai Lama and that thousands of Tibetan refugees are escaping into India to carry on anti-Chinese activities. Then America will offer its support to India against China and then, said X, We shall see what will be the political policy of the congress Party, which pretends to be unaligned with any bloc. If India accepts American aid, there will be no more Pakistan but rather American troops to prevent conflicts between Muslims and Hindus, and a single government for both countries. I pointed out to X that this sounded very much like a world war
Then he made the following comparison: When you throw a pebble into a pond, there is just one center, one point where it falls, and everything radiates out from this center. There are two such centers in the world at present, two places where there are great vibrations: one is India and Pakistan, and that will radiate all over Asia. And the other is.
In any case, I had never heard him attacking the congress as he did yesterday evening, almost violently.
That is all, Sweet Mother. In spite of my anesthesia, I think of you. (I am not blocked; on the contrary, it seems to me that the bond has been renewed since our last meeting, but I feel strangely empty.) I am unable to understand how you can love me. Oh Mother, I have truly to begin living, truly loving!
Your child,
--
Certainly his political rage is not only understandable but justified. However, when one begins looking at things from the external viewpoint of the manifestation, they are not as simple as that. I cannot speak of all this in detail, but as an example I can tell you that here in Pondicherry, those who are maneuvering (and not without some hope) to oust the congress are our worst enemies, the enemy of all that is disinterested and spiritual, and if they come to power, they would be capable of anything in their hate.
For all these world events, I always leave it to the Divine vision and wisdom, and I say to the Supreme: Lord, may Thy Will be done.
--
Indian National congress: the formative freedom organization against the British that became India's major political party under Jawaharlal Nehru after independence.
***
0 1959-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I am with you and wish to repeat to you: infinite is the Grace and invincible is the Love; be confident and will the victory, for this is what X means by your collaboration.
Signed: Mother
0 1959-06-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I thought certain details from my conversations with X might interest you:
1) X spoke to me of the Vedic times when a single emperor or sage ruled the entire world with the help of governors; then these governors gradually became independent kings, and conflicts were born. So I asked him what was going to happen after this next war and whether the world would be better. He replied as follows: Yes, great sages like Sri Aurobindo who are wandering now in their subtle bodies will appear. Some sages may take the physical body of political leaders in the West. It will be the end of ignorant atomic machines and the beginning of a new age with great sages leading the world. So it seems that Xs vision links up with Sri Aurobindos prediction for 1967.
He did not give me any further details about this war, except to say that the countries which will suffer the most will be the countries of the North and the East, and he cited Burma, Japan, China and Russia. He said rather categorically that Russia would be swept away and that America would triumph.
2) X gave me certain details about his powers of prediction, but perhaps it would be better not to speak of this in a letter. On that occasion, he told me that he did not want to keep any secrets from me: I want you to know everything. I want you to be chief disciple in my tradition. When the time comes, you will understand what I mean. With you I have full connection, not only connection in my mind, but in my blood and body.
On another occasion, he said to me, I am ALWAYS taking care of you. And when I asked him why he was taking such trouble for me, he replied, Because I have orders. This attention that comes to me from you and him surprises me, for I do not feel that I am good, and upon the least occasion I know that I am seriously prepared to quit everything because something in me is profoundly revolted by this excess of suffering, by a lack of love and flowering, by an excess of solitude. Yesterday evening, it was still fully there, with all my approval, and at such a time no one in the world can hold me back. It is this POINT OF SUFFERING that makes me want to turn my back on everything. Not to commit suicide: to turn my back.
--
3) X has not yet begun his work with me nor for you, as he has been unwell until today. One evening, he made a very beautiful reflection concerning you and your mantra, but it is inexpressible in words, it was above all the tone in which he said, Who, who, is there a single person in the world who can repeat like that TRIOMPHE TOI MAHIMA MAHIMA? etc. And three or four times he repeated your mantra with such an expression
He has not yet done what he plans to do with your mantra in his puja, for he has been unwell and had to interrupt his pujas. But now he is better.
0 1959-06-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As I appeared to be doubting, X told me, There is no suspicion [doubt], the war will take place in November (in fact, it is to occur some time between September and November), and for the rest of the talk, he had a tone of absolute certitude: The first atom bomb will fall in China. Russia will be crushed. It will be a victory for America. Not more than 2 or 3 atom bombs will be used. It will be very quick. And he repeated that the starting-point of the conflict would be situated in India due to the aggression of Pakistan, then of China.
The earthquake he mentioned promises to be a kind of pralaya (as X put it), for not only Bombay will be touched. This is what he said: America supports Pakistan, but the gods do not support Pakistan, and Pakistan will be punished by the gods. HALF of western Pakistan, including Karachi, will go into the sea. The sea will enter into Rajasthan and touch India also
--
I have a world of things to tell you about all I have heard, seen and done concerning you these past days. New doors of understanding have opened but all these things are impossible to write.
As for the mantra, since two days I am sure about it, and all is well.
--
You are constantly with me, and I am following all your inner movements with love and concern.
The great secret is to learn to give oneself
0 1959-06-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But I did not want to wait any longer to express my gratitude. I am still not so sure how all this will turn out nor how this destiny that he predicts for me can be realized, but I want to repeat to you, with all my confidence: I am your child, may your will be done now and forever.
Signed: Satprem
0 1959-06-13a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Another thing: we happened to talk of Sri Aurobindo and Lele.1 concerning Lele, X told me, He was a devotee of the Bhaskaraya School; this is why there is close connection I do not know if this is so, but X seemed to know.
For me, the inner things seem to have taken a better turn since X revealed certain things to me, but I prefer to say nothing. I dare not say anything since I know from experience that all this is as unstable as dynamite.
0 1959-06-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have received your card of the 13th. I dare not write, for everything is too confused as concerns the immediate realities.
The only thing that affirms itself with a certitude and a greater and greater force is my soul. I cling to It with all my strength. It is my only refuge. If I did not have that, I would throw my life overboard, for the outer circumstances and the immediate future seem to me impossible, unlivable.
0 1959-06-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I had said nothing to X about these various dreams before he told me the story of my last three existences: three times I committed suicide the first by fire, the se cond by hanging, and the third by throwing myself into the void. During the first of these last three existences, I was married to a very good woman, but for some reason I abandoned my wife and I was wandering here and there in search of something. Then I met a sannyasi who wanted to make me his disciple, but I could not make up my mind, I was neither this side nor that side, whereupon my wife came to me and pleaded with me to take her back. Apparently I rejected herso she threw herself into the fire. Horror-stricken, I followed her, throwing myself into the fire in turn. That was when I created a connection with certain beings [of the other worlds] and I fell under their power. For two other lives, under the influence of these beings, the same drama was repeated with a few variations.
During the se cond of these last three existences, I was married to the same woman whom I again abandoned under the influence of the same monk, and I again remained between two worlds wandering here and there. Again my wife came to plead with me and again I pushed her away. She hung herself, and I hung myself in turn.
--
X gave me a new mantra. My body is exhausted from too much nervous tension. I am living in a kind of cellar with four inches of filth on the floor and walls, and two openings, one onto the street of the bazaar the other onto a dilapidated courtyard with a well. On my right lives a madwoman who screams half the day. There is only my mantra which burns almost constantly in my heart, and who knows what hope that some day the future will be happy and re conciled. There is also Sujata and you.
Your child,
0 1959-08-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Now I can tell you that not for one hour have I left you; I have been constantly near you, hoping that your inner eyes would open and that you would see me, watching over you and enveloping you with my force and my love. It is within yourself that I want you to find the certitude, truth and joy.
Now I write you what I have wanted to tell you from the beginning: when you return to the Ashram, do not put on the orange robe1 again, return with the clothing X has given you
0 1959-10-06 - Sri Aurobindos abode, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Shortly before the 15th of August I had a unique experience that exemplifies all this.1 For the first time the supramental light entered directly into my body, without passing through the inner beings. It entered through the feet (a red and gold colormarvelous, warm, intense), and it climbed up and up. And as it climbed, the fever also climbed because the body was not accustomed to this intensity. As all this light neared the head, I thought I would burst and that the experience would have to be stopped. But then, I very clearly received the indication to make the Calm and Peace descend, to widen all this body- consciousness and all these cells, so that they could contain the supramental light. So I widened, and as the light was ascending, I brought down the vastness and an unshakable peace. And suddenly, there was a se cond of fainting.
I found myself in another world, but not far away (I was not in a total trance). This world was almost as substantial as the physical world. There were roomsSri Aurobindos room with the bed he rests on and he was living there, he was there all the time: it was his abode. Even my room was there, with a large mirror like the one I have here, combs, all kinds of things. And the substance of these objects was almost as dense as in the physical world, but they shone with their own light. It was not translucent, not transparent, not radiant, but self-luminous. The various objects and the material of the rooms did not have this same opacity as the physical objects here, they were not dry and hard as in the physical world we know.
And Sri Aurobindo was there, with a majesty, a magnificent beauty. He had all his beautiful hair as before. It was all so concrete, so substantialhe was even being served some kind of food. I remained there for one hour (I had looked at my watch before and I looked at it afterwards). I spoke to Sri Aurobindo, for I had some important questions to ask him about the way certain things are to be realized. He said nothing. He listened to me quietly and looked at me as if all my words were useless: he understood everything at once. And he answered me with a gesture and two expressions on his face, an unexpected gesture that did not at all correspond to any thought of mine; for example, he picked up three combs that were lying near the mirror (combs similar to those I use here, but larger) and he put them in his hair. He planted one comb in the middle of his head and the two others on each side, as if to gather all his hair over his temples. He was literally COIFFED with these three combs, which gave him a kind of crown. And I immediately understood that by this he meant that he was adopting my conception: You see, I embrace your conception of things, and I coif myself with it; it is my will. Anyway, I remained there for one hour.
And when I awoke, I didnt have this feeling of returning from afar and of having to re-enter my body, as I usually do. No, it was simply as though I were in this other world, then I took a step backwards and found myself here again. It took me a good half an hour to understand that this world here existed as much as the other and that I was no longer on the other side but here, in the world of falsehood. I had forgotten everythingpeople, things, what I had to do; everything had gone, as if it had no reality at all.
--
I remained in that state for two full days, two days of absolute felicity. And Sri Aurobindo was with me the whole time, the whole timewhen I walked, he walked with me, when I sat down, he sat next to me. On the day of August 15th, too, he remained there constantly during the darshan. But who was aware of it? A fewone or twofelt something. But who saw?No one.
And I showed all these people to Sri Aurobindo, this whole field of work, and asked him WHEN this other world, the real one that is there, so near, would come to take the place of our world of falsehood. Not ready. That was all he replied. Not ready.
Sri Aurobindo gave me two days of thistotal bliss. But all the same, by the end of the se cond day I realized that I could not continue to remain there, for the work was not advancing. The work must be done in the body; the realization must be attained here in this physical world, for otherwise it is not complete. So I withdrew from that world and set to work here again.
And yet, it would take little, very little, to pass from this world to the other, or for the other to become the real world. A little click would be enough, or rather a little reversal in the inner attitude. How should I put it? It is imperceptible to the ordinary consciousness; a very little inner shift would be enough, a change in quality.
It is similar with this japa: an imperceptible little change, and one can pass from a more or less mechanical, more or less efficient and real japa, to the true japa full of power and light. I even wondered if this difference is what the tantrics call the power of the japa. For example, the other day I was down with a cold. Each time I opened my mouth, there was a spasm in the throat and I coughed and coughed. Then a fever came. So I looked, I saw where it was coming from, and I decided that it had to stop. I got up to do my japa as usual, and I started walking back and forth in my room. I had to apply a certain will. Of course, I could do my japa in trance, I could walk in trance while repeating the japa, because then you feel nothing, none of all the bodys drawbacks. But the work has to be done in the body! So I got up and started doing my japa. Then, with each word pronounced the Light, the full Power. A power that heals everything. I began the japa tired, ill, and I came out of it refreshed, rested, cured. So those who tell me they come out of it exhausted, contracted, emptied, it means that they are not doing it in the true way.
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.
--
Of course, Sri Aurobindo himself had joy. But I had the impression that it was not total and that this is why I had to continue the work. I felt that it could only be total when things here have changed.
See July 24-25.
0 1959-10-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
2) X spoke to me of the Ashrams financial difficulties and said I shall tell you the secret why there are such difficulties. I think he is going to speak to me today or tomorrow. In any case, he told me that he was working (I am preparing) to change these conditions, and he asked me if there had been any improvement as yet. I replied that I did not believe the situation had changed very much. He spoke as well of certain people in the Ashram, but I will tell you about this in person. He had a rather amusing way of speaking about people, people who pretend to worship the Mother but who keep their mind as a dustbin!
7) X wants to send me back to Pondicherry this Sunday (Sunday the 18th, arriving Monday the 19th morning). He says it is useless for me now to remain here any longer since his house is not ready and he can do nothing. But, he said, I will have you come to my house for 3 months and I shall give you a training by which you can know Past, Present and Future, and have the same qualifications as me!
--
Sweet Mother, I have such a yearning for everything in my consciousness to harmonize and for the tantric discipline, the japa, etc., not to separate me from you. I want to be your child, open to you, without any contradictions. I would like so much to find your almost physical Presence within me again, as before. May all be clear, pure, one.
I would wish to be like Sujata, completely transparent, your child with her at your feet. Mother, help me. I need you. Sujata is healing something that was very painful in me, as though it were flayed or wounded, and which threw me into revolt. With this calming influence, I would like to begin a new life of self-giving. This change of residence is for me like the symbol of another change. Oh, Mother! may the painful road be over, and may all be achieved in the joy of your Will.
0 1959-11-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The deathless state is what can be envisaged for the human physical body in the future: it is constant rebirth. Instead of again tumbling backwards and falling apart due to a lack of plasticity and an incapacity to adapt to the universal movement, the body is undone futurewards, as it were.
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 1960-01-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When I started my japa one year ago, I had to struggle with every possible difficulty, every contradiction, prejudice and opposition that fills the air. And even when this poor body began walking back and forth for japa, it used to knock against things, it would start breathing all wrong, coughing; it was attacked from all sides until the day I caught the Enemy and said, Listen carefully. You can do whatever you want, but Im going right to the end and nothing will stop me, even if I have to repeat this mantra ten crore1 times. The result was really miraculous, like a cloud of bats flying up into the light all at once. From that moment on, things started going better.
You have no idea what an irresistible effect a well-determined will can have.
--
Actually, difficulties come from very small things; they may seem quite commonplace, totally uninteresting, but they block the way. They come for no earthly reasonsome detail, a word that comes rubbing against a sensitive spot, an illness in someone close to me, anything at all, and suddenly something in me contracts. Then all the work has to be started afresh as though nothing had been done.
Of all forms of ego, you might think that the physical ego is the most difficult to conquer (or rather, the body ego, because the work was already done long ago on the physical ego). It might be thought that the form of the body is a point of concentration, and that without this concentration or hardness, physical life would not be possible. But thats not true. The body is really a wonderful instrument; its capable of widening and of becoming vast in such a way that everything, everything the slightest gesture, the least little taskis done in a wonderful harmony and with a remarkable plasticity. Then all of a sudden, for something quite stupid, a draft, a mere nothing, it forgetsit shrinks back into itself, it gets afraid of disappearing, afraid of not being. And everything has to be started again from scratch. So in the yoga of matter you start realizing how much endurance is needed. I calculated it would take 200 years to say ten crore of my japa. Well, Im ready to struggle 200 years if necessary, but the work will be done.
Sri Aurobindo had made it clear to me when I was still in France that this yoga in matter is the most difficult of all. For the other yogas, the paths have been well laid, you know where to tread, how to proceed, what to do in such-and-such a case. But for the yoga of matter, nothing has ever been done, never, so at each moment everything has to be invented.
--
Yet its HAPPY. It loves doing the work, it lives only for thatto change, to transform itself is its reason for being. And its such a docile instrument, so full of good will! Once it even started wailing like a baby: O Lord, give me the time, the time to be transformed It has such a simple fervor for the work, but it needs timetime, thats it. It wants to live only to conquer, to win the Lords Victory.3
One crore = 10 million.
--
'It wants to live only to conquer.' Then the next day, Mother sent the following note to the disciple: 'Friday, 1.29.60yesterday, when I left you, the experience was there, but in my hurry to leave, the words did not come correctly, or rather they were incomplete (I had said, 'to live only to conquer'). What my body was experiencing was, 'Live to win the Lord's Victory.'
***
Prayers of the consciousness of the Cells
0 1960-01-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Letter from Mother to the disciple concerning her former commentaries on the 'Dhammapada' at the Playground)
When I began the readings from the Dhammapada, I had hoped that my listeners would take enough interest in the practical spiritual side for me to read only one verse at a time. But quite quickly, I saw they found this very boring and were making no effort to benefit from the meditation. The only solution then was to treat the matter as an intellectual study, which is why I started reading chapter by chapter.
0 1960-03-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
When I came down that evening for distribution,2 at first I was annoyed. I had said that I didnt want anybody in the hall, precisely because I wanted to establish an atmosphere of concentration, the immobility of the Spirit but there were at least thirty people in there, those who had decorated the hall, thirty of them stirring, stirring about, a mass of little vibrations. And before I could even say scat I had hardly taken my seatsomeone put the tray of medals on my lap and they started filing past.
But what is surprising is that in a flash, no one was there any longer. No one, you understand I was gone. Perhaps I was everywhere (but in fact I am always everywhere, I am always conscious of being everywhere at the same time), though normally there is the sense of the body, a physical center, but that evening there was no more center! Nothing, no one, not even the sense that there was no onenothing. I was gone. There was indeed something handing out the medals which felt the joy of giving the medal, the joy of receiving it, the joy of mutually looking at each other. It was simply the joy of the action taking place, the joy of looking, this joy everywhere, but me?Nothing, no one, gone. Only later, afterwards, did I see what had happened, for everything had disappeared, even the higher mind that understands and organizes things (by understand I mean contain, which contains things). That also was gone. And this lasted the entire distribution. Only when that [the body] had gone back upstairs to the room did the consciousness of what is me return.
There is a line by Sri Aurobindo in Savitri which expresses this very well: to annul oneself so that only the Supreme Lord may be.
And there are many, many experiences like this. It is only a small, a very small beginning. This one in particular came to mark the new stage: four years have elapsed, and now four years to come. Because everything has focused on this body to prepare it, everything has concentrated on itNature, the Master of the Yoga, the Supreme, everything So only when its over, not before, will it really be interesting to speak of all this. But maybe it will never be over, after all. Its a small beginning, very small.
The Darshan on February 29, 1960, the first anniversary of the Supramental Manifestation.
0 1960-03-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Publisher and friend are here one in telling you that LOrpailleur is a beautiful book whose richness and force have struck me even more this time than before when I read the first version. I cannot tell you how much your Job is my brotherin his darkness as in his light. The joy, the wild, irrepressible joy that furtively yearns and at times bursts forth, embracing all, this joy at the heart of the book burns the reader for a few, in any case, who are prepared to be inflamed. In the end, I cant say if LOrpailleur will or will not be noticed, if the critics will or will not bestow an article, a comment, an echo upon it, if bookstores will or will not sell it (poor orpailleur!). But what I know is that for a few readers2, 3, 10 perhapsyour book will be the cry that will rip them from their sleep forever. To your song, another song in themselves will respond. Where, how shall this concert finish? Who knowsanything is possible!
My words are a bit disjointed but Im not in the mood to give an articulate discourse. Which is a way of saying, once again, how happy I amand grateful.
0 1960-04-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There are moments when I feel you so close to mecould you not help me be more conscious of your presence (not as an impersonal force, but you)?
I love you, sweet Mother. You are truly my Mother, and I need you so much.
--
But I am convinced it will come. Meanwhile, I am trying to make you feel my presence not as an impersonal force but as a real and concrete presence, and I am happy to have succeeded in part.
Send me news of yourself, for I am always happy to hear from you.
0 1960-04-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Our turn will come in twenty to thirty years. To win, we need an element of surprise. The bourgeoisie should be lulled to sleep. Therefore, we must first launch the most spectacular peace movement that has ever existed, replete with inspiring proposals and extraordinary concessions. The stupid and decadent capitalist countries will cooperate joyfully in their own destruction. They will jump at this new opportunity for friendship. As soon as their guard is down, we shall crush them beneath our closed fist.
(Quoted in the Revue Militaire d Information, December 1959.)
0 1960-04-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
To compensate for that, however, I had the joy of finding your two letters. Yes, for some time I have been feeling your physical Presence more clearly. But then, why am I so blocked, where is the flaw? It constantly feels as though I am living at the outskirts of myself, or more precisely in a miniscule region of myself, and Im unable to be conscious of the resta perpetual amnesic. It is unpleasant and quite stupid. What is it that will explode this shell?
I am anxious to return to you.
0 1960-05-16, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And then they say, I want to close my eyes and see nothing but Him I want nothing more of the outer world. And they forget theres Love! That is the great Secret, that which is behind the Existent and the Non-Existent, the Personal and the ImpersonalLove. Not a love between two things, two beings A love containing everything.
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.
--
I was sick two days ago with a cold and fever. I know whya point to be transformed. The body may have put too much zeal into it, so it teetered a little. But thanks to that, I had an interesting experience. X 1 had put his force on me to speed up the healing. And of course, according to each ones nature, the force gets colored, so to speakit clothes itself in a different color. In me, this was translated by a new physical experience which lasted from 4 in the morning till 6:30, when I had to start speaking with people and deal with outer things. It was a kind of eternity, a kind of absolute PHYSICAL immobility which contained no possibility of illness within itas a matter of fact, nothing remained in this immobility, it was a sort of nirvana. But it did not keep me from going through all my usual motions of getting dressed.
I spent the whole day yesterday trying to understand this experience.
And in that kind of physical eternity (which lasted two and a half hoursits a long time for an experience), I was aware of something missing, something not there: the joy of the consciousness. Because throughout my life I have developed the habit of being conscious of everything, always, at each se cond. And the joy of the consciousness was not there. So I thanked the Grace that made me see that this kind of nirvana was quite simply physical tamas.2
(silence)
X has the power of rendering things very material thats his great power, which is why things get upset when he comes here. Overnight, someone progressing well comes to grips with difficulties; money on the way stops coming; you fall sick, things break downall because he has the power to give materiality to things from above. For, you see, you can go right to the height of your consciousness and from there sweep away the difficulties (at a certain moment of the sadhana, difficulties truly dont exist, its only a matter of nabbing the undesirable vibration and its over, its reduced to dust). And everything is fine up above, but down below its swarming. When X comes, its precisely all this swarming that becomes tangible.
The mastery must be a TRUE mastery, a very humble and austere mastery which starts from the very bottom and, step by step, establishes control. As a matter of fact, it is a battle against small, really tiny things: habits of being, ways of thinking, feeling and reacting.
When this mastery at the very bottom combines with the consciousness at the very top, then you can really begin doing some worknot only work on yourself but also the work for all.
The tantric guru.
0 1960-05-21 - true purity - you have to be the Divine to overcome hostile forces, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Him, not only because we have given Him everything and consecrated ourselves totally to Him (that is not enough), but Him because He has taken total possession of the human instrument.
At times, I feel that Ill never get over the difficulty. We are besieged by this enormous world of hostile forcesoceans of forces, churning and combining and submerging each other in gigantic pralayas,1 then again regrouping and combining. When you see that, it feels as if you had to be the Divine Himself to get over the difficulty. Precisely so! (And its the hostile forces who help you to see this, its their role.) You have TO BE THE DIVINE, that is the solution, that is the true divine purity.
--
When X is here, I get the impression that things are going backwards instead of forwards. But once hes left, I suddenly leap ahead. And then I perceive that the progress is a real progress, that things won have really been won and they dont come undone again. That is Xs true power, a very material power. For I often feel that things could come into being, they could be realized in the consciousness above (and the vision is there, the Power is there, I have it the invisible power over the earth). But when you come down to the material plane, everything is uncertain. Whereas with X, once things have come down, they no longer dissipate. This is certainly why the Supreme put him on my path.
For example, there was one difficulty he helped me resolve. I have always been literally pestered, constantly, night and day, by all kinds of thoughts coming from peopleall kinds of calls, questions, formations2 that have naturally to be answered. For I have trained myself to be conscious of everything, always. But it disturbed me in the work, particularly when I needed absolute concentration and I could never cut myself off from people or cut myself off from the world. I had to answer all these calls and these questions, I had to send the necessary force, the necessary light, the healing power, I constantly had to purify all these formations, these thoughts, these wills, these false movements that were falling on me.
What was needed was to effect a shift, a sort of transference upwards, a lifting up of all these things that come to meso that each one, each thing, each circumstance could directly and automatically receive the force from above, the light, the response from above, and I would be a mere intermediary and a channel of the Light and the Force.
Well, I tried hard but I couldnt really find the way. At times, I almost seemed to have it, a mere nothing would have been enough; it was just a matter of getting the knack (and at heart, this is what Power is all aboutto get the knack, to suddenly seize upon the means, the right vibration, what in India is called siddhi). Well, after his departure, all of a sudden it came. It happened while I was doing my japa, while I was walking up and down my room As if I were holding all that in my armsit was so concrete and lifting it up towards the Light, along with this ascending OM, rising from the very depths, OM!and I was carrying all these people, and it was spreading forth, PHYSICALLY spreading, and I was carrying the earth, I was carrying the whole universe, but in such a tangible, concrete wayall towards the Supreme Lord.
And this was not the invisible power: it was concrete, it was tangible, it was MATERIAL.
Pralaya: apocalypse, end of a world.
Formations, in occult language, refer to all the psychological movements and impulses, conscious or un conscious, constantly emanating from the disciples and others, and which leave an imprint in the subtle atmosphere or a wandering entity seeking to fulfill itself.
***
0 1960-05-24 - supramental flood, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Nothing remained but the Force, nothing remained but Sat-Chit-Ananda,1 and not only in the consciousness but in the physical sensation the divine Satchidananda spreading in a constant flood throughout the universe.
These experiences are always absolute, as long as they last; then, through certain signs that I know (I am accustomed to it), I notice that the body consciousness begins closing up again. Or rather, somethingevidently a Supreme Wisdomdecides its sufficient for this time and that the body has had enough. It ought not to break, which is why certain precautions are taken. So this comes in several little stages that I know quite well. The final one is always a bit unpleasant because my body gets into rather peculiar positions as a result of the work. As its only a sort of machine, towards the end I have some difficulty straightening my knees, for example, or opening my fingers I think they even make a noise, like something forced into one position whose life has become purely spontaneous and mechanical. There are plenty of people like that, plenty, who enter into trance and then can no longer get out by themselves; they get themselves into a certain position and someone has to free them. This has never happened to me; I have always managed to extricate myself. But yesterday evening, the experience lasted a very long time. There was even a little cracking at the end, as when people have rheumatism.
And during all this time, approximately three hours, the consciousness was completely, completely different. It was here, however; it was not outside the earth, it was on earth, but it was completely differenteven the body consciousness was different. And what remained was very mechanical; it was a body, but it could just as well have been anything. All this power of consciousness that for more than seventy years Ive gradually pushed into each of the bodys cells so that each cell could become conscious (and it goes on constantly, constantly), all this seemed to have withdrawn there only remained one almost lifeless thing. However, I could raise myself up from my bed and even drink a glass of water, but it was all so bizarre. And when I went back to bed, it took nearly forty-five minutes for the body to regain its normal state. Only after I had entered into another type of samadhi2 and again come out of it did my consciousness fully return. It is the first time I have had an experience of this kind.
During those three hours, there was nothing but the Supreme manifesting through the eternal Mother.
But there was no consciousness of being Mother, neither eternal nor whatever: it was a continuous and all-powerful flood, and so extraordinarily varied, of the Lord manifesting Himself.
It was as vast as the universe, a continuous movement the movement of manifestation of something which was EVERYTHING at once, a single whole. There was no division. And such a variety of colors, vibrations, powersextraordinary! It was one single thing, and everything was within it.
The three Supreme Principles were very clearly there: Existence, consciousness (an active, realizing consciousness) and Ananda. A universal vastness that kept going on and on and on
It moves and it doesnt move. How can you explain that? It was in motion, a constant, unceasing motion, and yet there was no shifting of place. I had the perception, or rather there was the perception, of something which WAS forever, which never repeated itself, neither began nor ended, which didnt shift places yet was always in motion.
Words cannot express it. No translation, none, not even the most subtle mental translation can express this. It was Even now the memory I have of it is inexpressible. You have to be in it to feel it, otherwise
However, to the consciousness it was very, very clear. It was neither mysterious nor incomprehensible, it was absolutely obviousthough untranslatable to our mental consciousness. For they were contradictory, yet they existed simultaneously, indistinguishable: they were not stacked one upon anotherit was all simultaneous. How can you explain that?! Its too difficult. It must be experienced.
You see, when something goes beyond thought, a sort of conception of it, or super conception rather, remains behind. But in this case, in my experience, there was no question of thoughtit was a question of physical sensation. It was not beyond thought, it was beyond sensation. I was LIVING this thing. And there was no more I. There was nothing but this thing, and yet there was a sensation. I cant explain it!
When I went back to bed, the transitional period lasted 45 minutes. During this time, I tried to locate the role of the individual consciousness on earth. In a flash, I understood its purpose. For you see, as long as the experience lasted, I did not feel any necessity at all of an individuality for this supreme flood to manifest. Then I understood, precisely, that the individuality served to put into contact, in this flood, all that reached out towards what is called Ithis individualized representation of the Divinein order to receive help and support from it, and to be put into contact. I did not say put into contact WITH this flood but put into contact IN this flood, for it was not happening outsidenothing was outside this flood, nothing exists outside it.
And what was really very lovely was the ACCURACY and the power which directed the forces. I watched this for three quarters of an hour: for each thing that presented itself (it could have been someone thinking, something taking place, anything at all), a special little concentration of this flood went exactly onto that point, like a special insistence.
And all this was absolutely egoless, without any personal reaction, nothing; there was nothing but the consciousness of the Supreme Action. It was the only thing existing.
And of course, the whole ordinary and higher mind (as well as the physical mind, it goes without saying, for that must be abolished before going into trance), everything here in the head, above the head, around the headabsolutely immobile.
After all that, towards the end of the night, at two in the morning, only a kind of faint suggestion was left: How can this statewhich I knew in trance, in samadhi, and which necessitates lying downbecome constant in a physical body which moves about? There is something to discover there. And what form will it take? For in my consciousness, you see, it is constantly like that, this universal flood, but the problem is IN THE BODY: its the problem of the Force in its most material form.
And during the time my experience lasted, I had no feeling of anything exceptional, but rather simply the fact that after all its preparation, the body consciousness was ready for a total identification with Thatin my consciousness its always the same, a perpetual, constant and eternal state in that it never leaves me. Its like that, and it never varies. What diminishes the immensity of the Vibration are the limitations of the material consciousness which can color it and even sometimes change it by giving it a personal appearance. Thus, when I see someone and speak to him, for example, when my eyes concentrate on the person, I have almost the sensation of this flood flowing from me towards the person or of it passing through me to go onto the person. There is an awareness of the eyes, the body. And it is this which limits or even changes a little the immensity of the thing But already this feeling has almost disappeared; this immensity seems to be acting almost constantly. There are moments when I am less interiorized, when I am more on the surface, and it feels like its passing through a bodymoments when the body consciousness comes back a little. And this is what diminishes the thing.
This experience last night also enabled me to understand what X had felt during one of our meditations. He had explained his experience by way of saying that I was this mystic tree whose roots plunge into the Supreme and whose branches spread forth over the world,3 and he said that one of these branches had entered into himand it had been a unique experience. He had said, this is the Mother.
--
And you see, this experience he had, this contact between him and me, is just a point, a drop, its nothing; its merely something the consciousness puts into words, but the THING itself is universal. Last night it was universal; there was no room, no bed, no door and it was concrete, concrete, so concrete, with such a splendor! There was all the Joythis perpetual downpour in a limitless splendor.
I was reluctant to speak (because of this problem that remains hanging: to make it permanent, even in the active consciousness), and I said to myself that if I speak, it will create difficulties for me in finding the solution But its all right. I shall simply have to make a still greater effort, because something always evaporates when you speak.
Sat-Chit-Ananda: the three Supreme Principles, Existence (Sat), consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (Ananda).
Samadhi: trance.
0 1960-05-28 - death of K - the death process- the subtle physical, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
During the operation and just afterwards, I had simply put the Force on him, as I always do in such cases, so that everything would turn out for the best. Then a few days ago, during my japa, a kind of order camea very clear orderto concentrate on him so that he would be conscious of his soul and able to leave under the best conditions. And I saw that the concentration worked wonderfully: it seems that during his last days he was ceaselessly repeating Ma-Ma-Ma1even while he was in a semi-coma.
And the concentration grew stronger and stronger. The day before yesterday it became very, very powerful, and yesterday morning, around half past noon, it pulled me inward; he came to me in a kind of sleep, a conscious sleep, and I even said almost aloud, Oh, K!
It lasted fifteen minutes; I was completely within, inside, as if to receive him.
--
For theres a consciousness of the form, a life of the form. Theres a consciousness, a consciousness in the form assumed by the cells. That takes SEVEN DAYS to come out. So sometimes the body makes abrupt movements when burnedpeople say its mechanical. Its not mechanical, I know its not.
I know it. I know that this consciousness of the form exists since I have actually gone out of it. Once, long back, I was in a so-called cataleptic state, and after awhile, while still in this state, the body began living again2; that is, it was capable of speaking and even moving (it was Theon who gave me this training). The body managed to get up and move. And yet, everything had gone out of it!
Once everything had gone out, it naturally became cold, but the body consciousness manages to draw a little energy from the air, from this or that And I spoke in that state. I spoke I spoke very well, and besides, I recounted all I was seeing elsewhere.
So I dont like this habit of burning people very much.
I think they do it here (apart from entirely sanitary considerations in the case of people who have died from nasty diseases), here in India, mainly because they are very afraid of all these little entities that come from desires, impulsesthings which are dispersed in the air and which make ghosts and all kinds of things. All desires, all attachments, all those things are like pieces that break off (each one goes its own way, you see), then these pieces gain strength in the surrounding atmosphere, and when they can fasten on to someone, they vampirize him. Then they keep on trying to satisfy their desires.
The world, the terrestrial atmosphere, is full of filth.
And people here are much more sensitive than in Europe because they are much more interiorized, so they are conscious of all these little entities, and naturally theyre afraid. And the more afraid they are, the more theyre vampirized!
I think that many of these entities are dispersed by fire that creates havoc.
--
And whenever we used to have meetings to decide on the construction of something or on repairs to be made, for example, I always felt him there and he influenced those who were present.
He wanted to live again; I managed to give him the opportunity. He was very conscious; the child isnt yet so.
But people are such fools, they are so ignorant!
0 1960-06-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Im a bit discouraged. Every night I slip into a black abyss from which I wake up in the morning drained. Not one se cond of conscious sleep. It takes me an hour to recuperate from my sleep. In fact, I am constantly on edge and the least thing exhausts my body.
But thats nothing. I would bear all the exhaustion quite willingly if there were at least a touch of something conscious. But nothing, as if I were as thick as a Paris concierge!
Mother, there is hardly an instant of my conscious life that I am not aspiring for more consciousness but theres still this abyss I slip into at night, as if nothing existed!
Pardon my grumblings. If only at least I knew what I could do to change all this.
0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Once Im relaxed, I have developed the habit of repeating my mantra. But its very strange with these mantras I dont know how it is for others; Im speaking of my own mantra, the one I myself foundit came spontaneously. Depending on the occasion, the time, depending on what I might call the purpose for repeating it, it has quite different results. For example, I use it to establish the contact while walking back and forth in my roommy mantra is a mantra of evocation; I evoke the Supreme and establish the contact with the body.
This is the main reason for my japa. Theres a power in the sound itself, and by forcing the body to repeat the sound, you force it to receive the vibration at the same time. But Ive noticed that if something in the bodys working gets disturbed (a pain or disorder, the onset of some illness) and I repeat my mantra in a certain waystill the same words, the same mantra, but said with a certain purpose and above all in a movement of surrender, surrender of the pain, the disorder, and a call, like an openingit has a marvelous effect. The mantra acts in just the right way, in this way and in no other. And after a while everything is put back in order. And simultaneously, of course, the precise knowledge of what lies behind the disorder and what I must do to set it right comes to me. But quite apart from this, the mantra acts directly upon the pain itself.
I also use my mantra to go into trance. After relaxing on the bed and making as total a self-offering as possible of everything, from top to bottom, and after removing as fully as possible all resistance of the ego, I start repeating the mantra.1 After repeating it two or three times, I am in trance (at the beginning it took longer). And from this trance I pass into sleep; the trance lasts as long as necessary and, quite naturally, spontaneously, I pass into sleep. And when I come back, I remember everything. The sleep was like a continuation of the trance. And essentially, the only reason for sleep is to allow the body to assimilate the results of the trance, then to allow these results to be accepted throughout and to let the body do its natural nights work of eliminating toxins. My periods of sleep practically dont exist sometimes they are as short as half an hour or 15 minutes. But in the beginning, I had long periods of sleep, one or even two hours in succession. And when I woke up, I did not feel this residue of heaviness which comes from sleep the effects of the trance continued.
It is even good for people whove never been in trance to repeat a mantra (or a word, a prayer) before going to sleep. But the words must have a life of their ownby this I dont mean an intellectual meaning, nothing of the kind, but rather a vibration. And this has an extraordinary effect on the body, it starts vibrating, vibrating, vibrating and so calm, you let yourself go, like falling off to sleep. And the body vibrates more and more, more and more, more and more, and you drift off.
--
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).
--
But for years together I only slept 2 hours a night in all. I mean that my night consisted of 2 hours. And I went straight to Sat-Chit-Ananda and then came back: 2 hours were spent like that. But the body was tired. That lasted more than five or six years while Sri Aurobindo was still in his body. And during the day, I was all the time going into trance for the least thing (it was trance, not sleep I was conscious). But I clearly saw that the body was affected, for it had no time to burn its toxins.2
There would be many interesting things to tell about sleep, because its one of the things Ive studied the mostto speak of how I became conscious of my nights, for instance. (I learned this with Theon, and now that I know all these things of India, I realize that he knew a GREAT deal.) But it bothers me a lot to say II this, I that. Id rather speak of these things in the form of a treatise or an essay on sleep, for example. Sri Aurobindo always spoke of his experiences but rarely did he say Iit always sounds like boasting.
Sri Aurobindo said that the true or yogic reason for sleep is to put the consciousness back into contact with Sat-Chit-Ananda (I used to do this without knowing it). For some people the contact is established immediately, while for others it takes eight, nine, ten hours to do it. But really, normally you should not wake up till the contact has been established, and thats why its very bad to wake up in an artificial way (with an alarm clock, for example), because then the night is wasted.
As for me, my night is now organized. I go to bed at 8 oclock and get up at 4, which makes for a very long night, and its sliced into three parts. And I get up punctually at 4 in the morning. But Im always awake ten or fifteen minutes beforehand, and I review all that has happened during the night, the dreams, the various activities, etc., so that when I get up, I am fully active.
To make use of your nights is an excellent thing, for it has a double effect: a negative effect, in that it keeps you from falling backwards, from losing what youve gained (that is really painful); and a positive effect, in that you progress, you continue progressing. You make use of your nights, so theres no more residue of fatigue.
There are two things to avoid: falling into a stupor of un consciousness, with all those things coming up from the sub conscious and the un conscious that invade and penetrate you, and a vital and mental hyperactivity in which you pass your time literally fightingterrible battles. People come out of that black and blue, as if they had been beaten and they have been, it is not as if! And I see only one way outto change the nature of sleep.
0 1960-06-07, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I feel that nothing but constant dynamiting could blow all that up. It doesnt move; it cant do anything, cant feel anything, cant see anything. Its its all blocked.
(long silence)
--
But just now You see, when I am in contact with younot when were sitting together, but at the bal cony or at the meditation or at any time at allthis contact is very good, very good, very luminous and clear. I wrote you that, and its getting more and more tangible. But when were HERE together, it feels as though it doesnt move Something is preventing it from taking place HERE. So when you spoke (it was when you made a face), I looked.
It gives me the impression of something like Yes, thats it, like a cavemanOh (Mother speaks mockingly), surely one of the cave artists or poets or writers! The intellectual life of the caves, I mean! But the cave happens to be low and when youre in it, you are like this (Mother stoops over), but the whole time you want to stand up straight. That makes you furious. Thats exactly the feeling it gives menot a cave meant for a man standing on his two feet; its a cave for a lion or for for any four-legged animal.
--
No, on the contrary, I have difficulty
But my little one, its useless to see me physically!
--
And just imagine! The other day, in the middle of the night, I suddenly found myself inside you. Ah, so thats what hes like, I said. I woke up in the middle of the night with that. And right away I said to myself, But (laughing) but why is he like that!? And this lasted perhaps one or two minutes, maybe more. I was I felt like kicking out in every direction in a kind of rage. And the next se cond, I thought, But why all this? My goodness, its so easy; the remedy is simply to do this and immediately (I did what I always do, you seeits how I am constantly), quite simply, I melted into the Supreme. Enough of all thisand the very next se cond, everything was all right.
So then I thought, This surely must have had some effect (on the disciple). What has happened? I am I was literally in peace.
--
But note that this is not something particular to you, for as I have told you, all physical life feels like that to me, as though people were confined in a kind of shellthis feeling of separation, isolation. This division everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Its dreadful. Every encounter is a shock.
(silence)
0 1960-06-Undated, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I have been here seven years and I cant count a single concrete experience, not a single vision (the only things that have ever happened were in Ceylon or Rameswaram). I havent even managed to have a few slightly conscious nights.
Isnt this reason enough to be discouraged? In any case, these questions are stirring in meand the vital is not happy [nor the mental, nor the physical].
0 1960-07-12 - Mothers Vision - the Voice, the ashram a tiny part of myself, the Mothers Force, sparkling white light compressed - enormous formation of negative vibrations - light in evil, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Last night something happened to me that I found quite amusing. I was awakened by a Voice, or rather it roused me from one trance to put me into another. It happened at about 11 oclock. Not a human Voice. I dont exactly recall its words any longer, but it had to do with the Ashramits protection, its success, its power. And what was interesting was that when I woke up, I was in a state in which this formation that is the Ashram and the Force that is condensed here to realize what this Voice wanted, seemed a very tiny, tiny part of myself.
I heard the Voice and awoke with the feeling of this Power, this Light, this Force of realization concentrated here which sets everything in motion (as always, it is always the same, a Power in motion). It was a dazzling white light. But then, what I found funny was that there I was, quite in my natural state, and this, the Ashram, was a tiny, tiny part of myself. And throughout the whole experience, it remained like thata very tiny part of myself. Everything else was I cant say de concentrated, but an entirely general, overall activity, as it normally is every night. And I saw the Ashram quite clearlyit was something special, made for special reasons, but whereas I seemed to have an immense body, that was very small, very small. It went on for an hour. Thats what I found amusing; the other things just happen, and they may be interesting, but this was so spontaneous; I was watching it (I dont know where my head was), I was looking down from above so tiny, so tiny.
What was me was up above, and the Ashram was It began just here (the navel) and went that way (downwards), and it was encircled, to show that it was a special formationencircled in the in conscience of the terrestrial creation. And I was everything else, with the usual vibrations of power and light. And then one current and another current and another were passing into it, into this formation, and they kept going in and in and in, accumulating. They kept going in, and yet they did not come out, they did not leave. It was not an undulatory movement, but rather a pulsating movementit had no beginning, it didnt go out, and yet it kept moving. Its very difficult to describe.
--
Its form was elongated, slanting downwards (it always has this form). At the top it looked like a head, then the lines disappeared down below. It had no openings. And then, it was surrounded by various dark sheaths, a very dark purple which is the color of protection. A sparkling light was entering into itit kept entering, but without making any holes. It passed right through everything, through the purplethrough everything. It passed through and entered inside, where there were sparklings of every color, like a cascade. There are always these cascades of forcesimilar to a cascading stream whose waters neither flow on nor disappear, but accumulate: an accumulation of energies, a condensation. And they accumulate without taking up any more space through a kind of compression. And inside, its moving, vibrating, vibrating, vibrating, it keeps coming and comingyou dont know where it comes from, but it keeps coming and accumulating.
It was a force with a sparkling white light at its center, the light which is the force of the Divine Mother, and as soon as it was well packed and concentrated inside, or condensed, it took on all the colorsvibrations of every color Like a materialization these colors were like a materialization of the Divine Force when it enters matter. (Just as matter is a condensation of energy, well, this seemed to be a condensation of Divine Force. Thats really the impression it gave.)
It reminded me of tantric things. I have seen tantric formations and how forces are systematically separated by themeach vibration, each color. Its very interesting. They are all one, and yet each is distinct. That is, they are separated in order to be distinguished and for each one to be used individually. Each one represents a particular action for obtaining something in particular. This is the special knowledge the tantrics have, I believe. Or its the reflection of their knowledge. And my impression is that when they do their pujas or say their mantras, what they are trying to do is recombine all that into the white light. Im not sure. I know they use each one separately for a separate purpose, but when they speak of their puja succeeding, it may mean that they have been able to recombine the light. But I say this very guardedly. For I would have to see X do his puja one day to really knowfrom afar Im not so sure. Its merely an impression.
This is what I am constantly seeing now, but along with this Divine Force or this Divine consciousness that Sri Aurobindo speaks of when he says, Mothers Force is with you. When it comes, it is sparkling white, perfectly white and perfectly luminous. And as it accumulates inside, it makes living vibrations of every color. And it goes on and on and on. Sometimes it lasts half an hour, three-quarters of an hour, an hournothing goes out. And it keeps constantly entering. And it piles up. Its as if it is all being accumulated or compressed together.
So, the observing mind, the intelligence that watches, looked at all thisAh, thats what its like (an intelligence that watches without interfering in the least). Its like a spectator talking to himself.
--
Heaven and hell are at once true and false. They exist and dont exist. Ive seen various people go to heavens or hells after their death, and its very difficult to make them understand that it is not real. Once it took me more than a year to convince someone that his so-called hell was not hell, and to get him out of it.
But there is something else the psychological condition that you yourself create, the asuric hell you live in when you cultivate an asuric nature within you.
***
--
You cant see it or feel it till you concretely live the fact that all is divine, that HE is everywhere, in everything, always, in all that happens.
The first reaction is always a kind of shrinking before things which seem horrible, but if you can overcome that and really have the experience, everything changes.
And there are hundreds and hundreds of little experiences like that, like so many little stones marking the way. Then you see that the two things are ALWAYS together: the destructive and the constructive. You cant see one without seeing the other. A time comes when the effort is to conquer the negative parts of creation and death (as at the end of Savitri), and when you have conquered that, then youre above. And then if you look at all these things, even those which seem the most opposed to the Divine, even acts of cruelty done for the pleasure of cruelty, you see the Presence the Presence that annuls their effects. And its absolutely marvelous.
I had a startling experience one day when X was doing his pujas to encircle the titans. He was in difficulty and I was about to intervene to help him when I was abruptly stopped. I was faced by a massive blackness (blacker than the blackest physical thing) and suddenly, right at its center, I saw the Divine Love shining with such a splendor I had never seen it so splendid.
And now it has become constant; each time I hear or see something ugly or horrible, or each time something ugly or horrible happens, something which is a negation of the divine life just behind is this flameso wonderful. And then the effect is annulled.
There is a magnificence of realization which could not have been had this evil, this horror and this negation not been.
Our consciousness shrinks from these things which belong to the past and which are no longer in their place, so we feel disgust and revulsionbecause we are ignorant. But if we can raise ourselves above and be in contact with That the supreme Lightwhich is ALWAYS just behind, then this Light seems all the more supreme because it is so much its own opposite.
Then you know.
You know, so there is no longer this uneasiness, this shrinking. You feel carried more and more by all that you reject; you are in a forward movement, further and further, higher, constantly further.
***
0 1960-07-23 - The Flood and the race - turning back to guide and save amongst the torrents - sadhana vs tamas and destruction - power of giving and offering - Japa, 7 lakhs, 140000 per day, 1 crore takes 20 years, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The vehicles path was not on earth, but up above (probably in interstellar regions!), a special path for this vehicle. And I didnt know where the water was coming from; I couldnt see its origin, which was off beyond the horizon. But it came raging down in torrentsnot precipitously like a waterfall, but rather like a rushing torrent. My path passed between the torrents of water and the earth below. And I saw the water before me, everywhere, in front and behindit was so extraordinary, for it looked like it was everywhere, you see, except along my path (and even then, there was some seepage). Water speeding everywhere. But there was a kind of conscious will in this onrush, and I had to reach the Great Passage before this conscious will. This water resembled something physical, but there was a consciousness, a conscious will, and I had to it was like a battle between the will I represented and that will. And I passed each fissure just in time. Only when I reached the Great Turning did I see the will that impelled this water. And I reached there just before it. And passed through at a fantastic speedlike lightning. Even time ceased I crossed over like a flash of lightning. And then, suddenly, respite and it was blue. A square.
At the time, I didnt know what it all meant. Then this morning, I thought, It must have something to do with the world situation.
--
I turned around and saw all this water rushing down, and I thought, Now lets see if we can do something here. There was someone behind who interested me, someone or somethingit was still something; it was very likable and had something of the blue color that was here on the other side. Not really individuals, but more like beings representative of something that was following me quite closely. When I was there, it also was there, but it could not keep up, it kept losing groundas my speed increased, its decreased. It could not keep up. But it interested me in a special way. Oh, hes so close (he or it); he might just make it, I thought. And at that moment, I saw that all this destructive will with its instrument of water, symbolically water, had rushed past and was spreading out everywhere. But there was still a chance of saving all those who were along this path. And thats immediately what I thought of, it was my first wish: Lets see if they can still get across, if I can manage to get them across. I remembered some especially dangerous spots (while speeding past, I had remarked, Oh, here we might still be able to do this, there that could still be donemy consciousness moved at the same speed, and I noted everything along the way), and once I was firmly there on the other side, I started sending back messages.
Down below, the water was having a grand time; it was it was hopeless. But here, along this path, there was still a hope, even even after the water had passed; I probably had a certain power at my disposal to help others cross these fissured places. But because I woke up, I didnt see what it was. So that stopped everything. Probably because I woke up rather abruptly, I could not see what it meant.
--
S.M came the other day Hes quite informed about events as only the government knows them. He brings me government newsnot what they feed to the public. It doesnt look good. But as he has confidence, he wanted to know (so much confidence that he goes and tells Nehru and others, Oh, Mother said this, Mother said that. And it turns out true, fortunately!). So after describing things at some length, he asked my opinion.
Logically, according to reason, war seems unavoidable. But as he asked, I looked I looked at my nights, precisely, as well as other things. And then I said, I dont feel it. I dont feel any war.
--
I remember wandering about one night some time ago. Its no longer very clear, but one thing has remained I had gone out of India, and then when I returned to India, I found huge elephants installed EVERYWHEREenormous elephants. At that time I was not at all aware that the Communists in India had adopted the elephant as their symbol; I only learned that later. What does this mean, I said to myself. Does it signify the Indian army? But they did not resemble war elephants. These elephants were like immense mammoths, and they looked like they were settling down with all the power of a tremendous inertia. That was the impression something heavy in an inert and very tamasic way, forever immovable. I did not like this occupation. When I came back, I had a rather painful feeling, and for several days I wondered if it did not mean war. Then by chance, in a conversation, I learned that the Communists had selected the elephant as their symbol whereas the congress had chosen the bullock In my vision, I was moving (as I always do), I was moving among them, and nothing moved. And if I needed room, some of them even tried to stir a little.
But when human beings are involved, I believe that visions take on a special formits a special image. Not an inundation like this. That was very, very impersonal. They were forces. A feeling of floodgates bursting open, of something being held back, retained or prevented, then suddenly
--
In fact, the Ashrams financial situation has never been so bad. Were living from day to day, minute to minute One day, it will crackall these things are connected (Mother is alluding to the vision of the flood She has just described).
I myself am clearly seeing it from the other side; I see a black, muddy forma black, black force. And I see the [Divine] Force acting on people and, miraculously, the money comesand then its like something armored1it seeps in with difficulty, a thin trickle from day to day.
--
Its more and more a universal yoga the whole earth and it is like that day and night, when I walk and when I speak and when I eat. Its constantly like that. As if the whole earth were its like kneading dough to make it rise.
But when I read his Yoga of Self-Perfection and see simply what we are phew! What yeast we would need to make all that rise!
0 1960-07-26 - Mothers vision - looking up words in the subconscient, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I woke up at three oclock (what I mean is, I came out of my nightly activities). I had an hour ahead of me before getting up. So I concentrated and went within.
I came out of the concentration at 4:10quite late. For I was VERY busy! I was in some sort of small house similar to my room, but it was at the top of a tower, for you could see the landscape from above. It was similar to my room here, with large windows. And I was much taller than I actually am, for there was a ledge below each window (there was a cupboard below each window, as in my room), and this ledge came quite low on me; in my room, it comes up to my chest, whereas it was much lower in my vision. And from there oh, what beautiful landscapes! It was surrounded by such lovely countryside! There was a flowing river, woods, sunlightoh, it was really lovely! And I was very busy looking up words in the dictionary!
I had taken out a dictionary. There, its this one, I said. Someone was next to me, but this someone is always symbolic: each activity takes on a special form which may resemble someone or other. (The people around me for the work here are like families in those worlds there; they are types, that iseach person represents a typeso then I know that Im in contact with all the people of this same type. If they were conscious, they would know that I was there telling them something in particular. But its not a person, its a type and not a type of character, but a type of activity and relationship with me.)
I was with a certain type, and I was looking for a word, I wanted to conjugate the verb vaincre [to conquer]: je vaincs, tu vaincs, il vaincgood, now nous vainquons, how do you spell that, nous vainquons? It was so funny! And I was looking it up in the dictionaryvainquons, how do you spell that?
And at the same time, I had the feeling of something completely arbitrary, and all this kind of knowledge seemed so unreala completely arbitrary convention corresponding to nothing luminous anywhere.
I was very oh, I was very, very anxious to know how je vaincs, tu vaincs goes nous vainquons, vous vainquez. And I woke up at 4:15 without having found it in the dictionary!
--
However, its not a personal sub conscient, but a its more than the Ashram. For me, the Ashram is not a separate individualityexcept in that vision the other day,1 which is what surprised me. Its hardly that. Rather, it is still this Movement of everything, of everything that is included. So its like entering into the sub conscient of the whole earth, and it takes on forms which are quite familiar images to me, but they are absolutely symbolic and very, very funny! It took a moment to see that vainquons is spelled q-u-o-n-s. And I wasnt sure! I meant to ask Pavitra for a dictionary which gives verb conjugations, for then if Im stuck on something while writing, I can look it up.
The other day I wrote somethingit was a letter I gave Pavitra to read. I think theres a spelling mistake, he said. Its quite possible, I answered, I make plenty of them. He looked it up in a splendid dictionary and, as a matter of fact, it was a mistake. I meant to ask him for a dictionary this morning.
Its very simple, actually; its a convention, a conventional construction somewhere in the sub conscious brain, and you write automatically. But if you want to try to bring the light of a slightly higher reason into it, its terrible. It becomes meaningless, and you forget everything.
You have to be inside this automatic convention to remember; its very difficult (Mother laughs). So I make a lot of spelling mistakes (under her breath, in a mischievous tone) I think Ill ask him for his dictionary (laughter)!
Vaincre! I wanted to write to someone to proclaim the Victory. The idea was very clear, it was really lovely. Then, in a se cond, I was stoppedHow do you spell vainquons? And how do you spell vaincs? The person next to me didnt know a thingnothing. Its spelled v-a-i-n, he said. So I said, No, I dont think so! (laughter) It went on like that, you know, it was so funny!
--
Yes, yes; its quite automatic, a kind of convention somewhere. But if you have the misfortune to step out of that and to look at it, its finished, you dont know anything any more.
The vision of July 12, 1960.
0 1960-08-10 - questions from center of Education - reading Sri Aurobindo, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
( concerning two teachers at the Ashram's Center of Education who wrote Mother asking if 'only' Sri Aurobindo should be studied. Pavitra was present during this conversation.)
An eight page letternothing but passion.
--
And then they stuff into it what they consider intellectual reasonings, but their intellectuality is not so terribly luminousanyway (Mother shows the letter) Here, Ill read this to you for your edification (!).
And finally, Sweet Mother, what I would really like to know is the purpose of our Center of Education. Is it to teach the works of Sri Aurobindo? And only these? All the works or some only? Or is it to prepare the students to read the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? Is it to prepare them for the Ashram life or for outside occupations as well? So many opinions are floating in the air, and even the old disciples from whom we expect some knowledge make so many contradictory statements
(Laughing, to Pavitra:) I suppose thats for you!
--
(Pavitra:) Yes, Mother; in this dictionary each verb is shown the category it is in, how it is conjugated
The verbs
Take choyer [coddle, pamper], for example (Pavitra shows Mother), its conjugated like aboyer [snarl, bark].
What a comparison! (Mother laughs) Oh, they have such psychological subtleties!
But its especially for the spelling of verbs. I believe I know how to conjugate!
(Pavitra:) It has everythinghow to play bridge, how to play tennis, the art of carving a chicken
--
Im continuing The Yoga of Self-Perfection. Its really something I shall never tire of saying its fabulous. Everything, absolutely everything, in detail, everything is there. And he foresawforesaw, gave the remedy; foresaw, gave the remedy; foresaw, gave
Have you read it?
--
What is so interesting in it is this insistence on the divinity of man If thatthis feeling of the inner divinitycould be established in oneself in a constant way (Ive seen this for most people I know), so MANY things would There is no need for any effort at all, things fall away from you like dust.
There is no need to react against difficulties; you are immediately pulled out of them, as if you were taken out like this (gesture of pulling someone out of a difficulty with her two fingers).
0 1960-08-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother looks at a piece of paper) Calling Antonin Raymond2. The architect for the construction.
Then there was also making ready temporary quarters for Z3. But then Z left; he died.
--
But L has enlarged the program. (Mother indicates the plan) This is only a small part of his extensive total program. He is planning to have a school of agriculture, a modern dairy with grazing landtheres a lot of agriculture, really a lotfruit orchards, large rice fields, many things. And then a ceramics factory. My ceramics factory will be at the far end of the lake, so as to utilize the clay the government has agreed; as they have to dig out the lake one day, we shall use the top soil for the fields. First well remove all the pebbles (you know, there are hills over there), which can be used for constructionits a mine of pebbles. After removing the pebbles, there will be holes which then well fill with earth from the lake. And below this earth is a thick and compact layer of clay which is so hard it cant be used for farmingits impossible but its wonderful for making ceramics. So right at the very end, in Indian territory,4 well have a large ceramics industry. On the other side, well have a little factory for firing clay.
All this is huge. A tremendous program.5
--
With a lot of patience and time, it could all be organized, but Id have to be convinced that its worth the trouble. All these old papers are like dead leaves. We should make a bonfire.7
Oh, no!
--
But then Id rather not die if possible. And if I dont die, it will be perfectly useless, because that would then be the obvious proof of an uninterrupted ascent; consequently, what there will be at the very end will be much more interesting.
You alone have convinced me that the history of the way might be of some interest, so Im letting you do it Ive taken a very, very handsome file upstairs with all your notes in it.8 Its filling up; its going to be formidable! (Mother laughs) a frightful documentation.
Not at all!
Anyway I am doing it very conscientiously. Im gathering everything and putting it all together.
You know, someone who appreciates this work tremendously is Nolini. Once he timidly asked me, Could I have a copy9? Fine, I said. Oh, he really appreciates it. And when I have something amusing like these most recent notes, I give him a copy. With that, hes happy. So he blesses you! (Mother laughs) Oh! Without you, this would never have been doneyou can be quite sure. Never.
--
Of these conversations that make up the Agenda.
The French publishers, ditions du Seuil.
0 1960-08-27, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
We should not allow all this to upset us. There is but one thing to doremain in a state of constant peace, constant equanimity, for things are not they are not very pleasant. Oh, if you only knew all the letters they write me if you knew, first of all, the tremendous pile of stupidities that need never be written at all; then, added to that, such a display of ignorance, egoism, bad will, total incomprehension and unequalled ingratitude, and all this so candid, my child! They heap all this on me daily, you know, and it comes from the most unexpected quarters.
If this were to affect me (Mother laughs), I would long ago have been who knows where. I dont care at all, not at all, really not at allit doesnt bother me, it makes me smile.
0 1960-09-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In conclusion, he said, Where is the Mother and where is X? meaning, I suppose, that all separation had disappeared.
With love.
0 1960-09-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo and I had discussed the matter in 1914 (quite a long time ago), for we had seen two possibilities: what we are now doing, or to withdraw into solitude and isolation until we had not only attained the Supermind, but begun the material transformation as well. And Sri Aurobindo rightfully said that we could not isolate ourselves, for as you progress, you become more and more universalized, and consequently you take the burden upon yourself2 in any case.
And life itself has responded by bringing people forward to form a nucleus. Of course, we clearly saw that this would make the work a bit more complex and difficult (it gives me a heavy responsibility, an enormous material work), but from the overall point of view for the Workits indispensable and even inevitable. And in any case, as we were later able to verify, each one represents simultaneously a possibility and a special difficulty to resolve. I have even said, I believe, that each one here is an impossibility.3
But this way of seeing is too far removed from the state of mind and spiritual education in which X has lived,4 of course, for him to understand. Nor am I in favor of proselytizing (to convince X); it would disturb him quite needlessly. He has not come here for that. He came here for something special, something I wanted which he brought, and I have learnt it. Now its excellent, he is a part of the group in his own fashion, thats all. And in a certain way, his presence here is having a very good effect on a whole category of people who had not been touched but who are now becoming more and more favorably inclined. It was difficult to reach all the traditionalists, for example, the people attached to the old spiritual forms; well, they seem now to have been touched by something.
When Amrita,5 seized with zeal, wanted to make him understand what we were doing here and what Sri Aurobindo had wanted, it almost erupted into an unpleasant situation. So after that, I decided to identify myself with him to see I had never done this, because normally I only do it when I am responsible for someone, in order to truly help someone, and Ive never felt any responsibility in regard to X. So I wanted to see his inner situation, what could and could not be done. That was the day you saw him coming down from our meditation in an ecstatic state, when he told you that all separation between him and me had dropped awayit was to be expected, I anticipated as much!
--
When Sri Aurobindo was here, I never bothered about all this; I was constantly up above and I did what the Gita and the traditional writings advise I left it to Natures care. In fact I left it to Sri Aurobindos care. He is making the best use of it, I would say. He will manage it, he will do with it what he wants. And I was constantly up above. And from up there I worked, leaving the instrument as it was because I knew that he would see to it.
Actually, it was very different at that time because I was not even aware of any resistance or any difficulty in the outer being; it was automatic, the work was done automatically. Later on, when I had to do both thingswhat he had been doing as well as what I was doingit became rather complicated and I realized there were many what we could call gapsthings which had to be worked out, transformed, set right before the total work could be done without hindrance. So then I began. And several times I thought how unfortunate it was that I had never studied or pursued certain ancient Indian disciplines. Because, for example, when Sri Aurobindo and I were working to bring down the supramental forces, a descent from the mental plane to the vital plane, he was always telling me that everything I did (when we meditated together, when we worked)all my movements, all my gestures, all my postures, all my reactionswas absolutely tantric, as if I had pursued a tantric discipline. But it was spontaneous, it did not correspond to any knowledge, any idea, any will, nothing, and I thought it was like that simply because, as He knew, naturally I followed.
Later on, when Sri Aurobindo left his body, I said to myself, If only I knew what he had known, it would be easier! So when Swami and later X came, I thought, I am going to take advantage of this opportunity. I had written to Swami that I was working on transforming the cells of the body and that I had noticed the work was going faster with Xs influence. So it was understood that X would help when he came thats how things began, and this idea has remained with X. But I have raced on I dont wait. Ive raced on, Ive gone like wildfire. And now the situation is reversed. What I wanted to find out, I found out. I experienced what I wanted to experience, but he is still He is very kind, actually, he wants really to help me. So, when I identified with him the other day during our meditation, I realized that he wanted to give silence, control and perfect peace to the physical mind. My own trick, if you will, is to have as little relationship with the physical mind as possible, to go up above and stay therethis (Mother indicates her forehead), silent, motionless, turned upwards, while That (gesture above the head) sees, acts, knows, decidesall is done from there. Only there can you feel at ease.
Along the way, I once went down into this physical mind for awhile to try to set it right, to organize it a little (it was done rather quickly, I didnt stay there long). So when I went inside X, I saw It was rather curious, for its the opposite of the method we follow. In his material consciousness (physical and vital), he has trained himself to be impersonal, open, limitless, in communication with all the universal forces. In the physical mind, silence, immobility. But in the speculative mind, the one there at the very top of the head what an organization, phew! All the tradition in its most superb organization, but such a ri-gi-dity! And it had a pretty quality of light, a silver blueVERY pretty. Oh, it was very calm, wonderfully calm and quiet and still. But what a ceiling it had!the outer form resembled rigid cubes. Everything inside was beautiful, but that There was a very large cube right at the top, I recall, bordered by a purple line, which is a line of powerall this was quite luminous. It looked like a pyramid; the smaller cubes formed a kind of base, the lower part of which faded into something cloudy, and then this passed imperceptibly downwards to a more material realm, or in other words, the physical mind. The cube on top was the largest and most luminous, and the least yieldingeven inflexible, you could say. The others were somewhat less defined, and at the bottom it was very blurred. But up at the top!thats where I wanted to go, right to the top.
When I got there, I felt a moment of anguish; my feeling was that nothing could be done. Not for him in particular, but universally, for all those in his categoryit seemed hopeless.6 If that was perfection, then nothing more could be done. This lasted only a se cond, but it was painful. And then I tried that is, I wanted to bring my consciousness down into the highest cubethis eternal, universal and infinite consciousness which is the first and foremost expression of the manifestation but nothing doing. It was impossible. I tried for several minutes and saw that it was absolutely impossible. So I had to make a curious movement (I couldnt get through it, it was impassable), I had to come back down into the so-called lower consciousness (not lower, actuallyit was vast and impersonal), and from there I came out and regained my equilibrium. This is what gave me that splitting headache I told you about. I came out of there as if I were carrying the weight the weight of an irreducible absoluteit was dreadful. Unfortunately, I was unable to rest afterwards, and as people were waiting to see me, I had to talkwhich is very tiring for me. And this produced a bubbling in my head, like a this dark blue light of power in matter was there, shot through with streaks of white and gold, and all this was flashing back and forth in my head, this way and that way I thought I was going to have a stroke! (Mother laughs)
This lasted a good half hour before I could calm it down, make it quiet, quiet. And I saw that this came from the fact that he wanted to bring the Power down, to transmit the Power into the physical mind! But as soon as Im put in contact with the Power, you understand, it makes everything explode! (Mother laughs) It felt exactly like my head was going to explode!
I felt better that night because I was concentrated, but my head was still hurting a little. Then the following day I said to myself, or rather I told him inwardly, Whether you like it or not, I am bringing down whats up above; it is the only way I can feel comfortable! And I told you what happenedas soon as I sat down I was so surprised, for he didnt start doing what he had done the day before; I myself did the same thing, I participated, so to speak, in his will (so as to find out), but with the resolve to remain consciously in contact with the highest consciousness, as always, and to bring it down. And it came in a marvelous flood. He was quite happy, he did not protest! All the pain was gone, there was nothing left, it was perfect. Only towards the end of the meditation did he again want to start doing his little trick of enclosing my physical mind in this construction, but it didnt last I watched all this from above.
And he isnt aware of this, actually, he isnt aware at all. If he were told, he would absolutely deny it for him, its an opening onto Infinity! But in fact, its always like that, we are always shut in, each of useach one is enclosed inside certain limits which he doesnt feel, for should he feel it, he would get out! Oh, I know this feeling very well, for when I was with Sri Aurobindo I was open in this way (gesture towards the heights), and I always had this feeling of Yes, my child He tolerated me the way I was and waited for it to change. Thats truly how things are, you know. And now I feel my limits, which are the limits of the world as it is at present, but beyond that theres an unmanifested immensity, eternity and infinityto which we are closed. It merely seeps init is not the great opening. What I am trying to bring about is the great opening. Only when it has opened wide will there really be the (how should I put it?) the irreducible thing, and all the worlds resistance, all its inertia, even its obscurity will be unable to swallow it up the determining and transforming thing I dont know when it will come.
But this experience with X was really interesting. I learned many things that day, many things If you concentrate long enough on any one point, you discover the Infinite (and in his own experience he found the infinite), what could be called your own Infinite. But this is not what WE want, not this; what we want is the direct and integral contact between the manifested universe and the Infinite out of which this universe has emerged. So then it is no longer an individual or personal contact with the Infinite, its a total contact. And Sri Aurobindo insists on this, he says that its absolutely impossible to have the transformation (not the contact, but the supramental transformation) without becoming universalized that is the first condition. You cannot become supramental before being universal. And to be universal means to accept everything, be everything, become everythingreally to accept everything. And as for all those who are shut up in a system, even if it belongs to the highest regions of thought, it is not THAT.
But to each his destiny, to each his work, to each his realization, and to want to change someones destiny or someones realization is very wrong. For it simply throws him off balance thats all it does.
--
Especially at the beginning, Sri Aurobindo used to shatter to pieces all moral ideas (you know, as in the Aphorisms, for example). He shattered all those things, he shattered them, really shattered them to pieces. So theres a whole group of youngsters7 here who were brought up with this idea that we can do whatever we want, it doesnt matter in the least!that they need not bother about all those concepts of ordinary morality. Ive had a hard time making them understand that this morality can be abandoned only for a higher one So, one has to be careful not to give them the Power too soon.
Its an almost physical discipline. Moreover, I have seen that the japa has an organizing effect on the sub conscient, on the in conscient, on matter, on the bodys cellsit takes time, but by persistently repeating it, in the long run it has an effect. It is the same principle as doing daily exercises on the piano, for example. You keep mechanically repeating them, and in the end your hands are filled with consciousness it fills the body with consciousness.
I have a hard time making X understand that I have work to do when Im with him. He doesnt understand that one can work.
Of course not! A disciplined work, which to us seems important, is to him basically an ignorance. What is true to such a person is a contemplative, ecstatic lifealong with a sentiment of compassion and charity, so that nonetheless you spend a bit of your time helping out the poor brutes! But the true thing is ecstatic contemplation. As for those who are advanced and yet still attach some importance to workits irrational!
The only way I can make him understand that I have work to do is to tell him, Mother asked me to do it; then he keeps quiet.
--
And its true, I know it, I knew it then. In other words, all this work that usually has to be done to become free was done beforehand, long agoquite convenient!
He saw me the next day for half an hour. I sat downit was on the verandah of the Guest House, I was sitting there on the verandah. There was a table in front of him, and Richard was on the other side facing him. They began talking. Myself, I was seated at his feet, very small, with the table just in front of meit came to my forehead, which gave me a little protection I didnt say anything, I didnt think anything, try anything, want anything I merely sat near him. When I stood up half an hour later, he had put silence in my head, thats all, without my even having asked himperhaps even without his trying.
Oh, I had tried for years I had tried to catch silence in my head I never succeeded. I could detach myself from it, but it would keep on turning But at that moment, all the mental constructions, all the mental, speculative structures none of it remaineda big hole.
And such a peaceful, such a luminous hole!
--
This lasted about half an hour. I quietly remained there I heard the noise of their conversation, but I wasnt listening. And then when I got up, I no longer knew anything, I no longer thought anything, I no longer had any mental constructioneverything was gone, absolutely gone, blank!as if I had just been born.
***
--
From the material point of view, its almost hellish the noise, the smella nauseating smell. I had to apply all my will not to be physically disturbed they made me climb up narrow little stairs, go down, climb back up, look into deep pits. At some places there werent even guardrails, so I had really to control myself.
I was watching all this sugar canepiles of sugar canewhich is thrown into the machine, and then it travels along and falls down to be crushed, crushed, and crushed some more. And then it comes back up to be distilled. And then I saw all this is living when its thrown in, you see, its full of its vital force, for it has just been cut. As a result, the vital force is suddenly hurled out of the substance with an extreme violence the vital force comes out the English word angry is quite expressive of what I meanlike a snarling dog. An angry force.10
--
I didnt speak of it to anyone, but it caused me some concern. And just the next day the machine broke down! When I was informed, immediately I thought It was then repaired, and again it broke downthree times. Then the following night, just before ten oclock I should mention that during the day I had thought, But why not attract these forces to our side, take them and satisfy them, give them some peace and joy and use them? I thought about it, concentrated a little, but then I didnt bother any further. At ten oclock that evening, they came upon mein a flood! They kept coming and coming. And I was busy with them the whole time. They were not ugly (not so luminous either! ), they were wholesome, straightforwardhonest forces. So I worked on them. This began exactly at 9:30, and for one hour I was busy working. After an hour, Id had enough: Listen, this is quite fine, youre very nice, but I cant spend all my time like this! We shall see what to do later for it absorbed my whole consciousness. They kept coming and coming (you understand what that means to a body?!). So at 10:30 I told them, Listen, my little ones, be quiet now, thats enough for today At 10:30, the machine broke down!
I found out, of course, because they log everything at the factory, so when they came to inform me of the breakdown the next morning, I asked them what time it had happenedexactly 10:30.
After that, I made a kind of pact with them the trouble, you see, is that there are constantly new ones. If only they were the same! They are constantly coming in new floods, so there was the need of a permanent formation over there. Ive tried to make this permanent formation, to take and absorb them, to calm them down and scatter them a little so they dont accumulate in one spot, which in the end could be dangerous.
I found this quite amusing.
The most recent incident took place a few days ago, for there was a general excitement in the factory due to the expected visit of a government minister during the day. That afternoon, exactly at half past three, I felt that I had to make a little concentration. So I paid attention and saw poor L11 praying to me. He was praying, praying, calling mesuch a strong call that it pulled me. I was having my bath (you know what happens when Im very strongly pulled Im stopped right in the very midst of a gesture, then the consciousness goes wandering off! And I cant do anything, it stops me dead. Thats exactly what happened to me in the bathroom). When I saw what was happening, I straightened things out. Then they must have had their ceremony, for suddenly I felt, Ah, now it has calmed down, its all right. And I went on to something else.
The next day, L came to see me. He told me that shortly before 3:30, the machine had stopped once again, but this time it was quickly set right; they found out right away what had to be done. And then he told me that at 3:45 he had started praying to me that all should go well. Oh, I know! I said.
0 1960-09-24, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Just now, I concentrated a little and tuned into your voice. And not one word escaped me! It became clear, absolutely clear.
Normally Im not there. And some people I hear, others I dont hear. But I hadnt imagined that it depended on this I thought I had lost my hearing. But just now I stopped everything, absolutely everything, I concentrated and tuned init became so clear!
Basically, it must be the same for my eyes. Sometimes I see wonderfully, and sometimes its blurred. It must be for the same reason I probably have to learn to concentrate!
Yes, laugh if you wantwhat I mean is concentrate on what Im doing. Not concentrate within Precisely, Im rather too concentrated!
***
0 1960-10-02a, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This world of Delight above us is waitingnot for us to be ready but for us to accept, for us to condescend to receive it!
This is what I am looking at in this photograph.2
--
My nights contain so many things that I dont always do the necessary work to remember that takes up a lot of time. Sometimes I get up during the night and sit there recalling precisely everything that has already happened, but that sometimes takes half an hour!and as urgent work still calls, I dont take the time to remember and it gets erased. But then, you know, with all thats coming you could write volumes!
From a documentary standpoint, my nights are getting quite interesting. In the Yoga of Self-Perfection, Sri Aurobindo describes precisely this state you reach in which all things assume meaning and a quality of inner significance, clarification of various points, and help. From this point of view, my nights have become extraordinary. I see infinitely more things than I saw before. Before, it was very limited to a personal contact with people. Now In my nights, each thing and each person has the appearance, the gesture, the word or the action that describes EXACTLY his condition. Its becoming quite interesting.
Of course, I much prefer being in my great currents of forcefrom a personal standpoint, such immensity of action is much more interesting. But these documentary things are also valuable. It is so tremendously different from the dreams and even the vi. signs you have when you enter certain representative realms of the mind (which is what I used to do). It is so different, it has another content, another life altogether: it carries its light, its understanding, its explanation within itselfyou look, and everything is explained.
It always gives me the feeling that I am shrinking a little, but its interesting. And its useful, for I am constantly moving about and doing things with people; it indicates to me what I have to say and do with each one. Its useful. But all the same, I miss the fullness and joy of the more impersonal Movement of forces.
Before going to bed, sometimes I say to myself, I will do what is necessary to spend my night in these great currents of force(because there is a way to do it). And then I think, Oh, what an egotist you are, my girl! So sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesntwhen theres something important to do, it doesnt happen. But all I have to do is concentrate in a certain way before going to sleep to spend my whole night in these very far from here, very far I cant say very far from the earth, for surely its in an intermediate zone between the forces from above and the earths atmosphere. Thats what it mainly is, in any case. Its a great universal current as well, but mainly its what descends and comes onto the earth, and it is permeating the earths atmosphere all the time, all the time, and it comes with this wide, overall visionit makes for wonderful nights I no longer bother about people at allat least not as such, but in a more impersonal way.
(silence)
I have been pestered my whole life by something similar to the sense of duty without its stupidity. Sri Aurobindo had told me that it was a censor, that I had with me a considerable one! It was constantly, constantly telling me, No, its not like that, its like this Oh, no! Its wrong to do that; be careful, dont be egotistical; be carefuldo this, do that. He was right, but I sent it away long agoor rather, Sri Aurobindo sent it away. But there remains the habit of not doing what I like. Rather, of doing what MUST be done, and whether its pleasant or not makes no difference.
This, too, Sri Aurobindo had explained to me. I used to tell him, Yes, you always speak of lifes delight, life for the sake of its delight. But as soon as I had the notion, as soon as I was put in the presence of the Supreme, it was: For Youexclusively what You want. You are the sole, the unique and exclusive reason for being. And that has remained, and this movement is so strong that even when you see, now I have ecstasy and ananda in abundanceeverything comes, everything. But even then, even when that is there, something in me always turns towards the Supreme and says, Does this TRULY serve You? Is it what You expect of me, what You want from me?
This has protected me from all seeking for pleasure in life. It was a wonderful protection, because pleasure always seemed so futile to meyes, futile; for the sake of your personal satisfaction. Later, I even understood how foolish it is, for you can never be satisfiedthough when youre small you dont yet know that. I never liked it: But is it really useful, does it serve some purpose? And I still have this attitude in regard to my nights. I have this widening of the consciousness, this impersonalization, this wonderful joy of being above all that. But at the same time I also have, Im here in this body, on earth, to do something I mustnt forget it. And this is what I have to do. But probably Im wrong!
Im waiting for the Lord to tell me clearly.
0 1960-10-02b, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As I did not find the translation of the Message fully satisfying, I have continued pondering over it. Then another possibility, which MAY be better, presented itself. Here it is:
Ce monde merveilleux de flicit,
0 1960-10-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The spirit of the two languages is not the same. Something always escapes. This must surely be why revelations (as Sri Aurobindo calls them) sometimes come to me in one language and sometimes in the other. And it does not depend on the state of consciousness Im in, it depends on what has to be said.
And the revelations would probably be more exact if we had a more perfect language. Our language is poor.
--
I also read On the Veda where Sri Aurobindo speaks of the difference between the modern mind and the ancient mind; and its quite obvious, especially from the linguistic point of view. Sanskrit was certainly much more fluid, a better instrument for a more global, more comprehensive light, a light containing more things within itself.
In these modern languages, its as if things are passed through a sieve and broken up into separate little bits, so then you have all the work of putting them back together. And something is always lost.
0 1960-10-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Im just now finishing the Yoga of Self-Perfection When we see what human life is and, even in the best of cases, what it represents in the way of imbecility, stupidity, narrowness, meanness (not to mention ignorance because that is too flagrant) and even those who believe themselves to have generous heart, for example, or liberal ideas, a desire to do good! Each time the consciousness orients itself in one direction to attain some result, everything that was in existence (not just ones personal existence, but this sort of collectivity of existences that each being represents), everything that is contrary to this effort immediately presents itself in its crudest light.
It happened this morning while I was walking back and forth in my room. I had finished my japa I had to stop and hold my head in my hands to keep from bursting into tears. No, it is too dreadful, I said to myself; and to think that we want Perfection!
Then naturally there came as a consolation: only because the consciousness is getting closer to THE REAL THING can it see all this wretchedness, and the contrast alone makes these things appear so mean.
And its true, those things I saw this morning which seemed so above all stupid and ugly (Ive never had a sense of morality at any time in my life, thank God! But stupid and ugly things have always seemed Ive always done my best to distance myself from them, even when I was very small). And now I see that these things which seem not only ridiculous but, well, almost shameful were considered, as I recall, remarkably noble earlier on and they represented an exceptionally lofty attitude in life the very same things. So then I understood that its quite simply a question of proportion.
And thats how the world isthings which now seem totally unacceptable to us, things we CANNOT tolerate, were quite all right in the past.
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!
There are still many hundreds of years to go before it becomes entirely what Sri Aurobindo describes theres no hurry!
--
It has never left. I have always kept it. Like a smooth white surface turned upwards. And at any moment at all You see, we speak like a machine, but there nothing moves; at any moment at all it can turn towards the heights. Its ALWAYS turned like that, but we can become aware of it being like that. Then, if we listen, we can hear what comes from above. My active consciousness, which was here (Mother points to her forehead), has settled above, and it has never again moved from there.
I told this to Xor rather had someone tell himto see his reaction. And I realized that he did not understand in the least! Once Amrita asked him how he himself SAW and KNEW things. So he tried to explain; he told Amrita that he had to pull his consciousness upwards by a gradual effort, to go beyond the heart, beyond the throat center to pull it right up here (the top of the head), and once there, youre divine, you know! All of a sudden, I understood that when I said it was there, above the head, it must have seemed absolutely impossible to him! For him, its the crown of the head1 (what they call the thousand-petalled lotus), just at the top of the head, whereas in my experience it opens, it rises and you go above, and then you settle there For a number of years it even changed my [physical] visionit was as if I were looking at things from above. It returns from time to time, too, as if suddenly I were seeing from above instead of from here, at eye level.
But the faculty of forming thoughts is now there, up above; its no longer here (Mother points to her forehead). And thats contrary to their teachings.
The tantrics recognize seven chakras,2 I believe. Theon said he knew of more, specifically two below the body and three above. That is my experience as well I know of twelve chakras. And really, the contact with the Divine consciousness is there (Mother motions above the head), not here (at the top of the head). One must surge up above.
Doing japa seems to exert a pressure on my physical consciousness, which goes on turning! How can I silence it? As soon as my concentration is not absolute, the physical mind starts upit grabs at anything, anything at all, any word, fact or event that comes along, and it starts turning, turning. If you stop it, if you put some pressure on it, then it springs back up two minutes later And there is no inner consent at all. It chews on words, it chews on ideas or feelingsinterminably. What should I do?
Yes, its the physical mind. The japa is made precisely to control the physical mind.
I myself use it for a very special reason, because You see, I invoke (the words are a bit strange) the Lord of Tomorrow. Not the unmanifest Lord, but the Lord as he will manifest tomorrow, or in Sri Aurobindos words, the divine manifestation in its supramental form.
--
Even now, when something or other is not all right, I have only to reproduce the thing with the same type of concentration as at the beginning for, when I say the japa, the sound and the words together the way the words are understood, the feel of the wordscreate a certain totality. I have to reproduce that. And the way its repeated is evolving all the time. The words are the same, however, the original sound is the same, but its all constantly evolving towards a more comprehensive realization and a more and more complete STATE. So when I want to obtain a certain result, I reproduce a certain type of this state. For example, if something in the body is not functioning right (it cant really be called an illness, but when somethings out of order), or if I wish to do some specific work on a specific person for a specific reason, then I go back to a certain state of repetition of my mantra, which acts directly on the bodys cells. And then the same phenomenon is reproducedexactly the same extraordinary vibration which I recognized when the supramental world descended. It comes in and vibrates like a pulsation in the cells.
But as I told you, now my japa is different. It is as if I were taking the whole world to lift it up; no longer is it a concentration on the body, but rather a taking of the whole world the entire world sometimes in its details, sometimes as a whole, but constantly, constantlyto establish the contact (with the supramental world).
But what you are speaking of, this sort of sound-mill, this milling of words interminably repeating the same thing, Ive suddenly caught it two or three times (not very often and with long intervals). It has always seemed fantastic to me! How is it stopped? Always in the same way. Its something that takes place outside, actually; its not insideits outside, on the surface, generally somewhere here (Mother indicates the temples), and the method is to draw your consciousness up above, to go there and remain therewhite. Always this whiteness, white like a sheet of paper, flat like a plate of glass. An absolutely flat and white and motionless surfacewhite! White like luminous milk, turned upwards. Not transparent: white.
When this mill starts turningusually it comes from this side (Mother indicates the right side of the head)it takes hold of any sound or any word at all, and then it starts turning, harping on the same thing. This has happened to me a dozen times perhaps, but it doesnt come from me; it comes from outside, from someone or something or some particular work. So then you take itas if you were picking it up with pincers, and then (She lifts it upwards), then I hold it there, in this motionless whiteno need to keep it there for long!
Arent you aware of this thing up above, this white plate at the crown of the head? Its what receives intuitions. Its just like a photographic plate, and its not even activethings pass right through it without our even realizing it. And then if you concentrate just a little, everything stops, everything stops.
A few days ago, I recall, I wanted to know something that was going to happen. I thought that with the consciousness of supramental time, I could find out I MUST find out whats going to happen. Whats going to happen?No answer. So I concentrated on it, which is what I usually do, I stopped everything and looked from abovetotal silence. Nothing. No answer. And I felt a slight impatience: But why cant I know?! And what came was the equivalent of (Im translating it in words), Its none of your business!!
So I understand more and more. Everythingthis whole organization, this whole aggregate, all these cells and nerves and sensorsare all meant uniquely for the work, they have no other purpose than the work; every foolish act that is done is for the work; every stupidity that is thought is for the work; you are made the way you are because only in that way can you do the work and its none of your business to seek to be somewhere else. Thats my conclusion. Very well, as You wish, may Your will be done!No, not be done; it IS done. As You wish, exactly as You wish!
And in the end, its quite fun.
--
Just as the shooting star flashed past, there sprang from my consciousness: To realize the divine union, for my body! And before twelve months were out, it was done.
I remember, it was at the door of our studio3 in Paris. I can still see it. Thats how I always remember the picture simply comes to me.
I am just finishing The Synthesis of Yoga, and what Sri Aurobindo says is exactly what has happened to me throughout my life. And he explains how you can still make mistakes as long as you are not supramentalized. Sri Aurobindo describes all the ways by which images are sent to youand they are not always images or reflections of the truth of things past, present or future; there are also all the images that come from human mental formations and all the various things that want to be considered. It is very, very interesting. And interestingly enough, in these few pages I have found a description of the work I have spent my whole life doing, trying to SIFT out all we see.
I can only be sure of something once a certain type of picture comes, and then the whole world could tell me, But things didnt happen like that; I would reply, Sorry, but I see it. And that type of picture is certain, for I have studied it, I have studied their differences in quality and the texture of the pictures. It is very interesting.
--
Basically, I see more and more that the Supreme consciousness makes use of ANYTHING AT ALL when the time comes.
In these Questions and Answers, for example, you had wanted to edit out the words Sweet Mother since people from the West might not understand. But then, we have just now received a letter from someone who suddenly had a very beautiful experience when he came across those words, Sweet Mother. He saw, he suddenly felt this maternal presence of love and compassion watching over the world. The moment had come and, precisely, it did its work. Its very interesting.
--
Chakra: center of consciousness. 1) The crown of the head (sahasradala), 2) between the eyebrows (ajna), 3) the throat (vishuddha), 4) the heart (anahata) 5) the navel (manipura), 6) the abdomen (svadhishthana), 7) the base of the spine (muladhara).
Rue Lemercier.
0 1960-10-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Each thing carries within itself its own truthits absolute truth, so luminous and so clear. And if you are in contact with THAT, then everything falls into place so wonderfully; but men are NOT in contact with that, they are always in contact through their thought: what they think of something, what they feel about something, the meaning they attach to it (or sometimes its worse)but the highest they go is always the thought they have of it. Thats what creates all this mixture and all this disorderthings in themselves are very good, and then they get confused.
Z's work involved seeing Mother everyday to watch over her health and her food.
0 1960-10-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its quite all right when youve come TO THE END, when you have totally mastered the body by means of the spiritual consciousness. But until then, I dont agree I do not at all agree.
Its the same as when X tells people, I am feeding you, so eat! And he serves you ten times more than you can put in. If you tell him, My stomach cant digest it, he answers that this is nonsense: Eat, and you will see! And in fact, up above that is, once youve mastered itits perfectly true. But we arent there yet, far from it! He himself is sick all the time.
--
Its very well to say, If you live in the Spirit, its not the same. Thats quite true, but MUCH later. For the last two years, I myself have been learning this, and I see how difficult it isone mustnt boast. And to say, Oh, its all the same to me, is a way of boasting. It SHOULD NOT be all the same to you. This body is not meant for usit wasnt for us that it was given, its for the Work, so consequently it must be in working order.
Thats what annoys me sometimes. Why not have this mastery? We SHOULD be masters of it. With consciousness, we should be able to be the masters of our bodies.
Yes, this was precisely the extraordinary thing Sri Aurobindo had. He made no effort But then he didnt use it on himself!
--
When he left, I said twelve days, twelve days.2 And truly, I gave it twelve days, twelve days to see if the entire Work Outwardly, I said, After twelve days I will tell you if the Ashram (the Ashram was nothing but a symbol, of course), if the Ashram will continue or if it is finished.
And later (I dont knowit didnt take twelve days; I said that on December 9, and on the 12th it was all decidedseen, clear and understood), on the 12th, I saw people, I saw a few people. However, we began all the activities again only after 12 days from December 5. But it was decided on the 12th.
0 1960-10-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There was a considerable library in the studio; one whole end was given over to the librarymore than two thousand books belonging to my brother. There were even the complete works of several classical writers. And I had my entire collection of the Revue Cosmique, and my post card collection (it was down below)mainly post cards of Algeria, Tlemcen, nearly 200 of them. But there were five years of the Revue Cosmique. And written in such a French! How funny it was!
Theons wife dictated it in English while she was in trance. Another English lady who was there claimed to know French like a Frenchman. Myself, I never use a dictionary, she would say, I dont need a dictionary. But then she would turn out such translations! She made all the classic mistakes of English words that mustnt be translated like that. Then it was sent to me in Paris for correcting. It was literally impossible.
--
All this took place in a realm which is constantly active, everywhere; it is like a permanent mental transcription of everything that physically takes place They arent actually thoughts; when I see this, I dont really get the impression of thinking, but its a transcription its the result of thoughts on a certain mental atmosphere which records things.
And I see it all the time now. If someone is speaking or if Im doing something, I see the two things at the same time I see the physical thing, his words or my action, and then this colored, luminous transcription at the same time. The two things are superimposed. For example, when someone speaks to me, it gets translated into some kind of picture, a play of light or color (which is not always so luminous!)this is why most of the time, in fact, I dont even know what has been said to me. I recall the first time this phenomenon happened, I said to myself, Ah, so thats what these modern artists see! Only, as they themselves arent very coherent, what they see is not very coherent either!
And thats how it worksit is translated by patches and moving forms, which is how it gets registered in the earths memory. So when things from this realm enter into peoples active consciousness, they get translated into each ones language and the words and thoughts that each one is accustomed tobecause that doesnt belong to any language or to any idea: it is the exact IMPRINT of what is happening.
I am constantly seeing this now.
And it is here, too, that I see the result of this confusion and excitement in the Ashramit jumps, jumps, jumps about. It keeps jumping on the same spot. There are machines like that constantly shaking; its exasperating.
***
--
The experience I havewhat I mean by I is this aggregate here (Mother indicates her body), this particular individualityis that the more quiet and calm it is, the more work it can do and the faster the work can be done. What is most disturbing and time consuming are all these agitated vibrations that fall on me (truly speaking, each person who comes throws them on me). And this is what makes the work difficultit stirs up a whirlwind. And you cant do anything in this whirlwind, its impossible. If you try to do something material, your fingers stumble; if you try to do something intellectual, your thoughts get all entangled and you no longer see clearly. Ive had the experience, for example, of wanting to look up a word in the dictionary while this agitation was in the atmosphere, and everything jumps up and down (yet the lighting is the same and Im using the same magnifying glass), I no longer see a thing, its all jumping! I go page by page, but the word simply doesnt exist in the dictionary! Then I remain quiet, I do this (Mother makes a gesture of bringing down the Peace) and after half a minute I open the dictionary: the very spot, and the word leaps out at me! And I see clearly and distinctly. consequently I have now the indisputable proof that if you want to do anything properly, you must FIRST be calm but not only be calm yourself; you must either isolate yourself or be capable of imposing a calm on this whirlwind of forces that comes upon you all the time from all around.
All the teachers are wanting to quit the schoolweary! Which means theyll begin the year with half the teachers gone. They live in constant tension, they dont know how to relax thats really what it is. They dont know how to act without agitation.
I think thats what this head came to tell me, and its precisely whats wrong in the Ashrameverything here is done in agitation, absolutely everything. So its constantly a comedy of errors; someone speaks, the other doesnt listen and responds all wrong, and nothing gets done. Someone asks one thing, another answers to something elsebah! Its a dreadful con-fu-sion.
(silence)
--
Im going to tell you what I sawits very interesting. First, emanating from here (Mother indicates the chest), a florescence of every color like a peacocks tail spread wide; but it was made of light, and it was very, very delicate, very fine, like this (gesture). Then it rose up and formed what truly seemed like a luminous peacock, up above, and it remained like that. Then, from here (the chest), what looked like a sword of white light climbed straight up. It went up very high and formed a kind of expanse, a very vast expanse, which was like a callthis lasted the longest. And then, in response, a veritable rain, like (no, it was much finer than drops) a golden lightwhite and goldenwith various shades, at times more towards white, at times more golden, at times with a tinge of pink. And all this was descending, descending into you. And here (the chest), it changed into this same deep blue light, with a powdering of green light inside itemerald green. And at that moment, when it reached here (the level of the heart), a number of little divinities of living golda deep, living goldcame, like this, and then looked at you. And just as they looked at you, there was the image of the Mother right at the very center of younot as she is commonly portrayed but as she is in the Indian consciousness Very serene and pure and luminous. And then that changed into a temple, and inside the temple there seemed to be an image of Sri Aurobindo and an image of me but living images in a powdering of light. Then it grew into a magnificent edifice and settled in with an extraordinary power. And it remained motionless.
That is the representation of your japa.
0 1960-10-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
All this happened just on the day X1 was leaving. So I told S to take the photograph and letter to X and tell him the story. X consulted some book, did a very short japa for a few se conds and said, Oh, hell come back before September 26, BUT inform Mother so that She may see to ft. therefore, I concentrated a little.
About two weeks later (in other words, ten days or so before September 26), some more news the boys older brother, who lives in Ahmedabad (not Bombay), came to visit his mother, father and grandmo ther (theres also a grandmo ther), and he asked about his brother. He had come with a friend. Your brother has disappeared, they explained, we dont know what has happened to him. So the two of them decided to search for him: Well find him .
--
So of course they were terribly worried; they wondered what had happened. I had someone write to X, I concentrated, and four days later the boy (the brothers friend, that is) returned in a lamentable state: white, emaciated, barely able to speak. Then he recounted his story:
On his way to the grandmo thers house, he passed by the station and went in to drink something. While drinking, two persons who were there started playing with some balls in front of him. He WATCHED. But suddenly, he felt very uneasy; he wanted to leave and ran towards an exit that opened onto the tracksit was closed and he could not get out. And these two people were just behind him; suddenly he lost consciousness: I dont know what happened to me after that.
He woke up in a railway station somewhere between Bombay and Poona, and he began telling them that he was hungry (he was with those same two persons). They punched him in the stomach and put a handkerchief over his nosehe again passed out! At Poona, he woke up again (hed lost his appetite by then!), and again they put the handkerchief over his nose. And it went on like thatthey kept on punching him a lot. When he woke up in the country on the outskirts of Poona, four men were around him arguing in a language he didnt know (his language is Gujarati). They were probably speaking in some other language, I dont know which oneit seems they were very dark. He didnt understand, but from various signs they made he could see that they were arguing about whether to kill him or not. Finally, they told him (probably in a language he could understand), Either you join our gang, or well kill you. He grunted in reply so as not to commit himself. The others decided to wait for their chief (thus the chief wasnt there): Well decide after he comes. Then just to make sure, they punched him a few more times in the belly and put the handkerchief over his noseout!
--
Then the police got involved. They wanted to take him back to the countryside around Poona (naturally I suppose they nursed him in the meantime), but not much came out of it. Seems that wherever he remembered seeing these people, when he said he had seen them, he fainted. Finally, I was told the story, and the poor family wrote to me saying, Who are these demons with such a great power that even it withstands Mothers force as well as that of Xand who are holding our son? So X was again informed and, knowing the story of the elder brothers friend, he said, Ah, now I know where the other one is, and I hope it wont take too long. But then September 26 passedgeneral despair in the family. They wrote to me, and I concentrated.
It was just before Durga Puja,3 or just after I cant remember (dates and I dont go together)no, it was after Durga Puja. So I went into a deep concentration and, as a matter of fact, I saw that a very powerful and dangerous rakshasic4 power was involved. And then, when I started walking for my japa upstairs in my room (I had given some thought to this story and tried asking for something to be done), I suddenly saw Durga before me raising high a lance of white light the lance of light that destroys the hostile forcesand She struck into a black swarming mass of men.
But then there came a frightful reaction. For one day I was nearly as sicknot quiteas two years ago5 (they must have used the same mantra). And, you see, I who never vomit terrible vomitingeverything inside came out! Only now Im a bit more experienced than two years ago (!), so I set it right It happened here, downstairs, in the afternoon. I went right back up to my room (I didnt see anyone that afternoon), and I remained concentrated to try to find out what had happened. I saw that it came from therea backlash of those people trying to defend themselves.
I did what had to be done.
--
However, he recalls them repeatedly telling him this: You have no family; that name is not yours; you are called by such-and-such-a-name (they gave him another name); you are all alone and depend exclusively upon us. But then, probably this boy had a slightly deeper consciousness, for although his brain did not seem to be working outwardly, something deep down was able to observe and remember.
Finally, they had him work as a waiter in a small caf in Ahmedabad, near the station. One day it even happened that his brother and his brothers friend stopped by (he vaguely recalls having seen them) but he was incapable of speaking to them or of getting them to recognize him. Another time, he tried to leave and headed towards the station, but after awhile he could no longer walk, he was suddenly stopped by something (he doesnt know what), and he had to go back. Thats how it wasquite a unique state. But one day, a friend of the brother stopped at this caf to drink something, and this same boy served him. He had changed a lot, but the other fellow recognized him all the same and asked, Whats your name? He saw that the boy seemed dazed and couldnt answer. So he didnt say anything but ran immediately to where the elder brother lived; they came back, took the boy into a corner and doused his face with seltzer water. It seems that then he started becoming more alive. Then they led him away and informed the police.
--
I found out the details: this boy had to go to the station, but on his way, he went into a shoe store just next to the station to buy a pair of sandals. As he entered, he saw a man there choosing a pair of womens shoes for himself! This seemed strange to him: Whats this man doing buying and he WATCHEDsuddenly, nothing more. He lost consciousness and no longer knew what happened to him. And thats how the story begana man selecting womens shoes in a shop! He must do strange thingsprobably intentionallyto attract peoples attention. Naturally, out of curiosity, the boy started watching, and that was thatall of a sudden, blank, nothing more! And long afterwards he found himself far away in a train with this man. Hes here now with his mother they came to thank me. Its he who gave me the details. Hes a nice boy, but all this has left him with some anxiety, especially when he speaks of it. Hes trying to forget. He told me hed like to join the army and asked my permission. The boy feels a need for force and he has the idea that to be part of such a force would be good for him. (Of course, he didnt tell me all this, hes not that conscious. But thats what he feels the need to be supported by an organization of force.) So I encouraged him. I told him it was a good idea. His mother wasnt very happy! She feared he was leaping from the frying pan into the fire!
Another curious detail is that after having taken away all his appetite and having put him in the caf as a waiter, they told him, Now you must eat, so he tried to eat, and for four days he vomited up everything he put init was completely black! After that, he was able to start eating a little. Its a fantastic story!
--
(The conversation resumes here)
But I was mainly interested by the fact that I felt the danger these people representednot because they were brigands, but because they had some powerbrigands with a power and from what I saw, it was not merely an hypnotic power. There must have been a tantric force in it, otherwise they would not have been so powerful, and especially so powerful from a distance. I had said to myself, They MUST be caught. Which was why (the Force kept on working, you see). And yesterday, the newspaper said that a gang of five men, eight women and half a dozen children had been arrested by the police in Allahabad for using what the newspaper called mesmeric means to rob people, attack them, etc. (They were operating in Poona, Bombay and Ahmedabad, but they were caught in Allahabad). Probably when they realized that the boy was gone, they got frightened and fled to the North. And they were arrested in Allahabad I had made a very strong formation and had said, They MUST be caught.
--
Its so contrary not only to the education but to the make up of people from the West! For an Indian for a modern Indian it would be difficult, but for those who have kept something of the old tradition it would not be difficult. Its easy for children raised in a monastery or near the guru
(silence)
--
Even tiny, the tiniest mental or vital reactionsso tiny that to our ordinary consciousness they dont appear to have the LEAST importanceact upon the bodys cells and can create disorders You see, when you observe carefully, you suddenly become aware of a very slight uneasiness, a mere nothing (when youre busy, you dont even notice it), and then if you follow this uneasiness to see what it is, you perceive that it comes from something quite imperceptible and insignificant to our active consciousness but its enough to create an uneasy feeling in the body.
Which is whyunless you are intentionally and constantly in what here is called the Brahmic consciousness it is practically impossible to control. And this is what gives the impression of certain things happening in the body independently of not only of our will but of our consciousness BUT IT IS NOT TRUE.
Only, there is all that comes from outside thats what is most dangerous. constantly, constantlywhen you eat, you catch it oh, what a mass of vibrations! The vibrations of the thing you eat when it was living (they always remain), the vibrations of the person who cooked it, vibrations of All the time, all the time, they never stopyou breathe, they enter. Of course, when you start talking to someone or mixing with people, then you become a bit more conscious of what is coming, but even just sitting still, uninvolved with othersit comes! There is an almost total interdependenceisolation is an illusion. By reinforcing your own atmosphere (Mother gestures, as if building a wall around her), you can hold these things off TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, but simply this effort to keep them at a distance creates (Im thinking in English and speaking in French) disturbances.8 Anyway, now all this has been SEEN.
But I know in an absolute way that once this whole mass of the physical mind is mastered and the Brahmic consciousness is brought into it in a continuous way, you CAN you become the MASTER of your health.
This is why I tell people (not that I expect them to do it, at least not now, but its good they know) that its NOT a matter of fate, NOT something that completely escapes our control, NOT some sort of Law of Nature over which we have no powerit is not so. We are truly the masters of everything which has been brought together to create our transitory individuality; we have been given the power of control, if only we knew how to use it.
Its a discipline, a tremendous tapasya.9
But its good to know in order to avoid this feeling of being crushed when things are still completely outside your control, this sense of fatality people havetheyre born, they live, they die: Nature is crushing and we are the playthings of something much bigger, much stronger than us that is the Falsehood.
In any case, for myself, in my yoga, only after I KNEW that I AM the Master of everything (provided I know how to BE this Master and LET myself be this Masterprovided, that is, that the outer stupidity accepts to stay in its place), did I know that one could be the Master of Nature.
Theres also this old idea rooted in religions of Chaldean or Christian origin of a God with whom you can have no true contactan abyss between the two. That is terrible.
That absolutely has to stop.
--
During the last two years, Ive been accumulating experiences IN THEIR MINUTEST DETAILS, things that might seem most useless. You have to consent to that and not have a mania for greatness; you must know that where the key is found is in the tiniest effort to create a true attitude in a few cells.
The problem is that when you enter into the ordinary consciousness, these things become so subtle and require such a scrupulous observance that people are justified (they FEEL justified) in having the attitude, Oh, its Nature, its Fate, its the Divine Will! But with that conviction, the Yoga of Perfection is impossible and appears as a mere utopian fantasy but this is FALSE. The truth is something else entirely.
(long silence)
--
In occult language, a 'formation' is a concentration of power towards a specific end. In this case, the tantric guru's formation to save the nephew.
The yearly ritual worship in honor of Durga, the universal Mother.
0 1960-10-30, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(After a meditation with Mother on the occasion of the disciple's birthday. At the outset of the conversation, Mother had given the disciple a small leather wallet with an Egyptian fresco depicted on it.)
Let me see the wallet (Mother looks at it) Ah, so that has nothing to do with it!
--
Was it by chance the wallet that brought this to mind? I wondered right at first. I had the impression of having given you something Egyptian, but I could no longer remember what it was Im happy it wasnt that! I hesitated for barely a moment, then said to myself, Why? And what came is that everything, even apparently accidental things, is organized by the same consciousness for the same endsits obvious.
But I found this interesting, so I began looking, and I LIVED the scene, all kinds of scenes of initiation, worship, etc., for quite some time. When that lifted, a light much stronger than the last time (during the last meditation) came down, in a wonderful silence. (I might add that the first thing I did, at the beginning, was to try to establish a silence around you, to insulate you from other things so as to keep your mind quiet; it kept jumping a little, but once this light came down ) And it came down with a very hieratic quality and (how can I put this?) Egyptian in charactervery occult, very occult, very, very distinct, very specific, like this (gesture indicating a block of silence descending).
And then there came a long moment of absolutely motionless contemplation with something that now escapes meit may come back.
Then suddenly I went into a little trance. And in it I saw you, but you were physically, you were on one plane, and then I saw another man on a different plane (I saw him quite concretely; he was rather tall, broad-shoulderednot so tall as broad, with a dark, European suit). And he took your hands and started shaking them enthusiastically!but you were quite indifferent, just as you are now, dressed in Indian fashion and sitting cross-legged. He took both your hands and started shaking them! And then I distinctly heard the words: congratulations, its a great success!it had to do with your book.3 And at the same time, I saw all sorts of people and things who were touched by your bookall kinds of people, obviously French, or Westerners in any case women, men. There was even one woman (she must have been an actress or a singer or anyway, someone whose life was she was even dressed for the stage, with some kind of tightsa beautiful girl!) and she said to someone, Ah, it has even given me a taste for the spiritual life! It was extremely interesting All kinds of things of this nature. And then once again I came out of this trance and In the end, I tried to do some certain thing for you and it turned out well. It turned out quite well.
But then, just before that, there was this powdering of golden light coming down. And as it descended, it was white with a touch of gold (but it was white) and it came down in a column, with such POWER! And then, just at the end, this powdering of gold came and settled into this white light which had remained there the whole timeoh, it was so abundant. A great power of realization. I had a hard time coming out of it! At the start, I had decided to come out of it at half past, so I came out, but still not completely
--
But it is very, very concrete, very material.
I wonder if at night Sometimes its so intense that I wonder if it doesnt radiate. But I cant see as my eyes are closed!
--
And the experience just now (during meditation) was somehow mixed with what I usually see at night (it was not a combinationor maybe it was a combination ), for it had that same light It was a kind of powdering, even finer than tiny dotsa powdering like an atomic dust, but with an EXTREMELY intense vibration but without any shifting of place. And yet its in constant motion Something shifting about within something that vibrates on the same spot without moving (something does move, but its subtler, like a current of tremendous power which passes through a milieu that doesnt move at all: rather, it vibrates on the same spot with an extreme intensity). But I dont exactly know how it is different from the present experience It becomes less golden at night, the gold is less visible, whereas the other colorswhite, blue and a sort of pinkare much more visible.
Oh, now I remember! It was PINK during the se cond phase, just afterwards, after Egypt! Oh, it was like like at the end of a sunrise when it gets very clear and luminous. A magnificent color. And it kept coming down and down, in a flood that part was new. Its something I see very rarely. It was not there at all the last time we meditated together. And it came filled with such a joy! Oh! It was absolutely ecstatic. It lasted quite a long time. And from there I went into this trance where I saw (laughing) that man congratulating you! I heard him say (his voice is what roused me from my trance, and then I saw him), congratulations, its a great success! (Mother laughs)
Its good. Well have these little meditations from time to time. For me, its pleasant, for I have neither to restrict nor contain nor veil myself. Its nice.
And I see whats coming down; its good.
0 1960-11-05, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
One day, as an experiment, I tried to remember something from the past, for I was interested in what it contained; I triedimpossible! It had been cleaned out, it was gone. So I understood that these things come, they show themselves (you have to be ATTENTIVE and know what purpose they have served) and then they go away.
I have so totally forgotten a whole world of incidents and events that when someone reminds me of something (the people around me have lived with me, so theyve seen things and remember them), I get the feeling that they are speaking of someone or something elseit no longer has any connection with me at all. And its the same with everything, whether near or far, which has brought to my consciousness whatever it had to bring, lost its utility anddisappeared. Only, these memories probably still have some utility for the others, so they remain. But for me its completely erased, absolutely, as if it had never been.
Its the only way to forget.
--
I am convinced that at heart Karma is simply all the things we havent used in the true way that we drag along behind us If totally and clearly we have learned the lesson which each event or each circumstance ought to have brought, then its finished, its utility is gone and it dissolves.
Its an interesting experience to follow and observe.
--
I went down into a place a place simply in the human consciousness, thus necessarily in my body I have never seen anything more timorous, fearful, feeble and mean! Its it must be a part of the cells, part of the consciousness, something that lives in apprehension, fear, dread, anxiety It was truly, truly dreadful.
And we carry that within us! We arent aware of it, its almost sub conscious for you see, the consciousness is there to prevent us from yielding to thatits cowardly, and it can make you fall sick IN A MINUTE. I saw it, I saw things that had been cured and overcome in myself (cured in the true manner, not in an outer way), and then they return! Its cured, but then it begins again.
So then I went in search of its origin. Its something in the sub conscientin the cells sub conscient. Its roots are there, and on the least occasion And its so very, very ingrained that For example, you can be feeling very good, the body can be perfectly harmonious (and when the body is perfectly harmonious, its motions are harmonious, things are in their true places, everything works exactly as it should without needing the least attentiona general harmony), when suddenly the clock strikes, for example, or someone utters a word, and you have just the faint impression Oh, its late, Im not going to be on timea se cond, a split se cond, and the whole working of the body falls apart. You suddenly feel feeble, drained, uneasy. And you have to intervene. Its terrible. And were at the mercy of such things!
0 1960-11-08, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(After a conversation with Z, a distant 'disciple' reputed for his loose morals and the object of numerous 'moralistic' or even so-called 'yogic' criticisms among the 'true disciples' in the Ashram)
He lives in a region which is largely a kind of vital vibration which penetrates the mind and makes use of the imagination (essentially its the same region most so-called cultured men live in). I dont mean to be severe or critical, but its a world that likes to play to itself. Its not really what we could call histrionics, not thatits rather a need to dramatize to oneself. So it can be an heroic drama, it can be a musical drama, it can be a tragic drama, or quite simply a poetic drama and ninety-nine times out of a hundred, its a romantic drama. And then, these soul states (!) come replete with certain spoken expressions (laughing) Im holding myself back from saying certain things!You know, its like a theatricals store where you rent scenery and costumes. Its all ready and waitinga little call, and there it comes, ready-made. For a particular occasion, they say, Youre the woman of my life (to be repeated as often as necessary), and for another they say Its a whole world, a whole mode of human life which I suddenly felt I was holding in my arms. Yes, like a decoration, an ornament, a nicetyan ornament of existence, to keep it from being flat and dull and the best means the human mind has found to get out of its tamas. Its a kind of artifice.
So for persons who are severe and grave (there are two such examples here, but its not necessary to name them) There are beings who are grave, so serious, so sincere, who find it hypocritical; and when it borders on certain (how shall I put it?) vital excesses, they call it vice. There are others who have lived their entire lives in a yogic or religious discipline, and they see this as an obstacle, illusion, dirtyness (Mother makes a gesture of rejecting with disgust), but above all, its this terrible illusion that prevents you from nearing the Divine. And when I saw the way these two people here reacted, in fact, I said to myself, but you see, I FELT So strongly that this too is the Divine, it too is a way of getting out of something that has had its place in evolution, and still has a place, individually, for certain individuals. Naturally, if you remain there, you keep turning in circles; it will always be (not eternally, but indefinitely) the woman of my life, to take that as a symbol. But once youre out of it, you see that this had its place, its utilityit made you emerge from a kind of very animal-like wisdom and quietude that of the herd or of the being who sees no further than his daily round. It was necessary. We mustnt condemn it, we mustnt use harsh words.
The mistake we make is to remain there too long, for if you spend your whole life in that, well, youll probably need many more lifetimes. But once the chance to get out of it comes, you can look at it with a smile and say, Yes, its really a sort of love for fiction!people love fiction, they want fiction, they need fiction! Otherwise its boring and all much too flat.
All this came to me yesterday. I kept Z with me for more than half an hour, nearly 45 minutes. He told me some very interesting things. What he said was quite good and I encouraged him a great dealsome action on the right lines which will be quite useful, and then a book unfortunately mixed with an influence from that artificial world (but actually, even that can be used as a link to attract people). He must have spoken to you about this. He wants to write a kind of dialogue to introduce Sri Aurobindos ideasits a good idealike the conversations in Les Hommes de Bonne Volont by Jules Romain. He wants to do it, and I told him it was an excellent idea. And not only one typehe should take all types of people who for the moment are closed to this vision of life, from the Catholic, the fervent believer, right to the utmost materialist, men of science, etc. It could be very interesting.
This is what you see in life, its all like thateach thing has its place and its necessity. This has made me see a whole current of life I was very, very involved with people from this milieu during a whole period of my existence and in fact, its the first approach to Beauty. But it gets mixed.
--
From my earliest childhood, instinctively, I have never felt the slightest contempt or how should I say (well, well! I was thinking in English) shrinking or disapproval, severe criticism or disgust for the things people call vice.
(silence)
I have experienced all kinds of things in life, but I have always felt a sort of lightso INTANGIBLE, So perfectly pure (not in the moral sense, but pure light!)and it could go anywhere, mix everywhere without ever really getting mixed with anything. I felt this flame as a young childa white flame. And NEVER have I felt disgust, contempt, recoil, the sense of being dirtiedby anything or anyone. There was always this flamewhite, white, so white that nothing could make it other than white. And I started feeling it long ago in the past (now my approach is entirely differentit comes straight from above, and I have other reasons for seeing the Purity in everything). But it came back when I met Z (because of the contact with him)and I felt nothing negative, absolutely nothing. Afterwards, people said, Oh, how he used to be this, how he used to be that! And now look at him! See what hes become! Someone even used the word rotten that made me smile. Because, you see, that doesnt exist for me.
What I saw is this world, this realm where people are like that, they live that, for its necessary to get out from below and this is a wayits a way, the only way. It was the only way for the vital formation and the vital creation to enter into the material world, into inert matter. An intellectualized vital, a vital of ideas, an artist; it even fringes upon or has the first drops of Poetrythis Poetry which upon its peaks goes beyond the mind and becomes an expression of the Spirit. Well, when these first drops fall on earth, it stirs up mud.
And I wondered why people are so rigid and severe, why they condemn others (but one day Ill understand this as well). I say this because very often I run into these two states of mind in my activities (the grave and serious mind which sees hypocrisy and vice, and the religious and yogic mind which sees the illusion that prevents you from nearing the Divine)and without being openly criticized, Im criticized Ill tell you about this one day
Youre criticized?
--
But as I cannot contain the whole world, I have to contain at least one representative of each type.
They also find I give too much time and too much force (and maybe too much attention) to people and things that should be regarded with more severity. That never bothered me much. It doesnt matter, they can say what they like.
--
How strange it is! You have the feeling of ascending, of a progress in consciousness, and everything, all the events and circumstances of life follow one another with an unquestioning logic. You see the Divine Will unfolding with a wonderful logic. Then, from time to time, there appears a little set of circumstances (either isolated or repeated), which are like snags on the way; you cant explain them, so you put them aside for later on. Some such accidents have been quite significant, but they dont seem to follow this ascending line of the present individuality. Theyre scattered along the way, sometimes repeated, sometimes only once, and then they vanish. And when you go through such an experience, you sense that they are things put aside for later on. And then, all of a sudden (especially during these last two years when I have again descended to take all that up), all of a sudden, one after another, all these snags return. And they dont follow the same curve; rather, its as if suddenly you reach a certain state and a certain impersonal breadth that far surpasses the individual, and this new state enters into contact with one of those old accidents that had remained in the deepest part of the sub conscientand that makes it rise up again, the two meet in an explosion of light. Everything is explained, everything is understood, everything is clear! No explanation is needed: it has become OBVIOUS.
This is entirely another way of understandingits not an ascent, not even a descent nor an inspiration it must be what Sri Aurobindo calls a revelation. Its the meeting of this sub conscious notationthis something which has remained buried within, held down so as not to manifest, but which suddenly surges forth to meet the light streaming down from above, this very vast state of consciousness that excludes nothing and from it springs forth a lightoh, a resplendence of light!like a new explanation of the world, or of that part of the world not yet explained.
And this is the true way of knowing.
--
(Mother laughs) Because its not that kind of reason, not a reason that can be explained!! No, its a its the same thing, a contact.
I know I told you that I had had a vision, but you didnt understand what I told you that day. It was a vision of the place you occupy in my being and of the work we have to do together. Thats really how it is. These things [that I tell you] have their utility and a concrete life, and I see them as very powerful for world transformation theyre what I call experiences (which is much more than an experience because it extends far beyond the individual)and its the same whether its said or not said: the Action is done. But the fact that it is said, that it is formulated here and preserved, is exclusively for you, because you were made for this and this is why we met.
It doesnt need a lot of explaining.
0 1960-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Certainly, we CAN be heard. So far I never said anything. It even surprised me, for I had never paid it any attention, I was quite away from all that: its raining?so what, its raining, it happens. Its not raining?so what, its not raining, its the same thing. And then gradually people started mentioning that should it continue, they wouldnt be able to do their exercises, and they wouldnt be ready for December 2.1 Then I started receiving desperate lettersone person even told me he was doing his puja underwater! So I answered by saying, Take it as the Lords blessing but Im not sure he appreciated it! And then I learned that 200 houses [in the Ashram]200!are leaking. Naturally, each one is in a great hurryits terribly urgent! So perhaps I shall file a complaint and ask them what they mean by this!
Actually, if communications are interrupted, it can be troublesome Let us see.
--
Speaking of which, I looked at Ts most recent questions on the Aphorisms again. All these children havent the least sense of humor, so Sri Aurobindos paradoxes throw them into a kind of despair! The last aphorism went something like this: When I could read a wearisome book from one end to the other with pleasure, then I knew I had conquered my mind.2 So T asked me How can you read a wearisome book with pleasure?!! I had to explain it to her. And on top of that, I have to take on a rather serious tone, for were I to reply in the same ironic fashion, they would be totally drowned! It throws them into a terrible confusion!
Its a lack of plasticity in the mind, and they are bound by the expression of things; for them, words are rigid. Sri Aurobindo explained it so well in The Secret of the Veda; he shows how language evolves and how, before, it was very supple and evocative. For example, one could at once think of a river and of inspiration. Sri Aurobindo also gives the example of a sailboat and the forward march of life. And he says that for those of the Vedic age it was quite natural, the two could go together, superimposed; it was merely a way of looking at the same thing from two sides, whereas now, when a word is said, we think only of this word all by itself, and to get a clear picture we need a whole literary or poetic imagery (with explanations to boot!). Thats exactly the case with these children; theyre at a stage where everything is rigid. Such is the product of modern education. It even extracts the subtlest nuance between two words and FIXES it: And above all, dont make any mistake, dont use this word for that word, for otherwise your writings no good. But its just the opposite.
--
But its explained very well in Savitri! All these things have their laws and their conventions (and truly speaking, a really FORMIDABLE power is needed to change anything of their rights, for they have rightswhat they call laws) Sri Aurobindo explains this very well when Savitri, following Satyavan into death, argues with the god of Death.3 Its the Law, and who has the right to change the Law? he says. And then comes this wonderful passage at the end where she replies, My God can change it. And my God is a God of Love. Oh, how magnificent!
And by force of repeating this to him, he yields She replies in this way to EVERYTHING.
--
So Im trying to come to an understanding, to reach an agreement these are very complicated matters (!). For its a whole totality You see, we are trying something here which really is contrary to all those laws and practices, something which disturbs everything. So they propose things that have me advancing like this (sinuous motion), without disturbing things too much, and without having to call in forces (Mother makes a gesture of a lance thrust into the pack) forces a bit too great, which may disturb things too much. Like that, we can keep tacking back and forth.
A while ago You know that I have TREMENDOUS financial difficulties. In fact, I have handed the whole matter over to the Lord, telling Him, Its your affair; if you want us to continue this experience, well, you must provide the means. But this upsets some of them, so they come along with all kinds of suggestions to keep me from having to to resort to something so drastic. They suggest all kinds of things; some time ago they said, What about a good cyclone, or a good earthquake? A lot of damage to the Ashram, a public appeal that would bring in some funds! (Mother laughs) Yes, its of this order! And its all quite clear and definitewe have veritable conversations!
I listen, I answer. Its not satisfactory! I told them. But theyve kept to their idea, they like it. When that first storm came some time back (you remember, with those terrible bolts of lightning and that asuric being P.K. saw and sketched): Dont you want us to destroy something? I got angry. But it was This influence was so close and acute that it gave you goose bumps! The whole time the storm lasted, I had to hold on tight in my bed, like this (Mother closes her fists tight as in a trance or deep concentration), and I didnt movedidnt movelike a a rock during the entire storm, until he consented to go a bit further away. Then I moved. And even now, it comesfrom others (theres not just one, you see, there are many): How about a good flood? A roof collapsed the other day with someone underneath, but he was able to escape. So roofs are collapsing, houses Arouse public sympathy, we must help the Ashram! Its no good, I said. But maybe thats whats responsible for this interminable rain. And they offer so many other things oh, what they parade past me! You could write books on all this!
But generally and this is something Theon had told me (Theon was very qualified on the subject of hostile forces and the workings of all that resists the divine influence, and he was a great fighteras you might imagine! He himself was an incarnation of an asura, so he knew how to tackle these things!); he was always saying, If you make a VERY SMALL concession or suffer a minor defeat, it gives you the right to a very great victory. Its a very good trick. And I have observed, in practice, that for all things, even for the very little things of everyday life, its trueif you yield on one point (if, even though you see what should be, you yield on a very se condary and unimportant point), it immediately gives you the power to impose your will for something much more important. I mentioned this to Sri Aurobindo and he said that it was true. It is true in the world as it is today, but its not what we want; we want it to change, really change.
He wrote this in a letter, I believe, and he spoke of this system of compensation for example, those who take an illness on themselves in order to have the power to cure; and then theres the symbolic story of Christ dying on the cross to set men free. And Sri Aurobindo said, Thats fine for a certain age, but we must now go beyond that. As he told me (its even one of the first things he told me), We are no longer at the time of Christ when, to be victorious, it was necessary to die.
--
Sri Aurobindo had also written to the effect, If Divine Love were to manifest now in all its fullness and totality, not a single material organism would but burst. So we must learn to widen, widen, widen not only the inner consciousness (that is relatively easyat least feasible), but even this conglomeration of cells. And Ive experienced this: you have to be able to widen this sort of crystallization if you want to be able to hold this Force. I know. Two or three times, upstairs (in Mothers room), I felt the body about to burst. Actually, I was on the verge of saying, burst and be done with. But Sri Aurobindo always intervenedall three times he intervened in an entirely tangible, living and concrete way and he arranged everything so that I was forced to wait.
Then weeks go by, sometimes even months, between one thing and another, so that some elasticity may come into these stupid cells.
--
I have quite the feeling that I myself do nothing at all, absolutely nothing. The only thing I do is this (gesture of offering upwards), constantly this, in everythingin thoughts, feelings, sensations, in the bodys cells, all the time: You, You, You. Its You, its You, its You Thats all. And nothing else.
In other words, a more and more complete, a more and more integral assent, more and more like this (gesture of letting herself be carried). Thats when you have the feeling that you must be ABSOLUTELY like a child.
--
The actual aphorism reads: 'When I read a wearisome book through and with pleasure, yet perceived all the perfection of its wearisomeness, then I knew that my mind was conquered.'
Yama: the god of Death. He is also the guardian of the Law.
0 1960-11-15, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I dont know if its due to Zs visit1 or simply if the time had come and things converged (because thats what generally happens), but a whole period of the past is coming up again and its not a purely personal past, for it includes all the acquaintances I used to have, a whole collection of things that represents not only my individual life but something rather collective (as it always is; each of us is always a collectivity but we arent aware of it, and if anything were taken away, it would unbalance the whole). A whole set of things that were absolutely wiped clean from the memory (it must have been buried somewhere in the sub conscient or the semi- conscientin any case, something more un conscious than the sub conscient), and it has all come back up. Oh, things such things If just two weeks ago someone had asked me, Do you remember that? I would have replied, No, not at all! And its coming from every side. Oh, such mediocrity! (mediocre in the way of consciousness, experiences and activities) and so gray, so dull, so flat! Only this morning, while getting ready for the bal cony, I thought, Is it possible to live like that?!
And then it became so clear that behind all this there was always the same luminous Presence, this Presence that is everywhere, always, watching over everything.
And as I look now at the things of life, at people, at this totality, I see that its identically the same thing when seen from there, from that consciousness its so drab, dull, insipid, gray, uninteresting, lifeless Oh, all of life, WHATEVER IT IS, is like that when seen from that consciousness!
So I understood that this must correspond to a certain realm of experience; I understood all those who say, If it has to be like this, if it can never be otherwise, then (this opposition, this abyss between a TRUE life, a TRUE consciousness, a TRUE activity, something living, powerful, fulfilling and life as it now is), if there must always be this difference between the physical expression as it is or as it can be in the present circumstances, and the true life, then For if despite everythingdespite this tremendous distance Ive covered in my life (these memories go back more than sixty years) and all the evolutionary effort upwards I have made since that time IN MATTER (Im not speaking of leaving Matter behind, but IN MATTER, IN action)if that doesnt further reduce this gap between the true consciousness and the possible material realization, then I understand I understand why people say, Its hopeless. (Of course, this hopeless is meaningless to me.)
But I (how can I put this?) I lived their experience, I lived it; and even events which seem quite extraordinary when seen from afar, which is the way they appear to most people, even historical things which have furthered the earths transformation and its upheavals the crucial events, the great works, you might sayare woven from the SAME fabric, they are the SAME thing! When you look at all this from afar, on the whole it can make an impression, but the life of each minute, of each hour, of each se cond is woven from this SAME fabric, drab, dull, insipid, WITHOUT ANY TRUE LIFEa mere reflection of life, an illusion of lifepowerless, void of any light or anything that resembles joy in the least. Oh! if it has always to remain like that, then we dont want any of it.
--
For me its different, because I KNOW that it can and must become something else. But then all this consciousness which is there and in which I live and which has this world vision must come forward and manifest in the vibration of EACH se condnot in a whole which looks interesting when seen from afar; it must enter the vibration of each se cond, the consciousness of each minute, otherwise
(silence)
--
While it was all coming up, I thought, How is this possible? For during those years of my life (Im now outside things; I do them but Im entirely outside, so they dont involve mewhether its like this or like that makes no difference to me; Im only doing my work, thats all), I was already conscious, but nevertheless I was IN what I was doing to a certain extent; I was this web of social life (but thank God it wasnt here in India, for had it been here I could not have withstood it! I think that even as a child I would have smashed everything, because here its even worse than over there). You see, there its its a bit less constricting, a bit looser, you can slip through the mesh from time to time to brea the some air. But here, according to what Ive learned from people and what Sri Aurobindo told me, its absolutely unbearable (its the same in Japan, absolutely unbearable). In other words, you cant help but smash everything. Over there, you sometimes get a breath of air, but still its quite relative. And this morning I wondered (you see, for years I lived in that way for years and years) just as I was wondering, How was I ABLE to live that and not kick out in every direction?, just as I was looking at it, I saw up above, above this (it is worse than horrible, it is a kind of Oh, not despair, for there isnt even any sense of feeling there is NOTHING! It is dull, dull, dull gray, gray, gray, clenched tight, a closed web that lets through neither air nor life nor lightthere is nothing) and just then I saw a splendor of such sweet light above itso sweet, so full of true love, true compassion something so warm, so warm the relief, the solace of an eternity of sweetness, light, beauty, in an eternity of patience which feels neither the past nor the inanity and imbecility of thingsit was so wonderful! That was entirely the feeling it gave, and I said to myself, THAT is what made you live, without THAT it would not have been possible. Oh, it would not have been possible I would not have lived even three days! THAT is there, ALWAYS there, awaiting its hour, if we would only let it in.
(silence)
--
I am no longer looking out at the sky from below, but from up above I am looking, as if each look at each thing seen established the contact.
It was like that this morning at the bal cony.
The rainy season expresses this state of things so well: a constant descent of luminous sweetness (sweetness is not the right wordthere must be a Sanskrit word for it, but this is all we have! ) in this endless gloom.
***
--
It all began the day I received the news of Zs arrival. All right, I thought, heres a chunk of life sent back to me for clarifying. I must work on it. But it didnt stop there Its strange how all this past had been swept clean I could no longer remember dates, I couldnt even remember when Z had been here before, I no longer knew what had happened, it had all been wiped cleanwhich means that it had all been pushed down into the sub conscient. I didnt even know how I used to speak to him when I saw him, nothing, it was all gone. All that had remained alive were one or two movements or facts which were clearly connected to the psychic life, the psychic consciousness but just one or two or three such memories; all the rest was gone.
So a whole slice of my life came back, but it didnt stop there! It keeps extending back further and further, and memories keep on coming, things that go back sixty years now, even beyond, seventy, seventy-five yearsthey are all coming back. And so it all has to be put in order.
Its quite odd, for this was not a personal consciousness, it was not someone remembering his lifethis is what I found most interesting; what came were pieces, little chunks of lifes construction, a collection of people and circumstances. And it is impossible to separate the individual from all that is around him, its clear! It all holds together like (if you change one thing, everything is changed) it holds together like an agglomerated mass.
I had seen this earlier from another angle. In the beginning, when I started having the consciousness of immortality and when I brought together this true consciousness of immortality and the human conception of it (which is entirely different), I saw so clearly that when a human (even quite an ordinary human, one who is not a collectivity in himselfas is a writer, for example, or a philosopher or statesman) projects himself through his imagination into what he calls immortality (meaning an indefinite duration of time) he doesnt project himself alone but rather, inevitably and always, what is projected along with himself is a whole agglomeration, a collectivity or totality of things which represent the life and the consciousness of his present existence. And then I made the following experiment on a number of people; I said to them, Excuse me, but lets say that through a special discipline or a special grace your life were to continue indefinitely. What you would most likely extend into this indefinite future are the circumstances of your life, this formation you have built around yourself that is made up of people, relationships, activities, a whole collection of more or less living or inert things.
But that CANNOT be extended as it is, for everything is constantly changing! And to be immortal, you have to follow this perpetual change; otherwise, what will naturally happen is what now happensone day you will die because you can no longer follow the change. But if you can follow it, then all this will fall from you! Understand that what will survive in you is something you dont know very well, but its the only thing that can survive and all the rest will keep falling off all the time Do you still want to be immortal?Not one in ten said yes! Once you are able to make them feel the thing concretely, they tell you, Oh no! Oh no! Since everything else is changing, the body might as well change too! What difference would it make! But what remains is THAT; THAT is what you must truly hold on to but then you must BE THAT, not this whole agglomeration. What you now call you is not THAT, its a whole collection of things..
Formerly, that was my first stepa long time ago. Now its so very different I wonder how it was possible to have been so totally blind as to call that oneself at any moment in ones life! Its a collection of things. And what was the link by which that could be called oneself? Thats more difficult to find out. Only when you climb above do you come to realize that THAT is at work here, but it could work there as well, or as well here, or here, or here At times there is suddenly a drop of something (Oh, I saw that this morningit was like a drop, a little drop, but with SUCH an intense and perfect light ), and where THAT falls it makes its center and begins radiating out and acting. THAT is what can be called oneselfnothing else. And THAT precisely is what enabled me to live in such dreadfully uninteresting, such nonexistent circumstances. And at the moment when you ARE that, you see how that has lived and how that has used everything, not only in this body but in all bodies and through all time.
At the core, this is the experience; it is no longer knowledge. I now understand quite clearly the difference between the knowledge of the eternal soul, of life eternal through all its changes, and this conCRETE experience of the thing.
Its very moving.
--
It was no longer this (that is, life as it is on earth) becoming conscious of That (the eternal soul, this portion of the Supreme as Sri Aurobindo said); it was the eternal soul seeing life in its own way but without separation, without any separation, not like something looking from above that feels itself to be different How strange it is! Its not something else, its NOT something else, its not even a distortion, not even Its losing its illusory quality as described in the old spiritualities thats not what it is! In my experience, there was there was clearly an emotion I cant describe it, there are no words. It wasnt a feeling, it was something like an emotion, a vibration of such TOTAL closeness and at the same time of compassion, a compassion of love. (Oh, words are so pitiful! ) One was this outer thing, which was the total negation of the other and AT THE SAME TIME the other, without the least separation between them. It WAS the other. So what was born in one was born in the other as well, in this eternal light. A sweetness of identity, precisely, an identity that was necessarily such total understanding with such perfect love but love says it poorly, all words are poor! Its not that; its something else! Its something that cannot be expressed.
I lived that this morning, upstairs.
-- conversation of November 8, the 'artist' disciple with loose morals.
***
0 1960-11-26, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother had wanted this personal conversation to be erased and remain untranscribed, but considering its importance, we thought it better to preserve it.)
Your force cured me in one hour in a spectacular way. I would understand if you had merely cured my flu, for thats something more general, and with a good general vibration it can be removed; but the force acted with an astonishing precision and accuracy: first it wiped out my flu, then it touched a toothache thats been hurting for the last three days, and in five minutes that was gone. Finally, I had a pulled ligament which for three or four years now has periodically given me pain (a thigh ligament where it joins the pelvis, to be precise) and this last week it was hurting so much that I found it difficult to sit cross-legged for meditation. And then I felt the force come and touch just there, exactly at this point, and the pain vanished. And yet the problem was of an organic nature, not some general illness!
--
Not last night but the night before, I touched at least one of the causes (at that time it felt like THE cause) of a certain powerlessness to act directly on Matter You see, when the Will and the Power come, they are extremely effective everywhere UP TO A CERTAIN REGION (in other words, whether people are receptive or not, open or not, makes no differencewhen the Will is applied it is all-powerful UP TO a certain region) but once it arrives here, at the most material material, its efficacy depends on many thingsand a power which depends on something is no power! For a long, long time I have been searching for the reasons behind this powerlessness. Ive located a few, one after another, and upon these points there was an immediate effect. But some things resisted (oh, quite a number, in a number of ways), for example it had difficulty acting on illnesses, on the cells, on doubt (not mental doubt, but rather the doubt of the physical consciousness which cant accept certain things that seem impossible to itwhat Sri Aurobindo calls disbelief,1 not a mental doubt, but the disbelief of the physical consciousness which cant accept what is contrary to its own nature and its own working). And as for illnesses, sometimes it has an immediate effect, but sometimes it drags on and has to follow its so-called normal course. On all these three points, I clearly felt that something was hampering it. These are the Enemys strongholds; all that doesnt want the Divine seizes upon it and even the working of the Power coming from above is obstructed, for when it must work here in the body, it is stopped or deformed or altered or diminished.
All this goes on in the sub conscient; these are things that were pushed out of the physical consciousness down into the sub conscient, so theyre there and they come back up whenever they please.
Two nights ago (no, three the night before Darshan), I had one of those experiences that that leaves you pensive the whole day
--
I saw the thing, the experience took place, but sometimes it takes long for all the consequences to be worked out.2
But immediately, the following dayDarshan dayas the thing developed (you see, something was working inside), I could again turn my attention to the people who were there. And oddly enough, just when you came, there was suddenly a kind of little shock, like an electric shock, and a spark leapt out. And at that moment the Power acted for perhaps a split se cond You see, there has been this bad karma, this old formation around you for a very long time, and it hadnt I recall telling you several years ago, I shall be able to cure such cases as yours only when the Supramental descends. And this feeling of incapacity, of something resisting, was still present, still aliveof not having the right power to dominate it. But just as you went by, for a se cond, there was this flash of like a spark when two electric wires touch. It was a golden spark, a resplendent lightzzzt! And it leapt out. Ah! I thought; its good.
--
So, its very simple. The sickness was due to one part of your being going faster than the rest. A part of the physical consciousness probably remained behind, and that created this imbalance and triggered the sickness.
It took a huge effort in my dream.
--
Its very, very interesting. But then, you see, at such moments the concreteness of the Presence6 concrete to the touch, really to the material touchis extraordinary!
How many more such experiences will be necessary? I dont know, you see, Im only building the path.
--
Dont write all this down, erase it, because Ill speak of it lateronce its over, when Ive reached the end. I dont want it to fall into anyones hands by accident. And for you, keep it in your consciousness.
(silence)
--
And then, at the same time, some rather interesting things are happening. Imagine, X is starting to understand certain things that is, in his own way he is discovering the progress I am making; hes discovering it as a received teaching (through subtle channels). He wrote a letter to Amrita two or three days ago in which he translates in his own language, with his own words and his own way of speaking, exactly my most recent experiencesthings that I have conquered in a general way.
This interests me, for these things do not at all enter through the mind (he doesnt receive a thing there, hes closed there). So in his letter he says that this thing or that is necessary (he describes it in his own words), and he adds, This is why we must be so grateful to have among us the the great Mother7 (as he puts it), the great Mother who knows these things.Good! I said to myself. (It had to do with something specific concerning the capacity for discrimination in the outside world, the different qualities and different functions of different beings, all of which depends on ones inner construction, as it were.) So I see that even this, even these physical experiences, is received (and yet I hadnt tried, I had never tried to make him receive it); it merely works like this, you see (gesture of a widespread diffusion), and the experience is veryhow should I say?drastic, with a kind of (power of radiation). Imperative.
Original English.
0 1960-12-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
A sort of unification is taking place [in you], as if you had become a more uniform whole within-without. I dont know how to explain thisit feels more unified, more organizeduniform. Not some parts more developed and others less so, some more luminous and others less so; its much more uniform, and uniform even in the vibration, a kind of really a uniformity in all its movements, responses, vibrations, light. And this kind of powdering of the new light which I see is much more widespread. Its as if everything, everything what is happening is really a work of unifyingstabilizing, unifying. And this powdering of golden light has completely enveloped you, with this same blue light in your japa, with different intensities of powerboth are there. Like a unifying of the consciousness, as if all the less receptive elements were starting to open, thereby creating a much more homogeneous whole. I dont know how your nights are, but
Not very conscious.
***
0 1960-12-13, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its what Sri Aurobindo calls disbelief, and its located in the most material physical consciousness it isnt doubt (which mainly belongs to the mind), it is almost like a refusal to accept the obvious as soon as it doesnt belong to the little daily routine of ordinary sensations and reactionsa sort of incapacity to accept and recognize the exceptional.
This disbelief is the bedrock of the consciousness. And it comes with a (thought is too big a word for such an ordinary thing) a mental-physical activity which makes you (I am forced to use the word) think things and which always foresees, imagines or draws conclusions (depending on the case) in a way which I myself call DEFEATIST. In other words, it automatically leads you to imagine all the bad things that can happen. And this occurs in a realm which is absolutely run-of-the-mill, in the most ordinary, restricted, banal activities of lifesuch as eating, moving in short, the coarsest of things.
Its fairly easy to manage and control this in the realm of thought, but when it comes to those reactions that rise up from the very bottom theyre so petty that you can barely express them to yourself. For example, if someone mentions that so-and-so ate such-and-such a thing, immediately something somewhere starts stealing in: Ah, hes going to get a stomach-ache! Or you hear that someone is going somewhereOh, hes going to have an accident! And it applies to everything; its swarming down below. Nothing to do with thought as such!
Its quite a nasty habit, for it keeps the most material state in a condition of disharmony, disorder, ugliness and difficulty.
I tried every possible way To get out of it is relatively easy. But then it doesnt change.
The problem appeared again to me very intensely when I read Sri Aurobindos The Yoga of Self-Perfection. I was confronted with a whole formidable world to be transformedto transform what is already luminous is quite easy, but to transform that! ughthis stuff of life, so low and so coarse, so ordinary its much more difficult.1
For the last several days, Ive been at grips fighting with it. How can I stop this idiotic, coarse and above all defeatist automatism from constantly manifesting? Its truly an automatism; it doesnt respond to any conscious will, nothing. So what will it take to ? And its QUITE INTIMATELY related to the bodys illnesses (the old habits the body has of coming out of its rhythmic movement, of entering into confusion)the two things are very intimately linked.
Im deep in the problem.
For me, the problem doesnt mean explaining the thing (its easy to explain), but controlling, mastering and transforming it. That will take some time.
We shall see.
Now X is coming, and these days of meditation with him.2 What is going to happen? By the way, he no longer writes that hes coming to help the Ashram. He wrote to Amrita that hes coming to have the opportunity (I cant exactly remember his words) anyway, to take advantage of his meditations with me so that he can make the necessary transformations! Quite a changed attitude. I had several visions concerning him which Ill tell you later.
Later, Mother added the following: 'In this regard I don't know where, but somewhereSri Aurobindo spoke of this physical mind, and he said that there was nothing you could do with it; it must only be destroyed.'
Mother may be alluding to the following passage from The Synthesis of Yoga: 'There is nothing to be done with this fickle, restless, violent and disturbing factor but to get rid of it whether by detaching it and then reducing it to stillness or by giving a concentration and singleness to the thought by which it will of itself reject this alien and confusing clement.'
Cent. Ed., Vol. XX, p. 300.
0 1960-12-17, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Mother gives the disciple a cadamba flower which she has named 'Supramental Sun'a striking orange ball consisting of innumerable stamens)
Its beautiful, isnt it? Its all together, but its innumerable. Its ONE thing going in all directions. And what a color! The tree is glorious.
--
Even stones are beautiful; they are always beautiful in one way or another. When life appeared, there were some forms that were a little difficult, but not to that extent, not like certain human mental creations. Of course, there may have been some animal species which were rather but they were more monstrous than actually ugly. And most probably, it only seems like that to our consciousness. But the mind And its the same for all these ideas of sin, of wrong, of all thatits a falsehood. But it was man who invented falsehood, wasnt it? The mind invented falsehood: to deceive! to deceive! And its a curious fact that animals domesticated by man have also learned to lie!
The curve
--
But you cannot get out as long as it all seems quite natural to you. Whats most unfortunate is when you resign yourself to it. You realize this when you go back to earlier states of consciousness; you see that it all seemed, if not quite natural, at least almost inevitable thats how things are, you must take them as they are. And you dont even think about it; you take things as they are, you EXPECT them to be what they are; its the stuff of our daily lives, and it keeps repeating itself endlessly. And the only thing you learn is to hold on, hold on, not let yourself be shaken, to go right through it alland it feels endless, interminable, almost eternal. (However, once you understand what eternal is, you see that this CANNOT be eternal, for otherwise )
But this particular state of endurancethis endurance that nothing can upsetis very dangerous. And yet its indispensable; for you must first accept everything before having the power to transform anything.
--
(Soon afterwards, concerning the conversation of November 5 on the sub conscious roots in the cells that can make everything fall apart in a se cond: To change it, you have to descend into it it makes for painful moments Once its done, Ill have the power )
When was this? November 5? And now its December 17 Well, its still continuing!
There should be machines to graph the curves, for its so sometimes it goes like this (gesture of a very steep ascent) and at such moments you feel, Ah! now Ive caught the thing. And then back it fallstoil. Sometimes it even feels like youre falling in a hole, really a hole and how are you ever going to get out? But that ALWAYS precedes a rapid ascent and a revelation or illumination: Ah, how wonderful! Ive finally got it!
--
To have the exact curve or the REAL history, wed have to note down everything at each minute, for its a conSTANT work thats taking place. You see, the outer activities are becoming almost automatic, whereas this goes on behind Im speaking, yet at the same time this is going on behind.
Its a sort of oscillationreally, its so interestingbetween two extremes, one of which is the all-powerfulness and capital or primordial importance of the Physical, and the other its utter unreality.
And its constantly going back and forth between the two (seesaw motion). And both are equally false, equally true.
It goes back and forth between the two all the timea kind of curve like an electric arc between them; it goes up, it goes down, it falls and then climbs back up. In a flash comes the clear vision that the universal realization will be achieved along with the perfection of the material, TERRESTRIAL world. (I say terrestrial, for the earth is still something unique; the rest of the universe is differentso this blown up speck of dust becomes of capital importance!) Then, at another moment, eternity for which all the universes are simply the expression of a se cond, and in which all this is a sort ofnot even an interesting game, but rather a breathing in and out, in and out And at such a moment, all the importance we give to material things seems so fantastically idiotic! And it goes in and out In this state, everything is obvious and indisputable. And in the other state, everything is obvious and indisputable. But between the two there is EVERY combination and every possibility.
--
The speck of dust, there, which you sweep away, or ecstatic contemplationits ALL THE SAME.
***
0 1960-12-20, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
(Soon afterwards, concerning the last conversation of December 17a speck of dust which you sweep away, or ecstatic contemplation, Its all the same)
If I could only note all this down Its been so interesting all morning, right from the starton the bal cony, then upstairs while walking for my japa! And it was on this same theme (experience of the speck of dust) This habit people have (especially in India, but more or less everywhere among those who have a religious nature), this habit of doing all things religious with respect and compunction and no mixing of things, above all there should be no mixing; in some circumstances, at certain times, you MUST NOT think of God, for then it would be a kind of blasphemy.
--
And now, all these different attitudes which individuals, groups and categories of men hold are coming from every direction (while Im walking upstairs) to assert their own points of view as the true thing. And I see that for myself, Im being forced to deal with a whole mass of things, most of which are quite futile from an ordinary point of viewnot to mention the things of which these moral or religious types disapprove. Quite interestingly, all kinds of mental formations come like arrows while Im walking for my japa upstairs (Mother makes a gesture of little arrows in the air coming into her mental atmosphere from every direction); and yet, Im entirely in what I could call the joy and happiness of my japa, full of the energy of walking (the purpose of walking is to give a material energy to the experience, in all the bodys cells). Yet in spite of this, one thing after another comes, like this, like that (Mother draws little arrows in the air): what I must do, what I must answer to this person, what I must say to that one, what has to be done All kinds of things, most of which might be considered most futile! And I see that all this is SITUATED in a totality, and this totality I could say that its nothing but the body of the Divine. I FEEL it, actually, I feel it as if I were touching it everywhere (Mother touches her arms, her hands, her body). And all these things neither veil nor destroy nor divert this feeling of being entirely this a movement, an action in the body of the Divine. And its increasing from day to day, for it seems that He is plunging me more and more into entirely material things with the will that THERE TOO it must be done that all these things must be consciously full of Him; they are full of Him, in actual fact, but it must become conscious, with the perception that it is all the very substance of His being which is moving in everything
It was quite beautiful on the bal cony this morning
0 1960-12-23, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I sat down shortly before ten oclock for meditation. I was in my normal state and I was interested to see if there would be any difference from earlier times. And really, at first there was no difference at all. Then slowly, slowly, I felt this type of smiling and serene peace that I live in entering into the body. The cells are still not always conscious of it (sometimes they feel a sort of tension of life I dont know what to call it). Theyre conscious of their existence and of what it means and of the Energy that is acting (yes, conscious of the Action and the Energy that acts), but during the meditation THAT descended and there was an extraordinary relaxation. Not the relaxation that comes with surrender,1 which I normally feel before sleeping, but the relaxation that comes from a kind of serene, immutable and eternal joy. At that moment the body felt it could remain like that forever! Oh, how nice I feel! it said. And as a matter of fact, Im not sure but I think he felt the meditation was over, whereas I was still I felt him stirring, so I stopped.
There was a marked difference.
--
I came here in that state directly after the meditation, and when I sat down You see, I didnt even have the (naturally there is no question of idea) I dont know, not even the instinct to pick up a flower for you, you understand? And when I sat down here, the consciousness of the column of Light started coming. There was no more personality, no more individuality: there was only a column of Light descending right into the very cells of the body and thats all.
Then it gradually became conscious of itself, conscious of BEING this column of Light. And then the ordinary consciousness slowly returned.
(silence)
--
I tell you, not even When I arrived, I said to you, My hands are empty; merely the contact with your atmosphere made me say it. But otherwise the my, the handsnone of it had any meaning.
Its interesting.
0 1960-12-31, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
This throng looks more like a chaos. A dreadful confusion. But from next week people will start leaving. The crowning day will be January 6, which is Epiphany (but we have made it into a day for the offering of the material world to the Divine: the material world giving itself to the Divine)it will be the climax,2 and I shall then see you on the 7th. After that, well work hard! But until then, no workmy heads in a kind of soup Oh, if you only knew! Its dreadful what people bring me, what they ask
(Mother sits at the harmonium)
--
X seemed happy about his visit this time. We had long meditations of half an hourhe never seemed to want to leave at all! There was above all a kind of extremely calm universalization. An absolute and universal calm in all the cells of the body. I dont know if it was only me, but it seemed he was in the same stateunable to move, quite content, smiling. Once I heard the clock chime, and as I thought it was time and that perhaps he was ready to leave, I looked; he had removed the mala3 that he wears around his neck and I found him doing japa. As soon as he saw me looking, he quickly put it back on!
But whats most surprising is that with me, not a word, nothing, neither he nor I. And it seems to be just as comfortable for him as it is for me!
--
On the 6th, everyone will finally be gone. But tomorrow is going to be dreadful; I have to sit there for at least two hours distributing calendars. And on top of that, there are all these controversies over the music they play at the library each week. Some say that its very good, others that its very bad (the usual things). And each party has pleaded his case. They told me that theyll give me a concert at Prosperity4 so that I may judge for myself. Its all recorded. Im afraid it will be rather noisy For myself, I know quite well how to get out of it I think of something else! But its going to I can see it already. Didnt I tell you were in a chaos? Well, I have the feeling that this is going to beat all.
How do you mean a chaos?
Noise, movement, confusion, people Noise always gives me the impression of chaos, always.
I must say that downstairs on Darshan days people chat, look each other over, see how he or she is dressedits like a county fair around the Samadhi.
--
This lasted the whole time I was crossing the town. Then I came to a border, right at the beginning of another part where I was to take my packages; there, just a little below me, I saw a house under construction the house belonging to the person to whom I had to deliver these presents (the symbolism in all this, of course, is quite clear).
As I approached the house, but still from some distance, I suddenly saw some men busy at work. Then instantly instantly this road which was so vast, sunlit and smoothso smooth to the feet oh, it became the top level of a scaffolding. And what is more, this scaffolding was not very well made, and the closer I came the more complicated it gotthere were planks jutting out, beams off balance. In short, you had to watch every single step to keep from breaking your neck. I began getting annoyed. Moreover, my packages were heavy. They were heavy and they so saddled my arms that I was unable to hold onto anything and had constantly to do a balancing act. Then I began thinking, My God, how complicated this world is! And just at that moment, I saw a young person coming along, like a young girl dressed in European clothes, with a hat on her head all black! This young person had white skin, but her clothes were black, and she wore black shoes on her small white feet. She was dressed all in blackblack, all in black. Like complete un consciousness. She also came carrying packages (many more than me), and she came hopping along the whole length of the scaffolding, putting her feet just anywhere! My God, I said to myself, shes going to break her neck!But not at all! She was totally un conscious; she wasnt even aware that it was dangerous or complicateda total un consciousness. But her un consciousness is what allowed her to go on like that! I watched it all. Well, sometimes its good to be un conscious! Then she disappeared; she had only come to give me a demonstration (she neither saw me nor looked at me). And looking down at the workers, I saw that everything was getting more and more complicated, more and more, more and more and there wasnt even any ladder by which to get down. In other words, it was getting unbearable. Then something in me rebelled: Ah, no! Ive had enough of all thisits too stupid!
And IMMEDIATELY, I found myself down below, relieved of my packages. And everything was perfectly simple. (I had even brought the packages along without realizing it.) All, all was in order, very neat, very luminous, very simplesimply because I had said, Ah, no! Ive had enough of this business! Why all these stupid complications!5
But these are not dreams, they are types of activitymore real, more concrete than material life; the experience is much more concrete than ordinary life.
I have had hundreds of such examples Its not always the same scene. The scenes are different, but the story is always the same the thing, in its truth, is absolutely luminous, pleasant, charming; then as soon as men get involved, it becomes an abominable complication. And once you say, No! Ive had enough of all thisits NOT TRUE! it goes away.
-- context
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0 1961-01-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Later, during the course of the conversation, Mother remarked:)
Understanding The Synthesis of Yoga is quite simple: I have only to be silent for a moment, and Sri Aurobindo is here.
0 1961-01-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have a stack of unread letters this high and an even bigger stack Ive read but havent answered. How can I work on the Aphorisms when I am constantly hounded by people pulling on me simply because they have written! If I dont answer immediately, they say (not in words, but ): So youre not answering my letter!
These are not very favorable conditions!
Everything is in an awful confusion.
(silence)
--
How can one collaborate in curing the evil and ugliness seen everywhere? By loving? What is the power of love? What effect can an individual consciousness, acting alone, have on the rest of mankind?
How to collaborate in curing evil and ugliness? We can say that theres a kind of hierarchic scale of collaboration or action; a negative cooperation and a positive cooperation.
--
Nevertheless, it ought to be a very general rule; yet its critics have a reply: If you dont see evil you can never cure it. If you leave someone to his squalor he will never emerge from it. (Its not exactly true, but its how they legitimize their actions.) In this aphorism, Sri Aurobindo has anticipated these objections: it is not through ignorance or un consciousness or indifference that you fail to see evilyou can see and even feel it, but you refuse to collaborate in spreading it by giving it the force of your attention or the support of your consciousness. And for that, you must yourself be above the perception and sensationable to see evil or ugliness without suffering, without feeling shocked or troubled. You see them from a height where such things do not exist, yet you have the conscious perception of themthey dont affect you, you are free. This is the first step.
The se cond step is to be POSITIVELY conscious of the supreme Goodness and Beauty behind all things and supporting all things, permitting them to exist. Once you have seen Him, you can perceive Him behind the mask and the distortioneven ugliness, even cruelty, even evil are a disguise for that Something which is essentially good or beautiful, luminous, pure.
With this comes TRUE collaboration. For when you have this vision, this awareness, when you live in this consciousness, you also get the power to PULL That into the manifestation on earth and put it into contact with what, for the time being, distorts and disguises; thus the deformation and disguise are gradually transformed by the influence of the Truth behind.
Here we are at the top rung on the scale of collaboration.
--
Love, in its essence and in its origin, is like a white flame obliterating ALL resistances. You can have the experience yourself: whatever the difficulty in your being, whatever the weight of accumulated mistakes, the ignorance, incapacity, bad will, a single SE conD of this Lovepure, essential, suprememelts everything in its almighty flame. One single moment and an entire past can vanish. One single TOUCH of That in its essence and the whole burden is consumed.
Its easy to understand how someone who has this experience can spread it and act upon others, since to have it you must touch the unique, supreme Essence of the whole manifestation the Origin and the Essence, the Source and the Reality of all that is; then you immediately enter the realm of Unity where there is no more separation among individuals: its a single vibration that can repeat itself endlessly in outer forms.2
If you go high enough, you come to the Heart of everything. Whatever manifests in this Heart can manifest in all things. This is the great secret, the secret of divine incarnation in an individual form. For in the normal course of things, what manifests at the center is only realized in the outer form with the awakening and RESPONSE Of the will within the individual form. But if the central Will is constantly, permanently represented in one individual, he can then serve as an intermediary between that Will and all beings, and will FOR THEM. Whatever this being perceives and consciously offers to the supreme Will is replied to as if it came from each individual being. And if individuals happen to be in a more or less conscious and voluntary relationship with this representative being, their relationship increases his efficacy and the supreme Action can work in Matter in a much more concrete and permanent way. This is the reason for these descents of what could be called polarized consciousnesses that always come to earth for a particular realization, with a definite purpose and missiona mission decided upon before the actual embodiment. These mark the great stages of the supreme incarnations upon earth.
And when the day comes for the manifestation of supreme Lovea crystalized, concentrated descent of supreme Love that will truly be the hour of Transformation, for nothing will be able to resist That.
But as its all-powerful, a certain receptivity must be prepared on earth so its effects are not devastating. Sri Aurobindo has explained it in one of his letters. Someone asked him, Why doesnt this Love come now?, and he replied something like this: If divine Love in its essence were to manifest on earth, it would be like an explosion; for the earth is not supple enough or receptive enough to widen to the measure of this Love. The earth must not only open itself but become wide and supple. Matternot just physical Matter, but the substance of the physical consciousness as wellis still much too rigid.
***
--
Oh no, my child, you dont see at all! To speak I must have a receptive atmosphere! The idea of talking aloud all alone in my room would never occur to me. Sound doesnt come: what comes is a direct transmission and if I manage to connect it to my hand and write its transmitted, although it always gets somewhat pulled down. I can be doing anything at all, it doesnt matter, but it must be something that doesnt monopolize my attention, like brushing my hair in the morning for example: then it comes directly and nothing stops it! But I would never think of uttering a word! That only happens when I find some receptivity in front of me, something I can use.
What I say to people depends entirely upon their inner state. Thats precisely why I had such enormous difficulty at the Playground3the atmosphere was so mixed! It was a STRUGGLE to find someone receptive so I could speak. And if Im in the presence of people who understand nothing, I cant say a word. On the other hand, some people come prepared to receive and then suddenly it all comes but usually theres no tape-recorder!
--
No, when we feel like it and when she doesnt raise any question about an aphorismat least not an impossible questionwell do this: I will speak here, its much easier for me. This way things come that I havent seen before; while when I write like that, they are usually things Ive seen on other occasions (not that I try to recall them, they are there and simply come back). But when theres a new contact, something new always comes.
***
(A little later, Mother made the following remark concerning the Agenda of December 13, 1960, where she speaks of the physical Minds. disbelief and defeatist reactions as intimately linked to the bodys illnesses.)
This defeatist Mind is still functioning and in full swing!
--
Later, Satprem asked Mother, 'Is it a single vibration that CAN REPEAT itself endlessly or that REPEATS itself endlessly?' Mother replied: 'I meant several things at once. This single vibration is in static latency everywhere but when you realize it consciously you have the power to make it active wherever you direct it; that is, one doesn't "move" something, but makes it active by the insistence of the consciousness wherever you focus it.'
Twice a week, during the period of the Playground Talks, Mother would publicly reply to questions put to her by the disciples assembled at the Ashram Playground.
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When we enter a certain state of consciousness, we plainly see that we are capable of anything and that ultimately there is no sin not potentially our own. Is this impression correct? And yet certain things make us rebel or disgust us. We always reach some inadmissible point. Why? What is the true, effective attitude when confronted with Evil?
There is no sin not our own.
You have this experience when for some reason or other, depending on the case, you come into contact with the universal consciousness not in its limitless essence but on any level of Matter. There is an atomic consciousness, a purely material consciousness and an even more generally prevailing psychological consciousness. When, through interiorization or a sort of withdrawal from the ego you enter into contact with that zone of consciousness we can call psychological terrestrial or human collective (there is a difference: human collective is restricted, while terrestrial includes many animal and even plant vibrations; but in the present case, since the moral notion of guilt, sin and evil belongs exclusively to human consciousness, let us simply say human collective psychological consciousness); when you contact that through identification, you naturally feel or see or know yourself capable of any human movement whatsoever. To some extent, this constitutes a Truth- consciousness, or at such times the egoistical sense of what does or doesnt belong to you, of what you can or cannot do, disappears; you realize that the fundamental construction of human consciousness makes any human being capable of doing anything. And since you are in a truth- consciousness, you are aware at the same time that to feel judgmental or disgusted or revolted would be an absurdity, for EVERYTHING is potentially there inside you. And should you happen to be penetrated by certain currents of force (which we usually cant follow: we see them come and go but we are generally unaware of their origin and direction), if any one of these currents penetrates you, it can make you do anything.
If one always remained in this state of consciousness, keeping alive the flame of Agni, the flame of purification and progress, then after some time, not only could one prevent these movements from taking an active form in oneself and becoming expressed physically, but one could act upon the very nature of the movement and transform it. Needless to say, however, that unless one has attained a very high degree of realization it is virtually impossible to keep this state of consciousness for long. Almost immediately one falls back into the egoistic consciousness of the separate self, and all the difficulties return: disgust, the revolt against certain things and the horror they create in us, and so on.
It is probableeven certain that until one is completely transformed these movements of disgust and revolt are necessary to make one do WITHIN ONESELF what is needed to slam the door on them. For after all, the point is to not let them manifest.
In another aphorism, Sri Aurobindo says (I no longer recall his exact words) that sin is simply something no longer in its place. In this perpetual Becoming nothing is ever reproduced and some things disappear, so to speak, into the past; and when its time for them to disappear, they seemto our very limited consciousness evil and repulsive: we revolt against them because their time is past.
But if we had the vision of the whole, if we were able to contain past, present and future simultaneously (as it is somewhere up above), then we would see how relative these things are and that its mainly the progressing evolutionary Force which gives us this will to reject; yet when these things still had their place, they were quite tolerable. However, to have this experience in a practical sense is impossible unless we have a total vision the vision that is the Supremes alone! Therefore, one must first identify with the Supreme, and then, keeping this identification, one can return to a consciousness sufficiently externalized to see things as they really are. But thats the principle, and in so far as we are able to realize it, we reach a state of consciousness where we can look at all things with the smile of a complete certainty that everything is exactly as it should be.
Of course, people who dont think deeply enough will say, Oh, but if we see that things are exactly as they should be, then nothing will budge. But no! There isnt a fraction of a se cond when things arent moving: theres a continuous and total transformation, a movement that never stops. Only because its difficult for us to feel that way can we imagine that by our entering certain states of consciousness things would not change. Even if we entered into an apparently total inertia, things would continue to change and we along with them!
Ultimately, disgust, rebellion and anger, all movements of violence, are necessarily movements of ignorance and of limitation with all the weakness that limitation implies. Rebellion is a weakness, for its the feeling of an impotent will. When you feel, when you see that things are not as they should be, then you rebel against whatever is out of keeping with your vision. But if you were all-powerful, if your will and your vision were all-powerful, there would be no opportunity to rebel! You would always see that all things are as they should be! That is omnipotence.1 Then all these movements of violence become not only useless but profoundly ridiculous. 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.
In this aphorism, Sri Aurobindo speaks of those who hate sinners that one mustnt hate sinners.
-- consider the case of a woman with many friends, and these friends are very fond of her for her special capacities, her pleasant company, and because they feel they can always learn something from her. Then all of a sudden, through a quirk of circumstances, she finds herself socially ostracizedbecause she may have gone off with another man, or may be living with someone out of wedlockall those social mores with no value in themselves. And all her friends (I dont speak of those who truly love her), all her social friends who welcomed her, who smiled so warmly when passing her on the street, suddenly look the other way and march by without a glance. This has happened right here in the Ashram! I wont give the details, but it has happened several times when something conflicted with accepted social norms: the people who had shown so much affection, so much kindness oh! Sometimes they even said, Shes a lost woman!
I must say that when this happens here. In the world at large it seems quite normal, but when this happens here it always gives me a bit of a shock, in the sense that I say to myself, So theyre still at that level!
Even those who claim to be broad-minded, above these conventions, immediately fall right into the trap. And to ease their consciences they say, Mother wouldnt allow that. Mother wouldnt permit that. Mother wouldnt tolerate such a thing!to add a further inanity to the rest.
This state is very difficult to get out of. It is really Pharisaismthis sense of social dignity, this narrow-mindednessbecause no one with an atom of intelligence would fall into such a hole! Those who have traveled through the world, for instance, and seen for themselves that social mores depend entirely upon climatic conditions, upon races and customs and still more upon the times, the epochthey are able to look at it all with a smile. But the self-righteous oooh!
This is a primary stage. As long as you havent gone beyond this condition, you are unfit for yoga. Because truly, no one in such a rudimentary state is ready for yoga.
***
--
When asked later about the meaning of this somewhat elliptical statement, Mother said: 'There are two stages. The first involves a mental (and possibly intuitive) vision of what will be (perhaps in an immediate future), and this is what we call seeing things "as they should be." The other is an identification with the supreme Will and the perception that at each se cond everything is exactly as the Supreme wants it to be, that it is the precise expression of the Supreme. The first is a vision of what is coming and says, "That's how things should be." But we overlook the distance between what presently exists and what is coming. While if we go high above and become one with the consciousness of the supreme Will, we see that at every instant, at every moment in the universe, all is exactly as it should beexactly as the Supreme wants it to be. That is Omnipotence.'
Saraswati represents the universal Mother's aspect of Knowledge and artistic creativity. On this occasion, Mother would go down to the Meditation Hall and the disciples would silently pass in front of her to receive a message. This year they would receive a folder containing five photographs of Mother.
Savitri, Vol. 29, XI.I.702.
0 1961-01-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But actually, there are really two quite different forms of self-deception. One can be very shocked by certain things, not for personal reasons but precisely because of ones goodwill and ardor to serve the Divine, when one sees people mis conducting themselves, being egoistical, unfaithful, treacherous. There comes a stage when one has mastered these things and doesnt permit them to manifest IN ONESELF; but to the extent that one is in contact with ordinary consciousness, ordinary viewpoints, ordinary life and thought, their possibility is still there, latent, because they are the inverse of the qualities one is striving for. And this opposition always exists until one has risen above and no longer has either the quality or the defect. As long as one has virtue, one always has its latent opposite. The opposition disappears only when one is beyond virtue and sin.
But until then, there is this kind of indignation stemming from the fact that one is not entirely above: its a period when one totally disapproves of certain things and would be incapable of doing them. And up to this point, there is nothing to say, unless one gives an external, violent expression to his indignation. If anger interferes, it indicates an entire contradiction between the feeling one wants to have and this reaction towards others. Because anger is a deformation of vital power originating from an obscure and thoroughly unregenerate vital,1 a vital still subject to all the ordinary actions and reactions. When an ignorant, egoistic individual will exploits this vital power and encounters opposition from other individual wills around it, then under the pressure of opposition this power changes into anger and tries to obtain through violence what could not be achieved by the pressure of the Force alone.
Anger, moreover, like all forms of violence, is always a sign of weakness, impotence and incapacity. Here the deception comes from the approval one gives it or the flattering adjective one covers it with; for rage can be no more than blind, ignorant and asuricopposed to the light.
--
There is another case where peoplewithout knowing it or because they WANT to ignore italways pursue their personal interests, their preferences, their attachments, their concepts; people who are not entirely consecrated to the Divine and make use of moral and yogic ideas to conceal their personal motives. These people doubly deceive themselves: not only do they deceive themselves through their outer activities, their relations with others, but they also deceive themselves about their personal motives; instead of serving the Divine they are serving their own egoism. And this happens constantly, constantly! One serves his own personality, his egoism, while pretending to serve the Divine. This is no longer even self-deception: its sheer hypocrisy.
This mental habit of always cloaking everything with a favorable appearance, of giving all movements a favorable explanation, is at times so flagrant that it can fool nobody but oneself (although it may occasionally be subtle enough to create an illusion). It is a sort of habitual self-exoneration, the habit of giving a favorable mental excuse, a favorable mental explanation for all one does, all one says, all one feels. For example, someone with no self- control who strikes another in great indignation and is ready to call it divine wrath! Righteous2 is perfect, because righteous immediately introduces this element of puritanical moralitywonderful!
--
For Sri Aurobindo and Mother, the 'vital' represents the regions of consciousness or the centers of consciousness below the mind between the throat and the sex center, i.e. the whole region of emotions, feelings, passions, etc., which constitute the various expressions of the Life-Energy.
Throughout the Agenda, words Mother originally spoke in English are italicized.
0 1961-01-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After that I felt quite at ease. The battle was overit was over FOR THE MOMENT, because they werent finished: they continued their uproar on the other side; but I didnt have to go there anymore.
It has been deferred because I was still down below; I had not yet returned to the upper levels. Anyhow.
--
And I saw my own domain through them and through it all; I saw my domain: I can see it!, I said. But no sooner would I start on my way than the path would be lost, I no longer saw it, I couldnt see anymore where I was going. It became almost impossible to get my bearings there: hundreds and thousands of people, thingsutter confusion. An incoherent immensity and violent, what violence!
I felt something last night.
--
Oh, no! (Mother laughs) I dont use such violent means! No, no! It was very strange. When it fell upon me (four or five days ago, I no longer recall), everything I had gained materially disappeared! As though all that had been conquered and mastered, even what had begun to change, even wrong functionings that had completely ceased, all that had been set right and brought under control: gone! Gone! Completely gone! As if everything came back in one fell swoop.
I remained perfectly tranquil, there was nothing else to do; I knew it meant a battle. I was perfectly tranquil, but I could no longer eat, I could no longer rest, do japa2 or walk, and my head felt as though it would burst. I could only abandon myself (Mother opens her arms in a gesture of surrender), enter into a very, very deep trance, a very deep samadhithis is something one can always do. But that was the only thing left to me. Ideas were just as clear as ever (all that is above and doesnt budge), but my body was in a very bad way. It was a fight, a fight at each se cond. The least thing, just to walk a step, was a struggle, an awful battle!
Then last night I saw the symbol, the image of the thing. But what was it? It was an element in the most material Matter,3 because it was deep down below; yet despite it all, Mother Nature was in charge there: she was familiar with everything, knew everything and it was all at her disposalabsolutely the most material Nature. And she herself had no light, but was very, very she had a concealed power that was completely invisible.
Each time I set out to leave her domain and ascend above, it triggered a hurricane. I would pass this way and the storm started up, pass that way, unleash a gale. Finally she approached me and said very gently, very sweetly, in a most unassuming way, No, dont go there, dont go! Dont try to return to your home. They have set up a dreadful hurricane! And artificial: there were explosions like bombs everywhere, and even worse, like thunderbolts. One could see the artificial tricks and electrical effects they were using to create their thunder, but it was on a tremendous scale!
--
I simply consented to stay there. You will have all you need, stay here quietly. And what beautiful things she had, lovely things! They were unused and dusty. (It was surely the symbol of ancient realizationsrealizations of the ancient Rishis, things like that. Who knows?) They were first class, but completely neglected and thick with dust, like material objects left unusedwhich no one knew HOW to use. She put them at my disposal: Look, look, let me show you! There was a tremendous accumulation of things, piled in such great confusion that one couldnt see. Yet the marvel of it was that when she led me to a corner to show me something, everything immediately moved aside and order was restored, so that the object she wanted to show me stood out all by itself. And oh, a thing of beauty! Made of pink marble! A pink marble bathtub of a shape I didnt recognizenot Roman, not antique (not modern, far from it!)how beautiful it was! And whenever she wanted to show me something in this untidy and cluttered room full of objects piled one on top of another, they would organize themselves, take their proper place, and all became neat. You will just have to dust them off a bit, she said. (Mother laughs)
But Im not surprised it came down on you.
--
And this is the confusion made by all those people who believed that their what they called their personal salvation was the salvation of the worldits not true at all! It isnt trueits a PERSONAL salvation.
(silence)
But all of that is wonderfully, accurately expressed and EXPLAINED in Savitri. Only you must know how to read it! The entire last part, from the moment she goes to seek Satyavan in the realm of Death (which affords an occasion to explain this), the whole description of what happens there, right up to the end, where every possible offer is made to tempt her, everything she must refuse to continue her terrestrial labor it is my experience EXACTLY.
Savitri is really a condensation, a concentration of the universal Mother the eternal universal Mother, Mother of all universes from all eternityin an earthly personality for the Earths salvation. And Satyavan is the soul of the Earth, the Earths jiva. So when the Lord says, he whom you love and whom you have chosen, it means the earth. All the details are there! When she comes back down, when Death has yielded at last, when all has been settled and the Supreme tells her, Go, go with him, the one you have chosen, how does Sri Aurobindo describe it? He says that she very carefully takes the SOUL of Satyavan into her arms, like a little child, to pass through all the realms and come back down to earth. Everything is there! He hasnt forgotten a single detail to make it easy to understand for someone who knows how to understand. And it is when Savitri reaches the earth that Satyavan regains his full human stature.
These seem to be the forces ruling the sub conscious mechanisms or reactions of the body: all the automatism produced by evolution and atavismwhat might be termed evolutionary habits. This is the 'descending path,' which started forty years earlier, as Mother said (or the 'physical plunge' referred to by Sri Aurobindo), leading to the pure cellular consciousness.
Japa: the continuous repetition of a mantra. Mother's mantra is a song of the cells, the sole material or physical process used by her for awakening the cells and stabilizing the Supramental Force in her body.
Later, Mother specified: 'These are elements in the material substance entirely possessed by adverse forces and opposed to the transformation.'
0 1961-01-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In the middle of the night before last, I woke up (or rather I returned to an external consciousness) with the feeling of having a much larger (by larger I mean more voluminous) and much more powerful being in my body than I usually have. it was as if it could scarcely be held inside me but was spilling over; and SO COMPACTLY POWERFUL that it was almost uncomfortable. The feeling of: what to do with all this?
It lasted the remainder of the night and all day long I had considerable trouble containing an overwhelming power that spontaneously created reactions utterly disproportionate to a human body and made me speak in a way that. When something was not going well: wham! Such an instantaneous and strong reply that it looked like anger. And I found it difficult to control the movementit had happened already in the morning and it very nearly happened again in the afternoon. That last attack has weakened me terribly! I told myself, I dont have the strength to contain this Power; its difficult to remain calm and controlled. That was my first thought, so I insisted upon calm.
Then yesterday afternoon, when I went upstairs to walk,1 a couple of things occurrednot personal, but of a general nature concerning, for instance, certain old-fashioned conventions having to do with women and their particular nature (not psychological, physical)old ideas like that which had always seemed utterly stupid to me suddenly provoked a kind of reprobation completely out of proportion to the fact itself. Then one or two other things2 happened in regard to certain people, certain circumstances (nothing to do with me personally: it came from here and there). Then suddenly, I saw a Force coming (coming, well, manifesting) which was the same as that thing I had felt within me but even bigger; it began whirling upon the earth and within circumstances oh, like a cyclone of compact power moving forward with the intention of changing all this! It had to change. At all costs, it must change!
I was above, as usual (Mother points above her head, indicating the higher consciousness), and I looked at that (Mother bends over, as if looking down at the earth), and said to myself, Hmm, this is getting dangerous. If it continues like this, it will result in in a war or a revolution or some catastrophea tidal wave or an earthquake. So I tried to counteract it by applying the highest consciousness to it, that of a perfect serenity. And I saw especially that this consciousness has been missioned to transform the earth through the Supermind and by the supramental Force, avoiding all catastrophes as far as possible: the Work is to be done as luminously and harmoniously as the earth would allow, even by going at a slower pace if need be. That was the idea. And I tried to counteract that whirlwind power with this consciousness.
(long silence)
I must say that after this, when I read The Secret of the Veda as I do each evening. In fact, I am in very close contact with the entire Vedic world since Ive been reading that book: I see beings, hear phrases. It comes up in a sort of subliminal consciousness, a lot of things are from the ancient Vedic tradition. (By the way, I have even come to see that the pink marble bathtub I told you about last time, which Nature had offered me, belongs to the Vedic world, to a civilization of that epoch.3) There werethere are alwaysSanskrit words coming up, sentences, bits of dialogue. This is of interest, because I realized that what I had seen the other day (I told you about it) and then what I saw yesterday that whole domainwas connected to what the Vedas call the dasyus the panis and the dasyus4the enemies of the Light. And this Force that came was very clearly a power like Indras5 (though something far, far greater), and at war with darkness everywhere, like this (Mother sketches in space a whirling force touching points here and there throughout the world), this Force attacked all darkness: ideas, people, movements, events, whatever made stains, patches of shadow. And it kept on going, a formidable power, so great that my hands were like this (Mother clenches her fists). Later when I read (I happened to be reading just the chapter concerning the fight against the dasyus), this proximity to my own experience became interesting, for it was not at all intellectual or mental there was no idea, no thought involved.
The remainder of the evening passed as usual. I went to bed, and at exactly a quarter to twelve I got up with the feeling that this presence in me had increased even further and really become rather formidable. I had to instill a great deal of peace and confidence into my body, which felt as though it wasnt so easy to bear. So I concentrated, I told my body to be calm and to let itself go completely.
At midnight I was lying in bed. (And I remained there from midnight until I oclock fully awake. I dont know if my eyes were open or closed, but I was wide awake, NOT IN TRANCEI could hear all the noises, the clocks, and so forth.) Then, lying flat, my entire body (but a slightly enlarged body, exceeding the purely physical form) became ONE vibration, extremely rapid and intense but immobile. I dont know how to explain this, because it did not move in space but was a vibration (that is, it wasnt motionless); yet it was motionless in space. And the exact form of my body was absolutely the most brilliant white Light of the supreme consciousness, the consciousness OF the Supreme. It was IN the body and it was as though in EACH cell there was a vibration, and it was all part of a single BLOCK of vibration. It extended this much beyond the body (gesture indicating about six centimeters). I was absolutely immobile in my bed. Then, WITHOUT MOVING, without shifting, it began consciously to rise upwithout moving, you understand: I remained like this (Mother holds her two joined and motionless hands at the level of her forehead, as if her entire body were mounting in prayer) consciously like an ascension of this consciousness6 towards the supreme consciousness.
The body was stretched out flat.
And for a quarter of an hour, the consciousness rose, rose, without moving. It kept rising up, up, upuntil the junction was made.
A conscious junction, absolutely awake, NO TRANCE.
Thus the consciousness became the ONE consciousness: perfect, eternal, outside time, outside space, outside movement beyond everything, in I dont know, in an ecstasy, a beatitude, something ineffable.
(silence)
It was the consciousness OF THE BODY.
I have had this experience before in exteriorization and trance, but this time it was THE BODY, the consciousness of the body.
It remained like that for a certain time (I knew it was a quarter of an hour because the clock chimed), but it was completely outside time. It was an eternity.
Then, with the same precision, the same calm, the same deliberate, clear and concentrated consciousness (absolutely NOTHING MENTAL), I began to come back down. And as I was descending, I realized that all the difficulty I had been fighting the other day and which had created this illness was absolutely ended, ANNULLEDmastered. Actually, it was not even mastery but the non-existence of anything to be mastered: Simply THE vibration from top to bottom; yet there was neither high nor low nor any direction.
And it went on like that. After this, Slowly, Still WITHOUT MOVING, everything went back into each of the different centers of the being. (Ah, let me say parenthetically that it wasnt AT ALL the ascent of a force like the ascent of the Kundalini! It had absolutely nothing to do with the Kundalini movement and the centers, it wasnt that at all.) But while re-descending, it was as though WITHOUT LEAVING THIS STATE, without leaving this state which remained conscious ALL the time, this supreme consciousness began to reactivate the different centers: first here (Mother points to the center above the head and then touches the crown of the head, the forehead, throat, chest, etc.) then there, there, there. At each there was a pause while this new realization organized everything. It organized and made the necessary decisions, sometimes down to the most minute details: what had to be done in this case or said in that case; and all of that TOGETHER, at once, not one by one but seen entirely as a whole. It kept on descending I noted many things, it was extremely interestingdown and down, farther and farther, right to the depths. Everything went on at the same time,7 simultaneously, and at the same time this supreme consciousness was organizing everything separately.8
This descending reorganization ended exactly when the clock struck one. At that moment I knew that I had to go into trance for the work to be perfected, but until then I was wide awake.
--
I came out of this trance two hours later, at 3 a.m. And during these two hours I saw with a new consciousness, a new vision, and above all a NEW POWERI had a vision of the entire Work: all the people, all the things, all the systems, all of it. And it was it was different in appearance (this is only because appearances depend upon the needs of the moment), but mainly it differed IN POWERA considerable difference. considerable. The power itself was no longer the same.9
A truly ESSENTIAL change in the body has occurred.
--
Its not it is far, very far from being the final change, theres a lot more to be done. But we may say that its the conscious and total presence of the supramental Force in the body.
(silence)
--
(Shortly afterwards, concerning a rampant flu epidemic.)
There is a terrible epidemic in the countrya triple epidemic.
--
Its not at all the same as in the West, in Europe or America, not at all. Basically, the people in those countries are made of the same stuff as we are. But here thats not the case, because for centuries it never changeda Brahmin, for example, always remained a Brahmin, a Kshatria was always a Kshatria and all his servants were Kshatrias. It stayed in the family, in the sense that in each caste the servantsoften poor relativesbe longed to that same caste. From a social standpoint this might not have been too pleasant, but as far as atmosphere was concerned, it was very good. This was changed, however, first by the Muslim invasion, and then especially by the British.
The British, you see, were served only by pariahs (in fact, its we Europeans who named them that!). But they were not actually pariahs by birth, they became pariahs out of HABIT.
I have studied the problem very closely, because when you come from Europe you bring all your European ideas with you and you dont know or understand a thing about the way it really is. I immediately came into contact with Brahmin servants and pariah servants, but I didnt know that some were Brahmins and others pariahs, nobody had told me anything; it depended upon the people I was with and the places I went. But the contact, the atmosphere (gesture of fingering the air). You know, I didnt even need to touch them physically! There was such a difference that I asked Sri Aurobindo, But what is it? So he explained the whole thing to me.
You see, originally these pariahs were people who took their delight (their pleasure) in filth and falsehood, in crime, in violence and robberyit was a joy for them. They had castes among themselves; there is still a caste of brigands nearby I once went to their village to have a lookpeople who always keep a dagger on them, they love to play with daggers. They stea l not so much out of need as out of pleasure. And dirty-they abhor cleanliness! And they will lie even if they have to contradict themselves fifteen minutes later, for the sheer delight of lying.
What an atmosphere it creates! Its palpable (Mother fingers the air).
--
Then she returned to India and I took her in with me. I continued to treat her almost as a friend and I helped her to develop her gifts. Mon petit,10 how dirty she started to get, lying, stealing, and absolutely needlesslyshe had money, she was well treated, she had everything she needed, she ate what we didthere was absolutely no reason! When I finally asked her, But why, why!? (she was no longer young at this point), she replied, When I came back here, it took hold of me again; its stronger than I am. That was a revelation for me! Those old habits had been impervious to education.
We think these people are the way they are because the environment is bad, the education is poor, the conditions are difficultits not true! In the universal e conomy of things they REPRESENT something, a certain type of force and vibration. It will have to be either dissolved or transformed. Transformed? But perhaps that is. It may disappear along with the hostile forces. Perhaps once everything has been transformed it will disappear I dont know when.
In any case, I really tried my best, with all the power I had, all the knowledge I had, because I liked this girl a lot, it wasnt at all a question of charity, I found her very interesting. But I watchedwith a kind of horror, reallyas this past repossessed her more and more, more and more each day, until we were finally obliged to dismiss her, to tell her, Go. Yes, I understand, she replied, I cant stay here.
--
All this is just to tell you that some contacts are not very favorable. And I understand full well: I could never tolerate people like that coming into my room sometimes it would take me hours and hours to put things right!
We have to be careful.
--
A few days later, Mother rectified: 'I have looked at the experience again and realized that it's not Vedic but pre-Vedic. The experience put me into contact with a civilization prior to the Vedas the Rishis and the Vedas are a kind of transition between that vanished civilization and the Indian civilization which grew out of the Vedic Age. It was yesterday [January 26] that I perceived this, and it was quite interesting.'
In the Vedas, the panis and dasyus represent beings or forces hidden in subterranean caves who have stolen the 'Riches' or the 'Lights', symbolized by herds of cows. With the help of the gods, the Aryan warrior must recover these lost riches, the 'sun in the darkness,' by igniting the flame of sacrifice. It is the path of subterranean descent.
Indra represents the king of the gods, the master of mental power freed from the limitations and obscurities of the physical consciousness.
The body- consciousness.
Later, Mother added: 'All the experiences took place one after the other, but the new experience did not cancel the preceding one. The consciousness this supreme Unity that I hadremained all the time, to the very end, even while the other centers were awakening. And each center that awakened was a kind of addition, taking away nothing from what had come before. So at the end it was all simultaneous: a kind of global consciousness total and simultaneousof everything.... You see, while rising up (one is obliged to say "rising" and "descending" for otherwise one would never be understood), while "rising up" to reach this supreme consciousness, all the rest was annulled, there was only That. When the supreme consciousness was realized, it remained ALL the time, continuously, to the very end, it did not move; but meanwhile, the other centers began to awaken one after another. And each awakening center assumed its place but canceled nothing either of what had come before or of what was about to come, so that when I reached the end, all of it together was a simultaneous whole the Supreme consciousness.' When Satprem asked if this Supreme consciousness was the 'New consciousness,' Mother replied, 'Not "new!" One can't say "new"Supreme consciousness.'
This entire experience and Mother's insistence that it all happened 'without moving,' unlike the experience of the ascent of the Kundalini, suggests that it is the supramental consciousness concealed in the depths of the cells, that somehow emerges and traverses all the layers until the junction is made with the most material body- consciousness.
Later, Mother added: 'The Power that was acting was no longer the power that had been acting previously.'
0 1961-01-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Since the last experience [January 24] I see it daily. The following day, probably for reasons connected with the bodys development and adaptation, I was rather seriously illwhat is usually called painfully ill: the body was suffering a lot, or WOULD HAVE suffered a lot had it been in its former normal consciousness. Thats where I saw the differencea fantastic difference!
I was perfectly conscious (now when I say I, it refers to my body, I am not speaking of the whole higher consciousness), the body was perfectly conscious of its suffering, the reason for its suffering, the cause of its suffering, everything and it did not suffer. You understand, the two perceptions were there together: the body saw the disorder, saw the suffering just as it would have felt it a few weeks earlier, it saw all that (saw, knew I dont know how to express itit was conscious, it was aware) and it did not suffer. The two awarenesses were absolutely simultaneous.
There is now a kind of VERY PRECISE knowledge of the whole inner mechanism for all thingsand what has to be done materially. This is developing, as a flower blossoms: you see one petal open and then another and then another; it is proceeding like that, slowly, taking its time. Its the same process for the Power.
--
I have done these things beforeits a knowledge I already hadand it always had its effect when I did them; its not that I am passing from powerlessness to power, not at all. But its this kind of yes, something definite, absolutea kind of absolute in vision, in knowledge, in action and ABOVE ALL in powera kind of absolute that doesnt need to conquer obstacles and resistances, but ANNULS the resistance automatically. Then I saw that something had truly changed.
(After a digression, Mother gives another example of the change:)
I told you something concerning the power of the will, didnt I?
Well, yesterday I saw R. He was asking me questions about his work and particularly about the knowledge of languages (hes a scholar, you know, and very familiar with the old traditions). This put me in contact with that whole world and I began speaking to him a little about what I had already said to you concerning my experience with the Vedas. And all at once, in the same [absolute] way as I told you, when I entered into contact with that world a whole domain seemed to open up, a whole field of knowledge from the standpoint of languages, of the Word, of the essential Vibration, that vibration which would be able to reproduce the supramental consciousness. It all came, so clear, so clear, luminous, indisputable but unfortunately there was no tape recorder!
It was about the Word, the primal sound. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it in Savitri: the essence of the Word and how it will express itself, how it will bring in the possibility of a supramental expression that will take the place of languages. I began by speaking to him about the different languages, their limitations and possibilities; and I warned him against the deformations imposed on languages with the idea of making them a more flexible means of expressing something else. I told him how completely ridiculous it all was, and that it didnt correspond at all to the truth. Then little by little I began ascending to the Origin. So yesterday again, I had this same experience: a whole world of knowledge, of consciousness and of CERTAINTYprecluding the least possibility of contradiction, discussion, or opposition; the possibility DOES NOT EXIST, it doesnt exist. And the mind was absolutely silent and immobile, listening with obvious pleasure because these things had never before come into my consciousness; I had never been concerned with them in that way. It was completely newnot new in principle but completely new in action.
The experiences are multiplying.
--
Yes. While speaking, you see, I went back to the origin of sound (Sri Aurobindo describes it very clearly in Savitri: the origin of sound, the moment when what we called the Word becomes a sound). So I had a kind of perception of the essential sound before it becomes a material sound. And I said, When this essential sound becomes a material sound, it will give birth to the new expression which will express the supramental world. I had the experience itself at that moment, it came directly. I spoke in English and Sri Aurobindo was concretely, almost palpably, present.
Now it has gone away.
0 1961-01-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This consciousness of immortality is OUR becoming conscious of the realms where immortality exists; but to bring immortality into the physical consciousness requires not only a transformation of physical consciousness but a transformation of physical substance as well. So.
***
( concerning the last conversation where Mother spoke of the essential Sound, or the Word of the Vedic Rishis:)
I promised Nolini I would show him this.
Yes, Mother, this is a problem. Often when you tell me things of such importance I feel I benefit from them quite egoisticallycould they be shown to Pavitra now and then? Do you want them to be kept absolutely confidential, or may I show them to Pavitra occasionally?
It depends. You can tell Sujata whatever you like.
--
But otherwise. Some of the things you note down I just put away. But some I show to Nolini (of them all, Nolini is the one who can best understand). I give him certain things to read, but otherwise, no. It is completely different between us, as I told you completely different. If you benefit from it, so much the better! If it helps you in your inner development, good, I have no objectionon the contrary. Its quite natural, the natural consequence of our meetings.
But if while speaking with Sujata you feel that something might help her, I have no objection to your telling hersimply say that its between the two of you.
--
It continues. Now they have begun attacking my legsthey always have to find something new!
Your legs are giving you trouble?
0 1961-01-31, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
( concerning the experience related on January 24, of the supramental Force reorganizing the activity of each center of consciousness. The experience ended in a deep trance: 'I slipped into trance...')
I neglected to mention something very important.
At the moment of my coming out of the trance, I had a very concrete, positive perception (not a mental understanding, it didnt come from the beings intellectual part, the part that understands and explains everything and Is symbolized, I think, by Indra; it wasnt in any way conveyed through that higher intelligence, it wasnt mental). A kind of perception (not really a sensation, it was more than a sensation) of the almost total unimportance of the external, material expression of the bodys condition: the consciousness OF THE BODY was absolutely indifferent to external, physical signs, whether they were like this or like that (the BODYS consciousness was what had experienced the identity). And this body- consciousness had the perception of the EXTREME RELATIVITY of the most material expression.
I am translating it to make myself understoodit wasnt like that at the time of the experience. Suppose, for example, that there was a disorder here or there in the body, not actually an illness (because illness implies some important inner factor such as an attack or the necessity for some transformation, many different things), but the outer expression of a disorder, such as swollen legs or a malfunctioning liver not an illness, a disorder, a functional disorder. Well, it was all utterly unimportant: IT IN NO WAY CHANGES THE BODYS TRUE conSCIOUSNESS. Although we are in the habit of thinking that the body is very disturbed when its ill, when something is going wrong, its not so. It isnt disturbed in the way we understand it.
Then what is disturbed if not the body?
--
This was a very important experience. Afterwards (especially yesterday afternoon and this morning), I gradually began to realize that this kind of indifferent detachment is the ESSENTIAL condition for the establishment of true Harmony in the most material Matter the most external, physical Matter (Mother pinches the skin of her hand).
This experience has been like a stagean indispensable stage for establishing this complete detachment; an indispensable stage so that the harmony of the body- consciousness (which came with the bodys experience of the Divine) might have its effect upon the most external, superficial part of the body.
--
This is the logical consequence of the research I have been doing for a long time now on the cause of illnesses and how to overcome them.
This ought to be noted down, because its important. It has seemed all the more important to me these last two days. Beginning yesterday evening, there was a whole series of experiences, and this morning I came to a certain conclusion, whose starting point, I realized, was that experience I had upon coming out of trance.
The rest will come later.
It was the very moment I was coming out of the trance, at 3 a.m.I came out of it with that1; it was the first contact. I had forgotten to mention this to you because it took on importance only very recently.
***
(A little later, concerning the Saraswati Puja photos that Mother first refused to send to X on the 21st, then decided to send on the 25th, with a kind of imperative cubic certainty.)
X has replied. He said something like this, which Amrita translated: I have received the photos. It is a I dont know whether he said illumination or flame, ascending towards the Truth, leading towards the Truth. Thats the impression it gave him: that it was leading somewhere.
--
Ah, yes! (How to explain?) On the 21st, these photos could still have created a kind of difficulty in Xs consciousness (a semi conscious difficulty) because of all the obstacles, all the contradictions, all that was coming to put up a figh the is very sensitive to these things and I didnt want to put him in contact with that realm. Later, though they had been given a good thump on the head (Mother abruptly bangs down both hands) and were keeping still. Then I said, All right, now you can send them.
I always avoid putting him in contact with the realm of conflicts and contradictions because he is extremely sensitive and it causes him difficulties. Thats why I said, No, dont bother. Afterwards, it was fine!
(silence)
--
Oh, yes, this is very, very annoying, my child! You dont need to tell me! I have never in my life had enough time. Whatever I do, whether I am speaking to someone, organizing something, doing a particular work, the time is always too short, and I have the feeling, Oh, if I could only do that quietly! Anything, no matter what, becomes interesting if it can be done calmly, with the right attitude and the right concentration. Yet we are perpetually hurried by the next thing coming along.
But this is a shortcoming. And I know it, I know it I will find the solution. And when I have found it, it will be.
--
I have experienced this very concretely. In the mornings, for instance, I have a very short time, very limited and very fixed, to get to the bal cony for darshan, and there are a number of completely material things I must do beforehand. Its quite natural to feel that time must always be the same but its not true. Its not trueeven I am astonished!
With my japa the contrast is the same, its absolutely astounding: I feel I am saying the words in the same way, with the same sound, exactly the same rhythm, but in some cases, with a particular inner attitude, the time by the clock is different! Yet nevertheless, bound up as we are in our physical Matter, we imagine it has taken exactly the same amount of time! Thats what is so strange, this extraordinary relativity vis--vis the clock.
This must be what they tried to express by Joshua making the sun stand still.
--
That = the perception of the almost total unimportance of the external, material expression of the body's condition.
The Vedic hymns translated by Sri Aurobindo
--
In the equations of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, quantities as 'immutable' as the mass of a body, the frequency of a vibration, or the time separating two events, are linked to the speed of the system where the physical event takes place. Recent experiments in outer space have allowed the validity of Einstein's equations to be verified. Thus a clock on a satellite in constant rotation around the Earth will measure sixty se conds between two audio signals, while an identical clock on Earth measures sixty-one se conds between the same two signals: time 'slows down' as speed increases. It is like the story of the space traveler returning to Earth less aged than his twin: you pass into another 'frame of reference.'
It is striking that Mother's body-experiences very often parallel recent theories of modern physics, as if mathematical equations were the means of formulating in human language certain complex phenomena, remote from our day to day reality, which Mother was living spontaneously in her bodyperhaps 'at the speed of light.'
0 1961-02-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Once, without telling me anything, someone brought me a sprig of tulsi.3 I smelled it and said, Oh, Devotion! It was absolutely a a vibration of devotion. Afterwards, I was told its the plant of devotion to Krishna, consecrated to Krishna.
Another time, I was brought one of those big flowers (which are not really flowers) somewhat resembling corn, with long, very strongly scented stalks.4 I smelled it and said, Ascetic Purity! Just like that, from the odor alone. I was later told it was Shivas flower when he was doing his tapasya.5
These people have an age-old knowledge the ancient Vedic knowledge which they have preserved. In other words, it is something conCRETELY TRUE: it doesnt depend at all on the mind, on thought or even on feelingsits a vibration.
What about this flower, this long corn-like stalk?
--
I find this very interesting, for WE didnt decide it should be like this: these are conscious vibrations in Nature. The fragrance, the color, the shape, are simply the spontaneous expressions of a true movement.
What does the serpent represent physically? What does it embody in the material world?
--
A formidable concentration of vitalityof all animals, the serpent has the most vitality. Its tremendous! And energy progressive energy, energy of movement (progressive in the mechanical sense). Its meaning has been changed to a psychological one, but its a force of movement.
Then why do these creatures always seem so evil to us?
--
Theon always told me that the true interpretation of the Biblical story of the serpent in the Garden of Eden is that humanity wanted to pass from a state of animal-like divinity to the state of conscious divinity by means of mental development, symbolized by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. And this serpent, which Theon always said was iridescent, reflecting all the colors of the prism, was not at all the spirit of evil, but the power of evolution the force, the power of evolution. And it was natural that this power of evolution would make them taste the fruit of knowledge.
Now, according to Theon, Jehovah was the chief of the Asuras,6 the supreme Asura, the egoistic God who wanted to dominate everything and keep everything under his control. And of course this act made him furious, for it enabled mankind to become gods through the power of an evolution of consciousness. And thats why he banished them from Paradise.
Although told in a childish manner, theres a great deal of truth in this story, a great deal.
--
How many, many experiences there were during those days at Tlemcen! Surely youve heard them. Were you there when I told the story about the big toad? A huge toad, covered with warts. No? The sitting room was upstairs in Theons house (the house was built on a hillside) and it was connected by large open doors to a small terrace that sat almost on top of the hill. I played the piano in this room every day. And one day, what did I see hopping in through the open bay windows but an enormous black toadenormous! He sat down on his backside right in the entrance and puffed up his throat: poff! poff! And for the whole time I played, he stayed there going Poff! poff!, as though in a state of delight! When I finished, I turned around and he gave me one last Poff! and hopped away. It was comical!
Theon also taught me how to turn aside lightning.
--
And do you know how he received me when I arrived there? It was the first time in my life I had traveled alone and the first time I had crossed the Mediterranean. Then there was a fairly long train ride between Oran and Tlemcenanyway, I managed rather well: I got there. He met me at the station and we set off for his place by car (it was rather far away). Finally we reached his estatea wonder! It spread across the hillside overlooking the whole valley of Tlemcen. We arrived from below and had to climb up some wide pathways. I said nothingit was truly an experience from a material standpoint. When we came in sight of the house, he stopped: Thats my house. It was red! Painted red! And he added, When Barley came here, he asked me, Why did you paint your house red? (Barley was a French occultist who put Theon in touch with France and was his first disciple.) There was a mischievous gleam in Theons eyes and he smiled sardonically: I told Barley, Because red goes well with green! With that, I began to understand the gentleman. We continued on our way uphill when suddenly, without warning, he spun around, planted himself in front of me, and said, Now you are at my mercy. Arent you afraid? Just like that. So I looked at him, smiled and replied, Im never afraid. I have the Divine here. (Mother touches her heart.)
Well, he really went pale.
--
You see, when people are in this occult consciousness, everything is possibleit creates an atmosphere where ALL, all is possible. What to our European common sense seems impossible is all possible.
She was English and he. I dont know whether he was Polish or Russian (he was of Jewish origin and had to leave his country for that reason). But they were both European.
--
Naturally, the more calm and confident you are, the more quickly it will pass. Thats all.
I can assure you that you are well fastened, very well indeed; you are automatically caught up in my whole forward movement. So dont worry. Begin your book on Sri Aurobindo.
0 1961-02-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Human nature is such that when you concentrate on your body you fall ill; when you concentrate on your heart and feelings you become unhappy; when you concentrate on the mind you get bewildered.
(Laughing) And its absolutely true!
There are two ways of getting out of this precarious condition.
One is very arduous: it is a severe and continuous tapasya. It is the way of the strong who are predestined for it.
The other is to find something worth concentrating upon that diverts your attention from your small, personal self. The most effective is a big ideal, but there are innumerable things that enter into this category. Most commonly, people choose marriage, because it is the most easily available (Mother laughs). To love somebody and to love children makes you busy and compels you to forget your own self a little. But it is rarely successful, because love is not a common thing.
Others turn to art, others to science; some choose a social or a political life, etc., etc.
--
And its absolutely truetrue at each stage, on all levels. Whatever level you have attained, even the very highest, if you concentrate on that [the body], it is finished! And all the difficulties begin, you know, with that very concentration that tries to draw down Light and Poweryogic concentration itself.
So it would seem that if one wants to use his individuality, his body, to transform the whole that is, if one wants to use his bodily presence to act upon the universal corporeal substance theres no end to it. No end to the difficulties, no end to the battle BATTLE!
--
It has been good for it (not externally, but inwardly, for its state of consciousness: the body- consciousness), it has done the body some good, but. Now its like this (Mother opens her hands in a gesture of total surrender). For each blow it receives (its a bludgeoning, my child!), for each blow, it remains like this (same gesture). Yesterday, to make it happy, I wrote down something like this ( concerning its latest difficulty): If this present difficulty is useful (its the body addressing the Lord, and the Lord. its a perpetual adoration: all the cells vibrate, vibrate with the joy of Love; yet despite that ), if this or that difficulty is useful for Your Workso be it. But if it is an effect of my stupidity (its the body speaking), if its an effect of my own stupidity, then I beseech You to cure me of this stupidity as quickly as possible.
It doesnt ask to be cured of the illness! It doesnt ask, it is ready; All right, it says. As long as I can keep going, I will keep going. As long as I can last, I will last. But thats not what Im asking for: I am asking to be cured of my stupidity. I believe this is what enables it to yes, what gives it the necessary endurance.
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The trouble is, they hinder my work (Mother indicates her legs). Not the work up in my roomthere, on the contrary, it is going well, very well, clear, precise. Yesterday again I worked on the translation of The Synthesis of Yoga, and it was so pleasant. So pleasant.
You see, I cant stand up; and these people persistently try to keep me standing. But I cant remain standing, its all out of order. Anyway, it doesnt matter, it will pass.
--
(Mother remains silent for a long while, then replies.) Quite evidently, the adverse forces are not only trying to convince everyone but me too, that this is how its going to turn out.
But I have as yet had no indications.
I have asked to be forewarned, not for reasons of. It can happen any time at all, I am always ready. I can do nothing more for the work than what I am doing now, and I havent a single practical measure to take because I have already taken them all. So that isnt why, but to AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to withdraw from the body all that has been put into it. There is such an accumulation inside it of force, consciousness, power, oh! All the cells are impregnated and it would take some time if it all had to be taken out.
But I have had no indication of this, neither by night nor by day, neither awake nor in tranceno indication. The indication rather points to all that must be clarified, purified so the physical may keep what it received from that experience [of January 24, 1961].
From an ordinary standpoint, I believe the situation is dangerous, because (laughing) the doctor refuses to tell me what the consequences might be. I asked him but he wouldnt tell me, so thats what it must mean! But I really have no indications and I hope I wont be told, Now you must go, only at the very last minute!
The body doesnt ask (its so docile), it doesnt even ask for its sufferings to stopit adapts to them. Its mainly my contact with people that makes the thing difficult: when I am all alone upstairs, everything goes well, quite well. But when I spend one or one and a half hours in the afternoon seeing people, afterwards I feel exhausted. That, obviously, is whats making the thing difficult. But the body doesnt complain. It doesnt complain, its ready. The other day when it went back upstairs, it felt a bitwell, at the end of its resources, as though it had pushed itself to the limit. It said to the Lord (and it said this so clearly, as though the consciousness of the cells were speaking; I noted it down): If this (I cant call it an illness there is no illness! Its a condition of general disequilibrium), if this condition is necessary for Your Work, then so be it, let it go on. But if its an effect of my stupidity (you see, its the BODY saying, If its because I dont understand or I am not adapting or not doing what I should or not taking the proper attitude), if it is an effect of my stupidity, then truly I pray that. It asks only to changeto know and to change!
It is attached to nothing: none of its habits, none of its ways of being-nothing. It says in all sincerity, I ask only for the Light, only to change. That is its state. it has never, never said, Oh, Im tired, Ive had enough! Bah! Its not like that. It is attached to nothing for a long, long time it has ceased to have desiresit is attached to nothing at all, to nothing. There isnt a single thing for which it says, Oh, I cant do without that! Not one. It doesnt care-if something comes, it takes it; if it doesnt come, the body doesnt think about it. In other words, its truly good-natured. But if this isnt sufficient, then it doesnt know and it says, If there is something I cant do or I dont know or I am not doing It asks for nothing more than to make the necessary effort!
--
It all began with some extremely violent attacks. So if your dream is not premonitory, then it must be the result of their formation, by which they intend to disseminate the conviction everywhere, as much as possible, that this is the end. Two years ago, when I had to retire to my room, a formidable campaign was set into operation upon all the Ashram people; and all those who were a little receptive, either in dreams or through an openness to suggestions, heard it clearly announced: On the 9th of December of this year [1958], Mother will leave. Theres no doubt about it, its sure. It was said to me as well: This will be the end, you will leave. It was repeated to everybody, everybody, a great many people heard itthey were virtually awaiting it. And this is why (you know how extremely ill I was at the time, I was really ill), this is why I didnt react, but all the same I didnt go to the lake [the lake estate where Mother was to have gone on the 9th of December], because I told myself, If anything happens there, it will be awkward I had better not go. But still I knew it wasnt true, I knew it.
Now this kind of attack has stopped, it is no longer like that. But there are beings who send dreams. For example, some dreams were sent to Z (who, as you know, is quite clairvoyant), in which she was told I would be broken to pieces. She was very upset and I had to intervene. Is your dream of this nature, or are you being forewarned? I dont know, I cant say. If the doctor were asked, perhaps he would say that if it continues like this, obviously (you see, one thing after another is getting disorganized), if it continues in this way, how long can the body last?
But this body feels so strongly that it exists ONLY because the divine Power is in it. And constantly, for the least thing, it has only one remedy (it doesnt think of resting, of not doing this or that, of taking medicine), its sole remedy is to call and call the Supremeit goes on repeating its mantra. And as soon as it quietly repeats its mantra, it is perfectly content. Perfectly content.
(silence)
Two nights ago, I saw a formation of illness over the entire Ashram, a kind of adverse formation trying to prevent me from leaving my room, and I had to hide to get out, leave clandestinely. Oh, what a terrible atmosphere, so heavy, so grayeverybody was ill. And this formation had some actual effects because many people fell ill who normally never do. It is an adverse formation and theres no reason to concede its victory; its simply a force which doesnt want us to succeed, of courseso we need not pay attention.
The trouble is, if I were thirty or forty years old, people wouldnt be affected. But unfortunately they think about how old I am all the time and it creates a bad atmosphere. After all, they keep saying, Mother is old and. All the usual nonsense.
--
You see, theres a curious fluctuation possibly indicating that your dream is part of the present attack which continues with such violence. The night before last, between midnight and half-past, there was a formidable attack. When I emerged from it, I felt that something had lifted, a victory had been won and that the bodys condition had improved. It happens like that, the horizon clears and this Certainty comes with. (The presence is always hereSri Aurobindo and I are together almost every night but the night when I saw that formation, the illness spell over the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo was quite sick in his bed, just as I saw him in 1950.) So when it lifts, all is well: once again there is harmony, there is joy, there is force and again the whole thing continues, the effort continues, consciously. Yet there is a kind of fluctuation: it will go on like that for a few moments or a few hours and then suddenly everything becomes muddled again and I am beset by a fatigue. A fatigue which is I cant say almost unbearable, because nothing in the consciousness feels it to be unbearable but it makes me like this (Mother clenches her fist tightly in a tension to hold on).
For example, at five-thirty in the evening, after Ive spent an hour and a half here with people, its a labor to climb the stairs; and by the time I get upstairs, I feel strained to the breaking point. Then I begin to walk (I dont stop, I dont rest), I immediately begin to walk with my japa, and within half an hour, pfft! it has lifted.
But the bodys fatigue doesnt go: its there its contained but it is there.
Yet I havent the slightest impression that the horizon is blockedyou know, that the end is at hand, that the condition has to be changed and the Work begin again on another plane and in another way; in other words, that everything attempted so far would have been only a preparation for for later. I still dont have that feeling. If I ever do, I will say, Very well, thats quite all right with me, but I dont have this feeling. Will I ever have it? I dont knowusually (laughing), I know these things! For instance, I know for certain when someone is going to die, even before theres the least indication. So.
In the present case, of course, the body is always saying, I am ready for everything I will do anything at all; yet I still cant say that it has this. Its trying to be completely pure according to the spiritual conceptit doesnt sense its separate personality. More and more, year after year, it has been striving to feel only the divine Presence, the divine Life, the divine Force and the divine Will, all within itself; and to feel that without them it is nothing, it doesnt exist. This is fully realized in its consciousness (the conscious part). In the sub conscient and in conscient,5 obviously it is not realized otherwise, logically, it shouldnt be ill.
The whole disorder evidently originates from the sub conscient and in conscient; all the more so as it came with various indications (sent by the hostile forces but this can always be useful, provided you are careful) saying, Yes, everything is going well in your higher centers, but(because the different points of attack have clearly followed the order of the centers). Four or five days ago, or maybe a week, before this latest difficulty occurred, I saw little beings coming out of the sub conscient and saying, Ah! Your legs havent had any trouble for a long time! Its the turn of the lower centers! I swept it all away, of course, but.
Taken this way, it could be an indication that all this needs a somewhat brutal preparation in order to be put in the necessary condition.
(silence)
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)
--
But I have no doubts about that! It just came to menot because I was consciously concerned about Your physical future: this dream simply came so unexpectedly and vividly.
No, no I know that! I tell you, it can only be one of two things: either a good kick from the Enemy who is still trying to find a support in someones mentality, or else premonitory.
--
But truly speaking, the minute one completely emerges from the ordinary mind, NO EXTERIOR SIGN IS A PROOF, absolutely none. There is absolutely no standard to go byneither splendid good health nor good equilibrium, nor an almost general disorganizationnone of these. All depends exclusivelyexclusivelyon what the Lord has decided. Exclusively. consequently, if one remains very quiet, one is sure to know what He has decided.
When I am perfectly tranquil, I immediately live in a beatific joy where questions dont arisethere are no questions! One asks for nothingone LIVES! One lives happily, and thats all. Theres no, Will it be like this? Will it be like that?how childish! There are no questions, questions dont arise. One is a beatitude manifesting, that is all.
--
Basically, if we were capable of. When I am up in my room, its very easy, very easy: it comes and what is a little more difficult is getting out of that state. There I am, like this (gesture of blissful abandonment), and when I feel its time to go downstairs or I have something to do or someone is coming with lunch or whatever, then its a little difficult; otherwise, I am like that (same gesture). Whats difficult is my contact with the Ashram people. As soon as I go down and simply that, having to fidget on my feet, giving people flowers. And they are so un consciously egotistical! If I dont go through the usual concentration on each one of them, they wonder, What is it? Whats wrong? Have I done something? And and it turns into a big drama.
Otherwise, concentration is very good, it doesnt tire mewhen my body is not drained, when it isnt constantly aware that it exists because it hurts here, hurts there, aches here, aches there (pain is what gives it a sense of existing), when the body is able to forget itself, things go well, its nothing. Now the Force passes through me without causing fatigue, while many years ago, too much Force created tension; but its not like that now, not at allon the contrary, the body feels better when a lot of force has passed through it.
I dont know. We shall see.
--
To realize what one has to realize, it is absolutely indispensable to be TOTALLY free of all ties with the ordinary, false consciousness common to material body- consciousness the consciousness of the body-substancederiving from the sub conscient and the in conscient. This must not only be mastered (it has been mastered for a long time)but there must be complete independence so that it no longer has the power to provoke any reaction at all. But we arent there yet, its still not like that, and as long as it isnt, we are not on the safe side. But when all the bodys cells, even in their most sub conscious reactions, will come to know what I myself know, that the Supreme alone exists, when they will know that, it will be goodnot before. As I told you just now, they still have ordinary reactions: If I have to stay on my feet, (this isnt a thought; Im obliged to use words, but it isnt a thought), If I have to stay on my feet, Im going to get tired; if I do too much, Ill be tired, if I do this, it will have that consequence, if. This stupid, automatic little mechanism. its not yet THAT, not yet That!
Of course, theres the constant difficulty of all the thoughts coming from outside and from the people you live with. But now the consciousness is such that these outer things are seen objectively (Mother makes a gesture of seeing vibrations coming and stopping before her eyes)automatically I see everything that comes from the surrounding vibrations objectively: far, near, above, below, everywhere. The vibration comes WITH THE KNOWLEDGE. In other words, its not that you see what it is only after it has been received and absorbed: it comes with the knowledge, and this is a great help. This type of perception has considerably increased and become much more precise since that experience [of January 24], much more; it has made a big difference.
But perhaps there will have to be many experiences of this nature before the work is done. It is possible.
--
There is one question I would very much like to ask you How can all this work you are doing on your body, this work of consciousness, act upon the corporeal substance outside you? How is it generally valid?
In the same way as alwaysbecause the vibration spreads out! Thats how it works.
--
Thats how it works. Because all substance is ONE. All is onewe constantly forget that! We always have a sense of separation, and that is total, total falsehood; its because we rely on what our eyes see, on (Mother touches her hands and arms, as if to indicate a separate body, cut off from other bodies). That is truly Falsehood. As soon as your consciousness changes a little, you realize that what we see is like an image plastered over something. But its not true, NOT TRUE AT ALL. Even in the most material Matter, even a stoneeven in a stoneas soon as ones consciousness changes, all this separation, all this division, completely vanishes. These are (how to put it?) modes of concentration (something akin to yet not quite that), vibratory modes WITHIN THE SAME THING.8
(The clock strikes) Oh, now I must go!
--
The terminology used by Mother and Sri Aurobindo is distinct from the terminology of Western psychology. This is how Sri Aurobindo defines 'in conscient' and 'sub conscient': 'All upon earth is based on the In conscient, as it is called, though it is not really in conscient at all, but rather a complete "sub"- conscience, a suppressed or involved consciousness, in which there is everything but nothing is formulated or expressed. The sub conscient lies between this In conscient and the conscious mind, life and body.'
Cent. Ed., XXII, p. 354
Three years earlier, in 1958, Mother had told Satprem that February and March were 'bad months,' and she had spoken of cyclical movements in Nature like those in the individual consciousness, with alternating periods of difficulty and progress.
Four times a year, for 'darshan,' visitors poured into the Ashram to pass one by one before Mother (and formerly Sri Aurobindo as well) to receive her look.
Since 'Bohr's atom' at the beginning of the century, which with its electrons orbiting around a central nucleus like planets around a sun was to have been the mathematical model representing the ultimate constituent of matter, nuclear physicists have discovered many new elementary particles in the universe: from leptons to baryons, with neutrinos, pions, kaons, psi and khi particles in between!
A recentand unifying (!)theory postulated by the American Nobel Laureate, Murray Gell-Mann, would reduce this somewhat startling enumeration to more reasonable proportions through the introduction of a unique sub-particle constituting all matter: the quark. Nevertheless, there would still exist several kinds of quarks (e.g., 'strange,' 'charmed,' 'colored' in red, yellow and blue) for accommodating the various qualities of matter. A proton, for example, would consist of three quarks: red, yellow and blue. However, it should be noted that quarks are basically mathematical intermediaries to facilitate the comprehension or interpretation of certain experiments thus far unexplained. Moreover, the simple question still remains, even if they do exist materially: 'What are quarks made of?'
Nevertheless, a mathematical model resulting from a recent theory that attempts to represent our material universe strangely resembles Mother's perception, for it postulates a milieu consisting entirely of electromagnetic waves of very high frequency. According to this theory, Matter itself is the 'coagulation' of these waves at the moment they exceed a certain frequency threshold; our perception of emptiness, of fullness, of the hard or the transparent, being finally due only to the differences in vibratory frequencies'vibratory modes within the same thing.'
But what is this 'same thing'?
0 1961-02-14, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo wants to make the distinction between the progressive soul (the soul which has experiences and progresses from life to life), what can be called the lower soul, and the higher soul, that is, the eternal, immutable and divine soulessentially divine. He wrote this when he was in contact with certain Theosophical writings, before I introduced Theons vocabulary to him. For Theon, there is the divine center which is the eternal soul, and the psychic being; similarly, to avoid using the same word in both cases, Sri Aurobindo speaks in later writings of the psychic being and of the divine center or central being the essential soul.
What if we translate it la partie suprieure de lme, [the higher part of the soul], rather than me suprieure?
0 1961-02-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You cant imagine the accumulation of impressions recorded and stored in the sub conscient, heaped one on top of another. Outwardly, you dont even notice, the waking consciousness isnt aware of it; but they come in, they keep on coming and coming, piling up hideous!
So well see how long this is going to last. I understand why people have never tried to change it: stir up that quagmire? No! It takes a lot (laughing), a lot of courage! Oh, its so easy to escape, so easy to say, None of that concerns me. I belong to higher spheres, it doesnt concern me.
Anyway, its obvious that nobody has succeeded, so far not a single person and I understand! I understand. When you find yourself face to face with it, you wonder, How could anything possibly withstand this!
--
Yes. By acting from above, one can keep these things under control, hold them in place, prevent them from taking any unpleasant initiatives, but thats not. To transform means to transform.
Even mastery can be achievedits quite easy to do from above. But for the transformation one must descend, and that is terrible. Otherwise, the sub conscient will never be transformed, it will remain as it is.
--
Anyhow, I was sent here to do this work, so I am trying to do it, thats all. I could have. If it hadnt been for the work, I would have left with Sri Aurobindo; there you have it. I remained only for the sake of the workbecause it was there to be done and he told me to do it and I am doing it. Otherwise, when one is perfectly conscious, one is far less limited without a body: one can see a hundred people at the same time, in a hundred different places, just as Sri Aurobindo is doing right now.
If I may ask, has Sri Aurobindo remained quite conscious of material things?
Completely. (Mother reflects a moment) Well, completely material, noonly through me. He is conscious of material things through me, not directly. He is very conscious in the subtle physical, but thats not quite the same, not quite (Mother makes a vague gesture), there is a difference.
To give a rather curious example, there was a kind of spell of illness over the Ashram, stemming mainly from peoples thoughts, from their way of thinking. It was quite widespread and it was horrible, gloomy, full of fear, pettiness, blind submission, oh! Everyone was in a state of expectation.1 In short, the atmosphere was such that there was an attempt to prevent me from leaving my room I had to sneak out! It was disgusting! Well, on the very night I saw the spell over the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo was lying sick in his bed, just as I had seen him in 1950. Normally, we spend almost every night together, doing this, seeing that, arranging things, talkingits a kind of se cond life behind this one, and it makes existence pleasant. But that night when I had to sneak out of my room (in my nightgown!), and people were trying to find me to (laughing) force me back into bed, he was lying sick in bedand this struck me hard, for it means these things still affect him in his consciousness. He was in a kind of trance and not at all well. It didnt last, but nonetheless.
Oh, the things that can collect there,2 ugh!
--
(A short while later, concerning a book on Sri Aurobindo that Satprem was to write:4)
Have you seen Bharatidi?5
--
Your book should convey this feelingwithout stating it. convey the feeling, transmit ittransmit this solar light.
(silence)
--
A great deal has been brought to light since that experience. It has been the starting point for such turmoil, even physically, such strong jolts that I might have wondered, Was I dreaming or was it real?. And more and more I am coming to understand that this is the INDISPENSABLE preparation in the most material world for that experience to become definitively established, to express itself outwardly, constantlythis is obvious.
If the experience remained permanently, it would be something very close to omnipotence. I felt at the time that there was no such thing as an impossibility: it was truly the sensation of omnipotence. It is not omnipotence, because there is always a greater Omnipotence (one knows this only in the higher realms). But in terms of the material world, it was clearly something very, very different from all that has ever been seen or heard or told by all extant traditionsit all seems like the babbling of a child in comparison. At that moment itself there was only the Something which sees, decidesand it is done.
--
It has given the physical consciousness a certain self- confidence in the sense that when I see something now, I am sure of it, there are no hesitations: Is this right or not? Is this true, is this.All that has vanishedwhen I see, there is certainty. That is, there has really been a great change in the material conSCIOUSNESS; but that formidable power is not there. I tell you, had that power stayed here, had I remained constantly as I was during those hours that night, well, many things would obviously have changed.
All this must be a preparation; there is a lot to be cleared out before the experience can be firmly established. Thats logical, it is quite natural.
--
And the same goes for their stories about attachments and desiresmy god! Theres nothing to it! Imagine, with anything concerning my body, through all this horror of the sub conscient, NOT ONCE have I had to bear the consequence of a desire; I have always had to bear the consequences of the battle against lifes un conscious and malicious resistances, but not once has something come up like that (gesture of something resurging from below) to tell me, You see! You had a desire, now heres the result of it! Not oncevery, very sincerely.
Thats really not the difficulty the difficulty is that the world is not ready! The very substance one is made of (Mother touches her body) shares in the worlds lack of preparationnaturally! Its the same thing, the very same thing. Perhaps there is a tiny bit more light in this body, but so little that its not worth mentioning-its all the same thing. Oh, a sordid slavery!
--
I want you to have enough time to write your book, because I feel that Sri Aurobindo is interested in it the sun that came a while ago was from him. I feel he is interested and confident you can do it.
What have you reread?
--
And part of The Secret of the Veda, as well as two other things because they contain many of Sri Aurobindos letters: I re-read Zs book on Sri Aurobindo, since there are many letters in it, and.
Yes, only unfortunately he has tampered with it.
--
Note that a few days earlier [the night of February 12], a disciple had a very symbolic dream in which she saw all the disciples gathered near the Ashram's main gate with an air of consternation, as though something had happened to Mother.
In the sub conscient.
--
Sri Aurobindo et la Transformation du Monde [Sri Aurobindo and the Transformation of the World], a book that Editions du Seuil had asked Satprem to write and subsequently refused on the pretext that it did not conform to the 'spirit of the collection.' This book would never see the light of day. Satprem would later write another book entitled Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of consciousness.
A long-time disciple (Suzanne Karpeles) and a member of the cole Franaise d'Extrme Orient.
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.
You can easily make a speech using flowers and I have noticed that this can effectively replace the old Vedic images, for instance, which no longer hold meaning for us, or the ambiguous phraseology of the ancient initiations. Flower language is much better because it contains the Force and is extremely plasticsince its not formulated in words, each one is free to arrange and receive it according to his own capacity. You can make long speeches using flowers!
I have nothing more to say now, except that the same situation prevails.
The Darshan went rather well, much better than I was expecting; but the following two days it was difficult here [in the body]. Then one night (I dont remember which), I I cant say grumbled, but (it wasnt my body grumbling, it is very docile and doesnt protest), but I sometimes find that well, I found it a little exaggerated that day. All the same, I said, this may be demanding a bit too much of it! And then (Mother laughs) the whole night through, each time I awoke and looked (not with my physical eyes), I saw serpents! They were drawn up straight in a circlemagnificent cobras with white bellies, pearl gray backs and flecks of gold on their hoods! They surrounded me, watching, exactly as though they were saying, All the necessary energy is there! You neednt worry! So I concluded that this whole affair11 must have its utilityit cant be simply the bodys lack of plasticity and incapacity to receive. It must have a usefulness but what? I havent understood. Perhaps I will get the explanation later, once its over.
And the next afternoon, I closed my eyes while I was bathing and what did I see but an enormous, magnificent cobra! It gazed at me, almost smiling, and stuck out its tongue! Good, I said, then everything is all right! (laughing) I have only to hold on.
--
I replied very briefly in English. I havent brought my answer with me, but I can tell you right away that there are two signstwo certain, infallible signs. I know them through personal experience, for they are two things that can ONLY come with the supramental consciousness; without it, one cannot possess themno yogic effort, no discipline, no tapasya can give them to you, while they come almost automatically with the supramental consciousness.
The first sign is perfect equality as Sri Aurobindo has described it (you must know it, theres a whole chapter on equality, samat, in The Synthesis of Yoga)exactly as he described it with such wonderful precision! But this equality (which is not equanimity) is a particular STATE where one relates to all things, outer and inner, and to each individual thing, in the same way. That is truly perfect equality: vibrations from things, from people, from contacts have no power to alter that state.
In my reply I mentioned this first, though I didnt give him all these explanations. I put it in a few words as a kind of test of his intelligence, and in a somewhat cryptic form to see if he would understand.
The se cond sign is a sense of ABSOLUTENESS in knowledge. As I have already told you, I had this with my experience of January 24. This state CANNOT be obtained through any region of the mind, even the most illumined and exalted. Its not a certainty, its (Mother lowers both hands like an irresistible block descending), a kind of absoluteness, without even any possibility of hesitation (theres no question of doubt), or anything like that. Without (how to say it ?). All mental knowledge, even the highest, is a conclusive knowledge, as it were: it comes as a conclusion of something elsean intuition, for instance (an intuition gives you a particular knowledge, and this knowledge is like the conclusion of the intuition). Even revelations are conclusions. Theyre all conclusions the word conclusion comes to me, but I dont know how to express it. This isnt the case, however, with the supramental experiencea kind of absolute. The feeling it gives is altogether uniquefar beyond certainty, it is (Mother again makes the same irresistible gesture) it is a FACT, things are FACTS. It is very, very difficult to explain. But with that one naturally has a complete power the two things always go together. (In my reply to this man I didnt speak of power because the power is almost a consequence and I didnt want to speak of consequences.) But the fact remains: a kind of absoluteness in knowledge springing from identityone is the thing one knows and experiences: one is it. One knows it because one is it.
When these two signs are present (both are necessary, one is incomplete without the other), when a person possesses both, then you can be sure he has been in contact with the Supermind. So people who speak about receiving the Light well, (laughing) its a lot of hot air! But when both signs are present, you can be sure of your perception.12
(silence)
--
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).
(silence)
Obviously, the body needed a test, a VERY SEVERE test, because from a personal viewpoint, its the only explanation I can find for all these disorders. There are many explanations from a general viewpoint, but. Anyway, I will know the day I am toldall these imaginings are useless. But from a personal viewpoint. You see, for a long time (more than a year now, probably almost two), this body hasnt felt its limits.14 It is not at all its former self; it is scarcely more than a concentration now, a kind of agglomeration of something; it is not a body in a skinnot at all. Its a sort of agglomeration, a concentration of vibrations. And even what is normally called illness (but it is not illness, these are not illnesses, they are functional disorders), even these functional disorders dont have the same meaning for the body as they have for the doctor, for instance, or for ordinary people. Its not like that, the body doesnt feel it like that. It feels it rather as as a kind of difficulty in adjusting to some new vibratory need.
(silence)
--
But the body itself doesnt know why this is happening. And in fact, it finds it unnecessary to try: its like that because its like that. And were it called upon, it would say, Very well, when conditions ought to be otherwise, they will be otherwise. Thats exactly its position.
(silence)
--
All this [the world, the Ashram] is held in my consciousness with a kind of essential compassion applying equally to all things, all difficulties, all obstacles. I receive letters by the dozens, as you know, and each person comes to me with his own little misery or problem, inner or outer (a tiny pimple becomes a mountain). When people come to me, my inner consciousness always responds in the same way, with a kind of equality and compassion for all. But when people are talking to me or I am reading a letter and my body grows conscious of what it calls the to-do they make over their miseries, it has a kind of feeling (I mean there is a feeling in the cells): Why do they take things like that! They are making things much more difficult. The body understands. It understands that their way of taking the least little difficulty in such a blind, egotistical and self-centered manner, increases its difficulties furiously!
Its a rather amusing sensation, a combination of sensation and feeling, that the ordinary human attitude towards things multiplies and magnifies the difficulties to FANTASTIC proportions; while if they simply had the true attitudea NORMAL attitude, quite simple, uncomplicatedahh, all life would be much easier. For the body feels the vibrations (those very vibrations which concentrate to form a body), it feels their nature and sees that its normal reaction, a peaceful and confident reaction, makes things so much easier! But as soon as this agitation of anxiety, fear, dis content comes in, the reaction of a will that doesnt want any of it oh, right away it becomes like water boiling: pff! pff! pff! like a machine. While if the difficulty is accepted with confidence and simplicity, its reduced to its minimum, and I mean purely materially, in the material vibration itself.
Almost (I say almost because the body hasnt had every experience), but almost all pains can be reduced to something absolutely negligible. (Of course, some pains it hasnt had, but it has had a sufficient number!) Its this anxiety resulting from a semi-mental vibration (the first stirrings of Mind) that complicates everything, everything! For example, take this difficulty I mentioned of climbing the stairs: in the doctors consciousness or anyone elses, pain causes it. According to their ordinary reasoning, pain is what tenses the nerves and muscles so one can no longer walk but this is absolutely FALSE. Pain does not prevent my body from doing anything at all. Pain isnt a factor, or rather its a factor that can be easily dealt with. Its not that: it is Matter; Matter (probably cellular matter, or) losing its capacity to respond to the will, to will-power. But why? I dont know! It depends upon the particular disorganization; but why is it like that? I dont know. Now each time I climb the stairs, I am trying to find the means of infusing Will in such a way that this lack of response doesnt last but I still havent found it. Although theres all this accumulated force and power and will (a tremendous accumulation, I am BATHED in it, the whole body is bathed in it!), yet for some reason it doesnt respond. Here and there, groups of cells fail to respond, and the Force cannot act. So what must be found is.
(silence)
Even in this, right now, in what I am saying, theres a sense of tapasya; theres the whole inner consciousness making the body do a tapasya. But my knowledge and my certainty (what I KNOW) is that it may be a necessary preparation, but it is NOT what accomplishes the work.15 Rather, it is something acting like that (Mother abruptly turns her hand over to indicate a reversal of states). And when it goes like that, it is done, all is done. All is done.
Are these disorders necessary for it to become like that? I have my doubts. I have my doubts. But the question cant even be asked, because what it implies seems to verge on a fatalism having no truth in itselfit is not a fatalism, not at all. What is it? Something that defies expression.
--
Even the body, the body itself, has the constant perception of bathing in the vibration of the conCRETE divine Presence; so certainly from a psychological standpoint there is not the slightest shadow in the picture. Even from the material standpoint, this Presence is here. Yet although it is here, felt, perceived and experienced, there is still this disorder! (I call it disorder.)
(long silence)
--
Its a curious thing speaking evidently helps me follow the experience. But I cant just begin speaking all alone up in my room! And talking to a tape recorder is useless. Up to now, it certainly flows the best with youby far. I havent tried with others, although occasionally Ive said something to Nolini, but his receptivity is fuzzy (I dont know whether you can understand this impression: its as though my. words were going into cotton-wool). Once, as I told you, I spoke with R., and with him I felt that three quarters of it was absolutely lostand as a matter of fact it was. But with you I begin to SEE, and the need to formulate makes me concentrate on my vision. And this I experience with you more than I ever have with anyone. So.
So you are bearing the consequences!
Well, thendo you need anything? Nothing? Petit, when I have something especially good for lunch, I always feel like giving it to you!
--
1) A perfect and constant equality
2) An absolute certainty in knowledge.
To be perfect, the equality must be invariable and spontaneous, effortless, towards all circumstances, all happenings, all contacts, material or psychological, irrespective of their character and impact.
The absolute and indisputable certainty of an infallible knowledge through identity.
--
'There is no longer this kind of opposition between what is an agreeable impact and what is a disagreeable one. There are no more "agreeable" things and "disagreeable" things: they are simply vibrations one registers. Usually when people receive a shock they do this (gesture of recoil), then they reflect, concentrate, and finally restore peace. But equality does not mean that! That's not what it is. The state must be SPONTANEOUS, constant and invariable.'
Atman: the Self or Spirit.
Here Mother gradually goes into trance and all the rest of this conversation will take place in a state of trance.
I.e., it is not through any effort or tapasya that the true change is brought about.
0 1961-02-28, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Anyway, in reply to this nonsense, I have said: Your error, to be precise, is that you go to the Theosophical Society, for example, with the same opening as to the Christian religion or to the Buddhist doctrine or with which you read one of Sri Aurobindos booksand as a result, you are plunged into a confusion and a muddle and you dont understand anything about anything.
And then the reply came to me very strongly; something took hold of me and I was, so to say, obliged to write: What Sri Aurobindo represents in the worlds history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme.2
--
See conversation of February 18: 'Sri Aurobindo is an Action...'
Mother added: And I am just trying to fulfill that action.
0 1961-03-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Look, its Enthusiasm, see how beautiful it is! It must be put in water right away, otherwise. It needs vital force and water is vital force. Its lovely! What fantasy! And this one is the consciousness one with the Divine consciousness,1 but supramentalizedbeginning to be supramentalized. And here is a very pretty Promise of Realization2, and heres Balance3 and the Peace of Faithfulness.4
There you are, mon petit.
--
Listen, mon petit, you dont need to ask, I will tell you right away. Sri Aurobindo has written somewhere that the movement of world transformation is double: first, the individual who does sadhana6 and establishes contact with higher things; but at the same time, the world is a base and it must rise up a little and prepare itself for the realization to be achieved (this is putting it simply). Some people live merely on the surface they come alive only when they stir about restlessly. Whatever happens inside them (if anything does!) is immediately thrown out into movement. Such people always need an outer activity; take J. for example: he fastened onto Sri Aurobindos phrase, World Union, and came to tell me he wanted.
He has been like that since the beginning (gesture expressing agitation), and he had a go at a considerable number of things but none ever succeeded! He has no method, no sense of order and he doesnt know how to organize work. So World Union is simply to let him have his way, like letting a horse gallop.
I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people I dont know about what. And during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of human unity). So Z returned with the idea of forming a World Union, and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M.7 and even by the Prime Minister,8 who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. Thats how things began.
--
Now it has all fallen flat. They are carrying on with their little activities, but its absolutely unimportant. They publish a small journal, and V, who writes for them, is far from stupid. She is rather intelligent and I have some control over her, so I will try to stop her from writing nonsense.
They also had a sudden brainstorm to affiliate with the Sri Aurobindo Society. But the Sri Aurobindo Society has absolutely nothing to do with their project: its a strictly external thing, organized by businessmen to bring in moneyEXCLUSIVELY. That is, they want to put people in a position where they feel obliged to give (so far they have succeeded and I believe they will succeed). But this has nothing to do with working for an ideal, it is COMPLETELY practical.10 And of course, World Union has nothing to offer the Sri Aurobindo Society: they would simply siphon off funds. So I told them, Nothing doingits out of the question!
--
This is the text of Mother's reply to J.: 'I have read Z's account and your own letter on this subject. in the faith of his devotion, he must have been quite offended. The truth in what he says is that any idea, WHATEVER its degree of truth, is ineffective if it does not also carry the power acquired through realization, by a real change of consciousness. And if the proponent of this idea does not himself have the realization, he must seek the backing of those who have the power. On the other hand, what you say is true: an idea ought to be accepted on the basis of its inherent truth and not because of the personality expounding it, however great this personality may be. These two truths or aspects of the question are equally true but also equally incomplete: they are not the whole truth. Both of them must be accepted and combined with many other aspects of the question if you want to even begin to approach the dynamic power of the realization. Don't you see how ridiculous this situation is? Three people of goodwill meet in the hope of teaching men the necessity for a "World Union" and they are not even able to keep a tolerant or tolerable union among themselves, because each sees a different angle of the procedure to be followed for implementing their plan.'
Although it began as a fund-raising organization for the needs of the Ashram and Auroville, this 'strictly external thing,' which had 'nothing to do with working for an ideal,' would, after Mother's departure, coolly declare itself the 'owner' and guide of Auroville.
--
See conversation of February 18, 1961
Gaillardia.
0 1961-03-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(After the work, towards the end of the conversation:)
Ive been feeling lazy! I have received an abominable avalanche of letters, three-quarters of which are useless but I have to look at them to know whether theyre useless or not, so it takes up my morning before coming downstairs. I usually translated The Synthesis of Yoga in the afternoons, or answered questions, but nowadays I go into concentration at that time: I dont do anything. I want to cure my legs.
I am determined to cure myself they told me it was incurable. The doctors poison you to cure you (as they poisoned our poor S.), and thats no cure! When they dont feel the need to show off in front of the patient, they openly acknowledge that it isnt at all sure that their medicines cure: they merely make you inoffensive to others! But I dont believe in it I dont believe in doctors, I dont believe in their remedies and I dont believe in their science (they are very useful, they have a great social utility, but for myself, I dont believe in it).
I knew when I caught it: it was at the Playground.4 Certain people poisoned me with a mosquito bite the instant the mosquito bit me, I knew, because it so happens I am a little bit conscious! But I controlled it like this (gesture of holding the disease in abeyance and under control), so it couldnt stir. Probably it would never have stirred if I hadnt had that experience of January 24 and the body didnt need to be made ready. For the body to be ready, a host of things belonging to the dasyus, as the Vedas say, cant be stored inside it! These are very nasty little dasyus (laughing), they have to be chased away!
When the disease came back, I said to myself, Very well, this means it must be dealt with in a new way.
--
Its a rather difficult business and could last a long time: I dont want it to stay dormant and then resurface with the next attack of this or that. So I am proceeding slowly and cautiously, which means it takes time: I concentrate and work on it for one hour after lunch every day. (I used to do my translation then, but since Im at least two or three years ahead of the Bulletin, it doesnt matter, I wont be delaying the work! I have almost finished The Yoga of Divine Love; now theres only The Yoga of Self-Perfection thats quite a job, oh! I miss itthis translation was my pleasure.) But the work on the body is useful something must be attempted in life; we are here to do something new, arent we?!
But were you bitten like that by accident?
--
Mon petit, I dont claim to be totally universal, but in any case I am open enough to receive. You see, given the quantity of material I have taken into my consciousness, its quite natural that the body bears the consequences. There is nothing, not one wrong movement, that my body doesnt feel5; generally, though, things are automatically set in order (gesture indicating that Mother automatically purifies and masters the vibrations coming to her). But there are timesespecially when it coincides with a revolt of adverse forces who dont want to give up their domain and enter into battle with all their mightwhen I must admit its hard. If I had some hours of solitude it would be easier. But particularly during the period of my Playground activities, I was badgered, harassed; I would rush from one thing to the next, one thing to the next, I had no nights to speak ofnights of two and a half or three hours rest, which isnt enough, theres no time to put things in order.
Under those conditions I could only hold the thing like this (same gesture of muzzling the illness or holding it in abeyance).
All the same, wasnt it a mosquito that bit you?
--
No, the difference, the great difference, is that when one is conscious, the thing is KNOWN immediately and one can react.
Thats all, mon petit.
Yesterday I sent you something (there wasnt much of it, just a taste): its a bit of the pistachio puree they make for me. concentrated food.6 Its funny I have got it into my head to make you a gourmand! (Mother laughs) Good-bye, mon petit.
Gomphrena globosa (purple Amaranth).
--
Mother is referring to the movements of consciousness, both good and bad, of those whom she has accepted as disciples and taken into her consciousness.
Mother was already seeking the 'new food.'
0 1961-03-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then I had to return here that is, to my home in India, to Sri Aurobindos home: I had to return to Sri Aurobindos home. Pavitra was also working there and he didnt want to let me leave; when he saw me going he came and tried to stop me. You, on the contrary, were helping. Shall I take anything with me or not? I asked myself Oh, I dont need anything, Ill go all alone. That worried you a little because of the journey ahead, and you said, There will be many complications. It doesnt matter! I replied (laughing). But if you only knew how living and concrete it was! The impressions were so there was the feeling of making a long voyageit was a LONG voyage, as if I were crossing the sea (but not physically), a long voyage. I remember setting off (I was with you, you were there) and telling myself, At last hes here! At last I have found a reasonable being who doesnt try to stop me from doing what I must do! I had (laughing mischievously) a very high opinion of you, thats why I am telling you this!
I was abruptly awakened by the clock striking (I didnt count), and my immediate feeling was, Well, he is really very nice! Now theres a good companion!
--
What use are discussions? in general, those who like to discuss need the stimulation of contradiction to clarify their ideas.
Its a thing I live almost constantly: I have people like that around me!
Its clearly the sign of a rudimentary intellectual stage.
But if you can witness a discussion as an impartial spectator (I mean even if you are involved in the discussion), you can always gain a lot from it by considering a question or a problem from several points of view; and by trying to re concile opposing opinions, you can broaden your ideas and rise to a more comprehensive synthesis.
What is the best way to make others understand what you feel to be true?
--
How long did it last? Its hard to say. But for man it was a life like a sort of flowering of animal life. My memory is of a life where the body was perfectly adapted to its natural surroundings. The climate was in harmony with the needs of the body, the body with the demands of the climate. Life was wholly spontaneous and natural, as a more luminous and conscious animal life would be, with absolutely none of the complications and deformations brought in later by the mind as it developed.
I have a recollection of this life, for I relived it when I first became conscious of the life of the entire earth; but I cant say how long it lasted or what area it covered I dont know. I only remember the conditions at that time, the state of material Nature and the human form and human consciousness, and this state of harmony with all the other elements of the earth: harmony with animal life and a great harmony with plant lifethere was a kind of spontaneous knowledge of how to use the things of Nature, the qualities of plants, fruits and all that vegetal nature could offer. There was no aggressiveness, no fear, no contradictions or frictions, and no perversion the mind was pure, simple, luminous, uncomplicated.
It was certainly with the progress of evolution, the march of evolution, when the mind began to develop for and in itself, that ALL the complications, all the deformations began. Indeed, this story of Genesis that seems so childish does contain a truth. The old traditions like Genesis resembled the Vedas in that each letter6 was the symbol of a knowledge; it was the pictorial rsum of a traditional knowledge, just as the Veda contains a pictoral rsum of the knowledge of its time. But whats more, even the symbol had a reality in the sense that there was truly a period when life upon earth (the first manifestation of mentalized Matter in human forms) was still in complete harmony with all that preceded it. It was only later that.
The tree of knowledge symbolizes this kind of knowledge a material knowledge, no longer divine because its origin was the sense of division and this is what began to spoil everything. How long did this period last? I am unable to say. (Because my recollection is of an almost immortal life; it seems that it was through some sort of evolutionary accident that the destruction of forms became necessary for progress.) And where did it take place? From certain impressions (but these are only impressions), it would seem that it was in the vicinity of either this side of Ceylon and India or the other, I dont know exactly (Mother indicates the Indian Ocean either west of Ceylon and India or to the east between Ceylon and Java), although certainly the place no longer exists; it must have been swallowed up by the sea. I have a very clear vision of the place and a consciousness of that life and its forms, but I cant give precise material details. Did it last for centuries, was it ? I dont know. To tell the truth, when I was reliving those moments I wasnt curious about such details (for one is in another mental state where there is no curiosity about material details: all things turn into psychological facts). It was something so simple, luminous, harmonious, far removed from all our usual preoccupationsthose very preoccupations with time and space. It was a spontaneous life, extremely beautiful, and so close to Naturea natural flowering of animal life. There were no oppositions or contradictions, nothing of the kindeverything happened in the best way possible.
(silence)
A similar memory has recurred several times under different circumstancesnot exactly the same scene and the same images, because it wasnt something I was seeing but A LIFE I was living. During a certain period, at any time, night or day, I would experience a particular state of trance in which I was rediscovering a life I had lived. I was fully conscious that this life had to do with the first flowering of the human form upon earth, the first human forms able to incarnate the divine being from above. This was the first time I could manifest in a particular terrestrial form (not a general life but an individual form); that is, for the first time, through the mentalization of this material substance, the junction between the higher Being and the lower being was made. I have lived that several times, and always in a similar setting and with quite a similar feeling of such joyous simplicity, without complexity, without problems, without all these questions. It was the blossoming of a joy of lifenothing but that; love and harmony prevailed: flowers, minerals, animals all got along together perfectly.
Things began to go wrong only a LONG time afterwards, long after (but this is a personal impression), probably because certain mental crystallizations were necessary, inevitable, for the general evolution, so that the mind might prepare itself to move on to something else. That was when oh, it seems like a fall into a pitinto ugliness, darkness! Everything became so dark, so ugly, so difficult, so painful. Really really the sense of a fall.
--
For the earth it probably happened like that, all at once: a sort of ascent, then the fall. But the earth is a tiny concentrationuniversally, its something else.
(silence)
The recollection of those times is stored somewhere in the terrestrial memory, that region where all the earths memories are inscribed. Those who contact this memory can tell you that the earthly paradise still exists somewhere.7 But it doesnt exist materially. I dont know, I dont see it.
(silence)
--
According to Theon, the serpent wasnt the spirit of evil at all: it was the evolutionary Force. And Sri Aurobindo fully agreed; he used to tell me the same thing: the evolutionary power the mental evolutionary poweris what drove man to gain knowledge, a knowledge of division. And its a fact that along with the sense of Good and Evil, man became conscious of himself. Naturally, this ruined everything and he couldnt stay: it was his own consciousness that drove him out of Paradisehe could no longer stay.
Then was man banished by Jehovah or by his own consciousness?
These are just two ways of seeing the same thing!
In my view, all these old Scriptures and ancient traditions have a graduated content (gesture showing different levels of understanding), and according to the needs of the epoch and the people, one symbol or another was drawn upon. But a time comes when one goes beyond these things and sees them from what Sri Aurobindo calls the other hemisphere, where one realizes that they are only modes of expression to put one in contacta kind of bridge or link between the lower way of seeing and the higher way of knowing.
A time comes when all these disputesAh, no, this is like this, that is like thatseem so silly, so silly! And there is nothing more comical than this spontaneous reply so many people give: Oh, thats impossible! Because with even the most rudimentary intellectual development, you would know you couldnt even think of something if it werent possible!
--
Matter was very simple and very harmonious and very luminous not complex enough. This complexity is what ruined everything, but it will lead to an INFINITELY more conscious realizationinfinitely more conscious. And when the earth again becomes as harmonious, simple, luminous, puresimple, pure, purely divine then, with this complexity added, something can be achieved.
(Mother gets up to leave)
--
This is the origin of such legends as Shangri-la. But 'psychics' most often confuse two planes of reality, attri buting to their SUBTLE vision a physical reality which it does not have or no longer has: they have merely entered into contact with the memory of a place for places, like beings, have a memory.
At first, Mother had said, 'But it's impossible.' Then, laughing, she had the word deleted.
0 1961-03-14, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then there are days when you are in contact with the divine consciousness, with the Grace, and all is tinged, colored by this Presence, and things which usually seem dull to you become charming and pleasant all is alive, all is vibrant. At other moments you are clouded, closed, you no longer feel anything, everything loses its flavor you are like a walking block of wood.
It comes and goes along the way, you dont keep it permanently; its like crossing a zone, a perfumed zone, and then its past for the moment, its over. A fleeting caress.
--
How to explain it? Its rather strange: the cells attitude and their state of consciousness is changing with extraordinary rapidity; yet from the ordinary viewpoint of health, there is no corresponding progress, quite the contrary. One could say things arent going too well, but I see clearly that its not true. I see that it isnt true, its only an appearance but re conciling the two is difficult.
I have been honored with a form of filariasis which occurs perhaps not once in a million cases. The doctor isnt tearing his hair out because thats not his way, but he is perplexed.
Yet the cells sense so perfectly that. All the experiences in the sub conscient at night are quite clear proofs that a a WORLD of things and vibrations is being cleaned outall the vibrations opposed to the cellular transformation. But how can one poor little body do all that work! The body is quite aware of being a sort of accumulation and concentration of things (yet there is inevitably a selectionMo ther laughsbecause if everything had to be worked out in one center like this [her body] it would be it would be impossible!). Oh, if you knew how deeply and perfectly convinced these cells are, in all their groups and sub-groups, each one individually and within the whole, that everything is not only decreed but executed by the Divine, everything! They have a kind of constant awareness so filled with a conscious faith in His infinite wisdom, even when there is what the ordinary consciousness calls suffering or pain. Thats not what it is for the cellsits something else! And the result is a state of yes, a state of peaceful combat. There is a sense of Peace, the vibration of Peace, and simultaneously an impression of being (how to put it?) on the alert, in constant combat. Taken all together it creates a rather odd situation.
And within oh! Its like waves, constantly, the equivalent of those nuances of color I was speaking about, waves of this joy of life, the joy of life rippling past, touching; but instead of being. At times, you see, the body is in a sort of equilibrium (what we, in our ordinary outer consciousness, call equilibrium that is, good health), and then this joy is constant, like swells on the sea (Mother shapes great waves): it seems to flow on behind everything; it comes and shows its face for a moment, then vanishes. In the very tiny things of lifeyes, physical life the joy of these things, the joy life contains, this luminous, special kind of vibration, rises up as if to remind us that its here; it is here, it mustnt be forgotten, its here but its kept down by this tension.
Then, from time to time, everything seems to be on the edge of a precipice; the body doesnt fall simply because it keeps its balance but without this higher state of perfect faith, one would surely fall!
--
There is the sense of all things being organized, concentrated and arranged according to a rhythm, and if one manages to maintain the equilibrium of this rhythm, something permanent results.
(Mother remains absorbed within herself) The equilibrium of this rhythm the progressive, ascending equilibrium of this rhythmis what, for Matter, must constitute Immortality.
Yet even so.
In other words, this coexistence or simultaneity of joy and tension, combat and peace, progress in the cellular consciousness and physical disequilibrium, form a physiological whole which is ... strange.
***
0 1961-03-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Man on earth1 is a transitional being and as a consequence, in the course of his evolution, he has had several successive natures following an ascending curve which they will continue to follow until he touches the threshold of the supramental nature and is transformed into a superman. This curve is the spiral of mental development.
We tend to apply the word natural to all spontaneous manifestation not resulting from a choice or a pre conceived decision that is, with no intrusion of mental activity. Thats why a man with an only slightly mentalized vital spontaneity seems more natural to us in his simplicity. But this naturalness bears a close resemblance to the animals and is quite low on the human evolutionary scale. Man will not recapture this spontaneity free of mental intrusion until he attains the supramental level, until he goes beyond the mind and emerges into the higher Truth.
--
Along with the mind came individualization, an acute sense of separation and a more or less precise feeling of a freedom of choiceall of that, all these psychological states, are the natural consequences of mental life and open the door to everything we see now, from the worst aberrations to the most rigorous principles. Mans impression of being free to choose between one thing and another is the deformation of a true principle that will be totally realizable only when the soul or psychic being becomes conscious in him; were the soul to govern the being, mans life would truly be a conscious expression of the supreme Will translated individually. But in the normal human state, such a case is still extremely rare and doesnt seem at all natural to ordinary human consciousness it seems almost supernatural!
Man questions himself because the mental instrument is made for seeing all possibilities and because the human being feels he has freedom of choice and the immediate consequences are the notions of good and evil, right and wrong, and all the ensuing miseries. This cant be called a bad thing: its an intermediate stagenot a very pleasant stage, but nevertheless it was certainly inevitable for a total development.
***
--
The experience occurred in a place corresponding to ours [the main Ashram building], but immense: the rooms were ten times bigger, but absolutely one cant say emptythey were barren. Not that there was nothing in them, but nothing was in order, everything was just where it shouldnt be. There wasnt any furniture so things were strewn here and therea dreadful disarray! Things were being put to uses they werent made for, yet nothing needed for a particular purpose could be found. The whole section having to do with education [the Ashram School] was in almost total darkness: the lights were out with no way to switch them on, and people were wandering about and coming to me with incoherent, stupid proposals. I tried to find a comer where I could rest (not because I was tired; I simply wanted to concentrate a little and get a clear vision in the midst of it all), but it was impossible, no one would leave me alone. Finally I put a tottering armchair and a footstool end-to-end and tried to rest; but someone immediately came up (I know who, Im purposely not giving names) and said, Oh! This wont do at all! It CANT be arranged like that! Then he began making noise, commotion, disorderwell, it was awful.
To wind it all up, I went to Sri Aurobindos rooman enormous, enormous room, but in the same state. And he appeared to be in an eternal consciousness, entirely detached from everything yet very clearly aware of our total incapacity.
He hadnt eaten (probably because no one had given him anything to eat), and when I entered, he asked me if it was possible to have some breakfast. Yes, of course! I said, Ill go get it, expecting to find it ready. Then I had to hunt around to find something: everything was stuffed into cupboards (and misplaced at that), all disarrangeddisgusting, absolutely disgusting. I called someone (who had been napping and came in with sleep-swollen eyes) and told him to prepare Sri Aurobindos breakfast but he had his own fixed ideas and principles (exactly as he is in real life). Hurry up, I told him, Sri Aurobindo is waiting. But hurry? Impossible! He had to do things according to his own conceptions and with a terrible awkwardness and ineptitude. In short, it took an infinite amount of time to warm up a rather clumsy breakfast.
Then I arrived at Sri Aurobindos room with my plates. Oh, said Sri Aurobindo, it has taken so long that I will take my bath first. I looked at my poor breakfast and thought, Well, I went to so much trouble to make it hot and now its going to get cold! All this was so sordid, so sad.
And he seemed to be living in an eternity, yet fully, fully conscious of of our total incapacity.
It was so sad to see how good-for-nothing we were that it woke me up, or rather I heard the clock strike (like the other day, I didnt count and leapt out of bed; but I quickly noticed that it was only 3 oclock and lay back down). Then I began looking and told myself, If we really have to emerge from all this infirmity before anything can truly be well done, then we have quite a long road to travel! It was pitiful, pitiful (first on the mental, then on the material plane), absolutely pitiful. And I was depending on these people! (Sri Aurobindo was depending on me and therefore on them.) Good god, I said, if I only knew where things were kept! If they had just let me handle things, it could have been done quickly. But no! All those people had to be involved Oust as we always depend on intermediaries in real life).
--
Now I should say-if its any consolation that each time something like this comes into my consciousness at night, things go better afterwards. It is not useless, some work has been donecleaning, cleaning, cleaning out. But theres quite a lot to do!
Does this have an effect on peoples consciousness I mean their outer consciousness?
Ah not much!
--
A sort of power over circumstances does come to me, however, as if I could rise above it all and give the sub conscient a bit of a work-over. Naturally this has some results: entire areas are brought under control. Thats the most important thing. Individuals get the repercussions later because they are very very coagulated, a bit hard! A lack of plasticity.
Take the case of this man Im not naming Ive been training him, working with him, for more than thirty years and I still havent managed to get him to do things spontaneously, according to the needs of the moment, without all his pre conceived ideas. Thats the point where he resists: when things have to be done quickly he follows his usual rule and it takes forever! This was illustrated strikingly that night. I told him, Just look: its there its THEREhurry up and warm it a little and Ill go. Ah! He didnt protest, didnt say anything, but he did things exactly according to his own pre conceptions.
0 1961-03-21, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night I had two consecutive experiences showing with extreme precision that black magic is at the root of all this (Mother is speaking of both general and personal difficulties, in the Ashram and in her body).
First of all, on the mental plane (the physical-mind, the material mind) I saw an individual. I am not entirely certain of his identity (when I saw him last night I didnt associate him with anyone in particular) but from his outer appearance he is evidently a sannyasi. He was pursuing me, blocking my way and trying to stop me from doing my work (it was a long, long affair). But I was very conscious and could foresee everything he was about to do, so it had no effect. After a long while I emerged from this I had something else to do and I leftand on my way home he was everywhere, hiding and trying to catch me; but he didnt succeed in doing anything. And I knew he had been acting in this manner for a long time.
Then I woke up (I always wake up three or four times during the night) and when I went back to bed I had an attack of what the doctor and I have taken to be filariasis but a strange type of filariasis, for as soon as I master it in one spot it appears in another, and when I master it there it reappears somewhere else. Last night it was in the arms (it lasted quite a while, between 2:30 and 4 a.m.); but I was fully conscious, and each time the attack came, I went like this (gestures over the arms, to drive away the attack) and my arms were not affected at all. When it was over, I consciously entered the most material subtle physical, just beyond the body. I was sitting in my room there (an immense, cubic room) reading or writing something, when I heard the door open and close, but I was busy and didnt pay attention, presuming it was one of the people usually around me. Then suddenly I had such an unpleasant sensation in my body that I raised my head and looked, and I saw someone there. Do you know how the magicians in Europe dress, in short satin breeches and a shirt? He was wearing something like that. He was Indian, tall and rather dark, with slicked-down hairwhat you would normally call a handsome young man. He seemed to have been drawn1 there becausehe was standing in front of me staring into space, not looking at me. And the moment I saw him, there was the same sensation in all my cells as I have with what Ive been calling filariasis (its a special, minute kind of pain) and simultaneously all the cells felt disgusta tremendous will of rejection. Then I sat up straight (I didnt stand up) and said to him as forcefully as possible, How do you dare to come in here! I said it so loudly that the noise woke me up! I dont know what happened then, but things went much better afterwards.
The moment I saw this person I knew he was only an instrument, but a well-paid instrumentsomeone paid a great deal to have him do that! I would recognize him again among hundreds I can still see him I see him more clearly than with physical eyes. He is an unintelligent man with no personal animosity, merely a very well-paid instrumentsomeone is hiding behind him, using him as a screen.
--
X told me he has been doing something for me in his puja3since December, it seemsso this morning I thought he should know about the experience and I sent Amrita to tell him. He replied to Amrita that this confirmed his certainty that Z has been making black magic against me since December. He had been told that Z was practicing black magic in Kashmir. Could this be the same person I saw before [during the December 1958 attack]? Since it was someone who concealed his identity, I cant say but this form was robed as a sannyasi. Perhaps its he, I dont know. I reserve my judgment because I dont know personally. But this is what X said, and hes going to redouble his efforts.
Thats the situation.
I had a talk with the doctor this morning and he told me, In fact, your case of filariasis has some symptoms missing and others that dont normally exist. He was a bit perplexed because its impossible for him to understand what it might be if its not filariasis. I said that perhaps (because as I told you, I did have filariasis some years ago, but brought it under control) perhaps its being used as a base for this attack.
Of course, there are certain symptoms which never appear with filariasis. And the doctor has been astounded at the control Ive had over it: it began in the feet, I checked it there; it went higher, I checked it there; then it went higher still and I continued to control it. Finally, the other day, it tried to get into the arms, but it couldnt hold outand last night there was a real riot! (Mother laughs) So perhaps its the deformation or transposition of some sort of mantric effort, like last time in 58 when there was an attempt to make me throw up all my blood but only food came out! Its probably something similar. My impression (Ive had it from the start) is that they have made a try at thrombosis (you know, when something blocks the circulation). Besides, it seems that X asked the doctor if blood-poisoning might be involved, so he must have seen this possibility. There has been absolutely nothing of the kind, but there has been an effort to block the circulation in the veins, probably an adaptation of the magic attack. And along with this have come all the usual things: all the usual suggestions, all the usual prophecies [about Mothers departure]. But for me, these are the normal facts of life, thats all. I am used to it. It has no importance.
Do you really believe Z could be behind this magician you saw?
--
But Z I dont know how to explain my relationship with him. He is sheltered by a light of benediction, so. When he was here I opened the doors for him to a realization he was incapable of having, something light years beyond him; and it gave him an appalling ambition, totally spoiling everything. From this point of view, its a great blessing for him; even if he becomes a dreadful Asura, it will come to a good end! It doesnt matter, its not important. Thats why this morning, even when I heard what X said about Z, it was the same thing: this great Light of the supreme Mother going out towards Z. His magic is not important, but if he indulges in it, too bad for him. It doesnt concern me: its Xs business and X is doing whats necessary and I believe (laughing) he hits hard!5
(silence)
--
I had told N. to knock at the door when he arrived with X, but he didnt do itluckily I heard the door opening. I stood up, still in that state and almost fell over! X must have thought I was having a spell of weakness or something, because I was holding onto the arms of the chair, and when I took his flowers, my hands were trembling I wasnt in my body. And afterwards, ah, what a concentration! We remained in it for about thirty-five minutes. It was SOLIDan extraordinary solidity! I didnt want to waste time waiting for it to subside before coming here, and you must have seen how I was when I arrived: like a sleepwalker! I said to the people I passed in the corridor, Im coming back, Im coming back! Thats all I could say, like an idiot.
(silence)
--
Im hot! Its a congestion.
Well see if last nights discovery has any results. This cold was all I needed! Its absolutely ridiculous.
--
Z was Satprem's first guru when he became a sannyasi. Then Z tried to exert his control over Satprem and predicted to Mother that he would never remain in the Ashram. Finally Satprem broke with him and Z went away furious.
Satprem has never believed for a minute that Z practiced black magic against Mother: it must have been something or someone else.
0 1961-03-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(On the previous day, Satprem had written a letter to Mother complaining of never having any concrete experiences. After a meditation together, this is what Mother replied.)
[This letter has disappeared.]
Its not that you dont have experiences! You even have access to regions where people very rarely go; you are capable of receiving light, intuitions, revelations but this is probably so normal for you that you dont notice it! I came to meditate with you especially to see what was preventing you from being conscious. And on your right side, I saw a sort of crystallization somewhat as though you were inside a statue.
It seemed made of transparent alabasterhard, harder than stone. It was the result of an individualization that was my impressionan individualization that has become very hardened. It has tried to become entirely transparent but has no tangible contact with thingsthings enter only through the higher regions, through intellectual perceptions (not intellectual, a sort of mental vision). And I began to bang on it!
It was mainly on your right side I banged on it. But strangely enough, it didnt break it became supple, but then it lost its beauty. (It was so beautiful, as though sculptured!) I tried to pass through it, but to do so (this is what I found interesting), instead of passing through at this level (the chest), the psychic plane the level of the souls vibration I had to climb up above and then descend; and finally, without even realizing it, I found myself inside I had entered through sheer force of concentration. There, at the vital level, the emotional vital (solar plexus), I put two flowers: one very large Endurance in the Most Material Vital [zinnia] and another flower like the one X just gave me [cosmos] but bigger and pure white (it concerns sexual movements, light in sexual movements). But curiously enough, I passed inside through a trance; I was quite busy trying to make it more fluid when all at once, poof! I found myself inside. But since I entered through a trance it became completely objective: no more thought, nothing. And I saw I had put these two flowers there (at the levels of the abdomen and chest), one more active, a very large, dark purple Endurance flower, and another much smaller, pure white, slightly lower down. While I was watching this I think the clock must have struck something pulled me and it all faded away.
And I found it interesting that when I received your letter yesterday evening I concentrated for a moment, almost out of curiosity: Why doesnt he ever feel he has an experience? Why doesnt he feel anything? I wanted to know precisely what type of experience would give you the feeling of having an experience!
If I could receive the Light: if I could SEE this Light; if I could see the vastness opening before my eyes.
Then its in the realm of visions, of conscious perception.
Yes, conscious perception, visiono therwise, nothing ever happens!
I understand! But yesterday when I was concentrating, I seemed to be sitting right in front of you again; and in the same way, with my left side, I was banging, banging on that absolutely rigid thing on your right. I was astonished: Why am I banging? (I had no intention of banging!) It was strange. The left side isnt like that, its the right.
But now I have done some damage!
--
Strangely enough, Ive received the same complaint from S. He says, I dont have any experiences. What kind of experience do you have? I asked. He replied, I sit in meditation and what comes is peace, peace, peace its always the same thing!(Some people would be very happy with that, but him.) I asked him, What experience do you want? To be conscious, he told me, to be conscious of the Divine, conscious of the divine Presence! And I always answer him, Its because your mind is barricaded. (Mother forms a geometrical figure) He is so convinced that he knows! He tells me, No! Its not that. He doesnt believe me!
At any rate, I have had no results with him, nor with X.
Several times in my life I have met with the particular phenomenon of having an absolutely exceptional and unique experience and at the same time feeling that a part of my being was unaware of it! I would tell myself, if I hadnt been both here and there at the same moment (Mother indicates two different levels in her consciousness), I might have had all these experiences and never known it! And this happened not just once but many times. Some were utterly unique, like certain ancient Vedic experiencesutterly unique. When I recounted them to Sri Aurobindo, he told me, Oh, its extremely rare! Some people try all their lives to attain that. And it happened to me not just once but often: the experience took place there (gesture above) and something up there knew, and yet there was something down here that would never have known if the other hadnt (same gesture). Nevertheless the total experience was there.
Its very difficult to explain, its extremely subtle.
--
Of course, all of you would be perfectly justified in replying, What good does that do if were not aware of it! But it must be a phenomenon like the one I described. I am looking for the reason something which refuses the knowledge. A part of the being is refusingalthough not consciouslyto become aware of the experience.
Can I do something practical about it?
Its rather. It may be something more in the line of childlike candor, childlike simplicity and candorwhere there is now a very intellectualized consciousness.
It is something very much on its guard, that doesnt want to be duped or be a victim of imagination.
0 1961-03-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother brings along a note she had written the same morning concerning a meditation with X, the tantric 'guru':)
The extreme subjectivity of experiences is very dis concerting.
--
Evidently he was in a completely different state of consciousness.
But.
And for me the experience was so clear! So lovely and so spontaneous! And its the first timeat the very beginning of our relationship, I had often concentrated on X to thank him for what he had done, but this is the first time it came like that: such a sweet, sweet atmosphere, so luminous, so radiant. Then in the afternoon N. tells me this [that an adverse force was present in the atmosphere]!
I had felt NOTHING. Nothing.
--
Its not that I was disappointed by his way of being, certainly not; but it has suddenly confronted me with a terrible problem: Is it impossible to live a truth in material consciousness? Is it really impossible? An absolute, I mean an absolute truthnot something entirely subjective and relative, each one living his own truth in his own manner. Will one person always be like this and the other like that and the third like something else? So that only by putting all the pieces together do we actually amount to anything and yet to what?! Is it completely impossible for absolute truth to manifest in the present state of Matter? This is the problem that has seized me.
Why? Probably because I was ready to face it. But it has been posed so intensely. It was so intense that it was painful.
It reinforces what the old Schools have always taught but Sri Aurobindo rejected it! Sri Aurobindo told us precisely that the Truth could be lived IN material life. Of course, there must be a change of consciousness, but I thought.
(silence)
My bodys consciousness has changed that much I know. Not totally, of course, but enough to feel that theres no separation, that vibrations are unpartitioned there are no partitions! And I felt this very strongly with X: that when we were face to face in meditation there was no longer any difference between us, that this Vibration I was feelingthis Vibration of a strong and very solid, very balanced peacewas the same for him as for me. I didnt feel that I was here and he was there. I had only to shut my eyes and there was no difference between us. (This doesnt happen just with him: I feel it with everyone; but I am aware of how it is with others, I can sense why they dont feel it.) But I was under the impression that he, at least, would have felt it I must have been mistaken! This incident came to tell me I was mistaken.
Still, it surprises me. Because sitting in that room, one has the feeling (I say one, its probably I dont know what it is), I thought he had the same feeling I did: oh, it could last an eternity! Its like that: tranquil, tranquil, peaceful, balanced, strong. On other occasions there was a kind of movement: it came, went, came, went; but this time (Mother stretches forth her arms as if time had stopped) and I am like that (not the I here, the I above), I see it like that. Then just as the clock is about to strike, when the half-hour is finished, something comes and tells my body, Now! A tiny shock, and two or three se conds later the clock strikes. I always feel beforehand, Now its over. Otherwise there would be no reason for it to endits so peaceful! And not something diluted, as it were, but strong, compact. Compact. Then that tiny shock and the body comes to attention: Ah, Im going to have to move! And always after about two se conds, the clock strikes. I open my eyes, look at X and wait. Three or four se conds later, or after a minute or two, he opens his eyes, bows to me and gets up. Then I get up. Its always the same. So I dont know why. I dont understand what goes on in his consciousness. I no longer understand.
Im not so sure about what he said to N.
--
He doesnt speak about these things with N. Perhaps N. has confused two different times or. Because Xs way of expressing himself can seem very vague when you dont know him well, especially when it concerns time and place. This attack may not have occurred during the meditation with you, but beforeh and or elsewhere.
I dont know, because N. said quite categorically: X told me that on arriving for this mornings meditation he had some difficulties and it took him five minutes to get over it; an adverse force was present. N. was quite positive and I even made him repeat it. Are you sure, I asked him, that it didnt happen when X came to you? No, N. replied, X met that force THERE. He said THERE! Yet that it could have been there, with all the force, light and peace that descended is incomprehensible to me. Because the first thing I do when I sit down is to make a thorough cleaning.
--
I probably needed the experience. You remember that type of detachment I spoke of when I had that experiencewhen the BODY had that experience of January 24, 1961well, it has increased to such an extent that it now applies to anything and everything linked with action on earth. This detachment was probably necessary. It began with something like things dissolving (Mother makes a gesture of crumbling something between her fingers); certain kinds of links between my consciousness and the Work were dissolving (not links with me, because I dont have any, but with the body; the whole physical consciousness, all that attaches it to the things in its environment, to the Work and to the entourage I spoke to you about that in regard to physical immortality; well, thats what is happening now). Its like things dissolvingdissolving, dissolving, dissolving. And its more and more pronounced. During these last days, things have been becoming increasingly difficultdifficulties have been coming one after another, one after another. Formerly, I had the power to get a grip on them and hold them (Mother tightens her grip as though mastering circumstances); but now that this type of detachment has begun, things drift away everywhereeverywhere, everywhere.
So this episode with X is probably part of the same process. What has been affected is a certain confidence in the REALITY of the Power, the REALITY of spiritual action; there seems to be no communication between here (above) and there (below).
Does that mean youre breaking all contacts with the earth?
No, thats not it. Things go on. I dont know, I have no idea. I cant say exactly what it is, but. Its a. Dont know. In any case, it seems obvious that the NATURE of the contact must become very different. Because in proportion to this detachment, the reality of the Vibration and especially the vibration of divine Lovekeeps growing and growing (out of all proportion to the body, even) in a FORMIDABLE manner, formidable! The body is beginning to feel nothing but that.
Is this detachment necessary, then, for divine Love to be established? I dont know.
Yes, its as if I were living, as if the BODY were living (despite all the illnesses and attacks, all the ill will besetting it), living in a bath of the divine vibrationbathing in something immenseimmense, immense limitless, and so stable! The body lives in it like this (gesture as if Mother were floating). So even when there is what we call physical pain, even when there are blows to morale (like having a cashier ask you for money and you have none to give him5), well, despite it all, despite all the possible complications (coming all at the same time), EVERYTHING, everything that happens now, even things which seem extremely unpleasant to our mental conceptions or our mental reactions, everything is a bath, a bath of the vibration of divine Love. So much so that if I didnt control my body, I would be smiling at everything all the time like an idiot. A beatific smile for everything (I dont show it because I control myself).
(silence, the clock strikes the hour)
--
Yesterday I had such a strong feeling that ALL constructions, all habits, all ways of seeing, all ordinary reactions, were all crumbling awaycompletely. I felt I was suspended in something entirely different, something I dont know.
(silence)
--
Its one thing to have the spiritual experience of the illusion of material life (some find this painful, but I found it so wonderfully beautiful and happy that it was one of the loveliest experiences of my life); but now the whole spiritual construction as one has lived it is becoming a total illusion! Not the same illusion, a far more serious illusion.
If That was not there. Obviously, That [divine Love] is here, like a mattress placed so you wont break your neck when you fall. Thats precisely the feeling: this experience of the vibration of divine Love is the mattress so you dont break your neck!
--
And Im not exactly a baby; I have been here forty-seven years, and for something like yes, certainly for sixty years I have been doing a conscious yoga, with all that memories of an immortal life can bring and see where I am! When Sri Aurobindo says you must have endurance, I think he is right!
This path is not for the weak, thats for sure.
--
And so it continues.
(Mother gets up to leave)
--
In the occult sense, a 'formation' signifies a concentration of power or force directed towards a particular goal. it is like a bullet of force going inexorably to its target. In fact, all beings are constantly making 'formations' with their thoughts and desires, but these formations have scarcely any power other than that of clinging to the one who has made them or returning upon him like a boomerang.
The following undated note (which could date from this or any number of other times!) was found among Mother's scattered papers: Now the situation has become very critical, all the reserves have been swallowed up, there are debts, many important works remain unfinished and the daily life has become a problem. It is the subsistence of more than 1,200 people which is in question.
0 1961-04-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In your case, it is very clear: each time he comes, everything seems to go askew. And the only reason for it is the conflict between the force he brings down (of course, when he comes I encourage it to come down!), and the inner resistances; and this creates the contradiction, which becomes more and more pronounced.
It speeds up the work, but at the same time it makes it a bit taxing.
As for him, even now his way of working consists in eliminating all obstaclesjust the opposite of what Sri Aurobindo was doing. Sri Aurobindo used to envelop them, like this (Mother opens her arms to embrace everything), and then act upon them so that they would no longer be obstacles. But the first thing X said when he first came to the Ashram was, Oh, there are a lot of elements which shouldnt be here! And he would talk about a purge: eliminate, eliminate, eliminate. But if you eliminate everything from life which is unresponsive to the Divine, what will be left?
He certainly hasnt understood Sri Aurobindos yoga. And its useless to try to explain anything to him.
He began to understand after a year, and he understands much better now. But he is shut up in his construction. He doesnt have the kind of personality that can see the earth as something very small. And thats basically what is needed with Sri Aurobindo: the earth must be seen as just a small field of experience within an eternity.
But that is difficult.
--
I am continuing my reading of the Veda. I had to stop for some days because of a sore throat. But anyway, Im starting again.
The Vedas, after all, were written by people who remembered a radical experience, which must have taken place on earth at a given moment, as an example of what was to come. (This always happens in the yoga: a first radical experience comes like a herald of the future realization.) So in the terrestrial yogain the yoga of the earth, of the planet earththere was a moment when it came; they who are called the forefa thers must have created, through their effort and their yoga, at least an image of the supramental realization. And those who wrote the Vedas, who composed all these hymns, remembered or kept the tradition of that experience. And oh, mon petit, it had the same effect on me as when I read the Yoga of Self-Perfection in The Synthesis of Yoga (Mother catches her breath): there is such a gulf between what we are, what life on earth and human consciousness now are, even among the most enlightened, the most advanced, and THAT!
I dont know if its because I have been so violently attackedbludgeonedby all these malevolent energies, but in any case, I sensed acutely the FORMIDABLE immensity of what has to be done in order for THAT to be realized.
--
When external difficulties subside, when the body becomes passive and quiet, when it is not constantly demanding attention, then you can LIVE in this supramental consciousness and it does not seem so difficult; you feel it is so victorious in its essence that it will end all difficulties.
But for this to come about, you must remain for a while on those higher reaches and not be constantly, constantly dragged down below where you have to fight each minute simply to LASTto last in all ways: not just personally, but collectively.2 Its a minute-to-minute bout, simply to last. And how long do we have to last for the thing to be done?
It is a difficult period.
--
The adverse force is what keeps the Divine from blossoming miraculously whenever He appears. Because I know that wherever Matter is not under the influence of this adverse will to any degree, it blossoms immediately. And everything in the human heart, in human consciousness, in human thought, all that is slightly sheltered from this adverse influencesheltered by the psychic, the divine Presenceblossoms, becomes immediately becomes marvelous, without any obstacleall the obstacles come from that source. So its all very well to call it an accident, but.
Its obviously reparable, theres no doubt about that, but at what price? And how it complicates things!
--
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 se cond 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.
--
But the indispensable foundation is truly an indomitable courage and unflinching endurancefrom the most material cells of the body to the highest consciousness, from top to bottom, entirely. Without that, were pretty useless.
And I am really in the most favorable conditions, because my body says yes. It says yes, yes, yesit doesnt complain. This may be the sense behind all this illness and difficulty. Not a single day of complaint.
The night before last I was again awakened at midnight (not awakened: I came out of my trance) with those stings burning from inside out, from the tips of the feet up to here, everywhere, in the back it lasted four hours, non-stop. Well, my body didnt once complain. Not once did it ask for it to stop; it just kept quiet, saying: Thy Will be done. And not only saying it but FEELING it, quietlyfour hours of minuscule tortures. It didnt say a thing.
--
And if you really want to please me (I believe you do!), if you want to please me, concentrate on the book on Sri Aurobindoyou cant imagine how much I am interested! And as I LOOK, I see into the future (not with this little consciousness), I see that its a thing of GREAT importance. It will have a great action. So, I want to clear the way for you now, for us to have time.
I will surely need a quiet mind to prepare the work.3
--
I have never written or spoken to X about this, but through mental contact I have told him I dont know how many times: Satprem has a work to accomplish that is INFINITELY more important than reciting mantras. If it can help him to discipline himself, fine, but its nothing more; he will not accomplish his work by reciting mantras. He has something to do and he will do it. I have hammered that into his head (Mother laughs).
So, petit, see you tomorrow.
See conversations of February 11, p. 73 and March 7, p. 114.
Note that just a few days earlier, the Ashram coffers were completely empty. Mother had sold the last of her jewels: 'It is not for the upkeep of any [Ashram] department that I have sold my jewels; it is for food, lodging [of the sadhaks] and wages for domestic servants.'
0 1961-04-08, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When I reach the end or when something truly concrete is realized, then it will become interesting, but not before.
But still, the story of the journey is interesting!
--
(Later, concerning the disciples very traditionalist guru who falls ill each time he comes to the Ashram:)
He seems to understand better. In his own way, he is progressiveunfortunately, it always makes him sick! The Force is too great for his body to bear.
He is used to maintaining a kind of poise, the poise of the traditional attitude of indifference towards everything material: Its an illusion, it has no importance, theres no need to be concerned with it. Nature is acting, not 1; Nature is acting and Nature is built like that, so why bother about it, why worry. Thats how he lived until he came here, and its why he had this attitude of indifference. But here it began to change. And of course his body isnt used to it; it has difficulty keeping up, it lacks plasticity.
The first thing he did was to go see the Doctor and ask him to heal his ear, heal his stomach, heal. So the Doctor told him, But why do you eat just anything at any time of day? Naturally youre sick. And then he was constantly running up against our ways of organizing material things herepeople like him dont organize, they dont care, they just let things drift. Regarding his son, for instance, the Doctor told him, Its because you dont look after him. If you did, this wouldnt happen. And X very bluntly replied, But why!?
Theres a gap.
0 1961-04-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I once had a cat with almost a childs consciousness, and someone poisoned it. And when he came back poisoned, dying, I cursed all people who poison cats. And thats serious, so you mustnt do it. It was a real curse I was with Sri Aurobindo, so it was seriousso dont do it.
But there is a way.
--
The next day, all the newspapers were full of a vile murder: a pimp had murdered this boyit was disgusting! Something utterly vile. And it had happened at the very moment he should have come the concierge had seen him going into the house with this pimp. What happened? Was it just for money or for something elsevice? Or what?
But both times, the incarnation was so (how to put it?) powerful that the eyes changed; the eyes of the cat changed completely into the eyes of the dead person. Unmistakable. Both came to me and both times there was the same movement, the same kind of feline howlyou know how they sound.
But I have had some cats. I had a cat who was the reincarnation of the mind of a Russian woman. I had a vision of it one day, it was so strangethis woman had been murdered at the time of the Russian Revolution, along with her two little children. And her mind entered a cat here. (How? I dont know.) But this cat, mon petit. I got her when she was very young. She would come and lie down, stretched out like a human being, with her head on my arm! (I used to sleep on a Japanese tatami on the floor.) And she would stay there, so well-behaved, didnt stir all night long! I was really amazed. Then she had kittens, and wanted to give birth to them lying stretched out, not at all like a cat. It was very difficult to make her understand that it couldnt be done that way! And one night after she had had her kittens, I saw her I saw a young woman in furs, with a fur bonnetyou could just see a tiny human face; she had two little ones and she came to me and placed them at my feet. Her whole story was there in her consciousness: how she and the two children had been murdered. And then I realized she was the cat!
The cat wouldnt leave her kittens for a moment! Not for anything. She wouldnt eat, wouldnt go outside to relieve herself, nothing: she stayed put. So I told her, Bring me your kittens. (If you know how to handle them, cats understand very well when theyre spoken to.) Bring me your little ones. She looked at me, went and brought one of her kittens, and placed it between my feet. Then she went to fetch the other one and placed it between my feet (not beside, between my feet). Now you can go out, I told her. And out she went.
--
Once one of her kittens was ill. She was pretty and gray colored, clear gray like a very soft fur, very pretty. She had caught this cat sickness and was lying down. And the mother was teaching all the little ones not to come near her; she would make them go all the way around, as if her instinct told her it was contagious. And you would see them (the sick kitten was right in their way) going all the way around, never coming near.
These cat stories went on for years and years.
--
And she used to count her little ones. She knew perfectly well how many she had. I just had to tell her, Keep only two or threealthough the first time there were only three, which was still too many, yet it was absolutely impossible not to let her keep them all. But later on I had to chide her. I didnt take them from her, but I would speak to her, convince her: Its too much, youll be ill. Just keep these. See how nice these two are. Take care of them.
Oh, what lovely cat stories! That was a whole period for many, many years. Many years.
Mind you, I would never have considered having any, but two cats were already there when I came to the house. They were not very interesting cats, but they became the parents of the one I just told you about (those boys who were living with Sri Aurobindo had already had some experience; they knew quite a few things about cats), and that was the origin of all the cats I had here. But people (you know how simplistic they always are!) believed I had some special attachment for cats, so then of course everybody started keeping cats! It was no use my telling them, No, its a particular study were making I wanted to see, to learn certain things, and I learned what I had to but now that I have moved to another house, the cat era is over; the old friends are gone, only the younger generation is left. I gave them all away and said) Thats enough. But its hard to make people understandsome people here have 25 cats! Thats unreasonable! Its not the way to deal with cats. You have to look after them as I did, and then it becomes interesting.
There was one I know I SAW it: when he died there was already the embryo of a psychic being, ready for a human incarnation. I made them progress like wildfire.
0 1961-04-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All kinds of things are coming up from the sub conscient. We seem to be constantly descending instead of ascending.
Oh, the sub conscient! Every night its a real invasion of things that are so the WHOLE sub conscient keeps coming up, coming up, coming upnot just mine but everybodys. There seems to be no end to it.
--
But all night long I am fully conscious of a lot of things they cant be called trivial, but. Oh, its as though everything that can comes to tell me: You think there will be a supramental transformation? Well then, just look: there is this and that and that and this, this one and that one, this circumstance, that thing, the world, people, things. Oh, a deluge!
And in the evening before going to sleep I read the Vedas, which aggravates the situation. Because those people rememberei ther they have heard of it, or they remember it themselvesa supramental realization; and they describe it all so beautifully that it makes you feel very far from it, so very, very far.
After that, I spend hours concentrated in prayernot exactly prayer but (gesture palms turned upwards), like that, beseeching.
What has been achieved now is that I am absolutely detached from EVERYTHING. From everything, beginning with my body and including the work, ideas, conceptions, even the [people], all, all of them. It all seems to me so utterly dull and nonexistent.
Before, I used to find joy in a beautiful idea or a beautiful experienceall that is finished. I am in a state where nothing, absolutely nothing has any value except ONE SINGLE THING.
--
But you know, what seems to have gone is all this illusory enthusiasm we confuse with. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it very often, and each time I read that sentence of his its like an icy shower (Mother laughs). I no longer know the exact wording, but he uses two words: illusory hopes all the human illusory hopes. It goes plunk! Well, all that has entirely gone. When I saw it I deliberately rejected it. Yes, I said to myself, we are always trying to cheer ourselves up with hopes.
(Mother turns towards the tape recorder) Dont keep all that. Its not worth it, dont keep it. Its quite useless. Take it out.
--
I live in the constant feeling of PUSHING against a world of tremendous obstacles, with the certainty thatsuddenly the resistance will give way and there will be enlightenmentno, far more than that!
Thats all.
--
Oh, I feel we are constantly betrayingbetraying you.
Betraying? Oh I also feel that I am betraying myself, so you see!
Actually it is because, without knowing it, you are becoming aware of the true Self, and that awareness always produces a sense of betrayal. But its neither you nor I nor he nor anything other than THAT which is being betrayed. All that we are is a betrayal of That. This is what it is. And we are constantly pushing, pushing, pushing to go beyond.
Its all right. Dont worry. When you are a little upset, you only have to think: Oh, Mother is here, and she will do the work.
0 1961-04-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
These are political texts from the revolutionary period, concerning bomb attacks against the English. And then he says that the man God has protected can never be touched. However hard you try, you will never be able to slay him. But who can protect the man God has already slain? He has already been slain by God. And man is simply the instrument used by God to do here what has been done there (it has ALREADY been done there). Its very simple.
Yes, I quite understand. But in general, does EVERYTHING that happens here first get played out on the other side in some way? Its an occult problem, and furthermore a problem of freedom.
--
In one chapter of The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says that there is a state of consciousness in which all is from all eternityeverything, without exception, that is to be manifested here.
In detail?
In a certain state of consciousness (I no longer remember what he calls it I think its in the Yoga of Self-Perfection), one is perfectly identified with the Supreme, not in his static but in his dynamic aspect, the state of becoming. In this state, everything is already there from all eternity, even though here it gives us the impression of a becoming. And Sri Aurobindo says that if you are capable of maintaining this state,2 then you know everything: all that has been, all that is and all that will bein an absolutely simultaneous way.
But you must have a firm head on your shoulders! Reading some of these chapters in Self-Perfection, I thought it would be better if it didnt fall into just anyones hands.
--
We think its BECAUSE we do such and such a thing that something else happens. (And how frequently, too!) People are constantly saying and writing: do this and that will happen. But the fact that this person speaks and the other one acts is also absolutely decreed.
If we could really get this into our heads, it would probably make them swim.
--
I have had this experience, and I remember it even went on for several days; I saw all material circumstances as an absolutean absolute that we perceive as an unfolding, but which is an eternally existing absolute. I had this experience, and at the same time I had a very clear perception of what falsehood is the lie; what, from the psychological, the mental point of view, Sri Aurobindo, translating from the Sanskrit, called crookedness.3 We attribute the course of circumstances to our psychological reactionsand indeed, they are used momentarily because everything collaborates either consciously or un consciously to make things be what they have to be but things could be what they have to be without the intervention of this falsehood. I lived in that consciousness for several days, and it became apparent that this was what separated falsehood from truth. In this state of knowledge- consciousness, the distinction can be made between falsehood and truth; and when seen in that truth- consciousness, material circumstances change character.
Now I no longer have the experience of that state except as a memory, so I cant formulate it accurately. But what was very clear and comes very oftenvery oftenis the perception of a superimposition of falsehood over a real fact. This brings us back to what I was telling you some time ago,4 that everything is very simple in its truth, that human consciousness is what complicates everything. But the former was an even more total experience of it.
It is very interesting from the standpoint of death. I saw it once so clearly when someone (I no longer remember whom) had left his body. The word death and all these human reactions seemed so foolish! So senseless, ignorant, stupidfalse, without reality. There was simply something that shifted, like this (Mother draws a curve showing a shift of consciousness from one mode of being to another), and then we, in our false consciousness, made a drama out of it. But it was simply something evolving (same gesture).
Let me tell you about a recent occurrence. E. had sent a telegram saying that she had a perforated intestine (but it must have been something else because they operated on her only after several days, and when you are not operated on immediately in such cases, you die). Anyway, it was very serious and she was on the threshold of death that much is certain. She wrote me a letter the day before the operation (what is interesting is that now she doesnt even remember what she wrote). It was a magnificent letter saying that she was conscious of the Divine Presence and of the Divine Plan. Tomorrow they will operate on me, she said. And I am entirely aware that this operation has ALREADY been done, that it is a fact accomplished by the Divine Will; otherwise it could be a fatal ordeal. And she said she was conscious of the supreme Wills action, in a perfect peace. It was a magnificent letter. And the whole thing went off almost miraculously; she recovered in such a miraculous way that the surgeon himself said, I must congratulate you, to which she replied, How surprising! You did the operation! Yes, he said, we did the operation, but it is your body that willed to be healed, and I congratulate you for your bodys willpower. Of course she wrote to me that she knew who had been there to see that all went well. And this feeling of the thing being already accomplished is a beginning of the consciousness Sri Aurobindo speaks of in the Yoga of Self-Perfection, where one is simultaneously both here and there. Because, as Sri Aurobindo says, some people have managed to be entirely there, but what he has called the realization is to be both there and here simultaneously.
Of course, one might wonder what the meaning of everything here is, if it has all been already accomplished above, on an occult plane, and we are merely re-enacting it.
--
No! Thats exactly our falsehood! What we see is not THE THING; its a reflection, a distorted image in our consciousness. The thing itself exists outside this reflection, and in that existence it doesnt have the character we attri bute to it. Once we have grasped this, we understand that we can get out of itotherwise, we could never get out!
There is a universal unfolding, the true unfolding, that of the Supreme Lord who watches (this is the best way to put it) his own unfoldment. But for some reason or other, there has been a deformation of consciousness which makes us see this unfolding as something separate, a more or less adequate expression of the Divine Will. But it isnt so! It is the very unfolding of the Divine within Himselfwithin Himself, from Himself, for Himself. And its simply our falsehood that makes a separate thing of it The very fact of objectifying (what WE call objectification) is already a falsehood.5
I have had this particular consciousness in flashes. The difficulty is that in expressing it, we use all our mental faculties, and they themselves are falseso we are cornered. Because when you follow through. Whatever you say,If this, if that, if the otheris all part of our general stupidity. Going right to the end of it, you are suddenly like this: Ah! (Mother remains suspended midway in her sentence) There is nothing more to do, not a move to make.
Only, as I have told you, practically speaking this experience can be dangerous. When it came, you see, one part of me was having the experience, and one part wasnt yet ready for it. Well, I was awake enough to tell myself, The part experiencing this prevails and keeps the rest calm, yet if the preparation had not been adequate, it could have produced an imbalance. And if by mischance someone without sufficient strength had the possibility of picking up something of that, well, he would lose his head.
--
When I used to speak at the Playground, I tried to explain this one day I was facing the same problem: what really is? And clearly, it is utterly impossible to understand with the mind. But I had a vision of a kind of infinite Eternity through which the Supreme consciousness voyages7; and the path this consciousness travels is what we call the manifestation. And this vision explained absolute freedom, it explained how both thingsabsolute freedom and absolute determinismcould coexist in an absolute way. The image in my vision was of an eternal Infinity in which that consciousness voyagesone cant even say freely, because freely would imply that it could be otherwise.
All who experience this say that the first movement of the manifestation, or the creation (creation, manifestation, objectification: all these words are imperfect) is CHIT, consciousness that becomes Power. consequently, consciousness goes voyaging along in SAT, in Beingstatic, eternal, infinite and necessarily outside time and space and this movement of consciousness is what produces time and space within this Infinity and Eternity.8 This leads to the understanding that things can simultaneously be absolutely free and absolutely determined.
This vision I had is of no value to anyone else, but it gave me a kind of satisfaction, a kind of peace (for a while).
--
Yet for a time I was in contact with all these gods and all these things, and they had an entirely concrete reality for me; but now I read and I understand, but I cannot live it. And I dont know why. It still hasnt triggered the experience. You see, experience for me the constant, total and permanent Experienceis that there is nothing other than the Supremeonly the Supreme that the Supreme alone exists. So when they speak of Agni or Varuna or Indra it doesnt strike a chord. However, what the Vedas succeed in doing very well is to give you the perception of your infirmity and ineptitude, of the dismal state we are in now; it succeeds wonderfully in doing that!
Yesterday, this ardor of the Flame was thereburning all to offer all. It was absolutely concrete, an intensity of vibrations; I could see the vibrationsall the movements of obscurity and ignorance were cast into that. And I recall a time when I was translating these hymns to Agni with Sri Aurobindo, and Agni was real for me. Well, yesterday it wasnt that, it wasnt the god Agni, it was a STATE OF BEING. It was a state of the Supreme, and as such, it was intimate, clear, intense, vibrant and living.
(silence)
--
Well, obviously to establish contact with and manifest what the people of the Vedas called the Truth, I still have a lot of things to change a lot.
And yet its a fact that I am in the state where nothing exists any longer but the Divine, the Supreme the Supreme in every vibration, in everything I do, everything I feel. But in some way it must still be conditioned by my consciousness, since since its not yet THE Truth.
(long silence)
--
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.
But for those who are here, we can say, It is what the Supreme Lord is preparing for the earth. He sent Sri Aurobindo to prepare it; Sri Aurobindo called it the supramental realization, and to facilitate communication we can use the same words. Well, this movement (gesture of a rising flame) towards That must be constant constant, total. All the rest is none of our business, and the less we meddle with it mentally, the better. But THAT, that Flame, is indispensable. And when it goes out, light it again; when it falters, rekindle itall the time, all the time, ALL THE TIMEwhen sleeping, walking, reading, moving around, speaking all the time.
The rest doesnt matter, one can do anything (it depends on people and their ways of thinking). You can just ask people like X, they will tell you: You can do anything at allit doesnt matter in the least. Only you mustnt feel its you doing it, thats all. You have to feel that Nature does it. But I dont much approve of this system.
--
Satprem had assumed that this state of consciousness was accessible only through a kind of trance or samadhi and that when Mother said one had to be capable of 'maintaining this state,' she meant that one should be capable of bringing it back here, into the waking consciousness. However, Mother rectified: 'It is a state with no "here" or "there". I have had this experience in the waking consciousness and both perceptions (the true and the false) were simultaneous.'
The Rishis distinguished between the 'straight' (almost in the optical sense: that which allows the ray to pass straight through) and the twisted or crooked consciousness.
Agenda I of December 31, 1960.
Satprem remarked that this sentence might be interpreted in an 'illusionist' sense (i.e., that the objectification of the material world would be a falsehood), and Mother replied: 'No, it's not the objectification that is a falsehood, but our conception of the objectification as being something other than THAT. When we say that "He objectifies," well, we are thinking something that is not the truth-that is no longer the truth.'
Later, Mother clarified this sentence as follows:
--
Once again, Mother's experience coincides with modern science, which is beginning to discover that time and space are not fixed and INDEPENDENT quantitiesas, from the Greeks right up to Newton, we had been accustomed to believe but a four-dimensional system, with three coordinates of space and one of time, DEPENDENT UPON THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA DEVELOPING THEREIN. Such is 'Riemann's Space,' used by Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity. Thus, a trajectoryi.e., in principle, a fixed distance, a quantity of space to be traversed-is a function of the time taken to traverse it: there is no straight line between two points, or rather the I straight' line is a function of the rate of speed. There is no 'fixed' quantity of space, but rather rates of speed which determine their own space (or their own measure of space). Space-time is thus no longer a fixed quantity, but, according to science, the PRODUCT ... of what? Of a certain rate of unfolding? But what is unfolding? A rocket, a train, muscles?... Or a certain brain which has generated increasingly perfected instruments adapted to its own mode of being, like a flying fish flying farther and farther (and faster and faster) but finally failing back into its own oceanic fishbowl. Yet what would this space-time be for another kind of fishbowl, another kind of consciousness: a supramental consciousness, for example, which can be instantaneously at any point in 'space'there is no more space! And no more time. There is no more 'trajectory': the trajectory is within itself. The fishbowl is shattered, and the whole evolutionary succession of little fishbowls as well. Thus, as Mother tells it, space and time are a 'PRODUCT Of the movement of consciousness.' A variable space-time, which not only changes according to our mechanical equipment, but according to the consciousness utilizing the equipment, and which ultimately utilizes only itself; consciousness, at the end of the evolutionary curve, has become its own equipment and the sole mechanism of the universe.
***
0 1961-04-22, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Soon afterwards, concerning X, who had stated that the most recent attacks against Mother, and even those of two years earlier when she had been forced to withdraw to her room, were the result of black magic, and that certain members of the Ashram were DIRECTLY responsible for them, or in any case, had served as intermediariesas a switchboard, to quote himin connection with an outside magician.)
I have been racking my brains, but really, I cant hit on who, IN THE ASHRAM, could be doing magic against me! Having bad thoughts is very widespread, but that doesnt matter in the least.
--
I know all the people here. I know everything thats going on, I see it night and day. But I havent seen this. Yes, there are ill-intentioned people, but they are even obliged to tell me so! There are people who oh, they almost wish I would leave, because they feel my presence as a constraint! They tell me so very frankly: As long as youre here, were obliged to do the yoga, but we dont want to do the yoga, we want to live quietly; so if you werent here, well, we wouldnt have to think about yoga anymore! But they are a bunch of fools with no power in them at all. As I said, they are even forced to tell me their true feelings.
There are manymanywho think I am going to die and are making preparations so as not to be left completely out on the street when I go. I am aware of all this. But its childishnessif I leave, they are right; if I dont, it doesnt matter!
--
I had a vision last night which lasted for a long timeit was rather interestingabout your work concerning Sri Aurobindo: the plane where its situated, what place Sri Aurobindo gives it and the HELP he is giving you. It was very, very interesting. I no longer recall all the details, but broad bands of a bluish-white light seemed to be spreading out in special forms (Mother sketches spirals in the air), showing how it would touch the earths mental atmosphere. It was truly interesting.
And Sri Aurobindo spoke of it as my work with you. I told him that I myself was doing nothing! But he told me it was my work with you.
0 1961-04-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The first thing I did this morning was to open this book by Alice Bailey (Ive had it for several days, I had to have a look at it). So I looked Ah, I saidwell, well! Heres a person whos dead now, but she was the disciple of a Tibetan Buddhist lama and considered a very great spiritual leader, and she writes, Christ is the incarnation of divine love on earth. And thats that. And the world will be transformed when Christ is reborn, when he comes back to earth. But why the devil does she put Christ? Because she was born Christian? Its deplorable.
And such a mixture of everythingeverything! Instead of making a synthesis, they make a pot-pourri. They scoop it all up, toss it together, whip it up a little, use a bunch of words that have nothing to do with one another, and then serve it to you!
--
After this, I received the draft of the Sri Aurobindo Societys brochure to be distributed among all disciples, all society members, in order to encourage them. Well, that was the last straw! Oh, the most asinine propaganda! And plump in the middle of a bunch of other things (which had nothing to do with me), I come across this: We have the great fortune to have the Mother among us, and we propose to be the intermediary for all who wish to come into direct contact with her! They wanted to print this and distribute it, just like that! So I took my brightest red ink and wrote: I do not accept this responsibility, you cannot make this promise. And that was that. I cut it. And now heres A., doing the same thing!
(silence)
--
Here, this is Grace.5 Here, Balance6 (how lovely!). Here, Light without Obscurity.7 And this is purity: an Integral conversion8 (in the cup of this flower, Mother has placed two other flowers: Service9 and Sri Aurobindos Compassion10), an integral conversion, with Sri Aurobindo, with his compassionhis compassion which gives us the opportunity to serve him.
Oh, mon petit, we need to say something a bit intelligent, dont you think? Im counting on you.
--
It could be, yes, but to no avail. If all these cells which have become so conscious have to break up. It would result in cells that are conscious, but mixed with. What would it amount to, mixed with the sum total of all the un conscious cells of the earth? It would be useless.
Yes, it would be useless; I mean, perhaps after millions of years it would gradually snowball and have some effect but thats just how Nature functions when left to her own interminable wayit is not yoga.
--
Its a question of contagion. Spiritual vibrations are quite clearly contagious. Mental vibrations are contagious, and to a certain extent even vital vibrations are contagious (not often in their finer effects, but anyway, its cleara mans anger, for instance, spreads very easily). Well then, the quality of cellular vibrations should also be contagious.
But the difficulty. You see, so far as Mind is concerned, the whole yoga has been donelike a path blazed through the virgin forest. And since it has been done, its relatively simple: the landmarks are there and one follows them. But here, nothing has been done! One doesnt know which end to take hold ofno one has ever done it! [186] You meet all the same obstacles before which others have simply said, Its impossible. Sri Aurobindo explains that its not impossible, but nothing more. And he himself hadnt done it.
No, for the least little thing, the whole mechanism has to be discovered, and discovered in a realm of the most total ignorance, where, really, un consciousness is the most un conscious and ignorance the most ignorant.
--
Our habitual state of consciousness is to do something FOR something. The Rishis, for example, composed their hymns with an end in view: life had a purpose for them, the end was to find Immortality or Truth. But at any level whatsoever, there is always a goal. Even we speak of the supramental realization as the goal.
Just recently, though, I dont know what happened, but something seemed to take hold of me (how to say it?) this perception of the Supreme who is everything, everywhere, who does everythingwhat has been, what is, what will be, what is being doneeverything. And suddenly there was a kind of not a thought or a feeling, it wasnt that; it was rather like a state: the unreality of the goalnot unreality, uselessness. Not even uselessness: the nonexistence of the goal. And even what I was saying just nowthis will to make the experiment lingering in the body even this has gone!
--
The sense of connection has gone, the sense of cause and effect has goneall that belongs to the world of space and time.
Each each what? What is that that? You cant say a movement, you cant say a state of consciousness, you cant say a vibration (all this still belongs to our ordinary mode of perception), so you say thingthing means nothing. Each thing carries in itself its own absolute law.
Oh, how clumsy all this is! But what is clear, completely clear, is the total absence of cause and effect and of goal, of intentionpurpose. There is no (Mother makes a horizontal motion) this kind of connection doesnt exist; its like this (Mother makes a vertical motion which towers over and embraces everything at once).
And so, in an individual consciousness its expressed by an infinitesimal pointa physical body and everything dependent on it; but its exactly the same thing as the Supreme Point and everything depending on that. Its the same thing. It is only like the shifting of a glanceif it can be called a glancelike a needle point occupying no space.12 And yet it is the same consciousness: is it consciousness? Something like that. It is not consciousness as we understand it, nor is it perception; it is a kind of will to see (good God, what words!), and with such absolute freedom and omnipotence: it can be this or that, or yet another, and it is EXACTLY the same thing.
Dont try to understand!
--
But what can be translated is this kind of sensation that the sequence of cause and effect, of purpose, of goal, all seems to be very far below, very, very DISTANT, very humanperhaps divine, too (from the viewpoint of the gods it may be like this also, I dont know), because in the consciousness of the universal Mother it is still there, there is still this ardent love to serve: To do Your Will. That is still there, so its there with the gods also.
(silence)
--
It came last night. It came slowly, but last night it was very strong: no more sequence, no more linking of cause and effect, no more goal, no more purpose, no more intentiona kind of Absolute which does not exclude the creation. It is not Nirvana, it has nothing to do with Nirvana (I know Nirvana very well, Ive had itjust yesterday evening, for instance, while walking for japa, and even this morning. You see, I begin by an invocation to the Supreme under his three aspects, and no sooner have I uttered the sound, TAT when all is abolished: Nirvana. And the last few days I have noticed that its instantaneous, so easy! Oh, a delight! Bah!). But its not Nirvana, its beyond that; it contains Nirvana and it contains the manifested world and it contains everything else; all the appearances and disappearances13all of that is contained in it.
Something.
--
See conversation of March 4.
After Mother's departure, this 'Society' would try to appropriate Auroville: 'Auroville is a project of the Sri Aurobindo Society.' (sic)
0 1961-04-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Some fragments of this conversation were originally published in Mother's 'Commentaries on the Aphorisms' of Sri Aurobindo. considering it too personal, Mother had not wanted the unabridged text to appear even in her Agenda. However, we felt it should be kept. This conversation's starting point was the following aphorism:)
59One of the greatest comforts of religion is that you can get hold of God sometimes and give him a satisfactory beating. People mock at the folly of savages who beat their gods when their prayers are not answered; but it is the mockers who are the fools and the savages.
--
Those who say that are simpletons and dont even know what theyre talking about! It is enough to read everything Sri Aurobindo has written to know that it is IMPOSSIBLE (underlined) to found a religion upon his writings, since for each problem, for each question, he presents all aspects and, while demonstrating the truth contained in each approach, he explains that to attain the Truth a synthesis must be effected, overpassing all mental notions and emerging in a transcendence beyond thought.
Your se cond question, therefore, makes no sense! Furthermore, if you had read what appeared in the last Bulletin,1 you could never have asked it.
--
Oh, Ive had some very interesting revelations on this point, on the way people think and feel about it. I remember someone once made a little statue of Sri Aurobindo; he gave it a potbelly and anyway, to me it was ridiculous. So I said, How could you make such a thing?! He explained that even if its a caricature for the ordinary eye, since its an image of the one you consider God, or a god, or an Avatar, since its the image of the one you worship, even if only a guru, it contains the spirit and the force of his presence, and this is what you worship, even in a crude form, even if the form is a caricature to the physical eye.
Someone made a large painting of Sri Aurobindo and myself, and they brought it here to show me. I said, Oh, its dreadful! It was to the physical eye it was really dreadful. Its dreadful, I said, we cant keep it. Then immediately someone asked me for it, saying, Im going to put it up in my house and do my puja before it. Ah! I couldnt help saying, But how could you put up a thing like that! (It wasnt so much ugly as frightfully banal.) How can you do puja before something so commonplace and empty! This person replied, Oh, to me its not empty! It contains all the presence and all the force, and I shall worship it as that: the Presence and the Force.
All this is based on the old idea that whatever the imagewhich we disdainfully call an idolwhatever the external form of the deity may be, the presence of the thing represented is always there. And there is always someonewhe ther priest or initiate, sadhu or sannyasisomeone who has the power and (usually this is the priests work) who draws the Force and the Presence down into it. And its true, its quite real the Force and the Presence are THERE; and this (not the form in wood or stone or metal) is what is worshipped: this Presence.
--
I remember once going into a church (which I wont name) and I found it a very beautiful place. It wasnt a feast or ceremony day, so it was empty. There were just one or two people at prayer. I went in and sat down in a little chapel off to the side. Someone was praying there, someone who must have been in distressshe was crying and praying. And there was a statue, I no longer know of whom: Christ or the Virgin or a Saint I have no idea. And, oh! Suddenly, in place of the statue, I saw an enormous spider like a tarantula, you know, but (gesture) huge! It covered the entire wall of the chapel and was just waiting there to swallow all the vital force of the people who came. It was heart-rending. I said to myself, Oh, these people There was this miserable woman who had come seeking solace, who was praying there, weeping, hoping to find solace; and instead of reaching a consciousness that was at least compassionate, her supplications were feeding this monster!
I have seen other things but I have rarely seen anything favorable in churches. Here, I remember going to M I was taken inside and received there in quite an unusual waya highly respected person introduced me as a great saint! They led me up to the main altar where people are not usually allowed to go, and what did I see there! An asura (oh, not a very high-ranking one, more like a rakshasa4), but such a monster! Hideous. So I went wham! (gesture of giving a blow) I thought something was going to happen. But this being left the altar and came over to try to intimidate me; of course, he saw it was useless, so he offered to make an alliance: If you just keep quiet and dont do anything, I will share all I get with you. Well, I sent him packing! The head of this Math5. It was a Math with a monastery and temple, which means a substantial fortune; the head of the Math has it all at his disposal for as long as he holds the position and he is appointed for life. But he has to name his successor and as a rule, his own life is considerably shortened by the successorthis is how it works. Everyone knew that the present head had considerably shortened the life of his predecessor. And what a creature! As asuric as the god he worshipped! I saw some poor fellows throw themselves at his feet (he must have been squeezing them pitilessly), to beg forgiveness and mercyan absolutely ruthless man. But he received meyou should have seen it! I said nothing, not a word about their god; I gave no sign that I knew anything. But I thought to myself, So thats how it is!
Another thing happened to me in a fishing village near A., on the seashore, where there is a temple dedicated to Kalia terrible Kali. I dont know what happened to her, but she had been buried with only her head sticking out! A fantastic story I knew nothing about it at all. I was going by car from A. to this temple and halfway there a black form, in great agitation, came rushing towards me, asking for my help: Ill give you everything I haveall my power, all the peoples worshipif you help me to become omnipotent! Of course, I answered her as she deserved! I later asked who this was, and they told me that some sort of misfortune had befallen her and she had been buried with only her head above ground. And every year this fishing village has a festival and slaughters thousands of chickensshe likes chicken! Thousands of chickens. They pluck them on the spot (the whole place gets covered with feathers), and then, after offering the blood and making the sacrifice, the people, naturally, eat them all up. The day I came this had taken place that very morningfea thers littered everywhere! It was disgusting. And she was asking for my help!
But the curious thing is that these vital beings are aware of what is happening. I knew nothing about any of it, neither the story, nor the being, nor the head sticking out of the ground and she wanted me to get her out of it. They feel the atmosphere. They are awarethey may not be conscious on higher planes, but they are conscious on vital planes, aware of vital power and the vital force it represents. Its like this asura from M.: when I came in he suddenly seemed to tremble on his pedestal; then he left his idol and came to seek my alliance.
But its strange.
--
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.
One of my most terrible experiences took place in Venice (the cathedrals there are so beautifulmagnificent!). I remember I was painting they had let me settle down in a corner to paintand nearby there was a (what do they call it?) a confessional. And a poor woman was kneeling there in distresswith such a dreadful sense of sin! So piteous! She wept and wept. Then I saw the priest coming, oh, like a monster, a hard-hearted monster! He went inside; he was like an iron bar. And there was this poor woman sobbing, sobbing; and the voice of the other one, hard, curt. I could barely contain myself.
I dont know why, but I have had this kind of experience so very often: either a hostile force lurking behind and swallowing up everything, or else manruthless man abusing the Power.
--
At the age of eighteen, I remember having such an intense need in me to KNOW. Because I was having experiences I had all kinds of experiences but my surroundings offered me no chance to receive an intellectual knowledge which would have given me the meaning of it all: I couldnt even speak of them. I was having experience after experience. For years, I had experiences during the night (but I was very careful never to speak about them!)memories from past lives, all sorts of things, but without any base of intellectual knowledge. (Of course, the advantage of this was that my experiences were not mentally contrived; they were entirely spontaneous.) But I had such a NEED in me to know! I remember living in a house (one of these houses with a lot of apartments), and in the apartment next door were some young Catholics whose faith was very they were very convinced. And seeing all that, I remember saying to myself one day while brushing my hair, These people are lucky to be born into a religion and believe unquestioningly! Its so easy! You have nothing to do but believehow simple that makes it. I was feeling like this, and then when I realized what I was thinking (laughing), well, I gave myself a good scolding: Lazybones!
To know, know, KNOW! You see, I knew nothing, really, nothing but the things of ordinary life: external knowledge. I had learned everything I had been given to learn. I not only learned what I was taught but also what my brother was taughthigher mathematics and all that! I learned and I learned and I learned and it was NOTHING. None of it explained anything to menothing. I couldnt understand a thing!
--
When I was told that the Divine was within the teaching of the Gita, but in words understandable to a Westerner that there was an inner Presence, that one carried the Divine within oneself, oh! What a revelation! In a few minutes, I suddenly understood all, all, all. Understood everything. It brought the contact instantly.
(silence)
--
I remember a good-hearted priest in Pau [Southern France] who was an artist and wanted to have his church decorateda tiny cathedral. He consulted a local anarchist (a great artist) about it. The anarchist was acquainted with Andrs father and me. He told the priest, I recommend these people to do the paintings they are true artists. He was doing the mural decorationsome eight panels in all, I believe. So I set to work on one of the panels. (The church was dedicated to San Juan de Compostello, a hero of Spanish history; he had appeared in a battle between the Christians and the Moors and his apparition vanquished the Moors. And he was magnificent! He appeared in golden light on a white horse, almost like Kalki.6) All the slaughtered and struggling Moors were depicted at the bottom of the painting, and it was I who painted them; it was too hard for me to climb high up on a ladder to paint, so I did the things at the bottom! But anyway, it all went quite well. Then, naturally, the priest received us and invited us to dinner with the anarchist. And he was so nicereally a kind-hearted man! I was already a vegetarian and didnt drink, so he scolded me very gently, saying, But its Our Lord who gives us all this, so why shouldnt you take it? I found him charming. And when he looked at the paintings, he tapped Morisset on the shoulder (Morisset was an unbeliever), and said, with the accent of Southern France, Say what you like, but you know Our Lord; otherwise you could never have painted like that!
Well.
--
And experiences! I have had the most contradictory experiences! Only one thing has been continuous from my childhood on (and the more I look, the more I see how continuous it has been): this divine Presence and in someone who, in her EXTERNAL LIFE, might very well have said, God? What is this foolishness! God doesnt exist! So you understand, you see the picture.
You know, its a marvelous, marvelous grace to have had this experience so conSTANTLY, So POWERFULLY, like something holding out against everything, everything: this Presence. And in my outward consciousness, a total negation of it all. Even later on, I used to say, Well, if God exists, hes a real scoundrel! Hes a wretch and I want nothing to do with this Creator of ours. You know, the idea of God sitting placidly in his heaven, creating the world and amusing himself by watching it, then telling you, How well done! Oh! I said, I want nothing to do with that monster!
(Mother gets up)
0 1961-05-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I had continued to work in the same way. But now its as if everything has been engulfed. And the number of ugly things, petty movements, nasty reactionseverywhere, everywhere, in everyone, oh! I am swamped with letters, and such letters! Such letters!
And I dont see, I really do not see why all that needs to manifest in order to disappear. Because before, when it didnt manifest, it faded away by itself; but now it creates problems and problems and problems. (For me they are not problems but stupidities; they are problems and complications for others.) And its so useless! So much time is lost, so much time coping with stupid reactions. I dont know why.
0 1961-05-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The Immortal can pass from the condition of life to the condition of death (but not death as we understand it); can die means can change condition. The Immortal can pass from this condition to that condition and back and forth again. We call it death, but it has nothing to do with either life or death. They are changes of state.
(silence)
--
I think I am! Im not sick, in any case. No, I dont need to be concerned with my body. Its not that. Probably the word-machine isnt working. Whatever I read seems stupid to me, whatever I am living seems stupid to me; as for the way others understand things, its dumbfounding!
No, the mind must have gone on strike.
--
I have finished my reading of the Veda. I have really tried my best, but I cannot manage to recapture that consciousness; do what I will, it seems childish to me, I dont know why. Or else I am in the presence of a realization so far removed from what we are capable of now but to enter into that we have to go behind the words, which requires a mighty effort.
If they really had that experience, it is admirable.
--
Even those momentary breakthroughs one can have in life before having found the Truth, when one is on the way and suddenly has glimpses of an immortal consciousness, the contact with a truth, even that. These experiences are all very fine, its very good, but its on the way. It is not THAT.
What is worthwhile is to seek the TRUE SENSE of life: to what does it really correspond? What is there behind it all? Why has the Lord created it? What is He heading towards? What does He want? What does He want to happen? That, we have not found. What does He want!!
0 1961-05-19, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And the trouble is that if one translates literally, into poor French, it doesnt yield the deeper sense either, because that also considerably demolishes the meaning.
If we want to translate literally its as much a mistranslation as translating freely.
--
(Later, Satprem wanted to read certain past conversations to Mother for her to add to her Agenda. Mother refused to listenit wasnt the first time, either and lively protestations ensued.)
You dont want to hear them?
--
There are successive curves, each se cond of which would have to be noted down; and in the course of one of these curves, something is suddenly found. For example, at the beginning of The Yoga of Self-Perfection, Sri Aurobindo reviews other yogas, beginning with Hatha Yoga. I had just translated this when I remembered Sri Aurobindo saying that Hatha Yoga was very effective but that it amounted to spending your whole life training your body, which is an enormous time and effort spent on something not essentially very interesting. Then I looked at it and said to myself, But after all, (I was looking at life as it is, as people ordinarily live it) one spends at least 90% of ones life merely to PRESERVE ones body, to keep it going! All this attention and concentration on an instrument which is put to hardly any use. Anyway, I was looking at it with that attitude, when suddenly all the cells of my body responded, in such a spontaneous and WARM way. How to say it? Something so so moving. They told me, But its the Lord who is looking after Himself in us! Each one was saying: But its the Lord who is looking after Himself in us!
It was truly lovely. Then I gave my reason a good poke: How stupid can you be! You always forget the essential.
--
This feeling was so warm, so intimate, so I dont know how to express it. At once so soft and so powerful and so. Oh, it was concrete! The whole atmosphere, the whole atmosphere became solidall, all had the taste of the Lord. I dont know how to make it clear. It was quite material, as if you had a mouthful of it, everything was full of itit was like that. In such a PHYSICAL way! Like. You might compare it to the most delicious taste you could ever haveit was the sense of touch and of tastevery, very material. It was like closing your hand on something solidsuch a warm, soft vibration, and SO STRONG, so powerful, so concrete!
It is evidently proof of an evolution in this direction, within this whole cluster of cells, but.
--
Finally, what we want is (long silence) its something like an absolute in the presence, the action, the consciousness, which annuls this (here Mother makes a gesture whichperhapsexpresses a distance, a separation, or an exchange between two distinct things). It can hardly be called a duality any more, but all the same there is something which sees and which feels. And thats what is irritating.
I do sense that all, all in me is reaching for ONE thing: You, You alone, let there be only You One cannot say I(there is always a misunderstanding with that idiotic I), but it isnt You, it isnt I it is one single thing. Let THAT be, and nothing else.
--
When I am all alone, its wonderful! As soon as this body is left all alone, oh! it melts, it melts. There are no more limits, it is content: Oh, at last I can cease to be!
And then truly, truly it forgets itself; truly it passes on to something else.
--
This was the first time I had this experience. It was much more substantial than the physical contact, which, as I told you, I had already had.1 It was much more material, and related to taste. It was as if the whole atmosphere and all the things in it were a marvelous food an ecstatic nourishment.
I had already had the experience for the sense of smell the divine vibration, the vibration of Ananda in odors. Just under my window, you know, Nripendra has his kitchen, where every morning and afternoon food is prepared for the children2it all comes wafting up on gusts of air. And when the Samadhi tree is in flower, the scent wafts up to me on gusts of air; when people burn incense down below, it comes wafting up here on gusts of aireach and every fragrance (fragrancelets say odor). And generally it all comes while I am walking for my japaan Ananda of odors, each one with its meaning, its expression, its (how to say it?) its motivation and its goal. Marvelous! And there are no longer any good or bad odors that notion is gone completely. Each one has its meaningits meaning and its raison dtre. I have been experiencing this for a long time.
--
But then the difficulty is that for the ordinary consciousness and unfortunately I am surrounded by a lot of people who have a very ordinary consciousness (at least it seems very ordinary to me, although from the human standpoint they are probably rather remarkable people)for the ordinary consciousness I seem to be in a stupor, a coma, a state of imbecility, of yes, of torpor. It has all those appearances. Something which becomes immobile, unresponsive, stopped short (same gesture as before); one can no longer think, one can no longer observe, one can no longer react, one can no longer do anything, one is like that (same gesture). But all these things keep coming from outside, all the time, coming and trying to interrupt that state; yet if I manage to prevent this, if I can keep this condition, after a while it becomes something so MASSIVE! So concrete in its power, so massive in its immobility, ohh! It must lead somewhere.
But I could not remain in that state long enough (it would have to go on for HOURS), I could not, due to all these constant interruptions. And then, when the body is pulled brusquely out of it, it seems to lose its balanceit has a few difficult moments.
I understand people who choose to leave! But thats not what is wanted of me! I should have enough flexibility so that the two can exist together (gesture expressing the interlocking or the fusion of the two worlds).
--
If you only knew (because the perception, the conscious perception Ive had it for years and years, but it is becoming more and more keen and precise), if you could perceive this atmosphere I am made to breathe, mon petit! (gesture around the head) The foolishness, the stupidity, the nastiness, the inanity. It is full, full of all thatfull. One cannot brea the without breathing that!
Not to mention the letters people write.
--
When these promised things are achieved, then something like a Power will comepersonally I dont consider that I have power. For the moment its nothing. It is NOTHING. My conception of Power is that when this must be comes into the consciousness, well, it MUST be. But its not like that now. All the other forces, the other movements of consciousness, enter and interfere,4 and the usual mess results; there is a little bit of that, a bit of this, a bit of the otherin short, an approximation. Sometimes it works, but then it is.
The movement of initiating the action always proceeds in the same wayas something imperatively SEEN. consequently, it should ALWAYS have an effect; but all kinds of things enter and cause a disturbance. So I dont call that Powerits too haphazard. But dont worry yourself over all this chatter.
Oh, listen!
0 1961-05-23, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I never knew Vivekananda. I only know what I have heard or read about him, but that isnt what I call knowing. So I cant say anything, and above all I dont want to seem to give credence to all the gossip that has been spread about him. I have had no personal contact with him, neither in the physical nor elsewherenot with him personally. Naturally I could if I made an effort, but.
To tell the truth, this question seems stupid to me, because one can have mastery over circumstances only if one becomes the Supremebecause the Supreme alone has mastery over circumstances. So the question is senseless.
If you become identified with the Supreme and there is but ONE willHis then of course you have supreme mastery. Otherwise its all nothing but illusion. You imagine that by wanting a certain thing you can change circumstances, but you still have to be in total ignorance to believe that the change occurs because YOU want it toin fact, the Supreme is making use of you. consequently, you have no mastery at all; you are an instrument used by the Supreme, and thats all.
So all these things [the earlier Questions and Answers] seem quite childish to me, quite childishirrelevant chatter. You are outside the garden talking about what is within. It would be best to delete the whole thing.
0 1961-06-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When one does not repeat ones past mistakes, the divine power, the power of the divine Grace, abolishes their consequences their karmain the being. But as long as mistakes are repeated nothing can be abolished, because one re-creates them at every minute. When a person has made a serious error, say, a serious mistake (it can be serious or not, but we are concerned primarily with the serious ones), such mistakes have their consequences in life, a karma which has to be exhausted. The divine Grace, if you call upon it, has the power to abolish that karma, to cut short the consequences but the Grace can only do this when you, within yourself, dont begin all over again, when the mistake committed is not renewed. The past can be completely purified and abolished, on condition that one does not keep making it into a perpetual present.
I have said it there in one sentence, but I didnt want people to believe that they can continue making the same stupid blunder indefinitely and have the Grace indefinitely annul all the consequences.1 It isnt like that! The past can be cleansed to the point where it has no effect of any kind on the future, but only on condition that you stop the wrong vibration in yourself, that you dont reproduce the same vibration indefinitely.
I know why I gave no explanations as I was speaking: because of the intensity of the experience. There is something like it in Prayers and Meditations. I remember an experience I had in Japan which is noted there. (Mother looks through Prayers and Meditations and reads a passage dated November 25, 1917:)2
--
the conqueror who assures the victory.
It was a series of experiences resulting from external circumstances. And then I speak of the tears shed, not for oneself but for others. (Mother reads a passage dated July 12, 1918:)
--
O Supreme and only confidant, Thou who
knowest beforeh and all we can say to Thee
--
the sublime joy of a perfect confidence,
an absolute serenity, a surrender total and
--
effort and constraint.
Joyous like a child I have smiled and wept
--
Fundamentally, I have noticed one thing: if you yourself are in the right state, the right atmosphere is immediately created. And in addition, I am always in a sort of not even a convictionan ABSOLUTE perception that all that happens is the Lords doing. When He makes me late going upstairs its because He wants me to be late, and consequently, if I take it wellif instead of closing myself and getting annoyed I say, Good, thats fineimmediately a very interesting atmosphere is created, because at the same time I see all the advantages of this change. But this movement must not be mentalit has to be spontaneous.
Therefore, I have told her (to put it simply): provided you are sincere in your attitude, all is well.
--
And I see that the translation would go quickly if one moved into another domain. In one domain it is laborious, terrible, difficult, and the result is never very satisfying. But contrary to what I had thought, the domain of comprehension does not suffice, even the domain of experience does not suffice: something else is needed (oh, how to explain it?), a state in which effort is left totally behind. There is a state (which probably must be beyond the mind, because one no longer thinks at all, not at all) where everything is smiling and easy, and the sentences come to you all by themselves. Its peculiar I read, and even before I finish reading the sentence to be translated I know whats in it; and then without waitingalmost without waiting to know whats in it I know what to put for it. When its like that I can translate a page in half an hour.
But it doesnt lastit ought to last. Usually it ends in a trance: I go off into the experience, I am in a beatific state and ten minutes later I notice that Ive been in that state with my pen poised in my hand. Its not favorable to the work! But otherwise its I cant even say its like someone dictating (its not that, I dont hear); it comes by itself. Oh, the other day there were one or two sentences! I wrote something and suddenly saw what I was writing and doing so pulled me out of that state. Well, I said to myself, how nicely put! And plop! (Mother laughs) Everything was gone.
--
It was an odd thing, it seized me suddenly I was no longer able to climb the stairs! I didnt know how to do it! It also took hold of me once as I was having lunch I no longer knew how to eat! This, of course, is what the external world calls lapsing into se cond childhood. So I considered the problem of the poor old people who are thought to be lapsing into their se cond childhoodsmight they not, by chance, be on the frontier of liberation?! Perhaps.
My brain is good!! (Mother laughs)
0 1961-06-06, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No. I had finished reading the Veda and wanted to take up The Life Divine, but as I had never read On Himself,1 I chose it instead. I read the first chapter dealing with his life in England and to me it all seemed. Oh, why speak of all these things in connection with Sri Aurobindo? Why? I know quite well that he himself has repliedor rather rectified inexact things people had said about him but it made such a painful impression on me! Such a painful impression.
Something must definitely be done which is free of that whole useless jumble about who his father was and so forthpah! I dont like that sort of thing.
--
Take absolutely identical circumstances: the same outer circumstances, the same inner circumstances the psychological condition is the same; circumstances of life, the same; events, the same; people, no appreciable difference. Identical circumstances, a few hoursnot even a dayapart. And in one case, the body that is, the cellular consciousness feels a sort of eurhythmy and general harmony, everything dovetails in such a marvelous way, without rubbing, without frictioneverything functions and organizes itself in a total harmony. Its a peace and a joy (without the vital intensity, of courseits something physical). All, all is so harmonious and truly you feel a sense of the divine organization of everything, of all the cellsall is marvelous and the body feels well. Then in the other case everything is the same, the consciousness is the same and something escapes the perception of harmony is no longer there. For what reason? One doesnt understand anymore. And then the body begins to function wrongly. Yet everything is absolutely identicalmental conditions, vital conditions, physical conditions, all identical and suddenly it all seems meaningless. One still has the consciousness, the full consciousness of the divine Presence, and one senses somewhere something escaping, and all becomes its like running after something that escapes. Things become meaningless. In absolutely identical conditionseven the movements of the body (functional movements, I mean) may be identical, but they are felt to be disharmonious (these words are much too crude, its more subtle than that), meaningless, disharmonious. And what escapes? You cant make it out.
What is it?
--
Strangely, it happened after reading that first chapter of On Himself; while reading I felt a sort of malaise in my body, so slight that it was almost imperceptible, but still a malaise and it lasted through the night. Why? Nothing had changed in the consciousness.
More and more I have the impression ofwhat? How can it be explained? A question of vibrations in Matter. Its incomprehensible, completely eluding all mental law, all psychological law: a self-existent something.
--
And its so subtle, so incomprehensible theres a distinct impression of it TOTALLY eluding even the highest conscious will. What is it? What is it?
If we found that, perhaps we would have it all the total Secret.
--
Oh, it was so lovely yesterday! The whole dayand all, all, all was the same as nowall the circumstances, the condition of the body, everything. It cant even be said that in one case the body was well and in the other it wasntit isnt true, it was all the same thing, all was the same. But in one case you floatyou float in a beatific light which carries you for all Eternity; and in the other case you seem to be walking through shifting sands without seeing clearly, without understandingdeadened, absolutely deadened.
Thats why I had difficulty listening to you just now [during the work], because since last night I have been constantly facing this problem, and all morning long Ive had to you know, do like this (Mother clenches her fist, as though getting a grip on herself) in order to come here and listen. I didnt feel like seeing anyone, doing anything only staying like this (Mother keeps still, her arms at her sides) until that problem is willing to explain itself.
But if you had seen me yesterday. I would probably have said nothing, but it was so lovely! Exactly the same thing, the same people, the same circumstances, the same conditions in the body. Everything, everything was the same.
But wasnt it universal waveswasnt this malaise something cosmic rather than personal?
Yes, of course! Its the universal Problem. That is my sole concern.
Something that veils?
--
You see, all the things that have been told, even all the things Sri Aurobindo has said (he has said the most in Savitri), all that is necessarily (what can it be called?) mental, the super-intellectual spiritualized mind. But it is not THAT! Its a form, its an image, its not the concrete fact.
(silence)
--
And when the body makes this movement (gesture of stepping back from physical appearances)what to call it? This movement of fusion (is it fusion?), of no longer being a separate body, of being the Divine there is something which. There is a sort of abstraction of something (and even that is putting it too concretely). And sometimes it succeeds, the body floats in the Light; sometimes its only partial. Sometimes all the inner consciousness is there, full and total but HERE things remain as they are, stupid, stupid, utterly stupid! Blind, in shifting sands, painful (and its not a thought, its not even a sensation; I dont know what it is).
And THERE the conscious will can do nothing. Nothing. All it could do it has done, and it continues to do all it can at each minute, and its nothing, it is not THATwhat is it??
That is a true Secret. How splendid it will be when it is found.
--
Mother is alluding to two extracts from Questions and Answers (dated June 19 and July 17, 1957) which she has just reviewed for inclusion in the Bulletin. In them she speaks of the causes of illness and of using the conscious will for physical development.
***
0 1961-06-17, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its a contemplation going right up to the Supreme, with a constant, continuous Descent: something which doesnt waver the whole time (doesnt waver I mean doesnt vary), during the whole meditation. But if I ask him what happened, hell tell me a little story!
Yesterday I saw N. and he told me, Oh! X had an experience during the meditation with you this morning. Ah! I said to myself, This is going to be interesting. (I was wrong to think so, by the way, even for a quarter of a se cond.) Yes, he told me, he saw what seemed to be a transparent golden veil descending over you; and by your side were flowers like roses, or colored like roses, with the feet of a child upon them.
--
It was the same thing yesterday, the same Experience, only less strong and less continuous. But all these petty imageries dont interest me.
So I dont ask him anything.
--
Whenever there was a special force descending, or an opening, or a supramental manifestation, we would know it at the same time, in the same manner. And we didnt even need to talk about it; we would sometimes exchange a word or two concerning the consequences, the practical effects on the work, but thats all. I never had this with anyone except Sri Aurobindo.
There have been times when I did things for people and they sensed exactly what I had done. It has happened. It is rather rare, but still it has happened.
--
(At the end of the conversation, Satprem complains to Mother of the tiresome task of eating, and asks her if he couldnt cut it down drastically.)
The time has not yet come when we can stop eating. Never in my life has food interested me; there have been long periods when I ate almost nothing. One day I said to myself, Why lose so much time eating? And the reply was, Dont stop yet, wait; thats not your look-out.
0 1961-06-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Something happening? I dont know. But that state IN ITSELF is something. When the body is conscious of that it means precisely that it has come out of its narrownessit is the same Infinite as the one you get when out of the body.
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.
--
Yesterday, when I was in that immobility, suddenly I felt something obliging me to turn my head. I didnt turn my head, but the consciousness turned (gesture to the left), and then I saw myself standing there in the corridor (that kind of corridor separating the hall and Sri Aurobindos room) in my usual outdoor dress [Indian shirt and light trousers]. I was standing up very straight and holding a globe of light above my head and such a light! It was shining brighter than those strong electric bulbsdazzling. My own clothing seemed to be made of golden-pink light. I was standing very straight and carrying this globe (gesture above the head). When I saw that I said to myself, Now why on earth is he making me see this? And that was all. Nothing else happened except that. But near me there was a figure I didnt know, and it reminded me of Xs great guru,1 whom I had already seen once. There he was by my side, a tall figure, and he seemed to be the one who had tugged at me to make me see that vision.
It was a large globe. Although no distinct rays could be seen, it appeared to be projecting innumerable rays like flashes of lightning. It was sparkling all over.
--
I dont know the outer X, I have been very careful not to enter into contact with him! But from the first day I sensed a gap.
Its odd!
No, its the old traditionyou step back from Nature and Nature does whatever she wants. It doesnt concern you, you have no responsibility, you are not that. Its the old idea.
Sri Aurobindo was completely against it. Somewhere he makes fun of a man who said he was the Supreme and that whatever he did, it wasnt he himself doing itand then he was angry when his meal was late! But of course it wasnt him: the stomach-nature was angry!2
0 1961-06-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have received your note1 and it didnt surprise me, because just about a month ago I received what seemed like an SOS from your mother, telling me your father was rapidly declining. I have done what I could, mainly to bring in some tranquillity, some calm, some inner peace. But I havent done. You see, there are always two possibilities when people are so seriously ill: they can be helped to die quickly, or else made to linger on for a very long time. When I have no outer or inner indications, all I ever do is apply the consciousness for the best to happen to them (the best from the souls standpoint, of course).
Do you know whether your father has expressed any wish?
--
(Mother remains silent for a moment, then says:) Over the years I have had a considerable number of experiences in this realm, and my first action is always the same: send the Peace (I do this in all cases, for everyone) and apply the Force, the Power of the Lord, for the best thing to happen. Some people are very sick, sick to the point where there is no hope, where they cannot be cured, where the end is coming; but they sense that their souls must still need to have certain experiences, so they hang on-they dont want to die. In such cases I apply the Force for them to last as long as possible. In other cases, on the contrary, they are weary of suffering, or indeed the soul has finished its experience and desires to be liberated. In such a case, if I am sure of it, sure that they themselves are expressing the desire to depart, its over in a few hours I say this with certainty because Ive had a considerable number of experiences. There is a certain force which goes out and does what is necessary. I havent done either of these things for your fathernei ther to prolong his life (because when people are suffering its not very kind to prolong their lives indefinitely), nor to finish it, because I didnt knowone cant do either without knowing the persons conscious wish.
As for your mother, she must have been thinking of me, for otherwise she wouldnt have come in that wayshe would have come through you (its different when things come through you). But she came to me directly, so I thought that for some reason she must have remembered me. I dont know. And I looked and said to myself (it came just like that), Now that she will be left all alone, why doesnt she come here? I havent done anything about that, either, one way or the other.
--
It didnt come from me, you understand; it didnt stem from a construction made by me: it came from outside. Why doesnt she come here? I wondered.
The same thought came to me three or four times.
Then she is thinking about itperhaps not consciously, but in her sub conscient.
It happened some time ago. I even spoke to Sujata about it and said that someone over there was calling you. Did she tell you?
--
As soon as I came upon Theons teaching (even before meeting him personally), and read and understood all kinds of things which I hadnt known before, I began to work quite systematically. Every night, at the same hour, I was working to constructbetween the purely terrestrial atmosphere and the psychic atmospherea path of protection across the vital, so that people wouldnt have to pass through it (for those who are conscious but without knowledge its a very difficult passageinfernal.) I was preparing this path, doing this work (it must have been around 1903 or 1904, I dont remember exactly) for months and months and months. All sorts of extraordinary things happened during that timeextraordinary. I could tell long stories.
Then, when I went to Tlemcen, I told Madame Theon about it. Yes, she told me, it is part of the work you have come on earth to do. Everyone with even a slightly awakened psychic being who can see your Light will go to your Light at the moment of dying, no matter where they die, and you will help them to pass through. And this work is constant. constant. It has given me a considerable number of experiences concerning what happens to people when they leave their bodies. Ive had all sorts of experiences, all kinds of examplesits really very interesting.
Lately it has increased, become more precise.
There is a boy here, V., who is especially interested in what happens at the moment of death (this seems to be one reason why he has reincarnated). Hes a conscious boy, a remarkable clairvoyant, and he has a power. And we have had (how to put it?) some quite interesting correlations of experiences concerning people who pass away here. Extremely interesting and extraordinarily precise: he sends word to me, I reply, and at night when the disincarnated person comes he says, Mother has done this and says to do that, and the person does it. And we dont need to speaksuch precision!
This happens in sleep?
--
I will give you a concrete example, then youll understand. When I.B. was killed, I had to gather up all his states of being and activities, which had been dispersed by the violence of the accident2it was terrible, he was in a dreadful state of dispersion. For two or two and a half days the doctors fought in the hope of reviving him, but it was impossible. During those two days I gathered up all his consciousness, all of it; I collected it over his body, to the point where, when it had come and formed itself there, such vitality, such life was coming back into his body that after some hours the doctors believed he would be saved. But it couldnt last (it wasnt possiblea part of the brain had come out). Well, when not only his soul but his mental being, his vital being, and all the rest had been properly collected and organized over his body and had realized that the body had become quite unusable, it was overthey gave up the body and it was over.
I was keeping I.B. near me because I already had the idea of putting him immediately back into another bodyhis soul was not satisfied, it had not finished its experience (there was a whole combination of circumstances) and it wanted to continue to live on earth. Then, that night, his inner being went to find V., lamenting, saying he was dead and hadnt wanted to die, that he had lost his body and wanted to continue to live. V. was very perplexed. He let me know about it in the morning: Heres what has happened. I sent word to him of what I was doing, that I was keeping I.B. in my atmosphere and that he should stay very calm and not get excited, for I was going to put him back into a body as soon as possible I already had something in view. The same evening I.B. again went to find V., with the same complaint. V. told him very clearly, Here is what Mother says, here is what she is going to do; come now, be calm and dont torment yourself. And he saw in I.B.s face that he had understood (the inner being was taking on I.B.s physical appearance, naturally); his face relaxed, he became content.
He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put him into C.s child.
--
I was telling you the other day how vexing it is that we are all on different planes all the time,3 but on that particular plane it works very well with this boyon this one point, this tiny, precise point concerning the moment of leaving the body. We can do interesting work this way.
Is one snatched up by the vital zone upon leaving the body?
--
Not long ago M.s sister died (psychologically, she was in a terrible stateshe had no faith). Well, on that day,5 just when I came to know that she was passing away, I remember being upstairs in the bathroom communicating with Sri Aurobindo, having a sort of conversation with him (it happens very often), and I asked him, What happens to such people when they die here at the Ashram? Look, he replied, and I saw her passing away; and on her forehead, I saw Sri Aurobindos symbol in a SOLID golden light (not very luminous, but very concrete). There it was. And with the presence of this sign the psychological state no longer matterednothing touched her. And she departed tranquilly, tranquilly. Then Sri Aurobindo told me, All who have lived at the Ashram and who die there have automatically the same protection, whatever their inner state.
I cant say I was surprised, but I admired the mighty power by which the simple fact of having been here and died here was sufficient to help you to the utmost in that transition.
But there are all sorts of cases. Take N.D., for example, a man who lived his whole life with the idea of serving Sri Aurobindohe died clasping my photo to his breast. This was a consecrated man, very conscious, with an unfailing dedication, and all the parts of his being well organized around the psychic.6 The day he was going to leave his body little M. was meditating next to the Samadhi when suddenly she had a vision: she saw all the flowers of the tree next to the Samadhi (those yellow flowers I have called Service) gathering themselves together to form a big bouquet, and rising, rising straight up. And in her vision these flowers were linked with the image of N.D. She ran quickly to their house andhe was dead.
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.
--
Have I told you about the experience I had the day I suddenly found myself in Sri Aurobindos home in the subtle physical?7Well, its as if I took a step and entered a far more concrete world than the physicalmore concrete because things contain more truth. I spent a good while there with Sri Aurobindo and then, when it was over, I took another step and I found myself back here slightly dumbfounded. It took me quite some time to regain my bearings here, because it was this world that seemed unreal to me, not the other.
But its simply thatyou take a step, and you enter another room. And when you live in your soul there is a continuity, because the soul remembers, it keeps the whole memory; it remembers all occurrences, even outer occurrences, all the outer movements it has been associated with. So its a continuous, uninterrupted movement, here and there, from one room to another, from one house to another, from one life to another.
People are so ignorant! Thats what irritates those who have passed to the other sidepeople dont understand, they shoo them away: What does he want? Why does he bother me? Hes DEAD!
--
I have to goa high-priest is waiting for me! Yes, the man in charge of all the temples of Gujarat, thoroughly orthodoxhe has come to the Ashram for some mysterious reason and he wants to see me. Is it really necessary? I asked. He wanted an interview, he wants to speak to me (naturally hell be speaking god knows whatGujarati!). I had him told, I cant hear, Im deaf! Its very convenient Im deaf, I cant hear. If he wants to receive a flower from me (I didnt say make a pranam,8 because that would be scandalous!), he can come and Ill give him a flower. I told him eleven oclockits that time now.
This is all Xs work. The most unexpected people, people youd think would rather be cursed than come to a place like this, are coming from everywhere, from the most diverse milieus the most materialistic materialists, fanatical communists, as well as all sorts of sannyasis, bhikkus, swamis, priestsoh! People who previously were not at all they werent so much disinterested as actually displeased with the Ashram.
--
Do you know the story of the two simultaneous operations of E. and of T.? T. is that vice-admiral who came here and became quite enthusiastiche had a kind of inner revelation here. The two of them were operated on for a similar complaint, a dangerous ulcer in the digestive system. He was in one town and she was in another, and they were operated on a day apartboth serious operations. And in each case, after a few days had gone by, the surgeon who did the operation said, I congratulate you. Practically the same phrase in both cases. And they both protested: Why are you congratulating me? (Each one wrote me about this separately; they were living far from one another and only met afterwards.) Why? You did the operationyou should be congratulated for my quick recovery. And in both cases the doctor replied, No, no; we only operate, the body does the healing; you have healed yourself in a way which can qualify as miraculous, and I genuinely congratulate you. And then the two of them had the same reaction they wrote to me saying, We know where the miracle comes from. And they had both called me. Moreover, E. had written me a remarkable letter a few days before her operation, where she quoted the Gita as if it were quite natural for her, and told me, I know that the operation is ALREADY done, that the Lord has already done it, and so I am calm.
Things like that, everywhere and PRECISE! Something quite precise. Of course, to say that I work consciously is almost silly, its commonplace. But in many cases one may work consciously for long years without getting that precision in the result the action enters a hazy atmosphere and makes a kind of stir, and out of it comes the best that can, but no more than that. But now its exact, preciseits becoming interesting.
And now I know why this sort of impersonalization of the material individuality is so important. It is very important for the exactness of this action, so that it is onlyONLY the purest divine Will (if it can be put that way), expressing itself with a minimum of admixture. Any individualization or personalization results in admixture. But the divine Will acts like this (direct gesture).
--
Among Mother's papers we have found the following, which indicates that a state of dispersion after death is rather frequent (it concerns a disciple's mother who did not herself live at the Ashram): 'She has left her body without being at all prepared for the change of condition and has found herself disoriented and rather dispersed. She will need some time to recover from this dispersion before anything useful can be done for her.'
May 17, 1959.
0 1961-06-27, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Aphorism 62I heard a fool discoursing utter folly and wondered what God meant by it; then I considered and saw a distorted mask of truth and wisdom.
Is there really no such thing as utter stupidity or absolute falsehood? Is there always a truth behind?
--
Its like asking if certain elements will disappear from the universe. What can it mean, the destruction of a universe? Once we are out of our stupidity, what can we call destruction? Only the form is destroyed, the appearance (that, yesall appearances are destroyed, one after the other). It is also said (its written everywhere) that the adverse forces will either be converted that is, become aware of their own divinity and become divineor be destroyed. But what does destroyed mean? Their form? Their form of consciousness can be dissolved, but what about the something which brings itand everything elseinto existence? How can that something be destroyed? This, mon petit, is difficult to comprehend. The universe is a conscious objectification of That which exists from all eternity. Well, how can the All cease to be? The infinite and eternal All, without limits of any kindhow can anything be thrown out of it? There is nowhere to go! (You can rack your brains over it, you know!) Go where? There is only THAT.
And even when we say there is only that we are situating it somewherewhich is perfectly idiotic. It is everywhereso how can anything be thrown out of it?
Of course, one can conceive of a universe being thrown out of the present manifestation that, yes; one can conceive of successive universes, with what was in the first universes no longer being in the othersits even obvious. One can imagine how a whole sum of falsity and untruth (what for us, NOW, is falsity and untruth) may come to no longer belong to the world in its future unfolding; one can comprehend all that. But destroy? Where can it go to be destroyed? When we say something is destroyed, its only a form which is destroyed (it may be a form of consciousness, it may not be a material form, but its always a form). But how can the formless be destroyed?
Therefore, to speak of an absolute falsehood disappearing would simply mean that a whole set of things will live eternally in the past but not belong to the coming manifestations, thats all.
--
We are told that when you ascend both beyond Nirvana or Nothingness and beyond Existence (the two SIMULTANEOUS and complementary aspects of the Supreme), there is a state of consciousness where all simultaneously and eternally exists. Thusalthough God knows, it may be yet another stupiditywe can conceive of a whole set of things passing into Non-Being, and for our consciousness this would be disappearance or destruction.
Is it possible? I dont know. We would have to ask the Lord! But He generally doesnt answer such questionsHe just smiles!
--
Jokingly you can say (you can always joke, although I hesitate to do so, because people take my jokes so seriously) but you can very well say, without being totally in error, that you sometimes learn much more listening to a madman or a fool than to a reasonable person. Personally, Im convinced of it! There is nothing more deadening than reasonable people.
At any rate, this simultaneity of past, present and future cant be a physical simultaneity, can it?
--
I have had an oft repeated experience of reliving the past1 (its a phenomenon of consciousness, possible because everything is preserved and continues to exist somewhere), with a kind of willwhich would be the sign of a powerto change it. I dont know, but at the moment of reliving it, instead of reliving the past just as it had been preserved, a power to make it different was introduced. I am not speaking of the power to change the consequences of the past (that is obvious and functions all the time)it wasnt that; it was the power to change the circumstances themselves (circumstances not quite material but of the subtle physical, with a predominantly psychological content). And since the will was there, from the standpoint of consciousness it actually happened that is, instead of circumstances developing in one direction, they developed in another. So it must correspond to something real, otherwise I would not have had the experience. It wasnt a product of the imagination; it wasnt something one thinks of and would really like to be differentit wasnt that; it was a phenomenon of consciousness: my consciousness was reliving certain circumstances (which are still quite living and obviously continue to exist within their own domain), but reliving them with the power and the knowledge acquired between that past moment and the present, and with a power to change the past moment. A new power entered the scene and turned the circumstance being relived in a new direction. I have had this experience many times and it has always surprised meits not a phenomenon of mental imagination, which is something else entirely.
It opens the door to everything.
--
But it remains present through its consequences.
No, no, no! The past IN ITSELF. In itself. Not through its consequences, thats something elsein itself. And within the TERRESTRIAL atmosphere (not on the most material plane, but very near; very, very near).
I have what could be called a tactile sensation that the contents of the subtle atmosphere are increasing. This atmosphere is not part of material space as we conceive of or see it physically, where one thing has to give place to another (Mother changes the position of an eraser on the table)and even that (laughing) I believe is an illusion! It only SEEMS like that to us! Its not on the wholly material plane, but just behind or within (how to put it?), and its contents are increasing. And as its happening within inner dimensions, it can augment, so to speak, indefinitely; things become more and more interwoven, if you see what I meanwhere there was one phenomenon of consciousness there may now be hundreds, interwoven with each other in the inner dimensions; which means, for example, considering only our tiny planet, that the earth is becoming more and more compact and rich with all that has been since the beginning of its formationbecause its all there, it is all still there.
Actually, as soon as one is not totally, totally tied down by the physical sense organs. For example, I am more and more frequently experiencing changes in the quality of vision. Quite recently, yesterday or the day before, I was sitting in the bathroom drying my face before going out and I raised my eyes (I was sitting before a mirror, although I dont usually look at myself); I raised my eyes and looked, and I saw many things (Mother laughs, greatly amused). At that moment, I had an experience which made me say to myself, Ah! Thats why, from the physical, purely material standpoint, my vision seems to be a bit blurred. Because what I was seeing was MUCH clearer and infinitely more expressive than normal physical sight. And I recalled that it is with these clearer eyes that I see and recognize all my people at bal cony darshan. (From the bal cony I recognize all my people.) And its that vision (but with open eyes!) which. It is of another order.
--
The conTENT is different, mon petit. I see I see, but. The state of consciousness of the person Im looking at, for instance, changes his physical appearance for my PHYSICAL eyes. And this has nothing to do with the banalities of ordinary psychology, where your physiognomy is said to be changed by the feelings you experience. The conTENT of what I see is different. And then the eyes of the person I am looking at are not the sameit is rather. I couldnt sketch it, but perhaps if I made a painting it would give some idea (I would need to use a somewhat blurred technique, not too precise). The eyes are not quite the same, and the rest of the face too, even the color and the shape thats what sometimes makes me hesitate. I see people (I see my people every morning) and I recognize them, and yet they are different, they are not the same every day (some are always, always the same, like a rock, but others are not). And I even I hesitate sometimes: Is it really he? But he is very. It is indeed he, but I dont quite know him. This generally coincides with changes in the persons consciousness.
In conclusion: we know nothing.
(silence)
It is the undeniable fact of the (oh, how to put it!) the constant Presence but Presence means nothing (Mother remains silent for a long time, then gives up trying to explain).
Oh, the more you try to capture it, the more it slips out of your grasp!
--
(After listening to the conversation of June 24, concerning death:)
You know, we are just on the frontier, on the edge: its as if there were a semi-transparent curtainone sees things on the other side, tries to grasp them, but as yet cannot. But there is such a sense of proximity!
Sometimes, all of a sudden, I see myself as a FORMIDABLE concentration of power, pushing, pushing, pushing in an inner concentration to pass through. It happens to me anywhere, any time, at any moment I see a whole mass of consciousness gathered into a formidable power pushing, pushing, pushing to pass to the other side.
When we have passed to the other side, all will be well.
0 1961-07-04, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night or the night before you were associated with an experience. Following my reading [On Himself] I had a sense of how very small we are and of how to expand. You were associated, very intimately associated with this expansion. Sri Aurobindo was there (you know he has adopted you as his biographer; I have told you this and I repeat it because I have evidence of it all the time), and he was giving a kind of practical demonstrationnot intellectual, practicalof how to expand not only the consciousness but the whole being, down to its most material parts. You were there, associated with this, and he was showing you as well as me what had to be done. (Mother makes a gesture of breaking through limits.)
This made me very glad.
0 1961-07-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This happens quite often on the bal cony, because there I am concentrated on the descending Light. Then, very often, the body becomes completely still, like this.
That way one can last. Very well. Lets work.
--
Thats not how it is, mon petit! This is precisely how the modern Western attitude has become twisted compared to the ancient attitude, the attitudeit isnt exactly ancientof the Gita. Its extremely difficult for the Western mind to comprehend vividly and concretely that ALL is the Divine. It is so impregnated with the Christian spirit, with the idea of a Creator the creation on one side and God on the other! Upon reflection, one rejects this, but it has entered into our sensations and feelings, and sospontaneously, instinctively, almost sub consciouslyone credits God with all one considers to be the best, the most beautiful, and especially with what one wishes to attain, to realize. (Each individual, of course, changes the content of his God according to his own consciousness, but its always what he considers to be the best.) And just as instinctively, spontaneously and sub consciously, one is shocked by the idea that things one doesnt like or doesnt approve of or which dont seem to be the best, could also be God.
I am putting this purposely into rather childish terms so that it will be clearly understood. But this is the way it is. I am sure of it because I have observed it in myself for a VERY long time, and I had to. Due to the whole sub conscious formation of childhoodenvironment, education, and so forthwe have to DRUM into this (Mother touches her body) the consciousness of Unity : the absolute, EXCLUSIVE unity of the Divineexclusive in the sense that nothing exists apart from this Unity, even the things which seem most repulsive.
Sri Aurobindo also had to struggle against this because he too received a Christian education. And these Aphorisms are the result the floweringof the necessity to struggle against the sub conscious formation which has produced such questions (Mother takes on a scandalized tone): How can God be weak? How can God be foolish? How. But there is nothing but God! He alone exists, there is nothing outside of Him. And whatever seems repugnant to us is something He no longer wishes to existHe is preparing the world so that this no longer manifests, so that the manifestation can pass beyond this state to something else. So of course we violently reject everything in us that is destined to leave the active manifestation. There is a movement of rejection.
--
It must be remembered that there are all these gradations of consciousness: when we speak of God and his Play we are speaking of God in his transcendent state, beyond everything, beyond all the degrees of matter; when we speak of the Play we are speaking of God in his material state. So we say that God transcendent is watching and playingin Himself, by Himself, with Himselfhis material game.
But all languageall language!is a language of Ignorance. All means of expression, all that is said and all the ways of saying it, are bound to partake of that ignorance. And thats why its so difficult to express something concretely true; to do so would require extremely lengthy explanations, themselves, of course, fully erroneous. Sri Aurobindos sentences are sometimes very long for precisely this reasonhe is trying to get away from this ignorant language.
Our whole way of thinking is wrong!
All the believers, all the faithful (those from the West in particular) think in terms of something else when they speak of GodHe cannot be weak, ugly, imperfect, He is something immaculate but this is wrong thinking. They are dividing, separating. For sub conscious thought (I mean thinking without reflecting, instinctively, out of habit, without observing oneself thinking), what is generally considered perfection is precisely what is seen or felt or postulated as being virtuous, divine, beautiful, admirable but its not that at all! Perfection means something in which nothing is missing. The divine perfection is a totality. The divine perfection is the Divine in his wholeness, with nothing left out. The divine perfection is the whole of the Divine, with nothing subtracted from it. For the moralists it is the exact opposite: divine perfection is nothing but the virtues they stand for!
From the true standpoint, the divine perfection is the whole (Mother makes a global gesture), and the fact that within this whole nothing can be missing is precisely what makes it perfect.1 consequently, perfection means that each thing is in its place, exactly what it should be, and that relationships among things are also exactly what they should be.
Perfection is one way to approach the Divine; Unity is another. But Perfection is a global approach: all is there and all is as it should be that is to say, the perfect expression of the Divine (you cant even say of His Will, because that still implies something apart, something emanating from Him!).
It could be put like this (but it brings it down considerably): He is what He is and exactly as He wants to be. The exactly as He wants to be takes us down quite a few steps, but it still gives an idea of what I mean by perfection!
Divine perfection implies infinity and eternityall is coexistent beyond time and space.
--
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.
--
Mother later clarified this point: 'It is impossible for anything to be missing because it is impossible for anything not to be part of the whole. Nothing can exist apart from the whole. But I am taking this now to its extreme limit of meaningnot down-to-earth, but to the heights, to the extreme limits of meaning. I will explain: everything is not necessarily contained within a given universe, because one universe is only one mode of manifestation but all possible universes exist. And so I always come back to the same thing: nothing can exist apart from the whole. If we give the whole the name of "God," for example, then we say that nothing can exist apart from Him. But words are so earthbound, aren't they?' (Mother makes a down-to-earth gesture.)
See 'Prayers of the consciousness of the Cells,' Agenda I, pp. 337-350.
As Mother had previously said that 'all is as it should be ... the Divine is what He is and exactly as He wants to be,' one shouldn't need to 'implore' Him to manifest his Perfection.
0 1961-07-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Regarding the last conversation, where Mother spoke of divine Perfection and of the series of invocations in her japa imploring the Lord to manifest his various aspects:)
But Perfection is only one side, one special way of approaching the Divine. There are innumerable sides, angles, aspectsinnumerable ways to approach the Divine. When I am walking, for example, doing japa, I have the sense of Unity (I have spoken to you of all the things I mention when I am upstairs walking: will, truth, purity, perfection, unity, immortality, eternity, infinity, silence, peace, existence, consciousness the list goes on). And when one follows a particular tack and does succeed in reaching or approaching or contacting the Divine, one realizes through experience that these many approaches differ only in their most external forms the contact itself is identical. Its like looking through a kaleidoscopeyou revolve around a center, a globe, and see it under various aspects; but as soon as the contact is established, its identical.
The number of approaches is practically infinite. Each one senses the path which accords with his temperament.
This japa, you know, didnt at all come from here (Mother points to her head). Its something I received fully formed, and to such an extent that I couldnt even change the place of a single thinga will seemed to oppose any change. Its a long series unfolding according to a law that probably corresponds to what is needed to develop this consciousness and the work it has to do (I suppose I dont really know and I havent tried to know). But a sort of law makes it impossible to change the position of even a single word, because these are not wordsthey are fully formed states of consciousness. And the whole series culminates with:
Manifest Your Love.
0 1961-07-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And it has become acute since.1 No, I dont read these days, because Ive had a hemorrhage in this eye. There have been too many letters, and its difficult for me to decipher handwriting the result is this hemorrhage. So I have gone on strike. All right, I said, I wont read any letters for a week. People can write as much as they please, its all the same to me Im not reading any more. But just before stopping (I stopped reading for only three days), I read a passage where Sri Aurobindo speaks of his own experience and his own work and explains in full what he means by the supramental transformation. This passage confirmed and made me understand many experiences I had after that experience of the bodys ascent [January 24, 1961] (the ascent of the body- consciousness, followed by the descent of the supramental force into the body); immediately afterwards, everything (how to put it?) outwardly, according to ordinary consciousness, I fell ill; but its stupid to speak this way I did not fall ill! All possible difficulties in the bodys sub conscient rose up en masseit had to happen, and it surely happened to Sri Aurobindo, too. How well I understood! How well, indeed. And its no joke, you know! I had wondered why these difficulties had hounded him so ferociouslynow I understand, because I am being attacked in the same relentless fashion.
Actually, it springs from everything in material consciousness that can still be touched by the adverse forces; that is, not exactly the body- consciousness itself but, one could say, material substance as it has been organized by the mind the initial mentalization of matter, the first stirrings of mind in life making the passage from animal to human. (The same complications would probably exist in animals, but as there is no question of trying to supramentalize animals, all goes well for them.) Well, something in there protests, and naturally this protest creates disorder. These past few days I have been seeing. No one has ever followed this path! Sri Aurobindo was the first, and he left without telling us what he was doing. I am literally hewing a path through a virgin forestits worse than a virgin forest.
For the past two days there has been the feeling of not knowing anythingNOTHING at all. I have had this feeling for a very long time, but now it has become extremely acute, as it always does at times of crisis, at times when things are on the verge of changingor of getting clarified, or of exploding, or. From the purely material standpointchemically, biologically, medically, therapeutically speaking I dont believe many people do know (there may be some). But it doesnt seem very clear to mein any case, I dont know. Yogically (I dont mean spiritually: that was the first stage of my sadhana), its very easy to be a saint! Oh, even to be a sage is very easy. I feel I was born with itits spontaneous and natural for me, and so simple! You know all that has to be done, and doing it is as easy as knowing it. Its nothing. But this transformation of Matter! What has to be done? How is it to be done? What is the path?
--
To be in a condition in which all is the Supreme, all is wonderful, all is marvelous, all is marvelous love, all is all is profound Joyan unchanging, immutable, ever-present condition. To live in That, and then to have this bodily substance contradict it through every possible stupiditylosing sight, losing strength, pains here, pains there, disorders, weaknesses, incapacities of every type. And at the SAME TIME, the response within this body, no matter what happens to it, is, O Lord, Your Grace is infinite. The contradiction is VERY dis concerting.
From experience, I know perfectly well that when one is satisfied with being a saint or a sage and constantly maintains the right attitude, all goes well the body doesnt get sick, and even if there are attacks it recovers very easily; all goes very well AS LONG AS THERE IS NOT THIS WILL TO TRANSFORM. All the difficulties arise in protest against the will to transform; while if one says, Very well, its all right, let things be as they are, I dont care, I am perfectly happy, in a blissful state, then the body begins to feel content!
Thats the problem: something totally new is being introduced into Matter, and the body is protesting.
After my interview with Nature, when she told me that she would collaborate,2 I thought this difficulty would cease; many things have improved considerably (ONE part of Nature is collaborating), but not this. Plainly and clearly, it comes from the sub conscient and the in conscient (wherever there is consciousness, all is well); its rising up all the time, all the time, and withoh, disgusting persistence!
And then of course its accompanied by all the usual suggestions (but thats nothing, it comes from a domain which is easily controlled). Suggestions of this type: Well, but Sri Aurobindo himself didnt do it! (I know why he didnt. but people in general dont know.) And every adverse vibration naturally takes advantage of this: How do you expect to succeed where he didnt! But my answer is always the same: When the Lord says its all over with, I will know its all over with; that will be the end of it, and so what! This stops them short.
But it doesnt keep them from starting up again! They did so particularly after I read the passage where Sri Aurobindo affirms, THIS time I have come for THATand I shall do it. The day when I read this I turned towards him, not actually putting the question to him but simply turning towards him, and he told me, Read the book through to the end. And I know, I know its truewhen I have read the book through to the end I will understand what he has done and I will even have the power to reply to all these suggestions. But meanwhile, everything that wants to keep me from doing it, all this obscure and sub conscious ill will, tries its best to keep me from reading, including giving me this eye hemorrhage.
--
We tried, ohmyself in particular! I concentrated all my power to prevent him from going, and it made him suffer greatly, because he WANTED to go, he had decidedhe the Supreme Lord had decided that he would go.
Yes, but why exactly was there this halt? He had come for that.
--
Obviously, were I to leave now I can say there would be a halt, because I dont see anyone at the moment who could continue. But theres a good chance that. We will see.
Yes, we will see.
--
That was the basic problembecause the identification of the two [Sri Aurobindo and Mother] was almost childs play, it was nothing: for me to merge into him or him to merge into me was no problem, it wasnt difficult. We had some conversations on precisely this subject, because we saw that (there were many other things, too, but this isnt the time to speak of them) the prevailing conditions were such that I told him I would leave this body and melt into him with no regret or difficulty; I told him this in words, not just in thought. And he also replied to me in words: Your body is indispensable for the Work. Without your body the Work cannot be done. After that, I said no more. It was no longer my concern, and that was the end of it.
This was said in 1949, just a little more than a year before he left.
--
In the final analysis, everything obviously depends upon the Supremes Will because, if one looks deeply enough into the question, even physical laws and resistances are nothing for Him. But this kind of direct intervention takes place only at the extreme limit; if His Will is to be expressed in opposition, as it were, to the whole set of laws governing the Manifestationwell, that only comes at the very last se cond. Sri Aurobindo has expressed this so well in Savitri, so well! At least three times in the book he has expressed this Will that abolishes all established laws, all of them, and all the consequences of these laws, the whole formidable colossus of the Manifestation, so that in the face of it all, That can express itself and this takes place at the very last se cond, so to speak, at the extreme limit of possibility.
I must say that there was a time when, as Sri Aurobindo had entrusted his work to me, there was a kind of tension to do it (it cant be called an anxiety); a tension in the will. This too has now ended (Mother stretches her arms into the Infinite). Its finished. But there MAY still be something tense lurking somewhere in the sub conscient or the in conscient I dont know, its possible. Why? I dont know. I mean I have never been told, at any time, neither through Sri Aurobindo nor directly, whether or not I would go right to the end. I have never been told the contrary, either. I have been told nothing at all. And if at times I turn towards Thatnot to question, but simply to know the answer is always the same: Carry on, its not your problem; dont worry about it. So now I have learned not to worry about it; I am consciously not worried about it.
(silence)
Oh, its measured out with such wisdom! I mean the awarenessnot exactly consciousness, but a state between consciousness and perception the awareness of the stupendous difficulty of the thing is given to me drop by drop so that it wont be crushing.
But there has evidently been some rather considerable progress, because lately the enormity of the thing has been shown to me far more concretely, oh! I tell you, it has reached the point where all spiritual life, all these peoples and races who have been trying since the beginning of the earth, who have made so many efforts to realize somethingit all seems like nothing, like childs play. Its nothing: you smile and then you are joyous. Its nothing at all, nothing at all!
To put things in ordinary terms, mon petit, this work is without glory! You get no results, no experiences filling you with ecstasy or joy or wondernone of that. It is hideous, a hideous labor.
If there werent this clear vision and constant aspiration withinoh, its so dreary and exasperating so dull, so gray ugh!
(silence)
Some months ago, when this body had once again become a battlefield and was confronting all the obstacles, when it was suspended, asking itself whether it wasnt wondering intellectually, but asking for a kind of perception, wanting to touch something: it wondered which direction it was taking, which way things were going to tilt. And suddenly, in all the cells, there was this feeling (and I know where it came from): If we are dissolved out of this amalgam, if this assemblage is dissolved and can no longer go on, then we shall all go straight, straight as an arrow and it was like a marvelous flamestraight to rejoin Sri Aurobindo in his supramental world, which is right here at our door. And there was such joy! Such enthusiasm, such joy flooded all the cells! They didnt care at all whether or not they would be dissociated. Oh, they felt, so what!
This was truly a decisive stage in the work of illuminating the body.
All the cells felt far more powerful than that stupid force trying to dissolve them; what is called death, left them entirely indifferent: What do we care? We shall go THERE and consciously participate in Sri Aurobindos work, in the transformation of the world, one way or the otherhere, there, like this, like thatwhat does it matter!
This came more than a year ago, I think. It has never left. Never. All anxiety and all conscious tension have gone.
Onlythere is an only in all thisif there were a more liberal proportion between the refreshing (if I may say so) freedom of solitude and the necessity for collective work, there would probably be fewer difficulties. Towards the end of the first year after I retired upstairs3 (perhaps even before, but anyway, some time after I began doing japa while walking), I recall having such sessions up there! Had there been a personal goal, this goal was clearly attained; it is indescribable, absolutely beyond all imaginable or expressible splendor.
--
But when I remember that experience and consider what I have now
(silence)
--
Since Mother began reading Sri Aurobindo's letters in On Himself, which seemed to put her into contact with all the difficulties of the Work.
Experience of November 8, 1957. Mother has commented on this experience in 'Questions and Answers' of January 1, 1958. See Agenda I, p. 131.
0 1961-07-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes. When I read that book (it was very well written), I understood the problem, and my understanding was confirmed when I went to Japan. Many Japanese also have a blunted sensibility (blunted in the sense that to feel anything they need extremely violent stimuli). Perhaps an explanation could be found along these lines.
But behind it all, the original problem remains unresolved: Why has it become like this? Why this deformation? Why has it all been deformed? There are some very beautiful things behind, very intense, infinitely more powerful than we ourselves can even bear, marvelous things. But why has it all become so dreadful here? Thats what comes up immediatelyits why I told you I had no inspiration.
--
One thing must inevitably cease: the Deformation, the veil of falsehood covering Truth, because all we see existing here is due to that. If the veil is removed, things will necessarily be completely different, completely: they will be as we experience them when we emerge individually from that deformed consciousness. When one comes out of that consciousness and enters the Truth- consciousness, one is incredulous that such things as suffering, misery and death can exist; its amazing, in the sense that (when one is truly on the other side) one doesnt understand how all this can be happening. And, although this state of consciousness is habitually associated with the experience of the unreality of the world as we know it, Sri Aurobindo tells us that this perception of the worlds unreality need not exist for the supramental consciousness: only Falsehood is unreal , not the world. And this is most interesting the world has its own reality, independent of Falsehood.
I suppose this will be the first effect of the Supermindperhaps even its first effect in the individual, because it will begin in individuals first.
This state of consciousness4 probably has to become constant, but that would pose a problem: how could one then keep in contact with the world as it is in its deformation? Because I have noticed that when this state is very strong in me, very strong, so strong that it can withstand everything bombarding it from outside, people dont understand a thing I say, NOTHING! Therefore, it would seem to cut off a useful contact.
What would it be like, for instance, to have a small supramental creation as a nucleus of action and influence radiating upon earth (to limit it to the earth)? Is it possible? Its easy to conceive of a superhuman nucleusa creation of supermen, that is, of men who by virtue of evolution and transformation (in the true sense of the word) have succeeded in manifesting the supramental forces; yet since their origin is human, there is inevitably a contact; even if everything is transformed, even if their organs are transformed into centers of force, a sort of human coloration still remains. These are the beings who, according to tradition, will discover the secret of direct, supramental creation, bypassing the process of ordinary Nature. Then through them the true supramental beings will be born, who will necessarily have to live in a supramental world. But how would contact be made between these beings and the ordinary world? How to conceive of a transformation of nature sufficient to enable this supramental creation to take place on earth? I dont know.
Of course, we know that such a thing will require a considerable amount of time to be done, and it will probably go by stages, by degrees, with faculties appearing that at the moment we cant know or imagine, and which will change the conditions of the earththis is looking ahead a few thousand years.
There is still this problem: is it possible to make use of the notion of space I mean space on the planet earth?5 Is it possible to find a place where the embryo or seed of the future supramental world might be created?
What I myself have seen was a plan that came complete in all details, but that doesnt at all conform in spirit and consciousness with what is possible on earth now (although, in its most material manifestation, the plan was based on existing terrestrial conditions). It was the idea of an ideal city, the nucleus of a small ideal country, having only superficial and extremely limited contacts with the old world. One would already have to conceive (its possible) of a Power sufficient to be at once a protection against aggression or bad will (this would not be the most difficult protection to provide) and a protection (which can just barely be imagined) against infiltration and admixture. From the social or organizational standpoint, these problems are not difficult, nor from the standpoint of inner life; the problem is the relationship with what is not supramentalizedpreventing infiltration or admixture, keeping the nucleus from falling back into an inferior creation during the transitional period.
(silence)
All who have considered the problem have always imagined some place like a Himalayan gorge, unknown to the rest of humanity, but this is no solution. No solution at all.
No, the only solution is occult power. But that. Before anything at all can be done, it already demands a certain number of individuals who have reached a great perfection of realization. Granting this, a place is conceivable (set apart from the outside worldno actual contacts) where each thing is exactly in its place, setting an example. Each thing exactly in its place, each person exactly in his place, each movement in its place, and all in its place in an ascending, progressive movement without relapse (that is, the very opposite of what goes on in ordinary life). Naturally, this also means a sort of perfection, it means a sort of unity; it means that the different aspects of the Supreme can be manifested; and, necessarily, an exceptional beauty, a total harmony; and a power sufficient to keep the forces of Nature obedient: even if this place were encircled by destructive forces, for example, these forces would be powerless to act the protection would be sufficient.
It would all require the utmost perfection in the individuals organizing such a thing.
--
It isnt difficult to conceive of an individual in the solitude of the Himalayas or in a virgin forest beginning to create around himself his miniature supramental worldthis is easy to imagine. But the same thing would be necessary: he would need to have attained such perfection that his power would act automatically to prevent any outside intrusion.
Because such beings would automatically become the target of outside attacks?
--
There are stories like this, you know, about people who lived in an ideal solitude, and its not at all impossible to imagine. When one is in contact with this Power, when it is within you, you can see that such things are childs play! It even reaches the point where there is the possibility of changing certain things, of influencing vibrations and forms in the surrounding environment by contagion, so that automatically they begin to be supramentalized. All that is possible but confined to the individual scale. While if we take the example of what is happening here, where the individual remains right in the midst of all this chaos. Thats the difficulty! Doesnt this very fact make a certain perfection in realization impossible to attain? But the other case, the individual isolated in the forest, is always the same thingan example giving no proof that the rest will be able to follow; while whats happening here should already have a much broader radiating influence. At some point this has to happenit MUST happen. But the problem still remains: can it happen simultaneously with or even before the supramentalization of the single individual?
(silence)
The realization under community or group conditions would clearly be far more complete, integral, total and probably more perfect than any individual realization, which is always, necessarilynecessarilyextremely limited on the external material level, because its only one way of being, one mode of manifestation, one microscopic set of vibrations that is touched.
But for the facility of the work, I believe theres no comparison!
--
But the problem remains: Buddha and all the rest have FIRST realized, then resumed contact with the world. That makes it very simple. But for the total realization of what I envisage, isnt it indispensable to remain in the world?
(Mother is absorbed for a while, gazing into the distance)
I am constantly seeing images! Not images, living thingslike answers to questions. A magnificent peacock was taking shape (its the symbol of victory here in India) and its tail opened out, and on it a construction appeared, like this construction of an ideal place. Its a pity this subtle world cant be photographed! There ought to be photographic plates sensitive enough to do it. It has been tried. It would be interesting because it moves, its like a movie.
All right, then. What did you want to ask?
--
In my experience, it is; and it has come to the point where the more concentrated the Force, the more things turn up at the very moment they ought to, people come just when they should and do just what they ought to be doing, the things around me fall into place naturally and this goes for the LEAST little detail. And simultaneously it brings with it a sense of harmony and rhythm, a joya very smiling joy in organization, as if everything were joyously participating in this restructuring. For example, you want to tell someone something and he comes to you; you need someone to do a particular work and he appears; something has to be organizedall the required elements are at hand. All with a kind of miraculous harmony, but nothing miraculous about it! Essentially its simply the inner force meeting with a minimum of obstacles, and so things get molded by its action. This happens to me very often, VERY often; and sometimes it goes on for hours.
But its rather delicate, like a very, very delicate clockwork, like a precision machine, and the least little thing throws everything out of gear. When someone has a bad reaction, for instance, or a bad thought, or an agitated vibration, or an anxietyanything of this nature is enough to dissolve all the harmony. For me, its translated straight-away into a malaise in my body, a very particular type of malaise; then disorder sets in, and the ordinary routine returns. So again I have to gather up, as it were, the Presence of the Lord and begin to infuse it everywhere. Sometimes it goes quickly, sometimes it takes longer; when the disorganization is a little more radical, it takes a little longer.
This eye [hemorrhage], for instance, resulted from such a disorder, a very dark force that someone allowed to enter, not deliberately, not knowingly, but through weakness and ignorance, always mingled, of course, with desire and ego and all the rest. (Without desire and ego, such things would find no access but desire and ego are very widespread.) At any rate, that was plainly the cause and I sensed it immediately. Sometimes when it comes, it creeps up like this (Mother brings her hand to her throat), a black shadow strangling you. Yet inwardly nothing is affected at all, to such an extent that if I didnt pay attention to the purely external reaction, I wouldnt know anything had happened (its the great Play); but externally the indication is immediate: half an hour later I had this eye hemorrhage. I was struggling against a wholly undesirable intrusion, and I knew italthough from an outer point of view, the cause was insignificant. Its not always the events we consider serious or important that produce the most harmful effectsfar from it. Sometimes its an altogether INSIGNIFICANT intrusion of falsehood, for some quite insignificant reasonwhat is commonly labeled a stupidity. This stems from the fact that the adverse forces are always lying in wait, ready to rush in at the least sign of weakness.
The incomprehension generated by doubt (the kind of doubt that always results from an egoistic movement) is very dangerous. Very dangerous. Its not even necessary to be in a psychic consciousness even for an enlightened vital consciousness, it produces no effect; but HERE, in this material swarm.
But I dont see how all this work could be done in the solitude of the Himalayas or the forest. Theres a great risk of entering into that very impersonal, universal consciousness where things are relatively easy the material consequences are so far below that it doesnt much matter! One can act directly only in the MIDST of things.
Anyway, at the moment I have no choice and I am not looking for any. Things are what they are and as they are; and taking them as they are, the work has to be done. The manner of working depends on the way things are.
But its so lovely when this Harmony comes. You know, puttering about, arranging papers, setting a drawer in order. It all sings, its lovely, so joyous and luminous so delightful! And all, all, all. All material things, all activities, eating, dressing, everything becomes delightful when this harmony is there, delightful. Everything works out smoothly, its so harmonious, theres no friction. You see you see a joyous, luminous Grace manifesting in all things, ALL things, even those we normally regard as utterly unimportant. But then, if this Harmony withdraws, everythingexactly the SAME conditions, the SAME things, the SAME circumstancesbecomes painful, tiresome, drawn out, difficult, laborious, oh! Its like this, and like that (Mother tilts her hand from side to side as on a narrow frontier) like this, like that.
It makes you sense so clearly that things in themselves dont count. What we call things in themselves are of no true importance! What really counts is the relationship of consciousness to these things. And theres a formidable power in this, since in one instance you touch something and drop or mishandle it, while in the other its so lovely, it works so smoothly. Even the most difficult movements are made without difficulty. Its an unheard-of power! We dont give it importance because it has no grandiose effects, its not spectacular. Yes, there are indeed states of grace when one is in the presence of a great difficulty and suddenly has all the power needed to face ityes, but thats something else. I am speaking of a power active in ordinary life.
There was an instance of this the other day: someone in a completely detestable mood wrote me a letter; it was impossible, I couldnt reply I didnt know what to say. I simply applied the Force and remained like this (gesture of an offering to the Light). I said, We shall see. Several hours later (I knew I was going to see this person) I didnt even know if I was going to say I had read the letteror rather if what I was going to say would result from having read it. I had come to that pointnothing. But that very morning a little circumstance occurred that changed everything! And when I met the person I knew immediately what had to be said, what had to be done, and everything worked out.
--
I would be satisfied only if. Can one ever be satisfied? At any rate, I would begin to be satisfied only if this were a constant and total condition, active in all circumstances and at every moment, day and night. But is it possible with this INUNDATION pouring in from outside? constantly! While walking this morning I was (how to put it?) something of a witness, watching what was coming in from outside. One thing after another, one thing after anotherwhat a mixture! From all sides, from everyone and everything and everywhere. And not only from here, but from far, far away on the earth and sometimes from far back in time, back into the pastthings out of the past coming up, presenting themselves to the new Light to be put in their place. Its always that: each thing wanting to be put in its place. And this work has to be done constantly. Its as if one keeps catching a new illness to be cured.
A fresh disorder to be straightened out.
--
Sri Aurobindo wrote that he was very lazy that consoled me! We are very lazy. We would like (laughing) to settle back and blissfully enjoy the fruit of our labors!
So there, mon petit; its time to go.
--
Pralaya: The destruction of a universe at the end of a cycle. According to Hindu cosmology, the formation of each universe begins with an 'age of truth' (satya-yuga) which slowly degenerates, like the stars, till there is no truth left at all; it becomes a 'dark age'(kali-yuga) like ours, and ends with a cataclysm. Then a new universe is reborn out of this cataclysm and the cycle begins again. There is a correspondence here with a modern cosmological theory according to which a phase of contraction, of galaxies collapsing upon themselves, follows a phase of expansion and precedes a new explosion ('Big Bang') of the 'primal egg'and so on, in a recurring and apparently endless and aimless series of cosmic births which, like our own human births, develop, attain some sort of 'summit,' then collapse, always to begin again. According to Theon, our present universe is the seventh but where is the 'beginning'?
Note that modern astronomy is divided between the theory of endless phases of contraction-explosion-expansion, and the theory of a universe in infinite expansion starting with a 'Big Bang,' which seems quite as catastrophic, since the universe is then plunging at vertiginous speed into an increasingly cold, empty, and fatal infinity, like a bullet released from all restraints of gravity, until... until what? According to astronomers, an exact measurement of the quantity of matter in a cubic meter of the present universe (one atom for every 400 liters of space) should enable us to decide between these two theories and learn which way it will be best for us to die. If there is more than one atom per 400 liters of space, this quantity of matter will create sufficient gravitation to halt the present expansion of galaxies and induce a contraction, ending with an explosion within an infinitesimal space. If there is less than one atom per 400 liters of space, the quantity of matter and thus the gravitational effect will be insufficient to retain the galaxies within their invisible net, and everything will spin off endlesslyunless we discover, with Mother, a third position, that of a 'progressive equilibrium,' in which the quantity of matter in the universe proves in fact to be a quantity of consciousness, whose contraction or expansion will be regulated by the laws of consciousness.
When the veil of falsehood has gone: the supramental consciousness.
Questioned later about the meaning of this sentence, Mother laughed, 'I said that from the other side! It was spoken from a dimension where the notion of space is no longer so concrete.'
***
0 1961-07-26, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Satprem reads several passages from the July 15th conversation where Mother says that Sri Aurobindo left before saying what he had been doing, and that it was a path through a virgin forest: 'Eyes blindfolded, knowing nothing, one plods on....')
Its still true.
0 1961-07-28, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are two lines in the ancient traditions, two ways of explaining this. One says it is by the descent of what already exists in all its perfection that what is involved can be awakened to consciousness and evolution. Its like the old story: when what Sri Aurobindo calls the universal Mother or the Shakti (or Sachchidananda1) realized what had happened in Matter (that is, in what had created Matter) and that this involution had led to a state of In conscience, total un consciousness, the ancient lore says that at once the divine Love descended straight from the Lord into Matter and began to awaken what was involved there.
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 In conscient; 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 In conscient, 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.
I have had the experience of being missioned, so to speak, in a form of Love and consciousness combineddivine Love in its supreme purity, divine consciousness in its supreme purity and emanated DIRECTLY, without passing through all the intermediate states, directly into the nethermost depths of the In conscient. And there I had the impression of being, or rather of finding a symbolic Being in deep sleep so veiled that he was almost invisible. Then, at my contact, the veil seemed to be rent and, without his awakening, there was a sort of radiation spreading out. I can still see my vision.2
(silence)
--
The way Theon told it, there was first the universal Mother (he didnt call her the universal Mother, but Sri Aurobindo used that name), the universal Mother in charge of creation. For creating she made four emanations: consciousness or Light; Life; Love or Beatitude and (Mother tries in vain to remember the fourth) I must have cerebral anemia today! In India they speak only of three: Sat-Chit-Ananda (Sat is Existence, expressed by Life; Chit is consciousness, expressed by Power; Ananda is Bliss, synonymous with Love). But according to Theon, there were four (I knew them by heart). Well, these emanations (Theon narrated it in such a way that someone not a philosopher, someone with a childlike mind, could understand), these emanations, conscious of their own power, separated themselves from their Origin; that is, instead of being entirely surrendered to the supreme Will and expressing only. Ah, the fourth emanation is Truth! Instead of carrying out only the supreme Will, they seem to have acquired a sense of personal power. (They were personalities of sorts, universal personalities, each representing a mode of being.) Instead of remaining connected, they cut the linkeach acted on his own, to put it simply. Then, naturally, Light became darkness, Life became death, Bliss became suffering and Truth became falsehood. And these are the four great Asuras: the Asura of In conscience, the Asura of Falsehood, the Asura of Suffering and the Asura of Death.
Once this had occurred, the divine consciousness turned towards the Supreme and said (Mother laughs): Well, heres what has happened. Whats to be done? Then from the Divine came an emanation of Love (in the first emanation it wasnt Love, it was Ananda, Bliss, the Delight of being which became Suffering), and from the Supreme came Love; and Love descended into this domain of In conscience, the result of the creation of the first emanation, consciousness consciousness and Light had become In conscience and Darkness. Love descended straight from the Supreme into this In conscience; the Supreme, that is, created a new emanation, which didnt pass through the intermediate worlds (because, according to the story, the universal Mother first created all the gods who, when they descended, remained in contact with the Supreme and created all the intermediate worlds to counterbalance this fallits the old story of the Fall, this fall into the In conscient. But that wasnt enough). Simultaneously with the creation of the gods, then, came this direct Descent of Love into Matter, without passing through all the intermediate worlds. Thats the story of the first Descent. But youre speaking of the descent heralded by Sri Aurobindo, the Supramental Descent, arent you?
Not only that. For example, Sri Aurobindo says that when Life appeared there was a pressure from below, from evolution, to make Life emerge from Matter, and simultaneously a descent of Life from its own plane. Then, when Mind emerged out of Life, the same thing from above happened again. Why this intervention from above each time? Why dont things emerge normally, one after another, without needing a descent?
--
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 In conscient 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!
--
Yes. The earth is a representative and symbolic world, a kind of crystallization and concentration of the evolutionary labor giving it a more concrete reality. It has to be taken like this: the history of the earth is a symbolic history. And it is on earth that this Descent takes place (its not the history of the universal but of the terrestrial creation); the Descent occurs in the individual TERRESTRIAL being, in the individual terrestrial atmosphere.
Lets take Savitri, which is very explicit on this: the universal Mother is universally present and at work in the universe, but the earth is where concrete form is given to all the work to be done to bring evolution to its perfection, its goal. Well, at first theres a sort of emanation representative of the universal Mother, which is always on earth to help it prepare itself; then, when the preparation is complete, the universal Mother herself will descend upon earth to finish her work. And this She does with SatyavanSatyavan is the soul of the earth. She lives in close union with the soul of the earth and together they do the work; She has chosen the soul of the earth for her work, saying, HERE is where I will do my work. Elsewhere (Mother indicates regions of higher consciousness), its enough just to BE and things Simply ARE. Here on earth you have to work.
There are clearly universal repercussions and effects, of course, but the thing is WORKED OUT here, the place of work is HERE. So instead of living beatifically in Her universal state and beyond, in the extra-universal eternity outside of time, She says, No, I am going to do my work HERE, I choose to work HERE. The Supreme then tells her, What you have expressed is My Will.. I want to work HERE, and when all is ready, when the earth is ready, when humanity is ready (even if no one is aware of it), when the Great Moment comes, well I will descend to finish my work.
--
You can find all sorts of explanations for it: consciousness would never have been so complete, joy would never have been so full, the realization would never have been so total, if one had not passed through all that. But these explanations are just to satisfy the mind. When you live in it, theres no need for explanations.
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.
--
All at once, as I gaze above me, I glimpse something roseate; I draw nearer and discern what appears to be a shrub, as large as a tree, held fast to a blue reef. The denizens of the waters glide to and fro, myriad and diverse. Now I find myself standing upon fine, shining sand. I gaze about me in wonder. There are mountains and valleys, fantastic forests, strange flowers that could as well be animals, and fish that might be flowersno separation, no gap is there between stationary beings and mobile. Colors everywhere, brilliant and shimmering, or subdued, but always harmonious and refined. I walk upon the golden sands and contemplate all this beauty bathed in a soft, pale blue radiance, tiny, luminous spheres of red, green and gold circulating through it.
How marvelous are the depths of the sea! Everywhere the presence of the One in whom all harmonies reside is felt!
--
Sachchidananda is the Supreme consciousness in its triple aspect of Existence (Sat), consciousness (Chit) and Bliss (Ananda).
See the addendum following this conversation for a transcription of Mother's vision as she noted it down for publication in Theon's Cosmic Review in 1906.
Cent. Ed., Vol. XVII, p. 28 ff.
--
Mother is referring to the book Satprem will write on Sri Aurobindo, which prompted the questions posed in this conversation.
'Evolutor': a word coined by Mother.
0 1961-08-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Evolution begins with the In conscient, complete In conscience; and from this In conscient a Sub conscient gradually emerges that is, a half or quarter- consciousness. There are two different things here. consider life on earth (because the process is slightly different in the universe); earth-life begins with total In conscience and little by little what was involved within it works out and changes this In conscience into semi- consciousness or sub consciousness. At the same time, there is an individual working that awakens the INDIVIDUAL in conscient to an individual semi consciousness, and here, of course, the individual has controlalthough its not actually individualized because individualization begins with consciousness. The sub conscient of plants or animals, for example, isnt individualized; what we call an animals behavior doesnt arise from individualization but from the genius of the species. consequently, the individual sub conscient is something already evolved out of the general Sub conscient. But when one descends to accomplish a work of transformationto bring Light into the different layers of life, for instanceone descends into a cosmic, terrestrial Sub conscient, not an individual Sub conscient. And the work of transformation is done within the wholenot through individualization, but through the opposite movement, through a sort of universalization.
No, what I mean is that as we progress, we automatically become universalized.
--
A re-creation would mean that a new contingent of the In conscient and Sub conscient would come in from other spheres, or from the Supremewell, this isnt the case. We consider the In conscient to be an accident: if it happened, it happened; but its not part of an infinite and eternal creation.
Then are our vibrations of consciousness effective for changing these general vibrations?
Ah, yes!
In fact, we are the first possible instruments for making the world progress. For example (this is one way of putting it), the transformation of the In conscient into the Sub conscient is probably far more rapid and complete now than it was before man appeared upon earth; man is one of the first transformative elements. Animals are obviously more conscious than plants, but WILLED (and thus more rapid) progress belongs to humanity. Likewise, what one hopes (more than hopes!), what one expects is that when the new supramental race comes upon earth, the work will go much more swiftly; and man will necessarily benefit from this. And since things will be done in true order instead of in mental disorder, animals and everything else will probably benefit from it also. In other words, the whole earth, taken as one entity, will progress more and more rapidly. The In conscient (oh, all this comes to me in English, thats the difficulty!) is meant to go and necessarily the Sub conscient will go too.
Broadly speaking, does this mean that physical Matter will become conscious?
Yes, in a certain way. It will become receptive. The mode of life wont necessarily change, but the form of life will change. Matter will become responsive. Do we say that in French?
--
No, receptive is one thing and responsive is another. To respond: Matter will respond to the conscious will. Indeed, this is why there is hopehow else could there be a transformation? Things would always remain as they are! What kind of earth would it be for the supramental race to live on if no Matter gave response, if Matter did not begin to vibrate and respond to the Will? The same difficulties would always be there. And it isnt limited: for instance, even if we imagine a power over the body making corporeal life different, this new corporeal life still has to exist within an environmentit cant remain hanging in thin air! The environment must respond.
Its quite obvious that the In conscient, the Sub conscient and the semi- conscient are accidental; they are not a permanent part of the creation, so are bound to disappear, to be transformed.
Years ago, when Sri Aurobindo and I descended together from plane to plane (or from mode of life to mode of life) and reached the Sub conscient, we saw that it was no longer individual: it was terrestrial. The rest the mind, the vital and of course the bodyis individualized; but when you descend below this level, thats no longer the case. There is indeed something between the conscious life of the body and this sub conscious terrestrial lifeelements are thrown out1 as a result of the action of individual consciousness upon the sub conscious substance; this creates a kind of semi consciousness, and that stays. For example, when people are told, You have pushed your difficulty down into the sub conscient and it will resurface, this does not refer to the general Sub conscient, but to something individualized out of the Sub conscient through the action of individual consciousness and remaining down there until it resurfaces. The process is, so to speak, interminable, even the personal part of it.
Every night, you know, I continue to see more and more astounding things emerging from the Sub conscient to be transformed. Its a kind of mixturenot clearly individualizedof all the things that have been more or less closely associated in life. For example, some people are intermingled there. One relives things almost as in a dream (although these are not dreams), one relives it all in a certain setting, within a certain set of symbolic, or at any rate expressive, circumstances. Just two days ago I had to deal with someone (I am actively at work there and I had to do something with him), and upon seeing this person, I asked myself, is he this one or that one? As I became less involved in the action and looked with a more objective consciousness, the witness- consciousness, I saw that it was simply a mixture of both personseverything is mixed in the Sub conscient. Already when I lived in Japan there were four people I could never distinguish during my nighttime activitiesall four of them (and god knows they werent even acquainted!) were always intermingled because their sub conscious reactions were identical.
In fact, this is what legitimizes the ego; because if we had never formed an ego, we would have lived all mixed up (laughing), now this person, now another! Oh, it was so comical, seeing this the other day! At first it was a bit bewildering, but when I looked closely, it became utterly amusing: two little people with no physical resemblance, yet of a similar typesmall and in short, a similarity. Its like the four men I used to see in Japan: there was an Englishman, a Frenchman, a Japanese and one more, each from a different country; well, at night they were all the same, as if viewed one through the other, all intermingledvery amusing!
--
In the end, individualization and the consequent necessity for the egoexists for the return to Divine consciousness to be conscious and willed, with full, conscious participation.
Speaking of individualization, theres a question Ive been wondering about: when one speaks of the central being, this central being is not something here in physical life, is it? Its above.
--
It becomes personal in our consciousness. It is a phenomenon of consciousness.
But its not separatenever separate.
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Otherwise there could be no permanent material life for this [individuality] is the very nature of materialization. Were it destined to disappear, then the phenomenon of physical dissolution would become permanent, and there would never be physical immortality; because, after exhausting a certain basically, a certain number of illusions or disorders or falsehoods, one would return to the Truth. But according to Sri Aurobindo, it isnt like that: this individualization, this individual personalization is the Truth, a real, au thentic divine phenomenon the only falsehood is the deformation of consciousness. Well, when we rediscover the true consciousness of Unity that Unity which is both in and above the manifest and the non-manifest (above in that it contains both the manifest and non-manifest equally), well, this Truth includes material personalization, otherwise that2 could not exist.
But each individual has a different personality.
--
Every conscious being?
Yes, in principleeach TRUE soul.
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Yes, formed if you consider it from below. But if you consider it from above (Mother laughs).
Each individual represents something of the Divine?
--
In the Vedas, for example, its plain that the forefa thers spoken of were men who had realized immortality upon earth. (Who knows, they may still be alive!) Their conception of things was similar to Sri Aurobindos.
The other tradition Theon said it was the origin of both the Kabbala and the Vedasalso held the same concept of divine life and a divine world as Sri Aurobindo: that the summit of evolution would be the divinization of everything objectified, along with an unbroken progression from that moment on. (As things are now, one goes forward and then backwards, then forward and backwards again; but in this divine world, retrogression wont be necessary: there will be a continuous ascent.) This concept was held in that ancient tradition Theon spoke to me very clearly of it, and Sri Aurobindo hadnt yet written anything when I met Theon. Theon had written all kinds of thingsnot philosophy, but stories, fantastic stories! Yet this same knowledge was behind them, and when asked about the source of this knowledge he used to say that it antedated both the Kabbala and the Vedas (he was well-versed in the Rig-veda).
But Theon had no idea of the path of bhakti,5 none whatsoever. The idea of surrender to the Divine was absolutely alien to him. Yet he did have the idea of the Divine Presence here (Mother indicates the heart center), of the immanent Divine and of union with That. And he said that by uniting with That and letting That transform the being one could arrive at the divine creation and the transformation of the earth.
Theon was the first one to give me the idea that the earth is symbolic, representativesymbolic of concentrated universal action allowing divine forces to incarnate and work concretely. I learned all this from him.
In this respect, you say somewhere that the gods too must incarnate to become fully conscious.
Yes, because.
How is this possible? Arent the gods already fully conscious?!
No, they have no psychic being, so that whole side of life does not exist for them.
--
Yes, but arent the gods conscious of the Divine?
Listen, mon petit, they are conscious of their own divinity, and of that above all!
They are connected with the Divine, yes, but I know from experience that they havent the faintest notion of what surrender is!
I had a VERY interesting experienceit was last year or the year before, I dont recall, but after I retired to my room upstairs.6 You know that during pujas these goddesses come all the timethey dont enter the body and tie themselves to it, but they do come and manifest. Well, this time I think it must have been for last years pujaDurga came (she always arrives a few days in advance and remains in the atmosphere; she is present, like thisgesture as if Durga were walking up and down with Mother). I was in touch with her during my meditations upstairs, and this new Power in the body was in me then as it is in me now, and (how to put it?) I made her participate in this concept of surrender. What an experience she had, mon petit! An extraordinary experience of the joy of being connected with That. And she declared, From now on, I am a bhakta of the Lord.
It was beautiful.
This formidable Power, you seea universal Power, an eternal and formidable Powerwell, she had never had such an experience before, she had only experienced her OWN power. She was used to receiving and obeying Commands, but in an automatic way. Then all at once, she felt the ECSTASY of being a conscious instrument.
Truly it was truly beautiful.
I knew how it was with her because I remember the days when Sri Aurobindo was here and I used to go downstairs to give meditations to the people assembled in the hall. Theres a ledge above the pillars there, where all the gods used to sitShiva, Krishna, Lakshmi, the Trimurti, all of them the little ones, the big ones, they all used to come regularly, every day, to attend these meditations. It was a lovely sight. But they didnt have this kind of adoration for the Supreme. They had no use for that concepteach one, in his own mode of being, was fully aware of his own eternal divinity; and each one knew as well that he could represent all the others (such was the basis of popular worship,7 and they knew it). They felt they were a kind of community, but they had none of those qualities that the psychic life gives: no deep love, no deep sympathy, no sense of union. They had only the sense of their OWN divinity. They had certain very particular movements, but not this adoration for the Supreme nor the feeling of being instruments: they felt they were representing the Supreme, and so each one was perfectly satisfied with his particular representation.
Except for Krishna. In 1926, I had begun a sort of overmental creation, that is, I had brought the Overmind down into matter, here on earth (miracles and all kinds of things were beginning to happen). I asked all these gods to incarnate, to identify themselves with a body (some of them absolutely refused). Well, with my very own eyes I saw Krishna, who had always been in rapport with Sri Aurobindo, consent to come down into his body. It was on November 24th, and it was the beginning of Mother.8
Yes, in fact I wanted to ask you what this realization of 1926 was.
It was this: Krishna consented to descend into Sri Aurobindos bodyto be FIXED there; there is a great difference, you understand, between incarnating, being fixed in a body, and simply acting as an influence that comes and goes and moves about. The gods are always moving about, and its plain that we ourselves, in our inner beings, come and go and act in a hundred or a thousand places at once. There is a difference between just coming occasionally and accepting to be permanently tied to a bodybetween a permanent influence and a permanent presence.
These things have to be experienced.
--
After a while, I too began having meditations with people. I had begun a sort of overmental creation, to make each god descend into a beingthere was an extraordinary upward curve! Well, I was in contact with these beings and I told Krishna (because I was always seeing him around Sri Aurobindo), This is all very fine, but what I want now is a creation on earthyou must incarnate. He said Yes. Then I saw him I saw him with my own eyes (inner eyes, of course), join himself to Sri Aurobindo.
Then I went into Sri Aurobindos room and told him, Heres what I have seen. Yes, I know! he replied (Mother laughs) Thats fine; I have decided to retire to my room, and you will take charge of the people. You take charge. (There were about thirty people at the time.) Then he called everyone together for one last meeting. He sat down, had me sit next to him, and said, I called you here to tell you that, as of today, I am withdrawing for purposes of sadhana, and Mother will now take charge of everyone; you should address yourselves to her; she will represent me and she will do all the work. (He hadnt mentioned this to me!Mother bursts into laughter)
--
It was only (how can I put it?) a participation from Krishna. It made no difference for Sri Aurobindo personally: it was a formation from the past that accepted to participate in the present creation, nothing more. It was a descent of the Supreme, from some time back, now consenting to participate in the new manifestation.
Shiva, on the other hand, refused. No, he said, I will come only when you have finished your work. I will not come into the world as it is now, but I am ready to help. He was standing in my room that day, so tall (laughing) that his head touched the ceiling! He was bathed in his own special light, a play of red and gold magnificent! Just as he is when he manifests his supreme consciousnessa formidable being! So I stood up and (I too must have become quite tall, because my head was resting on his shoulder, just slightly below his head) then he told me, No, Im not tying myself to a body, but I will give you ANYTHING you want. The only thing I said (it was all done wordlessly, of course) was: I want to be rid of the physical ego.
Well, mon petit (laughing), it happened! It was extraordinary! After a while, I went to find Sri Aurobindo and said, See what has happened! I have a funny sensation (Mother laughs) of the cells no longer being clustered together! Theyre going to scatter! He looked at me, smiled and said, Not yet. And the effect vanished.
-- consciousness or Light, Life, Love or Bliss, and Truth, which then became the first four asuras or demons.
See Thoughts and Glimpses: 'What then was the commencement of the whole matter? Existence that multiplied itself for sheer delight of being and plunged into numberless trillions of forms so that it might find itself innumerably.... And what is the end of the whole matter? As if honey could taste itself and all its drops together and all its drops could taste each other and each the whole honeycomb as itself, so should the end be with God and the soul of man and the universe.'
0 1961-08-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
First of all, in the Questions and Answers you speak of the reversal of consciousness. Is this synonymous with the psychic realization? Because in one conversation you connect the two things: the reversal of consciousness and the discovery of the psychic being.
Its the result of this discovery. In fact, its the result of union with the psychic being.
Another detail. In several places, Sri Aurobindo speaks of the circum conscient or environmental consciousness through which we enter into contact with the external world. Is this the same as the subtle physical, the subtle envelope? What is this circum conscient?
Its the encircling consciousness. Isnt it called the milieu in French?
No, the milieu isnt personal.
--
Yes, there is sub conscient, conscient, subliminal and circum conscient.
Oh!
--
Then comes what Theon called the nervous sub-level, which lies between this subtle physical and the vital. And it acts as a protection: if it is stable, harmonious and strong, it protects youit protects you even physicallyfrom contagious diseases, for instance, and even from accidents. I experienced it when I was living at Val-de-Grce. It was the year I resolved to attain union with the psychic being and I was concentrated on this from morning to night and night to morning. Every day I spent some time in the Luxembourg Gardens. They were right near the house, but to get there I had to go all the way down Rue du Val-de-Grce and cross Boulevard Saint Michel, where there were streetcars, automobiles, buses the whole circus. I would remain in my concentration the whole time, and once, while crossing the boulevard, I felt a shock about this far from my body [slightly more than arms length], so spontaneously I jumped backjust enough for the streetcar to pass by. I hadnt heard anything; I was totally absorbed, and without that warning I would surely have been run over; instead, I jumped back just in time, and the streetcar sped by. I understood then that this nervous sheath was something entirely concrete, because what I had felt was not an idea of danger but a shocka material SHOCK.
So its true that as long as this envelope is strong and undamaged, you are protected. But for instance, if you are over-tired or worried or flusteredanything that brings disorder into the atmosphere seems to make holes in this envelope, and all kinds of things can enter.
--
Is it through this envelope that we come into contact with others?
Ah, yes, I should think so! When you are sensitive, mon petit, it becomes almost unbearable to be in a tightly packed crowdits all mixed up, and its horrible. There is a suffocating sense of intrusion, as if you were inside things you hadnt chosen to have near you!
--
No, no, no. Most of the time in sleep, with very few exceptions, one is in contact with all that rises up from the sub conscient: a cerebral sub conscient, an emotive sub conscient, a material sub conscient; this is what produces ninety-nine percent of the dreams people have. Sometimesusually the mind goes wandering, but ninety-nine and a half percent of the time, one remembers nothing when it returns, because the link is not properly established.
The purpose of sleep is to re-establish contact with the consciousness of Sachchidananda. But I dont think one person in a hundred does so! They enter into un consciousness far more than into Sachchidananda.
Yet no two sleeps are the same, mon petit! And its the same with deaths, no two are the same. But sleep and death are different because they are different STATES. As long as you have a body, you are not in the same state as when you are dead. There is a period of seven days after the doctors declare you dead when you are still in an intermediary state; but the actual state of death itself is completely different BECAUSE there is no longer this physical base.
Once when I was at Tlemcen with Theon (this happened twice, but Im not sure about the se cond time because I was alone), my body was in a cataleptic state and I was in conscious trance. It was a peculiar kind of catalepsy in the sense that my body could speak, though very slowly Theon had taught me how to do it. But this is because the life of the form always remains (this is what takes seven days to leave the body) and it can even be trained to make the body move the being is no longer there, but the life of the form can make the body move (in any case, utter words). However, this state is not without danger, the proof being that while I was working in trance, for some reason or other (which I no longer remember, but obviously due to some negligence on the part of Theon who was there to watch over me), the cord I dont know what to call itwent snap! The link was cut, malevolently,5 and when it was time and I wanted to return, I could no longer re-enter my body. But I was still able to warn him: The cord is cut. Then he used his power and knowledge to help me come back but it was no joke! It was very difficult.6 And this is when I had the experience of the two different states, because the part that had gone out was now without the bodys support the link was cut. Then I knew. Of course, I was in a special state; I was doing a fully conscious work with all the vital power, and I was in control not only of my surroundings but. You see, what happens is a kind of reversal of consciousness: you begin to belong to another world; you feel this quite distinctly. Theon instantly told me to concentrate (I was finding it all interestingMo ther laughs I was making experiments and getting ready to go wandering off, but he was terribly scared that I would die on him!). He begged me to concentrate, so I concentrated on my body.
When I re-entered, it hurt terribly, terriblyan excruciating pain, like plunging into a hell.
--
So I know a little bit, even in my outermost consciousness. A little bit, thats all.
No, sleep is something else. Yes, something else. Its more like a relapse into In consciencea sort of invasion of tamas.7
We all know, of course, that the Divine consciousness is there in the depths of the In conscient; but even so, sleep appears to be a fall, and there are people who fall almost completely back into the In conscient and come out of their sleep far duller than when they entered it. But for some reason, probably due to the necessities of the Work, I have never to my knowledge had a fully un conscious sleep.
There was another thing (laughing): even as a young child, I would all of a sudden, right in the middle of an action or a sentence or anything at all, go into trance and nobody knew what it was! They would all think I had gone to sleep! But I remained conscious, with an arm raised or in the middle of a word and poof! No one there (Mother laughs). No one there outwardly, but inwardly quite an intense, interesting experience. That used to happen to me even when I was very young.
I remember once (I must have been ten or twelve years old at the time), there was a luncheon at my parents house for a dozen or so people, all decked out in their Sunday bestthey were family but all the same it was a luncheon and there was a certain protocol; in short, one had to behave properly. I was at one end of the table next to a first-cousin of mine who later became director of the Louvre for a while (he had an artistic intelligence, a rather capable young man). So there we were, and I remember I was observing something rather interesting in his atmosphere (mind you, although the faculties were already there, I knew nothing about occult things; if someone had spoken to me of auras and all that. I knew nothing). I was observing a kind of sensation I had felt in his atmosphere and then, just as I was putting the fork into my mouth, I took off! What a scolding I got! I was told that if I didnt know how to behave, I shouldnt come to the table! (Mother goes into peals of laughter)
It was during this period that I used to go out of my body every night and do the work Ive spoken of in Prayers and Meditations (I only mentioned it in passing).8 Every night at the same hour, when the whole house was very quiet, I would go out of my body and have all kinds of experiences. And then my body gradually became a sleepwalker (that is, the consciousness of the form became more and more conscious, while the link remained very solidly established). I got into the habit of getting up but not like an ordinary sleepwalker: I would get up, open my desk, take out a piece of paper and write poems. Yes, poems I, who had nothing of the poet in me! I would jot things down, then very consciously put everything back into the drawer, lock everything up again very carefully and go back to bed. One night, for some reason or other, I forgot and left it open. My mother came in (in France the windows are covered with heavy curtains and in the morning my mother would come in and violently throw open the curtains, waking me up, brrm!, without any warning; but I was used to it and would already be prepared to wake upotherwise it would have been most unpleasant!). Anyway, my mother came in, calling me with unquestionable authority, and then she found the open desk and the piece of paper: Whats that?! She grabbed it. What have you been up to? I dont know what I replied, but she went to the doctor: My daughter has become a sleepwalker! You have to give her a drug.
It wasnt easy.
--
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.
--
Did I tell you what happened to my brother? No? My brother was a terribly serious boy, and frightfully studiousoh, it was awful! But he also had a very strong character, a strong will, and there was something interesting about him. When he was studying to enter the Polytechnique, I studied with himit interested me. We were very intimate (there were only eighteen months between us). He was quite violent, but with an extraordinary strength of character. He almost killed me three times,9 but when my mother told him, Next time, you will kill her, he resolved that it wouldnt happen again and it never did. But what I wanted to tell you is that one day when he was eighteen, just before the Polytechnique exams, as he was crossing the Seine (I think it was the Pont des Arts), suddenly in the middle of the bridge he felt something descend into him with such force that he became immobilized, petrified; then, although he didnt exactly hear a voice, a very clear message came to him: If you want, you can become a godit was translated like that in his consciousness. He told me that it took hold of him entirely, immobilized hima formidable and extremely luminous power: If you want, you can become a god. Then, in the thick of the experience itself, he replied, No, I want to serve humanity. And it was gone. Of course, he took great care to say nothing to my mother, but we were intimate enough for him to tell me about it. I told him, Well (laughing), what an idiot you are!
Thats the story.
--
Three years later I had that experience Ive told you about itof the Light piercing through me; I physically saw it enter into me. It was obviously the descent of a Beingnot a past incarnation, but a Being from another plane. It was a golden light the incarnation of a divine consciousness. Which proves that she succeeded for both her children.
But she
She was down on her knees before my brother. My mother scorned all religious sentiments as weakness and superstition and she absolutely denied the invisible. Its all brain disease, she would say! But she could say just as well, Oh, my Matteo is my God, he is my God. The devil knows why, but in Alexandria she gave him the Italian name Matteo! And she truly treated him like a god. She left him only when he married, because then she really couldnt continue to follow him around any longer.
But whats interesting, for instance, is that when her father died she knew it; she saw him. She thought it was a dreama stupid dream. But he came to let her know he was dead and she saw him. Its nothing, she said, a dream! (Mother laughs)
When my grandmo ther died. My grandmo ther had the occult sense. She had made her own fortune (a sizeable fortune) and had had five children, each one more extravagant than the other. She considered me the only sensible person in the family and she shared her secrets with me. You see, she told me, these people are going to squander all my money! She had a sixty year old son (she had married in Egypt at the age of fifteen, and had had this son when she was quite young). You see this boy, he goes out and visits impossible people! And then he starts playing cards and loses all my money! I saw this boy, I was there in the house when he came to her and said very politely, Good-bye, mother, Im going out to so-and-sos house. Ah, please dont waste all my money, and take an overcoatits getting chilly at night. Sixty years old! It was comical. But to return to my story, after my grandmo ther died (I took a lot of care over her), she came to my mother (my mother was with her when she died; they embalmed hershe had gotten it into her head that she wanted to be burned, and since she died at Nice they had to embalm her so she could be burned in Paris). I was in Paris. My mother arrived with the body and told me, Just imagine, Im constantly seeing her! And whats more, she gives me advice! Dont waste your money! she tells me. Well, shes right, one must be careful, I replied. But look here, shes dead! Dead! How can she talk to me! Shes dead, I tell you, and quite dead at that! I said to her, What does it mean, to die?
It was all very funny.
--
Satprem remembers that a few years earlier Mother had told him about the circumstances of this incident: during her work in trance, Mother discovered the location of the 'mantra of life'the mantra that has the power to create life (and to withdraw it, as well). Theon, an incarnation of the Asura of Death, was of course quite interested and told Mother to repeat this mantra to him. Mother refused. Theon became violently angry and the link was cut (the link that connected Mother to her body). When he realized the catastrophe his anger had caused, Theon grew afraid (for he knew who Mother was) and he then, as Mother recounts, made use of all his power to help her re-enter her body. Later, Mother gave this mantra to Sri Aurobindo... who let it quietly sink into oblivion. For it is not through a mantra that the secret of life (or death) is to be mastered, but through knowledge of the true Powerin other words, ultimately, knowledge of the reality of Matter and the mechanism of death: it is the whole cellular yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Mother.
Tamas: inertia, obscurity.
0 1961-08-08, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This is something new he has accepted, because the Supreme doesnt usually appear in tantrism they are in contact with the Shakti and dont bother about the Supreme. But here he has come to accept it.
He has tried very hard to understand. But his spiritual conception has remained like this: one canone MUSTmaster life, and in life, to some extent, a certain adaptation to the higher forces can be achieved; but there is no question of transformation: the physical world remains the physical world. It can be a little better organized, more harmonious, but there is no question of something else, of divinizationno question at all.
And this is probably why there are things he cant make out in his contact with me, because he simply doesnt understand. For example, these physical disorders baffle him, they seem incompatible with my realization. As long as the question of transformation does not come into play, the realization I had was sufficient to establish a kind of very stable orderreaction against the transformative will is what causes these disorders. And this he does not understandto him something seems not to be functioning properly. He must feel a contradiction between certain things he perceives in my consciousness and my contact with the material world. This being this, he thinks, that ought to be like that; so why? He doesnt understand.1
X's astonishment raises an extremely important point, drawing the exact dividing line between all the traditional yogas and the new yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. To a tantric, for example, it seems unthinkable that Mother, with a consciousness so powerful as to scoff at the laws of nature and comm and the elements (if she wishes), could be subjected to absurd head colds or an eye hemorrhage or even more serious disorders. For him, it is enough to simply lift a finger and emit a vibration which instantly muzzles the disorderyes, of course, but for Mother it is not a question of 'curing' a head cold by imposing a higher POWER on Matter, but of getting down to the cellular root and curing or transforming the source of the evil (which causes death as easily as head colds, for it is the same root of disorder). It is not a question of imposing oneself on Matter through a 'power,' but of transforming Matter. Such is the yoga of the cells.
***
0 1961-08-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have a convenient signature.
Image 1
--
Its the Bird of Grace descending from heaven. The dot at the end is very important. The dot is the seeing consciousness: the eye. Theres a tail, a wing, another wing, and the eye-the seeing consciousness.
Mind you, I didnt think of it in advance! The awareness came later I looked and said, Ah!
--
Oh no, nothing doing! Whats marvelous is that I havent a single idea in my headnothing. Not idea; I never have many of them! (laughing) No words, mon petit, nothing. I have two of T.s notebooks here I read them, said Ah!, and put them away. Theyve already stayed there for two weeks or I dont know how long. NOTHING, completely blank. But on the lowest plane, some interesting things: suddenly (not from time to time, but all the time, or almost all the time), all the bodys cells suddenly seem to participate in a movement of force, a sort of circular movement containing all the vibrationsphysical vibrationsright from the most material sensation (Mother touches the skin of her hands) to all the feelings of strength, power and comprehension (especially from an active standpoint, the standpoint of actions, movements, influences). Its not at all limited to the body; its like that, like that, like that (Mother makes a gesture stretching to infinity). It has neither beginning nor end. The body itself is starting to feel how Energy behaves.
Its very interesting.
--
Thats my present condition.
The moments of forgetting are briefplunk! A knock from someone or something the shock of the ordinary vibration. Its unimportant, you turn your head and push it away. But I dont want that either, it [the movement of rejection] must go away entirely.
From a practical, concrete, effective standpoint, there are some results. Even when they dont write, people are beginning to receive my response very clearly, very precisely. People I dont know at all have written, and they receive my reply even before I write back (they tell this to intermediaries). I had another example only today. Its having results.
The earth is tiny.
0 1961-08-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I am fully confident.
Even if there is some trouble with the continuity (at times you do have to link sections together), it will work out on the se cond reading. I am fully confident.
Your health is all right?
--
Yesterday I had an experience. It didnt last long, no more than an hour or an hour and a half, but it was interesting. Experiences always take place here for me now, on the completely material plane. Well, in action, in relation to the world and things (it was quite a general feeling, in any case terrestrialnot universal, terrestrial), there was no more center. From the standpoint of sensations and reactions, exchangesno more center. Everything was dispersed like that, everywhere. There was only ONE center, the highest Center (highest or deepest)the sole Center. All sensations, all contacts, all exchangeseverything was like that.
It was rather interesting in that I wasnt expecting it; it came suddenly when I was walking in my room in the evening the feeling not positively that the body no longer existed, since it kept walking, but that there was no more center. I cant put it any other waythere was no more center. There was only one Center. It was all, all the same thing, and from the absolutely material standpoint, the standpoint of sensationsmaterial sensations, exchanges, vibrationseverything. At one point it even became so strong that something laughed and said, Ah! So thats how to no longer exist!
It was very interesting. However, the experience could not last because after a while I wasnt alone anymore. Actually, it was dinner time. Not that I couldnt eat in that stateit makes no difference (I can eat very easily through others, for instance: it has happened quite frequently that someone else eats and I am satisfied; theres no need to put anything inside, its very convenient! These are experiments.) But this was it was the almost total annihilation of the center. It didnt last because of the people (four, as always) bringing in dinner, serving the plates, etc.their concentration weakened the experience: it faded. The feeling of Im eating returned a littlenot I! That notion disappeared a long time ago! Not my true Imy true I has been settled up above for a very long time, and it doesnt move from there. But this body is eating; this body which has been put at the disposal of the work is eating (it didnt come in so many words and sentences, but still!). In short, the experience faded with the sensation of eating and I was unable to know its effect.
But I would like to know the effect it must have on the bodys functioning. It would be interesting to know if the functioning becomes wholly harmonious or what? We will probably see. But the experience must last; it must last for at least one day, or even two or three then the result would be interesting to see.
--
Besides, it goes without saying that I am there [with you] quite consciously and I am not alone!
There you are, petit.
0 1961-08-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Three or four years ago I had to make a little effort to meditate or give a meditation to someone in a very bad condition. But now absolutely no more effort. No effort at all. And I dont notice a bit when X is having difficulty, not a bit. I prepare myself as usual before he comes and as soon as he arrives, all I have to do is call (although generally thats not necessary); I call, and then I become blissful. And I havent found more difficulties in certain cases than in others I DONT FEEL THE RESISTANCE, neither in the atmosphere nor in people. The Force is imperative. Thats why I was so astounded those other times when he began to say he needed at least ten minutes to put himself into meditationit seemed fantastic to me! He said so himself, otherwise I would never have believed it.3
Well, we shall see.
--
I have seen you there several times. You were wearing something similar to what you are wearing now [dhoti]: not European they wear the costume of no particular country. Its usually white, but not made of cloth. Its all on a VERY luminous, very orderly, very clear mental plane-no objects lying around, only things like sheets of paper, which seem to be ideas or compositions of ideas, but no clutter. Its vast, vast, so vast you can see no end to it! And up above its wide open, and a light is constantly descending. What you walk on is a little more solid, but not much more. Its an interesting place.
I go there almost every night for half or three-quarters of an hour, and Sri Aurobindo shows it all to me. Some people are waiting for himin certain corners everything is ready and waiting and when he comes they show him what they have done. Then he explains: a word, a gesture, not much, and then, ah! It takes a form. Its an interesting place. I am putting you in touch with it all the time, all the time, every dayit doesnt matter if you dont remember, its not important.
--
After all, remembering is merely an amusement. I have come to the conclusion that its amusing and personally satisfying but not necessary at all. I see that MOST Of My work is done and done with great precisionwithout needing to be recorded here; its quite unnecessary. I am fully conscious when Im doing the work, but I would really rather not remember it.
Thats all, petit.
--
In fact, it was not X who said this, but one of his acolytes, N., who would later throw a great confusion into X's relations with both Mother and Satprem. The hunt for tantric powers was on.
***
0 1961-09-03, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The beginning of this conversation has unfortunately disappeared. It dealt with the book that Satprem was writing on Sri Aurobindo, and he spoke to Mother of his dream of writing automatically, without even needing to think, letting the writing flow along by itself.)
You would like to carry thought into higher domains, beyond the province of thought itself! This is something practically impossible.
0 1961-09-10, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, in comparison with Sri Aurobindos contact (the vibration that comes from him, if you like), it always seems meager, always flat. Even the most you know, spiritual experiences that have been described, experiences that others have hadwell, even experiences that are stronger, clearer, more powerful, more complete than any of those seem when you make contact with Sri Aurobindo, oh, how thin they all seem, so thin!
Besides, as a means of expression. writing is hard labor, you know. Its not pleasant, its not like composing music or painting.
--
I feel this so often now. How to put it. I always try not to talktalking bothers me. Yes, its a real nuisance. When I see someone, the first thing I do is to avoid talking. Then, when the Vibration comes, its good; there is a sort of communication, and if the person is the least bit receptive, what comes is like a its subtler than music; its a vibration bringing its own principle of harmony. But people usually get impatient after a while and, wanting something more concrete, oblige me to talk. They always insist on it. Then, being in a certain atmosphere, a certain vibration, I immediately feel something going like this (gesture of a fall to another level), and then hardening. Even when I babble (you see, the very effort of trying to be more subtle makes me babble), even my babblings (laughing) become dry by comparison. There are all sorts of things that are so much fullerfull, packed with an inner richnessand as soon as this is put into words, oh!
The night before last, around 3 in the morning, I was in a place where there were a lot of people from here (you were there), and I was trying to play some music, precisely in order to SAY something. There were three pianos there, which seemed to be interlocked into each other, so I leaned over sideways to get at one of the three and began playing on it. It was in a large hall with people seated at a distance, but you were just at my left alongside a young lady who was a symbol figure (that is, the vibration or impression I received from her and the relationship I had with her could be applied as well to four or five persons here: it was like relating to an amalgam something that is very interesting and often happens to me). Anyway, I was leaning over one of the keyboards and trying trying to work something out, to illustrate how this would translate into that. Finally I realized that playing half-standing, half-leaning was unnecessary acrobatics, because a grand piano was right there in front, so I sat down before it. Well, the most amusing part of it was that the keys (there were two keyboards) were all bluelike the marbled paper we are making now, all blue, and with every possible marbled effect. Black keys, white keys, high keys, low keys (all of them were the same width, quite wide, like this), all seemed to be coated but it wasnt paperwith this blue. Facing the piano I said to myself, Well now, this cant be played with physical eyesit has to be played FROM ABOVE.
--
Maybe this is what you were thinking ofwhat you would like to express in your book. It occurred in a place similar to the realm of expression where, as I told you, I have frequently been going lately. It is very, very vast, very open, but this time there were no walls. No ceiling, no walls. There was only a kind of groundvery pale, luminous, vast and very empty, empty. People were seated but I didnt see any chairs. Only the pianos were visible, and they were quite odd: you could hardly see anything but the keyboards, which were sort of overlapping. In front was a grand piano, and over here was a somewhat bigger one the one I had been leaning over sideways to play on and then there was one turned to the other side. And then this grand piano, right in front but with only the keyboard visible! Well, why shouldnt I be comfortable! I said to myself, and I sat down. Then everything became bluegreat, blue notes. How am I going to play? I wondered. I tried to play as usual and then: It doesnt work, it doesnt work, I said. Ah! It has to be played from aboveit has to be played from above! So I place my hands on the keys, I concentrate and brrff! It was like some not violent, not loud and noisy, butoh, overwhelming! Three, fournot notes: sounds, harmonies I dont really know what.
But this must be what you were thinking of, what you would like to use for your book.1
0 1961-09-16, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have to face a similar difficulty, mind you, although its on another level. There is such a tremendous accumulation of people to see, things to do, questions to be resolvedeverything. The accumulation is So TIGHTLY packedso compact! Too compact for the life for the hours, the time, the forcesof an ordinary body. Yet behind it all, there is a sort of constant active immobility, in the sense that the consciousness has the impression of being immobile, of being borne along on the stream of progress and evolution. But this immobility. If I should try to do what I have to do, you know, everything I have to do, well it becomes impossible, things clog up, it gets painful. And here his answer is the same: Be simple, be simple.
This morning when I was walking, the program of the day and the work ahead of me was so formidable that I felt it to be impossible. And yet simultaneously there was this immobile inner POSITION in me; as soon as I stop my movement of formation and action, it becomes like a dance of joy: all the cells vibrating (there is a sort of vivacity, and an extraordinary music), all the cells vibrant with the joy of the Presence the divine Presence. But when I see the outside world entering and attacking, well this joy doesnt exactly disappear, but it retreats. And the result is that I always feel like sitting down and keeping stillwhen I can do that it is marvelous. But of course, all the suggestions from outside come in: suggestions of helplessness and old age, of wear and tear, of diminishing power, all thatand I know positively that its false. But calm in the body is indispensable. Well, for me also Sri Aurobindos answer is always the same: Be simple, be simple, very simple.
And I know what he means: to deny entry to regimenting, organizing, prescriptive, judgmental though the wants none of all that. What he calls being simple is a joyous spontaneity; in action, in expression, in movement, in lifebe simple, be simple, be simple. A joyous spontaneity. To rediscover in evolution that condition he calls divine, which was a spontaneous and happy condition. He wants us to rediscover that. And for days now he has been here telling me (and the same goes for your work): Be simple, be simple, be simple. And in his simplicity was a luminous joy.
A joyous spontaneity.
Whats terrible is this organizing mind. Its terrible! It has us so convinced that we cant do without it that its very difficult to resist. Indeed, it has convinced all humanity. The whole so-called elite of humanity has been convinced that nothing worthwhile can be achieved without this mental organizing power.
But Sri Aurobindo wants us to have the same simple joy as a blossoming rose: Be simple, be simple, be simple. And when I hear it or see it, its like a rivulet of golden light, like a fragrant gardenall, all, all is open. Be simple.
--
These last two or three days I have been constantly seeing this for you. Then this morning it came for me, because the accumulation of work has become so tremendous that I would need ten times more time than I have merely to bring things up to date. So there I was, feeling a bit cornered; there was even a force wanting me to stop in the midst of my walk and RELAX, and I was resisting it with all my willuntil I realized I was doing something foolish. It was the same thing, he said the same thing for me. I relaxed and immediately everything was fine.
Essentially, we live with too much tension, dont we?
--
What to do about it? Oh, that will come. But its true, we are always too tensealways. And I know that as long as we are controlled by that admirable mind, we feel that to relax means to fall into tamas and un consciousness. All these old notions remain, prolonging themselves; and theres something like the residue of one of those marvelous censors, telling you: Be careful, tamas, tamas! Be careful, you are dozing offvery bad, very bad. And its idiotic, because tamas is neither joyous nor luminous, while this is an immediate joy and light.
***
0 1961-09-23, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It is clearly the continuing expression of his experience.
There were whole sections he redid completely, which were like descriptions of what I had told him of my own experiences. Nolini said this. When I recently reread Savitri, some phrases were very familiar and I said to Nolini, How odd, these are almost my very words! And he replied, But this has been changed, it was written differently; it has BECOME like this. As the thing became more and more concrete for him, he changed it. The breath of revelatory prophecy is extraordinary! It has an extraordinary POWER!
What struck me is that he never wanted to write anything else. To write those articles for the Bulletin1 was really a heavy sacrifice for him. He had said he would complete certain parts of The Synthesis of Yoga,2 but when he was asked to do so, he replied, No, I dont want to go down to that mental level!
--
(A little later, concerning Sri Aurobindos biography, Mother remarks:)
All those details have always horrified me.
0 1961-09-28, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If you agree, here is what we could do: read aloud to me what you have written; perhaps seeing it in my consciousness will help you.
If you think this could be useful, I will see you on Saturday at 10 oclock.
0 1961-09-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This is the complete negation of bluff. I find it very beautiful. When I saw this flower, it struck me as something very profound, very calmabsolutely sure, immobile. I dont know why, but the longer I looked at it, the more it gave that impression and when I was asked its significance, I said, Unostentatious Certitude. Its what one might call a superlative good-taste in the realm of spiritual experience: something with greater content than it expresses.
***
--
1. This letter to Mother is, with a few others, the sole survivor of thirteen years of correspondence. All the rest, all Satprem's correspondence with Mother since 1960, was confiscated by the Ashram after the Mother's departure, for its own reasons. His letters of 1960, already published in Volume I, escaped the destruction because Mother herself had kept them. It makes a big hole in this Agenda, not only for himbecause he had poured out his heart, his questions and doubts and difficulties into these letters but also from an historical point of view, for many of these conversations with Mother were invisibly oriented by his own condition. In fact, he was intimately linked with the flow of this Agenda, which thus stands mutilated. Need we add that we had to prepare the first two volumes as fugitives, and it required Mother's miraculous help to avert even more serious mutilations than the auto-da-f of Satprem's correspondence.
***
0 1961-10-02, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I am investigating the consequences of an experience that was truly very interesting. It was one of those concrete experiences of something already known, something one has the knowledge of but what is knowledge! Its only a VERY SMALL part of it. When one is the experience of the thing, then it becomes interesting. I am in search of exactly what constitutes the Falsehood of the world.
The story began with an entirely concrete and material incident something very amusing; this is not the first time it has happened, but it was so concrete and so precise that it became interesting. Someone was complaining of being ill, quite a serious, psychological illness: periodic possession by a spirit of falsehood, recurring regularly every month, of more or less long duration. This person comes to see me, and the moment shes here theres an upwelling of that profound Compassion of Love, with a considerable, concentrated Power to drive away the possession; and all of this accompanied, even outwardly, by quite an affectionate gesture. This person leaves and within half an hour I receive a letter: Now I know: you hate me, you want me to be ill and you want me to die because I disgust you.
It was interesting because it was so concrete. I was conscious of my movement of compassion and love and of what it had become in the other persons consciousness!
Its very easy to explain: she was already more than half possessed, and of course this spirit of falsehood hardly felt comfortable! And the identification2 (not only mental but sensory, vital) was so complete that she felt this love as a movement of hatred. When I saw the two phenomena, I also saw that this is exactly what happens in the world! Its exactly what EVERYONE is.
I must add that the experience came after I had been concentrating for three days ( concentrating almost constantly) on finding an explanation for this: why has it become this way? It is impossible to find the why because its the reason asking and this goes beyond reason but what is the MECHANISM? Finding the mechanism would already be somethingto have the experience of the mechanism. And then came this conCRETE superposition of the vibration of Love and the reception of hate. But this is exactly what happens! I said. The Lord is All-Love, All-Truth, All-Bliss, All-Deligh tHe is conSTANTLY like thatand the world, especially the human world, constantly receives him in the other way. And the two things are superposed (Mother covers her left hand with her right).
Words dont convey anything; it was the experience. I made contact. It was very interesting. It lasted a long time, some two or three days. Since it was also linked to a state of healtha headache that had to be curedit bore its consequences: a crystal clear explanation of illness came. But I must again add something that preceded this.
This concentration on finding the mechanism sprang from the fact that there were disorders in the body which were vanishing and then reappearingpermanent cure seemed impossible. So I told myself, Somewhere, probably in the sub conscient, something must be justifying their presence. Then, after concentrating and searching and concentrating some more, suddenly a memory rose up from the sub conscient (a memory which is a kind of continued existence under a certain form), the memory of a particular set of movements and actions (not physical movements, but attitudes) that go back many years and had never attracted my attention. None of it had ever been included in the general clearing-out because, like so many other things, it all seemed to be due to normal, ongoing circumstances. But thats just where I saw (what to call it?) the hue, the taint of Falsehood. Its very subtle. These are very subtle things. But suddenly, oh! It caught hold of me and created a revolution in the whole being. All those vibrations were cast up and transformedan extraordinary thing. It stirred up much more commotion and revolution than I had ever expected. And ah! A relief. Something was clarified, bringing a brilliant, new comprehension, and then quite interesting physical results. Before this, I was really feeling rather poorly, extremely tired, with the impression of a decline into decrepituderelatively speaking! (It was in a very superficial part of the being, but it was enough to be disagreeable.) And all of itpfft! Gone in a single stroke.
And that very day, I had this experience with the possessed personit all came together. And then afterwards, a sort of mastery over the problem and the impression of a breakthroughan opening up of the WAY to change, which is this enlargement. First, the movement of generosity (not that shriveling movement, but its exact opposite the movement of expansion), and from there you go on to universality, and from universality to Totality.
--
Then there is a doctor, V., who comes here twice a year to give a check-up to all who take part in the physical education program and all the children. He is an extremely honest and sincere man who believes in the mission of medical science. Each time he comes, I write something in his diary on the day of his departure (his whole diary is full of things Ive written they usually appear in the Bulletin or somewhere). On that very same day I learned that V. was leaving, and it suddenly came to meso clearly! Falsehood in the body that sort of juxtaposition of contraries, the inversion of the Vibration (only it doesnt really invertits a curious phenomenon: the vibration remains what it is but its received inverted)this falsehood in the body is a falsehood in the conSCIOUSNESS. The falsity of the consciousness naturally has material consequences and thats what illness is! I immediately made an experiment on my body to see if this held, if it actually works that way. And I realized that its true! When you are open and in contact with the Divine, the Vibration gives you strength, energy; and if you are quiet enough, it fills you with great joyand all of this in the cells of the body. You fall back into the ordinary consciousness and straightaway, without anything changing, the SAME thing, the SAME vibration coming from the SAME source turns into a pain, a malaise, a feeling of uncertainty, instability and decrepitude. To be sure of this, I repeated the experiment three or four times, and it was absolutely automatic, like the operation of a chemical formula: same conditions, same results.
This interested me greatly.
--
(Towards the end of the conversation, Satprem once again complains of his difficulties in writing his book. Mother proposes that he try to unblock the way by reading his manuscript to her.)
You know, it [Mothers consciousness] is an immobile mirror that projects things from below upwards and receives things from above to transmit them below. This mirror is two-surfaced, and absolutely immobile, not adding any vibration to what is received or transmitted: a perfect neutrality. In this mirror, therefore, you would be able to see your book a little more impersonally, outside yourself and your own creative power.
(Satprem makes a face; he feels shy about reading his text aloud)
Yes, you can find out if its consistent with your state of consciousness and your manner of working!
If you give it to me to read when its all finished, as you did with the other one [LOrpailleur], thats how it will be received; it wont pass through the mind at all. It will be reflected in the mirror and from the mirror it will go above. Thats the way I saw the other book, and I was shown many things about you I hadnt known. So you can do it either way; I mean you can use the mirror before finishing the booknot for what I may think of it, because that has no importance at all, but for the effect it might have on your work. Its up to you.
--
Correct? Many doors are open, and through these open doors things immeasurable for you can act through what you have written, bringing infinitely more to the reading than you think you have put there. People will be brought into contact with the thing, and each one, according to his receptivity, will catch hold of something. And this is very importantit must not be touched.4
I dont mind reading it, but it will take up your time
--
But some people I dont hear at all! I see lips moving, but there is nothing, nothing, not even an ordinary thought! When people are capable of a little clear-thinking, I hear everything. But with others, its like oo-oo-oo. Just recently there was something really comical! I no longer know who it was, but someone came to see me and when he began to talk I understood nothing! All I heard was noise. What to do? This person was asking me questions (he came here for sadhana, mind you, not for external matters; it was a serious visit), and all that came out was oo-oo-oo-oo, nothing else. So I concentrated and put myself in contact with his soul, which was the only thing I could contact. It took some time. I kept silent, and finally so did he, since he saw that I was not replying. Then suddenly it came, so clearly, like drops of water falling from above: ready-made sentences. I began to tell him all sorts of things about what his soul wanted, what he had to do in the world. It was a revelation! Ah! he said, I have been waiting to hear this all my life!
But it took some time, because first of all he had to stop talking, and then I had to concentrate.
And I never did find out what he said to me!
--
Here is the exact text of Mother's message: Truth is supreme harmony and supreme delight. All disorder, all suffering is falsehood. Thus it can be said that illnesses are the falsehoods of the body, and consequently doctors are soldiers of the great and noble army fighting in the world for the conquest of Truth.
It took Satprem fourteen years to lose the habit of correcting.
0 1961-10-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And within all this, I no longer existed. I seemed to vanish into a kind of trance, yet I was consciousnot I: the consciousness was conscious of what Sri Aurobindo was conscious of. And he was following the reading. But I couldnt remember anything; at the time, it was impossible to observe. I can only describe it all to you now because the experience remained for at least an hour and a half afterwards; when I left here, I began to objectify it, to see what it wasaside from that, it was merely a STATE I found myself in. But in this state there was an awareness of what he was hearing, and at two or three places in your reading he seemed to be saying (I cant be exact, I can only give the impression), Not necessary. In fact, thats what made me call this passage too philosophical (although when you first asked my opinion I was in a peculiar condition, nothing was active in me). With him, it was very clear, it was almost as if there were a certain number of words about which he said, That, not necessary. That, not necessary. Not many, not often, but once in a while. Especially at the end (he was still there inside my head while you were talking), when you were saying that its necessary to explain to people; there he very clearly said, No, not necessary.
But I was incapable of remembering or of registering anything the only head present there was his.
--
Above all, he would like the end to be brief. Thats something I felt from the very first daylet the end surge up and leave you in suspense; above all, dont try to be reasonable. An upsurge of light like a door bursting open onto a very luminous and unknown future, but with no attempt to make it tangible and approachable. I am sure of thisthis impression of a closed door (people live behind doors, you know), and then abruptly the door is flung wide-open on an explosion of light and you are left there: sit down, look, contemplate and wait for the moment to be ripe for venturing forth.
Above all, have no ambition to make anyone understand anything whatsoever.
--
When one follows the curve of his last writings, one sees very clearly that after having sown the seeds (yes, its like a great seeding of light) and even after having said, This is to be realized now, well, the further he went on in his work, the more he continued to work towards this realization, the more he saw all the stages that had to be crossed, the more he saw all that, well, the more he used to say, Dont imagine this will happen to you all at once. Dont think this path is an instant miracle.
After speaking of the descent of the Supermind, he said that an INTERMEDIARY must be prepared between our present mental state (even the most elevated higher mind) and the supramental region, because if one entered directly into Gnosis, well, it would produce such an abrupt change that our physical constitutions would be unable to support itan intermediary is needed. The experiences Ive had make me absolutely convinced of it; twice the supramental world took veritable possession of me and both times it was as if the bodytruly the physical bodywas going to completely disintegrate, due to what you could almost call the opposition of the two conditions.
And yesterday again I clearly saw (Mother touches this mass in her head). My eyes are full of it my eyes are full, you know, and I see that as it works to settle itself in here, it produces this little vibrationa twinkling of vibrationswhich seems to be indispensable for it to enter into this Matter.
--
Well then, concentrate, call it! Make an invocation, call it init is THERE, contact it. That is the thread to catchnot in the head.
But thats just it, you see-before working I always become completely silent and in that silence there is NOTHING. I could stay like that for hours!
--
All youve read to me now is quite fine, and it would certainly be less fine if something were there connecting it all up.
To me its clear that some segments are unsuitable.
--
Well, then take them out! Why not? It may be contrary to logic, even to higher logic, but what do we care!
I will try to see. If I catch the thread, it will be all right but I must catch it.
You have to concretely feel that Sri Aurobindos full Power of expression is there (I dont mean the words, its not a question of words), but the power to transmit knowledge (not mental knowledge, experience). Its constantly there. So an attentive silence but be very patient, because as soon as the Force comes, something begins to stir in the mental regions. Then there is also a sort of eagerness to seize hold and it ruins the thing.
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!
--
I keep feeling that Sri Aurobindo wants the conclusion to be swift; and I myself (probably not with his power of comprehension) have a vision, a sort of feeling coming from a great height above, that the most important part of the book should be very abruptlike breaking through a door, flinging it wide-open, and emerging in a rush of light. Thats all. Now keep quiet and see what happens.
***
0 1961-10-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The day before and at the beginning of this conversation, Satprem read aloud some passages of his manuscript relating to the Veda. Then Mother chose the photograph of Sri Aurobindo for the frontispiece. She speaks slowly, as though from a great distance, in a semi-trance.)
Thats how I first saw him, at the head of the staircase.
--
He is there and the atmosphere is full of a sort of concentration of force, and there are these two things: This is how legends come into being how legends begin. The beginning of the legend. I hear this. And there is also a kind of analogy to the old stories of Buddha, of Christ. Its strange.
I seemed to be looking back into the present from some thousands of years ahead (its no longer now, but as if I were propelled somewhere several thousand years ahead, looking backwards) and its the beginning of the legend.
--
But he was there the whole time you were reading (and now again its the same thing, he is there). In his consciousness, all this was already past I was transported forward, the present moment was behind meand then, Ah, here is the beginning of the legend.
So there will be a legend.
--
When I began to see this yesterday, I said, Ah, weve struck gold! I dont even know why, but it was the way you presented the thing, the way you explained that the most un conscious and the most conscious meet.1 That was the the thread or the key, I dont know. Then I followed the thread and came to this experience. And its still going on today.
I mean that theres a feeling of being on the wrong track: ordinarily, when seeking the Supermind, one looks for it on the heights. But thats not it! Thats not it. And one always imagines a sort of subtilization, something etherealized, but its not that.
--
(Extracts from the passage in Sri Aurobindo and the Transformation of the World read to Mother by Satprem. This unpublished manuscript would become the first rough draft of The Adventure of consciousness)
Since the time of Adam, it seems we have been choosing to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and there can be no half-measures or regrets along this way, for if we remain prostrate in a false humility, our noses in the dust, the titans or the djinns among us will know all too well how to snatch the Power left unclaimed; this is in fact what they are doingthey would crush the god within us. It is a question of knowingyes or nowhether we want to escape once again into our various paradises, abandoning the earth to the hands of Darkness, or find and seize hold of the Power to refashion this earth into a diviner imagein the words of the Rishis, make earth and heaven equal and one.
--
When he first read the Vedastranslated by Western Sanskritists or Indian pandits they appeared to Sri Aurobindo as an important document of [Indian] history, but seemed of scant value or importance for the history of thought or for a living spiritual experience.2 Fifteen years later, however, Sri Aurobindo would reread the Vedas in the original Sanskrit and find there a constant vein of the richest gold of thought and spiritual experience.3 Meanwhile, Sri Aurobindo had had certain psychological experiences of my own for which I had found no sufficient explanation either in European psychology or in the teachings of Yoga or of Vedanta, and which the mantras of the Veda illuminated with a clear and exact light.4 And it was through these experiences of his own that Sri Aurobindo came to discover, from within, the true meaning of the Vedas (and especially the most ancient of the four, the Rig-veda, which he studied with special care). What the Vedas brought him was no more than a confirmation of what he had received directly. But didnt the Rishis themselves speak of Secret words, clairvoyant wisdoms, that reveal their inner meaning to the seer (Rig-veda IV, 3.16)?
It is not surprising, therefore, that exegetes have seen the Vedas primarily as a collection of propitiatory rites centered around sacrificial fires and obscure incantations to Nature divinities (water, fire, dawn, the moon, the sun, etc.), for bringing rain and rich harvests to the tribes, male progeny, blessings upon their journeys or protection against the thieves of the sunas though these shepherds were barbarous enough to fear that one inauspicious day their sun might no longer rise, stolen away once and for all. Only here and there, in a few of the more modern hymns, was there the apparently inadvertent intrusion of a few luminous passages that might have justifiedjust barely the respect which the Upanishads, at the beginning of recorded history, accorded to the Veda. In Indian tradition, the Upanishads had become the real Veda, the Book of Knowledge, while the Veda, product of a still stammering humanity, was a Book of Worksacclaimed by everyone, to be sure, as the venerable Authority, but no longer listened to. With Sri Aurobindo we might ask why the Upanishads, whose depth of wisdom the whole world has acknowledged, could claim to take inspiration from the Veda if the latter contained no more than a tapestry of primitive rites; or how it happened that humanity could pass so abruptly from these so-called stammerings to the manifold richness of the Upanishadic Age; or how we in the West were able to evolve from the simplicity of Arcadian shepherds to the wisdom of Greek philosophers. We cannot assume that there was nothing between the early savage and Plato or the Upanishads.5
***
--
The secret lies in matter. Because Agni is imprisoned in matter and we ourselves are imprisoned there. It is said that Agni is without head or feet, that it conceals its two extremities: above, it disappears into the great heaven of the supra conscient (which the Rishis also called the great ocean), and below, it sinks into the formless ocean of the in conscient (which they also called the rock). We are truncated. But the Rishis were men of a solid realism, a true realism resting upon the Spirit; and since the summits of mind opened out upon a lacuna of lightecstatic, to be sure, but with no hold over the worldthey set upon the downward way.6 Thus begins the quest for the lost sun, the long pilgrimage of descent into the in conscient and the merciless fight against the dark forces, the thieves of the sun, the panis and vritras, pythons and giants, hidden in the dark lair with the whole cohort of usurpers: the dualizers, the confiners, the tearers, the COVERERS. But the divine worker, Agni, is helped by the gods, and in his quest he is led by the intuitive ray, Sarama, the heavenly hound with the subtle sense of smell who sets Agni on the track of the stolen herds (strange, shining herds). Now and again there comes the sudden glimmer of a fugitive dawn then all grows dim. One must advance step by step, digging, digging, fighting every inch of the way against the wolves whose savage fury increases the nearer one draws to their denAgni is a warrior. Agni grows through his difficulties, his flame burns more brilliantly with each blow from the Adversary; for, as the Rishis said, Night and Day both suckled the divine Child; they even said that Night and Day are the two sisters, Immortal, with a common lover [the sun] common they, though different their forms (I.113.2,3). These alternations of night and brightness accelerate until Day breaks at last and the herds of Dawn7 surge upward awakening someone who was dead (I.113.8). The infinite rock of the in conscient is shattered, the seeker uncovers the Sun dwelling in the darkness (III.39.5), the divine consciousness in the heart of Matter. In the very depths of Matter, that is to say, in the body, on earth, the Rishis found themselves cast up into Light that same Light which others sought on the heights, without their bodies and without the earth, in ecstasy. And this is what the Rishis would call the Great Passage. Without abandoning the earth they found the vast dwelling place, that dwelling place of the gods, Swar, the original Sun-world that Sri Aurobindo calls the Supramental World: Human beings [the Rishis emphasize that they are indeed men] slaying the Coverer have crossed beyond both earth and heaven [matter and mind] and made the wide world their dwelling place (I.36.8). They have entered the True, the Right, the Vast, Satyam, Ritam, Brihat, the unbroken light, the fearless light, where there is no longer suffering nor falsehood nor death: it is immortality, amritam.
***
--
The voyage draws to its close. Agni has recovered its solar totality, its two concealed extremities. The inviolable work is fulfilled. For Agni is the place where high meets lowand in truth, there is no longer high nor low, but a single Sun everywhere: O Flame, thou goest to the ocean of Heaven, towards the gods; thou makest to meet together the godheads of the planes, the waters that are in the realm of light above the sun and the waters that abide below (III.22.3). O Fire O universal Godhead, thou art the navel-knot of the earths and their inhabitants; all men born thou controllest and supportest like a pillar (I.59.1). O Flame, thou foundest the mortal in a supreme immortality thou createst divine bliss and human joy (I.31.7). For the worlds heart is Joy, Joy dwells in the depths of all things, the well of honey covered by the rock (II.24.4).
The day before, Mother had listened to the passage of the manuscript concerning 'The Secret of the Veda.' Several extracts from it are included in the Addendum to this conversation.
The Secret of the Veda, Cent. Ed., Vol. X, p. 34.
--
In the preceding conversation, Mother was alluding particularly to this passage.
Reminiscent of Homer and the 'herds of Helios.'
0 1961-11-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was not by choice that I met all the four Asurasit was a decision of the Supreme. The first one, whom religions call Satan, the Asura of consciousness, was converted and is still at work. The se cond [the Asura of Suffering] annulled himself in the Supreme. The third was the Lord of Death (that was Theon). And the fourth, the Master of the world, was the Lord of Falsehood; Richard was an emanation, a vibhuti,1 as they say in India, of this Asura.
Theon was the vibhuti of the Lord of Death.
--
He was a pastor at Lille, in France, for perhaps ten years; he was quite a practicing Christian, but he dropped it all as soon as he began to study occultism. He had first specialized in theological philosophy in order to pass the pastoral examinations, studying all the modem philosophy of Europe (he had a rather remarkable metaphysical brain). Then I met him in connection with Theon and the Cosmic Review, and I led him into occult knowledge. Afterwards, there were all sorts of uninteresting stories. He became a lawyer during the early period of our relationship and I learned Law along with him I could even have passed the exam! Then the divorce stories began: he divorced his wife; they had three children and he wanted to keep them, but to do so he had to be legally married, so he asked me to marry himand I said yes. I have always been totally indifferent to these things. Anyway, when I met him I knew who he was and I decided to convert him the whole story revolves around that.
As a matter of fact, the books he wrote (especially the first one, The Living Ether) were based on my knowledge; he put my knowledge into French and beautiful French, I must say! I would tell him my experiences and he would write them down. Later he wrote The Gods (it was incomplete, one-sided). Then he became a lawyer and entered politics (he was a first-class orator and fired his audiences with enthusiasm) and was sent to Pondicherry to help a certain candidate who couldnt manage his election campaign single-handed. And since Richard was interested in occultism and spirituality, he took this opportunity to seek a Master, a yogi. When he arrived, instead of involving himself in politics, the first thing he did was announce, I am seeking a yogi. Someone said to him, Youre incredibly lucky! The yogi has just arrived. It was Sri Aurobindo, who was told, Theres a Frenchman asking to see you. Sri Aurobindo wasnt particularly pleased but he found the coincidence rather interesting and received him. This was in 1910.
--
When Richard went to Japan, he sent his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo, including The Wherefore of the Worlds and The Eternal Wisdom, and Sri Aurobindo continued to translate them into English.
Frankly, it was a relief for Sri Aurobindo when we left; he even wrote to someone or other (but in a totally superficial way) that Richards departure was a great relief for him.
--
Once there (this would also make a great novel), Richard continued writing and sending his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo. Finally, when the Peace Treaty was signed and it was possible to travel, the English said that if we tried to return to India they would throw us in jail! But it all worked out miraculously, almost becoming a diplomatic incident: the Japanese government decided that if we were put in prison they would protest to the British government! (What a story I could write novels!) In short, Richard returned here with me. And thats when the tragi-comedy began.
I will tell you about it one dayfantastic!
It was certainly Sri Aurobindos power that made Richard decide to leave. For twelve years I had been Richards guru (thats where our relationship stood), but I hadnt succeeded in converting him, and when we came back here I said, Im through with it. Ive tried and Ive failed. Ive failed completely. Ask Sri Aurobindo. When Sri Aurobindo took him in hand, that was another story. He couldnt take i the left.
But the whole affair was diabolic, you know; it had turned into something fantastic.
--
This man clearly led a rather loose life. Right after he left here he spent some time in the Himalayas and became a Sannyasi. Then he went to France and from France to England. In England he married againbigamy! I didnt care, of course (the less he showed up in my life, the better), but he was in a fix! One day I suddenly received some official letters from a lawyer telling me I had initiated divorce proceedings against Richard. it seems I had a lawyer over there! A lawyer I had never asked for, whose name I didnt know, a lawyer I didnt even know existedmy lawyer! The trial was taking place at Nice, and I was accusing Richard of abandoning me without any means of support! (That was nothing new I had paid all the expenses from the first day we met! But anyway.) Naturally, he couldnt plead that he was a bigamist; nor could he have me accuse him of being a bigamist, because it was true! So it seemed he hadnt been paying my expenses; but then I wasnt claiming anything from him in the case, no alimonya little incoherent, all that. After a few months I was finally informed that I was divorced, which was rather convenient for me as far as the bank was concerned. I had a marriage contract stipulating that our properties were separate; since I was the one with the money (he had nothing), I wanted to be free to do with it as I pleased. But the French were impossible in such matters: the woman was considered the minor party, so even if the money was the wifes and not the husbands, she couldnt withdraw it without his authorization. I dont know if its still like that, but in those days the husb and always had to countersignan annoying situation! I got around this in Japan (the banker there found the rule stupid and told me to ignore it), but the bank here can be a pain in the neck, so it was good to get this cleared up.
He remarried two or three more times. By now (I believe) he is the father of quite a large family, with grandchildren and perhaps great-grandchildren. He lives in America. Someone once told me he was dead, but I could sense that he wasnt. Then, out of the blue, E. arrived, full of admiration, telling me she had met Richard and how stunningly he could preach to people.
--
I dont like to talk about these things, though they dont interest me. As Sri Aurobindo said, I lived my whole life absolutely free. I watched myself living through events like watching a movie. I had an inner vision, an inner will, and my inner reason for doing things was an Order received, an Order I was conscious of; but outwardlyfantastic! Naturallyhow else could it have been?
Here in Pondicherry, those last days might have become tragic (but of course it was impossible). There was the great argument (for he was perfectly aware of who I was): But after all, he would tell me, since you are the eternal Mother, why have you chosen Aurobindo as Avatar? Choose me! You must choose meme! It was the Asura speaking through him. I would smile and not discuss it. Thats not how its done! I would tell him (laughing). Then one day he said, Ah, so you dont want to. (gesture to the throat) Well, if you dont choose me, then. He was a strong fellow with powerful hands. I kept quite calm and said inwardly, My Lord, my Lord. I called Sri Aurobindo and I saw him come, like that (gesture enveloping Mother and immobilizing everything). Then Richards hands loosened their grip.
--
And you understand, it wasnt the struggle of a man against a god, but the struggle of a god against a god. And when he was like that, he clearly had a formidable, formidable Power! He forced everybody to obey him but it was Falsehood. And he preached an ascetic spirituality,7 you cant imagine! He was incredibly convincing, but he couldnt see a petticoat without. Boys, girls, nothing got by him!
Fantastic.8
--
Occasionally some people were slightly conscious. For instance, during the last war I spent all my nights hovering above Paris (not integrally, but a part of myself) so that nothing would happen to the city. Later it came out that several people had seen what seemed to be a great white Force with an indistinct form hovering above Paris so that it wouldnt be destroyed.
Throughout the war Sri Aurobindo and I were in such a conSTANT tension that it completely interrupted the yoga. And that is why the war started in the first placeto stop the Work. At that time there was an extraordinary descent of the Supermind; it was coming like that (massive gesture), a descent! Exactly in 39. Then the war broke out and stopped everything cold. For had we personally continued [the work of transformation] we were not sure of having enough time to finish it before the other one crushed the earth to a pulp, setting the whole Affair back centuries. The FIRST thing to be done was stop the action of the Lord of Nations.
The Lord of Falsehood.
--
X is convinced that its going to begin again.
We are trying.
--
If that (Mother indicates the head) could only keep quiet! There is tremendous tension there (the temples). When you have problems that need solving, if you could just raise your consciousness and receive the indication, receive the inspiration from above. And keep that (the head) quiet, quiet, quietthis tension is what tires you out!
You know, two or three minutes of silence can do a lot, and it doesnt take much time.
--
Theon knew something about it, and he called it the new world or the new creation on earth and the glorified body (I dont remember his exact terminology); but he knew of the Superminds existenceit had been revealed to him and he announced its coming. He said it would be reached THROUGH the discovery of the God within. And for him, as I told you the other day, this meant a greater densitywhich seems to be a correct experience. Well, on my side, I have made investigations and had innumerable visions concerning the earths history, and I spoke about it a good deal with Sri Aurobindo.
(silence)
According to what Sri Aurobindo saw and what I saw as well, the Rishis had the contact, the experiencehow to put it? A kind of lived knowledge of the thing, coming like a promise, saying, THAT is what will be. But its not permanent. Theres a big difference between their experience and the DESCENTwhat Sri Aurobindo calls the descent of the Supermind: something that comes and establishes itself.
Even when I had that experience [the first supramental manifestation of February 29, 1956], when the Lord said, The time has come, well, it was not a complete descent; it was the descent of the consciousness, the Light, and a part, an aspect of the Power. It was immediately absorbed and swallowed up by the world of In conscience, and from that moment on it began to work in the atmosphere. But it was not THE thing that comes and gets permanently established; when that happens, we wont need to speak of itit will be obvious!
Although the experience of 56 was one more forward step, its not. Its not final.
--
Indian tradition makes a distinction between a direct 'incarnation' (avatar) and a simple 'emanation' (vibhuti) coming from the consciousness of a godor a devil.
Not a physical place. See conversation of November 7, p. 380.
Richard died in the United States in 1967, then made a vain attempt to reincarnate in Auroville. Thus the danger of 'attracting him,' at least under this form, seems remote.
--
Mother is alluding to the following aphorism of Sri Aurobindo: 'If when thou sittest alone, still and voiceless on the mountain-top, thou canst perceive the revolutions thou art conducting, then hast thou the divine vision and art freed from appearances.' This aphorism is completed by another: 'If when thou art doing great actions and moving giant results, thou canst perceive that THOU art doing nothing, then know that God has removed His seal on thy eyelids.'
Cent. Ed., Vol. XVII, p. 92
--
According to Mother's wishes, the tape was erased up to this point. But years passed and circumstances changed, and when Satprem found the transcription of this conversation among his papers, he deemed it worthwhile to preserve the major portion of it for its historical interest. Mother's difficulties are always the difficulties of the 'Terrestrial Work'; and this particular Asura, who disturbed the earth in such a particular way, could hardly be passed over in silence.
See conversation of July 28, p. 279.
***
0 1961-11-06, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the In conscient as well.
When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low.
But GENERALLY it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature.
There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did), they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of in conscience and obscurity.
0 1961-11-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This has confronted me with a problem.
You are asking about the process, arent you?
--
There is also what Theon and Madame Theon used to say. They never spoke of Supermind, but they said the same thing as the Vedas, that the world of Truth must incarnate on earth and create a new world. They even picked up the old phrase from the Gospels, new heavens and a new earth,1 which is the same thing the Vedas speak of. Madame Theon had this experience and she gave me the indication (she didnt actually teach me) of how it was to be done. She would go out of her body and become conscious in the vital world (there were many intermediary states, too, if one cared to explore them). After the vital came the mental: you consciously went out of the vital body, you left it behind (you could see it) and you entered the mental world. Then you left the mental body and entered into. They used different words, another classification (I dont remember it), but even so, the experience was identical. And like that, she successively left twelve different bodies, one after another. She was extremely developed, you seeindividualized, organized. She could leave one body and enter the consciousness of the next plane, fully experience the surroundings and all that was there, describe it and so on, twelve times.
I learned to do the same thing, and with great dexterity; I could halt on any plane, do what I had to do there, move around freely, see, observe, and then speak about what I had seen. And my last stage, which Theon called pathtisme,2 a very barbaric but very expressive word, bordered on the Formlesshe sometimes used the Jewish terminology, calling the Supreme The Formless. (From this last stage one passed to the Formless there was no further body to leave behind, one was beyond all possible forms, even all thoughtforms.) In this domain [the last stage before the Formless] one experienced total unityunity in something that was the essence of Love; Love was a manifestation more dense, he would always say (there were all sorts of different densities); and Love was a denser expression of That, the sense of perfect Unityperfect unity, identitywith no longer any forms corresponding to those of the lower worlds. It was a Light! An almost immaculate white light, yet with something of a golden-rose in it (words are crude). This Light and this Experience were truly wonderful, inexpressible in words.
--
But naturally, you understand, once the border has been crossed, there is no more ascent and descent; you have the feeling of rising up only at the very start, while leaving the terrestrial consciousness and emerging into the higher mind. But once you have gone beyond that, theres no notion of rising; theres a sense, instead, of a sort of inner transformation.
And from there I would redescend, re-entering my bodies one after another there is a real feeling of re-entry; it actually produces friction.
--
When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, Sri Aurobindo had already brought the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. Its strange, he said to me, its an endless work! Nothing seems to get doneeverything is done and then constantly has to be done all over again. Then I gave him my personal impression, which went back to the old days with Theon: It will be like that until we touch bottom. So instead of continuing to work in the Mind, both of us (I was the one who went through the experience how to put it? practically, objectively; he experienced it only in his consciousness, not in the body but my body has always participated), both of us descended almost immediately (it was done in a day or two) from the Mind into the Vital, and so on quite rapidly, leaving the Mind as it was, fully in the light but not permanently transformed.
Then a strange thing happened. When we were in the Vital, my body suddenly became young again, as it had been when I was eighteen years old! There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had lived with me in Japan for four years; he returned to India, and when he came to see me in Pondicherry, he was stupefied.4 What has happened to you! he exclaimed. He hardly recognized me. During that same period (it didnt last very long, only a few months), I received some old photographs from France and Sri Aurobindo saw one of me at the age of eighteen. There! he said, Thats how you are now! I wore my hair differently, but otherwise I was eighteen all over again.
--
It wasnt the first time; when I was working with Theon at Tlemcen (the se cond time I was there), I descended into the total, unindividualized that is, general In conscient (it was the time he wanted me to find the Mantra of Life). And there I suddenly found myself in front of something like a vault or a grotto (of course, it was only something like that), and when it opened, I saw a Being of iridescent light reclining with his head on his hand, fast asleep. All the light around him was iridescent. When I told Theon what I was seeing, he said it was the immanent God in the depths of the In conscient, who through his radiations was slowly waking the In conscient to consciousness.
But then a rather remarkable phenomenon occurred: when I looked at him, he woke up and opened his eyes, expressing the beginning of conscious, wakeful action.
I have experienced the descent into the In conscient many times (you remember, once you were there the day it happenedit had to do with divine Love6); this experience of descending to the very bottom of the In conscient and finding there the Divine consciousness, the Divine Presence, under one form or another. It has happened quite frequently.
But I cant say that my process is to descend there first, as you write. Rather, this can be the process only when you are ALREADY conscious and identified; then YOU DRAW DOWN the Force (as Sri Aurobindo says, one makes it descend) in order to transform. Then, with this action of transformation, one pushes [the Force into the depths, like a drill]. The Rishis description of what happens next is absolutely true: a formidable battle at each step. And it would seem impossible to wage that battle without having first experienced the junction above.
That is MY experience I dont say there cant be others. I dont know.
One can realize the Divine in the In conscient rather quickly (in fact, I think it can happen just as soon as one has found the Divine within). But does this give the power to TRANSFORM DIRECTLY? Does the direct junction between the supreme consciousness and the In conscient (because that is the experience) give the power to transform the In conscient just like that, without any intermediary? I dont think so. I simply havent had that experience. Could all these things Ive been describing be happening now if I didnt have all those experiences behind me? I dont know, I cant say.
One thing is certainas soon as one goes beyond the terrestrial atmosphere, beyond the higher minds highest region, the sensation of high and low totally vanishes. There are no longer movements of ascent and descent, but (Mother turns her hand over) something like inner reversals.
I think the problem arises only when you try to see and understand with the mental consciousness, even with the higher mind.
I am telling you this because, as soon as I got your letter, I replied with what Ill read to you now; then I was immediately faced with something I couldnt formulate, the kind of thing that gives you the feeling of the unknown (all I knew was my own experience). So I did the usual thingbecame blank, turned towards the Truth; and I questioned Sri Aurobindo and beyondasking, if there were something to be known, that it be told to me. Then I dropped it, I paid no more attention. And only as I was coming here today was I told I cant really use the word told, but anyway, what was communicated to me concerning your question was that the difference between the two processes [the Rishis and the present one] is purely subjective, depending upon the way the experience is registered. I dont know if I can make myself clear. There is something which is the experience and which will be the Realization; and what appears to be a different, if not opposite, process is simply a subjective mental notation of one SINGLE experience. Do you follow?
Thats what I was told.
--
It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent (thats what I meant just now by leaving the body, but without going into details), that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the In conscient as well. When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low. But GENERALLY, (I emphasized this to make it clear that I am not making an absolute assertion) it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature. (This can be experienced in all sorts of ways, but what WE want and what Sri Aurobindo spoke of is a change that will never be revoked, that will persist, that will be as durable as the present terrestrial conditions. That is why I put permanent.) There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did) they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of in conscience and obscurity.
Yes, the Rishis give an absolutely living description of what you experience and experience continuallyas soon as you descend into the Sub conscient: all these battles with the beings who conceal the Light and so on. I experienced these things continually at Tlemcen and again with Sri Aurobindo when we were doing the Workits raging quite merrily even now!
As soon as you go down there, thats what happensyou have to fight against all that is unwilling to change, all that dominates the world and does not want to change.
--
After reading your letter, I had a very strong feeling that you put the problem like that because you were considering it from a mental plane, which is the only plane where it exists; if you go beyond, there are no more oppositions or problems. These things are subtle, you know, and as soon as you try to formulate them, they elude youformulation deforms.
What I mean is that its not necessarily in trance, in another world, that one gets the supramental consciousness.
No.
--
But I myself have never had it in trance, and neither did Sri Aurobindonei ther of us ever had trances! I mean the kind of trance where contact with the body is lost. Thats what he always said, and one of the first things I told him when we met was, Well, everybody talks about trance and samadhi and all those things, but I have never had them! I have never lost consciousness. Ah, he replied, its exactly the same for me!
It depends upon the level of development, thats what Theon used to say: One goes into trance only when certain links are missing. He saw people as made up of innumerable small bridges, with intermediary zones. If you have an intermediary zone that is undeveloped, he said, a zone where you are not conscious because its not individualized, then you will be in trance when you cross it. Trance is the sign of non-individualization the consciousness is not awake and so your body goes into trance. But if your consciousness is wide awake you can sit, keeping full contact with things, and have the total experience. I could go out of my body with no need of trance, except when Theon wanted me to do a particular work. That was a different business the vital force (not the consciousness, the vital force) had to go out for that work, so the body had to go into trance. But even then. For instance, very often when I am called and go to do something in response, my body does become still, but its not in trance; I can be sitting and, even in the middle of a gesture, suddenly become immobile for a few se conds.7 But I was doing another type of work with Theondangerous work, at thatand it would last for an hour. Then all the bodys vital energy would go out, all of it, as it does when you die (in fact, thats how I came to experience death).
But it isnt necessary to have all those experiences, not at allSri Aurobindo never did. (Theon didnt have experiences, either; he had only the knowledgehe made use of Madame Theons experiences.) Sri Aurobindo told me he had never really entered the un consciousness of samadhi for him, these domains were conscious; he would sit on his bed or in his armchair and have all the experiences.
Naturally, its preferable to be in a comfortable position (its a question of security). If you venture to do these kinds of things standing up, for instance, as I have seen them done, its dangerous. But if one is quietly stretched out, there is no need for trance.
Besides, according to what Ive been told (not physically), I believe that the Rishis practiced going into trance. But I suppose they wanted to achieve what Sri Aurobindo speaks of: a PHYSICAL transformation of the physical body permitting one to LIVE this consciousness instead of the ordinary consciousness. Did they ever do it? I dont know. The Veda simply recounts what the forefa thers have done. But who are these forefa thers?
But surely this supramental consciousness is something to be found in the body?8
When one has these experiences, like the ones Ive had in the subtle physical, for example, the body is certainly in trance but the part having the experience doesnt AT ALL feel deprived or lacking in anything. The experience comes with a fullness of life, consciousness, independence, individuality. Its not like going out in trance to accomplish a work and feeling linked to the body its not that: the body no longer exists nor has any reason to! Its simply not there. And its a nuisance to go back into itwhat is this useless burden! you wonder. As a result, if this experience becomes permanent, you live in a world thats just as concrete, just as real and just as TANGIBLE as our physical world, with the same qualities of duration, permanence and stability.
Its very difficult to express, because as soon as we notice it.
While having this experience, you are free (as I said, the body no longer exists, it has even no reason to exist, and you dont think of it), and you have just as concrete an OBJECTIVE functioningeven more so! It is more concrete because you have a MUCH CLEARER and more tangible perception of knowledge than ordinary physical perception; our ordinary way of understanding always seems so hazy in comparison. Its not the same phenomenon as going off into trance and being linked to the body, depending upon it for expression, and so forth.
But a certain work [of adaptation] is required to express this experience, and the first impression upon returning is that theres no way to do it. It simply doesnt correspond to anything.9
--
In January 1925, mother had an inflammation of the knee. On May 25 of the same year, Sri Aurobindo noted in a letter, 'The condition here is not very good. I am at present fighting the difficulties on the physical plane.' (Cited by A.B. Purani, Life of Sri Aurobindo, p. 203.) Note that in 1925 the Nazi Party was founded.
We aren't sure, but this may refer to the experience of July 12, 1960, or to that of November 5, 1958, 'the almighty spring' (in fact, they are probably one and the same experience) which gave rise to the 1959 New Year Message: 'At the very bottom of the In conscient, most hard and rigid and narrow and stifling, I struck upon an almighty spring that cast me up forthwith into a formless, limitless Vast, vibrating with the seeds of a new world.'
--
Mother does not reply directly to this question (although she would probably have answered in the affirmative, since the point is indeed to LIVE this supramental consciousness), but she does reply directly to what is BEHIND Satprem's question that is, this fundamental, deep-rooted assumption that physical life is the sole, concrete reality.
This conversation was interrupted before Mother could conclude.
***
0 1961-11-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother improvises on the harmonium to 'say' something, or perhaps to calm Satprem's nerves, then continues:)
Sri Aurobindo was telling me, Satprem has a headache and is tired because hes trying to do an unnecessary work.
--
But how else can people understand! We must (laughing) make a concession to present terrestrial conditions.
Of all the means of expression, it seems the poorest.
--
It would be interesting, if it were possible thats precisely what I mean when I say: no links, no train of logic, no continuity; these are always, always mental. An inspiration, an intuition, a revelation always comes, poff!, leaving a score of things unsaidgaps to be filled in with spiritual experience.
If you start to explain, it falls flattheres no help for it.
--
(Laughing) Perhaps thats why you were angry with me! Because I insist! Upstairs [in Mothers room, during japa], it keeps coming all the time, all the time: Go ontake the plunge! Clear the hurdle, take the plunge, cross to the other side. constantly, constantly.
You see, in what youve just read to me, every place where something rushes in from above is VERY good. Then suddenly something in me begins to (words are much too crude), begins to grow bored or tired (thats too crude, its only a slight uneasiness). And I invariably notice that what bothers me are the explanations Im exaggerating.
--
The art of good writing consists in knowing how to be silent. The things you dont say are far more important than the things you do.
Not including poetry.
0 1961-11-16a, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Standing up in that state is rather dangerous, so I lie down on my bed. And it continues I hear nothing, see nothing but this white light. No more thought, not one idea in my head, nothing at all, to such an extent that if anyone enters noiselessly, I dont know it. But I do feel the pressure of someone watching me; I can sense it, so I open my eyes and there is actually someone there.
But work, mon petit. I cant work. I cant remember even the simplest things I am supposed to remember! I wanted to tell you when my free days were, but I no longer recall them.
--
And of course, as always, theres an accumulation of people, of visitors asking to see me. There is always this external contradiction.
But a day more or less doesnt matter!
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.
So to calm the body I took a pencil and wrote: My being thirsts. (to tell the truth, I wanted to write this body thirsts) for perfection, not this human perfection(I should tell you that all the things I am translating are simultaneously accompanied by a set of external circumstances OBVIOUSLY arranged in detail to illustrate the translation: a whole set of quite unpleasant circumstances, besides, serving simultaneously as backdrop and illustration. Thats what brought on the anguish). This body thirsts for perfection, not this human perfection which is the perfection of the ego (it was so clear to me that everything human beings conceive of as perfection is simply the ego wanting to magnify itself for its own greater glory) not this human perfection which is the perfection of the ego and bars the way to the divine Perfection, but that one perfection (these repeated perfections are deliberate: its like a litany) but that one perfection which has the POWER to manifest upon earth the eternal Truth.
It was this need, this need. All the bodys cells began to vibrate with a more and more intense vibrationit was much more than a need; it was a necessity, a necessity to vibrate in unison with Truth. The cells seemed to be sensing the vibration of Truth, and so the entire body was in a state of total tensionnot tension in the ordinary sense, but it was like trying to find a note that rings true. Thats what it was: to make the cells vibration ring true to the Vibration of Truth.
--
I continue to be incredibly lazy!
There, mon petit we havent done anything!
--
Last year there was a conflict between Krishna on one side (he came, I saw him), and some kind of spirit coming from Shiva; Krishna was playing, and the two of them were constantly quarreling! One wanted it to be like this, with roseate colorations, and the other wanted it all in blues and silvers. And then suddenly, as I was playing (in fact, it was the last time I played and it had started off entirely with Krishna and was going quite well) but suddenly something came like the blow of a fist (gesture of a blow to the arm), wham! I completely lost my balancereally I almost.
But then here I am, watching it all, enjoying myself immensely! Its very interesting.
--
My hands are a little too consciousfrom time to time their own consciousness creeps in and wreaks havoc! Im not much of a mediumit would be a lot better if I were!
(Mother runs her hands over the keyboard)
--
Then Mother thought that this message might not be too comforting and she put it aside (after asking the opinion of two disciples). Finally she chose the text of the experience which is the subject of this conversation. But the coming year, 1962, would be marked by the first great turning-point in Mother's yoga and a rather calamitous ordeal for the body.
***
0 1961-12-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I suppose you can return their money and cancel the contract but reserve the right to print the book yourself, changing the presentation to avoid any confusion with their collection.
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0 1961-12-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Dear Sir I must begin by telling you that although this text is an excellent essay, it is not, in its present form, a book for the Spiritual Masters series. Let us enumerate the reasons for this. First of all, the general impression is of an ABSTRACT text. I can straight-away imagine your reaction to this and I dread misunderstandings! But putting myself in the readers place, since, once again, it does involve a collection intended for a wide public that we are beginning to know well, I can assure you that this public will not be able to follow page after page of reflections upon what one is bound to call a philosophical and spiritual system. Obviously this impression is caused primarily by the fact that you have begun with twenty-one pages where the reader is assumed to already know of Sri Aurobindos historical existence and the content of the Vedas and the Upanishads, plus I dont know how many other notions of rite, truth, divinity, wisdom, etc., etc. In my view, and the solution is going to appear cruel to you, for you certainly value these twenty-one pages [on the Secret of the Veda], they should purely and simply be deleted, for everything you say there, which is very rich in meaning, can only become clear when one has read what follows. There are many books in which readers can be asked to make the effort entailed in not understanding the beginning until they have read the end: but not books of popular culture. One could envisage an introduction of three or four pages to situate the spiritual climate and cultural world in which Sri Aurobindos thought has taken place, provided, however, that it is sufficiently descriptive, and not a pre-synthesis of everything to be expounded upon in what follows. In a general way you are going to smile, finding me quite Cartesian! But the readership we address is more or less permeated by a widespread Cartesianism, and you can help them, if you like, to reverse their methodology, but on the condition that you make yourself understood right from the start. Generally, you dont make enough use of analysis and, even before analysis, of a description of the realities being analyzed. That is why the sections of pure philosophical analysis seem much too long to us, and, even apart from the abstract character of the chapter on evolution (which should certainly be shorter), one feels at a positive standstill! After having waited patiently, and sometimes impatiently, for some light to be thrown on Sri Aurobindos own experience, one reads with genuine amazement that one can draw on energies from above instead of drawing on them from the material nature around oneself, or from an animal sleep, or that one can modify his sleep and render it conscious master illnesses before they enter the body. All of that in less than a page; and you conclude that the spirit that was the slave of matter becomes again the master of evolution. But how Sri Aurobindo was led to think this, the experiences that permitted him to verify it, those that permit other men to consider the method transmittable, the difficulties, the obstacles, the realizationsdoesnt this constitute the essence of what must be said to make the reader understand? Once again, it is the question of a pedagogy intimately tied in with the spirit of the collection. Let me add as well that I always find it deplorable when a thought is not expressed purely for its own sake, but is accompanied by an aggressive irony towards concepts which the author does not share. This is pointless and harms the ideas being presented, all the more so because they are expressed in contrast with caricatured notions: the allusions you make to such concepts as you think yourself capable of evoking the soul, creation, virtue, sin, salvationwould only hold some interest if the reader could find those very concepts within himself. But, as they are caricatured by your pen, the reader is given the impression of an all too easily obtained contrast between certain ideas admired and others despised. Whereas it would be far more to the point if they corresponded to something real in the religious consciousness of the West. I have too much esteem for you and the spiritual world in which you live to avoid saying this through fear of upsetting you.
Amen.
--
I dont believe your book can be changedits meaningless to snip at it. If you really want to know what I would do, I would write another one, putting myself in their place: something showing a comprehensible Sri Aurobindoalmost a congenial Sri Aurobindo that is, only the constructive side of his teaching, in its most external form, leaving out not the philosophical notions, but the truly spiritual ones, for that is completely sealed to their understanding.
They are not ready! They are not ready.
--
Seen from the European angle, Sri Aurobindo represents an immense spiritual revolution, redeeming Matter and the creation, which to the Christian religion is fundamentally a fallits really unclear how what has come from God could become so bad, but anyway, better not be too logical! its a fall. The creation is a fall. And thats why they are far more easily convinced by Buddhism. I saw this particularly with Richard, whose education was entirely in European philosophy, with Christian and positivist influences; under these two influences, when he came into contact with Theons cosmic philosophy and later Sri Aurobindos revelation, he immediately explained, in his Wherefore of the Worlds, that the world is the fruit of DesireGods desire. Yet Sri Aurobindo says (in simple terms), God created the world for the Joy of the creation, or rather, He brought forth the world from Himself for the Joy of living an objective life. This was Theons thesis too, that the world is the Divine in an objective form, but for him the origin of this objective form was the desire to be. All this is playing with words, you understand, but it turns out that in one case the world is reprehensible and in the other it is adorable! And that makes all the difference. To the whole European mind, the whole Christian spirit, the world is reprehensible. And when THAT is pointed out to them, they cant stand it.
So the very normal, natural reaction against this attitude is to negate the spiritual life: lets take the world as it is, brutally, materially, short and sweet (since it all comes to an end with this short life), lets do all we can to enjoy ourselves now, suffer as little as possible and not think of anything else. Having said that life is a condemned, reprehensible, anti-divine thing, this is the logical conclusion. Then what to do? We dont want to do away with life, so we do away with the Divine.
Thats it exactly.
--
From the practical standpoint, I would much prefer the book to be printed here and for us to make the necessary effort for it to go out and touch as many people as possible. The publisher may be a handy and less troublesome channel, but hes not at all the best onefar from it. THAT I know, because I am constantly seeing your book with Sri Aurobindos perception, and I am absolutely positive that he likes it very much; he has put a lot into it and he sees that it can be an enormous help but not in the short run. There is always the sense of it needing a hundred years to have its full effect. With your publisher, on the other hand, the effects are far more violent, more external and noisy, but they fade far more quickly.
And I feel its rather essential to change all the emphasis on pictures. I let them go because there was nothing else to do, but I must say I wasnt too happy about it.1 it was not a deep understanding, a soul-understanding, that chose the pictures, but a very developed intellect.
--
No, Mother, its a question of experience. Ones writing must always well up from a deep and constant experience.
Yes!
--
Here, just to give you an example: when I first began to work (not with Theon personally but with an acquaintance of his in France, a boy4 who was a friend of my brother), well, I had a series of visions (I knew nothing about India, mind you, nothing, just as most Europeans know nothing about it: a country full of people with certain customs and religions, a confused and hazy history, where a lot of extraordinary things are said to have happened. I knew nothing.) Well, in several of these visions I saw Sri Aurobindo just as he looked physically, but glorified; that is, the same man I would see on my first visit, almost thin, with that golden-bronze hue and rather sharp profile, an unruly beard and long hair, dressed in a dhoti with one end of it thrown over his shoulder, arms and chest bare, and bare feet. At the time I thought it was vision attire! I mean I really knew nothing about India; I had never seen Indians dressed in the Indian way.
Well, I saw him. I experienced what were at once symbolic visions and spiritual FACTS: absolutely decisive spiritual experiences and facts of meeting and having a united perception of the Work to be accomplished. And in these visions I did something I had never done physically: I prostrated before him in the Hindu manner. All this without any comprehension in the little brain (I mean I really didnt know what I was doing or how I was doing itnothing at all). I did it, and at the same time the outer being was asking, What is all this?!
I wrote the vision down (or perhaps that was later on) but I never spoke of it to anyone (one doesnt talk about such things, naturally). But my impression was that it was premonitory, that one day something like it would happen. And it remained in the background of the consciousness, not active, but constantly present.
As for Theon, he was European and wore a long purple robe that wasnt at all like the one in my vision. (Im not sure, but I think he was either Polish or Russian, but more probably Russian, of Jewish descent, and that he was forced to leave his country; he never said anything about this to anyone, its only an impression.) When I saw him I recognized him as a being of great power. And he bore a certain likeness to Sri Aurobindo: Theon was about the same size (not a tall man, of medium height) and thin, slim, with quite a similar profile. But when I met Theon I saw (or rather I felt) that he was not the man I saw in my vision because he didnt have that vibration. Yet it was he who first taught me things, and I went and worked at Tlemcen for two years in a row. But this other thing was always there in the background of the consciousness.
Then when Richard came here he met Sri Aurobindo (he was haunted by the idea of meeting the Master, the Guru, the Great Teacher). Sri Aurobindo was in hiding, seeing no one, but when Richard insisted, he met him, and Richard returned with a photograph. It was one of those early photos, with nothing in it. It was empty, the remnants of the political man, not at all resembling what I had seen I didnt recognize him. Its strange, I said to myself, thats not it (for I saw only his external appearance, there was no inner contact). But still, I was curious to meet him. At any rate, I cant say that when I saw this photograph I felt, Hes the one! Not at all. He impressed me as being a very interesting man, but no more.
I came here. But something in me wanted to meet Sri Aurobindo all alone the first time. Richard went to him in the morning and I had an appointment for the afternoon. He was living in the house thats now part of the se cond dormitory, the old Guest House.5 I climbed up the stairway and he was standing there, waiting for me at the top of the stairs. EXACTLY my vision! Dressed the same way, in the same position, in profile, his head held high. He turned his head towards me and I saw in his eyes that it was He. The two things clicked (gesture of instantaneous shock), the inner experience immediately became one with the outer experience and there was a fusion the decisive shock.
But this was merely the beginning of my vision. Only after a series of experiencesa ten months sojourn in Pondicherry, five years of separation, then the return to Pondicherry and the meeting in the same house and in the same waydid the END of the vision occur. I was standing just beside him. My head wasnt exactly on his shoulder, but where his shoulder was (I dont know how to explain itphysically there was hardly any contact). We were standing side by side like that, gazing out through the open window, and then TOGETHER, at exactly the same moment, we felt, Now the Realization will be accomplished. That the seal was set and the Realization would be accomplished. I felt the Thing descending massively within me, with the same certainty I had felt in my vision. From that moment on there was nothing to sayno words, nothing. We knew it was THAT.
But between these two meetings he participated in a whole series of experiences, experiences of gradually growing awareness. This is partly noted in Prayers and Meditations (I have cut out all the personal segments). But there was one experience I didnt speak of there (that is, I didnt describe it, I put only the conclusion)the experience where I say Since the man refused I was offering participation in the universal work and the new creation and the man didnt want it, he refused, and so I now offer it to God.6
I dont know, Im putting it poorly, but this experience was concrete to the point of being physical. It happened in a Japanese country-house where we were living, near a lake. There was a whole series of circumstances, events, all kinds of thingsa long, long story, like a novel. But one day I was alone in meditation (I have never had very profound meditations, only concentrations of consciousness Mother makes an abrupt gesture showing a sudden ingathering of the entire being); and I was seeing. You know that I had taken on the conversion of the Lord of Falsehood: I tried to do it through an emanation incarnated in a physical being [Richard]7, and the greatest effort was made during those four years in Japan. The four years were coming to an end with an absolute inner certainty that there was nothing to be done that it was impossible, impossible to do it this way. There was nothing to be done. And I was intensely concentrated, asking the Lord, Well, I made You a vow to do this, I had said, Even if its necessary to descend into hell, I will descend into hell to do it. Now tell me, what must I do?The Power was plainly there: suddenly everything in me became still; the whole external being was completely immobilized and I had a vision of the Supreme more beautiful than that of the Gita. A vision of the Supreme.8 And this vision literally gathered me into its arms; it turned towards the West, towards India, and offered meand there at the other end I saw Sri Aurobindo. It was I felt it physically. I saw, sawmy eyes were closed but I saw (twice I have had this vision of the Supremeonce here, much later but this was the first time) ineffable. It was as if this Immensity had reduced itself to a rather gigantic Being who lifted me up like a wisp of straw and offered me. Not a word, nothing else, only that.
Then everything vanished.
--
This can all be narrated in a very simple way; these things are not metaphysical. It involves occultism, of course, but its utterly concrete and simple: things a child could understand.
And these are the real milestones of the whole Story.
--
You understand, none of my certitudesnone, without exceptionhave EVER come through the mind. The intellectual comprehension of each of these experiences came much later. Little by little, little by little, came the higher understanding of the intellectual consciousness, long after the experience (I dont mean philosophical knowledge thats nothing but scholarly mumbo-jumbo and leaves me cold). Since my earliest childhood, experiences have come like that: something massive takes hold of you and you dont need to believe or disbelieve, know or not knowbam! Theres nothing to say; you are facing a fact.
Once, during those last difficult years, Sri Aurobindo told me that this was precisely what gave me my advantage and why (how to put it?) there were greater possibilities that I would go right to the end.
--
Think it over. I would like us to publish your book exactly as it is, with its full force, with all that Sri Aurobindo has put into it; and we will give it a bit of help to go and do its work. And you should come to an understanding with these people. But first you should write just a simple book, quite simple and quite positive: the constructive aspectvery constructive, very simple. No attempt to convince, no big problemsno, no, no! Sri Aurobindo has come to tell the world that man is not the final creation, that there is another creation; and he said this not because he knew it but because he felt it. And he began to do it. And thats all.
It neednt be long.
--
See conversation of November 5, 1961.
Perhaps Mother is alluding to this passage from Prayers and Meditations (October 10, 1918): 'My Father smiled at me and gathered me into his powerful arms....'
0 1961-12-23, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Now I know the outcome, and thats what I didnt see before. But it will take time. For the moment it seems. You know, it wasnt pleasant: everything appears useless, impossible in that condition. But thats very good! (Mother laughs) Very good.
But while these things are happening, we shouldnt speak of them.
--
Oh, thats a wonderful thingat times its truly stupendous! But go on, continueit would take too long to go into that!
Because there comes a time when one perceives the entire universe in such a total and comprehensive way that, in truth, it is impossible to remove anything from it without disturbing everything. And going a couple of steps further, one knows for certain that things which shock us as contradictions of the Divine are simply things out of place. Each thing must be exactly in its place, and whats more, be supple enough, plastic enough, to admit into a harmonious, progressive organization all the new elements constantly being added to the manifest universe. The universe is in a perpetual movement of internal reorganization, and at the same time its growing: its becoming more and more complex, more and more complete, more and more integralindefinitely. And as the new elements manifest, the whole reorganization must be built on a new basis, and thus there isnt a se cond when ALL is not in perpetual movement. And when the movement is in accord with the divine order, its harmonious, so perfectly harmonious that its almost imperceptible. Now, if you descend from this consciousness towards a more external consciousness, you begin naturally to have a very precise feeling of what helps you attain the true consciousness and what bars the way or pulls you backwards or even fights against your progress. And so the perspective changes and you are obliged to say: this is divine or a help towards the Divine; and that goes against the Divine, its the Divines enemy. But this is a pragmatic standpoint, geared to action, to movement in material lifebecause you havent yet attained the consciousness surpassing all that; because you havent reached that inner perfection where you no longer have to fight, since you have gone beyond the field or the time or the utility of struggle. But before reaching that state in your consciousness and action, there is necessarily struggle; and if there is struggle, there is choice; and to choose, you need discrimination.
(Mother remains silent)
--
I had a session like that some days agoits a work Im pursuing. (Likewise, I have constantly been with the adverse force I once told you about,3 who keeps incarnating especially to harass meso theres also this phenomenon, amiably passing from one being to another!) Anyway, not long ago I had given an appointment to this woman and had decided not to say anythingbecause there was nothing to be done (the most beautiful things go rotten, theres nothing to do). So I remained silent, indrawn, fully in contact with the Supreme Presence, with the external personality annulled (this experience, in fact, lasting almost one hour, is what gave me the key to everything that has been happening lately). There was only the Supreme, nothing else the Supreme THERE, in that very body, mon petit, in that whole agglomeration and in that apparently absolutely anti-divine influenceHIS Presence was there!
It was a truly stupendous experience, petty though the object is (she is insignificant, without any great substance or powera very minor incarnation; she does have certain not quite human capacities, but they are so veiled by a tiny human personality that scarcely anyone but I can see them).
And in the experience there was no difference between my physical and my inner being (actually, its that way more and more for me); even physically, externally, there was a kind of love full of adoration, and so spontaneousnot even any sense of wonder! And there was such a formidable Power in it, formidable from the standpoint of the entire earth. It lasted one hour. After an hour, the experience slowly began to fade (it had to fade for purely practical reasons). But it left me so confident of a radical changenot a total change, for it wasnt permanent but so radical that even outwardly, way down below in me, something was saying, Ah, how will the meditations with X be now? I caught Myself not thinking, not myself: someone thought like that, somewhere way down below. This pulled me out of the experience and I wondered, Thats strange, whos thinking like that? It was one of the personalities4 (in terms of work, its the one that gives each action its proper place), someone way down below, spontaneously feeling: But thats going to change the meditations! What will they be like now? When I returned and began to look at things with the usual discernment, I told myself that perhaps there actually will be a change.
But truly, EVERYTHING was changed at that moment: something was achieved. It was the perception of Power the Power that comes from Love (what Love is to the Supreme consciousness, which has nothing to do with what we usually mean by the word love). And it was it was simple! None of those complications resulting from thought, intellect, understandingall that was gone, all gone. A formidable Power! And it made me understand one thing, that the state I had been put in (by the Lord of Yoga, in fact) was for obtaining the particular power that comes through an identity with all material things, a power possessed by certain personsnot always yogis, certain mediums, for instance. I saw it with Madame Theon: she would will a thing to come to her instead of going to the thing herself; instead of going to get her sandals when she wanted them, she made the sandals come to her. She did this through a capacity to radiate her mattershe exercised a will over her matterher central will acted upon matter anywhere, since she WAS THERE. With her, then, I saw this power in a methodical, organized way, not as something accidental or spasmodic (as it is with mediums), but as an organization of Matter. And so I began to understand: With this comes the power to put each thing in its place! provided one is universal enough.
Well, I have understood. And now I know where I stand.
--
Since this experience (three or four days ago, five days, Im not sure), there has been a constant multiplication of FACTS of identification (one is it, and so one DOES it), for all the small things of Matter, the most trivial things in the material world.
(Mother gets up)
--
Prakriti: Nature or the executive force, as opposed to Purusha, the conscious Soul which sees, knows and creates through its vision. These are the two principles, feminine and masculine, of the universe.
See Agenda of March 26, 1959 (Vol. I, p. 288): the Titan sent especially to attack Mother's body, and who uses the people around her for this purpose.
-- context
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0 1962-01-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its a sort of decentralization. You see, to form a body all the cells are concentrated by a kind of centripetal force that binds them together. Well, now its just the opposite! A kind of centrifugal force seems to be dispersing them. When it gets a bit too much I go out of my body; outwardly I seem to faint but I dont faint, I remain fully conscious. So obviously this creates a sort of bizarre disorganization.
And theres a strange thing about it, which so far I havent figured out: it always happens (it has already happened three times, and thats a lot for me) when X1 comes, the night before he arrives.
--
Someone happened to be there last time so I didnt fall and hurt myself. But this time I was alone in my bathroom and actually I was going through a phenomenon of consciousness in which I was spreading over the worldspreading PHYSICALLY, thats the strange thing! The sensation is in the CELLS. There was a movement of diffusion in me, becoming more and more rapid and intense, and then suddenly I found myself on the floor.
Theres a seat in my bathroom upstairs, and between the seat and the wall are two small tables (not tables, but small stools where a few things are kept), and a porcelain towel bar (luckily, everything has rounded corners). I found myself wedged in between the seat and the two small tables (a space about this wide!). And all that matter the material substance of the table and the objects on the table and the porcelain seatit all seemed so unreceptive! It doesnt give way like it should for things to be comfortable; but it wasnt that my body was uncomfortable there was no body! The whole set-up was bizarre, everything was in a bizarre and absurd situation which I couldnt really understand, couldnt make out: Whats this big lump doing here, I seemed to be wondering, taking up so much room, getting in the way?
My elbow had ended up leaning on a little plastic tray I have there, where I keep pencils, ball-point pens, note pads and so forth. The body was leaning on this tray, evidently trying to get up, and the whole thing started cracking noisily under the weight. And in a diffuse but very clear consciousness I was saying to myself, But why? Whats all this ridiculous noise? And whats this heavy thing doing? What disorder. There shouldnt be such disorder. And it went on crack-crack-cracking. Then suddenly normal consciousness returnedto be exact, what returned was the normal RELATIONSHIP consciousness has with thingsand I said, Well, really! What a ridiculous situation! What is this elbow doing on that tray? It should realize its breaking it! And when things were all completely back to normal I told my body, What are you doing, you idiot! Come on, pick yourself up, get moving! Immediately, docile as a little child, it extricated itself, turned around, and stood up straightquite straight. I had scratched my knee, scratched my elbow, and taken three knocks on the head. Luckily there were no sharp edgesit was all hard enough, but no sharp edges. Anyway, in the end I was all right, no damage done.
No damage at all, but it was a bizarre sensation. So I tried to understand how it could have happened, how I could have so lost my sense of relation to things. For a long time my body had been telling me, Ive got to lie down, Ive got to lie down. And I would very sternly reply, You dont have time! (Laughing) So then this happened. Had I obeyed it and laid down, there would obviously have been no problem. But I was in my experience, going on with my experience, and at the same time I was getting ready to come downstairs. So I told my body, Its all right, its all right, youll lie down later. But it had its own way of lying down! (Laughing) It just stretched out right where it was. Actually it wasnt even stretched outit was all askew.
--
These past few days Ive had some interesting experiences from this standpoint. I had what is commonly called fever, but it wasnt feverit was a resurfacing from the sub conscient of all the struggles, all the tensions this body has had for what will soon be eighty-three years. I went through a period in my life when the tension was tremendous, because it was psychological and vital as well as physical: a perpetual struggle against adverse forces; and during my stay in Japan, particularly oh, it was terrible! So at night, everything that had been part of that life in Japanpeople, things, movements, circumstancesall of it seemed to be surrounding my body in the form of vital3 vibrations, and to be taking the place of my present state, which had completely vanished. For hours during the night, the body was reliving all the terrible tensions it had during those four years in Japan. And I realized how much (because at the time you pay no attention; the consciousness is busy with something else and not concentrated on the body), how much the body resists and is tense. And just as I was realizing this, I had a communication with Sri Aurobindo: But youre keeping it up! he told me. Your body still has the habit of being tense. (Its much less now, of course; its quite different since the inner consciousness is in perfect peace, but the BODY keeps the habit of being tense.) For instance, in the short interval between the time I get up and the time I come down to the bal cony,4 when I am getting ready (I have to get this body ready to come down) well, the body is tense about being ready in time. And thats why accidents happen at that moment. So the following morning I said, All right, no more tension, and I was exclusively concerned with keeping my body perfectly tranquil I was no later than usual! So its obviously just one of the bodys bad habits. Everything went off the same as usual, and since then things are better. But its a nasty habit.
And so I looked. Is it something particular to this body? I wondered. To everyone who has lived closely with it, my body gives the impression of two things: a very concentrated, very stubborn will, and such endurance! Sri Aurobindo used to tell me he had never dreamed a body could have such endurance. And thats probably why. But I dont want to curtail this ability in any way, because it is a CELLULAR will, and a cellular endurance toowhich is quite intriguing. Its not a central will and central endurance (thats something else altogether)its cellular. Thats why Sri Aurobindo used to tell me this body had been specially prepared and chosen for the Workbecause of its capacity for obstinate endurance and will. But thats no reason to exercise this ability uselessly! So I am making sure it relaxes now; I tell it constantly, Now, now! Just let go! Relax, have some fun, wheres the harm in it? I have to tell it to be quiet, very quiet. And its very surprised to hear that: Ah! Can I live that way? I dont have to hurry? I can live that way?
So thats why I am resting. Am I better or not? Things are always the same. Were I to start doing what I was doing before, which I KNEW all along was absolutely unreasonable. Its not that I didnt know it; I did know and I wasnt happy about it, because I knew I was doing something I shouldnt. I have no intention of starting again, but if I had said, I am withdrawing for good, it would have been. If you knew how MANY things have gone slack [in the Ashram]! And how many people I am telling off: Well, you wouldnt have done that a week ago! Oh, thats an experience in itselfto see what peoples so-called faithfulness depends on.
You have to constantly keep a firm grip on them constantly, constantly.
Thats how it is.
--
Its exactly what I was complaining about: If this stuff cant go on without flagging, if it cant take it and absolutely has to relax, if it cant keep up with the movement of consciousness and just has to slacken from time to time, well how can it ever be supramentalized? Precisely what everyone has always said: It CANNOT hold the charge, it has to let go. It cant hold the charge of Energy. And especially THIS Energy, which seems almost abnormal to peoplean Energy that works like this (inflexible gesture) and can keep it up indefinitely.
And when the body cant take it like this, it breaksyou find yourself between a table and and suddenly youre flat on the floor!
That must be it, because Ive fainted fairly often in my life. Even when I was young, I would remain conscious, and there was a whole period when I used to go out of my body, which I would always immediately see in some ridiculous position (just where it had no business being, of course!). So I would rush back into it and say, Come on! Whats wrong with you! Then it would shake itself and get moving again, like a donkeyyou give it a good whack, and it gets back to work.
This need for relaxation was never psychological with me. And I have seen that the habit people have of slackening has the same origin: its not necessarily negligence or vital weakness, the body simply gets winded. It bears up under the tension of vital energy, but eventually it gets winded, tired out, and needs rest.
Given the worlds present set-up, this is normal but if the supramental world were to be realized, it shouldnt remain normal. Clearly, a considerable change has to take place in the physical substance. That will probably be the essential difference between the bodies fashioned by Natures methods and those to be fashioned by supramental knowledgea new element will come in, and we will no longer be natural. But so long as this natural element is present, well, a certain amount of patience is probably requiredlet the body catch its breath, otherwise something gives way.
It gets much less winded, of course, when you have the inner equality of the divine Presence. So much fatigue is due to excess tension produced by desire or effort or struggle, by the constant battle against all opposing forces. All that can go.
We tire ourselves out quite needlessly.
--
Psychologically, there was no struggle, no tension, no effortnot ONCE; I was living in total and confident serenity. On the material plane there were attacks, but even these he took upon himself. Well, I saw it all, all those thirty years of life; not for a SE conD did I have any sense of responsibility, in spite of all the work I was doing, all the organizing and everything. He had supposedly passed on the responsibility to me, you see, but he was standing behindHE was actually doing everything! I was active, but with absolutely no responsibility. I never felt responsible for a single minutehe took the full responsibility. It was really.
For the first seven years he was doing the work, not me. He was the one who saw people; I looked after his personal affairs, his housekeeping, his food, his clothes and so forth. I kept myself quietly busy with that, doing nothing else, not seeing people, simply looking after his material lifelike a child at play. It was seven years of integral peace.
--
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?
--
Yesterday evening I read something in the book9. Sri Aurobindo is writing to someone who said, How lucky people are who live near the Mother. You dont know what youre talking about! he replies. To live in the Mothers physical presence is one of the most difficult things. Do you remember this passage? I didnt know he had written that. Well, well I thought. He writes, It is hard to stay near her, because the difference between the physical consciousness of all you people and her physical consciousness is so enormous.10 Indeed, thats what tires me out. Thats what tires my body, because it is used to living in a certain rhythm, a universal rhythm.
(silence)
--
It was a unique kind of grace, an absolutely miraculous power, which did what I just mentioned, which locked up the part of my consciousness that was conSCIOUSLY living that miracle, locked it all up tight, padlocked it: Youre locked in, dont stir; no manifestation for youyoure going out of Time and Manifestation until everything else is ready to follow.
That, more than anything else, may be why I needed a bit of solitude: to reactivate that part of the psychic being which was the individual intermediary between true consciousness and the body- consciousness: the part which had lived THAT, was aware of THAT, knew THATknew that wondrous miracle.
(silence)
--
Its not directly connected. If you have something to say.
It always revolves around the same thing, but here its presented in a very subtle way.
--
Thats another thing I have noticed: even in my childhood I was already conscious of what Sri Aurobindo calls living divinely, that is, outside the sense of Good and Evil.
This was counterbalanced by a terrible censor which never left me.11 It took Sri Aurobindo to clear it from my path. But I didnt have the sense of sin, of Good and Evil, sin and virtuedefinitely not! My consciousness was centered around right action and wrong action12this should have been done, that shouldnt havewith no question of Good or Evil, from the standpoint of work, of action alone. My consciousness has always been centered on action. It was a vision, a perception of the line to be followedor the many lines to be followed for the action to be accomplished. And any deviation from what to me was the luminous line, the straight line (not geometrically straight: the luminous line, the line expressing the divine Will), the slightest deviation from that, and oh, it was the only thing that tormented me.
And the torment didnt come from me, it came from that character hooked on to my consciousness and constantly whipping me, hounding me, ill-treating mewhat people call their conscience, which has nothing whatsoever to do with consciousness!13 Its an adverse being, and whatever it can change, it changes for the worse; whatever is susceptible to being changed into something antidivine, it changes. And it is constantly repeating the same thing: This is wrong, that is wrong, this is wrong.
But this was the only thing; there was never, never the idea of being either virtuous or sinfulnever. It was a matter of doing the right thing or not doing the right thing. Thats all. No sense of being virtuous or sinful, none at all! I never, ever had that sense.
--
The criterion or the judgment [for passing the tests] was based EXCLUSIVELY on the substance constituting the peoplewhe ther they belonged completely to the supramental world or not, whether they were made of this very special substance. The criterion adopted was neither moral nor psychological. It is likely that their bodily substance was the result of an inner law or an inner movement which, at that time, was not in question. At least it is quite clear that the values are different.
And then you add:
--
This criterion had nothing mental about it, and it gave the strange inner feeling that so many things we consider good or bad are not really so. It was very clear that everything depended upon the CAPACITY of things and upon their ABILITY to express the supramental world or be in relationship with it. It was so completely different, at times even so opposite to our ordinary way of looking at things!
Yes.
--
For Sri Aurobindo and Mother, the "vital" represents the regions or centers of consciousness below the mind, between the throat and the sex center, i.e. the whole region of emotions, feelings, passions, etc., which constitute the various expressions of Life-Energy.
Up to March 1962, Mother came out every morning on the first floor bal cony. The disciples were assembled on the street below.
--
The soul or portion of the Supreme in man which evolves from life to life until it becomes a fully conscious being.
Sri Aurobindo on Himself.
Here is the text of Sri Aurobindo's letter: "There is a confusion here. The Mother's grace is one thing, the call to change another, the pressure of nearness to her is yet another. Those who are physically near to her are not so by any special grace or favour, but by the necessity of their work that is what everybody here refuses to understand or believe, but it is the fact: that nearness acts automatically as a pressure, if for nothing else, to adapt their consciousness to hers which means change, but it is difficult for them because the difference between the two consciousnesses is enormous especially on the physical level and it is on the physical level that they are meeting her in the work."
Centenary Edition, Vol. XXV, p. 297
-- conscience in French means both " conscience" and " consciousness."
See experience of February 3, 1958: Agenda I, p. 137 ff.
0 1962-01-12, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Note from Mother to Satprem concerning his question of January 9, on the capacities required to gain access to the supramental world:)
Capacity for indefinite
expansion of consciousness
on all planes
0 1962-01-12 - supramental ship, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Because I followed the thread, I put myself back in contact with the experience of the supramental ship, and I noticed that it had a DECISIVE effect on my position: the required conditions were established quite clearly, precisely, and definitively by that experience. In that respect, it was interesting.
Once and for all it has swept away all these notionsnot merely ordinary moral notions, but everything people here in India consider necessary for the spiritual life. In that respect, it was very instructive. And first and foremost, this so-called ascetic purity. Ascetic purity is merely the rejection of all vital movements. Instead of taking these movements and turning them towards the Divine, instead of seeing, that is, the supreme Presence in them (and so letting the Supreme deal with them freely), He is told (laughing): Noits none of Your business! You have no say in it.
As for the physical, its an old and well-known storyascetics have always rejected it; but they also reject the vital. And theyre all like that here, even X may have changed somewhat by now, but at the beginning he was no different either. Only things classically recognized as holy or admitted by religious tradition were accepted the sanctity of marriage, for example, and things like that. But a free life? Not a chance! It was wholly incompatible with religious life.
--
I mentioned the principal psychological requirement in my answer to that American: a state of perfect equality. This is an ABSOLUTE condition. Over the years since that experience I have observed that no supramental vibration whatsoever can be transmitted without this perfect equality. The slightest contradiction of that equalityin other words, the least movement of ego, of egoistic preference and everything is blocked, transmission stops. This is already quite a large stumbling block.
And, over and above this, for the realization to be total, there are two other conditions, which arent easy either. Intellectually, theyre not too difficult; in fact, for someone who has practiced yoga, followed a discipline (I am not speaking here of just anyone), theyre relatively easy. Psychologically too, given this equality, theres no great difficulty. But as soon as you come to the material plane the physical plane and then to the body, it isnt easy. These two conditions are first, the power to expand, to widen almost indefinitely, enabling you to widen to the dimensions of the supramental consciousness which is total. The supramental consciousness is the consciousness of the Supreme in his totality. By totality, I mean the Supreme in his aspect of Manifestation. Naturally, from a higher point of view, from the viewpoint of the essence the essence of that which in Manifestation becomes the Supermindwhats necessary is a capacity for total identification with the Supreme, not only in his aspect of Manifestation, but in his static or nirvanic aspect, outside of the Manifestation: Nonbeing. But in addition, one must be capable of identifying with the Supreme in the Becoming. And that implies both these things: an expansion that is nothing less than indefinite, and that should simultaneously be a total plasticity enabling one to follow the Supreme in his Becoming. You dont merely have to be as vast as the universe at one point in time, but indefinitely in the Becoming. These are the two conditions. They must be potentially present.
Down to the vital, we are still in the realm of things that are more than feasible they are done. But on the material level it results in my misadventures of the other day.2
But even accepting all these misadventures a priori, things remain difficult because theres a double movement: both a cellular transformation and a capacity for something that could replace expansion with readjustment, a constant intercellular reorganization.3 The way they are now, of course, our bodies are rigid and heavyits unspeakable, actually; if it werent for that we would never grow old. For instance, my vital being is more full of energy, and thus full of youth and power to grow, than when I was twenty. Theres really no comparison. The power is INFINITELY greater yet the body is going to piecesits really something unspeakable. So a way has to be found to bridge this gap between the vital and the material being.
Not that the problem hasnt been partially solved: hatha yogis have solved it, partiallyprovided you do nothing else (thats the trouble). Yet having the knowledge, we should have the power to do whats necessary without making it our exclusive preoccupation. At any rate, this possibility is certainly not altogether unknown; for the first few months after I retired to my room,4 when I had cut all contact with the outside, it was working very well even extraordinarily so! Lots of disorders in my body were surmounted, and I had many fairly precise indications that if I continued like that long enough I would regain everything that had been lost, and with an even better equilibrium. I mean that the functional equilibrium was far superior. Only when I came back into contact with the world did it all come to a halt and begin to deteriorateall the more so as it was aggravated by this discipline of expansion making me constantly conSTANTLYabsorb mountains of difficulties to be resolved. And so.
With the mind, its rather easyyou can put things back in order in five minutes, its not difficult. With the vital its already a bit more troublesome, it takes a little longer. But when you come to the material level, well. Theres a conTAGION of wrong cellular functioning and a kind of internal disorganizationthings not staying in their proper places. Each vibration absorbed from the outside instantly creates a disorder, dislocates everything, creates wrong contacts and disrupts the organization; it sometimes takes HOURS to put it all back in order. consequently, if I really want to make use of this bodys possibility without having to face the necessity of changing it because it cant follow along, then, materially, I would really need, as much as possible, to stop having to gulp down all sorts of things that drag me years backwards.
Its difficult difficult.
So long as theres no question of physical transformation, the psychological and in large part, the subjective point of view is sufficientand thats relatively easy. But when it comes to incorporating matter into the work, matter as it is in this world where the very starting point is false (we start off in un consciousness and ignorance), well, its very difficult. Because, to recover the consciousness it has lost, Matter has had to individualize itself, and for that for the form to last and retain this possibility of individualityit has been created with a certain indispensable measure of rigidity. And that rigidity is the main obstacle to the expansion, to the plasticity and suppleness necessary for receiving the Supermind. I constantly find myself facing this problem, which is utterly concrete, absolutely material when youre dealing with cells that have to remain cells and not vaporize into some nonphysical reality, and at the same time have to have a suppleness, a lack of rigidity, enabling them to widen indefinitely.
There have been times, while working in the most material mind (the mind ingrained in the material substance), when I felt my brain swelling and swelling and swelling, and my head becoming so large it seemed about to burst! On two occasions I was forced to stop, because it was (was it only an impression, or was it a fact?) in any event it seemed dangerous, as if the head would burst, because what was inside was becoming too tremendous (it was that power in Matter, that very powerful deep blue light which has such powerful vibrations; it is able to heal, for example, and change the functioning of the organsreally a very powerful thing materially). Well then, thats what was filling my head, more and more, more and more, and I had the feeling that my skull was (it was painful, you know) that there was a pressure inside my skull pushing out, pushing everything out. I wondered what was going to happen. Then, instead of following the movement, helping it along and going with it, I became immobile, passive, to see what would happen. And both times it stopped. I was no longer helping the movement along, you see, I simply remained passive and it came to a halt, there was a sort of stabilization.
--
The question, of course, is the supramentalization of MATTER the consciousness, thats nothing at all. Most people who have had that experience had it on the mental level, which is relatively easy. Its very easy: abolition of limits set by the ego, indefinite expansion with a movement following the rhythm of the Becoming. Mentally, its all very easy. Vitally. A few months after I withdrew to my room, I had the experience in the vitalwonderful, magnificent! Of course to have the experience there, the mind must have undergone a change, one must be in complete communion; without exception, any individual vital being that hasnt been prepared by what might be called a sufficient mental foundation would be panic-stricken. All those poor people who get scared at the least little experience had better not dabble with thistheyd panic! But as it happensthrough divine grace, you might saymy vital, the vital being of this present incarnation, was born free and victorious. It has never been afraid of anything in the vital world; the most fantastic experiences were practically childs play. But when I had that experience, it was so interesting that for a few weeks I was tempted to stay in it; it was. I once told you a little about that experience (it was quite a while ago, at least two years).5 I told you that even during the day I seemed to be sitting on top of the Earth that was this realization in the vital world. And what fantastic nights it gave me! Nights I have never been able to describe to anyone and never mentioned but I would look forward to the night as a marvelous adventure.
I voluntarily renounced all that in order to go further. And when I did it, I understood what people here in India mean when they say: he surrendered his experience. I had never really understood what that meant. When I did it, I understood. No, I said, I dont want to stop there; I am giving it all to You, that I may go on to the end. Then I understood what it meant.
--
The people on that ship had these two capacities: one, the capacity for indefinite expansion of consciousness on all planes, including the material; and two, limitless plasticity in order to follow the movement of the Becoming.
It was taking place in the subtle physical. The people who had patches on their bodies and had to be sent back were always the ones who lacked the plasticity those two movements required. But the main thing was the movement of expansion; the progressive movement, the movement of following the Becoming, seemed to be a subsequent preoccupation for those who had landed. The preparation on the boat concerned that capacity for expansion.
Another thing I didnt mention to you when I related the experience was that the ship had no engine. Everything was set in motion through will powerpeople, things (even the clothes people wore were a result of their will). And this gave all things and every persons shape a great suppleness, because there was an awareness of this willwhich is not a mental will but a will of the Self, what could be called a spiritual will or a soul-will (to give the word soul that particular meaning). I have that experience right here when theres an absolute spontaneity in action, I mean when the action for instance, an utterance or a movementis not determined by the mind, and not even (not to mention thought or intellect), not even by the mind that usually sets us in motion. Generally, when we do something, we can perceive in ourselves a will to do it; when you watch yourself, you see this: there is always (it can happen in a flash) the will to do. When you are conscious and watch yourself doing something, you see in yourself the will to do itthis is where the mind intervenes, its normal intervention, the established order in which things happen. But the supramental action is decided by a leap over the mind. The action is direct, with no need to go through the mind. Something enters directly into contact with the vital centers and activates them without going through the mindyet in full consciousness. The consciousness doesnt function in the usual sequence, it functions from the center of spiritual will straight to matter.
And so long as you can keep that absolute immobility in the mind, the inspiration is absolutely pureit comes pure. When you can catch and hold onto this while youre speaking, then what comes to you is unmixed too, it stays pure.
This is an extremely delicate functioning, probably because were not used to it the slightest movement, the slightest mental vibration disrupts everything. But as long as it lasts, its perfectly pure. And in a supramentalized life this has to be the conSTANT state. Mentalized will should no longer intervene; because you may well have a spiritual will, your life may be the constant expression of spiritual will (its what happens to all who feel themselves guided by the Divine within), but it still comes through a mental transcription. Well, as long as its that way, its not the supramental life. The supramental life NO LONGER goes through the mind the mind is an immobile zone of transmission. The least little twitch is enough to upset everything.
(silence)
So we can say that the Supermind can express itself through a terrestrial consciousness only when there is a constant state of perfect equalityequality arising out of spiritual identification with the Supreme: all becomes the Supreme in perfect equality. And it must be automatic, not an equality obtained through conscious will or intellectual effort or an understanding preceding the state itselfnone of that. It has to be spontaneous and automatic; one must no longer react to what comes from outside as though it were coming from outside. That pattern of reception and reaction must be replaced by a state of constant perception and (I dont mean identical in all cases, because each thing necessarily calls forth its own particular reaction) but practically free from all rebound, you might say. Its the difference between something coming from outside and striking you, making you react, and something freely circulating and quite naturally generating the vibrations needed for the overall action. I dont know if I am making myself clear. Its the difference between a vibratory movement circulating within an IDENTICAL field of action, and a movement from an outside source, touching you and getting a reaction (this is the usual state of human consciousness). But once the consciousness is identified with the Supreme, all movements are, so to speak, innerinner in the sense that nothing comes from outside; there are only things circulating, which, through similarity or necessity, naturally generate or change the vibrations within the circulatory milieu.
I am very familiar with this, because I am now constantly in that state. I never have the feeling of something coming from outside and bumping into me; theres rather the sense of multiple and sometimes contradictory inner movements, and of a constant circulation generating the inner changes necessary to the movement.
This is the indispensable foundation.
Ive had that experience for a very long time and now its completely established. It used to be transitory, but now its constant.
It is the indispensable foundation.
--
Then that suppleness. It means a capacity for decrystallizing oneself; the whole span of life given over to self-individualization is a period of conscious, willed crystallization, which then has to be undone. To become a conscious, individualized being there has to be a constant, constant, willed crystallization, in everything; and afterwards, again constantly, the opposite movement has to be madewith an even greater will. But at the same time, the consciousness must not lose the benefit of what has been acquired through individualization.
It is difficult, I must say.
For thought, its elementary, very simple. Its not difficult for the feelings either; for the heart, the emotional being, to expand to the dimensions of the Supreme is relatively easy. But this body! Its very difficult, very difficult to do without the body losing its center (how can I put it?) its center of coagulationwithout it dissolving into the surrounding mass. Although, if one were in a natural environment, with mountains and forests and rivers, with lots of space and lots of natural beauty, it could be rather pleasant! But its physically impossible to take a single step outside ones body without meeting unpleasant, painful things. At times you come in contact with a pleasant substance, something harmonious, warm, vibrating with a higher light; it happens. But its rare. Flowers, yes, sometimes flowers sometimes, not always. But this material world, oh! It batters you from all sides; it claws you, mauls youyou get clawed and scraped and battered by all sorts of things which which just dont blossom. How hard it all is! Oh, how closed human life is! How shriveled, hardened, without light, without warmth let alone joy.
While sometimes, when you see water flowing along, or a ray of sunlight in the treesoh, how it sings! The cells sing, they are happy.
--
If we continue along this path, we will surely be able to do some worthwhile work, because its all new. Its quite new I never spoke of this with Sri Aurobindo because at the time I didnt have those experiences. I had all the psychological experiences, experiences in the mind, even the most material mind, or in the vital or the physical consciousness the physical conSCIOUSNESS but not in the body. Thats something new, it started only three or four years ago.
All the rest is easy. Everything up to that point is settledsettled very nicely.
--
And without this quality, well the creations continuity could not be assured.
Yes, thats an interesting point. One might indeed wonder about it.
--
I dont think Ive been going slowly. As I told you last time, I had the most wonderful conditions, those thirty years with Sri Aurobindoas wonderful as could be. I havent wasted my time. Oh, it was hour by hour!
It is a long, drawn-out work.
--
Mother later clarified the meaning of this sentence: "I saw that to follow the Supreme in the Becoming one has to be able to expand, because the universe expands in the Becoming the amount of expansion in the universe is not matched by an equal amount of dissolution. So it is really necessary to be able to grow, as a child grows, to expand; but at the same time, for things to progress, this process of expansion demands a constant inner reorganization. As the quantity is increased (if we can speak of quantity here), so must the quality be simultaneously maintained by an ongoing internal reorganization of intercellular relationships."
In December 1958.
0 1962-01-15, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
He stopped at the subtle physicalhe refused to go any farther. It was Satan, the Asura1 of Light who, in cutting himself off from the Supreme, fell into Un consciousness and Darkness (Ive told the story many times). But anyway, when I was with Thon, I summoned that being and asked him if he wanted to enter into contact with the earth. Its worth mentioning that Thon himself was an incarnation of the Lord of Death Ive had good company in my life! And the other one [Richard] was an incarnation of the Lord of Falsehood but it was only partial. With Thon too it was partial. But with Satan it was the central being; of course, he had millions of emanations in the world, but this was the central being in person. The others lets keep that for another time.
He agreed to take on a body. Theon wanted to keep him there: Dont let him go, he told me. I didnt answer. This being told me he didnt want to be more material than that, it was sufficientyou could feel him move the way you feel a draft, it was that concrete.
And he said he was going to set up the Chinese revolution. I am going to organize a secret society to set up the revolution in China, he told me. And mark my words: its going to happen in exactly five years. He gave me the date and I noted it down.
--
But its really interesting because the exact date was given. The revolution will take place in exactly five years, he told me. He knew it before he left. And that, he continued, will be the beginning, the first terrestrial movement heralding the transformation of. (Theon didnt use the word supramental; he used to talk about the new world on earth.)2
But I did note that down.
I had forgotten the whole story, because I now live constantly in the Becoming. But it came back to me.
And all the disbelief in the world cant contradict that piece of evidence.
The note itself was stolen from me while I was moving to a new house.
--
The reader will remember the formation of the Kuo-min-tang and the troubles in the Yangtze Valley which took place in October 1911 and led to the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912. Thus it was in October 1906, at Tlemcen, that Mother had the encounter she relates here. It was also in 1906 that Mao Tse-tung, at the age of fourteen, came into conflict with his father, a prelude to his revolutionary career.
***
0 1962-01-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(The point of departure for this conversation was one of Sri Aurobindo's aphorisms:)
70Examine thyself without pity, then thou wilt be more charitable and pitiful to others.
--
Actually, people have always taken themselves for victims hounded by adverse forces the courageous fight back, the rest lament. But increasingly there has been a very concrete vision of the role the adverse forces play in the creation, of their almost absolute necessity as goads to make the creation progress and become its Origin again. And there was such a clear vision that one should accomplish ones own transformation thats what we must pray for, what we must work outrather than demand the conversion or abolition of the adverse forces.
And this is all from the terrestrial, not the individual standpoint (for the individual standpoint, its quite clear): I am speaking from the terrestrial standpoint.
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.
The experience was very intense. It crystallized around a small nucleus of experiences too personal to mention (because I wasnt the only one involved), which translated into this: Take all my wrongdoings, take them all, accept them, obliterate them, and may those forces disappear.
Thats essentially what this aphorism says, seen from the other end. So long as a single human consciousness carries the possibility of feeling, acting, thinking or being in opposition to the great divine Becoming, it is impossible to blame anyone else for it; it is impossible to blame the adverse forces, which are kept in the creation as a means of making you see and feel how far you still have to go.
(silence)
It was like a memory,1 an eternally present memory of that consciousness of supreme Love emanated by the Lord onto earth INTO earthto draw it back again to Him. And truly it was the descent of the very essence of the divine nature into the most total divine negation, and thus the abandonment of the divine condition to take on terrestrial darkness, so as to bring Earth back to the divine state. And unless That, that supreme Love, becomes all-powerfully conscious here on Earth, the return can never be definitive.
It came after the vision of the great divine Becoming.2 Since this world is progressive, I was wondering, since it is increasingly becoming the Divine, wont there always be this deeply painful sense of the nondivine, of the state that, compared with the one to come, is not divine? Wont there always be what we call adverse forces, in other words, things that dont harmoniously follow the movement? Then came the answer, the vision of That: No, the moment of this very Possibility is drawing near, the moment for the manifestation of the essence of perfect Love, which can transform this un consciousness, this ignorance and this ill will that goes with it into a luminous and joyous progression, wholly progressive, wholly comprehensive, thirsting for perfection.
It was very concrete.
And it corresponds to a state where you are so PERFECTLY identified with all that is, that you concretely become all that is antidivine and so you can offer it up. It can be offered up and really transformed through this offering.
This sort of will in people for purity, for Good (which in ordinary mentality is expressed by a need to be virtuous) is actually the GREAT OBSTACLE to true self-giving. Its the root of Falsehood, the very source of hypocrisy: the refusal to take up ones share of the burden of difficulties. And thats what Sri Aurobindo has touched on in this aphorism, directly and very simply.
--
When I had the experience that the time had come for the supramental Force to descend on Earth, I followed the effects of that descent, I followed the effects and the consequences in my consciousness. But to ordinary eyes it was something like what happened with Indias liberationits possible, of course, that the Supermind did come down, but for the moment its effects are more than veiled.
The first rather tangible manifestation was this vision of the boat; with that, things became more concrete, it radically changed something in the attitude.
Were at another stage now.
--
It is true that the subliminal in man is the largest part of his nature and has in it the secret of the unseen dynamisms which explain his surface activities. But the lower vital sub conscious which is all that this psycho-analysis of Freud seems to know, and even of that it knows only a few ill-lit corners,is no more than a restricted and very inferior portion of the subliminal whole. The subliminal self stands behind and supports the whole superficial man; it has in it a larger and more efficient mind behind the surface mind, a larger and more powerful vital behind the surface vital, a subtler and freer physical consciousness behind the surface bodily existence. And above them it opens to higher super conscient as well as below them to lower sub conscient ranges. If one wishes to purify and transform the nature, it is the power of these higher ranges to which one must open and raise to them and change by them both the subliminal and the surface being. Even this should be done with care, not prematurely or rashly, following a higher guidance, keeping always the right attitude; for otherwise the force that is drawn down may be too strong for an obscure and weak frame of nature. But to begin by opening up the lower sub conscious, risking to raise up all that is foul or obscure in it, is to go out of ones way to invite trouble. First, one should make the higher mind and vital strong and firm and full of light and peace from above; afterwards one can open up or even dive into the sub conscious with more safety and some chance of a rapid and successful change.
The system of getting rid of things by anubhava [experience] can also be a dangerous one; for on this way one can easily become more entangled instead of arriving at freedom. This method has behind it two well-known psychological motives. One, the motive of purposeful exhaustion, is valid only in some cases, especially when some natural tendency has too strong a hold or too strong a drive in it to be got rid of by vicra [intellectual reflection] or by the process of rejection and the substitution of the true movement in its place; when that happens in excess, the sadhak has sometimes even to go back to the ordinary action of the ordinary life, get the true experience of it with a new mind and will behind and then return to the spiritual life with the obstacle eliminated or else ready for elimination. But this method of purposive indulgence is always dangerous, though sometimes inevitable. It succeeds only when there is a very strong will in the being towards realisation; for then indulgence brings a strong dissatisfaction and reaction, vairagya, and the will towards perfection can be carried down into the recalcitrant part of the nature.
The other motive for anubhava is of a more general applicability; for in order to reject anything from the being one has first to become conscious of it, to have the clear inner experience of its action and to discover its actual place in the workings of the nature. One can then work upon it to eliminate it, if it is an entirely wrong movement, or to transform it if it is only the degradation of a higher and true movement. It is this or something like it that is attempted crudely and improperly with a rudimentary and insufficient knowledge in the system of psycho-analysis. The process of raising up the lower movements into the full light of consciousness in order to know and deal with them is inevitable; for there can be no complete change without it. But it can truly succeed only when a higher light and force are sufficiently at work to overcome, sooner or later, the force of the tendency that is held up for change. Many, under the pretext of anubhava, not only raise up the adverse movement, but support it with their consent instead of rejecting it, find justifications for continuing or repeating it and so go on playing with it, indulging its return, eternising it; afterwards when they want to get rid of it, it has got such a hold that they find themselves helpless in its clutch and only a terrible struggle or an intervention of divine grace can liberate them.Some do this out of a vital twist or perversity, others out of sheer ignorance; but in yoga, as in life, ignorance is not accepted by Nature as a justifying excuse. This danger is there in all improper dealings with the ignorant parts of the nature; but none is more ignorant, more perilous, more unreasoning and obstinate in recurrence than the lower vital sub conscious and its movements. To raise it up prematurely or improperly for anubhava is to risk suffusing the conscious parts also with its dark and dirty stuff and thus poisoning the whole vital and even the mental nature. Always therefore one should begin by a positive, not a negative experience, by bringing down something of the divine nature, calm, light, equanimity, purity, divine strength into the parts of the conscious being that have to be changed; only when that has been sufficiently done and there is a firm positive basis, is it safe to raise up the concealed sub conscious adverse elements in order to destroy and eliminate them by the strength of the divine calm, light, force and knowledge. Even so, there will be enough of the lower stuff rising up of itself to give you as much of the anubhava as you will need for getting rid of the obstacles; but then they can be dealt with with much less danger and under a higher internal guidance.
***
--
See conversation of January 12, 1962
When Satprem published extracts from this conversation in the Ashram Bulletin of April 1962, Mother had this passage modified (over his protests). Instead of "Do not try to be virtuous," she put "Do not try to seem virtuous"; and she added: "There's a drawback here. People never understand anything, or rather they understand everything in their own way. They would take this sentence as an encouragement to get into mischief, to misbehave, to entertain wrong feelings, and then proclaim, 'We are the Lord's favorites!' ... There was something like it in one of Sri Aurobindo's letters, you remembera letter to people who wanted to bring all the impurities in themselves out to the surface; he told them that was definitely not the way!" (See Sri Aurobindo's two letters on psychoanalysis in the Addendum)
Letters on Yoga, Cent. Ed., XXIV. 1605 ff.
0 1962-01-24, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(In connection with the preceding conversation on antidivine forces:)
I read a passage in Savitri which seems to link up exactly with what you were saying.
0 1962-01-27, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
So She made her first four emanations. The first was consciousness and Light (arising from Sachchidananda); the se cond was Ananda and Love; the third was Life; and Truth was the fourth. Then, so the story goes, conscious of their infinite power, instead of keeping their connection with the supreme Mother and, through Her, with the Supreme, instead of receiving indications for action from Him and doing things in proper order, they were conscious of their own power and each one took off independently to do as he pleased they had power and they used it. They forgot their Origin. And because of this initial oblivion, consciousness became un consciousness, and Light became darkness; Ananda became suffering, Love became hate; Life became Death; and Truth became Falsehood. And they were instantly thrown headlong into what became Matter. According to Theon, the world as we know it is the result of that. And that was the Supreme himself in his first manifestation.
But the story is easy to understand, and quite evocative. On the surface, for intellectuals, its very childish; but once you have the experience you understand it very well I understood and felt the thing immediately.
And once the world has become like that, has become the vital world in all its darkness, and they, from this vital world, have created Matter, the supreme Mother sees (laughing) the result of her first four emanations and She turns towards the Supreme in a great entreaty: Now that this world is in such a dreadful state, it has to be saved! We cant just leave it this way, can we? It has to be saved, the divine consciousness must be given back to it. What to do? And the Supreme says, Thrust yourself into a new emanation, an emanation of the ESSENCE of Love, down into the most material Matter. That meant plunging into the earth (the earth had become a symbol and a representation of the whole drama). Plunge into Matter. So She plunged into Matter, and that became the primordial source of the Divine within material substance. And from there (as is so well described in Savitri), She begins to act as a leaven in Matter, raising it up from within.
And as She plunged into the earth, a se cond series of emanations was sent forth the godsto inhabit the intermediary zones between Sachchidananda and the earth. And these gods (laughing) well, great care was taken to make them perfect, so they wouldnt give any trouble! But they are a bit a bit too perfect, arent they? Yes, a bit too perfect: they never make mistakes, they always do exactly as theyre told. In short, rather lacking in initiative. They do have some, but.
In fact, they were not surrendered in the way a psychic being can be, because they had no psychic in them. The psychic being is the result of that descent. Only human beings have it. And thats what makes humanity so superior to the gods. Theon insisted greatly on this: throughout his story, humans are far superior to gods and should not obey themthey should only be in contact with the Supreme in his aspect of perfect Love.
I dont know how to put it. To me, those gods always seemed (not those described in the Puranas, theyre different well, not so very different!) but the way Theon presented them, they seemed just like a bunch of marshmallows! Its not that they had no powerthey had a lot of power, but they lacked that psychic flame.
--
Well, if you speak this way to philosophers and metaphysicians, theyll look at you as if to say, You must be a real simpleton to believe all that claptrap! But these things are not to be taken as concrete truths they are simply splendid images. Through them I really did come in contact, very concretely, with the truth of what caused the worlds distortion, much better than with all the Hindu stories, far more easily.
Buddhism and all similar lines of thought took the shortest path: The desire to exist is what has caused all the trouble. If the Lord had refrained from having this desire, there would have been no world! Its childish, very childish, really a much too human way of looking at the problem.
--
The words are so childish that if you tell this story to intelligent people, they look at you with pity but it gives such a concrete grasp of the problem! It helped me a lot.
It was written in English and I am the one who translated it into Frenchinto horrible French, perfectly ghastly, because I put in all the new words Theon had dreamed up. He had made a detailed description of all the faculties latent in man, and it was remarkable but with such barbarous words! You can make up new words in English and get away with it, but in French its utterly ridiculous. And there I was, very conscientiously putting them all in! Yet in terms of experience, it was splendid. It really was an experienceit came from Madame Theons experiences in exteriorization. She had learned what Theon also taught me, to speak while youre in the seventh heaven (the body goes on speaking, rather slowly, in a rather low voice, but it works quite well). She would speak and a friend of hers, another English woman who was their secretary, would note it all down as she went along (I think she knew shorthand). And afterwards it was made into stories, told as stories. It was all shown to Sri Aurobindo and it greatly interested him. He even adopted some of the words into his own terminology.
The divisions and subdivisions of the being were described down to the slightest detail and with perfect precision. I went through the experience again on my own, without any pre conceived ideas, just like that: leaving one body after the other, one body after the other, and so on twelve times. And my experienceapart from certain quite negligible differences, doubtless due to differences in the receiving brainwas exactly the same.
-- considering it to be of no interest, Satprem unfortunately did not keep a record of his answer. The P. in question died insane, in a so-called "Japanese hospital," and one night (this is most likely the story he was telling Mother here) Satprem found him being held prisoner in a kind of hell. His body was covered with wounds which Satprem treated with balm. He then told P., "But go on, say Mother's mantra!" And the moment Satprem began to recite the mantra, the whole place explodedblown to smithereens. An instantaneous deliverance. A few months later (or it may have been a few years), P. came to see Satprem at night with a bouquet of flowers and a smile, as if to announce that he was taking on a new body.
***
WORDNET
--- Overview of noun con
The noun con has 3 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
The verb con has 2 senses (first 1 from tagged texts)
1. (1) victimize, swindle, rook, goldbrick, nobble, diddle, bunco, defraud, scam, mulct, gyp, gip, hornswoggle, short-change, con ::: (deprive of by deceit; "He swindled me out of my inheritance"; "She defrauded the customers who trusted her"; "the cashier gypped me when he gave me too little change") 2. memorize, memorise, con, learn ::: (commit to memory; learn by heart; "Have you memorized your lines for the play yet?")
--- Overview of adv con
The adv con has 1 sense (no senses from tagged texts)
1. con ::: (in opposition to a proposition, opinion, etc.; "much was written pro and con")
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun con
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Wikipedia - Air Mail scandal -- Political scandal resulting from a 1934 congressional investigation of the awarding of contracts to certain airlines to carry airmail
Wikipedia - Aleutian subduction zone -- Convergence boundary between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate, that extends from the Alaska Range to the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Wikipedia - Alexander Agassiz Medal -- Medal awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences for an original contribution in the science of oceanography
Wikipedia - Alexander Pope Field -- 19th century American politician, 6th Illinois Secretary of State, 21st Attorney General of Louisiana, 4th Secretary of Wisconsin Territory
Wikipedia - Alford plea -- Guilty plea whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence, but admits that sufficient evidence exists to convict
Wikipedia - Amorphous solid -- Non-crystalline material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in a disordered tridimensional network
Wikipedia - Anahuac (automobile) -- Short-lived United States automobile styled after a contemporary Polish car and manufactured in 1922 in Indianapolis by the Frontenac Motor Corporation Intended for the export market
Wikipedia - Anak -- Figure in the Hebrew Bible whose descendants are mentioned in the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites
Wikipedia - Anal fistula -- Anus disease characterized by is an abnormal connection between the epithelialised surface of the anal canal and the perianal skin
Wikipedia - Anastasia the Patrician -- Byzantine courtier; the wife of a consul and a lady-in-waiting to the Byzantine empress Theodora; Christian saint
Wikipedia - Andrew Gemant Award -- Annually recognizes the accomplishments of a person who has made significant contributions to the cultural, artistic, or humanistic dimension of physics
Wikipedia - Angel investor -- Affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity
Wikipedia - Apparent oxygen utilisation -- The difference between oxygen solubility and measured oxygen concentration in water, used to infer oxygen consumption by biological processes
Wikipedia - Apportionment (politics) -- Process of allocating the political power of a set of constituent voters among their representatives in a deliberative body
Wikipedia - Aqueducts on the C&O Canal -- 11 navigable aqueducts used to carry the canal over rivers and streams that were too wide for a culvert to contain
Wikipedia - Archaeological culture -- Recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society
Wikipedia - Argument (linguistics) -- Expression that helps complete the meaning of a predicate, the latter referring in this context to a main verb and its auxiliaries. In this regard, the complement is a closely related concept
Wikipedia - Argument -- Attempt to persuade or to determine the truth of a conclusion
Wikipedia - Article 48 (Weimar Constitution) -- Article of the Weimar Constitution allowed Chancellor Adolf Hitler, with decrees issued by President Paul von Hindenburg, to create a totalitarian dictatorship after the Nazi Party's rise to power in the early 1930s.
Wikipedia - Artificial reef -- A human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life, control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing
Wikipedia - Asahel Farr -- 19th century American frontier doctor, and pioneer of Kenosha County, Wisconsin. Member of the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly.
Wikipedia - Asiamerica -- Large island formed from Laurasia, separated by shallow continental seas from Eurasia to the West and eastern North America to the East
Wikipedia - Associative containers -- Group of class templates in the standard library of the C++ programming language that implement ordered associative arrays: std::set, std::map, std::multiset, std::multimap
Wikipedia - Atomic Age (design) -- Design style from the approximate period 1940-1960, when concerns of nuclear war dominated the West during the Cold War
Wikipedia - Augustinian hypothesis -- Solution to the synoptic problem, according to which Matthew was written first, Mark second and depending on Matthew, and Luke in turn depending on Matthew and Mark
Wikipedia - Auriculotherapy -- Pseudocientific alternative medicine practice based on the idea that the ear is a micro system, which reflects the entire body, and that physical, mental or emotional health conditions are treatable by stimulation of the surface of the ear.
Wikipedia - Axiomatic system -- Mathematical term; any set of axioms from which some or all axioms can be used in conjunction to logically derive theorems
Wikipedia - BaM-CM-/ne -- A pool of water between a beach and the mainland, parallel to the beach and connected to the sea at one or more points along its length
Wikipedia - Bandwidth management -- Process of measuring and controlling the communications on a network link, to avoid filling the link to capacity or overfilling the link
Wikipedia - Bar -- Establishment serving alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises
Wikipedia - Basdeo Panday -- Trinidadian and Tobagonian politician, lawyer, trade unionist, actor, economist, and the 5th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
Wikipedia - Bat hawk -- Species of raptor found in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia to New Guinea. It is named for its diet, which consists mainly of bats
Wikipedia - Battle of Guadalete -- Battle between the Visigothic Kingdom and the Umayyad Caliphate; decisive Umayyad victory leads to the fall of the Visigothic Kingdom and the Umayyad conquest of the peninsula
Wikipedia - Battle of Koregaon -- Battle fought between British East India Company (Mostly Mahar soldiers) and the Peshwa faction of the Maratha Confederacy
Wikipedia - Battle of Palo Hincado -- First major battle of the Spanish reconquest of Santo Domingo of the Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Santo Domingo
Wikipedia - Battle of Seneffe -- Between a French army under the command of Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Conde and the Dutch-Habsburg army under the Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange
Wikipedia - Battle of the Tonelero Pass -- Battle between the Argentine Confederation Army and the Empire of Brazil Navy in 1851, at El Tonelero pass on the Parana River, during the Platine War
Wikipedia - BD-J -- Specification supporting Java ME Xlets for advanced content on Blu-ray Disc and the Packaged Media profile of Globally Executable MHP
Wikipedia - Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome -- Syndrome characterized by overgrowth (macrosomia), an increased risk of childhood cancer and congenital malformations
Wikipedia - Begadkefat -- Phenomenon of lenition affecting the non-emphatic stop consonants when preceded by a vowel and not geminated; present in Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic
Wikipedia - Begging the question -- Type of fallacy, where a proposition is assumed as a premise, which itself needs proof and directly entails the conclusion
Wikipedia - Benigno Aquino Sr. -- Filipino politician who served as Speaker of the National Assembly of the Second Philippine Republic from 1943 to 1944
Wikipedia - Beni-oui-oui -- Derogatory term for Muslims considered to be collaborators with the French colonial institutions in North Africa during the period of French rule
Wikipedia - Beta sheet -- Common motif of regular secondary structure in proteins; stretch of polypeptide chain typically 3 to 10 amino acids long with backbone in an extended conformation
Wikipedia - Betty Furness -- American actress, consumer advocate, and special assistant to the president
Wikipedia - Betty Jo Nelsen -- 20th century American politician, Wisconsin State Assembly Minority Leader, Administrator of the U.S. Food and Nutrition Service.
Wikipedia - Bhakti movement -- Period of common people's devotion to God in the Medieval Indian Subcontinent
Wikipedia - Bhaktivedanta Book Trust -- Publisher of books concerning Krishna and the philosophy, religion, and culture of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition
Wikipedia - Biological Sciences Curriculum Study -- Educational center that develops curricular materials, provides educational support, and conducts research and evaluation in the fields of science and technology
Wikipedia - Biomagnification -- Any concentration of a toxin in tissues of tolerant organisms at successively higher levels in a food chain
Wikipedia - Biomedical engineering -- Application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare, healthfood and health purposes
Wikipedia - Bjerrum plot -- Graph of the concentrations of the different species from the dissociation of a polyprotic acid, as a function of pH, when the solution is at equilibrium
Wikipedia - Black hole thermodynamics -- Area of physical study that seeks to reconcile the laws of thermodynamics with the existence of black hole event horizons
Wikipedia - Blue wall of silence -- American term used to denote an informal rule for police officers not to report on fellow officer reported misconduct
Wikipedia - Bourbon Reforms -- Set of economic and political legislation promulgated by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon, mainly in the 18th century
Wikipedia - Bourne Wood -- Area of predominantly coniferous woodland just south of Farnham, Surrey, England
Wikipedia - Bucharest Bible -- First complete translation of the Bible into the Romanian language; patronized by M-HM-^Xerban Cantacuzino, overseen by Constantin BrM-CM-"ncoveanu
Wikipedia - Business Consulting International -- London-based investment company that collapsed after being exposed by a City of London Police investigation in 2008 as the United Kingdom's biggest ponzi scheme, estimated at M-BM-#115M
Wikipedia - Business cycle -- Fluctuation in the degree of utilization of the production potential of an economy
Wikipedia - Business route -- Short special route connected to a parent numbered highway at its beginning, then routed through the central business district of a nearby city or town, and finally reconnecting with the same parent numbered highway again at its end
Wikipedia - C5-convertase -- Serine protease that plays key role in the innate immunity. It participates in the complement system ending with cell death.
Wikipedia - Cache manifest in HTML5 -- Software storage feature which provides the ability to access a web application even without a network connection
Wikipedia - Caddo -- Confederacy of several Southeastern Native American tribes
Wikipedia - Cadence -- Melodic and/or harmonic configuration at the end of a phrase, section, or piece of music
Wikipedia - Canadian Confederation -- Process by which the British colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united into the Dominion of Canada
Wikipedia - Carlos Chavez -- Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra (1899-1978)
Wikipedia - Cartan pair -- A technical condition on a reductive Lie algebra and a subalgebra
Wikipedia - Cartas de Inglaterra -- a collection of journalism by the Portuguese writer Jose Maria de Eca de Queiros, written when he served as the Portuguese consul in Newcastle and Bristol in England
Wikipedia - Case fatality rate -- Proportion of patients who die of a particular medical condition out of all who have this condition within a given time frame
Wikipedia - Casey's -- Chain of convenience stores in the Midwestern United States
Wikipedia - Caviar diplomacy -- Lobbying strategy of Azerbaijan, consisting of costly invitations of foreign politicians and employees of international organizations to Azerbaijan at the expense of the host country, including expensive gifts (such as caviar)
Wikipedia - Caviar -- Food consisting of salt-cured, fully ripe internal egg masses of female wild sturgeon from the Caspian Sea and Black Sea
Wikipedia - CBC-2 -- Proposed second Canadian public television service
Wikipedia - CBERS-2 -- second satellite cooperation program between China and Brazil
Wikipedia - Cellular respiration -- Metabolic reactions in the cells of organisms converting chemical energy from oxygen molecules or nutrients into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) while releasing waste byproducts.
Wikipedia - Centralized government -- Type of government in whichM-BM- powerM-BM- orM-BM- legal authorityM-BM- is exerted or coordinated by aM-BM- de factoM-BM- political executive to whichM-BM- federal states,M-BM- local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject
Wikipedia - Ceteris paribus -- Latin phrase indicating that factors not being considered in a comparison are held to be constant across the items compared
Wikipedia - Chain of custody -- Chronological documentation or paper trail, showing custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of physical or electronic evidence
Wikipedia - Chambered cairn -- Burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a sizeable (usually stone) chamber around and over which a cairn of stones was constructed
Wikipedia - Charge carrier -- Particle free to move, carrying an electric charge, especially the particles that carry electric charges in electrical conductors
Wikipedia - Charge (physics) -- Generalization of electric charge (EM) adding color charge (QCD), mass-energy (gravitation), etc.; sometimes considered same as its charge quantum number
Wikipedia - Charles R. Gill -- 19th century American politician, 9th Attorney General of Wisconsin, Civil War Union officer, Member of the Wisconsin Senate
Wikipedia - Chef salad -- U.S. salad consisting of items such as hard-boiled eggs, one or more varieties of meat (e.g. ham, turkey, chicken, roast beef), tomatoes, cucumbers, and/or cheese, placed upon a bed of tossed lettuce or other leaf vegetables; a variety of dressings may be used
Wikipedia - Chelgate -- British international public relations and public affairs consultancy firm
Wikipedia - Chemical equilibrium -- State which both reactants and products are present in concentrations which have no further tendency to change with time
Wikipedia - Chemical substance -- Matter of constant composition best characterized by the entities (molecules, formula units, atoms) it is composed of
Wikipedia - Chibcha language -- Extinct language of Colombia, spoken by the Muisca, who created [[Muisca Confederation|one of the indigenous civilizations of the Americas]]
Wikipedia - Chronospecies -- A species derived from a sequential development pattern which involves continual and uniform changes from an extinct ancestral form on an evolutionary scale
Wikipedia - Chukchi Sea Shelf -- The westernmost part of the continental shelf of North America and the easternmost part of the continental shelf of Asia.
Wikipedia - Classical electromagnetism -- Branch of theoretical physics that studies consequences of the electromagnetic forces between electric charges and currents
Wikipedia - Classical Marxism -- Economic, philosophical, and sociological theories expounded by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
Wikipedia - Classical mechanics -- branch of physics concerned with the set of classical laws describing the non-relativistic motion of bodies under the action of a system of forces
Wikipedia - Classified information -- Material that a government body claims is sensitive information that requires protection of confidentiality, integrity, or availability
Wikipedia - Clausius-Mossotti relation -- A mathematical equation for the dielectric constant (relative permittivity, M-NM-5r) of a material in terms of the atomic polarizibility, M-NM-1, of the material's constituent atoms and/or molecules.
Wikipedia - Code generation (compiler) -- Process by which a compiler's code generator converts some intermediate representation of source code into a form that can be readily executed by a machine
Wikipedia - Collaborative e-democracy -- Democratic conception that combines key features of direct democracy, representative democracy, and e-democracy
Wikipedia - Collatz conjecture -- Conjecture in mathematics that, starting with any positive integer n, if one halves it (if even) or triples it and adds one (if odd) and repeats this ad infinitum, then one eventually obtains 1
Wikipedia - Collision response -- A tool to deal with models and algorithms for simulating the changes in the motion of two solid bodies following collision and other forms of contact
Wikipedia - Collision -- An instance of two or more bodies physically contacting each other within short period of time
Wikipedia - Communication -- Act of conveying intended meanings from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs and rules
Wikipedia - Composite nationalism -- A concept arguing that the Indian nation is made of up people of diverse cultures, castes, communities, and faiths
Wikipedia - Computational semantics -- The study of how to automate the process of constructing and reasoning with meaning representations of natural language
Wikipedia - Concealed carry in the United States -- The practice of carrying a weapon (such as aM-BM- handgun) inM-BM- publicM-BM- in a concealed manner, either on one's person or in close proximity
Wikipedia - Concurrency (computer science) -- Ability of different parts or units of a program, algorithm, or problem to be executed out-of-order or in partial order, without affecting the final outcome
Wikipedia - Confederate Memorial Day -- Observance day in a number of Southern states in the U.S. to honor those who died fighting for the Confederate States during the American Civil War
Wikipedia - Confederation -- Union of sovereign states linked by treaties whose common government does not directly exercise its sovereignty over their territory
Wikipedia - Confined liquid -- A liquid that is subject to geometric constraints on a nanoscopic scale so that most molecules are close enough to an interface to sense some difference from standard bulk conditions
Wikipedia - Confined space -- A space with limited entry and egress and not suitable for human inhabitants
Wikipedia - Confined water (diving) -- A diving environment that is enclosed and bounded sufficiently for safe training purposes. Generally implies that conditions are not affected by geographic or weather conditions, and that divers can not get lost
Wikipedia - Confined waters (navigation) -- Area of the sea where the width of the safely navigable waterway is small relative to the ability of a vessel to maneuver
Wikipedia - Congenital dyserythropoietic anemia -- Congenital hemolytic anemia characterized by ineffective erythropoiesis, and resulting from a decrease in the number of red blood cells (RBCs) in the body and a less than normal quantity of hemoglobin in the blood
Wikipedia - Connotation -- Cultural or emotional association that some word or phrase carries, in addition to the word's or phrase's explicit or literal meaning
Wikipedia - Conquest of California -- Early military operation of the Mexican-American War where the United States was able to occupy and eventually annex Alta California
Wikipedia - Consistency model -- A set of formally specified rules that guarantee (or explicitly disclaim) certain consistencies in the event of concurrent reads or writes to shared memory
Wikipedia - Constitutional Reform Act 2005 -- Constitutional law of the United Kingdom that provided for the country's Supreme Court and changed other parts of the British judiciary
Wikipedia - Constructed script -- New writing system specifically created by an individual or group, rather than having evolved as part of a language or culture like a natural script
Wikipedia - Constructed wetland -- An artificial wetland to treat municipal or industrial wastewater, greywater or stormwater runoff
Wikipedia - Consumer -- Person or group of people that are the final users or consumers of products and or services; one who pays something to consume goods and services produced
Wikipedia - Context (language use) -- Objects or conditions associated with an event or use of a term that provide resources for its appropriate interpretation