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Aspects of Yoga

 

UNEDITED NOTES ON ASPECTS OF YOGA

May 24, 1975

-           Constant awareness: Energies arise and flow out constantly. This is a life movement of expansion and expression called manifestation. Greater the energy, greater the man. For yoga one has to catch the energies as they rise in the form of thoughts, feelings, impulses, etc. and by an exercise of will, an act of concentration, reverse the course of their journey and direct them inward. The thought reversed results in Silence; feelings reversed, detachment; impulses reversed, power. As breathing is a non-stop essential function for life, this constant concentration is an essential function for yoga. All foundation of yoga rests on the accumulated energy redirected to the centre. Such energy is neutral, not necessarily spiritual. It becomes spiritual only when it is offered to the inner Divine and its service.

One who is aware of this constant concentration and subsequent offering of it to the Divine, in the measure it is continuous can hope to be a devotee. Once this process is started, one has to be watchful for the outgoing movements and when such lapses come, the first thing to be done is to reverse it, even the lapsed part. Without making good for the lapse, the question of going ahead does not arise.

   

 

          /

Desire--->

          \

 

mental

goes

out --->

Thought is an outgoing mental movement.

Feeling or attachment outgoing emotional movement.

Impulse or desire outgoing vital movement.

Inertia an indulgence of the physical outgoing movement and comfort seeking is the cultural version of inertia.

Emotional->

vital

Detachment

concentrates

 

-           For a Yoga of life like ours, the most important point of human existence is the temperamental end of expression. As temperament is the terminal end through which personality is expressing, a change in the character, personality, i.e. the fabrics of human life, and its basic constitution is best seen in the expression of temperament. To bring about the slightest change at this terminal one needs proportionate mastery over the character, consent in the personality and sanction of the soul. The witness soul must sanction; the personality that gives the social direction for the expression of the character must consent; the ingrained characteristics must agree to dissolve and re-constitute the grain for which there must be mastery of the self over character formation.

-           A list of Soul counterparts:

Reaction - response - positive interest  - aspiration

expectation                                         - awareness

jealousy                                              - voluntary helpfulness

dissipation                                          - concentration

 -          Reversal of consciousness: One of its aspects is never to make a move outward (except as a token initiative) but always to make the moves inward. The outer effort meets with others and other conditions that can limit the effort and lead to frustration. The inner effort is not fought with the same phenomenon. Of course, the effort has a limit but at the point of limit, to avoid frustration all that one has to do is either address a silent prayer or offer the limitation to the inner Presence.

-           The difference between the Partial yogas and Purana yogas in terms of each aspect like concentration, purity, samadhi, aspiration, etc.

-           Freedom is the final law and the last consummation.

Man in his early days, out of his general endeavour, has provided for the needs of the body and that pattern is there for others to follow. If the vital power is to develop, heroism is to be unleashed, adventure is to have its vital support, the vital needs to be educated. For that to be achieved the safe ways of society to protect the body are to be given up and the body must be given the freedom to suffer and risk. E.g. one cannot go exploring, if he is to ensure the physical comforts to the body learnt from the society. The forethought that provides against bodily starvation, prevents the body's physical risk must be given the go by if the VITAL is to flow. In other words, given full freedom to the body, the vital is able to grow.

Society has handed over to one detailed methods how to protect the vital - offer it disciplined, cultured behaviour - by not allowing it the freedom it craves for. For the MIND to learn the costly lessons of physical welfare and psychological well-being, the vital needs to be freed from the social culture, i.e. vital freedom leads to mental education.

Similarly one is told what to believe, what to say, what to do. All the opinions are handed over ready made. Unless and until one gives up this cloistered virtue, exercises his mind freely, i.e. enjoys the mental freedom (and breaks his life and mind), the soul does not get an opportunity to peep out. Mental freedom makes for Soul's development.

For the SOUL to flower all the other parts need total freedom and should have acquired the highest culture of themselves. Without risking one's all - body, vital and mind - the soul has no chance of outflowering.

-           Man is lazy:

Thought takes effort whereas thoughtlessness does not. Rejecting thought requires greater effort before which thinking can be said to be lazy. Indifference and cruelty are easy whereas affection needs effort and responsibility.

To be attached is easier than being compassionate and detached.

-           Man is cynical, mean, bad and all that Machiavelli says. If he is only all this there can be no progress for humanity.

It is possible for one to bring out the best from Man, the latent best or even create the better side in him and bring it out. Mother's consciousness is capable of creating that. It is common experience here that people who are otherwise stingy even in themselves are extraordinarily generous with Mother. This is an example of Her bringing out the latent best from devotees, even to the surprise of the devotees themselves.

The foundation of a future city is the centre (either it is a group of people or a single man) rather a centre of consciousness that is capable of raising the consciousness of people around. For this the centre must be at a higher level. In practice the centre must act in such a way that the right side of men (preferably - only the right side) comes out onto the surface. The technique to be used is to consider all acts in their proper context, if possible as good. Better still to consider oneself responsible for other's shortcomings.

The INSTITUTION that can help attain this ideal is not any type of an organisation but custom, usage, convention, etc. that will order the sequence of priorities. Those who accept this community will either have to live up to this ideal or by following the convention will find life impossible. E.g. the convention of feeding the guests first and the hosts later compels the society to provide in advance for taking care of expected guests.

If one agrees to make pranams (physical or psychological) when irritated against another, slowly he develops a culture of not getting irritated. In practice the custom is to apologize to another when he reacts or better still the other reacts.

-           Outgoing VS. Ingoing movement:

For one who seeks the Truth, the only movement permissible is the ingoing movement. The outgoing movement has the only value of disillusioning one of human nature. To that extent it helps complete the stage of negative growth. All Truth is buried in oneself and is accessible only to the ingoing movement. The real value of MAN, buried in his soul, his good nature can be seen or reached only after one reaches and completes his own ingoing movement. The outgoing movement has another valuable purpose of discovering in the world the Truth one has seen in himself. In the measure one seeks to re-discover in the world his own inner Truth or establishing outside the Truth of his own soul, the outgoing movement is called for.

The principle carried to realities of life is also true. The farmer in the field, the breadwinner, etc. find the 'Truth' of realising his aim only when he goes in, i.e. relies on himself, his own hard work. The outgoing movement for him is to rely on persons and circumstances which prove to be infructuous. Self-reliance, hard work, exhausting his own possibilities without concern for what happens from outside are traits that make for success. Truly it is the ingoing movement of one in outward life.

The optimist sees in himself, feels that something is possible, whereas the pessimist understands only after the completion of the work. The first is one who has the inner grasp whereas the second always goes out to see, to understand. So also the planner sees ahead possibilities as he goes into his mind. The lay man awaits the success of the Plan. Only that the Yogi's ingoing is much wider and for a greater totality which calls for total ingoing life.

-           Good Will and Ill Will

There is the good part of the man and the evil part. When the centre of intense feeling is from the good part the WILL is exercised from there. It is good will. So also when the emphasis shifts to the other side it is ill will. People are capable of both as there are the two sides in each. This shift of emphasis is known as attitude.

Less evolved people which most men are, are not capable of a defined WILL. What they are capable of is intense desire from either side of the nature. They take sides, identify themselves with people whom they like or fight against those whom they do not like. As there is no defined WILL which can selectively function alternately, they become their desires and in their behaviour lose themselves in a group. They become their desires. To have defined mental behaviour, it requires cultural development, self-knowledge and self-restraint.

-           Will of Soul:

Man is mostly vital centred and occasionally mind centred. Soul- centredness does not normally arise. The vital man when he seeks the Divine moves by his prayers towards the soul centre but largely succeeds in moving to the MIND. The mind-centred man similarly by prayer or by other devices moves away from his mind to the soul.

The intense impulse of prayer unarticulated is generally from the vital. The clearly worded prayer is from the mind.

Each in its best result moves to the next layer, occasionally to the soul direct. Soul centred prayer is neither an impulse, nor a phrase, nor a feeling; It is an aspiration that fills the being, uplifts and elevates. To release the aspiration, all outgoing movements like thought, etc. must suddenly stop and go inward. Prayer is outgoing movement in form as it reaches a result but in essence an ingoing movement as the fulfillment of prayer results in closer communion.

Aspiration is the will of the soul in its beginnings.

-           Fulfillment of desired things:

One knows one's desires but during periods of discipline comes to give them up consciously and all about it is forgotten. Later circumstances so arise that his earlier desires are fulfilled even though there is no conscious desire in him now for the same things and he is not able to enjoy them with half the relish as he would have done earlier. Such periods are the last phases of those desires working subconsciously their way out. This phenomenon is a confirmation of the principle that "when one is drawn to a desire, the rule is self-denial; but when one is mentally drawn away from the desire but the lower parts could not so pull themselves away from the desire as the mind, the desire itself has to be worked out by living it for the sake of getting rid of it. The process must be a weaning away, not enjoying. Often another person whom we have accepted presents himself as the circumstance that brings about this condition".

-           Damage to Material things: From the highest spiritual point of view everything is an expression of Brahman, a manifestation of consciousness. In whatever measure one understands it or appreciates it that fact remains. When a certain thing is ordered to be made, the circumstances are again a thing and the thing made, apart from its own consciousness validity, is also the product of those circumstances.

If half a dozen of us happily order for a certain piece to be made the circumstances of making it are enveloped by the good will generated by each, viz. the positive consciousness of everyone. The resultant stress of the positive vibration gives a push to the speed of doing it, incidentally absorbing and dissolving any negative vibration created by the work spot and a host of other minor circumstances. The vibration created by the sponsors being stronger with respect to the product and the vibration created by the outsiders being weaker as they are less related to the product, the former dissolves the latter. The final product is a clear, strong, beautiful one. If negative vibrations are generated by the person for whom it is ordered, the person who makes it, the establishment that makes it, the thing never gets done or if done, is lost somewhere. As it can be seen the final shape of the product is the result of the vibrations impinging on it.

In all great work, the first token is a causality of the very nature of circumstances as something is created to break with the circumstances. Even the beneficiaries, if there are any, protest. If they do not protest, they heckle. It does not mean happy cooperation is meaningless. Happy cooperation of an establishment proves an ordinary situation. Negative behaviour, other things apart, proves a strong atmosphere. If you prevail and the negativism sheds, the strength of the atmosphere lends itself to be used. Of course one would prefer the strength of a positive atmosphere. That is a fresh chapter.

-           Reversal of Consciousness at the level of behaviour:

ROC has its earlier versions at shallower levels, the topmost being the behaviour. A deep sense of surrender and a corresponding concentration brings in the Divine Force at the level of consciousness which results in ROC. That is one of the purposes of meditation. A studied austere effort from the surface which is a discipline helps bring about this reversal. Both are of equal importance. For each social behaviour of ours, mental behaviour, perverse behaviour, a corresponding reversal can be suggested.

Someone was reported to have read another's letter and when the receiver resented, he waited for the man to go and read the rest. It was suggested to him that this sadhak should locate in his mind the impulse to read other letters. Each time it is found, he must offer his own letters to all around to be read. Till such an impulse disappears he is to do this.

Another said he resents anyone giving suggestions to him about his work. He was asked to go to everyone asking for suggestions to be implemented seriously.

If one is jealous of someone getting something, he must work for the other man getting it successfully.

If you are in a hurry to get your food, not out of hunger but out of desire, do not eat it for an hour or two after it is served.

Nature adopts a similar procedure. When someone responsible for a work refuses to give what he should dutifully give, I used to say that they would end up giving more than due. Mother's consciousness in its working through life circumstances follows the above procedure unconsciously. A sadhak must follow it consciously when he locates such traits in himself.

THE DISCIPLINE WE ACCEPT IS MAKING CONSCIOUS THE UNCONSCIOUS PROCESS IN NATURE.

          In affairs of yoga, it is better to shed the attitude of reward and punishment (which is aimed at creating ethical consciousness) and replace it by the theme of GROWTH. Life moves in such a way that the consciousness grows adding to its texture the needed strands. This process looked at from personal psychological point of view in the social context gains the colour of profit and loss, reward and punishment.

-           Attitude of Sadhaks in trade towards trade secrets, etc.

What to do when what they depend upon for the higher work is in jeopardy? Ethical fad vs. consciousness necessity.

Sadhaks in trade do not work for livelihood. They work there taking it as a field of perfection. They should not normally follow the attitude of trade secrets. For them there is no secret. Their interest, if any, should be to teach the secret to everyone and start a training centre for that purpose. They should not think that they depend upon some secret for their financial existence. For they are actually not. They need their faith in the Divine to exist.

Often it can be seen that trade secrets are kept by people who are financially above need. For them it is a psychological need to hold onto something, to deny something to others. The sadhak should not put himself in a financial parallel to these people's psychological situation. Sadhak's behaviour must be the opposite, to share, to broadcast, to broadbase, to expand. Such is Mother's consciousness. This rule is a total rule. I do not see there can be an exception. For example, under a peculiar set of circumstances, a sadhak relies on a trade information for his base existence while he is otherwise doing a great work. It is not wise to part with that information and spoil a great work. For that one must be doubly sure that this case is an exception. Even there as soon as the exceptional circumstances are withdrawn, he must revert to the rule. Normally sadhaks face situations where the trade secret is knocked at only when they are fairly ripe for a greater progress. It is for them to respond, giving it up and make a great progress.

-           Give all that you have. That is the beginning.

Give all that you do. That is the way.

Give all that you are. That is surrender.

Mother

People give much that they have in the beginning. When the last items of support come, they feel it is 'nothing', 'small' and it does not matter if they give it. To give up the last installment of 5% is equivalent to the earlier 95%. Most people stop at the penultimate step. Even those who do give 100% begin either to regret or to devise devious ways to provide for themselves in a small way, for the 'out of pocket expenses'. Few pass the test of not providing for themselves in this area. When successfully completed and stuck to, what is completed is the GIVING OF THE MATERIAL POSSESSIONS.

When this is genuinely done, if one scratches his mind, the entire process of MENTAL POSSESSIVENESS reveals itself. This is in three stages (1) Plain natural process of mental possessiveness, (2) An idealistic fad of giving every little thing that comes into one's hand and (3) An inverse attitude of never 'touching' anything that does not come from The Mother.

It requires clear subtle mental perceptiveness to take a deep look at the processes of the mind. Not many know their minds. Rarely one can dive into his mind and see the subtle processes. Any act before it takes place in life physically outside, passes through several stages in the mind. As the physical possessions are in several grades like a permanent job, inheritance, small savings, personal effects, professional skill that can always make you earn, sure support that would come from parents or relatives, friends, colleagues, etc., physical health that ensures a wage when employed, so the mental possessiveness, i.e. the reliance on these graded things (when it is possible and later when it is not possible) have a mental reality. They need to be seen, uprooted, offered and the process of offering repeated. I have not heard of anyone among the devotees or disciples who is aware of such a process. This is the end of the beginning. When done, one completes a major step.

When one works, one is always lost in the work if interested or lost in frustration and reaction if not interested. To offer all that you do is certainly more difficult than offering all that one has. To be aware of the unfolding process of work is to have a higher degree of awareness which calls for a concentration not always available even in meditations. That means in terms of temperament 'patience', not to be inwardly disturbed by a behaviour. Having achieved the two, a certain detachment from work must come which makes possible the offering of work to The Mother. If one ever achieves this for a split second, a solid silence and power can be seen around him for 10 feet. To offer all that one does means to offer all his acquired habits in their working. Suppose one achieves something like this or about to achieve a measure of this, ONE SENTENCE SPOKEN for the joy of speaking will make a similar effort impossible for sometime to come; one effort of thought will half this effort; one expression of desire will remove all the energies and one has to start over again; one indulgence of any description will bring the person to a lower plane and if ever he wants to renew the effort, he has first to cancel the indulgence which is an arduous and a long process. Once a person falls through an indulgence, he will be able to overcome that fall only when he spots out all other expressions of similar indulgence in every other area in the same plane. Till then he cannot move an inch.

Offering of work if ever achieved can deliver the goods only if it is maintained in the maximum intensity originally achieved. In fact, it is a process of shedding one's samskaras continuously. It is a process of self-revelation which surely leads to self-mastery. Self-mastery is achieved as one sees what one is and is able to get rid of it.

To offer all that one is: this is to know what one is and offer that emotional and mental knowing which means acquiring self-knowledge and living in that enlightenment. He who aspires to achieve self-knowledge must have achieved the earlier stage of self-mastery in works. Earlier I spoke of a concentration and patience successfully attempted. To offer all that one is, such a concentration must be collecting by itself and the poise of patience tempered in the plane of knowledge, must become compassion for the one who performs. Below that he has to have the nerves to stand it. This self-knowledge is inclusive of knowledge of human nature in the range already experienced. This self-knowledge is also capable of a satisfaction, a direct expression of ego. That can vitiate the process. He who achieves this self-knowledge lives in the plane of knowledge that consecrates. [The ignorant driver of an automobile lives in the running of it. An automobile engineer when he drives the car, the driving is the same but his mind is perched higher than the ignorant driver. The scientist engineer who is of the plane of constant innovation when he drives the car finds himself placed much higher. For him to be an effective driver is difficult. If he does succeed in being an efficient driver, still his mind is in higher realms of theories with each movement he makes. This is a partial analogy but serves an illustration]. The impulse of movement and action each time originates from the levels of pure knowledge for him. He cannot afford to degenerate to levels of working through habit, much less working through mere hands. His work does not accumulate samskaras. Having offered all that he is, he brings out all that the DIVINE is in him. Now that he vacates the place of the tabernacle of his body, the being comes to the surface and has greater changes to manifest itself. He relates to the world, its people, its circumstances at the level of what they are. It is a great consummation difficult to achieve, more difficult to maintain. The process for knowledge is to extend to emotions and impulses which means the being expands and universalises.

To be able to offer all that one is means to come to the end of personal evolution and directly participate in the psychic evolution.

The man bound by ignorance, custom, habit, thinks of the world as limited to his sphere of activity which is his own world in terms of place and time.

The thinking man who extends his domain of existence by forethought and imagination along with the help of the knowledge gained through history, science, etc. spreads his world over a period of a few million years but confines himself to the physical facts of this period. There are other dimensions to the same period such as emotions, subtleties, occult, etc.

The evolution begins from the moment the immutable soul threw itself into the vortex of nature's process. Man in his present constitution contains the results of the entire evolution. For him to demarcate his personal part, other than what the universal nature has contributed to him, and offer it to The Mother is offering all that he is. That means his existence extends over the universal field. To extend the awareness and functioning over to the universal field is the condition in which this effort can be fulfilled.

-           Sri Aurobindo Ashram: From 1910 to 1914 till Mother arrived Sri Aurobindo had great difficulty for maintenance. He had five people to maintain. After Mother arrived the condition must have improved, how far we do not know. By 1926 when Sri Aurobindo was out of financial difficulties, Mother proposed to him the starting of an Ashram in his name which means invitation to further mouths to feed. You know how many people are inclined to meditation, concentration, etc. Once a person comes and joins in the bargain, what remains is the responsibility to feed him for the rest of his life. Sri Aurobindo had five football players with him. He was not anxious to found any institution. Mother wanted her own adventure of consciousness in this wide world and had her own ideas to found the Ashram in his name. Financially, it is a clear invitation to corrode the resources. Sri Aurobindo said, "Start, I will support". Organisationally it is a heavy responsibility. Spiritually, if disciples are earnest the responsibility is heavier. If they are not, they become dead weight on the very physical consciousness of Sri Aurobindo. He agreed and suffered for the rest of his life. Cosmic sacrifice!

Everyone who came to Mother had a great opportunity spiritually. Perhaps it was alive for the first phase over a period of a week or month. In most cases for a split second. For the rest of life they also run. Occasionally the opportunity reappears. Often it reappears in shallower planes. If the first was in spirit the second may be in mind and later in life, etc. In each plane the opportunity is to be used for Her. Otherwise it will die or withdraw.

When the vision matures, one can see how extraordinarily lucky are the people who came to Mother and Sri Aurobindo. One can also see how extraordinarily unlucky they have been when they missed it. Even as far back as 1950 Mother was seeing most people only on their birthdays except the three general darshans everyday. If any disciple renews his aspiration, the entire spiritual opportunity Mother originally extended will reappear. Only that the fresh aspiration can surface lifting the heavy lid built since then.

The Ashram organisation is a micro-unit of the earth in spirit and subtlety. Things accomplished here will have world-consequences. And world shaking changes will also make themselves felt in the Ashram.

Mother, on seeing Sri Aurobindo, said that it did not matter that the earth was immersed in darkness. He whom we have seen yesterday was on earth and that was enough for the fulfillment of everything. Her meeting with him was pre-ordained and She was aware of it from an early age. Three nautical miles away from Pondicherry Port she felt his presence in the city. On landing she was guided by a light to where he was. Seeing him, she felt he was the same KRISHNA she was looking for. He felt that She was to work with him. As their souls were awake and vision keen they saw and felt all that. In principle every devotee who comes to Mother earlier was so predestined, his soul knows the destiny and is so overjoyed and feels so committed to be with Her. Only that in the devotee the soul not being so awake, the mind is drawn upon after the first flush of enthusiasm. The spiritual destiny, the spiritual possibilities for each soul are so real to the soul of the devotee. In the measure he reaches his soul he will be aware of it and be enthused for the work that would fulfill it. When he stresses his mind, in that measure, he is like an ordinary man. I can compare him to a retired President of the United States. For a person to come to be a candidate for the Presidency is no mean thing in the affairs of the nation. To be the President even for a while, elected or otherwise, is the highest privilege for a US citizen. To come to Mother, to be touched by Her in his soul even for a moment is a rare privilege for a human being. In that moment he is the citizen of the Supramental heavens; but there is a long distance to be traveled from holding the citizenship and rising to the Presidency of those heavens. It does not matter if he fails to become the top executive there. It is enough privilege to have entered the heavens and be accepted there.

If ever one gets a hold of what Mother has arranged for her sadhaks in general as well as in particular, one will exactly know how She has provided for the greatest possibilities for each individual. Each time the sadhak shifted, and he would have done so many a time, the pattern would have remained the same. The best person to be examined in these matters is the first person. What prevails is the character. Till the character gives way, the game goes on.

To have once come to Mother, to be able to live in Her presence even as deadwood keeps the door open for possible aspiration in the future. If ever the sadhak renews his aspiration, it gets easily renewed but he must clear the jungle growth between the first soul opening and now by aspiration. This is a lot more easy in here than elsewhere, the difference being ages. As renewal is easier growth is more possible; it is very difficult to keep up the aspiration in The Mother's atmosphere. Outside the difference between one's aspiration and the atmosphere being great, to feel the aspiration is easy. Here the very atmosphere has a minimum aspiration and one has to keep his aspiration higher than this level to have a feel of it. It is easy to give way to every fall here in one sense. In another sense there is a great protection from fall.

The Realisations of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother can be had as experience by every earnest disciple. The dimension of the domain in which he seeks them determines the intensity of the effort called for. The domain itself is fixed by the circumstances for each one.

-           People who have come to Mother are related to Her at some level spiritual, mental, vital or physical. Some begin at one level and later move up, others down. Spiritual relationship is known by receiving direct inspiration for greater concentration, aspiration, silence, etc. Those who receive spiritual ideas in the mind or take on themselves to propagate mentally ideas that serve the spirit and constantly receive illumination in the mental plane are related in mind to Mother. Those who offer Her service with interest and enthusiasm offer vital service and keep vital relationship with Her. There are others who physically are near Her and serve Her, are touched by Her. That relationship is physical. All are being related to the Divine very concretely in different planes. A door keeper to the US President is in close touch with him, like his steno, like his physician, adviser, speech writer, etc. Not many of them have anything to do with his office; but it is a relationship of privilege. With Mother it is a relationship which when kept in right spirit offers scope of growth into the Divine consciousness in that plane where they serve.

Service (in any plane) remains SERVICE if,

  • it is felt, anticipated by an impulse of service and one offers to complete it unsparingly;
  • when suggested by Mother, heard with a blank mind and executed before those thought impulses are mixed with our own;
  • during the hearing of it, and the execution of it there is a mild surging joy in the being;
  • having done it one feels the privilege of having done so and sees the small spiritual growth because of it;
  • the plane of service in oneself is slightly enriched;
  • the entire energy of all parts of our being is given to that plane and that service;
  • after doing it, the service is forgotten and the joy of it is remembered;
  • a wave of GRATITUDE wells up by itself for having been chosen as an instrument of service.

Mother's physical touch, oral instructions, personal advices, relationships are of utmost spiritual significance. So also Her disapprovals, admonitions, crossing Her expressed wishes are of equal significance on the other side.

If anyone in general collects all her general rules for Ashramites, Her devotees and tries to silently fulfill them he will be overwhelmed. If any disciple can remember the words Mother has written to him, or spoken about him and wants to be faithful to that, one can say his part in this yoga is well done. That is next to impossible for the desire ridden soul.

Each sadhak would have unfailingly had A MOMENT with Mother either personally or in meditation where he had melted, expanded, and felt the uplifting of the soul. If only he can relate his entire present life to that moment, his general life will be uplifted to that level.

-           Mother Gives and sadhak appropriates: Because a sadhak has moved away from private property, Mother gives him a lot of 'property' to be used for her service. Because the sadhak has once moved away from seeking positions, Mother puts him in a 'position' for her service. Because he has decided on a life of celibacy Mother puts woman with him for her service. If the sadhak acts rightly he ends up offering a great service incidentally overcoming any vestige of attachment deep down in himself for the thing given. Mother's giving sometimes has that purpose too! Otherwise, if the suppressed part in him which has earlier in life missed these things jumps on it and tries to appropriate it for its sense of possession of pride in power or enjoyment of woman open or subtle, things so change that the sadhak loses what was given to him; but somehow the arrangement remains for Mother's service.

Often we take up someone seeing an aspiration in him. He responds very well. Things move. He makes good efforts, great progress, sometimes greater sacrifices. The forward movement comes to a halt. The rest of the being asserts and surges up. If the man is strong he always pulls back the assertive parts and makes halting progress for a period till the aspiration rises again. If the man is weak he lets himself down and the assertive parts play havoc, only to exhaust themselves quickly. Knowing what is happening, we bide time, wait for the right moment. But during this period he upsets everything, everybody, questions our sincerity, wisdom, sometimes tries to break the entire set up, occasionally plays into the hands of the hostiles. As we are the authors of this mischief, we are patient, understanding and tolerant. We do not complain, we silence other's complaints. For the erring sadhak it is a period of growth. He could have chosen the path of discipline, but he has chosen the path of laxity. During this period, without letting him break others to pieces or the set up, he can be given freedom. When Mother says it is better to be silent when you have nothing good to speak about the Ashram or its inmates and that is to cooperate with the Divine in Her work, SHE only means this.

Observed very minutely from a deep point of view of the soul, one can see that there is little left for one to complain about, except for his own sake of not being able to stand the stress of the situation.

-           Human relations are given to sadhaks often as complementary parts, either a happy complement such as a thinker given a worker associate to fulfill his work or negative complement as an irritable person given an angry colleague. In the latter case if the sadhak seeks each time a good, normal, human, rational relationship with the other, he will be needlessly angry. Contacts become frustrating. Good, normal... etc. approach is not wrong in itself. It is 'wrong' for yoga for this sadhak. This sadhak is irritable. He must know that the other is there to help him overcome his own irritation. He must find in himself how and why he is irritable and come forward to remove irritability at its roots and as a surface behaviour decide not to be irritated. The colleague is used as an index. If observed, the atmosphere, the temper of his colleague will show when his own irritation is coming out. All that he has to do is to be observant of the colleague and keep himself above irritation. That means great awareness, poise, remembrance of Mother, etc. The moment he forgets this awareness and as a good human being approaches the other, however capable and right he is, the other will be ANGRY. The other man's presence is a compelling necessity - a challenge - for him to know he should avoid ordinary human relationship and only keep a devotees poise. Next best alternative is to be irritated and look at it, offer it, remember Mother, restore poise, etc. A simple consecration each time will help smooth matters but though it will deliver the goods as it is it serves as a mechanism devoid of the innate knowledge If the consecration is deeper, fuller and commensurate to the occasion apart from saving the situation, it will also yield the necessary knowledge at the end of the act.

 

 June 17, 1975

-           Constant Remembrance: Many things like random thoughts, urges, interests, expectations, needs, impulses occupy the mind. Such occupation is either constant or whenever they come it is irresistible. Remembrance of Mother helps collection of energies and gently pushes aside the useless activities. As and when the Remembrance becomes steady, at the level of its intensity the disturbing element will disappear or fall quiet. Stronger disturbances will remain and show when occasion arises overcoming the Remembrance. That level where the disturbing influences permanently fall away is the level of one's constant Remembrance.

It is interesting to note that when the Deep Remembrance withdraws or decreases in intensity that the usual activities of mind or impulses will rear their heads in precise order of succession. An observation of this order is a reference for home work.

An exercise: Locate the most powerful distraction of the mind in a period of 7 to 10 days and try to remember Mother to the point of becoming oblivious of that particular distraction. The measure of success here is a measure of real effort, sometimes it can also be said a measure of one's sincerity to take that effort. If one does not fully succeed, grade one's distractions and repeat the attempt. One can place oneself in the scale of aspiration.

          As in the personality and character so in consciousness. Personality constitutes itself in many layers of strength. Aspects of personality like calmness, dynamism, understanding, inertia, awareness are different expressions of the same intensity or strength of the level of that personality. There is a certain value, strength or stuff of personality which expresses itself partially through many aspects. Each aspect when it exhausts its full capacity slightly shades off into other aspects and tends to reveal the general level of personality.

So also in consciousness. Equality, concentration, humility, aspiration, purity, subtlety, etc. are localised expressions of the same level of consciousness. Each conditions the others in as much as each is in a certain way expressive of the level of others.

That is why at a given moment ONLY when a person exercises the endowed faculties to the maximum capacity he can best act from that level of consciousness and hope to move on to the next. When man exhausts, Mother takes over, is in other words, when the intensities of one level are fully exhausted, the next level rushes into the being of the sadhak. The first gate crash naturally pours into the man and his life circumstances and its the potentialities and opportunities of the next level which overwhelm him.

-           The utilisation or expression of each faculty is limited by the general conditions of the plane of consciousness of the person. Either to concentrate or aspire or consecrate or to be pure beyond the natural limits imposed by the general conditions tends to make the effort mechanical and dry. Instead of pushing the mental or inner discipline to a further level making it mechanical, one should normally stop pushing and try to express what is inwardly gathered in appropriate work. This expression enriches it and makes possible a higher real attempt in the same field. Even such one pointed attempts yield good results though limited and are better than general apathy. But the best is to take each aspect to its maximum and when one is exhausted one must turn to the others instead of pushing it beyond limits. When all such known faculties are fully exhausted, a total effort (total with respect to the plane) is taken consciously and we move generally upwards. There are periods in one's yogic life (even ordinary life) when one feels the TIME HAS COME for him to succeed in life or yoga. People say he is lucky. What infinite unconscious labour has gone into the making of it few people know. For devotees of Mother a happy, self-forgetful, full acceptance of Mother brings the period normally in 12 months, i.e. between 2 birthdays.

When the entire plane of one's consciousness is ready consecration from there becomes total consecration. So also each becomes total purity, total aspiration, etc. It is this nature of totality in each plane which is the characteristic of our yoga and it stems from its central aim of doing yoga not from any part of the being but from the total being. That is why ours is a purana yoga (purana - total).

In the discipline of Purana yoga each level, each aspect must be total. That is the crux of our constant effort and Remembrance.

-           Moral attitudes at best help to reach a high morality. Though it is good in itself, it is beside the point in yoga.

Attitudes of self-evaluation such as useful or useless; strong or weak again pins one to a scale of values determined by one's own understanding. That too is beside the point for yoga. We come to yoga not to become useful or strong but to surrender all that we are.

If one is weak or useless it requires a greater strength to surrender all one's weaknesses than to acquire ordinary strength in whatever measure.

To start yoga i.e. to move to the Divine with determination is far higher than acquiring any human, moral, social, mental endowment.

Anyone can start; at anytime it can be started; starting yoga can be unconditional. Progress can be limitless. The only difficulty for man is after starting yoga he continues to value social, mental, moral, personality capacities and placements. There he stops effectively.

The decision to begin yoga and to maintain the decision with the required effort is the true translation of the aspiration in terms of WILL. That alone matters.

-           In this place I would like to mention the reference Sri Aurobindo has made to Evil persona. There he says every predestined instrument has in himself a part or a being that is totally negative to all that he stands for. If such a thing is not there, the moment his work begins it enters into his periphery (either as a subtle inner force) or as a person. In the occult economy of things the shortest cut to realisation is to accept that person fully and work out his propensities in oneself as if these are one's own.

For the predestined instrument YOGA is kind enough to make his effort more total than it ordinarily could be, by making the conditions of his plane as wide as the universe by introducing a total negative person. Now the instrument when it tries to be total has to embrace the evil persona i.e. make the working conditions universal. Nothing less than the universal achievement is granted to the instrument. Nothing less is asked of him by way of effort.

          One of the best indices of being on the right track in yoga is cheerfulness. The normal cheerfulness has so many shades to it and for different persons has different versions. Without ignorantly mixing it with physical satisfaction, vital exultation, emotional fulfillment, I should say each occasion of cheerfulness when observed will show under the above layers a spot of light from which comes a glad outburst of innate good cheer. It comes out often with no particular reference to people or circumstances, even if they are made occasions to begin the issue of it. That spot of light or light like thing is the true being from where a self-existing joy issues. Beside this native cheerfulness, most of the disciplines pale into insignificance. During the few moments when the cheerfulness is expressed, the reference will be more to the inner light than to the outer object to which it is apparently related.

          In the capacity to understand fully the exception and come to it oneself voluntarily and not compelled by circumstances, lies the fullness of understanding of the rule. Often exceptions are in favour of others and the rules for ourselves.

-           Evolution of Supermind and spiritual liberation

The involved spirit was unable to liberate itself as long as Nature was in the stage of vital evolution. Only when the mind has evolved, the spirit was able to liberate itself from the involution.

The involved spirit made matter evolve life and life, evolve mind. Now that the spirit could totally liberate itself it is possible for it to evolve the supermind from mind. The first possibility was only liberation. Later it is possible to evolve the supermind denying the freedom of liberation. The point I want to make is when the spirit is presiding over the physical it brings out the vital, etc. etc. Now when the spirit presides over the mind, to bring out supermind was not possible as liberation appeared on the scene and proved less arduous. When the individual comes forward to deny himself the liberation and is willing for the adventure of evolution, the possibility of evolution of the spirit in the mental plane as supermind presents itself.

-           Patience in the mind is the capacity to understand the other side of an argument; in the emotions, the capacity to be less attached; in the vital, the capacity to be non-impulsive.

 

June 21, 1975

-           Sometimes one finds himself 'at home', 'at ease', not disturbed or distracted. He feels happy. At other times or at other places a feeling of unease comes, he needs either to go out or needs company or work or change of place. These two situations, if a person meets in his life are worth examining. In the first place something or someone pleasantly occupies him under the surface; hence the 'at home' feeling or sense of ease. It is good one has some balance somewhere so that he may function on the surface. When the balance is not there, it is worthwhile restoring the balance even bribing that layer with what it immediately wants.

But, when taken note of, this yields a great fund of self-knowledge. His sadhana or Mother's consciousness does not penetrate that layer which is really a millimeter below the surface. When his ordinary human nature silently exists below in the human way, he contemplates Mother on the surface. First he must be aware of it. Later he must bring it under Mother as he has replaced his surface interests under Mother. Each such successful effort results in great waves of deep peace in the being. Really they penetrate another millimeter only.

-           Expectation, understanding, etc.:

If moral attitudes are eschewed and a true perspective is attempted we can speak as follows: Life or mind or being or anything else exists in layers of successive intensity. Each layer (of consciousness) begins to be efficacious when the previous layer has completed (for the individual) its period of useful existence. [For instance, a trainee begins good work when he completes his training, i.e. when he no longer needs the training. If he insists on more training, his productive period naturally awaits]. Expectation is an impulse; understanding is a mental movement on the layer which reaches the external world. One is expectant as long as the centre of functioning is on that layer. The next layer is one of achievement or fulfillment. If one expects, it means he lives out the experience of that layer. The next layer of fulfillment does not and cannot move into effectivity. When expectation wears thin and is extinct, the consciousness moves to the next layer which is one of achievement and the act gets done.

So also with understanding. Below this is the layer of actualisation. As long as one either needs to understand or even explain, he is in the layer which needs experiencing. The achievement of that layer is to understand or successfully explain. With that it ends. It does not move to fulfillment. As soon as he moves to the next layer, the attempt to understand is childish, not interesting, is an effort. When problems present themselves he neither attempts to understand or explain to others. He is silent. Things move and fulfill. There is one exception. If one understands for his own sake or explains to another for his own sake, he grows in understanding. Whereas if he chooses to explain exclusively for another's sake, he himself begins to lose such opportunities quickly and in the listener the understanding gets communicated along with a force of actualisation. It is so because in the first it comes from the layer of fulfillment. The results in the speaker and the listener explain the level of activity.

An all inclusive concentration and wide massive opening, lay the being bare of all the layers of accumulated activity and habits. To secure that is a blessing and to retain it is an activity of real transformation.

The desire or effort to defend oneself against an accusation, etc. is of the level of understanding put into action.

In short, all externalising must cease and life and action must turn inward. That is a measure of inner poise.

-           Human nature: Human nature is the same in all individuals, high and low, is a simple truism even as the chemical composition of the flesh or blood in all individuals is the very same. The same piece of wood lends intself to be carved into a fine piece of sculpture as well as a table leg. The difference is not in the wood but in the hand of the sculptor and the carpenter. So also it is the will in the man that makes human nature yield different behaviour. That is what is called social or personal culture. Of a sadhak it is expected that this will is entirely to offer submission to the Divine Will. When it is active it is expected to pray for the Divine Will to take over its function.

When the individual mind sees this truth, it is difficult for him to see any difference between any two individuals, from this point of view. Differences exist socially or culturally. This point of view goes beyond society and culture and therefore does not recognise the difference.

-           It hurts me to be cynical. Sometimes a cynic understands more of human nature than others as he has the advantage of assuring no good quality to others. Cynicism apart, a very objective observation of human nature will reveal firstly that man's activities are all motivated (i.e. all his goodness issues out of selfish needs). This will cover a large majority of the population or a large proportion of their activities. Next comes the activities that he does (i.e. he is good to others) for fear of social approbation. To that extent man's society is ethically advanced. Even when man is not inclined to do a good turn, he does so to be a good social being. Later comes the good turns actuated by his religious fears or beliefs. Shorn of all these layers not much of humanity will be left who does good because they are good. But such people do exist. It comes from the part in them which has turned to the Divine either personally or out of social, religious culture. Work done in entire Mother's consciousness brings out this part in men, or creates this part in everyone without fail. That is why we say Mother's consciousness is always creative, creative of divinity in humanity. We have great many instances of cruel people being ethical or kind voluntarily; the worst misers acting generously, etc.

-           The desire to prove something is infidelity to the Divine and a negative movement of the mind. That act of proving is not.

-           Blessings of The Mother: Spiritual blessings is the going out of the saintly soul to that of the seeker so that the seeker's soul will realise itself in his life and yoga.

When a person is physically weak, another lends his physical strength for him to walk, lends his strength as support. The physical in one goes out to support the weak physical in another.

When a person is depressed, another pours out his enthusiasm (vital) and helps him to come out of his depression. This is an instance of vital support.

When one's mind is confused, another lends the clarity of his own mind which is mental support.

When a person's soul is unawakened, another who has realised his soul or at least can often reach his soul centre, goes back into it and brings out a soul vibration that goes out to the unawakened aspirant. The moment the seeker is touched by this, he is alive and comes into touch with his soul. He feels elevated, blessed, feels the touch of the Presence. If he fails to use this spark for his spiritual progress, it moves to the mental life levels and fulfils itself as fresh ideas and material prosperity. If the person had physical ailments, the body absorbs the vibrations to heal itself.

Saints have been known to have blessed those who sought them. A stronger saint of great realisation can simultaneously bless two persons i.e. go deep in himself and find 2 soul vibrations each needed by the individual. This is infinitely more difficult as the shift is like the one from the state governor to nation's President in the United States. The greatest known saint was able to BLESS 7 persons at a time. Mother in her public darsans blessed the several thousands who came to HER as SHE was an Avatar. As She was not a human being, an evolving being who has attained a soul perfection, as She is a manifesting Divine from inside in a human form, She was able to do that.

-           Prayer and Blessings: Many people are known to pray effectively for another but they say they cannot still bless. Prayer is a mental movement that melts and touches, in moments of intensity, a chord in the being to which one's soul responds. Prayer is a human movement. In its essentials it is a petition, a supplication. Blessings is a welling up of one's soul (the soul of the realised soul) at the sight of an aspiring soul and reaches whatever layer is ready in the other. It is a movement of creation, essential expansion which sometimes rises in answer to a prayer.

Devotees and disciples of Mother, in the measure they lose themselves in HER consciousness can witness the phenomenon of Mother in them rising to reach another of whom he feels or thinks with deep good will. That is why often disciples say, "With Mother's Blessings." Mother's devotees, even if they have not realised their souls, can secure Mother's Grace and Blessings to another if the felt emotions move in them for the other out of good will.

When a person attempts Mother's Blessings on himself it results in an intense aspiration. Rather aspiration is to pray for Divine Blessings on oneself.

-           The most idealistic of our prayers even in critical times are an expression of human understanding in the form of thought. Understanding and thought are activities of the mind and hence an activity of a power of ignorance. Better than that is to withdraw oneself from the prayer and be still in the mind, letting the spirit act. If thought is still craving for expression, call for the Will of the Divine.

-           Most intense opposite qualities like love and hatred co-exist. In the western literary criticism, psychology the principle of 'Man kills the things he loves' is well known. Most men are not capable of strong likings. They shift from one to the other. What matters is need, convenience. When the need is met the passion does not arise. When one woman deserts, another fills the place. Only men of strong emotions, work up passions. They cannot give up property to which they are sentimentally attached, power to which they are idealistically clinging, woman to whom they are willing slaves. When the situation changes Love turns into hatred, the intensity remains the same, the direction is reversed. Beyond this twin reaction, human nature cannot go, is not constituted to go beyond.

In the ancient Indian life which strove to live the spiritual truths, they always mention as a token, as part of a higher principle, the vistas of the higher life. The nature of limited life is always indicated. It is there in scripture, shastras, life, epics, and proverbs too!

For instance idealism, life according to great principles, glorious human achievement, work for humanity, heroism are all advocated, praised sky-high. At the end comes the words of the rishi "Works alone remain in the world". After a great singing of glory of personal achievement, the transient nature of personality is philosophically spoken. In the background of the individual remains this knowledge, exemplified by the life of elders.

The loyalty of the Indian spouse is proverbial. The entire Indian literature is shot through and through with it. At the end there is the rishi. The wedding function is a chain of great good moments sanctified by the sacrificial fire. The fire is the aspiration. It is kept alive, day after day, till the cremation of the man. The bride and bridegroom go around the fire and at the seventh step their marriage is spiritually consummated. Spiritually two good souls during the span of time required to take seven steps together reach inner communion, total dedication to the other and become friends for life. On this spiritual principle is based this ceremony. After millions of such ceremonies, millions of spiritual moments between them which are consummated spiritually, mentally and finally in the physical, comes the great knowledge that the 'last stage of the journey must be done in single file'. Even at the outset the wife, sahadharmini (one who co-executes the dharma of the husband) is told that when she completes the wifehood and is mature and is nearer the spiritual goal, she has to do it in single file.

Knowledge is valued, highly praised, sought after but even in the beginning the Muni (one who has attained Mounam, silence, is Muni meaning the Saint) who has renounced all knowledge in favour of silence is held as the ideal.

Intense living of vital, emotional and mental is fostered but the higher term, the point at which this life matures into the higher term is held aloft. That is why King Ashoka, in the midst of a glorious victory, abandoned all war for the rest of his life. Such a thing could be conceived of only in the Indian context.

The Indian life shows that we are likely to kill that which we love and warns that we love only to grow detached from the need to love. Each layer of life like vital, mental is overlaid with the next higher layer so that man does not find himself congested into one small framework and seeks violence as an escape. He is disillusioned of the present way of life when the higher touches him. All preparatory ground is made by the larger context of the society so that man does not degenerate into cramped little objects that go either against himself or others or the society. He is, at the end of the experience, mellowed by what he has so far heard but not paid attention to. Of course, this is true only of the elite. At lower levels the principle will hold good, the practice and versions of it will vary.

 

June 24, 1975

The Book on Sri Aurobindo and The Mother:

The aim of the book is to reach the intelligent aspiring average reader. By an average reader in the West, I mean one who has completed high school and whose general intelligence is average or above it. My own feeling is in the age group of 18-28 there is a considerable amount of seeking (in practice, groping). There is another group between 25-30 that is, after long effort, disillusioned. The first is curious and the 2nd is cautious. There is another which splits into two viz. (1) Having got into touch with Sri Aurobindo they were moved but due to lack of fuller, firmer grasp of the teachings or the technique, they have leveled off; but retain some marginal interest and (2) Having come to Sri Aurobindo with unrealistic hopes, fell back disappointed.

The book is expected to evoke a response from the 18-28 group and protect it from the subsequent pitfalls especially by awakening the emotional centre which can be relied on to a greater extent and explaining the innate nature of yogic endeavour. The group of 25-30 I mention, has become disillusioned because of the unclear atmosphere that surrounds yogic cults. A clear explanation of any yoga, its dependence on rituals, mantras and how by a wider effort in Integral Yoga the dependence can be dispensed with in favour of a deeper result, can put things in clear perspective and their caution well met. The third group has leveled off either because they began from where they were not or because they had missed the real import of the terms used. The last group is generally hopeless but there must have been a spark in them which has brought them to Sri Aurobindo. This spark will not die but will be submerged under other forces. The spark must be addressed to, constantly and the person must be actively discouraged from venturing further. Keeping the spark alive is more than enough for him.

Presently I choose a narrative form for the writing. You must imagine you are addressing a young, curious, intelligent listener who has heard of so many things but not anything in clear terms. His curiosity and intelligence are the assets. His youth and inexperience are the hazards. A thread of narrative must be woven, it is a narrative of earth's evolution with the kernal of the inner spirit evolving too. The landmarks etched out, the LIVES, TEACHINGS of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, Ashram, Auroville, physical evolution making possible spiritual evolution must all be fixed in different places. The language used must be non-philosophical but a minimum of mere common words of spirituality can be employed. The central aspects of yoga like, Prayer, consecration, aspiration, gratitude, surrender, purity, concentration, must in the course of the narrative be found natural placements so that the context rather than the definition explains it better. Of course there must be a definition too!

The aspects of Spirit like, Silence, Peace, Immortality, Light, Bliss, Power, Eternity, Infinity must be given such places for explanation that a little of it will emerge during the course of reading. At least one of them should be given such clear exposition which will exclude the normal mistake of the physical meaning. Sanskrit root meaning is best cited.

The western reader will begin to understand and begin to respond to the consciousness in the book only if he does not 'read' it as he reads the other books. The context the book is trying to evolve is one where such a mental approach will begin to wear off and a fresh one emerge.

Mother's way of life, illustrated at least once in the book, where SHE is the universal Mother, must come next to the explanation of her universal personality.

Yoga of earth must be shown as something which is ever present and all of us are part of it and what is indicated by this book, if one chooses, he can be a conscious part of it. It can be live and happy but not easy. It becomes easy only when the surrender is complete.

Some experiences Sri Aurobindo speaks of can be relived in some measure and later explained so that there will be a communication to the reader.

The entire writing must be passed through the mental part of the emotional being so that the reader is constantly reached through his heart.

Quotations can be there but should not exceed a dozen, each a phrase or half a sentence and never more.

The writing is best passed through the different stages through which the writer passed.

It is a self-experience, emotionalised, shared with the listener for mutual enjoyment.

Thoughts and Phrases of Mother and Sri Aurobindo must be assimilated into the body of the writing in such a way that the writing is not strained.

At the end of the reading the reader should feel the elevation of consciousness and when he resorts to the writings of Mother and Sri Aurobindo he must not come across any new principles of their Yoga.

It must raise the different questions other yogic adherents may raise and answer them. This can be in principle and not in detail.

A continuous non-book form narrative which is punctuated by events of life (Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's), spiritual experiences of theirs, description of yogic principles, practices, must at each stage freshly start relating to the present state of the listener's life. This will be very dilute from yogic point of view, but very rich (not serious) from the listener's point of view.

The theme of All Life is Yoga must be found invisibly buried all over.

It must really be a rediscovery of yoga at a deeper level for you in terms of your original understanding, approach, your life in Pondicherry, your associates, parents, efforts, and what you really are now. The book, I expect, will be a rewarding (intellectual) spiritual experience for you. Every person whom you had to deal with will contribute considerably to your writing.

The interesting revelation of human nature must form an essential part of it, however brief.

You may remember how everyone who saw the "Consciousness Approach to Management" (CAM) felt that all those were principles well known to be Mother's but they never thought of it in the case of life situations. CAM says not one word Mother has not repeated a dozen times and the disciples ignored as they took it for granted and therefore it is not to be practised.

With the explanation of terms like prayer, aspiration, etc. and Silence, Light, etc. it is possible to produce on the reader quite conversant with Sri Aurobindo the same sense of pleasant surprise. For the fresh reader the experience will be fresh.

If ever it could be shown clearly that Sri Aurobindo's principles of yoga are only the result of having realised the 'scientific' principles of earth's evolving life, the western mind (and through the excuse of it his soul) can be taken by storm. And they really are. It is possible to show it. Only that I would prefer to impress on the reader this truth without advancing even one argument in its favour. The general texture of the book will be so woven that after reading it, it is the involuntary turn of the reader to exclaim it. Unadvanced arguments when they contain a full quota of Truth, get confirmed out of the mouth of the listener or even the rival. There need be no conscious indirect attempt too! In our own deep understanding if the principle is grasped well, the writing will communicate it.

A short chapter on Supramental Time vision is necessary.

It can also be shown that Integral Yoga and its principles and practice need not confine themselves to yogic practice. In all walks of life it can be practised. The practice is not overt. It is by inner self control. Beginning from domestic situations leading up to world politics one can practise it. It is left to the individual.

Our propagation is not mainly through the usual channels of mass media. Essentially it is the inner ripeness that overflows in infectious vibration that takes this yoga to other kindred souls. To make it possible in that inner plane an outer token is necessary. The external effort represents that token only.

A yogic opportunity fully utilised matures in the being of the sadhak and issues out to the outer world as innumerable opportunities in the plane of mind and later in life. If the yogic opportunity is missed by the sadhak, he himself gets the secondary options as opportunities in his mental, vital lives. This is an interesting aspect of the book as Integral yoga when it releases a force through a sadhak makes itself effective somewhere or somehow. It never disappears. That is its significance. The force is in the earth and does effectuate. What may change is the plane.

The book may be called: Mother's Consciousness; Supramental Consciousness; The Evolving Spirit of the Earth; Sri Aurobindo, the Pure Consciousness; The Mother and Sri Aurobindo; Mind, Spirit and Supermind; All Life is Yoga; The Yoga of the Divine; The Yoga of the Spirit; Purana Yoga; Supramental Yoga; The Higher Consciousness; The Guru of the World; The Life in Spirit; The Life of the Spirit; The Journey of Life towards Yoga; The West Matures into the East; Spirit - A Flower of Life.

One of the methods I would prefer is to approach the problem of explaining each aspect or term of spirituality keeping an analogy from life in mind. Each such item is the final stage leading to which there are number of steps in life. For instance, FAITH will be rejected by the rational mind. But when you come to life Faith in mental rules, vital safety, emotional happiness, physical security are all things one takes for granted every minute of his life. In all rational systems FAITH smuggles in from all sides either on the margins or even centrally. Looked at carefully all rational life is based on faith which we do not recognize as faith. Either controlling or canceling such a faith is not given to an individual. Take the case of a complete rationalist and examine a day of his life. His food, he has to have faith that there is no food poison; his work, he has to be sure he will not be dropped by his institution; his travel out and back relies on the faith that others will observe the traffic rules; his temper, he must be sure his nerves will save him; his bank, he must be able to believe that it still exists. Above all the responses from his various friends, what can he rely upon except taking for granted good behaviour. In every man's life such aspects are there. We shall work out the gradation with illustrations of physical faith, vital faith, mental faith, and then move to spiritual faith.

These things are best thought out, spoken out, and written in pieces before they gather momentum when it is best to suspend thought and let the inspiration work.

Right from the beginning to the very end the richness of the writing may vary in its intensity but should always keep a certain level below which it should not be allowed to fall. This can be done by eliminating areas and terms of writing where the writer has responded only mentally and not experienced it. The basis must be one's own rewarding experiencing. If not a full round spiritual experience at least there must be an experience in the spiritualised parts of the mind. A minimum of imaginative experience must be kept. One of the preparations to write is to take each term we are going to deal with and subject it to imaginative, mental, spiritual experiences.

Man accepts from the lips of a great personality what he has heard so many times but was indifferent to and would not accept. That is the strength of personality. So also writing that issues out of experience has the weight for the reader which is missing otherwise. Readers are apt to say "I know it so well, but never understood in this light. Now it makes sense!" To make sensible what was heard or understood, is the purpose of this writing.

Until I wrote the Consecration Paper, I was not aware of the magnitude of indifference in people. Without exception, I found people not offering to Mother their activities. There was not even conscious attempt. Not that they do not know; but that they had not practised. As the paper was the result of intense practice in the Farm, it was taken note of by the reader. Initially there was response from everyone. As the general atmosphere was inimical, nothing much could be done at that time.

The negative atmosphere is active in the persons, now partially, but the positive atmosphere is active by itself. Consecration is the only thing that can be spoken to people. How to explain purity or invite people to practice it? The central consciousness is one and the same. It is expressed in the field of one of these terms. There are some terms which are apparently unrelated. They have to be dealt with separately.

For instance in the listed principles on Consciousness Approach to Management numbering over 60, each principle has more than one example. In fact these principles are statements extracted out of these instances. When we begin to observe life and experience each such term, yoga in its absolute aspect begins. As the absolute experience cannot be explained, we choose an illustration. The weight of the pure experience and the clarity of its incidence in life are to be seen by you by a fresh round of planned effort. I am sure you will enjoy it. It is pure spiritual experience. Writing the book is an expression of that experience.

When I say earlier that the negative atmosphere is in the persons I mean that it is not there around us but out of the active initiative of kind souls their capacity is brought out. The positive atmosphere has not yet found active exponents in human individuals with whom we are to relate at a distance. But it is there in abundance in general and in selected individuals around us close.

If only you are lucky to secure persons of goodwill around you, results will be greater. If not, it is possible to create a team of persons of goodwill by aspiring for the Divine Will. As long as we react to ill will, and humanly appreciate good will, sadhaks will not get an abundance of it. The Divine Will aspired for may initially unleash an avalanche of ill-will, but later a close strong ring of good willed persons will form and finally a general atmosphere of it will be there.

 

June 27, 1975

          When examined what portion of our energies are used by yoga, it will be seen that it is a small fraction. Yoga needs all the human energies for itself. Work, maintenance of body, life need energies, is true! For yoga to be really followed the bifurcation of yoga and life should go. Life activities are to be done as yogic activities thus drawing all the energies indirectly for yoga. Such a conversion is achieved by consecration and sacrifice.

We are normally able to give only a fraction of energies because of inhibiting habits, desires, and even unwillingness to give up ways of life comfort.

          Everyone who has come to Mother, is in essential Truth of consciousness, a child of Hers. Maybe there are cases with relations from past lives and cases where the relationship is newly forged; but the relation of Mother-child in consciousness is there. From Her side, SHE always maintains that sacred relationship and that is what she means when she says, SHE holds herself responsible for everyone, even those she has seen only for a second. During that second Mother either identifies the previous relationship or creates a new one.

Physically we are the children of our parents; vitally that of the society and mentally a child of primarily of our education and secondarily of our thinking. We live partly in the physical but mainly as social children; rarely as a mental person. There are items of personality to be shed and we are to BE eternally HER children; personalities centred in consciousness of The Mother.

 

July 12, 1975

          The child which listens to the nursery rhymes after sometime repeats it. The man who does the accounting adds and subtracts in his dreams. What we read repeats in our minds. What has stirred our imagination constantly holds the imagination in wonder. Also one who reads something below his mental capacities, like a professor valuing the thesis of his scholars, though he can recall the whole thing to the mind, does not find such reading recurring to the mind.

The child's oral capacities are well formed and loves exercise by repetition. The accountant passes through a similar phenomenon but not at the oral level but at the level of physical mind's articulate capacity. The idealist youth whose ranges of idealism are exhausted by the presented ideal is lost in a daze of imagined wonder. The professor does not find himself in such a predicament.

Mind exists at the most physical mechanical level, memory of facts, memory of ideas, thinking level, thinking of facts and higher still of ideas and finally ideals, imagining ideas, creating ideas, combining the will, turning created ideas into created ideals, and in further reaches it is capable of being inspired, illumined, receiving revelations, etc. Inspiration, illumination, revelation, etc. presuppose a certain amount of Silence.

What type of activity one's mind is engaged in makes him understand the level of his mental functioning. He who is excited about an ideal can create a good stir for the ideal and he who can remain unexcited about it can achieve it in the outer field of life. When Mother comes into the mind, SHE abolishes all these and SHE abides. SHE is all inclusive. That is one meaning of constant remembrance.

Remembrance is at first in the level of remembrance of Name, further it is form, later still a non-name-non-form feeling which matures into a Presence; when the urge for surrender is overwhelming the inner Presence and the person's soul lose distinction. There is settled ecstasy of oneness.

 

July 13, 1975

-           Hiding, anger, jealousy, irritation, expectation, meanness, impatience, gossiping, overhearing, spite, prying, lying, irresponsibility, indifference, cruelty, indulgence, carelessness, roughness, laziness, doubt, disbelief, suspicion, forgetfulness, dullness, neglect, selfishness, exaggeration, bluff, stealing, cunning, arrogance, egoism, hatred, pessimism, lapse, immorality, stinginess, impudence, anxiety, domineering, vanity, pride, self-love, disobedience, enmity, quarrelsomeness, gambling, cheating, hardness, lust, skepticism, sadism, malice, partiality, petulance, hostility, authoritarianism, discontent, ruthlessness, mocking, flattering, conceit, possessiveness, betrayal, clumsiness, sulking, unscrupulousness, greed, exploitation, mercenariness, revolt, weakness, perversity, cleverness, haughtiness, desire, fear, hesitation.

Soul counterparts: Qualities of men fall into groups as they exist in variety of intensities. Strength in higher personality is firmness whereas the same in a lower personality is stubborness. For stubbornness to change into firmness the person has to move from low consciousness to high consciousness. Still an examination of each group of qualities throws light on the path one has to tread in the process of change. Strength in the soul can be said to be equality. For stubbornness to change into firmness and finally to equality is a change from low consciousness to high consciousness. What is cunning in the vital is understanding in the mind and the same is light in the soul. Cunning functions only in such a way to protect oneself and is detrimental to the other. Understanding is not always to one's advantage though it is largely influenced by opinion. Light bring to one the state of totality. Pity is the emotion of the weak whose nerves are unable to stand the sight of cruelty or suffering and the person is more miserable than the victim and is not able to administer help owing to the shaky position he is in. In a mental or more developed character pity matures into sympathy and the person is less thwarted by the situation and is more capable of offering help. In a higher character it becomes compassion that can instantaneously relieve. Pity is of the nerves, sympathy is of the heart and mind and compassion is of the soul.

-           A man who is jealous of another really wants to possess what the other has come by. He does not want the equilibrium disturbed by another having one more item than he has. The only way for him to restore the equilibrium is to deprive him of the new possession. When the character is a little more enlightened or when he feels that he too can achieve that, he resorts to securing it, often a better possession of it thus competing with him. Jealousy with accruing strength, upgrades into competition. Another milder version of it either when there is culture or mental capacity is imitation. Further he desires that he should be imitated instead of his imitating others. Next he volunteers to help people to imitate himself, enjoys when others prosper through imitation of his example. Jealousy which sought satisfaction in destroying other's fresh acquirements at a further point in the scale of growth seeks satisfaction in other's acquiring fresh possessions, of course imitation of him, thereby giving him the position of superiority. Next he seeks the progress of others regardless of his eminence, i.e. the development of their consciousness. Finally he envisions that his soul and the other soul are one and progress in one is inevitably progress in another and does not even seek propagation. He comes to have quiet understanding and silently works for Progress not necessarily his or others. Thus the soul counterpart of jealousy is silent progress in the soul which passes through the above said stages.

Jealousy - unhealthy competition - imitation - desire to be imitated -helpfulness - silent seeking for development of consciousness.

For reversal of consciousness as a behaviour or as a discipline those who are endowed with jealousy should espouse the behaviour of working for other's progress and volunteer to help them.

Human qualities can be grouped together like irritation, expectation, anxiety, impatience, lack of understanding, impulsiveness; and hardness, sadism, perversity, cruelty; vanity, pride, ego, domineering, and a gradation of progress worked out for one's own understanding. It can be observed that the same weakness in the mind, heart, vital and body is understood as different qualities, e.g. unconsciousness in the body is disorderliness

                                           "   "      vital is clumsiness

                                           "   "      heart is indulgence

                                           "   "      mind is confusion.

Each characteristic can also be analysed e.g. unscrupulousness is the capacity to have the knowledge and sensitivity to have scruples but not the will to execute it. Meanness is found in one who has the efficiency to survive but not the mental enlightenment or cultural refinement which prevents one from stooping lower than his social placement. Human traits have evolved shade by shade with the addition of each strength to character and change in psychological-physical circumstances. It is possible to analyse their constituents and the stages of growth they passed through.

Systematic analysis will reveal the proper gradation. Knowledge of history, biography, literary criticism, psychology and human nature will contribute to such an understanding in full. Thesaurus has done the graded listing without explaining how he arrived at the gradation.

 

July 15, 1975

-           Calling The Mother is the main thing - Sri Aurobindo.

Sit down and repeat "Peace, Peace" all through the day and Peace will descend into you - Mother.

The best way to seek Silence is to call it into the mind and body - Sri Aurobindo.

He has suffered and achieved all for us - Mother.

Sri Aurobindo worked for the descent of the Supermind into Earth consciousness. In 1926 the overmental plane descended into his body. When Sri Aurobindo felt that for the descending Supramental Force had no proper footing in the earth except his own body, he chose to receive the Force in his body itself earlier withdrawing his present life. This was in 1950 after which he worked for the descent from his subtle body. The descent into earth consciousness took place in 1956. Its manifestation was in 1967. The first organised Superman Consciousness in earth was seen by Mother in 1970.

The above two sets of information prove the following. As other yogas, this yoga does not need a mantra, a ritual or technique, or method. Other yogas are partial and to preserve the force we need a formulated, protected technique. This is done from the seat of the whole being of man and therefore the question of protection from other parts does not arise. Only the whole being must be pure and surrendered. All that one needs to do is to relate to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother by a mere call who has earlier achieved all for us and is offering the devotees his attainment.

The Supramental Consciousness was brought down, manifested, organised and is now made available to all aspirants. I can think of a parallel in a democratic country. A certain right now not allowed by the constitution is campaigned for by the public. The powers that be, at the end of the fight or the campaign, agree to concede the right. The essential battle is won. By a process of constitutional amendment this agreement must be incorporated into the body of the constitution of the country. Now the citizen cannot avail of the right unless a bill is introduced in the Parliament and a law enacted after which any citizen eligible for the right can avail of it. All citizens are in theory entitled to the right.

Sri Aurobindo has done a similar thing with respect to the Supramental Consciousness. It is for the devotees to avail of it. It is there for the asking; but one must have the development of consciousness to ask for it. As all citizens are not developed enough to profit by the great democratic opportunity, all men are not fully developed for the purpose. All devotees have the full chance.

-           Psychic Education and the nine principles

(1) Disinherit the reliance on mind in spiritual matters.

(2) Do not seek comfort but make the progress expected at the given moment;

(3) Take interest in what you do and do not seek doing what you are interested in.

(4) Change a person if you can or if not, do not complain against him.

(5) Physical events are clumsy attempts to express something more from behind.

(6) Consecrate before you act;

(7) Consecrate before you eat;

(8) Consecrate before you sleep;

(9) Consecrate before you talk.

Obviously the first principle totally calls for moving away from the mind while seeking spiritual progress as mind is not endowed with that capacity; rather it is a hindrance. The second one is to disinherit the body who is a great adept in seeking comfort which is the cultural version of inertia of the soul. The third one strikes off the buoyant vital's extreme insistence on its preference. The fourth provides for one being the instrument of the Divine in bringing about the intended change in a person and prevents scope for vanity, nervous dissipation through talk at the same time making one realise the full divinity of each human being. Not to complain is to recognise the other's divinity and the Divine's work in him whereas if the Divine chooses one to bring about a change in another one willingly lends himself to that. The fifth makes for full awareness of the Divine in the physical environment and calls for total awareness and points out the graded structuring of consciousness from spiritual to material. The rest, apart from asking one to make the sleep conscious, too calls for the most vital activities like talking and eating being consecrated and consummating that effort by consecration of each act.

In short, the psychic will be released if (1) the mind, physical and vital are disinherited and denied their normal scope of thought, comfort and preference (2) the awareness of the Divine Presence in humanity and the material universe is fostered and (3) one could be conscious in sleep and waking and acting.

There is a certain comfort in not exerting oneself in any positive direction which we understand as laziness. There is a certain security in not giving up the known ways of life, its fixed grooves in favour of an unknown expedition. The sense of comfort and security is often fortified by that exalted crown of life, viz. common sense, and gives rise to a feeling of everything being alright, a sense of "progress", a feeling of being fine. This is what Mother often calls, 'Man is lazy'. If man comes forward not to be lazy the greater heavens await him. But man not merely wants to be lazy but insists that his brand of laziness should be given the name of an ideal and exalted. Under the latest glorious name, he seeks for all his pleasures and flies into a rage if he is told so.

-           In the volume Hour of God, there are short notes on Supramental yoga. Sri Aurobindo says there that this yoga is at once an ascent towards God and descent of Godhead. The ascent needs a one-centred all-gathering upward aspiration and descent needs a call of the whole being towards the infinite.

When the totality moves from down upwards the essential condition for the descent is fulfilled. But the descent does not take place till an articulate call is voiced by the whole being. Among other things this illustrates the fulfillment of the formality to function in a world that is governed by LAW. Sri Krishna and Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who never needed Gurus still took Gurus for a little while to fulfill the requirements of the LAW.

The aspiration and the call must be simultaneous in this yoga. The aspiration must so fashion itself as to include a call in its texture. That should be the normal poise of the Supramental yogi. It is not enough to aspire and it is not enough to call; but one has to aspire that is call itself. Aspiration culminates in surrender and surrender itself makes possible the call. As Sri Aurobindo says further on, the aspiration is fulfilled only when the surrender seizes the being. And call means to call the higher will surrendering one's own will.

So this one pointed all-gathering aspiration which co-exists with the call of the total being meet in the poise of surrender, i.e. egolessness. In daily practice this means a total concentrated seriousness which actively looks for the Divine in everyone and in every circumstance at the same time being ready to let the Divine will act through all the circumstances to act to the exclusion of one's own preference.

In other systems aspiration aims at release. Here aspiration at each step is accompanied by corresponding descent. That is because: (1) here the totality aspires and (2) Supermind is just below the spirit whereas in other systems, heart or vital or body or mind was one step lower and descent is not possible.

Comments

50-For the SOUL to flower

50-For the SOUL to flower -For the SOUL to flower,all the

 

100-When the centre of intense feeling is from the good part -When the centre of intense feeling is from the good part, the WILL is exercised from there

 

112-success in moving to the MIND-succeeds in moving to the MIND

 

805-  realte-relate

 

 

 

 

 

870- Light bring to one the state of totality- Light brings to one the state of totality

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

921-itself earlier withdrawing his present life- itself withdrawing his present life, earlier

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

986-As Sri Aurobindo says further on the aspiration is fulfilled only when the surrender seizes the being-Need to check if this sentence needs to be modified

 

988- total being meet- total being meets



story | by Dr. Radut