Skip to Content

12. Token Experiment

Mostly man imitates others' success. His own mind is convinced when he sees another has succeeded in a venture. Therefore he would like to imitate it. There are other fresh ventures where Man is not so certain because he is not sure that he would succeed where another has done well. In such cases, he would be careful. If possible, he would like to experiment in a small way. A rich Reddiar boy very much desired to go to Madras for college education in the twenties. His parents were doubtful of the outcome. The boy cited several other cases. His parents argued that it might not be true in their case. Finally they consented to their son going for higher education on condition that he would be the roommate of another boy known for excellent conduct, as he hailed from a reputable local family. After graduation the Reddiar boy entered politics and became the Chief Minister of Madras, then known as the Prime Minister of the Presidency. The boy with an excellent record of character retired as Postmaster. Yoga is not for all; yogic life is something everyone can aspire for. Hence my invitation to an experiment. An experiment has the alternate possibilities of success or failure. That is the rule. This experiment has all the chances of success and no chance of failure. It is so because it is undertaken in one of our daily activities which one would be doing anyway.

The experiment is to observe the infinite emerging out of the finite. In our life there are very important activities like wedding, employment, shifting to another town, buying a property, getting introduced to VIPs, and so on. There are trivial activities such as eating one's dinner, a casual conversation, buying a routine article, going to the beach, playing with children, etc. An experiment is theoretically valuable in both types of acts equally. But for a practical appreciation, we would like to see the vast results in an important item. Buying an orange is an act. This experiment will give you the finest orange. The result is not measurable. Also it will not be striking. The boy who failed to get a clerkship in a bank three times getting selected as a Manager in State Bank is striking. One should choose an act where the results are apparent, measurable and when it rises in quantity or quality, it will ring a bell in the mind. The water diviner getting thirty years' income in one year is one such. You have to select an activity which will be satisfactory for you when it is successful.

All the events I have cited happened on their own. There was no planning and therefore no expectation. Here we plan and therefore the expectation is a bar to the result. The results arise in spite of the expectation in two ways. One is the increasing success overwhelms the person, and he forgets his planning. So, it does not become an obstacle. One who was doing three crores of business was supplying to a company of hundred crores of rupees. He consciously undertook this experiment in the hope of reaching a hundred crores in fifteen years. When the whole experiment was detailed, he became very seriously interested. Seeing his serious interest, he was told it might be reached in five years with utmost seriousness. He saw his business progress by leaps and bounds. He lost his head. He had one more motive that his progress should be kept a secret. He kept it a secret from the one who had initiated him in the experiment. He touched a hundred crores of turnover in 2½ years. Another man was in an employment that offered little scope for progress. He undertook a two-year experiment which was a grand qualitative success in work. The job had no opening for progress. The experiment was over in June. He could buy a property in December which he could not dream of even after retirement. The energy released will never go waste. It will always find an expression elsewhere.

How to select an act for this purpose? I have cited the example of a last grade servant building a terraced house when his goal was a thatched house with brick walls. It is a striking result, but its worth is not measurable, as his humble goal was not raised to a high goal. His humble goal was unrealised. To realise it, the negative has to change into positive consuming infinite energies. We have several important questions. The first is the selection of the act; the next is who is qualified to attempt this. These two are decisive. There are many, many more stipulations to be fulfilled, such as how to conduct the experiment, what are the do's and don'ts, etc. I wish to give a very detailed account of all these, but let me pronounce their rules emphatically even at the outset.

  • The very best results require utter truthfulness.
  • Experiment needs highest capacity and comprehensive responsibility.
  • Unhurried speed of action is sine qua non.

Though I shall be explaining each of the above strategies in the fullest possible detail through one or more examples, it may be seen that the above pronouncements are sufficient for any reasonable understanding. Some may consider utter truth is impossible for them. Mother says if we do not want to lie, She will never give us an occasion to lie. A man who cannot rise to the stringent requirements demanded above may still undertake the experiment, but I cannot guarantee him the results I have been loudly proclaiming. Very few come forward to experiment. Most simply listen to these descriptions and look for results. Responses vary from casual half-hearted attempts to stiff opposition to the very idea. Results too vary. The American businessman mentioned earlier was totally opposed to any offering, which is an essential condition to the completion. His project soared 70-fold and further to 700-fold, but at the last moment he put up a refractory behaviour and denied himself the opportunity. We understand that the absence of offering led him to deny a magnificent opportunity. Still, his own business doubled in one year.

Another person, having taken to Mother, was fond of announcing his lack of faith, not knowing that the unbeliever has a higher belief. He had a Darsan of Sri Aurobindo as the golden Supramental Purusha. As soon as the Force begins to act in one's life, the devotee gets alert, wants the result but not through the Force. He prefers it to come for his own capacities. That is unconsciousness and rank ingratitude. One who came here forty years ago chose to avoid the place, came back after ten years with a turnover of eleven lakhs. In three years he exhibited all the above behaviours and left us with a turnover of fifty lakhs. There was another wonderful specimen of humanity. When luck offered him while he was on a salary of Rs.2000 a post of a Manager with the same salary along with a 10% profit sharing in a new industry, he gave the response of, "I don't want any share in the company but after five years please give the factory to me entirely as a gift." He tried this with three other people but still he settled down in his own company. To such refractory people good results come, but they also bring the same behaviour from others towards them. One common feature in all these cases is that the beneficiary invariably tries to harm the benefactor when there is one. Often one is on his own. In that case, he cannot harm anyone. Sometimes someone takes interest to offer essential help. That person is sure to be spoken against or quarreled with. The beneficiary tries his best to create obstacles for the benefactor. It is a rule without exception. Coming to the experiment, the devotee should choose the ACT in which he has full proficiency. All his moves must be inward, i.e. by silent will, not overt utterance. The following are the rules one has to follow.

  1. As long as he is excited about the prospect, he should not begin the project. The Project requires a calm inner attitude.
  2. His intention should not be spoken of to anyone to whom that communication is not called for. Execution must be Silent.
  3. If there is to be a partner, he must be one of GOOD WILL. Often we believe people of ill will to be of good will. One must be clear about it. Better to have no partners, only subordinates.
  4. Self-reliance is the cardinal rule. Reliance on oneself is reliance on Mother, at least our faith in the Mother.
  5. Mother First, anything next, is the central rule and faith.  It was election time. The majority party was openly threatening the minority community with annihilation. The majority party was afraid of losing by a narrow margin. The minorities are really a tiny minority. One belonging to the minority community was visibly shaking and in terror. On an advice similar to the above, he sat calling Peace for twelve hours. Peace poured down in floods and spread over his entire state. A week later most unexpectedly the minority party came to power and terrorized the erstwhile ruling party. It was a moment of life or death. Therefore he could call from his depths. No one can muster that strength to call like that for an experiment. If he can, I would put down the next rule as
  6. Constant, intense call from the depths.  Having taken to an experiment of TRUTH, one is notable to maintain it throughout. Suppose one has taken up house building as the experiment. Trying to procure a scarce commodity, he is tempted to follow devious ways as before. It is not permissible. A rule in such experiments is Truth is indispensable. Deviation from Truth will turn a project for the country's Presidentship into a presidentship of the local panchayat. Even that will be, in that case, an elevation. The experiment is valid when no compromise is introduced. This is an experiment that has raised a Rs.400 employee to a status of Rs.400 crores wealth. Should he resort to compromises he will end up with a job of Rs.4000 which is itself a rise of ten-fold. How can he know he has missed that exalted target of 400 crores.

Fit activities for the experiment.

  1. Alliance
  2. Job
  3. Office inspection
  4. Promotion
  5. New venture
  6. Raising Public Deposits
  7. House Building
  8. Winning a court case
  9. Foreign travel
  10. Settling a long standing family dispute
  11. Elections
  12. Exams
  13. Book Service (Selling books on one's own faith)
  14. Fund raising
  15. Tournaments
  16. Expansion of an industry
  17. Reconciling with a refractory parent or child
  18. New appointment for a senior post
  19. Producing a film
  20. Conduct of a function such as convocation
  21. Founding a new political party
  22. Winning a case against a politically influential party
  23. Winning a case where you are just, while the law is not on your side
  24. Reviving a losing company
  25. Raising the profits of your company
  26. Sales campaign
  27. Seeking Vice-Chancellorship when your name is the third on the Panel
  28. Publishing a book
  29. Medical treatment
  30. Winning the GOOD WILL of a spouse

Meteoric Expansion The theory of this experiment is our usual work is finite. Even when it is successful, the results are limited. When you want to sell a property purchased last year for one lakh of rupees, if you are successful in a steady market, you will sell it for the same price and your loss will be the cost of registration expenses. In stable markets you may not recover the cost. Only in the real estate market while it is rising we witness the phenomenon of selling a plot for Rs. 35 lakhs, while the cost seven years before was Rs.10,000. This is more true in urban areas. This experiment which meets all the do's and don'ts will witness a result like that. I shall list below various rules to be followed and precautions to be taken to avoid the wrong thing. In principle they are,

  • Every traditional belief - however much we are used to it or how sacred it is to us - must be given up as it is narrow.
  • Every expansive emotion, impulse, or act that is right must be fully accepted and followed, as it widens the result.
  1. To us, the auspicious hour is sacred. Raghukalam is to be avoided. I have absolutely no quarrel with such beliefs. It keeps us tied to the past. If you want to honour such beliefs, please do not venture on this experiment. It will be a disappointment. Suppose you are one who has been honouring raghukalam and now believes it must be given up, the experiment will yield the result. If an M.P. who has been promised the Cabinet post as a result of such an experiment, inwardly feels the significance of the auspicious day, he will still be rewarded with the post but it will shrink into the post of a deputy minister. The finest result of the experiment demands no such inner sentiment towards it.
  2. Visits to the temples and prasadams from there will fully cancel the expansive results of the experiment.
  3. Cash offerings are necessary. Hesitation here will be counter productive. The water diviner mentioned earlier (p.143) refused to offer cash and declared he only needed blessings and not prosperity. He received a hundred times more work but very little cash. On his realising his folly and reversing his refusal, all the arrears came in.
  4. People in position often are under the illusion they can command public opinion. Power blinds them. The public cannot be ordered to respond in a fashion people in power demand. One such man mistook his seat of power for popularity. He started a Tamil Journal and made himself the editor. He is a non-Tamil. Articles on philosophy were written by uneducated cronies of his who knew neither Tamil nor the philosophy. That is not a journal anyone would receive even as a free gift. He printed 500 copies - forty years ago - while in his institution the main journal that was most popular had only 1300 subscriptions. He could not sell ten copies. He used physical pressure in every possible way and sold 300 of them over a long period. He realised the folly of starting the journal. He could not sell 300 copies of the next issue. At this moment someone who was interested in an experiment of this type took it up and sold the next issue up to 500 and subsequently raised it to 1000. He did so by a maximum effort, by exhausting all his known resources.
  5. When this Force begins to operate, the previous best doubles. In the rural project mentioned earlier (p.93) in the year of our scheme, groundnut price per bag ranged from Rs.60 to 90. The highest price ruled only for two days. When the scheme was in operation the season began with Rs.90 and went on increasing to Rs.190, a price never heard of in the year 1970. That was not the behaviour of prices. During such periods of expansiveness, individuals will have their usual promptings. Those urges will reflect upon the individual fortune, in a general positive climate.
  • A farmer who must take his produce to the market is approached by his neighbour for an ordinary help. He can respond selflessly or selfishly. His response of Self-giving will push up the ruling price of Rs.160 the previous day to Rs.180 when he sells. His selfish response of denial to help will act in the opposite direction and will push down the price to a low Rs.130
  • During the period of our experimentation, it is helpful or even necessary for one to observe brahmacharya.

   6. Expression of Swabhava: There are people who cannot refrain from interrupting another in conversation. If he takes to this experiment, he needs to control himself entirely. His expressing his swabhava will neutralize the results of the experiment. Swabhava has myriad expressions. Good expansive traits can be expressed. Unhealthy traits cannot be expressed. One who is in the habit of borrowing heavily from money lenders can decide NOT to borrow from them at high rates of interest. On the same day of his decision, he will get a bank loan. To him the temptation of going back to the money lender will arise often. Once he goes back to his old habit, he will witness all the expansive movements in his work will come to a stop, never to revive.

7. Human nature is resourceful in the extreme in negative matters. Having launched the experiment, one can witness a GOOD ANGEL coming to him and opening up apertures of good luck. For a while everyone will recognize the angel to be the hero of the project. Slowly the ego rears its head. Efforts will be made to attribute the luck to other causes. Careful efforts will be made to remove the good angel from his role. It is an egoistic move of ingratitude. One who starts the Project cannot countenance such talk in his people without injuring the cause. Should he do so, everything will come to a dead stop.

8. One common experience in such expansive lucky occasions is the beneficiary will carefully plan NOT to communicate the lucky news to the one who has worked for it solely. Such a thought will be detrimental to the result.

9. This is a yoga of Self-Conception. Work done relying on oneself will expand. Reliance on another will be a shrinking movement. One can see such occasions everyday more than once. Each time you shift to yourself it expands. Each time you rely on another, things stall.

  • It is a choice of every moment, giving us an unfailing confirmation of the rule.

In the rural project, the whole work was planned centring it on the Farm Manager as he was on the spot. The project progressed and the bank sent all the Demand Drafts to the Farm Manager to be distributed. The Manager had an extraordinary impulse. He went to the devotee who sponsored the whole thing and said that he could not be part of the project. The devotee agreed, understanding that he alone was held as the sole responsible person. The resounding success of the project was, among other things, due to the Farm Manager disowning his responsibility.

10. A devotee was a partner in a Project. Disputes arose. It was resolved but the power of attorney was withheld and the property given to him. Now the property became a burden. He consciously undertook a token experiment so that his resources would be exhausted. Had he had the power of attorney, he would have drawn Rs.45,000 for his work. His token experiment was started on June in 1971. Everyday was an uphill task. It was like pulling teeth. The ordeal continued for 51 days. On that day Rs.10,000 came with a promise of another Rs.15,000. It came a week later. Now a minor miracle occurred. The bank pressed him to accept Rs.45,000. He could not respond, as he had no power to sign. The bank could not decipher his reluctance. In successive offers they raised the Rs.45,000 to Rs.85,000. He was given the funds and the bank, by a mysterious process, got the signature of the man who had the power of attorney. A month and a half later, the holder of power of attorney volunteered to give him Rs.2 lakhs, as he was pleased by the effort at the Project.

During such periods of unheard of expansiveness, every day occasions arise to be angry with a refractory driver, or to bargain hard in buying a simple article. The refractory driver should remind us of our own refractory behaviour. We have no right to shout at the driver or punish him. When life is bargaining to give the Project Rs.3,10,000, if you choose to bargain for Rs.17, Life will withdraw its generosity to you.

11. In our tradition we do not spend the last paise. We hold back a rupee or two because, we believe, the emptiness of the purse cuts off the link between the incoming funds and ourselves. True, this is a great rule for those who believe in horoscope and karma. As we are favoured by Life outside karma, the rule is different. The flood of money that waits outside, Mother says, waits for you to spend the last paise, literally. It is difficult to practise even after you see it working. It requires FAITH in the Mother. Such occasions arise frequently. Every time one must rise to the expectation of the Mother.

12. Good omens arise. We must honour them. Bad omens arise. It must caution us. One who tried to buy one acre ended up after 10 years with 365 acres when there was pressure on him to buy up to 1000 acres. Not understanding that the Force was revealing itself as a good omen, he disregarded it and lost the opportunity. When a lucrative project was proposed to an industrialist, he insisted on his refractory partners coming in. Not seeing that as a bad omen, they were let in and the project was ruined. Knowing full well that the Force works only through believers, to accept non-believing partners is foolish.

13. One important rule here is to accept what comes and not seek anything on our own. When you seek, you begin to disqualify yourself even in the beginning. When you refuse what comes to you, again you miss the luck that seeks you.

14. As solutions are in-built into the problems, one needs to be resourceful. The plot acquired by the government (p.48) was saved by one such resourceful idea that it was the property of an ex-serviceman.

15. This is a discipline that emphasizes patience, non-reacting equality. But there are outrageous situations when those who should be guardians try to betray. In the context of heinous crimes, one needs to acquire the raudra bhava and try to crush the enemy. You will witness a powerful enemy crushed before your very eyes. It must not be out of reaction. It must be a deliberate stroke powerfully dealt with in Patience.

16. There are a good many people fond of being foolish and ruining themselves. Not only that, they will come forward to repeat it. Such people, if they can, repeat it any number of times. I know one who did so for the sixteenth time. Another did so forty-four times and still went on accusing all those around. This experiment is not for them.

  • Complete folly has a great attraction to some. Let them not attempt this.

Among them are some shining ones who cannot at all see it is utter folly. Let us be cautious about them.

  • To put an enormous amount of cash month after month in the hands of a 13-year-old boy is not wise.
  • To withdraw one's share that yields 95% profit and invest it in another project that will yield 35,000 for an expense of 65,000 is one such act.
  • To start a factory before the technology is perfect is, on any showing, unwise.
  • To ardently believe your arch enemies to be your good friends after being around them for ten years is an act of utter folly.
  • Not to know your whole institution is jealous of you and is actively planning to destroy you is an unpardonable blindness.
  • In short, people who are devoid of common sense cannot venture to undertake this token experiment.
  • There are a good many people who are unaware of their selfishness. Selfishness will not pay, at least, here. It may pay, if they adopt an unselfish attitude with respect to the Project
  • When you see your property has risen a thousand-fold in value since you bought it forty years ago as no other property of similar description has done, you must be cautious enough to follow these rules.

After the Experiment

If your experiment is successful and the result you had was ten times or seventy times more than the normal one, you can enjoy the result. But you will not be able to have that METHOD as a permanent possession. If you want many of your activities to expand like this, you must learn the process by which this result issued. If you do so, you will have ushered yourself into LUCK permanently. Its essence is, you must be able to see that during the project period you are

  • Calm, equal, patient, Silent, expansive, generous, unexpectant and sweet in your bearing and behaviour.

Sri Aurobindo says birth is the first mystery in life and death is another mystery. In the above experiment, if you want to know the process by which this miraculous result was brought about, you can enumerate all the physical details of the work you had done. But by repeating all of them exactly, the result cannot be reproduced, because this result was brought about by a mystery in addition to all those details, and that mystery lies in the subtle plane invisible to us. In fact, it lies in the causal plane that is further away. As I said, it can be known as the attitude we had, not as the work we had done.

  • Man is restless, especially his physical being is restless. Restlessness cannot let this Force act nor permit this result. Restlessness should die down. Peace, Spiritual Peace, should enter in its place. It is not in our power to bring it down into our physical being. The Force alone can do it.
  • Man is selfish, and cannot see the other man's point of view. To see the other man's point of view, to practice Self-giving is necessary for this Force to act.
  • Equality is the consciousness of the Infinite. We are finite, we act and react. Capacity to not react brings in equality.
  • Our finite being can take interest in us, it can be selfish. It cannot be generous, which is an expansive emotion. When one moves from the finite human interest to the divine generosity, one expands and lets the work expand.
  • Mind always thinks. While the mind thinks, its work does not expand as in our experiment. Thinking must stop and SILENCE emerge in the MIND. Only in Silence our finite work will expand. When we move into the Silence behind Silence, our work becomes divine work and expands to the dimensions of the universe.
  • Sweetness is the knowledge of Love. When Love is born and acquires knowledge, sweetness issues. It is not in MAN, not on his surface Mind.
  • You can go deeper into your personality and examine each faculty of Mind, Vital and Physical. Even the spiritual can be so examined. You can think of the higher expansive quality in the subtle, causal fields - that faculty which corresponds to the one we have. If we have the capacity to think, the corresponding higher quality needed for this expansion to occur is Silence. It means one has to Silence his mind. When the expansion did occur in the experiment, we can now recollect that our mind or being had all these qualities.

So, the Process of enjoying luck permanently, the capacity to do any work in such a fashion that it expands ten or a hundred or a thousand times is to move in our minds from the human surface to the divine depth. It can be written as two columns. It is one thing to write and know the Process and another thing to actually move to the other side. Well, we may do so once and may not be able to repeat it again, as we need ENERGY. Anyway, the experiment will show the result if not a thousand times or even ten times, at least double. As I said, this experiment has no chance of failure. The least will be double. Once one sees the result in some measure, it is for him to raise the multiple as high as he can and make it permanent.

Energy for the Expansion Any expansion needs energy and this expansion needs great energy. In the experiment we have followed all the rules. It is called a negative discipline, i.e. we deny the thought that arises, push away selfish response, etc. When the discipline is positive, greater energy issues. Instead of pushing away the thought that insists, one can call in SILENCE. It is to be positive. We call in Silence for a greater result. It is mercenary. To call in Silence for Silence's sake is to be more positive. To call in Silence as a method is a finite act. To call in Silence because it is one aspect of the Spirit is to be Spiritual. The twelve aspects of Spirit - Eternity, Infinity, Silence, Peace, Unity, Truth, Goodness, Knowledge, Power, Beauty, Joy and Love - can thus be called in. It will expand the work.

To do the work for the result is to be work-centred. To do it for luck is to be centred in our life. Work itself is divine if we do not do it physically. To be centred in that WORK has a wider power of aspiration. Our energy increases with the quality of aspiration rising. There is no end for it till one reaches Brahman. In practice, one cannot raise his aspiration thus. In doing an experiment, one isolates himself from all activities and focuses on the work. Therefore the aspiration is intense. Suppose we do not focus like that, our energies are spread out all over our life activities. In such a condition no concentration is possible. For luck to become permanent, the concentration must be there all the time. It is not easy. One way to handle that situation is to solve all the problems on hand using this Process and start availing of all the opportunities that present to us. One who does that will rise like the employee of Rs.400 salary. Certain attitudes acquired truly and permanently help that process.

  • A perfect sense of humility in all circumstances is one.
  • Another one everyone can try is the Silent will.
  • Taking another man's point of view is possible at times, not always. If one can acquire it, it is a gateway to Supermind.
  • Not to allow egoistic expression of any kind is very powerful but very difficult.
  • Genuine good will to all is very powerful and it is possible for anyone to acquire it. Good will goes with generosity. As long as one sees the difference between generosity and vanity and shuns the latter, all that I have spoken of so far is summed up in GOOD WILL that is generous.

It is said of Napoleon that he accomplished in three years what kings had not accomplished in centuries. Apart from Jesus, he is the only human being on whom the greatest number of books have been written. His success is phenomenal. He was a vibhuti. We believe he was the previous incarnation of The Master, Sri Aurobindo. Historians refer to him as a mathematician. He calculated every work in terms of numbers and did so in his mind. This is one of his many prodigious qualities. Planning a military attack, he knew the shortest routes on the map. He would calculate the time normally needed for the enemy troops to move to a point. For him to move to the same point, he would resort to a shorter route. And he would calculate the time needed for him. There lies an advantage. And by that advantage he would surprise the enemy. In ordering for supplies, his ready mind would calculate the bread and meat required. He would allow for wastage. He had a formula for such wastage. Often he did these calculations in his mind. When such figures were written down, orders were precise. His army was never short of supplies. This, they say, was a major contributor to his victory. We go by impressions, not by calculation. Calculation and detailed planning make a little energy go a long way, i.e. expand the efficiency of that energy. When deeper aspiration supplies greater energy and planning extends its effectivity, no wonder the results rise manifold.

Work can be understood in several ways. In each method there are stages, as in the energy - force - power - results continuum. The expansion I speak of takes place at each point of transition. Hence infinite expansion is the order of the day.

Comments

Great and very much

Great and very much inspiring. Salutes to the Divine Mother and our Lord Sri Aurobindo!

I have done this experiment and completed 5 months complicated project in just 15 days.

The results are great and highly motivating. Thanks to Sri Karmayogi.



book | by Dr. Radut