INSPIRATIONS

Hours of an Extreme and Anguished Aspiration

Transformation_S_8 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:58:20 GMT

------------------------------ October 15, 1917 (*) ------------------------------ I HAVE cried to Thee in my despair, O Lord, and Thou hast answered my call. I have no right to complain of the circumstances of my existence; are they not consonant with what I am? Because Thou ledst me to the threshold of Thy splendour and gavest me the joy of Thy harmony, I thought I had reached the goal: but, in truth, Thou hast regarded Thy instrument in the perfect clarity of Thy light and plunged it back into the crucible of the world that it may be melted anew and purified. In these hours of an extreme and anguished aspiration I see, I feel myself drawn by Thee with a dizzy rapidity along the road of transformation and my whole being vibrates to a conscious contact with the Infinite. It is so that Thou givest me patience and the strength to surmount this new ordeal. --- The Mother [CW.Vol.I]

V-Day 2009

Transformation_S_8 — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:34:55 GMT

My dear other selves on Tribe, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to All May this V-Day bring the Realization of that... LOVE is a mighty vibration coming straight from the ONE. Only those who are very pure and strong can receive it and manifest. Love Divine gives and asks nothing in return. To Love is not to possess but to give oneself. TO FEEL LOVE AND ONENESS IS TO LIVE AND THIS THE MAGIC OF OUR GOLDEN CHANGE. http://www.auroville.org

Renouncing Everything

Transformation_S_8 — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:03:37 GMT

------------------------------ December 25, 1916 ------------------------------ (What I heard in the silence and noted down last evening) "BY renouncing everything, even wisdom and consciousness, thou wert able to prepare thy heart for the role assigned to it: apparently the most unrewarding role, that of the spring which always lets its waters flow abundantly for all, but towards which no waters can ever run back; it draws its inexhaustible strength from the depths and expects nothing from outside. But thou canst already sense the sublime felicity that accompanies this inexhaustible expansion of love; for love is sufficient unto itself and needs no reciprocity; this is true even of individual love, how much more true then of divine love which so nobly reflects the infinite. "Be this love in all things and everywhere, ever more widely, ever more intensely, and the whole world will become at the same time thy work and thy wealth, thy field of action and thy conquest. Fight with persistence to break down the last limits which are only frail barriers before the expansion of the being, to vanquish the last obscurities already being lit up by the Illuminating Power. Fight in order to conquer and triumph; fight to overcome everything that was till today, to make the new Light spring forth, the new Example the world needs. Fight stubbornly against all obstacles, inner or outer. It is the pearl of great price which is offered for thy Realisation." --- The Mother [CW.Vol.I]

Divine Justice

Transformation_S_8 — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:17:18 GMT

Why do people receive force from the Divine even when He knows that they are not sincere? You must understand once for all that the Divine, when he acts is not moved by human notions. Possibly he does things even without what we call reason. In any case the reasons are not of the human kind; above all, the Divine has not that sense of justice which man has. For example, when you see a man full of greed for money, trying to cheat people just for the sake of getting a few rupees, your idea of justice cries out that such a man should be deprived of all money, he must be reduced to poverty. But actually you find things happening to the contrary. Although that is only the appearance of the situation; behind there is an altogether different picture. The greedy gets the object of his greed, but he has to make an exchange, give up some other possibilities. He gets money but he loses in his consciousness. And then it also happens very often that when he does get what he desired so much, he finds himself not so happy, generally he is even less happy than before: he is tormented by the wealth he has gained. You must not judge things by apparent success or by apparent failure. One can say, on the whole, that the Divine gives what one asks for and that is the best way in which one gets his lesson. If your desire is ignorant, unconscious, obscure, selfish, you increase in yourself ignorance, unconsciousness, obscurity and selfishness, that is to say, you move away more and more from truth and consciousness and happiness, in other words, away from the Divine. For the Divine, however, there is only one thing which is true, the Divine Consciousness, the Divine Union. Each time you put material things in front of you, you become more and more material, you push behind more and more the Divine. To the eye of the ignorant you may have all the appearance of wonderful success, but this success, from the standpoint of truth, is a terrible defeat, you have bartered truth for falsehood. To judge by appearances, by apparent success is an act of complete ignorance. Even in the case of a person hardened to the core, who has apparently the utmost success, there is a counterpart: exactly this hardening, this evil that is put up thicker and thicker between the outer consciousness and the inner truth becomes also more and more unbearable. The outer success has to be paid for very dearly. One must be very great, very pure, one must have a very high, very unselfish spiritual consciousness to be able to succeed and yet not be affected. There is nothing so difficult to bear than success. That is the true test in life. When you are not successful, you turn very naturally to yourself, go within you, seek there comfort for the outer failure. And they who have the Flame within them and the Divine helping them truly, that is to say, if they are mature enough to get the help, if they are ready to follow the path, must expect blows coming upon them one after another, because that helps. Indeed that is the most powerful, most direct and most effective help. But if you have 'Success, take care! Ask yourself, at what price you have had it? What is the thing you have paid for the success? Of course, there are people of a different kind. They who have gone beyond, who are conscious of their soul, who are entirely surrender they can succeed and success does not touch them. But one has to rise very high to be able to shoulder the burden of success. It is perhaps the last and final test that the Divine puts to anyone. He says: "Now that you are noble and high and unselfish, you belong to Me alone. I shall make you triumph. We shall see if you can bear the blow!" To the Asuras too the Divine gives what they ask for. Generally it is in that way that their end comes all the sooner. An Asura is a conscious being. He knows that he has an end. He knows that the attitude he has taken in this universe will necessarily destroy him after a time. Of course the Asura's time is much longer than human time. Even then he knows that there will come an end for him, for he has cut himself from Eternity. What he seeks is to carry out his desires to the utmost extent possible till the day of his doom, when the final defeat comes. And very possibly if he is allowed his way the defeat will be hastened. That is why exactly when great things are about to happen, at that moment the adverse forces become the most active, most violently active and apparently the most successful. They are given a free field as it were to rush to their doom. - Nolini Kanta Gupta, volm 3, Divine Justice -

Nirvana - Stroke of insight

Transformation_S_8 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:15:28 GMT

TED.comNeuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story of recovery and awareness -- of how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another. (Recorded February 2008 in Monterey, California. Duration: 18:44.) wach the video if you have Broadband connection http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229 I grew up to study the brain because I have a brother who has been diagnosed with a brain disorder, schizophrenia. And as a sister and as a scientist, I wanted to understand, why is it that I can take my dreams, I can connect them to my reality, and I can make my dreams come true -- what is it about my brother's brain and his schizophrenia that he cannot connect his dreams to a common, shared reality, so they instead become delusions? So I dedicated my career to research into the severe mental illnesses. And I moved from my home state of Indiana to Boston where I was working in the lab of Dr. Francine Benes, in the Harvard Department of Psychiatry. And in the lab, we were asking the question, What are the biological differences between the brains of individuals who would be diagnosed as normal control, as compared to the brains of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or bipolar disorder? So we were essentially mapping the microcircuitry of the brain, which cells are communicating with which cells, with which chemicals, and then with what quantities of those chemicals. So there was a lot of meaning in my life because I was performing this kind of research during the day. But then in the evenings and on the weekends I traveled as an advocate for NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. But on the morning of December 10 1996 I woke up to discover that I had a brain disorder of my own. A blood vessel exploded in the left half of my brain. And in the course of four hours I watched my brain completely deteriorate in its ability to process all information. On the morning of the hemorrhage I could not walk, talk, read, write or recall any of my life. I essentially became an infant in a woman's body. If you've ever seen a human brain, it's obvious that the two hemispheres are completely separate from one another. And I have brought for you a real human brain. [Thanks.] So, this is a real human brain. This is the front of the brain, the back of the brain with a spinal cord hanging down, and this is how it would be positioned inside of my head. And when you look at the brain, it's obvious that the two cerebral cortices are completely separate from one another. For those of you who understand computers, our right hemisphere functions like a parallel processor. While our left hemisphere functions like a serial processor. The two hemispheres do communicate with one another through the corpus collosum, which is made up of some 300 million axonal fibers. But other than that, the two hemispheres are completely separate. Because they process information differently, each hemisphere thinks about different things, they care about different things, and dare I say, they have very different personalities. [Excuse me. Thank you. It's been a joy.] Our right hemisphere is all about this present moment. It's all about right here right now. Our right hemisphere, it thinks in pictures and it learns kinesthetically through the movement of our bodies. Information in the form of energy streams in simultaneously through all of our sensory systems. And then it explodes into this enormous collage of what this present moment looks like. What this present moment smells like and tastes like, what it feels like and what it sounds like. I am an energy being connected to the energy all around me through the consciousness of my right hemisphere. We are energy beings connected to one another through the consciousness of our right hemispheres as one human family. And right here, right now, all we are brothers and sisters on this planet, here to make the world a better place. And in this moment we are perfect. We are whole. And we are beautiful. My left hemisphere is a very different place. Our left hemisphere thinks linearly and methodically. Our left hemisphere is all about the past, and it's all about the future. Our left hemisphere is designed to take that enormous collage of the present moment. And start picking details and more details and more details about those details. It then categorizes and organizes all that information. Associates it with everything in the past we've ever learned and projects into the future all of our possibilities. And our left hemisphere thinks in language. It's that ongoing brain chatter that connects me and my internal world to my external world. It's that little voice that says to me, "Hey, you gotta remember to pick up bananas on your way home, and eat 'em in the morning." It's that calculating intelligence that reminds me when I have to do my laundry. But perhaps most important, it's that little voice that says to me, "I am. I am." And as soon as my left hemisphere says to me "I am," I become separate. I become a single solid individual separate from the energy flow around me and separate from you. And this was the portion of my brain that I lost on the morning of my stroke. On the morning of the stroke, I woke up to a pounding pain behind my left eye. And it was the kind of pain, caustic pain, that you get when you bite into ice cream. And it just gripped me and then it released me. Then it just gripped me and then released me. And it was very unusual for me to experience any kind of pain, so I thought OK, I'll just start my normal routine. So I got up and I jumped onto my cardio glider, which is a full-body exercise machine. And I'm jamming away on this thing, and I'm realizing that my hands looked like primitive claws grasping onto the bar. I thought "that's very peculiar" and I looked down at my body and I thought, "whoa, I'm a weird-looking thing." And it was as though my consciousness had shifted away from my normal perception of reality, where I'm the person on the machine having the experience, to some esoteric space where I'm witnessing myself having this experience. And it was all every peculiar and my headache was just getting worse, so I get off the machine, and I'm walking across my living room floor, and I realize that everything inside of my body has slowed way down. And every step is very rigid and very deliberate. There's no fluidity to my pace, and there's this constriction in my area of perceptions so I'm just focused on internal systems. And I'm standing in my bathroom getting ready to step into the shower and I could actually hear the dialog inside of my body. I heard a little voice saying, "OK, you muscles, you gotta contract, you muscles you relax." And I lost my balance and I'm propped up against the wall. And I look down at my arm and I realize that I can no longer define the boundaries of my body. I can't define where I begin and where I end. Because the atoms and the molecules of my arm blended with the atoms and molecules of the wall. And all I could detect was this energy. Energy. And I'm asking myself, "What is wrong with me, what is going on?" And in that moment, my brain chatter, my left hemisphere brain chatter went totally silent. Just like someone took a remote control and pushed the mute button and -- total silence. And at first I was shocked to find myself inside of a silent mind. But then I was immediately captivated by the magnificence of energy around me. And because I could no longer identify the boundaries of my body, I felt enormous and expansive. I felt at one with all the energy that was, and it was beautiful there. Then all of a sudden my left hemisphere comes back online and it says to me, "Hey! we got a problem, we got a problem, we gotta get some help." So it's like, OK, OK, I got a problem, but then I immediately drifted right back out into the consciousness, and I affectionately referred to this space as La La Land. But it was beautiful there. Imagine what it would be like to be totally disconnected from your brain chatter that connects you to the external world. So here I am in this space and any stress related to my, to my job, it was gone. And I felt lighter in my body. And imagine all of the relationships in the external world and the many stressors related to any of those, they were gone. I felt a sense of peacefulness. And imagine what it would feel like to lose 37 years of emotional baggage! I felt euphoria. Euphoria was beautiful -- and then my left hemisphere comes online and it says "Hey! you've got to pay attention, we've got to get help," and I'm thinking, "I got to get help, I gotta focus." So I get out of the shower and I mechanically dress and I'm walking around my apartment, and I'm thinking, "I gotta get to work, I gotta get to work, can I drive? can I drive?" And in that moment my right arm went totally paralyzed by my side. And I realized, "Oh my gosh! I'm having a stroke! I'm having a stroke!" And the next thing my brain says to me is, "Wow! This is so cool. This is so cool. How many brain scientists have the opportunity to study their own brain from the inside out?" And then it crosses my mind: "But I'm a very busy woman. I don't have time for a stroke!" So I'm like, "OK, I can't stop the stroke from happening so I'll do this for a week or two, and then I'll get back to my routine, OK." So I gotta call help, I gotta call work. I couldn't remember the number at work, so I remembered, in my office I had a business card with my number on it. So I go in my business room, I pull out a 3-inch stack of business cards. And I'm looking at the card on top, and even though I could see clearly in my mind's eye what my business card looked like, I couldn't tell if this was my card or not, because all I could see were pixels. And the pixels of the words blended with the pixels of the background and the pixels of the symbols, and I just couldn't tell. And I would wait for what I call a wave of clarity. And in that moment, I would be able to reattach to normal reality and I could tell, that's not the card, that's not the card, that's not the card. It took me 45 minutes to get one inch down inside of that stack of cards. In the meantime, for 45 minutes the hemorrhage is getting bigger in my left hemisphere. I do not understand numbers, I do not understand the telephone, but it's the only plan I have. So I take the phone pad and I put it right here, I'd take the business card, I'd put it right here, and I'm matching the shape of the squiggles on the card to the shape of the squiggles on the phone pad. But then I would drift back out into La La Land, and not remember when I come back if I'd already dialed those numbers. So I had to wield my paralyzed arm like a stump, and cover the numbers as I went along and pushed them, so that as I would come back to normal reality I'd be able to tell, yes, I've already dialed that number. Eventually the whole number gets dialed, and I'm listening to the phone, and my colleague picks up the phone and he says to me, "Whoo woo wooo woo woo." [laughter] And I think to myself, "Oh my gosh, he sounds like a golden retriever!" And so I say to him, clear in my mind I say to him. "This is Jill! I need help!" And what comes out of my voice is, "Whoo woo wooo woo woo." I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, I sound like a golden retriever." So I couldn't know, I didn't know that I couldn't speak or understand language until I tried. So he recognizes that I need help, and he gets me help. And a little while later, I am riding in an ambulance from one hospital across Boston to Mass General Hospital. And I curl up into a little fetal ball. And just like a balloon with the last bit of air just, just right out of the balloon I felt my energy lift and I felt my spirit surrender. And in that moment I knew that I was no longer the choreographer of my life. And either the doctors rescue my body and give me a second chance at life or this was perhaps my moment of transition. When I awoke later that afternoon I was shocked to discover that I was still alive. When I felt my spirit surrender, I said goodbye to my life, and my mind is now suspended between two very opposite planes of reality. Stimulation coming in through my sensory systems felt like pure pain. Light burned my brain like wildfire and sounds were so loud and chaotic that I could not pick a voice out from the background noise and I just wanted to escape. Because I could not identify the position of my body in space, I felt enormous and expensive, like a genie just liberated from her bottle. And my spirit soared free like a great whale gliding through the sea of silent euphoria. Harmonic. I remember thinking there's no way I would ever be able to squeeze the enormousness of myself back inside this tiny little body. But I realized "But I'm still alive! I'm still alive and I have found Nirvana. And if I have found Nirvana and I'm still alive, then everyone who is alive can find Nirvana." I picture a world filled with beautiful, peaceful, compassionate, loving people who knew that they could come to this space at any time. And that they could purposely choose to step to the right of their left hemispheres and find this peace. And then I realized what a tremendous gift this experience could be, what a stroke of insight this could be to how we live our lives. And it motivated my to recover. Two and a half weeks after the hemorrhage, the surgeons went in and they removed a blood clot the size of a golf ball that was pushing on my language centers. Here I am with my mama, who's a true angel in my life. It took me eight years to completely recover. So who are we? We are the life force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. And we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. Right here right now, I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere where we are -- I am -- the life force power of the universe, and the life force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form. At one with all that is. Or I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere. where I become a single individual, a solid, separate from the flow, separate from you. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, intellectual, neuroanatomist. These are the "we" inside of me. Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when? I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world and the more peaceful our planet will be. And I thought that was an idea worth spreading. Technorati tags: Jill Bolte Taylor

What is DEATH?

Transformation_S_8 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 14:28:09 GMT

In 1968, while a reorganisation of the school was taking place, Mother declared that she was ready to reply to any questions that the students wished to ask her about interesting subjects of study. When someone asked her to choose a subject, she replied: “Death.” This offer was made to all the students. The following work represents the response of a French class to Mother's offer. In the course of each session, the questions were formulated by each student individually and sent together to Mother. (The students wrote to Mother, asking to be allowed to work with her on a study on death. Mother gave these instructions orally to the teacher.} The subject is: What is death? How should you begin? You must look into yourself, look inside; do not try to know by reading books or to find out what is happening in the vital and the mind: what you feel, what you think about death. The research should be carried out exclusively on a material plane: what is death, from the physical point of view? You must concentrate and find the answers in yourself. Don't make any speeches. Say only one sentence. The more intelligent you are, the less words you need to express yourself. 27 April 1968 (The students' replies to the question, “What is death, from the physical point of view?” “All circulation of blood in the brain cells stops.” “When the brain stops functioning and the decomposition of the body begins, that is death.” “The cessation of all physical activity due to the absence of the energy source, or soul.” “The actual fact of death makes me think of an experience in which one is projected with increasing force into space.” (Mother wrote to the class :} I read what you sent with interest. And here is my reply: Death is the phenomenon of decentralisation and dispersion of the cells which make up the physical body. The consciousness is, by its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it assumes more or less lasting material forms. The material substance is in course of transformation in order to become a multiform and increasingly perfect and lasting mode of expression for this consciousness. 18 May 1968 * (This time, Mother gave separate replies to the questions and sent them to the teacher:} Here are my replies to your students' questions. I hope they will be able to understand. If a cell becomes conscious of its own personality, is it not liable to act only in its own self-interest, taking no account of the collective interest? What is the self-interest of a cell! Does the decentralisation occur all at once or by degrees? Everything does not disperse all at once; it takes a long time. The central will of the physical being abdicates its will to hold all the cells together. That is the first phenomenon. It accepts dissolution for one reason or another. One of the strongest reasons is the sense of an irreparable disharmony; the other is a kind of disgust with continuing the effort of coordination and harmonisation. In fact, there are innumerable reasons, but unless there is a violent accident, it is above all this will to maintain cohesion which abdicates for one reason or another, or without reason. It is this which inevitably precedes death. Must each cell be conscious of its oneness with the centre? It is not like that. It is still a semi-collective consciousness, it is not an individual consciousness of the cells. Does decentralisation always occur after death, or can it start before? It often starts before. Do the cells disperse in space or in the body itself? If they disperse in space, the body must surely disappear with the cells? Naturally, the body dissolves after death, but that takes a long time. * In the expression “dispersion of the cells”, doesn't the word “dispersion” have a special meaning? If so, what is it? I used the word dispersion of the cells in its most concrete sense. When the concentration which forms the body comes to an end and the body dissolves, all the cells that have been especially developed and have become conscious of the divine Presence within them, are scattered and enter other combinations in which they awaken, by contagion, the consciousness of the Presence that each one has had. And in this way, by this phenomenon of concentration, development and dispersion, all matter evolves and learns by contagion, develops by contagion, has the experience by contagion. Naturally, the cell dissolves with the body. It is the consciousness of the cells that enters other combinations. 5 June 1968 * When the will of the physical being abdicates without reason, is it without any physical `reason or without any reason at all? The physical consciousness is conscious only physically; the will of the physical being can abdicate without any reason of which it is aware. What causes the physical being's disgust with continuing the effort of coordination and harmonisation? Usually, this disgust occurs when there is, in one part of the being (an important part, either vital or mental), an absolute refusal to progress. And so, physically, this is manifested as a refusal to strive against the deterioration which comes with time. Where is the connection between the central will of the physical being and the cells established? And how? The cells have an inner composition or structure which corresponds to the structure of the universe. So the link is established between identical external and internal states.… It is not “external”, but it is external for the individual. That is, the cell, in its internal composition, receives the vibration of the corresponding state in the composition of the whole. Each cell is composed of different radiances, with a wholly luminous centre, and the connection is established between light and light. That is, the will, the central light, acts on the cell by touching the corresponding lights, by an inner contact of the being. Each cell is a world in miniature corresponding to the whole. 15 July 1968 * Is the will for progress enough to prevent the deterioration that comes with time? How can the physical being prevent this deterioration? That is precisely what the transformation of the body is: the physical cells not only become conscious, but receptive to the true Consciousness-Force; that is, they allow the working of this higher Consciousness. That is the work of transformation. How does the will, the central light, which is not material, act on the gross matter of the cell? It is just like asking, “How does the will act on matter?” All life is like that. You should explain to these children that their whole existence is the result of the action of the will, that without will, matter would be inert and immobile and that it is precisely the fact that the vibration of will acts on matter that makes life possible. Otherwise there would be no life. If they want a scientific answer and want to know how, it is more difficult, but the fact is there, it is a fact that can be seen at every second. 20 July 1968 * How does one become conscious of the physical being? Mankind, nearly all of mankind, is conscious only of the physical being. With education, the number of men who are conscious of their vital and mind is increasing. As for the human beings who are conscious of their psychic being, they are relatively few. If you mean, “How does one awaken the consciousness of the physical being? that is precisely the aim of physical education. It is physical education that teaches the cells to be conscious. But for the development of the brain, it is study, observation, intelligent education, above all observation and reasoning. And naturally, for the whole education of the consciousness from the point of view of character, it is yoga. Does the central will of the physical being have a particular location in the body? It is the brain. Can one experience death without dying? Certainly. One can experience death yogically; one can even experience it materially, if death is short enough so that the doctors do not have time to pronounce you dead. After death, which part of the being becomes aware that one is dead? Any part of the being that survives can become aware that the body is no longer there. It depends. How can one tell for certain that the physical body is dead? Only when it decomposes. How can one control or prevent the process of disintegration? By carefully maintaining the physical balance. When one dies, does one necessarily feel physical pain? Not necessarily. 28 September 1968 * What should we do in our daily lives to stop the process of death? The method is to detach one's consciousness from the body and to concentrate it on the deeper life, so as to bring this deeper consciousness into the body. If the sense of “self” has identified itself more with the mind in life, is this the same sense of “self” that has all the experiences after death, that is, that retains at the same time the memories of life? I am asking this about the mind, for it remains formed a little longer than the other parts after death. It is not true that the mind is more durable. The psychic consciousness which has identified itself with the little physical part leaves this little physical person. Insofar as this consciousness has shaped the life, it remembers what it has shaped and the memory is closely linked to the psychic consciousness in the events. Wherever the psychic consciousness has not taken part in events, there is no memory. And only the psychic consciousness can continue; it is not the mind that retains memories, that is quite incorrect. 1 February 1969 * (A few days later, during a conversation with the teacher about this student, Mother said, by way of conclusion:} In fact, there is no death. Also interesting Scientific Facts... http://www.immunochemistry.com/ SRI AUROBINDO ON DEATH Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 462 I can understand the shock your wife's catastrophic death must have been to you. But you are now a seeker and sadhak of the Truth and must set your mind to rise above the normal reactions of the human being and see things in a larger greater light. Regard your lost wife as a soul that was progressing through the vicissitudes of the life of Ignorance—like all others here; in that progress things happen that seem unfortunate to the human mind and a sudden accidental or violent death cutting short prematurely this always brief spell of terrestrial experience we call life seems to it especially painful and unfortunate. But one who gets behind the outward view knows that all that happens in the progress of the soul has its meaning, its necessity, its place in the series of experiences which are leading it towards the turning-point where one can pass from the Ignorance to the Light. He knows that whatever happens in the Divine Providence is for the best, even though it may seem to the mind otherwise. Look on your wife as a soul that has passed the barrier between two states of existence. Help her journey towards her place of rest by calm thoughts and the call to the Divine Help to aid her upon it. Grief too long continued does not help but delays the journey of the departed soul. Do not brood on your loss, but think only of her spiritual welfare. Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 462 What has happened must now be accepted calmly as the thing decreed and best for his soul's progress from life to life, though not the best in human eyes which look only at the present and at outside appearance. For the spiritual seeker death is only a passage from one form of life to another, and none is dead but only departed. Look at it as that and shaking from you all reactions of vital grief,—that cannot help him in his journey,—pursue steadfastly the path to the Divine. * * * Of course, that is the real fact—death is only a shedding of the body, not a cessation of the personal existence. A man is not dead because he goes into another country and changes his clothes to suit that climate. Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 1229 Even Science believes that one day death may be conquered by physical means and its reasonings are perfectly sound. There is no reason why the supramental Force should not do it. Forms on earth do not last (they do in other planes) because these forms are too rigid to grow expressing the progress of the spirit. If they become plastic enough to do that there is no reason why they should not last. Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 1229 Death is there because the being in the body is not yet developed enough to go on growing in the same body without the need of change and the body itself is not sufficiently conscious. If the mind and vital and the body itself were more conscious and plastic, death would not be necessary. Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 1230 Immunity from death by anything but one's own will to leave the body, immunity from illness, are things that can be achieved only by a complete change of consciousness which each man has to develop in himself,—there can be no automatic immunity without that achievement. Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 1230 These observations are apropos of the Mother's statement: “En fait, la mort a été attachée à toute vie sur terre.” See La Mère, Entretiens (1967 Edition), p. 49. There is no ambiguity that I can see. “En fait” and “attachée” do not convey any sense of inevitability. “En fait” means simply that in fact, actually, as things are at present all life (on earth) has death attached to it as its end; but it does not in the least convey the idea that it can never be otherwise or that this is the unalterable law of all existence. It is at present a fact for certain reasons which are stated,—due to certain mental and physical circumstances—if these are changed, death is not inevitable any longer. Obviously the alteration can only come “if” certain conditions are satisfied—all progress and change by evolution depends upon an “if” which gets satisfied. If the animal mind had not been pushed to develop speech and reason, mental man would never have come into existence,—but the “if”—a stupendous and formidable one, was satisfied. So with the ifs that condition a farther progress. Volume: 22-23-24 [SABCL] (Letters on Yoga), Page: 1234 As for immortality, it cannot come if there is attachment to the body,—for it is only by living in the immortal part of oneself which is unidentified with the body and bringing down its consciousness and force into the cells that it can come. I speak of course of yogic means. The scientists now hold that it is (theoretically at least) possible to discover physical means by which death can be overcome, but that would mean only a prolongation of the present consciousness in the present body. Unless there is a change of consciousness and change of functionings it would be a very small gain.

A New Attitude about MONEY

Transformation_S_8 — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 09:25:56 GMT

By Mother from Q & A 1929, CWM Vol. 3, pp. 119-120: Let us take an illustration of the difference between the moral and spiritual view of things. The ordinary social notions distinguish between two classes of men, - the generous, the avaricious. The avaricious man is despised and blamed, while the generous man is considered unselfish and useful to society and praised for his virtue. But to the spiritual vision, they both stand on the same level; the generosity of the one, the avarice of the other are deformations of a higher truth, a greater divine power. There is a power, a divine movement that spreads, diffuses, throws out freely forces and things and whatever else it possesses on all the levels of nature from the most material to the most spiritual plane. Behind the generous man and his generosity is the soul-type that expresses this movement; he is a power for diffusion, for wide distribution. There is another power, another divine movement that collects and amasses; it gathers and accumulates forces and things and all possible possessions, whether of the lower or of the higher planes. The man you tax with avarice was meant to be an instrument of this movement. Both are important, both needed in the entire plan; the movement that stores up and concentrates is no less needed than the movement that spreads and diffuses. Both, if truly surrendered to the Divine, will be utilised as instruments for its divine work to the same degree and with an equal value. But when they are not surrendered both are alike moved by impulses of ignorance. One is pushed to throw away, the other is pulled towards keeping back; but both are driven by forces obscure to their own consciousness, and between the two there is little to choose. One could say to the much-praised generous man, from the higher point of vision of Yoga, "All your impulses of generosity are nothing in the values of the spirit, for they come from ego and ignorant desire." And, on the other hand, among those who are accused of avarice, you can see sometimes a man amassing and hoarding, full of a quiet and concentrated determination in the work assigned to him by by his nature, who, once awakened, would make a very good instrument of the Divine. But ordinarily the avaricious man acts from ego and desire like his opposite; it is the other end of the same ignorance. Both will have to purify themselves and change before they can make contact with the something higher that is behind them and express in the way to which they are called by their nature. In the same way you could take all other types and trace to some original intention in the Divine Force. Each is a diminution or caricature of the type intended by the Divine, a mental and vital distortion of things that have a greater spiritual value. It is a wrong movement that creates the distortion or the caricature. Once this false impulsion is mastered, the right attitude taken, the right movement found, all reveal their divine values. All are justified by the truth that is in them, all equally important, different but indispensable instruments of the Divine Manifestation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 Nov 1953, Mother's Collected Works, Vol.5 Is generosity a deformation of the truth? Yes, all human qualities are deformations of a truth which is beyond them. All that you call either qualities or defects are always a deformation of something which is behind, and which is neither this nor that but something else. But I say, moreover, what truth is found behind generosity: it is the movement of the spreading forces. But in order that these forces may spread, they must first become concentrated. So there is a sort of movement of pulsation: the forces are concentrated, then they spread, and then they are again concentrated and again spread... But if you always want to spread out without ever concentrating, after a certain time you have nothing left to spread. For the forces - all forces - it is the same thing. I have written, besides, (or rather I shall write some time) that money is a force, it is nothing but that. And that is why nobody has the right to own it personally, for it is only a force, just like all other forces of Nature and the universe. If you take light as a force, it would never occur to anyone to say: "I possess the light", and to want to shut it up in his room and not give it to others! Well, with money people are so stupefied as to imagine that it is something they can possess and keep, as though it belonged to them, and make something personal of it. It is exactly the same thing. I am not speaking of money as paper, naturally, because that would be just like the light you put in a lamp, you may own the lamp, and you say: "It is my light." Money, your notes, your pieces of silver, that is your money. But that is not money. This is a force which is behind all that, the power of exchange which is money. That does not belong to anybody. It belongs to everyone. It is something which is alive only if it circulates. If you want to heap it up, it decays. It is as though you wanted to enclose water in a vase and keep it always; after some time your water would be absolutely putrefied. With money it is the same thing. And people have not yet understood that. Later on I shall write about it. That won't last always. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 June 1954, Mother's Collected Works, Vol.6 Mother, why is it that here, in work, some people venture to satisfy their fancies and thus much money is wasted? It is not money alone that is wasted! Energy, Consciousness is inifinitely, a thousand times more wasted than money. Should there be no wastage... my word, I believe the ashram couldn't be here! There is not a second where there isn't any wastage - sometimes it is worse than that. There is this habit - hardly conscious, I hope - of obsorbing as much Energy, as much Consciousness as one can and using it for one's personal satisfactions. That indeed is something which is happening every minute. If all the Energy, all the Consciousness which is constantly poured out upon you all, were used for the true purpose, that is, for the divine work and the preparation for the divine work, we should be already very far on the road, much farther than we are. But everybody, more or less consciously, and in any case instinctively, absorbs as much Consciousness and Energy as he can and as soon as he feels this Energy in himself, he uses it for his personal ends, his own satisfaction. Who thinks that all this Force that is here, that is infinitely greater, infinitely more precious than all money-forces, this Force which is here and is given consciously, constantly, with an endless perseverance and patience, only for one sole purpose, that of realising the divine work - who thinks of not wasting it? Who realises that it is a sacred duty to make progress, to prepare oneself to understand better and live better? For people live by the divine Energy, they live by the divine Consciousness, and use them for their personal, selfish ends. You are shocked when a few thousand rupees are wasted but not shocked when there are... when streams of Consciousness and Energy are diverted from their true purpose! If one wants to do a divine work upon earth, one must come with tons of patience and endurance. One must know how to live in eternity and wait for the consciousness to awaken in everyone - the consciousness of what true integrity is. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 July 1954, Mother's Collected Works, Vol.6 "Money is the visible sign of a universal force, and this force in its manifestation on earth works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life. In its origin and its true action it belongs to the Divine. But like other powers of the Divine it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego or held by Asuric influences and perverted to their purpose." How does money manifest on other planes? What other planes? He speaks of the vital and physical, doesn't he? ...that it is a force which manifests on the vital plane and the physical plane. The vital forces have a very great influence over money. (After a silence) You see, when one thinks of money, one thinks of bank-notes or coins or some kind of wealth, some precious things. But this is only the physical expression of a force which many be handled by the vital and which, when possessed and controlled, almost automatically brings along these more material expressions of money. And that is a kind of power. (Silence) It is a power of attracting certain very material vibrations, which has a capacity for utilisation that increases its strength - which is like the action of physical exercise, you see - it increases its strength through utilisation. For example, if you have a control over this force - it is a force which, in the vital world, has a colour varying between red, a dark, extremely strong red and a deel gold that's neither bright not very pale. Well, this force - when it is mad to move, to circulate, its strength increases. It is not something that one can accumulate and keep without using. It is a force which must always be circulated. For example, people who are misers and accumulate all the money, all the wealth they can attract towards themselves, put this force aside without using its power of movement; and either it escapes or it lies benumbed and looses its strength. The true method of being in the stream of this money-power is precisely what is written here: a sense of absolute impersonality, the feeling that it is not something that you possess or which belongs to you, but that it is a force you can handle and direct where it ought to go in order to do the most useful work. And by these movements, by this constant action, the power increases - the power of attraction, a certain power of organisation also. That is to say, even somebody who has no physical means, who is not in those material circumstances where he could materially handle money, if he is in possession of this force, he can make it act, make it circulate, and if ever he finds it necessary, receive from it as much power as he needs without there being externally any sign or any reason why money should come to him. He may be in conditions which are absolutely the very opposite of those of usual wealth, and yet can handle this force and always have at his disposal all the wealth that is necessary to carry on his work. Therefore, it was like this, you see: this letter was written to someone who wanted to go out from here to collect money for Sri Aurobindo's work, and this person had no means at all. So he began by saying to Sri Aurobindo, "But as I myself have no means, people will have no trust in me, and I won't be able to get anything." And Sri Aurobindo answered him something like this, that it is not the external force in its most material form which is necessary, it is the handling of the inner force which gives one control over money wherever it is: whether it is in public institutions or with individuals, one obtains control over it and one can, when it is necessary, attract by a certain movement what is needed. Sweet Mother, in what way have the money-forces left the Divine? Eh? (The child repeats its question.) It is precisely the main word in your question which I don't understand. In what manner, in what way have the money forces... ...left the Divine? Left? The money-power belongs to a world which was created deformed. It is something that belongs to the vital world; and he says this, doesn't he? he says that it belongs to the vital and material worlds. And so at all times, always it was under the control of the Asuric forces; and what must be done is precisely to reconquer it from the Asuric forces. That is why in the past, all those who wanted to do Yoga or follow a discipline, used to say that one should not touch the money, for it was something - they said - diabolic or Asuric or at least altogether opposed to the divine life. But the whole universe, in all its manifestation, is the Divine Himself, and so belongs entirely to Him; and it is on this ground that he says that the money-forces belong to the Divine. One must reconquer them and give them to Him. They have been under the influence of the Asuric forces: one must win them back in order to put them at the disposal of the Divine so that He may be able to use them for His work of transformation. (Long silence) Sweet Mother, it is men who have created money. Then how is it a divine power? Hm! (laughing) It is as though you told me: it is a man and woman who have created another person, then how can he be divine in essence? It is exactly the same thing! The whole creation is made externally by external things, but behind that there are divine forces. What men have invented - paper or coins or other objects - all these are but means of expression - nothing else but that... I just said this a moment ago, it is not the force itself, it is its material expression as men have created it. But this is purely conventional. For example, there are countries where small shells are exchanged instead of money. There are even countries where... Someone has written a story like this: in the North wealth means having hooks for fishing; and the rich man is he who has the greatest number of fish-hooks. You know what these are, don't you? - small iron hooks for catching fish which are fixed at the end of the line. So, the multimillionaire is one who has a huge number of hooks! It is purely conventional. What is behind is the force I am speaking about, you see, and so it manifests in all sorts of ways. For example, even gold, you know... men have given a certain value to gold, because of all metals it deteriorates the least. It is preserved almost indefinitely. And this is the reason, there is no other. But it is a mere convention. The proof is that each time a new gold-mine is found and exploited, the value of gold has fallen. These are mere conventions between human beings. But what makes money a power is not this, it is the force that is behind. As I was saying a while ago, it is a force that is able to attract and use anything whatever, all material things and... So this is used according to a convention. Now, it is understood that wealth is represented by bits of paper which become very dirty, and on which something is printed. They are altogether disgusting, most often good only for lighting the fire. But it is considered a great fortune. Why? Because, that's the convention. Yet one who is capable of attracting this and using it for something good, to increase the welfare of this world, the welfare and well-being of the world, that man has a hold on the money power, that is to say, the force that is behind money. In French, we call money "argent". "Argent" is also the name of a white metal which is just a little more... a little prettier and a little more lasting than other metals, one which is less easily oxidised and spoilt. So this is called "argent", money. And then, by expansion, all that is wealth is also called "argent". It is really paper or gold or sometimes just written things... because many large fortunes are only numbers written on paper, not even these papers which circulate, only books! There are immense fortunes which govern the world and are just written on papers, like that, with some documents and conventions between men. The fortune may increase, become triple, fourfold, tenfold, or else it may be reduced to nothing. They sell everything, they sell cotton, they sell sugar, they sell corn, coffee, anything at all, but there is nothing! There is no cotton, no sugar, no corn, nothing. Everything is on paper! And so you buy millions of worth of cotton: you dont have a wisp of cotton there! It is all on paper. And so, sometimes later, you sell it off again. If the price of cotton has increased, you gain a fortune, if it has gone down you loose a fortune. And you have with you neither money nor cotton nor anything, nothing but paper. (Laughter) It is entirely a convention. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 February 1955, Mother's Collected Works, Vol.7 The more money we have, the more we need... The more money one has the more one is in a state of calamity, my child. Yes, it is a calamity. It is a catastrophe to have money. It makes you stupid, it makes you miserly, it makes you wicked. It is one of the greatest calamities in the world. Money is something one ought not to have until one no longer has desires. When one no longer has any desires, any attachments, when one has a consciousness vast as the earth, then one may have as much money as there is on the earth; it would be very good for everyone. But if one is not like that, all the money one has is like a curse upon him. This I could tell anyone at all to his face, even to the man who thinks that it is a merit to have become rich. It is a calamity and perhaps it is a disgrace, that is, it is an expression of a divine displeasure. It is infinitely more difficult to be good, to be wise, to be intelligent and generous, to be more generous, you follow me, when one is rich than when one is poor. I have known many people in many countries, and the most generous people I have ever met in all the countries, were the poorest. And as soon as the pockets are full, one is caught by a kind of illness, which is a sordid attachment to money. I assure you it is a curse. So the first thing to do when one has money is to give it. But as it is said that it should not be given without discernment, don't go and give it like those who practise philanthropy, because that fills them with a sense of their own goodness, their generosity and their own importance. You must act in a sattwic way, that is, make the best possible use of it. And so, each one must find in his highest consciousness what the best possible use of money he has can be. And truly money has no value unless it circulates. For each and every one, money is valuable only when one has spent it. If one doesn't spend it... I tell you, men take care to choose things which do not deteriorate, that is, gold - which does not decompose. Otherwise, from the moral point of view it rots. And now that gold has been replaced by papers, if you keep papers for a long time without taking care of them, you will see when you open your drawer that there are small silver-fish which have regaled themselves on your paper-rupees. So they will have left a lace-work which the bank will refuse. There are countries and religions which always say that God makes those whom He loves poor. I don't know if that is true; but there is one thing which is true, that surely when someone is born rich or has become very rich, in any case when he possesses much from the point of view of material riches, it is certainly not sign that the Divine has chosen him for His divine Grace, and he must make honourable amends if he wants to walk on the path, the true path, to the Divine. Wealth is a force - I have already told you this once - a force of Nature; and it should be a means of circulation, a power in movement, as flowing water is a power in movement. It is something which can serve to produce, to organise. It is a convenient means, because in fact it is only a means of making things circulate fully and freely. This force should be in the hands of those who know how to make the best possible use of it, that is, as I said at the beginning, people who have abolished in themselves or in some way or other got rid of every personal desire and every attachment. To this should be added a vision vast enough to understand the needs of the earth, a knowledge complete enough to know how to organise all these needs and use this force by these means. If, besides this, these beings have a higher spiritual knowledge, then they can utilise this force to construct gradually upon the earth what will be capable of manifesting the divine Power, Force and Grace. And then this power of money, wealth, this financial force, of which I just said that it was like a curse, would become a supreme blessing for the good of all. For I think that it is the best things which become the worst. Perhaps the worst also can become the best. I hope the best don't become the worst, for that indeed would be sad. But still, certainly, the greatest power, if badly used, can be a very great calamity; whereas this same very great power if well utilised can be a blessing. All depends on the use that's made of things. Each thing in the world has its place, its work, a real use; and if used for something else it creates a disorder, confusion, chaos. And that's because in the world as it is, very few things are utilised for their true work, very few things are really in their place, and it is because the world is in a frightful chaos that there is all this misery and suffering. If each thing was in its place, in a harmonious balance, the whole world could progress without needing to be in the state of misery and suffering in which it is. There! So there is nothing that's bad in itself, but there are many things -almost all- which are not in their place. Perhaps in the body also it is like that. There is nothing that is bad in itself; but many things are not in their place, and that is why one becomes ill. There is created an inner disharmony. So the result is that one is ill. And people always think that it is not their fault that they are ill, and it is always their fault, and they are very angry when they are told this. "You have no pity." And yet it is true. There we are. That's enough, isn't it? That's all. Then we stop. The dose is complete. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apropos Auroville: on money and government, 10 April 1968, Mother's Collected Works Vol.12 The conflict about money is what might be called a "conflict of ownership", but the truth is that money belongs to no one. This idea of possessing money has warped everything. Money should not be a "possession": like power it is a means of action which is given to you, but you must use it according to... what we can call the "will of the Giver", that is, in an impersonal and enlightened way. If you are a good instrument for diffusing and utilising money, then it comes to you, and it comes to you in proportion to your capacity to use it as it is meant to be used. That is the true mechanism. The attitude is this: money is a force intended for the work on earth, the work required to prepare the earth to receive and manifest the divine forces, and it - that is, the power of utilising it - must come into the hands of those who have the clearest, most comprehensive and truest vision. To start with, the first thing (but this is elementary) is not to have the sense of possession - what does it mean, "it is mine"?... Now, I don't quite understand. Why do people want it to belong to them? – so that they can use it as they like and do what they want with it and handle it according to their own conceptions? That is how it is. On the other hand, yes, there are people who like to store it up somewhere... but that is a disease. To be sure of always having some, they hoard it. But if people understood that one should be like a receiving and transmitting station and that the wider the range (just the opposite of personal), the more impersonal, comprehensive and wide it is, the most force it can hold ("force" that is translated materially: notes and coins). This power to hold is proportional to the capacity to use the money in the best way - "best" in terms of the general progress: the widest vision, the greatest understanding and the most enlightened, exact and true usage, not according to the warped needs of the ego but according to the general need of the earth for its evolution and development. That is to say, the widest vision will have the largest capacity. Behind all wrong movements, there is a true movement; there is a joy in being able to direct, utilise, organise in such a way that there is a minimum of waste and the maximum of result. It is a very interesting vision to have. And this must be the true side in people who want to accumulate the money: it is the capacity to use it on a very large scale. Then, there are those who very much like to have it and spend it; that is something else - they are generous natures, neither regulated nor organised. But the joy of being able to satisfy all true needs, all necessities is good. It is like the joy of changing a sickness into health, a falsehood into truth, a suffering into joy; it is the same thing: to change an artificial and foolish need - which does not correspond to anything natural - into a possibility which becomes something quite natural. So much money is needed to do this or that or the other, so much money is needed to arrange this, to repair that, to build this, to organise that - that is good. And I understand that people like to be channels through which the money goes exactly where it is needed. That must be the true movement in people who like to...translated into foolish egoism, who need to appropriate. When the need to accumulate and the need to spend (which are both blind and ignorant) are combined, they can lead to a clear vision and a most efficient utilisation. That is good. Then there comes, slowly and slowly, the possibility of putting it into right practice. But, naturally, the need is for very clear heads and for intermediaries of high integrity (!) to be able to be everywhere at the same time and do all at the same time. Then this famous question of money would be solved. Money does not belong to anybody. Money is a collective possession which should be used only by those who have an integral, comprehensive and universal vision. I would add something to that: not only integral and comprehensive, but essentially true as well; a vision which can tell the difference between a use which is in accord with the universal progress, and a use which could be termed fanciful. But these are details, for even the mistakes, even, from a certain standpoint, the waste, help the general progress: these are lessons learned the hard way. (Silence) I always remember what X used to say (X was completely opposed to philanthropy); he used to say: Philanthropy perpetuates human misery because without human misery philanthropy would have no more reason to exist!... And you know the great philanthropist, what was his name? - during Mazarin's time; he founded the Little Sisters of Charity... Vincent de Paul? That's it. Mazarin once told him: There have never been so many poor people as since you started taking care of them! (Mother laughs.) (Later.) I have been rethinking what I said about money. That is how life in Auroville should be organised, but I doubt whether people are ready. That is to say that it is possible so long as they accept the guidance of a sage? Yes. The first thing that should be accepted and recognised by everyone is that the invisible and higher power - that is, the power which belongs to a plane of consciousness that is mostly veiled, but which is within reach; a consciousness which can be called anything, by any name, it does not matter, but which is integral and pure in the sense that it is not false, it is in the Truth - that this power is capable of ordering material things in a way that is truer, happier and better for everyone than any material power. That is the first point. Once people agree on that... It is not something that one can pretend to have; an individual cannot pretend to have it, either he has it or he hasn't, because (Mother laughs) in any circumstance of life, if it is a pretension, it will show clearly! On top of that, it does not give you any material power. There again, X once said - he was speaking of the true hierarchy, the hierarchy based on each one's power of consciousness - the individual or individuals who are at the very summit necessarily have the least needs; their material needs have become less as their capacity of material vision grows. And that is very true. It is automatic and spontaneous, not the result of an effort: the wider the consciousness, the more it embraces things and realities - the less its material needs, automatically, because they loose all their importance and value. The need for material necessities is reduced to a minimum, which will itself change with the progressive development of Matter. And that is easily recognisable, isn't it? It is difficult to act the part. And the second thing is the power of conviction; that is, the highest consciousness, when it is brought into contact with Matter, spontaneously has a greater power of conviction than all the intermediary planes. By mere contact, its power of conviction, that is, its power of transformation, is greater than that of all the intermediary planes. That is a fact. These two facts together make it impossible for any pretension to last long. I am looking at it from the standpoint of a collective organisation. As soon as you come down from this supreme Height, there is all the play of the various influences (gesture of mixture and conflict) and that in itself is a sure sign: even a slight descent - even into the domain of higher mind, higher intelligence - and the whole conflict of influences begins. Only what is right at the very summit and is perfectly pure, has this power of spontaneous conviction. Therfore, whatever one may do instead of that is an approximation and it is not much better than democracy - that is, the system which wants to rule by the greatest number and the lowest level - I mean social democracy, the latest trend. If there is no representative of the Supreme Consciousness - that can happen, can't it? - if there isn't any, there could be instead, it could be tried, government by a few - a small number set between four and eight, something like that, four, seven, eight - who have an "intuitive" is more important than intelligence - with an intuition that is manifested intellectually. This would have its drawbacks from the practical point of view, but it would perhaps be closer to the truth than the lowest level - socialism or communism. Everything in between has proved to be incompetent: theocracy, aristocracy, democracy and plutocracy, all those have been a complete failure. The other one, the socialist or communist government is proving itself a failure as well. Basically socialism and communism correspond to a kind of absence of government, because they do not have the power to govern the others; they are obliged to transfer their power to someone who exercises it, like a Lenin for example, because he was a brain. All this has been tried and proved to be incompetent. The only thing that could be competent is the Truth-Consciousness, which would choose instruments and express itself through a certain number of instruments in the absence of one - "one" is not enough either, "one" would necessarily have to choose a group. Those who have this consciousness may belong to any social class: it is not a privilege of birth, but the outcome of personal effort and development. In fact, that is an outward sign, the obvious sign of a change from the political point of view - it is no longer a matter of classes and categories nor of birth - all that is obsolete. It is the individuals who have attained a certain higher consciousness who have the right to govern - not others, regardless of their social class. This would be the true vision. All those who participate in the experiment should be absolutely convinced that the highest consciousness is the best judge of the most material things. What has ruined India is this idea that the higher consciousness deals with higher things and that lower things do not interest it at all, and that it understands nothing about them! That has been the ruin of India. Well, this error must be completely eradicated. It is the highest consciousness which sees most clearly - most clearly and most truly - what the needs of the most material things must be. With that, a new type of government could be tried. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To me any activity is more important than its cost to me, even if the cost is unreasonable. Money should never be the criterion for such decisions. If we say we can't have something because of its cost, we limit our receptivity to the Grace and hamper its workings. Money is only a medium of exchange, it is all relative and the Divine resources are inexhaustible. Is this attitude a correct one? You are quite right and I approve of your attitude. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Does the economic condition of a man become stable with the betterment of his consciousness? If "betterment of his consciousness" means an increased, enlarged consciousness, a better organisation of it, then as a result there should naturally be a greater control of outward things (including the "economic condition"). But also, naturally when one has a "better consciousness" one is less preoccupied with such things as one's own economic condition. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Solution of the economic problem: Arriving at the synthesis of two problems: (1) adjusting the production to the needs; (2) adjusting the needs to the production. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mother's Collected Works, Vol.16 Sweet Mother, I have received a certain sum of money. I want to offer it to You, and if I need anything I will ask You for it; in that way You can decide what is necessary or best for me. But I am advised to keep as much as I want for my personal needs and to offer the rest to You. Otherwise people will say that I ask for anything I want just because I have given you a little money. Mother, what do you want me to do? Do as you feel - and you may be sure that whatever you do, people will always have something to say. Besides, who is perfectly disinterested? One should not pretend to be what one is not. It is better to be frank than hypocritical. 12 April 1963 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sweet Mother, Why do I hesitate to ask you for money? What prevents me from doing so? Am I still not intimate enough with you, or is there another reason? I do not understand myself. It is probably a kind of inner discretion; it is rather a good sign, because this kind of discretion comes from the psychic consciousness which would rather give than ask. 24 July 1963 * Two extremely rich men who claim to be very religious and virtuous, are not paying what they owe according to their accounts. One of them refuses to speak to me about it and the other says, "Have trust in God, you will not loose your money." If the Mother could make these two men honest (even temporarily, long enough for them to settle this affair)... It is said that Christ healed the sick and even raised the dead. One day an idiot was brought to him to be cured. But Christ slipped away, saying that to make a stupid man intelligent is an impossibility. To make a dishonest man honest is an even more impossible miracle. 8 November 1967 * How is it that ordinarily, the richer one is (materially), the more dishonest one is? It is because material wealth is controlled by the adverse forces – and because they have not yet been converted to the Divine Influence, though the work has begun. That victory will form part of the triumph of Truth. Wealth should not be a personal property and should be at the disposal of the Divine for the welfare of all. 4 January 1968 * When Mother says that wealth should not be a personal property, I understand that what should come is more a change of psychological attitude on the part of those who own money than any change in the law of property. Undoubtedly. Only the psychological change can be a solution. 6 January 1968 * The disciples of the Ashram have a sure and easy way to put their money at the disposal of the Divine: they offer it to the Mother. But how can others do it? Can it be said that each one should get rid of the sense of property and spend his money according to the Divine command within, from time to time? I am sure that if someone is advanced enough on the path to receive the knowledge that money is an impersonal power and should be used for the progress of the earth, this person will be developed enough inwardly to receive the knowledge of how best to make use of the money. 8 January 1968 * (To a student in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education who began writing to the Mother at the age of sixteen) Sweet Mother, Should one give money to beggars or not? In a well-organised society, there should not be any beggars. But as along as there are, do as you feel. There are good reasons both for doing it and for not doing it. Blessings. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mother's Collected Works, Vol.17 Mother, could you give four rupees a month for the two of us, to buy some preserves or go to the cinema? If I give you two rupees each, I can see no valid reason why I should not give every other member of the Ashram two rupees pocket-money each month, and that makes a minimum of 1500 rupees. No further comment is needed. June 1948 * I would like to go to Bombay. It is not that I am unhappy here; on the contrary, I live too easy a life. I feel an imperative need to compare the life here with life outside. I need a change, and for this change to take place I need to know the other life. You may go if you like, but since I do not see how it can help you overcome your lower being and go beyond the limits of your ego, do not expect any financial help from me in this affair. 28 November 1948 * May I go to Madras to see the city and the surrounding area? My sister lives there with her family. I will come back before Darshan. You may go if you like, but your family must give you the money needed. Do not expect me to do it because I will give you nothing for that purpose and I forbid you to ask money for it from any disciple or member of the Ashram, especially X. 4 November 1949 * A cousin of mine - Professor Y of Hyderabad - wants me to treat him with Ayurvedic medicine. It is not necessary to see the patient - I can get the medicine prepared in Gurukul and send it to him. I will get about Rs.80/- from it (excluding the price of the medicine) which will naturally go to You. If you allow me to treat him and charge, then the money goes to your feet; otherwise somebody else will get it. You can have the medicine prepared here if you like but we cannot take money as payment. All money that comes here must be an offering. My love and blessings. 15 December 1939 * Mother, Sometimes I have personal talks with my students. Some of the good students give so much importance to money that it gives me a shock. They want to be doctors - to earn more!! I am thinking whether I can have a debate in Hindi Sabha on "Whether money is the most important thing in life". Will it give them a chance to think seriously? I wonder. Yes, try - it is very much needed. Money seems to have become the Supreme Lord these days. Truth is receding in the background; as for Love it is quite out of sight! I mean Divine Love, because what human beings call love is a very good friend of money. Blessings. 13 June 1964 * Mother, I am expecting Rs.10,000 for the advertisements published in "Purodha" in the last few years. The first installment of Rs.500 has come. It wants to go to you. I have two ideas about using this money: (1) Deposit and with the interest send free copies of "Purodha" to schools and libraries; (2) Not to care for the future and use the whole amount for spreading the magazine up to the centenary so that your message may reach as many people as possible with the amount. I am not able to take a decision. Please advise. I am not for getting interest on money. So use it in another way as you think best. Blessings. 5 September 1969 * Mother, I am in a fix. If someone gives Rs.125 to "Purodha" he becomes a life member. That money is deposited with Y in his firm and he gives us Rs.14 every year as interest. Since you do not approve of taking interest on money, what shall I do in this case? We have about 40 life-members and recently we have been getting more. Also, "Purodha" has some money in the bank on which we get interest. Please guide. What I see is the world of tomorrow, but the world of yesterday is still alive and will still live for some time. Let the old arrangements go on so long as they are alive. Upon earth, the changes are slow to come. Do not worry - and keep hope for the future. With Love and Blessings. 6 September 1969 * Mother, X, Y and Z will be the partners in this project to construct a factory named Auro-steel. They will invest various sums of money. How should the profits be distributed? In proportion to their investment or some other way? X's will be the biggest share. All told it needs Rs. 2 lakhs.

Psychological Perfection

Transformation_S_8 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:53:36 GMT

There is not one psychological perfection but five, like the five petals of this flower. We have said they are: sincerity, faith, devotion, aspiration and surrender. But as a matter of fact every time I give this flower it is not always the same psychological perfection, it is something very fluid, depending on the circumstances and the need of people. Who remembers this? (Counting the petals) One, two, three, four, five psychological perfections. What are the five psychological perfections?.... So, if someone knows it, he can tell us, we'll compare.... Aspiration, devotion, sincerity and faith. That makes only four, so far. And surrender. In any case, what is always there, in all combinations and to whomever I give it, the first among them all is sincerity. For if there is no sincerity, one cannot advance even by half a step. So that is the first, and it is always there. But it is possible to translate it by another word, if you prefer it, which would be "transparency". I shall explain this word: Someone is in front of me and I am looking at him; I look into his eyes. And if this person is sincere or "transparent", through his eyes I go down and I see his soul - clearly. But - this is precisely the experience - when I look at somebody and see a little cloud, then I continue, I see a screen, and then sometimes it is a wall, and afterwards it is something quite black; and all this must be crossed, and holes bored in order to go through: and even then I am not sure if at the last minute I may not find myself before a door of bronze so thick that I shall never get through and see his soul; so, of such a person I can immediately say that he is not sincere. But I can also say, figuratively, that he is not transparent. That is the first thing. There is a second, which is obviously, as indispensable if you want to go forward; it is to have faith. Or another word, which seems more limited but is for me more important, because (it is a question of experience) if your faith is not made of a complete trust in the Divine, well, you may very easily remain under the impression that you have faith and yet be losing all trust in the divine Power or divine Goodness, or the Trust the Divine has in you. These are the three stumbling-blocks: Those who have what they call an unshakable faith in the Divine, and say, "It is the Divine who is doing everything, who can do everything; all that happens in me, in others, everywhere, is the work of the Divine and the Divine alone", if they follow this with some kind of logic, after some time they will blame the Divine for all the most terrible wrongs which take place in the world and make of Him a real demon, cruel and frightful - if they have no trust. Or again, they do have faith, but tell themselves, "Well, I have faith in the Divine, but this world, I see quite well what it's like! First of all, I suffer so much, don't I? I am very unhappy, far more unhappy than all my neighbours" - for one is always far more unhappy than all one's neighbours - "I am very unhappy and, truly, life is cruel to me. But then the Divine is divine. He is AllGoodness, All-Generosity, All-Harmony, so how is it that I am so unhappy? He must be powerless; otherwise being so good how could He let me suffer so much" That is the second stumbling-block. And the third: there are people who have what may be called a warped and excessive modesty or humility and who tell themselves, "Surely the Divine has thrown me out. I am good for nothing. He can do nothing with me, the only thing for me is to give up the game, for He finds me unworthy of Him!" So, unless one adds to faith a total and complete trust in the Divine Grace, there will be difficulties. So both are necessary.... Now, we have put "devotion" in this series. Yes, devotion is all very well, but unless it is accompanied by many other things it too may make many mistakes. It may meet with great difficulties. You have devotion, and you keep your ego. And then your ego makes you do all sorts of things out of devotion, things which are terribly egoistic. That is to say, you think only of yourself, not of others, nor of the world, nor of the work, nor of what ought to be done - you think only of your devotion. And you become tremendously egoistic. And so, when you find out that the Divine, for some reason, does not answer to your devotion with the enthusiasm you expected of Him, you despair and fall back into the same three difficulties I was just speaking about: either the Divine is cruel - we have read that, there are many such stories, of enthusiastic devotees who abuse the Divine because He is no longer as gentle and near to them as before. He has withdrawn, "Why hast Thou deserted me? Thou hast abandoned me, 0 monster!... They don't dare to say this, but think it, or else they say, "Oh! I must have made such a serious mistake that I am thrown out", and they fall into despair. But there is another movement which should constantly accompany devotion.... That kind of sense of gratitude that the Divine exists; that feeling of a marvelling thankfulness which truly fills you with a sublime joy at the fact that the Divine exists, that there is something in the universe which is the Divine, that it is not just the monstrosity we see, that there is the Divine, the Divine exists. And each time that the least thing puts you either directly or indirectly in contact with this sublime Reality of divine existence, the heart is filled with so intense, so marvellous a joy, such a gratitude as of all things has the most delightful taste. There is nothing which gives you a joy equal to that of gratitude. One hears a bird sing, sees a lovely flower, looks at a little child, observes an act of generosity, reads a beautiful sentence, looks at the setting sun, no matter what, suddenly this comes upon you, this kind of emotion - indeed so deep, so intense - that the world manifests the Divine, that there is something behind the world which is the Divine. So I find that devotion without gratitude is quite incomplete, gratitude must come with devotion. I remember that once we spoke of courage as one of the perfections; I remember having written it down once in a list. But this courage means having a taste for the supreme adventure. And this taste for supreme adventure is aspiration - an aspiration which takes hold of you completely and flings you, without calculation and without reserve and without a possibility of withdrawal, into the great adventure of the divine discovery, the great adventure of the divine meeting, the yet greater adventure of the divine Realisation; you throw yourself into the adventure without looking back and without asking for a single minute, "What's going to happen?" For if you ask what is going to happen, you never start, you always remain stuck there, rooted to the spot, afraid to lose something, to lose your balance. That's why I speak of courage - but really it is aspiration. They go together. A real aspiration is something full of courage. And now, surrender. In English the word is "surrender", there is no French word which gives exactly that sense. But Sri Aurobindo has said - I think we have read this - that surrender is the first and absolute condition for doing the yoga. So, if we follow what he has said, this is not just one of the necessary qualities: it is the first attitude indispensable for beginning the yoga. If one has not decided to make a total surrender, one cannot begin. But for this surrender to be total, all these qualities are necessary. And I add one more - for so far we have only four - I add endurance. For, if you are not able to face difficulties without getting discouraged and without giving up, because it is too difficult; and if you are incapable... well, of receiving blows and yet continuing, of "pocketing" them, as they say - when you receive blows as a result of your defects, of putting them in your pocket and continuing to go forward without flagging - you don't go very far; at the first turning where you lose sight of your little habitual life, you fall into despair and give up the game. The most... how shall I put it? the most material form of this is perseverance. Unless you are resolved to begin the same thing over again a thousand times if need be... You know, people come to me in despair, "But I thought it was done and now I must begin again!" And if they are told, "But that's nothing, you will probably have to begin again a hundred times, two hundred times, a thousand times; you take one step forward and think you are secure, but there will always be something to bring back the same difficulty a little farther on. You think you have solved the problem, you must solve it yet once again; it will turn up again looking just a little different, but it will be the same problem", and if you are not determined that: "Even if it comes back a million times, I shall do it a million times, but I shall go through with it", well, you won't be able to do the yoga. This is absolutely indispensable. People have a beautiful experience and say, "Ah, now this is it!..." And then it settles down, diminishes, gets veiled, and suddenly something quite unexpected, absolutely commonplace and apparently completely uninteresting comes before you and blocks your way. And then you say, "Ah! what's the good of having made this progress if it's going to start all over again? Why should I do it? I made an effort, I succeeded, achieved something, and now it's as if I had done nothing! It's indeed hopeless." For you have no endurance. If one has endurance, one says, "It's all right. Good. I shall begin again as often as necessary; a thousand times, ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times if necessary, I shall begin again - but I shall go to the end and nothing will have the power to stop me on the way." This is most necessary. Most necessary. So here's my proposal; we put surrender first, at the top of the list, that is, we accept what Sri Aurobindo has said - that to do the integral yoga one must first resolve to surrender entirely to the Divine, there is no other way, this is the way. But after that one must have the five psychological virtues, five psychological perfections, and we say that these perfections are: 1. Sincerity or Transparency; 2. Faith or Trust (Trust in the Divine, naturally); 3. Devotion or Gratitude; 4. Courage or Aspiration; 5. Endurance or Perseverance. One form of endurance is faithfulness, faithfulness to one's resolution - being faithful. One has taken a resolution, one is faithful to one's resolution. This is endurance. There you are. If one persists, there comes a time when one is victorious. Victory is to the persistent. THE MOTHER

Let Thy Will be done!!!

Transformation_S_8 — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:48:19 GMT

October 23, 1971 (Satprem reads to Mother a letter from G., which ends with the following question.) He asks a question? Yes, at the end he says: "Mother, what sort of change may take shape in life if one becomes just Thy Will but nothing else?" (after a silence) Supreme Peace, certitude, and even the functioning of the body can change. (Satprem has not heard well:) You said Supreme Peace.... Supreme Peace is established and becomes constant, and then.... Then the functioning of the body can change. And certitude in the action also. A certitude in the action when you do things. That's all? It's very difficult to know what to do.... You get the feeling there's a Silence, that nothing responds -- nothing tells you: "Do this or do that." So you wonder if that silence means you should simply remain inactive and still, or if you should undertake a positive act, "pull" something and act. It depends on the case. There's a slight difference.... There are cases when nothing comes -- nothing, everything is stopped. So there you have to wait until it runs its course. There are cases where you are NATURALLY led to do one thing or another, which seems totally indifferent but is part of the Action (I don't know how to say it). I have experienced both. It depends on the case. There are cases where nothing is needed. There are cases where it's simply as though you put the Divine ON the thing (Mother makes a gesture of aiming a beam). You know, you're like ... not an intermediary, I don't know ... it's like a power of concentration on something; then the Divine Force flows through and is focused (same gesture of aiming a beam), but you yourself do nothing -- yet the thing is done. Sometimes, if there is a word to be said, then the word comes to you; or if there is something to be done (it may seem like a very small, indifferent thing), you just have to do it quietly -- you are LED to do it. You're led, yes, I understand.... (silence, torrential rain) Because, my own fear is that I am divided between the idea that I must do something and the idea that if there is really something to be done, inevitably the Divine will make me do it. But then, you wonder whether that's inactivity, passivity [or even somnolence], or whether you should do something -- that's the only thing. No, there is a moment when it becomes clear. It all depends on.... All personal preferences and desires must disappear. Yes, that's it. Then, in that case, it becomes very clear. There are times when you're sort of COMPELLED to do something. There are times when ... nothing -- you feel the Force passing and having an effect, but you yourself (I mean, the body), the body doesn't move. It becomes very perceptible. And I've had proof that that's right, because I've had examples: at times, when I've remained still like that, without saying anything, simply letting the Force be focused on someone or something through the body (same gesture of aiming a beam), it does it, it acts miraculously like that. And the body has done nothing, hasn't moved, just let it pass through and be focused on a particular spot (same gesture). It's automatically focused. Because it's in our consciousness that the world is divided like this (gesture of little pieces), and there's one person, another person, one thing, another thing -- it's our consciousness which is like that; so "one" uses that [the individuality] as a channel for the Force to go exactly where it is supposed to go. The action is not a personal action: it's an Action of the Force using the personal consciousness as a pipe -- you understand? It's very difficult to say that one no longer has any preferences and desires.... (Mother laughs) Because it's so subtle! Oh!... But that's progressive, you see; you can go on working at it all the time, all the time, all the time.... It's my constant occupation: eliminating all preferences. But the positive means is (we always come back to the same thing): "What You want, what You want.... What You want, what You want...." And when you're completely still and free from any trepidation (what I call "passive receptivity," that is, there isn't any activity, and yet: what You want, what You want ...), then -- then only -- That works. And you really have the feeling (I don't know how to say it), really that you're used only as a channel so the Thing -- the Force or the Action -- can go exactly where it is supposed to go. That's what our consciousness is used for (gesture of a pipe). Agenda http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/ma/agenda/12/1971-10-23.htm

Self-Deception!!!

Transformation_S_8 — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:09:18 GMT

51 - When I hear of a righteous wrath, I wonder at man’s capacity for self-deception. What do you have to say? Our self-deception is always in good faith! We always act for the welfare of others or in the interests of humanity and to serve you (that goes without saying!). How exactly do we deceive ourselves? I would like to ask you a question in turn – because there are two ways of understanding your question. It can be taken in the same ironic or humorous tone that Sri Aurobindo has used in his aphorism when he wonders at man’s capacity for self-deception. That is, you are putting yourself in the place of the self-deceiver and saying, ‘But I am of good faith! I always want the welfare of others – the interests of humanity, to serve the Divine (of course!). Then how can I be deceiving myself?’ But actually, there are really two quite different forms of self-deception. One can be very shocked by certain things, not for personal reasons but precisely because of one’s goodwill and ardor to serve the Divine, when one sees people misconducting themselves, being egoistical, unfaithful, treacherous. There comes a stage when one has mastered these things and doesn’t permit them to manifest IN ONESELF; but to the extent that one is in contact with ordinary consciousness, ordinary viewpoints, ordinary life and thought, their possibility is still there, latent, because they are the inverse of the qualities one is striving for. And this opposition always exists until one has risen above and no longer has either the quality or the defect. As long as one has virtue, one always has its latent opposite. The opposition disappears only when one is beyond virtue and sin. But until then, there is this kind of indignation stemming from the fact that one is not entirely above: it’s a period when one totally disapproves of certain things and would be incapable of doing them. And up to this point, there is nothing to say, unless one gives an external, violent expression to his indignation. If anger interferes, it indicates an entire contradiction between the feeling one wants to have and this reaction towards others. [29] Because anger is a deformation of vital power originating from an obscure and thoroughly unregenerate vital, a vital still subject to all the ordinary actions and reactions. When an ignorant, egoistic individual will exploits this vital power and encounters opposition from other individual wills around it, then under the pressure of opposition this power changes into anger and tries to obtain through violence what could not be achieved by the pressure of the Force alone. Anger, moreover, like all forms of violence, is always a sign of weakness, impotence and incapacity. Here the deception comes from the approval one gives it or the flattering adjective one covers it with; for rage can be no more than blind, ignorant and asuric – opposed to the light. But this is still the best of cases. There is another case where people – without knowing it or because they WANT to ignore it – always pursue their personal interests, their preferences, their attachments, their concepts; people who are not entirely consecrated to the Divine and make use of moral and yogic ideas to conceal their personal motives. These people doubly deceive themselves: not only do they deceive themselves through their outer activities, their relations with others, but they also deceive themselves about their personal motives; instead of serving the Divine they are serving their own egoism. And this happens constantly, constantly! One serves his own personality, his egoism, while pretending to serve the Divine. This is no longer even self-deception: it’s sheer hypocrisy. This mental habit of always cloaking everything with a favorable appearance, of giving all movements a favorable explanation, is at times so flagrant that it can fool nobody but oneself (although it may occasionally be subtle enough to create an illusion). It is a sort of habitual self-exoneration, the habit of giving a favorable mental excuse, a favorable mental explanation for all one does, all one says, all one feels. For example, someone with no self-control who strikes another in great indignation and is ready to call it divine wrath! Righteous is perfect, because righteous immediately introduces this element of puritanical morality – wonderful! [30] This power of self-deception, the mind’s craft in devising splendid justifications for any ignorance or folly whatsoever, is tremendous. And it’s not a random experience coming now and then, it’s something you can witness minute by minute. You generally see it far more readily in others! But if you watch yourself carefully, you will catch yourself a thousand times a day – looking at things in a favorable way: ‘Oh, it’s NOT the same thing!’ And besides, it’s NEVER the same for you as it is for your neighbor! Agenda Vol.II pages 14-16, Jan17,1961 http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/ma/agenda/02/1961-01-17.htm

PAIN IS THE HAMMER OF GODS'...

Transformation_S_8 — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 13:16:02 GMT

93 – Pain is the touch of our Mother teaching us to bear and grow in rapture. She has three stages of her schooling, endurance first, next equality of soul, last ecstasy. ... I am still in a period of conflict. There are all the time periods of conflict between outside ideas and the inner experience. The problem is this: you can take the attitude of endurance and endure everything, to the point where you are able to turn pain into ecstasy, as he says – it's an experiment that can always be made, at any given moment. But materialist-minded people will tell you, "That's all very well, but you're ruining your body." And that's where ... (laughing) we would have to carry out all kinds of experiments, as they do with guinea pigs, to find out whether ecstasy has the power to restore order in the body. You suffer from, say, a physical trouble, purely physical (morally speaking, it goes without saying, the thing is quite clear; I mean something purely material). Something is disorganized in the working or the structure of the organs. The result is pain. At first you endure, then out of endurance comes perfect equality, and out of perfect equality comes ecstasy – it's perfectly possible; it's not only possible, it has been proved. But the experiment should be carried through TO THE END to know whether ecstasy has the power to restore the body's order, or whether it ends in dissolution: you are in ecstasy and die in ecstasy. That is, you leave your body while in ecstasy. Is that so?... It's not only possible, it's perfectly obvious. But that's not what we want! We want to restore order, to eliminate disorder IN MATTER – does ecstasy have the power to restore order in the physical working and triumph over the forces of dissolution? The only way to find out is to make the experiment! But there is always something which says that the risk is great for ... We are too – still too cautious. Or is it a lack of faith? But it's a lack of knowledge more than a lack of faith, because if we say, "Whatever happens is the Lord's Will, and if the experiment dissolves the body, well, it only shows He willed it," then there is no need to worry. And it's true, you live in this idea, you feel this way, you sense this way; but there is something on the outside or from the outside that says, "That's all very well, but is this need or inclination to experiment legitimate? Couldn't the same knowledge be obtained without running so great a risk? ..." That's the kind of problem you have to face. So personally, my attitude (all this has nothing to do with the Bulletin, by the way), my attitude is to watch it all: this opinion, that opinion, this attitude, that attitude, and I stay like this (gesture of a Witness completely outside and passive). I refrain from deciding or acting, I become exclusively a witness – a non-interfering witness. I say to the Lord, "It's for You to decide; it isn't my business, You will decide. Whatever happens is Your concern." So far, this has always resulted in an intervention that restored order, but ... but with no positive proof that the order was restored in this way or that, because of this or that. There is no certainty. In this field, we know nothing. Oh, as soon as we get into the field ... even the field of sensation, the vital, all problems are solved. Nothing could be easier, there's nothing to discuss; in the field of feelings, the work was done long ago. That's not what I mean: I mean when we get to the bottom of the problem. There, everything, everything is in a sort of incomprehension, of total ignorance, along with all the ideas that result from the intellectual and scientific development and are so sure of themselves, so full of impregnable certainty! The certainty of the material experience, of the thing you touch. To use that without being governed by it, to base yourself on that without being influenced by it, is very difficult. Maybe someone much more intelligent, much smarter than me would find the work easier; but he would probably have more difficulties inside – no such difficulties here! But outside ... For example, the chemical discovery of the structure of Matter would seem to be sufficient to serve as a base for true knowledge to act on Matter. And maybe those scientists, those who have discovered and experimented with the structure of Matter, would have no difficulty.... But the field of the greatest difficulty is the medical field, the therapeutic field: their science is still ABSOLUTELY contrary to the true knowledge. And when it comes to the body's equilibrium ... They know anatomy, they even know a little (not very, very much) a little about the body's chemistry, they know all kinds of things that the common man doesn't, on the strength of which they make dogmatic assertions and send you packing like an ignorant fool. All this business about the body's workings – how much do they know? Naturally, when you ask them, "But why is it like that?" they reply, "Oh, why? I have no idea." And their way of telling you, "That's how things are and they cannot be otherwise"! But if you tell them, "Your experience is ultimately based on statistics, but your statistics are useless, they cover such a limited field of experience that they are worthless – there is also all that you don't know," then they feel sorry for you. They are still in infancy, with the kind of dogmatic certainties characteristic of infancy. On the other hand, the others, those who know the inside of things, don't have the experience – no one has transformed his body so far! No one can tell you, "Well, it's done this way and it happened that way; this is what I did and that's what happened" – no one. That's why it is so difficult. Very difficult. And also, oh, there are all those great waves of thought, of convictions (Mother draws great cosmic waves coming from the outside to assail her), that whole habit of Matter of decomposing and recomposing itself, being unbuilt and rebuilt.... It comes again and again, very regularly, like waves beating against a dike. Very difficult. (silence) Probably it's necessary because at times, when everything is in utter confusion, at times I ask for an Assurance – and I see very well, very well that if my body's cells, the body consciousness were told, "You are immortal; all those difficulties are experiences; the pain you feel has no importance; this apparent decomposition has no importance; all those things are necessary experiences, and you will go on to the end of the experience, that is, to transformation," if it were told that, obviously it would be mere child's play, just enduring the difficulties – that's nothing. So I wonder.... But never have I been told that, never, never have I been given the Assurance – now and then the body is in a sort of STATE, a state of immortality, but it isn't constant, it's dependent on other things; so the minute it's "dependent," it is no longer a supreme Assurance. There is at the same time a sort of discernment: very likely there would be a general slackening of the cells' effort if they were told, "Never mind, none of this is important, because you will last till the work is done." Maybe they would flag. The concentration of will in the battle would disappear. Which means one of the necessary conditions would be missing. Then again something else comes and says, "Oh, you always have very favorable explanations to comfort yourself! ..." You see, I am like a spectator (Mother does the same gesture of great cosmic waves assailing her) at a sort of contest of all the different reactions. (I put it into words to make myself understood, but there are no words – only SENSATIONS; the verbal translation is just for explaining, but they are like sensations, or rather states of consciousness. They are all states of consciousness.) And they all run into each other ... (gesture of waves). Ah, none of this is for the Bulletin! Agenda ..Vol. 4 , 157 -161 pages

Are You Neutral - Dull ?

Transformation_S_8 — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 13:22:32 GMT

So, how are you? I don't know at all where I stand. You're neutral. Yes, I understand nothing at all. You're neutral - dull. That (laughing) makes it hard for you not to get irritated! Why? What has happened? Oh, nothing (Mother laughs), nothing in particular. Just the feeling that you'd jump if someone touched you! Really, I don't understand anything any more. I don't understand. I have absolute faith in Something Else - that's always been there, it doesn't waver. But ... there seems to be no progress. I see nothing ahead of me, nothing behind me, nothing. I don't know, I've already been here a good number of years and I don't feel I've made an inch of progress, nothing - I see nothing. Not that I'm losing faith, that's my only reason for living; without this certainty of Something Else, I would kill myself. But practically speaking.... There are periods like that. But there's nothing to show that you're progressing, to give you confidence: "Ah, yes, I'm on the way." Nothing. This in itself has to be conquered; I mean, the state in itself represents something to be conquered. Because ... you remember, I told you the other day about having such a tremendous experience in the body-consciousness[[The healing of Mother's legs: "Now, O unbelieving substance, you can't say there are no miracles." (See conversation of February 24.) ]] - this ... this dull consciousness in the material world, which really gives the feeling of something inert, unchanging, incapable of responding; you could wait millions and millions of years and nothing would budge. And that experience came at the end of a rather critical passage - it takes catastrophes to get it moving, that's what's so strange! And not only that, but the wisp of imagination it does have (if you can call it imagination) is invariably catastrophic. Whatever it anticipates is always for the worst - the pettiest, meanest, nastiest kind of worst - always the worst. It's ... really, it's the most sickening condition human consciousness and matter can be in. Well, I have been swimming in it for months, and my way of being in it is to go through every possible illness and to have every possible physical aggravation, one after another. Just recently, as I told you, things truly became a little ... disgusting, dangerous, and for an hour or an hour and a half I did a sadhana like this (Mother clenches her fists), keeping hold of this body and body-consciousness. And the whole time the Force was at work there (it was like kneading a very resistant dough), something was saying to me, "Look, you can't deny miracles any longer." It was being said to this consciousness (not to me, of course), this body-consciousness: " Now you can't deny it - miracles do happen." It was forced to see; there it was, gaping like an idiot being shown the sky - "Ah!" And it's so stupid that it didn't even have any joy of discovery! But it was forced to see, the thing was right under its nose - there was no escaping it, it had to be admitted. But you know what, mon petit, as soon as I let up on the pressure - forgotten! I remember the whole experience, of course, but the body-consciousness forgot. The slightest difficulty, even the shadow or the recollection of a difficulty, was enough for it to start up all over again: "Oh ... oh! Now what's going to happen?" The same old anxieties and stupidities. So I realize that we have to keep on trying. What's annoying, though, is that in order to shake it all up, I have to go through some pretty bad moments physically. So don't worry, I understand how it is for others! I myself never lose either consciousness or contact with ... not with Knowledge, but with the total EXPERIENCE of identification. Only here in Matter does the work have this particular nature. So I understand how it is for people who live heedlessly from day to day, from minute to minute, for whom it's not a constant, permanent work of each second, totally conscious and deliberate.... And besides, this body is so willing - the poor thing, sometimes I have found it crying like a child, imploring, "How do you get out of this mess?" That's exactly why all the people who have achieved the inner realization have called this work "impossible." It's their own impossibility! I know it's not impossible, I know it will come, but ... how long will it take? That I don't know. My feeling is that if you try to hurry, to rush, to speed things up a little, it jams, it becomes like stone - it turns to stone again. It took the stone a long time to become a man.... So I don't want that. You can't get too impatient - it's not even impatience, but pressure. Beyond a certain pressure, it turns to stone. So I understand people who attain realization and, blissfully enjoying it, kick the whole thing out: "Fine, I'll do without it!" That's what has always happened. But I can't do that. What I always do is say, "Well, all right ..." (I say this to the Lord with a smile), "if You have now decided I should leave, I'll go willingly." If He ever gave me a slap, that's when I'd get one! I can feel it even while I am saying this. It's simply to ensure that the consciousness is in a state of perfect equanimity; I mean, whether things turn out like this or like that leaves me completely indifferent: what You will - spontaneously and integrally and exclusively - My Will. I say "My" Will on purpose, to show total adhesion. It's not submission, it has nothing to do with submission; it's like this (gesture of total abandonment). Well, in spite of that, there's not much progress. Although sometimes, yes, all of a sudden.... Take this example (it may seem a mere trifle, but when you have reached this point ...): the first sudden glimmer of conscious control over a bodily functioning, giving you a glimpse of the time when everything will function through the action of a conscious will. That has begun - but it's a tiny, tiny, tiny beginning. And the slightest mental intrusion from the old movement spoils it all - I mean the old way of behaving with your body: you want this and you want that and you want to make it do this and you want to make it.... The minute that pops up, everything stops. Progress comes to a standstill. One must be in a state of beatific union ... then one can feel the new functioning begin. But it has become such a delicate play! A MINUTE thing, minute, can throw everything out of gear - one simple ordinary movement. If through habit you slip back into the ordinary functioning (these are infinitesimal things, not easily seen, subtle, tenuous; one must be very, very, VERY alert), if this happens, the whole new thing stops. Then you have to wait. Wait until the ordinary functioning consents to stop, and that means meditating, entering into contemplation - going over the whole path again. Then, when you have caught hold of That again and can stay there for a few seconds, sometimes a few minutes (it's marvelous when it lasts a few minutes).... And then it gets jammed again and everything has to be done over. I am not saying this to discourage you, but to tell you that one must really and truly be patient. The only possible way to do it is in a sort of passivity: not to WANT the result - WANTING the result brings in an ego movement which spoils it all. I have been telling you for a long time that we are VERY close - for a long time. So when people ask me, I say (to tell them something), "We shall see." It's certainly not that I don't know; I know perfectly well how it will be. But (laughing) I don't know when! That, I don't know. Even at this point, I don't know when. In fact, if something wants to know when, then it's still in a hurry. No, you have to be a saint, mon petit! (Mother laughs and laughs.) (Satprem grimaces) Yes, I know - neither am I! I used to say the same thing. When Sri Aurobindo was here I used to tell everybody, "I am not a saint and don't want to be a saint!" And look what has happened to me! You have to be an unsaintly saint. Without an ounce of saintliness. You know, all those little rules we're enjoined to follow: "Above all, don't do that; and be sure to do this, don't forget that...." Like ablutions, for instance, or attitudes, or what to eat - there's no dearth of them. A mountain of do's and don'ts - all completely swept away! And swept away to the point where sometimes a rule, something highly recommended ("Be sure to do this, be careful to do that" - an attitude or an action) becomes an obstacle. I hardly dare say it, but one example is having a regular schedule - always making ablutions at the same hour, always doing japa in the same manner and so on. And I am perfectly aware that Sri Aurobindo himself puts all sorts of trivial obstacles in my way - obstacles I could hurdle with a single second of reflection; he sets them up as if in play. Do you remember the aphorism where he says he was quarreling with the Lord and the Lord made him fall in the mud?[[Aphorism 463 - At first whenever I fell back into sin, I used to weep and rage against myself and against God for having suffered it. Afterwards it was as much as I could dare to ask, "Why hast thou rolled me again in the mud, O my playfellow?" ... ]] That's just what I feel. He puts a stick in my spokes and laughs. So I say, "All right, that's enough, I don't give a hoot! I'll do whatever You want, it's not my problem; I can do it or not do it, do it this way or that...." It has all gone up in smoke now. What has become constant, though.... I shouldn't say it, because it's going to get me into trouble again! But anyway, what's trying to be constant is DISCRIMINATION: taking all circumstances, vibrations, relationships, what comes from the people around me, what responds, and putting each in its proper place. A second-to-second discrimination. I know where things are coming from, why they come, their effect, where they're going to lead me, and so on. It's growing more and more frequent, constant, automatic - like a state of being. That's about the only place where progress is really visible. I hope the fact of having spoken won't get me into trouble again! But impatience and irritation.... Well, if it makes you feel better.... Some people need it as a safety valve - but it makes you lose a lot of time. One day I was all tensed up; things had become so "intolerable," as people say, that something in the most material vital went into what's usually considered a fit of rage (it was totally under control - I mean it was working as a safety valve and being observed as such in all its vibrations). I was alone in the bathroom, nobody to see me; I grabbed hold of I don't remember what and smashed it on the floor! Aah, what a relief! So there you are. But what are we supposed to do in the meantime? What? I'll tell you what I do: I say to the Lord, "All right, if that's how it is, well, I am not doing anything any more; I am resting in Your arms and waiting." I actually, concretely (I was about to say "materially") do it - and then I don't stir. "You will do it all, I am not doing anything." And I really stay like that. Immediately, of course, there's a great joy and I don't stir. For instance, I am completely snowed under with material work, letters, people, matters to arrange and decide, big things to organize, all of it falling on me from every side and trying to take up all my time and energy. At times it really gets too much. So when it's too much, I say, "All right, Lord, now I will nestle in Your arms." And there I am, no longer thinking, no longer bothering about anything, and ... I go into Bliss. Usually after ten minutes everything is fine! The trouble is, the mental mechanism isn't there any more. Before, with the mind working, I would take up this thing or do that thing, but now I don't let it function, so there's nothing to make me move! Absolutely. But it's a big progress. Not necessarily! Maybe there are things I should be doing. No. No, it's a big progress, an immense progress. All right then; but I feel as if I'm doing nothing ... Yes. ... except the bare minimum, which I do because it has to be done; otherwise.... I have no desire to stir up the mind, I want something else. Naturally! Thank god, I tell you, it's an immense progress. You should be delighted. Yes, but on a material level I'm doing nothing. The Mother , Agenda Vol.III March 6, 1962

To hate the sinner is the worst sin, for it is hating God;

Transformation_S_8 — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 14:23:49 GMT

50 – To hate the sinner is the worst sin, for it is hating God; yet he who commits it glories in his superior virtue. Do you have a question? When we enter a certain state of consciousness, we plainly see that we are capable of anything and that ultimately there is no ‘sin’ not potentially our own. Is this impression correct? And yet certain things make us rebel or disgust us. We always reach some inadmissible point. Why? What is the true, effective attitude when confronted with Evil? There is no sin not our own.... [23] You have this experience when for some reason or other, depending on the case, you come into contact with the universal consciousness – not in its limitless essence but on any level of Matter. There is an atomic consciousness, a purely material consciousness and an even more generally prevailing psychological consciousness. When, through interiorization or a sort of withdrawal from the ego you enter into contact with that zone of consciousness we can call psychological terrestrial or human collective (there is a difference: ‘human collective’ is restricted, while ‘terrestrial’ includes many animal and even plant vibrations; but in the present case, since the moral notion of guilt, sin and evil belongs exclusively to human consciousness, let us simply say ‘human collective psychological consciousness’); when you contact that through identification, you naturally feel or see or know yourself capable of any human movement whatsoever. To some extent, this constitutes a Truth-Consciousness, or at such times the egoistical sense of what does or doesn’t belong to you, of what you can or cannot do, disappears; you realize that the fundamental construction of human consciousness makes any human being capable of doing anything. And since you are in a truth-consciousness, you are aware at the same time that to feel judgmental or disgusted or revolted would be an absurdity, for EVERYTHING is potentially there inside you. And should you happen to be penetrated by certain currents of force (which we usually can’t follow: we see them come and go but we are generally unaware of their origin and direction), if any one of these currents penetrates you, it can make you do anything. If one always remained in this state of consciousness, keeping alive the flame of Agni, the flame of purification and progress, then after some time, not only could one prevent these movements from taking an active form in oneself and becoming expressed physically, but one could act upon the very nature of the movement and transform it. Needless to say, however, that unless one has attained a very high degree of realization it is virtually impossible to keep this state of consciousness for long. Almost immediately one falls back into the egoistic consciousness of the separate self, and all the difficulties return: disgust, the revolt against certain things and the horror they create in us, and so on. It is probable – even certain – that until one is completely transformed these movements of disgust and revolt are necessary to make one do WITHIN ONESELF what is needed to slam the door on them. For after all, the point is to not let them manifest The Mother's AGENDA - pages 7-8

One mustn’t hate sinners!!!

Transformation_S_8 — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:35:19 GMT

In one of the Aphorisms, Sri Aurobindo speaks of those who hate sinners – that one mustn’t hate sinners. It’s the same problem seen from another angle, but the solution is the same. But the difficulty isn’t so much not hating the sinner, but not hating the virtuous! That’s far more difficult! Because one readily understands sinners, those poor people, but the virtuous.... Actually, what you hate in them is their self-righteousness, only that. After all, they’re right not to do evil – they can’t be blamed for that! But what’s hard to tolerate is their sense of superiority, the way they look down their noses at all these poor fellows who are no worse than they! Oh, I could cite a few shining examples! Consider the case of a woman with many friends, and these friends are very fond of her for her special capacities, her pleasant company, and because they feel they can always learn something from her. Then all of a sudden, through a quirk of circumstances, she finds herself socially ostracized – because she may have gone off with another man, or may be living with someone out of wedlock – all those social mores with no value in themselves. And all her friends (I don’t speak of those who truly love her), all her social friends who welcomed her, who smiled so warmly when passing her on the street, suddenly look the other way and march by without a glance. This has happened right here in the Ashram! I won’t give the details, but it has happened several times when something conflicted with accepted social norms: the people who had shown so much affection, so much kindness ... oh! Sometimes they even said, ‘She’s a lost woman!’ [26] I must say that when this happens here.... In the world at large it seems quite normal, but when this happens here it always gives me a bit of a shock, in the sense that I say to myself, ‘So they’re still at that level! ...’ Even those who claim to be broad-minded, above these ‘conventions,’ immediately fall right into the trap. And to ease their consciences they say, ‘Mother wouldn’t allow that. Mother wouldn’t permit that. Mother wouldn’t tolerate such a thing!’ – to add a further inanity to the rest. This state is very difficult to get out of. It is really Pharisaism – this sense of social dignity, this narrow-mindedness – because no one with an atom of intelligence would fall into such a hole! Those who have traveled through the world, for instance, and seen for themselves that social mores depend entirely upon climatic conditions, upon races and customs and still more upon the times, the epoch – they are able to look at it all with a smile. But the self-righteous ... oooh! This is a primary stage. As long as you haven’t gone beyond this condition, you are unfit for yoga. Because truly, no one in such a rudimentary state is ready for yoga. The Mother's AGENDA - Vol.II page 11-12

LOVE - It doesn’t destroy: it transforms.

Transformation_S_8 — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:02:33 GMT

Q: How can one collaborate in curing the evil and ugliness seen everywhere? By loving? What is the power of love? What effect can an individual consciousness, acting alone, have on the rest of mankind? A: How to collaborate in curing evil and ugliness? ... We can say that there’s a kind of hierarchic scale of collaboration or action; a negative cooperation and a positive cooperation. [18] To begin with, there’s what could be called a negative way, the way expounded by Buddhism and similar religions: the refusal to see. To be in a state of such purity and beauty that there is no perception of evil and ugliness. It’s like something that doesn’t touch you because it doesn’t exist in you. This is the perfection of the negative method. It is quite elementary: never take notice of evil, never speak of the evil present in others, never perpetuate the vibrations of evil by observation, criticism or giving undue attention to the evil deed. This is what Buddha taught: each time you mention an evil you help spread it. This skirts the issue. Nevertheless, it ought to be a very general rule; yet its critics have a reply: ‘If you don’t see evil you can never cure it. If you leave someone to his squalor he will never emerge from it.’ (It’s not exactly true, but it’s how they legitimize their actions.) In this aphorism, Sri Aurobindo has anticipated these objections: it is not through ignorance or unconsciousness or indifference that you fail to see evil – you can see and even feel it, but you refuse to collaborate in spreading it by giving it the force of your attention or the support of your consciousness. And for that, you must yourself be above the perception and sensation – able to see evil or ugliness without suffering, without feeling shocked or troubled. You see them from a height where such things do not exist, yet you have the conscious perception of them – they don’t affect you, you are free. This is the first step. The second step is to be POSITIVELY conscious of the supreme Goodness and Beauty behind all things and supporting all things, permitting them to exist. Once you have seen Him, you can perceive Him behind the mask and the distortion – even ugliness, even cruelty, even evil are a disguise for that Something which is essentially good or beautiful, luminous, pure. With this comes TRUE collaboration. For when you have this vision, this awareness, when you live in this consciousness, you also get the power to PULL That into the manifestation on earth and put it into contact with what, for the time being, distorts and disguises; thus the deformation and disguise are gradually transformed by the influence of the Truth behind. Here we are at the top rung on the scale of collaboration. [19] Put this way, there is no need to bring the principle of love into our explanation. But if we want to know or understand the nature of the Force or Power that permits and accomplishes this transformation (specially in the case of evil, but for ugliness to some extent as well), we see that of all powers, Love is obviously the mightiest, the most integral – integral in that it applies to all cases. It’s even mightier than the power of purification which dissolves bad wills and is, in a way, master over the adverse forces, but which doesn’t have the direct transforming power; because the power of purification Must FIRST dissolve in order to form again later. It destroys one form to make a better one from it, while Love doesn’t need to dissolve in order to transform: it has the direct transforming power. Love is like a flame changing the hard into the malleable, then sublimating even the malleable into a kind of purified vapor. It doesn’t destroy: it transforms. Love, in its essence and in its origin, is like a white flame obliterating ALL resistances. You can have the experience yourself: whatever the difficulty in your being, whatever the weight of accumulated mistakes, the ignorance, incapacity, bad will, a single SECOND of this Love – pure, essential, supreme – melts everything in its almighty flame. One single moment and an entire past can vanish. One single TOUCH of That in its essence and the whole burden is consumed. It’s easy to understand how someone who has this experience can spread it and act upon others, since to have it you must touch the unique, supreme Essence of the whole manifestation – the Origin and the Essence, the Source and the Reality of all that is; then you immediately enter the realm of Unity where there is no more separation among individuals: it’s a single vibration that can repeat itself endlessly in outer forms. If you go high enough, you come to the Heart of everything. Whatever manifests in this Heart can manifest in all things. This is the great secret, the secret of divine incarnation in an individual form. For in the normal course of things, what manifests at the center is only realized in the outer form with the awakening and RESPONSE Of the will within the individual form. But if the central Will is constantly, permanently represented in one individual, he can then serve as an intermediary between that Will and all beings, and will FOR THEM. [20] Whatever this being perceives and consciously offers to the supreme Will is replied to as if it came from each individual being. And if individuals happen to be in a more or less conscious and voluntary relationship with this representative being, their relationship increases his efficacy and the supreme Action can work in Matter in a much more concrete and permanent way. This is the reason for these descents of what could be called ‘polarized’ consciousnesses that always come to earth for a particular realization, with a definite purpose and mission – a mission decided upon before the actual embodiment. These mark the great stages of the supreme incarnations upon earth. And when the day comes for the manifestation of supreme Love – a crystalized, concentrated descent of supreme Love – that will truly be the hour of Transformation, for nothing will be able to resist That. But as it’s all-powerful, a certain receptivity must be prepared on earth so its effects are not devastating. Sri Aurobindo has explained it in one of his letters. Someone asked him, ‘Why doesn’t this Love come now?’, and he replied something like this: If divine Love in its essence were to manifest on earth, it would be like an explosion; for the earth is not supple enough or receptive enough to widen to the measure of this Love. The earth must not only open itself but become wide and supple. Matter – not just physical Matter, but the substance of the physical consciousness as well – is still much too rigid. Mother's AGENDA - Vol.2, pages 2-5 http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/ma/agenda/02/1961-01-10.htm

Divine Grace and Faith, Sincerity and Surrender

Transformation_S_8 — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:33:24 GMT

To walk through life armoured against fear, peril and disaster, only two things are needed, two that go always together: - the Grace of the Divine - and on your side an inner state made up of faith, sincerity and surrender. Let your faith be pure, candid and perfect. An egoistic faith in the mental and vital being tainted with ambition, pride, vanity, mental arrogance, vital self-will, personal demand, desire for the petty satisfactions of the lower nature is a low and smoke-obscured flame that cannot burn upwards to heaven. Regard your life as given you only for the divine work and to help in the divine manifestation. Desire nothing but the purity, force, light, wideness, calm, Ananda of the divine consciousness and its insistence to transform and perfect your mind, life and body. Ask for nothing but the divine, spiritual and supramental Truth, its realization on earth and in you and in all who are called and chosen and the conditions needed for its creation and its victory over all opposing forces. Let your sincerity and surrender be genuine and entire. When you give yourself, give completely, without demand, without condition, without reservation so that all in you shall belong to the Divine Mother and nothing left to the ego or given to any other power. The more complete your faith, sincerity and surrender, the more will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all difficulties, obstacles and dangers; surrounded by its full presence you can go on surely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from the worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into opportunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its effect is sure, a thing decreed, inevitable and irresistible. August 1, 1927 Sri Aurobindo

Triple Labour -The Personla Effort

Transformation_S_8 — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 13:25:43 GMT

In all that is done in the universe, the Divine through his Shakti is behind all action but he is veiled by his Yoga Maya and works through the ego of the Jiva in the lower nature. In Yoga also it is the Divine who is the Sadhaka and the Sadhana; it is his Shakti with her light, power, knowledge, consciousness, Ananda, acting upon the Adhara and, when it is opened to her, pouring into it with these divine forces that makes the Sadhana possible. But so long as the lower nature is active the effort of the Sadhaka becomes necessary. The personal effort required is a triple labour of aspiration, rejection and surrender, (1) an aspiration vigilant, constant, unceasing - the mind's will, the hearts seeking, the assent of the vital being, the will to open and make plastic the physical consciousness and nature; (2) rejection of the movements of lower nature - rejection of the mind's ideas, opinions, preferences, habits, constructions, so that the true knowledge may find free room in a silent mind, - rejection of the vital nature's desires, demands, cravings, sensations, passions, selfishness, pride, arrogance, lust, greed, jealousy, envy, hostility to Truth, so that the true power and joy may pour from above into a calm, large, strong and consecrated vital being, - rejection of the physical nature's stupidity, doubt, disbelief, obscurity, obstinacy, pettiness, laziness, unwillingness to change, so that the true stability of Light, Power, Ananda may establish itself in a body growing always more divine; (3) surrender of oneself and all one is and has and every plane of the consciousness and every movement to the Divine Shakti. In proportion as the surrender and self-consecration progress the Sadhaka becomes conscious of the Divine Shakti doing the Sadhana, pouring into him more and more of herself, founding in him the freedom and perfection of the Divine Nature. The more this conscious process replaces his own effort, the more rapid and true becomes his progress. But it cannot completely replace the necessity of personal effort until the surrender and consecration are pure and complete from top to bottom. Note that a tamasic surrender refusing to fulfill the conditions and calling on the God to do everything and save one all the trouble and struggle is a deception and does not lead to freedom and perfection. Sri Aurobindo

Two Powers - ASPIRATION & GRACE

Transformation_S_8 — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:18:04 GMT

There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction the great and difficult thing which is the aim of our endeavor, - a fixed and unfailing aspiration that calls from below and - a supreme Grace from above that answers. But the supreme Grace will act only in the conditions of the Light and the Truth; it will not act in conditions of Falsehood and Ignorance. For if it were to yield to the demands of the Falsehood, it would defeat its own purpose. These are the conditions of Light and Truth, the sole conditions under which the highest will descend; and it is only the very highest supramental Force descending from above and opening from below that can victoriously handle the physical Nature and annihilate its difficulties . . . There must be a total and sincere surrender; there must be an exclusive self opening to the divine Power; there must be a constant and integral choice of the Truth that is descending, a constant and integral rejection of the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the earth-Nature. The surrender must be total and seize all parts of the being. It is not enough that psychic should respond and higher mental aspect or even the inner vital submit and the physical consciousness feel the influence. There must be no part in the being, even the most external, anything that makes a reserve, anything that hides behind doubts, confusions and subterfuges, anything that revolts or refuses. If a part of the being surrenders, but another part reserves itself, follows its own way or makes its own conditions, then each time that happens, you are yourself pushing the divine Grace away from you. If behind your devotion and surrender you make a cover for your desires, egoistic demands and vital insistences, if you put these things in the place of true aspiration or mix them with it and try to impose it on the Divine Shakti, then it is idle to invoke the divine Grace to transform you. If you open yourself on one side or in one part to the Truth and on another side are constantly opening the gates to hostile forces, it is in vain to expect that the divine Grace will abide with you. You must keep the temple clean if you wish to install there a living Presence. If each time the Power intervenes and brings back the Truth, you turn your back on it and call in again the falsehood that has been expelled, it is not the divine Grace you must blame for failing you, but the falsity of your own will and the imperfection of your own surrender. If you call for the Truth and yet something in you chooses what is false, ignorant and undivine or even simply is unwilling to reject it altogether, then always you will be open to attack and the Grace will recede from you. Detect first what is false or obscure in you and persistently reject it, then alone can you rightly call for the divine Power to transform you. Do not imagine that truth and falsehood, light and darkness, surrender and selfishness can be allowed to dwell together in the house consecrated to the Divine. The transformation must be integral, and integral therefore the rejection of all that withstands it. Reject the false notion that the divine Power will do and is bound to do everything for you at your demand and even though you do not satisfy the conditions laid down by the Supreme. Make your surrender true and complete, then only will all else be done for you. Reject too the false and indolent expectation that the divine will do the surrender for you. The Supreme demands your surrender to her, but does not impose it: you are free at every moment, till the irrevocable transformation comes, to deny and to reject the Divine or to recall your self-giving, if you are willing to suffer the spiritual consequence. Your surrender must be self-made and free; it must be the surrender of a living being, not of an inert automaton or mechanical tool. An inert passivity is constantly confused with the real surrender, but out of an inert passivity nothing true and powerful can come. It is the inert passivity of the physical Nature that leaves it at the mercy of every obscure or undivine influence. A glad and strong and helpful submission is demanded to the working of the Divine force, the obedience of the illumined disciple of the Truth, of the inner Warrior who fights against obscurity and falsehood, of the faithful servant of the Divine. This is the true attitude and only those who can take and keep it, preserve a faith unshaken by disappointments and difficulties and shall pass through the ordeal to the supreme victory and the greatest transmutation. Sri Aurobindo

TANTRA IN SRI AUROBINDO

Transformation_S_8 — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 09:11:03 GMT

Tantra expressly differentiates itself from the Vedic methods of Yoga. In a sense, all the schools we have hitherto examined are Vedantic in their principle; their force is in knowledge, their method is knowledge, though it is not always discernment by the intellect, but may be, instead, the knowledge of the heart expressed in love and faith or a knowledge in the will working out through action. In all of them the lord of the Yoga is the Purusha, the Conscious Soul that knows, observes, attracts, governs. But in Tantra it is rather Prakriti, the Nature-Soul, the Energy, the Will-in-Power executive in the universe. It was by learning and applying the intimate secrets of this Will-in-Power, its method, its Tantra, that the Tantric Yogin pursued the aims of his discipline, -- mastery, perfection, liberation, beatitude. Instead of drawing back from manifested Nature and its difficulties, he confronted them, seized and conquered. But in the end, as is the general tendency of Prakriti, Tantric Yoga largely lost its principle in its machinery and became a thing of formulae and occult mechanism still powerful when rightly used but fallen from the clarity of their original intention. In the Tantra the centres are opened and Kundalini is awakened by a special process, its action of ascent is felt through the spine. Here it is a pressure of the Force from above that awakens it and opens the centres. There is an ascension of the consciousness going up till it joins the higher consciousness above. This repeats itself (sometimes a descent also is felt) until all the centres are open and the consciousness rises above the body. At a later stage it remains above and widens out into the cosmic consciousness and the universal self. This is a usual course, but sometimes the process is more rapid and there is a sudden and definite opening above. I spoke of the personal Overself -- meaning the realisation of something in us (the Purusha) that is not the Prakriti, not the movements of mind, vital or physical, but something that is the Thinker, etc. This Purusha can give assent to any movement of nature or withhold it or it can direct the Prakriti what to do or not to do. It can allow it to indulge sex or withhold indulgence. It is usually the mental Purusha (Manomaya Purusha) that one thus realises, but there is also the Pranamaya or vital Purusha. By the word Overself they probably mean this Purusha -- they take it as a sort of personal Atman. I do not deny that so long as one allows a sort of separation between inner experience and outer consciousness, the latter being left as an inferior activity controlled but not transformed, it is quite possible to have spiritual experiences and make progress without any entire cessation of the sex-activity. The mind separates itself from the outer vital (life-parts) and the physical consciousness and lives its own inner life. But only a few can really do this with any completeness and the moment one's experiences extend to the life-plane and the physical, sex can no longer be treated in this way. Oneness with all would then mean satisfying the sex instinct with all -- that would be a rather startling siddhanta , though there is something like it in the practice of Tantra of the left hand. But the left hand Tantriks are more logical than you -- for why should oneness, if it is to justify sex-expression, support only the lighter and not the cruder forms of love-expression? But is sex really based on love or sex-love based on sex-instinct? and is sex-instinct an expression of the spiritual feeling of the One in all? Is it not really based on duality, except when it simply seeks satisfaction and pleasure where there is no question of love at all? Is one attracted to a woman by the sense that she is oneself or by the fact that she is somebody else attracting one by some charm or beauty which one wants to enjoy or possess or simply by the fact of the difference from oneself, the fact of her being a female and not a male so that the sex-instinct can find a full field there? The sex-impulse is certainly the greatest force in the vital plane; if it can be sublimated and turned upwards, ojas is created which is a great help to the attainment of higher consciousness. But mere restraint is not sufficient. Tantra would call the hero-seekers and the divine-seekers and which may now be nearing the point of readiness for its full revelation and experience. Then whatever be the heavy weight of strife and suffering and darkness in the world, yet if there is this as its high result awaiting us, all that has gone before may not be counted too great a price by the strong and adventurous for the glory that is to come. At any rate the shadow lifts; there is a Divine Light that leans over the world and is not only a far-off incommunicable Lustre. It is true that the problem still remains why all this that yet is should have been necessary -- these crude beginnings, this long and stormy passage -- why should the heavy and tedious price be demanded, why should evil and suffering ever have been there. For to the how of the fall into the Ignorance as opposed to the why, the effective cause, there is a substantial agreement in all spiritual experience. It is the division, the separation, the principle of isolation from the Permanent and One that brought it about; it is because the ego set up for itself in the world emphasising its own desire and self-affirmation in preference to its unity with the Divine and its oneness with all; it is because instead of the one supreme Force, Wisdom, Light determining the harmony of all forces each Idea, Force, Form of things was allowed to work itself out as far as it could in the mass of infinite possibilities by its separate will and inevitably in the end by conflict with others. Division, ego, the imperfect consciousness and groping and struggle of a separate self-affirmation are the efficient cause of the suffering and ignorance of this world. Once consciousnesses separated from the one consciousness, they fell inevitably into Ignorance and the last result of Ignorance was Inconscience; from a dark immense Inconscient this material world arises and out of it a soul that by evolution is struggling into consciousness, attracted towards the hidden Light, ascending but still blindly towards the lost Divinity from which it came. But why should this have happened at all? One common way of putting the question and answering it ought to be eliminated from the first, -- the human way and its ethical revolt and reprobation, its emotional outcry. For it is not, as some religions suppose, a supra-cosmic, arbitrary, personal Deity himself altogether uninvolved in the fall who has imposed evil and suffering on creatures made capriciously by his fiat. The Divine we know is an Infinite Being in whose infinite manifestation these things have come -- it is the Divine itself that is here, behind us, pervading the manifestation, supporting the world with its oneness; it is the Divine that is in us upholding itself the burden of the fall and its dark consequence. If above It stands for ever in its perfect Light, Bliss and Peace, It is also here; its Light, Bliss and Peace are secretly here supporting all; in ourselves there is a spirit, a central presence greater than the series of surface personalities which, like the supreme Divine itself, is not overborne by the fate they endure. If we find out this Divine within us, if we know ourselves as this spirit which is of one essence and being with the Divine, that is our gate of deliverance and in it we can remain ourselves even in the midst of this world's disharmonies, luminous, blissful and free. That much is the age-old testimony of spiritual experience. But still what is the purpose and origin of the disharmony -- why came this division and ego, this world of painful evolution? Why must evil and sorrow enter into the divine Good, Bliss and Peace? It is hard to answer to the human intelligence on its own level, for the consciousness to which the origin of this phenomenon belongs and to which it stands as it were automatically justified in a supra-intellectual knowledge, is a cosmic and not an individualised human intelligence; it sees in larger spaces, it has another vision and cognition, other terms of consciousness than human reason and feeling. To the human mind one might answer that while in itself the Infinite might be free from those perturbations, yet once manifestation began infinite possibility also began and among the infinite possibilities which it is the function of the universal manifestation to work out, the negation, the apparent effective negation -- with all its consequences -- of the Power, Light, Peace, Bliss was very evidently one. If it is asked why even if possible it should have been accepted, the answer nearest to the Cosmic Truth which the human intelligence can make is that in the relations or in the transition of the Divine in the Oneness to the Divine in the Many, this ominous possible became at a certain point an inevitable. For once it appears it acquires for the Soul descending into evolutionary manifestation an irresistible attraction which creates the inevitability -- an attraction which in human terms on the terrestrial level might be interpreted as the call of the unknown, the joy of danger and difficulty and adventure, the will to attempt the impossible, to work out the incalculable, the will to create the new and the uncreated with one's own self and life as the material, the fascination of contradictories and their difficult harmonisation -- these things translated into another supraphysical, superhuman consciousness, higher and wider than the mental, were the temptation that led to the fall. For to the original being of light on the verge of the descent the one thing unknown was the depths of the abyss, the possibilities of the Divine in the Ignorance and Inconscience. On the other side from the Divine Oneness a vast acquiescence, compassionate, consenting, helpful, a supreme knowledge that this thing must be, that having appeared it must be worked out, that its appearance is in a certain sense part of an incalculable infinite wisdom, that if the plunge into Night was inevitable the emergence into a new unprecedented Day was also a certitude, and that only so could a certain manifestation of the Supreme Truth be effected -- by a working out with its phenomenal opposites as the starting-point of the evolution, as the condition laid down for a transforming emergence. In this acquiescence was embraced too the will of the great Sacrifice, the descent of the Divine itself into the Inconsience to take up the burden of the Ignorance and its consequences, to intervene as the Avatar and the Vibhuti walking between the double sign of the Cross and the Victory towards the fulfilment and deliverance. A too imaged rendering of the inexpressible Truth? But without images how to present to the intellect a mystery far beyond it? It is only when one has crossed the barrier of the limited intelligence and shared in the cosmic experience and the knowledge which sees things from identity that the supreme realities which lie behind these images -- images corresponding to the terrestrial fact -- assume their divine forms and are felt as simple, natural, implied in the essence of things. It is by entering into that greater consciousness alone that one can grasp the inevitability of its self-creation and its purpose. This is indeed only the Truth of the manifestation as it presents itself to the consciousness when it stands on the border line between Eternity and the descent into Time where the relation between the One and the Many in the evolution is self-determined, a zone where all that is to be is implied but not yet in action. But the liberated consciousness can rise higher where the problem exists no longer and from there see it in the light of a supreme identity where all is predetermined in the automatic self-existent truth of things and self-justified to an absolute consciousness and wisdom and absolute Delight which is behind all creation and non-creation and the affirmation and negation are both seen with the eyes of the ineffable Reality that delivers and reconciles them. But that knowledge is not expressible to the human mind; its language of light is too undecipherable, the light itself too bright for a consciousness accustomed to the stress and obscurity of the cosmic riddle and entangled in it to follow the clue or to grasp its secret. In any case, it is only when we rise in the spirit beyond the zone of the darkness and the struggle that we enter into the full significance of it and there is a deliverance of the soul from its enigma. To rise to that height of liberation is the true way out and the only means of the indubitable knowledge. But the liberation and transcendence need not necessarily impose a disappearance, a sheer dissolving out from the manifestation; it can prepare a liberation into action of the highest Knowledge and an intensity of Power that can transform the world and fulfil the evolutionary urge. It is an ascent from which there is no longer a fall but a winged or self-sustained descent of light, force and Ananda. It is what is inherent in force of being that manifests as becoming; but what the manifestation shall be, its terms, its balance of energies, its arrangement of principles depends on the consciousness which acts in the creative force, on the power of consciousness which Being delivers from itself for manifestation. It is in the nature of Being to be able to grade and vary its powers of consciousness and determine according to the grade and variation its world or its degree and scope of self-revelation. The manifested creation is limited by the power to which it belongs and sees and lives according to it and can only see more, live more powerfully, change its world by opening or moving towards or making descend a greater power of consciousness that was above it. This is what is happening in the evolution of consciousness in our world, a world of inanimate matter producing under the stress of this necessity a power of life, a power of mind which bring into it new forms of creation and still labouring to produce, to make descend into it some supramental power. It is further an operation of creative force which moves between two poles of consciousness. On one side there is a secret consciousness within and above which contains in it all potentialities -- there eternally manifest, here awaiting delivery -- of light, peace, power and bliss. On the other side there is another, outward on the surface and below, that starts from the apparent opposite of unconsciousness, inertia, blind stress, possibility of suffering and grows by receiving into itself higher and higher powers which make it always re-create its manifestation in larger terms, each new creation of this kind bringing out something of the inner potentiality, making it more and more possible to bring down the Perfection that waits above. As long as the outward personality we call ourselves is centred in the lower powers of consciousness, the riddle of its own existence, its purpose, its necessity is to it an insoluble enigma; if something of the truth is at all conveyed to this outward mental man, he but imperfectly grasps it and perhaps misinterprets and misuses and mislives it. His true staff of walking is made more of a fire of faith than any ascertained and indubitable light of knowledge. It is only by rising toward a higher consciousness beyond the mental line and therefore superconscient now to him that he can emerge from his inability and his ignorance. His full liberation and enlightenment will come when he crosses the line into the light of a new superconscient existence. That is the transcendence which was the object of aspiration of the mystics and the spiritual seekers. But in itself this would change nothing in the creation here, the evasion of a liberated soul from the world makes to that world no difference. But this crossing of the line if turned not only to an ascending but to a descending purpose would mean the transformation of the line from what it now is, a lid, a barrier, into a passage for the higher powers of consciousness of the Being now above it. It would mean a new creation on earth, a bringing in of the ultimate powers which would reverse the conditions here, in as much as that would produce a creation raised into the full flood of spiritual and supramental light in place of one emerging into a half-light of mind out of a darkness of material inconscience. It is only in such a full flood of the realised spirit that the embodied being could know, in the sense of all that was involved in it, the meaning and temporary necessity of his descent into the darkness and its conditions and at the same time dissolve them by a luminous transmutation into a manifestation here of the revealed and no longer of the veiled and disguised or apparently deformed Divine. -Sri Aurobindo

JAPA

Transformation_S_8 — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 08:56:06 GMT

The japa is usually successful only on one of two conditions -- if it is repeated with a sense of its significance, a dwelling of something in the mind on the nature, power, beauty, attraction of the Godhead it signifies and is to bring into the consciousness, -- that is the mental way; or if it comes up from the heart or rings in it with a certain sense or feeling of bhakti making it alive, -- that is the emotional way. Either the mind or the vital has to give it support or sustenance. But if it makes the mind dry and the vital restless, it must be missing that support and sustenance. There is, of course, a third way, the reliance on the power of the mantra or name in itself; but then one has to go on till that power has sufficiently impressed its vibration on the inner being to make it at a given moment suddenly open to the Presence or the Touch. But if there is a struggling or insistence for the result, then this effect which needs a quiet receptivity in the mind is impeded. Japa must come in a live push carrying the joy or the light of the thing in it. Letters on Yoga, SABCL Vol. 22/24, p. 745

MANTRA in the TANTRA and INTEGRAL YOGA

Transformation_S_8 — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:54:30 GMT

The ancient Vedic theory and practice extended this creative action of speech by the use of the Mantra. The theory of the Mantra is that it is a word of power born out of the secret depths of our being where it has been brooded upon by a deeper consciousness than the mental, framed in the heart and not originally constructed by the intellect, held in the mind, again concentrated on by the waking mental consciousness and then thrown out silently or vocally -- the silent word is perhaps held to be more potent than the spoken -- precisely for the work of creation. The Mantra can not only create new subjective states in ourselves, alter our psychical being, reveal knowledge and faculties we did not before possess, can not only produce similar results in other minds than that of the user, but can produce vibrations in the mental and vital atmosphere which result in effects, in actions and even in the production of material forms on the physical plane. The mantra is one of these psycho-spiritual means, at once a symbol, an instrument and a sound body for the divine manifestation, The function of a mantra is to create vibrations in the inner consciousness that will prepare it for the realisation of what the mantra symbolises and is supposed indeed to carry within itself. When one repeats a mantra regularly, very often it begins to repeat itself within, which means that it is taken up by the inner being. In that way it is more effective. The Upanishads, 1984, p. 125 Letters on Yoga, SABCL Vol. 22/24 MANTRA IN THE INTEGRAL YOGA OM is the mantra, the expressive sound-symbol of the Brahman Consciousness in its four domains from the Turiya to the external or material plane. The function of a mantra is to create vibrations in the inner consciousness that will prepare it for the realisation of what the mantra symbolises and is supposed indeed to carry within itself. The mantra OM should therefore lead towards the opening of the consciousness to the sight and feeling of the One Consciousness in all material things, in the inner being and in the supraphysical worlds, in the causal plane above now superconscient to us and, finally, the supreme liberated transcendence above all cosmic existence. The last is usually the main preoccupation with those who use the mantra. In this yoga there is no fixed mantra, no stress is laid on mantras, although sadhaks can use one if they find it helpful or so long as they find it helpful. The stress is rather on an aspiration in the consciousness and a concentration of the mind, heart, will, all the being. If a mantra is found helpful for that, one uses it. OM if rightly used (not mechanically) might very well help the opening upwards and outwards (cosmic consciousness) as well as the descent. As a rule the only mantra used in this sadhana is that of the Mother or of my name and the Mother's. The concentration in the heart and the concentration in the head can both be used -- each has its own result. The first opens up the psychic being and brings bhakti, love and union with the Mother, her presence within the heart and the action of her Force in the nature. The other opens the mind to self-realisation, to the consciousness of what is above mind, to the ascent of the consciousness out of the body and the descent of the higher consciousness into the body. As when the mantra sinks in Yoga's ear, Its message enters stirring the blind brain And keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound; The hearer understands a form of words And, musing on the index thought it holds, He strives to read it with the labouring mind, But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: Then, falling silent in himself to know He meets the deeper listening of his soul: The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body's self Are seized unutterably and he endures An ecstasy and an immortal change; He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, All knowledge rushes on him like a sea: Transmuted by the white spiritual ray He walks in naked heavens of joy and calm, Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech: Letters on Yoga, SABCL Vol. 22/24, p. 745 Savitri, CWSA Vol. 33/34, p. 375

INVOLUTION

Transformation_S_8 — Wed, 30 May 2007 09:56:16 GMT

----------------------- May 28, 1914 ----------------------- THOU settest in motion, Thou stirrest and churnest the innumerable elements of this world, so that, from their primal darkness, their primeval chaos, they may awaken to consciousness and full light of knowledge. And Thou usest Thy supreme love to churn all these elements in this way. And it is from Thy infinite, unfathomable heart that these inexhaustible torrents of love spring forth. Thy heart is my dwelling place, Thy heart is the reality of my being. In Thy heart I have nestled and I have become Thy heart. Peace, peace upon all beings. --- The Mother [CW.Vol.I]

Evolving into Divine Love

Transformation_S_8 — Wed, 30 May 2007 09:26:39 GMT

It is said that to become conscious of divine Love all other love has to be abandoned. What is the best way of rejecting the other love which clings so obstinately (laughter) and does not easily leave us? To go through it. Ah! To go through, to see what is behind it, not to stop at the appearance, not to be satisfied with the outer form, to look for the principle which is behind this love, and not be content until one has found the origin of the feeling in oneself. Then the outer form will crumble of itself and you will be in contact with the divine Love which is behind all things. That is the best way. To want to get rid of the one in order to find the other is very difficult. It is almost impossible. For human nature is so limited, so full of contradictions and so exclusive in its movements that if one wants to reject love in its lower form, that is to say, human love as human beings experience it, if one makes an inner effort to reject it, one usually rejects the entire capacity of feeling love and becomes like a stone. And then sometimes one has to wait for years or centuries before there is a reawakening in oneself of the capacity to receive and manifest love. Therefore, the best way when love comes, in whatever form it may be, is to try and pierce through its outer appearance and find the divine principle which is behind and which gives it existence. Naturally, it is full of snares and difficulties, but it is more effective. That is to say, instead of ceasing to love because one loves wrongly, one must cease to love wrongly and want to love well. For instance, love between human beings, in all its forms, the love of parents for children, of children for parents, of brothers and sisters, of friends and lovers, is all tainted with ignorance, selfishness and all the other defects which are man’s ordinary drawbacks; so instead of completely ceasing to love—which, besides, is very difficult as Sri Aurobindo says, which would simply dry up the heart and serve no end—one must learn how to love better: to love with devotion, with self-giving, self-abnegation, and to struggle, not against love itself, but against its distorted forms: against all forms of monopolising, of attachment, possessiveness, jealousy, and all the feelings which accompany these main movements. Not to want to possess, to dominate; and not to want to impose one’s will, one’s whims, one’s desires; not to want to take, to receive, but to give; not to insist on the other’s response, but be content with one’s own love; not to seek one’s personal interest and joy and the fulfilment of one’s personal desire, but to be satisfied with the giving of one’s love and affection; and not to ask for any response. Simply to be happy to love, nothing more. If you do that, you have taken a great stride forward and can, through this attitude, gradually advance farther in the feeling itself, and realise one day that love is not something personal, that love is a universal divine feeling which manifests through you more or less finely, but which in its essence is something divine. The first step is to stop being selfish. For everyone it is the same thing, not only for those who want to do yoga but also in ordinary life: if one wants to know how to love, one must not love oneself first and above all selfishly; one must give oneself to the object of love without exacting anything in return. This discipline is elementary in order to surmount oneself and lead a life which is not altogether gross. As for yoga we may add something else: it is as I said in the beginning, the will to pierce through this limited and human form of love and discover the principle of divine Love which is behind it. Then one is sure to get a result. This is better than drying up one’s heart. It is perhaps a little more difficult but it is better in every way, for like this, instead of egoistically making others suffer, well, one may leave them quiet in their own movement and only make an effort to transform oneself without imposing one’s will on others, which even in ordinary life is a step towards something higher and a little more harmonious. - The Mother

Tantra Union of the Transformation

Transformation_S_8 — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:36:08 GMT

She made her life his world for him to tread And made her body the room of his delight, Her beating heart a remembrancer of bliss. He bent to her and took into his own Their married yearning joined like folded hopes; As if a whole rich world suddenly possessed, Wedded to all he had been, became himself, An inexhaustible joy made his alone, He gathered all Savitri into his clasp. Around her his embrace became the sign Of a locked closeness through slow intimate years, A first sweet summary of delight to come, One brevity intense of all long life. In a wide moment of two souls that meet She felt her being flow into him as in waves A river pours into a mighty sea. As when a soul is merging into God To live in Him for ever and know His joy, Her consciousness grew aware of him alone And all her separate self was lost in his. As a starry heaven encircles happy earth, He shut her into himself in a circle of bliss And shut the world into himself and her. A boundless isolation made them one; He was aware of her enveloping him And let her penetrate his very soul As is a world by the world's spirit filled, As the mortal wakes into Eternity, As the finite opens to the Infinite. Thus were they in each other lost awhile, Then drawing back from their long ecstasy's trance Came into a new self and a new world. Each now was a part of the other's unity, The world was but their twin self-finding's scene Or their own wedded being's vaster frame. On the high glowing cupola of the day Fate tied a knot with morning's halo threads While by the ministry of an auspice-hour Heart-bound before the sun, their marriage fire, The wedding of the eternal Lord and Spouse Took place again on earth in human forms: In a new act of the drama of the world The united Two began a greater age. In the silence and murmur of that emerald world And the mutter of the priest-wind's sacred verse, Amid the choral whispering of the leaves Love's twain had joined together and grew one. The natural miracle was wrought once more: In the immutable ideal world One human moment was eternal made. His presence was the empire of a god. A fusing of the joys of earth and heaven, A tremulous blaze of nuptial rapture passed, A rushing of two spirits to be one, A burning of two bodies in one flame. Opened were gates of unforgettable bliss: Two lives were locked within an earthly heaven And fate and grief fled from that fiery hour. All now is changed, yet all is still the same. .. Our love has grown greater by that mighty touch And learned its heavenly significance, Yet nothing is lost of mortal love's delight. Let us go through this new world that is the same, For it is given back, but it is known, A playing-ground and dwelling-house of God Who hides himself in bird and beast and man Sweetly to find himself again by love, By oneness. Awakened to the meaning of my heart That to feel love and oneness is to live And this the magic of our golden change, Is all the truth I know or seek .... SAVITRI - Sri Aurobindo

Synthesis of the Tantra - II

Transformation_S_8 — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:29:18 GMT

The Tantric solution shows us a supreme superconscient Energy which casts itself out here into teeming worlds and multitudinous beings and in its order the soul rises from birth to birth and follows its million forms, till in a last human series it opens to the consciousness and powers of its own divinity and returns through them by a rapid illumination to the eternal superconscience. We find at last the commencement of a satisfying synthesis, some justification of existence, a meaningful consequence in rebirth, a use and a sufficient though only temporary significance for the great motion of the cosmos. On lines very like these the modern mind, when it is disposed to accept rebirth, is inclined to view it. But there is a too minor stress on the soul's divine potentialities, a haste of insistence on the escape into superconscience; the supreme Energy constructs too long and stupendous a preparation for so brief and so insufficient a flowering. There is a lacuna here, some secret is still missing. Essays in Philosophy and Yoga, CWSA Vol. 13, p. 301