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XIII
SEX—FOOD—SLEEP Q: Is it true that sexual desire is the greatest obstacle in Toga? A: One of the greatest, at least.
Q,: Does sexual desire increase by taking more food and decrease by taking less? A: It is rather certain kinds of food that are supposed to increase it—e.g., meat, onions, chillies, etc.
Q: Are greed, anger, jealousy etc., the companions of the sexual desire? A: They usually go with sexual desire, though, not always.
Q: The Mother has said "the strength of such impulses as those of the sex lies usually in the fact that the people take too much notice of them". What is meant by a person taking too much notice of these impulses? A: If he is always thinking of them and struggling with them, that is taking too much notice. Q: What should he do to avoid taking too much notice ? A: He has to detach himself from them, think less of sex and more of the Divine.
Q: The Mother has also said in regard to sexual thoughts that it is wrong to "endeavour to control them by coercion, hold them within and sit upon them". How does a person hold these thoughts within and sit upon them? A: The words convey their own explanation. If you remain full of sexual thoughts and try to prevent them from manifesting in some kind of action, that is holding them within and sitting on them. It is the same with anger or any other passion. They have to be thrown away, not kept in you.
Q: You have said that control of a wrong movement merely suppresses it and that to remove it completely it has to be rejected. What is the utility then of controlling movements of sex, anger, fear, etc. A: If your rejection is not successful, you have to control. The control at least prevents you from being the slave of your vital impulses. Once you have the control, it is easier to reject successfully. Absence of control does not bring successful rejection.
Q: What is the process of turning the sexual energy into ‘ojas’ ? A: If it is to be done by a process, it will have to be by Tapasya (self-control of mind, speech, act) and a drawing upward of the seminal energy through the will. But it can be better done by the descent of the Force and its working on the sex-centre and consequent transformation, as with all other things in this Yoga.
Q: Is fasting a help in our sadhana ? A: This sadhana is not helped by fasting.
Q: Is taking very little food helpful in controlling the senses? A: No, it simply exasperates them—to take a moderate amount is best. People who fast easily get exalted and may lose their balance.
Q: If one takes only vegetarian food, does it help in controlling the senses? A: It avoids some of the difficulties which the meat-eaters have, but it is not sufficient by itself.
Q: Is sleep necessary for a sadhak who has reached the higher consciousness? A: So long as one has a body that is not altogether transformed in all its functionings, sleep is necessary.
Q: Why are the mind and vital so active at night? How could one control their activity at night? A: It is their function. So long as one is not perfectly conscious in sleep, they will act.
Q: In the first and middle part of my sleep there is a great mental and vital activity but in the last part this activity subsides and I get various kinds of symbolic dreams and intimations of higher knowledge. What is the reason of this? A: In sleep one very commonly passes from consciousness to deeper consciousness in a long succession until one reaches the psychic and rests there or else from higher to higher consciousness until one reaches rest in some silence and peace. The few minutes one passes in this rest are the real sleep which restores,—if one does not get it, there is only a half rest. It is when you come near to either of these domains of rest that you begin to see these higher kinds of dreams.
Q: What is the way to pass into the psychic or the higher consciousness in sleep and rest there? A: It is done unconsciously as it is. If one wants to do it consciously and regulate it, one has first to become conscious in sleep.
Q: How to make a heavy subconscient sleep light? A: By calling in more consciousness.
Q: I have noticed that even half an hour’s sleep during day-time refreshes me more than five or six hours’ sleep at night. What is the reason for this ? A: It must be because it is a different kind of sleep in the day-time, less heavy, with less time spent in the subconscient. Q: Some people say that they have dreamless sleep for the whole night. Is this possible? A: They simply mean that when they come back, they are not conscious of having dreamed. In the sleep the consciousness goes into other planes and has experiences there and when these are translated perfectly or imperfectly by the physical mind, they are called dreams. All the time of sleep such dreams take place, but sometimes one remembers and at other times does not at all remember. Sometimes also one goes low down into the subconscient and the dreams are there, but so deep down that when one comes out there is not even the consciousness that one had dreamed.
Q: Have dreams any significance? Is there any meaning in the dreams of the subconscient? A: A dream, when it is not from the subconscient, is either symbolic or else an experience of some supraphysical plane or a formation therein by some mental or vital or other force or in rare cases an indication of some event actual or probable in the past, present or future. A dream from the subconscious plane has no meaning; it is simply a kichadi of impressions and memories left in the subconscient from the past.
Q: In dream I saw some people climbing up a mountain with great difficulty. I was also climbing with them. After a time I got tired, so I gave up climbing and began to think what was to be done. Then I felt that a force lifted me up lightly and carried me to the top of the mountain. On reaching the top, I saw that there were many beautiful houses of different colours and lights. Then I woke up. What does this dream signify? A: It is a symbol of the two methods—one of self-effort, the other of the action of the Mother’s Force carrying the sadhak.
Q: During sleep I often get bad dreams of the vital plane. How to prevent this? A: You can do it by having a will in the waking state against these things coming in the dream, before you go to sleep for instance. It will not succeed at once but it will in the end. Or else you must aspire to grow more conscious in sleep.
Q: Sometimes when I have an attack in dream, I can get rid of it by repeating the Mother’s name. Does this mean that even the Mother’s name has power in it? A: Yes, certainly, there is always a power in the Name. |