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81 – God’s laughter is sometimes very coarse and unfit for polite ears; He is not satisfied with being Molière, He must needs also be Aristophanes and Rabelais.
82 – If men took life less seriously, they could very soon make it more perfect. God never takes His works seriously; therefore one looks out on this wonderful Universe.
83 – Shame has admirable results and both in aesthetics and in morality we could ill spare it; but for all that it is a badge of weakness and the proof of ignorance.
One might ask how taking things seriously has prevented life from being more perfect.
Virtue has always spent its time eliminating whatever it found bad in life, and if all the virtues of the various countries of the world had been put together, very few things would remain in existence. Virtue claims to seek perfection, but perfection is a totality. So the two movements contradict each other. A virtue that eliminates, reduces, fixes limits, and a perfection that accepts everything, rejects nothing but puts each thing in its place, obviously cannot agree. Taking life seriously generally consists of two movements: the first one is to give importance to things that probably have none, and the second is to want life to be reduced to a certain number of qualities that are considered pure and worthy of existence. In some people – for example, those Sri Aurobindo speaks about here, the “polite” or the puritans – this virtue becomes dry, arid, grey, aggressive and it finds fault everywhere, in everything that is joyful and free and happy. The only way to make life perfect – I mean here, life on earth, of course – is to look at it from high enough to see it as a whole, not only in its present totality, but in the whole of the past, present and future: what it has been, what it is and what it will be – one must be able to see everything at once. Because that is the only way to put everything in its place. Nothing can be eliminated, nothing should be eliminated, but each thing must be in its place in total harmony with all the rest. And then all these things that seem so bad, so reprehensible, so unacceptable to the puritan mind, would become movements Page – 157 of delight and freedom in a totally divine life. And then nothing would prevent us from knowing, understanding, feeling and living this wonderful laughter of the Supreme who takes infinite delight in watching Himself live infinitely. This delight, this wonderful laughter that dissolves every shadow, every pain, every suffering! You only have to go deep enough within yourself to find the inner Sun, to let yourself be flooded by it; and then there is nothing but a cascade of harmonious, luminous, sunlit laughter, which leaves no room for any shadow or pain. In fact, even the greatest difficulties, even the greatest sorrows, even the greatest physical pain – if you can look at them from that standpoint, from there, you see the unreality of the difficulty, the unreality of the sorrow, the unreality of the pain – and there is nothing but a joyful and luminous vibration. In fact, this is the most powerful way of dissolving difficulties, overcoming sorrows and removing pain. The first two are relatively easy – I say relatively – the last one is more difficult because we are in the habit of considering the body and its feelings to be extremely concrete, positive; but it is the same thing, it is simply because we have not learnt, we are not in the habit of regarding our body as something fluid, plastic, uncertain, malleable. We have not learnt to bring into it this luminous laughter that dissolves all darkness, all difficulty, all discord, all disharmony, everything that jars, that weeps and wails. And this Sun, this Sun of divine laughter is at the centre of all things, the truth of all things: we must learn to see it, to feel it, to live it. And for that, let us avoid people who take life seriously; they are very boring people. As soon as the atmosphere becomes grave you can be sure that something is wrong, that there is a troubling influence, an old habit trying to reassert itself, which should not be accepted. All this regret, all this remorse, the feeling of being unworthy, of being at fault – and then one step further and you have the Page – 158 sense of sin. Oh! To me it all seems to belong to another age, an age of darkness. But everything that persists, that tries to cling and endure, all these prohibitions and this habit of cutting life in two – into small things and big things, the sacred and the profane… What! say the people who profess to follow a spiritual life, how can you make such little things, such insignificant things the object of spiritual experience? And yet this is an experience that becomes more and more concrete and real, even materially; it’s not that there are some things where the Lord is and some things where He is not. The Lord is always there. He takes nothing seriously, everything amuses Him and He plays with you, if you know how to play. You do not know how to play, people do not know how to play. But how well He knows how to play! How well He plays! With everything, with the smallest things: you have some things to put on the table? Don’t feel that you have to think and arrange, no, let’s play: let’s put this one here and that one there, and this one like that. And then another time it’s different again… What a good game and such fun! So, it is agreed, we shall try to learn how to laugh with the Lord. 14 January 1963
84 – The supernatural is that the nature of which we have not attained or do not yet know, or the means of which we have not yet conquered. The common taste for miracles is the sign that man’s ascent is not yet finished.
85 – It is rationality and prudence to distrust the supernatural; but to believe in it is also a sort of wisdom.
86 – Great saints have performed miracles; greater Page – 159 saints have railed at them; the greatest have both railed at them and performed them.
87 – Open thy eyes and see what the world really is and what God; have done with vain and pleasant imaginations.
Why didn’t you or Sri Aurobindo make a greater use of miracles as a means of overcoming resistance in the external human consciousness? Why this kind of self-effacement where outer things are concerned, this non-intervention or discretion?
As for Sri Aurobindo, I only know what he told me several times. People give the name of miracle only to interventions in the material or the vital world. And these interventions are always mixed with ignorant and arbitrary movements. But the number of miracles that Sri Aurobindo performed in the mind is incalculable; but naturally you could only see it if you had a very straight, very sincere, very pure vision – a few people did see it. But he refused – this I know – he refused to perform any vital or material miracles, because of this mixture. My experience is that in the present state of the world, a direct miracle, material or vital, must necessarily take into account a great many elements of falsehood that are unacceptable – they are necessarily miracles of falsehood. And they are unacceptable. I have seen what people call miracles; I saw many of them at one period, but this gave a right of existence to many things which to me are not acceptable. What men call miracles nowadays are almost always performed by vital beings or by men who are in contact with vital beings, and this is a mixture accepts the reality of certain things, the truth of certain things that are not true. And this is the basis on which it works. So that is unacceptable. Page – 160 I did not quite understand what you meant by saying that Sri Aurobindo performed miracles in the mind.
I mean that he used to introduce the supramental force into the mental consciousness. Into the mental consciousness, the mental consciousness that governs all material movements, he would introduce a supramental formation or power or force which immediately changed the organisation. This produces immediate effects which seem illogical because they do not follow the normal course of movements according to mental logic. He himself used to say that when he was in possession of the supramental power, when he could use it at will and focus it on a specific point with a definite purpose, it was irrevocable, inevitable: the effect was absolute. That can be called a miracle. For example, take someone who was sick or in pain; when Sri Aurobindo was in possession of this supramental power – there was a time when he said that it was completely under his control, that is, he could do what he wanted with it, he could apply it where he liked – then he would apply this Will, for example, to some disorder, either physical or vital or, of course, mental – he would apply this force of greater harmony, of greater order, this supramental force, and focus it there, and it would act immediately. And it was an order: it created an order, a harmony greater than the natural harmony. That is, if it was a case of healing, for example, the healing would be more perfect and more complete than any obtained by ordinary physical and mental methods. There were a great many of them. But people are so blind, so embedded in their ordinary consciousness that they always give explanations, they can always give an explanation. Only those who have faith and aspiration and something very pure in themselves, that is, who truly want to know, they were able to perceive it. When the Power was there, he even used to say that it was Page – 161 effortless; all he had to do was to apply this supramental power of order and harmony and instantly the desired result was achieved.
What is a miracle? Because Sri Aurobindo often said that there are no miracles and, at the same time he says in Savitri, for example: All’s miracle here and can by miracle change.
That depends on how you look at it, from this side or that. You give the name of miracle only to things which cannot be clearly explained or for which you have no mental explanation. From this point of view you can say that countless things that happen are miracles, because you cannot explain the how or the why of them.
What would be a true miracle?
I can’t see what a true miracle can be because, after all, what is a miracle? A true miracle… Only the mind has the notion of miracles; because the mind decides, by its own logic, that given this and that, another thing can or cannot be. But this represents all the limitations of the mind. Because, from the point of view of the Lord, how can there be a miracle? Everything is Himself which He objectifies. So here we come to the great problem of the way which is being followed, the eternal way, as Sri Aurobindo explains it in Savitri. Of course, one can conceive that what was objectified first was something which had an inclination for objectivisation. The first thing to recognise, which seems consistent with the principle of evolution, is that the objectivisation is progressive, it is not total for all eternity… (Silence) It is very difficult to tell, because we cannot get out of our habit of conceiving that there is a definite quantity unfolding indefinitely and that there can
¹ Savitri, cent. Vol, 18, p. 85 Page – 162 only be a beginning if there is a definite quantity. We always have, at least in our way of speaking, the idea of a moment (laughing) when the Lord decides to objectify Himself. Like this, the explanation becomes easy: He objectifies Himself gradually, progressively, and this results in a progressive evolution. But that is only a manner of speaking; because there is no beginning, there is no end, and yet there is a progression. The sense of succession, the sense of evolution, the sense of progress only exists with the manifestation. It is only when one speaks of the earth that one can give an explanation that is both very rational and in accord with the facts, because the earth has a beginning, not in its soul but in its material reality. It is also likely that a material universe has a beginning. (Silence)
If you look at it this way, for a universe a miracle would be the sudden intrusion of something from another universe. And for the earth, this reduces the problem to something very understandable – a miracle is the sudden intrusion of something which did not belong to the earth: it produces a radical and immediate change by introducing a principle which did not belong to this physical world of earth. But there again, it is said that at the very centre of each element everything exists in principle; so even that miracle is not possible. One could say that the sense of miracle belongs only to a finite world, a finite consciousness, a finite conception. It is the sudden entry – the intrusion, the intervention, the penetration – without preparation, of something which did not exist in this physical world. So obviously, any manifestation of a will or a consciousness which belongs to a domain that is more infinite and more eternal than earth, is necessarily a miracle on earth. But if you leave the finite world, the understanding of the finite world, miracles do not exist. The Lord can play at miracles if Page – 163 it so amuses Him, but there are no miracles – He plays every possible game. You can begin to understand Him only when you feel in this way, that He plays every possible game, and “possible” does not mean possible according to the human conception, but possible according to His own conception! And there, there is no room for miracles – except that it looks like a miracle.
(Silence)
If, instead of a slow evolution, something belonging to the supramental world appeared suddenly, man, the mental being, could call that a miracle, because it would be the intervention of something which he does not consciously carry within himself and which intervenes in his conscious life. And in fact, if you consider this taste for miracles, which is very strong – much stronger in children and in hearts that have remained childlike than in highly mentalised individuals – it is a faith in the realisation of the aspiration for the marvellous, of something higher than anything one can expect from normal life. Indeed, in education, both tendencies should be encouraged side by side: the tendency to thirst for the marvellous, for what seems unrealisable, for something which fills you with the feeling of divinity; while at the same time encouraging exact, correct, sincere observation in the perception of the world as it is, the suppression of all imagination, a constant control, a highly practical and meticulous sense for exact details. Both should go side by side. Usually, you kill the one with the idea that this is necessary in order to foster the other – this is completely wrong. Both can be simultaneous and there comes a time when one has enough knowledge to know that they are the two aspects of the same thing: insight, a higher discernment. But instead of a narrow, limited insight and discernment, the discernment becomes entirely sincere, correct, exact, but it is vast, it includes a whole Page – 164 domain that does not yet belong to the concrete manifestation. From the point of view of education, this would be very important: to see the world as it is, exactly, unadorned, in the most down-to-earth and concrete manner; and to see the world as it can be, with the freest, highest vision, the one most full of hope and aspiration and marvellous certitude – as the two poles of discernment. The most splendid, most marvellous, most powerful, most expressive, most total things we can imagine are nothing compared to what they can be; and at the same time our meticulous exactitude in the tiniest detail is never exact enough. And both must go together. When one knows this (down ward gesture) and when one knows that (upward gesture), one is able to put the two together. And this is the best possible use of the need for miracles. The need for miracles is a gesture of ignorance: “Oh, I would like things to be like this!” It is a gesture of ignorance and impotence. And those who say, You live in a miracle, know only the lower end – and even then they know it only imperfectly – and they have no contact with anything else. This need for miracles must be changed into a conscious aspiration for something – which is already there, which exists which will be manifested by the help of all these aspirations; all these aspirations are necessary or, if one looks at it in a truer way, they are an accompanyment – an agreeable accompaniment – in the eternal unfolding. Of course, people with a very strict logic tell you, “Why pray? Why aspire? Why ask? The Lord does what He wants and He will do what He wants.” It is quite obvious, there is no need to say it, but this impulse: “O Lord, manifest!” gives a more intense vibration to His manifestation. Otherwise, He would never have made the world as it is. There is a special power, a special delight, a special vibration in the intensity of the world’s aspiration to become once more what it is. Page – 165 And that is why – partly, fragmentarily – there is an evolution. An eternally perfect universe, eternally manifesting the eternal perfection, would lack the joy of progress. 6 March 1963
88 – This world was built by Death that he might live. Wilt thou abolish death? Then life too will perish. Thou canst not abolish death, but thou mayst transform it into a greater living.
89 – This world was built by Cruelty that she might love. Wilt thou abolish cruelty? Then love too will perish. Thou canst not abolish cruelty, but thou mayst transfigure it into its opposite, into a fierce Love and Delightfulness.
90 – This world was built by Ignorance and Error that they might know. Wilt thou abolish ignorance and error? Then knowledge too will perish. Thou canst not abolish ignorance and error, but thou mayst transmute them into the utter and effulgent exceeding of reason.
91 – If Life alone were and not death, there could be no immortality; if love were alone and not cruelty, joy would be only a tepid and ephemeral rapture; if reason were alone and not ignorance, our highest attainment would not exceed a limited rationality and worldly wisdom.
92 – Death transformed becomes Life that is Immortality; Cruelty transfigured becomes Love that is intolerable ecstasy; Ignorance transmuted becomes Light that leaps beyond wisdom and knowledge. Page – 166 It is the same idea, that is, opposition and contraries are a stimulus to progress. Because to say that without cruelty Love would be tepid… The principle of Love as it exists beyond the Manifested and the Non-Manifested has nothing to do with either tepidness or cruelty. Only, Sri Aurobindo’s idea would seem to be that opposites are the quickest and most effective means of shaping Matter so that it can intensify its manifestation. As an experience, this is absolutely certain, in the sense that, first of all, when one comes into contact with eternal Love, the supreme Love, one immediately has – how to put it? – a perception, a sensation – it is not an understanding, it is something very concrete: even the most illumined material consciousness, however much it has been moulded and prepared, is incapable of manifesting That. The first thing one feels is this kind of incapacity. Then comes an experience: something which manifests a form – of one cannot call it exactly cruelty, because it is not cruelty as we know it – but within the totality of circumstances, a vibration appears and, with a certain intensity, refuses love as it is manifested here. It is precisely this: something in the material world which refuses the manifestation of love as it exists at present. I am not speaking of the ordinary world, I am speaking of the present consciousness at its highest. It is an experience, I am speaking of something that has happened. So the part of the consciousness which has been struck by this opposition makes a direct appeal to the origin of Love, with an intensity which it would not have without the experience of this refusal. Limits are broken and a flood pours down which could not have manifested before; and something is expressed which was not expressed before. When one sees this, there is obviously a similar experience from the point of view of what we call life and death. It is this kind of constant brooding or presence of Death and the possibility of death, as it is said in Savitri: we have a constant companion throughout the journey from cradle to grave; we are constantly accompanied by this threat or presence of Death. Well, Page – 167 along with this, in the cells, there is a call for a Power of Eternity, with an intensity which would not be there except for this constant threat. Then one understands, one begins to feel quite concretely that all these things are only ways of intensifying the manifestation, of making it progress, of making it more perfect. And if the means are crude, it is because the manifestation itself is very crude. And as it becomes more perfect and fit to manifest that which is eternally progressive, the very crude means will give way to subtler ones and the world will progress without any need for such brutal oppositions. This is simply because the world is still in its infancy and human consciousness is still entirely in its infancy. This is a very concrete experience. It follows that when the earth no longer needs to die in order to progress, there will be no more death. When the earth no longer needs to suffer in order to progress, there will be no more suffering. And when the earth no longer needs to hate in order to love, there will be no more hatred.
(Silence)
This is the quickest and most effective means to bring creation out of its inertia and lead it towards its fulfilment.
(Long silence)
There is a certain aspect of creation – which may be a very modern one – it is the need to escape from disorder and confusion, from disharmony and confusion: a confusion, a disorder which takes every possible form, which becomes struggle, useless effort, wastage. It depends on the domain you are in, but in the material world, in action, it means useless complications, waste of energy and material, waste of time, incomprehension, misunderstanding, confusion, disorder. This is what used to be called crookedness in the Vedas – I do not know the equivalent Page – 168 of this word, it is something twisted, which instead of going straight to the mark makes sharp, unnecessary zigzags. This is one of the things that is most opposed to the harmony of a purely divine action which has a simplicity… that seems childlike. Direct – direct, instead of making absurd and completely useless circumvolutions. Well, it is obviously the same thing: disorder is a way of stimulating the need for the pure divine simplicity. The body feels very strongly, very strongly that everything could be simple, so simple! And so that the being – this kind of individual agglomerate – can be transformed, it needs precisely to become more simple, simple, simple. All these complications of Nature, which they are now beginning to understand and study, which are so intricate for the slightest thing – the smallest of our functions is the result of a system so complicated that it is almost unthinkable; certainly it would be impossible for human thought to plan and put together all these things – now science is discovering them, and one can see very clearly that if the functioning is to be divine, that is, if it is to escape this disorder and confusion, it must be simplified, simplified, simplified. (Long silence)
That is to say, Nature, or rather Nature in her attempt at self-expression, was obliged to resort to an unbelievable and almost infinite complication in order to reproduce the primal Simplicity. And we come back to the same thing. From this excess of complication arises the possibility of a simplicity which would not be empty but full – a full simplicity, a simplicity that contains everything; whereas without these complications, simplicity is empty. Now they are making discoveries like that. In anatomy, for example, they are discovering surgical treatments which are un- Page – 169 believably complicated! It is like their classification of the elements of Matter – what frightful complexity! And all this is for the purpose of… in an effort to express Unity, the one Simplicity – the divine state. (Silence)
Perhaps it will go quickly… But the question comes to this an – aspiration that is sufficient, intense and effective enough, to attract That which can transform complication into Simplicity, cruelty into Love, and so on. And it is no use complaining and saying that it is a pity, because it is like that. Why is it like that?… Probably, when it is no longer like that, we shall know. We could put it another way: if we knew, it would no longer be like that. So, to speculate: “It would have been better if it had not been like that, etc.” – all that is unpractical, it is no use at all, it is useless. We must hurry up and do what is needed to put an end to it, that is all; it is the only practical thing. For the body it is very interesting. But it is a mountain, a mountain of experiences that seem very small, but because of their multiplicity, they have their place.¹ 15 May 1963
¹ When this talk was first published, Mother remarked, “The scientists will deny it, they will say that I am talking nonsense; but it is because I do not use their terms, it is just a matter of vocabulary.” Page – 170 |