-05_questions and answers 4.htm

*

*    *

already been said and belong to the experiences in the past, it becomes what might be called a didactic talking. That sets in movement some brain cells, but in reality it is not of much use.

     As for me, in view of what I try to do, action in silence is always much more important. The force that works is then not limited by the words, and that gives it infinitely more power; besides it is expressed in each consciousness according to its own mode and that makes it infinitely more effective.

     A certain vibration is given out in the silence with a special end in view, to obtain a particular result; but in each consciousness, according to the mental receptivity of each one, it translates itself exactly in the form which is most effective, most active and most immediately useful. On the other hand, if it is formulated in words, this formula must be received by everyone in a fixed form and that takes away its power and richness of action, first because words are not always understood as they are said, and next because they are not always suited to each one’s capacity of understanding.

     Therefore, unless a question induces at once an experience which can be expressed in a new form, it would be better, I thinks to keep silent. A living question alone can evoke an experience that will be the occasion of a living teaching, that is to say, a question that answers to an inner need, a spontaneous need for progress on one level or another, generally it is the mental level. If the movement corresponds to an inner experience, a problem which one has put to oneself and wishes to solve it, then the question becomes interesting, living and truly useful; it can call forth a vision, a perception on a higher plane, an experience of consciousness so that the formulation may be new and bring a new power of realisation.

     Apart from such cases, I have always the impression that it is better to say nothing and that a few minutes’ meditation is always more useful.

     The reading that I do before meditation is for the purpose of canalising the thought, direct it or fix it on a special problem or a set of ideas or to give it the possibility of a new understanding.

Page-3

Indeed, it serves as the subject for meditation in the silence that follows the reading.

In order to receive in this silence, on which part of the being should one concentrate ?

     When you meditate—we use the word "meditate", but it does not mean turning up thoughts in the head, on the contrary —it is always better to concentrate in one centre, preferably the centre of aspiration, the place where the flame burns; bring all the energies there, in the centre of the solar plexus, and if possible secure an attentive silence as if you wanted to listen to something extremely subtle, something that needs an entire attention, a complete concentration and a total Silence, and then move no more. No more thinking, no more moving but laying yourself open so as to receive all that can be received, taking care at the same time not to try to know what is happening at the moment when it is happening; for if you want to understand or even to observe actively, that keeps on a kind of cerebral activity which is unfavourable to the fullness of the receptivity. Therefore keep silent, as completely silent as possible, in an attentive concentration and then remain immobile.

     If you succeed in that, then when all is done, when you have come out of the meditation, some time after, usually it does not happen immediately, something within the being emerges, something new in the consciousness; a new understanding, a new appreciation of things, a new attitude in life, in short, a new way of being. It may be transient, but still something has advanced one step forward on the way to understanding and transformation. That may be an illumination, an understanding, more true or nearer the truth or a power of transformation which gives you a psychological progress or even a growth of consciousness, a greater mastery over the movements and activities of the being.

      And these results are never immediate. As I told you just now, if you try to get them immediately, you keep yourself in a state of activity that is quite contrary to true receptivity.

Page-4

     You must be as neutral, as immobile, as passive as possible, with a background of silent aspiration, not formulated in words or ideas or even in feeling, something that awaits in an ardent vibration, but which is not formulated and, above all, which does not try to understand.

      In the beginning, naturally, you do not reach this state easily or quickly. You must slowly calm your mind, bring together the threads of your consciousness and concentrate; you lose three-fourth of the time to prepare yourself. But with a little practice you can get it at will in a few seconds.

     Certainly there exist more advanced states, that are still nearer to perfection, but these come later on. If this attentive silence has been obtained you have fully profited by your meditation.

What does Sri Aurobindo mean by "perfection from above" and "perfection from below" ?

                                                                       Sri Aurobindo—The Supramental Manifestation.

     The perfection from above is the spiritual perfection, the integral union, the identification with the Divine, the liberation from all limitations of the lower world. It is the perfection in Yoga, a perfection wholly independent of the body and the physical world and which, in ancient times, consisted essentially in rejecting the body and physical life in order to have relations with nothing else than the higher world and finally the Divine alone.

     The perfection from below means to get from the human being in its present form and in its body, in its relation with all things of the earth the maximum of which it is capable. That is the case with all great geniuses : the artistic genius, the literary genius, great organisers, great rulers, all those who, in one domain or another, have pushed human development to the utmost limit of its possibilities.

     From all points of view from the point of view of strength and physical qualities, from the point of view of intellectual achievements, from the point of view of energy and courage, unselfishness and kindness and charity, all human qualities carried to their highest point, that is perfection from below.

    The perfection from above is spiritual and ultra-human. The perfection from below is human perfection at its climax, a perfection which, besides, can be absolutely independent of all spiritual life and spiritual aspiration. You can be a genius without having any spiritual aspiration. You can have the most extraordinary moral qualities without having any spiritual life. And even, generally, those who have a great power for human achievement are satisfied more or less with their condition. They have the impression that they are sufficient in themselves, they carry in themselves the source of their achievement and their delight, and most often it is very difficult to make them understand and feel that they are not the creators of their own creations. Try to tell them : "It is not you who are the creators of the work you have done, but a force higher than you, and you are only its instrument"; well, apart from a few rare exceptions, you may be sure that they will find the joke to be in very bad taste and turn you out ! We are thus truly in the presence of two perfections which in ordinary life go in divergent ways.

    It was said in the ancient yoga that the first condition for entry into the spiritual way is to be disgusted with life. But men who have achieved this human perfection are rarely disgusted with life, unless they have encountered personal difficulties, ingratitude and non-understanding of their genius. Otherwise, so long as they are in their period of success and creation, they are perfectly satisfied. Then, as they are satisfied, satisfied with themselves above all, they feel no need to look for anything else.

     This is not always true but it is how things happen generally; and unless there is in these men of genius a perfectiy self-conscious soul which has come to do a definite work upon the earth, they may very well take birth grow and die without knowing anything else than the terrestrial life. And above all it is this

satisfaction given by the feeling of having reached the maximum of achievement that prevents them from needing anything else. If they do possess a fully self-conscious soul, fully aware of the reason for their existence in the physical world, they might have a vague impression that all these things are rather hollow, and all these achievements are a little too superficial and that something else is missing. But it is only the predestined beings that have that, and in reality in all mankind they are not very many. They alone can unite the two perfections and achieve something integral.

      Yet this too is rather rare. They that have reached the summits of spirituality are rarely those that have achieved most in the physical world. This has happened, but it is not at all frequent. Naturally, the conscious incarnations of the Divine carried the possibility of both the perfections in them, but these are quite exceptional cases. Otherwise, those who have had a spiritual life, a great spiritual realisation might also have, at certain exceptional moments, a capacity of outer realisation which is also exceptional, but it was intermittent and had not the integrality, the totality, the perfection of those who were exclusively concentrated on material realisation. That is the reason why those who live exclusively in the outer consciousness, for whom only the material earthly life exists, that which is concrete, tangible, perceptible for all, always feel that spiritual life is something—yes, misty, materially almost mediocre.

     I have met some people who wanted to prove that spiritual powers give a great capacity for external achievement; they tried in their exceptional spiritual state to do painting or music or write poetry. Well, all that they produced was quite second-rate and could not be compared at all to the works of the great geniuses who mastered the material nature; this naturally was giving a handle to the materialist just to say : "you see, your pretended power is nothing at all". But the reason is that externally they were but ordinary men. For, even if the greatest spiritual power entered into a matter that is untrained, there would be a work evidently much higher than what it would have been without that power, but would be yet much inferior to

Page-7

what a genius having mastery over matter can do. The breath of the Spirit alone is not sufficient, the instrument also must be able to manifest it.

     Take, on the other hand, a great artist, a musician, or a poet who has fully mastered his art and attained in his domain the highest human possibility, if to that is added a spiritual consciousness, the supramental force, then you will have something truly divine.

     And this is the key to the endeavour which Sri Aurobindo expects of us, the reason for its existence. For if you draw from your body all the possibilities it contains, if you train it by known normal scientific methods, make of it an instrument as perfect as possible, when the supramental truth manifests in that body, it will become forthwith without the necessity of centuries of preparation a marvellous instrument of expression for the Spirit.

     That is why Sri Aurobindo has always said and repeated : "work from both the ends, do not leave one for the other".

     Certainly, if you want to have a divine consciousness, you must not give up the spiritual aspiration; but if you want to become an integral divine being upon the earth, take great care not to give. up the other end, but make of your body the best possible instrument.

     It is a malady of the ordinary human intelligence which comes necessarily from separation, from division, that things must be either this or that. If you choose this, you turn your back on that; if you choose that, you turn your back on this.

     This is a poor thing. You must know how to take all, combine all, synthesise all. Then you have an integral realisation.

"A great thing would be done if all these God-visions could embrace and cast themselves into each other ; but intellectual dogm and cult-egoism stand in the way.""

                                                                           Sri Aurobindo—Thoughts and Glimpses.

How could all these different views embrace and cast themselves into each other ?

     It is not in the mental consciousness that the things can be harmonised and synthesised. One must rise above and find the idea behind the thought. If instead of looking only at the external forms of the great religions of humanity, the dogmas and intellectual conceptions, one took them in their spirit, in the principle which they represent, there would be no difficulty in unifying them. They are all but aspects of man’s progress that complement each other quite well and should also unite with yet many others to form a more total and complete progress, a more perfect understanding of life, a more integral approach to the Divine. Even this unification which by itself demands a return to the spirit behind things is not sufficient. One must add to it a vision of the future, of the goal towards which humanity is moving, of the future realisation of the world, the last spiritual revolution of which Sri Aurobindo speaks here, that which will open the New Age, that is to say, the supramental revolution.

     In the supramental consciousness all these things are neither contradictory nor exclusive any longer. They become entirely complementaries. It is the mental form that divides. What one mental form represents must unite with what all other mental forms represent in order to make a harmonious whole. And that is the essential difference between religion and the true spiritual life. Religion exists almost exclusively in its form, its cult, a certain set of ideas and it becomes great only through the spirituality of a few exceptional individuals; while true spiritual life, particularly what the supramental realisation will be is independent of all precise intellectual forms, of all forms of life that are limited. It embraces all possibilities and all manifestations, and in the matter of expression, it is the vehicle of the highest and the most universal truth.

     A new religion would not only be useless but harmful. A new life has to be created, a new consciousness has to be expressed, something which is beyond intellectual limitations and mental formulas. It is a living truth that has to manifest.

    And in this realisation everything in its essence and in its truth has to be included. It must be an expression of the divine reality as total, as complete, as universal as possible. That alone can save humanity and the world. That is the great spiritual revolution of which Sri Aurobindo speaks, and it is that which he wanted us to realise.

*

*   *

"Freedom is the law of being in its illimitable unity, secret master of all Nature : servitude is the law of love in the being voluntarily giving itself to serve the play of its other selves in the multiplicity."

Sri Aurobindo—Thoughts and Glimpses.

How is it possible at the same time to be in freedom and in servitude?

     To a superficial view, freedom and servitude seem absolutely contradictory and incompatible. Yet there is an attitude which reconciles the two opposites and makes of them one of the happiest states of material existence.

     Freedom is a kind of instinctive need, a necessity for the integral growth of the being. In essence, it is the perfect realisation of the highest consciousness, it is the expression of union, of unity with the Divine, it is the very meaning of the origin and the fulfilment. But because this unity is manifested in the multiplicity, something was needed to serve as the link between the origin and the manifestation. Could a more perfect link be conceived than love ? And what is the first gesture of love ? To give oneself, to serve. What is its spontaneous, immediate and inevitable movement? To serve, to serve in a joyous total self-giving.

     We see then that in their purity and truth, perfect freedom and service far from being contradictories are complementaries.

Page-10

Perfect freedom is found in the perfect union with the supreme Reality and in that alone. As soon as there is the least inconscience, the least ignorance, it is a limitation and a slavery. And how else can this union be realised unless by a spontaneous self-giving, love’s self-giving ? But we have just now seen that the first movement, the first expression of love is to serve.

     In the Truth therefore perfect freedom and service are closely united. But here, upon earth, in this world of ignorance and inconscience, the service which should be spontaneous, the very expression of love has become a compulsion, a humiliating servitude for the only purpose of maintaining life. What should have been a self-opening and a delight has become something ugly, tiresome, a sordid bondage.

     As for the sense, the need of freedom, that too has been deformed. It has become the thirst for independence which leads straight to revolt and separation and isolation—isolation that is the very opposite of true freedom.

     Independence ! I remember I heard from an old wise man a beautiful reply. When someone told him, "I want to be independent, I am an independent being, I exist only when I am independent", he answered with a smile, "That means you will not be loved by anyone, for if someone loved you, you would immediately become dependent on this love".

     That was a beautiful reply, because it is love that leads to unity and the true expression of this unity is precisely freedom. They who in the name of their right to freedom demand independence turn their back wholly upon true freedom, because in fact they deny love.

     Deformation comes from compulsion; as soon as there is compulsion there is falsehood. All the movements of the inner being must be spontaneous, with the spontaneity that derives from inner agreement, from an entire and willing self-giving, from the return to the deeper truth, the reality of the being, the origin and the goal.

*

*   *

Page-11

"A victory always defeated"—what does it mean ?

                                                         Sri Aurobindo—Thoughts and Glimpses.

     It means that this victory is never final, never complete. Each time you believe that you have won it, you find that it is only partial and temporary. Not that things necessarily remain the same as before; no, something is changed, but all is not changed, not completely changed.

     This is particularly noticeable in physical conquests, in conquests over the body. Through an assiduous labour you succeed in overcoming a weakness, a limitation, a bad habit and you believe the victory as final; but after a time, sometimes even immediately you recognise that nothing has been done entirely\, that nothing is final and what you believed you had done you have to do again. This is because the truth is that only a total change, a reversal of the consciousness, the intervention of a new force can make the victory final and total.

     In the old Chaldean tradition an image used to be given very often to the novices when they were made to put on the symbolic white robe; they were told, "Do not try to wash off the spots one by one. The whole robe must be purified". Do not try to cure your defects one by one, to overcome your weaknesses one by one; that does not take you very far. What you have to do is to change the whole consciousness, what is needed is a reversal of the consciousness, to come out of the state you are in and rise to a higher state from where you can dominate all the weaknesses you want to cure and from where you have a total view of the work to be done.

     Sri Aurobindo says a little later : "things are such that nothing is done until all is done". One step forward is not sufficient, a total conversion is needed.

    How often have I heard people who are on the way telling me : "I am trying, but what is the use of that ? Each time I believe I have gained something, I find that I have to begin again". It is because they try to advance while remaining at the same place, they try to progress without changing their consciousness. The whole point of view should be shifted, the whole consciousness

Page-12

must come out of the groove where it lies, in order to ri up and see things from above.

      Then and then only the victories will be final and total.

How to change the consciousness ?

     There are many ways to do it; each person has to use the one most suitable to his nature. The indication of the way generally comes spontaneously by something like an unexpected experience. You may be, for example, in the ordinary consciousness, the consciousness spread on the surface, horizontally, working on a plane that is at the same time an appearance of things an beings and circumstances. Then all at once, for a reason that varies with each person, an upward displacement occurs an instead of seeing things horizontally, being on the same plane with them, suddenly you dominate them. You see them from above and in their totality instead of perceiving only the few that are immediately near. you seem to have been all on a sudden transported to the summit of a mountain: instead of seeing the details of things you see the whole, as a unity and from very high.

     There are many ways of having this experience, but general] it comes as it were by chance some day.

    You may have also an experience of almost the opposite kind, but which comes to the same thing. All of a sudden you plunge into a depth, you go away from things as you were away of them; they appear to you far, superficial, indifferent. You enter into an inner silence or an inner calm or a vision within, a more intimate perception of things and circumstances, a deep feeling. Values change. You become aware of the unity, of the profound identity of all things beneath the diversity of the appearances.

    Or again, also suddenly, the sense of limitation disappears and you enter into the perception of a kind of indefinite duration which has neither beginning nor end, something which has always been and will always be.

Page-13

     These experiences come to you all on a sudden in a lightning flash, for a second, for one instant in your life, you do not know Why or how. They are countless and vary according to people. But it is by that one minute, one second of existence of the kind that you catch hold of the guiding string.

     Then you should remember, try to relive the experience, go deep down, call it back, aspire and concentrate. That is the starting-point.

     For all who are destined to find the truth of their being, their inner being, there is always at least one moment in their life when they have the experience of the true consciousness when they are no longer the same. That may come when they are quite young, that may come only as a flash, but it is sufficient. This is the surest indication of the way that one should take, this is the door that opens on the way. You must then go through and with perseverance and tireless obstinacy seek to renew the state which will lead you to something more real, something that is a greater whole.

    Many ways may be indicated and have been indicated for attaining the true consciousness. But a way that you learn, a way that you read about in books or even that which is received from a teacher has not the effective value of a spontaneous experience that comes with no apparent reason, which is simply the expression of the soul’s awakening, one second of contact with the psychic being that indicates to each one the best way for him, that which is most within his reach and which he must then follow with perseverance in order to reach the goal.

    Some have that in the night in dream. Others on some occasion or other: something they see that awakens in them this new consciousness; something they hear or read, a beautiful music, a beautiful phrase or again there is a great intensity of concentration in an effort, it does not matter which, there are a thousand reasons and a thousand ways. Only one must be wakeful and on the watch.

    Sometimes when you witness an act of heroism or generosity or greatness of soul, when you are in the presence of someone who shows some especial capacity or who acts in an exceptionally

Page-14

beautiful way, then a kind of enthusiasm or admiration or gratitude awakens all on a sudden in the being and opens the door to a state of new consciousness, a light, a warmth, a delight that you did not know. That also is a way of seizing the string.

    But first of all you must conceive the necessity of this change of consciousness, must accept the idea that that is the way that must take to the goal. When the principle is accepted, you must be attentive and observe. And you find, you shall find. And once you have found, you have to be on the march without hesitation.

*

*   *

There are persons for whom everything seems easy, there are others who are often plunged into the worst difficulties, who fall into the greatest obscurity. Why this difference ?

     Do not trouble yourselves with what others do, I cannot repeat it to you too often. Do not judge, do not criticise, do not compare. That is not your look out. You have been put upon earth in a physical body for a definite purpose which is to make of this body as perfect an instrument as possible, as conscious of the Divine as possible. You have been given a certain amount of substance or matter in all the domains, mental, vital and physical, adapted to what the Divine expects of you, and all the circumstances of your life are equally adapted to what the Divine expects of you. So do not say : "My life is terrible I have the most terrible life in the world !" for each one has the fife which suits him for his total development, each one has the experiences that suit him for his total development and each one has the difficulties that suit him for his total realisation.

      If you observe yourself closely you will indeed see that you carry in yourself the contrary of the virtue that you have to realise, I take virtue in its largest and highest sense. You have a special purpose, a special mission, a special realisation which is your

Page-15

own, and you carry in you all the obstacles necessary for making that realisation perfect. Always you will find that within you darkness and light go together : you have a capacity, you have also the negation of that capacity. But if you come across a deep thick shadow, be sure that somewhere in you there is a great light. It is up to you to make use of the one for realising the other.

     Do not say : "I am like that and I cannot be otherwise !" For it is not true. You are like that, precisely because you have to become the contrary. All the difficulties are there exactly in order that you might learn to transform them into the truth that they hide.

     In the same way one can say that if the world were not essentially the opposite of what it has become, there would be no hope. Because the pit is so dark, so deep, the inconscience so total that if it was not a sign of the possibility of a full consciousness, the thing should be given up.

     Shankara said—and others with him—that the world is not worth living in, that you must look upon it as an illusion and leave it as soon as possible, for you can do nothing with it. I tell you on the contrary, that it is because the world is very bad, very obscure, very ugly, very unconscious, full of misery and pain that there exists in it the possibility of becoming the supreme Beauty, the supreme Light, the supreme Consciousness and the supreme Delight.

*

*   *

How can the functions of the body reach their highest capacity ?

       By transformation, a total transformation.

       Actually our body is still only a rather doubtful improvement upon the animal body, because if it is true that we have gained in certain respects, we have lost in others. There is no doubt that from the point of view of purely physical capacities, many of the animals are superior to us. Unless by a special culture and discipline we succeed in truly transforming our capacities it is evident

Page-16

that in the matter of muscular force and strength, the tiger or the lion, for example, is much superior to us; the monkey surpasses us in agility; the bird can move about in the air without any necessary outside mechanism, a thing not yet possible for us. And like the animal we are bound, limited by the demands of our organs for their functioning; we are slaves of our physical needs. It is obvious, for example, that so long as we depend, in order to live, upon material food, absorption of matter in such a gross form, we shall be an animal inferior enough and we shall not be able to divinise our life.

     We must then conceive that this animality in the human being will be replaced by some other source of life-power. It is not only a conceivable, but already a partially realisable thing; and that is evidently the goal which we must set before us if we want to transform matter and make it capable of expressing divine qualities.

     In a very ancient tradition, preceding even the vedic and chaldean traditions, there was already the question of a glorious body which would be plastic enough to be constantly remodelled by the deeper consciousness, a body expressing this consciousness. There was the question of luminosity : the matter constituting the body being able to become luminous at will. There was the question of a kind of lightness being possible which would enable the body to move about in the air by mere will-force and some procedure of handling the inner energy and so on.

     These things have been much talked about. Were there ever on earth beings that had realised such a perfection ? I do not know, but in quite a small measure there have been partial examples just to furnish a proof that the thing is possible. And in this order of ideas one can go so far as to conceive that material organs as we know them at present would be replaced by centres of concentration of force and energy that are receptive of higher forces and that would, by a sort of alchemy, use these latter for necessities of physical life.

     We already speak of different centres in the body; that is a current knowledge among those that practise certain Yogas. Well, these centres can be so perfected as to allow a direct action of the higher energy and vibration upon matter.

Page-17

      Those who have practised occultism sufficiently know the process of materialising subtle energies to put them in contact with physical vibrations. This is a thing that not only can be done but is done. There is there a whole science that has to be perfected, completed and which evidently must be used for the the creation and action of new bodies that will be capable of manifesting the supramental life in a material world.

      But, as Sri Aurobindo says, before you come to that it is good to make use of all the means at your disposal to increase your control over the physical activities and give them a greater precision. It is evident that those who practise physical culture in a scientific and coordinated way, attain a mastery of the body that is unknown to those who are not trained. We saw, when the Russian gymnasts came, with what ease they did exercises that were yet beyond ordinary physical possibilities; they did that without the least sign of effort as if it was the most natural and the most simple thing in the world. Well, such a mastery is already a great step towards the transformation of the body. And in the case of these athletes—who were materialists by profession, one might say—no spiritual methods were used for their training. It is solely by material means and an enlightened use of the human will that they attained the mastery that we saw. But if to that they had added a spiritual knowledge and power, they could have obtained almost miraculous results.

     But because of wrong ideas current in the world, generally the two things are not found together, spiritual mastery and material mastery, so that one is always lacking the other. But if, as I have said just now, the two are joined together, the result can arrive at a perfection unimaginable for the ordinary human mind.

     And that is exactly what we want to try.

     But immediately you come against a formidable mass of stupid prejudices which you have to fight, prejudices which consist in raising an irreducible antagonism between material fife and spiritual life. And this is a thing so much ingrained in human consciousness that it is extremely difficult to uproot it, even in those who believe that they have understood Sri Aurobindo’s teaching.

Page-18

Spiritual life for many is only meditation. So long as this stupidity is not rooted out from the human consciousness, the supramental force will always find considerable difficulty in not being engulfed into the obscurity of a mind unable to understand anything.

     I have chosen to read to you "The Supramental Manifestation" to put you in contact with a truth expressed in a form almost combative, just in order to fight against this old division, this complete non-understanding of the eternal Truth. 

*

*   *

During matches many play in a bad spirit. They try to hurt in order to win and we have observed even the little ones are learning that. How to avoid it ?

      As for children, it is, above all, ignorance and bad example that does the harm. So it would be good if the group leaders, the captains, before they begin the games, called all who are under them to repeat and explain to them what is said about games and sports in "The Supramental Manifestation", "The Code of the perfect Sportsman" and "What an ideal child should be". These are things that should be repeated often to the children. And then they should be put on guard against bad company, bad comrades; lastly and especially, give them a good example. Be yourself what you wish them to be. Give them the example of unselfishness, patience, self-mastery, self-forgetfulness, a constant happy mood in all circumstances; overcome little personal inconveniences, for example, do not be unpleasant, do not be impatient when you are tired or indisposed; have a constant kindness, understanding of others’ difficulties and that equality of temper so that children have no fear of you; for what makes children dissimulating, lying and vicious is the fear for punishment. On the contrary, if they feel confident they will hide nothing and you can help them precisely to be loyal and honest.

     Of all things then the most important is good example. And

Page-19

that demands a perfection, a self-mastery representing a great step on the way of realisation. And if you fulfil the necessary conditions for being a true leader, even if you be the leader of a small group of children, you have already advanced far in the necessary discipline for the fulfilment of the Yoga.

     You must look at the problem under this aspect, the aspect of self-mastery, of self-control, of an endurance that does not allow your personal condition to react upon your group or collective action. To forget oneself is one of the most essential conditions for being a true leader; to relate nothing to oneself, to want nothing for oneself, to consider only the welfare of the group, of the whole, of the totality depending on you; to act only for this end, without seeking any personal profit.

     It is thus that the leader of a small group can become the perfect leader of an important group, of a nation and prepare himself for a collective role. It is a school of capital importance and it is that which we have tried to do here and which we continue trying : to give as soon as possible to each one a responsibility, small or big, so that he may learn to become a true leader.

     To become a true leader one must be wholly unselfish and, as much as possible, not to be self-regarding, not to have any egoistic movement. To be a leader, one must master one’s ego and to master one’s ego is the very first step in doing Yoga. That is how sports can be a powerful aid for the realisation of the Divine.

     Few persons understand that, and generally they who are against this external discipline, this concentration on a material achievement like the sports, are exactly the people who lack totally control over their physical being. But to realise the integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo, control of the body is one of the first indispensable steps. They who despise physical activities are people who will not be able to take a single step on the true way of integral Yoga, unless they get rid of their despise first. The control of the body in all its forms is an indispensable basis. A body that rules you is an enemy, it is an unacceptable disorder. It is the enlightened will of the spirit that should rule the body, not that the body should impose its law upon the Spirit. When one knows that a thing is bad, one should be capable of not doing it. And when one wants a

Page-20

thing to be realised, one must be capable of realising it. You must not at every step be stopped by an incapacity or a bad will or want of cooperation from the body. For that you have to follow a physical discipline and become the master of your own house.

      It is fine to escape into meditation and look down from one’s pretended greatness upon material things; but one who is not master of one’s house is a slave.

Are competitions in sports essential for our progress?

      From the point of view of moral education, they are essential enough,, because if you take part in them in the right spirit, it is an excellent occasion for mastering one’s ego.

      Naturally if you play in the ordinary way, with all the ordinary reactions and ugly movements, without attempting to overcome your weaknesses, then you derive absolutely no profit out of them. But if you can play in the true spirit, without any movement of an inferior kind, without jealousy and without ambition, keeping an attitude of what I may call sporting correctness, that is to say, doing one’s best and not caring for the result, if you can, even while you make your utmost effort, be not troubled, because you have not met with success or things have not turned in your favour—then it is very useful. You can come out of all these competitions with a greater mastery over yourself, and a detachment with regard to the result that helps you much in the formation of an exceptional character. That compels you to make a special effort and go a little beyond your ordinary limits. And it is certainly an occasion to make you conscious of movements which would otherwise always remain unconscious.

     But it is well understood, you must never forget that these tournaments and contests should be an occasion and means for progress. Because if you go on playing quite in the ordinary way, you lose time. But whatever you do it is always the same. Always

Page-21

everything depends much more on the spirit in which you do things than on the thing itself that you do.

     If all of you were yogis and you did nothing but with the maximum effort and to the utmost of your possibilities, doing not merely as well as one can do, but with the idea of doing better still, then evidently competitions, prizes, rewards would be unnecsary. But, as Sri Aurobindo writes, you cannot ask of children to become yogis and during a period of preparation, there must be a stimulant for the most material consciousness to make an effort for progress. And this period of infancy sometimes may last many years.

     The ideal would be precisely what I indicated in the last Bulletin : "Have no ambition, above all pretend nothing, but be at every moment the utmost that you are capable of being." And whatever you do, that is the ideal condition for an integral life. If you realise that, you are certainly very far on the way to perfection. But evidently a certain inner maturity is needed to be able to do it in all sincerity.

      In the meanwhile you can always make a programme of it.

*

*   *

Why is it that the largest number of people take interest in games, while only a minority is interested in serious exercises ?

      Because in the immense majority of cases what creates the interest is vital satisfaction. If you are to find interest in exercises of training, which has not the excitement of games, your being must be governed by Reason. In the case of ordinary humanity Reason is the summit of the consciousness, that part of the being which should govern the rest, because it is the ordered and reasonable part, that is to say, it does things with a sense of the orderly and of the good and the useful and according to a given plan recognised and followed by each one.

     The vital part of the being, on the other hand, likes the

Page-22

excitement, the unforeseen, the adventure, all that makes play attractive, the competition, above all, the effort for success, the victory over the adversary. All that is vital impulse, and as the vital is the seat of enthusiasm, drive, ordinary energy, when this attraction of the unforeseen, of the struggle and victory is lacking the vital goes to sleep, unless it has the habit of obeying in a regular and spontaneous manner the will of the Reason.

      One of the very first uses of physical training is precisely this that you cannot do it truly well unless the body is habituated to obey Reason rather than the vital impulses. Let us take, for example, exercises for the development of bodily perfection —dumb-bells etc.—that have nothing particularly exciting in them, that demands the discipline of a strict life, regular and rational habits giving no room for passion or desire or impulse; well then, to be able to do them perfectly, you must have a life ruled by Reason.

      And it is not very usual. Generally it is impulses—impulses of desire—enthusiasm and passion with all their reactions that are masters of human fife. You must have become already somewhat of a sage in order to be able to follow a strict discipline of the body and obtain from it an ordered, regular, monotonous effort that can lead to its perfection. So there is no place here for fancies and desires : as soon as you indulge in excesses, in intemperance of any kind or a disordered life, it will become absolutely impossible for you to master your body and develop it normally. Moreover, you spoil your health, and in consequence the very basis of all ideal of bodily perfection vanishes. With a bad and shaken health you are not good for much; certainly it is the gratification of desires and vital impulses or the unreasonable demands of ambition that cause the body to suffer and fall ill.

      And naturally there is the ignorance, too frequent ignorance of the very elementary rules of life. Everybody knows that one must learn how to live, to learn, for example, that fire burns, that one may be drowned in water. But a humanity on the lower level has no taste for life unless it is to live one’s passions and it does not admit always that the control of reason over life is indispensable, if for nothing else than to be in good health.

Page-23

      I remember a man who came here very long ago to stand in the elections as a deputy. As people wanted to know my opinion of him, he was introduced to me; he put to me some questions about the Ashram, the life that was led here and then asked me what was according to me the discipline indispensable for life. I must tell you that he was a man who was smoking the whole day, drinking much more than was necessary and he complained that he felt extremely tired and was at times incapable of controlling himself. So I replied to him : "The very first thing you have to do is to stop smoking and drinking". The man looked at me in utter bewilderment and cried out: "But then, if you do not smoke, if you do not drink, life is not worth living".

     The thing is more common than one believes. It appears to us absurd, to us, because we have something else which is evidently more interesting than smoking and drinking, but for ordinary humanity, the satisfaction of desires is the only motive for existence. People who indulge in excesses and in vice do so to assert as it were their independence and their reason for existence; while in reality it is a deviation, a deformation, a negation of the life-instinct, an unhealthy and perverse intervention of the mind and vital impulse in physical life.

     Perversion is a human malady, a malady that exists rarely in animals, and only among animals that have come near man and as a result have been contaminated by his mode of being. Otherwise, they are by instinct infinitely more reasonable than human beings.

    On this subject the following story is told. Some officers garrisoned in Algeria had adopted a monkey. The monkey lived with them and one evening at dinner they had the grotesque idea of giving it alcoholic drink. Seeing others drinking and himself interested in it, the monkey emptied the glass that was offered to him, after which he rolled under the table a prey to violent pain, sick, so sick that he was about to die, thus showing by example to man the spontaneous effect of alcohol on a physical nature that is not yet perverted. He v/as cured, however; and sometime after he was again admitted to dinner table. And once more one of the officers put before him a glass of alcohol. Then

Page-24

in a terrific rage the monkey took it up and flung it at the head of the person who had offered it. And by that the monkey proved that he was much more wise than men.

      It is quite good to begin when you are very young to learn that reason must be the master of the house, if one is to lead an effective life and obtain from the body the maximum it is capable of giving. Note well that I do not speak of Yoga nor spiritual realisation, but of life that is common and current. A man who is not governed by reason is a brute inferior to the animal; because if animals have no mind or reason to rule them, they obey the instinct of the race, an extremely reasonable instinct that governs all their activities for their good, and automatically, without knowing it they submit themselves to this instinct. Those that for some reason or other are freed from it—because they live near men, for example, and obey men instead of obeying their instinct—are precisely those that are perverted and lose the qualities of their species. But left to its natural life and free from human influence, the animal is an extremely reasonable being from its own point of view, because it does nothing that does not conform to its nature and its welfare.

      Perversion begins with the conscious mind and the human species. It is a bad use that man makes of his mental capacity. It is a depravity of nature’s progress which mental consciousness represents.

     The first thing that is to be taught to every human being as soon as he is capable of thinking is that he must obey reason which is a kind of super-instinct of the species. And I repeat that it is not a question of spiritual life, but the very elementary wisdom of human, purely human life. Every child must know that he is created to become a mental being, and if he is to manifest his human nature reason must govern his life and not vital impulses. That is the elementary education that should be given everywhere.

     The reign of reason should not end until the corning of the psychic law which manifests the Divine Will.

Page-25

       "It is indeed possible even while fasting for very long periods to maintain the full energies and activities of the soul and mind and life, even those of the body, to remain wakeful but concentrated in Yoga all the time, or to think deeply and write day and night, to dispense with sleep, to walk eight hours a day, maintaining all these activities separately or together and not feel any loss of strength, any fatigue, any kind of failure or decadence".

                                                                                                                            Sri Aurobindo — The Supramental Manifestation.

       If such a fast is possible, would not one derive great profit by doing it ?

      What Sri Aurobindo describes here is not simply a possibility, it is his own experience, a thing he did. Yet it would be a great error to believe one could have the experience by simply reproducing its outer aspect. Even if by an effort of the will one succeeded in doing so, the experience would be perfectly useless spiritually, if it is not preceded by a change of consciousness as a preliminary liberation.

      It is not by abstaining from food that you can make a spiritual progress. It is by being free, free not only from all attachment, from all desire and preoccupation for food but even from all need in respect of food, by being in a state in which these things are so foreign to the consciousness that they have no place there. It is then and as a natural and spontaneous consequence that one can fast usefully.

      It can be said that the essential condition is to forget to eat; to forget, because all the energies of the being and all their concentration are turned towards an inner realisation the most complete, the most true; they are absorbed in this constant imperative preoccupation for the union of the entire being, including the body cells, with the vibration of divine forces, with the supramental force that is manifesting. That has to be the true life not only the reason for the existence of life, but the essence of life, not only an imperative need in life, but its whole delight.

     When one has this realisation, then to eat or not to eat, to sleep or not to sleep, all that has no longer any importance. It is an external rhythm left to the play of the universal forces in

Page-26

their totality, expressing themselves through circumstances and persons around you, giving to the body united, united wholly with the inner truth, a suppleness, a constant capacity for adaptation. If food is there, the body takes it, if it is not there, it does not think of it. If sleep is there it takes it, if it is not there it does not think of it. And so on with regard to all things.

      For that is not life. Eating, sleeping etc. are modes of existence to which you adapt yourself without giving a thought. It has somewhat the effect of a flowering, a flower, as it were, blooming on a plant. It is a kind of activity that does not come from any concentrated will but out of a harmony with all things around you. They are ways of being adapted to the circumstances in which one lives, but having no importance in themselves.

     There comes a time when practically free from everything, you have need of nothing and can use everything, do everything without the consciousness in which you are being truly influenced in any way. That is the important thing. To try to reach this condition by external movements and arbitrary decisions coming from a mental consciousness which aspires towards a higher life may be a means, though not very effective, yet all the same a kind of reminder that one should be something else than what one is in his animality—but that is not the thing, not the thing at all. One could be so absorbed in one’s inner aspiration as not to give any thought to these external things, not to care in the least about them, who would take what came and would not think of it if it did not come—such a person would be much farther on the way than one who would force himself to ascetic exercises with the idea that that would lead him to the realisation.

      The only thing truly effective is change of consciousness, inner liberation by an intimate, a constant, absolute, inevitable union with the vibration of the supramental forces. Then the preoccupation of each moment, the will of every element of the being, the aspiration of the whole being, including each and every cell of the body, will be this union with the supramental, the divine forces. There is no need at all any more to be preoccupied with the consequences that might follow. In the play of the universal forces and their manifestation, what must be will come naturally,

Page-27

spontaneously, automatically; one has not to think about it. The only thing that matters is keeping up the complete, total, constant—yes, constant—union with the Force, the Light, the Truth, the Power and the unspeakable Delight of the supramental consciousness.

     That is sincerity. All else is only imitation and semblance, almost a comedy that one plays with oneself. Perfect purity means to be, to be more and more, always in a more and more perfect becoming. You should never pretend to be; you must be, spontaneously.

     That is sincerity. 

*

*   *

Medicine and Consciousness in the maintenance of the body.

     I have been often asked why, having laid down as the ideal principle that when we deal with the body we must do it with the knowledge that it is only a result and an instrument of the supreme reality of the universe and of the truth of our being, and after having taught that and shown that this was the truth to be realised, why, in our organisation of the Ashram have we doctors and dispensaries and a physical education of the body according to modern theories current everywhere else ? Why filter water and disinfect fruits ?

     There appears to be a contradiction indeed, but it is only an appearance. I have told you very often that when two ideas or two principles seem to contradict each other, you must rise a little higher in your thought and find the point where these contradictions resolve into a comprehensive synthesis. Here the tiling is easy, if you remember that the method used for maintaining, preserving, improving the body and keeping it in good health will depend exclusively on the state of consciousness in which you are. The body is indeed an instrument of the consciousness and it is the consciousness that can act directly upon it and obtain from it what the consciousness wants.

Page-28

     So then if you are in the ordinary physical consciousness, see things with the eye of the ordinary physical consciousness, think of them with the ordinary physical consciousness, in that case, it is the ordinary physical means that you must use to act upon your body. The ordinary physical means are the product of all the science accumulated through thousands of years of human existence; this science is very complex, its processes are innumerable, complicated, uncertain, often contradictory to one another, always progressive and almost absolutely relative.

    And yet very precise results have been achieved. Since men are engaged in intensive physical culture, they have accumulated a large amount of experiences, studies, observations which constitute, in the external organisation of life—food, activities, exercises—a sufficiently sure basis so that they who study and strictly follow these things have a chance not only of being able to keep their body in good health but also to correct its defects and improve its general condition and thus achieve at times very remarkable results.

    I may add besides that this intellectual human science, as it is now, in its very sincere effort to find the truth, approaches more and more and in a very surprising manner the spiritual point of view. It is not impossible to foresee a movement in which both will join together in an understanding that is very profound and very near the essential truth.

    So then, for all who live on the physical plane, in the physical consciousness, it is the physical means and procedure which should be used to nurse and maintain the body. And as the large majority of human beings, even in the Ashram, live in a consciousness, if not exclusively, at least predominantly physical, it is quite natural that one should follow and obey all the principles given for the body by physical science.

    But evidently it is not the ultimate realisation to which we move, nor is it the ideal to which we want to rise. There is a higher condition than that where the consciousness although still mainly or partially mental in its action is open already towards higher regions in an aspiration for the spiritual life and open to the supramental influence.

    As soon as this opening occurs, you go beyond the state in

Page-29

which life is purely physical—when I say physical, I mean the whole mental and intellectual life and all human achievements, even the most remarkable; I speak of a physical that is the summit of human capacities, an earthly and material life where man can express mental and intellectual values of a higher order; you transcend then that state to enter into a transitional zone where the two influences meet and interpenetrate, where the consciousness is still mental and intellectual in its action, but sufficiently imbued with the supramental power and force as to be able to become the instrument of a higher truth.

     At the present hour, this state of consciousness is realisable on earth by those who are prepared to receive the supramental force that is manifesting. If it is realised, the body can then derive benefit from a condition higher than that in which it was before. It can be put in direct contact with the essential truth of its being to such a degree that it may spontaneously and every minute know in an instinctive and intuitive way what is the thing to be done and have the power to do it. This condition, I repeat, is now realisable for everyone who takes the trouble of preparing himself to receive the supramental force, to assimilate and obey it.

    Naturally there is a higher state than that; it is the state of which Sri Aurobindo speaks as the ideal to achieve : the divine life in a’ divine body. But that will take time, he himself says it to us. It is an integral transformation that cannot be done in a moment; it will take even much time. But once it is done and the consciousness becomes the supramental consciousness, then the action will no longer be determined by a mental choice or be subordinated to the physical capacity; the whole body will be spontaneously and integrally the perfect expression of the inner truth; that is the ideal you have to keep before your eyes, to the realisation of that you have to move; but you must not have the illusion and believe that it will be a swift, miraculous, immediate, marvellous transformation without effort, without labour.

     And yet it is not merely a possibility, it is not even a mere promise for some far-off future; it is something which is being worked out, so much so that you can even now not only foresee, but feel the moment when the body will repeat integrally, as the

Page-30

inner spirit has already done, the experience of the most spiritual part in the being, will find itself in its body consciousness in front of the supreme Reality, turn integrally to it and say, in all sincerity, in a total self-giving of all its cells :

"To be Thyself, exclusively, perfectly Thyself, infinitely, eternally—in all simplicity."

Page-31

HOME