April 5, 1967
Mother writes a note
on the windowsill
It’s the answer to a question. Have you heard what I said to the School’s teachers?…[[See note in Addendum. ]] They’ve asked me another question. This is the beginning of my answer:
“It is the division between ‘ordinary life’ and ‘spiritual life’ which is antiquated and obsolete….”
***
(Then Mother gives Satprem roses and a garland
of flowers called “adoration”)
Do you want this?
(Satprem accepts unenthusiastically)
Mon petit, when the cells get into this state, it’s wonderful, you can’t imagine! It changes life com-plete-ly. They are like that: a sense of wonder at the first Contact. "Is it possible? Can it be that beautiful! Is it possible?" Like that. And constantly, all the time, every moment, on any occasion: "Can it be like that?" Such a sense of wonder! Then you see how much difference there is from the old habits and everything people have crammed their heads with [renunciation, the beyond] – it’s marvelous! Unbelievable. This
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whole morning again it was like that…. There comes a sense of discomfort (it always comes from outside, from this and that, in relation to this and that; that’s how it comes), and immediately, instantly, they remember. They remember, they say, "No! What You will, Lord." That’s their attitude, an attitude of such complete self-giving! Much, much more complete, much more simple, much more charming than in any other part of the being. It’s "What You will…. You, You, You, what You will. To be … to be You not with an idea of aggrandizement, but to melt, flow, disappear in You like that." And also, "But You are reality!" And all these words are a diminution. Diminution not in the sensation, but in the consciousness – it’s a marvel of consciousness, you know: "You, You … But You alone exist, You alone are." Then all discomforts, all pains, it all vanishes without a trace. It’s a marvel, one can’t imagine!
Sri Aurobindo once wrote somewhere, after an experience like this of the Divine Presence in the being, he wrote, “If men knew how marvelous is the way…. But they don’t know.” He wrote it, I can’t quote because I’ll quote it wrong, but he had this experience: “If men knew how marvelous it is, they wouldn’t hesitate for a minute.”
Now they still make a distinction: the “spiritual life” and the “ordinary life.”
Only, one should have what I had when I was very young: the sense of material realization in its utmost perfection, the will for perfection HERE. One should have this in order not to fling everything out of the window and just remain like that (gesture: dumb with bliss), like an idiot sitting there uselessly. It’s thanks to that old discipline that everything I do is automatically done with a will for perfection. It’s an old discipline. Otherwise one would be sitting there, laughing at everyone and everything: “Have my experience, you’ll see what it’s worth!”
It’s really interesting.
Mother then returns to her note:
Have you read his question? Read it again to me.
"… We talked about the future. It seemed to me that almost
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all the teachers were anxious to do something so the children
would become more conscious of why they are here. At this
point, I said that in my opinion, telling the children about
spiritual things often had the opposite result and that those
words lost all their value …"
“Spiritual things,” what does he mean by spiritual things?
If the teachers spout it all like a story, of course … That’s
what they often do, besides.
“Spiritual things”!… They teach history OR spiritual things, they teach science OR spiritual things. That’s where the stupidity lies! In history, there is the Spirit; in science, there is the Spirit – the Truth is everywhere. And what’s needed is to teach it not in an untruthful but in a true way.
They can’t get that into their heads.
He adds: "I suggested it might be better to gather and listen to
Mother’s voice (the recordings of the Wednesday and Friday
classes), for even if one doesn’t understand at all, your voice
would do its inner work, which we are not able to comprehend.
the child in contact with you. For all the suggestions, mine in
cluded, seem to me arbitrary and worthless…. Mother, would
it not be better for the teachers to concentrate exclusively on
the subjects they teach, since you are there to look after spiritual life?"
Since?
“Since you are there to look after spiritual life.”
I am going to answer him, “There’s no such thing as ‘spiritual life’!”
It’s still the old idea. Still the old idea of the sage, the yogi, the sannyasin, the … who represents spiritual life, while all others represent ordinary life – but it’s not true! It’s not true, not true at all.
If they still need to oppose one thing to another (because that wretched mind doesn’t work when it’s not given an opposition), if they need an opposition, let them take the opposition between
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Truth and Falsehood, it’s somewhat better (I am not saying it’s perfect, but it’s somewhat better). But then, in all things Falsehood and Truth are there, mixed, everywhere; in the so-called “spiritual life,” in the sannyasins, the swamis, those who think they represent divine life on earth and all that, there is also that mixture of Falsehood and Truth.
It would be better not to make a sharp cut.
(silence)
For the children, precisely because they are children, the best would be to inculcate in them the will to conquer the future; the will to look ahead always and move forward as rapidly as they can towards … what will be. But not to drag along, like a millstone around their necks, the burden of a whole past weighing down on them. Only when you are already very high up in consciousness and knowledge is it good to look back in order to find the points when the future began to be outlined. When you can see the whole at a glance, when you have a very general vision, it’s interesting to know that what will be realized ahead was already announced before; just as Sri Aurobindo said that “the divine life will manifest on earth because it is ALREADY buried in the depths of Matter.” From this point of view it’s interesting to look back or look at the very bottom (not in order to know what happened or to know what men have known – that’s quite useless).
As for the child, he should be told, “There are marvels to be manifested, prepare yourself to receive them.” Then, if they want something a little more concrete and easy to understand, they can be told, “Sri Aurobindo came to announce these things; when you are able to read him, you will understand.” This awakens the interest and the desire to learn.
I do see the difficulty he alludes to: most people, in what we
see written or in the conferences they have here, use bombastic
words …
Yes.
… devoid of any truth of personal experience and without any
to.
Yes. But that’s why it would be better to do as I said.
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Oh, but not so long ago, the majority of the teachers were still saying, “Ah, we must do this here because it’s done everywhere.” They have (smiling) come a little way. But they still have a long way to go.
But the main point, what is most important, is to get rid of that division. And they all have it in their minds – each and everyone of them! The division between living a spiritual life or living the ordinary life, having a spiritual consciousness or having an ordinary consciousness – there is only ONE consciousness!
In most people it’s three-quarters asleep and distorted; in many it’s still quite distorted. But what’s necessary isn’t to leap from one consciousness to the other – it is, quite simply, to open one’s consciousness (gesture upward) and fill it with the vibrations of the Truth, putting it in harmony with what must be here (up there, it’s from all eternity), but HERE, what must be HERE: the tomorrow of the earth. And if you weigh yourself down with a whole burden you have to drag along … if you drag behind you all that you should let go of, you won’t be able to move forward very fast.
Mind you, knowing things from the past of the earth can be very interesting and useful, but it must not be something that binds you or holds you back. If you use it as a springboard, it’s all right. But ultimately, it’s rather secondary.
From the individual standpoint, there was a time (besides, it was fairly widespread in people who dealt with so-called occult things), when it seemed thrilling to know one’s past lives, one’s past experiences; but as soon as I came here and understood what Sri Aurobindo had introduced, I found all that absolutely insignificant. It’s childish curiosity. It doesn’t help you in any way, it’s merely either to glory in it or have fun, but it’s unimportant. Some people still write to me, “Will you please tell me what my past lives were?” I answer them, “It’s not interesting. What’s interesting is the life you want to realize, not the errors you made in the past!”
(silence)
It would be interesting to formulate or work out a new method of teaching for the children, taking them very young. Very young, it’s easy. There must be people (oh, we would need remarkable teachers) who have, first, sufficient documentation on what is known, so as to be able to answer all questions; and at the same time, at least the knowledge, if not the experience (the experience would be better) of the true intuitive intellectual attitude, and …
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naturally, the capacity would be still preferable, but at any rate the knowledge that the true way to know is mental silence: an attentive silence turned towards the truer Consciousness, and the capacity to receive what comes from there. The best would be to have that capacity; in any case, they should explain that it’s the true thing – give a sort of demonstration – and that it works not only with regard to what must be learned, the whole field of knowledge, but also with regard to the whole field of what must be done: the capacity to receive the exact indication of HOW to do it. As one progresses, it turns into a very clear perception of what must be done, and the precise indication of WHEN it must be done. At the very least, as soon as the children have the capacity to reflect (it begins at seven, but around fourteen or fifteen it’s very clear), they should be given some first hints at the age of seven, and a complete explanation at fourteen, of how to do it and that it’s the only way enabling you to be in contact with the deeper truth of things; that all the rest is a more or less clumsy mental approximation of something you can know directly.
The conclusion is that the teachers themselves should have at least a sincere beginning of discipline and experience: the point is not to pile up books and just keep repeating them. That’s not the way to be a teacher – the whole earth is like that, we can just let it be like that outside if it enjoys it! As for us, we aren’t propagandists, we just want to show what can be done and try to prove that it MUST be done.
When you begin with very small children, it’s wonderful! With them, there’s so little you have to do: you just have to BE.
Never make a mistake.
Never get angry.
Always understand.
Understand and see clearly why this movement took place, why that impulse, what the child’s inner constitution is, which point needs to be strengthened and brought to the fore. That’s all you have to do, and then leave them: leave them free to blossom, just give them the opportunity to see many things, touch many things, do as many things as possible. It’s great fun. And above all, do not try to impose on them something you think you know.
Never scold, always understand, and, if the child is capable, explain. If he isn’t capable to receive an explanation, replace the false vibration by a true one (if you are yourself capable of it). But that … that’s asking of the teachers a perfection they rarely have.
But it would be very interesting to draw up a program for the
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teachers, and the real program for study, starting with the very small ones – they are so plastic and anything leaves such a deep imprint on them! If they were given a few drops of truth when they are very small, they would blossom out quite naturally as their being grows.
That would be a lovely work to do.
***
ADDENDUM
(Mother’s answer in English to the School’s teachers when she
was told that the new special afternoon classes at the library
had chosen as a first research theme "India’s
spiritual History.")
No! It won’t do. It is not to be done that way. You should begin with a big “BANG’!
You were trying to show the continuity of History, with Sri Aurobindo as the outcome, the culmination – it is false, entirely.
Sri Aurobindo does not belong to History; he is outside and beyond History.
Till the birth of Sri Aurobindo, religions and spiritualities were always centered on past figures, and they were showing as “the goal” the negation of life upon earth. So, you had a choice between two alternatives: either a life in this world with its round of petty pleasures and pains, joys and sufferings, threatened by hell if you were not behaving properly; or an escape into another world, heaven, nirvana, moksha [liberation]….
Between these two there is nothing much to choose, they are equally bad.
Sri Aurobindo has told us that this was a fundamental mistake which accounts for the weakness and degradation of India. Buddhism, Jainism, Illusionism were sufficient to sap all energy out of the country.
True, India is the only place in the world which is still aware that something else than matter exists. The other countries have quite forgotten it: Europe, America and elsewhere…. That is why she still has a message to preserve and deliver to the world. But at present she is splashing and floundering in the muddle.
Sri Aurobindo has shown that the truth does not lie in running
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away from earthly life but in remaining in it, to transform it, divinize it, so that the Divine can manifest HERE, in this PHYSICAL
WORLD.
You should tell all this at the first sitting. You should be square and frank.
Then, when this is told, strongly, squarely, and there is no doubt about it – and then only – you can go on and amuse them with the history of religions and religious or spiritual leaders.
Then – and then only – you will be able to show the seed of weakness and falsehood that they have harbored and proclaimed.
Then – and then only – you will be able to discern, from time to time, from place to place, an “intuition” that something else is possible: in the Vedas, for instance (the injunction to descend deep into the cave of the Panis); in the Tantras also … a little light burning.
I may add that you could adopt as motto for your first project this quotation of Sri Aurobindo:
“We do not belong to the past dawns,
but to the noons of the future.”
(Essays on the Gita)
***
Message from Mother to the School:
“Sri Aurobindo does not belong to the past nor to history.
“Sri Aurobindo is the Future advancing towards its
realization.
"Thus we must shelter the eternal youth required for a
speedy advance, in order not to become laggards on the
way."
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