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SECTION FIVE
BASIC REQUISITES OF YOGA
I. SINCERITY II. ASPIRATION III. FAITH IV. SURRENDER V. PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE
I. SINCERITY
The One Indispensable Condition
THERE is one indispensable condition, sincerity.
23-9-1935
II. ASPIRATION
Aspiration, Experience and Change
YES, that is the way—the intensity of the aspiration brings the intensity of the experience and by repeated intensity of the experience, the change.
5-4-1933 Page-121 Psychic Aspiration and Vital Intensity
IT is the, psychic that gives the true aspiration—if the vital is purified and subjected to the psychic, then the vital gives intensity—but if it is unpurified it brings in a rajasic intensity with impatience and reactions of depression and disappointment. As for the calm and equality needed, it must come down from above through the mind.
(1)
THE impatience and restless disquietude come from the vital which brings that even into the aspiration. The aspiration must be intense, calm and strong (that is the nature of the true vital also) and not restless and impatient,—then alone it can be stable.
16.10-1933 Page-122 (2)
It will not do to indulge this restless vital movement. It is not by that that you can have the union with the Mother. You should aspire calmly—eat, sleep, do your work. Peace is the one thing you have to ask for now—it is only on the basis of peace and calm that the true progress and realisation can come. There must be no vital excitement in your seeking or your aspiration towards the Mother.
20-10-1933
Quiet Aspiration and Painful Effort
IF the peace increases, that is the one thing most required now. A quiet aspiration you can have, but painful effort and struggle need not be undertaken now.
9-8-1933
Necessity of Steady Aspiration
No use doing asanas or pranayam. It is not necessary to burn with passion. What is necessary is a patient acquiring of the power of concentration Page-123 and steady aspiration so that the silence you speak of may fix in the heart and spread to the other members. Then the physical mind and the sub-conscient can be cleared and quieted.
7-3-1936
ONE has never to allow such feelings—for it means that a vital demand gets mixed in the aspiration and because the vital demand is disappointed, there is that disquiet.
21-8-1933
Aspiration, Conversion, Inner Realisation and Transformation
THOSE who come here have an aspiration and a possibility—something in their psychic being pushes and if they follow it they will arrive; but that is not conversion. Conversion is a turning of the being away from lower things towards the Divine. Page-124 Aspiration can lead hereafter to conversion, but aspiration is not conversion. Mother spoke of three different things: conversion, the turning of the soul decisively towards the Divine, —inner realisation of the Divine,—transformation of the nature. The first two can happen swiftly and suddenly and once for all, the third always takes time and cannot be done at one stroke, in a moment. One may become aware of a rapid change in this or that detail of the transformation, but even this is the rapid result of a long working.
3-9-1937
⁂
Consecration is a process by which one trains the consciousness to give itself to the Divine. But conversion is a spontaneous movement of the consciousness, a turning of it away from external things towards the Divine. It comes as well as is the result of a touch from within and above. Self- consecration may help one to open to the touch or the touch may come of itself. But conversion may also come as the culmination of a long process of aspiration and Tapasya. There is no fixed rule in these things. Page-125 If the psychic being comes to the front, then conversion becomes easy or may come instantaneously or the conversion may bring the psychic being to the front. Here, again, there is no rule. It may be either way, there is a touch and the realisation also and the psychic takes its proper place as the result or the psychic may come to the front and prepare the nature for the realisation. Transformation is something progressive, but certainly there must be realisation before the aim of the transformation is possible.
6-9-1937
Faith—Belief-—Conviction—Reliance— Trust—Confidence
Faith—a dynamic entire belief and acceptance. Belief—intellectual acceptance only. Conviction—intellectual belief held on what seems to be good reasons. Page-126 Reliance—dependence on another for something, based on trust. Trust—the feeling of sure expectation of another's help and reliance on his word, character, etc. Confidence—the sense of security that goes with trust.
30-4-1933
Faith in the Divine Protection and Will
IN moments of trial faith in the divine protection and the call for that protection; at all times the faith that what the Divine wills is the best. It is what turns you towards the Divine that must be accepted as good for you—all is bad for you that turns you away from the Divine.
14-5-1933 Page-127
WHATEVER adverse things present themselves you must meet them with courage and they will disappear and the help come. Faith and courage are the true attitude to keep in life and work always and in the spiritual experience also.
Necessity of Faith and Fixed Will for Success in Yoga
To the question in your last letter there can be no reply except that it is only either a single-minded faith or a fixed will that can give you the open road to the Yoga. It is because your ideas and your will are in a constant state of flux or of oscillation that you do not succeed. Even with a deficient faith, a fixed mind and will can carry one on and bring the experiences by which an uncertain faith is changed into certitude. It is the reason why it is difficult for me to answer your questions about the different alternatives. I may say that the way of the Gita is itself a part of the Yoga here and those who have followed it, to begin with or as a first stage, have a stronger basis than others for this Yoga. To look down on it, therefore, as something separate and inferior is not a right standpoint. But whatever it is, you must Page-128 yourself choose, nobody can do it for you. Those who go and come, can do so profitably only if or because they have made the decision and keep to it; when they are here, it is for the Yoga that they come, when they are elsewhere, the will for the Yoga remains with them there. You have to get rid of your constant reasonings and see whether you can do without the impulse towards Yoga or not—if you cannot, then it is useless thinking of the ordinary life without Yoga—your nature will compel you to seek after it even if you have to seek all your life with a small result. But the small result is mainly due to the mind which always came in the way and the vital weakness which gives it its support for its reasonings. If you fixed your will irrevocably, that would give you a chance —and whether you followed it here or elsewhere would make only a minor difference. I suggested the Gita method for you because the opening which is necessary for the Yoga here seems to be too difficult for you. If you made a less strenuous demand upon yourself, there might be a greater chance. In any case, if you cannot return to the ordinary life, it seems, in the absence of an opening to the Power that is here, the only course for you.
9-5-1933 Page-129
SUCH qualities as faith, sincerity, aspiration, devotion, etc. make up the perfection indicated in our language of the flowers. In ordinary language it would mean something else such as purity, love, benevolence, fidelity and a host of other virtues.
9-10-1933
THE absolute surrender must be not only an experience in meditation, but a fact governing all the life, all the thoughts, feelings, actions. Till then the use of one's own will and effort is necessary, but an effort in which also there is the spirit of surrender, calling in the Force to support the will and effort and undisturbed by success or failure. When the Force takes up the sadhana, then indeed effort may cease, but still there will be the necessity of the constant assent of the being and a vigilance so that one may not admit a false Force at any point.
20-9-1936 Page-130
WHEN the will and energy are concentrated and used to control the mind, vital and physical and change them or to bring down the higher consciousness or for any other Yogic purpose or high purpose, that is called Tapasya.
1933
Surrender and Tamasic Passivity
IF there is not a complete surrender, then it is not possible to adopt the baby-cat attitude,—it becomes mere tamasic passivity calling itself surrender. If a complete surrender is not possible in the beginning, it follows that personal effort is necessary.
11-8-1936 Page-131
IT is impossible to become like a child giving oneself entirely until the psychic is in control and stronger than the vital.
12-2-1937
IT is the psychic coming forward that brings the force of surrender.
28-6-1933
WHEN the psychic being and the heart and the thinking mind have surrendered, the rest is a matter of time and process—and there is no reason for disturbance. The central and effective surrender has been made.
September 1933 Page-132 Devotion and Surrender in the Higher Mind
THERE can be devotion and surrender in the higher mind experience but it is not inevitable as in the psychic. In the higher mind one may be too conscious of identity with the "Brahman" to have devotion or surrender.
2-7-1936
Surrender Through Knowledge and Love-bhakti
SURRENDER and love-bhakti are not contrary things —they go together. It is true that at first surrender can be made through knowledge by the mind but it implies a mental bhakti and as soon as the surrender reaches the heart, the bhakti manifests as a feeling and with the feeling of bhakti love comes.
21-9-1936 Page-133
IT is then a saṃkalpa of surrender. But the surrender must be to the Mother—not even to the Force, but to the Mother herself.
4-10-1936
Insufficiency of Surrender to the Impersonal
A SURRENDER by any means is good, but obviously the Impersonal is not enough, for surrender to that may be limited in result to the inner experience without any transformation of the outer nature.
14-9-1936
Surrender to the Impersonal and Subjection to the Gunas and Ego
YES, surrender to the impersonal (formless) Divine would leave parts of the being subject to gunas and ego—because the static parts would be free in formlessness but the active nature would be still in the play of the gunas. Many think they are free from ego because they get the sense of the formless existence. They do not see that egoistic elements remain in their action just as before. Page-134 Importance of Surrender to the Guru
SURRENDER to the Guru is said to be surrender beyond all surrenders because through it you surrender not only to the impersonal, but to the personal, not only to the Divine in self but to the Divine outside you; you get a chance for the surpassing of the ego not only by retreat into the self where ego does not exist, but in the personal nature where it is the ruler. It is the sign of the will to complete surrender to the total Divine, samagram mām mānuṣīm tanum āṡritam. Of course it must be a genuine spiritual surrender for all this to be true.
21-11-1933 Page-135 Surrender to the Divine and the Guru
No, surrender to the Divine and surrender to the Guru are not the same thing. In surrendering to the Guru, it is to the Divine in him that one surrenders—if it were only to a human entity, it would be ineffective. But it is the consciousness of the Divine Presence that makes the Guru a real Guru, so that even if the disciple surrenders to him thinking of the human being to whom he surrenders, that Presence will still make it effective.
Need of Surrendering in the Lower Nature
IF you are surrendered only in the higher consciousness, with no peace or purity in the lower, certainly that is not enough and you have to aspire for the peace and purity everywhere.
1-11-1936
Difficulty of Surrendering the Vital
THE surrender of the vital is always difficult, because of the unwillingness of the forces of the universal vital Ignorance. But that does not mean a fundamental incapacity. Page-136
IF there is any identification with the vital demands or outcries, that necessarily diminishes the surrender for the time.
26-5-1936
Bargaining Vital Attitude and True Self-giving
WHAT you have felt is a revival or return on you of the lower vital with its demands and desires. Its suggestion is, "I am doing the Yoga, but for a price. I have abandoned the life of vital desire and satisfaction but in order to get intimacy with the Mother—instead of satisfying myself with the world, to satisfy myself and get my desires fulfilled by the Divine. If I do not get the intimacy of the Mother and immediately and as I want it, why should I give up the old things?" And as a natural result the old things start again—"X and Y and Y and X and the wrongs of Z." You must see this machinery of the lower vital and dismiss it. It is only by the full psychic relation of self-giving that unity and closeness with the Divine can be maintained —the other is part of the vital ego movement and can only bring a fall of the consciousness and disturbance.
20-6-1933 Page-137 Vital Demand and Soul's Self-giving
IT was from your description of the reaction that I said there was a vital demand. In the pure psychic or spiritual self-giving there are no reactions of this kind; no despondency or despair, no saying, "What have I gained by seeking the Divine?" no anger, revolt, abhiman, wish to go away—such as you describe here—but an absolute confidence and a persistence in clinging to the Divine under all conditions. That is what I wanted you to have; it is the only basis in which one is free from troubles and reactions and goes steadily forward. But are such feelings a sign of the soul's self-giving? If there is no vital mixture, how do these things come when I write to you and as the result of my writing and trying to show you the way? It is the first movement of this part to revolt when it is shown its own nature and asked to change. Page-138 Difficult? It is the first principle of our sadhana that surrender is the means of fulfilment and so long as ego or vital demand and desire are cherished, complete surrender is impossible—the self-giving is incomplete. We have never concealed that. It may be difficult and it is; but it is the very principle of the sadhana. Because it is difficult it has to be done steadily and patiently till the work is complete. You have to go on rejecting the vital mixture every time it rises. If you are steadfast in rejecting, it will lose more and more of its force and fade out. That means it is an obstinate but irrational and mechanical survival of the old movement. That in fact is how these things try to survive. It is bound to go if you do not give it fresh life. I have no doubt of it—you have only to understand it rightly and you can go at once to the right ground.
21-6-1933 Page-139 The Only True Basis for Sadhana
IF it is the same part of the vital that was on the right side and has now turned against the Mother, the explanation is very obvious. It gave its adhesion formerly because it thought that by its adhesion it could make her satisfy its desires; finding its desires not indulged, it turns against her. That is the usual vital movement in ordinary man and in ordinary life, and it has no true place in Yoga. It was just the introduction of this attitude into Yoga by the sadhaks and its persistence which has at last made it necessary for the Mother to draw back as she has done. What you have to do is to get these lower parts to understand that they exist not for themselves but for the Divine and to give their adhesion, without claim or arrière pensée or subterfuge. It is the whole issue at the present moment in the sadhana; for it is only if this is done that the physical consciousness can change and become fit for the descent. Otherwise there will always be these ups and downs in some part of the being—at least, delay, confusion and disorder. This is the only true basis for fixity in the true consciousness and for a smooth course in the sadhana.
14-12-1931 Page-140
IT is so with all things in the path of sadhana --one must persist however long it takes, so only one can achieve.
(1)
THE sadhana is a difficult one and time should not be grudged; it is only in the last stages that a very great and constant rapidity of progress can be confidently expected. As for Shakti, the descent of Shakti before the vital is pure and surrendered, has its dangers. It is better for him to pray for purification, knowledge, intensity or the heart's aspiration and as much working of the Power as he can bear and assimilate.
18-5-1931 Page-141 (2)
Always keep within and do things without involving yourself in them, then nothing adverse will happen or, if it does, no serious reaction will come. The idea of leaving for any reason is, of course, absurd and out of the question. Eight years is a very short time for transformation. Most people spend as much as that or more to get conscious of their defects and acquire the serious will to change —and after that it takes a long time to get the will turned into full and final accomplishment. Each time one stumbles, one has to get back into the right footing and go on with fresh resolution; by doing that the full change comes. 17-8-1936
DETERMINATION is needed and a firm patience, not to be discouraged by this or that failure. If is a change in the habit of the physical nature and that needs a long patient work of detail.
19-11-1933 Page-142 Importance of Steady Preparation
CORRECT, haste is unnecessary, a steady psychic preparation is the thing of greatest importance.
The Right Attitude of Persistence
YOUR attitude towards the change needed and new life is the right one. A quiet vigilant but undistressed persistence is the best way to get it done. For the intimacy within to be re-established, the quietude must deepen so that the psychic may come out in the physical as it had done in the higher parts.
26-9-1936
THE power needed in Yoga is the power to go through effort, difficulty or trouble without getting fatigued, depressed, discouraged or impatient and without breaking off the effort or giving up one's aim or resolution.
1933 Page-143 |