THE MOTHER
Questions and Answers
by
SRI AUROBINDO
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THE MOTHER Questions and Answers
Ski Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry February, 1961 Questions and Answers I Radha — Krishna
"For there is concealed behind individual love, obscured by its ignorant human figure, a mystery which the mind cannot seize, the mystery of the body of the Divine, the secret of a mystic form of the Infinite which we can approach only through the ecstasy of the heart and the passion of the pure and sublimated sense, and its attraction which is the call of the the divine Flute-player, the mastering compulsion of the All-Beautiful can only be seized and seize us through an occult love and yearning which in the end makes one the Form and the Formless, and identifies Spirit and Matter. It is that which the spirit in Love is seeking here in the darkness of the Ignorance and it is that which it finds when individual human love is changed into the love of the Immanent Divine incarnate in the material universe." The Synthesis of Yoga I. V I.
KRISHNA the divine Flute-player is the immanent and universal Divine who is the supreme power of attraction; and Radha the soul, the psychic personality answers to the call of the Flute-player. I am asked to say something this evening on the Radha consciousness, that is to say, in essence, on the way in which the individual soul answers to the call of the Divine. But it is exactly what Sri Aurobindo has described in this chapter; it is the capacity of finding Ananda in everything by identifying oneself with the one divine Presence and by a total self-giving to this Presence.
Page-1 So I do not think I have to add much; what I might say would limit or diminish the totality of this experience. This experience is capable of changing everything into a perpetual ecstasy, because instead of seeing things in their discordant appearance you see everywhere only the divine Presence, the divine Will and the divine Grace; and every event, every element, every circumstance, every form changes into a way, a detail by which you can approach the Divine more intimately and more profoundly. The discordances disappear, the uglinesses vanish; there remains only the splendour of the divine Presence in a Love radiating in all things. Evidently from a practical point of view one must be capable of remaining in a constant and unshakable height if one is to be in such a state without exposing oneself to rather unpleasant consequences. Probably it is for this reason that people who wanted to live that state withdrew from the world and found the universal contact through Nature. I must say, without meaning to be unpleasant to men that it is infinitely easier to realise this state of consciousness when one is surrounded by trees and flowers and plants and even animals than by human beings. It is easier but it is not indispensable. If you want the condition to be truly integral, you must be capable of having it at every moment, in the presence of anybody and anything. There are numberless legends and stories, that of Prahlad, for example, which we saw recendy in a cinema that illustrate the point. I am not merely convinced, but I have had myself quite a tangible experience that if in the presence of a danger, an enemy, or a bad will you are able to remain in this condition and see the Divine in everything, the danger will have no effect, the bad will will not be able to hurt you and the enemy will be either transformed or else run away. It is a sure fact.
But I add one small word which has its own importance. You must not seek this state or this consciousness with a motive, seek it because it is a protection or an aid. You must have it sincerely, spontaneously, constantly; it must be a way of normal living, natural and effortless—then it is effective. But if you try
Page-2 to imitate the movement in the least with the idea that you will get such and such result, it will never succeed. Then you might say in your ignorance, "Oh, I was told so, but it is not like that !" The reason is that there was an insincerity somewhere. Otherwise, if you are truly sincere, that is to say, if it is an integral and spontaneous experience, it is all-powerful. If in looking into the eyes of someone you can see there spontaneously the divine Presence, the worst movements will vanish, the worst obstacles disappear; and the flame of an infinite delight will awaken, at times in the other as well as in yourself. If there is in the other the least possibility, just a little crack in the bad will — that shines out.
In many mystics and particularly in Vaishnava stories, there is a lot of tears and anguishes : Radha has wept and the Divine did not come...the Divine has tormented her... what does that mean ? All that is while one is on the way, when one has not arrived at the goal. They have all that, they insist much on them, because .. .because they simply prefer to prolong the human route; because they enjoy the human route and because, as I have told you, if you want to be in life, in contact with life, there remains necessarily some relativity in the experience. It pleases them that way, it pleases them to quarrel with the Divine, it pleases them to feel the separation, all these things add to the charm. Because they are in the human consciousness and they wish to remain there. But as soon as there is the perfect identification all that vanishes. Then it is as if you were deprived of the joy of a drama ! something of the life has departed—that is to say, its illusion. They have still the need of a reasonable quantity of illusion; they cannot enter straight into the Truth.
In reality, if there is to be no feeling of separation one must have realised the perfect identity in oneself; and once the perfect
Page-3 identity has been realised, the story comes to its end and there is nothing more to relate. That is why it is said that if the world, if the creation realised perfect identity with the Divine, there would be no more creation. If you realised this perfect identity where there is no possibility of distinction any more, and the whole universe realised this perfect identity there would be no more universe, it would be pralaya. The solution then is to find the Ananda in the very midst of the Play where one gives and takes, where one seems to be two; that is why the Vaishnavas and the mystics keep the taste of the duality. Otherwise in identity there is only identity. If the identity is complete and perfect there is no more objectivisation. I have already said this somewhere, I have said that that begins by the Ananda of identity and at the end of the entire circuit of creation that ends in the Ananda of the union.1 Had there been no circuit, there would never be the Ananda of union; there would only be the Ananda of identity. This is perhaps somewhat subtle, but it is a fact; the circuit has been done perhaps just for the reason that the identity may find its consummation and crowning, if I may say so, in the Ananda of the union. But if there is perfect identity there cannot be union, the feeling of union does not exist there, for it implies necessarily 1 Later on the Mother was asked, "what is this that ? The universe ?" The Mother replied, "I said that purposely, in order not to be specific, I do not like the word "creation"; you have immediately the impression of a special creation, as if it was made out of nothing —It is Himself ! It is not the universe which begins but the universe which has begun—how to say it ? It is not the universe which initiates the movement. And if it is said that the Lord has begun the universe, it becomes false—all that, they are such fixed ideas ! And if I say, "The Lord has begun the universe", you see at once a personal God who decides to begin the universe, it is not that !
I said that in connection with Love, the manifestation of Love which is the supreme Ananda. Sri Aurobindo also has said it: Beyond the Being and the Non-Being, there is something which is, which manifests as Love Supreme and which is at once Being and Non-Being. And the first manifestation of That is the Ananda of Identity. In essence it is the Identity becoming conscious of itself in Ananda; and then that goes the whole way through the entire manifestation and all the forms that Love takes and it returns to the Unity through union. And this adds to the Ananda, the Ananda of union which would never have existed if the circuit had not been gone through.
Page-4 something other than perfect identity. There can be perfect union but it is not perfect identity. Do not try to understand with words or with your head, for these two terms express quite different experiences. And yet the result is the same; but one is rich with all that was not in the other, the richness of the whole experience—the whole universal experience. If the experience of union is made consciously, then why do some mystics continue to have all kinds of emotions that we have in ordinary life and why do they weep or lament ? Perhaps because the union is not constant. But Radha is sincere in her aspiration. Personally I believe, my children, it is all literature ! It is certainly to give you an artistic picture of human life as it is ! Vaishnavism is based on that. But these are people who live in the vital and love that. But you cannot speak of such things, because... In this connection I have here another question, quite a small question but not without interest. Someone has been trying to prepare to receive the Supramental and just makes a reflection which is very frank and very few people would have the courage to do so. The person says :
"I sit for meditation and pray fervently and ardently; my aspiration is intense and my prayer full of devotion; and then after
Page-5 some time more or less long, sometimes short, sometimes long, the aspiration becomes mechanical and prayer merely verbal, what is to be done?" This is not an individual case, it is a case absolutely general. I have said it many times (but it was by the way) that people who pretend to meditate for hours everyday and to pass the whole day in praying, three fourths of the time, I am sure, do the thing most mechanically, that is to say, it loses all sincerity. For human nature is not made for that and human mind is not built that way. To concentrate and meditate you must first take an exercise which may be called "the mental muscle building" of concentration. Truly you must make an effort — as you make a muscular effort, for example, in order to lift a weight, if you want your concentration to be sincere and not artificial. The same thing for the urge of prayer : all at once a flame lights up, you have an enthusiastic push, a great fervour and you express that in words that must be spontaneous if they are to be true. It must come from the heart, with ardour, straight, without passing through the head. That is a prayer (if they are merely words that jostle in your head, it is no longer a prayer). Now, if you do not throw fuel into the flame, it will die out after a time. If you do not give rest to your muscles, if you do not relax them, your muscles will lose their capacity of tension. Then it would be natural and even indispensable for the movement to lose its intensity after a time.
Naturally one who has the habit of lifting weights can do so for a longer time than the one who has never done it. It is just the same : one who is habituated to concentration can concentrate for a much longer time than one who has not the habit. But for everybody there comes a time when one must let oneself go, relax in order to begin again. Therefore, if the movement becomes mechanical immediately or after a few minutes or a few hours, it means that you are slackened and there is no need for you to pretend any more that you are meditating; it is better to do then something useful.
Page-6 If it is not possible for you to take a little exercise, for example, to counterbalance the effect of mental tension, you may read or try to note down what has happened to you, you may express yourself. That produces a relaxation, the necessary relaxation. But the duration of the meditation is only of relative importance; its length gives simply the measure of your habit in this activity. Of course, it can increase much, but there is always a limit; and at the moment of the limit you must stop, that is all. It is not insincerity, it is incapacity. It becomes insincere, when you pretend to meditate while you do not or you make a prayer as many people do in the temple or the church, who do the ceremony and repeat their prayer as one repeats one's lesson more or less well learnt. Then it is neither prayer nor meditation, it is mere profession. That is not interesting. * * * II Has the worship given to the goddess Durgd and Kali any spiritual value ? It depends on who does the worship. For the sake of the wholeness and the complete truth of the Yoga it is important not to limit one's aspiration to one form or another. But from the spiritual point of view, whatever be the object of adoration, if the movement is perfectly sincere, if the self-giving is integral and absolute, the spiritual result may be the same; because whatever be the object you take, through that (sometimes even against it, in spite of it) you always reach the supreme Reality, in the measure of the sincerity of your self-consecration.
That is why one can say that whatever the aspect of the Divine which you adore, whosoever even the guide you choose, if
Page-7 you are perfect in your self-giving and absolutely sincere, you are sure to reach the spiritual goal. But where the result is no longer the same is when you want to realise the integral yoga; in that case, you must not limit yourself in any way, even in the way of your consecration. Only the two things are quite different. Spiritual realisation—as it was formerly conceived, as it is even now generally conceived—is union with the Supreme, in any way, either within yourself, or through some form. It is the fusion of your being into the Supreme, into the Absolute, almost the disappearance of your individuality in this fusion.1 And that depends absolutely on the sincerity and the integrality of your self-giving, more than on the choice you make and the thing to which you give yourself. For the very sincerity of your aspiration will carry you through all limitations and take you to the Supreme, because you bear it within yourself. Whether you look for it outside or inside yourself, whether you look for it under some form or as without form, if your aspiration is sufficiently sincere and your resolution sufficiently sincere, you are sure to arrive at the goal. But if you want to make the complementary movement, of which Sri Aurobindo spoke, that is to say, turn back to the external consciousness and the external world after realising the union in yourself and transform this consciousness and this external world, then in that case, you cannot limit yourself in any way; for, otherwise you would not be able to fulfil your work. In essence, you must be able to find this unity with the Divine in all forms under all aspects, in all the ways that have served for
1 Subsequently Mother was asked : "Why do you say "almost" ? The disappearance then is not complete ?" The Mother answered : "Somewhere, in the Yoga of Self-Perfection, I believe, Sri Aurobindo says, or rather leaves it to be understood, with regard to those who want to merge in the Supreme, that it is a thing that cannot be done, for the Supreme wishes it otherwise. But Sri Aurobindo says it without saying it, it is just an allusion, by the way. The idea is that beyond the Being and the Non-Being, the total Summit includes necessarily a form (which may be called an essential form) of the individuality that is no more opposed to and not even distinguished from the One, but which is included in the One without any separation. But words that one can use mean nothing. You are reduced to a childish explanation. That is why I said "almost".
Page-8 reaching Him. And you must go beyond that and find a new way. Therefore the first point that you have to make clear in your thought (and this point is of capital importance) is this : you must not confuse the integral Yoga with other spiritual realisations that may be very high but which cover a limited field, because they make a movement only in depth. You can pierce a hole with your aspiration and make a movement in depth through anything whatever; all depends on the intensity and the sincerity of your aspiration (on the sincerity, that is to say, on the measure in which your self-giving is complete, integral, absolute). But that does not depend on the form you have chosen, which you will necessarily be obliged to pass through and reach what is behind. But if you want to transform your nature and your being and if you want to participate in the creation of a new world, then this aspiration, this sharply linear one-pointedness is no longer sufficient. One must encompass the whole, contain the whole in one's consciousness. Naturally it is much more difficult.
What is this divine element in human nature which always asks for symbols for the completeness of its spiritual satisfaction ? Oh, what I have just read to you today ?*1
1 "In any cult the symbol, the significant rite or expressive figure is not only a moving and enriching aesthetic element, but a physical means by which the human being begins to make outwardly definite the emotion and aspiration of his heart, to confirm it and to dynamise it. For if without a spiritual aspiration worship is meaningless and vain, yet the aspiration also without the act and the form is disembodied and, for life, an incompletely effective power. It is unhappily the fate of all forms in human life to become crystallised, purely formal and therefore effete, and although form and cult preserve always their power for the man who can still enter into their meaning, the majority come to use the ceremony as a mechanical rite and the symbol as a lifeless sign and because that kills the soul of religion, cult and form have in the end to be changed or thrown aside altogether. There are those even to whom all cult and form are for this reason suspect and offensive; but few can dispense with the support of outward symbols and even a certain divine element in human nature demands them always for the
Page-9 It is precisely the part of the being which is not satisfied with abstractions, not satisfied by escaping or avoiding life, leaving life as it is : it is the part of the being which wants to be integral and to be integrally transformed or in any case which wants to participate integrally in the inner worship. There is in every normal being the necessity, the need— an absolute need—to translate physically what he feels and what he wants within. Such people I consider abnormal and incomplete who want always to escape from life for their self-realisation; and in essence they are generally natures that are weak. But those who have strength and force and a kind of healthy balance in themselves feel an absolute need of realising materially their spiritual realisation; they are not satisfied with going into the clouds or into worlds where forms exist no more. They need their physical consciousness and even their body to participate in their inner experience. Now, one might say that the need to adopt or follow a religion or take part in a religion as one finds it ready-made arises from the "herd" nature in the human being. The true thing would be for everyone to find the form of worship or cult that is personal to him and which expresses, in a spontaneous and individual way, his special relation with the Divine; that would be the ideal condition. On the other hand, if you adopt a religion because you are born in this religion or because it is practised by people known to you whom you love or in whom you have trust or because you feel helped in your prayer or worship if you go to such a place where others pray and worship, that is not the sign of a strong
completeness of its spiritual satisfaction. Always the symbol is legitimate in so far as it is truesincere, beautiful and delightful, and even one may say that a spiritual consciousness without any aesthetic or emotional content is not entirely or at any rate not integrally spiritual. In the spiritual life the basis of the act is a spiritual consciousness perennial and renovating, moved to express itself always in new forms or able to renew the truth of a form always by the flow of the spirit, and to so express itself and make every action a living symbol of some truth of the soul is the very nature of its creative vision and impulse. It is so that the spiritual seeker must deal with life and transmute its form and glorify it in its essence."
The Synthesis of Yoga—Chap. VI Page-10 nature; I would rather say that it is the sign of a weakness, in any case, that of lack of originality. But if you want to translate into forms of physical life your inner aspiration and worship, that is quite legitimate and it is much more sincere than one who cuts himself into two, who lives a physical life in a quite mechanical and ordinary way and who, when he can, when he has time or when he takes a fancy to it, withdraws into himself, runs away from the physical life and retires to the heights, more or less far, to find his spiritual delights. One who tries to make of his material life an expression of his highest aspiration is certainly of a nobler, of a more straight and sincere character than one who cuts himself into two saying that external life has no importance and it will never change and one must accept it as it is, and essentially it is the inner attitude alone that counts. * * * III
What is the fundamental virtue to be cultivated to prepare oneself for the spiritual life ? I have told you many times, but it is an occasion to repeat it. It is sin-ce-ri-ty. A sincerity that must become total and absolute, because sincerity alone is your protection for the spiritual part. If you are not sincere, even at the very second step you are sure to fall and break your nose. There are all kinds of forces and wills and influences and entities that are lying in wait for the least breach in this sincerity and they immediately rush through this breach and begin to disorganise you.
Therefore, before doing anything, beginning anything, trying anything be sure first of all that you are not only as sincere as you can be, but you intend to become still more sincere.
Page-11 For, it is your only protection. Can this effort to cultivate the initial virtue be collective ? Surely it can be so. And that is what was tried formerly in the schools of initiation. Even now, in societies more or less secret or in limited groups, attempt is made so that the collectivity may be sufficiently united and exert a sufficiently complete collective effort to produce a result that will be the result for the group instead of being the result for an individual. But naturally that complicates the problem terribly. Each time there is a meeting, an attempt is made to create a collective entity; but it needs a stupendous effort to realise a virtue collectively. And yet it is not impossible. * * * IV It must never be forgotton A question has been put to me of a rather subde order, but which appears to have a particular interest. It concerns someone who asks, in willing for the Divine what is the true intensity that one must put in the will to unite with the Divine. Then he says that he has found in him two different modes in the aspiration, particularly in the intensity of the aspiration for the Divine. In one of the movements there is a kind of anguish, like a poignant pain; in the other there is an anxiety but at the same time a great joy. This observation is very correct.
The question put is this : When does one feel this intensity mixed with anguish and when the intensity containing joy ?
Page-12 I do not know if some or many of you have had a similar experience, but it is very real, very spontaneous, this experience. And the answer is very simple. •. As soon as the psychic consciousness is present and unites with the aspiration, the intensity takes quite a different character, as if filled with the very essence of an inexpressible joy. This joy is as it were contained in the rest. Whatever be the external form of the aspiration; whatever the difficulties or obstacles it meets, this joy is there as if it filled everything, and it sustains you in spite of everything. This is the sure sign of the psychic presence. That is to say, you have already established a contact with your psychic consciousness more or less complete, more or less constant, but at that moment it is the psychic being itself, the psychic consciousness that fills your aspiration, gives it its true content. And it is that which translates itself into joy. When it is not there, the aspiration may come from different parts of the being; it may come chiefly from the mind, or chiefly from the vital, it may come even from the physical, it may come from all the three together, it may come in all kinds of combinations. But generally the vital presence is necessary if the intensity is to be there. It is the vital that gives the intensity; and as the vital is at the same time the place of most of the difficulties, obstacles and contradictions, it is the friction between the intensity of the aspiration and the intensity of the difficulty that creates this anguish. But this is not a reason to stop the aspiration. You must know, you must understand the reason of the anguish. Then if you can introduce just one element more in the aspiration, that is to say, trust in the divine Grace, trust in the divine Answer, that counterbalances all possible anguish and you can aspire without turmoil, without fear. This brings us to another thing which is not properly speaking a question, but a need-for explanation, for commentary, for elucidation of the question. It is indeed about Grace.
I have said somewhere or I have written that whatever the
Page-13 faith and trust you have in the Divine Grace, whatever the capacity you have of seeing it at work in all circumstances, at every moment on all the points of life, you will never succeed in understanding the marvellous immensity of its Action and the precision, the exactitude with which this Action fulfils itself. You can never grasp to what extent the Grace does all, is behind all, organises all, directs all, so that the forward march towards the divine realisation may be as quick, as complete, as total as it can be, given the circumstances of the world. As soon as you are in relation with the Grace, there is not a second in time, not a point in space which does not show you in the most luminous way the perpetual work of the Grace, the constant intervention of the Grace. Once you have seen that, you feel that one is never at one's highest, because you must never forget it, you must never have fear, anguish, regret, recoil, even suffering. If you were in union with the Grace; if you saw it everywhere, you would begin to five a life of exultation, of all-power, of infinite happiness. (Long silence)
That would be the best possible collaboration with the Divine Work.
Page-14 V
"... the emergence of the secret psychic being in us as the leader of the sacrifice is of the utmost importance; for this inmost being alone can bring with it the full power of the spirit in the act, the soul in the symbol. It alone can assure, even while the spiritual consciousness is incomplete, the perennial freshness and sincerity and beauty of the symbol and prevent it from becoming a dead form or a corrupted and corrupting magic; it alone can preserve for the act its power with its significance. All the other members of our being, mind, life-force, physical or body consciousness are too muck under the control of the Ignorance to be a sure instrumentation and much less can they be a guide or the source of an unerring impulse. Always the greater part of the motive and action of these powers clings to the old law, the deceiving tablets, the cherished inferior movements of Nature and they meet with reluctance, alarm or revolt or obstructing inertia the voices and the forces that call and impel us to exceed and transform ourselves into a greater being and a wider Nature. In their major part the response is either a resistance or a qualified or temporising acquiescence; for even if they follow the call, they yet tend— when not consciously, then by automatic habit—to bring into the spiritual action their own natural disabilities and errors. At every moment they are moved to take egoistic advantage of the psychic and spiritual influences and can be detected using the power, joy or light these bring into us for a lower life-motive. Afterwards too, even when the seeker has opened to the Divine Love transcendental, universal or immanent, yet if he tries to pour it into life, he meets the power of obscuration and perversion of these lower Nature-forces. Always they draw away towards pitfalls, pour into that higher intensity their diminishing elements, seek to capture the descending Power for themselves and their interests and degrade it into an aggrandised mental Page-15
vital or physical instrumentation for desire and ego. Instead of a Divine Love creator of a new heaven and a new earth of Truth and Light, they would hold it here prisoner as a tremendous sanction and glorifying force of sublimation to gild the mud of the old earth and colour with its rose and sapphire the old turbid unreal skies of sentimentalising vital imagination and mental idealised chimera. If that falsification is permitted, the higher Light and Power and Bliss withdraw, there is a fall back to a lower status; or else the realisation remains tied to an insecure half-way and mixture or is covered and even submerged by an inferior exaltation that is not the true Ananda. It is for this reason that the Divine Love which is at the heart of all creation and the most powerful of all redeeming and creative forces has yet been the least frontally present in earthly life, the least successfully redemptive, the least creative. Human nature has been unable to bear it in its purity for the very reason that it is the most powerful, pure, rare and intense of all the divine energies; what little could be seized has been corrupted at once into a vital pietistic ardour, a defenceless religious or ethical sentimentalism, a sensuous or even sensual erotic mysticism of the roseate coloured mind or passionately turbid life-impulse and with these simulations compensated its inability to house the Mystic Flame that could rebuild the world with its tongues of sacrifice. It is only the inmost psychic being unveiled and emerging in its full power that can lead the pilgrim sacrifice unscathed through these ambushes and pitfalls; at each moment it catches, exposes, repels the mind's and the life's falsehoods, seizes hold on the truth of the Divine Love and Ananda and separates it from the excitement of the mind's ardours and the blind enthusiasm of the misleading life-force. But all things that are true at their core in mind and life and the physical being it extricates and takes with it in the journey till they stand on the heights, new in spirit and sublime in figure." The Synthesis of Yoga—I. VI.. Page-16
This is the most powerful, most complete and most true reply to all questions that so many people have in their 'head and do not dare to put. So many people doubt the effectiveness of the Protection, the safety of the way, because others go astray. They tremble with fright in their egoism instead of telling themselves what I have read out to you this evening, which is the cause of all catastrophe, great or small, that threatens those who follow the path of Yoga without taking the necessary care to be sufficiently pure and sincere. No protection, no Grace can save those who refuse to have the indispensable purification. And I add : fear is an impurity, one of the greatest impurities, one of those that come directly from anti-divine forces which want to destroy the divine action upon earth; and the first duty of everyone who wants truly to do the Yoga, to eliminate from his consciousness, with all the strength and sincerity and endurance he is capable of, even the shadow of fear. To walk on the path one must be bold, must never turn back on oneself, the mean, petty, weak, ugly movement that is fear. An indomitable courage, a perfect sincerity and a sincere self-giving to the extent that you do not calculate or bargain, you do not give with the idea of receiving, you do not offer yourself with the idea that you will be protected, you do not have a faith that needs proofs—it is that which is indispensable for walking on the way and it is that alone which can shelter you against all danger. * * * Page-17 VI
Why does one feel a different atmosphere on Darshan days P1 How should one behave on those days ? Different ? You put the question ? There is an invasion of more or less obscure and foreign elements, that may come with good will, possibly, but with almost total ignorance, throwing all that into the atmosphere; then naturally, if one is in the least open to what is happening, one feels crushed under the weight of this increment of ignorance. I do not mean to say that there is no ignorance here ! But after all the dose is different. Here all the same there is a handling of the consciousness which is going on constantly, night and day, visibly, invisibly; and whether one wants it or not, in spite of everything, one absorbs it and after a time it acts. When a few people come, that changes something, but it is not sufficient to give you a painful impression. But when it is a rush like that, precipitating, all together, then the level comes down immediately; and unless you are capable of withdrawing within yourself and keep your head above this inundation, this sheet of ignorance submerging you, if you are not able to lift your head above it—well, you feel quite uncomfortable. No, Mother, it is an atmosphere of delight. You find it to be an atmosphere of delight ! In that case it is a personal thing; purely personal. And you ought to be able to keep it. It is because at that moment there are in you memories which awaken, there is a concentration. Even perhaps it might be that what you are calling delight is only vital joy, no ? Is it not a kind of excitement ? When do you feel the joy ?
1On Darshan days visitors and disciples are allowed to pass one by one before the Mother (and Sri Aurobindo, formerly) to receive directly, their spiritual help. Observe, this talk is dated August 15 which is the birth date of Sri Aurobindo.
Page-18 Today it was after the Darshan, I think it is the same phenomenon as with the people who are more receptive on their birthday or who need the remembrance of an event to awaken their receptivity. At one time, when Sri Aurobindo himself gave Darshan, before he did it, there was always a concentration of some forces or of some realisation which he wanted to give to the people. Then each Darshan marked a step forward; every time something was added. But that was a time when the number of visitors was very restricted. It was organised in a different way; and that formed part of the necessary preparation. This special concentration now occurs at other moments, not particularly on the days of Darshan. It occurs more often on other occasions, in other circumstances. The movement has been much more speeded up; the forward march, the steps of the march succeed each other much more quickly. And it is perhaps more difficult to follow or, in any case, if one does not take care to follow, one is left behind much more quickly than before; you get the impression that you are belated, or you are abandoned. Things are changing rapidly. And I must say that these times of Darshan with this influx of people do not serve so much for an inner progress (inner in respect of the Ashram) as for a diffusion outside. The use of those days is a little different; it is specially for going farther, to have a vaster field, to reach more distant points. But the concentration is less and there is the inconvenience of a big crowd, which always existed but which has become bigger in these last years than at the beginning. At the beginning there was not such a crowd and perhaps also the quality of the crowd itself was somewhat different. So the joy of which you spoke just now might be rather a sort of excitement or the impression of a more intense and active life; but it is not in effect a greater Presence. You put yourself perhaps in a state in which you are more receptive, you receive more, but there is no intensification of the Presence, not to my knowledge. Page-19 So the reason you must seek within yourself and the remedy by which t0 keep this joy,
What is the significance of the message that you give at every Darshan ? Today, for example, you have given the photo of the flower symbolising supramental manifestation. Yes, as I have just told you, this way it spreads by thousands of copies over the world. It is an externalisation of the thing, a way of spreading the influence, spreading the message, touching farther away. All that is said in the message has been studied, felt, experimented before. And on the Darshan Day it is given. First the experiment is made and then it is declared to the public. The first movement is that of individual development; at the Darshan it is spread abroad. Sri Aurobindo has always spoken of these two movements : the individual formation to reach the goal individually and the preparation of the world. For, although it cannot be said that the progress of the individual is either hindered or helped by the condition of the whole, still there is a balance between the two. The individual movement is always much more rapid and penetrating; it goes farther, deeper and quicker. The collective movement creates a kind of base that checks, but at the same time sustains. What is necessary is the balance between the two. Therefore, the more quickly one advances individually, the more one must try to extend and strengthen the collective basis. Has the 15th August any occult (or simple) significance? Because in history many important events have happened on that day.
What do you mean exactiy ? The* 15th August is Sri Aurobindo's birthday. Therefore it is a date that has a capital
Page-20 importance in the life of the earth, from the physical point of view. And then ? Other events have also happened on the fifteenth August... The liberation of India ? Because the liberation of India came on the 15th August ? And then it has to be told why it happened, you cannot find it all by yourself ? It needs to be told ? I believe Sri Aurobindo has written it himself in the message that he gave, didn't he say that ?l (Silence) Yes, it is exactly that. Today I received in my hands one of those greeting cards that people send (as on occasions of the Puja or the New Year, or this festival or that) and on this card there was written (I do not recall the exact words, besides they were in English), something like "greetings on the occasion of this memorable day of the birth of our nation". It was sent by someone who, I think, had long ago declared himself as a disciple of Sri Aurobindo. It seemed to me to be one of those atrocities of which only human stupidity is capable. If he had said at least : "On this memorable day of the birth of Sri Aurobindo and its natural consequence the birth of the nation", that would have been very good. But here the important point has been left out, the thing spoken of was simply a consequence or natural result: it had to be so, it could not be otherwise. But people always think like that, topsy turvy. Always. They take the effect for the cause. They glorify the effect and forget the cause. That is why the world is walking on its head and the legs in the air. Simply because of that, no other reason.
1 Mother refers to the Message that Sri Aurobindo gave on August 15 1947. We publish the whole text in an appendix after these "Questions and Answers'1. (Editor's Note)
Page-21 After a moment of silence, Mother takes up another subject. I have here a huge collection of questions. I have received some more today. Here is a question that raises perhaps the most difficult problem for the world. I am not quite sure if it would be suitable just in this atmosphere of Darshan, to touch such a problem. Yet it is an immensely interesting thing. One would like to find a fully satisfactory solution, because at the same time one would have the key opening the last door. Man has always found himself in the presence of two possible attitudes whenever he wanted to arrive at a solution of the problem of the existence of the universe. It could be said, from the practical point of view, that since the universe exists and exists as it is, the wisest thing would be to take it as it is; and if one is not satisfied, to try to make it better. Even after adopting this quite practical attitude, there remains the problem : "How to make it better ?" and once more, you are in the presence of the same fact which seems impossible to solve. Now, the Divine Will—and the Grace that manifests it—is all-powerful and there can be nothing which is not the expression of this divine Will, of this Grace which manifests it. A logical attitude (one which just happens to be described in this little book that I read to you now on Fridays, called "Wu Wei"1); a perfect peace, a total surrender; to put aside all personal effort and will, give oneself wholly to the divine Will and let it act through oneself. Note that it is not at all easy, it is not so simple as it looks. Still, if you take up sincerely this attitude, there is sure to follow immediately a perfect inner peace, an unmixed bliss and whatever happens in your life, leaves you totally indifferent. That is always what has been prescribed for individual salvation; and I may observe, by the way, that in this little book which is besides very fine and very well written, the sage compares the state of surrender of which he speaks to this calm, blue, peaceful, vast sea which is moved by a force deep within, which swells when
1 Wu Wei: A story based on the philosophy of Lao jTse, by Henry Borel (Publisher, Fiicbbacher, 33 ruede Seine, Paris). Page-22 it is needed, withdraws when that is needed. But a practical and somewhat objective spirit will immediately answer: "Yes, but there are also storms in the sea, these frightful hurricanes, tidal waves, islands swallowed up. This perhaps is another aspect of the Divine, but it does not bring peace any longer at least in the way the sage describes. One must be in another state of consciousness to have the peace in such cases; one must not compare oneself with the sea !" The problem then is set again. Sri Aurobindo in the Life Divine has studied all that and he tells us that there are sure signs of a progressive evolution. An evolution tends naturally towards a goal, and if it is a progressive evolution, one may go on conceiving that everything is an expression of the divine Will and Grace, but at the same time everything is not as it should be. Everything is according to the divine Will and everything is not what it should be, otherwise things won't move. There again we are face to face with the problem. The question that was put is this : "Now that the Supramental is manifested upon earth, it follows naturally that the divine Grace is going to be all-powerful" and I am asked, "Is that exact ?" The divine Grace has always been all-powerful. And yet if we compare the world as it is to the more or less ideal world as we now can conceive it when we are coming out of our consciousness of ignorance and entering into the consciousness which we call more divine, how is it that it is not the very best, if the Grace is all-powerful ?
It would seem therefore that the vision of what should be, goes much ahead of the execution—and that is what gives rise to the problem. You see the realisation ahead or above, perhaps not quite at the next step, but after all a thing that will happen one day; then since one sees it, one says to oneself, "But this conception is more divine than what has been realised now; therefore if the Grace is all-powerful, ,that must be realised immediately". (I am looking at the problem as the human mind seems to me to put it, or so that I may understand it myself).
Page-23 But what is it that one calls all-powerful Grace ? I do not want to refer to the conceptions of an ordinary mind to which all-powerful Grace is that which would realise immediately what it desires or what it believes to be good; I do not speak of that, we eliminate this puerile case. But admitting that some one has a deeper and higher vision, a kind of inner perception of the ideal world where all the many things which are very shocking to us will disappear; then truly we face a problem which seems insoluble. This is translated in ordinary minds in a simplistic and childish manner : either the divine Will is for us something unthinkable (which would not be astonishing), unthinkable and almost monstrous, |if it allows things as they are now or otherwise Grace is powerless. I warn you, to put you on your guard against the trap, that it is the great argument of the Adversary. He uses it to trouble the mind and wake up revolt; but as a trap it has been very well conceived. Then come those who say : "it is because you are in the ignorance that you see like that; change your consciousness, enter into relation with the divine Consciousness and you will see otherwise". It is perfectly correct. I was telling you just now and I repeat it that if you succeed in coming out of the ignorance and if, however little, you unite yourself with the Divine, then you live an ecstatic life in which all is wonderful, sublime and the Grace manifest in everything. Therefore you have resolved the problem for yourself, on condition that you are able to remain in that state perpetually—which is not very easy. All the same it is possible. But it takes you out of the world, it prevents you from taking part in the life of the world, and particularly, if everything were to be changed in that way, I am afraid an eternity will not be sufficient for transforming all the elements of the world. The problem is once more set again. In whatever way, by whatever path you seize it, it will be always put before you again. There is a solution.
Think of it; we shall speak of it another time. I would like
Page-24 you to make an effort, because it is salutary. Because it is a kind of conflict in the human consciousness that presents itself constantly, because it is this conflict that serves as the basis of all opposition to the concrete work, because it is due to this conflict that people (I speak even of people who are most enlightened in this domain) confuse always spiritual life with the annihilation of physical, material creation, because it is for them the only means of escape : "Let us escape from the material reality and we escape from the problem"; for, to be in the state where the problem is no more, one must come out of life—according to them. There is a solution. It will be another time. Note : After returning to the Ashram when the class was over, Mother made the following remark : I gave the solution this evening, I gave it twice in the class without speaking. Has this solution any relation with the date 15th August? Is there any relation between the festival of Assumption (in the Catholic Church) and the birthdate of Sri Aurobindo ? Yes. He has said it also himself. The Assumption of Virgin Mary is the divinisation of Matter. And that is the object of the last Avatar.
Page-25 APPENDIX The 15th of August, 1947 August 15th, 1947 is the birthday of free India. It marks for her the end of an old era, the beginning of a new age. But we can also make it by our life and acts as a free nation an important date in a new age opening for the whole world, for the political, social, cultural and spiritual future of humanity. August 15th is my own birthday and it is naturally gratifying to me that it should have assumed this vast significance. I take this coincidence, not as a fortuitous accident, but as the sanction and seal of the Divine Force that guides my steps on the work with which I began life, the beginning of its full fruition. Indeed, on this day I can watch almost all the world-movements which I hoped to see fulfilled in my lifetime, though then they looked like impracticable dreams, arriving at fruition or on their way to achievement. In all these movements free India may well play a large part and take a leading position.
The first of these dreams was a revolutionary movement which would create a free and united India. India today is free but she has not achieved unity. At one moment it almost seemed as if in the very act of liberation she would fall back into the chaos of separate States which preceded the British conquest. But fortunately it now seems probable that this danger will be averted and a large and powerful though not yet a complete union will be established. Also the wisely drastic policy of the Constituent Assembly has made it probable that the problem of the depressed classes will be solved without schism or fissure. But the old communal division into Hindus and Muslims seems now to have hardened into a permanent political division of the country. It is to be hoped that this settled fact will not be accepted as settled for ever or as anything more than a temporary expedient. For if it lasts, India may be seriously weakened, even crippled: civil strife may remain always possible, possible even a new invasion and foreign conquest. India's internal development and prosperity may
Page-26 be impeded, her position among the nations weakened, her destiny impaired or even frustrated. This must not be; the partition must go. Let us hope that that may come about naturally, by an increasing recognition of the necessity not only of peace and concord but of common action, by the practice of common action and the creation of means for that purpose. In this way unity may finally come about under whatever form—the exact form may have a pragmatic but not a fundamental importance. But by whatever means, in whatever way, the division must go; unity must and will be achieved, for it is necessary for the greatness of India's future. Another dream was for the resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia and her return to her great role in the progress of human civilisation. Asia has arisen; large parts are now quite free or are at this moment being liberated : its other still subject or partly subject parts are moving through whatever struggles towards freedom. Only a little has to be done and that will be done today or tomorrow. There India has her part to play and has begun to play it with an energy and ability which already indicate the measure of her possibilities and the place she can take in the council of the nations.
The third dream was a world-union forming the outer basis of a fairer, brighter and nobler life for all mankind. That unification of the human world is under way; there is an imperfect initiation organised but struggling against tremendous difficulties. But the momentum is there and it must inevitably increase and conquer. Here too India has begun to play a prominent part and, if she can develop that larger statesmanship which is not limited by the present facts and immediate possibilities but looks into the future and brings it nearer, her presence may make all the difference between a slow and timid and a bold and swift development. A catastrophe may intervene and interrupt or destroy what is being done, but even then the final result is sure. For unification is a necessity of Nature, an inevitable movement. Its necessity for the nations is also clear, for without it the freedom of the small nations may be at any moment in peril and the life even of the large and powerful nations insecure. The unification is therefore to the interests of all, and only human imbecility and stupid selfishness can pervert it; but these cannot stand for ever against the
Page-27 necessity of Nature and the Divine Will. But an outward basis is not enough; there must grow up an international spirit and outlook, international forms and institutions must appear, perhaps such developments as dual or multilateral citizenship, willed interchange or voluntary fusion of cultures. Nationalism will have fulfilled itself and lost its militancy and would no longer find these things incompatible with self-preservation and the integrality of its outlook. A new spirit of oneness will take hold of the human race. Another dream, the spiritual gift of India to the world has already begun. India's spirituality is entering Europe and America in an ever increasing measure. That movement will grow; amid the disasters of the time more and more eyes are turning towards her with hope and there is even an increasing resort not only to her teachings, but to her psychic and spiritual practice. The final dream was a step in evolution which would raise man to a higher and larger consciousness and begin the solution of the problems which have perplexed and vexed him since he first began to think and to dream of individual perfection and a perfect society. This is still a personal hope and an idea, an ideal which has begun to take hold both in India and in the West on forward-looking minds. The difficulties in the way are more formidable than in any other field of endeavour, but difficulties were made to be overcome and if the Supreme Will is there, they will be overcome. Here too, if this evolution is to take place, since it must proceed through a growth of the spirit and the inner consciousness, the initiative can come from India and, although the scope must be universal, the central movement may be hers. Such is the content which I put into this date of India's liberation; whether or how far this hope will be justified depends upon the new and free India.
Sri Aurobindo Page-28
Reprinted from The Bulletin of S. A. I. C. of Education February, 1961
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