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On this date
Mother began the reading of The asked
The following talk is based upon Chapter 1,
1“The Call and Fitness” and Chapter 2, “The Foundation”. You have asked some questions. Now you are
going to put questions on your questions. Yes? Mother, here it is written: “In our Yoga our aim is to be united [with
the Divine] in the physical consciousness and on the supramental plane”; then,
when the physical consciousness is united with the Divine, does transformations
follow? Yes. Follow, but not instantaneously. It
takes time. Only if the Divine descends into the physical consciousness – or rather,
to put it more precisely, if the physical consciousness is totally receptive to
the Divine – naturally transformations ensues. But a transformation does not
come about by waving a magic wand. It takes time and is done progressively. But it is sure to come once the physical consciousness is united, isn't
that so? I shall tell you this a little later! For, if so, it is not the final aim – if
transformations does not follow!
1“To be in full union with the Divine is the final aim.”
Page - 109 No. It is not what we call the final aim. But transformations must follow, it must
follow automatically. But what I mean is the degree of totality, so to speak,
of integrality, which is not assured,
in the see that probably there are many stages in this transformation. We speak
of transformations vaguely, in this way; it gives us the impression of
something that is going to happen which will see to it that all is well – I
think it comes to that approximately. If we have difficulties, the difficulties
will disappear; those who are ill their illness will vanish; and again, if
there are physical shortcomings, these will disappear, and so on. But it is all
very hazy, it's just an impression. There is something quite remarkable: the
physical consciousness, the body-consciousness, cannot know a thing with
precision, in all its details, except when it is on the point of being
realised. And this will be a sure indication when, for instance, one can
understand the process: through what sequence of movements and transformations
will the total transformation come about, in what order, in what way, to put it
thus? What will happen first? What will happen later? – all
that, in all its details. Each time you see a detail with exactitude, it means
that it is on the point of being realised. One can have the vision of the whole. For
instance, it is quite certain that the transformations of the
body-consciousness will take place first, that a progress in the mastery and
control of all the movements of the body will come next, that this mastery will
gradually change (here it becomes more vague), gradually, into a sort of
transformations of the movement itself: alteration and transformation – all that is certain. But what must happen
in the end, what Sri Aurobindo has spoken about in one of his last articles in which he says that even the organs will be
transformed, in the see that they will be replaced by centres of concentration
of forces (of concentration and action of forces) of different qualities and
kinds which will replace all the organs of the body – that, my children, is
much more distant,
1"The Divine Body", Cent. Vol. 17, pp. 20-40.
Page - 110 that is, it is something which... one cannot yet grasp the means of doing it.
Take, for instance, the heart: by what means is this function of the heart
which makes the blood flow through the whole body going to be replaced by a
concentration of forces? By what means will the blood be replaced by a certain
kind of force, and all the rest? By what means will the lungs be replaced by
another concentration of forces, and what forces, and with what vibrations, and
in what way?...
All that will come much later. It cannot yet be realised. One can have
an inkling of it, foresee it, but... For the body, to know is to have the power
to do. I shall give you an example that's just at hand. You do not know a
gymnastic movement except when you do it. Don't you see, when you have done it
well, you know it, understand it, but not before that. Physical knowledge is
the power of doing. Well, that applies to everything, including
transformations. A certain number of years must pass before
we can speak with knowledge of how this is going to happen, but all that I can
tell you is that it has begun. If you read attentively
the next issue of the Bulletin which
you will get on the 24th of April, you will see that it has begun. But in fact
we shall see later if I can explain to you what it means. Voilà. Another question? Sweet Mother, “later” means when? When will you explain? Explain when? I don't know, my children! I did not understand very well “the real meaning of activity and
passivity in sadhana”. You don't know what activity and passivity
are? Do you know what the two words mean? Yes.
Page - 111 Yes! So, what does it mean when you are
active? When I work. Work ? Good! And when are you passive, when you sleep? (Laughter)
When I am lazy, I cannot do... No, my child, not necessarily. Passivity is not laziness. An active
movement is one in which you throw your force out, that is, when something
comes out from you – in a movement, a thought, a feeling – something which goes
out from you to others or into the world. Passivity is when you remain just
yourself like this, open, and receive what comes from outside. It does not at
all depend on whether one moves or sits still. It is not that at all. To be
active is to throw out the consciousness or force or movement from within
outwards. To be passive is to remain immobile and receive what comes from
outside. So it is said here... I don't know what is written... (Mother turns the pages of the book.) It
is very clear! “Activity in aspiration”, that means that your aspiration goes
out from you and rises to the Divine – in the tapasya, the discipline you
undertake and when there are forces contrary to your sadhana you reject them.
This is a movement of activity. Now, if you want to get true inspiration,
inner guidance, the guide, and if you want to have the force, to receive the
force which will guide you and make you act as you should, then you do not move
any longer, that is – I don't mean not move physically but nothing must come
out from you any more and, on the contrary, you remain as though you were quite
still, but open, and wait for the Force to enter, and then open yourself as
wide as possible to take in all that comes into you. And it is this movement:
instead of out-going vibrations there is a kind of calm quietude, but
completely open, as though you were
Page - 112 opening all your pores in this way to the force
which must descend into you and transform your action and consciousness. Receptivity is the result of a fine
passivity. But Mother, to be able to become passive an effort has to be made,
hasn't it? Not necessarily, that depends upon people.
An effort? One must, yes, one must want it. But is the
will an effort?...
Naturally, one must think about it, must want it. But the two things can
go together, you see, there is a moment when the two – aspiration and passivity
– can be not only alternate but simultaneous. You can be at once in the state
of aspiration, of willing, which calls down something – exactly the will to
open oneself and receive, and the aspiration which calls down the force you
want to receive – and at the same time be in that state of complete inner
stillness which allows full penetration, for it is in this immobility that one
can be penetrated, that one becomes permeable by the Force. Well, the two can
be simultaneous without the one disturbing the other, or can alternate so
closely that they can hardly be distinguished. But one can be like that, like a
great flame rising in aspiration, and at the same time as though this flame
formed a vase, a large vase, opening and receiving all that comes down. And the two can go together. And when one
succeeds in having the two together, one can have them constantly, whatever one
may be doing. Only there may be a slight, very slight displacement of
consciousness, almost imperceptible, which becomes aware of the flame first and
then of the vase of receptivity – of what seeks to be filled and the flame that
rises to call down what must fill the vase – a very slight pendular
movement and so close that it gives the impression that one has the two at the
same time. (Silence)
Page - 113 This is one of the things one discovers
gradually as the body becomes ready for transformations. It is quite a remarkable
instrument in the see that it can experience two contraries at the same time.
There is a certain state of body-consciousness which brings things together,
totalises things that in other states of consciousness alternate or even in
certain others oppose each other. But if one has reached up there, in the vital
and the mind, a development sufficient for harmonising opposites (that of
course, is quite indispensable), when one has succeeded in doing this, there
are moments when it alternates, you see, one thing comes after the other, while
what is remarkable in the consciousness of the body is that it can feel
(“feel”, can we say “feel”? – “experience” – the word “aware” expresses it
best) all things simultaneously, as though you were hot and cold at once, as
though you were active and passive at once, and everything becomes like that.
Then you begin to grasp the totality of movements in the cells. It is something
much more concrete naturally, but much more perfect in the body than in any
other part of the being. This means that if things continue in this way, it
will be proved that the physical, material instrument is the most perfect of
all. That is why perhaps it is the most difficult to transform, to perfect. But
of all, it is the one most capable of perfection. That's enough for today, isn't it? So, my children, if we go at this rate, we
shall finish the book in three or four lessons, and we must already think about
what we shall take up next... The Mother, Sweet Mother. Ah! You want to take up The Mother? Good,
we shall read The Mother. That is
decided. Good night! Page - 114 |
