Letters 1936-37

Sri Aurobindo: There is one divine Force which acts in the universe and in the individual and is also beyond the individual and the universe. The Mother stands for all these, but she is working here in the body to bring down something not yet expressed in this material world so as to transform life here — it is so that you should regard her as the Divine Shakti working here for that purpose.

When there is not enough work in “Building”, can I spend my time reading or drawing?

Your work is your sadhana, and it is by doing your work in a spirit of consecration that you can make most progress. I think it would be better not to tire yourself too much by reading or drawing.

... atmosphere of dullness and unrest is created by the sadhaks themselves — if they were opened to the Mother as they should be, they would live in the calm and peace and not in unrest or dullness.

What is the real cause of the Mother’s illnesses?

It is due to attacks. As the material is not yet conquered, the Mother’s body has to bear the attacks which come daily and to which the sadhaks freely open the doors.

Now that Mother has stopped giving daily Pranam, one should feel sorry that he does not receive her touch each day, as before. That would show a great and intense love for the Mother.

Not necessarily, though it may be so with some. With others it may be only that they miss some vital force they were drawing out of the Mother. If the sadhana goes on whether you see the Mother or not, that would rather show that the psychic connection is permanently there and active always ....

If a sadhak has a profound, self-existent and dynamic love for the Mother, he always remembers her.

Yes. In the full development, even this is not necessary — for it ceases to be necessary to remember the Divine, since one is always conscious of Her.

Sri Aurobindo: "Certainly very few [sadhaks] seem to realise what a possibility has been given them here — all has been turned into an opportunity for the bubbling of the vital or the tamas of the physical rather than used for the intended psychic and spiritual purpose."

People believe that drawing down of the higher things is not a desirable movement — there should be an effortless descent.

But that is made an excuse for not doing any active sadhana at all — hence a general tamas and inertia in the Ashram, people taking things easily as if they had only to wait and chat and eat and read and sleep and whatever was necessary would descend of itself some day or other.

A sadhak of integral Yoga who stops short at the Impersonal is no longer a sadhak of integral Yoga.... In the integral knowledge the realisation of the Self and of the impersonal Sachchidananda is only a step though a very important step or part of the integral knowledge. It is a beginning, not an end of the highest realisation.

I was surprised to learn that Y is going away. I thought he was progressing well.

He was not progressing at all. He was full of pseudo-occult delusions and “sufferings”. So he is going with our approval to see if he cannot shake them off by a change of atmosphere.

The visions and voices can help one to receive constant directions from you or the Mother. Well, why not open me to them?

I shall have first to be sure that you will make the right use of them. I prefer that you should get higher discrimination and knowledge first.

When there is a spiritual emptiness I call down or draw the Mother’s Force in order to fill it. Do you have any objection to this process?

No. It is all right.

...I felt the Agni [Fire] of the Higher Consciousness coming down and uniting below with the psychic fire. Their oneness was experienced deep down in the heart centre. I have never heard of such a unity of the two fires.

If the development of a higher consciousness did not bring things that were not before heard of by the mind, it would not be good for much...

I sit up to the end of the Pranam ceremony in the Meditation Hall. A strong pressure is felt just when I stand up. It is like a heavy load pressing me down to the floor.

It must be the pressure of the Force present there which you feel at that moment because of some shifting of the consciousness at the moment of preparing to go.

Some parts of the being feel tired of the peace as it never brings anything but passivity!

It is very stupid of these parts to be tired of Peace. Would restlessness be better? Without Peace either Force cannot descend or it would be a mixed or Asuric force.

Cannot the descent be used for lessening or destroying the ego and its desires?

That is its proper working, but if the ego is not rejected, then the wrong use may take place.

Some suggestions say, “You remain on the higher station satisfied with its peace and silence and do practically nothing for the parts below.” Is it correct?

Not altogether, but the higher peace and silence has to come down fully and not merely remain above — so the other contents of the higher consciousness may have a chance of descending too and stabilising themselves.