Friday,
December 18, 1925
Your
going back to France at the moment would be a defeat. You would fall
off from the state of consciousness of which you have caught a glimpse.
It could even be worse. Perhaps after a few years you would get over
it, but in any case, you would be missing an opportunity and failing
in what you have to do.
You
bring a sincerity of heart in your search and the aptitude of your mind
for learning (for reserving your judgment). But your mental activity
is harmful; you must make your mind silent.
A
new consciousness is seeking expression in you. There are in India people,
yogis, who can help you in this and give you a new birth. But there
will be some difficulties in finding them, for you do not speak their
language and they are often hard of access. This, however, is one of
the solutions before you.
This
spiritual consciousness will give you mukti. Personally, my yoga
would be finished if my goal were liberation. Mukti is only the
first part. The second is to bring down the light into all the instruments,
to make them perfect and to become the embodiment of Truth. The universal
truth and power will then act through you and by your instrumentation.
It is true that people are more or less unconscious instruments of the
Shakti; but it is a question of remaining perfectly conscious.
This
perfection of man is difficult—very, very difficult, and it is
a life-time's work. One may fail and make a mess of one's life. It is
in fact so hard that I do not advise anyone to take this path. However,
there is a powerful aspiration in you and something which is seeking
to come down. So I put this ideal before you. If you choose it remain
here, with us, and see what I can give you and what you can take from
me before going farther.
Sunday,
December 20, 1925
There
is in us a region which is above space and time, immobile, immutable,
at first; it does not participate in the waves of emotions and thoughts.
The first step is to centre one's consciousness in this region and keep
it there: this is mukti. In us, beyond our personality, the Purusha
is seen, with many attributes which are successively unveiled.
First
of all, he appears as the witness of actions and sensations, untouched,
unalterable.
Then
he manifests as the giver of sanctions: he approves or refuses his consent
to a movement of Prakriti: desire or thought or even action. When such
an order is given, as for instance, the refusal to take part in a certain
emotion, though the past is yet strong, the being turns away from that
emotion.
Then,
Purusha is the Knower and in him is the knowledge. This knowledge has
several forms: the lowest is intuition, then comes the knowledge in
unity. In any case, the senses are no longer avenues of knowledge: it
comes directly.
Finally,
Purusha reveals himself as Ishwara, the Lord. Governing and acting through
his instruments he at last takes his kingdom in his hands.
This
is accomplished in two stages.
At
first the contact is mental—zone of the spiritual mind (Buddhi?).
Man recognises his mind, his emotions and his body as not-himself.
He feels himself existing above them—above the spatial and temporal
form. He has peace and certitude.
To
reach this, the first thing (and specially for you) is to stop the thoughts
at will. One must first separate oneself mentally from the mind
(for one is not yet capable of doing it otherwise), must look at it
and study it. When that is done it becomes easy to stop the thoughts.
This is the first lesson of Yoga. Thus, whilst talking with you at this
moment, I have no thoughts. I see what is around me but without thinking
(unless I want to do so and call the thought). When I began Yoga I went
in search of Lele to ask him to help me. He ordered me to sit beside
him and practise this mental separation. At the end of three days I
had succeeded and slain the thoughts.
There
are other means of arriving at this, like the one of sitting down and
opening oneself to the influx from above, so that this working may be
accomplished from above without any personal effort. To you I would
recommend the first method. Till this first realisation everything is
mental. And intuition is only fragmentary, uncertain and intermittent.
One must go beyond. Little by little, strong aspiration brings about
(sometimes suddenly) the irruption into the consciousness of something
new. Sometimes it is a peace, solid like a rock. Sometimes a light,
almost physical, which illumines all things, inner and outer. Sometimes
a guidance. In any case, ineffable peace is followed by knowledge.
Besides,
all this descends from above below. And not as with the Tantriks starting
from the lower cakra. But on the contrary from above.
So—for you—the first aim: to separate yourself from your mind
and know it as outside you. To take the attitude of the witness. Let
the thoughts come but do not let yourself be carried away by them. Practise
during mediation. Then, you will have to infuse into daily life what
you establish first in meditation.
Tuesday,
December 22, 1925
It
seems to me that there are two levels in the mind: the first attends
to images and forms; the second to words and ideas. Beyond this is
the principle of comprehension (Buddhi). I can easily dissociate myself
from the lower mind. When I recall to memory an idea or phrase which
I have just expressed, I can also remain detached. But when for instance,
I reason, I am one with my mind (more exactly Buddhi is joined to
manas).
This
is true—but there is yet a third thing, it is the mind in itself,
different from the forms and ideas it produces. It is a principle which
pervades the whole universe—calm and transparent. Most people—and
you also—identify yourself with the mind and its activities: you
confuse the mind and its activities. You must succeed in separating
yourself from Prakriti and knowing yourself as the Purusha.
The
method I was taught was to kill all thoughts when they appeared before
me, quiet simply by looking at them steadily.
You say that you sleep, for indeed the only form of silence ordinary
man knows for the mind is sleep. But this must be overcome—it is
a known obstacle which all must overcome. Reject sleep as you reject
other ills of the lower nature. You have the strength to do it, being
the Purusha.
Then
one of the following two things will happen: Either you will remain
fully conscious but with the mind empty, or you will have this consciousness
but not in the waking state, that is, you will be in Samadhi.
So, this work is the first step for you.
Friday,
December 25, 1925
Remaining
attentive—facing my thoughts—I found that they disappeared
immediately on my looking steadily at them. The means of killing them,
hence, is to watch attentively and, as soon as one becomes conscious
of any, destroy it thus. This succeeds quite well in the region of
words but less in that of images. I can manage to remain thus, conscious
only of my attention. But the mind is not dead. I feel it behind the
door. At certain moments I have the impression that I shall soon lose
consciousness (?).
Good,
but you are still conscious of your effort to kill the thoughts. This
is natural, but in time this will disappear also.
As for the loss of consciousness, do not fear. It might happen that,
besides the two alternatives put before you last time, you could fall
into an unconsciousness of which you would not keep any memory. You
must try to avoid that and to attain either the waking state without
mind or Samadhi.
Is
reading harmful? I do not need it much, and sometimes mental work
is painful to me.
You
must not make any mental rules. Do according to your inner needs. Reading
is not harmful in itself.
Wednesday,
December 30, 1925
I
succeed for a few minutes in keeping myself attentive, empty of thought—but
then the sensations return with a new strength. I do not succeed in
turning away from a noise once my attention is caught there, for I
have no object of concentration.
The first step is not to withdraw from all thought and sensation, but
to consider them as outside oneself. There are two regions in the mind,
one active, the other calm and attentive, not dragged away by the movements
of nature. It is this distinction that you must make. You want to go
too fast by suppressing even the thought: 'I am not that'. At the moment
this thought is your instrument.
Remain
the spectator of your thoughts and sensations, recognising that they
are outside you and do not affect you. Then the higher consciousness
(Purusha consciousness) will descend and take possession of your mind.
But never struggle, for, in the mind, what you reject violently returns
with a greater force.
To struggle is to enter into all sorts of difficulties.
Monday,
January 4, 1926
I
succeeded in fixing my consciousness so as to remain awake, immobile,
in the silence. This state lasts only for a few moments. It happens
that my consciousness is then centred in a point next to the eyebrow
center. This exercise involves a great fatigue of the brain and a
work in the three centres: solar, eyebrow and occipital.
Later,
this cerebral effort will disappear, for you will not work with the
brain. This is an intermediate state. Your consciousness will be centred
at a particular moment outside your physical body—above your head—,
then it will expand and you will become aware of its unity with the
other centres.
The throat-centre is not involved for it is not a mental centre, but
only vocal. Most people who work with emotional mind remain at the level
of the solar plexus.
If one becomes aware of one's unity with the
whole, does one consequently become capable of identifying one's consciousness
with that of another centre of consciousness?
Not all at once. There are two stages. First, you will feel your unity
with the other centres of consciousness 'in the silence'. It is in the
Transcendent that you will feel the identification. Later, you will
realise this union even in the manifested activity—in the play
of forces—and at that moment the union you speak about is possible.
I do not yet succeed in realising actually the independence of my
real being from my physical body—an
independence which I can conceive mentally. Will I realise this division?
This
will necessarily come and you will realise that your body is an instrument
which you can put aside. This is the first aspect of Mukti: the recognition
that you are free from your body.
All the same, certain imperfections like the
desire for approbation, for consideration, are very strong, though
mentally I fight them.
Yes,
and your being is much more complex still than you imagine. The time
will come when you will observe your inner being as though it were outside.
And there is a part of your consciousness which gives its sanction to
this movement of nature. For there is in you something which desires
this approbation, although your mind struggles. But he mind can only
restrain—it cannot change anything.
That this change—this
transmutation—may
be effective, it is necessary, according to my own ideas, to attain
the cosmic consciousness and to get possession thus of the 'universal
solvent' as the alchemists say. Then can't one transmute?
No, this does not suffice. When you come down again from your cosmic
consciousness, the same tendencies are there which can always be restored
to life. But beyond the immanent aspect of the absolute power, the aspect
which you realise in the experience of the cosmic consciousness, there
is what may be called the transcendent aspect, which is creative and
without limitations. This is the solvent which destroys and creates.
The vital Purusha who consented to a certain movement of nature, must
surrender to the higher life and the transformation is possible.
There are several levels in the incarnated consciousness. The Upanishads
speak of five Purushas bound to the five Koshas.(The five envelopes
or five subtle bodies which constitutes man.)
In
the case in which the soul succeeds in escaping from the world of
forms and entering into Nirvana, in sinking into the silence, is this
fusion and loss of individuality final?
Naturally,
this is what many seek. The Absolute has two aspects as Purusha: the
transcendent, immutable Purusha and the mutable Purusha, as the Gita
says. The soul can realise its union with the first: Prakriti disappears
and the soul escapes from the manifested world which it considered a
falsehood, an illusion or a dangerous trap. But this cannot satisfy.
For the Absolute contains also the mutable Purusha and the soul, if
it wants integral union, must realise its unity with the Divine in the
manifestation, as with the Transcendent.
Besides, to say that the soul has become finally absorbed in the Absolute
is only a way of speaking. Is this liberation final? I am far from granting
this.
The Absolute has an aspect which knows itself, loves itself, etc. through
us as intermediaries. And that is the reason of the manifestation.
Friday, January 8, 1926
What
seemed so simple has become very difficult. These last few days I
have had the greatest difficulty in separating myself from my lower
mind. It needed a great deal of energy to remain awake, attentive,
and not to let myself be carried away by the stream of mental images,
without head or tail, a sort of waking dream. Perhaps this is a temporary
reaction?
What
do you do when you try to quiet your mind?
I
fix my consciousness on a point and try to remain attentive, to watch
the play of lower mind. If I attain this attitude it becomes quiet.
Two postures: one with images, one with language. The one with language
is more difficult. It is automatic: does not hook itself to well-defined
objects, but to what preoccupies me most, or to the last thing I have
thought about—the unhooking is often produced by the senses.
On
what point do you try to fix your consciousness?
Normally
at the level of the Äjnä.(The centre between the eyebrows.)
Äjnä
is the
centre which corresponds to the automatic mind and it is this dynamic
position which is working in you. It is this which constitutes the mind
of the majority of men, and if you are conscious of it—if you notice
its action during your ordinary occupations—others are not conscious
of it.
The real mind (thought-mind) is higher. The other is the automatic mind
which is no longer of any use to you. It is a waste of nature.
Have you ever tried to use the will?
Naturally,
but I do not know if it is really the will which I have used.
The
will has three grades and it must be distinguished before all from the
effort which is purely mental. The first grade is desire—corresponding
to the solar plexus. The second, ïsitä or aisvarya
is a kind of command, of order, which either sanctions or not the work
of Prakriti. When it is known that a thing must or must not be, it ought
to come into action. This is an indispensable power for the Yoga we
follow. One can call it by a consecration and one becomes aware of its
action. This action is disturbed and imperfect at the beginning, but
in time it is perfected. Mental effort may succeed in time, but the
action of the true will is infinitely more rapid.
I have experienced this action when, by a call
which is at the same time an offering, I reach the highest layers
of my being. I have, physically, the sensation of an action descending
above my head.
That's
it. Try from time to time to invoke it. A continuous action is yet impossible—but
get back the contact now and then.
The third action of the will is a control, an absolute possession of
Prakriti by the Purusha. (vasitä?).
Monday,
January 11, 1926
The
fundamental doctrine of the T.S., in my opinion, is the existence
of the Masters. On one side this is the new message (the other doctrines:
Karma, reincarnation, being purely philosophical and already known).
On another, this is a vital point for the leaders of the T.S. who
affirm that they are guided by these very Masters.
a) From the logical and philosophical point of view, the existence
of Siddhas who have perfected their vehicles and remain to guide humanity,
is reasonable and even very probable. I admit it on this ground.
b) Putting aside the idea that the leaders of the T.S. are consciously
deceitful, how to account for their assertions about their relations
with the masters—on the higher planes, but also on the physical
plane? HPB, HSO, CWL, for example, have met living masters. If one
admits these statements, how to explain the little spirituality of
the T. S. in general, and the general trend, ethical, moral, but not
spiritual? There is something erroneous there of which I cannot find
the cause, but which has made me stand aside from the movement (missionary,
sectarian, etc., etc.).
These are very important questions for me.
There
are as a matter of fact two very different questions. Their true answers
are not of a mental order, but can be understood only through spiritual
realisation. However, here's what I can say about it.
About
the first point, I shall say only that the existence of perfect
beings, that is, of those "having nothing more to learn" as
you say, is problematical. There is always something to learn in the
Infinite. The Buddha who took a vow to remain on earth until the last
man should enter Nirvana, is not Gautama but Amida.
The
other question is to judge the relations of the leaders of the T. S.
with the masters, that is, to determine the nature of the psychical
experiences of these people. Everything in their works, and particularly
the little true spirituality one meets with, makes me think that they
have never gone beyond the vital plane—which corresponds to what
they call the astral plane. I set aside the case of deception. First,
there is to be considered wilful self-deceit, the fact that on this
plane we see what we mentally want to see. This is a complex
and marvellous realm, where the true and the false are inextricably
entangled. Everything appears under a logical and seductive form, organised
but finally illusory.
HPB
was an amazing woman, with strong intuitions but wherein everything
was mixed up, incapable of discussing critically psychical facts. She
did not want it, besides. What mattered to her was to launch a movement.
And this impulse, this desire to organise, to exercise an influence,
is the characteristic of the vital plane. There are influences of all
sorts there, whose one desire is to take possession of those who are
rising high in order to use them for their own ends. Not only the weak
are their prey, but the strong can be so equally, for it is specially
the strong they aim at. After HPB, there was A.B. In the beginning she
simply followed the lines of HPB, then it was CWL who influenced her.
She recognised him, however, at a certain moment of her life (the glamour
he has put on me…), but as she had nothing of her own, she returned.
And what is special about the vital plane is that anyone who has a certain
realisation there, can make another person get the same realisation.
One must not apply the criteria of ordinary life to this plane; this
is the mistake that many spiritists, metapsychists, etc make. I know
it by experience. I have old disciples who have deviated, without my
being able to bring them back, so great is the force of deception. Others
write to me letters full of visions they have had; they have seen me
and I am supposed to have given them instructions. Now, it was not I,
and those instructions I would disown. It so happened that several of
them had the same vision at the same time, not taking into account small
variations of detail.
On
the other hand, if the masters directing the T.S. are perfect, they
have certainly noticed the nature of these influences and also know
the value of true spirituality. How is it they have not warned their
disciples and why does one find so little of this spirituality? I have
met Theosophists, some of them have had glimpses of the spiritual life,
but in none of those I know has it been truly organised. Whilst in other
men, who don't claim to be guided by perfect masters, one often finds
much more spirituality, as in some Yogis and other people.
Their
conception is mental and ethical, not spiritual. And as ethical, it
has nothing remarkable.
In spiritual life, one must always be ready to reject every system and
all constructions. For a time a certain form is useful, then it becomes
harmful. In my spiritual life, since I was forty (The French phrase
here says 'for the last forty years'.) I have three or four times completely
discarded and broken the system I had arrived at.
If
our disciples at X could not be brought back, the fault lies in their
ambition, that kind of spiritual ambition, so dangerous for a yogi,
which endows us with a special importance in human life. It is a big
danger, which seems to me to have made the Theosophists also fall.
There
is a core of true spirituality there, very small, surrounded by a mass
of erroneous facts and physical data. And in time even the core becomes
affected.
I
am replying to your question because breaking through the veil, you
will come to this psychical region. Hardly 1% can go through, as a result
of their mental purity—their mind does not get attached to objects
to find satisfaction in them. And there is a big danger, a powerful
pressure. One must be very strong and hold on to the truth in order
to resist. It is for this reason that I am answering and not in order
to speak about the T.S. I have nothing against it nor against any of
the Theosophists to all of whom I wish the best. I am not against them.
As
for the fact that some have seen a master physically, an explanation
is possible. These influences of the vital plane, when conditions are
favourable, can very easily materialise: they have a sufficient mastery
over matter to do this. Of course they must be given these conditions.
But
if the Asuras can do this, cannot the Suras do so?
Evidently,
but they do it much less frequently; they are not at all in haste to
impose their guidance. And then very strict special conditions are necessary—one
must be on the absolute march towards the truth.
If
these are the conditions of the vital plane, is it nevertheless possible
to manage to extricate oneself? These forces obey laws—by knowing
them one can free oneself from them.
Undoubtedly
this is possible. Even illusions obey laws. Here there is an aspect
of true occultism, not that of Theosophists. This occultism seeks to
understand and realise, and not to edify mentally. It extends in a way
(the field of) science.
Friday,
January 15, 1926
I
am progressing, but slowly. I have not been able to apply the will
as you described it. In this connection a curious thing happens. In
meditation when I look for a higher support in myself, when I try
to invoke the deeper parts of my being, I meet only a void and I am
incapable of making any 'inner movement'. Naturally, in ordinary life,
either under the impulsion of outer excitement or de proprio, such
movements followed by results are frequent. And usually, though mediation
has very perceptible effects on my general state, it has never had
any tangible results.
There are two principal forces which help in the ascent of man. One
is aspiration; it is emotive and has its centre in the solar plexus.
The other is supramental and its centre is above the head. You act in
ordinary life with the help of the first. In meditation your consciousness
goes back into the higher mind. The silence aspired for, is not for
itself, but only in order to let this higher force descend and rejoin
the other. The old allegory of the climbing fire and the descending
Sun. But your mind is not used to letting this force pass consciously
and consequently it does not know how to act. There is no effort to
be made then. In your case it is better to remain immobile. Naturally,
this depends on different cases; there are people, very active above
the head, who draw easily from this force. Later one succeeds in calling
it down at will.
When
I prepare myself inwardly to practise silence, I have noticed that
I centre my consciousness by taking the help of the physical body.
Then my attention sinks deeper little by little. A moment comes when
I must leave this point of support. Then I do not know where to fix
my consciousness. Either it returns to external things and I then
become quite awake and attentive to the outer world, or I fall into
a half-dream state, although keeping my consciousness for a time attentive.
It is not necessary to fix the consciousness anywhere. When you begin
to participate in the higher consciousness, you will find it diffuse,
englobing everything and without any particular centre. One makes for
oneself one's own centre (above the head). In the beginning, what you
are doing is natural; but let go. As for attention to the outer world
you will see also at one time all the phenomena, noise, etc. as though
you were a part of them; you will embrace them in your consciousness,
"they will occur in it".
The
half-dream state is not to be feared, but keep your consciousness attentive;
it will then probably shift inwards. But have you succeeded in quietening
your mind?
Yes, in the first state in which I take a support.
When I let go the support, I cannot yet stop the passing images.
What
kind of images? Objects and beings seen and known, or unknown to you?
I
do not know. Some seem to me new, but perhaps I have already seen
them?
And
what do you do then?
I
try to efface them.
You
must not do that. Wait and observe. Perhaps these images show a rudiment
of clairvoyance. Perhaps you are seeing events which are happening at
a distance. You must take the scientific attitude and see what it is.
This may be a precious faculty.
I
have heard much about this faculty, but I did not think that the incoherent
images I see could lead to it.
This
may be the beginning.
All that you said about the T. S. is undoubtedly
absolutely true. I have understood and raise no objection. I have
the feeling of a link which has been cut. But I would like to ask
one more question. The force which is behind me, which I feel and
which guides me, which I call my master (without ever having seen
him) and which some psychicists have connected with a Master—what
is this force?
These
are problems which cannot be solved solely with the mind. When your
psychic being opens, you will see and understand.
This can happen. But there are many things. All those who have a strong
urge towards the higher life, have a similar experience. The mind travesties
and clothes the force in a form which pleases it or to which it is accustomed:
Christ for a Christian, etc. First, there is the universal force, the
Purusha, whose action is effective and guiding. Then there are the intermediaries
in the great plan, at all levels. Then, those you are destined to meet
can also influence you, often without their knowing it. When the psychic
being has opened and has set foot on spiritual ground, it can judge.
The mental being cannot.
-Sri
Aurobindo
