Chapter 15Difficulties of the Pathfinders · The Burden of Humanity

They are supposed to be known. You have to do the right thing and follow the Yoga sincerely.

14 June 1933 Even the Overmind is for all but the Mother and myself either unrealised or only an influence, mostly subjective.

24 March 1934

X has made the following remark: “The present preparation is going on to bring down the Supermind into the physical of [Sri Aurobindo bracketed “The present preparation is going on to bring down the Supermind into the physical”, and wrote:] Not quite correct in all points. The things to be brought down were in us no doubt — but not all outwardly manifested, from the beginning. Of course X’s statement is altogether true only as far as the bracket goes.

14 September 1935

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When you wrote “as far as the bracket goes”, did you not notice that you cut off the last part of X’s answer?

Yes, of course. What is being done is meant to prepare the manifestation of the supermind in the earth-consciousness down to Matter itself, so it can’t be for the physical of myself or the Mother alone.

15 September 1935

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It seems to me that if the Supermind has not descended into Mother’s body-consciousness, it is not because she is not ready for it, but because she has first to prepare the physical of the sadhaks and of the earth to a certain extent. But some people here take it in the wrong way; they think that the Supermind has not yet descended into her body because she has not yet reached perfection. Am I right?

Certainly. If we had lived physically in the Supermind from the beginning, nobody would have been able to approach us nor could the sadhana have been done. There could have been no hope of contact between ourselves and the earth and men. Even as it is, Mother has to come down towards the lower consciousness of the sadhaks instead of keeping always in her own, otherwise they begin to say, “How far away, how severe you were; you do not love me, I get no help from you etc. etc.” The Divine has to veil himself in order to meet the human.

18 October 1935 There are three stages of the sadhana, psychic change, transition to the higher levels of consciousness — with a descent of their powers, conscious forces — the supramental. In the last even the control over death is a later, not an initial stage. Each of these stages demands a great length of time and a high and long endeavour. The legend related to you comes partly from a false idea that Mother and Sri Aurobindo will bring down everything and the sadhaks have only to wait and receive, a misconception responsible for much inner indolence and inertia, and the fact that for a long time a certain protection was over the Asram so that there was no death of any sadhak and little illness — the legend survives, though the circumstances are not now the same.

26 July 1937