Chapter 68Appendix to Questions and Answers 1929

Appendix to

To get power?”1 Does “power” here mean the power to communicate one’s own experience to others? What does it precisely mean?

Power is a general term — it is not confined to a power to communicate. The most usual form of power is control over things, persons, events, forces.

concentration upon the Divine with a view to an integral and absolute consecration to its Will and Purpose.”2 Is its Will different from its Purpose?

The two words have not the same meaning. Purpose means the intention,theobjectinviewtowardswhichtheDivineisworking. Will is a wider term than that.

“Concentrate in the heart.”3 What is concentration? What is meditation?

Concentrationmeansgatheringoftheconsciousnessintoonecen-tre and fixing it in one object or in one idea or in one condition. Meditation is a general term which can include many kinds of inner activity.

1 Questions and Answers 1929, page 1. The page number in this and the following footnotes refers to the present volume. 2 Page 1.

3 Page 1.

“A fire is burning there.... It is the divinity in you — your true being. Hear its voice, follow its dictates.”4

I have never seen this fire in me. Yet I feel I know the

divinity in me. I feel I hear its voice and I try my utmost to follow its dictates. Should I doubt my feeling?

No, what you feel is probably the intimation from the psychic being through the mind. To be directly conscious of the psychic fire, one must have the subtle vision and subtle sense active or else the direct action of the psychic acting as a manifest power in the consciousness.

“We have all met in previous lives.”5

Who precisely are “we”? Do both of you remember

me? Did I often serve you for this work in the past?

It is a general principle announced which covers all who are called to the work. At the time the Mother was seeing the past (or part of it) of those to whom she spoke and that is why she said this. At present we are too much occupied with the crucial work in the physical consciousness to go into these things. Moreover we find that it encouraged a sort of vital romanticism in the Sadhaks which made them attach more importance to these things than to the hard work of Sadhana, so we have stopped speaking of past lives and personalities.

“There are two paths of Yoga, one of tapasy¯a (discipline) and the other of surrender.”6

Once you interpreted my vision as Agni, the fire of

purification and tapasy¯a producing the Sun of Truth. What path do I follow? What place has tapasy¯a in the path of surrender? Can one do absolutely without tapasy¯a in the path of surrender?

4 Page 1.

5 Page 3.

6 Page 4.

There is a tapasy¯a that takes place automatically as the result of surrenderandthereisadisciplinethatonecarriesoutbyone’sown unaided effort — it is the latter that is meant in the “two paths of Yoga”. But Agni as the fire of tapasy¯a can burn in either case.

away the mental control so that the ideas and desires which were so long checked become surprisingly prominent and create difficulties.7 Theywerenotprominentbecausetheyweregettingsomesatisfac-tion or at least the vital generally was getting indulged in one way or another. When they are no longer indulged then they become obstreperous. But they are not new forces created by the Yoga — they were there all the time.

Whatismeantbythementalcontrolbeingremovedisthatthe mental simply kept them in check but could not remove them. So in Yoga the mental has to be replaced by the psychic or spiritual self-control which could do what the vital cannot, only many Sadhaks do not make this exchange in time and withdraw the mental control merely.

“The strength of such impulses as those of sex lies usually in the fact that people take too much notice of them.”8

What are the other impulses referred to?

It refers to strong vital impulses.

“The whole world is full of the poison. You take it in with every breath.”9

How long is a Sadhak subject to this fear of catching

contagion? I feel I won’t catch such a contagion now. Is my feeling trustworthy?

7 Page 5.

8 Page 5.

9 Page 6.

I don’t know that it is. One has to go very far on the path before one is so secure as that.

screams has the feeling that he is somehow very unusual in his excitement; and his vital nature takes great pleasure in that.”10 Does she mean that one should be usual instead of unusual in one’s excitement during spiritual experience?

citement at all — she meant that the man is not only excited but also wants to be unusual (extraordinary) in his excitement. The excitement itself is bad and the desire to seem extraordinary is worse.

“But to those who possess the necessary basis and foundation we say, on the contrary, ‘aspire and draw.’ ”11

Does this capacity to aspire and draw indicate a

great advance already made?

No. It is a comparatively elementary stage.

How can one distinguish between a dream of deeper origin and a vision?12 There is no criterion, but one can easily distinguish if one is in the inward condition, not sleep, in which most visions take place, by the nature of the impression made. A vision in dream is more difficult todistinguishfroma vividdream-experience but one gets to feel the difference.

Sometimes one remembers the dreams, sometimes one does not.13 Why is it so?

10 Page 11.

11 Page 11.

12 Pages 13-14.

13 Page 14.

It depends on the connection between the two states of consciousness at the time of waking. Usually there is a turn over of the consciousness in which the dream-state disappears more or less abruptly, effacing the fugitive impression made by the dream events (or rather their transcription) on the physical sheath. If the waking is more composed (less abrupt) or, if the impression is very strong, then the memory remains at least of the last dream. In the last case one may remember the dream for a long time, but usually after getting up the dream mem-ories fade away. Those who want to remember their dreams sometimes make a practice of lying quiet and tracing backwards, recovering the dreams one by one. When the dream-state is very light, one can remember more dreams than when it is heavy.

“Spiritual experience means the contact with the Divine in oneself (or without, which comes to the same thing in that domain).”14

What is meant by the Divine “without”? Does it

mean the cosmic Divine or the transcendental or both?

It means the Divine seen outside in things, beings, events etc., etc.

Was Jeanne d’Arc’s nature transformed even a little because of her relation with the two Archangels, the two beings of the Overmind?15 I don’t see how the question of transformation comes in. Jeanne d’Arc was not practising Yoga or seeking transformation.

“You have no longer anything that you can call your own; you feel everything as coming from the Divine, and you have to offer it back to its source. When you can realise that, then even the smallest thing to which 14 Page 17.

15 Pages 17-18.

you do not usually pay much attention or care, ceases to be trivial and insignificant; it becomes full of meaning and it opens up a vast horizon beyond.”16

Is this as elementary a stage as the stage of “aspire

and draw” ?

Not so elementary.

What does Mother mean by the sentence: “When you eat, you must feel that it is the Divine who is eating through you”?17 It means an offering of the food not to the ego or desire but to the Divine, who is behind all action.

“But if we want the Divine to reign here we must give all we have and are and do here to the Divine.”18

If one does this completely has he anything more to

do?

No. But it is not easy to do it completely.

s’enfuir, quand ils arrivent de l’autre cˆot´e, peuvent trou-ver que la fuite ne sert pas `a grand-chose apr`es tout.”19 What does “arrivent de l’autre cˆot´e” mean in this sentence? Does it mean “when they come into this world” or “when they go into the world of silence which they realised”?

16 Page 23.

17 Page 23-24.

18 Page 25. 19 See Entretiens 1929, the French translation of Questions and Answers 1929. The original English (page 25 of the present volume) is: “And as for those who have the will of running away, even they when they go over to the other side, may find the flight was not of much use after all.”

No — “arrivent de l’autre cˆot´e” simply means “when they die”. What Mother intended was that when they actually arrive at their Nirvana they find it is not the ultimate solution or largest realisation of the Supreme and they must eventually come back and have their share of the world action to reach that largest realisation.

How can we recognise who gives all he has and is and does to the Divine?

You can’t, unless you have the inner vision.

“For there is nothing in the world which has not its ultimate truth and support in the Divine.”20

To know this perfectly by experience is to have a

very great attainment, perhaps the final attainment; am I right?

Yes.

“Obviously, what has happened had to happen; it would not have been, if it had not been intended.”21

Then, what is the place of repentance in man’s life?

Has it any place in the life of a Sadhak?

The place of repentance is in its effect for the future — if it induces the nature to turn from the state of things that brought about the happening. For the Sadhak however it is not repentance but recognition of a wrong movement and the necessity of its not recurring that is needed.

“You are tied to the chain of Karma, and there, in that chain, whatever happens is rigorously the consequence of what has been done before.”22 20 Page 27.

21 Pages 27-28.

22 Page 30.

Does “before” mean all the past lives, beginning

from the very first up to this one?

Thatistakingthingsinthemass.Inametaphysicalsensewhatever happens is the consequence of all that has gone before up to the moment of the action. Practically particular consequences have particular antecedents in the past and it is these that are said to determine it.

`a toute vie sur terre.”23 The words “En fait” and “attach´ee” tend to give the impression that after all death is inevitable. But the preceding sentence — “Si cette croy-ance pouvait ˆetre rejet´ee, d’abord de la mentalit´e con-sciente... la mort ne serait plus in´evitable”24 — brings in an ambiguity because it does not make death so inevitable; it introduces a condition — an “if” — by which it could be avoided. But the categoricality of the sentence with “En fait” rather dilutes one’s expectation of a material immortality. Moreover, the “if” in the other sentence is too formidable to be satisfied.

There is no ambiguity that I can see. “En fait” and “attach´ee” do not convey any sense of inevitability. “En fait” means simply that infact, actually, as things are at present all life (onearth) has death attached to it as its end; but it does not in the least convey the idea that it can never be otherwise or that this is the unalterable law of all existence. It is at present a fact for certain reasons which are stated, — due to certain mental and physical circumstances — if thesearechanged,deathisnotinevitableanylonger.Obviouslythe alteration can only come “if” certain conditions are satisfied, — all progress and change by evolution depends upon an “if” which 23 See Entretiens 1929. The original English (page 36) is: “Death as a fact has been attached to all life upon earth.” 24 Page 36: “If this belief could be cast out first from the conscious mind... death would no longer be inevitable.”

gets satisfied. If the animal mind had not been pushed to develop speech and reason, mental man would never have come into existence, — but the “if”, — a stupendous and formidable one, was satisfied. So with the “ifs” that condition a farther progress.

“Many people would tell you wonderful tales of how the world was built and how it will proceed in the future, how and where you were born in the past and what you will be hereafter, the lives you have lived and the lives you will still live. All this has nothing to do with spiritual life.”25

Is what such people say a complete humbug? Is there

a process other than the spiritual by which one can know all these things?

Often it is, but even if it is correct, it has nothing spiritual in it. Many mediums, clairvoyants or people with a special faculty, tell you these things. That faculty is no more spiritual than the capacity to build a bridge or to cook a nice dish or to solve a mathematicalproblem.Thereareintellectualcapacities,thereare occult capacities — that is all.

“They [vampires] are not human; there is only a human form or appearance.... Their method is to try first to cast their influence upon a man; then they enter slowly into his atmosphere and in the end may get complete possession of him, driving out entirely the real human soul and personality.”26

X has married a girl who, the Mother has said, is

vampire-like to some extent. Is he then under all these risks? What precautions should he take? Shall l warn him?

Firstofallwhatismeantisnotthatthevampireorvitalbeingeven 25 Page 40.

26 Page 42.

in possession of a human body tries to possess yet another human being. All that is the description of how a disembodied (vampire) vital being takes possession of a human body without being born into it in the ordinary way — for that is their desire, to possess a human body but not by the way of birth. Once thus human, the danger they are for others is that they feed on the vitality of those who are in contact with them — that is all.

Secondly in this case, Mother only said vampire-like to some extent. That does not mean that she is one of these beings, but has to some extent the habit of feeding on the vitality of others. There is no need to say anything to X. It would only disturb him and not help in the least.

the example that if “you have a keen desire for a certain person to come and that, along with this vital impulse of desire, a strong imagination accompanies the mental formation you have made.... And if there is a sufficient power of will in your thought-form, if it is a well-built formation, it will arrive at its own realisation.”27

In the example given, suppose there is no strong de-

sire in the vital but only thoughts or vague imaginations in the mind, would that go and induce the person to come?

Itmight;especiallyifthatpersonwerehimselfdesirousofcoming, it could give the decisive push. But in most cases desire or will behind the thought-force would be necessary.

holes in the nervous envelope and makes hostile attacks more easy.28 In one sense this means that a man with goodwill should not discourage anyone’s wrong ideas, 27 Pages 50-51.

28 Page 89.

impulses or movements. But would this not be against the principles in ordinary life as well as in Sadhana? There is the way of keeping silent when dealing with such people, but even that sometimes hurts them more than a point-blank discouragement.

Would the bad effects of depression and discourage-

ment indicated by the Mother happen in ordinary life also?

The knowledge about the bad effect of depressions is meant for theSadhaktolearntoavoidthesethings.Hecannotexpectpeople to flatter his failures or mistakes or indulge his foibles merely because he has the self-habit of indulging in depression and hurting his nervous envelope if that is done. To keep himself free from depression is his business, not that of others. For instance some peoplehavethehabitofgettingintodepressioniftheMotherdoes notcomplywiththeirdesires — itdoesnotfollowthattheMother must comply with their desires in order to keep them jolly — they must learn to get rid of this habit of mind. So with people’s wish of encouragement or praise for all they do. One can be silent or non-intervening, but if even that depresses them, it is their own fault and nobody else’s.

Of course, it is the same in ordinary life — depression is always hurtful. But in Sadhana it is more serious because it becomes a strong obstacle to the smooth and rapid progress towards the goal.

Note on the Texts of 1929 was first published in 1931 for private circulation under the title Conversations of the Mother. The conversations were first made available to the public in 1940 as the main part of the book Words of the Mother. This book was reprinted in 1943, 1946 and 1949. The 1929 conversations appeared separately in 1956 under the title Conversations. That book was reprinted in 1961, 1966, 1971, 1973 and 1982. In 1989 it was printed together with the Mother’s conversa-tions of 1930–1931 under the title Conversations 1929, 1930–1931; a second impression of that book was issued in 1997.

The conversations of 1929 were also published in 1977 as the of the Mother (first edition); in that volume the conversations were same text.

Mother’s conversations with disciples in 1930 and 1931 were recorded by a disciple in abbreviated long-hand and later reconstructed and elaborated. Several of them were published in 1949 in two journals of the Ashram, the monthly Mother India and the annual Sri Aurobindo Circle. Twenty-five talks were published under the title Words of the Mother: Third Series in 1951 and in 1966. A new talk, “Difficulties in Yoga”, was included in the collection when it was brought out in 1977 of the Mother (first edition). In that volume the talks were entitled same text. In 1989 these talks were printed together with the Mother’s 1929 conversations under the title Conversations 1929, 1930–1931; a second impression was printed in 1997.

taries on the Dhammapada on a French translation of the Pali text made by a French disciple. The commentaries, given in French, were tape-recorded and then transcribed. The text and commentaries were first published in 1960 under the title Commentaires sur le Dhamma-pada. A second edition appeared in 1964. An English translation was serialised in the quarterly journal Advent from November 1960 to February 1965. This translation was revised when the work was the Collected Works of the Mother. The present volume contains the same text. In 1989 the text and commentaries were first published independently as a book in English; a second impression of the book was issued in 1995.

Aurobindo were written in answer to queries posed by various disciples between 1933 and 1937. Most of them were addressed to a particular disciple in January 1937. The collection was published in 1972 in The Birth Centenary Library.