Sri Aurobindo’s Birthday Talks

Dear Friends,

15 August 2024 marks the 152nd Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo. On this special day, as our humble homage to Sri Aurobindo—a compilation of his talks given on his various birthdays has been published on the website of Overman Foundation.

With warm regards,

Anurag Banerjee

Founder,

Overman Foundation.

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An Interview of Sri Aurobindo on 15 August 1908

[The following interview was given by Sri Aurobindo to a correspondent of the Empire, a Calcutta daily, on 15 August 1908.]

Ever since the commencement of the trial until Saturday [15 August 1908] Arabindo has preserved a stolid lethargic demeanour.

From the first day’s hearing to the thirty-sixth, he has occupied one bench, his eyes immovably fixed on the floor, totally indifferent to the unfolding issues of the case.

The Arabindo of Saturday was, however, quite another being. His personality, hitherto grave and prepossessed, had been metamorphosised into one of sprightliness and sunniness. The cause of all this jollification, as Arabindo explained, was to a certain extent remarkable. “In the first place,” he explained, “today is my birthday; and we are celebrating it as best we can under the circumstances. I was born on the 15th August 1872, and on that anniversary in 1906 the National College opened its doors to teach among other things, the principles of Swadeshism. It was either the day before or the day after my birthday, 1907,” he continued waxing warm with the subject “that I was arrested in connection with the first ‘Bande Mataram’ sedition case. And more remarkable still my birthday is round again today and the Magistrate has given a definite assurance that he will commit on the evidence given in this, a case not of sedition but revolution.

“Besides all this my brother [Barindra] is threatened on my birthday to be charged with abetment of murder in the Mozufferpore affair, besides having to stand his trial for conspiracy. These are what I call a remarkable string of coincidences,” he added with a smile.

“Are we getting tired of this protracted trial you ask? Well, to be candid we are, although we don’t mind it in the least. As a matter of fact it is useless pumping witnesses about my supposed editorship of the ‘Bande Mataram.’ I certainly have edited the ‘Bande Mataram,’ but this I only did on different occasions when Bepin Babu first edited it, and I will state now once and for all I never, never did occupy its editorial chair. I must also deny that I fathered the many brilliant leaders that have appeared in that paper. I certainly did write some of them, but I cannot claim the authorship of the best of them. I wish I could,” he added with a twinkle.

Arabindo’s facetious parting shot to the “frequenter” was: “You can add to those coincidences the fact that I shall be very probably coming back from the Andamans on my birthday next year.”

(Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Volume 7, pp. 1145-1146)

*

Birthday Talk of 15 August 1909

[The following talk was delivered by Sri Aurobindo at his residence in Kolkata on 15 August 1909. The text of this talk was published in the Bengali journal, Bharat Mitra, on 21 August. Its English translation was published in a police intelligence report.]

In my childhood before the full development of my faculties, I became conscious of a strong impulse in me. I did not realise what it was then, but it grew stronger and stronger as I gained in years till all the weakness of my childhood, fear, selfishness, etc., vanished from my mind. From the day of my return to the mother country, the impulse is surging forth in great force, and my set purpose and devotion are becoming more confirmed with the trials and oppressions to which I am subjected. When some divine power by the grace of God manifests itself in a human being any efforts to develop it give a new force to the national life. You will have to sacrifice yourself at the feet of your Mother. You should, therefore, devote yourself with firm faith and whole heart to her service. Service of our motherland is our highest duty at this moment. This must be our duty in this iron age. It is now the time for us to conserve our energy. Do not be impatient, do not despair. Do not lose faith. The present fatigue and inactivity are natural; you will find instances of them in the history of every nation. Everyone must store up energy. Be prepared with fresh hope and vigour for the worship of the Mother. Divine power has infused this nation with a new power. This power will exalt the nation one day.

(Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo, Volume 8, p. 178)

*

[The following birthday talks have been compiled from A.B. Purani’s Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo.]

Talk of 15 August 1923 (morning)

Formerly we used to celebrate the event of my physical birth in a ‘Vital’ manner. There was the seed of the inner Truth in it, but the manifestation was vital. Now, I wish that if the day is observed, it should be in keeping with the Truth it symbolises.

You all know of the Supramental Truth that has to descend into our life. This day that Truth is symbolised. But there are several obstacles in the way of its coming down. There is the Mind and the mental ideas that grasp at the Truth coming from Above and try to utilise the Truth for their own aims. There is, for instance, the Vital, or the Life-force, which seizes upon the Higher Force and wants to throw itself out into impure actions. The Truth that is coming down is not mental, it is Supramental. In order that it may be able to work properly, all the lower instruments must be supramentalised. The lower forces want to utilise this Higher Truth for the satisfaction of their ordinary movements. Whenever a man enjoys the pleasures of life, or spends his life in pursuit of his selfish ends, it is, really speaking, these universal forces that take enjoyment through and in him.

In order that this Higher Truth may be able to work in its purity, one has to open oneself to the greater Power above, to give oneself up to it and remove all that stands in the way of the Higher Truth. The capacity to surrender consists in these three things.

I have been working all these years to meet the obstacles and remove them and prepare and clear the path so that the task may not be very difficult for you. As for my helping you in that task it all depends upon your capacity to receive the help. I can give any amount that you can take. There is an idea that today every sadhaka gets a new experience. That depends upon your capacity to receive the Truth in yourself. Real spiritual surrender is, of course, quite another matter; but if any of you have experienced even a degree of it, even some faint reflection, then the purpose of the 15th will have been served.

*

Talk of 15 August 1923 (evening)

Disciple: May we know something about the present state of your Sadhana?

Sri Aurobindo (in a clear but low voice) : I cannot call it a state, or a condition. It is, rather, a complex movement. I am at present engaged in bringing the Supermind into the physical consciousness, down even to the sub-material. The physical is by nature inert and does not want to be rendered conscient. It offers much greater resistance as it is unwilling to change.

One feels as if “digging the earth”, as the Veda says. It is literally digging from Supermind above to Supermind below. The being has become conscious and there is constant movement up and down. The Veda calls it “the two ends” — the head and the tail of the dragon completing and compassing the consciousness. I find that so long as Matter is not supramentalised, the mental and the vital also cannot be fully supramentalised. The physical is therefore to be accepted and transformed. It is this birth after birth on every plane that makes the process complex. I am trying to bring the highest layer of the Supermind into the physical consciousness.

There are three layers of the Supermind corresponding to the three activities of the Intuitive Mind. First is what I call the Interpretative Supermind. I call it interpretative because what is a possibility on the mental plane becomes a potentiality on the Supramental plane. The Interpretative Supermind puts all the potentialities before you. It shows the root cause of events that may come true on the physical plane. When Intuition is changed into its Supramental value, it becomes Interpretative Supermind.

Next comes what I call the Representative Supermind. It represents the actual movements of the potentialities and shows what is in operation. When Inspiration is changed into its Supramental value then it becomes this Representative Supermind. This is not the highest Supermind. You know certain potentialities are working and in many cases you can say what would happen, or how a certain thing happened or can happen. But there may be no certainty. Finally there is the Imperative Supermind which corresponds to Revelation. It is always true as nothing can stand against it. It is Knowledge fulfilling itself by its own inherent power.

I have to distinguish between all these and try to bring down the Imperative Supermind into the physical. Thus, there is a constant movement up and down. The whole being is now made conscious, but what is required is that no force should be able to attack the physical. Then the second thing is to apply the Imperative Supermind to things within and, thirdly, to apply it to things outside. At present, by the Supramental Power any force that attacks the body can be thrown aside. But when the process is complete, no conscious hostile force would be able to attack the body at all. In all this I am following a certain programme that was laid down for me when I came down to Pondicherry.

Disciple: The question, then, is of physical immortality.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, in case the physical is rendered immune, the casting away or retaining of the body would be voluntary. One would be free to throw it away; it would be, really, dull and monotonous to be forced to keep the same body through all eternity.

Disciple: Is it possible to illustrate the difference between what one attains in the Mind and what is attained in the Supermind?

Sri Aurobindo: I can give one instance: The mental samatā I attained was not disturbed for months by anything. It was the samatā of the Shankarite outlook. But true spiritual samatā comes when the Imperative Supermind descends; the self-certainty of the Power brings the true divine samatā.

Formerly there was some difficulty in differentiating between will of knowledge and knowledge-will — say, between force and knowledge. Now it is not there.

Disciple: When will this work be finished?

Sri Aurobindo: There can be no definite time-limit.

Disciple: What was the nature of the attack you got last?

Sri Aurobindo: Whenever I am about to finish a definite stage in Sadhana, the conscious hostile forces come and first raise up anything in the being and show it to me: “Look here, this you have not conquered.” They can also attack.

*

Talk of 15 August 1924 (morning)

It has become customary to expect some speech from me on this day. I prefer to communicate through the Silent Consciousness, because speech addresses itself to the mind while through the Silent Consciousness one can reach something deeper. We are practising together a Yoga which is quite different in certain essentials from other methods which go by the same name. According to the old method we have to select the intellect, the emotion or the will or to differentiate between Purusha and Prakriti, the conscious Soul and Nature. By that we arrive at an Infinite of Knowledge, an all-Loving and all-Beautiful Supreme or an Infinite Impersonal Will, or the Silent Brahman beyond our mind, emotional being or will, or our individual Purusha.

Our Yoga does not aim at an impersonal Infinite of Knowledge, Will or Ananda, but at the realization of a Supreme Being, an Infinite Knowledge which is beyond the limited infinity of the human knowledge, an Infinite Power which is the source of our personal will and an Ananda which cannot be seized by surface movements of emotion.

This Supreme Being that we want to realize is not an impersonal Infinite but a Divine Personality; and in order to realize Him we have to grow conscious of our own true personality. You must know your own inner being. This Personality is not the inner mental, the inner vital and the inner physical being and its consciousness, as is many times wrongly described, but it is your true Being which is in direct communication with the Highest. Man grows by gradual growth in Nature and each has to realize his own Divine Person which is in the Supermind. Each is one with the Divine in essence, but in nature each is a partial manifestation of the Supreme Being.

Such being the aim of our Yoga we want to return upon life and transform it. The old Yogas failed to transform life because they did not go beyond mind. They used to catch at mental experiences, but when they came to apply them to life they reduced it to a mental formula. For example, the mental experience of the Infinite or the application of the principle of universal Love.

We have, therefore, to grow conscious on all the planes of our being, and to bring down the Higher Light, Power and Ananda to govern even the most external details of life. We must detach ourselves and observe all that is going on in the nature — not even the smallest movement, the most external act must remain unnoticed. This process is comparatively easy in the mental and vital planes. But in the physico-vital and the physical plane the powers of Ignorance hold their sway and reign in full force, persisting in what they believe to be the eternal laws. They obstruct the passage of the Higher Light and hold up their flag. It is there that the powers of darkness, again and again, cover the being and even when the physico-vital is opened, the elements of ignorance come up from the lower levels of the physical being. To deal with them is a work of great patience. The physico-vital and the physical being do not accept the Higher Law and persist. They justify their persistence and their play by intellectual and other justifications and thus they try to deceive the sadhak under various guises.

Generally, the vital being is very impatient and wants to get things done quickly on the physico-vital and physical planes. But this has very violent reactions and therefore the mental and the vital being, instead of seizing upon the Higher Light and Power, should surrender themselves to the Higher Power. We have not to rest satisfied with partial transformation. We have to bring down the Higher Power to the physical plane and govern the most external detail of life by it. Mind cannot govern them. We have to call down the Higher Light, Power and Ananda to transform our present nature. This requires an essential utter sincerity in every part of the being, which can see dearly all that is going on in the being and which wants only the Truth and nothing but the Truth.

The second condition of the Light coming down and governing even the smallest detail of life is that one must grow conscious of ones divine personality which is in the Supermind.

There is sometimes a tendency in the sadhak to be satisfied with experiences. One should not rest content with mere experiences.

Another thing is that here, as we are all of us together given to the pursuit of the same Truth the whole time, we have arrived at some kind of solidarity so that we can mutually help or retard our progress.

The conditions for the transformation of our being are the opening of ourselves to the Higher Light and an absolute surrender. This brings about the transformation, so that if there is the essential sincerity, the opening to the Light and surrender, and a gradual growth of consciousness on all the planes, we can become ideal sadhaks of this Yoga.

*

Talk of 15 August 1924 (evening)

At 6.30, when the Master came for the evening sitting emanating joy, he asked with a smile, “What do you want today? Silence or speech?” As if he had come to confer whatever boon we asked. For a time it was silence that reigned. Then from that silence a flow appeared to start. The hearts of the disciples were on tiptoe with expectation, for today they were hearing not human speech but words from the Divine. To hear with human ears the Lord speak! What fulfilment!

Anticipating the question about his own sadhana, he asked X: “Do you want me to keep the tradition?”

Disciple: I was thinking of asking about your Sadhana, but I was afraid of being referred to the Silent Consciousness.

Sri Aurobindo: Do you then want me to speak about the Silent Consciousness like Carlyle who preached his doctrine of silence in 40 volumes?

Disciple: The difficulty is that by silent consciousness we can’t find where you are.

Disciple: We want to know about your own Sadhana.

Sri Aurobindo: All I can say is I am doing the same thing over and over again; only I am doing it each time better.

Disciple: That is a very encouraging discovery.

Disciple: That is known to us.

Sri Aurobindo: Is it? I thought it is quite fresh. The physical layer is a very obstinate thing and it requires to be worked out in detail. You work out one thing, then think it is done; something else arises and you have again to go over the same ground. It is not like the mind or the vital where it is easier for the Higher Power to work. Besides there — in the mind and in the vital — you can establish a general law leaving out the details; the physical is not so, it requires constant patience and minutiae.

Disciple: In the vital you feel you are galloping like a horse.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, there is a sense of movement and success in the vital, but the physical always denies your achievements and repeats the same thing over again, so there is hardly much that can be spoken about it.

Disciple: What are the signs by which one can know that the higher calm has settled in the physical?

Sri Aurobindo: In part or in the whole?

Disciple: In the entire range of the physical.

Sri Aurobindo: But before the higher calm can settle there, you must grow conscious of the physical.

Disciple: How?

Sri Aurobindo: As you have got the consciousness of the mind, of the vital being, so also the body must get its own consciousness. When that consciousness is present, you feel the calm like something solid, settled like an immovable block which cannot be shaken even by the most material shock.

Disciple: In your present stage of Sadhana where do you stand with regard to the question of Death?

Sri Aurobindo: In my own case?

Disciple: Yes.

Sri Aurobindo: There are three things that can bring it about:

Disciple: Sometimes I have a suggestion that if the body can retain the higher calm, power, and ananda, then the body would be free from death.

Sri Aurobindo: That is only the general principle. But that won’t do on the physical plane. You must work out all the details. It is just like the political movements of India where to establish a general rule or maxim is regarded as quite sufficient; the details are never worked out.

Disciple: When the vital being has got the calm and power and ananda then sometimes there is an idea that the body is also immortal.

Sri Aurobindo: That is due to the vital casting its own glow upon the physical. The vital Purusha is immortal and that creates a sense of immortality in the body, but that is not the real conquest. In the case of Swami Brahmananda, he lived up to 300 years so that he seemed practically immune from the action of age, but one day a rusty nail pricked him and he died of that slight wound. On the physical plane something you have not worked out turns up and shows that your conquest is not complete. That is why the process takes such a long time. You must establish the Higher Consciousness in every atom of the body; otherwise what happens is that something escapes your view in the hidden depth of the lower physical being which is known to the hostile forces and then they can attack through that weak point. They can create a combination of circumstances which would give rise to the thing not worked out and before you can control them they are already beyond control. In that case they can destroy you.

Disciple: Why is the physical so very obstinate and obscure?

Sri Aurobindo: Well, it is the nature. That is the arrangement. If the physical were not like that then the thing would have been done much more easily and long ago instead of taking kalpas and manvantaras. The Sadhana would have been very easy. God does not want it to be easily done.

Disciple: Some time back you told us that this attempt was done several times in the past, but on account of various reasons it was not successful. Will it be successful this time or not?

Sri Aurobindo: I can’t say.

Disciple: But you said that this can be done and this time something will be done.

Sri Aurobindo: But “this can be done” is not the same as “this will be done this time”.

Disciple: No. What he wants to know is whether you want to improve upon that statement.

Sri Aurobindo: All I can say is “Ask me next August.” This time I am more hopeful than I was last year. It is more possible now than it was last year. Last year was a very hard year in my sadhana. There was an attack from the darkest physical forces on me. This year they are all gone.

Disciple: When will it be finished?

Sri Aurobindo: You want me to prophesy? It does not depend totally upon me; time is the last thing one knows about. And fixing the limit is more likely to prolong it — like “Swaraj in one year”. Besides, a Yogin who is to take part in action is not shown everything by the Supreme. Only when the universal conditions are ready then all things are shown to him; one who is detached sees many things more. Also, the Supreme does not decide every detail before the universal conditions are ready for it to come down with an imperative decision. In between, it is all a working of universal forces. For example, take the case of a physical disease to which you are prone by nature. When you have worked it out you find the same thing coming up in other forms. You cannot leave it off without working out all details and in each detail you can see only possibilities and moral certainties. Not that the Supreme does not know it all the time; only, it does not interfere till the universal conditions are ready. The decision which the universal forces work out is also the decision of the Supreme.

Disciple: Are the universal conditions fulfilled so far as the physical is concerned?

Sri Aurobindo: The general conditions have been fulfilled in the case of the physical consciousness; but now the most material level remains and that is the most dangerous.

Disciple: Why is it most dangerous?

Sri Aurobindo: Because it is solid, compact, and can refuse or give up its own stuff completely. It is the least open to reasoning and in dealing with it you require the highest Divine Power. Besides, the whole saṁskarā, established impressions, of the whole universe is against your effort. Something from Above has to descend and remove the obstacle.

Disciple: I have an idea that those who go by the gradual way would also, at some time, come to the same conquest of the physical as those who work in the concentrated way.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes. But those who go by the gradual way may have each time to fight out the whole thing and even then the difficulty comes up again and again, while in the involved process (which I am following) the work is rendered easy and quick. One blow from the Supreme Force and the thing is done!

*

Talk of 15 August 1925 (morning)

Our Yoga aims at the discovery of the Supramental being, the Supramental world, and the Supramental nature, and their manifestations in life. But we must guard ourselves against certain general mistakes which are likely to arise. People think that certain powers such as Anima, Garima, or the control of the physical functions, and the capacity to cure diseases, constitute the Supramentalised physical. In many cases, these powers are acquired by persons who happen to open themselves consciously, or unconsciously, to the subliminal being where these powers lie. There are plenty of cases where such powers are seen in persons who have no idea of the Supermind or Yoga.

There is an idea that this Yoga has been attempted times without number in the past, that the Light descended and has withdrawn again and again. This does not seem to be correct. I find that the Supramental physical body has not been brought down; otherwise it would have been there. We must not therefore belittle our effort and throw obstacles in the way of its accomplishment.

The time has not yet come to say what would be the nature of the ultimate transformation. What the old yogins manifested in their life was largely due to the control of the vital being over physical functions. Our aim is not this attainment of the vital siddhis — the control of the physical substance and functions through vital forces. What we are attempting to achieve is a complete transformation of our entire being in all its planes of manifestation. In the old disciplines the goal was not transformation or victory over the physical being. They did not lay any direct hold on it.

Then there is an idea that since everything is One, what we have to do is to realise the One Consciousness and have some experience of it on various planes of our being. This is a mistake due to obsession with Vedantic ideas. It is true that there is the One Consciousness and we have to realise it, but we have not to stop short with that realisation. We have, as I said just now, to transform our entire being.

There is an idea that our Yoga is an attempt at conscious evolution. The Spirit is here involved in Matter and appears subject to it. By the process of evolution the vital and the mental being have come into manifest existence here. Our effort is to evolve to the Supermind from mind.

The Taittiriya Upanishad speaks of the physical being taken up into the vital, and that into the mental and that again into the Supramental and Ananda Consciousness. Another Upanishad says that the man who attains the Supermind escapes through “the door of the Sun”. There is no idea of a conscious descent upon life after ascending to the Supermind.

But it is possible to regard the process as an involution, — involution of the manifested being into the Truth-Consciousness of the Supermind which descends with the perfection of the same into the mind, into the vital and into the physical being.

We also notice in our Sadhana that there is a movement of ascent. But that is not the whole thing; we have not to rest content merely with the ascent. We have also to descend again and consciously bring down the Supramental Light, Truth and Harmony to govern and transform our nature — that is, our mind, life, and body. There is thus an evolution of the lower powers upward into the Truth from which the Spirit descends into Matter and then a manifestation of that Truth in all the nature.

It is not all who can do this. There is an idea that everybody can do this Yoga, but that is only partly true. All are not called to do this Yoga. It may be said that all men have got a latent capacity for this Yoga. But that only helps them up to the point of a certain preparation for the Yoga. The vast mental expansion, the difficult, long and arduous task of rejecting the lower movements of the vital nature and the still harder task of bringing about a change in the physical being, all this cannot be attempted by all. We want first to transform all our being into the Supramental nature. But that is not all, we have to call down and throw that Power upon the external life and establish the Truth and harmony there also. I have already told you that the time has not yet come to say what would be the nature of the ultimate transformation. When the time comes it will reveal itself. What is demanded of you is to open yourself more and more to the Truth. As to all the rest, it will work itself out according to the will of the Supreme Ishwara.

*

Talk of 15 August 1925 (evening)

Sri Aurobindo came out at 7 o’clock.

Sri Aurobindo: Anybody going to keep up the tradition?

Disciple: We are only waiting for the signal.

Sri Aurobindo: The whistle is given, you can start.

Disciple: We want to know something about your Sadhana.

Sri Aurobindo (in Bengali): Āmār sādhanā? Āmi ki sādhanā korchi? [My Sadhana? Am I doing Sadhana?] Ask some other question.

Disciple: From your experience of the physical plane till now, do you think that it is possible to bring down the Supermind into the physical plane?

Sri Aurobindo: Why not? I would not attempt it if it were not possible. If you mean, by that question, “whether it is possible this time and now”, then that is quite another matter.

Disciple: That is what I mean.

Sri Aurobindo: It all depends upon things outside myself. It is to be seen whether the physical plane is ready to receive the Light, for it is not always that the physical plane is ready when the Light descends.

Disciple: Can you not give any certainty about it?

Sri Aurobindo: I never said it was certain.

Disciple: Last year when this question was put to you…

Sri Aurobindo: What did I say?

Disciple: You said, “Ask me next August.”

Disciple: When the question was put to you, you said, “It is more possible this year than it was last year.”

Sri Aurobindo: That is quite another matter. I could not have used the other expression. I can say now, “It is more possible this year than it was last year.” (All burst out into laughter as he evaded the question.)

I am not joking. There have been manifestations of it now that were not there before. The Power is working more directly on the physical plane.

Disciple: Then can you not give the certainty?

Sri Aurobindo: You can give the certainty, instead of me, I can’t. You can see for yourself.

Disciple: If I could see I would not have asked you.

Sri Aurobindo: Then, you want to throw the whole burden on me and evade your responsibility?

Disciple: If you push me like that into a corner then I can’t say anything.

Sri Aurobindo: Well, you want the truth from me and not a pleasant falsehood, I suppose. I have been feeling this very strongly for the last two days, that is why I say this. It is not a personal question; I am speaking of the general atmosphere. I find that the more the Light and Power are coming down the greater is the resistance. You yourself can see that there is something pressing down. You can also see that there is a tremendous resistance.

Disciple: This is quite a new thing this time.

Disciple: It is not at all new. It is only expressed this time.

Sri Aurobindo: Now that we have all come to the lower vital and the physical planes where the struggle is most acute, I am speaking from there and not from any higher standpoint.

(After a pause, to a disciple) No, K — you can’t evade your responsibility. (Laughter)

I am not doing an isolated Yoga. When I wrote that much-abused sentence about humanity in The Yoga and its Objects, there was a truth behind it though I was not conscious of it. It is true that my Yoga is not for humanity; but it is not for myself either; of course, my attaining to the Siddhi is the preliminary condition to others being able to attain it. If I were seeking my own liberation and perfection, my Yoga would have been finished long ago.

Disciple: You said in your speech in the afternoon that the physical plane had not been worked upon by anyone before.

Sri Aurobindo: I did not say that no attempt had been made in the past. Attempts were made, but nothing stable was attained on the physical level; nothing fundamental was established. If it were established, the thing would be there, however partial the achievement.

You see, however imperfect the achievement, it is there in the Mind and you find it, so also in the Vital. But you find nothing like that in the physical plane.

Disciple: It means that the necessary atmosphere for bringing down the Supermind on the physical plane is to be created?

Sri Aurobindo: That is the whole attempt. You ought to help in it by creating the necessary condition, if you want it to be done this time.

(Pointing to himself) There is the centre. You can take from it. But we must be all on the same side if we want to succeed. If you give room to hostile suggestions, you retard your own progress and also the general advancement.

Disciple: What should be done to reduce the resistance of the physical nature?

Sri Aurobindo: You must have an integral aspiration for the Truth. It is true, of course, that there come times in the Sadhana when the mind gets depressed, and the higher Presence is veiled, the knowledge obscured. At that time it is the aspiration and the faith — what Ramakrishna calls ‘blind faith’ — that supports one. That faith is not, really speaking, blind. It is the memory of the soul. If faith is necessary to Coué-out a disease, much more is it necessary to bring down the Supermind. If I had lost faith I would have given up the effort long ago.

Disciple: Anybody else would have given it up long ago. (Laughter)

Disciple: Is the transition from the Mind to the Supermind more radical in its nature than that from the Supermind to the planes above it?

Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by that? Do you mean is it as decisive a step as from Ignorance to Knowledge?

Disciple: Yes.

Sri Aurobindo: You see, the Mind works on the basis of division. It always takes the truth piecemeal, — one aspect at a time, and acts as if a part were the whole. Now this very basis is false.

The Supermind is unity and on the basis of that unity it knows the division. It is the stage nearest to us towards the Divine. Of course, it is also working in the Mind. But in the Mind you seek and find the Truth partially. Mind is an effort at knowing, but not knowledge. Mind only represents, it cannot attain. It cannot fully express the Truth.

On the vital plane also the Supermind works. There its working is Instinct, a precise but covert working which is nearest to the Supermind. But the Supermind is something quite different. You may say it is something automatic though not in the mechanical sense. You can say it is self-active Truth. Once you attain to the Supermind, you can escape through “the doors of the Sun”, if you want. If you go higher still, you come to a plane where no Sun is needed. But all that becomes more possible and easy if you can bring down the Supermind into the physical plane. After that, it is all a flowering up of the being, a natural and easy growth. But it is all a struggle here in mind, life and body.

The sign that you have attained to the Supermind is that you dispense with the need of thought, or thinking as we understand it. In the Supermind you do not need to think. It does not mean that there is no thought and that all is a mere blank. There is something self-existent that works.

Disciple: How?

Sri Aurobindo:“How” you can’t understand.

Disciple: But how does the Mind work when there is no thought?

Sri Aurobindo: In the Mind you think from one point to another point and then to another and so on. Then you gather them all up and connect them in the relation of cause and effect. Now suppose all these hundred thoughts arise simultaneously, showing up all the details and all that in less than one second. Can you imagine that? That is the Supramental thought.

Disciple: I can imagine that.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, you can imagine, but you can’t have an idea of the thing unless you experience it.

Disciple: Will you give us some other aspect of the Supermind?

Sri Aurobindo: Some other aspect? It is not a thing to be understood mentally like that.

Disciple: All the same it may be of some help to us.

Sri Aurobindo: For instance, absolute rest and absolute activity at the same time. Can you imagine that?

Disciple: Is it true that all the mental faculties have their corresponding counterparts in the Supermind?

Sri Aurobindo: Well, that is what I have said in the Arya. I wrote the Arya when I was on the borderland. I should not say the same thing now. Everybody has to go through that stage. It is true that corresponding to Reason there is what may be called the Divine Reason; and you can say that what works as the Divine Reason is derived from the activity of the Supermind. But it is something which is quite different. I am putting the thing in terms of the mind. I can only give you images. But there it is not exactly the same thing. For instance, Reason finds out the cause and effect and connects them together — while the Divine Reason puts them all in the right relation.

There are other things which cannot be expressed in terms of the mind.

Disciple: For example?

Sri Aurobindo: Reconciliation between opposites. For example, absolute silence and absolute expression, can you express it in terms of the mind?

Disciple: When the Supermind will descend it will evolve its own language.

Sri Aurobindo: There is no need of language there; suppose you have got the Supermind and I have got it, we need not use any language.

Disciple: Then we will be sitting quiet all along?

Sri Aurobindo: A terrible thing to you, I suppose?

Disciple: In Bernard Shaw’s Back to Methuselah there are ‘ancients’ who come and stay with those whom he calls ‘children’, ordinary men, and if they stay too long, the children get frightened.

Disciple: K is probably afraid that there would be no more questions to ask.

Disciple: In the Upanishad Yajnavalkya says to Gargi when she put too many questions, “Don’t ask too many questions; otherwise your head will fall off.”

Disciple: It would be a blessing if the head fell off.

Disciple: If this conquest of the physical plane is once achieved, would it mean the defeat of the hostile forces in cases where there might be no opening to the Yoga?

Sri Aurobindo: You come back to the same question of humanity in another form. That is to say, you want to know whether this victory would mean universal victory. Well, let us wait and establish the thing on the physical plane first, then we shall see.

Disciple: How are the universal conditions more ready now for the coming down of the Supermind than they were before?

Sri Aurobindo: Firstly, the knowledge of the physical world has increased so much that it is on the verge of breaking its own bounds.

Secondly, there is an attempt all over the world towards breaking the veil between the outer and the inner mental, the outer and the inner vital and even the outer and the inner physical. Men are becoming more ‘psychic’.

Thirdly, the vital is trying to lay its hold on the physical as it never did before. It is always the sign that whenever the Higher Truth is coming down, it throws up the hostile vital world on the surface, and you see all sorts of abnormal vital manifestations, such as increase in the number of persons who go mad, earthquakes, etc. Also, the world is becoming more united on account of the discoveries of modern science — the aeroplane, the railways, the wireless telegraph, etc. Such a union is the condition for the Highest Truth coming down and it is also our difficulty.

Fourthly, the rise of persons who wield tremendous vital influence over large numbers of men.

These are some of the signs to show that the universal condition may be more ready now. Of course we do not know anything about the conditions of the past attempts. But in so far as we can see now there are conditions to warrant the attempt.

Disciple: Do you consider the knowledge of the world-forces a necessary part of the Yoga?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes! You have to deal with world-forces because they make themselves felt, especially the hostile ones; and so also you have to know the forces that make for help. Even when one is doing individual sadhana, these universal forces make themselves felt. Of course, as you develop, their aspect changes completely. The movement of these world-forces does not begin on the lower planes. It begins high above. All decisions are made high above, it is true, but they are not allowed to be known on the planes to which they relate. A veil is interposed, and each plane is left free to make its own decision. The struggle is left to be decided over again by the contending forces. It is only when the decisive turn has been taken that the highest decision is made known. You can help the greater knowledge to grow in you by trying to get the lesser knowledge.

Disciple: What is our place in this Yoga?

Sri Aurobindo: Your place? What do you mean by the question?

Disciple: I can’t explain it, I think.

Sri Aurobindo: You must put precise questions if you want precise answers.

Disciple: Probably he wants to know what is the responsibility of the sadhaks?

Disciple: Yes, I mean that.

Sri Aurobindo: But I simply said that as a joke, because K wanted to back out.

Disciple: But I took it seriously.

Sri Aurobindo: Well, I did not say it seriously, though there was something behind which was serious. (Laughter)

Disciple: This is the Supramental reconciliation of the opposites. (Laughter)

Sri Aurobindo: Well, you can help the attempt by one-pointed aspiration. You should reject everything that stands in the way of fulfilling this ideal. But, if instead of doing that, you go on accepting the suggestions of the hostile forces and repeat their mantras which give you or others the idea that it is not possible, then you help the hostile forces.

Disciple: I will put one question.

Sri Aurobindo: It is time now, put it some other day.

*

Talk of 15 August 1926 (morning)

I shall say a few words to-day about the 15th of August. The question was one that was recently put to me and I gave a negative answer in order to remove certain mental and conventional notions on the matter.

I shall now speak about the positive side of the matter. There is another side to it and if there were not that other side there would be no use in this cele­bration. I shall not refer to the personal aspect for very obvious reasons, but I shall say something in general with regard to what it can and ought to mean in regard to the yoga, the common object we all have in view.

What that object, — that yoga — is you know in principle. It is the bringing down of a Consciousness, a Power, a Light, a Reality that is other than the consciousness which satisfies the ordinary man upon earth:a Consciousness, a Power and Light of Truth, a Divine Reality which is destined to raise the earth-consciousness and transform everything here.

That cannot take place unless there is a decision from Above. But, also, it cannot be unless the earth-consciousness itself is in some part of it, in some of those who dwell here upon these lower planes, ready to receive. Once this Consciousness, the Power descends it is there for all times and everyday for those who are willing and fit to receive it.

But we have attached a special importance to this day and it is justified if we live in the light of the Truth it symbolises. For this day we can fix a mark in the stage in the individual and general progress. It is a day which ought to be a day of consecration, of self-examination and a preparation for future advance, if possible, for the reception of a special Power which would carry on the work of advance.

This can only be done in each individually if he takes up the true attitude and lives on that day under the right conditions.

That was what I meant when I spoke the other day. It is we who can make it a decisive day in this sense, and it is we who can help to fulfil it.

There must be a consecration from beforehand, and a looking inward on the past to see how far we have reached, what in us is ready, what in us has not yet changed and has yet to be changed, what stands behind waiting for a complete transformation ; what still resists and what is still obscure. There must be the aspiration, a calling down of the Power to effect the change which we see to be necessary.

All this we cannot do if we throw ourselves out on this day, but only by an intense concentration so that the internal being is ready, and turned upwards to receive the Light. In proportion as we admit an externalising movement we disturb the higher working and waste the energy needed for the work of inner” change. Whatever is done other than on ordinary days should be done either as a part of the movement itself or as something which is held on the outskirts of the being and cannot disturb the inner movement. And all the customary circumstances of the day must be used for advance.

And if you came to me in the morning, it should not be in fulfilment of a customary ceremony but with your souls and minds prepared to receive. If you listen to me now and if it is merely something that touches your mental interest and satisfies a mental interest I had rather remain silent. But if it touches somewhere the inner being, the soul, then only this day has a utility or a purpose. And the meditation too ought to be under such conditions that even if nothing decisive descends there would be a certain infiltration the results of which would come afterwards.

That is the one meaning of the 15th of August from the point of view of our yoga.

As to taking stock of the work, where you are and the work, how far it is done, etc., certain things ought to be remembered. You know them with the mind.

First, remember that what are the objects of other yogas are for us only the first stages, or first conditions. In the former ways of yoga men were satisfied if they could feel the Brahmic Consciousness or the cosmic consciousness or some descent of Light and Power, some intimation of the Infinite.

It was thought sufficient if the mind got certain spiritual experiences and underwent partial transformation and the vital being was in contact with it.

They sought for a static condition and considered release as the final goal, and final aim.

To realise all this, to be open to the Infinite and Universal Power, to receive its intimations and to have experiences, to completely go beyond the ego, to realise the Universal Mind, Universal Soul, the Universal Spirit, that is only the first condition.

We have to call down this greater Consciousness directly into the vital being and into the physical being, so that the supreme calm and universality will be there in all its fullness from top to bottom.

If this cannot be done then the first condition of transformation is not fulfilled.

Second thing we have to know and remember is that nothing is perfectly done unless all is perfectly done. It is not sufficient to open the Mind and the Vital Being and leave the Physical being to its obscurity.

So in the transformation also, mind cannot be transformed unless the Vital Being is transformed. And if the Vital Being is not transformed nothing can be realized ; because it is (he Vital Being that realizes. So if the mind is only partially changed and if the Vital Being is open and also partially changed it is not sufficient for our purpose. Because the whole range of the Vital Being cannot be done unless the Physical Being also is opened and changed, for the divine Vital cannot realize itself in an unfitting environmental life.

And it is not enough for the inner Physical Being to be changed if the external man is not transformed. In this process of yoga there is a whole totality and each depends upon the other. Therefore to stop short may be a preparation for another life but it is not the victory. All has to be changed before anything permanently can be changed. The third thing to remember is that if all is to be changed and done then there must be complete surrender It means there must be no reservation in any part of the being;any compromise with old customary thoughts and human ways of doing things. . Wherever anything is reserved, it means the Truth is not accepted and we shall commit, again, the old mistake of partial achievement and transformation. We should leave no field for the indulgence of ignorance.

For us there can be no such theories, no such com­promise between falsehood and Truth ; between the Supreme and the Lower Nature.

It is remembering these things that we have to take stock of our work. To see how much is to be done, not in any spirit of pessimism because the way is long and hard and cannot be done by a miracle. It can only be accomplished by a large and thorough movement. Each step you have to take as a mark, as an encouragement, for a step towards the Beyond. On one side no lack of resolution and the zeal for the victory to be won, on the other no hasty impatience nor de­pression. But the calm certainty for the Divine Will, — and the calm will that “It shall be done in us” and the aspiration that “it may be done for us so that it may be done for the world.”

*

Disciple: What would you say this time about the success of our efforts? Last time you said that you were certain about it.

Sri Aurobindo: I did not say that I was certain. : Let us ask X for information.

Disciple (to the first one): Why do you put a question in that way? You can put the question anew on your own account without referring to the past.

Disciple: From the general conditions prevailing now, can you not say whether you are sure or not?

Sri Aurobindo: I am sure and I am not sure.

Disciple: How?

Sri Aurobindo: I can say that I am morally sure but practi­cally not sure. I am not sure practically because the material world is unrepentant.  The chief obstacle which may prove to be insurmountable is the resistance of the material world.

Disciple: What do you mean by “unrepentant”?

Sri Aurobindo: I mean, that the material world does not care a jot for the Divine or the Divine Life.

Disciple: What do you mean by the resistance of the material world?

Sri Aurobindo: Its impossibility of opening to something high, of conceiving something different from what it is accustomed to. I am referring to the obscurity and stupidity of the human being, if I may say so. When I speak of the resistance of the material world, I do not mean the external material but the subtle material. There is the subtle and the external material and when I say that Matter is impenetrable, I mean that the subtle material has not accepted the Truth, the material mind has not accepted the higher truth. The cells of the material body have a consciousness of their own and that consciousness has to open itself to the Truth. But the material mind does not believe in the Divine possibility of transformation. And as I already said for us nothing is done unless all is done.

Disciple: How are you morally sure?

Sri Aurobindo: Because I see more and more power coming down into the physical and the physical being is showing signs of awakening.

Disciple: But we know that once the Truth is accepted by the mind, then it presses upon the vital being and opens it to the higher Truth. And when the vital hi opened, it presses upon the physical being. So now as you say that the power is coming down on the physical plane, does it not follow that it will overcome the resis­tance of the material plane in course of time and the rest will follow naturally?

Sri Aurobindo: It does not necessarily follow.

Disciple: Suppose the material being does not change?

Sri Aurobindo: If it does not, then it would become an insuperable obstacle.

Disciple: Is there no other obstacle to the success except the resistance of Matter?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes, practically none else.

Disciple: Does it mean that no obstacle will arise from the Asuric forces? I do not mean the Asuric vital world itself but the obstacles from the physical world backed by the Asuric.

Sri Aurobindo: Yes. All this resistance of Matter is backed by the Asuric forces. But if Matter itself yields, then those forces do not count. I do not mean there would be no difficulty from them, but what I mean is that it would have only a secondary importance.

Disciple: What are the conditions to be fulfilled before the resistance can be overcome and have we any responsi­bilities in fulfilling them?

Sri Aurobindo: Conditions! It is more than I can say (Pause). You would not understand it even if I were to say it.

Disciple: Let us hear it. We shall try to understand it.

Sri Aurobindo: Well, the condition is that if man could open a direct connection with the world of the Gods, then only it would be possible.

Disciple: I do not understand unless you explain every word of it.

Sri Aurobindo: So I said.

Disciple: Do you mean the lower or the higher gods?

Sri Aurobindo: I mean the gods, and not the vital gods nor the mental gods.

Disciple: But if the subtle physical accepts the higher Truth?

Sri Aurobindo: It may have accepted in my case but that proves nothing. It does not mean that it is established in the universal or that it is fundamentally and radically changed.

Disciple: Will not the whole physical yield to it?

Sri Aurobindo: Of course, it is logically but not practically certain.

Disciple: But then is there no sign of its changing its attitude?

Sri Aurobindo: No, as yet there is no decisive sign of any change ; but as more and more Power is descending into the physical, I may say that I am morally sure that the material will yield.

Disciple: If the laws of Matter change, will not Matter cease to be Matter?

Sri Aurobindo: Why?

Disciple: Because certain laws define the nature of Matter.

Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by laws? What you call laws are mere habits. If you change your habits you still remain yourself.

Disciple: Can a few persons by their Sadhana change the laws of the material world?

Sri Aurobindo: We do not intend to change the external material being. Only, in certain cases where the man is open to the Higher Power, this change would take place and not in everybody’s case. Its success would not mean success for all and equally for all.

Disciple: Is the attitude of humanity as a whole a factor for success or failure in the effort?

Sri Aurobindo: Of course, it does count for something, but it does not radically affect the issue.

Disciple: What is the difference between the physical mind and the material mind?

Sri Aurobindo: The material mind is a part of the physical

Disciple: What is the physical?

Sri Aurobindo: As I have not got the same inspiration of the subject, I shall ask X. to explain it (a pause).

I spoke about four things in the physical : (1) physical mind, (2) Physical Vital, (3) Matter proper and (4) The Supermind in the physical.

The “physical mind” is, so to say, that end of mental being which comes in contact with the physical world. It is mind limited by matter, working without the help of ideas, looking only to the physical aspect of the world and taking things as they are. It does not go beyond that view. It depends upon the evidence and know­ledge of the physical plane or the knowledge of the exter­nal world, it depends upon the evidence of the senses.

The “physical vital” is life limited by the material body, — the life-force bound up in matter. It is life moving in the nervous system. It cannot exist apart from the material body. It is quite different from the vital being proper with its relative freedom. It is life subject to the laws of matter. There is a tremendous power in matter also, but that is not life-force. Life-force is quite apart from the material world. It exists by itself and for itself and does not limit itself down to the material conditions. To the vital being, nothing, however fanciful and even idiotic, seems impossible. That is the grandeur of the vital being. When Napoleon said, “Nothing is impossible, erase the word ‘impossible’ from the dictionary”, it was the vital being that was speaking through him. And it is true that the vital plane does not admit anything as impos­sible. It does not reject the higher possibilities as the material plane does.

Then comes the material (world) proper. It is what the Europeans call the “Inconscient”. But this matter which they say is “Inconscient” has a tremendous force behind it. In fact it would be the decisive factor in this effort. If it can’t be done this time, it has to be done some day, — at some other time.

Disciple: It is apparent that there is great energy in matter.

Disciple: Matter and energy are one.

Sri Aurobindo: That is only an aspect of it which the Scientist knows.

Disciple: If an atom were broken up, so much energy would be liberated that some scientists say it can blow up the whole world. And merely changing the position of the atoms in a substance, the properties of the sub­stance entirely change. Is this energy you speak of in matter a form of the same that the scientists speak of?

Sri Aurobindo: Yes. What they know is only one aspect of it. For it is not merely force but has a consciousness of its own, also it can accept and reject things.

The material is dull, inconscient.  It does not want to change. It does not want to establish any­thing. It is the same under all the material conditions, obeying the laws of matter. Even up till now in the process of evolution nature has taken thousands and thousands of years to effect this little change in matter. And even then it has been effected always by some pres­sure from above, i.e. from the mental or the vital planes, but not by Matter’s own inherent power or strength or consent.

When the vital began to press on the physical (material) it could not carry out its ideas of possibilities and impossibilities there.  It established a kind of understanding (compromise) with matter and it had to accept the limitations of material life.

Disciple: You said that to overcome the resistance of the material plane is possible if one can open a direct connection with the plane of the Gods. Is there a method of attaining to that plane or does it come of its own accord or is it done for one by the Higher Power?

Sri Aurobindo: You have to get rid of the European mentality in you for that. All of you are semi-demi Europeans in your mentality.

It requires a definite decision to go beyond the mind and giving up human ways of looking at things. You must avoid the two opposite mistakes of accepting the vital powers as true gods and of being bound by the materialistic attitude.

Disciple: But you said that all decisions are taken Above already before they are accomplished here in this world.

Sri Aurobindo: Long before they occur here.

Disciple: Then the decision as to whether the Truth is going to succeed on the material plane or not must have already been made?

Sri Aurobindo: It may be. But it may not be made known to you. Even if you know it, you have to work in the plane of ignorance. Who can say? We do not know.

Disciple: It will lose all the interest if the decision were known beforehand.

Sri Aurobindo: Ignorance is bliss.

Disciple: The first person plural may not know, but I am asking about the first person singular.

Disciple: If the decision is there, then it is also decided; whether it will succeed this time or not.

Sri Aurobindo: Decision where?

Disciple: There (above).

Sri Aurobindo: I can say because I know the decision there, and there is not the slightest shadow of doubt that it will one day succeed; but the question is whether it will succeed through us and our endeavours.

Disciple: If it does not succeed this time, will the Light retire?

Sri Aurobindo: It may retire or it may wait. The question is whether; the physical plane is ready to accept the light. Each time up till now it has not accepted the Truth when it came.

Disciple: What do you mean by saying that the European mind is materialistic?

Sri Aurobindo: We mean by the European materialism the attitude that takes matter as the fundamental basis of evolution and the impossibility of accepting what it is not accustomed to.

I am not running down the European mind. It is fine in its own way, but we are trying to effect a decisive change in the physical being. The opposite mistake is also made by those Europeans, who have left the materialistic formula binding down the mind to the acceptance of the laws of the physical being as final, the mistake of accepting the vital powers as the true gods. For example, the people who do psychic research, mediumistic experiments, automatic writing, spirit communication etc. are the people.

Disciple: Do you mean to say that the physical laws also will be changed?

Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by a law? What are called laws are mere habits of the physical being, as I have already told you.

Disciple: Will the human body be obliged to change?

Sri Aurobindo: It is not necessary that it should change. It would involve a change in the possibilities and capa­cities of functions of the physical being. It would not mean a change in the universal physical. It would take place only in the case of persons who are open to the Higher Power. Of course, it would be a miracle if the impenetrable were penetrated.  

Disciple: Discoveries of science are not less miraculous to-day.

Sri Aurobindo: It is the material mind that requires the miracles. It believes in the miracles of the past but not in those of the future. It is satisfied when the miracle has become habitual.

*

15 August 1926 as recounted by Anilbaran Roy:

Today is Sri Aurobindo’s birthday. He completes his fifty-fourth year, having been born in 1872. It has been a long custom to celebrate this event of his physical birth. Formerly the celebration was in a vital manner. From 1923 it is being observed as it should be in keeping with the truth it symbolizes.

The whole house was thoroughly cleaned and whitewashed; today it is bedecked with fresh leaves and flowers. All the attached houses have been cleaned and washed and everybody puts up a smart appearance. There have been some new-comers. A special attempt — a joint attempt — is to be made today to bring down the Truth. Individually this day is for stock-taking in sadhana, laying out a programme for the future. This day is to be a landmark, a turning-point as Sri Aurobindo fully explained in the afternoon.

Sri Aurobindo came out at about 11 a.m. and one by one the sadhaks went up (there were only two pairs — husband and wife), and offered their pranams and asked his blessing. When I went up I saw Sri Aurobindo — an embodiment of the Truth he is trying to bring down for us. To me it seemed that his appearance was that of barābhaya [bestower of boon and protection]. I worshipped his feet with a few roses and placed a small sum of money (Rs. 5) at his feet. He touched my head. I sat down at his feet, meditated for a minute and then said, “Many kinds of hostile forces are trying to distract me. May I be able to surrender myself completely to you.” He blessed me with a nod of his head, then with the palm of his hand pressed on my head; I felt as if I had got the truth, my whole being became filled with hope and faith, with force and light. I came down after touching his feet and getting his touch again.

Then I went up to Mirra [the Mother] and for the first time entered into Sri Aurobindo’s room, his place of sadhana and rest. I went through the same ceremony before Mirra — but sitting at her feet I meditated for a longer time, about 5 minutes.

From the morning a great calm has descended on me. I can easily surrender myself and open myself to the Higher Truth. This has been a day of consecration for me. I have got my programme of sadhana. Henceforth, I am to give up the ordinary human standpoint and live from the standpoint of the higher light.

The vital forces are trying to seduce me — they seem to say, “Follow us and we give you intense enjoyment.” With the help of the blessings of Gurudev, I expect to know their tricks and withdraw my consent from their play.

At 5 p.m. Sri Aurobindo again came out and sat on his chair; Mirra also came with him and sat by his left side beneath the chair. We were altogether 20 sadhaks present including several ladies. Sri Aurobindo spoke for half an hour about the significance of the 15th August; the speech has been fully recorded by Purani. Then there was group meditation for about half an hour after which Sri Aurobindo and Mirra went inside.

During the course of the meditation, I felt a fundamental calm — the mechanical and habitual thoughts, which disturb me at other times, could not enter into my mind and I intimately felt the light above and a flaming aspiration towards it. It was such a delightful experience that I felt shocked when the group was dissolved abruptly.

Sitting silently in my place, I drew up the following programme for my future sadhana.

The fundamental principle to be followed in life is to give up the ordinary way of living from the standpoint of the ordinary human being. I have to take my stand on the higher Truth and shape my life according to the light received from above.

As to the mind: The mechanical and habitual thoughts are to be discarded or thrown outside. The action of the Buddhi to go on — to receive and interpret the light from above and regulate the acts of life accordingly.

As to the vital: Give up all acts which involve a violent interchange with the vital forces. Observe the play of the vital impulses and the vital forces. See that the lower movement “is coming from below and then withdraw your consent from it and wait keeping yourself open to the higher power to work. It knows better than you what is your need and how to eliminate and transform your nature.”

Cease to act from desire: See your needs with the help of the higher light and exert your will to fulfil them, always depending on, and leaving the consequences to, the higher power.

As to the physical: Try to keep the body in health and fit to carry out any work that may be required of it.

Establish the higher calm throughout the ādhāra and for this stand on the Purusha-Prakriti attitude of the Gita.

Take Sri Aurobindo as the representative of the higher Truth, the higher power and surrender yourself wholly to him as to the higher Truth.

Have a constant aspiration towards the higher Truth.

Go on with zeal and resolution but be not impatient or hasty.                                                           

15 August 1926 (Evening)

(In the evening Sri Aurobindo came out at 7.45 p.m. The following is the substance of some of the talks.

X raised the question whether this year Sri Aurobindo was more sure than before about the success of the attempt at divine life.)

Sri Aurobindo: I am both sure and not sure. I am sure morally, I am not sure practically. Morally sure because the Truth is coming more and more. Practically not sure because the material world is still unrepentent.

Disciple: What do you mean by “unrepentent”?

Sri Aurobindo: The material world does not believe in the possibility of divine life. The European mentality is a great obstacle, though there are other obstacles.

Disciple: Is that obstacle insuperable?

Sri Aurobindo: If it does not change but continues to remain as it is, it will be an insuperable obstacle.

Disciple: How can the change be brought about?

Sri Aurobindo: You will not understand if I say.

Disciple: We shall try — let us hear the answer.

Sri Aurobindo: It will begin to change when it has open connection with the world of Gods.

Disciple: We do not understand unless you explain every word.

Sri Aurobindo: So I said.

In Europe those who have not the European mentality, go to the opposite extreme; instead of opening themselves to the Gods, they resort to the vital forces.

Disciple: What is exactly meant by saying that European science is materialistic?

Sri Aurobindo: That is what I have been so long explaining. They regard matter as wholly inconscient or without consciousness of any kind and they do not believe that matter can be made to become conscious. They do not believe that the laws of matter can be changed. They accept the miracles that have been accomplished but they do not believe that miracles may happen in the future. Matter by itself could never have changed. It is the vital and the mental principle pressing from above which has made possible life and mind in the material world. Now, it is the turn of the supramental pressing from above and transforming the very nature of matter.

Disciple: If the laws of matter are changed, will not matter cease to be matter?

Sri Aurobindo: Why?

Disciple: Because, the laws define the nature of matter.

Sri Aurobindo: The laws are only statements of the habits of things, and a thing may change its habits without ceasing to be itself. If you change your habits, you will still be X.

Disciple: Can a few persons by their sadhana change the laws of the material world?

Sri Aurobindo: We do not mean that the whole universe is going to be changed. Only the capacities of matter can be proved in certain cases.

*

When I speak of the resistance of the material world, I do not mean the external material world, but the subtle material world. The cells of the material body possess a consciousness. That consciousness has to open itself to the higher Truth before the real transformation can take place. It is the material mind which does not believe in divine possibilities and does not care for it.

*

Disciple: What is the difference between the physical and the material?

Sri Aurobindo: As I explained before, in the physical plane there is the mental, the vital and the material. (To Y) Do you remember what I said about the physical mind?

Disciple: It is the mind which presses upon the material plane and organizes it.

Sri Aurobindo: No, it is not that. It is the end which comes into contact with the physical world and sees only the physical aspects of things and nothing beyond it; it takes matter as being simply matter and nothing more — it does not see the consciousness inherent in matter. It depends on the material structure of the body and is confined to it, to the material brain.

Similarly, the vital in the physical plane is the life which is bound with matter, with the nervous system; it cannot exist apart from a material body. But the vital proper is quite independent of matter, it is a universal force. There is force in matter, but that force is not life-force. The real life-force is something quite apart from the material world, it exists for its own sake and its possibilities are not bound down by material conditions. When Napoleon said that there was nothing impossible, the term “impossible” was to be erased from the dictionary, it was the vital which was speaking through Napoleon; to the vital nothing seems impossible.

Then the material in the physical is the pure material part of it which is the basis of the rest.

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Disciple: The vital plane, the vital being, the vital Prakriti — these are the three things and they all have to open themselves to the higher power?

Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by the vital being? If by it you mean the vital Purusha — it is there supporting the universal vital Prakriti. Apart from the Purusha, there is a vital personality — which may be the combination of many personalities — and this personality is to be changed. This personality is under the influence of the various forces coming from the universal vital Prakriti; it has to be opened to the higher power and thus transformed.

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