Sri Aurobindo: There are some who are like that and have had to go but do not feel at ease and are always thinking of how to come back as soon as possible.  To help others without egoism or attachment or leaving the spiritual surroundings and spiritual life is one thing, to be pulled away by personal attachment or the need of helping others to the outside life is different.   Accepted as disciple. As long as the calmness, quietude and vastness lasts, a special concentration need not be continued.  The special concentration is intended to bring the experience — during the experience the attitude of witness should be kept with rejection of anything that might disturb the experience.


Sri Aurobindo: Listlessness however is not the proper poise of the witness but rather a still quietude.     What the deuce does he mean by asking a wire? One does not take disciples by a wire.


Sri Aurobindo: And how that face [ ] is going to do Yoga, I don’t know. I suppose it is through  that he comes. Has the latter written anything about him?


Sri Aurobindo: Mother does not want to see him; he has come without permission and, if we start seeing all the people who come like that, there will be no value in the rule. If he had a true Yogic capacity, it would be different, but we see no trace of it. Tell him he needs another kind of guidance — he would not be able to stand this Yoga.    It is not possible for me to give him help and guidance — for that would mean an Inﬂuence put on him and in his present stage of development he has not the necessary strength and balance to receive it and bear it.


Sri Aurobindo: I have said he cannot do this Yoga. He needs something else that he can assimilate.   You can write to him in Bengali and tell him that Sri Aurobindo has seen the letters and says that the vision is interesting as showing that his inner being which came up in the dream is capable of receiving the Light which descends from above through the head into the other centres of the being. It is too early to say more. But he can continue with his aspiration and endeavour and report what experiences he has.


Sri Aurobindo: You can also tell him that there are two stages in the Yoga, one of preparation and one of the actual intensive sadhana. It is the ﬁrst that he can undertake. In this stage aspiration in the heart with prayer, bhakti, meditation, a will to offer the life to the Divine are the important things. Puriﬁcation of the nature is the ﬁrst aim to be achieved. There should be no over-eagerness for experiences but such as come should be observed and, if helpful to the right attitude and true development, accepted.


Sri Aurobindo: All that ﬂatters the ego or feeds it should be rejected. There should be no impatience if the progress is slow or difﬁculties many — all should be done in a calm patience — and full reliance on the Divine Mother. This period tests the capacity of the sadhak and the sincerity of his aspiration towards the Divine.    There is no formal initiation; acceptance is sufﬁcient, but I do not usually accept unless I have seen or the Mother has seen the person or unless there is a clear sign that he is meant for this Yoga.


Sri Aurobindo: Sometimes those who desire to be disciples have seen me in dream or vision before acceptance.    You can write to him that when someone has a sincere and strong call for the sadhana Sri Aurobindo does not refuse to accept him.  But it may be that he has ﬁrst to prepare himself before he can face the full difﬁculties of the Path. As for leaving all it would be premature to do so before one is sufﬁciently advanced on the way to make such a step spiritually proﬁtable; too early done, it often creates more difﬁculties than it removes.


Sri Aurobindo:   The word “accepted” in these conditions has no great importance. If people want to join the Asram, then acceptance or non-acceptance has a meaning. But outside there are any number of sadhaks practising Yoga who have started without asking even for acceptance on their own motion. I do not interfere unless it is a question of something quite opposed to the Yoga in them, something neurasthenic, ill-balanced or hostile.


Sri Aurobindo: It is quite impossible to stop the ﬂood in most cases — even if refused, people say, “You alone are my guru” and go on doing sadhana.    I don’t very much care to accept unknown people unless they turn out to be of the right stuff. His visions were interesting but what I wanted was for him to prepare himself and see whether anything developed in him. If there is nothing in his letters about experiences or spiritual developments, he has not satisﬁed the test.


Sri Aurobindo: You will in that case write to him that his acceptance depends upon his development and showing that he is really called to this sadhana.    I have received the photo and his letter and I should not advise him to undertake the Yoga — at least not now. In spite of his mental capacity which is considerable there is a weakness of the vital force in him which would stand very much in his way.  Moreover to overcome the difﬁculties of Yoga, there must be a deﬁnite call and he himself says that he has not got that.


Sri Aurobindo: It is better for him to increase his vital force and will by some lifeaction steadily undertaken and followed out — that is the one thing he needs before he can go farther.    Well, at present it is better not to write anything too positive.  Nowadays especially, the Mother takes people in such circumstances on probation, she does not give them large immediate assurances, but waits to see how they open. If he justiﬁes his aspiration, all will be well.


Sri Aurobindo:   As for the Zamindar he seems to expect some of the traditional kind from me, but this I do not give. He will have to be told that I do not and that my method is different. It may be a little difﬁcult to explain to him or for him to understand what it is. Perhaps he may be told that those who come to have the Yoga are not accepted at once and there is sometimes a long period of trial before they are.


Sri Aurobindo: We can see how he takes it and decide afterwards if he persists in his desire to come here.  This Yoga is a special way to a high and difﬁcult spiritual achievement. It is given only when there is sufﬁcient evidence of capacity or an irresistible call. Inner peace is not its object; that is only one of the elementary conditions for it.


Sri Aurobindo:   Ask him to let me know more about himself.  What is the nature or object of Yoga which he says is the aim of his life? Has he practised at all before?  What makes him turn to me?


Sri Aurobindo: Does he know anything about my way of Yoga and its aims?  I accept only those who are found capable of the Yoga practised here and who are either naturally drawn to this way or who are prepared to put themselves with entire conﬁdence and without any reserves under the guidance they will get here.  I shall reply more deﬁnitely to his request after I have received his answer.    Answer to him that my way of Yoga is a special path and extremely difﬁcult and I do not readily accept disciples — unless there is something to indicate that they have a special call.


Sri Aurobindo:  Write to him that compliance with his request to see me is impossible. I do not anyone — I do not speak with anybody or give oral instructions in Yoga. As for the rest, this is a special path of Yoga and only those are accepted who have a special call to it, not merely a general desire for the spiritual life. It is not a life of Sannyasa or a Yoga that can be done by Japa etc. but something much more difﬁcult, so difﬁcult that even those who have a call do not ﬁnd it easy to go through to the end, and for those who have not the call, it would be impossible. If he likes, however, he can go on practising his Japa with an aspiration towards this path and if he gets any experiences by which a call to it becomes evident, then I can reconsider his case.


Sri Aurobindo:   1. Sri Aurobindo has written no book in English upon the Tantra.  2. Mention and give her the address of the publishers.


Sri Aurobindo: 3. For the rest, say that Sri Aurobindo does not usually care to intervene in the sadhana of others even by such hints and suggestions as she asks for, because such intervention might unproﬁtably disturb their own line of development or basis of experience. His own way is of a special kind with a well-deﬁned purpose and he has made it a rule — for very strong reasons — not to touch spiritually anyone who has not entered this particular way.    He has himself said that he could not follow any path consistently owing to doubts and difﬁculties.


Sri Aurobindo: Sri Aurobindo’s path is long and difﬁcult and it is not possible to follow it unless there is a strong call and a power to go through to the end. He cannot be admitted until it is clear that he has both.    Sri Aurobindo’s way of Yoga is of a special character — it is neither sannyasa nor does it accept the ordinary way of human life. Its ﬁrst stages can be practised anywhere.


Sri Aurobindo: But unless there is a personal call to this particular way, there is no use in anybody taking to it. For it is a difﬁcult path and there is little chance of success unless the aspiration is clear and ﬁxed and the demand of the soul sincere and unbreakable. Sri Aurobindo does not admit anyone to this Yoga unless he has some ground to decide that there is in him this special call and that he has an evident capacity for this way — usually it is only after seeing personally at the time of one of the three darshans he gives to disciples and others that he decides whether or not to admit. On the strength of correspondence only he very seldom makes any decision of this kind.


Sri Aurobindo: You can tell him that it has nothing to do with the things he speaks of. It is a Yoga whose aim is to bring down a supramental consciousness and its Light, Power, Peace, Knowledge and Ananda for the transformation of the mind, life and body consciousness into an instrument of the Divine Consciousness.  It does not follow any of the old ways though it takes something from all of them — but it is in essence the ﬁnding of a new way and is therefore extremely difﬁcult and under certain conditions may be dangerous, — so it is not likely to be what he wants. You can give him the dates and explain that there is only darshan and Sri Aurobindo does not converse with those he sees.   The difﬁculty is that she seems to have only vairagya for worldly life without any knowledge or special call for this Yoga and


Sri Aurobindo: this Yoga and the life here are quite different things from ordinary Yoga and ordinary Asrams. It is not a life of meditative retirement as elsewhere. Moreover it would be impossible for us to decide anything without seeing her and knowing at close hand what she is like. We are not just now for taking more inmates into the Asram except in a very few cases.


Sri Aurobindo: Tell him that this is a different way of Yoga and it does not include Asanas and Pranayam. The seeing of light depends on a certain opening of the inner consciousness — it can come by pranayam or without pranayam. If he does not see, there must be some obstacle not yet removed in himself. But whatever difﬁculties he has, he should seek their solution from his guru.


Sri Aurobindo:   Reply that the Mother is not able to write letters herself, and you are writing on her behalf. What is given by the Mother is not a development of supernatural force, but if someone is accepted to take up this path of Yoga he is led towards a deeper and higher consciousness in which he can attain union with the Divine Mother. This however is a path long and full of difﬁculties —  Sri Aurobindo and the Mother do not admit anyone to it unless they are sure of his call and his capacity to follow it and the person himself is sure of his will to follow it until the goal is reached.


Sri Aurobindo: You can also inform him that Sri Aurobindo is retired and sees no one, he only comes out to give a silent blessing to his disciples and some others specially admitted for Darshan three times a year. If he comes in December, it will not be possible to see Sri Aurobindo, but he can see the Mother.     This is a difﬁcult yoga and very few are “ﬁt” — one has to prepare oneself for a long time in order to become ﬁt.


Sri Aurobindo:  Inform him that (1) No one is admitted into the Asram, unless and until he is accepted as a disciple of Sri Aurobindo.   ( 2 )


Sri Aurobindo: Sri Aurobindo sees no one, not even his own disciples, except on three days of the year and he speaks with none.  (3) Sri Aurobindo’s path is a special one to which few are admitted. He seems to want Rajayoga () or something similar, but that is not the way followed here. He should seek a guru who can give him what he wants.


Sri Aurobindo:   Reply that Sri Aurobindo gives help or guidance only to those who follow his own special path of Yoga, but this is a path which would not be suited to his case.  Reply to him that this Yoga is a long and difﬁcult one and needs a perseverance and a steadiness which according to his own letter he does not seem to possess. If he found the path being shown to him by his “guidance” too hard for his zeal, this will be still more difﬁcult for him either to understand or to follow to the end. This is not a Yoga one can start today and leave tomorrow.


Sri Aurobindo: It is only if there is a sign of a real call to it that Sri Aurobindo would be willing to take anyone into this path.   Reply that residence in the Asrama is only allowed to sadhakas who have been accepted into Sri Aurobindo’s path of Yoga, and not to all of them. This path is a special way of Yoga, difﬁcult and different from others; only those are accepted who have a special call to it.


Sri Aurobindo: There are no speciﬁc qualiﬁcations except the call to lead a divine life embodying a higher spiritual and supramental Truth (not Sannyasa), the spirit which is prepared to sacriﬁce all for that one end accepting even the hardest conditions, ordeals and tests, and the recognition of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It is the Mother herself who decides after seeing the aspirant and the nature of the call within him. You may point out to him that the seeking in him seems from his letter to be of a vague kind; he seems to seek any path and any Guru he can ﬁnd. There is nothing deﬁnite that would indicate a call to this way of Yoga.    may write explaining that the Asram is not a public institution with rules etc. which anyone satisfying the rules can enter.


Sri Aurobindo: Only those are admitted who are already Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and who are considered ready for the Asram life.     Answer that admission to the Asram is very strictly limited and only those who have already been accepted as Sri Aurobindo’s disciples are admitted there. This acceptance is not easy, as Sri Aurobindo’s path of Yoga is different from others and only those who are specially called to it in preference to other paths and who show some sign of the call or are believed to be initially capable can become disciples.


Sri Aurobindo: The answer must be in Hindi.     No one can be received into the life of the Asram unless he has ﬁrst been accepted as a disciple — there are no “students” of Yoga — and no one is accepted as a disciple until he has been ﬁrst seen and it is known whether he has the call to this Yoga and the capacity for it. If he likes to come to Pondicherry, he may; the Mother will see whether he is ﬁt.


Sri Aurobindo: But permission to stay in the Asram cannot be given now. All the rest can be seen afterwards.     Give him the usual answer that stay in the Asram is allowed to some only of those who are already accepted as Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and that owing to the difﬁculty of the path, only some who have a call or a capacity are accepted as disciples.


Sri Aurobindo: It is not possible for him to join the Asram; Sri Aurobindo does not admit anyone who is not personally known and already his disciple; even among his disciples he admits only those whom he considers to be ready or called to the life of the Asram.  Moreover the Asram is now full and there is hardly any room for new members.  All are not equally capable of practising Yoga and in Yoga itself some paths are more difﬁcult than others. There are some who have a special call to a path; others have no call; though they may feel drawn to Yoga, it is to other disciplines that they must go. This path is especially difﬁcult and even some of those admitted to it ﬁnd great difﬁculty in following it.


Sri Aurobindo: Therefore Sri Aurobindo is not willing to admit any new disciples unless he has reason to think that they have a special call for it or a special capacity.     Those who follow the Yoga here are accepted by the Mother — for “accepted” means “admitted into the Yoga, accepted as disciples”. But the progress in the Yoga and the in the Yoga depend on the degree to which there is the opening.


Sri Aurobindo:   One cannot enter the Asram like that. One must ﬁrst be admitted to the Yoga and show that there are the experiences which indicate that one is really called to this path. Even afterwards it rests on the decision of Sri Aurobindo whether the sadhak is to be admitted to the Asram or practise his sadhana outside.


Sri Aurobindo:   You will tell him that admission to the Asram is only allowed to those who are already accepted as Sri Aurobindo’s disciples.  There are no arrangements for visitors residing in the Asram; those who come for darshan make their own arrangements outside. Sri Aurobindo does not readily accept disciples as his is a special path of Yoga and very difﬁcult for most. For what he wants, another Guru with an easier way of Yoga would probably be more helpful.


Sri Aurobindo:   You can tell them that it is not possible. Admissions to the Asram have been stopped owing to want of accommodation. Moreover, it is only those who are already Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and practising his special way of Yoga who are admitted as members of the Asram.


Sri Aurobindo:  Write to him that only those who are already Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and have practised his Yoga can be admitted. Moreover at present admissions are rarely made as there is no longer any sufﬁcient accommodation in the Asram.  (This should now be the answer to all these candidates from nowhere and everywhere — i.e. if they persist, otherwise they can be left without answer.)  It is best for him to put away all family and worldly cares if he wishes to succeed in the sadhana.  As for staying here, things have changed since he was here.


Sri Aurobindo: I no longer take direct charge of people’s sadhana; all is in the hands of Sri Mira Devi and the force acting here is much more direct, powerful and insistent than it was then. It needs a certain strength and a strong receptivity to bear and answer to it, especially a great sincerity in all the being and a preparation is sometimes necessary before it can do its work.  The best would be perhaps for him to have an experimental stay for some time.


Sri Aurobindo: People are not accepted in the Asram or in the Yoga unless it is seen that they have the call and the capacity. A mere formal request is not sufﬁcient for the purpose.  Sri Aurobindo is not at present seeing anyone, not even his own disciples.  If he likes, he can enter into a preliminary correspondence and explain his case, what he is seeking and why and the nature of his past efforts.


Sri Aurobindo:   Everybody is not admitted here, only those who are ﬁt and who have a true call to Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. The desire for a “calm and peaceful” or Asramic life is not a sufﬁcient passport for this admission.   There is no question about grihastha and Sannyasin here, because the distinction does not exist for us. There is no place for the Sannyasin of the ordinary type at least, because we do not turn our backs on life; neither are we grihasthas, because we do leave behind us the ordinary human life and its institutions and motives.


Sri Aurobindo: The difﬁculty in’s case is of two kinds. First, his mind seems to cling to traditional ideas and ways of action, while here they are thrown aside altogether. It is impossible without an entirely free intelligence (or, in its place, a strong psychic faith and ardour) to follow the movement here. I doubt whether would be able to appreciate, much less to assent to it and follow it.  (2) seems to lay entire stress on the reasoning intellect and to have ﬁxed himself in that movement.


Sri Aurobindo: Here the endeavour is of a supramental and therefore suprarational character. It has to be carried out through a silent mind, an active psychic being, a descent of the supramental Light and Power and Vastness and Ananda transforming all the instruments. An attachment to the way of the intellect, a bondage to the rational mind would be an insuperable obstacle. The supramental can be reached through the active mind only if the latter is large, free, subtle, plastic, ready at every moment to renounce its own way and to admit enlightenment and contradiction of all its cherished conclusions and habitual movements by a higher Light. Not one intellect in a thousand is of that kind.


Sri Aurobindo: And even then it would not be enough without the heart’s opening and the support of the psychic brought to the surface.  It would be useless for to come here and ﬁnd himself at a loss in an atmosphere foreign to his temperament. There is no sign that he is ready for such a transplantation. A certain agreement of the philosophic idea is quite insufﬁcient.  Only two kinds of people can stay here with any true proﬁt; (1) Those who are ready to absorb the spiritual atmosphere and change.


Sri Aurobindo: (2) Those who, if not yet ready, can still surrender to the inﬂuence and prepare slowly till they are ready.  It may be that cannot advance precisely because of this interference of the intellect in the ways of the Spirit. The reasoning mind can never give itself conﬁdently to the greater Inﬂuence, not even to God or Guru; it is capable of turning unproﬁtably around itself for ever.    He cannot come here to join the Asram.


Sri Aurobindo: If he ﬁnds that he is under a pressure too much for his body, it is better to relax and take to healthy physical habits which will restore strength. Yoga is only for those who have brains and bodies strong enough to bear the pressure.     Only those who take up this way of Yoga are admitted, if otherwise ﬁt or ready, to this Asrama.


Sri Aurobindo: The miraculous powers he mentions are not among the objects of this Yoga.    He will have to wait. Admission here does not go by each one’s own desire or idea of his readiness; there is an inner source of decision which has nothing to do with any of the reasons given by the mind. But also from a more external point of view we have neither means nor accommodation to entertain all who would otherwise come and there are some who are not called and are yet more ready than.


Sri Aurobindo: He must make his sadhana deeper, less mental, more psychic, by a stronger aspiration and more devout surrender, before he can hope to come. Let him learn too to face the difﬁculties of life and keep his inner consciousness amongst them. It is not always the best thing for everybody to have the external circumstances made easy and favourable for the sadhana.   The best thing will be for him to come here for a few days; the Mother will see him and decide what is best to be done after seeing his capacity etc., whether he is to remain here for a time or practise there.


Sri Aurobindo: Inform him that there is no ﬁxed rule for everybody here.  Fruits except bananas are not easily available in Pondicherry. For expenses (ordinary diet etc.) Rs. 20 a month can be reckoned as a fair amount; but he can meet his own expenses if he likes, taking his own diet etc.  Also inform him that I do not see anybody now or personally give initiation, but that will make no difference. He must have understood from Jotin’s article that all the work is in the hands of the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo: He should not come till a little time after February 21st.    of Burdwan writes that he intends to come here and I will have to support him, because he has nowhere else to go and because he has the need of an intensive sadhana. Write to him not to come. Only those are allowed to live here who are accepted by myself and the Mother. People cannot merely come because they want or need or think that I ought to receive and maintain them or on the mere ground that they are sadhaks.


Sri Aurobindo: As for himself, he has not as yet even the ﬁrst conditions, a psychic opening or an attitude of self-surrender. He is only in the ﬁrst mental stage of initial realisations. In any case no claim is allowed in these matters.    This path of Yoga is very special and a very difﬁcult one.


Sri Aurobindo: does not give a sufﬁcient idea of it. It requires not only capacity for sadhana, but a psychic call of a very deﬁnite kind — a mental adhesion is not sufﬁcient. Before I can assent to his coming here, I must be sure of his having this call. Why should he not continue his practice at Rishikesh and see what develops in him and what is his real way?


Sri Aurobindo: It will be better for him to write again stating (1) What Yoga he has practised during these 15 years, or, especially, during the last two years.  (2) With what results.  (3) His age, circumstances etc.  There are no external rules for admission to the Asrama. The conditions are internal, the call to the way and spiritual purpose of this Yoga, an entire and one-minded readiness for surrender and the giving up of all else for the one Truth, acceptance by myself and the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo: Those who practise, are not always admitted at once to the Asrama.     The obstacles to his coming here are of two kinds.  (1) There is nothing as yet in his experiences, at least as he has recorded them, which would indicate a real call, necessity or readiness for his stay here.


Sri Aurobindo: (2) If he comes here, unready, the pressure of the forces at the centre is likely to be injurious rather than beneﬁcial to his sadhana. The illness from which he has suffered, may return or regain force; the peace he is gaining may be disturbed etc. He is mistaken in thinking that to stay here will necessarily make his sadhana easier; it may make it more difﬁcult, especially if, as is likely, the demand and pressure of the Force that is acting here is too great for him and he is unable to receive it or to answer.  I do not wish to increase the number of people in the Asrama excessively under the present conditions and I allow only those to remain with regard to whom the indication from above is perfectly clear and unmistakable.


Sri Aurobindo:   Write to that I am not pleased with the tone of his letter.  Demands of this kind, talk of suicide etc., claim to come here on the ground of poverty are all entirely out of place in one who aspires to practise this sadhana. Those who cannot face the difﬁculties of life in the right spirit, will not be able either to face in the right way the difﬁculties of sadhana. To stay here is a privilege accorded by the Mother to some who are ﬁt or are called to do some work for her here.


Sri Aurobindo: It is not conceded to anybody because he is poor and has no other resource or for any other irrelevant reason. And no one has a right to demand or clamour for it. If he wants to practise this Yoga, he must do it with a quiet spirit, demanding nothing but the calm, peace and light and strength of the divine consciousness and the presence of the Divine. And he must face all that comes to him in life, in a spirit of quiet faith and equality and endurance.   It is very evident from his letter that in his mind he is not at all ready.


Sri Aurobindo: If he has this wandering and experimental spirit, let him satisfy it ﬁrst in the other places he thinks of visiting or the other experiments he wants to make. Here only those should come who feel a deﬁnite call and are sure that here lies their spiritual destiny and nowhere else.    He says he wants to come here for his sadhana, but for what sadhana? The Yoga here is of a special kind and everybody is not called to it or ﬁt for it.


Sri Aurobindo: He himself seems to have been living very much in the mind and in external things. He is leaving the Asram there because he has fundamental differences (it is to be presumed, differences of idea and mental outlook) with the workers. How is it sure that there will be agreement here? In any case, it is the capacity for a special kind of inner life or the inner call to it that can alone be a reason for admittance to the Asram here. This is what you must explain to him.


Sri Aurobindo: I do not know what sadhana he has been doing or what experiences he may have, if any. But when he came here, he did not seem to be at all ready.  A mental decision to give up one kind of life or activity and take up another, is not sufﬁcient for the purpose.


Sri Aurobindo: What you should write to him is that it is not so easy to get permission to come here. Many desire it, but only a few are admitted. The desire is not enough, it has to be seen whether the applicant is ﬁt.  As for the letter itself, he only says that he wants to serve a “good man” and that he is ready to do any work you () tell him to do.


Sri Aurobindo: I do not see in that any sufﬁcient call or reason for his coming here.     I do not consider it advisable that he should abruptly give up his service and come here for good. When he came, he had a difﬁculty in bearing the pressure of the atmosphere up to the end.


Sri Aurobindo: It will be better if for the present he comes at intervals, — we can see how he progresses and, if after a time, the difﬁculty is ﬁnally and deﬁnitely eliminated, then a decision can be taken.     Write that permission is given for his coming but there are at present nearly 90 people here and, even when the temporary ones have gone, something like 80 are likely to be here, for already the permanent number is over 75. In these circumstances it is extremely difﬁcult to ﬁnd room for new people, even for one.


Sri Aurobindo: But still this may be arranged; in a few days we shall be able to see what is possible.  But if he wants to bring the child, it is another matter. Our experience is that most children cannot bear the pressure of the atmosphere, and after two or three experiences of this kind it has been made a rule not to admit young children to reside in the Asram. If he comes with the child, he must make his own arrangements for a separate lodging.  After receiving this letter he should let us know what are his deﬁnite plans and when he proposes to come.


Sri Aurobindo:  Answer that there are many paths of Yoga, — Sri Aurobindo’s is one which is very difﬁcult and exacting and he does not care to accept anyone into it unless he is satisﬁed that he has a special call and is capable of following the path. No one is admitted to the Asram as a member in the indeﬁnite and conditional way he suggests. It is no use taking up Yoga without knowing what it is.  If he wants to read books on the subject, he can read the  and.


Sri Aurobindo: They will not give him a complete idea of this path and its conditions and objects, but they should at least give him some notion of what Yoga is and of the spirit of this Yoga.    It is not advisable for her to come now; she is not yet spiritually strong enough or sufﬁciently undivided to be able to support the pressure of the Yoga here. Nor is there at present room in the Asram. Also, she is mistaken in thinking that she has something to get directly from me other than what she has got or can get from the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo: The only thing she can do now is to prepare herself, going on with what she has received and trying to assimilate it and bring it to her surface consciousness; especially, she has to cultivate calm, balance, simple sincerity and a and ﬁrm aspiration.    You can write to answering his questions.  There are three kinds of arrangements  (1) Those who live outside, rent their own house and see to their own arrangements.


Sri Aurobindo: (2) A room is sometimes given in the Asram to those who come for sadhana, as well as food etc.; but they pay a monthly sum so long as they stay.  (3) Those who are accepted as permanent resident members of the Asram and give all they have as property or income; these have nothing to pay.  If he comes, it is probably the ﬁrst that would suit him best, at least at the beginning.  You can write this on your account and need not give it as coming from me. I have not yet decided anything about him.


Sri Aurobindo:  Write to him that he has permission for November 24th; but there is no room in the Asram; he must make his own arrangements.  Enter in the applicant’s book.


Sri Aurobindo: An “experiment” of this kind is not made in the Asram. Those who are as yet uncertain about their capacity or their call, are sometimes allowed to live here outside the Asram (at their own expense), but in connection with it for a time. It is only when they have accepted the spiritual life and are accepted that they can be admitted in the Asram as its members and workers or allowed to stay there for a long time on the same footing as the members.


Sri Aurobindo: He is not ready for life in the Asram. He must be able ﬁrst, staying where he is, to open himself to the divine Power and make sufﬁcient inner progress. It is not enough to want to dedicate himself; there must be some clear indication that he is capable of entering into the path and following it.


Sri Aurobindo: If he likes to spend some days more here, he can do so; but the time has not come for him to remain here permanently. He must wait for that for some time longer.   As for coming here he will have to wait. Has he any clear idea of what this Yoga and sadhana mean? It is a one-pointed direction and concentration of all the being on an aim which most people would regard as remote from all current human aims and impossible.


Sri Aurobindo: He would have to turn his back on all the old interests and pursuits and the sympathy and support of those now around him and undertake a most difﬁcult effort and discipline which his vital being might ﬁnd painful and distasteful to it. It is better if he considers long before asking for this Yoga and make sure that he has really an irresistible call.    He can come in June. But I think, if I remember right, I had written that he should ﬁrst come for some time and we would see from the results whether he should stay here permanently or not.


Sri Aurobindo: To do the sadhana permanently in the Asram is not always the best thing for everybody; it depends on the capacity and also on the stage which has been reached in the sadhana. For some the Force here would be too strong for a permanent stay; they get more advantage by staying for some time, receiving what they can and then going elsewhere to assimilate it; they are not ready for a continuous pressure.  I presume he will live separately, making his own arrangements? To live in the Asram and take the food etc. would, I imagine, be a rather abrupt and trying change at his age.


Sri Aurobindo:   In each case there is a difference, for some are called upon to enter the Asram life at once, others have to practise the Yoga while they are still in the world. No general rule can be made covering all cases. Each should do what he is called upon to do without troubling himself with suggestions of this kind. If any one has to enter the Asram life either early or at a later stage, the call will come to him at the proper time.


Sri Aurobindo: Meanwhile he should pursue the sadhana quietly keeping himself in close inner contact with the Force that comes from here.   Write to him that it will be better for him to wait until he has from within himself the true and complete turn to a spiritual life. It is not in his mind only but in his vital nature that there are obstacles to a complete consecration. To come here might give him a stimulus, but it is not sure that it will be anything more than a partial stimulus which he could easily mistake for a total call. Often people receive such a stimulus, the psychic being opens, but the rest of the nature is only silenced for a time and does not sincerely concur, so that afterwards resistances arise and the sadhak falls away from the path, — which it is very injurious spiritually and otherwise to abandon once it has been begun.


Sri Aurobindo:  Reply that it will be better for his Yoga if he goes on for some time as he is — to practise it at the Asram might easily interrupt the present movement which is the right one for him and precipitate another for which he is not ready.  At present his experience is that of the mental being and mental nature opening to the Light and to some touch of a higher Ananda, with a basis of calm — the indispensable basis.  This movement should continue till the heart and the vital being and vital nature also open. It is not necessary for him to make a special effort for these things.


Sri Aurobindo: If he keeps concentrated and open and maintains his faith and the remembrance of the Mother, they will come of themselves in the proper time.  Meanwhile, he can keep himself in some kind of physical touch by writing from time to time giving succinctly his experiences and the progress of his Yoga. When a sufﬁcient basis has been acquired, the question of his coming to the Asram can be reconsidered.    No.


Sri Aurobindo: It is elsewhere that you must prepare yourself, not here.  You have not been asked to give yourself up to the service of the Divine in any outward or physical sense, but to prepare yourself inwardly by taking all life and all work wherever you are as a sacriﬁce, an offering to the Divine. That, if you are sincere in your seeking, you can do anywhere.


Sri Aurobindo: It is possible to give a room, the Mother says, in one of the houses. But he speaks of residing here permanently — in Pondicherry. To that there can be no objection; but as far as the life in the Asram is concerned, I think it should be regarded as a trial at ﬁrst — to be rendered permanent if all is found right afterwards. He should be informed that there are two kinds of residents in the Asram, permanent members who give all they have or can dispose of and the Asram undertakes in return all their expenses etc. and those who come for a time to practise Yoga. The latter pay their expenses of boarding and lodging and certain contingents, but, as the Asram is in a town mostly in rented houses, these by themselves are sufﬁciently heavy.


Sri Aurobindo:   It is certainly quite true that the psychic contact can exist at a distance and that the Divine is not limited by place, but is everywhere. It is not necessary to be at Pondicherry or physically near the Mother in order to lead the spiritual life or to practise this Yoga, especially in its earlier stages. But that is only one side of the truth; there is another.


Sri Aurobindo: Otherwise the logical conclusion might be that there was no necessity for the Mother to be here at all or for the existence of the Asram or for anyone to come here.  The psychic being is there in all, but in very few is it well developed, well built up in the consciousness or prominent in the front; in most it is veiled, often ineffective or only an inﬂuence, not conscious enough or strong enough to support the spiritual life. It is for this reason that it is necessary for those drawn towards this Truth to come here in order that they may receive the touch which will bring about or prepare the wakening of the psychic being — that is for them the beginning of the effective psychic contact. It is also for this reason that a stay here is needed for many — if they are ready — in order that under the direct inﬂuence and nearness they may have this development or building up of the psychic being in the consciousness or its coming to the front. When the touch has been given or the development effected, so far as the sadhak is at the moment capable of it, he returns to the outside world and under the protection and guidance even at a distance is able to keep the contact and go on with his spiritual life.


Sri Aurobindo: But the inﬂuences of the outside world are not favourable to the psychic contact and the psychic development and, if the sadhak is not sufﬁciently careful or concentrated, the psychic contact may easily be lost after a time or get covered over and the development may become retarded, stationary or even diminished by adverse inﬂuences or movements. It is therefore that the necessity exists and is often felt of a return to the place of the central inﬂuence in order to fortify or recover the contact or to restore or give a fresh forward impulse to the development. The aspiration for such nearness from time to time is not a vital desire; it becomes a vital desire only when it is egoistically insistent or mixed with a vital motive, — but not if it is an aspiration of the psychic being calm, deep and without clamour in it or perturbing insistence.  This is for those who are not called upon or are not called upon to live in the Asram under the direct pressure of the central Force and Presence. Those who must so live are those called from the beginning or who have become ready or who are for some reason or another given a chance to form part of the work or creation which is being prepared by the Yoga.


Sri Aurobindo: For them the stay here in the atmosphere, the nearness are indispensable; to depart would be for them a renunciation of the opportunity given them, a turning of the back upon the spiritual destiny. Their difﬁculties are often in appearance greater than the struggle of those who remain outside because the demand and the pressure are greater; but so also is their opportunity greater and the power and inﬂuence for development poured upon them and that too which they can spiritually become and will become if they are faithful to the choice and the call.


Sri Aurobindo: Reply that it is impossible to have or anybody else here now (for staying) even if they were ready — for owing to damage to rented houses we are compelled to vacate them and have no longer sufﬁcient room even for the sadhaks who are here, much less for new members. Moreover there are already a hundred here and we cannot take more (except for exceptional cases) till the funds of the Asram increase.  Moreover, it is not good for anybody to come here prematurely — even for Darshan. If they are not ready, the pressure of the Power here may disturb them, a resistance or obstacles in the nature may rise as in the case of.  As for the February darshan we do not yet know how we are going to accommodate even those who have already permission to come.


Sri Aurobindo: It is probable that will have to wait for the Darshan for some time longer.    There is no possibility of admitting in such cases now. There are already nearly 100 people and it is impossible freely to increase the Asram by renting new houses or undergoing farther expenses at present. Therefore only in exceptional cases can new people, not already known as disciples, be accepted.


Sri Aurobindo: If she wants to prepare herself for Yoga, she can try to practise where she is for the present.   In the Asram there is very little room nowadays and what is there must be kept for disciples — for those who have been accepted and come for the practice of the Yoga and to proﬁt by quiet meditation in the Asram atmosphere.  All that we can offer him is, if he comes to Pondicherry, that he can see the Asram and meet people who will speak to him of the “philosophy” and the Yoga. At ﬁrst more cannot be done.  This is not an Asram like others.


Sri Aurobindo: It has a special life of its own and only those can live it who have entered into the spirit of the Yoga and are ready to assimilate its atmosphere.  As to your question about his sincerity, it is quite evident that his interest is mental only — it may be mentally sincere, but that does not carry one very far. If we were to admit everyone who is like that, we should soon have a thousand people here and there would be no Yoga and no spiritual life left. This, however, is for your information only; you need not hint anything of the kind to him in your letter!


Sri Aurobindo: Reply to him that what he describes (in the sentence on the ﬁrst page of this letter [], which you can quote) is a vital demand of the ego for emotional self-satisfaction; it Maya. It is not true love, for true love seeks for union and selfgiving and that is the love one must bring to the Divine. This vital (so-called) love brings only suffering and disappointment; it does not bring happiness; it never gets satisﬁed and, even if it is granted something that it asks for, it is never satisﬁed with it.  It is perfectly possible to get rid of this Maya of the vital demand, if one wishes to do it, — but the will to do it must be sincere. If he is sincere in his will, he will certainly get help and protection.


Sri Aurobindo: It is no use his coming to the Asram for sadhana; for so long as he has this vital demand, it will be easier but rather more difﬁcult to go on with his sadhana here. Here this vital basis for the Yoga is discouraged, there is a pressure against it and he would probably ﬁnd the struggle in him made still more acute.  He must ﬁrst get his basis changed from the vital to the psychic centre.    Sri Aurobindo does not think that your coming here is advisable at the present stage of your sadhana.


Sri Aurobindo: If you have this feeling that a Divine Guidance is there behind the circumstances of your life and especially if you feel this calmness, strength and light of which you speak, it means a great progress — for this is the real beginning of the spiritual and yogic consciousness and it shows that the foundation of the true being and the true consciousness is being laid in you. The psychic centre is that turned in all things towards the Divine, while the vital is that preoccupied with the desires and sufferings and enjoyments of the ego. If you continue with all sincerity under this sense of guidance and with this foundation growing in you, the psychic centre is likely to open of itself. It is when it opens and the present vital turmoil has sunk that it will be useful for you to come to Pondicherry for darshan.


Sri Aurobindo: You can write to him (whoever he may be) that Sri Aurobindo is living absolutely retired, seeing no one and not corresponding with anyone outside. It is not possible therefore to get from him an opinion about the books.  In the Asram there is no accommodation for guests — it is only the disciples who live there under the rules of the Asram.    You can write to him that it is not possible to admit him into the Asram at once nor perhaps at any early date.


Sri Aurobindo: He is too young and has not developed the necessary experience either of himself or of life or of Yoga. He should try to develop himself outside — develop in his inner spiritual urge and in spiritual experience and in strength and capacity. If he comes here in an unripe state, he is likely to meet not less but more serious difﬁculties than he has there. He must develop in himself the strength that can meet them and a will strong enough to go through all possible opposition and ordeals without wavering or weakness. If these two conditions are satisﬁed, he may then be ﬁt for a more intensive sadhana and for the Asram life.


Sri Aurobindo: All depends on himself and his sincerity of aspiration and endeavour.     Yes, you can leave everything and come to the Asram; but we suggest that, if it is at all possible for you to take a prolonged leave, say for six months, you should do that ﬁrst. The reason is that there is sure to be a strong pressure on you (spoken or unspoken), especially from your father’s side to return, so it is surest to test yourself ﬁrst and see that there is no response in yourself, otherwise you might be subjected to a severer internal struggle if you come permanently at once.


Sri Aurobindo: If all is well then the six months can become a permanent stay. But if leave is not possible, then you can give up all and come.   If what she wants is to come here permanently, it is quite out of the question at this time. In future it is only those who make progress in sadhana and show that they have the necessary ﬁtness to come here, who will be allowed.


Sri Aurobindo: The question about the failures does not arise. I am not aware that anybody has come here who was a failure in life. Many have been very active and successful, each in his own line. What brings men to the Yoga has nothing to do with success or failure, it is the impulse of the psychic being to rise to something truer and higher than the ordinary life.


Sri Aurobindo:   This is not the time when we can go on increasing the number of members of the Asram — as you can well understand. We have no accommodation, the numbers are already unwieldy — and there is the other reason. He must either wait perhaps for a very long time — he is exceedingly young — or ﬁnd a place elsewhere.


Sri Aurobindo: It is not possible to receive here. In the ﬁrst place we are obliged to stop or very strictly limit new admissions for some time to come. In the second place,’s struggle would be no less severe but more so here than over there, as the pressure is greater and the inner demand also. His difﬁculty is the usual difﬁculty in the vital and it can always arise at his age when the vital has to choose between the satisfaction of its normal movement and the single-minded pursuit of sadhana not for its own sake but for the sake of the Divine alone.   Permanent admission is no longer given except in exceptional cases as the number is already large and accommodation is likely to be more and more difﬁcult to provide.


Sri Aurobindo: All that can be permitted is to come for darshan in August — the rest is premature.      What


Sri Aurobindo: you say is right. This attitude that the Divine has need of the sadhak and not the sadhak of the Divine, is utterly wrong and absurd. When people are accepted here, they are given a chance of a great Divine Grace, of being instruments in a great work.  To suppose that the Divine do his work without the help of this or that person is surely most arrogant and illogical.


Sri Aurobindo: They ought to remember the Gita’s , “even without thee” the work can be done, and its .    The number of sadhaks is over 150 and it is impossible to make farther admissions except in the most sparing way, as the means of the Asram are not unlimited. Moreover Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is of a special and difﬁcult kind and he admits only those who seem to him to have a special call to the life here.


Sri Aurobindo:   I send you back your friend’s letters. As regards the question about his, I do not usually give directions in such matters — one has to follow the course that seems best relying on the Divine Will both for the choice and the consequence. It seems fairly clear that the course already suggested is the wiser one.  As for his coming here, he must ﬁrst prepare himself.


Sri Aurobindo: For the time being we are not making new admissions to the Asram except in certain cases, mostly where a promise had been previously given. He could come for darshan if he wishes in August and return back, — but the more important thing is that he should establish a conscious inner connection and attain to the calm and peace of mind which is always the best preparation and foundation of this Yoga.    There is no possibility of that just now. The Asram is crowded and we cannot admit new resident members for some time to come — except those who have already a claim or right to come.


Sri Aurobindo:   Impossible. We do not accept people for a long ﬁxed period like that. Either they come as permanent sadhaks or, if they are disciples, on a short visit as at the darshan times. But at present we have suspended permanent admissions.


Sri Aurobindo:   He wants to stay — but for how long and where? The conditions are such now that we have been obliged to refuse all requests for permanent admission and even those for residence in the Asram. Otherwise we shall have no accommodation at all for those who are to come or for the habitual visitors at the darshan times.


Sri Aurobindo: The Mother accepts in principle your coming here as a permanent member of the Asram. She would like you indeed to consider yourself, from now on as a member, — as is though living for most of the year in Madras, — not an outside disciple.  The question remains about the time of your coming here not to return. Here the Mother is inclined to think that it would be more satisfactory to settle the affairs of the estate deﬁnitely, and then permanently come. There would in that case be some delay, but it would have this advantage of leaving little chance of a call or pull from over there to create any vibrations in the sadhana.


Sri Aurobindo: The second date proposed by you would then have to be adopted.  Next, the children. Most of them are too young to have an intelligent will of their own in such matters as yet and in a matter like sadhana there should be no pressure or inﬂuencing of any kind. The delay will give some of them time to grow into a possibility of a clear and willed choice. Under this arrangement the matter of their coming over here can be decided then, when things are ready.


Sri Aurobindo: Meanwhile their photographs can be sent and perhaps the older of them can come at some darshan time so that the Mother can see them.  I think these are the main points in your letter. As for other details it is for you to arrange. You have given us a clear idea of the situation and the possibilities and we will help you with the Force we can give you to support your measures.   You must reply to him that at present the situation is such that we have not sufﬁcient accommodation and no likelihood of extension in the near future — so we are unable to make new admissions.


Sri Aurobindo: There is room only for some who have already received a promise of admission when they are free to come.     I have made no ﬁnal decision about your request. But it does not seem to me advisable, as yet at least, for you to remain here longer than the two months you had settled on when you came.


Sri Aurobindo: This Yoga is a long and difﬁcult one and one has to travel far before there can be any question of a supramental illumination or transformation. It means besides a constant breaking up of past formations and realisations which would not be easy for you, as you have advanced fairly far on another line of sadhana with its own lights and inspiring sources. My advice to you would be to go on in the direction you had already been following and see where it leads you. If any light from my writings is of use to you, you can take it or if any help from me is necessary you will get it from within. But if in the end it is destined that you should enter this path of Yoga, you will get the necessary realisations which will make that possible.


Sri Aurobindo: At present it seems to me premature for you to enter this way or to stay here for any great length of time.   I am afraid it is not possible for him to join the Asram. It is open only for those who have practised or wish to practise a particular path of Yoga of a very difﬁcult type. As a rule only those who are Sri Aurobindo’s disciples are accepted and new admissions are almost stopped because there is no longer sufﬁcient accommodation. Moreover he could not get here what he asks — it is a Yoga full of difﬁculties and even dangers and joining the Asram does not ensure a smooth path — that only happens to one or two who have a spiritual strength and mental and vital temperament that is very rare.


Sri Aurobindo:  There is no chance of her living in the Asram. She is too young and has seen nothing of life.   There should be no desire or anxiety in your mind to get these people or others to come here. These things ought to be decided on one side by their call and ﬁtness and on the other by the will of the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo: “Dedication of life” is quite possible for some without their staying here. It is a question of inward attitude and of the total consecration of the being to the Divine.    Declined with thanks. Opium not allowed here.


Sri Aurobindo: Also this is not a Vanaprastha Asram.    What he asks for (to stay here immediately as a resident sadhak) is not possible. There are only two conditions under which such a permission can be given — 1st if after seeing personally the Mother was satisﬁed that the applicant would be able to do the sadhana here or could be given a chance to prepare himself here by work or otherwise — or, if after practising Yoga outside it was seen that he had come to a point at which he could be admitted to the Asram.   Inform him that Sri Aurobindo is not at present admitting any more resident sadhaks in his Asram, as the number is already too large.


Sri Aurobindo:  I have read and considered your letter and have decided to give you the opportunity you ask for — you can reside in the Asram for two or three months to begin with and ﬁnd out whether this is really the place and the path you were seeking and we also can by a closer observation of your spiritual possibilities discern how best we can help you and whether this Yoga is the best for you.  This trial is necessary for many reasons, but especially because it is a difﬁcult Yoga to follow and not many can really meet the demands it makes on the nature. You have written that you saw in me one who achieved through the perfection of the intellect, its spiritualisation and divinisation; but in fact I arrived through the complete silence of the mind and whatever spiritualisation and divinisation it attained was through the descent of a higher supra-intellectual knowledge into that silence.  The book,, itself was written in that silence of the mind, without intellectual effort and by a free activity of this knowledge from above. This is important because the principle of this Yoga is not perfection of the human nature as it is but a psychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the action of an inner consciousness and then of a higher consciousness which works on them, throws out the old movements or changes them into the image of its own and so transmutes lower into higher nature.


Sri Aurobindo: It is not so much the perfection of the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the substitution of a larger greater principle of knowledge — and so with all the rest of the being.  This is a slow and difﬁcult process; the road is long and it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing nature resists and obstructs and difﬁculties rise one after another and repeatedly till they are overcome. It is therefore necessary to be sure that this is the path to which one is called before one ﬁnally decides to tread it.


Sri Aurobindo: If you wish, we are ready to give you the trial you ask for.  On receiving your answer the Mother will make the necessary arrangements for your residence in the Asram.     Usually we do not give consent to anybody staying in the Asram until we have seen him at one of the Darshans.


Sri Aurobindo: If he wishes to come for the August darshan he may do so.    We do not think it would be advisable at this stage. By coming to the Asram difﬁculties do not cease — they have to be faced and overcome wherever you are. For certain natures residence in the Asram from the beginning is helpful — others have to prepare themselves outside.


Sri Aurobindo:   As for he can remain in Calcutta. I do not consider it likely that we shall permit him to be a permanent resident of the Asram unless he is or becomes very different from what his letter indicates. At some future date it may be possible for him to have darshan.


Sri Aurobindo: Why should everybody want to be in the Asram? There are many practising sadhana outside. The number in the Asram must necessarily be limited. I have no objection to his preparing himself for this Yoga, if he feels the call to do so, there are many who are doing that.


Sri Aurobindo: Sri Aurobindo says you are mistaken in thinking that by merely being at Pondicherry one can keep the psychic being in front.  Difﬁculties arise here as outside. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother would not advise you to throw up your practice and come here now, especially as this is a very difﬁcult time for everybody even in the Asram itself.    What the deuce!


Sri Aurobindo: Is the Asram a caravanserai that everybody who “wants” to live in it can come there? Who is this Ahmedabad monsieur? As these people are sending stamps and envelopes, I suppose they have to be answered.


Sri Aurobindo: Too young — such dreams are not conclusive and there is too much of the vital tone in her remark; you need say nothing about that however.      has come here not only without permission but in spite of repeated prohibitions. He cannot be received in the Asram or encouraged to stay at Pondi.


Sri Aurobindo: It is not good for him; his mental illness would increase and it would be the cause of endless trouble for himself and others. To live a normal life with work and study and without intensive sadhana or seclusion is his only chance of keeping normal.  You must tell him, if you see him, to go away and if he can be persuaded to return to the Gurukul and live a normal life, that would be the best for him.    is there [] because he has not yet made up his mind about his future and Mother wants him to see fully both possibilities before him — the ordinary life and the Asram life — and choose his way. He cannot go on always oscillating between the one and the other.


Sri Aurobindo: If he comes back to the Asram, it should be with the ﬁrm determination to stick to the Asram life. If he cannot be steady to that then he must choose the outer life and face its problems and ﬁnd his way there. In that case he cannot be always dependent on you [], but must train himself to live his own life on his own basis. He has parts, special gifts, a ﬁne intelligence, but no full training and no steadiness in one line. He must acquire that or he will not be able to stand in the outer life.


Sri Aurobindo: It is during this time that he must make up his mind one way or the other.   I have already told you that has not the capacity for disciplined study sustained for a long time. What is the use of forcing him any farther and trying to make him do what he will not because he cannot do? It will be a sheer waste of time and energy.  I cannot sanction his coming here to stay, for under present conditions his vital being will not remain steady here and it will take him away again.


Sri Aurobindo: The one thing to do is what he himself wants to do, to take a job requiring intelligence and energy rather than book-learning and maintain himself; there must be plenty of jobs of that kind and it ought not to be difﬁcult for him to get one when men are so much needed. Once he has shown to himself and others that he is not helpless in the world, then the vital conditions will be much better for his taking up the Asram life if he wants to do it. This is the one thing to be done and at present there is no other way that is worth taking.    Why does he want to come to Pondicherry for solitude and peace?


Sri Aurobindo: The Asram itself is not a place of solitude and peace, much less the town. In any case, one has to get peace much more than from one’s surroundings.  I don’t catch the point. The Divine does not act in the void, but through instruments, embodiments or channels. If a creation is intended, those will have to be prepared who can be part of the creation and at the same time the means of developing it, I suppose.


Sri Aurobindo:   As long as there is egoism, the egoistic will is there. And so long as there is Ignorance, there will be a will of the instrument in the practical ﬁeld. If the ignorant egoistic will is to be considered as a manifestation of the Divine Will, then there is no utility in Yoga — in that case the Yogi and the ordinary man stand on the same footing, they are both the Divine and their will is the Divine Will.  The Divine can create his own instruments in an institution as well as outside it.


Sri Aurobindo: Whether He does it in an institution or not, depends on what He intends to do. If His purpose is to manifest something through a collectivity and not only through scattered and separate individuals, there is nothing to prevent Him from creating an institution for the purpose.   This is not an Asram like others — the members are not Sannyasis; it is not that is the sole aim of the Yoga here. What is being done here is a preparation for a work — a work which will be founded on Yogic consciousness and Yoga-Shakti, and can have no other foundation. Meanwhile every member here is expected to do some work in the Asram as part of his spiritual preparation.


Sri Aurobindo:   We cannot make that a test at present. The Force is not working directly on the outside world at present — ﬁrst something has to be prepared here — when the Asram is really a manifestation of the “aim and purpose”, then there will be less difﬁculty with the outer world.  I suppose if the Nirvana aim had been put before them, more would have been ﬁt for it, for the Nirvana aim is easier than the one we have put before us — and they would not have found it so difﬁcult to reach the standard. The sadhaks here are of all kinds and in all stages.


Sri Aurobindo: But the real difﬁculty even for those who have progressed is with the external man. Even among those who follow the old ideal, the external man of the sadhak remains almost the same even after they have attained to something. The inner being gets free, the outer follows still its ﬁxed nature. Our Yoga can succeed only if the external man too changes, but that is the most difﬁcult of all things. It is only by a change of the physical nature that it can be done, by a descent of the highest light into this lowest part of Nature.


Sri Aurobindo: It is here that the struggle is going on. The internal being of most of the sadhaks here, however imperfect still, is still different from that of the ordinary man, but the external still clings to its old ways, manners, habits.  Many do not seem even to have awakened to the necessity of a change. It is when this is realised and done, that the Yoga will produce its full results in the Asram itself, and not before.


Sri Aurobindo: The Asram is not a place where people can come merely because they are unhappy in their homes. At that rate we should have to keep thousands of people. The Asram is for those who want to practise Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga.


Sri Aurobindo: You can answer to your brother that Yoga life and the ordinary life cannot be the same thing — otherwise there would be no use in doing Yoga, if one lives just as others in the same way and with the same motives. The object of the Asram life is to prepare a new way of living based on a spiritual consciousness — it is the preparation of a new foundation of life in which all works have to be done not for the self but for the Divine.    Humanitarian work of this kind is outside the scope of the Asram; it is not as in Ramakrishna mission. We avoid public work and activities and conﬁne ourselves to the sole spiritual work of the Asram itself.


Sri Aurobindo: To do otherwise would be to disperse energy on the ordinary levels instead of concentrating it on the building up of a personal and collective spiritual consciousness and life.   It is not absolutely necessary to abandon the ordinary life in order to seek after the Light or to practise Yoga. This is usually done by those who want to make a clean cut, to live a purely religious or exclusively inner and spiritual life, to renounce the world entirely and to depart from the cosmic existence by cessation of the human birth and a passing away into some higher state or into the transcendental Reality. Otherwise it is only necessary when the pressure of the inner urge becomes so great that the pursuit of the ordinary life is no longer compatible with the pursuit of the dominant spiritual objective. Till then what is necessary is a power to practise an inner isolation, to be able to retire within oneself and concentrate at any time on the necessary spiritual purpose.


Sri Aurobindo: There must also be a power to deal with the ordinary outer life from a new inner attitude and one can then make the happenings of that life itself a means for the inner change of nature and the growth in spiritual experience. This was what was recommended to when she ﬁrst wanted to join the Ashram; she had already acquired the habit of inward concentration and it was suggested to her to proceed farther in this way, opening herself towards the spiritual and psychic aid she could get from here, until she had made farther progress; later on we acceded to her request to join the Ashram. The Ashram itself has been created with another object than that ordinarily common to such institutions, not for the renunciation of the world but as a centre and a ﬁeld of practice for the evolution of another kind and form of life which would in the ﬁnal end be moved by a higher spiritual consciousness and embody a greater life of the spirit. There is no general rule as to the stage at which one may leave the ordinary life and enter here; in each case it depends on the personal need and impulsion and the possibility or the advisability for one to take the step, the decision resting with the Mother.  This is not an “institution” for practical teaching of Yoga.


Sri Aurobindo: Only those who follow Sri Aurobindo’s path of Yoga and have been recognised as ﬁt to bear the direct inﬂuence are allowed to come and stay here.   Yoga is not taught as in a school. There are no set formal instructions or notebooks; therefore his request cannot be complied with.  Suggest to him the separation of Purusha and Prakriti, introspection, rejection of ego and desire wherever he sees it. Also to open to the Divine Shakti.


Sri Aurobindo:   I am still not coming out; no “instructions” are given for the Sadhana. All depends now on the sadhaka being able to open silently to the inﬂuence and allowing that to work while rejecting all lower inﬂuences and lower movements. I do not know if he is quite ready for that as yet. If he can once open himself to the Divine Shakti and feel the Power and get accustomed to its working, it would then be different and he would proﬁt by his stay.


Sri Aurobindo: Otherwise he may ﬁnd the conditions too difﬁcult for him here.   Answer that the Asram is not meant for “study” of Yoga but for spiritual life. It has no teaching and no courses. Only those come who are accepted for this particular path of Yoga, which is more difﬁcult than any other. The Asram has nothing to do with politics; but it is watched on account of Sri Aurobindo’s past political activities of 20 years ago.


Sri Aurobindo:  The Asram here is not precisely a place for “spiritual training” but for growing into a divine consciousness and divine life.  Those who come here must have grown already so far that they are ready to give up all past mental ideas, ﬁxed life-habits or life-tendencies and even the very mould of their physical consciousness and open only to the light of a greater Truth which, by their complete surrender to it, will transform the whole nature.  This is very difﬁcult, and it has been found by experience that those who come here unprepared break down after a time and can go no farther, because they cannot consent to get free from their past selves. They ﬁnd the atmosphere too hard for them to breathe and the pressure of the Truth too exacting. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are therefore unwilling to call anyone here, especially from so great a distance, transplanted from such different surroundings unless they have ﬁrst assured themselves that the one concerned is ready for the change and truly called to this way of Sadhana.


Sri Aurobindo:   There is no study of philosophy here; there is only a silent practice of Yoga. But this Yoga is too difﬁcult for everyone to be admitted to it; one must have a special call or a certain capacity (not intellectual, but psychic or spiritual) before he is accepted.  And even then all who are accepted as disciples are not allowed to stay in the Asram.


Sri Aurobindo: The life of the Asram is of a special kind and it is only rarely that those are admitted who have not become permanent members; a few come and stay for short periods, but these are already accepted disciples of Sri Aurobindo.    No “instruction” given. It is an Asram for spiritual life and the only method is to open to the divine inﬂuence and live and work for the Divine.  There are no students, only disciples who give their lives and all they have to the Asram and its spiritual aim and in return are maintained by the Asram.


Sri Aurobindo: Only those who are already disciples can join and among them only those who are chosen by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.  If he wants, but the less he does so, the better for his Yoga.  Entirely.  English, French, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi — the sadhaks being of these nationalities.


Sri Aurobindo: No sectarian religion is the basis; orthodox Hinduism and its caste rules are not followed; but the spiritual Truth recognised here is in consonance with the Vedas, Upanishads and Gita while not limited by any Scripture.     Reply to him that he has been misinformed about the Asram; it is not a training school for the synthetic process of realisation. It is simply that a number of disciples of Sri Aurobindo are living here in order to practise Yoga — only those are allowed who have accepted this path which is not identical with any other discipline but a thing apart and are permitted by Sri Aurobindo to stay here.


Sri Aurobindo: Sri Aurobindo himself does not see or speak with anyone.     You can write to him that the Asram is not an institution and no pupils are taken and no teaching given. Some of those who are already following Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga are admitted to live here and practise the Yoga under the inﬂuence of the immediate presence of Sri Aurobindo.


Sri Aurobindo: No others are admitted.  Sri Aurobindo does not usually accept new disciples unless they have been seen and he is sure that they are called to this particular way of Yoga and have some capacity for it.    If he cannot receive help from a distance how does he expect to carry on the Yoga here? This is a Yoga which does not depend upon verbal instructions or anything outward but on the power to open themselves and receive the force and inﬂuence even in a complete silence.


Sri Aurobindo: Those who do not receive it at a distance cannot receive it here also. Also without establishing in oneself calm, sincerity, peace, patience and perseverance this Yoga cannot be done, for many difﬁculties have to be faced and it takes years and years to overcome them deﬁnitely and altogether.     But what an idea, good heavens!


Sri Aurobindo: A Yoga school — a class, a blackboard (with the gods on it?); interesting cases! a spiritual clinic, what? What has happened to Barin’s wits and especially to his sense of humour? Too much? marriage?


Sri Aurobindo: writing for a living? age?     You can write and tell her this is not a school and there are no students or correspondence system.


Sri Aurobindo: It is an Asram or residence for those of the disciples of Sri Aurobindo whom he selects and the Yoga done here is conducted not by verbal instruction but by special methods mostly of a silent inﬂuence, concentration and self-discipline. It is only for those who accept the aims and demands of this special path of Yoga.    You can answer that the Asram is only a residence for a number of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples to stay and practise Yoga. As the number has become very large, it was necessary to organise it as an Asram, but it still retains its original character.


Sri Aurobindo: Outsiders are not usually allowed to reside, for there is no provision for that. There are no religious discourses nor any set course of instruction. All is done by meditation, work for the Divine and self-opening to receive knowledge and experience from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo: Write to him that pupils are not taken into the Asram, for there is no teaching or instruction. The Asram is a place where some of the disciples of Sri Aurobindo are allowed to live and practise Yoga or prepare themselves for it by work and service if they are not yet ready for the deeper inner practice. As a rule disciples are not allowed to live in the Asram unless they have been specially chosen and usually after some practice of the Yoga outside.  Sri Aurobindo does not receive anyone in a private interview or speak to anyone. The work of the Asram is carried on by the Mother, Sri Mira Devi.


Sri Aurobindo: Only 3 times in a year Sri Aurobindo gives a silent blessing to his disciples in the Asram and those from outside and a restricted number of visitors from outside. The disciples admitted into the Asram are expected to know enough of the Yoga (through Sri Aurobindo’s writings or otherwise) to practise it or prepare themselves for the practice — the principal requirement for progress in the Yoga is that they should be able to open their consciousness mentally, psychically and spiritually to the silent help and force which is given them from within; they must also follow implicitly the directions for work, action, life or their sadhana given them by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.  In these conditions it may not be worth while for him to come here unless he has acquainted himself more intimately with the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and found that it is the path his nature accepts and can follow. The does not give any real idea of the nature of this Yoga; he would have to read other works of a completer and deeper character. Most even after accepting follow out the practice of the Yoga to a certain extent and communicate their experiences before thinking of coming here for a closer contact.


Sri Aurobindo: If however he is in any case coming to India to ﬁnd his path and a Guru, he could pass through Pondicherry and see the Asram and establish a contact after which it can be known whether he can take up the Yoga.    Write that this Asram is not intended for religious teaching, but for the practice of Yoga; its object, like that of all Yoga, is the attainment of a higher consciousness and the spiritual life.  But Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is a special path with its own special objects in addition to this common aim of all Yoga. Only those are admitted who have a call to this special path which is a very difﬁcult one, are recognised as having some capacity for it and are willing to give up everything else and follow without reservations the guidance of Sri Aurobindo.


Sri Aurobindo: There is no separate asram for ladies; the Asram is composed of several houses and accommodation is given according to convenience.  That is what he should be.     As to the disciples, I agree!


Sri Aurobindo: Yes, but would the better stuff, supposing it to exist, be typical of humanity? To deal with a few exceptional types would hardly solve the problem. And would they consent to follow my path — that is another question. And if they were put to the test, would not the common humanity suddenly reveal itself — that is still another question.


Sri Aurobindo:   There is no necessity for everybody to become artists or writers or do work of a public character. and have their own capacities and it is sufﬁcient for the present if they train themselves to make them ﬁt for the Mother’s work. Others have great capacities which they are content to use in the small and obscure work of the Asram without ﬁguring before the public in something big. What is important now is to get the true consciousness from above, get rid of the ego (which nobody has yet done) and learn to be an instrument of the Divine Force.


Sri Aurobindo: After that the manifestation can take place, not before.    It is necessary or rather inevitable that in an Asram which is a “laboratory”, as Adhar Das puts it, for a spiritual and supramental Yoga, humanity should be variously represented. For the problem of transformation has to deal with all sorts of elements favourable and unfavourable. The same man indeed carries in him a mixture of these two things.


Sri Aurobindo: If only sattwic and cultured men came for the Yoga, men without very much of the vital difﬁculty in them, then because the difﬁculty of the vital element in terrestrial nature has not been faced and overcome, it might well be that the endeavour would fail. There might conceivably be under certain circumstances an overmental layer superimposed on the mental, vital and physical and inﬂuencing them, but hardly anything supramental or a sovereign transmutation of the human being. Those in the Asram come from all quarters and are of all kinds; it cannot be otherwise.  In the course of the Yoga, collectively — though not for each one necessarily — as each plane is dealt with, all its difﬁculties arise. That will explain much in the Asram that people do not expect there.


Sri Aurobindo: When the preliminary work is over in the “laboratory”, things must change.  Also much stress has not been laid on human fellowship of the ordinary kind between the inmates, (though good feeling, consideration and courtesy should always be there), because that is not the aim; it is a unity in a new consciousness that is the aim  and the ﬁrst thing is for each to do his sadhana, to arrive at that new consciousness and realise oneness there.  Whatever faults are there in the sadhaks must be removed by the Light from above — a sattwic rule can only change natures predisposed to a sattwic rule.


Sri Aurobindo: Your description of the psychological state of the Asramites is vivid and convincing and very true. It is that which we are up against. It is the average physical consciousness of humanity concentrated in the Asram and the one consolation is that if the Force can transform, then it can transform anything. If everybody were as accurately conscious of the nature of the thing as you show yourself in this letter, the transformation would be perhaps more quickly possible.  He can come, if he understands the conditions under which alone he can proﬁt by staying here.


Sri Aurobindo: Henceforth a stay here can only be proﬁtable (1) for those who are ready for an intensive sadhana turning their back on all attachments belonging to the ordinary human life, (2) for those who, though not ready, yet recognise fully the aim and open themselves so as to prepare for it, (3) those who, even if not capable as yet of an inner intensive sadhana, can yet dedicate themselves entirely in the way of service.    You can write to him that at present his coming here is hardly possible or advisable. There are now nearly 80 members in the Asram and all the accommodation available is taken up or else marked out already for others who are coming. Moreover if he has not been able to make the vital surrender, he would not be able to proﬁt by coming here; for the conditions of the sadhana here are no longer what they were before and this vital surrender is precisely the ﬁrst condition of any beneﬁt from our help or any true farther progress.


Sri Aurobindo: As for his sadhana, if he can persist in the attitude he has taken and be entirely sincere in it, then the difﬁculty he is experiencing is bound to disappear. Necessarily, the resistance in the vital being and the body, based on all their past habits, cannot be overcome in a day. In his case, it is probable that the mental has reached the point where the surrender can be made, but the vital still refuses. If he can become conscious in his sadhana not only of the resistance on the surface but of the vital being behind in its entirety, separately from the mind, and see all its deeper movements and offer them in the whole and detail to the Mother for transformation, then the work of transformation can be done. It is for more and more consciousness and more and more strength for consecration that he must ask.


Sri Aurobindo:   You can write to him that, if he is in the grip of adverse forces, it is not a condition in which to come to the Asram. Only those are called here and allowed to stay who are ready to proﬁt by the Asram atmosphere. What he can do, if he likes, is to come for the 15th August for darshan — after seeing him, then we can say something more deﬁnite.


Sri Aurobindo:  It is no use people staying here unless they have, ﬁrst, the capacity and, secondly, the pull and the will for Yoga.     No, it is not enough to be in the Asram — one has to open to the Mother and put away the mud which one was playing with in the world.


Sri Aurobindo:   Obviously the life here is not that of a place where the mind and vital can hope to be satisﬁed and fulﬁlled or lead a lively life. It is only if one can live within that it becomes satisfactory. himself if he were outside, would be dealing not with two or three selected patients but with many — he speaks of hundreds in the past — and would be living a much fuller vital life.


Sri Aurobindo: But for one who has the assured inner life, there is no dullness. Realisation within must be the ﬁrst object; work for the Divine on the basis of the true inner self and a new consciousness, not on the basis of the old, is the result that can follow. Till then work and life can be only a means of sadhana, not a “self-fulﬁlment” or a brilliant and interesting vital life on the old basis.    Everybody has to deal with the lower nature.


Sri Aurobindo: No Yoga can be done without overcoming it, neither this Yoga nor any other. A Yogic life means a life in which one tries to follow the law of Yoga, the aim of Yoga in all details of life. Here people do not do that, they live like ordinary people, quarrelling, gossiping, indulging their desires, thinking of Yoga only in their spare moments.   is quite happy here and she is progressing very well in her sadhana. If she goes away from here, the progress will be stopped and much of what she has gained may be lost.


Sri Aurobindo: An intensive and concentrated sadhana once begun has to be persistently continued in the right atmosphere. If it is kept up only for a short time and then dropped for another kind of life in which the concentration is diffused and weakened, there is no likelihood of fruition. For this reason we would disapprove of her departure.    I have had no time to answer’s letter tonight.


Sri Aurobindo: I will write in the course of tomorrow, afternoon or evening. He may at least ask the gentleman inside who is so furiously hurrying him away, to wait for one day.  It looks as if the hopes I had for him were either unjustiﬁed or premature — he is either too young or too raw and unﬁt. In that case there will be nothing to do but to let him return to the ordinary life and ordinary atmosphere. But he must understand, if he goes, that it is his own choice and must not blame either myself or the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo:   I certainly cannot sanction your departure on so wrong and trivial a ground. You must be aware, as you admitted at ﬁrst, that you are yourself to blame. When the Mother after a long and exhausting morning’s work still gave you time, it was very wrong of you to reward her by speech of an insulting character.


Sri Aurobindo: And it was wrong of you to resent her kind letter and her reference to the adverse force which you yourself have called the “devil” and from which you have prayed insistently to be delivered. I shall add that if you allow yourself to be ruled in this way by self-will and an abnormal sensitiveness, you will always create trouble for yourself, no matter where you go.  I could only sanction your departure if I came to the conclusion that you are still too young and raw and ill-balanced to bear the pressure for change which is inevitable in the atmosphere of the Asram. But before this attack, you were progressing very well with a rapid growth in consciousness and character. It ought not to be difﬁcult for you to get over this attack and settle down to a self-development of your undoubted possibilities on the right line.


Sri Aurobindo: It would be a pity if you threw away the chance by obstinate persistence in the result of a moment’s pique.  I prefer not to give any decision till after the 15th. You will do well to wait till then and see if your present feelings do not change.    When these moods come upon you, why do you run away from the Mother and avoid her?


Sri Aurobindo: Why do you not come to her, tell her frankly what you feel and what is in your mind and let her take the trouble from you?  The reasons you give for wishing to leave us are no good reasons at all. If you want to see the richness and greatness of God, you will, if you wait, see more of it with us than you ever can outside. And if you want to see the Himalayas, it will be much better for you to see them hereafter with your Mother beside you.  You are quite mistaken when you say that if you will go, there will be no Devil left in the Asram.


Sri Aurobindo: The Devil is not here because of you; he is here because he wants to give trouble to the Mother and spoil her work. And what he chieﬂy wants is to drive her children away from her, and especially those who like you are nearest to her. If you go, he will remain; and not only he will remain, but he will feel that he has won a great victory and will set himself with a double vigour to attack her through others.  You talk of not giving trouble to the Mother and to me; but do you not realise that nothing can be worse trouble to us than your going away? The moods of revolt that come upon you are clouds that pass; but to see you leave us in this way and feel our love rejected and your place near us empty would be indeed a real trouble to us and we would feel it more deeply than anything else you could do.


Sri Aurobindo: You know that it is not true that your sole desire is to go away. It is only so when you are in these moods. And you know that these are moods that pass, and if you allow the Mother to take them away, they go at once. The trouble is that when they come, you take them too much to heart and you begin to think that there is nothing else to do but go away. I assure you that that is no solution and that we would much rather have you with us even with these moods than be separated from you; compared with our love for you, the trouble they give us is mere dust in the balance.


Sri Aurobindo: Read this letter, talk with the Mother and act according to your true self; never mind the rest.   It is certainly the force hostile to the Yoga and the divine realisation upon earth that is acting upon you at the present moment. It is the force (one force and not many) which is here in the Asram and has been going about from one to another. With some as with and it has succeeded; others have cast it from them and have been able to liberate the light of their soul, open in that light to the nearness and constant presence of the Mother, feel her working in them and move forward in a constant spiritual progress. Some are still struggling, but in spite of the bitterness of the struggle have been able to keep faithfully to the divine call that brought them here.


Sri Aurobindo: That it is the same hostile force would be shown, even if its presence were not for us visible and palpable, by the fact that the suggestions it makes to the minds of its victims are always the same. Its one master sign is always this impulse to get away from the Asram, away from myself and the Mother, out of this atmosphere, and. For the force does not want to give time for reﬂection, for resistance, for the saving Power to be felt and act. Its other signs are doubt, tamasic depression, an exaggerated sense of impurity and unﬁtness, the idea that the Mother is remote, does not care for one, is not giving what she ought to give, is not divine, with other similar suggestions accompanied by an inability to feel her presence or her help, a feeling that the Yoga is not possible or is not going to be done in this life, the desire to go away and do something in the ordinary world — the thing itself suggested varying according to the personal mind. If it were not this one invariable hostile force acting, there would not be this exact similarity in all the cases.


Sri Aurobindo: In each case it is the same obscurities thrown on the intelligence, the same subconscious movements of the vital brought to the surface, the same irrational impulses pushing to the same action, — departure, renunciation of the soul’s truth, refusal of the Divine Love and the Divine Call.  It is the vital crisis, the test, the ordeal for you as for others — a test and ordeal which we would willingly spare to those who are with us but which they call on themselves by persistence in some wrong line of movement or some falsiﬁcation of the inner attitude. If you reject entirely the falsehood that this force casts upon the sadhak, if you remain faithful to the Light that called you here, you conquer and, even if serious difﬁculties still remain, the ﬁnal victory is sure and the divine triumph of the soul over the Ignorance and the darkness.    The Mother has told me what you said to her.


Sri Aurobindo: In other circumstances I would have asked you to stay on in the conﬁdence that, however sharp the struggle might be, the inner being in you aided by the Divine Force would prevail over the other and foreign inﬂuence. But in the condition of mind described by you some relief and rest from the inner struggle seems to be necessary for you. An absence from Pondicherry and change of atmosphere may be the best way to give it.  I do not, however, care to take the responsibility of sending you to Hyderabad, as that might turn out not at all the best, but the worst thing for you. Even if there were nothing else to do, it would not be possible to send you all that way alone; arrangements would have to be made.


Sri Aurobindo: We would prefer instead to see whether another means cannot be arranged, such as staying in a quiet place in the hills where you could have a healthy change of air for a time and other surroundings and recover your vital strength and nervous balance. We are making enquiries and in a few days hope to be able to let you know what can be done.  I write this much today in answer to your request for an immediate decision; but I have something to say with regard to your spiritual life and its difﬁculties which I have not had time to ﬁnish. I will ﬁnish it tomorrow and send it to you.


Sri Aurobindo: You ought to be able to see, after receiving today’s telegram, that the cause of the unrest is in yourself and not in the outward circumstances. It is your vital attachment to family ties and the ordinary social ideas and feelings that has risen in you and creates the difﬁculty. If you want to practise Yoga, you must be able to live in the world, so long as you are there, with a mind set upon the Divine and not bound by the environment. One who does this, can help those around him a hundred times more than one who is bound and attached to the world.  It is not possible for the Mother to tell you to remain, if you are yourself in your mind and vital eager to go.


Sri Aurobindo: It is from within yourself that there must come the clear will on one side or the other.    The crisis you are passing through might be due to your not being ready for an intensive practice of Yoga. On the other hand, a crisis of this kind often happens in the ordinary course of the sadhana. As long as the sadhana is only in the mind, things go on well enough, but as soon as the vital or the physical begin to be worked upon directly, all the resistance, inability, obscurity in the adhar rises up and there may be a prolonged period or recurrent periods of darkness.


Sri Aurobindo: I would suggest to wait a little longer — say, till the 24th November. If by that time there is no return of the favourable course of the sadhana or if meanwhile you ﬁnd the resistance too great, you may for a time discontinue.  In any case, the habit you speak of ought to be given up at once and altogether. You must be aware how injurious it is to the mind, the nervous system and the body, and it can of itself create the most serious obstacles in the way of any sadhana.


Sri Aurobindo: In the outside world people live in quite a different consciousness and the sadhak if he goes there in the middle of his sadhana is bound either to fall back into it or to get so much mixed with it that he either falls out of his path or struggles through great difﬁculties. Either the work within is, outside, not done at all or what would here take 2 or 3 years would there be not done in thirty.    How can the people in this Asram judge whether a man has progressed in Yoga or not? They judge from outward appearances — if a sadhak secludes himself, sits much in meditation, gets voices and experiences, etc. etc.


Sri Aurobindo: they think he is a great sadhak!   was always a very poor Adhar. He had a few experiences of an elementary kind — confused and uncertain, but at every step he was getting into trouble and going off on a side path and we had to pull him up. At last he began to get voices and inspirations which he declared to be ours — I wrote to him many letters of serious warning and explanation but he refused to listen, was too much attached to his false voices and inspirations and, to avoid rebuke and correction, ceased to write or inform us. So he went wholly wrong and ﬁnally became hostile.


Sri Aurobindo: You can tell this by my authority to anybody who is puzzled like yourself about this matter.    If your staying here is to end in “death and scandal”, obviously I cannot tell you not to go. But I have not forsaken you; it is you who prefer to turn away from the Yoga. I will not “send” you away.


Sri Aurobindo: If you go, it will be because you do not want to stay here or feel that you cannot and that you will be at peace elsewhere.  You can take my blessings with you if or when you go — but I do not know why they should be of more use to you than my help and guidance in the Yoga.    Is it a part of yourself at all that has the idea? It may be that it is only because others are thinking it or wanting you to come and some portion of you still in contact with them gets the impression.


Sri Aurobindo: Such touches can easily be felt as if they were your own ideas, emotions or desires, but they may not be so.    It is not due to the pressure of Yoga, but to the pressure of something in them that negates the Yoga. If one follows one’s psychic being and higher mental call, no amount of pressure of Yoga can produce such results. People talk as if the Yoga had some maleﬁcent force in it which produces these results.