Sri Aurobindo: There should be no straining after power, no ambition, no egoism of power. The power or powers that come should be considered not as one’s own, but as gifts of the Divine for the Divine’s purpose. Care should be taken that there should be no ambitious or selﬁsh misuse, no pride or vanity, no sense of superiority, no claim or egoism of the instrument, only a simple and pure psychic instrumentation of the nature in any way in which it is ﬁt for the service of the Divine.   To be free from all egoistic motive, careful of truth in speech and action, void of self-will and self-assertion, watchful in all things is the condition for being a ﬂawless servant.


Sri Aurobindo:   Yes, the use to which you have turned your vital capacities in Bengal and Bombay, — to turn them into instruments of service and the Divine Work, is certainly the best possible. Through such action and such use of the vital power, one can certainly progress in Yoga. Vital power is necessary for work and you have an exceptional amount of it. Of course, to make a full Yogic use of it and of its force for action, the ego must gradually fade out and vital attachments and impulses be replaced by the spiritual motive.


Sri Aurobindo: Bhakti, devotion to the Divine, and the spirit of service to the Divine are among the most powerful means for this change.    Reading and study though they can be useful for preparing the mind, are not themselves the best means of entering the Yoga.  It is self-dedication from within that is the means. It is with the consciousness of the Mother that you must unite, a sincere selfconsecration in the mind and heart and the Will is the means for it.


Sri Aurobindo: The work given by the Mother is always meant as ﬁeld for that self-consecration, it has to be done as an offering to her so that through the self-offering one may come to feel her force acting and her presence.    If one went to the Himalayas, the likelihood is that one would make oneself ﬁt for inactive meditation and quite unﬁt for life and the Mother’s service — so in the next life the character would be like that. This is simply the inﬂuence of old ideas that have no application in this Yoga. It is here in the life near the Mother, in the work itself that one must become ﬁt to be a perfect instrument of the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo:   All acts are included in action, — work is action regulated towards a ﬁxed end and methodically and constantly done, service is work done for the Mother’s purpose and under her direction.  Self-dedication does not depend on the particular work you do, but on the spirit in which all work, of whatever kind it may be, is done. Any work, done well and carefully as a sacriﬁce to the Divine, without desire or egoism, with equality of mind and calm tranquillity in good or bad fortune, for the sake of the Divine and not for the sake of any personal gain, reward or result, with the consciousness that it is the Divine Power to which all work belongs, is a means of self-dedication through Karma.


Sri Aurobindo: Like the vital disturbance the physical inertia with all its symptoms is an attack of the hostile forces intended to cut short and prevent the higher opening. The ideas that arise to justify it are of no value — it is not true that physical work is of an inferior value to mental culture, it is the arrogance of the intellect that makes the claim. All work done for the Divine is equally divine; manual labour done for the Divine is more divine than mental culture done for one’s own development, fame or mental satisfaction.  This inertia, numbness, pain should be thrown off with the same resolution as the vital disturbances. The only peculiarity of it


Sri Aurobindo: in your case is the persistent violence of the attack as in the case of the vital — otherwise it is what others get also; but each time they reject, call on the Mother and get free, after a little time if the attack is violent, at once if it is of a lesser character.  If there is temporary physical inability, one can take rest but solely for the purpose of recovering the physical energy. The idea of giving up physical work for mental self-development is a creation of the mental ego.


Sri Aurobindo: Of course the idea of bigness and smallness is quite foreign to the spiritual truth. Spiritually there is nothing big or small. Such ideas are like those of the literary people who think writing a poem is a high work and making shoes or cooking the dinner is a small and low one. But all is equal in the eyes of the Spirit — and it is only the spirit within with which it is done that matters.  It is the same with a particular kind of work, there is nothing big or small.


Sri Aurobindo:  In the wider consciousness one can deal with the small as well as the high things, but one comes to deal with them with a larger as well as a profounder, subtler and more accurate view coming from a more and more understanding and luminous consciousness so that the thoughts about small things also cease to be themselves small or trivial, being more and more part of a higher knowledge.   One must be able to do the same work always with enthusiasm and at the same time be ready to do something else or enlarge one’s scope at a moment’s notice.    The sadhak ought to be ready to do any work that is needed, not only the work he prefers.   It is not that you have to do what you dislike, but that you have to cease to dislike.


Sri Aurobindo: To do only what you like is to indulge the vital and maintain its domination over the nature — for that is the very principle of the untransformed nature, to be governed by its likes and dislikes. To be able to do anything with equanimity is the principle of karmayoga and to do it with joy because it is done for the Mother is the true psychic and vital condition in this Yoga.     There are those who have done the lawyer’s work with the Mother’s force working in them and grown by it in inward consciousness.


Sri Aurobindo: On the other hand religious work can be merely external and vital in its nature or inﬂuence.    I may say however that I do not regard business as something evil or tainted, any more than it was so regarded in ancient spiritual India. If I did, I would not be able to receive money from or from those of our disciples who in Bombay trade with East Africa; nor could we then encourage them to go on with their work but would have to tell them to throw it up and attend to their spiritual progress alone. How are we to reconcile’s seeking after spiritual light and his mill?


Sri Aurobindo: Ought I not to tell him to leave his mill to itself and to the devil and go into some Ashram to meditate? Even if I myself had had the command to do business as I had the command to do politics I would have done it without the least spiritual or moral compunction. All depends on the spirit in which a thing is done, the principle on which it is built and use to which it is turned.  I have done politics and the most violent kind of revolutionary politics,, and I have supported war and sent men to it, even though politics is not always or often a very clean occupation nor can war be called a spiritual line of action. But Krishna calls upon Arjuna to carry on war of the most terrible kind and by his example encourage men to do every kind of human work,.


Sri Aurobindo: Do you contend that Krishna was an unspiritual man and that his advice to Arjuna was mistaken or wrong in principle? Krishna goes farther and declares that a man by doing in the right way and in the right spirit the work dictated to him by his fundamental nature, temperament and capacity and according to his and its dharma can move towards the Divine. He validates the function and dharma of the Vaishya as well as of the Brahmin and Kshatriya. It is in his view quite possible for a man to do business and make money and earn proﬁts and yet be a spiritual man, practise Yoga, have an inner life. The Gita is constantly justifying works as a means of spiritual salvation and enjoining a Yoga of works as well as of Bhakti and Knowledge.


Sri Aurobindo: Krishna, however, superimposes a higher law also that work must be done without desire, without attachment to any fruit or reward, without any egoistic attitude or motive, as an offering or sacriﬁce to the Divine. This is the traditional Indian attitude towards these things, that all work can be done if it is done according to the dharma and, if it is rightly done, it does not prevent the approach to the Divine or the access to spiritual knowledge and the spiritual life.  There is of course also the ascetic ideal which is necessary for many and has its place in the spiritual order. I would myself say that no man can be spiritually complete if he cannot live ascetically or follow a life as bare as the barest anchorite’s. Obviously, greed for wealth and money-making has to be absent from his nature as much as greed for food or any other greed and all attachment to these things must be renounced from his consciousness.


Sri Aurobindo: But I do not regard the ascetic way of living as indispensable to spiritual perfection or as identical with it. There is the way of spiritual self-mastery and the way of spiritual selfgiving and surrender to the Divine, abandoning ego and desire even in the midst of action or of any kind of work or all kinds of work demanded from us by the Divine. If it were not so, there would not have been great spiritual men like Janaka or Vidura in India and even there would have been no Krishna or else Krishna would have been not the Lord of Brindavan and Mathura and Dwarka or a prince and warrior or the charioteer of Kurukshetra, but only one more great anchorite. The Indian scriptures and Indian tradition, in the Mahabharata and elsewhere, make room both for the spirituality of the renunciation of life and for the spiritual life of action. One cannot say that one only is the Indian tradition and that the acceptance of life and works of all kinds,, is un-Indian, European or Western and unspiritual.


Sri Aurobindo: It [] depends on a certain extension and intensifying of the consciousness by which all activity becomes interesting not for itself but because of the consciousness put into it and, through the intensity of the energy, there is a pleasure in the exercise of the energy, and in the perfect doing of the work, whatever the work may be.     As a rule, I mean in their unchanged condition, the lower parts get interested and enthusiastic [] when the ego mixes with the interest. But the pure enthusiasm can come into them as they get more and more converted and puriﬁed and they then become very indispensable forces for the realisation.


Sri Aurobindo:  It is natural for the vital or even the mind to feel energised by something new — but for the physical plane the work always repeated is the foundation — so one has to be able at least to take a steady calm interest in it always.     There must be the rasa [], but it comes when there is the dynamic descent of the Power.


Sri Aurobindo: Part of the physical cannot do without work, another part (more material) ﬁnds it an inﬂiction. What gives the force and joy of the work is however not physical but vital.     The vital delight in the work is a necessary element for the work itself.


Sri Aurobindo: Work done without it is much less easy to do and much less easy to offer.   Most people do things because they have to, not out of the happiness they ﬁnd in the things. It is only its hobbies and penchants that the nature ﬁnds some happiness in, not usually in work — unless of course the work itself is one’s hobby or penchant and can be indulged in or dropped as one likes.


Sri Aurobindo: Joy and enthusiasm and buoyancy are good things, but it must be on a basis of calm and with the head clear for work.   The reason of the difference of result between the two moods in work is that the ﬁrst mood is that of a vital joy, while the other is that of a psychic quiet. Vital joy, though it is a very helpful thing for the ordinary human life, is something excited, eager, mobile without a settled basis — that is why it soon gets tired and cannot continue. Vital joy has to be replaced by a quiet settled psychic gladness with the mind and vital very clear and very peaceful. When one works on this basis, then everything becomes glad and easy, in touch with the Mother’s force and fatigue or depression do not come.


Sri Aurobindo: What you ﬁnd happening [] is a common experience in all work. Mother says it is due to the fact that in beginning the work there is an inspiration of what to do and the mind at ﬁrst acts as a channel for it and all goes well.  Afterwards the mind begins to be acting on its own account, without one’s noticing it usually unless one is very conscious and accustomed to scrutinise oneself — and do the thing without the original inspiration by its ordinary means. This is felt very clearly in work like poetry and music — for there one feels the inspiration coming and feels it failing and getting mixed up with the ordinary mind. So long as it goes on, everything is done easily and well, but as soon as the mind begins to interfere or to work in its place, then the work is less well done.


Sri Aurobindo: In work like cooking one does not directly and vividly feel the inspiration, only a brightness and perceptiveness and conﬁdence perhaps — so also one does not notice when the physical mind becomes active. In a thing like poetry one can break off till the inspiration comes again, but in cooking one can’t do that, the work has to be ﬁnished there and then. I suppose this can be remedied only by one’s becoming more conscious within as one does in sadhana, till one can see and counteract the wrong movement of inferior mental activity by bringing down of one’s will again the right inspiration and perception.  Thoughts of sadhana can go on very well along with work. To combine the inner spiritual consciousness and its growth with a consecrated outer activity is part of the Yoga.


Sri Aurobindo:   I don’t think any attempt should be made [ ]. If the thoughts of sadhana come of themselves or the turning inwards or a silent aspiration to sadhana, that is all right.  You must learn to act always from within — from your inner being which is in contact with the Divine. The outer should be a mere instrument and should not be allowed at all to compel or dictate your speech, thought or action.


Sri Aurobindo:   All should be done quietly from within — working, speaking, reading, writing as part of the real consciousness — not with the dispersed and unquiet movement of the ordinary consciousness.     One can work and remain quiet within.


Sri Aurobindo: Quietude does not mean having an empty mind or doing no action at all.     When one is concentrated within, the body can go on doing its work by the Force acting within it. Even the external consciousness can work separately under the motion of the Force while the rest of the consciousness is in concentration.


Sri Aurobindo:   It is a little difﬁcult at ﬁrst to combine the inward condition with the attention to the outward work and mingling with others, but a time comes when it is possible for the inner being to be in full union with the Mother while the action comes out of that concentrated union and is consciously guided in all its details so that some part of the consciousness can attend to everything outside, even be concentrated upon it and yet feel the inward concentration in the Mother.


Sri Aurobindo: It is a very good sign that even in spite of full work the inner working was felt behind and succeeded in establishing the silence. A time comes for the sadhak in the end when the consciousness and the deeper experience go on happening even in full work or in sleep, while speaking or in any kind of activity.     It is probably because at the time of the work the tendency of the consciousness to externalise itself is greater (that is always the case), so the pressure grows stronger in order to produce a contrary inward tendency.


Sri Aurobindo: This produces some tendency to go inside in the way of a complete internalisation (going into a sort of samadhi); but what should happen during work is a going inside in a wakeful condition and becoming aware of the psychic within as you used to do under the pressure while the outer mind does the work. This is the condition that must eventually come.    The stress of the Power is all right, but there is really nothing incompatible between the inner silence and action. It is to that combination that the sadhana must move.


Sri Aurobindo:   It [] can happen in several forms. It can become concentrated in silence as the witness — it can become concentrated in the feeling of the Divine Force ﬂowing through it, the work being a result — it can become concentrated in the feeling of the presence of the Divine or the Ananda or love of the Divine while the working goes on separately in front. All this becomes so habitual that it goes on of itself without the need of call or effort or even of the mind’s attention — it simply there. There are other possibilities besides those mentioned above, but these are perhaps the most common.


Sri Aurobindo:   It is perfectly possible to do work in an entire emptiness without any interference or activity of the lower parts of the consciousness.  One can both aspire and attend to the work and do many other things at the same time when the consciousness is developed by Yoga.


Sri Aurobindo:    It [ ]


Sri Aurobindo: is because the energy is put outward in the work. But as the peace and contact grow a double consciousness can develop — one engaged in the work, another behind silent and observing or turned towards the Divine — in this consciousness the aspiration can be maintained even while the external consciousness is turned towards the work.     That is how the consciousness must work when it lives in the Divine.


Sri Aurobindo: One part of the Force in it works and offers the work to the Mother, another part lives in the experience of the Mother, the third hears what the others say and answers without losing the inner consciousness.     No — it is only if it [] is an inner absorption that it would come in the way. But what I mean is a sort of stepping backward into something silent and observant within which is not involved in the action, yet sees and can shed its light upon it.


Sri Aurobindo: There are then two parts of the being, one inner looking at and witnessing and knowing, the other executive and instrumental and doing. This gives not only freedom but power — and in this inner being one can get into touch with the Divine not through mental activity but through the substance of the being, by a certain inward touch, perception, reception, receiving also the right inspiration or intuition of the work.     If one feels a consciousness not limited by the work, a consciousness behind supporting that which works, then it is easier [ ].


Sri Aurobindo: That usually comes either by the wideness and silence ﬁxing and extending itself or by the consciousness of a Force not oneself working through the worker.     Before things become pucca in the consciousness, the doing of work does carry the consciousness outward unless one has made it a sadhana to feel the “Force greater than oneself” working through one. That I suppose is why the Shankarites considered work to be in its own nature an operation of the Ignorance and incompatible with a condition of realisation.


Sri Aurobindo: But as a matter of fact there are three stages there: (I) in which the work brings you to a lower as well as outer consciousness so that you have afterwards to recover the realisation; (II) in which the work brings you out, but the realisation remains behind (or above), not felt while you work, but as soon as the work ceases you ﬁnd it there just as it was; (III) in which the work makes no difference, for the realisation or spiritual condition remains through the work itself. You seem this time to have experienced No. II.    In action it is always more difﬁcult [ ] because the consciousness goes out towards the work or else is at least not wholly held within — it is therefore difﬁcult to remain in an inward state. There is no other obstacle.


Sri Aurobindo: But if the inward state is strong and habitual, then it gains upon the action also and at ﬁrst one always feels it behind and afterwards it occupies the whole consciousness, outer included, and the action takes place in it. This is for static states like peace, self-realisation etc. If one has the realisation of the dynamic Force, there is no difﬁculty — because that can take up the action at once.  It is the external mind that gets absorbed in the work and covers what is behind.


Sri Aurobindo: There must be a double consciousness, one acting, one behind observing, separate, free to continue the sadhana.     The absorption in work is not undesirable — but the difﬁculty in turning inwards can only be temporary. A certain plasticity in the physical consciousness which is sure to come makes it easy to turn from one concentration to another.


Sri Aurobindo:  It [] depends on the plasticity of the consciousness. Some are like that, they get so absorbed they don’t want to come out or do anything else. One has to keep a certain balance by which the fundamental consciousness remains able to turn from one concentration to another with ease.    This tendency [] has its advantage and disadvantage.


Sri Aurobindo: It gets things done, but it prevents plasticity in the work. One must get free from the “possession” by the urge of the energy, but keep the drive and be able to distribute it at will.     Absorption in work is inevitable.


Sri Aurobindo: It is enough to offer it when beginning and ending and to encourage the attitude to grow = for You and by You.   It is a certain inertia in the physical consciousness which shuts it up in the groove of what it is doing so that it is ﬁxed in that and not free to remember [].  It is not at ﬁrst easy to remember the presence in work; but if one revives the sense of the presence immediately after the work is over it is all right. In time the sense of the presence will become automatic even in work.


Sri Aurobindo: All the difﬁculties you describe are quite natural things common to most people. It is easy for one, comparatively, to remember and be conscious when one sits quiet in meditation; it is difﬁcult when one has to be busy with work. The remembrance and consciousness in work have to come by degrees, you must not expect to have it all at once; nobody can get it all at once. It comes in two ways, — ﬁrst, if one practises remembering the Mother and offering the work to her each time one does something (not all the time one is doing, but at the beginning or whenever one can remember), then that slowly becomes easy and habitual to the nature. Secondly, by the meditation an inner consciousness begins to develop which, after a time, not at once or suddenly, becomes more and more automatically permanent.


Sri Aurobindo: One feels this as a separate consciousness from that outer one which works. At ﬁrst this separate consciousness is not felt when one is working, but as soon as the work stops one feels it was there all the time watching from behind; afterwards it begins to be felt during the work itself, as if there were two parts of oneself — one watching and supporting from behind and remembering the Mother and offering to her and the other doing the work.  When this happens, then to work with the true consciousness becomes more and more easy.  It is the same with all the rest. It is by the development of the inner consciousness that all the things you speak of will be set right.


Sri Aurobindo: For instance it is a part of the being that has for the work, another that feels the pressure of quietude and is not so disposed to work. Your mood depends on which comes up at the time — it is so with all people. To combine the two is difﬁcult, but a time comes when they do get reconciled — one remains poised in an inner concentration while the other is supported by it in its push towards work. The transformation of the nature, the harmonising of all these discordant things in the being are the work of sadhana. Therefore you need not be discouraged by observing these things in you.


Sri Aurobindo: There is hardly anybody who has not found these things in himself. All this can be arranged by the action of the inner Force with the constant consent and call of the sadhak. By himself he might not be able to do it, but with the Divine Force working within all can be done.    The resistance you speak of and the insufﬁcient receptivity and the inability to continue in communion while doing work, must all be due to some part of the physical consciousness that is still not open to the Light — probably something in the vital physical and the material subconscient which stands in the way of the physical mind being in its mass free and responsive.


Sri Aurobindo: There is no harm in raising the aspiration from below to meet the power from above. All that you have to be careful about is not to raise up the difﬁculty from below before the descending Power is ready to remove it.  There is no necessity of losing consciousness when you meditate. It is the widening and change of the consciousness that is essential. If you mean going inside, you can do that without losing consciousness.


Sri Aurobindo: It is good that you were able to observe yourself all the time and see the movements and that the intervention of the new consciousness was frequent and automatic. At a later stage you will no doubt get a guidance in the mind also as to how to do the things you want to get done. Evidently your mind was too active — as well as the minds of others also — and so you missed your objective, owing to the excessive multitude of witnesses!  However —  If you want that [ ] very much and aspire for it, it may come in one of several ways — (1) You may get the habit or faculty of watching your movements in such a way that you see the impulse to action coming and can see too its nature, (2) a consciousness may come which feels uneasy at once if a wrong thought or impulse to action or feeling is there, (3) something within you may warn and stop you when you are going to do the wrong action.   As for the feeling from within, it depends on being able to go inside.


Sri Aurobindo: Sometimes it comes of itself with the deepening of the consciousness by bhakti or otherwise; sometimes it comes by practice — a sort of referring the matter and listening for the answer — listening is of course a metaphor but it is difﬁcult to express it otherwise — it doesn’t mean that the answer comes necessarily in the shape of words, spoken or unspoken, though it does sometimes or for some; it can take any shape. The main difﬁculty for many is. For that it is necessary to be able to contact the consciousness of the Guru inwardly — that comes best by bhakti. Otherwise it may become a delicate and ticklish job. Obstacles, (1) normal habit of relying on outward means for everything, (2) ego, substituting its suggestions for the right answer, (3) mental activity, (4) intruder nuisances.


Sri Aurobindo: I think you need not be eager for this, but rely on the growth of the inner consciousness. The above is only by way of general explanation.     A constant aspiration for that [ ] is the ﬁrst thing — next a sort of stillness within and a drawing back from the outward action into the stillness and a sort of listening expectancy, not for a sound but for the spiritual feeling or direction of the consciousness that comes through the psychic.


Sri Aurobindo:   Your difﬁculty is that you worry yourself and think you have made mistakes when you have made none. If you want to get the right guidance, you must have more conﬁdence and not always think that what comes to you is wrong and your work is bad and ugly. You generally get things right.


Sri Aurobindo: If you do make a mistake here and there, it does not matter; everybody makes some mistakes; but by making them one can learn better.  Another thing is that, as I have told you, a thing can be done in several ways, all of which are good — but your mind seems to go on the feeling that one thing is good or true and all the rest is bad or false and, as it were, is seeking for the one only good way and then in everything it does it feels dissatisﬁed. When you have found a way of doing the work, it is better to do it and not always be worrying yourself for something better.    It is always the restlessness that makes you lose touch.


Sri Aurobindo: If you are not sure about the work, remain quiet and you will get in time the idea of what to do ; if you worry and are restless, you get confused and disturbed and can no longer feel connection with the Force, though it is always there above you and supporting you. As to blind selﬁsh feelings, they are still more confusing and disturbing; but here too the only thing is to remain quiet, detach yourself, disown and throw away the feeling. To get upset, disturbed and in despair, is no use; it only prolongs the confusion and unrest and prevents you from feeling the connection.   Openness in work means the same thing as openness in the consciousness.


Sri Aurobindo: The same Force that works in your consciousness in meditation and clears away the cloud and confusion whenever you open to it, can also take up your action and not only make you aware of the defects in it but keep you conscious of what is to be done and guide your mind and hands to do it. If you open to it in your work, you will begin to feel this guidance more and more until behind all your activities you will be aware of the Force of the Mother.    Why should you try the same things as the others? What one feels inspired to do, is the best thing for one.


Sri Aurobindo: There is a consciousness other than mind and vital — if there were not, there would be no use in doing sadhana. The true will belongs to that consciousness.     When the mind is pure and the psychic prominent, then one feels what is according to the Divine Will and what is against it.


Sri Aurobindo:   For the actions to be psychic, the psychic must be in front.  The observing Purusha can separate himself, but cannot change the Prakriti. But to be the observing Purusha is a ﬁrst step.


Sri Aurobindo: Afterwards there must be the action of the Purusha Will as an instrument of the Mother’s force. This Will must be founded on a right consciousness which sees what is wrong, ignorant, selﬁsh, egoistic, moved by desire in the nature and puts it right.     It needs a quiet mind [].


Sri Aurobindo: In the quiet mind turned towards the Divine the intuition (higher mind) comes of the Divine’s Will and the right way to do it.     Once the mental silence is attained, then in that the mental thoughts can be replaced by some vision and intuition regarding the work.


Sri Aurobindo:   The transcendental Will for us is the supramental Will. For that to act in you directly, it is necessary to grow upward into the consciousness above the ordinary mind and to bring down these higher ranges into the mind, life and body. Indirectly through the higher Mind and intuition the supramental Will is already acting on you, but naturally this indirect action does not bring the full power.


Sri Aurobindo: The true automatic action (full of consciousness and light) begins only when one gets into touch with the supermind. Till then aspiration and tapasya (concentration) are needed; otherwise there is a wrong automatism due to inert passivity in which wrong forces can act.   Do? why should he [] want to do anything if he was in the eternal peace or Ananda or union with the Divine?


Sri Aurobindo: If a man is spiritual and has gone beyond the vital and mind, he does not need to be always “doing” something. The self or spirit has the joy of its own existence. It is free to do nothing and free to do everything — but not because it is bound to action and unable to exist without it.    The passage describes the state of consciousness when one is aloof from all things even when in their midst and all is felt to be unreal, an illusion.


Sri Aurobindo: There are then no preferences or desires, because things are too unreal to desire or to prefer one to another.  But at the same time one feels no necessity to ﬂee the world or not to do any action, because being free from the illusion, action or living in the world does not weigh upon one, one is not bound or involved. Those who ﬂee from the world or shun action (the Sannyasis) do so because they would be involved or bound; they believe the world to be unreal, but in fact it weighs on them as a reality so long as they are in it. When one is perfectly free from the illusion of the reality of things, then they cannot weigh on one or bind at all.


Sri Aurobindo: But the Jivanmukta feels no bondage []. In all work and action, he feels perfectly free, because the work is not done by him personally (there is no sense of limited ego) but by the cosmic Force. The limitations of the work are those put by the cosmic Force itself on its own action. He himself lives in communion of oneness with the Transcendent which is above the cosmos and feels no limitation. That is at least how it is felt in the Overmind.


Sri Aurobindo: To be able to receive the Divine Power and let it act through you in the things of the outward life, there are three necessary conditions: 1. Quietude, equality — not to be disturbed by anything that happens, to keep the mind still and ﬁrm, seeing the play of forces, but itself tranquil.   2. Absolute faith — faith that what is for the best will happen, but also that if one can make oneself a true instrument, the fruit will be that which one’s will guided by the Divine Light sees as the thing to be done —.  3. Receptivity — the power to receive the Divine Force and to feel its presence and the presence of the Mother in it and allow it to work, guiding one’s sight and will and action.


Sri Aurobindo: If this power and presence can be felt and this plasticity made the habit of the consciousness in action, — but plasticity to the Divine Force alone without bringing in any foreign element, — the eventual result is sure.     What happened to you shows what are the conditions of that state in which the Divine Power takes the place of the ego and directs the action, making the mind, life and body an instrument.


Sri Aurobindo: A receptive silence of the mind, an effacement of the mental ego and the reduction of the mental being to the position of a witness, a close contact with the Divine Power and an openness of the being to that one Inﬂuence and no other are the conditions for becoming an instrument of the Divine, moved by that and that only.  That there was no mental expectation was all to the good; if there had been an expectation, the mind might have been active and interfered and either prevented the experience or else stood in the way of its being pure and complete.  The silence of the mind does not of itself bring in the supramental consciousness; there are many states or planes or levels of consciousness between the human mind and the Supermind.  The silence opens the mind and the rest of the being to greater things, sometimes to the cosmic consciousness, sometimes to the experience of the silent Self, sometimes to the presence or power of the Divine, sometimes to a higher consciousness than that of the human mind; the mind’s silence is the most favourable condition for any of these things to happen. In this Yoga it is the most favourable condition (not the only one) for the Divine Power to descend ﬁrst upon and then into the individual consciousness and there do its work to transform that consciousness, giving it the necessary experiences, altering all its outlook and movements, leading it from stage to stage till it is ready for the last (supramental) change.


Sri Aurobindo:   What happened is a thing that often happens and — taking your account of it — it reproduced in your case the usual stages. First you sat down in prayer — that means a call to the Above, if I may so express it. Next came the necessary condition for the answer to the prayer to be effective — “little by little a sort of restfulness came”, in other words, the quietude of the consciousness which is necessary before the Power that has to act can act.


Sri Aurobindo: Then the rush of the Force or Power, “a ﬂood of energy and sense of power and glow” and the natural concentration of the being in inspiration and expression, the action of the Power. This is the thing that used to happen daily to the physical workers in the Asram. Working with immense energy and enthusiasm, with a passion for the work they might after a time feel tired — then they would call the Mother and a sense of rest came into them  and with or after it a ﬂood of energy so that twice the amount of work could be done without the least fatigue or reaction. In many there was a spontaneous call of the vital for the Force, so that they felt the ﬂood of energy as soon as they began the work and it continued so long as the work had to be done.


Sri Aurobindo: The vital is the means of effectuation on the physical plane, so its action and energy are necessary for all work — without it, if the mind only drives without the cooperation and instrumentation of the vital, there is hard and disagreeable labour and effort with results which are usually not at all of the best kind. The ideal state for work is when there is a natural concentration of the consciousness in the special energy, supported by an easeful rest and quiescence of the consciousness as a whole. Distraction of the mind by other activities disturbs this balance of ease and concentrated energy, — fatigue also disturbs or destroys it. The ﬁrst thing therefore that has to be done is to bring back the supporting restfulness and this is ordinarily done by cessation of work and repose. In the experience you had that was replaced by a restfulness that came from above in answer to your station of prayer and an energy that also came from above.


Sri Aurobindo: It is the same principle as in sadhana — the reason why we want people to make the consciousness quiet so that the higher peace may come in and on the basis of that peace a new Force from above.  It is not effort that brought the inspiration. Inspiration comes from above in answer to a state of concentration which is itself a call to it. Effort on the contrary fatigues the consciousness and therefore is not favourable to the best work; the only thing is that sometimes — by no means always — effort culminates in a pull for the inspiration which brings some answer, but it is not usually so good and effective an inspiration as that which comes when there is the easy and intense concentration of the energy in its work. Effort and expenditure of energy are not necessarily the same thing; the best expenditure of energy is that which ﬂows easily without effort at all — when the Inspiration or Force (any Force) works of itself and the mind and vital and even body are glowing instruments and the Force ﬂows out in an intense and happy working — an almost labourless labour.


Sri Aurobindo: When you have opened yourself to a higher Force, when you have made yourself a channel for the energy of its work, it is quite natural that the Force should ﬂow and act in the way that is wanted or the way that is needed and for the effect that is needed. Once the channel is made, the Force that acts is not necessarily bound by the personal limitations or disabilities of the instrument; it can disregard them and act in its own power.  In doing so it may use the instrument simply as a medium and, as soon as the work is ﬁnished, leave him just what he was before, incapable in his ordinary moments of doing such good work, capable only when he is seized and used and illumined.  But also it may by its power of transforming action set the instrument right, accustom it to the necessary intuitive knowledge and movement so that this living perfected instrument can at will call for and receive the action of the Force. In technique, there are two different things, — there is the intellectual knowledge which one has acquired and applies or thinks one is applying — there is the intuitive cognition which acts in its own right, even if it is not actually possessed by the worker so that he cannot give an adequate account of the modes of working or elements of what he has done.


Sri Aurobindo: Many poets have a very summary theoretic knowledge of metrical or linguistic technique; they have its use but they would not be able to explain how they write or what are the qualities and constituent methods of their successful art, but they achieve all the same things that are perfect in the weaving of sounds and the skill of words, consummate in rhythm and language. Intellectual knowledge of technique is a help but a minor help; it can become a mere device or a rigid fetter. It is an intuitive divination of the right process that is more frequent and a more powerful action — or even it is an inspiration that puts the right sounds or right words without need of even any intuitive choice. This is especially true of poetry, for there are arts — those that work in a more material substance — where perfect work cannot be done without full technical knowledge, — painting, sculpture, architecture.  What the higher Force writes through you is your own in the sense that you have been an instrument of manifestation — as is indeed every artist or worker.


Sri Aurobindo: When you put your name to it, it is the name of the instrumental creator; but for sadhana it is necessary to recognise that the real Power, the true Creator was not your surface self, you were simply the living harp on which the Musician played his tune.  The true Ananda of creation is not the pleasure of the ego in having personally done well and in being somebody, that is an extraneous element which attaches itself to the true joy of work and creation. The Ananda comes by the inrush of a larger Might and Delight,; there is the thrill of being possessed and used by a superpersonal Power, the exultation and exaltation of the uplifting of the consciousness, the joy of its illumination and its greatened and heightened action and the joy of the beauty, power or perfection that is being created. How far, how intensely one feels these things, depends on the condition of the consciousness at the time, the temperament, the activity of the vital, the mind’s receptivity and response. The Yogi (or even certain strong and calm minds) is not carried away, as the mind and the vital often are, by the Ananda, — he holds and watches it and there is no mere excitement mixed with the divine ﬂow of it through the conscious instrument and the body.


Sri Aurobindo: There is a greater Ananda of, of spiritual realisation or divine love, but in the spiritual consciousness and life the Ananda of creation has its place.     To observe whether it [] is really well done or not and feel the Ananda of work done for the Mother [ ]. Get rid of the “I”.


Sri Aurobindo: If it is well done, it is the Force that did it and your only part was to be a good or a bad instrument.     It is a Force that comes and pushes to work and is as legitimately a part of the spiritual life as others. It is a special Energy that takes hold of the worker in the being and fulﬁls itself through him.


Sri Aurobindo: To work with a full energy like this in one is quite salutary. The only thing is not to overdo it — that is to avoid any exhaustion or recoil to a fatigued inertia.  As for the dedication make the always of offering it, remember and pray when you can (I mean in connection with the work). This is to ﬁx a certain attitude. Afterwards, the Force can take advantage of this key to open the deeper dedication within.


Sri Aurobindo:   I was not [ ] speaking of the Force coming down from above, but of the Force from behind doing action through the mind and body as instruments. Very often when the mind and body are inert, their actions still go on by this push from behind.


Sri Aurobindo: You used the Force for the work, and it supported you so long as you preferred to stick to that work. What is of ﬁrst importance is not the religious or non-religious character of the work done, but the inner attitude in which it is done. If the attitude is vital and not psychic, then one throws oneself out in the work and loses the inner contact. If it is psychic, the inner contact remains, the Force is felt supporting or doing the work and the sadhana progresses.


Sri Aurobindo:   The Force from above is the Force of the Higher Consciousness.  That from behind works as a mental, vital or physical force according to need. When the being is open to it and there is a certain passivity to its working, it takes the place of the personal activity and the Person is a witness of its action.  The dynamic action when it comes acts without disturbing the silence and peace.


Sri Aurobindo: There is the vast peace and silence and in that the Force or the Will works to do what is necessary — in that also is the action of Agni or the psychic.    It is this quiet and spontaneous action that is the characteristic divine action. The aggressive action is only, as you say, when there is resistance and struggle. This does not mean that the quiet force cannot be intense.


Sri Aurobindo: It can be more intense than the aggressive, but its intensity only increases the intensity of the peace.    When you feel the better condition, the peace and force at work, it is better to allow the force to work, keeping yourself still and quiet, and not try to do things by the mind.  When there is the confusion or wrong condition, then you have to call down the quiet, to try to get back to the true position, not listening to the wrong thoughts but rejecting them. If you cannot do that at once, still remain as quiet as possible and aspire and offer yourself.


Sri Aurobindo: The Divine Force can always do more than the personal effort; so the one thing is to get quiet and call it down or back to the front — for it is always there behind or above you.  During the course of the sadhana one can learn to draw upon the universal Life-Force and replenish the energies from it. But usually the best way is to learn to open oneself to the Mother’s Force and become conscious of it supporting and moving or pouring into the system and giving the energy needed for the work whether it be mental, vital or physical.  There is naturally a higher Energy above the present universal forces and it is that which will transform the nature and take up the mental, vital, physical energies and change them into its own likeness.   If you mean by failure the weakness of the body, it is due probably to your having unduly strained it in obedience to rajasic vital impulses, an effect which was increased by vital relapses into tamas and the struggle of the vital attacks you had.


Sri Aurobindo: But also it often happens even in the ordinary course of Yoga that physical strength is replaced by a Yogic strength or Yogic life force which keeps up the body and makes it work, but in the absence of this force the body is denuded of power, inert and tamasic. This can only be remedied by the whole being opening to Yoga shakti in each of its planes — Yogic mind force, Yogic life force, Yogic body force.   When doing this work you had the Force in you and the right consciousness ﬁlling the vital and physical — afterwards with relaxation the ordinary physical consciousness came up and brought back the ordinary reactions — fatigue, sciatica etc.   With the right consciousness always there, there would be no fatigue.


Sri Aurobindo:    It [ ]


Sri Aurobindo: is probably some desire or vital preference — likes and dislikes in the vital. All work given you must be felt as the Mother’s and done with joy, opening yourself for the Mother’s force to work through you.


Sri Aurobindo: If there is the full surrender in the work and you feel it is the Mother’s and that the Mother’s force is working in you, then fatigue does not come.     The pain, burning, restlessness, weeping and inability to work which you feel, come when there is some difﬁculty or resistance in some part of the nature. When it comes call on the Mother and reject these things; turn to her for the peace and quietude to return to your mind and settle in the heart, so that there shall be no place for these other things.


Sri Aurobindo: Yes, it is a mistake to overstrain as there is a reaction afterwards.  If there is energy, all must not be spent, some must be stored up so as to increase the permanent strength of the system.     Overstraining brings inertia up.


Sri Aurobindo: Everybody has inertia in his nature: the question is of its greater or lesser operation.    When you feel tired, don’t overstrain yourself but rest — doing only your ordinary work; restlessly doing something or other all the time is not the way to cure it. To be quiet without and within is what is needed when there is this sense of fatigue. There is always a strength near you which you can call in and it will remove these things, but you must learn to be quiet in order to receive it.


Sri Aurobindo:   If the physical is in this condition and the work creates such reactions in it, it is no use forcing it violently and putting an overstrain upon it. It is better to educate and train the external material being slowly by bringing calm and peace and light and strength persistently into the nervous system and cells of the body. A violent compulsion on the body may well defeat its own object.


Sri Aurobindo: Probably your sadhana has been too exclusively internal and subjective; but if it is so, this cannot be remedied in a moment. It is better therefore for you not to do heavy physical work like the Bakery’s at present.    Idleness must of course go — but sometimes I think you have pulled too much the other way. To be able to work with full energy is necessary — but to be able not to work is also necessary.


Sri Aurobindo:   As for working, it depends on what you mean by the word.  Desire often leads either to excess of effort, meaning often much labour and a limited fruit, with strain, exhaustion and in case of difﬁculty or failure despondence, disbelief or revolt; or else it leads to pulling down the force. That can be done, but except for the Yogically strong and experienced, it is not always safe, though it may be often very effective; not safe, ﬁrst, because it may lead to violent reactions or bring down contrary or wrong or mixed forces which the sadhak is not experienced enough to distinguish from the true ones.


Sri Aurobindo: Or else it may substitute the sadhak’s own limited power of experience or mental and vital constructions for the free gift and the true leading of the Divine.  Cases differ, each has his own way of sadhana. But for you what I would recommend is constant openness, a quiet steady aspiration, no over-eagerness, a cheerful trust and patience.


Sri Aurobindo: To work all the time is excessive, unless there is need — but the impulse to work in itself is good.   If too much work is done, the quality of the work often deteriorates in spite of the zest of the workers.  There can be no physical life without an order and rhythm.  When this order is changed it must be in obedience to an inner growth and not for the sake of external novelty. It is only a certain part of the surface lower vital nature which seeks always external change and novelty for its own sake.


Sri Aurobindo: It is by a constant inner growth that one can ﬁnd a constant newness and unfailing interest in life. There is no other satisfying way.    In the most physical things you have to ﬁx a programme in order to deal with them, otherwise all becomes a sea of confusion and haphazard. Fixed rules have also to be made for the management of material things so long as people are not sufﬁciently developed to deal with them in the right way without rules.


Sri Aurobindo: But in matters of the inner development and the sadhana it is impossible to map out a plan ﬁxed in every detail and say, “Every time you shall stop here, there, in this way, on that line and no other.”  Things would become so tied up and rigid that nothing could be done; there could be no true and effective movement.     Order, harmony and organisation in physical things is a necessary part of efﬁciency and perfection and make the instrument more ﬁt for whatever work is given to it.


Sri Aurobindo:   The impatience of things going wrong is the defect of a quality — an insistence on accuracy and order. The thing is to keep the quality and get rid of the defect.  Rules are indispensable for the orderly management of work; for without order and arrangement nothing can be properly done, all becomes clash, confusion and disorder.


Sri Aurobindo:   A rule that can be varied by everyone at his pleasure is no rule. In all countries in which organised work is successfully done, (India is not one of them), rules exist and nobody thinks of breaking them, for it is realised that work (or life either) without discipline would soon become a confusion and an anarchic failure. In the great days of India everything was put under rule, even art and poetry, even Yoga. Here in fact rules are much less rigid than in any European organisation.


Sri Aurobindo: Personal discretion can even in a frame of rules have plenty of play — but discretion must be discreetly used, otherwise it becomes something arbitrary or chaotic.     In work there must be a rule and discipline and as much punctuality as possible in regard to time.


Sri Aurobindo:    To be able to be regular is a great force, one becomes master of one’s time and one’s movements.


Sri Aurobindo: That is quite necessary for work; efﬁciency and discipline are indispensable. They can however only partly be maintained by outward means — it really depends, in ordinary life, on the personality of the superior, his inﬂuence on the subordinates, his ﬁrmness, tact, kindness in dealing with them. But the sadhak depends on a deeper force, that of his inner consciousness and the Force working through him.


Sri Aurobindo: [ ] To act according to a standard of Truth or a rule or law of action (dharma) or in obedience to a superior authority or to the highest principles discovered by the reason and intelligent will and not according to one’s own fancy, vital impulses and desires. In Yoga obedience to the Guru or to the Divine and the law of the Truth as declared by the Guru is the foundation of discipline.


Sri Aurobindo:    What most want is that things should be done according to their desire without check or reference. The talk of perfection is humbug.


Sri Aurobindo: Perfection does not consist in everybody being a law to himself. Perfection comes by renunciation of desires and surrender to a higher Will.     Thoroughness means to do whatever you do completely, thoroughly, so that it may be entire and perfect, not carelessly or partially done.


Sri Aurobindo: It refers to internal things as well as to external.  When all is in agreement with one Truth or an expression of it, that is harmony.     Wherever there is excessive sensitiveness or quickness of temper, occasions of clash and quarrel will arise, no matter with whom one works — and especially where there is the pressure of the sadhana, which requires that all such weaknesses should be overcome, occasions are likely to arise which will bring them to the surface.


Sri Aurobindo: The only way is not to indulge them or act under their inﬂuence, but to face them and overcome.    The difﬁculty rises from a certain excess of sensitiveness in the vital nature which feels strongly any want of harmony or opposition in the work or any untoward happening and, when that comes, one is apt to feel it as if a personal opposition and on the other side also a similar feeling arises and so the difﬁculty becomes prolonged and leads to conﬂict. As a matter of fact the difﬁculty often arises from circumstances, e.g. the B. S. [ ] with its much reduced staff and a rush of work using up all its men may ﬁnd it more difﬁcult to accommodate you than before. Or it may arise from people acting according to their view of a matter which does not accord with yours.


Sri Aurobindo: Or again it may come from the person following his own ideas, view of what is convenient and effective and thus coming up against yours. There need be no personal feeling in all that and it is best not to look for any and not to see it from that point of view. What is needed is always to take a calm view of the thing and a clear vision — not only from one’s own standpoint which may be eventually right and yet need modiﬁcation in detail, but with a vision that sees also the standpoint of others. This broad seeing, quiet and impersonal, is needed in the full Yogic consciousness. Having it one can insist on what has to be insisted on with ﬁrmness but at the same time with a consideration and understanding of the other that removes the chance of any clash of personal feeling.


Sri Aurobindo: Naturally if the other is unreasonable, he may still resent, but then it will be his own fault entirely and it will fall back on him only. It is here that we see the necessity of some change. Loyalty, ﬁdelity, capacity, strength of will and other qualities in the work you have in plenty — a full calm and equality not only in the inner being where it can exist already, but in the outer nervous parts is a thing you have to get completely.  There are always defects on both sides which lead to this disharmony. On your side you have a tendency to too harsh a judgment of others, a readiness to see and stress the faults, defects, weak side of others and not to see enough their good side.


Sri Aurobindo: This prevents the kindliness of outlook which should be there and gives an impression of harshness and critical severity and creates a tendency to contrariety and revolt which even when it is not there in the minds of the others, acts through their subconscient and creates all these discordant movements. To take advantage of what is good in others, keeping one’s eye always on that, and to deal tactfully with their mistakes, faults and defects is the best way; it does not exclude ﬁrmness and maintenance of discipline, even severity when severity is due; but the latter should be rare and the others should not feel it as if it were a permanent attitude.    The one thing you must try to do in your relations with your fellow-workers is to master your nerves and irritability and take care not to speak roughly, angrily or peevishly to them. It is that that is creating most of the difﬁculty now.


Sri Aurobindo: If you have to be ﬁrm, you can be ﬁrm, but at the same time quiet and even gentle. If you take care on this point, things are likely to improve soon.  If you put yourself in the Mother’s hand and reject these vital movements in her strength, there is no reason why you should not pass through all ordeals and progress in the Yoga.   In all such dealings with others, you should see not only your own side of the question but the other side also. There should be no anger, vehement reproach or menace, for these things only raise anger and retort on the other side.


Sri Aurobindo: I write this because you are trying to rise above yourself and dominate your vital and when one wants to do that, one cannot be too strict with oneself in these things. It is best even to be severe to one’s own mistakes and charitable to the mistakes of others.   The experience of the difference between your inner feelings and your surface reactions shows that you are becoming aware of different parts of your nature which each have their own character. In fact each human being is composed of different personalities that feel and behave in a different way and his action is determined by the one that happens to be prominent at the time. The one that has no feelings against anyone is either the psychic being or the emotional being in the heart, the one that feels anger and is severe is a part of the external vital nature on the surface.


Sri Aurobindo: This anger and severity is a wrong form of something that in itself has a value, a certain strength of will and force of action and control in the vital being, without which work cannot be done. What is necessary is to get rid of the anger and to keep the force and ﬁrm will along with a developed judgment as to what is the right thing to do in any circumstances. For instance, people can be allowed to do things in their own way when that does not spoil the work, when it is only their way of doing what is necessary to be done; when their way is opposed to the discipline of the work, then they have to be controlled, but it should be done quietly and kindly, not with anger. Very often, if one has developed a silent power of putting the Mother’s force on the work with one’s own will as instrument, that by itself may be sufﬁcient without having to say anything as the person changes his way of himself as if by his own initiative.


Sri Aurobindo:  To discourage anybody is wrong, but to give false encouragement or encouragement of anything wrong is not right. Severity has sometimes to be used (though not overused), when without it an obstinate persistence in what is wrong cannot be set right.  Very often, if an inner communication has been established, a silent pressure is more effective than anything else. No absolute rule can be laid down; one has to judge and act for the best in each case.  It [] has to be done in the right spirit and the subordinates generally must be able to feel that it is so, that they are being dealt with in all uprightness and justice and by a man who has sympathy and insight and not only severity and energy.


Sri Aurobindo: It is a question of vital tact and a strong and large vital ﬁnding always the right way to deal with the others.   To be able to see the viewpoint of others and make allowance for their nature — neither being too harsh, authoritative or exacting, nor too weak and accommodating or indulgent, but still, even when ﬁrm, combining ﬁrmness with tact and sympathy, — is very necessary for one who has to deal with others as his inferiors in position and subject to his authority. It is also necessary when the position is reversed so that there may not be unnecessary clash or friction with ofﬁcial superiors.    The root of the difﬁculty has been in the readiness of the superior ofﬁcers to accept without examination the things that are said against you.


Sri Aurobindo: A double action is needed, to destroy the ill-will of the inferiors and to change the mind of the superiors — an invisible action, for in the visible they seem to be too much under the control of the Forces of the Ignorance.  We have been very glad to get your letters with the details which prove how great and rapid a progress you have made in sadhana.  All that you write shows a clear consciousness and a new orientation in the lower vital. To have seen clearly the instinct of domination and the pride of the instrument there means that that part of the being is on the right way to change — these defects must now be replaced by their true counterparts — the power to act selﬂessly on others for the Truth and the Right and the power to be a strong and conﬁdent but egoless instrument of the Divine. It is clear also that the physical is effectively opening, but the instinctive physical and vital-physical motions in it, fear in the body, weakness, disposition to ill-health must go also.


Sri Aurobindo: As to diet, a light quantity of food sufﬁcient for strength and sustenance is the best for you — meat is not advisable.   Let the wide opening that has come in you develop and your whole being down to the material ﬁll with the true consciousness and the true power.    That is true.


Sri Aurobindo: As things are, the vital falsehood seems to take a temporary advantage over the superior sattwic nature.  Whenever anything untoward happens, it is essential not to allow any vibrations of disturbance or unrest in either the physical mind or the nerves. One must remain calm and open to the Light and Force, then one will be able to act in the right way.    From the point of view of sadhana — you must not allow yourself to be in the least disturbed by these things [ ].


Sri Aurobindo: What you have to do, what is right to be done, should be done in perfect calmness with the support of the Divine Force. All that is necessary for a successful result, can be done — including the securing of the support of those who are able to help you. But if this outer support is not forthcoming, you have not to be disturbed but to proceed calmly on your way.  If there is any difﬁculty or unsuccess anywhere not due to your own fault, you have not to be troubled. Strength, unmoved calm, quiet, straight and right dealing with all things you have to deal with must be the rule of your action.


Sri Aurobindo:  Keep unmoved, unoffended, do your work without being discouraged, call on the Force to act for you. It is a ﬁeld of trial for you — the inward result is more important than the outward.


Sri Aurobindo: As for the work, I have already told you that it is not by your going away that there will be harmony and peace. Wherever there are human beings working together, differences and disagreements and incompatibilities of temper will always be there.  It is only if the human nature changes that it will be otherwise, but that cannot be done at once. One has to go on quietly and patiently doing the work for the Mother’s sake until the change can be made in yourself and others.  As for quietude and work, quietude is the proper basis for work — not restlessness.


Sri Aurobindo: You speak as if quietude and being alive and working were not compatible! The Mother and myself do plenty of work, I suppose, and we are quite alive, but it is out of quietude that we do it. To worry and be restless and think always “I am not doing well my work” is not the way; you have to be quiet, conscious more and more of a greater Force than your own working in you: that Force will hereafter take up your work and do it for you.    The difﬁculty you ﬁnd results very much from your always worrying with your mind about things, thinking “This is wrong, that is wrong in me or my work” and, as a result, “I am incompetent, I am bad, nothing can be done with me.”


Sri Aurobindo: Your embroidery work, your lampshades etc. have always been very good, and yet you are always thinking “This is bad work, that is wrong” and by doing so, confuse yourself and get into a muddle. Naturally, you make a mistake now and then, but more when you worry like that than when you do things simply and conﬁdently.  It is better whether with work or with sadhana to go on quietly, allowing the Force to act and doing your best to let it work rightly, but without this self-tormenting and constant restless questioning at every point. Whatever defects there are would go much sooner, if you did not harp on them too much; for by dwelling on them so much you lose conﬁdence in yourself and in your power of openness to the Force — which is there all the same — and put unnecessary difﬁculties in the way of its working.


Sri Aurobindo:   There is nothing really wrong with your work; it is very well done. It is only your imagination that makes you always think it is defective here and defective there. There may be slight mistakes sometimes, but that is the case with everybody. You have only to work quietly, getting the best inspiration you can and, if there is any difﬁculty, to be quiet and the right thing will come.


Sri Aurobindo: To be true to the inner feeling, remaining turned towards us for help is absolutely the right way; to trouble and doubt and fret is quite the wrong way.     Do not worry about mistakes in work. Often you imagine that things are badly done by you when really you have done them very well; but even if there are mistakes, it is nothing to be sad about.


Sri Aurobindo: Let the consciousness grow — only in the divine consciousness is there an entire perfection. The more you surrender to the Divine, the more will there be the possibility of perfection in you.    Do not attach too much importance to such mistakes or get upset about them. It is the nature of the mind to make such mistakes.


Sri Aurobindo: It is only a higher consciousness that can set them right — the mind can be sure only after a very long training in each particular action and even then it has only to be off-guard for something untoward to occur. Do as well as you can, and for the rest let the higher consciousness grow till it can enlighten all the movements of the physical mind.     Skill in works will come when there is the opening in the physical mind and the body.


Sri Aurobindo: There is no need to be anxious about that now. Do your best and do not be anxious about it.  That is a great error of the human vital — to want compliments for their own sake and to be depressed by their absence and imagine that it means there is no capacity. In this world one starts with ignorance and imperfection in whatever one does — one has to ﬁnd out one’s mistakes and to learn, one has to commit errors and ﬁnd out by correcting them the right way to do things. Nobody in the world has ever escaped from this law.


Sri Aurobindo: So what one has to expect from others is not compliments all the time, but praise of what is right or well done and criticism of errors and mistakes. The more one can bear criticism and see one’s mistakes, the more likely one is to arrive at the fullness of one’s capacity. Especially when one is very young — before the age of maturity — one cannot easily do perfect work. What is called the juvenile work of poets and painters — work done in their early years — is always imperfect, it is a promise and has qualities — but the real perfection and full use of their powers comes afterwards. They themselves know that very well, but they go on writing or painting because they know also that by doing so they will develop their powers.


Sri Aurobindo: As for comparison with others, one ought not to do that.  Each one has his own lesson to learn, his own work to do and he must concern himself with that, not with the superior or inferior progress of others in comparison with himself. If he is behind today, he can be in full capacity hereafter and it is for that future perfection of his powers that he must labour. You are young and have everything yet to learn — your capacities are yet only in bud, you must wait and work for them to be in full bloom — and you must not mind if it takes months and years even to arrive at something satisfying and perfect. It will come in its proper time, and the work you do now is always a step towards it.


Sri Aurobindo: But learn to welcome criticism and the pointing out of imperfections — the more you do so, the more rapidly you will advance.    Someone who is learning to paint or play music or write and does not like to have his mistakes pointed out by those who already know — how is he to learn at all or reach any perfection of technique?  Think of your work only when it is being done, not before and not after.  Do not let your mind go back on a work that is ﬁnished.


Sri Aurobindo: It belongs to the past and all rehandling of it is a waste of power.  Do not let your mind labour in anticipation on a work that has to be done. The Power that acts in you will see to it at its own time.   These two habits of the mind belong to a past functioning that the transforming Force is pressing to remove and the physical mind’s persistence in them is the cause of your strain and fatigue.


Sri Aurobindo: If you can remember to let your mind work only when its action is needed, the strain will lessen and disappear.  This is indeed the transitional movement before the supramental working takes possession of the physical mind and brings into it the spontaneous action of the Light.  Material things are not to be despised — without them there can be no manifestation in the material world.    Physical things have a life and value of their own which does not depend upon their price.


Sri Aurobindo: To respect physical things and make a careful and scrupulous use of them is a part of the Yoga, for without that the mastery over matter cannot come.    What you feel about physical things is true — there is a consciousness in them, a life which is not the life and consciousness of man and animal which we know, but still secret and real. That is why we must have a respect for physical things and use them rightly, not misuse and waste, ill-treat or handle with a careless roughness. This feeling of all being conscious or alive comes when our own physical consciousness — and not the mind only — awakes out of its obscurity and becomes aware of the One in all things, the Divine everywhere.


Sri Aurobindo:   It is very true that physical things have a consciousness within them which feels and responds to care and is sensitive to careless touch and rough handling. To know or feel that and learn to be careful of them is a great progress in consciousness.   There is a consciousness in each physical thing with which one can communicate.


Sri Aurobindo: Everything has an individuality of a certain kind, houses, cars, furniture etc. The ancient peoples knew that and so they saw a spirit or “genius” in every physical thing.     The rough handling and careless breaking or waste and misuse of physical things is a denial of the Yogic Consciousness and a great hindrance to the bringing down of the Divine Truth to the material plane.


Sri Aurobindo:   Wanton waste, careless spoiling of physical things in an incredibly short time, loose disorder, misuse of service and materials due either to vital grasping or to tamasic inertia are baneful to prosperity and tend to drive away or discourage the WealthPower. These things have long been rampant in the society and, if that continues, an increase in our means might well mean a proportionate increase in the wastage and disorder and neutralise the material advantage. This must be remedied if there is to be any sound progress.  Asceticism for its own sake is not the ideal of this Yoga, but self-control in the vital and right order in the material are a very important part of it — and even an ascetic discipline is better for our purpose than a loose absence of true control.


Sri Aurobindo: Mastery of the material does not mean having plenty and profusely throwing it out or spoiling it as fast as it comes or faster. Mastery implies in it the right and careful utilisation of things and also a self-control in their use.  There is no incompatibility between spirituality and creative activity — they can be united.


Sri Aurobindo: Any activity can be taken as part of the sadhana if it is offered to the Divine or done with the consciousness or faith that it is done by the Divine Power. That is the important point.     Literature, poetry, science and other studies can be a preparation of the consciousness for life.


Sri Aurobindo: When one does Yoga they can become part of the sadhana only if done for the Divine or taken up by the Divine Force, but then one should not want to be a poet for the sake of being a poet only, or for fame, applause, etc.   The spiritual life and one’s own inner psychic and spiritual change should be the ﬁrst preoccupation of a sadhak — poetry or painting is something quite subordinate and even then it should be done not to be a great poet or artist but as a help to the inner sadhana. It is time that everyone got away from the vital view of things to the psychic and spiritual on which alone can stand Yoga and the spiritual life.    Every artist almost (there are rare exceptions) has got something of the “public” man in him, in his vital physical parts, the need of the stimulus of an audience, social applause, satisﬁed vanity or fame.


Sri Aurobindo: That must go absolutely if he wants to be a Yogi and his art a service not of man or of his own ego but of the Divine.     Well, that [] is an almost universal human weakness, especially with artists, poets, musicians and the whole splendid tribe — I have known even great Yogis suffer from just a touch of it! If one can see mentally the humour of it, it will fall off in the end.


Sri Aurobindo: To be a literary man is not a spiritual aim; but to use literature as a means of spiritual expression is another matter. Even to make expression a vehicle of a superior power helps to open the consciousness. The harmonising rests on that principle.    A “literary man” is one who loves literature and literary activity for their own separate sake.


Sri Aurobindo: A Yogi who writes is not a literary man for he writes only what the inner Will and Word wants him to express. He is a channel and an instrument of something greater than his own literary personality.   The use of your writing is to keep you in touch with the inner source of inspiration and intuition, so as to wear thin the crude external crust in the consciousness and encourage the growth of the inner being.   Mother does not disapprove of your writing the book — what she does not like is your being so lost in it that you can do nothing else. You must be master of what you do and not possessed by it.


Sri Aurobindo: She quite agrees to your ﬁnishing and offering the book on your birthday if that can be done. But you must not be carried away — you must keep your full contact with higher things.     I repeat that we do not object to your writing — whether it be poetry or short stories or novels.


Sri Aurobindo: What we felt was that this kind of total absorption and possession by it was not good for your spiritual condition and that it put a lesser thing in front, even occupying the front of the consciousness for most of the time instead of putting it in its proper place in a sound spiritual harmony.     You can try [], if you like. The difﬁculty is that the subject matter of a novel belongs mostly to the outer consciousness, so that a lowering or externalising can easily come.


Sri Aurobindo: This apart from the difﬁculty of keeping the inner poise when putting the mind into outer work. If you could get an established poise within, then it would be possible to do any work without disturbing or lowering the consciousness.    As for the French writing, you should not think so much of expressing things — it does not matter whether others have written the same things and done it better.


Sri Aurobindo: What you should aim at is simply to learn to write French perfectly, to get full use of the French language as an instrument. If the Force wants to express anything through you hereafter or not, is a thing you should leave to the Divine Will; once you give yourself into its hands in the true consciousness, it will know what to do or not to do through you and will make full use of whatever instrumentation you can put at its disposal.  Painting also is sadhana; so it is perfectly possible to make them one. It is a matter of dedicating the painting and feeling the force that makes you paint as the Mother’s force.


Sri Aurobindo: Of course everybody is here for Yoga and not for painting.  Painting or any other activity has to be made here a part of Yoga and cannot be pursued for its own sake. If it stands insuperably in the way, then it has to be given up; but there is no reason why it should if it be pursued in the proper spirit, as a ﬁeld or aid for spiritual growth, or as a work done for the Mother.    You have painting and music in you and if you apply yourself they will develop in you.


Sri Aurobindo: Only it is best to do it as an instrument of the Mother and as an offering to her, and not allow any personal desire for fame or appreciation by others or any personal pride to be the motives — for it is that that gives trouble.  All work done as an offering is a great help and does not give trouble.     What do you mean by vital excitement []?


Sri Aurobindo: There is an intensity and enthusiasm of the vital without which it would be difﬁcult to do any poem, picture or music of a creative kind.  That intensity is not harmful.     You have been progressing of course, but what Mother told you and tells everyone is true that to be a real artist needs hard work for years together.


Sri Aurobindo: But your mistake is to put stress on these things and get discouraged by any check or difﬁculty in them.  The one thing to be done is to open your consciousness to what is coming down, to let the change operate so that the consciousness becomes a consciousness of peace and light and power and joy full of the Divine Presence. When that is there, then what the Divine wants to get done through you or developed in you will be done or developed with a rapidity and perfection which at present is impossible. The one thing needful ﬁrst, all the rest is only now a ﬁeld of exercise for the development of the one thing needful.  What you write about the singing is perfectly correct.


Sri Aurobindo: You sing your best only when you forget yourself and let it come out from within without thinking of the need of excellence or the impression it may make. The famous singer should indeed disappear into the past, — it is only so that the inner singer can take her place.    I meant exactly the same thing as when I wrote to you that the “famous singer” must disappear and the “inner singer” take her place. “The old psychological lines” means the mental and vital aesthetic source of the singing, the desire of fame or success, singing for an audience — the singing must come from the soul within and it must be for the Divine. . . .


Sri Aurobindo: As for your singing, I was not speaking of any new creation from the aesthetic point of view, but of the spiritual change — what form it takes must depend on what you ﬁnd you when the deeper basis is there.  I do not see any necessity for giving up singing altogether; I only meant, — it is the logical conclusion from what I have written to you not now only but before, — that the inner change must be the ﬁrst consideration and the rest must arise out of that.  If singing to an audience pulls you out of the inner condition, then you could postpone that and sing for yourself and the Divine until you are able, even in facing an audience, to forget the audience. If you are troubled by failure or exalted by success, that also you must overcome.  Concentration, for our Yoga, means when the consciousness is ﬁxed in a particular state (e.g. peace) or movement (e.g. aspiration, will, coming into contact with the Mother, taking the Mother’s name); meditation is when the inner mind is looking at things to get the right knowledge.


Sri Aurobindo:  Concentration means ﬁxing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition. Meditation can be diffusive, e.g. thinking about the Divine, receiving impressions and discriminating, watching what goes on in the nature and acting upon it etc.   Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g. the Divine — there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.


Sri Aurobindo:   Meditation means thinking on one subject in a concentrated way. In concentration proper there is not a series of thoughts, but the mind is silently ﬁxed on one object, name, idea, place etc.  There are other kinds of concentration, e.g. concentrating the whole consciousness in one place, as between the eyebrows, in the heart, etc.


Sri Aurobindo: One can also concentrate to get rid of thought altogether and remain in a complete silence.  In the beginning for a long time concentration is necessary even by effort because the nature, the consciousness are not ready.  Even then the more quiet and natural the concentration, the better. But when the consciousness and nature are ready, then concentration must become spontaneous and easily possible without effort at all times. Even at last it becomes the natural and permanent condition of the being — it is then no longer concentration, but the settled poise of the soul in the Divine.


Sri Aurobindo: It is true that to be concentrated and do an outward action at the same time is not at ﬁrst possible. But that too becomes possible. Either the consciousness divides into two parts, one the inner poised in the Divine, the other the outer doing the outer work — or else the whole is so poised and the force does the work through the passive instrument.


Sri Aurobindo: Concentration is necessary. By dhyana you awake the inner being; by concentration in life, in work, in the outer consciousness you make the outer being also ﬁt to receive the Divine Light and Force.     It is in the waking consciousness that all has to be realised.


Sri Aurobindo: But that cannot be done without a full preparation in the inner being and it is this preparation that is being done for you in.      You have not to remain in dhyana all the time, but to bring into the waking state the consciousness you get there and you have to live in that all the time.


Sri Aurobindo:   It is very good, and by regular meditation you are sure to make much progress. But I do not think to spend all the night in meditation would be good. The body needs sleep also.


Sri Aurobindo: One hour meditation daily is already a very good result and it can be increased slowly to two.     Certainly, if all one’s life one did nothing but meditate, it would be a one-sided affair. But at times to give the ﬁrst place or a lion’s share to meditation may be necessary.


Sri Aurobindo: It is especially when things are coming down and have to be ﬁxed.     The ease and peace are felt very deep and far within because they are in the psychic and the psychic is very deep within us, covered over by the mind and vital. When you meditate you open to the psychic, become aware of your psychic consciousness deep within and feel these things.


Sri Aurobindo: In order that this ease and peace and happiness may become strong and stable and felt in all the being and in the body, you have to go still deeper within and bring out the full force of the psychic into the physical. This can most easily be done by regular concentration and meditation with the aspiration for this true consciousness. It can be done by work also, by dedication, by doing the work for the Divine only without thought of self and keeping the idea of consecration to the Mother always in the heart. But this is not easy to do perfectly.


Sri Aurobindo: Sir, is the Presence [] of a physical nature or a spiritual fact? And is the physical sense accustomed or able to see or feel spiritual things — a spiritual Presence, a non-material Form? To see the Brahman everywhere is not possible unless you develop the inner vision — so to do that you have to concentrate. To see non-material forms is indeed possible for a few, because they have the gift by nature, but most can’t do it without developing the subtle sight. It is absurd to expect the Divine to manifest his Presence without your taking any trouble to see it, — you have to concentrate.


Sri Aurobindo: What do you call meditation? Shutting the eyes and concentrating? It is only one method for calling down the true consciousness. To join with the true consciousness or feel its descent is the only thing important and if it comes without the orthodox method, as it always did with me, so much the better.


Sri Aurobindo: Meditation is only a means or device, the true movement is when even walking, working or speaking one is still in sadhana.      What is most important [] is the change of consciousness of which this feeling of oneness is a part.


Sri Aurobindo: The going deep in meditation is only a means and it is not always necessary if the great experiences come easily without it.     The best help for concentration is to receive the Mother’s calm and peace into your mind. It is there above you — only the mind and its centres have to open to it.


Sri Aurobindo: It is what the Mother is pushing upon you in the evening meditation.     The object of meditation is to open to the Mother and grow through many progressive experiences into a higher consciousness in union with the Divine.


Sri Aurobindo: To enter into a deeper or higher consciousness or for that deeper or higher consciousness to descend into you — that is the true success of meditation.  One can have no ﬁxed hours of meditation and yet be doing sadhana.     Meditation is not indispensable.


Sri Aurobindo: There are some who do not meditate and yet progress.    Then how is it [] necessary for all, if some are asked not to do it? Much meditation is for those who can meditate much. It does not follow that because such meditation is good, therefore nobody should do anything else.


Sri Aurobindo: The attitude of spiritual meditation is to concentrate so as to receive or attain the spiritual truth — what means one takes depends upon the way, the path, the person.    If the difﬁculty in meditation is that thoughts of all kinds come in, that is not due to hostile forces but to the ordinary nature of the human mind. All sadhaks have this difﬁculty and with many it lasts for a very long time. There are several ways of getting rid of it.


Sri Aurobindo: One of them is to look at the thoughts and observe what is the nature of the human mind as they show it but not to give any sanction and to let them run down till they come to a standstill — this is a way recommended by Vivekananda in his . Another is to look at the thoughts as not one’s own, to stand back as the witness Purusha and refuse the sanction — the thoughts are regarded as things coming from outside, from Prakriti, and they must be felt as if they were passers-by crossing the mind-space with whom one has no connection and in whom one takes no interest. In this way it usually happens that after a time the mind divides into two, a part which is the mental witness watching and perfectly undisturbed and quiet and a part which is the object of observation, the Prakriti part in which the thoughts cross or wander. Afterwards one can proceed to silence or quiet the Prakriti part also. There is a third, an active method by which one looks to see where the thoughts come from and ﬁnds they come not from oneself, but from outside the head as it were; if one can detect them coming, then,, they have to be thrown away altogether.


Sri Aurobindo: This is perhaps the most difﬁcult way and not all can do it, but if it can be done it is the shortest and most powerful road to silence.    If you try to apply everything you read, there will be no end to your new beginnings. One can stop thinking by rejecting the thoughts and in the silence discover oneself. One can do it by letting the thoughts run down while one detaches oneself from them.


Sri Aurobindo: There are a number of other ways. This one related in Brunton’s book seems to me the Adwaita-jnani method of separating oneself from body, vital, mind, by, discrimination, “I am not the body, I am not the life, I am not the mind” till he gets to the self, separate from mind, life and body. That also is one way of doing it. There is also the separation of Purusha from Prakriti till one becomes the witness only and feels separate from all the activities as the Witness Consciousness. There are other methods also.


Sri Aurobindo:  The method of gathering of the mind is not an easy one. It is better to watch and separate oneself from the thoughts till one becomes aware of a quiet space within into which they come from outside.    All thoughts really come from outside, but one is not conscious of their coming. You have become conscious of this movement.


Sri Aurobindo: There are different ways of getting rid of them; one is to reject them one by one before they can come in; another is to look at them with detachment till they fade away.   It is of course because of the old habit of the mental consciousness that it goes on receiving the thoughts from outside in spite of its being a fatigue — not that it wants them, but that they are accustomed to come and the mind mechanically lets them in and attends to them by force of habit. This is always one of the chief difﬁculties in Yoga when the experiences have begun and the mind wants to be always either concentrated or quiet. Some do what you propose [] and after a time succeed in quieting the mind altogether or the silence comes down from above and does it. But often when one tries this, the thoughts become very active and resist the silencing process and that is very troublesome.


Sri Aurobindo: Therefore many prefer to go on slowly letting the mind quiet down little by little, the quietness spreading and remaining for longer periods until the unwanted thoughts fall away or recede and the mind is left free for knowledge from within and above.  What you might do is to try and see what results — if the thoughts attack too much and trouble, you could stop — if the mind quiets down quickly or more and more, then continue.   The mind is always in activity, but we do not observe fully what it is doing, but allow ourselves to be carried away in the stream of continual thinking. When we try to concentrate, this stream of self-moved mechanical thinking becomes prominent to our observation. It is the ﬁrst normal obstacle (the other is sleep during meditation) to the effort towards Yoga.


Sri Aurobindo: The ﬁrst thing to do is to realise that this thought-ﬂow is not yourself, it is not you who are thinking, but thought that is going on in the mind. It is Prakriti with its thought-energy that is raising all this whirl of thought in you, imposing it on the Purusha. You as the Purusha must stand back as the witness observing the action, but refusing to identify yourself with it.  The next thing is to exercise a control and reject the thoughts — though sometimes by the very act of detachment the thoughthabit falls away or diminishes during the meditation and there is a sufﬁcient silence or at any rate a quietude which makes it easy to reject the thoughts that come and ﬁx oneself on the object of meditation. If one becomes aware of the thoughts as coming from outside, from the universal Nature, then one can throw them away before they reach the mind; in that way the mind ﬁnally falls silent.


Sri Aurobindo: If neither of these things happens, a persistent practice of rejection becomes necessary — there should be no struggle or wrestling with the thoughts, but only a quiet selfseparation and refusal. Success does not come at ﬁrst, but if consent is constantly withheld, the mechanical whirl eventually lessens and begins to die away and one can then have at will an inner quietude or silence.  It should be noted that the result of the Yogic processes is not, except in rare cases, immediate and one must apply them with patience till they give a result which is sometimes long in coming if there is much resistance in the outer nature.  How can you ﬁx the mind on the higher Self so long as you have no consciousness or experience of it? You can only concentrate on the idea of the Self.


Sri Aurobindo: Or else one can concentrate on the idea of the Divine or the Divine Mother or on an image or on the feeling of devotion, calling the presence in the heart or the Force to work in the mind and heart and body and liberate the consciousness and give the self-realisation. If you concentrate on the idea of the Self, it must be with the conception of the Self as something different from mind and its thoughts, the vital and its feelings, the body and its actions — something standing back from all these, something that you can come to feel concretely as an Existence or Consciousness, separate from all that yet freely pervading all without being involved in these things.   You have to separate yourself from the mind also. You have to feel yourself even in the mental, vital, physical levels (not only above) a consciousness that is neither mind, life, nor body.


Sri Aurobindo: For the buzz of the physical mind, reject it quietly, without getting disturbed, till it feels discouraged and retires shaking its head and saying, “This fellow is too calm and strong for me.” There are always two things that can rise up and assail the silence, — vital suggestions, the physical mind’s mechanical recurrences. Calm rejection for both is the cure. There is a Purusha within who can dictate to the nature what it shall admit or exclude, but its will is a strong, quiet will; if one gets perturbed or agitated over the difﬁculties, then the will of the Purusha cannot act effectively as it would otherwise.  The dynamic realisation will probably take place when the higher consciousness comes fully down into the vital.


Sri Aurobindo: When it comes into the mental it brings the peace of the Purusha and liberation and it may bring also knowledge. It is when it comes into the vital that the dynamic realisation becomes present and living.  If one concentrates on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses.


Sri Aurobindo: I have not the original chapter before me just now; but from the sentences quoted it seems to be the essential mental Idea. As for instance in the method of Vedantic knowledge one concentrates on the idea of Brahman omnipresent — one looks at a tree or other surrounding objects with the idea that Brahman is there and the tree or object is only a form. After a time if the concentration is of the right kind, one begins to become aware of a presence, an existence, the physical tree form becomes a shell and that presence or existence is felt to be the only reality. The idea then drops, it is a direct vision of the thing that takes its place — there is no longer any necessity of concentrating on the idea, one sees with a deeper consciousness, .


Sri Aurobindo: It should be noted that this concentration on the idea is not mere thinking,  — it is an inner dwelling on the essence of the Idea.  The nature of the meditation depends on the part of the being in which one is centred at the time. In the body (rather the subtle body than the physical, but connected with the corresponding parts in the gross physical body also) there are centres proper to each level of the being. There is a centre at the top of the head and above it which is that of the abovemind or higher consciousness; a centre in the forehead between the eyebrows which is that of the thinking mind, mental will, mental vision; a centre in the throat which is that of the expressive or externalising mind: these are the mental centres.  Below comes the vital — the heart (emotional), the navel (the dynamic life-centre), another below the navel in the abdomen which is the lower or sensational vital centre.