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The Mother
Conversations 1930-31
Union with the Divine Consciousness and Will
The force which, when absorbed in the Ignorance,
takes the form of vital desires is the same which, in its pure form, constitutes
the push, the dynamis towards transformation.
Consequently, you must beware at the same time of indulging freely in
desires, thinking them to be needs which must be satisfied, and of rejecting
the vital force as positively evil.
What you should do is to throw the doors of your being wide open to the
Divine. The moment you conceal something, you step straight into Falsehood.
The least suppression on your part pulls you immediately down into unconsciousness.
If you want to be fully conscious, be always in front of the Truth - completely
open yourself and try your utmost to let it see deep inside you, into
every corner of your being. That alone will bring into you light and consciousness
and all that is most true.
Be absolutely modest - that is to say, know the distance between what
you are and what is to be, not allowing the crude physical mentality to
think that it knows when it does not, that it can judge when it cannot.
Modesty implies the giving up of yourself to the Divine whole-heartedly,
asking for help and, by submission, winning the freedom and absence of
responsibility which imparts to the mind utter quietness.
Not otherwise can you hope to attain the union with the Divine Consciousness
and the Divine Will.
Of course it depends on the path by which you approach the Divine whether
the union with the Consciousness comes first or with the Will. If you
go deep within, the former will naturally precede, whereas if you take
a standpoint in the universal movement the latter is likely to be realised
first; but it is not quite possible to make a cut and dried generalisation
because the sadhana is a flexible and fluid thing and also because the
Divine Consciousness and Will are very closely connected with each other,
being two aspects of one single Being.
Take note, however, that the merely external similarity of your thought
or action does not prove that this union has been achieved. All such proofs
are superficial, for the real union means a thorough change, a total reversal
of your normal consciousness. You cannot have it in your mind or in your
ordinary state of consciousness. You must get clean out of that - then
and not till then can you be united with the Divine Consciousness.
Once the union is really experienced the very idea of proving it by the
similarity of your thought and action with mine will make you laugh. People
living together in the same house for years or coming in daily intimate
contact with one another develop a sort of common mind - they think and
act alike. But you cannot claim to be like the Divine by such merely mental
contact; you must consent to have your consciousness entirely reversed!
The genuine sign of the union is that your consciousness has the same
quality, the same way of working as the Divine's and proceeds from the
same supramental source of Knowledge.
That you sometimes happen to act in the external field as the Divine appears
to act may be nothing save coincidence, and to demonstrate the union by
such comparison is to try to prove a very great thing by a very small
one!
The true test is the direct experience of the Divine Consciousness in
whatever you do. It is an unmistakable test, because it changes your being
completely.
Evidently, you cannot at once be fixed in the Divine Consciousness; but
even before it settles in you, you can have now and then the experience
of it. The Divine Consciousness will come and go, but while the union
lasts you will be as if somebody else! The whole universe will wear a
new face and you yourself as well as your perception and vision of things
will be metamorphosed.
So long as you lack the experience you are inclined to look for proofs:
proofs and results are secondary - what the union fundamentally means
is that in your consciousness you know more than a human being.
It is all to the good if, owing to your acquiring a pure, calm and receptive
mind, you manage to think and act in accordance with my intentions. But
you must not mistake a step on the way for the final goal. For the chief
difference between the positive union and mental receptivity is that I
have to formulate what I want you to carry out and put the formula into
your pure and calm mind, whereas in the case of the actual union I need
not formulate at all. I just put the necessary truth-consciousness in
you and the rest automatically works out, because it is I myself who am
then in you... I dare say it is all rather difficult for you to imagine,
the experience being well-nigh indescribable.
It is, however, less difficult to imagine the union of the will with the
Divine Will, for you can imagine a Will which is effective without struggle
and victoriously manifest everywhere.
And if all your will tends to unite with it, then there is something approaching
a union. That is to say, you begin to lose your separate egoistic will
and your being thirsts naturally to fulfil the Divine's behest and, without
knowing even what the supreme Will is, wills exactly what the Divine wishes.
But this means an unquestioning acceptance of the Higher Guidance.
The energy in you which is deformed into vital desire but which is originally
the urge towards realisation must unite with the Divine Will, so that
all your power of volition mingles with it as a drop of water with the
sea.
No more then its own weaknesses and failings, but evermore the supreme
quality of the Divine Will - Omnipotence!
The Mother
in CWM, volume 3, "Questions and Answers 1930-31",
pages 133-135
published by Sri
Aurobindo Ashram - Pondicherry
diffusion by SABDA
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