Jan 14, 2023
Alina (0:00:29):
Namaste, and good evening everyone. Namaste, Sraddhalu.
[Sraddhalu] Namaste.
[Alina] Happy to be back and to continue our fifth session on learning and expression. I'm sorry, I'm in an airport. So you might hear some weird noises. So I will continue with addressing the question that we received last time from Buddha Nursery. Are there any methods to improve mental faculties?
Sraddhalu (0:01:08):
So just to recapitulate, we have been on this theme of developing the capacity to learn as well as to express ourselves. And the first two sessions were primarily centered on learning. The second two were on the power of expression and weaving in questions which have been coming up as well as a few questions which were pending. So, very short question – Buddha Nursery’s: “Are there methods to improve mental faculties?”
This was asked some months back, but in a sense what we have covered over the last four sessions has been exactly this. How are you going to amplify these capacities? And it has been quite detailed, so I will not cover everything that we have, but essentially we will go down to two different complementary movements. One will be an active movement, the other will be what may be seemingly a passive movement. So on the active side, we recognize that in a child, there is no special exercise you do to develop your capacities. You develop them by using them. The more you use them and the more the varied kinds of experiences of use, the more those faculties and their variations tend to grow. So this principle we now amplify. Except that in the first phase of development, you are largely catching up with what is already inherent as a capacity. In the second phase, you are pushing that capacity now beyond what was formerly developed. And when I say formerly, I mean in the biological human evolution as well as your own consciousness past capacities developed across incarnations. So both of these are present and to the extent that that's already there as a template or a potential, using the capacity is enough to build. After that you have to do something a little more. So we'll look at these two.
Use consciously; like a child does through activities and experiences of life, but now because we are in a phase which is of the second kind, use consciously in every possible way the faculties that you want to develop, utilising the full spectrum on which you can apply those faculties. So I'm speaking very generally. You can translate in your own terms how that would apply. If you're going to take music, for example, you will learn to sing or just get familiar with the notes and the sense of the flow of music and the ragas or the patterns or rhythms, tonalities, chords etc. Or you are playing the keyboard; what you do normally is you, for example, with the keyboard you play a single finger until the muscle grows strong, then a single finger until it grows strong and then you do all possible combinations. The same with the voice. Sa Re Ga Re Ga Ma Ga Ma Pa Do Re Mi Re Mi Pa. And then variations returning, again combinations of 3 going back and forth, combinations of 4 going back and forth, combinations of 5. Effectively, you are as if covering every possible kind of movement across notes or playing chords, combinations of notes. And that's making elastic and at the same time bringing forward and at the same time pushing boundaries. So using in every possible way with the full spectrum of variations and combining that faculty with other faculties. So in this case, music you're doing with your voice or your fingers. What about your legs? What about another activity? For example, if you look at a marching band, the fellow who is playing the trumpet has to be walking at the same time. So ideally, the entire band will take steps in rhythm with the music. But what if you are required to go faster? Will the music go faster? Because you can't always control the pace of your walk. So can you play the same instrument while walking? So you're now going to link it with other activities, other spaces and across other faculties.
So, let's say there's a certain faculty, mind faculty of thought or analysis and you have developed that analytic power while reading. Can you develop that analytic power while speaking and interacting? Can you develop that analytic power while writing? Although the power is the same, the space in which you are applying it is different and you'll notice its challenge. Some people can think as they write but not when they converse or vice versa. And so by exposing the same faculty in combination with other powers, you are again broadening and therefore refining and integrating. And then other levels of consciousness, other states. So you will see a good musician or before a performance, the musician will put himself in the best state possible so that you can give the best. But what if you have just woken up? Can you play with the same skill? You will notice you cannot initially because your consciousness on which you hold the skill is very narrow of a higher grade. It does not work on a lower grade. But by going back and forth on different levels, you are again integrating. All of these will make the faculties and the question was very general, it will make the faculties more rich, more complete, more stable, more widespread, more integrated and so on.
So this is an active aspect. And one more point to the active aspect is, while doing this, push the boundary of capacity in their use, in each of these kinds of activities or variations. So let's say, you have learned to play a very complex piece, and thats about the maximum you can take, challenge yourself to take a more complex piece which requires a more complex fingering, a more complex move of the voice and so on. I remember a performance I had seen of a lady who had been trained in classical music. She was on a performance now as a full-fledged adult and she was competent enough to be herself a teacher. And as she sang, there was a very complex movement and nuance of note and holding the note almost for 40 seconds while moving across nuances. And she does that and as she approaches the end of it, she opens her eyes and looks at her teacher for confirmation. Did I do it right?
And I said, oops, you're too busy trying to meet someone's expectations, you are not in the [poise of] catching the flow of music and flowing with it. And when you do that, you will know, but also you will be much more in it. So her consciousness was still turned outwardly, not focused in the experience and therefore whatever these limitations, but she could not push the boundary therefore. She was always limited to what was given by the teacher or what was within that box of her learning space.
(0:08:53):
Always push boundaries and you don't need to wait for a teacher for that. You take, what about this, a little more. Now I've got it skillfully, I can play perfectly. Can I play it faster? There's a point where you feel as if you reach the limits of your fingers and you'll say, no, biologically it is not possible. And you'll be surprised, in principle you can double that and you will find people who do that on the internet and it looks magical. You may not find it interesting to push the boundary of speed but you will find it interesting to push other boundaries. My point is you have to actively push the boundaries especially when we are in the second phase where the initial learning was largely done by catching up.
The second phase where you are growing beyond what your nature has or what your past learning had, will you push the boundaries consciously.
So both of these now come into the active phase of improving mental faculties. And now you have the complementing side which is not exactly passive, but it has a passive dimension which we have already covered in some depth: stilling the consciousness, the faculties, making them receptive to higher and deeper influences, effectively what we have described as purification and receptivity,- work on this simultaneously.
And the other step in this passive side is consciously infusing inner and higher influences of grades of consciousness and I will use two words,- light and force of consciousness, into the mind, before and during the use of these activities or faculties. So before you start, you concentrate, put yourself in that right state open, inward, upward, invoke that in the stillness, the light and force and then turn to engaging with that faculty. While doing, as the skill grows- now I can play almost mechanically, and that's when you will tune in to the inner and higher and infuse consciously. The amplification you will get from this complementing side which we have called passive is actually far greater than what will come with the active side. But if you have not done the active side, just the passive side, it will miss the refinement and perfection. So, in a sense, these two are complementing sides and I have given a broad answer. This could be applied to all faculties of the mind as well as even other grades of consciousness.
So I think this would be what we would answer for methods of improving. We can go to the next question.
(0:11:42):
So the next question we have from the chat box last time, “R van R”, because I spoke of speed learning and R asks, on speed learning, what should be our attitude when we are following a certain class or webinar where the speed of both the speaker as well as the understanding of the group is different from yours. That is, for example, you understand something within 5 minutes and the remaining 55 minutes you are waiting for the rest to understand. How to use that time usefully instead of becoming impatient?
A lot depends on the nature of the content, the relationship that you have with the teacher, the nature of the activity in that interaction and so on. But since it is a very general question and it is perhaps related more to speed reading, you have read a text and you have already acquired the comprehension. Now what do you do with the time that you have before you?
And there are many things you could do and I will touch upon a variety of them in sequence. Well, first I would simply say find another teacher, change the class or teacher if you can, if you have that luxury and sometimes one has that. Otherwise, if you have an option also where the thing is recorded and you can watch it on your own later and so on. But assuming that cannot be done, you move with the other options. That is, think ahead, read ahead and think ahead both, and perhaps you have already got the whole thing. Maybe an entire multiple page text while the group is still with the first paragraph at which point you can dwell, think how does this integrate, how does it relate to the rest, so that you don't feel you have wasted time, you have been also learning.
And then as you are looking at the group and the teacher, you can be learning from that interaction with observing how you could, you observe the teacher and think of how you would teach the same content differently, perhaps better, but differently in any case. And how would that relate to the current class and the difficulties it has? How could you present the same thing in a different way that they could get it? Consider the kinds of blocks that people have. What do they relate to? Why is the person having this difficulty? What is the limitation of the viewpoint or the capacity to understand? Observe and you can learn a lot of human nature.
And one of the things which will make you a very good teacher is if you have applied this activity with a wide mix of teachers and teaching types and learning types. Separately further, what you could do is offer to be teaching assistant. If it is online, you can be interacting with some of the group separately in a separate, what they call, chat room, helping them to understand and explain. So, teacher will also be relieved. You are also doing something interesting for you, growing in your capacity as you teach. Now all of these are somewhat superficial. The two more things that I will indicate which are of a much more deep and perhaps more aligned to the spiritual aspect of our general approach as we have been doing with our study here.
So, there are three words Sri Aurobindo uses with regard to the Yoga of Knowledge. And these are the three means by which the mind most directly can enter not only in deeper understanding and immersion, but eventually even into identification with a deeper or higher knowledge. So I have referred to these three words before, but one of the words I had got wrong. I state it correctly here. He uses three words, śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana. And I will read from the text of Sri Aurobindo where he refers to this in the Synthesis of Yoga. So because we are mental beings, he says, it is through the mind that we can most easily enlighten our ignorance. And then he says, “Armed with its functions of gathering and reflection, meditation, fixed contemplation, the absorbed dwelling of the mind on its object, śravaṇa, manana, nididhyāsana. It stands at our tops as an indispensable aid to our realisation of that which we pursue”.
So the full text you can see on your own, but these three phrases, we'll see how he elaborates it in the English language. “Gathering and reflection, meditation, fixed contemplation, the absorbed dwelling of the mind on its objects”. So you can see there is a graded shift. Shravana is practically, it means listening, but it is this gathering and reflecting as you gather. See, even the word reflection is very suggestive. You reflect. The mind reflecting is not so much actively thinking, but rather it's a receptive poise. And yet there is a turning to knowledge. So gathering and reflection, then meditation which is a more active poise of the mind thinking around and then fixed contemplation where you do not think around the theme but hold the theme in thought. Which then leads to the third which is, so this would be the manana and the third is nididhyāsana, which is the absorbed dwelling of the mind on its object. So literally you take what you have just learnt now and dwell on it. If you follow the earlier two stages, there has already been some thinking around it.
So you are looking at implications, relations to other things, maybe combined with other aspects of the knowledge of how else you could present it. You could have presented from this way towards that, from that way towards this, or from a different poise which links it to a broader picture and then zooms into this particular aspect. All that has been done in the manana phase. And now you as if immerse into the knowledge and dwell in it. It's almost like a concentration leading to identification.
Remember the three powers of concentration. First it can reveal any knowledge that on which you concentrate. Second it can awaken any capacity or power relating to that knowledge and third it can lead to identification because of the oneness. So you dwell on this and it does not matter what the subject is. You will find this dwelling will give you a certain insight and a grip, a certain even, I will use the word mastery, but you have not yet got full mastery, but you have a initial mastery, a grip which says if I have the same grip on the whole space, then it would be mastery. But now in this little patch of the hole, it feels like a mastery of this patch. And you can do this. Or, additionally into this. As you dwell into this last stage of the nididhyasana, immersion, you concentrate within and open to the inner and higher ranges of your own consciousness while holding this either the theme, the content or being in the space in the classroom and you deepen and open to inner and higher ranges of your consciousness, but without losing this as the general direction of your awareness. So it's as if you're deepening the backdrop and upper and wider inner ranges, of which this is the front. So it's as if, to use another symbol,- you've caught the tail of the dog, you're holding the tip, and now you feel the tail; and then from the tail you feel the body, and from the body you reach the hole. But that's the direction. You may not actively seek that, but that's the direction in identification in consciousness. But you're still holding this one-pointed focus.
So these are some suggestions which you could practise depending on the context since it is a very general question, I am also giving a broad answer. Depending also on the kind of topic, you might as you dwell on it in the manana phase, you might make notes, implications, if it is a more analytic process which involves, let us say physics or mathematics, you will derive further steps, what if it is done, how would you link this with that, you do certain equations or you are just thinking deeply about it. And if teacher asks you what you are doing, you can just say, well, I was thinking of the implication of this with that and that's fine, nobody is going to blame you for that. So you can always be either doing something or growing in a deeper way on the same team or generally in consciousness.
(0:21:42):
So this is the problem when you are with a group and the group is not matched with your capacity or the teacher does not match with your capacity. I found that where you do not need formal certification and you don't care for it particularly, then what you can do is find the suitable platform where you feel it matches your pace, depth, richness that you need. And today you get a lot which is almost free of cost. Learn because it gives you the joy. And if someday you feel the need for the paper also, well you go through the course in a minimal way; but you are not learning there, you are just doing what is needed to get your certification.
And again for that, there are ways for doing online correspondent courses, where the correspondence course can have content which is quite shallow. You dwell, you learn on your own, but just finish their formalities of questions or tests to get the paper required. I think this would cover our question.
(0:22:53):
The next question is from Suraj. He says, this was from last time on the chat box: “Can you please recommend some books to start of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother?”
I believe the message was when we were discussing the development of intelligence and the growth of brain cells and I said one of the best ways is actually to read Sri Aurobindo and perhaps this question comes at that point. So I'm taking it in this context that for developing of your brain cells. I would say three stages to this. First, take whatever is for you interesting and enjoyable. There's no point taking a technical text or a difficult text or a topic which doesn't mean much to you.
I'll share with you my own way of reading Sri Aurobindo in the earlier years. I was much more into the science aspect of things even though I enjoyed Sri Aurobindo's writings. Through my teacher's talks I had already got a broad sense of the philosophy. So it was not new in that sense. I could read the books, it was only elaboration, deepening and so on. The ideas were generally familiar. So I didn't find it so interesting to read certain types of books. I started reading the Life Divine and then I said, okay, but somehow it does not resonate. I understand what he's saying but it doesn't have practical import for me.
What do I want? And I want to understand much more about, let's say at that time one of the things was the physics aspect of the five elements and how matter emerges out of consciousness and so I began to look for those passages. Or just a patch, here's something which is a political importance, he is describing processes between countries or something which had a practical import for me, I don't know how to decide, how to take a decision, how do I unify these two very conflicting needs. I pick up a text which I find interesting. So literally at that point I was jumping across patches of text from various writings of Sri Aurobindo, which was fine because it held my interest. I wanted to learn more because it was interesting.
If I had just said, until I finish reading the Life Divine, I won't touch anything else, I am sure I would have stopped reading at some point and then not read anything else as a result. So initially, focus on what is for you interesting, because it is relevant and therefore enjoyable and let the joy of that learning lead you to want more. If you don't follow this and if you go a more mechanical way of study you will get bored and then, “Sri Aurobindo is too difficult, I don't think I can understand, maybe after a few years” – all these complexes begin to form.
No, in fact he is so fascinating. When I first read the Life Divine, the first few chapters, I said I understood everything. Then I read it again after five years or so and then I said, “my God, I'm reading it for the first time, I never knew all these things”. And then I read again after ten years and I said, “wow, this is so profound. What I had understood then was so shallow”, and I thought I had understood it. So occasionally, when I ask somebody, have you read? And they will say, yes, yes, some twenty years ago I had read Life Divine. Someone says when I was 21 years old I had finished reading the Life Divine and today you are what, you're 40, mm-hmm, you've missed something extraordinary because what you understood then was shallow, superficial. You just understood the words and their superficial thought meaning which is good but there is such a depth and as you can see how that works.
So don't worry about this. Focus on what is interesting, enjoyable and as a result you will find yourself going layer by layer and your capacity will develop and with it your enjoyment will develop.
(0:27:08):
Second aspect of it will be from here, push the boundary into what is more provocative, more challenging. What is pushing the boundary of your capacity? Something we discussed earlier today. Push that boundary.
Now, let's say you've just read a chapter which was very interesting. So one of the things I had read early on in the Life Divine was the chapter on matter because I wanted to understand matter, science and so on. Then I said about intuition. So I read that chapter. But as I am reading that, he comes to a point at the end of the chapter where you say, my God, this is absolutely so important, the consequence of this. And what happens with that? And you want to read the next chapter. And then maybe you go one or two chapters more and then it again starts getting too theoretical. You say, I'm not sure I understand. What is this business of Brahman, Purusha, Eshwara, what does it matter? It means nothing. So you fade out or you switch to another portion and so on.
Push that boundary. Every time you feel this it's interesting but difficult, pause, wait, read, dwell and which comes to this again shravana, manana, nididhyasana, the three words we already spoke of. Do that as you read. So I would say it's not so important what you read, but that you follow this three-stage process and dwell on it and allow it to provoke and draw the maximum in deeper understanding and insight. So start with initially if you have a little fear and discomfort about something that might be difficult and you have a wrong idea, start with the thin books, the little books.
Some of the most provocative actually are his Thoughts and Aphorisms. It's a little book, I don't remember, maybe 150 or so aphorisms. Each aphorism is just one sentence. But when you read it, it provokes you. It makes your mind think, oh, there's a whole contradiction, two different, absolutely opposite things being unified in this single statement. And it really makes you think, but really take time to think about it. And think about the implications for you in your life as applied. Then you go to the next aphorism and it's as if he builds on the first one, when he thought something great had been unified, he comes to another level of unification and another and another. There is actually a sequence with which he builds. In fact, there is something far more profound which I believe we have lost because of the limitations of the so-called editors of these works. When he wrote these aphorisms, he wrote one set of aphorisms; then he wrote a second lot in between the lines of the first. Interesting! And of course they believe that it's because he didn't have enough writing paper. Not true, he had, but I believe there was something more profound, because I saw that; as I was reading I said, this resonates with that part.
So you see the aphorisms are divided into three- Dhyana, Bhakti and Karma. And you will see as you read across the things that things patches which resonate. This thing which happens in the mind that happens in the heart that happens in the action and you see a parallel. And then when I saw in the original documents that he had actually written weaving lines across, I said there is surely some resonance between this which he intended. Unfortunately, I don't have access to that text and it is something which I leave to future exploration. But still the point is, as you read and think and there is this provocation, you will have to stop at some point because there's too much. The impact of the first is gone after you've read three or four or five, so you will pause there and then think about it. Very simple text.
(0:31:26):
There's another which is also aphoristic which is called Thoughts and Glimpses. This goes really deep and this is where he has a whole series of things: ‘ego was the helper, ego is the bar’ and so on, many pairs like this. And you really have to think about it, to consider what are the implications. Of course, they are all elaborated in his writings. And then he raises the question, why if all this is an expression, even matter with its rigidities and expression of the Divine, why did the Divine create Matter which is so rigid, and then he answers that question. What an amazing insight it gives you!
But when you read it you will understand what he says in words and in thought. But behind that there are at least two or three layers of further implications much more profound, which you will discover as you think about it. Have fun.
Read the… you are more interested in the politics?, go into his writings on the unity of mankind; you are interested in social development?, take those writings. If you just want something easy, short, simple, you take what is printed in the volume that is called Essays Divine and Human in the later editions or the Hour of God in the old editions as well as some other volumes, short essays on various themes, one titled Evolution and then there's one on Hypnosis for example, just read those, but again with this kind of enjoyable insights. Or if you want something much more relaxed, not challenging to your intelligence, but opening to the heart, read the Mother's questions and answers. If you want to put into practice the mind training, take her text of the commentaries on the Dhammapada, where she's actually taking texts from the Dhammapada and commenting on them for application for mind development. Because the Dhammapada, which is a Buddhist text, is largely drawing upon the Raja Yoga knowledge and methodologies. So mind mastery, thought mastery. But put it into practice also, not just enjoying the reading.
So here are some starting points, but you'll find your own depending on your interest. As I said, it must be interesting, enjoyable, next step it must be provocative and push the boundaries of your capacity and the third, you will follow this shravana, manana, Nididhyasana, deepening in the immersion. I think this should satisfy Suraj's question.
(0:34:02):
There is another question which is from Anupam, which also relates to this part.
Anupam writes, “How do I learn to use my mind in the way that I want? It is what Swami Vivekananda always said, to use your mind as your servant instead of being mind's servant. How to develop this capacity?”
So there are two phases to this development. The first is all that we have been discussing. Train. Train the powers. Fully amplify and integrate and so on. The second phase is, who chooses to use these powers? Is it merely your desired nature, habitual nature, mechanical habit? Or can there be something deeper and higher? So as an effort to master the mind, you then step back and now begin to choose what you will think, how you will think, what is a priority, what is not so important, where important. Where do you want to put more energies of action, emotions as well as thought. But until you have done this initial preparation of the mind, you could of course start this also, you will not have a vehicle that is really worthwhile. You could stand back and say now I have learned to control my thoughts. Great!
But what about when you use your thoughts, can you really use them with full power and skill? So there are people who have developed this ability to step back and now they can choose what they want to think. But the power of their thought is not developed. And this is the reason why Nature normally uses your desire impulse and ego impulse of satisfaction to create a rich first base of development and then through the knocks of life pushes you to want to disengage and turn around on your own reactions and capacities and choose to master. But once you understand this, then you can choose to do both at the same time if that's required. Otherwise develop and then as you develop parallelly, with an emphasis increasing later on, stepping back to choose and guide your thoughts. Or if you are reasonably confident of this, work on both at the same time.
But if you do the second of mastering, know that that's not enough. You need to also develop the power of the intelligence. Because in mastering, what is the goal? I master my thoughts and my emotions, then what? Will they simply serve you, the master, and you serve what? Your desire, your impulse? Even at a higher level, finally you are left to some maybe higher desire or higher impulse. But if you want to give yourself as an instrument for the divine will and the divine inspiration, what are you giving? The vehicle you are offering as power of mind, life energies, skills of the body, is that something really worthwhile as an offering? Of course you offer anyway as it is. But make it more beautiful, more perfect, more skillful and capable that the flower you give is much more rich, much more large, much more beautiful. You see?
And so dwell on this aspect, work on it also. But the method is finally coming to this: develop faculties and then stand back. Identify with something greater than your mind, step back and become aware of your thoughts. More easily done if you have been working on them because as you work on them, a part of you automatically begins to stand back and prepares the base for the completion of this.
(0:38:06):
And the last question I will take for this from earlier was from Purusha who asks, “How can I enhance the faculty of awareness?”
So I use this now to complete the discussion on Anupam's question. The pure awareness which you have as a mental awareness, this poise of witness, which we call the Purusha status that stands back, supporting, free from the active thought process itself, but conscious of it. How do you develop that? Ideally in this way, by consciously learning to develop your capacities, you become conscious that there is a centre from which you develop it and now you begin to be more aware of this centre and from there you disengage and choose to make all the activity quiet. So the same centre which was pushing the boundaries of activity now says, alright, now I make my mind come to quietness. What's left? I, who chooses to make it quiet.
What is this poise? Now in practice this poise can be many things. It can be just the surface mind awareness, standing back from surface activity or emotions. Or it can take an inner poise, deepening inward, separating even from the surface mind awareness. And in this deepening, you feel behind and above a still greater presence, power, which is your first, let's say, influence of the self, or turning deeper within, you feel a deeper influence of the psychic.
So, to any of these, one or both, you now begin to lean back in remembrance, in feeling, in identification. And in this way, you are deepening the awareness and as a result opening out to still greater aspects and faculties or powers of the awareness. So I am taking literally the question of Purusha: “How can I enhance the faculty of awareness?”
Yes, there is one part which is simply amplifying, but the other part which is this enhancement in the shift of consciousness. I think this is broad enough, though in summary form. Once you get the idea, start doing it. As you do it, you'll feel and then you'll find it's not so difficult. The initial enhancement of awareness that most people are satisfied with is just an amplifying of the brightness of awareness. And that's done as easily as this. You feel your hand, become aware of it, and then just amplify the awareness, until it feels as if your hand is much more aware.
The same you do with your mind awareness; ‘I am conscious’, become aware of that consciousness and gently amplify and there you are, a much wider, clearer, freer, quieter perhaps awareness, that's a good point. From there, to take a poise, standing back from the thoughts is easier, but it's still in the mind consciousness. Once this is sufficiently stabilised, from this you turn to what is behind, lean behind, deeper, wider density or grade of awareness and slowly give yourself, open out to that, lean back into it, blend into it.
I think that should be good for Purusha's question. There are some comments as well as questions in the chat box.
Sraddhalu (0:42:05):
So, question from Dhruval, although he loves the subject of ophthalmology, he does not feel he is doing well academically from a rank point of view, even though he is able to do everything in the exam. And in the exam, of course, only the ranks matter.
In the aiming for ranks is becoming useful when you decide that it is required for your career or for a higher post or for some promotion. It's your entrance for entering into some other opportunity. In itself, it may not give you a better opportunity in qualitative terms, although it may give you a better opportunity in financial terms. And sometimes you may have to choose between the two, not always, but sometimes the higher paying job will also be more demanding on your time and will also compel you to earn more for the business that is paying you more and therefore compel you to compromise. So as a doctor you join a big hospital which gives pays you high, but then they will demand that you also extract more from your patients And it's a choice you make or you go to a relatively smaller hospital, which is more like a family where you can actually care for patients may be of less in number but you can really do that job well and again these are choices you will make.
But if for whatever reason you decide that you actually want to get higher ranks, look at what it requires as distinct from what you are doing. You probably are creative. That doesn't count. What is required for the rank is, write exactly the way it was written in the book when they ask you the exact same question. So memory power and the capacity to repeat without changing much. And they are only looking for keywords. Did you get the right keywords? Whether you understood them does not matter.
I had somebody, it was connected with the ashram, they were running a school with Sri Aurobindo's name on it and he told me, you see I have changed my whole school so much. Every child knows the meaning of evolution. You ask any child, what is the definition of evolution? And then he rattled out a definition which was complicated enough that I had to pause and say, oh, what does that mean? And all the children knew it and he said, see, they are now so good. And I think it was pointless. Even I had to struggle and I'm sure those children had to struggle in understanding that definition. I probably didn't understand it all.
So actually to pass exams you do not need to understand, bulk of the exams are designed like that. Of course in ophthalmology there will be a practical side where I do not know how they would assess whether you do the procedure correctly or you recite the procedure or whether they make you do. If you did it probably you would do better, but if you are just required to recite the procedure, again it is a memory thing. So, well work on that if that's what you want to do; learn by heart and that faculty you can also amplify.
There are ways to remember more easily and you use those mnemonic methods as well as subliminal learning. There is something called super learning which is you do while listening to some music or have the text read out to you and so on which allows it to seep in the subconscious so you can memorise more easily and so on. It's up to you. Recognize what it requires and maybe it's not so important for you.
(0:46:25):
Okay. There are other questions which I will make a note of for future reference. I would like to continue with the overall topic which we have been discussing now. Remember, it was about learning as well as the power to express. And last time we dwelt on the power of expression, particularly I described this aspect of language and the life experience, the growth of the brain cells, the ability to speak while you think at the same time or rather think ahead of what you are going to speak and even as you are speaking here your mind can be ahead and all this can lead to the seeing and the intuitive openings and so on. And this was in the power of articulation.
Now in continuation of that discussion, in any expression, in any delivery, I had said that how long you speak or how flowing is the language is not so important as the content itself. And so today I want to dwell more on this aspect of content and this both in the aspect of writing as well as speaking. Broadly what we will discuss will cover all forms of expression. If you catch the principle behind what we discuss now, you will find it applies equally to other forms of expression such as music or dance and I will describe it in that way so that you catch the principles which I'll highlight.
So first of all you notice when somebody asks you, please tell me what you think about this. That's when your mind starts looking in and say, ah, what do I think? Some people don't even attempt that, they just start talking. And as they talk, one chain of thought leads to another chain and you keep jumping. There's no structure, there's no development. And maybe as they've spoken, now suddenly they become conscious, oh there's a thought one, thought two, thought three. And now they look back and try to make a summary. What I mean is, and then they will restate now with a better summarization. But until they had spoken the thought had not come into their awareness.
You will see this often when somebody asks a question. It's a long widened thing, they are wandering all over the place and then they realise they are supposed to be asking a question.And then, “what I want to ask is” and then probably some piece comes. And it just means that the ability to turn in to become aware of thought was never developed because education was focused on well the superficial awareness of words and ideas. So obviously we are assuming you have done what we have discussed before. There is this capacity to turn in and now if somebody asks you well tell me what you think about this. Before you speak a word, your mind turns in and you discover there are all these things.
At that moment it's like…do you remember what it feels like to have gone the last time that you visited some beach, some friend's house, Auroville, Himalaya, somewhere and suddenly there's a whole rush of so many experiences. From this now you want to distil, structure, organise thoughts. And even when your thoughts are organised, that's not the best way to present. While presenting you may use a different sequence altogether. But if you have your organised structure of thoughts, then your presentation could follow any sequence and make sure that you can cover this organised thoughts with clarity.
For example, often when presenting in a novel, you start with something initially that will hook the reader or in cinema the viewer and then you do a flashback. So in an action movie, well you're going there for the action, you don't want to have a slow start. But if you don't have a back story, you don't have any action either. So how do you do that? Well, you just launch into the action. Suddenly this fellow is going somewhere and he finds bullets whizzing around. What happens now? And then a bullet hits and you don't know if he will die. Movie says, three months ago and you shift back. Now you have the reader hooked. How does this situation happen? You can go somewhat slow. But if you don't have the structure of the story clear within you, you couldn't do that. You couldn't be jumping back and forth. But the jumping back and forth has an intention, has a structure also.
(0:51:30):
So understand that the clarity of thought is different from the sequence of presentation and the power of expression. But you need clarity of thought to be able to make that effective. So, you are given a topic, your mind turns in. There is all this. What do you do? You gather first everything which you want to say. So what I will suggest is an exercise that you do. You take a piece of paper. Now write down every single thing that comes to your mind, without exception, every single thing. And for those of you who really want to do this, I suggest you take up a topic and I will perhaps even suggest a theme if you like, evolution.
Now write down every single thing or more specifically something more narrow. Why does evolution need to be so laborious and difficult? Okay, write down everything you want. It doesn't matter about the order. It's a blank sheet and each point you distinguish from the others like bullet points. Dash, this, dash, this. I use dashes instead of dots it's easier later you will see why now write down everything you that comes to mind don't worry if your mind is jumping back and forth just write and then when you finished everything look again inside what else is left yes what about this I guess I've done it but there's a nuance which I have missed will add that nuance. Literally every little detail however trivial it may seem, write it as a point. Now already you will notice while doing this, yes I got that but there was a nuance. Now I will not put the nuance elsewhere at the bottom of the page. I want to put the nuance next to that primary idea of which this is a nuance, isn't it?
So now comes your second stage, you take a second sheet of paper. Looking at all these things you have written, pick out what do you feel like the principal ideas, the big ideas under which other things come as variations or nuances, dependent ideas versus primary ideas. And here on this page, you will write the primary ideas, leave a gap and try the next primary idea and so on. And all other ideas which are dependent or derived or nuances of these put under this heading, so you have a dash big idea, under this heading you put a second dash indented with the second idea, third idea, nuances or implications or derivations. While doing this automatically in your mind something is happening: Ah, this should have come before that. Logically, in the dependence chain this is higher up. Well, shift it up or put an arrow.
You see what's happening automatically. Where earlier it was a cluster of just many different unconnected pieces, ideas, facets. As you're putting them on paper, automatically you begin to notice relationships, dependencies, structures. And now going through this phase, you are putting it broadly into structure. Again, do not worry if it does not come out perfect. You are developing a capacity right now. So, you make your secondary and then you will notice certain ideas are not secondary, they are tertiary, they are dependent on the secondary ideas. So, you put a under it a third dash, bullet point and now you will have a hierarchy. First level, I have to put it on your side. So, bullet points first level, under that secondary thoughts, tertiary thoughts and in some of them they are not even tertiary, they are sequential. After this comes this, after that comes that. So we will put it like that, dash this, dash that, dash that. Now you will notice in your paper, the whole thing is arranged, but your primary ideas are, well, just picked as they came to you.
Now look at the whole thing again, already what is happening within you, the hierarchical relationship of all these ideas is becoming organised. Take a third sheet of paper blank now and this time you look at the big ideas, think of the sequence there, not necessarily how you will present, but how the structure of relationship naturally is. That you write now and put in that sequence. This time when you write the first idea, you do not put the second bullet point of principle idea. Under this, you work on the secondary and tertiary, re-sequencing them as required to make the whole relationship as natural in relationship of dependence, structure, order as much as possible. Sometimes it could be this way or that way and you are not sure either. well just follow with that which seems more natural rather than less, that's all. Then you're completing this you go to your second principal idea, build that then the third and so on. Now you have a structure of everything you want to say. Now if you were to keep this paper in front of you and somebody asks you now please tell me what it is you think about evolution or you're preparing for a job interview and the fellow is going to ask you and you know it is a standard question: What is it that you bring to the table that is special? Why should we hire you?
You have structured your ideas, you have this paper in front of you. Interestingly, by the time you have done the third paper, the overall scheme will be there in your head, even without needing to remember actively. But the scheme is there. For now, at least for the purpose of the exercise, we have the paper in front of us. And now make a presentation without pausing, without hesitation, without repetition, and you will find it so easy: On this topic, the most important thing is this. And as a consequence of this, you have that. As a consequence of that, you have that. And then there is this which complements that and already you are placing things. Well, present it. Write it or speak it. And if some of you want to really work upon this, do it as a group or in pairs so that if someone else, you take turns. So you really have to present to someone. Instead of doing it alone, which feels odd and you are not so confident of the flow, you objectivize it. Have a few friends or group which is working on this, do it together.
At this point you notice, while you are speaking, ‘I could have said this differently’, ‘I could have said this better’; Simply observe, don't worry. If you want to make the correction as you are doing, but don't worry, complete the full presentation. The fact that you are conscious is already triggering within your mind an organisational process. The next time that you do, maybe you'll take the same topic and make a new presentation after some time, not immediately. If you do immediately, you'll tend to repeat. Take a break. The next day, you take the same topic, the same structure. If you want to revise, change a bit, order, put a few arrows, move things around, change the numbering, doesn't matter what, because based on your new understanding, something will happen.
Now you present it again, this time totally different with a fresh mind and try to make it now more interesting, engage, observe the audience reaction, play with this. You hold the paper in front of you, you are not reading because these are just bullet points, but they are your thought pattern of ideas. As you do this, you will notice within you the whole clarity of the theme will be so well structured that your ideas now in articulation will tend to flow. You will as you speak gain certain insights of how you can connect, how you can change, how you can restructure. Work on this for a while.
(1:00:08):
Then comes one more step. As you begin to do this, as you start presenting, you realise that the idea structure is not necessarily the best presentation structure. Presentation, you might want to take up something more provocative. So you might start with the last idea and place that as a question. Why is it that this is how the world is or this is how that problem is or everyone faces this difficulty? Which is actually the answer you have at the last. Well in order to understand that we must understand idea 1, idea 2, idea 3 before we can get the conclusion of idea 4.
So now I start speaking about what is the understanding we need to have for this. See now you are shifting from clarity of what you want to say to the engaging character of how you will say. I am just providing this as a basic framework of practice. If before this you have done the things which we have been discussing the last few sessions, already at this point intuitions will begin to kick in, click in,- not just kick in, click in. As you are speaking, ah, I had not thought of that,– that comes and you might even want to, if you're practising, write on the paper that point that you missed. Or between this and that you realise, oh, there is a linking idea and that clicks in. And now you realise there is a flow which is more than what you had thought out, insight which is deeper.
So if you have taken the same topic, you have done it a second time, maybe a third time, that is enough, then it becomes laborious. Switch topics. If you do repeat, make it after a gap of a day at least or after an hour, after everyone has taken a turn on their topics, then you come back with your topic and now review. But I suggest doing it after a day, especially after you have slept in the mind in the initial phase of the training of the three papers and one talk. The whole thing has got organised and there is a whole assimilative process and evolutionary process happening where not only knowledge is being organised but your capacities are being activated and integrated. Wait for that to happen. If you repeat too much, you just tend to strengthen past habits.
Just as a digression, I'll make a comment on this. We used to have a teacher, who was one of the worst as a teacher should be. Unfortunately, it was for the Sanskrit language. All he did was give you dictations and read out things. There was no conversation, no interaction, no learning. So I remember in the class, which didn't have much of interest for me and not because of the topic but because of the way it was taught, I did the dictation, spelling mistakes. But notice what happens: you take a dictation, you write a word wrong, let's say, of course Sanskrit you can't do that easily but in English language you write a word wrong, What did you just do? You reinforced your error, isn't it? So the teacher says, aha you have not done well, so tomorrow again I give you a dictation and they give you the same dictation. What do you do? You write the same word wrong again. Dictation doesn't teach you anything, it only reinforces your errors.
And the same thing what this guy did in Sanskrit was he would give you a word and say write its meaning. Again that's the worst way to learn a language. So I wrote a word and I wrote what I thought was its meaning. I made a guess, it was wrong. He said, ha ha, that is wrong. So I got a cross mark. I got less points. Next week he gives the same exercise. Same words now write the correct meaning. But nobody told me what the meaning was. So I write the same mistake. I don't know anything better. You see the problem of repetition is you only reinforce an error. So having done it once, disengage. Now allow this internal reorganisation to take place. Trust that it's happening. Remain quiet, remain in an assimilative state. Dwell on it if you like in the nididhyasana aspect, the dwelling and then leave it, go to sleep, change activity.
Remember what I mentioned earlier that the real learning is taking place afterwards when your mind is not actively functioning, the inner ranges are organising the knowledge and storing into permanent memory. And that's when the faculties are being activated, awakened and integrated. Now you come back after a day or after a few days. Depending on how much you want to amplify this capacity, let's say, you're playing a new instrumental skill, then you want to do it the next day. But you will notice if you took a break of two days, you'll actually do better. So you do intensely one day at a time for let's say four or five days, then take a break of two or three days, in which you don't do any other learning, you do other kinds of activities. Now you come back and you find suddenly your hands are moving more naturally, the coordination is better. What happened? During that time, the real work of integration was taking place and the same thing is happening in this capacity of your mind to organize your thoughts.
(1:06:00):
Now, we will take a new topic and go through your three sheets of paper, except you will notice either by the now or later eventually, you do not need three sheets anymore, you can do the whole thing in two sheets. And then perhaps depending on if you worked on the other aspects of training which we have covered the last few times, a topic is given to you now and as if from all that bulk of my rich experience of all the things I want to say, I am able to in my mind already structure and draw out the main ideas and I can already recognize what are the secondary ideas. And I write down in a single sheet in one go. And then, ah yes, but this nuance I missed. I go in and insert that. I go back and forth, fill in the gaps or make indications for linking ideas. Interesting. At this point you see already inside you the power of organisation has developed. The ability to organise your thoughts and structure them. And at this point even without that paper if I asked you to speak on some topic, you say, okay, give me a moment. And there.
If parallelly you have worked on the other things, where this ability to stand back and think ahead as you speak has also formed, what we discussed last time. At that point, you notice the person gives you a topic, you have to speak, your mind straightaway catches one singular idea. As you begin to speak, the rest of the mind is organising the rest of the ideas, structuring them, placing them and you can flow with quite a rich presentation with no obvious prior thinking out process. So, you notice what I am doing here, layering capacities, faculties, first by objectivizing and then actually causing an internal subjective power of organisation to wake up. And at that point linking with something else, you can actually start speaking and as you are speaking, you are also thinking, structuring, but not in a usual thinking way, a more seeing kind of thinking.
By then, if you have worked on this with other things, your clarity of thought will be far greater. As you read Sri Aurobindo, you will see this structure in the way he structures his sentences. It is amazing, amazing, because the clarity is so distinct. So let's say you take one of the more difficult passages in the Life Divine. Not difficult to understand but difficult to fully grasp. You can understand fragments. It's a one sentence that takes a whole page with semicolons in between with many sub ideas. You take that and now you write that same sentence in this structure as he writes where your first idea and within that second ideas and then sub ideas and then parenthetical comments and you will actually write the same text in this hierarchical way. Objectivizing it makes you recognize. But the moment you objectivize you are also developing within you that faculty.
Now as you read the second time without your paper, you can actually conceive, conceptually structure and thats when you can hold the whole paragraph as a single big idea. When you first do this, you will notice within the big idea the details are blurred. Then you zoom in on a detail and then you have the second level details on that. But the third level parenthetical comments are blurred. So it's as if your mind awareness intelligence is like a spotlight. If it zooms out, it sees the big structure but it loses detail. It zooms in, it picks up one piece but loses finer things and loses the context of the whole. So you notice your spotlight is only able to have this much light. So if it zooms out it becomes weak but it covers the whole but you don't see detail. You zoom in you have more detail but you lose the context of the whole and third and fourth level ideas. Don't worry. As you do this and as you enjoy this, maybe you make a presentation on this text to yourself, doesn't matter.
As you do this, the spotlight begins to become larger and brighter. Your capacity amplifies and especially when you have to make effort you have to go back and forth and then you notice fascinating things. Up there in the beginning. He said something in the middle. He said this and then later he said this. There's actually a structure going across,- three steps resonating as If this leads to that which leads to that and you realise, ‘my God! in his mind he was so clear about this’ and we had like a monkey looking at a human being's intelligence and saying, wow you can actually understand and think like that, Wow! But you're getting a glimpse of it and with that the faculty is awakening. Persist in this for a few weeks. You will find your brain cells are growing, your intelligence is growing, your conceptual power is growing, power of thought, structure of thought, organisation of thought, all this is hugely amplifying. But if you continue for a few years, I can tell you this, in a year or two already, your intelligence, your IQ will shoot up. And at the same time in life, when you have to engage with things in thought, you will find the same clarity present. When you have to express thought, the same kind of structured clarity will come.
That's not the end, there is still more to it. When this power amplifies, it becomes brighter and the capacity to hold an idea in rich detail increases. There's a point where you actually are able to glimpse the full structure of the sentence with all the nuances and hierarchical dependencies of ideas and relationships across and the whole thing you are able to hold in your own mind like this. Now it's no more in the page, it is within you. Wow! As a thought experience, a complete idea held with full structure and detail. At this point your human mind intelligence has been expanded to be able to open to what Sri Aurobindo calls the Higher Mind.
(1:13:00):
So this will give you a sense of the fourth method of developing intuition. You remember, we have discussed this many times. If you have not seen it, please go back to the texts, the talks., I don’t remember number 17?.. ok 65 to 71 on intuition. There's another thing I had done that is on development of mind, but there's another one which is on intuition in the 20s or 30s in the number, you'll see by the topic. There Sri Aurobindo discusses, being able to quiet the mind at will, being able to shift inward the poise of mind and then upward above head. And the fourth, he says, is developing all the faculties of your mind to such a rich extent that they begin to exceed their own limitations and open out to higher intuition. So this I have repeatedly said, I have given some hints, some indications, but I said for this you really, unless you are doing it, you cannot fully understand what this means. Here is an example of that.
At this point, by this method, by this approach generally, you have actually pushed the boundaries of your capacity of intelligence and organisation of thought structure, perception of thought and clarity of perception and depth of perception and completeness of perception that it has extended it all to the boundary of the limit of your thinking intelligence and is on the brink of what he calls the higher mind. But the thought itself holds a mass of ideas in a single thought. So this is one exercise for doing this.
There are other ways I have suggested before that I have done with people in a workshop structure and maybe someday we will do that here. But this is one way you would do it and now you see and you realise you're not thinking anymore. You can't think, you can only see the beauty of the thought in full glory and richness and perfection. And now you read that line, that paragraph which is a sentence and you say, wow, what a well-crafted beautiful sculpture of an idea, thought experience! You can see how at this point there's the intelligence of the mind opening to the Higher Mind and behind that a dimension of experience, actually behind that the illumination of the Illumined Mind, a seeing and behind that the power of the experience of the Intuition. You can feel that, that there is this part which sees and it can intensify the light as if you're seeing more in greater detail and you feel the truth of it. You have already touched intuition, illumined mind. Touched, remember it's just a beginning, don't worry, but you have touched it and you are glimpsing the Higher Mind while still being in this working of intelligence. You see how it works? It's not difficult. It's just that you have to make that effort. Apply it and it can be done.
I'm giving it as an exercise here. You can be doing it in small bits every day, over days, weeks, months, years and come to this over a few years or if you have worked on the prior preparation as discussed before, please understand those are very important. This doesn't stand only in isolation. Then within a few weeks you will have a glimpse of this experience. But whatever glimpse you have, know that a year down now from here, your mind will be so much more that you will look at the same thing and say, that glimpse was just a preliminary, now I see the full rich detail, where earlier I saw only the bone structure, now I see the bone, flesh, tissue and wow! See, enjoy this. Very important that you have to enjoy this and in doing so you will find you want to do more and then don't be in a hurry, enjoy the way itself.
(1:17:11):
So all this is still not getting into the full power of expression. It was still about developing the power of organised thought and structure. Now from here when you start expressing, as I said, you might find completely different starting points. If meanwhile, and I'm looking at it again from the spiritual backdrop, not purely an academic, meanwhile you've worked on those other levels, there's been the quieting, there's been the opening and then the intuitive influence is working. It will almost happen spontaneously. As you're beginning to speak, let's say you're going to speak with this structure, with your mind-planned awareness. First this, then this, then this. As you're beginning to speak, because you're aligned, something comes plop and a completely different starting point is picked up and you let it.
You still have the structure so you can flow freely and you allow it to flow and you find the chain of ideas being taken up is different from what you had planned, but you see the beauty of it and then when you go through and when you complete you've probably covered the bulk of your structure because it was already there maybe you missed a few points, don't worry about that. But the way it was presented now is so much different and perhaps so much more interesting, but more than that so much more real and natural because living experience that you're sharing and because of the intuitive content. It was led, you were led through this.
I remember it happened to me once when I was doing some regular classes I had started at that point and so I had to do every week. And for some reason I was in great distress because of some events on personal level and I was emotionally distraught and in that condition I could not bring my mind to clarity. I could not prepare. I was upset, sad and energy is pulled down and while I can speak, I don't have the enthusiasm about it. So while going to the place where I had to speak I just shifted myself and said okay whatever it is I trust and allowed this settling into the silence behind, leaning back, resting and opening to the Mother and I said okay, whatever is required, I trust.
And then at that point instead of taking up the topic which I had planned for which I was supposed to, instead something else came up. I thought initially that it would be just a comment as an observation and then I would go to the topic. Something else came and then by the time it finished, the next idea was in place and then the next idea and then I didn't know what would come next and then the next idea comes and it went on; I don't know maybe an hour or so and it was so beautifully structured and then at the end it linked back smoothly to the first idea and completed the circle. And that was it and I knew it was over and the thing stopped. And I said wow, so beautifully constructed even if I had wanted to, I could not have planned it. And more importantly, there were things there which I had not, I did not know here. I had not noticed here. Of course, at some level perhaps. But it's as if a deep insight and the real insights of wisdom were there, which were not mine obviously. But at that moment, they were obvious, they were visible and so I just flowed with it. I said, wow, this is so much more beautiful than anything I can prepare.
And so from there a new rhythm began in my classes and talks where I said, this has to be the dominant approach. I still have to prepare, to organise the thoughts, prepare the background, but then I must wait for that to build how it is presented. So I give this as an insight because if you choose to follow such a training process, which is within the full framework of Sri Aurobindo's teaching, you'll find very smoothly this dimension of the intuition welling up and filling your mind and opening to the higher mind and the backdrop of the illumined mind and intuition beginning to infuse and so on, which is our whole purpose, isn't it? But that will happen as you present.
And it will come and go, come and go. Don't worry. That's why I said, key here was to be able to hold that poise of complete stillness in trust. And as the thought comes to not rush, to not jump. I gave the example last time when I was about to say there are two reasons and at that point I saw the third thought arising. I didn't know what it was, I just saw it coming and I said three. But I could have said, oh what is this and if the mind had got distracted to want to know it would have vanished and I would have lost the thread. But I could continue because the mind was completely still, it moved, I trusted, allowed the first one, second one. By then the third began to unpack. Still as it was unpacking and I'm beginning to as if catch the thread, there's more coming. If I rush, if there's agitation, I will lose the thing and it will dissolve.
And so the key here will be holding that poise of the mind completely still so that when the insight comes, there is no rushing and it is not losing the equality and balance with the rest that is being spoken. So that's why I'm highlighting the prior preparation of all that we discussed. Then all this becomes very easy. It's not the technique, it's the shift in consciousness for which certain methods or practices that I'm describing will be helpful. But they're intended to make this shift.
(1:23:16):
Okay. So all this will structure your intelligence, open it to deeper, higher influences. Still we have not touched the expression and the power of expression particularly. So there it may happen the intuition comes, that's when of course it will be most effective, perhaps most perfect even if the intuition is mixed. Don't worry. Know that whatever you have is beginning of something greater and it will deepen, it will grow. But let's say it has not come at that moment and you have a structure planned and you start with your structure. There's a very interesting observation that one of my teachers made, D.V. Joshi, he was head of the laboratory of the ashram. I have mentioned his name a couple of times before because of another great lesson which he taught me.
He said at the age of 21, one day he just woke up, he was a student, college, university, I don't know what. He just woke up and he suddenly realised that he can choose to be happy and there is nothing in the world that can prevent him from choosing to be happy. He is entirely free to choose to be happy. And he said, from that point I decided I will never be unhappy. Whatever happens, externally, whatever circumstances be, I am free to be happy and not be unhappy if I so choose. I choose to exercise happiness. And he said since that time, I think he lived to 95, recently passed away because of some illness. Never, not a single day, he has not been happy. He went through some of the most difficult things. For years he lived without a fan in his room which used to get so hot in summers. He would be drenched in perspiration. Never complained, never unhappy. Just like that, by choosing. This is one of his great teachings.
So one of the things he once told me, because I had met him and I told him I had to talk and I spoke about such and such thing and I had some question for him. He said the proper method of giving a talk, he said, first you have to say what you are going to say. Then you have to say it. Then you say what you said. Very interesting and there's a deep truth to it. Remember you have this clarity of the full structure. Your listener, your reader, your audience if you're doing a dance, music performance, see the principles are the same, they don't have that clarity, they don't have that capacity that you have. So in your mind you have this full clarity of structure. By the time it gets there, according to their vehicle, their capacity, pieces.
I remember once it was in a discussion with somebody, I was there with a friend. I thought that man was a man of some rich life knowledge. I won't say wisdom but rich life knowledge. He was sharing his learnings. From there I came away with at least a dozen insights and my friend said so take home value from this is and he reduced the whole thing to one sentence. I don't know what it was, don't trust too much,- something some very practical superficial reductionist message. And then I realised there's a whole culture out there of take-home value. You listen to a long presentation, what's in it for me? Take-home value is this poof and all the rest is thrown out or unable to hold. By the time the person has gone from one thought to the next, I've forgotten the previous thought. By the time he reaches the 10th thought, I only remember 9th at best if I am conscious. Most people are not even there.
So understand in the receptive vehicle, there could be a whole variation. And when you are going to transmit, you have to either help that to open out or reduce or highlight what they may reduce to as their take-home value or as their principle. Now this is how many people do. I personally don't believe in that. I believe in transmitting all that you can in the way you can. People absorb from it what they can. Of course, it depends on the group. If I was speaking to young children, then I would reduce it, make it or summarise. So there what I do, I give a very rich thing which will touch on many levels, especially the deeper ranges, evoking those elements, tapping into those ranges and then I leave them with a point which they can hold here but which is not reductionist. So with young children at the age of 10, 11, 12 when I was teaching in the school, I would speak about something about the Indian civilization and its values and what role India has played in the past and what is happening today that shows a building of an important role in the future. And all this and I'm tapping on several layers, intelligence, factual content, which they can go back and say, you know what we learnt this and then emotional content and then the intuitive and soul aspiration somewhere to serve a greater cause and to feel Mother India as a living presence. All those things I've touched. And then I leave with one, what you may call take-home, but non-reductionist, I'll say. And that is your role as you grow up in life. That's the work you will do. This they hold. But all the rest is pegged to it, you see.
And then I've had children come back to me after 15 years, and they will say things like, one of them said, what you were trying to tell us at that time, now I'm beginning to understand. And I can assure you they would not remember anything else from any other teacher's class after 15 years. But this, because it touched so deeply, stayed, worked, and as the personality grew, as the mind grew, because it was touched on many levels, it kind of grew with them and hopefully kept a certain orientation. Maybe some lost it also. It's possible if the personality covers up too much, but it's there somewhere inside. So now this is the aspect of the power of expression and delivery. If you're conscious of this and again to the extent your consciousness is developed and you're able to link to your audience, even if it is writing, it is an audience, you are able to link to. You can formulate it in a way that it is a vehicle that will settle in their frame of receptivity, irrespective of agent capacity. Touch the layers relevant, activate them as relevant for whatever that purpose is and leave it, release it there. And then it works or they take whatever piece is relevant for them depending on again.. Don't worry too much about that. The goal is here to transmit as completely as possible the element of the experience or reduce it as required for a certain group audience priority in a more academic space. Obviously you cannot, you're not allowed to touch emotions and still it can touch some deeper part even of the thought insight values.
One can do in many ways but as you grow in clarity within you you will be able to feel what is required and know the clarity within the other and know how to fit and package it. But one of the things which helps greatly for this packaging to settle is this structure which Joshi bhai spoke of. First you say what you are going to say, which lays out at least as a frame the receptive space. I am going to tell you why this particular thing is important and in what way you can participate in this. Now they know what to expect. Now there is the structure where I am presenting with whatever complex structure is involved. Having done that at the end, now I say what I said, therefore this is important for you because of these reasons and you can participate in this way or that way or the other. So it closes and completes.
This thing is very important: where you leave, you bring in a certain thing and then bring to closure and complete the packet, the thought idea, the experiential content, so that it can stand by itself. It's not left half open. Then what? It should not remain. Ah yes, it's complete. And so this is one way, this three-step structure is a way of packaging it, so that the mind is able to hold, especially the more superficial parts of the mind. But this same principle would apply to also communicating or transmitting on a deeper level.
(1:32:36):
And at this point I'm going to again step back and say this which we have discussed can apply in everything from an academic classroom to a conversation to a therapeutic counselling session, to a lecture presentation with or without PowerPoint slides or whatever, to experiential transmission of any kind. The clarity within you, the awareness of the clarity or receptivity within the other and the ability to bridge this. That's what it comes down to finally. Into this, if you can infuse the aspect of experience and if you are leaning into an intuitive touch then that experience touching will evoke the experience in the other as if they have lived it with you. Or the truth of it which is within them will come forward as if you have drawn it out. And again, you can consciously assist that.
I will end with this one example which I saw. This was in a lady who used to be earlier the director of Indira Gandhi National Center for Arts. I forget her name now unfortunately. But quite an exceptional lady. She was author of Encyclopedia of Hinduism or something like that. But extraordinary in academic prowess, but something else was always there and this is what made her great. I am sorry, I don't remember her name, perhaps next time. So one day I had invited her to people who were working on some scripts and she was speaking about how she went to Kanyakumari and she went to the rock temple, what is called the Vivekananda memorial where Swami Vivekananda sat and had the darshan of Mother India. There is a temple now.
She sat inside and she said as she sat there, she felt and then she didn't say anything which I can remember as a description of an experience. But as she was describing what she felt, her voice became softer and softer and softer. And all of us listening felt this welling up of emotions as if we could cry. And it was, it moved emotionally. And we barely heard what she spoke and I cannot recall what she described, just that she was saying what she experienced. And we had to almost lean to listen and when she finished, she left a sentence half complete and the silence completed what she was conveying and it touched everybody and I said, wow, this is a capacity one can develop. Interesting.
The silence completed the sentence and the experience more powerfully than words could have. That capacity to transmit and she was doing it consciously, she was doing it deliberately, she was aware of our state, she was leading us into it. That's why I say she is an extraordinary woman and just because I have had no contact, many of the names have faded. But if it comes back, I will mention it next time. So, yes, someone has mentioned this. Abhimanyu has mentioned. Kapila Vatsanya, Dr. Kapila Vatsayana. Thank you, Abhimanyu.
And in a sense for me to share this is as a tribute to her. She passed away some years ago, Dr. Kapila Vatsayana. And I believe if she wrote, if she spoke, a woman like that, imagine what she can do! And of course in academic space the scope for this is limited. But because what she transmitted was almost a spiritual experience, it had a strong emotional content but it touched something spiritual. And therefore she had that within her. Now the same power of transmission you will find in a politician who grinds you emotionally. And there's nothing higher of course.
So if you have the higher, it's not about transmitting the experience, it's also about grade you transmit. So you must have that deeper and higher opening and then the power to transmit. Then you have something worthwhile transmitting and worthwhile receiving and worthwhile retaining which is life-changing. Isn't it? And the flow of intuition, the flow of experience in this way can connect and transmit. So there's more I would have, I could say, I'm not sure if it would be appropriate to share more, but in the way one transmits an experience like this, and there's a whole skill and a capacity and a deeper knowledge of how one could do that. Maybe I'll leave it for now, it's not so important because our goal is much more on this superficial level.
As a result of the deepening in consciousness, automatically that dimension will also reveal itself to you. But just to put it simply, the principle is this, at some level the consciousness identifies. And it doesn't mean you have to do it consciously, but she did it on some level consciously. There's a point of contact in which the transmission was had, but on our side there was also the acceptance and the receptivity. So there is always this and in the point of contact there is the transmission of an experience. And then there is an appropriateness to the group and the moment and sometimes something happens which interrupts and that moment is gone. You can't, it's no more appropriate to do it.
(1:38:44):
So this as a power of expression, delivering can also go into writing, it can go into expression in the body actions, in dance, in music, in acting out in theatre. The body consciousness at that point can make a huge difference because what you live in your body in the theatre transmits powerfully. So even you can have a powerful mental intuitive idea which through the body you transmit. In theatre, unlike cinema, the physical presence and huge exchange of direct life force and mind energy is taking place. In cinema it's happening but somewhat indirectly, but not the same intensity. Because you're seeing a picture rather than being in the living presence. But it's the same principle, but here now much more directly intensified. And so your body consciousness, if you can learn to modulate your body state, you move to joy and the audience is experiencing joy with you, you move into sadness and the audience is pulled into sadness with you and you can actually do it consciously.
So most people who are skilled in theatre have automatically this, we use the word charismatic ability to carry a group in state of emotions and vital energies. But if you have the spiritual opening, the same principle can happen on that level even through theatre. And effectively, finally, in all this what you are transmitting is power of experience. And what you are developing is the power to transmit an experience, isn't it? Finally. It could be mental experience, vital experience, spiritual or psychic experience or any of these or a blend of these. What you have is what you can transmit. You don't have it, you can't transmit. And all that we're discussing is organising the experience and then transmitting it in a way that it fits the vehicle of reception in a way that is appropriate, for the vehicle and for that moment and for your purpose.
So I think with this I will close the theme on learning and expressing the power of expression. Next time I want to take up a continuing related topic which also is related to education, relates to learning and experiencing but no more in the way we have been dealing with it and this relates to two questions which have come. One is about the difference of learning capacities and faculties between boys and girls, men and women. And also because finally it boils down to biological distinction and with it a relation to dyslexic or other learning issues which are also biologically rooted. And a deeper understanding of how the biology influences the mind and also how mind can influence the biology. So I will see what topic I put as a title, but this I plan for the next session. And any questions which are in the chat box, perhaps I will try to weave in into the next.
(1:41:50):
So, look back at these, now we have covered five sessions on the learning and expressing or power and how these can be intensified and amplified and I have rooted it in the deeper psycho-spiritual knowledge of the Yoga and especially the Integral Yoga but also linked it to classroom circumstances and everything in between as adults. I do believe and I want to highlight this for all of us because I think the bulk of you will be adults, we can do all this irrespective of age. Sri Aurobindo began his sadhana for the Integral Yoga, strictly speaking, when he came to Pondicherry in 1909. His age at that time would be about, what 37 or so. That's when he begins his Yoga in a sense. Before that anything else would be at best preparatory. And then in five years he rises to the Supramental consciousness, experiences and is integrating that into his mind and vital.
So in principle, you're 50, 60, 70, 80, doesn't matter. Where you are, as you are, your biology is the base, your mental development is the base, which is a starting point. Everything you have done has brought you to this base. Think of it this way and now you begin from here. And everything you have done was done as an aid to this. Nothing is wasted. All the diversions that you have passed through, have enriched and brought something here which now when taken up will be that much more complete.
Think of it this way and begin now. Five years is all he needed to make that without help. With help, maybe we don't reach to that extent but at least we begin to have glimpses of those and experiences of something which is so worthwhile that we can say, yes what we have experienced, what we have done with our life is totally worthwhile. And life itself is filled with the touch of the Divine Presence and perfume of the Divine Bliss touched. And depending on your temperament and your need, something of the Divine Knowledge, something of the Divine Power, something of the Divine Beauty and Harmony, at least you glimpse it and participate in it and perhaps you begin to express it in tiny touches.
And then what you have done in this life and in these years is more than a thousand years of mechanically lived lives, isn't it? In a few years. So take this in this spirit that let's all make the effort to grow in whatever way we can, as rapidly as we can, in as many directions as we feel naturally drawn to in the joy of the soul's evolution. Call for the help, use the means given and the methods described and the deeper psychological, psycho-spiritual insights at the base of it and enjoy the journey of awakening.
Take a moment to concentrate on this aspiration.
<silence>
May the Divine Mother lead our journey of awakening.
May Sri Aurobindo fill us with the divine Light, Knowledge, Love, Beauty, Strength and Power that we may grow into the Satchitananda and be conscious vehicles for it in human life.
Namaste.