EWS #85 Questions from viewers (27) - on Spiritual Life - 7

Sept, 25, 2021

Alina (0:00:00):
Namaste, welcome to the continuing series, Evenings with Sraddhalu. Today we will continue our series, part seven on spiritual life. I welcome Joel. Namaste.

Joel (0:00:22):
Namaste, Alina. Namaste, Sraddhalu..

[Sraddhalu] Namastge.

Alina (0:00:30):
Last time we took some questions about the inward concentrations and blockages, the guidelines on different meditations. In this series, we will continue and we will cover some questions about the growth of consciousness and levels of consciousness. I will start reading some questions received from our viewers. Salil: “When the Mother said that we might be representatives of psychological types, where the work of transformation is being experimented, would this then even be across planets and galaxies?”. Another question from Anandi: “I read in Shri Aurobindo's The Human Cycle that the Self of man is not the mental being, the Manu, the mind. It is a reassuring confirmation of what I know intuitively, that although the Manu of man and nations may come into conflict, the Self or soul of man and nation seek, can we live in true peace, harmony, mutuality, and oneness? Would you please elaborate on the distinctions of Manu and Self, Soul of man and Nations, and how we can individually and collectively take the conscious willed steps towards a Life Divine that is reality seeking to manifest amidst apparent chaos and conflicts”.

Sraddhalu (0:02:40):
Yes. Both of these questions are in continuation of earlier discussions we had. One was about human beings or each one of us being a kind of a representative type and therefore a change that we make in our personal effort, in our consciousness has the effect of rippling out and helping others of the same type of personality or with the same kind of human problem and we understood this of course in the context of the earth, but does it apply to larger group identities which would include perhaps the solar system and galaxies and everywhere in the universe. And aligned to this is the second question regarding the Manu and mental being but I'll just deal with this before moving on. There's a very interesting letter of Sri Aurobindo where he's asked about the work of physical transformation that he is doing. Now we have to understand what is meant by that. Any higher consciousness working on a lower consciousness using it as an instrument does not change it necessarily. But when as part of the integral yoga and one of the objectives of the integral yoga, the higher consciousness takes up the lower, changes it fundamentally in its substance in its quality, in the powers and principles by which it works, at that point we call it a transformation. So as an example, our physical body is formed of the food that we eat, which is plant or animal tissue but eventually plant and yet once the food has been taken into the body it has been rearranged in such a way transformed such that it is capable of mental awareness and our body although physical is capable of becoming mentally aware and then even housing a fully active mind but in itself the body has acquired a mental quality, which you do not see in plant, which you do not see in stones and minerals.

This is a transformation which evolution created and which is a self-sustaining process. Although we take plants we still rebuild and transform the material by the strength of this transformed tissue that we are to become mentally capable. A similar transformation can take place by an intuitive influence. Even that is not such a big deal but a transformation from the Supramental consciousness which was fundamentally changed the very nature of matter and make the transformed physical body capable of experiencing super conscious awareness and even a direct experience of the Divine and Satchitananda, not only experiencing and living but manifesting it, that is the outcome or the ultimate outcome of the transformation in the integral yoga. So somebody asked Sri Aurobindo, has this been done before, did the Vedic Rishis do this. And Sri Aurobindo's response is that the Vedic Rishis focused on an individual change as far as the Supramental was concerned and did not work upon it for humanity. In other words what change took place in their personal body was not connected to human consciousness and therefore has not left an imprint in humanity. As far as this part is concerned, the physical transformation, if anything was attempted at all we don't know. What they did was to bring the Supramental into the mind and transform the mind, intuitivise it sufficiently that it has left an imprint in humanity and continues to help us even today in our efforts. But then Sri Aurobindo says that it seems as if this work of transforming the physical by the Supramental power has not been done anywhere else in the universe, because he says, if anywhere it had been attempted a trace of its influence would be felt and he says there is no such influence found. It's a very interesting letter and the observation itself is very suggestive that the work being done here in you and me, but of course we are not yet there to that point but still, the work being done here has an impact in the whole universe and if somebody in the universe so far had attempted to bring the Supramental down into the physical consciousness to transform it, it would have left an imprint in the universe itself and would be a help, the effort made by that person would be a help for anybody else who attempts it.

Sraddhalu (0:07:30):

So the immediate suggestion from Sri Aurobindo's letter is that it's never been done before, it's being done for the first time on this earth, in this galaxy. So we must recognize that there are many greater civilizations not only technologically but also in terms of consciousness on other planets or other galaxies. And Spiritually they may be far more evolved but whether they have taken the trouble to manifest that higher Spiritual consciousness in the physical body or to transform the physical body, so far that has never been attempted. And so we have to understand the importance of the work that Sri Aurobindo began not only is it pioneering for the whole of our physical earth but pioneering in the whole universe. The second implication of this letter is that of course such efforts act on the whole universe, so in response to the question - are we representative of psychological types only for human beings on earth?, No. There is an equivalent impact in the whole of the universe but I would still make a distinction. For example, the work that you do on yourself and for your particular problem and your type, although available to the mass of humanity in some way, is much more focused on those who are more aligned in consciousness to your type. Its immediate action, immediate benefit is for those of that type. It would perhaps impact the species indirectly and perhaps go beyond the boundaries of the species even but very indirectly.

The ape may not be directly helped because the fundamental type of consciousness of the ape is not matching the human type and the work done in the human need not necessarily be directly impacting the ape but indirectly yes and this is again an interesting observation Sri Aurobindo makes. The emergence of a supramental being for example would have an immediate impact on human consciousness by forcing a lift, just as he says the emergence of the human mind has had its effect on all animal life and even to some extent plant life. The fact that there is an active mentality now manifested in a species puts a pressure on all previous gradations of animal life to receive the mind influence or for those who are ready to turn to the mind influence even. One of the practical forms in which we see this is apes, dogs, perhaps even other horses or other animals which are closely in affinity with human consciousness or are frequently in contact through training and in activity often absorb something of the human mentality or human mind consciousness, perhaps as a preparation for a human birth, but in even before that they begin to acquire characteristics of the powers of the intellect, not the full-blown but early precursor powers. One of the most dramatic examples is of certain apes who have been bred and brought up literally as human beings or children of human beings, talked to communicate in sign language. There was one famous one, I believe the name was Coco and she could communicate in 2,000 words of sign language. So here was a mind which was sufficiently mentalized in the ape body that she could communicate almost structured sentences and yet she could not speak. The ability to translate a mentalized consciousness through the vocal cords and the tongue was not supported by sufficient change in biology. But if we could take a series of such apes and their progeny within one or two generations perhaps we might be able to push it to that point where they might be able to articulate certain sounds purely by the active influence of contact with human beings and the mental transmission that takes place.

If you have ever had a pet dog or other animal when you pay a lot of attention to them when you literally give yourself you will feel as if a part of your consciousness is absorbed by them even as something of their consciousness is absorbed by you and the result for them is a mentalizing influence not different from let's say a spiritually developed person placing their hands on your head you feel the flow of their content of Spiritual consciousness into you or somebody with a strong vital consciousness touching you anywhere can pour vitality into you. But in this case a higher grade of consciousness filling you has the effect of rarifying and even to some extent transmuting your mental substance and assists in the change which was one of the objectives of the whole exercise of the pranam and the darshan that the Mother used to allow. So pranam is that act of bowing, it was not just an Indian ritual habit. Often the form it would take was people placing their heads either on her hands or on her knees or on her feet and she would bless them. In the act of placing the hand, she would pour a higher grade of Spiritual consciousness which would fill the whole being of course but also be working inside, to raise to purify to eventually to transform.

Sraddhalu (0:13:26):

Such a process actively takes place when we are interacting with animals also when we give ourselves with a lot of affection. So all of this is to say that yes there is an active influence in a direct contact but indirect influence by the very fact that such an effort is being made somewhere. So now comes to the critical question, if you had a different species from a different planet which is mentalized and the human beings meet them would they be in complete affinity or compatibility? So it appears and if you've read some of the literature of people who had contact with beings from other planets, it appears there are certain species which are human-like. Some of them even claim that they are a break away from the human development at a much earlier stage which left developed in other planets, came back because they still feel an affinity. So yes perhaps with those you would feel a strong affinity because they seem to be in species similar. There are other types which have been described with differences and sometimes quite significant differences in biology. Some of them are very tall and paper white skin and others which are with a gray colored skin and although they are mentally developed, the natural response in a human being meeting them is to feel difference. It's as if you came in front of a very different kind of animal and you'd say what kind of a creature is this? And although they're speaking or communicating even sometimes telepathically, one feels that difference of the barrier. So here I would say perhaps that the species type is sufficiently different that a change in one may not directly impact those of that species but again may have an indirect impact because of a general universal influence.

So these are interesting questions. The answers are not obvious but what I am doing is simply applying simple logic and what would appear to be the most reasonable outcome if we understand the whole way these things work. Perhaps there is also possibility just as human beings are evolving to a stage of a planetary consciousness where we are growing from individual to family to tribal to through national identities to a larger collective human identity of the species itself. Perhaps there may be a time when some such equivalent growth might include a galactic identity. It's possible or maybe that won't be necessary just as there are intermediate steps between the family to the nation which were useful in the evolution but then were dropped. It all depends on Nature's intention. So too from our planetary consciousness to linking to others may be a simple one galactic or intergalactic universal consciousness. Or there may be other forms which may be intended by Nature to be developed. We don't know we could only speculate or wait for actually those events to unfold in time. So this I think covers the first question.

The second question is in continuation of this because it comes to that identity what is that identity of a type and Sri Aurobindo has used the Manu as the term. Manu is a term used in the Indian tradition to describe the precursor of an entire civilizational identity which defines the type of the civilization or the culture and a similar equivalent may exist for national identities or does exist for national identities which Shri Aurobindo refers to in The Human Cycle and sometimes the differences of the identity may cause certain distinctions in type and their relationships on a national level. It's also possible that there is a karmic relation between the Manus which again imprints or influences the individuals of that Nation type.

Sraddhalu (0:17:35):

So the question is what is the distinction between this Manu and the Soul or the Self. Individually of course, our mind is not Self, is not Soul. You know that, but the same happens to the collectivity. There's a collective body, physical body of a Nation for example or a people and then there is the vital body and vital type often formed by cultural values, tendencies, energetic qualities. If you go to many of the very beautiful islands, you'll find people to be very laid-back, content and happy to be in a sense of enjoyment of the beauty of those islands. It's the reason why people who are highly stressed in work environments will go to the island for a holiday, because it's as if the collective type of energy and the energy of that type forces them when they enter that space to relax and learn to enjoy the beauty of the space. Equally there are spaces of a city like Bombay or New York, Hong Kong extremely focused on the financial energies and often described as the hub of an entire nation's finance, has an energetic quality which influences all those who come there. When you move out of that space you'll find your energy is shifting. You come back into it, you'll find your energy is being moulded by the type or the vitality of that space or the thing which characterises it. You could similarly enter a smaller space like a university, you will feel the quality of mind, culture, values of the education that takes place held by the people there. So all of these could be seen as subtypes or subgroups of consciousness or even a kind of an individuality.

Sri Aurobindo makes references to some of these very old institutions having also a presiding being, a consciousness type that holds the culture, values and ideals of that institution. So something similar forms of course at the level of nations. You could say it is formed by the people, their values and their aspirations or which is also true at the same time, there is a Divine, aspect of the Divine consciousness which is the presiding deity of that space, people are influenced by it, but equally people's thoughts and energies coalesce to form and give a body to the Spiritual identity that fills. So yes this happens at a level of nations. But the Soul of the nation would be the Spiritual origin, the mind formation would be the Manu. And just as in the individual being, the mind is different from the soul, so too it will be with nations or other subgroups that the mental body, the vital body, cultural body need not always represent the Soul values. Often it can happen that the Soul has to struggle to manifest through restricted form as in the individual and it shapes from inside or tries to shape from inside, the outer crust may hold back. We see this for example in India where there's a clear statement of Sri Aurobindo or the Mother that I think it was the Mother in this case that said it, that ‘mother India as a Divine being as a soul is awake and conscious of her mission in the world but’, the Mother says, ‘she is waiting for the external means to manifest herself’, meaning the people have not yet woken up enough to provide a vehicle for the soul to manifest herself, people are still too fixated on artificial and false values that the Soul finds it difficult to act through it. So the Manu in this case, while it may be a form of the people's mental consciousness, has not aligned itself fully to the soul values. If and when it does then it will become a vehicle for expressing the Soul's natural harmony and so two countries at the level of the Soul are naturally in harmony because the Self is one. Their way of expression or the aspect of the self expressed through two nations might be different. And to the extent that they are different they are complementary, each learns from the other.

So Sri Aurobindo gives a list of many of these ancient civilizations and their special values that they manifested for humanity or stamped humanity with or continue to be relevant to the rest of humanity because of those values. Japan, the Mother said is the teacher of beauty for the world. The Hebrew tradition is the representative of the ideal of following the law of God. Following the law of God, so giving a form in mind and being dutifully obedient to that, that's the theme you will see of that culture. For Greece it was love of art, beauty of form. For Rome it was order, structure, organisation and so on and you see how today even today everywhere in the world we tend to think in terms of the value of these nations by these very specific characteristics and what they bring into the world. India in this context is meant to or represents the Spiritual aspiration and the Spiritualization of life itself and to the extent that India serves to this purpose she fulfils her mission. To the extent she deviates from this, well she loses the sense of the Soul and the Soul's mission. Can it happen? yes, just as a human being can go astray from the soul alignment, yes it happens to nations also. But Sri Aurobindo points out whenever that happens the civilization declines because the primary driver and influence that gives life and force purpose and height and greatness to a civilization is the Soul's value. When that is forgotten, when that is lost the civilization naturally declines as you see Greece today. The Greece of today is such a far cry, it's like a pale imitation of the rest of Europe and although the ideals and values are still seen represented in ancient monuments and sculptures, you don't see it as a living force in the people. In my limited experience of contact with Greece as well as people from Greece and elsewhere in the world, the sense I had was it felt as if if you dug deep enough you could touch something of that ancient culture and tradition, but the layers covering are so thick now and I suppose a lot of it goes to the educational system which is uniform across Europe and this is called modernity that it seems quite badly covered up. One does find occasionally extraordinary exemplars where the full force of that ancient ideal is still felt but they are rare. So I think that should be enough to show the distinction between Manu and Self.

As each civilization or nation awakes to its own soul there will be a natural affinity and harmony. To the extent that they live by the ego forms of their civilization there will always be conflict and division. So the real work in response to that in the last part of the question is for not only individuals but eventually as a collective that we make an effort to live by the deeper and truer values of our collective soul of the nation soul itself. Some of us perhaps do not feel so strongly aligned into a national identity and it is enough that we align ourselves to the divine presence within the Self that is the Self of all and it will find its natural home in our alignment and harmony, not only in the national space but in the collective human and even galactic spaces.

Alina (0:27:10):

Shall we move to the next two questions because we have two questions related to the same topic. Yadav is writing, ‘in the talk about the experience of materialisation performed by the Aghori sadhu from Varanasi that you have met, how was it done, materialisation versus teleportation?’. And Ajay is writing, ‘in a video there is mentioning of materialisation of stones in the ashram. As a rationalist, I'm unable to understand how this is possible and what is the context of this?’.

Sraddhalu (0:27:49):
Okay, yes, the second question relates to the incident which has been narrated I suppose many times. The Mother narrates how at a certain stage before the ashram was formally established, Sri Aurobindo was living in what is currently called the guest house of the playground and the Mother was also there and at that time there was a cook whose assistant was causing trouble and he was left, thrown out of job and his family or him threatened that they would take vengeance. And the form of the vengeance was that very soon they found stones being thrown in the courtyard and eventually they discovered that, or it was  somebody who was thrown out and the cook's assistant was the link point, so they found wherever this cook's assistant was put, even in a closed room stones would fall, they would materialise and fall. So that's incident which is interesting because of the way it took place and when Sri Aurobindo was informed he had it stopped just like that by willing it. The black magician who had done the harm fell seriously ill. He was hospitalised because the energy he had put out to harm rebounded on him and his wife came asking for mercy and Sri Aurobindo simply simply said, ‘Oh all for a few stones’, and that was it, the man was relieved of his distress. But this is to say that there are occult energies, occult powers one can activate, does not mean that the black magician in this case had any real capacity to himself materialise. Rather he used certain entities who did the materialisation. His skill was to control these entities and to manipulate them. The Mother describes how she wanted to know what means he used to materialise the stones, so she put out a call in the universe summoning the forces used and before her appeared three little dwarf like beings, mischievous she said, they don't have any sense of right or wrong and she said, well why don't you why do you do this?They said, well we were ordered to do it, tell us we would like to help you. Mother says, okay bring me flowers and they said, we can't. She said what can you do? We can only throw stones.

So these are but in the philosophical tradition are called elemental beings. Their work, their function is at a very material elemental level in operating the elements that keep the balance of the universe. There are specialised beings for all kinds of activities. Beings relating to water, beings relating to the growth of plants, flowers, seeds, sprouting and other specialised beings as aligned to specific animal species or bird and plant species also. Now all of this is to say that if these beings can be harnessed or compelled by some means then they can be made to do these things which they normally do in nature automatically. You have to wonder how a forest can maintain a complex balance not only of species numbers but also the growth of certain plants, animals, flowers. So there are these beings whose job it is to work to keep that balance. One example Mother gives is that the trees have the power to call for rain. When they need the rain, they call rain and rain comes. So between species and between species and natural elements there's a constant communication of consciousness. Now a human being can step in, use the tree as a transmitter to amplify. I can't call the rain but if I can connect to the tree consciousness and use its ability to call the rain that could be the basis for a whole kind of magic. So they would do ritual around a tree which is specially good at calling the rain or other means to call the wind or the Sun or otherwise. So there are beings also who are preside over streams. Their job is to ensure that a water stream comes wherever it is required, sometimes it is purely underground, it waters the trees there underground, you don't even see it. Sometimes it comes to the surface. In such cases in the old days they would say there's a being here who presides over this water pool and if you go to drink from the water well you take their permission. If you don't then sometimes they may get upset so there's such stories but they are the beings who preside over that form. Similarly a volcano is a physical result of a certain powerful energy being that is trying to bring about a shift in the flow of the lava as part of the earth's processes and sometimes spanning millions of years in their intentions. So this is to give a general background of the complexity of what happens behind an ordinary seeming natural scene.

Sraddhalu (0:33:18):

Separately from this, a person can develop a power. If those beings can do it, why can't we? After all, we are supposed to be more conscious or even potentially more capable. So certain people take the trouble to develop the power to in this case materialise or to influence or to call the rain or change weather patterns or otherwise. If you understand how it's done you can say it's not difficult in the sense that the process is simple enough. The difficulty is in your ability to put enough energy in concentration and to direct life energy in a particular way which is a skill that we never learn in school. Some of us have a little bit of it instinctively but if you take the trouble to develop pretty much anyone can do it with greater or lesser skill. Many of these techniques are taught in the martial arts and particularly in those where there is a deliberate attempt to develop what are called paranormal or psychic powers. All of them eventually rely on control of life energy at the border which is almost material. So the person asks how is it done both materialisation and teleportation and the rationalist says I don't understand how it's possible and I'm bringing this question up here because in the previous session we had last week, that is number 84 in the evening series and there was a discussion on science and Spiritual approach or the Spiritual framework in which we can understand physical science. If you have gone through that you would remember that physical matter is an extreme condensation in a rigidity, of what is essentially pure consciousness.

Consciousness undergoes degrees of self-modification until it appears as physical, dense, rigid, colliding substance. If you take it back one step the rigidity of the substance becomes less. The resistance of substance to intermissions to merging into another substance becomes less. If you go back another step you can actually see a form of substance but it's almost ghost-like. You could pass your hand through it. If you take it a degree further behind you would not see it with physical sight, but sometimes you would be able to touch or sense there's something here I can't make out quite what but I can't see it what is there. Sometimes it's so close to the physical that you don't see it with physical sight but you need feel it and if you create a strong electric field in that space often that is enough to give it enough materiality that you can see. So that's the reason why often on days of high electrical activity in the atmosphere as with a thunderstorm, people see ghostly figures more easily. Those beings may still hang around normally but because of the electrification in the air it's easier it's as if the substance which is subtle physical acquires a kind of a glow visible to the physical sight and you say I see a being. There's a very interesting observation Mother makes at one point it's recorded in the agenda she speaks of how on a darshan day when she came out and she brought down this high consciousness into the atmosphere and on to the people she said it was so dense and so tangible that if the physical circumstances had been right you would have seen a light around her. I think at that point it took the form of a slight fogginess like a mist but if the physical circumstances were right you could have seen a light.

Now it's easy to do this. It doesn't need a high Spiritual consciousness, you can do it with a vital, intense densified vital energy also. But in this case it was in relation to a Spiritual consciousness descending and acquiring this degree of materiality. So just because you see light it doesn't mean it's the highest consciousness. My point to explain this is any densification of energy or consciousness can produce that. In that case it would have been a measure of the density of that Spiritual descent.

Sraddhalu (0:37:55):

All this is to show or explain that behind the complete materialisation or densification of any matter are finer grades in which that matter can exist. Now if you can intervene with your mind or with your life energy directed by your mind to modify the vibrational quality of that substance you can make it as if more subtle, less material simply by inserting the vital energy into it and it's with a certain intention until the substance becomes semi-transparent and then dematerializes, at which point it is still there but it's no more bound to the laws of dense gross physical matter. One of which laws is gravity so such a material such an object for example, if it is reduced to some degree of materiality you could take a huge stone work upon it to reduce the materiality and you could lift it by hand because now it does not have the same degree of the earth principle. You could also by modifying the water principle in it shape it now these are things you have seen people do in occult as occult powers. There's a famous example of in Jagannath temple in Puri there is a pillar where Prabhu Chaitanya one of the very great saints of the bhakti tradition in India is said to have leaned against the pillar in a state of ecstasy and because the energy in that ecstatic state was so great the hand literally melted the stone or the stone became soft and the imprint of the hand is still seen. If you think in terms of atomic structures and physics as we know it it's impossible or it would need humongous amounts of energy more than even your most powerful cyclotrons to be able to make that happen. But if you understand things from the way it was discussed in the previous discussion in terms of the five elemental principles and how consciousness is at the basis of it, your mind entering the stone consciousness modifying the gradation where it is material vital that's the point you have to catch. There you put an intention and the entire stone can be made soft or a metal piece can be made soft as a spoon being bent so people with a concentration will bend the spoon with their finger or sometimes without touching it they place their hand against this near the spoon put that intention and energy and the spoon just bends and falls or sometimes breaks. These are demonstrations not only seen but one can train.

The point though in all this is all of this is part of existing nature's laws and if you know how to tap into that grade of consciousness you are only wielding an existing natural process. But it requires a certain skill and an effort and sometimes great energy of vital force. The easier way is what was the black magician's method or any other magicians method, white also, is to align with beings who operate on those levels. So at every grade there are beings, so the beings who live at that level of vital physical domain, well they're operating there, that's their job. So for them it's no effort, it's all they can do. They can't go higher they can't go lower. If you can tap into those beings and make a pact with them they follow your command and they do it for you, but it's not your power really. It's just your authority over them. They in return of course take something back from you in return for their services which may not be sometimes so nice. I don't know if this is enough as an explanation for how it happens. If you want to think in terms of atomic structures it's more difficult to understand because, what happens to the atomic structure? If you think instead that the atomic structure itself is nothing but the dense form of an energy pattern; think of it this way - you never really see an atom as it is, you never really see an electron or a proton as it is. What you see is the way light bounces away from it or the way another electron bounces away from it and you see the response which is your sight by which your mind constructs the form behind. So think of it this way: Every electron or photon or atom is nothing but an energy bundle putting out a certain pattern of response. When things, light bounces it up from it, the energy bundle gives to you the impression of a certain form. Now the same energy bundle, if you refine the grade of energy, the bundle and the form of the bundle can stay the same but the light interacting with it will weaken the interaction will weaken until the light rays will go right through or with minor modification at which point the energy bundle has become semi-transparent, your rock has become semi-transparent or in the case of a watch or a gemstone, you've dematerialized until it is now outside the domain of physical light but subtle sight could still see it. At which point you can with mind will move it around, teleport it and then again rematerialise, shift the gradation of the energy bundle. So if you think in terms of atoms you don't understand, if you think in terms of energy bundles which appear to you as atoms, then the whole mechanism and the science of it is obvious. I think that should be enough to cover this question.

Alina (0:44:12):
Thank you. So, we will do one last closing question. Although we covered some of this topic in a previous session, maybe we will develop more on Salil's question. He writes, ‘while reviewing our current activities in terms of Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram, it seems to be that when we're focusing on one activity, it is much easier to shift the inner attitude. For example, bringing beauty into speech, offering the gratitude to the Mother for giving insights into solving a problem, which brings a sense of sacredness. But often we are required to multitask, working parallel on many things, with work from home, we are shifting focus often, or doing two or more things at the same time, like thinking about work while doing something else in-house physically. The dispersion of concentration seems to make me lose the sense of sacredness. It is often difficult to make something beautiful when we are not concentrated. Does multitasking have any truth behind it? Does multitasking become easier as one becomes wider in consciousness? We have heard that the Mother would engage with subtle beings while also in contact or conversation with people physically. As beginners on this journey, what would you recommend? To maintain the inner attitude, should we avoid multitasking?’. That's a very interesting question.

Sraddhalu (0:46:12):
Very practical issue! You will recall this discussion comes from or this question comes from our discussion earlier a few weeks ago, when we spoke of making conscious effort to bring nourishment to the soul's values, to the psychic being. And the three keywords we used were Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram - that which is true, that which is sacred, that which is beautiful and in many different ways we saw. And what I had suggested as an exercise was for each each one to spend at least five minutes in a day to bring one of these or more of these values into their life, either as an experience of the universe or as an expression of your consciousness to manifest in the universe, and both of these would be activities that would be for the soul naturally a soul nourishment for the psychic being and it is in that context that the question comes. So as he is practising this, he finds that when he switches work or he tries to do more than one work at the same time it's difficult to maintain because the concentration tends to disperse. Or you are cooking food and you're speaking on the phone at the same time, its difficult to do both. Or perhaps at the same time, if a third person, someone talks to you, it's difficult to maintain. I would suggest the best way to fully understand this theme would be to read an entire chapter from the Synthesis of Yoga titled Concentration, where Sri Aurobindo takes up in great detail this whole principle of concentration in the sadhana, as well as shows you how one can develop it but also broadening the whole concept of concentration.

In the more ascetic traditions concentration is used in a very narrow sense as gathering your mind to a single purpose cutting off all else. So by the very definition of concentration it is exclusive and therefore able to point to focus on only one thing at a time because it has excluded all else. You could attempt to broaden the concentration but then it would not have the same kind of penetrating force when you focus in this way. It is also strenuous because you have to make an effort to gather. It is very useful in certain ascetic paths where the goal is to make a single pointed concentration to the Divine through one of the faculties, let's say through the mind or the heart or action and on a certain aspect of the Divine, only as love knowledge or beauty or love. You focus only on one and that becomes your point of connection to get into a state of immersion leaving the rest which is perfect for the ascetic goal. Sri Aurobindo points out that this is not enough for the goal of the integral yoga, where the goal is to experience in all the parts of the being the same contact and the same immersion but also to know the Divine in all facets, on all aspects. In the later part of this chapter of in the Synthesis of Yoga, he gives three different methods in which the concentration can be applied the third of which is what in this case I am pointing to as a solution, where he says that, when you train your mind to perceive the sense of the one immanent Brahman, the Divine filling all things, becoming all things in the world. It's a single gaze in which you turn around, look at everything and you have the perception of the underlying presence of the Divinity. You literally vividly see this as form of Divinity. Now before you reach that stage there may be degrees in which you have a mental idea, yes all this is formed of the Divine energy, whirling to create particles and atoms and so on but eventually it deepens until you have a vivid concrete sense of presence of the Divine in all things, filling all things like as if an expansion and to link it to the previous session it's like the Ether filling which is the Divine presence itself filling everything.

Sraddhalu (0:50:56):

And in this way one begins to have the perception of the Self with eyes open through all the senses in all things simultaneously. At that point, he says, this kind of strenuous focus of concentration is no more required. You even have a very relaxed perception it's still a concentration but dwelling on the Divine underlying feeling and therefore it's a relaxed perception, effortless in which as you work that underlying sense does not change because it is the same presence in all things. This would be the ideal solution for the difficulty that Salil has raised in the practice. If you can move towards this, it would be the easiest way but in preparation for this and as a first step of developing your power of concentration and your ability to enter in communion or relation with the Divine, the strenuous focus is good, it's extremely useful and you can develop relationships or experiences of various facets and in various parts of your being. So I won't offer one single solution for all. I will suggest, start with that which is easiest for you. Start with five minutes of concentrated effort in which you dwell on this perception, communion, expression, form of sharing, devotion, love, consecrated action, whatever form it takes. Five minutes of concentrated effort and then later you'll find the mood of it still stays with you. In the middle of the day you will remember that and spontaneously something in your heart might flow and so the concentrated effort or the strenuous will have a ripple effect of influence during the day. If nothing else consciously remember that, oh it was so good and somehow your heart fills and in the midst of whatever you do the glow is there and automatically something of its touch radiates. So such would be a good starting point and maybe you do multiple times five minutes or one minute during the day. But later one would drift towards this other practice which is the growing perception of the presence with which you hold a spontaneous effortless sense of communion and closeness. But for the purpose of the integral yoga this would be the path to follow in development. In the chapter itself you'll find many further hints and practical guidelines.

I want to link this to the previous discussion of the last special session that we had on science and conceive of for your understanding. Conceive of the underlying ether as substance or vibration of the Divine consciousness. That Divine consciousness is in essence Satchitananda, it is the delight which is conscious which is sheer existence that lays out like a oceanic body or as an air or space that fills everything. And so now when you look at the wall, although you see the foam of the Ether through various degrees of modifications becoming this cluster foam of molecules, atoms etc giving you the form and experience of colours, shapes. In your mind you know it is foam of the underlying ether which is the Divine itself as substance. Dwell on this idea. Move from there to the next. Look at the ceiling, look at the scene outside, look at the flowers, look at the plants, look at the furniture around you, look at the floor on which you stand, you're standing on foam of Satchitananda. Dwell on this, hold this perception as a mental idea but as a perception through your sight. Then look at your body, your hand is formed of foam of Satchitananda. The blood flowing is foam of Satchitananda. When two hands touch it is foam of Satchitananda interacting with foam of Satchitananda and the touch that you register in your mind is only a superficial form of the delight of Satchitananda meeting delight of Satchitananda. Dwell on this idea. It's such a wonderful beautiful moving idea. Dwell on it, look at everything in this way and in this way you'll find yourself drawn very spontaneously and very deeply into this contemplation dwelling immersion meditation on the Divine presence in all things as all things. Do this as a practice for a few minutes every day and you'll find once you get the hang of it it is such a great joy and then you'll find you can do it almost effortlessly while walking. This is the practice Sri Aurobindo did when he was in jail while walking, looking everywhere and imprinting, he says, through the mind the perception of the Divine in all, as all. It's very powerful but easy practice and for the mind especially to think of all forms as foam of Satchidananda as the Ether is a very easy way to enter into this perception and perhaps I can suggest this as a theme for practice for those who would like to do that in the coming week and we can dwell on this vision for a few moments before we close.

Sraddhalu  (0:57:19):

Namaste, Thank you.

[Alina] Namaste, Thank you very much.