Questions and Answers 1953
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Questions and Answers 1953
18 March Rare significant moments: contact with the psychic 1 
Families of beings: why people meet to collaborate 2 Visitor to the Ashram: external motives are pretexts for the psychic 3
25 March Using the Divine as a cloak to hide desires 5
Sincerity: difficult but effective 5 The true flame 7
1 April Ambition: a canker 8
Different personalities in our being 8 Signpost or psychic mirror 9
8 April Service to humanity and giving to the Divine 12
What do I call “myself”? 17 Desires and their formations 18 The power of thought, of prayer 19 Win your small victories 20
15 April Pulling the divine forces 21
Insincerity, its own punishment 21 Basis of equanimity 22
22 April Sleep and dreams: quietening the mind 24
29 April Organising one’s dream 26
Wounds in the vital being and illness 27 Symbolism of dreams 27 Personal dream-imagery 28 Foolishness and vanity 29 Religions, truth, consciousness 30
6 May Psychic memory 32
Rebirth: stories 34 Automatic writing, spirit-communication 35 Dreams 36 Contact with the Divine: the key to everything 39
13 May Pseudo-meditation 41
Escapism and changing the nature 43 True meditation, true humility 44 Will, concentration, effort; active surrender 46 Being perfect instruments; progress 47 Boredom 50
20 May Offering and surrender 52
Mistakes and insincerity 54 The flame of aspiration, self-giving 55 The physical being as a tool of another Power 55 Story of a Sufi mystic, a musician 57 Transformation of the body: three hundred years 58 Replacing body-organs by centres of energy 59 Collaboration in the Divine’s work 62 Living in the true consciousness; stepping back 64 Appendix: a talk of Sri Aurobindo 66
27 May Music: its origin and type 68
Inspiration and technique 69 Individualisation, separation, inconscience 70 The remedy: to become conscious again 72 All touch the same Thing 72 Understanding others: beyond words 73 Sources of music; genius 74 Indian and European music 76 Perceiving the Divine in everything 78 Explaining things: the entire universe needed 80 The Divine is the only existence 81 Value of art 82 Work and realisation 83
3 June Determinism and freedom 85
Formations from different planes 86 Prayer changes the determined course of things 88 Devices Nature uses to make us act 89 The Divine Grace and Karma 90 Aspiration and prayer have a magical power 92
10 June Attacks of adverse forces and man’s response 93
Cases of possession; refusal to change 96 The asura of falsehood: “Lord of the Nations” 97 Beings of the vital plane 98 Man will transform his earth 99 True function of the mind and vital 100 How to discern hostile attacks 101 Learning and understanding 103 Teaching: preparing courses 105
17 June Function of the intellect 107
Cause of death 111 Growth in perfection 111
24 June Power of the vital 116
Cause and cure of fear 117 Body’s instinct 118 On laziness and work 119 Illness, its causes and cure 121 Concentrating to gain time 124 Work at school: organising the mind 126 Science and art 127
1 July Paradise, purgatory, eternal hell 129
Imagination, a form-maker 131 Power of good formations; healing 132 After death, where? Unifying the being 133 Spirits of death and of fire 135 Consenting to die 137
8 July Prayer and aspiration 139
Ill-will: a bad thought is a bad act 143 Cause and remedy of evil 145 Animals; vital origin of the insect species 147 Desire to devour, an expression of “love” 149 Instinct; the consciousness in Nature 150 Widening the consciousness 151
15 July Superstitions 153
Religious rules and hygiene 154 Discerning attacks by adverse forces 155 Sincere aspiration and trials 157 Mental conceptions imposed on the Divine 158 Hold of hostile forces upon money-power 158 Giving money for the Divine’s work 159 God and His creation 161
22 July Protection prevents illnesses, accidents 165
Fear brings illness, accidents 166 Mental, vital, physical fear 167 Taking every trial as a proof of the Grace 168 Illness: moral condition more important 170 Causes of illness; disequilibrium 171 Organic and functional imbalance 171 Equilibrium in all parts of the being necessary 175 Lack of receptivity—the grain of sand 175 Inner causes of illness 177 External causes of illness 177 Attacks; black magic 178 Small vital entities in the earth-atmosphere 179 Origin of microbes: forces of disintegration 180 Epidemic in Japan 180 Vampires 182 Curing illness 183 Spiritual purification 185 Trust in life: children 186
29 July Events on different planes 187
“India is free”: Mother’s pre-vision 188 Events can be changed; a premonitory dream 189 Degrees of change possible; intervention 191 To understand truly 192 Individual initiative 194 Project yourself on a screen, then observe 197 Know thyself; learning, self-discovery 199 The very reason for existence 201
5 August Progress of the psychic being; rebirth 203
Progress of those not conscious of their psychic 204 Manifestation and progress 205 Inspiration; receptivity; exchange 206 Progress of mind, vital, physical 208 Mind justifies everything; the psychic knows 210 Will and impulse; “The last time I am doing it” 211 Impulse and its expression in action 212 Incarnation of the psychic being 213 Psychic growth; Karma 215
12 August Knowing people through self-identification 217
Methods of knowledge; concentration 218 Widening the consciousness; progress 219 Self-identification; Paris theatre story 221 Knowing the Divine by identification 223 Concentration, one-pointedness 224 In Nature all possibilities exist 224
19 August Aspiration in trees and animals 227
The Presence in all things 228 Stones can accumulate forces; their use 228 Exchange: giving and taking 231 The more one gives, the more one grows 232 Instinct to destroy and spoil: adverse forces 232 Being a true hero 233 Faith in the Grace and return to the Light 234
26 August Source of Love 235
True love and its deformations 237 Love of animals for men 238 Intelligence and psychic consciousness 240 Love in flowers, crystals, animals 241
2 September Religion and the spiritual life 244
Castes 245 Evolutionary movement; old civilisations 247 Nature’s play; her collaboration required 248
9 September Divine Force chooses its instrument 251
Progress of the mind and vital 252 Converting the vital 253 Contact with the psychic; heroes 254 The vital, an all-powerful instrument 255 Depression; the vital as source of troubles 256 The vital’s power 257
16 September Receptivity of the body 259
Fixity in physical world 259 After death: a musician’s hands 260 The psychic being and rebirth 263 Progress and battle; Titanic forces 265 Yogic force prevents rigidity of the body 266 Growth of consciousness: rebirth 267 Consciousness and memory 268 Resistance and receptivity 269 You are all in a sea of tremendous vibrations 269
23 September Physical world: symbol of universal movements 271
Illness in animals 272 The universe: a serpent biting its tail 274 The earth: symbol of the universe 274 The “Evil Persona” 275 Mother’s experience of the luminous earth 276
30 September Earth-memory 277
The rule of the Overmind and the Supermind 282 Sri Aurobindo’s yoga begins where others end 283 Men with realisation often fixed and unplastic 284 Children as malleable stuff for transformation 286 To be a child all one’s life 287 Children and other people in the Ashram 287 Remembrance and memory 289
7 October Consciousness of a complete cure 291
Mental, vital, physical, spiritual aspiration 292 Body-consciousness 293 Body’s sure instinct 294 Trust in life 296 Dynamic faith 297 Why are some children here in the Ashram 298 Learning to know others by identity 299 Responsible people: governments, teachers 299 Supermind’s action: transformation 300 To know oneself: one’s field of work 302 Solidarity; individual and collective progress 303 Descent of hostile vital forces and its effect 305
14 October “Formateurs” or form-makers 307
Intermediary beings, evil and disorder 308 Why wickedness if “All is He”? 310 Identification with the Divine: no problems 311 Collective suggestions; the fear of death 312 Remedies for the fear of death 314 The psychic being, immortality and death 316 Fear attracts the thing feared 317 Fear is contagious; the mystic’s remedy 318
21 October Artists; stained-glass windows 320
Expressing the Divine in art 321 Relation with the Divine 322 On the Ramayana and Mahabharata 323 Japanese gardens 324 Buddhism of the South and the North 325 Ravana and Sita; the Asura’s choice 327 Sense of beauty; artistic taste varies 329 To know true beauty rise above all form 330
28 October True art; realisation of divine beauty 331
Evolution moves in spirals; modern art 332 Universal progress; spherical spirals 334 Nature’s plan 335 Art and commercialism; fatuity 336 The “mushroom species” and true art 338 Art in India 340 Nature’s huge cauldron 343
4 November On the “sphere with spirals” 344
Sacrifice 346 Feeling the Divine Presence 347 Man is a moralist, not the Divine 348 Bargaining and sacrifice 349 True raison d’ˆetre of life 350
11 November The aim to be achieved 351
The seventh creation: that of Equilibrium 352 The eternal word 353 Generosity and avarice 356 Money: a force; the middle path 357
18 November Rebirth and the psychic being 358
Nature’s progress: constant and slow changes 359 Justice, determinism, and Divine Grace 360 Man learns through past experiments 363 Grace and faith 366 The idea of indispensable needs 367
25 November Smiling at an enemy 369
Trust and receptivity; bargaining 370 Sincerity and the Divine’s help 371 The story of creation 371 World of freedom of choice 373 The Asuras; their conversion 374 Stalin and Hitler 376 Ravana; dissolution of the Asuras 378
9 December Spiritual ego 382
Entities behind the forces of Nature 383 Radha’s prayer; all is divine 384 Suffering and bliss; vibrations and reactions 385 One is surrounded by what one thinks about 385 The sacrifice of the Divine Mother 387 Questions on Savitri 388
16 December Methods of identification and self-finding 391
Aim of life 391 The psychic guides, organises circumstances 393 Rest in action; quiet faith 395 Knowing how to wait 396
23 December Knowledge and the mind 397
Concentration; its power 398 Uneducated people with gift of vision 400 Illness: disequilibrium 401 Mind and body; mental formations that cure 402 Accidents: there is a moment of choice 402 Character and averting danger 404 Grace and accidents 405 Bringers of bad luck 407
30 December Destructiveness in children 409
Psychic being choosing its next birth 411 Wickedness in children 411 Consciousness of parents at the moment of conception 412 Tamas and the need of excitement 413 Education in the Ashram school 414 Ashram children 416 “Let your acts speak for you.” 417
Notes are paraphrased from the “Publisher's Note” and “Note on the Texts”.