THE MIND       From the beginning of my correspondence I was asking Sri Aurobindo a good number of questions about the nature of the mind and the right way of turning it towards the higher light and truth. The reason for doing this was not a wish to develop my immature mind; as a matter of fact, I did not quite know the reason myself till the correspondence was over. I just asked because I was somehow moved to do so. But as time passed I realised that in my sadh-ana the mind was to be the chief instrument — not a purely intellectualised mind moving about within its own limited boundaries but a mind plastic and receptive to the higher truth and able to act under its impulsion, and als

      BEAUTY AND ANANDA         What is the difference between the artistic look and the vital look?       In the artistic look there is only the perception of beauty and the joy of it because it exists and one has seen and felt it. There is no desire to possess or enjoy in the vital way.       The artistic way of seeing is better than the vital.         When I see certain faces, I like to look at them and, though ordinarily one may expect a wrong vital movement, I feel no such movement. Is such a thing possible?       One can have a preference or appreciation of a face or a body for aesthetic or other reasons without its being sexual — but when it is from a m

      VISIONS AND VOICES       The year 1933         Sometimes scenes come before my eyes even when I have not thought of them and when I have not wanted their presence. Are these images mental or subtle?       These are not mental images. There is an inner vision that opens when one does sadhana and all sorts of images rise before it or pass. Their coming does not depend upon your thought or will; it is real and automatic. Just as your physical eyes see things in the physical world, so the inner eyes see things and images that belong to the other worlds and subtle images of things of this physical world also.         Suppose an image has appeared before on

PEACE AND FORCE       The year 1934         If I remain withdrawn an intense peace is felt. The mind gives too high a value to it and thinks that without it there can be no possibility of going even one step further.       One can go forward even if there is not peace — quietude and concentration are necessary. Peace is necessary for the higher states to develop.         The silence, at least the quietude, was there for the whole day. During such a state shouldn't one feel the Mother's Force working in the being?       If one feels it is all right — but it does not always happen. The quietness, silence or peace is a basis for the extension of consciousnes

      PURE EXISTENCE AND THE ATMAN REALISATION       The year 1934         Two hours after the Pranam I felt something from above descending. It was not only the Force. I am used to recognising its descent. Is it the higher consciousness as a whole then? I am not yet definite about it. It came down only after a sound preparation of two hours, blankness and emptiness.       It will have to be seen — it can hardly be the higher consciousness as a whole—in the sense of that with all its contents—it may be the essential power of the higher consciousness.         At present the pure existence has surcharged the whole being. Excepting an occa

THE SELF-REALISATION       The year 1934         During certain periods, there is neither inner nor outer mind but a quiet blank!       It is a very favourable condition for the higher workings.         You have written of the spirit becoming self-aware. Is there any distinction between spirit and Self or between Self and the psychic?       There is no distinction between the Self and the spirit. The psychic is the soul that develops in the evolution — the spirit is the Self that is not affected by the evolution, it is above it — only it is covered or concealed by the activity of the mind, vital and the body. The removal of this covering is the relea

      SRI AUROBINDO ON HIMSELF           As I approach your photo in the Ashram Reception Room, a feeling surges up that it is an emanation of yours. There seems to be a special light on it.       The Sadhaks may themselves bring this light by approaching me through the photo.         Is it not true that the letters we receive from you are full of power?       Yes, power is put into them.         What do you express through your poetry?       I am expressing spiritual truth or spiritual experience.       It ought to be possible to read with the inner consciousness looking on and, as it were, seeing the act of reading. In the condition of a

      SEX THOUGHTS AND IMPULSES       The year 1933         How are we to reject a sexual movement?       As you reject any other vital movement — by throwing it away or withdrawing yourself from it.      Naturally, if you read about these things (novels etc.) they enter the mind and pass into the subcon-scient where they leave their impression. If the consciousness is not free from the sexual impulse, this impression can rise up from the subconscient and work in the mind.         Which is the centre (chakra) from which sexual thoughts and impulses come?       The lowest centre at the bottom of the spine. It contains many other things but als

KNOWLEDGE       The year 1933         It is often better to wait for experience and then ask because to form mental notions beforehand does not help, it becomes an obstacle to getting the the real thing — you either remain with the idea only or you get something limited by the idea you have formed, not the force and full action of the power.       The object of the writing should be not to get replies, but to put what passes in you before the Mother and get help— not merely mental but spiritual and psychic.       You have said: "There can be no perfect understanding unless you are in union with the unexpressed mind." What is this mind and how is one to come into contact

PEACE AND SILENCE         The year 1933         What is meant by a quiet mind and a quiet vital?       A quiet mind means a mind not restless with all sorts of thoughts. A quiet vital is a vital not restless and troubled by all sorts of impulses and desires.         Peace is said to be of capital importance in Yoga. From where is one to get it and how?       It is there above you. You have to aspire for it to descend into you.         When we get peace and purity and light and other such things, from what plane do they come?       From any higher plane. Peace and purity may come from the psychic also.         How is one to remain quie