Here, I'll give you an example: A. wrote to tell me, "If you know how to get in touch with Agni, [[Agni: the fire of inner aspiration. In the Vedas it is represented by a particular god. ]] let me know, because I need him"! I gave the natural reply, that what's needed is aspiration for progress, a will for perfection, and that you kindle the fire by burning your desires. I told him this in a way I call very concrete. Well, he answered (laughing), "Ohhh! You're living in abstractions. That's not what I want, I want a living god" - a personality, you see! That's how people are. Psychology: that's abstract. What they want is: on such and such a date he went to this place, saw these people and did this - all the most external and banal sorts of things. Even yoga boils down to: he sat down and stayed there for so many hours, he had this vision, he tried out that method, he did asanas and breathing exercises.... That, for them, is concrete. That and that alone. Psychology is thoroughly abstract - thoroughly. It's unreal to them. page 292-93, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 31th July 1962. |