Questions and Answers 1929  7 April 1929 Will you say something to us about Yoga? What do you want the Yoga for? To get power? To attain to peace and calm? To serve humanity? None of these motives is sufficient to show that you are meant for the Path. The question you are to answer is this: Do you want the Yoga for the sake of the Divine? Is the Divine the supreme fact of your life, so much so that it is simply impossible for you to do without it? Do you feel that your very raison d'être is the Divine and without it there is no meaning in your existence? If so, then only can it be said that you have a call for the Path. This is the first thing ne

23 June 1929 Can a Yogi attain to a state of consciousness in which he can know all things, answer all questions, relating even to abstruse scientific problems, such as, for ex- ample, the theory of relativity? Theoretically and in principle it is not impossible for a Yogi to know everything; all depends upon the Yogi. But there is knowledge and knowledge. The Yogi does not know in the way of the mind. He does not know everything in the sense that he has access to all possible information or because he contains all the facts of the universe in his mind or because his consciousness is a sort of miraculous encyclopaedia. He knows by his capacity for a co

21 April 1929  There is a common idea that visions are a sign of high spirituality. Is this true? Not necessarily. Moreover, to see is one thing but to understand and interpret what is seen is quite another thing and much more difficult. Generally, those who see are misled because they give the meaning or interpretation they wish to give according to their desires, hopes and prepossessions. And then, too, there are many different planes in which you can see. There is a mental seeing, a vital seeing, and there are some visions that are seen in a plane very close to the most material. The visions that belong to the last category appear in forms and symbols that seem t

 Psychic Presence and Psychic Being – Real Origin of Race Superiority With regard to the evolution upwards, it is more correct to speak of the psychic presence than the psychic being. For it is the psychic presence which little by little becomes the psychic being. In each evolving form there is this presence, but it is not individualised. It is something which is capable of growth and follows the movement of the evolution. It is not a descent of the involution from above. It is formed progressively round the spark of Divine Consciousness which is meant to be the centre of a growing being which becomes the psychic being when it is at last individualised. It is this

 Different Kinds of Space and Time – Fearlessness on the Vital Plane Space and time do not begin and end with the mental consciousness: even the Overmind has them. They are the forms of all cosmic existence: only, they vary on each level. Each world has its own space and time. Thus the mental space and time do not tally with what we observe here in the material universe. In the mind-world we can move forward and backward at our own will and pleasure. The moment you think of a person you are with him; and no matter how near you may be to somebody, you can still be far away if your thoughts are occupied with someone else. The movement is immediate, so very free a

Chance                    What do we understand by the term “chance”? Chance can only be the opposite of order and harmony. There is only one true harmony and that is the supramental – the reign of Truth, the expression of the Divine Law. In the Supermind, therefore, chance has no place. But in the lower Nature the supreme Truth is obscured: hence there is an absence of that divine unity of purpose and action which alone can constitute order. Lacking this unity, the domain of lower Nature is governed by what we may call chance – that is to say, it is a field in which various conflicting forces intermix, having no single definite aim. Whatever arises out of such a rushing together of

 Vigilance Vigilance is the way that leads to immortality (or Nir vana). Negligence is the way that leads to death. Those who are vigilant do not die. Those who are negligent are dead already.  In these texts the word Nirvana is not used in the sense of annihilation, as you see, but in the sense of an eternal existence in opposition to life and death, as we know them in the present earthly existence, and which are contrary to each other: life contrary to death, death contrary to life. It is not    that   life which is spoken of, but the eternal existence which is beyond life and death – the true existence. Vigilance means to be awake, to be on one's guard

The Sage We should seek the company of the sage who shows us our faults, as if he were showing us a hidden trea- sure; it is best to cultivate relations with such a man because he cannot be harmful to us. He will bring us only good. One who exhorts us to good and dissuades us from doing evil is appreciated, esteemed by the just man and hated by the unjust. Do not seek the company or friendship of men of base character, but let us consort with men of worth and let us seek friendship with the best among men. He who drinks directly from the source of the Teach- ing lives happy in serenity of mind. The sage deli

The Path The best of all paths is the Eightfold Path; the best of all truths is the Fourfold Truth; the best of all states is freedom from attachment; the best among men is the One who sees, the Buddha. Truly, this is the Path; there is no other which leads to purification of vision. Follow this Path and Mara will be confounded. By following this Path, you put an end to suffering. This Path I have made known, since I learned to re- move the thorns (of life). The effort must come from oneself. The Tathagatas only point out the Path. Those who meditate and tread this Path are delivered from the bondage of M

The Just Man     A man is not just if he judges arbitrarily. The wise man is one who distinguishes the just from the unjust, who judges others in full knowledge according to law and equity; this guardian of the Law is called a just man. The sage is not the man who speaks most. The man who is compassionate, friendly, fearless, is called a sage. It is not by much speaking that the Doctrine is up- held; but he who has studied the Doctrine, even a little, and mentally realised it, he alone upholds it. He does not neglect it. A man is not a Thera¹ because his hair is grey. He is ripe in years but he has aged