Page 47 - NAMAH-Oct-2023
P. 47

Namah                 Preparing and Opening the Being to the Higher Force





        “The voidness (if by that you mean silence   active. The cessation of these things is hard to
        and emptiness of thoughts, movements etc.)   bear for it. It begins to feel dull and restless and
        is the basic condition into which the higher   eager for the old interests and movements. But
        consciousness can flow (3).”             by this restlessness it disturbs the quietude and
                                                 brings back the things that had been thrown out.
        One common struggle with virtually all of us is   It is this that is creating the difficulty and the
        the weakness of the container and habituated   obstruction for the moment. If you can accept
        grooves of older tendencies and patterns. We  emptiness as a passage to the true consciousness
        are unable to sustain this emptiness, unable   and true movements, then it will be easier to
        to bear it in immobility and become solid  get rid of the obstacle (4).”
        in it. We find ourselves resorting to our  The spontaneous experience of emptiness
        older slippery slopes in order to fill up the  on this path indicates that one has lived long
        empty space, and hence obstruct the way  enough in the dualistic, narrow and limited
        of new consciousness. Therefore, it is a part  ordinary consciousness, and one is ready now
        of the saadhanaa to gain stability and poise in  to transcend and go beyond. And the very
        containing the emptiness, and becoming  fact of that emptiness is one’s experience, an
        more and more a solid immovable receptacle  indication of the already acting Divine Force.
        within.                                  Sri Aurobindo also talks about a persevering
                                                 quality in ‘real emptiness.’ Like, there is no
                                                 hurry to go anywhere, just the silent and
                                                 immobile, steady waiting is enough. He says,
                                                 “If it is real emptiness, one can last in it for years
                                                 together, — it is because the vital is restless and
                                                 full of desires (not empty) that it is like that
                                                 [difficult to remain empty]. Also the physical
                                                 mind is by no means at rest. If the desires were
                                                 thrown out and the ego less active and the
                                                 physical mind at rest, knowledge would come
                                                 from above; in place of the physical mind’s
        “The emptiness that you described in your   stupidities, the vital mind could be calm and
        letter yesterday was not a bad thing — it is   quiet and the Mother’s Force take up the action
        this emptiness inward and outward that often   and the higher consciousness begin to come
        in Yoga becomes the first step towards a new   down. That is the proper sequel of emptiness.
        consciousness. Man’s nature is like a cup of   But nothing of this has happened because the
        dirty water — the water has to be thrown out,   “emptiness” could not complete itself, that is
        the cup left clean and empty for the divine liquor   to say, the true silence and peace (5).”
        to be poured into it. The difficulty is that the
        human physical consciousness feels it difficult  It may appear that once emptiness is exp-
        to bear this emptiness — it is accustomed to  erienced, it just settles down automatically.
        be occupied by all sorts of little mental and  But that is not the case. One has to constantly
        vital movements which keep it interested and  keep clearing, cultivate keeping the being
        amused or even if in trouble and sorrow still  pure, empty, and rejecting all the lower,


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