Page 50 - NAMAH-Oct-2023

Namah Vol. 31, Issue 3, 15th October 2023

may be there, if one consciously chooses to sense of the Force working within and various
ignore them, not to get involved in them movements and phenomena of the working
actively, it leads to the maintenance of an etc. One may also be conscious of ascents of
empty and relatively quiet state of mind, even the consciousness and descents of Force, Peace,
if not yet thought-free. Bliss or Light from above (14).”

“To quiet the mind in such a way that no As one rises above the body consciousness,
thoughts will come is not easy and usually one becomes aware of something beyond
takes time. The most necessary thing is to and above, which is a movement in saadhanaa,
feel a quietude in the mind so that if thoughts as Sri Aurobindo states:
come they do not disturb or hold the mind or
make it follow them, but simply cross and pass “What you felt as a part of you, yourself but
away. The mind first becomes the witness of not your physical self, rising to meet the higher
the passage of thought and not the thinker, consciousness above, was this inner being; it
afterwards it is able not to watch the thoughts was your (inner) higher vital being which rose
but lets them pass unnoticed and concentrates in that way to join the highest Self above —
in itself or on the object it chooses without and it was able to do so, because the work of
trouble. purifying the outer vital nature had begun in
earnest. Each time there is a purification of the
“There are two main things to be secured as outer nature, it becomes more possible for the
the foundations of sadhana — the opening inner being to reveal itself, to become free and
of the concentration on the Mother and self- to open to the higher consciousness above.
offering to her are the direct way. The growth
of Bhakti which you feel is the first sign of the “When this happens, several other things can
psychic development. A sense of the Mother’s happen at the same time. First, one becomes
presence or force or the remembrance of her aware of the silent Self above — free, wide,
supporting and strengthening you is the next without limits, pure, untroubled by the mental,
sign. Eventually, the soul within begins to be vital and physical movements, empty of ego
active in aspiration and psychic perception and limited personality, — this is what you
guiding the mind to the right thoughts, the have described in your letter. Secondly, the
vital to the right movements and feelings, Divine Power descends through this silence
showing and rejecting all that has to be put and freedom of the Self and begins to work in
away and turning the whole being in all its the Adhara. This is what you felt as a pressure;
movements to the Divine alone. For the self- its coming through the top of the head, the
realisation, peace and silence of the mind are forehead and eyes and nose meant that it
the first condition. Afterwards one begins to was working to open the mental centres —
feel release, freedom, wideness, to live in a especially the two higher centres of thought and
consciousness silent, tranquil, untouched by will and vision in the inner mental being. These
any or all things, existing everywhere and in two centres are called the thousand-petalled
all, one with or united with the Divine. Other lotus and the ĀjñĀ-cakra between the eyebrows.
experiences come on the way, or may come, Thirdly, by this working the inner parts of the
such as the opening of the inner vision, the being are opened and freed; you are liberated

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