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Date Posted: 06:05:37 10/06/05 Thu
Author: H - 12 Aug 2005
Subject: Re: Wisdom Of Anandamayi Maa
In reply to: d - 12 Aug 2005 's message, "Re: Wisdom Of Anandamayi Maa" on 06:03:43 10/06/05 Thu

Great texts of wisdom. I will add some too.


Talk with the Mother, 22 Aug 1956:

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Sweet Mother, what does Sri Aurobindo call "the heaven of the liberated
mind"?

A: The heaven of the liberated mind? It is a metaphorical phrase. When the
mind is liberated, it rises to celestial heights. These higher regions of
the mind Sri Aurobindo compares with the sky above the earth; they are
celestial compared with the ordinary mind.

Is that all?

(Silence)

Somebody has asked me a question about trance - what in India is called
SAMADHI, that is to say, when one passes or enters into a state of which no
conscious memory remains when one wakes up:

Q: Is the state of trance or samadhi a sign of progress?

A: In ancient times it was considered a very high condition. It was even
thought to be the sign of a great realisation, and people who wanted to do
yoga or sadhana always tried to enter into a state of this kind. All sorts
of marvellous things have been said about this state - you may say all you
like about it, since, precisely, you don't remember anything! And those who
have entered it are unable to say what happened to them. So, one can say
anything one likes.

I could incidentally tell you that in all kinds of so-called spiritual
literature I had always read marvellous things about this state of trance or
samadhi, and it so happened that I had never experienced it. So I did not
know whether this was a sign of inferiority. And when I came here, one of my
questions to Sri Aurobindo was: "What do you think of samadhi, that state of
trance one does not remember? One enters into a condition which seems
blissful, but when one comes out of it, one does not know at all what has
happened." Then he looked at me, saw what I meant and told me, "It is
unconsciousness." I asked him for an explanation, I said, "What?" He told
me, "Yes, you enter into what is called samadhi when you go out of your
conscious being and enter a part of your being which is completely
unconscious, or rather a domain where you have no corresponding
consciousness - you go beyond the field of your consciousness and enter a
region where you are no longer conscious. You are in the impersonal state,
that is to say, a state in which you are unconscious; and that is why,
naturally, you remember nothing, because you were not conscious of
anything."* So this reassured me and I said, "Well, this has never happened
to me." He replied, "Nor to me!" (Laughter)

And since then, when people speak to me about samadhi, I tell them, "Well,
try to develop your inner individuality and you will be able to enter these
VERY regions in full consciousness and have the joy of communion with the
highest regions, but without losing all consciousness and returning with a
zero instead of an experience."

So that is my reply to the person who has asked if samadhi or trance is a
sign of progress. The sign of progress is when there is no longer any
unconsciousness, when one can go up into the same regions without entering
into trance.


* When this talk was first published in 1962, Mother added the following
commentary: "There are also some people who enter domains where they are
conscious, but between this conscious state and their normal waking
consciousness there is a gap: their personality does not exist between the
waking state and this deeper state; so, during the passage they forget. They
cannot bring the consciousness they had there back into the consciousness
here, for there is a gap between the two. There is even an occult discipline
for constructing intermediary fields in order to be able to recall things."

[...]

"One must always be greater than one's experience."

What I meant is this:

Whatever may be the nature, the strength and wonder of an experience, you must not be dominated by it to such an extent that it governs your entire being and you lose your balance and your contact with a reasonable and calm attitude. That is to say, when you enter in some way into contact with a force or consciousness which surpasses yous, instead of being entirely dominated by this consciousness or force, you must always be able to remind yourself that it is only ONE experience among thousands and thousands of others, and that, consequently, its nature is not absolute, it is relative. No matter how beautiful it may be, you can and ought to have better ones: however exceptional it may be, there are others still more marvellous; and however high it may be, you can always rise still higher in future. So, instead of losing one's head one places the experience in the chain of development and keeps a healthy physical balance so as not to lose the sense of relativity with ordinary life. In this way, there is no risk.

The means?... One who knows how to do this will always find it very easy, but for one who doesn't know it is perhaps a little... a little troublesome.

There is a means.

It is never to lose the idea of the total self-giving to the Grace which is the expression of the Supreme. When one gives oneself, when one surrenders, entrusts oneself entirely to That which is above, beyond all creation, and when, instead of seeking any personal advantage from the experience, one makes an offering of it to the divine Grace and knows that it is from This that the experience comes and that it is to This that the result of the experience must be given back, then one is quite safe.

In other words: no ambition, no vanity, no pride. A sincere self-giving, a sincere humility, and one is sheltered from all danger. There you are, this is what I call being greater than one's experience.

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