SECTION FOUR
SADHANA AND MENTAL DEVELOPMENT
Sadhana and Mental Development
(1)
FOR one who wants to practise sadhana, sadhana must
come first—reading and mental development can only be subordinate things.
25-12-1936
(2)
Mental development may or may not help sadhana
—if the mind is too intellectually developed in certain
rationalistic lines, it may hinder.
Sadhana and Mental Work
I DON’T know that it (mental work) helps the sadhana
and I don’t quite understand what is meant by the
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phrase. What is a fact is that mental work like
physical work can be made a part of the sadhana,—
not as a rival to the sadhana or as another activity
with equal rights and less selfish and egoistic than,
seeking the Divine.
Mental Pursuits in Sadhana
THERE is no obligation on any one to be engrossed
in mental pursuits. Sadhana must be done by one’s
own choice, not by rule or compulsion.
4-1-1936
Meditation and Reading
(1)
IF the power to meditate long is there, a sadhaka will naturally do it and care little for reading—unless
he has reached the stage when everything is part of
the Yogic consciousness because that is permanent.
Sadhana is the aim of a sadhaka, not mental development. But if he has spare time, those who have the
mental turn will naturally spend it in reading or study of some kind.
25-12-1936
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(2)
Then how is it (meditation) necessary for all, if
some are asked not to do it? Much meditation is for
those who can meditate much. It does not follow
that because much meditation is good, therefore
nobody should do anything else.
Study and Meditation
YOUR objection was to learning languages and
especially French as inimical to peace and silence
because it meant activity. The mind when it is
not in meditation or in complete silence, is always
active with something or another—with its own
ideas or desires or with other people or with things
or with talking, etc. None of these is any less
inactivity than learning languages. Now you shift
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your ground and say it is because owing to their
study they leave no time for meditation that you
object. That is absurd, for if people want to
meditate, they will arrange their time of study for that; if they don’t want to meditate, the reason
must be something else than study and if they
don’t study they will simply go on thinking about "small things". Want of time
is not the cause of
their no meditation and passion for study is not the cause.
Mental Inactivity and Silence
(1)
THAT is absurd. Doing nothing with the mind is
not quiet or silence. It is inactivity that keeps the
mind thinking mechanically and discursive instead
of concentrating on an object—that is all.
6-4-1937
(2)
Keeping the mind without occupation is not the same thing as peace or silence.
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Experience through Reading
THIS is quite a normal movement. In reading these
books you get into touch with the Force behind
them and it is this that pushes you into meditation
and a corresponding experience.
25-7-1936
Reading and Growth of Being
IT depends upon the nature of the things read
whether they are helpful to the growth of the being
or not. No general rule can be made. It cannot be
said that poetry or dramas ought or ought not
to be read—it depends on the poem and the play
—so with the rest.
Two Methods of Reading
IT depends; to read many books quickly gives
freedom and ease and familiarity with the language.
The other method is necessary for thoroughness
and accuracy in detail.
14-10-1933
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Value of Study
I CAN’T give you a more definite answer. Study is
of importance only if you study in the right way and
with the turn for knowledge and mental discipline.
29-10-1936
Well-trained Intellect and Study
A WELL-TRAINED intellect and study are two different
things—there are plenty of people who have read
much but have not a well-trained intellect. Inertia can come to anybody, even to
the most educated
people.
5-10-1936
Study and True Judgment
READING and study are only useful to acquire
information and widen one’s field of data. But that
comes to nothing if one does not know how to
discern and discriminate, judge, see what is within
and behind things.
9-10-1936
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Book-knowledge and Intelligence
INTELLIGENCE does not depend on the amount
one has read, it is a quality of the mind. Study only gives it material for its
work as life also does.
There are people who do not know how to read
and write who are more intelligent than many
highly educated people and understand life and
things better. On the other hand, a good intelligence can improve itself by reading because it
gets more material to work on and grows by
exercise and by having a wider range to move in. But
book-knowledge by itself is not the real thing, it
has to be used as a help to the intelligence but it
is often only a help to stupidity or ignorance— ignorance because knowledge of
facts is a poor thing if one cannot see their true significance.
Logic, Thinking and Practice
No, not necessarily. It (study of Logic) is a theoretical training. You learn by it some rules of
logical thinking. But. the application depends on
your own intelligence. In any sphere of knowledge or action a man may be a great
theorist but a
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poor executist. A very good military theorist and
critic if put in command of an army might very
well lose all his battles, not being able to put the
theories rightly to the occasion. So a theoretical logician may bungle the
problems of thought by
want of insight, of quietness of mind or of plasticity in the use of his
capacities. Besides, logic is not the
whole of thinking; observation, intuition, sympathy, many-sidedness are more important.
1-11-1936
Elements of Mental Training
MENTAL training consists of reading, learning about
things, acquiring complete and accurate information, training oneself in logical thinking, considering
dispassionately all sides of a question, rejecting
hasty or wrong inferences and conclusions,
learning to look at all things clearly and as a
whole.
27-10-1936
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Sadhana and Learning Languages
ONE does not learn English or French as an aid
to the sadhana; it is done for the development of
the mind and as part of the activity given to the
being. For that purpose learning French is as
good as learning English and, if it is properly
done, better. Nor is there any reason, if one
has the capacity, to limit oneself to one language
only.
25-3-1937
Two Ways of Learning a Language
IT depends on what you want to do with the language. If it is only to read the literature, then to
learn to read, pronounce and understand accurately is sufficient. If it is a complete mastery one wants,
then conversation and writing have to be thoroughly
learned in the language.
November 1933
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Power of Expression in Sadhana
IT is the thinking mind that works out ideas—the
externalising mental or physical mind gives them
form in words. Probably you have not developed
this part sufficiently. The gift of verbal expression
is comparatively rare. Most people are either
clumsy in expression or if they write abundantly, it is without proper
arrangement and style. But this is of no essential importance in sadhana—all
that is needed is to convey clearly the perceptions
and experiences of the sadhana.
1-1-1934
Logic and Expression
I NEVER heard that learning logic was necessary
for good expression. So far as I know, very few
good writers ever bothered about learning that
subject.
13-11-1936
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Education and Expression
EXPRESSION is another matter, but Ramakrishna
was an uneducated, non-intellectual man, yet his
expression of knowledge was so perfect that the
biggest intellects bowed down before it.
Way of Receiving Power of Expression
THE power of expression comes by getting into
touch with the inner source from which these things
come. A calm and silent mind is a great help for
the free flow of the power, but it is not indispensable, nor will it of itself bring it.
20-5-1934
The Expressed and the Inexpressible
WHAT is expressed is only a part of what is behind
—which remains unexpressed and in the language
of the manifestation inexpressible.
5-9-1933
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