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SECTION SIX
THE SECURE FOUNDATION OF
SADHANA
The First Foundation of the Yogic Status
EQUANIMITY and peace in all conditions, in all parts of the being is the first foundation of the
Yogic status. Either Light (bringing with it Knowledge) or Force (bringing strength and dynamism of
many kinds) or Ananda (bringing love and joy of
existence) can come next according to the trend of
the nature. But peace is the first condition without
which nothing else can be stable.
31-7-1936
The True Basis
YES, a settled peace and strength supporting the
intensity and poise in which everything foreign falls off, is the true basis.
16-4-1933
Page-147
The Abiding Stuff
THAT is of course how it should be. It should go so
far indeed that you will feel this peace and vastness as your very self, the
abiding stuff of your consciousness —unchangeably there.
26-9-1934
The Inner Foundation
THAT is the right way—to keep the peace of the
higher consciousness; then even if there is vital
disturbance, it will only be on the surface. The
foundation will remain till the Force can release the
true vital.
30.10-1933
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The Settled Calm Within
IT is very good indeed. The peace and silence
must settle deep in, so deep that whatever comes from outside can only pass over the surface without
troubling the settled calm within. It is good also
that the meditation comes of itself—it means that
the Yoga Force is beginning to take up the
sadhana.
18-9-1934
The Inner Stability of Peace
IT (peace) has to be brought down to the heart and
navel first. That gives it a certain kind of inner
stability—though not absolute. There is no method
other than aspiration, a strong quiet will and a
rejection of all that is not turned towards the Divine
in those parts into which you call the peace—here
the emotional and higher vital.
31-7-1933
Peace and Equality
WHEN the peace of the higher consciousness
descends, it brings always with it this tendency
towards equality, samatā, because without samatā peace is always liable to be attacked by the waves
of the lower nature.
31-10-1933
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Calm in the Outward Consciousness
You have attained the silent inner consciousness,
but that can be covered over by disturbance—the
next step is for calm and silence to be established as the basis in the more and
more outward consciousness …. Then the play of the ordinary forces
will be only on the surface and can be more easily
dealt with.
7-6-1933
The First Need
THE first thing is to bring down the higher peace
and silence into the outer being, so that it will
no longer insist on its own way of doing things.
22-9-1934
Page-150
The Most Needed Thing
THE one thing that is most needed for this sadhana is peace, calm, especially in the vital—a peace
which depends not on circumstances or surroundings but on the inner contact with
a higher consciousness which is the consciousness of the Divine,
of the Mother. Those who have not that or do not aspire to get it can come here
and live in the Ashram
for ten or twenty years and yet be as restless and
full of struggle as ever,—those who open their mind
and vital to the Mother’s strength and peace get
it even in the hardest and most unpleasant work
and the worst circumstances.
October 1933
The True Quiet
You should realise that while quiet surroundings
are desirable, the true quiet is within and no other
will give the condition you want.
18-4-1933
Page-151
Quiet—Calm—Peace—Silence
QUIET is rather negative—it is the absence of
disturbance.
Calm is a positive tranquillity which can exist
in spite of superficial disturbances.
Peace is a calm deepened into something that
is very positive amounting almost to a tranquil
waveless Ananda.
Silence is the absence of all motion of thought or
other vibration of activity.
3-11-1933
Tranquillity and Silence
THESE are general words, of a general, not a special
Yogic significance. Quiet, calm and peace can
all be described as tranquillity: silence is akin to what
is meant by stillness.
4-11-1933
Page-152
Silence in the Head
THAT is the right thing to do. If that poise, vacancy, silence in the head is once made permanent, a
great step will have been gained.
12-5-1937
Void
THERE is no such thing as néant. By "void" is meant emptiness clear of all contents except existence
pure and simple. Without that one cannot realise
the Silent Brahman.
15-3-1937
Use of Emptiness
To be an empty vessel is a very good thing if one
knows how to make use of the emptiness.
1-3-1937
Page-153
Usual Result of Voidness
THE usual result of voidness is to quiet down any vital disturbance although it does not, unless it
is complete, stop the mechanical recurrent action of the mind.
17-1-1937
Proper Sequel of Emptiness
IF it is a real emptiness, one can rest in it for years
together,—it is because the vital is restless and full
of desires (not empty) that it is like that. 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 stupidities,
the vital mind could be calm and quiet and the
Mother’s Force take up the action and the higher
consciousness begin to come down. That is the
proper sequel of emptiness.
17-3-1937
Page-154
Vital Mind’s Distaste for Silence and Emptiness
SILENCE of the being is the first natural aim of the
Yoga. A and some others do not find satisfaction
in it because they have not overcome the vital
mind which wants always some kind of activity, change, doing something,
something to happen.
The eternal immobility of the silent Brahman is a thing it does not relish. So
when emptiness comes,
it finds it dull, inert, monotonous.
13-3-1937
Void and Happiness
THERE is no reason why the void should be a dull
or unhappy condition. It is usually the habit of the
mind and vital to associate happiness or interest only with activity, but the
spiritual consciousness has no such limitations.
10-6-1936
Page-155
Passive Peace
PASSIVE peace is not supposed to do anything. It is
by the complete solid presence of peace alone that all disturbance is pushed out to the surface or outside the consciousness.
3-8-1936
Passive Peace and Action
IT is not the usual character of passive peace that it can only concentrate in inaction. It can be there and
concentrate in or behind action also.
15-5-1936
Quiet and Aggressive Action
IT is this quiet and spontaneous action that is the characteristic divine action. The aggressive action is
only, as you say, when there is resistance and struggle.
This does not mean that the quiet force can’t be
intense. It can be more intense than the aggressive,
but its intensity only increases the intensity of the peace.
20-7-1936
Page-156
Restlessness of Mind and Vital
THE mind and vital are always more open to universal forces than the material. But they can be more
restless than the material so long as they are not
subjected to the peace from Above.
Universality and Vital Disturbance
THE movement of universality by itself cannot
prevent the vital from disturbing—it is the complete
surrender and the complete descent of peace into all
the being down to the most material that can do it.
30-7-1933
The Fundamental Calm: Individual and Cosmic
THE first is the ordinary fundamental calm of the
individual Adhar—the second is the fundamental
limitless calm of the cosmic consciousness, a calm
which abides whether separated from all movements or supporting them.
This is the calm of the Atman, the Self above,
silent, immutable and infinite.
Page-157
Need of Calling down Higher Power and Will
for Removing Vital Disturbances
THE calm from above came to you and established
your connection with the Above, and if you hold
firmly to it, you will be able to remain calm. But to
be rid of these vital disturbances, you have to get down the Power and Will that is also there above—
or at least so to be connected with it that it will act whenever you call upon it against the forces of the Ignorance.
2-11-1933
The Right Fundamental Consciousness—Transformation
by Descent
IT is the right fundamental consciousness that you
have now got. The tamas and other movements of the lower universal nature are bound to try to come
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in, but if one has the calm of the inner being
which makes them felt as something external to the
being and the light of the psychic which instantly
exposes and rejects them, then that is to have the
true consciousness which keeps one safe while the
more positive transformation is preparing or taking
place.
The transformation comes by the descent of
Force, Light, Knowledge, Ananda, etc. from above.
So you are right in your feeling that you should open
with a quiet aspiration or invocation for the descent
of the Light from above. Only it must be an aspiration in this calm and wideness, not disturbing it
in the least—and you must be prepared for the result
being not immediate—it may be rapid, but also it
may take some time.
25-10-1934
Basis of Inner Calm
WHAT you have written about your condition seems
to be correct as a whole. There is certainly a greater
calm within and a freedom of the inner being which
was not there once. It is this which gives you the
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equality you feel there and the capacity to escape
from the more serious disturbances. When one has
this basis of inner calm, the difficulties and imperfections of the surface can be dealt with without
upset, depressions, etc. The power to go among
others, without any invasion is also due to the
same cause.
As for the second question, there is no general rule,
but your attitude is the right one for you—for you
have not the need of any particular development of
capacity, having behind a sincere attitude of a more
general and penetrating and pervasive character.
Others who feel the need of a particular development
actually ask for it and get it.
9-6-1936
First Step in Self-mastery
To be aware of one’s central consciousness and to
know the action of the forces is the first definite step
towards self-mastery.
30-5-1933
Page-160
Firmness of Central Consciousness
IF you can always keep the central consciousness
clear and firm through such attacks, that itself would be a great progress. These attacks always come until
the equality is established in the vital.
6-7-1933
The Price of Siddhi in Yoga
You must gather yourself within more firmly. If
you disperse yourself constantly, go out of the inner
circle, you will constantly move about in the pettinesses of the ordinary outer nature and under the
influences to which it is open. Learn to live within,
to act always from within, from a constant communion with the Mother. It may be difficult at first to
do it always and completely, but it can be done if
one sticks to it—and it is at that price, by learning
to do that, that one can have the siddhi in the
Yoga.
5-6-1934
Page-161
Living in the Inner Consciousness
You must have somehow externalised yourself too
much. It is only by living in one’s inner consciousness and doing everything from there that the right
psychic condition can be kept. Otherwise it goes
inside and the external covers it up. It is not
lost, but hidden—one must go inside again to
recover it.
8-11-1933
Living in the True Inner Being
IT is the past habit of the vital that makes you repeatedly go out into the external part; you must
persist and establish the opposite habit of living in
your inner being which is your true being and of
looking at everything from there. It is from there
that you get the true thought, the true vision and understanding of things and of your own self and
nature.
3-4-1931
Page-162
Inner Poise and Outer Methods
YES, that is all right. Relying on outer methods
mainly never succeeds very well. It is only when
there is the inner poise that the outer movement is
really effective and then it comes of itself.
27-1-1933
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