Difference between revisions of "Mental Silence Compilation"
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=== E16: Misconception that one will Lose their Ability to Think === | === E16: Misconception that one will Lose their Ability to Think === | ||
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<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">I emphasise this fact because there are quite a few people who, when </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''mental'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''silence'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">has been transmitted to them by occult means, are immediately alarmed and afraid of losing their intelligence. Because they can no longer think, they fear they may become stupid! But to cease thinking is a much higher achievement than to be able to spin out thoughts endlessly and it demands a much greater development.</span> | <span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">I emphasise this fact because there are quite a few people who, when </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''mental'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''silence'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">has been transmitted to them by occult means, are immediately alarmed and afraid of losing their intelligence. Because they can no longer think, they fear they may become stupid! But to cease thinking is a much higher achievement than to be able to spin out thoughts endlessly and it demands a much greater development.</span> | ||
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<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/conjugate-verses#p90</ref> | <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/conjugate-verses#p90</ref> | ||
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=== E17: Abolishing the Ego - Getting Rid of Moral Egoism === | === E17: Abolishing the Ego - Getting Rid of Moral Egoism === | ||
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<div style="color:#000000;">First of all, you must want to do it, and there are very few people who want to. And that is exactly what they say, it is this justification of their way of being, "That is the way I am made, I can't do otherwise. And then, if I change this, if I change that or if I do without this thing or if I get rid of that other, I shall no longer exist!" And if one doesn't say this openly, one thinks it…. One pushes it away in certain very obvious things; for example, if there is something good and someone rushes forward to make sure of having it first, even jostling his neighbour then here one becomes quite aware that this is not very elegant, so one begins to suppress these crudities, one makes a big effort—and one becomes highly self-satisfied: "I am not selfish, I give what is good to others, I don't keep it for myself", and one begins to get puffed up. And so one is filled with a moral egoism which is much worse than physical egoism, for it is conscious of its superiority.</div> | <div style="color:#000000;">First of all, you must want to do it, and there are very few people who want to. And that is exactly what they say, it is this justification of their way of being, "That is the way I am made, I can't do otherwise. And then, if I change this, if I change that or if I do without this thing or if I get rid of that other, I shall no longer exist!" And if one doesn't say this openly, one thinks it…. One pushes it away in certain very obvious things; for example, if there is something good and someone rushes forward to make sure of having it first, even jostling his neighbour then here one becomes quite aware that this is not very elegant, so one begins to suppress these crudities, one makes a big effort—and one becomes highly self-satisfied: "I am not selfish, I give what is good to others, I don't keep it for myself", and one begins to get puffed up. And so one is filled with a moral egoism which is much worse than physical egoism, for it is conscious of its superiority.</div> | ||
<div style="color:#000000;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm;">And then there are those who have left everything, given up everything, who have left their families, distributed their belongings, gone into solitude, who live an ascetic life, and who are terribly conscious of their superiority, who look down at poor humanity from the height of their spiritual grandeur—and they have, these people, such a formidable ego that unless it is broken into small bits, never, never will they see the Divine. So it is not such an easy task. It takes a lot of time. And I must tell you that even when the work is done, it must always be begun again.</div> | <div style="color:#000000;margin-left:0cm;margin-right:0cm;">And then there are those who have left everything, given up everything, who have left their families, distributed their belongings, gone into solitude, who live an ascetic life, and who are terribly conscious of their superiority, who look down at poor humanity from the height of their spiritual grandeur—and they have, these people, such a formidable ego that unless it is broken into small bits, never, never will they see the Divine. So it is not such an easy task. It takes a lot of time. And I must tell you that even when the work is done, it must always be begun again.</div> | ||
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<div style="color:#0066cc;"><ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/19-april-1951#p8</ref></div> | <div style="color:#0066cc;"><ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/19-april-1951#p8</ref></div> | ||
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=== E18: Downward Pull of Imperfections === | === E18: Downward Pull of Imperfections === | ||
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<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">… </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">the spiritual emergence has to wait at each step for the instruments to be ready; next, as the spiritual formation emerges, it is mixed inextricably with the powers, motives, impulses of an imperfect mind, life and body,—there is a pull on it to accept and serve these powers, motives and impulses, a downward gravitation and perilous mixture, a constant temptation to fall or deviation, at least a fettering, a weight, a retardation; there is a necessity to return upon a step gained in order to bring up something of the nature which hangs back and prevents a farther step; finally, there is, by the very character of mind in which it has to work, a limitation of the emerging spiritual light and power and a compulsion on it to move by segments, to follow one line or another and leave altogether or leave till later on the achievement of its own totality. This hampering, this obstacle of the mind, life and body,—the heavy inertia and persistence of the body, the turbid passions of the life-part, the obscurity and doubting incertitudes, denials, other-formulations of the mind,—is an impediment so great and intolerable that the spiritual urge becomes impatient and tries rigorously to quell these opponents, to reject the life, to mortify the body, to </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''silence'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''the'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''mind'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">and achieve its own separate salvation, spirit departing into pure spirit and rejecting from it altogether an undivine and obscure Nature. </span> | <span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">… </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">the spiritual emergence has to wait at each step for the instruments to be ready; next, as the spiritual formation emerges, it is mixed inextricably with the powers, motives, impulses of an imperfect mind, life and body,—there is a pull on it to accept and serve these powers, motives and impulses, a downward gravitation and perilous mixture, a constant temptation to fall or deviation, at least a fettering, a weight, a retardation; there is a necessity to return upon a step gained in order to bring up something of the nature which hangs back and prevents a farther step; finally, there is, by the very character of mind in which it has to work, a limitation of the emerging spiritual light and power and a compulsion on it to move by segments, to follow one line or another and leave altogether or leave till later on the achievement of its own totality. This hampering, this obstacle of the mind, life and body,—the heavy inertia and persistence of the body, the turbid passions of the life-part, the obscurity and doubting incertitudes, denials, other-formulations of the mind,—is an impediment so great and intolerable that the spiritual urge becomes impatient and tries rigorously to quell these opponents, to reject the life, to mortify the body, to </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''silence'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''the'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">'''mind'''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">and achieve its own separate salvation, spirit departing into pure spirit and rejecting from it altogether an undivine and obscure Nature. </span> | ||
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<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/22/the-evolution-of-the-spiritual-man#p10</ref> | <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/22/the-evolution-of-the-spiritual-man#p10</ref> | ||
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=== E19: Inferior Mentality === | === E19: Inferior Mentality === | ||
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<div style="color:#000000;">When the inner action proceeds after the silence, even if it be then a more predominatingly intuitive thought and movement, the old powers will yet interfere, if not from within, then by a hundred suggestions from without, and an inferior mentality will mix in, will question or obstruct or will try to lay hold on the greater movement and to lower or darken or distort or minimise it in the process. Therefore the necessity of a process of elimination or transformation of the inferior mentality remains always imperative,—or perhaps both at once, an elimination of all that is native to the lower being, its disfiguring accidents, its depreciations of value, its distortions of substance and all else that the greater truth cannot harbour, and a transformation of the essential things our mind derives from the supermind and spirit but represents in the manner of the mental ignorance.</div> | <div style="color:#000000;">When the inner action proceeds after the silence, even if it be then a more predominatingly intuitive thought and movement, the old powers will yet interfere, if not from within, then by a hundred suggestions from without, and an inferior mentality will mix in, will question or obstruct or will try to lay hold on the greater movement and to lower or darken or distort or minimise it in the process. Therefore the necessity of a process of elimination or transformation of the inferior mentality remains always imperative,—or perhaps both at once, an elimination of all that is native to the lower being, its disfiguring accidents, its depreciations of value, its distortions of substance and all else that the greater truth cannot harbour, and a transformation of the essential things our mind derives from the supermind and spirit but represents in the manner of the mental ignorance.</div> | ||
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<div style="color:#0066cc;"><ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-intuitive-mind#p5</ref></div> | <div style="color:#0066cc;"><ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-intuitive-mind#p5</ref></div> | ||
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== 5. How to Achieve/Practice Mental Silence? == | == 5. How to Achieve/Practice Mental Silence? == |
Revision as of 18:39, 14 August 2018
Contents
What is Mental Silence?
The Mind
Mental Silence
The stillness of the mind means, first, the falling to rest of the habitual thought movements, thought formations, thought currents which agitate this mind-substance. That repose, vacancy of movement, is for many a sufficient mental silence. [1]
The Experience of Mental Silence
But it is possible also to pass to that through a certain experience of Nirvana, an absolute silence of mind and cessation of its activities, constructions, representations which can be so complete that not only to the silent mind but also to the passive senses the whole world is emptied of its solidity and reality and things appear only as unsubstantial forms without any real habitations or else floating in something that is a nameless Infinite: this Infinite or else something still beyond is That which alone is real; an absolute calm, peace, liberation would be the resulting state. Action would continue, but no initiation or participation in it by the silent liberated consciousness; a nameless Power would do all until there began the descent from above which would transform the consciousness, making its silence and freedom a basis for a luminous knowledge, action, Ananda.
Observing Thoughts, Not Throwing Them Back
2. Benefits of practising Mental Silence
E5: Finding Solutions to Problems
E6: Divine Guidance for your Work
E7: Revelations
E8: Appreciating Art
E9: Getting Better Quality of Sleep (conscious sleep)
3. Prerequisites for Attaining Mental Silence
E10: Divine Presence
Remember first that an inner quietude, caused by the purification of the restless mind and vital, is the first condition of a secure sadhana. Remember, next, that to feel the Mother's presence while in external action is already a great step and one that cannot be attained without a considerable inner progress. Probably, what you feel you need so much but cannot define is a constant and vivid sense of the Mother's force working in you, descending from above and taking possession of the different planes of your being. That is often a prior condition for the twofold movement of ascent and descent; it will surely come in time. These things can take a long time to begin visibly, especially when the mind is accustomed to be very active and has not the habit of mental silence. When that veiling activity is there, much work has to be carried on behind the mobile screen of the mind and the sadhak thinks nothing is happening when really much preparation is being done. If you want a more swift and visible progress, it can only be by bringing your psychic to the front through a constant self-offering. Aspire intensely, but without impatience.
4. Challenges
E16: Misconception that one will Lose their Ability to Think
I emphasise this fact because there are quite a few people who, when mental silence has been transmitted to them by occult means, are immediately alarmed and afraid of losing their intelligence. Because they can no longer think, they fear they may become stupid! But to cease thinking is a much higher achievement than to be able to spin out thoughts endlessly and it demands a much greater development. [11]
E17: Abolishing the Ego - Getting Rid of Moral Egoism
E18: Downward Pull of Imperfections
… the spiritual emergence has to wait at each step for the instruments to be ready; next, as the spiritual formation emerges, it is mixed inextricably with the powers, motives, impulses of an imperfect mind, life and body,—there is a pull on it to accept and serve these powers, motives and impulses, a downward gravitation and perilous mixture, a constant temptation to fall or deviation, at least a fettering, a weight, a retardation; there is a necessity to return upon a step gained in order to bring up something of the nature which hangs back and prevents a farther step; finally, there is, by the very character of mind in which it has to work, a limitation of the emerging spiritual light and power and a compulsion on it to move by segments, to follow one line or another and leave altogether or leave till later on the achievement of its own totality. This hampering, this obstacle of the mind, life and body,—the heavy inertia and persistence of the body, the turbid passions of the life-part, the obscurity and doubting incertitudes, denials, other-formulations of the mind,—is an impediment so great and intolerable that the spiritual urge becomes impatient and tries rigorously to quell these opponents, to reject the life, to mortify the body, to silence the mind and achieve its own separate salvation, spirit departing into pure spirit and rejecting from it altogether an undivine and obscure Nature. [13]
E19: Inferior Mentality
5. How to Achieve/Practice Mental Silence?
E11: Willpower
E12: Entering a Higher Domain
If you try to silence your mind directly, it is a hard job, almost impossible; for the most material part of the mind never stops its activity—it goes on and on like a non-stop recording machine. It repeats all that it records and unless there is a switch to stop it, it continues and continues indefinitely. If, on the other hand, you manage to shift your consciousness into a higher domain, above the ordinary mind, this opening to the Light calms the mind, it does not stir any longer, and the mental silence so obtained can become constant. Once you enter into this domain, you may very well never come out of it—the external mind always remains calm.
E13: Being spontaneous
And if one carries this a little further, one should never think and plan beforehand what one ought to say or write. One should simply be able to silence one's mind, to turn it like a receptacle towards the higher Consciousness and express as it receives it, in mental silence, what comes from above. That would be true spontaneity.
E14: Reading
Take one of Sri Aurobindo's books. Read a sentence or two. Then remain silent and concentrated to understand the deeper meaning. Try to concentrate deeply enough to obtain mental silence and begin again daily until you obtain a result.
E15: Witness Without Involvement
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/philosophical-thought-and-yoga#p21
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-supermind-or-supramental#p22
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/interactions-with-others-and-the-practice-of-yoga#p99
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mental-education#p22
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/29-august-1956#p4
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/23-june-1929#p21
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-77-78#p20
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/arts#p81
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/30-may-1966#p3
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/quiet-and-calm#p22
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/conjugate-verses#p90
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/19-april-1951#p8
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/22/the-evolution-of-the-spiritual-man#p10
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-intuitive-mind#p5
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p15
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/8-march-1951#p4
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/quiet-and-calm#p22
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/29-august-1956#p7
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/study-of-works-of-sri-aurobindo-and-the-mother#p29
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/26-may-1929#p21
- ↑ http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/15-december-1954#p1