Calm—Peace—Equality
Page-3
The
words “peace, calm, quiet, silence” have each
their own shade of meaning, but it is not easy to define
them.
Peace—sänti.
Calm—sthiratä.
Quiet—acancalatä.
Silence—niscala nïravatä.
Quiet
is a condition in which there is no restlessness or disturbance.
Calm is a still unmoved condition which no disturbance
can effect—it is less negative condition than quiet.
Peace is a still more positive condition; it carries
with it a sense of settled and harmonious rest and deliverance.
Silence is a state in which either there is no movement
of the mind or vital or else a great stillness which no
surface movement can pierce or alter.
-
Sri Aurobindo
Keep
the quietude and do not mind if it is for a time an empty
quietude; the consciousness is often like a vessel which
has to be emptied of its mixed or undesirable contents;
it has to be kept vacant for a while till it can be filled
with things new and true, right and pure. The one thing
to be avoided is the refilling of the cup with the old turbid
contents. Meanwhile wait, open yourself upwards, call very
quietly and steadily, not with a too restless eagerness,
for the peace to come into the silence and, once the peace
is there, for the joy and the presence.
-
Sri Aurobindo
Calm,
even if it seems at first only a negative thing, is so difficult
to obtain, that to have it at all must be regarded as a
great step in advance.
In
reality, calm is not a negative thing, it is the very nature
of the Sat-Purusha and the positive foundation of the divine
consciousness. Whatever else is aspired for and gained,
this must be kept. Even Knowledge, Power, Ananda, if they
come and do not find this foundation, are unable to remain
and have to withdraw until the divine purity and peace of
the Sat-Purusha are permanently there.
Aspire
for the rest of the divine consciousness, but with a calm
and deep aspiration. It can be ardent as well as calm, but
not impatient, restless or full of rajasic eagerness.
Only
in the quiet mind and being can the supramental Truth build
its true creation.
-
Sri Aurobindo
Experience
in the sadhana is bound to begin with the mental plane,—all
that is necessary is that the experience should be sound
and genuine. The pressure of understanding and will in the
mind and the Godward emotional urge in the heart are the
two first agents of Yoga, and peace, purity and calm (with
a lulling of the lower unrest) are precisely the first basis
that has to be laid; to get that is much more important
in the beginning than to get a glimpse of the supraphysical
worlds or to have visions, voices and powers. Purification
and calm are the first needs in the Yoga. One may have a
great wealth of experiences of that kind (worlds, visions,
voices, etc.) without them, but these experiences occurring
in an unpurified and troubled consciousness are usually
full of disorder and mixture.
At
first the peace and calm are not continuous, they come and
go, and it usually takes a long time to get them settled
in the nature. It is better therefore to avoid impatience
and to go on steadily with what is being done. If you wish
to have something beyond the peace and calm, let it be the
full opening of the inner being and the consciousness of
the Divine Power working in you. Aspire for that sincerely
and with a great intensity but without impatience and it
will come.
-
Sri Aurobindo
At
last you have the true foundation of the sadhana. This calm,
peace and surrender are the right atmosphere for all the
rest to come, knowledge, strength, Ananda. Let it become
complete.
It
does not remain when engaged in work because it is still
confined to the mind proper which has only just received
the gift of silence. When the new consciousness is fully
formed and has taken entire possession of the vital nature
and the physical being (the vital as yet is only touched
or dominated by the silence, not possessed by it), then
this defect will disappear.
The
quiet consciousness of peace you now have in the mind must
become not only calm but wide. You must feel it everywhere,
yourself in it and all in it. This also will help to bring
the calm as a basis into the action.
The
wider your consciousness becomes, the more you will be able
to receive from above. The Shakti will be able to descend
and bring strength and light as well as peace into the system.
What you feel as narrow and limited in you is the physical
mind; it can only widen if this wider consciousness and
the light come down and possess the nature.
The
physical inertia from which you suffer is likely to lessen
and disappear only when strength from above descends into
the system.
Remain
quiet, open yourself and call the divine Shakti to confirm
the calm and peace, to widen the consciousness and to bring
into it as much light and power as it can at present receive
and assimilate.
Take
care not to be over-eager, as this may disturb again such
quiet and balance as has been already established in the
vital nature.
Have
confidence in the final result and give time for the Power
to do its work.
-
Sri Aurobindo
