The Descent of

Spritual Peace

A Compilation from the works of

Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

The Descent of

Spiritual Peace

© All writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

are copyright of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

and have been reproduced here with their kind permission.

Cover Painting – Priti Ghosh (Ashram Artist)

© 2017 AuroPublications, Sri Aurobindo Society, Puducherry

www.aurosociety.org

Year of Publication 2017

Compilation done by Jamshed M Mavalwalla

Proof reading done by Archana Udaykumar

Cover done by Kavita Dutta

Help in making e-book by Shivakumar, Vivechana Saraf and Uttam Mondal

Foreword

All over the world, there is a growing interest in Spirituality and Yoga.  There is a search for the true meaning and purpose of life, for deeper solutions to the problems which confront us all, and how we can contribute to the evolutionary change and progress.

In this search, more and more persons are turning to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother for guidance and enlightenment.  But in their voluminous literature, they do not know where to find the answers they are looking for.

In this regard the Mother has said,

“It is not by books that Sri Aurobindo ought to be studied but by subjects—what he has said on the Divine, on Unity, on religion, on evolution, on education, on self-perfection, on supermind, etc., etc.” (CWM 12: 206)

On another occasion she said:

“If you want to know what Sri Aurobindo has said on a given subject, you must at least read all he has written on that subject. You will then see that he seems to have said the most contradictory things. But when one has read everything and understood a little, one sees that all the contradictions complement one another and are organised and unified in an integral synthesis.” (CWM 16: 309-310)

While there are several compilations which are now available, many sincere spiritual seekers have felt the need of Comprehensive Compilations from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on specific subjects, where the contents are further organised into sub-topics, so that one can get all that one is looking for at one place.

These books are an effort to fulfill this need and thus help spiritual seekers in their journey and sadhana.  We hope these compilations will help us to get a greater mental clarity about a subject so that we can channel our efforts in the right direction. For Sri Aurobindo has written:

“It is always better to make an effort in the right direction; even if one fails the effort bears some result and is never lost.” (CWSA 29: 87)

We will be glad to get suggestions and feedback from the readers.

Vijay

Preface

In the series of comprehensive compilations we present tenth compilation ‘The Descent of Spiritual Peace’. For more aspects of ‘Peace’, kindly await our next book.

The quotations in this compilation are taken from the volumes of the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo (CWSA) and the Collected Works of the Mother (CWM), Second Edition. Each quotation is followed by the book title, volume number and the page number it has been taken from.

While the passages from Sri Aurobindo are in the original English, most of the passages from the Mother (selections from her talks and writings) are translations from the original French. We must also bear in mind that the excerpts have been taken out of their original context and that a compilation, in its very nature, is likely to have a personal and subjective approach. A sincere attempt, however, has been made to be faithful to the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Those who would like to go through the fuller text are advised to go through the Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo (CWSA) and the Collected Works of the Mother (CWM), Second Edition.

The section headings and sub-headings have also been provided by the compiler to bring clarity on the selected topic. Also to emphasize certain portion in the quotations, the compiler has bold-faced some words.

I pray that this book may help the readers to understand the importance of the descent of Spiritual Peace as one of the important fundamental realisation in the path of Integral Yoga. This can motivate one to bring the descent of Spiritual or Divine Mother’s Peace into one’s being.

Jamshed M Mavalwalla.

“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 relation 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 Asram 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 can get it even in the hardest and most unpleasant work and the worst circumstances.” (CWSA 32: 458)

“In the old days long before you came plenty of things were brought down—including the love. Hardly one could bear it and even then only in a small measure. Is it any better now, I wonder? It does not look like it. That is why I want the supermind first,—and especially the peace, the balance in an intensity unshakable. There are several who have been trying to push on with the intensities, but—. Well, let us hope for the best. For God’s sake, peace, balance, an unshakable supramental poise and sanity first. Ecstasies and intensities of other kinds can come afterwards.” (CWSA 35: 274—275)

Contents

I—Spiritual Peace is …

II—Calm is …

III—In Its Supreme Truth, the Divine is Absolute and Infinite Peace

IV—Descent of Spiritual Peace is One of the Fundamental Realisation

V—In Spiritual Transformation there is a Double Movement

VI—The Nature of Spiritual Consciousness

VII—The Purpose of the Descent of Spiritual Consciousness

VIII—Why Peace is the First thing that has to be brought down from above

IX—First Prepare to Become Calm and Undisturbed

X—Detailed Process of Bringing Descent of Peace

XI—The Mother’s Method to Establish a Settled Peace and Silence in the Mind

XII—Aspire for Descent of Peace

XIII—For Descent of Peace Call the Divine Shakti

XIV—Know the Chief Disturbers when Peace Descends

XV—Descent of Peace should Become Strong and Solid Basis

XVI—Once you get Peace

XVII—What Perfect Peace of Mind Is ...

XVIII—A Description of the Experience of Peace and Silence of the Divine

XIX—Sri Aurobindo’s Spiritual Experience of a Vast Calm descending upon him

XX—Other Quotations on Descent of Peace

XXI—Other Quotation on Spiritual Transformation in General

XXII—Short Summary

I—Spiritual Peace is …

1. Spiritual Peace is quite different from Mental Peace and it cannot be reached without a Spiritual Discipline

“But this spiritual peace and joy is something quite different from mental peace and happiness. And it cannot be reached without a spiritual discipline.” (CWSA 36: 440)

2. The Spiritual Peace is something other and infinitely more than the Mental Peace

3. The Spiritual Peace carries with it the deep and vast and solid Tranquillity that nothing can shake

“But the spiritual peace is something other and infinitely more than the mental peace and its results are different, not merely clear thinking or some control or balance or a sattwic state. But its greater results can only be fully and permanently manifest when it lasts long enough in the system or when one feels spread out in it above the head and on every side stretching towards infinity as well as penetrated by it down to the very cells. Then it carries with it the deep and vast and solid tranquillity that nothing can shake—even if on the surface there is storm and battle. I was myself of the sattwic type you describe in my youth, but when the peace from above came down, that was quite different. Sattvaguna disappeared into nirguna and negative nirguna into positive traigunyatıta.” (CWSA 35: 45)

4. Peace is part of the Higher Consciousness

“The silence and peace are themselves part of the higher consciousness—the rest comes in the silence and peace.” (CWSA 29: 162)

“The psychic can have peace behind it—but the inner mind, vital and physical are not necessarily silent—they are full of movements. It is the higher consciousness that has a basis of peace.” (CWSA 28: 94)

5. We call the Consciousness above the Head, as Higher, Spiritual, Divine or the Mother’s Consciousness

“There is a higher consciousness above you, not in the body, so above the head, which we call the higher, spiritual or divine consciousness, or the Mother’s consciousness. When the being opens then all in you, the mind (head), emotional being (heart), vital, even something in the physical consciousness begin to ascend in order to join themselves to this greater higher consciousness. One has when one sits with eyes closed in meditation the sensation of going up which you describe. It is called the ascension of the lower consciousness. Afterwards things begin to descend from above, peace, joy, light, strength, knowledge etc. and a great change begins in the nature. This is what we call the descent of the higher (the Mother’s) consciousness.” (CWSA 30: 385)

6. Peace is a Deep Quietude where no disturbance can come

7. Silence of the Mind, Peace or Calm in the Mind are three things that are very close together and bring each other

“Peace is a deep quietude where no disturbance can come—a quietude with a sense of established security and release.

In complete silence there are either no thoughts or, if they come, they are felt as something coming from outside and not disturbing the silence.

Silence of the mind, peace or calm in the mind are three things that are very close together and bring each other.” (CWSA 29: 138)

8. Peace is more positive than Calm bringing a certain happiness or Ananda of itself

“Peace is more positive than calm—there can be a negative calm which is merely an absence of disturbance or trouble, but peace is always something positive bringing not merely a release as calm does but a certain happiness or Ananda of itself. There is also a positive calm, something that stands firm against all things that seek to trouble, not thin and neutral like the negative calm, but strong and massive. Very often the two words are used in the same sense, but one can distinguish them in their true sense as above.” (CWSA 29: 148)

9. Peace is a Calm deepened into something that is very positive amounting to a tranquil waveless Ananda

“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.” (CWSA 29: 137)

10. Peace carries with it a sense of settled and harmonious rest and deliverance

“The words “peace, calm, quiet, silence” have each their own shade of meaning, but it is not easy to define them.

Peace—santi.

Calm—sthirata.

Quiet—acancalata.

Silence—niscala-nıravata.

Quiet is a condition in which there is no restlessness or disturbance.

Calm is a still, unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect—it is a 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.” (CWSA 29: 137)

11. Spiritual Peace is a ‘Substance’ only it is different order of Substance

“I presume that [feeling peace concretely between the lobes of the brain] would mean that the peace had become or was becoming very material and solid and physically tangible—‘peace in the cells’. Everything is a ‘substance’—even peace, consciousness, ananda,—only there are different orders of substance.” (CWSA 29: 152)

12. Peace that is something Solid, Concrete, having a Power of spreading through the whole being

“Q: Sweet Mother, what does “solid peace” mean?

A: You see, there is a negative peace, that is, an absence of disturbance; but solid peace is a positive peace. One may feel a peace which is absolutely positive, which is not the negation of the absence of peace, a peace that is something solid, concrete, very... almost active, you see, that is, having a power of contagion, of spreading through the whole being and bringing peace even in places where there is none. This becomes something very positive and concrete... as though one were touching a solid object. This indeed is true peace. The other is just the preceding step—the negation of the disturbance—that is to say, one remains untroubled, one has no vibration which shows any disturbance.” (CWM 6: 361)

13. Spiritual Peace is not a Mental, Vital or Physical Peace of the ordinary kind, but something very firm, solid and concrete

14. It is the concreteness of the Spiritual Peace that feels like a Still Massive Block

15. Spiritual Peace is indeed the beginning of the real Transformation

“The higher consciousness in its descent takes several fundamental forms—peace, power and strength, light, knowledge, Ananda. Usually it is the peace that descends first. This is not a mental, vital or physical peace of the ordinary kind, but something from above (spiritual), very firm, solid and concrete. It is its concreteness that makes you feel like a still massive block—a mass of the higher consciousness in place of the more tenuous substance of the ordinary nature. As for its being worth having, you can see that it is—it is indeed the beginning of the real transformation—all the rest hitherto has been mainly preparation and clearing of difficulties and impediments through all these years.” (CWSA 30: 444)

16. Without a change in Human Nature Peace cannot come with any finality

“Peace is a part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis;

without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality.” (CWSA 36: 48)

17. A neutral mental quietude is not the Spiritual Peace

“If one has faith and openness, that is enough [to get the understanding one needs to practise the Yoga]. Besides there are two kinds of understanding—understanding by the intellect and understanding in the consciousness. It is good to have the former if it is accurate, but it is not indispensable. Understanding by the consciousness comes if there is faith and openness, though it may come only gradually and through steps of experience. But I have seen people without education or intellectuality understand in this way perfectly well the course of the Yoga in themselves, while intellectual men make big mistakes—e.g. take a neutral mental quietude for the spiritual peace and refuse to come out of it in order to go farther.” (CWSA 31: 53)

18. Peace, Shanti creates solid foundation in the Consciousness

“But calm, peace, shanti are the necessary basis for any establishment of other things. Otherwise there is no solid foundation in the consciousness; if there is only unrest and movement, bhakti, Ananda and everything else can only come and go in starts and fits and find no ground to live on. It must, however, be not a mere mental quiet, but the deep spiritual peace of the shantimaya Shiva. It was this that touched you (descending through the head) in this experience.” (CWSA 30: 235)

19. Keeping the Mind without occupation is not Peace

“Keeping the mind without occupation is not the same thing as peace or silence.” (CWSA 29: 145)

20. The Dove and the White Pigeon signifies Peace

“The dove signifies peace.” (CWSA 30: 176)

“The white pigeon must be Peace.” (CWSA 30: 176)

21. Example of Solid Peace

“... the thing is to hold the true consciousness in the body itself and not have the least fear and be full of the divine peace. Then indeed there is no danger. Not only can attacks of men be warded off, but beasts also and even the elements can be affected. I can give you a little example. You remember the night of the great cyclone, when there was a tremendous noise and splash of rain all about the place. I thought I would go to Sri Aurobindo’s room and help him shut the windows. I just opened his door and found him sitting quietly at his desk, writing. There was such a solid peace in the room that nobody would have dreamed that a cyclone was raging outside. All the windows were wide open, not a drop of rain was coming inside.” (CWM 3: 155)

II—Calm is …

1. In the Calm Mind the substance of the mental being is so still that nothing disturbs it

2. If thoughts or activities come, they come from outside and it passes without disturbing

3. A mind that has achieved Calmness can act incessantly and powerfully, keeping its fundamental Stillness

4. Action of a Calm Mind does not originate from itself but receives from above and giving it a mental form without adding anything of its own

“The difference between a vacant mind and a calm mind is this, that when the mind is vacant, there is no thought, no conception, no mental action of any kind, except an essential perception of things without the formed idea; but in the calm mind, it is the substance of the mental being that is still, so still that nothing disturbs it. If thoughts or activities come, they do not rise at all out of the mind, but they come from outside and cross the mind as a flight of birds crosses the sky in a windless air. It passes, disturbs nothing, leaving no trace. Even if a thousand images or the most violent events pass across it, the calm stillness remains as if the very texture of the mind were a substance of eternal and indestructible peace. A mind that has achieved this calmness can begin to act, even incessantly and powerfully, but it will keep its fundamental stillness—originating nothing from itself but receiving from Above and giving it a mental form without adding anything of its own, calmly, dispassionately, though with the joy of the Truth and the happy power and light of its passage.” (CWSA 29: 145)

“Calm is a positive tranquillity which can exist in spite of superficial disturbances.” (CWSA 29: 137)

5. Calm, sthirata is a still, unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect

“Calm—sthirata. ...

Calm is a still, unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect—it is a less negative condition than quiet.” (CWSA 29: 137)

6. The Calm Mind feels that the thoughts are not its own; it just observes them

“It is not necessary [in a calm mind] that there should be no thought. When there is no thought, it is silence. But the mind is said to be calm when thoughts, feelings, etc. may pass through it, but it is not disturbed. It feels that the thoughts are not its own; it observes them perhaps; but it is not perturbed by anything.” (CWSA 29: 146)

7. In the Calm Mind the difficulties and imperfections of the surface can be dealt with without upsets or depressions

“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 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 upsets, depressions, etc. The power to go among others without any invasion is also due to the same cause.” (CWSA 29: 146)

8. Calmness with disturbances on the surface is the ordinary fundamental Calm of the individual

9. Perfect stillness in the Body and in the surrounding Atmosphere is the fundamental limitless Calm of the Cosmic Consciousness

10. Limitless stillness is the Calm of the Atman, the Self above, Silent, Immutable and Infinite

“The first [calmness with disturbances on the surface] is the ordinary fundamental calm of the individual Adhar—the second [perfect stillness in the body and in the surrounding atmosphere] is the fundamental limitless calm of the cosmic consciousness, a calm which abides whether separated from all movements or supporting them.

This [limitless stillness] is the calm of the Atman, the Self above, silent, immutable and infinite.” (CWSA 29: 147)

11. Calm is self-possessed Strength, Mastery of the impulses, Control over the unconscious reflexes

12. In work Calm is the source of efficiency and an indispensable condition for Perfection

“Do not confuse calm with inertia. Calm is self-possessed strength, quiet and conscious energy, mastery of the impulses, control over the unconscious reflexes. In work calm is the source of efficiency and an indispensable condition for perfection.” (CWM 14: 134)

III—In Its Supreme Truth, the Divine is Absolute and Infinite Peace

1. In its Supreme Truth, the Divine is Absolute and Infinite Peace, Consciousness, Existence, Power and Ananda

“In its supreme Truth, the Divine is absolute and infinite peace, consciousness, existence, power and Ananda.” (CWSA 28: 5)

“The Divine we know is an Infinite Being in whose infinite manifestation these things have come—it is the Divine itself that is here, behind us, pervading the manifestation, supporting the world with its oneness; it is the Divine that is in us upholding itself the burden of the fall and its dark consequence. If above it stands for ever in its perfect Light, Bliss and Peace, it is also here; its Light, Bliss and Peace are secretly here supporting all; in ourselves there is a spirit, a central presence greater than the series of surface personalities which, like the supreme Divine itself, is not overborne by the fate they endure.” (CWSA 28: 256–257)

“… the higher divine nature whose character is absolute calm, peace, power, Light and Bliss ...” (CWSA 29: 234)

2. Divine Nature is the Nature of Peace

“Divine Nature is the nature of the divine Consciousness, Truth, Peace, Light, Purity, Knowledge, Power, Ananda on whichever plane it manifests.” (CWSA 35: 87)

"... one can feel the divine consciousness as an impersonal spiritual state, a state of peace, light, joy, wideness without feeling in it the Divine Presence.” (CWSA 32: 174)

3. When the Peace flows into you, it is the Divine who is invading you

“When the Ananda comes into you, it is the Divine who comes into you; just as when the Peace flows into you, it is the Divine who is invading you, or when you are flooded with Light, it is the flood of the Divine Himself that is around you.” (CWSA 29: 14)

“The peace is universally appreciated and recognised as divine, but the progress is welcomed only by those whose aspiration is intense and courageous.” (CWM 15: 185)

4. The first sign of the Divine Presence in the being is Peace

“It is only in the calm that one can know and do. All that is done in agitation and violence is an aberration and a folly. The first sign of the divine presence in the being is peace.

We are here to do better than elsewhere and to prepare ourselves for a supramental future. This should never be forgotten. I appeal to the sincere goodwill of all so that our ideal may be realised.” (CWM 12: 114)

“It is in the most complete peace, serenity and equality that all is the Divine even as the Divine is all.” (CWM 14: 140)

5. To manifest Divine is to live in the Infinite Peace, Light, Love

“To find the Divine is indeed the first reason for seeking the spiritual Truth and the spiritual life; … The Divine once found, to manifest Him,—that is, … to live in the infinite Peace, Light, Love, Strength, Bliss, to become that in one’s essential nature and, as a consequence, to be its vessel, channel, instrument in one’s active nature.” (CWSA 29: 5)

6. In Peace and Silence the Eternal manifests

“In peace and silence the Eternal manifests. Let nothing trouble you and the Eternal will manifest.” (CWM 14: 140)

“The Divine always brings with it perfect calm and peace.” (CWM 3: 10)

“It is only in the Divine that we can find perfect peace and total satisfaction.” (CWM 14: 10)

“Outside the Divine all is falsehood and illusion, all is mournful obscurity. In the Divine is life, light and joy. In the Divine is the sovereign peace.” (CWM 14: 12)

“To live in the Divine with a life quite new, a life solely made of the Divine, of which the Divine should be the sovereign Lord—and so all troubles will be transformed into serenity, all anguish into peace.” (CWM 14: 13)

“The Divine’s Presence gives us peace in strength, serenity in action and an unchanging happiness in the midst of all circumstances.” (CWM 14: 13)

7. The Divine Presence is the source of all Peace

“It is the Divine Presence that gives value to life. This Presence is the source of all peace, all joy, all security. Find this Presence in yourself and all your difficulties will disappear.” (CWM 14: 15)

“Q: My dear Mother, peace in my vital, peace in my heart, peace everywhere.

A: Let the vital and the heart open always to the Mother’s presence—the true source of peace.” (CWSA 32: 168)

8. The Mother’s Experience of Divine Presence as Dazzling Light, a Peace, a Power, and a Sweetness

“I have had an interesting experience.... Not last night, but the night before, someone, whom I shall not name, told me, “I am wholly down in the physical consciousness: no more meditation, and the Divine has become something up there, so far away.” Then immediately, as he was speaking, the whole room got filled with the divine Presence. I told him, “Not up there: here, here itself.” And at that moment, everything, the whole atmosphere... it was as though the air had changed into the divine Presence (Mother touches her hands, her face, her body), well, everything was touched, touched, pervaded, but with... the thing that was particularly there was a dazzling Light, a Peace like this (gesture of massiveness), a Power, and then a Sweetness... something... one had the feeling that it could melt a rock.” (CWM 11: 132)

9. Wherever the Mother’s Light descends or enters, it brings Peace, Purity, Silence

“The white Light is the Mother’s light. Wherever it descends or enters, it brings peace, purity, silence and the openness to the higher forces. If it comes below the navel, that means that it is working in the lower vital.” (CWSA 32: 265)

“The forces that come with white light are usually those of purity and peace.” (CWSA 30: 124)

“The white sun indicates the purity and peace of the Divine Consciousness.” (CWSA 30: 144)

10. Behind the Cosmic Movement there is the nature of abiding Peace, Calm

“To spiritual experience it is not a speculation but a fact that there is a Godhead immanent within behind this flawed and imperfect human nature into some likeness to which this nature can try to grow; there is something behind the cosmic movement with all its disorder which is of the nature of abiding peace, calm, strength, joy and all-embracing universality and to enter into it and abide in it is possible for our consciousness also.” (CWSA 28: 10)

11. Two Aspects of the Divine—the Static Peace and the Dynamic Force

“There are two aspects of the Divine—the static Peace and the dynamic Force. In the end they unite.” (CWSA 28: 28)

IV—Descent of Spiritual Peace is One of the Fundamental Realisation

“The Fundamental Realisations

1. ...

2. The descent of the Peace, Power, Light etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body.” (CWSA 30: 319)

“When I experience peace, I begin to realise what it is. Repetition of the experience leads to a fuller and more permanent realisation. When it is settled anywhere, that is the full realisation of it in that plane or in that part of the being.” (CWSA 30: 5)

“Experience is a wide term which covers almost everything that happens in the inner consciousness—usually it indicates either a spiritual happening, e.g. the descent of peace, ...” (CWSA 30: 87)

“Experience is a word that covers almost all the happenings in Yoga; only when something gets settled, then it is no longer an experience but part of the siddhi. E.g. peace when it comes and goes is an experience—when it is settled and goes no more it is a siddhi.” (CWSA 30: 5)

“The emptiness, silence and peace are the basic condition for the spiritual siddhi—it is the first step towards it.” (CWSA 30: 81)

“Spiritualisation means the descent of the higher peace, force, light, knowledge, purity, Ananda etc. which belong to any of the higher planes from Higher Mind to Overmind, for in any of these the Self can be realised.” (CWSA 29: 404)

“The two feelings are both of them right—they indicate the two necessities of the sadhana. One is to go inward and open fully the connection between the psychic being and the outer nature. The other is to open upward to the Divine Peace, Force, Light, Ananda above, to rise up into it and bring it down into the nature and the body. Neither of these two movements, the psychic and the spiritual, is complete without the other. If the spiritual ascent and descent are not made, the spiritual transformation of the nature cannot happen; if the full psychic opening and connection is not made, the transformation cannot be complete.

There is no incompatibility between the two movements; some begin the psychic first, others the spiritual first, some carry on both together. The best way is to aspire for both and let the Mother’s Force work it out according to the need and turn of the nature.” (CWSA 30: 383)

“… what is most important now is to develop the psychic condition of surrender, devotion, love and cheerful confidence in the Mother, …  and also to bring down from above the peace, wideness, purity etc. of the higher Self which is that of the Mother’s consciousness. It is these things that are the basis of the siddhi in this Yoga—other experiences are only a help, not the basis.” (CWSA 29: 77)

“In this Yoga the whole principle is to open oneself to the Divine Influence. It is there above you and, if you can once become conscious of it, you have then to call it down into you. It descends into the mind and into the body as Peace, as a Light, as a Force that works, as the Presence of the Divine with or without form, as Ananda.” (CWSA 29: 106)

“If one has merely a mental idea about the Divine, that is not knowledge. It is with the experiences and the inner light of knowledge that the realisation of the Divine begins. As for example, one may have the mental idea of the Divine Peace but that is nothing, only a mental conception. It is only when one has the feeling of the Divine Peace descending from above or in oneself or surrounding one that one begins to know what it is. That is what is called experience. Afterwards one begins to have a direct vision in knowledge of what the Peace is and what is its place in regard to the Divine Realisation; that is direct knowledge.” (CWSA 29: 198–199)

V—In Spiritual Transformation there is a Double Movement

“There is a double movement in the sadhana–the Divine Consciousness, Power, Light, Peace descending into all the body, the consciousness from all parts of the body rising upwards to meet the Divine Consciousness above—the descent and the ascent.” (CWSA 30: 415–416)

1. In this Yoga the Spiritual Transformation Is

Open the way for the Lower Consciousness to Rise Up to meet the Higher Consciousness above

The Higher Spiritual or Divine Consciousness to descend into Mind, Life and Body

“The power of concentration above the head is to bring peace, silence, liberation from the body sense, the identification with mind and life and open the way for the lower (mental vital-physical) consciousness to rise up to meet the higher Consciousness above and for the powers of the higher (spiritual or divine) Consciousness to descend into mind, life and body. This is what is called in this Yoga the spiritual transformation.” (CWSA 29: 307)

2. One an ascension of the Lower Consciousness to meet the Higher Spiritual Consciousness

The Other the descent of the Higher Spiritual Consciousness into the lower

“There are two movements—one an ascension of the lower consciousness to meet the higher, the other the descent of the higher consciousness into the lower. What you first experienced was an uprush of the lower consciousness from all parts so strong as to break the lid of the inner mind—that was the splitting of the skull—and to enable the joining of the two consciousnesses above to be complete. The result was a descent. Usually the first thing that descends from the higher consciousness is its deep and entire peace—the second is the Light, here the white light of the Mother.” (CWSA 30: 416–417)

“There are two movements that are necessary—one is the ascent through the increasing of peace and silence to its source above the mind,—that is indicated by the tendency of the consciousness to rise out of the body to the top of the head and above where it is easy to realise the Self in all its stillness and liberation and wideness and to open to the other powers of the Higher Consciousness. The other is the descent of the peace, silence, the spiritual freedom and wideness and the powers of the higher consciousness as they develop into the lower down to the most physical and even the subconscient.” (CWSA 30: 419)

“... for the full spiritual transformation more is needed, a permanent ascension from the lower into the higher consciousness and an effectual permanent descent of the higher into the lower nature.” (CWSA 22: 946)

3. Some sadhaks get Ascent first but more often the Descents comes first

“I think the descent is more usual than the ascent. Some sadhaks finish the ascent first or ascents and descents but more often the descents come first and the ascent (above the head) takes place only when there has been much working of peace, force, Ananda etc. in the body.” (CWSA 30: 419-420)

VI—The Nature of Spiritual Consciousness

“For there is a dynamism proper to the spiritual consciousness whose nature is Light, Power, Ananda, Peace, Knowledge, infinite Wideness and that must be possessed and descend into the whole being. Otherwise one can get mukti but not perfection or transformation (except a relative psycho-spiritual change).” (CWSA 29: 378)

“Yet it is the truth that all that belongs to the higher consciousness comes from above, not only the spiritual peace and silence, but the Light, the Power, the Knowledge, the higher seeing and thought, the Ananda come from above.” (CWSA 30: 324)

VII—The Purpose of the Descent of Spiritual Consciousness

“The descent is that of the powers of the higher consciousness which is above the head. It usually descends from centre to centre till it has occupied the whole being. But at the beginning the action is very variable. It is only when the Peace from above has not only descended but established itself in the whole system that there is a continuous action. The descent comes in order to transform the consciousness but the transformation takes time. It is not done all in a moment.” (CWSA 30: 441)

“The descent of Peace, the descent of Force or Power, the descent of Light, the descent of Ananda, these are the four things that transform the nature.” (CWSA 30: 449)

“Next, it was not my intention to say that it was wrong to aspire for the Ananda. What I wanted to point out was the condition for the permanent possession of the Ananda (intimations, visits, down rushes of it one can have before); the essential condition for it is a change of consciousness, the coming of peace, light, etc., all that brings about the transition from the normal to the spiritualised nature. And that being so, it is better to make this change of consciousness the first object of the sadhana.” (CWSA 29: 9)

“Naturally, when any of the higher consciousness descends it works to change the lower consciousness into a part of itself.” (CWSA 30: 441)

VIII—Why Peace is the First thing that has to be brought down from above

1. In the old days plenty of things were brought down but hardly one could bear it, even in a small measure

2. That is why Sri Aurobindo wants the Peace first to be brought down, the balance in an intensity unshakable

“In the old days long before you came plenty of things were brought down—including the love. Hardly one could bear it and even then only in a small measure. Is it any better now, I wonder? It does not look like it. That is why I want the supermind first,—and especially the peace, the balance in an intensity unshakable. There are several who have been trying to push on with the intensities, but—. Well, let us hope for the best. For God’s sake, peace, balance, an unshakable supramental poise and sanity first. Ecstasies and intensities of other kinds can come afterwards.” (CWSA 35: 274–275)

3. The Peace is the basis, the foundation for the transformation, all the rest will be built on it

“What you are doing is entirely the right thing and nothing more is needed. The peace you feel is the basis, the foundation for the transformation, all the rest will be built on it. To open to the Divine Forces with a quiet and strong aspiration, to become conscious of their working, to allow quietly that working and calmly to contain it, seconding it with one’s aspiration, getting more and more knowledge and understanding of what is being done as one goes on—this is the sound and natural way of the Yoga.” (CWSA 29: 123–124)

“The first thing that you have to bring down is a positive, complete and enduring peace from above—that is the only foundation on which the rest can be done, i.e. the development of the higher consciousness, force, knowledge, love, Ananda.” (CWSA 29: 123)

4. Peace is the basis, all the rest falls into the Peace and is sustained on it as on a sure foundation

“The meditation experience seems to be developing in the right direction. Before it was only an opening; but to get something settled, there must be this assimilation and the growth in stability, in peace. Peace is the basis of the spiritual change—all the rest falls into the peace and is sustained on it as on a sure foundation.” (CWSA 29: 124)

“Peace is the basis of the sadhana.” (CWSA 29: 124)

5. The Supreme Divine Peace is lasting, eternal, immortal and infinite and so it is worth having, worth conquering and worth possessing

“Always keep your peace, resist all temptation to lose it. Never decide anything without stepping back, never speak a word without stepping back, never throw yourself into action without stepping back. All that belongs to the ordinary world is impermanent and fugitive, so there is nothing in it worth getting upset about. What is lasting, eternal, immortal and infinite—that indeed is worth having, worth conquering, worth possessing. It is Divine Light, Divine Love, Divine Life—it is also Supreme Peace, Perfect Joy and All-Mastery upon earth with the Complete Manifestation as the crowning. When you get the sense of the relativity of things, then whatever happens you can step back and look; you can remain quiet and call on the Divine Force and wait for an answer. Then you will know exactly what to do. Remember, therefore, that you cannot receive the answer before you are very peaceful. Practise that inner peace, make at least a small beginning and go on in your practice until it becomes a habit with you.” (CWM 3: 160)

“... the only thing that is worth living for: attainment of the true consciousness, integral self-giving to the Divine, the peace, the light and the delight that come from the true wisdom and self-forgetfulness.” (CWM 3: 218)

6. The human form is a creation of the ignorance, weak and impure

7. The human form must be Transformed and new consciousness must be created

8. A consciousness of Divine Peace must take hold of all down to the most physical

9. In that Peace inner strength will increase

10. Then the Divine Light and Knowledge will transform all the consciousness

“The human form is naturally unable to bear the Divine Love or contain it, because it is itself a creation of the ignorance, weak and impure. It must be transformed in order to be capable of that; it must become strong and pure. … But besides that a new consciousness must be created in it—first a consciousness of pure and purifying Divine Peace from above which must take hold of all down to the most physical—then in that peace an increasing inner strength pure and unegoistic—then the Divine Light and Knowledge transforming all the consciousness and movements. When this has been done, then the human form can contain the Divine Love and Ananda.” (CWSA 29: 334)

11. The human nature has to be changed before it can hold what descends

12. The things that has to be changed are incapacity and limitation of the mind, insufficient purity in the heart and restlessness

13. To contain the descent a quiet mind, pure heart and aspiration are needed

“What usually comes is a descent of the Divine Power to work upon the nature and prepare it for the Divine Presence in the heart. There is much in human nature that has to be changed before it can hold what descends—incapacity and limitation of the mind, insufficient purity in the heart and elsewhere, restlessness etc. To contain the descent a quiet mind and pure heart are needed. That is why there is the restlessness and sense of incapacity in her. That is a quite common experience. If she wants to go farther, she must aspire for calm, peace, purity, etc. in the mental and emotional being and allow what is descending to establish it in her.” (CWSA 30: 488)

14. The safest is to bring down first an absolute Calm and Peace

15. Otherwise it may be difficult for the external nature to contain or bear so much Force, Light, Knowledge or Ananda

“And all this [Force, Light, Ananda] can descend into us. Any of them and all of them can come down, not peace alone; only the safest is to bring down first an absolute calm and peace for that makes the descent of the rest more secure; otherwise it may be difficult for the external nature to contain or bear so much Force, Light, Knowledge or Ananda. All these things together make what we call the higher, spiritual or divine consciousness. ... This upward opening puts us into direct relation with the whole Divine and can create in us the divine consciousness and a new birth or births of the spirit.” (CWSA 30: 326–327)

“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.” (CWSA 29: 123)

“So, if one wants to be safe on the path, it seems to me that to seek for peace, for perfect calm, perfect equality, for a widening of the consciousness, a vaster understanding and liberation from all desire, all preference, all attachment, is certainly an indispensable preliminary condition.

It is the guarantee of both inner and outer equipoise.” (CWM 8: 328)

“Peace is necessary for all; without peace and an increasing purity, even if one opens, one cannot receive perfectly all that comes down through the opening. Light too is necessary for all—without light one cannot take full advantage of all that comes down.”   (CWSA 29: 123)

16. The Force, the Light, the Ananda that come down are extremely intense and need a great stillness in the being to bear and support them

“Quiet, quiet and more quiet, calm strength, calm gladness are what are needed in mind and nerves and body as a basis for the siddhi—precisely because the Force, the Light, the Ananda that come down are extremely intense and need a great stillness in the being to bear and support them.” (CWSA 30: 450)

17. Because in the Peace one can bear whatever Ananda Strength or Knowledge comes

“But also there is much above the human mind and it is this which you feel like a world above your head. All these are the ordinary experiences of our Yoga. It is only a beginning. But in order that it may go on developing, you must become more and more quiet, more and more able to hold whatever comes without getting too eager and excited. Peace and calmness are the first thing, and with it wideness—in the peace you can bear whatever love or Ananda comes, whatever strength comes or whatever knowledge.” (CWSA 28: 100)

18. Knowledge, Power, Ananda, if they come first are unable to remain and have to withdraw until the Divine Purity and Peace are permanently there

“Calm, even if it seems at first only a negative thing, is so difficult to attain 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.” (CWSA 29: 146)

19. When the Peace settles in the system then what has to come in will come in and expand like a bud into flower and what has to fall off will fall off in its time like a slough discarded

“It is very good news. The peace settling in the system and with it a happy activity—that is the basis for your Yoga which I always wanted you to have—a sunny condition in which what has to come in will come in and expand like a bud into flower and what has to fall off will fall off in its time like a slough discarded.” (CWSA 29: 148)

20. Without settled Peace you may have experiences, but nothing will be permanent

“The first thing to do in the sadhana is to get a settled peace and silence in the mind. Otherwise you may have experiences, but nothing will be permanent. It is in the silent mind that the true consciousness can be built.” (CWSA 29: 149-150)

21. Experiences are full of disorder and mixture without Purification and Calm

“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.” (CWSA 30: 45)

22. If the mind is not full of the Higher Calm, Peace then the influences from above get diminished, mentalised and vitalised

“One may get influences from above, but so long as the mind is not full of the higher calm, peace, silence, one cannot be in direct contact. These influences get diminished, mentalised, vitalised and are not the powers of the higher planes in their native character.” (CWSA 30: 428)

23. If the Peace is once established, no amount of movements on the surface can impair or abolish it

“If the peace or silence is once absolutely established, no amount of movements on the surface can impair or abolish it. It can bear all the movements of the universe and yet be the same.” (CWSA 29: 150)

24. When the Peace is established reactions in the lower vital will not be able to shake it

“When the peace is fully established everywhere in the being, these things [reactions in the lower vital] will not be able to shake it. They may come first as ripples on the surface, then only as suggestions which one looks at or does not care to look at, but in either case they don’t get inside, affect or disturb at all.

It is difficult to explain, but it is something like a mountain at which one throws stones—if conscious all through the mountain may feel the touch of the stones, but the thing would be so slight and superficial that it would not be in the least affected. In the end even that reaction disappears.” (CWSA 29: 150–151)

25. If Calm, Peace is established, then one is no longer a prey to the turmoil of the vital forces

“The calm, the detachment, a peaceful strength and joy (atmarati) must be brought down into the vital and physical as well as into the mind. If this is established, one is no longer a prey to the turmoil of the vital forces. But this calm, peace, silent strength and joy is only the first descent of the Power of the Mother into the Adhar.” (CWSA 28: 42)

26. It is only in a Calm mind and vital that the Divine Shakti can do Her work rightly

“The first result of the descent is the calm which he experiences; for it is only in a calm mind and vital (manah-prana) that the Divine Shakti can do her work rightly.” (CWSA 30: 470)

27. When the Higher Consciousness descends the danger is that the mental forces tend to become active forming ideas of a mental type which can always be misapplied

“The danger of the mental forces is that when the higher consciousness descends they tend (unless there is a deep silence) to become active in the consciousness for forming ideas of a mental type which can always be misapplied. First, there should be a basis of entire calm, peace and silence—if there is activity, it should be that of a knowledge coming down and the mind silent receiving it accurately. This you can easily have, provided the

mind is quiet.” (CWSA 30: 490)

28. If the Peace does not descend first, then care must be taken not to swell oneself in exultation or lose the balance

“Whatever [Light, Ananda, Force, Bliss] comes has to be welcomed—for there is no absolute rule for all,—but if the peace has not come first, care must be taken not to swell oneself in exultation or lose the balance. The capital movement however is when the Divine Force or Shakti, the power of the Mother comes down and takes hold, for then the organisation of the consciousness begins and the larger foundation of the Yoga.” (CWSA 30: 328)

29. Peace is a sign of the contact with the Divine

“The more the calm, peace, joy and happiness descend and take possession, the stronger the foundation. It is the sign of the contact [with the Divine].” (CWSA 29: 361)

IX—First Prepare to Become Calm and Undisturbed

“To be calm, undisturbed and quiet is not the first condition for sadhana but for siddhi. It is only a few people (very few, one, two, three, four in a hundred sadhaks) who can get it from the first. Most have to go through a long preparation before they can get anywhere near it. Even afterwards when they begin to feel the peace and calm, it takes time to establish it—they swing between peace and disturbance for a fairly long time until all parts of the nature have accepted the truth and the peace. So there is no reason for you to suppose you cannot progress or arrive. You are finding a great difficulty with one part of your nature which has been accustomed to open itself to these feelings, separation from the Mother and attachment to relatives, and is not willing to give them up—that is all. But everybody finds such obstinate difficulties in that part of the nature, even the most successful sadhaks here. One has to persevere until the light conquers there.”  (CWSA 29: 126–127)

“To be calm, steady, fixed in the spirit, dhıra, sthira, this quietude of the mind, this separation of the inner Purusha from the outer Prakriti is very helpful, almost indispensable. So long as the being is subject to the whirl of thoughts or the turmoil of the vital movements one cannot be thus calm and fixed in the spirit. To detach oneself, to stand back from them, to feel them separate from oneself is indispensable.” (CWSA 29: 160)

“The turmoil of mental (intellectual) activity has also to be silenced like the vital activity of desire in order that the calm and peace may be complete. ... In this calm the ordinary mental activities like the ordinary vital activities become surface movements with which the silent inner self is not connected.” (CWSA 31: 54)

“The Yogin who has experience knows that the small beginnings are of the greatest importance and have to be cherished and allowed with great patience to develop. He knows for instance that the neutral quiet so dissatisfying to the vital eagerness of the sadhak is the first step towards the peace that passeth all understanding,  ... the descents that stiffen the body into a concentrated stillness the first touch of something at the end of which is the presence of the Divine. He is not impatient; he is rather careful not to disturb the evolution that is beginning.” (CWSA 30: 14–15)

“This quietude is not tamas at all—it is a quiescence of the ordinary rajasic movements of the nature (desire, grief, attachment and other reactions), which is very necessary in order that peace may come. It is what we may call the quiet vital—and it is in the quiet mind and the quiet vital that the true spiritual consciousness can most easily come.” (CWSA 31: 115)

“The important thing is to get rid of the habit of the invasion of troubling thoughts, wrong feelings, confusion of ideas, unhappy movements. These disturb the nature and cloud it and make it more difficult for the Force to work; when the mind is quiet and at peace, the Force can work more easily.” (CWSA 29: 161)

“Someone has asked me what I meant by these words:

‘One must be calm.’

It is obvious that when I tell someone, “Be calm”, I mean many different things according to the person. But the first indispensable calm is mental quietude, for generally that is the one that’s most lacking. When I tell someone, “Be calm”, I mean: Try not to have restless, excited, agitated thoughts; try to quieten your mind and to stop turning around in all your imaginations and observations and mental constructions.

One could justifiably add a question: You tell us “Be calm”, but what should we do to be calm?... The answer is always more or less the same: you must first of all feel the need for it and want it, and then aspire, and then try! For trying, there are innumerable methods which have been prescribed and attempted by many. These methods are generally long, arduous, difficult; and many people get discouraged before reaching the goal, for, the more they try, the more do their thoughts start whirling around and becoming restless in their heads.

For each one the method is different, but first one must feel the need, for whatever reason it may be—whether because one is tired or because one is overstrained or because one truly wants to rise beyond the state one lives in—one must first understand, feel the need of this quietude, this peace in the mind. And then, afterwards, one may try out successively all the methods, known ones and new, to attain the result.” (CWM 8: 328–329)

“Now, one quickly realises that there is another quietude which is necessary, and even very urgently needed—this is vital quietude, that is to say, the absence of desire. Only, the vital when not sufficiently developed, as soon as it is told to keep quiet, either goes to sleep or goes on strike; it says, ‘Ah! no. Nothing doing! I won’t go any farther. If you don’t give me the sustenance I need, excitement, enthusiasm, desire, even passion, I prefer not to move and I won’t do anything any longer.’ So there the problem becomes a little more delicate and perhaps even more difficult still; for surely, to fall from excitement into inertia is very far from being a progress! One must never mistake inertia or a somnolent passivity for calm.” (CWM 8: 329)

“To get the capacity of this silence and peace is a most important step in the sadhana. It comes at first in meditation and may throw the consciousness inward in trance, but it has to come afterwards in the waking state and establish itself as a permanent basis for all the life and action. It is the condition for the realisation of the Self and the spiritual transformation of the nature.” (CWSA 30: 248)

“A constant babble of words seems to be the indispensable accompaniment to daily work. And yet as soon as one makes an effort to reduce the noise to a minimum, one realises that many things are done better and faster in silence and that this helps to maintain one’s inner peace and concentration.

If you are not alone and live with others, cultivate the habit of not externalising yourself constantly by speaking aloud, and you will notice that little by little an inner understanding is established between yourself and others; you will then be able to communicate among yourselves with a minimum of words or even without any words at all. This outer silence is most favourable to inner peace, and with goodwill and a steadfast aspiration, you will be able to create a harmonious atmosphere which is very conducive to progress.” (CWM 12: 58)

“Q: My mind becomes quiet for some time, but then many absurd thoughts rush in and I cannot quiet them down. Then I feel very much harrassed. How long will it take to calm down my mind?

A: What is still restless in the vital has to quiet down for the peace of mind to be even and constant. It has to be controlled, but only control will not be enough. The Mother’s Power has to be called always.”   (CWSA 32: 216)

X—Detailed Process of Bringing Descent of Peace

1. Sit for Concentration

1. The result of the Concentration is not usually immediate

2. The nature has to be prepared by Aspiration and Tapasya

“The result of the concentration is not usually immediate— though to some there comes a swift and sudden out flowering; but with most there is a time longer or shorter of adaptation or preparation, especially if the nature has not been prepared already to some extent by aspiration and tapasya.” (CWSA 30: 328)

3. There should be the condition of Calm when you sit for Concentration

“It is quite natural that at first there should be the condition of calm and peace only when you sit for concentration. What is important is that there should be this condition whenever you sit and the pressure for it always there. But at other times the result is at first only a certain mental quiet and freedom from thoughts.” (CWSA 29: 313)

4. Detach oneself from the action of the Mechanical Mind

"To be able to detach oneself from the action of the mechanical mind is the first necessity so that it may be like a noise in the street which passes and which one can ignore. It is easier then for the quiet and peace of the mind to remain undisturbed by this action even if it occurs.

If the peace and silence continue to come down, they usually become so intense as to seize the physical mind also after a time.” (CWSA 29: 314–315)

5. Ordinarily the Consciousness is spread out everywhere, dispersed

6. Draw back all this dispersed Consciousness and Concentrate

7. First let quiet in the nature settle down

8. Concentrate in one place: say concentrating anywhere in the head or at the centre of the chest

9. Concentrate in the head in a will, a call for the descent of the peace from above

10. Concentrate for an opening of the unseen lid and an ascent of the consciousness above

11. One can relax and meditate instead of concentrating

“I was very glad to get your letter and especially to know that you are more at peace. That is what is first needed, the settling down of a natural peace and quiet in the nature—the spiritual peace is a bigger thing that can come afterwards.

Then as to concentration. Ordinarily the consciousness is spread out everywhere, dispersed, running in this or that direction, after this subject and that object in multitude. When anything has to be done of a sustained nature, the first thing one does is to draw back all this dispersed consciousness and concentrate. It is then, if one looks closely, found to be concentrated in one place and on one occupation, subject or object—as when you are composing a poem or a botanist is studying a flower. The place is usually somewhere in the brain, if it is the thought, in the heart if it is the feeling in which one is concentrated. The Yogic concentration is simply an extension and intensification of the same thing. It may be on an object as when one does tratak on a shining point—then one has to concentrate so that one sees only that point and has no other thought but that. It may be on an idea or a word or a name, the idea of the Divine, the word OM, the name Krishna, or a combination of idea and word or idea and name. But, farther, in Yoga one also concentrates in a particular place. There is the famous rule of concentrating between the eyebrows—the centre of the inner mind, of occult vision, of the will is there. What you do is to think firmly from there on whatever you make the object of your concentration or else try to see the image of it from there. If you succeed in this, then after a time you feel that your whole consciousness is centred there in that place—of course for the time being. After doing it for some time and often, it becomes easy and normal.

I hope this is clear. Well, in this Yoga, you do the same, not necessarily at that particular spot between the eyebrows, but anywhere in the head or at the centre of the chest where the physiologists have fixed the cardiac centre. Instead of concentrating on an object, you concentrate in the head in a will, a call for the descent of the peace from above or, as some do, an opening of the unseen lid and an ascent of the consciousness above. ...

It may be asked what becomes of the rest of the consciousness when there is this local concentration? Well, it either falls silent as in any concentration or, if it does not, then thoughts or other things may move about, as if outside, but the concentrated part does not attend to them or notice. That is when the concentration is reasonably successful.

One has not to fatigue oneself at first by long concentration if one is not accustomed, for then in a jaded mind it loses its power or value. One can “relax” and meditate instead of concentrating. It is only as the concentration becomes normal that one can go on for a longer and longer time.” (CWSA 29: 308–309)

12. The inner mind centre is between the eyebrows

13. If the inner mind centre opens, then the peace from above can enter easily into the mind

“If the inner mind centre opens, then the peace etc. from above can enter easily into the mind and afterwards into the vital and both mind and vital will become quiet.” (CWSA 30: 203)

14. Keep the Quietude even an empty Quietude

15. The Consciousness is like a vessel which has to be emptied of its mixed or undesirable contents

16. Avoid refilling with the old turbid contents

17. Wait, open yourself upwards

18. Call Peace very quietly and steadily

19. Do not call with a restless eagerness

“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.” (CWSA 29: 145)

20. At least during the meditation keep the Quietude of the Mind and Vital

21. By keeping a strong and silent Will

“What the sadhaka has to do is to be careful to reject and hush these outsiders, so that during the meditation at least the peace and quietude of the mind and vital may be complete. This can be done best if you keep a strong and silent will. That will is the will of the Purusha behind the mind; when the mind is at peace, when it is silent one can become aware of the Purusha, silent also, separate from the action of the nature.” (CWSA 29: 160)

22. Be as candid and simple as a child while Meditating

23. Not interfering by your external mind, expecting nothing, insisting on nothing

24. Then ask from within for Peace, it will come in the measure of your capacity

“When you sit in meditation you must be as candid and simple as a child, not interfering by your external mind, expecting nothing, insisting on nothing. Once this condition is there, all the rest depends upon the aspiration deep within you. If you ask from within for peace, it will come; if for strength, for power, for knowledge, they too will come, but all in the measure of your capacity to receive it. And if you call upon the Divine, then too—always admitting that the Divine is open to your call, and that means your call is pure enough and strong enough to reach him,—you will have the answer.” (CWM 3: 99)

2. Ascent to Higher Consciousness

1. The Concentration in the head must open the silent Mental Consciousness upward

2. One feels the Consciousness rising upward and in the end it rises beyond the lid

3. One finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite

4. Comes into contact with the Divine Peace

5. Enter into the Peace and becomes Peace

“But once concentrated here [the concentration in the head] one must open the silent mental consciousness upward to all that is above mind. After a time one feels the consciousness rising upward and in the end it rises beyond the lid which has so long kept it tied in the body and finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite. There it begins to come into contact with the universal Self, the Divine Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Bliss, to enter into that and become that, to feel the descent of these things into the nature.” (CWSA 29: 7)

6. The Integral Yoga insist on an opening upwards to what is above the mind

“A disclosure from within or a descent from above are the two sovereign ways of the Yoga-siddhi. An effort of the external surface mind or emotions, a tapasya of some kind may seem to build up something of these things, but the results are usually uncertain and fragmentary compared to the result of the two radical ways. That is why in this Yoga we insist always on an ‘opening’—an opening inwards of the inner mind, vital, physical to the inmost part of us, the psychic, and an opening upwards to what is above the mind—as indispensable for the fruits of the sadhana." (CWSA 30: 324)

“The second opening [the opening of the mind centres to all that is behind and above them] is effected by a concentration of the consciousness in the head (afterwards, above it) and an aspiration and call and a sustained will for the descent of the divine Peace,...” (CWSA 30: 328)

7. The sensation of something within you going up above the head is the ascension of the lower consciousness

8. The mind, emotional being, vital, even something in the physical consciousness begin to ascend in order to join themselves to this greater higher consciousness

“The feeling you had in the afternoon of the cessation of thought and the sensation of something within you going up above the head is part of the movement of the sadhana. There is a higher consciousness above you, not in the body, so above the head, which we call the higher, spiritual or divine consciousness, or the Mother’s consciousness. When the being opens then all in you, the mind (head), emotional being (heart), vital, even something in the physical consciousness begin to ascend in order to join themselves to this greater higher consciousness. One has when one sits with eyes closed in meditation the sensation of going up which you describe. It is called the ascension of the lower consciousness. Afterwards things begin to descend from above, peace, joy, light, strength, knowledge etc. and a great change begins in the nature. This is what we call the descent of the higher (the Mother’s) consciousness.” (CWSA 30: 384–385)

3. Descent of Peace

1. Peace descends first into the head and liberates the inner mind centres

2. Then Peace descends into the heart centre and liberates the psychic and emotional being

3. Then into the navel and other vital centres and liberates the inner vital

4. Then into the Muladhara and below and liberates the inner physical being

5. Peace takes up the whole nature part by part

6. Peace rejects what has to be rejected, sublimates what has to be sublimated and creates what has to be created

7. Peace then integrates, harmonises, establishes a new rhythm in the nature

“For when the Peace is established, this higher or Divine Force from above can descend and work in us. It descends usually first into the head and liberates the inner mind centres, then into the heart centre and liberates fully the psychic and emotional being, then into the navel and other vital centres and liberates the inner vital, then into the Muladhara and below and liberates the inner physical being. It works at the same time for perfection as well as liberation; it takes up the whole nature part by part and deals with it, rejecting what has to be rejected, sublimating what has to be sublimated, creating what has to be created. It integrates, harmonises, establishes a new rhythm in the nature. It can bring down too a higher and yet higher force and range of the higher Nature until, if that be the aim of the sadhana, it becomes possible to bring down the supramental force and existence. All this is prepared, assisted, farthered by the work of the psychic being in the heart centre; the more it is open, in front, active, the quicker, safer, easier the working of the Force can be. The more love and bhakti and surrender grow in the heart, the more rapid and perfect becomes the evolution of the sadhana. For the descent and transformation imply at the same time an increasing contact and union with the Divine.” (CWSA 30: 327) (CWSA 32: 204–205)

8. Peace descending in the vital-physical and subtle physical and even in the lowest levels are necessary for the whole change to be made

“If the peace and power that were acting on the head and in the chest have come down into the stomach and below, that would indicate that they are no longer acting on the mind and emotional being only, but fully on the vital also—that is a great progress.

The desires you refer to are those of the vital-physical in the subtle physical consciousness—impulse to talk, essential hunger, thirst, etc. Peace and quietude full in the vital-physical and subtle physical and down even in the lowest levels are necessary for the whole change to be made.” (CWSA 31: 256)

9. In the early stage of the Yoga, Peace comes little by little

10. Peace is sometimes absent for long periods together

11. It is by long sadhana that one gets the permanent Peace

“To nobody does the divine calm and peace come uninterruptedly in the early stages of the Yoga—it comes little by little—it is sometimes absent for long periods together, or there are strong attacks which cloud it over. It is by long sadhana that one gets the permanent peace.” (CWSA 29: 149)

12. Avoid impatience and let there be the full opening of the inner being

13. Aspire for Peace sincerely and with a great intensity but without impatience

“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.” (CWSA 30: 45)

14. In the process of descent not to rely entirely on oneself but to Surrender

“One thing more. In this process of the descent from above and the working it is most important not to rely entirely on oneself, but to rely on the guidance of the Guru and to refer all that happens to his judgment and arbitration and decision. For it often happens that the forces of the lower nature are stimulated and excited by the descent and want to mix with it and turn it to their profit. It often happens too that some Power or Powers undivine in their nature present themselves as the Supreme Lord or as the Divine Mother and claim the being’s service and surrender. If these things are accepted, there will be an extremely disastrous consequence. If indeed there is the assent of the sadhak to the Divine working alone and the submission or surrender to that guidance, then all can go smoothly. This assent and a rejection of all egoistic forces or forces that appeal to the ego are the safeguard throughout the sadhana. But the ways of Nature are full of snares, the disguises of the ego are innumerable, the illusions of the Powers of Darkness, Rakshasi Maya, are extraordinarily skilful; the reason is an insufficient guide and often turns traitor; vital desire is always with us tempting to follow any alluring call. This is the reason why in this Yoga we insist so much on what we call samarpana— rather inadequately rendered by the English word surrender. If the heart centre is fully opened and the psychic is always in control, then there is no question; all is safe. But the psychic can at any moment be veiled by a lower upsurge. It is only a few who are exempt from these dangers and it is precisely those to whom surrender is easily possible. The guidance of one who is himself by identity or represents the Divine is in this difficult endeavour imperative and indispensable.” (CWSA 30: 329–330)

15. The experiences of descent of peace repeats itself

“Once these experiences [of peace and the descent of force] begin, they repeat themselves usually, whether the general condition is good or not. But naturally they cannot make a radical change until they settle themselves and become normal in the whole being or at least in the inner part of it. In the latter case the old movements can still come, but they are felt as something quite superficial and the sadhana increases in spite of them.” (CWSA 30:25–26)

16. In the beginning the Peace comes for a short time

17. Afterwards the power of holding increases

18. Until in some part of the being Peace is constant

“In the beginning the peace and calmness comes like that only for a short time. The Adhar cannot keep it, its own natural condition being different. But afterwards the power of holding increases until in some part of the being at least it is constant.” (CWSA 29: 149)

19. At first Peace descends only for a moment or two; afterwards it lasts for longer periods

“The descent of calm and light which you experience is a sign that the sadhana has actually begun in you; it shows that you are open now consciously to the Divine Force and its workings. The descent of calm and light into the being is the beginning of the foundation of the yoga. At first it may be felt in the mind and upper part only, but afterwards goes further down until it touches all the centres and is experienced in the whole body. At first it comes only for a moment or two; afterwards it lasts for longer periods.” (CWM 14: 55)

20. Once the Peace has shown itself it will always come back

21. Persevere with confidence and never lose courage

“However strong the attack may be and even if it overcomes for the time being, still it will rapidly pass away if you have formed the habit of opening to the Mother. The peace will come back, if you remain quiet and keep yourself open to it and to the Force. Once something of the Truth has shown itself within you, it will always, even if for a time heavily clouded over with wrong movements, shine out again like the sun in heaven. Therefore persevere with confidence and never lose courage.” (CWSA 32: 303)

22. The sadhak is not always conscious of the descent of Peace but he feels the Peace settling in him

“I have said that the most decisive way for the Peace or the Silence to come is by a descent from above.

... the sadhak is not always conscious of the process; he feels the peace settling in him or at least manifesting, but he has not been conscious how and whence it came.” (CWSA 30: 323–324)

23. First there is a difficulty in keeping Peace intact due to the habit of running outwards in speech or external interchange or else of coming down to the normal level

“The peace liberates from all dependence on outer contacts—it brings what the Gita calls the atmarati. But at first there is a difficulty in keeping it intact when there is the contact with others because the consciousness has the habit of running outwards in speech or external interchange or else of coming down to the normal level. One must therefore be very careful until it is fixed; once fixed it usually defends itself, for all outer contacts become surface things to a consciousness full of the higher peace.” (CWSA 29: 151)

24. In some Peace descends like a flood, in others a methodical and deliberate increase or as a drizzling rain

“In some it [descent] comes down like a flood, in others it goes through with a methodical and deliberate increase. I don’t think the peace descent is in the habit of waiting for companions—more often it likes at first to be all by itself and then call down its friends with the message, “Come along, I have made the place all ready for you.” (CWSA 30: 447)

“I am glad to hear that these experiences are coming—they are a sign of rapid progress coming. The descent as of a drizzling rain is a very characteristic and well-known way of descent of the higher Consciousness; it brings peace but it also brings all other possibilities of the higher Consciousness too and, as you felt, the seeds of transformation of the physical consciousness—by the coming in it of the seeds of the powers and qualities of the higher Nature.” (CWSA 30: 475)

25. Not necessary to go on having the same preparatory experiences of descent

26. A time comes when the consciousness begins to take a new poise and another state

“Experiences and descents are very good for preparation, but change of the consciousness is the thing wanted—it is the proof that the experiences and descents have had an effect. Descents of peace are good, but an increasingly stable quietude and silence of the mind is something more valuable. When that is there then other things can come—usually one at a time, light or strength and force or knowledge or ananda. It is not necessary to go on for ever having always the same preparatory experiences—a time comes when the consciousness begins to take a new poise and another state.” (CWSA 30: 232)

XI—The Mother’s Method to Establish a Settled Peace and Silence in the Mind

1. You must want Peace

2. Sit quietly and ask for Peace by saying “Peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, calm, peace

3. Imagine Peace and Calm

4. Do not look or listen at the thoughts

5. Go on repeating like an idiot Peace, peace, peace

6. Try this for a few minutes

7. Do this on getting up in the morning, do this for a few minutes before eating

8. Do this in the evening when going to bed

9. You must be very simple in trying

10. Call peace as if calling a friend

11. Make Peace and Calm your friends and call them

12. A time will come when one is always in a Perfect Peace, after some years

“Q: How can we establish a settled peace and silence in the mind?

A: First of all, you must want it.

And then you must try and must persevere, keep on trying. … You sit quietly, to begin with; and then, instead of thinking of fifty things, you begin saying to yourself, “Peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, calm, peace!” You imagine peace and calm. You aspire, ask that it may come: “Peace, peace, calm.”   And then, when something comes and touches you and acts, say quietly, like this, “Peace, peace, peace.”   Do not look at the thoughts, do not listen to the thoughts, you understand. You must not pay attention to everything that comes. You know, when someone bothers you a great deal and you want to get rid of him, you don’t listen to him, do you? Good! You turn your head away (gesture) and think of something else. Well, you must do that: when thoughts come, you must not look at them, must not listen to them, must not pay any attention at all, you must behave as though they did not exist, you see! And then, repeat all the time like a kind of—how shall I put it?—as an idiot does, who repeats the same thing always. Well, you must do the same thing; you must repeat, “Peace, peace, peace.”   So you try this for a few minutes and then do what you have to do; and then, another time, you begin again; sit down again and then try. Do this on getting up in the morning, do this in the evening when going to bed. You can do this... look, if you want to digest your food properly, you can do this for a few minutes before eating. You can’t imagine how much this helps your digestion! Before beginning to eat you sit quietly for a while and say, “Peace, peace, peace!” and everything becomes calm. It seems as though all the noises were going far, far, far away (Mother stretches out her arms on both sides) and then you must continue; and there comes a time when you no longer need to sit down, and no matter what you are doing, no matter what you are saying, it is always “Peace, peace, peace.”  Everything remains here, like this, it does not enter (gesture in front of the forehead), it remains like this. And then one is always in a perfect peace... after some years.

But at the beginning, a very small beginning, two or three minutes, it is very simple. For something complicated you must make an effort, and when one makes an effort, one is not quiet. It is difficult to make an effort while remaining quiet. Very simple, very simple, you must be very simple in these things. It is as though you were learning how to call a friend: by dint of being called he comes. Well, make peace and calm your friends and call them: “Come, peace, peace, peace, peace, come!” (CWM 6: 313)

13. To accept Peace we must want Peace sincerely and integrally, not only with one part of the being

“Q: The pressure is constantly there. Grant me quietness, my sweet Mother.

A: I never cease pouring peace and quietness and calm on you why don’t you accept them?

Q: What must I do to accept the peace and quietness and calm?

A: Want them sincerely and integrally—not only with one part of your being.” (CWM 17: 59–60)

14. Once you had the experience of Peace, it will surely come back stronger

15. Do not torment yourself

16. Remain confident and you will hasten its coming

“Q: And I always ask You for silence and peace (as I told You the other day) because I know that if one can always keep that silence and peace one never feels poor for any reason.

I don’t want to be, I don’t want to feel so poor.

A: You have already had this experience of peace and silent joy; you know what it is and it is sure to come back stronger and steadier. Remain confident, do not torment yourself—in this way you will hasten its coming.

Tender love from your mother.” (CWM 16: 100)

XII—Aspire for Descent of Peace

"Aspiration is a turning upward of the inner being with a call, yearning, prayer for the Divine, for the Truth, for the Consciousness, Peace, Ananda, Knowledge, descent of Divine Force or whatever else is the aim of one’s endeavour.” (CWSA 29: 56–57)

“What you have to aspire for and bring down in you is the peace of the Mother’s consciousness. Peace, calm, equanimity in the emotional being and the rest of the vital especially—it is that which will purify the emotions and deliver the vital.” (CWSA 31: 114)

“You must aspire especially for quietness, peace, a calm faith, an increasing steady wideness, for more and more knowledge, for a deep and intense but quiet devotion.” (CWSA 31: 124)

“If you meditate at all now, it should be only in calm and peace with a very quiet aspiration for the divine calm and peace to descend into you.” (CWSA 31: 139)

“When everything is in a whirlwind one sees nothing; as when you are in a great tempest and the wind is blowing from all sides and there are clouds of dust, you cannot see; it is the same thing. To be able to see, all must become quiet. So you must aspire and then draw into this storm... draw peace, quietude, immobility, like this; and then if you succeed it is still another experience, it is the beginning.

Of course one can sit down and try... not to meditate, because that’s an activity of thought which does not lead to experience, but to concentrate and aspire and open oneself to the force from above; and if one does it persistently enough, there is a moment when one feels this force, this peace or this silence, this quietude descending, penetrating and descending into the being quite far. The first day it may be very little, and then gradually it becomes more. This also is an experience. All these are easy things to do.” (CWM 7: 79)

Q: What must I do to accept the peace and quietness and calm?

A: Want them sincerely and integrally—not only with one part of your being.” (CWM 17: 59–60)

“Q: Which part of the being aspires for love, for peace?

A: It is that part on any plane (physical, vital or mental) which is open to the psychic influence.” (CWM 17: 75)

“Intense aspiration is always good, but let there also be calm and peace and joy in the mind and heart, and a confidence that all will be done in its due time.” (CWSA 29: 59)

“… an aspiration which may be intense, but must always be calm and steady.” (CWSA 29: 111–112)

“Q: I tried to meditate, but I simply had to give it up as the mind would not cooperate.

A: When you cannot meditate, remain quiet and call in the Mother’s Peace or Force.” (CWSA 32: 215)

XIII—For Descent of Peace Call the Divine Shakti

“Surrender everything, reject all other desires or interests, call on the divine Shakti to open the vital nature and bring down calm, peace, light, Ananda into all the centres.” (CWSA 29: 76)

“The best help for concentration is to receive the Mother’s calm and peace into your mind. It is there above you—only the mind and its centres have to open to it. It is what the Mother is pushing upon you in the evening meditation.” (CWSA 29: 300)

“The object of the self-opening is to allow the force of the Divine to flow in bringing light, peace, Ananda etc. and to do the work of transformation. When the being so receives the Divine Shakti and it works in him, produces its results (whether he is entirely conscious of the process or not), then he is said to be open.” (CWSA 29: 106)

“If a spiritual transformation, not a mere illumining modification of our nature, is to be done at all, we must call in the Divine Shakti to effect that miraculous work in the individual; for she alone has the needed force, decisive, all-wise and illimitable.” (CWSA 23: 86)

XIV—Know the Chief Disturbers when Peace Descends

1. There is always something in the vital that resists and tries to retard Peace

2. If one can live in the Inner Being the Peace can descend there

3. Then the vital movements of the surface will not be able to break the Inner Peace

“It is always better to have peace. As for the vital, there is always something in it that resists and tries to retard, but if the inner being opens sufficiently and you can live in the inner being, peace can descend and establish itself there in such a way that the vital movements of the surface may be there but will not be able to break the inner peace.” (CWSA 31: 138)

4. After the descent of Peace normal thought mind falls silent

5. Then very often Vital Mind can rush in or

6. Mechanical Physical mind can begin to come up and act

7. These are chief disturbers of Peace

8. Or else the Lower Vital Mind can bring up the Ego and Passion

9. Therefore a complete purification of the vital should either precede or keep pace with the positive experience

“The descent of the peace is often one of the first major positive experiences of the sadhana. In this state of peace the normal thought-mind (buddhi) is apt to fall silent or abate most of its activity and, when it does, very often either this vital mind can rush in, if one is not on one’s guard, or else a kind of mechanical physical or random subconscient mind can begin to come up and act; these are the chief disturbers of the silence. Or else the lower vital mind can try to disturb; that brings up the ego and passions and their play. All these are signs of elements that have to be got rid of, because if they remain and other of the higher powers begin to descend, Power and Force, Knowledge, Love or Ananda, those lower things may come across with the result that either the higher consciousness retires or its descent is covered up and the stimulation it gives is misused for the purposes of the lower nature. This is the reason why many sadhaks after having big experiences fall into the clutch of a magnified ego, upheavals, ambition, exaggerated sex or other vital passions or distortions. It is always well therefore if a complete purification of the vital can either precede or keep pace with the positive experience—at least in natures in which the vital is strongly active.” (CWSA 28: 180–181)

10. When Peace descends the mechanical mind raises up trivial habitual thoughts

11. Rejection of these outsiders, at least during the meditation can be done by keeping a strong and silent will

“It is not an undesirable thing for the mind to fall silent, to be free from thoughts and still—for it is oftenest when the mind falls silent that there is the full descent of a wide peace from above and in that wide tranquillity the realisation of the silent Self above the mind spread out in its vastnesses everywhere. Only, when there is the peace and the mental silence, the vital mind tries to rush in and occupy the place or else the mechanical mind tries to raise up for the same purpose its round of trivial habitual thoughts. What the sadhaka has to do is to be careful to reject and hush these outsiders, so that during the meditation at least the peace and quietude of the mind and vital may be complete. This can be done best if you keep a strong and silent will. That will is the will of the Purusha behind the mind; when the mind is at peace, when it is silent one can become aware of the Purusha, silent also, separate from the action of the nature.” (CWSA 29: 160)

12. One has to detach oneself from vital or physical mind

13. Then call down the Peace into these parts

“The difficulty you have in sadhana may come from the vital or physical mind becoming active. That often happens after the first experiences of calm and silence. One has to detach oneself from these activities in meditation as a witness and call down the original calm into these parts also. But this may take time.” (CWSA 31: 462)

14. There can be a Block above due to the Mind and lower nature being unhabituated

15. There can be a Block below due to the Physical Consciousness and its natural slowness to change

16. By persistent Will, Aspiration or Abhyasa they can be overcome

“To both of these movements [ascent and descent] there can be a block—a block above due to the mind and lower nature being unhabituated (it is that really and not incapacity) and a block below due to the physical consciousness and its natural slowness to change. Everybody has these blocks but by persistent will, aspiration or abhyasa they can be overcome.” (CWSA 30: 419)

17. Do not indulge in Vital Ego

18. Do not indulge in turbulent play of the vital mind, revolt, demand and impatience

19. Resolutely separate yourself from these things and clear them out of you

“It is not possible to get peace of mind if you indulge in vital ego and the turbulent play of the vital mind, revolt, demand and impatience. Abhiman, revolt, violent insistence on the satisfaction of claims and wishes are foreign to the spirit of the Yoga, they can only bring disturbance and trouble. If you want peace of mind and true sadhana, the first thing you have to do is to cease regarding all these things as justified or justifiable or insisting on them. You must recognise that in allowing all this to rise in you, it is you yourself who have created your own trouble and you must resolutely separate yourself from these things and clear them out of you. Till you are firm in doing that, nothing can be done,—till then no spiritual progress or achievement is possible.” (CWSA 29: 239)

20. The difficulty of holding or assimilating was because the body is unaccustomed of holding or assimilating

“Your letter of today makes it very clear what is happening. The Force that you felt had come down at first, came to open the way for the descent of the higher consciousness into the mind and body. That was why it descended with such force and the difficulty of holding or assimilating it was simply because the body was unaccustomed. But as often happens the Force is preparing its own reception and habituating the body to the descent. Having done that sufficiently it is coming down as a massive peace.” CWSA 30: 444)

21. If there is a resistance, it is felt as a weight and a pressure

“Whatever comes from above the head, whether it is Presence, Peace, Ananda, or anything else, normally descends into the head first, then after occupying all the mental centres it comes down into the heart and from there goes down into the vital centres and occupies the whole body. If there is a resistance, it is felt as a weight and a pressure—when the way is open, the pressure disappears and there is only the thing itself. It enters each centre as soon as the way to it is open.” (CWSA 30: 445)

22. When the resistance is cleared away there is the lightness and ease

“The pressure is that of the Mother’s force. When there is a resistance, you feel the pressure. When the resistance is cleared away, there is the lightness and ease.” (CWSA 32: 209)

“Q: Nowadays in the evening I try to remain calm and pray for half an hour. Then I feel a weight or pressure on my head. It is so calm and cool, yet has such force and fire. Then I am disturbed by nothing whatever. Formerly I also felt this on certain days, but then I lost it due to some disorder of the consciousness.

A: This weight or pressure on the head is always the sign that the Mother’s Force is in contact with you and pressing from above to envelop your being and enter the Adhar and pervade it—usually passing by degrees through the centres on its way downward. Sometimes it comes first as Peace, sometimes as Force, sometimes as the Mother’s consciousness and her presence, sometimes as Ananda.

When you lost it before, it must have been due either to some uprising of vital imperfections in yourself or an attack from outside. Of course the pressure need not always be there, but if things take the ordinary course, it usually recurs or else continues until the Adhar is open and there is no further obstacle to the descent of the higher consciousness.” (CWSA 32: 209)

23. Discourage the ordinary vital emotions which disturb the Concentration

“It is only the ordinary vital emotions, which waste the energy and disturb the concentration and peace, that have to be discouraged.” (CWSA 29: 351)

“Emotion is a good element in Yoga; ... But it must become pure, founded upon spiritual peace and joy, capable of being transmuted into Ananda.” (CWSA 29: 350)

24. If opening into the cosmic consciousness is then it brings only a mass of unorganised experiences

“Many people get an opening into the cosmic consciousness first but without the basis of the higher Peace and Light it brings only a mass of unorganised experiences.” (CWSA 30: 449)

25. Things to be avoided so that one can have peace—avoid speaking lies, acting wrongly, deceiving

“To do persistently what one knows should not be done, is at the cost of all peace, all possible tranquillity, all the well-being that one can have. He who lies is constantly uneasy in the fear that his lie may be discovered; he who has acted wrongly is in a constant anxiety at the idea that perhaps he will be punished; he who tries to deceive has no peace lest it should be found out that he deceives.” (CWM 3: 197)

XV—Descent of Peace should Become Strong and Solid Basis

“Yes, when things begin to descend, they must come down on a solid basis. That is why it is necessary to have peace as the first descent and that it should become as strong and solid as possible. But in any case to contain is the first necessity—then more and more can come and settle itself. Once these two things are settled—peace and strength, one can bear any amount of everything else, Ananda, Knowledge, or whatever it may be.” (CWSA 30: 451)

“The experience of this ‘solid block’ feeling indicates the descent of a solid strength and peace into the external being,—but into the vital physical most. It is this always that is the foundation, the sure basis into which all else (Ananda, light, knowledge, bhakti) can descend in the future and stand on it or play safely.” (CWSA 30: 451)

“It is good—the strength is the next thing that has to come down after the peace and join with it. Eventually the two become one.” (CWSA 30: 451)

“Yes, surely the peace can come into the outer consciousness also; it is meant to do so. It is perfectly possible for the body to bear the peace and stillness. It is more difficult for it to bear the full play of the Force; but if the peace is first established in it, then there is no difficulty of that kind.” (CWSA 30: 452)

“Your description of the solid cool block of peace pressing on the body and making it immobile makes it certain that it is what we call in this Yoga the descent of the higher consciousness. A deep, intense or massive substance of peace and stillness is very commonly the first of its powers that descends and many experience it in that way. At first it comes and stays only during meditation or, without the sense of physical inertness or immobility, a little while longer and afterwards is lost; but if the sadhana follows its normal course, it comes more and more, lasting longer, and in the end an enduring deep peace and inner stillness and release becomes a normal character of the consciousness, the foundation indeed of a new consciousness, calm and liberated.” (CWSA 30: 465)

“A sensation of coolness indicates usually some touch or descent of peace. It is felt as very cold by the human vital because the latter is always in a fever of restlessness.” (CWSA 30: 477)

“The coolness is always a quieting force making for peace.”   (CWSA 30: 476)

“The coolness comes when the Force descends with peace and harmony into the vital and the body.” (CWSA 30: 476)

“If the peace once becomes stable, there is no farther assimilation needed for that, as that means the whole system is sufficiently prepared to receive and absorb continuously. There may be periods of assimilation necessary for other things, but these periods need not interrupt the inner status.” (CWSA 30: 480)

“Some have this swaying of the body when the peace or the Force begins to descend upon it, as it facilitates for it the reception. The swaying ceases usually when the body is accustomed to assimilate the descent.

The peace comes fully at the meditation time because the Mother’s concentration at that time brings down the power of the higher consciousness and one can receive it if one is able to do so. Once it begins to come, it usually increases its force along with the receptivity of the sadhak until it can come at all times and under all conditions and stay longer and longer till it is stable. The sadhak on his side has to keep his consciousness as quiet and still as possible to receive it. The Peace, Power, Light, Ananda of the higher spiritual consciousness are there in all veiled above. A certain opening upwards is needed for it to descend—the quietude of the mind and a certain wide concentrated passivity to the descending Influence are the best conditions for the descent.”   (CWSA 30: 481–482)

“The calm established in the whole being must remain the same whatever happens, in health and disease, in pleasure and in pain, even in the strongest physical pain, in good fortune and misfortune, our own or that of those we love, in success and failure, honour and insult, praise and blame, justice done to us or injustice, everything that ordinarily affects the mind.” (CWSA 24: 724)

“When this secret peace is unveiled, a great calm settles on the being and there comes usually with it the perception and experience of the all-pervading silent Brahman, everything else at first seeming to be mere form and eidolon. On the basis of this calm everything else may be built up in the knowledge and experience no longer of the external phenomena of things but of the deeper truth of the divine manifestation.” (CWSA 23: 324)

“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.” (CWSA 29: 149)

“That is the right way—to keep the peace of the higher consciousness, then even if there is vital disturbance, it will be only on the surface.” (CWSA 29: 127)

“Yes, a settled peace and strength supporting the intensity and from which everything foreign falls off, is the true basis.” (CWSA 29: 149)

XVI—Once you get Peace

“Q: I would like to know about my present state of consciousness because I feel that everything in me is at peace.

A: To be at peace is a good thing. Do not risk spoiling the peace by talking about this state.” (CWM 17: 94)

“It is only in silence that a true progress can be made; it is only in silence that one can rectify a wrong movement; it is only in silence that one can be of help to somebody else.

If you have found out a truth, or rectified a mistake in yourself, or made a progress, to speak or to write about it to anybody else than the Guru is to lose at once the truth or the progress.” (CWM 14: 141)

“It [a feeling of dispersion] is of course because the consciousness is thrown out in these things [light talk and laughter] and one comes out of the inner poise and has difficulty in going back to it—especially as there is a sort of dispersion of the vital energy. If one attains to a condition in which one can do these things only with the surface of the consciousness, keeping inside and observing what is done on the surface, but not forgetting oneself in it, then the poise is not lost. But it is a little difficult to get at this duplication of oneself—one comes to it however in time especially if the inner peace and calm become very intense and durable.” (CWSA 31: 81)

“If the peace is very strong within, talking does not cloud it—because this peace is not mental or vital even when it pervades the mind and vital—or else it is a cloud that quickly passes without touching deeply. Usually however such talk [about others] disperses the consciousness and one can lose much. The only disadvantage of not talking is that it isolates too much, if it is absolute, but by not talking these things one loses nothing.” (CWSA 31: 94)

“But a certain amount of knowledge must be added to these sentiments. For, to communicate peace and joy to others is not so easy, and unless one has within oneself an unshakable peace and joy, there is a great risk of losing what one has rather than passing it on to others.” (CWM 16: 188)

“The peace liberates from all dependence on outer contacts—it brings what the Gita calls the atmarati [the delight of the Self]. But at first there is a difficulty in keeping it intact when there is the contact with others because the consciousness has the habit of running outwards in speech or external interchange or else of coming down to the normal level. One must therefore be very careful until it is fixed; once fixed it usually defends itself, for all outer contacts become surface things to a consciousness full of the higher peace.” (CWSA 29: 151)

“The higher consciousness in descending brings peace and purity into all the inner parts; the inner being separates itself from the imperfect outer consciousness and at the same time the peace that comes carries in it a power which can throw out what contradicts the peace and purity. Ego can then slowly or swiftly but surely disappear—rajas and tamas change into their divine substitutes.” (CWSA 31: 237)

“The Power and Peace that come down come down from the higher consciousness above your head, from a greater self of which your mind, the human mind generally, is unaware. They are the power and peace of the Divine. When they envelop you from outside the body (therefore you feel them external), it is as a protection and an atmosphere. But also they descend into the body, into the head (mind), heart and navel (vital) and through the whole body working in you and doing what is necessary to change the consciousness. When you do not feel it there, when you feel it only as external, it is because you are very much in the external physical consciousness—but in reality it is there in your inner being working in you. When you recover the inner consciousness, you feel it again within and it wakes in you your own true consciousness, the psychic—and it is only the psychic that gives faith and devotion. It is however a great progress if, even when in the external physical consciousness, you feel the Peace enveloping you.” (CWSA 30: 463–464)

“At a higher stage of development when the inner calm is established, one simply observes the defects of the nature as defects of a machinery that one has to put right and calls down the Light and Force for its rectification. In the beginning however the movement of repentance even helps provided it does not bring discouragement or depression.” (CWSA 31: 188)

“Your experiences seem to be sound. The first is that of the higher (Yogic or spiritual) consciousness coming down into the body from above the head. It is felt often like a current flowing through the head into the whole body and the first thing it brings is a descent of peace. One result of this descent is that one feels an inner being in oneself which is detached from the outer action, supports it from behind, but is not involved in it—that is the second experience. The third about the sleep is also felt when one has confidence in the Mother and goes to sleep under her protection, as if in her lap, surrounded by her presence.” (CWSA 30: 463)

“Peace is the true remedy; ... To feel the peace above or about your head is a first step; you have to get connected with it and it must descend into you and fill your mind and life and body and surround you so that you live in it—for this peace is one sign of the Divine’s presence with you, and once you have it all the rest will begin to come.” (CWSA 29: 125–126)

“Even when there is the peace and the wideness, these things [imaginations about old enjoyments] can float on the surface and try to come in—only then they do not occupy the consciousness but touch it merely. It is what was regarded by the old Yogis as a mechanical remnant of Prakriti, a continuation of its blind habit which remained after the essential liberation of the self. It was treated lightly as of no importance—but that view is not tenable in our sadhana which aims not only at a liberation of the Purusha but at a complete transformation of the Prakriti also.” (CWSA 29: 151)

XVII—What Perfect Peace of Mind Is ...

“And Sri Aurobindo says: I am not a Jnani.... I do not seek knowledge. I have given myself to the Divine to accomplish His work and, by the divine Grace, at every moment I know what must be known in order to accomplish this work.

It is an admirable state; it is perfect peace of mind. There is no longer any need to accumulate acquired knowledge, received ideas which have to be memorised; it is no longer necessary to clutter one’s brain with thousands and thousands of things in order to have at one’s command, when the time comes, the knowledge that is needed to perform an action, to impart a teaching, to solve a problem. The mind is silent, the brain is still, everything is clear, quiet, calm; and at the right moment, by divine Grace a drop of light falls into the consciousness and what needs to be known is known. Why should one care to remember—why try to retain that knowledge? On the day or at the moment that it is needed one will have it again. At each second one is a blank page on which what must be known will be inscribed—in the peace, the repose, the silence of a perfect receptivity.

One knows what must be known, one sees what must be seen, and since what must be known and seen comes directly from the Supreme, it is Truth itself; and it completely eludes all notions of reason or folly. What is true is true—that is all. And one has to sink very low to wonder whether it is folly or reason.

Silence and a modest, humble, attentive receptivity; no concern for appearances or even any anxiety to be—one is quite modestly, quite humbly, quite simply the instrument which of itself is nothing and knows nothing, but is ready to receive everything and transmit everything.

The first condition is self-forgetfulness, a total self-giving, the absence of ego.

And the body says to the Supreme Lord: “What You want me to be, I shall be; what You want me to know, I shall know; what You want me to do, I shall do.” (CWM 10: 9–10)

“Peace of mind must be acquired not through favourable circumstances but through inner transformation.” (CWM 14: 141)

XVIII—A Description of the Experience of Peace and Silence of the Divine

“These are the ordinary normal experiences of the sadhana when there is an opening from above—the contact with the peace of the Brahman, Self or Divine and the contact with the higher Power, the Power of the Mother. He does not know what they are, quite naturally, but feels very correctly and his description is quite accurate. ‘How beautiful, calm and still all seems—as if in water there were not even a wave. But it is not Nothingness. I feel a Presence steeped in life but absolutely silent and quiet in meditation’,—there could hardly be a better description of this experience,—the experience of the peace and silence of the Divine or of the Divine itself in its own essential peace and silence.” (CWSA 30: 428)

XIX—Sri Aurobindo’s Spiritual Experience of a Vast Calm descending upon him

“Before he met Lele, Sri Aurobindo had some spiritual experiences, but that [was] before he knew anything about Yoga or even what Yoga was,—e.g. a vast calm which descended upon him at the moment when he stepped first on Indian soil after his long absence, in fact with his first step on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay; (this calm surrounded him and remained for long months afterwards,) ...” (CWSA 36: 110)

XX—Other Quotations on Descent of Peace

“Q: Are there any signs which indicate that one is ready for the path, …

A: ...

There is yet another sign: when you concentrate and have an aspiration, you feel something coming down into you, you receive an answer; you feel a light, a peace, a force coming down; and almost immediately—you need not wait or spend a very long time—nothing but an inner aspiration, a call, and the answer comes. This also means that the relation has been well established.” (CWM 4: 97)

“Q: When can one say that one has truly entered the spiritual path?

A: …

There may be another; for example, the feeling that everything is different, of living differently, of a light in the mind which was not there before, of a peace in the heart which was not there before.” (CWM 4: 103)

“That is always the best thing to do. To keep quiet, open and call or wait for the descent.” (CWM 14: 136)

“The first thing is to call down the calm into the mind and the vital; with the calm established or in course of preparation to invite more and more the Mother’s workings and grow conscious of them within you and give your assent to them and refuse all else. All the rest then comes in its time and by the proper process.” (CWSA 29: 109)

“One can aspire for the Divine to bring about the supramental transformation, but that also should not be done till the being has become psychic and spiritualised by the descent of the Mother’s peace, force, light and purity.”   (CWSA 29: 58)

“The essence of surrender is ... to accept whole-heartedly the influence and the guidance, when the joy and peace come down to accept them without question or cavil and let them grow, ...”  (CWSA 29: 67-68)

“The Peace, Purity and Calm of the Self must be fixed—otherwise the active Descent may find the forces it awakes seized on by lower Powers and a confusion created. That has happened with many.” (CWSA 30: 450)

“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.”   (CWSA 29: 124)

“The dynamic realisation will probably take place when the higher consciousness comes fully down into the vital. When it [the higher consciousness] comes into the mental it brings the peace of the Purusha and liberation and it may bring also knowledge. It is when it comes into the vital that the dynamic realisation becomes present and living.” (CWSA 29: 305)

“The more the calm, peace, joy and happiness descend and take possession, the stronger the foundation. It is the sign of the contact [with the Divine].”   (CWSA 29: 361)

“This serene peace and massive stillness has to stabilise itself, fill the whole nature, widen itself until all existence internal and external seems full of it. This may take time, but the beginning once there it is sure to take place, if one is steady and constant. It becomes besides the sure base on which all the rest,—power and strength, light and knowledge, Ananda and divine love, can come in and securely fill the consciousness.”   (CWSA 30: 444–445)

“Peace can be brought down into the physical to its very cells. It is the active transformation of the physical that cannot be completely done without the supramental descent.”   (CWSA 30: 453)

“The peace that descends from above can stop the lower action, if it settles in all the being. But that is not sufficient if one wants to develop the dynamic side of the being also on the lines of Yoga.”   (CWSA 30: 453)

“After the body is accustomed to the peace, the peace itself can become dynamic.”   (CWSA 30: 453)

“There are two things that have to be established in order to make a foundation for the workings of the sadhana in the waking consciousness, 1st [first] a descent of Peace from above, 2nd a descent of the Force. If one has these two things permanently established in the consciousness, then on has the basis.” (CWSA 30: 455)

“I am very glad that the experience we have been working to bring to you has come with such force and is increasing. It is the concrete descent of the higher consciousness, which once it settles marks always a definite turning-point in the sadhana. Even if it does not settle with a full stability at once, yet when it has once come with so much strength, there cannot be the least doubt that it will come more and more till it has done its work and is your permanent consciousness. The shower and drizzle, the hold2 above the head and in the heart, the envelopment, the flaming of Agni within, the sense of firmness and solidity, the Peace and security and devotion, the sense of the Mother’s hold are all signs of the descent—eventually it will penetrate everywhere and become something solid and stable occupying the whole consciousness and body.”  (CWSA 30: 476)

XXI—Other Quotation on Spiritual Transformation in General

“… so also it opens us to what is now superconscient to our normality because it is hidden from us by the strong, hard and bright lid of mind,—mind constricting, dividing and separative. The lid thins, is slit, breaks asunder or opens and disappears under the pressure of the psycho-spiritual change and the natural urge of the new spiritualised consciousness towards that of which it is an expression here. This effectuation of an aperture and its consequences may not at all take place if there is only a partial psychic emergence satisfied with the experience of the Divine Reality in the normal degrees of the spiritualised mind: but if there is any awakening to the existence of these higher supernormal levels, then an aspiration towards them may break the lid or operate a rift in it. This may happen long before the psycho-spiritual change is complete or even before it has well begun or proceeded far, because the psychic personality has become aware and has an eager concentration towards the superconscience. An early illumination from above or a rending of the upper velamen can come as an outcome of aspiration or some inner readiness, or it may even come uncalled-for or not called for by any conscious part of the mind,—perhaps by a secret subliminal necessity or by an action or pressure from the higher levels, by something which is felt as the touch of the Divine Being, the touch of the Spirit,—and its results can be exceedingly powerful. But if it is brought about by a premature pressure from below, it can be attended with difficulties and dangers which are absent when the full psychic emergence precedes this first admission to the superior ranges of our spiritual evolution. The choice, however, does not always rest with our will, for the operations of the spiritual evolution in us are very various, and according to the line it has followed will be the turn taken at any critical phase by the action of the Consciousness-Force in its urge towards a higher self-manifestation and formation of our existence.” (CWSA 22: 944)

“… there is often too an awareness of infinite ascension and return but no record or translation of that higher state. This is because it has been superconscient to mind and therefore mind, when it rises into it, is unable at first to retain there its power of conscious discernment and defining experience. But when this power begins to awake and act, when mind becomes by degrees conscious in what was to it superconscient, then there begins a knowledge and experience of superior planes of existence. The experience is in accord with that which is brought to us by the first opening of vision: the mind rises into a higher plane of pure self, silent, tranquil, illimitable; or it rises into regions of light or of felicity, or into planes where it feels an infinite Power or a divine Presence or experiences the contact of a divine Love or Beauty or the atmosphere of a wider and greater and luminous Knowledge.” (CWSA 22: 945)

“… for the full spiritual transformation more is needed, a permanent ascension from the lower into the higher consciousness and an effectual permanent descent of the higher into the lower nature.” (CWSA 22: 946)

“When the higher descends into the lower consciousness, it alters the lower but is also modified and diminished by it; when the lower ascends, it is sublimated but at the same time qualifies the sublimating substance and power.”  (CWSA 22: 990)    meet the requirements

“The soul may still be described as a traveller and climber who presses towards his high goal by step on step, each of which he has to build up as an integer but must frequently redescend in order to rebuild and make sure of the supporting stair so that it may not crumble beneath him: but the evolution of the whole consciousness has rather the movement of an ascending ocean of Nature; it can be compared to a tide or amounting flux, the leading fringe of which touches the higher degrees of a cliff or hill while the rest is still below. At each stage the higher parts of the nature may be provisionally but incompletely organized in the new consciousness while the lower are in a state of flux or formation, partly moving in the old way though influenced and beginning to change, partly belonging to the new kind but still imperfectly achieved and not yet firm in the change. Another image might be that of an army advancing in columns which annexes [seizes] new ground, while the main body is still behind in a territory overrun but too large to be effectively occupied, so that there has to be a frequent halt and partial return to the traversed areas for consolidation and assurance of the hold on the occupied country and assimilation of its people.” (CWSA 22: 991)

XXII—Short Summary

I—SPIRITUAL PEACE Is …

1. Spiritual Peace is quite different from Mental Peace and it cannot be reached without a Spiritual Discipline

2. The Spiritual Peace is something other and infinitely more than the Mental Peace

3. The Spiritual Peace carries with it the deep and vast and solid Tranquillity that nothing can shake

4. Peace is part of the Higher Consciousness

5. We call the Consciousness above the Head, as Higher, Spiritual, Divine or the Mother’s Consciousness

6. Peace is a Deep Quietude where no disturbance can come

7. Silence of the Mind, Peace or Calm in the Mind are three things that are very close together and bring each other

8. Peace is more positive than Calm bringing a certain happiness or Ananda of itself

9. Peace is a Calm deepened into something that is very positive amounting to a tranquil waveless Ananda

10. Peace carries with it a sense of settled and harmonious rest and deliverance

11. Spiritual Peace is a ‘Substance’ only it is different order of Substance

12. Peace that is something Solid, Concrete, having a Power of spreading through the whole being

13. Spiritual Peace is not a Mental, Vital or Physical Peace of the ordinary kind, but something very firm, solid and concrete

14. It is the concreteness of the Spiritual Peace that feels like a Still Massive Block

15. Spiritual Peace is indeed the beginning of the real Transformation

16. Without a change in Human Nature Peace cannot come with any finality

17. A neutral mental quietude is not the Spiritual Peace

18. Peace, Shanti creates solid foundation in the Consciousness

19. Keeping the Mind without occupation is not Peace

20. The Dove and the White Pigeon signifies Peace

21. Example of Solid Peace

II—Calm Is …

1. In the Calm Mind the substance of the mental being is so still that nothing disturbs it

2. If thoughts or activities come, they come from outside and it passes without disturbing

3. A mind that has achieved Calmness can act incessantly and powerfully, keeping its fundamental Stillness

4. Action of a Calm Mind does not originate from itself but receives from above and giving it a mental form without adding anything of its own

5. Calm, sthirata is a still, unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect

6. The Calm Mind feels that the thoughts are not its own; it just observes them

7. In the Calm Mind the difficulties and imperfections of the surface can be dealt with without upsets or depressions

8. Calmness with disturbances on the surface is the ordinary fundamental Calm of the individual

9. Perfect stillness in the Body and in the surrounding Atmosphere is the fundamental limitless Calm of the Cosmic Consciousness

10. Limitless stillness is the Calm of the Atman, the Self above, Silent, Immutable and Infinite

11. Calm is self-possessed Strength, Mastery of the impulses, Control over the unconscious reflexes

12. In work Calm is the source of efficiency and an indispensable condition for Perfection

III—In Its Supreme Truth, the Divine is Absolute and Infinite Peace

1. In its Supreme Truth, the Divine is Absolute and Infinite Peace, Consciousness, Existence, Power and Ananda

2. Divine Nature is the Nature of Peace

3. When the Peace flows into you, it is the Divine who is invading you

4. The first sign of the Divine Presence in the being is Peace

5. To manifest Divine is to live in the Infinite Peace, Light, Love

6. In Peace and Silence the Eternal manifests

7. The Divine Presence is the source of all Peace

8. The Mother’s Experience of Divine Presence as Dazzling Light, a Peace, a Power, and a Sweetness

9. Wherever the Mother’s Light descends or enters, it brings Peace, Purity, Silence

10. Behind the Cosmic Movement there is the nature of abiding Peace, Calm

11. Two Aspects of the Divine—the Static Peace and the Dynamic Force

IV—Descent of Spiritual Peace is One of the Fundamental Realisation

1. Repetition of the experience of Peace leads to a fuller and more permanent realisation

2. Peace when it comes and goes is an Experience—when it is settled and goes no more it is a Siddhi

3. Spiritualisation means the descent of the Higher Peace

4. Spiritual movement is to Open Upward to the Spiritual Consciousness above and to rise up into it and bring it down into the Nature

5. In this Yoga one has to Open oneself to the Divine Influence above you and to call It down into you

6. The mental idea of the Divine Peace is nothing, only when one has the feeling of the Divine Peace Descending in oneself or surrounding then one begins to know what it is

V—In Spiritual Transformation there is a Double Movement

1. In this Yoga the Spiritual Transformation Is      Open the way for the Lower Consciousness to Rise Up to meet the Higher Consciousness above

The Higher Spiritual or Divine Consciousness to descend into Mind, Life and Body

2. One an ascension of the Lower Consciousness to meet the Higher Spiritual Consciousness

The Other the descent of the Higher Spiritual Consciousness into the lower

3. Some sadhaks get Ascent first but more often the Descents comes first

VI—The Nature of Spiritual Consciousness

The nature of Spiritual Consciousness is Light, Power, Ananda, Peace, Knowledge, infinite Wideness

This must be possessed and descend into the whole being for Perfection or Transformation

VII—The Purpose of the Descent of Spiritual Consciousness

1. The descent comes in order to transform the consciousness but transformation takes time

2. To brings about the transition from the normal to the Spiritualised Nature by the Descent

3. The Higher Consciousness works to change the Lower Consciousness into a part of itself

VIII—Why Peace is the First thing that has to be brought down from above

1. In the old days plenty of things were brought down but hardly one could bear it, even in a small measure

2. That is why Sri Aurobindo wants the Peace first to be brought down, the balance in an intensity unshakable

3. The Peace is the basis, the foundation for the transformation, all the rest will be built on it

4. Peace is the basis, all the rest falls into the Peace and is sustained on it as on a sure foundation

5. The Supreme Divine Peace is lasting, eternal, immortal and infinite and so it is worth having, worth conquering and worth possessing

6. The human form is a creation of the ignorance, weak and impure

7. The human form must be Transformed and new consciousness must be created

8. A consciousness of Divine Peace must take hold of all down to the most physical

9. In that Peace inner strength will increase

10. Then the Divine Light and Knowledge will transform all the consciousness

11. The human nature has to be changed before it can hold what descends

12. The things that has to be changed are incapacity and limitation of the mind, insufficient purity in the heart and restlessness

13. To contain the descent a quiet mind, pure heart and aspiration are needed

14. The safest is to bring down first an absolute Calm and Peace

15. Otherwise it may be difficult for the external nature to contain or bear so much Force, Light, Knowledge or Ananda

16. The Force, the Light, the Ananda that come down are extremely intense and need a great stillness in the being to bear and support them

17. Because in the Peace one can bear whatever Ananda Strength or Knowledge comes

18. Knowledge, Power, Ananda, if they come first are unable to remain and have to withdraw until the Divine Purity and Peace are permanently there

19. When the Peace settles in the system then what has to come in will come in and expand like a bud into flower and what has to fall off will fall off in its time like a slough discarded

20. Without settled Peace you may have experiences, but nothing will be permanent

21. Experiences are full of disorder and mixture without Purification and Calm

22. If the mind is not full of the Higher Calm, Peace then the influences from above get diminished, mentalised and vitalised

23. If the Peace is once established, no amount of movements on the surface can impair or abolish it

24. When the Peace is established reactions in the lower vital will not be able to shake it

25. If Calm, Peace is established, then one is no longer a prey to the turmoil of the vital forces

26. It is only in a Calm mind and vital that the Divine Shakti can do Her work rightly

27. When the Higher Consciousness descends the danger is that the mental forces tend to become active forming ideas of a mental type which can always be misapplied

28. If the Peace does not descend first, then care must be taken not to swell oneself in exultation or lose the balance

29. Peace is a sign of the contact with the Divine

IX—First Prepare to Become Calm and Undisturbed

1. Most have to go through a long preparation before they can become Calm and Undisturbed

2. Even afterwards it takes time to establish Peace

3. One swings between Peace and Disturbance until all parts have accepted the Truth and the Peace

4. One has to Persevere

5. To detach and stand back from the whirl of thoughts or the turmoil of the vital movements is indispensable to become Calm

6. Intellectual activity and the vital activity of desire has also to be silenced in order that the Calm and Peace may be complete

7. The neutral Quiet so dissatisfying to the vital eagerness is the first step towards the Peace

8. One has to be careful not to disturb the evolution that is beginning

9.  Quiescence of the ordinary rajasic movements of the nature like desire, grief, attachment, is very necessary in order that Peace may come

10. Get rid of the habit of the invasion of troubling thoughts, wrong feelings, confusion of ideas, unhappy movements

11. The first indispensable calm is mental quietude

12. To become calm you must first feel the need for it then aspire for it

13. Vital quietude: the absence of desire is also needed

14. The capacity of Silence and Peace comes first in Meditation and then in waking state

15. Outer Silence is most favourable to Inner Peace

16. For restless vital, only control will not be enough always call the Mother’s Power

X—Detailed Process of Bringing Descent of Peace

1.Sit for Concentration

a.      The result of the Concentration is not usually immediate

b.      The nature has to be prepared by Aspiration and Tapasya

c.      There should be the condition of Calm when you sit for Concentration

d.      Detach oneself from the action of the Mechanical Mind

e.      Ordinarily the Consciousness is spread out everywhere, dispersed

f.      Draw back all this dispersed Consciousness and Concentrate

g.      First let quiet in the nature settle down

h.      Concentrate in one place: say concentrating anywhere in the head or at the centre of the chest

i.      Concentrate in the head in a will, a call for the descent of the peace from above

j.      Concentrate for an opening of the unseen lid and an ascent of the consciousness above

k.      One can relax and meditate instead of concentrating

l.      The inner mind centre is between the eyebrows

m.      If the inner mind centre opens, then the peace from above can enter easily into the mind

n.      Keep the Quietude even an empty Quietude

o.      The Consciousness is like a vessel which has to be emptied of its mixed or undesirable contents

p.      Avoid refilling with the old turbid contents

q.      Wait, open yourself upwards

r.      Call Peace very quietly and steadily

s.      Do not call with a restless eagerness

t.      At least during the meditation keep the Quietude of the Mind and Vital

u.      By keeping a strong and silent Will

v.      Be as candid and simple as a child while Meditating

w.      Not interfering by your external mind, expecting nothing, insisting on nothing

x.      Then ask from within for Peace, it will come in the measure of your capacity

2. Ascent to Higher Consciousness

a.      The Concentration in the head must open the silent Mental Consciousness upward

b.      One feels the Consciousness rising upward and in the end it rises beyond the lid

c.      One finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite

d.      Comes into contact with the Divine Peace

e.      Enter into the Peace and becomes Peace

f.      The Integral Yoga insist on an opening upwards to what is above the mind

g.      The sensation of something within you going up above the head is the ascension of the lower consciousness

h.      The mind, emotional being, vital, even something in the physical consciousness begin to ascend in order to join themselves to this greater higher consciousness

3. Descent of Peace

a.      Peace descends first into the head and liberates the inner mind centres

b.      Then Peace descends into the heart centre and liberates the psychic and emotional being

c.      Then into the navel and other vital centres and liberates the inner vital

d.      Then into the Muladhara and below and liberates the inner physical being

e.      Peace takes up the whole nature part by part

f.      Peace rejects what has to be rejected, sublimates what has to be sublimated and creates what has to be created

g.      Peace then integrates, harmonises, establishes a new rhythm in the nature

h.      Peace descending in the vital-physical and subtle physical and even in the lowest levels are necessary for the whole change to be made

i.      In the early stage of the Yoga, Peace comes little by little

j.      Peace is sometimes absent for long periods together

k.      It is by long sadhana that one gets the permanent Peace

l.      Avoid impatience and let there be the full opening of the inner being

m.      Aspire for Peace sincerely and with a great intensity but without impatience

n.      In the process of descent not to rely entirely on oneself but to Surrender

o.      The experiences of descent of peace repeats itself

p.      In the beginning the Peace comes for a short time

q.      Afterwards the power of holding increases

r.      Until in some part of the being Peace is constant

t.      Once the Peace has shown itself it will always come back

u.      Persevere with confidence and never lose courage

v.      The sadhak is not always conscious of the descent of Peace but he feels the Peace settling in him

w.      First there is a difficulty in keeping Peace intact due to the habit of running outwards in speech or external interchange or else of coming down to the normal level

x.      In some Peace descends like a flood, in others a methodical and deliberate increase or as a drizzling rain

y.      Not necessary to go on having the same preparatory experiences of descent

z.      A time comes when the consciousness begins to take a new poise and another state

XI—The Mother’s Method to Establish a Settled Peace and Silence in the Mind

a.      You must want Peace

b.      Sit quietly and ask for Peace by saying “Peace, peace, peace, peace, peace, calm, peace

c.      Imagine Peace and Calm

d.      Do not look or listen at the thoughts

e.      Go on repeating like an idiot Peace, peace, peace

f.      Try this for a few minutes

g.      Do this on getting up in the morning, do this for a few minutes before eating

h.      Do this in the evening when going to bed

i.      You must be very simple in trying

j.      Call peace as if calling a friend

k.      Make Peace and Calm your friends and call them

l.      A time will come when one is always in a Perfect Peace, after some years

m.      To accept Peace we must want Peace sincerely and integrally, not only with one part of the being

n.      Once you had the experience of Peace, it will surely come back stronger

o.      Do not torment yourself

p.      Remain confident and you will hasten its coming

XII—Aspire for Descent of Peace

1. Aspiration is a turning upward of the inner being with a call, yearning, prayer for the descent of Peace

2. You must want Peace sincerely and integrally

3. The part of the being which aspires for Peace is that part which is open to the psychic influence

4. In Intense Aspiration let there be Calm and Peace in the mind and heart

5. Have confidence that Peace will descend in due time

6. When you cannot Meditate, remain Quiet and call in the Mother’s Peace

XIII—For Descent of Peace Call the Divine Shakti

1. Call on the divine Shakti to open and bring down Calm, Peace, into all the centres

2. Then the Divine Shakti can do the work of Transformation

3. For Spiritual Transformation we must call in the Divine Shakti for she alone has the needed force, decisive, all-wise and illimitable

XIV—Know the Chief Disturbers when Peace Descends

a. There is always something in the vital that resists and tries to retard Peace

b. If one can live in the Inner Being the Peace can descend there

c. Then the vital movements of the surface will not be able to break the Inner Peace

d. After the descent of Peace normal thought mind falls silent

e. Then very often Vital Mind can rush in or

f. Mechanical Physical mind can begin to come up and act

g. These are chief disturbers of Peace

h. Or else the Lower Vital Mind can bring up the Ego and Passion

i. Therefore a complete purification of the vital should either precede or keep pace with the positive experience

j. When Peace descends the mechanical mind raises up trivial habitual thoughts

k. Rejection of these outsiders, at least during the meditation can be done by keeping a strong and silent will

l. One has to detach oneself from vital or physical mind

m. Then call down the Peace into these parts

n. There can be a Block above due to the Mind and lower nature being unhabituated

o. There can be a Block below due to the Physical Consciousness and its natural slowness to change

p. By persistent Will, Aspiration or Abhyasa they can be overcome

q. Do not indulge in Vital Ego

r. Do not indulge in turbulent play of the vital mind, revolt, demand and impatience

s. Resolutely separate yourself from these things and clear them out of you

t. The difficulty of holding or assimilating was because the body is unaccustomed of holding or assimilating

u. If there is a resistance, it is felt as a weight and a pressure

v. When the resistance is cleared away there is the lightness and ease

w. Discourage the ordinary vital emotions which disturb the Concentration

x. If opening into the cosmic consciousness is then it brings only a mass of unorganised experiences

y. Things to be avoided so that one can have peace—avoid speaking lies, acting wrongly, deceiving

XV—Descent of Peace should Become Strong and Solid Basis

1. To contain Peace is the first necessity

2. Then more and more Peace can come and settle itself

3. Once Peace and Strength are settled one can bear Ananda, Knowledge etc

4. The ‘solid block’ feeling indicates the descent of a solid Strength and Peace

5. On this foundation all else can descend in the future

6. The Peace is meant to also come into the outer consciousness

7. It is perfectly possible for the body to bear the Peace and Stillness

8. The solid cool block of Peace pressing on the body and making it immobile is the foundation of a new consciousness

9. A sensation of coolness indicates some touch or descent of Peace

10. Peace is felt as very cold by the human vital because the vital is always in a fever of restlessness

11. Peace becoming stable means the whole system is sufficiently prepared to receive and absorb continuosly

12. The Calm established in the whole being must remain the same in all conditions

13. On the basis of the calm everything else may be built up in the knowledge and experience of the deeper truth of the Divine Manifestation

14. Peace must settle so deep that whatever comes from outside can only pass over the surface without troubling the settled Calm

15. A settled Peace and Strength supporting the intensity and from which everything foreign falls off

XVI—Once you get Peace

1. Do not risk spoiling the Peace by talking about this state

2. To speak or to write about it to anybody else than the Guru is to lose at once the Truth or the Progress

5. There is a great risk of losing Peace if you try to communicate Peace to others

6. There is a difficulty in keeping Peace intact when there is the contact with others

7. Because the consciousness has the habit of running outwards in speech or external interchange

8. Once Peace is fixed it usually defends itself, for all outer contacts become surface things

9. The peace that comes carries in it a power which can throw out what contradicts the Peace and Purity

10. When the Peace envelops you from outside the body it is as a Protection

11. When the Inner Calm is established, one simply observes the defects of the nature as defects of a machinery that one has to put right and calls down the Light and Force for its rectification

12.  There are three result of descent of Peace

13. One feels an Inner Being in oneself which is detached from the outer action

14. One realises that Inner Being supports from behind, but is not involved in the outer action

15. One has confidence in the Mother and goes to sleep under her protection, as if in her lap, surrounded by her presence

16. This Peace is one sign of the Divine’s presence with you

17.      The Integral Yoga aims not only at a liberation of the Purusha but at a complete transformation of the Prakriti

XVII—What Perfect Peace of Mind Is ...

The Mind is Silent, the Brain is Still, everything is Quiet, Calm

No longer necessary to clutter one’s brain with thousands of things in order to have Knowledge at one’s command

When the time comes, the Knowledge that is needed comes

And at the right moment, by divine Grace a drop of Light falls into the Consciousness and what needs to be known is known

One is a blank page on which what must be known will be inscribed in the Peace

Since what must be known and seen comes directly from the Supreme, it is Truth itself

XVIII—A Description of the Experience of Peace and Silence of the Divine

How beautiful, calm and still all seems, as if in water there were not even a wave

But it is not Nothingness one feel a Presence steeped in life but absolutely silent and quiet in meditation

XIX—Sri Aurobindo’s Spiritual Experience of a Vast Calm descending upon him

A vast calm descended upon Sri Aurobindo at the moment when he stepped first on Indian soil, on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay

This calm surrounded him and remained for long months afterwards

XX—Other Quotations on Descent of Peace

XXI—Other Quotation on Spiritual Transformation in General

Superconscient is hidden from us by the strong, hard and bright lid of mind

This lid can thin, slit, break asunder or open and disappear under the pressure of the psycho-spiritual change

Or if there is any awakening to the existence of these higher supernormal levels, then there is an aspiration towards them

Or some inner readiness Or by a secret subliminal necessity

If it is brought about by a premature pressure from below, it can be attended with difficulties and dangers

The mind, when it rises into Superconscient state, it is unable at first to retain its power of conscious discernment and defining experience

When mind becomes by degrees conscious in what was to it superconscient, then there begins a knowledge and experience of superior planes of existence

For the full spiritual transformation a permanent ascension of the lower into the higher consciousness

And an effectual permanent descent of the higher into the lower nature

In descent the higher alters the lower but the higher is also modified and diminished by lower

In ascent the lower is sublimated and meet the requirements of the sublimating substance and power

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