16 / 01 / 2001
The Occupation of the Mind
- Occupation of the
Mind is entirely a psychological concept.
- Preoccupation of
worries or problems is a concept that is commonly well appreciated.
- When the preoccupation recedes, one feels free,
not realising that he has gone back to the general permanent condition of
occupation.
- Intellectuals can
readily concede the concept of Mind is occupied with beliefs, opinions,
prejudices, etc.
- That is the tip of
the iceberg below which is the entire mental experience of a single man
all his life buried in the mental consciousness to saturation. This part
is the more essential occupation of the Mind.
- Similarly, the vital
occupation is there fortified by the entire vital experience of the
society around.
- There is the mental
experience of the society enveloping the individuals. But his own mental
experience is a thin membrane and society does NOT have a seriously
organised mental experience that is intense that can very much he
distinguished from the social vital experience which is Very Real.
- The biological
physical experience is more than real and its occupation is its existence.
It is not in two distinct spheres for us to call one the occupation of the
other. It is so powerfully organised, dense, and saturated that we see the
cells, nerves, brain but not the physical consciousness.
- As the mental is too
thin, the physical is too overwhelming, as we are left with the
individual’s vital experiences saturated with that of the social shot
through and through, which is mistaken for the mental, let us give a
certain detailed consideration for that.
- What is this vital
occupation?
- It is our active
state of existence, alert, ready to react without notice. It is this that
is indoctrinated by organised religion or political creed, disciplined by
the family and society. It is fully outside the control of the individual.
- Society disciplines
this force in individuals much as a mighty river is handled by the
embankments erected on its sides by those who cannot essentially handle
it.
- It is obvious that
the entire procession of Saints over the ages has left it intact, though
the population has often spoken the language of these great men as a
passing fancy.
- This is the seat of
karma, fashioned by the Force that issued out of Consciousness.
- Man has no formed
mind as yet, his body is a rock and the only vibrant force that he is, is
this.
- Our purpose here is
how consecration acts on this Vital.
- Consecration is a consummate force or power that
does affect this vital existence of ours effectively.
- As a boat has the
power to be carried away by the stream of a river helplessly, it does have
the power to go up stream.
- The contrivance the
boat is enables the mighty power of the river to be overcome for its
(boat’s) own purposes.
- Consecration, by its
being an organised entity, overcomes the course of this vital force for
the purposes of its own self while the vital force does not lend itself to
be touched.
- In that, the power of
consecration is mighty. But we do remember the stream of force has not
been handled.
- When the boat turns
in its journey with the flow of the river, rarely does the river recognise
that its entire power, as far as the boat is concerned, is lent to the
boat. But the boat even when it is moving downstream has its own power of
motion, self-generated. Our
purposes are limited to the question of how to make the river carry the
boat on its own strength.
- Society at large
moves downstream like boats without sails.
- Foolish people anchor
their boats across the river; obstinate ones try to row upstream.
- Our aim is to set the
boat along the down stream, know there is an added power of cars, sails,
and steam engines.
- To give the boat the
best rowing power available and sail it down stream is our purpose. The
spiritual power is capable of releasing the spirit of the boat and keeping
it in tune with the Spirit of the river so that the river will raise the
speed of its flow to its maximum and fully protect the boat while it
sails. That is not what we consider here, but we know it does exist and
will release itself into action if the boat in its action is in full
harmony with the river.
- Analogy apart, when
we consecrate, we not only see the smooth flow of the action, but see this
vital stream emerging into life.
- Each time the unusual happens, the impossible
becomes possible, the topmost event of the world enters into our poor
life. If we do not explain it away or are indifferent, we get a glimpse of
this power.
- Proper attention to
this phenomenon will enable us to fully avail of this enormous power for
our purpose.
- For this, a true
appreciation of the various occupations of mental, vital, physical, the
conscious parts of it, the subconscious occupations, the occupation moving
to the substance in each plane is essential.
- When the Token Act is
reviewed, its parts can be commented on from these points of view. Hence
the importance of details.
- After the Token Act,
one can make an exhaustive study of these phenomena if he wants to master
this field.
- A citizen avails of
the social facilities of transport, commerce, communication, etc. The
government, when it chooses, orders all these facilities to be put at its
disposal. What the government does by its power, man can do by
consecration when he knows these occupations.
- The truth is not that
the mind is occupied but that the
mind is occupied with FALSEHOOD which Sri Aurobindo describes in the very
last page, perhaps on p. 1069, euphemistically as the taste of Ignorance.
- He never minces
matters when HE writes, but only personally HE is polite. HE goes on to say we are 99 %
hostile. Anyone who goes deeper than his own surface devotion will at once
encounter hostility.
- Hostility one can
concede, not evil. He who concedes evil in himself will not concede
superstition. But the TRUTH is
naked. One must be SINCERE
enough at least to recognise, if not shed, that he is
insincere
foolish
superstitious
irrational
selfish, etc.
- This is as much a
concession as to say we have two hands.
- Man is blind,
unconscious and LOVES to be so.
- Examine every past
event. They will be discovered now as perfect expressions of comprehensive
folly, adorable superstition, laughable stupidity.
- It shows in a hundred
different ways. We are satisfied by the company with others. Comparison is odious. We must see
the naked truth, be ashamed of it, speak it out to Mother. That is inner sincerity.
Outer sincerity which gives outer results in work completing the inner
sincerity requires one speak out the harm he did to others to the affected
individuals. Then it must be reversed in word and deed.
- We are not permitted
to justify saying we are like everyone else. Justification will harm the
truth. Each man is odious in his
own way. “I am odious in my own unique way.” This is the overmental truth
in me which expresses as uniqueness. In Chapter 26, Book I in the last
paragraph, Sri Aurobindo says that the presence of the psychic in these
unique expressions, by overcoming their forms, united them which when
raised to universality finds its fulfilment in its further depth where the
truth is discovered in the very fibre of our being.
- Occupation is a powerful
truth for us to approach the truth of our nature, just as education
enables us to understand the several levels of occupation.
- To discover the truth
of this vital plane, one should NOT
be preoccupied or occupied by this obsession.
- There must be freedom
from mental occupation before one reaches the vital.
- The physical will
invade the mind and vital to fully submerge them under its biological
dormant energies.
- Not a single Non-Fact
in the mind present or past should be there if one has to mentally know
the fact, if not the truth.
- The present will not
be free if the past is clogged.
- In this endeavour one
is normally clouded by inverse facts, superstitions, etc. all of which are
blatantly false, stupid and foolish. It is necessary to see
― from where our strengths have come and what their
opposites are;
― the errors of past and how they survive in the
present;
― that one must realise as his own Self-conception his true position allowing self-awareness to
emerge;
― what matters is the Self should express in the self
in Truth, Knowledge and Love.
Consecration and
Occupation
¨
Our occupation
determines our personality.
¨
One’s consecration has
an effect within the ambit of his occupation.
¨
From one point of view
of the self, a selfish man calling Mother while consecrating a problem will be
successful only in problems that touch his own person. A passionate patriot
whose emotions are identified with the country can effectively consecrate
national problems. The meeting point is emotions.
¨
A businessman can evoke
a response from a wider market if he is
identified with that unselfishly, rather with a attitude of self-giving to that
market.
¨
To perceive that the
interests of the market are his own interests requires a greater subtlety than
the normal common sense, which feels that they are in conflict.
― Our present level of comfort is because we are a unit
of a more civilised society.
― A unit of a bigger unit is bigger in size.
― Whether it will come by volume or price depends on
the temperament of the individual.
― Selfishness
cannot see the subtle truth that the wider community wishes to GIVE itself to
its unit, which expresses as greater profits. The normal man raises the price when the product is
in greater demand.
¨
As the occupation
widens, the consecration widens.
¨
Occupation is a force
of restriction.
¨
Consecration cannot
overcome the inhibiting occupation.
¨
Occupation is a
conditioning that is a limitation.
¨
Man is born free in his
soul, but he grows into the various occupations as his mind accepts consciously
the limiting emotions of the self, the family, etc.
¨
Consecration itself is
capable of deconditioning a person by its inherent power of the Spirit.
The Power of Consecration
that overcomes Occupation
¨
Consecration is
reference to Mother’s Force.
¨
When the reference
reaches The Mother, the personal inhibiting interest is overcome and the higher
force works.
¨
It is felt as our
forgetting the problem, a SILENCE in
the mind, and we see the wider power in action. E.g. A boy who failed in an
exam consecrates. In response, his teacher revalues his paper and gives him a
pass. Here the consecration has moved the personal interest of the teacher in
the boy. A circular comes from the department to reexamine the failed pupils
which means Mother’s Force has moved the department where consecration has a
wider effect. Churchill receiving the Force from Sri Aurobindo is an example of
the supramental force penetrating the ignorance to reach the seed of knowledge
in it and transforming that ignorance into knowledge.
¨
Occupation is the
inertia rising from below. Consecration brings the Force of the Superconscient
from above.
¨
In an advanced age, failing
health is usual. A child of such a parent consecrates. It has several responses
depending upon the level of consecration -- from immediate relief to the sufferer
to renewed health for the rest of their life. We see the varieties of forces
offering various types of solutions all set in the graded scale of concentric
circles of ever increasing consecration invoking the powers of the ever
widening personality of the child or the parent according to the intensity of
relationship.
¨
This is a fit chapter
or a section of a chapter of a book on personality whose main territory is
occupation that is conditioning. When the external forces invade, it is
occupation. It changes into conditioning if one takes the initiative from
inside. The formulation of knowledge of
the Spirit to rule over life, if not matter, will yield a FORMULA which, among
other things, will be based on a shift from outside to the inside.
Shift from the outer to
the inner
1.
Occupation from outside
becomes conditioning from inside.
2.
Social discipline
changing into values of self-discipline.
3.
School education—Self-education.
4.
Social culture—Family
tradition.
5.
From vital and mind to
Spirit.
6.
Intellect—Intuition.
7.
Speech—Silence.
8.
Selfishness—self-giving.
9.
Organisation—Ideal.
10.
Instruction—Inspiration.
11.
Money—Capacity.
12.
Gross plane, work in
the gross plane—Subtle thought.
13.
Expectation—Silence
will.
14.
Objectivity—Subjectivity.
15.
Getting—Giving.
16.
Skill—Capacity.
17.
Prejudice—Values.
18.
Personal—Impersonal.
19.
Finite—Infinite.
20.
Form—Formlessness.
21.
Time—Simultaneous
integrality.
22.
Contradictions—Compliments.
23.
Union—Unity.
24.
The Many—The One.
reconciliation—harmony.
conflict—complement.
Contradictions—unity.
25.
Profit—customer
satisfaction.
26.
Change—transformation.
27.
Surrender for
Moksha—Surrender for transformation.
28.
From below one moves from the desire soul to the
psychic while from above the same goal is reached by moving from Purusha to the
psychic.
One
can make this list exhaustive as a check list for personal growth.