Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Consciousness and Self-Mastery

Transcript

Consciousness and Self-Mastery · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:00
  As noted, to be conscious is a broadly applicable term, not
• 0:05
  just to 1's own body, life, mind, complex, but to all
• 0:09
  factors in the universal creation, the flow of time, the
• 0:14
  development of circumstances, the relations between the
• 0:18
  individual and the society, world environment and universal
• 0:23
  forces. The seeker, however, generally
• 0:27
  wants to start with the basics, becoming conscious of his own
• 0:31
  Nexus of awareness and learning how to achieve control and
• 0:35
  mastery within that limited scope.
• 0:39
  The question of awareness and the separate question of control
• 0:44
  or mastery is taken up in the following exchange between a
• 0:48
  disciple and the mother. The example given relates to
• 0:52
  states of depression, but it could just as easily be about
• 0:56
  any other concern, whether it is control of anger reactions or
• 1:01
  dieting or reactions of fear, or simply jumping to conclusions
• 1:06
  without all the necessary facts in hand.
• 1:09
  In whatever part of the being of response or reaction occurs,
• 1:14
  there is a need to observe and eventually manage those
• 1:18
  reactions. It comes down to awareness
• 1:22
  through observation, control, loosening the hold of the
• 1:26
  habitual response and eventually changing the nature through lack
• 1:32
  of that response. A disciple asks, is it the same
• 1:38
  thing to be conscious and to master the different parts of
• 1:41
  the being? The mother replies quote one
• 1:46
  precedes the other. First of all, one must be
• 1:50
  conscious, then control, and by continuing the mastery, one
• 1:55
  changes one's character. Changing the character is what
• 1:59
  comes last. One must control bad habits, the
• 2:03
  old habits, for a very long time for them to drop off and the
• 2:07
  character to change. We may take the example of
• 2:11
  someone who has frequent depressions.
• 2:14
  When things are not exactly as he would like them to be, he
• 2:18
  becomes depressed. So to begin with, he must become
• 2:23
  aware of his depression, not only of the depression, but of
• 2:27
  the causes of depression, why he gets depressed so easily.
• 2:31
  Then once he has become conscious, he must master the
• 2:36
  depressions, must stop being depressed.
• 2:39
  Even when the cause of depression is there, he must
• 2:42
  master his depression, stop it from coming.
• 2:46
  And finally, after this work has been done for a sufficiently
• 2:50
  long time, the nature loses the habit of having depressions and
• 2:55
  no longer reacts in the same way.
• 2:58
  The nature has changed. End Quote.
• 3:02
  Reference. Srioro, Bindo and the Mother
• 3:05
  Looking from Within, Chapter 5. Attitudes on the Path, pages
• 3:10
  1:44 to 1:45.