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Concentration and Remembrance of the Divine · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  In order to be most effective in its action, the external nature
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  must have the capacity of concentration of its efforts,
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  whether this is a mental concentration or a vital or
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  physical concentration. The focus must be total, without
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  distraction, or it will yield less than the optimal result.
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  We then come to the question of remembrance of the Divine in
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  relation to the need for external concentration of
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  effort. The effective remembrance is not
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  some form of mental idea or thought, but an orientation or
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  attitude of the being centered in the soul or psychic being.
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  If the mind tries to remember, it necessarily divides its
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  attention from its focused action.
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  Mental remembrance may be a useful step in the long term
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  process of bringing the psychic being forward, but it is at best
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  a faint echo of the true remembrance of the psychic
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  being. A disciple asks.
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  It sometimes happens that when one is playing, one does not
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  remember the divine. Then suddenly 1 remembers and
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  has the feeling that something breaks and one no longer plays
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  well. Why?
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  The mother writes quote because everything is upset.
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  That's the problem. So you think that when you are
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  playing and do not remember, you play?
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  Well, no, it is not quite that. It is that you do something with
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  a certain concentration, work or play, and you are concentrated.
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  But you have not developed the habit of mixing the remembrance
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  of the Divine with the concentration, which is not
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  difficult. But anyway you do not have the
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  habit, and then suddenly the remembrance comes.
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  Then two things may happen. Either the concentration is
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  broken because you make an abrupt movement to seize the new
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  attitude entering the consciousness, or else you feel
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  a little remorse, a regret, a disquiet.
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  Oh, I did not remember. That suffices.
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  It upsets all you have done, for you change conditions
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  completely. It is not the fact of
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  remembering which makes you no longer play well, it is the fact
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  of having disturbed your concentration.
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  If you could remember without disturbing the concentration,
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  which is not difficult, you would not only play well but
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  would play better. End Quote.
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  Reference Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Powers within, Chapter 7
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  Attitude, pages 75 to 76.