Chapter 3

Acceptance and Admission

Words of Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo is not anxious to increase the number of his disciples and only those are accepted usually who have the call and capacity for Yoga and are ready to satisfy the conditions.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

To do the sadhana permanently in the Asram is not always the best thing for everybody; it depends on the capacity and also on the stage which has been reached in the sadhana. For some the Force here would be too strong for a permanent stay; they get more advantage by staying for some time, receiving what they can and then going elsewhere to assimilate it; they are not ready for a continuous pressure.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

It is certainly quite true that the psychic contact can exist at a distance and that the Divine is not limited by place, but is everywhere. It is not necessary for everybody to be at Pondicherry or physically near the Mother in order to lead the spiritual life or to practise this Yoga, especially in its earlier stages. But that is only one side of the truth; there is another. Otherwise the logical conclusion might be that there was no necessity for the Mother to be here at all or for the existence of the Asram or for anyone to come here.

The psychic being is there in all, but in very few is it well developed, well built up in the consciousness or prominent in the front; in most it is veiled, often ineffective or only an influence, not conscious enough or strong enough to support the spiritual life. It is for this reason that it is necessary for those drawn towards this Truth to come here in order that they may receive the touch which will bring about or prepare the wakening of the psychic being – that is for them the beginning of the effective psychic contact. It is also for this reason that a stay here is needed for many – if they are ready – in order that under the direct influence and nearness they may have this development or building up of the psychic being in the consciousness or its coming to the front. When the touch has been given or the development effected, so far as the sadhak is at the moment capable of it, he returns to the outside world and under the protection and guidance even at a distance is able to keep the contact and go on with his spiritual life. But the influences of the outside world are not favourable to the psychic contact and the psychic development and, if the sadhak is not sufficiently careful or concentrated, the psychic contact may easily be lost after a time or get covered over and the development may become retarded, stationary or even diminished by adverse influences or movements. It is therefore that the necessity exists and is often felt of a return to the place of the central influence in order to fortify or recover the contact or to restore or give a fresh forward impulse to the development. The aspiration for such nearness from time to time is not a vital desire; it becomes a vital desire only when it is egoistically insistent or mixed with a vital motive, – but not if it is an aspiration of the psychic being calm, deep and without clamour in it or perturbing insistence.

This is for those who are not called upon or are not yet called upon to live in the Asram under the direct pressure of the central Force and Presence. Those who must so live are those called from the beginning or who have become ready or who are for some reason or another given a chance to form part of the work or creation which is being prepared by the Yoga. For them the stay here in the atmosphere, the nearness are indispensable; to depart would be for them a renunciation of the opportunity given them, a turning of the back upon the spiritual destiny. Their difficulties are often in appearance greater than the struggle of those who remain outside because the demand and the pressure are greater; but so also is their opportunity greater and the power and influence for development poured upon them and that too which they can spiritually become and will become if they are faithful to the choice and the call.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

I have read and considered your letter and have decided to give you the opportunity you ask for – you can reside in the Asram for two or three months to begin with and find out whether this is really the place and the path you were seeking and we also can by a closer observation of your spiritual possibilities discern how best we can help you and whether this Yoga is the best for you.

This trial is necessary for many reasons, but especially because it is a difficult Yoga to follow and not many can really meet the demands it makes on the nature. You have written that you saw in me one who achieved through the perfection of the intellect, its spiritualisation and divinisation; but in fact I arrived through the complete silence of the mind and whatever spiritualisation and divinisation it attained was through the descent of a higher supra-intellectual knowledge into that silence. The book, Essays on the Gita, itself was written in that silence of the mind, without intellectual effort and by a free activity of this knowledge from above. This is important because the principle of this Yoga is not perfection of the human nature as it is but a psychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the action of an inner consciousness and then of a higher consciousness which works on them, throws out the old movements or changes them into the image of its own and so transmutes lower into higher nature. It is not so much the perfection of the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the substitution of a larger greater principle of knowledge – and so with all the rest of the being.

This is a slow and difficult process; the road is long and it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing nature resists and obstructs and difficulties rise one after another and repeatedly till they are overcome. It is therefore necessary to be sure that this is the path to which one is called before one finally decides to tread it.

If you wish, we are ready to give you the trial you ask for. On receiving your answer the Mother will make the necessary arrangements for your residence in the Asram.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

There are no specific qualifications except the call to lead a divine life embodying a higher spiritual and supramental Truth (not Sannyasa), the spirit which is prepared to sacrifice all for that one end accepting even the hardest conditions, ordeals and tests, and the recognition of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

Everybody is not admitted here, only those who are fit and who have a true call to Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. The desire for a “calm and peaceful” or Asramic life is not a sufficient passport for this admission.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

We do not think it would be advisable at this stage. By coming to the Asram difficulties do not cease – they have to be faced and overcome wherever you are. For certain natures residence in the Asram from the beginning is helpful – others have to prepare themselves outside.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

There is no formal initiation; acceptance is sufficient, but I do not usually accept unless I have seen or the Mother has seen the person or unless there is a clear sign that he is meant for this Yoga. Sometimes those who desire to be disciples have seen me in dream or vision before acceptance.

Words of Sri Aurobindo

If he cannot receive help from a distance how does he expect to carry on the Yoga here? This is a Yoga which does not depend upon verbal instructions or anything outward but on the power to open themselves and receive the force and influence even in a complete silence. Those who do not receive it at a distance cannot receive it here also. Also without establishing in oneself calm, sincerity, peace, patience and perseverance this Yoga cannot be done, for many difficulties have to be faced and it takes years and years to overcome them definitely and altogether.

Words of the Mother

Do not judge on appearances and do not listen to what people say, because these two things are misleading. But if you find it necessary to go, of course you can go and from an external point of view it may be indeed wiser.

Moreover it is not easy to remain here. There is in the Ashram no exterior discipline and no visible test. But the inner test is severe and constant, one must be very sincere in the aspiration to surmount all egoism and to conquer all vanity in order to be able to stay.

A complete surrender is not outwardly exacted but it is indispensable for those who wish to stick on, and many things come to test the sincerity of the surrender. However the Grace and the help are always there for those who aspire for them and their power is limitless when received with faith and confidence.

Words of the Mother

You say that you wish to lead the spiritual life, but for that you should understand that the first point is to overcome all the lower movements, all the attractions, all the attachments, for all these are absolutely contrary to the spiritual life.

The spiritual life demands that one is exclusively turned towards the Divine and the Divine alone. All that one does should be done for the Divine; all occupations, all aspirations, all, without exception, should be directed towards the Divine with a complete surrender of the whole being.

I know that this cannot be done in a day. But the decision that it may be so should be taken in an unshakable manner. It is only on this condition that I can accept you for the spiritual life.