Q: Sweet Mother, is desire contagious ?
A: The Mother : Ah, yes, very contagious, my child .It is even much more contagious than illness. IF someone next to you has a desire immediately it enters you; and in fact it is mainly in that way that it is caught. It passes from one to another.. Terribly contagious, in such a powerful way that one is not even aware that it is a contagion. Suddenly one feels something springing up in oneself; someone has gently put it inside .Of course, one could say “Why aren’t people with desires Quarantined? Then we should have to quarantine everybody. (Mother laughs)
(‘Our Many Selves: Practical Yoga Psychology, Selections from the works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’ Compiled by A.S. Dalal, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry)
Q: The desire one feels or the vibration one has on an empty stomach when one passes by food- is it physical or vital or mental ?
A: The Mother : It can be purely a physical response when there is hunger. The vital desire is something more. IT is there even when the food is not there and even when the stomach is full. Mental, of course, is a reflection of the vital desire in the mind.
M.P. Pandit : The real problem is to distinguish when it is a desire and when it is a need, a necessity. Here comes in the question of sincerity. I will tell you a story. An inmate of the Ashram once felt that his health was going down. And he wrote a letter to the Mother that for many years he had not asked for anything; he never took butter or cheese; but now that his health was low, could he have some butter every week ?And then at the end he said that if Mother thought it was not necessary for him, then he would not have it. As the letter was being read to the Mother, she said: Yes, give him what he wants. But when the last para was read, the Mother said :” Since, he has asked me tell him that I don’t think it is necessary.” Naturally after that, the sadhak changed his mind.
(‘Sat-Sang with M.P. Pandit’, Vol. 2, Dipti Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry)
A: The Mother : Ah, yes, very contagious, my child .It is even much more contagious than illness. IF someone next to you has a desire immediately it enters you; and in fact it is mainly in that way that it is caught. It passes from one to another.. Terribly contagious, in such a powerful way that one is not even aware that it is a contagion. Suddenly one feels something springing up in oneself; someone has gently put it inside .Of course, one could say “Why aren’t people with desires Quarantined? Then we should have to quarantine everybody. (Mother laughs)
(‘Our Many Selves: Practical Yoga Psychology, Selections from the works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother’ Compiled by A.S. Dalal, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry)
Q: The desire one feels or the vibration one has on an empty stomach when one passes by food- is it physical or vital or mental ?
A: The Mother : It can be purely a physical response when there is hunger. The vital desire is something more. IT is there even when the food is not there and even when the stomach is full. Mental, of course, is a reflection of the vital desire in the mind.
M.P. Pandit : The real problem is to distinguish when it is a desire and when it is a need, a necessity. Here comes in the question of sincerity. I will tell you a story. An inmate of the Ashram once felt that his health was going down. And he wrote a letter to the Mother that for many years he had not asked for anything; he never took butter or cheese; but now that his health was low, could he have some butter every week ?And then at the end he said that if Mother thought it was not necessary for him, then he would not have it. As the letter was being read to the Mother, she said: Yes, give him what he wants. But when the last para was read, the Mother said :” Since, he has asked me tell him that I don’t think it is necessary.” Naturally after that, the sadhak changed his mind.
(‘Sat-Sang with M.P. Pandit’, Vol. 2, Dipti Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry)
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