Higher Knowledge and Mental Knowledge

How is it that at times I feel myself in the proximity of knowledge and at times miles away from it?

Neither knowledge nor anything else is constant at first — and even when it is there one cannot expect it to be always active. That comes afterwards.

I understand that knowledge cannot be constant or active at all times. But why is it completely absent, even when silence is there?

There is no definite reasoning why to these things.

The Mother’s peace and silence have pressed down on me from all sides. Why do I feel myself beyond the need even of knowledge?

It is the condition of the silent self in which there is no need of knowledge or action.

Is spiritual knowledge an active thing in itself?

Yes. Active in an imperturbable calm.

At times, when I bring down knowledge the intensity, depth and height of the silence are diminished.

That must be because the mind becomes active instead of receiving the knowledge in silence.

On one side the useless mechanical mind is active, while on the other the useful recording mind has fallen completely silent. It cannot do any thinking or even recording of the experiences!

Perhaps it is waiting for a higher mind to act from above.

My mental control seems to have been removed completely. So I miss the service of my mind proper (the intellect). I think, act, write only with the physical mind. This mind, since it is still undeveloped, is moved by the ordinary nature and its ignorance.

Is there no way to prevent my mind from being removed or falling neutral?

It can come only by farther development and the activity of another kind of knowledge communicating itself to the physical and taking up gradually the functions of the mind in all its parts.

There is nothing out of the normal in what you describe — it happens in the course of the change of consciousness.

The flow of the higher knowledge has been missing for a long time.

It is probably because the physical mind has come up into activity and finds difficulty in receiving the knowledge.

But even when the physical mind is quiescent and there is only silence, still the knowledge does not come.

It is still the stuff of the physical mind which must receive it and, as that physical mind is too obscure, it does not come.

I feel somewhere a dark veil which keeps the knowledge from descending. Is it a strain of inertia?

It must be a mental inertia or tamas of some kind — perhaps in the physical brain.

I find that no amount of knowledge and experiences has been able to decrease the strength of my external mind.

Knowledge and experiences can change it only if they act within it and occupy it driving out the old things. The other way to get rid of it is to develop the psychic being and its power over the nature.

Is it possible to change it by a direct higher action?

It is possible if you can bring the direct higher action into this part of the consciousness or else let the Force pass there.

From where does the higher knowledge descend — the knowledge that gives Truth?

As for the knowledge in Yoga it comes first from the higher mind, but even that does not see the whole Truth, only sides of it.

What are these sides? How many sides has the higher Truth?

You will have to let it develop till you can see what the sides are. There is no limitation to one side or two or three, there may be a hundred.

How many sides of a Truth can the higher mind and the illumined mind give at one time?

There is no fixed number of sides. In fact the attempt to put such rules and limitations and to define the field of these higher things is useless; such an attempt is mental and ceases to have any meaning as one goes upward.

What is the difference between the knowledge of the higher mind and that of the illumined mind?

The substance of knowledge is the same, but the higher mind gives only the substance and form of knowledge in thought and word — in the illumined mind there begins to be a peculiar light and energy and ananda of knowledge which grows as one rises higher in the scale or else as the knowledge comes from a higher and higher source. This light etc. are still rather diluted and diffused in the illumined mind; it becomes more and more intense, clearly defined, dynamic and effective on the higher planes so much so as to change always the character and power of the knowledge.

About the illumined mind, you wrote, “There begins to be a peculiar light and energy and ananda of knowledge.” Could you kindly give me some idea of this light, energy and ananda?

No. It has to be experienced first. Things that are above the ordinary mind (intellect) cannot be submitted to rules and descriptions.

Is it true that the knowledge of the higher mind always brings down with it light and force in so far as they belong to its plane?

Light, not necessarily force.

You said that one has to go by stages. While rising above, some parts of the being ask, “Which plane should I attempt first?”

It is not necessary for the parts of the being to understand mentally where they have to rise or determine that by the mind. That is determined by a higher power than the mind and, if any knowledge comes, it must be from above or as a part of the ascending movement.

When you get the true intuitive plane, there will be no need for instructions or questions as to how to do sadhana. The sadhana will do itself under the light of the intuition.

It is only the supramental that is all Knowledge. All below that from Overmind to Matter is Ignorance — an Ignorance growing at each level nearer to the full knowledge. Below Supermind there may be knowledge but it is not all Knowledge.

Absolute certitude about all things can only come from the supermind. Meanwhile one has to go on with what knowledge the other planes give.

During the descent of the higher knowledge, at times I ask questions or show hesitation in accepting it as perfect. But this stops or interferes with the free flow of the knowledge. Afterwards I find it difficult to reconnect myself with the flow.

Such questions should not be allowed to stop the flow. Afterwards one can consider them and get the answer. The knowledge that comes is not necessarily complete or perfect in expression, but it must be allowed to come freely and amplifications or corrections can be made afterwards.