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Sri Aurobindo on the "Inner Teacher" and the "word within"

Nothing can be taught to the mind which is not already concealed as potential knowledge in the unfolding soul of the creature. So also all perfection of which the outer man is capable, is only a realising of the eternal perfection of the Spirit within him. We know the Divine and become the Divine, because we are That already in our secret nature. All teaching is a revealing, all becoming is an unfolding. Self-attainment is the secret; self-knowledge and an increasing consciousness are the means and the process.

The usual agency of this revealing is the Word, the thing heard (śruta). The Word may come to us from within; it may come to us from without. But in either case, it is only an agency for setting the hidden knowledge to work. The word within may be the utterance of the inmost soul in us which is always open to the Divine; or it may be the word of the secret and universal Teacher who is seated in the hearts of all. There are rare cases in which none other is needed, for all the rest of the Yoga is an unfolding under that constant touch and guidance; the lotus of the knowledge discloses itself from within by the power of irradiating effulgence which proceeds from the Dweller in the lotus of the heart. Great indeed, but few are those to whom self-knowledge from within is thus sufficient and who do not need to pass under the dominant influence of a written book or a living teacher. (The Synthesis of Yoga, Page: 54)

-Getting things right-

All human beings are drawn to reexperience spiritual mistakes so that they might correct the error and become spiritually perfect. This is why conversations replay in our head, sometimes. We have the opportunity to look at ourselves, most often to the hatred we participated in. Too often though, we look at the others and then find ourselves physically repeating the experience as well. We are driven to get things right.

Listening to oneself is a very healing thing. Something enters us from the spiritual realm - often experienced as "aha!" This is the basic agent of personal transformation. It is said, "You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free."

It is really a voluntary process. A person gets to choose. We either respond to truth or to lies (or, for a while, to a mix.) Response to truth loosens us from compulsions. Response to lies tightens our bondage. Truth will deliver us simply by the love (and love of truth itself) it instills.

Man is intended to be a natural being, and ultimately, God is in control, not us. We need to work with that and not work around it. Patience is merely a divine tool to refine ourselves (and by example to hold up a light for those around to follow, if they will.)

* * * *

Our Inner teacher

We have an internal guide and there is no inherent barrier to character improvement after adulthood. So obtain a little internal quietness in some chance moment of solitude and observe what lies within. Images and concepts (not words - forget the words if they are present, they are byproducts of memories of interactions with mankind and not the stuff of spirit) will present themselves. This is your Internal Teacher at work. It coordinates the experiences of a lifetime and presents them in the best order to peel back the onion of your life's wrong growth. What will be left will be golden. It will be you in your purest form, with the pollution of past trauma securely removed.

Do you know how to be still? This may also help. It is both a source of better observation as well as a wellspring of patience/love. Perhaps I should also mention that while in an inner state of stillness, Revelation happens. Observe in a state of inner stillness.

How do we approach problems?

Let me use my experience as a computer trouble-shooter to illustrate. Many will look at a cursor that no longer moves on the screen and they will say, "The mouse no longer works." But this is a subtle lack of objectivity. Really, what we see is, "The cursor no longer moves." To jump from this observation to the conclusion that it is the mouse is to mix up observational discernment with judgment -- something that crosses a fine line we should not cross. And when we jump to this conclusion, we act as if we could know (like God knows) just by seeing. But we cannot. And when we overreach like this, we create a little dream world where reality does not touch. It really might not be a mouse problem. But we are focused on the mouse and completely helpless to solve the problem because of our fixation.

All problems that we cannot solve are like this. We know too much (much that we don't really know at all.) It makes us lack humility. It separates us from the possibility of really knowing. We lack inner stillness as we are moved to fiddle with the computer mouse.

Instead, we need to come empty to the problem. Empty is the truth. We do not know. We may see partial truths - it could be the mouse, or the bios, mouse drive, the OS or the application program. But we do not jump on possibilities without testing it. In this way, we test truth.

So we come back to the need to observe from a state of inner stillness. In this state, you might also gain direct divine insight into how to resolve this problem. -- you go directly to The Source of all Understanding, instead.

Understanding is Under Standing, where we find our proper relationship of nothingness in relation to God's All. (Remembering the truth that we do not know.) There we Stand Under His influence - His will being our goal, trusting in His Goodness that our problem has a solution within His Will. In seeking the stillness within us, we connect with the Infinite Axle around which all things turn. We approach Him who sits at the still center of everything. And He will bless this approach with an influx of wisdom. We literally feel energy flowing within us (and by this hallmark, we know for certain that we have found inner stillness - a tree of life no longer denied us and a Source that makes a tree of knowledge unnecessary because we become inspired. We connect with the fallacy of Adam's choice of knowledge instead of insight and we experience why knowledge can never substitute for Him in our lives.)

No doubt this sounds deep. But it is a simple, personal thing that may easily be found in humility. It is the natural state of man. It releases you from worldly authorities. Less and less do you look outside. More and more will you look inwardly. We become childlike--for surly children are not looking outside!!

* * * * *

- Do you think we lose the Inner Teacher we had as children? I think of Inner Teacher as being a sort of intuitive process, not something based on education. In fact, I think education may encourage us to not listen to our Inner Teacher. We spend too much time reasoning about things instead of trusting the Inner Voice that guides us. ++

- Yes, I definitely think we may lose touch with our inner teacher (but we never actually lose the Inner Teacher.) The Inner Teacher has many names. It can be called knowing, as in when we know something, not in words, and with great confidence. It can take the form of what immediately precedes an "aha" experience. The confidence, with which we know, is key to understanding various spiritual words describing this same phenomena. "Confidence" comes from Latin prefix "con" meaning with and the Latin root fidelias meaning faith. So confidence is a thing with (inner) faith. Some refer to this inner knowing as conscience or the holy spirit. If you are Christian, you know that it is said that Christ sent a teacher in the form of the Holy Spirit at the Pentecost. And it is further said that in His children, God writes His laws in their (our) hearts. The faith that accompanies the confidence in our inner knowing is spiritual faith of the sort spoken of when people say we must have faith.

As children, we become exposed to stress and stress alone gives us post traumatic responses to stress. These make us externally motivated (instead of our natural, inner motivated) creatures. This also tends to insert into our inner being a component that is foreign in nature to us. We perceive this as an identity. If we are very lost, we may think this identity is us. Instead, we simply have lost touch with our real being. It happens to everyone in a stronger or milder form. All must find their way on this narrow path.

But because of the Inner Teacher, it is also an easy path. So easy, sometimes, that it is hard. We look everywhere for answers and fail to notice them right under our noses (in our heart.) It is a beautiful thing.

And as we regain some contact with this Inner Teacher, now with some consciousness, we become the culmination of little children that we still are.

[C.N., May and June 2006 + February 2007 / ++ anonymous]
Posted: April 15, 2009

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