The Mother’s “Review of the Day in the Light of the Psychic Being”

There is an activity that the Mother recommended that we do every evening, before we sleep – a review of our day, in the light of what She sometimes called “our highest ideal,” or if possible, in the Light of our Psychic Being. She recommended this to Her students in Paris, more than a century ago. 

She wrote of it again in Her articles on Education for the Bulletin, nearly ¾ of a century ago. And in the last year of Her life, She spoke of it again in Her conversations with Tara Jauhar.

She wrote that if one performed this exercise daily for at least 6 months, one would change so thoroughly one could hardly recognize the “self” we were from just 6 months prior. 

I have, for just over half a century, considered this to be among the single most important practices of the Integral Yoga, yet I rarely see it discussed. The objection I have most often heard is that it involves too much “thinking.” Or, sometimes something along these lines is offered; “Well, that’s ok for beginners, but for those of us further along the path, we don’t need such an exercise.” The last view is particularly interesting in that at the time the Mother was recommending to Tara Jauhar, Tara had been personally guided by the Mother for many years.

If you are inspired to try this practice the Mother recommends, I would very much appreciate hearing from you in the comments.

This first passage is from the Mother’s essay, “The Science of Living.” (Here, the Mother gives an overview of the purpose and the process of this nightly exercise.)

“The ideas that are accepted for translation into action should be strictly controlled and only those that agree with the general trend of the central idea forming the basis of the mental synthesis should be permitted to express themselves in action. This means that every thought entering the mental consciousness should be set before the central idea; if it finds a logical place among the thoughts already grouped, it will be admitted into the synthesis; if not, it will be rejected so that it can have no influence on the action. This work of mental purification should be done very regularly in order to secure a complete control over one's actions.

“For this purpose, it is good to set apart some time every day when one can quietly go over one's thoughts and put one's synthesis in order. Once the habit is acquired, you can maintain control over your thoughts even during work and action, allowing only those which are useful for what you are doing to come to the surface. Particularly, if you have continued to cultivate the power of concentration and attention, only the thoughts that are needed will be allowed to enter the active external consciousness and they then become all the more dynamic and effective. And if, in the intensity of concentration, it becomes necessary not to think at all, all mental vibration can be stilled and an almost total silence secured. In this silence one can gradually open to the higher regions of the mind and learn to record the inspirations that come from there.”

So first, the Mother has told us this is a practice we are to do every day. Initially (and perhaps for many years!) it will require active reflection. In fact, in a talk on “Concentration and Consecration,” She suggested that active reflection on thoughts, balanced by a silent psychic and spiritual offering, needs to be carried out every day, to the end of one’s life (presumably, until many centuries or millennia from now when everyone is thoroughly supramentalized!).

Below, is an extended description of this exercise, from Questions and Answers, 1950-1951, January 15, 1951. She will tell us to do this practice by holding up everything we’ve done during the day in the Light of the psychic being. How do we find that Light? Here is what the Mother told Tara Jauhar:

“In the very depths of your being, deep within your breast, the Divine Presence is permanently there, luminous and peaceful, full of love and wisdom. It is there so that you may unite with it and it may transform you into a luminous and radiant consciousness.

“Together you and I are going to try to silence the outer noise on the surface of your being, so that in silence and peace you may unite with this inner glory.”

This section from Questions and Answers begins with a quote from “The Science of Living,” followed by Her comments.

"It is only by observing these movements (of our being) with great care, by bringing them, as it were, before the tribunal of our highest ideal, with a sincere will to submit to its judgment, that we can hope to educate in us a discernment which does not err." 

“One must be clearly aware of the origin of one's movements because there are contradictory velleities in the being—some pushing you here, others pushing you there, and that obviously creates a chaos in life. If you observe yourself, you will see that as soon as you do something which disturbs you a little, the mind immediately gives you a favourable reason to justify yourself—this mind is capable of gilding everything. In these conditions it is difficult to know oneself. One must be absolutely sincere to be able to do it and to see clearly into all the little falsehoods of the mental being.

“If in your mind you go over the various movements and reactions of the day like one repeating indefinitely the same thing, you will not progress. If this reviewing is to make you progress, you must find something within you in whose light you yourself can be your own judge, something which represents for you the best part of yourself, which has some light, some goodwill and which precisely is in love with progress. Place that before you and, first of all, pass across it as at a cinema all that you have done, all that you have felt, your impulses, your thoughts, etc.; then try to coordinate them, that is, find out why this has followed that. And look at the luminous screen that is before you: certain things pass across it well, without throwing a shadow; others, on the contrary, throw a little shadow; others yet cast a shadow altogether black and disagreeable.

“You must do this very sincerely, as though you were playing a game: under such circumstances I did such and such a thing, feeling like this and thinking in this way; I have before me my ideal of knowledge and self-mastery, well, was this act in keeping with my ideal or not? If it was, it would not leave any shadow on the screen, which would remain transparent, and one would not have to worry about it. If it is not in conformity, it casts a shadow. Why has it left this shadow? What was there in this act that was contrary to the will to self-knowledge and self-mastery? Most often you will find that it corresponds to unconsciousness—then you file it among unconscious things and resolve that next time you will try to be conscious before doing anything. But in other cases you will see that it was a nasty little egoism, quite black, which had come to distort your action or your thought.

“Then you place this egoism before your "light" and ask yourself: "Why has it the right to make me act like that, think like that?..." And instead of accepting any odd explanation you must search and you will find in a corner of your being something which thinks and says, "Ah, no, I shall accept everything but that." You will see that it is a petty vanity, a movement of self-love, an egoistic feeling hidden somewhere, a hundred things. Then you take a good look at these things in the light of your ideal: "Is cherishing this movement in conformity with my seeking and the realisation of my ideal or not? I put this little dark corner in front of the light until the light enters into it and it disappears." Then the comedy is over. But the comedy of your whole day is not finished yet, you know, for there are many things which have to pass thus before the light. But if you continue this game—for truly it is a game, if you do this sincerely—I assure you that in six months you will not recognise yourself, you will say to yourself, "What? I was like that! It is impossible!" 

“You may be five years old or twenty, fifty or sixty and yet transform yourself in this way by putting everything before this inner light. You will see that the elements which do not conform with your ideal are not generally elements which you have to throw wholly out of yourself (there are very few of this kind); they are simply things not in their place. If you organise everything—your feelings, your thoughts, your impulses, etc.,—around the psychic centre which is the inner light, you will see that all inner disorder will change into a luminous order. 

“It is quite evident that if a similar procedure were adopted by a nation or by the earth, most of the things which make men unhappy would disappear, for the major part of the world's misery comes from the fact that things are not in their place. If life were organised in such a way that nothing was wasted and each thing was in its place, most of these miseries would not exist any longer. An old sage has said: 

"There is no evil. There is only a lack of balance. 

"There is nothing bad. Only things are not in their place." 

“If everything were in its place, in nations, in the material world, in the actions and thoughts and feelings of individuals, the greater part of human suffering would disappear.” 

To repeat, how do we find this Light in which to view the events of the day? Here is what the Mother told Tara Jauhar:

“In the very depths of your being, deep within your breast, the Divine Presence is permanently there, luminous and peaceful, full of love and wisdom. It is there so that you may unite with it and it may transform you into a luminous and radiant consciousness.

“Together you and I are going to try to silence the outer noise on the surface of your being, so that in silence and peace you may unite with this inner glory.” (From Growing Up With the Mother, August 1, 1970)

I’d like to conclude by adding some more comments from one of the Mother’s talks to her group in Paris. From Collected Works of The Mother, Volume 2, Words of Long Ago.

“…one thing can be recommended to everyone: reflection…. self-observation in solitude and silence, a close and strict analysis of the multitude of insignificant little thoughts which constantly assail us…. Devote…[a] few moments each day to this… exercise…

"When one has enough self-control to be able to analyse coldly, to dissect these states of mind, to strip them of their brilliant or painful appearance, so as to perceive them as they are in all their childish insignificance, then one can profitably devote oneself to studying them. But this result can only be achieved gradually, after much reflection in a spirit of complete impartiality

“When you are able by methodical and repeated effort to objectivise and keep at a distance all this flood of incoherent thoughts which assail us, you will notice a new phenomenon.

“You will observe within yourself certain thoughts that are stronger and more tenacious than others, thoughts concerning social usages, customs, moral rules and even general laws that govern earth and man. 

“They are your opinions on these subjects or at least those you profess and by which you try to act. 

“Look at one of these ideas, the one most familiar to you, look at it very carefully, concentrate, reflect in all sincerity, if possible leaving aside all bliss, and ask yourself why you have this opinion on that subject rather than any other. 

“The answer will almost invariably be the same, or nearly: Because it is the opinion prevalent in your environment, because it is considered good form to have it and therefore saves you from as many clashes, frictions, criticisms as possible. Or because this was the opinion of your father or mother, the opinion which moulded your childhood. Or else because this opinion is the normal outcome of the education, religious or otherwise, you received in your youth. This thought is not your own thought. For, to be your own thought, it would have to form part of a logical synthesis you had elaborated in the course of your existence, either by observation, experience and deduction, or by deep, abstract meditation and contemplation. 

“This, then, is our second discovery. 

“Since we have goodwill and endeavour to be integrally sincere, that is, to make our actions conform to our thoughts, we are now convinced that we act according to mental [views] we receive from outside, not after having maturely considered and analysed them, not by deliberately and consciously receiving them, but because unconsciously we are subjected to them… by our upbringing and education, and above all because we are dominated by a collective suggestion which is so powerful, so overwhelming, that very few succeed in avoiding it altogether. 

“We must take these ideas one after another and analyse them by appealing to all our common sense, all our reason, our highest sense of equity; we must weigh them in the balance of our acquired knowledge and accumulated experience, and then endeavour to reconcile them with one another, to establish harmony among them. It will often prove very difficult, for we have a regrettable tendency to let the most contradictory ideas dwell side by side in our minds. 

“We must put all of them in place, bring order into our inner chamber, and we must do this each day just as we tidy the rooms of our house. For I suppose that our mentality deserves at least as much care as our house.  

“But, once again, for this work to be truly effective, we must strive to maintain in ourselves our highest, quietest, most sincere state of mind so as to make it our own. 

“Let us be transparent so that the light within us may fully illumine the thoughts we want to observe, analyse, classify. Let us be impartial and courageous so as to rise above our own little preferences and petty personal conveniences. Let us look at the thoughts in themselves, for themselves, without bias. 

“And little by little, if we persevere in our work of classification, we shall see order and light take up their abode in our minds. But we should never forget that this order is but confusion compared with the order that we must realise in the future, that this light is but darkness compared with the light that we shall be able to receive after some time.  

“Life is in perpetual evolution; if we want to have a living mentality, we must progress unceasingly. 

“Moreover, this is only a preliminary work. We are still very far from true thought, which brings us into relation with the infinite source of knowledge. 

“These are only exercises for training ourselves gradually to an individualising control of our thoughts. For control of the mental activity is indispensable to one who wants to meditate. 

“I would like us to make the resolution to raise ourselves each day, in all sincerity and goodwill, in an ardent aspiration towards the Sun of Truth, towards the Supreme Light, the source and intellectual life of the universe, so that it may pervade us entirely and illumine with its great brilliance our minds and hearts, all our thoughts and our actions 

“Then we shall acquire the right and the privilege of following the counsel of the great initiate of the past, who tells us: 

"With your hearts overflowing with compassion, go forth into this world torn by pain, be instructors, and wherever the darkness of ignorance rules, there light a torch."”

- Don Salmon (USA)