Questions and Answers 1929–1931

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Questions and Answers 1929 – 1931
with Commentaries on the Dhammapada


(Sahana:) “On Sunday evenings [the Mother] went to Dilip's house where an English lady from London, named Miss Maitland, was also accommodated. She had come to spend six months in the Ashram – she used to attend the Sunday meetings and ask the Mother whatever questions she had and get replies from her. Besides Maitland the group was made up of Nolini, Doraiswamy Iyyer (a Madras-advocate then visiting the Ashram every week-end), the American Vaun Macpheeters and his wife Jeanette (renamed Shantimayi here), Pavitra, Dilip and myself. The Mother started with a meditation, sometimes on a particular topic, and enquired at the end of the meditation what its result was in each individual. Then followed questions and answers, which were recorded in shorthand by Shantimayi. This phase begun on 7th April 1929 and lasted fifteen weeks.”[1]


Questions and Answers 1929

7 April Yoga: for the sake of the Divine 1 Paper icon.png
Concentration 1
Preparations for Yoga: to be conscious 2
Yoga and humanity 2
“We have all met in previous lives” 3
14 April Dangers of Yoga 4 Paper icon.png
Two paths: tapasya and surrender 4
Impulses, desires and Yoga 5
Difficulties 6
Unification around the psychic being 7
Ambition: the undoing of many Yogis 7
Powers: misuse and right use of 7
How to recognise the Divine Will 8
Vital devotion 10
Need of a strong body and nerves 10
Inner being: invariable 12
21 April Visions: seeing and interpretation 13 Paper icon.png
Dreams and dreamland 14
Dreamless sleep 16
Visions and formulation 16
Surrender: passive and of the will 18
Meditation and progress 20
Entering the spiritual life 21
28 April Offering: general and detailed 23 Paper icon.png
Integral Yoga 24
Remembrance of the Divine 25
Reading and Yoga 27
Necessity; predetermination 28
Freedom 29
Miracles 31
Aim of creation 31
5 May Intellect: true and wrong movement 33 Paper icon.png
Attacks from adverse forces 33
Faith: integral and absolute 36
Death: not a necessity 36
Descent of Divine Consciousness 38
Inner progress 39
Memory of former lives 40
12 May Beings of the vital world (vampires) 42 Paper icon.png
Money power and vital beings 45
Capacity for manifestation of will 46
Entry into the vital world 47
Body: a protection 47
Individuality and the vital world 48
19 May Mind and its workings; thought-forms 50 Paper icon.png
Adverse conditions and Yoga 53
Mental constructions 53
Illness and Yoga 55
26 May Individual; illusion of separateness 58 Paper icon.png
Hostile forces and the mental plane 60
Psychic world; psychic being 62
“Spiritual” and “psychic” 63
Words; understanding speech and reading 64
Hostile forces, their utility 66
Illusion of action; true action 66
2 June Divine love and its manifestation 69 Paper icon.png
Part of the vital being in Divine love 72
9 June Nature of religion 76 Paper icon.png
Religion and the spiritual life 77
Descent of Divine Truth and Force 79
Religion, country, family 81
Religion and numbers 83
16 June Illness and Yoga 85 Paper icon.png
Subtle body (nervous envelope) 89
Fear and illness 90
23 June Knowledge of the Yogi 92 Paper icon.png
Knowledge and the Supermind 94
Changing the condition of the body 96
Meditation; aspiration; sincerity 97
30 June Repulsion felt towards certain animals, etc. 100 Paper icon.png
Source of evil; Formateurs 102
Material world 102
28 July Art and Yoga 104 Paper icon.png
Art and life 108
Music, dance 110
World of Harmony 112
4 August Surrender and sacrifice 114 Paper icon.png
Personality and surrender 116
Desire and passion 117
Spirituality and morality 118

Questions and Answers 1930-1931

The Ordinary Life and the True Soul 123 Paper icon.png
Surrender, Self-offering and Consecration 126 Paper icon.png
Renunciation 128 Paper icon.png
Aspiration in the Physical for the Divine’s Love 130 Paper icon.png
Aspiration in Plants 132 Paper icon.png
Union with the Divine Consciousness and Will 133 Paper icon.png
Endurance — the Vital’s Hunger for Praise — Signs of the Converted Vital 136 Paper icon.png
Victory over Falsehood 141 Paper icon.png
Difficulties in Yoga 143 Paper icon.png
Vital Conversion — Rebirth and Personal Survival 144 Paper icon.png
Resurrection 147 Paper icon.png
Reincarnation — Memory of Past Lives 148 Paper icon.png
Psychic Presence and Psychic Being — Real Origin of Race Superiority 150 Paper icon.png
Faith 152 Paper icon.png
Power of Right Attitude 154 Paper icon.png
Power of Imagination 156 Paper icon.png
Selfless Admiration 158 Paper icon.png
Stepping Back 160 Paper icon.png Wiki icon.png
Knowledge of the Scientist and the Yogi 161 Paper icon.png
Chance 163 Paper icon.png
Different Kinds of Space and Time — Fearlessness on the Vital Plane 165 Paper icon.png
Knowledge by Unity with the Divine — The Divine Will in the World 167 Paper icon.png
Supermind and Overmind 173 Paper icon.png
True Humility — Supramental Plasticity — Spiritual Rebirth 175 Paper icon.png
The Supramental Realisation 178 Paper icon.png
The Supramental Descent 180 Paper icon.png

On the Dhammapada

Conjugate Verses 183 Paper icon.png
Vigilance 202 Paper icon.png
The Mind 210 Paper icon.png
The Flowers 213 Paper icon.png
The Fool 216 Paper icon.png
The Sage 219 Paper icon.png
The Adept 223 Paper icon.png
The Thousands 226 Paper icon.png
Evil 229 Paper icon.png
Punishment 233 Paper icon.png
Old Age 237 Paper icon.png
The Ego 239 Paper icon.png
The World 243 Paper icon.png
The Awakened One 246 Paper icon.png
Happiness 252 Paper icon.png
Pleasure 255 Paper icon.png
Anger 258 Paper icon.png
Impurity 261 Paper icon.png
The Just Man 266 Paper icon.png
The Path 270 Paper icon.png
Miscellany 274 Paper icon.png
Niraya (Hell) 277 Paper icon.png
The Elephant 280 Paper icon.png
Craving 284 Paper icon.png
The Bhikkhu 288 Paper icon.png
The Brahmin 292 Paper icon.png
Appendix to Questions and Answers 1929 Paper icon.png


Notes are paraphrased from the “Publisher's Note” and “Note on the Texts”.


See also



  1. Sahana, At the Feet of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, translated from the original Bengali by Nirodaran, 1985, p.12