Reading as a Method of Entering into a Wider and Deeper Consciousness

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A teenager was observed as she
was deeply absorbed in reading

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the famous novel by Alexander
Dumas, The Count of Monte

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Cristo.
This novel spanned some 1000

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pages and encompasses themes of
deep and abiding interest but

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does so in a captivating
storyline.

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It so happened that this
teenager was reading the book

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during an extended road trip
across the United States,

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including visits to national
parks and the Hopi Reservation

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of the First Nation's people.
She was so absorbed in her

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reading that she noticed nothing
at all for days at a time, and

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even when she exited the
vehicle, she carried the book in

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front of her and read it while
walking.

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She entered deeply into the
spirit of the story and came

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away with a deeper understanding
of the forces that drive human

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life in a way that aided her in
her adult life and way of seeing

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and looking at the world.
The method of entering into the

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spirit of the written word is
not restricted to reading of

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novels.
Many people have engrossed

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themselves deeply in reading and
becoming receptive to the

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writings of Sri Aurobindo.
Reading in his epic poem

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Savitri, a legend and a symbol,
has been known to evoke

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spiritual experiences of visual
and auditory phenomena and to

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transport the individual into
another domain of conscious

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awareness.
We tend to read with a somewhat

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voracious mental appetite, and
we read quickly and

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superficially.
We look at how much we have

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read, not how deeply we have
understood what we have read.

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We feed the mind but do not take
the time to create the receptive

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focus to truly enter into the
spirit of what is written and

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engage directly with the
consciousness of the writer.

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Those who undertake to do this
are rewarded with an entirely

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new understanding and viewpoint.
An experiment was reported which

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actually started some years ago,
to read Shiro Bindo's writings

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in a much deeper and more
reflective manner, to read

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slowly, approximately 1 page per
day, and to let it sink in, let

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it marinate in the being, and
thereby allow it to actually

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begin to transform the
understanding.

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Starting with the Life Divine,
this process systematically

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moved through all the major
writings of Shiro Bindo in a

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span of time of more than 15
years, day by day.

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During that time, the individual
observed within himself changes

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of his ways of looking at his
life, his relationships, his

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interactions, along with a
widening of his understanding of

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things.
In some cases, his reflections

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and the insights that arose
actually preceded an explanation

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provided by Sri Aurobindo in the
pages following the daily

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passage.
In other instances, he had a

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distinct impression of some
inner experience, which was

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later described by Sri Robindo
in a succeeding section.

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This was particularly the case
in his reading of Savitri.

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If we read with the mind, we
obtain mental knowledge,

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formulaic linear thoughts that
we can repeat and regurgitate on

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demand.
We gain facts, but we do not

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gain the essential insight
behind the facts.

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But if we read with the soul,
deeply, reflectively,

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receptively, we gain something
potentially much more valuable

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and access point to an entirely
new aspect of consciousness.

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We make the knowledge part of
ourselves rather than something

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we can simply parrot back
without understanding the deeper

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sense.
This process is progressive, and

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the more sincerely 1 undertakes
it, and the longer one works

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with it, the more transformative
action can be observed in the

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being the mother observes.
Quote for instance, when you are

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reading a book that interests
you very much, a wonderful novel

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full of exciting adventures.
When you are completely absorbed

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in the story.
At times you forget your class

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hour or even dinner time or your
bedtime.

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You are completely absorbed in
what you are reading.

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Well, this is a phenomenon of
self identification and if you

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do it with a certain perfection,
you succeed in understanding

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ahead what is going to happen.
There is a moment when, being

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fully absorbed in the story, you
come to know, without trying to

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look for it, towards what end
the author is leading you, how

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he is going to unfold his story
and come to his conclusion.

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For you have identified yourself
with the creative thought of the

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author.
You do it more or less perfectly

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without knowing that you are
doing it.

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But these are phenomena of self
identification.

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End Quote Reference Sri
Aurobindo and the Mother Powers

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within Chapter 13 Power of
Identification pages one O 7 to

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one O 8.