WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

19 October 1955

Sweet Mother, here it is written: "Nothing can be taught to the mind which is not already concealed as potential knowledge..." Then, does this mean that he who has no hidden knowledge cannot have...

No. It's not altogether like that.

What it means is that all things are potentially contained in the substance constituting man. Only, the organisation is different according to individuals; and the degree of awakening, of the capacity to respond is also different.

And this is what makes the difference between the possibilities of individuals. But in fact, essentially each being contains in itself all the universal potentialities. To what extent he is capable of developing them... it's a kind of hierarchy which is established among individuals and their degree of development. But, essentially, in each one there is the Divine Presence and therefore the Supreme Consciousness. Only, for some to be able to become conscious of it, it will take thousands and thousands [new p. 336][old p. 340]of years, and others have by inner and outer circumstances come to the moment when they are ready to become aware of it. It is rather a hierarchy in realisation than one in potentialities.

Now in addition to this, some beings manifest something other than a purely human consciousness--but this is something additional; these are exceptional cases. But usually it's like this: the substance itself contains all the possibilities.

It is as Sri Aurobindo says further on: If the Divine were not in you, never would you be able to know the Divine.

That's what it means.