Others too had to understand Her secret - her own disciples, Nations. Will she be heard? Will she be allowed to pursue her experience? '... The body knows that the work will go on and on and on...'
The last turning point of Mother's yoga, and she comes out of it with this cry: "I have walked a long, long time. There was nothing but a constant cry, as if everything were torn away from me. It was the whole problem of the world." And this Agenda is more and more strewn with heartrending little cries. It was not enough to have found the secret for herself, the others too had to understand, her own disciples, Nations locked in their egoistic power: "They have no faith! 'She is old, she is old', an atmosphere of resistance to the change; 'it is impossible, impossible' from all sides.... Not a single minute should be wasted - I am in a hurry.... The reign of the Divine must, oh, must come!.... If the entire Russian block were to turn to the right side, that would be an enormous support! The victory is certain, but I don't know which path will be followed to reach it.... We must cling, cling so tightly to Truth.... They don't listen to me any more." She is 93, groping her way into the unknown: "I see more clearly with eyes closed than with eyes open, and it is a physical vision, purely physical, but a kind of physical that seems more complete. The consciousness of the cells is what has to change, all the rest will follow naturally! I have the feeling I am on my way to discovering the illusion that must be destroyed so that physical life may go on uninterrupted - death is the result of a distortion of consciousness." Will she be heard? Will she be allowed to pursue her experience? "Only a violent death could halt the transformation; otherwise the body knows that the work will go on and on and on...." And this cry again: "There will be a miracle! But what, I don't know."
(On the occasion of the laying of the first stone of the Matrimandir on February 21, Satprem had written a letter to the architect of Auroville.)
I saw your letter (I saw it in English), the letter you wrote to R. for the "Matrimandir".... It's interesting, it's good.... They have a bulletin, a "Gazette," it will be published there.1
I get a lot of requests from all sorts of people, either to say
Page 108
something or do something or comment on something or.... I feel it's not so good.
What do they ask you?
One thing or another, a commentary, an explanation, "what do I think of...."
But does it come from Auroville?
Most of it, yes.
Listen, there's quite a lazy group in Auroville!
Oh, that, yes!
People who don't want to work. Now they say that according to your book, to get the true consciousness, one doesn't have to work!
Yes, that's it. I heard that also. They say, "Work belongs to the old world"...!
Yes, that's how they understand it. So, what can you do?... What did you reply to them?
I spoke to R. I told him what I thought. I said that work is the foundation.
Yes.
It's by being and working in matter that one can bring a little consciousness into oneself.
Yes, that's it.
And if there isn't any work, there isn't any transformation.
Yes, that's exactly what I wrote to them.2 He told me, "They couldn't care less."
Page 109
Oh, yes, that's true!
Maybe they would listen to you if you told them that.
If you like, I can write.
Yes, you can write. Maybe they would listen to you, because they're saying that in the name of your book, you see!
Oh, you know, in the name of my book they also say that Sri Aurobindo and Mother are now obsolete, and that in a way my book supersedes all that!
Yes, oh, exactly! (general laughter)
I've heard just about everything.
Yes, that's it! (laughter)
So, what can I say in the face of such things!?
(Mother laughs)
One even wrote me, "So, Sri Aurobindo didn't have the key to the superman."
Oh, really?
Yes, I'm the one who's given it, you see.
Good heavens!
It's bewildering!
(Mother laughs) I think there are no limits to human stupidity.
Oh, yes!
(silence)
One doesn't know what to do or say because it's....
No, they have to be told: you're talking nonsense.
Page 110
Oh, I told them, you know, but still.... I told them they had a lot of nerve. And I asked them, "But where do you think I learned what I've written!?"
Exactly! (Mother laughs)
They're terribly angry with me because I told them discipline is indispensable.
But of course!
That's old hat, you see.
But, Mother, I told R. that the basic mistake is that when those people came here, everything was handed to them: he gave them ready-made houses, they were given all they needed to eat—they got everything on a silver platter. While these people should have been made to build their own houses and to plant their own potatoes if they wanted to eat; they should have done everything by themselves.
Yes, exactly.
And I told them, "How can you possibly build a New World with coolies? One does not make a new world with hired labor!"
I think a whole group of those people should go.
Yes, that's my feeling.
To one of them I said, "If I went over there, I'd go with a whip!"
(Mother laughs) There's really a subhuman group over there.
Yes, certainly.... But how can you eliminate that?
Another example: they even have a hired cook to do their cooking, those people!
Page 111
Oh!...
There's a fundamental flaw in all that, you know.
But how can that be?
That's the way it is, you see. They have a hired cook.
Heavens!
(long silence)
What do you propose then?
Nothing, I don't know, Mother.
I feel R. should organize things in such a way that people are compelled to work.
Yes.... Yes, we'll have to do something.
That way, the sorting out would be done right away.
Yes.... But I need to know the number of people in the group, both those who work and those who do nothing. And then....
Of course, we could take very "drastic" steps.
For instance, so many hours of work per day are required in order to be fed, or else you eat only if you pay for it.
Yes, Mother, it should be done. Because, you see, they are so crafty that they all say they work: they putter around here and there, they go to work on the Matrimandir for half an hour or so.... So, to them, they've "worked." You see, they just putter around.
(after a silence)
I suddenly felt I had lost my influence over those people. I tell them things—they couldn't care less.
Page 112
You could speak to R. and see.
Yes, Mother.... But R. says, "Mother doesn't want to interfere. Mother doesn't want to make any decisions." But I think perhaps it's up to him to make a decision.
But no one will listen to him. You see, I can't make decisions anymore because they don't listen to me. As long as they listened to me, it was easy—it was easy, there was an influence. Now, something has happened, I don't have any authority at all anymore, so what can we do?3
Well, if you tell R., he will see that it's done.
(Mother goes within for a long time)
We'll have to find some way....
Mother, it seems to me you could call together those who are responsible and take some decisions.
Yes, good idea.
The trouble is that when several of them are here together, they talk among themselves, I don't hear. So....
If it would help, I can be there.
I think it would.
(long silence Mother goes within)
I really feel it is necessary to start again on a new basis and the entire place must be swept clean of all those people. We have to start afresh in a new location and make them work.
Page 113
Yes, but how about the accommodations?
In the meantime they could live in huts, which they would build themselves.
But they're in huts.
I mean with thatched roofs.
I'll see.
I'll try to arrange something. I'll tell you Saturday.
Home
The Mother
Books
Agenda
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.