It's neither life nor death.. BOTH are being changed.. into something still unknown.. dangerous and wonderful. On Nov 17, 1973, she left her body - why?
"Before dying falsehood rises in full swing. Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe. Will it have to come before they open their eyes?" This is the year of Watergate, of Nixon's first trip to China, the assassination of the Israeli athletes in Munich, the first oil embargo. This is Mother's last lap. A lap strewn with heartrending little cries and stunning visions. The end of one world, the beginning of another.... whether we want it or not. "Sometimes, it is so new and unexpected, it's almost painful." And I would ask her, "But is it a state outside matter?" "I don't go outside of physical life, but.... it looks different. But it is strange. And it is PHYSICAL, that is the extraordinary thing! As if the physical had split in two.... A new state in matter. And it is ruled by something that is not the sun, I don't know what it is.... I am touching another world. Another way of being.... dangerous but wonderful." How I listened to her little breath as she gasped for air, a breath that seemed to come from another side of the world: "There is no difference between life and death. It's neither life nor death, it is.... something. It is not the disappearance of death you understand: BOTH are being changed.... into something still unknown, which seems at once extremely dangerous and absolutely wonderful." And what if "death" were merely the other, MATERIAL side of our human bowl, the sunlit shore for a species to come? A new condition on both sides of the world, in which life and death change into.... something else? "I am treading a very thin and narrow line...." And then this cry, this entreaty: "Let me do the work!" On November 17, 1973, she passed away - why?
How are you?
Don't know.
(Mother laughs and goes on looking at Satprem)
You don't have anything, no letter?
Yes, I received a letter from A., conveying a message from my publisher B.C. (you know, the one who published "The Adventure of Consciousness"). B.C. wrote a letter [Satprem reads it to Mother] saying he's reading "The Ideal of Human Unity," but would like to publish "The Synthesis of Yoga."So A. replied to him [Satprem reads the reply to Mother] that he is sending his letter to Pondicherry "for instructions," but that in his opinion "it would be better to publish first the 'Ideal,' which may be accessible to a larger Western audience than the 'Synthesis' and might be more suitable for Sri Aurobindo's centenary year."
That's not my opinion at all! I think it would be far better to publish "The Synthesis of Yoga" than "The Ideal."
"The Synthesis" first?
Yes. There's a difference of level between the two.
Yes, of course. But what A. means is that "The Ideal of Human Unity" is a theme with a universal appeal.
Yes, but that's just the point, it doesn't take them out of what they know! While "The Synthesis" (they won't understand much of it, but...) may pull them out of their routine.
Right, Mother, understood.
Perhaps only two or three people will understand, but that's better than the other one and having people say, "Oh, how nice! How very, very nice!"—but it won't jolt them out of their routine.
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A question of principle remains: do we give these books to B.C. and thus encourage him to publish the bulk of Sri Aurobindo's works? After all, he's the first publisher who seems to be interested in Sri Aurobindo.
Yes! Why not?... Good for him! (Mother laughs) Everybody, including A., always sees things from the wrong end, you know, as if WE had to gain something—well, it's not so! It's THEM. It's THEIR chance....
Yes, of course! I fully agree, Mother!
The chance isn't ours!
It's a grace given to them.
Yes. In fifty years the whole world, all the receptive section of humanity (I am not saying intellectual, I am saying receptive), all the receptive section of the world will be embraced—not "embraced": ABSORBED in the power of Sri Aurobindo's thought.
Those who already are have the good fortune of being the first ones, that's all.
(silence)
It's very interesting, you know, the greater part live in the past; a good number (they are more interesting) live in the present; and just a few, an infinitesimal number, live in the future. That's true.
Whenever I look at people and things I always get the feeling of going backwards! (gesture of turning around and looking behind) I know (it's not even "I know," or "I feel," it's none of that), I AM—I am ahead. In consciousness, I am in the year 2000. So I know how things will be, and... (Mother laughs) it's very interesting!
(long silence)
Three quarters of humanity are obsolete.
Yes! [Everyone laughs]
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That's all you have?... A. needs to take a dip here again, he's starting to... (gesture of going around in circles).
Well then, I'll encourage this man to publish as many books of Sri Aurobindo as possible.
Yes, yes.
Starting with the "Synthesis".
The Synthesis.
Personally, of all those I have read, it's the book that has helped me the most. It comes from a very high and very universal inspiration, in the sense that it will remain new for a long time to come.
Did you read all the "Correspondence with Nirod"?
I'm translating it as I go along, so I haven't read it entirely yet.
There are fabulous things in it. He seems to be constantly joking, but... it's fabulous.1
How many years did I live with Sri Aurobindo? Thirty years, I think—thirty years, from 1920 to 1950. I thought I knew him well, but when I listen to that, I realize... (gesture as if new horizons were opening up).
But how wonderfully things get organized when you really and sincerely put yourself in the Divine's hands! This year, for instance, is like being bathed in Sri Aurobindo, you know.
(Mother goes into meditation)
You have nothing to ask, nothing to say?
There are some passages from Sri Aurobindo you might want to use this year, for the Centenary:
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"I have never known any will of mine for any major event in the conduct of the world affairs to fail in the end, although it may take a long time for the world-forces to fulfil it." (October 1932) On Himself, XXVI.55 "I have never had a strong and persistent will for anything to happen in the world—I am not speaking of personal things—which did not eventually happen even after delay, defeat or even disaster." (October 19, 1946) On Himself, XXVI.169
"I have never known any will of mine for any major event in the conduct of the world affairs to fail in the end, although it may take a long time for the world-forces to fulfil it."
(October 1932) On Himself, XXVI.55
"I have never had a strong and persistent will for anything to happen in the world—I am not speaking of personal things—which did not eventually happen even after delay, defeat or even disaster."
(October 19, 1946) On Himself, XXVI.169
It's interesting.
Do you want to use one of them for the 15th of August?
Which is stronger?
The second, I think.
I think so too.
The former is from 1932, the latter from 1946.
Oh!...
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