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?
Good morning, Mother.
I have nothing, mon petit, you're going to get skinny!
No!
(Mother gives some flowers, then her latest note)
The first thing one learns on the way is that giving brings much greater joy than taking. Then, gradually, one learns that selflessness is the source of an immutable peace. Later, in this selflessness one finds the Divine, and that is the source of an unending bliss.... One day Sri Aurobindo told me that if people knew that and were convinced of it they would all want to do yoga.
The first thing one learns on the way is that giving brings much greater joy than taking.
Then, gradually, one learns that selflessness is the source of an immutable peace. Later, in this selflessness one finds the Divine, and that is the source of an unending bliss....
One day Sri Aurobindo told me that if people knew that and were convinced of it they would all want to do yoga.
(silence)
We need a message for the 21st.... Do you have something?
There are several probable texts, but perhaps you have something of your own?
Texts from where?
From Sri Aurobindo.
That would be nice.
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But for the 21st, it would be nice to have something from you also, no?
Not necessarily.... Do you think this (Mother hands Satprem a scrap of paper) would do?
The complete unification of the whole being around the psychic center is the essential condition to realize a perfect sincerity.1
I have noticed that people are insincere simply because one part of their being says one thing and another part says something else. That's what causes insincerity. It came very clearly: a vision, you know, an inner vision. So I tried to put it down on paper; I don't know if it's clear.
But it's very difficult to remain in a permanent state of consciousness, to have always the same consciousness prevailing at all times.
But that's when you're not unified, mon petit. It's been a-l-w-a-y-s like this for me (Mother draws a straight line in front of her) for years and years. It comes from here, the psychic consciousness, and it's CONSTANT.
Recently, for a few moments, I had the experience [of the nonunified consciousness]; I hadn't known that in years-many years, at least thirty years.2 From the moment the psychic being became the master and ruler of the being, it was OVER—it is over—and now it's like this (same straight gesture). That is the sure sign. Constantly like that, constantly the same. And all the time: "What You will, what You will." Not a "You" up there, at the back of beyond, whom one doesn't know; He is everywhere, He is in everything, He is constantly there, He is in the very being—and one clings to that. It's the only solution.
Do you think that note makes sense?
Certainly, it makes sense!
Read it again.
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(Satprem reads the message again)
Is it understandable?
Well, I for one, understand!
What do you think?... Because it's something I discovered recently. I saw why people are insincere (even when they make an effort): because now it's one part, now the other, now yet another part of them that asserts itself; each part is quite sincere in its own assertion, but is in disaccord with the others.
But that means the psychic consciousness must penetrate the PHYSICAL consciousness.
Yes.
Because that's the only place where there is permanence.
Yes....
The psychic consciousness must penetrate the ordinary physical consciousness.
That's what is difficult!
But, mon petit, I tell you, that's what happened to me at least thirty years ago.
The psychic consciousness has always been there, controlling and guiding the being. All the impressions, everything was referred to it, like this (gesture of placing something before a spotlight), so it would give the true direction. And the physical, for its part, is sort of constantly attentive to the Divine Command.
And that was constant, constant—even BEFORE coming here. It was so when I arrived here (long, long ago). And it has remained unchanged. Only recently did I have the experience [of the nonunified consciousness], for a few hours one night, two or three hours—it was horrible, really, it seemed like hell. It was to make me touch, to make me grasp the condition people live in. Imagine when the psychic is no longer there....
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But it's in the BODY—in the body: the body is listening, listening, constantly listening (gesture above or within)—listening. But [the Divine Command] is not expressed in words, it comes as a will asserting itself (a straight and imperturbable descending gesture).
Should I add something to make it clearer?
You said, "The complete unification of the whole being."
So that means the physical, too.
People never understand anything. But it's perfectly clear.
Oh, yes!
So you think it's all right?
Yes, Mother, certainly!
I think it's important, because it came as an experience, precisely to make me grasp its importance.
We must put: "Message for the 21st."
Yes, Mother. We need another one for the 29th, too.
February 29th, what's that?
It's the fourth anniversary of the supramental descent, in '56.
Oh! It was the 29th....
The 29th, in 1956... sixteen years ago.
(Mother smiles and remains absorbed)
Could we say:
It is only when the supramental manifests in the physical mind that its presence can be permanent.
Do you think it will do?
Yes, Mother!
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We should say "in the body-mind."
Well, we could add "and body-mind": in the physical mind and body-mind...?
Yes, but then it seems as if there were two of them—there aren't two.3
So simply "body-mind."
Is it enough, then?
Yes, Mother, we have both messages now.
So they're expecting me to go out on the balcony. I am going out on the balcony only for the 21st.... What have you heard? What are people expecting?
They're expecting to see as much of you as possible!(Laughter)
I don't know. The 29th is just one week later.... It's a big strain—not a strain, but a difficulty.
What if everyone passed in front of you, would that be more difficult?
Ohh... two flights of stairs to climb! It used to be possible down in the garden, but two flights of stairs....
But people can move along more easily now, they've built new stairways. It's really up to you: wouldn't it be more tiring to sit there while so many people file past?
Yes, I think it would be too much.
Yes, Mother, it would be too long for you.
And it isn't very practical here: they would have to leave through the same door they come in. There should be another exit, then people could make a circle.
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But will you give a meditation on the 29th?
All right, I don't mind. Let's have a meditation at 10 a.m., then.
You wouldn't want to go out on the balcony a second time by any chance? [Laughter]
That would be a bit too much.
The body is no longer quite on this side, you see, and not yet on the other, so it lives in a kind of precarious balance, and the slightest thing upsets it—I can't swallow anymore or even breathe anymore.... The feeling of a life which is about to depend on different conditions than the usual ones. But those other conditions aren't there yet, nor is the body familiar with them, and so the transition from one state to the other is a perpetual source of problems. When I am very quiet—very quiet—everything is fine, but if there's the slightest effort, everything goes awry.
(Mother gasps for breath)
You see how it is.
I think... I have the feeling that if all goes well, in a few years I'll be able to do many things... but not yet. If all goes well, at one hundred—I feel at one hundred years I Will be strong. The body itself has a conviction that if it lasts till one hundred, then at one hundred it will have a new strength and a new life. But... these are just the difficult years.
The years of transition... (Mother puts her head in her hands).
(brief silence)
It's interesting. When I am quiet, I hear a kind of great chant—almost a collective chant, I could say: OM Namo Bhagavateh .... As if all of Nature went (rising gesture): OM Namo Bhagavateh...
(Mother goes into contemplation)
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