Questions and Answers (1954)

7 April 1954

This talk is based upon Mother's essay "The Four Austerities and the Four Liberations", Part II.

"When a thought is expressed in speech, the vibration of the sound has a considerable power to bring the most material substance into contact with the thought, thus giving it a concrete and effective reality. That is why one must never speak ill of people or things or say things, which go against the progress of the divine realisation in the world. This is an absolute general rule. And yet it has one exception. You should not criticise anything unless at the same time you have the conscious power and active will to dissolve or transform the movements or things you criticise. For this conscious power and active will have the capacity of infusing Matter with the possibility to react and refuse the bad vibrations and ultimately to correct it so that it becomes impossible for it to go on expressing itself on the physical plane.

"This can be done without risk or danger only by one who moves in the gnostic realms and possesses in his mental faculties the light of the spirit and the power of the truth."

What is the "the gnostic realm"?

It is just another way of speaking about the Supermind. Gnostic—it means Knowledge, but the true knowledge. It is the knowledge aspect of the supramental realms.

"...cultivate the habit of not externalising yourself constantly by speaking aloud, and you will notice that little

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by little an inner understanding is established between yourself and others; you will then be able to communicate among yourselves with a minimum of words or even without any words at all."

Can an inner understanding be established in every instance between two people, even in material things?

Um!... And so? What do you want to know?

Whether this inner understanding can be established.

Yes, words serve merely as a means of communication between one mind and another. That is their only justification. But if the mind is clear and powerful enough to communicate without using words, it communicates much better, much more clearly and precisely and much more exactly. And then words are not needed.

Even in altogether material things?

Yes, one may try an experiment. For instance, when two people have attuned their minds, if one thinks, "Why, that object ought to be here instead of being there", the other goes quite naturally looking for the object and puts it in its place. He understands quite clearly, he doesn't need to be told. Or else one thinks, "It is time to go out", or else, "I need such and such a thing", the other will understand perfectly well and does not need to be told. Before reaching so far, something happens very frequently—I am speaking of those who exercise a control over themselves and are conscious, people living together—one answers a question that the other has not pronounced. He had it in his mind, and the other answers: "Why, yes, that's how it is; no, that was not done." The other person has not asked but he has heard, has understood, received the message. That happens

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often, doesn't it? And then, even in things where it is necessary to pronounce words, well, instead of saying ten you may say one, and it is sufficient, the rest is understood, known. And this direct communication is an experience, which may be had very easily. If you speak with a new person and don't have a sufficient mental contact with him, he will use words, which you are accustomed, to use in a particular sense and you won't understand him at all, it is as though you did not speak the same language. After a while, if you meet several times and are attuned mentally, you begin to understand each other.

Indeed, words serve only as a vehicle for something that is beyond words and can be expressed without words for those who have a sufficiently developed and precise instrument. When one is truly in the realm of thought, words diminish the meaning. They reduce it, make it narrow, limited, they take away its power. Thought which is projected directly is much more powerful than that expressed through words. Words reduce, limit, harden, take away the suppleness and true strength—the life. It is simply because men's apparatus is ill adjusted that we can't have telegraphy without words. If the sets were very well tuned in, one would not have to say even ten words in the whole day, and yet be understood all the while.

I don't understand this: you have said, "Even here, into the abode of ideas and knowledge, man has brought the violence of his convictions, the intolerance of his sectarianism, the passion of his preferences."

Yes, what is there in this that cannot be understood? It's a perpetual thing!

No other questions? You don't have courage?

Yes, I have courage, but I don't have questions!

(Another child) Sweet Mother, can it happen that though

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a person does not move forward very much he doesn't move backward either?¹

I have only said that one cannot remain still. You say, "does not move forward much"—one may go forward just a very little! And that is enough for not moving backward. But if one is not very careful all the time, as one is made up of a lot of pieces, if he doesn't have the habit of dragging along those parts which lag behind, he may advance on one side and go backward on another. That happens. And then the sum total is not very, very satisfactory.

In ordinary life, with ordinary people, this happens all the time. For instance, take someone who is studying, working—a scientist making discoveries. He progresses in his studies, he knows more and more. But as he does not take any care of his inner life or private life or outward life, he may become more and more backward or unconscious or even full of nasty defects; even though he progresses from the scientific point of view, as a man he may become an absolutely regrettable being. That's quite a frequent occurrence. And for oneself, if one does not take good care, one may have a part which is progressing and another that's going backward. If one does not keep a close watch, if one does not control one's outer movements, if one does not take a special care not to allow the vital to go according to its own fancy, well, he will suddenly realise that he has formed very bad habits and is following a very nasty road though the mental part of the being was full of aspiration and progressing in knowledge and even in the spiritual life. If one does not pay attention, things slide very easily into a hole: one takes a false step, then slips and suddenly bumps against the bottom of the hole. Then one asks oneself, "But how did this come about? What happened?" Simply a false step: you did not take care, you allowed that part of the being

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to draw you into its own field; because you did not pull it out of its way, did not compel it to follow you, it now drags you back instead.

If one wants to lead the spiritual life, one must not be three-fourths asleep. It is necessary to be wide awake and very attentive, otherwise you are like a little boat upon a river or a great sea with terrible currents, and if you are not alert, if you do not pay close heed to these currents, if you relax, relax your vigilance, all of a sudden you find that you are at the other end from where you wanted to go! You are carried away, just like that, quite naturally. "Why, yes, I wanted to go there and I find myself here!"

That's how it is.

In ordinary life this happens all the time. Only, you know, in ordinary life one says, "It is circumstances, it is fate, it's my bad luck, it is their fault", or else, "I have no luck." That is very, very, very convenient. One veils everything and expects... yes, one has happy moments and then bad ones, and finally—ah, well, finally one falls into a hole, for everybody tumbles over, and expects to, sooner or later. So, one does not worry, or worries all the time—which comes to the same thing. That is, one is unconscious, one lives unconsciously and puts all the blame for what happens on others and on the circumstances but never tells oneself: "Why! It is my own fault."... It needs a sufficiently vast consciousness to begin. Even among those who profess to be conscious, there are not many who see clearly enough to become aware that all that happens to them comes from what they are and from nothing else. They always say, "He is wrong; circumstances are unfavourable; oh! Why was that done?"—If you were not what you are, it would not happen in this way. It would happen differently.

Often we express in words our real sensations, our feelings, emotions and goodwill. But is it truly necessary to express oneself in words when it is not asked of us?

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No, it is not at all necessary, not at all. It is just one of the bad habits. Why, on the 1st of January this year I wrote something like that: "Do not boast, do not boast about anything. Let your acts speak for themselves."² It is exactly that. It is not worthwhile saying, "Oh! I have so great a goodwill for you and I want to do so much and I..." Do it. That's all.

Mother, when we think, when we are following an idea, we speak within ourselves, not aloud; but does this mean that thinking necessitates the inner word? Does thought exist without words?

This means that one has not yet touched the true domain of the idea In the domain of the idea there are no words: there are states of consciousness.

What does the Word mean?

That's something else. The Word—it is not pronounced speech and words. There are old traditions, which speak of "Let there be light and there was light." The Word is the Mantra. But it is something quite exceptional, it is when the will formulated in the spirit wants to come down into matter and act directly upon matter that it makes use of the sound—not only of the word but of the sound, the vibrations of the sound—to act directly upon matter itself, in matter. It is the opposite movement. You are in the region of thought formulated in words, then from there you may rise higher and get an expression of the silent idea; again from there you may rise yet higher and have the Force: the Force is the Consciousness which is the very source of that thought. And so it becomes a total consciousness instead of something formulated—expressed and formulated. That is, you

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climb right back to the source. From there, once you possess this light in itself, this consciousness in itself and want to act upon matter to produce a result, this will comes down from plane to plane, and as it becomes more and more material, it defines itself clearly in words or even in a single word, and when it touches matter, instead of its being a silent word, it becomes a word articulated with sounds: a vibrations that will act directly upon matter. But one must first have gone high up above in order to be able to come down again. One must have reached the silent consciousness to be able to descend and do this. It must come from above, the source of this word must be up there, not in any intermediary domain. That then is the Word. And one must do what I have said—it is not an easy thing.

What I have said there (Mother shows "The Four Austerities") is that one must keep the right attitude and be mentally silent: an attitude not expressed through words or through formulated thoughts, but through a living state of consciousness. An attitude of aspiration, you understand. I am obliged to put it in words because it must be printed on paper (this is why all this loses three-fourths of its force), but still otherwise it would not be acceptable at all; if I gave you a blank sheet, you would not know exactly what I have put there! I am obliged to put it into words.

An aspiration for all that is essentially true, real, perfect. And this aspiration must be free from words, simply a silent attitude, but extremely intense and unvacillating. Not a word must be allowed the right to enter there and disturb it. It must be like a column of vibrations of aspiration, which nothing can touch—and in total silence—and therein, if something comes down, what descends (and will be clothed in words in your mind and in sounds in your mouth) will be the Word. But nothing less than this will do.

There we are. Au revoir, my children, good night.

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