The Mother’s correspondence with fourteen persons.
The Mother : correspondence
Ce volume réunit la correspondance de la Mère avec quatorze personnes, des disciples et des élèves de l’école de l’Ashram. La Mère y répond à leurs questions sur la vie et le yoga.
This volume contains the Mother’s correspondence with fourteen persons; all but one of them were members of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The material covers a forty-five year period, from 1927 to 1972. The earliest items are letters of the Mother to her son; the latest are brief thoughts and prayers written in a young disciple’s notebook. Each of the correspondences is presented in chronological order, with the exception of Series Six, which is arranged by theme. Two correspondences were written in English; twelve were written wholly or partly in French and appear here in translation.
THEME/S
To a sadhak of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
How can my effort to serve the Divine become more perfect?
By wanting Him more and more in every part of your being—integrally.
In 1958 the Mother said, "If things go on advancing at this speed, it seems more than possible, almost evident, that what Sri Aurobindo wrote in a letter is a prophetic announcement: The supramental consciousness will enter a phase of realising power in 1967."1
Have things advanced at the required speed?
Yes.
May I try to make my nights conscious? I pray for guidance.
1) A short concentration before going to sleep, with an aspiration to remember the activities of the night when you wake up.
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2) When you wake up, do not make any sudden movement of the head and keep still for a few minutes, with a concentration to remember what happened during your sleep.
3) Repeat these exercises every day until you begin to perceive a result.
In the human being, is the psychic being the entire soul or do both the soul (in its essence as a divine spark in all creatures) and the psychic being exist together?
The soul is the eternal essence at the centre of the psychic being. The soul is in fact like a divine spark which puts on many states of being of increasing density, down to the most material; it is inside the body, within the solar plexus, so to say.2 These states of being take form and develop, progress, become individualised and perfected in the course of many earthly lives and form the psychic being. When the psychic being is fully formed, it is aware of the consciousness of the soul and manifests it perfectly.
As soon as I meet or see certain people, certain lower and wrong vibrations arise in me. This is an invariable habit, in spite of the fact that I want to get rid of these reactions. What should I do?
The radical method is to cut off all mental and vital connection with these people; but until you know how to do this, you
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must persistently eliminate from your consciousness the effect produced by their influence.
You have said: "The Divine is with you according to your aspirations. Naturally, this does not mean that he gives way to the fancies of your outer nature—I am speaking here of the truth of your being. Moreover, he sometimes moulds himself according to your outer aspirations, and if you live like the devotees who alternate between periods of estrangement and embrace, of ecstasy and despair, the Divine too will be farther from you or nearer, depending on what you believe. The attitude is therefore very important, even the outer attitude."
What is the meaning of "outer aspiration" and "outer attitude"? What is the best outer attitude?
Unless one practises yoga in the physical being (outer being), it remains ignorant—even its aspiration is ignorant and so is its goodwill; all its movements are ignorant and so they distort and disfigure the Divine Presence.
That is why the yoga of the body-cells is indispensable.
"The Dawn that does not pass away"3—what spiritual state does this marvellous dawn represent?
Perpetual renewal.
6 March 1967
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This is how I understand the Purusha:
The Lord is the Supreme Purusha, the Purushottama.
The Atman is the universal Purusha.
The Jivatman is the individual Purusha, and the physical Purusha, the vital Purusha, the mental Purusha and the secret Purusha in the heart are projections of it.
The soul is the Purusha that enters into the evolution.
Is my understanding correct?
This is one way of putting it. Mental definitions are never more than approximations, ways of speaking.
My body is very weak and full of unconsciousness and tamas. How can this body become Your good instrument?
At the centre of each cell lies the Divine Consciousness. By aspiration and repeated self-giving, the cells must be made transparent.
"To be aware of the consciousness of the soul"—is this the same thing as uniting with the Divine?
To become aware of the consciousness of the soul is the surest and easiest way of uniting with the Divine.
25 March 1967
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You give everything we need, but my capacity to receive is very limited since it takes me a long time to assimilate even the little I am able to receive. Untroubled, I pray: How can the situation be improved?
This difficulty usually comes from a lack of unification of the being. Certain parts are recalcitrant and refuse to receive. They have to be educated little by little, just as one educates a child—and little by little too the situation will improve.
Looking at the present state of the world, we can say that the worst has already happened. We await the day when the Lord will take the earth into His arms and "the earth will be transformed". Is that day drawing near?
It may very well be that this is what is happening now—but it is not on the human scale.
One moment of the Lord probably means many years for us!
Although there is a certain charm and poetry in the fact that there is no formal date for the creation of our Ashram, could it be said from the true occult point of view that the Ashram was born with the Mother's arrival?
The Ashram was born a few years after my return from Japan, in 1926.
17 April 1967
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The Lord told You: "One day thou wilt be my head but for the moment turn thy gaze towards the earth."4
Sweet Mother, what does "thou wilt be my head" mean?
The head is the original conceiving Consciousness.
When I want to be closer to You, I see that I must overcome my ego. But when I think of overcoming my ego, I see that I must be closer to You. How can I solve this problem?
The Grace is there to solve it.
How can I be Your good child?
By being yourself, quite simply, very simply.
When I am able to offer You money or some object, it brings me great joy, and when some part of my being offers itself to You the joy I feel is greater still. But in spite of this experience my whole being is not offered to You. What stupidity! How can I change this?
We are made up of many different parts which have to be unified around the psychic being, if we are conscious of it or at least around the central aspiration. If this unification is not done, we carry this division within us.
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To do this, each thought, each feeling, each sensation, each impulse, each reaction, as it manifests, must be presented in the consciousness to the central being or its aspiration. What is in accord is accepted; what is not in accord is refused, rejected or transformed.
It is a long endeavour which may take many years—but once it is done, the unification is achieved and the path becomes easy and swift.
How can I get rid of the habit of feeling that I own the material things that belong to me?
If you belong entirely and totally to the Divine, then all that belongs to you, all that forms part of your material being, belongs to the Divine.
Sometimes I think that the Agni You have kindled in me is going to burn up everything that separates me from You. What should I do to contribute to its fulfilment?
Each time that you discover in yourself something that denies or resists, throw it into the flame of Agni, which is the fire of aspiration.
Is it possible to make my hands conscious so that they do nothing imperfect, incorrect or wrong? What is the way to do it, Divine Mother?
It is quite possible, by concentrating on the hands when they are doing something.
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The hands of painters, sculptors, musicians (especially pianists) are usually very conscious and always are skilful. It is a question of training.
I want to overcome a difficulty: it is that when I perceive faults or weaknesses in myself, something tries to justify them or to prevent me from attending to them.
This "something" is the insincerity of an ignorant self-esteem which has not yet understood that it is nobler and loftier to recognise one's faults in order to correct them, than to conceal them in the hope that they will not be noticed.
As for all psychological problems, here too sincerity, a total and uncompromising sincerity, is the true remedy.
Please tell me how I can get rid of the past, which clings so heavily.
To get rid of the past is something so difficult that it seems almost impossible.
But if you give yourself entirely and without reserve to the future, and if this giving is constantly renewed, the past will fall away by itself and no longer encumber you.
One morning as I was reading Your book Prayers and Meditations, I wished to know which movement comes first, "to live in Thee" or "to live for Thee". Before the mind could set to work to find the answer, the reply that
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came to me spontaneously was this: "The two states are complementary to each other."
Yes, the two states are complementary, but that does not necessarily mean that they are simultaneous. Most often, "to live for Thee" comes first and if the being is unified and sincere, "to live in Thee" soon follows.
But of course, for the first to be perfect, the second must be present.
Your hands are open to give everything, but I can only receive a small part of it because I am not receptive enough.
This is the exact image of the state of the world which suffers because it is not receptive, when it could live in beatitude if it would open to the Divine Love.
But there is a remedy:
Sincere and constant aspiration.
I have begun to see that both the personal effort of the sadhak and its result depend on the Divine Grace.
About this, one could say humorously that we are all divine, but we are hardly even aware of it, and what we call "ourselves" is that in us which is unaware that it is divine.
To establish the reign of the Divine on earth, who is slower—man or the Divine Himself?
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To man the Divine seems slow.
In the eyes of the Divine man is slow indeed!
But perhaps in these two cases, the slowness is not the same.
May I know whether it is true that after death a dead man very often returns in his daughter's child?
First the dead man must have a daughter in order to be reborn in her child.
It is not an absolute rule—far from it—but the case is quite frequent in India where the belief in frequent reincarnations is still quite common.
I asked myself, "How can one express the inexpressible?" The reply came, "By living it, by becoming it, by being it." What does the Mother say?
That is correct.
One thing escapes my understanding: how can You find time to do all that You do? Perhaps physical time does not exist for You!
The body is able to bear the pressure of time because it knows and feels quite concretely that it does not itself live and act, but that only the Supreme Lord exists and that He alone lives and acts.
This, moreover, is the secret of all endurance.
12 August 1967
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Here is an amusing phrase from an anonymous author: "Thank God, I am an atheist."
The phrase would be even more amusing if he had written:
"Thank God for making me an atheist."
From what I understand, You said that the psychic beings of the disciples of the Ashram all belong to the same family. In spite of this, there is often a lack of collaboration among us. Why is that, Mother?
If I did say this (probably not quite in these words), it could only refer to a universal family open to all differences and even all divergences.
But in any case, mutual misunderstanding and lack of collaboration can only come from the outer physical and vital being which is formed in this life and is not yet under the rule and influence of the psychic. As soon as one is united with one's psychic, all the conflicts due to clashing bad wills can no longer exist.
How can one use shadow to realise the Light?
Painters use shadow to bring out the light.
Shadow is the symbol of the inconscient. This is where men rest at night from the effort of the day to become conscious. When consciousness becomes all-powerful, shadow will no longer be necessary and will disappear.
4 September 1967
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It is said that there are certain methods in the Tantras to open the chakras from below, whereas in the integral yoga the chakras open from above by the descent of the Mother's force.
What is the difference between the results of the opening of the chakras in these two systems?
In Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga, there are no such rigid rules and distinctions. Each one follows his own path and has his own experiences. Nevertheless, Sri Aurobindo has often said and written that his yoga begins where the others leave off.
This is to say that yoga ordinarily consists in awakening the physical consciousness and making it rise gradually towards the Divine. Whereas Sri Aurobindo has said that to do his yoga, one must already have found the Divine and united with Him—then the consciousness descends through all the states of being down to the most material, bringing the Divine Force with it so that the Force can transform the whole being and finally divinise the physical body.
In the message for the radio You substituted the word "union" for the word "unity".5 May I know, Sweet Mother, why this change was made?
Because most people, when they hear the word "unity", understand uniformity and nothing can be further from the truth.
25 September 1967
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Does spontaneity come spontaneously or does one have to follow a discipline to obtain it?
Spontaneity in feelings and action comes from a permanent contact with the psychic, which brings order into the thoughts and automatically controls the vital impulses.
You have taught me the importance of awakening the divine consciousness in the body, and now I pray to You to awaken my body's aspiration towards You.
The cells of the body thirst for the Divine Consciousness and when they are brought into contact with It their aspiration becomes very intense.
I have heard about the aspiration to be simply what You want.
That is the best state for advancing swiftly on the path.
Two extremely rich men who claim to be very religious and virtuous, are not paying what they owe according to their accounts. One of them refuses to speak to me about it and the other says, "Have trust in God, you will not lose your money."
If the Mother could make these two men honest (even temporarily, long enough for them to settle this affair)...
It is said that Christ healed the sick and even raised the dead. One day an idiot was brought to him to be cured. But Christ
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slipped away, saying that to make a stupid man intelligent is an impossibility.
To make a dishonest man honest is an even more impossible miracle.
Which is swifter for transformation: Divine Love or Mahakali's force?
Kali's force is necessary only for those who are not yet open to Divine Love. For one who is open to Divine Love, nothing more is needed.
By Your Grace, my body is now collaborating to get rid of its laziness. That even the body has a will of its own is a new experience for me.
When the body is converted, it knows how to collaborate.
Which came first in the manifestation, the god or the Asura?
The oldest tradition says that the first four emanations of the Mahashakti—Consciousness, Love, Truth and Life—cut themselves off (separated themselves) from their Supreme Origin and became Unconsciousness, Suffering, Falsehood and Death.
Then a second emanation was made to repair the damage. They are the Gods.
Naturally, this is a way of speaking which corresponds to a Reality that is difficult to put into words.
2 December 1967
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Transformation demands a very high degree of aspiration, surrender and receptivity, doesn't it?
Transformation demands a total and integral consecration. But isn't that the aspiration of every sincere sadhak?
Total means vertically in all the states of being, from the most material to the most subtle.
Integral means horizontally in all the different and often contradictory parts which make up the outer being (physical, vital and mental).
The fragrance of the flowers given by the Mother is often something extraordinary.
Flowers are very receptive and they are happy when they are loved.
I have forgotten the Divine for so long in this life and in former lives. But a drop of Your Grace can enable me to make up for all the lost time.
Whatever the past may have been, it is not time that is needed to establish contact with the Divine, but sincerity of aspiration.
Can one's aspiration for the Divine have the required intensity and sincerity without the tears and anguish that are mentioned in nearly all the old legends of the saints?
Tears and anguish indicate the presence of a weak and paltry nature which is still unable to receive the Divine in all his power
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and glory. Not only are they unnecessary, they are useless and an obstacle to realisation.
You put something into Your words which enables us to see the Truth that words cannot convey. What is it that accompanies Your words?
Consciousness.
I think that always, at every moment, someone or other is calling You, and You answer. Doesn't this disturb Your sleep or Your rest?
Day and night hundreds of calls are coming—but the Consciousness is always alert and it answers.
One is limited only materially by time and space.
How is it that ordinarily the richer one is (materially), the more dishonest one is?
It is because material wealth is controlled by the adverse forces—and because they have not yet been converted to the Divine Influence, though the work has begun.
That victory will form part of the triumph of Truth.
Wealth should not be a personal property and should be at the disposal of the Divine for the welfare of all.
4 January 1968
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When Mother says that wealth should not be a personal property, I understand that what should come is more a change of psychological attitude on the part of those who own money than any change in the law of property.
Undoubtedly.
Only the psychological change can be a solution.
The disciples of the Ashram have a sure and easy way to put their money at the disposal of the Divine: they offer it to the Mother.
But how can others do it? Can it be said that each one should get rid of the sense of property and spend his money according to the Divine command within, from time to time?
I am sure that if someone is advanced enough on the path to receive the knowledge that money is an impersonal power and should be used for the progress of the earth, this person will be developed enough inwardly to receive the knowledge of how best to make use of the money.
The day before yesterday, as I was arranging my vase for You, I said to a flower, "Oh, you are going to Mother!" and it really smiled. The same thing happened again yesterday and today.
That is very interesting indeed. Was it a rose or a hibiscus?
27 January 1968
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A hibiscus gave me this experience.
Yes, it is a very conscious flower—I have had many proofs of it.
Is constant remembrance of the Divine the beginning of union?
A beginning of union comes even before constant remembrance. When the remembrance is constant, one often feels a Presence that imposes itself on the remembrance.
While speaking about the "Transcendent Mother" (and the upper petal of the Transformation flower), You said, "The Transcendent is both one and two (or dual) at the same time." What does this mean?
Beyond the creation lies the perfect Oneness, but potentially it contains duality since the Mahashakti will manifest for the needs of the creation.
Last Monday You spoke to me about the Transcendent which is both one and two at the same time. Naturally, I shall wait for the true consciousness to come in order to have this knowledge. But yesterday I tried to note down what You had said:
"The mind thinks about things in succession. But beyond and above, everything exists at the same time. The One is both one and two; the manifested and the unmanifested, everything exists at the same time. When
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It is objectified in the creation, in the manifestation, there is a succession: one, two... But this is only a way of speaking. There is no succession, no beginning. Beyond, in the perfect Oneness, everything exists at the same time, simultaneously. This cannot be understood, it must be experienced; one can have the experience of it."
Please correct these lines.
They are correct.
What is the difference between an emanation and a formation?
These words do not apply to the physical world as it is at present.
The explanation is only an approximation. Still, one can say that the emanation is made up of the very substance of the emanator, whereas the formation is made up of a substance external to the formator.
To make a comparison, one could say that the emanation is like a child made from the substance of its mother and that the formation is like a living statue made out of a material external to the sculptor.
But naturally this is only a very approximate explanation.
The path is long, very long, almost interminable.
It is true that the path is very long, but for one who follows it with sincerity, it is really very interesting, and at every step one is rewarded for one's trouble.
16 March 1968
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It seems to me that the very land of Auroville aspires. Is it true, Sweet Mother?
Yes, the land itself has a consciousness, even though this consciousness is not intellectualised and cannot express itself.
Today You have shown me the basic incompatibility between human law and the Truth. But this is a problem that confronts me very often.
Politics and so-called justice are still, in humanity, what is most closed to the Truth. But their turn for conversion will also come, perhaps sooner than we think.
Can one say that all waste reflects a waste of consciousness?
Waste of any kind is the result of unconsciousness.
Consciousness in its purity is perfect and infallible.
The Upanishad says that when one sleeps, one reaches pure Being. Does this apply only to the Yogi or to everyone?
In theory, it applies to everyone. But the vast majority of human beings fall into unconsciousness, and if there is a contact with pure Being it is quite unconscious. Very few persons are conscious of this relation. It is usually the result of Yoga.
8 April 1968
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(Concerning unconsciousness during sleep)
During sleep the inner beings become consciously active. When one wakes up, it is the waking being that is not conscious of the activities of the night.
In the quotation chosen for tomorrow6 Sri Aurobindo speaks of "the Truth that seeks to descend upon us" and "is already there within us". Please explain this paradox which, as I can feel, is only apparent.
It is not a paradox.
It is the same phenomenon as for the Divine who is at the centre of our being, etc. and at the same time is beyond the creation, the Divine towards whom the whole creation is moving, but whom it could never reach if it did not carry him in itself.
One must go beyond notions of space and Matter to be able to understand.
When I thought of writing to You this morning about the night of bonds and attachments that have enveloped me for the last three weeks, I felt that all these things have actually been there for a long time and that now Your Grace has brought them to my notice so that the next step may be taken.
Mother, the night has already been very long for me. But it matters little, so long as I can continue to hold myself at Your feet.
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According to my experience, one should not try to destroy or to eliminate. One should concentrate all one's effort on building up and strengthening the true consciousness, which will automatically do the work of unifying the being.
In this way, everything that has to be transformed will be transformed quite naturally, without clash or damage.
How can one hasten the day when the whole being will be able to say, "I am Yours—Yours alone"?
There are two actions which in practice merge into one.
(1) Never forget the goal that one wants to attain.
(2) Never allow any part of the being or any of its movements to contradict one's aspiration.
This also makes it necessary to become conscious of one's nights, because the activities of the night often contradict the aspiration of the day and undo its work.
Vigilance, sincerity, continuity of effort, and the Grace will do the rest.
Even "good and innocent movements" are said to take on different colours in the light of the psychic flame.
The very notion of good and bad is completely changed.
One can say very simply that all that leads to the Divine is good, and all that leads away from the Divine is bad.
Many virtues lead away from the Divine by making men satisfied with what they are.
22 May 1968
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Sri Aurobindo has written in Savitri:
"Yes, there are happy ways near to God's sun; But few are they who tread the sunlit path; Only the pure in soul can walk in light."7
What a joy it would be to possess the required purity!
When one is living among men with all their miseries, it is only the Grace that can bestow this state—even in those who by Tapasya have abolished their ego.
It is beyond all personal effort.
What is the most effective way to overcome the ego?
The simplest and most effective way is to offer it to the Divine; the more sincere and radical this offering is, the more quickly the result will come.
To remain turned upwards and to live in the true consciousness—the two seem complementary to each other.
Are they not two ways of saying the same thing?—certainly two ways of doing the same thing.
Who should be put on guard to give the alert: "Be careful! Look upwards"?
It is what is usually called conscience, but in fact it is the psychic being. And one can hear it only if one is very attentive, because it does not make any clamour.
5 June 1968
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Is transparent sincerity a more effective, indispensable means, or is it a realisation in itself?
Without sincerity nothing can be done. With total sincerity everything is possible.
What is the origin of man's love for his own ignorance?
It is inconscience.
Inconscience is the negation of all effort. Ignorance (that is, the acknowledgement that there is something to be known which we do not know) is the first effect of the divine influence on the inconscient.
Sri Aurobindo speaks of Savitri's firmness of purpose in the following line:
"Immutable like a fixed eternal star."8
Can one say that such determination is demanded of the sadhak who aspires for transformation?
This is the great mystery of creation: immutable and yet eternally renewed.
Savitri says:
"Not only is there hope for godheads pure; The violent and darkened deities Leaped down from the one breast in rage to find What the white gods had missed: they too are safe;
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A Mother's eyes are on them and her arms Stretched out in love desire her rebel sons."9
What had the white gods missed?
The conversion of the Asuras.
Isn't the power of the Asuras as boundless as the power of the gods?
The vibrations of evil are in truth less powerful than the vibrations of good.
Can one say that total sincerity and the abolition of the ego are closely interdependent?
Only the Supreme Lord is perfectly sincere.
And when the ego is abolished, only the Supreme Lord exists.
In spiritual life, even to sit down is to fall back.
This is so true that one could rightly say: even while sleeping one must move forward.
But there comes a time when the ascent becomes a perfect repose.
2 July 1968
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Once Mother spoke to me about total sincerity. What does transparent sincerity mean?
Sincerity is compared to an atmosphere or a sheet of glass. If the one or the other is completely transparent, it lets light through without distorting it.
Similarly, a sincere consciousness lets divine vibrations through without distorting them.
Can an individual achieve transformation even if the universe continues to be such as it is?
In the evolution, the individual is far ahead of the earth, but as long as he lives on earth there is a certain interdependence. But the condition of the earth is sure to become such that a supramental being will soon be able to live on it.
The Buddha said that Nirvana results in the cessation of rebirth. But isn't the Divine always free to send back into the manifestation the spark that extinguishes itself in Him?
Naturally, each time that one makes a rule one makes a mistake.
Besides, although he has not taken up another physical body, the Buddha himself has returned to work in the earth-atmosphere.
26 July 1968
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If the universe is one, shouldn't the liberation of one single person on earth have the power to liberate everyone?
Oneness means identity in origin; but in the manifestation each entity follows its own path of conscious return to the Oneness.
In 1953 Mother said: "Whatever the way one follows, whether it be the religious way, the philosophical way, the yogic way, the mystic way, no one has realised transformation."10
Can one hope that the sadhaks have now made good progress towards this goal?
Now the conditions are such that every sincere effort must necessarily tend towards this goal.
How can one collaborate in the transformation?
Things are now arranged in such a way that as soon as one collaborates for the Divine Dawn in any form, one necessarily collaborates in the transformation.
The Divine is the goal, the path and the one who treads the path. But isn't a person who is not advancing towards the Divine also the Divine?
All are the Divine, but very few are those who know it and fewer still are those who want to realise it consciously. This explains
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the long duration and difficulty of the creation if its goal is that all and everything should once more become consciously divine.
One would like to have the fundamental realisation that the Divine is all and everything.
For that one must identify oneself with the Supreme Divine.
Once one is identified, when one turns towards the creation, one sees and knows that the Divine alone exists both in the Essence and in the manifestation.
Is immunity to the attack of adverse forces possible without transformation?
Immunity does not come automatically from transformation.
One has to cut off all connection with the manifested world in order to be immune.
But in any case, transformation gives the power of victory.
Is the Divine Love equal for all even in the manifestation?
Yes, equal and immutable.
But the capacity to perceive and receive it and the habit of distorting it differ with each one.
22 October 1968
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"The ideal Sadhaka should be able to say in the Biblical phrase: 'My zeal for the Lord has eaten me up.'"11
Does this mean an intense, constant and integral aspiration?
Yes, it means that the entire being is absorbed in its consecration.
Does the subconscient go on recording during sleep?
For most people, in their sleep, it is precisely what has been recorded in the subconscient during the day or previously which becomes active again and constitutes their dreams.
Aswapathy was very fortunate. For him,
"Each day was a spiritual romance,... Each happening was a deep experience."12
This possibility is open to all whose aspiration is fervent.
How can one keep what You give?
It does not go away, but enters the subconscient and continues to act.
To remain conscious of it, one must reduce the range of the subconscient in oneself and thus increase the consciousness.
3 November 1968
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What should one do to reduce the range of the subconscient?
To grow in consciousness is the very aim of life on earth. It is through the experience of successive lives that the range of the subconscient is gradually reduced.
By yoga and the effort to find the Divine in oneself and in life, one hastens the work considerably and it can be done in a few years.
"A knowledge which became what it perceived, Replaced the separated sense and heart And drew all Nature into its embrace."13
Is Sri Aurobindo referring here to knowledge by identity?
Yes, it is a very exact description.
"A greater force than the earthly held his limbs,... Unwound the triple cord of mind and freed The heavenly wideness of a Godhead's gaze."14
What does "the triple cord of mind" mean?
The cords symbolise the limitations of the mind; and there are three of them because there is a physical mind, a vital mind and a mental mind.
9 November 1968
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"The days were travellers on a destined road, The nights companions of his musing spirit."15
Yes, there comes a time when nothing, absolutely nothing is outside the yoga and the Divine's Presence is felt and found in all things and all circumstances.
"A last high world was seen where all worlds meet; In its summit gleam where Night is not nor Sleep, The light began of the Trinity supreme."16
Is the "Trinity supreme" Sachchidananda?
Through Krishna's Grace, Arjuna realised the cosmic Divine and Virat in the twinkling of an eye. What a good Guru and what a good disciple!
Speed is not necessarily a sign of superiority.
These "instantaneous" conversions are most often the result of many lives of preparation.
"Our body's cells must hold the Immortal's flame."17
Is this the secret of the luminous body?
It is a poetic way of expressing the transformation which is going to take place and which is more complicated than that.
19 November 1968
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It seems to me, Mother, that when man does not accept the Divine, it is more out of ignorance than out of wickedness. Isn't it so?
It is undoubtedly out of ignorance and fear of what he doesn't know.
It is only the Asuras and a few great hostile beings who refuse and oppose the Divine even though they know who He is.
It seems to me, Mother, that the flame that calls and the flame that responds are one and the same.
Essentially they are the same; but the plenitude of the response far exceeds the intensity of the call. The response always exceeds our receptivity by far.
Can one say, Mother, that perfect receptivity comes only with constant union with the Divine?
If we call "perfect receptivity" the receptivity that receives only the Divine Influence and no other, it is certain—and at the same time it is perfect purity.
This is what we should strive for.
"None can reach heaven who has not passed through hell."18
But still, Mother, doesn't the soul chosen by the Divine go through hell in a different way than others?
Page 388
The quotation means that in order to reach the divine regions one must, while on earth, pass through the vital, which in some of its parts is a veritable hell. But those who have surrendered to the Divine and been adopted by Him are surrounded by the divine protection and for them the passage is not difficult.
"His failure is not failure whom God leads"19
Because it is part of the play?
It is the human mind that has the conception of success and failure. It is the human mind that wants one thing and does not want another. In the divine plan each thing has its place and its importance. So it is not success that matters. What matters is to be a docile and if possible a conscious instrument of the Divine Will.
To be and to do what the Divine wants, this is the truly important thing.
"The one original transcendent Shakti, the Mother stands above all the worlds and bears in her eternal consciousness the Supreme Divine."20
Similarly, can one say that the Supreme Divine carries the Mother in his eternal consciousness?
Beyond all question.
They are ONE in essence and manifestation.
5 December 1968
Page 389
Cannot the ego consent to its own abolition?
The ego was created for the work of individualisation; when the work is achieved, it is not unusual for the ego to accept its own dissolution.
The human pleasure of possessing is a perversion of what, Mother?
All pleasure is a perversion, by egoistic limitation, of the Ananda which is the purpose of the universal manifestation.
"When we eat, we should be conscious that we are giving our food to that Presence in us... "21
When I try to take this attitude, the food tastes better and the atmosphere becomes quieter.
The Presence is always there whatever we do, and it is because of ignorance, negligence or absent-mindedness that we do not feel it. But each time that we are attentive and concentrated, we become aware of a wonderful transformation in all things.
In order to be conscious of the constant Presence, is memory a good aid?
Memory is a mental faculty and helps the mental consciousness. But feeling and sensation must also participate.
17 December 1968
Page 390
When the Presence becomes concrete, does this indicate the participation of feeling and sensation?
To have the perception of the Presence, the participation of feeling is indispensable, and when sensation collaborates, then the perception becomes concrete and tangible.
"All things shall change in God's transfiguring hour."22
Can man delay or hasten the coming of this hour?
Neither the one nor the other in their apparent contradiction created by the separative consciousness, but something else that our words cannot express.
In the present state of human consciousness, it is good for it to think that aspiration and human effort can hasten the advent of the divine transformation, because effort and aspiration are needed for the transformation to take place.
The Upanishad says: "When That is known, all is known." All is known in its essential truth or also in detail?
In its essential truth, but one usually keeps the perception of the illusory appearance at the same time.
23 December 1968
Page 391
It seems to me that to know things in detail, the ordinary instrumentation is necessary for the yogi too, but that the yogi puts this knowledge to the test of the essential truth.
Yes, one can put it that way. But above all, it is the attitude towards the outward appearance that changes completely.
In fact, Mother, what is the yogi's attitude towards the outward appearance?
The usefulness of seeing clearly instead of being blind.
The usefulness of no longer being deceived by outward appearances.
The usefulness of knowing the true purpose of life instead of living in ignorance and falsehood.
Is the perception of the illusory appearance automatic for the yogi?
That probably depends on the yogi and his condition.
But when one is united with the Supreme Consciousness and when the body is undergoing transformation, the body keeps its automatic perception of the outer world; but this perception is more complete than the ordinary one, as if it revealed something of its content.
Therefore, Mother, the transformation of the body is necessary even to live in the Integral Knowledge!
Certainly.
Page 392
In Sri Aurobindo's yoga, the transformation of the body is indispensable so far as it can be done. Because the aim of this yoga is not an escape from the physical consciousness but a divinisation of that consciousness.
31 December 1968
Page 393
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