All the writings of the Mother from the period before 1920, with some exceptions.
Sont réunis dans ce volume tous les écrits de la Mère datant d’avant 1920 – à l’exception de Prières et Méditations; des causeries faites à Paris à « de petits groupes de chercheurs » ; plusieurs textes écrits au Japon, et « Belles histoires », des contes écrits pour les enfants.
This volume contains all the writings of the Mother from the period before 1920, the year she settled in Pondicherry, with the exception of 'Prayers and Meditations'. The volume includes talks given in Paris to 'small groups of seekers'; several texts written in Japan, and 'Belles histoires', stories written for children. The book is divided into seven parts, according to the nature and date of the material. Most of the pieces were written originally in French and appear here in English translation.
To judge the events of history, a certain distance is needed; similarly, if one knows how to rise high enough above material contingencies, one can see the terrestrial life as a whole. From that moment, it is easy to realise that all the efforts of mankind converge towards the same goal.
It is true that collectively or individually, men follow very different paths to reach it; some of these paths twist and turn so much that they seem at first sight to move away from the goal rather than to lead towards it; but all are going there, consciously or unconsciously, swiftly or more slowly.
What then is this goal?
It is one with the purpose of man's life and his mission in the universe.
The goal: "Call him what you will, for to the wise, he is the Possessor of all names."
The Tao of the Chinese—The Brahman of the Hindus—The Law of the Buddhists—The Good of Hermes—That which cannot be named, according to the ancient Jewish tradition—The God of the Christians—The Allah of the Muslims—The Justice, the Truth of the materialists.
The purpose of man's life is to become conscious of That.
His mission is to manifest It.
All religions, all the teachings of all the sages are nothing other than methods to reach this goal.
They can be classified into three principal categories. First method ─ intellectual: The love of Truth, the search for the Absolute.
By discernment, study, reflection, analysis, control and concentration of the thought, one dispels the illusion of personality,
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a whirl of atoms in a single substance which is itself nothing but an appearance: a condensation of the ether.
When we say myself what do we speak of? The body? The sensations? The feelings? The thoughts? All has no stability. The appearance of continuity comes from a rigorous determinism obtaining in each of these realms of the being; and into this determinism there enter as many external as internal agents. Where then is the self, that is to say, something permanent, constant, ever the same? In order to find it, to find this absolute, we must proceed from depth to depth, from relativity to relativity—for all that is in form is relative—until we reach That which is Unthinkable to our reason, Unutterable to our language, but knowable by identification—for we carry That in ourselves, it is the very centre and life of our being.
Second method—the love of God. It is the method of those who have a developed religious sense.
Aspiration towards the Divine Essence of all things that we have perceived in a moment of integral illumination.
Then self-consecration to this Divine Essence, to this Eternal Law, integral self-giving, at every moment, in all one's actions. Complete surrender: one is now only a docile instrument, a faithful servant before the Supreme Master. The Love is so complete that it causes a detachment from all that is not the Divine Absolute and perfect concentration on Him.
"Besides, it is not impossible to rise higher than that, for love itself is a veil between the lover and the Beloved."
Identification.
Third method—the love of humanity.
As a consequence of a clear vision, an intense perception of the immense suffering of humanity, there arises the resolution to consecrate oneself entirely to making this suffering cease.
Self-oblivion in the giving of all one's thoughts, all one's energies, all one's activities to succour others, in however small a degree.
"With your hearts overflowing with compassion, go forth
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into this world torn by pain, be instructors, and wherever the darkness of ignorance rules, there light a torch."
This consecration to humanity manifests in four domains. One can give to others in four ways:
Material gifts. Intellectual gifts: knowledge. Spiritual gifts: harmony, beauty, rhythm. The integral gift, which can be made only by those who have followed the three paths, who have synthesised within themselves all the methods of development, of becoming conscious of That which is Eternal: the gift of example. The example which is not self-conscious and which one gives because one is, because one lives in the Eternal Divine Consciousness.
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