The Mother's brief statements on Sri Aurobindo, Herself, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville, India and and nations other than India.
This volume consists primarily of brief written statements by the Mother about Sri Aurobindo, Herself, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville, India, and nations other than India. Written over a period of nearly sixty years (1914-1973), the statements have been compiled from her public messages, private notes, and correspondence with disciples. The majority (about sixty per cent) were written in English; the rest were written in French and appear here in translation. The volume also contains a number of conversations, most of them in the part on Auroville. All but one were spoken in French and appear here in translation.
X might be told that apart from the superficiality and shallowness of his reasons for not coming for Pranam, there are others, much more advanced in Sadhana than he is, who do come. What about these?
He is always trying to prove that he is far superior to all the other sadhaks. That is the root of his mistake.
May 1932
I am happy at your resolution and I hope you will keep to it. I was going to write to you that you must choose between seeing me and drink―for I would not see you if you went on drinking―but I am glad to hear that you have made the resolution already.
11 October 1935
A great store of light, Ananda, knowledge and power seems to be above the head about to descend into me. Ideas are coming to me that I have to continue my silence for some indefinite period, that I have not to mix or talk with any person and that I have not to go out of my room or the house except on the Darshan and the Pranam days.
Sri Aurobindo says that you must on no account omit your coming to meditation every evening. I entirely agree that this attendance is absolutely necessary.
16 December 1940
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It is vanity and selfishness that prevent the sadhaks from taking the teaching in a good spirit.
10 May 1944
Utter SILENCE must be observed in the room.
Whoever pronounces a word in the presence of Sri Aurobindo will have to leave the place immediately.
Spirit of service has gone away from this place.
16 May 1954
There is nobody here, even among the best, who is ready to give up all his habits, conveniences and preferences to win the final victory, even if he has to break his neck on the way.
It is your attitude that must change―because nothing is personal, all belongs to the Divine and is meant for collective use if necessary―and as a concrete illustration of this, I must ask you to leave your present quarters and to go to a new house where you are given some lodging. I advise you to take this decision as a manifestation of the Grace.
16 April 1958
X says he does not know anyone who can do the work. He wishes to send out a notice informing the exhibitors that the exhibition will not be held.
I am very sorry about it.
It is a defeat of the will, much more than of the circumstances and it throws discredit on the Ashram.
14 February 1963
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(About A. B. Purani, a disciple who passed away on 11 December 1965)
Purani
His higher intellectual part has gone to Sri Aurobindo and united with him.
His psychic is with me, and he is very happy and in peace.
His vital is still helping those who seek his help.
5 March 1966
(About Pavitra [Philippe Barbier Saint-Hilaire], a disciple who passed away on 16 May 1969)
It was very interesting, the experience I had that night. Nothing like it I ever had in my life. It was the night before the day he passed away. The time was nine o'clock. I felt he was withdrawing, withdrawing in an extraordinary manner. He was coming out of himself and gathering and pouring himself into me. He was coming out consciously and deliberately with the full force of a concentrated will. He continued to do so steadily, ceaselessly for hours. It ended at about one o'clock, I looked at the time.
There was no slackness or interruption or stop at any moment. It was throughout the same steady continuous flow, without a break, without a diminution in the strength. Such a concentrated undiminishing stream it was. The process continued until he was wholly within me as though he was pumping and exhausting all he was in the body till the last drop. I say it was wonderful―I never experienced such a thing. The flow stopped when there was very little left in the body: I let the body remain as long as it was needed for the work to continue, till long, quite long after the doctors declared it dead.
As he was in life, he could not have done the thing, I did not expect it of him, it must have been some past life of his that
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was at work and did the thing. Not many Yogis, not even the greatest among them could do such a thing. There he is within here, quite wakeful, looking in a rather amused way at what you people are doing. He is merged in me wholly, that is dwelling within me, not dissolved: he has his personality intact. Amrita is different. He is there outside, one of you, one among you people moving about. At times, of course, when he wants to take rest and repose he comes and lodges here. A remarkable story. A great and very difficult thing Pavitra has done.1
25 May 1969
It is not my intention to oblige you to wear mill-cloth if you do not want to.
All I said was that I have only mill-cloth to give.
When one becomes free in mind and heart, one's way of looking at all these things changes entirely. But until the freedom has come, there is no compulsion.
It is by allowing bad thoughts and doubts to approach you that you have come out of the protection.
(Message for the recipients of the essential material items distributed by "Prosperity")
To sell the things received from Prosperity is an insult to the Divine and will bear its spiritual consequences.
June 1971
To each one here, power, light and strength are given as much as he can take and even more. It is given for transforming you. But when you take all that and use it for your personal ends and for so-called human love, it is dishonesty, it is robbery and it is crime of the first order.2
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You must use everything for the purpose for which it is given, otherwise you commit a crime. I am not speaking merely of physical things. All the inner things that I am giving you all the time, all the strength, light, energy and life that are being poured into you all the time, are meant for the service of the Divine, for the sake of transforming you. If you use them for any other purpose, you are a robber and your crime is the worst possible.3
When I report to you about the doings of others, does it mean that I complain against them and is it right to do that?
It all depends upon your attitude. If you report a matter with a spirit of vengeance against someone or to show your superiority or with any other personal motive, then it is absolutely wrong and you should not do that. But the true way is that you should be like a mirror and reflect faithfully whatever you see. Don't give your personal colouring and be quite dispassionate. If there is something wrong in the mirror itself, then I can correct it. But you must try to make sure that your mirror does not distort the picture.4
Of course it is bad to complain against anybody. But what X thinks is not correct. If you always remained in meditation, then and then only could you say that you see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil. But when you are in the field of work, you have to give me the information. Don't sit down to judge. Be like a mirror and give the correct image of what you see. It is possible your mirror may be defective, but that is my business and I shall see to it. You have to do your best, to give a correct image according to your light.5
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