The Mother's brief written statements on various aspects of spiritual life including some spoken comments.
This volume consists primarily of brief written statements by the Mother on various aspects of spiritual life. Written between the late 1920s and the early 1970s, the statements have been compiled from her public messages, private notes, and correspondence with disciples. About two-thirds of them were written in English; the rest were written in French and appear here in English translation. The volume also contains a small number of spoken comments, most of them in English. Some are tape-recorded messages; others are reports by disciples that were later approved by the Mother for publication.
What would you say if a temple, built according to the design of some great artist, were to boast: "Admire my merits; am I not beautiful, well-built, solid and durable? Truly I am worthy of all praise!"—just as if it were the author of its own perfections. We would find that very silly and ridiculous, and yet that is what we are doing constantly. We, like the temple, are ignorant of the great conscious power that has made us what we are, and because we do not perceive the labour of the Sublime Worker, we ascribe the merit of the Work to ourselves.
19 January 1933
Power of action: the power which results from a true surrender to the Divine.
Once the consciousness is settled in the aspiration, it cannot depend on work or absence of work.
17 December 1933
There is a time for action and there is a time for concentration; if, by mistake, one chooses the time for concentration to start an action, the action is bound to fail.
But if one keeps faith alive, even failure can become a short-cut for reaching the Divine.
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It is true that the divine protection is always around us, but it fully works only when we are faced by dangers which were unavoidable; that is to say, if dangers suddenly rise on the way when we are doing some work for the Divine, then the protection works at its best. But to take up some work which is, after all, not at all indispensable and not even surely useful and which is extremely dangerous, counting on the divine protection to save us from all possible consequences, this is a movement which is like a challenge to the Divine, and the Divine will never accept it.
When action is initiated by the Divine Will, it is pure.
If in all sincerity one acts only to express the Divine Will, all actions without exception can become unselfish. But as long as this state has not been reached, there are actions which are more favourable for the contact with the Divine.
Each must find the activity favourable to his progress.
A good material work not exceeding normal capacities is most useful for keeping a good physical and moral poise.
13 July 1935
Have you no intention of working physically yourself? Yet, it is quite indispensable for the welfare of the body.
30 January 1945
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With a quiet mind and a peaceful heart, let us do the work happily.
16 May 1954
All work must be play, but a divine play, played for the Divine, with the Divine.
To work for the Divine is very good, it is a delight.
But to work with the Divine is a felicity infinitely deeper and sweeter still.
12 July 1957
There is no existence without labour—if you want to get out of labour you must get out of existence. The only way to accomplish that, is the way to Nirvana, and that way, to follow it, is of all labours the greatest.
6 November 1960
We have, every one of us, a role to fulfil, a work to do, a place which we alone can occupy.
(Anniversary message for the Ashram Typewriting Service)
Blessings for all who work with conscience, good will, regularity and good taste and for all who want to learn and progress.
29 March 1966
Do the work with all your heart and as best you can and my help and my blessings will always be with you.
12 May 1971
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