Amrita's Correspondence with The Mother

8 August 1936

Sweet Mother,

You have spoken about the use of servants in connection with excessive expenses. I would very much like to put before you some suggestions:

1. Give up all the special services: laundry, hot water supply, mosquito-net cleaning, etc.

2. Limit the sweeping of pavements and cleaning of gutters to once a day.

3. Clean the walls, doors and windows only once in every three months.

4. Give up the preparation of manure. The cost of the manure we are making ourselves is quite high. For two or three rupees a month, the municipal workers would be willing to remove our garbage.

In this way we could get rid of six or seven domestic workers.

Sweet Mother has spoken about the confusion around me. How can I get out of these difficulties? All this has saddened me greatly, Sweet Mother.

There is no reason to be sad or to take sudden measures which can only be arbitrary and, as a result, will only replace one confusion with another. If I saw clearly what should be done, I would tell you and the problem would be solved. My comment today was made more to correct a state of mind than to change the state of things. First the true consciousness of things has to come before we can usefully change the aspects of action. This morning I said that everything will be fine when the Light comes down into the subconscient. This in fact is the only remedy and this is what you must work for. For this my help is always with you, but you must learn to take advantage of it.

With my blessings

8 August 1936