The Spirit of Auroville

Months passed by. I received a letter from Shama Prasad Paul on 10. 7.1978:

Dear Huta,

I am interested in seeing all that the Mother has given you regarding the design of the Matrimandir. Could you please give me an appointment? Incidentally, I am an Aurovilian, and an architect working at Aurofuture with Roger for the last two and a half years and living in Aspiration, Auroville.

Please reply within the enclosed post-card.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Shama Prasad Paul

I did not see him.

When the Mother was in her body, she was explaining, inspiring, helping and guiding towards her Supreme Vision and Will. Then why people concerned did not respond to her Grace and let go the golden opportunity? Now they are groping in vain, because nothing is set right.

Here I should like to quote what I read in the book, Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery, Compiled and Edited by Joseph Head and S.L. Cranston:

"... The evolutionary ascent must some day recommence in a new world, reborn from the old, but at a low stage of human development. Out of such or similar considerations, Eastern thought joins Western religious teaching in placing supreme importance upon the NOW. NOW is the hour for decision. Deluded is he who is always thinking 'tomorrow I will do better.

Buddha once handled the problem of procrastination in a rather startling fashion. It is told that upon meeting King Pasenadi of Kosali, the Buddha asked him this seemingly casual question: 'What have you been doing recently?' The king replied: 'Lord, I am afraid I have been very busy lately. My days have been filled with all kinds of things—none of them very serious or actually important, but I have been busy.' The Buddha however, seeing that 'busyness' tends to serve as an excuse for inaction in important matters, told King Pasenadi the story of the moving mountain.

‘Supposing’, said the Buddha, ‘that an overwhelming catastrophe were to strike the country, perhaps a violent breakup of the earth's crust, causing mighty earthquakes and shifting the dominant mountain range slowly yet inevitably down to the sea, covering the plains and bringing death and destruction to all in its path. Faced with this total, terrible and inescapable disaster, what would you do?

The King's reply was that he would accept the inevitable, have faith, make amends where he could for his past misdeeds and embrace death with a good heart while living righteously in the time he had left.

‘And yet’, said the Buddha, ‘surely all reliable messages carry the news that such a mountain is rolling remorselessly towards us for is not old-age and death approaching, and are not all barriers ineffective?’

Wide-awake now to the reality of life and death, King Pasenadi realised fully the fleeting nature of his existence and saw just how important it was that time should not be wasted in trivial pursuits.... posed with such a stark dilemma and seeing no possibility of escape, King Pasenadi dedicated himself once more to the wholehearted practice of Dharma, certain that joy and peace could be obtained only by the development of wisdom and compassion.

Thus against the background of numerous incarnations, Buddha viewed each life as a precious opportunity, one that could never be duplicated, and depending upon how it is lived, shifted the future up or down, for good or ill. The proverb `opportunity knocks but once' could apply here. It never knocks again exactly the same way; in the same psychological setting; in the same combination of circumstance and people."

I read in Service Letter March 1997 p. 7:

A Sadhak went to the Mother on his birthday. With infinite compassion she asked him: “My child, what would you like to have?” He said: “Mother, I want some more oil.”

Then the Mother asked an attendant to make the appropriate arrangements.

When the Sadhak left the room, she observed with disappointment: “I was prepared to give him everything!”

Here the Mother's words are apt:

Above all the complications of the so-called human wisdom stands the luminous simplicity of the Divine's Grace, ready to act if we allow it to do so.

The Mother, Words of the Mother - III: Darshan Messages

The Mother has said correctly in Vol. 14, p. 163:

A self-willed man cannot be grateful—because when he gets what he wants he gives all the credit for it to his own will, and when he gets what he does not want he resents it badly and throws all the blame on whomever he considers responsible, God, man or Nature.

The Mother, Words of the Mother - II: Gratitude