The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo - Part 10

Section Five

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XIX

Prayers and Meditations of the Mother

(I)

The 'Prayers and Meditations of the Mother'. It is Life Divine in song, it is Life Divine set to music — made sweet and lovely, near and dear to us — a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.

To some the ideal has appeared aloof and afar, cold and forbidding. The ascent is difficult involving immense pains and tiresome efforts. It is meant for the high-souled ascetic, not for the weak earth-bound mortals. But here in the voice of the Mother we hear not the call for a hazardous climb to the bare cold wind-swept peak of the Himalayas but a warm invitation for a happy trek back to our own hearth and home. The voice of the Divine is the loving Mother's voice.

The Prayers and Meditations of the Mother are a music, a music of the lyre—I say lyre, because there is a lyric beauty and poignancy in these utterances. And true lyricism means a direct and spontaneous outflowing of the soul's intimate experiences.

This wonder-lyre has three strings, giving out a triple note or strain: there is a strain of philosophy, there is a strain of yoga and there is a strain of poetry. We may also call them values and say there is a philosophical, a yogic

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and a poetic value in these contemplations. The philosophical strain or value means that the things said are presented, explained to the intellect so that the human mind can seize them, understand them. The principles underlying the ideal, the fundamental ideas are elaborated in terms of reason and logical comprehension, although the subject-matter treated is in the last analysis beyond reason and logic. For example, here is true philosophy expressed in a philosophic manner as neatly as possible.—"A quoi servirait l'homme s'il n'était pas fait pour jeter un pont entre Ce qui est éternellement, mais qui n'est pas mani-festé, et ce qui est manifesté, entre toutes les transcen-dances, toutes les splendeurs de la vie divine et toute l'obscure et douloureuse ignorance du monde matériel? L'homme est le lien entre ce qui doit être et ce qui est; il est la passerelle jetée sur l'abîme, il est le grand X en croix, le trait d'union quaternaire. Son domicile veritable, le siège effectif de sa conscience doit être dans le monde intermédiate au point de jonction des quatre bras de la croix, là où tout l'infini de l'impensable vient prendre forme precise pour être projeté dans l'innombrable manifestation..."¹

¹ Of what use would be man if he was not made to throw a bridge between That which eternally is, but is not manifested, and that which is manifested; between all the transcendences, all the splendours of the divine life and all the obscure and sorrowful ignorance of the material world? Man is the intermediary between that which has to be and that which is; he is a bridge thrown over the abyss, he is the great X in the cross, the quaternary link. His true abode, the effective seat of his consciousness, should be in the intermediate world at the:

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Or again

— "Que de degrés différents dans la conscience! II faudrait réserver ce mot pour ce qui, dans un être, est iUuminé par Ta présence, s'est identifié à Toi et participe à Ta Conscience absolue, ce qui est "parfaitement éveillé", comme dit le Bouddha.¹

"En dehors de cet état, il y a des degrés infinis de conscience descendant jusqu'à l'obscurité complète, la veritable inconscience qui peut être un domaine pas encore touché par la lumière de ton amour (ce qui paraît improbable dans la substance physique), ou bien ce qui est, pour une raison d'ignorance quelconque, hors de notre région individuelle de perception."²

However, we note that the philosophical strain merges into the yogic, rather the yogic strain is already involved in the philosophical. Here is an obvious and clear expression of this strain:

joining point of the four arms of the cross, where all the infinity of the Unknowable comes to take precise form for being projected into the multitudinous manifestation....

¹ How many and different are the degrees of consciousness! This word should be reserved for that which, in a being, is illumined by Thy Presence, identifies itself with Thee and participates in Thy absolute Consciousness, for that which has knowledge, which is "perfectly awakened" as says the Buddha.

2 Outside this state, there are infinite degrees of consciousness descending down to the complete darkness, the veritable inconscience which may be a domain not yet touched by the light of Thy divine love (but that appears improbable in physical substance), or which is by reason of some ignorance, outside our individual region of perception.

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—"II faudrait que chaque jour, chaque instant, soit l'occasion d'une consecration nouvelle et plus complète; et non pas une de ces consécrations enthousiastes et tré-pidantes, suractives, pleine de l'illusion de l'ceuvre, mais une consécration profonde et silencieuse qui n'est pas forcément apparente, mais qui pénètre et transfigure toute action. Il faudrait que notre esprit paisible et solitaire repose toujours en Toi, et que de ce pur sommet il ait la perception exacte des réalités, de la Réalité unique et éternelle, derrière les instables et fugitives appa-rences."¹

We are given all the disciplines necessary for the growth of the spiritual life: the processes, the procedures that have to be followed—object-lessons are given even for the uninitiated and for the very beginner, as well as instructions for those who aim at the highest heights; thus:

—"Il est toujours bon de regarder de temps en temps en soi et de voir qu'on n'est et ne peut rien, mais il faut en suite tourner son regard vers Toi en sachant que Tues tout et que Tu peux tout.

Tu es la vie de notre vie et

la lumière de notre être,

¹ Each day, each moment, must be an occasion for a new and completer consecration; and not one of those enthusiastic and trepidant consecrations, overactive, full of the illusion of the work, but a profound and silent consecration which need not be apparent, but which penetrates and transfigures every action. Our mind, solitary and at peace, must rest always in Thee, and from this pure summit it must have the exact perception of realities, of the sole and eternal Reality, behind unstable fugitive appearances.

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Tu es le maître de nos destinées."¹

Indeed philosophy and yoga go hand in hand. Yoga is applied philosophy. What is at first mentally perceived and recognised, what is accepted by the reason is made active and dynamic in life.The character embodies the abstract and general principles, the vital energy executes them, that is yoga. Philosophy brings in the fight of consciousness, yoga the energy of consciousness. Here we have an expression of what may be called "yogic philosophy".

— "Il faut à chaque moment secouer le passé com-me une poussière qui tombe, afin qu'elle ne salisse pas le chemin vierge qui, à chaque moment aussi, s'ouvre devant nous."²

Once again we see emerging the third note, the note of poetry. In fact the Prayers and Meditations abound in the most beautiful poetry, what can be more beautiful, even more poetically beautiful than these cadences !

— "Ta voix est si modeste, si impartiale, si sublime de patience et de miséricorde qu'elle ne se fait entendre avec

¹ It is always good to look within ourselves from time to time and see that we are nothing and can do nothing, but we must then turn our look towards Thee, knowing that Thou art all and that Thou canst do all.

Thou art the life of our life and

the light of our being,

Thou art the master of our destiny.

² We must at each moment shake off the past like falling dust, so that it may not soil the virgin path which, also at each moment, opens before us.

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aucune autorité, aucune puissance de volonté, mais com-me une brise fraîche, douce et pure, comme un murmure cristallin qui donne la note d'harmonie dans le concert discordant. Settlement, pour celui qui sait écouter la note, respirer la brise, elle contient de tels trésors de beauté, un tel parfum de pure sérénité et de noble grandeur, que toutes les folles illusions s'évanouissent ou se transforment dans une joyeuse acceptation de la merveilleuse vérité entrevue."¹

Or more beautiful than the beautiful simplicity of these lines!

—"Comme une flamme qui brûle silencieusement, comme un parfum qui monte tout droit, sans vaciller, mon amour va vers Toi..."²

If one asks for a classical perfection, here is a line that is on a par with a Racinian verse—

—"Mon coeur s'est endormi jusqu'au tréfonds de l'être..."³

And here is a line flowing with all the milk and honey

¹Thy voice is so modest, impartial, sublime in its patience and its mercy that it does not make itself heard with any authority, any potency of will; it is like a cool, soft and pure breeze; it is like a crystalline murmur that imparts a note of harmony to a discordant concert. Only for him who knows how to listen to that note, how to breathe that breeze, it contains such a treasure of beauty and such a perfume of pure serenity and noble grandeur, that all extravagant illusions vanish or are transformed into a joyful acceptance of the marvellous truth that has been glimpsed.

²Like a flame that burns in silence, like a perfume that rises straight upward without wavering, my love goes to Thee...

³My heart has fallen asleep, down to the very depths of my being.

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of the Romantic muse:—

—"Et les heures s'évanouissent comme des rêves in-vécus..."¹ which possesses furthermore the magic of an indefinable mysticism so rare in the French language. The mystic element gives a special grace and flavour, a transcendent significance serving as an enveloping aura to the whole body of these Prayers and Meditations.

One cannot, for example, but be bewitched by the mystic grandeur of this image:—

—"O Conscience immobile et sereine, Tu veilles aux confins du monde comme un sphinx d'éternité. Et pour-tant à certains Tu livres Ton secret."²

In fact three notes blend together indissolubly and form what we call 'mantra'—even like the triple mystic syllable AUM.

Once, in connection with Shakespeare, I said that a poet's language, which is in truth the poet himself, may be considered as consisting of unit vocables, syllables, that are as it were fundamental particles, even like the nuclear particles, each poet having his own type of particle, with its own charge and spin and vibrations. Shakespeare's, I said, is a particle of Life-energy, a packet of living blood-vibration, pulsating as it were, with real heart-beat. Likewise in Dante one feels it to be a packet of Tapas—of ascetic energy, a bare clear concentrated flame-wave of

¹And the hours pass like dreams unlived.

²O serene and immobile Consciousness, Thou watchest on the boundaries of the world like a sphinx of eternity. And yet to some Thou givest out Thy secret.

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consciousness, of thought-force. In the Prayers and Meditations the fundamental unit of expression seems to be a packet of gracious light—one seems to touch the very hem of Mahalakshmi.

The voice in the Prayers and Meditations is Krishna's flute calling the souls imprisoned in their worldly household to come out into the wide green expanses of infinity, in the midst of the glorious herds of light, to play and enjoy in the company of the Lord of Delight.

(2)

We have spoken of the three notes or strains in the Prayers and Meditations. Apart from this triple theme which after all means mode or modulation in expression, there is a triplicity in depth. Along with the strains, there are strands. Besides the value or quality of the things, the thing itself is a composite reality containing different levels. It is not a single, unilateral, one-dimensional world, but it is multi-dimensional consisting of many worlds, one within another, all telescoped as it were, to form a single indivisible whole.

Now these prayers—who prays? And to whom? These meditations—who meditates? And who is the object of the meditation? First of all there is the apparent obvious meaning, that is on the very surface. It is the Mother's own prayers offered to her own beloved Lord. It is her own personal aspiration, the preoccupation of the individual human being that she is. It is the secret

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story, the inner history of all that she desires, asks for, questions, all that she has experienced and realised and the farther more that she is to achieve, the revelations of a terrestrial creature of the particular name and form that she happens to possess. Thus for example, the very opening passage of these prayers:

¹"Quoique tout mon être Te soit théoriquement con-sacré, ô Maître Sublime, qui est la vie, la lumière et l'amour de toute chose j'ai peine encore à appliquer cette consécration dans les détails. Il m'a fallu plusieurs semaines pour savoir que la raison de cette méditation écrite, sa légitimation, réside dans le fait de Te l'adresser quotidiennement. Ainsi je matérialiserai chaque jour un peu de la conversation que j'ai si fréquemment avec Toi; je Te ferai de mon mieux ma confession..." (2.11.1912)

But we notice immediately that these are not exclusively personal, absolutely individual assertions. While speaking of herself, spontaneously she seems to be speaking on behalf of all men. The words that she utters come as it were, from the lips of all mankind. She is the representative human being. She gives expression to all that man feels or might feel but is not able or does not

¹ Although my whole being is in theory consecrated to Thee, O Sublime Master, who art the life, the light and the love in all things, I still find it hard to carry out this consecration in detail. It has taken, me several weeks to learn that the reason for this written meditation, its justification lies in the very fact of addressing it daily to Thee. In this way I shall put into material shape each day a little of the conversation I have so often with Thee; I shall make my confession to Thee as well as it may be... (2.11.1912)

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know how to express and articulate. Here is how she describes her function as a representative person—so beautifully, so poignantly:

¹"Alors j'ai pensé à tous ceux qui veillaient sur le bateau pour assurer et protéger notre route, et avec reconnaissance, dans leur cœur, j'ai voulu faire naître et vivre Ta Paix; puis j'ai pensé à tous ceux qui, confiants et sans souci, dormaient du sommeil de l'inconscience, et avec solhcitude pour leurs misères, pitié pour leur souffrance latente s'éveillant en eux en même temps que leur réveil, j'ai voulu qu'un peu de Ta Paix habite leur cœur, et fasse

¹ "I then thought of all those who were watching over the ship to safeguard and protect our route, and in gratitude, I willed that Thy peace should be born and live in their hearts; then I thought of all those who, confident and carefree, slept the sleep of inconscience and, with solicitude for their miseries, pity for their latent suffering which would awake in them in their own waking, I willed that a little of Thy Peace might dwell in their hearts and bring to birth in them the life of the Spirit, the light which dispels ignorance. I then thought of the dwellers of this vast sea, visible and invisible, and I willed that over them might be extended Thy Peace. I thought next of those whom we had left far away and whose affection is with us, and with a great tenderness I willed for them Thy conscious and lasting Peace, the plenitude of Thy Peace proportioned to their capacity to receive it. Then I thought of all those to whom we are going, who are restless with childish preoccupations and fight for mean competitions of interest in ignorance and egoism; and ardently, in a great aspiration for them I asked for the plenary light of Thy Peace. I next thought of all those whom we know, of all those whom we do not know, of all the life that is working itself out, of all that has changed its form and all that is not yet in form, and for all that, and also for all of which I cannot think, for all that is present to my memory and for all that I forget, in a great ingathering and mute adoration, I implored Thy Peace." (10.3.1914)

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naître en eux la vie de l'esprit, la lumière dissipant l'igno-rance. Puis j'ai pensé à tous les habitants de cette vaste mer, les visibles et les invisibles, et j'ai voulu que sur eux s'étende Ta Paix. Puis j'ai pensé à ceux que nous avions laissé au loin et dont l'affection nous accompagne, et avec une grande tendresse, pour eux j'ai voulu Ta Paix con-sciente et durable, la plénitude de Ta Paix proportionnée à leur capacité de la recevoir. Puis j'ai pensé à tous ceux vers qui nous allons, que des préoccupations enfantines agitent et qui se battent pour de mesquines compétitions d'intérêt dans l'ignorance et l'égoisme; et avec ardeur, dans une grande aspiration, pour eux, j'ai demandé la pleine lumière de Ta Paix. Puis j'ai pensé à tous ceux que nous connaissons, à tous ceux que nous ignorons, à toute la vie qui s'élabore, à tout ce qui a changé de forme, à tout ce qui n'est pas encore en forme, et pour tout cela, ainsi que pour tout ce à quoi je ne puis penser, pour tout ce qui est présent à ma mémoire et pour tout ce que j'oublie, dans un grand recueillement et une muette adoration, j'ai imploré Ta Paix." (10.3.1914)

Or again:

¹"Ce que j'ai voulu pour eux, avec Ta volonté, aux moments où j'ai pu être en communion véritable avec

¹ What i willed for them, with Thy will, at the moments when i could be in a true communion with Thee, grant that they may have received it on the day when, striving to forget external contingencies, they turned towards their noblest thought, towards their best feelings.

May the supreme serenity of Thy sublime Presence awake in them.

(22.3.1914)

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Toi, permets qu'ils l'aient reÇu en ce jour où, tâchant d'oublier les contingences extérieures, ils se sont tournés vers leur pensée la plus noble, vers leur sentiment le meil-leur. Que la suprême sérénité de Ta sublime Présence s'éveille en eux." (22.3.1914)

But the Mother is not merely a representative, she has become all men, the entire humanity itself. She has identified herself with each person in her being and consciousness, she is one with all, all are merged in her. Her voice utters the cry of the human collectivity. Mother's Prayers and Meditations are the prayers and meditations of man. Thus again:

¹"...il m'a semblé que j'adoptais tous les habitants de ce bateau, que je les enveloppais tous dans un égal amour, et qu'ainsi en chacun d'eux quelque chose de Ta conscience s'éveillerait." (8.3.1914)

She has so clearly and unequivocally expressed her oneness with all men. She mentions specially the miserable, the poor and afflicted mankind:

²"Lorsque j'étais enfant — vers l'âge de treize ans et pendant un an environ — tous les soirs dès que j'étais

¹...it seemed to me that i adopted all the inhabitants of this ship, and enveloped them in an equal love, and that so in each one of them, something of Thy consciousness would awake. (8.3.1914)

²When i was a child--about the age of thirteen and for about a year—every night as soon as i was in bed, it seemed to me that i came out of my body and rose straight up above the house, then above the town, very high. i saw myself then, clad in a magnificent golden robe, longer than myself; and as i rose, that robe lengthened, spreading in a circle around me to form, as it were, an immense roof over the

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couchée, il me semblait que je sortais de mon corps et que je m'élevais tout droit au-dessus de la maison, puis de la ville, très haut. Je me voyais alors vêtue d'une magnifique robe dorée, plus longue que moi; et à mesure que je mon-tais, cette robe s'allongeait en s'étendant circulairement autour de moi pour former comme un toit immense au-dessus de la ville. Alors je voyais de tous côtés sortir des hommes, des femmes, des enfants, des vieillards, des malades, des malheureux; ils s'assemblaient sous la robe étendue, implorant secours, racontant leurs misères, leurs souffrances, leurs peines. En réponse, la robe, souple et vivante, s'allongeait vers eux individuellement, et dés qu'ils l'avaient touchée, ils étaient consolés ou guéris, et ren-traient dans leurs corps plus heureux et plus forts qu'avant d'en être sortis." (22.2.1914)

But her being and consciousness are not lmited to mankind alone. She has identified herself with even material objects, with all the small insignificant physical things which our earthly existence deals with. This is how she takes leave of the house where she had lived, and the things it had sheltered, on the eve of a long journey:

¹ "Je les remercie avec reconnaissance de tout le charme

town. Then I would see coming out from all sides, men, women, children, the old, the sick, the unhappy; they gathered under the outspread robe, imploring help, recounting their miseries, their sufferings, their pains. In reply, the robe, supple and living, stretched out to them individually, and as soon as they touched it, they were consoled or healed, and entered back into their body happier and stronger than they had ever been before coming out of it. (22.2.1914)

¹ I thank them with gratitude for all the charm they have been able

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qu'ils ont su dormer extérieurement à notre vie; je sou-haite que, s'il est dans leur destinée de passer pour plus ou moms longtemps en d'autres mains que les nôtres, ces mains leur soient douces et sachant tout le respect que l'on doit à ce que Ton divin Amour, Seigneur, a fait surgir de l'obscure inconscience du chaos." (3.3.1914)

It is to be noted how even a material object is taken up, purified and transformed almost into a living being by the Mother's loving touch.

The same feeling of unity and oneness extends to the dumb plant world also. It is a oneness not partial or vague but total and absolute:

¹"Une grande concentration s'est emparée de moi et

to impart from the outside to our life; I wish, if they are destined to pass for a long or a brief period into other hands than ours, that these hands may be gentle to them and may feel all the respect that is due to what Thy divine Love, O Lord, has made to emerge from the dark inconscience of chaos. (3.3.1914)

¹ A deep concentration seized on me, and I perceived that I was identifying myself with a single cherry-blossom, then through it with all cherry-blossoms, and as I descended deeper in the consciousness, following a stream of bluish force, I became suddenly the cherry-tree itself, stretching towards the sky like so many arms its innumerable branches laden with their sacrifice of flowers. Then I heard distinctly this sentence:

Thus hast thou made thyself one with the soul of cherry-trees and so thou canst take note that it is the Divine who makes the offering of this flower-prayer to heaven.

When I had written it, all was effaced; but now the blood of the cherry-tree flows in my veins and with it flows an incomparable peace and force. What difference is there between the human body and the body of a tree? In truth there is none, the consciousness which animates them is identically the same. (7.4.1917)

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je me suis aperÇue que je m'identifiais avec une fleur de cerisier; puis à travers cette fleur avec toutes les fleurs de cerisier; puis descendant plus profondément dans la conscience, en suivant un courant de force bleutée, je devins tout à coup le cerisier lui-même, dressant vers le del, comme autant de bras, ses innombrables branches chargees de leur offrande fleurie. J'entendis alors distinctement la phrase suivante:

"Ainsi tu t'es unie à l'âme des cerisiers et tu as pu de la sorte constater que c'est le Divin qui fait au ciel l'of-frande de cette prière de fleurs." Lorsque je l'eus écrit, tout s'effaÇa; mais maintenant le sang du cerisier coule dans mes veines, et avec lui une paix et une force incom-parables; quelle difference y a-t-il entre le corps humain et le corps d'un arbre? Aucune vraiment, et la conscience qui les anime est bien identiquement la même." (7.4.1917)

Indeed the Mother's voice is the voice of all men, all creatures, all beings, all things. She stands for the entire earth, not only so, she is the Earth itself; the total terrestrial being is embodied in her, earth's aspiration, and pain and yearning find utterance in her:

¹"Le monde douloureux s'est agenouillé devant Toi, Seigneur, en muette supplication la matière torturée se

¹ This sorrowful world kneels before Thee, O Lord, in mute supplication; this tortured Matter nestles at thy feet, its last, its sole refuge; and so imploring Thee, it adores Thee, Thee whom it neither knows nor understands! Its prayer rises like the cry of one in a last agony; that which is disappearing feels confusedly the possibility of living: again in Thee; the earth awaits Thy decree in a grandiose prostration.

(7.II.1915)

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blottit à Tes pieds, son dernier, son unique refuge; et en T'implorant ainsi, elle T'adore, Toi qu'elle ne connaît ni ne comprend ! Sa prière s'élève comme le cri d'un ago-jiisant; ce qui disparaît sent confusément la possibilité de revivre en Toi; la terre attend Ton arrêt dans une prosternation grandiose..." (7-11-1915)

This is the second status of the Mother's being, the first is the personal and individual, the second is this collective and universal being. But she is not merely the universe, she is the Mother of the universe. Hers is not merely earth's prayer, but the prayer of the Mother of the earth. It is not merely the prayer of the universe but the prayer of the Universal Mother to the Supreme Lord for the deliverance of the universe, for the re-creation of the earth—indeed, for the deliverance of herself for the re--creation of herself out of the present ignorant manifestation:

^1" O Mère, douce Mère que je suis, Tu es à la fois ce qui détruit et ce qui érige.

L'univers entier vit dans Ton sein de sa vie innombrable et Tu vis dans le moindre de ses atomes immensément.

Et l'aspiration de Ton infinitude se tourne vers Cela qui n'est point manifesté, afin d'implorer toujours une

¹ Mother, sweet Mother, who I am, Thou art at once the destroyer and the builder.

The whole universe lives in Thy breast with all its life innumerable and Thou livest in Thy immensity in the least of its atoms.

And the aspiration of Thy infinitude turns towards That which is not manifested to cry to it for a manifestation ever more complete and more perfect. (31.8.1914)

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plus complète et plus parfaite manifestation." (31.8.1914)

¹"Je suis les bras puissants de Ta miséricorde. Je suis la vaste poitrine de Ton amour sans limites.... Les bras ont enveloppé la terre douloureuse et la pressent tendrement sur le cœur généreux; et lentement un baiser de suprême bénédiction est posé sur cet atome en conflit: le baiser de la Mère qui console et guérit..." (11.8.1914)

²"Toute la terre est dans nos bras comme un enfant malade qu'il faut guérir et pour lequel on a, à cause même de sa faiblesse, une tendresse toute spéciale." (14.10.1914)

The triple status of the Mother, the individual, the collective and the transcendental (or, in other words, the personal, the universal and the supra-personal) has been condensed and epitomised in the magical note describing 1er first meeting with the Lord:

³"Peu importe qu'il y ait des milliers d'êtres plongés dans

¹I am Thy puissant arms of mercy. I am the vast bosom of Thy limitless love.... The arms have enfolded the sorrowful earth and tenderly press it to the generous heart; slowly a kiss of supreme bene-diction settles on this atom in conflict: the kiss of the Mother that consoles and heals. (11.8.1914)

²All the earth is in our arms like a sick child who must be cured and for whom one has a special affection because of his very weakness.

(14.10.1914)

³It matters not if there are hundreds of beings plunged in the densest ignorance. He whom we saw yesterday, is here on earth; His presence is enough to prove that a day shall come when darkness shall be transformed into light, when Thy reign shall be indeed established upon earth. (30.3.1914)

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la plus épaisse ignorance, Celui que nous avons vu hier est sur terre; sa présence suffit à prouver qu'un jour viendra où l'ombre sera transformée en lumière, et où effectivement, Ton règne sera instauré sur la terre."

(30.3.1914)

And the reality that Their manifestation upon earth has to establish, the supreme achievement of Their terrestrial existence is chanted, as it were, in these wonderfully mystic-Sibylline-lines:

¹"La mort a passé vaste et solennelle et tout s'est tu religieusement durant son passage. Une beauté surhumaine a paru sur la terre. Quelque chose de plus merveilleux que la plus merveilleuse félicité fait pressentir sa Présence." (7.11.1915)

(3)

I have spoken of the triple status, the three levels of her ascending reality, these are in view of her manifestation, of world-labour. There is however, yet another status beyond—beyond the beyond—it is the relation between the Supreme Lord and the Divine Mother in itself apart from their work, their purpose in manifestation, it is their own 'Lila' between themselves, exclusively their own.

¹ Death has passed, vast and solemn, and all fell into a religious silence during its passage.

A superhuman beauty has appeared on the earth.

Something more marvellous than the most marvellous bliss has made felt the impress of its Presence. (7.11.1915)

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The delight of this exclusively personal play behind and beyond the creation sheds a secret aroma in and through all this existence here and it is also the source of the hidden magic that these utterances of the Prayers and Medita-tations contain, it is to this status surpassing all wonder that Sri Aurobindo refers so wistfully and so sweetly in those famous opening lines, in 'God's Labour':

I have gathered my dreams in a silver air

Between the gold and the blue

And wrapped them softly and left them there

My jewelled dreams of you.

The delight of delights, the purest delight that exists up there in its self-sufficiency overflows, spills as it were, and a drop of that nectar of immortality is what constitutes these universes here below.

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