At the feet of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo

13 September 1934

MYSELF: Mother, I still have one thing to ask you to know clearly. In our love, I mean in spite of its mixture, is there no true element? Why do I feel so happy to see you? Why does all my being become so happy, so joyous whenever I happen to see or meet you? And why, after coming back from you, is the whole day filled with you alone? Is this vital love?

SRI AUROBINDO: There is no harm in vital love provided it is purified from all insincerity (as for example self-importance etc.) and from all demand. To feel joy on seeing the Mother is all right, but to demand it as a right or to be upset or in revolt or abhiman when it is not given, to be jealous of others who get it — all that is demand and creates an impurity which spoils both the joy and the love.

(13.9.34)