Living in The Presence

Cultivate Your Will-power

    Mother - What are the items you are in?

    I - I am reciting a poem by Sri Aurobindo and that is what is making me nervous.

    Mother - You did fine, that day. Your voice is fine. There's a good feeling. Are you dancing as well?

    I - Yes, Mother. But the dance is not a problem. But while reciting this poem I just cannot feel Your presence.

    Mother - Well then, that is your fault!
      
    I - I know, Mother, it reflects my incapacity. I am simply unable to bring about any change in me.

    Mother - (looking at me intently) You will be able to change yourself only when you want it. You have to strengthen your will-power. Develop your will-power. (She looked at me once more very intently) Aurevoir!

   

    I - Aurevoir, Mother.

    After the Mother had told me to develop my will-power, I began praying to Her with a strong aspiration. The 1^st December was around the corner now. I had one single aim and preoccupation: to succeed in my recitation. To try and achieve as completely as possible what the Mother had taught me to do, what Norman-da (Dowsett) had shown me. With deep inwardness, I began working on myself in order to cultivate will-power and to bring about the concentration required for reciting Sri Aurobindo's poem. It would not be incorrect to say that in those days, that was how we did the sadhana. That was the purpose of our life's adoration: whatever the Mother wanted, in whichever work it might be, to bring that into our life.

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