Mother's Chronicles - Book Three

17

The Being of Irised Light

Mother took it for granted that "we all know, of course, that the Divine Presence is there in the depths of the Inconscient." But do we?

Well, anyway, as it happens, Mother had SEEN the Divine in the Inconscient.

It was in the 1920s. "After I returned from Japan, and we began to work together," Mother recounted to Satprem, "Sri Aurobindo had already brought down the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. 'It's strange,' he told me, 'it is an endless work! Nothing seems to get done — everything is done and then has to be constantly done all over again.'

"Then I gave him my personal impression, which went back to the old days with Theon, 'It will be like that until we touch bottom.'

Inconscient, and little by little, they awaken in each thing, in each atom as it were, the aspiration to Consciousness and the beginning of evolution, she explained.

"I had that experience.

"I had the experience of being 'missioned,' so to speak, in a form of Love and Consciousness combined emanated DIRECTLY into the nethermost depths of the Inconscient. And there, I had the impression of being, or rather of finding a symbolic being in deep sleep . . . so veiled that he was almost invisible. Then, at my contact, the veil seemed to be rent and, without his awakening, there was a kind of radiation spreading out. I can still see my vision."

With Mother it was the case of once seen, never forgotten: "I don't have the memory of sound, but the memory of the eyes astounding. A thing seen once, never forgotten."

This particular vision was published in the Cosmic Review, 1906, exactly as Mirra had written it in French. We give below its translation.

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"1 slept, and now 1 am awake.

"I slept upon the westward waters and now I penetrate into the ocean to fathom its depths. Its surface is the green of beryl, silvered by moonbeams. Below, the water is the blue of sapphire and already faintly luminous.

"Reclining on the waves' silken folds, I descend; rocked from one undulating wave to another in a gentle rhythm, 1 am borne in a straight line towards the west. The deeper I go, the more luminous the water becomes, great silvery currents coursing through it.

"Cradled from wave to wave, for a long while I descend deeper, ever deeper.

"All at once, looking above me, I glimpse something roseate; I draw nearer and discern a coralesque shrub, as large as a tree, held fast to a blue reef. The denizens of the waters, myriad and diverse, glide to and fro. Now I find myself standing upon fine, shining sand. I gaze about me in wonder. There are mountains and valleys, fantastic forests, strange flowers that could as well be animals, and fish that might be flowers- there is no separation, no gap between stationary beings and non-stationary. Colours everywhere,

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shimmering, brilliant or muted, but always harmonious and refined. I walk upon the golden sands and contemplate all this beauty bathed in a soft, pale blue radiance; tiny, luminous spheres of red, green and gold circulating through it.

"How marvellous are the depths of the sea! Everywhere the presence of the One in whom all harmonies reside is felt!

"Ever westward I advance, not tiring, not slowing. Sight succeeds sight in incredible variety. Here upon a rock of lapis lazuli stretch fine and delicate seaweeds like long blond or violet tresses; here are great, rose-hued fortress walls, all streaked with silver; here flowers seem chiselled from enormous diamonds; here goblets, as beautiful as though crafted by the most skilled carver, are filled with what appear to be droplets of emerald, alternately vibrant with light and shade.

"Presently I wend my way between two rock walls, blue as sapphire, upon a path flecked with silver; and the water becomes ever purer and more luminous.

"A sudden turn in the path and I find myself

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before a grotto which seems fashioned in wrought crystal, scintillating with prismatic radiance.

"Standing there between two iridescent pillars is a very tall figure; his face, framed in short blond curls, is that of a very young man; his eyes are sea-green; he is clad in a pale blue tunic, and like wings upon his shoulders are great fins, white as snow. Beholding me, he steps aside against a pillar to let me pass. Barely have I crossed the threshold when an exquisite melody strikes my ears. The waters are all iridescent here, the ground aglow with lustrous pearls; opaline the portico and vault, hung gracefully with stalactites; delectable perfumes hover everywhere; galleries, niches and alcoves open out on all sides; but directly ahead of me I perceive a great light and towards it I bend my steps. There are broad rays of gold, silver, sapphire, emerald and ruby, radiating outward in all directions, born from a centre too distant for me to discern; to this centre I feel drawn by a powerful attraction.

"Now I see whence these rays emanate. I see a recumbent oval of white light girdled by a superb rainbow, and I sense that the One whom the light

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hides from my view is plunged in a profound repose. For long I remain at the outer edge of the rainbow, trying to pierce the light and see the One who is sleeping girdled by such splendour. Unable to discern anything, I enter the rainbow, and thence into the white and shining oval. Here I see a marvellous Being, stretched on what seems to be a drift of white eiderdown. His supple body, of incomparable beauty, is clad in a long, white robe. His head rests on his folded arm, but of that I can see only his long hair, the hue of ripened wheat, flowing over his shoulders. A great and sweet emotion sweeps through me at this magnificent spectacle, and a deep reverence as well.

"Has the sleeper sensed my presence? For now he awakens and rises in all his grace and beauty. He turns towards me and his eyes meet mine, mauve and luminous eyes with a gentle, an infinitely tender expression. Wordlessly he bids me a sublime welcome and my whole being joyously responds. Taking my hand, he leads me to the couch he has just left. I stretch out on this downy whiteness, and his harmonious visage bends over me; a sweet current of force enters wholly into me, invigorating, revitalizing each cell.

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"Then, girdled by the splendid colours of the rainbow, enveloped by lulling melodies and exquisite perfumes, beneath his gaze so powerful, so lender, 1 float into a beatific repose. And during my sleep 1 learn many beautiful and useful things.

"Of all these marvellous things, understood

"Wherever there is beauty, wherever there is radiance, wherever there is progress towards perfection, whether in the Heaven of the heights or of the depths, there, assuredly, is found the form and similitude of man- man, supreme terrestrial evolutor."

Thus ended Mirra's account of her vision.

"And it is remarkable," concluded Mother, "that this marvellous Being strangely resembles him whose vision I had one day: the Being who is found at the other extremity- at the borderline of the form and the Formless. Only, the latter was in a golden glory, carmine, while in its sleep this other Being was diamond white, emanating opalescent rays.

"That, in fact, is the origin of all the Avatars."

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