Mother's Chronicles - Book Three

11

The Hidden Meaning

Between her various adventures, Mirra was discovering a host of other things.

She was already proving in practice what Sri Aurobindo was to write later. "The theory of traditional knowledge is perfectly rational and verifiable by inner experiences, and it imposes itself if we admit the supraphysical and do not cabin ourselves in the acceptation of material being as the only reality."

Under the able tutorship of Max Théon, Mirra the apt pupil was learning. She learned how to go in and out of the supraphysical worlds at will. She learned the art of materialization and dematerialization. She even learned how to move objects from a distance. In a letter, Sri Aurobindo refers to "an experience in which the Mother being in Algiers appeared to a circle of friends sitting in Paris and took up a pencil and

Page 141

wrote a few words on a paper. She signed her name and even moved an object. Having satisfied herself that it was possible she did not develop it any further. That was at a time when she was practising occultism with Théon in Algeria.... Théon was a great occultist; his wife was still more so." He added, "That paper was here even the other day."

Sri Aurobindo further explains that "tremendous vital force is necessary to move an object at a distance." His briefest comment reveals so much! "The Slavs as a race are psychically more sensitive but generally they do not control these occult forces. The JEWS, having a long-standing tradition about these powers, seem to know the way of mastering them. Théon, the Mother's first teacher, had great powers and knew how to use them. Sometimes these powers are gifts."¹

Madame Théon was amply gifted with this power. And between Théon and Théona (as Teresa called her), Mirra was given a complete training. They trained her to differentiate between smell and smell, between colour and colour, between light and

1. Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo, by A. B. Purani.

Page 142

light, between . . . Each smell, each colour, each light indicated to her its home. She learned to go straight to the heart of things and discover their motive power. Among her multitudinous discoveries was one in which she found that 'the essence of Love' which had plunged down into Matter had established its Presence everywhere and in everything.

"Even in things, in objects," she told us, "even in stones there is a strange receptivity which stems from this Presence. Also, stones have a spontaneous sense of what is higher, nobler, purer; and although unable to express it in any way, they feel it and are variously affected by it."

We have all heard about famous pearls and diamonds —such as the Blue Hope Diamond, the Eye of Buddha, the Kohinoor, etc.—being carriers of curse; behind each there is a trail of blood, of intrigue and assassination.

Mother observed additionally that if one knows how to go about it, some stones —gems mainly can be 'charged'; they can accumulate a force, preserve it and pass it on. Other stones can serve as a link, or carry messages, while yet others can be used to predict

Page 143

things —like the 'crystal' of the fortuneteller. To function, these things naturally demand a competent person with a special ability. A few stones are remarkable for the power of protection they can hold. "Amethysts are great accumulators of protective power which really protects the wearer." But the Presence is more easily discernible in "rock crystals, which form such magnificent designs of such total harmony," precisely owing to "this central Presence."

Colours. Lights. All possible subjects were included in Mirra's study.

"All lights," wrote Sri Aurobindo, "are indications of a Force or Power." Mirra, whose inner vision was as vivid as her actual sight, could now determine the plane from which a particular light emanated, as well as its action, by the light's colour. Later, Mother and Sri Aurobindo made a detailed organization of this notion —the gradation of consciousness beginning from material Nature right to the Supreme, shown by different coloured lights.¹

1. Sri Aurobindo's letter on ' Lights' and Mother's Agenda (specially the conversation of 18 May 1963), will give the reader some inkling on the subject.

Page 144

But that was later. For the moment, Mirra the artist was glad to be able to better appreciate the hidden sense in colours. However, what really delighted her —she who "loved mathematics very much" —was to discover that numbers were not mere digits and a mental toy, but carried profound meanings in themselves.

Once upon a time, Satprem, to whom numbers were mere lifeless ciphers, needed a big quantity of paper to draw a Tantric diagram — 72 times a day and for three times 72 days —so he broached the matter to Mother. In the ensuing conversation she unravelled the diagram's connotation and by the same stroke gave him the key to the underlying meaning of numbers. From then on he began to take an interest in them.

"Wait! Look under there if by chance there's a box or something," she said, pointing to the heap of heterogeneous things under a window-ledge. "We'll see."

Satprem pulled out a box.

"It's all yellowed. Does it matter?" she asked.

"It'll soak water!" he objected. "You see, because

Page 145

I write with chandanam¹ mixed with water, using a twig of 'Divine Love'!"²

"Without any cotton-tip? Without anything?"

"Yes, without anything," he nodded. "Only a twig which I whittle into a pen."

"Are the designs small?"

"The image is a rectangle divided into three squares, with numerals and letters —one Sanskrit letter," he amended. "Quite a toil, you know!"

"Seventy-two a day! My little child!" Mother laughed commiseratively. "I must find something. . . ."

"When I come out of it, I feel dazed," he said tiredly.

"But that's what these Tantriks want!" She knew it. "They want to stupefy you. . . ."

"You understand, for two hours I have to squat over all those sacred scribblings," he said ironically.

His bitterness was quite understandable. For alongside this Tantric work, Satprem had to get ready the text for the Ashram's Bulletin, a bilingual quarterly.

1.Sandalwood paste.

2.Pomegranate.

Page 146

This work consisted in selecting with Mother the English texts of Sri Aurobindo's and then translating them into French; add to it choosing and reading out to Mother her own various texts, and as most of the time these were taken from her talks and conversations, he had to transcribe them from the recorded tapes and render them comprehensible to the readers. This apart, he had to transcribe from the tapes his own twice-weekly interviews with Mother which she called her Agenda. And what a tape-recorder he had! My gosh! So old that he used to turn the spools by hand. You may well imagine the rest. And to top it all, there was his book The Adventure of Consciousness on which he was still working.

"But tell me," she inquired, "wouldn't you have the right to sit in a chair, at a table?"

"I don't know," came the glum reply.

"Why not?" Then dwelling on this point for some time she concluded, "What's required is to have the inner attitude."

"Exactly," he said, "the inner attitude. I feel this new work as an empty and mechanical thing."

"Don't you feel each word as you write it?"

Page 147

Mother raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"They are numerals. Numerals and just one Sanskrit letter," he said drily. "Well, you can't say there's much soul in numerals, can you?"

"Will you describe it, that I may see?" she asked encouragingly.

As it was difficult to describe the design verbally, he said, "I'll write it out for you," and sketched the diagram.

The first thing Mother did was to tot up the figures. "Did you add them up? No? In every direction it adds up to 72. . . . Nine is the number for 'birth'."

"It's to be done 72 times for 72 days and three times over."

"And 72 comes to 7 + 2 which make 9," she put in.

"This Sanskrit letter is HRIM," he volunteered. He was getting interested.

"This is one of the three seed sounds," she revealed. "I don't recall now, but each of them represents one aspect of the Mother."

"Sujata told me it's Mahalakshmi."

"I was hesitating between Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati."

Page 148

Mother sat in a reverie where figures shimmered, then came into focus on her mind's screen. "It is clearly taken as a symbol of the gestation of the New Birth, the second birth, the divine birth. That's certain." Then she asked abruptly, "He said 72 days?"

"Three times 72 days. A little over eight months,¹ that is."

"Just so," she nodded her agreement. Then said smilingly, "It is . . . it's the work of gestation for the birth of the Divine Consciousness.

"And seven —7 + 2 — is interesting. 7 stands for realization; 2 is dual —a dual realization. And if you put the two together, you get the number of gestation."

She explained. "You see, Mahalakshmi is the Divine Mother's aspect of love.... It is to prepare the earth for receiving the Supreme's manifestation, which is the manifestation of His Victory.

"Thus seen, the diagram becomes clear —comprehensible and even comprehensive. It has content."

The conversation continued. Mother went on to

1. Actually a little over seven months. Satprem and calculation! Never have I met anybody as uncalculating as he!

Page 149

give content to some numbers. I am adding a few more from my own notes.

2= Dual

3= Sachchidananda (Sat + Chit + Ananda)

4= Manifestation

5= Power

6= New Creation

7= Realization

8= Infinite

9= Gestation or Birth

10= Sign of external expression, or, something established, a static perfection

11= Progress, or, a Beginning

12= Mahashakti's figure, or, the Perfection of the Creation

12 = 4 + 8 = Manifestation of the Infinite

18 = Consciousness in its effort towards a material realization

18 = 10 + 8 = an established Infinite

18 = 9 + 9 = Dual Creation

18 = 12 + 6 = an extremely remarkable something

22 = Power of money

Page 150

30 = Manifestation of Sachchidananda

36 = Union of Sachchidananda with the Creation

42 = Dual manifestation of the Supreme and Nature

48 = Manifestation of the Infinite.

Mother also pointed out that any double-digit figure could have several meanings depending upon the numbers that went to make it. Such as 12 or 18.

Then she herself began to draw the diagram containing the numerals and the Sanskrit letter. "Let's see if I remember my Sanskrit," she mused aloud. "I have spent my time forgetting everything. I used to write my Sanskrit as I write French. All forgotten."

As she completed the design, she said, "There. Now it has a life, you understand? It has a life."

She had automatically written the symbols in their proper order — it is from this order that a Tantric diagram derives its real power. Then she pored over it for a long time, and suddenly exclaimed, "Why, there's a music!" And Mother hummed the air. Luckily Satprem was ready with his recorder and could tape it.

Page 151

"There." She repeated, "But it is full of meaning, pulsating with meaning."

"But where," Satprem's curiosity was aroused, "does the meaning of numbers come from?"

"This deep meaning of numbers," Mother replied, "I got it in Tlemcen, in the Over mind." Over mind, in Sri Aurobindo's terminology, is the realm of the higher Gods. "It was above, just above the realm of the gods. It was there that the numbers took on a living meaning for me; not a mental game — a living meaning."

Then there was a flashback of a fifty-year-old memory. "That is where Madame Théon recognized me, because of the twelve pearls in a formation over my head. She told me, 'You are That, because you have this. Only That can have this!'"

Mother's laugh rang out. "It was as far removed from my thought as possible. Thank God!"

Page 152

You are That