Mother's Chronicles - Book Three

10

What Happened at Tlemcen

That was Mother's story to the children.

Naturally enough, her stories covered wider grounds when she could talk freely to Satprem. She retold him the stories about the Lord of the Snow, about the musical toad, and other tales of Tlemcen.

Towards late afternoon Mirra went walking with Theon to explore the neighbour hood. But when one day he took her to visit the ancient marabout's tomb, he put her in an embarrassing situation and had his little revenge on her.

"We used to go for walks in the nearby countryside to see the tombs," said Mother to Satprem. "It was entirely a Muslim country, and the Muslim tombs are guarded by certain people (I don't remember now what they are called in Arabic). But there's always a sage, like the Indian fakirs here, to guard the tombs, a

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sort of semi-priest responsible for the upkeep of the tombs. Pilgrims go there as well. Theon was friendly with one particular sage, and would always converse with him —that's when I would see the mischief in Théon's eyes —and speak to him of one thing and another. One day, Theon took me along. I should have been fully covered, you know, to conform with those Muslims over there, but I always went out in a kind of kimono!" This remained her dress even when she went to the markets. "Theon spoke to him in Arabic; I didn't understand what he said but the sage rose, bowed to me very ceremoniously and went off into another room. He returned with cups of sweetened mint tea —not teacups, they put it in special little glasses —extremely sweet tea, almost like mint syrup. The sage looked at me. I was obliged to take it . . ." Mother stopped abruptly, and Satprem sensed that there was a sequel to this story but that she didn't want to say anything more.

We think the incident occurred at Sidi Bourne-dine, where the present guardian of the tomb is the grandson of the sage who offered Mirra the mint tea.

At any rate, it was not for nothing that "there

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were all kinds of stories in the countryside, terrible stories," about Theon.

He inspired fear and awe in the local Arabs.

They were awed by his power which healed their sick almost immediately; no matter if three days or three months later the healed one fell sick again. The neighbour hood Arabs venerated him and, among themselves, called him 'the Marabout.'

We can surely term her stay at Tlemcen a thrilling mystery in which Mirra is constantly confronted with bizarre situations. "One day I shall find Théon's photo and show it to you. He is there with a big dog he called 'Little Boy.' A dog that could exteriorize! It would dream and go out of its body! This dog had a kind of adoration for me. I should mention that at a fixed time in the afternoon I always went into a trance —I had meditation followed by trance. When it was over I would go out walking with Theon and the dog always came with us; he usually came to fetch me in my room. One day I was lying on a divan, in a trance, when I felt his cold nose thrust into my hand in order to wake me up. I open my eyes ... no dog. Yet I had positively, distinctly felt his cold nose

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Zarif: Mirra at her window

and 'Little Boy' in the courtyard

nuzzling my hand to wake me up. Well, I got ready, went down the stairs, and who did I find on the landing? My dog, in a deep slumber, he too in a state of trance! He had come to me in his sleep to wake me up. Then, when I reached the landing he woke up, gave himself a shake and trotted off."

She added musingly, "It was an interesting life."

And how!

"Extraordinary occurrences which go outside the ordinary course of physical Nature," as Sri Aurobindo puts it, became everyday occurrences at Zarif. When the eight-legged table flung itself upon the unfortunate Arab merchant with nobody within touching distance, one could have perhaps called it magic. But the apport? When Mirra regularly found flowers on her bed in a locked room? Or when she regularly heard the gong ringing by itself to anounce meal times? Or when Madame Théon's slippers . . .

"But it was a very interesting world," Mother said pensively. "Really, I saw there . . . Well, once you left you would ask yourself, 'Have I been dreaming?'" She rubbed her eyes. "It all seemed so fantastic."

Then she briefly explained how supranormal

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happenings can become normal ones. "You see, when people themselves are in this occult consciousness, everything is possible; it creates an atmosphere where ALL, but all is possible. What to our European common sense seems impossible, is all possible." Certain mediums —not necessarily yogis —have a native 'psychic' faculty which gives them power over matter. It is the faculty of being able to identify themselves with everything, even with inanimate objects.

"I saw it with Madame Theon. She would will a thing to come to her instead of going to the thing herself; when she wanted her sandals, instead of going to fetch them, she made them come to her." Satprem blinked. Mother smiled and went on, "She did this through her ability to radiate her matter —she exercised a will over her matter —her central will acted upon matter anywhere since she was THERE."

Sri Aurobindo explains further. "Obviously a layman cannot do these things, unless he has a native 'psychic' (that is, occult) faculty and even then he will have to learn the law of the thing before he can use it at will."

Madame Theon, who had 'a native psychic

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faculty,' had thoroughly learned the law of the occult.

It was now Mirra's turn to do the same. And the adventures she had! And the friends and admirers she picked up! Little Boy, the dog, was not alone in his admiration for her. Remember "the big toad, all warty — going poff, poff, poff!" whose admiration for Mirra's music was unbounded? Whenever she played the piano he would come hopping in and listen rapturously, his eyes bulging, then say 'poff!' and hop away when she stopped. That too was in Tlemcen. Why, she even charmed serpents there! Before that, however, she had to tackle some unforeseen problems that had ensued when she encountered the furious Naja, otherwise known as Cobra de Capello. Apart from telling Mirra that serpents symbolized the evolution, Theon had also told her that they were, of all the animals, the most sensitive to hypnotic or magnetic power. "If you have this power in you —the magnetic power is a power of the most material vital —you can very easily gain a mastery over serpents," Mother explained to Satprem, who till then heartily detested those creatures. "All those who love snakes have it and with it make the snakes obey them. That's how I got out of my scrape

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with the Naja in Tlemcen. Do you know the story?" Satprem nodded. He vividly remembered Mother telling him some years previously how she had extricated herself from that situation.

"There were centuries-old olive trees in Théon's estate. I would sit under one of them every day at noon to meditate. Yes, it was hot at high noon, but the heat never bothered me. Quite the contrary. Now, one day, I was deep in my meditation when I began to feel uneasy. So then I open my eyes. And what do I see? About two metres away in front of me, standing erect and swaying its hood, is a Naja, hissing furiously at me. You know 'Naja'? They are like the Nagas here, the Hooded Cobra, and so poisonous! Their poison is deadly. So there was this Naja, swaying its expanded hood and hissing for all it was worth. At first I didn't understand why the serpent was so enraged. Then I remembered that just behind me there was a hole in the tree. 'I must be sitting here barring its way to its hole,' I thought. 'But what's to be done now?' I was in a quandary. Any movement, be it ever so slight, would instantly make it strike me." Théon's counsel leapt to her mind. "Mark you, I didn't have any fear. I just sat

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still and stared fixedly at its eyes, and exerted my will-force to the utmost. Gradually the hissing softened, then stopped altogether. After some time, slowly, very slowly I drew away my legs, first one then the other. But all the while I kept my fixed stare on it and steadily exerted my will. At last the venomous snake suddenly lowered its hood, and quickly turning round jumped into the nearby pool."

"Phew!" Satprem let out his pent-up breath.

"When, later, I told Theon about this incident, he confirmed my surmise. 'We all know that the snake lives there,' he told me. 'After its bath it wanted to go to its hole, but found you barring its passage. That's why it was so angry.'

"Then looking quizzically at me, he added, 'If you want to make it your friend, give it some milk.'

"I did!" said Mother flatly.

That, in substance, is what Mother had told Satprem previously.

This time, after that passing reference to it, she went on, "After this incident there was another, when I helped a cat to defeat a little asp —they have asps there, like Cleopatra's, very dangerous. . . . The cat

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was a big russet angora, who, at first, began playing with the asp, then, of course, became furious. The asp kept jumping at him and the cat —it was extraordinary, I watched this for over ten minutes —the cat leapt aside so swiftly that the asp just missed him. And as it darted by, the cat struck at it with all his claws out, scratching it each time. The other lost its energy little by little. And at the end ... I stopped the cat from eating it, for it was sickening."

Thereafter she had two royal visits. First, the King of the Cats came and conferred on Mirra the power over his species.

And the second visit . . . "Well, one night, after these two episodes, I was visited by the King of the Serpents. He wore a superb crown on his head— symbolic of course, but anyway he was the spirit of the species. He had the appearance of a cobra. He was . . . he was splendid!" said Mother admiringly. "A formidable beast, and . . . splendid! He came to see me and said he wanted to make a pact with me —I had demonstrated my power over his species, so he wanted to come to an understanding.

"'All right,' I said, 'what do you propose?'

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" 'I not only promise that serpents won't harm you,' he replied, 'but that they will obey you. Only, you must promise me something in return: never to kill one of them.'

"I thought it over and said, 'No, I can't take this pledge, because if ever one of yours attacks one of mine —a being that depends upon me —my pledge to you would not, could not, stop me from defending him. Although I can assure you that I have no bad feelings! And no intention to kill —killing is not on my programme! But I can't commit myself, otherwise it would restrict my freedom of decision.'

"He left without replying, so the status quo remains."

Mother recounted another encounter she had with a serpent, this time in Pondicherry.

"But several experiences I have had make clear my power over snakes —not as much as over cats; with cats it's extraordinary!

"Long ago, I often used to take a drive and then get down somewhere and walk. One day after my walk, I got back into the car and was just about to drive away —the door was still open —when, exactly from the

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spot I had just left, a fairly large snake came out. It was furious. Belligerently it came and headed straight towards the open door, ready to spring at me. Luckily I was alone, neither the driver nor Pavitra were there, otherwise . . . The snake came on and when it had got quite near, I looked closely at it and said, 'What do you want? Why have you come here?'

"There was a pause. Then it fell down flat and was gone. I didn't make any movement, only spoke to it, 'What do you want? Why have you come here?' You know, they have a way of suddenly falling down, going limp, and prrt! Gone!"

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