Agenda - Quick Reference


-001_Mother's Agenda for Supramental Yoga.htm








Agenda for Supramental Yoga







Mother's Agenda On Ashram Ananda vs Love

Ashram rules
13th April experience Ashwatha Tree

All India Radio
Are You God


The four Asuras Attack of hostile forces 24th April 1920

The Boat Bulletin Birthday


Birthday card Book on Sri Aurobindo Beauty

Body needs to last 300 years Bhagvad Gita Balcony Darshan

Bliss




Cremation - Burial Creation
Chakras


7th creation
Sri Aurobindo on cruelty
Cataleptic Trance

Cellular experiences Combat Magazine
Crown over the head

Consciousness
change the LAW Cosmic Review - Mother's vision

What is consciousness ? Cells say no to Doctors


Dupleix House
Darshan days Divine eyes

Desease - medicine and cure The Divine on Death

Destiny - Fate Divine Perfection Difficulties

Dreams and Visions



Earth Ego Equality

Egypt days Essays on the Gita Eating meat

Food Feet 29th February

Four Aspects Falsehood Fish

Guru
Glorified body


Human nature The Hour of God


Illness Inconscient - Subconscient



Japa Joy , Felicity and Bliss



Karma kundalini
Kalki

Lord of Nations The Life Divine Library house - 1922-1927

Lord of death True Life
love

Lord of falsehood Letters On Yoga


The Mother's symbol On The Mother Man

The Mother's notes
The Mother's messages The Mother's prayers

The Mother's sutras Mantra Man to Superman

Mind The Mother in France
Money

The Mother on colors The Mother on numbers The Mother's body

Morality
The Mother on Falsehood
The Mother's statues


Manifestation
Yoga in Matter
Mantra of life-Theon

Miracles



Music - Art The Mother's Answers The Mother's instructtions

New Creation
Nirvana New Year Messages

24th November 1926 Notes on the way


Overmind - Supermind OM OM Sri Aurobindo Mira

One Consciousness Om Namo Bhagavate


prayer - consciousness of the cell Prolonging life at will prayers and meditation

Pranayam Purity Present Creation

Peacock Pomegranate tree Palm tree

Pralaya



Religion and spiritual life On Rules


On Sri Aurobindo The Supramental Action on Earth soul - jiva - psychic being


Supermind
Superman Supramental body

Supramental ship Supramental world Savitri

Sri Aurobindo's passing away Supramental power - 1967 silence of mind

samadhi-trance Supreme Consciousness
sadhaks - sadhana

The Secret of Veda Spiritual life
Supramental light

The Shakti - Sri Aurobindo pulls Subjective-Objective Sri Aurobindo - I will return

Sri Aurobindo and the clocks Sri Aurobindo's symbol Sri Aurobindo - signed as Kali

Sri Aurobindo's Letter surrender and devotion Sri Aurobindo - You will do my work

Sat-Chit-Ananda
Serpant
The key - the secret

Sri Aurobindo's centenary - 1972
Superman Consciousness -1st Jan.
What Sri Aurobindo represents

Truth - Consciousness Transfrormation Truth is not a dogma

Truth Three powers Trilogy - On The Mother

The Titan Tantra


Vedic Agni Vedic Rishis The Vital World


The Vaishnavas Vital
Vibration


yoga in matter Our Yoga you are She


Year 4-5-67 Yoga of the world year 2000

Your past



The Synthesis of Yoga



The Secret of the Veda
Veda












-004_Gods , Godesses and Saints.html










Gods and Godesses and Saints







Anusuya Buddha Chaitanya

Durga Ganesh Gods of Puranas

Gods of Overmind
Indra Krishna

Kali Maheshwari MahaLakshmi

Narada Swamy Vivekananda Ramdas

Shiva and Parvati Swamy Ramakrishna Sarasvati

Shiva
Vishnu Yama











-006_Individuals.html








The Mother interaction with members , devotees and public figures








A
Abhay Singh Antonin Raymond

A B Patel Amal Kiran 's mother Anil Mukherjee

Amrita-da Alice Bailey Alexandra David Neil

Anand
Dr. Agarwal
Anjini-bhen


Abhijit Albert''s father Armand Roider - healer


Andre Malreaux
Anatole France
Annapurna


Dr. Annie Besant Albert Einstein
AB Purani-ji

American Rabbi
Anousuya
Abdul Baha


Swamy Brahmanand
Bhao Girdi
Bharati-di (Suzanne Karpeles )


Dr. Bisht
Barin-da
Bhasker's gingee drowning

Bhaskaracharya Benjamin Baron

Barley B.M.



Chandra Patel Cartier Bresson Chinmoy

CR Das Chhaya
Champaklal-ji


Chandulal Shah
Catherine General Choudary

Dimitri Manowilski D
Debou-da

Dilip
Dilip Kumar Roy Dyuman - bhai


Datta David
Dalai Lama


General De Gaulle



English woman E
Eckart


Emile Zola



Henry Ford
Saint Francis Xavier Francios B


Francoise



Gauri Pinto
Gustave Moreau
Ganpatram-ji

Hrishikesh Dasgupta Hohlenberg the painter Hitler's asura

Hu Shu Huta-bhen Harry Trueman


Indira Indra Vadan Ishit Patel


Indira Gandhi



Janina JF Kennedy James Kidd

Jules Romain
Jyotin
J.H.

Kamala-bhen K
Dr. Karan Singh


V Krishna Menon
K's sister
Khrushchev

King & Queen of Nepal Kalyan - da KK Birla


Kishore Gandhi




Leonardo da vinci Liaqhat Ali
Lal Bahadur Shashtri

Lele
Lalji-bhai Hindocha



Mridou-di Mahatma Gandhi
Michele


Mona-da Maggie Maricar


Mahesh yogi
Mazarin
Mona Pinto


She was in M 's dormitory M a disciple



Madanlal-ji
Matteo
Mani-bhai


Mritunjay's sister Manorajan-da Nata


Nirod-da Nripendra-da ND


Swamy Neelakantha Mahadev
Nolini- Sen Nolini-da

Nandini Satpathy Navajat-ji



Padma Pavitra-da
Pranab-da

The Pope
Petain
Padmini - (selvarajou)

Paolo Pedro Pramod Kumar

Rajagopalachari
Roger Anger Ravindranath Tagore

Ravindra-ji Rita
Rijuta


Rishabchand-ji

Swamy Ramalingam


Raja of Bhaowal Sunil-da Dr. Sanyal

Satprem Sujata-di Satyakarma

S (she ) Swami JJ St. Paul


Sarala Devi Choudhurani Swedish lady
Little S


Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
Surendra Sahana Devi


S.U.
S ( he )
Dr. Satyavrata


S. G. Silvius Craciunas S.B.


Sehra



Vice-Admiral T Theon Togo Mukherjee


Tehmi -bhen
Cardinal Tisserant
T (she)

Dr. Vyas VV Giri Visvajit

Dr. Venkatraman Vinobha Bhave


Urmila U Thant


Yvonne Yalentina V. Tereshkova


Doctor Z Z (he)


Z (she)








-008_2nd December.html



At the end of the physical demonstration [[Every year on December 2, all the children of the School and all the disciples taking part in sports carry out a general demonstration of physical culture. ]] [on December 2], all the children will pray in chorus, and the prayer has been written by me. I will read it to you. But I hadn't thought about it: they asked me for it, and I wrote it. They must have read the Bulletin, and then they asked me for a prayer - a prayer that would really be the body's. I answered:

THE PRAYER OF THE CELLS IN THE BODY

Now that by the effect of the Grace we are slowly emerging out of inconscience and waking up to a conscious life, an ardent prayer rises in us for more light, more consciousness: "O Supreme Lord of the Universe, we implore Thee, give us the strength and the beauty, the harmonious perfection needed to be Thy divine instruments upon earth." It's almost a proclamation. There. So we'll put it into French. They will say it after their demonstration; it seems they are going to show the whole evolution of physical culture, and then, at the end, they will say, "We have not reached the end, we are at the beginning of something, and here is our prayer." I was very glad.
You said there is a progress?
A progress! It's a tremendous progress! The thought had never occurred to them, never; taken as a whole, they had never thought of the transformation: their thought was to become the best athletes in the world and all the usual nonsense. The body, you see, they've asked for a prayer of the BODY. They have finally understood that the body must begin to transform itself into something else. Previously, they were all full of the whole history of physical culture in every country, in which country it's most developed, the use of the body as it is, and ... and so on. Anyway, it was the Olympic ideal. Now, they have leaped beyond: that is the past, now they want the transformation. You understand, people were asking to be divine in their mind and vital - that is, the whole ancient history of spirituality, the same old theme for centuries - but now, it's the BODY. It's the body that asks to participate. It's certainly a progress.
page 375-76 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 22nd Nov - 1967




-009_7th creation.html



The idea that things are not in their place, mon petit, is something I understood even as a youngster, and it was eventually explained to me by Theon. In his cosmogony, Theon accounted for the successive pralayas [[Pralaya: The destruction of a universe at the end of a cycle. According to Hindu cosmology, the formation of each universe begins with an 'age of truth' (satya-yuga) which slowly degenerates, like the stars, till there is no truth left at all; it becomes a 'dark age'(kali-yuga) like ours, and ends with a cataclysm. Then a new universe is reborn out of this cataclysm and the cycle begins again. There is a correspondence here with a modern cosmological theory according to which a phase of contraction, of galaxies collapsing upon themselves, follows a phase of expansion and precedes a new explosion ('Big Bang') of the 'primal egg' - and so on, in a recurring and apparently endless and aimless series of cosmic births which, like our own human births, develop, attain some sort of 'summit,' then collapse, always to begin again. According to Theon, our present universe is the seventh - but where is the 'beginning'? ]] of the different universes by saying that each universe was an aspect of the Supreme manifesting itself: each universe was built upon one aspect of the Supreme, and all, one after the other, were withdrawn into the Supreme. He enumerated all the successively manifested aspects, and what an extraordinarily logical sequence it was! I have kept it some place, but I no longer know where. Nor do I remember exactly what number this universe has in the sequence, but this time it was supposed to be the universe which would not be withdrawn, which would, so to speak, follow an indefinite progression of Becoming. And this universe is to manifest Equilibrium, not a static but a progressive equilibrium. [[Note that modern astronomy is divided between the theory of endless phases of contraction-explosion-expansion, and the theory of a universe in infinite expansion starting with a 'Big Bang,' which seems quite as catastrophic, since the universe is then plunging at vertiginous speed into an increasingly cold, empty, and fatal infinity, like a bullet released from all restraints of gravity, until ... until what? According to astronomers, an exact measurement of the quantity of matter in a cubic meter of the present universe (one atom for every 400 liters of space) should enable us to decide between these two theories and learn which way it will be best for us to die. If there is more than one atom per 400 liters of space, this quantity of matter will create sufficient gravitation to halt the present expansion of galaxies and induce a contraction, ending with an explosion within an infinitesimal space. If there is less than one atom per 400 liters of space, the quantity of matter and thus the gravitational effect will be insufficient to retain the galaxies within their invisible net, and everything will spin off endlessly - unless we discover, with Mother, a third position, that of a 'progressive equilibrium,' in which the quantity of matter in the universe proves in fact to be a quantity of consciousness, whose contraction or expansion will be regulated by the laws of consciousness. ]] Equilibrium, as he explains it, is each thing exactly in its place: each vibration, each movement, each ... and so on down the line - each form, each activity, each element exactly in its place in relation to the whole. This is quite interesting to me because Sri Aurobindo says the same thing: that nothing is bad, simply things are not in their place - their place not only in space but in time, their place in the universe, beginning with the planets and stars, each thing exactly in its place. Then when each thing, from the most colossal to the most microscopic, is exactly in place, the whole Will PROGRESSIVELY express the Supreme, without having to be withdrawn and emanated anew. On this also, Sri Aurobindo based the fact that this present creation, this present universe, will be able to manifest the perfection of a divine world - what Sri Aurobindo calls the Supermind. Equilibrium is the essential law of this creation - it is what permits perfection to be realized in the manifestation. page 267-68 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th July - 1961








-010_13th April experience.html



Night of April 12-13.[[ Mother gives the first part of this message in English. ]] Suddenly in the night I woke up with the full awareness of what we could call the Yoga of the world. The Supreme Love was manifesting through big pulsations, and each pulsation was bringing the world further in its manifestation. It was the formidable pulsations of the eternal, stupendous Love, only Love: each pulsation of the Love was carrying the universe further in its manifestation. And the certitude that what is to be done is done and the Supramental Manifestation is realized. Everything was Personal, nothing was individual. This was going on and on and on and on.... The certitude that what is to be done is DONE. All the results of the Falsehood had disappeared: Death was an illusion, Sickness was an illusion, Ignorance was an illusion - something that had no reality, no existence.... Only Love, and Love, and Love, and Love - immense, formidable, stupendous, carrying everything. And how, how to express in the world? It was like an impossibility, because of the contradiction.... But then it came: "You have accepted that this world should know the Supramental Truth ... and it will be expressed totally, integrally." Yes, yes....
And the thing is DONE.

(long silence)

The individual consciousness came back, just the sense of a limitation, limitation of pain; without that, no individual.[[ Here Mother begins speaking French. ]] And we set off again on the way, certain of the Victory. The heavens are ringing with chants of Victory! Truth alone exists; Truth alone shall manifest. Onward! ... Onward! Gloire à Toi, Seigneur, Triomphateur suprême! [[Glory to You, Lord, Triumphant One supreme. ]]

(silence)

And now, to work. Patience ... endurance ... perfect equanimity. And absolute faith.

(silence)

Compared to the experience, whatever I say is nothing, nothing, nothing but words. And our consciousness is the same, absolutely the same as the Lord's. There was no difference, no difference at all.... We are That, we are That, we are That.

(silence)

Later on, I will explain it more clearly. The instrument is not yet ready. It is only the beginning. [[A tape cassette of this message is available. ]]

***

Mother later added: The experience lasted at least four hours. There are many things I will speak of later. page 131-32 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 13th April - 1962





-011_24th November 1926.html



Except for Krishna.... In 1926, I had begun a sort of overmental creation, that is, I had brought the Overmind down into matter, here on earth (miracles and all kinds of things were beginning to happen). I asked all these gods to incarnate, to identify themselves with a body (some of them absolutely refused). Well, with my very own eyes I saw Krishna, who had always been in rapport with Sri Aurobindo, consent to come down into his body. It was on November 24th, and it was the beginning of 'Mother.' [[From 1926, Sri Aurobindo officially introduced Mother to the disciples as the 'Mother'; previously he often called her 'Mirra.' ]]

Yes, in fact I wanted to ask you what this realization of 1926 was.
It was this: Krishna consented to descend into Sri Aurobindo's body - to be FIXED there; there is a great difference, you understand, between incarnating, being fixed in a body, and simply acting as an influence that comes and goes and moves about. The gods are always moving about, and it's plain that we ourselves, in our inner beings, come and go and act in a hundred or a thousand places at once. There is a difference between just coming occasionally and accepting to be permanently tied to a body - between a permanent influence and a permanent presence. These things have to be experienced.
But in what sense did this realization mark a turning point in Sri Aurobindo's sadhana?
No, the phenomenon was important FOR THE CREATION; he himself was rather indifferent to it. But I did tell him about it. It was at that time that he decided to stop dealing with people and retire to his room. So he called everyone together for one last meeting. Before then, he used to go out on the verandah every day to meet and talk with all who came to see him (this is the origin of the famous 'Talks with Sri Aurobindo' [[Evening Talks, noted by A.B. Purani. ]] ... - Mother is about to say something severe, then reconsiders - anyway ... ) I was living in the inner rooms and seeing no one; he was going out onto the verandah, seeing everyone, receiving people, speaking, discussing - I saw him only when he came back inside. After a while, I too began having meditations with people. I had begun a sort of 'overmental creation,' to make each god descend into a being - there was an extraordinary upward curve! Well, I was in contact with these beings and I told Krishna (because I was always seeing him around Sri Aurobindo), 'This is all very fine, but what I want now is a creation on earth - you must incarnate.' He said 'Yes.' Then I saw him - I saw him with my own eyes (inner eyes, of course), join himself to Sri Aurobindo.
Then I went into Sri Aurobindo's room and told him, 'Here's what I have seen.' 'Yes, I know!' he replied (Mother laughs) 'That's fine; I have decided to retire to my room, and you will take charge of the people. You take charge.' (There were about thirty people at the time.) Then he called everyone together for one last meeting. He sat down, had me sit next to him, and said, 'I called you here to tell you that, as of today, I am withdrawing for purposes of sadhana, and Mother will now take charge of everyone; you should address yourselves to her; she will represent me and she will do all the work.' (He hadn't mentioned this to me! - Mother bursts into laughter) These people had always been very intimate with Sri Aurobindo, so they asked: 'Why, why, Why?' He replied, 'It will be explained to you.' I had no intention of explaining anything, and I left the room with him, but Datta began speaking. (She was an Englishwoman who had left Europe with me; she stayed here until her death - a person who received 'inspirations.') She said she felt Sri Aurobindo speaking through her and she explained everything: that Krishna had incarnated and that Sri Aurobindo was now going to do an intensive sadhana for the descent of the Supermind; that it meant Krishna's adherence to the Supramental Descent upon earth and that, as Sri Aurobindo would now be too occupied to deal with people, he had put me in charge and I would be doing all the work. This was in 1926. It was only ... (how can I put it?) a participation from Krishna. It made no difference for Sri Aurobindo personally: it was a formation from the past that accepted to participate in the present creation, nothing more. It was a descent of the Supreme, from ... some time back, now consenting to participate in the new manifestation. Shiva, on the other hand, refused. 'No,' he said, 'I will come only when you have finished your work. I will not come into the world as it is now, but I am ready to help.' He was standing in my room that day, so tall (laughing) that his head touched the ceiling! He was bathed in his own special light, a play of red and gold ... magnificent! Just as he is when he manifests his supreme consciousness - a formidable being! So I stood up and ... (I too must have become quite tall, because my head was resting on his shoulder, just slightly below his head) then he told me, 'No, I'm not tying myself to a body, but I will give you ANYTHING you want.' The only thing I said (it was all done wordlessly, of course) was: 'I want to be rid of the physical ego.' Well, mon petit (laughing), it happened! It was extraordinary! ... After a while, I went to find Sri Aurobindo and said, 'See what has happened! I have a funny sensation (Mother laughs) of the cells no longer being clustered together! They're going to scatter! He looked at me, smiled and said, Not yet. And the effect vanished. But Shiva had indeed given me what I wanted! Not yet, Sri Aurobindo said. No, the time wasn't ripe. It was too early, much too early.
Page 298-301 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 2nd Aug - 1961


I never heard Sri Aurobindo tell me about those things [Kali and Krishna]. I know there was something of Krishna - he told me so and I saw it; it was what I saw, and he confirmed it, he told me. There was even a day when he felt Krishna IN him, and then ... (he hadn't withdrawn yet at the time, he would see everyone: he saw people, that was when he would see Pavitra and the others [[That was the lime of the Evening Talks, between 1923 and 1926. ]] ), and then he called everyone, [[On November 24, 1926. ]] sat in the verandah of that house [above the Ashram's entrance], sat there, had me sit beside him, and called everyone. Then he said, "I have resolved to withdraw from activity; she will be your Mother and will ..." He named me officially. Then he withdrew to his room. As for me, I worked in what is now "Prosperity".... But at the time, he felt Krishna in him - that's why he withdrew.


page 134 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 1st Apr 1970




-012_29th February.html



Now, there has come a message for February 29 [third anniversary of the supramental manifestation]. The message for the 21st is a jest, and this is the charitable explanation ... which comes a week later! Oh, it's very simple (Mother reads): Truth alone can give to the world
the power of receiving and manifesting
the Divine's Love.

page 20 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 10th Jan - 1968


It is only when the Supramentalmanifests in the body-mind that its presence can be permanent. [[Mother's translation from the French. ]]

Mother

This message comes from Sri Aurobindo - although it is made to appear as mine. It was Sri Aurobindo who wrote it. All I said was: Sri Aurobindo said "permanent." page 72 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 26th Feb - 1972-1973




-013_300 years.html



That was the idea: for a few beings to first attain, here in this physical world, a level of realization giving them the power to materialize a supramental being. I once told you I put a body on a vital being[[. This story is also part of the lost treasures of 1957 or 1958. ]] - but I couldn't have made that body material; it would have been impossible: something is lacking. Something is lacking. Even if it were made visible, it would probably not be possible to make it permanent - at the slightest opportunity, it would dematerialize. What we can't get is that permanence. It's something Sri Aurobindo and I have discussed ("discussed" is one way of putting it), something we spoke about, and his view was the same as mine: there is a power, yes, to FIX the form here on earth, a power we don't have. Even people with the ability to materialize things (like Madame Théon, for instance) can't make their materializations last; it can't be done, they don't last - they don't have the quality of physical things.
And without this quality, well ... the creation's continuity could not be assured. Yes, that's an interesting point. One might indeed wonder about it. I knew the whole occult procedure in detail, but I would never have been able to make that being more material, even if I had tried - visible, yes, but not permanent and progressive. And mind you (this is my personal case), I don't think I have wasted any time. Because you might say that had I known forty years ago what I know now - at the age of forty instead of eighty - well, there would have been the sense of a lot more time to work with. But I haven't been wasting time. I haven't wasted any time. All that time was necessary to get me where I am today. I don't think I've been going slowly. As I told you last time, I had the most wonderful conditions, those thirty years with Sri Aurobindo - as wonderful as could be. I haven't wasted my time. Oh, it was hour by hour! It is a long, drawn-out work. He used to say it would take at least three hundred years - so there's been no time lost. To begin with, the body needs something that will allow it to last three hundred years. page 42-43 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 12th Jan 1962





-014_Sri Aurobindo's centenary 1972.html



Today is the first day of Sri Aurobindo's centenary year. Though he has left his body he is still with us, alive and active.

Sri Aurobindo belongs to the future; he is the messenger of the future. He still shows us the way to follow in order to hasten the realisation of a glorious future fashioned by the Divine Will.

All those who want to collaborate for the progress of humanity and for India's luminous destiny must unite in a clairvoyant aspiration and in an illumined work.

page 211 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Aug - 1971


(Message from Mother)

When Sri Aurobindo left his body he said that he would not abandon us. And in truth, during these twenty-one years, he has always been with us, guiding and helping all those who are receptive and open to his influence. In this year of his centenary, his help will be stronger still. It is up to us to be more open and to know how to take advantage of it. The future is for those who have the soul of a hero. The stronger and more sincere our faith, the more powerful and effective will be the help received.
page 22 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 2nd Jan - 1972-1973


(Mother gives Satprem her latest message)

"Sri Aurobindo does not belong to any onecountry but to the entire earth. His teaching leads us towards a better future."

(Then Mother listens to Satprem read a letter from a disciple who had felt a specially strong descent of force and was asking it it was related to the new year.)

It is related to the year of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo's Force will exert a pressure this year. I felt it immediately, on the very first of January. A strong pressure from his force, his consciousness, like this (Mother lowers both arms).
page 23 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 5th Jan - 1972-1973




-015_Agenda.html

AGENDA OF THE SUPRAMENTAL ACTION ON EARTH

On March 19 during the translation class

the inner voice said:

Hold yourself straight

and the body sat up and held itself absolutely straight during the entire class.

1. The following text was given by Mother in both French and English.

2. Later added by Mother

3. Note written by Mother in French At this period, Mother's back was already bent. This straightening of her back seems to be the first physiological effect of the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, which is perhaps the reason why Mother noted down the experience under the name 'Agenda of the Supramental Action on Earth.' It was the first time Mother gave a title to what would become this fabulous document of 13 volumes. The experience took place during a 'translation class' when, twice a week, Mother would translate the works of Sri Aurobindo into French before a group of disciples.

page 69 , Mother Agenda , vol - 1 , 1951-1960 , 19th March - 1956


Seigneur, Dieu de la Verite victorieuse!

Lord, God of victorious Truth!

Like a triumph. But I didn't write that one down because I did not want to spoil my impression.

Of course, these things should not be published. We can file them in this Agenda of the Supramental Manifestation for later on. Later on, when the Victory is won, we shall say, 'If you want to see the curve ... '

page 194 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 16th Spet - 1958


Oh, now I remember! It was PINK during the second phase, just afterwards, after Egypt! Oh, it was like ... like at the end of a sunrise when it gets very clear and luminous. A magnificent color. And it kept coming down and down, in a flood ... that part was new. It's something I see very rarely. It was not there at all the last time we meditated together. And it came filled with such a joy! Oh! ... It was absolutely ecstatic. It lasted quite a long time. And from there I went into this trance where I saw (laughing) that man congratulating you! I heard him say (his voice is what roused me from my trance, and then I saw him), 'Congratulations, it's a great success!' (Mother laughs) It's good. We'll have these little meditations from time to time. For me, it's pleasant, for I have neither to restrict nor contain nor veil myself. It's nice. And I see what's coming down; it's good. And there is something very happy, very happy, which keeps repeating, 'It's good, it's good!' Happy ... and rather satisfied because of that. My impression is that in a while, maybe not in such a distant future, we'll be able to do something, a sort of ... it will no longer be personal. We should be able to establish something.'
1. The terrestrial work to be accomplished through the Agenda.
page 462 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 30th Nov. - 1960

Satprem suggests he read certain past Agenda conversations to Mother. She refuses:

You know, I've almost felt like telling you that all this Agenda stuff isn't meant for circulation. It's only for when I have come to the end - and then what's in it won't matter at all. Or else I will have gone, leaving a note saying I don't want it published ...
Why!

... and that I am giving it only to ... I will say to whom. So it doesn't matter. Actually, you could type it up just as it is on the tape. You want to read it to me mainly to get (laughing) some additions, hmm?
There may be additions, but there are also some questions.
I should delete some things, shouldn't I?
No, no, not delete! But sometimes I haven't quite grasped something, or else I've had to interpret because you made a gesture or....
Because it was incomplete, unexpressed.
There are a few points like that in all these texts. It's up to you whether I read only those points or....
You see, a time will come, I think ... a time will come when things will be interesting. So in fact, it's better not to waste the tapes.
No, I really don't agree! Objectively speaking, it's extremely instructive to see the difficulties you have passed through.
It may be instructive, but it can't be published; it's much too personal.
To be published now, yes - but what about fifty years from now? ...
Oh, in fifty years it won't be interesting any more.
Come on!
You think so?
Of course I do! The whole path is there....
Well, let's make a date for fifty years from now and see how much it interests us then.
But it will, Mother!

Do you think you'll have white hair? ... I don't have white hair I don't dye it, you know, it's natural! No, your hair is a color that never turns white.
Listen, I'm already all white at the temples!
Will you have a beard in fifty years?
No, I don't like beards.
Ah, good, so much the better!
I would rather shave everything off.
Then you'll be like a Bhikku. [[Bhikku: Buddhist monk. ]] Well. We'll see about the Agenda in fifty years, then.
But really Mother, objectively, there's a tremendous number of interesting things in it....
Yes, mon petit, but next time, not today. page 114-115 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th March 1962


You're in a bad mood; oh yes, I could see it from far away.
(Satprem voices various complaints, then adds.) And then to top it off, the other day you tell me this Agenda isn't interesting either, that it's not worth keeping. So what am I doing here?
What? What's not worth keeping?
Your Agenda.
My Agenda? But I treasure it!
Oh, you said it didn't interest you....
Me? I said that!
Yes. You sure did!
Then I was lying.
No, obviously not. But you said it didn't interest you and it should be filed away in a corner or I don't know what. So what am I doing here?
You surely misunderstood me. I said it's unpublishable for the time being; that's quite different.
Yes, it's certainly not publishable right now.
And I made a date with you for fifty years from now. I was very serious: I was laughing. When I laugh I am being serious. No, no, mon petit, it's simply that ... you have swallowed some poison.
No, you even told me that if you happened to go you would leave a note saying it shouldn't be published.
Published? Certainly not in the newspapers. It will be for those interested in the yoga.
Well, that's different.
I was speaking about newspapers and magazines and the outside world. I said, "I don't want the outside world to scoff at something sacred." That's all.
Of course.
And that's all I said. Maybe I didn't put it in exactly those words, but I said it was for those who love me. That's the point. For those who have loved me, well, it's all right, I give it to them; even if they forget me, it will make them remember. But it's my gift to those who continue to love me. And I don't intend to give them a worthless gift. No, no, I must really have expressed myself very poorly, because it was quite the opposite. I deem this Agenda far too intimate, far too near and dear to me, to be thrown as fodder to a bunch of idiots!
I fully agree! But you said (at least I thought you did) that you would systematically file this Agenda away, that it would never even be at the disposal of those interested in the Work.
No, not that. I said two things. One, if I make it through to the end, I may even let it be shown to the public, for the living proof will be there: "You don't need to scoff - just see where it leads - HERE!" And if the Lord decides it's not for this time, well, then I will give it to those who have loved me, who have lived with me, worked with me, endeavored with me, and who respect what was attempted. It will be my parting gift ... if I go. And I don't intend to. page 120-123 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 13th March 1962


And I see nothing but THAT - that Consciousness. It's a Consciousness, a Presence. And all, all is there, you see, all is there together, the Power, the Presence, the Consciousness, that joy and Love.... And all of that together almost gives the impression of ... a Form, that Vibration of golden light, a crimson-gold which is the most material supramental light - a Form. A Form, and no form - yet it's a Form!

(silence)

All right, mon petit. There are some interesting things there. All together, it [the Agenda] is going to be something interesting.
page 310 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th Aug 1962.





-018_All India Radio.html



(Mother first reads out for All India Radio the message she

intends to broadcast for February 21, 1968, on the occasion

of her ninetieth birthday.)

"It is not the number of years you have lived that makes you old. You become old when you stop progressing. As soon as you feel you have done what you had to do, as soon as you think you know what you ought to know, as soon as you want to sit and enjoy the results of your effort, with the feeling you have worked enough in life, then at once you become old and begin to decline. When, on the contrary, you are convinced that what you know is nothing compared to all that remains to be known, when you feel that what you have done is just the starting point of what remains to be done, when you see the future like an attractive sun shining with innumerable possibilities yet to be achieved, then you are young, howsoever many are the years you have passed upon earth, young and rich with all the realisations of tomorrow. And if you do not want your body to fail you, avoid wasting your energies in useless agitation. Whatever you do, do it in a quiet and composed poise. In peace and silence is the greatest strength."
page 365 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th Nov - 1967


Yesterday I got a letter from the director of the [All India] Radio, in which he said he wanted to make a "spectacular" broadcast on February 21; and at the end, to "crown" the thing, he asked me to give "reminiscences of my life in India"! (Mother laughs) So I've prepared my answer.... "The reminiscences will be short. I came to India to meet Sri Aurobindo, I remained in India to live with Sri Aurobindo, when he left his body I con tinued to live here in order to do his work which is by serving the Truth and enlightening humanity to hasten the rule of the Divine's Love upon earth." There, and that's that. Period. It came in English and afterwards I put it into French. It was Pavitra who read me the gentleman's letter yesterday evening, and while he was reading it, Sri Aurobindo came, and he started laughing! He laughed when the man asked for my reminiscences, and instantly - instantly - I got the answer, instantly. It came like that: "It's quite simple, there isn't much to tell...." But those people don't understand! And Sri Aurobindo told me, "It's high time they learned it." So it was over in five minutes.
page 35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 27th Jan - 1968


The government (I don't know who) has asked the chief of the Radio here to ask me for a message on India's condition. At first I answered, "I don't deal with politics." Then he told me, "No, it's not from a political but from a spiritual standpoint." I said, "I don't know." But he insisted, he told me, "I've been asked by the government; if I can't give it to them, I'll be in trouble...." The poor man knew how to get round me! (Mother laughs) See, here's his letter (Satprem reads): "I pray the Mother to record a message for my radio on 'integration and unity of India'...." I said this:

(Mother reads)

"It is only India's soul who can unify the country. "Externally the provinces of India are very different in character, tendencies, culture, as well as in language,
and any attempt to unify them artificially could only have disastrous results. "But her soul is one, intense in her aspiration towards the spiritual truth, the essential unity of the creation and the divine origin of life, and by uniting with this aspiration the whole country can recover a unity that has never ceased to exist for the superior mentality."
page 189-90 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd July - 1968


(Mother records a message in French for All-India Radio.)

We want to be messengers of light and truth.
And first of all, a future of harmony is waitingto be announced to the world. The time has come for the old habit of ruling through fear to be replaced with the rule of love.

page 267 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 5th Nov - 1970


Yes, it was for the radio station here, they had asked me for it.

(Satprem reads)

"We want to be messengers of Light and Truth.
A future of harmony awaits to be announced to
the world."
Yes, that's good! They have broadcast it. (Laughing) The first thing they did was to send it to Delhi. Instead of broadcasting it here, they sent it to Delhi. They made such a fuss about it. But it's good, it gives people courage.
page 27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 16th Jan - 1971


(Mother reads her message for Indian radio.)

"True liberty is an ascending movement, not yielding to the lower instincts.
True liberty is a divine manifestation.
We want the true liberty for India so that she may be
the right example for the world as the demonstration of what humanity must become."


page 47 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 13th Feb - 1971


Today is the first day of Sri Aurobindo's centenary year. Though he has left his body he is still with us, alive and active.

Sri Aurobindo belongs to the future; he is the messenger of the future. He still shows us the way to follow in order to hasten the realisation of a glorious future fashioned by the Divine Will.

All those who want to collaborate for the progress of humanity and for India's luminous destiny must unite in a clairvoyant aspiration and in an illumined work.

page 211 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Aug - 1971


The radio station wants someone to speak on "Sri Aurobindoand brotherhood or human unity."
Yes, that's what they said.
Is that what you want?
Yes.... It's not for Pondicherry. They're going to send it to Delhi, and Delhi is going to send it to all the French-speaking countries everywhere in the world. It will be a worldwide communication for Sri Aurobindo's centenary. They want to broadcast it everywhere -- wherever French is spoken. In that case, don't you think it would be more to the point to take a more general subject: to say what Sri Aurobindo represents?
I think you can do that, they weren't very precise. Did they say how much time?
Ten minutes.
Ten minutes is nothing.
It's long! Ten minutes is long!
Yes, that's better, a theme that can interest the whole world. Basically what would be good is to say, "Sri Aurobindo came to tell the world the beauty of the future to come." And then, explain it. "He came to give -- not a hope: a certitude of the splendor towards which the world is moving...." That's exactly all the experiences I've had recently. And I see Sri Aurobindo's letters, that's what he says. "The world is not an unhappy accident, it is a marvel moving towards its expression." And then give all the quotations from Sri Aurobindo on the subject. I think that's what the world most needs now, a word that gives the sense of what is to be realized -- of what will be realized. And then, to awaken in each one the desire to collaborate. To understand oneself and transmit it to others. The world needs an assurance of beauty -- of the future beauty. And Sri Aurobindo gave the assurance. Along those lines. They had asked me that. So I looked and I saw only you could say it -- they want it to be spoken. Did you hear yourself when you spoke for me [the last message to the radio station]?
page 310-11 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 27th Nov - 1971


(Text for "All-India Radio" on the occasion

of Sri Aurobindo's centenary.)


SRI AUROBINDO AND THE EARTH'S FUTURE

Sometimes a great wandering Thought sees the ages still unaccomplished, seizes the Force in its eternal flow and precipitates upon earth the powerful vision, which is like a power of realizing what it sees. The world is a vision becoming real. Indeed its past and its present are not the result of an obscure impulse coming from the womb of time, of a slow accumulation of sediments which little by little mold us -- and stifle us and imprison us. It is the powerful golden attraction of the future which draws us in spite of ourselves, as the sun draws the lotus from the mud, and forces us to a glory greater than any our mud or efforts or present triumphs could have foreseen or created. Sri Aurobindo is this vision and this power of precipitating the future into the present. What he saw in an instant the ages and millions of men will unwittingly accomplish. Unknowingly they will seek the new imperceptible quiver that has entered the earth's atmosphere. From age to age great beings come amongst us to hew a great opening of Truth in the sepulchre of the past. And in actuality, these beings are the great destroyers of the past. They come with the sword of Knowledge to shatter our fragile empires. This year, we are celebrating Sri Aurobindo's Birth Centenary. He is known to barely a handful of men and yet his name will resound when the great men of today or yesterday are buried under their own debris. His work is discussed by philosophers, praised by poets, people acclaim his sociological vision and his yoga -- but Sri Aurobindo is a living ACTION, a Word becoming real, and every day in the thousand circumstances that seem to want to rend the earth and topple its structures we can witness the first reflux of the Force he has set in motion. At the beginning of this century, when India was still struggling against British domination, Sri Aurobindo asserted: "It is not a revolt against the British Government [that is needed].... It is, in fact, a revolt against the whole universal Nature."[[A.B. Purani, Evening Talks, p. 45. ]] For the problem is fundamental. It is not a question of bringing a new philosophy to the world or new ideas or illuminations, as they are called. The question is not of making the Prison of our lives more habitable, or of endowing man with ever more fantastic powers. Armed with his microscopes and telescopes, the human gnome remains a gnome, pain-ridden and helpless. We send rockets to the moon, but we know nothing of our own hearts. It is a question, says Sri Aurobindo, "of creating a new physical nature which is to be the habitation of the Supramental being in a new evolution."[[On Himself, XXVI.112 ]] For, in actuality, he says, "the imperfection of Man is not the last word of Nature, but his perfection too is not the last peak of the Spirit."[[The Life Divine, XIX.763. ]] Beyond the mental man we are, there exists the possibility of another being who will be the spearhead of evolution as man was once the spearhead of evolution among the great apes. "If," says Sri Aurobindo, "the animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man, man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she wills to work out the superman, the god."[[The Life Divine, XVIII.3. ]] Sri Aurobindo has come to tell us how to create this other being, this supramental being, and not only to tell us but actually to create this other being and open the path of the future, to hasten upon earth the rhythm of evolution, the new vibration that will replace the mental vibration -- exactly as a thought one day disturbed the slow routine of the beasts -- and will give us the power to shatter the walls of our human prison. Indeed, the prison is already starting to collapse. "The end of a stage of evolution," announced by Sri Aurobindo, "is usually marked by a powerful recrudescence of all that has to go out of the evolution."[[The Ideal of the Karmayogin, III.347. ]] Everywhere about us we see this paroxysmal shattering of all the old forms: our borders, our churches, our laws, our morals are collapsing on all sides. They are not collapsing because we are bad, immoral, irreligious, or because we are not sufficiently rational, scientific or human, but because we have come to the end of the human! To the end of the old mechanism -- for we are on our way to SOMETHING ELSE. The world is not going through a moral crisis but through an "evolutionary crisis." We are not going towards a better world -- nor, for that matter, towards a worse one -- we are in the midst of a MUTATION to a radically different world, as different as the human world was from the ape world of the Tertiary Era. We are entering a new era, a supramental Quinary. We leave our countries, wander aimlessly, we go looking for drugs, for adventure, we go on strike here, enact reforms there, foment revolutions and counterrevolutions. But all this is only an appearance; in fact, unwittingly, we are looking for the new being. We are in the midst of human evolution. And Sri Aurobindo gives us the key. It may be that the sense of our own revolution escapes us because we try to prolong that which already exists, to refine it, improve it, sublimate it. But the ape may have made the same mistake amid its revolution that produced man; perhaps it sought to become a super-ape, better equipped to climb trees, hunt and run, a more agile and clever ape. With Nietzsche we too sought a "superman" who was nothing more than a colossalization of man, and with the spiritualists a super-saint more richly endowed with virtue and wisdom. But human virtue and wisdom are useless! Even when carried to their highest heights they are nothing more than the old poverties gilded over, the obverse of our tenacious misery. "Supermanhood," says Sri Aurobindo, "is not man climbed to his own natural zenith, not a superior degree of human greatness, knowledge, power, intelligence, will, ... genius, ... saintliness, love, purity or perfection."[[The Hour of God, XVII.7. ]] It is SOMETHING ELSE, another vibration of being, another consciousness. But if this new consciousness is not to be found on the peaks of the human, where then, are we to find it? Perhaps, quite simply in that which we have most neglected since we entered the mental cycle, in the body. The body is our base, our evolutionary foundation, the old stock to which we always return, and which painfully compels our attention by making us suffer, age and die. "In that imperfection," Sri Aurobindo assures us, "is the urge towards a higher and more many-sided perfection. It contains the last finite which yet yearns to the Supreme Infinite.... God is pent in the mire ... but the very fact imposes a necessity to break through that prison."[[Dilip K. Roy, Sri Aurobindo Came to Me, p. 415. ]] That is the old, uncured Illness, the unchanged root, the dark matrix of our misery, hardly different now from what it was in the time of Lemuria. It is this physical substance which we must transform, otherwise it will topple, one after another, all the human or superhuman devices we try to graft on it. This body, this physical cellular substance contains "almighty powers,"[[Savitri, IV.III.370. ]] a dumb consciousness that harbors all the lights and all the infinitudes, just as much as the mental and spiritual immensities do. For, in truth, all is Divine and unless the Lord of all the universe resides in a single little cell he resides nowhere. It is this original, dark cellular Prison which we must break open; for as long as we have not broken it, we will continue to turn vainly in the golden or iron circles of our mental prison. "These laws of Nature," says Sri Aurobindo, "that you call absolute ... merely mean an equilibrium established to work in order to produce certain results. But, if you change the consciousness, then the groove also is bound to change."[[A.B. Purani, Evening Talks, p. 92. ]] Such is the new adventure to which Sri Aurobindo invites us, an adventure into man's unknown. Whether we like it or not, the whole earth is moving into a new groove, but why shouldn't we like it? Why shouldn't we collaborate in this great, unprecedented adventure? Why shouldn't we collaborate in our own evolution, instead of repeating endlessly the same old story, instead of chasing hallucinatory paradises which will never quench our thirst or otherworldly paradises which leave the earth to rot along with our bodies? "Why be born if it is to get out at the end?" exclaims the Mother, who continues Sri Aurobindo's work. "What is the use of having struggled so much, suffered so much, of having created something which, in its outer appearance at least, is so tragic and dramatic, if it is only to learn how to get out of it -- it would have been better not to start at all.... Evolution is not a tortuous course that brings us back, somewhat battered, to the starting point. Quite the contrary, it is meant," says Mother, "to teach the whole of creation the joy of being, the beauty of being, the grandeur of being, the majesty of a sublime life, and the perpetual development, perpetually progressive, of this joy, this beauty, this grandeur. Then everything has a meaning."[[Questions and Answers, November 12, 1958. ]] This body, this obscure beast of burden we inhabit, is the experimental field of Sri Aurobindo's yoga -- which is a yoga of the whole earth, for one can easily understand that if a single being among our millions of sufferings succeeds in negotiating the evolutionary leap, the mutation of the next age, the face of the earth will be radically altered. Then all the so-called powers of which we boast today will seem like childish games before the radiance of this almighty embodied spirit. Sri Aurobindo tells us that it is possible -- not only possible but that it will be done. It is being done. And perhaps everything depends not so much on a sublime effort of humanity to transcend its limitations -- for that means still using our own human strength to free ourselves from human strength -- as on a call, a conscious cry of the earth to this new being which the earth already carries within itself. All is already there, within our hearts, the supreme Source which is the supreme Power -- only we must call it into our forest of cement, we must understand the meaning of man, the meaning of ourselves. The amplified cry of the earth, of its millions of men and women who cannot bear it anymore, who no longer accept their prison, must open a crack to let the new vibration in. Then all the apparently ineluctable laws that bind us in their hereditary and scientific groove will crumble before the Joy of the "sun-eyed children."[[Savitri, III.IV.343. ]] "Expect nothing from death," says Mother, "life is your salvation. It is in life that you must transform yourself. It is on earth that you progress and on earth that you realize. It is in the body that you win the Victory."[[On the Dhammapada. ]]
"Nor let worldly prudence whisper too closely in thy ear," says Sri Aurobindo, "for it is the hour of the unexpected."[[The Hour of God, XVII.1. ]]

Pondicherry, 9 December 1971
Satprem


page 326-331 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 11th Dec - 1971


There's also the message you gave All India Radio for August 15:
"The message from Sri Aurobindo is a sunshineradiating over the future."
And for the darshan here [of August 151, do you have a message?

(after a silence)

I could say:
"Sri Aurobindo's message radiates over the futurelike an immortal sun."


page 224 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th July - 1972-1973




-021_America.html


As I appeared to be doubting, X told me, 'There is no "suspicion " [doubt], the war will take place in November' (in fact, it is to occur some time between September and November), and for the rest of the talk, he had a tone of absolute certitude: 'The first atom bomb will fall in China. Russia will be crushed. It will be a victory for America. Not more than 2 or 3 atom bombs will be used. It will be very quick.' And he repeated that the starting-point of the conflict would be situated in India due to the aggression of Pakistan, then of China. The earthquake he mentioned promises to be a kind of 'pralaya' (as X put it), for not only Bombay will be touched. This is what he said: 'America supports Pakistan, but the gods do not support Pakistan, and Pakistan will be punished by the gods. HALF of western Pakistan, including Karachi, will go into the sea. The sea will enter into Rajasthan and touch India also ... ' X then said that India would side with America against the Communist bloc (in spite of America's support to Pakistan), and furthermore, that the day India sides with America, America will cease supporting Pakistan. In any case, it will be the end of Pakistan.
page 315 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 8th June

But there is a place where something is awakening, a small some" thing like what little children and animals have, going like this (Mother imitates a baby bird poking its beak out of the nest and peering around), peep-peep-peep, oh, alert and eager to know: America. They have a carapace as hard as an automobile's - it has to be hammered open, but underneath there's something that wants to know ... and knows nothing, nothing, is totally ignorant - but oh, it wants to know! And this can be touched. They may be the first to awaken. A few in India, but a more widespread movement in America.
page 260, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 14th July 1962.







-790_American Rabbi.html



One thing, though: suddenly I read (yesterday or the day before) a sermon delivered in the U.S.A. by an American (who is a rabbi, a pastor and even a Catholic priest all at the same time!). He heads a group, a group for the "unity of religions." A fairly young man, and a preacher. He gives a sermon every week, I think. He came here with some other Americans, stayed for two days and went back. But then, he sent us the sermons he had given since his return, and in one of them he recounts his "spiritual journey," as he calls it (a spiritual journey through China, Japan, Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia, and so on up to India). What shocked him most in India was the poverty - it was an almost unbearable experience for him (that's also what prompted the two persons who were with him to leave, and he left with them): poverty. Personally, I don't know because I've seen poverty everywhere; I saw it wherever I went, but it seems Americans find it very shocking. Anyway, they came here, and in his sermon he gives his impression of the Ashram. I read it ... almost with astonishment. That man says that the minute he entered this place, he felt a peace, a calm, a stability he had never felt ANYWHERE else in his life. He met a man (he doesn't say who, he doesn't name him and I couldn't find out), who he says was such a "monument of divine peace and quietude that I only wished to sit silently at his side."... Who it is, I don't know (there's only Nolini who might, possibly, give that impression). He attended the meditation - he says he had never felt anything so wonderful anywhere. And he left with the feeling this was a "unique" place in the world from the point of view of the realization of divine Peace. I read that almost with surprise. And he's a man who, intellectually, is unable to understand or follow Sri Aurobindo (the horizon is quite narrow, he hasn't got beyond the "unity of religions," that's the utmost he can conceive of). Well, in spite of that ... Those who already know all of Sri Aurobindo, who come here thinking they will see and who feel that Peace, I can understand. But that's not the case: he was enthralled at once!

page 95 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd March 1963



-024_americans.html

-025_Amrita-da 's passing away.html

-026_ananda vs love.html



Some time ago I made a discovery of that kind: someone asked me if there was any difference between Ananda and Love; I said, "No." Then he said to me, "But then how is it that some people feel Ananda while others feel Love?..." I answered him, "Yes! Those who feel Ananda are those who like to receive, who have the capacity to receive, and those who feel Love are those who have the capacity to give." But it's the same thing: you receive it as Ananda, you give it as Love.

page 227 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 17th July , 1963




-028_Anusuya.html



Anusuya:
wife of the rishi Atri and endowed with a great inner force. In her husband's absence, three gods came (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) disguised as brahmins and asked her for something to eat. Then they refused to eat unless she served them naked. Since they were brahmins, she could not send them away without feeding them, so by her inner power, she changed them into babies and served them naked. This film was shown at the Ashram Playground on August 5, 1958.

page 187 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 9th Aug. - 1958


But what does Anusuya represent? 3 She is a portrait of the ideal woman according to the Hindu conception, the woman who worships her husband as a god, which means that she sees the Supreme in her husband. And so this woman was much more powerful than all the gods of the Puranas precisely because she had this psychic capacity for total self-giving; and her faith in the Supreme's presence in her husband gave her a much greater power than that of all the gods. page 215 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Nov. - 1958





-029_Aphorisms.html




Aphorism 60 - There is no mortality. it is only the Immortal who can die; the mortal could neither be born nor perish.

The Immortal can pass from the condition of life to the condition of death (but not 'death' as we understand it); 'can die' means 'can change condition.' The Immortal can pass from this condition to that condition and back and forth again. We call it 'death,' but it has nothing to do with either life or death. They are changes of state.

(silence)

I've had this notebook [[The notebook of a disciple who asks questions on the Aphorisms which Mother 'must' answer regularly. ]] for days - don't feel like answering. You're not well? I think I am! I'm not sick, in any case. No, I don't need to be concerned with my body. It's not that.... Probably the word-machine isn't working. Whatever I read seems stupid to me, whatever I am living seems stupid to me; as for the way others understand things, it's dumbfounding! No, the mind must have gone on strike. It's uninteresting. page 203-204 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 2nd May - 1961


Aphorism 62 - I heard a fool discoursing utter folly and wondered what God meant by it; then I considered and saw a distorted mask of truth and wisdom.
Is there really no such thing as utter stupidity or absolute falsehood? Is there always a truth behind?
Practically speaking, there can be no absolute falsehood, since the Divine is behind everything. It's like asking if certain elements will disappear from the universe. What can it mean, the destruction of a universe? Once we are out of our stupidity, what can we call 'destruction'? Only the form is destroyed, the appearance (that, yes - all appearances are destroyed, one after the other). It is also said (it's written everywhere) that the adverse forces will either be converted - that is, become aware of their own divinity and become divine - or be destroyed. But what does 'destroyed' mean? Their form? Their form of consciousness can be dissolved, but what about the 'something' which brings it - and everything else - into existence? How can that 'something' be destroyed? This, mon petit, is difficult to comprehend. The universe is a conscious objectification of That which exists from all eternity. Well, how can the All cease to be? The infinite and eternal All, without limits of any kind - how can anything be thrown out of it? There is nowhere to go! (You can rack your brains over it, you know!) Go where? There is only THAT.
page 241 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 27th June - 1961

63 - God is great, says the Mahomedan. Yes, He is so great that He can afford to be weak, whenever that too is necessary.
64 - God often fails in His workings; it is the sign of His illimitable godhead.
65 - Because God is invincibly great, He can afford to be weak; because He is immutably pure, He can indulge with impunity in sin; He knows eternally all delight, therefore He tastes also the delight of pain; He is inalienably wise, therefore He has not debarred Himself from folly.


That's not how it is, mon petit! This is precisely how the modern Western attitude has become twisted compared to the ancient attitude, the attitude - it isn't exactly ancient - of the Gita. It's extremely difficult for the Western mind to comprehend vividly and concretely that ALL is the Divine. It is so impregnated with the Christian spirit, with the idea of a 'Creator' - the creation on one side and God on the other! Upon reflection, one rejects this, but ... it has entered into our sensations and feelings, and so - spontaneously, instinctively, almost subconsciously - one credits God with all one considers to be the best, the most beautiful, and especially with what one wishes to attain, to realize. (Each individual, of course, changes the content of his God according to his own consciousness, but it's always what he considers to be the best.) And just as instinctively, spontaneously and subconsciously, one is shocked by the idea that things one doesn't like or doesn't approve of or which don't seem to be the best, could also be God. I am putting this purposely into rather childish terms so that it will be clearly understood. But this is the way it is. I am sure of it because I have observed it in myself for a VERY long time, and I had to.... Due to the whole subconscious formation of childhood - environment, education, and so forth - we have to DRUM into this (Mother touches her body) the consciousness of Unity : the absolute, EXCLUSIVE unity of the Divine - exclusive in the sense that nothing exists apart from this Unity, even the things which seem most repulsive. Sri Aurobindo also had to struggle against this because he too received a Christian education. And these Aphorisms are the result - the flowering - of the necessity to struggle against the subconscious formation which has produced such questions (Mother takes on a scandalized tone): 'How can God be weak? How can God be foolish? How....' But there is nothing but God! He alone exists, there is nothing outside of Him. And whatever seems repugnant to us is something He no longer wishes to exist - He is preparing the world so that this no longer manifests, so that the manifestation can pass beyond this state to something else. So of course we violently reject everything in us that is destined to leave the active manifestation. There is a movement of rejection. Yet it is He. There is nothing other than He! This should be repeated from morning to night, from night to morning, because we forget it every minute. There is only He, there is nothing other than He. He alone exists, there is no existence without Him. There is only He!
page 251-52 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 47h July - 1961


There are some reflections a little further on ... (Mother leafs through the text and stops at Aphorism 68). Oh, he has such wonderful things to say!
68 - The sense of sin was necessary in order that man might become disgusted with his own imperfections. It was God's corrective for egoism. But man's egoism meets God's device by being very dully alive to its own sins and very keenly alive to the sins of others.
(Mother laughs) Marvelous! In any case, there it is - asking that kind of question is still taking the attitude of those who make a distinction between what is Divine and what is not Divine, or rather what is God and what is not God. 'How can He be weak?' It's a question I could never ask.
I quite understand. But when one speaks of the Lila, the divine play, it implies that He in some way remains in the background and doesn't really 'get into the act,' as they say - that He's no really part of the game, but simply watches.
Yes, yes He is! He is totally involved in it. He Himself is the Play. It must be remembered that there are all these gradations of consciousness: when we speak of God and his Play we are speaking of God in his transcendent state, beyond everything, beyond all the degrees of matter; when we speak of the Play we are speaking of God in his material state. So we say that God transcendent is watching and playing - in Himself, by Himself, with Himself - his material game. But all language - all language! - is a language of Ignorance. All means of expression, all that is said and all the ways of saying it, are bound to partake of that ignorance. And that's why it's so difficult to express something concretely true; to do so would require extremely lengthy explanations, themselves, of course, fully erroneous. Sri Aurobindo's sentences are sometimes very long for precisely this reason - he is trying to get away from this ignorant language. Our whole way of thinking is wrong!
page 253 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 7h July - 1961

70 - Examine thyself without pity, then thou wilt be more charitable and pitiful to others.

Very good! (Mother laughs) That's very good.

It's very good for everyone, isn't it?

Especially for those who think they're so superior.

But it really does correspond to something very deep.

This is exactly the experience I have been going through these past few days; since the day before yesterday it seems to have reached its peak, and this morning it developed into a comprehensive vision, an earth-encompassing vision.

It's almost like a reversal of attitude.

Actually, people have always taken themselves for victims hounded by adverse forces - the courageous fight back, the rest lament. But increasingly there has been a very concrete vision of the role the adverse forces play in the creation, of their almost absolute necessity as goads to make the creation progress and become its Origin again. And there was such a clear vision that one should accomplish one's own transformation - that's what we must pray for, what we must work out - rather than demand the conversion or abolition of the adverse forces.

And this is all from the terrestrial, not the individual standpoint (for the individual standpoint, it's quite clear): I am speaking from the terrestrial standpoint.

And there was the sudden vision of all the error, all the incomprehension, all the ignorance, all the darkness and - even worse - all the ill will in the earth's consciousness, which felt responsible for the prolongation of those adverse forces and beings and offered them up in a great ... it was more than an aspiration, it was a sort of holocaust, so that the adverse forces might disappear, might no longer have any reason to exist, no longer need to be there to point out all that has to change.

The adverse forces were necessitated by all these negations of the divine life. And this movement of earth consciousness towards the Supreme, the offering of all these things with such extraordinary intensity, was a kind of reparation so that those adverse forces might disappear.

The experience was very intense. It crystallized around a small nucleus of experiences too personal to mention (because I wasn't the only one involved), which translated into this: "Take all my wrongdoings, take them all, accept them, obliterate them, and may those forces disappear."

That's essentially what this aphorism says, seen from the other end. So long as a single human consciousness carries the possibility of feeling, acting, thinking or being in opposition to the great divine Becoming, it is impossible to blame anyone else for it; it is impossible to blame the adverse forces, which are kept in the creation as a means of making you see and feel how far you still have to go.

It was like a memory,[[ Questioned about the meaning of these words, Mother said, "The state I was in was like a memory." ]] an eternally present memory of that consciousness of supreme Love emanated by the Lord onto earth - INTO earth - to draw it back again to Him. And truly it was the descent of the very essence of the divine nature into the most total divine negation, and thus the abandonment of the divine condition to take on terrestrial darkness, so as to bring Earth back to the divine state. And unless That, that supreme Love, becomes all-powerfully conscious here on Earth, the return can never be definitive.

It came after the vision of the great divine Becoming.[[ See conversation of January 12, 1962. ]] "Since this world is progressive," I was wondering, "since it is increasingly becoming the Divine, won't there always be this deeply painful sense of the nondivine, of the state that, compared with the one to come, is not divine? Won't there always be what we call 'adverse forces,' in other words, things that don't harmoniously follow the movement?" Then came the answer, the vision of That: "No, the moment of this very Possibility is drawing near, the moment for the manifestation of the essence of perfect Love, which can transform this unconsciousness, this ignorance and this ill will that goes with it into a luminous and joyous progression, wholly progressive, wholly comprehensive, thirsting for perfection."

It was very concrete.

And it corresponds to a state where you are so PERFECTLY identified with all that is, that you concretely become all that is antidivine - and so you can offer it up. It can be offered up and really transformed through this offering.

This sort of will in people for purity, for Good (which in ordinary mentality is expressed by a need to be virtuous) is actually the GREAT OBSTACLE to true self-giving. It's the root of Falsehood, the very source of hypocrisy: the refusal to take up one's share of the burden of difficulties. And that's what Sri Aurobindo has touched on in this aphorism, directly and very simply.

page 46-47 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 21st Jan. - 1962


71 - A thought is an arrow shot at the truth; it can hit a point, but not cover the whole target. But the archer is too well satisfied with his success to ask anything farther. But that's obvious! So obvious (to us).
Yes, but how do you cover the whole target?
Stop being an archer! The image is lovely. It's perfect for people who imagine they have found Truth. It's a good thing to tell those who think they have found the truth ... simply because they've managed to touch one point. Yet how many times have we said that that's not enough!
page 66 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 3rd Feb. - 1962

78 - When knowledge is fresh in us, then it is invincible; when it is old, it loses its virtue. This is because God moves always forward. So, what's your question?
The knowledge referred to here is intellectual or spiritual, but for the supramental yoga, knowledge is... what kind of knowledge is it? A knowledge in the body, a physical knowledge?
Sri Aurobindo is speaking here of knowledge through inspiration or revelation. In other words, when something suddenly descends and illuminates your understanding: all of a sudden, you feel you know a certain thing for the very first time, because it comes to you directly from the domain of Light, the domain of true knowledge, and it comes with all its innate force of truth - it illuminates you. And indeed, when you've just received it, it seems as though nothing could resist that Light. And if you make sure to let it work in you, it brings about as much transformation as it can in its own domain. It is a fairly common experience. When it occurs, and for some time afterwards (not very long), everything seems to organize itself quite naturally around that Light. Then, little by little, it blends with all the rest. The intellectual awareness of it remains, formulated in one way or another - that much is left - but it's like an empty husk. It no longer has the driving force that transforms all movements of the being in the image of that Light. And this is what Sri Aurobindo means: the world moves fast, the Lord moves ever forward, and all that remains is but a trail He leaves in His wake: it no longer has the same instantaneous and almighty force it had at the MOMENT He projected it into the world. It's like a rain of truth falling, and anyone who can catch even a drop of it receives a revelation. But unless they themselves advance at a fantastic pace, the Lord and His rain of truth will already be far, far away, and they'll have to run very fast to catch up! This is an image I have always seen. That's what he means.
Yes, but for this knowledge to really have a transformative power...?
It is the higher Knowledge, Truth expressing itself, what he calls "the true knowledge"; and that knowledge transforms the whole creation. But He seems to let it rain down constantly, you see, and if you don't hurry up (laughing), you get left behind! But have you never felt a sort of dazzling flash in your head? And then: "Aha! That's it!" Sometimes it's something that was known intellectually, but it was drab and lifeless; and then all at once it comes as a tremendous power, organizing everything in the consciousness around that Light - it doesn't last very long. Sometimes it lasts a few hours, sometimes a few days, but never longer, unless one is very slow in one's movement. And meanwhile, you know (laughing), the Source of Truth is moving on and on and on....
But these are all psychological transformations. What is the knowledge needed to transform Matter, the body?
For the moment, mon petit, I can't say anything about that; I just don't know.
Is it another kind of knowledge?
No, I don't think so.

(silence)

It may be another kind of action, but not another kind of knowledge.





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Another thing happened to me in a fishing village near A., on the seashore, where there is a temple dedicated to Kali - a terrible Kali. I don't know what happened to her, but she had been buried with only her head sticking out! A fantastic story - I knew nothing about it at all. I was going by car from A. to this temple and halfway there a black form, in great agitation, came rushing towards me, asking for my help: 'I'll give you everything I have - all my power, all the people's worship - if you help me to become omnipotent'! Of course, I answered her as she deserved! I later asked who this was, and they told me that some sort of misfortune had befallen her and she had been buried with only her head above ground. And every year this fishing village has a festival and slaughters thousands of chickens - she likes chicken! Thousands of chickens. They pluck them on the spot (the whole place gets covered with feathers), and then, after offering the blood and making the sacrifice, the people, naturally, eat them all up. The day I came this had taken place that very morning - feathers littered everywhere! It was disgusting. And she was asking for my help! But the curious thing is that these vital beings are aware of what is happening. I knew nothing about any of it, neither the story, nor the being, nor the head sticking out of the ground - and she wanted me to get her out of it. They 'feel' the atmosphere. They are aware - they may not be conscious on higher planes, but they are conscious on vital planes, aware of vital power and the vital force it represents.... It's like this asura from M.: when I came in he suddenly seemed to tremble on his pedestal; then he left his idol and came to seek my alliance. But it's strange.... page 196 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 29th April - 1961



This type of thing has happened to me very, very often - four times with snakes. There was one incident here near the fishing village of Ariankuppam, a place where a river empties into the sea. Night had fallen swiftly, it was pitch dark, and I was walking along a road when right in the middle of a step (I had already lifted my foot and was about to lower it), I distinctly heard a voice in my ear: "Watch out!" Yet no one had spoken. So I looked, and just as my foot was about to touch the ground, I saw an enormous black cobra right where I was casually going to put my foot. Those fellows don't like that sort of thing! It slithered away and swam across the water - what a beauty, mon petit! Hood wide open, head held high, he swam across like a king. I would certainly have been punished for my impertinence!

page 99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Feb 1962


I came across a man who had that blue light ... but I found him rather formidable. He looked after all the religious rites and priests of B.'s state. He came here and asked to see me. I saw him on a December 9 (I think) when I paid a visit to the estate at Aryankuppam. I was walking in the gardens when suddenly I felt something pulling at me - and none too gently! I turned around and saw a tall man, standing and staring at me. So (I didn't know who he was, no one had told me), I stared back and simply "answered" his impudence! And pfft! it just fell off. I was surprised. Later (I had not yet been told who he was), he asked to see me. When he entered the room, I felt ... I felt a solid being. I don't know how to define it, I had never before felt it in a human being - solid. As solid as rock. Extraordinarily solid - coagulated, an edifice. And quite powerful, I must say. Not like an arrow (gesture upward) but all around him. Then it was very funny (because there's no doubt he must have had an awesome effect on people instantly, without a word or anything), but I answered ... in my own way, with something else!
He entered the room wearing some kind of religious headdress, I can't say what, and intending to be very arrogant. He went past me stiffly, and suddenly what do I see but the man do his pranam. [[Pranam: prostration. ]] He stepped back, took off his hat and did his pranam. And stayed that way for nearly a quarter of an hour. And it was interesting, his response was interesting. Then he started talking to me (someone translated - he spoke in Hindi, I think), asking me to take care of B. I said something in turn, and then thought strongly, "Now, time is up, it can't last forever!" (He had already been there for more than fifteen minutes.) And suddenly I see him stiffen, put his thing back on his head, and go. He's the only man who gave me that sensation in my whole life. And it seems that when he went back there, in B.'s state, he told everyone he had never seen such a thing! That people could trust I was really the Mother! That's the effect it had on him: something that was able to keep him at bay. A rather funny thing was that the day before, he had met N., and N. told me, "When that man entered my room, he stared at me, and I felt forbidden to speak - I wanted to say something but my mouth remained sealed! He froze me with a look, I couldn't utter a word!" That's the kind of man he is, he's used to that sort of thing. The most solid man I have ever seen - I mean, a ... oh, a remarkably organized individuality. He must be holding a tight grip on himself. With Sri Aurobindo ... you felt as if you entered into an infinity, always, and so soft, so soft! Always like ... something soft, I don't know. With vibrations that, on the contrary, always made you wide, peaceful - you felt as if you were touching something limitless. But that man, a MASS, ooh! harder than iron. Truly interesting. And he was blue. His aura was blue, with blue pulsations - not radiating out or upward, but coagulated all around him. A blue like the sea when it's very deep, very tranquil, but luminous. A magnificent blue. page 90-91 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th March 1963





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The A rya began in June 1914, and the first issue was scheduled to come out on August 15, Sri Aurobindo's birthday; and the war broke out before the first issue appeared - on August 3, I believe - a very interesting point. June 21 was Paul Richard's birthday, [[On June 28, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated at Sarajevo. ]] so on that day we announced the coming publication of the A rya and that the first issue would appear on August 15. Between June 21 and August 15, the war broke out. But since everything was ready we went ahead and published it.

page 369 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 5th Nov. 1961

I wrote in my book that Paul Richard intended to bring out simultaneously in Paris a 'Review of the Great Synthesis.' Is this true? [[Satprem no longer remembers the source of this false information. ]]
No, it's not true! This was never intended, never! The Arya was bilingual, one part in French and one in English, but it was one and the same magazine published here in Pondicherry. There was never any question of publishing anything in France; this is incorrect, entirely false - a myth. Besides, it was I who translated the English into French, and rather poorly at that! I have noticed that as soon as one speaks of Richard one is unwittingly led to tell lies. That's why I am so terribly careful to avoid the subject. The first issue began with The Wherefore of the Worlds (the English following the French), and in it Richard attributed the origin of the world to Desire. They were in perpetual disagreement on this subject, Richard saying, 'It is Desire,' and Sri Aurobindo, 'The initial force of the Manifestation is Joy.' Then Richard would say, 'God DESIRED to know Himself,' and Sri Aurobindo, 'No, God had the joy of knowing Himself.' And it went on and on like that! When Richard went to Japan, he sent his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo, including The Wherefore of the Worlds and The Eternal Wisdom, and Sri Aurobindo continued to translate them into English. Frankly, it was a relief for Sri Aurobindo when we left; he even wrote to someone or other (but in a totally superficial way) that Richard's departure was a great relief for him.
page 370 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 5th Nov. 1961

Listen, Sri Aurobindo wrote the whole Arya for I don't know how much time, five years, I think, without a single thought in his head.


page 136 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 15th June - 1966




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We are putting together ... (what can I call it?) a set of rules (oh, that's an ugly word) for admission to the Ashram.... Yes! ... Not that if you accept the rules you're admitted, it's not that, but when someone is admitted, we tell him, "But, you know, here is ..." (when he is potentially admitted), "here is what you are committing yourself to by becoming a member of the Ashram." Because requests for admission are pouring in like locusts, and at least ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it's from people who want to come here to be comfortable and rest and do nothing - one in a hundred comes because he has a spiritual aspiration (oh, and even then ... it's mixed). So they shouldn't tell us afterwards (because we've had such experiences), "Oh, but I didn't know it was that way," with the excuse that they hadn't been told. For instance, "I didn't know we weren't allowed to ..." (Mother questions herself for a moment) What isn't allowed?... (Then, laughing, she points to Satprem:) Smoking isn't allowed. And drinking alcohol isn't allowed, being married isn't allowed, except nominally, and so on. And then you have to work, and all your desires aren't automatically satisfied. So they send me letters, "But you told me that ..." (oh, things I never said, naturally), "at such-and-such a date" (you understand, sufficiently far back for me not to remember!), "you told me that ..." And from what they write I see very clearly what I said and how they turned it upside down. So now we'll prepare a paper that we'll give them to read, and we'll ask them, "Have you clearly understood?" And when they have said they've clearly understood and have signed, at least we'll keep the paper, and when they start being a nuisance, we can show it to them and tell them, "Beg your pardon, we told you this wasn't a ..." (what's the word?) "an Eden where you can stay without doing anything and where your bread is buttered on both sides!"
So I put as first condition (I wrote it in English): the sole aim of life is to dedicate oneself to the divine realization (I didn't put it in these terms, but that's the idea). You must first (you may deceive yourself, but that doesn't make any difference), first be convinced that this is what you want and you want this alone - primo. Then Nolini told me that the second condition should be that my absolute authority had to be recognized. I said, "Not like that! ", we should put that "Sri Aurobindo's absolute authority is recognized" (we can add [laughing!, "represented by me," because he cannot speak, of course, except to me - to me he speaks very clearly, but others don't hear!). Then there are many other things, I don't remember, and finally a last paragraph that goes like this (Mother looks for a note).... Previously, I remember, Sri Aurobindo had also put together a little paper to give people, but it's outdated (it was about not quarreling with the police! And what else, I don't remember - it's outdated). But I didn't want to put prohibitions in, because prohibitions ... first of all, it's an encouragement to revolt, always, and then there is a good proportion of characters who, when they are forbidden to do something, immediately feel an urge to do it - they might not even have thought of it otherwise, but they just have to be told about it to ... "Ah, but I do as I like." All right. (Mother starts reading) To those ... I am making a distinction: there are people who come here and want to dedicate themselves to divine life, but they come to do work and they will work (they won't do an intensive yoga because not one in fifty is capable of doing it, but they are capable of dedicating their life and of working and doing good work disinterestedly, as a service to the Divine - that's very good), but in particular, To those who want to practice the integral yoga, it is strongly advised to abstain from three things.... So, the three things ([laughing] you put your fingers in your ears): sexual intercourse (it comes third) and drinking alcohol and ... [whispering] smoking.
page 127 - 29 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 14th June - 1965




-036_Ashram's flag.html









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"In order to remove many misunderstandings which seem to have grown up about his Asram in Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo considers it necessary to issue the following explicit statement: "An Asram means the house or houses of a Teacher or Master of spiritual philosophy in which he receives and lodges those who come to him for the teaching and practice. An Asram is not an association or a religious body or a monastery-it is only what has been indicated above and nothing more. "Everything in the Asram belongs to the Teacher; the sadhaks (those who practise under him) have no claim, right or voice in any matter. They remain or go according to his will. Whatever money he receives is his property and not that of a public body. It is not a trust or a fund, for there is no public institution. Such Asrams have existed in India since many centuries before Christ and still exist in large numbers. All depends on the Teacher and ends with his lifetime, [[Emphasis is ours. ]] unless there is another Teacher who can take his place. "The Asram in Pondicherry came into being in this way. Sri Aurobindo at first lived in Pondicherry with a few inmates in his house; afterwards a few more joined him. Later on after the Mother joined him, in 1920 the numbers began so much to increase that it was thought necessary to make an arrangement for lodging those who came and houses were bought and rented according to need for the purpose. Arrangements had also to be made for the maintenance, repair, rebuilding of houses, for the service of food and for decent living and hygiene. All these were private rules by the Mother and entirely at her discretion to increase, modify or alter - there is nothing in them of a public character. "All houses of the Asram are owned either by Sri Aurobindo or by the Mother. All the money spent belongs either to Sri Aurobindo or the Mother. Money is given by many to help in Sri Aurobindo's work. Some who are here give their earnings, but it is given to Sri Aurobindo or the Mother and not to the Asram as a public body, for there is no such body. "The Asram is not an association; there is no constituted body, no officials, no common property owned by an association, no governing council or committee, no activity undertaken of a public character. "The Asram is not a political institution; all association with political activities is renounced by those who live here. All propaganda - religious, political or social - has to be eschewed by the inmates.


"The Asram is not a religious association. Those who are here come from all religions and some are of no religion. There is no creed or set of dogmas, no governing religious body; there are only the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and certain psychological practices of concentration and meditation, etc., for the enlarging of the consciousness, receptivity to the Truth, mastery over the desires, the discovery of the divine self and consciousness concealed within each human being, a higher evolution of the nature ...." [[The rest of the letter was published in the "complete" edition of Sri Aurobindo's works, joined to another letter of August 1934. See Vol. 26, Sri Aurobindo on Himself, p. 95. It is, moreover, impossible to overemphasize the disfigurement of Sri Aurobindo's letters under the pretext of a "subjectwise" classification, some letters having one bit published under one subject, another bit published under another subject, and yet another elsewhere - a classification into the mind's little pigeonholes. As Mother said, "Three or four bandages on his body." ]]

Sri Aurobindo

16 February 1934

Mother's Agenda , volume - 10 , 1969 , page 258-59 , 26th March 1969

Last night something happened to me that I found quite amusing. I was awakened by a Voice, or rather it roused me from one trance to put me into another. It happened at about 11 o'clock. Not a human Voice. I don't exactly recall its words any longer, but it had to do with the Ashram - its protection, its success, its power. And what was interesting was that when I woke up, I was in a state in which this formation that is the Ashram and the Force that is condensed here to realize what this Voice wanted, seemed a very tiny, tiny part of myself. I heard the Voice and awoke with the feeling of this Power, this Light, this Force of realization concentrated here which sets everything in motion (as always, it is always the same, a Power in motion). It was a dazzling white light. But then, what I found funny was that there I was, quite in my natural state, and this, the Ashram, was a tiny, tiny part of myself. And throughout the whole experience, it remained like that - a very tiny part of myself. Everything else was ... I can't say deconcentrated, but an entirely general, overall activity, as it normally is every night. And I saw the Ashram quite clearly - it was something special, made for special reasons, but whereas I seemed to have an immense body, that was very small, very small. It went on for an hour. That's what I found amusing; the other things just happen, and they may be interesting, but this was so spontaneous; I was watching it (I don't know where my head was), I was looking down from above ... so tiny, so tiny.
What was me was up above, and the Ashram was ... It began just here (the navel) and went that way (downwards), and it was encircled, to show that it was a special formation - encircled in the inconscience of the terrestrial creation. And I was everything else, with the usual vibrations of power and light. And then one current and another current and another were passing into it, into this formation, and they kept going in and in and in, accumulating. They kept going in, and yet they did not come out, they did not leave. It was not an undulatory movement, but rather a pulsating movement - it had no beginning, it didn't go out, and yet it kept moving. It's very difficult to describe. The formation represented by the Ashram was located approximately here, at the height of the navel in relation to what I was - but although the body was not delimited, it had certain attributes or undefined forms, each one of which was situated in relation to the other as though each represented one part of the body; each was symbolic of either an activity or a part of the world or a mode of manifestation. So the formation started from about here, near the navel, and went down towards the appendix ... Here, I'll draw you a sketch:
page 389-90 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th July 1960

However, it's not a personal subconscient, but a ... it's more than the Ashram. For me, the Ashram is not a separate individuality - except in that vision the other day,' which is what surprised me. It's hardly that. Rather, it is still this Movement of everything, of everything that is included. So it's like entering into the subconscient of the whole earth, and it takes on forms which are quite familiar images to me, but they are absolutely symbolic and very, very funny! It took a moment to see that vainquons is spelled q-u-o-n-s. And I wasn't sure! I meant to ask Pavitra for a dictionary which gives verb conjugations, for then if I'm stuck on something while writing, I can look it up.

page 403 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 26th July 1960


There is a black cloud over the ashram. It's origin is rather unique and very interesting.

page 448 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 25th Oct. 1960


I have experienced all kinds of things in life, but I have always felt a sort of light - so INTANGIBLE, So perfectly pure (not in the moral sense, but pure light!) - and it could go anywhere, mix everywhere without ever really getting mixed with anything. I felt this flame as a young child - a white flame. And NEVER have I felt disgust, contempt, recoil, the sense of being dirtied - by anything or anyone. There was always this flame - white, white, so white that nothing could make it other than white. And I started feeling it long ago in the past (now my approach is entirely different - it comes straight from above, and I have other reasons for seeing the Purity in everything). But it came back when I met Z (because of the contact with him) - and I felt nothing negative, absolutely nothing. Afterwards, people said, 'Oh, how he used to be this, how he used to be that! ... And now look at him! See what he's become! ...' Someone even used the word 'rotten' - that made me smile. Because, you see, that doesn't exist for me. What I saw is this world, this realm where people are like that, they live that, for it's necessary to get out from below and this is a way - it's a way, the only way. It was the only way for the vital formation and the vital creation to enter into the material world, into inert matter. An intellectualized vital, a vital of ideas, an 'artist'; it even fringes upon or has the first drops of Poetry - this Poetry which upon its peaks goes beyond the mind and becomes
an expression of the Spirit. Well, when these first drops fall on earth, it stirs up mud. And I wondered why people are so rigid and severe, why they condemn others (but one day I'll understand this as well). I say this because very often I run into these two states of mind in my activities (the grave and serious mind which sees hypocrisy and vice, and the religious and yogic mind which sees the illusion that prevents you from nearing the Divine) - and without being openly criticized, I'm criticized ... I'll tell you about this one day ... You're criticized? Yes, but naturally without daring to criticize me openly. But I'm aware of it. On the one hand, they see it as a kind of looseness on my part (oh, not only for that - many things!). And on the other hand,' you know well enough; it applies to other things, slightly different areas, it's not exactly the same, but in this area they're also severe. I'm even told that there are some people who shouldn't be in the Ashram. My reply is that the whole world should be in the Ashram! But as I cannot contain the whole world, I have to contain at least one representative of each type. They also find I give too much time and too much force (and maybe too much attention) to people and things that should be regarded with more severity. That never bothered me much. It doesn't matter, they can say what they like. But since Z's visit yesterday, and this morning on the balcony ... Oh, it's so ... I had already seen this long ago - this whole milieu that is not very pretty - and I had said, 'Well, it's all right, that's how it is,' and I didn't discuss it further: 'That's how it is, and absolutely the whole world belongs to the Lord - IS the Lord! And the Lord made it so, and the Lord wants it so, and it's quite all right.' Then I put it aside. But with his visit yesterday, it found its place - such a smiling place. And there's a whole world of things of life which have found their true place in this way - with a smile!
page 467-68 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 8th Nov. - 1960


To give a rather curious example, there was a kind of spell of illness over the Ashram, stemming mainly from people's thoughts, from their way of thinking. It was quite widespread and it was horrible, gloomy, full of fear, pettiness, blind submission, oh! Everyone was in a state of expectation.... [[Note that a few days earlier [the night of February 12], a disciple had a very symbolic dream in which she saw all the disciples gathered near the Ashram's main gate with an air of consternation, as though something had happened to Mother. ]] In short, the atmosphere was such that there was an attempt to prevent me from leaving my room - I had to sneak out! It was disgusting! Well, on the very night I saw the spell over the Ashram, Sri Aurobindo was lying sick in his bed, just as I had seen him in 1950. Normally, we spend almost every night together, doing this, seeing that, arranging things, talking - it's a kind of second life behind this one, and it makes existence pleasant. But that night when I had to sneak out of my room (in my nightgown!), and people were trying to find me to ... (laughing) force me back into bed, he was lying sick in bed - and this struck me hard, for it means these things still affect him in his consciousness. He was in a kind of trance and not at all well. It didn't last, but nonetheless....

page 88 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th Feb. 1961


But for this to come about, you must remain for a while on those higher reaches and not be constantly, constantly dragged down below where you have to fight each minute simply to LAST - to last in all ways: not just personally, but collectively. [[Note that just a few days earlier, the Ashram coffers were completely empty. Mother had sold the last of her jewels: 'It is not for the upkeep of any [Ashram] department that I have sold my jewels; it is for food, lodging [of the sadhaks] and wages for domestic servants.' ]] It's a minute-to-minute bout, simply to last. And how long do we have to last for the thing to be done? ... It is a difficult period.
page 153 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 7th April 1961

In all the Ashram services, everywhere, there was an onslaught of falsehood, deceitfulness, stupidity, confusion ... APPALLING! We're not yet out of it, the consequences are lingering on. So.... And the body had a lot of difficulty putting up with all that - a lot of difficulty.
page 450 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Dec. 1962

Mon petit, that's why we started the Ashram! That was the idea. Because when I was in France, I was always asking myself, "How can people have the time to find themselves? How can they even have the time to understand the way to free themselves?" So I thought: a place where material needs are sufficiently satisfied, so that if you truly want to free yourself, you can do so. And it was on this idea that the Ashram was founded, not on any other: a place where people's means of existence would be sufficient to give them the time to think of the True Thing. (Mother smiles) Human nature is such that laziness has taken the place of aspiration (not for everyone, but still fairly generally), and license or libertinism has taken the place of freedom. Which would tend to prove that the human species must go through a period of brutal handling before it can be ready to get away more sincerely from the slavery to activity. The first movement is indeed like this: "At last, to find the place where I can concentrate, find myself, live truly without having to bother about material things...." This is the first aspiration (it's even on this basis that the disciples - at least in the beginning - were chosen), but it doesn't last! Things become easy, so you let yourself go. There are no moral restraints, so you do stupid things. But it cannot even be said it was a mistake in recruiting - it would be tempting to believe this, but it's not true, because the recruiting was done on the basis of a rather precise and clear inner sign.... It's probably the difficulty of keeping the inner attitude unalloyed. That's exactly what Sri Aurobindo wanted and attempted; he used to say, "If I can find a hundred people, it will be enough for my purpose."
But it wasn't a hundred for long, and I must say that when it was a hundred, it was already mixed. Many people came, attracted by the True Thing, but ... one slackens. In other words, an impossibility to remain firm in one's true position.
page 193 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 5 , 16th Sep. 1964


By the way, are finances better?
They're worse! We have tremendous debts. We've borrowed money from all the people who could give us any. I don't know.... We'll see! (Mother laughs)
page 146 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 31st July 1964


But how to find the way to be what you should be in ordinary conditions?
The way not to fall into either excess?
Yes, to live normally, to be free.
Mon petit, that's why we started the Ashram! That was the idea. Because when I was in France, I was always asking myself, "How can people have the time to find themselves? How can they even have the time to understand the way to free themselves?" So I thought: a place where material needs are sufficiently satisfied, so that if you truly want to free yourself, you can do so. And it was on this idea that the Ashram was founded, not on any other: a place where people's means of existence would be sufficient to give them the time to think of the True Thing. (Mother smiles) Human nature is such that laziness has taken the place of aspiration (not for everyone, but still fairly generally), and license or libertinism has taken the place of freedom. Which would tend to prove that the human species must go through a period of brutal handling before it can be ready to get away more sincerely from the slavery to activity. The first movement is indeed like this: "At last, to find the place where I can concentrate, find myself, live truly without having to bother about material things...." This is the first aspiration (it's even on this basis that the disciples - at least in the beginning - were chosen), but it doesn't last! Things become easy, so you let yourself go. There are no moral restraints, so you do stupid things. But it cannot even be said it was a mistake in recruiting - it would be tempting to believe this, but it's not true, because the recruiting was done on the basis of a rather precise and clear inner sign.... It's probably the difficulty of keeping the inner attitude unalloyed. That's exactly what Sri Aurobindo wanted and attempted; he used to say, "If I can find a hundred people, it will be enough for my purpose."
But it wasn't a hundred for long, and I must say that when it was a hundred, it was already mixed. Many people came, attracted by the True Thing, but ... one slackens. In other words, an impossibility to remain firm in one's true position.
Yes, I've noticed that in the extreme difficulty of the world's external conditions, the aspiration is far more intense.
Isn't it!
It's far more intense, it's almost a question of life and death.
Yes, that's right! Which means that man is still so crude that he needs extremes. That's what Sri Aurobindo said: for Love to be true, Hate was necessary; true Love could be born only under the pressure of hate. [[See Aphorisms 88 to 92. ]] That's it. Well, we have to accept things as they are and try to go farther, that's all. It is probably why there are so many difficulties (difficulties are piling up here: difficulties of character, difficulties of health and difficulties of circumstances), it's because the consciousness awakens under the impulse of difficulties. If everything is easy and peaceful, you fall asleep. That's also how Sri Aurobindo explained the necessity of war: in peace, people become flabby. It's too bad. I can't say I find it very pretty, but it seems to be that way. Basically, that's also what Sri Aurobindo says in The Hour of God: "If you have the Force and Knowledge and do not seize the opportunity, well ... woe to you." It isn't at all vengeance, it isn't at all punishment, it's just that you attract a necessity, the necessity of a violent impulse - of a reaction to a violence.
page 193-94 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 16th Sep - 1964


Things (not from the ordinary point of view, but from the higher point of view) have clearly taken a turn for the better. But the material consequences are still there: all the difficulties seem to have worsened. Only, the power of the consciousness is greater - clearer, more precise. Also the action on those who have good-will: they are making rather considerable progress. But the material difficulties seem to have worsened, which means ... it's to see whether we bear up! From the standpoint of money, it's serious, the situation is serious. From the standpoint of health, everybody is sick. And from the standpoint of quarrels (!), the quarrels are more bitter, but they are "indicative," in the sense that those who quarrel realize that they have made a blunder, that it's something serious. Recently (it began yesterday), something has cleared in the atmosphere. But there is still a long way to go - a long, long way. I certainly feel it very long, we must endure. Endure and endure. That's the main impression: we must endure. And have endurance. The two absolutely indispensable things: keep a faith that nothing can shake, not even an apparently complete negation, even if you are suffering, even if you are miserable (the body, that is), even if you are tired - endure. Hold on tight and endure - have endurance. There. With that, it's all right. Some letters describing very interesting experiences ... People who had been deliberately refusing to understand - they have yielded. Things of that sort. Things that weren't moving, that were stubbornly stuck, you felt as if they would never move - all of a sudden, pop! gone. Only ... what spoils everything is the sort of haste people have to get a visible result. That spoils everything. One shouldn't think about results.
page 221 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 7th Oct - 1964


(A disciple has written an article on the Ashram's future in

which she said in particular, "The Ashram will become an occult

center, a select collectivity....")

I am not at all anxious for advertisement or publicity for the Ashram. It's not necessary at all. It's not necessary to talk about the Ashram - (laughing) the true way to make it "occult" is not to talk about it!
page 130 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 11th May - 1968


"If anybody in the Ashram tries to establish a supremacy or dominating influence over others, he is in the wrong. For it is bound to be a wrong vital influence and come in the way of the Mother's work. "All the work should be done under the Mother's sole authority. All must be arranged according to her free decision. She must be free to use the capacities of each separately or together according to what is best for the work and best for the worker. "None should regard or treat another member of the Ashram as his subordinate. If he is in charge, he should regard the others as his associates and helpers in the work, and he should not try to dominate or impose on them his own ideas and personal fancies, but only see to the execution of the will of the Mother. None should regard himself as a subordinate, even if he has to carry out instructions given through another or to execute under supervision the work he has to do. "All should try to work in harmony, thinking only of how best to make the work a success; personal feelings should not be allowed to interfere, for this is a most frequent cause of disturbance in the work, failure or disorder. "If you keep this truth of the work in mind and always abide by it, difficulties are likely to disappear; for others will be influenced by the rightness of your attitude and work smoothly with you or, if through any weakness or perversity in them, they create difficulties, the effects will fall back on them and you will feel no disturbance or trouble."

Sri Aurobindo (25.238-239),

October 12, 1929


page 100 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th Mar - 1969


For ... for years, even from the time Sri Aurobindo was here, there had been the vision - an inner vision - that India is the place where the fate of the earth will be decided. So the two opposite possibilities are there. As if it were said that if there were war, it would be over India; that the world conflict ... (how can I put it?), the ISSUE would be played out over India. But will the Force of Peace be sufficient to prevent war? There's the whole question. But the whirl of forces is here, over India. And since this Consciousness came, things have been accelerating.
page 145 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969


(As an illustration, we publish here two letters of Sri Aurobindo that were omitted from the "Complete" edition of his works, or simply truncated.)
"In order to remove many misunderstandings which seem to have grown up about his Asram in Pondicherry Sri Aurobindo considers it necessary to issue the following explicit statement: "An Asram means the house or houses of a Teacher or Master of spiritual philosophy in which he receives and lodges those who come to him for the teaching and practice. An Asram is not an association or a religious body or a monastery-it is only what has been indicated above and nothing more. "Everything in the Asram belongs to the Teacher; the sadhaks (those who practise under him) have no claim, right or voice in any matter. They remain or go according to his will. Whatever money he receives is his property and not that of a public body. It is not a trust or a fund, for there is no public institution. Such Asrams have existed in India since many centuries before Christ and still exist in large numbers. All depends on the Teacher and ends with his lifetime, [[Emphasis is ours. ]] unless there is another Teacher who can take his place. "The Asram in Pondicherry came into being in this way. Sri Aurobindo at first lived in Pondicherry with a few inmates in his house; afterwards a few more joined him. Later on after the Mother joined him, in 1920 the numbers began so much to increase that it was thought necessary to make an arrangement for lodging those who came and houses were bought and rented according to need for the purpose. Arrangements had also to be made for the maintenance, repair, rebuilding of houses, for the service of food and for decent living and hygiene. All these were private rules by the Mother and entirely at her discretion to increase, modify or alter - there is nothing in them of a public character. "All houses of the Asram are owned either by Sri Aurobindo or by the Mother. All the money spent belongs either to Sri Aurobindo or the Mother. Money is given by many to help in Sri Aurobindo's work. Some who are here give their earnings, but it is given to Sri Aurobindo or the Mother and not to the Asram as a public body, for there is no such body. "The Asram is not an association; there is no constituted body, no officials, no common property owned by an association, no governing council or committee, no activity undertaken of a public character. "The Asram is not a political institution; all association with political activities is renounced by those who live here. All propaganda - religious, political or social - has to be eschewed by the inmates. "The Asram is not a religious association. Those who are here come from all religions and some are of no religion. There is no creed or set of dogmas, no governing religious body; there are only the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and certain psychological practices of concentration and meditation, etc., for the enlarging of the consciousness, receptivity to the Truth, mastery over the desires, the discovery of the divine self and consciousness concealed within each human being, a higher evolution of the nature ...." [[The rest of the letter was published in the "complete" edition of Sri Aurobindo's works, joined to another letter of August 1934. See Vol. 26, Sri Aurobindo on Himself, p. 95. It is, moreover, impossible to overemphasize the disfigurement of Sri Aurobindo's letters under the pretext of a "subjectwise" classification, some letters having one bit published under one subject, another bit published under another subject, and yet another elsewhere - a classification into the mind's little pigeonholes. As Mother said, "Three or four bandages on his body." ]]

Sri Aurobindo

16 February 1934


(The following example, among many others, was deliberatelychosen as innocuous, so as to make the intention behind these cuts better understood. The censored passage is italicized.)
"As you say, it is the failure of the right attitude that comes in the way of passing through ordeals to a change of nature. The pressure is becoming greater now for this change of character even more than for decisive Yoga experience - for if the experience comes, it fails to be decisive because of the want of the requisite change of nature. The mind, for instance, gets the experience of the One in all, but the vital cannot follow, because it is dominated by ego-reaction and ego-motive or the habits of the outer nature keep up a way of thinking, feeling, acting, living which is quite out of harmony with the experience. Or the psychic and part of the mind and emotional being feel frequently the closeness of the Mother, but the rest of the nature is unoffered and goes its own way prolonging the division from her nearness, creating distance. It is because the Sadhaks have never even tried to have the Yogic attitude in all things, they have been contented with the common ideas, common view of things, common motives of life, only varied by inner experiences and transferred to the framework of the Asram instead of that of the world outside. It is not enough and there is great need that this should change." [[See Letters on Yoga, 23.904. ]]

Sri Aurobindo

9 September 1936


page 256-59 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd July - 1969



I think it's the pressure of this Consciousness, but lots of people are quarreling in the Services, and particularly at the Press. So I wrote something:

(Mother holds out a note)

"You seem to forget that, by the very fact that youlive in the Ashram, you work neither for your selves nor for an employer, but for the Divine. Your life must be a consecration to the divine Work and cannot be governed by petty human considerations."
Would you like to publish it, or have it posted up?
Maybe it's a bit too public.... What we could do ... It's especially at the Press that things are like that, so it would be amusing to give it to them (laughing) and tell them to print it on a little card!
page 209 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 27th May - 1970


(Sometime in August the message that follows was circulated

in the Ashram and Auroville, and published in an Ashram

periodical. It is interesting to note that the text is an alteration

of a much older original text that Mother had given to Satprem.

The original text is included afterwards.)

"The task of giving a concrete shape to Sri Aurobindo's vision has been entrusted to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society, expressing and embodying the new consciousness, is the work undertaken by her. In the nature of things, it is a collective ideal calling for a collective effort to realize it in terms of an integral human perfection. The Ashram, founded and built up by the Mother, has been the first step towards the fulfilment of this goal. The project of Auroville is the next step, "more exterior," seeking to widen the base of this endeavor to establish harmony between soul and body, spirit and nature, heaven and earth in the collective life of humanity."

(original manuscript)

(First version) The task of giving a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo's vision has been given to the Mother. (Second version) The task of completing Sri Aurobindo's vision has been given to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society expressing and embodying the new consciousness is the work she has undertaken. By the very nature of things, it is an ideal because the state of Nature that makes it necessary must be surpassed. We aspire for the time when Sri Aurobindo will no longer have to die.
page 215-16 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , Undated Aug - 1971


Now that I am here like this, in seclusion, the lowest nature of everyone comes out. They do things, thinking "Oh, Mother won't know." That's how it is. So this "Mother won't know" means there's no more restraint. I would say it's rather disgusting. People to whom I have said, "You can't stay in the Ashram" move in anyway. And nobody stops them. Not only that, but they go to the Auroville offices and try to direct things. I tell you ... it has become really, really disgusting. Because I am here, because I don't see so clearly anymore and my hearing isn't so good - so they take advantage of it. People say that I am no longer in control in the Ashram, that those around me direct and do exactly as they please.
!!!
But it's not true.
page 24 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Jan - 1972-1973


How can this be, Mother? For so many years we have kept allyour recordings private and nobody knew anything, and now they are on public display - and in an incorrect transcription moreover.
They don't listen to me.
But, Mother, how did they get out of here?
The Ashram no longer belongs to me.
(Sujata, taken aback) I feet very distressed. The Ashram belongs to Mother....
Oh, mon petit, that ceased being true a long time ago. Ever since I stopped going out, people have been thinking that Mother is no longer looking after things, she doesn't know what's going on.... We ought to start a new Ashram with perhaps a nucleus of ten people - and even then.


page 188 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th May - 1972-1973




-038_Ashwatha Tree.html


This experience last night also enabled me to understand what X had felt during one of our meditations. He had explained his experience by way of saying that I was this mystic tree whose roots plunge into the Supreme and whose branches spread forth over the world,' and he said that one of these branches had entered into him - and it had been a unique experience. He had said, 'this is the Mother.' And now I understand that what he had seen and translated by this Vedic image was that kind of perpetual flood.
page 374 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 24th May 1960


-785_The four Asuras.html



It was not by choice that I met all the four Asuras - it was a decision of the Supreme. The first one, whom religions call Satan, the Asura of Consciousness, was converted and is still at work. The second [the Asura of Suffering] annulled himself in the Supreme. The third was the Lord of Death (that was Theon). And the fourth, the Master of the world, was the Lord of Falsehood.

page 367 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 5th Nov. - 1961



-040_atomic bomb.html


/The Atomic Bomb/

The Atomic bomb is in itself the most wonderful achievement and the sign of a growing power of man over material nature. But what is to be regretted is that this material progress and mastery is not the result of and in keeping with a spiritual progress and mastery which alone has the power to contradict and counteract the terrible danger coming from these discoveries. We cannot and must not stop progress, but we must


Page - 48, Words of The Mother, vol -15


Maybe we'll see from another world. (Laughing) It's possible. They have bombs in America and Russia (China hasn't boasted about it, but they may have some too) that can destroy a whole city - one is more than enough, you don't need two. The Russians in particular: a single bomb and a whole city, even the size of London: vroom! Nothing left. (That's the theory, but still, there's always something true in it.) We saw what happened to Hiroshima, it was pretty bad. Well, if that was ten, then what they have now is a thousand - that's the proportion. In other words, they've turned all their intelligence towards destruction. Some say, "It will deter them from fighting." But that's childish!
page 425 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Nov. 1962


Now, for great upheavals men want to do without Nature's help. It seems that five nations have atomic bombs, and the bombs of just one of those nations are enough to ... vrrf! destroy the earth. So if all this (because it's new, after all) suddenly gets out of control ... They don't know how long these things can remain in waiting: if all at once they start exploding - can you see that! (laughing) In all the countries, all the bombs going off at the same time! Poor earth. It's worse than a Deluge. All in all, the ways of the Earth were more gentle, Nature was more reasonable.
page 245 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 17th Oct 1964


They're very scared of China here, to the point that many people want to make atom bombs; so in desperation, they asked me (the government asked me), "What should we do?..." - I was the last person they should have asked! It's a means of intimidation, but ... China has it, Russia has it, France has it (Mother covers her eyes with her hand when mentioning France), horrible!... I don't know if it's China or America, they have one bomb that's enough to destroy the whole of Paris.
page 195 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 16th May - 1970



-041_attack on Ashram.html



(A little later, the conversation turns to the events of February 11, when during Satprem's absence the Ashram was attacked by rioters and several buildings were looted and set on fire.)

Do you have anything to ask or to say?
Many things have happened in the last month or two....
On the evening of the attack, on the 11th, a little after seven in the evening, I had for the first time, in a concrete, total way, the physical - physical - earth consciousness. It was a STATE of consciousness that was given to me, the state of consciousness of the earth. The physical, bodily consciousness no longer existed: it was the PHYSICAL earth consciousness. And that physical earth consciousness was concentrated, its attention was concentrated on this little point of Pondicherry. Tiny little point of Pondicherry. And then, it was all seen as if from ... not exactly from very high up, but as if it were a tiny little thing (microscopic gesture), yet with an accuracy for details, for the smallest element. And that physical earth consciousness was the consciousness of the PHYSICAL TRUTH of the earth - the physical Truth-Consciousness of the earth; to be precise, the quality of the vibration of Truth in the physical earth consciousness. And the vision, the perception (it was like a perception, you know) wasn't exactly from very far because it had the accuracy of a microscope, but all was ... an object of observation. At that moment, all the fires were starting, then hundreds of brickbats (not stones: brickbats) were bombarding all the windows and doors (all our windows, all the doors have been smashed in), which means infernal din: a pack of several hundred people, all drunk, bellowing, and shouts all over the place. So that bombardment of stones and those flames leaping up to the sky - the whole sky was red - it was all seen ... I was simply seated at my table; when the attack started, I was having my dinner, and a little before it started, that experience came, that consciousness: I wasn't this body anymore, I was the earth - the physical truth-consciousness of the earth, to be exact - with a PEACE, a STILLNESS unknown to the physical.... And it all seemed like an absolute Falsehood, without any element of truth behind it. Yet at the same time, I had a microscopic perception (but absolutely precise and exact) of all the points of falsehood IN THE ASHRAM'S ATMOSPHERE that established the contact. So if that consciousness that was there had been collective, if it had been possible to receive it collectively, NOTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN TOUCHED: the stones would have been thrown, but wouldn't have hit anyone. That's how it would have been. For instance, a stone (a brickbat) was flung and hit my window; it fell on the roof there (even causing a water leak that had to be plugged), and I saw ... that very minute, I saw in the consciousness of the people present the exact vibration of Falsehood that had allowed the stone to hit there. And AT THE SAME TIME, simultaneously (it can't be said, but it was simultaneous), everywhere, all over the town and especially over the Ashram here, I saw all the points, the exact vibration of Falsehood in everyone or everything that made the contact possible. The experience began a little after 7, 7:10, and it lasted till 1 in the morning. At I in the morning, I had to do another work, because one of our boys, T. (that boy has the makings of a hero), almost single-handedly saved the clinic, but it cost him a fractured skull. At the time, they thought he was done for. They brought me the news, and when the news came I saw, I felt all of a sudden the other experience recede, and then that I was becoming the universal Mother with all the power of the universal Mother. And then, that T. became quite small, like this (gesture of something tiny in the hollow of the hand), and I held him in my hands - but he was all luminous, all luminous - I rocked him in my hands, telling him, "My child, my little child, my dear child ...," like this, and for several hours. That's what saved him, I think. Because his skull was fractured, it had caved in; it had stopped just short of damaging the brain - the caved-in piece was inside, they had to operate, cut open, and remove it. It had stopped just short of the brain. So he will pull through. And I know that that's what saved him. But the other experience had lasted from 7 to 1 in the morning, till this work had to be done. And NOT A SINGLE THOUGHT in the head, not a single thought - nothing, complete Silence. It went on like that till the morning. Afterwards, my ordinary consciousness as you know it came back, but with a perception of movements that had become very clear - perception of movements in the atmosphere, of formations of thought, of vital possibilities.... All that has become very clear. And with the consciousness absolutely certain, because there have been other details.... Three days earlier, Kali was in a fury because things weren't as they ought to be on the earth, and especially among the people whose mission it is to prepare the new world. She was ... she really was in a fury. She saw all the blunders everywhere, and it made such a powerful vibration in the atmosphere, as though she wanted to begin her Dance; as for me, I kept telling her, "Calm down, calm down...." On the morning of the 11th, she was here and she kept going on about this, that, about the blunders in the government, in the town, in the Ashram, in this and that - she saw everything. I tried to calm her down, but really without success. Finally, when I saw there was no way, I said to the Lord, "Look after her and do what needs to be done, I beg You" - I handed over the responsibility to Him. And then, the same evening the attack started, and I saw it was her dancing. So I thought, "We really had something to learn!" And I saw, I had that experience and I KNOW now (I know it in a certain, absolute and unforgettable way) which is the vibration of Truth in the Physical, in which state the Physical must be so as to respond to the Truth - so as to BE the Truth. Now I know. So that I, too, have learned my lesson. But everyone has learned something, and I hope it won't be forgotten. And this morning (this is rather interesting), I received a letter from R. telling me, "That evening I had an extraordinary experience, but now it's beginning to appear like an impossibility, like something unreal...." The exact moment when the experience came over me (of course, when he received the news of the attack, his first reaction was that of human fear, with the hands becoming cold and so on, but he sat down, he braced himself, he called me), and then he felt a Peace come down from above, something he had never felt before, which swept through his whole being, took hold of him entirely and lasted for ... I don't know, I think he said till eleven at night - it lasted a long time. He had experienced a little bit of it from time to time, but it had never been like that: it came down into him, it seized hold of him entirely. And he says, "I could move about: it was THERE, it didn't budge, it was inside me." So I thought, "At last someone who felt! There has been at least one who felt." But at the time, I saw so clearly in which people the vibration responded to the vibrations of Falsehood: that sort of movement which is like a tremor in Matter. So I know the people. But I must say there is around me someone, one person who had the true physical vibration (I had known it for a long time, but now I've had concrete proof: it's P.), and no one can understand, no one can know it, but I knew it: physically, not a single response, like this (immutable gesture). So I told him to look after the defense and organize everything. No one can know it, the mind cannot understand those things (while I had known it for so many years), because people see only outer things, the outer form, outer movements and reactions, but they don't see the inner possibility. Well, anyway, I immediately told him to look after the defense (besides, he hadn't asked me, he had started looking after it), and I told everybody, "Do what he tells you to do." He organized everything. You know, it's something which is like this (gesture with closed fists, unshakable), which PHYSICALLY DOES NOT BUDGE. Mentally, it's nothing, it's easy. It is like a physical magnet for the true physical vibrations. It doesn't go through the mind or through intelligence or even through the vital: it's physically a sort of magnet that attracts physical Truth.


page 30-33 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 19th Feb - 1965


And it was like a preparation for what happened that night [of February 11], in which from that terrestrial physical consciousness I could see down below (as clearly as material objects) the vibration that made contact with that formation of Falsehood, and THE Vibration, that sort of state in which nothing made contact, nothing could touch. Since then, several people have told me their experience, and it's like a proof. For instance, on the night of the 11th, C. went out (he was safe indoors), he wanted to telephone the police and had to go across the yard. (It was literally a shower of brickbats; they had demolished the wall of the volleyball ground and were using the stones: they brought them in rickshaws to bombard us with them.) But C. himself told me that when he went out, everyone shouted to him, "Come back in, come back in! You are mad!" But he went across (stones were raining everywhere): not one hit him. And he felt it was impossible for them to hit him; that my protection was around him and the stones couldn't hit him. And indeed, they didn't hit him - they just fell away. I've had several instances like that. It was like a demonstration of the discernment between the vibration that responds to Falsehood, and the vibration in which there is no response, which means that no contact is possible - they are different worlds. It's a world of Truth and the other one is a world of Falsehood. And this world of Truth is PHYSICAL, it is material: it's not up above, it is material. And that's what must come to the fore and take the place of the other.
The "true physical" Sri Aurobindo spoke of?
The true physical, yes.
(Sujata:) That evening, N.S., too, ran barefoot on glass splinters, and nothing happened to him.
Yes, that's how it is. And the brickbat that fell on the window here, I know why it hit its mark, I SAW (I saw everything from up above in exact detail), but there was all the same that sort of Peace which was there in that consciousness; that brickbat they kindly threw at my window (because we had left all the lights on here), hit the mosquito netting (which isn't even a wire netting: it's a plastic netting), bounced on it when it should have come through, fell on the roof above and made a crack (we didn't know, we only heard the noise, but the following night there was heavy rain and it came through, so we found out). Well, normally, that stone that had enough force to break the roof's concrete should have come in - it couldn't. And it was unthinkable - unthinkable that anything could happen, absolutely unthinkable, the idea simply didn't occur. page 37-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 24th Feb - 1965




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For instance, those who produce food, a factory such as "Aurofood" (naturally, when we are fifty thousand, it will be difficult to meet the needs, but for the moment we'll only be a few thousand at the most), well, a factory always produces far too much.... So it will sell outside and receive money. And "Aurofood," for instance, wants to have a special relationship with workers, not at all the old system - something that would be an improvement on the Communist system, a more balanced organization than Sovietism or Communism, that is, which doesn't too much lean either toward one side or the other.
The idea of Aurofood is good, and they are trying to make propaganda among industrialists.
page 427-28 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 30th Dec - 1967


Did I tell you the miracle that took place? You haven't heard about it? ... In Auroville we're going to build a big factory to mill wheat, but something huge (it's to mill wheat for the whole of India!), huge. Machines are coming I don't know from where, huge too. And they chose to land them at Pondicherry because going from Pondicherry to Auroville is easier than from Madras to Auroville. Only, when the ship came and they saw the number and the size of crates, they got terribly scared - it wasn't possible. Here it's a woman, P., who owns the landing barges, and she refused. I had her told that I needed her help and she had to do it (because she had claimed she wanted to serve me, so I took advantage of it!). I told her, "I need your help, do it." She was obliged to do it. For two days, everything went well, but they had kept the biggest crate for the end - a six-ton crate, huge - and no one knew how to do it. They would have needed enormous cranes like the ones they have in Madras, but they don't have them here: they only had two puny cranes, which together didn't even WEIGH six tons! (Mother laughs) And those cranes were supposed to lift the crate from the ship and put it on the barge. There was no other way, only that way. So they tied the crate to the two cranes and started lifting ... and the two cranes went like this (gesture of tipping over). There were people below-people looking after the trans shipment - and everyone, including the ship's captain, everyone stood there, terrified. "That's it," they thought, "we're done for, it's catastrophe." The two cranes went like this (same gesture) ... and all of a sudden, they straightened up. No one ever knew how. They straightened up, carried the crate, and it was over. It was so obviously a miracle - the captain stood almost terrorstricken, everyone. And then, those crates were intended for someone here, Mani-bhai. (of "Aurofood"), to whom I had given a blessings packet the day before the landing, and he had it on him. So he went to see the captain and told him (showing the small packet), "See this, it's what straightened up the cranes." A very simple man. It was just stating a FACT, you understand: there was a crowd, so there was no arguing; the two cranes were like this, tilting, and everyone was expecting them to ... and they straightened up! (Mother laughs) The captain met L. and told him, "Couldn't I have one of those ... (Mother laughs) little packets!" So L. came to see me. I gave packets - four packets - for him and his men. It's the first time .... L. told me, "I have seen hundreds of miracles, but this one was so obvious, and of such considerable dimensions (Mother laughs) that no one could deny it!" It's interesting. I must say there really was a concentration of force, because we were faced with an impossibility (considered practically, it was an impossibility). So there was a concentration. It's amusing. And the accuracy of the transmission (that increases the power a lot), the accuracy I credit this Consciousness with. It's this Consciousness that made the power far more PRECISE in its action .... The superman consciousness. It's interesting. But we mustn't tell the story, that would instantly look like boasting, it's disgusting! It can go to the Agenda, but ...
page 88-89 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 12th Mar - 1969




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On a practical level, I'll try to make R. understand. But I saw, it seems to me that we should do ... When R. is here, he looks after "Auromodel," the practical side, all that (its quite necessary, it's very good), but for this construction of the center, I'd like Paolo to do it, and so I'd like Paolo to stay here when R. is gone: let Paolo be here when R. is away, and with Paolo we could do that. Only, I don't want either of them to feel that it's one against the other (!). They must understand that it's to complement each other. I think Paolo will understand.

page 24 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , January 3 - 1970






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February 28, 1968

(The entire Ashram has gone to Auroville to attend its inauguration. Mother reads out her message, which is broadcast live to Auroville through All India Radio:) "Greetings from Auroville to all men of good will. "Are invited to Auroville all those who thirst for
progress and aspire to a higher and truer life."
(Then Mother reads out the Charter)


Auroville's Charter

1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.
But to live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness. 2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. 3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations. 4. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.
page 66-67 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Feb - 1968




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And when X came, they took him to Auroville, [[A first nucleus near the Great Lake. ]] and there is there a small Ganesh temple that was bought along with the land, on condition that the small temple be respected and people be allowed to come and offer prayers if they want to. They showed him the temple, he was very glad, then they asked him what should be done for the rites - "Oh, Ganesh will look after that, don't worry!" (Mother laughs) He said that very nicely.

page 101 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 29th May , 1965


Have you heard of Auroville?... For a long time, I had had a plan of the "ideal city," but that was during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime, with Sri Aurobindo living at its center. Afterwards ... I was no longer interested. Then, we took up the idea of Auroville again (I was the one who called it "Auroville"), but from the other end: instead of the formation having to find the place, it was the place (near the Lake) that caused the formation to be born; and up to now I took a very secondary interest in it because I hadn't received anything direct. Then that little H. took it into her head to have a house there, near the Lake, and have a house for me next to hers to offer me. And she wrote to me all her dreams; one or two sentences suddenly awakened an old, old memory of something that had tried to manifest - a creation - when I was very small (I don't remember what age), and that had again tried to manifest at the very beginning of the century when I was with Théon. Then I had forgotten all about it. And it came back with that letter: suddenly I had my plan of Auroville. Now I have my general plan; I am waiting for R. to make the detailed plans because since the beginning I have said, "R. will be the architect," and I have written to R. When he came here last year he went to see Chandigarh, the city built by Le Corbusier up there in Punjab, and he wasn't very happy (it seems to me rather mediocre - I don't know, I haven't seen it; I only saw photographs that were dreadful). And when he spoke to me, I saw that he was feeling, "Oh, if I had a city to build! ..." So I wrote to him, "If you want, I have a city to build." He is so very glad, he is coming. And when he comes, I'll show him my plan, then he will build the city. [[It was only three years later, in February, 1968, that Auroville would be founded. ]] My plan is very simple. It will be up there, off the Madras road, on top of the hill. (Mother takes a piece of paper and starts drawing) Here we have (naturally in Nature it's not like this: we'll have to adapt - it's like this up there, in the ideal), here, a central point. This central point is a park I had seen when I was a little girl (perhaps the most beautiful thing in the world with regard to physical, material Nature), a park with water and trees like all parks, and flowers, but not too many (flowers in the form of creepers), palm trees and ferns (all species of palm trees), water (if possible, running water) and, if possible, a small waterfall. From a practical point of view, it would be very good: at the edge, outside the park, we could build reservoirs that would provide water to the residents. So in that park I had seen the "Pavilion of Love" (but I don't like to use that word because men have turned it into something ludicrous); I am referring to the principle of divine Love. But it has been changed: it will be the "Pavilion of the Mother"; but not this (Mother points to herself): the Mother, the true Mother, the principle of the Mother. (I say "Mother" because Sri Aurobindo used the word, otherwise I would have put something else - I would have put "creative principle" or "realizing principle" or ... something of that sort.) And it will be a small building, not a big one, with just a meditation room downstairs, with columns and probably a circular shape (I say "probably" because I am leaving it for R. to decide). Upstairs, the top floor will be a room, and the roof will be a covered terrace. Do you know the old Indian Mogul miniatures with palaces in which there are terraces and small roofs supported by columns? Do you know those old miniatures? I've had hundreds of them in my hands.... But this pavilion is very, very lovely: a small pavilion like this, with a roof over a terrace, and low walls against which there will be divans where people can sit and meditate in the open air in the evening or at night. And downstairs, at the very bottom, on the ground floor, simply a meditation room - a place with nothing in it. There would probably be, at the far end, something that would be a living light (perhaps the symbol [[Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's symbol. ]] made of living light), a constant light. Otherwise, a very calm, very silent place. Adjoining it would be a small dwelling (well, a dwelling that would still have three floors), but not of large dimensions, and it would be the house of H., who would act as keeper - she would be the keeper of the pavilion (she wrote me a very nice letter, but she didn't understand all this, of course). This is the center. All around, there is a circular road that separates the park from the rest of the city. There would probably be an entrance gate (there has to be one) into the park. An entrance gate with a keeper of the gate. The keeper of the gate is a new girl who has come from Africa and has written me a letter saying she wanted to be the "keeper of Auroville" to let in only the "servants of the Truth".... (laughing) It's a very nice plan (!) So I will probably put her as keeper of the park, with a little house on the road, at the entrance. But the interesting thing is that around this central point, there are four large sections, like four large petals (Mother draws), but the corners of the petals are rounded and there are small intermediate zones: four large sections and four zones.... Of course, this is only in the air: on the ground it will be an approximation. We have four large sections: the cultural section in the north, that is, in the direction of Madras; in the east, the industrial section; in the south, the international section; and in the west, that is, towards the Lake, the residential section. I will explain myself: the residential section, where there will be the houses of people who will have already subscribed, and all the others who come in their numbers to have a plot in Auroville. That will be towards the Lake. The international section ... We have already approached a number of ambassadors and countries so each country would have its pavilion there: a pavilion for every country (that was my old idea); some have already accepted, anyhow it's under way. Each pavilion has its own garden with, as far as possible, a selection of the plants and produce of the country represented. If they have enough money and space, they can also have a sort of small museum or permanent exhibition of the achievements of the country. And the pavilion should be built according to the architecture of the country represented: it should be like a document of information. Then depending on the amount of money they want to put in, they can also have quarters for students, conference rooms, etc.,the country's cuisine, a restaurant of the country - they can have all sorts of developments. Then the industrial section ... Already many people, including the Madras government (the Madras government is lending money) want to set up industries, which will be on a special basis. This industrial section is in the east, and it's very large: there is plenty of space; and it must slope down to the sea. North of Pondicherry, there is indeed a rather large expanse which is totally uninhabited and uncultivated; it's by the sea, going northward along the coast. So this industrial section would slope down to the sea, and, if possible, there would be a sort of wharf (not exactly a harbor, but a place where boats can berth), and all those industries with the necessary internal means of transport would have a direct possibility of export. And here, there would be a big hotel, the plan of which R. has already done (we wanted to build the hotel here, in the place of the "Shipping Company," but the owner, after saying yes, said no - that's very good, it will be better there), a big hotel to receive visitors from outside. Quite a few industries have already signed up for this section; I don't know if there will be enough space, but we'll manage. Then in the north (that's where there is the most space, naturally), in the direction of Madras: the cultural zone. There, an auditorium (the auditorium I have dreamed of doing for a long time: plans had already been made), an auditorium with a concert hall and grand organ, the best you find now (it seems they make wonderful things). I want a grand organ. There will also be a theater stage with wings (a revolving stage and so on, the very best you can find). So, here, a magnificent auditorium. There will be a library, there will be a museum, exhibition rooms (not in the auditorium: in addition to it), there will be a cinema studio, a cinema school; there will be a gliding club: already we almost have the government's authorization and promise - anyway it's already at a very advanced stage. Then, towards Madras, where there is plenty of space, a stadium. And a stadium that we want to be the most modern and the most perfect possible, with the idea (an idea I've had for a long time) that twelve years (the Olympic games take place every four years), twelve years after 1968 (in 1968, the Olympiad will be held in Mexico), twelve years after, we would have the Olympic games in India, here. So we need space. In between these sections, there are intermediary zones, four intermediary zones: one for public services (the post, etc.), a zone for transportation (railway station and, if possible, an airfield), a zone for food supplies (that one would be towards the Lake and would include dairies, poultry farms, orchards, cultivation, etc. - it would spread to incorporate the Lake estate [[Which has already been cultivated. ]]: what they wanted to do separately will be done as a part of Auroville); then a fourth zone (I've said public services, transportation, food supplies), and the fourth zone: shops. We don't need many shops, but a few are necessary to get what we don't produce. These zones are like quarters, you see.
And you will be there, in the center?
H. hopes so! (Mother laughs) I didn't say either yes or no to her, I told her, "The Lord will decide." It depends on my "health." Moving from here - no: I am here because of the Samadhi, I remain here, that's quite certain; but I can go there on a visit (it's not so far away, it takes five minutes by car). Only, H. wants to be in peace, silence, far from the world, and it's quite possible in her park with a road around it and someone to stop people from entering - one can be really in peace - but if I am there, that's an end to it! There will be collective meditations and so on. So if I have signs (physical signs, first), then the inner command to go out, I will go there in a car and spend an hour in the afternoon - I can do it from time to time.... We still have time, because it will take years before everything is ready.
You mean the disciples will remain here.
Ah, the Ashram remains here - the Ashram stays here, I stay here, that's quite clear: Auroville is ...
A satellite.
Yes, it's the contact with the outside world. The center in my drawing is a symbolic center. But that's H.'s hope: she wants a house where she would be all alone, and next to it a house where I would be all alone - the second part is a dream because for me to be "all alone" ... you just have to see what goes on! It's a fact, isn't it, so it doesn't go well with the "all alone." Solitude must be found within, it's the only way. But on the level of life, I will certainly not go and live there, because the Samadhi is here; but I can go there on a visit. For instance, I can go for an opening or certain ceremonies - we'll have to see, it won't be for years. It's going to take years to be realized.
So, Auroville is meant more for the outside.
Oh, yes! It's a town, so it is the whole contact with the outside. And an attempt to achieve on earth a slightly more ideal life. In the old formation I had made, there had to be a hill and a river. A hill was necessary because Sri Aurobindo's house was on top of the hill. But Sri Aurobindo was there, in the center. It was arranged according to the plan of my symbol, that is to say, a central point with Sri Aurobindo and all that concerns Sri Aurobindo's life, then four large petals (which weren't the same as in this drawing, they were something different), then twelve petals around (the city proper), then around that, there were the disciples' was even N. who was a sailor and who said he would obtain a sailing boat from England to sail up the river, collect all the products and bring them back to us here - everything was very well seen to! Then they set that condition. I asked if it was possible to remove it, then Sir Akbar died and it was over, the whole thing fell through. Afterwards I was glad it hadn't worked out because, with Sri Aurobindo gone, I could no longer leave Pondicherry - I could leave Pondicherry only with him (provided he agreed to go and live in his ideal city). At the time I told Antonin Raymond, who built "Golconde," about the project, and he was enthusiastic, he told me, "As soon as you start building, call me and I will come." I showed him my plan (it was on the model of my symbol, enlarged), and he was quite enthusiastic, he found it magnificent. It fell through. But the other project, which is just a small intermediate attempt, we can try. I am under no illusion that it will retain its purity, but ... we will try something.
Much will depend on those you will entrust with the financial organization of the project.
The financial organization, for the moment, is looked after by N., because he is the one who receives the money through that "Sri Aurobindo Society" and who has bought the lands - there is already a good amount of land bought. That's going well. Naturally the difficulty is to find enough money, but for example, for the pavilions, it's each country that will meet the expenses for its pavilion; for the industries, it's each industry that puts its money into the business; for the residents, each will give the money necessary for his land. And the government (Madras has already promised it to us) gives between 60% and 80% (partly a grant, which means it's given, and partly a loan, free of interest and repayable over ten years, twenty years, forty years - a long-term repayment). N. knows his way about, [[He knows his way about very well indeed: he is the one who will become the "proprietor" of Auroville after Mother's departure, taking advantage of the money collected for Auroville. He will have the Aurovilians who will not consent to this fraud sent to jail and expelled from India, while Auroville will be reduced to a state of siege and funds meant for Auroville will be used to corrupt. ]] he has already got results. But depending on whether money comes in fast or only little by little, it will go faster or slower. As regards the construction, it will depend on R.'s plasticity....

page 139-145 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 23rd June - 1965




A few weeks later, on September 7, Mother was led to put the project of Auroville in perspective: Auroville wants to be a universal town ... A universal town - not international: universal. ... where men and women of all countries will be able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creed, all politics and all nationalities, straining to realize human unity.
page 150 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 23rd June - 1965


(Later, regarding a letter from the Raymonds, friends of Pavitra'sand the architects who built "Golconde," the Ashram's guest house.)
Have you seen the Raymonds' letter? ... They've written a very sweet letter. In their letter, they write something I didn't know, which Pavitra had never told me; they say that when Pavitra put them in contact with here, it completely changed their lives, the aim of their lives and everything. Raymond is a great architect. When they came here [[In 1937-38. ]] and built "Golconde," I asked Raymond to prepare the plan for the first Auroville I had conceived (that was when Sri Aurobindo was still alive), and it was magnificent! He didn't leave it here. But it was an Auroville with, at the center, Sri Aurobindo's house (gesture on a hilltop). Sri Aurobindo was alive, so we had put him at the center.

(silence)

Pavitra has remained wholly conscious, independent. For instance, when I was read this very letter of the Raymonds, it was Pavitra who listened!

And who had all the reactions .... It's very interesting. It's something quite unexpected .... There are times when I feel a slight inner duality, that is, for example, two reactions to one thing! It's quite funny. He had an extraordinary goodwill! I realize he really had goodwill, and a sort of modest endurance - never a sense of wanting to pull things to himself .... (Laughing) I know him better now!
page 216-17 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 11th June , 1969



Two nights ago, I spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo, and I showed him all that was going to descend for Auroville. It was rather interesting. There were games, there was art, there was even cooking! But all that was very symbolic. I explained it to him as if on a table, in front of a large landscape; I explained the principle on whose basis physical exercises and games were going to be organized. It was very clear, very precise, I even did a demonstration, as if showing him on a very small scale: a representation on a very small scale of what was going to be done. I moved people, things ... (gesture as if on a chessboard). But it was very interesting, and he was interested: he gave kinds of broad laws of organization (I don't know how to explain)

page 202 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 31st May , 1969


Mother hands Satprem a brochure on Auroville The photos are very pretty. One is quite like a nebula.
Practically, is it moving?
It seems to be going quite well. A very widespread collective response, and from the two opposite sides: the whole Communist side is moving, and the whole financial, American side is moving. There is an effervescence. It's sure to work, I KNOW it exists - the city is already there (it has been for many, many years). Interestingly, my creation was with Sri Aurobindo in the center, then when Sri Aurobindo left, I let it all rest, I didn't budge anymore. Then it suddenly started coming again, as if to say, "Now is the time, it must be done." Very well. The Muslims would say, "It's fated." It's fated, it's sure to exist. I don't know how much time it will take, but it seems to be going fast. The city already exists. And the remarkable thing is that I simply told R. [the architect] the broad outlines, asking him if he was interested. Then he went back to France and he received my formation (my old formation, which I myself had left asleep); he received it there. I found that very interesting. He received it, he said to me, "It came all at once, I seemed to be possessed by something, and in one night the whole thing was done." And the interesting point is that an architect friend of his came and worked with him and participated in the creation; he is now quite enthusiastic, and he is a man who has very extensive contacts with all Communist Europe, including Russia. And he is thrilled to pieces. So, on that side, it's working well. And in America, too, it seems to be working. And that's precisely what I want - that these two countries clashing with each other should come here, and each of them have a pavilion of their culture and ideal, and that they should be here, face to face, and shake hands.
page 91-92 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 23rd April - 1966


A little later We're still receiving heaps of letters. Lots of people want to come and are asking questions. There's going to be a crush of people - some are arranging planes! So yesterday I said, "We'll have a direct yearly flight: Paris-Auroville!" And they're going to prepare an airfield. We are already in negotiations with the government for the land: it's huge, we could make four or five airfields! There will be a landing field in Auroville: Paris-Auroville! (Mother looks very amused.) It seems that in 1972, there will be a new plane that will fly from Paris to India (Paris-Auroville!) in four hours. Which means that if they leave Paris in the evening, they'll reach here at daybreak (you know that some time is lost while coming here). And if they leave here at noon, they'll reach Paris at 10 in the morning - two hours before they left.
page 160 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Jul - 1966


Another one is Communist. He is a Russian who lives in Paris. He asked me if all the Auroville workers shouldn't meet and "talk over" (Mother laughs) the necessity of a "moral conduct"! (I have heard he keeps them all talking away till 3 in the morning.) So I answered him (laughing) that morality has only a very relative value from the standpoint of the Truth; that it changes with countries, climates and ages! I also told him that discussions were generally sterile and nonproductive. And so as not to be only critical, I answered him that if everyone made an effort to be perfectly sincere, straightforward and goodwilled, that would be enough to create quite a sufficient base to work on.... The poor fellow!


page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 10th Aug - 1966


You know that scores of people have come for Auroville.... Instead of working, they spend their time talking and chatting! And they send me letters. Their whole mental ego is bubbling with excitement, all of them. Have you seen them?

They've already begun discussing what the city's political situation will be - even before the first stone has been laid! And one of them, the one with a Communist creed (he is the one who has the greatest energy and power of realization), is scandalized: he wrote
to me yesterday, saying he couldn't take part in something that wasn't "purely democratic"! ... So I answered him this (Mother hands Satprem her note): "Auroville must be at the service of the Truth, beyond all social, political and religious convictions." I told him many things (Mother makes a gesture of mental communication), but above all, I insisted a lot on the fact that it would be better to build the city first! And that we would see afterwards. Because he told me it was important for him that we should remain in the democratic system "until something better has been found." I felt like answering him, "How do you know that something better hasn't been found?" But I didn't say anything. Then I also wrote something for J. He had asked me for a "message" for his school (Mother hands another note): "He who lives to serve the Truth is unaffected by any external circumstance."

page 173-74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 13th Aug - 1966


I had a revelation, in the sense that it was more on the order of a vision. For external reasons, I was looking at the sorry state in which all countries find themselves, the truly painful and dangerous conditions of the earth, and there was a sort of all-embracing vision showing how nations (men taken as nations) have acted and are increasingly acting in a growing Falsehood, and how they have used all their creative power to create such formidable means of destruction, with, at the back of their minds, the really childish notion that the destruction would be so terrible that no one would want to use them. But they don't know (they ought to know, but they don't) that things have a consciousness and a force of manifestation, and that all those means of destruction are pressing to be used; and even though men may not want to use them, a force stronger than they will be pushing them to do so. Then, seeing all this, the imminence of the catastrophe, there was a sort of call or aspiration to bring down something that could at least neutralize that error. And it came, an answer ... I can't say I heard it with my ears, but it was so clear, so strong and precise that it was indisputable. I am obliged to translate it into words; if I translate it into words, I may say something like this: "That's why you have created Auroville." And with the clear vision that Auroville was a center of force and creation, with ... (how can I explain?) a seed of truth, and that if it could sprout and develop, the very movement of its growth would be a reaction against the catastrophic consequences of the error of armament. I found this very interesting because this birth of Auroville wasn't preceded by any thought; as always, it was simply a Force acting, like a sort of absolute manifesting, and it was so strong [when the idea of Auroville presented itself to Mother] that I could have told people, "Even if you don't believe in it, even if all circumstances appear to be quite unfavorable, I KNOW THAT AUROVILLE WILL BE. It may be in a hundred years, it may be in a thousand years, I don't know, but Auroville will be, because it has been decreed." So it was decreed - and done quite simply, like that, in obedience to a Command, without any thought. And when I was told that (I say, "I was told," but you understand what I mean), when I was told that, it was to tell me, "Here is why you have made Auroville; you are unaware of it, but that's why...." Because it was the LAST HOPE to react against the imminent catastrophe. If some interest is awakened in all countries for this creation, little by little it will have the power to react against the error they have committed. I found this very interesting, because I had never thought about it. And naturally, when I was shown that, I understood; I perceived how the creation of Auroville has an action in the invisible, and what action. It's not a material, outward action: it's an action in the invisible. And since then, I have been trying to make countries understand it, of course not outwardly because they all think they're much too clever to be taught anything, but inwardly, in the invisible. It's fairly recent, it dates from two or three days ago. I had never been told this. It was said very clearly - "said," I mean seen, shown like this (gesture of a scene offered to the sight). So my interest in Auroville has considerably increased since then. Because I have understood that it isn't just a creation of idealism, but quite a practical phenomenon, in the hope ... in the will, rather, to thwart and counterbalance the effects - the frightful effects - of the psychological error of believing that fear can save you from a danger! Fear attracts the danger much more than it saves you from it. And all these countries, all these governments commit blunder upon blunder because of that fear of the catastrophe. All this is simply to tell you that if nations collaborate in the work of Auroville, even to a very modest extent [such as this offer of money from the French government], it will do them good - it can do them a lot of good, a good that can be out of proportion to the appearance of their actions.
You speak of the imminence of a catastrophe, but still Auroville will take some time to be realized?
No! I am speaking of the countries' collaboration in CREATING something. It's not when Auroville has been completed: it's the nations' collaboration in creating something - but creating something founded on the Truth instead of a rivalry in Falsehood's creation. It's not when Auroville is ready - when Auroville is ready, it will be one town among all other towns and it's only its own capacity of truth that will have power, but that ... remains to be seen. No, the point is a combined interest in building something founded on the Truth. They have had a combined interest (combined without any mutual liking, of course) in creating a power of destruction built on Falsehood; well, Auroville means diverting a little of that force (the quantity is minor, but the quality is superior). It's truly a hope - it's founded on a hope - of doing something that can be the beginning of a harmony. No, it's RIGHT NOW, right now. The force of propagation is far greater, it's out of proportion to the transmitting center [Mother], which, on a world scale, is so to say unknown and almost nonexistent. But the center, the power of radiation and propagation is out of proportion, it's rather remarkable: the response [to Auroville] is everywhere, everywhere; a response from new Africa, a response in France, a response in Russia, a response in America, a response in Canada, and a response in numerous countries, in Italy ... everywhere, everywhere. And not just individuals: groups, tendencies, movements, even in governments. What's proving to be the most refractory (and the irony of it is wonderful) is ... the United Nations! Those people are outdated, oh! ... They haven't yet gone beyond the "materialistic, antireligious movement," and they made a derogatory remark about the Auroville brochure, saying it was "mystic," with "religious" tendency. The irony is lovely!
Unfortunately, following the present tendencies, for Auroville they are trying to get UNESCO'S support (!) I, of course, knew beforehand that those [UNESCO] people couldn't understand, but ... they are trying. Because everywhere people (it's a sort of superstition), everywhere people say, "No, I'll open my purse strings only with UNESCO's approval and encouragement" - I am talking about those whose contribution matters, lots of people, so ... Only, to me, all this is the crust, the quite superficial experience - the crust; and things have to happen underneath, beneath that crust. It's just an appearance. I said that to those who look after Auroville, I told them, "Those people [of UNESCO] are two hundred years behind the earth's march, so there's little hope they'll understand." But anyway, I didn't tell them not to deal with them - I don't give any advice. But tiny details such as the one we spoke of just before [the French government's offer of a pension] are an indication: it's countries collaborating in the Truth without knowing it. And it's very good, it will do them good. It's good for them. It doesn't matter if they aren't aware of it (smiling): they won't have the pleasure of having done it, that's all!

(silence)

But I was the first to be very interested, because it came like that (gesture of irresistible descent), with all-powerful authority: "That's why Auroville has been created."
page 204-08 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966



There is a perception of forces - the forces that act directly in events, material events, which are ... illusory and deceptive. For instance, the man who fought for his country's freedom, who has just been assassinated because he is a rebel, and who looks defeated, lying there on the edge of the road - he is the real victor. That's how it is, it clearly shows the kind of relationship between the truth and the expression. Then, if you enter the consciousness in which you perceive the play of forces and see the world in that light, it's very interesting. And that's how, when I was in that state, I was told, clearly shown (it's inexpressible because it isn't with words, but these are facts): "That's why you have created Auroville...." It's the same thing as with that photo. [[Mother gestures to show the man shot lying victorious on the roadside, implying that Auroville's modest appearances are quite out of proportion to its true role in the invisible. ]]


page 209 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966



There, you'll keep this.

***

A note on Auroville by Mother:

"Humanity is not the last rung of terrestrial

creation. Evolution continues and man will be

surpassed. It is for each one to know whether he

wants to participate in the advent of the new

species. For those who are satisfied with the

world as it is, Auroville obviously has no raison

d'être."



page 210 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966


(Then Mother shows two notes on Auroville.)

"At last a place where one will be able to think of nothing but the future." "Auroville is doing well and growing more and more real. But its realization is not progressing in the habitual human way, and it is more visible to the inner consciousness than to the outer vision."

page 30 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 21st Jan - 1967


And when you are on the very lowest rungs of the ladder of consciousness, those manners of speaking become increasingly concrete, absolute, hard, and exclusive of all that isn't themselves: those are religions.... Oh, by the way, it seems the Pope was approached about Auroville and he asked if there would be a Catholic church! ... They put the question to me. I said, "No. No churches, no temples."


page 51 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th Feb - 1967


But now, with this "new logic" and "new mathematics," a whole set of new signs is beginning to be universal, that is to say, the same signs express the same ideas or things in all countries, whatever language is used in the country, quite independently. These new thoughts and new experiences, this new logic and new mathematics, are now taught in higher classes, but all the primary and secondary studies have remained in the old formula, so I have been very seriously thinking of opening primary and secondary schools in Auroville, based on the new system - as a trial.
page 57 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 18th Feb - 1967


"Auroville is the shelter built for all those

who want to hasten towards a future of

knowledge, peace and unity."

We have a small place called "Promesse," where there will be six or eight rooms, an office which will be Auroville's first administrative office, and also a guest house with a few rooms, five or six rooms for visitors. It's quite a small place, with a pretty garden and trees, on the Madras road. It's on Auroville's outer border.
And so it's being built. There will be a lotus pond in the middle and a sort of big bowl, made of marble, I think, on which this text will be engraved (in French) to let people passing by know what Auroville is.


page 130-31 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd May - 1967



A. writes that he received in Paris people who asked for information on Auroville. He answered with a letter, and when he was about to send it, he thought, "Maybe I'd better show it to Mother, after all." He sent his letter - and well he did! Those people asked him the conditions to be admitted to Auroville; he replies, "Oh, that hasn't been decided yet!" (Mother laughs) So I've prepared a little note; because he just says, "Oh, nothing has been decided, we'll see," as though there weren't any Aurovilians yet. I don't know if he did it purposely to discourage people; at any rate, it's not good to write like that. At least three or four hundred Aurovilians have been accepted and I signed them in. So one can't answer like that.... I know what he based himself on: I had told him that, naturally, from the material point of view, the CONDITIONS OF LIFE in Auroville were not arbitrarily fixed in advance. Here is what I wrote: "From the psychological point of view, the essential conditions are: 1) Being convinced of the essential human unity and having the will to collaborate in the advent of this unity. 2) The will to collaborate in all that furthers future realizations." That's all, it's not complicated. Then, from the material point of view: "The material conditions will be worked out as the realization progresses." It's not too complicated. Of course, we'll add a note saying that for the time being, after they have read the brochures on "Why Auroville?" and have adhered to that, people will have to send their photograph along with their request, and I am the one who will accept them or not. As long as the number remains limited, a few hundreds, it's very easy to see their photos and thus have a minimum guarantee that tricksters won't come in. Because it's very easy to say, "Oh, I am thoroughly convinced and eager to participate," but that's just words.... I can't see each and every one, but even with their photograph one can see clearly enough whether they are sincere or not.
page 165-66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd June - 1967


I saw Y. on the 31st. She stayed for about an hour and told me of her hopes: she sees the possibility of a sort of world television (I don't know how that would be arranged), with a telephone and a central office where answers to all possible questions would be collected - each question answered by someone eminent or qualified. The result would be the organization of a universal - well, a world education that would really be an education for all countries, in which the knowledge and best qualities of every country in the artistic, literary and scientific fields would be gathered in a kind of transmitting center, and all you would have to do would be to get into communication with it. So then, instead of having more or less incapable teachers to teach what they know also more or less, you would have the answer to every question, the most competent and best answer. Thus there would really be all over the earth an education that would be the best possible, from which everyone would receive only what he wants; you wouldn't have to attend classes, a number of useless classes, in order to catch the little you want to know: you would have it just by getting into communication with the center; you would ask for such and such a number and would get your answer If it could be realized, it would be very good. It means that the most beautiful works of art, the most beautiful teachings, all the best of what humanity is GOING to produce, would be collected and within the reach of all those who had a television. There would be pictures along with the explanation, or a text or speech. A kind of imposing central building where everything would be gathered. I found it rather attractive. I told her that we would have that in Auroville (not the central office: just a receiving set). She said that instead of teachers who teach poorly what they know, there would be the best teaching for each subject.... (I didn't ask her WHO would select those people - that remains the somewhat delicate point.) But I found the idea very attractive. She said things are moving in that direction.
page 167-68 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd June - 1967


(About an Indian disciple from South Africa who has been

jailed for a few months in Syria under the pretext

that his banknotes were counterfeit.)

... They have no government to protect them. Before India's independence they had a British passport, but now the government of South Africa doesn't recognize them, the government of India doesn't look after them, so they're like that, neither fish nor fowl, and with no one to protect them. It's rather peculiar. There are a few here [in the Ashram] who still have a British passport, and they don't know what to do. They're neither this nor that, they're nothing I To those who are nice I say, "Never mind, you will become Aurovilians." That saves everything. Because the principle has been recognized by UNESCO, they've recognized the idea: everyone becomes Aurovilian, no more separate nationality. So it's very good. As an idea, it's interesting. Only, I've warned them to be careful about admissions, because ... (Mother laughs) it could be seen as a refuge for brigands who have been driven out of their country! ... As long as I control admissions it's all right, but after?...
page 199 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 30th June - 1967


Auroville I met Y. They're preparing an issue on Auroville, and she came with a list of questions this long (gesture), saying, "I don't know Auroville's sociology too well." I told her, "Neither do I!" Then she asked me questions (very intelligent ones, mind you), and I answered her. But there was one thing about the selection of people and admissions to Auroville; I told her that naturally, the essential condition to be able to select people was that preferences, attractions and repulsions, likes and dislikes, all moral rules, all of that must have completely disappeared - not that one should be on the way to overcoming it, it's not that: it must have disappeared (laughing), there must be no more ego! Then I told her, "It's not a judgment, it's not that you look at people and judge whether they are fit to be there or not, destined to be there or not, it's not that at all - you don't 'judge'...." And after she left, I noted the end of the thing (Mother takes a note and reads it out):
page 334 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 11th Oct - 1967

Requests for admission to Auroville have been pouring in at a frightful pace these last few days - every day a stack big as this - so naturally, everyone must send his photo along with his request and say why he wants to be in Auroville, what his skills are, and which category he belongs to: there is the category of those who want to work to build Auroville, and the category of those who want to come and sit peacefully in it once it's ready. And what a humanity, mon petit! ... In fact, all those who come are generally dissatisfied people. Now and then, one of them has a light in his eyes and a need for something he hasn't found (then it's very good).

There are those that weren't successful in anything and are completely disgusted, so they wonder if they might not be successful here. Then there are the old ones who worked hard and want to rest. There are very few young people - the few young people are all people of worth (the ordinary youth aren't interested). And the few I have seen are those who want to work: they don't want to come and take advantage from others' work, they want to work. So we'll soon have a rather interesting team. But (laughing) with the satiated old ones, I ... postpone decision, put under observation (Mother laughs). Yesterday, there were a number of them. We'll see: if they want to be useful, that is, give money or things, or propose to do something, then we'll see; but as such, the satiated fat fellow with his leaden-seated fat missis who want to come and spend the rest of their lives in peace, to them we say, "Wait a bit, we'll see!" The workers aren't asked anything, that is, they don't have to pay: they can come and work, on condition that they prove they are useful. But those who want a piece of land or a house to live in have to pay. And then, some have limited confidence (laughing) and say, "I'll give you a little money right now and will pay the rest little by little, in installments" - those I generally turn down. Some are so eager to come that they send money in advance, and when there's some life or something in them, I accept them. But to nearly all, except two or three, I say, "Under observation" - we'll see how they react!
page 341-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 14th Oct - 1967

Once I asked Sri Aurobindo (because we had talked about Auroville a great deal, there were lots of difficulties), I asked him (because it was an idea I had - not an "idea" but a need that expressed itself some thirty years ago - more than thirty, almost forty years ago), so I asked him, and he answered me this (which I told you, I think): "It is the best chance men have to avoid a general conflict."[[See Agenda VII of September 21, 1966. ]] There. So, since he told me that, I have been working very seriously. Of course, it wasn't "said," it was LIVED. Only, I see quite clearly that they don't believe in it, there is no one who feels. So does it ...? And the concrete materialization of the spirit of Auroville hasn't taken place yet, it doesn't exist, there isn't in the earth atmosphere a formation of the "spirit of Auroville," which is a spirit ... (Mother remains absorbed for a long time) ... At bottom it is "The art of building unity out of complexity." Without uniformity, you understand: unity through harmony in complexity, with each thing in its place.... It's very difficult. When R. [Auroville's architect] was here last time, he told me, "When are we going to create Auroville's atmosphere? Everyone is quarreling!" (Mother laughs) I said, "Yes, that's the difficulty...." And it's going on. But anyway, there is a Pressure from above, like that, a Pressure. We shall see. It's still a symbol. Each little group thinks it is a symbol - that too is a symbol. And as the formation descends in order to manifest, all oppositions arise, contradictions arise, complications arise, and within you clearly see that they don't understand. So I spend my time telling them, "Don't try to organize, don't try, you are going to fossilize the whole thing before it's begun."
page 355-56 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Oct - 1967


(Mother extracts from a heap of papers, letters and envelopes

of all kinds, a note on Auroville, which was based on her

words but written from memory.)

(Laughing) All this hangs together in a marvelous balance!
"Auroville will be a self-supporting township. "All who live there will participate in its life and develop ment. "This participation may be passive or active. "There will be no taxes as such but each will contribute to the collective welfare in work, kind or money. "Sections like Industries which participate actively will contribute part of their income towards the development of the township. Or if they produce something (like food stuff) useful for the citizens, they will contribute in kind to the township which is responsible for the feeding of the citizens. "No rules or laws are being framed. Things will get formu lated as the underlying Truth of the township emerges and takes shape progressively. We do not anticipate." Is that all? I thought I had said more than that. Because inwardly I said a lot, a whole lot about the organization of food and so on.... We are going to try things out. Some things are really interesting. For instance, I'd like ... To begin with, every country will have its pavilion, and in the pavilion, there will be a kitchen from that country, which means that the Japanese will be able to eat Japanese food if they want to (!), and so on, but in the township itself, there will be food for vegetarians, food for nonvegetarians, and also a sort of attempt to find "tomorrow's food." The idea is that all this work of assimilation which makes you so heavy (it takes up so much time and energy from the being) should be done BEFORE, that you should be able to immediately assimilate what you are given, as with things they now make; for instance, they have those vitamins that can be directly assimilated, and also (what do they call it?... [Mother tries to remember] I take them every day.... Words and I aren't on very good terms!) ... proteins. Nutritive principles that are found in one thing or another and aren't voluminous - you need to take a tremendous quantity of food to assimilate very little. So now that they are clever enough on the chemical level, that could be simplified. People don't like it, simply because ... they take an intense pleasure in eating (!), but when you no longer take pleasure in eating, you need to be nourished and not to waste your time with that. The amount of time lost is enormous: time for eating, time for digesting, and the rest. So I would like an experimental kitchen to be there, a sort of "culinary laboratory," for a try. And according to their tastes and tendencies, people would go here or there. And you don't pay for your food, but you must give work, or ingredients: for example, those who had fields would give the produce of their fields; those who had factories would give their products; or else your own work in exchange for food. That alone does away with much of the internal circulation of money. And in every field things of that sort could be found.... Ultimately, it must be a town for studies - studies and research on how to live both in a simplified way and in a way such that the higher qualities have MORE TIME to develop. There. It's only a small beginning.
page 425-27 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 30th Dec - 1967


Then I've written something else.... They wanted to prepare a sort of brochure on Auroville to distribute to the press, the government, etc., on the 28th,[[February 28, Auroville's inauguration. ]] and before that, there is in Delhi in two or three days a conference of all nations ("all nations" is an exaggeration, but anyway they say "all nations"). Z is going there, and she wants to take with her all the papers on Auroville. They have prepared texts - always lengthy, interminable: speeches and more speeches. So then I asked, I concentrated to know what had to be said. And all of a sudden, Sri Aurobindo gave me a revelation. That was something interesting. I concentrated to know the why, the how and so on, and all of a sudden Sri Aurobindo said ... (Mother reads out a note:) "India has become ... It was the vision of the thing, and it instantly translated into French words. "India has become the symbolic representation of all the difficulties of modern mankind. "India will be the land of its resurrection - the resurrection to a higher and truer life." And the clear vision: the same thing which in the history of the universe made the earth the symbolic representation of the universe so as to concentrate the work on one point, the same phenomenon is now taking place: India is the representation of all human difficulties on earth, and it is in India that the ... cure will be found. And then, that is why - THAT IS WHY I was made to start Auroville. It came and it was so clear, so tremendously powerful! So I wrote it down. I didn't tell them how or why, I told them, "Put this at the beginning of your paper, whatever it is; you can say whatever you like, but put this first."
It was very interesting. It remained the whole time, for more than an hour, such a strong and clear vision, as if suddenly everything became clear. I often used to wonder about it (not "wonder," but there was a tension to understand why things, here in India, have become such a chaos, with such sordid difficulties, and all of it piling up), and instantly, everything became clear, like that. It was really interesting. And immediately there was: "Here is why you have made Auroville." I didn't know it, you understand, I did the thing under pressure, and it took larger and larger proportions (it's becoming really worldwide), and I would wonder why.... For a time I thought it was the only present possibility to prevent a war, [[See Agenda 8, September 21, 1966. ]] but it seemed to me a somewhat superficial explanation. Then it came all of a sudden: "Ah! That's why." And as that whole power was in it, I said, "Put it." We'll see - they won't understand anything, but that doesn't matter, it will act.
page 41-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd Feb - 1968


Soon afterwards Ah, now let's get down to work. Do you know what we have to do?... We have to prepare Auroville's "Charter"! They will put it into the earth; when they throw in the earth from every country, they will put a metal box with the Charter in it, written on a piece of parchment. So we have to write it down.... I have a few little ideas. But first there is the charter prepared by G. and the one prepared by Y. Read them out to me, we'll see (Mother holds out G.'s charter).

Auroville's Charter (G.)

1. Auroville is the first crucible of planetary man.
Ah, "planetary," he put that in as Y.'s disciple! Y. loves "planetary."
2. Auroville offers itself to discover the deep sources of man's unity with the universe, of knowledge in joy and love.
I don't understand - doesn't matter!
3. Everything in Auroville belongs to the whole earth and Auroville's members are all the beings of the earth.
4. This day, Auroville is solemnly dedicated to serve forever the union of heaven with earth and life.
Heaven? What heaven?
Here is the other one (Mother holds out Y.'s charter). It's more literary (!)

Auroville's Dedication (Y.)

1. We solemnly found this city as the first center of a planetary society ...
Ah!
... tomorrow's society.
2. We solemnly dedicate this city as the constantly renewed synthesis of the latest conquests of science and the most ancient wisdom.
3. We solemnly set as the chief function of this city the planetary ...
There you are!
... destiny, that this city may become the cradle onew humanity.
Is that all? It's better, but that's not it. As for me, I didn't put any solemnities.... I didn't write it [at one go], because it's never mental, so it's not organized (Mother looks for scattered scraps of paper). From a mental point of view, it's worthless, it's not organized, but a few things did come. It's in fragments, it doesn't hang together (Mother goes on sorting out her scraps of paper). I don't even remember what I said.... It's not organized, I don't know in which order I am going to put it ... Ah! (Mother pulls out a piece of paper) ... First there is a material point which G. clumsily tried to express: it's that everyone is a citizen of Auroville. Here is the true thing (we won't put any solemnities, it's not necessary) ...

(Mother unrolls a big parchment on her windowsill, facing the

Samadhi. Perched on a low stool and armed with a huge black

felt-pen that draws cuneiform-like letters, she starts copying

Auroville's Charter while commenting on it.)


1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.... So this is the material fact. Auroville belongs ... I didn't put "to no nation" because India would have been furious. I put "belongs to nobody" - "nobody" is a vague term which I used precisely so as not to say "to no human being" or "to no nation." And I put "Auroville belongs to humanity AS A WHOLE because it amounts to nothing! Since people can't agree together, the thing is impossible! I did it deliberately. Then I don't say anything about "citizens" and all that, I say: ... But to live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness. They will all balk at "Divine," but I don't care! You understand, it's the explanation of the Matrimandir [[The "temple of the Mother" at the center of Auroville. ]] at the center. The Matrimandir represents the Divine Consciousness. All that goes unsaid, but it's like that. Then: 2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. And then: 3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries ... All discoveries, that is, philosophical, spiritual, moral, scientific, everything - taking advantage of the past. ... of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations. And finally, there are two versions: "4. Auroville will be a site of research for knowledge and means of existence leading to a human unity based on mutual understanding and goodwill." On another piece of paper, we have, "To give a living body to an actual human Unity." So we'll alter a little.
4. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity. There.

(Mother steps down from her stool)

It's not me who wrote all this.... I noticed something so interesting: when it comes it's imperative, there's no room for arguing; I write it down - whatever I may be doing I am FORCED to write it down. But when it's not there, it's just not there! Even if I try to remember, nothing comes, it's not there! So it's clear that it doesn't come from here: it comes from somewhere above.

(Auroville, the free international township.
No army, no police.)



page 50 - 53 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 7th Feb - 1968


But I never said Auroville was the city of love, never, not once!
The word is too subject to misuse. It would be better not totalk about it.
In fact, the word "love" can be used only with the word "divine" before it. It's the only way it can be used. Without the word "divine," it becomes impossible. And these people refuse to use the word "divine."
Yes, they're afraid of it.
So what are we going to do?... If I send her paper back without saying anything, she will say I have approved of it; if I tell her it won't do, she'll get still more furious.... And she looks after everything, pokes her nose into everything - legitimately, in a sense, since I told her I put her in charge of education. But it's AFTER that she became like this. At that time, she was a bit cranky, but still quite decent. It's troublesome. (Mother remains silent for a while) Should I send her this: "Beware of the word 'love' if it is not preceded by the adjective 'divine,' because in the general mentality the word evokes sexuality." Just this, nothing else, no opinion about what she's done, but this. (Mother writes her note)
I find her paper noxious, because not only does it say nothing,it also opens the door to ambiguities. And it says nothing: the hippies too are the "sons of love," it's their great doctrine.

To tell the truth, when I opened that paper, I got a sense of disgust. No, if I trusted her, I would put it differently, I would right away add, "... Which from a spiritual point of view is a disaster." But ... it's no use making people angry. She has no trust whatsoever, she thinks she is infinitely superior. Only, from a political point of view, she is very careful not to come into visible conflict [with Mother], because she feels that would hamper her action. She wanted - and she said I had allowed her (which is standing truth on its head) - she wanted to open an LSD club in Auroville. Because I wrote to her ... being as objective as possible, I wrote it could be useful only under the control of people who have the spiritual knowledge AND the power to control and assist. So she turned it upside down and said, "Mother has given her permission on condition that there are people with knowledge who control ..." So there. And the "people with knowledge," of course ...


page 62 - 63 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 17th Feb - 1968


Auroville's Charter

1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.
But to live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness.

2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages.

3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations.

4. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.
page 66-67 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Feb - 1968




I told you that the Soviet consul is enthusiastic! He saw the Charter - in English first (in English, there is Divine's Consciousness, with the apostrophe[[In the final English version, the apostrophe was removed: "... To live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness." ]]). He said, "It's a pity, it evokes the idea of God." And S., who had been there, said, "It's not that at all! There's nothing religious in all this affair. We'll show you the French." Then he read conscience divine [divine consciousness], and he was satisfied. He said, "This is just what we want to realize, and without these words it would be officially recognized and supported by the Soviet government." Then they asked him to translate it into Russian, but finally what's being read out in Auroville isn't his translation, it's the one by T. She has just come, and words don't frighten her. But I sent him my permission: I had it explained to him that words were just a more or less clumsy transcription not only of the idea, but of what is above the idea - the principle; that it didn't matter much whether these or those words were used (each one uses the words that suit him best), and that, therefore, I allowed him to use the words that would be acceptable to his government. The Soviet consul said yes, he was very glad. He said, "When the Soviet government officially supports something, it's serious." - It's true, I know it, they are very generous. So I hope it will have a favorable result. And you see, it's just what I wanted: in America, for a long time they have been enthusiastic - which is good, but perhaps they don't understand so well; the Russians, in their nature, are mystic, and as that has been oppressed, suppressed, naturally it has gained a lot of force. And now it tends to want to burst. But if both together support Auroville, we won't have any more financial hassles! It has been coming little by little, little by little. I told you what Sri Aurobindo revealed to me about India's condition, which was the symbolic representation of the present condition of mankind; and that's why, Sri Aurobindo told me, that's why Auroville has been created.' Then I understood. Since then, it has become very clear - "clear," I mean he seems to have made it spread and people seem to begin to understand. So there.
page 68 - 69 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Feb - 1968



(From a conversation between Mother and a disciple

about Auroville.)

One needs to have an absolutely transparent sincerity. Lack of sincerity is at present the cause of difficulties. Insincerity is in all men. There are perhaps a hundred totally sincere men on earth. Man's very nature is what makes him insincere. It's very complicated, for he is constantly cheating with himself, hiding the truth from himself, finding excuses for himself. Yoga is the way to become sincere in all the parts of one's being. It is difficult to be sincere, but one can at least be mentally sincere - this is what one can demand from Aurovilians. The Force is there, present as never before; what prevents it from descending and being felt is men's insincerity. The world is steeped in falsehood, all relationships between men have so far been based only on falsehood and deceit. Diplomacy between nations is based on falsehood. They claim they want peace and on the other hand arm themselves. A transparent sincerity in man and between nations will alone permit the coming of a transformed world. Auroville is the first attempt in the experiment. A new world will be born if men consent to strive for transformation and the search for sincerity - it can be done. It took millennia to evolve from animal to man; today man, thanks to his mind, can accelerate things and will a transformation towards a man who will be God. This transformation with the help of the mind, through self-analysis, is a first stage; afterwards, vital impulses must be transformed - which is far more difficult; then, most of all, the physical: each cell of our body will have to become conscious. It is the work I am doing here. It will allow the conquest of death. It's another story; that will be future mankind, perhaps in centuries, perhaps sooner. It will depend on men, on peoples. Auroville is the first step towards this goal.
page 69 - 70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Feb - 1968


I didn't want to make rules for Auroville, but I am going to be forced to start formulating certain things, because ... there happens to be difficulties. I don't know what to do. What I wanted to say came; it's very simple (Mother takes a written note), simply like this (it's about very small things): "One must choose between getting drunk and living in Auroville, the two are incompatible." It's not an innocent drunkenness, I mean it results in acts of violence, it verges on madness. So of course, if we start along this road, we may also say this (Mother takes another note): "One must choose between living in falsehood and living in Auroville, the two are incompatible." May it be true!
We could say that those who get drunk do it to forget; but one
doesn't come to Auroville to forget: one comes to Auroville, on the contrary, to remember.
Yes, we might rather put it in that form. But the idea was mostly to insist on the CHOICE. Living in Auroville is a CHOICE. It's a choice, an attitude you adopt, a decision you make. Living in Auroville is a choice, you choose a certain life. But once you choose one thing, some others become incompatible.... At any rate, living in Auroville is an ACTION, a decision you make, an action.

page 97-98 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 6th Apr - 1968


R. [Auroville's architect] has come for five days, and he wants to make what he calls a "district" of Auroville, that is to say, instead of tackling the problem of ten or twenty thousand people at once, he wants to start with two or three thousand, on the level of infrastructure, but above all to see how it will work: the experiment of life in Auroville.... I had thought about it, and when I spoke to you last time, that's what came: in what direction should the experiment be carried out? You see, Y. has ideas in the field of education (I am not intervening); as for R., he has ideas in the field of construction (I am not intervening); but no one has studied the problem on the level of administration or organization, and of money, and that was precisely what I spoke of to you about last time. So if you could read me what I told you, if it does I'll give them the text.... There is also this communist Russian architect, who has become quite enthusiastic: to him Auroville is the ideal realization. He is a very strong boy, with some power (also a power of conviction over people). So it would be interesting if he could have a glimpse of the direction in which we're going.
page 107 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 13th Apr - 1968


(Mother holds out a note on Auroville)

(Question:) How dependent is the building of Auroville upon man's acceptance of spirituality? (Mother's answer:) The opposition between spirituality and material life, the division between the two has no sense for me as, in truth, life and the spirit are ONE and it is in and by physical work that the highest spirit must be manifested.
page 109 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Apr - 1968


(Mother shows a brochure on Auroville; the first photograph

in it shows the all-white urn under a vast sky.)

It's very fine. It has something ... I don't know (Mother drives her fist down into the Earth), like a Law of Destiny: something that imposes itself.
Did I tell you that a Swedish or Norwegian lady wants to send me a big crucifixion?... I did. But I didn't show you the two texts. You see, I chose a photo of the galaxy, then a photo of Auroville that somewhat looks like the first, and then, under the crucifixion, we'll have in big letters (Mother reads): "The Divine Consciousness crucified by man's desires." Then, in very small letters, like this, we'll put under the photo of Auroville: "The Divine Consciousness manifested through human unity." We'll see! The lady has a lot of goodwill, we'll see the response in her country.

(silence)

Yesterday, they came from the press with the brochure on Auroville and said, "Oh, there's a mistake, we've been told that the text of Auroville's Charter had to be changed." Someone told them I had said that "Divine Consciousness" had to be replaced throughout by "Perfect Consciousness." I stared at him: "What!" "Yes, that's what we've been told." Then I said (laughing), "Who's the idiot who told you that!" "But he said you had said so!" Then I asked him, "Tell me his name so I may give him a good slap!"
Naturally, there's no question of changing anything. What happened was that people in Russia, Yugoslavia who translated it ... (it was translated into a certain number of languages, now I don't remember), they asked me for an alternative to the word "Divine," because ... In Russia, they go one better, the word is banned! Using the word "divine" is forbidden! So I said all right. I said, "FOR RUSSIA, you may, if you wish, put 'Perfect Consciousness' instead of 'Divine Consciousness.'" I pointed out to them (laughing), "It's somewhat diminished, it's brought down a little, but never mind!"

Here, in the French brochure, it's "Divine." I said if they wanted another word in Russian or German (in German T. translated it into "the highest" [Consciousness]; I told her, "It's rather poor, but anyway"), well, I said I wouldn't protest. In Chinese it's "Divine." I think it's "Divine" in Japanese too. In German, they asserted, "Oh, if we put 'Divine,' people will immediately think of God...." I replied (laughing), "Not necessarily, if they're not idiots!" But it has given me a very precise picture of what would happen if for some reason or other I were no longer here.... Everyone would use my name to ... (Mother laughs) It would be frightening!

page 110-11 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Apr - 1968


Auroville, as Sri Aurobindo said, is a practical means to create a human unity that would be strong enough to fight against war. It's to be seen. We may try.
page 156 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 5th June - 1968


" For millennia, we have been developing outer means, outer instruments, outer techniques of living - and finally those means and techniques are crushing us. The sign of the new humanity is a reversal in the standpoint, and the understanding that inner knowledge and inner technique can change the world and master it without crushing it. "Auroville is the place where this new way of living is being worked out, it is a center of accelerated evolution where man must begin to change his world through the power of the inner spirit."
page 221 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd Aug - 1968


In this connection, yesterday R. [Auroville's architect] asked me questions so as to be able to answer people; he asked me if it was necessary to have organization and so on. And then it came, but in such an imperative manner; I replied that organization was discipline in action, and that to live, discipline is quite indispensable. I said that the body's whole functioning is a discipline, and if there is a part that no longer wants to follow the discipline - out of revolt or incapacity or ... for any reason - if it stops following the discipline, you fall ill. It came so clearly that I told him. That paper is with R., I've asked him to give it to me. [[We publish in addendum R.'s notes on Auroville's organization. ]] page 52 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th feb - 1969


Did I tell you the miracle that took place? You haven't heard about it? ... In Auroville we're going to build a big factory to mill wheat, but something huge (it's to mill wheat for the whole of India!), huge. Machines are coming I don't know from where, huge too. And they chose to land them at Pondicherry because going from Pondicherry to Auroville is easier than from Madras to Auroville. Only, when the ship came and they saw the number and the size of crates, they got terribly scared - it wasn't possible. Here it's a woman, P., who owns the landing barges, and she refused. I had her told that I needed her help and she had to do it (because she had claimed she wanted to serve me, so I took advantage of it!). I told her, "I need your help, do it." She was obliged to do it. For two days, everything went well, but they had kept the biggest crate for the end - a six-ton crate, huge - and no one knew how to do it. They would have needed enormous cranes like the ones they have in Madras, but they don't have them here: they only had two puny cranes, which together didn't even WEIGH six tons! (Mother laughs) And those cranes were supposed to lift the crate from the ship and put it on the barge. There was no other way, only that way. So they tied the crate to the two cranes and started lifting ... and the two cranes went like this (gesture of tipping over). There were people below-people looking after the trans shipment - and everyone, including the ship's captain, everyone stood there, terrified. "That's it," they thought, "we're done for, it's catastrophe." The two cranes went like this (same gesture) ... and all of a sudden, they straightened up. No one ever knew how. They straightened up, carried the crate, and it was over. It was so obviously a miracle - the captain stood almost terrorstricken, everyone. And then, those crates were intended for someone here, Mani-Bhai . (of "Aurofood"), to whom I had given a blessings packet the day before the landing, and he had it on him. So he went to see the captain and told him (showing the small packet), "See this, it's what straightened up the cranes." A very simple man. It was just stating a FACT, you understand: there was a crowd, so there was no arguing; the two cranes were like this, tilting, and everyone was expecting them to ... and they straightened up! (Mother laughs) The captain met L. and told him, "Couldn't I have one of those ... (Mother laughs) little packets!" So L. came to see me. I gave packets - four packets - for him and his men. It's the first time .... L. told me, "I have seen hundreds of miracles, but this one was so obvious, and of such considerable dimensions (Mother laughs) that no one could deny it!" It's interesting. I must say there really was a concentration of force, because we were faced with an impossibility (considered practically, it was an impossibility). So there was a concentration. It's amusing. And the accuracy of the transmission (that increases the power a lot), the accuracy I credit this Consciousness with. It's this Consciousness that made the power far more PRECISE in its action .... The superman consciousness. It's interesting. But we mustn't tell the story, that would instantly look like boasting, it's disgusting! It can go to the Agenda, but ...
page 88-89 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 12th Mar - 1969


Two days ago (not yesterday, the day before), this Consciousness told me something; I said, "Very well," but it went on saying the same thing again and again and again, until I'd written it down! So here it is (Mother holds out a note). And it explained to me why there was "we."
We will strive to make Aurovillethe cradle of the superman."
Ah ... it's important news! (Mother smiles) So then, I said, "Why we'?" It answered, "It's because the attempt will be to get those who will live in Auroville to collaborate." Then, once I'd written it, it left me in peace, but until I did, it came back again and again ....
page 99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 22nd Mar - 1969


The trouble is that all these people take their desires for inspirations. And then ... I have this difficulty with Auroville too, that's why I take every opportunity to repeat to them (they all keep saying that they come to Auroville "to be free"), I answer them that one can be free only if one is united with the Supreme; and to be united with the Supreme, one must have no more desires!


page 113 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 2nd April - 1969


Auroville also, I am constantly telling them two things (hammering gesture): "For those who want to be free, there is only one freedom, that is to be united to the Supreme; and to be united to the Supreme, one must no longer have any desires!" So they're like this (Mother remains open- mouthed). Very amusing! So I've put the same thing here:

(Satprem reads)

"A new consciousness is at work upon earth toprepare the coming of the superhuman being.
"Open yourselves to this consciousness if youaspire to serve [[Mother first wrote "collaborate with," then changed it to "serve" and made a few other minor corrections. ]] the Divine Work.
"To come into contact with this new consciousness, the essential condition is no longer to have any desires and to be wholly sincere."
That's what they must be told again and again (same hammering gesture). I am constantly, constantly impelled to repeat it to them.
page 122-23 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 9th April - 1969




America is extremely interested in Auroville. Russia is extremely interested in Auroville. The Chinese ... nothing, absolutely nothing, no response.


page 145 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969


The Mother said that Auroville is the only hope for preventing a new world war. Tensions are growing and the situation is becoming very critical. But only the Idea of Auroville, if it can become more widespread, can prevent world war.


page 148 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969


Two nights ago, I spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo, and I showed him all that was going to descend for Auroville. It was rather interesting. There were games, there was art, there was even cooking! But all that was very symbolic. I explained it to him as if on a table, in front of a large landscape; I explained the principle on whose basis physical exercises and games were going to be organized. It was very clear, very precise, I even did a demonstration, as if showing him on a very small scale: a representation on a very small scale of what was going to be done. I moved people, things ... (gesture as if on a chessboard). But it was very interesting, and he was interested: he gave kinds of broad laws of organization (I don't know how to explain).


page 202 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 31st May - 1969


I have wondered if we couldn't have in Auroville a publishing house, because Auroville is an international township, and so we could have an INTERNATIONAL publishing house. There would be books in every language. That would be interesting. Auroville is beginning to be fairly well known in America. There's a lady (I told you about that) who is planning to come in a boat for 1972 - she is very interested in Auroville, she has gatherings and is in touch with the government. It seems to be moving fairly well there. So we could have a publishing house in several languages.
page 268 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 30th July - 1969


Did I tell you that in Italy a veterinarian has found a cure for cancer? ... This man has discovered that goats, the goat species (male and female), never have cancer! They even went as far as trying to make them have cancer, and they didn't succeed. Conclusion: in their makeup, there's something opposed to cancer; they've discovered that something in the stomach (I forget the details), and he made a serum. As he is a veterinarian, he doesn't have the right to give it, but he has doctor friends, and those doctors (a dozen or so) have tried it out - extraordinary cure, without fail. But with a difference: the female goat cures certain cases, while the male cures other cases; it's not the same with the male or the female, they cure different types of cancer (I understand nothing about it). Anyway, he lives somewhere in Italy, I don't know where, and I had him asked if he would like to come here - he has accepted. And he's going to come: there's a whole group of young Italians who want to come at the end of the year for Sri Aurobindo's yoga, and he'll probably come with them, or else he will come with Paolo if Paolo doesn't mind paying for his travel. My intention is to put him in touch with Dr. S., to let them study that together, and if it works well, I'll ask him to stay on. Because you know that S. now has a sort of dispensary in Auromodèle [in Auroville] (there's even a young French medical student who has come and stays there too, he is very happy). So we could open a "cancer clinic," that would be very interesting! Because with S.'s presence here, there's no difficulty - in Auroville he can do what he likes. That would be wonderful! He is coming before the end of the year. And the other man, the healer, is coming in September ... The other, we'll see if he wants to cure some people here, that would be good. It would straight away give an interesting direction .... "Auroville, the city of healing"! That would be good!
page 284-85 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 9th Aug - 1969


Yes, oh! ... And you know, if you ask Y (it's truthful people who told me), if you ask her, she says, "The Bulletin belongs to the past," "Sri Aurobindo's teaching belongs to the past." While they're in advance. And they're so convinced of it! ... She's chosen M. as the god of her new creation, so you understand ...

But that's a way of kneading the dough .... They will have either to change or to go - without telling them anything, without having to tell them anything, with the pressure of the Consciousness alone. Either they will have to change, or they will be compelled to go.


page 304-05 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd Aug - 1969


There's a druid (laughing), a still-existing druid, from Brittany, who has written a letter to F. saying he had heard about Auroville from friends of hers and wants to come. He says, "I am poor, I am not bringing anything" (he is married, he and his wife intend to come together). He writes that he will bring a book; a book by one of his friends, who has had "the economic and financial vision" of the world. He will bring it - he says it's a revelation - for it to be used in Auroville. So in my answer, I intend to tell him, "Here is the basis on which Auroville is established ..."

(Mother hands her note)

"Money is not meant to make money ...
I wrote this in English very long ago, and sent it to America: it caused a revolution! Most people were indignant that one might think such a thing!
" ... Money is meant to prepare the earth for the new creation."
So we'll see the druid! ... That makes the fourth person: we have a healer of cancer coming; we have a healer pure and simple coming; we have ... (Mother tries to remember) ah, yes, a Persian inventor who has made "extraordinary inventions" for education (he sent a paper), especially for children's education; he is coming in September. ...
All that will be very amusing!
Yes, at least we'll have variety! But the druid said he is penniless, so we'll send him to R. [Auroville's architect], who might be able to arrange something .... He has studied all religions, and ... (laughing) stopped at druidism. He is Breton.
page 311-12 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 27th Aug - 1969



Things are beginning to come for Auroville (Mother points to several written notes); there are many, many others, but there is above all the internal financial question: I would like there to be no money within Auroville (we would have to work out something), I would like money to be retained only for relations with outside. But that I haven't written; I wrote something else (Mother gives a first note). This I have told you several times:
"Auroville wants to bethe cradle of the superman.
Then, this one:
"Auroville,
the free international township.
No army, no police ....
Bravo!
"... They are replaced
by a battalion of guards,
consisting of
athletes and gymnasts."
Oh, all this is splendid!
It's for now. It's to be done now.
Yes, no army, no police. Oh, yes!
And then (Mother points to a third note), this is for entry, because there's a port in Auroville, so naturally entry is free, but conditional: we have no borders, no walls, we're overflowing in India, so I can't impose my law to the whole of India (!), but it will be replaced by a control at the port: we'll let in only what can be consumed within Auroville - so as not to be used as a clandestine entry for a deluge of free goods.

(Satprem reads)

"No customs, but permission to import grantedonly for goods meant to be consumed in the town."
That' all.
Yes, to avoid smuggling with the rest of India.
Yes. If people were honest, it would be fine, but they aren't! No police and no army.
Yes, that's fine!

North of Pondicherry, there are places by the sea where nothing could ever be done (they're constantly flooded), but there's a way to make use of them, so I am trying to get the government's permission to occupy it all. If we can get all of it, then we can have a free port, a free airport, an airfield (but more inland), also cultivation based on the new methods of irrigation with sea water, and naturally the transformation of sea water - but they've found something to transform sea water into drinkable water (Mother takes a brochure by her side). It's French, I think, and an economical method; it's very interesting. It's under way, and if we wait for a few more years, they'll have perfected it quite well.

page 313-14 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 30th Aug - 1969


I've written something for Auroville ....
"The earth needs a place where people can live sheltered from all national rivalries, all social conventions, all contradictory moralities and antagonistic religions. A place where, freed from all those slaveries of the past, human beings will be able to wholly dedicate themselves to the discovery and practice of the Divine Consciousness that wants to manifest.
"Auroville wants to be that place, and offers itself to all those who aspire to live tomorrow's truth."
Now things are in the habit of coming like this (Mother brings down her two arms), and they keep pestering me until I've written! Once I write, it's over.
page 332 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 17th Sep - 1969



Have you seen this?

(Mother holds out a note)

Auroville is the ideal placefor those who want to know the joy and liberation of not having any more personal possession.
It's the last thing that has come. "Personal possession" in the singular: I mean the sense of personal possession.
Page 336 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Sep - 1969


And Auroville is a great Adventure. I see how it's being organized, it's really interesting, really interesting. [[ See in addendum Mother's latest notes about Auroville. ]] Have you met the Persian?
No, I haven't seen him.
He isn't an intellectual.
What does he want to do?
He's an inventor, a man of action - I might say, an "inventor-adventurer," but I won't: he's still here! (Mother laughs) But it's really interesting.
But what does he want to do here?
Oh! ... He wants to "help" in the creation of Auroville. He already has a society, "Auroville International," and he is going to start his action - he's traveling here and there. He's a man who knows four or five languages, and he has the mind of an inventor. It seems his invention ... some engineers here saw it and said it was remarkable, so ... As for me, I can't judge. It's for these machines (Mother points to the tape recorder), it's a transformation of receiving and recording machines. I don't know, but others told me it was remarkable. He likes to organize, but he is ... as I said, he loves adventure, it's in his temperament (after all, inventions are adventures, and that's how he is). So he's already founded a society called "Auroville International" with members in Europe and its head office in the United States ... the whole outfit. As for me, I watch and have great fun! In appearance he's very surrendered and devoted, but ... For the moment, I don't have proof it's anything other than a "necessary appearance." But he's nice and a man of real goodwill ... but I see him with a plume in his hat!
So we'll see.
Did he react to the reading of the "Great Sense"? [[Mother had given him that text. ]]
Oh, he did, he has "savoir-faire," mon petit (!) He said, "It's very beautiful" - in a tone a great conviction! But ... I don't know, I didn't see him enough later on to see whether it had changed his point of view I think it made him shrink back a little, I noticed he inwardly reacted. And what I saw was that it has made him a bit cautious towards me! ... Maybe it made him feel I could see through him! (Mother laughs)
But he is among those people who really aren't bourgeois from the standpoint of money, that is, who don't have much notion of personal property. So then I caught myself (that's how I caught myself!) .... I myself made an effort to reach the viewpoint that money is a force that must circulate and must not be a personal property. In the consciousness, everything is fine, but the body has its old habit, and it observed the state in which this man is: for him money is a force that must circulate, go where it has to go, it doesn't belong to this or that person - so it [the body] first had this reaction: "Oh, watch out, he's an adventurer." (Mother laughs) I caught myself, I said, "See, you preach, and when someone does as you say ...!" I found it very amusing. But I saw how he is enthusiastic about the idea of Auroville, and it seems to be quite sincere, he even said it's what he has been looking for for a long time. So he goes about it "fair and square" .... He was a minister in Persia, but there were revolutions in Persia and he left, he is in America. But he's a man who's used to earning money.
I really caught myself there, I had some real fun. I said to myself, "See, you've come across the man who understands you!" (Mother laughs) It's funny, you know!
This Auroville is going to be a very interesting experience.

At first glance, Auroville isn't made up of people burdened withmorality!
Oh, no! ... Ah, we have many little Aurovilians, lots of them, but you know, among them some are absolutely remarkable from the point of view of consciousness; they're tall as a boot, mon petit, and they're conscious! It's splendid. A few days ago, I held a Tamil baby in my hands, he was as big as this, like a doll (delightfully shaped, with exquisite tiny feet), and with this child I wanted to make the experiment: I took him on my lap, and I put the Force - you should have seen the transformation of his expression! His eyes aren't open yet, but a blissful peace seemed to come over him. I thought, "Let's see whether he's asleep or conscious." Then I touched his foot - he started, which means he wasn't asleep at all. Wonderful! A wonderful expression .... I know another one who isn't yet two years old, but, mon petit, his way of seeing and acting is that of a five-year-old child! So something is happening nevertheless. And the last experience is a woman (she came with the "caravan"), who had a first child in France: she suffered for thirty-five hours to give birth. She gave birth to another one here (the day before yesterday, I think): one hour and without suffering. An hour later, when it was over, she was up and about! So she said, "That's Mother, because I don't know how it's done!" Something is happening.
Page 427-29 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 15th Nov - 1969


(Mother's latest notes about Auroville)

Who took the initiative of Auroville?
The supreme Lord.
Who is participating in the financing of Auroville?
The supreme Lord.
If one wants to live in Auroville, what does it mean for oneself?
Striving towards the supreme perfection.
In order to live in Auroville, must one be a student of yoga?
All life is a yoga. Thus one cannot live without practicing the supreme yoga.
Will family life continue in Auroville?

If one has not gone beyond that.
Can one keep religion in Auroville?
If one has not gone beyond that.
Can one be atheistic in Auroville?
If one has not gone beyond that.
Will there be a social life in Auroville?
If one has not gone beyond that.
Will there be compulsory community activities in Auroville?
Nothing is compulsory.
Will money circulate in Auroville?
No, it is only with outside that Auroville will have money dealings.
Who will be the owner of lands and buildings?
The supreme Lord.
In which languages will teaching be given?
In all languages spoken on earth.

October 8, 1969

***

Will a day come when there will be no more poor people and no more suffering in the world?
That is absolutely certain for all those who understand Sri Aurobindo's teaching and have faith in him. It is with the intention of creating such a place that we want to found Auroville. But for this realization to be possible, everyone must make effort to transform himself, for most of the sufferings of human beings are the result of their own physical and moral errors.

November 8, 1969

How do you think there will be no more suffering in Auroville - as long as people who come to live in Auroville are men from this same world, born with the same weaknesses and the same faults?
I never thought there would be no more suffering in Auroville, because men, as they are, love suffering and call it, while at the same time cursing it. But we will endeavor to teach them to truly love peace and to try and practice equanimity. It is involuntary poverty and begging that I was referring to. Life in Auroville will be organized in such a way that that will not exist - if beggars come from outside, either they will have to go or they will be hospitalized and taught the joy of work.

November 9, 1969

What is the fundamental difference between the Ashram's idealand Auroville's?
There is no fundamental difference in the attitude with regard to the future and the service of the Divine. But people in the Ashram are regarded as having dedicated their lives to the yoga (except naturally for the students, who are here only for their studies and who have not been asked to choose in life). While in Auroville, the goodwill to carry out a collective experience for the progress of mankind is alone sufficient to get admitted.

November 10, 1969


Page 430-32 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 15th Nov - 1969


I've asked them to start a school at "Auromodèle."
Who will look after the school?
There's a French woman who was a primary school teacher (I was told she's nice, I haven't seen her), and then an Indian woman (whom I saw) who wants to teach in Auroville, and she's fine, I mean her mental attitude is good. So the two of them will start (laughing): there are five children! Some interesting people have come to Auroville, people who are really seeking something .... So I leave them to stew there and we'll see what comes out of it!
Page 479 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Dec - 1969


Then I have a letter from Paolo....
I'll see him this afternoon. I told you that I saw the central construction of Auroville.... I have a plan. Would you like to see it?... There are three scrolls there (Mother unrolls the plan while explaining): There will be twelve facets. Its a circle. And, at the same distance from the center, twelve columns. At the center, on the floor, my symbol, and at the center of my symbol, there are four symbols of Sri Aurobindo, upright, forming a square. And atop the square, a translucent globe (we don't yet know what substance it will be made of). Then, from the top of the roof, when the sun shines, a ray of sunlight will fall on the globe (only there, nowhere else); when there is no sunlight, electric spotlights will shine a beam (ONE beam again, not a diffuse light) just there, on the globe. Then, no doors, but ... after going deep down one comes back up into the temple; one goes under the wall and comes back up inside - it's again a symbol. Everything is symbolic. And then, no furniture, but first a wooden floor, probably (like here), then over the wooden floor, a thick foam rubber, and over it, a carpet, like here. We have to choose the color. The whole thing will be white. I am not sure if Sri Aurobindos symbols will be white ... I don't think so. I didn't see them white, I saw them with an undefinable color, between gold and orange. A color of that sort. They will stand upright, carved in stone. And a globe not transparent but translucent. Then, at the bottom [of the globe], a light will be projected upward and will enter the globe diffusely. And from outside, rays of light will fall onto the center. No other lights: no windows, an electric ventilation. And no furniture, nothing. A place ... to try and find one's consciousness. Outside, it will be something like this (Mother unrolls another plan).... We don't know if the roof will have a pointed shape or ... Very simple, very simple. It will hold about two hundred people. So then, Paolo's letter?
Very sweet Mother,
I saw R. on Sunday, he came to my room and. we hadlunch together. With love I arranged beautiful flowers for You and R. You

were with us. We spoke a lot. I felt R. like a brother.
I told him that Auroville cannot be born like any other city (urban, social, economic problems, all of them to be seen later). The starting point must be "something else." That is lever, our fixed point, the thing we can lean on to try and leap to the other side - because it's only from the other side And that Center must be a form manifesting in Matter the content that You can transmit to us on every plane (occult included). As for us, we should only be the open and sincere means through which you can concretise that.
Then I told him how I felt the need for all of us to approach all this while living the experience inwardly and unitedly - people from the East and the West - in a vast movement of love, because it is the only "concrete" possible for building "something else"....
What he says is fine.
... And that Center can give us that love right now, becauseit's the love of You!
I told him that, on the practical level, we could begin witha moment of silence, gathered together, try to make a complete blank, and in that blank, with everyone's aspiration, bring down the signs for the beginning. But all of us united and together, especially the more spiritually advanced - the Indians.
R. agreed entirely. He said we should really do that.

(Mother nods her head)

I'll see Paolo this afternoon to give him this plan. Because that's just what I saw. We'll do it in white marble. L. said he would go and get the marble, he knows the place.
The whole structure in white marble?
Yes, yes.
But Paolo told me one tiling which I felt to be correct. He said,We'll build this Center, we'll put all our heart and aspiration into it, into this Center ...

Yes, yes.
And over the years, it will get more and more "charged"....
Yes.
So this Center should be definitive, we shouldn't remove thistemple to build a larger one later on.
I said that to calm people who think we need something huge. I said, "We'll begin with this, and then we'll see," you understand. I said this Center should be there until the city is completely built, and afterwards we would see - afterwards we won't feel like removing it! Because a lot of people thought of something "huge."
But Paolo says that from an architectural standpoint, it's quitepossible to extend the thing from outside without touching what's already built.
Oh, yes, it's quite possible. You see, R. asked me, "And then, what are we going to do afterwards?" I said, "Well, we'll think about it afterwards!..." - That's the trouble, they don't know ... they don't know that one must NOT THINK. As for me, I wasn't thinking about it at all, not at all - one day, I saw it like that, as I see you. Even now, it's still so living that I only have to look and I see it. And what I saw was the Center and the light falling on it, and then, QUITE NATURALLY, while observing, I remarked, I said, "So that's how it is." But it wasn't "thought," I didn't think, "Twelve columns and twelve facets and ..." I didn't think any of that: I saw. It's like those symbols of Sri Aurobindo.... When I speak of the Center, I still see those four symbols of Sri Aurobindo joined at their angles, like this, and that color ... strange color ... I don't know where we'll be able to find that. It's an orange gold, very warm. And it's the only color in the place: all the rest is white.
Paolo said he would inquire right now in Italy, at Murano wherethey make large crystals, whether they can make a one-foot globe, say, in crystal.
The exact size must be on the plan, it should be written there.
They have big glassworks there.
Oh, they do marvelous things there. Isn't the size of the globe written there?
Two feet four inches.
It could be hollow. It need not be solid, so as not to be too heavy.

(silence)

He's fine, Paolo.
Yes, Mother.
That underground passageway into the room ... People will enter some thirty feet away from the wall, at the foot of the urn. The urn will mark the starting point of the descent. I'll have to choose the exact direction.... Then, later on, the urn might very well be INSIDE rather than outside the enclosure. So perhaps we could simply have a big wall all around, and then gardens. Between the surrounding wall and the building to be constructed, we can have gardens and the urn. And that wall will have an entrance (one or several ordinary gates), so that people will be able to move around in the garden. Then there will be certain conditions to be met before one is allowed to descend into the underground passage and emerge into the temple.... It will have to be a bit initiatory: not quite "like that," not just anyhow.

(silence)

To R. I said, "We'll see that in twenty years!" So that kept him quiet. But the first idea was to surround that with water, to have an island so that people would cross the water to reach the temple. It's quite possible to have an island...

page 34 - 37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 10th Jan - 1970


Someone from Auroville wrote to me that he thought he had come here to obey no one but himself (or words to that effect), but he noticed there are rules and laws. And he said, "I am not going to do any of this; I am a free man and refuse to do this." This was reported to me, naturally, [[One of the most irritating practices in that Ashram was the compulsive habit almost everyone (at least among those who had access to Mother) had to "report" to Mother, as in a boarding school. As if they had nothing better to do. And Mother would "absorb." ]] so I wrote to him (I don't remember): "One is free only when one is conscious of the Divine and conscious that it is the Divine who makes decisions in everyone, otherwise one is the slave of one's desires, one's habits, of all conventions...." I sent him that, and he kept quiet.


page 74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Feb - 1970


But the Power is more and more massive, I feel.
Yes, yes. Oh, and at times ... Listen, yesterday I saw a boy who'd taken a wrong turn (he is in Auroville). He'd taken a wrong turn, had rebelled and didn't want to do anything anymore. Anyway ... So I wrote him to come. Every Tuesday, they come from Auroville, four of them. He came with them. He came in ... closed, blocked. I said absolutely nothing, I looked at him, simply looked ... (gesture). After a few minutes, brrt! everything melted. And then he expressed it.
Without saying anything, not a word, simply ... Such things take place all the time, all the time. It's odd, the body acts as an intermediary (gesture radiating through the body), like that, simply like that.


page 142-43 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 8th Apr 1970


I have something for you ... (Mother points to a written note). It was two or three days ago, it came imperatively like that, in connection with some business. They have gatherings in Auroville, at "Aspiration"; I think it's meditations, or something of the sort, I don't know. One of them came and put my photo; so another rushed to his room and came back with a cross!... And he said, "Well, if you put a photo of Mother, I'll put my cross." They told me that story. They told me, because the one who put the cross had come to see me with the others (they come once a week, a few of them, four or five), but I didn't know. He came and sat in front of me.... I found him a rather inquisitorial air (I didn't know anything, you understand), and after they left I asked who he was. Then they told me he is a Catholic, and they told me the story. [[A few months later (October 21), Mother gave Satprem this note written to a French disciple, which seems to fit well with the story she has just recounted: "I am told that you intend to distribute a reproduction of the portrait you did of me. It would be better not to introduce in this gathering anything personal that might suggest the atmosphere of a nascent religion." ]]
page 177 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970


Strangely, two days ago it came to me almost like an experience:religion is the mental world.
Yes, yes! It's a mentalization, an attempt to mentalize ... what far exceeds the mind.
"... Religions make up part of the history of man kind and it is in this guise that they will be studied at Auroville - not as beliefs to which one ought or ought not to fasten, but as part of a process in the development of human consciousness which should lead man towards his superior realisation."

page 178 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970


So then, "Programme" ... [Mother laughs]:

Programme

Research through experience of the

Supreme Truth.

A life divine

but

NO RELIGIONS.

That's fine!
page 179 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970


Oh, very fine!... It's only the word "religious" there, it bothers me.
Then we'll take it out!
Because you do say, "No religions."
No, I took "religious" in the other sense, but it will always create a confusion.
It has taken on such a false meaning.
Yes. I'll explain: I did not want to put "spiritual," first because in French, the word spirituel has a different meaning [i.e., witty], and then because people living a "spiritual" life reject Matter, while we do not want to reject Matter. So that would be false. I admit that "religious" isn't a good word, because it immediately ... I used "religious" in the sense of "a life essentially occupied with the discovery or the search of the Divine." There are no words in French, and it's not "spiritual."
"Divine"?
We have to find a word - we could put this:
"Auroville is for those who want to live a life divine ..."
Yes, "a life essentially divine," yes. "Divine," that's vast, Mother.

page 179 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970



That too should be said.

(Mother writes)

"Our research will not be a search effected bymystic means. It is in life that we wish to find the divine." [[Let us note that Mother wrote "divine" with a small "d." Later she added this sentence: "And it is through this discovery that life can really be transformed." ]]

page 180 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970


Shall we put a title to these notes on Auroville?... For instance, "Auroville's Stand on Religions"? What about "We Want the Truth"?... I use the word because no one in the world would dare to say, "We don't want the truth"! (laughter) For most people, that's how it is: "What WE want is the truth"! (laughter) I showed R. the "Programme" (laughing), and his hair stood on end: "But ... but people can't tolerate this now!" - Ah ... So then, Aurovilians must want the Truth WHATEVER IT MAY BE.... They call "Truth" what they want, while they must want the truth whatever it may be.

(Mother writes her last note on Auroville)

We want the Truth.

For most men, it is what theywant that they label truth.
Aurovilians must want the Truth whatever it may be.
I put "Truth" with a capital "T." (Mother laughs) Because, to tell the truth, that's not the word. It is: "We want THE DIVINE." But then they instantly start arguing! So it's better to put "Truth."
page 181 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970


And also this:
In Auroville, nothing belongs to anyone inparticular. All is a collective property.

page 188 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 13th May - 1970


Yesterday we started a work for Auroville, that is to say, we're basically trying to give people from "Aspiration" an idea, simply, of what Aurovilians want: why they are here and what they want. Because it appears that... in fact they've no idea about it. Each one of them came expecting something, but all that isn't coordinated, it's not clear. So R. asked me to clearly express important points. I thought it would be better to do it with the people so as to know what they themselves want, and to have them make an effort to find out. Otherwise ... So we started yesterday (Mother takes out a piece of paper). Yesterday I asked C. [a resident of Aspiration], "But why does one live in Auroville? So he gave me the first paragraph:

To be a True Aurovilian

1. The will to consecrate oneself entirely to theDivine.
That's what HE said. I found it fine. After listening inwardly, I added this:
2. The Aurovilian must not be a slave to his desires.
The idea is this: "We come to Auroville to escape social and moral rules that are artificially practiced everywhere, but it is not to live in the licentiousness of the satisfaction of every desire: it is to rise above desires in a truer consciousness." Something like that.... It appears they quite need this! (Mother laughs) So we should add it. We could draw up a whole program, that would be interesting enough.
Yes, but in the practical order, until people go a little behindappearances and stop living on the surface of themselves, nothing will mean anything!
But all that is precisely what they need to be told!
So the first necessity is to go deep down into themselves, a little.Because even if you tell them "the Divine," what does it mean to their surface consciousness?
Yes.... For him, this boy, it has a meaning, but for most others ...
Yes. it doesn't mean anything.
So we should put: "The first condition is the inner discovery...."
In the ideal order, the first condition is to need something otherthan the present world and human conditions.
That goes without saying.
Then, to reach there, the first condition is to descend deep downin oneself to find out what one IS behind all these hereditary, social, cultural appearances - what one truly is. Then, at that stage, things take on a meaning, but before that they don't mean anything. Before that, they have the meaning given in morality, religion, philosophy - they mean nothing.
So we'll put (Mother writes): First essential condition ...
It's more than a condition, it's a necessity.
1. The first necessity is the inner discovery so asto find out what one truly is behind all social, moral, cultural ...
Racial?
Oh, yes.
... racial, hereditary appearances.
But then, we should tell them that there IS a discovery to be made, because many don't know it at all! (Mother laughs)
In the center, there is a free being, vast andknowing, which awaits our discovery and must become the acting center of our being and our life in Auroville.

Then, after that, shall we put this (Mother points to the former first point on the consecration to the Divine), or something else?... It seems to me that this is more an accomplishment, something that comes at the end.

(long silence)

We should teach them to free themselves from the idea of personal possession.... You see, everything belongs to the Divine, and the Divine gives you not only a center (the center of your individuality), but also the possibility of the personal use of a number of things; but you must take them all like that, as things LENT to you by the Divine. The Divine is eternal, of course, he is everlasting, as they say in English, and at the same time as he creates this individual center, a number of things are there to be used for his work, so those things are LENT. That's exactly the point: you hold them in your possession for a time. It's to uproot the sense of personal possession.

(silence)

That would be interesting: "The description of the citizen of tomorrow's city."
There's the second paragraph on desires, and the third would beon personal possession.
The only true way to cure desires is to give oneself to the Divine and accept what He gives you as the only things you need. But that's already very advanced.
At the beginning, you said that Aurovilians have come "to escapemoral conventions, etc., but not to give free rein to licentious ness. ..."
Yes, that's right (Mother writes):
2. One lives in Auroville to be free from moral and social conventions; but that freedom must not be a new slavery to the ego, its desires and ambitions.
Is that all? It's enough for today!
If you want to connect this to the other paragraph, might we saysomething like, "Desire is the most powerful distorter of the inner discovery"?
Ah, yes. (Mother writes)
The fulfillment of desire bars the road to theinner discovery, which can only take place in the peace of perfect disinterestedness.
One word comes to me, Mother: not only peace, but transparency.
Yes (Mother writes):
... in the peace and transparency of perfect disinterestedness.
It'll become something interesting!
That's the basis. Then there's the third paragraph. You said, "TheAurovilian must free himself from the idea of personal posses sion. "
But it's not the "idea," it's the "sense"! (Mother writes)
3. The Aurovilian must free himself from thesense of personal possession. For our transition in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and action is put at our disposal....
You don't say by whom?
(Mother laughs) No!... By the All-Possessing!
... according to the place we are to occupy.
Mother, I'd like to add: The more we are in contact with ourinner being, the more the exact means are given to us.
Oh, that's fine (Mother writes):
The more we are CONSCIOUSLY in contact with our inner being, the more the exact means are given to us.
It'll become interesting!
It gives them the basis.
Oh, but we'll be able to do something interesting!

page 223 - 27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 3rd June - 1970



Wouldn't it be good to do the rest of the "Program for Auroville"with Aurovilians, since you started it?...
I had them speak to see what they would tell me.... Almost all of them are terribly lazy, so I'd like to tell them that manual work ...

(Mother writes)

4. Work, even manual work, is indispensable tothe inner discovery. If one does not work, if one does not put one's consciousness into matter, it will never develop. To let conscious ness organize some matter through ones body is very good. To put things in order around oneself helps to put things in order in oneself.
Another point:
One should organize one's life not accordingto external and artificial rules, but according to an organized inner consciousness, because if one leaves life alone without imposing on it the control of a higher consciousness, it becomes hazy and inexpressive. It means wasting one's time, in the sense that matter remains without conscious utilization.

page 228 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 6th June - 1970


We have to complete our "program" for Auroville.... Auroville has come to prepare the coming of the new species.

5. The whole earth must prepare for the advent of the new species, and Auroville wants to consciously work to hasten that advent.
6. What this new species is to be will be progressively revealed to us. In the meanwhile, the best way is to consecrate oneself entirely to the Divine.
Enough!... To be continued!...
page 232 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 13th June - 1970


(Mother hands to Satprem a note that she sent

to an Aurovillian)

"It is the old methods of yoga that demand silence and solitude.
The yoga of tomorrow is to find the Divine in work and in contact with the world."

page 34 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 27th Jan - 1971


(Mother replies to an Aurovillian:)

(Question:) You said you did not want to make rules forAuroville. But recently you wrote, "Drugs are forbidden in Auroville." Have you changed your view of Auroville?
Perhaps Aurovillians have not yet attained the level of consciousness expected of them.

* * *

"You must rise high enough in your consciousness so as to be above contradictions. That is the solution."
page 62 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Mar - 1971


(On the occasion of the laying of the first stone of the

Matrimandir on February 21, Satprem had written a letter to

the architect of Auroville.)

I saw your letter (I saw it in English), the letter you wrote to R. for the "Matrimandir".... It's interesting, it's good.... They have a bulletin, a "Gazette," it will be published there.[[Satprem's letter was misunderstood and published abridged to suit the comprehension of the editors. ]]
I get a lot of requests from all sorts of people, either to say

something or do something or comment on something or.... I feel it's not so good.
What do they ask you?
One thing or another, a commentary, an explanation, "what doI think of...."
But does it come from Auroville?
Most of it, yes.
Listen, there's quite a lazy group in Auroville!
Oh, that, yes!
People who don't want to work. Now they say that according to your book, to get the true consciousness, one doesn't have to work!
Yes, that's it. I heard that also. They say, "Work belongs to theold world"...!
Yes, that's how they understand it. So, what can you do?... What did you reply to them?
I spoke to R. I told him what I thought. I said that work is thefoundation.
Yes.
It's by being and working in matter that one can bring a littleconsciousness into oneself.
Yes, that's it.
And if there isn't any work, there isn't any transformation.
Yes, that's exactly what I wrote to them. [[Here is Mother's text: "Consciousness develops best through work done as offering to the Divine. Indolence and inaction lead to tamas: That is a fall into unconsciousness, it is contrary to all progress and light. To overcome one's ego, to live only in the service of the Divine -- that is the ideal and the shortest way towards acquiring the true consciousness." ]] He told me, "They couldn't care less."
Oh, yes, that's true!
Maybe they would listen to you if you told them that.
If you like, I can write.
Yes, you can write. Maybe they would listen to you, because they're saying that in the name of your book, you see!
Oh, you know, in the name of my book they also say that SriAurobindo and Mother are now obsolete, and that in a way my book supersedes all that!
Yes, oh, exactly! (general laughter)
I've heard just about everything.
Yes, that's it! (laughter)
So, what can I say in the face of such things!?

(Mother laughs)

One even wrote me, "So, Sri Aurobindo didn't have the key tothe superman."
Oh, really?
Yes, I'm the one who's given it, you see.
Good heavens!
It's bewildering!
(Mother laughs) I think there are no limits to human stupidity.
Oh, yes!

(silence)

One doesn't know what to do or say because it's....
No, they have to be told: you're talking nonsense.
Oh, I told them, you know, but still.... I told them theyhad a lot of nerve. And I asked them, "But where do you think I learned what I've written!?"
Exactly! (Mother laughs) They're terribly angry with me because I told them discipline is indispensable.
But of course!
That's old hat, you see.
But, Mother, I told R. that the basic mistake is that when thosepeople came here, everything was handed to them: he gave them ready-made houses, they were given all they needed to eat -- they got everything on a silver platter. While these people should have been made to build their own houses and to plant their own potatoes if they wanted to eat; they should have done everything by themselves.
Yes, exactly.
with coolies? One does not make a new world with hired labor!"
I think a whole group of those people should go.
Yes, that's my feeling.

(silence)

To one of them I said, "If I went over there, I'd go with a whip!"
(Mother laughs) There's really a subhuman group over there.
Yes, certainly.... But how can you eliminate that?

(silence)

Another example: they even have a hired cook to do theircooking, those people!

Oh!...
There's a fundamental flaw in all that, you know.
But how can that be?
That's the way it is, you see. They have a hired cook.
Heavens!

(long silence)

What do you propose then?
Nothing, I don't know, Mother.

(silence)

I feel R. should organize things in such a way that people are compelled to work.
Yes.... Yes, we'll have to do something.
That way, the sorting out would be done right away.
Yes.... But I need to know the number of people in the group, both those who work and those who do nothing. And then....

(silence)

Of course, we could take very "drastic" steps.
Yes.
For instance, so many hours of work per day are required in order to be fed, or else you eat only if you pay for it.
Yes, Mother, it should be done. Because, you see, they are so crafty that they all say they work: they putter around here and there, they go to work on the Matrimandir for half an hour or so.... So, to them, they've "worked." You see, they just putter around.

(after a silence)

I suddenly felt I had lost my influence over those people. I tell them things -- they couldn't care less. You could speak to R. and see.
Yes, Mother.... But R. says, "Mother doesn't want to interfere . Mother doesn't want to make any decisions." But I think perhaps it's up to him to make a decision.
But no one will listen to him. You see, I can't make decisions anymore because they don't listen to me. As long as they listened to me, it was easy -- it was easy, there was an influence. Now, something has happened, I don't have any authority at all anymore, so what can we do?[[Nor do we know what kind of report Mother was getting from the trio of intriguers who were already quarreling over the direction and funds of Auroville. Certainly there was a lazy group in Auroville, but that group quickly disappeared on its own. Is it a "lack of authority" over the Aurovillians or over the trio, whose rivalries were beginning to arouse the mistrust of the Aurovillians? ]]
Well, if you tell R., he will see that it's done.

(Mother goes within for a long time)

We'll have to find some way....
Mother, it seems to me you could call together those who areresponsible and take some decisions.
Yes, good idea. The trouble is that when several of them are here together, they talk among themselves, I don't hear. So....
If it would help, I can be there.
I think it would.

(long silence
Mother goes within)

I really feel it is necessary to start again on a new basis and theentire place must be swept clean of all those people. We have to start afresh in a new location and make them work.

Yes, but how about the accommodations?
In the meantime they could live in huts, which they wouldbuild themselves.
But they're in huts.
I mean with thatched roofs.

(silence)

I'll see. I'll try to arrange something. I'll tell you Saturday.
page 108-14 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 28th Apr - 1971


"I disapprove totally of violence. Each act of violence is a step back on the path leading to the goal to which we aspire. The Divine is everywhere and always supremely conscious. Nothing must ever be done that cannot be done before the Divine."
That's for someone rather primary, but anyway....

(some more papers)

All that is for Auroville. I am giving them to you so you'll know.
page 129 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 12th May - 1971



(Sometime in August the message that follows was circulated

in the Ashram and Auroville, and published in an Ashram

periodical. It is interesting to note that the text is an alteration

of a much older original text that Mother had given to Satprem.

The original text is included afterwards.)

"The task of giving a concrete shape to Sri Aurobindo's vision has been entrusted to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society, expressing and embodying the new consciousness, is the work undertaken by her. In the nature of things, it is a collective ideal calling for a collective effort to realize it in terms of an integral human perfection. The Ashram, founded and built up by the Mother, has been the first step towards the fulfilment of this goal. The project of Auroville is the next step, "more exterior," seeking to widen the base of this endeavor to establish harmony between soul and body, spirit and nature, heaven and earth in the collective life of humanity."

(original manuscript)

(First version) The task of giving a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo's vision has been given to the Mother. (Second version) The task of completing Sri Aurobindo's vision has been given to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society expressing and embodying the new consciousness is the work she has undertaken. By the very nature of things, it is an ideal because the state of Nature that makes it necessary must be surpassed. We aspire for the time when Sri Aurobindo will no longer have to die.
page 215-16 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , Undated Aug - 1971


But take this other example: I am trying to make Auroville a link between the old way of being and the new, but they are all sunk in.... I mean they use their freedom to live in the most ordinary way. So ... it's discouraging. There are some -- a few -- who are good, but the majority is a subhumanity, an altogether animal humanity. So....

page 234 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Sep - 1971


(Notes from Mother)

Auroville is intended to hasten the advent of the supramental reality upon earth.
The help of all those who find that the world is not what it ought to be is welcome.
Each one must know if he wants to associate himself with an old world on the verge of death, or to work for a new and better world ready to be born.

***

The first thing the physical consciousness must realize is that all the difficulties we encounter in life arise from the fact that we do not rely exclusively on the Divine to find the help we need.
The Divine alone can liberate us from the mechanism of universal Nature. And this liberation is indispensable for the birth and development of the new race.
Only if we give ourselves entirely to the Divine with total trust and gratitude will the difficulties be surmounted.

page 51 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 1st Feb - 1972-1973


(A message from Mother to some Aurovilians)

From a spiritual point of view, India is theforemost country in the world. Its mission is to give the example of spirituality. Sri Aurobindo came on earth to teach this to the world.
This fact is so obvious, that even a simple,ignorant farmer here is in his heart closer to the Divine than all the intellectuals of Europe.
All those who want to become Aurovilians mustknow that and behave accordingly, otherwise they are unworthy of being Aurovilians.
page 55 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Feb - 1972-1973


I will tell you that we are preaching unity - unity of humanity - and we are all quarreling - horrible quarrels, resentments and all sorts of urgings that we condemn in the others. We are giving a nice example, and people laugh! Voila. It has come to me from many quarters. Begin with yourself, they say, and they are right. Each one, all of you have good reasons, everybody seems to lie. Everybody has "good reasons." You know, the ego is the most clever rogue I have ever met. He takes such nice, nice appearances, and each one says: "I would, but I can't." Voila. And I tell you, from some places far away and from near, from far and from near, from India and from other countries: Begin with yourself. That is, we are ridiculous - ridiculous. And such good reasons we have! - all the people have good reasons. It is above reason, it has nothing to do with reason, nothing to do with that, we want ... a new creation. If the Divine had only for one hour the same feelings as men have, there would be no more world. That I can tell you. I have seen clearly - you believe me if you want - I have seen the world with the eye of the Divine. It is something so terrible, you know, so contrary to what it must be, that if the Divine said "only He," brrt! everything would go, there would be no world, there would be no men, there would be only That. Des ego pulverises [smashed egos]. It is difficult, it is the most difficult thing - we are here to do difficult things. We are in the period of transition. I can't tell you: be like this or be like that, because there is no example as yet. It is being done, and we are just at the time of the transition. It is very, very difficult - but very interesting. For centuries and centuries, humanity has waited for this time. It has come. But it is difficult. I don't simply tell you we are here upon earth to rest and enjoy ourselves, now it is not the time for that. We are here ... to prepare the way for the new creation. The body has some difficulty, so I can't be active, alas. It is not because I am old - I am not old. I am not old, I am younger than most of you. If I am here inactive, it is because the body has given itself definitely to prepare the transformation. But the consciousness is clear and we are here to work - rest and enjoyment will come afterwards. Let us do our work here. So I have called you to tell you that. Take what you can, do what you can, my help will be with you. All sincere efforts will be helped to the maximum.
Now is the time to be heroic. Heroism is not what people say, it is to be completely united - and the divine help will always be with those who have, in all sincerity, resolved to be heroic. Voila. You are here now, I mean on earth, because you once chose to be - you don't remember it, but I know; that's why you are here.' Well, you must stand up to the task. You must make an effort, you must conquer pettiness and limitations, and above all tell the ego: your time is over. We want a race without ego, with the divine consciousness in place of the ego. That's what we want: the divine consciousness, which will enable the race to develop and the superman [[Mother later corrected "superman" to "supramental being." ]] to be born. If you think I am here because I am bound, you are wrong. I am not bound. I am here because my body has given itself for the first attempt at transformation. Sri Aurobindo told me so, he told me, "I know of no one who can do it, except you." I said, "All right, I will do it." It's not ... I don't wish anyone to do it in my place, because ... because it's not very pleasant, but I am doing it gladly, because everybody will benefit from the results. I ask only one thing: don't listen to the ego. That's all. The time of the ego is over. We want to go beyond humanity and its ego, to leave it behind, we want a race without ego, with a divine consciousness in place of the ego. There, that's all. Anything to say?

(silence)

If there is a sincere "yes" in your hearts, you will have satisfied me fully. I don't need words: I need your hearts' sincere adherence. That's all.

(silence)

(To the architect:) Did you follow?
Yes, Mother.
Are you in agreement?
Fully in agreement.

(To N. and U.:) You and you, you must agree. You are here for that. You have come to this place at this time for that. We must give to the world the example of what must be, not petty egoistic movements, but an aspiration towards the manifestation of Truth. Voila.

(silence)

I can assure you that all sincere effort will be pleinement, fully helped by the Divine. Of that I am sure. And I can assure you of that.

(silence)

That is all I had to say.
page 124- 27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 2nd Apr - 1972-1973


(Mother gives Sujata the manuscript of a note she wrote

for Auroville.)

"Jesus is one of the many forms the Divine hasassumed to come in contact with the earth. But there are and will be many others. Auroville's children must replace the exclusivism of one religion by the vast faith of Knowledge."


page 211 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 23rd June - 1972-1973




-048_baby seal.html



Oh, a few days ago I was told a frightful story - what depths humanity has sunk to ... it's unbelievable. Have you heard this story of the slaughter of baby seals? When seals are born (a certain species of seals), they're all white, and they remain so for a few weeks, then they lose their hair and turn gray-gray or yellowish, like their fathers and mothers. And as it's the fashion to wear all-white fur coats, some people ... It's organized by some trader or other: seals gather at the time of giving birth, there's a place there, in the North, on an island, where they gather in their thousands, and each mother gives birth to a single child. So those people go there in boats, fully equipped, and when the seals are born, they kill them - thousands of them at one go. It takes ten or fifteen skins to make a coat .... And they slaughter them. But then, for the carnage to be cheap (you understand, it shouldn't cost too much), they club the animals on their heads, then with big butchers' knives they skin them on the spot-skin them while they're still alive .... That is to say ... it seems they shriek, you know, they aren't dumb. It seems it's ... What happened is that a television reporter went there without knowing what was happening (he went there for something else), and he came upon that. He was so horrified, you know, so disgusted that he resolved to make it stop. And for maybe two years, he has been campaigning all over the world - through television and all sorts of means - for people to intervene. There was a strong pressure on the prime minister (it's in nor-them Canada and northern Norway, I think, on perpetually frozen islands), and they obtained from Canada's prime minister (charming people!) that instead of clubbing the baby seals supposedly to death, they would throw diesel oil on them, because that asphyxiates them fast .... But people found it too costly (such unbelievably low depths, you know!), so they went to the prime minister and asked him to lift his ban - and he did it! He allowed them to be slaughtered like that .... It seems the mothers (they've just given birth, you see, they're suckling the pups) try to defend them - so to prevent them from seeing what goes on, they put out their eyes .... Well, when I was told that, I saw a humanity sinking into ... an abyss of ignominy. Then they brought cards to me (they're preparing a new movement), cards with big photos - those little ones, if you knew how sweet they are! And intelligent! They're first-rate. And I saw the photo before knowing anything of the story; I looked and said, "Oh, what a lovely little one!" I instantly saw: receptive, admirable, an admirable kid! So there are photos of those little ones, there's a portrait of the crook who arranges the whole thing, a portrait of the reporter, and cards with the portrait of one of those little ones, with at the top, in French and in English, "Let baby seals live." Like that. And a place for one's name and signature. And at the back, a place to add something if one wants to. They asked me if I wanted to sign. I said yes. There was one card addressed to Norway's fisheries minister, one to Canada's fisheries minister, and one to Canada's prime minister. So I put my stamp: "The Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram." I didn't add anything, I left the sentence and signed. And we'll send them. But when I was told that ... Why, why? ... And those women who wear that ... all those animals' suffering, all those animals' horror, their terror-they wear all that on their backs. And it doesn't give them nightmares! ... Unbelievable. It seems the fashion is to go dancing wearing a stole made of two or three skins of those poor beasts .... People are getting insane! Of course, up there [in the North], that [kind of savagery] is there. It's only ONE example, one sort of epitome. But this IGNOBLE consciousness is everywhere on earth .... I saw it like that. But it's one thing that has as if crystallized to awaken the reaction. Oh, those little ones ... Seals are highly evolved animals, they aren't among the unconscious ones. There was one on the cover, with eyes staring at you like that, it was delightful! ...

(silence)

So this affair put me in contact with all that. It's the sign that it's going to go away.
Page 372-73 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 11th Oct - 1969





-049_balcony darshan.html



But not these last few days. [[Mother refers to the February 21 darshan. ]] Yesterday evening (was it yesterday?... No, the day before), when I went out on the balcony-terrace, [[For the first time in a year, Mother appeared on the new balcony above all the assembled disciples. ]] the difference in perception between the consciousness I have now and the one I had before felt enormous! Before, as I have always said, I would stay there, call the Lord, be in His presence, and only when He withdrew would I come in again - that's how it was. And I had a certain relationship with people, things, the outside world ("outside," well, not outside - anyway, the world). The day before yesterday, when I went to the balcony, I wasn't thinking of anything or observing anything, I simply went - I didn't want to know what was going on, it didn't interest me, I wasn't observing.... The other experience [of the previous balcony, one year ago] seemed to go back centuries! It was so much OTHER! And so spontaneous, so natural, and so immense too! ... The earth was tiny. Yet it was very much here: I wasn't "over there," the BODY itself was feeling that way. And at the same time (I was two floors above people), every time I looked, I recognized scores and scores of people, they seemed to leap to my eyes - a crystal clear vision, much sharper (the vision I had before was always a bit hazy because what I saw wasn't entirely physical: I saw the movement of forces), and yesterday, it was as if ... as if I had risen above the very possibility of haziness! It was far less physical - FAR MORE accurate. [[This far less physical vision was more accurate IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD. ]] Formerly too, I used to sense the Force, the Consciousness, the Power concentrated in a particular point and then spreading out. While here, there was an IMMENSITY of Power, of Light, of Consciousness, of perception, concentrated in a tiny point: the people gathered there. So colossal a difference that I didn't expect it - I wasn't thinking about it nor was I expecting it. I stayed there as long as it lasted, then at a certain point someone said, "That's enough, they are getting tired." (It wasn't I who said it.) "Enough, they can't take any more." So I came back inside. That's what made me come inside. It lasted five minutes. In five minutes, they were full to bursting. page 59 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Feb 1963


(Just before the end, Mother comes back to her experience at the balcony:)

The balcony is quite interesting. Because it suddenly made me notice a change I was unaware of. Like a rapid rise I had been completely unaware of. My only awareness is that at EVERY moment, if I stop talking or listening or working, at every moment, it's like ... great beatific wings, as vast as the world, beating slowly, like that. A feeling of immense wings - not two: all around and stretching out everywhere. Constantly, night and day. I participate in it only when I am tranquil. But it never leaves me. The wings of the Lord. page 62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Feb 1963


It was towards the end of March.
No, at the end of March, I came upstairs not to go down again, that was on the 16th, I noted it. I noted it because my [translation] notebook stopped short on that day (!), I put a red mark. [[The following time, Mother added, "On the 16th, I stopped seeing people downstairs, but on the 18th and 20th I went down again for the balcony: those were the last two times. page 93 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd March 1963


Something still remained (but not as strong as that), something remained when I went to the balcony [in the afternoon of the 24th]. At the balcony I was different from what I usually am. I don't exactly know what it was. But then, the photographs are very different; there is something in the photographs that wasn't there before. There was a special atmosphere.


page 121 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 27th April - 1967


Did something happen on the 4th?
That is what happened. And a constant Presence the whole day long. I tell you, it started like that in the morning, as if I had been stunned for the day - I no longer existed. It's like that all the time: the Force at work, the Force at work, the Force at work ... all the time like that, constantly, nothing but the Force at work. That's what I told you the other day [the two vibrations], it's like that. But all the time, all the time. At the balcony, constantly, constantly: the Force at work, the Force at work ... Nothing remains except that. And as there is a large crowd, it does a lot of work. But at the balcony (and even before, in the morning when that ball of lightning came), there was a very special concentration on you. But that, I don't know, it's for you to say. If you felt something, so much the better!
page 137 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 6th May - 1967



Since the 15th of August, since that experience at the balcony, [[The "golden peace." ]] it has become very clear.


page 301 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 20th Sep - 1967




-050_Bangladesh.html


You haven't spoken of Sri Aurobindo in a long time.
Me, I have nothing to say.
What about Sri Aurobindo, is he saying anything?

(after a silence)

He's very busy with ... (gesture to the north) with everything happening in the country. It's serious, you know.
But what is India waiting for?
Waiting for what?
Well, to recognize that country.[[To recognize officially the "provisional government" of Bangladesh under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur. Only eight months later, on December 6, would India recognize Bangladesh. ]]
Oh, she has recognized it!
No, Mother, she hasn't.
They told me....
She has expressed her "sympathy," that's all. But she hasn'trecognized it.
I received news from the government today. They told me they were waiting to hear from America before granting official recognition.[[t was more a matter of making sure America would not oppose the independence of Bangladesh! ]]
Good.... Well, it's about time.

(silence)

But she shouldn't need America to do that!
It's against China, you see. China is the only country that supports Pakistan. [[President Nixon will send warships to threaten India in case she intervenes on the side of Bangladesh. ]]
I think the whole world is waiting for India to recognizeBangladesh in order to follow suit -- they're waiting for it.
Not quite -- they've all made up their mind.[[Alas. . . . ]]

(silence)

Because a lot of people are dying up there.
Oh! ... (Mother makes a gesture of horror) it's dreadful.
Yes.
It's a massacre.
Yes. And then every day they send troops [West Pakistan] and tanks and planes.... It seems to me.... I don't know ... there's no time to lose.

(silence)

But India should have the courage to intervene, Mother.

(Mother goes deep within, then, after

a long time, makes a gesture as if to say,
"What can be done?" and goes back within)

This very morning they asked me what should be done, but they don't.... They ask, but they do just what they think. We'll see.... I have only one means, you know, it's ... (gesture of pressing the Force upon the world). All I can do (same gesture) is to put pressure with the Force.
page 75-77 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 31st Mar - 1971


What is India doing, Mother?
I received some news from Indira, who told me that they're sending all the help they can up there [to Bangladesh]. They are taking a very positive position. But she says that the outcome will probably be war with Pakistan, and maybe even with China -- they're expecting it.
That's good! Let the Falsehood burst open!
You know that they had asked my advice? And I told them that they had to help urgently [[On April 3, Mother sent a written message to Indira. ]] (that letter was hand-delivered to her). And her answer was brought back to me. She said she agreed, that they were already doing it: even medical assistance and everything. They're sending everything. But West Pakistan wrote to Russia ... (Mother tries to recall). They're angry [Russia?], because they had advised them not to start a war, and the advice was not followed. So now they say [the Pakistanis]: India had better not help because ... that would mean war. And Russia sent this information to India. And China has clearly taken a position for Pakistan. So it may get very nasty.
It has to be straightened out once and for all, Mother.
Both England and America are still like this (vacillating gesture).
For them it's Pakistan's "internal affair."
Yes.
But it seems to me that India is too slow in taking an effectivestand to recognize the country.
Oh, it was done these last few days. Already two or three days ago....
??... I'm speaking of the official recognition of the government of Bangladesh.
There isn't any government.
But they said there is a government -- a provisional government.
When did they say that?
Already at least 5 or 6 days ago.
Yes, but the man [Sheikh Mujibur] has been made a prisoner -- and tortured into the bargain, to make him say what he doesn't want to say.[[To coerce him publicly to abjure the independence of Bengal. ]] It's horrible, mon petit!
Oh, yes.

(silence)

But I feel that the more India procrastinates or beats aroundthe bush, the more difficult the situation will become for her.
Oh, but it's over, she's not procrastinating anymore.
Yes, except that she doesn't want to recognize the government of Bengal officially.
Yes, she does.
??
They have even helped to form it.
!?
That was these past few days -- the news hasn't come out yet. I get news that hasn't come out.

(silence)

It's far more serious than it seems.

page 84-85 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 7th Apr - 1971


It looks as if they're letting that country be crushed withoutdoing anything.
No. Three or four countries have already recognized it. I don't remember.
Oh, no, Mother, no one!
They told me so this morning.
No one, Mother! Not a single one.
Well, yes, they told me this morning.
The people of Bangladesh have sent emissaries to try to securerecognition, but up till now....
Oh, yes. They've worked. Three countries have already recognized it.
But not at all, Mother, I can assure you!... Unless the news is secret, no one has recognized Bengal.
But the news we get is not at all complete.... Well, anyway I don't know anything.
According to the news, Pakistani troops are now recapturingcities, and not only that, but they are sealing off the border with India, so that even secret help that might have been given cannot get through anymore.
Where did you get that news?
Well, that's the official news.

(long silence,
the assistant brings Mother's note)

You wrote: "The urgent recognition of Bangla-Desh is impera tive."
Yes, "the urgent recognition...." That's the second note, the one of the fourth. "The urgent recognition of Bangla-Desh is imperative."[[The first version, the one of the third, read: India must recognize Bangla-Desh. This is urgent. ]]
There you are, they just haven't listened to you! They're notlistening to you.
They told me it was done.
No, Mother, it's not done at all!
And that there was even a government formed and everything.
That, yes! They've formed a provisional government in Bangla desh, but it has not been recognized.

(silence)

And so the longer they delay, the more impossible it becomesto do anything.

(after a silence)

But the news coming from there is very conflicting. I get news through Surendra Mohan [an advisor to Indira], who is working actively....
Then it must be a secret recognition, because officially it's notrecognized at all .[[In fact, again on the 18th, the day after this conversation, the president of India, V.V. Giri, in a press interview in which he was spiritedly asked why he still had not recognized Bangladesh, said, "The central government is studying the question whether recognition should be granted to Bangladesh." Then he added, "Our sympathy is with the people of Bangladesh. It is up to the Prime Minister [Indira] and the central cabinet to decide the question." (P.T.I) ]]

At any rate, the fact is that Pakistani troops are recapturing territory and they're trying to set up a provisional pseudogovernment under their control. That's what they're doing. A government of traitors, you know, like Petain [the head of the Vichy government during World War II which collaborated with the Nazis].

(Mother goes within for a long time,
then raises her hands)

(In a sad tone:) I don't know.

(Mother goes back within)

The truth must be something else altogether, I am sure -- neither what some say nor what the others say. But what is it?...[[One wonders what kind of news Mother was getting from her entourage. ]]

(silence)

In any event, there is something far more dangerous still: there's going to be famine.
Yes, Mother.
And Surendra Mohan is going to try to get all the necessary supplies from America.
Yes, but Pakistani ships off-shore are confiscating everything.
It should come from India.
But they're sealing off the borders!... Mother, the fact is thatthey have not listened to you and they have missed the chance -- they are missing it!

page 98-100 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 7th Apr - 1971



And it seems that almost all of India is officially in favor of the recognition of Bangladesh.


page 130 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 12th May - 1971


The latest argument is that Pakistan wants India to declare war so she can call China to her aid, you see.
But in any case the Chinese are on Pakistan's side. In any case. The Chinese are already there in Pakistan, do you know?
Yesterday P. returned from Calcutta and showed me a rifle bullet, and it's a Chinese bullet. Already they have some ... [men there].
page 130 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 12th May - 1971


And already over two million refugees have come into India, and they're expecting the two million to swell to ten million. And India won't have anything to eat. That' what's going to happen tomorrow, immediately. It's really a bottomless pit.... Ten million swarming into North India.


page 136 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 15th May - 1971


Do you know, there's an interesting phenomenon. The American ambassador to India [Kenneth Keating] is for Bangladesh, while the president of the American republic [Nixon] is for Pakistan!! (Mother laughs) So, now, they say, there are two Americas! A Pakistan America and a Bangladesh America!... The American ambassador is in total agreement with what you wrote.

page 205 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 28th July - 1971


Everything is like this (hanging gesture), everything. They're ready to fight up there [on the borders of India and Bangladesh], and they're forever waiting to be told to fight. The armies are ready, everything is ready and they're waiting. Everything is like this (same gesture).
What are they waiting for?
For the government to give the order.
But the government won't budge!
Oh, yes (Mother smiles), it will. It will be forced to move. But it's resisting. Someone came here from the government, sent by a "commission," and through him the General in command of the armies has communicated with me, and he asked for my blessings. They are all ready. They're waiting -- they are told tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, always tomorrow. I have news from up there.
page 245-46 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 18th Sep - 1971


(On December 2, eight months after the bloody repression

in Bangladesh, India launched a general offensive

against the Pakistani troops.)

So they've declared war.
page 317 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Dec - 1971




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-052_beauty.html


To do this Yoga, one must have at least some sense of beauty. Without it, one lacks one of the most important aspects of the physical world. There is a beauty of the soul, a dignity of the soul - it is a thing to which I am very sensitive, a thing that moves me and arouses great respect in me, always. A beauty of the soul? Yes, it shows through in the face; this kind of dignity, beauty, harmony of an integral realization. When the soul shows through in the physical, it imparts this dignity, this beauty, this majesty, the majesty that comes from being the Tabernacle. Thus, even things that have no particular beauty assume a sense of eternal beauty, of THE eternal beauty. In this way, I have seen faces change from one extreme to the other in a flash. Someone who had this kind of beauty, harmony, this sense of divine dignity in the body, and suddenly the perception of the obstacle or the difficulty comes, then the sense of wrong, of unworthiness - there is a sudden distortion in the appearance, a kind of decomposition of the features! And yet it is the same face. It takes place in a flash, it's frightful. This kind of hideousness of torment, of degradation (it is exactly what has been expressed in religions as the 'torment of sin'), it changes your face unrecognizably! Even features that are beautiful in themselves become frightful - and they are the same features, the same person.
page 180-81 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , July - 1958


-054_Bhagvad Gita.html


The Gita is supramental

I met a man (I was perhaps 20 or 21 at the time), an Indian who had come to Europe and who told me of the Gita. There was a French translation of it (a rather poor one, I must say) which he advised me to read, and then he gave me the key (HIS key, it was his key). He said, 'Read the Gita ...' (this translation of the Gita which really wasn't worth much but it was the only one available at the time - in those days I wouldn't have understood anything in other languages; and besides, the English translations were just as bad and ... well, Sri Aurobindo hadn't done his yet!). He said, 'Read the Gita knowing that Krishna is the symbol of the immanent God, the God within.' That was all. 'Read it with THAT knowledge - with the knowledge that Krishna represents the immanent God, the God within you.' Well, within a month, the whole thing was done!

page 43 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1 , 1951-1960 , 25th Aug.


When I was told that the Divine was within - the teaching of the Gita, but in words understandable to a Westerner - that there was an inner Presence, that one carried the Divine within oneself, oh! ... What a revelation! In a few minutes, I suddenly understood all, all, all. Understood everything. It brought the contact instantly.

page 197 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 29th April - 1961

One thing struck me: you say that the Gita as Sri Aurobindo explained it is not overmental but supramental....
Sri Aurobindo said that what he came to bring was already indicated in the Gita.

page 367 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th Oct 1962

One thing struck me: you say that the Gita as Sri Aurobindo explained it is not overmental but supramental....
Sri Aurobindo said that what he came to bring was already indicated in the Gita.
page 367 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th Oct. 1962



-055_Birthday card.html



Last time [[During the last conversation, Mother went into a deep trance, quite oblivious of the time. ]] I realized that I hadn't had such a silent contemplation for months, maybe, I am so overwhelmed with work - work which consists in writing birthday cards, signing, seeing people.... On Monday, in the afternoon, I saw thirteen "birthdays"; yesterday there were twelve of them; tomorrow, there will be another twelve.... You understand, the number of people is increasing, and they come from everywhere; some even come from Africa for their birthdays.... That makes about two thousand a year, which is how many a day?


page 171 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 10th Aug - 1966




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-057_body lasts 100 years.html

-058_B.M.html



I've received a letter from a friend in France who speaks at length of someone who has written three volumes entitled "Gnosis."
Ohh!
That person lives in Switzerland, he's a Russian named B.M. He has a center with disciples. I asked for his photograph and I'd like you to help me understand what type of man he is.
(Mother studies the photo) He is an intellectual, at any rate - clearly not a spiritual man. He may have some vital powers (that's generally what gets hold of people). Yes, an intellectual, an idealist.
Do you have his handwriting?
No.
He's terribly well-mannered, that's what bothers me! (laughing) A well-mannered gentleman!
I had the same feeling: a feeling of someone extraordinarily bourgeois.
A very "respectable" gentleman. He must have some wit, a rather sharp wit. An ironist: he must be very clever at answering, really what we call esprit in French. There is no sign of powers in the photo, but if he has any over people, it must be a vital power. He is not a great mind; he doesn't go beyond the idealistic intellect. But that's more than enough for people, because true spiritual power is completely above their heads - of course, they are very sensitive to a little bit of vital power, mental-vital. He's a man who could have practiced some Tantrism in the way Woodroffe did; I can't say. There are also many people of that kind who were converted to Sufism - they are very easily converted to Sufism. But true spiritual life, there aren't many....
He has written three volumes entitled "Gnosis."
Quite an ambition. But he's an intellectual, he may have received some inspiration on the intellectual level. Is your letter from France?
Yes, from a friend, and as this B.M. seems to be spreading, for my own guidance I wanted to know if he is in good hands or dubious hands.
The ceiling isn't very high, but that doesn't necessarily mean "bad hands." An aristocrat 'your gentleman. Maybe a former aristocrat from Russia?
My friend is an aristocrat, a marquis "of something." But he's no ordinary marquis: he's an adventurer.

Well, yes! It's part of the character. It's the Kshatrya [[Kshatrya: the caste of warriors and kings. ]] element, it's part of the character: being an adventurer. But this one is terribly well-mannered! (Laughing) Excellent manners, a refined man perhaps. An intellectual. But is he humanitarian, does he work for the good of mankind? ... Or for the good of his own glory?!
He says he has received a Message. He has a Message.
Ah, he has something to reveal to the world - Lord, poor world! How many revelations! ... Anyway, let's wait for the book, we'll see. page 170-71 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963




-060_Book on Sri Aurobindo.html


The other day you were telling me to start this 'Sri Aurobindo' from any point at all....
Yes, can't you write that way?
I don't know. Perhaps I'm biased, but I feel that this book should flow from beginning to end.
Oh, yesterday or the day before, I had the occasion to write a sentence about Sri Aurobindo. It was in English and wentsomething like this: In the world's history, what Sri Aurobindo represents is not a teaching nor even a revelation, but a decisive ACTION direct from the Supreme.

(silence)

I tell you this because just now as we were speaking about the book and you were saying it would come all at once in a single flow, I saw a kind of globe, like a sun - a sun shedding a twinkling dust of incandescent light (the sun was moving forward and this dust came twinkling in front of it), like this (gesture). It came towards you, then made a circle around you as if to say, 'Here is the formation.' It was magnificent! There was a creative warmth in it, a warmth like the sun's - a power of Truth. And here again, I was given the same impression: that what Sri Aurobindo has come to bring is not a teaching, not even a revelation, but a FORMIDABLE action coming direct from the Supreme. It is something pouring over the world. Your book should convey this feeling - without stating it. Convey the feeling, transmit it - transmit this solar light.
page 91 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 14th Feb 1961
I want you to have enough time to write your book, because I feel that Sri Aurobindo is interested in it - the sun that came a while ago was from him. I feel he is interested and confident you can do it.

page 91 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th Feb 1961


Well, mon petit. And if you really want to please me (I believe you do!), if you want to please me, concentrate on the book on Sri Aurobindo - you can't imagine how much I am interested! And as I LOOK, I see into the future (not with this little consciousness), I see that it's a thing of GREAT importance. It will have a great action. So, I want to clear the way for you now, for us to have time. page 156 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 7th April 1961



Ever since I've known that Sri Aurobindo attached importance to this book, I have been doing a great deal of 'looking.' I told you what I saw the other day, didn't I? ... You asked my advice in choosing the photos and you had picked the one of him in 'meditation' [Sri Aurobindo on his bed after he left his body]. Earlier, I had seen the photo of him young; and while I was looking at it, Sri

Aurobindo was there and he suddenly took me thousands of years into the future - I've told you about this - and said to me, The beginning of the legend. Then I understood that this was the right photo for the book. Evidently he is making your book the starting point for all that will be thought and said and done upon earth on the intellectual plane. And I assure you that I am helping you and he is helping you! You must ask him.

page 374 - - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 5th Nov. 1961


... But isn't this second book on Sri Aurobindo something imposed by circumstances? Is it really something that must be done, that already exists and has been decreed?
Personally, I do see one. I see a Sri Aurobindo....

(silence)

Almost no philosophy, nothing intellectual - almost a story. His work presented in an entirely practical and matter-of-fact way, like the talks I used to give to the children here. When I said to the children, "This, you know, is why you are here," I told them in a way they could understand, didn't I? Well the book should be like that. If I were to write (I will never write a book on Sri Aurobindo! Never, never, never - I know it), but were I ever to write a book on Sri Aurobindo, that's the book I would write, something like a fairy tale.... "Just imagine.... You see life, you see how it is, you are used to this sort of existence; and it's dreary and it's sad (some people find it entertaining - because it doesn't take much to entertain them!).... Well, behind it all there is a fairy tale. Something in the making, something that's going to be beautiful, beautiful, inexpressibly beautiful. And we shall take part in it.... You have no idea, you think you will forget everything when you die, leave it all behind you - but it's not true! And all who feel the call to a beautiful, luminous, joyous, progressive life, well ... they will all take part in it, in one way or another. You don't know now, but you will after a while.... There you are." A fairy tale. But do you feel inclined to tell a fairy tale?... It needn't be very long. And with pictures, mon petit! Pictures of all the outer activities, like a movie.... A lovely magazine full of pictures. This seems to me the only thing that could really be said, because that's all that can be seen. So you show all this, saying: "Yes ... but someone is trying to do something with all this. Look behind it, look at the lovely image, the lovely story behind.... And he was trying to draw that story down to earth, and it is sure to come. "And if you like, you too can help make that story come down to earth." Done like that, mon petit, the book could be delightful! Your first book is prophetic and most beautiful, but I must say it's something beyond most people's reach - it's really a book for us, to put us into contact with all who are interested in yoga, in the spiritual life: an elite. It is a book for an elite, not for the general public. What I see is almost a children's book, for a whole generation aged ten to eighteen, thousands of children.... With lovely pictures. page 170-71 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 29th May - 1962




-061_Abdul Baha.html



Once, very long ago, when Sri Aurobindo was telling me about himself, that is, his childhood, his formation, I put the question to him, I asked him, "Why am I, as an individual being, so mediocre? I can do anything; all that I have tried to do I have done, but never in a superior way: always like this (gesture to an average level)." Then he answered me (at the time I took it as a kindness or commiseration), "That's because it gives great suppleness - a great suppleness and a vast scope; because people who have perfection in one field are concentrated and specialized." As I said, I took it simply as a caress to comfort a child. But now I realize that the most important thing is not to have any fixity: nothing should be set, definitive, like the sense of a perfection in the realization - that means a dead stop in the march forward. The sense of incapacity (with the meaning I said of mediocrity, of something by no means exceptional) leaves you in a sort of expectation (gesture of aspiration upward) of something better. So then, the most important thing is suppleness - suppleness. Suppleness and breadth: reject nothing as useless or bad or inferior - nothing; set nothing up as really superior and beautiful - nothing. Remain ever open, ever open. The ideal is to have this suppleness and receptivity and surrender, that is, so total an acceptance of the Influence that whatever comes, naturally, spontaneously and effortlessly the instrument adapts itself instantly to express it. With everything, of course: with the plastic arts, with music, with writing.

(silence)

The nature [of Mother] was rather shy, and as a matter of fact, there wasn't much confidence in the personal capacity (althoughthere was the sense of being able to do anything, if the need arose). Till the age of twenty or twenty-one I spoke very little, and never, never anything like a speech. I wouldn't take part in conversations: I would listen, but speak very little.... Then I was put in touch with Abdul Baha (the "Bahai"), who was then in Paris, and a sort of intimacy grew between us. I used to go to his gatherings because I was interested. And one day when I was in his room, he said to me, "I am sick, I can't speak; go and speak for me." I said, "Me! But I don't speak." He replied, "You just have to go there, sit quietly and concentrate, and what you have to say will come to you. Go and do it, you will see." Well then (laughing), I did as he said. There were some thirty or forty people. I went and sat in their midst, stayed very still, and then ... I sat like that, without a thought, nothing, and suddenly I started speaking. I spoke to them for a half-hour (I don't even know what I told them), and when it was over everybody was quite pleased. I went to see Abdul Baha, who told me, "You spoke admirably." I said, "It wasn't me!" And from that day (I had got the knack from him, you understand!), I would stay like that, very still, and everything would come. It's especially the sense of the "I" that must be lost - that's the great art in everything, for everything, anything you do: for painting, for ... (I did painting, sculpture, architecture even, I did music), for everything, but everything, if you are able to lose the sense of the "I," then you open yourself to ... to the knowledge of the thing (sculpture, painting, etc.). It's not necessarily beings, but the spirit of the thing that uses you. Well, I think it should be the same thing with language. One should be tuned in to someone in that way, or through that someone to something still higher: the Origin. And then, very, very passive. But not inertly passive: vibrantly passive, receptive, like that, attentive, letting "that" come in and be expressed. The result would be there to see.... As I said, we are limited by what we know, but that may be because we're still too much of a "person"; if we could be perfectly plastic it might be different: there have been instances of people speaking in a language they didn't know, therefore ... It's interesting.
page 58-59 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 18th Feb - 1967




-062_Brahma.html

-066_Buddha.html


The Buddha, you know, was deeply shocked by the impermanence of things - the impermanence of the whole creation, that there was nothing permanent anywhere. That was the starting point of his quest, when he saw that nothing was permanent - constant and permanent - hence there was nothing one could call "forever." That's what shocked him, and he felt he had to find something permanent, and in his quest for the Permanent he came upon Nothingness. So his conclusion ran something like this: "Only one thing is permanent - Nothingness. As soon as there's creation, it's impermanent." Why did he object to impermanence? That, I don't know - a question of temperament, I suppose. But as far as he was concerned, that's what Nothingness is good for: it's permanent. It's permanent, the one thing that's permanent. page 396 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th Oct. 1962



Buddha wanted Permanence....


page 100 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th March 1963


It was Buddha's wisdom when he said, "The middle path": not too much on this side, not too much on that side, don't fall on this side, don't fall on that side - a bit of everything, and a balanced ... but PURE path. Purity and sincerity are the same thing. page 196 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 16th Sep - 1964


But if the stories as we are told them are more or less true, I mean if they have any truth, there isn't ONE Avatar who stayed - they all left. Or else they're hiding well, because ... No one has ever met any of them, you see. There are people who go looking for them, but no one has ever met them. And their deaths have even been much talked about and often seem to have played a rather important role.
How do you mean no one has ever met them?
Physically. You see, it is said that Shiva lived on earth, that Krishna lived on earth. As for Buddha and Christ, we know they lived on earth - it raised enough rumpus! People even made more fuss about Christ's death than about his life. As for Buddha, he professed himself in favor of going away for good (although he didn't actually). But the others ...? They have of course told the story of Krishna's death - but they have told many stories. page 248 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 17th Oct 1964


I looked at the problem when I tried to understand the position of Buddha, who reproached the Manifestation for its impermanence; to him, perfection and permanence were one and the same thing. In his contact with the manifested universe, he had observed a perpetual change, and so his conclusion was that the manifested world was imperfect and had to disappear. And the change (the impermanence) does not exist in the Nonmanifest, therefore the Nonmanifest is the true Divine. When I looked and concentrated on this point, I saw that his observation was indeed correct: the Manifestation is absolutely impermanent, it's a perpetual transformation.

page 96 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 19th May - 1965




-067_bulletin.html



The Bulletin should be calm and peaceful - not violent. We don't want to demolish anyone. We are merely sort of smoothing the way to make it easier for people to travel, nothing else. We needn't bring avalanches down on people!

page 161 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 24th May 1962


But in the first place, if it were a perpetual enchantment we wouldn't even appreciate it, because it would be completely natural - that's mainly it: we wouldn't appreciate it because it would just be completely natural. And nothing says we wouldn't long for a little hullabaloo for a change! We just might. This may be what the story of the earthly paradise is all about.... People in that paradise had a spontaneous knowledge: they lived with the same sort of consciousness animals have, just enough of it to get a little joy out of life, to feel the joy of life. But then they started wanting to know the why and the how and where they were going and what they were supposed to do and so forth - and so all their worries began ... they got tired of being peacefully happy.

(silence)

I think Sri Aurobindo wanted to say that error is an illusion like everything else, that there is no such thing as error: all possibilities are present, and since they ARE all present, they are often - they are NECESSARILY contradictory. Contradictory in their appearance. But all you have to do is look at yourself and ask, "What do I call error?" And if you face the thing squarely and ask, "What do I call error?" you immediately see how stupid it is - there is no error, you simply can't put your finger on it. I can't tell people all this in the Bulletin, mon petit - they'd go crazy! They mustn't be fed things too strong for them to digest. There's a person I won't name who has read Sri Aurobindo's books and thought he understood them. He has been following a yogic discipline (anyway, he "thought" he was doing yoga) ... and he pulled down the Force. The Force responded ... (Mother laughs). He wound up with a headache! He got frightened and wrote to me in these exact words: "This Force is the Lord's Force" (which is true, quite true), "and it has turned into fear. So (Mother laughs) fear is the Lord's principal perversion." There you have it. He read in books that the Lord is behind everything, that there is nothing that isn't the Lord; so it's the Lord who has become perverted in His manifestation, naturally.... The Force of the Lord came to help him and was changed into fear, so "the Lord's principal perversion is fear"! If you read that, you'd say he was going off his rocker.
Yes, one can say absolutely anything with that kind of reasoning.

Exactly! That's just what happens when you feed people something too strong, something they can't understand and assimilate: it creates incoherence in their brains. So none of this stuff can be published, though it's fine for the Agenda. How can it be told to people?
page 375-76 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Oct. 1962


I have two things here. One, a bit sarcastic and brief, can be used as "Apropos" in the next Bulletin. And I have others out of which, if you organize them, you can, I think, prepare the "Notes on the Way." The "Apropos" is very brief (Satprem reads out): "The doctor recommends not to tire oneself. What is it that tires? - Only that which is useless. "Seeing sincere people, to whom it does good, is not a fatigue. "But those who come to judge theories and prac tices, those who, with their intelligence, think they are highly superior and capable of distinguishing the true from the false, who imagine they can decide whether a teaching is true and a practice is in accordance with the Supreme Reality, those are tiring and seeing them is useless, to say the least ....
Oh, yes, I do understand! I understand that very well!
(Mother laughs) I thought it could make an amusing little note.
Oh, I've seen loads of such people, you know!...
"... Let the higher intelligences putter along in their own sweet way, which will go on for millennia, and let them leave simple and goodwilled people, those who believe in the Divine Grace, free to move on quietly on their path of light." Then, here, I have several notes, I don't know what it is....
page 228 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Aug - 1968


(Regarding a text given by Mother for the next "Bulletin")

There is only one solution for falsehood:
It is to cure in ourselves
all that contradicts in our consciousness
the presence of the Divine.

(December 31, 1972)

I am very keen on this! It's very true - very true. It may not be easy to understand, but it's VERY PROFOUNDLY true. All in us that veils or distorts or prevents the manifestation of the Divine is the falsehood.
It means a whole lot of work!
That's what I am doing all the time - every day and all day long, whenever I don't ... even when I see people. It is the only thing worth living for.
page 360 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 7th Feb - 1972-1973





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Did I tell you that in Italy a veterinarian has found a cure for cancer? ... This man has discovered that goats, the goat species (male and female), never have cancer! They even went as far as trying to make them have cancer, and they didn't succeed. Conclusion: in their makeup, there's something opposed to cancer; they've discovered that something in the stomach (I forget the details), and he made a serum. As he is a veterinarian, he doesn't have the right to give it, but he has doctor friends, and those doctors (a dozen or so) have tried it out - extraordinary cure, without fail. But with a difference: the female goat cures certain cases, while the male cures other cases; it's not the same with the male or the female, they cure different types of cancer (I understand nothing about it). Anyway, he lives somewhere in Italy, I don't know where, and I had him asked if he would like to come here - he has accepted. And he's going to come: there's a whole group of young Italians who want to come at the end of the year for Sri Aurobindo's yoga, and he'll probably come with them, or else he will come with Paolo if Paolo doesn't mind paying for his travel. My intention is to put him in touch with Dr. S., to let them study that together, and if it works well, I'll ask him to stay on. Because you know that S. now has a sort of dispensary in Auromodèle [in Auroville] (there's even a young French medical student who has come and stays there too, he is very happy). So we could open a "cancer clinic," that would be very interesting! Because with S.'s presence here, there's no difficulty - in Auroville he can do what he likes. That would be wonderful! He is coming before the end of the year. And the other man, the healer, is coming in September ... The other, we'll see if he wants to cure some people here, that would be good. It would straight away give an interesting direction .... "Auroville, the city of healing"! That would be good!
page 284-85 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 9th Aug - 1969




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(The disciple asks for permission to poison some cats who have been disturbing him every night. Mother replies.)

I once had a cat with almost a child's consciousness, and someone poisoned it. And when he came back poisoned, dying, I cursed all people who poison cats. And that's serious, so you mustn't do it. It was a real curse - I was with Sri Aurobindo, so it was serious - so don't do it. But there is a way....
You know, I made a pact with cats, with the King of the Cats - it goes back very, very far. And it's extraordinary (it happened in Tlemcen, entirely on the occult plane), extraordinary! For certain reasons, the King of the Cats gave me a power over these creatures - and it's true. Only I have to see them. We shall try.

(silence)

What do these animals represent in the terrestrial manifestation? They're so strange....
Cats are vital forces, incarnations of vital forces. The King of the Cats - that is, the spirit of the species - is a being of the vital world. For instance, cats can very easily incarnate the vital force of a dead person. I have had two absolutely astounding experiences of this. The first was with a boy who was a Sanskritist and had wanted to come to India with us. He was the son of a French ambassador - an old, noble family. But he learned that his lungs were bad, and so he joined the Army; he enlisted as an officer, just at the start of the 1914 war. And he had the courage of those who no longer cling to life; when he received the order to advance on the enemy trenches (it was incredibly stupid, simply sending people to be slaughtered!), he didn't hesitate. He went. And he was hit between the two lines. For a long time, it was a no man's land; only after some days, when the other trench had been taken, could they go and collect the dead. All this came out in the newspapers AFTERWARDS. But on the day he was killed, of course, no one was aware of it. I had a nice photo of him with a Sanskrit dedication, placed on top of a kind of wardrobe in my bedroom. I open the door and ... the photo falls. (There was no draft or anything.) It fell and the glass broke into smithereens. Immediately I said, 'Oh! Something has happened to ... Fontenay.' (That was his name: Charles de Fontenay.) After that I came back down from my room, and then I hear a miaowing at the door (the door opened onto a large garden courtyard [[Rue du Val-de-Grace (in Paris). ]] ). I open the door: a cat bursts in and jumps on me, like that (Mother thumps her breast). I speak to him: 'What is it, what's the matter?' He drops to the ground and looks at me - Fontenay's eyes! Absolutely! No one else's. And he just stayed put, he didn't want to go. I said to myself, 'Fontenay is dead.'
The other story dates farther back. I was living in another house (we had the whole fifth floor), and once a week I used to hold meetings there with people interested in occultism - they came to have me demonstrate or tell them about occult practices. There was a Swedish artist, a French lady and ... a young French boy, a student and a poet. His parents were decent country people who bled themselves white to pay for his life in Paris. This boy was very intelligent and a true artist, but he was depraved. (We knew about it, but it was his private life and none of our business.) One evening, when four or five of us were to meet, this boy didn't turn up, although he had said he would. We had our meeting anyway and didn't think much about it - we thought he must have been busy elsewhere. Around midnight, when the people were leaving, I open the door. A big black cat was sitting in the doorway and, in a single bound, it jumps on me, just like that, all curled up in a ball. So I calm it down, I look at it - 'Ah, the eyes!' They were this boy's eyes. (I no longer recall his name.) Right away (at the time we were all involved in occultism), we knew something had happened; he had been unable to come and the cat had incarnated his vital force. The next day, all the newspapers were full of a vile murder: a pimp had murdered this boy - it was disgusting! Something utterly vile. And it had happened at the very moment he should have come - the concierge had seen him going into the house with this pimp. What happened? Was it just for money or for something else - vice? Or what? But both times, the incarnation was so (how to put it?) powerful that the eyes changed; the eyes of the cat changed completely into the eyes of the dead person. Unmistakable. Both came to me and both times there was the same movement, the same kind of feline howl - you know how they sound. But I have had some cats.... I had a cat who was the reincarnation of the mind of a Russian woman. I had a vision of it one day, it was so strange - this woman had been murdered at the time of the Russian Revolution, along with her two little children. And her mind entered a cat here. (How? I don't know.) But this cat, mon petit.... I got her when she was very young. She would come and lie down, stretched out like a human being, with her head on my arm! (I used to sleep on a Japanese tatami on the floor.) And she would stay there, so well-behaved, didn't stir all night long! I was really amazed. Then she had kittens, and wanted to give birth to them lying stretched out, not at all like a cat. It was very difficult to make her understand that it couldn't be done that way! And one night after she had had her kittens, I saw her ... I saw a young woman in furs, with a fur bonnet - you could just see a tiny human face; she had two little ones and she came to me and placed them at my feet. Her whole story was there in her consciousness: how she and the two children had been murdered. And then I realized she was the cat! The cat wouldn't leave her kittens for a moment! Not for anything. She wouldn't eat, wouldn't go outside to relieve herself, nothing: she stayed put. So I told her, 'Bring me your kittens.' (If you know how to handle them, cats understand very well when they're spoken to.) 'Bring me your little ones.' She looked at me, went and brought one of her kittens, and placed it between my feet. Then she went to fetch the other one and placed it between my feet (not beside, between my feet). 'Now you can go out,' I told her. And out she went.
page 158-161 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 7th April - 1961

You know (shall I be frank?), it's purely a vital dissatisfaction. And I know that, because it has been (how can I put it?) my great difficulty with you. It was a hundred, a thousand times more violent formerly; now it's beginning to calm down. It's a vital that's very intense in its desires (which may not be ordinary desires at all), but with a sort of almost aggressive intensity, and ... essentially dissatisfied. It was very, very strong before, years ago; now it has quieted down. But every time the vital comes into play (and one is obliged to let the vital play because of the physical health; one can't "calm" it down totally because that would make the physical body suffer), it's like that.... It gives me, if you like, the impression of a cat's vital! Cats have a wonderful vital (laughing), far, far more clever and intense than human beings have, but the cat claws, you know, and the feeling is: "I'm not happy, that's that. I'm not happy"! (Mother laughs)


page 344 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 31st Dec - 1965




-071_Cataleptic Trance.html



When they're in too much of a hurry to burn them, sometimes they burn them alive! ... They should wait. For there's a consciousness of the form, a life of the form. There's a consciousness, a consciousness in the form assumed by the cells. That takes SEVEN DAYS to come out. So sometimes the body makes abrupt movements when burned - people say it's mechanical. It's not mechanical, I know it's not. I know it. I know that this consciousness of the form exists since I have actually gone out of it. Once, long back, I was in a so-called cataleptic state, and after awhile, while still in this state, the body began living again'; that is, it was capable of speaking and even moving (it was Theon who gave me this training). The body managed to get up and move. And yet, everything had gone out of it! Once everything had gone out, it naturally became cold, but the body consciousness manages to draw a little energy from the air, from this or that ... And I spoke in that state. I spoke - I spoke very well, and besides, I recounted all I was seeing elsewhere. So I don't like this habit of burning people very much. I think they do it here (apart from entirely sanitary considerations in the case of people who have died from nasty diseases), here in India, mainly because they are very afraid of all these little entities that come from desires, impulses - things which are dispersed in the air and which make 'ghosts' and all kinds of things. All desires, all attachments, all those things are like pieces that break off (each one goes its own way, you see), then these pieces gain strength in the surrounding atmosphere, and when they can fasten on to someone, they vampirize him. Then they keep on trying to satisfy their desires. The world, the terrestrial atmosphere, is full of filth.
page 376 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 28th May 1960

As you know, Nolini.Sen. has left his body. It was the result of an accident (he had a weak heart, and he worried about it). He took a fall, probably because he fainted, and fractured his skull: "loss of consciousness" due to cerebral hemorrhage (that's modern science speaking!). When the accident occurred, he came to me (not in a precise form, but in a state of consciousness I immediately recognized), and stayed here motionless, in complete trust and blissful peace - motionless in every state of being, absolutely ... (gesture of surrender) total, total trust: what will be, will be; what is, is. No questions, not even a need to know. A cosy peace ... a great ease. They tried, fought, operated: no movement, nothing moved. Then one day they declared him dead (by the way, according to doctors, when the body dies the heart beats on faintly for a few seconds; then it stops and it's all over). In his case, those faint beats (not strong enough to pump blood) continued for half an hour - the kind of heartbeats typical of the trance state. (They all seem to be crassly ignorant! But anyway, it doesn't matter.) And they all said, even the doctors, "Oooh, he must be a great yogi, this only happens to yogis! " I have no idea what they mean by that. But I do know that although those heartbeats aren't strong enough to pump blood through the body (thus putting the body into a cataleptic state), they do suffice to maintain life, and that's how yogis can remain in trance for months on end. Well, I don't know what type of doctors they are (probably very modern), but they're ignorant of this fact. Anyway, according to them he had those pulsations for half an hour (normally they last a few seconds). All right. Hence their remarks. And he was here the whole while, immutable. Then suddenly I felt a kind of shudder; I looked - he was gone. I was busy and didn't note the time, but it was in the afternoon, that's all I know. Later I was told that they had decided to cremate him, and had done so at that time. page 241-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.


It's perhaps a lesson (it's an indication), but there is a purpose to it.[[This long phase of "invasion" from outside, which had started the previous year, and of increased difficulty with "people," as Mother used to say, was indeed going to end up in a first serious warning to Mother a few days later, on January 14 (when Sri Aurobindo dictated to Mother a note on the "cataleptic trance" to work out the transformation undisturbed). ]] As for me, I try to understand the lesson I have to understand. I am learning to be very patient....
page 18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 11th Jan - 1967


Before going to sleep I was in that frame of mind, and at night there was a series of experiences to show all the various states of consciousness of the various states of being. When I got up in the morning, there was a very keen observation of the difference contributed by the physical. I saw how that difference could carry on in the new physical state once it had shed its false side. And then, for ... I don't know, certainly two hours, there was a concrete Presence of what I call "the supreme Lord" (but we can call it any name, it doesn't matter at all: Truth, Consciousness, whatever we like - all words don't matter at all, it's something beyond all that). A concrete presence, there, like this (Mother clenches her two fists as if to express a palpable solidity), in all the cells, the whole being. I went on doing all the absolutely trifling and tiny little things - like washing, customary things, eating, too, speaking - and it stayed there. And it seemed to be to tell me, "This is how it will be." A joy, a power, a blossoming - extraordinary, to such a point that I wondered how it was that this [body] didn't change.... It's because THE STATE DIDN'T LAST LONG ENOUGH. It lasted only about two hours (more or less); afterwards, back came the everyday routine, everybody with their problems, and so forth (Mother makes the familiar gesture of the "truckload" being dumped). But I am not accusing anything of having made the state go away: it went away because this [body] isn't yet capable of holding it, that's all. That is to say, at the time, while it was there, there was an intimation that I had to write a note.... That's what I wanted to tell you. I had to write a note. (Mother breaks off abruptly, then speaks as if words were being dictated to her:)

"Because of the necessities of the transformation,

this body may enter a state of trance that will

appear cataleptic....


Then I knew it was Sri Aurobindo speaking, because he started taking on his ironic tone, and he said: "Above all, no doctors! This body must be left in peace.[["Surtout pas de docteurs! il faut laisser ce corps en paix." Mother added this first sentence in a slip of paper she sent to Satprem after the conversation (see facsimile). ]] Do not hasten, either, to announce my death (Mother laughs) and to give the government the right to intervene. Keep me carefully sheltered from all injuries [[It may be noted that Mother used the French word "injure" (normally meaning "insult") because she heard the English word "injury." (See conversation of January 25.) ]] that may come from outside - infection, poisoning, etc. - and have UNTIRING patience: it may last days, perhaps weeks, perhaps even longer, and you will have to wait patiently for me to come naturally out of that state once the work of transformation is accomplished." I didn't have the time to write it down. But Sri Aurobindo himself said to me, "On Saturday, when you see Satprem." It's interesting.
So it's something that's going to take place.
It looks like that.... Because it came when I was fully in that state, but I was conscious that this [body] needed ... it takes TIME, that's the problem. Instantaneous things are miraculous and don't have the power of duration: they don't correspond to the STATE - the vibratory state of something lasting. So then, this intimation came, and when it came the experience was over, everything stopped. But now I know what it is. And it has left in the being a sort of certitude, but a certitude so full of joy, oh! ... There we are.
But Mother, these "instructions" should be given ...
... Should be known by everyone.
Everyone.
Which means by those who are near me, who look after me, even by people like the doctors, who might take it into their heads to go and inform the government, for instance! Because this intimation was very ... imperative, it was an imperative necessity - which to me seems to prove that it will happen. "Because of the necessities of the transformation ..." That was when the experience was there and I became aware of all that needed to be changed for this body to be capable of holding the thing constantly, for it to be there all the time. So that came. And I wanted to write it down, but didn't have the time, I was already terribly late; then came very clearly from Sri Aurobindo, "On Saturday, when Satprem is here." I forgot to tell you at first!
You'll have to make it into a note and give it to those youthink it should be given to.
Yes, first to the "trustees" [the heads of the Ashram's administration], because they are the ones who have authority here; then it will have to be translated into English and distributed. [[This note was actually translated into English by one of the Ashram's secretaries and distributed to five people among those near Mother, including Nolini. Everyone "having authority" thus knew of it. ]] You understand, no one should take it into his head to go and tell the government - because they're so silly, they might go shouting about.
Yes, of course. They may go and inform the government or...
So the government will come and say, "But you can't keep this, you have to bury it." That would be lovely! It would be a fine mess!
There will have to be some wisdom in the disciples.
Excuse me?
A little wisdom in the disciples.
Yes ... yes. Nobody should say anything except, "Mother has gone into trance." That's all, quite simply. "She is in trance." But if they are prepared for the idea beforehand, they might be more reasonable?...
page 20-25 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 14th Jan - 1967


(Satprem asks Mother what he should do with the text of the

"instructions" of January 14 which Mother gave in the event of

her going into a long period of trance.)

I am going to keep it. When I receive the command to circulate it, I'll circulate it.

(silence)

I have seen rather clearly that that trance depended on the ratio between two aspects, the proportion between two aspects: that of the individual transformation (that is, the transformation of this body), and that of the general, collective and impersonal work. If a certain balance is kept, that state [of prolonged trance] may be dispensed with, but then the same work which would have been done in a few weeks or months (I don't know) will extend over years
- years and years. So it's a question of patience - patience isn't lacking. But it's not only a question of patience, it's a question of proportion: there must be a certain balance between the two, between the outside pressure of the external work (not "external," the collective work), and the pressure on the body for its transformation. If wisdom is still there, that is, if the instrument is constantly and infallibly capable of doing exactly what is expected of it (to put it into words: the supreme Lord's precise will), then the trance might not be necessary. It would only be if out of ignorance there is a resistance in the execution. That's how I feel. This possibility of transformation in trance was announced to the body some ... yes, about sixty years ago now, and periodically afterwards. And there has always been a prayer: "No, may it not be necessary: it's the method of laziness." It's the method of inertia. Now all those preferences, all that is gone. There is only an increasingly alerted, awakened consciousness, but awakened to the point of being alerted to the possibility of unconscious resistances, with the will for them to disappear. All depends on the plasticity, the receptivity. You understand, even if this body is told, "You will have to last a hundred or two hundred years for the work to be done without trance," it says, "It's all the same to me." All it wants is to be conscious. All it wants is, "Lord, to be conscious of Your consciousness," nothing else. That's its sole, exclusive will: "To be conscious of Your consciousness," that is, to consciously become You in another mode. But it isn't in a hurry, because it has no reason to be in a hurry.
You said just before (if I understood right) that that "state"may last for years. Were you referring to the state of trance?
No, that's not possible.
It's not possible.
No, it isn't.
The duration of that trance doesn't depend on outward condi tions, on the preparation of the world, for instance?
I don't think so.
That's another possibility that came up in the past (but it's part of the vision of all possibilities - there are all kinds of possibilities). Once, there was that vision (I had it when Sri Aurobindo was here) of the whole town [of Pondicherry] engulfed by bombs, I think (I don't remember now,[[See Agenda III, November 20, 1962, p. 428. ]] but it wasn't lived: it was known as something that had happened), and the engulfing had caused a sort of burial very deep underground, in a grotto with a radiant atmosphere, so that the body had been preserved. Then I woke up two thousand years later. The experience started after those two thousand years: I saw how I had learned where I was and how I had come out of that grotto, how I had found out the number of years that had elapsed, and so on. All that happened one day and I told it to Sri Aurobindo. He said to me, "It's one of the innumerable possibilities that offers itself up in order to be manifested." He didn't attach more importance to it than that. All kinds of things come up as possibilities.
So you don't envisage the possibility of a long duration - that trance can't be very long?
I don't think that's materially possible.
And the purpose of that trance would basically be to fix thesupramental vibration in the body?
To transform what's not receptive. There are billions of elements in the body, so it's a mixture of receptivity and nonreceptivity. It's still mixed. And that mixture is why the appearance [Mother's physical appearance] remains what it is. So making everything receptive, in every element, is a work, you understand, a formidable work. If it had to be done in detail, it would be impossible, but through the pressure of the Force it can be done. So then, the trance would be made necessary precisely so it's done fast (relatively fast). This work is BEING DONE (I am myself conscious of it), but, you understand (laughing), it may stretch over hundreds of years! That's what Sri Aurobindo said: a state of consciousness has to be established in which the collective life of the cells can be preserved for as long as desired; in other words, the Lord's Will must be sufficiently active for the balance between all those elements to be kept for as long as necessary

for all of them to change. And always, it has always been said that the most external form would be the last to change; that the whole internal, organic functioning would be changed before the external form, the appearance (it's only an appearance, of course); that the appearance would be the last to change. It seems to me to be the legacy of primordial habits - the habits of Matter. This Matter, of course, comes from total unconsciousness, and throughout the ages and all the ways of being, it returns to total consciousness - it goes from one extreme to the other; well, what gives that need for trance is the habits of static immobility. It shouldn't be necessary. Only (how can I explain?...), logically, as things are, it depends on the balance between the body's capacity of receptivity and its external activity: it's obviously far more receptive when it is immobile, because its energies are turned to the transformation. There is another thing that could help to change the course of events: it's that the vital is growing increasingly receptive and collaborative. This whole vital zone, which was the zone of revolt and deliberate opposition to the divine transformation, is growing increasingly collaborative, and with its collaboration (because this vital zone is the zone of movement, action, energy put to use), with its conscious collaboration, the methods of transformation may become different (it's something I have been studying these last few days). It may change the methods. But that's a whole world to be learned. One should grow increasingly not only attentive but receptive, with a precision in details which would every second give one the knowledge of what should be done and how it should be done (not outwardly: inwardly). These cells should learn to have every second the attitude necessary for everything to unfold smoothly, keeping pace with the supreme Consciousness. To replace the need for immobility and immobile rest by the power of inner concentration and peace - that peace which is perfectly independent of action, which can be there, unchanging, even in the midst of the most frantic actions.
Is that where you envisage the vital's intervention?
Yes.
I often wonder what the best possible attitude is for us. Is it better to be simply in a state of silence, open to the heights, a wide silence, or...

I think that's it. But what's the alternative?
Or should one have, I don't know, a special concentration inthe activity?
No, because the transformation is the only thing that doesn't call for the mind's intervention: the mind befuddles everything. I clearly see what its use will be - why there has been the mind, why it exists, what its use will be - but that will come afterwards. The mind will be transformed quite naturally, effortlessly; it's not the same as with this body. But for the moment, it can't be used as yet. It can be used only through aspiration, like this (gesture opened to the heights), a constant aspiration - the constancy of aspiration and receptivity to let the forces and the light come through. There. So we'll meet again on Saturday.
I'll bring you the text of those "instructions."
Yes. There's no hurry - I don't think there is. It's better if it's ready, but ... The higher part of the consciousness is clearly in favor of the trance being unnecessary. And if the lower part becomes receptive enough in time, it won't be necessary. Or else, it will amount to very little. Just keep the text, that's all, keep it ready (Mother laughs).[[These "instructions'' were distributed a few days later. ]]
page 25-29 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 14th Jan - 1967


I remember, some time ago, at night, I said to him (I see him almost every night, but for a few days I hadn't seen him, then I met him at night ... because he is always there [Mother makes a gesture enveloping her], but at night, in that subtle physical world, I see him objectively, as if I were meeting him), and I said to him, "I haven't seen you for a few days," like that, in jest. Then he put on his most serious air, but with all his irony: "Oh, I am very busy these days." And ... (laughing) the next day I learned they were shooting a film on Sri Aurobindo's life! [[In Bengal, a film on Sri Aurobindo's "political life." ]] So I thought he must have been busy sending them good suggestions. But it was so comical! With straight-faced seriousness: "Oh, I am very busy." (Mother laughs) That's how "injury" came.
(Satprem:) In the text of those "Instructions" [in the event of cataleptic trance], you also use the word "injure"; you say that in that trance state, your body will have to be kept "a l'abri de toute injure" [sheltered from all injuries]. But I deliberately left the word, because in the original sense of the French word we speak of the "injures du temps" [the injury or assault of time]. Is that what you'd like to keep in those Instructions?
That day he told me (it was he who told me to say that), "The bites of insects, the bad contacts, things like that." He said, "All injuries, poisoning by an insect, etc."

(Then Mother listens to the English translation of the conve

rsation of September 30, 1966, for the "Notes on the Way." The


subject was the disappearance of the bone structure in the new

being and the need for intermediary stages. Mother, speaking

in English, turns to Nolini:)

Do you think people will understand?... Not much?
(Nolini :) Some will understand.
Some! ... a few. And yet, for me, it is already far behind. It's funny, when you were reading the translation, I had the impression of something that was pulling me back in a condition that is no more mine. Things are going quick, quick, quick. I am just living the thing, so it is difficult to describe ... But it is quite a new condition. After some time I will be able to say ... (Mother remains silent for a long while) what is meant exactly by the irreality of this apparent matter. It is just in the experiencing, I can't yet describe it. It takes some time. There, in this "talk" [about the disappearance of the bone structure], I have the impression of having still one foot here, one foot there.
page 33-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Jan - 1967




-072_Annie Besant.html



I didn't name her, but it was Annie Besant. She recounted all her lives with all the details - right from the ape! I didn't read her books, incidentally.

page 187 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 12th Sep - 1964




-073_24th April 1920.html



(Regarding a Playground Talk of March 17, 1951, published in the latest "Bulletin," in which Mother says that when she returned from Japan in 1920, she felt Sri Aurobindo's atmosphere two nautical miles away from Pondicherry:)

It appears that in 1958 we said one thing and that this time we said another, so they ask me which is correct. It's about Sri Aurobindo's atmosphere which I felt at sea. So in 1958 (I probably remembered more precisely then) I said ten nautical miles (I remember having asked on the ship, just so I would know), and it appears that this time I said two miles. So they tell me ...
What does it matter!
That's how they are, they are stupid.
Yes.
It's enough to crush you. So I answered ...
You answered it was nine point eight hundred and seventy-five miles?!
(Mother laughs) Exactly! I didn't tell them that, I simply said (because that I remember) that the shore couldn't be seen. But now, it's like a previous life for me....
But what does it matter?!
Absolutely! They're stupid.
page 222 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 21st Aug - 1965




-074_Cells chant OM.html

-075_Combat Magazine.html



I don't think we can speak of this one either. No, I don't think so. What we should actually do is make a selection and only talk about aphorisms that give us an opportunity to explain a few things. But these two.... People aren't ready to understand. And besides, they don't fit the style of the Bulletin. What we need is a "combat magazine," a journal that combats all the ordinary ideas; then all these aphorisms (the ones on doctors, for instance) would be like ... yes, like commanders in the battle. A journal with the goal of "demolishing the old idols." Something along those lines. It would be very interesting to do such a magazine - a combat magazine. But it can't be an Ashram organ.... It should look like a literary review (it can't be political - you'd be thrown in jail the day after it came out!). It shouldn't be presented as something practical, but merely as literary or philosophical speculation; that wouldn't matter at all, but it would give the journal a certain security which, as a combat magazine, it would need. It's something that could very well be planned and prepared for '65 or '67. It could probably be done in '67. And then, for each issue (I don't know how many issues a year there would be) we could take one of these aphorisms (like the one on Europe, for example) and go into it all the way. It would be very interesting. It's worth looking into. The Bulletin should be calm and peaceful - not violent. We don't want to demolish anyone. We are merely sort of smoothing the way to make it easier for people to travel, nothing else. We needn't bring avalanches down on people! page 161 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 24th May 1962




-076_cellular experiences.html

Above, beginning with the center between the eyebrows, the work has been done for a long time. There it is blank. For ages upon ages upon ages, the union with the Supreme has been realized and is constant. Below this center is the body. And this body has indeed the concrete sensation of the Divine in each of its cells; but it needs to become universalized. That's the work to be done, center by center. I understand now what Sri Aurobindo meant when he repeatedly insisted, 'Widen yourself.' All this must be universalized; it is the condition, the basis, for the Supramental to descend into the body. According to the ancient traditions, this universalization of the physical body was considered the supreme realization, but it is only a foundation, the base upon which the Supramental can come down without breaking everything.
page 294 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 21st April - 1959
Yes, it's the physical mind. The japa is made precisely to control the physical mind. I myself use it for a very special reason, because ... You see, I invoke (the words are a bit strange) ... the Lord of Tomorrow. Not the unmanifest Lord, but the Lord as he will manifest 'tomorrow,' or in Sri Aurobindo's words, the divine manifestation in its supramental form. So the first sound of my mantra is the call to that, the evocation. With the second sound, the body's cells make their' surrender,' they give themselves. And with the third sound comes the identification of this [the body] with That, which produces the divine life. These are my three sounds. And in the beginning, during the first months that I was doing the japa, I felt them ... I had an almost detailed awareness of these myriads of cells opening to this vibration; the vibration of the first sound is an absolutely special vibration (you see, above, there is the light and all that, but beyond this light there is the original vibration), and this vibration was entering into all the cells and was reproduced in them. It went on for months in this way.
Even now, when something or other is not all right, I have only to reproduce the thing with the same type of concentration as at the beginning ... for, when I say the japa, the sound and the words together - the way the words are understood, the feel of the words - create a certain totality. I have to reproduce that. And the way it's repeated is evolving all the time. The words are the same, however, the original sound is the same, but it's all constantly evolving towards a more comprehensive realization and a more and more complete STATE. So when I want to obtain a certain result, I reproduce a certain type of this state. For example, if something in the body is not functioning right (it can't really be called an illness, but when something's out of order), or if I wish to do some specific work on a specific person for a specific reason, then I go back to a certain state of repetition of my mantra, which acts directly on the body's cells. And then the same phenomenon is reproduced - exactly the same extraordinary vibration which I recognized when the supramental world descended. It comes in and vibrates like a pulsation in the cells. page 434 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 11th Oct. 1960

I have asked to be forewarned, not for reasons of.... It can happen any time at all, I am always ready. I can do nothing more for the work than what I am doing now, and I haven't a single practical measure to take because I have already taken them all. So that isn't why, but to ... AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE to withdraw from the body all that has been put into it. There is such an accumulation inside it of force, consciousness, power, oh! ... All the cells are impregnated and it would take some time if it all had to be taken out. But I have had no indication of this, neither by night nor by day, neither awake nor in trance - no indication. The indication rather points to all that must be clarified, purified so the physical may keep what it received from that experience [of January 24, 1961].

page 75 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th Feb. - 1961

Yet the cells sense so perfectly that.... All the experiences in the subconscient at night are quite clear proofs that a ... a WORLD of things and vibrations is being cleaned out - all the vibrations opposed to the cellular transformation. But how can one poor little body do all that work! The body is quite aware of being a sort of accumulation and concentration of things (yet there is inevitably a selection - Mother laughs - because if everything had to be worked out in one center like this [her body] it would be ... it would be impossible!). Oh, if you knew how deeply and perfectly convinced these cells are, in all their groups and sub-groups, each one individually and within the whole, that everything is not only decreed but executed by the Divine, everything! They have a kind of constant awareness so filled with... a conscious faith in His infinite wisdom, even when there is what the ordinary consciousness calls suffering or pain. That's not what it is for the cells - it's something else! And the result is a state of ... yes, a state of peaceful combat. There is a sense of Peace, the vibration of Peace, and simultaneously an impression of being ... (how to put it?) on the alert, in constant combat. Taken all together it creates a rather odd situation. And within ... oh! It's like waves, constantly, the equivalent of those nuances of color I was speaking about, waves of this joy of life, the joy of life rippling past, touching; but instead of being.... At times, you see, the body is in a sort of equilibrium (what we, in our ordinary outer consciousness, call 'equilibrium' - that is, good health), and then this joy is constant, like swells on the sea (Mother shapes great waves): it seems to flow on behind everything; it comes and shows its face for a moment, then vanishes. In the very tiny things of life - yes, physical life - the joy of these things, the joy life contains, this luminous, special kind of vibration, rises up as if to remind us that it's here; it is here, it mustn't be forgotten, it's here - but it's kept down by this ... tension. Then, from time to time, everything seems to be on the edge of a precipice; the body doesn't fall simply because it keeps its balance - but without this higher state of perfect faith, one would surely fall! All together, as a whole, it's something so ... peculiar! [[In other words, this coexistence or simultaneity of joy and tension, combat and peace, progress in the cellular consciousness and physical disequilibrium, form a physiological whole which is ... strange. ]]
There is the sense of all things being organized, concentrated and arranged according to a rhythm, and if one manages to maintain the equilibrium of this rhythm, something permanent results. (Mother remains absorbed within herself) The equilibrium of this rhythm - the progressive, ascending equilibrium of this rhythm - is what, for Matter, must constitute Immortality. Yet even so....
page 127-28 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 14th March - 1961
Some months ago, when this body had once again become a battlefield and was confronting all the obstacles, when it was suspended, asking itself whether ... it wasn't wondering intellectually, but asking for a kind of perception, wanting to touch something: it wondered which direction it was taking, which way things were going to tilt. And suddenly, in all the cells, there was this feeling (and I know where it came from): 'If we are dissolved out of this amalgam, if this assemblage is dissolved and can no longer go on, then we shall all go straight, straight as an arrow' - and it was like a marvelous flame - 'straight to rejoin Sri Aurobindo in his supramental world, which is right here at our door.' And there was such joy! Such enthusiasm, such joy flooded all the cells! They didn't care at all whether or not they would be dissociated.... 'Oh,' they felt, 'so what!' This was truly a decisive stage in the work of illuminating the body. All the cells felt far more powerful than that stupid force trying to dissolve them; what is called 'death, left them entirely indifferent: 'What do we care? We shall go THERE and consciously participate in Sri Aurobindo's work, in the transformation of the world, one way or the other - here, there, like this, like that - what does it matter!'
page 263 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 15th July - 1961

It's strange, these attacks ... bizarre; they seem to have nothing to do with my state of health. It's a sort of ... decentralization. You see, to form a body all the cells are concentrated by a kind of centripetal force that binds them together. Well, now it's just the opposite! A kind of centrifugal force seems to be dispersing them. When it gets a bit too much I go out of my body; outwardly I seem to faint - but I don't faint, I remain fully conscious. So obviously this creates a sort of ... bizarre disorganization. And there's a strange thing about it, which so far I haven't figured out: it always happens (it has already happened three times, and that's a lot for me) when X[[The tantric guru. ]] comes, the night before he arrives.
Yes.
Ah! It doesn't surprise you either?
No, I have noticed that his arrival triggers something off.
Someone happened to be there last time so I didn't fall and hurt myself. But this time I was alone in my bathroom and ... actually I was going through a phenomenon of consciousness in which I was spreading over the world - spreading PHYSICALLY, that's the strange thing! The sensation is in the CELLS. There was a movement of diffusion in me, becoming more and more rapid and intense, and then suddenly I found myself on the floor. page 20 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 - 9th Jan 1962


While sometimes, when you see water flowing along, or a ray of sunlight in the trees - oh, how it sings! The cells sing, they are happy.

page 42, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 12th Jan 1962


One sometimes even goes to a great deal of trouble to explain things to Him: "It's this way, You see, that's how it is." And when you're finished, you realize.... Oh, that reminds me of an experience I had one night two years ago. It was the first time the Supermind entered the cells of my body, and it had risen up to the brain. So the brain found itself in the presence of something (laughing) considerably more powerful than it was used to receiving! And, like the idiot it is, it got worried. As for me (gesture above or beyond), I saw it all, I saw that the brain was getting worried, so I tried to tell it what a nitwit it was and to just keep still. It did keep still, but ... you know, it was really seething away in there, as if it were about to explode. So I said, "All right now, let's go see Sri Aurobindo and ask him what to do." Immediately everything became utterly calm ... and I woke up in Sri Aurobindo's house in the subtle physical - a very material sensation, with everything quite concrete. So I arrived, or rather not I but the body-consciousness arrived [[It is quite remarkable that it was the body-consciousness that discovered - nine years after his passing - Sri Aurobindo's abode (experience of July 24-25, 1959). The world where Mother went is thus a material world, not an "inner" world. The other Matter, the true Matter? We recall that in her very last Playground class, on November 28, 1958, Mother said: "Through each individual formation, physical substance progresses, and one day it will be able to build a bridge between physical life as we know it and the supramental life that is to manifest." ]] and started explaining to Sri Aurobindo what had happened - it was very excited, talking and talking. The response was a sort of inscrutable smile and then ... nothing. He simply looked. An inscrutable smile - not a word. All the excitement died away. A face out of eternity. The excitement died away. Then it was time for Sri Aurobindo's lunch (people eat there - in another way). So as not to disturb him, I went into the next room. He came in after some time and stood before me (I - my physical being, that is, my physical consciousness - had had time to calm down). I knelt down and took his hand (a MUCH clearer sensation than anything physical, mon petit!); I kissed his hand. He simply said, "Oh! This is better. " (Mother laughs.)

page 378-79 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Oct. 1962


"The Lord is peaceful resignation, but the Lord is also the struggle and the Victory. "He is the joyous acceptance of all that is; but also the constant effort towards a more total and perfect harmony. "Perpetual movement in absolute immobility." This isn't an intellectual reflection, it's the notation of the experience: the constant, twofold movement of total acceptance of all that is, as an absolute condition to participate in all that will be, and at the same time, the perpetual effort towards a greater perfection. And this was the experience of all the cells

page 129 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 3rd May , 1963


The body-mind

And there is too an obscure mind of the body, of the very cells, molecules, corpuscles. Haeckel, the German materialist, spoke somewhere of the will in the atom, and recent science, dealing with the incalculable individual variation in the activity of the electrons, comes near to perceiving that this is not a figure but the shadow thrown by a secret reality. This body-mind is a very tangible truth; owing to its obscurity and mechanical clinging to past movements and facile oblivion and rejection of the new, we find in it one of the chief obstacles to permeation by the supermind Force and the transformation of the functioning of the body. On the other hand, once effectively converted, it will be one of the most precious instruments for the stabilisation of the supramental Light and Force in material Nature.

(XXII.340)

It corresponds exactly to my own experience. It is this mind of the cells which seizes upon a mantra or a japa and eventually repeats it automatically, and with what persistence! That is to say, CONTINUALLY. That's what Sri Aurobindo means when he says it can be a help: it keeps at things indefinitely (Mother clenches her fist in an unwavering gesture). A few days ago, at the end of an activity or a situation which demanded an effort, almost a struggle, I heard (it's odd), I heard the cells repeat my mantra! It was like a choir in which each cell was repeating the mantra, automatically.... "Well, this is odd!" I thought. And it was just after that, the next day and the day after, that someone showed me this letter. It is astonishingly true. I heard it - I heard THE CELLS repeating the mantra. Automatically, in the difficulty (there was a difficulty), they were repeating the mantra. Like a choir, an immense choir in a church, it was very odd. As if there were lots of little voices, innumerable little voices repeating and repeating the same sound. It gave me the impression of a church choir, but with lots and lots and lots of choirboys - tiny little voices. Yet the sound was very clear, I was dumbfounded: very clear. The sound of the mantra.
But is this the mind the Tantrics use? For instance, when you speak of the "deep blue light" in the physical mind, is it the same cellular mind?
I don't think so.
Because it's also through japa, mantras, the awakening of the physical consciousness, that the Tantric power operates.
I think their power comes from a higher layer [higher than the cellular mind]. Because their action is very cerebral: its effect is always here (gesture at the forehead and temples), it takes you here (same gesture) - it's even painful! It's cerebral. page 159-60 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 3rd June 1963


The greatest difficulty is that the body's texture is made of Ignorance, so that every time the Force, the Light, the Power try to penetrate somewhere, that Ignorance has to be dislodged. Every time the experience is similar, renewed in detail (but not in essence; I mean, every time it's a particular point, but the essence of the problem is always the same): it's a sort of Negation out of ignorant stupidity - not out of ill will, there is no ill will: it's an inert and ignorant stupidity which, by the very fact of what it is, DENIES the possibility of the divine Power. And that's what has to be dissolved every time. At every step, in every detail, it's always the same thing that has to be dissolved. It's repeated again and again.... It's not as in the realm of ideas, where once you have seen the problem clearly and have the knowledge, it's over; some doubts or absurdities may come back to you from outside, but the thing is established, the Light is there, and automatically things are either repelled or transformed. But this here isn't the same thing! Every single aggregate of cells.... Not that it comes from outside: it's BUILT that way! Built by an inert and stupid Ignorance. An inert and stupid automatism. And so, automatically, it denies - not "denies," there's no will to deny: it is an opposite, I mean it CANNOT understand, it's an opposite - an ESTABLISHED opposite - of the divine Power. And every time, there is a kind of action which really in every detail is almost miraculous: suddenly that negation is compelled ... compelled to recognize that the divine Force is all-powerful. Seen from another angle, it's a sort of perpetual little miracle. I'll give you an example: last time you were with me, I got (while you were present) a pain here (gesture to the right side), a frightful pain of the kind that makes people howl (they think they're very sick, of course!), it came here like that. You didn't see anything, did you, I didn't show anything. As long as you were here, I didn't bother about it.... I simply thought of something else. But when you left, I thought, "There's no reason to leave that here." So I concentrated - I called the Lord and put Him here (gesture to the side), and I saw it all, what I've just told you, that state of stupid negation, and how if you allow the thing to follow what they call its "normal" course, it becomes a good illness (Mother laughs), a serious illness. I call the Lord. (He is always here! But the fact that I concentrate and keep quiet....) And then it's almost instantaneous: the first thing is a reaction - almost a STATE rather than a reaction - which DENIES the possibility of divine Action. It isn't a will, it's an automatic negation. Then there is always a Smile that answers (that's what is interesting, there's never any anger or any force that imposes itself, only a Smile), and almost instantly the pain disappears - "That" settles in, luminous, tranquil. It isn't final, mind you, only a first contact: the experience recurs on another occasion and for another reason (they aren't mental reasons, they are occasions), it recurs, but there is already a beginning of collaboration: the cells have LEARNED that with That, the state changed (very interestingly, they remember), so they begin to collaborate, and the Action is even more rapid. Then a third time, a few hours away, it recurs once again; but then THE CELLS THEMSELVES call and ask for the divine Action, because they remember. And then That comes in, gloriously, like something established. Now I've got it - I've got the knack! It's for training the cells, you understand! It's not just like a sick person who has to be cured once and for all: no, it's a training of the cells, to teach them ... to live. It's wonderful. page 244 - 45 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th July 1963



But the question arose for this body [Mother's], "just to see," you know. And I saw all kinds of things, and finally the answer was always the same (you see, the problem was presented to me to enable me to understand the situation in all its aspects and see the necessities), that naturally everything would be for the best! (Laughing) Without a doubt. But I mean it was presented very concretely and, I could say, very "personally" to make me understand the problem. And there was that old thing I was told the other day (old, that is, a few days old! i: I was told that THE CELLS THEMSELVES
would be given a free choice. So the conclusion of all that meditation was that there must be a new element in the consciousness of the cellular aggregates - a new element ... a new experience that must be in progress. The result: last night, I had a series of fantastic cellular experiences, which I cannot even explain and which must be the beginning of a new revelation. When the experience began, there was something looking on (you know, there is always in me something looking on somewhat ironically, always amused) which said, "Very well! If that happened to someone else, he would think he was quite sick! (laughing) Or half mad." So I stayed very quiet and thought, "All right, let it be, I'll watch, I'll see - I'll see soon enough! It has started, so it will have to end! ..." Indescribable! Indescribable (the experience will have to recur several times before I can understand), fantastic! It started at 8:30 and went on till 2:30 in the morning; that is to say, not for a second did I lose consciousness, I was there watching the most extraordinary things - for six hours. page 269-70 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th Aug 1963


It's difficult because ... These days, I don't know whether it has come to the last battle, but it has descended very deep into the cells' worst-lit realm: what still belongs most to the world of Unconsciousness and Inertia and is most foreign to the divine Presence. It is, so to say, the primal substance that was first used by Life, and it has a sort of inability to feel, to experience a reason for that life. In fact, it's something I had never experienced [that absence of meaning]; even in my earliest childhood, when there was no development, I always had a perception (not a mentalized but a vibrant perception) of a Power behind all things which is the raison d'être of all things - a Power, a Force, a kind of warmth. It isn't the experience of THIS body's cells: it's an identification with the world in general, with the Earth as a whole. It's an absolutely frightful and hopeless condition: something meaningless, aimless, without raison d'être, without any joy in itself or ... and worse than disagreeable - meaningless, insensate. Something that has no raison d'être and yet is. It was ... it is a frightful situation. I have an impression of being quite close to the bottom of the pit. Yesterday, it was like that almost the whole day long. But all at once something came (I don't know from where or how ... neither from above nor from within nor from ... I don't know): there is only ONE raison d'être, only ONE Reality, only ONE Life, and there is nothing other than ... THAT. It was THAT (not in the least mentally, there was no intellectual formulation, nothing), it was Something that was Light (far more than Light), Power (far more than power), Omnipotence (far more than Omnipotence), and also an intensity of sweetness, of warmth, of plenitude - all that together - along with that Something, which naturally words cannot describe. And That came all at once, like that, when there was such a frightful state of anguish, because it was nothing - a nothing you couldn't get out of. There was no way of getting out of that nothing, because it was nothing. You know, all those who seek Nirvana, all their disgust of life, all that is almost enjoyable in comparison! That's not it. That's not it, it was a thousand times, a million times worse. It was nothing, and because it was nothing it was impossible to get out of it - there was no ... no solution. At one point, the tension was so great that ... you wonder, "Am I going to burst?" Then everything relaxed and opened up (gesture as if the cells opened out) ... OM.
page 278-79 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 21st Aug 1963


Those oppositions are really what gives the consciousness an interesting knowledge. Because I have a feeling that that Action wasn't at all limited to the moment when the consciousness that acts here took part in it: it's going on all the time. If for just a second (gesture of interiorization) I stop speaking or acting, I feel that golden Glory behind - "behind," it's not behind, not within, it's ... supporting everything - it is there. But in that experience, I was given two hours of TOTAL participation: there was nothing left but That, nothing existed anymore but That. And all the cells were given an unforgettable joy: they had become That.

page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 - 11th Aug 1964


As a matter of fact, it was after I spoke to him (I mentioned it to him as a sort of dizzy spell) that I was able to perceive precisely those "routes." I wondered if it wasn't the projection on a magnifying screen of phenomena taking place between different brain cells? Because those sorts of dizzy spells always follow (today there hasn't been anything at all), they always follow a moment or a day of intense aspiration for the transformation of the brain. It may be that.... You know, all those brain cells in there are hitched together, and if those "hitchings" are disturbed, generally people become deranged; and it gave me the impression of a magnifying projection enabling me to follow the connections established between certain brain cells, so that the functioning may not be the automatic, semiconscious functioning of the old state anymore and the brain may truly become the instrument of the higher Force. Because the formula of my aspiration is always, "Lord, take possession of this brain," and it's always after this intense aspiration that those kinds of phenomena occur. So it is to prepare the brain to be the direct expression of the higher Force. This is what I have learned these last few days. page 275 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 12th Nov. - 1964


Mon petit, that's because what you call "aspiration" is a movement of your psychic consciousness, mentally formulated and supported by the vital - but it ISN'T YOUR BODY. And it's only if you are very attentive to the vibration of the cells, if you are accustomed to observing them and feeling them that you can see. Well, I don't know, but I can't complain about my body's cells.... You know, it isn't a perception, it isn't a sensation, it is ... a LIVED FAITH in the existence of the Supreme alone - you know, a faith that it's the only Reality and the only Existence. Just that, and everything seems to swell up, as if all these cells were swelling up with such joy! ... Only, it doesn't take the form of a feeling, not even of a sensation, even less of a thought; so if you aren't very attentive, you don't notice it. But, for instance, when I repeat the mantra, it's repeated by that famous physical mind, which is so stupid (the mantra is the only thing that can keep a rein on it), and now it has become so identified that the mantra is its whole life, it is like a pulsation of its being; but then when I come to the invocation (there is a series of invocations: each one has its own effect on the body), when I come to "Manifest Your Love," I see a sort of twinkling of a golden light, which represents an intense joy in all the cells.

page 275 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 21st Nov. - 1964

God knows, never, not one minute in my life, even when things were the darkest, the blackest, the most negative, the most painful, not once did the thought come, "I would like to die." And ever since I had the experience of psychic immortality, the immortality of consciousness, that is, in 1902 or 3, or 4 at the latest (sixty years ago now), all fear of death went away. Now the body's cells have the sense of their immortality. There was also a time when I almost had a sort of curiosity about death; it was satisfied by my two experiences in which, according to the surface illusion, my body was dead, while, within, I had a wonderfully intense life (the first time, it was in the vital, the other time, way up above [[In the vital with Théon, when Mother was looking for the mantra of life and Théon, in a fit of anger, cut the "thread." Way up above, with Sri Aurobindo. ]]). So that even that curiosity (I can't call it "curiosity"), even that question is no longer asked by the cells. But the possibility does present itself: according to the ordinary outer logic, if this isn't transformed, it must necessarily come to an end. And always, always, I receive the same answer, which isn't an answer with words, but an answer with a knowledge (how can I put it?...), a FACTUAL knowledge: "It's no solution." To say things in quite a banal way, this is the answer: "It's no solution." So we are after another solution, since death isn't considered to be a solution. And it's obvious that it is no solution.
page 288 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 21st Nov. - 1964


Now that the body knows a little, when something is wrong or goes awry for some reason or other (it may be because of transformation, it may be because of attacks - there are innumerable reasons), my cells are beginning to say, "Oh, no doctor, no doctor, no doctor! ..." They feel the doctor will crystallize the disorder, harden it and take away the plasticity necessary to respond to the deeper forces; and then the disorder will follow an outward, material course ... which takes ages - I don't have the time to wait. I never say this to people who ask me, never; I always tell them, "Go and see the doctor and do as he tells you." Because unless the body itself (some people have that, but not many, very few), if the body itself says, "No, no, no! I don't want," then it's ready; but if the body keeps telling you, "Maybe the doctor will help me out, maybe he will find ..." - go ahead, go ahead! Do as he says. The cells must begin to feel that it means a danger of halting the progress, of putting you back in contact with the old-never-ending-story: "If that story amuses you, we'll go through it again." Well, they are no longer amused, they don't feel like going through it again. page 99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 19th May - 1965


(Regarding the conversation of August 21 and the experience of the "transfer of power" to the cellular consciousness:)

I said the other day that this aggregate of cells had changed its initiating [["Initiating" in the sense of impelling. ]] power. It struck me as a unique experience, as something that had never occurred before. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. But the experience has left a kind of certitude in the body: it is less uncertain about the future. As if the experience came to tell the body, "This is how things will be." If it stays on, it clearly means immortality. I remember, when I told that experience, it was no longer something personal at all: if you can catch that....
page 228 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 28th Aug - 1965


Is the difficulty of the other day over?
Oh, I've had an experience, a new experience. I mean, it's the cells of the body that have had a new experience. When I lie down on my bed at night, there is an offering of all the cells, which regularly surrender as completely as they can, with an aspiration not only for union but for fusion: let there remain nothing but the Divine. It's regular, every day, every single day. And for some time, these cells or this body consciousness (but it isn't organized as a consciousness: it's like a collective consciousness of the cells), it seemed to be complaining a little, to be saying, "But we don't feel much. We do feel" (they can't say they don't feel: they feel protected, supported), "but still ..." They are like children, they were complaining that it wasn't spectacular: "It HAS to be marvelous." (Mother laughs) Ah, very well, then! So two nights ago, they were in that state when I went to bed. I didn't move from the bed till about two in the morning. At two in the morning I got up, and I suddenly noticed that all the cells, the whole body (but it really is a cellular consciousness, not a body consciousness; it isn't the consciousness of this or that person: there's no person, it's the consciousness of a cellular aggregate), that consciousness felt bathed in and at the same time shot through by a MATERIAL power of a fan-tas-tic velocity bearing no relation to the velocity of light, none at all: the velocity of light is something slow and unhurried in comparison. Fantastic, fantastic! Something that must be like the movement of the centers out there ... (Mother gestures towards faraway galactic space). It was so awesome! I remained quite peaceful, still, I sat quite peaceful; but still, peaceful as I could be, it was so awesome, as when you are carried away by a movement and are going so fast that you can't breathe. A sort of discomfort. Not that I couldn't breathe, that wasn't the point, but the cells felt suffocated, it was so ... awesome
page 125 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 2nd June - 1966


What you are doing.
I am making discoveries, mon petit. When the mind is active, or rather, as long as the mind is active, when you have dedicated your life and are fully convinced that it's your only raison d'être, you tend to imagine that if you work for the Divine, the whole being participates, and if you aspire to progress, the whole being participates. You are satisfied once all contradiction has disappeared either in the vital or in the mind, and once everything is in agreement and harmonious. You think you have won a victory. But then, now ... now that it's the cells of the body that want and aspire, they have been forced to note that suffering, difficulty, opposition, complication, all that is only to make them be wholly, completely, totally and CONSTANTLY in their aspiration. It's extremely interesting, really very interesting.
page 165 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 3rd Aug - 1966


This morning, for two hours, I had what I believe to be really the most wonderful experience in my life from the point of view of knowledge-vision. And it was so total ... from the most essential perception of That which is beyond the creation down to the perception of the body's cells, from high to low. And in every plane, the vision of the creation. It went on for two hours. I walked about, had my wash - it didn't matter in the least, on the contrary there was, added to that, the knowledge of how the body can act without disturbing the state of consciousness.
page 264 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 19th Aug - 1967


Yes, but one can see how in the mind the aspiration sustains itself, how it lives by itself. In the heart too, one can see how the aspiration lives. But in the body? How can one awaken that aspiration in the body?
But good God! it's fully awakened! It's been for months in me! So it means they've felt it, they are feeling it. How it's done? - It's being done.
But how can one in oneself ...
No, no, no. If it has been done in one body, it can be done in all bodies.
Yes, but I ask how.... Yes, how?
Well, that's what I have been trying to explain for months. It's, first of all, awakening the consciousness in the cells....
Well, yes!
Yes, but once it's done it's done: the consciousness keeps awakening more and more, the cells live consciously, aspire consciously. I have been trying to explain it, good Lord, for months! For months I have been trying to explain it. And so, that's just what pleased me: it's that they have at least understood the possibility of it. The same consciousness which was the vital's and the mind's monopoly has become corporeal: the consciousness acts in the body's cells. The body's cells grow into something conscious, entirely conscious. A consciousness which is independent, absolutely independent of the vital consciousness or the mental consciousness: it's a corporeal consciousness. And this physical mind, which Sri Aurobindo said was an impossibility and something going round in circles which would do so forever, without consciousness, precisely, like a sort of machine, this physical mind has been converted, it has fallen silent, and in silence it has received inspiration from the Consciousness. And it has started praying again: the same prayers that were earlier in the mind.


page 376-77 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 22nd Nov - 1967


I am going through decisive moments. But it's very difficult. It's the transfer of the nervous system. I said that everything was being "transferred," one thing after another; now, it's the nervous system. That's ... very difficult. Very difficult. I'll talk about it later.
page 88 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 23th Mar - 1968


I told you just before that I had felt that avalanche of attacks. It came in a very subtle form: the unreality of the conception that has been admitted and adopted - the unreality of the divine Presence in the body, the unreality of the world in transformation towards a more and more divine state; like an unreality surging up (gesture as of a wave from below), in a sly way, to cut off the base and support of the faith.

But the Consciousness was there, and the awareness that it was an attack; and there was no battle, no attempt to convince or anything, simply like that (Mother opens her arms upward), a TOTAL surrender. And that ... I told you, it can't be touched. A luminous stillness. And little by little, the whole consciousness of the cells emerges from that hold and is reborn in the Light. It was very, very interesting. And naturally, the attack came with all the suggestions of illness, death, decomposition, unreality - all of that swarming around. There wasn't even one attempt of struggle or anything, nothing; quite simply (same gesture with open arms), an aspiration and self-giving.
page 126-27 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 4th May - 1968


It's a supramental person. Something the cells don't quite understand yet, but they know, they sense. They feel as if they were thrust forcibly into a new world.

page 205 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 7th June - 1972-1973





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Sri Aurobindo always said that cruelty was one of the things most repugnant to him, but he explained it as the deformation of an intensity. We could almost call it the deformation of an intensity of love - something not satisfied with half-measures, something driven to extremes (which is legitimate) - it's the deformation of the need for extremely strong sensations. I have always known that cruelty, like sadism, is the need to cut through a thick layer of totally insensitive tamas [[Tamas: the principle of inertia and obscurity. ]] by means of extremely violent sensation - an extreme is needed if anything is to be felt through that tamas. I was always told, for example (in Japan it was strongly emphasized to me), that the people of the Far East are very tamasic physically. The Chinese in particular are said to be the remnants of a race that inhabited the moon before it froze over and forced them to seek refuge on earth (this is supposed to account for their round faces and the shape of their eyes!).... Anyway (laughing), it's a story people tell! But they're extremely tamasic; their physical sensibility is almost nil - appalling things are required to make them feel anything! And since they naturally presume that what applies to them applies to everyone, they are capable of appalling cruelty. Not all of them, of course! But this is their reputation. Have you read Mirbeau's book? page 266 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th July - 1961





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-081_Chaitanya.html


Ramdas does not at all consider that the world as it is, is good. No, but I know all these people, I know them thoroughly! I know Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Ramdas thoroughly. They are utterly familiar to me. It doesn't bother them. These are people who live with a certain feeling, who have an entirely concrete experience and live in this experience, but they don't care at all if their formation - they have not even crystallized it, they leave it like that, vague - contains things that are mutually contradictory, because, in appearance, they reconcile them. They do not raise any questions, they do not have the need for an absolutely clear vision; their feeling is absolutely clear, and that's enough for them. Ramakrishna was like that; he said the most contradictory things without being bothered in the least, and they are all exactly and equally true.
page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 2nd July - 1958



-082_Chakras.html



A little later
There's a practical question I'd like to ask you regarding the subtle physical. I understand the mind centers, which correspond to a particular world, the vital centers, which receive all sorts of influences, but which center corresponds to the subtle physical, and what are the influences coming from the subtle physical? Is there a center that corresponds to the subtle physical?
Where do you situate the center for the vital?
For the vital it's the navel. The region from the heart to the sex organs, isn't it?

Well, for the subtle physical it goes from the navel down to the last center, [[The muladhara, at the base of the spine. ]] that whole region.
And what are the influences that come from the subtle physical?
Generally they are of a far higher quality than material influences. I have noticed (I don't know whether it's a personal or a general thing) that the subtle physical I see is always of a somewhat higher quality than the physical proper. I mean somewhat more harmonious: things are smoother. All that comes from the vital is more often than not aggressive, quarrelsome and so on - and difficult. But this realm is generally calm - calm, orderly, where things are more harmonious - GENERALLY (I can't say whether it's the case with everybody, but in my own case it's like that). page 35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 18th Jan 1963





-556_Champaklal-ji.html


Something was obviously bent on preventing me from going down for the distribution. [[On the previous day, January 21, Saraswati Puja, Mother had given a message and photos to each disciple. ]] But by an act of will I went down. 'I will do it,' I said. But it was difficult. There were moments when it sidled up to me: 'Now you're going to faint,' and then, 'Now your legs will no longer be able to walk. Now....' It kept coming like that. So I kept repeating the japa the whole time, and it was touch-and-go right up to the end. Finally I couldn't distinguish people, I saw only shapes, forms passing by, and not clearly. When the distribution was over, I got up (I knew I had to get up), I stood up without flinching and stepped down from the chair without faltering. But I was not careful and when I turned away from the light in the room to go towards the staircase - an abrupt blackout. Not the blackout of a faint - my eyes no longer saw. I saw only shadows. 'Ah!' I said to myself, 'where is the step?!' And to avoid missing it, I clutched the railing. What a commotion that made! Champaklal came rushing up, thinking I was about to fall!

page 36 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 22nd Jan. 1961



-084_change the LAW.html


I listen, I answer. 'It's not satisfactory!' I told them. But they've kept to their idea, they like it. When that first storm came some time back (you remember, with those terrible bolts of lightning and that asuric being P.K. saw and sketched): 'Don't you want us to destroy something? ...' I got angry. But it was ... This influence was so close and acute that it gave you goose bumps! The whole time the storm lasted, I had to hold on tight in my bed, like this (Mother closes her fists tight as in a trance or deep concentration), and I didn't move - didn't move - like a ... a rock during the entire storm, until he consented to go a bit further away. Then I moved. And even now, it comes - from others (there's not just one, you see, there are many): 'How about a good flood?' A roof collapsed the other day with someone underneath, but he was able to escape. So roofs are collapsing, houses ... 'Arouse public sympathy, we must help the Ashram!' 'It's no good,' I said. But maybe that's what's responsible for this interminable rain. And they offer so many other things ... oh, what they parade past me! You could write books on all this! But generally - and this is something Theon had told me (Theon was very qualified on the subject of hostile forces and the workings of all that 'resists' the divine influence, and he was a great fighter - as you might imagine! He himself was an incarnation of an asura, so he knew how to tackle these things!); he was always saying, If you make a VERY SMALL concession or suffer a minor defeat, it gives you the right to a very great victory.' It's a very good trick. And I have observed, in practice, that for all things, even for the very little things of everyday life, it's true - if you yield on one point (if, even though you see what should be, you yield on a very secondary and unimportant point), it immediately gives you the power to impose your will for something much more important. I mentioned this to Sri Aurobindo and he said that it was true. It is true in the world as it is today, but it's not what we want; we want it to change, really change. He wrote this in a letter, I believe, and he spoke of this system of compensation - for example, those who take an illness on themselves in order to have the power to cure; and then there's the symbolic story of Christ dying on the cross to set men free. And Sri Aurobindo said, 'That's fine for a certain age, but we must now go beyond that.' As he told me (it's even one of the first things he told me), 'We are no longer at the time of Christ when, to be victorious, it was necessary to die.' I have always remembered this. But things are PULLING backwards - phew, how they pull! ... 'The Law, the Law, it's a Law. Don't you understand, it's a LAW, you can't change the Law.' - 'But I CAME to change the Law.' - 'Then pay the price.'

page 477 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th Nov. 1960



-085_Charity.html



Yes, charity is a horrible thing.
Oh, for me it's a horrible thing. It's a way of puffing oneself up. So I told S., "If you can convert her ..." She is very rich (laughing), it would be quite useful!
7 Fevrier, 1970, vol - 11, L'Agenda de Mère


-089_children above 14 years.html



"According to what I know and see, in a general way, children OVER FOURTEEN should be left inde pendent, and should be given advice only in so far as they ASK for it. They must know that steering their own life is their responsibility."
page 195 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 10th July - 1968




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-091_China.html


Suddenly, last evening, X went furiously on the warpath against the Indian 'Congress'# and with an irrefutable tone, like someone who knows, began making very interesting predictions. Before five months are over (in September, October or November), Pakistan will attack India with the help or the complicity or the military resources of the United States. And at about the same time, China will attack India because of the Dalai Lama, under the pretext that India is supporting the Dalai Lama and that thousands of Tibetan refugees are escaping into India to carry on anti-Chinese activities. Then America will offer its support to India against China and then, said X, 'We shall see what will be the political policy of the Congress Party, which pretends to be unaligned with any bloc. If India accepts American aid, there will be no more Pakistan but rather American troops to prevent conflicts between Muslims and Hindus, and a single government for both countries.' I pointed out to X that this sounded very much like a world war ... Then he made the following comparison: 'When you throw a pebble into a pond, there is just one center, one point where it falls, and everything radiates out from this center. There are two such centers in the world at present, two places where there are great vibrations: one is India and Pakistan, and that will radiate all over Asia. And the other is ... '
page 310 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 28th May - 1959
(Pavitra:) What was this 'Chronicle of Kl'? It wasn't 'Ki' but 'Chi,' for he was the founder of China! - those things were fantastic! The story was almost childish, but there was a whole world of knowledge in it. Madame Theon was an extraordinary occultist. That woman had incredible faculties, incredible.
page 442 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 22nd Oct. 1960

You spoke last time of putting a body on a vital being. Is that being still alive? Who was it?

I have spoken of this before. I told the story of the Chinese revolution, and how this being left me, saying.... It was just five years before the Chinese revolution. I've told the story.

I know I've told it - but it was never noted down.

I used to dictate. Théon taught me to speak while in trance (that is, he had taught my BODY to express itself), and I would tell him everything I was doing while doing it. And he never noted any of it down - I suspect he did it on purpose: he wasn't interested in making revelations. So it's all lost. But had it been noted down, hour by hour, minute by minute, it would have made an extraordinary scientific document on the occult - extraordinary! He never noted it down.

But that vital being who was given a body - did it live on earth for any length of time?

No, never.

Never?

He stopped at the subtle physical - he refused to go any farther. It was Satan, the Asura [[Asura: demon of the mental plane embodying the forces of division and darkness. ]] of Light who, in cutting himself off from the Supreme, fell into Unconsciousness and Darkness (I've told the story many times). But anyway, when I was with Théon, I summoned that being and asked him if he wanted to enter into contact with the earth. It's worth mentioning that Théon himself was an incarnation of the Lord of Death - I've had good company in my life! And the other one [Richard] was an incarnation of the Lord of Falsehood - but it was only partial. With Théon too it was partial. But with Satan it was the central being; of course, he had millions of emanations in the world, but this was the central being in person. The others ... let's keep that for another time.

He agreed to take on a body. Théon wanted to keep him there: "Don't let him go," he told me. I didn't answer. This being told me he didn't want to be more material than that, it was sufficient - you could feel him move the way you feel a draft, it was that concrete.

And he said he was going to set up the Chinese revolution. "I am going to organize a secret society to set up the revolution in China," he told me. "And mark my words: it's going to happen in exactly five years." He gave me the date and I noted it down.

And EXACTLY five years later, it happened. Later I met people coming from China who told me it had all been the work of a secret society. They told me about it because that society used a certain sign, and instinctively, unknowingly, I had made that sign while one of them was talking to me (Mother puts one fist on top of the other). And the person said, "Ah, so you're one of us! " I didn't reply. Then he told me everything.

But it's really interesting because the exact date was given. "The revolution will take place in exactly five years," he told me. He knew it before he left. "And that," he continued, "will be the beginning, the first terrestrial movement heralding the transformation of...." (Théon didn't use the word "supramental"; he used to talk about "the new world on earth.")[[ The reader will remember the formation of the Kuo-min-tang and the troubles in the Yangtze Valley which took place in October 1911 and led to the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912. Thus it was in October 1906, at Tlemcen, that Mother had the encounter she relates here. It was also in 1906 that Mao Tse-tung, at the age of fourteen, came into conflict with his father, a prelude to his revolutionary career. ]]

But I did note that down.

page 44-45 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 15th Jan. - 1962


When he comes like this, when he manifests this way, you get the feeling that all the disorderly vibrations of life are being kept at a distance - everything becomes so peaceful and ... unconditioned: it depends on nothing, absolutely nothing. A peace coming solid and concrete, capable of existing anywhere at all - even on the Chinese border today. [[Three days ago, the Chinese crossed the MacMahon line and have since advanced fifteen miles into Indian territory. ]]
Do you think there's going to be war?
They're already fighting.

(silence)

I had the vision of conflagration that always heralds war for me: I had it three or four days before the fighting began. But it wasn't long-lasting, it was coming to an end very quickly. We shall see. Very violent and very rapid.[[ Mother told another disciple about a vision in which she saw a city (symbolic of a country) attacked by two bolts of lightning at once, one from the East and one from the West. ]] page 386 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 24th Oct. 1962


The situation is bad, very bad. They're on the verge of taking Assam - things are very bad.
But for what reason? Why are they doing this?
It seems they're circulating maps in China showing Nepal, Bhutan, Assam and the rest as all part of China. So that's their intention - to settle there.
It's not very clear why.
National ambition. To put a constant pressure on India and force it to go communist. To impose their rule, you see - they're at the door and can enter whenever they want. Why did they take Tibet? And then they've declared that Gaurishankar is Chinese - the summit of the earth is China, not India at all.... Ambition.

(silence)

And this side of Bengal and Assam is full of Chinese who settled there years and years ago; there are thousands and thousands of them, doing business. And all the communists support them, and it seems they keep a very accurate and meticulous list of those for and those against communism. (What do they base it on? I don't know - on what people say or do.) And the idea is that it's all going to be taken like this (gesture of encircling India). It's nasty. Things seem to be taking a nasty turn.
page 424 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Nov. 1962


China has already recalled its ambassador from Delhi. The Indians haven't recalled theirs from Peking, but they'll be forced to. This kind of thing can't be one-sided, one side recalling its ambassador and the other side leaving theirs; and the minute they recall their ambassador, the bombing starts. Not many airplanes have pilots nowadays - that's old-fashioned. The planes do their business all by themselves. They are completely automatic. So what's needed is truly a Power that can act on the most mechanical matter. I mean for protection, for instance: these things don't depend on human wills, nor even on beings of the terrestrial atmosphere - the Supreme alone can decide. Just as He decides "This is to be done," so He also decides ... ["This won't be"]. That's all. He is the only recourse. There's no longer any hope that a human being can give protection by his own power - it doesn't work any more. If the Lord is protecting you, fine, nothing will happen to you. But as far as knowing what He's going to decide.... For if He decides upon such a destruction, it means the earth truly needs it - otherwise He wouldn't decide it. Anyway, it's best not to think about it - we'll see soon enough. We'll see from this world here or from a more subtle one (laughing), that's all. All I know is that it was a very bad night, and I woke up this morning completely drained and with plenty of difficulties - and it's not over yet.[[On this same day, November 20, China announced a cease-fire and withdrawal of its troops. ]]
Later: If things take a bad turn, soon no one will be able to move; once again we'll be (gesture) shut up in an egg. When Sri Aurobindo was here, you went to sit in the room he was in, and felt perfectly sheltered from everything - and it was true. The only danger at the time was Japan, and Japan had officially declared it wouldn't bomb Pondicherry because of Sri Aurobindo. But at least there were still men in their planes, and they could choose not to bomb. But you don't tell a jet plane "Don't crash here"! It crashes wherever it can.
Yes, but it's still hard to see why they would come here.
If they want to bomb Madras, that's just too close. Between the oil wells in Assam (that's what they want - very useful to have ...) and the Chinese, there's the same distance as between Pondicherry and Madras, so you understand.... They certainly have a motorized army, so it's nothing at all. Anyhow.... page 425-26 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Nov. 1962


But outwardly, difficulties are coming back, in the sense that the Chinese seem to be seized again with a zeal to conquer - they are massing troops at the border.
Yet it seems quite unlikely they will attack.
Then why are they massing troops?
Blackmail.
Obviously, but ... The result is that the Americans said they would come to help if they attacked. Even the Russians said they would help. page 259 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 7th Aug 1963




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I have always known that cruelty, like sadism, is the need to cut through a thick layer of totally insensitive tamas [[Tamas: the principle of inertia and obscurity. ]] by means of extremely violent sensation - an extreme is needed if anything is to be felt through that tamas. I was always told, for example (in Japan it was strongly emphasized to me), that the people of the Far East are very tamasic physically. The Chinese in particular are said to be the remnants of a race that inhabited the moon before it froze over and forced them to seek refuge on earth (this is supposed to account for their round faces and the shape of their eyes!).... Anyway (laughing), it's a story people tell! But they're extremely tamasic; their physical sensibility is almost nil - appalling things are required to make them feel anything! And since they naturally presume that what applies to them applies to everyone, they are capable of appalling cruelty. Not all of them, of course! But this is their reputation. Have you read Mirbeau's book? (I believe that's his name.) I read it sixty years ago - something on Chinese torture.

page 266-67 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th July - 1961


... I have come to understand that the Chinese are a lunar race - their origin is the moon. They came to earth when the moon got too cold and they could no longer exist there. This is something I saw at the beginning of the century and my impression was further intensified when I went to China. [[Probably in March 1920, at the time Mao Tse-tung was writing The Great Union of the Popular Masses. ]] They are a lunar race. And they gave me the feeling of people who lack a psychic being: they are cold, ice-cold. But wonderfully intellectual! I met another Chinese a few years ago, a man with a spiritual life. He came to meet me and talked for an hour about China. It made me understand China externally as if I had been born and lived my whole life there. I saw they were people who have attained the summit of the intellect, and who have a creative power - inventors. He told me, "No people in the world could understand Sri Aurobindo intellectually as well as the Chinese." And it was luminously true. The highest intellectual comprehension, really at its peak. It's another story when it comes to doing yoga.... Although that must depend entirely on the individual. The Chinese don't have the same spiritual intensity you find rooted in the Indian character - it's something completely different. Here, spiritual life is real, concrete, tangible - totally real. For the Chinese it all happens at the top of the head. page 393 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Oct. 1962


It seems more likely that the Chinese would be the ones to come here, not the others.
Oh, but the Chinese ... The Chinese come from the moon, what are they doing on earth! The origin of the Chinese isn't earthly: it is lunar.
Yes, but still, it seems they would be the ones to come here rather than the Americans or Russians?
Than the Americans ...
Circumstances seem rather...
No, the Americans can come here to "save" India from China.

(silence)

To be under Chinese domination ... it's better to die first. They are ... from the point of view of sensitivity, they are monsters.
They are monsters. They are lunar - lunar, that is, cold, icy. No, there's no wavering between the two. The Chinese, the Chinese domination over the earth is ... it means the earth hardening, the earth growing cold like the moon. Oh, that would be dreadful. Ah, good-bye, my children. We don't want catastrophes.
page 138 - 39 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 18th June - 1965


But already quite some time ago I saw China invading India, even South India. And that's the worst of catastrophes -- the Chinese don't have a psychic being. The Chinese have a lunar origin and they don't have a psychic being (there are exceptions, but I mean in general), and so one can expect ANYTHING from them -- every possible horror. I've seen them -- all, everywhere ... horrible! I've seen the Chinese in this room.
Which is the end of everything. I mean, it will probably take centuries before things can return to normalcy. You see, there are limits to the horrors men can commit because, in spite of everything, there is a psychic being behind that curbs them -- but the Chinese don't have one. And they are VERY intelligent.
page 132-33 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 12th May - 1971





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There is a boat being built (the symbol of the yoga, obviously), it's made entirely of pink clay, and what a pink! ... A boat of pink clay. I was there with Sri Aurobindo - a very agile Sri Aurobindo who was going about supervising the construction; I too was going up and down with extreme ease. Clay. There were some workmen, in particular a young man who was extraordinary - I don't think they are purely human beings. But it's a long story.... But clay, that was something really new - and lovely! Pink. Pink, a warm, golden pink. They were cutting out [of the clay] rooms, stairways, ship decks and funnels, captains' cabins.... Sri Aurobindo himself is as he was, but more ... with a harmony of form: very, very broad here (in the chest), broad and solid. And very agile: he comes and goes, sits down, gets up, always with great majesty. His color is a sort of golden bronze, a color like the coagulation of his supramental gold, of his golden supramental being; as if it were very concentrated and coagulated to fashion his appearance; and it doesn't reflect light: it seems as if lit from within (but it doesn't radiate), and it doesn't cast any shadows. But perfectly natural, it doesn't surprise you, the most natural thing in the world: that's the way he is. Ageless; his hair has the same color as his body: he has hair, but you can't say if it's hair, it's the same color; the eyes too: a golden look. Yet it's perfectly natural, nothing surprising. He sits down just as he used to, with his leg as he used to put it [the right leg in front], and at the same time, when he gets up, he is agile: he comes and goes. Then when he went out of the house (he had told me he would have to go, he had an appointment with someone: he had promised to see two people, he had to go), he went out into a big garden, and down to the boat - which wasn't exactly a boat, it was a flat boat - and he had to go to the captain's cabin (he had to see the captain about some work), but it was with that boat that he was returning to his room "elsewhere" - he has a room elsewhere. Then after a while I thought, "I'll follow him so I can see." So I followed him; as long as I saw him in front of me I followed him. And when I came to the boat, I saw it was entirely built out of pink clay! Some workmen were working there - admirable workmen. So Sri Aurobindo went down quite naturally, down into the ship under construction, without ... (I don't think there were any stairs), and I followed him down. Then I saw him enter the captain's room; as he had told me he had some work to do, I thought (laughing), "I don't want to meddle in others' business! I'll go back home" (and I did well, I was already late in waking up!), "I'll go back home." And I saw one of the workmen leaving (as Sri Aurobindo had come back to the ship, they stopped the work). He was leaving. I called him, but he didn't know my language or any of the languages I know; so I called him in thought and asked him to pull me up, as I was below and there was a sheer wall of slippery clay. Then he smiled and with his head he said, "I certainly don't mind helping you, but it isn't necessary! You can climb up all by yourself." And indeed he held out his hand, I took it (I only touched him slightly), and climbed up all by myself without the slightest difficulty - I was weightless! I didn't have to pull at his hand, he didn't pull me up. And as soon as I was up, I went back home - I woke up and found myself in my bed ... five minutes later than my usual time. But what struck me was the clay - it means something very material, doesn't it? And pink! A pink, oh, lovely! A golden pink. They are building something. It must be.... We aren't told anything, but our work "is being done" for us. There you are. It left a very strong sense of Power - concentrated. That was yesterday. page 194-95 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 29th June 1963







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There are two other letters: "To bring the Divine Love and Beauty and Ananda into the world is, indeed, the whole crown and essence of our yoga. But it has always seemed to me impossible unless there comes as its support and foundation and guard the Divine Truth - what I call the supramental - and its Divine Power...."

(XXIII.753)

Here it's clear: he says that what he calls the "Supramental" is the Divine Truth, and that it must come first, and the rest comes afterwards. And yet, for some time now and increasingly, there has been an extremely concrete Response to a kind of aspiration (a call or prayer) in which I say to the Lord, "Supreme Lord, manifest Your Love." (It comes at the end of a long invocation in which I ask Him to manifest all His aspects one after another, one after another, and it ends like that.) But then, remarkably enough, at that moment there comes a Response which is growing clearer and clearer, stronger and stronger.... But Sri Aurobindo says that Truth should be established first, and that what he calls the Supramental is the supreme Truth, the Divine Truth. It corresponds to what I noticed while translating that last chapter on "the perfection of the being" in the "Yoga of Self-Perfection": I kept thinking, "But that's only the aspect of Truth; all that he expresses is the aspect of Truth; always and everywhere, it's the angle of Truth; and his supramental action is an action of Truth." I didn't know he had said it, but it's written clearly here: "... But it has always seemed to me impossible unless there comes as its support and foundation and guard the Divine Truth - what I call the supramental - and its Divine Power. Otherwise Love itself blinded by the confusions of this present consciousness may stumble in its human receptacles and, even otherwise, may find itself unrecognised, rejected or rapidly degenerating and lost in the frailty of man's inferior nature. But when it comes in the divine truth and power, Divine Love descends first as something transcendent and universal and out of that transcendence and universality it applies itself to persons according to the Divine Truth and Will, creating a vaster, greater, purer personal love than any the human mind or heart can now imagine. It is when one has felt this descent that one can be really an instrument for the birth and action of the Divine Love in the world."

(XXIII.753)

page 236-37 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 24th July 1963


(Then Mother reads two letters by Sri Aurobindo which will appear in a future "Bulletin":)

This I find very, very good: "What the supramental will do the mind cannot foresee or lay down. The mind is ignorance seeking for the Truth, the supramental by its very definition is the Truth-Consciousness, Truth in possession of itself and fulfilling itself by its own power. In a supramental world imperfection and disharmony are bound to disappear. But what we propose just now is not to make the earth a supramental world but to bring down the supramental as a power and established consciousness in the midst of the rest - to let it work there and fulfill itself as Mind descended into Life and Matter and has worked as a Power there to fulfill itself in the midst of the rest. This will be enough to change the world and to change Nature by breaking down her present limits. But what, how, by what degrees it will do it, is a thing that ought not to be said now - when the Light is there, the Light will itself do its work - when the supramental Will stands on earth, that Will will decide. It will establish a perfection, a harmony, a Truth-creation - for the rest, well, it will be the rest - that is all."

(XXII.13)

It's very useful to say to people - they're such a nuisance! Always wanting to put the cart before the horse. This other letter goes with it: "It is not advisable to discuss too much what it [the supermind] will do and how it will do it, because these are things the supermind itself will fix, acting out of the Divine Truth in it, and the mind must not try to fix for it grooves in which it will run. Naturally, the release from subconscient ignorance and from disease, duration of life at will, and a change in the functionings of the body must be among the ULTIMATE (Mother repeats) elements of a supramental change; but the details of these things must be left for the supramental Energy to work out according to the Truth of its own nature."

(XXII.8)

(Mother makes the gesture of hammering) I am all the time driving that into people's heads. I spend my time telling them, "First of all, make yourself ready for its coming; afterwards, we'll see what it does!" page 241 - 42 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th July 1963




-096_Anousuya.html



(The conversation is cut short at that point by a disciple who comes in to announce his friend Anousuya's death.)

At what time?
Just now, we just had a call from the hospital.
I am asking this because V. told me she would be going there, she said Anousuya wasn't feeling well. So I looked, and ... (V. wanted me to send a line to Anousuya), I took a paper and wrote ... I don't remember the exact words, but it was: "The unshakable faith that God's Will alone is realized." I don't exactly remember, I wrote what was dictated. And at the time of writing it, I knew it was over. I didn't say anything, but I knew. Because ... It was very simple, I had put my whole consciousness in her and I knew that if she was to be cured, she would know it: she would suddenly have the certitude that she was going to be cured. And when V. told me what she had said, "They think I am better, but I don't feel well," I looked and I saw that she couldn't be wrong. Because I had put my consciousness in her, so she couldn't be wrong. Her saying, "I am not well," meant it was the end. But one must be sure of one thing (because, needless to say, I loved her very much, I was very happy to have her near me, she was very useful and I consider that from the material standpoint her departure is a great loss), but when I learned it was serious, immediately (as always, every moment of my life), my will was for the best possible thing from the divine point of view to be realized. And the divine point of view is also always the personal point of view: the divine point of view is the best that can happen to the person in question. I saw in an absolute way that it was the best for her. Humanly we may try to find the reasons for this or that, but that's not the point, it's that it was - for her soul, for her true being - the best possible for her.
Take her in you.
Oh, you needn't worry about that.
The last words she told me yesterday evening were, "Ask Mother to make me sleep."
She wanted rest. You know, I would like all those who are with me to feel, just as I know it, that it's a reversal of appearances - she is alive, she is conscious, she has all her faculties, all her possibilities, it's all there. She hasn't lost anything! It's only human ignorance that believes there is a loss. She hasn't lost ANYTHING. Some go in a glory - not many, but some do. And those who go like that don't even have a difficult passage. I was writing that line for her, and I felt (it was half an hour, three quarters of an hour ago) a liberation. No, I do feel other people's grief, I understand her mother, it's going to be dreadful, it's not that I don't feel, but I would so much like those who have trust to know how that can be a glory.
If you can be quite peaceful, with a very peaceful faith, she will be with you too, she won't leave you. She is there. She must find peace near you, and a clear-sighted consciousness: she will have some difficulty with her family's grief, they are going to be very troubled indeed, and she must at least have the possibility of taking refuge in an atmosphere of total peace and trust. And she is the one who is saying this to you. The waves from outside are difficult: they come with great agitation and turmoil. One must remember. There must be like a bath of rest near you.
page 90-91 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 20th April - 1966




-097_christmas.html


/Sweet Mother, /

/Why do we celebrate Christmas here? What special meaning does this day have for us? And why is a distinction made here between Europeans and Indians on Christmas Day? /


*Long before the Christian religion made December 25th the day of Christ’s birth, this day was the festival of the return of the sun, the Day of Light.* It is this very ancient symbol of the rebirth of the Light that we wish to celebrate here.

*As far as I know, everyone in the Ashram is allowed to come to the Christmas tree and the distribution. *

The custom of sending special baskets to the Europeans and Americans comes from the fact that in those countries they usually give presents to each other on Christmas Day, instead of on January first. That is all.

Blessings.

/26 December 1969/

page 366, More Answers from The Mother - vol - 17

Regarding Christmas, I'll tell you a curious story. For a while, there was a Muslim girl close to me (not a believer, but her origins were Muslim; in other words, she wasn't at all Christian) who had a special fondness for Santa Claus! She had seen pictures of him, read some books, etc. Then one year while she was here, she got it into her head that Santa Claus had to bring me something. 'He has to bring you something for Christmas,' she told me. 'Try,' I replied. I don't know what all she did, but she prayed to him to bring me money. She fixed a certain sum. And on Christmas Eve, exactly this sum was given to me! And it was a large sum, several thousand rupees. Exactly the amount she had specified. And it came on that very day in quite an unexpected way. I found it very interesting.
page 497 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20th Dec. 1960

This is my Christmas message:

"The time has come for the rule of falsehood to end.
In the Truth alone is salvation."


page 343 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 22nd Dec - 1971


(Champaklal hands Satprem the French and English texts of

the Christmas message so Mother can put it

in her own handwriting.)

(Satprem.:) You've put:
We want to show to the world
that man can become a true
servitor of the Divine.
Who will collaborate in
all sincerity ?

page 331 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 27th Dec - 1972-1973



-098_Comet-Ikeda Seki.html



Soon afterwards Something amusing has happened. You know that there is a new comet?...[[The comet "Ikeda-Seki." ]] This morning around four, I saw the comet, and suddenly I found myself in a state above the earth, and I saw a being who seemed to be associated with this comet. He had red hair (but not an aggressive red), a white body, but not pure white: a golden white, as if he were naked, but he didn't give an impression of being naked, or of wearing any clothes either (I have noticed this several times already), sexless - neither man nor woman. And it was a young being, charming, full of a sort of joy, like the joy that came a little in the music just now, and he was spreading in the earth atmosphere a sort of substance that was heavier than Matter - not heavier, but denser - and jelly-like. It was as though he had taken advantage of the comet passing near the earth to spread that substance. And at the same time, I was told it was "to help for the transformation of the earth." And he showed me how to make that substance circulate in the atmosphere. It was charming: a young being, full of joy, as if dancing, and spreading that substance everywhere. It lasted a long time. For several hours I remained in it.
page 281 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 30th Oct - 1965


(Before going into the music room where Mother will play the organ for the birthday of Sunil, a disciple who is a musician.)

The other day I told you about that comet, and something amusing has happened. Just for fun I said to myself, "Oh, it would be quite interesting to see this comet as it can be seen through the most powerful telescope ever invented." And barely had the thought come (it was last night) when I heard, "Look." So I opened my eyes, and I saw the comet, big like this, very big, as it could be seen with the most powerful telescope, quite bright, with its tail! And the interesting thing was that just beside it (not like the comet's tail, but just next to it), there was a star, a sort of star, but quite small, and very bright, which seemed to me of a very peculiar interest. And the effect is going on. That substance I told you about is still acting in the earth atmosphere. Don't you feel it? You don't have the sensation of being more comfortable, no?

***

A little later, after the music: Living is a little complicated! (Mother laughs) You will agree with that!
Yes. But you look tired.
No, I am not tired - I am not tired. There is an inner, perfectly harmonious rhythm, and when I can live according to that rhythm everything is quite fine, marvelously fine, even, like the story of my comet; that is, you feel you just have to say, "Oh, I would like that," and instantly things are like that; and at the same time, you live in a totality of things that have their usefulness, their necessity, and that don't even clash with the deep Principle, but that outwardly impose their rhythm on this Rhythm. So at times it's difficult.
page 285 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 3rd Nov - 1965




-099_cobra.html



The Darshan went rather well, much better than I was expecting; but the following two days it was difficult here [in the body]. Then one night (I don't remember which), I ... I can't say 'grumbled,' but ... (it wasn't my body 'grumbling,' it is very docile and doesn't protest), but I sometimes find that ... well, I found it a little exaggerated that day. 'All the same,' I said, 'this may be demanding a bit too much of it!' And then (Mother laughs) the whole night through, each time I awoke and looked (not with my physical eyes), I saw serpents! They were drawn up straight in a circle - magnificent cobras with white bellies, pearl gray backs and flecks of gold on their hoods! They surrounded me, watching, exactly as though they were saying, 'All the necessary energy is there! You needn't worry!' So I concluded that this whole affair [[The physical disorder that had principally attacked Mother's legs. ]] must have its utility - it can't be simply the body's lack of plasticity and incapacity to receive. It must have a usefulness - but what? ... I haven't understood. Perhaps I will get the explanation later, once it's over. And the next afternoon, I closed my eyes while I was bathing and what did I see but an enormous, magnificent cobra! It gazed at me, almost smiling, and stuck out its tongue! 'Good,' I said, 'then everything is all right! (laughing) I have only to hold on.' So, that's all I have to say. page 96 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 25th Feb. - 1961





-100_Cripps Mission.html



Then when there was that Cripps proposal, [[See Agenda III, November 17, 1962, p. 420. ]] I believe it was Nehru (or Gandhi, I don't remember which of the two) who said, "He has withdrawn from political life, why is he meddling! It's none of his business." They never forgave him. That is to say, completely obtuse, unable to understand that one can have a knowledge higher than practical knowledge. There you are. page 173-74 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963












-101_Birthdays.html



It will soon be your birthday.... I can see that what we call "birthday" is an opportunity to take stock. That's why people consult astrologers on certain dates. The individual has a certain relationship or set of relationships with the Universal, and there must be a rhythm, things recur automatically at the same point in time. So every year, it should be possible to take stock with regard to what's below and what's above, or to what's behind and what's ahead.
page 229 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 8th Oct - 1966




-102_Consciousness.html



I was above, as usual (Mother points above her head, indicating the higher consciousness), and I looked at that (Mother bends over, as if looking down at the earth), and said to myself, 'Hmm, this is getting dangerous. If it continues like this, it will result in ... in a war or a revolution or some catastrophe - a tidal wave or an earthquake.' So I tried to counteract it by applying the highest consciousness to it, that of a perfect serenity. And I saw especially that this consciousness has been missioned to transform the earth through the Supermind and by the supramental Force, avoiding all catastrophes as far as possible: the Work is to be done as luminously and harmoniously as the earth would allow, even by going at a slower pace if need be. That was the idea. And I tried to counteract that whirlwind power with this consciousness.

page 39 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 24th Jan. 1961


At midnight I was lying in bed. (And I remained there from midnight until I o'clock fully awake. I don't know if my eyes were open or closed, but I was wide awake, NOT IN TRANCE - I could hear all the noises, the clocks, and so forth.) Then, lying flat, my entire body (but a slightly enlarged body, exceeding the purely physical form) became ONE vibration, extremely rapid and intense but immobile. I don't know how to explain this, because it did not move in space but was a vibration (that is, it wasn't motionless); yet it was motionless in space. And the exact form of my body was absolutely the most brilliant white Light of the supreme Consciousness, the consciousness OF the Supreme. It was IN the body and it was as though in EACH cell there was a vibration, and it was all part of a single BLOCK of vibration. It extended this much beyond the body (gesture indicating about six centimeters). I was absolutely immobile in my bed. Then, WITHOUT MOVING, without shifting, it began consciously to rise up - without moving, you understand: I remained like this (Mother holds her two joined and motionless hands at the level of her forehead, as if her entire body were mounting in prayer) - consciously ... like an ascension of this consciousness [[The body-consciousness. ]] towards the supreme Consciousness. The body was stretched out flat. And for a quarter of an hour, the consciousness rose, rose, without moving. It kept rising up, up, up - until ... the junction was made. A conscious junction, absolutely awake, NO TRANCE. Thus the consciousness became the ONE Consciousness: perfect, eternal, outside time, outside space, outside movement ... beyond everything, in ... I don't know, in an ecstasy, a beatitude, something ineffable.

(silence)

It was the consciousness OF THE BODY. I have had this experience before in exteriorization and trance, but this time it was THE BODY, the consciousness of the body. It remained like that for a certain time (I knew it was a quarter of an hour because the clock chimed), but it was completely outside time. It was an eternity. Then, with the same precision, the same calm, the same deliberate, clear and concentrated consciousness (absolutely NOTHING MENTAL), I began to come back down. And as I was descending, I realized that all the difficulty I had been fighting the other day and which had created this illness was absolutely ended, ANNULLED - mastered. Actually, it was not even mastery but the non-existence of anything to be mastered: Simply THE vibration from top to bottom; yet there was neither high nor low nor any direction.
page 40-41 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 24th Jan. 1961

All this [the world, the Ashram] is held in my consciousness with a kind of essential compassion applying equally to all things, all difficulties, all obstacles. I receive letters by the dozens, as you know, and each person comes to me with his own little misery or problem, inner or outer (a tiny pimple becomes ... a mountain). When people come to me, my inner consciousness always responds in the same way, with a kind of ... equality and compassion for all. But when people are talking to me or I am reading a letter and my body grows conscious of what it calls the 'to-do' they make over their miseries, it has a kind of feeling (I mean there is a feeling in the cells): 'Why do they take things like that! They are making things much more difficult.' The body understands. It understands that their way of taking the least little difficulty in such a blind, egotistical and self-centered manner, increases its difficulties furiously!

page 100 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 25th Feb 1961


(Regarding the message Mother has given to Satprem

for his birthday.)

"Here are the Light and the Divine Love which are always with you on the path, every outcome of which is only the starting point for a new stage." It's precisely the experience I've had these last few days (yesterday, I think), just before writing the card. We always set an end to things - but there isn't any. There isn't any. The truth is, one rises like this (Mother draws a curve that reaches a point in space), but it's in order to go like this (gesture of a new curve rising higher from that point on), and again like this - for ever and ever. It may be an individual consciousness, not necessarily an impersonal one; for the individual consciousness, too, it's like this: a great curve (Mother draws a trajectory up to a point), and like a springboard to go farther. So it was a vision like that, of something developing - developing while it expands and grows illumined. We might say, the Consciousness growing more and more conscious of itself. That was the impression. And everything is a means for it to grow conscious of itself. That explains everything, besides. That's what explains everything. The means for the Consciousness to become conscious of itself.
page 293 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 30th Oct - 1968




-104_Creation.html



There is always what could almost be called a popular way of presenting things. Take the whole Story of the Creation, of how things have come about: it can be told as an unfolding story (this is what Theon did in a book he called The Tradition - he told the whole story in the Biblical manner, with psychological knowledge hidden in symbols and forms). There is a psychological manner of telling things and a metaphysical manner. The metaphysical, for me, is almost incomprehensible; it's uninteresting (or interesting only to minds that are made that way). An almost childish, illustrative way of telling things seems more evocative to me than any metaphysical theory (but this is a personal opinion - and of no great moment!). The psychological approach is more dynamic for transformation, and Sri Aurobindo usually adopted it. He doesn't tell us stories (I was the one who told him stories! Images are very evocative for me). [278] But if one combines the two approaches.... Actually, to be philosophical, one would have to combine the three. But I have always found the metaphysical approach ineffective; it doesn't lead to realization but only gives people the IDEA that they know, when they really know nothing at all. From the standpoint of push, of a dynamic urge towards transformation, the psychological approach is obviously the most powerful. But the other [the symbolic approach] is lovelier!

The way Theon told it, there was first the universal Mother (he didn't call her the universal Mother, but Sri Aurobindo used that name), the universal Mother in charge of creation. For creating she made four emanations: Consciousness or Light; Life; Love or Beatitude and (Mother tries in vain to remember the fourth) ... I must have cerebral anemia today! In India they speak only of three: Sat-Chit-Ananda (Sat is Existence, expressed by Life; Chit is Consciousness, expressed by Power; Ananda is Bliss, synonymous with Love). But according to Theon, there were four (I knew them by heart). Well, these emanations (Theon narrated it in such a way that someone not a philosopher, someone with a childlike mind, could understand), these emanations, conscious of their own power, separated themselves from their Origin; that is, instead of being entirely surrendered to the supreme Will and expressing only.... [279] Ah, the fourth emanation is Truth! Instead of carrying out only the supreme Will, they seem to have acquired a sense of personal power. (They were personalities of sorts, universal personalities, each representing a mode of being.) Instead of remaining connected, they cut the link - each acted on his own, to put it simply. Then, naturally, Light became darkness, Life became death, Bliss became suffering and Truth became falsehood. And these are the four great Asuras: the Asura of Inconscience, the Asura of Falsehood, the Asura of Suffering and the Asura of Death. Once this had occurred, the divine Consciousness turned towards the Supreme and said (Mother laughs): 'Well, here's what has happened. What's to be done?' Then from the Divine came an emanation of Love (in the first emanation it wasn't Love, it was Ananda, Bliss, the Delight of being which became Suffering), and from the Supreme came Love; and Love descended into this domain of Inconscience, the result of the creation of the first emanation, Consciousness - Consciousness and Light had become Inconscience and Darkness. Love descended straight from the Supreme into this Inconscience; the Supreme, that is, created a new emanation, which didn't pass through the intermediate worlds (because, according to the story, the universal Mother first created all the gods who, when they descended, remained in contact with the Supreme and created all the intermediate worlds to counterbalance this fall - it's the old story of the 'Fall,' this fall into the Inconscient. But that wasn't enough). Simultaneously with the creation of the gods, then, came this direct Descent of Love into Matter, without passing through all the intermediate worlds. That's the story of the first Descent. But you're speaking of the descent heralded by Sri Aurobindo, the Supramental Descent, aren't you? page 280 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 28th July - 1961



But I also remember reading The Tradition, before I met Sri Aurobindo (it was like a novel, a serialized romance of the world's creation, but it was very evocative; Théon called it The Tradition). That was where I first learned of the universal Mother's first four emanations, when the Lord delegated his creative power to the Mother. And it was identical to the ancient Indian tradition, but told like a nursery story; anyone could understand - it was an image, like a movie, and very vivid. So She made her first four emanations. The first was Consciousness and Light (arising from Sachchidananda); the second was Ananda and Love; the third was Life; and Truth was the fourth. Then, so the story goes, conscious of their infinite power, instead of keeping their connection with the supreme Mother and, through Her, with the Supreme, instead of receiving indications for action from Him and doing things in proper order, they were conscious of their own power and each one took off independently to do as he pleased - they had power and they used it. They forgot their Origin. And because of this initial oblivion, Consciousness became unconsciousness, and Light became darkness; Ananda became suffering, Love became hate; Life became Death; and Truth became Falsehood. And they were instantly thrown headlong into what became Matter. According to Théon, the world as we know it is the result of that. And that was the Supreme himself in his first manifestation.
page 55 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th Jan. - 1962
Essentially, it is becoming the tapas [energy] of things - the tapas of the universe.

The Manifestation is always said to begin with Sachchidananda: first Sat, pure Existence; then Chit, the awareness of this Existence; and then Ananda, the Delight of Existence which makes it go on. But between Chit and Ananda there is Tapas - that is, Chit realizing itself. And when you become this tapas, this tapas of things, you have the knowledge that gives the power to change.[[ Tapas: literally, heat. It is the concentrated energy constituting everything - not generated by some mechanism, but by the very concentration of the power of Consciousness (chit). In Indian tradition, the world was created by Tapas in the form of an egg - the primordial egg - which broke open from the incubating heat of consciousness-force and gave birth to the world. To "become the tapas of things" is to uncover in one's own material, bodily substance that same formidable, supramental seat of energy (what physicists, following Einstein, call atomic energy: E = mc2), the energy that animates the stone and the bird and the universe - for then like can act upon like. Mother was reaching that point. ]] The tapas of things is what governs their existence in the Manifestation.

You see, I am expressing this for the first time, but I began to live it a while back. When you are THERE, you have a feeling of (what shall I say?) of such formidable power! The universal power, really. You have the sense of total mastery over the universe.

page 93 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 24th Feb - 1962


"Mortality is the effect whose cause is disequilibrium. It is accidental and temporary...." According to Théon, you know, the world has been created and destroyed - creation and pralaya - six times. And each time, a particular attribute was manifested, but since that attribute couldn't reach fulfillment, the world was "swallowed up again." Now it's the seventh time, and the attribute is Equilibrium. And when Equilibrium is established, there will be uninterrupted progress - with no disequilibrium, naturally: that is, a deathless state, with no disintegration. page 452 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Dec. 1962


It was really very interesting. Afterwards it's just a memory, no longer the thing.... It concerned the creation of the material world, the material universe, in the light of the conception of the Supreme in love with His emanation. But the vision was all-embracing, as if I were on the other side - the side of the Supreme, not of the creation - and saw the creation as a whole, with the true sense of progress, the true sense of advance, of movement, and the true way in which all that doesn't belong to the future creation will disappear in a kind of pralaya [[Pralaya: end of a world, apocalypse. ]] (it can't really "disappear" but it will be withdrawn from the Manifestation). And it was very interesting: all that doesn't collaborate (in the sense that it is a sufficient experience, an experience that has come to its end) was reabsorbed. It was like the true vision of what was rendered as the Last Judgment. It is something going on constantly, that mighty "gust" of manifestation, and there are things that have been, according to our vision of time, but that live on, that continue to exist in the future; there are things that exhaust themselves (that's in the present), and there are things that have no more purpose, that cannot keep pace with the movement (I don't know how to explain this) and enter the Non-Being - the pralaya, the Non-Being, the unmanifest - of course, not in their forms but in their essence; that is to say, the Supreme in them remains the Supreme but unmanifest. But it was all a living, palpable experience which lasted for a day and a half. The entire universal movement was LIVED and sensed. Not merely seen but lived - and in what light! What stupendous power! With that kind of certitude at the core of everything - something very odd. It's very difficult to express. But the experience lasted so long that it became perfectly familiar. To translate it into words I might say: it is the Supreme's way of seeing - of feeling, of living. I was living things the way He does. And it gives a power of certitude of realization. In the sense that what we are heading for is already here; the road we look back on, the road we have traveled and the road yet to travel, it all lives simultaneously. And with such logic! An eternal, wonderful superlogic which makes it obviousness itself - everything is obviousness itself. Struggle, effort, fear, all of that, oh, absolutely, absolutely nonexistent. And together with this, the explanation of the feeling we have of not wanting certain things any more: they leave the Manifest. You see, it's like a sieve into which everything is thrown and where He ... to Him, everything, but everything is the same, but there is the vision of what He wants, and also of what is useless for what He wants or would prevent the fullness and totality of what He wants (contradictions of sorts, I don't know how to explain it) - so with that He just goes this way (gesture of reswallowing) and it goes out of the Manifestation. At the time I could have said it in a more understandable language, while now ...
But can these useless things be withdrawn from the Manifestation without causing any catastrophes?

I don't know how to explain it.... Putting it like this implies an arbitrary fiat, but there's no such thing: it isn't a "gentleman" who decides to withdraw certain things he no longer likes! It's not that way. They are things which, owing to their own propensity (what we might call their essential truth), had at a given moment their place in the Manifestation, and which, once they have lost their purpose, quite naturally leave the Manifestation - I could put it in fifty different ways just as poorly, I can't see how to explain it properly. But the fact was evident. It was part of such a wonderfully complete and harmonious Whole - that Harmony is beyond us, we cannot understand it, caught as we are in the sensation of opposites. But there, "opposites" do not exist, there are only things that ... Like the fact of the Supreme seemingly dominated by His creation, wholly obedient to His creation - as though He had no power, no knowledge, no vision, so things follow their course in the chaos we know. Well, when we put it like this, there is something unbelievable and shocking about it, yet it was so very natural, so very true, and part of such a perfect whole! Only, you cannot see it unless you see the whole. At the time, everything was preexistent, although unfolding in time for the Manifestation. But it was preexistent. Not preexistent as we understand it, not everything "at a given moment".... Oh, how impossible! It's impossible to express it. I still feel what I could call the "warmth" of the experience - the reality, the life, the warmth of the experience are there. You know, I have lived in a Light! A Light which isn't our light, which has nothing to do with what we call light, a Light so warm and powerful! A creative Light. So powerful! ... Everything was so perfectly harmonious: everything, everything without exception, even the things that appear to be the very negation of divinity. And a rhythm! (gesture as of great waves) A harmony, so wonderful a TOTALITY, where the sense of sequence ... Sequence doesn't mean things being like this (chopping gesture), one being abolished by the next, it is ... At the time I might have been able to find or invent the words, I don't know, now ... now, it's only the memory of it. The memory, not the presence itself. The experience lasted long. It started in the night, lasted through the whole day, and last night there was still something of it lingering, but then ... (laughing) I seemed to be told, "So then, aren't you going to move on? Are you going to stay with this experience, are you stuck there?!" It is so true: things move fast, fast, fast, and run as you may, you're still not going fast enough.
page 48-50 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th Feb 1963


Recently, between your last visit and this one (two or three days ago), I suddenly had a revelation of the purpose of creation - what it signifies and the why of it: the meaning of creation. It was so clear! So clear. The vision of its reason and where we are going - simply impossible to describe it in words. Some words came (Mother shows Satprem a piece of paper), but then they had a very special meaning. Here:
The result of creation is adetailed multiplication of consciousness. When the vision of the whole and the vision of all the details join together within an active consciousness, the creation will have attained its progressive perfection.

"Progressive" means ... (expanding gesture). No word, no image can convey the experience. It was a real comprehension, a real vision of the thing. This (Mother points to her note) seems hollow in comparison. To use a very childlike metaphor, it's as if the creation unfolded on a screen, were projected on a screen. Or rather, the Supreme Consciousness is projecting itself on a sort of infinite screen. The experience was ... it was obviousness itself! That was IT. But it lasted only a moment. Then, I tried to put it in words. And these words had meaning, a special meaning. To a child, you could say that the Supreme unfolds himself before his own consciousness, like someone unreeling an endless film. He projects what is here (gesture pointing within, at heart level), in front of him, like that. And since the supramental being would have the capacity to be consciously one with the Divine, he would at once be the seer and the seen. There are just no words to say it.
page 28-29 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 12th Jan - 1972-1973


But do we know how long the earth has existed?
Yes Mother, it's been calculated.
Ah?
Yes, it was calculated: I don't know exactly how many billionsof years - but it's billions of years. [[Four and a half billion years, according to the current estimate. ]] And they have also calculat ed the end!
Ah! And?
I think it's still quite far ahead But it appears the end of theearth is scientifically inevitable - because of progressive cooling and changes in the gravitational field. [[It is said that in five billion years the sun will become a "red giant" and burn its planets. The cooling period would come much later. ]]
Theon used to say that up to now there had been ... that this was the seventh creation; there had been six creations before which were "reabsorbed" - just as you said. And this one was the seventh, but it wouldn't be reabsorbed, it would transform itself. There we are. Instead of that destruction by the sun which so far has ultimately led to the disappearance of the creation, this time the creation would go on transforming itself, to become again the Supreme and manifest Him.
Theon and Sri Aurobindo didn't know each other, you see, they never met each other, they didn't even know of each other's existence. Yet Theon proclaimed... (I don't remember what he called the new world) what Sri Aurobindo calls the "Supramental." What's remarkable - interesting, you know, strikingly interesting - is that without knowing each other, with totally different approaches, they reached the same conclusion. And we are precisely at the time when ... the other creations had come to an end; but instead of coming to an end, this one will be transformed. How? I have no idea. The interesting thing in man is that materially speaking, he is ... a mere nothing, a second lost in eternity - a tangled web of weaknesses - but in terms of consciousness, he has the capacity to understand. His consciousness is capable of contacting the supreme Consciousness. So naturally there are all those who wanted to merge back into that Consciousness, but Sri Aurobindo said: the point is not to merge back into it but to make the world capable of manifesting that supreme Consciousness. That's ultimately the whole point. How did they arrive at the same conclusion? ... There must have been a reason for them to know the same thing at the same time, in totally different countries and without ever knowing about each other. And I met one and the other. Greatly interesting, obviously. Greatly interesting, because this physical being [Mother's] was not born in an important position, quite the contrary (gesture indicating an ordinary background).... The only thing I remember well is when I was a little girl (five or six years old, I can't say exactly), a very little girl, seated in a little armchair made especially for me, and I would feel a GREAT Force (Mother raises a finger above her head) above my head. And already at that age Oust the way a child can think, you know) I knew "that" was sure to accomplish great things.... I didn't understand anything, I didn't know anything.

(silence)

And now it's transformation instead of pralaya. [[The destruction or end of a world (apocalypse). ]]
page 265-66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 9th Aug - 1972-1973


(Sujata:) Which victory, Mother?
Which victory? But there is only one, my child.
Which is?
Which is THE Victory ... we can call it what we like: the Victory of Truth over Falsehood, the Victory of the Lord over his creation.
Which means the creation will now go consciously towards the Divine?
Ohh!
Eh, Mother? No? Not yet? ... Not quite yet?
Well, that Victory is still only for a few. The creation consciously going towards its divine Origin and ready to manifest that Origin is still only for a few. I think it will take centuries until it becomes general - oh, centuries, maybe millenniums! But what matters is for us to be the few who are conscious, who consciously ... (silence, Mother opens her hands) ... manifest the Divine. That is our victory, for a few of us, which we can and must win and embody - by "win," I mean overcome the material resistance in the body (Mother pinches the skin of her arm). That we can and it is our duty to overcome - I mean all the stupid unconscious resistance. That must come to an end. This is our work, and it must be done here (pointing to the body).

(silence)

You say it will take centuries or even millenniums. But, forinstance, would it not go taster by contagion? No?
We'll see, mon petit! Let's first do what we should do. Let's concentrate on that. Let's do what we should do.
Yes, Mother.

page 297-98 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 18th Oct - 1972-1973




-105_cremation.html


When they're in too much of a hurry to burn them, sometimes they burn them alive! ... They should wait. For there's a consciousness of the form, a life of the form. There's a consciousness, a consciousness in the form assumed by the cells. That takes SEVEN DAYS to come out. So sometimes the body makes abrupt movements when burned - people say it's mechanical. It's not mechanical, I know it's not. I know it. I know that this consciousness of the form exists since I have actually gone out of it. Once, long back, I was in a so-called cataleptic state, and after awhile, while still in this state, the body began living again'; that is, it was capable of speaking and even moving (it was Theon who gave me this training). The body managed to get up and move. And yet, everything had gone out of it! Once everything had gone out, it naturally became cold, but the body consciousness manages to draw a little energy from the air, from this or that ... And I spoke in that state. I spoke - I spoke very well, and besides, I recounted all I was seeing elsewhere. So I don't like this habit of burning people very much. I think they do it here (apart from entirely sanitary considerations in the case of people who have died from nasty diseases), here in India, mainly because they are very afraid of all these little entities that come from desires, impulses - things which are dispersed in the air and which make 'ghosts' and all kinds of things. All desires, all attachments, all those things are like pieces that break off (each one goes its own way, you see), then these pieces gain strength in the surrounding atmosphere, and when they can fasten on to someone, they vampirize him. Then they keep on trying to satisfy their desires. The world, the terrestrial atmosphere, is full of filth.
page 376 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 28th May 1960

Then and there I said to myself, "This habit of cremating people is appallingly brutal!" (They put the fire in the mouth first.) He didn't know he was dead and that's how he learned it! ... From the reaction of the life of the form in the body. Even when the body is in a thoroughly bad condition, it takes at least seven days for the life of the form to leave it. And for someone practicing yoga, this life is CONSCIOUS. So you burn people a few hours after the doctors have declared them dead, but the life of the form is every inch alive and, in those who have practiced yoga, conscious.
Because they cremated him he was abruptly (Mother violently shudders) and violently thrown into contact with the destruction of the body's form.[[. "I mean a SUBTLE form," Mother clarified, "it's the body's subtle form." ]] It must have been the life of the form; when hurled so brutally out of the body, the life of the form must have thrown itself at him! So of course....

(silence)

I immediately said to myself, "But he was still existing, living, having the experience, absolutely INDEPENDENT of his body - he didn't need his body to have his experience." And with my protection and knowledge I could have put him either in a place of rest or, if need be, in touch with another body - and that would have been the end of it. Now, of course, everything is disrupted and we have to wait for things to calm down. [[One week later, Mother added: "It has worked out: he has gone to the psychic domain for a while (I think it's only for a while) to concentrate." ]] But it is possible to die without knowing you are dead. And to retain full consciousness - he was totally conscious and blissful. I find that important, an important experience. I haven't told anyone what happened when they cremated him, because it would have made them all quite upset and miserable. I said only that he came to me. So don't say a word; they mustn't know. Not that it's irreparable, but still, it's not a pleasant experience. But it came as if to put me in contact with this possibility. page 241-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.


So many things, so many things.... Human beings have made an appalling tragedy out of death. And I saw, with all these recent experiences, I saw how many, many poor human beings have been destroyed by the very people they loved the most! Under the pretext that they were dead. People give them a very bad time.
Destroyed?
Yes, burned. Or shut up in a box without air and light - while FULLY CONSCIOUS. And just because they can no longer express themselves, people say they are "dead." They don't waste any time declaring them dead! But they are conscious. They are conscious. Imagine someone who can no longer speak or move - according to human laws, he is "dead." He is dead but he is conscious. He is conscious, so he sees the people around him: some of them are weeping, some of them are ... if he's a bit clairvoyant, he also sees that some of them are rejoicing. And then he sees himself put into a box, sees the lid nailed down, shutting him in: "Ah, now it's all over, they're going to cover me with earth!" Or he's taken over there [to the cremation ground], and then it's fire in the mouth - FULLY conscious. I have lived this in recent days. I have seen it. Last night or the night before, I spent at least two hours in a world - the subtle physical world - where the living mingle with the dead with no sense of difference, it makes absolutely no difference there. For instance, when Mridu [[ Sri Aurobindo's old cook, round as a barrel. ]] was in her body I used to see her at night maybe once a year (maybe not even that much). For years she was utterly nonexistent in my consciousness ... but since she left her body, I see her almost every night! There she is, just as she was, you know (rotund gesture), but no longer troubled, that's all. No longer troubled. And there were both living and ... what we call the "living" and the "dead" - they were both there together, eating together, moving around together, having fun together; and all in a lovely, tranquil light - pleasant, very pleasant. "There! " I thought, "and humans have drawn a sharp line, saying, 'Now he's dead!'" Dead! And what really takes the cake is the way they treat the body like an unconscious object, and it's still conscious! It's treated like an object: "Now then! Let's get rid of this just as quickly as we can: it's a nuisance and it gets in the way." And even those who feel the most sorrow don't want to see it; it's too painful for them. page 374 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Oct. 1962


But then, is it better to be buried or burned?
Had you asked me this question a week ago, I would unhesitatingly have said "buried" - and advised people not to do it too quickly, to wait for external signs of decomposition. Now, because of this, I can't say any more. I just can't say. I have the feeling I am learning a lot of things about this transition called death. It's starting to become thinner and thinner, more and more unreal. It is very interesting. page 383 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 16th Oct. 1962


I was wondering.... Concerning whether people should be burned or buried, you said, "A week ago, I would unhesitatingly have said 'buried'.... Now, because of 'this,' I can't say any more." Which experience are you referring to?

It's because of what I am beginning to be aware of.
Do you mean that what you are learning tends to show you that it's not necessarily best to be buried?
Yes. It depends on the case, on the country, on all kinds of things. There are people in Europe who ask to be burned because they're afraid of being buried alive. Here, when people are convinced that a person is conscious, he's buried instead of burned. Actually, each case is entirely individual. But there is only a small beginning of knowledge. It will come later on. page 385 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Oct. 1962


(Mother first comments on the death of a disciple, M.)

How they treat those poor dead! ... Naturally, they rushed to cremate him; they asked me candidly (because his nephew was coming but not before the next morning, that is, a little less than twenty-four hours after Ml's death - nearly twenty hours), they asked me, "Should we keep him or not?" I answered, "It depends. If you ask me as far as HE is concerned, certainly the longer you keep him the better." Then I see eyes open wide, a mouth open wide - don't understand anything! I told them, "It takes QUITE A WHILE for the consciousness to come out slowly! Otherwise, when you burn him, it's pushed out violently, it gives a terrible shock." To tell the truth, people burn the dead in that way to destroy the vital, I am sure of it. The idea is not to have any ghosts. page 239 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th July 1963




-106_critisizing the governemnt.html



That's what I always tell those who criticize the government: "You deserve to be put in the place of the Prime Minister, or any other minister, with decisions to make; and with the responsibility placed on you, suppose you suddenly had to decide on things of which you know nothing - you'd soon see what fun it is!" You see, to govern properly, you have to be ... you have to be a sage! You should have a universal vision and be above all personal questions.... There is not one - not one.

page 53 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th Feb 1963




-107_Crown over the head.html



We live perennially with a burden on our shoulders, something that bows our heads down, and we feel pulled, led by all kinds of external forces, we don't know by whom or what, nor where to - this is what men call Fate, Destiny. When you do yoga, one of the first experiences - the experience of the kundalini, as it is called here in India - is precisely one in which the consciousness rises, breaks through this hard 'lid,' here, at the crown of the head, and at last you emerge into the Light. Then you see, you know, you decide and you realize - difficulties may still remain, but truly speaking one is above them. Well, as a result of the supramental manifestation, it is THIS experience that came into the body. The body straightened its head up and felt its freedom, its independence.

page 112 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 17th Oct 1957




-109_Are You God.html



A Polytechnician [[An engineer from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. ]] came here with R. [the architect of the future Auroville]. There were nine who came with R.; among them is a Polytechnician who sent me a note asking, "Are you God?" I had seen the man two days earlier: he is very fine. If I hadn't seen him I wouldn't have answered, but as I saw him and he happens to be fine, I suspected from the way he asked the question that he must be a-gentleman-born-in-a-Catholic-family. So I answered, "This question may be asked of EVERY human being, and the answer is, yes, potentially." And out of consideration for his goodwill, I added (I don't remember the exact words): "This is the task everyone must accomplish." Since then, he has been quite silent.
page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 10th Aug - 1966




-110_Czechoslovakia.html



Many things are stirring over there.... You know the events in Czechoslovakia. [[On August 20, Russia invaded Czechoslovakia. ]] Things are stirring. A black steamship?
Yes, a huge steamship. And strangely, it seemed to be going onthe rocks (which were also black), but without being crushed.
I am sure the movement has begun. How long will it take to reach a concrete, visible and organized realization? I don't know. Something has started.... It would seem to be the onrush of the new species, the new creation, or at any rate a new creation. A terrestrial reorganization and a new creation.
page 227 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Aug - 1968





-575_Dalai Lama.html



(On January 18, Mother received the Dalai Lama. It should be

noted that Mother had long ago admitted a number of Tibetan

refugees to the Ashram and Auroville.)

Anything to say?
I'd be curious to know what you felt with the Dalai Lama?
A truly benevolent man. Buddhist benevolence, you know, and he practices it marvelously.
Very benevolent - he's very benevolent. I was told something (I don't know if it's true), he is reported to have said, "Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are the most important personalities in the world today" - I don't know if it's true. He seems to have been pleased with his visit. He was very happy to see the school and the children.
What about Tibet, did you see anything - do you see anything for that country?
I told him Tibet would become independent again. He asked me when. I said, "I don't know." [[Mother replied, "All depends on the world's receptivity to the supramental consciousness." We publish in the Addendum an account of the Dalai Lama's questions and Mother's answers. ]] Sri Aurobindo's idea was an independent Tibet within a sort of great federation with India. But when will that happen? I don't know.
He gave me this (Mother shows a Tibetan Buddha in brass). It's a Buddha. Is there something written there [under the statue]?

Yes, Mother, there are some inscriptions.

I think it's Tibetan. Very nice.
page 350 - 51 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 1st Jan - 1972-1973


(Account of the Dalai Lama's visit. The Dalai Lama's questions

were put to Mother by Kireet, the Registrar of the Centre of

Education, who in turn conveyed Mother's answers back to the Dalai Lama.)

(original English)

(Dalai Lama:) It is my dream to have the perfect economicdevelopment of Tibet, the perfect organization, the efficiency that we find in Communism, but all this based upon, founded upon the Buddhistic qualities of Compassion and Love, so that the people in power do not degenerate into corruption. What is Mother's view of this dream, and whether such a thing will be realized in Tibet?
It is not a dream. It will naturally be. But the time it will take, I do not know. This is something like what Sri Aurobindo has said about the Supramental. Truth, Love, Compassion will give a basis to the new creation. It is not birth but the value of men that should give the right to authority. If the teaching of Sri Aurobindo can spread over the world, and if there is the full manifestation of the Supramental, then the Supramental will be the power of the liberation of Tibet.
It is bound to come, it will come; but if it goes as it is going now, it will take hundreds of years. But if the Supramental is manifested, it may come quick. Quick does not mean ten or twenty years - that would be almost miraculous.
(Kireet:) But the Supramental is now working very powerfully.
It is, it is working. It will be manifested with enough power when the right people have the authority. For the moment, it seems that the opposition, the falsehood attacks with full power before dying. Never, never have men lied as much as they are doing now. It seems the old habit comes spontaneously. But it must be broken. We are at a very ... what we could call an unpleasant moment of the history of the earth. It is interesting because the action is very powerful, but I can't call it pleasant. But I have told you that already; I wrote it. [[Message of November 26, 1972: "Before dying, falsehood rises in full swing. Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe. Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the truth? I ask an effort from all so that it has not to be. It is only the Truth that can save us; truth in words, truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the Truth or being destroyed." ]]
(Kireet:) Yes, Mother. The Mother has given the message.
(Dalai Lama:) As for myself, I have no desire to continue inpower in the Government. For I -feel that the Government involves so much of conflicts of parties, and the necessity of taking sides with one party against the other....
One can govern without taking sides. That is the mistake of all the governments; they reduce their capacity tremendously. But beyond the mind, there is a higher and deeper consciousness - they would find a Consciousness in which one can make use of all the capacities. It is a question of the consciousness being broad enough, so that each capacity can be put in its place in order to make a general harmony.
(Dalai Lama:) There is good will, there is sincerity among people all over the world, but the number of such people is not large. Will they be able to have an effect to change the condi tions of the world?

It is bound to change; it is bound to change. Only, if the people are sincere it will shorten the time; it will go faster if the people are sincere. The first and indispensable step is to stop all falsehood. Falsehood is all that contradicts in us the Presence of the Divine.
page 352 - 54 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 1st Jan - 1972-1973



-112_Darshan days.html



Did you feel anything special on the darshan day [November 24]? No? Sri Aurobindo was there from morning to evening. THERE, you know. For, oh, for more than an hour, he made me live the concrete and living vision, as it were, of the condition of humanity and the various layers of humanity in relation to the new or supramental creation. And it was marvelously clear and concrete and living. page 305 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 27th Nov - 1965


And for the darshan here [of August 151, do you have a message?

(after a silence)

I could say:
"Sri Aurobindo's message radiates over the futurelike an immortal sun."


"Sri Aurobindo's message is an immortal sunlight radiating over the future." [[Original English. ]]
That's right. That's much better.



page 224 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th July - 1972-1973


Quite well, Mother.... Mother, you have to give us a message for the Darshan [of April 24].

(after a silence)

This is what comes to me:
Beyond man's consciousness
Beyond speech
O thee, Supreme Consciousness
Unique Reality
Immutable Truth...

(Mother hesitates and corrects herself)

Divine Truth. [[This is Mother's last message. ]]
page 398 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 11th Apr - 1972-1973




-113_death in Ashram.html



As you know, N.S. has left his body. It was the result of an accident (he had a weak heart, and he worried about it). He took a fall, probably because he fainted, and fractured his skull: "loss of consciousness" due to cerebral hemorrhage (that's modern science speaking!). When the accident occurred, he came to me (not in a precise form, but in a state of consciousness I immediately recognized), and stayed here motionless, in complete trust and blissful peace - motionless in every state of being, absolutely ... (gesture of surrender) total, total trust: what will be, will be; what is, is. No questions, not even a need to know. A cosy peace ... a great ease. They tried, fought, operated: no movement, nothing moved. Then one day they declared him dead (by the way, according to doctors, when the body dies the heart beats on faintly for a few seconds; then it stops and it's all over). In his case, those faint beats (not strong enough to pump blood) continued for half an hour - the kind of heartbeats typical of the trance state. (They all seem to be crassly ignorant! But anyway, it doesn't matter.) And they all said, even the doctors, "Oooh, he must be a great yogi, this only happens to yogis! " I have no idea what they mean by that. But I do know that although those heartbeats aren't strong enough to pump blood through the body (thus putting the body into a cataleptic state), they do suffice to maintain life, and that's how yogis can remain in trance for months on end. Well, I don't know what type of doctors they are (probably very modern), but they're ignorant of this fact. Anyway, according to them he had those pulsations for half an hour (normally they last a few seconds). All right. Hence their remarks. And he was here the whole while, immutable. Then suddenly I felt a kind of shudder; I looked - he was gone. I was busy and didn't note the time, but it was in the afternoon, that's all I know. Later I was told that they had decided to cremate him, and had done so at that time. The violence of the accident had brutally exteriorized him, but when it happened he must have been thinking of me with trust. He came and didn't budge - he never knew what was happening to his body. He didn't know he was dead! And if.... Then and there I said to myself, "This habit of cremating people is appallingly brutal!" (They put the fire in the mouth first.) He didn't know he was dead and that's how he learned it! ... From the reaction of the life of the form in the body. Even when the body is in a thoroughly bad condition, it takes at least seven days for the life of the form to leave it. And for someone practicing yoga, this life is CONSCIOUS. So you burn people a few hours after the doctors have declared them dead, but the life of the form is every inch alive and, in those who have practiced yoga, conscious. It made me a bit.... Given the state he was in, it made NO difference to him whether he was dead or alive; that's what was interesting! He remained in a blissful, trusting, peaceful state and I probably would have gently led him either to the psychic world or elsewhere, according to the indication I received as to what he had to do. He would never have known he was dead. [[Later, Mother commented: "This experience is interesting. He would have been able to EXIST in a psychic state (psychically, of course, one is immortal), he would have existed not knowing that he was dead ... if they hadn't burned him." ]]
page 241-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.



-114_death.html


Sweet Mother, we have received your answer with joy and send you our reflections and our questions about the first paragraph: "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells...."
So then?
Abhijit says, "If a cell becomes conscious of its own personality, there is a risk that it may act in its own interest without regard for the collective interest."
(Mother laughs) The interest of a cell! Then?
Amitangshu asks two questions. The first is, "Does the decentralization take place all at once or in degrees?..."
It takes time. It happens like this: the central will of the physical being abdicates its will to hold all the cells together. That's the first phenomenon. The central will accepts dissolution. But everything doesn't just scatter all at once - it takes a long time. What precedes death is accepting to cease the centralization in the form for some reason or other. I have noticed that one of the strongest reasons (one of them, very strong) is a sense of irreparable disharmony. Another is a sort of disgust at carrying on the effort of coordination. There are, in fact, innumerable reasons, but there is a sort of effort of cohesion and harmonization, and what inevitably precedes death (unless it's caused by a violent accident) is that, for one reason or another, or for no reason, that will to maintain cohesion abdicates.
There's a second question: "Must each cell be conscious of its unity with the center?"
That's not how it is.

(after a long silence)

It's hard to make them understand.... It's still a semicollective consciousness, not an individual consciousness of the cells. Then?
Anand Arya asks this: "Does the decentralization always take place after death, or can it begin before?"
(Laughing) It often begins before!
Dilip M. asks, "Do the cells scatter in space or within the body? If it is in space, then the body must disappear with the cells?"
Naturally! Naturally, after death the body dissolves. But it takes a long time.... These children don't know because [in India] bodies are burned.
Rita asks, "In the phrase 'scattering of the cells,' doesn't the word 'scattering' have a particular meaning? If so, which one?"
I used the word in its quite positive meaning. I have even seen that those cells that have been specially developed and have become conscious of the divine Presence within themselves, when the concentration that gives shape to the body is stopped and the body dissolves (it dissolves little by little), all those conscious cells spread out and enter other combinations in which, through contagion, they awaken the consciousness of the Presence each of them had. So then, it's through this phenomenon of concentration, development and scattering that Matter in its totality evolves, so to speak, and learns through contagion, develops through contagion, experiences through contagion.
But what enters other combinations isn't the cell itself - it's the subtle consciousness of the cells?
Yes, of course! The cell, too, dissolves. It's the CONSCIOUSNESS of the cells that penetrates others. It's very hard to explain to one who doesn't have the experience.

3 Juin, 1968, vol - 9, L'Agenda de Mère

So, when the earth no longer needs to die in order to progress, there will be no more death. When the earth no longer needs to suffer in order to progress, there will be no more suffering. And when the earth no longer needs to hate in order to love, there will be no more hatred.

page 141 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th May 1963.


As you know, N.S. has left his body. It was the result of an accident (he had a weak heart, and he worried about it). He took a fall, probably because he fainted, and fractured his skull: "loss of consciousness" due to cerebral hemorrhage (that's modern science speaking!). When the accident occurred, he came to me (not in a precise form, but in a state of consciousness I immediately recognized), and stayed here motionless, in complete trust and blissful peace - motionless in every state of being, absolutely ... (gesture of surrender) total, total trust: what will be, will be; what is, is. No questions, not even a need to know. A cosy peace ... a great ease. They tried, fought, operated: no movement, nothing moved. Then one day they declared him dead (by the way, according to doctors, when the body dies the heart beats on faintly for a few seconds; then it stops and it's all over). In his case, those faint beats (not strong enough to pump blood) continued for half an hour - the kind of heartbeats typical of the trance state. (They all seem to be crassly ignorant! But anyway, it doesn't matter.) And they all said, even the doctors, "Oooh, he must be a great yogi, this only happens to yogis! " I have no idea what they mean by that. But I do know that although those heartbeats aren't strong enough to pump blood through the body (thus putting the body into a cataleptic state), they do suffice to maintain life, and that's how yogis can remain in trance for months on end. Well, I don't know what type of doctors they are (probably very modern), but they're ignorant of this fact. Anyway, according to them he had those pulsations for half an hour (normally they last a few seconds). All right. Hence their remarks. And he was here the whole while, immutable. Then suddenly I felt a kind of shudder; I looked - he was gone. I was busy and didn't note the time, but it was in the afternoon, that's all I know. Later I was told that they had decided to cremate him, and had done so at that time. The violence of the accident had brutally exteriorized him, but when it happened he must have been thinking of me with trust. He came and didn't budge - he never knew what was happening to his body. He didn't know he was dead! And if.... Then and there I said to myself, "This habit of cremating people is appallingly brutal!" (They put the fire in the mouth first.) He didn't know he was dead and that's how he learned it! ... From the reaction of the life of the form in the body. Even when the body is in a thoroughly bad condition, it takes at least seven days for the life of the form to leave it. And for someone practicing yoga, this life is CONSCIOUS. So you burn people a few hours after the doctors have declared them dead, but the life of the form is every inch alive and, in those who have practiced yoga, conscious. It made me a bit.... Given the state he was in, it made NO difference to him whether he was dead or alive; that's what was interesting! He remained in a blissful, trusting, peaceful state and I probably would have gently led him either to the psychic world or elsewhere, according to the indication I received as to what he had to do. He would never have known he was dead. [[Later, Mother commented: "This experience is interesting. He would have been able to EXIST in a psychic state (psychically, of course, one is immortal), he would have existed not knowing that he was dead ... if they hadn't burned him." ]]

This opened a door for me.[[ Recall the conversation of June 12: "I don't know whether I am dead or alive.... A type of life vibration which is completely independent of.... I can't say 'I am alive,' it's something else entirely." ]] Because they cremated him he was abruptly (Mother violently shudders) and violently thrown into contact with the destruction of the body's form.[[. "I mean a SUBTLE form," Mother clarified, "it's the body's subtle form." ]] It must have been the life of the form; when hurled so brutally out of the body, the life of the form must have thrown itself at him! So of course....

(silence)

I immediately said to myself, "But he was still existing, living, having the experience, absolutely INDEPENDENT of his body - he didn't need his body to have his experience." And with my protection and knowledge I could have put him either in a place of rest or, if need be, in touch with another body - and that would have been the end of it. Now, of course, everything is disrupted and we have to wait for things to calm down. [[One week later, Mother added: "It has worked out: he has gone to the psychic domain for a while (I think it's only for a while) to concentrate." ]] But it is possible to die without knowing you are dead. And to retain full consciousness - he was totally conscious and blissful. I find that important, an important experience. I haven't told anyone what happened when they cremated him, because it would have made them all quite upset and miserable. I said only that he came to me. So don't say a word; they mustn't know. Not that it's irreparable, but still, it's not a pleasant experience. But it came as if to put me in contact with this possibility.

page 241-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.


What kind of conclusions can be drawn from N.S.'s experience? What does it open the door to, practically speaking?
It depends on the case. In this case, I let others decide because I don't attend to such matters; but I did suggest they keep him until the next day, and I would have done something during the night. They were in a hurry - they're always in a hurry.... I don't even say not to cremate people, because in AT LEAST ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it's the best thing to do. The only solution is for people to grow wise, and they're not wise. They accept a law, a principle, and then, having no wisdom, need to follow it blindly. Had I taken the responsibility (I purposely didn't, for other reasons), I would have said, "Keep him till tomorrow morning." And I would have done something overnight. But naturally, this is one case in a million. You can't make it a general rule.
No, I meant what conclusions for you, for your experience, can be drawn from this episode?
Ah, me, my experience! Why, it's that someone can die without knowing he's dead! Someone can die (what people call "dying") without knowing he's dead, so it's not crucially important. People say, " He has lost consciousness." They made this assumption in N.S.'s case because there were no vital signs and the consciousness in the body was reduced to a minimum; there was still some left (because it did react!), but it was a bare minimum, without much reacting power - he wasn't an accomplished yogi, after all, only an apprentice yogi. It would have been entirely different, for instance, and far more serious, for someone who had practiced hatha yoga. But I mean to say that N.S. was here beside me, fully conscious, and could have moved on to another mode of manifestation without having to go through the throes of death - that's not at all indispensable! Such is my experience, and I find it very important, tremendously important.
Besides, this is the first time it has happened. All those (like I.B., for example) who were hurled violently out of their bodies through an accident have, after a time, become conscious again - the consciousness gathers itself back together. But N.S.'s consciousness never scattered, he never lost consciousness. His time had come - the instant the accident happened, I knew it was time for him to leave his body. His time had come, but the circumstances had been arranged ("had been arranged" - you know, I don't say by whom ...), circumstances had been arranged to derive the utmost benefit. This made me understand a lot of things.... Practically speaking, you need a lot of experiences to learn anything. But to learn, to profit from such experiences, one must already be on the other side. Up to that point [April 13], I had learned plenty of things, but I was learning them from this side of the fence. Now I am on the other side of the fence. Not entirely, but in large part, at least. Voilà.
page 244-45 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.


There must be certain laws - laws expressing a Wisdom far beyond us - for the experience seems to follow a sort of curve which, because I am in it, I don't understand. And it won't be understood till the end is reached; but I am right in the middle of it, or maybe at the very beginning....

(long silence)

We could say some elegant things, but they don't explain anything; like this feeling, for example, that one must die unto death to be born to immortality. It doesn't mean anything but it corresponds to something. To die unto death, to become incapable of dying because death has no more reality. This is beginning to ... I can't say "crystallize," that's much too hard.... It's like a soft breeze condensing. page 240, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.


Last time you said, "They are burned, or shut up in a box without air and light - fully conscious...."
And it is hideously true.
But what should be done then? Should people wait, or what?
I have looked at this a great deal, but ... socially, conventionally, it's impossible - there's nothing else to do. The living take their stand with the living, naturally. So the only thing I've seen is that, as always, there must be a grace associated with that state, and probably people see ONLY what they are able to see without being upset. I know this because when the body became like that - it was more than three-quarters dead[[Last April. ]] - and people were taking care of me, doing everything for me, I was fully conscious, FULLY, but I couldn't.... I was like a dead person. And it wasn't that I couldn't move, but I couldn't manifest anything - I didn't want to! I was in a state of total bliss, and couldn't have cared less about what was going to happen. Well, that's what I think must happen to those who ... who die in a state of grace - it's true, some people die well and others don't. It all depends on one's state of consciousness. If at death you withdraw from physical circumstances, from ordinary physical consciousness, and unite with the great universal Force, or the divine Presence, then all these little things.... It's not that you're not conscious of them - you are very conscious: conscious of what others are doing, conscious of everything, but ... it's not important. But for those who are attached to people and things when they die, it must be a hellish torment. Hellish.
But then, is it better to be buried or burned?
Had you asked me this question a week ago, I would unhesitatingly have said "buried" - and advised people not to do it too quickly, to wait for external signs of decomposition. Now, because of this, I can't say any more. I just can't say. I have the feeling I am learning a lot of things about this transition called death. It's starting to become thinner and thinner, more and more unreal. It is very interesting.
One may be in a state of consciousness where the body is nothing but a burden - it's unresponsive, or it's too deteriorated and there's nothing more to be done with it, or one hasn't been created to try to make it immortal (which, after all, is something very exceptional). Within the great mass of humanity, many bodies are no longer good for anything, and in such cases it may very well be a relief to be separated from your body abruptly, instead of waiting for a slow decomposition. So ... once again I am saying to myself, "A rash and hasty judgment - the judgment of Ignorance." I can't say. Each individual has to FEEL it and, if he's conscious enough, say what he would like. But each time I ask my body what IT would like, all the cells say, "No, no! We are immortal, we want to be immortal. We're not tired, we're ready to struggle for centuries if necessary; we have been created for immortality and we want immortality." It is very interesting. Very interesting. And Pavitra was telling me recently that the causes of aging and decay are now being very seriously and deeply investigated. Some quite interesting discoveries are being made: that the cell is immortal, and that aging results merely from a combination of circumstances. This research is tending towards the conclusion that aging is merely a bad habit - which seems to be true. Which means that when you LIVE in the Truth-Consciousness, Matter is not in contradiction to that Consciousness. And this is just what I am realizing (I don't think it's anything unique or exceptional): the closer one draws to the cell itself, the more the cell says, "But I am immortal!" Only it must become conscious. But this takes place almost automatically: the brain cells are very conscious; the cells of the hands and arms of musicians are very conscious; with athletes and gymnasts, the cells of the entire body are wonderfully conscious. So, being conscious, those cells become conscious of their principle of immortality and say, "Why would I want to grow old? Why!" They don't want to grow old. It is very interesting. So all the ideas I used to have about death, all the things I have said about death, practically all the things I have consciously DONE [[For people who died. ]] - oh! I have realized that all this, too, belongs to the past, and to a past of Ignorance. Here also, I will probably have other things to say later. If I ever say them. As soon as you speak, most of the knowledge escapes. It becomes what Sri Aurobindo calls a "representation," an image - it is not THE thing. page 383-84 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 16th Oct. 1962


Actually, what we call "dying".... Death can be overcome only when it no longer has any meaning. And I clearly see a curve, a curve of experience leading to the point where death no longer means anything. Then we'll be able to say, "Now it no longer makes sense." Only at that point can we be sure. That's why I have never been given any assurance, because it's only when one enters that consciousness that Death no longer makes sense.
We've still got a long way to go.

page 445-48 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th Dec. 1962


"Mortality is the effect whose cause is disequilibrium. It is accidental and temporary...."

page 452 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Dec. 1962


(Regarding the conversation of March 9: "A few seconds' experience that gave me the sense that the most central problem was solved." That experience was what Mother called "the death of death.")

Those things are strange.... You don't remember actively, that is, you can't find any thought whatsoever to express the experience; even the active sensation of the experience fades away. And yet you are no longer the same person - that's the remarkable thing! I experienced this phenomenon several times (I don't remember clearly enough to tell you exactly how many times), several times in my life, it was always the same thing: no longer the same person, you've become someone else. All the relationships with life, with consciousness, with movement - everything changes. Yet the central thing is just a vague impression. At the moment of the experience, for a second, it's so clear, so precise - a thunderbolt. But then ... probably the cerebral and nervous system is incapable of preserving it. But all the relationships are changed, you are another person. I've seen this phenomenon very often. For example, the impression people have in ordinary life (few are conscious of it, but everyone has the impression, I know that) of a Destiny or a Fate or a will ... "hanging over" them, a set of circumstances (it doesn't matter what you call it), something that weighs you down and tries to manifest through you. But weighing you down. That was the first of my experiences: emerging above (very long ago, at the beginning of the century). And it was that kind of experience: one second, but suddenly, oh, you find yourself above it all. I remember because at the time I told the people I knew (maybe I was already looking after the Cosmic Review, it was the beginning, or maybe just before), I told them: "There is a state in which you are free to decide what you will do; when you say, 'I want this,' it means it will happen." That was the impression I lived with. Instead of thinking "I'd like to do this, I'd like that to happen," with the sense of the decision being left to Fate, the impression that you are above and you make the decision: things WILL BE like that, things WILL BE like that. That's my memory of the beginning of the century. I had several experiences of the kind - quite a number of them. And since that last experience [the death of death], which lasted a second, I've had the feeling ... the same kind of feeling. Before that, whenever I intervened for people, either to prevent them from dying or to help them once they were dead - hundreds and hundreds of things I used to do all the time - I did them with the sense of Death like this (gesture above Mother), as something to be conquered or overcome, or the consequences of which had to be mended. But it was always that way, Death was ... (laughing) just a little above. And from that moment [the death of death], the head emerged above - the head, the consciousness, the will were above. On the side of the Lord. I had an experience quite a long time ago, when Sri Aurobindo was here: one night I had the experience of being in contact with the Supreme Lord, and it was concrete:

"One dies only when You will it."


I don't remember in detail (I wrote it down), but the idea was like this: the Lord makes you die only with your consent - your consent is necessary for you to die. And unless He decides, you can never die. Those two things: for you to die, something (the inmost soul, that is) must consent, the soul must say yes, then you die; and when the soul says yes, it's for the Lord to decide. Ever since that experience, there had been the certainty that you can die only when the Lord wills it, that it depends entirely and exclusively on His Will, that there are no accidents, no "unforeseeable mishaps," as human beings think - all that doesn't exist: it's His Will. From that experience till this latest one [the death of death], I lived in that knowledge. Yet with the feeling of ... not quite the unknown but the incomprehensible. The feeling of something in the consciousness which doesn't understand (what I mean by "understand" is having the power to do and undo, that's what I call "to understand": the power to realize or to undo, that's the real understanding, the POWER), well, of something which eluded me. It was still the mystery of the Infinite Supreme. And when that experience [the death of death] came, then, "Ah, there it is! I have it, I've caught it! At last, I have it." I didn't have it long (laughing), it went away! But my position changed. It's one more thing I see from above; I rose above, my position is above. I have always observed very carefully every time somebody died here in the Ashram, and well (one or two persons have died since that experience, in particular the old doctor's sister), well, since then it has been ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT. It was something I saw from above. There was no longer any mystery. But if you ask me to explain ... That I can't - words, the mind, no. But the POSITION of the consciousness was different - the position of the consciousness. Altogether different. And it happened the same way every time. [[Later, Mother added: "That is to say, an extremely powerful experience but which doesn't stay, except in its effect: becoming another person, changing position. I wouldn't be able to describe the experience, but my position changed. That's what happened every time. It's very different from the other experiences: they stay, you understand them fully, they don't fade away - but they don't have the power to change your person. They are two types of experience, both very useful, but very different from each other. The experiences of the very powerful but very brief type are those that, afterwards, are expressed in the form of the other type. The other experiences are those that ESTABLISH in a certain domain of consciousness that first experience which had come only as a shock - a compelling but transient shock. And sometimes it may take long - formerly it took years between the first experience and the resulting ones; now the interval seems a bit shorter, though it still takes some time. And it follows the same course every time: something comes, has the necessary effect, and then the consciousness seems to go to sleep on that point, as if a silent incubation period were needed - you stop dealing actively with the subject - and it reemerges at the end of a long curve, but as if it had been digested, assimilated, and you were now ready for the full experience." ]] But it may take years to turn into a conscious power. And IN THE PRESENT CASE, the conscious power would mean the power to give or prevent death equally; to effect the necessary movement of forces - almost ... almost an action on the cells, a mechanical action on the cells. With that power, you can give death, you can prevent death. But there is NO LONGER any of that sensation people have of a brutal clash between life and its opposite, death - death is not the opposite of life! At that moment I understood, and I never forgot: death is NOT the opposite of life, it is not the opposite of life. [[With a sort of incomprehensible comprehension, we are reminded of the words of the Vedic Rishis: "He uncovered the two worlds, eternal and in ONE nest." (Rig-Veda, I.62.7) ]] It's a sort of change in the cells' functioning, [[Thus it is in the depths of the cells that the key is found, that the passageway is found, not in a world "beyond" but in this very world where death is not the opposite of life - where death is no more (this very world too where you fall on flints weightless and unscathed?). ]] or in their organization.... When I say all this now, I try to pull back a deep-buried memory. But that's the point. Once you have understood that (all that you understand, you can do), once you've understood that, you can do it. Then it's very simple: you can easily stop the thing from going this way or that way; you can go like that or like this or like that (Mother seems to handle forces or shift the position of the consciousness). Then it almost becomes child's play to make someone die or make someone live! But that is better left unsaid. But it will surely come! In how many years, I don't know, but the thing has become plain. And to me (as I said the other day), to me it seemed quite a central secret - not the most central of all, no, but fairly central with regard to life on earth. It's ... of course, it would mean a new phase for life on earth. page 85-88 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 16th March 1963


(Mother first comments on the death of a disciple, M.)

How they treat those poor dead! ... Naturally, they rushed to cremate him; they asked me candidly (because his nephew was coming but not before the next morning, that is, a little less than twenty-four hours after Ml's death - nearly twenty hours), they asked me, "Should we keep him or not?" I answered, "It depends. If you ask me as far as HE is concerned, certainly the longer you keep him the better." Then I see eyes open wide, a mouth open wide - don't understand anything! I told them, "It takes QUITE A WHILE for the consciousness to come out slowly! Otherwise, when you burn him, it's pushed out violently, it gives a terrible shock." To tell the truth, people burn the dead in that way to destroy the vital, I am sure of it. The idea is not to have any ghosts. A little before his death he had asked me for a new name. He had nearly died twice, but he was saved (the doctors were sure he would die), he was saved by his faith; he had such faith, such an irresistible faith that twice it pulled him through: he was paralyzed, couldn't see any more, it was terrible. And twice all his faculties came back (his eyes weren't too good, but anyway he could talk and move around). The third time, he wanted to get completely cured, because he was a businessman and had made a resolve to earn ten lakhs [[One lakh: one hundred thousand. ]] of rupees for me (he had already given me four lakhs in the past, but he wanted to give me ten). So he absolutely wanted to live, but as he found himself not too well (he was quite deteriorated!), he called for one of those kaviraj (you know, those self-styled doctors), who finished him off: he couldn't eat or sleep any more. And the "doctor" went on telling him, "You're much better"! While the poor man was sitting up all night in a chair.... Finally, he was rushed to the hospital and died there. And the day of his death, about an hour later, I was informed that his son (he's not a child, he's a man) absolutely HAD to see me immediately. It was the time when I don't see people, but I said "all right" (I felt there was something to it), I said "all right" and went to receive him. It was 11:00 A.M. (I think he died at 9:30 A.M.). I go there (I don't remember if it was in the morning or early in the afternoon, anyhow it was very soon after his death), I sit down, the son is ushered in, and along with him comes a small boy, no taller than this (gesture), all golden, joyous, alive, happy! ... And he rushed to me. He stayed like that, leaning against me, quite still. And how he laughed! How happy he was! It was M., his psychic being. Ever so lovely! All luminous - luminous with a golden light - and so happy, so glad! Like a baby, no bigger than this (gesture). Waving his arms and legs about, so happy! He stayed there - stayed put. So naturally, I received him and did the needful. I've seen thousands of cases, you know, but it's the first time I've seen that! And he had a remarkable knowledge, because in order not to risk any hitch, he clung to his son and urged him to come to me so as to make sure of reaching me without mishap, without any interference from the adverse forces, from currents and all sorts of things. He clung to his son, who was quite unaware of it, except that something in him WANTED him to come to me. And the poor son was crying; I told him, "Don't worry, he is very happy"! (Mother laughs) And lovely! A lovely thing. The sight of it filled me with joy - so happy, so happy, he seemed to be saying, "At last I am with you! I won't budge now, no one can take me away." This small. page 239 - 40 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th July 1963


But it's still going on. Now, there's a great battle against all the ideas, the habits, the sensations, the possibilities, everything, concerning death - "death" (laughing), not "death" in the sense of the consciousness departing (that, of course, people talk about, but ... those things no longer exist), no: WHAT THE CELLS MUST FEEL.[ [After "death" or at the time of "death." ]] And all the possibilities are presented to me ... With that consciousness (the consciousness accumulated, compressed in all those cells), when the heart stops beating and it's understood that, according to human ignorance, you are "dead," how does the force that groups all those cells together abdicate its will to hold them all together?... Naturally, I was told right away (because the problem - all the problems - come from everywhere, and it's purposely that I am shown the problem and made to struggle with it; it's not just as an "idea"), I was told right away that that force, that consciousness which holds everything together in really superconscious cells (they don't have at all the ordinary type of consciousness; ordinarily, it's the inner, vital being [Mother touches the heart center] that's conscious of oneness, that is, conscious of being a being), that this aggregate of cells is now an aggregate OF ITS OWN WILL, with an organized consciousness which is a sort of collective gathering of that cellular consciousness; well ... Obviously this is an exceptional condition, but even in the past, in those beings who were very developed outwardly, there was a beginning of willed, conscious cellular gathering, and that's certainly why in ancient Egypt, where occultism was very developed. exceptional beings such as the pharaohs, the high priests, etc., were mummified, so as to preserve the form as long as possible. Even here in India, generally they were petrified (in the Himalayas there were petrifactive springs). There was a reason. [[Many years earlier, Mother had told Satprem a vision she had had of one of her bodies petrified in a Himalayan cave, near a route of pilgrimage. ]]

page 268-69 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th Aug. 1963


(Regarding an old Playground Talk of January 8, 1951, in which Mother said: "The history of the earth seems to be a history of victories followed by defeats, and not of defeats followed by victories.... [But] in truth, the movements of Nature are like those of the tides: things go forward, then backward, then forward, then backward ... which implies, in universal life, even in earthly life, a progressive advance though apparently broken with retreats. But those retreats are only an appearance, as when you take a run in order to jump. You seem to move back, but it's only to enable you to jump higher. You may tell me that this is all very well, but how do you give a child the certainty that truth will triumph? For when he learns history, he will see that things do not always end well.")

(Mother remains pensive)

Ultimately, as long as there is death, things always come to a bad end. Only when the victory is won over death will things cease to come to a bad end ... that is to say, when the return to Unconsciousness will no longer be necessary to allow a new progress. The entire process of development, at least on the earth (I don't know how it is on other planets) is that way. And perhaps (I don't know very much about the history of astronomy) universes too - do they know if universes perish physically, if the physical history of the end of a universe has been recorded?... Traditions tell us that a universe is created, then withdrawn into pralaya, and then a new one comes; and according to them, ours is the seventh universe, and being the seventh universe, it is the one that will not return to pralaya but will go on progressing, without retreat. This is why, in fact, there is in the human being that need for permanence and for an uninterrupted progress - it's because the time has come. page 378 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 13th Nov. 1963



For so many, so many years I have had all kinds of experiences. For about sixty years I have been constantly looking after people who are said to be "dying" - constantly. Well, there are almost as many cases as there are people - there are categories, but the cases are innumerable (and I am not referring to external cases, to the material event: I am referring to the inner cases). This is to say that I have been put in almost constant contact with the phenomenon, and yet, it remains a problem.... At least twice in this existence, I have gone through what people call "death" - and both times the experience was different. The experience was different, yet the apparent fact was the same. And if I look at it in a certain way (explanations, of course, are meaningless), if I look at it in a certain way, I mean, to have the true key ... one has it only with the Power. Well, that Power ... (Mother shakes her head) It's hard to explain if I want to make myself understood. For instance, many times (many times, very often), people told me they wanted to die for some reason or other; and by doing a certain thing, it happened. The "thing" wasn't always the same, but the result was in appearance always the same: the person left his or her body. I even had near me, at least twice, very clearly and precisely, people who were supposedly "dead," who had left their body in that way, and they knew nothing about it! Therefore, for that part of their being, it made no difference.[[See Agenda III, July 4, 1962. ]] And it has also happened that I've "resurrected," as it is called, someone who had been declared dead. This is to tell you that all the various possibilities (not all, but many), all that has been shown to me. Naturally, it is always a movement of the consciousness [that brings about death] and a certain movement of the will, but ... What I was wondering about today (not "wondering" - words are always wrong - because it isn't mental, I wasn't wondering mentally), but suddenly there came in front of me, like this (gesture indicating a cinema screen): could what is called "death" be by chance a multitude of different things?... We say "life," "death," and we oppose that death to life - could it be, by chance, that what people call "death" is a multitude of different things, of different possibilities? We are in a constant state of decomposition - everything, all life is constantly in a state of decomposition and transformation; all the food we absorb is constantly in a state of decomposition. So ... It may simply be the incompleteness, I mean the limitation of our vision, our perception: we see the details too much instead of seeing the whole. You know, I had a sudden feeling with the tension of the concentration: What is the physical perception of the totality of the physical world? What is the consciousness of the totality of the physical world? Isn't, for that consciousness, isn't all that we call death and life a phenomenon analogous to the phenomenon of decomposition, assimilation, transformation that takes place in every living being? It's enough to leave you completely dazed! It is the cellular transformation, the progressive cellular transformation which is, on the scale of the human being (of the human being, of the animal, etc.), what we call "death." We will talk about it again.

page 81-82 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 - 28th Apr - 1965


If we follow to its end the idea with which Sri Aurobindo wrote this, Death would be the principle that created Falsehood in the world.... It's obviously either Falsehood that created Death, or Death that created Falsehood.
It's rather Falsehood that created Death!
Logically, yes. According to the story (if it can be called a story) that Théon told, it was Falsehood that created Death. But according to what we've just read, Death would be what created Falsehood.... Obviously it must be neither this way nor that! It must be something else, which we should find.

(silence)

Theon's idea (which also fits with the teaching here in India in which they say it was the sense of separation that created the whole Disorder - Death, Falsehood and all the rest), Theon's idea was that those first four Emanations, that is, Consciousness, Love, Life, and Truth (Love was the last, I think, but I no longer remember what he said), those four individual emanated Beings, according to him, in full consciousness of their power and existence, cut themselves off from their Origin. In other words, they wanted to depend only on themselves, they didn't even feel the need to keep the connection with their Origin (I am putting it very materially). So then, that cut is what instantly caused Consciousness to become Unconsciousness, Love to become Suffering (it wasn't Love - it was actually Ananda which became Suffering), Life to become Death and Truth to become Falsehood. And they hurled themselves into the creation like that. Then, there was a second creation, which was the creation of the gods, to mend the mischief caused by those four (the story is told in almost a childlike way in order not to be abstract, in order to become concrete). The gods are the second emanation and they came to mend. In India and everywhere, they were given various names and functions, and they are found in the Overmind region, that is to say, above the physical quaternary, the material quaternary. And the function of those gods is to mend the damage wrought by the others. And the region in which the others (the first Emanations) concentrated is the vital region. All this can be translated philosophically, intellectually and so on. It is told as a story so that the most physical intellectuality may understand. But in principle, it's the separation from the Origin that created the whole Disorder. And, as far as I know, in India too the Upanishads say the same thing; Sri Aurobindo, at any rate, says that Disorder came with the sense of Separation. So those are different ways of saying the same thing. In one case, seen in a certain way, it's a willed separation; in the other case, it's an inevitable consequence - inevitable consequence of ... of what? I don't know. page 43-44 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 26th Feb - 1966


I think there is an attempt going on to teach me (that is, to make me learn) why one dies. There are lots of ways of dying, depending on the various planes of consciousness, and there are lots of causes (gesture in a gradation), but in each domain there is, as it were, an essential cause that makes death at the same time necessary, indispensable and unavoidable. And then, physically, that is, materially in the body's cells, you seem to be ... (Mother makes a gesture at a tangent), you are just on the borderline, on the verge of finding the secret of why there is cessation, why dissolution is made necessary by the incapacity to follow the movement of transformation. It came in the wake of a sort of purely physical attack or fit extremely painful, during which I had almost the revelation of why the cells cease to be organized. It's fairly recent since it was yesterday, and it needs to sink in before it can be expressed. But I had a strong impression that I was on the verge of a supreme secret of physical dissolution. When it becomes (I don't know how many experiences it will take to be quite clear), but when it becomes quite clear, then ... I think I am being made to learn this.
It's a dangerous game!
Yes ... Only what must happen can happen, of course. It's for me to hold out, that's all! And if I don't hold out, it means I am not able to do the work; if I am not able to do it, that puts an end to the whole affair. Only what must happen happens, without a doubt. No, no, the conviction becomes absolute that you can die only if you must die. One never dies by accident.
Never?
Never (Mother takes on a categorical tone of voice), NEVER.
page 161 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 30th Jul - 1966


And with all this, there is (it almost seems to be the key to the problem, to the understanding), there is a special concentration on the why, the how of death.... Years and years ago, when Sri Aurobindo was still here, there came one day a sort of dazzling, imperious revelation: "One dies only when one chooses to die." I told Sri Aurobindo, "This is what I saw and KNEW." He said to me, "It is true." Then I asked him, "Always, in every case?" He said, "Always." Only, one isn't conscious, human beings aren't conscious, but that's how it is. But now I am beginning to understand! Some experiences, some examples are given in the details of the body's inner vibrations, and I see that there is a choice, a choice generally unconscious, but which, in some individuals, can be conscious. I am not talking about sentimental cases, I am talking about the body, the cells accepting disintegration. There is a will like this (Mother raises a finger upward) or a will like that (Mother lowers her finger). The origin of that will lies in the truth of the being, but it seems (and that is something marvelous), it seems that the final decision is left to the choice of the cells themselves.


page 168 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 3rd Aug - 1966


How is the soul conscious of being and existing after death, once it is separated from its physical vital and mental beings?
The soul is a spark of the Supreme Divine, I do not see how the Lord needs a body in order to be conscious of being. It's nothing very new, but it's a broadening of the consciousness. And all these questions have in fact been coming into the atmosphere lately, giving at first the impression that man knows nothing about death - he doesn't know what it is, doesn't know what happens, he has built all kinds of hypotheses but has no certainties. And by pressing on - by insisting and pressing on - I have reached the conclusion ... that there is really no such thing as death. There is only an appearance, and an appearance based on a limited outlook. But there is no radical change in the vibration of consciousness. This came as an answer to a sort of anguish - there was in the cells a sort of anguish at not knowing what death really is; a sort of anguish, like that. And the response was very clear and persistent: it was that the consciousness alone can know, because ... because the importance attached to the difference of state is a merely superficial difference based on an ignorance of the phenomenon in itself. One who could retain a means of communication would be able to say that as far as he himself is concerned, it doesn't make much difference. But this is something being worked out at the moment. There still remain gray areas and some details of experience are missing. So it would be better to wait, it seems to me, until the knowledge is more complete, because rather than give an approximation with assumptions, it would be better to tell the complete fact with the total experience. So we'll put it off till later.
page 74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th March - 1967


Rita:
"The actual fact of death evokes in me an experience in which one is thrust into space and soars up." Amusing! I found it very amusing. She is the only one, besides, the others are quite practical. [[This young girl, to whom death looked so graceful, was to die four years later. ]]
Dilip:
"A cessation of all physical activity caused by the absence of a source of energy (or soul)."
It's not clear.... The other two are quite practical (!)
Anand:
"When the brain stops functioning and the body starts decomposing, it's death."

(Mother laughs heartily)

The last one is quite matter-of-fact.
Abhijit:
"Blood circulation in the brain cells stops completely." That's death. As for me, I'll tell them this (Mother reads with difficulty): "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells making up the physical body. "Consciousness is, in its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it clothes itself in material forms that are durable to a greater or lesser degree. "The material substance is in process of transformation to become an increasingly perfect and durable multiform mode of expression for that consciousness." I am going to send it to them. But I appreciated their notes.... The interesting thing (for me) is that when I opened these four notes yesterday evening and read Abhijit's first, "When circulation stops ... ," then, I don't know, there certainly was a special grace over me, because I read those words and was instantly put in contact with the most objective, calm and detached scientific spirit - that was its way of seeing and describing the phenomenon: no emotion, no reaction, simply like that. And I saw (I understood and saw infinitely more than the boy put into it) a whole wisdom there, a scientific wisdom. And at the same time, the perception of the remedy in the evolutionary course of things. The most material remedy. It gave me a whole series of experiences in the night and the morning, certainly far exceeding the field covered by their four reflections.... With the little girl [Rita], there was the impression, the vision of all those to whom death is a gateway to a marvelous realization.

It all came so spontaneously and naturally that I felt as if it was THERE. Now that you've read it back to me (laughing), I realize it's not there! But it came so spontaneously: I sat there, reading those four notes, and it came one after another. Especially Abhijit's, this completely objective, or anyway completely detached vision of the phenomenon: "Circulation stops ..." As if you were looking at a small instrument or tool (Mother gestures as if fingering a small object), and you remarked, "Oh, it's stopped now ... that's why it no longer works." Like that. In other words, none of those uncertainties or anxieties or aspirations.... All that was emotions, sentiments, psychological phenomena - it was all completely absent.... A very simple little contraption (same fingering gesture) which you look at as you would a machine, and the machine stops "because it no longer goes like that." There. And as a result, this body was completely detached from all human anguish - from everything: not only from anguish, but from the habit, the whole human formation about death - it was all gone. As if I were all the way up above, like that, and looking all the way down - hup! it went away.
page 132-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968



Soon afterwards I've been given the continuation of T.F.'s class about death. There are new notes.

(Mother holds out a paper to Satprem)

Sweet Mother, we have received your answer withjoy and send you our reflections and our questions about the first paragraph: "Death is the phenome non of decentralization and scattering of the cells...."
So then?
Abhijit says, "If a cell becomes conscious of itsown personality, there is a risk that it may act in its own interest without regard for the collective interest."
(Mother laughs) The interest of a cell!
Then?
Amitangshu asks two questions. The first is, "Doesthe decentralization take place all at once or in degrees?..."
It takes time. It happens like this: the central will of the physical being abdicates its will to hold all the cells together. That's the first phenomenon. The central will accepts dissolution. But everything doesn't just scatter all at once - it takes a long time. What precedes death is accepting to cease the centralization in the form for some reason or other. I have noticed that one of the strongest reasons (one of them, very strong) is a sense of irreparable disharmony. Another is a sort of disgust at carrying on the effort of coordination. There are, in fact, innumerable reasons, but there is a sort of effort of cohesion and harmonization, and what inevitably precedes death (unless it's caused by a violent accident) is that, for one reason or another, or for no reason, that will to maintain cohesion abdicates.
There's a second question: "Must each cell beconscious of its unity with the center?"
That's not how it is.

(after a long silence)

It's hard to make them understand.... It's still a semicollective consciousness, not an individual consciousness of the cells. Then?
Anand Arya asks this: "Does the decentralizationalways take place after death, or can it begin before?"
(Laughing) It often begins before!
Dilip M. asks, "Do the cells scatter in space or within the body? If it is in space, then the body must disappear with the cells?"
Naturally! Naturally, after death the body dissolves. But it takes a long time....
These children don't know because [in India] bodies are burned.
Rita asks, "In the phrase 'scattering of the cells,'doesn't the word 'scattering' have a particular meaning? If so, which one?"
I used the word in its quite positive meaning. I have even seen that those cells that have been specially developed and have become conscious of the divine Presence within themselves, when the concentration that gives shape to the body is stopped and the body dissolves (it dissolves little by little), all those conscious cells spread out and enter other combinations in which, through contagion, they awaken the consciousness of the Presence each of them had. So then, it's through this phenomenon of concentration, development and scattering that Matter in its totality evolves, so to speak, and learns through contagion, develops through contagion, experiences through contagion.
But what enters other combinations isn't the cell itself - it's thesubtle consciousness of the cells?
Yes, of course! The cell, too, dissolves. It's the CONSCIOUSNESS of the cells that penetrates others. It's very hard to explain to one who doesn't have the experience.
page 153-55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd June - 1968


Satprem reads a text of Sri Aurobindo: "The fear of death and the aversion to bodily cessation are the stigma left by his animal origin on the human being. That brand must be utterly effaced."

( The Synthesis of Yoga, xx.334)

page 178 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 26th June - 1968


Never lay the blame on others or on circumstances because whatever the circumstances may be, even apparently the worst, if you are in the true attitude and have the true consciousness, it doesn't matter in the least for your inner progress, not in the least - and I'll say, including death.


Page 467 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 10th Dec - 1969


I've had a revelation.
Ah!
It was very interesting. That is, I was completely silent, and all of a sudden, it came, and as always it kept insisting until I noted it down. It came in the wake of a question: "What is death? ..." But then, the answer wasn't at all on the ordinary plane, which means that the mind was perfectly silent. It came like this, imperative (Mother laughs):
Death is the decentralization of the consciousness contained in the body's cells.

With a whole world of perceptions at the same time (Mother makes a gesture around her), like a general terrestrial consciousness, with examples showing that it's only when the consciousness contained in the cells is decentralized that one is dead. Otherwise, nothing, not even the heart stopping, can cause death. Naturally, this decentralization stems from innumerable causes, but they are causes we might call psychological. And the cells contained in the body, or composing the body, are held in form by a centralization of the consciousness in them, and as long as that power of concentration is there, the body cannot die. It's only when the power of concentration disappears that the cells scatter. And then one dies. Then the body dies.
Page 475-76 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 17th Dec - 1969


A demonstration in detail of the difference between the two consciousnesses.

(silence)

Among other things and in a quite practical and positive way, he explained to me that the cause of all illnesses, all disorders, all conflicts, here in the material world, is that the two simultaneous movements (one is the movement of duration - what we could call Stability - and the other, the movement of transformation), the two movements in the original Consciousness are only one and not in contradiction; and I was shown how (not with the thought: with the consciousness), here, they are separate, and that's what is the cause of death. It's because they can't be in harmony - they don't KNOW how to be in harmony: they can, but they don't know. One is the movement of transformation, the other the movement of stability. When they are not in harmony, or not in harmony where they should be, it causes a break in equilibrium and the being dies - things die, everything dies because of that. But put that way, it makes no sense. It's the experience of the thing which is given.... And this also, the cough and all that - all of it, everything - it's so simple! So obvious once you have the experience.
page 86 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 25th Feb - 1970



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All our endeavour is to make this consciousness and this will govern our lives and action and organise all our activities. It is the way in which the Ashram has been created. Since 1926 when Sri Aurobindo retired and gave me full charge of it (at that time there were only two rented houses and a handful of disciples) all has grown up and developed like the growth of a forest, and each service was created not by any artificial planning but by a living and dynamic need. This is the secret of constant growth and endless progress. The present difficulties come chiefly from psychological resistances in the disciples who have not been able to follow the rather rapid pace of the sadhana and the yielding to the intrusion of mental methods which have corrupted the initial working. A growth and purification of the consciousness is the only remedy. page 81 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 11th March 1964



Instead of a combination where each one has his place within a harmonious unity, instead of that, everyone pulls in his own direction. The real progress to be made is a moral one.

You have hit the point: lack of unity is the cause of all the difficulties. Even the Ashram has been contaminated by the disease: each department considers itself a separate entity. And since there's no more cohesion, nothing works! That's the situation. And I can no longer go from one place to another and bring a vigorous action. I can't anymore, I am held here.
page 85-86 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 10th Mar - 1972-1973




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If we consider the body as the tabernacle of the Lord, then medical science, for example, becomes the initiatory ritual of the service of the temple, and doctors of all kinds are the officiating priests in the different rituals of worship. Thus, medicine is really a priesthood and should be treated as such. The same can be said of physical culture and of all the sciences that are concerned with the body and its workings. If the material universe is considered as the outer sheath and the manifestation of the Supreme, then it can generally be said that all the physical sciences are the rituals of worship.
page 208 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Oct. - 1958

I've been feeling lazy! I have received an abominable avalanche of letters, three-quarters of which are useless - but I have to look at them to know whether they're useless or not, so it takes up my morning before coming downstairs. I usually translated The Synthesis of Yoga in the afternoons, or answered questions, but nowadays I go into concentration at that time: I don't do anything. I want to cure my legs. I am determined to cure myself - they told me it was incurable. The doctors poison you to cure you (as they poisoned our poor S.), and that's no cure! When they don't feel the need to show off in front of the patient, they openly acknowledge that it isn't at all sure that their medicines cure: they merely make you inoffensive to others! But I don't believe in it - I don't believe in doctors, I don't believe in their remedies and I don't believe in their science (they are very useful, they have a great social utility, but for myself, I don't believe in it). I knew when I caught it: it was at the Playground. [[Until 1958, Mother went daily to the Ashram Playground, from 5 p.m. to 9 or 10 in the evening, to see people and give her direct spiritual help to some 2,000 disciples who passed before her one by one. ]] Certain people poisoned me with a mosquito bite - the instant the mosquito bit me, I knew, because it so happens I am a little bit conscious! But I controlled it like this (gesture of holding the disease in abeyance and under control), so it couldn't stir. Probably it would never have stirred if I hadn't had that experience [of January 24] and the body didn't need to be made ready. For the body to be 'ready,' a host of things belonging to the dasyus, as the Vedas say, can't be stored inside it! These are very nasty little dasyus (laughing), they have to be chased away! When the disease came back, I said to myself, 'Very well, this means it must be dealt with in a new way.'
page 115 , Mother'a Agenda , volume 2 , 7th March - 1961


It was a mosquito but there was an INSTANTANEOUS, localized poisoning. It was ... hideous! I knew it when I got the bite and I tried ... but it was at the Playground, I was busy and I couldn't do anything about it until an hour or an hour and a half later. Then it was too late, it was already circulating in the blood. I have had three bites like that, but not of the same thing; I knew this last bite was filariasis. It was on the arm. Since my legs are covered when I am outside they don't get bitten; but my arms.... Long ago when Sri Aurobindo was still here, I was once bitten by a mosquito that had just come from a leper. He was sitting on the street corner, although I didn't know it at the time (I was in my bathroom, just opposite the corner). Suddenly I was bitten here, on the chin, and I knew IMMEDIATELY: 'Leprosy!' Within a few seconds it became terrible - hideous! I did what was necessary at once (as I was in the bathroom, I had what I needed). Then I suddenly got the impulse to go and look out the window - there was the leper. And I understood: the mosquito had been kind enough to fly from him to me! But in that instance I was able to check it right away (it lasted three or four days) - I say 'check' because they claim leprosy sometimes takes fifteen years to surface, so.... But now it has been more than fifteen years (Mother laughs), so it's finished! No, the difference, the great difference, is that when one is conscious, the thing is KNOWN immediately and one can react.
page 118 , Mother'a Agenda , volume 2 , 7th March - 1961


As a matter of fact, these last few nights I've been conducting a sort of review of all the stages my nights went through before being what they are - it's fantastic! I started working on my nights at the beginning of the century, exactly in 1900, sixty-four years ago now, and the number of nights when I didn't continue my training is absolutely minimal - minimal.... There had to be something unexpected or I had to be ill; and even then, there was another kind of study going on. I remember (Sri Aurobindo was here), I caught a sort of fever like influenza from contact with the workers, one of those fevers that take hold of you brutally, instantly, and in the night I had a temperature of more than 105. Anyway, it was ... And then I spent my night studying what people call "delirium" - (laughing) it was very interesting! I was explaining it to Sri Aurobindo (he was there: I was lying on the bed and he was sitting by the bedside), I told him, "This is what's going on, that is what's going on ... and that (such and such and such a thing) is what gives people what doctors call delirium." It isn't "delirium".... I remember having been assailed for hours by little entities, vital forms that were hideous, vile, and so vicious! An unequaled cruelty. They rushed at me in a troop, I had to fight to repel them: they retreated, moved forward, retreated, moved forward.... And for hours like that. Naturally, at that time I had Sri Aurobindo's full power and presence, and yet it lasted three or four hours. So I thought, "How terrible it must be for the poor devils who have neither the knowledge I have, nor the power I have, nor Sri Aurobindo's protective presence - all the best conditions." It must be frightful, oh! ... I have never in my life seen anything so disgusting.
I had picked it all up in the workers' atmosphere. Because I hadn't been careful, it was the "festival of arms" and I had been in "communion" with them: I had given them some food and taken something they'd given me, which means it was a terrible communion. And I brought all that back. I was ill for a long time, several days.
page 162 , Mother'a Agenda , volume 5 , 14th Aug - 1964


I have some interesting things to tell you. It's about that cold. An extraordinary healing power ... All the phases in their most acute form, with the study of the process, going through each phase in a few hours, or a few minutes (depending on what it was). When you have a cold, you usually go through one phase, then another (you know how it is), then it goes lower down, then there is a cough, then ... All of it was gone through quickly, and in two days it was over. And with the whole process, but not the mentalized process, not at all: the vibratory process, showing how the Force comes and acts, and at the same time ... Oh, it was very, very interesting, because there was the part played by the inconscient, the part played by conscious reactions, the part played by the will (that's tremendous, an enormous part), the part played by mental suggestion (tremendous, too), and ... the action of the supreme Vibration. The whole thing in detail, day and night, constantly; to such a point that at times I stood still, like that, to follow the course. And it went on (I saw you on Saturday) for ... Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: those three days. It's my fault it started; as I told you I had complained about these sinuses which were a constant nuisance, and there was also that constant inflammation of the mouth and the throat. So it had its effect. I can't say it's fully over because there still remains a lot, quite a lot of the old habit, but it came with the intention of changing things. And all this has been learned in detail from a vibratory point of view. It's very interesting, I haven't wasted my time!
Because what applies to a cold obviously applies to anydisorder, doesn't it?

It's the detailed process in each case. That was one of the manifestations of a cold.
I mean, it could act with other diseases, too, couldn't it?
Every disease represents its own vibratory mode. Every disease has its own vibratory mode; it represents a whole field of vibrations to be corrected. It's the EXACT measure of what in Matter resists the divine Influence - the exact measure, to the atom. Oh, how interesting it is, if you knew how interesting.... Take coughing, for instance (not in the chest, in the throat). So, the first vibration: an irritation that draws your attention in order to make you cough. It has a certain kind of vibration which we may call "pointed," but it's not violent: it's light, annoying. It's the first little vibration. So with that vibration, awakening of the attention in the surrounding consciousness [of the throat cells]; then refusal to accept the cough, a rejection here [in the throat], which at first almost causes nausea (all this is seen through a microscope, you understand, they are tiny things). The attention is focused. Then, at that point, there are several possible factors, sometimes simultaneous and sometimes one driving the other away; one is anxiety: something goes wrong and there is apprehension at what's going to happen; another is a will that nothing should be disturbed by the irritation; and all of a sudden, the faith that the Force is capable of restoring order everywhere instantly (none of this is intellectual: it's vibrations). Then, sometime yesterday morning, something very interesting took place: a clear perception that the vast majority of the cells (in THIS case: I'm not talking about the whole body, I am talking about this particular spot - throat, nose, etc.), that the vast majority of the cells still have a sort of feeling - which seems to be the result of innumerable experiences or of habits (it's both; not clearly one or the other, but both) - that Nature's force, that is to say, the nature governing the body, knows what needs to be done better than the divine Power: it's "used to it," it "knows better." That's how it is. So then, when this new consciousness [the mind of the cells] which is being worked out in the physical being caught hold of that, oh, it was as if it had caught hold of an extraordinary revelation; it said, "Ah, I've got you, you culprit! You are the one who is preventing the transformation."
page 44-45 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th Feb - 1967



Now I can follow. I remember, when I came back after having BEEN those bursts - those pulsations, those bursts of creative Love, [[Experience of April 13, 1962. ]] when I returned to the ordinary consciousness (while retaining the very real memory of That, of the state), well, that state, which I felt to be pulsations of creative Love, is what must, is That which must replace here this consciousness of concrete reality - which is, which becomes unreal: it's like something lifeless - hard, dry, inert, lifeless. And to our ordinary consciousness (I remember how it was in the past), that's what gives you the impression, "This is concrete, this is real." Well, "this," this sensation, is what must be replaced by the phenomenon of consciousness of that Pulsation. And That (Mother makes an intense gesture enfolding her whole face) is at the same time all-light, all-power, all-intensity of love, and such FULLNESS! It's so full that ... where That is, nothing else can exist. And when That is here, in the body, in the cells, then all you have to do is focus It on someone or something, and order is instantly restored in the person or the thing. So, translated into ordinary words, it "heals." It heals the disease. But it doesn't heal it: it annuls it.... Yes, it annuls it.
It unrealizes it.
Absolutely. I have concrete proof of it. Any disease, any disease whatsoever.
page 213 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 12th July - 1967





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What struck me the most is sight. Hearing ... for a very, very long time - years - I've had the feeling that when people don't think very clearly, I can't hear. But that's not quite the point: it's when their consciousness isn't ALIVE in what they're saying - it's not so much a question of "thought," it's their consciousness that isn't ALIVE in what they're saying; it's a mental machine; then I don't understand anything at all - nothing. When their consciousness is alive, it reaches me. And I have noticed, for instance, that people whom I don't hear think it's because I am deaf in the ordinary way, so they start shouting - which is even worse! Then it's as if they were throwing stones in my face.[[Not only did they think Mother deaf, but Satprem heard one of Mother's attendants tell him that the vagaries of her eyesight were due to cataract. Thus Mother was surrounded with people who thought her old and infirm or sick. ]] There must be an action on the organs. But it's my eyes that I find the most interesting. For instance, I noticed this while washing early in the morning: I go into the bathroom before turning the light on, because I turn it on from inside; but I see just as clearly as when the light is on! It makes no difference. And then everything was as if behind a kind of veil. Then I turned my attention (or rather my attention was drawn) and I said to myself, "But all this is becoming so lackluster, it's completely uninteresting!" And I started thinking (not thinking, but becoming aware of one thing or another), and suddenly, I saw that phenomenon of a bottle in the cupboard becoming so clear, so ... with an inner life (gesture as if the bottle lit up from inside). "Oh!" I said - the next minute, it was over. But I seemed to be told, "Yes, you can. You no longer see this way, but you can see that way; you no longer see the ordinary way, but you can see ..." (inward gesture). I have been left with enough vision to be able to move around freely, but this is clearly the preparation for a vision through the inner light rather than projected light. And it is ... oh, it's warm, living, intense - and of such precision! You see everything at the same time, not only the color and shape, but the character of the vibration: in a liquid, the character of its vibration - it's marvelous. Only, it lasts a moment, it's like promises that come and tell you (like when you make a promise to someone to comfort him and give him heart), "It will be like this." Very well. (Mother laughs) In how many centuries, I don't know! page 112-13 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 2nd June - 1965





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This morning, I had, for instance, a whole series of experiences regarding the notion of selfishness. I remember that the first time someone said to Sri Aurobindo in my presence (many years ago) about someone else, "Oh, he is selfish," Sri Aurobindo smiled and answered, "Selfish? But the most selfish of all is the Divine, since everything belongs to Him and He sees everything in relation to Himself!" I found it rather daring! And this morning (strangely, just this morning; it's not the first time, either), I suddenly felt how false that notion of selfishness is and that sort of reprobation of the selfish, with, at the same time, all the shades of leniency, understanding, how false all that is, that whole world, how rigid and outside the Truth. "Outside the Truth," not that its opposite would be true, no, that's not the point! It's that sort of "moral-mental" notion, which is such a self-evident affair that nobody questions it - how far, far away it is from the Truth.

page 133 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 11th June - 1966


Yesterday, someone wrote to me and asked:
"In the end, what is the Divine?"
I answered. I told him that I gave one answer to help him, but that a hundred could be given, each as good as any other:

"The Divine can be lived, but not defined....


Here, I added, "But anyway, since you ask me the question, I will answer you." "The Divine is an absolute of perfection, eternal source of all that exists, whom we grow progressively conscious of, while being Him from all eternity."
page 151-52 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 24th May - 1967


I have something to add to what we said the other day about the Divine. [[See Conversation of May 24: What is the Divine? ]] Someone asks me, "And whatever is God?" It's about a text from Sri Aurobindo. Here it is:
"Love leads us from the suffering of division into the bliss of perfect union, but without losing that joy of the act of union which is the soul's greatest discovery and for which the life of the cosmos is a long preparation. Therefore to approach God by love is to prepare oneself for the greatest possible spiritual fulfillment."

(The Synthesis of Yoga,
XXI.III.523)

It's about the last sentence; someone has asked me, "What is God?" So I've replied (taking the word "God"): "It is the name man has given to all that exceeds and dominates him, all that he cannot know but is subject to." Instead of saying "to all that exceeds him," we could say, "to THAT WHICH exceeds him," because from the intellectual standpoint, "all that" is debatable. I mean there is a "something" - an indefinable and inexplicable something - and man has always felt dominated by that something. It is beyond all possible understanding and dominates him. And then, religions gave it a name; man has called it "God"; the French call it Dieu, the English, God, in another language it's called differently, but anyway it's the same.
page 169-70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967


But I mean that we could find in Sri Aurobindo a sentence saying, for instance, that "God" is a word empty of meaning into which man puts whatever he likes, and then a description similar to the one I gave of the Divine. And throughout all his writings, it's like that with everything.

(silence)

Then I would like to publish this quotation from Sri Aurobindo: "The traditions of the past are very great in their own place, in the past, but I do not see why we should merely repeat them and not go farther. In the spiritual development of the consciousness upon earth the great past ought to be followed by a greater future."

January 14, 1932

page 171 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967



But Sri Aurobindo said (I read it two days ago, I don't know where he wrote it because it was a quotation) that if the divine Consciousness, the divine Power, the divine Love, the Truth, were to manifest on earth too rapidly, the earth would be dissolved! It couldn't bear it ... brrf!


page 370 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 15th Nov - 1967


Sri Aurobindo is always there. At times he becomes very active, especially when people "pump" or pull or crush you under the weight of all their difficulties and all their desires. Then (these last few days have been like that), I might put it into the words he often used, but this is his attitude: "They accept the God only when they can crucify him." I find that so interesting, you know! They accept God - the Divine - only when they can crucify him. That is to say, they recognize the Divine in a body only if that body is fit to be crucified or tortured. And then, if things go wrong, "So he's not divine!" He is not divine.... He always used to say, "The Divine takes care to veil himself so as not to crush them."
page 65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Feb - 1968


But listen, yesterday, I saw a dozen young men and women who came, I think, from America (they were from various countries), and they'd asked to see me. I said, I am not keen to see them." But they had asked, and L. was moved to pity and brought them to me. Mon petit, if you knew how HOLLOW they were! ... Hollow, nothing but words. And what questions they asked me! ... "What is responsibility? ..." One of the girls asked me, "What's the Divine?"

(They're all ultramodern people, you know, much too intelligent to believe in any godhead! They're far above that.) She asked me with a derisive little air, "What's the Divine?" So I looked at her (Mother looks hugely amused), and told her, "The Divine is the perfection you have to realize." I had some real fun! ... There was nothing more to be said. (Mother laughs)
page 267-68 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 30th July - 1969


But is there a point THERE that can understand reason?
Oh, yes -- everything is divine. There is ONLY the Divine. But He is broken up into opposites. And the extreme opposite can be touched, overcome, if you will, transformed by the divine extreme -- halfway measures won't work. It is the divine extreme that will be able to transform the dark extreme: by absorbing (gesture of taking into herself), absorbing and blotting out the darkness. By absorbing it, it can blot out its action. But a tremendous power is needed.
page 71 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 17th Mar - 1971


What I said is the Truth, and the ONLY remedy:
to exist only for the Divine
to exist only by the Divine
to exist only to serve the Divine
to exist only ... by becoming divine.
There you are.
page 162 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 9th June - 1971


To want what the Divine wants in all sincerity is the essential condition for peace and joy in life. Almost all human miseries come from the fact that human beings are almost always persuaded they know better than the Divine what they need and what life is supposed to bring them. The majority of human beings want other human beings to behave according to their own expectations and life circumstances to follow their own desires, hence they suffer and are unhappy.
Only by giving oneself in all sincerity to the Divine Will does one gain the peace and calm joy that arises from the abolition of desires.
The psychic being knows this definitely. Thus, by uniting with our psychic being, we can know it, too. But the first condition is not to be the slave of personal desires and mistake them for the truth of one's being.

February 4


page 54 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 5th Feb - 1972-1973



These are like two different ways of being in relationship with the Divine - both are relationships with the Divine: one is the old way and the other the new way. Formerly, you see, whenever I had a difficulty, I would immediately curl up in my relationship with the Divine, and it would go away. But now it's no longer the same. The relationship with the Divine is itself on a different footing.


page 216 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 28th June - 1972-1973


We are - WE are the Divine who has forgotten Himself. And our task, the task is to reestablish the connection - call it by any name you like, it doesn't matter. It's the Perfection we must become, that's all. The Perfection, the Power, the Knowledge we must become, that's all. Call it what you like, it doesn't matter to me. That's the aspiration we must have. We must get out of this mire, this stupidity, this unconsciousness, this disgusting defeatism that crushes us because we allow ourselves to be crushed. And we fear. We fear for its life (Mother touches the skin of her hands), for this thing, as if it were precious, because we want to stay conscious. But let's unite with the Supreme Consciousness, and we'll stay conscious forever! That's IT, that's exactly it. I could put it this way: we unite our consciousness with what is perishable and we're afraid to perish! [[Mother was in fact fighting not only with the subconscient's defeatism, but also with that "formation of death" in the atmosphere. ]] I Well, I say: let's unite our consciousness with the eternal Consciousness and we will enjoy eternal consciousness. How stupid can one be!
page 227 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th July - 1972-1973




-122_going to a doctor.html



Now that the body knows a little, when something is wrong or goes awry for some reason or other (it may be because of transformation, it may be because of attacks - there are innumerable reasons), my cells are beginning to say, "Oh, no doctor, no doctor, no doctor! ..." They feel the doctor will crystallize the disorder, harden it and take away the plasticity necessary to respond to the deeper forces; and then the disorder will follow an outward, material course ... which takes ages - I don't have the time to wait. I never say this to people who ask me, never; I always tell them, "Go and see the doctor and do as he tells you." Because unless the body itself (some people have that, but not many, very few), if the body itself says, "No, no, no! I don't want," then it's ready; but if the body keeps telling you, "Maybe the doctor will help me out, maybe he will find ..." - go ahead, go ahead! Do as he says. The cells must begin to feel that it means a danger of halting the progress, of putting you back in contact with the old-never-ending-story: "If that story amuses you, we'll go through it again." Well, they are no longer amused, they don't feel like going through it again. page 99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 19th May - 1965




-123_falsehood.html



Falsehood has become acute and terrible. It has to go, so it's clinging. Since yesterday it's become so terrible that no one can be trusted.


page 153 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 30th May - 1971




-124_Dogs-free.html

-125_dolphins speech.html



Have you heard of dolphins' speech?... Haven't you seen those articles?... They have discovered that dolphins speak an articulate speech, but with a much more extensive range than ours: it rises much higher and goes much lower. And it's far more varied. And they frequently talk (it seems it can be recorded), they talk but people don't understand what they say. And then, they were given our speech to listen to - they imitate it and make fun of it! They laugh! (Mother looks very amused) I saw some photos, they look nice, but the photos aren't enough. They have, as porpoises do, rows of small teeth (it seems they aren't ferocious at all, they never fly into a fury). They talk and talk!
And they know how to listen. And then, they imitate and laugh, as if they found us extremely ridiculous. It's amusing. It seems they have made kinds of large swimming pools somewhere in North America in which they are kept, and that they appear quite happy. So they are doing studies on them: there's an American scientist looking after all that, and someone told him (I read this yesterday), "You say they may be as intelligent as we are, but if they were they would have tried to make themselves understood and to understand us." The other fellow replied (Mother laughs) that perhaps it was wisdom, because they would have discovered that we are very silly! It's amusing. I have also heard that other scientists have discovered "immediate transmission," which doesn't follow the slow curve of wave transmissions or even of more ethereal transmissions, through what they call (I think) a sort of "pendulum" or counterweight, so that what is done here is automatically reproduced there; if it goes down here, it goes up there, and if it goes down there, it goes up here, automatically. It's imitation (because they can't understand what it is), but it's intuitive communication, of course. It seems they have an instrument to measure it - it's fantastic!
page 127-28 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 2nd June - 1966




-127_Dupleix house.html



No, it's solely a question of health. If I could.... Listen, I also had a longing to go to the Himalayas, I had a great longing for it when I was in France. When I came here the first time it was fine, I was very happy, everything was beautiful, everything was perfect, but ... oh, to go to the Himalayas for a while! (I have always loved mountains.) I was living over there in the Dupleix house, and I used to meditate while walking back and forth. There was a small courtyard with a dividing wall, and shards of glass were stuck on top of the wall to keep out thieves. And I was meditating - meditating on the spiritual life - when suddenly something caught my eye: a ray of sunlight on a sharp piece of blue glass on top of the wall. And positively, spontaneously, without thinking or reflecting or anything ... I saw the summits of the Himalayas: I was on the summits of the Himalayas. It lasted more than half an hour. It was a marvelous mountain scene, with mountain air and the lightness of the mountains - it was all there. The splendor of sunlight on the Himalayan peaks. After that half hour I hadn't the slightest wish to go! I'd had the FULL spiritual experience of the Himalayas. It was a grace given to me - a gift. page 173 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 29th May - 1962





-128_Egyptian mummies.html



(Regarding the Playground Talk of March 10, 1951: "In the physical form there is the 'spirit of the form,' and that spirit of the form persists for a time, even when outwardly the person is said to be dead. And as long as the spirit of the form persists, the body isn't destroyed. In ancient Egypt they had that knowledge; they knew that if they prepared the body in a certain way, the spirit of the form wouldn't go away and the body wouldn't be dissolved. In certain cases, they succeeded wonderfully. And if you go and violate the sleep of those beings who for thousands of years have remained like that, I can understand that they aren't too pleased, especially when their sleep is violated out of an unhealthy curiosity legitimized by scientific ideas. At the Guimet Museum in Paris, there are two mummies. Nothing remains in one; but in the other, the spirit of the form has remained very conscious, conscious to such a point that you can have a contact of consciousness with it. It's obvious that when a bunch of idiots come and stare at you with round eyes devoid of any understanding, saying, 'Oh, he is like this, he is like that,' it's not likely to please you. You know, in the first place they do something odious: those mummies are enclosed in a box with a special shape to fit the person, with everything needed to preserve them; so they open the box with more or less violence, they remove some wrapping here and there to see better.... And as ordinary people were never mummified, they were beings who had achieved a considerable inner power, or else members of the royal family, people of some initiation....")

hose things about mummies, I knew them when I was nine or ten, they are memories from that time. I would find again some objects I had used in the past (that's how I was later able to rediscover the track). I had at least - at least - three incarnations in Egypt (three that have been found). But my first contact took place when I was quite small, nine or ten, and it was with that mummy at the Guimet Museum: I was speaking about that experience.
page 38-39 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 27th Feb - 1965




(Regarding the conversations of August 21 and 28 on the "transfer of power":)

How do you define this physical mind, the one that underwent the transfer of power?
That isn't the physical mind. The physical mind, it's a long time since ... It is the material mind - not even the material mind: the mind OF MATTER [[Mother insisted on and specified this point later. ]]! It is the mental substance that belongs to Matter itself, to the cells. That's what was formerly called "the spirit of the form," when it was said that mummies kept their bodies intact as long as the spirit of the form persisted. [[In a former Playground Talk (of March 10, 1951), Mother said regarding the violation of tombs in Egypt: "In the physical form there is the 'spirit of the form,' and that spirit of the form persists for a time, even when outwardly the person is said to be dead. And as long as the spirit of the form persists, the body isn't destroyed. In ancient Egypt they had that knowledge; they knew that if they prepared the body in a certain way, the spirit of the form wouldn't go away and the body wouldn't be dissolved." See conversation of February 27, 1965, p. 38. ]] That's the mind I mean, that completely material mind. The other one, the physical mind, has been organized for a long time.
page 229 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 31st Aug - 1965







-129_Morality.html




Another one is Communist. He is a Russian who lives in Paris. He asked me if all the Auroville workers shouldn't meet and "talk over" (Mother laughs) the necessity of a "moral conduct"! (I have heard he keeps them all talking away till 3 in the morning.) So I answered him (laughing) that morality has only a very relative value from the standpoint of the Truth; that it changes with countries, climates and ages! I also told him that discussions were generally sterile and nonproductive. And so as not to be only critical, I answered him that if everyone made an effort to be perfectly sincere, straightforward and goodwilled, that would be enough to create quite a sufficient base to work on.... The poor fellow!


page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 10th Aug - 1966


A few days ago (two or three), Pavitra got a letter from France, from someone who wrote (Mother laughs) that according to a few French people who had visited the Ashram, morals have become quite "lax" at the Ashram and everything is in a pitiful state .... So then, this person sends his "wishes" for "the Ashram's morals to be raised again ...." Pavitra asked me, "Should we reply?" At the time I said (laughing), "Don't bother replying, there's nothing to say" But once he had left, it came (gesture from above), not exactly as an answer to that person, but an answer to a rather common state of mind. It came in French first, in three parts: one sentence, then a whole group of experiences; a second sentence with a whole other group; and a third sentence. The connection hasn't been written down.

(Mother holds out

a note to Satprem)

"Never judge on appearances, still less on gossip ....
There. Then there was a whole group ... I don't know how to put it; it's not sentences, but a sort of knowledge that, naturally, your judgments are more or less consciously based on the morality in which you were brought up and the morality of the country you live in. So I wrote:
"The morality of one country is immorality in another ...
That's a fact. And here's the end:
"The service of the Divine exacts a sincerity in the surrender unknown to all moralities."
That's true, no morality, no religion has that! No one has ever dared to say that to people. I hadn't noticed it, it's this occasion that made me notice it.
These moralists imagine they're "above," above the fallen condition of "Others," while they're in the same sludge as everyone else!
(Mother laughs) Naturally! Oh, moralists think they're very superior people.
But if you scratch a little, it's not pretty.

Yes, it's exactly the same thing.



page 74-75 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th feb - 1969




-130_Durga.html



When you invoke Durga, it is I you invoke through her, when you invoke Shiva, it is I you invoke through him - and in the final analysis, to the Supreme Lord go all prayers.

page 257 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 15th Dec. 1958


It was just before Durga Puja,# or just after - I can't remember dates and I don't go together) - no, it was after Durga Puja. So I went into a deep concentration and, as a matter of fact, I saw that a very powerful and dangerous rakshasic' power was involved. And then, when I started walking for my japa upstairs in my room (I had given some thought to this story and tried asking for something to be done), I suddenly saw Durga before me raising high a lance of white light - the lance of light that destroys the hostile forces - and She struck into a black swarming mass of men.

But then there came a ... frightful reaction. For one day I was nearly as sick - not quite - as two years ago# (they must have used the same mantra). And, you see, I who never vomit ... terrible vomiting - everything inside came out! Only now I'm a bit more experienced than two years ago (!), so I set it right ... It happened here, downstairs, in the afternoon. I went right back up to my room (I didn't see anyone that afternoon), and I remained concentrated to try to find out what had happened. I saw that it came from there - a backlash of those people trying to defend themselves. I did what had to be done. But unfortunately, this spread all over the Ashram, all over everyone - a black cloud everywhere. It was rather ... troublesome!

page 451 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 25th Oct. 1960


I had X informed. But I didn't tell him my difficulty (this mantra they threw on me to kill me), I didn't speak of that at all. For he had insisted, from the beginning he had said, 'Mother must see to it, only Mother's grace can save them.' And I understood - their attack came just at the time of Durga Puja, so I understood that Durga had to intervene. So that's the story.

page 453 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 25th Oct. 1960


Yes, but aren't the gods conscious of the Divine?
Listen, mon petit, they are conscious of their own divinity, and of that above all! They are connected with the Divine, yes, but I know from experience that they haven't the faintest notion of what surrender is! I had a VERY interesting experience - it was last year or the year before, I don't recall, but after I retired to my room upstairs .... [[After 1958. ]] You know that during pujas these goddesses come all the time - they don't enter the body and tie themselves to it, but they do come and manifest. Well, this time - I think it must have been for last year's puja - Durga came (she always arrives a few days in advance and remains in the atmosphere; she is present, like this - gesture as if Durga were walking up and down with Mother). I was in touch with her during my meditations upstairs, and this new Power in the body was in me then as it is in me now, and ... (how to put it?) I made her participate in this concept of surrender. What an experience she had, mon petit! An extraordinary experience of the joy of being connected with That. And she declared, 'From now on, I am a bhakta of the Lord.' It was beautiful. This formidable Power, you see - a universal Power, an eternal and formidable Power - well, she had never had such an experience before, she had only experienced her OWN power. She was used to receiving and obeying Commands, but in an automatic way. Then all at once, she felt the ECSTASY of being a conscious instrument. Truly ... it was truly beautiful.
page 298 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd Aug. 1961.

And that's why.... How many times Durga came! She would always come, and I had my eye on her (!), because in her presence I could clearly sense that there wasn't that rapport with the Supreme (she just didn't need it, she didn't need anything). And it wasn't that something acted on her consciously, deliberately, to obtain that result: it has been a contagion. I remember how she used to come, and my aspiration would be so intense, my inner attitude so concentrated ... and one day there was such a sense of power, of immensity, of ineffable bliss in the contact with the Supreme (it was a day when Durga was there), and she seemed to be taken and absorbed in it. And through that bliss she made her surrender.

page 235 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th June 1962.



During the whole time Sri Aurobindo was here, the four entities he speaks of, the four Aspects of the Mother, [[See The Mother by Sri Aurobindo. ]] were always present. And I was constantly obliged to tell one or the other of them, "Now keep calm, now, now, calm down" - they were always inclined to intervene! Did I ever tell you? Last time I went down for the pujas (was it last year or the year before? I remember nothing any more, you know: it all gets swept away, brrt!).... Yes, it was the year before last, in '60, after that anniversary.[[ First anniversary of the supramental descent: February 29, 1960. ]] (Durga used to come every year, two or three days before the Durga puja.) I was walking as usual and she came; that was when she made her surrender to the Supreme.... Those divinities don't have the sense of surrender. Divinities such as Durga and the Greek gods (although the Greek gods are a bit dated now; but the gods of India are still very much alive!). Well, they are embodiments - what you might almost call localizations - of something eternal, but they lack the sense of surrender to the Supreme. And while I was walking, Durga was there - really, it was beautiful! Durga, with that awesome power of hers, forever bringing the adverse forces to heel - and she surrendered to the Supreme, to the point of no longer even recognizing the adverse forces: ALL is the Supreme. It was like a widening of her consciousness. page 224 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th June 1962



And that's why.... How many times Durga came! She would always come, and I had my eye on her (!), because in her presence I could clearly sense that there wasn't that rapport with the Supreme (she just didn't need it, she didn't need anything). And it wasn't that something acted on her consciously, deliberately, to obtain that result: it has been a contagion. I remember how she used to come, and my aspiration would be so intense, my inner attitude so concentrated ... and one day there was such a sense of power, of immensity, of ineffable bliss in the contact with the Supreme (it was a day when Durga was there), and she seemed to be taken and absorbed in it. And through that bliss she made her surrender. Most interesting. page 235 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th June 1962


I have had other similar experiences - on Durga's day, for instance, when Sri Aurobindo was still here (you know, that's the day when Durga masters an asura; she doesn't kill him, she masters him). Well, each year one particular type of thing was undermined (and my experiences were never mental: the experience would suddenly come, and AFTERWARDS I would realize it was Durga's day), and each time I used to tell Sri Aurobindo, "Look - today this (or that) thing has been cut off at the roots." That's how it works with the adverse forces - yes, like something being uprooted from the world. Whatever has already spread out keeps going and follows its karma, but the SOURCE is dried up. That's also what happened (it was in 1904, I believe) when the Asura of Consciousness and Darkness made his surrender and was converted; he told me, "I have millions and millions of emanations, and these will keep on living, but their source has now run dry."[[This seems to refer to the being Mother endowed with a body (in 1906, at Tlemcen), and who went to set up the revolution in China. ]] How much time will it take to exhaust it all? ... We can't say, but the source has dried up and that is something extremely important. In 1920, that terror was trying to spread all over the world and to become really catastrophic; and then in my inner vision I could see that a whole movement had dried up at its source. This means that little by little, little by little, little by little ... the karma is being exhausted.

page 305 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 8th Aug 1962.


But, for example, when we used to have those gatherings for the pujas [[In October and November, the pujas of the different aspects of the Mother. ]] and Durga used to come (when Sri Aurobindo was here and for some time afterwards), when she manifested, there was a great power that came along with her - but that's nothing! Nothing compared to That. Durga's power ... yes, it's like milk and water in comparison.

page 361 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 19th Oct 1963


But that's what was so interesting this morning.... Once these divine egos have abdicated, and to the extent of that abdication, it will mean an EXTRAORDINARY transformation in the creation. It was like a vision taking shape slowly (Mother closes her eyes), almost with pictures, as if I saw the whole earth (gesture of a ball) and the picture of Durga (gesture enveloping the earth)! and the two together, it was quite lovely. The earth in her arms ...

(silence, with eyes closed)

And in those visions (let's take this one, for instance), Durga has a visible, defined form, while this body [Mother's] isn't there because this body belongs here, down to earth; so it's a radiating center of white light that can take a form (but doesn't have one), a radiance of light, a vibration of light, of consciousness - of conscious light. And that's very interesting .... (Mother keeps her eyes closed) It was as if to see how this - this consciousness, this light - can manifest in precise forms on earth without losing something of the purity and radiance of the consciousness....
page 338 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 11th Oct - 1967


(This is the season of "pujas," the time of rituals to the

Universal Mother.)

Do you want some silence?
Yes, Mother, if you like.... I'm tempted to ask you if Durga won a victory this year?
We shouldn't talk about it. I think it was a REAL victory.

(Mother plunges in till the end.
Then Sujata draws near her)

Did I give you the [blessing] packets yesterday?
Of "Victory," yes.
(To Satprem:) Did he get the Victory?
(Satprem:) Yes, Mother, I hope so! [laughter]
(Sujata:) Which victory, Mother?
Which victory? But there is only one, my child.
Which is?
Which is THE Victory ... we can call it what we like: the Victory of Truth over Falsehood, the Victory of the Lord over his creation.
Which means the creation will now go consciously towards the Divine?
Ohh!
Eh, Mother? No? Not yet? ... Not quite yet?
Well, that Victory is still only for a few. The creation consciously going towards its divine Origin and ready to manifest that Origin is still only for a few. I think it will take centuries until it becomes general - oh, centuries, maybe millenniums!
page 297-98 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 18th Oct - 1972-1973




-131_earth quake in Konya.html



Did you feel the earthquake?... It was in the morning of the day before yesterday, at 4:30. I didn't feel anything. But some people felt it and told me. Over there it was quite bad. [[In the Indian state of Maharashtra. ]]
My mother reached Bombay on that day and felt it. All the dogs were howling; for three seconds houses were shaken.
A small town has completely disappeared. [[The village of Konya. ]] But it's strange.... I wasn't asleep but was outside my body, so I didn't notice anything. It didn't wake up my body.
But it must have been very weak here. I was awake but didn'tfeel anything.

Is there something behind this earthquake?
I don't know what it is.... I don't really know what it is, but the day before, in the evening (I forget what I was doing, I was busy), there was suddenly ... Often there are small vital entities, I think, or vital forces (but to me those things are without force or power), and a small vital entity showed me the memory of an earthquake: about 1922 or '23, we had an earthquake; I had gone out with Pavitra, we stood talking (we were on our way out, it was in the afternoon), when suddenly, hop! up we jumped into the air, the two of us.[[ This was probably in 1934 (when an earthquake devastated the state of Bihar), for Pavitra came to Pondicherry only at the end of 1925. ]] We knew what it was because we had got used to it in Japan. I said, "Oh, an earthquake." It didn't last - a few seconds and it was over. I had completely forgotten it, and it was as if one of those beings came to bring the memory back, with at the same time, "And what if there were another one?" "Oh," I said, "what nonsense!" Just the evening before. Then I wondered, "What? Are these earthquakes set up by beings of this sort?..." I don't understand. With rain, I know: there are conscious beings, quite small, that is, limited to a single function, and you can negotiate with them if you want there to be rain or not (they move about, you understand). But as for earthquakes ... I don't know, it seems to me a considerable result for entities that appear to be doing it just for fun.... Strange.
page 411-12 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 13th Dec - 1967




-132_earth.html



In the universe there is an inexhaustible source of energy that asks only to be replenished; if you know how to go about it, it is replenished. Instead of draining life and the energies of our earth and making of it something parched and inert, we must know the practical exercise for replenishing the energy constantly. And these are not just words; I know how it's to be done, and science is in the process of thoroughly finding out - it has found out most admirably. But instead of using it to satisfy human passions, instead of using what science has found so that men may destroy each other more effectively than they are presently doing, it must be used to enrich the earth: to enrich the earth, to make the earth richer and richer, more active, generous, productive and to make all life grow towards its maximum efficiency. This is the true use of money. And if it's not used like that, it's a vice - a 'short circuit' and a vice.

But how many people know how to use it in this way? Very few, which is why they have to be taught. What I call 'teach' is to show, to give the example. We want to be the example of true living in the world. It's a challenge I am placing before the whole financial world: I am telling them that they are in the process of withering and ruining the earth with their idiotic system; and with even less than they are now spending for useless things - merely for inflating something that has no inherent life, that should be only an instrument at the service of life, that has no reality in itself, that is only a means and not an end (they make an end of something that is only a means) - well then, instead of making of it an end, they should make it the means. With what they have at their disposal they could ... oh, transform the earth so quickly! Transform it, put it into contact, truly into contact, with the supramental forces that would make life bountiful and, indeed, constantly renewed - instead of becoming withered, stagnant, shrivelled up: a future moon. A dead moon. We are told that in a few millions or billions of years, the earth will become some kind of moon. The movement should be the opposite: the earth should become more and more a resplendent sun, but a sun of life. Not a sun that burns, but a sun that illumines - a radiant glory. page 205 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Oct. - 1958

But as it's all-powerful, a certain receptivity must be prepared on earth so its effects are not devastating. Sri Aurobindo has explained it in one of his letters. Someone asked him, 'Why doesn't this Love come now?', and he replied something like this: If divine Love in its essence were to manifest on earth, it would be like an explosion; for the earth is not supple enough or receptive enough to widen to the measure of this Love. The earth must not only open itself but become wide and supple. Matter - not just physical Matter, but the substance of the physical consciousness as well - is still much too rigid.
page 21 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 10th Jan. 1961

The recollection of those times is stored somewhere in the terrestrial memory, that region where all the earth's memories are inscribed. Those who contact this memory can tell you that the earthly paradise still exists somewhere. [[ This is the origin of such legends as Shangri-la. But 'psychics' most often confuse two planes of reality, attributing to their SUBTLE vision a physical reality which it does not have or no longer has: they have merely entered into contact with the memory of a place - for places, like beings, have a memory. ]] But it doesn't exist materially.... I don't know, I don't see it.

page 123 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th March - 1961


Yes. The earth is a representative and symbolic world, a kind of crystallization and concentration of the evolutionary labor giving it a ... more concrete reality. It has to be taken like this: the history of the earth is a symbolic history. And it is on earth that this Descent takes place (it's not the history of the universal but of the terrestrial creation); the Descent occurs in the individual TERRESTRIAL being, in the individual terrestrial atmosphere.

page 281 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 28th July - 1961


Especially for those who think they're so superior.

But it really does correspond to something very deep.

This is exactly the experience I have been going through these past few days; since the day before yesterday it seems to have reached its peak, and this morning it developed into a comprehensive vision, an earth-encompassing vision.

It's almost like a reversal of attitude.

Actually, people have always taken themselves for victims hounded by adverse forces - the courageous fight back, the rest lament. But increasingly there has been a very concrete vision of the role the adverse forces play in the creation, of their almost absolute necessity as goads to make the creation progress and become its Origin again. And there was such a clear vision that one should accomplish one's own transformation - that's what we must pray for, what we must work out - rather than demand the conversion or abolition of the adverse forces.

And this is all from the terrestrial, not the individual standpoint (for the individual standpoint, it's quite clear): I am speaking from the terrestrial standpoint.

And there was the sudden vision of all the error, all the incomprehension, all the ignorance, all the darkness and - even worse - all the ill will in the earth's consciousness, which felt responsible for the prolongation of those adverse forces and beings and offered them up in a great ... it was more than an aspiration, it was a sort of holocaust, so that the adverse forces might disappear, might no longer have any reason to exist, no longer need to be there to point out all that has to change.

The adverse forces were necessitated by all these negations of the divine life. And this movement of earth consciousness towards the Supreme, the offering of all these things with such extraordinary intensity, was a kind of reparation so that those adverse forces might disappear.

The experience was very intense. It crystallized around a small nucleus of experiences too personal to mention (because I wasn't the only one involved), which translated into this: "Take all my wrongdoings, take them all, accept them, obliterate them, and may those forces disappear."

That's essentially what this aphorism says, seen from the other end. So long as a single human consciousness carries the possibility of feeling, acting, thinking or being in opposition to the great divine Becoming, it is impossible to blame anyone else for it; it is impossible to blame the adverse forces, which are kept in the creation as a means of making you see and feel how far you still have to go.


It was like a memory,[[ Questioned about the meaning of these words, Mother said, "The state I was in was like a memory." ]] an eternally present memory of that consciousness of supreme Love emanated by the Lord onto earth - INTO earth - to draw it back again to Him. And truly it was the descent of the very essence of the divine nature into the most total divine negation, and thus the abandonment of the divine condition to take on terrestrial darkness, so as to bring Earth back to the divine state. And unless That, that supreme Love, becomes all-powerfully conscious here on Earth, the return can never be definitive.

It came after the vision of the great divine Becoming.[[ See conversation of January 12, 1962. ]] "Since this world is progressive," I was wondering, "since it is increasingly becoming the Divine, won't there always be this deeply painful sense of the nondivine, of the state that, compared with the one to come, is not divine? Won't there always be what we call 'adverse forces,' in other words, things that don't harmoniously follow the movement?" Then came the answer, the vision of That: "No, the moment of this very Possibility is drawing near, the moment for the manifestation of the essence of perfect Love, which can transform this unconsciousness, this ignorance and this ill will that goes with it into a luminous and joyous progression, wholly progressive, wholly comprehensive, thirsting for perfection."

It was very concrete.

And it corresponds to a state where you are so PERFECTLY identified with all that is, that you concretely become all that is antidivine - and so you can offer it up. It can be offered up and really transformed through this offering.

This sort of will in people for purity, for Good (which in ordinary mentality is expressed by a need to be virtuous) is actually the GREAT OBSTACLE to true self-giving. It's the root of Falsehood, the very source of hypocrisy: the refusal to take up one's share of the burden of difficulties. And that's what Sri Aurobindo has touched on in this aphorism, directly and very simply.


Do not try to be virtuous. See to what extent you are united, ONE with all that is antidivine. Take up your share of the burden; accept to be impure and false yourself, and in so doing you will be able to take up the Shadow and offer it. And insofar as you are able to take it and offer it, things will change. [[When Satprem published extracts from this conversation in the Ashram Bulletin of April 1962, Mother had this passage modified (over his protests). Instead of "Do not try to be virtuous," she put "Do not try to seem virtuous"; and she added: "There's a drawback here. People never understand anything, or rather they understand everything in their own way. They would take this sentence as an encouragement to get into mischief, to misbehave, to entertain wrong feelings, and then proclaim, 'We are the Lord's favorites!' ... There was something like it in one of Sri Aurobindo's letters, you remember - a letter to people who wanted to bring all the impurities in themselves out to the surface; he told them that was definitely not the way! " (See Sri Aurobindo's two letters on psychoanalysis in the Addendum.) ]]

Don't try to be among the pure. Accept to be with those who are in darkness and, in total love, offer it all.

(silence)

From the moment this was seen and DONE, the full power came back - the great creative Power.

(silence)

Most likely the experience could take place only because the time had come for all this to be offered up.

The point is not to perpetuate those things, but to offer them up.

Because the time has come to manifest this Power, which is a power of Love - of LOVE, not merely of identity - of Love, of perfect Love; for perfect Love alone can offer.

It happened this morning, with great simplicity, but at the same time it had something so vast and almighty in it, as if the Universal Mother were turning towards the Lord and saying, "At last! We are ready."

That was my experience this morning.

Do you mean to say there's been a progress on Earth?

Yes, on Earth; it's the Earth's history that's in question.

page 47-48 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 21st Jan. - 1962



Perhaps there once was a jiva.... I don't know, I don't remember; all I remember now is ... ultimately, an evolving universe, with a special concentration on the affairs of the earth, because the Lord has decided that the time has come to ... to change something. That's all. To change something.

page 313 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 14th Aug 1962.


I think that as the Supramental descends, the subtle physical will have a greater and greater action on earth, because it is the world where the new creation will be formed before it "descends," before it becomes absolutely visible and concrete.

page 35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 18th Jan 1963


Sri Aurobindo told me that there are three difficulties, and they are the three things that have to be conquered for the earth to be ready (this is from the purely outward point of view, I am not speaking of psychological factors): government, money, health. Of the three, health is the most directly connected to the inner transformation, but not completely so because it constantly depends on what comes in from outside: influences, vibrations - the contagion from the outside. You have to eat: everything you receive along with food - it's fantastic! There's so much that eating represents a considerable work - the physical digestion is nothing, but the work of assimilation and adaptation of all the rest is considerable. Consequently, of the three, health is the most directly under the influence of the inner progress, but, as I said, not completely so. Therefore, that too has to be conquered. As for money, when Sri Aurobindo was here there was no problem: all that we needed came. Yet the last two years were beginning to be more difficult and he kept saying, I think I already told you, that it resulted from the wrong attitude of the people around; that this wrong attitude represented a considerable problem - it has gone from bad to worse, it has become quite acute. As for government, it has followed an opposite curve: in the beginning, it was frightfully hostile, I mean, simply to be able to stay here we had to struggle every minute. And Sri Aurobindo told me that probably both health and money would give way at once; maybe health first and money afterwards, but not with a big difference. And he added, "As for the government, there is but one solution, only one: it is to BE the government." If you are not the government, you will never be able to conquer it, except when the earth is transformed - but then there won't be any work left! This is the situation. Things have been like this for ... forty, fifty years - more than forty years. page 355 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 19th Oct 1963



There is always this inner will to ... (gesture of pressure to establish peace). As if it were, I can't say a last conflict, but it's becoming ... it's becoming immediate. It's like a conflict between the forces that want to destroy the earth and the terrestrial transformation. if those forces can be checked, can be mastered or rendered powerless, then the earth's progress and transformation will go on soaring up - magnificent! But now ... monsters seem to be coming up from every side to prevent that.
page 146 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969



But do we know how long the earth has existed?
Yes Mother, it's been calculated.
Ah?
Yes, it was calculated: I don't know exactly how many billionsof years - but it's billions of years. [[Four and a half billion years, according to the current estimate. ]] And they have also calculat ed the end!
Ah! And?
I think it's still quite far ahead But it appears the end of theearth is scientifically inevitable - because of progressive cooling and changes in the gravitational field. [[It is said that in five billion years the sun will become a "red giant" and burn its planets. The cooling period would come much later. ]]
Theon used to say that up to now there had been ... that this was the seventh creation; there had been six creations before which were "reabsorbed" - just as you said. And this one was the seventh, but it wouldn't be reabsorbed, it would transform itself. There we are. Instead of that destruction by the sun which so far has ultimately led to the disappearance of the creation, this time the creation would go on transforming itself, to become again the Supreme and manifest Him.
Theon and Sri Aurobindo didn't know each other, you see, they never met each other, they didn't even know of each other's existence. Yet Theon proclaimed... (I don't remember what he called the new world) what Sri Aurobindo calls the "Supramental." What's remarkable - interesting, you know, strikingly interesting - is that without knowing each other, with totally different approaches, they reached the same conclusion. And we are precisely at the time when ... the other creations had come to an end; but instead of coming to an end, this one will be transformed. How? I have no idea. The interesting thing in man is that materially speaking, he is ... a mere nothing, a second lost in eternity - a tangled web of weaknesses - but in terms of consciousness, he has the capacity to understand. His consciousness is capable of contacting the supreme Consciousness. So naturally there are all those who wanted to merge back into that Consciousness, but Sri Aurobindo said: the point is not to merge back into it but to make the world capable of manifesting that supreme Consciousness. That's ultimately the whole point. How did they arrive at the same conclusion? ... There must have been a reason for them to know the same thing at the same time, in totally different countries and without ever knowing about each other. And I met one and the other. Greatly interesting, obviously. Greatly interesting, because this physical being [Mother's] was not born in an important position, quite the contrary (gesture indicating an ordinary background).... The only thing I remember well is when I was a little girl (five or six years old, I can't say exactly), a very little girl, seated in a little armchair made especially for me, and I would feel a GREAT Force (Mother raises a finger above her head) above my head. And already at that age Oust the way a child can think, you know) I knew "that" was sure to accomplish great things.... I didn't understand anything, I didn't know anything.

(silence)

And now it's transformation instead of pralaya. [[The destruction or end of a world (apocalypse). ]]
page 265-66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 9th Aug - 1972-1973




-136_Essays on the Gita.html


At times I sense there's an extraordinary secret to discover, just there at my finger tips; I feel that I am going to catch the Thing, to know ... Sometimes, for a second, I see the Secret; there is an opening, and again it closes. Then once again it is unveiled for a second and I come to know a little more. Yesterday the Secret was there completely clear, wide open. But it's not something that can be explained: words are silly, it must be experienced. Sri Aurobindo speaks of this Secret almost everywhere, especially in his Essays on the Gita. He tells us that in the Gita itself one gets glimpses of this thing which is beyond the Impersonal, beyond even the Personal behind the Impersonal, beyond the Transcendent. Well, I saw this Secret - I saw that the Supreme only becomes perfect in terrestrial matter, on earth. 'Becomes' is just a way of speaking, of course, for everything already is, and the Supreme is what He is. But we live in time, in a successive unfoldment, and it would be absurd to say that at present Matter is the expression of a perfect Divine. I saw this Secret (which is getting more and more perceptible as the Supramental becomes clear), I saw it in the everyday, outer life, precisely in this very physical life which all spirituality rejects ... a kind of accuracy or exactitude right down to the atom. I am not saying that the 'Divine' becomes perfect in Matter - the Divine is already there - but that THE SUPREME becomes perfect in Matter.

page 366 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 6th May 1960

What have you reread?
'Essays on the Gita.'
Oh, what a treasure that is - a gold mine!
page 93 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th Feb 1961

Here is something important. Sri Aurobindo says that everything is involved down here - the mind, the vital, the supermind - and that what is involved evolves. But if everything is involved, including the supermind, what is the need for a 'descent'? Can't things evolve by themselves?
Ah! He has explained this somewhere.
But I don't remember seeing anything that satisfied me.
Isn't it in the Essays on the Gita ? He explains what Krishna says and how the two [descent and evolution] are combined. I read it not long ago because I was interested in this very question. And I even said something myself about the difference between what evolves (what emerges from this involution) and the Response from what already exists above in all its glory. We'll have to find this passage. There are two lines in the ancient traditions, two ways of explaining this. One says it is by the 'descent' of what already exists in all its perfection that what is involved can be awakened to consciousness and evolution. It's like the old story: when what Sri Aurobindo calls the universal Mother or the Shakti (or Sachchidananda [[Sachchidananda is the Supreme Consciousness in its triple aspect of Existence (Sat), Consciousness (Chit) and Bliss (Ananda). ]] ) realized what had happened in Matter (that is, in what had created Matter) and that this involution had led to a state of Inconscience, total unconsciousness, the ancient lore says that at once the divine Love descended straight from the Lord into Matter and began to awaken what was involved there.
page 277 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 28th July - 1961


One thing struck me: you say that the Gita as Sri Aurobindo explained it is not overmental but supramental....
Sri Aurobindo said that what he came to bring was already indicated in the Gita. page 367 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th Oct. 1962




-138_experience of Divine - 1903.html


(Concerning an old 'Question and Answer' of July 4, 1956 at

the Playground in which Mother speaks of her first realization

of the Divine, in Paris)

Just as the shooting star flashed past, there sprang from my consciousness: 'To realize the divine union, for my body!' And before twelve months were out, it was done. I remember, it was at the door of our studio' in Paris. I can still see it. That's how I always remember - the picture simply comes to me.
1. Rue Lemercier. page 436 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 11th Oct. 1960 .



-139_A Federation of Nations.html



Soon afterwards Did your mother intend to come by plane?
By sea.
Mon petit, ships can no longer sail past Port Said: the Suez Canal is closed.
What's going to happen?
(After a long silence) We are just like this (gesture hanging in balance between two chasms). Yesterday, I would have answered very strongly.... Let me tell you what happened. We had here an American, a very nice boy who, before he came here, was a paratroop instructor in Israel's army. I don't think he is an Israeli, I think he's American; I am sure his nationality is American, I saw his passport. But he was a paratroop instructor in Israel's army. When those two started quarreling, he wrote me a letter in which he explained that, and also paid great compliments to the Israeli nation, saying they had achieved a really remarkable sense of brotherhood and cooperation. That was his impression of the country. And he said that if war broke out, he would like to go back there to help them as much as he could. So as soon as they started bombing each other, he decided to go. He left yesterday evening. And I saw him in the afternoon, before he left.
He is a sincere man. While he was here, Sri Aurobindo ... (how can I explain?), the impression is that Sri Aurobindo "concretizes" (he is always here, but at certain times he seems to concretize, as though ... [Mother makes a gesture of gathering or condensing]. That's really the impression: he concretizes and starts speaking). So then, first Sri Aurobindo said to him (but there was a whole WORLD in it), "My blessings are with you." The man was very touched (I didn't tell him it was Sri Aurobindo; I spoke, you understand, it was my mouth that spoke then, but it was Sri Aurobindo who spoke). Then I concentrated, and Sri Aurobindo said with great force: "All the countries live in falsehood. If only one country stood courageously for truth, the world might be saved."

(silence)

Towards the end of the day, when I was alone, I began asking Sri Aurobindo precisely what he meant.... Naturally, his hope is that the country that stood for Truth would be India - for the moment, she is very far from it. But ... And since the subject was before me, I asked him how he saw the terrestrial possibility in a harmonious future. Then he said to me - it was very simple, very clear: "A federation of all nations and countries without exception, all continents. A single federation: the federation of all human nations of the earth." And a group - a governing group - consisting of one representative from each country, the most able man from the standpoint of political and economic organization. And nothing of the proportional question that would give large countries many representatives and small ones only one - one representative for every country. Because every country represents one aspect of the problem. And they would sit in rotation. It was a vast vision, not so much with words as with a vision.
You see, every national entity has a right to free and independent existence, provided it doesn't interfere in the free and independent existence of all other entities. Ambitions, territorial expansions - of course, all colonies and all of that - must be swept out of the picture. To defend themselves, the Egyptians say that the Israelis had publicly declared that Israel's border should be the Nile - I don't know if that's true. I don't know if it's true because everybody tells lies. On their part, the Egyptians publicly declared three years ago (it was a public declaration), they publicly declared that the Israeli nation had no right to exist and had to disappear.


page 172-74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967




-140_Fayard publishers.html

-141_feet.html



The feet are the symbol of physical life, and according to what I saw once (your dream seems related to that), EACH part of his body represented someone - or rather represented his, Sri Aurobindo's, MODE of expression in someone. [[Mother said several times that she "was" Sri Aurobindo's feet (see in particular Agenda VI, March 10, 1965). ]]

One night I saw him like that, I told you. But it was extremely complex; I only noted two or three important things, but there didn't seem to be even one small part of his body that wasn't represented by someone.... So if we take the symbol of the feet to be the physical ... Not only the feet, but all the toes, did you say?


page 205-06 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 5th July - 1967




-142_film show.html



There's a letter from T.F. complaining about the films shown [at the Ashram] and saying that films should be instructive and show admirable things.... But for a film to show admirable things, people should live those admirable things, no?! She even wrote to me that they were a whole group of teachers who intended to write and circulate a letter asking for a change - I don't like all that. It's a small-town boarding-school spirit. So yesterday evening, I wrote an answer.

(Mother reads)

"We would like to be able to show the children pictorial representations of what life should be, but we still have not reached that stage, very far from it. Those films are yet to be made. And for the moment, films more often than not show what life should not be, and do so strikingly enough to give you a disgust for it.
"That too is useful as a preparation.
"Films are allowed in the Ashram not as entertainment but as part of education. The problem is therefore that of education.
"If we consider that a child must only learn, know and be aware of what can keep him pure of all lower, crude, violent and degrading movements, then we should eliminate at one stroke the entire contact with the rest of mankind, beginning with all those accounts of wars, murders, conflicts and deceits that are called History; we should eliminate the present contact with family, parents and friends; and we should constantly control the child's contact with all the vital impulses of his own being.
"This idea is what led to monastic life shut in a convent, or to ascetic life in the cave or the forest.
"This remedy has proved to be totally ineffective and has not pulled mankind out of its quagmire.
"According to Sri Aurobindo, the remedy is altogether different.
"We must face integral life with all that it still entails in terms of ugliness, falsehood and cruelty, but while taking care to discover in ourselves the source of all goodness, all beauty, all light and all truth, in order to consciously put that source in contact with the world so it may transform it.

"That is infinitely more difficult than fleeing or closing one's eyes so as not to see - but it is the only really effective way, the way of those who are truly strong and pure and capable of manifesting the Truth.
"You can show this letter to those who share your indignation." They need to be shaken a little, oh, they're goody-goody! And that's not all. It seems I am giving "classes" to the two of you [Sujata and Satprem]....
Classes!
And she asks me if it's possible to take part in these "classes"! ... Oh, what an idea! Can you see me giving you a class! Oh, it's dreadful! ... Dreadful. She asks me to admit "a certain number of teachers" to this class, because it would do them good, including to her. I am going to tell her, "I can't admit you for the simple reason that there are no classes!..." Already last year, R. had asked me, and I had told her, "But it's not like that at all! I may talk or may not, but it's never a class! Now and then I say something, and then ..." What an idea! ... The guru turned into a super-teacher! As it is, the idea of the guru makes me shudder, but a super-teacher guru, oh, how horrible! The amount of nonsense they must speak among themselves - frightful.
page 148-50 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 29th May - 1968





-143_fish.html



Generally, fish in the sea mean Multitude.[[. In a personal context such as this dream, fish, according to Sri Aurobindo, symbolize the "vital mind" in constant movement, making all sorts of formations. ]] But there must be many meanings; I have told you that Buddhism often uses the image of fish as a symbol. Symbolisms, mon petit, there are hundreds and hundreds of them. And people always oppose them, but ultimately they are just different ways of seeing one and the same thing. According to my experience, everyone has his own symbolism. page 124 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 14th June - 1965




-145_flowers.html


Here, I have brought you two flowers. They have two different yet very typically Indian fragrances: this one is Straightforwardness, [[Ixora arborea (Torch Tree). ]] and this is SIMPLICITY. [[Hymenantherum, a tiny yellow flower like a miniature daisy. ]] I have always found that this one (Mother holds out the Simplicity) has a cleansing fragrance: when you breathe it, ah, everything becomes clean - it's wonderful! (Mother breathes in the flower's fragrance.) Once I cured myself of the onset of a cold with it - this can be done when you catch it at the very beginning. It fills you completely, the nose, the throat.... And this [Straightforwardness] is right at the other end of the spectrum. I find it very, very powerful - strange, isn't it?
It's not at all sweet-smelling.
Oh, no! It's quite strong. It's largely the fragrances that have made me give flowers their significance.... I find these studies quite interesting; it corresponds to something really TRUE in Nature. Once, without telling me anything, someone brought me a sprig of tulsi. [[Ocimum sanctum (Basil). ]] I smelled it and said, 'Oh, Devotion!' It was absolutely a ... a vibration of devotion. Afterwards, I was told it's the plant of devotion to Krishna, consecrated to Krishna. Another time, I was brought one of those big flowers (which are not really flowers) somewhat resembling corn, with long, very strongly scented stalks . [[Pandanus tectorius (Keora or Screw Pine). Subsequently, Mother named this flower 'Spiritual Perfume.' ]] I smelled it and said, 'Ascetic Purity!' Just like that, from the odor alone. I was later told it was Shiva's flower when he was doing his tapasya. [[Tapasya: ascetic or yogic discipline. ]] These people have an age-old knowledge - the ancient Vedic knowledge which they have preserved. In other words, it is something CONCRETELY TRUE: it doesn't depend at all on the mind, on thought or even on feelings - it's a vibration.
Yes, this flower is Shiva, doing his tapasya. And interestingly enough, its smell is fantastically attractive to snakes; it makes them come from far away to nest in the shrubs. And as you know, the serpent is the power of evolution, it is Shiva's own creature; he always puts them on his head and around his neck because they symbolize the power of evolution and transformation. And snakes like this flower; it often grows near rivers, and wherever there is a cluster of the plants you are sure to discover snake nests. I find this very interesting, for WE didn't decide it should be like this: these are conscious vibrations in Nature. The fragrance, the color, the shape, are simply the spontaneous expressions of a true movement.
page 61-62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb - 1961

This one is the Constant Remembrance of the Divine. [[Lonicera japonica (Japanese Honeysuckle). ]] This is Life Energy [[Chrysanthemum, yellow. ]] and Purified Life Energy. [[Chrysanthemum, white. ]] Then Faithfulness [[Quisqualis indica. ]] : the peace of Faithfulness - Faithfulness to the Divine, of course, that's understood! This is Divine Solicitude [[Malvaviscus arboreus. ]] ;this is the Aspiration for Transformation, [[Millingtonia hortensis (Indian Cork Tree). ]] and the response: see how beautiful it is - like velvet! it's the Promise of Realization. [[Tropaeolum majus (Nasturtium). ]] Here is Light Without Obscurity, [[Eucharis grandiflora (Amazon Lily). ]] and finally Realization [[Delonix regia (Gul Mohur Tree). ]] - the first flower from the tree at Nanteuil. [[One of the Ashram houses. ]] There you are. You can easily make a speech using flowers and I have noticed that this can effectively replace the old Vedic images, for instance, which no longer hold meaning for us, or the ambiguous phraseology of the ancient initiations. Flower language is much better because it contains the Force and is extremely plastic - since it's not formulated in words, each one is free to arrange and receive it according to his own capacity. You can make long speeches using flowers! page 95 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 18th Feb. - 1961



I have a lovely rose for you. Do you know what it is?
No, Mother.
I thought as much!
What is it?
It's true tenderness: that of the Divine. People don't know, they always think of something very human. But it's not human ... (Mother closes her eyes and remains standing in concentration) It's extremely luminous, rose-colored, slightly golden ... always smiling.... It's a very particular sensation. (After a long silence) Everything is like a beautiful pink rose - a beautiful rose. It's better than that, much better .
page 268 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 19th Nov. - 1966


Mother gives Satprem a red rose: The red rose is the order of the "knights of the Truth." Don't you know this?... I began placing it when Colonel Répiton came here, the one who made the Africa march during the war. Every morning I would give him a red rose, and with him I instituted it. Since then, when I give any man a rose (I give them a red rose), it's so he becomes a knight of the Truth. But I don't tell him.
page 307 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 31st Dec - 1966


(As she comes into her room, Mother stops in front of a tray of

flowers that has just been brought and takes in her hand a

strange new variety of hibiscus, gray-mauve with

a bright red pistil.)

Oh, this is really my joy!
What's this flower? ... (Mother takes the hibiscus) It has a strange color.
Yes, I've never seen it.
It's strange, with this red dot here.
Very strange.
It gives me a strange sensation.... How can I explain it? Oddly, it's something between deceit and perversion, yet it's divine! How do you like that!
You mean there's something false in the flower's appearance?
No, it's not the outside: it's inside.
Inside the flower?
It's inside, it's ... What could we call it?... (Mother laughs) "The divine principle of duplicity."
Not very reassuring, this flower.
Yes, that's right. We might say, "The charm of deceitful beauty."
Yes, it's something like that!
We have much to learn from life.... Flowers know much better than we do. It's spontaneous, not thought out, not willed: it's divine vibrations that express themselves spontaneously. And this is ... There's the English word alluring. Well, we could call it "the all-powerful divine Charm of a ... perfidious beauty." Naturally, that's on the vital-physical plane. It's not up above, but there [on the vital-physical plane].
page 21 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 14th Jan - 1967


The roses are open now (Mother holds out a rose to Satprem), but this one has a magnificent color. Beautiful, isn't it? This morning I had an amusing experience with roses. There was a closed bud - big, hard - big and hard, red. I took it, looked at it, then my fingers ran over the flower like that, and ... (gesture showing the flower opening up), one petal after another and another and yet another - before my very eyes. And it was completely hard and closed. I took it and said, "A pity." I was about to put it back in water so it would open up, and while I looked ... It was such a pretty sight, you know, opening up, happy, as if saying to me, "Oh, how happy I am!" Flowers and I are on very friendly terms, I must say. Once in the past, I took flowers that had wilted - wilted flowers (that was when I was practicing occultism with Théon - it happened several times). One flower was quite drooping: I took it in my hand, looked at it, and slowly, little by little, it straightened up again and became quite smiling! They are very, very receptive.
page 77 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 15th March - 1967


Mother gives Satprem a pink lotus bud A few days ago, in the afternoon, I gave Z a lotus like this one, hardly more open. Then she kept it in her hand and slept with it the whole night. The next morning, she put it in water, and ... it opened! After a whole night in her hand. It's good-natured! Flowers are very receptive to people's vitality - to the QUALITY of the vitality. With some people, when they hold a flower it withers instantly; with others, it opens. I myself saw several times Sri Aurobindo take a half-withered flower in his hand, and it became quite fresh again - it was quite happy! And I knew a woman in Paris, who claimed to be a disciple [of Mother's], she would always bring me flowers when she came to see me, and always, without a single exception, the flowers had withered. She would arrive and tell me, "But they were quite fresh when I bought them!" (Mother laughs) And they were absolutely finished. So in the end I told her, "It's because you take all their life into yourself!" She had taken away their life.
page 122 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 29th April - 1967


(Sujata gives Mother a flower called "New Birth.")

(To Satprem) Tell me, what's a new birth?
Being radically different.
(After a silence) Becoming new every moment.
page 331 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 11th Oct - 1967


Look! It grows in the desert, without water, and it doesn't die.
Oh, how pretty!
You know, it looks like edelweiss which grows in the ice. And this is in the desert. It's like velvet. It's not fragrant, but it doesn't die. It's a flower without water. Someone has sent it to me. I find it very interesting. There are marvels in Nature. And see this small red dot....
(Sujata:) Yes, Mother, it's like a small flower of immortality.
I'll give you one, but you must keep it carefully....
(Satprem:) Basically, it's the water of life that makes things rot.
Yes, it's water. Edelweiss doesn't die, one which I had was intact after ten years. When things are dehydrated, they no longer die.
Wait, I'll show you two something (laughing), because you are really very nice.... See this (Mother shows a big red rose of a particular type), it's Sri Aurobindo. Wherever people grow this rose on earth, it's Sri Aurobindo. It grows as big as this.

(Sujata holds out to Mother

a variety of white hibiscus)

When the light is on (I have a light in a tube, a fluorescent tube), they don't wither. When you put those flowers under the light, they stay put, I even saw some that were half closed open. They like that light. In the afternoon I put some in a bowl with water (when they are still nearly closed), I put one or two there, under the light - and they open! They have a sensitiveness unknown to us. Sometimes in the morning, I have a closed rose bud, then I take it out of the water like this (gesture of stroking the flower all around), without touching it ... and it opens! And people say it's not conscious!

page 353 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Oct - 1967


Something very amusing has happened to me with flowers. I had arranged roses; I had selected roses to give people, and when they came, I took a rose I had kept aside. But it had opened too much, it didn't look so nice anymore, so I looked, I thought, "Is it nice enough to be given?" I was holding it loosely, like that.... Mon petit, under my very eyes it turned around and stuck its thorn into my finger! I've had other examples of consciousness in flowers, but this one was remarkable. When I take them and tell them that they're pretty and sweet, they open out - that often happens; but this one turned around (of course I wasn't holding it tight), it turned around and stuck its thorn into my finger! I had another example, a very amusing one. You know that I keep hibiscus flowers there, under the lamp; I had kept two flowers, "Supramental Consciousness," and another, pale pink, "Supramental Beauty," there, under the lamp. Then someone sent me a "Power," a hibiscus this big, all white, with a dark red center - a marvel! Big as this. I put it there; the other flower ... (it was lasting very well, it had lasted the whole morning), it instantly dropped down, furious - it didn't "drop," it threw itself to the ground, like that! I've noticed that: jealousy among flowers. Some roses, if you put other flowers with them, wither instantly. But it's the first time I've seen anger. And the best part of the story is that I kept the rose and gave it away! (Laughing) It got what it wanted! There is someone to whom I send flowers and who sends me flowers every day, someone who does the yoga in earnest. He wrote to me (he sends me some of these golden hibiscuses, "Supramental Beauty"), he wrote to me that he told one of these flowers, "You are going to see Mother," and the flower smiled. It opened out, it was happy, and it smiled. "It smiled at me," he said. I don't know if it's our perception that progresses, or if really, as Sri Aurobindo said, "When the supramental Force comes on the earth, there will be a response EVERYWHERE." It seems to me to be that, because these flowers are so, so vibrant, full of life. In the morning I always arrange them (it's a work that takes me at least three quarters of an hour, there are more than a hundred flowers in different vases that I have to arrange, and to each person I give a special sort of flower - I arrange all that), and in the vases, some flowers say, "Me!" And indeed they are just what I need. They call out to me to say, "Me!" ... But that's not new, because when I was in Japan, I had a large garden and I had cultivated part of it to grow vegetables; in the morning I would go down to the garden to get the vegetables to be eaten that day, and some of them here, there, there (scattered gesture) would say, "Me! Me! Me!" Like that. So I would go and pick them. They literally called me, they called me.
That's a long time ago, nineteen hundred and ... when was it? It was in 1916-17, so that's ... forty years ago.
Fifty.
(Mother laughs) Fifty years ago!
page 48-49 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 7th Feb - 1968


Mother holds out a flower to Satprem This is "Happy Heart."[[Ravenalia spectabilis. ]] I am discovering the secret of it.
page 82 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 16th Mar - 1968


(Mother hands Satprem an unusual

"transformation"[[Indian Cork Tree. ]] flower.)

Nine petals.... That's the new creation -- it's the transformation for the new creation.
page 260 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 13th Oct - 1971





-146_flying saucer.html


/Have you heard the story of the flying saucer? /


Ah, yes! I have studied it also. However, I am waiting to have a physical experience. I indeed saw a flying saucer pass over Pondicherry during the war, I saw it clearly, with open eyes, and going fairly slowly, coming from the sea to the land. It was light blue and had a slightly rounded shape like this. I saw it passing by and said to myself, “Why, I have a vision!” I rubbed my eyes but my eyes were open, completely open… Suddenly I saw a form passing in the sky like this; I told myself, “How strange it is!” but as no one had spoken about it till then, I thought that I had a vision. I see many things which people ordinarily don't see; but when people started speaking about this, then I said to myself, “Why, I have seen a flying saucer pass by.” But I think Udar also has seen a flying saucer.

(Udar) /Yes, Mother. /(/Laughter/)

That it exists is unquestionable. What is it? Each one has his opinion. But what I would like is to find myself face to face with the beings as they have been described. There is someone who has, supposedly… anyway, he said that he has spoken to a being who was in a flying saucer. Well, I would be very happy to meet a being like that. After that I shall tell you what it is - when I have met it.

The Mother , Questions and Answers, page 165, vol - 7, 18th may



-147_Education.html



Yesterday evening, I got a big file from Y. on "prenatal education".... She says that during the first months of its life, the child needs to touch its mother's skin, and that this (Mother shows the photo of a naked Negress carrying her naked child on her back) is the ideal way to carry children!? I read it yesterday, because she had so much spoken of this prenatal education, saying the child is fully educated by the age of three, so I wanted to know what she proposed. But there isn't a single thing in it, she doesn't say what should be done.
Just at the last page.
Yes, there is something there.

The child of the future

He has never met with a burst of impatience. He has never heard an angry voice. He has never seen anyone lamenting. He has never heard the word "me" or "mine." Nothing has ever pulled him out of oneness. No one has ever told him, "Come!" or violated his physical rights. No one has ever told him, "You must!" and violated his psychic rights. He has always been treated as a soul in evolution. The universe is his mother and the future his school. A child to whom you should never say, "Come".... That makes for awkward language if you can't tell him, "Come"!
No one ever tells him, "You must."
Ah, yes, that's fine. Where is she going to find parents to do that!
Yes, it's the parents who should be educated!
Yes, to begin with. Just in this last page there is a hint of what that education might be, but it's the negative side, what must not be. That's all. But the positive side isn't there. She had already spoken to me once about prenatal education, so I thought there must be some meaning to it, but here ... Of course, you know from experience that you can give the form you conceive of; in the broad lines, you can give the character you conceive of; all that is quite correct. So to begin with, it's the mother who should be educated, not the child. Then, through a very strict control of your own reactions, you can prevent certain wrong impulses from mixing into the child's construction. But all that isn't new, it's been known for a long time since it's what I practiced when I was expecting a child. So I know it. But once again, it's the mother who must be educated, before she has a child, that's what matters.
page 113-14 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 19th April - 1967




-148_food.html



Yesterday I sent you something (there wasn't much of it, just a taste): it's a bit of the pistachio puree they make for me. Concentrated food. [[Mother was already seeking the 'new food.' ]] It's funny - I have got it into my head to make you a gourmand! (Mother laughs) Good-bye, mon petit.

page 118 , Mother'a Agenda , volume 2 , 7th March - 1961



(Sujata:) Food, ever since childhood I haven't liked eating.
But mon petit, I have never been interested in food! I have never liked eating. When I was small, they had to think up all sorts of tricks to make me eat, to me it was the most absurd and least interesting thing. Well, I know the food of every country and have done a comparative study (!) of all cuisines, and I can be anywhere without it disturbing my body in the least. It's not out of taste for food, it's out of taste for ... (how can I put it?) the expansion of consciousness, the elimination of limits, and above all to prevent the slavery of habits - that's a horrible thing. To be the slave of one's habits is disgusting. Even when I was very small, that's how it was: no slavery. I was told, "But you must do this, because that's the habit," and I used to answer in a very little polite way, "Rubbish!"... To do things that way because the habit is to do them that way is no argument to me - free, free, free! The taste for freedom.
page 297-98 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 15th Nov - 1965



I find that all those meats they have given me to "build me up" make me heavy, especially with the hot days starting again. Couldn't I go back to vegetarian food?
It doesn't really have an action on the consciousness, I am absolutely certain of that. Meat can give the body a feeling of great solidity, but in my opinion, solidity is most important, most important - I don't believe in a spirituality that "etherealizes," that's the old falsehood of the past. No, the body's heaviness ... You must not only conceive but understand and accept that the purpose of this heaviness is to repair the body's internal damage, and the body must in fact change this heaviness into a sort of constant tranquillity so that order is restored everywhere. I don't believe that the impression of being "light" is a good impression. Because both the so-called lightness and the so-called heaviness have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the yoga and the Transformation. All those are human sensations. The truth is quite different from and quite independent of those things. The truth, of course, is the cells' conscious aspiration to the Supreme; it is the only thing that can actually transform the body; and it is very, very independent of the domain of sensations. On the contrary, it's good for the nerves to calm down, and I think that when the nerves strengthen, their first movement is to calm down, and that gives the impression of a heaviness, almost the impression of a tamas, but it's a sort of quiet stability, which is necessary. There. That's how I see it.
Basically, in order to cure the misdeeds of that physical mind, it's not bad to become ... we could say in jest, vegetarian in the sense of becoming a plant - the peaceful life of a plant, like that (gesture, stretched out in the sun). Yes, there is a kind of vegetative immobility which is excellent for overcoming the agitation - the frantic agitation - of that physical mind.... Oh, look, it's the sensation of a waterlily floating on water: those large leaves spreading out like that - a very quiet, still water, and a waterlily. The waterlily is the white flower opening up to the light, above those large, floating leaves.... Oh, how good it is to be carried. When the nerves have really calmed down because one has eaten well, one can go into a blissful contemplation - don't be occupied with anything, above all don't try to think: like this (gesture of floating, offered), invoking the Lord and his Harmony - a luminous harmony - and then lying like that at least half an hour, three quarters of an hour after the meal. It's very good, it's excellent. Don't fall asleep: blissful - nothing, being nothing. Nothing but a blissful tranquillity. That's the best remedy. I think that's easier after eating well! Try to be a waterlily.... A waterlily, that's pretty! Even watching animals is very pretty - they know far better than men how to rest. We could make a slogan: if you want to keep well, be a waterlily! (Mother laughs) ... I see the picture of a pond in the sun. In reality, I deserve some credit for asking people to eat well.... You know that I had difficulties: for two days, it was nearly impossible for me to eat - and I am so glad! But I always scold myself: it's a weakness - a moral weakness. I am in a very good position to say so, because I have the same difficulty as you with those questions of food, and that's very bad. It's not out of personal taste for food that I am preaching (!), but in order to react against the other tendency. Every time something comes and prevents me from eating, immediately, spontaneously, the body says, "Oh, thank you, Lord, I don't have to eat!" I catch myself and give myself a slap. page 64 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 27th March - 1965


We may conceive of a new light or force giving the cells a sort of spontaneous life, a spontaneous strength.
Yes, that's what I said: food can disappear. That's conceivable.
page 218 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 30th Sep - 1966


Regarding food ... What's necessary above all is to eat without hurrying: to eat very peacefully. That's indispensable. But very peacefully, not just slowly: there must be inwardly a sort of very slow rhythm, as if one had all the time one needed, in total peace. This (gesture to the forehead) must be calm, it must live in a sort of eternity. Then one digests well. If the thought is very active, it's bad. There must be a kind of inner relaxation and the sense of a very regular, very vast rhythm.
page 39 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 31st Jan - 1967



For instance, there is here that old idea of vegetarian food. Some people write to me indignantly that these "holy rules" are being increasingly broken in the Ashram! Someone wrote to me a first time, asking me to answer; I neglected to. So he wrote a second time to tell me, "What can we do if you don't answer?" I answered (they'll probably bite their tongues at my reply), I replied something like this:

"Truth is not a dogma that one can learn once and

for all and impose as a rule. Truth is as infinite as

the supreme Lord and It manifests every instant

for those who are sincere and attentive."

I could have added other things but didn't, so as not to wage battle too openly! The same day, that is, just today, I got another letter.... The whole letter ranted and raved about all that's going on in the Ashram, saying, "What! This place is worse than the world!" and so forth. (All this in the name of "truth," naturally.) So (laughing) I answered: "Were Truth to manifest in such a way as to be seen and understood by all, they would be terri fied by the enormity of their ignorance and false interpretation." I hit hard this time. And it's going on. Day after day it's like that, growing acute. Everyone is the "defender of the Truth." One about food, another about money, another about business, another about relationships ... - everyone has his hobby-horse. The wonderful thing is that till now not one has told me, "Maybe my opinions aren't true?" - not one! "Maybe my way of seeing or feeling isn't true?" - not one. They are all in full Truth! It's very interesting.
page 81 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 22nd March - 1967




-151_four aspects.html



I wanted to clarify something.... I don't know if Mona Lisa and Marguerite de Valois were your incarnations, but weren't they contemporaries!?...
Yes, but I told you - four at once![[ Conversation of June 27. ]] Four at once. And, in general, they were the different states of being of the Mother - the four aspects. Generally one aspect in each embodiment (when there were four). Or else this or that aspect might have been less present in one embodiment and more present in another. Sometimes there was a fairly central presence and then at the same time less central, less important emanations. But that has happened several times - several times. On two occasions it was particularly clear. But I have often sensed that there wasn't merely ONE embodiment, that the course of history may have crystallized around this or that person, but there were other embodiments less (how to put it?) ... less conspicuous, somewhere else. They are the different aspects of the Mother. page 233 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th June 1962



A little later, Mother refers to a passage from the preceding conversation in which she said that her present incarnation on earth didn't have a merely terrestrial effect but an effect on all the other worlds as well - and particularly on the gods.

None of those beings, those gods and deities of various pantheons, have the same rapport with the Supreme that man has; for man has a psychic being, in other words, the Supreme's presence within him. These gods are emanations - independent emanations - created for a special purpose and a particular action which they fulfill SPONTANEOUSLY; they do it not with a sense of constant surrender to the Divine but simply because that's what they are, and why they are, and all they know is what they are. They don't have the conscious link with the Supreme that man has - man carries the Supreme within himself. That makes a considerable difference. But with this present incarnation of the Mahashakti.... She is the Supreme's first manifestation, creation's first stride, and it was She who first gave form to all those beings. Now, since her incarnation in the physical world, and through the position She has taken here in relation to the Supreme by incarnating in a human body, all the other worlds have been influenced, and influenced in an extremely interesting way. [[Some days later, Satprem again brought up the above passage, asking whether the Mother hadn't been active on earth since the beginning of time and not merely "with this present incarnation of the Mahashakti." The reply: "It was always through EMANATIONS, while now it's as Sri Aurobindo writes in Savitri - the Supreme tells Savitri that a day will come when the earth is ready and 'The Mighty Mother shall take birth'.... But Savitri was already on earth - she was an emanation. So they were all emanations? They were all emanations, right from the beginning. So we have to say: 'With the PRESENT incarnation.'" ]] I have been in contact with all those gods, all those great beings, and for the most part their attitude has changed. And even with those who didn't want to change, it has nonetheless influenced their way of being.
Human experience, with this direct incarnation of the Supreme, [[I.e., with the psychic being or soul IN MAN, the direct incarnation of the Supreme in man: "This has come with humankind." ]] is ultimately a UNIQUE experience, which has given a new orientation to universal history. Sri Aurobindo speaks of this - he speaks of the difference between the Vedic era, the Vedic way of relating to the Supreme, and the advent of Vedanta (I think it's Vedanta): devotion, adoration, bhakti, the God within. [[Satprem subsequently asked Mother: You almost seem to be saying that during the Vedic era there was no divine presence in man! No, there wasn't! They discovered it. Humanity has undergone a spiritual evolution. Vedism is in contact with the gods and, THROUGH THE GODS, with the Supreme; but it is not in direct contact with the Supreme - there is no inner, psychic con" tact. That's what Sri Aurobindo says (I myself know nothing about it!). But with the Vedanta and the devotees of Krishna, it is the god within: they had a direct contact with the god within (as in the Gita). ]] Well, this aspect of rapport with the Supreme could exist ONLY WITH MAN, because man is a special being in universal History - the divine Presence is in him. And several of those great gods have taken human bodies JUST TO HAVE THAT. [[Shortly afterwards, Satprem asked: When a god takes a human body it must be terrible for him. Or does his divinity become quite veiled to him? Yes, quite veiled. They are powerful beings, they give a sense of power, but it is quite veiled. But Krishna had a human body, Shiva had a human body. But supposing one of those gods were to incarnate in the present world ... well, it wouldn't be much fun - he would suffocate. Fun?... No, you see, they extend sufficiently beyond the limits of their bodies so as not to be suffocated. ]] But not many of them - they were so fully aware of their own perfect independence and their almightiness that they didn't NEED anything (unlike man, you see, struggling to escape his slavery): they were absolutely free. And that's why.... How many times Durga came! She would always come, and I had my eye on her (!), because in her presence I could clearly sense that there wasn't that rapport with the Supreme (she just didn't need it, she didn't need anything). And it wasn't that something acted on her consciously, deliberately, to obtain that result: it has been a contagion. I remember how she used to come, and my aspiration would be so intense, my inner attitude so concentrated ... and one day there was such a sense of power, of immensity, of ineffable bliss in the contact with the Supreme (it was a day when Durga was there), and she seemed to be taken and absorbed in it. And through that bliss she made her surrender. Most interesting.
page 234-35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th June 1962




-152_four secretaries.html



(Soon afterwards, Mother talks about her secretaries, who don't do what she tells them to and take too much of her time:)

They take absolutely no notice of what I say.
What?!
Oh, yes, that's the way things are. I tell them, "I must be finished by such and such time." "Yes, yes," they say - and nobody moves. I can't start.... I am stuck there with my legs under the table, so it's difficult.... Unless I make a scene. Sometimes I do, I tell them, "Ah, enough! Good-bye," and I push back my chair. I get up and push back my chair. But that's ... only in case of absolute necessity.[[ Gradually Mother will stop struggling and intrusion will become the rule. As a result, these conversations will suffer greatly. ]] All in all, I am rarely nasty! (Laughter) page 60 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Feb 1963





-153_France.html



(Long silence) With France's intellectual quality, the quality of her mind, the day she is truly touched spiritually (she never has been), the day she is touched spiritually, it will be something exceptional. Sri Aurobindo had a great liking for France. I was born there - certainly for a reason. In my case, I know it very well: it was the need of culture, of a clear and precise mind, of refined thought, taste and clarity of mind - there is no other country in the world for that. None. And Sri Aurobindo had a liking for France for that same reason, a great liking. He used to say that throughout his life in England, he had a much greater liking for France than for England! There is a reason. We'll see. page 208 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 3rd July 1963




-157_fruits.html


A peach should ripen on the tree; it's a fruit that should be picked when the sun is upon it. Just as the sun falls on it, you come along, pluck it and bite into it. Then it is absolute paradise. There are two such fruits - peaches and golden green plums. It is the same for both. You must take them warm from the tree, bite into them, and you are filled with the taste of paradise. Every fruit should be eaten in a special way. At heart, this is the symbol of the earthly Paradise and the tree of Knowledge: by biting into the fruit of Knowledge, one loses the spontaneity of movement and begins objectivizing, learning, questioning. So as soon as they ate of this fruit, they were full of sin. I say that every fruit should be eaten in its own way. The being who lives according to his own nature, his own truth, must spontaneously find the right way of using things. When you live according to the truth of your being, you don't need to learn things: you do them spontaneously, according to the inner law. When you sincerely follow your nature, spontaneously and sincerely, you are divine. As soon as you think or look at yourself acting or start questioning, you are full of sin.

page 181 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 19th July - 1958



-159_Ganesh.html


You see, this is how it happened: there's this Ganesh2 ... We had a meditation (this was more than thirty years ago) in the room where 'Prosperity'3 is now distributed. There were eight or ten of us, I believe. We used to make sentences with flowers; I arranged the flowers, and each one made a sentence with the different flowers I had put there. And one day when the subject of prosperity or wealth came up, I thought (they always say that Ganesh is the god of money, of fortune, of the world's wealth), I thought, 'Isn't this whole story of the god with an elephant trunk merely a lot of human imagination?' Thereupon, we meditated. And who should I see walk in and park himself in front of me but a living being, absolutely alive and luminous, with a trunk that long ... and smiling! So then, in my meditation, I said, 'Ah! So it's true that you exist!' - 'Of course I exist! And you may ask me for whatever you wish, from a monetary standpoint, of course, and I will give it to you!'
page 175 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 6th July - 1958
Ganesh: a god with the head of an elephant; the son of Parvati, the Divine Mother



-161_glorified body.html




A power greater than that of Evil

can alone win the victory.

It is not a crucified

but a glorified body

that will save the world.


page 99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 1st Jan - 1957


As for Théon, he used to say that the glorified body would be made of a matter denser than physical matter, but with qualities that physical matter doesn't have. And this substance does have qualities, they say, that Matter doesn't have, like for instance elasticity. Well, a few nights ago (I don't remember when), I was in a place in which a sort of pale gray substance had been collected, which looked like diluted clay (a paste, that is). And elastic, (laughing) glutinous! It was like diluted cement, but very pale, a really lovely pearl gray, and sticky: it could be stretched like chewing gum!

page 132 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 18th June - 1965




-162_Gods are without psychic being.html


In this respect, you say somewhere that the gods too must incarnate to become fully conscious.
Yes, because....
How is this possible? Aren't the gods already fully conscious?!
No, they have no psychic being, so that whole side of life does not exist for them. In all the traditions here in India (and in other countries and other religions as well), most of the time these gods behave impossibly! This is simply because they have no psychic being. The psychic being is the one thing belonging specifically to terrestrial life; it has been given as a grace ... to repair, to undo what had been done.
page 297 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd Aug. 1961.

Yes, but what about the minor gods? You often speak of a "little Kali" or a "little Durga"; are these beings beneficent?
Ah, they aren't from the vital at all! Not at all! They are manifestations of Overmind [[In Sri Aurobindo's terminology, the Overmind represents the highest level of the mind, the world of the gods and origin of all the revelations and highest artistic creations - the world that has ruled mental man till now. ]] beings, projected into the vital world for a specific action. But they aren't vital beings: they have an Origin, they are still linked to a being from another world. Oh, no, not at all! page 119 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th March 1962


All that can be asked is how do you see the soul? To see the soul, you must yourself know your own soul.
Yes, to be in contact with the soul, that is to say, with the psychic being, you must carry in yourself a psychic being, and only men - the men of evolution, those issued from the terrestrial creation - possess a psychic being. All those gods are without a psychic being, it's only by coming down, by uniting with the psychic being of a man that they can have one, but they themselves don't have one. page 19 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 12th Jan - 1965




-163_gods of Puranas.html


Evidently the gods of the Puranas are a good deal worse than human beings, as we saw in that film the other day' (and that story was absolutely true). The gods of the Overmind are infinitely more egocentric - the only thing that counts for them is their power, the extent of their power. Man has in addition a psychic being, so consequently he has true love and compassion - wherein lies his superiority over the gods. It was very, very clearly expressed in this film, and it's very true. The gods are faultless, for they live according to their own nature, spontaneously and without constraint; it is their godly way. But if one looks at it from a higher point of view, if one has a higher vision, a vision of the whole, they have fewer qualities than man. In this film, it was proved that through their capacity for love and self-giving, men can have as much power as the gods, and even more - when they are not egoists, when they can overcome their egoism. Certainly man is nearer the Supreme than the gods. Provided he fulfills the necessary conditions, he can be nearer - he isn't so automatically, but he can be, he has the power, the potentiality to be.
page 187 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 9th Aug. - 1958



The gods of the Puranas are merciless gods who respect only power and have nothing of the true love, charity or profound goodness that the Divine has put into the human consciousness - and which compensate psychically for all the outer defects. They themselves have nothing of this, they have no psychic.2 The Puranic gods have no psychic, so they act according to their power. They are restrained only when their power is not all-powerful, that's all.

page 215 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Nov. - 1958





-164_Golconde.html

-166_Government.html



That's what I always tell those who criticize the government: "You deserve to be put in the place of the Prime Minister, or any other minister, with decisions to make; and with the responsibility placed on you, suppose you suddenly had to decide on things of which you know nothing - you'd soon see what fun it is!" You see, to govern properly, you have to be ... you have to be a sage! You should have a universal vision and be above all personal questions.... There is not one - not one.

page 53 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th Feb 1963


From the point of view of government, it also seems to be the same thing, as if all the difficulties little by little BROUGHT to power people who are under my influence. [[It is the period of the Kennedy-Khrushchev-de Gaulle "combination." Indira Gandhi will come to power about two years later. ]] But it's still sporadic - I think it is the thing that will give way last. Sri Aurobindo said it would happen in '67 ... we still have some time, it's only '63, four years to go. It's not that we'll govern ourselves (God knows we don't have the time!), but "to be the government" means that in the government, there will be people directly under the Influence. And it's not enough if it's local (God knows! [laughing! I have never seen anything more rotten!), it's not enough if it's local, it's not enough if it's Indian, not at all: it has to be global for ... And clearly, for the moment, we are still very far from it - even in the invisible, even in the Inconscient.

page 357 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 19th Oct 1963


(Mother starts sorting innumerable scraps of notes

and stops at this one:)

"For the Government of India, one thing is to be

known: does it want to live for the Future or does

it stick desperately to the past?"

(June 20, 1967)

It was when that man came here on behalf of the government of India; he saw everything and was to make a report. Before leaving (I saw him: he is a nice man), he said, "I wonder what words I should use to convince them?" Then I told him, "Well, there's only one question: do they want to work with the future or do they want to ... stick, to remain stuck to the past?" And he took it with him! (Mother laughs) He's going to say that right in Parliament!
page 210 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th July - 1967





-169_grace.html



Each element, let us say each individual element (even though it is not exactly like that), is in its place according to whether the Grace acts on the individual or on the collectivity. When the Grace acts on the collectivity, each thing, each element, each principle, is put in its place as the result of a karmic logic in the universal movement. This is what gives us the impression of disorder and confusion as we see it. When the Grace acts on the individual, it gives to each the maximum position according to what he is and what he has realized. And then, there is a super-grace, as it were, which works in a few exceptional cases, which places you not according to what you are but according to what you are to become, which means that the universal cosmic position is ahead of the individual's progress. And it is then that you should keep silent and fall on your knees.

page 173 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 52nd July - 1958


(Regarding the New Year message: "Men, countries, continents!

The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss." A disciple asks

Mother, "What is the meaning of 'abyss' in your New Year

Message?" Mother's reply, in English:)

Right now there is a great tension. They have all taken positions as if to start war. It is the blind passion that men put into their international relations. At the base of it all there is fear, general distrust, and what they believe to be their "interests" (money, business) - a combination of these three things. When these three lowest passions of humanity are brought into play, that is what I call "the abyss." When someone has decided to consecrate his life to the seeking for the Divine, if he is sincere, that is to say, if the resolution is sincere and carried out sincerely, there is absolutely nothing to fear, because all that happens or will happen to him will lead him by the shortest way to this realisation. That is the response of the Grace. People believe that the Grace means making everything smooth for all your life. It is not true. The Grace works for the realisation of your aspiration and everything is arranged to gain the most prompt, the quickest realisation - so there is nothing to fear. Fear comes with insincerity. If you want a comfortable life, agreeable circumstances, etc., you are putting conditions and restrictions, and then you can fear. But it has no business in the sadhana!
page 156 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 26th May - 1967


But this message of Sri Aurobindo about the Grace has almost been a revelation to me. [[Message given for the April 24 darshan: "The best possible way is to allow the Divine Grace to work in you, never to oppose it, never to be ungrateful and turn against it - but to follow it always to the goal of Light and Peace and unity and Ananda." ]] I thought, "What! There are people who refuse the Grace ...." And since then, several people have told me so. It was something almost unthinkable for me.


page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th April - 1969


Basically, this message of Sri Aurobindo is almost this: Do not go out of this Consciousness, do not refuse this Consciousness. It is sent by the Grace, do not refuse it.


page 157 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th April - 1969




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I'll tell you of an experience I had which will help you better understand. It was a short while after the supramental experience of February 3, and I was still in that state where things of the physical world seemed so remote, so absurd. A group of visitors asked permission to greet me, and they came one evening to the playground. They were rich people - that is, they had more money than they needed to live. Among them was a woman in a saree. She was very fat, and her saree was so arranged as to hide her body. When she bent over to receive my blessings, a corner of her saree fell open, uncovering part of her body, a bare belly. An enormous belly. It came as a shock to me ... There are obese people who are not at all repugnant, but there I suddenly saw the perversion, the rottenness that this abdomen concealed. It was like an enormous abscess expressing greed, vice, depravity of taste, sordid desire that seeks satisfaction as no animal would, grossly, and above all, perversely. I saw the perversion of a depraved mind placed at the service of the basest appetites. Then, in a flash, something leapt forth from me, a prayer, like a Veda: 'O Lord, it is this that must vanish!'

page 169 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , june 1958




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Sri Aurobindo saw more clearly. He said - it was even the first thing he told the boys around him when I came in 1914 (he had only seen me once) - he told them that I, Mirra (he immediately called me by my first name), 'was born free.' And it's true, I know it, I knew it then. In other words, all this work that usually has to be done to become free was done beforehand, long ago - quite convenient! He saw me the next day for half an hour. I sat down - it was on the verandah of the 'Guest House', I was sitting there on the verandah. There was a table in front of him, and Richard was on the other side facing him. They began talking. Myself, I was seated at his feet, very small, with the table just in front of me

- it came to my forehead, which gave me a little protection ... I didn't say anything, I didn't think anything, try anything, want anything - I merely sat near him. When I stood up half an hour later, he had put silence in my head, that's all, without my even having asked him - perhaps even without his trying.

Oh, I had tried - for years I had tried to catch silence in my head ... I never succeeded. I could detach myself from it, but it would keep on turning ... But at that moment, all the mental constructions, all the mental, speculative structures ... none of it remained - a big hole. And such a peaceful, such a luminous hole! Afterwards, I kept very still so as not to disturb it. I didn't speak, above all I refrained from thinking and held it, held it tight against me - I said to myself, 'make it last, make it last, make it last ... ' Later on, I heard Sri Aurobindo saying that there were two people here to whom he had done this and as soon as there was silence, they panicked: 'My God, I've gone stupid!!' And they threw it all overboard by starting to think again. Once it was done, it was done. It was well-rooted.

Mother's Agenda , volume - 1 , 1951-1960 , page 421-22 , September 20 .




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Then - and this becomes rather amusing like life's play ... Depending upon each one's nature and position and bias, and because human beings are very limited, very partial and incapable of a global vision, there are those who believe, who have faith, or to whom the eternal Mother is revealed through Grace, who have this kind of relationship with the eternal Mother - and there are those who themselves are plunged in sadhana, who have the consciousness of a developed sadhak, and thereby have the same relationship with me as one has with what they generally call a 'realized soul.' Such persons consider me the prototype of the Guru teaching a new way, but the others don't have this relationship of sadhak to Guru (I am taking the two extremes, but of course there are all the possibilities in between), they are only in contact with the eternal Mother and, in the simplicity of their hearts, they expect Her to do everything for them. If they were perfect in this attitude, the eternal Mother would do everything for them - as a matter of fact, She does do everything, but as they aren't perfect, they cannot receive it totally. But the two paths are very different, the two kinds of relationships are very different; and as we all live according to the law of external things, in a material body, there is a kind of annoyance, an almost irritated misunderstanding, between those who follow this path (not consciously and intentionally, but spontaneously), who have this relationship of the child to the Mother, and those who have this other relationship of the sadhak to the Guru. So it creates a whole play, with an infinite diversity of shades.

page 210 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Oct. - 1958


Yes, but when you read a mantra in a book, for instance, it is said there's no force in it - how is that, since the vibration is there?
But if you have the power within yourself and read the book, you will get the force! (Mother laughs) What's required is the capacity to feel and make contact. Ultimately, what does the guru do? He connects (gesture of junction), he is nothing but a link. It's not "his" power he gives you (that's what he thinks, but it's not true): he is the link. He brings you into contact with the Power - a contact you don't have without him. But those who don't need a guru will make contact WITHOUT a guru. It's not at all like something he pulls out of his pocket and offers you! That's not it at all: it's the power to make contact.

(silence)

Ultimately, it's simply a question of consciousness: people (ordinary people) have a consciousness that reaches up to a certain point (a point not very far away generally), and what's beyond it, to them, is the "unconscious" (although it's full of consciousness!), but it's unconscious to them because they can't make contact. It's the same as when at night you wake up in another state of being, become conscious and have a "dream" (what people call a dream, meaning an experience), then you return to your ordinary consciousness, and as there is no contact between the two consciousnesses, you don't even remember your dream. But you can, through methodical development, extend your consciousness and make a connection between the two; and the minute the connection is made, it takes very little to remember everything. But what's difficult is to extend your consciousness. Basically, the guru's real power is to fill up the gaps! To bring you into contact: when you are in the higher planes, to bring you into contact with the Highest. Or to bring you into contact with your soul, your psychic being within, or to bring you into contact with the Supreme - but that not many can do. page 217 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th July , 1963




-174_Haiphong.html

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(Mother reads a note she wrote in connection with a quarrel at the Ashram's handmade paper factory:)

The Employer to the Employee "Nothing lasting can be established without a basis of trust. And this trust must be mutual. "You must be convinced that it is not only my good that I am aiming at, but also yours. And on my side I must know and feel that you are here not merely to profit but also to serve. "The welfare of the whole is dependent on the welfare of each part, and the harmonious growth of the whole is dependent on the progress of every part. "If you feel you are exploited, then I too will feel you are seeking to exploit me. If you fear that you may be deceived, then I too will feel you are seeking to deceive me. "It is only in honesty, sincerity and trust that human society can progress." page 86 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 18th March 1964




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Sometimes I wonder if it's not sheer folly to attempt it.... Shouldn't this body simply be left to dissolve and let others, better fit for the new functioning, be prepared? I don't know. I don't know. No one has ever done this before, so there's no one to tell me. So my solution is always the same: I am like this (gesture of surrender), the body saying, "I am quite willing to try, I am trying my best." Is it folly, or is it really possible? ... I don't know.
But long ago there was a knowledge like that - all the ancient scriptures mention it.
I believe so. I believe so. I feel a very strong need for someone who knows.
Yes, I too have quite often thought that someone should come here who....
... who knows.
Who knows something. [[In fact, in the Agenda conversations of 1958 and '59 (never noted by Satprem because he believed them too "personal"), Mother mentioned this as one of the main reasons for encouraging his tantric discipline. He even set out for the Himalayas, like a knight of yore, with the idea of bringing back to Mother the secrets of transformation; and Mother indicated to him the spot where one of her former bodies lay in a Himalayan cave, petrified by a mineral spring. But the secret of the new species can manifestly not be found through any "trick " tantric or otherwise - one's very nature must change. No one could help Mother because if someone "knew," it would already be done. ]]

page 82 - The Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , February 13, 1962




-177_Hrishikesh Dasgupta.html



And they don't have to be the same. One can be sitting and the other standing. The one in the street, standing; and the one in the house, sitting. That will be very nice. Because in the house there's no need to ask anyone's permission. I hope the one in the street is standing?
I believe you had chosen a photo of Sri Aurobindo in which hewas looking toward the future. I think it's the photo by the Dutch painter.
Yes, that's it. I would like the one in the street to be standing.[[ The statue in bronze, done by the sculptor Hrishikesh Dasgupta, will be unveiled on 16 August 1975 by the vice-president of India, B.D. Jatti. ]] And then, in the house, sitting at a table.
At a table?
Or simply sitting. That way, it's fine.
page 279 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 27th Oct - 1971




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There was one man here who could have done something: it was the former chief of the army, K.'s cousin [[K. is a disciple. ]] - but they sent him to Canada! ... It had the result that now the whole of Canada is interested in India! There's quite a widespread and interesting movement there. But they don't want him here. And he was a good military chief .... It's a pity he's gone away. Also, he was in contact with us, and just now ... So that's why: there's constantly the pressure of very serious things.
page 144 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969




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Last night I had two consecutive experiences showing with extreme precision that black magic is at the root of all this (Mother is speaking of both general and personal difficulties, in the Ashram and in her body). First of all, on the mental plane (the physical-mind, the material mind) I saw an individual.... I am not entirely certain of his identity (when I saw him last night I didn't associate him with anyone in particular) but from his outer appearance he is evidently a sannyasi. He was pursuing me, blocking my way and trying to stop me from doing my work (it was a long, long affair). But I was very conscious and could foresee everything he was about to do, so it had no effect. After a long while I emerged from this - I had something else to do and I left - and on my way home he was everywhere, hiding and trying to catch me; but he didn't succeed in doing anything. And I knew he had been acting in this manner for a long time. Then I woke up (I always wake up three or four times during the night) and when I went back to bed I had an attack of what the doctor and I have taken to be filariasis - but a strange type of filariasis, for as soon as I master it in one spot it appears in another, and when I master it there it reappears somewhere else. Last night it was in the arms (it lasted quite a while, between 2:30 and 4 a.m.); but I was fully conscious, and each time the attack came, I went like this (gestures over the arms, to drive away the attack) and my arms were not affected at all. When it was over, I consciously entered the most material subtle physical, just beyond the body. I was sitting in 'my room' there (an immense, cubic room) reading or writing something, when I heard the door open and close, but I was busy and didn't pay attention, presuming it was one of the people usually around me. Then suddenly I had such an unpleasant sensation in my body that I raised my head and looked, and I saw someone there. Do you know how the magicians in Europe dress, in short satin breeches and a shirt? ... He was wearing something like that. He was Indian, tall and rather dark, with slicked-down hair - what you would normally call a 'handsome young man.' He seemed to have been 'drawn' [[Mother means drawn by a force not his own. ]] there because he was standing in front of me staring into space, not looking at me. [133] And the moment I saw him, there was the same sensation in all my cells as I have with what I've been calling filariasis (it's a special, minute kind of pain) and simultaneously all the cells felt disgust - a tremendous will of rejection. Then I sat up straight (I didn't stand up) and said to him as forcefully as possible, How do you dare to come in here! I said it so loudly that the noise woke me up! I don't know what happened then, but things went much better afterwards. The moment I saw this person I knew he was only an instrument, but a well-paid instrument - someone paid a great deal to have him do that! I would recognize him again among hundreds ... I can still see him ... I see him more clearly than with physical eyes. He is an unintelligent man with no personal animosity, merely a very well-paid instrument - someone is hiding behind him, using him as a screen. Before that experience, as part of the attack, I also got a sore throat. I didn't believe it would manifest, but around 9:30 this morning when I came downstairs for meditation with X, [[The tantric guru. ]] it did. It's nothing at all, though. The whole time I was with X (and even before, when I was waiting for him), it was halted completely - everything in that room came to a halt. It started up again only after he left and I came here. But it's nothing. X told me he has been doing something for me in his puja [[Puja: ceremony, invocation or evocation of a god (in this case, a tantric ritual). ]] - since December, it seems - so this morning I thought he should know about the experience and I sent Amrita to tell him. He replied to Amrita that this confirmed his certainty that Z has been making black magic against me since December. He had been told that Z was practicing black magic in Kashmir. Could this be the same person I saw before [during the December 1958 attack]? Since it was someone who concealed his identity, I can't say - but this form was robed as a sannyasi. Perhaps it's he, I don't know. I reserve my judgment because I don't know personally. But this is what X said, and he's going to redouble his efforts. That's the situation.
page 133-34 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 21st March 1961
It's not something 'miraculous,' you know. To be really satisfied, the human mind always needs some kind of miracle. In its thought, the miraculous is associated with the Divine. I know, because I was born like that. I felt like that when I was very young. And only because life has dealt me some extremely brutal denials have I come to this kind of ... sober and reasonable attitude. You know (I told you this the other day), it's disgusting! (Mother laughs) All the bloom has gone ... banished by the hard knocks of life. For I was born with this feeling that ... yes, that Truth is something miraculous, which has only to show itself to prevail. It would be like that - without the adverse forces. The universe would be like that, if it had not been for the deviation of the adverse forces - I see it very clearly. The perversion, the cold-blooded and cruel perversion of sheer malevolent will keeps it from being like that. That's what intervenes.... They all call it an 'accident,' but a lot of good that does us! The fact is there. The adverse force is what keeps the Divine from blossoming miraculously whenever He appears. Because I know that wherever Matter is not under the influence of this adverse will to any degree, it blossoms immediately. And everything in the human heart, in human consciousness, in human thought, all that is slightly sheltered from this adverse influence - sheltered by the psychic, the divine Presence - blossoms, becomes ... immediately becomes marvelous, without any obstacle - all the obstacles come from that source. So it's all very well to call it an 'accident,' but.... It's obviously reparable, there's no doubt about that, but at what price? And how it complicates things!
page 154 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 7th April - 1961

'All things are attracted to the Divine. Are the hostile forces also attracted to the Divine?'

You know, I can say one thing about this.... There's a type of woman I have met more or less periodically throughout my life. These beings are under the influence, or are incarnations of, or in any case are responsive to forces which Theon called 'passive' - not exactly feminine forces, but on the Prakriti [[Prakriti: Nature or the executive force, as opposed to Purusha, the conscious Soul which sees, knows and creates through its vision. These are the two principles, feminine and masculine, of the universe. ]] side of the universe: the dark Prakriti side (there is an active dark side, the asuric forces, and a passive dark side). And these are terrible beings, terrible! They have wreaked havoc in life. They represent one of the creation's biggest difficulties. And they are attracted to me!

Mon petit, they adore me, they detest me, they would like to destroy me - and individually they CANNOT do without me! They come to me like ... like fireflies to light. And they hate me! They would like to crush me. That's how it is.

I have met five women like that, the last two here (they were the most terrible). It's a phenomenon of hate and rage mixed with love's greatest power of attraction - no sweetness, of course, no tenderness, nothing like that - but NEED, love's greatest power of attraction, mixed with hate. And they cling, you know, and then ... what fun!

I had a session like that some days ago - it's a work I'm pursuing. (Likewise, I have constantly been with the adverse force I once told you about, [[See Agenda of March 26, 1959 (Vol. 1, p. 288): the Titan sent especially to attack Mother's body, and who uses the people around her for this purpose. ]] who keeps incarnating especially to harass me - so there's also this phenomenon, amiably passing from one being to another!) Anyway, not long ago I had given an appointment to this woman and had decided not to say anything - because there was nothing to be done (the most beautiful things go rotten, there's nothing to do). So I remained silent, indrawn, fully in contact with the Supreme Presence, with the external personality annulled (this experience, in fact, lasting almost one hour, is what gave me the key to everything that has been happening lately). There was only the Supreme, nothing else - the Supreme THERE, in that very body, mon petit, in that whole agglomeration and in that apparently absolutely anti-divine influence - HIS Presence was there!


page 413 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 23th Dec. 1961



Just between eleven and twelve [last night] I had an experience by which I discovered that there is a group of people - purposely their identity was not revealed to me - wanting to create a kind of religion based on the revelation of Sri Aurobindo. But they have taken only the side of power and force, a certain kind of knowledge and all which could be utilized by Asuric forces. There is a big Asuric being that has succeeded in taking the appearance of Sri Aurobindo. It is only an appearance. This appearance of Sri Aurobindo has declared to me that the work I am doing is not his. It has declared that I have been a traitor to him and to his work and has refused to have anything to do with me. There is in that group a man whom I must have seen once or twice, who is not with them in spirit, but only in appearance, but without knowledge. He does not know what kind of being it is. And he always hopes to make him accept me, believing it is truly Sri Aurobindo. I saw this being last night. I won't tell you all the details of the vision. It is not necessary. But I must say that I was fully conscious, aware of everything, knowing that there was an Asuric Force there, but not rejecting it, because of the infinity of Sri Aurobindo. I knew that everything is part of him and I do not want to reject anything. I met this being last night three times, even apologized for sins that I have not committed, and in full love and surrender. I woke up at twelve, remembering everything. Between 12:15 and two I was with the true Sri Aurobindo in the fullest and sweetest relationship - there also in perfect consciousness, awareness, calm, and equanimity. At two I woke up and noted that just before, Sri Aurobindo himself showed me that still he was not completely master of the physical realm.
I woke up at two and noticed that the heart had been affected by the attack of this group that is wanting to take my life away from this body, because they know that as long as I am in a body upon earth their purpose cannot succeed. Their first attack was many years ago in vision and action. It happened during the night and I spoke of it to no one. I noted the date, and if I can come out of this crisis, I will find it and give it out. They would have liked me dead years ago. It is they who are responsible for these attacks on my life. Until now I am alive because the Lord wants me to be alive, otherwise I would have gone long ago. I am no more in my body. I have left the Lord to take care of it, if it is to have the Supramental or not. I know, and I have also said, that now is the last fight. If the purpose for which this body is alive is to be fulfilled, that is to say, the first steps towards the Supramental transformation, then it will continue today. It is the Lord's decision. I am not even asking what He has decided. If the body is incapable of bearing the fight, if it has to be dissolved, then humanity will pass through a critical time. What the Asuric Force that has succeeded in taking the appearance of Sri Aurobindo will create is a new religion or thought, perhaps cruel and merciless, in the name of the Supramental Realisation. But everybody must know that it is not true, it is not Sri Aurobindo's teaching, not the truth of his teaching. The truth of Sri Aurobindo is a truth of love and light and mercy. He is good and great and compassionate and divine.... Et c'est Lui qui aura la victoire finale....[[And He will have the final victory. ]] Now, individually, if you want to help, you have only to pray. What the Lord wants will be done. Whatever He wills, He will do with this body, which is a poor thing.

(Sometime later, when the communication was read to her.)

The fight is within the body. It can't go on. They must be defeated or else this body is defeated.... All depends on what the Lord decides.... It is the battlefield. How far it can resist I don't know. After all, it depends on Him. He knows if the time has come or not, the time for the beginning of the Victory - then the body will survive. If not, in any case, my love and consciousness will be there. page 129-131 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd April 1962




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-182_The Hour of God.html



Those oppositions are really what gives the consciousness an interesting knowledge. Because I have a feeling that that Action wasn't at all limited to the moment when the consciousness that acts here took part in it: it's going on all the time. If for just a second (gesture of interiorization) I stop speaking or acting, I feel that golden Glory behind - "behind," it's not behind, not within, it's ... supporting everything - it is there. But in that experience, I was given two hours of TOTAL participation: there was nothing left but That, nothing existed anymore but That. And all the cells were given an unforgettable joy: they had become That. What I don't know is, if someone had been looking, what would he have seen? I don't know. Anyhow, the work is being done very fast. This is truly what Sri Aurobindo called "the Hour of God": it's being done very fast. page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 - 11th Aug 1964




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I am with you because I AM you or you are me. 'I am with you' means a world of things, for I am with you at every level, on every plane, from the supreme consciousness to my most physical consciousness. Here, in Pondicherry, you cannot breathe without breathing my consciousness. It permeates the atmosphere in the subtle physical almost materially and extends right to the lake, seven miles away from here. Beyond, my consciousness can be felt in the material vital, and then on the mental and the other higher planes everywhere. When I came here for the first time, I felt Sri Aurobindo's atmosphere, felt it materially, ten miles from the shore - ten nautical miles, not kilometers! It was very sudden, very concrete, a pure and luminous atmosphere, light, so light that it lifts you up. A long time ago, Sri Aurobindo had this reminder, with which you are all quite familiar, put up everywhere in the Ashram: 'Always behave as if the Mother was looking at you; because she is, indeed, always present.' This is not some mere sentence, these are not just words, it is a fact. I am very concretely with you, and those with a subtle vision can see me.

page 116 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 1957



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-187_I owe Rs 5000.00 to Amrita-da.html



(Then Mother sorts out flowers and keeps one aside for the Ashram's cashier.)

I don't have any money either. I owe him 15,000 rupees and the poor man has to pay all the rents.... I have debts everywhere! (Mother laughs) That's how it is, it doesn't matter! In the past, when I had money problems, I always had money from here or there, it was easy: I would take it, and as soon as money came, I'd put it back. But now it no longer works! I owe Amrita 20,000 rupees; I owe H. 13,000 rupees; I owe the cashier 15,000 rupees. That's how it is. It doesn't matter, I don't attach any importance to it.
page 193-94 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 7th Sep - 1966



And on top of it all, I am broke! Amrita will be coming this afternoon: I can't give him his money, I don't have it. I have to pay a certain amount every day: well, as it happens, I am broke. This afternoon, as every Wednesday, I should give 5,000 rupees to this poor Amrita in debt: I haven't a penny. That's how it is, it makes things still worse. If at least I could more or less meet the requirements, it would be all right, but that's not the problem: there are complications arising all over the place! I owe the cashier astronomical amounts, and I can't pay him.... I am beset by debts on every side - it weighs lightly on me, I don't lose any sleep over it! But the fact is there.


page 212 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966




-189_Ibos tribe.html



What do you have to say?
Have you been told that recently in France, some six or sevenstudents have set themselves on fire?
What?!
Yes.
Set themselves ...
... on fire, and they died.
How horrible!
Seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boys.
Oh!...
Students.
It's the latest fad - here also they wanted to do the same thing.... What's that?
A protest against this suffocating society.
How horrible.... In France?
In France.

As far as we've been told, the students who have reacted are froma very average milieu. One of them said it was in protest against the slaughter in Biafra....
Where?
In Africa. One entire African tribe (the Ibos) has been halfannihilated with the complicity of the English, the Russians, these and those others and so on.
Why?
Because they wanted to secede.
That's incredible!... No, I am not aware of what's going on.
Those territories used to belong to the British, they were unifiedunder the thumb of the British, and when the British left one whole tribe wanted to secede and the other side tried to prevent secession with weapons from Britain, weapons from Russia, weapons ... So little by little they have been crushed. The only country which did protest is France.
Ah!
Anyway, there's a whole political affair which isn't very pretty.But in the mind of one of those students, it was to "atone for the slaughter in Biafra."
Oh!...
In fact, it is a protest against this society ... this false societywithout future.
Yes, what's going on on the earth is really ugly.
Yes, it's ugly.

page 75-76 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Feb - 1970




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And the acceptance of illness is the acceptance of the usual end, which is generally called "death" (that doesn't mean anything), but anyway, it means that the aggregate is unable to be transformed and is dissolved. These are things [those "seconds"] that happen very often, and without any relationship whatever to outer circumstances. Which means that if one were all alone - all alone, still, in meditation - it would be more radical and definitive. But it's mixed in with the movement of life, outer circumstances, and those outer circumstances make it necessary that it should go more or less unnoticed. So the result is less complete, only partial, and so it recurs again and again, it's repeated.... It stretches over a considerable time.

(silence)

All this has a meaning, really a meaning, only if we reach the end. The end is consciousness reassuming its power. But even if the effect isn't total or general, I mean for the whole earth, even on one point it will still have tre-men-dous effect. There, we must be patient.
page 64 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Feb - 1967




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If they have some intelligence, they will publish it. If they publish it, it will be good for everyone.... I haven't told you this little story which resembles yours: some two years ago, The Illustrated Weekly asked questions on where India stood, and in their questionnaire they had asked for the answers to be put in as few words as possible. Very well. As for me, I answered with one word, two words, three words, because things can be put in very few words. [[See in addendum the text of Mother's answer. ]] They published it in a box in the middle of people's answers, which were columns long! Mon petit, it seems it had more effect than all the rest. They said to themselves, "It has forced us to think." It will be the same thing for you if you have the courage to put just what has to be put, in as few words as possible: the thing as exact as possible. If they have the courage to publish it, it will do a lot of good, a lot. [[Satprem's article is published in addendum. ]] And it isn't a question of condensing, it's not that: it's a question of saying just the essential - of catching the essential behind all that and of saying it. Do that, it'll be fun! Sri Aurobindo is happy.


page 212 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 7th Aug - 1965


THE STATE OF THE NATION

The Mother answers

(A questionnaire from The Illustrated Weekly of India, Republic Day issue of 1964 - original English)


1. If you were asked to sum up, just in one sentence, your vision of India, what would be your answer?
India's true destiny is to be the Guru of the world.
2. Similarly, if you were asked to comment on the reality as you see it, how would you do it in one sentence?
The present reality is a big falsehood - hiding an eternal truth.
3. What, according to you, are the three main barriers that stand between the vision and the reality?
i) Ignorance ii) Fear iii) Falsehood.
4. Are you satisfied with the overall progress India has made since Independence? (Yes or No)
No.
5. What is our most outstanding achievement in recent times? Why do you consider it so important?
Waking up of the yearning for Truth - because without Truth there is no real liberty.
6. Likewise, can you name the saddest failure? On what ground do you regard it as so tragic?
Insincerity. Because insincerity leads to ruin.

(November 12, 1963)


page 212-13 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 7th Aug - 1965




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I am not saying anything officially; because I have said and always repeat that politics is in complete Falsehood, based on Falsehood, and I am not dealing with it, meaning that I am not in politics, I don't want to be - but that doesn't stop me from seeing clearly! ... People have come and asked me (from every side, by the way) for my opinion, view or advice; I said, "No, I don't deal in politics." You see, all diplomacy is absolutely based on a DELIBERATE Falsehood. As long as it is like that, there's no hope: the inspirations will always come from the wrong side; inspirations, impulsions, ideas, everything will always come from the wrong side - which means the inescapable blunder, for everyone. A few rare individuals feel that and are aware of it, and they are half desperate because nobody listens to them.


page 207-08 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966




-194_India.html


As I appeared to be doubting, X told me, 'There is no "suspicion " [doubt], the war will take place in November' (in fact, it is to occur some time between September and November), and for the rest of the talk, he had a tone of absolute certitude: 'The first atom bomb will fall in China. Russia will be crushed. It will be a victory for America. Not more than 2 or 3 atom bombs will be used. It will be very quick.' And he repeated that the starting-point of the conflict would be situated in India due to the aggression of Pakistan, then of China. The earthquake he mentioned promises to be a kind of 'pralaya' (as X put it), for not only Bombay will be touched. This is what he said: 'America supports Pakistan, but the gods do not support Pakistan, and Pakistan will be punished by the gods. HALF of western Pakistan, including Karachi, will go into the sea. The sea will enter into Rajasthan and touch India also ... ' X then said that India would side with America against the Communist bloc (in spite of America's support to Pakistan), and furthermore, that the day India sides with America, America will cease supporting Pakistan. In any case, it will be the end of Pakistan.
page 315 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 8th June
Here are two or three things that might interest you: 1) X spoke to me again of the war without my asking anything. He repeated, 'There will be war,' and he again spoke of an attack on India by China ...
page 331 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 15th Oct June

It's like opening a door just a crack and catching a glimpse of what's beyond....

It was the same experience when I told Sri Aurobindo that India was free; it was the Universal Mother speaking from what could be called Her origin - it was from that level - and the thing took thirty-five years to come down on Earth.

When I had the experience that the time had come for the supramental Force to descend on Earth, I followed the effects of that descent, I followed the effects and the consequences in my consciousness. But to ordinary eyes it was something like what happened with India's liberation - it's possible, of course, that the Supermind did come down, but for the moment its effects are more than veiled.

The first rather tangible manifestation was this vision of the boat; with that, things became more concrete, it radically changed something in the attitude.

We're at another stage now.

page 49 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 21st Jan. - 1962


Even in India. And I am beginning to believe.... That's what I observe when I am put in contact with the outside world, Europe. ... But anyway, the Old World is an OLD world in the true sense of the word. India is much, much older, but more alive. Yet now it strikes me as so very rotten! They went rotten. You know what happens when a rotten apple is put next to a good one: England came and stayed much too long. It made things go quite rotten. Very, very rotten; it's difficult to heal. Otherwise, what's not rotten is truly good. page 260, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 14th July 1962.


Silence, silence. This is a time for gathering energies and not for wasting them away in useless and meaningless words. Anyone who proclaims loudly his opinions on the present situation of the country, must understand that opinions are of no value and cannot in the least help Mother India to come out of her difficulties. If you want to be useful, first control yourself and keep silent - silence, silence, silence. It is only in silence that anything great can be done. That was just when the war began; people were criticizing the government as if ... To one of them I wrote personally: "If you were up there, would you know what has to be done? No. So if you don't know, you have no right to say anything - keep silent."
But you know, I make a point of reading an Indian newspaper every day.... You get a sense of a great decomposition.
The country? Oh, but it's rotten, mon petit! Oh, it's in an appalling condition.
But what's extraordinary is that there's nobody! There's no opposition, there's nothing.
(After a long silence) It's a subject I don't talk about, first because it's understood that we do not concern ourselves with politics; I made the decision not to concern myself with politics until WE do it, that is, until we are in power. But in spite of this, since the day of liberation (already seventeen years ago to the day - seventeen years!), I have ceaselessly repeated, "These people are going to ruin the country. They have neither consciousness nor knowledge nor will, and they are going to ruin the country." Every time, whenever they made a blunder, I repeated the same thing. Now the country is ruined. The famine is much worse than it was when it was supposedly "tragic." Now it's terrible. There's not enough to eat; the country is so large, there's so much uncultivated land, there are so many people without work ... and there's not enough food for everyone! And they've closed the borders: they stop the food from coming from outside, and there's not enough for everyone to eat. But then, the number of stupid ideas these people have tried out to mend the situation - it's unbelievable! And each blunder has made the situation worse. Now it's extremely serious. Sri Aurobindo said (he said it to me in an absolute way) that nothing could be done as long as WE weren't the government - not that we were going to start governing in person (!), but that those who govern should be people who "receive" and obey. He also said that he expected that in '67, not only in India, but in the whole world, governments would begin to receive the supramental Influence. And obviously, he expected things to become EXTREMELY bad before that.... They're bad enough in the world: people are fighting everywhere, people are being killed everywhere - in Indonesia hosts of people have been murdered, in Cyprus hosts of people have been murdered. Anyway, it's an undeclared war, but it's everywhere. And here, there's TOTAL corruption - total, to such a point that ... I'll give you an example. The government meddles in everything, you can't move a finger without its permission: you can't leave the country, you can't enter the country, you can't send money out, you can't open a shop, you can't ... nothing, nothing, nothing, not even plow your field without its permission. They meddle in everything, which in itself is pretty stupid. And then they make regulations - the more regulations you make, the more disobedience it creates, naturally. People no longer grow crops because it's too complicated and with all those taxes (they've scores of taxes to pay), it costs them much more than they can earn. And as there isn't enough food, there are naturally individuals who try and hoard as much as they can to sell it for as high a price as possible. The situation in which we ourselves are [at the Ashram], this difficulty, doesn't come from anything else: the government's interference in everything, its meddling in other people's affairs and putting spokes in the wheels of everything, but everything. I've got a pile of examples, of proof for every minute - all the proof. So there are two possibilities: violence, or Transformation. Violence means invasion or revolution - it's hanging in the air, it could break out any moment. The government ... Nehru wasn't worth much, but still for the masses he represented a certain ideal (which he was quite incapable of living up to, but anyway ...). After him, it's finished; the present Prime Minister is a man with great goodwill, who has no character, to such a point that in the presence of difficulties he falls ill - he's ill! Ill, he can't work! That's where we are. [[Indira Gandhi will come to power in early 1966, after the death of the present Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri. ]] Here, in Pondicherry, it's the same muddle.
But you get the feeling that in a country like this one, which in spite of everything is receptive, if one great man (I mean, of
great spiritual value) arose, everyone would follow.
Exactly! They send me delegates, they send me people to ask me, "What should we do?" I told them, "I lack a man." If I had one man, I would see to everything. But I can't do everything myself.

page 163-64 , Mother'a Agenda , volume 5 , 14th Aug - 1964

Mother hands Satprem a brochure, "Spiritual Unity of India," in which quotations from Sri Aurobindo and Mother on the partition of India have been gathered, in particular Mother's declaration: "India must fight until India and Pakistan have once more become ONE.")

It has gone around India. Thousands of copies have been distributed in India. There are even lots of newspapers that have written about it. It has made a lot of noise in the country.
page 291 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 10th Nov - 1965


But unless outward circumstances COMPEL India to reunite with Pakistan, they won't budge.
But it's being prepared. It's being prepared. It's going to break out all at once.
The impression is that if India isn't pushed from the outside, isn't forced to re-create this unity, they won't budge.
The army is completely with us. Besides, it seems (I have been receiving a great many letters, I've again received some these last few days), it seems they had truly miraculous instances of forces intervening, of people suddenly turning into extraordinary heroes.... There were marvelous things. If, at that point, [[Before India accepted the cease-fire of September 22. ]] they hadn't stopped, it would have been easy. page 292 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 10th Nov - 1965


The government (I don't know who) has asked the chief of the Radio here to ask me for a message on India's condition. At first I answered, "I don't deal with politics." Then he told me, "No, it's not from a political but from a spiritual standpoint." I said, "I don't know." But he insisted, he told me, "I've been asked by the government; if I can't give it to them, I'll be in trouble...." The poor man knew how to get round me! (Mother laughs) See, here's his letter (Satprem reads): "I pray the Mother to record a message for my radio on 'integration and unity of India'...." I said this:

(Mother reads)

"It is only India's soul who can unify the country. "Externally the provinces of India are very different in character, tendencies, culture, as well as in language,
and any attempt to unify them artificially could only have disastrous results. "But her soul is one, intense in her aspiration towards the spiritual truth, the essential unity of the creation and the divine origin of life, and by uniting with this aspiration the whole country can recover a unity that has never ceased to exist for the superior mentality."
page 189-90 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd July - 1968


But I told you (did I see you after I saw the President?), I told you that when the President was here, suddenly this Consciousness started pressing on my head: "Say this." I didn't feel like speaking, so I kept quiet. Then the pressure became so strong that I started perspiring all over! So I made up my mind and spoke. And it was over. It was ... Without the Force in it, it's a platitude, but at the time, it had the power of a revelation, you know, when it made me say ...

(Mother tries to remember)

What did I say?
"Let us work ..."
Ah, it was in English - that's it (I was trying to remember in French!),
"Let us all work for the greatness of India."
You understand, it's a platitude - it became a revelation. I notice this: when it makes me say something and I see it later with the ordinary consciousness, I find it such a platitude! Or something perfectly obvious, or which isn't worth saying. But when it descends, it takes such a force! And it HAS a force (Mother brings down her two fists).
Page 339 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Sep - 1969


Sujata asks a question. She says: "If India called the Divine,would it not be a more effective way of stopping China?"
Un-de-ni-a-bly! (Mother laughs) Undeniably. They don't have faith!
page 195 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 16th May - 1970


I was asked for a message for all of India [in connection with the Bangladesh crisis]. I gave one.

(Mother hands the text)

Supreme Lord, Eternal Truth
Let us obey Thee alone
and live according to
Truth.


page 160 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 9th June - 1971




-195_James Kidd.html



Would you like to win 200,000 dollars?
What does one have to do for that?
One has to prove the existence of the soul after death.
Oh, yes, yes, I know - that article....
"A $ 200,000 reward has been offered to anyone on this earth who can give some scientific proof of a soul of a human body which leaves at death. This was found in the will of James Kidd, an Arizona miner who died in 1951. Lawyers executing the will claim that if no real scientific proof is submitted the money will go to any research institute aimed at proving the existence of the human soul." ["The Hindu," October 26, 1966]
Some people already have their argument ready, I've heard. A proof ... what they want is a scientifically demonstrated proof. But in the first place, are they really referring to the soul? You understand, they are all in a terrible confusion: for them, the soul is just anything. Do they want to prove the existence of the soul, which is eternal, immortal, or the existence of an afterlife? The two things are different. Afterlife has been scientifically proved by cases: there have been quite a few cases of people who in their present life carried on with their previous life. There was the story of that father who died, and the child of a neighboring family gave extraordinary details, things that the dead father alone knew. He alone knew them, and as soon as the child was able to move independently, that is, at the age of five or six, he started trying to lead his former life again; he would say, "My children are waiting for me in that house, I must go and look after them"! He was a child, yet he said, "My children are waiting for me over there." And that house was where he had died. There were quite precise details that the dead father alone knew: he would say, "But I put that here, why did it go?" All kinds of things like that. This is a fairly recent case. There have been at least four or five recorded cases, therefore there is an afterlife. But what is it that lives after? Of course, in the case of that child, it's not the soul, it has nothing to do with the soul: it's beings of the Vital [[Mother does not mean "beings" in the sense of entities, but levels of being. ]] (the mentalized vital) that remained intact and, because of some special circumstance, reincarnated immediately. So their previous life was still "quite fresh." The case of that child seems to me scientifically indisputable because they can't say, "He is mad," or "It's a hallucination" - he is a child and he speaks of "his children." There have been other cases as convincing as this one (I don't remember them). But is this what they want to know? Or do they want to know whether there is a soul and whether it is immortal and ... In reality, they don't know anything. It's a question put by ignorant people. They should be told in the first place, "Excuse me! Before asking questions, you should study the problem."
page 253-54 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 3rd Nov - 1966





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Soon afterwards Did your mother intend to come by plane?
By sea.
Mon petit, ships can no longer sail past Port Said: the Suez Canal is closed.
What's going to happen?
(After a long silence) We are just like this (gesture hanging in balance between two chasms). Yesterday, I would have answered very strongly.... Let me tell you what happened. We had here an American, a very nice boy who, before he came here, was a paratroop instructor in Israel's army. I don't think he is an Israeli, I think he's American; I am sure his nationality is American, I saw his passport. But he was a paratroop instructor in Israel's army. When those two started quarreling, he wrote me a letter in which he explained that, and also paid great compliments to the Israeli nation, saying they had achieved a really remarkable sense of brotherhood and cooperation. That was his impression of the country. And he said that if war broke out, he would like to go back there to help them as much as he could. So as soon as they started bombing each other, he decided to go. He left yesterday evening. And I saw him in the afternoon, before he left.
He is a sincere man. While he was here, Sri Aurobindo ... (how can I explain?), the impression is that Sri Aurobindo "concretizes" (he is always here, but at certain times he seems to concretize, as though ... [Mother makes a gesture of gathering or condensing]. That's really the impression: he concretizes and starts speaking). So then, first Sri Aurobindo said to him (but there was a whole WORLD in it), "My blessings are with you." The man was very touched (I didn't tell him it was Sri Aurobindo; I spoke, you understand, it was my mouth that spoke then, but it was Sri Aurobindo who spoke). Then I concentrated, and Sri Aurobindo said with great force: "All the countries live in falsehood. If only one country stood courageously for truth, the world might be saved."
That's where things stand. Today ... Have you heard today's news?
They have blocked Suez and broken off with the U.S.
All the Muslim countries, including Algeria and so on, have been ordered to break off with America and Britain. [[Also to stop selling them oil. ]] I don't know if all this news is true, but there is also a general pressure from all countries, from America and Britain, for instance, and at the same time from Russia, for a cease-fire, to stop the conflict. If this news is true (because the amount of lies that are passed around is unbelievable), if this news is true, it means the Pressure is beginning - the pressure of the Consciousness. It has already started acting. You see, every national entity has a right to free and independent existence, provided it doesn't interfere in the free and independent existence of all other entities. Ambitions, territorial expansions - of course, all colonies and all of that - must be swept out of the picture. To defend themselves, the Egyptians say that the Israelis had publicly declared that Israel's border should be the Nile - I don't know if that's true. I don't know if it's true because everybody tells lies. On their part, the Egyptians publicly declared three years ago (it was a public declaration), they publicly declared that the Israeli nation had no right to exist and had to disappear.
Three days ago, Nasser declared that he wanted "the destruc tion of Israel: wiped off the map."
Yes, that's it. But three years ago, they declared that Israel shouldn't exist. So that clearly puts them in the wrong. I don't know how the others replied.... The whole world lives in falsehood, without a doubt, but one thing must be established in an absolute way: the right of each nation or country to individual existence, provided it doesn't interfere in another nation's right. That should be the base. Of course, they will start arguing: "BUT at that time, things were like that; at that time they were like this; and in the past this was ours; in the past ..." Endless arguments. So there should be a higher vision, which means a balanced and just and deep vision of things, capable of saying, "This is how it is." Otherwise there would be an indefinite source of arguments. For the moment, at any rate, all diplomatic relations are based on falsehood - and the crudest falsehood at that: it's recognized as a necessity and the only way out. That's how they consider it. So that's what must be abolished to begin with.

page 172-73 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967



But you know - I have rarely felt that - yesterday there was really something like a prayer for Israel.
Indeed there was!
You really say to yourself, "This MUST NOT be."
That's it, absolutely. It was so strong.


page 175-76 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967



With this Israel affair, I have been made to write all sorts of things, to answer all kinds of questions (Mother looks for her notes).... Did I show you this? "Those who serve the Truth cannot take one side or another. Truth is above conflict or opposition. In Truth all countries unite in a common effort towards progress and realisation." This was in answer to someone who asked whom one should "take sides" with. There is also that man who wrote from Israel, saying that their success, their victory exceeded anything they had hoped for. And he adds, "They seem to be too materialistic to know the real source of it" - he knew. But he says (he is American, not Israeli; he may be Jewish by religion, I don't know, but he is American by birth), he says he greatly admires the way the country is organized, there in Israel, and that it's "a wonder of brotherhood and sense of organization." So he writes to ask me if this isn't the beginning of a future realization? They clearly are very receptive.... I saw it straight away; when I was told that the Egyptians, and in particular this present president, [[Nasser. ]] had decreed that the Israeli nation must disappear, I straight away saw there was a very strong reaction [[A reaction in Mother, or in the universal Mother. ]] - (laughing) it brought about quite a categorical result!
page 187 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 17th June - 1967




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Yes, it's the physical mind. The japa is made precisely to control the physical mind.

page 433 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 11th Oct. 1960


I'm going to tell you what I saw - it's very interesting. First, emanating from here (Mother indicates the chest), a florescence of every color like a peacock's tail spread wide; but it was made of light, and it was very, very delicate, very fine, like this (gesture). Then it rose up and formed what truly seemed like a luminous peacock, up above, and it remained like that. Then, from here (the chest), what looked like a sword of white light climbed straight up. It went up very high and formed a kind of expanse, a very vast expanse, which was like a call - this lasted the longest. And then, in response, a veritable rain, like ... (no, it was much finer than drops) a golden light - white and golden - with various shades, at times more towards white, at times more golden, at times with a tinge of pink. And all this was descending, descending into you. And here (the chest), it changed into this same deep blue light, with a powdering of green light inside it - emerald green. And at that moment, when it reached here (the level of the heart), a number of little divinities of living gold - a deep, living gold - came, like this, and then looked at you. And just as they looked at you, there was the image of the Mother right at the very center of you - not as she is commonly portrayed but as she is in the Indian consciousness ... Very serene and pure and luminous. And then that changed into a temple, and inside the temple there seemed to be an image of Sri Aurobindo and an image of me - but living images in a powdering of light. Then it grew into a magnificent edifice and settled in with an extraordinary power. And it remained motionless. That is the representation of your japa. It's beautiful. I had to stop because there is something like time that exists here - what a shame!
page 447 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 22nd Oct. 1960

I remained perfectly tranquil, there was nothing else to do; I knew it meant a battle. I was perfectly tranquil, but I could no longer eat, I could no longer rest, do japa [[Japa: the continuous repetition of a mantra. Mother's mantra is a song of the cells, the sole material or physical process used by her for awakening the cells and stabilizing the Supramental Force in her body. ]] or walk, and my head felt as though it would burst. I could only abandon myself (Mother opens her arms in a gesture of surrender), enter into a very, very deep trance, a very deep samadhi - this is something one can always do. But that was the only thing left to me. Ideas were just as clear as ever (all that is above and doesn't budge), but my body was in a very bad way. It was a fight, a fight at each second. The least thing, just to walk a step, was a struggle, an awful battle!

page 34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 22nd Jan. 1961


This japa, you know, didn't at all come from here (Mother points to her head). It's something I received fully formed, and to such an extent that I couldn't even change the place of a single thing - a will seemed to oppose any change. [256] It's a long series unfolding according to a law that probably corresponds to what is needed to develop this consciousness and the work it has to do (I suppose - I don't really know and I haven't tried to know). But a sort of law makes it impossible to change the position of even a single word, because these are not words - they are fully formed states of consciousness. And the whole series culminates with:

'Manifest Your Love.'

This is the highest summit of the possibility of manifestation. That's what I wanted to say. page 256 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 12th July - 1961


For some time now I have been running into difficulties with my morning japa. It's complex. I won't go into details, but certain things seemed to be trying to interfere, either preventing me from going on to the end, or plunging me into a kind of trance that brought everything to a halt. So I began wondering what it was and why. A very, very long curve was involved, but the result of my observations is the following. (All this is purely from the body's standpoint; I mean it doesn't concern the conscious, living, independent being that would remain the same even without the body - to be exact, the being whose life, consciousness, freedom and action do not depend on the body. I am speaking here of that which needs the body for its manifestation; that alone was in question.)

page 68 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb. 1962


There has been a kind of perception of a variety of bodily activities, a whole series of them, having to do exclusively (or so it seems) with the maintenance of the body. Some are on the borderline - sleep, for instance: one portion of it is necessary for good maintenance of the body, and another portion puts it in contact with other parts and activities of the being; but one portion of sleep is exclusively for maintaining the body's balance. Then there is food, keeping clean, a whole range of things. And according to Sri Aurobindo, spiritual life shouldn't suppress those things; whatever is indispensable for the body's well-being must be kept up. For ordinary people, all other bodily activities are used for personal pleasure and benefit. The spiritual man, on the other hand, has given his body to serve the Divine, so that the Divine may use it for His work and perhaps, as Sri Aurobindo said, for His joy - although given the present state of Matter and the body, that seems to me unlikely or at best very intermittent and partial, because this body is much more a field of misery than a field of joy. (None of this is based on speculation, but on personal experience - I am
relating my personal experience.) But with work, it's different: when the body is at work, it's in full swing. That's its joy, its need - to exist only to serve Him. To exist only to serve. And of course, to reduce maintenance to a bare minimum while trying to find a way for the Divine to participate in the very restricted, limited and meager possibilities of joy this maintenance may give. To associate the Divine with all those movements and things, like keeping clean, sleeping (although sleep is different, it's already a lot more interesting); but especially with personal hygiene, eating and other absolutely indispensable things, the attempt is to associate them with the Divine Presence so that they may be as much an expression of divine joy as possible. (This is realized to a certain extent.)

Now where does japa fit into all this? Japa, like meditation, is a procedure - apparently the most active and effective procedure - for joining, as much as possible, the Divine Presence to the bodily substance. It is the magic of sound, you see. Naturally, if there's also an awareness of the idea behind it, if one does japa as a very active CONSCIOUS invocation, then its effects are greatly multiplied. But the basis is the magic of sound. This is a fact of experience, and it's absolutely true. The sound OM, for instance, awakens very special vibrations (there are other such sounds as well, but of course that one is the most powerful of all). It is an attempt to divinize material substance. From another, almost identical point of view, it fills the physical atmosphere with the Divine Presence. So time spent in japa is time consecrated to helping the material substance enter into more intimate rapport with the Divine. And if one adds to this, as I do, a mantric program, that is, a sort of prayer or invocation, a program for both personal development and helping the collective, then it becomes a truly active work. Then there's also what I call "external" work: contact with others, reading and answering letters, seeing and speaking to people, and finally all the activities having to do with the organization and running of the Ashram (in meditation this work becomes worldwide, but physically, materially, it is limited for the moment to the Ashram). page 69 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb. 1962


Now, I think that doing japa with the will and the idea of getting something out of it spoils it a little. You spoil it. I don't much like it when somebody says, "Do this and you will get that." It's true - it's true, but it's a bit like baiting a fish. I don't much like it. Let it be your own manner of serving the Divine, of relating to Him, loving Him, of joining Him to your physical life, being close to Him and drawing Him close to you - that way it's beautiful. Each time you say the Word, let it be an invocation, let it be like the recitation of a word of love; then it's beautiful. That's how I see it.
page 70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb. 1962

For me, you know, japa means a moment when all physical life is EXCLUSIVELY for the Divine. A moment when nothing but the Divine exists - every single cell of the body, each second, is EXCLUSIVELY for the Divine, there is nothing but the Divine. When you succeed in doing that, it's good. Japa shouldn't become so exclusive that it's done twenty-four hours out of twenty-four, because then it's equivalent to asceticism - but there should be a good dose of it. It's almost the one luxury of life - that's how it feels to me. The luxury of That alone, nothing but that divine vibration around you, within you, everywhere. Nothing but the divine vibration. Now, that's luxury.
page 71 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb. 1962

But one has to.... Look, it's the same as for japa. Your japa is given to you, isn't it? You receive it (unless you find it on your own, but that's harder and already requires another level of realization); you receive your japa along with the power to do it - but you have to learn how to do it, right? For a long while you don't fully succeed; all sorts of things happen - you forget it right in the middle or fall asleep or grow tired, get a headache, all sorts of things; or even outer circumstances interfere and disturb you. Well, here it's the same: you tell yourself, "I'll do it," and you will do it, even if.... You have to go at it just like a mule: everything blocks the way but you keep going. You said you'd do it and you will do it. There are no results - I don't care. Everything is against me - I don't care. I said I'd do it and I will ... I said I'd do it and I will. And you keep on going like that.

page 337 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 5th Sept 1962.


I made an experiment: writing the letter OM. When you have written it four, five, six times, it becomes excellent! I wanted to know why you were asked to do that work and what you could draw from it. So I sat down to write your yantram, and it became very living, I could see it in front of me - I kept seeing it all the while. "But then," I thought, "the VERY FACT of writing must have an effect." Then I started writing the letter OM carefully.... Well, when I came to the fourth, the fifth, it became excellent - excellent, as though it were creating a vibration. That's the power it has, an external power. But then it was very amusing (the body is like a child - really a child), suddenly it said, "Oh, what a lovely game! To be sitting like this and writing, oh, how amusing! If I had the time, it would be great fun to write and write, lots and lots and lots of times." I saw that in the body - in the body's cells. Then I understood. Basically, these are almost methods for children (children from the spiritual viewpoint), young souls - child-souls. They are methods for child-souls. I used to write my whole japa fluently like that, in Sanskrit, [[ Satprem has entire pages written and rewritten in Sanskrit by Mother. ]] now I have forgotten everything again. page 187 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 26th June 1963


On the material level, japa is very good for that. When your head is tired and you are a little weary of forever contradicting that pessimism, you just have to repeat your japa, and automatically you make contact. To make contact. That's something the cells value a lot. A lot. It's a very good way, because it's a way that isn't mental, it's a mechanical way, it's a question of vibration. There, mon petit, we must endure. page 232 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 10th Oct - 1964




-207_Jesus Christ.html



Then I looked, wondering, "And what was Christ's path?"... Basically, he always said, "Love thy neighbor," in other words brotherhood (but that's a modern translation). For him, the idea was compassion, charity (the Christians say it's the "law of Love," but we're not yet there - that will come much later). So I wrote: Jesus preached Compassion.... page 100 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th March 1963



-209_jews-free.html

-210_joy , felicity and bliss.html


It is an error to confuse Joy and Felicity. They are two very different things. Not only are their vibrations different, but their colors are different. The color of Felicity is blue, a clear silvery blue (the blue of the Ashram flag), very luminous and transparent. And it has a passive and fresh quality that refreshes and rejuvenates. Whereas Joy is a golden rose color, a pale gold with a tinge of red, a very pale red. It is active, warm, fortifying, intensifying. The first is sweetness, the second is tenderness. And Bliss - what I spontaneously call Bliss - is the synthesis of both. It is found in the very heights of the supramental consciousness, in a diamond light, an uncolored, sparkling light containing all the colors. Joy and Felicity form two sides of a triangle that has Bliss at its apex. Bliss contains coolness and warmth, passivity and activity, repose and action, sweetness and tenderness, all at the same time. Divine tenderness ... is something very different from sweetness - it is a paroxysm of joy, a vibration so strong that the body feels it will burst, so it is forced to widen.
page 134 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 22nd Jan - 1958



-211_Kabala.html


So personally, I am convinced that there was indeed a tradition anterior to both these traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, there is a similarity in the experiences. When I came here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from the occult standpoint, he always said that it conformed to the Vedic tradition. And as for certain occult practices, he told me that they were entirely tantric - and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neither the Vedas nor the Tantras. So very probably there was a tradition anterior to both. I have recollections (for me, these are always things I have LIVED), very clear, very distinct recollections of a time that was certainly VERY anterior to the Vedic times and to the Cabala, to the Chaldean tradition.

page 220 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 4th Nov. - 1958


I have brought you a whole discourse! (Mother gives Satprem some flowers) First, the goal of the Vedas: Immortality. [[Gomphrena globosa (purple Amaranth). ]] That was their goal: the Truth that led to Immortality. Immortality was their ambition. I don't think it was physical immortality - but I am not sure, because they do speak of the forefathers and this refers to the initiatory tradition prior to the Vedas as well as the Kabbala, and immortality on earth is spoken of there: the earth transformed - Sri Aurobindo's idea. So although they didn't explicitly state it, perhaps they knew.

page 115 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 7th March - 1961




-212_Kali.html



It is like the story X told me of his guru2 who could command the coming of Kali (something which seems quite natural to me when one is sufficiently developed); well, not only could he commend the coming of Kali, but Kali with I don't know how many crores of her warriors! ... For me, Kali was Kali, after all, and she did her work; but in the universal organization, her action, the innumerable multiplicity of her action, is expressed by an innumerable multitude of conscious entities at work. It is this individualization, as it were, that gives to these forces a consciousness and a certain play of freedom, and this is what makes all the difference in action. It is in this respect that the occult system is an absolutely indispensable complement to spiritual action.

page 249 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 27th Nov. - 1958

(Note from Mother to Satprem)

I did not utter the words that you heard - I wanted to speak to you of my experience during the night, but I was paralyzed because I clearly felt that you no longer understood me. As soon as I received your letter, I concentrated on you in an effort to help you, and when night fell, just at the hour I enter into contact with X, I called for his help - whereupon he sent me this little Kali whom he had already sent once before. So I went to your house, I took you in my arms and pressed you tightly to my heart to keep you as sheltered as possible from blows, and I let Kali do her warrior dance against this titan who is always trying to possess you, creating this rebelliousness in you. She must have at least partially succeeded in her work, because very early in the morning the titan went away somewhat discomfited, but while leaving, he flung this at me as he went by: 'You will regret it, for you would have had less trouble if he had left.' I flung his suggestion back in his face with a laugh and told him, 'Take that, along with all the rest of your ugly person! I have no need of it!' And the atmosphere cleared up. I wanted to tell you all this, but I couldn't because you were still far away from me and it would have seemed like boasting. Also the misunderstanding created by the distance made you hear other words than those I uttered.

June 3, 1959

page 308 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 28th May - 1959

(The day before 'Kali Puja,' the ritual festival devoted each

year in India to the goddess Kali, the warrior aspect

of the universal Mother)

She has already been here for two days and ... Oh, yesterday especially, she was so ... in such a mood! - like a warrior. I said to her, 'But why not change them through ... through an excess of love?' So then she answered (I remember how she put it), 'First a good punch in the chest (she didn't say 'in the nose'!), a good punch in the chest, and then when they're down, gasping for air, they're ready.' That's one opinion!
page 438 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 19th Oct. 1960 .

There are people here who do the same thing. I know some people who had a statue of Kali in their house (it was their family divinity), and all kinds of calamities befell them, so the last generation became furious and took the idol and threw it into the Ganges. They are not the only ones - there have been several cases like that. And to cap it all, one of them even asked my permission before doing it!

page 192 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 29th April - 1961


Another thing happened to me in a fishing village near A., on the seashore, where there is a temple dedicated to Kali - a terrible Kali. I don't know what happened to her, but she had been buried with only her head sticking out! A fantastic story - I knew nothing about it at all. I was going by car from A. to this temple and halfway there a black form, in great agitation, came rushing towards me, asking for my help: 'I'll give you everything I have - all my power, all the people's worship - if you help me to become omnipotent'! Of course, I answered her as she deserved! I later asked who this was, and they told me that some sort of misfortune had befallen her and she had been buried with only her head above ground. And every year this fishing village has a festival and slaughters thousands of chickens - she likes chicken! Thousands of chickens. They pluck them on the spot (the whole place gets covered with feathers), and then, after offering the blood and making the sacrifice, the people, naturally, eat them all up. The day I came this had taken place that very morning - feathers littered everywhere! It was disgusting. And she was asking for my help! But the curious thing is that these vital beings are aware of what is happening. I knew nothing about any of it, neither the story, nor the being, nor the head sticking out of the ground - and she wanted me to get her out of it. They 'feel' the atmosphere. They are aware - they may not be conscious on higher planes, but they are conscious on vital planes, aware of vital power and the vital force it represents.... It's like this asura from M.: when I came in he suddenly seemed to tremble on his pedestal; then he left his idol and came to seek my alliance. page 196 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 29th April - 1961




Another time, a fellow (there are some demented characters of that kind) had come from Australia: he was a teacher and had been given classes in the School. He started to preach unbelievable things - he was God incarnate, you see! Until the day it began to be a pain in the neck. And he had declared he would stay here forever.... People were annoyed, everyone was annoyed, they didn't know what to do. I was in my room here (it was three years ago, maybe four). I remember: I was sitting on my bed (at the time I used to work on my bed, over there), and I received a letter in which I was told ... in short, that it had become impossible, intolerable, that he could not be kept here. So I concentrated for a minute and Kali arrived - Kali in her battling mood, a black, dancing Kali. I told her, "Why don't you go on his head?" (Laughing) She went and did her dance on his head - the next day, he wrote he was leaving the Ashram. In this case, it was very clear: the day before, he had declared that he wouldn't budge, that he intended to stay here and continue his lessons, and that we would have to send him away forcibly for him to go (they had told me all this quite tearfully). Kali's dance convinced him he had better go!

page 363 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 19th Oct 1963


Behind all the destructions - the big destructions of Nature - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, floods, etc., or the human destructions - wars, revolutions, riots - there is always Kali's power and upon earth Kali works for the hastening of the terrestrial progress. Whatever is Divine not only in its essence but also in its realisation is above these destructions and cannot be touched by them. In all cases the extent of the damage gives the measure of the imperfection and must be taken as a lesson for indispensable progress. page 46 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 10th March - 1965


Did I tell you the vision I had here?... I've had many, but there is one ... It was after the War was declared: between the time when the War (the first War) was declared and my departure. There was a rather long period: the War was declared in August [1914] and I left next February. Well, between the two, one day while in meditation, I saw Kali enter through the door - Kali of the vital, naked, with a garland of heads - she danced into the room. And she told me (she stayed like that, a little distance away), she told me ... I don't remember the exact words, but: "Paris is captured" or "Paris is about to be captured" or "Paris is destroyed" - something of the sort, anyway the Germans were advancing on Paris. And then, I saw the Mother - the Mother, that is to say ... how does he call her? Maha ...
Mahashakti.

Huge!... You see, Kali had a human size, but she was huge, up to the ceiling. She came in behind Kali and stood there, and she said, "NO" - simply, just like that (in a quiet categorical tone). So I (laughing) ... In those days, there was no radio, we would get the news by wire; so we got the news that the Germans were advancing on Paris, and at the same moment (that is, the day I had my vision), at the corresponding moment, without reason they were struck with panic, they turned back and went away.... It was just the same moment.... They were advancing on Paris; so Kali came in, saying, "Paris is captured." And then She came (Mother brings her hand down sovereignly): NO.... Like that. It really was remarkable, because I was simply sitting there, looking. And it happened in front of me. I told Sri Aurobindo about it, he didn't say anything. It was he who would get the news. And later on, in the afternoon, he told me, "Here's the news...." It seems they were suddenly seized with panic; they thought, "It can't be" - there was no one to oppose them, the way was open, all clear, they didn't encounter anyone or anything, so they said to themselves, "It's a trap." And ... (laughing) they ran away. They turned around and left.... That was really interesting.
page 134 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 1st Apr 1970


Yesterday was Kali puja,[[ Kali represents the warrior aspect of the universal Mother. Ceremonies in honor of her take place every year around this time. ]] and in English I would say, She has been outspoken. In the afternoon, she expressed ... (laughing) her "view of things."


page 263 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 12th Nov. - 1966



Did I tell you the vision I had here?... I've had many, but there is one ... It was after the War was declared: between the time when the War (the first War) was declared and my departure. There was a rather long period: the War was declared in August [1914] and I left next February. Well, between the two, one day while in meditation, I saw Kali enter through the door - Kali of the vital, naked, with a garland of heads - she danced into the room. And she told me (she stayed like that, a little distance away), she told me ... I don't remember the exact words, but: "Paris is captured" or "Paris is about to be captured" or "Paris is destroyed" - something of the sort, anyway the Germans were advancing on Paris. And then, I saw the Mother - the Mother, that is to say ... how does he call her? Maha ...
Mahashakti.

Huge!... You see, Kali had a human size, but she was huge, up to the ceiling. She came in behind Kali and stood there, and she said, "NO" - simply, just like that (in a quiet categorical tone). So I (laughing) ... In those days, there was no radio, we would get the news by wire; so we got the news that the Germans were advancing on Paris, and at the same moment (that is, the day I had my vision), at the corresponding moment, without reason they were struck with panic, they turned back and went away.... It was just the same moment.... They were advancing on Paris; so Kali came in, saying, "Paris is captured." And then She came (Mother brings her hand down sovereignly): NO.... Like that. It really was remarkable, because I was simply sitting there, looking. And it happened in front of me. I told Sri Aurobindo about it, he didn't say anything. It was he who would get the news. And later on, in the afternoon, he told me, "Here's the news...." It seems they were suddenly seized with panic; they thought, "It can't be" - there was no one to oppose them, the way was open, all clear, they didn't encounter anyone or anything, so they said to themselves, "It's a trap." And ... (laughing) they ran away. They turned around and left.... That was really interesting.
page 124 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 1st Apr 1970




-213_Kalki.html


7.9.59

Kalki


This handwritten note bore only this word and the date. Kalki is the name of the last Avatar who comes on a white winged horse to destroy the 'barbarians' (yavan) at the end of the Iron Age or the Kali Yuga, which is the period we are now passing through. His appearance marks the return of the Age of Truth, or the Satya Yuga.

page 323 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 9th July 1959




-214_Karachi.html


Chittagong was hit by a cyclone, there were tidal waves somewhere else ... The cyclone went up the wrong side! - for according to X's predictions, it was Karachi that should have disappeared.
He said only in 1962 or 1963 would Karachi totally disappear.And three-fourths of Bombay underwater!
page 472 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 12th Nov. - 1960




-215_karma.html


But if the soul has had but ONE call, but ONE contact with the Grace, then in your next life you are put in the conditions, once, whereby EVERYTHING can be swept away at one stroke. And at this present moment on earth, you cannot imagine the number of people I have met - that is, the number of souls - who had reached out towards this possibility with such an intensity - and they have all found themselves on my path. At that point, sometimes a great courage is needed, sometimes a great endurance is needed, sometimes a true love is enough, sometimes, oh! if only faith were there, one thing, one tiny little thing is enough, and ... everything can be swept away. I have done it often; there are times when I have failed. But more often than not I have been able to remove it. But then, what is needed is a great, stoical courage or a capacity to endure and to SEE IT THROUGH. The resistance (especially in cases of former suicide), the resistance to the temptation of renewing this stupidity creates a terrible formation. Or else this habit of fleeing when suffering comes: flee, flee, instead of ... absorbing the difficulty, holding on. But just this, a faith in the Grace, or an awareness of the Grace, or the intensity of the call, or else naturally the response - the response, the thing that opens, that breaks - the response to this marvelous love of the Grace. It is difficult without a strong will; and above all, above all the capacity to resist the temptation, which was the fatal temptation throughout all one's lives - because its power builds up. Each defeat gives it renewed force. But a tiny victory can dissolve it. Oh, the most terrible of all is when one does not have the strength, the courage, something indomitable! How many times do they come to tell me, 'I want to die, I want to flee, I want to die.' - I say, 'But die, then, die to yourself! No one is asking you to let your ego survive! Die to yourself since you want to die! Have that courage, the true courage, to die to your egoism.' But because it is karma, one must, one must DO something oneself. Karma is the construction of the ego; the ego MUST DO something, everything cannot be done for it. This is it, THIS is the thing: karma is the result of the ego's actions, and only when the ego abdicates is the karma dissolved. One can help it along, one can assist it, give it strength, bestow courage upon it, but the ego must then make use of it.
page 242-43 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 22th Nov. - 1958
These things from the past ... it's rather odd - now, once they come and I've spoken of them, they get erased. As if they were returning one last time to say goodbye before going for good. All these 'memories' (actually they're rather pictures) seem to be coming forward to show themselves with all the knowledge, truth and HELP they represent; they come to say, 'There! You see, this is the origin of that' - a whole curve. Then once I've seen it, it's gone. One day, as an experiment, I tried to remember something from the past, for I was interested in what it contained; I tried - impossible! It had been cleaned out, it was gone. So I understood that these things come, they show themselves (you have to be ATTENTIVE and know what purpose they have served) and then they go away. I have so totally forgotten a whole world of incidents and events that when someone reminds me of something (the people around me have lived with me, so they've seen things and remember them), I get the feeling that they are speaking of someone or something else - it no longer has any connection with me at all. And it's the same with everything, whether near or far, which has brought to my consciousness whatever it had to bring, lost its utility and - disappeared. Only, these memories probably still have some utility for the others, so they remain. But for me it's completely erased, absolutely, as if it had never been. It's the only way to forget. People often try to forget the past, but it doesn't work. Only once it has brought all the lessons that it was meant to bring into your life (it's decanted, so you see the thing in its deepest truth), is its utility finished, and it disappears. I am convinced that at heart Karma is simply all the things we haven't used in the true way that we drag along behind us ... If totally and clearly we have learned the lesson which each event or each circumstance ought to have brought, then it's finished, its utility is gone and it dissolves. It's an interesting experience to follow and observe.

page 464 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 30th Nov. - 1960

Those karma stories.... I often wonder, very often, whether it helps people to know their karma. I don't think it does. I mean, if they themselves discover the experiences they had in their past life, then it's part of a whole inner, psychic awakening, and very useful. But if some guru or other comes along and tells you, "Here, this was your karma...." I don't think it's useful, to put it mildly! If you discover the line of a former life on your own, that's different; it's part of an inner, psychic awakening, and it's very good. But I don't think it's helpful when someone sees something and comes and tells you, "You know, you have been this, you have done that...." I feel it makes things worse instead of better - it puts you back in touch with things you were in the process of eliminating. page 63 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb - 1962



To change a karma, to stop a karma, to withdraw a certain number of vibrations from circulation, as it were, requires yet another movement, another movement altogether - and that Power isn't yet at hand. That's what will yield visible, tangible results. The other movement has very tangible and concrete results, but they're invisible (to human observation, that is, which is much too limited and superficial). But it obviously does have results. That vision of terror clearly diverted the course of events that nations were being pushed into. But only someone with inner vision can see it.

page 306 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 8th Aug 1962.




-216_Kennedy's assasignation.html



Kennedy has been assassinated, that means the possibility of war. He was one of the instruments for the establishment of peace - it's a setback for the entire political history of the earth. But probably, it means basically that things weren't ready: some parts would have been overlooked. But I had been told this a few weeks ago, last month, while I was conducting a general survey. I heard someone who said ("someone" is a manner of speaking, I know who it is): Kennedy won't be able to do it. I thought the instrument was too small, I didn't think of this. page 389 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Nov. 1963







-217_telling lies.html



We need a message for the Darshan of the 24th.

(after a silence)

I don't know if it's any good.... It's my experiences these last few days.

(Mother writes with her eyes closed)

Human blindness is such
that many people
expect to attain the Truth
while keeping the habit of lying.
At least 4 or 5 people around me are lying -- lying to me! Just these last few days. Shall I put that?... You're not happy!
Oh yes, yes! I completely agree.... Because Falsehood has many levels. [[Satprem was thinking of the subconscious level. ]]

Well, anyway I say "the habit of lying," I don't say "the Falsehood."
Yes, Mother, I know, I was speaking for myself!
(Mother laughs) What I say there concerns the crudest of all levels: they lie to me to get me to do certain things. Just these last few days. And it's so spontaneous on their part that they don't even realize that I am going to find out. The first case was M. [[See previous conversation. It is in reference to this man that Mother said, "You have to be very thick-skinned to lie to my face." ]] If I give this message, they'll think, "Oh, well, there are 'many,' so it doesn't matter!" (laughter) They always twist things around like that! I could put it another way:
It is imperative not to tell
lies when one aspires
to the Truth.
People will say, "Oh, that's obvious!"
Well, it isn't so obvious at all!
But they do it just the same. I can say:
Needless to say that
those who aspire to
Truth must abstain from
telling lies. [[This version will be adopted for the message of April 24. ]]
It's the lies of the lower nature that are difficult to ... dispel.
(Mother nods her head) Yes, but that has nothing to do with "telling lies." Lying is always the sign of a lack of courage. A refusal to face the situation as it is.
page 82-83 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 7th Apr - 1971




-219_Krishna.html



Only a few days ago, on the morning of the 29th, I had one of those experiences that mark one's life. It happened upstairs in my room. I was doing my japa, walking up and down with my eyes wide open, when suddenly Krishna came - a gold Krishna, all golden, in a golden light that filled the whole room. I was walking, but I could not even see the windows or the rug any longer, for this golden light was everywhere with Krishna at its center. And it must have lasted at least fifteen minutes. He was dressed in those same clothes in which he is normally portrayed when he dances. He was all light, all dancing: 'You see, I will be there this evening during the Darshan." And suddenly, the chair I use for darshan came into the room! Krishna climbed up onto it, and his eyes twinkled mischievously, as if to say, 'I will be there, you see, and there'll be no room for you.'

page 358 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 3rd March 1960

I knew how it was with her because I remember the days when Sri Aurobindo was here and I used to go downstairs to give meditations to the people assembled in the hall. There's a ledge above the pillars there, where all the gods used to sit - Shiva, Krishna, Lakshmi, the Trimurti, all of them - the little ones, the big ones, they all used to come regularly, every day, to attend these meditations. It was a lovely sight. But they didn't have this kind of adoration for the Supreme. They had no use for that concept - each one, in his own mode of being, was fully aware of his own eternal divinity; and each one knew as well that he could represent all the others (such was the basis of popular worship, [[Each devotee of a particular cult knows perfectly well that his god is simply one way of representing something that is One. ]] and they knew it). They felt they were a kind of community, but they had none of those qualities that the psychic life gives: no deep love, no deep sympathy, no sense of union. They had only the sense of their OWN divinity. They had certain very particular movements, but not this adoration for the Supreme nor the feeling of being instruments: they felt they were representing the Supreme, and so each one was perfectly satisfied with his particular representation. Except for Krishna.... In 1926, I had begun a sort of overmental creation, that is, I had brought the Overmind down into matter, here on earth (miracles and all kinds of things were beginning to happen). I asked all these gods to incarnate, to identify themselves with a body (some of them absolutely refused). Well, with my very own eyes I saw Krishna, who had always been in rapport with Sri Aurobindo, consent to come down into his body. It was on November 24th, and it was the beginning of 'Mother.' [[From 1926, Sri Aurobindo officially introduced Mother to the disciples as the 'Mother'; previously he often called her 'Mirra.' ]]
Yes, in fact I wanted to ask you what this realization of 1926 was.
It was this: Krishna consented to descend into Sri Aurobindo's body - to be FIXED there; there is a great difference, you understand, between incarnating, being fixed in a body, and simply acting as an influence that comes and goes and moves about. The gods are always moving about, and it's plain that we ourselves, in our inner beings, come and go and act in a hundred or a thousand places at once. There is a difference between just coming occasionally and accepting to be permanently tied to a body - between a permanent influence and a permanent presence. These things have to be experienced.
But in what sense did this realization mark a turning point in Sri Aurobindo's sadhana?
No, the phenomenon was important FOR THE CREATION; he himself was rather indifferent to it. But I did tell him about it. It was at that time that he decided to stop dealing with people and retire to his room. So he called everyone together for one last meeting. Before then, he used to go out on the verandah every day to meet and talk with all who came to see him (this is the origin of the famous 'Talks with Sri Aurobindo' [[Evening Talks, noted by A.B. Purani. ]] ... - Mother is about to say something severe, then reconsiders - anyway ... ) I was living in the inner rooms and seeing no one; he was going out onto the verandah, seeing everyone, receiving people, speaking, discussing - I saw him only when he came back inside. After a while, I too began having meditations with people. I had begun a sort of 'overmental creation,' to make each god descend into a being - there was an extraordinary upward curve! Well, I was in contact with these beings and I told Krishna (because I was always seeing him around Sri Aurobindo), 'This is all very fine, but what I want now is a creation on earth - you must incarnate.' He said 'Yes.' Then I saw him - I saw him with my own eyes (inner eyes, of course), join himself to Sri Aurobindo. Then I went into Sri Aurobindo's room and told him, 'Here's what I have seen.' 'Yes, I know!' he replied (Mother laughs) 'That's fine; I have decided to retire to my room, and you will take charge of the people. You take charge.' (There were about thirty people at the time.) Then he called everyone together for one last meeting. He sat down, had me sit next to him, and said, 'I called you here to tell you that, as of today, I am withdrawing for purposes of sadhana, and Mother will now take charge of everyone; you should address yourselves to her; she will represent me and she will do all the work.' (He hadn't mentioned this to me! - Mother bursts into laughter) These people had always been very intimate with Sri Aurobindo, so they asked: 'Why, why, Why?' He replied, 'It will be explained to you.' I had no intention of explaining anything, and I left the room with him, but Datta began speaking. (She was an Englishwoman who had left Europe with me; she stayed here until her death - a person who received 'inspirations.') She said she felt Sri Aurobindo speaking through her and she explained everything: that Krishna had incarnated and that Sri Aurobindo was now going to do an intensive sadhana for the descent of the Supermind; that it meant Krishna's adherence to the Supramental Descent upon earth and that, as Sri Aurobindo would now be too occupied to deal with people, he had put me in charge and I would be doing all the work. This was in 1926. It was only ... (how can I put it?) a participation from Krishna. It made no difference for Sri Aurobindo personally: it was a formation from the past that accepted to participate in the present creation, nothing more. It was a descent of the Supreme, from ... some time back, now consenting to participate in the new manifestation. Shiva, on the other hand, refused. 'No,' he said, 'I will come only when you have finished your work. I will not come into the world as it is now, but I am ready to help.' He was standing in my room that day, so tall (laughing) that his head touched the ceiling! He was bathed in his own special light, a play of red and gold ... magnificent! Just as he is when he manifests his supreme consciousness - a formidable being! So I stood up and ... (I too must have become quite tall, because my head was resting on his shoulder, just slightly below his head) then he told me, 'No, I'm not tying
myself to a body, but I will give you ANYTHING you want.' The only thing I said (it was all done wordlessly, of course) was: 'I want to be rid of the physical ego.' Well, mon petit (laughing), it happened! It was extraordinary! ... After a while, I went to find Sri Aurobindo and said, 'See what has happened! I have a funny sensation (Mother laughs) of the cells no longer being clustered together! They're going to scatter! He looked at me, smiled and said, Not yet. And the effect vanished. But Shiva had indeed given me what I wanted! Not yet, Sri Aurobindo said. No, the time wasn't ripe. It was too early, much too early.
page 298-301 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd Aug. 1961.

All those zones of artistic creation are very high up in human consciousness, which is why art can be a wonderful tool for spiritual progress. For this world of creation is also the world of the gods; but the gods, I am sorry to say, have absolutely no taste for artistic creation. [[When she next saw Satprem, Mother added the following correction: "After you left, they came. It's not I who remembered - they MADE me remember! There was Saraswati saying, 'What about my sitar?' And Krishna, 'What about my flute?' (Mother laughs) There was another one also, I don't remember who. They were really upset! They told me right away, 'What are you talking about! We LOVE music.' All right. 'Fine,' I said (Mother laughs). It's true - Krishna is a great musician, and Saraswati is the perfection of expression.... Now that we have acknowledged their merits (Mother bows), go on with your reading." ]]

page 390 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Oct. 1962


But if the stories as we are told them are more or less true, I mean if they have any truth, there isn't ONE Avatar who stayed - they all left. Or else they're hiding well, because ... No one has ever met any of them, you see. There are people who go looking for them, but no one has ever met them. And their deaths have even been much talked about and often seem to have played a rather important role.
How do you mean no one has ever met them?
Physically. You see, it is said that Shiva lived on earth, that Krishna lived on earth. As for Buddha and Christ, we know they lived on earth - it raised enough rumpus! People even made more fuss about Christ's death than about his life. As for Buddha, he professed himself in favor of going away for good (although he didn't actually). But the others ...? They have of course told the story of Krishna's death - but they have told many stories. page 248 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 17th Oct 1964



-220_Krushchev.html



... I saw S.G. this morning, the person who went to America, who knew Kennedy and even spoke to him about the possibility of openly joining with Russia so as to exert pressure on the world and prevent armed disputes (he said, "to settle all border and territorial disputes in a peaceful way," beginning, of course, with China and India). Kennedy had been enthusiastic. The Russian ambassador had been summoned at once, and he had telephoned Khrushchev: enthusiastic over the idea (but this Khrushchev seems to be rather a good man). They were supposed to sort it out during a meeting at the U.N. At this point, Kennedy makes off....[[Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. ]] But the idea has been taken up again through Khrushchev and he continues to be quite enthusiastic. [[Khrushchev will be dismissed nine months later, on October 15. ]] It seems (I don't know if it's quite true, because it's Z [a Russian disciple] who says so) ... but Z sent him my article "A Dream,"[[See Addendum. ]] on the possibility of creating a small "international center" (I don't like the word "international," but never mind), and Khrushchev answered, "This idea is excellent, the entire world should make it a reality." Well, I don't know whether it's correct, but anyway the gentleman seems to be well-disposed. And this S.G. is very intimate with the U.S. ambassador in Delhi.... In brief, S.G. has sent me the new proposal - the first one, I had approved it, I had even put my blessings on it, and he had gone to see Nehru: Nehru immediately called both ambassadors for
a conference. [[Nehru will die four months later, on May 27. ]] At the time, I worked a good deal and things were moving.... Now, it seems that the new president [Johnson] is, for the time being, continuing what the other did: he won't upset the apple cart.... We'll see. If it succeeds, it will give some concrete expression to the effort of transformation without violence. page 28-29 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 18th Jan 1964


Yes, what is this "resignation" of Khrushchev going to do? [[The next day, October 16, the Chinese exploded their first atomic bomb. ]]
It looks serious. It would seem to be a revolt, because his son, too, has been kicked out. [[His son-in-law, Alexis Adzhubel, editor of Izvestia. ]]
Does it mean a setback?
Oh, a VIOLENT setback.
It's serious.
Things were on the mend between America and Russia (at China's expense! It was very funny). This is going to demolish everything.
page 244 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 17th Oct 1964


The Khrushchev affair has been a bad thing. But generally things in the outer world move in a zigzag; instead of going straight, they go like this (zigzag gesture): action, reaction, action, reaction.... That's what Théon always said: in the outer world, a victory for one side always means a sort of RIGHT to victory for the other side; and then he added, "Those who know must be ever vigilant and on the alert, so that when the enemies win a little victory (which may be a perfectly superficial and insignificant victory), they immediately win a big victory!" (Laughing) He said that with great humor. And I noticed that on the individual level, it's true. On the level of countries ... unfortunately, the people who determine the destiny of countries (the outer destiny) are incompetent and stupid, and they miss the opportunity. But that Khrushchev affair gave a right to a victory, you understand. It gave the other side a right to a victory.
I told you I would show you the photo of the man [Suslov] who's behind Khrushchev's downfall.
(Mother looks at the photo) He is only an instrument. I mean he isn't an Asuric incarnation. But a strong will. He isn't a being who acts consciously for the Adversary: he thinks he is doing the right thing.
He's a "theoretician."
Yes. Oh, he may have violent passions and reactions, and ambitions too, but he isn't one of those beings who know they are instruments of the great Asura - he's not that. He is less dangerous than that. Not like Hitler - who knew, of course. Hitler asserted that Falsehood should govern the world and that it was governing it. And he was very conscious of being the instrument of the Asura who had himself called "the Lord of Nations," who is precisely the present, current representation of the Asura of Falsehood (the one who was born "the Lord of Truth" - a lovely story ...). That's why Sri Aurobindo clearly and openly took the side of the Allies - it wasn't out of love for the British! page 280 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 14th Nov - 1964







-221_kundalini.html



We live perennially with a burden on our shoulders, something that bows our heads down, and we feel pulled, led by all kinds of external forces, we don't know by whom or what, nor where to - this is what men call Fate, Destiny. When you do yoga, one of the first experiences - the experience of the kundalini, as it is called here in India - is precisely one in which the consciousness rises, breaks through this hard 'lid,' here, at the crown of the head, and at last you emerge into the Light. Then you see, you know, you decide and you realize - difficulties may still remain, but truly speaking one is above them. Well, as a result of the supramental manifestation, it is THIS experience that came into the body. The body straightened its head up and felt its freedom, its independence.

page 112 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 17th Oct 1957

(Ah, let me say parenthetically that it wasn't AT ALL the ascent of a force like the ascent of the Kundalini! It had absolutely nothing to do with the Kundalini movement and the centers, it wasn't that at all.) But while re-descending, it was as though WITHOUT LEAVING THIS STATE, without leaving this state which remained conscious ALL the time, this supreme Consciousness began to reactivate the different centers: first here (Mother points to the center above the head and then touches the crown of the head, the forehead, throat, chest, etc.) then there, there, there. At each there was a pause while this new realization organized everything. It organized and made the necessary decisions, sometimes down to the most minute details: what had to be done in this case or said in that case; and all of that TOGETHER, at once, not one by one but seen entirely as a whole. It kept on descending - I noted many things, it was extremely interesting - down and down, farther and farther, right to the depths. Everything went on at the same time, [[Later, Mother added: 'All the experiences took place one after the other, but the new experience did not cancel the preceding one. The Consciousness - this supreme Unity that I had - remained all the time, to the very end, even while the other centers were awakening. And each center that awakened was a kind of addition, taking away nothing from what had come before. So at the end it was all simultaneous: a kind of global consciousness - total and simultaneous - of everything.... You see, while rising up (one is obliged to say "rising" and "descending" for otherwise one would never be understood), while "rising up" to reach this supreme Consciousness, all the rest was annulled, there was only That. When the supreme Consciousness was realized, it remained ALL the time, continuously, to the very end, it did not move; but meanwhile, the other centers began to awaken one after another. And each awakening center assumed its place but canceled nothing either of what had come before or of what was about to come, so that when I reached the end, all of it together was a simultaneous whole - the Supreme Consciousness.' When Satprem asked if this Supreme Consciousness was the 'New Consciousness,' Mother replied, 'Not "new!" One can't say "new" - Supreme Consciousness.' ]] simultaneously, and at the same time this supreme Consciousness was organizing everything separately. [[This entire experience and Mother's insistence that it all happened 'without moving,' unlike the experience of the ascent of the Kundalini, suggests that it is the supramental consciousness concealed in the depths of the cells, that somehow emerges and traverses all the layers until the junction is made with the most material body-consciousness. ]] This descending reorganization ended exactly when the clock struck one. At that moment I knew that I had to go into trance for the work to be perfected, but until then I was wide awake. So I slipped into trance.
page 42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 24th Jan. 1961

This "rising of the kundalini," I had it in ... I was still in Paris. It was before I came to India. I had read Vivekananda's books about it.... And when the Force rose, it emerged from the head through here (gesture at the top of the head); the [classic] experience was never described in that way. The Force came out and the consciousness settled here (gesture about eight inches above the head). So when I came here, I told Sri Aurobindo about it; he told me it had been the same thing with him, and that according to the teaching of [ancient] texts, you "cannot" live when that takes place: you die! So ... (laughing) he told me, "Here are two who haven't died!" The consciousness has remained there (gesture above), it didn't come down again; it's there, its always there.
But I often feel it there. I don't know if it's an illusion, but I feelit there much more often than below.
Yes. Oh, but it must be communicable. Here, slightly above the head (same gesture about eight inches), like this. Whenever I try to know something, it's always the same: everything stops and I listen there (gesture above), that's where I listen.

(silence)

And then, when I went back from here [to France, in 1915] ... I did something deliberately: all the energies of the last center [at the base of the spine] were drawn up here (gesture to the heart). But I felt centers BELOW the feet. I felt a center below the feet.... [[Sri Aurobindo writes this about the chakra at the base of the spine: "The Muladhar is the centre of the physical consciousness proper, and all below in the body is the sheer physical, which as it goes downward becomes increasingly subconscient, but the real seat of the subconscient is below the body, as the real seat of the higher consciousness (superconscient) is above the body." (Bases of Yoga, p. 133) ]] There was one below the feet, one at the knees, one here (gesture at the base of the spine), and all of it (Mother gestures, drawing the energies upward), like this, drawn up, and it came here (gesture to the heart).
page 257-58 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 11th July - 1970




-222_Yoga of the world.html



Night of April 12-13.[[ Mother gives the first part of this message in English. ]] Suddenly in the night I woke up with the full awareness of what we could call the Yoga of the world. The Supreme Love was manifesting through big pulsations, and each pulsation was bringing the world further in its manifestation. It was the formidable pulsations of the eternal, stupendous Love, only Love: each pulsation of the Love was carrying the universe further in its manifestation. And the certitude that what is to be done is done and the Supramental Manifestation is realized. Everything was Personal, nothing was individual. This was going on and on and on and on.... The certitude that what is to be done is DONE. All the results of the Falsehood had disappeared: Death was an illusion, Sickness was an illusion, Ignorance was an illusion - something that had no reality, no existence.... Only Love, and Love, and Love, and Love - immense, formidable, stupendous, carrying everything. And how, how to express in the world? It was like an impossibility, because of the contradiction.... But then it came: "You have accepted that this world should know the Supramental Truth ... and it will be expressed totally, integrally." Yes, yes....
And the thing is DONE.

(long silence)

The individual consciousness came back, just the sense of a limitation, limitation of pain; without that, no individual.[[ Here Mother begins speaking French. ]] And we set off again on the way, certain of the Victory. The heavens are ringing with chants of Victory! Truth alone exists; Truth alone shall manifest. Onward! ... Onward! Gloire à Toi, Seigneur, Triomphateur suprême! [[Glory to You, Lord, Triumphant One supreme. ]]

(silence)

And now, to work. Patience ... endurance ... perfect equanimity. And absolute faith.

(silence)

Compared to the experience, whatever I say is nothing, nothing, nothing but words. And our consciousness is the same, absolutely the same as the Lord's. There was no difference, no difference at all.... We are That, we are That, we are That.

(silence)

Later on, I will explain it more clearly. The instrument is not yet ready. It is only the beginning. [[A tape cassette of this message is available. ]]

***

Mother later added: The experience lasted at least four hours. There are many things I will speak of later.
page 131-32 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 13th April 1962








-223_Lake Estate.html


(While filing various old papers, notes, etc., Mother happens

upon the plan for a film studio at the lake')

It's at the lake. The property belonged to the mission and at that time its manager was a very good friend of ours, even though he was a missionary. He said that he would arrange for us to have it. Everything was arranged, and I was to receive the money to buy it (they asked for more than fifty or sixty thousand rupees#). But then the money didn't come and our missionary friend left. He's no longer there; he's been replaced by someone else. (Mother looks at a piece of paper) 'Calling Antonin Raymond3.' The architect for the construction. Then there was also 'making ready temporary quarters for Z4.' But then Z left; he died. That's what happens - things change. It's not that the project stops, but it's forced to take other paths. But this film project has been completely abandoned now, hasn't it? No, no. You see, it wasn't a studio - it was a school, a school of photography, television and film. It's not at all buried. But L has enlarged the program. (Mother indicates the plan) This is only a small part of his extensive total program. He is planning to have a school of agriculture, a modern dairy with grazing land - there's a lot of agriculture, really a lot - fruit orchards, large rice fields, many things. And then a ceramics factory. My ceramics factory will be at the far end of the lake, so as to utilize the clay - the government has agreed; as they have to dig out the lake one day, we shall use the top soil for the fields. First we'll remove all the pebbles (you know, there are hills over there), which can be used for construction - it's a mine of pebbles. After removing the pebbles, there will be holes which then we'll fill with earth from the lake. And below this earth is a thick 1. Some five miles from Pondicherry. 2. About $7,000. 3. The architect who had already built 'Golconde,' the Ashram guest house. 4. An American filmmaker.

and compact layer of clay which is so hard it can't be used for farming - it's impossible - but it's wonderful for making ceramics. So right at the very end, in Indian territory,' we'll have a large ceramics industry. On the other side, we'll have a little factory for firing clay. All this is huge. A tremendous program.# We can file it with the other things.

page 408-09 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 Aug. 1960






-224_language for Auroville.html



The French language is very literary and mental, isn't it?
Yes, it's very rigid.
Rigid, yes. They're beginning to wonder what Auroville's language will be. I think it will be a language that will ... (Laughing) The children are setting the example: they know several languages and make sentences with words from every language, and ... it's quite colorful!

It's like the Americans. Their language ... the English say that have totally spoilt the language, but the Americans say that the way they speak has more life. That's how it is.

People who speak Esperanto wrote me an official letter to say how many they are (a considerable number), and that they would like their Esperanto to be Auroville's language.... There are lots of people who speak that language, lots. Everywhere, I think. I got that letter two or three days ago.
But Auroville's language, let it just be born spontaneously!
Yes, spontaneously, naturally! Ah, we shouldn't intervene. For the time being, I write birth certificates in French.... And when there is a central organization (which will be like a town hall or a municipality, I don't know - anything), if passports are given, they will be citizens of the world.... So everywhere people will start saying, "They're a bit mad," and then in a hundred years ... it will be natural. I remember the beginning of the century (of this century, before you were born), and now ... there has been a tremendous CHANGE!

page 128 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , March 28 - 1970




-225_letter Barin-da.html

-226_letter from M.html

-227_Library house.html



I was given a similar experience with the sea.... In the house where I distribute "prosperity"[[ Library House, where Sri Aurobindo and Mother lived for several years (from 1922 to February 1927). ]] there's a veranda with a little nook, and set in the nook is a window (not a window, actually - an opening), and through the opening you can glimpse a patch of sea, no bigger than this (gesture). And at that time too the body was feeling closed in, a little weary and confined. I used to give meditations to about twenty people on the veranda (afterwards I would always tell Sri Aurobindo what had gone on). And one day, as I am walking across the veranda to give the meditation, I turn my eye and ... I see the sea. And suddenly it was all oceanic immensity - and with a sense of free sailing, from one place to another.... The sea breeze, the taste of the sea, and the sense of immensity, vastness, freedom ... something limitless. It lasted a quarter of an hour, twenty minutes. My body came out of it refreshed, as if I had gone for a long sail. I want to emphasize that the effect is PHYSICAL: the experience is concrete and has a physical effect. That's what I would like to give you.
Mother's Agenda , volume - 3 , 1963 , page 173 , May 29 .




-228_On Language.html



And after all, what we want ... we know that we need, not an artificially new language, but something supple enough to be able to adapt to the needs of a new CONSCIOUSNESS; and that's probably how that language will emerge, from a number of old languages, through the disappearance of habits. What's specific to each language (apart from a few differences in words) is the order in which ideas are presented: the construction of sentences. The Japanese (and the Chinese even more so) have solved the problem by using only the sign of the idea. Now, under the influence from outside, they have added phonetic signs to build a sentence; but even now the order in the construction of the ideas is different. It's different in Japan and in China. And unless you FEEL this, you can never know a foreign language really well. So we speak according to our very old habit (and basically it's more convenient for us simply because it comes automatically). But when I "receive," for instance, it's not even a thought: it's Sri Aurobindo's formulated consciousness; then, to be expressed there is a sort of progressive approximation, and sometimes it comes very clearly; but very often it's a spontaneous mixture of French and English forms and I feel it's something else trying to be expressed. At times (he follows my notation), he makes me correct something; at other times it comes perfectly well - it depends.... Oh, it depends on the limpidity. If you are very tranquil, it comes very well. And there, too, I see it's not really French and not really English. It's not so much the words (words are nothing) as the ORDER in which things come up. And when afterwards I look at it objectively, I see that it's in part the order in which they come in French and in part the order in which they come in English. And the result is a mixture which is neither one language nor the other and endeavors to express ... what might be called "a new way of consciousness." It leads me to think that something will be worked out that way, and that any too strict, too narrow attachment to the old rules is a hindrance to the evolution of expression. From that point of view, French is a long way behind English - English is much more supple. But the languages in countries like China and Japan that use ideograms seem to be infinitely more supple than our own.
Certainly!
They can express new ideas and things far more easily through juxtaposition of signs. But now, with this "new logic" and "new mathematics," a whole set of new signs is beginning to be universal, that is to say, the same signs express the same ideas or things in all countries, whatever language is used in the country, quite independently. These new thoughts and new experiences, this new logic and new mathematics, are now taught in higher classes, but all the primary and secondary studies have remained in the old formula, so I have been very seriously thinking of opening primary and secondary schools in Auroville, based on the new system - as a trial. So what should be done there (and what I try to do) is the same work of receptive silence and to let inspiration, the inspirational consciousness, gather the necessary elements. For that we must be very tranquil. We must be very supple, in the sense of surrendered; I mean, allow as little habitual activity as possible to mix in - be almost like automatons. But with the full perception of the consciousness trying to be expressed, so that nothing gets mixed in with it. That's the most important thing: to receive this consciousness and hold it like ... really like something sacred, without anything getting mixed in with it, like that. So then, there is a problem of attraction, we might say, and of concretization in the formula. [[The "attraction" of the words in which this consciousness will be clothed. ]] I always say to myself that if I knew a lot of languages, it would all be made use of; unfortunately I know only two (properly speaking I know only two) and I have only very superficial and minimal glimpses of two or three others - that's not enough. Only, I had a contact with very different methods: the method of the Far East and the Sanskrit method, and of course the methods of the West. It does give a sort of base, but it's not sufficient - I am poles apart from erudition. I have always felt that erudition shrivels up thought - it parches the brain. (I have great respect for erudite people, oh indeed, and I seek their advice, but ... for myself it won't do!)
Well, I think it should be the same thing with language. One should be tuned in to someone in that way, or through that someone to something still higher: the Origin. And then, very, very passive. But not inertly passive: vibrantly passive, receptive, like that, attentive, letting "that" come in and be expressed. The result would be there to see.... As I said, we are limited by what we know, but that may be because we're still too much of a "person"; if we could be perfectly plastic it might be different: there have been instances of people speaking in a language they didn't know, therefore ... It's interesting.
page 56-59 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 18th Feb - 1967


When it comes to languages, it's very interesting.... Those are things that come, stay for an hour or two, then go away, they are like lessons, things to be learned. And so, one day, there came the question of languages, the different languages. Those languages took shape little by little (probably through usage, until, as you said, one day someone took it into his head to fix it in a logical and grammatical way), but behind those languages, there are identical experiences - identical in their essence - and there are certainly sounds that correspond to those experiences; you find those sounds in all languages, the different sounds with minor alterations One day, for a long time (more than an hour), it unfolded with ail the proof in support, for all languages. Unfortunately, I didn't see clearly, it was in the night, so I couldn't note it down and it went away. But it should be able to come back. It was really interesting ... (Mother tries to recall the experience) There were even languages I had never heard: I've heard many European languages, in India several Indian languages, chiefly Sanskrit, and then, Japanese And there were languages I had never heard. It was all there. And there were sounds, certain sounds that come from all the way up, sounds ... (how can I explain?), sounds we might call "essential." And I saw how they took shape and were distorted in languages (Mother draws a sinuous line that branches out on its way down) Sounds like the affirmative and the negative - what, for us, is "yes" and "no" - and also the expression of certain relationships (Mother tries to remember). But the interesting point was that it came with all the words, loads of words I didn't know! And at that time I knew them (it comes from a subconscient somewhere), I knew all those words. At the same time, there was a sort of capacity or possibility, a state in which one was able to understand all languages; that is every language was understood because of its connection with that region (gesture to the heights, at the origin of sounds). There didn't seem to be any difficulty in understanding every language.
There was a sort of almost graphic explanation (same sinuous line branching out on its way down) showing how the sound had been distorted to express this or that or ... It's a whole field of observation that's part of the study of vibrations: how essential vibrations are distorted as they spread out, and thus produce the different states - on the psychological level, on the level of thought, on the level of action, and also of languages, of expression.

page 216 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 15th July - 1967




-229_Life Divine.html



"The importance of the body is obvious; it is because he has developed or been given a body and brain capable of receiving and serving a progressive mental illumination that man has risen above the animal. Equally, it can only be by developing a body or at least a functioning of the physical instrument capable of receiving and serving a still higher illumination that he will rise above himself and realise, not merely in thought and in his internal being but in life, a perfectly divine manhood. Otherwise either the promise of Life is cancelled, its meaning annulled and earthly being can only realise Sachchidananda by abolishing itself, by shedding from it mind, life and body and returning to the pure Infinite, or else man is not the divine instrument, there is a destined limit to the consciously progressive power which distinguishes him from all other terrestrial existences and as he has replaced them in the front of things, so another must eventually replace him and assume his heritage."

(The Life Divine, XVIII.231)

page 237 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 24th Jul 1963


Then Mother comments again on Sri Aurobindo's second letter: And were Love to manifest before Truth, there would be catastrophes. It's curious, for a-very long time, for months and almost years, something always stopped me when I asked for Love's manifestation, a sort of very clear impression: "No, it isn't time yet, it isn't time yet...." Until suddenly one day it started off and there came an overwhelming Response. That was several months ago, and ever since then there has been a Response - an ever-increasing Response. Yet I can't say in all sincerity that the Truth has manifested' Perhaps the preparation is sufficient? Perhaps it's an individual question - yet my action isn't individual, there's a constant perception of the earth's atmosphere. Never mind, to say so gives some comfort!
page 238 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 24th Jul 1963


Then: "The importance of the body is obvious; it is because he has developed or been given a body and brain capable of receiving and serving a progressive mental illumination that man has risen above the animal. Equally, it can only be by developing a body or at least a functioning of the physical instrument capable of receiving and serving a still higher illumination that he will rise above himself and realise, not merely in thought and in his internal being but in life, a perfectly divine manhood. Otherwise either the promise of Life is cancelled its meaning annulled and earthly being can only realise Sachchidananda by abolishing itself, by shedding from it mind, life and body and returning to the pure Infinite, or else man is not the divine instrument, there is a destined limit to the consciously progressive power which distinguishes him from all other terrestrial existences and as he has replaced them in the front of things, so another must eventually replace him and assume his heritage."

(The Life Divine, XVIII.231)

I understand! I have been preoccupied with this all the time.

(silence)

But Sri Aurobindo's conclusion is that it isn't this [the body] that can change: it will be a new being.
No! He says "if" man cannot, it will be a new being.
No, I don't mean here in this text, I mean in the things he wrote afterwards. ?... Besides, it's the same problem, because ... Can a body change?... It does seem very difficult - though not impossible. It's not impossible, but ... it's such a formidable labor that life is too short. So even there, something needs to be changed, that habit of wear and tear is indeed a terrible thing. page 195 - Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 24th June 1967







-231_Lord of death.html



The power of this Titan comes from an Asura. There are four Asuras. Two have already been converted, and the other two, the Lord of Death and the Lord of Falsehood, made an attempt at conversion by taking on a physical body - they have been intimately associated with my life. The story of these Asuras would be very interesting to recount ... The Lord of Death disappeared; he lost his physical body, and I don't know what has become of him.' As for the other, the Lord of Falsehood, the one who now rules over this earth, he tried hard to be converted, but he found it disgusting!

page 288 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 26th March 1959



-232_Lord of falsehood.html



The power of this Titan comes from an Asura. There are four Asuras. Two have already been converted, and the other two, the Lord of Death and the Lord of Falsehood, made an attempt at conversion by taking on a physical body - they have been intimately associated with my life. The story of these Asuras would be very interesting to recount ... The Lord of Death disappeared; he lost his physical body, and I don't know what has become of him.' As for the other, the Lord of Falsehood, the one who now rules over this earth, he tried hard to be converted, but he found it disgusting!

page 288 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 26th March 1959


And the only concrete thing left in this world - this world of illusion - is pain. It seems to me the very essence of Falsehood.

page 153 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th May 1962




-233_Lord of nations.html


The power of this Titan comes from an Asura. There are four Asuras. Two have already been converted, and the other two, the Lord of Death and the Lord of Falsehood, made an attempt at conversion by taking on a physical body - they have been intimately associated with my life. The story of these Asuras would be very interesting to recount ... The Lord of Death disappeared; he lost his physical body, and I don't know what has become of him.' As for the other, the Lord of Falsehood, the one who now rules over this earth, he tried hard to be converted, but he found it disgusting! At times he calls himself the 'Lord of Nations.' It is he who sets all wars in motion, and only by thwarting his plans could the last war be won ... This one does not want to be converted, not at all. He wants neither the physical transformation nor the supramental world, for that would spell his end. Besides, he knows ... We talk to each other; beyond all this, we have our relationship. For after all, you see (laughing), I am his mother! One day he told me, 'I know you will destroy me, but meanwhile, I will create all the havoc possible.'
page 288 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 26th March 1959

He wrote 'The Lord of Nations'.... And I saw him, oh! I saw this Lord of Nations. During the last war [World War III I had some dealings with him again, but not through Richard - directly. The being who used to appear to Hitler was the Lord of Nations. An incredible story! ... And I knew when they were going to meet (because after all, he's my son! [[ See conversation of July 28, p. 279. ]] That was the funniest part of it); and on one occasion I substituted myself for him, became Hitler's god and advised him to attack Russia. Two days later he attacked Russia. But upon leaving the 'meeting' I encountered the other one [the real Asura] just as he was arriving! He was furious and asked me why I had done that. 'It's none of your business,' I said, 'it's what had to be done.' 'You will see,' he replied, 'I KNOW, I know you will destroy me, but before being destroyed I will wreak just as much havoc as I can, you can be sure of that.'

page 373 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 5th Nov. 1961


I have told you about my dealings with the Lord of Nations on several occasions - it's that kind of thing. It can hardly be called collaboration! The great ones know (I am not speaking of the multitude of minor beings, but the others; there are millions of emanations - emanations by the truckload! - but only a few great ones), they know enough to be aware of their own position in the universe and that they will come to an end. They know there is such a thing as the Supreme (although they deny it), and that they are cut off from the Supreme, and that they will come to an end. But they have taken a stand against the Work, the Action, the Progress, and are intent on destroying as much as they can. Some of them get converted. Their conversion means a great entity joining the divine Work - but that seldom happens. page 118- Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th March 1962




-235_love.html



Love, in its essence and in its origin, is like a white flame obliterating ALL resistances. You can have the experience yourself: whatever the difficulty in your being, whatever the weight of accumulated mistakes, the ignorance, incapacity, bad will, a single SECOND of this Love - pure, essential, supreme - melts everything in its almighty flame. One single moment and an entire past can vanish. One single TOUCH of That in its essence and the whole burden is consumed

page 20 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 10th Jan. 1961

And when the day comes for the manifestation of supreme Love - a crystalized, concentrated descent of supreme Love - that will truly be the hour of Transformation, for nothing will be able to resist That. But as it's all-powerful, a certain receptivity must be prepared on earth so its effects are not devastating. Sri Aurobindo has explained it in one of his letters. Someone asked him, 'Why doesn't this Love come now?', and he replied something like this: If divine Love in its essence were to manifest on earth, it would be like an explosion; for the earth is not supple enough or receptive enough to widen to the measure of this Love. The earth must not only open itself but become wide and supple. Matter - not just physical Matter, but the substance of the physical consciousness as well - is still much too rigid.
page 21 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 10th Jan. 1961

Love is not sexual intercourse. Love is not vital attraction and interchange. Love is not the heart's hunger for affection. Love is a mighty vibration coming straight from the One. And only the very pure and very strong are capable of receiving and manifesting it. Then an explanation on what I mean by "pure," the very pure and very strong: To be pure is to be open only to the Supreme's influence, and to no other. Far more difficult than what people consider purity to be! Which is something quite artificial and false.
page 319 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 25th Sep 1963


If divine Love were to descend first, before divine Truth, certain beings with a special power or receptivity might draw it into themselves, personally, and then all those wrong impulses might occur.[["Otherwise Love itself blinded by the confusions of this present consciousness may stumble in its human receptacles and, even otherwise, may find itself unrecognised, rejected or rapidly degenerating and lost in the frailty of man's inferior nature." ]] But if this divine Love descends only in the Truth, in the Truth-Consciousness, it will enter someone only if that person is ready to receive it. Without a preparation of Truth, there might occur a very powerful attraction of elements unable to keep that Love in its purity; whereas if the preparation of Truth has been done, with that preparation, It will CHOOSE, in order to manifest, the persons, the individualities, who are ready.


page 336 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 3rd Oct 1963


Unlike human love which is for some and not for the others, my love is for the Supreme Lord alone, but as the Supreme Lord is all, my love is for all equally. The Lord's love is equal, constant, all-embracing, immutable, eternal. page 131 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 22nd Jul 1964


Human love, what people call "love," even at its best, even taking it in its purest essence, is something that goes to one person, but not to another: you love SOME people (sometimes even you love only certain qualities in some people); you love SOME people, and that means it's partial and limited. And even for those who are incapable of hatred there is a number of people and things that they are indifferent to: there is no love (in most cases). That love is limited, partial and defined. It's unstable, moreover: man (I mean the human being) is unable to feel love in a continuous way, always with the same intensity - at certain times, for a moment, it becomes very intense and powerful, and at other times it grows dim; sometimes, it falls completely asleep. And that's under the best conditions - I am not speaking of all the degradations, I am speaking of the feeling people call "love," which is the feeling closest to true love; that's how it is: partial, limited, unstable and fluctuating.

page 133 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 22nd Jul 1964


Love is the single, supreme means of manifestation. And Manifestation automatically implies unfolding. And this conception (because ail this is the way in which the human consciousness is able to approach things), this conception of an eternal simultaneousness - an eternal, coexistent simultaneousness - is a very clumsy and human translation of the state of nonmanifestation. Because Manifestation automatically implies unfolding: without unfolding there is no Manifestation. But human thought, even speculative thought, is so clumsy and childish; it always confuses the two notions: the notion of unfolding and the notion of the unforeseen or unexpected; the notion of unfolding and the notion of the "new" creation, of something that is created and was not - all this is so ... (Mother knocks her papers across the table). You see (laughing), my things are protesting! page 262 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 30th Oct - 1964


A little later, regarding another note:

"In spiritual life, one is always a virgin every

time ...

I never sent it. It was someone (a Frenchwoman) who had a rather curious experience and wrote to me she had suddenly felt that, in love, she was a virgin when she met me, and that it was with a virgin's love that she came to me. So I answered, because it's true:

"... one is always a virgin every time one

awakens to a new love, for in each case it is a

new part of the being, a new state of being

that awakens to divine Love."

I wrote it, but didn't send it. page 119 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 5th June - 1965




-236_LSD.html



Have you heard of the drugs?...[[Mother is referring to LSD, a derivation of lysergic acid. ]] Have you seen pictures?... I saw pictures.... People are hurled utterly defenseless into the lowest vital, and, according to their nature, either it's horrifying or they find it marvelous. For instance, the fabric covering a cushion or a seat is suddenly filled with marvelous beauty. So it lasts for two hours, three hours like that. Naturally, they are quite mad while it lasts. And the trouble is that people call it "spiritual experiences," and there's nobody to tell them that it has nothing to do with spiritual experiences. There is an Italian here, whom I saw the other day with his wife (his wife is nice; he has long hair and a mystic air ... "mystic" is a way of speaking: mysticism for a theater stage). I didn't find them very interesting, but they intend to stay here for three or four months. And today, he has written me a letter in French. And in that letter there are many things; first he says he had an experience here - and those people are terrible, mon petit, as soon as they have the slightest experience, they're scared! So naturally, everything stops. But that's beside the point. Then, in that connection, he says he took that drug and he describes the effect (Mother shows Satprem a passage of the letter): "The second time, with a normal dose of LSD (lysergic acid), as I rose in that luminous situation, I had terrible visions, the walls of my room came alive with thousands of malignant and desperate faces that persecuted me till night...." There. And it goes on. Then he says he had an experience here, and he's scared. But anyway, it has given me one more proof.... I saw pictures in Life (there were photos): you feel you've stepped into an insane asylum. But he had the experience, which proves that his vital ... Of course, it's the images recorded in the subconscient (images of thoughts, images of sensations, images of feelings recorded in the subconscient), which become objective: they rise to the surface and become objective. So it gives the exact picture of what's inside you! If, for instance, you have a sensation or thought that someone is nasty or ridiculous or doesn't love you, anyway, opinions of that sort, it generally surfaces in dreams; but there [with drugs], you aren't asleep, yet you have the dream! They come and play the game of what you thought of them: what you thought of them comes upon you in their form. So it's an indication: for those who see smiling, pleasant, beautiful things, it means that the inner, vital condition is good enough, but with those who see terrifying or malicious things, or things like that, it means the vital isn't pretty.


page 112-13 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 18th may - 1966




-239_Maheshwari's light.html



(Mother leafs through "The Mother" by Sri Aurobindo, then reads:)

Here: "Imperial Maheshwari is seated in the wideness above the thinking mind and will and sublimates and greatens them into wisdom and largeness or floods with a splendour beyond them. For she is the mighty and wise One who opens us to the supramental infinities and the cosmic vastness, to the grandeur of the supreme Light, to a treasure-house of miraculous knowledge, to the ..."[[We give the complete passage in Addendum. ]] There isn't enough light for me.... But there was a sentence there that suited you marvelously.

(Mother reads again further on:)


"Equal, patient and unalterable in her will she deals with men according to their nature and with things and happenings according to their Force and the truth that is in them. Partiality she has none, but she follows the decrees of the Supreme and some she raises up and some she casts down or puts away from her into the darkness. To the wise she gives a greater and more luminous wisdom ..." You should read all this passage. I am looking for that sentence....
You'll tire your eyes....

(Mother reads further on:)

"Yet has she more than any other the heart of the universal Mother. For her compassion is endless ... I can't see - I am imagining more than seeing....
You're tiring your eyes, leave it.

(Mother reads on:)

"... is endless and inexhaustible; all are to her eyes her children and portions of the One, even the Asura and Rakshasa and Pisacha and those that are revolted and hostile. Even her rejections are only a postponement, even her punishments are a grace...." All this passage. I am sorry, my eyes have become ... When there's plenty of light I can see very well.
You're getting tired.
Yes. But anyway, She is the one. page 19-20 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 4th Jan 1964


But before you go to sleep, do this: you picture (picture it if you don't see it), you picture a white light. It isn't a crystalline light, mind you, it isn't transparent: it's white - absolutely white, a very bright white, a white light that looks solid. Picture it like that (and it is indeed like that, but you picture it): a white light. It is the light of the Creation, what is she called? ... Maheshwari? (Laughing) The supreme Lady up there.
Yes, Maheshwari.
Maheshwari's light. But it seems I always had it, because when Madame Théon saw me, it's the first thing she told me; she didn't speak of "Maheshwari," but she said, "You have the white light" that automatically dissolves all ill will. And I did experience it: I saw beings crumble into dust. So you take that, picture that, and you build a cocoon around yourself - you know, just as insects build their own cocoons - you build a cocoon before falling asleep. I will do it here, but your "picturing" is to help it be better adapted, better adjusted. You build a cocoon, and when you are quite wrapped in that white cocoon, when the enemies cannot get through it, you let yourself go into sleep. Then all that comes from outside with a manifest ill will cannot get in. That's certain. Naturally, there is what one carries in one's subconscient ... one must eliminate that by one's own will, little by little. But this Light is all-powerful, mon petit! (Speaking to Sujata:) You too can do the same thing if you have enemies at night. page 174 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 10th July - 1965




-240_Mailam temple.html



I have seen other things - but I have rarely seen anything favorable in churches. Here, I remember going to M I was taken inside and received there in quite an unusual way - a highly respected person introduced me as a 'great saint'! They led me up to the main altar where people are not usually allowed to go, and what did I see there! ... An asura (oh, not a very high-ranking one, more like a rakshasa [[Rakshasa: demon of the vital plane, as opposed to an asura, a demon of the mental world. ]] ), but such a monster! Hideous.... So I went wham! (gesture of giving a blow) I thought something was going to happen.... But this being left the altar and came over to try to intimidate me; of course, he saw it was useless, so he offered to make an alliance: 'If you just keep quiet and don't do anything, I will share all I get with you.' Well, I sent him packing! The head of this Math [[Math: monastery. ]] .... It was a Math with a monastery and temple, which means a substantial fortune; the head of the Math has it all at his disposal for as long as he holds the position - and he is appointed for life. But he has to name his successor ... and as a rule, his own life is considerably shortened by the successor - this is how it works. Everyone knew that the present head had considerably shortened the life of his predecessor. And what a creature! As asuric as the god he worshipped! I saw some poor fellows throw themselves at his feet (he must have been squeezing them pitilessly), to beg forgiveness and mercy - an absolutely ruthless man. But he received me - you should have seen it! ... I said nothing, not a word about their god; I gave no sign that I knew anything. But I thought to myself, 'So that's how it is! ...'

page 195 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 29th April - 1961




-241_man to superman.html



(Regarding an old Playground Talk of December 4, 1957, in which Mother asked: "Will there be a gradual transition from what we are now to what our inner spirit aspires to become, or will there be a break, will we have to leave our present human form behind until a new form emerges - an emergence whose process we cannot foresee, of a new form without any connection to what we are today? Can we expect this body, our means of manifestation on earth until now, to be transformed progressively into something capable of expressing higher life, or will we have to abandon this form altogether in order to take on another one not yet born on earth?" Mother adds:)

Why not both? Both forms will be at the same time. One does not preclude the other.
Yes, but will the one be transformed into the other?
It will be transformed and will be an outline, as it were, of the new one. When this outline comes into being, the other, the perfect form, will appear. Because both have their own beauty and purpose, and so both will be there. The mind always tries to make an exclusive choice or decision - that's not the way. Even the totality of what we are able to imagine is very little compared to what will be. The truth is, everyone with an intense aspiration and inner certitude will be called to realize it. Everywhere, in all fields, always and forever, all is possible. And all that is possible WILL BE at a given moment - a moment that may be short or long, but all will be. Just as they found many sorts of transient possibilities that existed between animals and man, so too there will be many different possibilities: each one will try in his own way. And all that together will help prepare for the future realization. The question we could ask is: Will the human species be like those species that met with extinction? Some species became extinct (though not species that lasted as long as the human species, as far as I know (?), and also not those which had in them the seed of progress, a possibility of progress). The impression is rather that evolution will follow a curve drawing nearer and nearer to a higher species, and maybe all that is still too close to the lower species will fall away, just as those species fell away in the past. We always forget that not only is everything possible - everything, even the most contradictory things - but every possibility is given at least one moment of existence. page 65-66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 6th March 1963




-242_Man.html


Man on earth [[Satprem later asked if this 'on earth' wasn't superfluous and Mother replied: 'This precision is not superfluous; I said "on earth" meaning that man does not belong only to the earth: in his essence, man is a universal being, but he has a special manifestation on earth.' ]] is a transitional being and as a consequence, in the course of his evolution, he has had several successive natures following an ascending curve which they will continue to follow until he touches the threshold of the supramental nature and is transformed into a superman. This curve is the spiral of mental development. We tend to apply the word 'natural' to all spontaneous manifestation not resulting from a choice or a preconceived decision - that is, with no intrusion of mental activity. That's why a man with an only slightly mentalized vital spontaneity seems more 'natural' to us in his simplicity. But this naturalness bears a close resemblance to the animal's and is quite low on the human evolutionary scale. Man will not recapture this spontaneity free of mental
intrusion until he attains the supramental level, until he goes beyond the mind and emerges into the higher Truth. Up to that point, all his modes of being are naturally natural! But with the mind's intrusion, evolution was, if not falsified, then deformed, because by its very nature the mind was open to perversion and it became perverted almost from the start (or to be more exact, it was perverted by the asuric forces). And what appears unnatural to us now is this state of perversion. At any rate, it's a deformation. You ask why man questions himself, but this is the nature of the mind! Along with the mind came individualization, an acute sense of separation and a more or less precise feeling of a freedom of choice - all of that, all these psychological states, are the natural consequences of mental life and open the door to everything we see now, from the worst aberrations to the most rigorous principles. Man's impression of being free to choose between one thing and another is the deformation of a true principle that will be totally realizable only when the soul or psychic being becomes conscious in him; were the soul to govern the being, man's life would truly be a conscious expression of the supreme Will translated individually. But in the normal human state, such a case is still extremely rare and doesn't seem at all natural to ordinary human consciousness - it seems almost supernatural! Man questions himself because the mental instrument is made for seeing all possibilities and because the human being feels he has freedom of choice ... and the immediate consequences are the notions of good and evil, right and wrong, and all the ensuing miseries. This can't be called a bad thing: it's an intermediate stage - not a very pleasant stage, but nevertheless ... it was certainly inevitable for a total development.
page 128 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 17th March - 1961

It's the same with the gods, mon petit, the same thing! The relationship with all those beings of the Overmind, with all those gods, the form those relationships take depends on the human consciousness. You can be ... The scriptures say, "Man is cattle for the gods" - but that's if man ACCEPTS the role of cattle. There is in the essence of human nature a sovereignty over all those things which is spontaneous and natural, when it's not warped by a certain number of ideas and a certain amount of so-called knowledge. We could say that man is the all-powerful master of all the states of being of his nature, but that he has forgotten to be so. His natural state is to be all-powerful - he has forgotten to be so. In that state of oblivion, everything becomes "concrete," yes, in the sense that you may have a mark on the eye (it can be expressed by that), but that's because ... because you allowed it to happen. It's the same thing with gods: they can rule your life and torment you quite a lot (they can also help you a lot), but their power IN RELATION TO YOU, in relation to the human being, is the power you give them. That's something I have learned little by little for several years. But now, I am sure of it. Naturally, in the evolutionary curve, it was necessary for man to forget his all-powerfulness, because it had quite simply puffed him up with conceit and vanity, and so it was completely distorted and he had to be given the sense that lots of things were stronger and more powerful than he. But essentially, it's not true. It's a necessity in the curve of progress, that's all. Man is a potential god. He thought he was a realized god. He needed to learn that he was nothing but a puny little worm crawling on the earth, and so life planed and filed him down in every way till he ... "understood" isn't the word, but anyway, felt to some extent. But as soon as he assumes the true position, he knows he is a potential god. Only, he must become it, that is, he must overcome all that isn't it. This relationship with the gods is extremely interesting. As long as man is dazzled, in admiration before the power, beauty, realizations of those divine beings, he is their slave. But when they are, to him, ways of being of the Supreme and nothing more, and when he himself is another way of being of the Supreme, which he must become, then the relationship is different and he is no longer their slave - he is NOT their slave. page 114-15 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 18th May - 1966


Today is the birthday of Jyotin, the gardener. He brought me this, look! ... (Mother gives a double pink lotus) It's beautiful.

The day man will be like this ...
There, exactly! Exactly what I was thinking. When you see this, you feel your infirmity. (Mother looks at the flower again) It's wonderful, isn't it? Man really isn't an improvement! ... He is full of miseries and ugly things, while this is so simple, so spontaneous.
page 155-56 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Jul - 1966




-243_manifestation.html



What I mean by "experience" is something totally different from what people normally understand. It's something almost ... not new as such but assuming a new reality. It is not "experiencing what one knows" - that's taken for granted, it's banal - but.... We would need another word. Instead of knowing something (even a knowledge far superior to mental knowledge, even a very integral knowledge), you ... become the power that makes it BE.

Essentially, it is becoming the tapas [energy] of things - the tapas of the universe.

The Manifestation is always said to begin with Sachchidananda: first Sat, pure Existence; then Chit, the awareness of this Existence; and then Ananda, the Delight of Existence which makes it go on. But between Chit and Ananda there is Tapas - that is, Chit realizing itself. And when you become this tapas, this tapas of things, you have the knowledge that gives the power to change.[[ Tapas: literally, heat. It is the concentrated energy constituting everything - not generated by some mechanism, but by the very concentration of the power of Consciousness (chit). In Indian tradition, the world was created by Tapas in the form of an egg - the primordial egg - which broke open from the incubating heat of consciousness-force and gave birth to the world. To "become the tapas of things" is to uncover in one's own material, bodily substance that same formidable, supramental seat of energy (what physicists, following Einstein, call atomic energy: E = mc2), the energy that animates the stone and the bird and the universe - for then like can act upon like. Mother was reaching that point. ]] The tapas of things is what governs their existence in the Manifestation.

You see, I am expressing this for the first time, but I began to live it a while back. When you are THERE, you have a feeling of (what shall I say?) of such formidable power! The universal power, really. You have the sense of total mastery over the universe.

But you can't put that in.

page 93 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 24th Feb 1962


You see, all of a sudden, through the intensity of the aspiration, of that sort of thirst for "the Thing," contact is made - contact is made; it isn't even a contact between two different things, it is ... That which is all. But it is in Time that the Thing is expressed, and then it doesn't last, so much so that even the resulting effect doesn't seem to be able to last. Although there is something there that contradicts: the effect is lasting, but imperceptible as long as it isn't general; so immediately it's a translation into the world of Time, Space, and so on. Whereas "That" is beyond Time and Space. When you have gone from the Creation to Noncreation (which do not follow each other, they are concomitant), if you go beyond, you encounter this "something" which, I don't know why, I call Love.... Probably because the vibration of true Love (what I call divine Love, which is at work in the world) bears the closest resemblance to That. It is something absolutely inexpressible, which belongs neither to "receiving" nor to "giving," neither to uniting nor to absorbing, nothing like all that.... It's something very particular.

(long silence)

I remember, that night I spoke of, I WAS that Pulsation, and each burst of pulsation created. Well, it was the first expression of That in the Manifestation; and it was already in action, it was already in movement. But the Vibration BEHIND that is ... I might say the potentiality of everything - of everything that becomes perceptible to us through the Manifestation; because it is everything that in our consciousness gets divided into various possibilities, like truth, love, life, power, etc. (but all that is nothing, of course, it's dust in comparison). And it's everything together; not the union of different things: it's EVERYTHING - everything, and it is absolutely ONE, but everything is there. And That is what one finds beyond the Manifestation and the Nonmanifestation - the Manifestation almost looks like child's play in comparison. That Pulsation was the origin of the Manifestation. And Nonmanifestation is blissful Immobility - it's more than that, but it's essentially that: blissful Immobility. It's the supreme and supremely divine essence of rest. And both [Manifestation and Nonmanifestation] are together, and they come from That. I have a very strong feeling that it's only That, only with That that things can change, all the rest is inadequate. And if I remember right, Sri Aurobindo said that this manifestation (which he too calls Love) would take place AFTER the supramental manifestation, didn't he?
First Truth, then Love.
Then Love. Yes, he said there were different "levels" in the Supramental - but that (smiling) is the sauce that makes things more easily digestible (!) Everyone says things in the way he finds the easiest to assimilate. But the experience - the experience - is always beyond words, always. page 55-56 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 20th March - 1965


For the whole, it's always, every instant, the most favorable to the divine evolution. And for the elements consciously attuned to the Divine, it's the best for the perfection of their union. But it shouldn't be forgotten that it's constantly changing, it isn't a static best; it's a best that, if retained, wouldn't be the best of the next moment. And it's because the human consciousness always tends to want to retain statically what it finds or considers to be good that it finds this best always eludes it. That effort to retain is what warps things.

(silence)

I looked at the problem when I tried to understand the position of Buddha, who reproached the Manifestation for its impermanence; to him, perfection and permanence were one and the same thing. In his contact with the manifested universe, he had observed a perpetual change, and so his conclusion was that the manifested world was imperfect and had to disappear. And the change (the impermanence) does not exist in the Nonmanifest, therefore the Nonmanifest is the true Divine. When I looked and concentrated on this point, I saw that his observation was indeed correct: the Manifestation is absolutely impermanent, it's a perpetual transformation. But in the Manifestation, perfection is to have a movement of transformation or unfolding identical to the divine Movement, the essential Movement. Whereas all that belongs to the unconscious or tamasic [[Tamasic: Belonging to inertia or obscurity (tamas). ]] creation tries to keep its existence unchanged, instead of lasting by constant transformation. page 95 - 96 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 19th May - 1965


I had the perception of this manifestation - a "pulsatory" manifestation, I might say - which opens out, shrivels up, opens out, shrivels up again ... and there comes a point when the opening out is such, the fluidity, the plasticity, the capacity for change are such that there is no need anymore to reabsorb in order to shape anew, and there will be a progressive transformation. Théon used to say (I think I've already told you about it) that this is the seventh universal creation, that there have been six pralayas[[Pralaya: the end of a world. ]] before and this is the seventh creation, but that it will be possible for this one to be transformed without being reabsorbed - which obviously is perfectly unimportant because, the moment you have the eternal consciousness, whether things go this way or that way doesn't matter in the least. It's for the limited human consciousness that there is a sort of ambition or need for something that doesn't end, because, within, there is what we might call "the memory of eternity" and that memory of eternity aspires for the manifestation to partake of that eternity. But if the sense of eternity is active and present, you don't lament - you don't lament if you discard a worn-out garment, do you? (You may be attached, but anyway you don't lament.) It's the same thing: if a universe disappears, it means it has wholly fulfilled its function, it has reached the limit of its possibilities, and another must replace it.

page 52 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 4th March - 1966





-244_mantra of life.html


For there's a consciousness of the form, a life of the form. There's a consciousness, a consciousness in the form assumed by the cells. That takes SEVEN DAYS to come out. So sometimes the body makes abrupt movements when burned - people say it's mechanical. It's not mechanical, I know it's not. I know it. I know that this consciousness of the form exists since I have actually gone out of it. Once, long back, I was in a so-called cataleptic state, and after awhile, while still in this state, the body began living again'; that is, it was capable of speaking and even moving (it was Theon who gave me this training). The body managed to get up and move. And yet, everything had gone out of it! Once everything had gone out, it naturally became cold, but the body consciousness manages to draw a little energy from the air, from this or that ... And I spoke in that state. I spoke - I spoke very well, and besides, I recounted all I was seeing elsewhere.
1. It was at Tlemcen, in Algeria. While Mother was in trance, Theon caused the thread which linked Mother to her body to break through a movement of anger. He was angry because Mother, who was in a region where she saw the 'mantra of life,' refused to tell him the mantra. Faced with the enormity of the result of his anger Theon got hold of himself, and it took all Mother's force and all Theon's occult science to get Mother back into her body - which created a kind of very painful friction at the moment of re-entry, perhaps the type of friction that makes new born children cry out.
page 376 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 28th May 1960

Once when I was at Tlemcen with Theon (this happened twice, but I'm not sure about the second time because I was alone), my body was in a cataleptic state and I was in conscious trance.... It was a peculiar kind of catalepsy in the sense that my body could speak, though very slowly - Theon had taught me how to do it. But this is because the 'life of the form' always remains (this is what takes seven days to leave the body) and it can even be trained to make the body move - the being is no longer there, but the life of the form can make the body move (in any case, utter words). However, this state is not without danger, the proof being that while I was working in trance, for some reason or other (which I no longer remember, but obviously due to some negligence on the part of Theon who was there to watch over me), the cord - I don't know what to call it - went snap! The link was cut, malevolently, [[Through Theon's malevolence, in fact. ]] and when it was time and I wanted to return, I could no longer re-enter my body. But I was still able to warn him: 'The cord is cut.' Then he used his power and knowledge to help me come back - but it was no joke! It was very difficult. [[Satprem remembers that a few years earlier Mother had told him about the circumstances of this incident: during her work in trance, Mother discovered the location of the 'mantra of life'-the mantra that has the power to create life (and to withdraw it, as well). Theon, an incarnation of the Asura of Death, was of course quite interested and told Mother to repeat this mantra to him. Mother refused. Theon became violently angry and the link was cut (the link that connected Mother to her body). When he realized the catastrophe his anger had caused, Theon grew afraid (for he knew who Mother was) and he then, as Mother recounts, made use of all his power to help her re-enter her body. Later, Mother gave this mantra to Sri Aurobindo ... who let it quietly sink into oblivion. For it is not through a mantra that the secret of life (or death) is to be mastered, but through knowledge of the true Power - in other words, ultimately, knowledge of the reality of Matter and the mechanism of death: it is the whole cellular yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. ]] And this is when I had the experience of the two different states, because the part that had gone out was now without the body's support - the link was cut. Then I knew. Of course, I was in a special state; I was doing a fully conscious work with all the vital power, and I was in control not only of my surroundings but.... You see, what happens is a kind of reversal of consciousness: you begin to belong to another world; you feel this quite distinctly. Theon instantly told me to concentrate (I was finding it all interesting - Mother laughs - I was making experiments and getting ready to go wandering off, but he was terribly scared that I would die on him!). He begged me to concentrate, so I concentrated on my body.

When I re-entered, it hurt terribly, terribly - an excruciating pain, like plunging into a hell.
Into a ... ?
Into a hell (Mother laughs). It was frightful. it doesn't last long. He made me drink half a glass of cognac (he always made me take some every day after the trance because I would work in trance for more than an hour, which is generally a forbidden practice). Still, I am quite sure that with anybody but me and him, this would have been the end. I would not have reentered.
page 304-06 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 5th Aug. 1961.

Anyway, it was because of Theon that I first found the 'Mantra of Life,' the mantra that gives life, and he wanted me to give it to him, he wanted to possess it - it was something formidable! It was the mantra that gives life (it can make anyone at all come back into life, but that's only a small part of its power). And it was shut away in a particular place, [[Not a physical place. See conversation of November 7, p. 380. ]] sealed up, with my name in Sanskrit on it. I didn't know Sanskrit at that time, but he did, and when he led me to that place, I told him what I saw: 'There's a sort of design, it must be Sanskrit.' (I could recognize the characters as Sanskrit). He told me to reproduce what I was seeing, and I did so. It was my name, Mirra, written in Sanskrit - the mantra was for me and I alone could open it. 'Open it and tell me what's there,' he said.

(All this was going on while I was in a cataleptic trance.) Then immediately something in Me KNEW, and I answered, 'No,' and did not read it. I found it again when I was with Sri Aurobindo and I gave it to Sri Aurobindo. But that's yet another story....
page 367-68 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 5th Nov. - 1961

I had two experiences of that kind. The first was at Tlemcen [[Mother means the experience when the link is cut off and one cannot reenter one's body (which means one is medically dead). The first experience at Tlemcen is probably the one when Théon had a fit of anger while Mother had gone out in her vital body in search of the mantra of life," and the link was cut off by Theon's anger. ]] and the second in Japan.... There was an epidemic of influenza, an influenza that came from the war (the 1914 war), and was generally fatal.

page 116 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 20th April 1963




-245_mantra.html


I would very much like to have a 'true mantra.'

I have a whole stock of mantras; they have all come spontaneously, never from the head. They sprang forth spontaneously, as the Veda is said to have sprung forth.

I don't know when it began - a very long time ago, before I came here, although some of them came while I was here. But in my case, they were always very short. For example, when Sri Aurobindo was here in his body, at any moment, in any difficulty, for anything, it always came like this: 'My Lord!' - simply and spontaneously - 'My Lord!' And instantly, the contact was established. But since He left, it has stopped. I can no longer say it, for it would be like saying 'My Lord, My Lord!' to myself.

I had a mantra in French before coming to Pondicherry. It was Dieu de bonté et de miséricorde ... [God of kindness and mercy], but what it means is usually not understood - it is an entire program, a universal program. I have been repeating this mantra since the beginning of the century; it was the mantra of ascension, of realization. At present, it no longer comes in the same way, it comes rather as a memory. But it was deliberate, you see; I always said Dieu de bonté et de miséricorde, because even then I understood that everything is the Divine and the Divine is in all things and that it is only we who make a distinction between what is or what is not the Divine.

My experience is that, individually, we are in relationship with that aspect of the Divine which is not necessarily the most in conformity with our natures, but which is the most essential for our development or the most necessary for our action. For me, it was always a question of action because, personally, individually, each aspiration for personal development had its own form, its own spontaneous expression, so I did not use any formula. But as soon as there was the least little difficulty in action, it sprang forth. Only long afterwards did I notice that it was formulated in a certain way - I would utter it without even knowing what the words were. But it came like this: Dieu de bonté et de miséricorde. It was as if I wanted to eliminate from action all aspects that were not this one. And it lasted for ... I don't know, more than twenty or twenty-five years of my life. It came spontaneously.


Page 192


Just recently one day, the contact became entirely physical, the whole body was in great exaltation, and I noticed that other lines were spontaneously being added to this Dieu de bonte et de misericorde, and I noted them down. It was a springing forth of states of consciousness - not words.

Seigneur, Dieu de bonte et de misericorde

Seigneur, Dieu d'unite souveraine

Seigneur, Dieu de beaute et d'harmonie

Seigneur, Dieu de puissance et de realisation

Seigneur, Dieu d'amour et de compassion

Seigneur, Dieu du silence et de la contemplation

Seigneur, Dieu de lumiere et de connaissance

Seigneur, Dieu de vie et d'immortalite

Seigneur, Dieu de jeunesse et de progres

Seigneur, Dieu d'abondance et de plenitude

Seigneur, Dieu de force et de sante.


Lord, God of kindness and mercy

Lord, God of sovereign oneness

Lord, God of beauty and harmony

Lord, God of power and realization

Lord, God of silence and contemplation

Lord, God of light and knowledge

Lord, God of life and immortality

Lord, God of youth and progress

Lord, God of abundance and plenitude

Lord, God of strength and health.


The words came afterwards, as if they had been superimposed upon the states of consciousness, grafted onto them. Some of the associations seem unexpected, but they were the exact expression of the states of consciousness in their order of unfolding. They came one after another, as if the contact was trying to become more complete. And the last was like a triumph. As soon as I finished writing (in writing, all this becomes rather flat), the impetus within was still alive and it gave me the sense of an all-conquering Truth. And the last mantra sprang forth:


Seigneur, Dieu de la Verite victorieuse!

Lord, God of victorious Truth!

Page 193


Like a triumph. But I didn't write that one down because I did not want to spoil my impression.

Of course, these things should not be published. We can file them in this Agenda of the Supramental Manifestation for later on. Later on, when the Victory is won, we shall say, 'If you want to see the curve ... '

But what is going to come now? I constantly hear the Sanskrit mantra:

OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH*

It is there, all around me; it takes hold of all the cells and at once they spring forth in an ascension. And Narada's mantra, too:

Narayana, Narayana ...

(it is actually a Command which means: now you shall do as I wish), but it doesn't come from the heart.

What will it be?

It will simply spring forth in a flash, all of a sudden, and it will be very powerful. Only power can do something. Love vanishes like water running through sand: people remain beatific ... and nothing moves! No, power is needed - like Shiva, stirring, churning ...

When I have this mantra, instead of saying hello, good-bye, I shall say that. When I say hello, good-bye, it means 'Hello: the Presence is here, the Light is here.' 'Good-bye: I am not going away, I am staying here.'

But when I have this mantra, I believe something will happen.

(silence)

For the moment, of all the formulas or mantras, the one that acts most directly on this body, that seizes all the cells and immediately does this (vibrating motion) is the Sanskrit mantra: OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH.

As soon as I sit for meditation, as soon as I have a quiet minute to concentrate, it always begins with this mantra, and there is a response in the body, in the cells of the body: they all start vibrating.

1.The first syllable of NAMO is pronounced with a short 'a,' as in nahmo. The final word is pronounced BHA-GAH-VA-TEH.

Page 194


This is how it happened: Y had just returned, and he brought back a trunk full of things which he then proceeded to show me, and his excitement made tight, tight little waves in the atmosphere, making my head ache; it made ... anyway, it was unpleasant. When I left, just after that had happened, I sat down and went like this (gesture of sweeping out) to make it stop, and immediately the mantra began.

It rose up from here (Mother indicates the solar plexus), like this: Om Namo Bhagavateh OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH. It was formidable. For the entire quarter of an hour that the meditation lasted, everything was filled with Light! In the deeper tones it was of golden bronze (at the throat level it was almost red) and in the higher tones it was a kind of opaline white light: OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH.

The other day (I was in my bathroom upstairs), it came; it took hold of the entire body. It rose up in the same way, and all the cells were trembling. And with such a power! So I stopped everything, all movement, and I let the thing grow. The vibration went on expanding, ever widening, as the sound itself was expanding, expanding, and all the cells of the body were seized with an intensity of aspiration ... as if the entire body were swelling - it became overwhelming. I felt that it would all burst.

I understood those who withdraw from everything to live that totally.

And it has such a transformative power! I felt that if it continued, something would happen, something like a change in the equilibrium of the body's cells.

Unfortunately, I was unable to continue, because ... I don't have the time; it was just before the balcony darshan and I was going to be late. Something told me, 'That is for people who have nothing to do.' Then I said, 'I belong to my work,' and I slowly withdrew. I put on the brakes, and the action was cut short. But what remains is that whenever I repeat this mantra ... everything starts vibrating.

So each one must find something that acts on himself, individually. I am only speaking of the action on the physical plane, because mentally, vitally, in all the inner parts of the being, the aspiration is always, always spontaneous. I am referring only to the physical plane.

The physical seems to be more open to something that is repetitious - for example, the music we play on Sundays, which

Page 195


has three series of combined mantras. The first is that of Chandi, addressed to the universal Mother:

Ya devi sarvabhuteshu matrirupena sansthita

Ya devi sarvabhuteshu shaktirupena sansthita

Ya devi sarvabhuteshu shantirupena sansthita

Namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namah


The second is addressed to Sri Aurobindo (and I believe they have put my name at the end). It incorporates the mantra I was speaking of:

Om namo namah shrimirambikayai

Om namo bhagavateh shriaravindaya

Om namo namah shrimirambikayai.


And the third is addressed to Sri Aurobindo: 'Thou art my refuge.'

Shriaravindah sharanam mama.

Each time this music is played, it produces exactly the same effect upon the body. It is strange, as if all the cells were dilating, with a feeling that the body is growing larger ... It becomes all dilated, as if swollen with light - with force, a lot of force. And this music seems to form spirals, like luminous ribbons of incense smoke, white (not transparent, literally white) and they rise up and up. I always see the same thing; it begins in the form of a vase, then swells like an amphora and converges higher up to blossom forth like a flower.

So for these mantras, everything depends upon what you want to do with them. I am in favor of a short mantra, especially if you want to make both numerous and spontaneous repetitions - one or two words, three at most. Because you must be able to use them in all cases, when an accident is about to happen, for example. It has to spring up without thinking, without calling: it should issue forth from the being spontaneously, like a reflex, exactly like a reflex. Then the mantra has its full force.

For me, on the days when I have no special preoccupations or difficulties (days I could call normal, when I am normal), everything I do, all the movements of this body, all, all the words I utter, all the gestures I make, are accompanied and upheld by or lined, as it were, with this mantra:

Page 196


OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH ... OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH ...

all, all the time, all the time, all the time.

That is the normal state. It creates an atmosphere of an intensity almost more material than the subtle physical; it's like ... almost like the phosphorescent radiations from a medium. And it has a great action, a very great action: it can prevent an accident. And it accompanies you all the time, all the time.

But it is up to you to know what you want to do with it.

To sustain the aspiration - to remember. We so easily lapse

into forgetfulness. To create a kind of automatism.

You have no mantras that have come to you, that give you a more living feeling? ... Are their mantras long?

Yes, they are long. And he' has not given me any mantra of

the Mother, so ... They exist, but he has not given me any ... I

don't know, they don't have much effect on me. It is

something very mental.

That's why it should spring forth from you.

(silence)

This one, this mantra, OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, came to me after some time, for I felt ... well, I saw that I needed to have a mantra of my own, that is, a mantra consonant with what this body has to do in the world. And it was just then that it came.2 It was truly an answer to a need that had made itself felt. So if you feel the need - not there, not in your head, but here (Mother points to the center of her heart), it will come. One day, either you will hear the words, or they will spring forth from your heart ... And when that happens, you must hold onto it.

1. The tantric Swami.

2. The different mantras or prayers that came to Mother and which She grouped under the heading Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells, are included as an addendum to the Agenda of 1959.


page 192-97 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 16th Spet - 1958


I have also come to realize that for this sadhana of the body, the mantra is essential. Sri Aurobindo gave none; he said that one should be able to do all the work without having to resort to external means. Had he reached the point where we are now, he would have seen that the purely psychological method is inadequate and that a japa is necessary, because only japa has a direct action on the body. So I had to find the method all alone, to find my mantra by myself. But now that things are ready, I have done ten years of work in a few months. That is the difficulty, it requires time ... And I repeat my mantra constantly - when I am awake and even when I sleep. I say it even when I am getting dressed, when I eat, when I work, when I speak with others; it is there, just behind in the background, all the time, all the time.
page 301 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 19th May - 1959
But I wasn't speaking to you with words ... Everything I see at night has a special color and a special vibration. It's strange, but it looks sketched ... When I said that to you, for example, there was a kind of patch,' a white patch, as I recall - white, exactly like a piece of white paper - a patch with a pink border around it, then this same blue light I keep telling you about - deep blue - encircling the rest, as it were. And beyond that, it was swarming - a swarming of black and dark gray vibrations ... in a terrible agitation. When I saw this, I said to you, 'You must repeat your mantra once in my presence so that I may see if there is anything I can do about this swarming.' And then - I don't know why - you objected, and this objection was red, like a tongue of fire lashing out from the white, like this (Mother draws an arabesque). So I said, 'No, don't worry, it doesn't matter, I won't disturb a thing#!' (Mother laughs mischievously) All this took place in a realm which is constantly active, everywhere; it is like a permanent mental transcription of everything that physically takes place ... They aren't actually thoughts; 1. Original English. 2. Traditionally, one's mantra is never to be repeated before anyone except the guru.
page 443 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 22nd Oct. 1960

Nobody can give you the true mantra. It's not something that is given: it's something that wells up from within. It must spring from within all of a sudden, spontaneously, like a profound, intense need of your being - then it has power, because it's not something that comes from outside, it's your very own cry. I saw, in my case, that my mantra has the power of immortality; whatever happens, if it is uttered, it's the Supreme that has the upper hand, it's no longer the lower law. And the words are irrelevant, they may not have any meaning - to someone else, my mantra is meaningless, but to me it's full, packed with meaning. And effective, because it's my cry, the intense aspiration of my whole being.
A mantra given by a guru is only the power to realize the experience of the discoverer of the mantra. The power is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didn't even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced "yoga" for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light.... I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, "Well!" Then I didn't give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual aspiration - there is in it the entire aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there.

page 131 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 11th May 1963



And in the morning, oh! ... All mornings are difficult. It's odd: life as a whole goes by with almost dizzying speed - weeks and months go by like that - and mornings, about three hours every morning, last like a century! Each minute is won at the cost of an effort. It is the time of the work in the body, for the body, and not just one body: for instance, all the vibrations from sick people, all those problems of life come from everywhere. And for those three hours, there is tension, struggle, acute seeking for what should be done or for the attitude to be taken.... It's at that time that I have tested the power of the mantra. For those three hours, I repeat my mantra automatically, without stopping; and every time the difficulty increases, a kind of Power comes into those words and acts on Matter. And that's how I know: without the mantra, that work couldn't be done. But that's why I say it has to be YOUR mantra, not something you received from whomever - the mantra that arose spontaneously from your deeper being (gesture to the heart), from your inner guide. That's what holds out. When you don't know, when you don't understand, when you don't want to let the mind intervene and you are ... THAT is there; the mantra is there; and it helps you to get through. It helps to get through. It saves the situation at critical moments, it's a considerable support, considerable. For those three hours (three or three and a half hours), it's constant, constant, without stop. So then the words well up (gesture from the heart). And when the situation becomes critical, when that disorder, that disintegration seem to be gaining in power, it's as if the mantra were becoming swollen with force, and ... it restores order. And that wasn't just once, or for a month, or a year: it has been like that for years, and it goes on increasing. But it's hard work.
page 201 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 23rd Sep - 1964


So, how is your mantra?
Fine, Mother, it's a beautiful Mantra.
I had a rather interesting experience. You know, there is always an impression that if you let someone else know the Mantra, it will lose some of its force, but I said to myself, "Never mind, I will do it," and the minute the decision was made, naturally I stopped thinking about it - it was gone. And in the evening of the day when I told you the Mantra, towards the end of the day, suddenly the words came with a warmth and intensity, as if ... (how can I put it?) they were rounded out with force. Then, at the same time, I remembered I had told you the Mantra, so I looked, and I saw it was what your consciousness had added to it - I was very glad. I told you there was a great power in it, but it has become (how can I explain?) warmer (Mother laughs). I don't know how to put it ... yes, it's as if a warmth of richness had entered into it - like a potential power (not yet manifested, that is, but potential), a very warm power of joy that had come into it. So I was very happy.

(silence)

I have a whole mantra [besides the main Mantra], I told you, for years now, and it is extremely complete: it applies to all necessities and all occasions, it's a long series. But for some time it has become very spontaneous, too, and very self-living: when I want to see quite concretely where someone stands (someone meditating in front of me, for instance), I recite the mantra (within, of course) and I watch the reactions, because the mantra deals with the surrender of all the parts of the being and all the modes of life: it's very complete. So according to the reactions [in Mother's centers], I see very clearly. The other day, when X came, I did it (it was the first time I had done it with him), I did it, and when I came to a certain point ... (Mother smiles) he couldn't bear it! He sort of stiffened, bowed to me and got up. Before that, he had remained very silent, very quiet. But that ... (Mother laughs) You see, I invoke the Lord and ask Him to manifest His various ways of being or realizations (it's not taken in a mental sense, not at all), but when I said - I say many things, but up to that point he had been quiet, silent, still, and at one point (because it comes in a logical succession), I said, "Manifest Your Knowledge" - he felt uneasy, as if he felt he was being thrown out of himself! So I tried to calm that down, but he couldn't bear it - after five minutes, he got up and left. A real unease; because, as for me, I am inside people (I am everywhere, of course), I feel just as if it took place in my own body.
page 120-21 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 9th June - 1965







-246_Matri mandir.html



R.'s idea is an island at the center, with water around, running water which will be used for the whole water supply of the city; and when it has flowed through the city, it will be sent to a plant, and from there to irrigate all the cultivated lands around. So this center is like an islet, and at this center, there is what we first called the "Matrimandir" - which I always see as a very large hall, absolutely bare, you understand, and getting a light from above: it should be so arranged that the light from above gets concentrated on a spot where there would be ... what we want to put as the center of the city We first thought of Sri Aurobindo's symbol, but we can put anything we like. Like that, with a ray of light constantly striking from above - revolving and revolving ... to follow the sun, you understand. If it's done well, it would be very good. And then, below, people would be able to sit and meditate, or just rest, but there would be NOTHING-nothing except something comfortable below so they can sit without getting tired, probably with pillars acting at the same time as backrests. Something like that. That's what I always SEE. A hall with a ceiling high enough to allow sunlight to come in as a RAY, depending on the time of the day, and fall on that center which will be there. If that is done, it will be very good. So then, for the rest, it's the same to me, they will do as they like. They first thought of building a dwelling for me, but I'll never go, so it's no use, it's quite unnecessary. And to watch over the islet, it was agreed there would be a small house for H. who wanted to be there simply as a guard .... Then R. had arranged a whole system of bridges to link that to the other bank. The other bank would be entirely made of gardens all around. Those gardens ... we thought of twelve gardens (dividing the distance into twelve), twelve gardens with each of them concentrated on one thing: a state of consciousness with the flowers representing it. And the twelfth garden would be in the islet, around (not around but beside) the "Mandir" with the tree, the banyan which is there. That's what is at the center of the city. And there, there would be a repetition of the twelve gardens around, with the flowers arranged in the same way ... There are now two Americans here, husband and wife, and the husband studied there for more than a year the art of gardening, and he came here with that knowledge. So I asked him to start straight away preparing the plan for the inner garden: they're working on it.


Page 494-95 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 31st Dec - 1969


Mother, I told Paolo [the Italian architect] to come, he is waiting outside.
Yes.... There is an interesting thing. For a long time I had been feeling something, then we spoke about it the other day, and I SAW ... I told R. [Auroville's architect] about it, I asked him to see Paolo, and I also told him that I had seen what should be done. Naturally, he didn't say no, he said yes to everything, but I felt he wasn't too keen.... But here is what happened. I clearly saw - very, very distinctly saw, which means it was like that, and it still IS like that, it's there (gesture showing an
eternal plane) - the inside of that place [the Matrimandir].
Maybe you should tell Paolo about it?
Tell him right now?... All right.... I'll speak more easily if I am alone with you.
Fine, then, Mother.
I could describe it. It came like this. It will be a kind of hall which will be like the inside of a column. No windows. Ventilation will be artificial, with this kind of machinery (Mother points to an air conditioner), and just a roof. And sunlight striking the center; or, when there is no sunlight (at night or on overcast days), an electric spotlight. The idea is to build right now an example or a "model" for a hundred people or so. Once the city is built and the experiment is made, we will make a BIG thing of it - but then it will be very big, for one or two thousand people. And the second one will be built around the first, which means that the first will go only when the second is built. There's the idea. Only, in order to tell Paolo about it (and if possible, if I see it's possible, to tell R. about it), I wanted to have a plan. I'll have it made - not myself, I can't do it anymore; I could have done it in the past, but now I don't see clearly enough. This afternoon, I'll have it made in front of me, and with that plan, I'll be able to explain really well. But to you I simply wanted to say what I have seen.... It will be a tower with twelve facets - each facet representing one month of the year - and the top, the roof of the tower will be like this (Mother makes a gesture showing something like this:) Then, inside, there will be twelve columns - the walls and twelve columns - and right at the center, on the floor, my symbol, with, above it, four symbols of Sri Aurobindo joining in a square, and above ... a globe. A globe possibly made of a transparent substance, with or without a light inside, but the sun will have to strike this globe; so, depending on the particular month or hour, it will be from here or there or there ... (gesture showing the sun's course). Do you understand? There will always be an opening with a sunbeam. Not a diffused light, but a beam that will have to come and strike the globe. That requires technical knowledge for its execution, and that's why I want to make a drawing with an engineer. But inside, there will be neither windows nor lights, it will always be in a sort of clear half-light, night and day: during the day with sunlight, at night with artificial light. And on the ground, nothing, except for a floor like this one [in Mother's room], that is, first a wooden floor (wooden or something else), then a sort of thick rubber foam, very soft, and then a carpet. A carpet covering everything, except for the center. And people will be able to sit anywhere. The twelve columns are for those who need a backrest! But then, people will not come for "regular meditations" or anything of the kind (the internal organization will be taken care of later): it will be a place for concentration. Not everyone will be allowed in; there will be a time of the week or the day (I don't know) when visitors will be allowed, but anyway without mixture. There will be a fixed hour or day to show the visitors, and the rest of the time only for those who are ... serious - serious, sincere, who truly want to learn to concentrate. So I think that's good. It was there (gesture of vision above), I still see it when I talk about it - I SEE. As I see it, it's very beautiful, really very beautiful. ... A sort of half-light: you can see, but it's VERY peaceful, and with very clear and strong beams of light on that globe (the projected, artificial light will have to be slightly golden, it shouldn't be cold - it will depend on the spotlights). A globe that will be made of plastic or ... I don't know.
Crystal?
If possible, yes. For the smaller temple, the globe won't need to be very big: if it were this big (about one foot), it would be enough. But for the bigger temple, it will have to be big.
But how will the bigger temple be built? Over the small one?
No, no, the small one will go.
Oh, it will go, another one will be built.
But the big temple will be built afterwards, and then on a huge scale.... The smaller one will go only once the bigger one is built. But of course, for the city to be completed, we must allow some twenty years (for everything to be in order, in its place). It's the same with the gardens: all the gardens that are being prepared are for now, but in twenty years, all that will have to be on another scale; then it will have to be something really ... really beautiful. And I wonder what substance that globe should be made of, the big one?... The small one could be made of crystal: for a globe this size (gesture about one foot) I think it will do. The globe will have to be visible from every corner of the room.
It shouldn't be too high above the floor either, should it?
No, Sri Aurobindo's symbol doesn't have to be very big, it has to be this size....
Ten to twelve inches?
At the most, at the very most.
So it would be more or less at eye level.
At eye level, yes, that's right. And a VERY peaceful atmosphere. And NOTHING, nothing but big columns.... There remains to see whether the columns' style ... whether they will be round, or themselves with twelve facets ...? But TWELVE columns.
And a roof with two sides?
Yes, a roof with two sides so as to get sunlight. It will have to be so arranged that rainwater can't get in. Something that needs to be opened and closed every time it rains won't do, it's not possible; it will have to be in such a way that rainwater can't get in. But sunlight must get in AS A BEAM, not diffused. So the opening will have to be limited.... It requires a clever engineer, who knows his job really well.
When would they start?
I'd like them to start immediately, as soon as we have the plans. But there are two questions: first the plans (workers can be found), and then money.... I think it can be done with this idea of building a small specimen ("small," well, it's a manner of speaking, because to hold a hundred people easily it will still have to be big enough), a small specimen to begin with. While building the small specimen we'll learn, and we'll build the big one when the city is finished - that won't be right now. I told R. about it, and the next day he told me, "Yes, but it will take time to prepare." (I said nothing of all I've just told you, I just spoke of doing something.) Afterwards I had a vision of that room, so I no longer need anyone to see how it should be - I know. What's needed is an engineer more than an architect, because an architect ... It has to be as simple as possible.
I told Paolo what you had seen, that large room, empty, withoutanything. It touched him a lot, he in fact could see that large empty room. He understands quite well. So "empty" simply means a shape.
But a shape ... like a tower, but ... (that's why I wanted to have a sketch to show) twelve regular facets, and then we need a wall that's not straight, a wall slightly like this (gesture of a slight slope), I don't know if that's possible. And inside, twelve columns. So we'll have to find a way to capture sunlight, so that at any time of the year sunlight can get in.... We need someone who knows his job well. As for the outside ... I didn't see the outside; I didn't see it at all, I only saw the inside. I wanted to explain to Paolo once I would have the papers, it would be easier, but since you called him ...

(Sujata goes out and comes back with Paolo, who comes in with

a garland of pink "Harmony." Mother gives him an orange hibis

cus - Auroville's flower - looks at him, and starts speaking:)

Since we decided to build that temple, I have seen - I have seen the inside. I have just tried to describe it to Satprem. But in a few days I will have plans and drawings, so I'll be able to explain more clearly. Because I don't know at all how the outside is, but the inside I know.
(Paolo:) The outside comes out of the inside.
It's a kind of tower with twelve regular facets representing the twelve months of the year, and absolutely empty.... Only, it will have to hold one to two hundred people. So, to support the roof, there would be inside (not outside, inside) twelve columns; and right at the center, the object of concentration.... And with the sun's concentration, all year round it will have to get in AS A BEAM (not diffused: it will have to be so arranged that it can get in as beams); then, according to the hour of the day and the month of the year, the beam will revolve (there will be some device at the top) and it will be directed onto the center. At the center, there will be the symbol [of Mother], then Sri Aurobindo's symbol supporting a globe. A globe which we'll try to have made of a transparent substance such as crystal or ... A large globe. Then people will be let in in order to concentrate - (laughing) to learn to concentrate! No fixed meditations, nothing of the sort, but they will have to stay there in silence - silence and concentration.
(P.:) It's very beautiful.
But the place should be absolutely ... as simple as possible. And the floor in such a way that people may be comfortable, without having to think that it hurts here or there!
(P.:) It's very beautiful.
And in the middle, on the floor, my symbol. At the center of my symbol, we'll have four parts (like a square), four symbols of Sri Aurobindo, upright, supporting a transparent globe. That was seen. So I'll have small plans prepared by an engineer, simple ones to show, and then I'll show you when they are ready. There. And we'll see. As far as the walls are concerned, they will probably have to be in concrete.
(P.:) The whole structure can be in reinforced concrete.
The roof will probably have to be sloping, and at the center there will have to be a special device for the sun.
(Satprem:) You said that you saw the walls with a slight slope.
Either the walls or the roof will have to have a slope - whatever will be easier. The walls can be straight with the roof sloping. And the higher part of the roof resting on the twelve columns. And on top, the device for the sun. Inside, nothing. Nothing but the columns. The columns ... I don't know, we'll have to see if they will be with facets (like the whole thing), twelve facets, or simply round.
(P.:) Round.
Or simply square - that has to be seen. Then, on the floor, we'll have something thick and soft. Here ... (are you comfortable when you are sealed?... Yes?), there is first a wooden floor, then that sort of rubber, and above, a woolen carpet.
(Satprem:) With your symbol?
Not on the carpet. The symbol, I first thought it should be done out of some solid material.
(P.:) It has to be in stone.
The symbol ... everything will be around it, of course. The symbol will not cover everything, it will only be at the center of the space - (laughing) people shouldn't sit on the symbol!... It will be at the center. The proportion between the symbol and the whole has to be seen carefully, in comparison with the height.
(P.:) The room will be rather large?
Oh, yes, it should be. There should be a sort of half-light with those sunbeams - the sunbeam should be SEEN. A sunbeam. So, depending on the hour of the day (the hour of the day and the month of the year), the sun will go round. Then, at night, as soon as sunlight has vanished, we'll switch on spotlights which will have the same effect and the same color. Night and day the light will remain there. But no windows or lamps or things of the sort - nothing. Ventilation through air conditioners (they're set inside the walls, that's very easy). And SILENCE. No talking inside! It will be fine. So as soon as my papers are ready, I'll call you to show them to you.
(P.:) Very good.
(To Sujata:) Give me a rose for him.

(Mother gives two red roses,

Paolo withdraws)

I didn't ask him if he had seen R. because ... R. is quite in nowadays' "practical" atmosphere. Good, it has to start off! page 15-22 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 3rd Jan - 1970


(Laying of the foundation stone of the Matrimandir. Mother is

ninety-three years old. She gives the following message:)

"Let the Matrimandir be the living symbol of
Auroville's aspiration for the Divine."

page 49 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 21st Feb - 1971


Last time I told you I was looking for the twelve attributes (Mother takes out a sheet of paper). Here they are, someone found this.
Sincerity - Humility - Gratitude - Perseverance Aspiration - Receptivity - Progress - Courage Goodness - Generosity - Equanimity - Peace
The first eight concern the attitude towards the Divine, and the last four towards humanity. And we also found a text from Sri Aurobindo (with a colored chart of the twelve petals):
Centre and four powers, white. The twelve all of different color in three groups: top group red, passing to orange towards yellow. Next group, yellow passing through green towards blue. And third group, blue passing through violet towards red. If white is not convenient, the center may be gold (powder).

March 20, 1934

The center is gold. But what did you need these twelve attributes for?

They're going to build twelve rooms around the Matrimandir, at ground level, and R. wanted each room to have a name: one of the twelve attributes of the Mother, and the corresponding color. [[It may interest the reader to know that according to Sri Aurobindo, these colors generally have the following significances, though the exact meaning may vary "with the field, the combinations, the character and shades of the color, the play of forces": red = physical; orange = supramental in the physical; yellow = thinking mind; green = life; blue = higher mind; violet = divine compassion or grace; gold = divine Truth; white = the light of the Mother, or the Divine Consciousness. (See also Agenda IV, May 18, 1963.) ]]


page 41-42 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th Jan - 1972-1973




-250_matter.html



I remember the whole experience, of course, but the body-consciousness forgot. The slightest difficulty, even the shadow or the recollection of a difficulty, was enough for it to start up all over again: "Oh ... oh! Now what's going to happen?" The same old anxieties and stupidities. So I realize that we have to keep on trying. What's annoying, though, is that in order to shake it all up, I have to go through some pretty bad moments physically. So don't worry, I understand how it is for others! I myself never lose either consciousness or contact with ... not with Knowledge, but with the total EXPERIENCE of identification. Only here in Matter does the work have this particular nature. So I understand how it is for people who live heedlessly from day to day, from minute to minute, for whom it's not a constant, permanent work of each second, totally conscious and deliberate.... And besides, this body is so willing - the poor thing, sometimes I have found it crying like a child, imploring, "How do you get out of this mess?" That's exactly why all the people who have achieved the inner realization have called this work "impossible." It's their own impossibility! I know it's not impossible, I know it will come, but ... how long will it take? That I don't know.
That's what has always happened. But I can't do that. What I always do is say, "Well, all right ..." (I say this to the Lord with a smile), "if You have now decided I should leave, I'll go willingly." If He ever gave me a slap, that's when I'd get one! I can feel it even while I am saying this. It's simply to ensure that the consciousness is in a state of perfect equanimity; I mean, whether things turn out like this or like that leaves me completely indifferent: what You will - spontaneously and integrally and exclusively - My Will. I say "My" Will on purpose, to show total adhesion. It's not submission, it has nothing to do with submission; it's like this (gesture of total abandonment). Well, in spite of that, there's not much progress. Although sometimes, yes, all of a sudden.... Take this example (it may seem a mere trifle, but when you have reached this point ...): the first sudden glimmer of conscious control over a bodily functioning, giving you a glimpse of the time when everything will function through the action of a conscious will. That has begun - but it's a tiny, tiny, tiny beginning. And the slightest mental intrusion from the old movement spoils it all - I mean the old way of behaving with your body: you want this and you want that and you want to make it do this and you want to make it.... The minute that pops up, everything stops. Progress comes to a standstill. One must be in a state of beatific union ... then one can feel the new functioning begin.

But it has become such a delicate play! A MINUTE thing, minute, can throw everything out of gear - one simple ordinary movement. If through habit you slip back into the ordinary functioning (these are infinitesimal things, not easily seen, subtle, tenuous; one must be very, very, VERY alert), if this happens, the whole new thing stops. Then you have to wait. Wait until the ordinary functioning consents to stop, and that means meditating, entering into contemplation - going over the whole path again. Then, when you have caught hold of That again and can stay there for a few seconds, sometimes a few minutes (it's marvelous when it lasts a few minutes).... And then it gets jammed again and everything has to be done over. I am not saying this to discourage you, but to tell you that one must really and truly be patient. The only possible way to do it is in a sort of passivity: not to WANT the result - WANTING the result brings in an ego movement which spoils it all. I have been telling you for a long time that we are VERY close - for a long time. So when people ask me, I say (to tell them something), "We shall see." It's certainly not that I don't know; I know perfectly well how it will be. But (laughing) I don't know when! That, I don't know. Even at this point, I don't know when. In fact, if something wants to know when, then it's still in a hurry. No, you have to be a saint, mon petit! (Mother laughs and laughs.)
(Satprem grimaces)
Yes, I know - neither am I! I used to say the same thing. When Sri Aurobindo was here I used to tell everybody, "I am not a saint and don't want to be a saint!" And look what has happened to me! You have to be an unsaintly saint. Without an ounce of saintliness. page 108-109 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th March 1962






-251_The Mother on falsehood.html



(Mother shows the text of a note she has written for the disciples:)

"Every time you act under the impulse of Falsehood, it acts as a blow on my body."
page 181 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Aug - 1966


I am not saying anything officially; because I have said and always repeat that politics is in complete Falsehood, based on Falsehood, and I am not dealing with it, meaning that I am not in politics, I don't want to be - but that doesn't stop me from seeing clearly! ... People have come and asked me (from every side, by the way) for my opinion, view or advice; I said, "No, I don't deal in politics." You see, all diplomacy is absolutely based on a DELIBERATE Falsehood. As long as it is like that, there's no hope: the inspirations will always come from the wrong side; inspirations, impulsions, ideas, everything will always come from the wrong side - which means the inescapable blunder, for everyone. A few rare individuals feel that and are aware of it, and they are half desperate because nobody listens to them.


page 207-08 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966




-252_medicine.html


If we consider the body as the tabernacle of the Lord, then medical science, for example, becomes the initiatory ritual of the service of the temple, and doctors of all kinds are the officiating priests in the different rituals of worship. Thus, medicine is really a priesthood and should be treated as such. The same can be said of physical culture and of all the sciences that are concerned with the body and its workings. If the material universe is considered as the outer sheath and the manifestation of the Supreme, then it can generally be said that all the physical sciences are the rituals of worship.
page 208 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Oct. - 1958




-255_Music - Art.html



We're going to build a little room on the terrace for the harmonium. I feel like making some experiments.... There used to be a bad attitude in the body, which always hampered my playing, and now that it has gone, I would like to see what happens. It was something in the subconscient standing in the way: everything you learn when you study music, that you can't play this note with that note and so forth and so on. I would tune in above and listen there, but those old subconscious habits kept interfering. That has all changed now and I would like to see what happens - it may yield only cacophony! But what I play isn't music, I don't try to play music: it's simply a sort of meditation with sound. I constantly hear something like great waves of music. I just have to withdraw a little, and there it is; I hear it. It is always there. It is music, but without sound! Great waves of music. And whenever I hear those waves, my hands get the urge to play. So I am going to make some experiments: be completely passive, hands inert, and try to transcribe it. They said they were going to put some wires in through the ceiling to record automatically whenever I play. "That's your business," I told them, "but don't expect to get music!"
I once went into the world of music, and what I heard there was so wonderful, so incredibly beautiful that the impact remained with me for hours after I woke up. It was incredible. Where is that world located?
I know it very well, I have been there frequently. It's at the very summit of human consciousness, on the borderline between what Sri Aurobindo calls the lower and the higher hemispheres. It is very high, very high. I have studied this realm extensively.
It is a world of creation with several levels or degrees.
Yes, I'd like to understand how it works. I have to talk about it in the book.
The first zone you encounter is the zone of painting, sculpture, architecture: everything that has a material form. It is the zone of forms, colored forms that are expressed as paintings, sculptures, and architecture. They are not forms as we know them, but rather typal forms; you can see garden types, for instance, wonderfully colored and beautiful, or construction types. Then comes the musical zone, and there you find the origin of the sounds that have inspired the various composers. Great waves of music, without sound. It seems a bit strange, but that's how it is.
But do you hear something when you play, or what?
When I play I generally hear what I am playing. It's hard to say.... It's not just an ordinary sound, it's a combination of sounds, and it's not ... no, it's true, it's not the same sound but something like the essence of that sound. But for instance, I have a sort of feeling that what I am hearing should be expressed by a large orchestra.... I SEE it, you know, I see something like large orchestras around me, on my right, on my left - and I am supposed to transcribe it on a harmonium! It's like an orchestra made up of groups of musicians, with each group expressing one part of that combination, which is a much more complete sound than the ear can perceive. That's what it is. It's not something you can express just by humming a little tune, but a whole body of musical vibrations. And as I hear it, I see how it should be expressed. I see large orchestras around me. But it's another kind of vision; it's not the precise vision of the physical eye, but something very ... it's how consciousness sees. How can I describe it! All you can say is that it's not our normal kind of vision, or hearing, either. It's quite a total knowledge, which includes a vision, an awareness of the combination of sounds and how they should be expressed. Beyond the musical zone lies thought: thoughts, organized thoughts for plays and books, abstractions for philosophies. But what used to interest me particularly were the combinations that give birth to novels or plays. That is the third zone.
Does one hear sounds in the intellectual zone?
No, what you find there are thought formations that are expressed in each person's brain in his own language. There are thought combinations for novels, plays, even philosophical systems. They are combinations of pure thought, not formulated in any language, but they are automatically expressed in each one's brain according to his particular language. It is the domain of pure thought. That's where you work when you want to work for the whole earth; you don't send out thoughts formulated in words, you send out a pure thought, which then formulates itself in any language in any brain: in all those who are receptive. These formations are at anyone's disposal - nobody can say, "It's MY idea, it's MY book." Anyone capable of ascending to that zone can get hold of the formations and transcribe them materially. I once made an experiment of that kind; I wanted to see what would happen, so I made a formation myself and let it go off on its way. And in the same year, two quite different people, who didn't even know each other, one in England and the other in America, got hold of my formation; the one in England wrote a book, while the one in America created a play. And circumstances so arranged themselves that both the book and the play found their way to me. Higher up, there is a fourth zone, a zone of colored lights, plays of colored lights. That's the order: first form, then sound, then ideas, then colored lights. But that zone is already more distant from humanity; it is a zone of forces, a zone which appears as colored lights. No forms - colored lights representing forces. And one can combine these forces so that they work in the terrestrial atmosphere and bring about certain events. It's a zone of action, independent of form, sound and thought; it is above all that. A zone of active power and might you can use for a particular purpose - if you have the capacity to do so. That's the highest zone. Thus we have form, expressed in painting, sculpture or architecture; sound, expressed in musical themes; and thought, expressed in books, plays, novels, or even in philosophical and other kinds of intellectual theories (that's where you can send out ideas that will affect the whole world, because they influence receptive brains in any land, and are expressed by corresponding thoughts in the appropriate language). And above this zone, free of form, sound and though, is the play of forces appearing as colored lights. And when you go there and have the power, you can combine those forces so that they eventually materialize as creations on earth (it takes some time, it's rarely immediate).
But those great waves of music you hear, which you said were beyond sounds - are they part of that domain of luminous vibrations?
Yes.... But it's the higher level of the musical zone. Each of these zones contains several levels, and the top of the musical zone is already starting to be waves, waves of vibration. But it's still directly related to music, while those colored forces I am speaking of have to do with terrestrial transformations and actions - great actions. They are powers of action. This zone where you hear no sound eventually becomes sounds and music. It is the summit. Each zone contains several levels.
In short, when one rises to that Origin, one finds a single vibration, which can be expressed as music or thought or architectural or pictorial forms - is that right?
Yes, but it goes through specific transformations en route. It passes through one zone or another, where it undergoes transformations to adapt itself to the particular mode of expression. The waves of music are one particular mode of expression of those colored waves - they should really be called "luminous" waves, for they are self-luminous. Waves of colored light. Great waves of colored light.

(silence)

All those zones of artistic creation are very high up in human consciousness, which is why art can be a wonderful tool for spiritual progress. For this world of creation is also the world of the gods; but the gods, I am sorry to say, have absolutely no taste for artistic creation. [[When she next saw Satprem, Mother added the following correction: "After you left, they came. It's not I who remembered - they MADE me remember! There was Saraswati saying, 'What about my sitar?' And Krishna, 'What about my flute?' (Mother laughs) There was another one also, I don't remember who. They were really upset! They told me right away, 'What are you talking about! We LOVE music.' All right. 'Fine,' I said (Mother laughs). It's true - Krishna is a great musician, and Saraswati is the perfection of expression.... Now that we have acknowledged their merits (Mother bows), go on with your reading." ]] They feel absolutely no need for permanence in forms - they couldn't care less! When they want something, there it is - all they have to do is want it. When they wish a particular surrounding or atmosphere, it takes form all by itself at their wish. They get everything the way they want it, so they feel no need for fixed forms. Man, on the other hand, who doesn't get what he wants the way he wants it, must make an effort to create forms, and that's why he progresses - art is a great means of spiritual progress.
But about those great waves of music that interest me - I had the impression they must be located well above the world of thought....
It's not exactly like geography, you know! But anyway, it's right on the border of the higher hemisphere.... It's the first expression of Consciousness as joy. I remember finding that same vibration of joy in Beethoven and Bach (in Mozart also, but to a lesser degree). The first time I heard Beethoven's concerto in D - in D major, for violin and orchestra ... suddenly the violin starts up (it's not right at the beginning - first there's an orchestral passage and then the violin takes it up), and with the first notes of the violin (Ysaye was playing, what a musician! [[Ysaye (1838-1931): celebrated Belgian violinist, colleague of Rubinstein. ]]), with the very first notes my head suddenly seemed to burst open, and I was cast into such splendor.... Oh, it was absolutely wonderful! For more than an hour I was in a state of bliss. Ysaye was a true musician! And mind you, I knew nothing of all those worlds, I hadn't the slightest knowledge; but all my experiences came that way - unexpectedly, without my seeking anything. When I looked at a painting, same thing: something would suddenly open up inside my head and I would see the origin of the painting - and such colors!... One can get to that world directly from the vital, without going through all the mental gradations. page 387-91 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Oct. 1962





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When the mind came down upon earth, something like a million years went by between the manifestation of the mind in the earth atmosphere and the appearance of the first man. But it will go faster this time because man is waiting for something, he has a vague idea: he is awaiting in some way or another the advent of the superman. Whereas the apes were certainly not awaiting the birth of man, they never thought of it - for the excellent reason that they probably don't think very much! But man has thought about it and is waiting, so it will go faster. But faster probably still means thousands of years. We shall speak of this again in a few thousand years!

page 78 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 2nd May - 1956


This defeatist Mind is still functioning - and in full swing! When we get out of that.... I want to be able to act directly without its help - do what Sri Aurobindo said: be rid of it!

page 22 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 10th Jan. 1961

Anger, moreover, like all forms of violence, is always a sign of weakness, impotence and incapacity. Here the deception comes from the approval one gives it or the flattering adjective one covers it with; for rage can be no more than blind, ignorant and asuric - opposed to the light. But this is still the best of cases. There is another case where people - without knowing it or because they WANT to ignore it - always pursue their personal interests, their preferences, their attachments, their concepts; people who are not entirely consecrated to the Divine and make use of moral and yogic ideas to conceal their personal motives. These people doubly deceive themselves: not only do they deceive themselves through their outer activities, their relations with others, but they also deceive themselves about their personal motives; instead of serving the Divine they are serving their own egoism. And this happens constantly, constantly! One serves his own personality, his egoism, while pretending to serve the Divine. This is no longer even self-deception: it's sheer hypocrisy. This mental habit of always cloaking everything with a favorable appearance, of giving all movements a favorable explanation, is at times so flagrant that it can fool nobody but oneself (although it may occasionally be subtle enough to create an illusion). It is a sort of habitual self-exoneration, the habit of giving a favorable mental excuse, a favorable mental explanation for all one does, all one says, all one feels. For example, someone with no self-control who strikes another in great indignation and is ready to call it divine wrath! Righteous [[Throughout the Agenda, words Mother originally spoke in English are italicized. ]] is perfect, because righteous immediately introduces this element of puritanical morality - wonderful! This power of self-deception, the mind's craft in devising splendid justifications for any ignorance or folly whatsoever, is tremendous.
page 30 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 17th Jan. 1961

There have been times, while working in the most material mind (the mind ingrained in the material substance), when I felt my brain swelling and swelling and swelling, and my head becoming so large it seemed about to burst! On two occasions I was forced to stop, because it was ... (was it only an impression, or was it a fact?) in any event it seemed dangerous, as if the head would burst, because what was inside was becoming too tremendous (it was that power in Matter, that very powerful deep blue light which has such powerful vibrations; it is able to heal, for example, and change the functioning of the organs - really a very powerful thing materially). Well then, that's what was filling my head, more and more, more and more, and I had the feeling that my skull was (it was painful, you know) ... that there was a pressure inside my skull pushing out, pushing everything out.... I wondered what was going to happen. Then, instead of following the movement, helping it along and going with it, I became immobile, passive, to see what would happen. And both times it stopped. I was no longer helping the movement along, you see, I simply remained passive - and it came to a halt, there was a sort of stabilization.

(silence)

But Sri Aurobindo must have had the experience [of cellular expansion], because he said positively that it COULD be done. page 37, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 12th Jan 1962


(Mother asks for a box of paints to demonstrate practically the gradation of colors of the levels of consciousness, from the most material Nature to the Supreme. The point is to illustrate the symbol of Infinity, the figure 8, which Mother explained in the conversation of May 11: the infinite play of the Supreme reaching down to Nature and Nature rising toward the Supreme. Mother speaks in English in the presence of a disciple, who is a painter, so that he may convey her explanations to H., the disciple who is preparing illustrations for "Savitri.")

Of course, all these things are lights, so you can't reproduce them. But still, it must be a violet that is not dull and not dark (Mother starts from the most material Nature). What she has put is too red, but if it's too blue, it won't be good either - you understand the difficulty? Then after violet there is blue, which must be truly blue, not too light, but it must be a bright blue. Not too light because there are three consecutive blues: there is the blue of the Mind, and then comes the Higher Mind, which is paler, and then the Illumined Mind, which is the color of the flag [Mother's flag], a silver blue, but naturally paler than that. And after this comes yellow, a yellow that is the yellow of the Intuitive Mind; it must not be golden, it must be the color of cadmium. Then after this yellow, which is pale, we have the Overmind with all the colors - they must all be bright colors, not dark: blue, red, green, violet, purple, yellow, all of them, all the colors. And after that, we then have all the golds of the Supermind, with its three layers. And then, after that, there is one layer of golden white - it is white, but a golden white. After this golden white, there is silver white - silver white: how can I explain that? (H. has sent me some ridiculous pictures of a sun shining on water - it has nothing to do with that.) If you put silver, silver gray (Mother shows a silver box nearby shining brilliantly in the sun), silver gray together with white ... that is, it is white, but if you put the four whites together you see the difference. There is a white white, then there is a white with a touch of pink, then a silvery white and a golden white. It makes four worlds.
page 143-44 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 18th May 1963


If I observe very carefully, I have the impression that the mind of Matter Sri Aurobindo refers to,[[. The "body-mind." ]] you know, the thought of Matter, isn't yet pure, it's still mixed; so it only takes one wrong movement for everything to come undone. And in people, that material mind lives in its wrong movement constantly - except a flash once in a while: a reversal. But here [in Mother], there still remains a habit; a habit (almost like a mere memory) of the wrong movement. And it only has to recur even as tiny as a pinpoint for ... brrt! everything to fall back into the old rut. But when I see the care I've taken for so many years to purify that fellow, I am a little (what should I say?) ... I can't say frightened or anxious, but ... (I can't even say pessimistic), but the condition of people who haven't done all the yoga I've done for years, how difficult it must be! Because the body's cells obey that material mind, which, in its natural state, is a mass of stupid ignorance that thinks it's so smart, oh! ... An almost foul mass of stupidity, and it thinks it's so smart! It thinks it knows everything. page 315 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 18th Sep. 1963


There is a slight hope that this material mind, the mind of the cells, will be transformed.

page 184 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 21st July - 1965



So what is the difference between this material mind and the physical mind? How would you define the physical mind in contrast with this material mind?
The physical mind is the mind of the physical personality formed by the body. It grows with the body, but it isn't the mind of Matter: it is the mind of the physical being. For instance, it is the mind that makes one's character: the bodily, physical character, which is in large part formed by atavism and education. What is called "physical mind" is all that. Yes, it's the result of atavism, of education and of the formation of the body; that's what makes the physical character. For example, some people are patient, some are strong and so on - physically, I mean, not for vital or mental reasons, but purely physically everyone has a character. That's the physical mind. And it is part of any integral yoga: you discipline this physical mind. I have done it for more than sixty years. page 229 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 31st Aug - 1965


The education of the new mind. It would be fine if it became an instrument of beauty!


page 116 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 18th May - 1966


A little later There was, yesterday afternoon and this morning, a long demonstration of how the Mind brought about and permitted a certain change in the evolution of Matter for the Divine's play, how rejection of the Mind is useful ONLY as a means of progress and evolution, and how it will be fully used when the new being - the complete, divine being - manifests. It was very interesting. A demonstration. It's the continuation of the demonstration [of August 31] which showed that ALL that has happened is necessary. But this can be really understood only when you have got rid of the Mind. As long as you are bound to it, you don't understand anything. It takes place little by little....
page 192 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 3rd Sep - 1966


(Mother gives Satprem a rose the color of fire.)

Do you think Nature will ever invent something better than this?... I don't think so.

It's beautiful, this Nature! I find this more beautiful than animals. From the point of view of consciousness, it's obviously more limited; a plant doesn't have the consciousness an animal has - they have this aspiration towards the light, but the consciousness isn't precise. But from the point of view of material organization it's incomparable. Take a tree like this one (the coconut tree under Mother's window), I see it all the time, this tree, it's wonderful! And how it struggles, how it works, how it produces .... From the point of view of beauty, I mean material harmony, the Mind has spoilt things a lot, quite a lot (at least that's my impression). How will things be?... Because nothing I have seen has, from the point of view of form, the richness, variety, unexpectedness, beauty of color and form that this rose has. I have seen things, I have seen supramental realizations - from the point of view of consciousness, they are infinitely superior, without a doubt, but from the point of view of form ... page 61 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Feb - 1967



We may say that all experiences tend towards a single revelation - that consciousness alone exists. And that it is the decision or choice (words are inaccurate), a decision of the consciousness that causes the form - all the forms, from the most subtle to the most material ones; and the material world, the apparent fixity of the material world stems from a distortion or a darkening of the consciousness, which has lost the sense of its all-powerfulness. This distortion has been still more pronounced since the advent of the mind, which in its working has so much taken the place of consciousness that it has so to speak substituted itself for consciousness, and that the mind, in its ordinary working, cannot be distinguished from consciousness - it doesn't know what consciousness is, and so ... (Mother makes a gesture expressing a shrinking or hardening). It's becoming very, very precise, very clear, very visible in the developed human mind. For the functioning of the body, for example, the difference between the action and perception of the consciousness and the action and perception of the mind. And in our world as it's still organized, the mind is more (oh, as an impression this is very interesting), much more concrete - "concrete" in the way of what we are used (wrongly used) to calling "real" - and set. It's not translucent, not fluid; it's not plastic, not fluid: it's mental, concrete. And then, the mind needs acquired knowledge and all the contacts with the outside.... Let's take a disorder in the body's functioning (which may come for all kinds of reasons that are very interesting to observe, but anyway, we can't speak of everything at the same time). The disorder is there and is expressed through a sense of discomfort; the way the consciousness reacts and acts and the way the mind reacts and acts are entirely, absolutely different (we can't say opposite, but absolutely different). Then there is the weakness (I am talking about the sensation of the body itself), the weakness arising from old habit. It's not a lack of faith, the body knows in an almost absolute way that there is only one salvation, one savior: THE Consciousness. But there is a weakness that causes a sort of slackening, a letting go to habit, and that's where an intensity of faith is needed - but an energy in the faith - in order not to yield. This goes on in a very small sphere, you understand, it's a question ... not even of minutes - of seconds. And if there is a letting go, it means illness; while the other way [of the consciousness] means, little by little, progressively, the unreality of the disorder. But it means an intensity of faith which, compared to the present state of mankind, may be regarded as miraculous.
page 62-63 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Feb - 1967



But it is radical, mon petit! You can't imagine, it's like.... I could really say I've become another person. Only this (Mother indicates the appearance of her body) is still like this, the same as it was.... To what extent will it be able to change? Sri Aurobindo said that if the physical mind is transformed, the body's transformation will follow quite NATURALLY. We'll see.


page 338 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 18th Dec - 1971





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First, one may ask: What is a miracle? Because Sri Aurobindo often says that "there is no such thing as a miracle," but at the same time, in "Savitri," for example, he says, "All's miracle here and can by miracle change."[[Savitri, I.V.85. ]]
It depends which way you look at it: from this side or from the other side.
People only call miracles things they can't explain clearly, in mental terms. From that point of view, innumerable things that happen can be said to be "miracles," because you can't explain the why or the how.
What would a real miracle be, then?
I don't see what a real miracle can be, because what's a miracle, ultimately? A real miracle ... It's only the mind that has the notion of miracle, because following its own logic, the mind decides that given this and that condition, this or that circumstance can or cannot be. But these are merely the mind's limitations. Because from the Lord's point of view, how could there be a miracle? All is but Himself objectifying Himself. Here we come to the great problem of the road we travel, the eternal Road Sri Aurobindo refers to in Savitri. It is easy to imagine, of course, that what was first objectified had an inclination to objectification. The first point to accept, a logical point considering the principle of evolution, is that the objectification is progressive, it is not complete for all eternity.... (silence) It's very hard to express, because we cannot free ourselves from our habit of seeing it as a finite quantity unfolding indefinitely and of thinking that only with a finite quantity can there be a beginning. We always have an idea (at least in our way of speaking) of a "moment" (laughing) when the Lord decides to objectify Himself. And put that way, the explanation is easy: He objectifies Himself gradually, progressively, with, as a result, a progressive evolution. But that's just a manner of speaking. Because there is no beginning, no end, yet there is a progression. The sense of sequence, the sense of evolution and progress comes only with the Manifestation. And only when we speak of the earth can we explain things truthfully and rationally, because the earth had a beginning - not in its soul, but in its material reality. A material universe probably has a beginning, too.

(silence)

So looking at it that way, for a given universe, a miracle would mean the sudden appearance of something from another universe. And for the earth (which brings the problem down to a manageable size), a miracle means the sudden appearance of something that doesn't belong to the earth - and this entry of a principle that doesn't belong to the earth as a finite world causes a radical and instant change. But then again, as the saying goes, the ENTIRE whole is found in principle at the very core of each part; so even this miracle isn't possible. We might say that the sense of miracle can only belong to a finite world, a finite consciousness, a finite conception. It is the abrupt, unexpected entry - or appearance or intervention or penetration - of something that did not exist in this physical world. So it follows that any manifestation of a will or consciousness belonging to a realm more infinite and eternal than the earth is necessarily a miracle on the earth. But if you go beyond the finite world or the understanding proper to the finite world, then miracle does not exist. The Lord can play at miracles if He enjoys it, but there's no such thing as a miracle - He plays all possible games. You can begin to understand Him only when you FEEL it that way, that He plays all possible games - and "possible" not according to human conception but according to His own conception! Then there is no room for the miracle, except for a pretend miracle.
To see the world as it is, accurately, starkly, in the most practical and down-to-earth way, and to see the world as it can be, with the highest and freest vision, filled with hope and aspiration and a marvelous certainty - these are the two poles of discernment. All the most splendid, marvelous, powerful, expressive and total things we are able to imagine are nothing compared to what they can be; and at the same time, our minute observation of the smallest detail can never be sufficiently exact. Both things must go together. When you know this (gesture below) and you know That (gesture above), you are able to make the two meet. This is the best possible use of the need for miracles. The need for miracles is a gesture of ignorance: "Oh, I wish it were that way!" It's a gesture of ignorance and impotence. On the other hand, those who tell you, "You live in a world of miracles," know only the lower end of things (and quite imperfectly at that), and they are impervious to anything else. We should turn this need for miracles into a conscious aspiration to something - something that already is, that exists, and that will be manifested WITH THE HELP of all those aspirations: all those aspirations are necessary, or rather, looking at it in a truer way, they are an accompaniment - a pleasant accompaniment - to the eternal unfolding. Basically, people with a very strict logic tell you, "Why pray? Why aspire, why ask? The Lord does what He wills and will always do what He wills." It's perfectly obvious, it goes without saying, but this fervor, "Lord, manifest Yourself!" gives His manifestation a more intense vibration. Otherwise He would never have made the world as it is - there is a special power, a special joy, a special vibration in the world's intensity of aspiration to become again what it is. And that is why - partly, fragmentarily why - there is evolution. An eternally perfect universe, eternally manifesting eternal perfection, would lack the joy of progress. This I feel very intensely. Very intensely. We see no farther than the tip of our nose, not even one second of Infinity, and that second doesn't contain all that we'd like to experience and know, so we complain, "Oh, no! This world is no good." But if we come out of our second into the Whole, immediately we feel so intensely all that the need for progress has brought to the Manifestation. And yet ... yet it is still limited to the receiving instrument. There comes a point when even the creative Force of this universe feels very small if It doesn't merge, doesn't unite with the creative Force of all other universes. There too, there is a constant ascent or progression in identification.

(Mother suddenly turns to Satprem)

You're not going to put all that in?!
But... yes, of course!
(Laughing) No, cut out all the last part.
It's late now, otherwise I might have asked you a question.
Go ahead. What question?
Why didn't Sri Aurobindo or you make more use of miracles as a means to overcome the resistances of the outer human consciousness? Why this self-effacement towards the outside, this sort of nonintervention, as it were, or unobstrusiveness?
In Sri Aurobindo's case, I only know what he told me several times: what people call "miracles" are just interventions in the physical or vital worlds. And those interventions are always mixed with ignorant or arbitrary movements. But the number of miracles Sri Aurobindo performed in the Mind is incalculable. Of course, only if you had a very honest, sincere and pure vision could you see them - I saw them. Others too saw them. But he refused (this I know), he refused to perform any vital or material miracle, because of the admixture. My own experience is like this: in the world's present state, a direct miracle (vital or material, that is) must necessarily involve a number of fallacious elements which we cannot accept - those miracles are necessarily fallacious miracles. And we cannot accept that. At least I always refused to do so. I've seen what people call miracles. I saw many with Madame Théon, for instance, but it allowed a host of things to exist that to me are inadmissible. I don't know if that's the true reason, I am not sure if the reason isn't just that we were not supposed to do miracles. I could say a lot on the subject, but ... At any rate, perhaps I'll tell you one day, but it can't be used for the Bulletin - these aren't public matters. But what people call "miracles" nowadays are almost always performed by beings of the vital world, or by men in relation with such beings, so there's a mixture - it accepts the reality of certain things, the truth of certain things that aren't true. And it works on that basis. So it's unacceptable. Some other day I'll tell you more, though what I'll have to say will be personally to you, for the Agenda, it just won't do for the Bulletin. There you are. page 66-71 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 6th March 1963


I'd like to ask you a question.... I haven't quite understood what you meant by "miracles in the Mind." What are they? "Sri Aurobindo performed miracles in the Mind," you said.
That was when he brought the supramental Force into the mental consciousness. He would bring into the mental consciousness (the mental consciousness that governs all material movements[[ In other words, the physical mind, creator of the medical, gravitational and mortal cage we live in. ]]) a supramental formation, or power, or force, that instantly altered the organization. With immediate results ... that appear illogical because the process doesn't follow the course set by mental logic. He said it himself: it happened when he was in possession or in conscious command of the supramental Force and Power and when he put it on a particular spot for a particular purpose. It was irrevocable, inevitable: the effect was absolute.
That can be called a miracle.
The supramental force he would put in a person's mind was able to...
Take the example of someone ill, even feeling pain. When Sri Aurobindo was in possession of this supramental Power (at certain times he said it was totally under his control, he could do whatever he wanted with it and apply it wherever he wanted), then he would put this Will on some disorder or other, physical or vital, say (or mental, of course), he would put this Force of a superior harmony, a superior, supramental order, keep it there, and it would act instantly. And it was an order - it created an order and harmony superior to natural harmony. Which means that if the object was to cure, for example, the cure was more perfect and total than a cure brought about by the ordinary physical and mental methods. There were hosts of instances. But people are so blind, you know, so bogged down in their ordinary consciousness, that they always have ready "explanations." They can always explain it away. Only those who had faith and aspiration and something very pure in them, that is, those who really wanted to know, were aware of it. Which means there is a difference between the miracle taking place through or in the mind, and the miracle taking place directly in the physical and vital. For instance, all those who perform miracles like levitation, moving objects, generating lights ... (Mother keeps silent for a while, then drops the subject). It's a field that I don't find very living, it doesn't interest me very much. [[Later, Mother repeated the same remark: "I am not much concerned with this field, I see it from the OTHER angle What I refer to here is seen from below upward, while I see it the other way (gesture from above downward), so it assumes a very different character. We'll talk about it again later." ]] But that's how it worked with healing. When the Power was there, he said it was even effortless, all he had to do was to put that Power of order, of supramental harmony, and it would act instantly. [[In the following conversation, Mother gave a very recent example of someone cured by the supramental force acting in the material mind: "After three warnings which he didn't heed, A. [a Paris disciple], one morning, found himself half-paralyzed. And the next day, it started spreading to the other side, the left side. At that point, he gave a call - it struck him to see one side completely paralyzed and the other following suit, he saw himself going down, so he gave a call. And he says that inside a few minutes, a stupendous Force came into him and that Force said, "No!" And almost automatically, everything came to a stop. Nothing came over the left side, and the right side started to improve. And when I received the first telegram informing me that A. had to take to his bed because of an 'attack' (a 'heart attack,' they said, but it wasn't the heart, it was an embolism in the brain), with the telegram in my hands, I saw, written OVER the telegram's words: 'It's nothing, no need to worry'! So I said coolly, 'Oh' it's nothing, no need to worry.' (Mother laughs) Then the letter came with all the details: thrombosis, and so on. But he says he feels a Force [near Mother] that's not in his ordinary little life over there, he finds it makes all the difference - it's something which gives a LIFE that's not in his ordinary little life in France. Anyhow, this is something like a miracle." ]] The difference is hard to explain.

page 71-72 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th March 1963



Yes, it mustn't be a "favor." "Give me the Force to be what I should be," that, yes.

What triggered the whole experience (I forgot to tell you this), when I asked the Lord, "Why? Why couldn't I do something for these people who are really nice?" is that that story of the past came back, when Sri Aurobindo told me, "You are doing a work of the Overmind, you will work miracles that will fill the world with admiration ..." and so on, I told you the story. It came back massively, exactly the same thing: "That is not the truth we want...." And that's also why I stopped all those pujas of the Mother in October-November, because they all used to come with the idea of getting something: miracles, miracles, miracles - never for the True Thing. And that's what they expect of God, of course, miracles or favors, illogical and unreasonable things, instead of wanting the Divine's progressive advance. Obviously, that's more difficult. page 250 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 21st Oct 1964


And naturally people tell me, "You have cured me, you have saved so-and-so, you ..." I almost perform miracles, but ... They think it's me, but there's no "me"! There's nothing, there's no "me" here; it's only ... (gesture of something flowing through Mother) the Force flowing. I try, I only try not to block, not to check or diminish anything, that's my sole effort: let it go through me as impersonally as possible.
page 25 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Jan - 1972-1973




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Money belongs to the one who spends it; that is an absolute law. You may pile up money, but it doesn't belong to you until you spend it. Then you have the merit, the glory, the joy, the pleasure of spending it! Money is meant to circulate. What should remain constant is the progressive movement of an increase in the earth's production - an ever-expanding progressive movement to increase the earth's production and improve existence on earth. It is the material improvement of terrestrial life and the growth of the earth's production that must go on expanding, enlarging, and not this silly paper or this inert metal that is amassed and lifeless. Money is not meant to generate money; money should generate an increase in production, an improvement in the conditions of life and a progress in human consciousness. This is its true use. What I call an improvement in consciousness, a progress in consciousness, is everything that education in all its forms can provide - not as it's generally understood, but as we understand it here: education in art, education in ... from the education of the body, from the most material progress, to the spiritual education and progress through yoga; the whole spectrum, everything that leads humanity towards its future realization. Money should serve to augment that and to augment the material base for the earth's progress, the best use of what the earth can give - its intelligent utilization, not the utilization that wastes and loses energies. The use that allows energies to be replenished.
page 204 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Oct. - 1958


And it is always like that. I never ask for anything, but if by chance I say to myself, 'Hmm, wouldn't it be nice to have that,
mountains of them pour in! So last year, I made an experiment, I told Nature, 'Listen, my little one, you say that you will collaborate, you told me I would never lack anything. Well then, to put it on a level of feelings, it would really be fun, it would give me joy (in the style of Krishna's joy), to have A LOT of money to do everything I feel like doing. It's not that I want to increase things for myself, no; you give me more than I need. But to have some fun, to be able to give freely, to do things freely, to spend freely - I am asking you to give me a crore of rupees' for my birthday! She didn't do a thing! Nothing, absolutely nothing: a complete refusal. Did she refuse or was she unable to? It may be that ... I always saw that money was under the control of an asuric force. (I am speaking of currency, 'cash'; I don't want to do business. When I try to do business, it generally succeeds very well, but I don't mean that. I am speaking of cash.) I never asked her that question. You see, this is how it happened: there's this Ganesh2 ... We had a meditation (this was more than thirty years ago) in the room where 'Prosperity'3 is now distributed. There were eight or ten of us, I believe. We used to make sentences with flowers; I arranged the flowers, and each one made a sentence with the different flowers I had put there. And one day when the subject of prosperity or wealth came up, I thought (they always say that Ganesh is the god of money, of fortune, of the world's wealth), I thought, 'Isn't this whole story of the god with an elephant trunk merely a lot of human imagination?' Thereupon, we meditated. And who should I see walk in and park himself in front of me but a living being, absolutely alive and luminous, with a trunk that long ... and smiling! So then, in my meditation, I said, 'Ah! So it's true that you exist!' - 'Of course I exist! And you may ask me for whatever you wish, from a monetary standpoint, of course, and I will give it to you!'
page 175 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 6th July - 1958

Money is a force and should not be an individual possession, no more than air, water or fire. To begin with, the abolishment of inheritance.

**

Financial power is the materialization of a vital force turned into one of the greatest powers of action: the power to attract acquire, and utilize. Like all the other powers, it must be put at the service of the Divine. page 206 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , Undated - 1958


And I very well see (because I told Him several times, "You know, it would be great fun if I had plenty of money to play with"), so I see that He laughs, but He doesn't answer!... He teaches me to be able to laugh at this difficulty, to see the cashier send me his book in which the figures are growing astronomical ([laughing] it's by 50,000, 60,000, 80,000, 90,000), while the drawer is nearly empty! And He wants me to learn to laugh at it. The day when I can really laugh - laugh, enjoy myself - SINCERELY (not through effort - you can do anything you want through effort), when it makes me laugh spontaneously, I think it will change. Because otherwise it's impossible.... You see, we have fun with all sorts of things, there's no reason we couldn't have fun with more money than we need and do things in style! It will surely happen one day, but we should - we shouldn't be overwhelmed by the amount, and for that we shouldn't take money seriously. We shouldn't take money seriously. It's very hard nowadays, because all over the world people take money seriously, and that makes it very hard. Especially those who have money. Those who have money, how seriously they take it, oh, Lord! That's why it's difficult. We should be able to laugh - laugh, laugh frankly and sincerely, then it would be over. page 34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 14th Jan 1963


(Mother laughs) You know, there are lots of people who put money in their walls (they hide it with curtains or papers). There's a fortune, several crores [[One crore = ten millions. ]] of rupees: millions hidden away in walls! And then they worry themselves sick, they constantly fear a police raid; while if they gave it away, they would become quite respectable people! They wouldn't be scared anymore, they would have a peaceful life.... I have the possibility of saying that they are anonymous gifts, as in temples; so that's a way for them to turn honest, it would be all to their advantage, but they are more attached to their money than to their life! I said several times (I know some people who have money hidden in their walls), I let it be known through intermediaries that they only had to put it in a suitcase and come and leave it at my door. And I'll say it's an anonymous gift, that's all. And they will be free - not only free, but (smiling) with a blessing, because it's for the divine work.... No, they are prisoners, prisoners of their money. And the rather interesting thing is that (without any exception so far) all those who had an opportunity to give me money and didn't want to - who didn't want to because of their attachment to their money - lost it. It was taken from them, either by the government or a financial catastrophe or an industrial catastrophe, or simply stolen - lost. page 194 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 7th Sep - 1966



About the financial situation, I have a little story to tell you, which took place on Sunday or Monday. I told you that the situation was quite ... to ordinary consciousnesses, it was critical. And there was a payment to be made. I don't remember the material details, but something had to be paid very urgently (I think it was to the workers: they were hungry and hadn't been given their money). And I needed a certain amount - which I didn't have: I had nothing. Then a sort of compassion came into me for those people who didn't have any money. I saw it wasn't right, and I couldn't do anything because there was none. So, in the evening while I was walking (I have an hour of meditation and quiet, of concentration), I presented it all like this (gesture upward), and with an almost childlike attitude I said to the Lord (He was there, of course, I was with Him) something that can be translated (I don't know, I don't speak but it could be translated into words) roughly like this: "I know You are with me and behind everything I do and everywhere, but I'd like to know whether what I do, the work I do, interests You or not! (Mother laughs) And if it does interest You, well, I must have this money." It came like that, in a quite childlike form, but very, very pure. And two days later, when it was necessary for the money to come, for me to have money, just as everything seemed quite impossible, Amrita suddenly came in, telling me, "Here, so-and-so has sent a cheque for such-and-such an amount." - Exactly the amount needed. And I think it was the first time that person had sent money. It was quite unexpected, absolutely a miracle - a miracle for children. The required amount, just at the required time, and absolutely unexpected. Then I had a good laugh. And I said to myself, "How silly we can be! We don't know that everything happens exactly as it has to."
page 227 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 5th Oct - 1966


The true attitude is this: money is a universal force meant to do the work on earth, the work needed to prepare the earth to receive the divine forces and manifest them, and it must come into the hands (the utilizing power, that is) of those who have the clearest vision, the most general and truest vision.


page 102 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 10th Apr - 1968


Money is not meant to make money,
money is meant to prepare the earth for the new creation.
And I added this (it's already gone to Delhi):
The men of finance and the businessmen have been offered the possibility to collaborate with the

future, but most of them refuse, convinced that money is stronger than the future.
Thus, the future will crush them with its irresis tible power.
I wrote it in French before putting it into English, but in French, I spoke directly to the financiers:

(translation)

To financiers and businessmen
You have been offered the possibility of collaborating with the future, but you have thought that the power of money is stronger than that of the future. And the future will crush you with its irresistible power.
But that's a first version, I intend to rewrite it. In English, I put most of them refuse ..."
The French is more combative.
A little too combative. Some have accepted to collaborate, so I wouldn't like them to say I'm going on announcing catastrophes for them!
Yes, obviously, it's a bit threatening.
Yes, too threatening. We'll translate the English.
Page 442-43 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 22nd Nov - 1969




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It all began with some extremely violent attacks. So if your dream is not premonitory, then it must be the result of 'their' formation, by which they intend to disseminate the conviction everywhere, as much as possible, that this is the end.... Two years ago, when I had to retire to my room, a formidable campaign was set into operation upon all the Ashram people; and all those who were a little receptive, either in dreams or through an openness to suggestions, heard it clearly announced: 'On the 9th of December of this year [1958], Mother will leave. There's no doubt about it, it's sure.' It was said to me as well: 'This will be the end, you will leave.' It was repeated to everybody, everybody, a great many people heard it - they were virtually awaiting it. And this is why (you know how extremely ill I was at the time, I was really ill), this is why I didn't react, but all the same I didn't go to the lake [the lake estate where Mother was to have gone on the 9th of December], because I told myself, 'If anything happens there, it will be awkward - I had better not go.' [76] But still I knew it wasn't true, I knew it.

Now this kind of attack has stopped, it is no longer like that. But there are beings who send dreams. For example, some dreams were sent to Z (who, as you know, is quite clairvoyant), in which she was told I would be 'broken to pieces.' She was very upset and I had to intervene. Is your dream of this nature, or ... are you being forewarned? I don't know, I can't say.... If the doctor were asked, perhaps he would say that if it continues like this, obviously ... (you see, one thing after another is getting disorganized), if it continues in this way, how long can the body last?

page 76-77 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 11th Feb 1961




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L'Agenda de Mère - vol 3 , 1962

March 13, 1962

You're in a bad mood; oh yes, I could see it from far away.
(Satprem voices various complaints, then adds.) And then to top it off, the other day you tell me this Agenda isn't interesting either, that it's not worth keeping. So what am I doing here?
What? What's not worth keeping?
Your Agenda.
My Agenda? But I treasure it!
Oh, you said it didn't interest you....
Me? I said that!

Page 121


Yes. You sure did!
Then I was lying.
No, obviously not. But you said it didn't interest you and it should be filed away in a corner or I don't know what. So what am I doing here?
You surely misunderstood me. I said it's unpublishable for the time being; that's quite different.
Yes, it's certainly not publishable right now.
And I made a date with you for fifty years from now. I was very serious: I was laughing. When I laugh I am being serious. No, no, mon petit, it's simply that ... you have swallowed some poison.
No, you even told me that if you happened to go you would leave a note saying it shouldn't be published.
Published? Certainly not in the newspapers. It will be for those interested in the yoga.
Well, that's different.
I was speaking about newspapers and magazines and the outside world. I said, "I don't want the outside world to scoff at something sacred." That's all.
Of course.
And that's all I said. Maybe I didn't put it in exactly those words, but I said it was for those who love me. That's the point. For those who have loved me, well, it's all right, I give it to them; even if they forget me, it will make them remember. But it's my gift to those who continue to love me. And I don't intend to give them a worthless gift. No, no, I must really have expressed myself very poorly, because it was quite the opposite. I deem this Agenda far too intimate, far too near and dear to me, to be thrown as fodder to a bunch of idiots!

Page 122


I fully agree! But you said (at least I thought you did) that you would systematically file this Agenda away, that it would never even be at the disposal of those interested in the Work.
No, not that. I said two things. One, if I make it through to the end, I may even let it be shown to the public, for the living proof will be there: "You don't need to scoff - just see where it leads - HERE!" And if the Lord decides it's not for this time, well, then I will give it to those who have loved me, who have lived with me, worked with me, endeavored with me, and who respect what was attempted. It will be my parting gift ... if I go. And I don't intend to.


page 122 - the Agenda is for those who love me ...






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I had another cat named Kiki. He had a wonderful color and was just like velvet. We used to have meditations and he would come, get up on a chair and go into trance; he would make the brusque movements of trance during the meditation. And I had to rouse him out of it, otherwise he wouldn't wake up! Once this cat was stung by a scorpion. A foolhardy youngster, he used to play with scorpions. I had to rescue him one day; I came onto the verandah just when he was playing with a big scorpion. I caught the cat, put him on my shoulder and killed the scorpion. But another time I wasn't there, and he was stung. He came inside, done for. I clearly saw the signs that he had been poisoned by a scorpion. I put him on a table and went to call Sri Aurobindo. 'Kiki has been stung by a scorpion,' I said. (He was dying, almost in a coma.) Sri Aurobindo pulled up a chair, sat down facing the table and began to gaze at Kiki. This lasted about twenty or twenty-five minutes. Then suddenly the cat relaxed completely and ... fell asleep. When he woke up, he was entirely cured. Sri Aurobindo didn't touch him, he didn't do anything; he simply gazed at him.

page 161 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 1961 , 2nd April .






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page 144 - Mother's flag


May 18, 1963




page 74 - Ashram's flag and Auroville's


page 74-75 - Auroville March 2, 1968






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Europeans don't have the inner sense at all. To them, everything is like this (gesture), a surface - not even that, a film on the surface. And they can't feel anything behind. But it's an absolutely real fact that the Presence is there - I guarantee it. People have given me statuettes of various gods, little things in metal, wood or ivory; and as soon as I take one in my hand, the god is there. I have a Ganesh [[Ganesh (or Ganapati): The first son of the Supreme Mother, represented with an elephant trunk and an ample belly. Ganesh is the god who presides over material realizations (over money in particular). He is also known as the scribe of divine knowledge. ]] (I have been given several) and if I take it in my hand and look at it for a moment, he's there. I have a little one by my bedside where I work, eat, and meditate. And then there is a Narayana [[Narayana: another name of Vishnu, one of the gods of the Hindu trinity. He watches over the creation, whereas Brahma is the creator and Shiva the destroyer. ]] which comes from the Himalayas, from Badrinath. I use them both as paperweights for my handkerchiefs! (My handkerchiefs are kept on a little table next to my bed, and I keep Ganapati I and Narayana on top of them.) And no one touches them but me - I pick them up, take a fresh handkerchief, and put them back again. Once I blended some nail polish myself, and before applying it, I put some on Ganapati's forehead and stomach and fingertips! We are on the best of terms, very friendly. So to me, you see, all this is very true. Only.... Narayana came first. I put him there and told him to stay and be happy. A while later, I was given a very nice Ganapati; so I asked Narayana - I didn't ask his permission, I told him, 'Don't be angry, you know, but I'm going to give you a companion; I like you both very much, there's no preference; the other is much better looking, but you, you are Narayana!' I flattered him, I told him pleasant things, and he was perfectly happy.

page 193 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 29th April - 1961






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I was at the Origin - I WAS the Origin. For more than two hours, consciously, here on this bed, I was the Origin. And it was like gusts - like great gusts ending in explosions. And each one of these gusts was a span of the universe.

It was Love in its supreme essence - which has nothing to do with what people normally understand by that word.

And each gust of this essence of Love was dividing and spreading out ... but they weren't forces, it was far beyond the realm of forces. The universe as we know it no longer existed; it was a sort of bizarre illusion, bearing no relation to THAT. There was only the truth of the universe, with those great gusts of color - they were colored - great gusts colored with something that is the essence of color.

It was stupendous. I lived more than two hours like that, consciously.

And then a Voice was explaining everything to me (not exactly a Voice, but something that was Sri Aurobindo's origin, like the most recent gust from the Origin). As the experience unfolded, this Voice explained each gust to me, each span of the universe; and then it explained how it all became like this (Mother makes a gesture of reversal): the distortion of the universe. And I was wondering how it was possible, with that Consciousness, that supreme Consciousness, to relate to the present, distorted universe. How to make the connection without losing that Consciousness? A relationship between the two seemed impossible. And that's when that sort of Voice reminded me of my promise, that I had promised to do the Work on earth and it would be done. "I promised to do the Work and it will be done."

Then began the process of descent, [[As we will see, "descent" is not the right word. ]] and the Voice was explaining it to me - I lived through it all in detail, and it wasn't pleasant. It took an hour and a half to change from that true Consciousness to the individual consciousness. Because throughout the experience this present individuality no longer existed, this body no longer existed, there were no more limits, I was no longer here - what was here was THE PERSON. An hour and a half was needed to return to the body-consciousness (not the physical consciousness but the body-consciousness), to the individual body-consciousness.

The first sign of the return to individuality was a prick of pain, a tiny point (Mother holds between her fingers a minuscule point in the space of her being). Yes, because I have a sore, a sore in a rather awkward place, and it hurts [[Mother will suffer from this same sore for nearly twelve years. ]] (Mother laughs). So I felt the pain: it was the sign of individuality coming back. Other than that, there was nothing any more - no body, no individual, no limits. But it's strange, I have made a strange discovery [[Later, Mother emphasized: "I don't mean a general discovery; it concerns my body alone. I don't say that all bodies are like this, but MY body - what has become my body - is like this." ]]: I used to think it was the individual (Mother touches her body) who experienced pain and disabilities and all the misfortunes of human life; well, I perceived that what experiences misfortunes is not the individual not my body, but that each misfortune, each pain, each disability has its own individuality as it were, and each one represents a battle.

And my body is a world of battles.

It is the battlefield.

Page 138-39 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 13th May - 1962


On the contrary, I have the feeling that those who know more can do more, and more is asked of them - it isn't that they are asked less: they are asked more. And this body still belongs almost entirely to the old creation. And its own tendency is to say, "Oh, that's not nice! We have goodwill, and the more goodwill we have, the more is demanded from us." But these are very human notions, very human.... The more goodwill we have, the more is asked of us - not because of some decision or other: spontaneously, quite naturally. We speak of transformation, even of transfiguration, but there is the passage from the old movement to the new movement, from the old status to the new status, which is a break in equilibrium; and always, for what still belongs to the old creation, a dangerous break in equilibrium is what gives you the feeling that everything eludes you, that you have lost your foothold. And that's when you need unwavering faith. But a faith that isn't like mental faith, which is self-supporting: it is a faith in the sensation. And that (Mother shakes her head) is very difficult.

(silence)

It's always the same thing: the old system of solitude is relatively very easy: you lie down, cut off all connections, remain in deep contemplation, and wait for the crisis to be over. It lasts for a time, you don't know how long. But when you are like this, surrounded with people, work, responsibilities (not moral ones: material ones), with things that materially depend on you, then ... you must find the way to go on, but without having anymore the support of the usual equilibrium. It's a bit hard. But it is clear that if we say, "I am here because of You and for You and at Your service," well, it has to be true, that's all.
page 180 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 17th July - 1965


It remains to see when I'll disappear! ... Sri Aurobindo said to me, "Your body on earth ..." He said, "What I see is that your body is the only one that has sufficient endurance to go through the ordeal." But, you understand, this body knew nothing about it, it has no ambitions (!), still less pretensions. But basing myself on that, when he told me, "You will do the work," I said yes. So there we are. But now, I see - I have seen: holding out is tough. It's tough. It takes both an unflinching energy - a constant energy, like this (inflexible gesture) - and at the same time, a perfect humility ready to abandon EVERYTHING, because all that is is nothing in comparison with what must be. A perfect humility. I don't think there are many bodies like that. It really (laughing) has goodwill! Oh, these last few days there have been moments ... a few minutes (it could hardly last more) when it was really tough. And then, what makes it possible for the body to go through is that at such moments, it's completely like this (gesture of surrender): "Lord, what You will." Nothing, no thought, no speculation - nothing: "What You will." And "You alone exist." That's all. Moments of anguish, you know ... in an ordinary consciousness it would translate into hard-to-bear physical pains, but the Grace is there - the UNREALITY OF THE SUFFERING is there, fortunately. Oh, a marvelous Grace.
page 69-70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 2nd March - 1967


Yes, I understand. I understand. Well, perhaps that is what Sri Aurobindo meant when he said, "Your body is at present the only one on earth that can do this work." I thought it was a kindness on his part.... But it's true that it was cut off, I knew it - I saw it - cut off, the states of being were sent away: "Go away, all of you are not wanted anymore." Then the body had to rebuild a life for itself. And instead of having to go through all those states of being as it did before, through successive awakenings (gesture of ascent from degree to degree, in the way of the yogis of old), up to the highest height, the highest height beyond the form, now it's no longer that at all, the body no longer needs anything of all that, it simply has ... (gesture of a rising aspiration opening out like a flower). Something within opened and developed, which caused that idiotic mind to become organized and capable of falling silent in an aspiration. And then ... then there was the direct Contact, without intermediaries - the direct contact. That it now has constantly. Constantly, every single moment, the direct contact. And it's THE BODY: it doesn't go through all kinds of things and states of being, not at all, it's direct. But once that has been done (this is something Sri Aurobindo had said), once ONE body has done it, it has the capacity of passing it on to others; and I tell you, there is now (I am not saying in its totality and in detail, probably not), but here and there (scattered gesture to show various points on earth) people suddenly get one experience or another. Some of them (most) get frightened, so naturally it goes away - that is because they weren't prepared enough within (if it's not the little routine of every minute, ever the same, they get frightened), and once they get frightened it's over, it means they will need years of preparation for the experience to recur. But still, some don't; suddenly, an experience: "Ah!" something wholly new, wholly unexpected, which they had never thought of. It's contagious. That I know. And it's the only hope, because if everyone had to go through the same experience again ... Well, I am ninety now - at the age of ninety people are tired, they've had enough of life. To do this work one must feel as young as a small child. It takes a long time, I clearly see that it has taken a long time. And it isn't done, of course, it's BEING done - it isn't done, far from it. Far from it ... What's the proportion of conscious cells? We don't know.
page 382-83 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 22nd Nov - 1967


The mystery is always why he left.
Yes. I remember quite clearly and precisely (I still see the whole setting, in his room) a conversation I once had with him-in what connection, I don't know .... It was ... (I forget what preceded, you understand), he told me, "We can't both remain upon earth, one must go." Then I said to him, "I am ready, I'll go." Then he told me, "No, you can't go, your body is better than mine, you can undergo the transformation better than I can do." And the strange thing is that ... It took place just before all his physical difficulties. But I didn't attach too much importance [to that conversation]; it's only when he left that it suddenly came back, and I thought, "So there, he knew! ..." It was ... I don't know. It was almost like a speculation, you understand, which he was just mentioning. It was at the time of our moving from the other house to this one, [[In February, 1927. ]] because it took place one day in that room, here [downstairs], and it was before his accident, before he broke his leg. [[On November 24, 1938. ]] In what connection, I forget. That's gone. But I remember clearly, so clearly, I still see the room and everything, how he was, how he told me, "We can't both remain upon earth." That's all.
But why can't "both" remain?
Ah, that's the question.
Why?

But when he said it to me, I found it so obvious that I didn't even ask him. So it must have followed something, and that something is gone. Because I remember, I told him, "I am absolutely ready, I'll go." Then he looked at me, and he said, "No, no, your body is better than mine, it can undergo ..."

page 261-62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th July - 1969

I said that to Sri Aurobindo. (Laughing) He looked at me and said, "There aren't two people like you on earth!" (Mother laughs) Because, he says, people may overcome the need to be happy (not "be happy," that doesn't mean anything), anyway the need of satisfaction, of Ananda, but for it to be spontaneous ...! Like that, effortless.

page 126, Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 28th March - 1970


Yes, that's it!... In fact, the body has enough commonsense to ... It KNOWS it's not ill - it knows very well it's not an illness, that it's in fact an attempt at transformation, it knows that very well.... And from a psychological standpoint, that's important and it's a great help, but ... there are all those centuries of habit.


page 201 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 20th May - 1970


It was what Sri Aurobindo told me when I asked to leave (we both knew one of us had to go); I immediately said to him, "I will go." And he said no, he told me, "Your body is much more capable than mine of bearing the work of transformation." Sri Aurobindo told me that. And so it accepted, but.... It's true, the body has to be VERY goodwilled -- it so happens that mine is; and it's not a mental goodwill, of course, it's really a bodily goodwill. It accepts, it accepts all the drawbacks.... But the attitude is important, not the consequences (I am convinced that the drawbacks are not indispensable), it's the attitude that is important. It has to be like this (gesture of open hands), you see. Truly I have noticed that in most cases, surrender to the Divine does not mean trust in the Divine -- because when you surrender to the Divine, you say, "Even if You make me suffer, I surrender," but that's an absolute lack of trust! That's really amusing, surrender DOES NOT IMPLY trust; trust is something else, it's ... a kind of knowledge -- an unshakable knowledge, which nothing can disturb -- it's WE who change into difficulties, suffering, misery what is ... perfect peace in the Divine Consciousness. It's we who create that little "transformation."
page 340 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 18th Dec - 1971




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The story narrated in the film went like this: Narada, as usual, was having fun. (Narada is a demigod with a divine position - that is, he can communicate with man and with the gods as he pleases, and he serves as an intermediary, but then he likes to have fun!) So he was quarrelling with one of the goddesses, I no longer recall which one, and he told her ... (Ah, yes! The quarrel was with Saraswati.) Saraswati was telling him that knowledge is much greater than love (much greater in that it is much more powerful than love), and he replied to her, 'You don't know what you're talking about! (Mother laughs) Love is much more powerful than knowledge.' So she challenged him, saying, 'Well then, prove it to me.' - 'I shall prove it to you,' he replied. And the whole story starts there. He began creating a whole imbroglio on earth just to prove his point. It was only a film story, but anyway, the goddesses, the three wives of the Trimurti - that is, the consort of Brahma, the consort of Vishnu and the consort of Shiva - joined forces (! ) and tried all kinds of things to foil Narada. I no longer recall the details of the story ... Oh yes, the story begins like this: one of the three - I believe it was Shiva's consort, Parvati (she was the worst one, by the way!) - was doing her puja. Shiva was in meditation, and she began doing her puja in front of him; she was using an oil lamp for the puja, and the lamp fell down and burned her foot. She cried out because she had burned her foot. So Shiva at once came out of his meditation and said to her, 'What is it, Devi?' (laughter) She answered, 'I burned my foot!' Then Narada said, 'Aren't you ashamed of what you have done? - to make Shiva come out of his meditation simply because you have a little burn on your foot, which cannot even hurt you since you are immortal!' She became furious and snapped at him, 'Show me that it can be otherwise!' Narada replied, 'I am going to show you what it is to really love one's husband - you don't know anything about it!'
page 216 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Nov. - 1958


To me, it's very simple. Narada was a demigod, as we know, and he belonged to the overmental world and was able to materialize - those beings don't have a psychic being. The gods don't have in themselves the divine spark which is the heart of the psychic being, since only ON THE EARTH (I am not even referring to the material universe), only on the earth was there the Descent of divine Love that was the origin of the divine Presence in the heart of Matter. And naturally, as they don't have a psychic being, they don't know, they have no knowledge of the psychic being. Some of those beings even decided to take on a physical body in order to experience the psychic being - not many.

page 18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 12th Jan - 1965





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A little later There was, yesterday afternoon and this morning, a long demonstration of how the Mind brought about and permitted a certain change in the evolution of Matter for the Divine's play, how rejection of the Mind is useful ONLY as a means of progress and evolution, and how it will be fully used when the new being - the complete, divine being - manifests. It was very interesting. A demonstration. It's the continuation of the demonstration [of August 31] which showed that ALL that has happened is necessary. But this can be really understood only when you have got rid of the Mind. As long as you are bound to it, you don't understand anything. It takes place little by little.... What takes time is to prepare Matter, this cellular matter as it is now organized [since the awakening of the mind of the cells in Mother], to make it supple enough and strong enough to be able to bear and manifest the divine Force. That takes a lot of time.... It explains everything, everything - everything is explained. The day we can describe that in detail, it will be really interesting. And there is a small beginning of how that being which Sri Aurobindo calls "supramental" will be - the next creation. A small beginning. And it is, as Sri Aurobindo said, an explanation from within outward - the "outward," the surface, has only a quite secondary importance and it will come at the very end, when it's ready. But it begins from within outward, and it begins in a rather precise and interesting way. A great deal of time ...
page 192 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 3rd Sep - 1966





-275_New Horizon Sugar mill.html


I went to inaugurate the sugar factory# the other day. I had an amusing experience. From the material point of view, it's almost hellish - the noise, the smell - a nauseating smell. I had to apply all my will not to be physically disturbed - they made me climb up narrow little stairs, go down, climb back up, look into deep pits. At some places there weren't even guardrails, so I had really to control myself. I was watching all this sugar cane - piles of sugar cane - which is thrown into the machine, and then it travels along and falls down to be crushed, crushed, and crushed some more. And then it comes back up to be distilled. And then I saw ... all this is living when it's thrown in, you see, it's full of its vital force, for it has just been cut. As a result, the vital force is suddenly hurled out of the substance with an extreme violence - the vital force comes out ... the English word angry is quite expressive of what I mean - like a snarling dog. An angry force.' So I saw this - I saw it moving about. And it kept coming and coming and coming, accumulating, piling up (they work 24 hours a day, six days a week - only on the seventh do they rest). So I thought that this angry force must have some effect on the people - who knows, maybe this is what creates accidents. For I could see that once the sugar cane was fully crushed and had gone back up the chute, this force that had been beaten out was right there. And this worried me a little; I thought that there must be a certain danger in doing such a thing! ... What saves them is their ignorance and their insensitivity. But Indians are never entirely insensitive in the way Westerners are - they are much more open in their subconscious. I didn't speak of it to anyone, but it caused me some concern. And just the next day the machine broke down! When I was informed, immediately I thought ... It was then repaired, and again it broke down - three times. Then the following night, just before ten o'clock ... I should mention that during the day I had thought, 'But why not attract these forces to our side, take them and satisfy them, give them some peace and joy and use them?' I thought about it, concentrated a little, but then I didn't bother any further. At ten o'clock that evening, they came upon me - in a flood! They kept coming and coming. And I was busy with them the whole time. They were not ugly (not so luminous either! ), they were wholesome, straightforward - honest forces. So I worked on them. This began exactly at 9:30, and for one hour I was busy working. After an hour, I'd had enough: 'Listen, this is quite fine, you're very nice, but I can't spend all my time like this! We shall
see what to do later' - for it absorbed my whole consciousness. They kept coming and coming (you understand what that means to a body?!). So at 10:30 I told them, 'Listen, my little ones, be quiet now, that's enough for today ...' At 10:30, the machine broke down! I found out, of course, because they log everything at the factory, so when they came to inform me of the breakdown the next morning, I asked them what time it had happened - exactly 10:30. After that, I made a kind of pact with them - the trouble, you see, is that there are constantly new ones. If only they were the same! They are constantly coming in new floods, so there was the need of a permanent formation over there. I've tried to make this permanent formation, to take and absorb them, to calm them down and scatter them a little so they don't accumulate in one spot, which in the end could be dangerous. I found this quite amusing. The most recent incident took place a few days ago, for there was a general excitement in the factory due to the expected visit of a government minister during the day. That afternoon, exactly at half past three, I felt that I had to make a little concentration. So I paid attention and saw poor L' praying to me. He was praying, praying, calling me - such a strong call that it pulled me. I was having my bath (you know what happens when I'm very strongly pulled - I'm stopped right in the very midst of a gesture, then the consciousness goes wandering off! And I can't do anything, it stops me dead. That's exactly what happened to me in the bathroom). When I saw what was happening, I straightened things out. Then they must have had their ceremony, for suddenly I felt, 'Ah, now it has calmed down, it's all right.' And I went on to something else. The next day, L came to see me. He told me that shortly before 3:30, the machine had stopped once again, but this time it was quickly set right; they found out right away what had to be done. And then he told me that at 3:45 he had started praying to me that all should go well. 'Oh, I know!' I said. Things can be done in this way. In truth, a lot can be done - it's man's ignorance that gets him in trouble. 1 The disciple who manages the sugar factory. 2. New Horizon Sugar Mills, which belongs to a disciple. The inauguration was on September 15.
page 422-24 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 20th Sept. 1960 .



-276_The Mother's instructtions.html




Sujata enters

(What has happened between April 2nd and 3rd that Mother

should suddenly speak in the following terms?)

Good morning, Mother.
Good morning, mon petit. Everything's all right? ... Really?
Yes, Mother.

(silence)

I want to tell you something.... I had already explained to Satprem that if the time for transformation comes, if my body grows cold, they should not rush to put it in a hole in the ground. Because it could be ... it could be only temporary. You understand? It could be momentary. They should arrange to keep it here until it shows signs of complete ... of the beginning of decomposition. I am telling you this because I want to make sure it's understood; it would be stupid to put it in a hole and have all the work stop because of that. You understand? Do you understand what I mean?
Yes, Mother, your instructions are noted ...
You see, make absolutely sure that I have left my body. I don't know.... I know an attempt is being made to transform it - it knows it and is very willing - but I don't know if it will be able to do it.... Do you follow? So for some time it may give the impression that it's over, although it would be only temporary. It would start again - it might start again. But then I would be ... I may be incapable of speaking at that time, of saying this. So I am saying it to you - Satprem knows. One other person should also know. I believe Pranab also knows it.

I don't know, I have never said anything to him.
Because we had noted it down, and your instructions are here in the drawer. They've been kept here as "instructions." [[On January 14, 1967, for the first time, Mother had spoken of this possibility of cataleptic trance - five years earlier. ]]
I don't know, I have never said anything to him.
(Mother's attendant, speaking in Bengali to Sujata:) He knows.
It seems silly to make a fuss. Better say nothing. It's enough if just a few people know. It doesn't really preoccupy me, but.... This body is truly very willing, it wants to do its best.... Will it be capable? ... Ultimately, if the Lord has decided this one will be transformed, it will be transformed, that's all! (Laughing) For the time being, it feels very much alive! That much it can say. And I have nice children to look after me! [[This last sentence was intended for those who were all ears and were not supposed to be listening. ]]
page 128- 29 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 2nd Apr - 1972-1973




-277_New Year Messages.html



(Regarding the New Year message: "Men, countries, continents!

The choice is imperative: Truth or the abyss." A disciple asks

Mother, "What is the meaning of 'abyss' in your New Year

Message?" Mother's reply, in English:)

Right now there is a great tension. They have all taken positions as if to start war. It is the blind passion that men put into their international relations. At the base of it all there is fear, general distrust, and what they believe to be their "interests" (money, business) - a combination of these three things. When these three lowest passions of humanity are brought into play, that is what I call "the abyss." When someone has decided to consecrate his life to the seeking for the Divine, if he is sincere, that is to say, if the resolution is sincere and carried out sincerely, there is absolutely nothing to fear, because all that happens or will happen to him will lead him by the shortest way to this realisation. That is the response of the Grace. People believe that the Grace means making everything smooth for all your life. It is not true. The Grace works for the realisation of your aspiration and everything is arranged to gain the most prompt, the quickest realisation - so there is nothing to fear. Fear comes with insincerity. If you want a comfortable life, agreeable circumstances, etc., you are putting conditions and restrictions, and then you can fear. But it has no business in the sadhana!
page 156 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 26th May - 1967


(Mother reads out the message she intends to

distribute for January 1, 1968:)

"Remain young. Never stop striving towards perfection."
page 368 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 10th Nov - 1967


The World is preparing for a big change. Will you help? (Later, Mother commented on this message thus:) Mother That big change is the emergence upon earth of a new race which will be to man what man is to the animal. That big change is the emergence upon earth of a new race which will be to man what man is to the animal. The consciousness of that new race is already at work on the earth to enlighten all those who are capable of receiving and listening to it.
page 15 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 1970 - 1970




-278_new age association.html



(Mother holds a note out to Satprem)

This is what I sent for the conferences of the New Age Association. [[An association of students from the Ashram. ]] They asked, "Is the aim of life to be happy?..." So I replied:
"That is just putting things topsy-turvy."The aim of human life is to discover the Divine and to manifest it. Naturally, this discovery leads to happiness, but this happiness is a consequence, not an aim in itself. And it is this mistake of taking a mere consequence for the aim of life that has been the cause of most of the miseries afflicting humanity."
What do they mean by "happiness"!
Yes! Everyone thinks it's his or her personal little happiness, and that's the cause of the whole misery.
They did put "to be happy": "Is the aim of life to be happy?"... That's AMAZING! And that's just what has distorted things, it's the source of everything. "Me, I am happy if I kill someone - so let me kill someone"! (Mother laughs)
Yes, they always put the little person at the center.
Yes, always, always!
page 123, Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 28th March - 1970





-279_nirvana.html



We are told that when you ascend both beyond Nirvana or Nothingness and beyond Existence (the two SIMULTANEOUS and complementary aspects of the Supreme), there is a state of consciousness where all simultaneously and eternally exists. Thus - although God knows, it may be yet another stupidity - we can conceive of a whole set of things passing into Non-Being, and for our consciousness this would be disappearance or destruction.

page 242 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 27th June - 1961

It's like that famous Nirvana - you can find it behind everything. There's a psychic nirvana, a mental nirvana, even a vital nirvana. I think I already told you about the experience I had with Tagore in Japan. Tagore always used to say that as soon as he started meditating he entered Nirvana, and he asked me to meditate with him. We sat together in meditation. I was expecting to make a very steep ascent, but he simply went into his MIND, and there ... (what I do, you see, is tune in to the person I am meditating with, identify with him - that's how I know what happens). Well, he started meditating, and everything quite rapidly came to a halt, became absolutely immobile (this he did very well), and from there he sort of fell backwards, and it was Nothingness. And he could remain in that state indefinitely! We did in fact stay like that for a rather long time; I don't remember how long, three quarters of an hour or an hour, but anyway it was long enough. I was keeping alert the whole time to see if, by chance, he would go on into something else, but there he stayed - he stayed there nice and calm, without stirring. Then he came back, his mind started up again, and that was that. I said nothing to him. But it was a true nirvana: Nothingness. Not a single sensation, not a movement - no thoughts, of course - nothing, not a vibration: just like that, Nirvana. So I quite naturally concluded that there is a nirvana behind the mind, since he went there directly. And through my own experiments in the different zones of the being I became aware that, indeed, there is a nirvana behind everything (there must be a nirvana behind the physical cell too - maybe that's what death is! Who knows, it's possible). A nothingness, nothing stirs any more. And nothing's there any more - nothing's there, there's nothing to stir (Mother laughs). It's the Nothing. page 395 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th Oct. 1962


(Regarding an old "Playground Talk" of 1950 and noted from memory by a disciple, which Mother asks Satprem to scrap. The subject was Nirvana, which one was to reach - or so the notation said - by withdrawing all one's energies into the psychic being or soul.)

None of that is true! In the first place, we should say that each realm has an energy of its own. But what people generally feel as energy is vital energy; and vital energy ... (hem!) is vital! Therefore to say that those who withdraw withdraw all their energies and consciousness into the psychic to attain Nirvana is nonsense! There is a nirvana behind the vital, a nirvana behind the psychic, a nirvana behind the mind; there is a nirvana on every level, even behind the physical - it's death. And those who withdraw, who try to attain Nirvana, NEVER go into the psychic - the psychic is something essentially linked to divine manifestation, not to divine nonintervention, not to Nirvana. All that is fit for the wastepaper basket!
page 275 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 13th Aug 1963


You see, to be free from all attachments doesn't mean to run away from opportunities for attachment. All those people who assert their asceticism not only run away, but warn others that they shouldn't try! It seems to me so obvious. When you need to run away from a thing in order not to experience it, it means you aren't above it, you are still on that level. All that eliminates and diminishes or lessens doesn't free. Freedom must be experienced in the totality of life and sensations. In this connection, there has been a whole period of study of this subject, on the purely physical level.... To rise above all possibility of error, you tend to eliminate the opportunities for error; for instance, if you don't want to utter unnecessary words, you stop speaking. People who make a vow of silence imagine it gives a control over speech - that's not true! It only eliminates the opportunities to speak, and therefore of saying unnecessary things. For food, it's the same problem: how to eat only just what is needed?... In the transitional state we find ourselves in, we no longer want to live that wholly animal life based on material exchanges and food,but it would be folly to think we have reached the state in which the body can live on without any food at all (still, there is already a big difference, since they are trying to find the nutritional essence in foods in order to reduce their volume); but the natural tendency is fasting - which is a mistake! For fear of acting wrongly, we stop doing anything; for fear of speaking wrongly, we stop saying anything; for fear of eating for the pleasure of eating, we stop eating anything - that's not freedom, it's simply reducing the manifestation to its minimum. And the natural outcome is Nirvana. But if the Lord wanted only Nirvana, there would be only Nirvana! He obviously conceives the coexistence of all opposites and that, to Him, must be the beginning of a totality. So, of course, you may, if you feel that you are meant for that, choose only one of His manifestations, that is to say, the absence of manifestation. But that's still a limitation. And it's not the only way of finding Him, far from it! It's a very widespread tendency, which probably comes from an old suggestion, or perhaps from a poverty, an incapacity: to reduce and reduce - reduce one's needs, reduce one's activities, reduce one's words, reduce one's food, reduce one's active life, and it all becomes so cramped! In the aspiration not to make any mistakes, you eliminate the opportunities of making them - that's no cure. But the other path is far, far more difficult.
page 190-91 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 16th Sep - 1964




-280_Nobel Prize.html



Some people wanted to get me nominated for the Nobel peace prize; I was asked for a statement and that's what I wrote. I wanted to say that it wasn't this person who did things - it was all Sri Aurobindo.

They had wanted to give the Nobel prize to Sri Aurobindo, but he left the year before the decision was to be made. And as they don't give the prize to "dead" people, he never got it. Then they wanted to transfer it to me, and I wrote this note, because the last thing I want is name and fame. That's all there was to it. They didn't give a peace prize that year.

I believe the whole affair is now buried and forgotten.

page 147 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th May 1962




-281_notes on the way.html



(Nolini comes in to read Mother his English translation of

"Notes on the Way" for the next Bulletin.)

I have been wondering about this: maybe if I didn't listen I'd hear quite clearly! (Nolini stares at Mother with a certain bewilderment.) No, I said just before that when I want to see clearly, precisely, I close my eyes and see quite clearly. I do it spontaneously (I noticed it because Satprem asked me what was going on). And since I can't hear, maybe if I didn't listen and went within myself, like that, I would hear? - There must be a trick!
(Satprem:) It depends on the consciousness with which onereads to you.
Yes. Oh, some people speak almost in a low voice and I hear them perfectly well. Others howl and I can't hear a word; that is, I hear noise but can't make out anything. That's what it is, it's the precision of the consciousness: if the consciousness is precise, I understand; if the consciousness is muddled, I can't make out anything. We'll try! (Nolini reads) After Nolini has left


page 357-58 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 28th Oct - 1967






-282_Odisha.html


Yes, in Orissa, for example. A large part of Orissa is entirely under Sri Aurobindo's influence,


7 Avril , 1971, vol - 12, L'Agenda de Mère


I've just come from there [the music room where Mother receives visitors]. I saw some twenty people.... There was Orissa's Chief Minister (Orissa is the first province in India to give money for a pavilion in Auroville: they gave a lakh of rupees). He is a nice man. The people from Orissa, they are nice people; of all provinces, they are the ones who seem the most eager to forge ahead, to change something.
And Bengal? Isn't it ahead?
They're a bit ... fanciful. I mean, they talk a lot - they talk very well! Those from Orissa are more practical - they're generous, a very generous nature: they give a lot.
page 153 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd June - 1968


(Later, Mother gives Satprem the following note which wasgiven to seven or eight members of Orissa's parliament:)
"Socialism like all political parties belongs to thepast and must be surpassed if we want to serve the Truth."
The most comical part - that is, the most extraordinary-is that they all agreed! I thought they were going to be furious .... They all said, "Oh, this is fine, we'll adopt it ....
Page 378 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 15th Oct - 1969



-283_Om Namo Bhagavate.html



But with a very simple movement, you can easily eliminate that from the consciousness; this movement can be formulated in an almost childlike way: "You alone, Lord, You alone can act.... You alone, Lord, You alone can act." And then that easing off (it's relaxation, actually): you just let yourself melt, let yourself melt. This (the head) keeps still, it doesn't stir; you are wholly in the sensation, you let yourself melt. And ... with a sense of boundlessness.

And no more distinctions. No more distinctions. And also, even physically, something with no beginning; there is no sense of "from this moment on, from that point on" - that no longer exists. It's like ... like relaxing into an indefinite past. I am speaking now of a BODILY sensation. That, in any event, is how what's speaking to you here manages to get to ... the true room. It seems to take time, the way I am telling it now, but actually ... a minute or two of silence and it's done.

(silence)

The body has been cradled by three Words.... Words that repeat themselves automatically, with no effort of will (but the body itself is quite aware that although these three particular Words happen to have been given to it, it might also have been something else - it was originally the choice of a higher Intelligence). This has become an automatic accompaniment. It is not so much the words in themselves as what they will represent and bring with them in their vibration.... I mean it would be quite inaccurate to say, "Only these Words are helpful," no, not that. But they provide an accompaniment, an accompaniment of subtle, physical vibrations, which has built up a certain state or experience, a sort of association between the presence of those words and this movement of eternal Life, that undulating vibration. Obviously, another center of consciousness, another (how shall I put it?) ... another concretization, another amalgam, might - would of course - have another vibration. In ordinary language, the vibration of the mantra is what helps the body to enter a certain state - but it is not particularly THIS mantra: it is the particular relationship established between a mantra (it has to be a true one, a mantra endowed with power) and the body. It surges up spontaneously: as soon as the body starts walking, it walks to the rhythm of those Words. And the rhythm of the Words quite naturally brings about a certain vibration, which in turn brings about the state. But to say it's these particular Words exclusively would be ridiculous. What counts is the sincerity of the aspiration, the exactness of the expression and the power; that is, the power that comes from the mantra being accepted. This is something very interesting: the mantra has been ACCEPTED by the supreme Power as an effective tool, and so it automatically contains a certain force and power. [[Mother is not speaking here of only her mantra but of all mantras. As she later added: "No mantra has any effect unless it is ACCEPTED by the Power being addressed. When (like the Tantrics, for example) you do a mantra for a certain deity, if this deity accepts the mantra, that gives it power; but if the deity doesn't accept your mantra, it has no power at all. This isn't something I got out of a book, I know it from my own experience - but I believe it has been explained in Tantric texts." ]] But it is a purely personal phenomenon (the expression is the same, but the vibrations are personal). A mantra leading one person straight to divine realization will leave another person cold and flat.

What is your experience when you say your mantra? You once told me you felt good saying it.... page 182-83 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 31st May - 1962


Regarding the mantra Satprem asked for when he was

in hospital but did not receive.)

The mantra ... Did you get my note?... Several times while walking for my japa, I sent you the mantra insistently. The truth is that I intend to give you a beautiful present. Only, for it to be truly a beautiful present, it is necessary that the mind shouldn't interfere in any way; otherwise I won't be able to pass the Power on to you along with the words. It's a Power that has been growing from year to year. Up to now, I have kept it exclusively for myself, but when you asked me, I looked to see if there was something that suited you, and I so to say received the intimation to give you mine. But for that, you know ... it must be received in perfect silence in order for that growth in force, in power, not to be stopped. You must know the words because we had the opportunity to talk about them; but they're not what matters. I told you ... (Mother turns to Sujata:) Sujata, you will hear, but you will keep it in your silent heart, won't you? Nothing must come out. [[Since Satprem's illness, Sujata has accompanied him to see Mother, for he has been unable to carry the tape recorder. From now on and till the end, Sujata will participate in all the conversations. ]] (To Satprem:) Bring your chair nearer, stay very near, be quite at peace.... I explained the mantra to you several times, and finally, one day, I wrote the explanation, because it was coming back again and again, and so I thought it was to make me note it down (Mother looks for a paper). I wrote this:

The first word represents ...

I put "represents" because the word is always a symbolic form of something infinitely greater than it. It's one of the things one should feel: it is like a means of contact. A means of contact that you make more and more effective, first through the sincerity of the concentration, of the aspiration, then through habit, through use, while taking care when you use the mantra always to remain in contact with That which is beyond it. And it makes a kind of concentration, as if the word were being charged with force, increasingly charged like a battery, but a battery that can take an indefinite charge. So I wrote (it seemed more exact to me), "The first word 'represents' ..." It represents:

the supreme invocation ...

In other words, the Highest you can attain in your aspiration and in your invocation - the purest, the highest. "The purest," I mean, to be exclusively under the influence of the Supreme. So I wrote:

the supreme invocation

the invocation to the Supreme.

With the first word, you invoke the Supreme in all that you can attain and all that you will attain, indefinitely. The word has to be progressive.

The second word represents:

total self-giving ...

You invoke, then give yourself totally ...

perfect surrender.

Perfect surrender in all the states of being. That comes progressively, it comes through years of repetition, but that's what the word must represent when it is said: total self-giving to ... this Supreme, who naturally is beyond all conception. Perfect surrender, that is, spontaneous surrender, which requires neither effort nor anything - a surrender that must be perfectly spontaneous. This, too, is something that is attained little by little; that's why I said that the mantra is progressive, in the sense that it grows more and more perfect.

The third word represents:

the aspiration ...

It's not exactly what one asks for, it is ... The only word, really, is aspiration. It's infinitely more than hope: there is the certainty that things will be that way, but one never forgets that THAT is what one wants. And I add:

he first word represents:

the supreme invocation the invocation

to the Supreme.

The second word represents:

total self-giving;

perfect surrender.

The third word represents:

the aspiration,

what the manifestation must

become - Divine.

OM_Namo_bhagavate-


It's really the physical, terrestrial manifestation; that's what we are concerned with for the moment, but it's the beginning of something else. So, for the moment:

what the manifestation

must become ...

This terrestrial manifestation must become:

Divine.

"Divine," one puts into the word the reflection of all that one has put into the word "Supreme." But as I told you in the beginning, the slightest mental activity lessens the power; there must be a thrust of the whole being, with as little thought as possible. I can give you this (Mother gives her note to Satprem). You can keep it. You know the three words....
page 27-30 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 19th Feb - 1965




-284_OM Sri Aurobindo Mira.html



OM Sri Aurobindo Mira

Open my mind, my heart, my life to your Light, your Love, your Power. In all things may I see the Divine.

16 July 1938 On Himself, 26.512

That's good. What do we do with all this?
The first could make a message for the November darshan?
For November, yes, that's very good. (Mother repeats) "The Light is closer to us ..."
The other one could make a message for February?
I don't much like my name in it.
What about putting "Ma" [Mother] instead of "Mira"?
But he put "Mira."
I think you could put "Ma" instead of "Mira."
No, I don't much like to do things of that sort.

(Mother still breathes with difficulty)

The message should be put as it is; if, later, we change it into a mantra, then we can put "Ma."

Should we put it as it is for February?
Yes. Either not put it, or put it as it is. To quote Sri Aurobindo, we must quote as it is. Then later on, we can make a mantra out of it.

(long silence)

What do you bring?
You look very absorbed, Mother?
Me?... No ... I don't know.

(silence)

You understand, when he uses this word ["Mira"], he refers to this body (Mother touches her body), that is to say, he identifies everything with the body.... And this process of change is being carried out, so the body doesn't feel that it's legitimately holding the ... I don't know how to say.... Or perhaps it's concerned about its peace? [[Mother means that she does not want to draw attention to herself or to her body by publishing the text of this mantra. ]] I don't know. Maybe it will be ready in February? That's possible.

(silence)

It has changed a lot, a lot.
Yes ...
A lot. But it's not over - far from it. So what should we do? This [the mantra] is for when it [the body] has finished - when the work is finished. If we put the name ["Mira"], it means this body.

(silence)

It's not that the body isn't conscious, but it feels too clearly that it isn't transformed. But it's conscious. What you call "absorbed" is that it's conscious of the work of transformation (Mother makes a gesture of churning). How much time it will take, it doesn't know. We'll decide that in February.
As a message, at any rate, it should be left as it is.... It's almost an obligation on me, you understand? [[An obligation for Mother's body to be transformed, if "Mira" is used. ]]
Yes.
You understand what I mean. page 339-241 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Oct. 1970




-285_OM.html



Something quite curious took place during a recent meditation. I no longer recall when exactly, but it was at a time when there were many visitors, for the courtyard was full. After perhaps no more than a few minutes, I suddenly heard a distinct voice, coming from my right, say 'OM,' like that. And then a second time, 'OM.' What an impact it had upon me! I felt an emotion here (gesture towards the heart) as I have not felt for years and years and years. And all, all, all was filled with light, with force - it was absolutely marvelous. It was an invocation, and during the whole meditation the Presence was resplendent. I said to myself, 'Who could have done that?' I was not sure if only I had heard it, so I asked. The reply was, 'But it was the ship leaving!' There was actually a ship which had left during the night3 - that is in support of those who said it was a ship. But for me, it was SOMEONE because I felt someone there and I thought, Oh! If someone, in the ardor of his soul, said that in this ... what I could call an atheistic silence. Because people here are so afraid of following tradition, of being the slaves of the old things, that they cast out anything closely or remotely resembling religion.
page 160-61 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 11th May 1958
For example, there was one difficulty he helped me resolve. I have always been literally pestered, constantly, night and day, by all kinds of thoughts coming from people - all kinds of calls, questions, formations' that have naturally to be answered. For I have trained myself to be conscious of everything, always. But it disturbed me in the work, particularly when I needed absolute concentration - and I could never cut myself off from people or cut myself off from the world. I had to answer all these calls and these questions, I had to send the necessary force, the necessary light, the healing power, I constantly had to purify all these formations, these thoughts, these wills, these false movements that were falling on me. What was needed was to effect a shift, a sort of transference upwards, a lifting up of all these things that come to me - so that each one, each thing, each circumstance could directly and automatically receive the force from above, the light, the response from above, and I would be a mere intermediary and a channel of the Light and the Force. Well, I tried hard but I couldn't really find the way. At times, I almost seemed to have it, a mere nothing would have been enough; it was just a matter of getting the knack (and at heart, this is what Power is all about - to get the knack, to suddenly seize upon the means, the right vibration, what in India is called siddhi). Well, after his departure, all of a sudden it came. It happened while I was doing my japa, while I was walking up and down my room ... As if I were holding all that in my arms - it was so concrete - and lifting it up towards the Light, along with this ascending OM, rising from the very depths, OM! - and I was carrying all these people, and it was spreading forth, PHYSICALLY spreading, and I was carrying the earth, I was carrying the whole universe, but in such a tangible, concrete way - all towards the Supreme Lord. And this was not the invisible power: it was concrete, it was tangible, it was MATERIAL.
page 370 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 21st May 1960

A mantra given by a guru is only the power to realize the experience of the discoverer of the mantra. The power is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didn't even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced "yoga" for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light.... I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, "Well!" Then I didn't give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual aspiration - there is in it the entire aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there. It's the same with my mantra. When I wanted to translate the end of my mantra, "Glory to You, O Lord," into Sanskrit, I asked for Nolini's help. He brought his Sanskrit translation, and when he read it to me, I immediately saw that the power was there - not because Nolini put his power into it (!), God knows he had no intention of "giving" me a mantra! But the power was there because my experience was there. We made a few adjustments and modifications, and that's the japa I do now - I do it all the time, while sleeping, while walking, while eating, while working, all the time. [[Mother later clarified: "'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't MY mantra, it's something I ADDED to it - my mantra is something else altogether, that's not it. When I say that my mantra has the power of immortality, I mean the other, the one I don't speak of! I have never given the words.... You see, at the end of my walk, a kind of enthusiasm rises, and with that enthusiasm, the 'Glory to You' came to me, but it's part of the prayer I had written in Prayers and Meditations: 'Glory to You, O Lord, all-triumphant Supreme' etc. (it's a long prayer). It came back suddenly, and as it came back spontaneously, I kept it. Moreover, when Sri Aurobindo read this prayer in Prayers and Meditations, he told me it was very strong. So I added this phrase as a kind of tail to my japa. But 'Glory to You, O Lord' isn't my spontaneous mantra - it came spontaneously, but it was something written very long ago. The two things are different." ]] And that's how a mantra has life: when it wells up all the time, spontaneously, like the cry of your being - there is no need of effort or concentration: it's your natural cry. Then it has full power, it is alive. It must well up from within.... No guru can give you that.


page 131-32 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 11th May 1963


I made an experiment: writing the letter OM. When you have written it four, five, six times, it becomes excellent! I wanted to know why you were asked to do that work and what you could draw from it. So I sat down to write your yantram, and it became very living, I could see it in front of me - I kept seeing it all the while. "But then," I thought, "the VERY FACT of writing must have an effect." Then I started writing the letter OM carefully.... Well, when I came to the fourth, the fifth, it became excellent - excellent, as though it were creating a vibration. That's the power it has, an external power. But then it was very amusing (the body is like a child - really a child), suddenly it said, "Oh, what a lovely game! To be sitting like this and writing, oh, how amusing! If I had the time, it would be great fun to write and write, lots and lots and lots of times." I saw that in the body - in the body's cells. Then I understood. Basically, these are almost methods for children (children from the spiritual viewpoint), young souls - child-souls. They are methods for child-souls. I used to write my whole japa fluently like that, in Sanskrit, [[ Satprem has entire pages written and rewritten in Sanskrit by Mother. ]] now I have forgotten everything again. page 187 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 26th June 1963


There is ONE sound which, to me, has an extraordinary power - extraordinary and UNIVERSAL (that's the important point): it doesn't depend on the language you speak, it doesn't depend on the education you were given, it doesn't depend on the atmosphere you breathe. And that sound, without knowing anything, I used to say it when I was a child (you know how in French we say, "Oh!"; well, I used to say "OM," without knowing anything!). And indeed, I made all kinds of experiments with that sound - it's fantastic, even, fantastic! It's unbelievable. So then, if around this you build something that corresponds to your own aspiration - certain sounds or words that FOR YOU evoke a soul state - then it's very good. All that is traditional benefits from the power of tradition, that goes without saying, but it's necessarily very limited - personally, it gives me the feeling of something shriveled and withered, as if all the juice it could contain had been squeezed out (!) Except if, spontaneously, the sounds correspond to a soul state in you.

page 201 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 23rd Sep - 1964


In India's languages, they have this OM ... which is a marvel. You know what they say? That OM is the totality of the sounds of the creation perceived by the Supreme; He hears OM as a call to Him - as an idea, it's magnificent! As a symbol, as a ... Only ...
And as a power! Not only as a symbol, but as a power.
Oh, a tremendous power - tremendous. The first time I heard it ... The first time I heard it ... There was a certain Bernard who had spent a year in India, in the Himalayas, and he was visited by yogis whom he didn't know (he lived in a hut in the Himalayas, all alone). One yogi came to see him; he didn't say anything, he just sat by his side and then left. And that yogi simply told him, "OM ..." Then he came back to France, recounted his experiences in India, and he said that. Me, I knew absolutely nothing of India at the time, and when he uttered the word OM ... (Mother brings her arms down), it came: a Force like this, my whole, entire body, everything vibrated in an extraordinary way! It was like a revelation - everything, but everything started vibrating. Then I said, "At last, here's the true sound!" Yet I knew nothing, absolutely nothing, neither what it meant nor anything.
Page 486 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 24th Dec - 1969


. I'll try to explain. You know that OM is said to be the sound of the whole universe turned towards the Supreme, imploring the Supreme - and the result is OM. I had the impression that I was all the pain of the world - all the pain of the world (how can I put it) felt together. I don't know how to explain.


page 310 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 9th Sep - 1970





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All this [the world, the Ashram] is held in my consciousness with a kind of essential compassion applying equally to all things, all difficulties, all obstacles. I receive letters by the dozens, as you know, and each person comes to me with his own little misery or problem, inner or outer (a tiny pimple becomes ... a mountain). When people come to me, my inner consciousness always responds in the same way, with a kind of ... equality and compassion for all. But when people are talking to me or I am reading a letter and my body grows conscious of what it calls the 'to-do' they make over their miseries, it has a kind of feeling (I mean there is a feeling in the cells): 'Why do they take things like that! They are making things much more difficult.' The body understands. It understands that their way of taking the least little difficulty in such a blind, egotistical and self-centered manner, increases its difficulties furiously!

page 100 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 25th Feb 1961



-287_On Sri Aurobindo.html



On the one hand, there is what Sri Aurobindo - who, as the Avatar, represented the supreme Consciousness and Will on earth - declared me to be, that is, the supreme universal Mother; and on the other hand, there is what I am realizing in my body through the integral sadhana.' I could be the supreme Mother and not do any sadhana, and as a matter of fact, as long as Sri Aurobindo was in his body, it was he who did the sadhana, and I received the effects. These effects were automatically established in the outer being, but he was the one doing it, not I - I was merely the bridge between his sadhana and the world. Only when he left his body was I forced to take up the sadhana myself; not only did I have to do what I was doing before - being a bridge between his sadhana and the world - but I had to carry on the sadhana myself. When he left, he turned over to me the responsibility for what he himself had been doing in his body, and I had to do it. So there are both these things. Sometimes one predominates, sometimes the other (I don't mean successively in time, but ... it depends on the moment), and they are trying to combine in a total and perfect realization: the eternal, ineffable and immutable Consciousness of the Executrice of the Supreme, and the consciousness of the Sadhak of the integral Yoga who strives in an ascending effort towards an ever increasing progression.

page 209 , L'Agenda de Mère - vol 1 , 1951 - 1960


Sri Aurobindo does not belong to History; he is outside and beyond History.

Mother's Agenda - vol 8 – 1967 , page 102 , 6th April .


When Sri Aurobindo left, he said, "I will return in a being formed supramentally - entirely conscious, with full capacities."

page 215 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 6th July , 1963



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For Sri Aurobindo, the important thing was always the Mother. As he explained it, the Mother has several aspects, and certain aspects are still unmanifest. So if he has represented the Mother by Kali in particular, I believe it's in relation to all those gods. [73] Because, as he wrote in The Mother, the aspects to be manifested depend upon the time, the need, the thing to be done. And he always said that unless one understands and profoundly feels the aspect of Kali, one can never really participate in the Work in the world - he felt that a sort of timid weakness makes people recoil before this terrible aspect.

page 74 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th Feb. - 1961

As soon as I came upon Theon's teaching (even before meeting him personally), and read and understood all kinds of things which I hadn't known before, I began to work quite systematically. Every night, at the same hour, I was working to construct - between the purely terrestrial atmosphere and the psychic atmosphere - a path of protection across the vital, so that people wouldn't have to pass through it (for those who are conscious but without knowledge it's a very difficult passage - infernal.) I was preparing this path, doing this work (it must have been around 1903 or 1904, I don't remember exactly) for months and months and months. All sorts of extraordinary things happened during that time - extraordinary. I could tell long stories.... Then, when I went to Tlemcen, I told Madame Theon about it. 'Yes,' she told me, 'it is part of the work you have come on earth to do. Everyone with even a slightly awakened psychic being who can see your Light will go to your Light at the moment of dying, no matter where they die, and you will help them to pass through.' And this work is constant. Constant. it has given me a considerable number of experiences concerning what happens to people when they leave their bodies. I've had all sorts of experiences, all kinds of examples - it's really very interesting. Lately it has increased, become more precise.
page 234 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961

Yesterday evening I read something in the book [[Sri Aurobindo on Himself. ]].... Sri Aurobindo is writing to someone who said, "How lucky people are who live near the Mother." "You don't know what you're talking about! " he replies. "To live in the Mother's physical presence is one of the most difficult things." Do you remember this passage? I didn't know he had written that. "Well, well ..." I thought. He writes, "It is hard to stay near her, because the difference between the physical consciousness of all you people and her physical consciousness is so enormous...."[[Here is the text of Sri Aurobindo's letter: "There is a confusion here. The Mother's grace is one thing, the call to change another, the pressure of nearness to her is yet another. Those who are physically near to her are not so by any special grace or favour, but by the necessity of their work - that is what everybody here refuses to understand or believe, but it is the fact: that nearness acts automatically as a pressure, if for nothing else, to adapt their consciousness to hers which means change, but it is difficult for them because the difference between the two consciousnesses is enormous especially on the physical level and it is on the physical level that they are meeting her in the work." (Centenary Edition, Vol. XXV, p. 297) ]] Indeed, that's what tires me out. That's what tires my body, because it is used to living in a certain rhythm, a universal rhythm.

page 28 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th Jan. 1962


In your body's cells, it is therefore a universal progress that is being made, it's the earth that progresses.
Yes.

(silence)

This body was built for that purpose, because I remember very well that when the war - the First World War - started and I offered my body up in sacrifice to the Lord so that the war would not be in vain, every part of my body, one after another (Mother touches her legs, her arms etc.), or sometimes the same part several times over, represented a battlefield: I could see it, I could feel it, I LIVED it. Every time it was ... it was very strange, I had only to sit quietly and watch: I would see here, there, there, the whole thing in my body, all that was going on. And while it went on, I would put the concentration of the divine Force there, so that all - all that pain, all that suffering, everything - would hasten the preparation of the earth and the Descent of the Force. And that went on consciously throughout the war. The body was built for that purpose.

page 271-72 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th Aug 1963


That's what Sri Aurobindo told me very clearly (because, of course, he saw, he knew), he said to me, "Only your body can withstand THAT, has the power to withstand ...." It's a bit worn-out, but with the struggle and effort and work it has gone through, there is no ground for complaint: it has withstood - it has withstood very well. And it has been able to benefit from its accidents. So we shouldn't be in a hurry.... Besides, that's an absolute rule: we shouldn't be impatient.
Yes, but that's not very encouraging for the ordinary human beings that we are.
Excuse me! There is a way. All that I am doing, all that this body is doing, it has the power to pass on to others - that's precisely what I am studying now. I am studying this. It's a sort of power to put people in contact with the Vibration of the Consciousness (radiating gesture around the head), which is concentrated on a number of people and things (all over the earth, naturally), but also on certain points. It's the Power that came the night when there was that descent in the brain: at any moment I was able to direct a beam here, another beam there, touch a point here, another point there ... (gesture like a beacon). That's what Sri Aurobindo never stopped repeating: "Do not try to do it all by yourself, the Mother will do it for you, if you trust Her." This I never say to anyone. But it's a fact.
page 101 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 28th March 1964


But so am I, mon petit, I am waiting - I am millions of years old and I am waiting.


page 347 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 31st Dec - 1965




-290_One Consciousness.html



Now, you know that Sri Aurobindo and I are always one and the same consciousness, one and the same person. Only, when this unique force or presence is felt in your individual consciousness, it assumes different forms or appearances depending upon your temperament, your aspirations, your needs, the particular cast of your nature. Your individual consciousness is like a filter, a pointer, as it were; it makes a choice and settles upon one possibility in the infinity of divine possibilities. In truth, the Divine gives to each one exactly what he expects from Him. If you believe the Divine to be distant and cruel, He will be distant and cruel, because it may be necessary for your supreme wellbeing to feel the wrath of God. He will be Kali' for the worshippers of Kali, and bliss for the bhakta.² He will be the All-Knowledge of seekers after Knowledge, the Transcendent Impersonal of the illusionist. He will be an atheist for the atheist, and the love of the lover. He will be fraternal and near, an ever faithful friend, ever helpful, to those who feel him as the inner guide of each movement, at each minute. And if you believe that He can erase everything, He will erase all your faults, all your errors, tirelessly, and at each moment you will feel his infinite Grace. In truth, the Divine is what you expect of Him in your deep aspiration.

page 117-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 1957

I can affirm that this notion of "subjective" and "objective" still belongs to the world of illusion. The CONTENT of the experience is what may be either microscopic or universal, depending on the specific quality of the power being expressed, or its field of action. The limitation of power can be voluntary and deliberate; it can be a willed, and not an imposed limitation, which means that the Will-Force may come from the Origin but deliberately limit itself, limit its field of action. But it is the same power and the same substance. Ultimately there is but one power and one substance. There are varying modalities - countless modalities - of power and substance, but there is but ONE power and ONE substance, as there is but ONE consciousness and ONE truth. page 201-03 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th June 1962




-291_one of those Hour of God-free.html

-293_Our Yoga.html



"To bring the Divine Love and Beauty and Ananda into the world is, indeed, the whole crown and essence of our yoga. But it has always seemed to me impossible unless there comes as its support and foundation and guard the Divine Truth - what I call the supramental - and its Divine Power...."

(XXIII.753)

Here it's clear: he says that what he calls the "Supramental" is the Divine Truth, and that it must come first, and the rest comes afterwards. And yet, for some time now and increasingly, there has been an extremely concrete Response to a kind of aspiration (a call or prayer) in which I say to the Lord, "Supreme Lord, manifest Your Love." (It comes at the end of a long invocation in which I ask Him to manifest all His aspects one after another, one after another, and it ends like that.) But then, remarkably enough, at that moment there comes a Response which is growing clearer and clearer, stronger and stronger.... But Sri Aurobindo says that Truth should be established first, and that what he calls the Supramental is the supreme Truth, the Divine Truth. It corresponds to what I noticed while translating that last chapter on "the perfection of the being" in the "Yoga of Self-Perfection": I kept thinking, "But that's only the aspect of Truth; all that he expresses is the aspect of Truth; always and everywhere, it's the angle of Truth; and his supramental action is an action of Truth." page 236 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 24th July 1963


Oh, no, the body never helps. Now I am convinced of it. You can, to some extent, help your body (not to a great extent, but up to a point, anyway), you can help your body, but the body doesn't help you. Its vibration is at ground level, always.
Yes, it's heavy.
Without exception. Without exception, it brings you down, and above all it's something that makes you dull, so dull - something that doesn't vibrate.
It's heavy.
But with this sadhana I am doing, there are some threads that lead you along, and I have some sentences by Sri Aurobindo.... For the other sadhanas, I was used to it: all that he said was clear, it showed the way, you didn't have to look for it. But here, he didn't do it; he only said or made certain remarks now and then, and those remarks are helpful to me. (There is also my meeting him at night, but I don't want to count too much on that, because ... you grow too anxious for the contact, and that spoils everything.) There are in that way several remarks that have remained with me and are, yes, like leading threads. For instance, "Endure ... endure." Let us assume you have a pain somewhere; the instinct (the instinct of the body, of the cells) is to tense up and try to reject - which is the worst thing to do: it invariably increases the pain. So the first thing that must be taught to the body is to stay still - not to have any reactions. Above all no tensing up, and not even a movement of rejection - a perfect stillness. That's corporeal equanimity. A perfect stillness. After perfect stillness, there is the movement of inner aspiration (I am always referring to the aspiration of the cells - I am using words to describe something wordless, but there is no other way to express oneself), the surrender, that is to say, the SPONTANEOUS AND TOTAL acceptance of the supreme Will (which is unknown to us). Does the total Will want things to go this way or that way, that is, towards the disintegration of certain elements or towards ...? And then again, there are endless nuances: there is the passage from one height to another (I am speaking of cellular realizations, of course, don't forget that), I mean that you have a certain inner equilibrium, an equilibrium of movement, of life, and it's understood that in order to go from one movement to a higher movement, there is almost always a descent, then a new ascent - there is a transition. So does the shock received impel you to go down in order to climb up again, or does it impel you do go down in order to abandon old movements? Because there are cellular ways of being that have to disappear in order to give way to others; there are others that climb down in order to climb up again with a higher harmony and organization. This is the second point. And you should wait and see WITHOUT POSTULATING IN ADVANCE what has to be. There is especially, of course, the desire: the desire to be comfortable, the desire to be in peace and all that - that must cease absolutely and disappear. You must be absolutely without any reaction, like this (gesture of immobile offering Upward, palms open). And then, when you are like that ("you," meaning the cells), after a while the perception comes of the category the movement belongs to, and you just have to follow the perception, whether it is that something must disappear and be replaced by something else (which one doesn't know yet), or whether it is that something must be transformed. And so forth. And it's like that all the time. Let me give you an example to make it a little clearer: I constantly have what's conventionally called a "toothache" (it doesn't correspond to anything in reality, but anyway people call it "having a toothache"). I had difficulty eating, a congestion, and so on. The attitude: you endure - you endure to the point when you don't even notice that things are going wrong. You endure, but you are aware (and besides, the external signs are there: a swelling of the gums, etc.). There was a period (it's been in that state for a long time, but anyway), a period that began with a first swelling, in December - control, work, etc., all the necessary inner precautions. Then one observes the movement; "one" wants to know where it leads, what it is (it's a long story, quite uninteresting - interesting only because it is instructive). And two nights ago, the situation was apparently the same as usual, the same thing, when suddenly there was a will to stay awake, not to sleep, and then I had the clear perception of a congestion and that it was becoming necessary to take out those things (bits of tooth that were moving - they were moving now more, now less, but it began in December), to take them out in order to let the congestion out. Previously, too, bits of tooth had moved, and one day they had come out by themselves, without difficulty - when the time had come for them to go, they had gone; so I remembered that: why not wait for that moment? That was the attitude for a long time. And then the cells were curiously shrinking back from a very close contact with something [a dentist] that wasn't in complete harmony with the directing force of the body. This is how, in common language, it was translated: T. (who is very nice, no question of that) doesn't know either the habits or the reactions or the type of vibration or what's necessary - she doesn't know anything. So how to make contact? Two nights ago, this came to me clearly: this is what you must tell her (and the exact words of the letter to be written), and you MUST send for her tomorrow morning. Then everything fell quiet, it was over, I went on with my night as usual, as every night. The next morning, I wrote what had been decided and she came; and, well, when she came she knew what she had to know and she did exactly what had to be done. She even said, "I will do only what you tell me to do." And I will add a detail (not a very pleasant one, but it gives the measure of the truth): there were two bits of tooth she had to extract; first she extracted one, and it was just about normal, then she pulled the second one out, and there was a sort of hemorrhage: a huge quantity of blood had accumulated, thick and black - the blood of a dangerous congestion. But I had felt it (there was a pain in the brain, a pain in the ear, a pain ...), and I thought, "That's not good, I should take care." The body was conscious that something was amiss. And quite an unusual hemorrhage. I even remarked to T., "It's good it came out." She said, "Oh, yes!" All this to tell you that the thought is absolutely still, everything takes place directly: questions of vibrations. Well, that's the only way to know what has to be done. If it goes through the mind - especially through that physical thought, which is absolutely idiotic, absolutely - you can't know; as long as that works, you are always driven to do what you shouldn't do, particularly to have the wrong reaction: the reaction that helps the forces of disorder and darkness instead of contradicting them. And I am not talking about anxiety because it's a long, a very long time since my body stopped having any anxiety - a long time, years - but anxiety is like swallowing a cup of poison. This is what is called physical yoga. To get over all that. And the only way to do it is for all, every one of the cells, every second, to be (gesture of immobile offering Upward) in an adoration, an aspiration - an adoration, an aspiration, an adoration, an aspiration.... And nothing else. Then, after a time, there is joy, too, and then it ends with blissful trust. When that trust is established, everything will be fine. But ... it's much easier said than done. Only, for the moment, I am convinced that it is the only way, there is no other. There. Give your hands.... page 61-64 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 24th March - 1965




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Somewhere in the overmind (beyond the higher mind and from the overmind onwards), things are luminous IN THEMSELVES. Light doesn't have to strike them: things themselves are luminous. And this makes a considerable difference in vision. Things are no longer lit from outside, they are luminous in themselves. This is the main difference in the quality of the light.

page 345 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Sept 1962


I would especially like to understand the difference between the overmind and the Supermind - to understand it concretely, not abstractly.
The overmind isn't part of the intellect. It's the domain of the gods. It is the domain of the gods, and that's what has been ruling the earth. All the gods men have known, worshipped and had contact with are there. Yes, a domain of gods, with godlike lives and godlike ways - it's not the Supermind.
Yes, precisely - but what exactly makes the difference?
I don't believe the gods have access to the Supermind.
Yes, the gods stop at the overmind.
I am unfamiliar with the purely Hindu traditions, but the gods are the beings the Vedas and people of Vedic times were in touch with - at least I think so. I learned what I know about the gods before coming here, through the other tradition, the Chaldean. But Théon used to say that this tradition and the Vedic (which he knew well) were outgrowths of a more ancient tradition common to both. The story goes, according to him, that the first Emanations, who were perfectly independent, separated themselves from the Supreme in their action, creating all the disorder - that's what caused the creation's disorder. Afterwards the gods were emanated, to repair the evil that had been wrought and to organize the world according to the supreme Will. Of course, this is a childlike way of putting it, but it's comprehensible. So all these gods work in harmony and order. That's what the ancient tradition says.
As far as I've understood, the Indian tradition has embraced everything that came from the first Emanations, since all the gods of destruction, of unconsciousness and of suffering are included in its pantheon. In the end, I think it's up to each one to name what he wants the way he wants. That's how I have always felt. Even in Hindu tradition it is written: "Man is chattel for the gods; beware of the gods." All this is merely a question of language to me - words to suit each one according to his nature. I've had conscious contacts with all the beings of the tradition Théon made known to me, and with all the beings described in Indian tradition; in fact, as far as I know I've had contacts with all the deities of all the religions. There's a gradation (gesture of levels). These beings are found all the way from ... there are even some in the vital; in the mental realm, man has deified many things: he has readily made gods out of whatever didn't seem exactly like him. If you are eclectic, you can have contacts with them all. And they all have their own reality and existence. This region just overlooks the earth and the mind (including the very highest mind). But evolution - I mean TERRESTRIAL evolution, with its particular rhythm which is more condensed, more concentrated and, you could say, more focused than universal evolution as a whole - this terrestrial evolution has, with the human species, created a kind of higher intellectuality capable of passing through the overmental region, the region of the gods, and reaching a higher Principle directly. But this overmental region, this region of the gods with the power to govern the universe and, PARTIALLY, the earth, does have its own reality. You can come into contact with it and use it; the Vedic "forefathers" used it, occultists use it, even Tantrics use it. But there's another path which, distrusting the gods, bypasses them through a kind of intellectual asceticism, as it were, wary of forms, of images, and differing expressions, which rises straight as an arrow, proud and pure, towards the supramental Light. That is a living experience. Sri Aurobindo preached the integral yoga which includes everything, so one can have all the experiences. Indeed, the universe was clearly created as a field of experience. Some people prefer the short, straight and narrow paths - that's their business. Others like to dawdle along the way - and that's their business!

And some are drawn to have all the experiences, and thus they often wander for a long time through the overmental world. And of course, the vast majority of those who have RELIGIOUS aspirations are thus put in touch with various deities, where they stop - it's enough for them. But everything I've just said is only one tiny part of the whole story. Actually, this domain of the gods belongs to our side, although on a godlike scale: with the gods' power, their possibilities, their consciousness, their freedom; and their immortality, too. In other words, a godlike life - I think most human beings would be more than satisfied with it! And as all the stories tell us, sometimes the gods come to earth to have some fun. I know that some come and take on a human body to have a psychic being - but not all. Most of them simply enjoy having human contact. In any case, they have bodies in their own domain - there's no sense of being bodiless. They have bodies - immortal ones.
Yes, but in the Supermind as well?...
But the gods don't go to the Supermind!
No, what I mainly want to know is the difference when you cross to the other side, into the Supermind - the difference in vision between the Supermind and the overmind.
I don't know what Sri Aurobindo would tell you.... This is just what I am observing these days. To me, the overmental consciousness is a magnified consciousness: far lovelier, far loftier, far more powerful, far happier, far ... with lots of "far more's" to it. But.... I can tell you one thing: the gods don't have the sense of Oneness. For instance, in their own way they quarrel among themselves, which shows they have no sense of Oneness, no sense of all being one, of all being various expressions of the Divine - the unique Divine. So they are still on this side, but with magnified forms, and powers beyond our comprehension: the power to change form at will, for example, or to be in many places at the same time - all sorts of things that poor human beings can only dream of having. The gods have it all. They live a divine life! But it's not supramental. The Supermind is knowledge - Pure Knowledge. Yes, it is knowing - knowing what is to be known. There is no longer a play BETWEEN oneself and things, it's.... Truly, the sign of the Supermind is Oneness. Not a sum of a lot of different things, but, on the contrary, a Oneness ... at play with Itself. There's nothing of the way gods relate to each other and the world, for they are still part of the realm of diversity, though FREE from Ignorance. They don't have Ignorance, they don't have what we human beings have here. They have no Ignorance, they have no Unconsciousness, but they have the sense of diversity and of separation.
What about Sri Aurobindo's experience at Alipore, then? You know, that well-known experience when he saw Narayana in the prisoners, Narayana in the guards, Narayana everywhere?...
That is the Supreme. Oneness.
Is it a supramental experience or....
It is supramental.
Supramental?
Yes, the supramental experience. He called it Narayana because he was Indian.
It's supramental, not overmental?
No, no. It's like the message of the Gita as Sri Aurobindo explained it: not overmental, but supramental. It is Oneness, the experience of Oneness. The experience of the gods has never been more than a distraction for me - an amusement, a pleasant diversion; none of it seems essential or indispensable. You can treat yourself to the luxury of all these experiences, and they increase your knowledge and your power, your this and your that, but it's not particularly important. THE thing is altogether different. We can do without the gods. We can have access to the Supermind without any of these experiences, they're not indispensable. But if you want to know and experience the universe, if you want to be identified with the Supreme in His expression, well, all this is part of His expression, in varying degrees and with varying powers. It's all part of His experience. So why not treat yourself to that luxury? It's very interesting, very interesting - but not indispensable. I think that once you are identified with the Supreme and He has chosen you to do a work on earth, then He quite naturally grants you all these things, because it increases your power of action, that's all. That's all. As for me, there are no more problems, no more problems! This classification [of the planes of consciousness] is very convenient and necessary at a given moment, especially when you are ascending and awakening; but afterwards....

(silence)

Sri Aurobindo didn't put too much emphasis on the Overmind. The one significant point is that the Overmind has ruled the world through the different religions. And it is the dwelling place of all the gods, all the beings humans have made into gods in their religions. Those beings exist in their own world, and some humans, coming in touch with them, have been overwhelmed by their powers and their superiority, and have made gods and religions out of them. But it's better not to emphasize this [in your book]. As I have said, we can bypass that plane, or even pass through without knowing it. It interested me to read in the Vedas that if you don't ascend the way you're supposed to, if you try to bypass the gods, then unpleasant things happen to you and your way is blocked - do you remember that? [[This must refer to the colloquy of Rishi Agastya and Indra (The Secret of The Veda, Cent. Ed., X. 241), commented on by Mother in the 1961 Agenda (Vol. II, p. 37). ]] That gives you an idea of what it is. It's like an intermediary zone, far superior to the earth, but still intermediary. Some have tried to cross it without stopping; and there, they say, you run into trouble. Personally, I am not sure, I can only speak of my own experience: there was always a sense of fraternity - as you can imagine! I knew them, I was on friendly terms with them, so there was no question of bypassing them or not! But I have a strong impression that that world is still a magnified version of our own, and part of the old path; it has nothing to do with the Supramental Creation, which will bring to earth the sense of the Supreme and the Unique. Basically, it's part of the old path, a consequence of all that has happened, of the whole universal formation as we know it. People who believe in essential Evil would say it's a consequence of "the accident" of creation. But is it an accident? I have my doubts. It has yet to be revealed. And we won't know until ... until it's over. I am speaking in riddles, but what else can I do! ... I mean that the why and the how of it won't be known until ... until the curve is completed. But the gods belong to the present curve. The overmind belongs to this curve. Those gods are all very nice! For some people they're unbearable at times (Mother laughs), but they're really very nice! They have their faults, they have their good points, but with me they have always been very nice! No more (Mother makes an X across her mouth).
Anyway, the important thing is what you told me: the experience at Alipore is supramental.
Oh, yes! He used the word Narayana because he hadn't yet developed his own terminology; but he isn't referring to the gods: it's the supramental experience.
page 352-58 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 26th Sept 1962


No, but the difference in vision - I'm speaking of vision. You told me, for instance, that objects in the overmind were self-luminous.
Yes, from the overmind onwards.
Did you mean that one sees terrestrial objects become luminous? [[In fact, Satprem was ever pursuing the same question: How far does the shift to the other vision change the vision of Matter - what does true Matter look like? ]]
No, no! I mean all the things and forms in the overmind itself (the raiment of the gods, for instance, their jewels and crowns - there are all kinds of things in the overmind). In those worlds there are all kinds of forms, which we translate into images from terrestrial life ... but it's only a translation. Take the gods' raiment, for example. Their raiment, which they change at will in the same way they change their forms, is made not of physical but of overmental substance, and that substance contains its own light. It's like that with everything, it's all.... There's no sun casting light and shadows: the substance is self-luminous. page 367 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th Oct. 1962


But all the great Schools, the great Ideas, the great Realizations, the great ... and then the religions - that's still lower down; all of it, oh, what childishness! And that wisdom! ... It's an almost cellular wisdom (it's odd). For instance, I was looking at the relationship I had with all those great beings of the Overmind and higher, the perfectly objective and very familiar relationship I had with all those beings and the inner perception of being the eternal Mother - all that is very well, but for me it's almost ancient history! The me that exists now is HERE, it's at ground level, in the body; it's the body, it's Matter; it's at ground level; and to tell the truth, it doesn't care much about the intervention of all those beings ... who ultimately know nothing at all! They don't know the true problem: they live in a place where there are no problems. They don't know the true problem - the true problem is here. It's an amused way of looking at religions and all the gods the way you would look at ... they are like theater performances. They're pastimes; but that's not what can teach you to know yourself, not at all, not at all! You must go right down to the bottom. And it is this, this descent to the very bottom, in search of ... but it isn't an unknown, it isn't an unknown - a bursting (it really is like a bursting), that marvelous bursting of the Vibration of Love; that is ... it is the memory. And the effort is to turn it into an active reality. page 263 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 30th Oct - 1964


What Sri Aurobindo called overmind is the realm of the gods.

So it isn't necessary to pass through that.
Oh, no, the realm of the gods ... stands apart. I don't think it has much to do with the earth's problems. Only sometimes those gods enjoy meddling in earthly affairs. But they don't have much in common with the great Movement of transformation.
Yes, quite so.
They are immortal, aren't they, they are free (to a large extent, they are free and immortal). They have taken part in the earth's development only out of curiosity, as a sort of pastime! Yes.

They may have helped humanity to understand that there is something beyond earth-life. That was their usefulness.

page 157 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th Apr - 1972-1973




-295_painting of Sri Aurobindo-free.html

-296_Pakistan.html


As I appeared to be doubting, X told me, 'There is no "suspicion " [doubt], the war will take place in November' (in fact, it is to occur some time between September and November), and for the rest of the talk, he had a tone of absolute certitude: 'The first atom bomb will fall in China. Russia will be crushed. It will be a victory for America. Not more than 2 or 3 atom bombs will be used. It will be very quick.' And he repeated that the starting-point of the conflict would be situated in India due to the aggression of Pakistan, then of China. The earthquake he mentioned promises to be a kind of 'pralaya' (as X put it), for not only Bombay will be touched. This is what he said: 'America supports Pakistan, but the gods do not support Pakistan, and Pakistan will be punished by the gods. HALF of western Pakistan, including Karachi, will go into the sea. The sea will enter into Rajasthan and touch India also ... ' X then said that India would side with America against the Communist bloc (in spite of America's support to Pakistan), and furthermore, that the day India sides with America, America will cease supporting Pakistan. In any case, it will be the end of Pakistan.
page 315 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 8th June



-670_Paolo.html



I wanted to mention something (I couldn't tell you about it lasttime), but I have been solicited by Paolo, [[An Italian film maker, architect and painter. ]] who is preparing a documentary on the Ashram for television. He asked to take photos of me, a film, and so on. First I said, "I'll talk about it with Mother." But as it wasn't possible lately, yesterday he finally came down on me with his camera, and I let him.
He's nice, Paolo, very nice!
Yes, but still, showing myself off ...
Oh, mon petit, and what about me!
Ah, but with you it's different!
Excuse me! It's still worse! (Mother laughs) You understand, this body has a sense of the ridiculous, so it says, "Here, I'm being shown off when I have very little to do (not to say nothing) in this affair." page 218 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 25th June , 1969


I wanted to mention something (I couldn't tell you about it lasttime), but I have been solicited by Paolo, [[An Italian film maker, architect and painter. ]] who is preparing a documentary on the Ashram for television. He asked to take photos of me, a film, and so on. First I said, "I'll talk about it with Mother." But as it wasn't possible lately, yesterday he finally came down on me with his camera, and I let him.
He's nice, Paolo, very nice! Then it's all right. He's nice, Paolo, he's generous. We have to help him.


page 218-19 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 25th June - 1969






-299_Paris - Auroville.html



A little later We're still receiving heaps of letters. Lots of people want to come and are asking questions. There's going to be a crush of people - some are arranging planes! So yesterday I said, "We'll have a direct yearly flight: Paris-Auroville!" And they're going to prepare an airfield. We are already in negotiations with the government for the land: it's huge, we could make four or five airfields! There will be a landing field in Auroville: Paris-Auroville! (Mother looks very amused.) It seems that in 1972, there will be a new plane that will fly from Paris to India (Paris-Auroville!) in four hours. Which means that if they leave Paris in the evening, they'll reach here at daybreak (you know that some time is lost while coming here). And if they leave here at noon, they'll reach Paris at 10 in the morning - two hours before they left.

page 160 - Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , July 27 - 1966






-300_partition and reunification.html



Oh, yes - he read them to me himself! (Mother laughs.) But everything Sri Aurobindo said has always come true. You know he also said (but it was in jest, he didn't write it) ... concerning reuniting with Pakistan he told me: "Ten years. It will take ten years." The ten years passed and nothing happened - OFFICIALLY nothing happened. But the truth is (I learned it through certain government officials), Pakistan did make some overtures in that direction, asking for a union to be reestablished (they would have kept some sort of autonomy, but the two countries would have UNITED, it would have been a UNION), and Nehru refused.
How foolish!
So Sri Aurobindo had seen it. He had seen it happen. After ten years, when that man who headed Pakistan died, [[This may refer to the death of Liaquat Ali, and the grave economic and political difficulties resulting in the dissolution of the Pakistani Parliament in October 1958, and General Ayub Khan's seizure of power. ]] they found themselves in grave difficulty and were unable to get organized; so they sent somebody (unofficially, of course) to ask India to reestablish union on certain bases - but they refused, the Indians refused. It was a repetition of the same stupidity as when Cripps came to make his proposal, when Sri Aurobindo sent a message saying, "Accept, whatever the conditions, otherwise it will be worse later on." That's what Sri Aurobindo told them. Gandhi was there and he retorted, "Why is that man meddling? He should be concerned only with spiritual life."[[In April 1942, when England was struggling against the Nazis and Japan, which was threatening to invade Burma and India, Churchill sent an emissary, Sir Stafford Cripps, to New Delhi with a very generous proposal which he hoped would rally India's goodwill and cooperation in the fight against the worldwide threat. In this proposal, Great Britain offered India Dominion status, as a first step towards an independent government. Sri Aurobindo at once came out of retirement to wire his adhesion to Cripps; he wired all of India's leaders, and even sent a personal messenger to Gandhi and the Indian Congress to convince them to accept this unhoped for proposal without delay. One of Sri Aurobindo's telegrams to Rajagopalachari (the future President of India) spoke of the grave danger, which no one seemed to see, of rejecting Cripps' proposal: "... Some immediate solution urgent face grave peril. Appeal to you to save India formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." No one understood: "Why is he meddling?" Had it accepted Dominion status, India would have avoided the partition of the country in two, the artificial creation of Pakistan, as well as the three wars that were to follow (and which we haven't heard the last of), and the blood bath that ravaged Bengal and the Punjab in 1947 at the time of the partition. (See in Addendum an extract from Sri Aurobindo's message on the occasion of India's Independence.) ]]

They have conscientiously ruined the country.
Yes. Yes, as much as they could. [[There is another side to the story. When Nehru died, Mother said in a message of May 27, 1964: "Nehru leaves his body but his soul is ONE with the Soul of India, that lives for Eternity." ]] That's what X saw: that they have been the ruin of the country. And so he said, "These men have ruined the country and they shall be destroyed." That's what was in his head and that's why he is opening the door to this drama - which would mean a frightful destruction. It's true that they deserve it! They have acted perfectly stupidly all along. Out of ambition, vanity, all sorts of things, but especially out of stupidity and total lack of understanding - a blind vision, reaching no farther than their noses. Don't keep this. I don't want to keep political memories. I haven't said anything about the world situation for a long time, because I don't want people to know (it's not that I don't know, but I don't want it known). If I ever get involved in politics - if things take a positive turn, that is - I will start saying what I know in 1967. But not before.

page 420 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 17th Nov. 1962


How are you? What's news?
Well, they've stopped fighting in the west....[[On the Kashmir and Rajasthan front, that is, the road to West Pakistan, the heart of the trouble. ]]

(Mother nods her head)

Which means it's not the end of the problem.
Again it won't be for this time. It won't be done that way. I've seen how. It won't be done through a battle: the different parts of Pakistan will demand separation. There are five of them. And by separating, they'll join India -- to form a sort of confederation. That's how it will be done.
It will break up from within, yes, I see.
That's right. That's how it will be done.

page 334 , Mother's Agenda , December 18, 1971



"It is for the sake and the triumph of Truth that India is fighting and must fight [[ Interestingly, Mother had at first written shall fight, then, in the afternoon, she changed shall into must. ]] until India and Pakistan have once more become ONE because that is the truth of their being."

Page 247 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , Sept. 18, 1965





-302_peacock.html



There were two days recently (since I saw you last time), two days ... especially Thursday, the day the peacock [[A disciple's peacock had escaped and spent the whole day in the tree above the Samadhi and on the Ashram's terraces. (The peacock is the symbol of victory.) ]] was there.... The peacock crowed victory the whole day (I saw it in the evening, it came and saw me on the terrace, it was so sweet!).... Two very, very difficult days. After that, a sort of solidly established feeling that nothing is impossible - nothing is impossible (Mother points to Matter). What thought has long known, what the heart has long known, what the whole inner being has long known, now the body too knows: nothing, nothing whatever is impossible, everything is possible. Here inside, here inside, in this (Mother strikes her body), everything is possible.

page 110 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 14th may - 1966


(Sujata:) Mother, what does a white peacock with a golden tailmean?
Ooh! That must be the supramental victory. A white peacock is the integral victory; a golden tail is the supramental realization.... Did you see that?
Satprem saw it.
(Satprem:) I saw it last night.
Why, that's splendid! It's splendid. It announces the victory. What were you meditating on?
But I don't know, I just saw it in passing.
Oh!... That's very good. It's the supramental victory. (Mother seems delighted) It's good.[["Coincidentally," that day Mother was wearing a white silk dress with peacock feathers painted on it. ]]
page 248-49 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 22nd Sep - 1971




-303_people you depend.html



You know, it's as if the two extremes -- a marvelous state and a general decomposition -- were here like this (gesture of being inextricably intertwined). Everything, but everything is falling apart: people you count on give way, it seems there's a general dishonesty spreading, people getting sick all the time.... As difficulties go, there have NEVER been so many, never, and compounded: big difficulties with ruinous ones.

This morning for a few minutes it was absolutely marvelous, but the rest of the time it's infernal. There you are, you see, that's life for you. Everything, all, all seems to be falling apart, the people you count on give way, but at the same time, all of a sudden.... It's 90 percent like that, but the 10 percent is so marvelous that it's unimaginable. That's how things are.

And all the people needed to operate the organization, all the persons you count on, ploff! they fall through.


page 181-82 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 3rd July - 1971




-307_playground.html



What I say to people depends entirely upon their inner state. That's precisely why I had such enormous difficulty at the Playground [[Twice a week, during the period of the Playground Talks, Mother would publicly reply to questions put to her by the disciples assembled at the Ashram Playground. ]] - the atmosphere was so mixed! It was a STRUGGLE to find someone receptive so I could speak. And if I'm in the presence of people who understand nothing, I can't say a word. On the other hand, some people come prepared to receive and then suddenly it all comes - but usually there's no tape-recorder!

page 22 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 10th Jan. 1961




-308_pomegranate tree.html



The pomegranate tree is the symbol of Divine Love; Mother called the fruit "Divine Love Spreading over the World."


Mother's Agenda , vol 11 – 1970 , page 254 , 8th July




-310_purusha - prakriti.html



And so the conclusion. I've always heard it said (I don't know if it's true) that men think in a certain way and women in another. On an external level, the difference is not visible, but the attitude - the mental attitude - is perhaps different. The mental attitude on the Prakriti side is always action, always action; the mental attitude on the Purusha [[Prakriti-Purusha: the two eternal principles, feminine and masculine, which can be translated as the Becoming and the Being, Nature and Soul, Force and Consciousness .... ]] side is conception: conception, overall vision, and also observation, as though it observed what the Prakriti had done and saw how it was done. Now I understand that. That's how it works. Naturally, no man (here on earth) is exclusively masculine and no woman is exclusively feminine, because it has all been mixed together again and again. Similarly, I don't think any one race is absolutely pure: all that is over, it's been mingled together (which is another way to re-create Oneness). But there have been TENDENCIES; It's like that note about Israelites and Muslims, it's just a manner of speaking; if I were told, "This is what you said," I would reply, "Yes, I said that, but I can also say something else and a lot of other things!" It's a way of selecting certain aspects and putting them to the fore with an action in view (it's always with an action in view). But for the moment, everything is like that, mixed and mingled together with a view to general unification - no one nationality is pure and separate from others, that no longer exists. But to a certain vision, each thing has its essential role, its raison d'être, its place in universal history. It's like that very strong impression that the Chinese are lunar, that when the moon grew cold, some beings managed to come to the earth, and those beings are at the origin of the Chinese nation; but now there only remains a trace - a trace which is the memory of that distinctiveness. And it's everywhere the same thing: if you look at individuals in every nation, you find in every nation a bit of everything, but with the memory ... the memory of a specificness which has been its raison d'être in the great terrestrial unfolding


page 245-46 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 29th July - 1967





-311_pralaya.html



I had the perception of this manifestation - a "pulsatory" manifestation, I might say - which opens out, shrivels up, opens out, shrivels up again ... and there comes a point when the opening out is such, the fluidity, the plasticity, the capacity for change are such that there is no need anymore to reabsorb in order to shape anew, and there will be a progressive transformation. Théon used to say (I think I've already told you about it) that this is the seventh universal creation, that there have been six pralayas[[Pralaya: the end of a world. ]] before and this is the seventh creation, but that it will be possible for this one to be transformed without being reabsorbed - which obviously is perfectly unimportant because, the moment you have the eternal consciousness, whether things go this way or that way doesn't matter in the least. It's for the limited human consciousness that there is a sort of ambition or need for something that doesn't end, because, within, there is what we might call "the memory of eternity" and that memory of eternity aspires for the manifestation to partake of that eternity. But if the sense of eternity is active and present, you don't lament - you don't lament if you discard a worn-out garment, do you? (You may be attached, but anyway you don't lament.) It's the same thing: if a universe disappears, it means it has wholly fulfilled its function, it has reached the limit of its possibilities, and another must replace it.


page 52 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 4th March - 1966


"... It's a highly superior equilibrium. "It reminded me of Théon who used to say that the world had been put forth and reabsorbed six times; in other words, that there had been six creations and six pralayas. [[Pralaya: the destruction or end of a world. ]] And that now we were in the seventh creation, the last. The world would find a new, higher equilibrium, not static but progressive, which means there would be unending progress in equilibrium and harmony, without pralaya."
page 141 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 6th May - 1967





-312_pranayam.html



Do you object to my doing some pranayama [[Pranayama: breathing exercises. ]] before I begin working?

I think it would do you good, mon petit.
I began three days ago, but I keep getting entangled with the traditional formation around it: "Oh, it's dangerous, it's dangerous, be careful." So this morning I thought I'd better speak to you about it.
Are you doing it without instructions?
There's a traditional way of doing it, I know the formula.
How does it go?
The time varies. You inhale through the left nostril for let's say 4 seconds, then you hold your breath for 16 seconds, raising the diaphragm and closing all the openings; after 16 seconds you exhale for 8 seconds through the other nostril.
Are these the "official" figures?
Yes; I mean that's the proportion: inhale 4, hold 16, exhale 8.
Sixteen?
It has to be double the exhalation. If you do 8, then it's 8-32-16.

I did it myself for years, using the same system: inhale, hold, exhale, remain empty. But holding the lungs empty is said to be dangerous, so I don't advise it. I did it for years. Without knowing it, Sri Aurobindo and I did it nearly the same way, along with all sorts of other things that aren't supposed to be done! This is to tell you that the danger is mainly in what you think. In the course of certain movements, both of us made the air go out through the crown of the head - apparently that's only to be done when you want to die! (Mother laughs) It didn't kill us.

No, the "danger" is MAINLY a thought formation.

You can achieve excellent control of the heart. But I never practiced it violently, never strained myself. I think holding for 16 is too long. I used to do it simply like this: breathe in very slowly to the count of 4, then hold for 4 like this (I still have the knack of it!), lifting the diaphragm and lowering the head [[Uddiyana-bandha and jalandhara-bandha. ]] (Mother bends her neck), closing everything and exerting pressure (this is an almost instantaneous cure for hiccups - it's handy!). Then while I held the air, I would make it circulate with the force (because it contained force, you see) and with the peace as well; and I would concentrate it wherever there was a physical disorder (a pain or something wrong somewhere). It's very effective. The way I did it was: inhale, hold, exhale and empty - you are completely empty. It's very useful; very handy for underwater swimmers, for instance!

I had trouble breathing in slowly enough - that's a bit hard. I began with 4 and eventually managed to do 12. I did 12-12-12-12. It took me months to reach that, it can't be done quickly. To breathe in very slowly and hold all that air isn't easy.

Now I have lost the knack, I can barely do more than 6 (Mother demonstrates). I count: 1-2-3-4 ... no quicker.

And exhale slowly - that's very difficult - being careful to empty the top part of the lungs, because air often stagnates there. This seems to be one of the most frequent causes of coughs and colds. When I had bronchitis I learned to empty the air out completely. And I knew singing, so I was familiar with the method: you learn to hold the air and then release it slowly, slowly, so as to keep singing nonstop.

I advise you to practice it.

How much time do you spend on it?

Eight to ten minutes, three times a day before my japa.

Oh, that's very good.

I don't know why, but I got entangled with that traditional formation which says it's dangerous.

Someone put it on you, mon petit!

It troubled me.

No, it's not at all dangerous, at least if you don't overdo it. If you do it simply.... I think some people practice pranayama with the idea of gaining "powers." That idea of gaining powers fouls it up more than anything. But if you do it simply as a help to your progress, there's no danger.


At any rate, Sri Aurobindo and I both did a lot of things considered dangerous, and absolutely nothing happened to us. Not that it's necessary to do dangerous things, but nothing happened to us, so it all depends on how you do them.

I think you can safely forget about this formation.

But instead of doing equal amounts of time, it might be better to do less for inhaling and more for holding the breath. The holding part is extremely interesting! When the air is inside, let's say you have a headache or a sore throat or a pain in your arm, anything - then you take the air ... (Mother demonstrates) and direct it to the unwell part ... very, very helpful and pleasant and interesting. You see the force go to the spot, settle in and stay there, all sorts of things.

Ah, it's funny, because just this morning.... Did you come for the balcony?

Lately I have been coming, but I didn't this morning.

Yes, I thought I didn't see you! But when I went out on the balcony, something suddenly began making me do pranayama! I started doing it and it was funny - I had great fun. It was like the Lord entering into me as air, and when it was held inside like that (I was doing it physically at the same time), all the air began to flow out into everybody and do its work in each one - with such a sensation of ease, of tranquil power, and so sure of itself! So comfortably peaceful.

The balcony darshans are interesting.


page 89-92 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 24th Feb 1962





-313_prayer - consciousness of the cell.html


O my sweet Lord supreme Truth,
I aspire that this food I take
may infuse into all the cells of my body
Your all-knowledge,
Your all-power,
Your all-kindness.

Page 337

O my sweet Master, Lord God of Kindness and Mercy. What you want us to know, we shall know, what you want us to do, we shall do, what you want us to be, we shall be - forever.

Om - namo - bhagavateh

For it is You who is, who lives and who knows - it is You who does all things, You who is the result of every action.
And the body says to the Supreme Lord: 'What You want me to be, I shall be, What You want me to know, I shall know, What you want me to do, I shall do.'

Page 339

OM

OM, Supreme Lord

Take possession of this body

Manifest Yourself in it.


O Divine Light, Supramental Reality, with this food imbue the body fully, enter into all the cells, come into every atom; may all become perfectly sincere and receptive free from all that creates an obstacle to your manifestation in short open unto Yourself all the parts of my body which are not already You.

Page 340


Lord, God of kindness and mercy, Lord, God of sovereign oneness, Lord, God of beauty and harmony, Lord, God of force and realization, Lord, God of love and compassion, Lord, God of silence and contemplation, Lord, God of light and knowledge, Lord, God of life and immortality, Lord, God of youth and progress, Lord, God of abundance and plenitude, Lord, God of strength and health, Lord, God of peace and vastness, Lord, God of power and invincibility, Lord, God of victorious Truth. Take possession of this body, Manifest Yourself in it.

Page 341



OM, Supreme Lord Take possession of these cells Take possession of this brain Take possession of these nerves Take possession of this body Take possession of this matter Take possession of these atoms OM, Supreme Lord Manifest Your Splendor

Page 342



Om, Supreme Lord, God of Truth and Perfection. Lord, God of Purity and Perfection God of Justice and Peace God of Love and Felicity

Page 342

You are my Light, my Force

and my Joy

You are my sovereign

Realization.

**

Ô Seigneur, Tu es ma paix, ma puissance et ma joie,

Tu es ma réalisation souveraine.

(translation)

O Lord, You are my peace, my force and my joy,

You are my sovereign realization.

**

Page 344

Om, Supreme Lord, God of kindness and mercy Om, Supreme Lord, God of love and felicity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Will Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Truth Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Purity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Perfection Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Oneness Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Eternity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Infinity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Immortality Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Silence Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Peace Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Existence Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Consciousness Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Omnipotence Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Felicity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Knowledge Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Omniscience Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Wisdom Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Equality Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Intensity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Light Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Harmony

page 348

Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Compassion Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Beauty Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Love Om, Supreme Lord, win Your Victory. Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror



Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara*

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh#

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

1. Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror. These lines were written by Mother in Sanskrit. 2. Om, I salute the Supreme Lord.

page 349

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om Tat Sat Om Sat Chittapas Ananda' Om namo bhagavateh Om my sweet Lord OM, my Beloved

1. The supreme principles of Being: Tat (the Absolute, That), Sat (Existence), Chit (Consciousness), Tapas (Energy), Ananda (Bliss).

Page 350

Page 337 – 350 - Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells

Mother's Agenda - vol 1 , 1951 - 1960



O mon doux Seigneur,
suprême Vérité
j'aspire à ce que
cette nourriture que
j'absorbe, infuse
dans toutes les cellules
de mon corps
Ta toute-connaissance,
Ta toute-puissance,
Ta toute-bonté.
(translation) O my sweet Lord supreme Truth,
I aspire
that this food I take
may infuse
into all the cells of my body
Your all-knowledge,
Your all-power,
Your all-kindness.

page 337 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 25th July 1958

O mon doux Maître, Seigneur Dieu de Bonté et de Miséricorde. Ce que tu veux qu'on sache, on le saura, ce que tu veux qu'on
fasse, on le fera, ce que tu veux qu'on soit, on le sera - à jamais.

Om - namo - bhagavateh

Car c'est Toi qui es, qui vis, et qui sais - c'est Toi qui fais toute chose et qui es le résultat de toute action. (translation) O my sweet Master, Lord God of Kindness and Mercy. What you want us to know, we shall know, what you want us to do, we shall do, what you want us to be, we shall be - forever.

Om - namo - bhagavateh

For it is You who is, who lives and who knows - it is You who does all things, You who is the result of every action.
page 338 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 25th July 1958
O my Lord, my Lord! What you want of me, let me be. What you want me to do, let me do.' 1. Original English.
page 338 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 25th July 1958
Et le corps dit au Seigneur Suprême: 'Ce que Tu veux que je sois, je le serai, ce que Tu veux que je sache, je le saurai, ce que Tu veux que je fasse, je le ferai.'

(translation)

And the body says to the Supreme Lord: 'What You want me to be, I shall be, What You want me to know, I shall know, What you want me to do, I shall do.'
page 339 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 3rd Oct. 1958

OM

OM, Seigneur Suprême

Prends possession de ce corps

Manifeste-Toi en lui.

(translation)

OM

OM, Supreme Lord

Take possession of this body

Manifest Yourself in it.

1. All these prayers were written by Mother and this title was given by Her.

page 339 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 21st Jan. 1959

Ô Divine Lumière, Réalité supramentale, avec cette nourriture, pénètre le corps totalement, entre dans toutes les cellules, installe-Toi dans tous les atomes; que tout devienne parfaitement sincère et réceptif, libre de tout ce qui fait obstacle à ta manifestation, en somme ouvre à Toi toutes les parties de mon corps qui ne sent pas déjà Toi-même.

**

(translation)

O Divine Light, Supramental Reality, with this food imbue the body fully, enter into all the cells, come into every atom; may all become perfectly sincere and receptive free from all that creates an obstacle to your manifestation in short open unto Yourself all the parts of my body which are not already You.
page 340 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 ,


Invocation
Seigneur, Dieu de bonté et de miséricorde Seigneur, Dieu d'unité souveraine, Seigneur, Dieu de beauté et d'harmonie, Seigneur, Dieu de puissance et de réalisation,
Seigneur, Dieu d'amour et de compassion, Seigneur, Dieu de silence et de contemplation, Seigneur, Dieu de lumière et de connaissance, Seigneur, Dieu de vie et d'immortalité, Seigneur, Dieu de jeunesse et de progrès, Seigneur, Dieu d'abondance et de plénitude, Seigneur, Dieu de force et de santé, Seigneur, Dieu de paix et d'immensité, Seigneur, Dieu de pouvoir et d'invincibilité, Seigneur, Dieu de la Vérité victorieuse. Prends possession de ce corps, Manifeste-toi en lui.

(translation)

Lord, God of kindness and mercy, Lord, God of sovereign oneness, Lord, God of beauty and harmony, Lord, God of force and realization, Lord, God of love and compassion, Lord, God of silence and contemplation, Lord, God of light and knowledge, Lord, God of life and immortality, Lord, God of youth and progress, Lord, God of abundance and plenitude, Lord, God of strength and health, Lord, God of peace and vastness, Lord, God of power and invincibility, Lord, God of victorious Truth. Take possession of this body, Manifest Yourself in it.
page 340-41 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , Jan. 1959

OM, Seigneur Suprême

Prends possession de ces cellules Prends possession de ce cerveau Prends possession de ces nerfs
Prends possession de ce corps Prends possession de cette matière Prends possession de ces atomes OM, Seigneur Suprême Manifeste Ta Splendeur **

(translation)

OM, Supreme Lord Take possession of these cells Take possession of this brain Take possession of these nerves Take possession of this body Take possession of this matter Take possession of these atoms OM, Supreme Lord Manifest Your Splendor

page 340-41 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , Undated 1959


Seigneur, Dieu de Pureté et de Perfection Dieu de Justice et de Paix Dieu d'Amour et de Félicité ** (translation)
Om, Supreme Lord, God of Truth and Perfection. Lord, God of Purity and Perfection God of Justice and Peace God of Love and Felicity

page 342 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , Undated 1959

I am not a scholar I am a creative force in action, that is all. Everything depends on the Lord's Will. If such is His will, when I have to know, I know, when I have to fight, I fight, when I have to love, I love, and always there is the need to love, to know and to fight.

page 343 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , January 1959

O mon doux Seigneur, Toi seul, Tu es grand, Toi seul, Tu vois grand, Toi seul peux me conduire là où je veux aller.

(translation)

O my sweet Lord, You alone, You vastly are, You alone, You vastly see, You alone can lead me there where I want to go.

1. Original English.
page 343 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , January 1959

Ô seigneur, qu'il est doux d'avoir besoin de Toi! ...

(translation)

O Lord, how sweet it is to need You!

page 344 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , January 1959

Prayer to Durga


Tu es ma Lumière, ma Puissance

et ma Joie

Tu es ma Réalisation

souveraine.

(translation)

You are my Light, my Force

and my Joy

You are my sovereign

Realization.

**

Ô Seigneur, Tu es ma paix, ma puissance et ma joie,

Tu es ma réalisation souveraine.

(translation)

O Lord, You are my peace, my force and my joy,

You are my sovereign realization.

Om

Seigneur Suprême,

Tu es ma Lumière, ma Puissance

et ma Joie

Tu es ma Réalisation souveraine.

(translation)

Om

Supreme Lord,

You are my Light, my Force

and my Joy

You are my sovereign Realization.


page 344-45 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 9th Oct. 1959

Om, Seigneur Suprême, Dieu de bonté et de miséricorde, Om, Seigneur Suprême, Dieu d'amour et de compassion, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de ces cellules, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de ce cerveau, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de ces nerfs , Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de cette pensée, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de cette parole, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de cette action, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de ce corps, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de ce cÏur, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de cette matière, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de ces atomes, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession du subconscient, Om, Seigneur Suprême, prends possession de ['inconscient.
Om, namo, bhagavateh

Om, Seigneur Suprême, Dieu de bonté et de miséricorde, Om, Seigneur Suprême, Dieu d'amour et de félicité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Volonté Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Vérité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Pureté Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Perfection Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Unité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Éternité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Infinité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Immortalité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Silence Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Paix Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Existence Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Conscience Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Toute-Puissance Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Félicité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Connaissance Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Omniscience Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Sagesse Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Égalité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Intensité Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Lumière Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Harmonie Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Compassion Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ta Beauté Om, Seigneur Suprême, manifeste Ton Amour Om, Seigneur Suprême, remporte Ta Victoire. Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême Gloire à Toi, Seigneur triomphateur suprême

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara*
Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om Tat Sat Om Sat Chittapas Ananda Om namo bhagavateh Om mon doux Seigneur OM, mon Bien-Aimé 1. These lines were written by Mother in Sanskrit.

(translation) OM Om, Supreme Lord, God of kindness and mercy, Om, Supreme Lord, God of love and compassion, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of these cells, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of this brain, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of these nerves, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of this mind, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of this speech, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of this action, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of this body, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of this heart, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of this matter, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of these atoms, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of the subconscient, Om, Supreme Lord, take possession of the inconscient.

Om, Supreme Lord, God of kindness and mercy Om, Supreme Lord, God of love and felicity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Will Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Truth Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Purity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Perfection Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Oneness Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Eternity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Infinity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Immortality Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Silence Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Peace Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Existence Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Consciousness Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Omnipotence Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Felicity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Knowledge Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Omniscience Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Wisdom Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Equality Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Intensity Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Light Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Harmony
Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Compassion Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Beauty Om, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Love Om, Supreme Lord, win Your Victory. Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara*

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh#

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh

Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara

Om, namo bhagavateh


1. Glory to You, Lord supreme conqueror. These lines were written by Mother in Sanskrit. 2. Om, I salute the Supreme Lord.
Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om, namo bhagavateh Mahima Tawaïwa prabho parama jitwara Om Tat Sat Om Sat Chittapas Ananda' Om namo bhagavateh Om my sweet Lord OM, my Beloved 1. The supreme principles of Being: Tat (the Absolute, That), Sat (Existence), Chit (Consciousness), Tapas (Energy), Ananda (Bliss). page 345-350 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , undated 1959




-314_Prayers and Meditation.html



The dates ... I am no good at dates! And I don't have any papers left to give me precise details. But the realization of the inner Divine must have been in 1911, because that's when I started writing my Meditations. [[The first Prayers and Meditations date from November 1912, but there may have been earlier ones among the numerous texts Mother destroyed. ]] But since my earliest childhood, you know, this presence was always there, with an initial emphasis on consciousness, then on the vital and aesthetics, then on the mind ... and culminating here, in 1920, with action.

page 291 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 28th July 1962.


People are getting restless, they want to publish a complete collection of my talks - in English. "Calm down!" I told them. "I don't want any of this; we will publish a French edition later, when it's ready." I don't want English. I don't want English! And more and more, I don't want English. For instance, the English translation of Prayers and Meditations is out of print and they wanted to reprint it. I said no: "If you want, you can reprint what Sri Aurobindo HIMSELF translated (there's not much, just a thin volume). That, yes, because Sri Aurobindo translated it." But even at that, it's not the same thing as my text - it's Sri Aurobindo's, not mine. Prayers and Meditations came to me, you know - it was dictated each time. I would write at the end of my concentration, and it didn't pass through the mind, it just came - and it obviously came from someone interested in beautiful form. I used to keep it under lock and key so nobody would see it. But when I came here Sri Aurobindo asked about it, so I showed him a few pages and then he wanted to see the rest. Otherwise I would have always kept it locked away. I destroyed whatever was left - there were five thick volumes in which I had written every single day (there was some repetition, of course): the outcome of my concentrations. So I chose which parts would be published (Sri Aurobindo helped in the choice), copied them out, and then I cut the pages up and had the rest burned.
That's a shame!
There are a few original fragments left from what was published - I distributed almost all of them; the ink has faded, it's practically white. I burned everything.
It's really a shame.
It wasn't written for anyone and wasn't meant to be read. I showed it to Sri Aurobindo because he was speaking of certain things and I said, "Ah, yes, that's the experience I had in...." Then I showed him my notebook for that date (there was something written for each day). Five thick notebooks, year after year.... Even here I kept on writing for a while.
I wrote a lot in Japan. Anyway, everything of general interest was kept. But that's why there are gaps in the dates, otherwise it would be continuous - it was monumental, you know! It's only here that people started wanting to keep and keep and keep. (Mother makes a gesture of throwing everything over her shoulder.) The world is moving fast, the world is moving fast, fast, fast - why keep anything?

(silence)

So I've said that if people want to read what I have written (of course I have written certain things in English, like Conversations with the Mother, which I later rewrote in French - not exactly in the same way, but nearly; so that's all right, it's written in English) ... but those who want to read me, well, let them learn French, it won't do them any harm! French gives a precision to thought like no other language.
You should obviously be read in French.
Because it's something else altogether. Untranslatable, not the same mentality! Like French humor and English humor - they're far, far apart ... so far apart that they're usually impervious to each other! page 346-47 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Sept 1962


I don't want English. I don't want English! And more and more, I don't want English. For instance, the English translation of Prayers and Meditations is out of print and they wanted to reprint it. I said no: "If you want, you can reprint what Sri Aurobindo HIMSELF translated (there's not much, just a thin volume). That, yes, because Sri Aurobindo translated it." But even at that, it's not the same thing as my text - it's Sri Aurobindo's, not mine. Prayers and Meditations came to me, you know - it was dictated each time. I would write at the end of my concentration, and it didn't pass through the mind, it just came - and it obviously came from someone interested in beautiful form. I used to keep it under lock and key so nobody would see it. But when I came here Sri Aurobindo asked about it, so I showed him a few pages and then he wanted to see the rest. Otherwise I would have always kept it locked away. I destroyed whatever was left - there were five thick volumes in which I had written every single day (there was some repetition, of course): the outcome of my concentrations. So I chose which parts would be published (Sri Aurobindo helped in the choice), copied them out, and then I cut the pages up and had the rest burned.
That's a shame!
There are a few original fragments left from what was published - I distributed almost all of them; the ink has faded, it's practically white. I burned everything.
It's really a shame.
It wasn't written for anyone and wasn't meant to be read. I showed it to Sri Aurobindo because he was speaking of certain things and I said, "Ah, yes, that's the experience I had in...." Then I showed him my notebook for that date (there was something written for each day). Five thick notebooks, year after year.... Even here I kept on writing for a while.
I wrote a lot in Japan. Anyway, everything of general interest was kept. But that's why there are gaps in the dates, otherwise it would be continuous - it was monumental, you know! It's only here that people started wanting to keep and keep and keep. (Mother makes a gesture of throwing everything over her shoulder.) The world is moving fast, the world is moving fast, fast, fast - why keep anything?
Page 346-47 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Sept 1962

I don't have far to go on my translation of The Synthesis of Yoga (it's going very quickly), and I have found what I'll do next.... It will be something like those notebooks [Prayers and Meditations]. I am going to take the whole section of Savitri (to start with, I'll see later) from "The Debate of Love and Death" to the point where the Supreme Lord makes his prophecy about the earth's future; it's long - several pages long. This is for my own satisfaction.

Page 347 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th Sept 1962


Mother goes on sorting her notes
Previously I used to tear them to pieces and throw them into the wastepaper basket, then I realized they collected all those torn pieces and went through a tremendous toil to put them back together! ... When I really want to get rid of something, I burn it myself.... I've burned lots of things. You know that I burned all those notebooks.... For - how many years? - at least four or five years, every day I used to write those Prayers and Meditations (I had several notebooks of them, big like this). Then, when Sri Aurobindo told me to make a book out of them (naturally, as it was written every day, there were some repetitions), I made my choice; I selected and extracted all those he wanted (I also kept a few, which I extracted and distributed), and as for the rest ... It was a long, long time ago, I was still living over there. [[François Martin Street. ]] The last times I wrote, it was after my return from Japan, that is, in 1920. In 1920 I still wrote a little, then stopped. Then Sri Aurobindo chanced on it, and he told me it had to be published. I said all right, made a selection, and what to do with the rest? So I burned it. I said, "Well, that's what you should do with your past: burn it with the fire of aspiration." Otherwise, you always remain hitched and fastened, a slave everywhere, with millstones around your neck.


page 211 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th July - 1967




-316_pondicherry radio.html



The Pondicherry radio asked me for a message to be put up in their office, so I gave them this - and they put it up!
"Teach your listeners to love the Truth.
This is a work worth doing."
(Mother laughs) They put it up, that's what amuses me!
Page 364 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th Oct - 1969





-317_Purity.html



The cells have no personal choice; their attitude is really like this: "What You will, what You will ..." for everything, everything. With only an increasing, intensifying, more and more constant, uninterrupted sensation that the sole support is - the Supreme Lord. There's only He, only He. And that's inside, in the body. At the same time, a very precise perception.... You know, once (years ago) I was asked, "What is purity?" I answered, "Purity is to be exclusively under the influence of the Supreme Lord and to receive nothing but from him." Then, a year or two later, while reading Sri Aurobindo, I found a sentence in English which said exactly the same thing in other words [["Purity is to accept no other influence but only the influence of the Divine." (Letters on Yoga, 23.645). ]] (a sentence I had never read and didn't know). I saw that same sentence yesterday evening (I have a calendar with quotations from Sri Aurobindo).... They [the cells] are growing purer and purer, and the extent to which they aren't is pointed out very clearly, in an absolutely precise, distinct way, as if with the point of a needle, on the spot that isn't pure. And it hurts! It always corresponds to a pain - while the same physical condition goes on. Take an exposed nerve in a tooth: normally, it should hurt constantly; at times, in an almost general way, it doesn't exist, but just when the purity isn't total, whew! It hurts excruciatingly!... And in a few seconds it may pass. So it all exclusively depends on That - everything. It's a proof, the most concrete proof!
page 185-86 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 29th June - 1968





-318_publishing agenda.html



(Satprem suggests he read certain past Agenda conversations to Mother. She refuses:)

You know, I've almost felt like telling you that all this Agenda stuff isn't meant for circulation. It's only for when I have come to the end - and then what's in it won't matter at all. Or else I will have gone, leaving a note saying I don't want it published ... Why!
... and that I am giving it only to ... I will say to whom. So it doesn't matter. Actually, you could type it up just as it is on the tape. You want to read it to me mainly to get (laughing) some additions, hmm?
There may be additions, but there are also some questions.
I should delete some things, shouldn't I?
No, no, not delete! But sometimes I haven't quite grasped something, or else I've had to interpret because you made a gesture or....
Because it was incomplete, unexpressed.
There are a few points like that in all these texts. It's up to you whether I read only those points or....
You see, a time will come, I think ... a time will come when things will be interesting. So in fact, it's better not to waste the tapes.
No, I really don't agree! Objectively speaking, it's extremely instructive to see the difficulties you have passed through.
It may be instructive, but it can't be published; it's much too personal.
To be published now, yes - but what about fifty years from now? ...
Oh, in fifty years it won't be interesting any more.
Come on!
You think so?
Of course I do! The whole path is there....
Well, let's make a date for fifty years from now and see how much it interests us then. But it will, Mother!
Do you think you'll have white hair? ... I don't have white hair I don't dye it, you know, it's natural! No, your hair is a color that never turns white.
Listen, I'm already all white at the temples!
Will you have a beard in fifty years?
No, I don't like beards.
Ah, good, so much the better!
I would rather shave everything off.
Then you'll be like a Bhikku. [[Bhikku: Buddhist monk. ]] Well. We'll see about the Agenda in fifty years, then.
But really Mother, objectively, there's a tremendous number of interesting things in it....
Yes, mon petit, but next time, not today.


page 116 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , March 11, 1962






-322_Ramdas.html



Ramdas3 must be a continuation of the line of Chaitanya, Ramakrishna, etc ... .

(silence)

1. Note written by Mother. 2. Note written by Mother in English. 3. Ramdas: a yogi from Northwest India who followed the path of love (bhakti). His whole yoga consisted in repeating the name Ram. He founded the Anand-ashram in Kanhargad, Kerala. He was born in 1884 and died in 1963. page 171 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 2nd July - 1958

Ramdas does not at all consider that the world as it is, is good. No, but I know all these people, I know them thoroughly! I know Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Ramdas thoroughly. They are utterly familiar to me. It doesn't bother them. These are people who live with a certain feeling, who have an entirely concrete experience and live in this experience, but they don't care at all if their formation - they have not even crystallized it, they leave it like that, vague - contains things that are mutually contradictory, because, in appearance, they reconcile them. They do not raise any questions, they do not have the need for an absolutely clear vision; their feeling is absolutely clear, and that's enough for them. Ramakrishna was like that; he said the most contradictory things without being bothered in the least, and they are all exactly and equally true.
page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 2nd July - 1958




-323_Rameshwaram.html



The other thing was the tantric initiation. But I wanted the conditions of this initiation to be at least as favorable as those in Rameswaram, by which I mean conducted by someone very capable and as far as possible free from the whole formalistic and external side. A TRUE initiation - someone who would be capable of pulling down the Power and putting you in conditions rigorous enough for you to be able to hold this Power, to receive it and hold it.

page 244 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 22th Nov. - 1958




-326_Religion and spiritual life.html


I have brought you the exact text of that sentence on Sri Aurobindo I told you about the other day. [[ See conversation of February 18: 'Sri Aurobindo is an Action...' ]] It was in reply to a letter.... You know this mental habit (which people take for mental superiority!) of lumping everything together on the same level: all the teachings, all the prophets, all the sects, all the religions. You know the habit: 'We are not prejudiced, we have no preferences - it's all the SAME THING.' A dreadful muddle! It's one of the biggest mental difficulties of this age. Anyway, in reply to this nonsense, I have said: 'Your error, to be precise, is that you go to the Theosophical Society, for example, with the same opening as to the Christian religion or to the Buddhist doctrine or with which you read one of Sri Aurobindo's books - and as a result, you are plunged into a confusion and a muddle and you don't understand anything about anything.' And then the reply came to me very strongly; something took hold of me and I was, so to say, obliged to write: What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme. [[Mother added: And I am just trying to fulfill that action. ]] It's not from me. It came from there (gesture upwards). But it pleased me.
page 104- Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 28th Feb 1961

Many religions and sects are founded on revelations and miracles, and every bit of it comes from vital beings. It's one of the greatest problems in human life; I don't mean spiritual life, but the life of people who deal with the beyond. page 117- Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th March 1962


That's the real evil at the School, and there is one: a tendency to turn everything into a system.
Yes. Dogmatism. But that's what changed teachings into religions, everywhere - everywhere.
If you left, it would be terrible....
They had a meeting with people from England or Europe, in which they said, "Oh, the world needs a new religion, now is the time to give it a new religion...." And they wanted to take Sri Aurobindo's name and make a new religion out of it! So I answered them, "The time of religions is over." They didn't understand, mon petit, they were appalled! I wrote it to them without explanation, the way you fling something to shake things up: "The time of religions is over, this is the age of universal spirituality" ("universal in the sense of containing EVERYTHING and adapting to everything). So they answered me, "We don't understand, but anyway ... (laughing) since you tell us, we accept it." So I added an explanation in the Bulletin (the explanation isn't as strong, but I had to try and make myself understood), I said that religions are based on spiritual experiences brought down to a level where mankind can grasp them, and that the new phase must be that of spiritual experience in its purity, not brought down to a lower level. [[Here is Mother's exact text, as it was published in the August issue of the Ashram's Bulletin: "Why do men cling to a religion? Religions are based on creeds which are spiritual experiences brought down to a level where they become more easy to grasp, but at the cost of their integral purity and truth. The time of religions is over. We have entered the age of universal spirituality, of spiritual experience in its initial purity." ]] But this too is hard to understand. Anyway ... it gives me colds! Yes, that's true, that's what gives colds, it's dogmatism, which rigidifies, hardens, takes away life. They are convinced that they are right and I am wrong, and it's out of a sort of "benevolent respect" for me (Mother laughs) and of politeness that they don't tell me, "Really, you're exaggerating, we were right." Ah, let's work! ...
page 236-37 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 14th Oct 1964


But all the great Schools, the great Ideas, the great Realizations, the great ... and then the religions - that's still lower down; all of it, oh, what childishness! And that wisdom! ... It's an almost cellular wisdom (it's odd). For instance, I was looking at the relationship I had with all those great beings of the Overmind and higher, the perfectly objective and very familiar relationship I had with all those beings and the inner perception of being the eternal Mother - all that is very well, but for me it's almost ancient history! The me that exists now is HERE, it's at ground level, in the body; it's the body, it's Matter; it's at ground level; and to tell the truth, it doesn't care much about the intervention of all those beings ... who ultimately know nothing at all! They don't know the true problem: they live in a place where there are no problems. They don't know the true problem - the true problem is here. It's an amused way of looking at religions and all the gods the way you would look at ... they are like theater performances. They're pastimes; but that's not what can teach you to know yourself, not at all, not at all! You must go right down to the bottom. And it is this, this descent to the very bottom, in search of ... but it isn't an unknown, it isn't an unknown - a bursting (it really is like a bursting), that marvelous bursting of the Vibration of Love; that is ... it is the memory. And the effort is to turn it into an active reality. page 263 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 30th Oct - 1964


(At the end of the conversation, Mother shows Satprem

a note she wrote the same morning:)

"Instead of excluding each other, religions should complement each other." Sri Aurobindo said that to me; it's so simple, so simple! I was looking at all those religions, seeing them as facets, innumerable facets that harden and brace themselves against each other, and he seemed to be saying, "Well, put it all together, it will be so simple!" Just one sentence, not one word too many.
page 214 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 12th July - 1967


I am not very fond of talking about religions, it's too early. People are still too full of passion when you speak to them about religion.
But here, it's said so objectively.
You understand, the trouble is that everyone thinks his religion is the exclusive truth!
page 261 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 12th Aug - 1967


That's what I have learned, in fact: the bankruptcy of religions was because they were divided - they wanted you to follow one religion to the exclusion of all others. And all human knowledge has gone bankrupt because it was exclusive. And man has gone bankrupt because he was exclusive. What the New Consciousness wants (it insists on this) is: no more divisions. To be capable of understanding the extreme spiritual, the extreme material, and to find ... to find the meeting point where ... it becomes a true force. And it's trying to teach that to the body too, through the most radical means.
page 22 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 3rd Jan - 1970


We call religion any concept of the world or the universewhich is presented as the exclusive Truth in which one must have an absolute faith, generally because this Truth is declared to be the result of a revelation. Most of the religions affirm the existence of a God and the rules to follow to obey Him, but there are also Godless name of an Ideal or the State, claim the same right to be obeyed.
Man's right is a free pursuit of the Truth with the liberty to his discovery is good for him alone and it is not to be enforced upon others.

page 188 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 13th May - 1970


Here we have no religion. We replace religion with spiritual life, which is truer and both deeper and higher, that is to say, closer to the Divine. For the Divine is in all things, but we are not conscious of it. This is the immense progress that men must make.
page 379 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th March - 1972-1973




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Mother listens to Satprem read the July 11, 1956 Talk on the vital world. She refuses to have it published in the "Bulletin".

To begin with, I said that the vital is peopled by small entities, small formations, the remnants of human beings who have died. But there is a whole vital world which has nothing to do with that one, a world peopled by beings of the vital proper, beings of great power and even great beauty. Most people who dabble in occultism without having a deep enough spiritual life are immediately deluded by them - some even take them as the supreme God and worship them. That's generally how religions are created. They are a great success. They are the supreme God of many a religion - they are beings of the vital world, and can assume an appearance of overwhelming beauty. They are the biggest impostors in the world, and dangerous at that; it takes the spiritual instinct, the instinct of true spiritual purity, not to be deceived by them.

Many religions and sects are founded on revelations and miracles, and every bit of it comes from vital beings. It's one of the greatest problems in human life; I don't mean spiritual life, but the life of people who deal with the beyond. There are skies (not heavens) in the vital world that are truly paradises. Naturally the real divine element is lacking, but only spiritual purity and the true spiritual sense can show you the difference. All who remain within the vital or mental worlds are completely deluded. They see marvelous things, miracles in profusion (that's where you find the most miracles!). By neglecting to explain this aspect [in this Talk], I passed over a large part of the topic in silence. I usually don't speak of those things, or else mention them only in passing - it terrifies people and they immediately start wondering, "Oh, is it really a god? Is it this ... is it that? Could it be a devil in disguise?" They panic. Only it's perfectly true that to deal with those realms one must either be fully protected by a guru, a real guru, a man with knowledge, or else have purity (not saintliness), an unmixed vital and mental purity. Very, very often, bhaktas [devotees] of Sri Aurobindo or me - when they are sincere, truly sincere, that is, people of great spiritual purity - have dozens of beings appear to them, saying, "I am Sri Aurobindo." It happens all the time, with all the right external appearances - it's very easy for such beings to put on a disguise. It takes the inner psychic purity not to be deceived - you invariably FEEL something that makes it impossible for you to be duped. But otherwise, many, many people are taken in. I don't like to talk about this because people here have no discrimination; they would be left with nothing but fear and would no longer believe in anything, forever asking me, "Oh, isn't this a trick?" ... Which paralyzes everything. That's why I didn't speak about that in this Talk.
You do say a couple of words about it.
It should at least be mentioned that some beings in the vital world can take on completely deceptive appearances at will - all the most dazzling lights are found in the vital, but with a particular quality. So those who have truly approached THE Light can't be deceived. Because ... it's indefinable, something the spiritual sense alone can feel: perfect security, perfect peace, perfect purity (although I hesitate to use the word "purity," which has taken on such an idiotic meaning); what I mean is the absence of all admixture.
To those with the spiritual sense, the most dazzling vital lights always seem to have something artificial about them - they FEEL artificial and cold, hard, aggressive, deceptive. But that's the point: you yourself must be beyond all this. Not to be fooled, you mustn't fool yourself! Actually, that's the main reason I don't like to talk about occultism. It puts people in touch with an extremely dangerous world which can't be safely entered unless one is (I can't even say a saint, because it's not true; some saints enter the vital world and get right into it!) ... unless one is transformed, unless one has the true spiritual consciousness. On this condition alone are you perfectly safe. So where are the people with the spiritual consciousness? There are really very few of them, very few. And above all, in those who have this occult curiosity there are also all sorts of vital movements, which make it dangerous for them to enter that world. Unless, of course, they go shielded by the guru's presence; with that, you can go anywhere, it's the same as going there with him. And if you do go with him, all is well; he has the knowledge and he protects you. But going there all on your own is ... you need the Divine Protection itself! Or the protection of the guru who represents the Divine. With the guru's protection you are safe. page 116-117- Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th March 1962






-329_Rodegune.html



Recently, on July 20, S. enters the hospital for the second operation. The American doctor keeps him two days, three days, then tells him, "I can't, I won't run that risk...." It seems that during those three months, he had operated on several people for whom it was also a second operation, on the other side, as for S., and all of them ended in hemorrhage, paralysis, or death. So the American doctor declared, "I won't run the risk." S. replied, "It doesn't matter to me, I'd rather die than be crippled." But this American very cleverly told him, "I won't do anything without the permission of your 'Mother'!" So they sent me a telegram saying that the American doctor refused to operate because it was too dangerous, and they asked for my opinion. I answered, No operation. At the same time, there was a telegram from E. (who wanted to be present at the operation), an exultant telegram saying that for her (E.), it was proof that S. would be cured not by surgery, but by a supramental intervention. She said it to S. too, who was rather unhappy (!) Anyway, he is coming back. But in this case, there was such a precise action of the Force.... And at the same time I had another experience (but a much more personal and subjective one), which confirmed me in my perception ... Did you read Rodogune by Sri Aurobindo? In Rodogune, there is a scene in which an eremite meets a young prince and utters these words, "This man has around him the atmosphere of someone who is going to die." (The prince had just won a great victory, anyway all was for the best, and he had decided to go to such and such a place; that's when the eremite uttered those words.) When I read that, I tried to make contact with that vibration the eremite called "the atmosphere of a man who is going to die." And when I received S.'s letter telling me that with the talisman, he was sure all would be well - exactly the same vibration. That sort of exultation, of assertion of power and force, and, behind, there was exactly the same vibration. So it confirmed for me what I had seen.
page 140-41 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 28th July - 1964




-687_Roger Anger.html



(Mother hands a box to Satprem) F. and R. have come and she brought me some candied chestnuts from Paris....

Yesterday, for instance, I had to see F. and R., since they had just arrived the day before. I spent three-quarters of an hour with them, and by the time it was over they had literally EMPTIED the atmosphere of all spiritual sense - it had become empty and hollow. It took me two or three minutes of concentration (which isn't so long) to bring it all back to normal.

page 459 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 19th Dec. 1962


A Polytechnician [[An engineer from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris. ]] came here with R. [the architect of the future Auroville]. There were nine who came with R.; among them is a Polytechnician who sent me a note asking, "Are you God?" I had seen the man two days earlier: he is very fine. If I hadn't seen him I wouldn't have answered, but as I saw him and he happens to be fine, I suspected from the way he asked the question that he must be a-gentleman-born-in-a-Catholic-family. So I answered, "This question may be asked of EVERY human being, and the answer is, yes, potentially." And out of consideration for his goodwill, I added (I don't remember the exact words): "This is the task everyone must accomplish." Since then, he has been quite silent.
page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 10th Aug - 1966


In this connection, yesterday R. [Auroville's architect] asked me questions so as to be able to answer people; he asked me if it was necessary to have organization and so on. And then it came, but in such an imperative manner; I replied that organization was discipline in action, and that to live, discipline is quite indispensable. I said that the body's whole functioning is a discipline, and if there is a part that no longer wants to follow the discipline - out of revolt or incapacity or ... for any reason - if it stops following the discipline, you fall ill. It came so clearly that I told him. That paper is with R., I've asked him to give it to me. [[We publish in addendum R.'s notes on Auroville's organization. ]] page 52 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th feb - 1969


R. asked me to say what we mean by religion....

(Mother holds out a letter)

Sweet Mother, the notion of religion is most often connected to that of the quest for God. Should we understand it in that perspective alone? Aren't there today, as a matter of fact, other forms of religion?
I had written something BEFORE I received this question. It came in English:

(Mother holds out a note)

We call religion any concept of the world or the universewhich is presented as the exclusive Truth in which one must have an absolute faith, generally because this Truth is declared to be the result of a revelation. Most of the religions affirm the existence of a God and the rules to follow to obey Him, but there are also Godless name of an Ideal or the State, claim the same right to be obeyed.
Man's right is a free pursuit of the Truth with the liberty to his discovery is good for him alone and it is not to be enforced upon others.
page 188 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 13th May - 1970




-331_Roll of Honour.html



Now I know, I remember, this whole experience came after I saw a book that was published quite recently in India, in English, which they entitled The Roll of Honour, and in which there is a photo and a short biography of all those who died in the fight against the British, for India's freedom. There were photos everywhere, lots of them (some were only photos the police took after they had just been killed and were lying on the ground). And it all brought a certain atmosphere: the atmosphere of those disinterested goodwilled people who meet with a tragic fate. It had the same impression on me as the horrors of the Germans during the war over there. These things are obviously under the direct influence of certain adverse forces, but we know that the adverse forces are, so to say, permitted to work - through the sense of horror, in fact - in order to hasten the awakening of consciousness. So then, that experience, which was very strong and was very like the one I had when I saw the photographs of German atrocities in France, put me in contact with the vision of the human, terrestrial, modern error (it's modern: it began these last one thousand years and has become more and more acute in the last hundred years), with the aspiration to counterbalance that: How to do it?... What is to be done?... And the answer: "That's why you have created Auroville."


page 209 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966




-332_Rolling stones.html








-333_Russia.html


As I appeared to be doubting, X told me, 'There is no "suspicion " [doubt], the war will take place in November' (in fact, it is to occur some time between September and November), and for the rest of the talk, he had a tone of absolute certitude: 'The first atom bomb will fall in China. Russia will be crushed. It will be a victory for America. Not more than 2 or 3 atom bombs will be used. It will be very quick.' And he repeated that the starting-point of the conflict would be situated in India due to the aggression of Pakistan, then of China. The earthquake he mentioned promises to be a kind of 'pralaya' (as X put it), for not only Bombay will be touched. This is what he said: 'America supports Pakistan, but the gods do not support Pakistan, and Pakistan will be punished by the gods. HALF of western Pakistan, including Karachi, will go into the sea. The sea will enter into Rajasthan and touch India also ... ' X then said that India would side with America against the Communist bloc (in spite of America's support to Pakistan), and furthermore, that the day India sides with America, America will cease supporting Pakistan. In any case, it will be the end of Pakistan.
page 315 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 8th June

There is a possibility in Russia, too, but of a different nature - mystic, a great mystic possibility there. When the mystic spirit awakens there ... It has been repressed, so ... (gesture of explosion). It seems they have now allowed baptisms [in Russia]: they've made a special organization for people who want to be baptized! A special place, maybe a building, I don't know, where all those who want to can be baptized. It used to be done secretly - now it will be a State organization. So those people had made progress, they had emerged from all the superstitions of the past, and now here's their new "progress": they fall back into the pit! They are taking up again the old burden of all the old superstitions.... page 80 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 7th March 1964


But the Russians have sent spacecraft to Venus, they took four months to reach, and in those spacecraft were radio-like communication systems that send news, and a device to collect the soil and analyze it - all of it just machines. It reached Venus, and now they give the news every day: "Here is how it is on Venus." (Mother laughs) They are rather amazing! The Americans were content with the moon - you reach the moon quite soon, in two months, I think, maybe less than that. But the Russians took four months to get to Venus and it arrived there, they got the news, it works with electrical devices.


page 345 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 19th Oct - 1967


I feel that it is the book that will give a new orientation there. That's why I am insisting. And Russia.... Russia, changed to the right side, it would be wonderful!... I don't know why.... Naturally I was Russian in a recent incarnation, when I was.... Is it Catherine?
Catherine, yes.
And that's very much alive in me. My impression is that if the whole Russian bloc were to turn to the right side, it would be a tremendous support.... And they are not satisfied; you know, they're in the state in which you're capable of doing something because you're not satisfied -- they are NOT satisfied. Their experience ... basically they don't want to admit it, but their experience has failed. page 61 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 3rd Mar - 1971




-334_Russian Communism.html



(Soon afterwards, Mother reads a letter by Sri Aurobindo, dated

January 25, 1935, on Russian Communism and spirituality.)

"I know it is the Russian explanation of the recent trend to spirituality and mysticism that it is a phenomenon of capitalist society in its decadence. But to read an economic cause, conscious or unconscious, into all phenomena of man's history is part of the Bolshevik gospel born of the fallacy of Karl Marx. Man's nature is not so simple and one-chorded as all that - it has many lines and each line produces a need of his life. The spiritual or mystic line is one of them and man tries to satisfy it in various ways, by superstitions of all kinds, by ignorant religionism, by spiritism, demonism and what not, in his more enlightened parts by spiritual philosophy, the higher occultism and the rest, at his highest by the union with the All, the Eternal or the Divine. The tendency towards the search of spirituality began in Europe with a recoil from the nineteenth century's scientific materialism, a dissatisfaction with the pretended all-sufficiency of the reason and the intellect and a feeling out for something deeper. That was a pre-war phenomenon, and began when there was no menace of Communism and the capitalistic world was at its height of insolent success and triumph, and it came rather as a revolt against the materialistic bourgeois life and its ideals, not as an attempt to serve or sanctify it. It has been at once served and opposed by the post-war disillusionment - opposed because the post-war world has fallen back either on cynicism and the life of the senses or on movements like Fascism and Communism; served because with the deeper minds the dissatisfaction with the ideals of the past or the present, with all mental or vital or material solutions of the problem of life has increased and only the spiritual path is left. It is true that the European mind having little light on these things dallies with vital will-o-the-wisps like spiritism or theosophy or falls back upon the old religionism; but the deeper minds of which I speak either pass by them or pass through them in search of a greater Light. I have had contact with many and the above tendencies are very clear. They come from all countries and it was only a minority who hailed from England or America. Russia is different - unlike the others it has lingered in mediaeval religionism and not passed through any period of revolt - so when the revolt came it was naturally anti-religious and atheistic. It is only when this phase is exhausted that Russian mysticism can revive and take not a narrow religious but the spiritual direction. It is true that mysticism d revere, turned upside down, has made Bolshevism and its endeavour a creed rather than a political theme and a search for the paradisal secret millennium on earth rather than the building of a purely social structure. But for the most part Russia is trying to do on the communistic basis all that nineteenth-century idealism hoped to get at - and failed - in the midst of or against an industrial competitive environment. Whether it will really succeed any better is for the future to decide - for at present it only keeps what it has got by a tension and violent control which is not over."

Sri Aurobindo
January 25, 1935

What marvelous clarity of vision! And so total, isn't it, forgetting nothing. Every word is full of meaning.
page 154-55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 24th May - 1967




-336_SABDA.html

-337_sadhaks - sadhana.html



I don't think it would be wise to put this in the Bulletin. There are so many people, in fact, who don't care a whit about anything, who don't take life seriously, but in the wrong way: they don't take seriously what they have to do, they don't take their progress seriously, they take nothing seriously - they go to the movies when Sri Aurobindo is dying. That sort of thing. So I think this passage would open the door to too many misunderstandings. It's true, but it is true up ABOVE. A bit too high up for people. I think we should omit it. Especially when I say that those who have given me the most trouble are the people who take life seriously. page 35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 18th Jan 1963


A few days afterwards, I receive a letter from someone very close, who has an ardent faith and really holds on to me with almost perfect faith, exceptional. In the letter: the whole story, the attack, the hemorrhage, how suddenly the being is SEIZED, the consciousness is SEIZED with an irresistible will, and hears words - the very words that were uttered HERE. The result: saved (he was dying), saved, cured. Just enough time for the letter to reach me. page 109 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 6th April 1963



All the details are clear - it would take a book to write them. Everybody now has his place and meaning. [[Mother often said that each of the Ashram disciples was the symbol of a particular difficulty to be conquered. ]] And they're all so content, so content! So BLISSFULLY ignorant of the condition they live in. And I'm not speaking of people who know nothing: all those who were there last night were people full of philosophy, of knowledge, of "spiritual experiences" and all that - the cream. The elite of mankind.... page 183 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th June 1963


And the true sincerity: to live for the Divine without expecting any benefit from Him in return.
I said this yesterday or the day before, because I was very angry with the Ashram people! ... We are going through a very difficult period financially, and so, you know, people ... they respect you only as long as you have money; when you have no more money, they don't respect you anymore - and they find it so self-evident, so natural! They don't even feel ill at ease, not at all: it's perfectly obvious that you respect someone only when he has money and holds you in his grip. I wasn't happy, so I wrote this note. page 32 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 22th Jan 1964


At the time, I had all the money (as I did in Sri Aurobindo's time: he never took care of the money, he would hand everything over to me, and afterwards it went on as it was), and that keeps them a little quiet. But when I say, "I don't have any money, I can't pay," then ... That's "spiritual life" for you! Now, according to what I have seen and tested (with "little tests" done casually), there are certainly - oh, being EXTREMELY generous, patient and (what shall I say?) merciful - there are a good third who are here only because they are comfortable: you work if you want to, you don't work if you don't want to, you always eat, you always have shelter and clothes, and, ultimately, you sort of do as you please (you must pretend to obey, that's all). And if you're denied a convenience, you start grumbling - Yoga is simply out of the picture! It's a hundred thousand miles away from their consciousness (their mouths are full of words, but it's only lip service). Sometimes you have a little scruple in order to appear to be doing some work. And some have grown very old or come here because they have become unfit for life outside ... so we can't send them away! (It was wrong to accept them - I must say I have little to do with that acceptance: I'll say no, and ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they'll pretend they heard yes, but anyway ... that's life.) So I can't send them away. But I am going to make life ascetic for them: one won't be here to be comfortable anymore - then for what? page 36 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 22th Jan 1964


I have here three quotations on difficulties.... They apply so marvelously now! Sri Aurobindo wrote them in ... 1946, '47, '48 - the dark hours. And things are repeating themselves now: "The Mother's victory is essentially a victory of each sadhak over himself. It can only be then that any external form of work can come to a harmonious perfection."

November 12, 1937

page 41 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 29th Jan 1964



You know, I am forever struggling with people who've come here to be comfortable and "free to do what they like," so ... I tell them, "The world is big, you can go." No soul, no aspiration, nothing.... I am counting on your book very much.


page 58 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 3rd Mar - 1971


You know my impression? They're all old and I am the only one who is young! [[Let us recall the Tantrasara: "Although thou art the primordial cause of the worlds, yet thou art forever young." ]] That's it, you know, that flame, that will ... what is called push -- they are satisfied with stupid little personal satisfactions ... which lead nowhere, preoccupied with what they're going to eat and ... oh! I have the impression that there is a sort of display now, a display of everything that should not be.
Yes.
But the flame, the flame of aspiration (Mother shakes her head), not many bring it to me. Provided they are what they call "comfortable," that's all they want -- and free to do some nonsense they wouldn't do in the world! While you feel you could hasten the coming -- you COULD hasten it if you were ... if you were a conqueror!
page 58 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 3rd Mar - 1971



And then quarrels over nothing, people wanting more money -- oh, a subhumanity! And they think they're.... You see, they are
grossly ignorant; they come here without experience, without knowledge, without preparation, and they think they are going to realize the Supermind right away.... It's really pathetic. Some things are ... they display reactions and attitudes one would be ashamed of in ordinary life.
page 63-64 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 6th Mar - 1971


Now that I am here like this, in seclusion, the lowest nature of everyone comes out. They do things, thinking "Oh, Mother won't know." That's how it is. So this "Mother won't know" means there's no more restraint. I would say it's rather disgusting. People to whom I have said, "You can't stay in the Ashram" move in anyway. And nobody stops them. Not only that, but they go to the Auroville offices and try to direct things. I tell you ... it has become really, really disgusting. Because I am here, because I don't see so clearly anymore and my hearing isn't so good - so they take advantage of it. People say that I am no longer in control in the Ashram, that those around me direct and do exactly as they please.
!!!
But it's not true.
page 24 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Jan - 1972-1973





-338_The Mother - mathematics.html



A child from the School asked me, "How can mathematics, history or sciences help me to find you?" I found that quite amusing!
I answered: "They can help in several ways: 1. To be able to receive and bear the light of Truth, the mind must be strengthened, broadened and made supple. These studies are an excellent way to achieve this. 2. Sciences, if you study them deeply enough, will teach you the unreality of appearances and will thus lead you to the spiritual reality. 3. The study of all aspects and movements of physical Nature will bring you into contact with the universal Mother, and you will thus be nearer to me." I still remember my impression when I was quite small and was told that everything is "atoms" (that was the term they used in those days). They said to me, "You see this table? You think it's a table, that it's solid and it's wood - well, it's only atoms moving about." I remember, the first time I was told that, it caused a kind of revolution in my head, bringing such a sense of the complete unreality of all appearances. All at once I said, "But if it's like that, then nothing is true!" I couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen. His question called this to mind. I said to myself, "It opens a door onto another reality."
page 296-97 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 17th Dec - 1966




-339_The Mother's notes.html



I was asked a question: "What is youth?" Here is what I replied (Mother holds out a note):

"To be young is to live in the future for the future.

To be young is to be always ready to abandon

what one is in order to become what one ought to

be....


And above all, the most important: "To be young is never to admit the irreparable."
page 86-87 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 29th March - 1967



Then Mother takes out another note she has just written to a disciple: "One is always deeply disgusted at one's own faults when one encounters them in others" (!)
page 87 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 29th March - 1967


Yet another note: "Europeans attach the greatest importance to the words uttered. Indians are much more sensitive to the feeling, which more often than not those words veil."
page 87 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 29th March - 1967


A last note: It's in reply to an Ashram "association." They asked:
"What is the need of the hour?"
"Do not try to deceive the Divine!"

(Mother laughs wholeheartedly)


page 87 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 29th March - 1967


"The Divinity mentioned by Sri Aurobindo ... It was Sri Aurobindo speaking to me, but he said it like that! "The Divinity mentioned by Sri Aurobindo is NOT A PERSON... He insisted a lot on this. "... is not a person, but a condition to be shared and lived by all those who prepare themselves for it." So I was walking (I always walk a half-hour in the morning, saying the mantra), and he went on and on and on repeating it, like that, until this expression came. Then, when I had noted it on paper, it was over. Afterwards, he told me to put it into French like this:
"La Divinité dont parle Sri Aurobindo n'est pas une personne, mais un état auquel parti ciperont tous ceux qui se sont préparés à le recevoir."
page 136-37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 6th May - 1967


(At the end of the conversation, Mother shows Satprem

a note she wrote the same morning:)

"Instead of excluding each other, religions should complement each other." Sri Aurobindo said that to me; it's so simple, so simple! I was looking at all those religions, seeing them as facets, innumerable facets that harden and brace themselves against each other, and he seemed to be saying, "Well, put it all together, it will be so simple!" Just one sentence, not one word too many.
page 214 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 12th July - 1967


(Mother, laughing, holds out to Satprem a note she has just written:)

"The goal we aim at is immortality. Of all

habits, death is certainly the most inveterate!"

We could call our world "the world of bad habits."
page 236 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 26th July - 1967



"We are not here to make our life easy and com fortable. We are here to find the Divine, to become the Divine, to manifest the Divine. "What happens to us is the Divine's outlook, it is not our concern. "The Divine knows better than us what is good for the progress of the world and our own."
page 266 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 19th Aug - 1967


Someone has taken it into his head to print a brochure for February 21 next year [when Mother will be ninety], so they sent me the brochure and asked me to write a message on the first page. And for that brochure they have solicited (!) the opinion of all prominent people: there is Indira Gandhi, India's president, and what have you. And everyone says what has always been said millions of times over: "A great personality, this and that...." All the usual ineptitudes. So I wrote this:
There is no other consciousness than the Supreme Consciousness. There is no other will than the Supreme Will. There is no other life than the Supreme Life. There is no other personality than the Supreme Personality, the One and the All.
All the usual platitudes they do all over again! I thought it would teach them a lesson.
page 299 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 20th Sep - 1967


"Because men still imagine that in order to do anything useful, they must gather together in groups. It is the caricature of organization." It will do, won't it?
page 355 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Oct - 1967


There is something apparently paradoxical, but it's very inter esting. It's this (Mother takes a piece of paper and writes): "The best way to prepare oneself to receive Divine Love is to adhere integrally to the Truth."

(Mother then writes a second note:)

"Adhere totally to the Truth and you will be ready to receive Divine Love." When you say that to intelligent good folks, their heads spin! ... (Mother laughs) I must say that making their heads spin is great fun for me!

page 413-14 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 16th Dec - 1967



"Divine life in the process of evolution, the divine Consciousness at work in Matter - here is, so to speak, what this existence represents." And at the same time, there was the clear vision, the very clear consciousness of the whole thing from the point of view of the earth's evolution: what's being worked out in the earth's evolution.
page 126 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 4th May - 1968


Mother holds out the text of a note: "Through the widening of its consciousness, this body is more or less identified with those around it. "Every effort made towards the purification of one's physical consciousness is so much less work for this body."
If everyone made an effort...

(Mother nods her head)


page 140 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 22nd May - 1968


The first note is dated August 22:
"For several hours, the landscapes were wonderful, perfectly harmonious.
" For a long time too, visions inside immense temples, with living godheads. Each thing with a precise reason and purpose, to express nonmentalized states of consciousness. "Constant visions. "Landscapes. "Constructions. "Cities. " The whole thing immense and very diverse, covering the entire visual field and expressing states of consciousness of the body. "Many, a great many constructions, immense cities being built.... Yes, the world being built, the future world being built. I couldn't hear anymore, couldn't see anymore, couldn't speak anymore: I was living inside that all the time, all the time, night and day. So, as soon as I could write a note, I noted that. "... All kinds of building styles, mostly new, inexpressible. "These are not pictures seen, but places where I am." Yes, that's right. I'll explain to you what happened. There's another note which is the beginning: "The vital and the mind sent packing so that the physical may truly be left to its own resources." All by itself! All alone. And I realized the extent to which the vital and the mind are what make you see and hear and able to speak. It was ... I could see, in the sense that I was able to move about, but it quite lacked precision. It lacked precision. I heard still less than before, that is to say, very little - a little: sometimes the same as before; sometimes a very faint sound, very far away, which others couldn't hear, I heard; and when they spoke to me, I wouldn't hear: "What are you saying?" I don't know. And that was continuous, night and day. One night (this is to tell you how everything was upset), one night I was in pain; something had happened and there was a rather strong pain: impossible to sleep. I remained concentrated like that, and the night went by in what seemed to be a few minutes. While at other times, on other days, at other moments, I was concentrated, and off and on I would ask for the time; once I thought I had remained like that for hours and hours, and I asked, "What time is it?" - Only five minutes had gone by.... You understand, everything was, I can't say upset, but of a completely different order, completely different.
page 228-30 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Aug - 1968


Night of the 26th

"Powerful and prolonged penetration of the supramental forces into the body, everywhere at the same time.... Penetration into the body. Yes, penetrations of currents I had had several times, but that night (two nights ago, that is), what came all of a sudden was as though there was nothing anymore except a supramental atmosphere. Nothing remained except that. My body was in it. And it was PRESSING to enter, from everywhere, but everywhere at the same time - everywhere. You understand, it wasn't a current flowing in, it was an atmosphere penetrating from everywhere. It lasted for at least four or five hours. And there was only one part that was BARELY penetrated: it was from here to here (gesture between the throat and the top of the head). Here it seemed gray and dull, as if the penetration were less ... My teeth are in a dreadful state, my head is in a dreadful state - I tell you, I can't see anymore, can't hear anymore, can't ... All this (from head to throat) is in need of a great transformation. But apart from it, all the rest without exception - it was pouring and pouring and pouring in.... I had never, ever seen that before, never! It lasted for hours - hours. Perfectly consciously. So when it came and while it was there, I was conscious: "Oh, that's why, that's why! That's what You want from me, Lord, that's what! That's why, that's what You want." At that moment I had an impression that SOMETHING was going to happen. I was hoping it would come back last night, but there was nothing. It's the first time. For hours. Only That remained. And this (the body) was like a sponge soaking up. But the head, it's still gray, dull - gray and dull. And the teeth quite spoilt, anyway still in a condition ... But still, a very clear vision of all that has happened to this body for the past few months and ... almost a hope. Almost a hope, as if I were told something might take place here. So there. And that was in response to what the body had said, two or three days earlier perhaps, which I told you at the beginning: that it was quite ready to be dissolved (the surrender is perfect) and was quite ready to go on living in any circumstances, but not in this condition. Not in this state of decomposition. To that there was no response for two days, till that Penetration took place. That is to say, the very next day I was a little better, I could start ... I couldn't even remain standing! I had no sense of balance, I had to be held up. I had lost the sense of balance, I couldn't take one step. That was when I protested. And the very next day, it started coming back. Then came the 23rd, when I saw A., and I realized that when he was here, the BODY was wide awake - you understand, it wasn't the mind or the vital: they were gone! ... I don't know if you can realize what it means!
Yes, it's fantastic.
A body without mind and without vital. It was in that state. There were only those perceptions [cities, constructions, temples], it was living in soul states: there were others' soul states, the soul states of the earth, the soul states ... Those soul states were expressed in pictures. It was interesting. I can't say it wasn't interesting - it was - but there was no contact with material life, very little: I could hardly eat and couldn't walk.... Anyway it had become something others had to look after. And through the contact with A., the body began to be interested in all that, asking questions quite spontaneously, without knowing why. It asked and asked, "Oh, so this is how we're made...." And it began to be amused. It will take a little time. When that Penetration came two nights ago, I thought, "Ah! ..." I hoped the curve was going to accelerate and we would emerge soon, but last night there was nothing. Which makes me say it's going to take some more time.
But strangely, in your note of the 26th, you add:
"As if the entire body were bathing in forces penetrating it everywhere at the same time with a slight friction...."
Then you say:
"The head down to the neck was the least recep tive region."
It's strange that it should be the least receptive?
No, it's the most mentalized region. It's the mind that obstructs.
Strangely, every time you've had those great moments, orviolent blows, if I may say so, every time it's the mind and vital that were swept away. The first time too, in 1962.
Yes, every time. I know, it's like that: the mind and vital have been instruments to ... knead Matter - knead and knead and knead in every possible way: the vital through sensations, the mind through thoughts - knead and knead. But they strike me as transitory instruments which will be replaced by other states of consciousness. You understand, they are a phase in the universal development, and they will be ... they will fall off as instruments that have outlived their usefulness. So then, I had the concrete experience of what this matter kneaded by the vital and the mind is, but WITHOUT vital and WITHOUT mind ... It's something else. But with that "perception of soul states," there were things ... marvels! No mental conception, none at all, can be as wonderful - none. I lived moments ... All that one can humanly feel and see is NOTHING in comparison with that. There were moments ... absolutely wonderful moments. But without thought, without thought. We could put that little "Apropos" ... (where I poke fun at people!), then with all this you could prepare the "Notes."
There are a few more notes here, which I haven't read to you.You say:
"For man, in most cases, consciousness begins with sensation. For the body, all sensations had as if lessened, or rather dimmed: eyesight and hear ing as if behind a veil. But an extremely clear per ception of the degree of harmony or disharmony. Pictorial expression, NOT THOUGHT nor even felt. I told you, I saw ... It's not "seen" as you see a picture: it's BEING IN, being in a certain place. I've never seen or felt anything so beautiful! And it wasn't felt, it was ... I don't know how to explain it. There were some absolutely wonderful, marvelous moments - unique. But it wasn't thought, I couldn't even describe - how can you describe? You can only start describing when you start thinking.
There's one more note:
"The body's state of consciousness and the quality of its activity depend on the individual or individuals among whom it is.... Ah, that was very interesting! It was very interesting because I saw like this (gesture like a film unfolding), it was changing. If someone came near me, it would change. Near me were P., V., the doctor, and C. less often, now and then, but C. didn't have much effect on the atmosphere. But the other three, especially P. and V.... One day, mon petit, I don't know what happened to them: they were superhuman. A day when I must have been apparently in danger, I don't know. One day, the whole day long, the pictures (not "pictures": those places where I was) were so wonderfully beautiful, harmonious.... It was inexpressible, inexpressible. And with the slightest thing changing in their consciousness, lo and behold, everything would start changing! It was a sort of perpetual kaleidoscope, day and night. If there had been some way to record it ... it was unique. Unique. And the body was in it, you understand, almost porous - porous, without resistance, as if the thing were passing through it. I lived hours ... the most wonderful hours, I believe, that one can live on earth. And it was so expressive, so revealing! So expressive. One night, for two hours, there were those temples I mentioned (it wasn't physical), with such immensity and majesty ... and LIVING godheads, mon petit! Not pictures. And I know what it is. And then, the state of consciousness of Eternity, oh! ... As if above all circumstances. There were UNIQUE things, but how to tell them? ... Impossible. Impossible: not even enough consciousness to be able to write.
The note goes on:
"The seat and field of its [the body's] Conscious ness as well as the quality of its activity change and vary according to the persons present, over a complete range, from the most material to the most spiritual, going through all the different types of intellectual activity. "But the perception of the Presence is constant and associated with all the states of consciousness, whatever they may be ... Ah! I noticed that the cells, everywhere, you know, constantly, all the time, were repeating, OM NAMO BHAGAVATE, OM NAMO BHAGAVATE ... constantly, all the time. "... and OM Namo Bhagavate is repeated spon taneously and automatically in a sort of 'hazy' peace."
That's why we can't say the body was suffering, you understand, we can't say it was ill, that's not possible! It's not possible. There was only one moment when really something in the body (I don't know what) said ... (But I didn't note that, because I don't want it to be said, it mustn't be said; I am saying it to you simply to explain, but it mustn't be published, it mustn't be said, I don't want....) The body said (it was in its Communion), it said, "I am ready for complete dissolution. I am ready for eternal life. But not this, not this state of semi-decomposition: I must get out of it." And from that moment on, things took a turn upward.
page 232-37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Aug - 1968


(Mother first shows a note she has written about religions:)

The attitude to be taken

towards religions:

A benevolent goodwill towards all worshippers.
An enlightened indifference towards all religions.
All religions are partial approaches to the one
simple Truth that is far above them.

page 152 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th April - 1969


Maybe I had something else to tell you, I don't remember ... (Mother looks around and finds a piece of paper) It may be this.
Why do men want to worship? ...
(Mother laughs) It's this Consciousness again!
It is much better to become than to worship!
(Mother repeats vigorously) Better to become! Why do men want to worship the Divine? Better to become! [[Later Mother added: "It's out of laziness to change that people worship." ]] It's quite like this Consciousness! It's just like it.
page 162 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 30th April - 1969


Now here's something else (Mother takes a file out of a pile of letters and various other things). I receive this notebook every two days. Let's see if there's something interesting ..

"To be what Mother wants,"

is that not to be transformed?
Very easy to answer (Mother writes):
"Undeniably.
For everyone: to prepare oneself for this transformation.
For a few: to begin the work of transformation.
"For a very small number: to hasten the process of transformation."
(Mother laughs) I see him every day for a minute or two. He
asked me, "Is it possible to have a new birth every day?" I said, "It's possible ... if one is capable of it!" So we'll see his reaction (Mother seems very amused).
page 219-220 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 25th June - 1969


Then there is this ... (Mother shows a note). You know that a Commission came from the government, and when they left, they asked if I could give them something. I gave them this:
"There is a Supreme Divine Consciousness. Wewant to manifest this divine Consciousness in the physical life.

page 244 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th July - 1969


I gave him a ... consolation letter, and then this message I had given the other day:
"It is in the silence of complete identification withthe Divine that true understanding is obtained."
I gave him that without saying anything and let him go. I said "good-bye," he shook my hand like this (!) and left.
Page 409 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 1st Nov - 1969


I have something here:
To listen is good but not sufficient,
You must understand.
To understand is good but not yet sufficient,
You must act!
(Laughing) I sent that to America.
Page 455 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 29th Nov - 1969


(Mother suddenly picks up a desk pad near her and writesan answer to a letter she had read at the beginning. [[A letter in which a disciple said he had some spare time between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. and asked the best way to use it. ]] )
Is it readable? Because I'm not sure, I don't see clearly.

(Satprem reads)

"It is an excellent time to read, meditate, and,little by little, go into a receptive silence that will enable the higher Consciousness to enter the body in order to transform it."
It came like that; that's how it takes place: all of a sudden, brff! and it stays on, it won't go away until I've written. It's amusing!
Page 472 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 13th Nov - 1969


I've had a revelation.
Ah!
It was very interesting. That is, I was completely silent, and all of a sudden, it came, and as always it kept insisting until I noted it down. It came in the wake of a question: "What is death? ..." But then, the answer wasn't at all on the ordinary plane, which means that the mind was perfectly silent. It came like this, imperative (Mother laughs):
Death is the decentralization of the consciousness contained in the body's cells.

With a whole world of perceptions at the same time (Mother makes a gesture around her), like a general terrestrial consciousness, with examples showing that it's only when the consciousness contained in the cells is decentralized that one is dead. Otherwise, nothing, not even the heart stopping, can cause death. Naturally, this decentralization stems from innumerable causes, but they are causes we might call psychological. And the cells contained in the body, or composing the body, are held in form by a centralization of the consciousness in them, and as long as that power of concentration is there, the body cannot die. It's only when the power of concentration disappears that the cells scatter. And then one dies. Then the body dies.
The sequel was like this ....

(Mother takes another note)

The habitual concentration of Nature (produced by Nature) is a MECHANICAL concentration which is subject to all sorts of mechanical laws too, but ... (Mother reads out her note) Here is what came:
The very first step towards immortalityis to replace the mechanical centralization by a willed centralization.
... which comes from the inner Presence, which means that through its will, the divine Presence concentrates the cells. There. In English, I put it like this:
Death is the consequence of the decentralisation of the Consciousness contained in the cells composing the body.
And then:
This centralisation produced by Nature ismechanical and it must be replaced by a willed centralisation.

Page 475-76 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 17th Dec - 1969


"Truth is a difficult and arduous conquest. One needs to be a true warrior, a warrior who fears nothing, neither enemies nor death, for, despite all opposition, with or without a body, the fight goes on and shall end in Victory."
page 28 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Jan - 1970


Then, while sorting out papers (this is much less interesting), I found a few things....

(Mother holds out a first note)

Why do men want to worship? It is much better to become than to worship. [[Italicized words or sentences are spoken or written by Mother in original English. ]]
(Mother laughs) I remember that, I wrote it long ago....
In April '69 [on the 26th].
Some people wrote to me letters and did all kinds of things to express their adoration and so on, and I felt so clearly that it's out of a LAZINESS to change that they worship! (Mother laughs) Another one:
If you want to find your soul, to know and obeyit, stay here at any cost.
If that is not the goal of your life and you areready to live the life of the great majority of people, you can certainly go back to your family.
That's good, too. There are so many who ask, "Why stay here?..." I thought it could be useful. And the last:

To people of ill-will

The harm you have caused willfully alwayscomes back to you in one form or another. [[See Agenda X of 26 April 1969. ]]
Below there is a note: "Dictated by the S. M. [superman]consciousness."

page 29 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Jan - 1970


Someone wrote to me from France that he had tried everything, that everything had failed, that he is quite desperate and ... So I answered this:

It is when all appears to be lost

that all can be saved.

When one has lost trust

in one's personal power,

one must have faith

in the Divine Grace.

It's useful for many. It has been said I don't know how many times, but it always seems necessary to repeat it.
page 62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 31st Jan - 1970


"For the moment still, liberty, equality, fraternity are nothing but words loudly proclaimed but never put into practice yet. They cannot be, so long as men remain as they are, governed by their ego and all its desires instead of being governed solely by the One Supreme and supremely Divine."
And I added:
"Liberty cannot be manifested until all men know thefreedom of the Supreme Lord. "Equality cannot be manifested until all men are conscious of the Supreme Lord. "Fraternity cannot be manifested until all men feel equally issued from the Supreme Lord and 'one' in His Unity"
It appears impossible to humanity, but it will probably be possible for the new species.
page 80 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 11th Feb - 1970



Another thing ... (Mother holds out another note). I can't see clearly.... It was a young girl who was terribly troubled by other's opinions, so I answered her:
"The Supreme Lord's opinion
alone matters. "The Supreme Lord alone
deserves all our love
and gives it back a hundredfold."

page 80 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 11th Feb - 1970


I found some old papers again....

(Satprem reads)

"When you stand in the light of the Supreme Consciousness you must not make a shadow."

page 329 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 23rd Sep - 1970


"To calm all personal ambitions, I must declare that
If, for any reason, this body becomes unusable,the universal Mother will again start manifesting in hundreds of individualities according to their capacity and receptivity, each one being a partial manifestation of the Universal Consciousness."

page 346 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 14th Oct - 1970


(On this day all the disciples filed silently past Mother,

who is still unwell, sitting in her chair.)

1971

Blessed are those who

take a leap towards the Future


page 17 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 1st Jan - 1971


(A note of Mother's.)

There is a Supreme Divinity,
witness of all our actions,
and the day for consequences will soon come.

page 57 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 1st Mar - 1971



(Mother gives Satprem a note she has just written.)

"When men become disgusted with the falsehood they live in, then the world will be ready for the reign of Truth."

page 214 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 11th Aug - 1971


(Mother hands Satprem two notes.)

"We are at a moment of transition in the history ofthe earth. It is a moment only in terms of the eternity of time. But compared to human life this moment is long. Matter is in the process of changing to prepare for a new manifestation; but the human body is not suffi ciently plastic and offers resistance. This is why the number of incomprehensible disorders and diseases is increasing and becoming a problem for medical science.
The remedy lies in union with the divine forces which are at work and in a confident and quiet receptivity that facilitates the process."

November 18, 1971

"Those who want to progress have an exceptional chance; because the transformation begins by opening the consciousness to the working of the new forces; and thus individuals have a unique and marvelous oppor tunity to open to the divine influence."

November 20, 1971


page 303-04 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 20th Nov - 1971



I have some notes that can be used for February -- things I said.

(Mother hands a piece of paper to Satprem)

"A victory won over the lower nature willgive a deeper and more lasting joy than any outer success."

page 308 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 27th Nov - 1971


"The Divine has an equal love for all human beings, but it is the obscurity of consciousness of most men which prevents them from perceiving this divine love...."


page 309 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 27th Nov - 1971


(Mother gives Satprem a note she has just written.)

Our human consciousness has windows opening on the Infinite. But generally men keep the windows tightly closed. We must open them wide and let the Infinite penetrate us freely to transform us. Two conditions are required to open the windows. 1. Ardent aspiration. 2. Progressive abolition of the ego. The divine help is assured to those who set to work sincerely.
page 323 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 8th Dec - 1971


(A note by Mother)

Communications from the psychic do not come in a mental form. They are not ideas or reasonings. They have their own character quite distinct from the mind, something like a feeling with a self-contained meaning and influence.
By its very nature, the psychic is calm, quiet and luminous, understanding and generous, wide and progressive, it is forever striving for understanding and progress.
The mind describes and explains.
The psychic sees and understands.

page 331-32 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 13th Dec - 1971


I sent you this note, can it be used for something?
Yes, Mother, certainly.
"Difficult periods come on earth to compel mento overcome their small personal egoism and to turn exclusively to the Divine for help and light. The wisdom of men is ignorant. Only the Divine knows."
It came imperiously.
page 332 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 15th Dec - 1971


Send him the Christmas message. And then this:
"The red lotus is the flower of Sri Aurobindo,but specially for his centenary we shall choose the blue lotus, which is the colour of his physical aura, to symbolise the centenary of the manifestation of the Supreme upon earth."

page 343 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 22nd Dec - 1971


(A note by Mother in English)

We are at a decisive hour in the history of the earth.
The earth is preparing for the advent of the supramental
being, and because of this the old way of living loses its value. One must launch oneself consciously on the path of the future in spite of the new exigencies. The pettinesses tolerable at one time are no more so; one must widen oneself to receive that which shall be born.
page 349-50 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 29th Dec - 1971


Sincerity, humility, perseverance and an insatiable thirst for progress are essential for a happy and fruitful life, and above all, to be convinced that the possibility of progress is limitless. Progress is youth; one can be young at a hundred years.

January 14, 1972


page 35 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th Jan - 1972-1973


In the depths of our being, in the silence of contemplation, a luminous force permeates our consciousness with a vast and luminous peace
which prevails over all petty reactions and pre pares us for union with the Divine, the meaning of individual existence.
Thus, the purpose and goal of life is not suffering and struggle but an all-powerful and happy realization.
All the rest is but a painful illusion.

page 54-55 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 7th Feb - 1972-1973


In the beginnings of humanity, the ego was the unifying element. It is around the ego that the various states of being were formed. But now that a superhumanity is about to be born, the ego must disappear and leave place for the psychic being which has slowly developed through divine agency to manifest the Divine in man.
The Divine manifests in man under the psychic influence, and that is how the coming of superhumanity is prepared.
The psychic being is immortal, so through it immortality can manifest on earth. Hence, the important thing now is to find one's psychic being, unite with it, and allow it to replace the ego, which will be forced either to convert itself or disappear.

page 55-56 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Feb - 1972-1973


The first thing one learns on the way is thatgiving brings much greater joy than taking.
Then, gradually, one learns that selflessness isthe source of an immutable peace. Later, in this selflessness one finds the Divine, and that is the source of an unending bliss....
One day Sri Aurobindo told me that if peopleknew that and were convinced of it they would all want to do yoga.

page 56 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 9th Feb - 1972-1973


The complete unification of the whole being around the psychic center is the essential condition to realize a perfect sincerity. [[Original English. ]]
page 57 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 9th Feb - 1972-1973


Human consciousness is so corrupt that peopleprefer the misery and ignorance of the ego to the luminous joy that comes from sincere surrender to the Divine. Their blindness is so great that they refuse even to attempt the experience and prefer to be subjected to the misery of their ego rather than make the necessary effort to free themselves from it.
Their blindness is so total that they would nothesitate to make the Divine a slave to their ego, if such a thing were possible, just to avoid giving themselves to the Divine.

page 62 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 10th Feb - 1972-1973


Supreme Lord, teach us to be silent, that in this silence we may receive Your force and understand Your will.
page 62 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 11th Feb - 1972-1973


All day long on the 21st I had a strong feelingthat it was everybody's birthday, and I felt an urge to say "happy birthday" to everyone.
A very strong impression that something new was manifesting in the world, and that all those who were ready and receptive could incarnate it.
In a few days, probably, we will know what it was.

page 69 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 22nd Feb - 1972-1973


I don't know about those papers I gave you. There were one or two very important things. I don't know if they're there. What's the last one?
Life on earth is essentially a field for progress; how short life is for all the progress we have to make!
To waste time seeking the gratification of one'spetty desires is sheer folly. True happiness can be attained only by finding the Divine.
Almost all human miseries come from the fact that human beings are almost always persuaded they know better than the Divine what they need and what life is supposed to bring them..
Supreme Lord, Perfection we must become,Perfection we must manifest.
This body lives only by You and says to You over and over again:

"What You will

What You will"

until the day it knows it automatically becauseits consciousness will be completely united with Yours.

page 70-73 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 23rd Feb - 1972-1973


To prepare for immortality, the consciousness of the body must first become one with the Eternal Consciousness.
page 92 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 17th Mar - 1972-1973


The truth, which man has vainly sought toknow, will be the privilege of the new race, the race of tomorrow, the superman.
To live according to the Truth will be hisprivilege.
Let us do our best to help prepare the advent ofthe New Being. The mind must fall silent and be replaced by the Truth-Consciousness - the consciousness of details integrated with the consciousness of the whole.
page 94 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th Mar - 1972-1973


Sri Aurobindo is an emanation of the Supreme who came on earth to announce the manifestation of a new race and the new world, the Supramental. Let us prepare for it in all sincerity and eagerness.
page 210 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 17th June - 1972-1973


I had some things for you (Mother feels the objects on the table near her), it was in an envelope.
"One must not confuse a religious teaching and aspiritual teaching. Religious teaching belongs to the past and stops all progress, spiritual teaching is the teaching of the future. It enlightens the consciousness and prepares it for the future realization.
A spiritual teaching is above religions and strivestowards a total truth. It teaches us to come into direct contact with the Divine."
It's for a lady who came from I don't know where and wanted to teach in a parochial school. So I replied with that
page 223 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th July - 1972-1973



Man is the creation of yesterday.
Sri Aurobindo has come to
announce the creation of tomorrow.


page 230 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 22nd July - 1972-1973


"When you are conscious of the whole world atthe same time, then you can become conscious of the Divine."
My idea is not that being conscious of the world automatically makes you conscious of the Divine, but when your consciousness is vast enough to see and be conscious of the whole world, then you become capable of.... How can I say it? ... I don't want to be too specific. I mean I want each one to understand according to his capacity - you follow? Do you follow what I mean?
Yes, yes, Mother!
A person with a superficial consciousness will understand in that way, but one with a deeper consciousness will understand the real meaning. Now I'll put it in French (Mother dictates):
Quand vous devenez conscient du monde toutentier en meme temps, alors vous etes capable d'etre conscient du Divin.
Is it all right?
Yes, Mother, but "alors" [=then] isn't necessary: "Quand vous devenez conscient du monde tout entier en meme temps, vous etes capable d'etre conscient du Divin. "
I purposely put "alors" [then] because otherwise it would mean that by becoming conscious of the whole world, you automatically become conscious of the Divine - which isn't true. It's but one aspect of the Divine. That's why I put "alors." All right ?
page 284 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 13th Sep - 1972-1973


Before dying falsehood rises in full swing.
Still people understand only the lesson of catastrophe.Will it have to come before they open their eyes to the truth ?
I ask an effort from all so that it has not to be.
It is only the Truth that can save us: truth in words,truth in action, truth in will, truth in feelings. It is a choice between serving the Truth or being destroyed

page 316 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 26th Nov - 1972-1973


Here we have no religion. We replace religion with spiritual life, which is truer and both deeper and higher, that is to say, closer to the Divine. For the Divine is in all things, but we are not conscious of it. This is the immense progress that men must make.
page 379 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th March - 1972-1973





-340_Sahana-di.html



It's like their relationship with the Divine.... Yesterday, while I was working here in the morning (distributing the eggs!), they made me listen to music by Sahana,[[A Bengali disciple who is a musician. ]] a hymn by their group which is in the line of "religious music." There are sounds, certain sounds that may be called "religious sounds"; they are certain "associations of sounds," which are universal, that is, they don't belong to a particular time or a particular country. In all times and all countries, those who have had this religious emotion have spontaneously given out this sound. While the music was playing, that perception came to me very clearly (it's an association of two or three sounds), it came with the very state of consciousness that produces these sounds, and which is always the same: the sounds reproduce the state of consciousness. The whole [instrumental] accompaniment is different, and naturally that always, always spoils it. But these two - two or three - sounds are wonderfully expressive, in a precise, exact way, of the religious feeling, the Contact (gesture to the Heights), the adoration: the contact of adoration. It was very interesting. And in her piece, this sound recurs two or three times. All the rest is padding. But that ... And I've heard it in churches, I've heard it in temples, I've heard it in mystic gatherings, I've heard it ... Always mixed with all kinds of other things, but that's ... And these sounds are absolutely evocative of the effect - in fact it's the other way around: it's the state of consciousness that produces these sounds, but when you hear the sounds it puts you in contact with the state of consciousness. So then, I understood why people like to listen to this music: it's because it suddenly gives them ... ah! they feel something unknown to them. How interesting it was!
page 248 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 29th Oct - 1966




-341_samadhi.html


However, I could raise myself up from my bed and even drink a glass of water, but it was all so ... bizarre. And when I went back to bed, it took nearly forty-five minutes for the body to regain its normal state. Only after I had entered into another type of samadhi' and again come out of it did my consciousness fully return. It is the first time I have had an experience of this kind. During those three hours, there was nothing but the Supreme manifesting through the eternal Mother.
page 372 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 24th May 1960



-342_Sanskrit.html


Sanskrit is better. Sanskrit is a much fuller and subtler language, so it's probably much better. But these modern languages are so artificial (by this, I mean superficial, intellectual); they cut things up into little pieces and remove the light behind. I also read On the Veda where Sri Aurobindo speaks of the difference between the modern mind and the ancient mind; and it's quite obvious, especially from the linguistic point of view. Sanskrit was certainly much more fluid, a better instrument for a more ... global, more comprehensive light, a light containing more things within itself.
In these modern languages, it's as if things are passed through a sieve and broken up into separate little bits, so then you have all the work of putting them back together. And something is always lost. But I even doubt that the modern mind, built as it now is, would be able to know Sanskrit in this way. I think they are cutting up Sanskrit as well, out of habit. We need a new language. We need to make a new language. Not some kind of esperanto! - but sounds springing straight from above. The SOUND must be captured. There must be one sound at the origin of all language ... And then, to capture it and project it. To make it vibrate ... because it doesn't vibrate in the same way here as it does above. That would be an interesting work. The words must have a power - an expressive power. Yes, they should carry the meaning in themselves! page 430 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 8th Oct. 1960 .

I made an experiment: writing the letter OM. When you have written it four, five, six times, it becomes excellent! I wanted to know why you were asked to do that work and what you could draw from it. So I sat down to write your yantram, and it became very living, I could see it in front of me - I kept seeing it all the while. "But then," I thought, "the VERY FACT of writing must have an effect." Then I started writing the letter OM carefully.... Well, when I came to the fourth, the fifth, it became excellent - excellent, as though it were creating a vibration. That's the power it has, an external power. But then it was very amusing (the body is like a child - really a child), suddenly it said, "Oh, what a lovely game! To be sitting like this and writing, oh, how amusing! If I had the time, it would be great fun to write and write, lots and lots and lots of times." I saw that in the body - in the body's cells. Then I understood. Basically, these are almost methods for children (children from the spiritual viewpoint), young souls - child-souls. They are methods for child-souls. I used to write my whole japa fluently like that, in Sanskrit, [[ Satprem has entire pages written and rewritten in Sanskrit by Mother. ]] now I have forgotten everything again. page 187 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 26th June 1963




-343_Sarasvati.html



The story narrated in the film went like this: Narada, as usual, was having fun. (Narada is a demigod with a divine position - that is, he can communicate with man and with the gods as he pleases, and he serves as an intermediary, but then he likes to have fun!) So he was quarrelling with one of the goddesses, I no longer recall which one, and he told her ... (Ah, yes! The quarrel was with Saraswati.) Saraswati was telling him that knowledge is much greater than love (much greater in that it is much more powerful than love), and he replied to her, 'You don't know what you're talking about! (Mother laughs) Love is much more powerful than knowledge.' So she challenged him, saying, 'Well then, prove it to me.' - 'I shall prove it to you,' he replied. And the whole story starts there. He began creating a whole imbroglio on earth just to prove his point.

page 216 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Nov. - 1958


I am going downstairs on the 21st, for Saraswati Puja. [[Saraswati represents the universal Mother's aspect of Knowledge and artistic creativity. On this occasion, Mother would go down to the Meditation Hall and the disciples would silently pass in front of her to receive a message. This year they would receive a folder containing five photographs of Mother. ]] They have prepared a folder with a long quotation from Savitri and five photos of my face taken from five different angles.

page 27 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 12th Jan. 1961


Something was obviously bent on preventing me from going down for the distribution. [[On the previous day, January 21, Saraswati Puja, Mother had given a message and photos to each disciple. ]] But by an act of will I went down. 'I will do it,' I said. But it was difficult. There were moments when it sidled up to me: 'Now you're going to faint,' and then, 'Now your legs will no longer be able to walk. Now....' It kept coming like that. So I kept repeating the japa the whole time, and it was touch-and-go right up to the end. Finally I couldn't distinguish people, I saw only shapes, forms passing by, and not clearly. When the distribution was over, I got up (I knew I had to get up), I stood up without flinching and stepped down from the chair without faltering. But I was not careful and when I turned away from the light in the room to go towards the staircase - an abrupt blackout. Not the blackout of a faint - my eyes no longer saw. I saw only shadows. 'Ah!' I said to myself, 'where is the step?!' And to avoid missing it, I clutched the railing. What a commotion that made! Champaklal came rushing up, thinking I was about to fall!

page 36 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 22nd Jan. 1961

Oh, another little example. You know those photos I distributed on the 21st for the Saraswati Puja) Amrita told me he was going to send them to X, [[The tantric guru. ]] I but I told him, 'No, don't bother.' (The 21st was a terrible day for me. All the dasyus of the world were in league against me, trying to stop me - I understood this afterwards, when I saw those things. [[The Vedic or pre-Vedic experience of the artificial hurricane and the pink marble bathtub. ]] 'So that's what it is!' I said to myself, 'That's what has been going on!') Then after the night of the 24 h, I went down for balcony-darshan [[Balcony-darshan: up to 1962, Mother appeared every morning on the first-floor balcony to be seen by the disciples assembled on the street below. ]] with such a foursquare certainty - you know, cubic: such a cubic certainty - and I said to Amrita, 'You can send him those photos today,' without an explanation, without a word, with nothing but a feeling of certainty, a kind of definite and absolute THAT'S HOW IT IS. And that is a change, truly a change.
page 49 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 27th Jan. 1961

All those zones of artistic creation are very high up in human consciousness, which is why art can be a wonderful tool for spiritual progress. For this world of creation is also the world of the gods; but the gods, I am sorry to say, have absolutely no taste for artistic creation. [[When she next saw Satprem, Mother added the following correction: "After you left, they came. It's not I who remembered - they MADE me remember! There was Saraswati saying, 'What about my sitar?' And Krishna, 'What about my flute?' (Mother laughs) There was another one also, I don't remember who. They were really upset! They told me right away, 'What are you talking about! We LOVE music.' All right. 'Fine,' I said (Mother laughs). It's true - Krishna is a great musician, and Saraswati is the perfection of expression.... Now that we have acknowledged their merits (Mother bows), go on with your reading." ]]

page 390 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Oct. 1962




-344_Satprem's book on Sri Aurobindo.html



I am very pulled - not constantly, but periodically - by the need to write (not mental things) and exasperated by the fact that this Orpailleur is not published because I have not taken the time to carry out certain corrections. When I am in a good mood, I offer all this to you (is it perhaps a hidden ambition? But I am not so sure; it is rather a need, I believe) and when I am not in a good mood, I 'fume' about not having the time to write something else.

page 292 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 7th April 1959


Dear Satprem, Publisher and friend are here one in telling you that L'Orpailleur is a beautiful book whose richness and force have struck me even more this time than before when I read the first version. I cannot tell you how much your Job is my brother - in his darkness as in his light. The joy, the wild, irrepressible joy that furtively yearns and at times bursts forth, embracing all, this joy at the heart of the book burns the reader - for a few, in any case, who are prepared to be inflamed. In the end, I can't say if L'Orpailleur will or will not be noticed, if the critics will or will not bestow an article, a comment, an echo upon it, if bookstores will or will not 'sell' it (poor orpailleur!). But what I know is that for a few readers - 2, 3, 10 perhaps - your book will be the cry that will rip them from their sleep forever. To your song, another song in themselves will respond. Where, how shall this concert finish? Who knows - anything is possible!
page 360 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 7th March 1960

The other day you were telling me to start this 'Sri Aurobindo' from any point at all....
Yes, can't you write that way?
I don't know. Perhaps I'm biased, but I feel that this book should flow from beginning to end.
Oh, yesterday or the day before, I had the occasion to write a sentence about Sri Aurobindo. It was in English and wentsomething like this: In the world's history, what Sri Aurobindo represents is not a teaching nor even a revelation, but a decisive ACTION direct from the Supreme.

(silence)

I tell you this because just now as we were speaking about the book and you were saying it would come all at once in a single flow, I saw a kind of globe, like a sun - a sun shedding a twinkling dust of incandescent light (the sun was moving forward and this dust came twinkling in front of it), like this (gesture). It came towards you, then made a circle around you as if to say, 'Here is the formation.' It was magnificent! There was a creative warmth in it, a warmth like the sun's - a power of Truth. And here again, I was given the same impression: that what Sri Aurobindo has come to bring is not a teaching, not even a revelation, but a FORMIDABLE action coming direct from the Supreme. It is something pouring over the world. Your book should convey this feeling - without stating it. Convey the feeling, transmit it - transmit this solar light.
page 91 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 14th Feb 1961

I want you to have enough time to write your book, because I feel that Sri Aurobindo is interested in it - the sun that came a while ago was from him. I feel he is interested and confident you can do it.

page 91 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th Feb 1961

Well, mon petit. And if you really want to please me (I believe you do!), if you want to please me, concentrate on the book on Sri Aurobindo - you can't imagine how much I am interested! And as I LOOK, I see into the future (not with this little consciousness), I see that it's a thing of GREAT importance. It will have a great action. So, I want to clear the way for you now, for us to have time. page 156 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 7th April 1961


(During the two preceding meetings, Satprem read to Mother several fragments of his manuscript on Sri Aurobindo.)

You have brought me a very strange experience. The first time you read your manuscript, I called Sri Aurobindo to hear it. He was in the subtle physical and he listened. Yesterday when I sat down to listen, I thought, 'It would be much better if he entered my brain because that way In fact, I called him; he entered my brain. It took some time; all through the beginning of the reading we were still two; then he came in more and more, more and more, more and more.... My head - my physical head - seemed to be swelling up! There was no longer space for anyone but him. It was the light ... that dark blue light of mental power (but true mental power) in the physical - the tantrics use it, you always see it with X's action, but I've never seen it this way before! My head was full, you know - full, full, not an atom of space to spare - I could feel it swelling up!
And this light was absolutely immobile - vibrationless, totally compact and ... coherent. When I see X's light, for example, there are always vibrations in it; it vibrates, vibrates, things are shifting about; out with this, not a single vibration, not one movement: a MASS that seemed eternally immobile but which was (how to put it?) attentive, listening. It was a volume with the form of the head, as if 'that' had wholly taken over the head. it was full, so full, yet with no feeling of tension or of anything resisting, none at all; there was only a kind of immobile eternity - and COMPACT, compact, absolutely coherent, no vibrations. And it increased, increased more and more, it became heavy, but with a very particular heaviness - not a weight, the feeling of a mass. And within all this, I no longer existed. I seemed to vanish into a kind of trance, yet I was conscious - not 'I': the consciousness was conscious of what Sri Aurobindo was conscious of. And he was following the reading. But I couldn't remember anything; at the time, it was impossible to observe. I can only describe it all to you now because the experience remained for at least an hour and a half afterwards; when I left here, I began to objectify it, to see what it was - aside from that, it was merely a STATE I found myself in. But in this state there was an awareness of what he was hearing, and at two or three places in your reading he seemed to be saying (I can't be exact, I can only give the impression), Not necessary. In fact, that's what made me call this passage 'too philosophical' (although when you first asked my opinion I was in a peculiar condition, nothing was active in me). With him, it was very clear, it was almost as if there were a certain number of words about which he said, That, not necessary. That, not necessary. Not many, not often, but once in a while. Especially at the end (he was still there inside my head while you were talking), when you were saying that it's necessary 'to explain' to people; there he very clearly said, No, not necessary. You know, he was so pleased the first day you read to me! I was seeing his force, his power inside it, and it was golden; a kind of power of propulsion was there. But of course, I know nothing at all about what you read to me yesterday; I was a bit overwhelmed by this experience! It's the first time I've had it

For a long, long time I have been asking for.... When I would say, 'Lord, take possession of this brain,' I expected something of the sort, but I was expecting it with the supramental light (which, partially and momentarily, I have had). But this! It was really.... I don't know what he did with my brain - not brain, my mental power. Probably during that period he absorbed it (I suppose that's what happened because there was no sense of difference). My impression was that as a result of this the physical cells were going to develop materially and be transformed (I think it will happen - I had a sort of assurance that it will). Because now, as I'm talking to you, I'm looking at it and I see - the effect is still there: no longer with the same overwhelming power, but the effect is there and it gives a sort of ... (it can't be compared to anything physical) ... a sort of warmth; it's not heat, but warmth. Everything is seized by it, both ears (Mother touches her head), everything - here, there, all around! Tremendous. And this immobility! As soon as one stops, it is immor ... (Mother cuts off her word), it is eternity. It is truly bringing THAT down here [into Matter]. Well then, are you going to read the rest to me or not?
No, Mother, I feel I have to do it all over. I don't have the thread. I just have scraps here and there, bits and pieces - I don't have the thread.
But is this thread so very necessary? Because the last time you read (I can't pinpoint exactly where), Sri Aurobindo seemed to intervene each time any of those habitual coherences of reason intruded, things you probably inserted precisely in order to join passages together and make them comprehensible. It was at these junctures (I can't remember them exactly) where he would occasionally say, Not necessary, not necessary. That can go, that can go. Afterwards, I tried to understand (I tried to identify enough to be able to understand) and I got the feeling that he finds it will be much more powerful if you don't follow normal logical lines (I'm elaborating a bit - it wasn't quite like this); rather, if you like, it is better to be prophetic than didactic - fling abroad the ideas, ploff! Then let people do what they can with them. I felt he was viewing this not only from the essential standpoint, but from the standpoint of the public, and he wanted to ensure that it doesn't become tiresome - at all costs, don't let it be tiresome. It can be bewildering, but not tiresome. Let them be hurled right into things ... strange and unknown things, perhaps, but.... For instance (this is my own style, you can take it for what it's worth), it would be better for people to say, 'He's a madman,' than to say, 'He's a boring sermonizer.' And all this was coming with his sense of humor, the way he has of saying, for example, that folly is closer to the Divine than reason! I don't know, I didn't hear the beginning, but certainly everything dealing with physical events [of Sri Aurobindo's life] will be expressed in a very reasonable and normal style so that there will be no danger of people saying, 'He's a half-cracked visionary!' I don't know, the first part of what you read to me was so good! Gusts of golden light kept coming. Perhaps you wanted to explain too much. You don't know what happened?
Yes, it's precisely this need to explain.
He seems to find it unnecessary! Above all, he would like the end to be brief. That's something I felt from the very first day - let the end surge up and leave you in suspense; above all, don't try to be reasonable. An upsurge of light like a door bursting open onto a very luminous and unknown future, but with no attempt to make it tangible and approachable. I am sure of this - this impression of a closed door (people live behind doors, you know), and then abruptly the door is flung wide-open on an explosion of light and ... you are left there: sit down, look, contemplate - and wait for the moment to be ripe for venturing forth. Above all, have no ambition to make anyone understand anything whatsoever.
But you have to make people understand the work of Sri Aurobindo - what he came to do, what his work is!
But this really is what he came to do - it's like ... an upside-down volcano. An eruption, an explosion. page 347-48 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 15th Oct. 1961


And precisely because a large part of the book is reasonable enough, artistic, well-expressed and well-presented, it can afford a few pages (there need not be many), a few pages that are like a leap into sheer madness! I SEE, I am looking at all that, sparkling.... So if you want to read something to me, I'm listening - I have come to hear.
No, Mother, I have to catch hold of the thread.
You have to catch hold ... yes. Well then, concentrate, call it! Make an invocation, call it in - it is THERE, contact it. That is the thread to catch - not in the head.
But that's just it, you see-before working I always become completely silent and in that silence there is NOTHING. I could stay like that for hours!

Yes, indeed, mon petit!
But nothing comes!
Well?
Well, after a certain length of time - because after all, time passes - I have to work....
Ah, but perhaps that's not the way!
Then, obviously, I catch hold of some idea - sometimes it's the right idea, sometimes it isn't.
It's not so much a question of an idea being right or not but of the vibration of the Force. If I say all this it's because I see to what extent Sri Aurobindo views this book as an important too] for world-wide work - from the beginning he has taken it seriously. And he is so very much HERE that it seems to me ... not at all impossible that he HIMSELF is stimulating the expression. It's not so much a question of ideas, because all that is quite fine. Read your final page to me. I don't care about the coherence of ideas. Read the final page for me to see whether I feel that same Force in it.
Yes, but I will have to redo all that precedes it.
You are going to do it all over? But it doesn't matter. You know what the logic of a book means to me! You see, when I want a TRUE impression of a book, I open it at random; then I look at the first page, the last page - sometimes I read the ending, then I go back to the beginning - it doesn't matter where. What I want to know is whether the Force is there. Ordinary logic... Read! Anywhere, the middle of a sentence, it doesn't matter!

(after the reading)

I would like to go over it all again.

Page 353


But isn't what you call the 'thread' going to make the whole thing heavy?
A thread is missing. I don't know, some people can write in bits and pieces, here and there, but not me. If I don't feel that everything behind me is completed, I can't go ahead. I need to have a flow.
Listen, think it over.... Because I'm not so sure. When I see, I see segments: a blank, another segment, a blank (Mother seems to sketch a kind of diagram in space), then an apotheosis at the end - your ending is magnificent. It's not necessary for the whole book to proceed in the same way. The most revelatory part can be in segments (you know, just as it comes). The thread is an invisible one - the link of a Presence - otherwise it comes in bursts, and that has a lot of force. All you've read to me now is quite fine, and it would certainly be less fine if something were there connecting it all up.
To me it's clear that some segments are unsuitable.
Unsuitable or incomplete?
Unsuitable.
Well, then take them out! Why not? It may be contrary to logic, even to higher logic, but what do we care!
I will try to see.... If I catch the thread, it will be all right - but I must catch it.
You have to concretely feel that Sri Aurobindo's full Power of expression is there (I don't mean the words, it's not a question of words), but the power to transmit knowledge (not mental knowledge, experience). it's constantly there. So ... an attentive silence - but be very patient, because as soon as the Force comes, something begins to stir in the mental regions. Then there is also a sort of eagerness to seize hold - and it ruins the thing. I have noticed that the true inspiration doesn't come when one is very, very anxious, nor even when you have a very intense aspiration, but (how to put it?) ... when you succumb in a smile, and it all goes blank. Then there's nothing; but if you know how to curb

Page 354


impatience (simply delighting in His beatitude, even if ages pass - delighting in His beatitude), then suddenly, when you least expect it - flash! That's IT! This has happened to me very, very often - suddenly, poff! And with such certainty!
Mother, give me one single indication. Don't you think I should cut out what I read to you yesterday? It would be a relief if you told me.
I don't think so, mon petit! I don't think so. I can't tell you for sure because I'm not the one who heard it - you know what I mean? No memory is operating. Were you to ask me to repeat a single word of what you have written, I couldn't do it - yet I listened to you. I have a sort of vision in my head of parts of sentences, three or four words where the impression was what I told you: Not necessary. But it was a very minor thing. It was more an attitude, an attitude in the expression. But it wasn't disturbing. I keep feeling that Sri Aurobindo wants the conclusion to be swift; and I myself (probably not with his power of comprehension) have a vision, a sort of feeling coming from a great height above, that the most important part of the book should be very abrupt - like breaking through a door, flinging it wide-open, and emerging in a rush of light. That's all. Now keep quiet and see what happens. page 353-54 - - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 15th Oct. 1961


This book was like the initiator of the legend. Sri Aurobindo was there, Sri Aurobindo as I know him now - the eternal Sri Aurobindo I know now.

page 356 - - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 30th Oct. 1961

Ever since I've known that Sri Aurobindo attached importance to this book, I have been doing a great deal of 'looking.' I told you what I saw the other day, didn't I? ... You asked my advice in choosing the photos and you had picked the one of him in 'meditation' [Sri Aurobindo on his bed after he left his body]. Earlier, I had seen the photo of him young; and while I was looking at it, Sri

Aurobindo was there and he suddenly took me thousands of years into the future - I've told you about this - and said to me, The beginning of the legend. Then I understood that this was the right photo for the book. Evidently he is making your book the starting point for all that will be thought and said and done upon earth on the intellectual plane. And I assure you that I am helping you and he is helping you! You must ask him. page 374 - - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 5th Nov. 1961

Listen, I told you once - it wasn't just words - and I thought you understood and would remember: everything I write is absolutely dependent on your work, in the sense that if you weren't here I wouldn't write another word - just letters with " I send you my blessings." Period. Not that I don't have time or can't do it, but I don't enjoy it. When we do something together, when we write, I get the feeling it's complete and has a certain quality that makes it useful. When you aren't here to write it, I feel something missing. So if you think it's useless to do this for me, I am sorry - that hurts!
No, of course not!
You do understand? Because it comes from very high - it's not from here, not at all; it was decided on high, and a long, LONG time ago. Before you came here, I was constantly feeling.... Besides, it hadn't been so long without Sri Aurobindo; when Sri Aurobindo was here I had nothing to say, and if I did speak it was almost by chance. That's all. What had to be said was said by him. And when he left and I began to read his books (which I hadn't read before), I told myself, "Well, what do you know! There was absolutely no need for me to say anything." And I had less and less desire to speak. The minute I met you, I began to get interested. "Ah," I thought, "collaboration! ... Something interesting can be done."
None of this is random chance. It's not that we're taking advantage of circumstances, not at all; it was DECREED. All my life I have always, always felt I had something to say, but that there had to be another instrument to say it, to give it a kind of perfection of form I myself was unable to give. Because that's not my job. It's not my job. What I can bring to the world are flashes - something that goes beyond, above and through everything that is presently manifested. But I don't have the patience for the concrete, fixed, material form. I could have been a scholar, I could have been a writer, just as I could have been a painter - and I have never had the patience for any of it. There was always "something" moving on too swiftly, too high and too far. So I greatly appreciate beautiful written form. I love it. There were periods in my life when I read ever so much - I am quite a library! But it's not my job.
Of course not! You didn't come for that....
I like the form of your expression very, very much. It contains something deep, very supple and polished at the same time - like a lovely, finely chiseled statue. There is profound inspiration and a rhythm, a harmony, which I like very much. I really enjoyed reading your first book [[L'Orpailleur (The Gold-Seeker). ]] - the kind of enjoyment that comes from discovering beautiful forms, an original way of looking at things and expressing them. I appreciated it tremendously. Immediately, spontaneously, I ranked you as a true writer.
page 124-25 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 13th March 1962


I don't recall whether it was last night or the night before, but I saw you with him, the two of you were busy with the book. And Sri Aurobindo was pleased. When I saw him (I was there, seeing the two of you), I thought, "Well, if Satprem could see this (laughing), at least he'd be pleased for once."

Well, yes!
In a place full of light. Now, read me the next part.
I don't know why, but I'm more and more unconscious.
Unconscious?
Oh yes, more and more. Previously I used to remember a little - now nothing. Nothing! It's funny.
It's because you're not going to the same place as before. You understand, you're going to places (laughing) you're still not very used to. The link isn't well established.
But I did see you, and you were very concrete - it wasn't an image! And as I told you, I even remarked, "Well, if he were conscious of this, he'd be pleased."
I should say so!
(Mother laughs) Besides, you looked completely at ease, right at home. And Sri Aurobindo was ... he was satisfied. It's something. He is pleased - he's pleased with you, with your work. It will come all at once, mon petit, like the music. One fine day, poof! You'll find yourself talking with him - then you'll be happy.
That's true!
page 430-31 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Nov. 1962


As Satprem is about to leave, regarding his next novel, "The Sannyasin": Do you have something to say?
There's a question I have been asking myself for some time, and I would like you to solve it for me.... I am supposed to write a sequel to "The Gold-Washer" - or rather, they're expecting it, and also I thought I should do so. But I really wouldn't like to do it from an arbitrary decision. I would like ... You understand, I wouldn't like it to be "me" who decides.
You told me that some time ago! [in the "dream" state] (Banteringly) I took a look and saw what you wanted to write, but I won't tell you! I saw two things, which were, so to speak, concomitant, or superimposed (they occupied the same space). One seemed to me to be what you wanted to write, the other seemed to me to be what you will write. It was the same book, but it was very different - very, very different. Yet it was the same book. I even saw images, I saw scenes, I saw sentences and I saw almost the entire story (if it can be called a story). It was very interesting, because one was matt and concrete (there was a kind of hardness in it, it was precise), while the other was vibrant and still uncertain, and there were sparks of light in it that were calling down something, that were trying to make something "descend." And one was endeavoring to take the place of the other.[[In fact, Satprem wrote By the Body of the Earth or the Sannyasin two years later, in 1966. The first Sannyasin he conceived was like a Greek tragedy - quite implacable and, naturally, tragic. ]] So I followed that very closely, and then, when the work was finished (gesture as of a screen being pulled up), it went away, as always. But I didn't mention it to you because I didn't want to say anything; I wanted to see what would happen. I have the feeling that you will write the book only when that ... that old garment has fallen off - when the other has taken its place. I don't know, it was a few days ago, not very long ago, maybe a week or two, I don't remember (I never keep track of time), but anyway I had the feeling it was something being prepared in your subtle atmosphere, and that when the time has come, it will simply go like this (gesture of a vertical fall), it will drop down on your head (!), and then you will feel the urge to write. And I was waiting for that.
page 199 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 18th Sep - 1964




-345_Savitri.html

Mother's Agenda - volume - 1 , 1951-1960

On Savitri - 1959
There is a difference between immortality and the deathless state. Sri Aurobindo has described it very well in Savitri. The deathless state is what can be envisaged for the human physical body in the future: it is constant rebirth. Instead of again tumbling backwards and falling apart due to a lack of plasticity and an incapacity to adapt to the universal movement, the body is undone 'futurewards,' as it were. There is one element that remains fixed: for each type of atom, the inner organization of the elements is different, which is what creates the difference in their substance. So perhaps similarly, each individual has a different, particular way of organizing the cells of his body, and it is this particular way that persists through all the outer changes. All the rest is undone and redone, but undone in a forward thrust towards the new instead of collapsing backwards into death, and redone in a constant aspiration to follow the progressive movement of the divine Truth. But for that, the body - the body-consciousness - must first learn to widen itself. It is indispensable, for otherwise all the cells become a kind of boiling porridge under the pressure of the supramental light. What usually happens is that when the body reaches its maximum intensity of aspiration or of ecstasy of Love, it is unable to contain it. It becomes flat, motionless. It falls back. Things settle down - you are enriched with a new vibration, but then everything resumes its course. So you must widen yourself in order to learn to bear unflinchingly the intensities of the supramental force, to go forward always, always with the ascending movement of the divine Truth, without falling backwards into the decrepitude of the body.
page 332 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 25th Nov. 1959
On Savitri - 1960
But what is surprising is that in a flash, no one was there any longer. No one, you understand - I was gone. Perhaps I was everywhere (but in fact I am always everywhere, I am always conscious of being everywhere at the same time), though normally there is the sense of the body, a physical center, but that evening there was no more center! Nothing, no one, not even the sense that there was no one - nothing. I was gone. There was indeed something handing out the medals which felt the joy of giving the medal, the joy of receiving it, the joy of mutually looking at each other. It was simply the joy of the action taking place, the joy of looking, this joy everywhere, but me? - Nothing, no one, gone. Only later, afterwards, did I see what had happened, for everything had disappeared, even the higher mind that understands and organizes things (by 'understand' I mean contain, which 'contains' things). That also was gone. And this lasted the entire distribution. Only when that [the body] had gone back upstairs to the room did the consciousness of what is me return. There is a line by Sri Aurobindo in Savitri which expresses this very well: to annul oneself so that only the Supreme Lord may be. And there are many, many experiences like this. It is only a small, a very small beginning. This one in particular came to mark the new stage: four years have elapsed, and now four years to come. Because everything has focused on this body to prepare it, everything has concentrated on it - Nature, the Master of the Yoga, the Supreme, everything ... So only when it's over, not before, will it really be interesting to speak of all this. But maybe it will never be over, after all. It's a small beginning, very small. 3rd Mars 1960, vol-1, page 359 , L'Agenda de M�re
And there are hundreds and hundreds of little experiences like that, like so many little stones marking the way. Then you see that the two things are ALWAYS together: the destructive and the constructive. You can't see one without seeing the other. A time comes when the effort is to conquer the negative parts of creation and death (as at the end of Savitri), and when you have conquered that, then you're above. And then if you look at all these things, even those which seem the most opposed to the Divine, even acts of cruelty done for the pleasure of cruelty, you see the Presence - the Presence that annuls their effects. And it's absolutely marvelous. 12th July 1960, vol-1, page 392 , L'Agenda de M�re
Let me see the wallet (Mother looks at it) ... Ah, so that has nothing to do with it! As soon as the meditation began, I started seeing quite familiar scenes from ancient Egypt. And you, you looked a little different, but quite similar all the same ... The first thing I saw was their god with a head like this (gesture of a muzzle), with a sun above his head. A dark animal head with ... I know it VERY WELL, but I don't remember exactly which animal it is. One is a hawk,' but the other has a head like ... (Mother makes the same gesture) Like a jackal? Yes, like a jackal, that's it. Yes, that's what it was. With a kind of lyre above its head, and then a sun.# 1. Horus, the sun god, child of Isis and Osiris. 2. According to tradition, Anubis, the jackal-headed god, helped Isis to rebuild the body of her spouse, Osiris, who had been killed and dismembered by his brother Set. Osiris was the first god to rule over men. Owing to certain special rites, Isis, helped by Anubis, succeeded in bringing him back to life. So we are not very far from the legend of Savitri and Satyavan. 30th October 1960, vol-1, page 458 , L'Agenda de M�re
But it's explained very well in Savitri! All these things have their laws and their conventions (and truly speaking, a really FORMIDABLE power is needed to change anything of their rights, for they have rights - what they call 'laws') ... Sri Aurobindo explains this very well when Savitri, following Satyavan into death, argues with the god of Death.' 'It's the Law, and who has the right to change the Law?' he says. And then comes this wonderful passage at the end where she replies, 'My God can change it. And my God is a God of Love.' Oh, how magnificent! And by force of repeating this to him, he yields ... She replies in this way to EVERYTHING. It's all right for winning a Victory, but not for stopping the rain for one day! 1. Yama: the god of Death. He is also the guardian of the Law. 12th November 1960, vol-1, page 475 , L'Agenda de M�re

He wrote this in a letter, I believe, and he spoke of this system of compensation - for example, those who take an illness on themselves in order to have the power to cure; and then there's the symbolic story of Christ dying on the cross to set men free. And Sri Aurobindo said, 'That's fine for a certain age, but we must now go beyond that.' As he told me (it's even one of the first things he told me), 'We are no longer at the time of Christ when, to be victorious, it was necessary to die.' I have always remembered this. But things are PULLING backwards - phew, how they pull! ... 'The Law, the Law, it's a Law. Don't you understand, it's a LAW, you can't change the Law.' - 'But I CAME to change the Law.' - 'Then pay the price.'

(silence)

What can make them yield? Divine Love. It's the only thing. Sri Aurobindo has explained it in Savitri. Only when Divine Love has manifested in all its purity will everything yield, will it all yield - it will then be done. It's the only thing that can do it. It will be the great Victory.

(silence)

On a small scale, in very small details, I feel that of all the forces, this is the strongest. And it's the only one with a power over hostile wills. Only ... for the world to change, it must manifest here in all its fullness. We have to be up to it ... Sri Aurobindo had also written to the effect, 'If Divine Love were to manifest now in all its fullness and totality, not a single material organism would but burst.' So we must learn to widen, widen, widen not only the inner consciousness (that is relatively easy - at least feasible), but even this conglomeration of cells. And I've experienced this: you have to be able to widen this sort of crystallization if you want to be able to hold this Force. I know. Two or three times, upstairs (in Mother's room), I felt the body about to burst. Actually, I was on the verge of saying, 'burst and be done with.' But Sri Aurobindo always intervened - all three times he intervened in an entirely tangible, living and concrete way ... and he arranged everything so that I was forced to wait. Then weeks go by, sometimes even months, between one thing and another, so that some elasticity may come into these stupid cells. 12th November 1960, vol-1, page 477 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother's Agenda - volume - 2 , 1961
I am going downstairs on the 21st, for Saraswati Puja. [[Saraswati represents the universal Mother's aspect of Knowledge and artistic creativity. On this occasion, Mother would go down to the Meditation Hall and the disciples would silently pass in front of her to receive a message. This year they would receive a folder containing five photographs of Mother. ]] They have prepared a folder with a long quotation from Savitri and five photos of my face taken from five different angles. The title of the folder is the line from Savitri that gave me the most overpowering experience of the entire book (because, as I told you, as I read, I would LIVE the experiences - reading brought, instantly, a living experience). And when I came to this particular line .. I was as if suddenly swept up and engulfed in ... ('the' is wrong, 'an' is wrong - it's neither one nor the other, it's something else) ... eternal Truth. Everything was abolished except this:

For ever love, O beautiful slave of God [[Savitri, Vol. 29, XI.I.702. ]]

That alone existed.

12th January 1961, vol-2, page 27 , L'Agenda de M�re

Well, yesterday I saw R. He was asking me questions about his work and particularly about the knowledge of languages (he's a scholar, you know, and very familiar with the old traditions). This put me in contact with that whole world and I began speaking to him a little about what I had already said to you concerning my experience with the Vedas. And all at once, in the same [absolute] way as I told you, when I entered into contact with that world a whole domain seemed to open up, a whole field of knowledge from the standpoint of languages, of the Word, of the essential Vibration, that vibration which would be able to reproduce the supramental consciousness. It all came, so clear, so clear, luminous, indisputable - but unfortunately there was no tape recorder! It was about the Word, the primal sound. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it in Savitri: the essence of the Word and how it will express itself, how it will bring in the possibility of a supramental expression that will take the place of languages.... I began by speaking to him about the different languages, their limitations and possibilities; and I warned him against the deformations imposed on languages with the idea of making them a more flexible means of expressing something else. I told him how completely ridiculous it all was, and that it didn't correspond at all to the truth. Then little by little I began ascending to the Origin. So yesterday again, I had this same experience: a whole world of knowledge, of consciousness and of CERTAINTY - precluding the least possibility of contradiction, discussion, or opposition; the possibility DOES NOT EXIST, it doesn't exist. And the mind was absolutely silent and immobile, listening with obvious pleasure because these things had never before come into my consciousness; I had never been concerned with them in that way. It was completely new - not new in principle but completely new in action. The experiences are multiplying.
A sound that can bring in the supramental Force?
Yes. While speaking, you see, I went back to the origin of sound (Sri Aurobindo describes it very clearly in Savitri: the origin of sound, the moment when what we called 'the Word' becomes a sound). So I had a kind of perception of the essential sound before it becomes a material sound. And I said, 'When this essential sound becomes a material sound, it will give birth to the new expression which will express the supramental world.' I had the experience itself at that moment, it came directly. I spoke in English and Sri Aurobindo was concretely, almost palpably, present. Now it has gone away.

27th January 1961, vol-2, page 48 , L'Agenda de M�re
Something that veils?
I am up against this fact: how did Truth become Falsehood? I am not asking myself intellectually - that doesn't interest me at all! It is here, in Matter, that the thing must be found. It is double, it is double. How did it happen? (But not just 'how' as in a story: the MECHANISM). And how will we get out of it? You see, all the things that have been told, even all the things Sri Aurobindo has said (he has said the most in Savitri), all that is necessarily ... (what can it be called?) mental, the super-intellectual spiritualized mind. But it is not THAT! It's a form, it's an image, it's not ... the concrete fact.

6th June 1961, vol-2, page 226 , L'Agenda de M�re

You know, Savitri is an exact description - not literature, not poetry (although the form is very poetical) - an exact description, step by step, paragraph by paragraph, page by page; as I read, I relived it all. Besides, many of my own experiences that I recounted to Sri Aurobindo seem to have been incorporated into Savitri. He has included many of them - Nolini says so; he was familiar with the first version Sri Aurobindo wrote long ago, and he said that an enormous number of experiences were added when it was taken up again. This explained to me why ... suddenly, as I read it, I live the experience - line by line, page by page. The realism of it is astounding.

4th July 1961, vol-2, page 249 , L'Agenda de M�re

I'm re-reading 'Savitri.'
Lucky man! I would love to read it again. And the more you read, the more marvelous it becomes.

7th July 1961, vol-2, page 256 , L'Agenda de M�re

In the final analysis, everything obviously depends upon the Supreme's Will because, if one looks deeply enough into the question, even physical laws and resistances are nothing for Him. But this kind of direct intervention takes place only at the extreme limit; if His Will is to be expressed in opposition, as it were, to the whole set of laws governing the Manifestation - well, that only comes ... at the very last second. Sri Aurobindo has expressed this so well in Savitri, so well! At least three times in the book he has expressed this Will that abolishes all established laws, all of them, and all the consequences of these laws, the whole formidable colossus of the Manifestation, so that in the face of it all, That can express itself - and this takes place at the very last 'second,' so to speak, at the extreme limit of possibility.

15th July 1961, vol-2, page 262 , L'Agenda de M�re

Take the experience of Mind, for example: Mind, in the evolution of Nature, gradually emerging from its involution; well - and this is a very concrete experience - these initial 'mentalized forms,' if we can call them that, were necessarily incomplete and imperfect, because Nature's evolution is slow and hesitant and complicated. Thus these forms inevitably had an aspiration towards a sort of perfection and a truly perfect mental state, and this aspiration brought the descent of already fully conscious beings from the mental world who united with terrestrial forms - this is a very, very concrete experience. What emerges from the Inconscient in this way is an almost impersonal possibility (yes, an impersonal possibility, and perhaps not altogether universal, since it's connected with the history of the earth); but anyway it's a general possibility, not personal. And the Response from above is what makes it concrete, so to speak, bringing in a sort of perfection of the state and an individual mastery of the new creation. These beings in corresponding worlds (like the gods of the overmind, [[ In Sri Aurobindo's terminology, the 'Overmind' represents the highest level of the mind, the world of the gods and origin of all the revelations and highest artistic creations - the world that has ruled mental man till now. in his gradations of the worlds, Sri Aurobindo speaks of two hemispheres, the upper hemisphere and the lower. The Overmind is the line between these two hemispheres, 'This line is the intermediary overmind which, though luminous itself, keeps from us the full indivisible supramental Light, but in receiving it divides, distributes, breaks up into separated aspects, powers, multiplicities of all kinds.' In the words of the Upanishad, 'The face of the Truth is covered by a golden lid.' ]] or the beings of higher regions) came upon earth as soon as the corresponding element began to evolve out of its involution. This accelerates the action, first of all, but also makes it more perfect - more perfect, more powerful, more conscious. It gives a sort of sanction to the realization. Sri Aurobindo writes of this in Savitri - Savitri lives always on earth, with the soul of the earth, to make the whole earth progress as quickly as possible. Well, when the time comes and things on earth are ready, then the divine Mother incarnates with her full power - when things are ready. Then will come the perfection of the realization. A splendor of creation exceeding all logic! It brings in a fullness and a power completely beyond the petty shallow logic of human mentality.

28th July 1961, vol-2, page 281 , L'Agenda de M�re

It wasn't so much a question of the 'why' as of the process.
The process? I am giving you an historical process that I know through experience.
Both are needed.
Yes. The earth is a representative and symbolic world, a kind of crystallization and concentration of the evolutionary labor giving it a ... more concrete reality. It has to be taken like this: the history of the earth is a symbolic history. And it is on earth that this Descent takes place (it's not the history of the universal but of the terrestrial creation); the Descent occurs in the individual TERRESTRIAL being, in the individual terrestrial atmosphere. Let's take Savitri, which is very explicit on this: the universal Mother is universally present and at work in the universe, but the earth is where concrete form is given to all the work to be done to bring evolution to its perfection, its goal. Well, at first there's a sort of emanation representative of the universal Mother, which is always on earth to help it prepare itself; then, when the preparation is complete, the universal Mother herself will descend upon earth to finish her work. And this She does with Satyavan - Satyavan is the soul of the earth. She lives in close union with the soul of the earth and together they do the work; She has chosen the soul of the earth for her work, saying, 'HERE is where I will do my work.' Elsewhere (Mother indicates regions of higher Consciousness), it's enough just to BE and things Simply ARE. Here on earth you have to work. There are clearly universal repercussions and effects, of course, but the thing is WORKED OUT here, the place of work is HERE. So instead of living beatifically in Her universal state and beyond, in the extra-universal eternity outside of time, She says, 'No, I am going to do my work HERE, I choose to work HERE.' The Supreme then tells her, 'What you have expressed is My Will.'.... 'I want to work



28th July 1961, vol-2, page 282 , L'Agenda de M�re

I have the right to 150 pages! The publisher is giving me 150 pages in his collection.... Terrible.... But in this 'Sri Aurobindo,' you understand, I would like to make his whole poetic aspect stand out, that poetry which is like the Veda, like a revelation, so a bit of space is required: it can't be squeezed into a few lines, or reduced to a skeleton.
This analogy between the ancient form of spiritual revelations and Savitri, this blossoming into poetry of his prophetic revelation is ... what could be called the most exceptional part of his work. And what is remarkable (I saw him do it) is that he changed Savitri: he went along changing it as his experience changed. It is clearly the continuing expression of his experience. There were whole sections he redid completely, which were like descriptions of what I had told him of my own experiences. Nolini said this. When I recently reread Savitri, some phrases were very familiar and I said to Nolini, 'How odd, these are almost my very words!' And he replied, 'But this has been changed, it was written differently; it has BECOME like this.' As the thing became more and more concrete for him, he changed it. The breath of revelatory prophecy is extraordinary! It has an extraordinary POWER! 23rd September 1961, vol-2, page 333 , L'Agenda de M�re
He had said he would complete certain parts of The Synthesis of Yoga, [[The third section, 'The Yoga of Self -Perfection,' which was never completed. ]] but when he was asked to do so, he replied, 'No, I don't want to go down to that mental level'! Savitri comes from somewhere else altogether. And I think that Savitri is the most important thing to speak about. 23rd September 1961, vol-2, page 334 , L'Agenda de M�re
Mother's Agenda - volume - 3 , 1962
I read a passage in Savitri which seems to link up exactly with what you were saying....
Ah, read it to me!
I'd rather you read it yourself, because my English.... I found it really striking - these four lines here....

(Mother reads:)

"Not only is there hope for godheads pure; The violent and darkened deities Leaped down from the one breast in rage to find What the white gods had missed: they too are safe; A Mother's eyes are on them and her arms Stretched out in love desire her rebel sons."[[Savitri, Book X, Canto 2 (Cent. Ed. XXIX.613). ]] Yes, that's it.
"What the white gods had missed...."
I didn't remember it. But that's it exactly. It's strange; when I read I see only what's needed at the moment. The rest seems to go unnoticed. And then as soon as it's needed, it comes back - as happened with what you just showed me.

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Yes, that's it - that's what just happened. It's exactly like pulling open a curtain: everything is waiting there behind. It's difficult for me to speak during these experiences because French comes to me more spontaneously, and the experiences all happen in English - Sri Aurobindo's power is so much with them.... All right, mon petit - when do I see you again?

I'd like to ask you a question about those lines from Savitri I showed you the other day. I don't know if you remember - the passage about the "white gods." What did you want to ask? What was it that "the white gods had missed"? But Sri Aurobindo has written it all down in full, right here in the Aphorisms. He has mentioned everything, taken up one thing after another: "Without this, there would not have been that; without this, there would not have been that ..." and so on.[[88 - This world was built by Death that he might live. Wilt thou abolish death? Then life too will perish. Thou canst not abolish death, but thou mayst transform it into a greater living. 89 - This world was built by Cruelty that she might love. Wilt thou abolish cruelty? Then love too will perish. Thou canst not abolish cruelty, but thou mayst transfigure it into its opposite, into a fierce Love and Delightfulness. 90 - This world was built by Ignorance and Error that they might know. Wilt thou abolish ignorance and error? Then knowledge too will perish. Thou canst not abolish ignorance and error, but thou mayst transmute them into the utter and effulgent reason. 91 - If Life alone were and not death, there could be no immortality; if love were alone and not cruelty, joy would be only a tepid and ephemeral rapture; if reason were alone and not ignorance, our highest attainment would not exceed a limited rationality and worldly wisdom. 92 - Death transformed becomes Life that is Immortality; Cruelty trans. figured becomes Love that is intolerable ecstasy; Ignorance transmuted becomes Light that leaps beyond wisdom and knowledge. ]]

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But I also remember reading The Tradition, before I met Sri Aurobindo (it was like a novel, a serialized romance of the world's creation, but it was very evocative; Th�on called it The Tradition). That was where I first learned of the universal Mother's first four emanations, when the Lord delegated his creative power to the Mother. And it was identical to the ancient Indian tradition, but told like a nursery story; anyone could understand - it was an image, like a movie, and very vivid. So She made her first four emanations. The first was Consciousness and Light (arising from Sachchidananda); the second was Ananda and Love; the third was Life; and Truth was the fourth. Then, so the story goes, conscious of their infinite power, instead of keeping their connection with the supreme Mother and, through Her, with the Supreme, instead of receiving indications for action from Him and doing things in proper order, they were conscious of their own power and each one took off independently to do as he pleased - they had power and they used it. They forgot their Origin. And because of this initial oblivion, Consciousness became unconsciousness, and Light became darkness; Ananda became suffering, Love became hate; Life became Death; and Truth became Falsehood. And they were instantly thrown headlong into what became Matter. According to Th�on, the world as we know it is the result of that. And that was the Supreme himself in his first manifestation. But the story is easy to understand, and quite evocative. On the surface, for intellectuals, it's very childish; but once you have the experience you understand it very well - I understood and felt the thing immediately. And once the world has become like that, has become the vital world in all its darkness, and they, from this vital world, have created Matter, the supreme Mother sees (laughing) the result of her first four emanations and She turns towards the Supreme in a great entreaty: "Now that this world is in such a dreadful state, it has to be saved! We can't just leave it this way, can we? It has to be saved, the divine consciousness must be given back to it. What to do?" And the Supreme says, "Thrust yourself into a new emanation, an emanation of the ESSENCE of Love, down into the most material Matter." That meant plunging into the earth (the earth had become a symbol and a representation of the whole drama). "Plunge into Matter." So She plunged into Matter, and that became the primordial source of the Divine within material substance. And from there (as is so well described in Savitri), She begins to act as a leaven in Matter, raising it up from within.

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And as She plunged into the earth, a second series of emanations was sent forth - the gods - to inhabit the intermediary zones between Sachchidananda and the earth. And these gods (laughing) ... well, great care was taken to make them perfect, so they wouldn't give any trouble! But they are a bit ... a bit too perfect, aren't they? Yes, a bit too perfect: they never make mistakes, they always do exactly as they're told.... In short, rather lacking in initiative. They do have some, but.... In fact, they were not surrendered in the way a psychic being can be, because they had no psychic in them. The psychic being is the result of that descent. Only human beings have it. And that's what makes humanity so superior to the gods. Th�on insisted greatly on this: throughout his story, humans are far superior to gods and should not obey them - they should only be in contact with the Supreme in his aspect of perfect Love. I don't know how to put it.... To me, those gods always seemed ... (not those described in the Puranas, they're different ... well, not so very different!) but the way Th�on presented them, they seemed just like a bunch of marshmallows! It's not that they had no power - they had a lot of power, but they lacked that psychic flame. And to Th�on, the God of the Jews and Christians was an Asura. This Asura wanted to be unique; and so he became the most terrible despot imaginable. Anatole France said the same thing (I now know that Anatole France had never read Th�on's story, but I can't imagine where he picked this up). It's in The Revolt of the Angels. He says that Satan is the true God and that Jehovah, the "only God," is the monster. And when the angels wanted Satan to become the one and only God, Satan realized he was immediately taking on all Jehovah's failings! So he refused: "Oh, no - thank you very much!" It's a wonderful story, and in exactly the same spirit as what Th�on used to say. The very first thing I asked Anatole France (I told you I met him once - mutual friends introduced us), the first thing I asked him was, "Have you ever read The Tradition?" He said no. I explained why I had asked, and he was interested. He said his source was his own imagination. He had caught that idea intuitively.

24-27th January 1962, vol-3, page 53-56 , L'Agenda de M�re

Besides, if you remember the beginning of Savitri (I read it only recently, I hadn't known it), in the second canto, speaking of Savitri, he says she has come (he puts it poetically, of course!) to (laughing) kick out all the rules - all the taboos, the rules, the fixed laws, all the closed doors, all the impossibilities - to undo it all. I went one better; I didn't even know the rules so I didn't need to fight them! All I had to do was ignore them, so they didn't exist - that was even better. But now I have first to undo and then redo - a sheer waste of time. In the lower mind there was a whole world of difficulties I was unaware of. In the vital I knew, because I'd had to do battle there - which was fine with me! Just imagine, this time I have been given a warrior as my vital being. A magnificent warrior, neither male nor female, and as tall as this room [[About 15 feet high. ]] - he is splendid. I was so happy when I first saw him. "Well," I thought, "that's worth my while!" Yes, there are battles galore there!
3rd February 1962, vol-3, page 65 , L'Agenda de M�re
A line from Savitri constantly haunts or assails me - it's when the Lord proposes that she come live a blissful life above, and she replies, "No, there are still too many battles to wage on earth."[[I climb not to thy everlasting Day ... Earth is the chosen place of mightiest souls; Earth is the heroic spirit's battlefield... Thy servitudes on earth are greater, king, Than all the glorious liberties of heaven ... Oh, to spread forth, oh to encircle and seize More hearts till love in us has filled thy world! ... Are there not still a million fights to wage? Savitri, XI,1 (Cent. Ed. XXIX.686). ]] That went deep into me, and it returns each time difficulties arise, as if to say, "Don't complain." And there are plenty! ..


17th February 1962, vol-3, page 85 , L'Agenda de M�re
You know, mon petit, I said one day that in the history of earth, wherever there was a possibility for the Consciousness to manifest, I was there[["Since the beginning of the earth, wherever and whenever there was the possibility of manifesting a ray of the Consciousness, I was there." March 14, 1952. ]]; this is a fact. It's like the story of Savitri: always there, always there, always there, in this one, that one - at certain times there were four emanations simultaneously! At the time of the Italian and French Renaissance. And again at the time of Christ, then too.... Oh, you know, I have remembered so many, many things! It would take volumes to tell it all. And then, more often than not (not always, but more often than not), what took part in this or that life was a particular yogic formation of the vital being - in other words something immortal. [[Each of these formations had an independent, immortal existence. ]] And when I came this time, as soon as I took up the yoga, they came back again from all sides, they were waiting. Some were simply waiting, others were working (they led their own independent lives) and they all gathered together again. That's how I got those memories. One after the other, those vital beings came - a deluge! I had barely enough time to assimilate one, to see, situate and integrate it, and another would come. They are quite independent, of course, they do their own work, but they are very centralized all the same. And there are all kinds - all kinds, anything you can imagine! Some of them have even been in men: they are not exclusively feminine. At first, I used to think they were fantasies. Before I met Sri Aurobindo they would come and come and come to me, night after night and sometimes during the day - a mass of things! Afterwards I told Sri Aurobindo about it, and he explained to me that it was quite natural. And indeed, it is quite natural: with the present incarnation of the Mahashakti (as he described it in Savitri), whatever is more or less bound up with Her wants to take part, that's quite natural. And it's particularly true for the vital: there has always been a preoccupation with organizing, centralizing, developing and unifying the vital forces, and controlling them. So there's a considerable number of vital beings, each with its own particular ability, who have played their role in history and now return. 27th June 1962, vol-3, page 222-223 , L'Agenda de M�re

None of those beings, those gods and deities of various pantheons, have the same rapport with the Supreme that man has; for man has a psychic being, in other words, the Supreme's presence within him. These gods are emanations - independent emanations - created for a special purpose and a particular action which they fulfill SPONTANEOUSLY; they do it not with a sense of constant surrender to the Divine but simply because that's what they are, and why they are, and all they know is what they are. They don't have the conscious link with the Supreme that man has - man carries the Supreme within himself. That makes a considerable difference. But with this present incarnation of the Mahashakti.... She is the Supreme's first manifestation, creation's first stride, and it was She who first gave form to all those beings. Now, since her incarnation in the physical world, and through the position She has taken here in relation to the Supreme by incarnating in a human body, all the other worlds have been influenced, and influenced in an extremely interesting way. [[Some days later, Satprem again brought up the above passage, asking whether the Mother hadn't been active on earth since the beginning of time and not merely "with this present incarnation of the Mahashakti." The reply: "It was always through EMANATIONS, while now it's as Sri Aurobindo writes in Savitri - the Supreme tells Savitri that a day will come when the earth is ready and 'The Mighty Mother shall take birth'.... But Savitri was already on earth - she was an emanation. So they were all emanations? They were all emanations, right from the beginning. So we have to say: 'With the PRESENT incarnation.'" ]] I have been in contact with all those gods, all those great beings, and for the most part their attitude has changed. And even with those who didn't want to change, it has nonetheless influenced their way of being. Human experience, with this direct incarnation of the Supreme, [[I.e., with the psychic being or soul IN MAN, the direct incarnation of the Supreme in man: "This has come with humankind." ]] is ultimately a UNIQUE experience, which has given a new orientation to universal history. Sri Aurobindo speaks of this - he speaks of the difference between the Vedic era, the Vedic way of relating to the Supreme, and the advent of Vedanta (I think it's Vedanta):

30th June 1962, vol-3, page 234 , L'Agenda de M�re

don't have far to go on my translation of The Synthesis of Yoga (it's going very quickly), and I have found what I'll do next.... It will be something like those notebooks [Prayers and Meditations]. I am going to take the whole section of Savitri (to start with, I'll see later) from "The Debate of Love and Death" to the point where the Supreme Lord makes his prophecy about the earth's future; it's long - several pages long. This is for my own satisfaction. I am going to translate it line by line (not word by word - line by line), leaving a space between each line; and when I've finished

Page 347



I will try to recapture it in French (gesture of pulling down from above). I am not doing it to show it to people or to have anyone read it, but to remain in Savitri's atmosphere, for I love that atmosphere. It will give me an hour of concentration, and I'll see if by chance.... I have no gift for poetry, but I'll see if it comes! (It surely won't come from a mentality developed in this present existence - there's no poetic gift!) So it's interesting, I'll see if anything comes. I am going to give it a try. I know that light. I am immediately plunged into it each time I read Savitri. It is a very, very beautiful light. So I am going to see. First of all, I'll concentrate on it just as Sri Aurobindo said it in English, using French words. Then I'll see if something comes WITHOUT changing anything - that is, if the same inspiration he had comes in French. It will be an interesting thing to do. If I can do one, two, three lines a day, that's all I need; I will spend one hour every day like that. I don't have anything in mind. All I know is that being in that light above gives me great joy. For it is a supramental light - a supramental light of aesthetic beauty, and very, very harmonious. So now I don't mind finishing The Synthesis. I was a little bothered because I have no other books by Sri Aurobindo to translate that can help me in my sadhana: there was only The Synthesis. As I said, it always came right on time, just when it was needed for a particular experience. When this new translation is finished (because I know Savitri, I know what it is), I know that when it's finished ... either I'll be there or else things will take a very long time.[[See in the Addendum the last lines of Savitri that Mother translated. ]] All his other books that could help me are already translated. And with Savitri, the idea isn't to make a translation, but to SEE. To try something. To give me the daily experience of that contact. I had some magnificent experiences when I read it the first time (two years ago, I believe). Wonderful, wonderful experiences! And since then, each time I read those lines, the same thing happens - not the same experience, but I come in contact with the same realm. It will be an interesting thing to do.

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It's more interesting than listening to everybody's stories! Oh .. (Mother raps her head). That's all.

***

ADDENDUM

(These are the last lines of Savitri Mother translated. They were found in her notebook under the date July 1, 1970.)

But how shall I seek rest in endless peace Who house the mighty Mother's violent force, Her vision turned to read the enigmaed world, Her will tempered in the blaze of Wisdom's sun And the flaming silence of her heart of love? The world is a spiritual paradox Invented by a need in the Unseen, A poor translation to the creature's sense Of That which for ever exceeds idea and speech, A symbol of what can never be symbolised, A language mispronounced, misspelt, yet true. [[Here are the three following lines, which Mother never translated: Its powers have come from the eternal heights And plunged into the inconscient dim Abyss And risen from it to do their marvelous work. ]]

(X.IV.647)

(Mother's translation)

1.7.1970

Mais comment puis-je chercher le repos dans une paix sans fin Moi qui abrite la force violente de la formidable M�re, Sa vision attentive � lire le monde �nigmatique, Sa volont� tremp�e par le brasier du soleil de la Sagesse Et le silence flamboyant de son coeur d'amour? Le monde est un paradoxe spirituel Invent� par un besoin dans l'Invisible,

Page 349

Une pauvre traduction pour les sens des cr�atures De Cela qui � jamais d�passe l'id�e et la parole, Un symbole de ce qui ne peut jamais �tre symbolis�, Un langage mal prononc�, mal �pel�, pourtant vrai.

18th September 1962, vol-3, page 248-50 , L'Agenda de M�re

That's what I am experiencing in my body now - exactly what you say: each step forward forces you to make ... not a step backward, but a step into the Shadow. And on the physical level it's terrible.

(silence)

But your book shouldn't give the impression that it's always that way - that the Light can't be established on earth until all the Shadow is transformed. In fact, the very work of transformation is to change all this shadow into its aspect of light.[[Mother is alluding to the passage in Savitri where Sri Aurobindo speaks of "the dark half of Truth." ]] Not to reject it: to transform it.

(silence)

It's very, very true [one step up, one step down], very true, because it's true even for the most material body-consciousness. And you realize the difficulties that represents.... As soon as the body becomes more conscious of the divine Presence and Light, it's immediately as though you touched the dregs of unconsciousness and ... yes, of unconsciousness and material inertia. And that makes the work very hard, very hard. And just last time, when I told you I wasn't very well, it happened during the night, and it was the equivalent of what you write here, but purely material, in the body. In your book you describe it rather psychologically, like a phenomenon of consciousness, that is; but here it's a phenomenon of the cells.... So hurry to bring me the triumph! (Mother laughs) I was telling myself just this morning how exhausting it was, this perpetual battle - oh, what a battle.... So when you write of the victory, perhaps I too will do a victory dance!

23rd November 1962, vol-3, page 429 , L'Agenda de M�re

You could simply say that he did the work up to that moment , .. that's all, giving no reason.
We could simply say: "Sri Aurobindo left this life on December 5, 1950."
Read the beginning of the passage again.
"The seeker of transformation must thus face all the difficulties, even death, not to vanquish but to change them - one cannot change things without taking them upon oneself. 'Thou shalt bear all things,' says Savitri, 'that all things may change.' Sri Aurobindo succumbed to this work ..."
Can't you just put "that's why," without giving any explanation?... That's why Sri Aurobindo left his body. That's much more powerful. You said "even death," so just put: "That's why Sri Aurobindo left his body."

25th December 1962, vol-3, page 469 , L'Agenda de M�re

Evolution does not move higher and higher, into an ever more heavenly heaven, but deeper and deeper; and each cycle or evolutionary round comes to completion a little further down, a little nearer the Center where the Supreme High and Low, heaven and earth, will finally join. Thus for the two poles

Page 469



to actually meet, the pioneer must cleanse the mental, vital, and material middle ground. When the junction is made, not merely mentally and vitally but materially, Spirit will emerge in Matter, in a total supramental being and supramental body, and ...
All earth shall be the Spirit's manifest home.[[Savitri, Cent. Ed., XXIX.707. ]]
This cleansing of the middle ground is the whole story of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother ... "I had been dredging, dredging, dredging the mire of the subconscious.... The supramental light was coming down before November,[[1934. ]] but afterwards all the mud arose and it stopped."[[Dilip K. Roy, Sri Aurobindo Came to Me, p. 73. ]] Once again Sri Aurobindo verified, not individually this time but collectively, that if one pulls down too strong a light, the violated darkness below is made to moan. It is noteworthy that each time Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had some new experience marking a progress in the transformation, this progress automatically materialized in the consciousness of the disciples, without their even knowing anything about it, as a period of increased difficulties, sometimes even revolts or illnesses, as though everything were grating and grinding. But then, one begins to understand the mechanism. If a pygmy were abruptly subjected to the simple mental light of a cultivated man, we would probably see the poor fellow traumatized and driven mad by the subterranean revolutions within him. There is still too much jungle beneath the surface. The world is still full of jungle, that's the crux of the matter in a word; our mental colonization is a minuscule crust plastered over a barely dry quaternary.... And the battle seems endless; one "digs and digs," said the Rishis, and the deeper one digs, the more the bottom seems to recede: "I have been digging, digging.... Many autumns have I been toiling night and day, the dawns aging me. Age is diminishing the glory of our bodies." Thus, thousands of years ago, lamented Lopamudra, wife of Rishi Agastya, who was also seeking transformation.... But Agastya doesn't lose heart, and his reply is magnificently characteristic of the conquerors the Rishis were: "Not in vain

Page 470



is the labor which the gods protect. Let us relish all the contesting forces, let us conquer indeed even here, let us run this battle race of a hundred leadings." (Rig-Veda 1.179)

28th December 1962, vol-3, page 470 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother's Agenda - volume - 4 , 1963
I have finished my translation [of the Synthesis]. When you have finished your book and we have prepared the next Bulletin and we have a nice quiet moment, we'll go over it again. And then I've begun Savitri - ah! ... As you know, I prepare some illustrations with H., and for her illustrations she has chosen some passages from Savitri (the choice isn't hers, it's A.'s and P.'s and made intelligently), so she gives me these passages one by one, neatly typed (which is easier for my eyes). It's from the Book I, Canto IV.

Page 37

And then, as I expected, the experience is rather interesting.... I had noticed, while reading Savitri, that there was a sort of absolute understanding, that is to say, it can't mean this or that or this - it means THAT. It comes with an imperative. And that's what led me to think, "When I translate it, it will come in the same way." And it did. I take the text line by line and make a resolve (not personal) to translate it line by line, without the slightest regard for the literary point of view, but rendering what he meant in the clearest possible way. The way it comes is both exclusive and positive - it's really interesting. There's none of the mind's ceaseless wavering, "Is this better? Is that better? Should it be like this? Should it be like that?" No - it is LIKE THIS (Mother brings down her hand in a gesture of imperative descent). And then in certain cases (without anything to do with the literary angle or even the sound of the word - neither sound nor anything, but meaning), Sri Aurobindo himself suggests a word. It's as if he were telling me, "Isn't this better French, tell me?" (!) I am simply the recording machine. It goes with fantastic speed, meaning that in ten minutes I translate ten lines. On the whole, only three or four times are there a couple of alternative possibilities, which I jot down immediately. Once, here (Mother shows a passage with erasures in her manuscript), the correction came, absolute. "No," he said, "not that - THIS." So I erased what I had written. Here, read the English first. Above the world the world-creators stand, In the phenomenon see its mystic source. These heed not the deceiving outward play, They turn not to the moment's busy tramp, But listen with the still patience of the Unborn For the slow footsteps of far Destiny Approaching through huge distances of Time, Unmarked by the eye that sees effect and cause, Unheard mid the clamour of the human plane. Attentive to an unseen Truth they seize A sound as of invisible augur wings....

(I.IV.54)

I didn't reread my translation, I am doing it now for the first time.

Page 38

(Mother reads aloud her translation up to:
"They turn not to the moment's busy tramp")

Here, there was some hesitation between de ['instant [the instant's] and du moment [the moment's]. Then he showed me (I can't explain how it takes place), he showed me both words, moment and instant, and he showed me how, compared to moment, instant is mechanical; he said, "It's the mechanism of time; moment is full and contains the event." Things of that sort, inexpressible (I put it into words but it loses all its value). Inexpressible, but fantastic! There was some hesitation between instant and moment, I don't know why. Then he showed me instant: instant was dry, mechanical, empty, whereas moment contained all that takes place at every instant. So I wrote moment.

(Mother reads the end of her translation)

It isn't thought out, it just comes. It's probably not poetry, not even free verse, but it does contain something. So I made a resolve (because it's neither to be published nor to be shown, but it's a marvelous delight): I will simply keep it the way I keep the Agenda. I have a feeling that, later, perhaps (how can I put it?) ... when people can be less mental in their activity, it will put them in touch with that light [of Savitri] - you know, immediately I enter something purely white and silent, light and alive: a sort of beatitude. This other passage is what I translated the first time: In Matter shall be lit the spirit's glow, In body and body kindled the sacred birth; Night shall awake to the anthem of the stars, The days become a happy pilgrim march, Our will a force of the Eternal's power, And thought the rays of a spiritual sun. A few shall see what none yet understands; God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep; For man shall not know the coming till its hour And belief shall be not till the work is done.

(I.IV.55)

Here there were a few more erasures. It will probably go on improving. But what a wonder, this passage, what beauty!

Page 39

(Mother reads aloud her translation up to:
"God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep")

Splendid!

(Mother reads her translation of the last two lines.)

Oh, I love this: "God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep." So, I'll continue. I may even keep the manuscript in pencil: the temptation to correct is very bad. Very bad because it's the surface understanding that wants to correct - literary taste, poetical sense and all those things that are down there (gesture down below). You know, it's as if (I don't mean the words themselves), as if the CONTENT of the words were projected on a perfectly blank and still screen (Mother points to her forehead), as if the words were projected on it. The trouble is writing, the materialization between the vision and the writing; the Force has to drive the hand and the pencil, and there is a slight ... there's still a very slight resistance. Otherwise, if I could write automatically, oh, how nice it would be! There may be (I can't say, it's all imagination because I don't know), there may come a few ... somewhat weird things. But there is an insistence on the need to keep to each line as though it stood all alone in the universe. No mixing up the line order, no, no, no! For when he wrote it, he SAW it that way - I knew nothing about that, I didn't even know how he wrote it (he dictated it, I believe, for the most part), but that's what he tells me now. Everything comes to a stop, everything, and then, oh, how we enjoy ourselves! I enjoy myself! It's more enjoyable than anything. I even told him yesterday, "But why write? What's the use?" Then he filled me with a sort of delight. Naturally, someone in the ordinary consciousness may say, "It's very selfish," but ... And then it's like a vision of the future (not too near, not extremely near - not extremely far either) a future when this sort of white thing - white and still - would spread out, and then, with the help of this work, a larger number of minds may come to understand. But that's secondary; I do the translation simply for the joy of it, that's all. A satisfaction that may be called selfish, but when he is told, "It's selfish," he replies that there is no one more selfish than the Lord, because all He does is for Himself! There.

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So I will go on. If there are corrections, they can only come through the same process, because at this point to correct anyhow would spoil it all. There is also the mixing (for the logical mind) of future and present tenses - but that too is deliberate. It all seems to come in another way. And well, I can't say, I haven't read any French for ages, I have no knowledge of modern literature - to me everything is in the rhythm of the sound. I don't know what rhythm they use now, nor have I read what Sri Aurobindo wrote in The Future Poetry. They tell me that Savitri's verse follows a certain rule he explained on the number of stresses in each line (and for this you should pronounce in the pure English way, which somewhat puts me off), and perhaps some rule of this kind will emerge in French? We can't say. I don't know. Unless languages grow more fluid as the body and mind grow more plastic? Possible. Language too, maybe: instead of creating a new language, there may be transitional languages, as, for instance (not a particularly fortunate departure, but still ...), the way American is emerging from English. Maybe a new language will emerge in a similar way? In my case it was from the age of twenty to thirty that I was concerned with French (before twenty I was more involved in vision: painting; and sound: music), but as regards language, literature, language sounds (written or spoken), it was approximately from twenty to thirty. The Prayers and Meditations were written spontaneously with that rhythm. If I stayed in an ordinary consciousness I would get the knack of that rhythm - but now it doesn't work that way, it won't do! Yesterday, after my translation, I was surprised at that sense ... a sense of absolute: "THAT'S HOW IT IS." Then I tried to enter into the literary mind and wondered, "What would be its various suggestions?" And suddenly, I saw somehow (somehow, somewhere there) a host of suggestions for every line! ... Ohh! "No doubt," I thought, "it IS an absolute!" The words came like that, without any room for discussion or anything. To give you an example: when he says "the clamour of the human plane," clameur exists in French, it's a very nice word - he didn't want it, he said "No," without any discussion. It wasn't an answer to a discussion, he just said, "Not clameur: vacarme."[[Mother's translation is: Le vacarme du plan humain. ]] It isn't as though he was weighing one word against another, it wasn't a matter of words but the THOUGHT of the word, the SENSE of the word: "No, not clameur, it's vacarme."

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Interesting, isn't it? But I would like us to revise the translation in the same way, because I am sure he will be here - he is always here when I translate. Then I will go back into that state, while you will do the work! (Laughing) You will write. And then, unless your vocabulary is very extensive (mine used to be extensive, but now it has become quite limited), we'll need a decent dictionary.... But I am afraid none will have anything to offer.

30th January , 1963, vol-4, page 36-42 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Regarding a passage in "Savitri" in which Sri Aurobindo describes the universe as a play between He and She. "This whole wide world is only he and she," He, the Supreme in love with her, her servitor; She, the creative Force.)

As one too great for him he worships her; He adores her as his regent of desire, He yields to her as the mover of his will, He burns the incense of his nights and days Offering his life, a splendour of sacrifice.... In a thousand ways he serves her royal needs; He makes the hours pivot around her will, Makes all reflect her whims; all is their play: This whole wide world is only he and she.

(I.IV. 62)

What a marvelous work! He goes into a completely different region, so much above thought! It's constant vision, it isn't something thought out - with thought everything becomes flat, hollow, empty, empty, just like a leaf; while this is full, the full content is there, alive. It's an explanation of why the world is as it is. At the start he says, He worships her (here again, there are no words in French: Il lui rend un culte, but that makes a whole sentence). He worships her as something far greater than Himself. And then you are almost a spectator of the Supreme projecting Himself to take on this creative aspect (necessarily, otherwise it couldn't be done!), the Witness watching His own work of creation and falling in love with this power of manifestation - you see it all. And ... oh, He wants to give Her her fullest chance and see, watch all that is going to happen, all that can happen with this divine Power thrust free into the world. And Sri Aurobindo expresses it as though he had absolutely fallen in love with Her: whatever She wants, whatever She does, whatever She thinks, whatever She wills, all of it - it's all wonderful! All is wonderful. It's so lovely! And, I must say, I was observing this because, originally, the first time I heard of it, this conception shocked me, in the sense that ... (I don't know, it wasn't an idea, it was a feeling), as though

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it meant lending reality to something which in my consciousness, for a very long time (at least ... millennia perhaps, I don't know), had been the Falsehood to be conquered. The Falsehood that must cease to exist. It's the aspect of Truth that must manifest itself, it's not all that: doing anything whatsoever just for the fun of it, simply because you have the full power.... You have the power to do everything, so you do everything, and knowing that there is a Truth behind, you don't give a damn about consequences. That was something ... something which, as far back as I can remember, I have fought against. I have known it, but it seems to me it was such a long, long time ago and I rejected it so strongly, saying, "No, no!" and implored the Lord so intensely that things may be otherwise, beseeched Him that his all-powerful Truth, his all-powerful Purity and his all-powerful Beauty may manifest and put an end to all that mess. And at first I was shocked when Sri Aurobindo told me that; previously, in this life, it hadn't even crossed my mind. In that sense Theon's explanation had been much more (what should I say?) useful to me from the standpoint of action: the origin of disorder being the separation of the primal Powers - but that's not it! HE is there, blissfully worshipping all this confusion! And naturally this time around, when I started translating it came back. At first there was a shudder (Mother makes a gesture of stiffening). Then I told myself, "Haven't you got beyond that!" And I let myself flow into the thing. Then I had a series of nights with Sri Aurobindo ... so marvelous! You understand, I see him constantly and I go into that subtle physical world where he has his abode; the contact is almost permanent (at any rate, that's how I spend all my nights: he shows me the work, everything), but still, after this translation of Savitri he seemed to be smiling at me and telling me, "At last you have understood!" (Mother laughs) I said, "It isn't that I didn't understand, it's that I didn't want it!" I didn't want, I don't WANT things to be like that any more, for thousands of years I have wanted things to be otherwise!

15th February , 1963, vol-4, page 45-46 , L'Agenda de M�re

Then Mother speaks of her translation of "Savitri" I do it exclusively for the joy of being in a world ... a world of overmental expression (I don't say supramental, I say overmental), a luminous, marvelous expression through which you can catch the Truth. And it teaches me English without books! Now, whenever I have to write a letter, all the words come by themselves: the CONTENT of the word (just as I told you for moment and instant), now it works the same way with all words! Yesterday I wrote something in English for a doctor here (Mother looks for a paper): The world progresses so rapidly that we must be ready at any moment to over pass what we knew in order to know better. And you know, I never

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think: it just comes, either the sound or the written word (it depends on the case: now I'll see the written words, now I'll hear the sound). For instance, the word advance came first, and with it came quick, quickly, repeatedly ["the world advances so quickly"]. Then came progress, and quickly was out of the picture; and suddenly rapidly came forward. So I understood how it worked, how it works for all words! I understood: progress (the idea or inner meaning of progress) calls for rapidly; and advance calls for quickly. Putting it like this sounds like splitting hairs, but when I saw it, it was positively irrefutable! The word was alive, its content was alive, and along with it was its friend, the word that went with it; and the word that wasn't its friend was not to be seen, it wasn't in the mood! Oh, it was so funny! For that alone it is worth the trouble.

19th February , 1963, vol-4, page 53-55 , L'Agenda de M�re
There are two very different things. First, one may ask: What is a miracle? Because Sri Aurobindo often says that "there is no such thing as a miracle," but at the same time, in "Savitri," for example, he says, "All's miracle here and can by miracle change."[[Savitri, I.V.85. ]] It depends which way you look at it: from this side or from the other side. People only call miracles things they can't explain clearly, in mental terms. From that point of view, innumerable things that happen can be said to be "miracles," because you can't explain the why or the how. What would a real miracle be, then? I don't see what a real miracle can be, because what's a miracle, ultimately? A real miracle ... It's only the mind that has the notion of miracle, because following its own logic, the mind decides that given this and that condition, this or that circumstance can or cannot be. But these are merely the mind's limitations. Because from the Lord's point of view, how could there be a miracle? All is but Himself objectifying Himself. Here we come to the great problem of the road we travel, the eternal Road Sri Aurobindo refers to in Savitri. It is easy to imagine, of course, that what was first objectified had an inclination to objectification. The first point to accept, a logical point considering the principle of evolution, is that the objectification is progressive, it is not complete for all eternity.... (silence) It's very hard to express, because we cannot free ourselves from our habit of seeing it as a finite quantity unfolding indefinitely and of thinking that only with a finite quantity can there be a beginning. We always have an idea (at least in our way of speaking) of a "moment" (laughing) when the Lord decides to objectify Himself. And put that way, the explanation is easy: He objectifies Himself gradually, progressively, with, as a result, a progressive evolution. But that's just a manner of speaking. Because there is no beginning, no end, yet there is a progression. The sense of sequence, the sense of evolution and progress comes only with the Manifestation. And only when we speak of the earth can we explain things truthfully and rationally, because the earth had a beginning - not in its soul, but in its material reality. A material universe probably has a beginning, too.

6 Mars 1963, vol-4, page 66-67 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother opens "Savitri." She intended to translate "The Debate of Love and Death." The book opens "by chance" on the last lines of Death's defeat, which Mother reads aloud:)

Page 79



And [Death] left crumbling the shape that he had worn, Abandoning hope to make man's soul his prey And force to be mortal the immortal spirit.

(X.IV.667)

No matter where you open, no matter where you read, it's wonderful! Immediately it's wonderful - strange, these three lines, aren't they.... Abandoning hope to make man's soul his prey And force to be mortal the immortal spirit. Wonderful. These people could very easily lure me: for a long time they have been asking me to read them the whole of Savitri - quite a work! But this [translation] work is irresistible. So, in fact (the trouble is, my notebook won't be thick enough!), in fact I would like to translate all of the "Debate" [of Love and Death], it's so wonderful.

(Mother leafs through the book)

When she says ... I don't remember the words, she says: My God is love [["My God is love and sweetly suffers all." (IX.II.591) ]] Oh, that's....

(Mother goes back to the beginning of Book X, Canto IV)

Here: The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real Look at this: Or in bodies motionless like statues, fixed In tranced cessations of their sleepless thought Sat sleeping souls, and this too was a dream.

(X.IV.642)

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They are the ones who want to attain Nirvana.... "And this too was a dream"!

(Mother looks further)

It begins here: Once more arose the great destroying Voice: Across the fruitless labour of the worlds His huge denial's all-defeating might Pursued the ignorant march of dolorous Time.

(X.IV.643)

Here is where I should begin. Book X is long: "The Book of the Double Twilight."... Of course, if I start reading ...
You'll end up at the beginning!
I would do the whole book!

(Mother leafs back)

"The Gospel of Death and Vanity of the Ideal" This is invaluable to answer all, all, all the arguments people use.

(Mother leafs further)

Ah, here we are! "The Debate of Love and Death."
That's where it begins.
It's Canto III.
There's a passage underlined here.
If it's underlined, it's not by me! ... No, that's the place where I stopped when I was reading: I used to mark in red the place where I stopped. He says ... (Death to Savitri, in a supremely ironic tone): ... Art thou indeed so strong, O heart, O Soul, so free?...

(X. III . 63 6)

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It's wonderful! So we would have to start at the beginning of the "Book of the Double Twilight," Book X. Let's see how it goes....

(Mother reads)

All still was darkness dread and desolate; There was no change nor any hope of change. In this black dream which was a house of Void, A walk to Nowhere in a land of Nought, Ever they drifted without aim or goal....

(X599)

My God, how wonderful! It's wonderful.

(Mother turns the pages)

And Book XII ["The Return to the Earth"].... I don't know.

(Mother reads the concluding lines of "Savitri":)

Night, splendid with the moon dreaming in heaven In silver peace, possessed her luminous reign. She brooded through her stillness on a thought Deep-guarded by her mystic folds of light, And in her bosom nursed a greater dawn.

(XII.724)

It heralds the Supermind. But I had a feeling he hadn't completed his revision. When I read this, I felt it wasn't the end, just as when I read the last chapter of the "Yoga of Self-Perfection,"[[The last chapter of the Synthesis of Yoga: "Towards the Supramental Time Vision." ]] I felt it was unfinished. He left it unfinished. And he said so. He said, "No, I will not go down to this mental level any more." But in Savitri's case ... (I didn't look after it, you know), he had around him Purani, that Chinmayi, and ... (what's his name?) Nirod - they all swarmed around him. So I didn't look after Savitri. I read Savitri two years ago, I had never read it before. And I am

Page 82

so glad! Because I read it at the time I could understand it - and I realized that none of those people had understood ONE BIT of it. Both things at the same time.

(silence)

Let's see, open a page at random, I want to see if you find something interesting - concentrate a moment and open the book, I'll read it to you. Just put your finger.... Do you want a blade? (Mother gives Satprem a letter opener)
(Satprem concentrates and opens the book)
Oh! In the passion of its solitary dream It lay [the heart of the King] like a closed soundless oratory Where sleeps a consecrated argent floor Lit by a single and untrembling ray And an invisible Presence kneels in prayer Pretty lovely! Oh, it's good.... Let me go back a little: In the luminous stillness of its mute appeal It looked up to the heights it could not see; It yearned from the longing depths it could not leave. In the centre of its vast and fateful trance Half way between his free and fallen selves, Interceding twixt God's day and the mortal night, Accepting worship as its single law, Accepting bliss as the sole cause of things, Refusing the austere joy which none can share, Refusing the calm that lives for calm alone, To her it turned for whom it willed to be. In the passion of its solitary dream It lay like a closed soundless oratory Where sleeps a consecrated argent floor Lit by a single and untrembling ray And an invisible Presence kneels in prayer. On some deep breast of liberating peace

Page 83

All else was satisfied with quietude; This only knew there was a truth beyond. All other parts were dumb in centred sleep Consenting to the slow deliberate Power Which tolerates the world's error and its grief, Consenting to the cosmic long delay, Timelessly waiting through the patient years Her coming they had asked for earth and men; This was the fiery point that called her now. Extinction could not quench that lonely fire; Its seeing filled the blank of mind and will; Thought dead, its changeless force abode and grew....

I can't see clearly any more.... But I know what this is about: it's when the King [[In Savitri, the King represents the human aspiration to discover the Earth's secret beyond all already explored spiritual knowledge. ]] makes his last surrender to the universal Mother - he annuls himself before the universal Mother, and She gives him the mission he must fulfill.

Its seeing filled the blank of mind and will; Thought dead, its changeless force abode and grew. Armed with the intuition of a bliss To which some moved tranquillity was the key, It persevered through life's huge emptiness Amid the blank denials of the world. It sent its voiceless prayer to the Unknown; It listened for the footsteps of its hopes Returning through the void immensities, It waited for the fiat of the Word That comes through the still self from the Supreme.

(III.III.332)

Well, this is certainly a beautiful choice! That's it, there's no doubt. When he wakes up from that state, he has a vision of the universal Mother, and receives his mission. This is very good, a very good indication. It's captivating, Savitri! I believe it's his Message - all the rest is preparation, while Savitri is the Message.

Unfortunately, there were two morons here

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who fancied correcting him - while he was alive! (A. especially, he's a poet.) Hence all those Letters on Poetry Sri Aurobindo wrote. I've always refused to read them - I find it outrageous. He was forced to explain a whole "poetic technique" - the very idea! It's just the contrary: it comes down from above, and AFTERWARDS you explain. Like a punch in sawdust: inspiration comes down, and afterwards you explain why it's all arranged as it is - but that just doesn't interest me!

(silence)

So you came (you see, it's the answer) to manifest (it's very good, I like this answer very much), to manifest the bliss above. You understand? He goes beyond all past attempts to unite with the Supreme, because none of them satisfies him - he aspires for something more. So when everything is annulled, he enters a Nothingness, then comes out of it with the capacity to unite with the new Bliss. That's it, it's good!


13 Mars 1963, vol- 4, page 79-85 , L'Agenda de M�re



(Mother first reads from her translation of "Savitri" a few excerpts about death. We give here the original English.)

A grey defeat pregnant with victory. A whip to lash us towards our deathless state. The inconscient world is the spirit's self-made room ... Self-made. Eternal Night shadow of eternal Day. Night is not our beginning nor our end; She is the dark Mother in whose womb we have hid Safe from too swift a waking to world-pain.... Oh, this is.... By Light we live and to the Light we go. Here in this seat of Darkness mute and lone, In the heart of everlasting Nothingness Light conquered now even by that feeble beam....

(X600)

It's marvelous.
Yes, it must be a joy to work on "Savitri."
Oh, mon petit! ... It makes you live in a marvelous atmosphere. So, that's all. What did you bring?
Nothing, except a few Agenda conversations, as always.
Oh, but I am weary of my....

(silence)

It's a snail's pace, so there's nothing interesting. Really a snail's pace. It's one year since ... When was that message? [the turning point of Mother's yoga, the great "pulsations"] In April '62?

23 Mars 1963, vol- 4, page 92-93 , L'Agenda de M�re





You see, Mahalakshmi is the Divine Mother's aspect of love, the perfection of manifested love, which must come before this supreme Love (which is beyond the Manifestation and the Nonmanifestation) can be expressed - the supreme Love referred to in Savitri when the Supreme sends Savitri to the earth: For ever love, O beautiful slave of God! (XI702) It's to prepare the earth to receive the Supreme's manifestation, the manifestation of His Victory. Seen in that way, it becomes clear - comprehensible, and comprehensive, too: it has a content.

(Mother suddenly points to a piece of paper on the table beside her, on which the figure 8 is written)

Did you notice this figure?... There's a line in Savitri (I can't quote exactly): "Wherever Nature is, He (the Supreme) too is there, for, in truth, He and She are one."[[As long as Nature lasts, he too is there; For this is sure that he and she are one. (I.IV. 72) ]] I was asked to find an

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illustration for this line, [[Mother helps a disciple, a painter, to illustrate some passages from Savitri. ]] and I found the 8. The drawing starts here (Mother draws the first half of the 8): it's the Supreme leaning forward. Then, Nature in its base, Nature in sleep (the base of the 8). And here (the top of the 8), I put two little drawings (as if to symbolize an eye, a nose and a mouth) to evoke the summit of consciousness. So the Supreme is leaning forward like this and Nature rises like this (Mother draws the second half of the 8). All this (the top of the 8) is golden, then it becomes prismatic (the middle of the 8), and deep blue here (the base of the 8), in the most material part of the creation, and the blue becomes lighter and lighter (going upward again), and finally golden. Perpetually.



11 Mai 1963, vol- 4, page 135-36 , L'Agenda de M�re

Seeing that, there is obviously a similar experience in connection with what is called life and death. It's a sort of "overhanging" (it comes to me in English, that's why I have difficulty) of that constant presence of Death or possibility of death. As he says in Savitri, we have a constant companion all the way from the cradle to the grave, we are constantly shadowed by the threat or presence of Death. Well, this gives the cells an intensity in their call for a Power of Eternity which would not be there without that constant threat. Then we understand - we begin to understand very concretely - that all those things are only goads to make the Manifestation progress and grow more intense, more perfect. If the goads are crude, it is because the Manifestation is very crude. As it grows more and more perfect and apt to manifest something ETERNALLY PROGRESSIVE, those very crude methods will give way to more refined ones, and the world will progress without the need for such brutal oppositions. It is only because the world is in infancy and the human consciousness in its very early infancy. It's a very concrete experience. So, when the earth no longer needs to die in order to progress, there will be no more death. When the earth no longer needs to suffer in order to progress, there will be no more suffering. And when the earth no longer needs to hate in order to love, there will be no more hatred.

(silence)

It is the quickest and most effective method of pulling the creation out of its inertia and leading it on to its blossoming.

15th Mai 1963, vol- 4, page 141 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother asks for a box of paints to demonstrate practically the gradation of colors of the levels of consciousness, from the most material Nature to the Supreme. The point is to illustrate the symbol of Infinity, the figure 8, which Mother explained in the conversation of May 11: the infinite play of the Supreme reaching down to Nature and Nature rising toward the Supreme. Mother speaks in English in the presence of a disciple, who is a painter, so that he may convey her explanations to H., the disciple who is preparing illustrations for "Savitri.")

Of course, all these things are lights, so you can't reproduce them. But still, it must be a violet that is not dull and not dark (Mother starts from the most material Nature). What she has put is too red, but if it's too blue, it won't be good either - you understand the difficulty? Then after violet there is blue, which must be truly blue, not too light, but it must be a bright blue. Not too light

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because there are three consecutive blues: there is the blue of the Mind, and then comes the Higher Mind, which is paler, and then the Illumined Mind, which is the color of the flag [Mother's flag], a silver blue, but naturally paler than that. And after this comes yellow, a yellow that is the yellow of the Intuitive Mind; it must not be golden, it must be the color of cadmium. Then after this yellow, which is pale, we have the Overmind with all the colors - they must all be bright colors, not dark: blue, red, green, violet, purple, yellow, all of them, all the colors. And after that, we then have all the golds of the Supermind, with its three layers. And then, after that, there is one layer of golden white - it is white, but a golden white. After this golden white, there is silver white - silver white: how can I explain that? (H. has sent me some ridiculous pictures of a sun shining on water - it has nothing to do with that.) If you put silver, silver gray (Mother shows a silver box nearby shining brilliantly in the sun), silver gray together with white ... that is, it is white, but if you put the four whites together you see the difference. There is a white white, then there is a white with a touch of pink, then a silvery white and a golden white. It makes four worlds. I have explained this [to H.] as I am explaining it to you, but H. has not seen it so she can't understand. I want to show her on paper. It is twelve different things [or twelve worlds], one after another. [[Mother seems to have forgotten the red of the vital, which comes between material Nature's violet and the Mind's blue. Thus we have twelve worlds: violet, red, blue (the Mind's three blues), yellow, then the Overmind's prismatic colors, which makes five lower worlds, then finally the three golds of the Supermind and the four whites of the supreme creative Joy or Ananda. ]]

18th Mai 1963, vol- 4, page 141 , L'Agenda de M�re



There's something here.... A slow reversal's movement then took place: A gas belched out from some invisible Fire, Of its dense rings were formed these million stars; Upon earth's new-born soil God's tread was heard. (II.101) It's magnificent ... magnificent.

10 Juillet 1963, vol- 4, L'Agenda de M�re

At first I put, L'Amour n'a rien � voir avec ... [Love has nothing to do with ... ], and so on, but that's not true. So we'll put, L'Amour n'est pas ... [Love is not ...]. L'Amour n'est pas les relations sexuelles. L'Amour n'est pas les attractions et les echanges vitaux. L'Amour n'est pas le besoin d'affection du c�ur ... It's from Savitri, in "The Debate of Love and Death," when Death tells Savitri, "What you call love is the hunger of your heart."
Could we translate: "L'Amour n'est pas le c�ur et son besoin d'affection" [Love is not the heart and its hunger for affection]?
But the heart can manifest Love! No: L'Amour n'est pas le besoin d'affection du c�ur [Love is not the heart's hunger for affection]. And then, the positive side: L'Amour est une vibration toute-puissante eman�e directement de l'Un. Et seul, le tr�s pur et le tr�s fort est capable de la recevoir et de la manifester.

25th September 1963, vol- 4, page 320 , L'Agenda de M�re



Do you remember Savitri's debate with Death ["The Debate of Love and Death"]? ... According to it, Sri Aurobindo seems to be saying that Disorder arose when Life entered Matter. (Mother leafs through her thick translation notebook[[We are giving here directly the original English of those passages and not Mother's translation into French. ]]) Although God made the world for his delight, An ignorant Power took charge and seemed his Will In other words, that Power assumed the appearance of God's Will. And Death's deep falsity has mastered Life. All grew a play of Chance simulating Fate. (X.III.629) And before, Sri Aurobindo writes: O Death, this is the mystery of thy reign. He seems to imply it's only on earth: In earth's anomalous and tragic field Carried in its aimless journey by the sun Mid the forced marches of the great dumb stars, A darkness occupied the fields of God, (Mother repeats) A darkness occupied the fields of God, And Matter's world was governed by thy shape. The shape of Death. Thy mask has covered the Eternal's face, It's marvelous! The Bliss that made the world has fallen asleep. Abandoned in the Vast she slumbered on: An evil transmutation overtook Her members till she knew herself no more. (X.III.627) And so on, a whole passage. And he seems to imply that it's when Life entered inert Matter that an ignorant Power ... what I read at the beginning: An ignorant Power took charge and seemed his Will And Death's deep falsity has mastered Life. Consequently, according to this, Death would exist only on the earth. (silence) That's where I am in my translation. (Mother closes her notebook) What are your conclusions? I'll have to go to the end to understand what he wants to demonstrate. You see, I was always under the impression that the earth was a symbolic representation of the universe in order to concentrate the Work on one point so that it could be done more consciously and deliberately. And I was always under the impression that Sri Aurobindo too thought that way. But here ... I had read Savitri without noticing this. But now that I read it and I am so immersed in that problem ... In other words, it's as if it were THE question given me to resolve. I noticed it while reading. (long silence) It would seem to legitimize or justify those who want to escape entirely from the earth's atmosphere. The idea would be that the earth is a special experiment of the Supreme in His universe; and those who are not too keen on that experiment (!) prefer to get out of it (to say things somewhat offhandedly). The difference is this: In one case, the purpose of the earth is a concentration of the Work (which means it can be done more rapidly, consciously and perfectly here), and so there is a serious reason to stay on and do it. In the other case, it's just one experiment amidst thousands or millions of others; and if that experiment doesn't particularly appeal to you, to want to get out of it is legitimate. I don't see how it would be possible for one point of the Supreme not to be the whole Supreme. If there is a difficulty here, it's a difficulty for the WHOLE, isn't it? Not necessarily. Why should there be something apart from the rest? It all depends, in fact, (laughing) on what He is driving at! We can very well conceive that He may be carrying on some very different experiments. And so you could go from one experiment to another, you see. It would be as Buddha said: it's attachment or desire that keeps you here, otherwise there's no reason for you to stay here. (Satprem protests wordlessly) Everything is possible to me, you know, absolutely everything, even the seemingly most contradictory things - really, I am totally unable to raise a mental or logical or reasonable objection either to this or to that. But the question ... (Mother leaves her sentence unfinished). That is to say, the Lord's Will is very clear to Him, and (laughing) the whole thing is to unite with that Will and know it. It had always seemed to me that way [the earth as a symbolic point of concentration], but I am so convinced that Sri Aurobindo saw things more truly and totally than anyone did that, naturally, when he says something, you tend to consider the problem! I don't know, I haven't reached the end of Savitri yet. Because I notice (rereading it after the space of a few months, barely two years) that it's altogether something else than the first time I read it. Altogether something else: there is in it infinitely more than what I had experienced; my experience was limited, and now it's far more complete (maybe if I reread it in a year or two, it would be still more complete, I don't know), but there are plenty of things that I hadn't seen the first time. Perhaps that passage I've just read is only one aspect? ... I will see when I reach the end.

What he announces, and what I am sure of, is that the Victory will be won on the earth and that the earth will become a progressive being (eternally progressive) in the Lord - that's understood. But it doesn't preclude the other possibility. The future of the earth he has announced clearly, and it's understood that such is the future of the earth; only, if that possibility [of death as an exclusively earthly phenomenon] is what we could term "historically" correct, it would sort of legitimize the attitude of those who get away from it. How is it that Buddha, who undeniably was an Avatar, laid so much stress on Deliverance as the conclusion of

Page 329

things? He who stayed behind only to help others ... to get away faster. Then that means he saw only one side of the problem? ...
Oh, yes!
But if there is a whole universe, thousands of universes with altogether different modes, and if to be here is merely a matter of CHOICE ... then the choice is free, of course - there are those who like conquest and victory, and those others who like doing nothing.
But Buddha represented only one stage of consciousness. AT THAT TIME it was good to follow that path, therefore ...
We can conceive it was a particular necessity within the whole, of course. But these are all conceptions, it's still something mental - I recently had in my hands a quotation from Sri Aurobindo in which he said that there is "no problem the human mind cannot solve if it wants to." (Laughing) There is no problem that the mind cannot solve if it applies itself to it! But I don't care, I have no need of mental logic - no need. And it would have no effect on my action - that's not what I want, not at all! It's only because there is that increasingly acute contradiction between the Truth and what is. It's becoming painfully acute. You know, that suffering, that general misery is becoming almost unbearable. There was a time when I looked at all that with a smile - a long time. For years and years it was a smile, the way you smile at a childish question. Now, I don't know why it has come ... it has been THRUST on me like a sort of acute anguish - which certainly is necessary to get out of the problem. To get out, I mean, to cure, to change - not to flee. I don't like flight. That was my major objection to the Buddhists: all that you are advised to do is merely to give you an opportunity to flee - that's not pretty. But change, yes.

(silence)

There are some lines [in Savitri] that all of a sudden are so magnificent! They come with such power, but once written down, that's not it any more. For example, you SEE that image of the mask of Death covering the Supreme's face.

Page 330

It's marvelous. So intense. And then that ignorant Power that took charge of the earth and made it ... that "seemed," SEEMED the Supreme's Will. It's so pregnant with meaning.

Page 331



28 Septembre 1963, vol-4, page 326-330 , L'Agenda de M�re



(Mother first reads two lines from "The Debate of Love and Death" in "Savitri." She would like to put them as epigraph to the conversation of September 7, the dialogue with a materialist.) Listen to this: O Death, thou speakest Truth but Truth that slays, I answer to thee with the Truth that saves. (X.III.621) It's beautiful! So the materialist ... "O Death, thou speakest Truth...." What can he reply? It's the Truth!

16 Octobre 1963, vol-4, L'Agenda de M�re

Yes. Its effect is like an electrical discharge that shakes up the tamas, shakes up inertia. It's like in Savitri, when he speaks of the "consciousness that fell asleep in the dust" ... the divine Consciousness that fell asleep in the dust of its creation (I am embroidering). The divine Consciousness, the eternal Mother, that is, fell asleep in the dust of her creation; somebody wakes her up, and She realizes (this isn't from Sri Aurobindo!), She realizes (laughing) that it's the supreme Lord who shook her! So She does everything, all sorts of extraordinary things, anything to stop Him from going away! (Mother takes up "Savitri") She reposes motionless in its dust of sleep. (II.VI.180) Then: For him she leaped forth from the unseen Vasts To move here in a stark unconscious world. And then: In beauty Yes. Its effect is like an electrical discharge that shakes up the tamas, shakes up inertia. It's like in Savitri, when he speaks of the "consciousness that fell asleep in the dust" ... the divine Consciousness that fell asleep in the dust of its creation (I am embroidering). The divine Consciousness, the eternal Mother, that is, fell asleep in the dust of her creation; somebody wakes her up, and She realizes (this isn't from Sri Aurobindo!), She realizes (laughing) that it's the supreme Lord who shook her! So She does everything, all sorts of extraordinary things, anything to stop Him from going away! (Mother takes up "Savitri") She reposes motionless in its dust of sleep. (II.VI.180) Then: For him she leaped forth from the unseen Vasts To move here in a stark unconscious world. And then: In beauty she treasures the sunlight of his smile. Ashamed of her rich cosmic poverty.... Splendid! And woos his large-eyed wandering thoughts to dwell In figures of her million-impulsed Force. Only to attract her veiled companion And keep him close to her breast in her world-cloak Lest from her arms he turn to his formless peace, Is her heart's business and her clinging care. (II.VI.131) she treasures the sunlight of his smile. Ashamed of her rich cosmic poverty.... Splendid! And woos his large-eyed wandering thoughts to dwell In figures of her million-impulsed Force. Only to attract her veiled companion And keep him close to her breast in her world-cloak Lest from her arms he turn to his formless peace, Is her heart's business and her clinging care. (II.VI.131)

27 Novembre 1963, vol-4, page 394-95 , L'Agenda de M�re

Sri Aurobindo wrote somewhere, I don't remember where (I am translating, it's not the exact sentence): "The body's cells must burn with the divine Flame."

Page 421

It's obviously somewhere where he explains transformation. The body's cells must burn with the divine Flame. And you feel it - you FEEL it. It's when they begin to be aflame, to burn with a flame that is clearer and clearer, purer and purer ... - when all the smoke is gone.

Page 422



14th Decembre 1963, vol-4, page 421 , L'Agenda de M�re



And earth shall be the Spirit's manifest home [[Savitri. ]]
(Sujata:) Is it the promise that came?
Yes, the promise of the G. The G always promises.

(Mother sets the calendar to January 1, 1964,
and reads Sri Aurobindo's quotation)

All can be done if God's touch is there There: All can be done. All.

31st Decembre 1963, vol-4, page 432 , L'Agenda de M�re

But your Agenda is the end of the "Yoga of Self-Perfection"!
Well, it'll be a long end! (Mother laughs) In other words, when it's over (we must first wait for it to be over), when it's over, with those notes, we could establish something - you'll have to wait for some time! There are still several years to go. It doesn't matter, we aren't bored, are we? (To Sujata:) Are you bored? Tell me frankly, are you bored? (Sujata laughs) I don't need to ask HIM, I know the answer: "Oh, it's endless, it lasts forever, nothing happens, nothing takes place...." (laughter) Anyway, my children, that's the way it is. I am going as fast as I can, I am the one most concerned! But you can't hurry, it's not possible. Not possible. In fact, in Savitri, Sri Aurobindo went through all the worlds, and it so happens that I am following that without knowing it (because I never remember - thank God, I really thank heaven! - I asked the Lord to take away my mental memory and He took it away entirely, so I am not weighed down), but I follow that description in Savitri without mentally knowing the sequence of the worlds, and these last few days ... I was in that Muddle of Falsehood (I told you last time), it was really painful, and I was tracking it down to the most tenuous vibrations, those that go back to the origin, to the moment when Truth could turn into Falsehood - how it all happened. And it is so tenuous, almost imperceptible, that deformation, the original Deformation, that you tend to lose heart and you think, "It's still really quite easy to topple over ... the slightest thing and you can still topple over into Falsehood, into Deformation." And yesterday, I had in my hands a passage from Savitri that was brought to me - it's a marvel, but ... it's so sad, so miserable, oh, I could have cried (I don't easily cry).

The world grew full of menacing Energies, And wherever turned for help or hope his eyes, In field and house, in street and camp and mart, He met the prowl and stealthy come and go Of armed disquieting bodied Influences. A march of goddess figures dark and nude Alarmed the air with grandiose unease; Appalling footsteps drew invisibly near, Shapes that were threats invaded the dream-light, And ominous beings passed him on the road Whose very gaze was a calamity: A charm and sweetness sudden and formidable, Faces that raised alluring lips and eyes Approached him armed with beauty like a snare, But hid a fatal meaning in each line And could in a moment dangerously change. But he alone discerned that screened attack. (II.VII.205) It makes you wonder.... It's like something gluey surrounding you, touching you all over; you can't go forward, you can't do anything without encountering those black and gluey fingers of Falsehood. It was a very painful impression. And last night, there was the Answer, as it were. This morning, when I got up, I didn't remember clearly, but in the middle of the night I knew it very well. (It's not going from sleep to the waking consciousness: it is coming out of one state to enter another one, and when I came out of that state to enter the so-called normal one, I remembered very well.) I was as if made to live the WAY of turning that Falsehood into Truth, and it was so joyful!... So joyful. In the sense that it's a vibration similar to joy that is capable of dissolving and overcoming the vibration of Falsehood. That was very important: it isn't effort, it isn't righteousness, or scruple or rigidity, none of that, none of that has any effect on that sadness (it is a sadness) of Falsehood - it's something so sad, so helpless, so miserable ... so miserable. And only a vibration of Joy can change it. It was a vibration that flowed like silvery water - it rippled and flowed like silvery water. Which means that austerity, asceticism, even an intense and stern aspiration, all sternness, all that: no action. No action - Falsehood stays put in the background.... But it cannot resist the sparkling of joy. It's interesting. (silence) And in his text, Sri Aurobindo says that the Lord joins the contraries, the opposites, puts them together so they fight each other, and that this will and action give Him a sardonic smile (I am commenting). A tract he reached unbuilt and owned by none: There all could enter but none stay for long. It was a no man's land of evil air, A crowded neighbourhood without one home, A borderland between the world and hell. There unreality was Nature's Lord: It was a space where nothing could be true, For nothing was what it had claimed to be: A high appearance wrapped a spacious void. Yet nothing would confess its own presence Even to itself in the ambiguous heart: A vast deception was the law of things; Only by that deception they could live. An unsubstantial Nihil guaranteed The falsehood of the forms this Nature took And made them seem awhile to be and live. A borrowed magic drew them from the Void; They took a shape and stuff that was not theirs And showed a colour that they could not keep, Mirrors to a fantasm of reality. Each rainbow brilliance was a splendid lie; A beauty unreal graced a glamour face. Nothing could be relied on to remain: Joy nurtured tears and good an evil proved, But never out of evil one plucked good: Love ended early in hate, delight killed with pain, Truth into falsity grew and death ruled life. A Power that laughed at the mischief of the world, An irony that joined the world's contraries And flung them into each other's arms to strive, Put a sardonic rictus on God's face. (II . VII. 206) I was asked for an illustration for H.; I saw the image, the Lord's face with a sardonic smile. And then, after last night's experience, this morning suddenly that expression of the face changed, and I saw the image of the true, the true sorrow of Compassion - I don't know how to explain it.... The sardonic smile changed: from sardonic it grew bitter, from bitter it grew sorrowful, from sorrowful it grew full of an extraordinary compassion.... (silence) So we could say that Falsehood is the sorrow of the Lord. And that His Joy is the cure for all Falsehood. Sorrow had to be expressed so as to be erased from the creation. And sorrow is Falsehood - the Lord's sorrow, sorrow in its essence, is Falsehood. So to live in Falsehood is to hurt the Lord. It opens up horizons.... And His Joy is the cure for everything. That's the problem seen from the other angle. So, if we love the Lord, we cannot give Him cause for sorrow, and necessarily we emerge from Falsehood and enter Joy. That's what I saw last night. It was all silvery. All silvery, silvery.... There was even the vision of how the vibrations were in the cells: vibrations that were silvery, sparkling, rippling, but very regular, and precise ... (how can I put it?). It was the contradiction of Falsehood in the cells; like little flashes of silvery light. But that [Falsehood] is the great obstacle, the extreme difficulty. It's something gluey which entered the creation and sticks to everything, and which has become a material habit too, because it's not only Mind that has Falsehood in it: there's Falsehood in Life, in Life itself. In the completely inanimate, I don't know.... Maybe it came with Life? (According to Savitri, the origin of Falsehood lies in Life.) But it's as though Unconsciousness, in order to go towards Consciousness, to return to Consciousness, had taken the path of Falsehood and Death instead of the path of Truth. And Falsehood is this: the sorrow of the Lord. I was asked for a message for next year, and things of that sort kept coming to me, so I didn't say anything. They wouldn't even understand, it's incomprehensible if you don't have the experience. And if you say just like that, almost dogmatically, "Falsehood is the sorrow of the Lord," it doesn't mean anything. Or if you say it in a literary way, it's no longer true. And if you said, "Falsehood is the Lord's way of being unhappy" (!) (Mother laughs), people would think you're not being serious.



31 Decembre 1963, vol-4, L'Agenda de M�re



My eyes fell on this sentence of Sri Aurobindo [on the calendar! Ah, exactly! That's it. That's it! Every day, I look at it. In the evening the date and the quotation are changed - I don't know what tomorrow's text will be, we have to change the calendar and start "January." Would you like us to do it? Bring the calendar here. All this will go now! We have December here. (Mother reads:) And earth shall be the Spirit's manifest home[[Savitri. ]] (Sujata:) Is it the promise that came? Yes, the promise of the G. The G always promises. (Mother sets the calendar to January 1, 1964,
and reads Sri Aurobindo's quotation) All can be done if God's touch is there1 There: All can be done. All. 31 Decembre 1963, vol-4, L'Agenda de M�re
Mother's Agenda - volume - 5 , 1964

(Mother shows a sketch she has just drawn to illustrate the passage in "Savitri" in which Sri Aurobindo speaks of the "sardonic rictus on God's face.")

I wanted to see this "sardonic laugh" of the Lord! So I looked, and instead of a sardonic laugh, I saw a face ... with such a deep sorrow - so deep, so grave - and full of such compassion.... It's after that that I said (you remember, it was over there, [[In the music room, on December 31, 1963. ]] I was seeing that): "Falsehood is the sorrow of the Lord." It was naturally based on the experience that everything is the Lord - there is nothing that cannot be the Lord. So what is this "sardonic" smile? ... I was looking at that, and then I saw this face. So, as I am supposed to do sketches for H.'s paintings, I did the sketch: Falsehood is the sorrow of the Lord.

(Mother shows the sketch
representing the Lord's sorrowful face.
Long silence)

Sri Aurobindo had the feeling or the sensation that what was farthest from the Lord (I always base myself now on that experience, which is very concrete in its sensation, of the "nearness" or

Page 22

"farness" - it isn't a farness in feelings, not that, it's like a material fact; yet it isn't located in space), well, Sri Aurobindo, for his part, felt that the farthest was cruelty. That's what he felt farthest from; that vibration seemed to him the farthest from that of the Lord. And yet, it sounds bizarre but in cruelty one can still feel, distorted, the vibration of Love; far behind or deep within that vibration of cruelty, there is still, distorted, the vibration of Love. And Falsehood - the real Falsehood that doesn't arise from fear or anything of the sort, that has no reason behind it - real Falsehood, the negation of Truth (the WILLED negation of Truth), is, to me, something completely black and inert. That's the feeling it gives me. It is black, blacker than the blackest coal, and inert - inert, without any response. When I read that description in Savitri,[[ "A tract he reached unbuilt and owned by none...." II.VI1.206 (See conversation of December 31, 1963.) ]] I felt a sorrow which I thought I had been unable to feel for a long time - a long time. I thought I was (how shall I put it?) cured of that possibility. And last time, when I saw that, I saw it was still there; and while I was looking, I saw this same sorrow in the Lord, in His face, His expression. The deliberate negation of all that is divine - of all that we call divine. The Divine, for us, is always the perfection not yet manifested, all the marvels not yet manifested, and which must keep on growing, of course. The far end of the Manifestation (assuming that there was a progressive descent ... there may have been one, I don't know - there have been so many perceptions of what happened, sometimes contradictory, always incomplete and humanized), but if you consider the aspect of evolution, you tend to consider a far end from which you proceed to another far end (it's obviously childish, but anyway ...), or an extreme way of being that grows towards the opposite Extreme Way of Being; well, what seems to me the blackest and most inert, the total negation of "that" to which we aspire, is what constitutes Falsehood. In other words, this is perhaps what I call Falsehood; because falsehood in the human way is always mixed with all kinds of things - but Falsehood proper is this. It is the assertion that the Divine does not exist, Life does not exist, Light does not exist, Love

8th January 1964, vol-5, page 22-23 , L'Agenda de M�re




(The day after Mother's eighty-sixth birthday. Mother first reads the translation of the message she gave on the 21st:)

It was translated in an interesting way.... I read it, then I concentrated (A. was sitting here, not moving or saying anything), so first I said a word or two to him to "establish the atmosphere." Then I remained quiet, and it simply came - it isn't exactly a translation: Sa volont� solitaire affronta la loi du monde. Pour arr�ter la roue fatale, cette Splendeur se leva ... Her single will opposed the cosmic rule. To stay the wheels of Doom this greatness rose.

(Savitri, I.II.19)



22nd February 1964, vol-5, page 60 , L'Agenda de M�re





Yes, that's what it is, a sort of inebriation.

Somewhere in "Savitri," Sri Aurobindo says, "This wine of lightning in the cells...."[[And came back quivering with a nameless Force Drunk with a wine of lightning in their cells. (IV.IV 383) ]]
Oh! Do you know where it is? ...


22nd February 1964, vol-5, page 62 , L'Agenda de M�re



But it's my method for Savitri, too, it's a long time since I stopped translating: I follow the thought up to a point, and then, instead of thinking this way (same gesture of tipping to the right), I think that way (to the left), that's all. So it's not pure English, not pure French either. Personally I would like it to be neither English nor French, to be something else! But for the moment, what words are to be used? ... I clearly feel that to me, both in English and French (and maybe in other languages if I knew any), words have another meaning, a slightly unusual and far more PRECISE meaning than they do in languages as we know them - far more precise. Because, to me, a word means exactly a certain experience, and I clearly see that people understand quite differently; so I feel their understanding as something hazy and imprecise. Every word corresponds to an experience, to a particular vibration. I don't say I have reached the satisfactory expression - it's taking shape. And the method is always the same: I never translate - never, never - I go up above, to the place where one thinks beyond words, where one experiences the idea or the thought of a thing, or the movement or the feeling (whatever), and when it's in a particular language, it goes like this (same gesture as before), while in another language, it goes like that: it's as if something up above tipped

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over. I don't translate on the same level at all, I never translate on the level of languages. And sometimes, I notice that for me the quality of the words is very different from what it is for others, very different. I have given up all hope of making myself understood.

18th March 1964, vol-5, page 87 , L'Agenda de M�re





Because thou art, men yield not to their doom, But ask for happiness and strive with fate.

(VII.IV. 507)


23rd March 1964, vol-5, page 103 , L'Agenda de M�re





I read a line in "Savitri" that struck me very much, because I saw a connection with what you said the other day about the coexistence of Falsehood and Truth: "And earth shall grow unexpectedly divine."[["When darkness deepens strangling the earth's breast And man's corporeal mind is the only lamp, As a thief's in the night shall be the covert tread Of one who steps unseen into his house. A Voice ill-heard shall speak, the soul obey, A power into mind's inner chamber steal, A charm and sweetness open life's closed doors And beauty conquer the resisting world The truth-light capture Nature by surprise, A stealth of God compel the heart to bliss And earth shall grow unexpectedly divine." (Savitri, I.IV.55) ]]
That's right! That's right ... unexpectedly divine. And even the most skeptical will be compelled to see that something is changing, that it's not the same thing anymore. Sri Aurobindo said (he said it to me personally and he wrote it), The time has come. Because he went away, people thought he was wrong; that was the general effect, they said to themselves, "He thought the time had come, but he went away because he saw he

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was wrong." - That's rubbish. (Smiling) Besides, he didn't go so far away! I spend my nights with him, and with the most complete variety of work - it's a multiple, innumerable "Him" ... and so wonderfully adapted to all necessities: terrestrial necessities and individual necessities. And for him, it's only one small part of himself; because it's with him (I told you the story the other day) that I had that experience of going out of humanity, going out of the material world: it was with him, in his "company," if I may say so!

14th November 1964, vol-5, page 283-84 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother's Agenda - volume - 6 , 1965

(Every time Mother receives Satprem, she translates one line from "Savitri" that has been copied for her in large characters. Today's line is from the debate between Death and Savitri's heart:)

And never lose the white spiritual touch

(Mother repeats)

And never lose the white spiritual touch [[It can drink up the sea of All-Delight And never lose the white spiritual touch (X.III.655) ]] Sans jamais perdre le blanc contact de l'Esprit

Yesterday, I read with H. Savitri's series of experiences when she begins with self-annulment: Annul thyself so that God alone exist (I no longer remember, but that's the idea).[[Annul thyself that only God may be. (Vll.VI.538) ]] It begins with self-annulment, then she has the experience of BEING the All, that is, of being the Supreme (the Supreme in herself) and the entire Manifestation and all things.

There are three passages. It's absolutely ... an absolutely wonderful description. It's extraordinarily beautiful.[[The world of unreality ceased to be ... She was a single being, yet all things The world was her spirit's wide circumference (Vll.VIl.554-556) ]] It's a chapter that doesn't have a title.

First she meets her soul: a house of flames. She enters the house of flames and unites with her soul ["The Finding of the Soul," VII.V]. It's after that. After, there is Nirvana ["Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute," VII.VI]. She goes into Nirvana - and becomes just a violet line in Nothingness.[[Unutterably effaced, no one and null, A vanishing vestige like a violet trace, A faint record merely of a self now past, She was a point in the unknowable. (Vll.VI.549) ]] Then finds herself back in her body - that's where it begins. A chapter without a title [VIl.VIl]. I'll find it some other time.

It has been a revolution in the atmosphere, that's why I am telling you about it. Because all the experiences described [in Savitri] are precisely the experiences I have. So then, suddenly, in the body .. I was over there in the music room, and H. was reading to me; then when she had finished reading, all of a sudden the body sat up straight in an aspiration and a prayer of such intensity! It was a dreadful anguish, you know: "See, the whole experience is here [in Mother], complete, total, perfect, and because this thing [the body] has lived too long, it no longer has the power of expression." And it said, "But why, Lord? Why, why do You take away from me the power of expression because this has lived too long?" It was a sort of revolution in the body's consciousness. Things have been much better since, much better. There has been a decisive change. You see, it was the exact description of the body's present state, yet it constantly feels fragile, in a precarious balance. And then, with all its aspiration, it said, "But WHY? Why?... See, the experience is all there - why isn't it expressed?" As always (laughing), I had the feeling that the Lord was laughing and saying to me, "But since such is your will, it will be that way!" Meaning simply: it's you who CHOSE to be like that. And it's perfectly true. All our incapacities, all our limitations, all our impossibilities, it's this idiotic Matter that chooses them all - not with intelligence, but with a sort of feeling that "that's how things must be," that they are "naturally" like that. An adherence - an idiotic adherence - to the mode of the lower nature. Then there was laughter, tears, a whole revolution, and afterwards all was fine. But nobody on earth will be able to convince me it isn't because this material nature chooses to be that way that it is that way.

8 Mai 1965, vol-6, page 89-90 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother then takes up the translation of "Savitri":

The Debate of Love and Death.)

(Mother reads the text) Aha! What a joker!

... Then will I give thee all thy soul desires

He's a joker.

All the brief joys earth keeps for mortal hearts

But I don't want them! - He is a real joker. And what happens to him?

... My will once wrought remains unchanged through Time

Oho, that's what you think!

And Satyavan can never again be thine.

X.III.636

Not true, old chap!

(Mother translates)

Alors je te donnerai tout ce que ton �me d�sire ...

[Then will I give thee all thy soul desires]

The soul doesn't desire anything! It's easy to say, "I will give thee all thy soul desires," the soul desires nothing. So he doesn't commit himself to much! He's a joker - he made him quite a joker.

12th Juin, 1965, vol 6, page 123 , L'Agenda de M�re



(Mother takes up the translation of "Savitri," from The Debate of Love and Death. Then she stops in the middle of a line:)

As if things were far, far away, far away from me: things, people, noises, images, everything, far, far away ... (Mother takes up "Savitri" again): My will once wrought remains unchanged through Time And Satyavan can never again be shine. He made him a bit stupid, because even if Satyavan doesn't come back in this body, what prevents him from taking another! He's bragging! And Savitri (or "the Voice") afterwards tells him, you remember, "Ah, we'll keep you all the same, we still need you for a while." When he has been beaten hollow, when he is finished, she tells him, "We'll still keep you because we still need you,"[[I have given thee thy awful shape of dread And thy sharp sword of terror and grief and pain To force the soul of man to struggle for light ... Thou art his spur to greatness in his works, The whip to his yearning for eternal bliss, His poignant need of immortality. Live, Death, awhile, be still my instrument. (X.IV.666) ]] don't you remember?
I have given thee thy awful shape of dread And thy sharp sword of terror and grief and pain To force the soul of man to struggle for light... Thou art his spur to greatness in his works, The whip to his yearning for eternal bliss, His poignant need of immortality. Live, Death, awhile, be still my instrument. (X.IV.666)

14 Juin, 1965, vol 6, page 125-26 , L'Agenda de M�re

Then Mother takes up "Savitri": The Debate of Love and Death. Is he going on? What does he offer Savitri? "Daughters," "sons"! Oh, he is base (laughing), base with vulgarity. (Mother reads:) Daughters of thy own shape in heart and mind Fair hero sons and sweetness undisturbed ... (X.III.637) See that joy! Oh! ... How vulgar that being is! Can there really be people who are tempted by this? I think Sri Aurobindo deliberately made this Death very vulgar to discourage all the illusionists and Nirvanists.

7 Juillet, 1965, vol 6, page 163-64 , L'Agenda de M�re





Mother takes up the translation of "Savitri," the Debate of Love and Death: ... And from the universal standpoint, it is this inertia, this unconsciousness that made the existence of death necessary - the "existence" of death!!
24 Juillet, 1965, vol 6, page 195 , L'Agenda de M�re

Which is why the mystics send us back to heaven, and the realists to the ever-receding perfect society and automatic leisure. Sri Aurobindo opens a door in this world stifled by its material or heavenly excesses. He tells us, first, that there is something to be discovered and that we are rich, richer than we may ever think with our heads - we are like beggars sitting on a gold mine. But we must get down into the mine. And he tells us that we have the power, if only we are pure enough to seize it. The power over Death and over Life and over Matter, for the Spirit is in us and it is here below that It wants to conquer: Heaven's touch fulfills but cancels not our earth. [[Savitri, XII.719. ]] And he tells us that just because we have invented a few rockets and cultivated a few cerebral pyramids, that does not mean we have done with being men. A still greater adventure awaits us,

Page 214

divine and superhuman, if only we have the courage to get under way. And he gives us the means to do so.

For "what Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation: it is an action."[[The Mother. ]] Sri Aurobindo is not a thinker or a sage, not a mystic or a dreamer. He is a force of the future that takes hold of the present and leads us towards, The miracle for which our life was made.[[Savitri, 11. Xll. 278. ]]
7 Aout, 1965, vol 6, page 213-214 , L'Agenda de M�re

And then, the stupidity of people and things becomes cruel, because even in the ordinary consciousness, for me all those things are meaningless; but then with that need to keep two almost contradictory states together (a transitional period, of course), if you add to it a truckload of nonsense, it's not pleasant. It's like this "gentleman" [Death in Savitri], all the rubbish he says!

21st Aout, 1965, vol 6, page 227 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother reads a few lines from "Savitri" which she prepares to translate into French. It is Savitri's heart that speaks:) The great stars burn with my unceasing fire And life and death are both its fuel made. Life only was my blind attempt to love: Earth saw my struggle, heaven my victory. (X. III . 638)

Les grandes �toiles br�lent de mon feu incessant La vie et la mort sont toutes deux son combustible. La vie seule fut mon essai aveugle d'amour: La terre vit ma lutte, le ciel ma victoire.

She says, Life and death are the fuel, then, In my blind attempt LIFE ONLY was my attempt to love.[[Mother later stressed again, "It's not Life was only, but Life only." ]] Because my attempt to love was blind, I limited it to life - but I won the victory in death. It's very interesting. (Mother repeats:) Earth saw my struggle, heaven my victory. Yet, earth should see the victory? The victory should be on earth, shouldn't it? Yes, but she couldn't win the victory on earth because she lacked heaven - she couldn't win the victory in life because she lacked death and she had to conquer death in order to conquer life. That's the idea. Unless we conquer Death, the victory isn't won. Death must be vanquished, there must be no more death. That's very clear. (silence) According to what he says here, it is the principle of Love that is transformed into flame and finally into light. It isn't the principle of Light that is transformed into flame when it materializes: it's the flame that is transformed into light. The great stars give light because they burn; they burn because they are under the effect of Love. Love would be the original Principle? That seems to be what he is saying. I didn't remember this passage. But I told you, my experience[[The experience of the "great pulsations" of divine Love (in April, 1962). ]] is that the last thing as one rises - the last thing beyond light, beyond consciousness, beyond ... - the last thing one reaches is love. "One," this "one" is ... it's the "I" - I don't know. According to the experience, it's the last thing to manifest now in its purity, and it is the one that has the transforming power. That's what he appears to be saying here: the victory of Love seems to be the final victory. (silence) He said, Savitri, a Legend and a Symbol; it's he who made it a symbol. It's the story of the encounter of Savitri, the principle of Love, with Death; and it's over Death that she won the victory, not in life. She could not win the victory in life without winning the victory over Death. I didn't know it was put so clearly here. I had read it, but only once. It's very interesting. How many times, how many times have I seen that he had written down my experiences.... Because for years and years I didn't read Sri Aurobindo's books; it was only before coming here that I had read The Life Divine, The Synthesis of Yoga, and another one, too. For instance, Essays on the Gita I had never read, Savitri I had never read, I read it very recently (that is to say, some ten years ago, in 1954 or '55). The book Sri Aurobindo on Himself and on the Mother I had never read, and when I read it, I realized what he wrote to people about me - I had no idea, he had never told me anything about it! ... You see, there are lots of things that I had said while speaking to people - that I had said just like that, because they came (gesture from above) and I would say them - and I realized he had written them. So, naturally, I appeared to be simply repeating what he had written - but I had never read it! And now, it's the same thing: I had read this passage from Savitri, but hadn't noticed it - because I hadn't had the experience. But now that I have had the experience, I see that he tells it. It's quite interesting. Maybe we'll have to reread Savitri?... In fact, if we wanted to be really good, we would try to translate the whole of Savitri, wouldn't we? What we are doing now with the end [Book X], we would do with all the rest. There is a part I tried to translate all alone, but it would be fun to do it together. We could try. Not for publication! Because there is immediately a debasing: everything that is published is debased, otherwise people don't understand. We would do it for ourselves. But it's very interesting. Just the other day I noted something down on the subject (Mother looks for a note, then reads it): "Very rare and exceptional are the human beings who can understand and feel divine Love, because divine Love is free of attachment and of the need to please the object loved." That was a discovery. That's why people don't understand; for them, love is so much like this (Mother intertwines the fingers of her two hands) that they cannot even feel or believe that they love if there isn't an attachment like this (same gesture). And necessarily, the consequence of attachment is the will, the desire, the need to please the object of one's love. If you take away the attachment and the need to please, people scratch their heads and wonder if they love. And it's only when you take away those two things that divine Love begins! This, mon petit, we'll talk about again, it's a revelation.

That's why they don't understand and that's why they can't feel it.
8 Septembre, 1965, vol 6, page 235-238 , L'Agenda de M�re





There is a line in Savitri which freely translated is:
Annule-toi pour que seul le Divin soit.[["Annul thyself that only God may be." (Vll.VI.538) ]]
A very free translation, but the idea is there. And that's the state in which "that" can exist. And it is evident that the body doesn't dissolve (Mother touches her own body), it's here, isn't it? You can see it! (silence)
And it is the only - the only - infallible way to establish harmony in the body [this Smile of the Presence]. All the rest, all the precautions, all the remedies, all that seems so futile, so futile ... and so inadequate. The only way - for everything, everything. I do not yet have proof of the reconstruction of something that had disappeared (that had been amputated or broken), I can't say, but logically it's the same thing.
We'll talk about it again when we have the proof.
13 Octobre, 1965, vol-6, page 273 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Then Mother takes up the translation of "Savitri" and stops abruptly, as if she were following something with her eyes:)

... As big as this, a sun, a sun scintillating with Sri Aurobindo's light, when I write, between me and the notebook, and it moves about with the pen! It's this big (a big orange), it's Sri Aurobindo's light, blue, that special blue, silver blue, scintillating, and it moves about every time I write in this notebook! (Laughing) That's why I have difficulty seeing: it moves about with the pen!

6 November , 1965, vol-6, page 290 , L'Agenda de M�re

page 309 ,

Mother takes up the translation of "Savitri":
Imagining meanings in life's heavy drift, They trusted in the uncertain environment And waited for death to change their spirit's scene. (X.IV.641) Yes, those are the people who are hoping to go to a beatific heaven. The entire West is convinced, of course, that the earth has to be taken as it is and that it's a preparation for a life in another world, which according to your "faults" or "qualities" will be a heaven or a hell. But anyway, doing away with hell, all those who have goodwill will go to a beatific heaven. It's a weird invention, isn't it! Anyway ... But there is an accumulation, an extraordinary compactness of knowledge in this whole Savitri, at every turn. There is nothing that's void of knowledge. It's truly interesting.

30 Novembre, vol-6, 1965, page 313 , L'Agenda de M�re

Because as for me, I have no reason to get out of it [the meditation]. This way I feel the world is fine at last! When I get out of it, the grating starts. When I am there, the world and everything is quite fine!

(Mother takes up her first lines of "Savitri")

A savage din of labour and a tramp Of armoured life and the monotonous hum Of thoughts and acts that ever were the same

(X.IV.641)

There you are! That's it.

***

Towards the end This is my great remedy. Yesterday I stayed like that [in meditation] for most of the day. Everybody thought I was asleep (!) and they took great care not to wake me up (so much the better, that was kind). This way, it's all right, everything is fine. And the body too is better, it's the only cure; for me, it's the only cure: bringing down that Peace, that Light - a vast, vast light, and calm, calm - then the cells get used to being a little more harmonious. Otherwise, everything goes wrong. I don't believe in doctors. Try as I might, in spite of all my goodwill, I don't believe in treatments and I don't believe in doctors. When I am in that state the doctor gives me medicines - I observe the medicines: they cause as much disorder as they do good. They do good to one thing and harm to another. So afterwards that has to be set right. You never get out of it. And what's more, they do me the favor of giving me children's doses! If I were given adults' doses, I think ... It's interesting, very interesting (!) Basically, in order to feel at home in the world as it is today, one must belong to the category I spoke of the other day, of those who have established a harmony with all the human faculties, who are satisfied, and also who are egocentric enough not even to notice that things aren't that way for others. Then it's fine; otherwise ... Sri Aurobindo very much belonged (in his outward being) to the

Page 318

category of those who want things to change, who push for progress, who want to move on, who want to reject the past ... very much so. He had to make a great effort to be satisfied with things and people; it was his compassion that made him accept people around him as they were. Otherwise he used to suffer a lot.

4th Dceembre, vol-6, 1965, page 318 , L'Agenda de M�re

The first poetry I was able to appreciate in my life was Savitri. Previously, I was closed. To me it was always words: hollow, hollow, hollow, just words - words for words' sake. So as a sound it's pretty, but ... I prefer music. Music is better! This translation of Savitri gives me a whole lot of fun, it's great fun for me. Much more fun than having to "tell things" ... that are unnecessary.

28th Dceembre, vol-6, 1965, page 341 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother's Agenda - volume - 7 , 1966

(Mother copies out in her thick white notebook a few lines from her translation of "Savitri.")

... Near my pen, there is a small disk of Sri Aurobindo's light, which sparkles and sparkles.... I see it more than my handwriting. It's no bigger than this (two inches) and it shines, it shines brightly - blue light, of the silvery blue that was Sri Aurobindo's blue. It shines and shines, and it moves along with my fingers. [[Mother had already made a similar remark last year. See Agenda VI, conversation of November 6, 1965, p. 287. ]] And when I speak, when I say things that "come," there are two disks (I don't know why). Not one, but two, and they are bigger (about four inches), one above the other. When I tell of an experience, for instance, or answer a question, there are two of them, slightly bigger. And when I concentrate on someone while calling the Lord, then, generally, near the shoulder (gesture between the person's head and shoulder), there is a great golden light, like that, which sparkles and sparkles, shines and shines, very brightly, all the while. And when the light goes, the concentration goes. But just now, it was amusing, it was quite small like this, moving along with my pen. Now it's finished, gone! (Mother laughs)

19th January, vol-7, 1966, page 20 , L'Agenda de M�re

Then Mother takes up the translation of "Savitri":

Each in its hour eternal claimed went by

Ideals, systems, sciences, poems, crafts

Tireless there perished and again recurred,

Sought restlessly by some creative Power.

But all were dreams crossing an empty vast.

(X.IV.642)

All this is the same thing! It's amusing. He certainly had similar experiences [to Mother's] when he wrote those lines.

22nd January, vol-7, 1966, page 25 , L'Agenda de M�re

Then Mother takes up her translation of "Savitri":

Ascetic voices called of lonely seers

On mountain summits or on river banks

Or from the desolate heart of forest glades

Seeking heaven's rest or the spirit's worldless peace,

Or in bodies motionless like statues, fixed

In tranced cessations of their sleepless thought

Sat sleeping souls, and this too was a dream.

(X.IV.642)

(Laughing) He's terrible! He has a knack for demolishing everything. But it's wonderfully true. It immediately puts you in the atmosphere of the relativity of all those human conceptions. The trouble is that the outer being finds it hard to forget its habit of regarding material things as true, real, concrete: "This is concrete, you touch it, see it, feel it...." It's beginning to come.

26th January, vol-7, 1966, page 27 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother carries on with her translation of "Savitri": the vision of the plane where all the formations of the human mind are found.)

All things the past has made and slain were there [[As if lost remnants of forgotten light, Before her mind there fled with trailing wings Dimmed revelations and delivering words Emptied of their mission and their strength to save The messages of the evangelist gods, Voices of prophets, scripts of vanishing creeds. (X.IV.642) ]] Quite interestingly, I am following all these experiences of Savitri. The experience of those different joys, I was surprised to have it a few days ago; I said to myself, "Strange, why am I made to see the joy in all those things: the joy of destroying, the joy of creating, the joy of laboring and conquering, and all of it?" I was very surprised, and then ... Just last night, I must have been going about for some time among all human constructions, but those of a higher quality, not the ordinary constructions (those Sri Aurobindo refers to here: the philosophical, religious, spiritual constructions ...). And they were symbolized by huge buildings - huge - that were so high ... as if men were as tall as the edge of this stool, quite tiny, in comparison with those huge things - huge, huge. I was going about, and each person came (I saw now one come, now another), each person came saying, "Mine is the true path." So I would go with him to an open door through which an immense landscape could be seen, and just when we came to the door, it would close! It was really very interesting. With all sorts of diverse details, each one with his own habits. I have forgotten the details now, but when I came out of that place last night, in the middle of the night, I was quite amused, I said to myself, "It's quite amusing!" You know, when they spoke you could see through a door vast expanses before you, in full light, it was superb; then I would go with that person towards the door and ... the door was closed. It was really interesting. And so large, so large, so high - we were very small.

Page 37

There was no end to them.... And there were people, always new people: now men, now women, now young people, now old people, and from every possible country. It lasted a very long time. I remember that I said to one of them, "Yes, all this is very fine, but it isn't true food, it leaves you famished." Then there was one who was ... I don't know which country he was from: he wore a dark robe, he had black hair, a somewhat round face (he may have been a Chinese, I can't say, I don't remember). He said to me, "Oh, not with me! Taste this and see." And he gave me something to eat - it was absolutely first-rate, oh, it was excellent! So I looked at him, and I said, "Oh, you are clever ... show me, show me your path." He told me, "I have no path." Anyway, details ... If I noted all that down in the middle of the night, it would be very amusing. It was really amusing. And it corresponds to what we've just read in Savitri. Yes, he was comfortably seated in front of a pillar (a pillar whose end couldn't be seen; it rose so high that its end couldn't be seen), and he said to me, "Oh, I have no path." (Mother laughs) But what he gave to eat was very good! I remember I crunched it, I bit into it, and it had a marvelous taste. Who could it be?... I don't know. They must have been known people. And it was rather strange: I was always a bit taller than all of them, and when I moved about, I did so with much greater speed than they, and I would reach the doors, just about to go through ... when they would come along and the door would close! Very amusing. I could write volumes with all that! But last night I didn't understand, I wondered, "Why do I go strolling in such places?" Now I understand!

11th February , vol-7, 1966, page 37-38 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Then Mother goes on to "Savitri," the beginning of the new dialogue
between Savitri and Death:)

Once more arose the great destroying Voice: Across the fruitless labour of the worlds His huge denial's all-defeating might Pursued the ignorant march of dolorous Time.

(X.IV.643)

The ignorant march of dolorous Time.... That's quite it, we're poor devils. That's exactly the state of mind I have been in for two days, but more particularly this morning.... Oh, as an experience it's very interesting. The spontaneous activity of Matter is defeatist ["the all-defeating might"]. It has to surrender, it has to annul itself so that a creative power - truly creative and victorious - can manifest. That's quite interesting. Th�on used to say that this defeatist state (the result of which is death), this destructive power, was born with the Vital's infusion into Matter. The rock, the stone, that is, the most exclusively material, isn't defeatist. The beginning of destruction came with the beginning of the entry of the vital force: with water - water, air, all that moves. All that begins to move brings along the power of destruction. And in human matter, this destructive power is associated with movement.

Page 40

(silence)

In other words, on earth (let's limit ourselves to the earth), it's only with Life that Death came in.

(silence)

And certainly, the first manifestations of Life were water and air, the wind, weren't they? Fire ... But fire, there's no fire without air - fire is the symbol of the supreme Power.

(long silence
Mother scribbles a few words)

Here's the answer: Truth does not depend on any external form and shall manifest in spite of all bad will or opposition. I've written this in answer to this gentleman [Death]. It came with a power: "Ah, you shall see." But I'd like to know what Savitri says. What does Savitri say?... There's no time left, we'll see that next time. What does she say to him? I think she always says the same thing: the omnipotence of Love. There you feel the Force. Otherwise it wouldn't be worth living - it really isn't worth it, it's no fun.

19th February , vol-7, 1966, page 40-41 , L'Agenda de M�re

(After the translation of "Savitri" -

the dialogue with Death)

Behold the figures of this symbol realm....

Here thou canst trace the outcome Nature gives

To the sin of being and the error in things

And the desire that compels to live

And man's incurable malady of hope.

(X.IV.64 3)

But she will answer you!... I'd like to know what she will answer him.

(silence)

If we follow to its end the idea with which Sri Aurobindo wrote this, Death would be the principle that created Falsehood in the world.... It's obviously either Falsehood that created Death, or Death that created Falsehood.
It's rather Falsehood that created Death!
Logically, yes. According to the story (if it can be called a story) that Th�on told, it was Falsehood that created Death. But according to what we've just read, Death would be what created Falsehood.... Obviously it must be neither this way nor that! It must be something else, which we should find.

(silence)

Theon's idea (which also fits with the teaching here in India in which they say it was the sense of separation that created the whole Disorder - Death, Falsehood and all the rest), Theon's idea was that those first four Emanations, that is, Consciousness, Love, Life, and Truth (Love was the last, I think, but I no longer remember what he said), those four individual emanated Beings, according to him, in full consciousness of their power and existence, cut themselves off from their Origin. In other words, they wanted to depend only on themselves, they didn't even feel the need to keep the connection

Page 43

with their Origin (I am putting it very materially). So then, that cut is what instantly caused Consciousness to become Unconsciousness, Love to become Suffering (it wasn't Love - it was actually Ananda which became Suffering), Life to become Death and Truth to become Falsehood. And they hurled themselves into the creation like that. Then, there was a second creation, which was the creation of the gods, to mend the mischief caused by those four (the story is told in almost a childlike way in order not to be abstract, in order to become concrete). The gods are the second emanation and they came to mend. In India and everywhere, they were given various names and functions, and they are found in the Overmind region, that is to say, above the physical quaternary, the material quaternary. And the function of those gods is to mend the damage wrought by the others. And the region in which the others (the first Emanations) concentrated is the vital region.

26th February , vol-7, 1966, page 43 , L'Agenda de M�re

But when the hour of the Divine draws near [[But when the hour of the Divine draws near, The Mighty Mother shall take birth in Time and God be born into the human clay ... (X1.1.705) ]] But when the hour of the Divine draws near ...

Page 76





(The following conversation, in which Mother speaks entirely

in English, took place while she listened to the English transla

tion of the conversation of March 4, in which she said in

particular: "It becomes just a choice: you choose things

to be like this or like that....")

I had the same experience in the cell-consciousness. It lasted for

Page 76

one hour and there it was truly almost miraculous. The same Consciousness as this consciousness I had in what we can call the "material mental" (that is, the collective consciousness of the cells), but this morning it was in the cells themselves, this Consciousness [the eternal Consciousness Mother speaks of in the conversation of March 4], the same Consciousness. And it was truly miraculous. With the impression that with THAT there [in the cells], there is nothing impossible. It comes, it stays in spite of everything, whatever I do, even if I speak, and it goes. And when it's gone it's gone, I can make an effort, it doesn't come back. But so long as it is there, it is all-powerful, it dominates everything and ... yes, the whole world seems to change. And yet everything is the same. You remember this sentence of Sri Aurobindo: "All was changed and yet everything was the same"? That is exactly that.
"And then, it becomes just a choice: you choose things to be like this or like that ..."
Yes, this same thing, this same experience in the cell-consciousness. What the human beings call "life" and "death," the continuation of this present organization or its cessation, it was absolutely a question of choice (something like a choice - there are some who say "the Divine's Will" or "the Supreme's Will"; it is a way of saying, but it is ... it is something that chooses). And there was at the same time the exact ... it was more than a feeling, it was a lived knowledge of what is the individual and why the individual and in what way the Supreme becomes the individual and how He can continue to be the individual or stop to be the individual.... Now that the experience is gone, naturally what I say has no meaning, but at that time it was the exact perception: the individual is that (gesture), that position taken by the Supreme, and if He chooses to continue it continues. It becomes quite material, you see, no more mental at all (it is very difficult to express because of that). It becomes a living experience of just what makes the individual and how this individual can remain individual although it is united perfectly, united in perfect consciousness with the Supreme. It lasted about fifteen to twenty minutes in complete stability and I continued doing my normal activities (it was during the time of my toilet - I wash my mouth and gargle), purposely it comes at that time to show that it is absolutely independent from the

Page 77

activity. And it comes more often at that time than when I sit in meditation. When I sit in meditation generally begins a kind of all-around-the-earth activity or even universal activity, it becomes conscious of that, but this body's experiences are not there - to have the body experience you must live in your body! It is why the ancient sages or saints didn't know what to do with the body, because they went out of it and sat, and then the body is no more concerned. But when you remain active, then it's the body that has the experience. That is the secret.

30th march , vol-7, 1966, page 76-78 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Later, Mother copies out a few lines from "Savitri" which she has just translated, and her hand scratches out a word.)

Constantly, the whole time, thoroughly amusing little things happen. It was a small hand - a tiny hand - that took my hand for fun and wrote. Just for fun! So I have to be on my guard all the time!... It was someone who was laughing and laughing and laughing! It's so living - so living, so teeming with things - and we don't see anything. But I see. Previously I didn't see, but now I see it all (Mother laughs). Oh, there would be so many things to tell if we had time, very funny things.

6th April , vol-7, 1966, page 76-78 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother translates a line of "Savitri" without hesitation, then comments:)

You read here [in the physical book], then you keep still, open a door, and it comes. It's amusing, I've just done that as if I had been made to do it. Usually it's always blank and still here (gesture to the forehead), and that's what it gets inscribed on; but just now it wasn't like that: I read, it came here, then I made a movement backwards: a door opened, and then it was clearly written!

16th April , vol-7, 1966, page 88 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Then Mother reads two lines from "Savitri," the Debate of Love and Death.)

Ah, it's still this gentleman I had this whole experience a few days ago. It was so amusing!

In vain his heart lifts up its yearning prayer,

Peopling with brilliant Gods the formless Void

(X.IV.644)

Page 96

Why? Were you in the formless Void?
I saw that, it was so amusing! I saw it all. Oh, it was an extraordinary experience. All of a sudden I was outside and, I can't say "above" (but it was above), but outside the whole human creation, outside everything, everything man has created in all the worlds, even in the most ethereal worlds. And seen from there, it was ... I saw that play of all the possible conceptions men have had of God and of the way to approach God (what they call "God"), and also of the invisible worlds and the gods, all that: one thing came upon another, one upon another, it all went by (as it's written in Savitri), one thing upon another went by (gesture as if on a screen), one upon another ... with its artificiality, its inadequacy to express the Truth. And with such precision! A precision so accurate that you felt in anguish, because the impression was of being in a world of nothing but imagination, of imaginative creation, but in nothing real, there wasn't a feeling of ... of touching the Thing. To such a point that it became ... yes, a terrible anguish: "But then, what? What? What's truly TRUE and outside all that we can conceive?" And it came. It was like this: (gesture of self-abandon) the total, complete self-annulment, annulment of that which can know, of that which tries to know - even "surrender" isn't an adequate word: a sort of annulment. And suddenly it ended with a slight movement as a child could have who doesn't know anything, doesn't try to know anything, doesn't understand anything, doesn't try to understand - but who abandons himself. A slight movement of such simplicity, such ingenuousness, such extraordinary sweetness (words can't express it): nothing, just this (gesture of self-abandon), and instantaneously, THE Certitude (not expressed, lived), the lived Certitude. I wasn't able to keep it very long. But "it" is wonderful. But the anguish had reached its peak: the sense of the futility of human efforts to understand - to embrace and understand - what isn't human, what's beyond. And I am talking about humanity in its supreme realizations, of course, when man feels himself to be a god.... That was still down below. The experience lasted, oh, I don't know, perhaps a few minutes, but it was ... something. Only, with a certainty that as soon as you come back, as soon as you just try to speak one word (or even if you don't speak), as soon as you try to formulate in one way or another: finished. Yet there OBSTINATELY remains a certitude that the creation is

Page 97

NOT a transitory way to recapture the true Consciousness: it's something that has its own reality and that will have its own existence IN THE TRUTH. That's the next step. That's why that realization [the Void] isn't the goal, that's exactly why. A conviction that it isn't the goal. It's an absolute necessity, but not the goal. The goal is something ... the capacity to keep That here. When will that come? I don't know. But when it comes, everything will be changed. Until then, let's prepare ourselves. There is only one thing I have noted (that I am forced to note): there is a power of action on others which infinitely exceeds what it was before. Oh, it makes waves everywhere, everywhere, even in those people who were the most settled in their lives and basically fairly satisfied, as much as one can be - even those are touched. We'll see, we'll see. Anyhow, things are moving along.

27th April , vol-7, 1966, page 96-97 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother takes up "Savitri" Then disappointed to the Void he turns And in its happy nothingness asks release

(X.IV.644)

That's the Nihilists: Shankaracharya and so on, the worshipers of Nothingness.
The worshipers of Nothingness ... I don't know, the farther I go, the more I have a sense of a ... very, very sweet, very full Nothingness, but still a Nothingness. It's absolutely void, yet it's full, and very sweet, but there's nothing.
You are playing on words.
No, no!
Ultimately, this taste for Nothingness is the most harmonious way to put an end to the ego. It's the ego coming to an end. It's, yes, the most harmonious way, the higher way to put an end to the ego. It's the ego coming to an end. It is tired of being. Instead of feeling killed and crushed (Mother

Page 99

makes a gesture of self-abandon), phew!... A "phew" of relief: "Enough, enough of this battle to exist." We could say: Falsehood, tired of being, gives up. Instead of a disappearance through crushing and trampling (same gesture of self-abandon): cease to be. It's the divine way to annul the ego. The ego is no longer necessary, it has finished its job, the consciousness is ready; then ... (same gesture) phew! "I am tired of being, I no longer want to be."

30th April , vol-7, 1966, page 98-99 , L'Agenda de M�re

Ah, let's take up Savitri. Do you want to tell me something? (Laughing) I seem to have put you in a complete daze!
No, you say you don't draw conclusions, but I try to!
Oh, conclusions, I don't know.
In short, it's the consciousness of Eternity learning to enter into Time, into Matter?
Yes, that's an idea, maybe that's it! Surely we'll see one day, we'll understand.

***

(Mother reads a few lines in which Death derides all human beliefs, concepts, philosophies, inventions....)

And sciences omnipotent in vain By which men learn of what the suns are made,

Page 108

Transform all forms to serve their outward needs, Ride through the sky and sail beneath the sea, But learn not what they are or why they came....

(X.IV.644)

It's really charming! I like this: Ride through the sky and sail beneath the sea, But learn not what they are or why they came He's a monument of pessimism. But it's true, that's the trouble, it's true! Only, something is missing: what she is going to say. Or does she say nothing?
Certainly, she is going to answer.
But she doesn't shut him up.... It's difficult.
But that's because it's "He"! [[Satprem means that Death is a mask of "Him," of the Supreme. ]]
The other day I had an extraordinary experience, in which all the pessimistic arguments, all the negations and denials came from all sides, represented by everybody. And then, those who believed in the presence of a God or something - something more powerful than they and ruling the world - were in a fury, a dreadful revolt: "But I want none of him! But he spoils all our life, he ..." It was a dreadful revolt, from every side, a truckload of abuse for the Divine with such force of asuric reaction from every side. So I sat there (as if Mother sat in the middle of the m�l�e), watching: "What can be done?..." You know, it was impossible to answer, impossible, there wasn't one argument, not one idea, not one theory, not one belief, nothing, nothing whatsoever that could answer it. For the space of a second, the impression was: it's hopeless. Then, all of a sudden ... all of a sudden ... It's indescribable (gesture of absolute abandon). There was that violence of revolt against things as they are, and, mixed with it, there was: "Let this world disappear, let nothing remain, let it not exist!" All that, which at bottom is a revolt, all that nihilist revolt: let nothing remain, let everything cease to exist. It reached a height of tension,

Page 109

and just at the height of tension, when you felt there was no solution, suddenly ... surrender. But something stronger than surrender - it wasn't abdication, it wasn't self-giving, it wasn't acceptance, it was ... something much more radical, and at the same time much sweeter. I can't say what it was. It had the joy and flavor of giving, but with such a sense of plenitude! ... Like a dazzling flash, you know, suddenly like that: the very essence of surrender, the True Thing.

14th May , vol-7, 1966, page 108-09 , L'Agenda de M�re

And earth [shall] grow unexpectedly divine (I.IV.55) It's a consolation....

Page 119

(silence)

You'll see, there comes a point when you can tolerate yourself and life only if you take the attitude that the Lord is everything. See, that Lord, how many things He possesses: He plays with all that - He plays, He plays at ... changing the positions. And then, when you see it, that whole, you feel the limitless marvel, and that whatever the object of the most marvelous aspiration, it's all quite possible and will even be surpassed. Then you are consoled. Otherwise, this existence ... is inconsolable. But that way, it becomes charming. One day, I will tell you. When you have the sense of the unreality of life - the unreality of life - compared with a reality that's certainly found beyond, but at the same time WITHIN life, then ... ah, yes, THAT is true at last - THAT is true at last and deserves to be true. That is the realization of all possible splendors, all possible marvels, all, yes, all possible felicities, all possible beauties - that, yes, otherwise ... Do you understand? That's the point I have reached. So then, I feel as if I still have one foot here, one foot there, which isn't a very pleasant situation because ... because you would like there to remain nothing but That. The present way of being is a past that really should no longer exist. While the other way, ah, at last! At last!... That's why there is a world. And everything remains just as concrete and just as real - it doesn't become misty. It's just as concrete, just as real, but ... it becomes divine, because ... because it IS the Divine. It's the Divine playing. There, mon petit.

25th May , vol-7, 1966, page 119 , L'Agenda de M�re

Ah, let's work on Savitri a little ... (Mother reads the first line): A few shall see what none yet understands (I.IV.55) There, you see!

2nd June , vol-7, 1966, page 128 , L'Agenda de M�re

Then Mother takes up the translation of "Savitri"

Page 141

It's always the sound that guides me.... Do you know that Sunil has done some music for Savitri, and he is going to play it for me in early July. I don't think he wants to have an audience, it's quite private, because it must be played only in 1968 - in February '68 - and he will show me just a small piece to see if it's all right. But I thought you would be interested. I'll leave my windows wide open.

25nd June , vol-7, 1966, page 142 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother resumes her translation of the debate with Death.)

Think not to plant on earth the living Truth That's just what I am doing, Sir.

(turning to Satprem with a smile)

Do you think he hears me? Think not to plant on earth the living Truth Or make of Matter's world the home of God; Truth comes not there but only the thought of Truth, God is not there but only the name of God.

(X.IV.646)

(Mother remains pensive)

Basically, according to Sri Aurobindo, materialistic thought is the gospel of death. No? It's very interesting.

(silence)

That's basically the point. We say Savitri is an "epic"; so Savitri is the epic of the victory over death.

(silence)

Very interesting. Because once again, all these last few days I have lived almost minute after minute all those things [we've just read], but on a large scale: not on a personal but on a terrestrial scale. This last line, this argument, it was so concrete: "No, it's not God, it's only his name" - that was yesterday or the day before, not earlier. And then ... (Mother recalls her experience) ... Strangely, the victories over these arguments have the same character of bursts as did those bursts of Love I lived up above - the same character - and they shatter the resistance. And the something

Page 177

that bursts forth is Love - true Love. It's very interesting. And from everywhere, but everywhere, the opposition, the resistance is rising up; and the more it rises up, the more imperative That is. But at such times one feels how precarious the equilibrium of material life is.... Oh, it's very, very interesting. When I am able to say all this, it will be worthwhile.

19th August , vol-7, 1966, page 177 , L'Agenda de M�re



A few lines below, Mother hesitates between two translations:

And earth [shall] grow unexpectedly divine.

It's again the quality of the vibration: sans s'y attendre ["without expecting it"] is fuller - it's fuller, more golden. The other, d'une

Page 274



fa�on inattendue ["in an unexpected way"] is a bit cold and dry. "Et sans s'y attendre, la Terre deviendra divine ..."



After reading an excerpt from the debate with Death:

If God there is he cares not for the world;

All things he sees with calm indifferent gaze,

He has doomed all hearts to sorrow and desire,

He has bound all life with his implacable laws;

He answers not the ignorant voice of prayer.

Eternal while the ages toil beneath,

Unmoved, untouched by aught that he has made,

He sees as minute details mid the stars

The animals's agony and the fate of man:

Immeasurably wise, he exceeds thy thought;

His solitary joy needs not thy love.

(X.IV.646)

Yes, but we need his joy. All this was said to me this morning. Absolutely the same thing (with different words, but the very same thing), and not "said": lived, as if I were shown the thing so as to feel it. And I said, "Why? Why this test? What's the use?" It was my body that said, "What's the use?" Then it stopped. I said, "Why? What does it all mean?" I didn't contradict, didn't argue, just this "What's the use?" (Mother gestures as if to sweep away a speck of dust) You know, what the consciousness of this body is made to live is a sort of intensive discipline, at a gallop - every minute counts. But it copes well, I can't deny it. [[It must be recalled that the next day is Darshan and therefore Mother is overburdened with visitors and letters. ]]

Page 275

We'll see how it stands the shock (that's quite the point!). So this other Gentleman [Death] would say, "See! See there, the kind of pity people have for you!" But I answer, "I don't need pity.... (laughing) That's not what I want: I want the victory." It's interesting. Oh, if you knew what a crowd there is! ... And at the last minute, people come and tell me, "I've just arrived, I want to see you." Very well, I say, "All right." We'll extend the day! (Mother laughs)

19th November , vol-7, 1966, page 274-75 , L'Agenda de M�re

It's the first time this year it has happened to me. Previously, it used to happen fairly often, but it's the first time this year. It shows that, all the same, things are improving.... Oh, but it was terrible, people can't imagine what it is! It takes hold of everyone and everybody, every circumstance and everything, and it gives shape to disintegration - quite like this Gentleman (I think he's the one!), quite like him. But it doesn't have the poetic form [of Savitri], of course, it's not a poet: it has all the meanness of life. And it insists on that a great deal. These last few days it insisted on it a great deal. I said to myself, "See, all that is written and said is always in a realm of beauty and harmony and greatness, and, anyway, the problem is put with dignity; but as soon as it becomes quite practical and material, it's so petty, so mean, so narrow, so ugly! ..." That's the proof. When you get out of it, it's all right, you can face all problems, but when you come down here, it's so ugly, so petty, so miserable.... We are such slaves to our needs, oh! ... For one hour, two hours, you hold on, and after ... And it's true, physical life is ugly - not everywhere, but anyway ... I always think of plants and flowers: that's really lovely, it's free from that; but human life is so sordid, with such crude and imperious needs - it's so sordid.... It's only when you begin to live in a slightly superior vision that you become free from that; in all the Scriptures, very few people accept the sordidness of life. And of

Page 278

course, that's what this Gentleman insists on. I said, "Very well." This body's answer is very simple: "We certainly aren't anxious that life should continue as it is." It doesn't find it very pretty. But we conceive of a life - a life as objective as our material life - which wouldn't have all these sordid needs, which would be more harmonious and spontaneous. That's what we want. But he says it's impossible - we have been "told" it's not only possible but certain. So there's the battle. Then comes the great argument: "Yes, yes, one day it will be, but when?... For the time being you are still swamped in all this and you plainly see it can't change. It will go on and on. In millennia, yes, it will be." That's the ultimate argument. He no longer denies the possibility, he says, "All right, because you have caught hold of something, you're hoping to realize it now, but that's childishness." So the body itself says, "But of course, I certainly accept that, I perfectly understand! That's not what I want; I don't want this thing or that: I simply want what the Lord wants, nothing else - what He has decided will be. When He says it's over, it will be over; if He says it is to go on, it will go on." But then, as this Gentleman can't have his way like this, it comes from every side: this or that individual, this or that thing, that circumstance, all of it, all of it is going to be disorganized. Then I start working [to thwart the attack]. Today it was really very clever - very clever. He is very clever. He is a big joker.

26th November , vol-7, 1966, page 277-78 , L'Agenda de M�re





Mother takes up the translation of "Savitri": It's still this Gentleman.... Immortal bliss lives not in human air (Laughing) Unfortunately the fact is easy enough to note! Immortal bliss lives not in human air. But she could answer him, "That's because of you, so you don't need to boast about it!" 30th November , vol-7, 1966, page 283 , L'Agenda de M�re
Mother's Agenda - volume - 8 , 1967

(Message for Mother's eighty-ninth birthday)

When darkness deepens strangling the earth's breast And man's corporeal mind is the only lamp, As a thief's in the night shall be the covert tread Of one who steps unseen into his house. A voice ill-heard shall speak, the soul obey, A power into mind's inner chamber steal, A charm and sweetness open life's closed doors And beauty conquer the resisting world, The truth-light capture Nature by surprise,

Page 61

A stealth of God compel the heart to bliss And earth grow unexpectedly divine.

Sri Aurobindo
(Savitri, I.IV.63)



21st February , vol-8, 1967, page 61-62 , L'Agenda de M�re

Just the state of consciousness when I act spontaneously (the "I" is a habit of speech, it's to avoid having to make long sentences), when I act spontaneously, without objectifying myself, is generally unbearable enough: the reactions in others are difficult. I always have to ... [restrain myself]. It does happen, but generally I am

Page 94

obliged to be careful, especially when I have to speak.

And there is a very amusing observation; it's exactly what Sri Aurobindo wrote in Savitri: "The wise men talk and sleep...." God grows up while the wise men talk and sleep.[[A few shall see what none yet understands God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep; For man shall not know the coming till its hour And belief shall be not till the work is done. (I.IV.55) ]] And that's how it is: wholly unconscious of what goes on. I don't say it (I am saying it to you), but they are wholly unconscious. I constantly feel I am using a candle snuffer (!) so as not to be ... really unbearable.

When this luminous Power comes, it's so compact - so compact that it gives the impression of being much heavier than Matter. It's veiled, veiled, completely veiled, otherwise ... unbearable.



3rd April , vol-8, 1967, page 94-95 , L'Agenda de M�re





With this 4.5.67, there are quite amusing things. Some people

Page 129

have the attitude of "righter of wrongs" (there are people like that) and take their own example of a wrong they have suffered which must be righted; and they say, "This will be the Mother's symbol." Another would like cameras to be sensitive enough to photograph the "presence" invisible to the human eye. That also comes, they are things that come in the atmosphere [of Mother]. Another (several others, it seems) thinks that on that day the Indian new year will begin. Others ... everyone thus imagines something, and it comes into the atmosphere. It's amusing. And I always think of that passage in Savitri in which he says, "God shall grow up ..." Grow up in Matter, of course (and you SEE the Divinity grow up in Matter, and Matter being made more and more capable of manifesting the Divinity), and he says, "... while the wise men talk and sleep."[[Savitri, I.IV.55. ]] It's exactly that. And it's charming.

(silence)

Sri Aurobindo once told me that one of the first results would be that governments would come under the supramental influence (not that WE would govern! But that governments would be influenced). And these last few days I have seen three ministers and five members of parliament! And I have received an offering from the prime minister [Indira Gandhi]. So it's going well! It's quite amusing.... Some come from Delhi just for a day, only to see me and go back. So one hopes - one hopes - that they will grow a bit wiser (!)

3rd May , vol-8, 1967, page 130 , L'Agenda de M�re

I am intentionally not giving any definition. Because my lifelong feeling has been that it's a mere word, and a word behind which people put a lot of very undesirable things.... It's that idea of a god who claims to be "the one and only," as they say: "God is the one and only." But they feel it and say it in the way Anatole France put it (I think it was in The Revolt of Angels): that God who wants to be the one and only and ALL ALONE. That was what had made me a complete atheist, if I may say so, when I was a child; I refused to accept a being, WHOEVER HE WAS, who proclaimed himself to be the one and only and almighty. Even if he were indeed the one and only and almighty (laughing), he should have no right to proclaim it! That's how it was in my mind. I could make an hour-long speech on this, to show how in every religion they tackled the problem. At any rate, I have given what I find is the most objective definition. And as in the other day's "What is the Divine?", I have tried to give a feeling of the Thing; here I wanted to fight against the use of the word which, to me, is hollow, but dangerously so.

Page 170

I remember a very powerful line in "Savitri" which says it all
wonderfully in a few words. He says, "The bodiless Nameless
ness that saw God BORN...."[[The bodiless Namelessness that saw God born And tries to gain from mortal's mind and soul A deathless body and a divine name. (Savitri, I.III.40) ]]


7th June , vol-8, 1967, page 170 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother reads "Savitri" A divine force shall flow through tissue and cell And take the charge of breath and speech and act And all the thoughts shall be a glow of suns And every feeling a celestial thrill. Often a lustrous inner dawn shall come Lighting the chambers of the slumbering mind; A sudden bliss shall run through every limb

Page 352

And Nature with a mightier Presence fill. Thus shall the earth open to divinity And common natures feel the wide uplift, Illumine common acts with the Spirit's ray And meet the deity in common things. Nature shall live to manifest secret God, The Spirit shall take up the human play, This earthly life become the life divine.

(XI.i.710)

25th October , vol-8, 1967, page 352-53 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother's Agenda - volume - 9 , 1968
Sri Aurobindo used to write at night, and in the night I would have the experience; in the morning he would read it to me and I would recognize my experience - I hadn't said anything to him, he hadn't said anything to me. Interesting ... But one always seems to be boasting, that's the trouble. No, in reality, one can SAY a thing like this, but writing and publishing it is quite another matter.

17th January , vol-9, 1968, page 33 , L'Agenda de M�re

And your translation of "Savitri"?
But I have work to do. I no longer have time. I no longer have time to do anything.
It's a pity.
That is to say, now F. has taken it into her head to translate Savitri with me (all she does is look in the dictionary when I need a word), right from the start, and I've reached the second page! It'll take ten or fifteen years! But I find it very interesting, because I only have to be still, and Sri Aurobindo dictates to me. So there remains one or two little corrections in the French, and that's that. He tells me the word: for this word, this word. Like that. It's very interesting. Only, I do five or six lines every time.... But now I do it better than I used to. 3rd July , vol-9, 1968, page 189 , L'Agenda de M�re
Mother's Agenda - volume - 10 , 1969
(Then Mother records her translation of a few excerpts from
"Savitri," which are to be set to music. Satprem suddenly notices
that a corner of Mother's left eye is slightly bloodshot.)
The master of existence lurks in us
And plays at hide and seek with his own Force;
In Nature's instrument loiters secret God.
The immanent lives in man as in his house;
He has made the universe his pastime's field,
A vast gymnasium of his works of might ....
He is the explorer and the mariner
Of a secret inner ocean without bourne:
He is the adventurer and cosmologist
Of a magic earth's obscure geography ...
Or passing through a gate of pillar-rocks ...
He leaves the last lands, crosses the ultimate seas,
He turns to eternal things his symbol quest;
Life changes for him its time-constructed scenes,
Its images veiling infinity.

(I.IV.66-70)

Isn't it clear?
A car was just passing by.
I'll have to do it again ....
Won't it tire your eye?
What's wrong?

5th April , vol-10, 1969, page 118 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother first reads a few fragments from "Savitri"
which are to be set to music.)
In Matter shall be lit the spirit's glow ...
A few shall see what none yet understands;
God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep;
For man shall not know the coming till its hour
And belief shall be not till the work is done.
Page 128


This transfiguration is earth's due to heaven:
A mutual debt binds man to the Supreme:
His nature we must put on as he put ours;
We are sons of God and must be even as he:
His human portion, we must grow divine.
Our life is a paradox with God for key.
*
But none learns whither through the unknown he sails
Or what secret mission the great Mother gave.
In the hidden strength of her omnipotent Will,
Driven by her breath across life's tossing deep,
Through the thunder's roar and through the windless hush,
Through fog and mist where nothing more is seen,
He carries her scaled orders in his breast.
*
A power is on him from her occult force
That ties him to his own creation's fate,
And never can the mighty traveller rest
And never can the mystic voyage cease,
Till the nescient dusk is lifted from man's soul
And the morns of God have overtaken his night.
*
This constant will she covered with her sport,
To evoke a person in the impersonal Void,
With the Truth-Light strike earth's massive roots of trance,
Wake a dumb self in the inconscient depths
And raise a lost power from its python sleep
That the eyes of the Timeless might look out from Time
And the world manifest the unveiled Divine.
For this he left his white infinity
And laid on the Spirit the burden of the flesh,
That Godhead's seed might flower in mindless Space.

Savitri, I.IV.55-73



12th April , vol-10, 1969, page 128-29 , L'Agenda de M�re











And at one place he says:
He shore the cord of mind that ties the earth-heart
And cast away the yoke of Matter's law.
The body's rules bound not the spirit's powers ....

(I.V.74)

You see, he says the heartbeats stop ....

(Mother looks for the passage,

which Satprem reads out:)

When life had stopped its beats, death broke not in ....
Page 139
That's it! And he says that the mind also stops.

(Satprem reads)

He dared to live when breath and thought were still.
That's it.
Thus could he step into that magic place
Which few can even glimpse with hurried glance ....
When I read it, I didn't know he had spoken of that experience of the abolition of the mind - he did speak of it, and he says the heartbeats have stopped, but that one isn't dead. That's it. I don't know, when I read it, I suddenly felt he was describing the transition from ordinary life to a supramental life. I don't know why, but I very strongly said to myself that I absolutely had to show you this.

(Satprem reads out the translation)

I don't know if the translation is very great, but it's the best I could do. (I am slowly translating the whole of Savitri - it'll take ten years!) You remember, we had translated a good deal of it, but it was the end of Savitri; this is the beginning.
But the abolition of the mind, isn't it the same as the complete tranquillity of the mind?
No.
It's not the same thing.
No.
What can be done to abolish the mind?
No, I don't think it should be done. I think what's necessary is this absolute tranquillity so That may go through without being distorted. The abolition [in Mother] was done because the body wanted to attempt the process of transformation of the cells, and it was already quite old, you see, so things had to go fast. It was for the movement to be swift. But of course, I can see it's risky

16th April , vol-10, 1969, page 139-140 , L'Agenda de M�re

The vast majority of humanity is unconscious (what I call unconscious, that is, without contact with the Consciousness, not CONSCIOUSLY in contact with Consciousness), the vast majority; but for one who is capable of being above circumstances with a clear and precise vision of the why and the how ... it's wonderful. There. It's what Sri Aurobindo wrote in Savitri: God grows up on earth -God grows-but man ... (laughing), the wise man talks and

Page 169

sleeps ... and no one will notice it till the work is over. [[Savitri, I.IV.55. ]] That's how it is. And he knew it.



3rd may , vol-10, 1969, page 169-70 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother wants to revise with Satprem a few passages
of her translation of 'Savitri.')
But now I've come to notice that they cut these quotations, they leave out two lines in the middle - suddenly I'll say to myself, "But it doesn't hang together!" I'll ask, and F. tells me, "Yes, they left out one line, two lines ...." So what's to be done? It's absurd. Here, all this is ready. I don't need to see it again: it's for you to see it. It's my translation.
What should I do?
(Laughing) See if my translation is good!
But Mother, listen ... why?
No, because some things might be put in a better way.
Yes, but I'm wary. You know, I have learned that what's thought
to be "better" according to literary knowledge isn't necessarily
better from the standpoint of the true force.
I quite agree with that. Listen, basically what you should do is to see (you can see it right away) if you find something you think isn't too good. I've done it "like that"; I can't say I am attached to my translation, not at all,

Page 259

but if you could suggest something to me ... (Satprem starts reading out a passage). As you said, the French might be a bit awkward, but it may be the only way to translate precisely. Sometimes I did it purposely.
Admitted through a curtain of bright mind
That hangs between our thought and absolute sight,
He found the occult cave, the mystic door
Near to the well of vision in the soul
And entered where the Wings of Glory brood
In the sunlit space where all is for ever known.

(I.V.74)

"Brood"? ...
It's the image of a hen brooding on its eggs! "The Wings of Glory" brood on things so they may be realized.
There in a hidden chamber closed and mute
Are kept the record graphs of the cosmic scribe,
And there the tables of the sacred Law ....
The symbol powers of number and of form,
And the secret code of the history of the world
And Nature's correspondence with the soul
Are written in the mystic heart of life.
In the glow of the Spirit's room of memories
He could recover the luminous marginal notes
Dotting with light the crabbed ambiguous scroll ...

(ibid.)

(Mother laughs) "The crabbed ambiguous scroll"! ... Is that all?
He saw the unshaped thought in soulless forms,
Knew Matter pregnant with spiritual sense,
Mind dare the study of the Unknowable,
Life its gestation of the Golden Child.

(I. V. 76)

A Will, a hope immense now seized his heart,
And to discern the superhuman's form
He raised his eyes to unseen spiritual heights,
Aspiring to bring down a greater world.

(ibid.)

(silence)

Page 260

Yesterday, I read another part of Savitri which tells how the king is transformed [[The World-Soul, II.XIV. ]] - those are ALL the experiences my body is now going through! I knew nothing about it (I don't remember that at all), and I seemed to be reading all the experiences my body is now going through .... It's interesting. There's EVERYTHING in this Savitri! And to be able to describe those experiences like that, he must have had them.
26th July , vol-10, 1969, page 259-261 , L'Agenda de M�re
(Then Mother returns to the previous conversation about materi
alizations, and Satprem's note in which he asked, "But Savitri
goes into death in search of Satyavan ... so Mother is going
to bring back Sri Aurobindo?')
I've received your note .... But you know that Sri Aurobindo said he wanted to come back on the earth only in a superhuman body ... a supramental body. [[For a long time Mother at times confused "superhuman" with "supramental," but she clearly means the latter and not the former. ]]

(silence)

A host of problems have instantly arisen .... You see, there's a considerable difference between human life and animal life, and there will be a considerable difference between superhuman life and human life (supramental life and human life). But then, IN WHAT SENSE? ... Take wholly ... practical things: Will they have houses? How will they live? ... We can conceive that food will no longer be needed, that there will be another method of sustenance, but ...
30th July , vol-10, 1969, page 272 , L'Agenda de M�re
I am reading Savitri, the second Book, I think, the transformation of the King, his experience. [[Book Two, Canto XIV, "The World-Soul." ]] I had read it very long ago, I didn't remember at all, not at all; these days I have been reading it again ... and it's like a detailed description of the experience my body is now having! Ex-traor-di-nar-y. When I read it again, I was flabbergasted.

Page 277

It's absolutely as if my body were trying to copy that! And I didn't remember at all, not in the least .... which would mean that Sri Aurobindo had SEEN the thing - did he see it, or did he experience it? I don't know ... And that's what he regards as the supramentalization of the physical being. Do you remember that in Savitri?
2nd August , vol-10, 1969, page 277-78 , L'Agenda de M�re
Mother's Agenda - volume - 11 , 1970

(Then Mother takes up the reading of Savitri: the end of

the Debate of Love and Death.)

Is it a speech by this gentleman?
Yes [laughing], yes, it's the end.
The end of his speech? One of us should write.... If it's more convenient for me to write, I'll write.
It's always better to have your handwriting! But if it tires you,
it's quite easy for me to note it down.
"Tires," oh no! It's just that it [Mothers handwriting] is no longer good. It's no longer as it should be - but it doesn't tire me. So we'll put:

(Mother writes her French translation

of the following verses:)

If thou art Spirit and Nature is thy robe,
Cast off thy garb and be thy naked self
Immutable in its undying truth,
Alone for ever in the mute Alone.
Turn then to God, for him leave all behind;
Forgetting Love, forgetting Satyavan,
Annul thyself in his immobile peace.
Page 229
O soul, drown in his still beatitude.
For thou must die to thyself ...
That's for sure! Thou must die to thyself to reach ... � la supr�matie divine [divine supremacy]?...
"To reach the divine heights"?
No, we must put "God" in Death's mouth.
For thou must die to thyself to reach God's height:
I, Death, am ...
Happiness?
I, Death, am the gate of immortality.

Savitri, X.IV.647

He's clever! Every time you read it again, it's new. But that's a very interesting phenomenon. Every time I read Savitri, I feel as if I am reading it for the first time, really. It's not that I understand differently, it's that its completely new: I never read it before! It's odd. Its at least the fourth time I read it. And truly there's everything in it. All the things I've discovered lately were there. And I hadn't seen it. It's odd. The first time I read it was a revelation; it hung together perfectly well from beginning to end, and I felt I had understood (I did understand something). The second time I read it, I said to myself, "But this isn't the same thing as what I read!..." It hung together, it made up a whole - and I understood something else. Then, recently when I read, at every passage I said to myself, "How new this is! And how the things I have found since are there!" Today again, that's how it is, as if I read it for the first time! And it puts me into contact with the things I have just discovered. It's a miraculous book! (Mother laughs) We'll continue in the same way.

6th June , vol-10, 1969, page 229-30 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother takes up her translation of Savitri: Savitri's

answer to Death.)

But Savitri answered to the sophist God:
"Once more wilt thou call Light to blind Truth's eyes,
Make knowledge a catch of the snare of Ignorance
And the Word a dart to slay my living Soul?
One can't slay the soul!
Offer, O king, thy boons to tired spirits ...
Page 239

(Mother smiles)

And hearts that could not bear the wounds of Time,
Let those who were tied to body and to mind,
Tear off those bonds and flee into white calm
Crying for a refuge from the play of God,
Surely thy boons are great since thou art He!"

Savitri, X.IV.647



20th June , vol-10, 1969, page 239 , L'Agenda de M�re

Do we have time for some Savitri?
Yes, Mother. In the last verses, Savitri said:
Let those who were tied to body and to mind,
Tear off those bonds and flee into white calm
Is it Savitri who says that?
Yes, Death told her one must leave one's body in order to find God's height....

(Mother translates the sequel)

But how shall I seek rest in endless peace
Who house the mighty Mother's violent force,
Her vision turned to read the enigmaed world,
Her will tempered in the blaze of Wisdom's sun
And the flaming silence of her heart of love?
The world is a spiritual paradox
Invented by a need in the Unseen,
A poor translation to the creatures sense
Of That which for ever exceeds idea and speech,
A symbol of what can never be symbolised,
A language mispronounced, misspelt, yet true....

Savitri, X.IV.647-648

Is there more?
Yes, there is more.

(those were the last line

of the Debate of Love and Death

Mother was to translate)



1st July , vol-10, 1969, page 247 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother gives Satprem the message for August 15:)

"Even the body shall remember God."

Savitri, XI.I.707



1st August , vol-10, 1969, page 291 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother takes up the translation of a few extracts from Savitri.)

The great World-Mother by her sacrifice
Has made her soul the body of our state ...

II.I.99

That's interesting, I hadn't noticed: "has made her SOUL..."
The divine intention suddenly shall be seen,
The end vindicate intuitions sure technique.

II.I.100

It's interesting....

5th August , vol-10, 1969, page 298 , L'Agenda de M�re

"Or we may find when all the rest has failed Hid in ourselves the key of perfect change."
Where did he write this?
In "Savitri," Mother.
Oh, interesting.
(Satprem reads the introduction)
"Secrets are simple, because the truth is simple........ And what
looked like a human impossibility will become child's play."
It's magnificent, mon petit, magnificent! It's just the thing needed. What could we do to spread it?... It should be ... (gesture in every direction). A book isn't enough. We need something that would go everywhere.

7th October , vol-10, 1969, page 342 , L'Agenda de M�re

Then Mother takes up a few extracts from Savitri

that are to be set to music.)

A little point [shall] reveal the infinitudes.

II.I.100

It's interesting.



14th October , vol-10, 1969, page 347 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother translates a few fragments from Savitri which were

chosen for her.)

Page 356

A miracle of the Absolute was born,
Infinity put on a finite soul,
All ocean lived within a wandering drop,
A time-made body housed the Illimitable.
To live this Mystery out our souls came here.
...........
A figure sole on Nature's giant stair,
He mounted towards an indiscernible end
On the bare summit of created things.

II.I.101-102

That's really good. It's a pity it was cut into small bits!

24th October , vol-10, 1969, page 357 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Mother tries to read with difficulty a few lines from Savitri

written in large characters. These passages are meant

to be set to music.)

At times I read very clearly, and at other times ...
There walled apart by its own innerness
In a mystical barrage of dynamic light
He saw a lone immense high-curved world-pile
Erect like a mountain chariot of the Gods
Motionless under an inscrutable sky.
................
Once in the vigil of a deathless gaze
These grades had marked her giant downward plunge,
The wide and prone leap of a godheads fall.
Our life is a holocaust of the Supreme.
The great World-Mother by her sacrifice
Has made her soul the body of our state....

II.I.97-99

The body of our state ...
Of our human state.
(Mother repeats) She has made her soul the body of our state....

(silence)

So I had better try and read it out.
No, Mother, you'll tire your eyes.
I don't see clearly.
Yes, Mother, there's no need to try.
If you aren't tired sitting ...
Oh, no, Mother!
We can stay another ten minutes. You're not tired?

28th October , vol-10, 1969, page 358 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Then Mother translates a few passages from Savitri,

including this one:)

It lends beauty to the terror of the gulfs
And fascinating eyes to perilous Gods,
Invests with grace the demon and the snake.

II.II.106

It's charming! That's exactly the nature of the vital, what Theon called the "nervous world."

28th November , vol-10, 1969, page 376 , L'Agenda de M�re

(Then Mother translates a few fragments of Savitri:)

This mire must harbour the orchid and the rose,
From her blind unwilling substance must emerge
A beauty that belongs to happier spheres.

II.II.107

2th Dcember , vol-10, 1969, page 381 , L'Agenda de M�re

Mother's Agenda - volume - 12 , 1971



-346_Spiritual life.html



They can't get that into their heads.

He adds: "I suggested it might be better to gather and listen to

Mother's voice (the recordings of the Wednesday and Friday

classes), for even if one doesn't understand at all, your voice

would do its inner work, which we are not able to comprehend.

the child in contact with you. For all the suggestions, mine in

cluded, seem to me arbitrary and worthless.... Mother, would

it not be better for the teachers to concentrate exclusively on

the subjects they teach, since you are there to look after spiritual life?"

Since?
"Since you are there to look after spiritual life."
I am going to answer him, "There's no such thing as 'spiritual life'!"

It's still the old idea. Still the old idea of the sage, the yogi, the sannyasin, the ... who represents spiritual life, while all others represent ordinary life - but it's not true! It's not true, not true at all.

If they still need to oppose one thing to another (because that wretched mind doesn't work when it's not given an opposition), if they need an opposition, let them take the opposition between Truth and Falsehood, it's somewhat better (I am not saying it's perfect, but it's somewhat better). But then, in all things Falsehood and Truth are there, mixed, everywhere; in the so-called "spiritual life," in the sannyasins, the swamis, those who think they represent divine life on earth and all that, there is also that mixture of Falsehood and Truth.


page 98-99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 5th April - 1967





-347_School.html


(Concerning two teachers at the Ashram's Center of Education

who wrote Mother asking if 'only' Sri Aurobindo should be

studied. Pavitra was present during this conversation.)

An eight page letter - nothing but passion. (Pavitra:) Yes, Mother. It's all from up here (Mother touches her forehead). (Pavitra:) Passion and reactions. Passion, passion - but this passion and these reactions are the same, thing. And then they stuff into it what they consider intellectual reasonings, but their intellectuality is not so terribly luminous - anyway ... (Mother shows the letter) Here, I'll read this to you for your edification (!).
'And finally, Sweet Mother, what I would really like to know is the purpose of our Center of Education. Is it to teach the works of Sri Aurobindo? And only these? All the works or some only? Or is it to prepare the students to read the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? Is it to prepare them for the Ashram life or for 'outside' occupations as well? So many opinions are floating in the air, and even the old disciples from whom we expect some knowledge make so many contradictory statements ... (Laughing, to Pavitra:) I suppose that's for you! 'that we no longer know what to believe nor on what to base ourselves. So what should be our foundation upon which to work in the absence of a true and certain knowledge? Please enlighten us, Mother.' I answered. The letters must have left. I wrote (in English) that it's not so much a question of organization as of attitude - to begin with. Then I said, 'It seems to me that unless the teachers themselves get out of this ordinary intellectuality (!), they will never be able to fulfill their duty.' And this is what I wrote to Z (Mother reads): 'It is not a question of preparing students to read these or some other works. It is a question of drawing all those who are capable of it out of the usual human routine of thought, feelings, action; of giving those who are here every opportunity to reject the slavery of the human way of thinking and acting; of teaching all those who want to listen that there is another, truer way of living, and that Sri Aurobindo taught us to become and to live the true being - and that the purpose of education here is to prepare the children for this life and to make them capable of it. As for all the others, all those who want the human way of thinking and living, the world is vast and there is place there for everyone. We do not want large numbers; we want a selection. We do not want brilliant students; we want living souls.' Once I've drummed that into their heads long enough, they may end up understanding.
page 404-405 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Aug. - 1960
Then Z asks about languages: should they choose ONE language or ... I don't know. And then, if only ONE language, which language? ... She said, 'Should it be a common or international language, or their [the students'] vernacular?' I answered her, 'If only ONE language is known [well], it is better (international or common). " These are matters of common sense - I don't even know why they bring them up. Then they asked some questions about teaching literature and poetry. I answered them. And then, at the bottom, I added this:
'If you carefully study what Sri Aurobindo has written on every subject ...
He wrote on EVERYTHING, there is not one subject on which he has not written! The point is to find it everywhere.
... a complete knowledge of the things of the world can be easily achieved.'
What I call 'studying' is to take Sri Aurobindo's books, where he quotes or speaks of one thing or another, then have the corresponding books - when he quotes something, you must take the book it corresponds to; when he speaks of something, you must study the writings on that subject. This is what I call 'studying.' Then, after having read the corresponding works, you compare them with what Sri Aurobindo has said, and in this way there may be a beginning of understanding. If someone is very studious, he can 'review' all that has ever been written or taught by going through Sri Aurobindo's books. I mean this for someone who loves working. I SEE this state of mind, this mental attitude ... Oh! It's ... it's so repugnant. People are so afraid of taking sides, so afraid of appearing biased; they are so afraid of appearing to have faith, so afraid ... Oh, it's disgraceful. And I will keep hammering that into your heads till I enter right into them.
page 406 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Aug. - 1960
The experience occurred in a place corresponding to ours [the main Ashram building], but immense: the rooms were ten times bigger, but absolutely ... one can't say empty - they were barren. Not that there was nothing in them, but nothing was in order, everything was just where it shouldn't be. There wasn't any furniture so things were strewn here and there - a dreadful disarray! Things were being put to uses they weren't made for, yet nothing needed for a particular purpose could be found. The whole section having to do with education [the Ashram School] was in almost total darkness: the lights were out with no way to switch them on, and people were wandering about and coming to me with incoherent, stupid proposals. I tried to find a comer where I could rest (not because I was tired; I simply wanted to concentrate a little and get a clear vision in the midst of it all), but it was impossible, no one would leave me alone. Finally I put a tottering armchair and a footstool end-to-end and tried to 'rest'; but someone immediately came up (I know who, I'm purposely not giving names) and said, 'Oh! This won't do at all! It CAN'T be arranged like that! Then he began making noise, commotion, disorder - well, it was awful.
It's a terrible slavery to the lower mind, and so widespread! Oh, all these goings-on at the School, my child, all the teaching, all the teachers .... [[Here, Mother had a passage deleted. ]] Terrible, terrible, terrible! I was trying to turn on the switches to give some light and not one of them worked! Of course, these scenes are slightly exaggerated because they are seen in isolation from the rest; within the whole many things crisscross and complete each other, diminishing each other's importance. But in an experience like last night's, things are taken singly and shown in isolation, as through a magnifying glass. And after all ... it's a good lesson.
page 129 , 132 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 17th March 1961

At the beginning of this conversation Mother has Pavitra called in to discuss certain letters and controversies concerning a teacher at the Ashram School.

You know how children get together and play court or school or army ... you know how serious they can be, don't you?
(Pavitra.) Yes, Mother.
And if someone makes a mistake, how he's punished! ... Well, that's exactly how you all seem to me - children at play! That's the trouble. So I just start laughing, I can't take you seriously. You are all too serious to be taken seriously! That's the trouble. I took your papers very seriously; I wanted to be done with it all and I tried.... But as soon as I began to read your letters, your reports, I immediately pictured children on a playground (Mother takes on a solemn tone): "Now we are going to play court ... now we are going to play school...." That's what I saw. "It's like this and NOT like that and be sure you don't make any mistakes. This is serious business!"
(Pavitra:) But Mother, I had no intention of making any decision; but when S. sends one letter, two letters, and then asks for Mother's reply, I have no other option but to turn to you.
But Mother does NOT WANT to make a decision because ... because the solution doesn't depend on any decision from me. I can tell you how it is (you didn't ask me, but it doesn't matter - I will tell you anyway): S.'s interests lie elsewhere; he is interested in something different and that's his own business - I know it, we all know it. He holds his class at the school as a kind of duty, to do something "for the Ashram"; he does it in all seriousness, using what he knows (he has knowledge), but rigidly - work is work, no fooling around. Besides, he has no real liking for the students or any interest in whether they comprehend or make progress or not. That's how it is. He browbeats them in class, and the students are bored.
(Pavitra:) Yes, Mother, it's true.
The problem isn't what he teaches, but how he teaches it - and what are you going to do about that?
(Pavitra.) I'm going to leave it as it is and simply tell him you said we should continue as before.

No, I find his proposal reasonable, because if we say "the course is optional," no one will attend.
(Mother explains certain things)
If you tell him that, it should probably work out. So go and keep your faith (with an ironic smile): may God bless you!
Yes, Mother. (Pavitra leaves.)
page 113-114 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th March 1962




Mother writes a note on the windowsill It's the answer to a question. Have you heard what I said to the School's teachers?...[[See note in Addendum. ]] They've asked me another question. This is the beginning of my answer: "It is the division between 'ordinary life' and 'spiritual life' which is antiquated and obsolete...."
page 96 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 5th April - 1967


(Mother's answer in English to the School's teachers when she

was told that the new special afternoon classes at the library

had chosen as a first research theme "India's

spiritual History.")

No! It won't do. It is not to be done that way. You should begin with a big "BANG'! You were trying to show the continuity of History, with Sri Aurobindo as the outcome, the culmination - it is false, entirely. Sri Aurobindo does not belong to History; he is outside and beyond History. Till the birth of Sri Aurobindo, religions and spiritualities were always centered on past figures, and they were showing as "the goal" the negation of life upon earth. So, you had a choice between two alternatives: either a life in this world with its round of petty pleasures and pains, joys and sufferings, threatened by hell if you were not behaving properly; or an escape into another world, heaven, nirvana, moksha [liberation].... Between these two there is nothing much to choose, they are equally bad. Sri Aurobindo has told us that this was a fundamental mistake which accounts for the weakness and degradation of India. Buddhism, Jainism, Illusionism were sufficient to sap all energy out of the country. True, India is the only place in the world which is still aware that something else than matter exists. The other countries have quite forgotten it: Europe, America and elsewhere.... That is why she still has a message to preserve and deliver to the world. But at present she is splashing and floundering in the muddle. Sri Aurobindo has shown that the truth does not lie in running away from earthly life but in remaining in it, to transform it, divinize it, so that the Divine can manifest HERE, in this PHYSICAL WORLD. You should tell all this at the first sitting. You should be square and frank. Then, when this is told, strongly, squarely, and there is no doubt about it - and then only - you can go on and amuse them with the history of religions and religious or spiritual leaders. Then - and then only - you will be able to show the seed of weakness and falsehood that they have harbored and proclaimed. Then - and then only - you will be able to discern, from time to time, from place to place, an "intuition" that something else is possible: in the Vedas, for instance (the injunction to descend deep into the cave of the Panis); in the Tantras also ... a little light burning. I may add that you could adopt as motto for your first project this quotation of Sri Aurobindo: "We do not belong to the past dawns, but to the noons of the future."

(Essays on the Gita)

***

Message from Mother to the School: "Sri Aurobindo does not belong to the past nor to history. "Sri Aurobindo is the Future advancing towards its realization. "Thus we must shelter the eternal youth required for a speedy advance, in order not to become laggards on the way."
page 102-03 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 5th April - 1967



But Z has done experiments like that. He told me the story of a girl at the School who had no imagination: when she was asked a question she could only answer what she had learned, and when she was given a problem she was never able to solve it. She was like that, blocked above. And he taught her to try and make contact precisely with that intuitive zone, by keeping quiet, falling silent and listening. And it seems that after some time, she had extraordinary results in that way, by falling silent and listening - answers which were really remarkable and certainly came from the region of intuition. And that's a practical fact, he did it at the School.
Well, that's what should be done, it's much more important.
Far more important than a machine.
page 169 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd June - 1967


Because at the School they play music every Saturday, and they've begun quarreling about the kind of music that should be played; then one boy said, "As for me, I LOVE light music, I find it VERY amusing." (Mother laughs) So they looked down on him scornfully! And they wrote to ask me. So that's what I replied! "Light" music! Of course, jazz music ... but even there, there are very nice passages, one can't say. One can't say.
page 229 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 22th July - 1967


Yesterday evening, Pavitra asked me for a message for the opening of the School today. I wasn't in too good a mood (!) and sent him back. This morning, at five, a message came, and I wrote it down. I had barely written it down when three others came! So I wrote the four of them, and at seven sent them to K., saying that each teacher or class should choose (they are all on the same subject and with the same idea, but shown from different angles). And at eight, everyone already knew! Things spread very fast.... N. told me, "But the messages are for different classes and they haven't been selected!" I said, "No! It's not for me to select, but for the teacher in every class." And I added, "That's much more fun for me!" And with that I sent him away! It's true: the same idea (it's not an "idea"), the same aspiration, the same need, depending on the state you are in, on your state of consciousness (or, for ordinary people, their turn of mind), you approach from one side or another. I don't at all remember what I wrote.... As usual it's a call to the Truth.[[1. May the Truth be your master and your guide. 2. We aspire to the Truth and its triumph in our being and our activities. 3. May aspiration to the Truth be the motive power of our efforts. 4. 0 Truth, we want to be guided by you. May your reign come upon earth. December 16, 1967 ]]
page 413 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 16th Dec - 1967


(Mother reads three different versions of a message

she wants to give for the opening of the School.

Then she selects the first one.)

They came in succession. It's the experience I had at that moment: "When one lives in the Truth, one is above all contradictions." The other two came afterwards: "Living in the Truth means being above all contradictions." Then: "He who lives in the Truth is above all contra dictions and all oppositions." It's completely silent here (gesture to the forehead); I just turn (gesture upward) and wait, and I think what comes first is the purest, that is, the least mixed with activities; afterwards, it's as if here in the atmosphere it got mixed with mental vibrations.
page 347 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 14th Dec - 1968


(Then Mother listens to a series of questions about death,asked by pupils of the School.)
The first question: "What should we do in our daily life to haltthe process of death?"
Well, as Sri Aurobindo has just said, the process is, rather than remain wholly attached to the body, to attach ourselves to the Spirit, and to bring the Spirit down into the body's cells. The process is to detach one's consciousness from the body and to concentrate it on the deeper life so as to bring this deeper consciousness into the body.
Second question: "If the sense of 'I-ness' has identified more with the mind in life, is it the same sense of 'I-ness' that has all the experiences after death, that is to say, which retains at the same time the memories of its life? I ask the question with
regard to the mind, since after death it remains formed a little longer than the other parts do."
That's not true. It's not true that the mind lasts longer. Read it again.
" ... Is it the same sense of 'I-ness' that has all the experiencesafter death?"
No, not at all. The psychic consciousness that has identified with the small part of the physical is what comes out of this small physical person. Insofar as that consciousness has fashioned one's life, it remembers what it has fashioned, and the memory is closely linked with the psychic consciousness in the past events: whenever the psychic consciousness did not participate in the events, no memory is retained. It's only the psychic consciousness that can continue. It's not the mind that retains the memories, that's quite wrong.
page 43-44 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 1st feb - 1969


(Mother first writes at one go a message for the

start of the new school year.)

One must have lived
what one wants to teach.
To speak of the new consciousness,
let it penetrate you and reveal

its secrets to you. For only then
will you be able to speak of it with competence.

*

To leap into the new consciousness,
the first condition
is a mental modesty
sufficient to be convinced that
all one thinks one knows is nothing
in comparison with what remains to be learned.
All that one has learned externally
must be only a foothold
enabling one to rise towards higher knowledge.

Page 465-66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 10th Dec - 1969



(Text of Mother's message to the teacher:)

"We (human beings) are not living for the satisfaction of our ego; we live to fulfill God's will. Bu t to be able to perceive and to know the will of God, we must be without desires and preferences. Other wise we mistake for God's will our own limited ideas and principles.
It is in the wide peace of an absolute and devoted sincerity free from fixed ideas and preferences that we can realize the conditions required to know God's Will and it is with a fearless discipline that we must execute it."
page 118 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 29th Apr - 1971




-348_Sri Aurobindo and Bangladesh.html



Sri Aurobindo and Bangladesh

Behind the jostle of temporary points of view and instant interests there are the Eternal Landmarks. To lose sight of them is to lose one's very way and steer onto the reefs of expediency and comfortable compromise upon which we shall founder a moment later. Behind the little frontal events is the greater tide of history and to lose sight of it is to lose one's direction and the golden thread that leads to our perfect fulfillment, be it individual or national. Those who have left their unique mark upon the labyrinth of history are the very ones who have seized the golden thread and affirmed the Greater History and the Greater Meaning against all the instant arguments and fleeting expediencies. The Greater History tells us that the whole earth is a single body with a single destiny, but that within that single destiny each part of the greater body, each nation, has its special role to play and its rare moments of choice when it must make the decisive gesture, its true gesture in the total movement of the great Eternal History. Each nation is a symbol. Each gesture of each nation potentially represents a little victory in the total victory or a little defeat in the total defeat. And sometimes the whole of our history is at stake at a symbolic point of the earth; and, a little gesture, a tiny turn to the right or left, has repercussions, either good or bad, down the ages and over the entire earth body. India is precisely such a symbol and Bangladesh is another, a little turning point in the great course of events of the earth. The time has come to consider the eternal Landmarks and read the greater tide in the small eddies. Now, the greater tide tells us that India's role is to be the spiritual heart of the terrestrial body just as, for example, the role of France is to express clarity of intellect, or that of Germany to express skill, Russia the brotherhood of man and the United States enthusiasm for adventure and practical organization, etc. But only if India is ONE can she fulfill this role, for how can one who is herself divided lead others? Thus the division of India is the first Falsehood that must disappear, for it is the symbol of the earth's division. As long as India is not one, the world cannot be one. India's striving for unity is the symbolic drama of the world's striving for unity. From this simple, eternal Fact follow all the conclusions and policies that will flow with the current of the earth's destiny. Sri Aurobindo said so already in 1947, "The division must and will go." Dire will be the consequences for India and for the earth if we fail to heed this eternal Theorem: "The old communal division into Hindus and Muslims seems now to have hardened into a permanent political division of the country," said Sri Aurobindo. "It is to be hoped that this settled fact will not be accepted as settled for ever or as anything more than a temporary expedient. For if it lasts, India may be seriously weakened, even crippled: civil strife may remain always possible, possible even a new invasion and foreign conquest." We now know, twenty-four years after this prophetic declaration, that China is at our gates and only awaits her hour to invade the entire continent, seizing precisely on this division of India to strike at the spiritual heart of the world and, perhaps, frustrating the realization of the entire destiny of the earth or postponing it until a future cycle after much suffering and complication. The Great History tells us that India must again be one, and that particular current of history is so imperative that twice already Destiny has managed to put India before the possibility of her reunification. The first time was in 1965 when Pakistan's foolish aggressiveness enabled India to counterattack and carry the battle right into the suburbs of Lahore -- and up to Karachi had she but had the courage to seize boldly her destiny. The hour was indeed for a decisive choice. The Mother declared categorically: "India is fighting for the triumph of Truth, and She must fight until India and Pakistan become ONE again, for such is the truth of their being." At Tashkent, we yielded on the crest of a petty compromise which was to lead us into a second, more bloody and painful reef, Bangladesh. There too destiny graciously arranged to enable India to hasten to the aid of her massacred brethren -- even the famous skyjacking incident of January [[Two months before the massacre in Bangladesh, an Indian plane hijacked by some Pakistanis enabled India to close her airspace to Pakistani planes, thus forcing Pakistan to go around Ceylon to carry her troops to Bengal, which once more underscores the geographical absurdity of these two parts of a single country separated by fifteen hundred miles of Indian territory. ]] was, as it were, arranged by the Grace so as to spare India from delaying her intervention until it was too late (or to spare her the shame of not intervening at all and allowing Pakistan's planes to fly over her head loaded with weaponry and murderers to slaughter her brothers). But there again, yielding to the demands of the moment and to the small, shortsighted interests, we refused to accept the challenge of the Great Direction of our History, and we now find ourselves on the brink of a new compromise which will lead us inevitably to a third and even more disastrous and bloody reef. For one day India must inevitably face that which twice she has fled. Only each time the conditions are more disastrous for her and for the world -- perhaps so disastrous that the whole earth will even be engulfed in another general conflict, while the whole story could have been resolved at the little symbolic point that is Bangladesh, at the right hour, with the right gesture and a minimum of suffering. For let there be no doubt about it, the Bangladesh affair is not an Indian event, it is a world event. The division of India is not a local incident, it is a terrestrial Falsehood which must disappear if the division of the world is to disappear. And here again we hear the voice of Sri Aurobindo, six months before his passing, referring to yet another phenomenon which then seemed of such slight importance, so remote, a trifling "local" affair at the other end of the world: the invasion of South Korea in 1950, twenty-one years ago. And yet that small Korean symbol, like the small symbol of Bangladesh (or the one of Czechoslovakia in 1938), contained in seed the whole fatal course which is still carrying the world toward a sinister destiny: "The affair of Korea," wrote Sri Aurobindo, "is the first move in the Communist plan of campaign to dominate and take possession first of these northern parts and then of South East Asia as a preliminary to their manoeuvres with regard to the rest of the continent -- in passing, Tibet as a gate opening to India." Now, twenty-one years later, we see that Tibet and the whole of South East Asia have been swallowed up and the "gate into India" has truly been opened wide by the wound of the Pakistani Falsehood -- already, or very shortly, the Chinese are, or will be, in Khulna, some eighty miles from Calcutta, to help Yahya Khan to "pacify" Bengal. And Sri Aurobindo added, "If they succeed, there is no reason why domination of the whole world should not follow by steps until they are ready to deal with America." This is where we are today. That which we want to avoid returns upon us with tenfold force. The hour for political calculation, for the pros and cons of our petty mathematics of expediency (which always goes awry) is past. The time has come to rediscover the Great Direction of India, which is really the Great Direction of the world, and to place our faith in the Spirit that guides her Destiny, rejecting petty fears of a phantom world opinion and doing away with the little supports which only lend support to the Enemy. Tomorrow America will perhaps resume her economic aid to Pakistan on the pretext of counteracting the Chinese presence. The Bangladesh slaughter will be honorably justified by a pseudoregime which will operate with the blessings of the international community. But one does not cheat the tide of history: for the third time our little compromises will crumble and we will find ourselves confronted with a terrible ordeal, its intensity nourished by our own successive failures in the past. The sooner not only India, but America and Russia too, understand the unreality of Pakistan and the magnitude of what is at stake at the borders of India, the sooner may the looming catastrophe be halted before it becomes totally and definitely irrevocable. "One thing is certain," wrote Sri Aurobindo a few months before his passing, "that if there is too much shilly-shallying and if America gives up now her defence of Korea" [we could say even more: the defense of Bangladesh] "she may be driven to yield position after position until it is too late: at one point or another she will have to stand and face the necessity of drastic action even if it leads to war." For the battle of India is the battle of the world. This is where the world's tragic destiny is brewing, or its last-minute burst of hope into a new world of Truth and Light, for it is said that the deepest darkness lies nearest the most luminous light. The last Asura must die at the feet of the Eternal Mother.

A lover of India


page 137-40 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 15th May - 1971




-350_Shiva and Parvati.html

-352_Shiva.html


The story narrated in the film went like this: Narada, as usual, was having fun. (Narada is a demigod with a divine position - that is, he can communicate with man and with the gods as he pleases, and he serves as an intermediary, but then he likes to have fun!) So he was quarrelling with one of the goddesses, I no longer recall which one, and he told her ... (Ah, yes! The quarrel was with Saraswati.) Saraswati was telling him that knowledge is much greater than love (much greater in that it is much more powerful than love), and he replied to her, 'You don't know what you're talking about! (Mother laughs) Love is much more powerful than knowledge.' So she challenged him, saying, 'Well then, prove it to me.' - 'I shall prove it to you,' he replied. And the whole story starts there. He began creating a whole imbroglio on earth just to prove his point. It was only a film story, but anyway, the goddesses, the three wives of the Trimurti - that is, the consort of Brahma, the consort of Vishnu and the consort of Shiva - joined forces (! ) and tried all kinds of things to foil Narada. I no longer recall the details of the story ... Oh yes, the story begins like this: one of the three - I believe it was Shiva's consort, Parvati (she was the worst one, by the way!) - was doing her puja. Shiva was in meditation, and she began doing her puja in front of him; she was using an oil lamp for the puja, and the lamp fell down and burned her foot. She cried out because she had burned her foot. So Shiva at once came out of his meditation and said to her, 'What is it, Devi?' (laughter) She answered, 'I burned my foot!' Then Narada said, 'Aren't you ashamed of what you have done? - to make Shiva come out of his meditation simply because you have a little burn on your foot, which cannot even hurt you since you are immortal!' She became furious and snapped at him, 'Show me that it can be otherwise!' Narada replied, 'I am going to show you what it is to really love one's husband - you don't know anything about it!' Then comes the story of Anusuya and her husband (who is truly a husband ... a very good man, but well, not a god, after all!), who was sleeping with his head resting upon Anusuya's knees. They had finished their puja (both of them were worshippers of Shiva), and after their puja he was resting, sleeping, with his head on Anusuya's knees. Meanwhile, the gods had descended upon earth,
particularly this Parvati, and they saw Anusuya like that. Then Parvati exclaimed, 'This is a good occasion!' Not very far away a cooking fire was burning. With her power, she sent the fire rolling down onto Anusuya's feet - which startled her because it hurt. It began to burn; not one cry, not one movement, nothing ... because she didn't want to awaken her husband. But she began invoking Shiva (Shiva was there). And because she invoked Shiva (it is lovely in the story), because she invoked Shiva, Shiva's foot began burning! (Mother laughs) Then Narada showed Shiva to Parvati: 'Look what you are doing; you are burning your husband's foot!' So Parvati made the opposite gesture and the fire was put out. That's how it went. page 216 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Nov. - 1958

When you invoke Durga, it is I you invoke through her, when you invoke Shiva, it is I you invoke through him - and in the final analysis, to the Supreme Lord go all prayers.

page 257 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 15th Dec. 1958


But if the stories as we are told them are more or less true, I mean if they have any truth, there isn't ONE Avatar who stayed - they all left. Or else they're hiding well, because ... No one has ever met any of them, you see. There are people who go looking for them, but no one has ever met them. And their deaths have even been much talked about and often seem to have played a rather important role.
How do you mean no one has ever met them?
Physically. You see, it is said that Shiva lived on earth, that Krishna lived on earth. As for Buddha and Christ, we know they lived on earth - it raised enough rumpus! People even made more fuss about Christ's death than about his life. As for Buddha, he professed himself in favor of going away for good (although he didn't actually). But the others ...? They have of course told the story of Krishna's death - but they have told many stories. page 248 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 17th Oct 1964




-354_silence of mind.html


That's all I had told him (not in great detail, in a few words). Then I sat down near him and he began talking with Richard, about the world, yoga, the future - all kinds of things - what was going to happen (he already knew the war would break out; this was 1914, war broke out in August, and he knew it towards the end of March or early April). So the two of them talked and

talked and talked - great speculations. It didn't interest me in the least, I didn't listen. All these things belonged to the past, I had seen it all (I too had had my visions and revelations). I was simply sitting beside him on the floor (he was sitting in a chair with Richard facing him across a table, and they were talking). I was just sitting there, not listening. I don't know how long they went on, but all at once I felt a great Force come into me - a peace, a silence, something massive! It came, did this (Mother sweeps her hand across her forehead), descended and stopped here (gesture at the chest).[[Mother specified: "It encompassed the three active mental centers [the forehead, between the eyebrows, and the throat]." ]] When they finished talking, I got up and left. And then I noticed that not a thought remained - I no longer knew anything or understood anything, I was absolutely BLANK. So I gave thanks to the Lord and thanked Sri Aurobindo in my heart.

And I was very careful not to disturb it; I held it like that for I don't know how long, eight or ten days. Nothing - not one idea, not one thought, nothing - a complete BLANK. In other words, from the outside, it must have looked like total idiocy. But I was living in my inner joy - nothing stirring. I spoke as little as possible and it was like something mechanical, it wasn't me. Then slowly, slowly, as though falling drop by drop, something was built up again. But it had no limits, it had no ... it was vast as the universe and wonderfully still and luminous. Nothing here (the head), but THERE (gesture above the head); and then everything began to be seen from there. And it has never left me - you know, as a proof of Sri Aurobindo's power it's incomparable! I don't believe there has ever been an example of such a (how can I put it?) ... such a total success: a miracle. It has NEVER left me. I went to Japan, I did all sorts of things, had all possible kinds of adventures, even the most unpleasant, but it never left me - stillness, stillness, stillness...

page 288 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 1962 , 25th July.
Sri Aurobindo saw more clearly. He said - it was even the first thing he told the boys around him when I came in 1914 (he had only seen me once) - he told them that I, Mirra (he immediately called me by my first name), 'was born free.' And it's true, I know it, I knew it then. In other words, all this work that usually has to be done to become free was done beforehand, long ago - quite convenient! He saw me the next day for half an hour. I sat down - it was on the verandah of the 'Guest House', I was sitting there on the verandah. There was a table in front of him, and Richard was on the other side facing him. They began talking. Myself, I was seated at his feet, very small, with the table just in front of me

- it came to my forehead, which gave me a little protection ... I didn't say anything, I didn't think anything, try anything, want anything - I merely sat near him. When I stood up half an hour later, he had put silence in my head, that's all, without my even having asked him - perhaps even without his trying.

Oh, I had tried - for years I had tried to catch silence in my head ... I never succeeded. I could detach myself from it, but it would keep on turning ... But at that moment, all the mental constructions, all the mental, speculative structures ... none of it remained - a big hole. And such a peaceful, such a luminous hole! Afterwards, I kept very still so as not to disturb it. I didn't speak, above all I refrained from thinking and held it, held it tight against me - I said to myself, 'make it last, make it last, make it last ... ' Later on, I heard Sri Aurobindo saying that there were two people here to whom he had done this and as soon as there was silence, they panicked: 'My God, I've gone stupid!!' And they threw it all overboard by starting to think again. Once it was done, it was done. It was well-rooted. For years, from 1912 to 1914, I did endless exercises, all kinds of things, even pranayama' - if it would only shut up! Really, if it would only be quiet! ... I was able to go out (that wasn't difficult), but inside it kept turning. This lasted about half an hour. I quietly remained there - I heard the noise of their conversation, but I wasn't listening. And then when I got up, I no longer knew anything, I no longer thought anything, I no longer had any mental construction - everything was gone, absolutely gone, blank! - as if I had just been born. Mother's Agenda , volume - 1 , 1951-1960 , page 421-22 , September 20 .


It's that old habit, the old fear of being lazy. It took me.... But Sri Aurobindo cured me of that rather quickly. That's how it was before I met him. And that's the first thing he did: he gave me a tap on the head, and all activity ceased - total silence, all mental constructions and habits swept away ... in the blink of an eye. I was very careful not to let it come back. page 112 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th March 1962


It's very different from what it was before for so many years - very different. I feel a sort of ... Oh, it's an impression equivalent to the one I had when Sri Aurobindo gave my mind silence. It became perfectly blank and empty (gesture to the forehead), blank and empty, and there was nothing anymore: I couldn't think anymore, not one idea, not one system anymore, nothing - in a word, total imbecility! It never came back. You see, it went up above, and here there was nothing. Well, this time, it was the same thing for the body consciousness: before, it was everywhere like something holding everything together (to such a point that when there was a difficulty, I only had to stop bothering about it all and let that act, and the difficulty would automatically be sorted out by that body consciousness, which knows far better than our active thought what the body should do), and that day it left DELIBERATELY. The decision had been made the night before, but I was resisting it, as I knew the normal consequence was fainting. But "that" willed it so and "that" chose its own time (when there was no danger, when no accident could happen and someone was there to help me), "that" chose its own time and "that" did it deliberately - gone. And it has never returned.

page 170-71 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 22nd Aug 1964




-355_snake.html



Symbolisms, mon petit, there are hundreds and hundreds of them. And people always oppose them, but ultimately they are just different ways of seeing one and the same thing. According to my experience, everyone has his own symbolism. For snakes, for instance, it's quite remarkable. Some, when they dream of snakes, have the feeling they're going to meet with catastrophes; I myself have had all sorts of dreams with snakes: I had to go through gardens full of snakes everywhere - on the ground, in the trees, everywhere - and not kindly snakes! But I knew very well what it meant; during the dream itself I knew it: it depended on certain mental conditions around me and ill will - mental ill will. [[This was in France with Richard, at the start of the war, after the return from Pondicherry. ]] But if you have mental control and power, you can go through, they cannot touch you. And other people, when they see a snake, think it is the universal consciousness. So we can't say. Théon used to say that the serpent is the symbol of evolution, and those who were with him always saw rainbow-colored serpents, with all the colors, and it was the symbol of universal evolution Basically, to tell the truth, everyone has his own symbolism And for myself, I have seen that it depended on the periods in my life, on the activities, on the degree of development. There are things I see again now in which I see another meaning, which was behind the meaning I had seen. It's very interesting, but it belongs entirely to the domain of relativity. It's very mental. page 124 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 14th June - 1965




-356_Service Tree.html



(The night of the 5th, a violent cyclone struck Pondicherry. At

Nandanam, in the middle of the devastated garden, a white hi

biscus bloomed. Satprem places the flower on Mother's knees.)

A "Grace" flower bloomed in the thick of the cyclone, Mother.

(silence)

(One can hear the axes hacking away at the broken branches of

the great yellow flame tree called "Service," which

spreads its foliage above Sri Aurobindo's tomb.)


The tree that gave me all my "Transformation" flowers [from Satprem's garden] is broken. The "Service" tree also: some of its branches have been torn off. Usually it didn't come this way.... The consciousness must have sunk a lot ... quite a lot.
page 321-22 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 6th Dec - 1972-1973






-357_Solar Flare.html



(A news item originating from Boulder, Colorado, and dated

August 8, reports a solar flare covering over 2.8 billion square

miles of the sun's surface. Within an hour of the eruption, the

effect was felt on earth, causing a magnetic storm that seriously

disrupted communications in many parts of the world In terms

of magnitude, the current sunspots are the greatest ever recorded

since at least 1964 [Indian Express, August 91.)

Did you hear about the explosions on the sun?
Yes.
They say it's falling to the earth ...
Ah?
... and it's going to affect humans. Did you hear that?
I didn't hear it was falling to the earth.
They say it will come to the earth and affect humans.
I think it affects the earth atmosphere, the weather, but that's all.
I don't know.
It affects the atmosphere; for example, radio transmissions arescrambled. The atmosphere is affected, but that's about all.
Is this today's news?
I don't know, Mother.
Because mine is today's latest news. They're rather pessimistic.
But what do you say?

I say that it must be the supramental consciousness - not "consciousness": the supramental SUBSTANCE. And those who are ready will thus have their new body. That's my most ... optimistic explanation.
So you think these solar eruptions are some kind of precipitation of the supramental consciousness on earth?
Of the SUBSTANCE. The consciousness came long ago, but the thing is.... Because, for example, this body has the same needs it used to have; that's the way it is built: it needs to eat, but it can't eat. So when I was told these eruptions would affect even the human body, I thought: could it be the substance that will create the supramental body? If the Supramental is to manifest on earth, something of it has to relate to the physical.
So when I was told that this solar explosion was heading for the earth and would affect people, I thought: well, maybe that's what is coming to replace food? It's wishful thinking, I can't say it's a knowledge. It just came to me like that. Because, according to what Sri Aurobindo said, the supramental body will be immortal and sexless - that is, no procreation. So for those who live, if the earth is still there and they are to go on living, they will have to transform themselves constantly, otherwise they won't be able to last. Hence something has to replace food. Food carries in itself a seed of death, of decay. So obviously, it must be replaced by something else.

(silence)

Do we know how much time it takes for the rays of the sun to travel to earth?
Oh, it's very fast, [[Eight minutes. ]] Mother. It's alreadydone, it has already entered the earth's atmosphere.
Really?
Yes, it takes a few minutes.
Ohh!

(long silence)

So the effect of the explosion is already....
Already here, yes. Radio transmissions, for example, have already been disrupted. Those solar eruptions occur in cycles. The phenomenon recurs at fixed intervals - I can't tell you exactly, I don't know if it's every ten or twenty years [[Eleven years. ]] ....
Oh! ...
But this one is particularly strong, it seems.
Oh, it's a recurring phenomenon....
Yes, cyclic. But I think its magnitude was quite extraordinarythis time.... Very unusual.

(silence)

Do we know what the sun is made of, its substance?
Yes, Mother. It's a substance in a state of nuclear fusion; like agigantic and incessant atomic explosion.
Oh!
It's in a gaseous state. With constant atomic reactions. It's amillion times more powerful than the atomic bombs they have exploded on earth, and nonstop.

(long silence
Mother laughs)

So of course, if those explosions increase or decrease, the effects must be fantastic!
Certainly.... The sun is not really solid matter, you see, it's energy.
Yes, it isn't matter.
It isn't matter, it's energy.
(In an amused tone:) And that's what keeps us alive!
Yes! [Laughter]

(silence)

Sri Aurobindo and all the Vedic Rishis have always likenedthe Supermind to the sun....
Yes.
So there must be some relationship, a correspondence.
Yes.... I personally find it very ... (what's the word?) significant that this should have happened this year [of Sri Aurobindo's centenary].

page 261-65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 9th Aug - 1972-1973




-360_Silvius Craciunas.html



Because do you know the story of that Romanian who was tortured by the Communists and had visions of Sri Aurobindo [[Silvius Craciunas, author of The Lost Footstep. ]] (he didn't see him as he is, in fact, he saw him according to his own conception: thin and ascetic), and finally the apparition told him, "I am your soul," and so on? But he had never read Sri Aurobindo's name, he only heard it, and he wrote it in a very odd way ["Aurobin Dogos"].... It SEEMS to be something of Sri Aurobindo. Anyhow it gave him the strength to go through all those tortures - appalling tortures, unimaginable. And he was able to escape, somebody helped him escape (now he is safe in England). But before that, he suffered so much that he thought of letting himself die, and that "voice," that apparition which came and spoke to him for hours, was what gave him courage and told him that "the soul NEVER gets discouraged, it has something to do, and you must endure." He endured thanks to that voice.

page 171 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963




-361_Soul-Jiva-Psychic Being.html



It's a problem. When you contact the Supraconscient and the Shakti emerges at the crown of the head, it's something rising from below, isn't it? Is it then another movement, an ascending movement...?
That is the consciousness of the jiva [soul], the personal, individual consciousness.
It's something that grows....
It is the individual consciousness. Aspiration is almost always an expression of the psychic being - the part of us that's organized around the divine center, the small divine flame deep within human beings. You see, this divine flame exists inside each human being, and little by little, through all the incarnations and karma and so on, a being takes shape around it, which Théon called the "psychic being." And when the psychic being reaches its full development, it becomes a kind of bodily or at any rate individual raiment of the soul. The soul is a portion of the Supreme - the jiva is the Supreme in individual form. And since there is only one Supreme, there is only one jiva, but with millions of individual forms. This jiva begins as a divine spark - immutable, eternal and infinite too (infinite in possibility rather than dimension). And through all the incarnations, whatever has received and responded to the divine Influence progressively crystallizes around the jiva, which becomes more and more conscious as well as more and more organized. Ultimately it becomes a completely conscious individual being, master of itself and moved exclusively by the divine Will. That is to say, an individual expression of the Supreme. This is what we call the "psychic being." Generally speaking, those who practice yoga have either a fully developed, independent psychic being which has taken birth again to do the Divine's work, or else a psychic being in its last incarnation wanting to complete its development and realize itself. This is what aspires, this is what has the contact. So, when you're told "become conscious of your psychic being," it's for the being formed by external Nature to contact the divine Presence through the psychic being. Then the psychic takes charge of the whole being; in fact, it is the inner Guide.... Well, when I was a little child, this "person" (which wasn't a person, but an expression of a certain consciousness and will) was actually the psychic presence; there was something else behind, but that's a rather special case. And what happened to me happens to everyone whose psychic being has deliberately incarnated: the psychic being guides your life, and if you let it act freely, it arranges ALL circumstances - it's truly wonderful! ... I have seen - not only for myself but for so many people who also had conscious psychic beings - that everything is arranged with a view to ... not at all your personal egoistic satisfaction, but your ultimate progress and realization. And all circumstances of life, even those you call "disastrous," are there to lead you where you have to go as swiftly as possible. Yours is more than a psychic being. As I have told you, your psychic being is accompanied by something which has come for a special purpose, with a particular intellectual power - a luminous, conscious power - which has come from regions higher than the mind, regions Sri Aurobindo calls the Overmind, to do a special work. It is here (gesture enveloping the chest and head) and, along with the psychic, it's trying to organize everything. This, in your psychic, is what you are feeling. It must have great power.... Don't you feel a kind of luminous force?
page 283-84, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 25th July 1962.


There is the soul. There is the soul, which is quite simply an emanation of ... we can call it the supreme Consciousness, supreme Reality, supreme Truth, anything, whatever they like, it's all the same to me - any words they like. But anyway, the soul is an emanation of That, a direct emanation. In the body, That becomes clothed in the psychic being. The psychic being is a being which is progressively formed throughout all the existences. So are you talking about the soul, are you talking about the psychic being (which is first an embryo and eventually becomes a conscious, perfectly independent being), or are you simply talking of the life of an individual consciousness after death? Because that's yet another thing. There are proofs of that; but in that case, it's a quite vital consciousness of an inferior order, and it may happen to immediately come back into another body through some combination of circumstances (it was into the same family that the father had come back), and to come back with the memory. Otherwise, according to the experiences of those who have studied the question, it's only the psychic being in the process of being formed that retains the memory of its former existences. But it retains the

memory of the material, purely physical existence ONLY FOR THOSE MOMENTS WHEN IT PARTICIPATED. So, instead of all those stories that are told (and are made up), you only have memories like that (Mother draws a series of "points" in space with her fingertips), which may be more or less detailed, more or less complete, but which are only fragmentary memories of the MOMENT when the psychic physically manifested. Lots of people do have this sort of memory, but they don't know what it is. Most of the time they regard it as "dreams" or "imaginings." Those who know (that is to say, who are conscious of what goes on in their physical consciousness) can see that it's memories.

The number of memories of this kind I've had is almost incalculable. But it doesn't have the same character as the memories of the higher consciousness (then it's not a "memory": it's a sort of vision the higher beings [[Mother does not refer to a category of so-called higher "beings," but to higher levels of being or states of being. ]] have of life; but that's something else). The memories I speak of are memories of the psychic being, they have a different character: a rather personal character, I mean there is the sense of a PERSON remembering something. While the others, the visions from above, are memories of an "acting consciousness." But the memories of the psychic being aren't mentalized, that is, if for instance at the time of the recollection you weren't paying attention to the way you were dressed or the surroundings, you don't remember them. You only remember what took place and especially what took place from the point of view of the consciousness and the feelings and the inner movements.

page 254-55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 1966 , 3rd Nov.


The soul is a spark of the Supreme Divine, I do not see how the Lord needs a body in order to be conscious of being.

It's nothing very new, but it's a broadening of the consciousness. And all these questions have in fact been coming into the atmosphere lately, giving at first the impression that man knows nothing about death - he doesn't know what it is, doesn't know what happens, he has built all kinds of hypotheses but has no certainties. And by pressing on - by insisting and pressing on - I have reached the conclusion ... that there is really no such thing as death. There is only an appearance, and an appearance based on a limited outlook. But there is no radical change in the vibration of consciousness. This came as an answer to a sort of anguish - there was in the cells a sort of anguish at not knowing what death really is; a sort of anguish, like that. And the response was very clear and persistent: it was that the consciousness alone can know, because ... because the importance attached to the difference of state is a merely superficial difference based on an ignorance of the phenomenon in itself. One who could retain a means of communication would be able to say that as far as he himself is concerned, it doesn't make much difference. But this is something being worked out at the moment. There still remain gray areas and some details of experience are missing. So it would be better to wait, it seems to me, until the knowledge is more complete, because rather than give an approximation with assumptions, it would be better to tell the complete fact with the total experience. So we'll put it off till later.

page 74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th March - 1967


Sri Aurobindo says that "the soul is naked and unashamed,"[[Aphorism 350 - "Only the soul that is naked and unashamed can be pure and innocent, even as Adam was in the primal garden of humanity." ]] and you are asked, "Isn't the soul always pure?" So you reply:
"The soul wears no disguise, it shows itself as it is and cares nothing for people's judgement, because it is the faithful servant of the Divine whose home it is."

page 87 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 25th Feb - 1970


The psychic, that's true, has masculine and feminine tendencies, but it's not "man" or "woman": the psychic is sexless.


page 361 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 31st Oct. - 1970


(This is an extract from a meeting with a few teachers from the

school. We owe these recordings to the kind cooperation

of one of them.)

What is the best way of preparing ourselves? For one clearly feels that all this is going to require a rather extensive prepa ration.
To broaden and enlighten your consciousness, naturally. But how to do that ? ... How do you broaden and enlighten your
consciousness? If each one of you could find his psychic being and unite with it, all problems would be solved. The psychic being is the Divine's representative in the human being. It's true, you know: the Divine isn't something far-off and out of reach; the Divine is within you, but you aren't fully conscious of it. You have rather ... so far it is acting more as an influence than a Presence. It must become a conscious Presence, so at each moment you can ask yourselves how ... how the Divine sees. That's how it is: first, how the Divine sees; then, how the Divine Wills ... then, how the Divine does. It has nothing to do with going off to inaccessible regions: it's RIGHT HERE. Although, for the moment, all the old habits and the general unconsciousness have put a sort of lid on it, which prevents us from seeing and feeling. We must ... we must lift that, lift it off. Basically, we must become conscious instruments ... conscious ... conscious of the Divine. Normally it takes an entire lifetime, or even several lives in some cases. But here, in the present conditions, you can do it in ... a few months. Those who have an ardent aspiration can do it in a few MONTHS.

(Mother remains concentrated for a few moments)

Did you feel anything?
(One of the teachers:) Was there a special descent?
There is no "descent"! That's another wrong idea. There is no "descent." It's something that is ALWAYS here, but you just don't feel it. There is no descent, that's a completely wrong idea. Do you know what the fourth dimension is?
We have heard about it....
Have you experienced it?
No, Mother.
Oh, but it's precisely the best example modern science can offer - the fourth dimension. The Divine is the fourth dimension for us. It ... belongs to the fourth dimension. It's everywhere, you see - always everywhere. It doesn't come and go: it's always there ...
everywhere. It's we, it's our stupidity that keeps us from feeling it. There's no need to go off anywhere ... no need at all, none at all To be conscious of your psychic being, you must be able to have felt the fourth dimension, felt it once, otherwise you cannot know what it is.... Oh, Lord! It's been seventy years since I've known what the fourth dimension is - more than seventy years.

(silence)

Indispensable, it's indispensable. Life begins with that. Otherwise, you are in falsehood - in a hodgepodge of confusion and ignorance.... The mind! The mind! The mind! Otherwise, to be conscious of your own consciousness, you must mentalize it. It's dreadful, dreadful! There you are.
This new life isn't the continuation of the old one, is it Mother,it has to spring up from within.
Yes! Yes!
There is no common ground between the two....
There is - there is, but you aren't conscious of it. You must ... you must ... it's the mind that prevents you from feeling it. One Must BE, you see. All you do is mentalize everything - everything. What you call "consciousness" is thinking things out; that's what you call consciousness. But that's not it at all! That's not consciousness. Consciousness ... should be wholly lucid and WORDLESS.

(Mother closes her eyes)

Like that ... everything becomes luminous and warm and ... STRONG! And peaceful ... a true peace, which is not inertia or immobility.
Mother, can we give this as an objective to all children?
All ... no! They are not all the same age, even when they are the same physical age. Some children are primitive. One should.... You see, if you yourself were fully conscious of your psychic being, you would know which children are psychically developed. Some children have only an embryonic psychic - the age of the psychic varies enormously. Normally, it takes several lives for the psychic to become completely formed, and it's the psychic that passes from one body to another; that's why we aren't conscious of our past lives - because we aren't conscious of our psychic being. But sometimes, at some MOMENT the psychic being participated in a particular event, it became conscious; and that creates a memory. Sometimes you may find you have a partial recollection of something, the fleeting memory of a circumstance or event or thought, or even of an action.... It's because the psychic was conscious of it.

(silence)

What would you, I am nearing my hundredth year - it's only five years away - and I started my effort to become conscious when I was five. It's a fact. That's telling you.... And I am going on, and it is going on. Now, of course, I have come to doing the work in the cells of the body, but the work started long ago. I don't mean to discourage you, but only to tell you it isn't done in a wink! The body ... the body is made of a substance that is still very heavy. It is the substance itself that must change for the Supermind to manifest. That's all I can say.
page 360-63 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Feb - 1972-1973




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Outside there is a lot of trouble in town because of..

The university?[[A students' strike, public manifestations, parades (the government has had to close all the Pondicherry schools), protesting "Sri Aurobindo University," which was to be inaugurated for the Centenary.






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I remember another thing, but then much more recent. After he left, long ago, years and years ago (it was not very long after he left, maybe a year or two), I was downstairs, in the bathroom downstairs, and in that bathroom, early in the morning I was taking my breakfast on the corner of a table, like that. Then, while I was beginning to eat, he came and stood there (gesture beside Mother), and he was so concrete that I felt as if ... it would take VERY LITTLE for him to become material again. So I said to him, "Oh, you are coming back!" Like that. And then ... he answered me, "I'll be with you, but I can't come back materially - I MUST NOT come back materially." It was so material that I suddenly felt, "Oh, nothing, a mere nothing would be enough ... [for him to materialize]."
But doesn't it mean that Your presence here could help him, onday, to materialize in another body?
Yes, yes .... That he said clearly (I asked him), he clearly said, "I'll come back only in a supramental body." That was before what I have just told you. So it would be you who would help him to materialize?

Yes, yes. But there's the big question of that supramental body, I don't know.
Yes, but if it materializes, that's different. It's not the same thingas creating it.
Yes.
If Sri Aurobindo materializes again, but in another body ...
Ah, in a living body ...
In a living body, but made of another substance than the physi cal substance.
Yes, but that's what I said: that substance, when, how, what? ...
page 262-63 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th July - 1969


Although I must say that ... Sri Aurobindo said to me, "Oh, to have to begin all that over again, the whole childhood and all that unconsciousness -- no." Before he left, he said no. "No, I shall return when it can be done in a supramental body."[[This is what Mother wrote to Sujata's father, Prithwi Singh, in 1953 about the passing away of Sri Aurobindo: "At 1:26 in the morning, when I was in his room, he was steadily coming out of his body into mine; it was so much that I felt a physical friction in the cells of my body; with it a great power entered into me and I felt capable of resuscitating him. But when I told him, he said, 'No, it is purposely that I have left my body, I will not come back into it, I will return in a new body, the first body built in the supramental way.' But," Mother added, "he did not tell me the time when he would return." ]]

page 235 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Sep - 1971




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(Laughing) They are everywhere! Here, there, everywhere.... Once, Sri Aurobindo (I think it was in 1920) said to me one day, "Oh, they have put my room in order, I can't find anything anymore!" For their part, they said he had his papers everywhere: on his bed, on the chairs, on the table, in the drawers, on the shelves; there were papers everywhere, notes and so on. But he knew exactly where everything was. Then they "put things in order," they "tidied up" - and he couldn't find anything anymore! It was very funny. I asked him, "Would you like me to do your room and clean it? I won't touch anything." - "Ah, if you don't touch anything ..." (Mother laughs) So I left the papers on the bed, on the chair, on the table, on the shelves! I cleaned a shelf, then in a book I found some money. I told him (thinking it had been forgotten), I told him, "I found ... a hundred, two hundred rupees" (I don't remember now) "in a book." (One banknote was in one place, another note was in another place.) He replied, "Yes, I am forced to hide it, otherwise they take it from me!" (Mother laughs) But I am no good at hiding places! You see, I instinctively go and take the book, I open it and find the money. So I asked him, "Would you like to entrust your money to me? I will keep it for you." He replied, "That would make things simpler." But after a year, I had three thousand rupees of his money, coming from books, from here and there! I told him (laughing), "See, it has borne fruit!"
page 116 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 22nd May - 1966




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(To Nolini:) Do you know?
(Nolini:) At the beginning, when he came to Pondicherry [in1910].
At the very beginning.... But then, what does he mean when he says, "When I knew that God was a woman"!
(Nolini:) He always used to say that Krishna and Kali were one
and the same being. Ramakrishna, too, once became a woman: God was Krishna and he became a woman; for a long time he had that impression.
Naturally, for me, the answer is this sense of humor! (Mother laughs)
(Satprem:) Yes, you write to T., "Sri Aurobindo had the geniusof humor and one only has to admire and be silent."
That was my first reply, but after that, T. asked me, "Why exactly did Sri Aurobindo put it that way?..." It depends on the date when it was written.
(Satprem:) It looks like the same experience as Ramakrishna's.
(Nolini:) At the time he used to sign letters not "Sri Aurobindo" but "Kali."
Oh!
(Nolini:) Yes, always.... All the letters he wrote to Motilal were signed that way.
But the way he puts it!... (general laughter)
page 110-11 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 21st March , 1970


What exactly does he mean? I don't understand.... He writes as if he felt identified with Kali more than with Krishna. Yet (and he told me so) there was something of Krishna in him. So I would have liked to know if all those things were written at the same time, or years apart?
Nolini seems to say it was at the beginning.
Yes, it was at the beginning.
At a time when he used to sign his letters "Kali" [around 1912].
Oh, there was a time when he used to sign "Kali"....
He always signed his letters "Kali": the letters to Motilal, [[Motilal Roy, a disciple from Chandernagore with whom Sri Aurobindo corresponded between 1912 and 1920. ]] for instance.
Oh, I never saw that, I didn't know. So it was at that time.

(silence)

It was certainly long before I came [in 1914].
page 124 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 1st Apr 1970




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Very long ago (very long, a few years after Sri Aurobindo left), one night (because I was already seeing him), I saw him: I had gone to his place, and I found him sitting on a sort of bed ... with a truss: three or four bandages like that on his body! (Mother laughs) So he called me and said (in English), "Look! Look what they're doing with me! Look, they're putting bandages all over me!" So I inquired - and found that they wanted to make cuts in his writings ....
Ooh!
I said, "Be careful! Here is what he thinks of your cuts." [[Numerous texts were nevertheless censored in the so-called "complete" edition of Sri Aurobindo's works (the "Centenary Library"), in particular letters about the Ashram. As an illustration, we publish in addendum two of those censored letters, to make the intention plain. ]] It's like that, thoroughly familiar, but very expressive.
page 255 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd July - 1969




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But the same thing happened to me. At the time, I used to go up on the terrace and I would take a parasol (I had one of those tubes in which umbrellas are put away, and my parasol was there). I looked for it, couldn't find it. I took another one and went upstairs (I looked carefully, examining all the umbrellas one after the other, not just casually; my parasol wasn't there). Then I came back downstairs, didn't bother about it anymore - two days later, it was there! Things like that happen.... Probably little beings having fun. Do you know the story of Sri Aurobindo and the clocks? Before he broke his leg, Sri Aurobindo used to walk from the street over there up to the garden here, straight through the rooms for a precise length of time. And to make sure he didn't walk for too long or too short a time, he had four wall clocks placed at a certain distance from each other, all synchronized; the last one was here and the first one was in his room, near him. One day, as he was walking as usual, he looked at the first clock: stopped; he looks at the second clock (he used to wind them himself): stopped, at the same time; looks at the third clock: stopped, at the same time; the fourth clock: stopped, at the same time. I was meditating at the time, and I heard him exclaim, Oh, that is a bad joke! And ... they all started up again one after the other. That I saw with my own eyes (and he wasn't under any illusions, nor was I). I asked him, "What happened?" He told me, "See, all the clocks have stopped," and ... all the clocks started up again. page 145 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 31st July 1964




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(After the work, Mother begins speaking of her translation of 'The Synthesis of Yoga'.)

A few days ago I had an experience related to this. For some time I had been unable to work because I was unwell and my eyes were very tired. And two or three days ago, when I resumed the translation, I suddenly realized that I was seeing it quite differently! Something had happened during those days (how to put it?) ... the position of the translation work in relation to the text was different. My last sentence was all I had with me, because I file my papers as I go along, so I went back to it along with the corresponding English sentence. 'Oh, look!' I said, 'That's how it goes!' And I made all the corrections quite spontaneously. The position really seemed different. It's not yet perfect, it's still being worked on, but when I read it over, I saw that I had truly gone beyond the stage where one tries to find a correspondence with what one reads, an appropriate expression sufficiently close to the original text (that's the state I was in before). Now it's not like that anymore! The translation seems to come spontaneously: that is English, this is French - sometimes very different, sometimes very close. It was rather interesting, for you know that Sri Aurobindo was strongly drawn to the structure of the French language (he used to say that it created a far better, far clearer and far more forceful English than the Saxon structure), and often, while writing in English, he quite spontaneously used the French syntax. When it's like that, the translation adapts naturally - you get the impression that it was almost written in French. But when the structure is Saxon, what used to happen is that a French equivalent would come to me; but now it's almost as if something were directing: 'That is English, this is French.' It was there, it was clear; but it's not yet permanent. Something is beginning. I hope it's going to become established before too long and that there will be no more translating difficulties. Meanwhile, I am interested in seeing how it functions in your mind.... I think that after some time - perhaps not too long from now - we will be able to do this work together in an interesting way....
page 55-56 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 30th Jan. 1961

Sri Aurobindo told me he had been French in a previous life and that French flowed back to him like a spontaneous memory - he understood all the subtleties of French.

page 249 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 4th July - 1961




-375_Subjective-Objective.html



(In the course of the preceding conversation, Satprem had thought that rather than a subjective change, a change in one's attitude towards things, there should be an objective change, a power capable of changing the very substance of things: their property of hardness, for instance. Here Mother elucidates her previous statement that "if matter were changeable, it would have changed long ago," a statement that, at first glance, seemed to shatter all hope of transformation.)

There is nothing to change! Only the relations between things change.... As an analogy, look at what science has discovered about the so-called composition of matter at the atomic level - there's nothing to change. Nothing to change! The constituent element doesn't change, the relations between things are what change. Everything has one and the same constituent element, you see; and everything lies IN the interrelations. [[In fact, physicists today unanimously admit that the mathematical "models" explaining the corpuscular structure of matter have become excessively complex: "There are too many kinds of quarks [theoretical elementary particles and 'ultimate' constituents of matter] and far too many of their aspects are unobservable." There is a call for a simpler working hypothesis, a new idea, simplifying and unifying, that would explain matter without recourse to "unobservables." And it may well be that the seed of this "idea" is concealed in Mother's simple but enigmatic words: "Everything has one and the same constituent element; and everything lies IN the interrelations." ]] Well, it's exactly the same for the transformation.
So you speak of "power," but in fact....

(long silence)

The notion of "subjective" and "objective" STILL belongs to the old world and to the three, or at most four, dimensions.... It is one and the same Power that changes the interrelations within one and the same element; to put things simply, the Power that gives the subjective experience AND the objective realization is the same; it is only a matter of a greater or lesser totality of experience, as it were. And if the experience were total it would be the experience of the Supreme, and it would be universal. Does what I am saying make any sense?... It all practically comes down to a capacity to spread the experience, or to INCLUDE things in the experience (it's the same thing). You really have to forget this business of one person and then another, one thing and then another.... Even if you can't realize it concretely, at least imagine that there is but ONE thing, excessively complex, and (depending on the case) one experience taking place in one spot, or spreading out like oil on water, or embracing everything. This is all very approximate, but it's the only way the thing can be understood. And the sole explanation for "contagion" is in that Oneness. And power is what makes the difference. The greater the power, you might say (these words are all very clumsy), the farther the experience spreads. How great the power is depends on its starting point. If its starting point is the Origin, the power is ... let's say universal (we won't consider more than one universe for the moment); it is universal. As this Power manifests from plane to plane, it becomes more concrete and limited; on each plane, the field of action becomes more limited. If your power is vital (or "pranic," as it's called here in India), the field of action is terrestrial, and sometimes limited to just a few individuals, sometimes it's a power capable of acting on just one small being. But originally it's the SAME power, acting on the SAME substance ... I can't express it, words are impossible; but I sense very clearly what I mean. I can affirm that this notion of "subjective" and "objective" still belongs to the world of illusion. The CONTENT of the experience is what may be either microscopic or universal, depending on the specific quality of the power being expressed, or its field of action. The limitation of power can be voluntary and deliberate; it can be a willed, and not an imposed limitation, which means that the Will-Force may come from the Origin but deliberately limit itself, limit its field of action. But it is the same power and the same substance. Ultimately there is but one power and one substance. There are varying modalities - countless modalities - of power and substance, but there is but ONE power and ONE substance, as there is but ONE consciousness and ONE truth.
Yes, but when you say that what changes is only "the relations between things," it's still a matter of subjectivity (I use the word for lack of a better one). But when we come down to the brass tacks of transformation - physical immortality in the body, for instance - doesn't it involve more than a simple inner change of relations? Doesn't MATTER itself have to be transformed? So there has to be a power over matter. Not merely a change of relations ... no?
No; you can't grasp what I mean by the word "relation" unless you take it scientifically. Your body, and my body, this table, this carpet, are all made up of atoms; and these atoms are constituted of the SAME thing. The differences we see - different bodies, different forms - are due to the movements or the interrelations within this same thing.
Yes, so then it's the interrelations that have to change.
But this has to be very concretely grasped. Well, I say that the power must change this intra-atomic movement. Then, instead of disintegrating, your bodily substance will obey the movement of Transformation, you follow? But it's all the SAME thing! What must change are the relations among things. And so it becomes EVIDENT that immortality can be achieved! Things get destroyed simply because of their own rigidity - and even then, it's only a semblance of destruction; the essential element stays the same, everywhere, in everything, in decay just as much as in life. It is extremely interesting! Ultimately, it's all the constructing Will. This constructing Will is eternal, immortal and infinite - it's obvious - so if it is left to this Will, there's no reason why Its creation shouldn't partake of immortality and infinity - things don't necessarily have to go through the semblance of disintegration to change form, it's not indispensable. It has come to be that way for some reason or other (which is probably none of our business), but it's not indispensable, it could be different. The problem is getting out of it: we see, we touch, and we are enslaved. But if you look up THERE (gesture above the head) it all seems quite simple! And looking up THERE, I tell you, I am sure there is no difference between "subjective" and "objective" - except when you give your individuality and your individual consciousness an independent reality; that is, when you cut everything into little bits with your imagination.... Then, of course....
page 201-04 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th June 1962





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For a very long time now I have been watching all the phases of the subjection to mental functioning come undone, one after another - for a very long time. That night was the end of it, the last phase: I was leaving this subjection behind and rising up into a realm of freedom. You had been very, very helpful, as I told you. Well, this latest experience was something else! It came to make me look squarely at the fact of our incapacity! Can you imagine! One thing after another, one thing after another! This subconscient is ... interminable, interminable, if you only knew ... I am skipping the details-such stupidity, oh! This person I won't name, who so clumsily prepared breakfast, told me, 'Ah, yes, Sri Aurobindo is a little ... morose today, he is depressed.' I could have slapped him: 'You fool! You don't understand anything!' And Sri Aurobindo, although he didn't want to show it, was completely aware of our incapacity.

(silence)

Now I should say-if it's any consolation - that each time something like this comes into my consciousness at night, things go better afterwards. it is not useless, some work has been done - cleaning, cleaning, cleaning out. But there's quite a lot to do!
To wind it all up, I went to Sri Aurobindo's room - an enormous, enormous room, but in the same state. And he appeared to be in an eternal consciousness, entirely detached from everything yet very clearly aware of our total incapacity. He hadn't eaten (probably because no one had given him anything to eat), and when I entered, he asked me if it was possible to have some breakfast. 'Yes, of course! I said, 'I'll go get it,' expecting to find it ready. Then I had to hunt around to find something: everything was stuffed into cupboards (and misplaced at that), all disarranged - disgusting, absolutely disgusting. I called someone (who had been napping and came in with sleep-swollen eyes) and told him to prepare Sri Aurobindo's breakfast - but he had his own fixed ideas and principles (exactly as he is in real life). 'Hurry up,' I told him, 'Sri Aurobindo is waiting.' But hurry? Impossible! He had to do things according to his own conceptions and with a terrible awkwardness and ineptitude. In short, it took an infinite amount of time to warm up a rather clumsy breakfast. Then I arrived at Sri Aurobindo's room with my plates. 'Oh,' said Sri Aurobindo, 'it has taken so long that I will take my bath first.' I looked at my poor breakfast and thought, 'Well, I went to so much trouble to make it hot and now it's going to get cold!' All this was so sordid, so sad. And he seemed to be living in an eternity, yet fully, fully conscious of ... of our total incapacity.
page 130 - Mother's Agenda , volume -2 , 17th March , 1961



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They also had a sudden brainstorm to affiliate with the Sri Aurobindo Society. But the Sri Aurobindo Society has absolutely nothing to do with their project: it's a strictly external thing, organized by businessmen to bring in money - EXCLUSIVELY. That is, they want to put people in a position where they feel obliged to give (so far they have succeeded and I believe they will succeed).But this has nothing to do with working for an ideal, it is COMPLETELY practical. [[Although it began as a fund-raising organization for the needs of the Ashram and Auroville, this 'strictly external thing,' which had 'nothing to do with working for an ideal,' would, after Mother's departure, coolly declare itself the 'owner' and guide of Auroville. ]] And of course, World Union has nothing to offer the Sri Aurobindo Society: they would simply siphon off funds. So I told them, 'Nothing doing - it's out of the question!'

'But your name is there as President of the Sri Aurobindo Society,' they said. My name is there to give an entirely material guarantee that the money donated will really and truly be used for the Work to be done and for nothing else; it's only a moral and purely practical guarantee. These people aren't even asked to understand what Sri Aurobindo has said but simply to participate. It's a different matter for those in World Union, who are working for an ideal: they want to prepare the world to receive (laughing) the Supermind! Let them prepare it! It doesn't matter, they will achieve nothing at all, or very little. It's unimportant. That's my point of view and I have told them so. In addition, I told them it was preferable not to hold any functions here - they can be held at Tapogiri in the Himalayas, or elsewhere - and this is understood. They did hold a seminar here (a perfect fiasco, besides), but it had been arranged a long time ago. They invited people who promised to come (I think very few showed up in the end), and it was of very secondary importance. Nevertheless, I told them, 'This is the last time; don't do it here any more. At Tapogiri, as often as you like: it's a beautiful spot in the mountains, a health resort, people go there in the summer for the fresh air and ... to sit around and chat!'
page 110- Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961

It began with this famous World Union [[See conversation of March 4. ]] and now the Sri Aurobindo Society [[After Mother's departure, this 'Society' would try to appropriate Auroville: 'Auroville is a project of the Sri Aurobindo Society.' (sic) ]] is meddling in it! They have put together a brochure saying, 'We will facilitate your relations with the Mother'!! Luckily, the draft was sent to me. I said, 'I do not accept this responsibility.' I agreed to be President because money is involved and I wanted to be a guarantee that all these people who make propaganda don't put the money into their own pockets for their personal use; so I agreed to be President - to guarantee that the money would really go to work for Sri Aurobindo, that's all. But no spiritual responsibility; I have nothing to teach to anyone, thank God!

page 182 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 25th April - 1961


After this, I received the draft of the Sri Aurobindo Society's brochure to be distributed among all disciples, all society members, in order to 'encourage' them. Well, that was the last straw! Oh, the most asinine propaganda! And plump in the middle of a bunch of other things (which had nothing to do with me), I come across this: 'We have the great fortune to have the Mother among us, and we propose to be the intermediary for all who wish to come into direct contact with her'! They wanted to print this and distribute it, just like that! So I took my brightest red ink and wrote: 'I do not accept this responsibility, you cannot make this promise.' And that was that. I cut it. And now here's A., doing the same thing!

page 182 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 25th April - 1961


Look here, there's a muddle in all this. The Sri Aurobindo Society people had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the spiritual life when they began; they didn't at all present themselves as a 'spiritual group' - nothing of the kind; they were people of good will who volunteered to collect money to help the Ashram. So I said, 'Very well, excellent' and as long as it's like that, I'm behind it. Leaflets can be handed out - whatever people like; it's enough if their interest is aroused, if they know there is an Ashram and that it needs some help to go on. But that's all. It has nothing to do with yoga or spiritual progress or anything of the kind - it was a strictly practical organization. It was not the same thing as World Union.

page 183 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 25th April - 1961



But then, they [the S.A.S. people] began posing as ... almost as teachers! Luckily, the draft of their brochure was brought to me. I said, 'Nothing doing. If you want to talk to people, tell them what you like, it's all the same to me, but I am not publishing this. What you have written about me is not to be printed and you are not to distribute it. I'm not in the picture. My name, the fact that I am president, is simply to give my guarantee that the money won't go into the pockets of those who collect it but will be used for the Ashram, the running of the Ashram, and that's all. And on this basis alone I give my guarantee. I am in no way going to help people imagine they are doing a yoga!' It's absurd.

page 184 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 25th April - 1961




-381_Sri Aurobindo's breakfast.html


To wind it all up, I went to Sri Aurobindo's room - an enormous, enormous room, but in the same state. And he appeared to be in an eternal consciousness, entirely detached from everything yet very clearly aware of our total incapacity. He hadn't eaten (probably because no one had given him anything to eat), and when I entered, he asked me if it was possible to have some breakfast. 'Yes, of course! I said, 'I'll go get it,' expecting to find it ready. Then I had to hunt around to find something: everything was stuffed into cupboards (and misplaced at that), all disarranged - disgusting, absolutely disgusting. I called someone (who had been napping and came in with sleep-swollen eyes) and told him to prepare Sri Aurobindo's breakfast - but he had his own fixed ideas and principles (exactly as he is in real life). 'Hurry up,' I told him, 'Sri Aurobindo is waiting.' But hurry? Impossible! He had to do things according to his own conceptions and with a terrible awkwardness and ineptitude. In short, it took an infinite amount of time to warm up a rather clumsy breakfast. Then I arrived at Sri Aurobindo's room with my plates. 'Oh,' said Sri Aurobindo, 'it has taken so long that I will take my bath first.' I looked at my poor breakfast and thought, 'Well, I went to so much trouble to make it hot and now it's going to get cold!' All this was so sordid, so sad. And he seemed to be living in an eternity, yet fully, fully conscious of ... of our total incapacity.
page 130 - Mother's Agenda , volume -2 , 17th March , 1961



-384_Sri Aurobindo's letter.html



(Then Mother takes from the table by her side a few letters of SriAurobindo which she intends to publish, including these:)
"The prestige of an institution claiming to bea centre of spirituality lies in its spirituality (Mother laughs), not in newspaper columns or famous people."
This, I know, is about the Theosophical Society. I don't know whom he wrote it to. [[In fact, the text of this letter was given truncated to Mother. Sri Aurobindo was referring to the Ashram and not to the Theosophical Society. Here is the full text of the letter: "Queer idea all you fellows seem to have of the 'prestige' of the Asram. The prestige of an institution claiming to be a centre of spirituality lies in its spirituality, not in newspaper columns or famous people. Is it because of this mundane view of life and of the Asram held by the sadhaks that this Asram is not yet the centre of spirituality it set out to be?" (Nirodbaran's Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, vol. 2, p. 1105. Even in the Centenary Edition - 26.380-381 - the last sentence was omitted.) ]]
"A sincere heart is worth all the extraordinary powers in the world."
It's lovely.
page 244 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th July - 1969




-386_Sri Aurobindo's passing away.html


Yes, this was precisely the extraordinary thing Sri Aurobindo had. He made no effort ... But then he didn't use it on himself! But for humans, this is something UNTHINKABLE. He wanted to go. You see, he had decided to go. But he didn't want me to know that he was doing it deliberately; he knew that if for a single moment I knew he was doing it deliberately, I would have reacted with such a violence that he would not have been able to leave! And he did this ... he bore it all as if it were some unconsciousness, an ordinary illness, simply to keep me from knowing - and he left at the very moment he had to leave. But ... And I couldn't even imagine he was gone once he had gone, just there, in front of me - it seemed so far away ... And then afterwards, when he came out of his body and entered into mine, I understood it all ... It's fantastic. Fantastic. It's ... it's absolutely superhuman. There's not one human being capable of doing such a thing. And what ... what a mastery of his body - absolute, absolute! And when it came to others ... he could remove an illness like that (gesture, as if Mother were calmly extracting an illness from the body with her fingertips). That happened to you once, didn't it? You said that I had done this for you - but it wasn't me; he was the one who did it ... He could give you peace in the mind in the same way (Mother brushes her hand across her forehead). You see, his actions were absolutely ... On others, it had all the characteristics of a total mastery ... Absolutely superhuman.
page 439 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 19th Oct. 1960
I can tell you why, but in a purely superficial way ... Because for him to do IMMEDIATELY - without leaving his body, that is - what he had to do, well ...

(silence)

We can put it this way: the world was not ready. But to tell you the truth, it was the totality of things around him that was not ready. So when he SAW this (I only understood this afterwards), he saw that it would go much faster if he were not there. And he was ABSOLUTELY right, it was true. Once I saw that, I accepted. When I saw it, when he made me understand, I accepted; otherwise ... There was a difficult period.

(silence)

It wasn't long, but it was difficult. When he left, I said twelve days, twelve days.' And truly, I gave it twelve days, twelve days to see if the entire Work ... Outwardly, I said, 'After twelve days I will tell you if the Ashram (the Ashram was nothing but a symbol, of course), if the Ashram will continue or if it is finished.' And later (I don't know - it didn't take twelve days; I said that on December 9, and on the 12th it was all decided - seen, clear and understood), on the 12th, I saw people, I saw a few people. However, we began all the activities again only after 12 days from December 5. But it was decided on the 12th. Everything was left hanging until the moment he made me understand the COMPLETE thing, in its entirety ... But that's for later on. He himself will tell you, it's true - later on. 1. Mother stopped all her activities for twelve days from December 5, 1950, the day Sri Aurobindo departed.
page 440 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 19th Oct. 1960

And the feeling was so strong that even during his illness (which lasted for months, you know), I had a sense of perfect security; so much so that the idea of his life being really affected in the least by this illness couldn't even occur to me! I didn't want to believe it when the doctor said, "It's over." I didn't want to believe it. And as long as I stayed in the room ... with me in the room he couldn't leave his body. And so there was a terrible tension in him - on the one hand the inner will to depart, and then this thing holding him there in his body: the fact that I knew he was alive and could only be alive. He had to signal me to go to my room, supposedly to rest (I didn't rest); and no sooner had I left his room than he was gone.

They immediately called me back.... That's how it was. Then when he came to me, when I really saw what had happened, when he went out of his body and entered into mine (the most material part of him, the part involved with external things) and I understood that I had the entire responsibility for all the work AND for the sadhana[[Sadhana: spiritual discipline. ]] - well, then I locked a part of me away, a deep psychic [[The soul or portion of the Supreme in man which evolves from life to life until it becomes a fully conscious being. ]] part that was living, beyond all responsibility, in the ECSTASY of the realization: the Supreme. I took it and locked it away, I sealed it off and said, "You're not moving until ... until all the rest is ready."

(silence)

That in itself was a miracle. If I hadn't done it I would have followed him - and there would have been no one to do the Work. I would have followed him automatically, without even thinking about it. But when he entered into me, he said, "You will do the work; one of us had to go, and I am going, but you will do the work." And that door was opened again only ten years later, in 1960. Even then, it was done with great care - it was one of last year's major difficulties.
page 26-27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th Jan. 1962

A whole world....

One day, I don't remember on what occasion, I saw what had motivated the "forefathers" who wrote the Vedas: it was the need for immortality; they were in quest of immortality. [[Mother added the beginning of this paragraph later: "I had forgotten to mention part of the experience!" ]] From there, I went on to Buddha and saw what had set the Buddha on his way: this kind of need for permanence, purely and simply; the vision of the impermanence of things had profoundly troubled him, and he felt the need for Permanence. His whole quest was to find the Permanent (why was he so anxious to have the Permanent?...). There are a few things like that in human nature, in the deep human need. And then I saw another such need: a need for the Certitude which is security. I don't know how to explain it.... Because I had the experience of it, I saw it was one of the human needs; and I understood it very intensely, for when I met Sri Aurobindo, this Certitude is what made me feel I had found the Truth I needed. And I didn't realize how DEEP this need was until he left his body - just then, at the moment of the transition. Then the entire physical consciousness felt its certitude and security collapse. At that moment I saw (we spoke about it with Nolini a year later and he had had exactly the same impression), I saw this was similar to Buddha's experience when he realized that everything was impermanent and so all of life collapsed ... in other words, Something Else HAD to be found. Well, at that moment.... I'd already had all my experiences, but with Sri Aurobindo, for the thirty years I lived with him (a little more than thirty years), I lived in an absolute, an absolute of security - a sense of total security, even physical, even the most material security. A sense of absolute security, because Sri Aurobindo was there. And it held me up, you know, like this (gesture of being carried): not for ONE MINUTE in those thirty years did it leave me. That was why I could do my work with a Base, really, a Base of absoluteness - of eternity and absoluteness. I realized it when he left: THAT suddenly collapsed.

And then I understood that it is one of life's needs (there are several); and it's what spurs the human being to get out of his present state and find another one. These needs are (what's the word?) ... the seeds, the germs of evolution. They compel us to progress. The whole time Sri Aurobindo was here, as I said, individual progress was automatic: all the progress Sri Aurobindo made, I made. But I was in a state of eternity, of absoluteness, with a feeling of such security, in every circumstance. Nothing, nothing unfortunate could happen, for he was there. So when he left, all at once - a fall into a pit. And that's what projected me wholly ... (Mother gestures forward).

That is, I understood why he left. The whole terrestrial evolution had come to a halt. One progressed - one can always progress, that's nothing - but the entire TERRESTRIAL evolution was at a standstill. If there were permanence in life, nothing would budge. And these needs are the seeds of evolution. So that's what I saw: in the past, in the future, universally. It was very interesting.

page 436-37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Nov. 1962



The body always used to let itself be carried along. It was one in consciousness with Sri Aurobindo's presence, and depended on it without the least worry; it felt that its life depended on it, its progress depended on it, its consciousness, its action, its power all depended on it. And no questions - it didn't question. For the body, it was absolutely IMPOSSIBLE that things could be otherwise. The very idea that Sri Aurobindo might leave his body, that that particular way of being might no longer exist for the body, was absolutely unthinkable. They had to put him in a box and put the box in the Samadhi for the body to be convinced that it had really happened. And that's when it had that experience. This body is very conscious, it was BORN conscious, and throughout those years its consciousness went on growing, perfecting itself, proliferating, as it were; this was its concern, its joy. And with Sri Aurobindo, there was such peaceful certitude, there were no more problems, no more difficulties: the future was opening up, luminous and peaceful and certain. Nothing, nothing, no words can describe what a collapse it was for the body when Sri Aurobindo left. It's only because Sri Aurobindo's conscious will entered into it - left one body and entered the other.... I was standing facing his body, you know, and I materially felt the friction as his will entered into me (his knowledge and his will): "You will accomplish my Work." He said to this body: "You will accomplish my Work." It's the one thing that kept me alive. Apart from that.... There's nothing, no physical destruction I can think of, comparable to that collapse. It took me twelve days to get out of it - twelve days during which I didn't speak a single word. So the experience I mentioned is the PHYSICAL experience.

(silence)

What he is now striving to give this body is the consciousness of Permanence, of Immortality, of the Certitude of absolute security - in Matter, in Life, in every moment's action. And that is becoming nearer and nearer, more and more constant. Gradually, the mixture of old impressions is disappearing - that's the BEDROCK, the basis of the transformation. page 445-46 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th Dec. 1962


You said something mysterious the other day [December 41 concerning Sri Aurobindo's departure. You were speaking of the sense of impermanence you had, of total uncertainty, and you said, "It's no longer a destruction, but it's not yet an ascending transformation...."
It was a real physical destruction; so I am saying it's not that any more, but it's not yet the realization.

(silence)

(Mother laughs) I didn't tell you the other side.
What's the other side?
That's for later.
What do you mean, the other side?
No, what he seems to be giving me these days, since December 5, is a very clear vision and experience of why he had to leave. But that ... it's not yet time to speak of it. It wasn't for personal reasons but for reasons of work. I mean he considered (I knew it from the start; he had told me), he considered it better to leave his body, that it was the best way to do the work now. It was necessary. But the time hasn't come to speak of all this, to give all the reasons, and it probably won't come for quite a while. These past few days, he seems to want to make me see and experience all the terrestrial conditions that led him to that decision (that's the best way to put it). But it just can't be told.
When he left his body I said, "The world isn't ready." I was speaking generally, but now he's showing me each and every point, every single point. I hope (there's still tomorrow [[December 9 Darshan, anniversary of Sri Aurobindo's interment. ]]), I hope he'll show me if something has been accomplished along the way. That, I don't know.

(silence)

He's not talking to me, he's not saying anything or explaining anything to me: he's simply putting me through a series of experiences. Voilà. page 448-49 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 8th Dec. 1962


Yes, there was a hostile onslaught. And in fact, it began with the usual suggestion: "Sri Aurobindo has gone, so there's no reason for you to stay here - why don't you just leave as soon as you can?" In other words, everything's going to pieces. Well, my usual answer, the only answer that has some weight with those beings, is "It's not up to me. It's up to the Lord, address yourselves to Him." Then they keep quiet. They come back another time, hoping to succeed, and the response is always the same, which they find somewhat discouraging. After a while it's over. But ... really, everything imaginable; and precisely for those who were progressing steadily: a collapse into all the old errors and stupidities. And then a sort of hate coming out of everything and everybody and hurled at me, with this inevitable conclusion: "What are you doing here! Go away, you're not wanted. Nobody wants you, can't you see that!" "It's not up to me, it's none of my business. Wanted or not, I am here for as long as the Lord keeps me here; when He no longer wants to keep me here, He'll make me go, that's all - it's none of my business." That calms them down, it's the only thing that calms them down. But it doesn't discourage them! Now I am just waiting for the hurricane to pass. Since 1950, I must say, it has been the same thing EVERY year at this time. And with the same suggestion (which they make not only to me but to everybody, to all those who listen): "Sri Aurobindo has gone, what's she doing here? She should just leave!" And some of them are relentless: "She WANTS to leave," they say. Not "She must leave," but "She's GOING to leave; take it from me, she's leaving, now's the time, she's going to leave. And surely you can see that none of this is real, it just doesn't make sense. Sri Aurobindo left because he was disgusted. He has gone, so logically she must go too." That's the picture. Actively, there's only one thing to do: "It's not up to me, it's the Lord who decides. It's the Lord who acts, it's the Lord who organizes everything - and to top it off, it's even the Lord who sends you away!" That irks them more than anything! (Mother laughs.) page 450-51 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Dec. 1962


And I saw for Sri Aurobindo (although he hadn't yet started this systematic transformation; but still, he was constantly pulling the supramental force down into his body), even in his case, it took five days to show the first slight sign of decomposition. I would have kept his body longer, but the government always meddles in other people's business, naturally, and they pestered me awfully, saying it was forbidden to keep a body so long and that we should ... So when the body began to (what's the word?) shrink - it was shrinking and contracting, that is, dehydrating - then we had to do it. He had had enough time to come out, since almost everything came into my body - almost everything that was material came into my body.


page 269 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th Aug. 1963


And I know - I know in my deeper consciousness - that he left because he WILLED to leave. He left because he decided that it should be so, that it was the thing that had to be done. But WHY?... Well, then, I cannot give you anything more than this. It's a very difficult period - very difficult. We are still in the middle of a transition.
page 111 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 8th April 1964


There was the case of Sri Aurobindo. "He is dead," the doctors decided - he was absolutely alive. Absolutely living. And even after five days, when they put him into ... it was because of (how should I put it?) the pressure of the outside world, and because it was impossible to preserve him. We had to consent. But I cannot say he was dead! He wasn't at all dead, it was perfectly obvious. The body was already beginning to ... (very little, but a little at the end of the fifth day), that is, the skin was losing its color, but ... (Mother makes a glorious gesture). For the first three days, I remained standing there, near his bed, and in an absolutely ... well, to me, it was absolutely visible - all the organized consciousness that was in his body DELIBERATELY came out of it and into mine. And I not only saw it but felt the FRICTION of its entry. Then people say, "He is dead" - that's ignorance. All that supramental power he had attracted into and organized in his body little by little came into me METHODICALLY. I didn't say anything to anyone because it was nobody's business, nobody's concern. I remained standing there and ... (gesture showing the forces passing from Sri Aurobindo into Mother's body).
page 184 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 14th June - 1967



When Sri Aurobindo left, I was standing near his bed (later on, when he was alone, when there was no one left), and all the supramental force he had concentrated in his body (what was left in his body), he passed on to me. I stood near his bed; he had been declared "dead," but all that supramental consciousness which was there came out of his body, slowly, and directly entered mine. It was so material that I felt the friction of the force everywhere, all over. But it was slightly luminous. That was something different than with Pavitra. As for Sri Aurobindo, he ... (how can I put it?), he stayed mainly ... I found him everywhere: I found him all the way up, absolutely one with the Supreme Consciousness; I found him spread about in many places to see many people and do a lot of work; and I found him (but then, in a precise form, though NOT FIXED - A precise, rather supple form that looked like him, like what we knew of him, with more suppleness, without the fixity of the physical, but quite precise, a form in his likeness, quite in his likeness), I found him in the subtle physical.


page 183 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 17th May - 1969




-387_Sri Aurobindo's symbol in gold-free.html

-388_Sri Aurobindo's symbol.html



The symbol is interesting.
It looks like Sri Aurobindo's.
I am the one who designed Sri Aurobindo's, and I adapted it from this one. Look, they made the central square very elongated. The one done here is more correct: Pavitra made all the sides equal. But the one for the Cosmic Review was elongated, with the lotus in the center. It's the same [as the one for the Cosmic Review], only elongated so that the two triangles meet and form a square. I am keeping this to show Pavitra, because that's what I had first tried to make. But obviously the one we have now is correct. It was Théon who told me it was Solomon's seal. page 454 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Dec. 1962




-389_Sri Aurobindo.html



Before, I always had the negative experience of the disappearance of the ego, of the oneness of Creation, where everything implying separation disappeared - an experience that, personally, I would call negative. Last Wednesday, while I was speaking (and that's why at the end I could no longer find my words), I seemed suddenly to have left this negative phenomenon and entered into the positive experience: the experience of BEING the Supreme Lord, the experience that nothing exists but the Supreme Lord - all is the Supreme Lord, there is nothing else. And at that moment, the feeling of this infinite power that has no limit, that nothing can limit, was so overwhelming that all the functions of the body, of this mental machine that summons up words, all this was ... I could no longer speak French. Perhaps the words could have come to me in English - probably, because it was easier for Sri Aurobindo to express himself in English, and that's how it must have happened: it was the part embodied in Sri Aurobindo (the part of the Supreme that was embodied in Sri Aurobindo for its manifestation) that had the experience. This is what joined back with the Origin and caused the experience - I was well aware of it. And that is probably why its transcription through English words would have been easier than through French words (for at these moments, such activities are purely mechanical, rather like automatic machines). And naturally the experience left something behind. It left the sense of a power that can no longer be 'qualified," really. And it was there yesterday evening.

page 203 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Oct. - 1958


On the one hand, there is what Sri Aurobindo - who, as the Avatar, represented the supreme Consciousness and Will on earth - declared me to be, that is, the supreme universal Mother; and on the other hand, there is what I am realizing in my body through the integral sadhana.' I could be the supreme Mother and not do any sadhana, and as a matter of fact, as long as Sri Aurobindo was in his body, it was he who did the sadhana, and I received the effects. These effects were automatically established in the outer being, but he was the one doing it, not I - I was merely the bridge between his sadhana and the world. Only when he left his body was I forced to take up the sadhana myself; not only did I have to do what I was doing before - being a bridge between his sadhana and the world - but I had to carry on the sadhana myself. When he left, he turned over to me the responsibility for what he himself had been doing in his body, and I had to do it. So there are both these things. Sometimes one predominates, sometimes the other (I don't mean successively in time, but ... it depends on the moment), and they are trying to combine in a total and perfect realization: the eternal, ineffable and immutable Consciousness of the Executrice of the Supreme, and the consciousness of the Sadhak of the integral Yoga who strives in an ascending effort towards an ever increasing progression.

page 209 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Oct. - 1958

It's what Sri Aurobindo always said: FIRST you must accept EVERYTHING - accept it as coming from the Divine, as the Divine Will; accept without disgust, without regret, without getting upset or impatient. Accept with a perfect equanimity; and only AFTER that can you say, 'Now let's get to work to change it.' But to work to change it before having attained a perfect equanimity is impossible. That's what I have learned during these last years. And for every detail, it's the same. First, 'May Thy Will be done'; then, afterwards, 'The Will of tomorrow' - and then those things will disappear. But first, one must accept. That's why it takes so long. Because those who readily accept are ... they get encrusted and buried under it; they no longer move. And those who see the future and what must be have a hard time accepting; they pull back, they kick and protest - so they don't have any power.
page 495 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 17th Dec. 1960

Oh, yesterday or the day before, I had the occasion to write a sentence about Sri Aurobindo. It was in English and wentsomething like this: In the world's history, what Sri Aurobindo represents is not a teaching nor even a revelation, but a decisive ACTION direct from the Supreme.

page 91 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th Feb 1961


But for those who are here, we can say, 'It is what the Supreme Lord is preparing for the earth.' He sent Sri Aurobindo to prepare it; Sri Aurobindo called it 'the supramental realization,' and to facilitate communication we can use the same words. Well, this movement (gesture of a rising flame) towards That must be constant - constant, total. All the rest is none of our business, and the less we meddle with it mentally, the better. But THAT, that Flame, is indispensable. And when it goes out, light it again; when it falters, rekindle it - all the time, all the time, ALL THE TIME - when sleeping, walking, reading, moving around, speaking ... all the time.

page 178 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 18th April 1961


Yes, of course - Sri Aurobindo told me so. But I stay behind, invisible! You don't even need to tell me things - you may tell me if you like, but it isn't necessary.

(silence)

Now and then, I feel like saying outrageous things.... I almost said, 'How well I understand Sri Aurobindo - who passed to the other side!' I have no intention of doing so, none at all. Not that I'm the least bit interested in all this outer jumble, not for that, but ... I promised Sri Aurobindo I would try.... So.... So, that's that. page 185 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 25th April - 1961



But it doesn't keep them from starting up again! They did so particularly after I read the passage where Sri Aurobindo affirms, 'THIS time I have come for THAT - and I shall do it.' The day when I read this I turned towards him, not actually putting the question to him but simply turning towards him, and he told me, 'Read the book through to the end.' And I know, I know it's true - when I have read the book through to the end I will understand what he has done and I will even have the power to reply to all these suggestions.

page 255 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 15th July - 1961


And that was when I received the Command from the Supreme, who was right here, this close (Mother presses her face). He told me, 'This is what is promised. Now the Work must be done.' And not individual but collective work was meant. So naturally, because of the way it came, it was joyously accepted and immediately implemented. But when I remember that experience and consider what I have now....

(silence)

Well, what Sri Aurobindo did by leaving his body is somewhat equivalent, although far more total and complete and absolute - because he had that experience, he had that, he had it; I saw him, I saw him supramental on his bed, sitting on his bed.

(silence)

He has written: I am not doing it individually, for myself, but for the whole earth. And it was exactly the same thing for me - but oh, that experience! Nothing counted for me anymore: people, the earth - even the earth itself had absolutely no importance.
page 264 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 15th July - 1961


Yesterday night Sri Aurobindo told me, 'They wouldn't have been satisfied unless they had been given a good pack of dubious miracles.'

That's exactly what they want - tales about miracles.

I don't believe your book can be changed - it's meaningless to snip at it. If you really want to know what I would do, I would write another one, putting myself in their place: something showing a comprehensible Sri Aurobindo - almost a congenial Sri Aurobindo - that is, only the constructive side of his teaching, in its most external form, leaving out ... not the philosophical notions, but the truly spiritual ones, for that is completely sealed to their understanding.

They are not ready! They are not ready.

(silence)

Seen from the European angle, Sri Aurobindo represents an immense spiritual revolution, redeeming Matter and the creation, which to the Christian religion is fundamentally a fall - it's really unclear how what has come from God could become so bad, but anyway, better not be too logical! it's a fall. The creation is a fall. And that's why they are far more easily convinced by Buddhism. I saw this particularly with Richard, whose education was entirely in European philosophy, with Christian and positivist influences; under these two influences, when he came into contact with Theon's 'cosmic philosophy' and later Sri Aurobindo's revelation, he immediately explained, in his Wherefore of the Worlds, that the world is the fruit of Desire - God's desire. Yet Sri Aurobindo says (in simple terms), 'God created the world for the Joy of the creation,' or rather, 'He brought forth the world from Himself for the Joy of living an objective life.' This was Theon's thesis too, that the world is the Divine in an objective form, but for him the origin of this objective form was the desire to be. All this is playing with words, you understand, but it turns out that in one case the world is reprehensible and in the other it is adorable! And that makes all the difference. To the whole European mind, the whole Christian spirit, the world is reprehensible. And when THAT is pointed out to them, they can't stand it.


page 400 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 20th Nov. 1961


Mon petit, we had a meditation here on the 15th, at ten o'clock. [[There has been no darshan since Mother's "illness" in March 1962, and there will be none until February 1963. ]] At a quarter to ten, I was sitting here at the table in a total silence. And then ... I can't say Sri Aurobindo came, for he is always here, but he manifested in a special way.... Concretely, in the subtle physical, he became so tall that, sitting cross-legged as they do here, he covered the whole compound - even extended a bit beyond it! He was literally sitting upon the compound; so to the extent that the people meditating were not closed, they were all inside him. He was sitting like that (not on their heads!), and I could feel (I was here, you see) the FRICTION of his presence in the subtle physical - an utterly physical friction! And I saw him (as you well know, I am not shut up in here [the body]), I saw him sitting there, very tall and perfectly proportioned; and then he started gently, gently descending - this descent is what caused the friction - gently, very gently, so as not to give people a shock. Then he settled there and stayed for a little more than half an hour, a few minutes more, like that, absolutely still, but fully concentrated on all the people - they were inside him. I was sitting here smiling, almost ... almost laughing, really; you could feel him like that everywhere (Mother touches her whole body), everywhere. And with such peace! Such peace, such force, such power.... And a sense of eternity, immensity, and absoluteness. A sense of absoluteness, as if all were fulfilled, so to speak, and one lived in Eternity. It was compelling. One had to be just plain dense not to feel it.
I don't say there weren't plenty of dense people there. I have no idea (laughing), I haven't asked for their opinion! And afterwards, it's not as though he suddenly went away: he went slowly, slowly, slowly, like something evaporating; then things went back to normal, with various concentrations here and there, various activities.... I think some people must have felt it - maybe they didn't fully understand, since they lack total vision, but they may have felt as if he were descending into them. Because in the afternoon, when everything had returned to normal (he is always here of course, but not that way! He is always here), there was a kind of wave of regret passing through the atmosphere, like something saying, "Oh, this beautiful thing has come to an end! Oh, now August 15 is over, this beautiful thing is over." But it was like I described, something so ... more than concrete, I don't know how to express it, it was ... there was a sense of absoluteness about it. I have often seen him in his supramental light; he has come very often (he used to come when I went to the balcony; sometimes he was above the Samadhi; he came very often). But that ... first of all, the proportions were enormous - sitting down, I tell you, he extended beyond the compound; and he materialized in a way that could be PHYSICALLY felt. And there was such confidence, such joy, such certainty; everything was so sure, so altogether certain, as though all had been accomplished. There was none of that anguish, that tension for things to get done. It lasted about three quarters of an hour; afterwards things returned to normal.
It was the most beautiful August 15 we ever had. It lasted three quarters of an hour.

(silence)

One thing, though (he didn't inform me he was going to do it!) - when I was told that people would be gathering for a half hour of meditation, at once something in me took it quite seriously: "Very well." So I arranged everything for the meditation, and at about 9:45 I sat down at the table - then it began. It took about five minutes to take shape. Ah! Then I understood. He has given us a beautiful gift. All his sweetness and all his splendor and all his power and all his calm were there - and far stronger and clearer than when he was in his body! I always had that same impression - it was always like that in his room; and I would always have that impression whenever I met him. And even when I was working, all the while I would feel him behind me, doing everything. But this was much stronger. Much stronger. It was ... one was caught up and there was no way to get out of it. That's how it was - something ABSOLUTE. page 315-17 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th Aug 1962


Once I told you about an experience I had, I told you that every time a divine manifestation occurs (what is called an Avatar), there's always a particular "angle of quest," in the sense of an intense NEED urging men along the road of evolution towards the Goal, the Transformation, and each avatar saw from a particular angle, believing it to be THE Goal. [[See Agenda III, November 27, 1962, p. 436 ff. ]] When I had that experience, I saw it was the need for Immortality that drove the Vedic Rishis. It came back to me yesterday, and I noted it down:

(Mother reads a handwritten note)

The Vedic Rishis thirsted for Immortality, Buddha wanted Permanence.... Then I looked, wondering, "And what was Christ's path?"... Basically, he always said, "Love thy neighbor," in other words brotherhood (but that's a modern translation). For him, the idea was compassion, charity (the Christians say it's the "law of Love," but we're not yet there - that will come much later). So I wrote: Jesus preached Compassion.... Then I thought: now, Sri Aurobindo, it's quite clear; for him, the goal was Perfection. Perfection not in the sense of a summit but of an all-inclusive totality in which everything is represented, has a place. And I saw that this Perfection would come - must come - in stages. He announced something the realization of which will stretch over thousands of years. So it must come in stages. And I saw that what I find essential, indispensable (everything is there, everything finds a place, yet there is a kind of anguish - not a personal anguish but a terrestrial anguish), is Security. A need for Security - whatever you attempt, whatever you seek, even Love, even Perfection, it needs Security. Nothing can be achieved with the feeling that all opposing forces can come and sweep everything away. We must find the point where nothing can be touched or destroyed or halted. Therefore, it's Security, the very essence of Security. So I wrote: Sri Aurobindo promised Perfection
and to attain it, the first requisite,
what men need today,
is Security. All the global trends that result in "peace movements" of one kind or another, are nothing but this: they are expressions of the quest for Security. My own experience is a supersecurity, which can be really found only in union with the Supreme - nothing, nothing, nothing in the world can give you security, except this: union, identification with the Supreme. That's what I told you: as long as Sri Aurobindo was here in his body, I had a sense of perfect Security - extraordinary, extraordinary! Nothing, nothing could make a dent in it - nothing. So his departure was like ... like a smashing of that experience. [[See Agenda III, November 30, 1962, p. 440 ff. ]] In truth, from the supreme point of view, that may have been the cause of his departure.... Though it seems to me a very small cause for a very big event.... But since in the experience that Security was taking root more and more, more and more firmly, and was spreading ...[[Mother commented further on this passage in the following conversation. ]] Probably the time had not come. I don't know. As I said, from a universal and everlasting (I can't say "eternal"), everlasting point of view, it's a small cause for a big effect.... We could say it was probably ONE of the causes that made his departure necessary. Consequently, according to the experience of these last few days, the quest for Security is but a first step towards Perfection. He came to announce (I put "promise" deliberately), to PROMISE Perfection, but between that promise and its realization, there are many steps; and in my experience, this is the first step: the quest for Security. And it corresponds fairly well to the global state of mind. page 100-01 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th March 1963


But of course, Sri Aurobindo always said: "For the Work to be complete, it must be general" - one cannot give up. An individual attempt is only a very partial attempt. But the fact that the Work is general delays the results considerably - well, we have to put up with it. That's how it is, so that's how it is.

page 299 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 28th Nov - 1964


On the afternoon of the 5th, after I had understood clearly and seen everything and done everything, suddenly ... (you know how Sri Aurobindo used to take away illnesses: it was like a hand that came and took away the disease), it went away just like that, it was taken away, literally taken away like that, and the body was INSTANTLY fine. Oh, you know, I am still flabbergasted. Just as if you had a hood over your head, and something comes and removes it: pfft! all the symptoms, all gone. It's wonderful. When this Power works, we will see something.
page 320 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 7th Dec - 1965


Once, very long ago, when Sri Aurobindo was telling me about himself, that is, his childhood, his formation, I put the question to him, I asked him, "Why am I, as an individual being, so mediocre? I can do anything; all that I have tried to do I have done, but never in a superior way: always like this (gesture to an average level)." Then he answered me (at the time I took it as a kindness or commiseration), "That's because it gives great suppleness - a great suppleness and a vast scope; because people who have perfection in one field are concentrated and specialized." As I said, I took it simply as a caress to comfort a child. But now I realize that the most important thing is not to have any fixity: nothing should be set, definitive, like the sense of a perfection in the realization - that means a dead stop in the march forward. The sense of incapacity (with the meaning I said of mediocrity, of something by no means exceptional) leaves you in a sort of expectation (gesture of aspiration upward) of something better. So then, the most important thing is suppleness - suppleness. Suppleness and breadth: reject nothing as useless or bad or inferior - nothing; set nothing up as really superior and beautiful - nothing. Remain ever open, ever open. The ideal is to have this suppleness and receptivity and surrender, that is, so total an acceptance of the Influence that whatever comes, naturally, spontaneously and effortlessly the instrument adapts itself instantly to express it. With everything, of course: with the plastic arts, with music, with writing.
page 58 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 18th Feb - 1967



(Mother reads Satprem a quotation from Sri Aurobindo:)

"To be perpetually reborn is the condition of material immortality."

Sri Aurobindo.

That's excellent.
page 253 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 2nd Aug - 1967



But didn't you see Mridu? [[Who was Sri Aurobindo's cook, and round as a barrel; she left her body seven years earlier, in September 1962. ]]
No.
She's there (huge gesture, laughing), just as she was! ... I saw Purani, I saw Mridu, and the other day (I told you) I saw Amrita and Chandulal talking together. That whole place looks like downstairs, but it's not downstairs. So it's the place all right.
I've had hundreds of visions there, I have them almost every night, and it's always nearly the same. But there's a crowd! And all kinds of people ....
But does one work there? What does one do? What do all thesepeople do?
According to what Sri Aurobindo told me, with those people he is preparing what will take place on the earth.
page 255-56 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd July - 1969


Once you told me that you had seen Sri Aurobindo supramentalon his bed.... [[ See Agenda II of 15 July 1961. ]]
Yes, yes.
Was there an "extra" element there, or something that isn't therenow, or not yet there?

There was a luminosity. The substance was ... not radiant but... I can't say "luminescent" because it was a golden color, but like luminescent bodies: it was a kind of golden mist coming out of his body.
What I meant was: is it an element (I who don't see anything),an element not present now, or not yet present, or what?
My impression was ... yes, I might say that the proportions in the combination of matter weren't the same. That's something I very often wondered about as far as bones are concerned - how will it be? There is obviously a suppleness, a flexibility and a plasticity that are impossible for our bodies as they are. So ... as long as there is inside this sort of rigid framework, how can it be plastic?
But it was in Sri Aurobindo?
I SAW him like that - I didn't touch him. He was luminous and the impression was one of plasticity Only, he isn't physical, so in the subtle physical that's the way it is; but in the subtle physical there are no bones. The transition between this and that is what's difficult.

(long silence)

Basically, it's having a permanence without fixity. Until a new species was conceived of, it was thought that along with fixity there was death and dissolution, and there was no notion of something that would be permanent on earth BUT without being fixed.... We can't say it's impossible, because everything is possible, but ... it means something very different in the combination of matter. Once you said, you told me that one would become visible or invisible at will - but that means a very great plasticity.

(Mother shakes her head and plunges in)

And ...

(Mother shakes her head again

and plunges back for a long time)

We have a long way to go.
page 137-38 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 4th Apr 1970


(Message from Mother)

When Sri Aurobindo left his body he said that he would not abandon us. And in truth, during these twenty-one years, he has always been with us, guiding and helping all those who are receptive and open to his influence. In this year of his centenary, his help will be stronger still. It is up to us to be more open and to know how to take advantage of it. The future is for those who have the soul of a hero. The stronger and more sincere our faith, the more powerful and effective will be the help received.
page 22 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 2nd Jan - 1972-1973


(Message from Mother:)

Sri Aurobindo came upon earth to announce the manifestation of the supramental world. Not only did he announce this manifestation, but he also partially incarnated the supramental force and gave us the example of what we must do to prepare ourselves for this manifestation. The best way for us is to study everything he told us, strive to follow his example and prepare ourselves for the new manifestation. This gives life its true meaning and will help us to overcome all obstacles.
Let us live for the new creation and we will become stronger and -stronger, while remaining young and progressive.

page 48 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 30th Jan - 1972-1973





-391_The Mother's statues.html



I also have deities (Mother lifts three statuettes, deluged with a few others in a torrent of paper): this is a standing Ganesh; this is Garuda, Vishnu's attendant; and this is Shiva's bull. And here (a little farther on the table), I keep three Ganeshes: a tiny little silver Ganesh, between the legs of this deity (a modern-looking one), then another Ganesh, I don't know what it's made of, and finally a bronze Ganesh. And in here (Mother points to a drawer in which she keeps money), I have three other Ganeshes: a bronze one, a silver one and a gold one! It's because he promised me that he would give me all the money I need, so this way (laughing) he can't say I forget him (or his promise either!). This Ganesh (on the table) was given to me by a little boy maybe two and a half years old. When that little boy was a few months old and till the age of one, whenever his mother brought him to me he would cry and scream and make scenes - the parents were in despair. Every time I would tell them, "Don't worry, all will be well, we'll be very good friends. Then the parents would stare at me in disbelief. Now he is two and half or three, and as soon as he is in the stairway, waiting - "Mother, Mother, Mother! ..." (or "Ma," I don't know). But when he comes in (he is the first of the family to enter the room), he comes with a flower; and once, he gave me this Ganesh, but with such consciousness! He is wonderful. Yesterday, he was absolutely exquisite: he comes in first, so self-assured, so joyful, then gestures to me as if to say, "Everything is just fine, don't worry!" And I speak to him - he doesn't understand a thing of what I say, but he approves gravely. Absolutely exquisite. There is great progress among children.
page 332-33 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 11th Oct - 1967




-392_Subconscient - Inconscient.html



In the present case, of course, the body is always saying, 'I am ready for everything - I will do anything at all'; yet I still can't say that it has this.... It's trying to be completely 'pure' according to the spiritual concept - it doesn't sense its separate personality. More and more, year after year, it has been striving to feel only the divine Presence, the divine Life, the divine Force and the divine Will, all within itself; and to feel that without them it is nothing, it doesn't exist. This is fully realized in its consciousness (the conscious part). In the subconscient and inconscient, [[The terminology used by Mother and Sri Aurobindo is distinct from the terminology of Western psychology. This is how Sri Aurobindo defines 'inconscient' and 'subconscient': 'All upon earth is based on the Inconscient, as it is called, though it is not really inconscient at all, but rather a complete "sub"-conscience, a suppressed or involved consciousness, in which there is everything but nothing is formulated or expressed. The subconscient lies between this Inconscient and the conscious mind, life and body.' (Cent. Ed., XXII, p. 354) ]] obviously... it is not realized ... otherwise, logically, it shouldn't be ill. The whole disorder evidently originates from the subconscient and inconscient; all the more so as it came with various indications (sent by the hostile forces - but this can always be useful, provided you are careful) saying, 'Yes, everything is going well in your higher centers, but...'(because the different points of attack have clearly followed the order of the centers). Four or five days ago, or maybe a week, before this latest difficulty occurred, I saw little beings coming out of the subconscient and saying, 'Ah! Your legs haven't had any trouble for a long time! It's the turn of the lower centers!' I swept it all away, of course, but.... page 79 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 11th feb , 1961


What is this spring? The spring? It means exactly this: in the deepest depths of the Inconscient is the supreme spring that makes us touch the Supreme. It is like the Supreme making us touch the Supreme: that is the almighty spring. When you arrive at the very bottom of the Inconscient, you touch the Supreme. So that is the shortest path! Not the shortest path! Already for me, it was hard to touch the bottom of the Inconscient, but for others it would take an eternity. It is something similar to what Sri Aurobindo has written in 'A God's Labour.'
Was it the Supreme at the very bottom of the Inconscient who cast you up directly to the Supreme?

Yes. Because at the very bottom of the Inconscient is the Supreme. It is the same idea as the highest height touching the deepest depth. The universe is like a circle - it is represented by the serpent biting its tail, its head touching its tail. It means that the supreme height touches the most material matter, without any intermediary. I have already said this several times. But that was the experience. I didn't know what was happening. I expected nothing and ... it was stupendous - in a single bound, I sprang up! If someone had had his eyes open, I assure you he would have had to laugh: I was bent over, like this, more and more, more and more, more and more, my head was just about to touch my knees when suddenly - vrrrm! Straight, straight up, my head upright in a single bound!

But as soon as you want to express it, it escapes like water running through your fingers; all the fluidity is lost, it evaporates. A rather vague, poetic or artistic expression is much truer, much nearer to the truth - something hazy, nebulous, undefined. Something not concretized like a rigid mental expression - this rigidity that the mind has introduced right down into the Inconscient.

This vision of the Inconscient ... (Mother remains gazing for a moment) it was the MENTAL Inconscient. Because the starting point was mental. A special Inconscient - rigid, hard, resistant - with all that the mind has brought into our consciousness. But it was far worse, far worse than a purely material Inconscient! A 'mentalized' Inconscient, as it were. All this rigidity, this hardness, this narrowness, this fixity - a FIXITY - comes from the presence of the mind in creation. When the mind was not manifested, the Inconscient was not like that! It was formless and had the plasticity of something that is formless - the plasticity has gone.

It is a terrible image of the Mind's action in the Inconscient.

page 232 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 11th Nov. - 1958




Oh, the subconscient! Every night it's a real invasion of things that are so ... the WHOLE subconscient keeps coming up, coming up, coming up - not just mine but everybody's. There seems to be no end to it. But now I have the knack of forgetting - I just forget. Because when I used to remember, I had to fight for entire days. So as soon as I wake up, I erase it right away: go away! Gone! But all night long I am fully conscious of a lot of things - they can't be called trivial, but.... Oh, it's as though everything that can comes to tell me: 'You think there will be a supramental transformation? Well then, just look: there is this and that and that and this, this one and that one, this circumstance, that thing, the world, people, things....' Oh, a deluge!
page 165 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 15th April , 1961

When one descends into the subconscient, a time comes when it's no longer personal - the whole world is there! Then what can we do? I'm not speaking of you, but what can people like us do to change it? It's a Sisyphean labor! Vibrations from the whole world keep coming in at each instant. How can we change it?
No, you have to approach the problem from the other direction. Evolution begins with the Inconscient, complete Inconscience; and from this Inconscient a Subconscient gradually emerges - that is, a half or quarter-consciousness.... There are two different things here. Consider life on earth (because the process is slightly different in the universe); earth-life begins with total Inconscience and little by little what was involved within it works out and changes this Inconscience into semi-consciousness or subconsciousness. At the same time, there is an individual working that awakens the INDIVIDUAL inconscient to an individual semiconsciousness, and here, of course, the individual has control - although it's not actually individualized because individualization begins with consciousness. The subconscient of plants or animals, for example, isn't individualized; what we call an animal's behavior doesn't arise from individualization but from the genius of the species. Consequently, the individual subconscient is something already evolved out of the general Subconscient. But when one descends to accomplish a work of transformation - to bring Light into the different layers of life, for instance - one descends into a cosmic, terrestrial Subconscient, not an individual Subconscient. And the work of transformation is done within the whole - not through individualization, but through the opposite movement, through a sort of universalization.
No, what I mean is that as we progress, we automatically become universalized....
Yes, necessarily.
And we are told that we have to change the Subconscient, to bring Light into it; but being universal it has no end! New vibrations keep coming in at every instant ...
No!
... vibrations from the outside, from here, there - it's endless. How can we change it?
No, it isn't endless - it's limited to the earth's atmosphere.
That's already quite a lot!
Yes, but not endless.
Then how can we act upon it - all these vibrations that keep pouring in from all over the world, from the whole earth?
It isn't difficult - the minute you become universalized you act upon the whole. Even Buddha said that if you have a vibration of desire, this vibration goes all around the terrestrial atmosphere. The opposite is what's impossible! It's impossible to separate yourself. You can have the idea of being separate, but you can't be separate in reality. In fact, if you are trying to eliminate the Subconscient in yourself your movement must necessarily be general; it can't be personal, you would never get anywhere.
Yes, of course, but these vibrations are ceaselessly re-created.
No, they are not re-created.
But there are people having wrong movements at every instant, so ... ?
So it all keeps circling round and round in the earth's atmosphere. But compared to the universe, the earth's atmosphere is a very tiny thing. Well, all this keeps circling around within it. And in fact, because of the movement of evolution, there is a progress. The present Inconscient is not as unconscious as the initial Inconscient, and the present Subconscient is not as subconscious nor as generalized as it was at the beginning. This is the meaning of terrestrial evolution.
But if, as you say, it keeps circling around in the earth's atmosphere, doesn't this mean that vibrations are ceaselessly re-created?
Not re-created - they keep circling around, which is not the same thing! A re-creation would mean that a new contingent of the Inconscient and Subconscient would come in from other spheres, or from the Supreme - well, this isn't the case. We consider the Inconscient to be an 'accident': if it happened, it happened; but it's not part of an infinite and eternal creation.
Then are our vibrations of consciousness effective for changing these general vibrations?
Ah, yes! In fact, we are the first possible instruments for making the world progress. For example (this is one way of putting it), the transformation of the Inconscient into the Subconscient is probably far more rapid and complete now than it was before man appeared upon earth; man is one of the first transformative elements. Animals are obviously more conscious than plants, but WILLED (and thus more rapid) progress belongs to humanity. Likewise, what one hopes (more than hopes!), what one expects is that when the new supramental race comes upon earth, the work will go much more swiftly; and man will necessarily benefit from this. And since things will be done in true order instead of in mental disorder, animals and everything else will probably benefit from it also. In other words, the whole earth, taken as one entity, will progress more and more rapidly. The Inconscient (oh, all this comes to me in English, that's the difficulty!) is meant to go and necessarily the Subconscient will go too.
Broadly speaking, does this mean that physical Matter will become conscious?
Yes, in a certain way. It will become receptive. The mode of life won't necessarily change, but the form of life will change. Matter will become responsive. Do we say that in French? Receptive? ...

No, receptive is one thing and responsive is another. To respond: Matter will respond to the conscious will. Indeed, this is why there is hope - how else could there be a transformation? Things would always remain as they are! What kind of earth would it be for the supramental race to live on if no Matter gave response, if Matter did not begin to vibrate and respond to the Will? The same difficulties would always be there. And it isn't limited: for instance, even if we imagine a power over the body making corporeal life different, this new corporeal life still has to exist within an environment - it can't remain hanging in thin air! The environment must respond. It's quite obvious that the Inconscient, the Subconscient and the semi-conscient are accidental; they are not a permanent part of the creation, so are bound to disappear, to be transformed. Years ago, when Sri Aurobindo and I descended together from plane to plane (or from mode of life to mode of life) and reached the Subconscient, we saw that it was no longer individual: it was terrestrial. The rest - the mind, the vital and of course the body - is individualized; but when you descend below this level, that's no longer the case. There is indeed something between the conscious life of the body and this subconscious terrestrial life - elements are thrown out [[I.e., they are cast aside or eliminated from the individual Subconscient. ]] as a result of the action of individual consciousness upon the subconscious substance; this creates a kind of semiconsciousness, and that stays. For example, when people are told, 'You have pushed your difficulty down into the subconscient and it will resurface,' this does not refer to the general Subconscient, but to something individualized out of the Subconscient through the action of individual consciousness and remaining down there until it resurfaces. The process is, so to speak, interminable, even the personal part of it. Every night, you know, I continue to see more and more astounding things emerging from the Subconscient to be transformed. It's a kind of mixture - not clearly individualized - of all the things that have been more or less closely associated in life. For example, some people are intermingled there. One relives things almost as in a dream (although these are not 'dreams'), one relives it all in a certain setting, within a certain set of symbolic, or at any rate expressive, circumstances. Just two days ago I had to deal with someone (I am actively at work there and I had to do something with him), and upon seeing this person, I asked myself, 'is he this one or that one?' As I became less involved in the action and looked with a more objective consciousness, the witness-consciousness, I saw that it was simply a mixture of both persons - everything is mixed in the Subconscient.... Already when I lived in Japan there were four people I could never distinguish during my nighttime activities - all four of them (and god knows they weren't even acquainted!) were always intermingled because their subconscious reactions were identical.
page 289-293 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd Aug. 1961.

No, sleep is something else. Yes, something else. It's more like a relapse into Inconscience - a sort of invasion of tamas. [[Tamas: inertia, obscurity. ]] We all know, of course, that the Divine Consciousness is there in the depths of the Inconscient; but even so, sleep appears to be a fall, and there are people who fall almost completely back into the Inconscient and come out of their sleep far duller than when they entered it. But for some reason, probably due to the necessities of the Work, I have never to my knowledge had a fully unconscious sleep.
page 307 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 5th Aug. 1961.

When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, Sri Aurobindo had already brought the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. 'It's strange,' he said to me, 'it's an endless work! Nothing seems to get done - everything is done and then constantly has to be 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.' So instead of continuing to work in the Mind, both of us (I was the one who went through the experience ... how to put it? ... practically, objectively; he experienced it only in his consciousness, not in the body - but my body has always participated), both of us descended almost immediately (it was done in a day or two) from the Mind into the Vital, and so on quite rapidly, leaving the Mind as it was, fully in the light but not permanently transformed.

Then a strange thing happened. When we were in the Vital, my body suddenly became young again, as it had been when I was eighteen years old! ... There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had lived with me in Japan for four years; he returned to India, and when he came to see me in Pondicherry, he was stupefied. [[Pearson came to Pondicherry in April 1923. ]] 'What has happened to you!' he exclaimed. He hardly recognized me. During that same period (it didn't last very long, only a few months), I received some old photographs from France and Sri Aurobindo saw one of me at the age of eighteen. 'There!' he said, 'That's how you are now!' I wore my hair differently, but otherwise I was eighteen all over again. This lasted for a few months. Then we descended into the Physical - and all the trouble began. [[In January 1925, mother had an inflammation of the knee. On May 25 of the same year, Sri Aurobindo noted in a letter, 'The condition here is not very good. I am at present fighting the difficulties on the physical plane.' (Cited by A.B. Purani, Life of Sri Aurobindo, p. 203.) Note that in 1925 the Nazi Party was founded. ]] But we didn't stay in the Physical, we descended into the Subconscient and from the Subconscient to the Inconscient. That was how we worked. And it was only when I descended into the Inconscient that I found the Divine Presence - there, in the midst of Darkness. It wasn't the first time; when I was working with Theon at Tlemcen (the second time I was there), I descended into the total, unindividualized - that is, general - Inconscient (it was the time he wanted me to find the Mantra of Life). And there I suddenly found myself in front of something like a vault or a grotto (of course, it was only something 'like' that), and when it opened, I saw a Being of iridescent light reclining with his head on his hand, fast asleep. All the light around him was iridescent. When I told Theon what I was seeing, he said it was 'the immanent God in the depths of the Inconscient,' who through his radiations was slowly waking the Inconscient to Consciousness.
But then a rather remarkable phenomenon occurred: when I looked at him, he woke up and opened his eyes, expressing the beginning of conscious, wakeful action. I have experienced the descent into the Inconscient many times (you remember, once you were there the day it happened - it had to do with divine Love [[We aren't sure, but this may refer to the experience of July 12, 1960, or to that of November 5, 1958, 'the almighty spring' (in fact, they are probably one and the same experience) which gave rise to the 1959 New Year Message: 'At the very bottom of the Inconscient, most hard and rigid and narrow and stifling, I struck upon an almighty spring that cast me up forthwith into a formless, limitless Vast, vibrating with the seeds of a new world.' ]] ); this experience of descending to the very bottom of the Inconscient and finding there the Divine Consciousness, the Divine Presence, under one form or another. it has happened quite frequently. But I can't say that my process is to descend there first, as you write. Rather, this can be the process only when you are ALREADY conscious and identified; then YOU DRAW DOWN the Force (as Sri Aurobindo says, 'one makes it descend') in order to transform. Then, with this action of transformation, one pushes [the Force into the depths, like a drill]. The Rishis' description of what happens next is absolutely true: a formidable battle at each step. And it would seem impossible to wage that battle without having first experienced the junction above. That is my experience - I don't say there can't be others. I don't know. One can realize the Divine in the Inconscient rather quickly (in fact, I think it can happen just as soon as one has found the Divine within). But does this give the power to TRANSFORM DIRECTLY? Does the direct junction between the supreme Consciousness and the Inconscient (because that is the experience) give the power to transform the Inconscient just like that, without any intermediary? I don't think so. I simply haven't had that experience. Could all these things I've been describing be happening now if I didn't have all those experiences behind me? I don't know, I can't say. One thing is certain - as soon as one goes beyond the terrestrial atmosphere, beyond the higher mind's 'highest' region, the sensation of 'high' and 'low' totally vanishes. There are no longer movements of ascent and descent, but (Mother turns her hand over) something like inner reversals. I think the problem arises only when you try to see and understand with the mental consciousness, even with the higher mind.
I am telling you this because, as soon as I got your letter, I replied with what I'll read to you now; then I was immediately faced with something I couldn't formulate, the kind of thing that gives you the feeling of the unknown (all I knew was my own experience). So I did the usual thing - became 'blank,' turned towards the Truth; and I questioned Sri Aurobindo - and beyond - asking, if there were something to be known, that it be told to me. Then I dropped it, I paid no more attention. And only as I was coming here today was I told - I can't really use the word 'told,' but anyway, what was communicated to me concerning your question was that the difference between the two processes [the Rishis' and the present one] is purely subjective, depending upon the way the experience is registered. I don't know if I can make myself clear.... There is 'something' which is the experience and which will be the Realization; and what appears to be a different, if not opposite, process is simply a subjective mental notation of one SINGLE experience. Do you follow? That's what I was told. Now I'm going to read you my reply - it's the first reaction (when something comes, I stay immobile; then an initial reaction comes from above my head, but it's only like the first answering chord, and if I remain attentive, other things follow; what I have just told you is what followed). My immediate written response is based upon my own experience as well as upon what Madame Theon told me and what Sri Aurobindo told me. (Mother reads:) 'It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent...' (that's what I meant just now by 'leaving the body,' but without going into details), 'that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the Inconscient as well. When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low. But GENERALLY,' (I emphasized this to make it clear that I am not making an absolute assertion) 'it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature.' (This can be experienced in all sorts of ways, but what WE want and what Sri Aurobindo spoke of is a change that will never be revoked, that will persist, that will be as durable as the present terrestrial conditions. That is why I put 'permanent.') 'There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did) they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of inconscience and obscurity.' Yes, the Rishis give an absolutely living description of what you experience - and experience continually - as soon as you descend into the Subconscient: all these battles with the beings who conceal the Light and so on. I experienced these things continually at Tlemcen and again with Sri Aurobindo when we were doing the Work - it's raging quite merrily even now! As soon as you go down there, that's what happens - you have to fight against all that is unwilling to change, all that dominates the world and does not want to change. page 379-383 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 7th Nov. 1961.


I saw a text by Sri Aurobindo that I found interesting....
Oh!
Theresa question in fact. ...It's a letter [[In fact a conversation: see Talks with Sri Aurobindo by Nirodbaran, part I, p 179-180. ]] in which he refers to the first period in the Ashram, when everyone was having "great experiences"; afterwards, there was a descent to the physical level. So he says:
"Working on the physical is like digging the ground; the physical is absolutely inert, dead like stone. When the work began there, all former energies disappeared, experiences stopped; if they came they didn't last. The progress is exceedingly slow. One rises, falls; rises again and falls again,

constantly meeting with the suggestions of the Vedic Asuras, 'You can't do anything, you are bound to fail.'
"You have to go on working and working year after year, point after point, till you come to a central point in the subconscient which has to be conquered and it is the crux of the whole problem, hence exceedingly difficult.... This point in the subconscient is the seed and it goes on sprouting and sprouting till you have cut out the seed."

7 January 1939

page 326-27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 19th Sep - 1970


The subconscient is a mass of defeatism. That's what keeps rising to the surface. As we ABSOLUTELY need to change that, the subconscient must be clarified so that the new race can come. We must clarify the subconscient. It's a mire. It's full of defeatism - defeatism, the first reaction is always defeatist. It's absolutely disgusting, mon petit, I've seen it, I am working there ... a disgusting place. We absolutely must ... we must be categorical and vigorous - fearless, you know. Change it MUST. It's nasty. And it keeps rising to the surface ... (gesture from below).

(silence)

A fantastic energy is checked by that, by that foul thing.
Defeatism belongs to the sub conscient - it MUST change, it must. Defeatism is anti-divine.

page 225-26 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th July - 1972-1973





-393_Suez canal.html



Soon afterwards Did your mother intend to come by plane?
By sea.
Mon petit, ships can no longer sail past Port Said: the Suez Canal is closed.
What's going to happen?
(After a long silence) We are just like this (gesture hanging in balance between two chasms). Yesterday, I would have answered very strongly.... Let me tell you what happened. We had here an American, a very nice boy who, before he came here, was a paratroop instructor in Israel's army. I don't think he is an Israeli, I think he's American; I am sure his nationality is American, I saw his passport. But he was a paratroop instructor in Israel's army. When those two started quarreling, he wrote me a letter in which he explained that, and also paid great compliments to the Israeli nation, saying they had achieved a really remarkable sense of brotherhood and cooperation. That was his impression of the country. And he said that if war broke out, he would like to go back there to help them as much as he could. So as soon as they started bombing each other, he decided to go. He left yesterday evening. And I saw him in the afternoon, before he left.
He is a sincere man. While he was here, Sri Aurobindo ... (how can I explain?), the impression is that Sri Aurobindo "concretizes" (he is always here, but at certain times he seems to concretize, as though ... [Mother makes a gesture of gathering or condensing]. That's really the impression: he concretizes and starts speaking). So then, first Sri Aurobindo said to him (but there was a whole WORLD in it), "My blessings are with you." The man was very touched (I didn't tell him it was Sri Aurobindo; I spoke, you understand, it was my mouth that spoke then, but it was Sri Aurobindo who spoke). Then I concentrated, and Sri Aurobindo said with great force: "All the countries live in falsehood. If only one country stood courageously for truth, the world might be saved."
That's where things stand. Today ... Have you heard today's news?
They have blocked Suez and broken off with the U.S.
All the Muslim countries, including Algeria and so on, have been ordered to break off with America and Britain. [[Also to stop selling them oil. ]] I don't know if all this news is true, but there is also a general pressure from all countries, from America and Britain, for instance, and at the same time from Russia, for a cease-fire, to stop the conflict. If this news is true (because the amount of lies that are passed around is unbelievable), if this news is true, it means the Pressure is beginning - the pressure of the Consciousness. It has already started acting. You see, every national entity has a right to free and independent existence, provided it doesn't interfere in the free and independent existence of all other entities. Ambitions, territorial expansions - of course, all colonies and all of that - must be swept out of the picture. To defend themselves, the Egyptians say that the Israelis had publicly declared that Israel's border should be the Nile - I don't know if that's true. I don't know if it's true because everybody tells lies. On their part, the Egyptians publicly declared three years ago (it was a public declaration), they publicly declared that the Israeli nation had no right to exist and had to disappear.
Three days ago, Nasser declared that he wanted "the destruc tion of Israel: wiped off the map."
Yes, that's it. But three years ago, they declared that Israel shouldn't exist. So that clearly puts them in the wrong. I don't know how the others replied.... The whole world lives in falsehood, without a doubt, but one thing must be established in an absolute way: the right of each nation or country to individual existence, provided it doesn't interfere in another nation's right. That should be the base. Of course, they will start arguing: "BUT at that time, things were like that; at that time they were like this; and in the past this was ours; in the past ..." Endless arguments. So there should be a higher vision, which means a balanced and just and deep vision of things, capable of saying, "This is how it is." Otherwise there would be an indefinite source of arguments. For the moment, at any rate, all diplomatic relations are based on falsehood - and the crudest falsehood at that: it's recognized as a necessity and the only way out. That's how they consider it. So that's what must be abolished to begin with.

page 172-73 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967







-394_suffering.html



For a long time lately, that is, for days and days, there has been a very sharp perception, very intense and clear, that the action of the Force outwardly results in what we call "suffering" because it's the only kind of vibration capable of pulling Matter out of inertia. Supreme Peace and Calm were distorted and disfigured into inertia and tamas, and precisely because it was the distortion of true Peace and Calm, there was no reason for it to change! A certain vibration of awakening - of reawakening - was necessary to emerge from that tamas, which was incapable of directly changing from tamas into Peace; something was needed to shake the tamas, and outwardly it resulted in suffering. I am referring here to physical suffering, because all the other kinds of suffering - vital, mental, emotive suffering - arise from a wrong functioning of the mind, and those ... we can easily rank them in the Falsehood, that's all. But physical suffering is to me like a child being beaten, because here in Matter, Falsehood turned into ignorance, which means there is no bad will - there is no bad will in Matter, everything is inertia and ignorance: total ignorance of the Truth, ignorance of the Origin, ignorance of the Possibility, even ignorance of what needs to be done so as not to suffer materially. This ignorance is everywhere in the cells, and only the experience - and the experience of what, in this rudimentary consciousness, is translated as suffering - can awaken, arouse the need to know and be cured, and the aspiration to be transformed.
page 213 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 28th Sep - 1966





-395_Superman consciousness - 1st Jan.html


January 1, 1969

Yes, there was ... It came slowly in the night, and this morning when I woke up, there was a golden Dawn, as it were, and the atmosphere was very light. The body felt, "Oh, it's really ... truly new." A light, golden Light and ... benevolent. Benevolent in the sense of a certitude - a harmonious certitude. [[Strangely, this year 1969 will be simultaneously marked by a general appeasement in international relations (few years have been so "peaceful" since World War II) and by the surfacing, around Mother, of a general wave of bad will and darkness. As though the safety valve were there. This is the year when the "haste [in the disciples] for it to be over" Mother will soon mention will begin to manifest. Nineteen sixty-nine is the dark turning point ... and luminous at the same time. ]] It was new. So there.

When I say "Happy new year" to people, that's what I pass on to them. And this morning, I've spent my time like that, spontaneously saying, "Happy new year, happy new year ...." So ...


page 17-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 1st Jan - 1969




January 8, 1969

And this descent of the superman consciousness ... Did I tell you I had afterwards identified it?
When you spoke last time, you had identified it.
Yes, but I spoke of "supramental consciousness."
Later, you said, "Maybe the superman?"
Yes, that's it. It's the descent of the superman consciousness. I had the assurance of it afterwards. It was on the Is' of January after midnight. I woke up at 2 in the morning, surrounded by a consciousness, but so concrete, and NEW, in the sense that I had never experienced that. It lasted, quite concrete and present, for two or three hours, and then it spread out and went to find all those who could receive it. And at the same time I knew it was the consciousness of the superman, that is, the intermediary between man and the supramental being. It has given the body a sort of assurance, a sort of trust. That experience has made it steady, as it were, and if it keeps the true attitude, all the support is there to help it. A certain number of people (I asked afterwards) had the experience, they felt it (not as clearly), felt the presence of a new consciousness - lots of people. They told me (I asked them if they had felt something), they told me, "Oh, yes!" But each with ... (Mother twists her fingers slightly) naturally his own special approach.

page 26 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th Jan - 1969




It has remained, this [superman] consciousness. It has remained, it's very strong, oh! ... Today again, with these [Jain] sadhus, I had the experience: it came, mon petit, it was tremendous! It came massively, it enveloped me completely, so I sat very still, like that, behind it: nothing could get through. Interesting ... Oh, it really is a power. Down to the vital. Physically, the body cannot respond; there is indeed an action, but ... it's not that. It's not that. But it has put a vital in the body (you know that the vital had gone away), an awesome vital! That's quite amusing. You feel as if you were saying to people, "Keep still!"


page 28 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 15th Jan - 1969


There is in it a consciousness (something VERY precious) that gives lessons to the body, teaches it what it has to do, that is, the attitude it should have, the reaction it should have .... I had already told you a few times how difficult it is to find the procedure of the transformation when there's no one to give you indications; and it's the response, as it were: "he" [[Mother sometimes uses "lie" to designate this consciousness. ]] comes and tells the body, "Have this attitude, do this, do that in that way." So then the body is happy, it's quite reassured, it can't make a mistake anymore. Very interesting. It has come like a "mentor" - and PRACTICAL, wholly practical: "This is to be rejected; this is to be accepted; this is to be generalized; this for all inner movements. And it even becomes very material, in the sense that with certain vibrations, it says, "This is to be encouraged"; with others, "This is to be channeled"; with yet others, "This is to be got rid of ...." Small indications of that sort.

(silence)

Years ago, in one of the old Talks, when I spoke there, at the Playground, I said, "The superman will probably be first a being of power, so as to be able to defend himself." That's it, it's that experience. It has come back as an experience. And it's because it has come back as an experience that I remembered having said it. [["It would seem that the most compelling, evident aspect, which probably will be the first to manifest - probably - will be the aspect of Power more than the aspect of Joy and the aspect of Truth. For a new race to be established on earth, it would necessarily have to be protected from the other terrestrial elements so as to survive, and the protection is in the power (not an artificial power external and false, but the true Power, the victorious Will). We may therefore think that the supramental action, even before it becomes an action of harmonization and illumination, of joy, of beauty, will be an action of power, so as to give protection. Naturally, for this action of power to be truly effective, it would have to be founded on Knowledge and Truth and Love and Harmony; but those things could manifest - visibly, little by little - once the ground, so to speak, had been prepared by the action of a sovereign will and power." (Questions and Answers, December 18, 1957.) ]]
Yes, you said, "Power's what will come first."
Yes, Power first.
Because those beings will need to be protected.
Yes, that's right. Well, I've had the first experience for this body: it came like a rampart, it was awesome! An awesome power! Quite out of proportion with the apparent action. Very interesting. And that's also why (now that I see this experience), I see that the result is far more precise and concrete, because the mind and the vital aren't there. Because it [this new consciousness] is taking their place. And with this whole tranquil assurance of knowledge that comes at the same time. It's interesting.

(silence)

Do you have something to say?
I was wondering how, individually, this consciousness will act,for instance outside you?
In the same way. Only, those who haven't made it a habit to observe themselves objectively will notice it less, that's all. It will go through cotton wool, as it were, as it always does. But otherwise it's in the same way.
I mean, this consciousness will not act on the mind so much as on bodies?
I do hope it will make people THINK correctly ...
It's a guide, basically.
A guide, yes. It's a consciousness, you understand. For me, THE Consciousness limits itself to special activities, in special cases, but it's always THE Consciousness; just as it's almost completely limited in the human consciousness, so too in certain states of being, certain activities, it limits itself to a certain way of being so as to accomplish His action. And that's something I had asked for a lot: "May I be guided every minute," because it saves a huge amount of time, of course, instead of having to study, to observe, to ... one knows. Well, now I realize it has happened like that.

(silence)

There is a very pronounced change in those who were touched on the 1st of January: there is especially ... as I said, a precision and a certainty that have entered their way of thinking. page 30-32 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 18th Jan - 1969



I told you how I was surrounded [by a rampart] .... Oh, but this consciousness is very interesting! It gives me lessons all the time, it's very interesting! He [[He = the mentor. ]] gives me lessons during the night to tell me the things that must change, and with symbolic sounds to make me clearly understand: he makes me LIVE certain situations to know what needs to be changed - what he does is first-rate! It's going on in every detail. I can't tell everything. And it doesn't just concern itself with individuals: it also concerns itself with events all over the world. I see that clearly because it intervenes in the action of this or that nation, I see that mostly at night. It's very active. He's educating me! Educating this body. That's really very fine! (Mother laughs) We'll see what's going to happen it depends on the body's plasticity, of course.
page 32-33 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 22nd Jan - 1969



Last night, I knew I was doing it every night, but during the night ... There was (but then, in the body, yesterday in the waking state) a sort of aspiration to know what the functioning would be, the action in the superman consciousness. I said, "Having this consciousness around oneself [like a rampart] is very fine, but one must also know what changes there will be in the body's functioning, in the work, in one's workings." So then, this experience [of the figures] was like an answer to make me learn a little the future way. But what's strange is that I did it exactly as they now do with those big electric machines, with all kinds of levers (gesture like a control panel in a power plant), I did it in that way, moving things and ... Only, I think I must have been a little taller than I am .... I don't know. In any case, I would place the objects (same gesture like a moving puzzle) ... They weren't objects, they were something ... but it had a fixed form - it was fixed - and there was a sort of store (not a "storeroom," I don't know how to put it), a store from where I drew things, which I would put and arrange like that. The arrangement was continuous in its whole, but with changes in the details.

But it has a strong action, I mean it COMMANDS the action on earth, and it's not subjected in any way or tied down to anything below: it's like this (gesture of a descent imposing itself). And it constantly receives the Will or the Power of action from above - not "above," it's not above, it's ... (Mother makes a sort of gesture meaning it is "everywhere inside") "superior" in the true sense. This body RECEIVES things. It receives them. It doesn't feel it's ... I don't know how to explain (the thought isn't working). All of a sudden it felt the need to know the effect this [superman] consciousness will have on the consciousness here, how it will work. And then, for you, I wondered, "Where and how does this consciousness act?" And that's why I've had this experience [of figures] - that's not "why," it was preliminary to the experience, it came to draw my attention to the need to know that .... Odd! it's odd. You see, it had left an impression: I thought I had something material to show you [at the beginning of the conversation, when Mother was looking for something on her table]. It had left a deep impression.
It's five to eleven.
Perhaps it's the beginning of something interesting ....

page 47-49 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 5th feb - 1969


This atmosphere or consciousness [of the superman] seems to have an educative activity, because since it came, it has been looking after the education of the body-of the body's CONSCIOUSNESS - and that's quite interesting. And this education isn't something personal at all: it's the vision of the earth's evolution, especially concentrated on human evolution. There are no doubt notions of the whole, and with very particular things, quite particular viewpoints, but then, with precise details and with insistence, lasting sometimes an hour on one subject, so as to make deeply understood the cause and the consequences, and the CURVE of evolution.

page 55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th feb - 1969


That's what I am afraid of: that people will make dogmas with the creation of Auroville .... I never said anything like that to F, but that's what it has become in her head! Even what one writes, even if we publish what I've said in the Bulletin, when it enters their heads that's what it becomes.

page 59 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th feb - 1969


Because there are no words. Music is fine. I had a vision like that of an auditorium in Auroville, with a grand organ, and someone (whom I am trying to prepare, who can play the organ very well and whom I am trying to prepare inwardly) was playing (I SAW that, I saw it), playing the music of the higher Consciousness. It was a place where all those who wanted to come and listen could do so; some people came from far away, they came in, sat down, listened, and then went away And this music was like a Consciousness coming down and exerting a Pressure on people to make itself understood. It was very beautiful - I hope it will be like that! Much better than words; as soon as one starts speaking (gesture at ground level), it's no longer that. So there.

page 60 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th feb - 1969



Notes of Auroville's architect

1. To build Auroville, do we need a method of work ing, organization, coordination?
Discipline is necessary to live. To live, the body itself is subject in all its functions to a rigorous discipline. Any slackening of this discipline results in illness.
2. What should the nature of this organization be?In the Present and in the Future.
Organization is a discipline of action, but for Auroville we aspire to go beyond organizations, which are arbitrary and artificial. We want an organization that is the expression of a higher consciousness working for the manifestation of the Truth of the Future.
3. Until we have a common consciousness and thetrue and correct way of working collectively is in operation, what should we do?
A hierarchical organization gathered round the most enlightened center, submitting itself to a collective discipline.
4. Should we use methods of organization of provenefficiency, but based on human logic and the use of machines?

This is a makeshift to which we should submit ourselves only very provisionally.
5. Should we let the individual initiative manifestfreely, personal action be impelled by inspiration and intuition, and turn down any suggestion which the individual concerned does not feel to be good?
To be viable, this would demand that all Auroville workers should be yogis, conscious of the Divine Truth.
6. Has the time come to aspire to, set up or attempta general organization, or should we wait for the correct attitude and people?
An organization is needed for the work to be done. But the organization itself should be supple and progressive.
7. If the solution is to wait, is it nevertheless necessary to define principles of organization and to prevent the occurrence of an uncontrollable disorder?
All those who want to live and work in Auroville must have: An integral goodwill, a constant aspiration to know the Truth and submit oneself to it. A plasticity sufficient to face the demands of the work and a ceaseless will for progress so as to progress forever towards the ultimate Truth. Finally, a bit of advice: Be more preoccupied with your own faults than with those of others. If everyone seriously worked to perfect himself, the perfection of the whole would automatically follow.

February 6, 1969


page 61-62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th feb - 1969


Just one thing, this atmosphere, this [superman] Consciousness is very active, and active like a mentor, as I already told you. And it's going on. One of these last few mornings, for a few hours early in the morning, it was ... Never, never had the body been so happy! It was the complete Presence, absolute freedom, and a certitude: these cells, other cells (gesture here and there showing other bodies), it didn't matter, it was life everywhere, consciousness everywhere. Absolutely wonderful. It came effortlessly, and it left simply because ... I was too busy. It doesn't come at will - what comes at will is what we might call a "copy": it looks like it, but it's not THE Thing. The Thing ... There is something wholly independent of our aspiration, our will, our effort ... wholly independent. And this something appears to be absolutely all-powerful, in the sense that none of the body's difficulties exists. At such times, everything disappears. Aspiration, concentration, effort ... no use at all. And it's the DIVINE SENSE, you understand, that's what having the divine sense means. During these few hours (three or four hours), I understood in an absolute way what having the divine consciousness in the body means. And then, this body, that body, that other body ... (gesture here and there, all around Mother), it doesn't matter: it moved about from one body to another, quite free and independent, aware of the limitations or the possibilities of each body-absolutely wonderful, I had never, ever had this experience before. Absolutely wonderful. It left because I was so busy that ... and it didn't leave because it had just come to show "how it is" - that's not it: it's because life and the organization of life (gesture like a truckload being dumped) engulf you. I know it's there (gesture in the background), I know it is, but ... But that's a transformation as I understand it! And clearly, in people it could express itself-not something vague, clearly - in this man, in that woman, in ... (same gesture here and there), quite clearly. And with a Smile! ... The cells themselves were saying their effort to be transformed, and there was a Calm .... (How can I explain this? ...) The body was saying its aspiration and will to prepare itself, and, not asking but striving to be what it should be; all that always with this question (it's not the body that asks it, it's ... the environment, those around -the world, as if the world were asking the question): "Will it continue, or will it have to dissolve? ..." The body is like this (gesture of abandon, hands open upward), it says, "What You will, Lord." But then, it knows the question is decided, and One doesn't want to tell it - it accepts. It doesn't lose patience, it accepts, it says, "Very well, it will be as You will." But That which knows and That which doesn't answer is ... something that can't be expressed. It is ... yes, I think the only word that can describe the sensation it gives is "an Absolute" - an Absolute. Absolute. That's the sensation: of being in the presence of the Absolute. The Absolute: absolute Knowledge, absolute Will, absolute Power ... Nothing, nothing can resist. And then this Absolute (there's this sensation, concrete) is so merciful! But if we compare it with all that we regard as goodness, mercy ... ugh! that's nothing at all. It's THE Mercy with the absolute power and ... it's not Wisdom, not Knowledge, it's ... It has nothing to do with our process. And That is everywhere, it's everywhere. It's the body's experience. And to That it has given itself entirely, totally, without asking anything - anything. A single aspiration (same gesture, hands open upward), "To be capable of being That, what That wills, of serving That" - not even "serving," of BEING That. But that state, which lasted for several hours ... never had this body, in the ninety-one years it's been on earth, felt such happiness: freedom, absolute power, and no limits (gesture here and there and everywhere), no limits, no impossibilities, nothing. It was ... all other bodies were itself. There was no difference, it was only a play of the consciousness ... (gesture like a great Rhythm) moving about. So there. Apart from that, all the rest is as usual.

(long silence)

But apart from that, the work is becoming more and more exacting: the number of people is increasing a lot, and I see them for a longer time too - everyone has more to say But I very clearly feel (that is, the body very clearly feels) that it's part of the training. It seems to be like this: the body must hold out, otherwise, too bad, it will be for another time. All human excuses seem to me like childishness. That's something strange: all human qualities and faults look like childishness-foolishness. Strange. And it's not a thought: it's a concrete sensation. Like a lifeless substance; all ordinary things are like a substance lacking life-TRUE life. Artificial and false. It's strange. It's not so much in others, that's not it: it's the inner training. And this true Consciousness, this true Attitude is something so tre-mendous-ly strong, powerful, in such smiling PEACE! So smiling, incapable of getting angry - that's absolutely impossible - so smiling, so smiling ... and watching.

(silence)

The special character of this new consciousness is: no half measures, no approximations. That's its character. It doesn't accept the idea, "Oh, yes, we'll do that, and little by little we'll ..." No, no, not like that: it's yes or no, you can or cannot. You know, there's a considerable increase in the people who want to see me, and in the influences when they see me, the effects when they see me (which don't at all correspond to a will or a consciousness or anything - that no longer exists: it works or doesn't work), and seen like that, it's: either you hold out and can do the work, or else, too bad.
That's how it is, you understand. I first wondered whether this profusion of people was the result of reading the Bulletin (what we published in November), but many of them have never touched the Bulletin, never seen it. So ... it must be the action of this Consciousness.

(silence)

It's really like a GRACE, you know, as if: don't waste time - don't waste time, you must do the work, or else ... But this tremendous Power is especially this, a mercy, a clemency! ... No, there are no words, we have no words to describe that, it's something ... Just paying attention and ... it's bliss. Just turning one's attention to that side, immediately it's bliss. And I understand (it made me understand certain things), the stories of people who, in the midst of torture, felt bliss - that's how it is. A bliss. page 63-66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 15th feb - 1969

It's supported, helped: this superman consciousness that has come helps it a lot, it's through it that the body feels, and that helps it a lot. Sometimes, when someone comes in, along with him (him or her or them) comes a slight acute uneasiness; if the body had felt that before knowing, it would have been painful, but now it can smile and wait to discover why it's like that (Mother gestures as if to trace the vibration that caused the uneasiness). With others, on the contrary, the atmosphere is immediately filled with the presence of this Consciousness (that's new, and very interesting), so then the body feels fine - it feels fine, rested.

page 70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th feb - 1969



Oh, you know, it's really amusing! It [this Consciousness] has started telling me ... It's constantly giving lessons to the body - not mental lessons: how the body is beginning to live, see, understand .... It's odd. There had always been a question mark .... We can conceive that in the supermind, procreation will be unnecessary, because life on earth will last at will, so it won't be necessary to have oneself replaced because one is going away But what about the intermediary? There often was the question of the intermediary [between man and the supramental being]: "How is it going to take place, how? ..." The old animal way ... (Mother shakes her head), although Y. is in favor of its continuation! But then, the other day, mon petit, for several hours, there was a whole lived scene (lived in imagination, of course) ... but it's only a partial solution to the problem. It's incomplete. This question had been asked: "All this work of transformation of the cells, of consciousness in the cells, with the ordinary way [of dying], won't it be wasted since the body is going to disintegrate? ..." Then there came in a very precise, almost concrete manner: there is a way, which is, before dying, to prepare within oneself a body with all the transformed, illumined, conscious cells, to collect them together and form a body with the maximum number of conscious cells; then, when the work is over, the full consciousness enters it and the other body can dissolve, it no longer matters.
page 95 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th Mar - 1969


This Consciousness has become-is becoming - more and more active, and that began when the body lost the sense of a separate individuality, of the ego. That's how it began. It seems to be the necessary base for manifestation. It's really interesting.
page 97 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th Mar - 1969


(To Satprem:) Oh, you know, I asked this Consciousness what was needed to receive it without distorting it, and it answered me (Mother reads out a note): "One must be able to stand in the light of the Supreme Consciousness without casting a shadow."
page 135 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 16th April - 1969




-397_Superman.html



Afterwards, when he left and I had to do the Yoga myself, to be able to take his physical place, I could have adopted the attitude of the sage, which is what I did since I was in an unparalleled state of calm when he left. As he left his body and entered into mine, he told me, 'You will continue, you will go right to the end of the work.' It was then that I imposed a calm upon this body - the calm of total detachment. And I could have remained like that. But in a way, absolute calm implies withdrawal from action, so a choice had to be made between one or the other. I said to myself, 'I am neither exclusively this nor exclusively that.' And actually, to do Sri Aurobindo's work is to realize the Supramental on earth. So I began that work and, as a matter of fact, this was the only thing I asked of my body. I told it, 'Now you shall set right everything which is out of order and gradually realize this intermediate supermanhood between man and the supramental being or, in other words, what I call the superman.' And this is what I have been doing for the last eight years, and even much more during the past two years, since 1956. Now it is the work of each day, each minute. That's where I am. I have renounced the uncontested authority of a god, I have renounced the unshakable calm of the sage ... in order to become the superman. I have concentrated everything upon that. We shall see. I am learning to work. I am only an apprentice, simply an apprentice - I am learning the trade!
page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 1st May 1958

If things must follow the movement they've followed till now ... How many centuries and centuries and centuries there have been .... So the superman would only be one more stage, and after him there would be many other more things ....

page 209 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 31st May , 1969


If things must follow the movement they've followed till now ... How many centuries and centuries and centuries there have been .... So the superman would only be one more stage, and after him there would be many other more things


page 209 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 31st May - 1969


All that is certainly the consciousness of what Sri Aurobindo called the supramental: [[On 27 May 1970, Mother will take up again and comment upon this part of the conversation. ]] the being to come after man. How will he be? I haven't yet seen ... I haven't yet seen that. I did see, I did have perceptions of the superman, the intermediary being, but you clearly feel it's only an intermediary being. What will that being be like who will come after the superman? I don't know.... Because we are still much too human; when we visualize the Supreme Consciousness in a form, the Supreme Being and so on - the Supreme - we tend to give it a form similar to the human one, but that's our old habit.... I saw that future being (I saw it many years ago): it was clearly a far more harmonious and expressive form than the human one, but there was a likeness, it was still a human form, that is to say, with a head and arms and legs and ... Will it be that? I don't know. There will necessarily be that as an intermediary - necessarily. There were all those kinds of apes which acted as intermediaries between the animal and man.... But lightness, invulnerability, moving about at will, luminosity at will - all that goes without saying, it's part of supramental qualities, but ... Oh, yes, also clothing at will: it's not something foreign added on, it's the substance that takes on certain forms.... All that I had seen, and I told Sri Aurobindo about it, and Sri Aurobindo himself gave me certain demonstrations (I see him sometimes and he shows me). He simply said what the intermediary step will be. But all descriptions are worthless. And when I see him at night (sometimes I spend hours with him), it's so natural and spontaneous that I am not even observing, "This is like this, that is like that..." - no. In the morning, with a concentration, the impression remains very strong, but as for the details as we here understand them, you can't say.


page 23 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 3rd Jan - 1970




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Because in the Veda it's incomplete. No, they had a hint, like a vision of the 'thing,' but there is no proof that they realized it. What's more, had they realized it, it seems to me that we would certainly have found some traces - but no traces remain. Theon knew something about it, and he called it 'the new world' or 'the new creation on earth and the glorified body' (I don't remember his exact terminology); but he knew of the Supermind's existence - it had been revealed to him and he announced its coming. He said it would be reached THROUGH the discovery of the God within. And for him, as I told you the other day, this meant a greater density - which seems to be a correct experience. Well, on my side, I have made investigations and had innumerable visions concerning the earth's history, and I spoke about it a good deal with Sri Aurobindo....
According to what Sri Aurobindo saw and what I saw as well, the Rishis had the contact, the experience - how to put it? ... A kind of lived knowledge of the thing, coming like a promise, saying, 'THAT is what will be.' But it's not permanent. There's a big difference between their experience and the DESCENT - what Sri Aurobindo calls 'the descent of the Supermind': something that comes and establishes itself. Even when I had that experience [the 'first supramental manifestation' of February 29, 1956], when the Lord said, 'The time has come,' well, it was not a complete descent; it was the descent of the Consciousness, the Light, and a part, an aspect of the Power. It was immediately absorbed and swallowed up by the world of Inconscience, and from that moment on it began to work in the atmosphere. But it was not THE thing that comes and gets permanently established; when that happens, we won't need to speak of it - it will be obvious! Although the experience of '56 was one more forward step, it's not.... It's not final. And what the Rishis had was a sort of promise - an INDIVIDUAL experience. page 375-76 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 5th Nov. 1961

Sweet Mother, When I read the Veda I thought I understood that the Rishis, finding the passage blocked above (since they would fall into ecstasy and lose their hold over the body), set out to find the Supermind by the downward path. But reading Sri Aurobindo, I seemed to understand the opposite: that FIRST he rose up, and then made the Light redescend to open the passage, and that the pressure of the Light from above is what opens the doors below, in Matter. I would like to understand the process. With all my love, Signed: Satprem

(Mother's reply)

It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the Inconscient as well. When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low. But GENERALLY it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature. There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did), they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of inconscience and obscurity.
page 376-77 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 6th Nov. 1961
This has confronted me with a problem.... You are asking about the process, aren't you?
Yes.

My impression from the Veda is not the same as yours. You say that when they reached the heights they went into trance and then tried the other method. When I read the Veda ... at least what Sri Aurobindo translates for us, because otherwise I have no direct knowledge.... But they say nothing about this. I know my own experience and I can speak of it in detail; and according to what Sri Aurobindo told me, it was the same for him - although he NEVER wrote of it anywhere. But since it has been my experience, I naturally feel that it's the simplest method. There is also what Theon and Madame Theon used to say. They never spoke of 'Supermind,' but they said the same thing as the Vedas, that the world of Truth must incarnate on earth and create a new world. They even picked up the old phrase from the Gospels, 'new heavens and a new earth,' [[II Peter 3.13. ]] which is the same thing the Vedas speak of. Madame Theon had this experience and she gave me the indication (she didn't actually teach me) of how it was to be done. She would go out of her body and become conscious in the vital world (there were many intermediary states, too, if one cared to explore them). After the vital came the mental: you consciously went out of the vital body, you left it behind (you could see it) and you entered the mental world. Then you left the mental body and entered into.... They used different words, another classification (I don't remember it), but even so, the experience was identical. And like that, she successively left twelve different bodies, one after another. She was extremely 'developed,' you see - individualized, organized. She could leave one body and enter the consciousness of the next plane, fully experience the surroundings and all that was there, describe it ... and so on, twelve times. I learned to do the same thing, and with great dexterity; I could halt on any plane, do what I had to do there, move around freely, see, observe, and then speak about what I had seen. And my last stage, which Theon called 'pathétisme,' [[A word coined by Theon, which might roughly translate as 'the sublime.' ]] a very barbaric but very expressive word, bordered on the Formless - he sometimes used the Jewish terminology, calling the Supreme 'The Formless.' (From this last stage one passed to the Formless - there was no further body to leave behind, one was beyond all possible forms, even all thoughtforms.) In this domain [the last stage before the Formless] one experienced total unity - unity in something that was the essence of Love; Love was a manifestation more... 'dense,' he would always say (there were all sorts of different 'densities'); and Love was a denser expression of That, the sense of perfect Unity - perfect unity, identity - with no longer any forms corresponding to those of the lower worlds. It was a Light! ... An almost immaculate white light, yet with something of a golden-rose in it (words are crude). This Light and this Experience were truly wonderful, inexpressible in words. Well, one time I was there (Theon used to warn against going beyond this domain, because he said you wouldn't come back), but there I was, wanting to pass over to the other side, when - in a quite unexpected and astounding way - I found myself in the presence of the 'principle,' a principle of the human form. It didn't resemble man as we are used to seeing him, but it was an upright form, standing just on the border between the world of forms and the Formless, like a kind of standard. [[By 'standard,' Mother means a sort of model or archetype. ]] At that time nobody had ever spoken to me about it and Madame Theon had never seen it - no one had ever seen or said anything. But I felt I was on the verge of discovering a secret. Afterwards, when I met Sri Aurobindo and talked to him about it, he told me, 'It is surely the prototype of the supramental form.' I saw it several times again, later on, and this proved to be true. But naturally, you understand, once the border has been crossed, there is no more 'ascent' and 'descent'; you have the feeling of rising up only at the very start, while leaving the terrestrial consciousness and emerging into the higher mind. But once you have gone beyond that, there's no notion of rising; there's a sense, instead, of a sort of inner transformation. And from there I would redescend, re-entering my bodies one after another - there is a real feeling of re-entry; it actually produces friction. When one is on that highest height, the body is in a cataleptic state. I think I made this experiment in 1904, so when I arrived here it was all a work accomplished and a well-known domain; and when the question of finding the Supermind came up, I had only to resume an experience I was used to - I had learned to repeat it at will, through successive exteriorizations. It was a voluntary process. When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, Sri Aurobindo had already brought the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. 'It's strange,' he said to me, 'it's an endless work! Nothing seems to get done - everything is done and then constantly has to be 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.' So instead of continuing to work in the Mind, both of us (I was the one who went through the experience ... how to put it? ... practically, objectively; he experienced it only in his consciousness, not in the body - but my body has always participated), both of us descended almost immediately (it was done in a day or two) from the Mind into the Vital, and so on quite rapidly, leaving the Mind as it was, fully in the light but not permanently transformed. Then a strange thing happened. When we were in the Vital, my body suddenly became young again, as it had been when I was eighteen years old! ... There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had lived with me in Japan for four years; he returned to India, and when he came to see me in Pondicherry, he was stupefied. [[Pearson came to Pondicherry in April 1923. ]] 'What has happened to you!' he exclaimed. He hardly recognized me. During that same period (it didn't last very long, only a few months), I received some old photographs from France and Sri Aurobindo saw one of me at the age of eighteen. 'There!' he said, 'That's how you are now!' I wore my hair differently, but otherwise I was eighteen all over again. This lasted for a few months. Then we descended into the Physical - and all the trouble began. [[In January 1925, mother had an inflammation of the knee. On May 25 of the same year, Sri Aurobindo noted in a letter, 'The condition here is not very good. I am at present fighting the difficulties on the physical plane.' (Cited by A.B. Purani, Life of Sri Aurobindo, p. 203.) Note that in 1925 the Nazi Party was founded. ]] But we didn't stay in the Physical, we descended into the Subconscient and from the Subconscient to the Inconscient. That was how we worked. And it was only when I descended into the Inconscient that I found the Divine Presence - there, in the midst of Darkness. It wasn't the first time; when I was working with Theon at Tlemcen (the second time I was there), I descended into the total, unindividualized - that is, general - Inconscient (it was the time he wanted me to find the Mantra of Life). And there I suddenly found myself in front of something like a vault or a grotto (of course, it was only something 'like' that), and when it opened, I saw a Being of iridescent light reclining with his head on his hand, fast aslleep. All the light around him was iridescent. When I told Theon what I was seeing, he said it was 'the immanent God in the depths of the Inconscient,' who through his radiations was slowly waking the Inconscient to Consciousness. But then a rather remarkable phenomenon occurred: when I looked at him, he woke up and opened his eyes, expressing the beginning of conscious, wakeful action. I have experienced the descent into the Inconscient many times (you remember, once you were there the day it happened - it had to do with divine Love [[We aren't sure, but this may refer to the experience of July 12, 1960, or to that of November 5, 1958, 'the almighty spring' (in fact, they are probably one and the same experience) which gave rise to the 1959 New Year Message: 'At the very bottom of the Inconscient, most hard and rigid and narrow and stifling, I struck upon an almighty spring that cast me up forthwith into a formless, limitless Vast, vibrating with the seeds of a new world.' ]] ); this experience of descending to the very bottom of the Inconscient and finding there the Divine Consciousness, the Divine Presence, under one form or another. it has happened quite frequently. But I can't say that my process is to descend there first, as you write. Rather, this can be the process only when you are ALREADY conscious and identified; then YOU DRAW DOWN the Force (as Sri Aurobindo says, 'one makes it descend') in order to transform. Then, with this action of transformation, one pushes [the Force into the depths, like a drill]. The Rishis' description of what happens next is absolutely true: a formidable battle at each step. And it would seem impossible to wage that battle without having first experienced the junction above. That is my experience - I don't say there can't be others. I don't know. One can realize the Divine in the Inconscient rather quickly (in fact, I think it can happen just as soon as one has found the Divine within). But does this give the power to TRANSFORM DIRECTLY? Does the direct junction between the supreme Consciousness and the Inconscient (because that is the experience) give the power to transform the Inconscient just like that, without any intermediary? I don't think so. I simply haven't had that experience. Could all these things I've been describing be happening now if I didn't have all those experiences behind me? I don't know, I can't say. One thing is certain - as soon as one goes beyond the terrestrial atmosphere, beyond the higher mind's 'highest' region, the sensation of 'high' and 'low' totally vanishes. There are no longer movements of ascent and descent, but (Mother turns her hand over) something like inner reversals. I think the problem arises only when you try to see and understand with the mental consciousness, even with the higher mind.
I am telling you this because, as soon as I got your letter, I replied with what I'll read to you now; then I was immediately faced with something I couldn't formulate, the kind of thing that gives you the feeling of the unknown (all I knew was my own experience). So I did the usual thing - became 'blank,' turned towards the Truth; and I questioned Sri Aurobindo - and beyond - asking, if there were something to be known, that it be told to me. Then I dropped it, I paid no more attention. And only as I was coming here today was I told - I can't really use the word 'told,' but anyway, what was communicated to me concerning your question was that the difference between the two processes [the Rishis' and the present one] is purely subjective, depending upon the way the experience is registered. I don't know if I can make myself clear.... There is 'something' which is the experience and which will be the Realization; and what appears to be a different, if not opposite, process is simply a subjective mental notation of one SINGLE experience. Do you follow? That's what I was told. Now I'm going to read you my reply - it's the first reaction (when something comes, I stay immobile; then an initial reaction comes from above my head, but it's only like the first answering chord, and if I remain attentive, other things follow; what I have just told you is what followed). My immediate written response is based upon my own experience as well as upon what Madame Theon told me and what Sri Aurobindo told me. (Mother reads:) 'It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent...' (that's what I meant just now by 'leaving the body,' but without going into details), 'that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the Inconscient as well. When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low. But GENERALLY,' (I emphasized this to make it clear that I am not making an absolute assertion) 'it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature.' (This can be experienced in all sorts of ways, but what WE want and what Sri Aurobindo spoke of is a change that will never be revoked, that will persist, that will be as durable as the present terrestrial conditions. That is why I put 'permanent.') 'There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did) they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of inconscience and obscurity.' Yes, the Rishis give an absolutely living description of what you experience - and experience continually - as soon as you descend into the Subconscient: all these battles with the beings who conceal the Light and so on. I experienced these things continually at Tlemcen and again with Sri Aurobindo when we were doing the Work - it's raging quite merrily even now! As soon as you go down there, that's what happens - you have to fight against all that is unwilling to change, all that dominates the world and does not want to change. Ignore the spelling mistakes! Now, if there's something else you want to ask me, perhaps it will come....

(silence)

After reading your letter, I had a very strong feeling that you put the problem like that because you were considering it from a mental plane, which is the only plane where it exists; if you go beyond, there are no more oppositions or problems. These things are subtle, you know, and as soon as you try to formulate them, they elude you - formulation deforms.
What I mean is that it's not necessarily in trance, in another world, that one gets the supramental consciousness....
No.
It's something the Rishis realized with eyes wide open, in day to-day life, if I understand rightly.
I don't know how they did it.... But I myself have never had it in trance, and neither did Sri Aurobindo - neither of us ever had trances! I mean the kind of trance where contact with the body is lost. That's what he always said, and one of the first things I told him when we met was, 'Well, everybody talks about trance and samadhi and all those things, but I have never had them! I have never lost consciousness.' 'Ah,' he replied, 'it's exactly the same for me!' It depends upon the level of development, that's what Theon used to say: 'One goes into trance only when certain links are missing.' He saw people as made up of innumerable small 'bridges,' with intermediary zones. 'If you have an intermediary zone that is undeveloped,' he said, 'a zone where you are not conscious because it's not individualized, then you will be in trance when you cross it.' Trance is the sign of non-individualization - the consciousness is not awake and so your body goes into trance. But if your consciousness is wide awake you can sit, keeping full contact with things, and have the total experience. I could go out of my body with no need of trance, except when Theon wanted me to do a particular work. That was a different business - the vital force (not the consciousness, the vital force) had to go out for that work, so the body had to go into trance. But even then.... For instance, very often when I am 'called' and go to do something in response, my body does become still, but it's not in trance; I can be sitting and, even in the middle of a gesture, suddenly become immobile for a few seconds. [[Seconds that could last for half an hour! ]] But I was doing another type of work with Theon - dangerous work, at that - and it would last for an hour. Then all the body's vital energy would go out, all of it, as it does when you die (in fact, that's how I came to experience death). But it isn't necessary to have all those experiences, not at all - Sri Aurobindo never did. (Theon didn't have experiences, either; he had only the knowledge - he made use of Madame Theon's experiences.) Sri Aurobindo told me he had never really entered the unconsciousness of samadhi - for him, these domains were conscious; he would sit on his bed or in his armchair and have all the experiences. Naturally, it's preferable to be in a comfortable position (it's a question of security). If you venture to do these kinds of things standing up, for instance, as I have seen them done, it's dangerous. But if one is quietly stretched out, there is no need for trance. Besides, according to what I've been told (not physically), I believe that the Rishis practiced going into trance. But I suppose they wanted to achieve what Sri Aurobindo speaks of: a PHYSICAL transformation of the physical body permitting one to LIVE this consciousness instead of the ordinary consciousness. Did they ever do it? ... I don't know. The Veda simply recounts what the forefathers have done. But who are these forefathers?
But surely this supramental consciousness is something to be found in the body? [[Mother does not reply directly to this question (although she would probably have answered in the affirmative, since the point is indeed to LIVE this supramental consciousness), but she does reply directly to what is BEHIND Satprem's question - that is, this fundamental, deep-rooted assumption that physical life is the sole, concrete reality. ]]

When one has these experiences, like the ones I've had in the subtle physical, for example, the body is certainly in trance - but the part having the experience doesn't AT ALL feel deprived or lacking in anything. The experience comes with a fullness of life, consciousness, independence, individuality. It's not like going out in trance to accomplish a work and feeling linked to the body - it's not that: the body no longer exists nor has any reason to! It's simply not there. And it's a nuisance to go back into it - 'what is this useless burden!' you wonder. As a result, if this experience becomes permanent, you live in a world that's just as concrete, just as real and just as TANGIBLE as our physical world, with the same qualities of duration, permanence and stability. It's very difficult to express, because as soon as we notice it.... While having this experience, you are free (as I said, the body no longer exists, it has even no reason to exist, and you don't think of it), and you have just as concrete an OBJECTIVE functioning - even more so! It is more concrete because you have a MUCH CLEARER and more tangible perception of knowledge than ordinary physical perception; our ordinary way of understanding always seems so hazy in comparison. It's not the same phenomenon as going off into trance and being linked to the body, depending upon it for expression, and so forth. But a certain work [of adaptation] is required to express this experience, and the first impression upon returning is that there's no way to do it. It simply doesn't correspond to anything. [[This conversation was interrupted before Mother could conclude. ]] page 377-85 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 7th Nov. 1961

This is an extremely delicate functioning, probably because we're not used to it - the slightest movement, the slightest mental vibration disrupts everything. But as long as it lasts, it's perfectly pure. And in a supramentalized life this has to be the CONSTANT state. Mentalized will should no longer intervene; because you may well have a spiritual will, your life may be the constant expression of spiritual will (it's what happens to all who feel themselves guided by the Divine within), but it still comes through a mental transcription. Well, as long as it's that way, it's not the supramental life. The supramental life NO LONGER goes through the mind - the mind is an immobile zone of transmission. The least little twitch is enough to upset everything.

(silence)

So we can say that the Supermind can express itself through a terrestrial consciousness only when there is a constant state of perfect equality - equality arising out of spiritual identification with the Supreme: all becomes the Supreme in perfect equality. And it must be automatic, not an equality obtained through conscious will or intellectual effort or an understanding preceding the state itself - none of that. It has to be spontaneous and automatic; one must no longer react to what comes from outside as though it were coming from outside. That pattern of reception and reaction must be replaced by a state of constant perception and (I don't mean identical in all cases, because each thing necessarily calls forth its own particular reaction) ... but practically free from all rebound, you might say. It's the difference between something coming from outside and striking you, making you react, and something freely circulating and quite naturally generating the vibrations needed for the overall action. I don't know if I am making myself clear.... It's the difference between a vibratory movement circulating within an IDENTICAL field of action, and a movement from an outside source, touching you and getting a reaction (this is the usual state of human consciousness). But once the consciousness is identified with the Supreme, all movements are, so to speak, inner - inner in the sense that nothing comes from outside; there are only things circulating, which, through similarity or necessity, naturally generate or change the vibrations within the circulatory milieu. I am very familiar with this, because I am now constantly in that state. I never have the feeling of something coming from outside and bumping into me; there's rather the sense of multiple and sometimes contradictory inner movements, and of a constant circulation generating the inner changes necessary to the movement. This is the indispensable foundation. I've had that experience for a very long time and now it's completely established. It used to be transitory, but now it's constant. It is the indispensable foundation. And in that state, expansion follows almost automatically, necessitating certain adjustments in the body which are difficult to work out. I am still completely immersed in this problem. Then that suppleness.... It means a capacity for decrystallizing oneself; the whole span of life given over to self-individualization is a period of conscious, willed crystallization, which then has to be undone. To become a conscious, individualized being there has to be a constant, constant, willed crystallization, in everything; and afterwards, again constantly, the opposite movement has to be made - with an even greater will. But at the same time, the consciousness must not lose the benefit of what has been acquired through individualization. It is difficult, I must say.
page 41 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 12th Jan. - 1962



-399_sports.html



(On this day Mother gave the following message

for the opening of the sports season.)

"We are at one of those Hours of God, when the old bases get shaken, and there is a great confusion; but it is a wonderful opportunity for those who want to leap forward, the possibility of progress is exceptional. Will you not be of those who take advantage of it? Let your body be prepared through physical education for this great change!"
page 81 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 1st Apr - 1971




-400_Supramental body.html



The transition between the two appears really possible only through the entry - the conscious and willed entry - of a supramentalized consciousness into a body that we could call an "improved physical body," in other words, the human physical body as it is now, but improved: the improvement produced, for instance, by a TRUE physical training, not in its present exaggerated form but in its true sense. It's something I have seen fairly clearly: in an evolution (physical training is developing very fast nowadays, it's not even half a century since it started), in evolution, that physical training will bring an improvement, that is, a suppleness, a balance, an endurance, and a harmony; these are the four qualities - suppleness (plasticity), balance between the various parts of the being, endurance, and harmony of the body - that will make it a more supple instrument for the supramentalized consciousness. So the transition: a conscious and willed utilization by a supramentalized consciousness of a body prepared in that way. This body must be brought to the peak of its development and of the utilization of the cells in order to be ... yes, consciously impregnated with the supreme forces (which is being done here [in Mother] at the moment), and this to the utmost of its capacities. And if the consciousness that inhabits that body, that animates that body, has the required qualities in sufficient amount, it should normally be able to utilize that body to the utmost of its capacity of transformation, with the result that the waste caused by the death of decomposing cells should be reduced to a minimum - to what extent?... That's precisely what still belongs to the unknown. That would correspond to what Sri Aurobindo called the prolongation of life at will, for an indefinite length of time. page 72 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 - 17th Apr - 1965

The supramentalized body will be sexless since the need for animal procreation will no longer exist.

**

It is only in its outward form, in its most superficial appearance - as illusory for the latest discoveries of today's science as for the experience of spirituality in former ages - that the body is not divine. Supreme Reality, Supramental Truth, this body is all-vibrant with intense gratitude. You have given it, one by one, all the experiences that can lead it most infallibly towards You. It has reached a state where the identification with You is not only the sole thing desirable, but also the sole thing possible and natural.
page 36 , Mother Agenda , vol - 1 , 1951-1960 , Aug .

You said there had been a step forward. Is there something new?
I had always said that there were two points on which the future hadn't been revealed to me. First, what the first form of supramental life on earth would be exactly, that is to say, the stage that will follow man as he is - just as there was a stage that followed the animal (and which, in fact, disappeared), what is the stage that will follow man, and will perhaps be destined to disappear, too? Then the other point, which was more personal: could the transformation of this body go far enough to allow an indefinite prolongation, or would the work on the cells be somehow partly wasted?
I can't say I have answers, but in both directions there has been some opening, as it were. The feeling that I was in front of a wall and it's opening up, I am allowed to proceed. Well, the conclusions aren't there yet, but in both directions we have actually taken a step forward because it's open - there isn't a wall any longer, it's open. Especially that feeling of being stuck has gone away. The first discoveries aren't worth telling because they aren't precise or concrete or definitive enough. There is just this sense of relief: instead of standing in front of something that blocks your way, phew! you can breathe and walk on. The consequences will be for later.

(long silence)

The transition between the two appears really possible only through the entry - the conscious and willed entry - of a supramentalized consciousness into a body that we could call an "improved physical body," in other words, the human physical body as it is now, but improved: the improvement produced, for instance, by a TRUE physical training, not in its present exaggerated form but in its true sense. It's something I have seen fairly clearly: in an evolution (physical training is developing very fast nowadays, it's not even half a century since it started), in evolution, that physical training will bring an improvement, that is, a suppleness, a balance, an endurance, and a harmony; these are the four qualities - suppleness (plasticity), balance between the various parts of the being, endurance, and harmony of the body - that will make it a more supple instrument for the supramentalized consciousness. So the transition: a conscious and willed utilization by a supramentalized consciousness of a body prepared in that way. This body must be brought to the peak of its development and of the utilization of the cells in order to be ... yes, consciously impregnated with the supreme forces (which is being done here [in Mother] at the moment), and this to the utmost of its capacities. And if the consciousness that inhabits that body, that animates that body, has the required qualities in sufficient amount, it should normally be able to utilize that body to the utmost of its capacity of transformation, with the result that the waste caused by the death of decomposing cells should be reduced to a minimum - to what extent?... That's precisely what still belongs to the unknown. That would correspond to what Sri Aurobindo called the prolongation of life at will, for an indefinite length of time.
But as things are at present, it would seem there is a transitional period in which the consciousness has to switch from this body to another, better prepared body - better prepared outwardly, physically (not inwardly); "outwardly," I mean, having acquired certain aptitudes through the present development, which this body doesn't have, of the four qualities - which it doesn't have in sufficient amount and completeness. That is to say, those four qualities must be in perfect accord and in sufficient amount to be able to bear the work of transformation. I don't know if I can make myself understood....
Yes, but you are talking about "switching" to a new body?
In that case, one would have to switch to a new body. But a switching (from the occult point of view, that's a known thing), a switching not to a body to be born, but to an already formed body. It would take place through a sort of identification of the psychic personality of the body to be changed with the other, receiving body - but that, the fusions of psychic personalities, it's possible, (laughing) I know the procedure! But it requires the abolition of the ego - yes, the abolition of the ego is certainly necessary; but if the abolition of the ego is sufficient in the supramentalized individuality (can I use the word individuality? I don't know ... it's neither "personality" nor "individuality"), in the supramentalized being, if the abolition of the ego is done, completed, that being has the power to completely neutralize the presence of the ego in the other being. And then, through that neutralization, the shrinking that always comes from a reincarnation would be canceled - that's the dreadful thing, you see, that time lost in the shrinking into a new being! While through that conscious passage - willed and conscious - from one body to the other, the being whose ego no longer exists has an almost total power to abolish the other ego. All that occult mechanism needs to be developed, but for the consciousness it's almost rational. That would be the procedure. The conditions for the almost indefinite prolongation of the life of the body are known, or almost known (they are more than sensed - they are known), and they are learned through the work that must be done to counteract the EXTREME FRAGILITY of the physical balance of the body undergoing the transformation. It's a study every minute, as it were, almost every second. This is the extremely difficult part. It is difficult because of all the reasons I have already explained, because of the intrusion of forces that are in a state of imbalance and have to be, as they come along, brought back to the new state of balance. [[This is the whole problem of the selection of evolutionary samples that the Ashram represented. ]] That's where you find the sign of the unknown. Voilà. It's there. But it's not blocked anymore. The path is open, one can see - one can see. It will come. But the transition which is really hard to perceive is the transition from the animal creation (which is perpetuated, of course) to the supramental formation; that transition hasn't taken place yet. The passage from that creation to the supramental creation of a body - that's what we don't know. It is the passage from one to the other: how? It still is a somewhat more difficult problem than the passage from animal to man, you understand, because the process of human creation is refined, but it is the same ... Oh!

(The conversation is cut short by the doctor's entry)

... While here, it is a new form of creation.
page 71-74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 - 17th Apr - 1965


You were speaking of the first form of supramental life.
On the earth.
Yes, in an "improved physical body." I wondered about that ... especially when you speak of "switching to a new body."
What were you wondering?
This, in particular: The difference between the present human body and the supramental creation is so considerable, the substance must be so different...
Of course.
... that I am wondering to what extent even an improved physical body could be of use? Because the thing is going to be so different. Whether this body is old and bent or young and very supple, does it really make any difference, since ...
That's not what I meant by "improved." Whether the body is young or old doesn't make any difference, because the advantages are balanced by drawbacks. I have also looked at the problem - it doesn't make any difference. Switching to a new body may become a necessity, that's all, but it's secondary. What I meant by an "improved physical body" is that sort of mastery over the body that's being gained nowadays through physical training. I have seen lately magazines showing how it had started: the results in the beginning and today's results; and from the standpoint of the harmony of forms (I am not talking about excesses - there are excesses everywhere - I am talking about what can be done in the best possible conditions), from the standpoint of the harmony of forms, of strength and a certain sense of beauty, of the development of certain capacities of endurance and skill, of precision in the execution combined with strength, it's quite remarkable if you think of how recent physical training is. And it's spreading very quickly nowadays, which means that the proportion of the human population that is interested in it and practices it is snowballing. So when I saw all those photos (for me, it's especially through pictures that I see), it occurred to me that through those qualities, the cells, the cellular aggregates acquire a plasticity, a receptivity, a force that make the substance more supple for the permeation of the supramental forces. Let's take the sense of form, for example (I am giving one example among many others). Evolution is openly moving towards diminishing
the difference between the female and the male forms: the ideal that's being created makes female forms more masculine and gives male forms a certain grace and suppleness, with the result that they increasingly resemble what I had seen all the way up, beyond the worlds of the creation, on the "threshold," if I can call it that, of the world of form. At the beginning of the century, I had seen, before even knowing of Sri Aurobindo's existence and without having ever heard the word "supramental" or the idea of it or anything, I had seen there, all the way up, on the threshold of the Formless, at the extreme limit, an ideal form that resembled the human form, which was an idealized human form: neither man nor woman. A luminous form, a form of golden light. When I read what Sri Aurobindo wrote, I said, "But what I saw was the supramental form!" Without having the faintest idea that it might exist. Well, the ideal of form we are now moving towards resembles what I saw. That's why I said: since there is an evolutionary concentration on this point, on the physical, bodily form, it must mean that Nature is preparing something for that Descent and that embodiment - it seems logical to me. That's what I meant by an improved physical form. The other point is quite secondary, it's incidental, it isn't in the line of evolution. I am only saying that it's a method that CAN be used, and it has been used in the past.
Switching to a new body?
Switching to a new body. The method may be used again, IF IT IS FELT TO BE NECESSARY. It wasn't the central idea, it was perfectly incidental - it may happen. And all I said was that the consciousness of these cells having lost the sense of ego (I think they have lost it, though this body was formed without the sense of ego - at any rate, if it was necessary at a given time, it no longer is), having lost the sense of ego, it finds no difficulty in manifesting in another body. And this is a perfectly practical and material experience, I mean I have had multiple experiences of this consciousness using that body, this body, that other body ... for certain things; of course it was momentary, not in a permanent way, but at will and anyway lasting long enough to make me experience it concretely. But this is a personal affair, it has nothing to do with the public or collectivity, while the other point is interesting: I have a feeling it is Nature's collaboration, pushing humanity in that direction in order to prepare a matter more receptive to the ideal that wants to manifest.
When I thought about the last conversation again, it seemed to me that the gap between the two creations, the animal and the supramental, is so huge that it doesn't make much difference whether the body is more supple and so on.
The gap isn't so huge. The gap is huge in the MODE OF CREATION, that's where there is a huge gap. That's where it is difficult to conceive how we will switch from one to the other and how there can be intermediaries.
Exactly, I suddenly remembered in this connection a quotation from Sri Aurobindo that seemed to me interesting. It's in "The Human Cycle," at the end of "The Human Cycle." Here's what he says: "It may well be that, once started, it [the supramental endeavour] may not advance rapidly even to its first decisive stage; it may be that it will take long centuries of effort to come into some kind of permanent birth. But that is not altogether inevitable, for the principle of such changes in Nature seems to be a long obscure preparation followed by a swift gathering up and precipitation of the elements into the new birth, a rapid conversion, a transformation that in its luminous moment figures like a miracle."[[The Human Cycle, Cent. Ed. XV.252. ]]
This is very interesting.... Yes (laughing), he said this to me a few days ago! It is true. Basically, once there is a body formed, precisely, by an ideal and an increasing development, a body with sufficient stuff and capacities, sufficient potential, there may very well be a rapid Descent of a supramental form, just as there was one with the human form. Because I know that (I know it from having lived it), I know that when the transition - a very obscure transition - from the animal to man (of which they have found fairly convincing traces) was sufficient, when the result was plastic enough, there was a Descent - there was a mental descent of the human creation. And they were beings (there was a double descent; it was in fact particular in that it was double, male and female: it wasn't the descent of a single being, it was the descent of two beings), they were beings who lived in Nature an animal life, but with a mental consciousness; but there was no conflict with the general harmony. All the memories are absolutely clear of a spontaneous, animal life, perfectly natural, in Nature. A marvelously beautiful Nature that strangely resembles the nature in Ceylon and tropical countries: water, trees, fruits, flowers.... And a life in harmony with animals: there was no sense of fear or difference. It was a very luminous, very harmonious, and very NATURAL life, in Nature. And strangely, the story of Paradise would seem to be a mental distortion of what really happened. Of course, it all became ridiculous, and also with a tendency ... it gives you the feeling that a hostile will or an Asuric being tried to use that to make it the basis for a religion and to keep man under his thumb. But that's another matter. But that spontaneous, natural, harmonious life - very harmonious, extremely beautiful and luminous and easy!... A harmonious rhythm in Nature. A luminous animality, in fact. That's how we began, and it began that way because there was a descent of the higher human mental consciousness into the form that existed. The phenomenon may recur in the same way, with the difference that it can be more conscious and willed - there may be the intervention of a conscious will. It would, or it could happen through an occult process - well, I don't know, there are all sorts of possibilities, one of which could be the conscious passage of a being who has used the old human body for his development and his yoga, and who would leave that form once it became unnecessary in order to enter a form capable of adapting to the new growth. Here, the two possibilities meet. But for the time being, there is no question of that because although the development of physical training is extremely rapid, it's still clear that it may take hundreds of years. There is a quotation from Sri Aurobindo in which he says that the first point to be acquired is prolongation of life at will - it isn't directly immortality: it is prolongation of life at will. He wrote it in the articles on The Supramental Manifestation. page 74-78 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 - 21st Apr - 1965

You remember what I had said? That it would be an improved physical body that would make the transition between the human body and the supramental body?...[[ See conversation of April 17, 1965. ]] Last night Sri Aurobindo told me in his own way that it was correct, that it was true. It was very interesting. Very interesting. page 131 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 18th June - 1965


My impression is that Sri Aurobindo already has his subtle supramental form. For instance, when he has to move, he doesn't give the impression of being subject to the same laws as we are; but as it's subtle, it doesn't appear surprising. And also a sort of ubiquity: he is in several places at the same time. And a plasticity, an adaptability according to the work he wants to do, the people he meets. In those activities I am quite aware that I see him in a certain way, but I think others don't see him the same way - they see him differently, probably wearing clothes. When he ran in the forest, we were all alone, and it was a large forest without anyone there; then a few minutes later, we were somewhere else and there were people, other people to whom he spoke, and I didn't at all feel that the others were seeing him without clothes: they were certainly seeing him wearing clothes.

page 134 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 18th June - 1965


I spent a good part of the night (almost the whole night till 3 in the morning) with Sri Aurobindo, and he not only showed me and explained to me, but he himself WAS what he was showing me: he was preparing himself for the new creation. And last night he told me, he showed me how this or that thing would be, how the body would be. I remember that when I woke up, he was lying down on a bed, I was kneeling beside the bed, looking at him, and while he was that new body, he at the same time explained to me how the superman's body would be (the supramental being). [[Mother actually said "the overmental being." This confusion will often take place, probably because Mother found this vocabulary quite cumbersome. But this next being clearly has nothing to do with the overmind or the world of the gods. ]] And it was so living that even when I woke up, it remained - I can still see it. But the details ... (how can I put it?) the memory doesn't have the precision that enables it to explain (I don't know how to put it). I still have the vision ... it had a color ... it wasn't casting rays of light, not that, but ... and not luminescent like an object, but with a special luminosity which had that light ... a little like Auroville's flower (but it wasn't like that, it looked perfectly natural). He was showing me his body; he was lying down, and showing me his body, saying, "Here is how it is." The form was almost the same, with some ... I still have the memory there (gesture in the atmosphere), but I don't know how to explain .... Lately, I had been wondering, "It's odd, we don't at all know how it [the new body] will be." And I was saying to myself, "There's no one to tell me." Because this Consciousness that came, it acts through the consciousness, but not so much through the vision. So then, I had that last night. For a long, long time I was with Sri Aurobindo, a long time, for hours. It has entered the consciousness, it will come out again one day But I kept the memory of the last thing: I saw myself, I was in two places at the same time (and maybe I too wasn't quite as I am, but that didn't interest me: I was looking at him, who was lying down and explaining to me), and it was ... it was the same thing as a luminescent body, but it wasn't luminescent, it was ... if I am not mistaken, it was the color of this sari (Mother points to Sujata's sari), something like that.
Orange?
No ... It's a pink with a golden glow, you understand. So the two are seen together, like this (gesture of fusing together).
page 314-15 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 30th Aug - 1969


Moreover, Sri Aurobindo told me straight out, he said to me, "We can't hope it will take less than two years.
Two years?
Two hundred years! We can't hope it will take less than two hundred years. He said, "Normally, it should take three hundred years." He himself had begun it, of course, and he knew - he knew very well, I saw it when he left: the consciousness which came out of his body and straight into mine ... quite a lot of it! Yet that didn't prevent him from being ill. It's a big task.
Page 416 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th Nov - 1969


So then, yesterday I wrote (I forget the words), "But when You want to transform the IMAGE into Your likeness, what happens?" [[Lord, when You want the image to change into your likeness, what do You do?" The next day, the disciple to whom Mother had sent this reply wrote back: "I did not understand what you wrote yesterday." Mother replied again (on the 9th): "What Sri Aurobindo calls 'image' is the physical body. So I asked the Lord what He does when He wants to transform the physical body, and last night He answered me by giving me two visions. The one was about the liberation of the body consciousness from all conventions regarding death; and in the other. He showed me what the supramental body will be. As you can see, I did well to ask Him! 1. Still, in the afternoon, the doctor did a checkup which showed a blood pressure of 120 and a pulse rate of 70. ]] Something like that. And I got the answer last night!... Two activities of the subtle physical. Oh, I'll tell the first (laughing): I killed someone point-blank!...
Oh!
The second vision was more personal. Then I understood: it's because the very body, the very consciousness (physical consciousness) is full of all those falsehoods and all those illusions and all those preconceived ideas, and when that is gone, then the Lord can manifest in there. It was ... it was LIVED, and it was a stunning realization, mon petit! This [the body] isn't quite well yet - there's a lot to be done, but ... I felt I had tipped over to the right side. It was simply wonderful!... Wonderful.
page 182-83 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 9th May - 1970


Then you go on [Satprem takes up the text again], and there'sanother ambiguity:
"What will that being be like who will come afterthe superman? I don't know.... Because we are still much too human; when we visualize the Supreme Consciousness in a form, the Supreme Being and so on - the Supreme - we tend to give it a form similar to the human one, but that's our old habit.... I saw that being ...
So here, are you referring to the supramental being, or to thebeing intermediary between man and the supramental? You say:
"I saw that being (I saw it many years ago): it was clearly a far more harmonious and expressive form than the human one....
Ah, that I don't know what it was, because it was earlier: before I knew Sri Aurobindo. I saw it ... I think it was at Tlemcen that I saw it. Then I had no notion of the superman, the supramental and all that, I didn't use those words. So I don't know.... Better use something vague.
The intermediary being?
I don't know.
The next or future being?
Yes: "the future being."
"I saw that future being (I saw it many years ago):it was clearly a far more harmonious and expres sive form than the human one, but there was a likeness, it was still a human form, that is to say, with a head and arms and legs and ... Will it be that? I don't know. There will necessarily be that as an intermediary - necessarily. There were all those kinds of apes which acted as intermediaries

between the animal and man.... But lightness, invulnerability, moving about at will, luminosity at will - all that goes without saying....
You mean that it's part of the supramental?
Yes, yes.
"Also clothing at will: its not something foreignadded on, it's the substance that takes on certain forms."
Ah, yes, that's very important, because I POSITIVELY saw that. It's the substance itself that takes on now the form of a cloth, now ... (wavy gesture)

(silence)

Probably the difference between man and superman will be morea difference of consciousness than a material difference?

(after a silence)

From the standpoint of form, it seems to be like that, but is it because of our powerlessness? That remains to be known. There is obviously the precedent of the ape and man, but if there is the same difference between that being and man as between man and the ape ...
It would be something already!
It's a lot! It's a lot.
But one may conceive that a higher consciousness would"aestheticize," harmonize this material substance....
Yes.
But the step beyond that is what's more incomprehensible.
Yes. You understand, it's the functioning of the organs and the need for organs, that's what would make a big difference. A being that wouldn't need lungs, wouldn't need a heart ... that would make a tremendous difference!
page 213-15 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 27th May - 1970


As for me I ... this body does what it can. It can't do much. It tries ... it tries not to create any resistance. From time to time -- from time to time -- there's something, a marvel, which lasts for a few seconds. But it's ... (Mother nods her head). Either we have to manage to make this body more plastic so it can be transformed, or else it will be for another life. Although I must say that ... Sri Aurobindo said to me, "Oh, to have to begin all that over again, the whole childhood and all that unconsciousness -- no." Before he left, he said no. "No, I shall return when it can be done in a supramental body."[[This is what Mother wrote to Sujata's father, Prithwi Singh, in 1953 about the passing away of Sri Aurobindo: "At 1:26 in the morning, when I was in his room, he was steadily coming out of his body into mine; it was so much that I felt a physical friction in the cells of my body; with it a great power entered into me and I felt capable of resuscitating him. But when I told him, he said, 'No, it is purposely that I have left my body, I will not come back into it, I will return in a new body, the first body built in the supramental way.' But," Mother added, "he did not tell me the time when he would return." ]] But there have to be bodies capable of lasting at will. He said, "The intermediate stage will be duration of life at will." And I have the feeling that that is possible. Provided ... the body itself thinks only of one thing -- transformation. When it is like this (quiet, concentrated), then.... I can spend hours -- hours without moving -- in a kind of receptive contemplation, and it seems like a second. The sense of time is really curious. You see, there is a certain receptive contemplation, and there (gesture of being suspended in a smile) ... time simply ceases to exist.

I sense.... I sense I am on the threshold of a great Secret ... but (Mother nods her head) ... not mental -- not in thoughts. It's ... "something."

page 235-36 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Sep - 1971


It's really a period of transition for the body. The body is realizing, becoming conscious of what in it prevents it from being immortal, and at the same time of what can be immortal in it. It has had moments of agony as never before in its whole life -- in connection with death, which has never happened before. And it has understood that its very constitution was causing this, and what it had to change. I am ... as though on the threshold of an extraordinary discovery, but....

(silence)

I could put it this way: the why of death has become clear, and the how of immortality is ... (silence).... You know, it's a curious thing, the feeling that there is something (Mother feels with her fingertips) TO TOUCH.
page 236-37 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 8th Sep - 1971


For the first time, early this morning, I saw myself: my body. I don't know whether it's the supramental body or ... (what shall I say?) a transitional body, but I had a completely new body, in the sense that it was sexless: it was neither woman nor man. It was very white. But that could be because I have white skin, I don't know. It was very slender (gesture). Really lovely, a truly harmonious form. That's the first time.
page 96 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 24th Mar - 1972-1973





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Yes, the meditation gave the sense of something very charming. And a constant insistence on Harmony, Harmony, Harmony.... A harmonious balance: harmonious balance of nations, harmonious balance of people, harmonious balance of inner faculties, harmonious balance ... like that. And then, resistances are clearly expressed as a disharmony. Something extremely smiling, harmonious, smiling, harmonious.... There was a rather interesting phenomenon (it was yesterday or the day before), amusing little details: now the last member of the government of India has been converted, so to speak. All the government members (the central government - I don't mean the whole country, but the center), all the government members are ... (what should I say?) I might almost say "apprentice disciples of Sri Aurobindo," with a great goodwill to serve. And everywhere, everywhere in the world, the signs of a CONSCIOUS goodwill awakening.
That's what Sri Aurobindo once said to me. What he saw was that the supramental Force would have enough influence on the various governments of the earth, of the nations, to permit hope for a harmony. If that's how it is, it's something. We'll see.
page 137-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 6th May - 1967




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FIRST SUPRAMENTAL MANIFESTATION

(During the common meditationon

on Wednesday the 29th February 1956)

This evening the Divine Presence, concrete and material, was there present amongst you. I had a form of living gold, bigger than the universe, and I was facing a huge and massive golden door which separated the world from the Divine.

As I looked at the door, I knew and willed, in a single movement of consciousness, that THE TIME HAS COME', and lifting with both hands a mighty golden hammer I struck one blow, one single blow2 on the door and the door was shattered to pieces.

Then the supramental Light and Force and Consciousness rushed down upon earth in an uninterrupted flow.

page 69 , Mother Agenda , vol - 1 , 1951-1960 , 29th february - 1956


The manifestation of the Supramental upon earth is no more a promise but a living fact, a reality. It is at work here, and one day will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obliged to recognize it.
page 75 , Mother Agenda , vol - 1 , 1951-1960 , 24th April - 1956

More and more, there is something that presses to make itself known and is formulated like this: what wants to come for next February [[On February 29, 1964, second anniversary of the Supramental Manifestation upon earth. ]] is the Truth-Light ... (Mother repeats like an incantation)
the Truth-Light, the Truth-Force, the Truth-Light, the Truth-Force ... to prepare the way for the manifestation of supreme Love. But that is for later on. But immediate, immediate: the Truth-Light, the Truth-Force. It's becoming precise. I didn't think about it. It was perfectly blank in my head. I didn't know at all. And then that came.
page 27-28 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 15th Jan 1964


Perhaps that's what I meant when I said "another four years," because I was in a rather strange state when I came back from the balcony on the 29th.... Wait, I'll show you a photo: they have given me photos of that balcony.

(Mother goes and gets a photo, then looks at it)

With the cloak flapping like a wing ... I wasn't seeing physically.... But that expression ... that's the state I was in when I said (I was concentrated and something came out of here [gesture to the heart] and said to the Lord), "Well, we will wait another four years." Four years, that means 1968. Sri Aurobindo said there would be a beginning of supramental manifestation in '67; so perhaps in '68 the two experiences will meet. It's possible.
page 81 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 11th March 1964


"It is certainly a mistake to bring down the light by force - to pull it down. The Supramental cannot be taken by storm. When the time is ready it will open of itself - but first there is a great deal to be done and that must be done patiently and without haste."

Sri Aurobindo


page 301 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 23rd Nov - 1965







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On March 19 during the translation class

the inner voice said:

Hold yourself straight

and the body sat up and held itself absolutely straight during the entire class.


1. The following text was given by Mother in both French and English.

2. Later added by Mother

3. Note written by Mother in French At this period, Mother's back was already bent. This straightening of her back seems to be the first physiological effect of the 'Supramental Manifestation' of February 29, which is perhaps the reason why Mother noted down the experience under the name 'Agenda of the Supramental Action on Earth.' It was the first time Mother gave a title to what would become this fabulous document of 13 volumes. The experience took place during a 'translation class' when, twice a week, Mother would translate the works of Sri Aurobindo into French before a group of disciples.

page 69 , Mother Agenda , vol - 1 , 1951-1960 , 19th March - 1956


First penetration of the supramental force into the body. Sri Aurobindo alive in a concrete and permanent subtle physical body.
page 325 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 24-25th July 1959
Shortly before the 1 5th of August I had a unique experience that exemplifies all this.' For the first time the supramental light entered directly into my body, without passing through the inner beings. It entered through the feet (a red and gold color - marvelous, warm, intense), and it climbed up and up. And as it climbed, the fever also climbed because the body was not accustomed to this intensity. As all this light neared the head, I thought I would burst and that the experience would have to be stopped. But then, I very clearly received the indication to make the Calm and Peace descend, to widen all this body-consciousness and all these cells, so that they could contain the supramental light. So I widened, and as the light was ascending, I brought down the vastness and an unshakable peace. And suddenly, there was a second of fainting. I found myself in another world, but not far away (I was not in a total trance). This world was almost as substantial as the physical world. There were rooms - Sri Aurobindo's room with the bed he rests on - and he was living there, he was there all the time: it was his abode. Even my room was there, with a large mirror like the one I have here, combs, all kinds of things. And the substance of these objects was almost as dense as in the physical world, but they shone with their own light. It was not translucent, not transparent, not radiant, but self-luminous. The various objects and the material of the rooms did not have this same opacity as the physical objects here, they were not dry and hard as in the physical world we know. And Sri Aurobindo was there, with a majesty, a magnificent beauty. He had all his beautiful hair as before. It was all so concrete, so substantial - he was even being served some kind of food. I remained there for one hour (I had looked at my watch before and I looked at it afterwards). I spoke to Sri Aurobindo, for I had some important questions to ask him about the way certain things are to be realized. He said nothing. He listened to me quietly and looked at me as if all my words were useless: he understood everything at once. And he answered me with a gesture and two expressions on his face, an unexpected gesture that did not at all correspond to any thought of mine; for example, he picked up three combs that were lying near the mirror (combs similar to those I use here, but larger) and he put them in his hair. He planted one comb in the middle of his head and the two others on each side, as if to gather all his hair over his temples. He was literally COIFFED with these three combs, which gave him a kind of crown. And I immediately understood that by this he meant that he was adopting my conception: 'You see, I embrace your conception of things, and I coif myself with it; it is my will.' Anyway, I remained there for one hour.
page 327-28 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 6th Oct. 1959


When Sri Aurobindo was here, I never bothered about all this; I was constantly up above and I did what the Gita and the traditional writings advise - I left it to Nature's care. In fact I left it to Sri Aurobindo's care. 'He is making the best use of it,' I would say. 'He will manage it, he will do with it what he wants.' And I was constantly up above. And from up there I worked, leaving the instrument as it was because I knew that he would see to it. Actually, it was very different at that time because I was not even aware of any resistance or any difficulty in the outer being; it was automatic, the work was done automatically. Later on, when I had to do both things - what he had been doing as well as what I was doing - it became rather complicated and I realized there were many ... what we could call 'gaps' - things which had to be worked out, transformed, set right before the total work could be done without hindrance. So then I began. And several times I thought how unfortunate it was that I had never studied or pursued certain ancient Indian disciplines. Because, for example, when Sri Aurobindo and I were working to bring down the supramental forces, a descent from the mental plane to the vital plane, he was always telling me that everything I did (when we 'meditated' together, when we worked) - all my movements, all my gestures, all my postures, all my reactions - was absolutely tantric, as if I had pursued a tantric discipline. But it was spontaneous, it did not correspond to any knowledge, any idea, any will, nothing, and I thought it was like that simply because, as He knew, naturally I followed.
page 416-17 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 sept. 1960

I came out of this trance two hours later, at 3 a.m. And during these two hours I saw ... with a new consciousness, a new vision, and above all a NEW POWER - I had a vision of the entire Work: all the people, all the things, all the systems, all of it. And it was ... it was different in appearance (this is only because appearances depend upon the needs of the moment), but mainly it differed IN POWER - A considerable difference. Considerable. The power itself was no longer the same. [[Later, Mother added: 'The Power that was acting was no longer the power that had been acting previously.' ]] A truly ESSENTIAL change in the body has occurred. I see that the body will have to - how can I express it? ... It will have to accustom itself to this new Power. But essentially the change has been accomplished. It's not ... it is far, very far from being the final change, there's a lot more to be done. But we may say that it's the conscious and total presence of the supramental Force in the body.

(silence)

When I got up today, I was going over all this to myself, and my first instinct was not to speak of it, to observe and see what would happen; but then I received a distinct and precise Command to tell it to you this morning. The experience had to be noted down just as it occurred, recorded in its exact form. In the body now, there is a very clear ... not only a certitude, but a feeling that a certain omnipotence is not far away, and that very soon when it sees ('it' sees ... 'it'! There is only one 'It' in this whole affair, which is neither 'he' nor 'she' nor ... ), when it sees that something must be, it automatically will be. There is still a long, long way to go. But the first step on the way has been taken.
page 43 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 24th Jan. 1961

It was odd this morning because on one side I felt ("one side" - it's not even a side; I don't know how to explain, they are both together) the body was unwell, most unharmonious (someone in an ordinary consciousness would have said the body was ill, or at any rate very weak, very ... not at all in good condition), and simultaneously, in the SAME PHYSICAL SENSATION: a glory! A marvelous glory of blissfulness, joy, splendor! ... But how could the two be together? Really, you must stay perfectly, perfectly calm inside; externally, you do things, brush your teeth and so forth, but within you must keep very calm if you don't want to fall over.[[This is exactly one month before the first radical turning point in Mother's yoga. ]]
But what prevents the two from joining?
It's not a joining. It's not a joining: one is to replace the other. But the other.... You see, it's like trying to alter the functioning of the organs. What is the process? Already the two are beginning to exist simultaneously.... What does it take for one to disappear and the other to remain on its own, changed? ... Changed, because as it is now it wouldn't be enough to make the body function; the body wouldn't perform all the things it must perform, it would stay in a blissful state, delighting in its condition, but not for long - it still has a lot of needs! That's the trouble. It will be very easy for those who come in one or two hundred years; they will only have to choose: not to belong to the old system any more or else to belong to the new. [[Decidedly, Mother could imagine only one possible choice! ]] But now.... A stomach has got to digest, after all! Well, that will mean a new way of adapting to the forces of Nature, a new functioning. page 81 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 13th Feb. 1961


I was at the Origin - I WAS the Origin. For more than two hours, consciously, here on this bed, I was the Origin. And it was like gusts - like great gusts ending in explosions. And each one of these gusts was a span of the universe.

It was Love in its supreme essence - which has nothing to do with what people normally understand by that word.

And each gust of this essence of Love was dividing and spreading out ... but they weren't forces, it was far beyond the realm of forces. The universe as we know it no longer existed; it was a sort of bizarre illusion, bearing no relation to THAT. There was only the truth of the universe, with those great gusts of color - they were colored - great gusts colored with something that is the essence of color.

It was stupendous. I lived more than two hours like that, consciously.

And then a Voice was explaining everything to me (not exactly a Voice, but something that was Sri Aurobindo's origin, like the most recent gust from the Origin). As the experience unfolded, this Voice explained each gust to me, each span of the universe; and then it explained how it all became like this (Mother makes a gesture of reversal): the distortion of the universe. And I was wondering how it was possible, with that Consciousness, that supreme Consciousness, to relate to the present, distorted universe. How to make the connection without losing that Consciousness? A relationship between the two seemed impossible. And that's when that sort of Voice reminded me of my promise, that I had promised to do the Work on earth and it would be done. "I promised to do the Work and it will be done."

Then began the process of descent, [[As we will see, "descent" is not the right word. ]] and the Voice was explaining it to me - I lived through it all in detail, and it wasn't pleasant. It took an hour and a half to change from that true Consciousness to the individual consciousness. Because throughout the experience this present individuality no longer existed, this body no longer existed, there were no more limits, I was no longer here - what was here was THE PERSON. An hour and a half was needed to return to the body-consciousness (not the physical consciousness but the body-consciousness), to the individual body-consciousness.

The first sign of the return to individuality was a prick of pain, a tiny point (Mother holds between her fingers a minuscule point in the space of her being). Yes, because I have a sore, a sore in a rather awkward place, and it hurts [[Mother will suffer from this same sore for nearly twelve years. ]] (Mother laughs). So I felt the pain: it was the sign of individuality coming back. Other than that, there was nothing any more - no body, no individual, no limits. But it's strange, I have made a strange discovery [[Later, Mother emphasized: "I don't mean a general discovery; it concerns my body alone. I don't say that all bodies are like this, but MY body - what has become my body - is like this." ]]: I used to think it was the individual (Mother touches her body) who experienced pain and disabilities and all the misfortunes of human life; well, I perceived that what experiences misfortunes is not the individual not my body, but that each misfortune, each pain, each disability has its own individuality as it were, and each one represents a battle.


And my body is a world of battles.

It is the battlefield.

page 138-39 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 13th May 1962


I didn't receive a promise - this Voice made me remember a promise I had made. I was saying to myself, "How to connect this true Consciousness to the other one - it's impossible! " And just then I seemed to hear ... not Sri Aurobindo exactly, because then you immediately think of a particular body, but that sort of Voice saying to me, "Your promise. You said you would do the Work." So that's when I said, "Yes, I shall do the Work." And from that moment on the process of materialization began, the entire transition from the true Consciousness to the ordinary consciousness.

I didn't receive a promise, but a reminder of the promise I had made.


When I was those gusts, those gusts of Love.... When I was conscious of the last one, the one organized outwardly, as it were, by Sri Aurobindo - materializing as the avatar Sri Aurobindo - then came the absolute certainty that the thing was done, that it was decreed.

And the moment I became aware that it was decreed, I thought, "But how can THAT be translated into that? How can the two be joined?" That was when the words came: "You promised to do it, therefore you will do it"; and slowly the transition began, as if I were again being sent back to do it. Yes, as if ... "You promised to do it and you will do it"; well, that's what I meant by a promise. And I came back towards this body to do it.

I said [on April 3] the body was the battlefield, that the battle was being waged IN this body. And then in that experience [of April 13] I was sent back into the body, because the thing - that last creative gust - had to be realized through this body.

page 144 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th May 1962


My physical consciousness has been universalized for a long, long time, it encompasses all terrestrial movements [[To illustrate this, Mother added: "I was always BATHED in the atmosphere of the people around me - their thoughts, their ways of feeling and seeing and understanding." ]]; but the body is limited solely to this small concentration of substance (Mother touches her body) - that's what I call the body-consciousness.

page 146 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th May 1962


Striking though the parallel may be, there is still a fundamental difference between these mathematical concepts and Mother's experience. In the first case, we are dealing with conceptual instruments used by the human mind to better explain and master the world: no one has actually seen electromagnetic waves - not to speak of gravitational ones! They are images, convenient "models," invisible and nonexistent in themselves. They exist only through their effects: a beam of sunlight, which is an electromagnetic wave, strikes our retina and enables us to distinguish a flower; by means of gravitational waves, Newton's apple falls from the tree - but no one has lived the reality of those waves. The way Mother grasps reality, on the contrary, is first and foremost through lived experience. She is the movement, she is the wave: "I walk around the room, and that is what is walking." Here we touch upon a stupendous mystery and a formidable question: How is it possible for a material and cellular body to be the wave that at once constitutes and carries the worlds along in its infinite undulating movement and governs the existence of atoms and galaxies? How is it possible to be an infinite and ubiquitous electromagnetic wave while remaining within the narrow confines of a human body?

In being THAT, it might be said, Mother thus resolves the famous question of the "unified-field theory," the theory to which Einstein devoted the last years of his life in vain, that would describe the movements of both planets and atoms in a single mathematical equation. Mother's body-consciousness is one with the movement of the universe, Mother lives the "unified-field theory" in her body. In so doing she opens up to us not merely one more physical theory, but the very path to a new species on earth, a species that will physically and materially live on the scale of the universe. The posthuman species might not simply be one with a few organs more or less, but rather one capable of being at every point in the universe. A sort of material ubiquity. It may not be so much a "new" as an ubiquitous species, a species that embraces everything, from the blade of grass under our feet to the "far" galaxies. A multifarious, undulating existence. A resume or epitome of evolution, really, which at the end of its course again becomes each point and each species and each movement of its own evolution.


page 148 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th May 1962


Pain is the one thing I sense the way I used to. Food, for instance, taste, smell, vision, hearing - all that's completely changed. They belong to another rhythm. And this condition has come progressively, like a crystallization of something behind the senses that doesn't come from here - in taste, smell, vision, hearing, touch.... Except this one point.... Even the sense of touch is different now - but PAIN .... Pain is the old world. page 151 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th May 1962


It can truly be said that for a short while the body went out of my consciousness completely. I didn't leave my body; the body left the consciousness. There you have it page 153 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th May 1962


That.... Ultimately, it's always the same thing. It's always the same: realize your own being, enter into conscious contact with the supreme Truth of your own being, in WHATEVER form, by WHATEVER path (that's totally irrelevant); it's the only way. We each carry a truth within ourselves, and we must unite with that truth; we must live that truth. And the path we have to follow to realize and unite with this truth is the very path that will lead us as near as we can possibly come to Knowledge. I mean the two are absolutely one: the personal realization and Knowledge. Who knows? Perhaps the very multiplicity of approaches will yield the Secret - the Secret that will open the door. I don't think any single individual on earth (as it is now) no matter how great he may be, no matter how eternal his consciousness and origin, can all by himself change and realize.... Change the world, change the creation as it is, and realize that higher Truth, the Truth that will be a new world - a truer, if not absolutely true, world. A certain number of individuals (until now they seem to have come in succession, in time, but they might also come as a collectivity, in space) would seem indispensable for this Truth to be concretized and realized. On a practical level, I am sure of it. In other words, no matter how great he may be, no matter how conscious, how powerful, ONE avatar all alone cannot realize the supramental life on earth. Either a group in time, a number of individuals staggered over a certain period of time, or a group spread out over a certain space - or maybe both - is indispensable for this Realization. I am convinced of it. The individual can give the initial impulse, point out the path, WALK the path himself (I mean show the path by realizing it) ... but he can't bring the work to fulfillment. The fulfillment of the work depends on certain collective laws that are the expression of a particular aspect of the Eternal and Infinite - naturally, it's all one and the same Being! There aren't different individuals and personalities, it's all one and the same Being. But the same Being expressing itself in a particular way that for us translates as a group or a collectivity. page 157-58 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 24th May 1962


Through yoga I had come to a sort of relationship with the material world based on the notion of the fourth dimension (of the innumerable inner dimensions opened up by yoga) and on the utilization of this attitude and state of consciousness. Using this sense of inner dimensions, and through perfecting the consciousness of the inner dimensions, I used to observe the relation between the material and the spiritual worlds - this was prior to my last experience.

page 159 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 24th May 1962


Events can be changed: wherever the state of consciousness comes into play, you can change events. I have had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of examples of that, as I have had the experience of changing a person's state of consciousness [[This is what Mother calls "shifting the needle of consciousness": "When people who are depressed or in despair come to see me," she once told Satprem, "all I have to do is slightly shift the needle of consciousness, and they go away happy. Out of habit, unfortunately, their state returns." (See Agenda I, February 25, 1958, p. 148.) ]] and the resulting circumstances of that state of consciousness. All that belongs to the realm of psychological life; but what I am speaking of is this (Mother vigorously strikes the table). There is indeed the case of Madame Théon's sandals, which came and put themselves on her feet instead of her feet going and putting themselves in the sandals, but that ... that belongs to yet another realm. It wasn't what you would call a "natural" phenomenon: she was applying her will and her action, and the substance of the sandals was becoming receptive. But does that mean the world will be that way? ... I don't know. page 199 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th June 1962


What I say is becoming more and more difficult.... Perhaps fifty years from now people will understand!

(silence)

I feel like an egg that has yet to hatch - I mean a certain period of incubation is needed, isn't it? And I am more and more aware that people really panicked this time; they imagined I was going to die - I could have died, had the Lord willed it. But ... it has been a sort of death, that's for sure - sure, sure, sure - although I don't say so, because.... After all, one must have some regard for people's common sense! But really, if I let myself go one step further I would say that I was dead and ... have come back to life. But I don't say it. A lot of people have been praying for me and even taking vows that if I didn't die they would go here or there on a pilgrimage - it's quite touching. This greatly objectifies my situation, which has nothing to do with an illness to be cured! I can't be cured! It is a work of transformation. At any moment, if the Lord decides it's hopeless, it will be hopeless, finished; and no matter what happens, if the Lord has decided that I'll go right to the end of the experience, then I'll go right to the end. That whole way of seeing, feeling and reacting belongs really to another world. Really to another world ... to such a degree that if I had no regard for people's peace of mind I would say, "I don't know whether I am dead or alive." Because there is a life, a type of life vibration that is completely independent of.... No, I'll put it another way: the way people ordinarily feel life, feel that they are alive, is intimately linked with a certain sensation they have of their bodies and of themselves. If you totally eliminate that sensation, the type of relation that allows people to say "I am alive" ... well, eliminate that, but then how can you say, "I am alive," or "I am not alive"? The distinction NO LONGER EXISTS. Well, for me, it has been completely eliminated. That night [April 12-13], it was definitively swept out of me. It has never come back. It's something that seems impossible now. So what they mean by "I am alive" is ... I can't say "I am alive" the way they do - it's something else entirely.
Better not keep this - in the end they'll be worrying about my sanity! (Mother laughs.) But that doesn't matter either!

(silence)

You get such a feeling of power, so tremendous, so FREE, so independent of all circumstances, all reactions, all events - and it doesn't depend on whether the body is this way or that. Something else.... Something else.... Only one thing depends on the body: speech, expression ... who knows? ... (Mother gazes at Satprem for a long time, as though she were considering an unknown possibility.) Ah, that's enough for today! page 211-12 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th June 1962


It's going to take a long time, this business. [[The transformation. ]] When I look ahead, I see no radical change (that is, a change of organization, of life and so forth) before a VERY long time, a very long time. We have to have a lot of patience. No, it's not a matter of patience - it's like this (Mother holds her hands above her head, open to the Eternal).

(silence)

It gives me the feeling of a bell that no one rings! It's there on the table (you know, those little dinner bells) ... and no one rings it. Well. page 215 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 16th June 1962


Because, to tell the truth, if things are the way I have seen them (the way I have seen and felt them), then at the least a very serious beginning of transformation should be taking place - and well, for that, you know ... years are nothing! Years are no time at all. Everybody's in a hurry, absolutely insisting I resume my life; for the moment, I see no possibility of it


page 216 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th June 1962


One or two days ago, I am not sure when, but anyway after our last meeting, suddenly, without thinking about it or wishing it or anything (I was walking or doing something or other), I suddenly became, or saw, a tall being, all white, with a kind of halberd in its hand and an expression of iron will. And it seemed as if the world were being told: "Enough shilly-shallying, enough wavering, now it is time: the thing must be done." And the body's activities hadn't the least importance; whatever I did, that remained. I was seeing that tall being from above, like a great transformative power in the vital. A huge being, very calm and powerful - with no violence in it of course, but utterly indomitable, and: " Enough waiting, enough shilly-shallying, enough vacillating: IT IS TIME."
It lasted more than an hour - oh, at least two hours. The body was in that experience, but I was going on as always with what I had to do while that being was there. I am telling you this because suddenly, in the midst of it all, I remembered you: "Why, he wants to see!" So I told that being, "Go show yourself to Satprem, show him you are here." I wondered if you saw anything.... It lasted a long time, but I don't remember exactly when it was. Part of it happened while I was walking (I walk at five in the morning and five in the evening). When I started walking it was there and it lasted for a long time afterwards - whether morning or evening I don't remember. In the morning - every morning, as I walk - I concentrate on you in the hope that you will remember your nights and have an experience. And it stayed put, in the sense that all sorts of things could go on, but there it remained, at the borders of the terrestrial world, like a declaration from the Supreme - a very tall being. All white, luminous, luminous - resplendent! And with a kind of halberd and, oh, a very determined air: "Enough shilly-shallying, no more vacillating, it is time." "Go find Satprem," I said. "Show yourself to him."
page 217-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 23th June 1962


This is a period of study and observation. There is absolutely nothing to say. It's a whole world of minute observations which, I hope, will lead me towards something more ... positive. More exactly, it's a demonstration of the inadequacy of the usual methods when it comes to acting according to Truth - and it goes on night and day. Two nights ago, I had an experience I hadn't had for perhaps more than a year. A sort of concentration and accumulation of divine Energy in the cells of the body. During a certain period (I don't remember when), every night I had a kind of recharging of batteries through contact with universal forces; I had it again two nights ago, spontaneously. Then last night, when I wanted to look, to study, to understand how it worked, I was given a lavish demonstration of the inadequacy and utter uselessness of all processes of consciousness working through the mind. They are useless, they simply spoil the experience.
page 220-21 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th June 1962



I have been given certain promises - great promises. Not "promises," but what comes is: "This is how it will be." Great things - concrete manifestations of the divine Power, the divine Consciousness, the divine Action. And spontaneous, natural, inevitable.... This is obviously being prepared (Mother touches her body) so that it won't put the usual obstacles in the way of expression. But I would much prefer the thing to BE rather than just talk about it. That would be more interesting. So for the moment I prefer to say nothing.

(silence)

Many things could happen.... But how much time will it take? I don't know.
page 221 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th June 1962


What was standing there was a manifestation of one of my states of being, a part of my vital being, or rather one of my innumerable vital beings - because I have quite a few! And this one is particularly interested in things on earth.
A projection of yours - an emanation?
You know, mon petit, I said one day that in the history of earth, wherever there was a possibility for the Consciousness to manifest, I was there[["Since the beginning of the earth, wherever and whenever there was the possibility of manifesting a ray of the Consciousness, I was there." March 14, 1952. ]]; this is a fact. It's like the story of Savitri: always there, always there, always there, in this one, that one - at certain times there were four emanations simultaneously! At the time of the Italian and French Renaissance. And again at the time of Christ, then too.... Oh, you know, I have remembered so many, many things! It would take volumes to tell it all. And then, more often than not (not always, but more often than not), what took part in this or that life was a particular yogic formation of the vital being - in other words something immortal. [[Each of these formations had an independent, immortal existence. ]] And when I came this time, as soon as I took up the yoga, they came back again from all sides, they were waiting. Some were simply waiting, others were working (they led their own independent lives) and they all gathered together again. That's how I got those memories. One after the other, those vital beings came - a deluge! I had barely enough time to assimilate one, to see, situate and integrate it, and another would come. They are quite independent, of course, they do their own work, but they are very centralized all the same. And there are all kinds - all kinds, anything you can imagine! Some of them have even been in men: they are not exclusively feminine.
At first, I used to think they were fantasies. Before I met Sri Aurobindo they would come and come and come to me, night after night and sometimes during the day - a mass of things! Afterwards I told Sri Aurobindo about it, and he explained to me that it was quite natural. And indeed, it is quite natural: with the present incarnation of the Mahashakti (as he described it in Savitri), whatever is more or less bound up with Her wants to take part, that's quite natural. And it's particularly true for the vital: there has always been a preoccupation with organizing, centralizing, developing and unifying the vital forces, and controlling them. So there's a considerable number of vital beings, each with its own particular ability, who have played their role in history and now return. But this one [the tall white Being] is not of human origin; it was not formed in a human life: it is a being that had already incarnated, and is one of those who presided over the formation of this present being [Mother]. But, as I said, I saw it: it was sexless, neither male nor female, and as intrepid as the vital can be, with a calm but absolute power.... Ah, I found a very good description of it in one of Sri Aurobindo's plays, when he speaks of the goddess Athena (I think it's in Perseus, but I am not sure); she has that kind of ... it's an almighty calm, and with such authority! Yes, it's in Perseus - when she appears to the Sea-God and forces him to retreat to his own domain. There's a description there that fits this Being quite well. [[A whiteness and a strength is in the skies... Virgin formidable In beauty, disturber of the ancient world! ... How art thou white and beautiful and calm, Yet clothed in tumult! Heaven above thee shakes Wounded with lightnings, goddess, and the sea Flees from thy dreadful tranquil feet. (Perseus the Deliverer, Cent. Ed., VI. 6.) ]]
esides, all the Greek gods are various aspects of a single thing: you see it this way, that way, that way, this way (turning her hand, Mother seems to show several facets of a single prism).... But it's simply one and the same thing.[["They are different aspects of one self-existent thing," Mother clarified. "These beings have merely taken on different aspects depending on the country or the culture." ]] Sri Aurobindo's description fits this Being exactly. And a few days ago, this same Being came, without my calling it or thinking about it or wishing it to come. And it seemed to be saying it was time for it to intervene. So I let it!
page 222-24 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th June 1962


I wanted to mention something curious. Since you came up stairs in March, Sujata says that whenever she sees you at night she sees you taller than you were before!
Everyone says that - everyone! Even I, when I see myself, I am very tall - what has happened?... It is the new being. I tell you, since the 12th [of April] there is.... When is it going to manifest in the physical? I don't know. It is a subtle-physical being - not a vital but a subtle-physical being, and I am tall and strong. Tell her she's not the only one who sees me this way - many do. When I see myself at night, that's how I see myself. Perhaps ... well, this (Mother touches her body) would have to yield. But when? I don't know. Ageless - something neither young nor old nor ... something totally different. And tall, strong. That's how I see myself. And it is subtle-physical. You can tell her.
"It's peculiar, "she says, "since March I have been seeing Mother taller."
Yes, something has come and wants to manifest here, so I am being prepared, I see plainly that I am being.... How to adapt this (the body)? That's the question. They are experimenting! We'll see what's going to happen. This work is fairly new! (Mother laughs.)
page 228 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th June 1962


A little later, Mother refers to a passage from the preceding conversation in which she said that her present incarnation on earth didn't have a merely terrestrial effect but an effect on all the other worlds as well - and particularly on the gods.

None of those beings, those gods and deities of various pantheons, have the same rapport with the Supreme that man has; for man has a psychic being, in other words, the Supreme's presence within him. These gods are emanations - independent emanations - created for a special purpose and a particular action which they fulfill SPONTANEOUSLY; they do it not with a sense of constant surrender to the Divine but simply because that's what they are, and why they are, and all they know is what they are. They don't have the conscious link with the Supreme that man has - man carries the Supreme within himself. That makes a considerable difference. But with this present incarnation of the Mahashakti.... She is the Supreme's first manifestation, creation's first stride, and it was She who first gave form to all those beings. Now, since her incarnation in the physical world, and through the position She has taken here in relation to the Supreme by incarnating in a human body, all the other worlds have been influenced, and influenced in an extremely interesting way. [[Some days later, Satprem again brought up the above passage, asking whether the Mother hadn't been active on earth since the beginning of time and not merely "with this present incarnation of the Mahashakti." The reply: "It was always through EMANATIONS, while now it's as Sri Aurobindo writes in Savitri - the Supreme tells Savitri that a day will come when the earth is ready and 'The Mighty Mother shall take birth'.... But Savitri was already on earth - she was an emanation. So they were all emanations? They were all emanations, right from the beginning. So we have to say: 'With the PRESENT incarnation.'" ]] I have been in contact with all those gods, all those great beings, and for the most part their attitude has changed. And even with those who didn't want to change, it has nonetheless influenced their way of being. Human experience, with this direct incarnation of the Supreme, [[I.e., with the psychic being or soul IN MAN, the direct incarnation of the Supreme in man: "This has come with humankind." ]] is ultimately a UNIQUE experience, which has given a new orientation to universal history. Sri Aurobindo speaks of this - he speaks of the difference between the Vedic era, the Vedic way of relating to the Supreme, and the advent of Vedanta (I think it's Vedanta): devotion, adoration, bhakti, the God within. [[Satprem subsequently asked Mother: You almost seem to be saying that during the Vedic era there was no divine presence in man! No, there wasn't! They discovered it. Humanity has undergone a spiritual evolution. Vedism is in contact with the gods and, THROUGH THE GODS, with the Supreme; but it is not in direct contact with the Supreme - there is no inner, psychic con" tact. That's what Sri Aurobindo says (I myself know nothing about it!). But with the Vedanta and the devotees of Krishna, it is the god within: they had a direct contact with the god within (as in the Gita). ]] Well, this aspect of rapport with the Supreme could exist ONLY WITH MAN, because man is a special being in universal History - the divine Presence is in him. And several of those great gods have taken human bodies JUST TO HAVE THAT. [[Shortly afterwards, Satprem asked: When a god takes a human body it must be terrible for him. Or does his divinity become quite veiled to him? Yes, quite veiled. They are powerful beings, they give a sense of power, but it is quite veiled. But Krishna had a human body, Shiva had a human body. But supposing one of those gods were to incarnate in the present world ... well, it wouldn't be much fun - he would suffocate. Fun?... No, you see, they extend sufficiently beyond the limits of their bodies so as not to be suffocated. ]] But not many of them - they were so fully aware of their own perfect independence and their almightiness that they didn't NEED anything (unlike man, you see, struggling to escape his slavery): they were absolutely free. And that's why.... How many times Durga came! She would always come, and I had my eye on her (!), because in her presence I could clearly sense that there wasn't that rapport with the Supreme (she just didn't need it, she didn't need anything). And it wasn't that something acted on her consciously, deliberately, to obtain that result: it has been a contagion. I remember how she used to come, and my aspiration would be so intense, my inner attitude so concentrated ... and one day there was such a sense of power, of immensity, of ineffable bliss in the contact with the Supreme (it was a day when Durga was there), and she seemed to be taken and absorbed in it. And through that bliss she made her surrender. Most interesting.
page 234-35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th June 1962



There must be certain laws - laws expressing a Wisdom far beyond us - for the experience seems to follow a sort of curve which, because I am in it, I don't understand. And it won't be understood till the end is reached; but I am right in the middle of it, or maybe at the very beginning....

(long silence)

We could say some elegant things, but they don't explain anything; like this feeling, for example, that one must die unto death to be born to immortality. It doesn't mean anything but it corresponds to something. To die unto death, to become incapable of dying because death has no more reality. This is beginning to ... I can't say "crystallize," that's much too hard.... It's like a soft breeze condensing.
page 240, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.


(Referring back to the conversation of July 4: "One must die unto death to be born to Immortality.")

When I said that, oh, you can't imagine, I had just been seeing it somewhere - somewhere in a dazzling light - and it was full of marvelous meaning. And of course when I uttered it I wondered why ... why it was no longer the same. It was absolutely wonderful, it explained ... not that it explained everything, but it was a revelation. There must have been some fault in the transcription. It all came back after you left. I looked and asked myself, "Why did I say it was so marvelous!" And I understood: when I saw it, I really SAW, saw those words, more dazzling than the most brilliant diamonds and full of a marvelous power of knowledge, as though it held the key to things; but when I spoke it, it became almost flat. At any rate, it was utterly flat in comparison. What did you feel when I said it?
I felt there was something in it....
It was sheer splendor, a dazzling sight! And when the revelation was gone and only the memory of this brilliance remained (which I still have), I wondered, "What was there in those words: to die unto death?" ... It was glorious, mon petit: to die unto death. But what I said is nothing.
When you said it, I felt it held a secret.
Yes, yes! The POWER of the thing. And they were the very words, the exact words - but those words ... something else was in them. Perhaps it's the transcription.... And yet, they were those very words. It's most interesting.
page 251, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th July 1962.


It has never faded, it's always there (gesture behind the head), and at any moment I can immerse myself in it all over again. But what a difference when, after THAT, you come back to an awareness of what is speaking, at least as tremendous a difference as with that "to die unto death." Similarly, that "to die unto death" contained the full Power of THAT. [[Mother added: "This is what makes all the difference - the creative Power." ]] It was clear and ... stunningly powerful. And the same impression: easy, easy. There's really no question of hard or easy - it's spontaneous, NATURAL, and so smiling. And that "to die unto death" was filled with such JOY! Such joy.... I could almost have said, "It's plain as day! Don't you see how plain it is! But that's it: we have only to die unto death, and that will be that!" \

page 252, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th July 1962.


From time to time, one touches the vibration of the Supreme's Love, the creative Love, Love that creates, upholds, maintains, fuels progress and is the Manifestation's very reason for being (these great pulsations were the expression of That), and That is something so stupendous and marvelous for the material frame, the body, that it seems to be dosed out. From time to time, you are given a trickle of it to make you realize that the end (or anyway, the end of the beginning!) is That.

page 259, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 14th July 1962.


Matter needs quite a preparation to make it strong enough to hold those vibrations, and ... and the body seems to be given a trickle to see how much it can bear. But there's such an immediate intensity of joy in all the cells, in the heart and organs, that it all seems on the verge of exploding. It comes just to tell you, "See, this is how it is." I can bring it on at will simply by putting myself in a certain state. But then I notice that someone ("someone" ... well, that's a way of speaking) is dosing it out, allowing the contact for a certain length of time or in a certain amount; and there's nothing to be done about it, it's an Order from above. A mere hint of impatience would spoil everything - the power to establish the contact would probably be lost. I have never done this and I don't intend to.
It's like an image.... You see, the body is stretched out here on the chaise longue.... You know how it is when experiments are done on animals? It's something like that - the body is there as the "subject" of an experiment. Then there's my consciousness, the part focused on the earthly experience and the present transformation (it's what I mean when I say "I"). And then the Lord.... I say "the Lord" - I've adopted that because it's the best way of putting it and the easiest for me, but I never, NEVER think of a being. For me, it's a simultaneous contact with the Eternal, the Infinite, the Vast, the Totality of everything - the totality of everything: all that is, all that has been, all that will be, everything. Words spoil it, but it's like that - automatically - with consciousness, sweetness and ... SOLICITUDE. With all the qualities a perfect Personality can offer (I don't know if you follow me, but that's the way it is). And "That" (I use all these words to say it, and three-fourths is left out) ... is a spontaneous, constant, immediate experience. So the "I" I spoke of asks that the body may have the experience, or at least an initial taste, even a shadow of the experience of this Love. And each time it's asked for, it comes INSTANTLY. Then I see the three together[[ The body, the "I," and the Lord. ]] - in my consciousness and perception the three are together - and I see that this Love is dosed out and maintained in exact proportion to what the body can bear. The body is aware of this and is a little sad about it. But immediately comes something soothing, calming, making it vast. The body instantly senses the immensity and regains its calm. This experience I am describing is exactly what happened yesterday (it happens every day, but yesterday it was especially clear). And it's still here - I am seeing it as I saw it, it's still here. Actually, it is always here - always here - though it's more striking when the body is stretched out, motionless in the Yoga. The experience is slightly different when walking because that involves action. When the body walks, it acts on behalf of everything that's related to it, hence the action is vaster and more powerful.
But when it is stretched out and asks the Lord to take possession of it, it really asks with all its aspiration. And the very intensity of the aspiration brings in the possibility of a slight emotional vibration. But it is immediately drowned in ... the immobile immensity of matter, which senses the Divine Descent like a leaven that makes dough rise - that's it exactly, the terrestrial immensity of matter and the leavening action of the Divine Descent.... The intensity of these vibrations is above and beyond anything we are used to feeling - the vital seems dull and flat in comparison. And what a Wisdom! ... It knows how to make use of time - that is, it actually changes itself into time - so as to ... minimize the possibilities of damage. It's plain to see that, left to itself in its full power of transformation and progress, this flame of aspiration, this flame of Agni would have scant consideration for the result of the process - the result of the process is that fire burns. And there could be mishaps in the functioning of the organs. All the organs must undergo a transformation, but were it too rapid and too sudden, well, everything would go out of whack. The machine would simply explode. But this Wisdom doesn't come from the universal consciousness (which I don't really think is so wise!), it's infinitely higher: the Supreme Wisdom. Something so wonderful! It foresees things the universal forces in their universal play would overlook - a wonder!

(silence)

We mustn't be in a hurry.
page 262-64, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th July 1962.


This body-consciousness has a will; it is constantly, constantly calling upon the Lord's will: "Lord, take possession of this, take possession of that, take...." There's no question of taking possession of the will, that was done ages ago, but: "Take possession of these cells, those cells, this, that...." It is the BODY'S aspiration.

page 265, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th July 1962.


(Mother listens to a passage from Satprem's manuscript concerning the vital and the mechanism by which vibrations enter one's being.)

What you say about all those things entering through the centers is perfectly correct. Interestingly enough, these last few days I have been making a sort of detailed study of the various kinds of vibrations, how they approach you and enter the various centers.... I don't know how to explain it - certain differences between vibrations resemble differences in tastes. There's a whole gamut, you see, all vibrations, nothing but vibrations, and the differences between them resemble differences in taste or color or intensity, perhaps differences in force as well - essentially, of course, they are differences in quality. I've been observing all this in a neuro-physical realm, subtle-physical, that is - but it's still physical - and in a complete mental silence where all judgments (you know, "judgments") have disappeared, along with a certain way of observing things. That's why I can't talk about it. These vibrations have various qualities; if they were expressed through a mental observation, it would be done through such things as taste, color, and so forth, everything I've just mentioned[[ It is very interesting to note that all these perceptions we consider physical, material (taste, color, etc.), Mother attributes to the mind. What then, is true physical perception? ]] - but that's not how they're expressed. They come almost exclusively as sensations, but those sensations ... some, I mean some vibrations, have rounded edges. Some come horizontally (I was in fact studying everything that comes horizontally), others result from the state of consciousness (vertical gesture from top to bottom). While at the same time, others are.... Yes, it's like looking through a high-powered microscope: some are rounded, others pointed; some are darker, some brighter. Some are very upsetting to the body, and some even feel dangerous. On the other hand, certain ones make the body receptive to the vibration, which we might call "the Lord's Vibration," the supreme Vibration. You see, all this is the outcome of a discipline, a tapasya, for preparing the body to receive the Lord's Vibrations (the first step is receiving, being able to receive them; afterwards you have to hold on to and then manifest them). Those vibrations are unmistakable, they are something else entirely. But other vibrations are helpful, beneficial, while still others are disruptive, contradictory.
And each one is beginning to reveal its own particular nature. There are those stemming from people's thoughts (I sense them in my body, not in the mind: the material consequence of people's psychological state, and even their state of health). Some things are general and last a bit longer; others are momentary, lasting only a few seconds. The first step is to study the different vibrational qualities - you could practically draw diagrams: if we had a machine sensitive enough to record these things, it would produce all kinds of zigs and zags.[[ Like the needle of an electroencephalograph. ]] Certain vibrations immediately stop or change or are dissolved or repelled. Others are adopted, as it were, and transformed. The majority are simply pushed back and worked on from a distance - quite a distance! I keep them at a fair distance (Mother laughs). Very few are let in. But some are let in for the sake of the experience, to see how much they upset the body. There's also the effect of people's permanent auras: I know a certain person is arriving by his aura's effect on the body; because (laughing) each vibration has its particular effect on the body - perfectly prosaic things, maybe, but by studying them you realize that each thing has its own law. The interchange of vibrations among people is something tremendous, and we're swimming in it all, all, all the time - even when we're alone! Because these things travel: for instance, it's enough for someone's thought to come and strike against yours, and for you to think of him (which means responding) - there is an immediate effect in the body. So to imagine that solitude would make yoga any easier is sheer childishness. The only possible solution is so perfect a union with the supreme Vibration that everything is automatically put under His influence; and in that case it is easier to feel wider, higher, vaster than the world (to take just the earth: the terrestrial world) than an individual. [[Mother comments on this sentence in the conversation of August 11. ]] For it is easier to do this (embracing gesture), to take everything in, to embrace and change it from outside, than to change it from inside. At present, the two movements are simultaneous, and staying "inside" was [[Satprem later remarked to Mother that it should be "is" instead of "was," since "the two things are simultaneous." The two movements are simultaneous, so it's "staying inside is," no? (Mother laughs) It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter! Of course, our past, present and future tenses!... (Laughing! Mon petit, I feel I am moving on in this yoga as fast as a jet plane - everything's zooming past in reverse! ]] the result of all those years of experience in drawing the Supreme Presence down into the most material world - for that, you have to accept (how can I put it?...) corporeal oneness. page 297-99, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th Aug 1962.



Intellectually, I don't at all believe in taking others' misfortunes upon oneself - that's childish. But certain vibrations in the world must be accepted, exhausted and transformed. Inwardly, that's the work I have been doing all my life - consciously, gloriously. But now it's on a purely physical level, independent of all the realities of other worlds: it's in the body, you see. And this has given me a key, one of the necessary keys to the Work. Maybe there will be something else another time. It has been very revealing, like a door that has opened.
page 303 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 8th Aug 1962.


It's very interesting! The fabric of the sieve serves as a filter, as it were, and that's what gives the precision. And the Light that descends.... You see, it's as though ... as though I am SEEING that eternal, universal, immense, wondrous Vibration from without, from within, from above, from below, from everywhere at the same time. And at a certain place there's something so fine, delicate, of a silver-gray (something that's spread all around the world, all around the creation), and THE Vibration passes through it and ... it becomes ideas. Not ideas, something higher than ideas - the origin of ideas. Things take form. And the sieve is fine, fine, fine, so fine and tenuous, and it's everywhere (gesture enveloping the earth). And it's there all the time! ... I saw it the other day, I am seeing it now - it seems to be a permanent feature. And it's the origin of all intellectual formulations (those closest to the Truth, of course, with no distortion). Very interesting. page 308 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th Aug 1962.


Oh, during those hours the Presence lasted this morning, what I say here became so obvious, so obvious! You see (there's nothing but the Lord, of course), it's exactly as if the Lord were seeing all things (and this body is part of what He sees!), seeing all things and laughing, laughing - forever laughing at all the tragedy ... the tragedy of this existence! And I was seeing Him right here, you know, there was nothing but Him - immense, marvelous, yet at the same time scaled to the size of the earth, almost to the size of this room, you could say! He was here, in everything - in all the past, all the future, in all places, in everything. And He was smiling, smiling with the consciousness of that joy - it's not "joy," "joy" sounds pallid. And there was no excitement, nothing of what human consciousness mixes into these things, only ... an eternal certitude, a crystal clear vision of the most MINUTE details. And all of this simultaneously, just like that, with a smile. And ... although I can't say what is He and what is me, I have the joy of perceiving Him (that isn't abolished), and yet I am nowhere in particular! Still I have the joy, I feel the joy of perceiving Him. It's difficult to describe. It lasted from around midnight until eight o'clock.
page 309 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th Aug 1962.


And I see nothing but THAT - that Consciousness. It's a Consciousness, a Presence. And all, all is there, you see, all is there together, the Power, the Presence, the Consciousness, that joy and Love.... And all of that together almost gives the impression of ... a Form, that Vibration of golden light, a crimson-gold which is the most material supramental light - a Form. A Form, and no form - yet it's a Form!

page 310 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th Aug 1962.


The curves of life go this way and that (meandering gesture), and only by being the supramental arrow can you go beyond.

page 311 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 14th Aug 1962.


And at each step, it's as though you had to take great care that nothing gets thrown off balance. The new combinations of vibrations, especially, are difficult for the body - it must be very, very quiet, well under control, very peaceful, or else it panics. Because it's used to vibrations whose effects follow a regular pattern, so if the pattern changes there's a kind of frightened jolt. That must be avoided, the body has to be very gently kept under control. What the mind thinks, what it expects to see, looks so childish in comparison, like ... yes, like theatrics, really. It's the difference between some grand extravaganza and the very modest life of each minute. Exactly that. All the powers, all the siddhis, all the realizations, all these things are ... the grand extravaganza - the great spiritual spectacle. But this isn't like that. It's very modest, very modest, very unobtrusive, very humble, nothing showy about it. It takes years and years and years of silent, quiet and extremely careful work before there can be any visible and tangible results, before anything can be noticed, even for the [Mother's] individual consciousness. As for those who want to go quickly, if they try going quickly in this realm, they'll be thrown off balance. You can't go quickly. Once, when I saw how it was, I complained a bit to the Lord: "Lord, why did you make the body this way for doing this kind of work? Just look at it!" He answered me (laughing), "It's the best that could be done." So I said "Thank you!" and kept quiet.
page 322 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 28th Aug 1962


The more I go on, the more sober it gets. It's quiet, peaceful, with no fanfare, no make-believe, none of that. And it's not done with the idea that, well, if you keep on this way for some time, there'll be something dazzling at the other end - not at all. Because the other end is the new creation, so it's clear that.... How MANY steps will it take, how many incomplete or imperfect things, approximations, attempts - how many MINUSCULE realizations - for you to simply acknowledge, "Yes, indeed, we're on the way..."? For how many ... oh, you could practically say centuries will it be like this before the glorious body of a supramental being appears?... Something came yesterday evening (it seemed like mere excitation to me); it was a power of creative imagination attempting to visualize supramental forms, beings that live in other worlds, and all sorts of things like that. I saw many things. But it seemed so ... like champagne bubbles! "That's all very nice," I said, "for widening my power of imagination so I can present these forms to the Lord.... But it's not necessary! " (Mother laughs) It really seemed so.... There was a time when I considered it a great creative power (and many things that I saw in those moments of super-creativity, super-imagination, were actually realized years later on earth), and this time it came again (perhaps to give me a little fun, a little spectacle along the way), it came and I looked at it; I could see all its power, I could see it was something trying to materialize in the future, and I said, "What histrionics! Why go through all these theatrics?..." Jugglers. And it was supramental light, it originated in supramental light. How beings from other worlds would relate with the future beings, and all sorts of similar things - bedtime stories.
page 324 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 31th Aug 1962


It's as if everything had to be ... to be the Action, the eternal Action at each second of the Manifestation - THE thing. At each pulsation - which corresponds to time in the Manifestation - THAT alone is THE thing. And the idea of something having a result is already a distortion. Uninterrupted, with one link - the link of supreme Eternity. But the sense of consequences is false, it already implies a lowering of consciousness. So for me - even physically, in the midst of this whole hodgepodge of confusion, ignorance and stupidity - it all translates into: "I do things, and the results are none of my business." That's how it's expressed here in the body.
page 325 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 31th Aug 1962


Although perhaps it means we are drawing closer to the knowledge of the thing - by knowledge I mean the power to change it, of course. If you have power over something, it's because you know it; "knowing" a thing means being able to create it, or change it, to make it last or cease to be - in other words it is Power. That's what "knowing" means. All the rest is explanations the mind gives to itself. And I can feel that something ("something"! Well, what Sri Aurobindo calls "the Lord of Yoga": the part of the Supreme concerned with terrestrial evolution) is leading me towards the discovery of that Power - that Knowledge - naturally by the only possible means: experience. And with great care, for I can feel that.... It's going as fast as it possibly can. Outwardly, of course, these troubles (these apparent troubles) upset people, especially the doctor! I've explained to him that it was all yoga and transformation, and he shouldn't worry, but evidently ... it's upsetting to ordinary eyes. One fact in particular is bewildering to ordinary vision: I am very, very regularly losing weight. It's already down to a ridiculous figure - I weigh only 85 pounds! With my height and bone structure, my normal weight should be 130 pounds; when I was twenty-five I weighed 130 or 135. Now I am down to only 85, and it's going down quite regularly. I understand how disturbing this might be for people who see things in the ordinary way! ... I don't eat much (not a little, not a lot, just average), and I don't seem to benefit from what I eat - that's how it looks on the surface. And then there are these strange phenomena; I don't usually talk about them (you're the only one I have explained them to, nobody else), I don't talk about them, but from time to time I appear to ... I must appear to be fainting. And not in the usual way, you know, that's the thing! Nothing happens in the usual way, so it's very upsetting! (Mother laughs) The Energy is tremendous, more tremendous than it has ever been; and there is practically no physical strength. I can act, but only if I bring in the Energy: the least physical act demands the Energy. I think the body is completely ... flimsy; it seems ... sometimes I touch it to see if it's still ... if it's hard or if it's soft!
page 341 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 8th Sept 1962


One sometimes even goes to a great deal of trouble to explain things to Him: "It's this way, You see, that's how it is." And when you're finished, you realize.... Oh, that reminds me of an experience I had one night two years ago. It was the first time the Supermind entered the cells of my body, and it had risen up to the brain. So the brain found itself in the presence of something (laughing) considerably more powerful than it was used to receiving! And, like the idiot it is, it got worried. As for me (gesture above or beyond), I saw it all, I saw that the brain was getting worried, so I tried to tell it what a nitwit it was and to just keep still. It did keep still, but ... you know, it was really seething away in there, as if it were about to explode. So I said, "All right now, let's go see Sri Aurobindo and ask him what to do." Immediately everything became utterly calm ... and I woke up in Sri Aurobindo's house in the subtle physical - a very material sensation, with everything quite concrete. So I arrived, or rather not I but the body-consciousness arrived [[It is quite remarkable that it was the body-consciousness that discovered - nine years after his passing - Sri Aurobindo's abode (experience of July 24-25, 1959). The world where Mother went is thus a material world, not an "inner" world. The other Matter, the true Matter? We recall that in her very last Playground class, on November 28, 1958, Mother said: "Through each individual formation, physical substance progresses, and one day it will be able to build a bridge between physical life as we know it and the supramental life that is to manifest." ]] and started explaining to Sri Aurobindo what had happened - it was very excited, talking and talking. The response was a sort of inscrutable smile and then ... nothing. He simply looked. An inscrutable smile - not a word. All the excitement died away. A face out of eternity. The excitement died away. Then it was time for Sri Aurobindo's lunch (people eat there - in another way). So as not to disturb him, I went into the next room. He came in after some time and stood before me (I - my physical being, that is, my physical consciousness - had had time to calm down). I knelt down and took his hand (a MUCH clearer sensation than anything physical, mon petit!); I kissed his hand. He simply said, "Oh! This is better. " (Mother laughs.)

page 378-79 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Oct. 1962


As if it has truly been decided that this time the experience will go right to the end, right to its goal, without interruption. And this something which ... [doesn't want]. The Something that has made the decision and sticks to it.

page 419 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 17th Nov. 1962


The qualifier[[ "Catastrophic." ]] we use depends on our limited individual vision, but the fact in itself is probably quite correct: there will be a serious upheaval. But this doesn't mean it will be catastrophic. You see, it may be precisely the opening to something higher, and a new birth to Truth. Personally, I am certain of a very rapid progress [for you], because I see it. But I don't see any personal catastrophes. I haven't seen that at all. Unless.... Once, you know, when Sri Aurobindo was still here, I saw.... But it was just a vision, and lots of visions come (this was especially true at that time) as possibilities formed in a given world and descending towards the terrestrial manifestation. They come for me to give them the support of my consent, if I find them interesting. So there are all kinds of things! And most of them get sorted out at that point. But anyway, I had a vision in which Pondicherry was completely engulfed by a bomb (in those days there weren't such powerful bombs - so the vision was partly premonitory). So if that happens! ... (Mother laughs) As a result of the bombing, I was trapped in a radioactive area (it had been buried underground but not flattened - a kind of cave had been formed), where I stayed for two thousand years. I woke up after two thousand years with a rejuvenated body. It was a very amusing little story.... And I say "vision," but you don't watch these things like a movie: you LIVE them. I somehow extricated myself from that sort of sealed grotto, and where Pondicherry had once stood (it had been completely razed), I came upon some people working.... They were VERY DIFFERENT, and quite bizarre. I myself must have looked funny, with a kind of costume totally alien to their epoch. (My clothing had also survived the destruction - the whole thing was right out of a storybook!) So of course I attracted some curiosity and they tried to make me understand. "Ah, yes - I know ..." one of them said (I understood them because I could understand their thoughts - those two thousand years had enabled me to read people's minds), and they led me to a very old sage, a wise old fellow. I spoke to him and he began leafing through all kinds of books (he had many, many books), and suddenly he exclaimed, "Ah, French! " An ancient language, you see (Mother laughs). It was very funny. I told the story to Sri Aurobindo, and he had a good laugh.
page 428 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Nov. 1962


But the body very distinctly feels that things are ALWAYS that way. Always that way. And that everything ... oh, the feeling of just how artificial all life's complications and problems are, and how different it could be! That's always in the background. For example, whenever the body feels ill at ease or something isn't working right, there's always a kind of deep feeling behind that it's just bad habits - which are lingering, fading away, losing their force and becoming more and more unreal. But it's ... it's like a machine that takes time to run down.

In the other consciousness (the human consciousness), you have the joy, the excitement of the experience; that has completely gone away, absolutely. There's neither the joy of the experience nor the wonder nor.... Everything is so obvious, so obvious: that's IT. And it's not something you're looking at: it's LIKE THAT. That's all, it's just like that.

Somewhere in the active consciousness something KNOWS, constantly, that all the complications and miseries and misfortunes (I mean all the things we call life's "misfortunes") are ... a bad habit, nothing more. And it's hard for us to change our habits. Yet THE TIME HAS COME to change habits.

It's just a bad habit.

I can see I am still (and God knows how long it will last!) in that transitional period Sri Aurobindo describes in "The Yoga of Self-Perfection." A period when the true thing is getting established but the tail of the old thing trails behind, mixes in and colors things. Well, it's an old habit, and it takes SUCH a long time to go away.


page 434 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Nov. 1962


A whole world....

One day, I don't remember on what occasion, I saw what had motivated the "forefathers" who wrote the Vedas: it was the need for immortality; they were in quest of immortality. [[Mother added the beginning of this paragraph later: "I had forgotten to mention part of the experience!" ]] From there, I went on to Buddha and saw what had set the Buddha on his way: this kind of need for permanence, purely and simply; the vision of the impermanence of things had profoundly troubled him, and he felt the need for Permanence. His whole quest was to find the Permanent (why was he so anxious to have the Permanent?...). There are a few things like that in human nature, in the deep human need. And then I saw another such need: a need for the Certitude which is security. I don't know how to explain it.... Because I had the experience of it, I saw it was one of the human needs; and I understood it very intensely, for when I met Sri Aurobindo, this Certitude is what made me feel I had found the Truth I needed. And I didn't realize how DEEP this need was until he left his body - just then, at the moment of the transition. Then the entire physical consciousness felt its certitude and security collapse. At that moment I saw (we spoke about it with Nolini a year later and he had had exactly the same impression), I saw this was similar to Buddha's experience when he realized that everything was impermanent and so all of life collapsed ... in other words, Something Else HAD to be found. Well, at that moment.... I'd already had all my experiences, but with Sri Aurobindo, for the thirty years I lived with him (a little more than thirty years), I lived in an absolute, an absolute of security - a sense of total security, even physical, even the most material security. A sense of absolute security, because Sri Aurobindo was there. And it held me up, you know, like this (gesture of being carried): not for ONE MINUTE in those thirty years did it leave me. That was why I could do my work with a Base, really, a Base of absoluteness - of eternity and absoluteness. I realized it when he left: THAT suddenly collapsed.

And then I understood that it is one of life's needs (there are several); and it's what spurs the human being to get out of his present state and find another one. These needs are (what's the word?) ... the seeds, the germs of evolution. They compel us to progress. The whole time Sri Aurobindo was here, as I said, individual progress was automatic: all the progress Sri Aurobindo made, I made. But I was in a state of eternity, of absoluteness, with a feeling of such security, in every circumstance. Nothing, nothing unfortunate could happen, for he was there. So when he left, all at once - a fall into a pit. And that's what projected me wholly ... (Mother gestures forward).

That is, I understood why he left. The whole terrestrial evolution had come to a halt. One progressed - one can always progress, that's nothing - but the entire TERRESTRIAL evolution was at a standstill. If there were permanence in life, nothing would budge. And these needs are the seeds of evolution. So that's what I saw: in the past, in the future, universally. It was very interesting.

page 436-37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Nov. 1962


I don't quite understand. Didn't you have the experience of the Supreme before Sri Aurobindo's departure?
Spiritually, you have that experience as soon as you come into contact with the Divine within; mentally, you have the experience as soon as the mind is purified; vitally, you have it as soon as you get out of the ego. But it's the consciousness of the BODY - the consciousness of the cells - which had the experience at that moment. Everything else had had it long before and was constantly aware of it, but the body.... It had been told about it and believed in it, but it didn't have the experience in such a concrete, total and absolute manner that it can't be forgotten for a single second. At that moment, the physical being and the individual, personal body had the experience once and for all. The body always used to let itself be carried along. It was one in consciousness with Sri Aurobindo's presence, and depended on it without the least worry; it felt that its life depended on it, its progress depended on it, its consciousness, its action, its power all depended on it. And no questions - it didn't question. For the body, it was absolutely IMPOSSIBLE that things could be otherwise. The very idea that Sri Aurobindo might leave his body, that that particular way of being might no longer exist for the body, was absolutely unthinkable. They had to put him in a box and put the box in the Samadhi for the body to be convinced that it had really happened. And that's when it had that experience. This body is very conscious, it was BORN conscious, and throughout those years its consciousness went on growing, perfecting itself, proliferating, as it were; this was its concern, its joy. And with Sri Aurobindo, there was such peaceful certitude, there were no more problems, no more difficulties: the future was opening up, luminous and peaceful and certain. Nothing, nothing, no words can describe what a collapse it was for the body when Sri Aurobindo left. It's only because Sri Aurobindo's conscious will entered into it - left one body and entered the other.... I was standing facing his body, you know, and I materially felt the friction as his will entered into me (his knowledge and his will): "You will accomplish my Work." He said to this body: "You will accomplish my Work." It's the one thing that kept me alive. Apart from that.... There's nothing, no physical destruction I can think of, comparable to that collapse. It took me twelve days to get out of it - twelve days during which I didn't speak a single word. So the experience I mentioned is the PHYSICAL experience.

(silence)

What he is now striving to give this body is the consciousness of Permanence, of Immortality, of the Certitude of absolute security - in Matter, in Life, in every moment's action. And that is becoming nearer and nearer, more and more constant. Gradually, the mixture of old impressions is disappearing - that's the BEDROCK, the basis of the transformation.
In the true movement, you feel the Absolute and Eternity physically. How?... It's impossible to describe, but that's how it is. And the minute you get out of That, when you fall back even slightly into the ordinary movement, the old movement, there's a feeling of ABSOLUTE uncertainty! Uncertainty at every second. It would be impossible for an ordinary human being to live in that consciousness, with that sense of total and absolute uncertainty, of total and absolute impermanence - it's no longer a destruction, [[As was the case when Sri Aurobindo left his body. ]] but it's not yet an ascending transformation. Absolute instability. It doesn't last more than a fraction of a second - just enough time to become aware of oneself, that's all. If the other movement weren't getting more and more established, it would be unbearable, as they say in English. The quality of those two vibrations (which are still superimposed, so one can be aware of them both) is indescribable. One is a kind of fragmentation, an infinite fragmentation and absolute instability: like a powdery cloud of atoms in ceaseless movement; and the other is eternal immobility, just as I described it the other day: an infinite Immensity of absolute Light. The consciousness is still going from one to the other.
Everything else ... what to say? It might almost be called a diversion. Outside of that, all the other experiences are pastimes, just something to fill the void. A perpetual picture show.

(silence)

And with this new perception I feel, inexpressibly, a concentration of ... the truth of what we call Sri Aurobindo gathering around and on and within this body (there is really neither "within" nor "without"). And the body, which has reopened the doors it had closed [[When Sri Aurobindo left his body. ]] to be able to go on, feels an increasingly total and unmixed identity, to the point where, if I give my hand free rein, my handwriting begins to resemble Sri Aurobindo's - tiny, like his. And it's not what one might imagine, it's not one form entering another - it doesn't keep him from being wherever he wants to be and doing whatever he wants to do, appearing as he wants to appear and being involved with everything happening on earth: it doesn't change any of that. And it's not just a part of him ... [that is in Mother, but his totality]. And that's how I know he was manifesting the Absolute, he was a manifestation of the Absolute. Of course, afterwards he revealed himself as what I had called "the Master of Yoga"; that was the reason he came on earth (what people here in India call an Avatar). But that's still a way of seeing things SEPARATELY: it's not the thing - THE thing. We'll see tomorrow ... [December 5]. All right, mon petit.
Actually, what we call "dying".... Death can be overcome only when it no longer has any meaning. And I clearly see a curve, a curve of experience leading to the point where death no longer means anything. Then we'll be able to say, "Now it no longer makes sense." Only at that point can we be sure. That's why I have never been given any assurance, because it's only when one enters that consciousness that Death no longer makes sense.
We've still got a long way to go.

page 445-48 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th Dec. 1962


But it's very hard for the body to change. Because it lives only from its habit of living. And every time something of the true way of living filters in, then without thinking, without reasoning or anything like an idea, practically without sensation, almost automatically, the cells panic at the newness of it. So, you understand, EVERYTHING has to be changed. It's no longer the heart that has to pump blood and receive the Force, no longer the stomach that has to digest, it's not any of that any more - it all functions in another way. The base must be shifted, the functioning completely changed - but then all those cells are so anxious to see that everything goes ACCORDING TO HABIT..

page 20-21 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th Jan 1963


Even now I have to proceed very, very slowly - not to go off at a gallop. I am surrounded by people who say, "Oh, she's seriously ill! What's going to happen? ..." and they make things difficult for me. Because I still have to sweep it all aside with the Force: "Keep quiet! Don't you go making formations that add to the difficulty." You see how far we are from those romantic transformations where people emerge from their meditation rejuvenated, transfigured, luminous - oh, dear me! That will be mere child's play. At the end, it will be nothing: we'll just have to do this (Mother blows one puff in the air), and it will be there. It's the rest that is difficult.
page 22 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th Jan 1963


This Sun - the Sun of divine laughter - is a: the core of everything, it is the truth of everything. What is needed is to learn to see it, feel it, live it. And for that, let us flee from those who take life seriously, they are the most boring people on earth! That's all. But it's true. The other day I was telling you about some cellular difficulties. I noticed that as soon as they start, I start laughing! But if someone is here and I tell him the difficulty solemnly, it goes from bad to worse; if I start laughing and talk about it laughingly, it vanishes. Really, it's dreadful to take life seriously! Dreadful. Those who have given me the most difficulties have always been the people who take life seriously. I've had this experience even just recently. All that comes to me from people who have dedicated their lives to "spiritual life," people who do a yoga in the traditional way, who are very solemn, who see adversaries everywhere, obstacles everywhere, taboos everywhere, prohibitions everywhere, oh, how they complicate life ... and how far they are from the Divine! I saw this the other day with someone you know. With that kind of people, you "should not" do this, "should not" do that, "should not" ... At such and such time you "must not" do this, on such and such day you "must not" do that; you "should not" eat this, you should not ... And then, for heaven's sake, don't you go mixing your daily life with your sacred life! - that's how you dig an abyss.
page 30 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 14th Jan 1963


It was actually my experience (for a long, long time, many years) but, these last few days, concrete, in the body's cells. There aren't "things" in which the Lord is and "things" in which He isn't - there are only fools who think so! He is ALWAYS there. He takes nothing seriously and has fun with everything. And He plays with you, if you know how to play - but you don't, people don't know how to play. But how well He knows! How He plays with everything, with the smallest things: you have objects to put on your table? Don't think you have to ponder over how to arrange them - no, we'll play: let's put this here, let's put that there, let's put this like that. Then some other day (because people think, "Now she has decided on this arrangement, so that's the way it's going to be" - well, not so!), some other day (they want to help you! They want to help you put things in order, so it just becomes a mess!), I stay still and quiet, and then we start playing: So! Let's put this here, and that there, and this there ... ah! (Mother laughs)

Agreed, then, we'll try and learn to laugh with the Lord. I know - I know He wants me to learn not to take seriously the responsibility ("responsibility" isn't the right word), the formidable task of finding 8,000 rupees a day to meet the Ashram's expenses - in other words, a colossal fortune every month. And I very well see (because I told Him several times, "You know, it would be great fun if I had plenty of money to play with"), so I see that He laughs, but He doesn't answer!... He teaches me to be able to laugh at this difficulty, to see the cashier send me his book in which the figures are growing astronomical ([laughing] it's by 50,000, 60,000, 80,000, 90,000), while the drawer is nearly empty! And He wants me to learn to laugh at it. The day when I can really laugh - laugh, enjoy myself - SINCERELY (not through effort - you can do anything you want through effort), when it makes me laugh spontaneously, I think it will change. Because otherwise it's impossible.... You see, we have fun with all sorts of things, there's no reason we couldn't have fun with more money than we need and do things in style! It will surely happen one day, but we should - we shouldn't be overwhelmed by the amount, and for that we shouldn't take money seriously. We shouldn't take money seriously. It's very hard nowadays, because all over the world people take money seriously, and that makes it very hard. Especially those who have money. Those who have money, how seriously they take it, oh, Lord! That's why it's difficult. We should be able to laugh - laugh, laugh frankly and sincerely, then it would be over.
page 33-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 14th Jan 1963


I think that as the Supramental descends, the subtle physical will have a greater and greater action on earth, because it is the world where the new creation will be formed before it "descends," before it becomes absolutely visible and concrete.

page 37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 18th Jan 1963


It was really very interesting. Afterwards it's just a memory, no longer the thing.... It concerned the creation of the material world, the material universe, in the light of the conception of the Supreme in love with His emanation. But the vision was all-embracing, as if I were on the other side - the side of the Supreme, not of the creation - and saw the creation as a whole, with the true sense of progress, the true sense of advance, of movement, and the true way in which all that doesn't belong to the future creation will disappear in a kind of pralaya [[Pralaya: end of a world, apocalypse. ]] (it can't really "disappear" but it will be withdrawn from the Manifestation). And it was very interesting: all that doesn't collaborate (in the sense that it is a sufficient experience, an experience that has come to its end) was reabsorbed. It was like the true vision of what was rendered as the Last Judgment. It is something going on constantly, that mighty "gust" of manifestation, and there are things that have been, according to our vision of time, but that live on, that continue to exist in the future; there are things that exhaust themselves (that's in the present), and there are things that have no more purpose, that cannot keep pace with the movement (I don't know how to explain this) and enter the Non-Being - the pralaya, the Non-Being, the unmanifest - of course, not in their forms but in their essence; that is to say, the Supreme in them remains the Supreme but unmanifest. But it was all a living, palpable experience which lasted for a day and a half. The entire universal movement was LIVED and sensed. Not merely seen but lived - and in what light! What stupendous power! With that kind of certitude at the core of everything - something very odd. It's very difficult to express. But the experience lasted so long that it became perfectly familiar. To translate it into words I might say: it is the Supreme's way of seeing - of feeling, of living. I was living things the way He does. And it gives a power of certitude of realization. In the sense that what we are heading for is already here; the road we look back on, the road we have traveled and the road yet to travel, it all lives simultaneously. And with such logic! An eternal, wonderful superlogic which makes it obviousness itself - everything is obviousness itself. Struggle, effort, fear, all of that, oh, absolutely, absolutely nonexistent. And together with this, the explanation of the feeling we have of not wanting certain things any more: they leave the Manifest. You see, it's like a sieve into which everything is thrown and where He ... to Him, everything, but everything is the same, but there is the vision of what He wants, and also of what is useless for what He wants or would prevent the fullness and totality of what He wants (contradictions of sorts, I don't know how to explain it) - so with that He just goes this way (gesture of reswallowing) and it goes out of the Manifestation. At the time I could have said it in a more understandable language, while now ...
But can these useless things be withdrawn from the Manifestation without causing any catastrophes?

I don't know how to explain it.... Putting it like this implies an arbitrary fiat, but there's no such thing: it isn't a "gentleman" who decides to withdraw certain things he no longer likes! It's not that way. They are things which, owing to their own propensity (what we might call their essential truth), had at a given moment their place in the Manifestation, and which, once they have lost their purpose, quite naturally leave the Manifestation - I could put it in fifty different ways just as poorly, I can't see how to explain it properly. But the fact was evident. It was part of such a wonderfully complete and harmonious Whole - that Harmony is beyond us, we cannot understand it, caught as we are in the sensation of opposites. But there, "opposites" do not exist, there are only things that ... Like the fact of the Supreme seemingly dominated by His creation, wholly obedient to His creation - as though He had no power, no knowledge, no vision, so things follow their course in the chaos we know. Well, when we put it like this, there is something unbelievable and shocking about it, yet it was so very natural, so very true, and part of such a perfect whole! Only, you cannot see it unless you see the whole. At the time, everything was preexistent, although unfolding in time for the Manifestation. But it was preexistent. Not preexistent as we understand it, not everything "at a given moment".... Oh, how impossible! It's impossible to express it. I still feel what I could call the "warmth" of the experience - the reality, the life, the warmth of the experience are there. You know, I have lived in a Light! A Light which isn't our light, which has nothing to do with what we call light, a Light so warm and powerful! A creative Light. So powerful! ... Everything was so perfectly harmonious: everything, everything without exception, even the things that appear to be the very negation of divinity. And a rhythm! (gesture as of great waves) A harmony, so wonderful a TOTALITY, where the sense of sequence ... Sequence doesn't mean things being like this (chopping gesture), one being abolished by the next, it is ... At the time I might have been able to find or invent the words, I don't know, now ... now, it's only the memory of it. The memory, not the presence itself. The experience lasted long. It started in the night, lasted through the whole day, and last night there was still something of it lingering, but then ... (laughing) I seemed to be told, "So then, aren't you going to move on? Are you going to stay with this experience, are you stuck there?!" It is so true: things move fast, fast, fast, and run as you may, you're still not going fast enough.
page 48-50 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th Feb 1963


I'd like to ask you a question on death.
Ohhh! ... All that I thought I knew now seems to me completely superficial, and I have almost ... laid my finger on something which, in contrast, gave me the impression of a stupendous discovery. But it was just a flash, the thing is not at my command. I can't speak about it. So it might be better to wait a while before dealing with that subject. Is this aphorism on death?
Yes, it refers to dualities: life and death, error and knowledge, love and cruelty.... We can, of course, leave aside any question on death, but that was the question that came to me.
I tell you, it would mar a subject that may, in a few months (a few months or a few years, I don't know), grow clearer. There may be something worth telling then.
On a few occasions, you know, I was like this (Mother makes a gesture of hovering between two worlds[[ In March 1962, when Mother very nearly did not return to her body. ]]), as if I were really put in contact with what I have called "the death of death." It was the unreality of death. From a COMPLETELY material standpoint. It was a question of cells and of the consciousness in the cells. Like when you are within an inch of something: "There it is! I'm going to catch it, there it is! ..." But then it fades away. It has stayed as an impression. A few seconds' experience which gave me the sense that the most central problem was solved. And then.... When it is like that, it will be interesting.
page 78 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th March 1963


(Regarding the conversation of March 9: "A few seconds' experience that gave me the sense that the most central problem was solved." That experience was what Mother called "the death of death.")

Those things are strange.... You don't remember actively, that is, you can't find any thought whatsoever to express the experience; even the active sensation of the experience fades away. And yet you are no longer the same person - that's the remarkable thing! I experienced this phenomenon several times (I don't remember clearly enough to tell you exactly how many times), several times in my life, it was always the same thing: no longer the same person, you've become someone else. All the relationships with life, with consciousness, with movement - everything changes. Yet the central thing is just a vague impression. At the moment of the experience, for a second, it's so clear, so precise - a thunderbolt. But then ... probably the cerebral and nervous system is incapable of preserving it. But all the relationships are changed, you are another person. I've seen this phenomenon very often. For example, the impression people have in ordinary life (few are conscious of it, but everyone has the impression, I know that) of a Destiny or a Fate or a will ... "hanging over" them, a set of circumstances (it doesn't matter what you call it), something that weighs you down and tries to manifest through you. But weighing you down. That was the first of my experiences: emerging above (very long ago, at the beginning of the century). And it was that kind of experience: one second, but suddenly, oh, you find yourself above it all. I remember because at the time I told the people I knew (maybe I was already looking after the Cosmic Review, it was the beginning, or maybe just before), I told them: "There is a state in which you are free to decide what you will do; when you say, 'I want this,' it means it will happen." That was the impression I lived with. Instead of thinking "I'd like to do this, I'd like that to happen," with the sense of the decision being left to Fate, the impression that you are above and you make the decision: things WILL BE like that, things WILL BE like that. That's my memory of the beginning of the century. I had several experiences of the kind - quite a number of them. And since that last experience [the death of death], which lasted a second, I've had the feeling ... the same kind of feeling. Before that, whenever I intervened for people, either to prevent them from dying or to help them once they were dead - hundreds and hundreds of things I used to do all the time - I did them with the sense of Death like this (gesture above Mother), as something to be conquered or overcome, or the consequences of which had to be mended. But it was always that way, Death was ... (laughing) just a little above. And from that moment [the death of death], the head emerged above - the head, the consciousness, the will were above. On the side of the Lord. I had an experience quite a long time ago, when Sri Aurobindo was here: one night I had the experience of being in contact with the Supreme Lord, and it was concrete:

"One dies only when You will it."


I don't remember in detail (I wrote it down), but the idea was like this: the Lord makes you die only with your consent - your consent is necessary for you to die. And unless He decides, you can never die. Those two things: for you to die, something (the inmost soul, that is) must consent, the soul must say yes, then you die; and when the soul says yes, it's for the Lord to decide. Ever since that experience, there had been the certainty that you can die only when the Lord wills it, that it depends entirely and exclusively on His Will, that there are no accidents, no "unforeseeable mishaps," as human beings think - all that doesn't exist: it's His Will. From that experience till this latest one [the death of death], I lived in that knowledge. Yet with the feeling of ... not quite the unknown but the incomprehensible. The feeling of something in the consciousness which doesn't understand (what I mean by "understand" is having the power to do and undo, that's what I call "to understand": the power to realize or to undo, that's the real understanding, the POWER), well, of something which eluded me. It was still the mystery of the Infinite Supreme. And when that experience [the death of death] came, then, "Ah, there it is! I have it, I've caught it! At last, I have it." I didn't have it long (laughing), it went away! But my position changed. It's one more thing I see from above; I rose above, my position is above. I have always observed very carefully every time somebody died here in the Ashram, and well (one or two persons have died since that experience, in particular the old doctor's sister), well, since then it has been ABSOLUTELY DIFFERENT. It was something I saw from above. There was no longer any mystery. But if you ask me to explain ... That I can't - words, the mind, no. But the POSITION of the consciousness was different - the position of the consciousness. Altogether different. And it happened the same way every time. [[Later, Mother added: "That is to say, an extremely powerful experience but which doesn't stay, except in its effect: becoming another person, changing position. I wouldn't be able to describe the experience, but my position changed. That's what happened every time. It's very different from the other experiences: they stay, you understand them fully, they don't fade away - but they don't have the power to change your person. They are two types of experience, both very useful, but very different from each other. The experiences of the very powerful but very brief type are those that, afterwards, are expressed in the form of the other type. The other experiences are those that ESTABLISH in a certain domain of consciousness that first experience which had come only as a shock - a compelling but transient shock. And sometimes it may take long - formerly it took years between the first experience and the resulting ones; now the interval seems a bit shorter, though it still takes some time. And it follows the same course every time: something comes, has the necessary effect, and then the consciousness seems to go to sleep on that point, as if a silent incubation period were needed - you stop dealing actively with the subject - and it reemerges at the end of a long curve, but as if it had been digested, assimilated, and you were now ready for the full experience." ]] But it may take years to turn into a conscious power. And IN THE PRESENT CASE, the conscious power would mean the power to give or prevent death equally; to effect the necessary movement of forces - almost ... almost an action on the cells, a mechanical action on the cells. With that power, you can give death, you can prevent death. But there is NO LONGER any of that sensation people have of a brutal clash between life and its opposite, death - death is not the opposite of life! At that moment I understood, and I never forgot: death is NOT the opposite of life, it is not the opposite of life. [[With a sort of incomprehensible comprehension, we are reminded of the words of the Vedic Rishis: "He uncovered the two worlds, eternal and in ONE nest." (Rig-Veda, I.62.7) ]] It's a sort of change in the cells' functioning, [[Thus it is in the depths of the cells that the key is found, that the passageway is found, not in a world "beyond" but in this very world where death is not the opposite of life - where death is no more (this very world too where you fall on flints weightless and unscathed?). ]] or in their organization.... When I say all this now, I try to pull back a deep-buried memory. But that's the point. Once you have understood that (all that you understand, you can do), once you've understood that, you can do it. Then it's very simple: you can easily stop the thing from going this way or that way; you can go like that or like this or like that (Mother seems to handle forces or shift the position of the consciousness). Then it almost becomes child's play to make someone die or make someone live! But that is better left unsaid. But it will surely come! In how many years, I don't know, but the thing has become plain. And to me (as I said the other day), to me it seemed quite a central secret - not the most central of all, no, but fairly central with regard to life on earth. It's ... of course, it would mean a new phase for life on earth.
page 85-88 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 16th March 1963


It was towards the end of March.
No, at the end of March, I came upstairs not to go down again, that was on the 16th, I noted it. I noted it because my [translation] notebook stopped short on that day (!), I put a red mark. [[The following time, Mother added, "On the 16th, I stopped seeing people downstairs, but on the 18th and 20th I went down again for the balcony: those were the last two times. Afterwards I was put in bed (ordered!) on April 3rd. Up to April 3rd I still moved around here; then, to bed, no moving! It went on till May. Then the night of April 12th came the second experience, that's when I called Pavitra to record [the message]." ]] But it will soon be one year since the second experience, the pulsations, the starting point of the work I am doing now - that was on April 13th. Slightly less than a month later. Well ... there's nothing to say. I am on the way, no doubt, there's no denying the steps made: I do go forward, not backward. But I mean, it's like wanting to walk round the globe! It's endless. Nothing spectacular whatsoever - "spectacular," you know, that's what people enjoy. Nothing of the sort. For instance, there are two things that give you (and others too) a sense that you're making progress: one is the direct knowledge of what's happening in a given place; the other is the foreknowledge of coming events. Well, ever since the beginning of my Yoga, the two possibilities or capacities have been there, with all the admixture (as Sri Aurobindo says) of the movements of the mind, which befuddles everything. Already around 1910, not only was the capacity there (it would come off and on), but along with it, a discernment which showed me the mixture, and thus left me without any certainty. In this regard, therefore, I can't even say there has been a big change - the change is in the proportion, it's just a question of proportion: proportion in the certainty, proportion in the accuracy, proportion in the mixture. The mixture keeps decreasing, the certainty keeps increasing - but that's all. With, now and then (but that has always happened), now and then, a clear, precise, definite indication - bang! It's a bit more frequent. That's all. So? ... Sixty-three years. Sixty-three years of methodical effort, of constant will, of opportunities for the work - people who want quick results, they make me laugh, you know! This body isn't even one that is unprepared. It had capabilities, it was born with certain capabilities and was prepared for all kinds of experiences. There was also the sort of intuitive discernment Sri Aurobindo refers to, it had been there since my earliest childhood - veiled, mixed, no doubt, but present all the same, it was there. Afterwards, it was purified, developed, strengthened, the mixture lessened and the body was somewhat ... (laughing) to perfect itself it went through quite a great deal of friction of all types. It's certainly more apt today than it was fifty years ago, there isn't a shadow of doubt about it! But you understand, there's nothing to boast about
page 93-94 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd March 1963


These last few days, while walking in meditation, I said to the Lord, "What do I have? I have no certainty, no foreknowledge, no absolute power, I have nothing." (I don't mean "I," I mean the body - this body.) The body was saying: "Do you see my condition? I am still full of ..." (it was complaining bitterly), "oh, full of the silliest movements." Petty movements of apprehension, petty movements of uncertainty, petty movements of anxiety, petty movements of all kinds of very, very petty things - those who live a normal life don't take any notice, they don't know, but when you observe what's going on deep down with that discernment ... oh, mon petit! It's so petty, so petty, so petty.... Only one thing (which is not even absolute): a sort of equality that has come into the body - not an equality of soul (laughing): an equality in the cells! It has come into the body. There is no longer that clash of joy and pain - always and for everything, every minute, every reaction, "You, Lord, to You, Lord." As though the cells were chanting, "To You Lord, to You Lord, to You Lord...." And ... well, that's how it is.
page 97 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd March 1963


There is a sort of review going on of all the elements of the body consciousness, with a sample of the circumstances of their various manifestations or expressions. All this is passed before me as if to show me all the points in the body's cells that were contrary to or unprepared for the reception of the divine Forces. All that comes up in the form of lived memories - things I had more than forgotten (I could have sworn they no longer existed), but which come back. Un-be-liev-able. And it's not an ego's or a person's memory, but the memory of a force in motion in the general vibrations. So I see ... fantastic things!

page 104 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 30th March 1963



I remembered my episode ... and began to understand that my body is everywhere!! You see, it's not a question of just these cells here: it's a question of cells in, well, quite a lot of people, hundreds, maybe thousands - all that clings anywhere and in any way to the higher Consciousness. And since my mind is silent (I deliberately keep the mind absolutely still, trying not to react to all that constantly comes to it from "outside," or trying to react almost subconsciously), nothing is there to think, "Oh, it's this one's body, it's that one's body" - it's THE Body! That's what is so difficult for people to understand. It is THE body - this (Mother touches her body) is not my body any more than other bodies (a bit more, in the sense that it is more directly the object of the concentration of the Force). So everything, all the sensations, the movements of consciousness, the battles, all of it is everywhere. And suddenly, with this little affair, oh, I understood a fantastic number of things - and also the difficulty, mon petit!... The difficulty ... because really, after this experience, the body was not ill but very tired. But then it is seized with such things all the time! All the time, all the time, all the time, you know, they spring up, brrm! pounce on it, brrm! from this side, that side, every which way. So I have to keep still (gesture of stopping, silent, in the midst of other activities), and then I start waging the battle.
page 110 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 6th April 1963


(Mother hands a slip of paper to Satprem):
"The Lord is peaceful resignation, but the Lord is also the struggle and the Victory. "He is the joyous acceptance of all that is; but also the constant effort towards a more total and perfect harmony. "Perpetual movement in absolute immobility." This isn't an intellectual reflection, it's the notation of the experience: the constant, twofold movement of total acceptance of all that is, as an absolute condition to participate in all that will be, and at the same time, the perpetual effort towards a greater perfection. And this was the experience of all the cells. The experience lasted more than an hour: the two conditions. That's exactly what made a sharp division in the whole spiritual thought or spiritual will of mankind. The point doesn't seem to have been understood. Some, like Buddha and that whole line, have declared that the world is incorrigible, that the only thing to do is to get out of it, and that it can never be otherwise - it changes, but really remains the same. The result is a certain attitude of perfect acceptance. So, for them, the goal is to get out - that is, you escape: you leave the world as it is and escape. Then there are the others, who sense a perfection towards which men strive indefinitely and which is realized progressively. And I see more and more that the two movements complement each other, and not only complement each other but are almost indispensable to each other.
page 129 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 3rd May , 1963


I am coming to the conclusion that there must be a great power (a transforming power, probably) in the extreme tension of circumstances. Let me explain myself: The Help is ever present, in the sense that you unquestionably feel that the Force acts (the "Force," that is, the supreme Consciousness and supreme Knowledge), the Force acts with a sort of pressure on all people and all circumstances, in a favorable direction so that what happens may truly be the best - and the best hierarchically; in other words, the highest and purest (you know my definition of "pure") is a sort of center in relation to which things get organized; they get organized hierarchically, each with its "right to progress," but as if to favor what's closest to and most expressive of the Divine - that is going on constantly, I see hundreds of examples of it all the time. Yet, from the point of view of outer circumstances, there is such a tension that you feel you are close to catastrophe.
page 344 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 19th Oct 1963


This very morning, I was following the movement, observing the control this Vibration of Truth has in the body in the presence of certain disorders (very small things in the body, you know: discomforts, disorders), I was observing how this Vibration of Truth abolishes those disorders and discomforts. It was very clear, very obvious, and ABSOLUTELY REMOVED from any spiritual notion, from any religious notion, from any psychological notion, so that the person who possessed this knowledge of opposition of one vibration to the other very clearly didn't in any way need to be a "disciple" or someone with philosophical knowledge or anything at all: he only had to have mastered this in order to realize a perfectly harmonious existence. It was absolutely concrete and irrefutable. It was a lived, absolute experience. And then all these cells, in a fervor ... (it was truly an Ananda, so inexpressible ...) hurled themselves at the Lord and told Him, "But it's so much more marvelous when we know it's You!" - the whole body.
And the light and warmth were expressed, that intensity of Ananda, that bliss ... You understand, it wasn't in opposition to but like a COMPLEMENT of this vibratory knowledge, which was ... I can't say a "coldly scientific knowledge" because that introduces mental notions, but it was of such a wisdom! ... A knowledge so wise, so calm, so imperturbably quiet, absolutely free from any notion of good and evil, of divine, of positive and negative, absolutely independent of all of that - purely material. And with an absolute power. Then in these same cells, which were fully conscious of this knowledge of vibrations as being the supreme means of control for their harmony, suddenly there arose in them a sort of ... not a flame (a flame is dark in comparison), a luminous Ananda: Love in its perfect reality. And it was translated like this: "It's so much more marvelous when we know it's You!" It was really an experience. It lasted a few minutes (I was sitting at my table having my breakfast), but during those few minutes it was a perfection. The two poles had met.[[Mother made a gesture as of a flash of lightning joining the supreme height with the depths. ]]

(silence)

Truly the sensation, in the entire body, of Love's perfect Ananda. The other thing is very fine, it's the vibratory knowledge and the Power - but this, this Ananda ...

(silence)

What's very interesting is that all those experiences you've had in your inner and higher beings, in your every state of being, appear feeble, flimsy, like a dream in comparison with the same experiences in the body. There, it becomes so ... The Power and Intensity are so fantastic that, all of a sudden, you understand WHY there is a material world.

(silence)

The relationship with the outside world would become difficult if this experience were constant.... And there is such a marvelous Wisdom, which gives all things in doses so that the overall progress may not be at the expense of anything - so that EVERYTHING may move on. Then you marvel at that Wisdom - which humanity constantly insults, which they clothe in the most pejorative words: Destiny, Fate. It is a marvelous Wisdom. And in spite of all your knowledge, in spite of all your powers, in spite of all your past experiences, you feel very small before That. That Wisdom is a marvel.

(silence)

You know, one minute of such an experience gives you courage for years - it lasted a few minutes, I was having my breakfast.
page 98-100 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 28th March 1964


I am on the border of a new perception of life. People's ordinary reaction to the activity of others, to everything around them, their general and ordinary way of seeing things, all of that represents a certain attitude of consciousness: it is seen from a certain level. And when I commented on those aphorisms the other day, I suddenly noticed that the level was different and the angle so different that the other attitude, the ordinary way of seeing things, appeared incomprehensible - you wonder how you can have it, so different is it. And while I was speaking, I had a sort of sensation or perception that this new "attitude" was being established as a natural, spontaneous thing - it isn't the result of an effort for transformation: it's an already established transformation. It isn't total, because both functionings are perceptible, but I am confident that it is on the way. Then it will be interesting. As if certain parts of the consciousness were in a metamorphosis from the caterpillar state into the butterfly state, something like that. It's just on the way. But far enough on the way to make the difference very perceptible. Once it is done, something will be established.
page 197 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 18th Sep - 1964


It is an absolutely concrete demonstration of Oneness. It's very interesting. It is something I have observed on the level of the body's cells hundreds and hundreds of times. And then, you no longer have at all that mental impression of one "disorder added to another, which makes the problem more difficult" - that's not it at all, it's ... if you get to the center, all the rest will be naturally restored to order. And that's a fact: if order is restored at the center of disorder, everything follows naturally, without your paying it any special attention. From the human standpoint, from the standpoint of revolutions, from the standpoint of fights, from the standpoint of wars, it's extraordinarily accurate and precise. An absolutely concrete demonstration of Oneness. And it is this knowledge of Oneness that gives you the key.
page 213 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 26th Sep - 1964


I feel we are turning a corner. It's very narrow. Do you know mountain roads?... All of a sudden, you come to a corner, a sharp turn, and you can't see the other side - below is a precipice, behind is the rock - and the path ... it would seem to have grown narrower in order to turn the corner, it's become quite narrow. I've encountered that in the mountains - often. And now, I feel we are turning the corner; but we are beginning to turn it, in the sense that we are beginning to see the other side, and the consciousness (always the body consciousness) is on the verge of a bedazzlement, like the first glimpses of something marvelous - not positively unexpected because that is what we wanted, but truly marvelous. And at the same time, there is that old habit of meeting difficulties at every step, of receiving blows at every step, the habit of a painful labor, which takes away the spontaneousness of an unalloyed joy; it gives a sort of ... not a doubt that things will be that way, but you wonder, "Has it already come? Have we reached the end?" and you don't dare think you have reached the end. That attitude, naturally, isn't favorable, it still belongs to the domain of the old reason; but it receives support from the usual recommendations: "You shouldn't give free rein to wild imaginings and hopes, you should be very level-headed, very patient, very slow to get carried away." So there is an alternation of a sort of crouching, timorously moving forward step by step in order not to slide down into the hole, and a glorious sense of wonder: "Oh, are things really that way?!" This has been the body's feeling for three or four days.
page 257 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 30th Oct - 1964


Now and then, when I am perfectly at rest and perfectly quiet (when I know, for instance, that I have half an hour of perfect quiet and no one will disturb me), at such time, the Lord becomes very close, very close, and often I feel Him saying (not with words), saying to my body, "Let yourself go, let yourself go; be joyous, be joyous, let yourself go, relax," and the immediate result is that it completely relaxes, and I go into a bliss - but I no longer have any contact with the outside! The body goes into a deep trance, I think, and it loses all contact; for instance, the clock strikes, but I don't hear it. One should be able to keep that bliss while being quite active and hard at work. I am not referring to the inner joy, not at all, there's no question of that, it's out of the question, it's immutably established: I am referring to that Joy IN THE BODY ITSELF. That sort of quiet satisfaction which it feels, now it feels it even when there are sharp pains, with the trusting feeling that it's all with a view to transformation and progress and the future Realization. It no longer worries - it no longer worries at all, it no longer frets at all, it no longer even has the sense of the effort to be made in order to endure: there's a smile. But the glimpses of the True Thing, all of a sudden, are so wonderful that ... Only, the gap between the present state and THAT is still wide, and it seems that for THAT to settle in once and for all, It must become natural. Voilà.
page 259 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 30th Oct - 1964


For the first time yesterday, I had in a flash - it lasted just a flash - for the first time in my life, I had the PHYSICAL experience of the Supreme's presence in a personal form. It wasn't a defined form, but it was a personal form. And it came in the wake of a series of experiences in which I saw the different attitudes of different categories of people or thinkers, according to their conviction. And it came as if that form were saying to my body (it was a PHYSICAL presence), as if it were saying, really with words (it was a translation; the words are always a translation - I don't know what language the Supreme speaks (!), but it is translated, it must be translated in everyone's brain according to his own language), as if He were telling me, "Through you" (that is, through this, the body) "I am charging ..." (it was like a conquest, a battle), "I am charging to conquer the physical world." That's how it was. And the sensation was really of an all-powerful Being whose proportions were like ours, but who was everywhere at once, and really of a physical "charge" to chase away all the dark little demons of Ignorance, and those little demons were like black vibrations. But He had something like a form, a color ... and above all, there was a contact - a contact, a sensation. That's the first time. I have never tried to see a personal form, and it always seemed to me an impossibility, as if it were childishness and a diminishing; but this came quite unexpectedly, spontaneously, stunningly: a flash. I was so astonished.... The astonishment made it go away. The first time in my life.
page 268 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 4th Nov - 1964




-405_Supramental power - 1967.html



I don't forget what Sri Aurobindo said - declared (in writing): that in 1967 the supramental Power will be behind all the earth's governments. Whether it's these people or those or whoever, they will be directly, maybe not consciously, but directly under the influence of the supramental forces, which will make them do what has to be done. And so, of course, the first result will be a kind of worldwide collaboration - he explicitly told me that, and he wrote it down. That's what he had seen. But he didn't say we would get there without ... without catastrophe. He never said that. Well, mon petit. So next time you'll have your book with you. page 427 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Nov. 1962


There is a constant aspiration in the body for everything that can perfect it - perfect the instrument, I mean - and there is very, very little asking for Power. When Sri Aurobindo was here, there was a clear awareness of the necessity of Power, and several times I said, "It is the supramental Power that will manifest first." Because, without Power, it will be impossible: the mass of opposition in the world is sufficient to swallow up everything, just as the Light was swallowed up in '60 - the supramental Light and Consciousness were swallowed up; it will be the same thing. But afterwards, when I had to do the whole task, I no longer insisted on this point [Power], there wasn't the sense of this necessity any more but rather the feeling of a WHOLE that has to progress together and manifest together. A kind of perfection of the Whole. But it's coming. page 361 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 19th Oct 1963




-406_Supramental ship.html


I found myself upon an immense ship, which is the symbolic representation of the place where this work is being carried out. This ship, as big as a city, is thoroughly organized, and it had certainly already been functioning for quite some time, for its organization was fully developed. It is the place where people destined for the supramental life are being trained. These people (or at least a part of their being) had already undergone a supramental transformation because the ship itself and all that was aboard was neither material nor subtle-physical, neither vital nor mental: it was a supramental substance. This substance itself was of the most material supramental, the supramental substance nearest the physical world, the first to manifest. The light was a blend of red and gold, forming a uniform substance of luminous orange. Everything was like that - the light was like that, the people were like that - everything had this color, in varying shades, however, which enabled things to be distinguished from one another. The overall impression was of a shadowless world: there were shades, but no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything worked smoothly and silently. At the same time, I could see all the details of the education, the training in all domains by which the people on board were being prepared.

This immense ship had just arrived at the shore of the supramental world, and a first batch of people destined to become the future inhabitants of the supramental world were about to disembark. Everything was arranged for this first landing. A certain number of very tall beings were posted on the wharf. They were not human beings and never before had they been men. Nor were they permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been delegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I was in charge of all this since the beginning and throughout. I myself had prepared all the groups. I was standing on the bridge of the ship , calling the groups forward one by one and having them disembark on the shore. The tall beings posted there seemed to be reviewing those who were disembarking, allowing those who were ready to go ashore and sending back those who were not and who had to continue their training aboard the ship. While standing there watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all the people, to see how they had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to remain and continue their training. After awhile, as I was observing, I began to feel pulled backwards and that my body was being awakened by a consciousness or a person from here' - and in my consciousness, I protested: 'No, no, not yet! Not yet! I want to see who's there!' I was watching all this and noting it with intense interest ... It went on like that until, suddenly, the clock here began striking three, which violently jerked me back. There was the sensation of a sudden fall into my body. I came back with a shock, but since I had been called back very suddenly, all my memory was still intact. I remained quiet and still until I could bring back the whole experience and preserve it.

page 138 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 3rd Feb. - 1958


In the experience of February 3, I saw certain people from here (and from elsewhere) who already belong to the supramental world in a part of their being, but there is no connection, no link. But now the hour has come in universal history for this link to be built.

page 235 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 15th Nov. - 1958

The people on that ship had these two capacities: one, the capacity for indefinite expansion of consciousness on all planes, including the material; and two, limitless plasticity in order to follow the movement of the Becoming. It was taking place in the subtle physical. The people who had patches on their bodies and had to be sent back were always the ones who lacked the plasticity those two movements required. But the main thing was the movement of expansion; the progressive movement, the movement of following the Becoming, seemed to be a subsequent preoccupation - for those who had landed. The preparation on the boat concerned that capacity for expansion. Another thing I didn't mention to you when I related the experience was that the ship had no engine. Everything was set in motion through will power - people, things (even the clothes people wore were a result of their will). And this gave all things and every person's shape a great suppleness, because there was an awareness of this will - which is not a mental will but a will of the Self, what could be called a spiritual will or a soul-will (to give the word soul that particular meaning). I have that experience right here when there's an absolute spontaneity in action, I mean when the action - for instance, an utterance or a movement - is not determined by the mind, and not even (not to mention thought or intellect), not even by the mind that usually sets us in motion. Generally, when we do something, we can perceive in ourselves a will to do it; when you watch yourself, you see this: there is always (it can happen in a flash) the will to do. When you are conscious and watch yourself doing something, you see in yourself the will to do it - this is where the mind intervenes, its normal intervention, the established order in which things happen. But the supramental action is decided by a leap over the mind. The action is direct, with no need to go through the mind. Something enters directly into contact with the vital centers and activates them without going through the mind - yet in full consciousness. The consciousness doesn't function in the usual sequence, it functions from the center of spiritual will straight to matter.
page 39 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 12th Jan. - 1962



-409_Supramental world.html



The supramental world exists in a permanent way, and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had proof of this today when my earthly consciousness went there and consciously remained there between two and three o'clock in the afternoon: I now know that for the two worlds to join in a constant and conscious relationship what is missing is an intermediate zone between the existing physical world and the supramental world as it exists.

page 137 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 3rd Feb. - 1958


Note from Mother to Satprem concerning his question of January 9, on the capacities required to gain access to the supramental world.

Capacity for indefinite expansion of consciousness on all planes including the material. Limitless plasticity, to be able to follow the movement of becoming. Perfect equality abolishing all possibility of ego reaction. page 33, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 12th Jan 1962


Even now, as soon as I remain quiet with you when you are here, there is always a sort of limitless immensity, with such a pure, tranquil light.... And it's white, but a white that might have some blue in it, but so pale that it's white. Théon gave a name to this region (he had special names for all those regions), I don't remember, but above it, there were only the regions he called "pathetism" (quite a barbarous name), which were regions belonging to the unmanifested divine Love. I myself experienced the passage through all these regions, and this one [the region of white light in which the meditation took place] was the very last belonging to the light ... I don't recall, he used to put together all the regions of light, and then, beyond them, the regions ... basically, they were regions of divine Love, but unmanifested, that is to say, not manifested as it is on earth. Those were the last regions before reaching the Supreme. And this one [in the meditation] was the last one belonging to the essence of light, that is, Knowledge. And it is ... oh, there's such peace, such tranquillity and such LIMPIDITY in it - especially that sense of limpidity and transparency. A tranquillity that's more than peace, but it isn't inert immobility, I don't know how to express it. It absolutely gives the sense of a vibration of extreme intensity, but ab-so-lute-ly tranquil, tranquil, luminous, without ... almost with a sense of motionlessness. And so limpid, so transparent! Whenever I remain outside action like that and you are here, that's always what comes, always. Last time also, when I saw those two curves of your being - the curve of the past and the curve of the future meeting on your birthday - well, it was again in this light. But today ... And limitless, you know, outside time, outside space - magnificent! The great, great repose. And when you are here, it's always like that. That must be where you draw your inspiration from. It must be from there. It's good! (Mother laughs) And very pleasant, I don't know how to explain. Very pleasant. And absolutely silent, but conscious, very conscious, and in perfect tranquillity - light, light, light, nothing but that: the essence of light. The ascending curve went beyond that, into those regions Théon had given that barbarous name of "pathetism." When one went beyond and entered those regions, then there was ... it was the Supreme outside the creation, beyond the creation. That's where I saw the representative form of the new creation (and that was before I ever heard anything about Sri Aurobindo and the Supermind), that's where I saw the form that must succeed the human form, like the symbolic representation of the new creation. That was two or three years before I heard of Sri Aurobindo and met him. So when he told me about the supramental creation, I said to him (laughing), "But of course, I know, I saw it up there!" No one had told me anything. It's only when I went to Tlemcen that Madame Théon told me what it was. She knew how to go through all the states of being, from one to the next, and on to the next ... leaving the body corresponding to each state of being in its region and moving beyond. So then, quite spontaneously and naturally, I learned to do it. And I did it there, that's how I saw this prototype, all the way up, all the way up. Theon's teaching wasn't at all metaphysical and intellectual: everything was expressed in a sort of pictorial objectification; and as I said the other day about that vision [of the "birds"], it's a richer expression, less limited than the purely intellectual and metaphysical expression. It's more alive. And that's pleasant - I like meditating with you. It's not "meditating," it's a silent and very pleasant contemplation-concentration. That's why, when you are here, I sit without uttering a word! But you lose the sense of time altogether.
page 232-33 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 12th Oct - 1966





-412_surrender and devotion.html



You see, personal surrender and devotion is an excellent solution for the individual, but it doesn't work for the collectivity. For example, as soon as I am alone and lying on my bed - peace! (Ah, I forgot! They had invented yet another thing: making my heartbeats irregular. Every three or four beats it would stop; then it would start up again, pounding as if I had been struck. Three, four beats, a faint little beat, then stop ... then, bang! Blow after blow.... One more of their extraordinary inventions!) But, as soon as I stretch out and make a total surrender of all the cells - no more activity, nothing - everything goes well. But I am well aware that this surrender has an effect on the action only to the extent that the Supreme Lord has decided upon the action, and those movements stretch over long periods of time [[Later, on the 27th, Mother remarked: 'I was reading about this very thing yesterday in The Secret of the Veda, in the first hymn translated by Sri Aurobindo (the reference is to the colloquy between Indra and Agastya, Rig Veda 1.170 - cf. The Secret of the Veda, Cent. Ed., X.241 ft.), and it helped me put my finger on the problem. In this hymn there is a dispute between Indra and the Rishi because the Rishi wants to progress too quickly without first passing through Indra [the god of the Mind], and Indra stops him; finally they reach an agreement. Sri Aurobindo's commentary is quite interesting: when one has the INDIVIDUAL power to go directly, but neglects the steps which are still necessary for the whole, for the universal movement, then one is stopped short. That is absolutely my experience.' ]] : all sorts of things may happen before the final Victory is won. Because, for us, the scale is very small; even if it were of terrestrial proportions, it would be a very small scale; but on a universal scale.... These forces have their place and their action, their universe, and as long as their place and their action are maintained, they will be here. So before their action can be exhausted or become useless, many things can happen....

page 37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 22nd Jan. 1961



-413_S.B.html



Do you remember S.B.? He was here.... He was a man with many disciples, he had yogic powers. He came here and was thunderstruck, as it were, when he saw Sri Aurobindo: he fainted. He said afterwards it was because of the power of the revelation. He stayed here for years and years; he lived there, downstairs. Then he went away; you see, he used to receive all his disciples here, so I said, "No, that won't do, it's better to have a room elsewhere." Then he left. And for years and years he wasn't heard of again. He has been making contact again lately (I have seen him relatively often at night), and he's made contact again with such ardor, such enthusiasm! He has just sent this card from Riga, in Latvia - he intended to go to Russia (Mother hands the card to Satprem):
"Greetings. I remember your marvel. I spoke of our divine Master and of your sweetness in a great conference here. Bless me. Yours ever." He was in Russia.... It has come back to him all at once: a great enthusiasm. He lived for a time in that house at the corner, which has become the "Auroville Office," and the roof of the house is uneven (one part is on a certain level, and without warning, the level suddenly drops half a story lower). Once while he was walking on the roof in meditation, he fell; it seems he had just eaten his meal, and he had a blockage. And he claimed he cured himself with an hour of concentration. It may be.... He was very childlike, very enthusiastic, and very boastful at the same time, but with a fervor which was rather fine. A sort of very young enthusiasm.... Now he must be rather old. And I always see him in the middle of a large crowd. He knows how to command attention. He isn't quite indifferent. But I didn't work to send him away from here: he had quarreled with someone or other, then started openly receiving a large number of disciples; I said, "It would be better if you saw your disciples elsewhere." Then he left. He writes a lot of books in Tamil. It's the second card I've got from him. In the first he wrote he was for the second time going round the world, especially round Europe, and that he had been invited to Russia. And he has written a whole book (in Tamil) on Sri Aurobindo's yoga.
page 156-57 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 27th May - 1967




-413_swami JJ.html


(Note written by Mother after an experience She had during a

playground meditation when Swami J.J. was present. It was

this swami with whom Satprem journeyed in the Himalayas

to receive tantric initiation.')

The mantra written upon each of the souvenirs2 from the Himalayas has a strong power of evoking the Supreme Mother. At the Thursday evening meditation, he appeared as the 'Guru of Tantric Initiation,' magnified and seated upon a symbolic representation of the forces and riches of material Nature (in the middle of the playground, to my left), and he put into my hand something sufficiently material for me to feel the vibrations physically, and it had a great realizing power. It was a kind of luminous and very vibrant globe which I held in my hands during the whole meditation.
page 188 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 29th Aug. - 1958
1. Satprem would later part company with this Swami and follow a thorough tantric discipline with another guru who will henceforth be called X in the Agenda. 2. The Swami brought back various objects and souvenirs from the Himalayas which he presented to Mother.


-414_Swamy Ramakrishna.html


In The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo says that this idea of good and bad, of pure and impure, is a notion needed for action; but the purists, such as Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and others, do not agree. They do not agree that it is indispensable for action. They simply say: your acceptance of action as a necessary thing is contrary to your perception of the Divine in all things. How can the two be reconciled? I recall that once I tried to speak of this, but no one followed me, no one understood, so I did not insist. I left it open and never pursued it further, for they could not decipher anything or find any meaning in what I was saying. But now I could give a very simple answer: Let the Supreme do the work. It is He who has to progress, not you! Ramdas does not at all consider that the world as it is, is good. No, but I know all these people, I know them thoroughly! I know Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Ramdas thoroughly. They are utterly familiar to me. It doesn't bother them. These are people who live with a certain feeling, who have an entirely concrete experience and live in this experience, but they don't care at all if their formation - they have not even crystallized it, they leave it like that, vague - contains things that are mutually contradictory, because, in appearance, they reconcile them. They do not raise any questions, they do not have the need for an absolutely clear vision; their feeling is absolutely clear, and that's enough for them. Ramakrishna was like that; he said the most contradictory things without being bothered in the least, and they are all exactly and equally true.
page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 2nd July - 1958

It seems Ramakrishna told Vivekananda, "You can see the Lord just as you see me and hear His voice just as you hear my voice." Some people took this as a declaration that the Lord was on earth in the flesh (!) I said, "No, that's not it! What he meant is that if you enter the true consciousness, you can hear Him - I say, much more clearly than you hear physically and see Him much more clearly than you see physically." - "Oh, that ..." Immediately their eyes open wide, it becomes something unreal!

page 102 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 29th May , 1965




-759_The Synthesis of Yoga.html


There are moments while reading the Synthesis of Yoga when I feel so clearly why he put this particular word in that particular place, and why it could not have been otherwise - that's what makes the translation difficult. For the placement of words is not the same in English and in French. In English, for example, the place an adverb occupies is of major importance for the precise meaning. In French also, but generally it's not the same! If at least it were exactly the opposite of English it would be easier, but it's not exactly the opposite. It's the same thing for the word order in a series of modifiers or any string of words; usually in English, for example, the most important word comes first and the least important last. In French, it's usually the opposite - but it doesn't always work! The spirit of the two languages is not the same. Something always escapes. This must surely be why' revelations' (as Sri Aurobindo calls them) sometimes come to me in one language and sometimes in the other. And it does not depend on the state of consciousness I'm in, it depends on what has to be said.
page 429 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 8th Oct. 1960 .

I'm just now finishing the Yoga of Self-Perfection ... When we see what human life is and, even in the best of cases, what it represents in the way of imbecility, stupidity, narrowness, mean
ness (not to mention ignorance because that is too flagrant) ... and even those who believe themselves to have generous heart, for example, or liberal ideas, a desire to do good! ... Each time the consciousness orients itself in one direction to attain some result, everything that was in existence (not just one's personal existence, but this sort of collectivity of existences that each being represents), everything that is contrary to this effort immediately presents itself in its crudest light. It happened this morning while I was walking back and forth in my room. I had finished my japa ... I had to stop and hold my head in my hands to keep from bursting into tears. 'No, it is too dreadful,' I said to myself; 'and to think that we want Perfection!' Then naturally there came as a consolation: only because the consciousness is getting closer to THE REAL THING can it see all this wretchedness, and the contrast alone makes these things appear so mean. And it's true, those things I saw this morning which seemed so ... above all stupid and ugly (I've never had a sense of morality at any time in my life, thank God! But stupid and ugly things have always seemed ... I've always done my best to distance myself from them, even when I was very small). And now I see that these things which seem not only ridiculous but, well, almost shameful were considered, as I recall, remarkably noble earlier on and they represented an exceptionally lofty attitude in life - the very same things. So then I understood that it's quite simply a question of proportion. And that's how the world is - things which now seem totally unacceptable to us, things we CANNOT tolerate, were quite all right in the past. The day before yesterday, I spent the whole night looking on. I had read the passage by Sri Aurobindo in The Synthesis on 'supramental time' (wherein past, present and future coexist in a global consciousness). While you're in it, it's marvelous! You understand things perfectly. But when you're not in it ... Above all, there's this problem of how to keep the force of one's aspiration, the power of progress, this power which seems so inevitable - so inevitable if existence (let's simply take terrestrial existence) is to mean anything and its presence to be justified. (This ascending movement towards a progressive 'better' that will be eternally better) - How is this to be kept when you have the total vision ... this vision in which everything coexists. At that moment, the other becomes something like a game, an amusement, if you will. (Not everyone finds it amusing!) And when you contain all that, why allow yourself the pleasure of succession? ... Is this pleasure of succession, of seeing things one after the other, equal to this intensity of the will for progress? ... Words are foolish! The effort to see and to understand this gripped me all night. And when I woke up this morning, I thanked the Lord; I said to Him, 'Obviously, if You were to keep me totally in that consciousness, I could no longer ... I could no longer do my work!' How could I do my work? For I can only say something to people when I feel it or see it, when I see that it's what must be said, but if I am simultaneously in a consciousness in which I'm aware of everything that has led to that situation, everything that is going to happen, everything I'm going to say, everything the other's going to feel - then how could I do it! There are still many hundreds of years to go before it becomes entirely what Sri Aurobindo describes - there's no hurry! page 430-32 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 11th Oct. 1960 .
I am just finishing The Synthesis of Yoga, and what Sri Aurobindo says is exactly what has happened to me throughout my life. And he explains how you can still make mistakes as long as you are not supramentalized. Sri Aurobindo describes all the ways by which images are sent to you - and they are not always images or reflections of the truth of things past, present or future; there are also all the images that come from human mental formations and all the various things that want to be considered. It is very, very interesting. And interestingly enough, in these few pages I have found a description of the work I have spent my whole life doing, trying to SIFT out all we see. I can only be sure of something once a certain type of picture comes, and then the whole world could tell me, 'But things didn't happen like that'; I would reply, 'Sorry, but I see it.' And that type of picture is certain, for I have studied it, I have studied their differences in quality and the texture of the pictures. It is very interesting.
page 436 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 11th Oct. 1960 .

And I am ... how to put it? Nothing we say is ever absolutely true, but, to stretch it a bit, while I am ... not worried, not perturbed, not discouraged, I feel I can't get anything done; I spend all my time, all my time, seeing people, receiving and answering letters - doing nothing. I haven't touched my translation [[Mother generally worked a little every day on the French translation of The Synthesis of Yoga. ]] for over a week.

page 17 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 7th Jan. 1961




-417_U Thant.html



There are other, very interesting examples. There's a Burmese (you may have heard of this) who has just received a "peace prize." He has written an article (he is Burmese, I don't know which language he wrote it in, but it has been published in French in a Swiss newspaper), in which he says what everybody knows, but also what everybody forgets: that if all the money wasted on preparing means of destruction were used for the progress of human well-being, it could work wonders. And he adds (I can't quote him exactly): for that to be done, men - nations and men - should stop distrusting and fearing each other, and should live in the sense of unity. And he says, if, for that, HUMAN NATURE HAS TO CHANGE, it's high time it changed and we must all work for that to happen. I am extremely happy to hear this. Here is a man who has caught the true thing. [[Mother is referring to U Thant, secretary-general of the United Nations. U.N.O., April 10, 1967: "That a fraction of the amounts that are going to be spent in 1967 on arms could finance economic, social, national and world programs to an extent so far unimaginable is a notion within the grasp of the man in the street. Men, if they unite, are now capable of foreseeing and, to a certain point, determining the future of human development. This, however, is possible only if we stop fearing and harassing one another and if together we accept, welcome and prepare the changes that must inevitably take place. If this means a change in human nature, well, it is high time we worked for it; what must surely change is certain political attitudes and habits man has." (La Suisse, Geneva, April 10, 1967, translated from the French). ]]
page 110 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 13th April - 1967




-418_Tantra.html


It was a force with a sparkling white light at its center, the light which is the force of the Divine Mother, and as soon as it was well packed and concentrated inside, or condensed, it took on all the colors - vibrations of every color ... Like a materialization - these colors were like a materialization of the Divine Force when it enters matter. (Just as matter is a condensation of energy, well, this seemed to be a condensation of Divine Force. That's really the impression it gave.) It reminded me of tantric things. I have seen tantric formations and how forces are systematically separated by them - each vibration, each color. It's very interesting. They are all one, and yet each is distinct. That is, they are separated in order to be distinguished and for each one to be used individually. Each one represents a particular action for obtaining something in particular. This is the special knowledge the tantrics have, I believe. Or it's the reflection of their knowledge. And my impression is that when they do their pujas or say their mantras, what they are trying to do is recombine all that into the white light. I'm not sure. I know they use each one separately for a separate purpose, but when they speak of their puja 'succeeding,' it may mean that they have been able to recombine the light. But I say this very guardedly. For I would have to see X do his puja one day to really know - from afar I'm not so sure. It's merely an impression.
page 391 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th July 1960

The tantrics recognize seven chakras,' I believe. Theon said he knew of more, specifically two below the body and three above. That is my experience as well - I know of twelve chakras. And really, the contact with the Divine Consciousness is there (Mother motions above the head), not here (at the top of the head). One must surge up above.

1. Chakra: center of consciousness. 1) The crown of the head (sahasradala), 2) between the eyebrows (ajna), 3) the throat (vishuddha), 4) the heart (anahata) 5) the navel (manipura), 6) the abdomen (svadhishthana), 7) the base of the spine (muladhara). page 433 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 11th Oct. 1960


The same goes for all those beings the Tantrics deal with - their origin is not vital, they belong to Nature. They are personified natural forces obedient to the laws of Nature. In other words, they originate from below, not from the vital but the physical world. They are vital forces in the physical, but not of vital origin. The other day, didn't I tell you the story of those entities working for me?... (It wasn't you? I'd had a vision.) In fact, I very often see entities like Nature spirits when I enter the subtle physical and work there (usually for people here and the Ashram, and for the world at large), I very, very often have them with me, or else I meet them in the course of my work. They are forces, generally feminine in appearance, that do some work and have a great deal of power. They are usually the ones that respond to Tantric invocations (I don't mean the Tantrics who call on Kali or Durga, that's something else altogether, those belong to a totally different world). Most of the time these Nature forces are very willing to help - at any rate, they are wonderfully obliging with me! But they are limited beings, with their own ideas and laws, their own volition, and when vexed they can do unpleasant things. Yet they are not hostile beings, nor are they vital beings: they are personified forces of physical Nature, in the subtle physical. A world of things could be said.. page 119 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th March 1962


After a meditation with Mother: When you meditate, are you conscious of going from one state to another? ... No? Because at the start, there is usually that vibration with all the colors, though with blue strongly predominant (the color I have come to call the "Tantric power in Matter"); that's immediately with you, it's a sort of normal state of concentration. Then afterwards, you seemed to recede or stretch out into a vast Immensity of very quiet silvery whiteness - very quiet and unbroken. Like a receding from outer life and a stretching out into that state. And then there comes down - literally comes down - a very intense golden light, very intense, almost (what could I call it?) a "colorful" gold, really golden, very, very intense, and as though "atomized" - a powdering. The three in succession. Don't you feel that way?
I feel the second movement: a sense of expanse, it is all white and open.
That's right. White and very intense. Very vast and quiet. Very good. In the last movement, it descends and envelops your head. That blue force, that blue light, I had known it for a long time, but without defining it: it was a power of consciousness - a POWER - the power of consciousness in Matter. I knew exactly what it was when I came in contact with X [[Satprem's Tantric guru. ]] (with the Swami first, then with X). Since then, I had been able to tell without doubt whether someone I was seeing was practicing Tantrism or not. And now when I see a photograph, it's the same thing! Yesterday, for example, I was shown somebody's photo, and I had the same impression of force; I didn't say anything, I asked what the man did (maybe he is a businessman in life, I don't remember), but then they gave me a letter from him in which he wrote that for a few years he had been trying to follow the Tantric method of yoga - it amused me! It was plain in his photo! page 89-90 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th March 1963


Sri Aurobindo said that all the Tantrics start from below; they start right down below, and so right down below, that's how things must be, obviously. While with him, you went from above downward, so that you dominated the situation. But if you start right down below, it's obvious that, right down below, that's how things are: anything that's a little stronger or a little vaster or a little truer or a little purer than ordinary Nature brings about a reaction, a revolt, a contradiction and a struggle. I prefer the other method. Though probably it isn't within everyone's reach. page 216 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 30th Sep - 1964




-419_The Mother on Letters.html



(Mother picks up a letter on her table)

What does he write?
[Satprem reads an endless letter:] He asks, "Should I sell my car for less than 35,000 rupees? Can I consult 'I Ching' and go deeper into its study?..."
Consult what?
"I Ching." I don't know, it's a Chinese name.
Ah, yes, they're all hooked on that. It's a book in which you find an answer to any question. But naturally, you bend all the words you read to your thought. But can you see that! I have a stack of letters like this one, there isn't even one or two truly asking something that I alone can answer. In fact, that's the point, they should only ask me things I alone can answer. Otherwise, what's the use?... And what they want is this: they want to hide behind my answer and be able to say, "Ah, but you told me that ..." "Should I go and see the doctor?
Should I have an operation? Should I accept this job I am offered? Should I start a new business? Should I marry this person?..." And behind it all, if anything goes wrong, there is, "But you told me that ..." He can consult the Chinese - but the Chinese will only tell him what's in his own head! They'll arrange the sentences so as to read what's in their heads! Listen, mon petit, maybe we should try to find some way.... What can we do? I have work that we can do together, a lot of it. I have been thinking of it these last few days, there are lots of things to do. But we don't have the time - as it is, it's no use, we just have time to chat a little, that's all, nothing more. Anyway ...
page 182-83 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Aug - 1966





-420_Teachers.html



I have just explained to Z my program for getting out of the present difficulties,' and I think if he has not concluded that I am totally mad, it is because he has an immense respect for me! But as always in these cases, there is such a joy in me, such an exultation: all the cells are dancing. I understand why people begin singing, dancing, etc. It takes a formidable power to remain like that (gesture of solidity): there is such a desire in the throat to sing!

page 173 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 5th July - 1958


I answered. The letters must have left. I wrote (in English) that it's not so much a question of organization as of attitude - to begin with. Then I said, 'It seems to me that unless the teachers themselves get out of this ordinary intellectuality (!), they will never be able to fulfill their duty.' And this is what I wrote to Z (Mother reads):

page 405 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Aug. - 1960


Then Z asks about languages: should they choose ONE language or ... I don't know. And then, if only ONE language, which language? ... She said, 'Should it be a common or international language, or their [the students'] vernacular?' I answered her, 'If only ONE language is known [well], it is better (international or common). " These are matters of common sense - I don't even know why they bring them up. Then they asked some questions about teaching literature and poetry. I answered them. And then, at the bottom, I added this:
'If you carefully study what Sri Aurobindo has written on every subject ...
He wrote on EVERYTHING, there is not one subject on which he has not written! The point is to find it everywhere.
... a complete knowledge of the things of the world can be easily achieved.'
What I call 'studying' is to take Sri Aurobindo's books, where he quotes or speaks of one thing or another, then have the corresponding books - when he quotes something, you must take the book it corresponds to; when he speaks of something, you must study the writings on that subject. This is what I call 'studying.' Then, after having read the corresponding works, you compare them with what Sri Aurobindo has said, and in this way there may be a beginning of understanding. If someone is very studious, he can 'review' all that has ever been written or taught by going through Sri Aurobindo's books. I mean this for someone who loves working. I SEE this state of mind, this mental attitude ... Oh! It's ... it's so repugnant. People are so afraid of taking sides, so afraid of appearing biased; they are so afraid of appearing to have faith, so afraid ... Oh, it's disgraceful. And I will keep hammering that into your heads till I enter right into them.
page 406 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Aug. - 1960


(This is an extract from a meeting with a few teachers from the

school. We owe these recordings to the kind cooperation

of one of them.)

What is the best way of preparing ourselves? For one clearly feels that all this is going to require a rather extensive prepa ration.
To broaden and enlighten your consciousness, naturally. But how to do that ? ... How do you broaden and enlighten your
consciousness? If each one of you could find his psychic being and unite with it, all problems would be solved. The psychic being is the Divine's representative in the human being. It's true, you know: the Divine isn't something far-off and out of reach; the Divine is within you, but you aren't fully conscious of it. You have rather ... so far it is acting more as an influence than a Presence. It must become a conscious Presence, so at each moment you can ask yourselves how ... how the Divine sees. That's how it is: first, how the Divine sees; then, how the Divine Wills ... then, how the Divine does. It has nothing to do with going off to inaccessible regions: it's RIGHT HERE. Although, for the moment, all the old habits and the general unconsciousness have put a sort of lid on it, which prevents us from seeing and feeling. We must ... we must lift that, lift it off. Basically, we must become conscious instruments ... conscious ... conscious of the Divine. Normally it takes an entire lifetime, or even several lives in some cases. But here, in the present conditions, you can do it in ... a few months. Those who have an ardent aspiration can do it in a few MONTHS.

(Mother remains concentrated for a few moments)

Did you feel anything?
(One of the teachers:) Was there a special descent?
There is no "descent"! That's another wrong idea. There is no "descent." It's something that is ALWAYS here, but you just don't feel it. There is no descent, that's a completely wrong idea. Do you know what the fourth dimension is?
We have heard about it....
Have you experienced it?
No, Mother.
Oh, but it's precisely the best example modern science can offer - the fourth dimension. The Divine is the fourth dimension for us. It ... belongs to the fourth dimension. It's everywhere, you see - always everywhere. It doesn't come and go: it's always there ...
everywhere. It's we, it's our stupidity that keeps us from feeling it. There's no need to go off anywhere ... no need at all, none at all To be conscious of your psychic being, you must be able to have felt the fourth dimension, felt it once, otherwise you cannot know what it is.... Oh, Lord! It's been seventy years since I've known what the fourth dimension is - more than seventy years.

(silence)

Indispensable, it's indispensable. Life begins with that. Otherwise, you are in falsehood - in a hodgepodge of confusion and ignorance.... The mind! The mind! The mind! Otherwise, to be conscious of your own consciousness, you must mentalize it. It's dreadful, dreadful! There you are.
This new life isn't the continuation of the old one, is it Mother,it has to spring up from within.
Yes! Yes!
There is no common ground between the two....
There is - there is, but you aren't conscious of it. You must ... you must ... it's the mind that prevents you from feeling it. One Must BE, you see. All you do is mentalize everything - everything. What you call "consciousness" is thinking things out; that's what you call consciousness. But that's not it at all! That's not consciousness. Consciousness ... should be wholly lucid and WORDLESS.

(Mother closes her eyes)

Like that ... everything becomes luminous and warm and ... STRONG! And peaceful ... a true peace, which is not inertia or immobility.
Mother, can we give this as an objective to all children?
All ... no! They are not all the same age, even when they are the same physical age. Some children are primitive. One should.... You see, if you yourself were fully conscious of your psychic being, you would know which children are psychically developed. Some children have only an embryonic psychic - the age of the psychic varies enormously. Normally, it takes several lives for the psychic to become completely formed, and it's the psychic that passes from one body to another; that's why we aren't conscious of our past lives - because we aren't conscious of our psychic being. But sometimes, at some MOMENT the psychic being participated in a particular event, it became conscious; and that creates a memory. Sometimes you may find you have a partial recollection of something, the fleeting memory of a circumstance or event or thought, or even of an action.... It's because the psychic was conscious of it.

(silence)

What would you, I am nearing my hundredth year - it's only five years away - and I started my effort to become conscious when I was five. It's a fact. That's telling you.... And I am going on, and it is going on. Now, of course, I have come to doing the work in the cells of the body, but the work started long ago. I don't mean to discourage you, but only to tell you it isn't done in a wink! The body ... the body is made of a substance that is still very heavy. It is the substance itself that must change for the Supermind to manifest. That's all I can say.
page 360-63 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Feb - 1972-1973


(Extracts from a meeting with the schoolteachers. One of them

complains that the first signs of violence are showing up

in the children.)

Violence is necessary as long as men are ruled by their ego and its desires. But violence must be used only as a means of defense when you are attacked. The ideal towards which humanity is moving and which we want to realize is a state of luminous understanding in which each person's needs as well as the harmony of the whole are taken into account. The future will have no need of violence because it will be governed by the Divine Consciousness, in which all things are harmonized and complement each other. For the moment, we are still in a stage where weapons are necessary. But it should be understood that this is a transitory stage, not a permanent one, and we must strive for the other one. Peace ... peace and harmony will be a natural outcome of the change of consciousness.
page 367 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 18th Feb - 1972-1973


(Excerpts from a conversation with the teachers. One of them

complains about the "lack of coordination.")

Coordination! ... But that's because people are accustomed to using the mind to organize things, that's all they know: organization as devised by the mind. While we here are trying to change that pattern. We seek a change of government - but the new government isn't very well-known yet, that's the difficulty. Maybe I want to go too fast. I see clearly ... I tend to go too fast, possibly.
page 382 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 26th March - 1972-1973


Excerpts from a meeting with the teachers.

(At the end of a long and distressing conversation that exposes

the grudges of a particular individual against her neighbor,

then angry remarks, then finally a request for "blessings" for a

new trucking company, with a photo of the truck on the back

of which Mother is asked to write something, one of the

teachers announces that an epidemic of chickenpox and

mumps has broken out at the school among the students and

teachers, and that one of them has typhoid fever. Mother

listens to all that.... This will be the last meeting with the teachers.)

I hope you're not bringing any of that here?

(the teachers laugh, uncomprehending)

Have you taken all the necessary precautions? ... Otherwise it would be a real catastrophe.

(silence)

I hope you took every precaution not to bring me any of it here?

(silence,

one of the teachers explains

that the incubation period lasts from 3 to 4 weeks)

If you haven't, it's really a crime (there is almost anguish in Mother's voice), because.... There's nothing to explain. It's a crime. I am not AT ALL protected. page 383-84 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 30th March - 1972-1973




-421_terror at Olympic Games-free.html

-423_the key-Secret.html



At times I sense there's an extraordinary secret to discover, just there at my finger tips; I feel that I am going to catch the Thing, to know ... Sometimes, for a second, I see the Secret; there is an opening, and again it closes. Then once again it is unveiled for a second and I come to know a little more. Yesterday the Secret was there completely clear, wide open. But it's not something that can be explained: words are silly, it must be experienced. Sri Aurobindo speaks of this Secret almost everywhere, especially in his Essays on the Gita. He tells us that in the Gita itself one gets glimpses of this thing which is beyond the Impersonal, beyond even the Personal behind the Impersonal, beyond the Transcendent. Well, I saw this Secret - I saw that the Supreme only becomes perfect in terrestrial matter, on earth. 'Becomes' is just a way of speaking, of course, for everything already is, and the Supreme is what He is. But we live in time, in a successive unfoldment, and it would be absurd to say that at present Matter is the expression of a perfect Divine. I saw this Secret (which is getting more and more perceptible as the Supramental becomes clear), I saw it in the everyday, outer life, precisely in this very physical life which all spirituality rejects ... a kind of accuracy or exactitude right down to the atom. I am not saying that the 'Divine' becomes perfect in Matter - the Divine is already there - but that THE SUPREME becomes perfect in Matter.
page 366 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 6th May 1960
All is a great Mystery.

(silence)

What Sri Aurobindo calls 'the Great Secret' - a GREAT secret. The day we find it ... things will change.
page 102 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 25th Feb 1961




-425_True Life.html



The true life ... it will come. The true life is something else, something that's yet to come. It is something else. The true life is Satprem. That's for later on. When it does come forward, then you will get a sense of the true life. It will come. And you mustn't be impatient - impatience leads to imitation: and unwittingly, in all sincerity, you imitate things within yourself, within your own experience, you imitate the realization - that's what impatience does. The true life in its SIMPLE purity cannot come until ... until the Lord Himself is doing and deciding everything, acting, realizing, living, having the experience. When everything is in His hands and you have absolutely nothing to do and don't even know WHERE YOU ARE, then ... then it comes in its purity, not before. This is the difference, the radical difference, since the experience [of April 13]: there is nothing but the Lord. All the rest ... what is it?... No more than a habit of speaking (not even a habit of thinking, that's all gone), a habit of speaking; so the less one speaks, the happier one is. Otherwise ... nothing. And what else could there be? It is He who sees, He who wills, He who acts. Then everything comes spontaneously, easily, with such great simplicity. It will come, mon petit - no impatience. For the moment it's on the right track. It's going well. page 254, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 11th July 1962.


Life is on the verge of becoming wonderful - but we don't know how to live it. We still have to learn. When we truly learn, it will be something.

page 242 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 14th Oct 1964




-426_The Mother on colors.html



The diamond light of Bliss has the power to melt all hostile forces. Nothing can resist it. No consciousness, no being, no hostile will can draw near it without immediately being dissolved, for it is the Divine light in its pure creative power.

page 135 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 22nd Jan - 1958


Mother compares the Truth to a pure white light,

then continues:)

... But this white, precisely, is composed of all the colors. So when you perceive a thing, instead of seeing it as white, there are a certain number of colors that completely elude your perception: you see red, green, yellow, blue or something else, but it does not make white because some colors are missing. This is a very good image. The distorted milieu cannot perceive the whole, it perceives only partially - not partially the parts of a complete whole, but a mixture of something which escapes it in its entirety because the milieu is unfit to manifest or express or even perceive the totality. This color metaphor is quite adequate. Truth is like a white light recomposed, for it contains all that is, but the milieu is unfit to manifest all the elements or all the colors - and it can be said that the best escape. So, instead of seeing a white light, you see a number of colors of something from which they derived.
page 191 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , Sept. 1958.

After a meditation with Mother: When you meditate, are you conscious of going from one state to another? ... No? Because at the start, there is usually that vibration with all the colors, though with blue strongly predominant (the color I have come to call the "Tantric power in Matter"); that's immediately with you, it's a sort of normal state of concentration. Then afterwards, you seemed to recede or stretch out into a vast Immensity of very quiet silvery whiteness - very quiet and unbroken. Like a receding from outer life and a stretching out into that state. And then there comes down - literally comes down - a very intense golden light, very intense, almost (what could I call it?) a "colorful" gold, really golden, very, very intense, and as though "atomized" - a powdering. The three in succession. Don't you feel that way?
I feel the second movement: a sense of expanse, it is all white and open.
That's right. White and very intense. Very vast and quiet. Very good. In the last movement, it descends and envelops your head. That blue force, that blue light, I had known it for a long time, but without defining it: it was a power of consciousness - a POWER - the power of consciousness in Matter. I knew exactly what it was when I came in contact with X [[Satprem's Tantric guru. ]] (with the Swami first, then with X). Since then, I had been able to tell without doubt whether someone I was seeing was practicing Tantrism or not. And now when I see a photograph, it's the same thing! Yesterday, for example, I was shown somebody's photo, and I had the same impression of force; I didn't say anything, I asked what the man did (maybe he is a businessman in life, I don't remember), but then they gave me a letter from him in which he wrote that for a few years he had been trying to follow the Tantric method of yoga - it amused me! It was plain in his photo! page 89-90 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 19th March 1963


(Mother asks for a box of paints to demonstrate practically the gradation of colors of the levels of consciousness, from the most material Nature to the Supreme. The point is to illustrate the symbol of Infinity, the figure 8, which Mother explained in the conversation of May 11: the infinite play of the Supreme reaching down to Nature and Nature rising toward the Supreme. Mother speaks in English in the presence of a disciple, who is a painter, so that he may convey her explanations to H., the disciple who is preparing illustrations for "Savitri.")

Of course, all these things are lights, so you can't reproduce them. But still, it must be a violet that is not dull and not dark (Mother starts from the most material Nature). What she has put is too red, but if it's too blue, it won't be good either - you understand the difficulty? Then after violet there is blue, which must be truly blue, not too light, but it must be a bright blue. Not too light because there are three consecutive blues: there is the blue of the Mind, and then comes the Higher Mind, which is paler, and then the Illumined Mind, which is the color of the flag [Mother's flag], a silver blue, but naturally paler than that. And after this comes yellow, a yellow that is the yellow of the Intuitive Mind; it must not be golden, it must be the color of cadmium. Then after this yellow, which is pale, we have the Overmind with all the colors - they must all be bright colors, not dark: blue, red, green, violet, purple, yellow, all of them, all the colors. And after that, we then have all the golds of the Supermind, with its three layers. And then, after that, there is one layer of golden white - it is white, but a golden white. After this golden white, there is silver white - silver white: how can I explain that? (H. has sent me some ridiculous pictures of a sun shining on water - it has nothing to do with that.) If you put silver, silver gray (Mother shows a silver box nearby shining brilliantly in the sun), silver gray together with white ... that is, it is white, but if you put the four whites together you see the difference. There is a white white, then there is a white with a touch of pink, then a silvery white and a golden white. It makes four worlds. I have explained this [to H.] as I am explaining it to you, but H. has not seen it so she can't understand. I want to show her on paper. It is twelve different things [or twelve worlds], one after another. [[Mother seems to have forgotten the red of the vital, which comes between material Nature's violet and the Mind's blue. Thus we have twelve worlds: violet, red, blue (the Mind's three blues), yellow, then the Overmind's prismatic colors, which makes five lower worlds, then finally the three golds of the Supermind and the four whites of the supreme creative Joy or Ananda. ]] page 143-43 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 18th May 1963




-427_The Mother on numbers.html



(Mother suddenly points to a piece of paper on the table beside her, on which the figure 8 is written)

Did you notice this figure?... There's a line in Savitri (I can't quote exactly): "Wherever Nature is, He (the Supreme) too is there, for, in truth, He and She are one."[[As long as Nature lasts, he too is there; For this is sure that he and she are one. (I.IV. 72) ]] I was asked to find an illustration for this line, [[Mother helps a disciple, a painter, to illustrate some passages from Savitri. ]] and I found the 8.
The drawing starts here (Mother draws the first half of the 8): it's the Supreme leaning forward. Then, Nature in its base, Nature in sleep (the base of the 8). And here (the top of the 8), I put two little drawings (as if to symbolize an eye, a nose and a mouth) to evoke the summit of consciousness. So the Supreme is leaning forward like this and Nature rises like this (Mother draws the second half of the 8). All this (the top of the 8) is golden, then it becomes prismatic (the middle of the 8), and deep blue here (the base of the 8), in the most material part of the creation, and the blue becomes lighter and lighter (going upward again), and finally golden. Perpetually.
Eight is the symbol of infinity for mathematicians (oo).
Exactly. It's very interesting.
(Then Mother considers one by one the various figures of the Tantric diagram:)
4 is the figure of the Manifestation (the square is the figure of the Manifestation). So here you have the manifestation of the Infinite: 4 + 8 = 12. 6 is the figure of the creation. 12 is the perfection of the creation: perfect creation. 30 is ... The 3 is Sachchidananda and the 30 its external expression (because 10 means something expressed). So 30 is the manifestation of Sachchidananda. Thus we have first 6, then 12 (a perfection of manifestation), then 30, the manifestation of Sachchidananda, and 48, the manifestation of the Infinite. You see, it's beginning to come alive! Afterwards comes 42: it's the dual manifestation, that is to say, the Supreme and Nature. Then 18 ... The 10 (unless it's 12 ... 12 is two times 6; also 10 plus 2, but that has another meaning), but the 10 in itself is something established (the 11 is something beginning, while the 10 is something established). So if you have 18, it means that the Infinite is established.
Then 36, which is 3 times 12: it's the union of 30 (Sachchidananda) and 6, the creation. The 12 is the figure of the Mahashakti. It's the essential creation, the creation in its essence - the creative Power. And perfection, too: the perfection in the execution. The 12 is a very important figure (24 is two times 12, and 36, three times). 48 is four times 12. It's an extremely important figure. Extremely important. And finally, we have 9 here: gestation. Gestation in Matter - not on the heights: here, physically. page 135-37 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 11th May 1963





-428_The Mother on pujas.html


/Mother, for instance, on certain days of the year we have Lakshmi-puja, Mahakali-puja, and all that... /


That's because it amuses you, my children!


/But on these days you give us blessings also! /

Yes, because that amuses you! (Laughter) Eh?

/You give us blessings only to amuse us? /

Come now! It pleases you; I said “amuses”; it's... I was disrespectful; but it's because it pleases you.

Mahakali day, for instance...

Yes, yes, sometimes Kali comes three days earlier or four days later or at some other time in the year.
She is not necessarily there on that very day; at times, to make you happy, I call her a little.
(Laughter) In any case, it is not I who believe in these things!


The Mother , Questions and Answers , page 193 / 194 , vol 6




-429_The Mother's flag and India.html



(On 1 November 1954 Pondicherry and the other French settlements in India were transferred to the Indian Union. To celebrate the occasion the flag with Mother's symbol at its centre was hoisted at the Ashram at 6.20 a.m., when Mother read out the following message.)


For us the 1st November has a deep significance. We have a flag which Sri Aurobindo called the Spiritual Flag of United India. Its square form, its colour and every detail of its design have a symbolic meaning. It was hoisted on the 15th August 1947 when India became free. It will now be hoisted on the 1st November 1954 when these settlements get united with India and it will be hoisted in the future whenever India recovers other parts of herself. United India has a special mission to fulfil in the world. Sri Aurobindo laid down his life for it and we are prepared to do the same.

1 November 1954


Words of the Mother , volume -13, Page – 362 , CWMCE


-430_The Mother's flag.html



(On 1 November 1954 Pondicherry and the other French settlements in India were transferred to the Indian Union. To celebrate the occasion the flag with Mother's symbol at its centre was hoisted at the Ashram at 6.20 a.m., when Mother read out the following message.)


For us the 1st November has a deep significance. We have a flag which Sri Aurobindo called the Spiritual Flag of United India. Its square form, its colour and every detail of its design have a symbolic meaning. It was hoisted on the 15th August 1947 when India became free. It will now be hoisted on the 1st November 1954 when these settlements get united with India and it will be hoisted in the future whenever India recovers other parts of herself. United India has a special mission to fulfil in the world. Sri Aurobindo laid down his life for it and we are prepared to do the same.

1 November 1954


Words of the Mother , volume -13, Page – 362 , CWMCE



-431_Sri Aurobindo-You will do my work.html


You see, I'm doing the sadhana really along a ... a path that has never been trod by anyone. Sri Aurobindo did it ... in principle. But he gave the charge of doing it in the body to me. That was the wonderful thing when we were together and all these hostile forces were fighting ... (they tried to kill me any number of times. He always saved me in an absolutely miraculous and marvelous way). But you see, this seemed to create very great BODILY difficulties for him. We discussed this a great deal, and I told him, 'If one of us must go, I want that it should be me.' 'It can't be you,' he replied, 'because you alone can do the material thing. " And that was all. He said nothing more. He forbade me to leave my body. That's all. 'It is absolutely forbidden.' he said. 'You can't, you must remain. " After that (this took place early in 1950), he gradually ... You see, he let himself fall ill. For he knew quite well that should he say 'I must go,'* I would not have obeyed him, and I would have gone. For according to the way I felt, he was much more indispensable than I. But he saw the matter from the other side. And he knew that I had the power to leave my body at will. So he didn't say a thing, he didn't say a thing right to the very last minute ...

(silence)

Once or twice I 'heard' certain things about him and I told him (for I told him all I saw or heard), and I said that I was ... that these suggestions were coming from the Enemy and that I was violently fighting against them. Then he looked at me - twice - he
looked at me, nodded his head and smiled. And that's all. Nothing more was said. 'How strange!' I thought. And that's all. Then I myself must have forgotten. You see, he wanted me to forget. I only remembered afterwards.

(silence )

But ...

(silence )

This path is very hard.

(silence)

And then things don't happen at all as they do in ordinary life ... for three or four minutes, sometimes five or ten minutes, I'm a-bo-minably sick, with every sign that it's all over.

(silence )

But it's only to make me find the ... to make me go through the experience and to find the strength. And also to give the body this absolute faith in its Divine Reality - to show it that the Divine is there and that He wants to be there and that He shall be there. And it's only at such 'moments' as these - when logically, according to the ordinary physical logic, it's all over - that you can seize the key. You have to go right through everything without flinching. I haven't told this to anyone until now, especially not to those who take care and watch over me, for I don't want to ... terrify them. Besides, I'm not so sure of their reactions - you understand, if they started getting frightened, it would be terrible. So I don't tell them. But it has happened at least five or six times, usually in the morning before going down to the balcony, just when I don't have the time ... And it has to be done quickly, for I have to be ready on time! It's very, very interesting. But then, you see, at such moments the ... concreteness of the Presence* - concrete to the touch, really to the material touch - is extraordinary! How many more such experiences will be necessary? I don't know, you see, I'm only building the path.
page 488-89 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 26th Nov. 1960

Yes. It is better to speak of victory than ... (Mother laughs) to speak of difficulties!

(silence)

When we used to discuss all these things and the difficulties of the path, Sri Aurobindo told me (he was comparing his body to mine): 'I don't have the stuff of such endurance. I was not cut out like that - your body is solid!' (gesture) What trials it has gone through! ... And it's so docile, so docile, it doesn't complain. So, my child, if your body has some trouble, just tell yourself they are sympathy pains (Mother laughs), then you won't be troubled. That's all.
page 72 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 7th Feb 1961

Yes. By acting from above, one can keep these things under control, hold them in place, prevent them from taking any unpleasant initiatives, but that's not.... To transform means to transform. Even mastery can be achieved - it's quite easy to do from above. But for the transformation one must descend, and that is terrible.... Otherwise, the subconscient will never be transformed, it will remain as it is. One can even pose as a superman! (Mother laughs) But it remains like that (gesture in the air), it's not the real thing. It's not the new creation, it's not the next step in terrestrial evolution. You might as well say, 'Why are you in a hurry? Wait for Nature to do it.' But Nature would take a few million years and in the process squander away a host of people and things. A few million years are unimportant to her - a passing breeze.

(silence)

Anyhow, I was sent here to do this work, so I am trying to do it, that's all. I could have.... If it hadn't been for the work, I would have left with Sri Aurobindo; there you have it. I remained only for the sake of the work - because it was there to be done and he told me to do it and I am doing it.... Otherwise, when one is perfectly conscious, one is far less limited without a body: one can see a hundred people at the same time, in a hundred different places, just as Sri Aurobindo is doing right now.

page 87-88 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 14th Feb 1961


For example, as I was saying at the beginning, the body's formation has a very minimal, a quite subordinate importance for a saint or a sage. But for this supramental work, the way the body is formed has an almost crucial importance, and not at all in relation to spiritual elements nor even to mental power: these aspects have no importance AT ALL. The capacity to endure, to last is the important thing. Well, in that respect, it is absolutely undeniable that my body has an infinitely greater capacity than Sri Aurobindo's had. That was the basic problem - because the identification of the two [Sri Aurobindo and Mother] was almost child's play, it was nothing: for me to merge into him or him to merge into me was no problem, it wasn't difficult. We had some conversations on precisely this subject, because we saw that ... (there were many other things, too, but this isn't the time to speak of them) the prevailing conditions were such that I told him I would leave this body and melt into him with no regret or difficulty; I told him this in words, not just in thought. And he also replied to me in words: Your body is indispensable for the Work. Without your body the Work cannot be done. After that, I said no more. It was no longer my concern, and that was the end of it. This was said in ... 1949, just a little more than a year before he left.

(silence)

And that's really how it is. But now I am set face-to-face with the fact ... the immensity, or the ... something.... This work is so formidable! I must say that there was a time when, as Sri Aurobindo had entrusted his work to me, there was a kind of tension to do it (it can't be called an anxiety); a tension in the will. This too has now ended (Mother stretches her arms into the Infinite). It's finished. But there MAY still be something tense lurking somewhere in the subconscient or the inconscient - I don't know, it's possible. Why? I don't know. I mean I have never been told, at any time, neither through Sri Aurobindo nor directly, whether or not I would go right to the end. I have never been told the contrary, either. I have been told nothing at all. And if at times I turn towards That - not to question, but simply to know - the answer is always the same: 'Carry on, it's not your problem; don't worry about it.' So now I have learned not to worry about it; I am consciously not worried about it.

page 261-262 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 15th July 1961



And so I looked. "Is it something particular to this body?" I wondered. To everyone who has lived closely with it, my body gives the impression of two things: a very concentrated, very stubborn will, and ... such endurance! Sri Aurobindo used to tell me he had never dreamed a body could have such endurance.

And that's probably why.... But I don't want to curtail this ability in any way, because it is a CELLULAR will, and a cellular endurance too - which is quite intriguing. It's not a central will and central endurance (that's something else altogether) - it's cellular. That's why Sri Aurobindo used to tell me this body had been specially prepared and chosen for the Work - because of its capacity for obstinate endurance and will. But that's no reason to exercise this ability uselessly! So I am making sure it relaxes now; I tell it constantly, " Now, now! Just let go! Relax, have some fun, where's the harm in it?" I have to tell it to be quiet, very quiet. And it's very surprised to hear that: "Ah! Can I live that way? I don't have to hurry? I can live that way?"

page 23-24 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th Jan. 1962


No damage at all, but it was a bizarre sensation. So I tried to understand how it could have happened, how I could have so lost my sense of relation to things.... For a long time my body had been telling me, "I've got to lie down, I've got to lie down." And I would very sternly reply, "You don't have time!" (Laughing) So then this happened. Had I obeyed it and laid down, there would obviously have been no problem. But I was in my experience, going on with my experience, and at the same time I was getting ready to come downstairs. So I told my body, "It's all right, it's all right, you'll lie down later." But it had its own way of lying down! (Laughing) It just stretched out right where it was. Actually it wasn't even stretched out - it was all askew.

Afterwards, I looked into it a bit. "What's wrong with you, anyway?" I said. "If you don't have the strength to bear experiences you won't be able to do the work!" My body answered me very clearly that I was overworking it; and Sri Aurobindo's will was clearly behind it, saying, "It's overwork. You can't keep on seeing people and talking for hours on end and then going into these kinds of experiences. You can't do both, you have to choose, or at least strike a better balance." Well, I certainly wasn't going to stop my experiences, so I took advantage of this little incident to get some rest. It was nothing, really! The doctors were saying, "Take care, the heart isn't working properly," and all that. They wanted to start drugging me! All I need is peace and quiet, not drugs. So I took a rest - and since I had to have an excuse, I said I wasn't well and needed rest.

page 21-22 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th Jan. 1962


For the first seven years he was doing the work, not me. He was the one who saw people; I looked after his personal affairs, his housekeeping, his food, his clothes and so forth. I kept myself quietly busy with that, doing nothing else, not seeing people, simply looking after his material life - like a child at play. It was seven years of integral peace. Later, when he withdrew and put me in front, there was naturally a bit more activity, as well as the semblance of responsibility - but it was only a semblance. What security! A sense of total, total security - for thirty years. Not once.... There was just a single scratch, so to speak, when he had that accident and broke his leg. There was a formation at work (an adverse force) and he wasn't taking sufficient precautions for himself because it was directed against both of us, and more especially against me (it had tried once or twice to fracture my skull, things like that). Well, he was so intent on keeping it from seriously touching my body that it managed to sneak in and break his leg. That was a shock. But he straightened everything out again almost immediately - it all fell back into place and went on like that till the end. page 26 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th Jan. 1962


Sri Aurobindo, when I saw him the first time, told me, "The others came to prepare and left, but this time, it's to ACHIEVE." He, too, left. He left. True, he told me, "You are the one who will achieve," but he never gave me ... He is the only one who told me that, and he said it "just like that," as he used to say things, you know. It wasn't something that gave you an absolute certitude.... He had that power: I would tell him something, and when he said, "Yes, it is that way," it WAS that way (something I WANTED to happen, not something that was), and when he said, "Yes, it is that way," then it BECAME that way! The first time it happened, it dazzled me. But that was generally about details. But when he told me, "You are the one who will achieve," it wasn't in that manner: it might have been also his will to go right to the end of ... of what was possible. page 261 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 25th Sep - 1965


The task of completing Sri Aurobindo's vision has been given to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society expressing and embodying the new consciousness is the work she has undertaken. Because of the very nature of things, it is an ideal that seeks to broaden the base of the attempt to establish harmony between body and Soul, Spirit and Matter, ...


page 389 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , Undated - 1967





-432_The Mother's message.html



"Suffocated by the shallowness of the human nature we aspire to the knowledge that truly knows, the power that truly can, the love that truly loves."


page 151 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 - 8th Aug 1964


And it was a world of ... Incidents of this kind bring about a world of parallels, of experiences and so on. So I began writing (it came, as always, through successive "sedimentations"). The first sedimentation gave this:

If you approach me in the hope

of obtaining favours, you will be

frustrated, because I have no

powers at my disposal.

It came in French too: "Ceux qui s'approchent de moi avec l'intention d'obtenir des faveurs seront déçus, parce que je ne dispose pas de pouvoirs." But the true version is this one (I replaced s'approchent with viennent and dispose with détiens, and I put the present tense), it's from the last sedimentation:

"Ceux qui viennent a moi avec

l'intention d'obtenir des faveurs

sont déçus, parce que je ne

détiens pas de pouvoirs.

"[[A literal translation into English of these two French versions gives: "Those who approach me with the intention of obtaining favors will be disappointed, because I have no powers at my disposal." "Those who come to me with the intention of obtaining favors are disappointed, because I possess no powers." ]] And what's almost fantastic is that a whole ARMY OF ADVERSE FORCES WERE REDUCED TO SILENCE - immediately. And the atmosphere was clarified, relieved.
Then, taking a good look, I understood that it is that mixture in people's thoughts, in people's feelings, in their approach to spiritual life, which is catastrophic - they always "want" something, they always "demand" something, they always "expect" something. In fact, it's a perpetual bargaining. It's not the need to give yourself, not the need to melt into the Divine, to disappear into the Divine - no: they try to take, to obtain what they want. And for several hours (it lasted several hours, from that moment till night) the atmosphere was clear, light, luminous - and my body, my body was in such joy! As if it were floating in the air. Afterwards, everything came back - not "everything": something didn't come back, which was definitely settled, but one part of the attacks was clarified. It was so concrete! I have never felt it so concretely, something seemed to have been completely swept away.
But how is your renouncing or your having no powers sufficient to sweep the adverse forces away?
No, it's the fact that I ANNOUNCED it.
That you announced it?
No powers - I knew very well I had no powers! And I couldn't have cared less because I understood perfectly well that what is being attempted now isn't miraculous events at all, but the LOGICAL and normal and inevitable CONSEQUENCE of the supramental transformation - that is the whole point. That I know and knew, and that's why I didn't even bother about powers; anyway it hadn't even remotely occurred to me that I might work a miracle for the doctor or for this or that other person who approaches me - I didn't think about it, it didn't enter my consciousness. Only, on the 18th, through that occasion it entered my consciousness, and so I asked the question to find out why I never thought about it: "Why?" And I was positively told: "You MUST NOT wield powers, because that's not the way things should be done." You understand, the word "favor" is deliberate. It's quite deliberate, it really means a favor - to be helped in making the necessary progress is all very well, but what they want is the result WITHOUT HAVING TO WALK THE PATH, and that's what is impossible, that's what must not be. Basically, that's always what men ask of religions; the "God" of religion is a god who must do them favors: "I believe in You, therefore You must do this for me" (it isn't formulated so bluntly, but it is like that), It isn't the aspiration to be guided on the path in order to do exactly what should be done for the Transformation to take place. And that's what I was clearly told: "It MUST NOT be miraculous powers." The power of the Help is there, fully, of course, but the miraculous power that does things without their being the result of a progress achieved, that must not be.

(Mother goes on copying her note)

And I replaced the future tense with the present, deliberately too, because it isn't something new: it has always been that way; it isn't that I now announce they will be disappointed - they have always been disappointed. And asserting this fact is what had the power of dispelling a whole mass of formations: not only formations of beings of the vital or hostile beings, but the false mental formations of human beings. And here, I wrote: Je ne détiens pas de pouvoirs ["I possess no powers"], which is better than Je ne dispose pas de pouvoirs ["I have no powers at my disposal"]. I had chosen the word dispose in French (chosen, I mean, not mentally), but the word dispose came along with the meaning that the power wasn't at my disposal - there is a nuance. I mean that if, by some aberration (it would really be an aberration), if by some aberration I had the desire to work a miracle, I wouldn't be able to - it would be contrary to the supreme Will. It isn't that I am deliberately making the choice, "No, I won't work miracles" - I can't, that's not the way, it MUST NOT be like that.
You'll have a lot of difficulty driving that into people's heads!
Oh, but there has been a dreadful revolt in the Ashram's atmosphere! Not in their conscious mind, but in the subconscient - a terrible revolt. In order to write down my declaration, in order to formulate it, I had to overcome a whole mass of things, it was extraordinary! There have even been individual reactions: "Then I am going away." I said, "Very well, here is the exact proof."
It was interesting. The doctor himself received it as a blow - he was trembling inside.
No, what should be asked, since we're always asking for something, is for the substance to become conscious enough to receive the Force and itself work its own "miracle," get cured, or this or that, anyway do the work.
Yes, it mustn't be a "favor." "Give me the Force to be what I should be," that, yes. What triggered the whole experience (I forgot to tell you this), when I asked the Lord, "Why? Why couldn't I do something for these people who are really nice?" is that that story of the past came back, when Sri Aurobindo told me, "You are doing a work of the Overmind, you will work miracles that will fill the world with admiration ..." and so on, I told you the story. It came back massively, exactly the same thing: "That is not the truth we want...." And that's also why I stopped all those pujas of the Mother in October-November, because they all used to come with the idea of getting something: miracles, miracles, miracles - never for the True Thing. And that's what they expect of God, of course, miracles or favors, illogical and unreasonable things, instead of wanting the Divine's progressive advance. Obviously, that's more difficult.
page 250-54 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 21st Oct 1964


Mother comments again on her declaration: "I possess no powers."

Oh, it has caused a general upheaval in the atmosphere! I have even received thoughts of this kind: "So then, Sri Aurobindo deceived us!" They're furious, furious.
They haven't understood.... But anyway, it's going on in the subconscient.
No, no! They DELIBERATELY hadn't understood it before my declaration, because Sri Aurobindo never said we would work miracles! They deliberately hadn't understood. So, naturally, they're furious. But it may be better not to insist outwardly by publishing this. [[Satprem had suggested that some extracts from the last conversation be published in the Bulletin. ]] It will come in its own time.


page 254-55 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 24th Oct - 1964


And all of a sudden, I saw - that's not it at all! When they have the experience, at the time of the experience, it is the thing ITSELF, the perfection ITSELF that has been reached, and they are in a state of perfection; and it is because they COME OUT of it that they feel they have to slowly prepare themselves for the result.... I don't know if I am expressing myself clearly, but my notation was like this: perfection is there, always, coexisting with imperfection - perfection and imperfection are coexistent, always, and not only simultaneous, but in the SAME PLACE (Mother presses her two hands together), I don't know how to put it - coexistent. Which means that at any second and in any conditions, you can attain perfection: it isn't something that has to be gained little by little, through successive progress; perfection is THERE, and YOU change states, from the state of imperfection to the state of perfection; and it is the capacity to remain in that state of perfection that grows for some reason or other and gives you the feeling that you must "prepare" yourself or "transform" yourself. That was very real and very concrete.

The perfection is there coexistent

with the imperfection and attainable

at each and any moment.

Yes, it isn't something that becomes: perfection is an absolute state that can be attained at any moment.
page 275 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 12th Nov - 1964


Mother holds a series of slips of paper in her hand: This morning I was in a sort of zone - a zone or a vein.... You know, the veins of gold inside the earth? It was like that. In the mental banality of the world, there was a sort of luminous vein going past and in which I found myself plunged - it felt pleasant, it felt very comfortable. And I started noting things down, when those people came with all the usual ineptitudes, each one asking something, each one shut in like this (gesture with blinkers), so it went away. I called it, "A few definitions." The first one was about someone going away who wanted to take something [blessed by Mother] for his family. I told him, "Oh, they aren't receptive." So he asked, "What does being receptive mean?" (He didn't ask me, but when he left the room he was scratching his head and he asked his friend, "What does Mother mean? What does being receptive mean?") I answered in English and it took many, many forms, and today, it's one of the things that came in that "vein." And what's peculiar in this sort of experience is that when it comes, the words take on a very precise meaning; I am not at all sure if it's their usual meaning, but they have the vibration of their meaning, a sort of crystalline little vibration. And it comes without alteration. I put:

"To be receptive is to feel the urge to give

and the joy of giving to the Divine's Work

all one has

all one is

all one does."


It's the one that came first. After it, there came the old story of "being pure" - what does being pure mean? It doesn't mean all kinds of old moral ideas, no.

"To be pure is to refuse ...

In other words, there was the sensation of something very active - very active: being passive wasn't enough, it was necessary to be very active.

"... to refuse any influence other than

that of the supreme Truth-Love."

"Truth-Love" as one word.

Then a third definition came:

"To be sincere is to unify one's entire being

around the supreme inner Will."

To unify one's entire being around the supreme inner Will. And this supreme Will was visible, like a flame that had the shape of a sword; and only what is governed by That is allowed to act. Then the last one (the last because they brought me my breakfast and I had to stop):

"To be integral is to make a harmonious

synthesis of all one's possibilities."

It came along with the vibration it contained. And it could have gone on, it was there, but then I was interrupted. It's more amusing than to listen to their stories, at any rate.

The inspiration of it all was that vein of gold?

Yes. It was light, not gold. It was a light like a strip (gesture). Then one is bathed in that and one is very happy. And it brought me (what I have just said is nothing, it was the end) a clear vision of what's necessary for the world, the necessary transformations in the mental atmosphere of the earth to put an end to wars, for instance. The "end to wars" was one of the consequences. And each thing was in its place in relation to the other (Mother draws a sort of chessboard), and there was such a clear, clear vision of all the relationships, of all the positions, of all that. It's great fun.
page 176-78 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 14th July - 1965



"Always listen to what the Lord of Truth has to tell you and let your action be guided by Him."


page 203 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 4th Aug - 1965


(Message for Sri Aurobindo's birthday:)
Some day surely The world too shall be saved from death by love. Sri Aurobindo
page 218 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 15th Aug - 1965


(Soon afterwards, Mother files an answer she has just sent to a disciple.)

She is a girl who has written to me several times (there are several like her), who has a well-built body, who should be quite solid and healthy, but she has an emotive and sentimental vital, and ... (somewhat ironically) they aren't "loved" as they would like to be loved. Result: one has a pain in her stomach, another has a pain elsewhere. Finally they write to ask me, "What's going on?" And the other day, I said to myself, "Why don't I tell them?" So I wrote:

"You feel lonely because you want to be loved.

Learn the joy of loving without demand, just

for the JOY OF LOVING - the most wonderful

joy in the world - and you will never more

feel lonely."

That, mon petit, for me is the key. The key that solves all problems - for me. I am not saying it will eternally be like that; it isn't the supreme truth, but for my present experience of the present time, it's the key. page 85 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 13th April - 1966


(Mother shows Satprem a note she has entitled "The rungs of Love")

The last "rung" is the absolutely pure Thing. And the power ... the creative and transforming power of that Vibration is unimaginable! While you are living it, nothing is impossible. It's unimaginable.

"At first one loves only when one is loved....

That's the usual state of human beings. Someone's vibration of love has to come to awaken love, otherwise they are inert.

"Next one loves spontaneously ...

That's already a slightly more evolved humanity. One feels love all of a sudden; one meets someone or something - ah! - and it comes. Only ...

"... but one wants to be loved in return.

One very much wants to be loved in return! "Further on, one loves even if one is not loved ... Those are generally people who have reached a fairly advanced yogic state.

"... but one still wants one's love to be accepted.

Yes, that's an experience I personally had. There is a time when one is quite capable of loving without response, one is above the need to be loved, but one still has ... not positively a need, but, at least, a wish that one's love may be felt and be effective. Afterwards, it makes one smile.

"And finally one loves purely and simply without

any other need or joy than that of loving."

page 86 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 16th April - 1966


"Because the Truth is supremely destructive of Falsehood and ill will; were It to act at once on the world as it is, little of it would remain.... It is patiently preparing its advent."


page 265 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 15th Nov. - 1966


(Mother first reads her "message" for the year 1967:)

Men, countries, continents!

The choice is imperative:

Truth or the abyss.


page 302 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Dec. - 1966



Mother shows a note she has just written: I wrote this to someone here.... He hasn't been in India for a long time, and he doesn't understand anything about Indians - which isn't a crime, but he's full of scorn. Because he doesn't understand he is full of scorn. So I wrote him this:

"One should be careful not to scorn what one

does not understand, for innumerable are the

marvels sealed from our narrow view.

"The Lord has unsuspected splendors which

He reveals progressively to our too limited under

standing."

page 35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 28th Jan - 1967


To tell the truth, the Lord makes use of everything! One is always on the way towards something.


page 38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 28th Jan - 1967


I told you the other day that I'd met D. before she left [in search of a Tibetan guru] and we had talked together. I told her about Sri Aurobindo and his teaching. But she has been converted! Yes, really. She again wrote me a letter, which I've just got today (it's the second letter she has written me from up there), in which she says she has met that famous Tibetan sage with whom she wanted to discuss.... He seems to have made fun of her - she doesn't say so, but she says he "constantly puts you face to face with your mental formations" (he must have shown her that she was feeding on words). And then she adds, "But as for me, I feel, I do feel your love always with me, and everything is fine." - Never! It's the first time in her life she has told me this. So it gave me the idea of writing down what I told her about Sri Aurobindo's teaching: "In order to understand and follow Sri Aurobindo's teaching, one must learn to rise above all possibility of contradiction." That is, to reach the region where contradictions no longer exist. That's true. You understand, if you take quotations from Sri Aurobindo on a particular subject, you can put side by side things that are the very opposite of each other: he says one thing, then its opposite, then again something different. So to understand him and not keep saying to yourself, "But why does he constantly say the opposite of what he said just before!", you must learn to rise up above - up above, it's quite fine (!) There, it's ... very interesting. Once you are there, it's very interesting. And from the practical point of view, the remarkable thing is that in that region, which is beyond all possible contradictions, there lies the source of the true Power.
page 171 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967


(Message for Sri Aurobindo's ninety-fifth birthday:)

"But in any case the Divine Power is working always behind and one day, perhaps when one least expects it, the obstacle breaks, the clouds vanish and there is again the light and the sunshine. The

best thing in these cases is, if one can manage it, not to fret, not to despond, but to insist quietly and keep oneself open, spread to the Light and waiting in faith for it to come: that, I have found, shortens these ordeals."

Sri Aurobindo


page 261-62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 15th Aug - 1967



(Mother hands to Satprem the message she has given for February 21, her ninety-first birthday anniversary:)
"It is only immutable peace that can make possible eternity of existence."

page 71 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 22nd feb - 1969




-433_The Mother in France.html



As a child, when I was around ten or twelve years old, I had some rather interesting experiences which I didn't understand at all. I had some history books - you know, the textbooks they give you to learn history. Well, I'd read and suddenly the book would seem to become transparent, or the printed words would become transparent, and I'd see other words or even pictures. I hadn't the faintest idea what was happening to me! And it appeared so natural to me that I thought it was the same for everybody. But my brother and I were great chums (he was only a year and a half older), so I would tell him: "They talk nonsense in history, you know - it is LIKE THIS; it isn't like that: it is LIKE THIS!" And several times the corrections I got on one person or another turned out to be quite exact and detailed. And (I see it now - I understood it later on) they were certainly memories. About some passages I would even say, "How stupid! It was never that; THIS is what was said. It never happened like that; THIS is how it happened." And the book was simply open before me; I was just reading along like any other child and ... suddenly something would occur. It was something in me, of course, but I used to think it was in the book! I found out many, many things about Joan of Arc - many things. And with stunning precision, which made it extremely interesting. I won't repeat them because I don't remember with exactness, and these things have no value unless they are exact. And then, for the Italian Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa; and for the French Renaissance: François I, Marguerite de Valois, [[Of whom Clement Marot said: "Body of a woman, heart of a man, and face of an angel." ]] and so forth. Twice I knew that it wasn't just images but something that had happened to ME, but it took another form. Once (when I was older, around twenty) it happened at Versailles. I had been invited to dinner by a cousin who, with no warning, served me dry champagne during dinner - and I drank it unsuspectingly (I who never drank at all, neither wine nor liquor!).... When I had to get up and cross the crowded room, oh, how very difficult it became, so difficult! Then we went to a place near the chateau, with a view of the whole park. And I was staring at the park, when I saw ... I saw the park filling up with lights (the electric lights had vanished), with all kinds of lights, torches, lanterns ... and then crowds of people walking about ... in Louis XIV dress! I was staring at this with my eyes wide open, holding on to the balustrade to keep from falling down (I wasn't too sure of myself!). I was seeing it all, then I saw myself there, engrossed in conversation with some people (I don't remember now, but there were certain "corrections" here too).... I mean I was a certain person (I don't remember who) and there were those two brothers who were sculptors (Mother vainly tries to recollect the names[[Mother later tried to recall the names again, without success: "Those sculptor brothers did a lot of work on the palace at Versailles.... And I am not sure if it wasn't Mme de Montespan. I don't remember any more. This kind of thing should not be talked about vaguely. At the time it was precise, exact: I knew all the names, all the details, all the words - but I never wrote it down and now it's gone. And these things shouldn't be told approximately. I'll do some research on these sculptor brothers. No, just leave it as it is: a few 'vaguenesses' (Mother laughs)." ]]) ... anyhow, all kinds of people were there and I saw myself talking, chatting. And I seem to have been sufficiently in control of myself, because when I related all that I had seen, there were some quite interesting details and corrections. That was one time. There was another time at Blois. They make Anjou wine at Blois. It was the same story: I never drank anything but water or herb tea, but there was a luncheon and they served us sparkling Anjou wine ... it seemed so light! Afterwards (I was with an artist friend, we were all artists) we went to see the museum, and it appears I was sparkling with wit! And I suddenly halted in front of a painting by ... now let's see, who was it? Coué?... No, Clouet! Clouet: the princess ... one of the princesses. [[Has Mother confused Clouet with Corneille de Lyon? Because it seems there is no Clouet at Blois, but there is a portrait of Madeleine of Scotland, daughter of François 1, painted by Corneille de Lyon. Unless Mother confused Blois with another town and another chateau? ]] And I started making a few remarks out loud (it took me a little while to notice that people were listening). "Look at this!" I was saying. "Just look at this! Look what this fellow has done to me! See what he's done to me - it wasn't at all like that!" It was actually a beautiful painting, but I was quite unhappy about it: "Look what he's done to me! Look - he made this like that, but that's not at all how it was, it was LIKE THIS! " Details.... And then I became aware (I wasn't too conscious physically) ... I realized that people were standing around listening, so I got a grip on myself, and left without a word. But I told my friends, "Listen, it was definitely me! It was MY portrait, it was ME!

Almost all my memories of past lives came like that; the particular being reincarnated in me rises to the surface and begins acting as if it were all on its own! Once in Italy, when I was fifteen, it happened in an extraordinary way. But that time I did some research. I was in Venice with my mother and I researched in museums and archives, and I discovered my name, and the names of the other people involved. I had relived a scene in the Ducal Palace, but relived it in such a ... such an absolutely intense way (laughing - a scene where I was being strangled and thrown into a canal!) that my mother had to hurry me out of there as fast as she could! But that experience I wrote down, so the exact memory has been kept (I didn't write down the other experiences, so the details have all faded away, but this one was noted, although I didn't include any names). The next morning I did some research and uncovered the whole story. I told it all to Théon and Madame Théon, and he also had the memory of a past life there, during the same period. And as a matter of fact, I had seen a portrait there that was the spitting image of Théon! The portrait of one of the doges. It was absolutely (it was a Titian) ... absolutely Théon! HIS portrait, you know, as if it had just been done.[[Here we have a choice between several chilling faces. Of the five portraits of doges by Titian, that of the doge Antonio Crimani, painted between 1555 and 1576, is one of the few that have remained in the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. Might this be the one? ]] All those kinds of things came to me just like that, without my looking for them, wanting them, or understanding them, without doing any sort of discipline, nothing - it was absolutely spontaneous. And they just kept on coming and coming and coming. From the time I met Théon, it all got clarified: I saw it all clearly, understood and organized it. But a good deal of it happened before - everything I have just told you happened before I met Théon.
"One after the other, these vital beings came," you say, "and some of them have even been in men...."
One of them was in Murat, on the day of his great victory. [[Is the battle in question here that of Eylau (February 8, 1807) or Friedland (June 14, 1807)? ]] It was a vital force that took possession of him and remained just for that victory; and it came into me, so I saw it all! I saw its entry into Murat's body and the whole battle scene - I lived through it all. And once the battle was over, it left him. It was very interesting.
I wanted to clarify something.... I don't know if Mona Lisa and Marguerite de Valois were your incarnations, but weren't they contemporaries!?...
Yes, but I told you - four at once![[ Conversation of June 27. ]] Four at once. And, in general, they were the different states of being of the Mother - the four aspects. Generally one aspect in each embodiment (when there were four). Or else this or that aspect might have been less present in one embodiment and more present in another. Sometimes there was a fairly central presence and then at the same time less central, less important emanations. But that has happened several times - several times. On two occasions it was particularly clear. But I have often sensed that there wasn't merely ONE embodiment, that the course of history may have crystallized around this or that person, but there were other embodiments less (how to put it?) ... less conspicuous, somewhere else. They are the different aspects of the Mother. page 230-33 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th June 1962


In fact, if I look at the order my own yoga took.... When I was five years old (I must have begun earlier, but the memory is a bit vague and imprecise) ... but from five onwards, in my consciousness (not a mental memory but - how can I put it? - it's noted, a notation in my consciousness) ... well, I began with consciousness. Of course I had no idea what it was. But my first experience was of the consciousness here (gesture above the head), which I felt like a Light and a Force; and I felt it there (same gesture) at the age of five. It was a very pleasant sensation. I would sit in a little armchair made especially for me, all alone in my room, and I ... (I didn't know what it was, you see, not a thing, nothing - mentally zero) and I had a VERY PLEASANT feeling of something very strong, very luminous, and it was here (above the head). Consciousness. And I felt, "That's what I have to live, what I have to be." Not with all those words, naturally, but ... (Mother makes a gesture of aspiration Upward). Then I would pull it down, for it was ... it was truly my raison d'être. That is my first memory - at five years old. Its impact was more on the ethical side than the intellectual; and yet it took an intellectual
form too, since.... You see, apparently I was a child like any other, except that I was hard to handle. Hard in the sense that I had no interest in food, no interest in ordinary games, no liking for going to my friends' houses for snacks, because eating cake wasn't the least bit interesting! And it was impossible to punish me because I really couldn't have cared less: being deprived of dessert was rather a relief for me! And then I flatly refused to learn reading, I refused to learn. And even bathing me was very hard, because I was put in the care of an English governess, and that meant cold baths - my brother took it in stride, but I just howled! Later it was found to be bad for me (the doctor said so), but that was much later. So you get the picture. But whenever there was unpleasantness with my relatives, with playmates or friends, I would feel all the nastiness or bad will - all sorts of pretty ugly things that came (I was rather sensitive, for I instinctively nurtured an ideal of beauty and harmony, which all the circumstances of life kept denying)... so whenever I felt sad, I was most careful not to say anything to my mother or father, because my father didn't give a hoot and my mother would scold me - that was always the first thing she did. And so I would go to my room and sit down in my little armchair, and there I could concentrate and try to understand ... in my own way. And I remember that after quite a few probably fruitless attempts I wound up telling myself (I always used to talk to myself; I don't know why or how, but I would talk to myself just as I talked to others): "Look here, you feel sad because so-and-so said something really disgusting to you - but why does that make you cry? Why are you so sad? He's the one who was bad, so he should be crying. You didn't do anything bad to him.... Did you tell him nasty things? Did you fight with her, or with him? No, you didn't do anything, did you; well then, you needn't feel sad. You should only be sad if you've done something bad, but...." So that settled it: I would never cry. With just a slight inward movement, or "something" that said, "You've done no wrong," there was no sadness. But there was another side to this "someone": it was watching me more and more, and as soon as I said one word or made one gesture too many, had one little bad thought, teased my brother or whatever, the smallest thing, it would say (Mother takes on a severe tone), "Look out, be careful!" At first I used to moan about it, but by and by it taught me: " Don't lament - put right, mend." And when things could be mended - as they almost always could - I would do so. All that on a five to seven-year-old child's scale of intelligence.
So it was consciousness. Next came the period of learning and developing, but on an ordinary mental level - school years.[[ Mother clarified: "Actually, a growth of consciousness was going on throughout those years of study; I didn't learn things by rote, I needed to understand them; and as soon as I understood something, I knew it. In other words, because the learning period was not yet intellectual, it can be considered part of the period of consciousness development." ]] Curiosity made me want to learn to read. Did I tell you how it happened? When I was around seven, just under seven, my brother, who was eighteen months older, used to bring big pictures home from school with him (you know, pictures for children with captions at the bottom; they're still used nowadays) and he gave me one of them. "What's written there?" I asked. "Read it!" he said. "Don't know how," I replied. "Then learn!" "All right," I told him, "show me the letters." He brought me an A-B-C book. I knew it within two days and on the third day I started reading. That's how I learned. "Oh-oh," they used to say, "this child is backward! Seven years old and she still can't read - disgraceful!" The whole family fretted about it. And then lo and behold, in about a week I knew what should have taken me years to learn - it made them think twice! Then, school years. I was a very bright student, always for the same reason: I wanted to understand. I wasn't interested in learning things by heart like the others did - I wanted to understand them. And what a memory I had, a fantastic memory for sounds and images! I had only to read a poem aloud at night, and the next morning I knew it. And after I had studied or read a book and someone mentioned a passage to me, I would say, "Ah, yes - that's on page so and so." I would find the page. Nothing had faded, it was all still fresh. But this is the ordinary period of development. Then at a very young age (about eight or ten), along with my studies I began to paint. At twelve I was already doing portraits. All aspects of art and beauty, but particularly music and painting, fascinated me. I went through a very intense vital development during that period, with, just like in my early years, the presence of a kind of inner Guide; and all centered on studies: the study of sensations, observations, the study of technique, comparative studies, even a whole spectrum of observations dealing with taste, smell and hearing - a kind of classification of experiences. And this extended to all facets of life, all the experiences life can bring, all of them - miseries, joys, difficulties, sufferings, everything - oh, a whole field of studies! And always this presence within, judging, deciding, classifying, organizing and systematizing everything. Then conscious yoga made a sudden entry into the picture when I met Théon; I must have been about twenty-one. Life's orientation changed, a whole series of experiences took place, with the development of the vital giving interesting occult results.
Then, a period of intensive mental development, mental development of the most complete type: a study of all the philosophies, all the conceptual juggling, in minute detail - delving into systems, getting a grasp on them. Ten years of intensive mental studies leading me to ... Sri Aurobindo. So I had all this preparation. And I am giving you these details simply to tell you it all began with consciousness (I knew very well what consciousness was, even before I had any word or idea to explain it), consciousness and its force - its force of action, its force of execution. Next, a detailed study and thorough development of the vital. After that, mental development taken to its uppermost limit, where you can juggle with all ideas; a developmental stage where it's already understood that all ideas are true and that there's a synthesis to be made, and that beyond the synthesis lies something luminous and true. And behind it all, a continual consciousness. Such was my state when I came here: I'd had a world of experiences and had already attained conscious union with the Divine above and within - all of it consciously realized, carefully noted and so forth - when I came to Sri Aurobindo. From the standpoint of shakti, this is the normal course: consciousness, vital, mental and spiritual. Is it different for men? I don't know. Sri Aurobindo's case was quite special, and apart from him I don't see any convincing example. But generally speaking, what is most developed in a man, along with the mind, is the physical consciousness; the vital is very impulsive, practically ungoverned. That's my experience of the hundreds and hundreds of men I have met. There's normally a physical strength built up through games and exercises, and side by side a more or less advanced, but primarily mental development, very mental. The vital is terribly impulsive and barely organized, except in artists, and even there.... I lived among artists for ten years and found this ground to be mostly fallow. I mingled with all the great artists of the time, I was like a kid sister to them (it was at the turn of the century, with the Universal Exposition in 1900; and these were the leading artists of the epoch); so I was by far the youngest, much younger than any of them - they were all thirty, thirty-five, forty years old, while I was nineteen or twenty. Well I was much more advanced in their own field - not in what I was producing (I was a perfectly ordinary artist), but from the viewpoint of consciousness: observations, experiences, studies. I am not sure, but it seems to me that the problem of consciousness ought to come first. page 278-81, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 25th July 1962.


I have seen that the different stages of my development occurred in twelve-year periods, though I don't recall the exact dates. The first period, from the age of five (I can't start earlier than five!) to about eighteen, dealt with consciousness. Then came all the artistic and vital development, culminating in the occult development with Théon (I met Théon around 1905 or '06, I think[[In fact, Mother met Théon for the first time one day in 1904, in Paris. Then she went to Tlemcen in 1905 and again in 1906. ]]). Then right around this time an intensive mental development began - from 1908 to 1920, or a little before; but it was especially intense before coming here in 1914. And 1920 marked the beginning of full development. Not spiritual development - that had been going on from the very start -but ACTION, the action with Sri Aurobindo. That was clearly from 1920 on; I had met Sri Aurobindo earlier, but it really began in 1920.[[When Mother returned from Japan in April 1920. ]]
And the realization of the inner Divine?
The dates ... I am no good at dates! And I don't have any papers left to give me precise details. But the realization of the inner Divine must have been in 1911, because that's when I started writing my Meditations. [[The first Prayers and Meditations date from November 1912, but there may have been earlier ones among the numerous texts Mother destroyed. ]] But since my earliest childhood, you know, this presence was always there, with an initial emphasis on consciousness, then on the vital and aesthetics, then on the mind ... and culminating here, in 1920, with action. From 1911 or '12, up to 1914, there was the whole series of inner experiences, psychic experiences, preparing me to meet Sri Aurobindo (so this ran parallel to my mental development). In practice, these periods overlap, but approximately every twelve years a particular type of development predominated, in this order: consciousness first, then the vital (mainly from the aesthetic point of view, but a study of sensations as well), then the mind, then spiritual realization. And in between the vital and mental phases came the brief period of occultism, serving both as a transition and a basis for spiritual development. page 290-91, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 28th July 1962.


For a long, long time, that was also the one thing I felt was worth living for - Consciousness. When I met Théon and came to understand the mechanism, I also understood why I wasn't conscious at a certain level. I think I've told you how I spent ten months one year working to connect two layers - two layers of consciousness; the contact wasn't established and so I couldn't have the spontaneous experience of a whole spectrum of things. Madame Théon told me, "It's because there's an undeveloped layer between this part and that part." I was very conscious of all the gradations: Théon had explained it all in the simplest terms, so you didn't need to be, as I said, a genius to understand. He had made a quadruple division, and each of them was divided into four, and then again into four, making innumerable divisions of the being; but with that mental simplification you could make in-depth psychological studies of your own being. And so by observation and elimination I eventually discovered that between this and that (gesture indicating two levels of Mother's consciousness), there was an undeveloped layer - it wasn't conscious. So I worked for ten months on nothing but that: absolutely no results. I didn't care, I kept right on, telling myself, "Well, it may take me fifty years to get anywhere, who knows." And then I left for the country (I was living in Paris at the time). I lay down on the grass, and all at once, with the contact of earth and grass, poof! There was a sort of inner explosion - the link was established, and full consciousness came, along with all the ensuing experiences. "Well," I said to myself, "it was worth all the trouble!"

page 335-36 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 5th Sept 1962


The only experience of my life was that world of music - it was overwhelming. It was so.... It was the Divine!
Yes, indeed - that's how it is.
Now that's what I call an experience.
Yes, I understand. How did it happen?
Simply while I was sleeping one night. In Ceylon.
At what time?
Towards the end of the night, I suppose, because I woke up and I was ... I don't know, for a good two hours I was like someone in a state of shock. "It's not possible," I was saying, "it's not possible." I really couldn't get over it.
Yes, that's an experience! (Mother laughs.) But you know, when you come into contact with the God within, that's really an experience too. It has the same kind of reality and intensity of your experience, ALONG WITH the sense of the eternal Divine. And it's simply the inner Divine: there's no need to fly off to the heights, it's right here (Mother touches her heart). It's the experience I had in 1912. The first contact, when you go within and then THAT'S IT ... that concrete reality, that intensity beyond any possible physical intensity. And then the sense of: that's IT - the Divine. This is the Divine. This is the divine Reality; this is it, the Divine. You ARE the Divine. That's the experience. It's the base, the basic experience. Once you have it, you may progress more or less rapidly; although if you truly give yourself, you progress very rapidly. Externally you are in a position where, having that experience, you could cover the whole path in a matter of years and straight-away begin the work of transformation (Mother touches her body). To have it (just to give you an idea) took me a year of exclusive concentration on finding that within myself - that is, to enter into contact with the immanent God. I did nothing but that, thought of nothing but that, wanted nothing but that. There was even a rather funny instance, because I had resolved to do it (I had already been working for a very long time, of course; Madame Théon had told me about my mission on earth and all that, so you can imagine - I am talking about the psychic being belonging to this present creation, this formation - Mother touches her body) ... anyway, it was New Year's Eve and I decided: "Within the coming year." I had a large, almost square studio, a bit bigger than this room, with a door leading onto a patio. I opened the little door and looked at the sky and there, just as I looked, was a shooting star. You know the tradition: if you formulate an aspiration just as you see a shooting star, before the star disappears, it will be realized within the year. And there, just as I opened the door, was a shooting star - I was totally in my aspiration: "Union with the inner Divine." And before the end of December of the following year, I had the experience. But I was entirely concentrated on that. I was in Paris, and I did nothing else but that; when I walked down the street, I was thinking only of that. One day, as I was crossing the Boulevard Saint Michel, I was almost run over (I've told you this), because I was thinking of nothing but that - concentrating, concentrating ... like sitting in front of a closed door, and it was painful! (intense gesture to the chest) Physically painful, from the pressure. And then suddenly, for no apparent reason - I was neither more concentrated nor anything else - poof! It opened. And with that.... It didn't just last for hours, it lasted for months, mon petit! It didn't leave me, that light, that dazzling light, that light and immensity. And the sense of THAT willing, THAT knowing, THAT ruling the whole life, THAT guiding everything - since then, this sense has never left me for a minute. And always, whenever I had a decision to make, I would simply stop for a second and receive the indication from there. But that was ages ago. I have done a lot of things since then. It was long ago, in 1912. And now ... oh, this old carcass! It does its best. page 399-400 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th Oct. 1962


Oh, listen (this is not meant to be published or told), I don't know if I've told you already. I was nine or ten years old, I was running with some friends in the forest of Fontainebleau (I've told this story somewhere). The forest is rather dense, so you can't see very far ahead. We were running, and speeding along as I was, I didn't see I was coming to the edge overhanging the road. The place where we were was about ten feet above the road (more than a story high), and the road was paved with stones - freshly paved. And we were running. I was racing ahead, the others were behind. Well, I'd built up such momentum that I couldn't stop - whoosh! I went sailing into the air. I was ten, eleven at the most, mind you, with no notion of the miraculous or the marvelous, nothing, nothing - I was just flung into the air. And I felt something supporting me, holding me up, and I was literally SET DOWN on the ground, on the stones. I got up (I found it perfectly natural, you understand!): not a scratch, not a speck of dust, nothing, absolutely intact. I fell down very, very slowly. Then everyone rushed up to see. "Oh, it's nothing!" I said, "I am all right." And I left it at that. But the impression lingered. That feeling of something carrying me (gesture of a slow fall, like a leaf falling in stages with slight pauses): I fell down that slow. And the material proof was there, it was no illusion since I was unscathed - the road was paved with stones (you know the flint stones of France?): not a scratch, nothing. Not a speck of dust. The soul was very alive at the time, and with all its strength it resisted the intrusion of the material logic [[Just what presides over the "inevitability" of accidents, including gravitation, illness and death. ]] of the world - so it seemed to me perfectly natural. I simply thought, "No. Accidents can't happen to me."
But flung like that! ... For a very long time the memory of the SENSATION remained: something that went like this (same gesture of a leaf falling) and simply set me down on the road. When I worked with Théon, the memory came back, and I saw it was an entity: what people in Europe call angels (what do they call it?) ... guardian angels, that's right. An entity. Théon had told me of certain worlds (worlds of the higher intellect - I don't remember, he had named all the different planes), and in that world are winged beings - who have wings of their own free choice, because they find it pretty! And Madame Théon had always seen two such beings with me. Yet she knew me more than ten years later. And it appears they were always with me. So I took a look and, sure enough, there they were. One even tried to draw: he asked me to lend him my hand to do drawings. I lent my hand, but when I saw the drawing (he did one), I told him, "The ones I do without you are much better!" So that was the end of the matter!
What did it depict?
Funny drawings. One showed a sea with a rock and a small figure (that one was the best). A high cliff, a tiny figure, and then the sea. It wasn't very good! I would lend my hand and look elsewhere - I didn't look at what I was drawing to make sure there was no subconscious interference. And I could distinctly feel his hand moving mine. After a while, I said to myself, "I think I'll take a look." I looked - "I say," I told him, "It's not up to much!" It was in Tlemcen. That kind of oddity never interested me. I found them simply natural. But these are what people call miracles. page 73-74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th March 1963


There was another occurrence (less striking), once in a room as long as this one and wider, [[About forty feet long and thirteen feet wide. ]] the salon in my family's house. Some little friends had come and we were playing. I told them, "I'll show you how one should dance." I went to a corner of the room to get the longest distance to another corner, and I told them, "One single step in the middle." And I did it! (Mother laughs) I sprang (I didn't even feel I was jumping, it was like dancing, you know, like when they dance on point), landed on the tips of my toes, bounced up and reached the other corner - you can't do that alone, even champions cannot. The length of the jump went beyond records, because afterwards I asked here, when we started physical exercises at the Ashram, I asked what the longest jump was - mine was longer! And they take a run up, you see, they run and then jump. But I didn't run: I was standing in the corner, and hop! up I went (I said "hop!" to myself, soundlessly), and frrrt! I landed on the tips of my toes, bounced and landed the other side - quite evidently I was carried. All this took place before the age of thirteen or fourteen (from eight to thirteen or fourteen). Many things of the kind, all of which seemed to me perfectly natural - it didn't feel as though I was doing something miraculous. Perfectly natural. I remember also, once, there were iron hoops (I don't know if they still exist) bordering the lawns in the Bois de Boulogne - and I used to take a walk on them! It was a challenge I threw to my brother (there was a difference of sixteen months between us, he was older - and much better behaved too!). I told him, "Can you walk on these?" "Leave me alone," he answered, "it's not interesting." "Just watch!" I told him. And I started walking on them, with such ease! As if I had done it all my life. It was the same phenomenon: I felt weightless. Always the feeling of being carried: something holding me up, carrying me. And now if I compare the movement or the sensation ... it's the same as that vast movement of wings - the same vibration. After thirteen or fourteen years, it became more difficult. But before that, it was really fine. page 74-75 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th March 1963


But I found a far lovelier miracle.... It was at Tlemcen, I was playing the piano, I don't recall what (a Beethoven or a Mozart piece). Théon had a piano (because his English secretary used to play the piano), and this piano was in his drawing room, which was on a level with the mountain, halfway up, almost at the top. That is to say, you had to climb two flights of stairs inside the house to reach the drawing room, but the drawing room had large French doors opening out onto the mountainside - it was very beautiful. So then, I used to play in the afternoon, with the French doors wide open. One day, when I finished playing, I turned around to get up, and what did I see but a big toad, all warts - a huge toad - and it was going puff, puff, puff (you know how they inflate and deflate), it was inflating and deflating, inflating and deflating ... as though it were in seventh heaven! It had never heard anything so marvelous! It was all alone, as big as this, all round, all black, all warts, between those high doors - French doors wide open to the sun and light. It sat in the middle. It went on for a little while, then when it saw the music was over, it turned around, hop-hop-hopped ... and vanished. That admiration of a toad filled me with joy! It was charming.

(silence)

Also when I was eleven or twelve, my mother rented a cottage at the edge of a forest: we didn't have to go through the town. I used to go and sit in the forest all alone. I would sit lost in reverie. One day (it happened often), one day some squirrels had come, several birds, and also (Mother opens her eyes wide), deer, looking on.... How lovely it was! When I opened my eyes and saw them, I found it charming - they scampered away.
The memory of all these things returned AFTERWARDS, when I met Théon - long afterwards, when I was more than twenty, that is, more than ten years later. I met Théon and got the explanation of these things, I understood. Then I remembered all that had happened to me, and I thought, "Well! ..." Because Madame Théon said to me (I told her all my childhood stories), she said to me, "Oh, but I know, you are THAT, the stamp of THAT is on you." I thought over what she had said, and I saw it was indeed true. All those experiences I had were very clear indications that there were certainly people in the invisible looking after me! (Mother laughs) Interestingly there was nothing mental about it: I didn't know the existence of those things, I didn't know what meditation was - I meditated without the least idea of what it was. I knew nothing, absolutely nothing, my mother had kept it all completely taboo: those matters are not to be touched, they drive you crazy! Later, the memories came back. page 76-77 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th March 1963


I had two experiences of that kind. The first was at Tlemcen [[Mother means the experience when the link is cut off and one cannot reenter one's body (which means one is medically dead). The first experience at Tlemcen is probably the one when Théon had a fit of anger while Mother had gone out in her vital body in search of the mantra of life," and the link was cut off by Theon's anger. ]] and the second in Japan.... There was an epidemic of influenza, an influenza that came from the war (the 1914 war), and was generally fatal. People would get pneumonia after three days, and plop! finished. In Japan they never have epidemics (it's a country where epidemics are unknown), so they were caught unawares; it was an ideal breeding ground, absolutely unprepared - incredible: people died by the thousands every day, it was incredible! Everybody lived in terror, they didn't dare to go out without masks over their mouths. Then somebody whom I won't name asked me (in a brusque tone), "What Is this?" I answered him, "Better not think about it." "Why not?" he said, "It's very interesting! We must find out, at least you are able to find out whatever this is." Silly me, I was just about to go out; I had to visit a girl who lived at the other end of Tokyo (Tokyo is the largest city in the world, it takes a long time to go from one end to the other), and I wasn't so well-off I could go about in a car: I took the tram.... What an atmosphere! An atmosphere of panic in the city! You see, we lived in a house surrounded by a big park, secluded, but the atmosphere in the city was horrible. And the question, "What Is this?" naturally came to put me in contact - I came back home with the illness. I was sure to catch it, it had to happen! (laughing) I came home with it.

Like a bang on the head - I was completely dazed. They called a doctor. There were no medicines left in the city - there weren't enough medicines for people, but as we were considered important people (!) the doctor brought two tablets. I told him (laughing), "Doctor, I never take any medicines." "What!" he said. "It's so hard to get them!" "That's just the point," I replied, "they're very good for others!" Then, then ... suddenly (I was in bed, of course, with a first-rate fever), suddenly I felt seized by trance - the real trance, the kind that pushes you out of your body - and I knew. I knew: "It's the end; if I can't resist it, it's the end." So I looked. I looked and I saw it was a being whose head had been half blown off by a bomb and who didn't know he was dead, so he was hooking on to anybody he could to suck life. And each of those beings (I saw one over me, doing his "business"!) was one of the countless dead. Each had a sort of atmosphere - a very widespread atmosphere - of human decomposition, utterly pestilential, and that's what gave the illness. If it was merely that, you recovered, but if it was one of those beings with half a head or half a body, a being who had been killed so brutally that he didn't know he was dead and was trying to get hold of a body in order to continue his life (the atmosphere made thousands of people catch the illness every day, it was swarming, an infection), well, with such beings, you died. Within three days it was over - even before, within a day, sometimes. So once I saw and knew, I collected all the occult energy, all the occult power, and ... (Mother bangs down her fist, as if to force her way into her body) I found myself back in my bed, awake, and it was over. Not only was it over, but I stayed very quiet and began to work in the atmosphere.... From that moment on, mon petit, there were no new cases! It was so extraordinary that it appeared in the Japanese papers. They didn't know how it happened, but from that day on, from that night on, not a single fresh case. And people recovered little by little. I told the story to our Japanese friend in whose house we were living, I told him, "Well, that's what this illness is - a remnant of the war; and here's the way it happens.... And that being was repaid for his attempt!" Naturally, the fact that I repelled his influence by turning around and fighting ... [dissolved the formation]. But what power it takes to do that! Extraordinary. page 116-17 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 20th April 1963


I am not positive, but when he gave you this diagram, had he had in himself the conscious meaning, he would have passed it on to you.... I have a feeling he is more like a scholar. He has perhaps more of an impression than an understanding.
But where does the significance of figures come from?
The deeper significance of figures ... There are countless traditions, countless scriptures ... which I took great care not to follow. But the deeper significance of figures came to me in Tlemcen, when I was in the Overmind. I don't remember the names Théon used to give to those various worlds, but it was a world that corresponded to the highest and most luminous regions of Sri Aurobindo's Overmind. It was above, just above the gods' region. And it was something in accord with the Overmind creation - the earth under the gods' influence. That was where figures took on a living meaning for me - not a mental speculation: a living meaning. That was where Madame Théon recognized me, because of the formation of twelve pearls she saw above my head; and she told me, "You are that because you have this. Only that can have this!" (Mother laughs) It hadn't even remotely occurred to me, thank God! But figures are alive for me. They have a concrete reality. And this (the diagram) is meant to prepare for the "second birth" mentioned in the Vedas, the spiritual birth. Through it one becomes a complete being, consciously complete. Of course, it's the beginning of realization. But for many people it's the ultimate term. I hope it won't tire you out any more. page 138 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 11th May 1963


It's true, people are generally built for the place where they are to live, but in my case, I felt comfortable only here. Up to the age of thirty, my whole childhood and youth, I always felt cold - always cold. And in winter ... Yet I went skating, did exercises, I led a very active life - but cold, terribly cold! I felt as if I lacked the sun. But when I came here: "Ah, at last! (Mother takes a breath) Now I am comfortable." The first year when I came here, bringing all that accumulated cold in my body, at the height of summer, in this season, I was going about in a woolen suit! A skirt, a blouse and a cloak. People would stare at me.... I didn't even notice it - it was my natural dress. When I left again, I went by boat (people didn't travel by plane at the time), and when I came to the middle of the Mediterranean, I fell sick - sick from the cold, in the Mediterranean! So you see, I was built for the work here, (laughing) it was foreseen! page 177 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963


"But I can tell you about my own experience. Until the age of about twenty-five, I only knew the God of religions, God as men made him, and I did not want him at any cost. I denied his existence with the certitude that if such a God existed, I detested him.
"Around twenty-five, I found the inner God, and at the same time I learned that the God described by most Western religions was none other than the Great Adversary.
"When I came to India ...
Oh, here we should say how long afterwards.... I was twenty-five, and I was born in 18 ... 78.
It was in 1903.
And I came to India in 1914. We should specify that. It's around 1903 that I had the experience of the inner Divine. "When I came to India in 1914 and I knew Sri Aurobindos teaching, everything became very clear."


page 118-19 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 25th March - 1970


I acquired that psychic consciousness just before leaving for Tlemcen. And it grew stronger there.


page 158 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th Apr - 1972-1973




-434_The Mother's prayers.html



Glory to You, O Lord, all-triumphant Supreme, Grant that nothing in us shall be an obstacle to Your work, Grant that everything in us may be ready for Your manifestation.
page 210 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 5th July - 1967





-435_The Mother's sutras.html


THE MOTHER'S SUTRAS 1) Be ambitious for nothing, above all pretend nothing, but be at each instant the utmost of what you can be.² 2) As for your place in the universal manifestation, only the Supreme can assign it to you. 3) It is the Supreme Lord who has ineluctably decreed the place you occupy in the universal concert, but whatever be this place, you have equally the same right as all others to ascend the supreme summits right to the supramental realization. 4) What you are in the truth of your being is decreed in an irrevocable way, and nothing nor anyone can stop you from being it; but the path you take to get there is left to your own free choice. 5) On the road of the ascending evolution, every one is free to choose the direction he will take: the swift and steep climb towards the summits of Truth, to the supreme realization, or turning his back to the peaks, the easy descent to the interminable meanderings of endless incarnations. 6) In the course of time and even in the course of your present life, you can make your choice once and for all, irrevocably, and then you have only to confirm it with every new occasion; or else if you do not take a definite decision from the beginning, you will have to choose anew at each moment between the falsehood and the Truth.
page 119 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 1957
To know life utterly ... Oh, there is a very interesting thing in this regard! And it's strange, but this particular knowledge reminds me of one of my Sutras' (which I read out, but no one understood or understood only vaguely, 'like that'): 'It is the Supreme Lord who has ineluctably decreed the place you occupy in the universal con cert, but whatever be this place, you have equally the same right as all others to ascend the supreme summits right to the supramental realization.' There is one's position in the universal hierarchy, which is something ineluctable - it is the eternal law - and there is the development in the manifestation, which is an education; it is progressive and done from within the being. What is remarkable is that to become a perfect being, this position - whatever it is, decreed since all eternity, a part of the eternal Truth - must manifest with the greatest possible perfection as a result of evolutionary growth. It is the junction, the union of the two, the eternal position and the evolutionary realization, that will make the total and perfect being, and the manifestation as the Lord has willed it since the beginning of all eternity (which has no beginning at all! ).
page 208 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Oct. - 1958

(Mother brings with her the continuation of the first seven

Sutras written by Her, probably in 1957.')

They are in two groups. The first group ends with a helping hand to those who have made the wrong choice (!): 7) But even in the event you have not made the irrevocable decision at the outset, should you have the good fortune to live during one of these unimaginable hours of universal history when the Grace is present, embodied upon earth, It will offer you, at certain exceptional moments, the renewed possibility of making a final choice that will lead you straight to the goal. That was the message of hope. And then it continues (Mother reads): 8) All division in the being is an insincerity. 9) The greatest insincerity is to carve an abyss between one's body and the truth of one's being. 10) When an abyss separates the true being from the physical being, Nature immediately fills it with all the hostile suggestions, of which the most deadly is fear and the most pernicious, doubt.
I wrote that before reading Sri Aurobindo's aphorism on "the sentinels of Nature." I found it very interesting and I said to myself, 'Well! That's exactly what came to me!' There is still one more (but it is not the last): 11) Allow nothing, nowhere, to deny the truth of your being: that is sincerity.

page 212-13 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 17th Oct. - 1958



-436_The Mother's symbol.html



The Mother's symbol

The central circle represents the Divine Consciousness.
The four petals represent the four powers of the Mother.
The twelve petals represent the twelve powers
of the Mother manifested for Her Work.

January 24, 1958

The Mother's symbol


page 28 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 13 , 1972-73 , 12th January 1972 .


Do you happen to remember where I wrote the twelve attributes of the Mother (the symbol with twelve petals)? There's one, four, and twelve.
Yes, I think it was for Auroville.
For Auroville? But I said it years ago....
I saw it recently.
The twelve?

(Sujata goes out in search of the paper)

On this one there aren't any details.

(Mother extends a note in English)

The Mother's symbol

The central circle represents the Divine Consciousness. The four petals represent the four powers of the Mother. The twelve petals represent the twelve powers of the Mother manifested for Her Work.

January 24, 1958

The Mother's symbol



page 27-28 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 12th Jan - 1972-1973



Did you find it?
There aren't any details.
Oh! No details....
You simply say:
The dot at the center represents unity, the Supreme.The inner circle represents the creation, the conception of the city [Auroville]. The petals represent the power of expression, the realization. [[Original English. ]]
No that's not it. I wrote something, or rather I told Sri Aurobindo, who wrote down what the twelve petals were (the four petals are the four main aspects of the Mother, and the twelve are the twelve qualities or "virtues" of the Mother, her powers). I said it one day, and Sri Aurobindo wrote it down; that's when we were living in the other house. [["Library House," or west wing of the Ashram, which they left on February 8, 1927, to move to "Meditation House," in the east wing. These two houses, along with two others ("Rosary" and "Secretariat"), form the Ashram compound. ]] I put it in a drawer among other papers of mine, but the drawer disappeared when we moved here, someone took it. Who, why, how, I have no idea. But the drawer disappeared. Then, I remember writing the twelve names again on a piece of paper which I kept with me, but now I can't find that one either.... Strange. [[According to Sri Aurobindo, "The twelve powers are the vibrations necessary for the complete manifestation." (Cent. Ed., XXV.359) ]]

page 28-30 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 12th Jan - 1972-1973


Last time I told you I was looking for the twelve attributes (Mother takes out a sheet of paper). Here they are, someone found this.
Sincerity - Humility - Gratitude - Perseverance Aspiration - Receptivity - Progress - Courage Goodness - Generosity - Equanimity - Peace
The first eight concern the attitude towards the Divine, and the last four towards humanity. And we also found a text from Sri Aurobindo (with a colored chart of the twelve petals):
Centre and four powers, white. The twelve all of different color in three groups: top group red, passing to orange towards yellow. Next group, yellow passing through green towards blue. And third group, blue passing through violet towards red. If white is not convenient, the center may be gold (powder).

March 20, 1934

The center is gold.
page 41 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th Jan - 1972-1973




-437_The Mother.html



For Sri Aurobindo, the important thing was always the Mother. As he explained it, the Mother has several aspects, and certain aspects are still unmanifest. So if he has represented the Mother by Kali in particular, I believe it's in relation to all those gods. [73] Because, as he wrote in The Mother, the aspects to be manifested depend upon the time, the need, the thing to be done. And he always said that unless one understands and profoundly feels the aspect of Kali, one can never really participate in the Work in the world - he felt that a sort of timid weakness makes people recoil before this terrible aspect.

page 74 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 11th Feb. 1961


Of course, very philosophical or learned people will pity you, but personally I don't care! I don't care. I am not a philosopher, I am not a scholar, I am not a savant, and I declare it very loudly: neither a philosopher nor a scholar nor a savant. And no pretension. Nor a littérateur, nor an artist - I am nothing at all. I am truly convinced of this. And it's absolutely unimportant - that's perfection for human beings. There is no greater joy than to know that you can do nothing and are absolutely helpless, that you're not the one who does, and that what little is done - little or big, it doesn't matter - is done by the Lord; and the responsibility is fully His. That makes you happy. With that, you are happy. page 159 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 - 11th Aug 1964




-438_student's questions.html



This morning I got a letter from a little girl who asks me, "What is consciousness? I asked my teachers, they answered me it was very hard to explain"! (Mother laughs) So she's asking me. And since she asked me, I've been looking at it. How can we express it? Do YOU know how it can be explained? Because the words we use are meaningless.
Spontaneously, I'd say it's the fire or the breath that carries the whole world. It's the fire that makes everything live - that makes the chest breathe, that makes the sea heave ...
That's not bad!
What would YOU say?
Here is what I found: it's the cause of existence - the cause and the effect at the same time. But that's not it. Your explanation is more poetic, it's more literary, but still I am not sure that's it.
It's the substance of the world, what constitutes the world.
Yes. If we say, "Without consciousness there is no world," it's much truer, but it doesn't explain. That was my first answer: without consciousness, no world, no existence.
It's the breath or the force that carries the world - that makes it be.
That's not bad, let's note it down!
Oh no! You are the one who must find it.
I have to answer this child.
Because otherwise, we are lost in abstractions.
Yes, and with abstractions, you use words that mean something else, that's all.
But how do YOU perceive consciousness?
Without consciousness, you can't feel anything. Consciousness is indeed the basis of all things.

(Mother looks at the child's letter and hands it to Satprem)

"Sweet Mother, I'd like to know: What is consciousness? I asked a teacher, but they said, 'It's very hard to explain.' I want your blessing so I do my exams well. You take my Pranams.[[Pranam: salutation, prostration. ]] Your little daughter." Without consciousness, no existence, that's perfectly true, but it doesn't explain what consciousness is. But your explanation is poetic enough, at any rate! In Indian philosophy, they put Existence before Consciousness. They say Sat-Chit-Ananda.[[Sat-Chit- Ananda: existence-consciousness-bliss. ]] So if we say, Chit-Sat-Ananda...! And it's not true.
It's not true, the Rishis always spoke of Fire, "Agni," which is the primordial substance.
But is "fire" consciousness?
Yes, it becomes consciousness - it is consciousness. It's consciousness-force. The Rishis said, "Even in the stone he is there, even in the waters he is there."
Yes, when I had that experience of the pulsations of Love creating the world, the pulsation came first, and afterwards the consciousness - the consciousness of the pulsation. So we could define it like this: when the ... the ... (I never know which name to use!) became conscious of Himself, that created the world.
In the Upanishads, they say "tapas"[[Tapas: energy or heat, or also the concentration of the power of consciousness. ]] created the world.
Yes, tapas is Power.
It's fire, too.
No, tapas is Power.
Chit-Tapas is heat.
They say, Sat, Chit-Tapas, Ananda. They put Chit-Tapas together. And it's Chit first, then Tapas. It's the creative power of consciousness.
But Sri Aurobindo always said "Consciousness-Force," indissolubly. We can't separate one from the other. There is no consciousness without force and no force without consciousness - it's Consciousness-Force. That's what the world is!
At any rate, it's not a very philosophical way to put it at all, it's very childlike, but it's much truer than metaphysical sentences: When the Lord became conscious of Himself, that created the world. So, let's note down your definition for the child.
No, your definition first, that's the first stage! Then the second stage, the human.

(Mother laughs and writes:)

"When the Lord became conscious of Himself, that created the world." Now your turn to say!
It's for you to say.
No, no! Let me hear it.
I don't know.... Consciousness is the breath or the fire that carries everything.
But if I say "fire," they'll immediately say, "Ah, consciousness is fire, then!"
The breath that carries everything, that makes everything breathe?

(Mother writes:)

"Consciousness is the breath that is the life of everything." No ... "that makes everything live." You understand, it's going to go all around the School from one class to another! (Laughing) I know what's going to happen! "Consciousness is the breath that makes everything live." There. She is lucky, that little one. Children are amusing!
29 June, 1966, vol - 7, L'Agenda de Mère


Rita:
"The actual fact of death evokes in me an experience in which one is thrust into space and soars up." Amusing! I found it very amusing. She is the only one, besides, the others are quite practical. [[This young girl, to whom death looked so graceful, was to die four years later. ]]
Dilip:
"A cessation of all physical activity caused by the absence of a source of energy (or soul)."
It's not clear.... The other two are quite practical (!)
Anand:
"When the brain stops functioning and the body starts decomposing, it's death."

(Mother laughs heartily)

The last one is quite matter-of-fact.
Abhijit:
"Blood circulation in the brain cells stops completely." That's death. As for me, I'll tell them this (Mother reads with difficulty): "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells making up the physical body. "Consciousness is, in its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it clothes itself in material forms that are durable to a greater or lesser degree. "The material substance is in process of transformation to become an increasingly perfect and durable multiform mode of expression for that consciousness." I am going to send it to them. But I appreciated their notes.... The interesting thing (for me) is that when I opened these four notes yesterday evening and read Abhijit's first, "When circulation stops ... ," then, I don't know, there certainly was a special grace over me, because I read those words and was instantly put in contact with the most objective, calm and detached scientific spirit - that was its way of seeing and describing the phenomenon: no emotion, no reaction, simply like that. And I saw (I understood and saw infinitely more than the boy put into it) a whole wisdom there, a scientific wisdom. And at the same time, the perception of the remedy in the evolutionary course of things. The most material remedy. It gave me a whole series of experiences in the night and the morning, certainly far exceeding the field covered by their four reflections.... With the little girl [Rita], there was the impression, the vision of all those to whom death is a gateway to a marvelous realization.

It all came so spontaneously and naturally that I felt as if it was THERE. Now that you've read it back to me (laughing), I realize it's not there! But it came so spontaneously: I sat there, reading those four notes, and it came one after another. Especially Abhijit's, this completely objective, or anyway completely detached vision of the phenomenon: "Circulation stops ..." As if you were looking at a small instrument or tool (Mother gestures as if fingering a small object), and you remarked, "Oh, it's stopped now ... that's why it no longer works." Like that. In other words, none of those uncertainties or anxieties or aspirations.... All that was emotions, sentiments, psychological phenomena - it was all completely absent.... A very simple little contraption (same fingering gesture) which you look at as you would a machine, and the machine stops "because it no longer goes like that." There. And as a result, this body was completely detached from all human anguish - from everything: not only from anguish, but from the habit, the whole human formation about death - it was all gone. As if I were all the way up above, like that, and looking all the way down - hup! it went away.
page 132-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968


Sweet Mother, we have received your answer with joy and send you our reflections and our questions about the first paragraph: "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells...."
So then?
Abhijit says, "If a cell becomes conscious of its own personality, there is a risk that it may act in its own interest without regard for the collective interest."
(Mother laughs) The interest of a cell! Then?
Amitangshu asks two questions. The first is, "Does the decentralization take place all at once or in degrees?..."
It takes time. It happens like this: the central will of the physical being abdicates its will to hold all the cells together. That's the first phenomenon. The central will accepts dissolution. But everything doesn't just scatter all at once - it takes a long time. What precedes death is accepting to cease the centralization in the form for some reason or other. I have noticed that one of the strongest reasons (one of them, very strong) is a sense of irreparable disharmony. Another is a sort of disgust at carrying on the effort of coordination. There are, in fact, innumerable reasons, but there is a sort of effort of cohesion and harmonization, and what inevitably precedes death (unless it's caused by a violent accident) is that, for one reason or another, or for no reason, that will to maintain cohesion abdicates.
There's a second question: "Must each cell be conscious of its unity with the center?"
That's not how it is.

(after a long silence)

It's hard to make them understand.... It's still a semicollective consciousness, not an individual consciousness of the cells. Then?
Anand Arya asks this: "Does the decentralization always take place after death, or can it begin before?"
(Laughing) It often begins before!
Dilip M. asks, "Do the cells scatter in space or within the body? If it is in space, then the body must disappear with the cells?"
Naturally! Naturally, after death the body dissolves. But it takes a long time.... These children don't know because [in India] bodies are burned.
Rita asks, "In the phrase 'scattering of the cells,' doesn't the word 'scattering' have a particular meaning? If so, which one?"
I used the word in its quite positive meaning. I have even seen that those cells that have been specially developed and have become conscious of the divine Presence within themselves, when the concentration that gives shape to the body is stopped and the body dissolves (it dissolves little by little), all those conscious cells spread out and enter other combinations in which, through contagion, they awaken the consciousness of the Presence each of them had. So then, it's through this phenomenon of concentration, development and scattering that Matter in its totality evolves, so to speak, and learns through contagion, develops through contagion, experiences through contagion.
But what enters other combinations isn't the cell itself - it's the subtle consciousness of the cells?
Yes, of course! The cell, too, dissolves. It's the CONSCIOUSNESS of the cells that penetrates others. It's very hard to explain to one who doesn't have the experience.

3 Juin, 1968, vol - 9, L'Agenda de Mère




-439_The Secret of Veda.html



But I am well aware that this surrender has an effect on the action only to the extent that the Supreme Lord has decided upon the action, and those movements stretch over long periods of time [[Later, on the 27th, Mother remarked: 'I was reading about this very thing yesterday in The Secret of the Veda, in the first hymn translated by Sri Aurobindo (the reference is to the colloquy between Indra and Agastya, Rig Veda 1.170 - cf. The Secret of the Veda, Cent. Ed., X.241 ft.), and it helped me put my finger on the problem. In this hymn there is a dispute between Indra and the Rishi because the Rishi wants to progress too quickly without first passing through Indra [the god of the Mind], and Indra stops him; finally they reach an agreement. Sri Aurobindo's commentary is quite interesting: when one has the INDIVIDUAL power to go directly, but neglects the steps which are still necessary for the whole, for the universal movement, then one is stopped short. That is absolutely my experience.' ]] : all sorts of things may happen before the final Victory is won. Because, for us, the scale is very small; even if it were of terrestrial proportions, it would be a very small scale; but on a universal scale.... These forces have their place and their action, their universe, and as long as their place and their action are maintained, they will be here. So before their action can be exhausted or become useless, many things can happen....

page 37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 22nd Jan. 1961


I must say that after this, when I read The Secret of the Veda as I do each evening.... In fact, I am in very close contact with the entire Vedic world since I've been reading that book: I see beings, hear phrases.... It comes up in a sort of subliminal consciousness, a lot of things are from the ancient Vedic tradition. (By the way, I have even come to see that the pink marble bathtub I told you about last time, which Nature had offered me, belongs to the Vedic world,to a civilization of that epoch. [[A few days later, Mother rectified: 'I have looked at the experience again and realized that it's not Vedic but pre-Vedic. The experience put me into contact with a civilization prior to the Vedas - the Rishis and the Vedas are a kind of transition between that vanished civilization and the Indian civilization which grew out of the Vedic Age. It was yesterday [January 26] that I perceived this, and it was quite interesting.' ]] ) [39] There were - there are always - Sanskrit words coming up, sentences, bits of dialogue.... This is of interest, because I realized that what I had seen the other day (I told you about it) and then what I saw yesterday - that whole domain - was connected to what the Vedas call the dasyus - the panis and the dasyus [[In the Vedas, the panis and dasyus represent beings or forces hidden in subterranean caves who have stolen the 'Riches' or the 'Lights', symbolized by herds of cows. With the help of the gods, the Aryan warrior must recover these lost riches, the 'sun in the darkness,' by igniting the flame of sacrifice. It is the path of subterranean descent. ]] - the enemies of the Light. And this Force that came was very clearly a power like Indra's [[ Indra represents the king of the gods, the master of mental power freed from the limitations and obscurities of the physical consciousness. ]] (though something far, far greater), and at war with darkness everywhere, like this (Mother sketches in space a whirling force touching points here and there throughout the world), this Force attacked all darkness: ideas, people, movements, events, whatever made stains, patches of shadow. And it kept on going, a formidable power, so great that my hands were like this (Mother clenches her fists). Later when I read (I happened to be reading just the chapter concerning the fight against the dasyus), this proximity to my own experience became interesting, for it was not at all intellectual or mental - there was no idea, no thought involved.

page 40 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 24th Jan. 1961


Now I have begun reading those hymns [[The Vedic hymns translated by Sri Aurobindo (cf. On the Veda, Cent. Ed., X.241, ff.). ]] .... Oh, now I understand! All those obstacles were a preparation straight from Sri Aurobindo. Now I understand! (What I mean by 'understand' is that it's a help for making progress.) I understand the nature of certain obstructions and certain difficulties, and what allows certain forces to oppose each other - I understand it quite clearly.

page 55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 30th Jan. 1961


I am continuing my reading of the Veda. I had to stop for some days because of a sore throat. But anyway, I'm starting again. The Vedas, after all, were written by people who remembered a radical experience, which must have taken place on earth at a given moment, as an example of what was to come. (This always happens in the yoga: a first radical experience comes like a herald of the future realization.) So in the terrestrial yoga - in the yoga of the earth, of the planet earth - there was a moment when it came; they who are called the forefathers must have created, through their effort and their yoga, at least an image of the supramental realization. And those who wrote the Vedas, who composed all these hymns, remembered or kept the tradition of that experience. And oh, mon petit, it had the same effect on me as when I read the 'Yoga of Self-Perfection' in The Synthesis of Yoga (Mother catches her breath): there is such a gulf between what we are, what life on earth and human consciousness now are, even among the most enlightened, the most advanced, and THAT! ... page 152 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 7th April 1961


I have had this experience, and I remember it even went on for several days; I saw all material circumstances as an absolute - an absolute that we perceive as an unfolding, but which is an eternally existing absolute. I had this experience, and at the same time I had a very clear perception of what falsehood is - the lie; what, from the psychological, the mental point of view, Sri Aurobindo, translating from the Sanskrit, called crookedness. [[The Rishis distinguished between the 'straight' (almost in the optical sense: that which allows the ray to pass straight through) and the twisted or crooked consciousness. ]] We attribute the course of circumstances to our psychological reactions - and indeed, they are used momentarily because everything collaborates either consciously or unconsciously to make things be what they have to be - but things could be what they have to be without the intervention of this falsehood. I lived in that consciousness for several days, and it became apparent that this was what separated falsehood from truth. In this state of knowledge-consciousness, the distinction can be made between falsehood and truth; and when seen in that truth-consciousness, material circumstances change character.

page 171 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 18th April , 1961

I go on reading the Vedas and I see quite well how beautiful it is and how effective it must have been for those people, what a power for realization these hymns must have had! But for me.... Yet for a time I was in contact with all these gods and all these things, and they had an entirely concrete reality for me; but now ... I read and I understand, but I cannot live it. And I don't know why. It still hasn't triggered the experience. You see, experience for me - the constant, total and permanent Experience - is ... that there is nothing other than the Supreme - only the Supreme - that the Supreme alone exists. So when they speak of Agni or Varuna or Indra ... it doesn't strike a chord. However, what the Vedas succeed in doing very well is to give you the perception of your infirmity and ineptitude, of the dismal state we are in now; it succeeds wonderfully in doing that! Yesterday, this ardor of the Flame was there - burning all to offer all. It was absolutely concrete, an intensity of vibrations; I could see the vibrations - all the movements of obscurity and ignorance were cast into that. And I recall a time when I was translating these hymns to Agni with Sri Aurobindo, and Agni was real for me. Well, yesterday it wasn't that, it wasn't the god Agni, it was a STATE OF BEING. It was a state of the Supreme, and as such, it was intimate, clear, intense, vibrant and living.
page 176 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 18th April 1961

I don't know, but Sri Aurobindo spoke of it at the end of the book on the Vedas, in the chapter on the origin of languages. He seems to be saying that it's better if one goes back to the origin of the vibrations. Ultimately, as a language grows more intellectual, it hardens and dries up. Perhaps when we had only sounds (the A's and the O's; the O's especially are very flexible, the whole gamut of O's), perhaps it was more ... supple.

page 327 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 10th Sept. , 1961




-440_The Shakti - Sri Aurobindo pulls.html



But then what is this consciousness we feel like a force inside us? For instance, sometimes in meditation it rises, then descends; it's not fixed anywhere. What is this consciousness?
The Shakti! Some receive it from above; for others, it rises from below (gesture to the base of the spine). As I once told you, the old system always proceeds from below upwards, while Sri Aurobindo pulls from above downwards. This becomes very clear in meditation (well, in yoga, in yogic experience): for those who follow the old system, it's invariably the kundalini at the base [of the spine] rising from center to center, center to center, until the lotus (in an ironic tone) bursts open here {gesture at the crown of the head). With Sri Aurobindo, it comes like this (gesture of descending Force) and then settles here (above the head); it enters, and from there it comes down, down, down, everywhere, to the very bottom, and even below the feet - the subconscient - and lower still, the inconscient. It's the Shakti. He said, you know (I am still translating it), that the shakti drawn up from below (this is what happens in the individual process) is already what could be called a "veiled" shakti (it has power, but it is veiled). While the Shakti drawn down from above is a PURE Shakti; and if it can be brought down carefully and slowly enough so that it isn't (how shall I put it?) polluted or, in any case, obscured as it enters matter, then the result is immediately much better. As he has explained, if you start out with this feeling of a great power in yourself (because it's always a great power no matter where it awakens), there's inevitably a danger of the ego meddling in. But if it comes pure and you are very careful to keep it pure, not to rush the movement but let it purify as it descends, then half the work is done. page 281-82, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 25th July 1962.


That must be why I can't distinguish between the Force coming from above and the Force coming from within.
A time comes when you don't make this distinction any more. [[Of course! We can dip into it with our head or with the tips of our toes, but everything bathes in this same river of Force (except what's shut up within the walls of our minds). At certain moments, or in certain places, we are less hardened and it naturally "enters" there. And so we call it the Shakti "From above" or the Shakti "from below" or "from within." But when the walls tumble down, there is neither high nor low - we are drenched in it. ]] page 284, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 25th July 1962.




-442_the world and the Ashram-free.html

-444_The Mother's answers.html



(On that day, Mother gave the following answer to a question

asked by one of the Ashram's associations:)

What is the change the world is preparing for?How can one help it?
A change of consciousness. When our consciousness changes, we will know what the change is. The change does not need our help in order to come, but we need to open up to the consciousness so that it may not come in vain for us.
page 85 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 21st Feb - 1970


Sri Aurobindo says that "the soul is naked and unashamed,"[[Aphorism 350 - "Only the soul that is naked and unashamed can be pure and innocent, even as Adam was in the primal garden of humanity." ]] and you are asked, "Isn't the soul always pure?" So you reply:
"The soul wears no disguise, it shows itself as it is and cares nothing for people's judgement, because it is the faithful servant of the Divine whose home it is."

page 87 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 25th Feb - 1970


Is it possible to develop in oneself a capacity forhealing?
By consciously uniting with the Divine Force, all is possible in principle. But a procedure has to be found, depending on the case and the individual.
The first condition is to have a physical nature that gives energy rather than draws energy from others.
The second indispensable condition is to know how to draw energy from above, from the one impersonal and inexhaustible source.

page 35 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th Jan - 1972-1973





-447_Tibet.html


(On January 18, Mother received the Dalai Lama. It should be

noted that Mother had long ago admitted a number of Tibetan

refugees to the Ashram and Auroville.)

Anything to say?
I'd be curious to know what you felt with the Dalai Lama?
A truly benevolent man. Buddhist benevolence, you know, and he practices it marvelously. He seems to have no ... no selfishness in him (there's no word for it in French). I mean, a constant concern to do the right thing.
page 350 , Mother's Agenda , vol 13 – 1972-73

I told him Tibet would become independent again. He asked me when. I said, "I don't know." [[Mother replied, "All depends on the world's receptivity to the supramental consciousness." We publish in the Addendum an account of the Dalai Lama's questions and Mother's answers. ]]

Sri Aurobindo's idea was an independent Tibet within a sort of great federation with India. But when will that happen? I don't know.

Page 351,

Mother's Agenda - vol 13 – 1972-73






-450_The Vaishnavas.html



The Vaishnavas speak of a divine body which will replace this one when there is the complete siddhi. But, again, is this a divine physical or supraphysical body? At the same time there is no obstacle in the way of supposing that all these ideas, intuitions, experiences point to, if they do not exactly denote, the physical transformation."[[Cent. Ed., 24.1237. ]]

Sri Aurobindo
December 24, 1930


page 217 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 30th Sep - 1966




-451_Vibration.html



There is only one thing, ONE vibration that seems to be really universal: the Vibration of Love. I am not saying its manifestation, no, nothing of the sort! But the something which is pure Love. That seems to me to be universal. But as soon as you try to express it, it's over.
The vibrations of the beings out there must be rather identical to ours?
I don't know ... I don't know. Why should the Lord repeat Himself?
The forms are different, of course, but the vibrations?
But I tell you, only that Vibration seems essential and primordial enough to be really universal. That Vibration which is both the need and the joy to unite. And deep within it, there is an identity of vibration - the RECOGNITION of an identity of vibration. page 138 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 18th June - 1966




-452_Vital.html



"It is certainly a mistake to bring down the light by force - to pull it down. The Supramental cannot be taken by storm. When the time is ready it will open of itself - but first there is a great deal to be done and that must be done patiently and without haste."

Sri Aurobindo

That's good for sensible people. They will say, "There, he doesn't promise any miracles."
Why? Are there lots of people who tend to "pull"?
People are in a hurry, they want to see results right away. So then, they think they are pulling the Supramental down - and they pull some little vital entity that leads them on and afterwards plays nasty tricks on them. That's what happens most often, ninety-nine times out of a hundred. A little individuality, a vital entity that puts on a big show and creates dramatic effects, lighting effects; so the poor devil who has pulled is bedazzled, he says, "Here's the Supramental!" and he falls into a hole. It's only when you have touched, seen somehow or other, and had a contact with the true Light that you can discern the Vital, and you realize that it's absolutely like lighting effects on a theater stage: theatrical effects, an artificial light. But otherwise people are bedazzled - it's dazzling, it's "magnificent," and so they are misled. It's only when you have SEEN and had a contact with the Truth ... "Ah!" then it makes you smile. It's showing off, but you have to know the truth in order to discern the showing off. Basically, it's the same for everything. The Vital is a sort of super-theater giving performances - very alluring, dazzling, deceptive performances - and it's only when you know the True Thing that immediately, instinctively, without reasoning, you discern and say, "No, I don't want that." And for everything, you know. The one point in human life where it has assumed cardinal importance is love. Vital passions and attractions have almost in every case taken the place of the true feeling, which is tranquil, while that makes you bubble with excitement, it gives you the feeling of something "living".... It's very deceptive. And you can know this, feel it, perceive it clearly only when you know the True Thing; if you have touched true love through the psychic and through divine union, then it [vital love] appears hollow, thin, empty: an appearance and a drama - more often a tragedy than a comedy. All that you can say about it, all that you can explain about it is perfectly useless, because the one who has been caught will instantly say, "Oh, it's not like with others" - what happens to you is never like what happens to others (!) What's needed is the "Thing," the true experience ... then the whole Vital is seen as a masquerade - not an alluring one. And when people pull down, oh, it's much more than ninety-nine times out of a hundred - it's one case in a million in which the True Thing happens to be pulled down; which proves the person was ready. Otherwise, what's pulled down is always the Vital: the appearance, the dramatic representation of the Thing, not the Thing itself. Pulling down is always an egoistic movement. It's a distortion of aspiration. True aspiration involves a giving - a self-giving - while pulling down is wanting for oneself. Even if you have in your thought a vaster aspiration - the earth, the universe - it makes no difference, those are mental activities.
page 301-02 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 23rd Nov - 1965


But I've noticed that when I do material things - small things - there seems to be a tremendous vital force flowing into the work, and in the end I find myself exhausted through having done nothing at all! How come all that vital energy goes away?
It's because all the vital force is used to keep the body's balance in the phase of transformation. That's what I have called "the change of government," it's the phase of transformation. And during that change, well, all the vital force is there just to keep your balance so you don't topple over. Because it's difficult. One must remain very calm and do what is indispensable, nothing more. In ordinary life, when one doesn't know, with people who don't know, there is a tremendous wastage of vital forces, for no reason. Well, we no longer have the right to do that because all that vital force is there, as I said, concentrated to keep the body's balance.
page 117-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 22nd May - 1966


Someone has just brought, from two sides at the same time (gesture to the right and to the left), a plate with grapes and a second plate with grapes, like that. One was for you and one for me. For two or three days some beings from the vital have been eager to manifest their goodwill, and this was like the expression of their goodwill. In the vital, food is very often grapes, very frequently. Grapes of incomparable beauty, besides. And grapes are the fruit of life. So I suppose that's why. There were two bunches: one was bigger, the other not so big; I don't know whom the bigger was for and whom the other for: they came from both sides, they were presented like this (gesture to the right and to the left of Mother). One was on a plate, the other on a square of white paper. I presumed the one on the square of white paper was for me! Lovely, beautiful bunches! Grapes turning golden, you know - transparent and golden as when they're ripe. Each grape was this big (gesture: about two inches).

(silence)

I tried to express what happened this morning, and what kept coming to me was: "But the experiences aren't literary, they can't be expressed."

(silence)

Some beings of the vital said to me, "There was a time when you used us and we were very happy. Why aren't you using us anymore now?" So I replied to them, "If you want to do work, I'm certainly not going to stop you!"
page 71 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 4th March - 1967




-453_transfromation.html


X has spoken to me several times of his lack of esteem formost people in the Ashram: 'Why does Mother keep all these empty pots?' he says.
If he imagines for one moment that I believe all the people here are doing sadhana, he is grossly mistaken! The idea is that the earth as a whole must be prepared in all its forms, including even those least ready for the transformation. There must be a symbolic representation of all the elements on earth upon which we can work to establish the link.' The earth is a symbolic representation of the universe, and the group is a symbolic representation of the earth. Sri Aurobindo and I had discussed the matter in 1914 (quite a long time ago), for we had seen two possibilities: what we are now doing, or to withdraw into solitude and isolation until we had not only attained the Supermind, but begun the material transformation as well. And Sri Aurobindo rightfully said that we could not isolate ourselves, for as you progress, you become more and more universalized, and consequently ... you take the burden upon yourself # in any case. 1. With the Supramental World. 2. Original English. And life itself has responded by bringing people forward to form a nucleus. Of course, we clearly saw that this would make the work a bit more complex and difficult (it gives me a heavy responsibility, an enormous material work), but from the overall point of view - for the Work - it's indispensable and even inevitable. And in any case, as we were later able to verify, each one represents simultaneously a possibility and a special difficulty to resolve. I have even said, I believe, that each one here is an impossibility.'
1. 'Each one here represents an impossibility to be resolved'; Words of the Mother, p. 14 (January 15, 1933).

page 416 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 sept. 1960

I came out of this trance two hours later, at 3 a.m. And during these two hours I saw ... with a new consciousness, a new vision, and above all a NEW POWER - I had a vision of the entire Work: all the people, all the things, all the systems, all of it. And it was ... it was different in appearance (this is only because appearances depend upon the needs of the moment), but mainly it differed IN POWER - A considerable difference. Considerable. The power itself was no longer the same. [[Later, Mother added: 'The Power that was acting was no longer the power that had been acting previously.' ]] A truly ESSENTIAL change in the body has occurred. I see that the body will have to - how can I express it? ... It will have to accustom itself to this new Power. But essentially the change has been accomplished. It's not ... it is far, very far from being the final change, there's a lot more to be done. But we may say that it's the conscious and total presence of the supramental Force in the body.
page 43 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 24th Jan. 1961

But you know, it's no joke, this transformation!

(silence)

Yesterday I had such a strong feeling that ALL constructions, all habits, all ways of seeing, all ordinary reactions, were all crumbling away - completely. I felt I was suspended in something ... entirely different, something ... I don't know.

(silence)

And truly, with the feeling that ALL one has lived, all one has known, all one has done, all of it is a perfect illusion - that's what I was living yesterday evening. And then.... It's one thing to have the spiritual experience of the illusion of material life (some find this painful, but I found it so wonderfully beautiful and happy that it was one of the loveliest experiences of my life); but now the whole spiritual construction as one has lived it is becoming ... a total illusion! Not the same illusion, a far more serious illusion. If That was not there.... Obviously, That [divine Love] is here, like a mattress placed so you won't break your neck when you fall. That's precisely the feeling: this experience of the vibration of divine Love is the mattress ... so you don't break your neck! So, petit, don't brood; whatever your difficulties may be (laughing), you can tell yourself they are only beginning! And I'm not exactly a baby; I have been here forty-seven years, and for something like ... yes, certainly for sixty years I have been doing a conscious yoga, with all that memories of an immortal life can bring - and see where I am! When Sri Aurobindo says you must have endurance, I think he is right! This path is not for the weak, that's for sure. I believe this body has suffered as much as a body can bear without going to pieces, and it keeps going, it has never asked for mercy - not once has it said, 'No, it's too much,' not once. It says, 'As You will, Lord: here I am.' And so it continues.
Well, I'm never going to tell people that it's just a promenade! No, it's nothing like a promenade. Some say, 'Oh, you're too severe!' But too bad for them; it's better to tell the truth, isn't it? We mustn't get discouraged. The absolute certainty of the Victory is unquestionable; but I am not speaking at the scale of our bounded mind. It's up to us to CHANGE TACK - this is what's expected of us, to change tack and not keep going round in circles. There you are, petit. It's a process of tempering, you know - we get tempered. And there's no point in giving up, because it would just have to be started all over again next time. What I always say is: 'Here's the opportunity - go right to the end.' It's no use saying, 'Ah, I can't,' because next time it will be even more difficult.
page 147-48 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 27th March 1961

But even accepting all these misadventures a priori, things remain difficult because there's a double movement: both a cellular transformation and a capacity for '"something" that could replace expansion with readjustment, a constant intercellular reorganization. [[Mother later clarified the meaning of this sentence: "I saw that to follow the Supreme in the Becoming one has to be able to expand, because the universe expands in the Becoming - the amount of expansion in the universe is not matched by an equal amount of dissolution. So it is really necessary to be able to grow, as a child grows, to expand; but at the same time, for things to progress, this process of expansion demands a constant inner reorganization. As the quantity is increased (if we can speak of quantity here), so must the quality be simultaneously maintained by an ongoing internal reorganization of intercellular relationships." ]]

So long as there's no question of physical transformation, the psychological and in large part, the subjective point of view is sufficient - and that's relatively easy. But when it comes to incorporating matter into the work, matter as it is in this world where the very starting point is false (we start off in unconsciousness and ignorance), well, it's very difficult. Because, to recover the consciousness it has lost, Matter has had to individualize itself, and for that - for the form to last and retain this possibility of individuality - it has been created with a certain indispensable measure of rigidity. And that rigidity is the main obstacle to the expansion, to the plasticity and suppleness necessary for receiving the Supermind. I constantly find myself facing this problem, which is utterly concrete, absolutely material when you're dealing with cells that have to remain cells and not vaporize into some nonphysical reality, and at the same time have to have a suppleness, a lack of rigidity, enabling them to widen indefinitely. There have been times, while working in the most material mind (the mind ingrained in the material substance), when I felt my brain swelling and swelling and swelling, and my head becoming so large it seemed about to burst! On two occasions I was forced to stop, because it was ... (was it only an impression, or was it a fact?) in any event it seemed dangerous, as if the head would burst, because what was inside was becoming too tremendous (it was that power in Matter, that very powerful deep blue light which has such powerful vibrations; it is able to heal, for example, and change the functioning of the organs - really a very powerful thing materially). Well then, that's what was filling my head, more and more, more and more, and I had the feeling that my skull was (it was painful, you know) ... that there was a pressure inside my skull pushing out, pushing everything out.... I wondered what was going to happen. Then, instead of following the movement, helping it along and going with it, I became immobile, passive, to see what would happen. And both times it stopped. I was no longer helping the movement along, you see, I simply remained passive - and it came to a halt, there was a sort of stabilization.

(silence)

But Sri Aurobindo must have had the experience [of cellular expansion], because he said positively that it COULD be done. The question, of course, is the supramentalization of MATTER - the consciousness, that's nothing at all. Most people who have had that experience had it on the mental level, which is relatively
easy. It's very easy: abolition of limits set by the ego, indefinite expansion with a movement following the rhythm of the Becoming. Mentally, it's all very easy. Vitally.... A few months after I withdrew to my room, I had the experience in the vital - wonderful, magnificent! Of course to have the experience there, the mind must have undergone a change, one must be in complete communion; without exception, any individual vital being that hasn't been prepared by what might be called a sufficient mental foundation would be panic-stricken. All those poor people who get scared at the least little experience had better not dabble with this - they'd panic! But as it happens - through divine grace, you might say - my vital, the vital being of this present incarnation, was born free and victorious. It has never been afraid of anything in the vital world; the most fantastic experiences were practically child's play. But when I had that experience, it was so interesting that for a few weeks I was tempted to stay in it; it was.... I once told you a little about that experience (it was quite a while ago, at least two years).[[This is part of the lost treasures, never noted down, because at the time Satprem was not aware that the experiences Mother was relating to him were already part of the Agenda.. ]] I told you that even during the day I seemed to be sitting on top of the Earth - that was this realization in the vital world. And what fantastic nights it gave me! Nights I have never been able to describe to anyone and never mentioned - but I would look forward to the night as a marvelous adventure. I voluntarily renounced all that in order to go further. And when I did it, I understood what people here in India mean when they say: he surrendered his experience. I had never really understood what that meant. When I did it, I understood. "No," I said, "I don't want to stop there; I am giving it all to You, that I may go on to the end." Then I understood what it meant. Had I kept it, oh - I would have become one of those world-renowned phenomena, turning the course of the earth's history upside down! A stupendous power! Stupendous, unheard-of.... But it meant stopping there, accepting that experience as final - I went on. Well. So now, what can I tell you that's interesting - everything I've just said is a sort of miscellany, and three-fourths unusable. page 35-38 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Jan. 1962

Actually, we'll be able to speak of what transforms Matter only when Matter is ... at least a bit transformed, when there is a beginning of transformation. Then we can talk about the process. But for the moment....

(silence)

But any transformation in the being, on any plane, always has repercussions on the planes below. There is always an action. Even those things which seem purely intellectual certainly have an effect on the structure of the brain. And these kinds of revelations happen only in a silent mind - or at least a mind at rest. Unless the mind is absolutely tranquil and still, it doesn't come. Or if it does come, you don't even notice anything with all the racket you're making! And of course, these experiences help the tranquillity, the silence and receptivity to become better and better established. This sense of something utterly immobile, but not closed - immobile, but open and receptive - gets more established the more you have these experiences. There is a big difference between a dead, lackluster, unresponsive silence and the receptive silence of a quieted mind. It makes a big difference. And it results from these experiences. All the progress we make is always, quite naturally, the result of truths coming down from above. It has an effect: all these things have an effect on the way the body functions - the workings of the organs, the brain, the nerves and so forth. And this will certainly take place long before there is any effect on the external form. Actually, when people speak of transformation, they're mainly thinking of a picturesque transformation, aren't they? A beautiful appearance - luminous, supple, plastic, changing at will.... But they don't give much thought to this other thing, this rather ... anesthetic transformation of the organs! And yet it's certainly what's going to happen first, long before the appearance is transformed. page 365 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th Oct. 1962


Sri Aurobindo spoke of the working of the chakras [[Chakras: centers of consciousness. ]] replacing the organs.

Yes - 300 years, he said! (Mother laughs.)

(silence)

With a bit of reflection it's easy to understand: if it were a question of stopping something and starting something ELSE, it might be done rather rapidly. But to keep a body alive (to keep it functioning) and AT THE SAME TIME have enough of a new functioning so that it stays alive, and then a transformation - that makes a very difficult combination to realize. I am fully aware of it, fully aware ... of the immense amount of time that's needed for this to be done without catastrophe. Above all, of course, when we come to the heart: to replace the heart with the center of Power, a formidable, dynamic power! (Mother laughs) At what precise MOMENT are you going to eliminate the circulation and throw in the Force! It is ... it's difficult. page 366 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th Oct. 1962


And for the being - that sort of individual aggregate - to be transformed, it needs in effect to grow simpler and simpler. All those complexities of Nature which man is now beginning to understand and study, which for the smallest thing are so complex (the smallest of our physical workings is the result of such a complex system that it's almost unthinkable ... certainly it would be impossible for the human mind to think up and contrive all those things), are now being discovered by science. And it's quite plain to see that for the functioning to become divine, that is, to escape Disorder and Confusion, it must grow simpler and simpler.

page 142 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 15th May 1963


All the means of getting out have been found and practiced. But only for getting out individually, or above - nobody has ever found the key to the change, the way to make that "thing" cease to exist. Because it can cease only in order to become SOMETHING ELSE. And to become something else, there must be that leaven of transformation. There is a period (a period which from the human point of view may seem long, but which can certainly ...), a transitional period which must begin with the perception of what has to come, followed by the aspiration, the will to become it, and then the work of transformation. How far have we gone in that work of transformation?

(silence)

Sri Aurobindo came with the notion, or the Command, or the conviction that it was in the present. But to what extent is the transformation present? And what does "present" mean? What span of time does it cover?... There is such a certitude - such a certitude that the thing is ALREADY there, but that's when you see it from the other end. Seen from this end here ... When you see it on the scale of human beings and world events, how much time will it take? I don't know. And how far have we traveled, where are we on the road? I don't know. And quite clearly, certainties as WE conceive of them, I mean someone who knows (and someone who knows can only be the Supreme) and tells you clearly, "Here is where you stand," and with YOUR way of seeing things, well (Mother laughs), such certainties aren't to be expected, it seems! Probably it's quite stupid to ask the question. You do feel it's a bit stupid, but you often feel the need to know! page 185 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 22th June 1963


The big difficulty, in Matter, is that the material consciousness, that is to say, the mind in Matter, was formed under the pressure of difficulties - difficulties, obstacles, suffering, struggle. It was, so to speak, "worked out" by those things, and that gave it an imprint almost of pessimism and defeatism, which is certainly the greatest obstacle. This is the thing I am conscious of in my own work. The most material consciousness, the most material mind, is in the habit of having to be whipped into acting, into making effort and moving forward, otherwise it's tames. So then, if it imagines, it always imagines the difficulty - always the obstacle, always the opposition, always the difficulty ... and that slows down the movement terribly. So it needs very concrete, very tangible and VERY REPEATED experiences to be convinced that behind all its difficulties, there is a Grace; behind all its failures, there is the Victory; behind all its pain and suffering and contradictions, there is Ananda. Of all the efforts, this is the one that has to be repeated most often: you are constantly forced to stop, put an end to, drive away, convert a pessimism, a doubt or a totally defeatist imagination. I am speaking exclusively of the material consciousness. Naturally, when something comes from above, it goes vrrm! like that, so everything falls silent and waits and stops. But ... I well understand why the Truth, the Truth-Consciousness, doesn't express itself more constantly: it's because the difference between its Power and the power of Matter is so great that the power of Matter is as if canceled - but then, that doesn't mean Transformation: it means a crushing. It doesn't mean a transformation. That's what used to be done in the past: they would crush the entire material consciousness under the weight of a Power that nothing can fight, nothing can oppose; and then they would feel, "Here we are! It's happened!" It hadn't happened at all! Because the rest down below remained as it was, unchanged. I think that for the effect to be lasting (not to be, as I said, a miraculous effect that comes, dazzles, and goes away), for it to be truly the effect of a TRANSFORMATION, one has to be very, very, VERY patient. We are dealing with a very slow, very heavy, very obstinate consciousness, which cannot move on rapidly, which holds on tight to what it has, to what has seemed to it to be a "truth": even if it is a very small truth, that consciousness holds on tight to it and doesn't want to budge anymore. So to cure that takes a great deal of patience - a great, great deal of patience. The whole thing is to endure - endure and endure. Sri Aurobindo said it several times, in various forms: Endure and you will conquer.... Bear - bear and you will vanquish. The triumph belongs to the most enduring.
page 222-24 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 7th Oct - 1964


It's a vicious circle. The impression is that the transformation cannot come about without a development or a general receptivity
on the earth, a greater preparation on the earth, and at the same time, that greater preparation on the earth isn't possible without an acceleration of your transforming force.
Yes, but it acts, only it's an infinitesimal action. That's why millions of years are nothing. This stagnation, for instance, exists only for our consciousness; it's because the human consciousness, after all, measures everything on its own scale. For it, the history of the earth is an infinite - it isn't so in universal history, but for the human being, the impression is of an infinite (he knows very well that it isn't so, but that's theoretical knowledge), so then, on this scale, nothing changes - but that's not true.
Yes, but it should be done in the space of one lifetime.
Oh, that ... That will only be the last life - the last life before the transformation. That will be the life of the transformation. Which means that all that has been prepared for millions and millions of years will be realized one fine day, and when it is realized, the one (the one or the ones, whatever) for whom it is realized will say, "Here, we've done it!" (Mother laughs) Forgetting that it took millions of years to prepare for that minute!
It would be good for that minute to come soon.
Ah, that's exactly the refrain I keep hearing all the time: "You say that the Truth is manifesting, well, we really hope it will win the Victory soon"! I don't know. Sri Aurobindo, when I saw him the first time, told me, "The others came to prepare and left, but this time, it's to ACHIEVE." He, too, left.
page 261 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 25th Sep - 1965


But I've noticed that when I do material things - small things - there seems to be a tremendous vital force flowing into the work, and in the end I find myself exhausted through having done nothing at all! How come all that vital energy goes away?
It's because all the vital force is used to keep the body's balance in the phase of transformation. That's what I have called "the change of government," it's the phase of transformation. And during that change, well, all the vital force is there just to keep your balance so you don't topple over. Because it's difficult. One must remain very calm and do what is indispensable, nothing more. In ordinary life, when one doesn't know, with people who don't know, there is a tremendous wastage of vital forces, for no reason. Well, we no longer have the right to do that because all that vital force is there, as I said, concentrated to keep the body's balance.
page 117-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 22nd May - 1966


After reading a hitherto unpublished letter of Sri Aurobindo's "... Although St. Paul had remarkable mystic experiences and, certainly, much profound spiritual knowledge (profound rather than wide, I think) - I would not swear to it that he is referring [["For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." (I Corinthians 15:53-54) ]] to the supramentalised body (physical body). Perhaps to the supramental body or to some other luminous body in its own space and substance, which he found sometimes as if enveloping him and abolishing this body of death which he felt the material envelope to be. This verse like many others is capable of several interpretations and might refer to a quite supraphysical experience. The idea of a transformation of the body occurs in different traditions, but I have never been quite sure that it meant the change in this very matter. There was a yogi some time ago in this region who taught it, but he hoped when the change was complete, to disappear in light. The Vaishnavas speak of a divine body which will replace this one when there is the complete siddhi. But, again, is this a divine physical or supraphysical body? At the same time there is no obstacle in the way of supposing that all these ideas, intuitions, experiences point to, if they do not exactly denote, the physical transformation."[[Cent. Ed., 24.1237. ]]

Sri Aurobindo
December 24, 1930


Oddly, these last few days again, this has been the subject of my meditations (not willed ones: they are imposed from above). Because in all the transition from plant to animal and from animal to man (especially from animal to man), the differences of form are, ultimately, minor: the true transformation is the intervention of another agent of consciousness. All the differences between the life of the animal and the life of man stem from the intervention of the Mind; but the substance is essentially the same and it obeys the same laws of formation and construction. There isn't much difference, for instance, between the calf being formed in a cow's womb and the child being formed in its mother's womb. There is one difference: that of the Mind's intervention. But if we envisage a PHYSICAL being, that is, as visible as the physical now is and with the same density, for instance a body that wouldn't need blood circulation and bones (especially these two things: the skeleton and blood circulation) ... it's very hard to imagine. And as long as it is like this, with this blood circulation, this functioning of the heart, we could imagine - we can imagine - the renewal of strength, of energy through a power of the Spirit, through other means than food. It's conceivable. But the rigidity, the solidity of the body, how is it possible without a skeleton?... So it would be an infinitely greater transformation than that from animal to man; it would be a transition from man to a being that would no longer be built in the same way, that would no longer function in the same way, that would be like a densification or concretization of ... "something." Up till now, it doesn't correspond to anything we have seen physically, unless the scientists have found something I am not aware of.

We may conceive of a new light or force giving the cells a sort of spontaneous life, a spontaneous strength.
Yes, that's what I said: food can disappear. That's conceivable.
But the whole body could be driven by that force. The body could remain supple, for instance. While still having its bone structure, it could remain supple, with the suppleness of a child.
But that's just why a child can't stand! He can't exert himself. What would replace the bone structure, for example?
The same elements could be there, but endowed with suppleness. Elements whose firmness doesn't stem from hardness but from the force of light, no?
Yes, that's possible.... Only, what I mean is that it may again take place through a large number of new creations. Will the transition from man to this being, for instance, perhaps take place through all kinds of other intermediaries? You understand, what I find formidable is the switch from one to the other. I can very well conceive of a being who could, through spiritual power, the power of his inner being, absorb the necessary forces, renew himself and remain ever young; that's quite easily conceivable; even providing for a certain suppleness so as to be able to change the form if necessary. But the complete disappearance of this system of construction right away - from one to the other right away, that seems ... It appears to require stages. Obviously, unless something happens (which we are forced to call a "miracle" because we can't understand how it could happen), how can a body like ours become a body entirely built and driven by a higher force, and without a material support? ... How can this (Mother pinches the skin of her hands), how can this change into that other thing?... It appears impossible.
It seems miraculous, but ...
Yes, in all my experiences, I understand quite well the possibility of not having to eat anymore, of that whole process being done away with (changing the method of absorption, for instance, is possible), but how do you change the structure?
I am absolutely convinced (because I've had experiences that proved it to me) that the life of this body - its life, what makes it move and change - can be replaced by a force; that is to say, a sort of immortality can be created, and the wear and tear can disappear. These two things are possible: the power of life can come, and the wear and tear can disappear. And it can come about psychologically, through total obedience to the divine Impulsion, so that every moment you have the force you need, you do the thing that must be done - all these things, all of them are certitudes. Certitudes. They're not a hope, not an imagining: they are certitudes. Of course, you must educate the body and slowly transform and change the habits. It can be done, all that can be done. But the question is, how much time would it take to do away with the necessity (to take just this problem) of the skeleton? This is still very far ahead, it seems to me. Which means many intermediary stages will be needed. Sri Aurobindo said that life can be prolonged indefinitely. Yes, that's clear. But we aren't yet built with something that completely escapes dissolution, the necessity of dissolution. Bones are very durable, they can even last a thousand years if conditions are favorable, that's agreed, but it doesn't mean immortality IN PRINCIPLE. Do you understand what I mean?


page 216-20 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 30th Sep - 1966



If everything could be transformed at the same time, it would be all right, but it's clearly not like that. If one being were transformed all alone ...


page 222 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 30th Sep - 1966


(After Satprem has read to Mother the conversation of September 30, in which she envisaged the transition from man to the new being.)

My feeling (it's a sort of feeling-sensation) is that intermediary stages are necessary. And then, when you see how man has had to fight against all of Nature in order to exist, you get the feeling that those who will understand and love those beings will have with them a relationship of devotion, attachment, service, as animals have with man; but those who won't love them ... will be dangerous beings. I remember, I once had a very clear vision of the precarious situation of those new beings, and I said (this was before 1956, before the descent of the supramental power), I said, "The Supramental will first manifest in its aspect of Power, because that will be indispensable for the safety of the beings." And it was indeed Power that descended first - Power and Light. The Light that gives Knowledge and Power. That's something I feel more and more clearly: the necessity of intermediary phases.... It's perfectly obvious that something is going on, but it's not the "something" that was seen and foreseen and will be the ultimate outcome: what's going to take place is ONE of the stages, not the ultimate outcome. Sri Aurobindo also said, "There will first come the power to prolong life at will" (it's far more subtle and marvelous than that). But that's a state of consciousness which is now being established: it's a sort of constant and settled relationship and contact with the supreme Lord, which abolishes the sense of wear and tear; it replaces it with a sort of extraordinary flexibility, an extraordinary plasticity. But the SPONTANEOUS state of immortality isn't possible - at least not for the time being. This structure must be changed into something else, and judging from the way things are going on, it will take a long time before it's changed into something else. It may go much faster than in the past, but even assuming that the movement is speeding up, it still takes time (according to our notion of time). And the rather remarkable thing is that to be in the state of consciousness in which wear and tear no longer exists, you must change your sense of time: you enter a state in which time no longer has the same reality. It's something else. It's very peculiar ... it's an innumerable present. I don't know.... Even that habit we have of thinking ahead of time or foreseeing what's going to happen or ... it hinders, it reconnects you with the old way of being. So many, so many habits that have to be changed.
page 310 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 31st Dec - 1966


(Satprem asks Mother what he should do with the text of the

"instructions" of January 14 which Mother gave in the event of

her going into a long period of trance.)

I am going to keep it. When I receive the command to circulate it, I'll circulate it.

(silence)

I have seen rather clearly that that trance depended on the ratio between two aspects, the proportion between two aspects: that of the individual transformation (that is, the transformation of this body), and that of the general, collective and impersonal work. If a certain balance is kept, that state [of prolonged trance] may be dispensed with, but then the same work which would have been done in a few weeks or months (I don't know) will extend over years
- years and years. So it's a question of patience - patience isn't lacking. But it's not only a question of patience, it's a question of proportion: there must be a certain balance between the two, between the outside pressure of the external work (not "external," the collective work), and the pressure on the body for its transformation. If wisdom is still there, that is, if the instrument is constantly and infallibly capable of doing exactly what is expected of it (to put it into words: the supreme Lord's precise will), then the trance might not be necessary. It would only be if out of ignorance there is a resistance in the execution. That's how I feel. This possibility of transformation in trance was announced to the body some ... yes, about sixty years ago now, and periodically afterwards. And there has always been a prayer: "No, may it not be necessary: it's the method of laziness." It's the method of inertia. Now all those preferences, all that is gone. There is only an increasingly alerted, awakened consciousness, but awakened to the point of being alerted to the possibility of unconscious resistances, with the will for them to disappear. All depends on the plasticity, the receptivity. You understand, even if this body is told, "You will have to last a hundred or two hundred years for the work to be done without trance," it says, "It's all the same to me." All it wants is to be conscious. All it wants is, "Lord, to be conscious of Your consciousness," nothing else. That's its sole, exclusive will: "To be conscious of Your consciousness," that is, to consciously become You in another mode. But it isn't in a hurry, because it has no reason to be in a hurry.
You said just before (if I understood right) that that "state"may last for years. Were you referring to the state of trance?
No, that's not possible.
It's not possible.
No, it isn't.
The duration of that trance doesn't depend on outward condi tions, on the preparation of the world, for instance?
I don't think so.
That's another possibility that came up in the past (but it's part of the vision of all possibilities - there are all kinds of possibilities). Once, there was that vision (I had it when Sri Aurobindo was here) of the whole town [of Pondicherry] engulfed by bombs, I think (I don't remember now,[[See Agenda III, November 20, 1962, p. 428. ]] but it wasn't lived: it was known as something that had happened), and the engulfing had caused a sort of burial very deep underground, in a grotto with a radiant atmosphere, so that the body had been preserved. Then I woke up two thousand years later. The experience started after those two thousand years: I saw how I had learned where I was and how I had come out of that grotto, how I had found out the number of years that had elapsed, and so on. All that happened one day and I told it to Sri Aurobindo. He said to me, "It's one of the innumerable possibilities that offers itself up in order to be manifested." He didn't attach more importance to it than that. All kinds of things come up as possibilities.
So you don't envisage the possibility of a long duration - that trance can't be very long?
I don't think that's materially possible.
And the purpose of that trance would basically be to fix thesupramental vibration in the body?
To transform what's not receptive. There are billions of elements in the body, so it's a mixture of receptivity and nonreceptivity. It's still mixed. And that mixture is why the appearance [Mother's physical appearance] remains what it is. So making everything receptive, in every element, is a work, you understand, a formidable work. If it had to be done in detail, it would be impossible, but through the pressure of the Force it can be done. So then, the trance would be made necessary precisely so it's done fast (relatively fast). This work is BEING DONE (I am myself conscious of it), but, you understand (laughing), it may stretch over hundreds of years! That's what Sri Aurobindo said: a state of consciousness has to be established in which the collective life of the cells can be preserved for as long as desired; in other words, the Lord's Will must be sufficiently active for the balance between all those elements to be kept for as long as necessary

for all of them to change. And always, it has always been said that the most external form would be the last to change; that the whole internal, organic functioning would be changed before the external form, the appearance (it's only an appearance, of course); that the appearance would be the last to change. It seems to me to be the legacy of primordial habits - the habits of Matter. This Matter, of course, comes from total unconsciousness, and throughout the ages and all the ways of being, it returns to total consciousness - it goes from one extreme to the other; well, what gives that need for trance is the habits of static immobility. It shouldn't be necessary. Only (how can I explain?...), logically, as things are, it depends on the balance between the body's capacity of receptivity and its external activity: it's obviously far more receptive when it is immobile, because its energies are turned to the transformation. There is another thing that could help to change the course of events: it's that the vital is growing increasingly receptive and collaborative. This whole vital zone, which was the zone of revolt and deliberate opposition to the divine transformation, is growing increasingly collaborative, and with its collaboration (because this vital zone is the zone of movement, action, energy put to use), with its conscious collaboration, the methods of transformation may become different (it's something I have been studying these last few days). It may change the methods. But that's a whole world to be learned. One should grow increasingly not only attentive but receptive, with a precision in details which would every second give one the knowledge of what should be done and how it should be done (not outwardly: inwardly). These cells should learn to have every second the attitude necessary for everything to unfold smoothly, keeping pace with the supreme Consciousness. To replace the need for immobility and immobile rest by the power of inner concentration and peace - that peace which is perfectly independent of action, which can be there, unchanging, even in the midst of the most frantic actions.
Is that where you envisage the vital's intervention?
Yes.
I often wonder what the best possible attitude is for us. Is it better to be simply in a state of silence, open to the heights, a wide silence, or...

I think that's it. But what's the alternative?
Or should one have, I don't know, a special concentration inthe activity?
No, because the transformation is the only thing that doesn't call for the mind's intervention: the mind befuddles everything. I clearly see what its use will be - why there has been the mind, why it exists, what its use will be - but that will come afterwards. The mind will be transformed quite naturally, effortlessly; it's not the same as with this body. But for the moment, it can't be used as yet. It can be used only through aspiration, like this (gesture opened to the heights), a constant aspiration - the constancy of aspiration and receptivity to let the forces and the light come through. There. So we'll meet again on Saturday.
I'll bring you the text of those "instructions."
Yes. There's no hurry - I don't think there is. It's better if it's ready, but ... The higher part of the consciousness is clearly in favor of the trance being unnecessary. And if the lower part becomes receptive enough in time, it won't be necessary. Or else, it will amount to very little. Just keep the text, that's all, keep it ready (Mother laughs).[[These "instructions'' were distributed a few days later. ]]
page 25-29 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 14th Jan - 1967


Every disease represents its own vibratory mode. Every disease has its own vibratory mode; it represents a whole field of vibrations to be corrected. It's the EXACT measure of what in Matter resists the divine Influence - the exact measure, to the atom. Oh, how interesting it is, if you knew how interesting.... Take coughing, for instance (not in the chest, in the throat). So, the first vibration: an irritation that draws your attention in order to make you cough. It has a certain kind of vibration which we may call "pointed," but it's not violent: it's light, annoying. It's the first little vibration. So with that vibration, awakening of the attention in the surrounding consciousness [of the throat cells]; then refusal to accept the cough, a rejection here [in the throat], which at first almost causes nausea (all this is seen through a microscope, you understand, they are tiny things). The attention is focused. Then, at that point, there are several possible factors, sometimes simultaneous and sometimes one driving the other away; one is anxiety: something goes wrong and there is apprehension at what's going to happen; another is a will that nothing should be disturbed by the irritation; and all of a sudden, the faith that the Force is capable of restoring order everywhere instantly (none of this is intellectual: it's vibrations). Then, sometime yesterday morning, something very interesting took place: a clear perception that the vast majority of the cells (in THIS case: I'm not talking about the whole body, I am talking about this particular spot - throat, nose, etc.), that the vast majority of the cells still have a sort of feeling - which seems to be the result of innumerable experiences or of habits (it's both; not clearly one or the other, but both) - that Nature's force, that is to say, the nature governing the body, knows what needs to be done better than the divine Power: it's "used to it," it "knows better." That's how it is. So then, when this new consciousness [the mind of the cells] which is being worked out in the physical being caught hold of that, oh, it was as if it had caught hold of an extraordinary revelation; it said, "Ah, I've got you, you culprit! You are the one who is preventing the transformation." It's tremendously interesting, tremendously interesting!
page 45 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th Feb - 1967


Yes, this problem of the transformation, I see more and more clearly that there are three approaches, three ways to go about it, and that in order to be more complete one should combine the three. One - the most important, naturally - is the way we could call "spiritual," the way of the contact with the Consciousness - Love-Consciousness-Power, that is. These three aspects: supreme Love-Consciousness-Power. And the contact, the identification: making all the material cells capable of receiving Him and expressing Him - of BEING That. Of all the ways, that is the most powerful and most indispensable. There is the occult way, which brings all the intermediary worlds into play. There is a very detailed knowledge of all the powers and personalities, all the intermediary regions, and it makes use of all that. That's where one makes use of the Overmind godheads: it's in this second way. Shiva, Krishna, all the aspects of the Mother are part of this second way. Then there is the higher intellectual approach, which is the projection of a surpassing scientific mind and takes up the problem from below. It has its own importance too. From the standpoint of the detail of the procedure, it reduces approximation, it gives a more direct and precise action. If one can combine all three, then obviously the thing will go faster. Without the first, nothing is possible (and even, the other two are an illusion without the first: they lead nowhere, you go round in circles endlessly). But if you clothe the first in the other two, then I think the action is more precise, direct, rapid. It's the result of these last few days' "study."
page 72-73 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 4th March - 1967


But Sri Aurobindo's conclusion is that it isn't this [the body] that can change: it will be a new being.
No! He says "if" man cannot, it will be a new being.
No, I don't mean here in this text, I mean in the things he wrote afterwards. ?... Besides, it's the same problem, because ... Can a body change?... It does seem very difficult - though not impossible. It's not impossible, but ... it's such a formidable labor that life is too short. So even there, something needs to be changed, that habit of wear and tear is indeed a terrible thing.
Yes, but where would a "new being" come from? He won'tdrop from heaven, will he?!
Of course not, that's just the problem! The more you look at it ... It won't come that way (Mother laughs), it will obviously come in a similar way that man came from the animal. But we lack the stages between the animal and man - we may think them up, imagine them, they have found some things, but to tell the truth we weren't there to see it all! We don't know how it happened. But that doesn't matter.... According to some, the transformation can be consciously begun inwardly by forming the child. It may be, I am not saying no. It may be. Then he will have to form another more transformed, and so on - several stages, which will disappear just as the stages between the ape and man disappeared?
Well, yes, that is the whole story of human improvement.
We can call it what we like, of course. But a NEW BEING ... We can imagine, as you say, a new being coming down ready-made from start to finish! ... But that's pulp fiction.
That's what Sri Aurobindo also says. That being must be worked out.
After two or three - or four or ten or twenty, I don't know - intermediary beings, there would come the new way, the supramental way of creating.... But will it be necessary to have children? Will it not do away with the need to have children in order to replace those who go, since they will now live on indefinitely? They will transform themselves sufficiently to adapt to the new needs.
All that is quite conceivable in the long term.
Yes, in the long term.
But Sri Aurobindo and you are here so it's done in the short term!
No, Sri Aurobindo didn't conceive of it in the short term.
Anyway, so it's done by you. Whether in the long or the shortterm, so it's done by you in this life and this body.

But what I see ... I am trying to do it - not out of an arbitrary will, not at all: there is simply "something," or someone, or a consciousness or whatever (I don't want to talk about it) which uses this (Mother's body) to try and do something with it. Which means that I do the work and am a witness at the same time, and as for the "I," I don't know where it is: it's not down here, it's not up above, it's not ... I don't know where it is, it's for the requirements of language. There is "something" that works and is a witness of the work at the same time, and is at the same time the action being done: the three things.
page 196-97 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 24th June - 1967


Then Mother goes into a long contemplation It seems to be accelerated transformation, it's a little crushing. We'll see.
page 221 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd Aug - 1968


(Mother gives Satprem a flower called "Transformation.")

I give you the right one.
Why the "right one"?
I say that because there is confusion in many people's minds. When, from the standpoint of progress, for instance, I speak of progress, I mean "going from the mental consciousness to a higher consciousness," but people generally understand "to make progress materially or mentally or ..." So when they are told of transformation, all kinds of queer things come to their minds.... As for us, when we speak of transformation, we mean the supramental transformation. That's why.
page 261 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 25th Sep - 1968


The cells are quite, absolutely convinced that... (I'll put it in the simplest way) the Lord is all-powerful, you understand? Only, what they're not convinced of is whether He WANTS (laughing) it to be this way or that, that is to say, whether He wants the transformation to be done in an already existing body, or in stages.

But then, in stages means centuries and centuries....
Yes, naturally!
But it seems that the TIME has come, doesn't it?
There's an absolute refusal to answer. Oh, I very well know why! Because (how shall I put it?... I must put it in a quite childlike way) physical matter is lazy so ... (laughing) if it were sure, it would let itself go! But the one thing the body has conquered (almost totally I may say) is, no more desires, no more preferences (immutable gesture). It's replaced by ... "Only what You will." Doesn't choose, doesn't say "This is better than that" - what You will. That's the natural and spontaneous state.

(silence)

Very well (laughing), we'll see!
No, I don't think so.
What?
I don't think so. Because, otherwise, it would really needcenturies and centuries and centuries.
Yes. But centuries, that's nothing for the Supreme.
Yes, of course.
For him, it's ...
But still, the world has reached such an acute state of sufferingand pain that ...
Yes.
The time has come for ONE body to change itself sufficiently togive a concrete hope to humanity.
Yes, yes ... Even if only, perhaps, as an example.
Yes, perhaps, but not only that, because the day that Powerwould have entered your matter so totally, you would have the possibility of passing it on to other bodies that were ready.
Ah, but the possibility already exists. I have constant proof of that - extraordinary proof.... You know, little miracles take place all the time, all the time.

(silence)

Its clear that there will be ONE moment when the thing will occur.

page 121-122, Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 25th March - 1970


The experience in the body is very interesting. All so-called moral, intellectual, psychological suffering, in other words, the suffering of the consciousness that is not purely material, seems childish to the body. Yesterday, it had ... (what shall I say? I don't know how to explain it). It doesn't feel things in relation to itself, it feels things ... (silence) IN others, but with a general consciousness, not a personal one; and it has such a horror of physical suffering, that is to say illnesses, accidents, that it wondered why, why the world exists like that. [[Let us point out that on this day Mother had an indirect contact (through the family) with a disciple stricken with cancer. ]] It then understood why some people don't want to have a body anymore (that always seemed absurd before), it understood why. It was such an intense experience! It had an aspiration, something like a prayer, but it's not a prayer: "May the world change! May the world change. It HAS to change -- or else disappear." The idea of disappearing had not come before, it seemed ... it used to think that the world was moving towards a harmonious perfection; but, you see, it's long -- the length of time is terrible! There was an aspiration of incredible intensity for the transformation. Everything looks so dreadful because ... because the transformation must, MUST take place. That anyone can be satisfied with a world like this is impossible -- it's impossible to a physical consciousness that is conscious of the Divine. It's impossible, it absolutely has to change. And that was so vivid ... I was gripped by it all night and all day, even while seeing people, with such an intensity: it must change, it must change.... The being, the inner consciousness can say and be conscious that that suffering is unreal, but the physical consciousness can't -- it can't, it HAS to change. It's not a matter of merging with a consciousness, leaving this physical consciousness to disappear: it has to change, it has to change.... I can't put it into words, I can't say it.
Yes, yes, I understand.
It is so very conscious that in all the worlds, even the vital world, everything depends on the attitude, and if you are in contact with the Divine, everything is fine, there's no problem, but this (Mother touches her body), this physical suffering -- cancer and all those things -- it's so concrete: It HAS to change, it has to change. It can't be considered something one must "see in a different way." It actually must change. You understand what I mean?
Yes, Mother.
In all the other domains, it depends on the attitude; here it doesn't depend on the attitude -- you may suffer more, suffer less, but.... The FACT has to change, you see. Because the world, the material world seen as it is, is a FRIGHTFUL thing. You see, it is bearable due to the mental influence (vital and mental), but that influence is not enough, it has to be transformed. Let me say it in a very down-to-earth way: for example, take a supramental being having the supramental consciousness, if his body gets cancer, it will remain cancer, you follow?... He may not feel anything, but only if he detaches himself from his body; whereas, for the transformation to be genuine, the body ALSO has to attain a harmony above -- above all illnesses and accidents. It is the only part. The other parts of the being can be transformed, can transform their consciousness while remaining what they are -- but the physical body needs to change. I don't know whether it's a passing experience or a final one -- that I don't know. We'll see.
We are just at the most difficult period.


page 186-89 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 10th July - 1971


I am deep in transformation, that's why I've lost control. What I could do before I can't do anymore. I see, I clearly see the direction it will take, but it's not there yet. So now I am good-for-nothing. My voice is completely ruined. It's interesting only from a documentary standpoint [the present conditions], because when this experience ends, and the supermind really starts coming, things will change and it will have a mere historical value. It's the most unpleasant moment.... The Power is here, you see, but the means of expressing it have not yet been created.

(silence)

The old control is slipping away. It's quite irksome for me -- especially for eating, for instance, it's very hard to swallow, to ... oh! The body has simply a kind of ... perception -- a distant perception -- of what the true supramental control will be, but it's only like this (gesture into the distance), almost like a promise, nothing more. Truly a transition between two worlds. page 211-12 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Aug - 1971


It's very concrete. Take food, for example ... the best example is food. The body needs food to live, yet everything in the body is a stranger to food. So meals are becoming an almost unsolvable problem.... To put it in a simplistic way, it's as if I no longer knew how to eat, although another way of eating comes spontaneously when I don't observe myself eating. Do you understand what I mean?
Yes, yes, Mother.
And the same applies to seeing, to hearing. I feet all my faculties diminishing. In that respect, it is true, I don't know what people are doing, saying or anything, but at the same time ... At the same time - I have a MUCH TRUER perception of what they are, of what they think and do: of the world. A truer perception, but so new that I don't know how to describe it.
page 27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Jan - 1972-1973


For the first time, early this morning, I saw myself: my body. I don't know whether it's the supramental body or ... (what shall I say?) a transitional body, but I had a completely new body, in the sense that it was sexless: it was neither woman nor man. It was very white. But that could be because I have white skin, I don't know. It was very slender (gesture). Really lovely, a truly harmonious form. That's the first time. Especially for food: it will be very different. I am BEGINNING to understand how it will work, but I don't know enough yet to describe it - I haven't had the experience, so I don't know.... Most probably, we will absorb things that don't need to be digested - there are some. But not food as such. For example, one idea these days is glucose (things of that sort). But I am not sure because I am just undergoing the experience. Once I have the vision of what to do, I'll do it.


page 96-97 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 24th Mar - 1972-1973


Sujata told me about the experience you had the other day,that vision you had of your body, the transitional body.
Yes, I WAS like that. It was me; I didn't look at myself in a mirror, I saw myself like this (Mother bends her head to look at her body), I was ... I just was like that. That's the first time. It was around four in the morning, I think. And perfectly natural - I mean, I didn't look in a mirror, it felt perfectly natural. I only remember what I saw (gesture from the chest to the waist). I was covered only with veils, so I only saw.... What was very different was the torso, from the chest to the waist: it was neither male nor female. But it was lovely, my form was extremely svelte and slim - slim but not thin. And the skin was very white, just like my skin. A lovely form. And no sex - you couldn't tell: neither male nor female. The sex had disappeared. The same here (Mother points to her chest), all that was flat. I don't know how to explain it. There was an outline reminiscent of what is now, but with no forms (Mother touches her chest), not even as much as a man's. A very white skin, very smooth. Practically no abdomen to speak of. And no stomach. All that was slim. I didn't pay any special attention, you see, because I was that: it felt perfectly natural to me. That's the first time it happened, it was the night before last; but last night I didn't see anything. That was the first and the last time so far.
But this form is in the subtle physical, isn't it?
It must be already like that in the subtle physical.
But how will it pass into the physical?
That's the question I don't know.... I don't know. I don't know. Also, clearly there was none of the complex digestion we have now, or the kind of elimination we have now. It didn't work that way. But how? ... Food is already obviously very different and becoming more and more so - glucose, for instance, or substances that don't require an elaborate digestion. But how will the body itself change? ... That I don't know. I don't know.
You see, I didn't look to see how it worked, for it was completely natural to me, so I can't describe it in detail. Simply, it was neither a woman's body nor a man's - that much is certain. And the outline was fairly similar to that of a very young person. There was a faint suggestion of a human form (Mother draws a form in the air): with a shoulder and a waist. Just a hint of it. I see it but.... I saw it exactly as you see yourself, I didn't even look at myself in the mirror. And I had a sort of veil, which I wore to cover myself. It was my way of being (there was nothing surprising in it), my natural way of being. That must be how it is in the subtle physical.
But what's mysterious is the transition from one to the other.
Yes - how? But it's the same mystery as the transition from chimpanzee to man.
Oh, no, Mother! It's more colossal than that! It's more colossalfor, after all, there isn't that much difference between a chim panzee and a man.
But there wasn't such a difference in the appearance either (Mother draws a form in the air): there were shoulders, arms, legs, a body, a waist. Similar to ours. There was only....
Yes, but I mean the way a chimpanzee functions and the way a man functions are the same.
They are the same.
Well, yes! They digest the same, breathe the same.... Whereas here....
No, but here too there must have been breathing. The shoulders were strikingly broad (gesture), in contrast. That's important. But the chest was neither feminine nor even masculine: only reminiscent of it. And all that - stomach, abdomen and the rest - was simply an outline, a very slender and harmonious form, which certainly wasn't used for the purpose we now use our bodies. The two different things - totally different - were procreation, which was no longer possible, and food. Though even our present food is manifestly not the same as that of chimpanzees or even the first humans; it's quite different. So now, it seems we have to find a food that doesn't require all this digesting.... Not exactly liquid, but not solid either. And there's also the question of the mouth - I don't know about that - and the teeth? Naturally, chewing should no longer be necessary, and therefore teeth wouldn't be either.... But there has to be something to replace them. I haven't the slightest idea what the face looked like. But it didn't seem too, too unlike what it is now. What will change a great deal, of course - it had acquired a prominent role - is breathing. That being depended much on it.
Yes, he probably absorbs energies directly.
Yes. There will probably be intermediary beings who won't last, you see, just as there were intermediary beings between the chimpanzee and man. But I don't know, something has to happen that has never before happened. Yes.
page 98-100 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 25th Mar - 1972-1973


The other day, when I saw that little child playing (I still see it), on top of a HUGE mental head, kicking it - it's the supramental. But what are we going to call that being? ... We mustn't call it "superman," it isn't the superman: it's the supramental. Because, you see, the transition from animal to man is clear to us; the transition from man to supramental being is accomplished (or isn't) through the superman - there may be a few supermen (there are) who will actually make that transition, but that's not actually how it works. First, that supramental being has to be born. [[By mistake, Mother said "overmental being," which is probably what prompted Satprem to ask the next question. ]] Now it's becoming plainer and plainer. The other day, I saw that little being (symbolically a child) sitting on a big mental head: it was the supramental being sitting, to symbolize its "independence," I could say, over the mind. Things are becoming clearer. But we are just in the transitional period, the most difficult time. Will some reach a similar state - at least similar or at any rate precursor to the supramental?.- . Such seems to be the present attempt, what is taking place now. And so you are no longer on this side, not yet on the other - you are ... (gesture in suspense). Rather a precarious condition. Evidently, all those who are born now and are here now have asked to participate in this, they have prepared for it in previous lives. From the standpoint of global knowledge, it would be interesting to know what's happening and how it's happening. But from the individual standpoint, it's not exactly pleasant (!), the period is difficult: you are no longer on this side, not yet on the other-just in between. There we stand. page 156 - 57 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th Apr - 1972-1973


But, of course, at best - at the very best - we are transitional beings. And well, transitional beings.... But the consciousness of the inner being ultimately gets stronger, you follow? Stronger even than the consciousness of the material being. So the material being can be dissolved, but the inner consciousness remains stronger. It is of that consciousness that we can say, "This is me."
Yes.
There you are. THAT is the important thing. The important thing. As for me, the purpose of this body is now simply: the Command and the Will of the Lord, so I can do as much groundwork as possible. But it isn't the Goal at all. You see, we don't know, we don't have the slightest knowledge of what the supramental life is. Therefore we don't know if this (Mother pinches the skin of her hand) can change enough to adapt or not - and to tell the truth, I am not worried about it, it's not a problem that preoccupies me too much; the problem I am preoccupied with is building that supramental consciousness So IT becomes the being. It's that consciousness which must become the being. That's what's important. As for the rest, we'll see (it's the same as worrying over a change of clothing). But it must truly be IT, you see. And in order to do that, all the consciousness contained in these cells must aggregate, form and organize itself into an independent conscious entity - the consciousness in the cells must aggregate and form into a conscious entity capable of being conscious of Matter as well as conscious of the Supramental. That's the thing. That's what is being done. How far will we be able to go? I don't know. You understand?
Yes, Mother, I understand very well.
How far we'll go, I don't know. I feel that if I last up to my hundredth birthday, that is, another six years, much will be accomplished - much. Something significant and decisive will be accomplished. I am not saying that the body will be able to get transformed ... I have no such signs, but the consciousness - the physical, material consciousness becoming... "supramentalized."
That's it, that's the work now in progress. And that's what's important. You too, you must be able, you must be destined to do that also, hence your disgust. But instead of dwelling on the disgust, you should dwell on the identification with the consciousness you are in when you are sitting still. You follow? That's the important part. That's the important part.

(Satprem rests his forehead on

Mother's knees. Sujata approaches)

I am beginning to understand why Sri Aurobindo always said it was woman (Mother caresses Sujata's cheek with her finger) that could build a bridge between the two. I am beginning to understand. One day, I'll explain. I am beginning to understand. Sri Aurobindo used to say: it is woman that can build a bridge between the old world and the supramental world. Now I understand.
(Satprem:) Yes, I understand too.
Then it's all right. We must have patience.
page 170-71 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 26th Apr - 1972-1973


I think I already told you, there's a kind of golden Force pressing down (gesture); it has no material substantiality, and yet it feels terribly heavy....

Truly the Power is IN the world, a new and stupendous Power which has come into the world to manifest the divine Almightiness and make it "manifestable," so to say.

And in the body, whatever has trouble adjusting to this new Power creates difficulties, disorders and illnesses. Yet in a flash you sense that if you were totally receptive, you would become formidable. That's the sensation. That's more and more my sensation: that if the entire consciousness, the entire most material consciousness - the most material - were receptive to this new Power ... one would become for-mi-dable.

page 175-77 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 6th May - 1972-1973


Evidently someone had to do it. When Sri Aurobindo left, he told me that I alone could do it. I said all right.... So, I don't do it out of ambition - I just accepted, that's all. page 183 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 17th May - 1972-1973


(Smiling) It's profoundly interesting.

(silence)

As if a superhuman Power were trying to manifest through millenniums of impotence.... That's it. This (the body) is made of millenniums of impotence. And a superhuman Power is trying to ... is exerting a pressure to manifest. That's what it is. What will be the outcome? I don't know.
Time does not exist anymore....

(Mother nods her head)

As if another time had entered this one.
page 199 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 31st May - 1972-1973


It's a supramental person. Something the cells don't quite understand yet, but they know, they sense. They feel as if they were thrust forcibly into a new world. That's what is now pressing all the time like this (gesture of pressure and descent). In spite of an apparent weakness (which is purely illusory), there's a ... tremendous Force here.
Yes, certainly.
Mind you, it's a Force seemingly too strong for the body; but when the body stays VERY quiet, like this ... (gesture, hands open), and as nonexistent as possible, then all goes well. Then, you feel ... (gesture of something flowing through Mother). But that Force is ... stupendous!
page 205 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 7th June - 1972-1973



The Help is getting more and more accurate, more and more conscious, but ... I must say it's VERY difficult.
Yes.
But it doesn't matter. Since we have agreed to do it, let's do it. There's no point in complaining. But the Power - the Power is stu-pen-dous, only ... (Mother points to her body), this is like a mockery: the slightest thing gets inordinately magnified! Even physically. Physically, it's so strange, I've got insect bites on a spot that's completely covered (Mother touches her leg); for a mosquito to reach it is impossible. And, I don't know ... I am told there are no fleas or bugs here! page 206-07 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 10th June - 1972-1973


I am no longer the same person, I don't know. All, absolutely all the reactions are new. But I don't find the.... My only impression is that of CLINGING to the Divine every minute of the day. It's the only way out. That's how the body functions. The body's experience is that without the Divine, it would ... crumble. That's all. It has in fact a growing sense of nonexistence - of the absence of a separate individuality (Mother touches the skin of her hands). But it is well aware that this is only a transitional consciousness - what will be the ultimate consciousness? I don't know.

(silence)

For example, the body asks the Divine, "Give me consciousness." And there's a kind of answer (a wordless answer): "Not yet, you would no longer want to live separated." Like that. If the body enjoyed the complete consciousness of the divine Presence, it would no longer want, no longer want the separate consciousness. Obviously, there's still a lot of progress to be made.
page 219 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 1st July - 1972-1973


I have a feeling I am becoming another person. No, not just that: I am entering ANOTHER world, another way of being ... which might be called a dangerous way of being (in terms of the ordinary consciousness). As if.... Dangerous, but wonderful - how to express it? First, the [body's] subconscient is in the process of changing, and that is long, arduous and painful ... but marvelous as well. The feeling of ... (gesture as if standing on a ridge). More and more, the body's sensation is that faith alone can save -knowledge is not yet possible, so only faith can save. But "faith can save" still sounds like an old manner of speaking.... How to phrase it?... The feeling that the relation between what we call "life" and what we call "death" is becoming more and more different - yes, different (Mother nods her head), completely different. Not that death disappears, mind you (death as we see it, as we know it and in relation to life as we know it): that's not it, not it at all. BOTH are changing ... into something we don't yet know, which seems at once extremely dangerous and absolutely marvelous. Dangerous: the least mistake has catastrophic consequences. And marvelous. It is the consciousness, the true consciousness of immortality - not "immortality" as we understand it, something else. Something else.
page 222 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 12th July - 1972-1973



All possible contradictions are accumulated in the subconscient. Yes. And it keeps coming up like this (gesture gushing out), all the time, all the time. And ... you feel you are completely stupid, unconscious, obdurate. All that is ... (same gesture rising from below). But the consciousness here (gesture around the head) is peaceful, extraordinarily peaceful ... (Mother opens her hands): let Your Will be done, Lord. So "that" exerts a pressure on what rises from below. As though the battle of the world were being fought in my consciousness.
page 300 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 25th Oct - 1972-1973


For a moment - just a few seconds - I had the supramental consciousness. It was so marvelous, mon petit! ... I understood that if we were to taste that now, we would no longer want to exist differently. We are in the process of ... (gesture of kneading dough) of changing laboriously. And the change, the process of change seems.... Yet you can grasp it in a kind of indifference (I don't know how to express it). But it doesn't last long. As a rule it's ... laborious. But that consciousness is so marvelous, you know! It's most interesting because there's a sort of EXTREME activity within complete peace. But it lasted only a few seconds.


page 308 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Nov - 1972-1973



You see, I have a solution for the transformation of the body, but ... it's never been done before, so it's extremely ... hard to believe. I cannot, I cannot believe that that's it. Yet, it's the only solution I see.... The body has a wish to go to sleep and awake ... ("sleep" in a certain sense, of course: I remain perfectly conscious in consciousness, in the movement) and awake only after it is transformed ...
(Satprem, wordlessly:) Sleeping Beauty!
... but people will never have the patience to stand it, to take care of me. The task is colossal, a herculean task; they're nice (Mother points to the bathroom), but they're already doing their utmost, and I can't ask for more. That's the problem. Yet, it's the only solution to which the consciousness assents: "Yes, that's it."
page 390 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 7th Apr - 1972-1973


My nervous system is being transferred to the Supramental. It feels like ... you know, what people call "neurasthenia" [[Mother may have used this term in its original Greek root meaning: "strengthless nerves." Unless she meant "neuralgia" in its broader sense. ]] - they have no idea what it is; but the entire nervous system is.... It's worse than dying. [[We recall Mother also saying, "When people come into my room with ill thoughts, all the nerves are tortured." ]]
Yes, Mother.
But I think ... I think I can transmit the divine Vibration.
page 399 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 14th Apr - 1972-1973




-457_Trilogy.html


(Mischievously) Did you tell them Mother was happy? - They couldn't care less! (Mother laughs) (Unruffled) They don't exactly know who 'Mother' is. No, fortunately not! Fortunately, my child! Fortunately.

(Just at the doorstep, as She is leaving, Mother tells the disci

ple that She had seen three books, a trilogy, and the third one

would be about Her. And She adds:)

Sri Aurobindo came during my japa to tell me, 'I will help him all through.'
page 413 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 Aug. 1960



-458_truth - consciousness.html



When we enter a certain state of consciousness, we plainly see that we are capable of anything and that ultimately there is no 'sin' not potentially our own. Is this impression correct? And yet certain things make us rebel or disgust us. We always reach some inadmissible point. Why? What is the true, effective attitude when confronted with Evil?

You have this experience when for some reason or other, depending on the case, you come into contact with the universal consciousness - not in its limitless essence but on any level of Matter. There is an atomic consciousness, a purely material consciousness and an even more generally prevailing psychological consciousness. When, through interiorization or a sort of withdrawal from the ego you enter into contact with that zone of consciousness we can call psychological terrestrial or human collective (there is a difference: 'human collective' is restricted, while 'terrestrial' includes many animal and even plant vibrations; but in the present case, since the moral notion of guilt, sin and evil belongs exclusively to human consciousness, let us simply say 'human collective psychological consciousness'); when you contact that through identification, you naturally feel or see or know yourself capable of any human movement whatsoever. To some extent, this constitutes a Truth-Consciousness, or at such times the egoistical sense of what does or doesn't belong to you, of what you can or cannot do, disappears; you realize that the fundamental construction of human consciousness makes any human being capable of doing anything. And since you are in a truth-consciousness, you are aware at the same time that to feel judgmental or disgusted or revolted would be an absurdity, for EVERYTHING is potentially there inside you. And should you happen to be penetrated by certain currents of force (which we usually can't follow: we see them come and go but we are generally unaware of their origin and direction), if any one of these currents penetrates you, it can make you do anything. If one always remained in this state of consciousness, keeping alive the flame of Agni, the flame of purification and progress, then after some time, not only could one prevent these movements from taking an active form in oneself and becoming expressed physically, but one could act upon the very nature of the movement and transform it. Needless to say, however, that unless one has attained a very high degree of realization it is virtually impossible to keep this state of consciousness for long. Almost immediately one falls back into the egoistic consciousness of the separate self, and all the difficulties return: disgust, the revolt against certain things and the horror they create in us, and so on. It is probable - even certain - that until one is completely transformed these movements of disgust and revolt are necessary to make one do WITHIN ONESELF what is needed to slam the door on them. For after all, the point is to not let them manifest. page 24 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 12th Jan. 1961


The big difficulty, in Matter, is that the material consciousness, that is to say, the mind in Matter, was formed under the pressure of difficulties - difficulties, obstacles, suffering, struggle. It was, so to speak, "worked out" by those things, and that gave it an imprint almost of pessimism and defeatism, which is certainly the greatest obstacle. This is the thing I am conscious of in my own work. The most material consciousness, the most material mind, is in the habit of having to be whipped into acting, into making effort and moving forward, otherwise it's tames. So then, if it imagines, it always imagines the difficulty - always the obstacle, always the opposition, always the difficulty ... and that slows down the movement terribly. So it needs very concrete, very tangible and VERY REPEATED experiences to be convinced that behind all its difficulties, there is a Grace; behind all its failures, there is the Victory; behind all its pain and suffering and contradictions, there is Ananda. Of all the efforts, this is the one that has to be repeated most often: you are constantly forced to stop, put an end to, drive away, convert a pessimism, a doubt or a totally defeatist imagination. I am speaking exclusively of the material consciousness. Naturally, when something comes from above, it goes vrrm! like that, so everything falls silent and waits and stops. But ... I well understand why the Truth, the Truth-Consciousness, doesn't express itself more constantly: it's because the difference between its Power and the power of Matter is so great that the power of Matter is as if canceled - but then, that doesn't mean Transformation: it means a crushing. It doesn't mean a transformation. That's what used to be done in the past: they would crush the entire material consciousness under the weight of a Power that nothing can fight, nothing can oppose; and then they would feel, "Here we are! It's happened!" It hadn't happened at all! Because the rest down below remained as it was, unchanged. page 222-24 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 7th Oct - 1964




-459_truth is not dogma.html

-461_Truth.html



Every time a new truth has attempted to manifest upon earth, it has been immediately attacked, corrupted and diverted by pseudo-spiritual forces - which did represent a certain spirituality at a given time, but precisely the one that the new truth wants to go beyond.

page 344 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 - 16th Oct 1963


It's the perception of the world that's illusory - the perception of the world, the perception we have of it, is illusory. The world has a concrete, real existence in what we could call the Eternal's Consciousness. But we, the human consciousness has an illusory perception of this world. And when the Vibration of Truth triumphs, you see and have the sense of the true reality of the world; and as I said, that illusory perception disappears immediately. it is canceled. page 277 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 12th Nov - 1964


It's a power than can achieve anything - anything at all. Nothing is impossible to it. But I have also carefully observed that if "that" manifested indiscriminately, as it were, if it came as something that imposed itself in the earth atmosphere without control or discernment, it would be ... All that denies that Power (denies it wittingly or unwittingly) would be as though annulled. So the outward, apparent consequences would be ... too awesome. That's what Sri Aurobindo wrote; he said Knowledge must come first. Truth must reign before Love can manifest massively - a wholesale manifestation. Now it's filtered, as it were. It is still filtered. page 87 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 16th April - 1966


You remember, I don't know if it was in a letter or an article, Sri Aurobindo spoke of the manifestation of divine Love; he said, "Truth will have to be established first, otherwise there will be catastrophes...." I understand that very well. But it's a long time in coming! (Mother laughs) Up above, nothing is long. But anyway, it's here that we are ordered to exist and to achieve.
page 158 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Jul - 1966


"Because the Truth is supremely destructive of Falsehood and ill will; were It to act at once on the world as it is, little of it would remain.... It is patiently preparing its advent."


page 265 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 15th Nov. - 1966


(Regarding the School's pupils:)

From every side they ask the question (they are all like that), "What IS the Truth? What do you mean when you speak of the Truth?" They want a mental definition of the Truth.... Truth cannot be expressed in the mind's terms. That's the point. And all the questions they ask are mental ones. Truth cannot be formulated, it cannot be defined, but it can be LIVED.
page 305 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 24th Dec - 1966


For instance, there is here that old idea of vegetarian food. Some people write to me indignantly that these "holy rules" are being increasingly broken in the Ashram! Someone wrote to me a first time, asking me to answer; I neglected to. So he wrote a second time to tell me, "What can we do if you don't answer?" I answered (they'll probably bite their tongues at my reply), I replied something like this:

"Truth is not a dogma that one can learn once and

for all and impose as a rule. Truth is as infinite as

the supreme Lord and It manifests every instant

for those who are sincere and attentive."

I could have added other things but didn't, so as not to wage battle too openly! The same day, that is, just today, I got another letter.... The whole letter ranted and raved about all that's going on in the Ashram, saying, "What! This place is worse than the world!" and so forth. (All this in the name of "truth," naturally.) So (laughing) I answered: "Were Truth to manifest in such a way as to be seen and understood by all, they would be terri fied by the enormity of their ignorance and false interpretation." I hit hard this time. And it's going on. Day after day it's like that, growing acute. Everyone is the "defender of the Truth." One about food, another about money, another about business, another about relationships ... - everyone has his hobby-horse. The wonderful thing is that till now not one has told me, "Maybe my opinions aren't true?" - not one! "Maybe my way of seeing or feeling isn't true?" - not one. They are all in full Truth! It's very interesting.
page 81 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 22nd March - 1967


"Truth is a difficult and arduous conquest. One needs to be a true warrior, a warrior who fears nothing, neither enemies nor death, for, despite all opposition, with or without a body, the fight goes on and shall end in Victory."
page 28 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Jan - 1970


(Mother gives Satprem her latest notes.)

Do you have all these papers? ... I had given this message [in 1966]: Let us serve the Truth, [[Italics indicate words Mother spoke in English. ]] and someone asked me (in a childlike tone), "What is the Truth?" So I answered:
Put yourself at the service of Truth, and you will know the Truth.

page 35 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 15th Jan - 1972-1973




-461_UN.html



But they don't seem - the leaders at least - to have understood at all.
The Prime Minister has fully approved. But he is a weak man. They are afraid of the United Nations.
Oh, they're afraid of everything.
But to the United Nations I have sent a lot of messages: lots of people there have talked about it. They are quarreling. There at the United Nations, it has kicked up a din. Only, the Americans are quite unrivaled in their stupidity! All the more so as they are puffed up with conceit - they are convinced that they are the leading nation of the world, so that puts the final touch to stupidity. But anyway, they are not alone at the United Nations and it has made a lot of noise, it has shaken people up a bit. page 291 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 10th Nov - 1965




-462_unesco.html



A member of UNESCO has asked a stupid question, something to this effect: "There was a time when India represented the spiritual consciousness" (or "taught the spiritual consciousness," I don't remember now), "but now that she is engaged in such a war, who will play this role?"...[[Here is the exact text of the question: "If India, who held (till recently) the hope for humanity in the light of her spiritual leaders, can get involved in such a war, who would lead the world?" ]] So instead of replying to the question, because I might have told him a thing or two, I answered what you've just read.


page 245 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 16th Sept - 1965


UNESCO want to publish a brochure on "tolerance," and they wrote to K. to ask him for a message from me. So I wrote something (Mother laughs), here it is:
"Tolerance is only the first step towards wisdom.
The need to tolerate indicates the presence of preferences.
He whose consciousness is one with the Supreme Consciousness meets all things with a perfect equanimity"
They puff themselves up like that, they still think themselves highly superior because they have "tolerance" - and tolerance is looking down on things with contempt.
page 283 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 9th Aug - 1969




-465_USA better than Russian.html



At any rate, if a new domination is indispensable, it would be INFINITELY better for it to be by the Americans than by the Russians because what would be learned from the Russians is an UNNECESSARY lesson: it's community, the truth of community - the Indians knew it before the Russians (the Sannyasins were the ideal community); they knew it before the Russians, so they have nothing to learn there, it would be perfectly unnecessary. And to tell the truth, I am completely indifferent as to whether or not the Russians become spiritualists, because the Russians, in their soul, are mystics - they are AT LEAST (at least) as mystical as the Indians. So all their community and Communism is pretentiousness. It would be no use - no use at all.

page 137-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 18th June - 1965




-466_USA in Vietnam.html



V. asked me a question about the Americans and Vietnam, so I answered him (Mother looks very amused and hands the text of her answer to Satprem):

Question

Are the Americans' presence and intervention in Vietnam justifiable?

Mother's answer

From what point of view do you ask the question? If it is from the political point of view - politics is in complete falsehood and I am not concerned with it. If it is from the moral point of view - morality is the shield ordinary men brandish to protect themselves from the Truth. If it is from the spiritual point of view - the Divine Will alone is justifiable and It is what men travesty and distort in all their actions.
page 152 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 9th Jul - 1966




-468_Val de grace.html


(Pavitra shows Mother a photograph of the house in which

She lived in Paris, rue du Val de Grâce)

Well, well! The house on Val de Grâce! It looks inhabited, the windows have curtains in them. I lived there - a small house, really very small, with a bedroom upstairs. Here, this is the kitchen; here is the living room, this is the studio. And then behind the kitchen there was a small room that I used as the dining room, and it opened onto a courtyard. Between the dining room and the kitchen there was a bathroom and a small hallway. The kitchen is here; you went up three steps and then there was this small hallway with the stairs leading up to the bedroom. Next to the bedroom was a bathroom about as big as a thimble. It is part of a huge house. There's a seven-story apartment building on each side, and the street is here. It wasn't very big. The studio was rather large - a beautiful room ... That's where I received Madame David-Neel - we saw each other nearly every evening. There was a considerable library in the studio; one whole end was given over to the library - more than two thousand books belonging to my brother. There were even the complete works of several classical writers. And I had my entire collection of the Revue Cosmique, and my post card collection (it was down below) - mainly post cards of Algeria, Tlemcen, nearly 200 of them. But there were five years of the Revue Cosmique. And written in such a French! How funny it was! Theon's wife dictated it in English while she was in trance. Another English lady who was there claimed to know French like a Frenchman. 'Myself, I never use a dictionary,' she would say, 'I don't need a dictionary.' But then she would turn out such translations! She made all the classic mistakes of English words that mustn't be translated like that. Then it was sent to me in Paris for correcting. It was literally impossible.
She was a small woman, fat, almost flabby - she gave you the feeling that if you leaned against her, it would melt! Once, I remember ... I was there in Tlemcen with Andre's father, who had come to join us - a painter, an artist. Theon was wearing a dark purple robe. Theon said to him, 'This robe is purple.' 'No, it's not purple,' the other answered, 'it's violet.' Theon went rigid: 'When I say purple, it's purple!' And they started arguing over this foolishness. Suddenly there flashed from my head, 'No, this is too ridiculous!' - I didn't say a word, but it went out from my head (I even saw the flash), and then Madame Theon got up and came over to me, stood behind me (neither of us uttered a word - the other two were staring at each other like two angry cocks), then she laid my head against her breast - absolutely the feeling of sinking into eiderdown! And never in my life, never, had I felt such peace - it was absolutely luminous and soft ... a peace, such a soft, tender, luminous peace. After a moment, she bent down and whispered in my ear, 'One must never question one's master!' It wasn't I who was questioning! She was a wonderful woman, wonderful. But as for him ... well ...
It's funny ... I don't know why, but a short while ago this house on Val de Grâce suddenly came to me ... (to Pavitra) When did this photograph come? Yesterday. page 441-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 22nd Oct. 1960



-470_Veda.html


There is the whole Chaldean tradition, and there is also the Vedic tradition, and there was very certainly a tradition anterior to both that split into two branches. Well, all these occult experiences have been the same. Only the description differs depending upon the country and the language. The story of creation is not told from a metaphysical or psychological point of view, but from an objective point of view, and this story is as real as our stories of historical periods. Of course, it's not the only way of seeing, but it is just as legitimate a way as the others, and in any event, it recognizes the concrete reality of all these divine beings. Even now, the experiences of Western occultists and those of Eastern occultists exhibit great similarities. The only difference is in the way they are expressed, but the manipulation of the forces is the same. I learned all this through Theon. Probably, he was .. I don't know if he was Russian or Polish (a Russian or Polish Jew), he never said who he really was or where he was born, nor his age nor anything. He had assumed two names: one was an Arab name he had adopted when he took refuge in Algeria (I don't know for what reason). After having worked with Blavatsky and having founded an occult society in Egypt, he went to Algeria, and there he first called himself 'Aia Aziz' (a word of Arabic origin meaning 'the beloved'). Then, when he began setting up his Cosmic Review and his 'cosmic group,' he called himself Max Theon, meaning the supreme God (!), the greatest God! And no one knew him by any other name than these two - Aia Aziz or Max Theon. He had an English wife. He said he had received initiation in India (he knew a little Sanskrit and the Rig-Veda thoroughly), and then he formulated a tradition which he called the 'cosmic tradition' and which he claimed to have received - I don't know how - from a tradition anterior to that of the Cabala and the Vedas. But there were many things (Madame Theon was the clairvoyant one, and she received visions; oh, she was wonderful!), many things that I myself had seen and known before knowing them which were then substantiated.
page 219 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 4th Nov. - 1958
So personally, I am convinced that there was indeed a tradition anterior to both these traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, there is a similarity in the experiences. When I came here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from the occult standpoint, he always said that it conformed to the Vedic tradition. And as for certain occult practices, he told me that they were entirely tantric - and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neither the Vedas nor the Tantras. So very probably there was a tradition anterior to both. I have recollections (for me, these are always things I have LIVED), very clear, very distinct recollections of a time that was certainly VERY anterior to the Vedic times and to the Cabala, to the Chaldean tradition.

page 220 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 4th Nov. - 1958



I have brought you a whole discourse! (Mother gives Satprem some flowers) First, the goal of the Vedas: Immortality. [[Gomphrena globosa (purple Amaranth). ]] That was their goal: the Truth that led to Immortality. Immortality was their ambition. I don't think it was physical immortality - but I am not sure, because they do speak of the forefathers and this refers to the initiatory tradition prior to the Vedas as well as the Kabbala, and immortality on earth is spoken of there: the earth transformed - Sri Aurobindo's idea. So although they didn't explicitly state it, perhaps they knew.

I knew when I caught it: it was at the Playground. [[Until 1958, Mother went daily to the Ashram Playground, from 5 p.m. to 9 or 10 in the evening, to see people and give her direct spiritual help to some 2,000 disciples who passed before her one by one. ]] Certain people poisoned me with a mosquito bite - the instant the mosquito bit me, I knew, because it so happens I am a little bit conscious! But I controlled it like this (gesture of holding the disease in abeyance and under control), so it couldn't stir. Probably it would never have stirred if I hadn't had that experience [of January 24] and the body didn't need to be made ready. For the body to be 'ready,' a host of things belonging to the dasyus, as the Vedas say, can't be stored inside it! These are very nasty little dasyus (laughing), they have to be chased away! When the disease came back, I said to myself, 'Very well, this means it must be dealt with in a new way.'

page 115-16 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 7th March - 1961


It was certainly with the progress of evolution, the march of evolution, when the mind began to develop for and in itself, that ALL the complications, all the deformations began. Indeed, this story of Genesis that seems so childish does contain a truth. The old traditions like Genesis resembled the Vedas in that each letter [[In Genesis, Hebraic letters. ]] was the symbol of a knowledge; it was the pictorial résumé of a traditional knowledge, just as the Veda contains a pictoral résumé of the knowledge of its time. But what's more, even the symbol had a reality in the sense that there was truly a period when life upon earth (the first manifestation of mentalized Matter in human forms) was still in complete harmony with all that preceded it. It was only later that....

page 121 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th March - 1961

I am continuing my reading of the Veda. I had to stop for some days because of a sore throat. But anyway, I'm starting again. The Vedas, after all, were written by people who remembered a radical experience, which must have taken place on earth at a given moment, as an example of what was to come. (This always happens in the yoga: a first radical experience comes like a herald of the future realization.) So in the terrestrial yoga - in the yoga of the earth, of the planet earth - there was a moment when it came; they who are called the forefathers must have created, through their effort and their yoga, at least an image of the supramental realization. And those who wrote the Vedas, who composed all these hymns, remembered or kept the tradition of that experience. And oh, mon petit, it had the same effect on me as when I read the 'Yoga of Self-Perfection' in The Synthesis of Yoga (Mother catches her breath): there is such a gulf between what we are, what life on earth and human consciousness now are, even among the most enlightened, the most advanced, and THAT! ...
page 152 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 7th April - 1961


After more than a month I have resumed my translation [of The Synthesis of Yoga], and I fell exactly - it's splendid! - exactly on the passage that helped me understand what has happened, why there are all these difficulties. And the Synthesis and the Veda go hand in hand, so reading that passage brought some improvement; it's like being able to shift position, you know, so that now it's a bit better. Anyway....

page 157 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 8th April - 1961


And in the evening before going to sleep I read the Vedas, which aggravates the situation. Because those people remember - either they have heard of it, or they remember it themselves - a supramental realization; and they describe it all so beautifully that it makes you feel very far from it, so very, very far....

page 166 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 15th April - 1961

About the discovery of the Supermind in the Veda and by Sri Aurobindo. There is something I don't quite grasp.
Because in the Veda it's incomplete. No, they had a hint, like a vision of the 'thing,' but there is no proof that they realized it. What's more, had they realized it, it seems to me that we would certainly have found some traces - but no traces remain. Theon knew something about it, and he called it 'the new world' or 'the new creation on earth and the glorified body' (I don't remember his exact terminology); but he knew of the Supermind's existence - it had been revealed to him and he announced its coming. He said it would be reached THROUGH the discovery of the God within. And for him, as I told you the other day, this meant a greater density - which seems to be a correct experience. Well, on my side, I have made investigations and had innumerable visions concerning the earth's history, and I spoke about it a good deal with Sri Aurobindo....
According to what Sri Aurobindo saw and what I saw as well, the Rishis had the contact, the experience - how to put it? ... A kind of lived knowledge of the thing, coming like a promise, saying, 'THAT is what will be.' But it's not permanent. There's a big difference between their experience and the DESCENT - what Sri Aurobindo calls 'the descent of the Supermind': something that comes and establishes itself. Even when I had that experience [the 'first supramental manifestation' of February 29, 1956], when the Lord said, 'The time has come,' well, it was not a complete descent; it was the descent of the Consciousness, the Light, and a part, an aspect of the Power. It was immediately absorbed and swallowed up by the world of Inconscience, and from that moment on it began to work in the atmosphere. But it was not THE thing that comes and gets permanently established; when that happens, we won't need to speak of it - it will be obvious! Although the experience of '56 was one more forward step, it's not.... It's not final. And what the Rishis had was a sort of promise - an INDIVIDUAL experience.
page 375-76 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 5th Nov. 1961
Sweet Mother, When I read the Veda I thought I understood that the Rishis, finding the passage blocked above (since they would fall into ecstasy and lose their hold over the body), set out to find the Supermind by the downward path. But reading Sri Aurobindo, I seemed to understand the opposite: that FIRST he rose up, and then made the Light redescend to open the passage, and that the pressure of the Light from above is what opens the doors below, in Matter. I would like to understand the process. With all my love, Signed: Satprem

(Mother's reply)

It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the Inconscient as well. When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low. But GENERALLY it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature. There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did), they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of inconscience and obscurity.
page 376-77 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 6th Nov. 1961

One day, I don't remember on what occasion, I saw what had motivated the "forefathers" who wrote the Vedas: it was the need for immortality; they were in quest of immortality. [[Mother added the beginning of this paragraph later: "I had forgotten to mention part of the experience!" ]]

page 436 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Nov. 1962



-471_vedic agni.html


If one always remained in this state of consciousness, keeping alive the flame of Agni, the flame of purification and progress, then after some time, not only could one prevent these movements from taking an active form in oneself and becoming expressed physically, but one could act upon the very nature of the movement and transform it. Needless to say, however, that unless one has attained a very high degree of realization it is virtually impossible to keep this state of consciousness for long. Almost immediately one falls back into the egoistic consciousness of the separate self, and all the difficulties return: disgust, the revolt against certain things and the horror they create in us, and so on. It is probable - even certain - that until one is completely transformed these movements of disgust and revolt are necessary to make one do WITHIN ONESELF what is needed to slam the door on them. For after all, the point is to not let them manifest.
page 24 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 12th Jan. 1961



-472_vedic rishi.html



I have had this experience, and I remember it even went on for several days; I saw all material circumstances as an absolute - an absolute that we perceive as an unfolding, but which is an eternally existing absolute. I had this experience, and at the same time I had a very clear perception of what falsehood is - the lie; what, from the psychological, the mental point of view, Sri Aurobindo, translating from the Sanskrit, called crookedness. [[The Rishis distinguished between the 'straight' (almost in the optical sense: that which allows the ray to pass straight through) and the twisted or crooked consciousness. ]] We attribute the course of circumstances to our psychological reactions - and indeed, they are used momentarily because everything collaborates either consciously or unconsciously to make things be what they have to be - but things could be what they have to be without the intervention of this falsehood. I lived in that consciousness for several days, and it became apparent that this was what separated falsehood from truth. In this state of knowledge-consciousness, the distinction can be made between falsehood and truth; and when seen in that truth-consciousness, material circumstances change character.

page 171 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 18th April 1961


According to what Sri Aurobindo saw and what I saw as well, the Rishis had the contact, the experience - how to put it? ... A kind of lived knowledge of the thing, coming like a promise, saying, 'THAT is what will be.' But it's not permanent. There's a big difference between their experience and the DESCENT - what Sri Aurobindo calls 'the descent of the Supermind': something that comes and establishes itself. Even when I had that experience [the 'first supramental manifestation' of February 29, 1956], when the Lord said, 'The time has come,' well, it was not a complete descent; it was the descent of the Consciousness, the Light, and a part, an aspect of the Power. It was immediately absorbed and swallowed up by the world of Inconscience, and from that moment on it began to work in the atmosphere. But it was not THE thing that comes and gets permanently established; when that happens, we won't need to speak of it - it will be obvious! Although the experience of '56 was one more forward step, it's not.... It's not final. And what the Rishis had was a sort of promise - an INDIVIDUAL experience. page 376 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 5th Nov. 1961


Once I told you about an experience I had, I told you that every time a divine manifestation occurs (what is called an Avatar), there's always a particular "angle of quest," in the sense of an intense NEED urging men along the road of evolution towards the Goal, the Transformation, and each avatar saw from a particular angle, believing it to be THE Goal. [[See Agenda III, November 27, 1962, p. 436 ff. ]] When I had that experience, I saw it was the need for Immortality that drove the Vedic Rishis. It came back to me yesterday, and I noted it down:

(Mother reads a handwritten note)

The Vedic Rishis thirsted for Immortality,
page 100 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th March 1963


As for me, I only saw one thing: on the morning of the 29th, I woke up ("woke up," I mean "got up") with the consciousness the Vedic Rishis called the "straight consciousness," the one that comes straight from the Lord - the Truth-Consciousness, basically. It was absolutely quiet, calm, but with a sort of supersensation of an absolute well-being. Well-being, security - yes, a security - an indescribable peace, without the contrast of opposites. And it lasted about three hours, continuously, solidly, effortlessly (I didn't make any effort to keep it). I only had a definite perception that it was what they called the consciousness of truth and immortality, along with a perception (an observation, rather), fairly clear and precise, of the way in which it becomes crookedness (you know their word).

page 70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 4th March 1964


This has repeatedly been my experience lately, with a vision and a conviction, the conviction of an experience: the two vibrations are like this (concomitant gesture indicating a superimposition and infiltration), all the time - all the time, all the time.
And this Vibration (which I feel and see) gives the feeling of a fire. That's probably what the Vedic Rishis translated as the "Flame" - in the human consciousness, in man, in Matter. They always spoke of a "Flame."[[Agni. ]] It is indeed a vibration with the intensity of a higher fire. The body even felt several times, when the Work was very concentrated or condensed, that it is the equivalent of a fever. page 95 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 25th March 1964




-474_Vishnu.html


The story narrated in the film went like this: Narada, as usual, was having fun. (Narada is a demigod with a divine position - that is, he can communicate with man and with the gods as he pleases, and he serves as an intermediary, but then he likes to have fun!) So he was quarrelling with one of the goddesses, I no longer recall which one, and he told her ... (Ah, yes! The quarrel was with Saraswati.) Saraswati was telling him that knowledge is much greater than love (much greater in that it is much more powerful than love), and he replied to her, 'You don't know what you're talking about! (Mother laughs) Love is much more powerful than knowledge.' So she challenged him, saying, 'Well then, prove it to me.' - 'I shall prove it to you,' he replied. And the whole story starts there. He began creating a whole imbroglio on earth just to prove his point. It was only a film story, but anyway, the goddesses, the three wives of the Trimurti - that is, the consort of Brahma, the consort of Vishnu and the consort of Shiva - joined forces (! ) and tried all kinds of things to foil Narada. I no longer recall the details of the story ... Oh yes, the story begins like this: one of the three - I believe it was Shiva's consort, Parvati (she was the worst one, by the way!) - was doing her puja. Shiva was in meditation, and she began doing her puja in front of him; she was using an oil lamp for the puja, and the lamp fell down and burned her foot. She cried out because she had burned her foot. So Shiva at once came out of his meditation and said to her, 'What is it, Devi?' (laughter) She answered, 'I burned my foot!' Then Narada said, 'Aren't you ashamed of what you have done? - to make Shiva come out of his meditation simply because you have a little burn on your foot, which cannot even hurt you since you are immortal!' She became furious and snapped at him, 'Show me that it can be otherwise!' Narada replied, 'I am going to show you what it is to really love one's husband - you don't know anything about it!' Then comes the story of Anusuya and her husband (who is truly a husband ... a very good man, but well, not a god, after all!), who was sleeping with his head resting upon Anusuya's knees. They had finished their puja (both of them were worshippers of Shiva), and after their puja he was resting, sleeping, with his head on Anusuya's knees. Meanwhile, the gods had descended upon earth,
particularly this Parvati, and they saw Anusuya like that. Then Parvati exclaimed, 'This is a good occasion!' Not very far away a cooking fire was burning. With her power, she sent the fire rolling down onto Anusuya's feet - which startled her because it hurt. It began to burn; not one cry, not one movement, nothing ... because she didn't want to awaken her husband. But she began invoking Shiva (Shiva was there). And because she invoked Shiva (it is lovely in the story), because she invoked Shiva, Shiva's foot began burning! (Mother laughs) Then Narada showed Shiva to Parvati: 'Look what you are doing; you are burning your husband's foot!' So Parvati made the opposite gesture and the fire was put out. That's how it went. page 216 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 4th Nov. - 1958



-476_war-free.html

-478_Ashram Finances.html



X spoke to me of the Ashram's financial difficulties and said 'I shall tell you the secret why there are such difficulties.' I think he is going to speak to me today or tomorrow. In any case, he told me that he was working ('I am preparing' ... ) to change these conditions, and he asked me if there had been any improvement as yet. I replied that I did not believe the situation had changed very much. He spoke as well of certain people in the Ashram, but I will tell you about this in person. He had a rather amusing way of speaking about people, 'people who pretend to worship the Mother but who keep their mind as a dustbin!'

page 331 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 15th Oct. 1959

In fact, the Ashram's financial situation has never been so bad. We're living from day to day, minute to minute ... One day, it will crack - all these things are connected (Mother is alluding to the vision of the flood She has just described). I myself am clearly seeing it from the other side; I see a black, muddy form - a black, black force. And I see the [Divine] Force acting on people and, miraculously, the money comes - and then ... it's like something armored' - it seeps in with difficulty, a thin trickle from day to day. Provided the sadhana works, that's all that is needed. And in fact, periodically, in one way or another, in one form or another, I receive a kind of assurance, a promise that it will all go well.
page 400 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th July 1960

A while ago ... You know that I have TREMENDOUS financial difficulties. In fact, I have handed the whole matter over to the Lord, telling Him, 'It's your affair; if you want us to continue this experience, well, you must provide the means.' But this upsets some of 'them,' so they come along with all kinds of suggestions to keep me from having to ... to resort to something so drastic. They suggest all kinds of things; some time ago they said, 'What about a good cyclone, or a good earthquake? A lot of damage to the Ashram, a public appeal - that would bring in some funds!' (Mother laughs) Yes, it's of this order! And it's all quite clear and definite - we have veritable 'conversations'!

page 475 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th Nov. 1960

When external difficulties subside, when the body becomes passive and quiet, when it is not constantly demanding attention, then you can LIVE in this supramental consciousness and it does not seem so difficult; you feel it is so victorious in its essence that it will end all difficulties. But for this to come about, you must remain for a while on those higher reaches and not be constantly, constantly dragged down below where you have to fight each minute simply to LAST - to last in all ways: not just personally, but collectively. [[Note that just a few days earlier, the Ashram coffers were completely empty. Mother had sold the last of her jewels: 'It is not for the upkeep of any [Ashram] department that I have sold my jewels; it is for food, lodging [of the sadhaks] and wages for domestic servants.' ]] It's a minute-to-minute bout, simply to last. And how long do we have to last for the thing to be done? ... It is a difficult period.
page 153 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 7th April - 1961

By the way, are finances better?
They're worse! We have tremendous debts. We've borrowed money from all the people who could give us any. I don't know.... We'll see! (Mother laughs)
page 146 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 31st July 1964




-479_Present Creation.html



The idea that things are not in their place, mon petit, is something I understood even as a youngster, and it was eventually explained to me by Theon. In his cosmogony, Theon accounted for the successive pralayas [[Pralaya: The destruction of a universe at the end of a cycle. According to Hindu cosmology, the formation of each universe begins with an 'age of truth' (satya-yuga) which slowly degenerates, like the stars, till there is no truth left at all; it becomes a 'dark age'(kali-yuga) like ours, and ends with a cataclysm. Then a new universe is reborn out of this cataclysm and the cycle begins again. There is a correspondence here with a modern cosmological theory according to which a phase of contraction, of galaxies collapsing upon themselves, follows a phase of expansion and precedes a new explosion ('Big Bang') of the 'primal egg' - and so on, in a recurring and apparently endless and aimless series of cosmic births which, like our own human births, develop, attain some sort of 'summit,' then collapse, always to begin again. According to Theon, our present universe is the seventh - but where is the 'beginning'? ]] of the different universes by saying that each universe was an aspect of the Supreme manifesting itself: each universe was built upon one aspect of the Supreme, and all, one after the other, were withdrawn into the Supreme. He enumerated all the successively manifested aspects, and what an extraordinarily logical sequence it was! I have kept it some place, but I no longer know where. Nor do I remember exactly what number this universe has in the sequence, but this time it was supposed to be the universe which would not be withdrawn, which would, so to speak, follow an indefinite progression of Becoming. And this universe is to manifest Equilibrium, not a static but a progressive equilibrium. [[Note that modern astronomy is divided between the theory of endless phases of contraction-explosion-expansion, and the theory of a universe in infinite expansion starting with a 'Big Bang,' which seems quite as catastrophic, since the universe is then plunging at vertiginous speed into an increasingly cold, empty, and fatal infinity, like a bullet released from all restraints of gravity, until ... until what? According to astronomers, an exact measurement of the quantity of matter in a cubic meter of the present universe (one atom for every 400 liters of space) should enable us to decide between these two theories and learn which way it will be best for us to die. If there is more than one atom per 400 liters of space, this quantity of matter will create sufficient gravitation to halt the present expansion of galaxies and induce a contraction, ending with an explosion within an infinitesimal space. If there is less than one atom per 400 liters of space, the quantity of matter and thus the gravitational effect will be insufficient to retain the galaxies within their invisible net, and everything will spin off endlessly - unless we discover, with Mother, a third position, that of a 'progressive equilibrium,' in which the quantity of matter in the universe proves in fact to be a quantity of consciousness, whose contraction or expansion will be regulated by the laws of consciousness. ]] Equilibrium, as he explains it, is each thing exactly in its place: each vibration, each movement, each ... and so on down the line - each form, each activity, each element exactly in its place in relation to the whole. This is quite interesting to me because Sri Aurobindo says the same thing: that nothing is bad, simply things are not in their place - their place not only in space but in time, their place in the universe, beginning with the planets and stars, each thing exactly in its place. Then when each thing, from the most colossal to the most microscopic, is exactly in place, the whole Will PROGRESSIVELY express the Supreme, without having to be withdrawn and emanated anew. On this also, Sri Aurobindo based the fact that this present creation, this present universe, will be able to manifest the perfection of a divine world - what Sri Aurobindo calls the Supermind. Equilibrium is the essential law of this creation - it is what permits perfection to be realized in the manifestation.
In line with this idea of things 'in their place,' another question comes to me: with the descent of the Supermind, what exactly are the very first things that the supramental force will want to or is trying to dislodge?
The first things it will dislodge?
Yes, individually and cosmically, so that everything is in its place.
Will it dislodge anything?... If we accept Sri Aurobindo's idea, it will put each thing in its place, that's all. One thing must inevitably cease: the Deformation, the veil of falsehood covering Truth, because all we see existing here is due to that. If the veil is removed, things will necessarily be completely different, completely: they will be as we experience them when we emerge individually from that deformed consciousness. When one comes out of that consciousness and enters the Truth-Consciousness, one is incredulous that such things as suffering, misery and death can exist; it's amazing, in the sense that (when one is truly on the other side) ... one doesn't understand how all this can be happening. And, although this state of consciousness is habitually associated with the experience of the unreality of the world as we know it, Sri Aurobindo tells us that this perception of the world's unreality need not exist for the supramental consciousness: only Falsehood is unreal , not the world. And this is most interesting - the world has its own reality, independent of Falsehood. I suppose this will be the first effect of the Supermind - perhaps even its first effect in the individual, because it will begin in individuals first. This state of consciousness [[When the veil of falsehood has gone: the supramental consciousness. ]] probably has to become constant, but that would pose a problem: how could one then keep in contact with the world as it is in its deformation? Because I have noticed that when this state is very strong in me, very strong, so strong that it can withstand everything bombarding it from outside, people don't understand a thing I say, NOTHING! Therefore, it would seem to cut off a useful contact. What would it be like, for instance, to have a small supramental creation as a nucleus of action and influence radiating upon earth (to limit it to the earth)? Is it possible? It's easy to conceive of a superhuman nucleus - a creation of supermen, that is, of men who by virtue of evolution and transformation (in the true sense of the word) have succeeded in manifesting the supramental forces; yet since their origin is human, there is inevitably a contact; even if everything is transformed, even if their organs are transformed into centers of force, a sort of human coloration still remains. These are the beings who, according to tradition, will discover the secret of direct, supramental creation, bypassing the process of ordinary Nature. Then through them the true supramental beings will be born, who will necessarily have to live in a supramental world. But how would contact be made between these beings and the ordinary world? How to conceive of a transformation of nature sufficient to enable this supramental creation to take place on earth? I don't know. Of course, we know that such a thing will require a considerable amount of time to be done, and it will probably go by stages, by degrees, with faculties appearing that at the moment we can't know or imagine, and which will change the conditions of the earth - this is looking ahead a few thousand years.
page 267-70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th July - 1961






-480_what is consciousness.html

This morning I got a letter from a little girl who asks me, "What is consciousness? I asked my teachers, they answered me it was very hard to explain"! (Mother laughs) So she's asking me. And since she asked me, I've been looking at it. How can we express it? Do YOU know how it can be explained? Because the words we use are meaningless.
Spontaneously, I'd say it's the fire or the breath that carries the whole world. It's the fire that makes everything live - that makes the chest breathe, that makes the sea heave ...
That's not bad!
What would YOU say?
Here is what I found: it's the cause of existence - the cause and the effect at the same time. But that's not it. Your explanation is more poetic, it's more literary, but still I am not sure that's it.
It's the substance of the world, what constitutes the world.
Yes. If we say, "Without consciousness there is no world," it's much truer, but it doesn't explain. That was my first answer: without consciousness, no world, no existence.
It's the breath or the force that carries the world - that makes it be.
That's not bad, let's note it down!
Oh no! You are the one who must find it.
I have to answer this child.
Because otherwise, we are lost in abstractions.
Yes, and with abstractions, you use words that mean something else, that's all.
But how do YOU perceive consciousness?
Without consciousness, you can't feel anything. Consciousness is indeed the basis of all things.

(Mother looks at the child's letter and hands it to Satprem)

"Sweet Mother, I'd like to know: What is consciousness? I asked a teacher, but they said, 'It's very hard to explain.' I want your blessing so I do my exams well. You take my Pranams.[[Pranam: salutation, prostration. ]] Your little daughter." Without consciousness, no existence, that's perfectly true, but it doesn't explain what consciousness is. But your explanation is poetic enough, at any rate! In Indian philosophy, they put Existence before Consciousness. They say Sat-Chit-Ananda.[[Sat-Chit- Ananda: existence-consciousness-bliss. ]] So if we say, Chit-Sat-Ananda...! And it's not true.
It's not true, the Rishis always spoke of Fire, "Agni," which is the primordial substance.
But is "fire" consciousness?
Yes, it becomes consciousness - it is consciousness. It's consciousness-force. The Rishis said, "Even in the stone he is there, even in the waters he is there."
Yes, when I had that experience of the pulsations of Love creating the world, the pulsation came first, and afterwards the consciousness - the consciousness of the pulsation. So we could define it like this: when the ... the ... (I never know which name to use!) became conscious of Himself, that created the world.
In the Upanishads, they say "tapas"[[Tapas: energy or heat, or also the concentration of the power of consciousness. ]] created the world.
Yes, tapas is Power.
It's fire, too.
No, tapas is Power.
Chit-Tapas is heat.
They say, Sat, Chit-Tapas, Ananda. They put Chit-Tapas together. And it's Chit first, then Tapas. It's the creative power of consciousness.
But Sri Aurobindo always said "Consciousness-Force," indissolubly. We can't separate one from the other. There is no consciousness without force and no force without consciousness - it's Consciousness-Force. That's what the world is!
At any rate, it's not a very philosophical way to put it at all, it's very childlike, but it's much truer than metaphysical sentences: When the Lord became conscious of Himself, that created the world. So, let's note down your definition for the child.
No, your definition first, that's the first stage! Then the second stage, the human.

(Mother laughs and writes:)

"When the Lord became conscious of Himself, that created the world." Now your turn to say!
It's for you to say.
No, no! Let me hear it.
I don't know.... Consciousness is the breath or the fire that carries everything.
But if I say "fire," they'll immediately say, "Ah, consciousness is fire, then!"
The breath that carries everything, that makes everything breathe?

(Mother writes:)

"Consciousness is the breath that is the life of everything." No ... "that makes everything live." You understand, it's going to go all around the School from one class to another! (Laughing) I know what's going to happen! "Consciousness is the breath that makes everything live." There. She is lucky, that little one. Children are amusing!
29 June, 1966, vol - 7, L'Agenda de Mère




-482_Yalentina V. Tereshkova.html



You know, that Russian woman who went up into the stratosphere [[Yalentina V. Tereshkova (on June 6, 1963). ]] (she went around the earth several times, I don't know how many), anyway she came on a visit to India and gave a lecture somewhere about her journey. And she said (in a very lovely way, it seems, I don't know her exact words) that she saw the earth from up there and that it was so beautiful, so magnificent! And she made this reflection: "From up there, there are no demarcations between countries, it makes so harmonious a unity that it seems unthinkable men should fight among themselves." That's lovely....

page 395 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 27th Nov. 1963




-485_World Union.html



I have replied endlessly, I have given all sorts of explanations about the organization of the School, about World Union, [[World Union - a 'movement' launched through the personal initiative of a disciple. ]] about the true way to organize industry (its true functioning) - so many things! If all that were compiled we could publish brochures! Sometimes I've spoken three-quarters of an hour non-stop to people who listened with delight and were receptive but quite incapable of making a written report of it. At times like that we could have used one of your machines! But when things are organized in advance, it may well be that nothing comes out at all - mentalizing stops the flow. if I is in front of me, I can't say anything to her because she doesn't understand. I already have trouble writing to her - what I have to say is always brought down a bit; but if she were here in the room and I had to speak to her, nothing at all would come out!

page 22 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 10th Jan. 1961

Oh, World Union! ... What troubles you? Listen, mon petit, you don't need to ask, I will tell you right away. Sri Aurobindo has written somewhere that the movement of world transformation is double: first, the individual who does sadhana [[Sadhana: spiritual quest and discipline. ]] and establishes contact with higher things; but at the same time, the world is a base and it must rise up a little and prepare itself for the realization to be achieved (this is putting it simply). Some people live merely on the surface - they come alive only when they stir about restlessly. Whatever happens inside them (if anything does!) is immediately thrown out into movement. Such people always need an outer activity; take J. for example: he fastened onto Sri Aurobindo's phrase, 'World Union,' and came to tell me he wanted.... He has been like that since the beginning (gesture expressing agitation), and he had a go at a considerable number of things - but none ever succeeded! He has no method, no sense of order and he doesn't know how to organize work. So World Union is simply to let him have his way, like letting a horse gallop. I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people ... I don't know about what. And during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of 'human unity'). So Z returned with the idea of forming a 'World Union,' and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M. [[A politician, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and friend of Jawaharlal Nehru. ]] and even by the Prime Minister, [[Nehru. ]] who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. That's how things began.
I treated it as something altogether secondary and unimportant - when people need to gallop, I let them gallop (but I hadn't met Z). Then J. and Z left together on a speaking-tour of Africa and there things began to go sour, because Z was working in one way and J. in another. Finally, they were at odds and came back here to tell me, 'World Union is off to a good start - with a quarrel!' (Mother laughs) Z was saying, 'Nothing can be done unless we base ourselves EXCLUSIVELY on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and they are behind us giving support.' And J. said, 'No, no! We are not sectarian! We accept all ideas, all theories, etc.' I replied, and as it happens, I said that Z was right, though with one corrective: he had been saying that people had to recognize us as their guru. 'No,' I said, 'it's absolutely useless - not only useless, I refuse. I don't want to be anybody's guru. People should simply be told that things are to be done on the basis of Sri Aurobindo's thought. [[This is the text of Mother's reply to J.: 'I have read Z's account and your own letter on this subject. in the faith of his devotion, he must have been quite offended. The truth in what he says is that any idea, WHATEVER its degree of truth, is ineffective if it does not also carry the power acquired through realization, by a real change of consciousness. And if the proponent of this idea does not himself have the realization, he must seek the backing of those who have the power. On the other hand, what you say is true: an idea ought to be accepted on the basis of its inherent truth and not because of the personality expounding it, however great this personality may be. These two truths or aspects of the question are equally true but also equally incomplete: they are not the whole truth. Both of them must be accepted and combined with many other aspects of the question if you want to even begin to approach the dynamic power of the realization. Don't you see how ridiculous this situation is? Three people of goodwill meet in the hope of teaching men the necessity for a "World Union" and they are not even able to keep a tolerant or tolerable union among themselves, because each sees a different angle of the procedure to be followed for implementing their plan.' ]] So they kept pulling in opposing directions. Eventually they tried to set something up (which still didn't hold together), and finally they wrote me a little more clearly. (There is one very nice man involved, Y. He isn't particularly intellectual but has a lot of common sense and a very faithful heart - a very good man.) Y asked me some direct questions, without beating around the bush, and I replied directly: 'World Union is an entirely superficial thing, without any depth, based on the fact that Sri Aurobindo said "the masses" must be helped to follow the progress of "the elite" - well, let them go ahead! If they enjoy it, let them go right ahead!' ... I didn't say it exactly like that (I was a bit more polite!), but that was the gist of it. Now it has all fallen flat. They are carrying on with their little activities, but it's absolutely unimportant. They publish a small journal, and V, who writes for them, is far from stupid. She is rather intelligent and I have some control over her, so I will try to stop her from writing nonsense. They also had a sudden brainstorm to affiliate with the Sri Aurobindo Society. But the Sri Aurobindo Society has absolutely nothing to do with their project: it's a strictly external thing, organized by businessmen to bring in money - EXCLUSIVELY. That is, they want to put people in a position where they feel obliged to give (so far they have succeeded and I believe they will succeed).But this has nothing to do with working for an ideal, it is COMPLETELY practical. [[Although it began as a fund-raising organization for the needs of the Ashram and Auroville, this 'strictly external thing,' which had 'nothing to do with working for an ideal,' would, after Mother's departure, coolly declare itself the 'owner' and guide of Auroville. ]] And of course, World Union has nothing to offer the Sri Aurobindo Society: they would simply siphon off funds. So I told them, 'Nothing doing - it's out of the question!'
page 109-10- Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961
I told them.... Because at World Union they asked me what their mistake had been (they didn't state it so candidly, but in a roundabout way), and I replied (not so candidly, either - not exactly in a roundabout way, but in general terms). I told them their mistake was being unfaithful and I explained that to be unfaithful means to put everything on the same level (that's when I sent them those lines [['... What Sri Aurobindo represents is not a teaching, not even a revelation, it is an ACTION direct from the Supreme.' (See conversation of February 18, 1961.) ]] ). I told them, 'Your error was in saying: "One teaching among many teachings - so let us be broad-minded and accept all teachings."' So along with all the teachings, you accept every stupidity possible.

page 112- Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961


(Before Satprem leaves, Mother gives him the latest issue of "World-Union," a magazine launched by some Ashram disciples.)

It makes me uneasy. I know what you mean! It even makes some people here furious. Because it's published from here (most of those people are here), but there's never any mention of the Ashram, any mention of Sri Aurobindo, nothing.
What's worse is that when they do speak of Sri Aurobindo, they put him on a level with everybody else.
Exactly! Exactly!
You know, Sri Aurobindo, Teilhard de Chardin, Schweitzer and so on and so forth.
Yes, a mishmash. As for me, I would have rejected it [World-Union] altogether, but there are in it those who started the whole affair: there are three persons through whom I do something - not this! (the issue of "World-Union") Something else, of which they themselves are very little aware. (They are very interested in this [the "World-Union" brochure!, not me!) So I didn't quite declare, "I don't want to have anything to do with that," but when people ask me, I say it has nothing to do with the Ashram, absolutely nothing. page 326 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 25th Sep 1963



Then there are the others, that World-Union - as for them, from the first day (there were five members), from the first day, they have all been quarreling among themselves, they've never stopped quarreling! I told them it was a strange beginning for a "World-Union" - individually they all agreed with this, but they all went on quarreling! And it's still going on. This time, they decided to name me president. I didn't ask them anything, naturally - they decided. And then, M. has withdrawn. She has written to me today to tell me, "I believe I cannot do anything more in World-Union." If you put the two things together, it's rather funny: the others write to ask me to be president, and M. withdraws - "I cannot work for World-Union anymore." page 168 , Mother'a Agenda , volume 5 , 19th Aug - 1964


Another note:

If you want peace in the world or upon earth,

first establish peace in your heart.


If you want union in the world, first unify the different parts of your own being. That went to "World-Union"![[World-Union: a group for the union of the world, launched by a few disunited disciples. ]]
page 119 - 20 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 5th June - 1965


This World Union, oh, how outmoded they are!... There are hundreds and hundreds of such groups that chatter, do nothing and change absolutely nothing whatsoever.

Oh! ... Moreover, as soon as the group was set up, they kicked out the man who had started it! They did it under the pretext he was dishonest, but still he was the founder. He had gone to Russia, and it was in Russia that the idea of World Union came to him. So four or five of them came together to form this World Union, and fifteen days later they started quarreling - a year later they kicked out the one who had founded it! Then it was the turn of S., who, at least, has some ideas.... Anyway, he too was thrown out. Then they came to me to tell me their miseries! I told them, "Listen, you are profoundly ridiculous: you want to preach world unity, and the first thing you do is quarrel! It shows that you aren't ready." And I left it at that. Then A.B., who was very well known in Africa, recruited all kinds of people and made me see a few of them to ask me if they were able to do something - absolutely nothing, you know, nothing at all: old pillars of a house in ruins, nothing else....


page 268-69 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 26th Aug - 1967




-486_World war.html



(A little later, Mother listens to Satprem read various letters of

Sri Aurobindo, then a letter she herself wrote in English

during World War II about the attitude of the disciples

toward Hitler and the Allies.)


"The world situation is critical today. India's fate too is hanging in the balance. There was a time when India was a absolutely secure, there was no danger whatever of her being victim to Asuric aggression. But things have changed. People and forces in India have acted in such a way as to invite Asuric influences upon her: these have worked insidiously and undermined the security that was there. If India is in danger, Pondicherry cannot be expected to remain outside the danger zone. It will share the fate of the rest of the country. The protection I can give is not unconditional. It is idle to hope that in spite of anything and everything, the protection will be there over all. My protection is there if conditions are fulfilled. It goes without saying that any sympathy or support for the Nazis (or for any ally of theirs) automatically cuts across the circle of protection. Apart from this obvious and external factor, there are more fundamental psychological conditions which demand fulfillment. The Divine can give protection only to those who are whole-heartedly faithful to the Divine, who live truly in the spirit of sadhana and keep their consciousness and preoccupation fixed upon the Divine and the service of the Divine. Desire, for example, insistence on one's likes and conveniences, all movements of hypocrisy and insincerity and falsehood, are great obstacles standing in the way of the Divine's protection. If you seek to impose your will upon the Divine, it is as if you were calling for a bomb to fall upon you. I do not say that things are bound to happen in this way; but they are very likely to happen, if people do not become conscious and strictly vigilant and act in the true spirit of a spiritual seeker. If the psychological atmosphere remains the same as that of the outside world, there can be no wall of security against the dark Forces that are working out in it the ordeal of danger, suffering and destruction entering here."

The Mother


page 319 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Dec - 1971




-487_year 4-5-67.html



It began with the stone - the stone - and one sees very clearly the difference between the stone and plants, plants and animals, animals and men. One sees quite clearly all Matter striving and striving and striving towards the Lord - that's the outward journey. It has been like that since the beginning. It climbs up with all its errors, all its confusion, all its falsehoods, all its distortions - but it's EVERYTHING that climbs up. And the return is what is described in the "message" I am going to give on 4.5.67 [May 4, 1967]: "the prison changed into a divine mansion."[["Earth-life is the self-chosen habitation of a great Divinity and his aeonic will is to change it from a blind prison into his splendid mansion and high heaven-reaching temple." (Sri Aurobindo) ]]


page 259-60 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 9th Nov. - 1966


That will be very good, a very good "message" for 4.5.67. Four is manifestation. Five is power. Six is creation, and seven is realization. Four figures in a wonderful sequence. Here is realization (you want realization?), here it is: the prison turned into the Divine's mansion. People say, "The earth is hopeless, it's done for...." See! It will be fine.
page 262 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 9th Nov. - 1966


I feel something is really being prepared: there is a very strong pressure - but what? I don't know. People ask me, "What's going to happen on 4.5.67?"[[May 4, 1967. In a letter of February 2, 1934, Sri Aurobindo declared: "4.5.67 is the year of the complete realisation." It seems he also said that from 1967, governments would obey the supramental influence. The sequence of figures (4.5.67) is what appears to have a special occult significance. ]] I tell them, "Wait and see." There is a very active influence from Sri Aurobindo, and then this constant work [of the two vibrations]: even during the visits, when people whom I don't know come, it goes on. It's like a sort of sifting.
page 122-23 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 29th April - 1967


So, naturally, the "wise men" Sri Aurobindo speaks of ask, "What does 4.5.67 mean? What's going to happen on 4.5.67? Why..." It comes from every side into the atmosphere. So yesterday I said to someone, someone with great faith and some authority over a large number of people (they ask him all these stupid questions; he didn't tell me but said it mentally, so that I received it mentally), when I saw him in the afternoon I said to him, "So, you have been asked all these questions; well, here is what you are going to answer them very gravely (!):

4 means Manifestation

5 means Power

6 means New Creation

7 means Realization."

Now, let them do whatever they like with that! It's to keep them quiet. [[Among the questions put to Mother, let us note these: "In 1967 the Supermind will enter the phase of realising power. What does realising power exactly mean?" (Mother:) Acting decisively on the mind of men and the course of events. "Does this date - 4.5.67 - mark the beginning of what the Mother and Sri Aurobindo have called the new race - the race of superman?" (Mother:) Since a few months the children born, amongst our people mostly, are of a very special kind. ]]





-488_year 2000.html



All this is for the next hundred years. There are going to be some changes.

(silence)

1900?... Well, yes, in 2000 things will take a clear direction. You will still be here.
I don't know about that!
No, I am not speaking of what one is when one has "died unto death," not that. I mean normally, physically - how many years before 2000?
Umm....
Not many, forty years.
Thirty-seven years.
Yes, it's nothing! Nothing, a minute - you will be here in any case, even without dying unto death. You will see it. Yes, yes, it's soon.
You will be here too!
That, I always have been and always will be, it makes no difference....

(very long silence)

A time will come when we'll say, "Remember, in such and such a year we thought we were really doing something! " (Mother laughs.) page 261, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 14th July 1962.




-489_yoga in matter.html



Sri Aurobindo had made it clear to me when I was still in France that this yoga in matter is the most difficult of all. For the other yogas, the paths have been well laid, you know where to tread, how to proceed, what to do in such-and-such a case. But for the yoga of matter, nothing has ever been done, never, so at each moment everything has to be invented.

page 357 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 28th Jan. 1960




-490_tampering Sri Aurobindo's works.html



Go find Andre and bring him here.

(Satprem goes out to fetch Andre. They return together.)

Ah! (to Andre:) What will you say now? ... I don't understand anything anymore! (Andre laughs)
(Andre:) Well, Satprem would like to know what's happening with his books....
Yes, and he's right.
Yes. And by the same token, it would be good if we could know - if someone in the Ashram could know - what exactly M. is doing with Sri Aurobindo's books.
Yes, quite. ......
I'll go further, Mother: for the last two years, I haven't been able to put my hand on the corrections made to the film negatives, I mean the offset reproduction of the Centenary edition [of Sri Aurobindo's works].
There were corrections made?
Yes, there were. I know there were because M. told me so. I asked him for a list....
What corrections? Who made corrections?
There's a boy working with him who makes the corrections.
But, look here, this is incredible! On the pretext that I can't see to this myself, they don't even show me!! They make corrections without telling me!
I don't know how serious these are, I have no idea.
Oh, but "serious" or not, they CANNOT make corrections without asking me!
True, Mother.
Good heavens! ... So what can we do now?
page 240-41 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 22nd July - 1972-1973




-491_Swamy Vivekananda.html



They generally did it only partially, through an "emanation," not through a complete descent. It is said, for instance, that Vivekananda was an incarnation (a vibhuti) of Shiva's; but Shiva himself ... I have had a very close relationship with him and he clearly expressed the will to come down on earth only with the supramental world. When the earth is ready for supramental life, he will come. And almost all those beings will manifest - they are waiting for that moment, they do not want the present struggle and darkness.

page 19 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 12th Jan - 1965




-492_you are She.html


'It is as yet only an apprentice in supermanhood.' That is all it is trying to be. I saw and understood very well that by concentrating, I could have given it the attitude of the absolute authority of the eternal Mother. When Sri Aurobindo told me, 'You are She,' at the same time he bestowed upon my body this attitude of absolute authority. But as I had the inner vision of this truth, I concerned myself very little with the imperfections of the physical body - I didn't bother about that, I only used it as an instrument. Sri Aurobindo did the sadhana for this body, which had only to remain constantly open to his action.'
page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 1st May 1958



-494_you will do my work.html


Yes. It is better to speak of victory than ... (Mother laughs) to speak of difficulties!

(silence)

When we used to discuss all these things and the difficulties of the path, Sri Aurobindo told me (he was comparing his body to mine): 'I don't have the stuff of such endurance. I was not cut out like that - your body is solid!' (gesture) What trials it has gone through! ... And it's so docile, so docile, it doesn't complain. So, my child, if your body has some trouble, just tell yourself they are sympathy pains (Mother laughs), then you won't be troubled. That's all.
page 72 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 7th Feb 1961

Yes. By acting from above, one can keep these things under control, hold them in place, prevent them from taking any unpleasant initiatives, but that's not.... To transform means to transform. Even mastery can be achieved - it's quite easy to do from above. But for the transformation one must descend, and that is terrible.... Otherwise, the subconscient will never be transformed, it will remain as it is. One can even pose as a superman! (Mother laughs) But it remains like that (gesture in the air), it's not the real thing. It's not the new creation, it's not the next step in terrestrial evolution. You might as well say, 'Why are you in a hurry? Wait for Nature to do it.' But Nature would take a few million years and in the process squander away a host of people and things. A few million years are unimportant to her - a passing breeze.

(silence)

Anyhow, I was sent here to do this work, so I am trying to do it, that's all. I could have.... If it hadn't been for the work, I would have left with Sri Aurobindo; there you have it. I remained only for the sake of the work - because it was there to be done and he told me to do it and I am doing it.... Otherwise, when one is perfectly conscious, one is far less limited without a body: one can see a hundred people at the same time, in a hundred different places, just as Sri Aurobindo is doing right now.

page 87-88 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 14th Feb 1961



And so I looked. "Is it something particular to this body?" I wondered. To everyone who has lived closely with it, my body gives the impression of two things: a very concentrated, very stubborn will, and ... such endurance! Sri Aurobindo used to tell me he had never dreamed a body could have such endurance.

And that's probably why.... But I don't want to curtail this ability in any way, because it is a CELLULAR will, and a cellular endurance too - which is quite intriguing. It's not a central will and central endurance (that's something else altogether) - it's cellular. That's why Sri Aurobindo used to tell me this body had been specially prepared and chosen for the Work - because of its capacity for obstinate endurance and will. But that's no reason to exercise this ability uselessly! So I am making sure it relaxes now; I tell it constantly, " Now, now! Just let go! Relax, have some fun, where's the harm in it?" I have to tell it to be quiet, very quiet. And it's very surprised to hear that: "Ah! Can I live that way? I don't have to hurry? I can live that way?"

page 23-24 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 9th Jan. 1962




-496_your past.html



Mother goes on sorting her notes
Previously I used to tear them to pieces and throw them into the wastepaper basket, then I realized they collected all those torn pieces and went through a tremendous toil to put them back together! ... When I really want to get rid of something, I burn it myself.... I've burned lots of things. You know that I burned all those notebooks.... For - how many years? - at least four or five years, every day I used to write those Prayers and Meditations (I had several notebooks of them, big like this). Then, when Sri Aurobindo told me to make a book out of them (naturally, as it was written every day, there were some repetitions), I made my choice; I selected and extracted all those he wanted (I also kept a few, which I extracted and distributed), and as for the rest ... It was a long, long time ago, I was still living over there. [[François Martin Street. ]] The last times I wrote, it was after my return from Japan, that is, in 1920. In 1920 I still wrote a little, then stopped. Then Sri Aurobindo chanced on it, and he told me it had to be published. I said all right, made a selection, and what to do with the rest? So I burned it. I said, "Well, that's what you should do with your past: burn it with the fire of aspiration." Otherwise, you always remain hitched and fastened, a slave everywhere, with millstones around your neck.

But I tell you, later I realized that if I didn't burn my papers myself, the others kept the pieces! ... There were things on which I had written "To be destroyed if I were to leave this body," "Destroy without opening." Then I realized I couldn't trust anyone! So I destroyed them myself. Even when I write accounts, they ask me for the pieces of paper! I have given bundles of them to Champaklal. He keeps them. He has kept ... Sri Aurobindo used to burn coils [[Coils of incense that burn slowly while releasing a very fragrant smoke. ]] in his room, to repel mosquitoes, and he's kept all the ash of those coils! He has such a big pot full of all the ash! Burnt matchsticks too! He's kept and sorted everything - organized, labeled and all! ... Very well. So I know from experience what they do ... (laughing) I take my precautions!

page 211 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th July - 1967




-497_youth going mad-free.html

-499_Destiny - Fate.html



We live perennially with a burden on our shoulders, something that bows our heads down, and we feel pulled, led by all kinds of external forces, we don't know by whom or what, nor where to - this is what men call Fate, Destiny.

page 112 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 17th Oct 1957



-501_cpm in Bengal-free.html

-502_gujuratis vs bengalies.html



The message came this morning during the Puja; my guru spoke in the form of Sanskrit slokas and this is not easy to express in English. Normally, I might have waited rather long for the answer, but because of the greatness of the Mother, it came immediately. The message implicated not 7 people, but 25 to 50, all or almost all Gujaratis.' (Here, X said something I am not sure I grasped, but it was to the effect that either his guru did not seem to find it easy or did not feel like giving so many names, but were Mother to insist, it might be possible. I am not sure if I really understood this.) Then the message spoke of a rivalry between the Gujaratis and the Bengalis (to occupy the key positions in the Ashram); I put this in parentheses for it is more an interpretation on my part, what I 'felt.' Moreover, X did not exactly use the word 'rivalry' - which he probably doesn't know - but rather 'confusion between Gujarati and Bengali.' However, the message explicitly implicated the Gujaratis of the 'Head-departments.' I then asked X if he meant the heads of departments or the main departments. He answered, 'All Gujaratis,' whereupon he caught himself and said, '75% of them.' At this point X told me, 'In the Ashram there are few, FEW people on a very high level, and plenty ...' without completing his sentence. The message continued, stating explicitly that these Gujaratis are busy making money from Mother ('making collection of money'), while outwardly pretending to be serving the Ashram. Here, I thought I understood that there was a Bengali group which was seeking to overthrow the Gujaratis so that they could manage the business affairs as they please. Such was the substance of the message. I asked X if he could not write down the very concise Sanskrit slokas he had heard. He said yes, then he said that he would see about this after going to his house???

page 283-84 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , March 1959



-503_Three Powers.html


The first time I came here and spoke with Sri Aurobindo about what was needed for the Work, he told me (he also wrote it to me) that for the secure achievement of the Work we would need three powers: one was the power over health, the second was the power over government, and the third was the power over money. Health naturally depends upon the sadhana; but even that is not so sure: there are other factors. As for the second, the power over government, Sri Aurobindo looked at it, studied it, considered it very carefully, and finally he told me, 'There is only one way to have that power: it is TO BE the government. One can influence individuals, one can transmit the will to them, but their hands are tied. In a government, there is no one individual, nor even several who is all-powerful and who can decide things. One must be the government oneself and give it the desired orientation.' For the last, for money, he told me, 'I still don't know exactly what it depends on.' Then one day I entered into trance with this idea in mind, and after a certain journey I came to a place like a subterranean grotto (which means that it is in the subconscient, or perhaps even in the inconscient) which was the source, the place and the power over money. I was about to enter into this grotto (a kind of inner cave) when I saw, coiled and upright, an immense serpent, like an all black python, formidable, as big as a seven-story house, who said, 'You cannot pass!' - 'Why not? Let me pass!' - 'Myself, I would let you pass, but if I did, "they" would immediately destroy me.' - 'Who, then, is this "they"?' - 'They are the asuric' powers who rule over money. They have put me here to guard the entrance, precisely so that you may not enter.' - 'And what is it that would give one the power to enter?' Then he told me something like this: 'I heard (that is, he himself had no special knowledge, but it was something he had heard from his masters, those who ruled over him), I heard that he who will have a total power over the human sexual impulses (not merely in himself, but a universal power - that is, a power enabling him to control this everywhere, among all men) will have the right to enter.' In other words, these forces would not be able to prevent him from entering.
page 176 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 6th July - 1958


-504_Difficulties.html


Difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realization more perfect. Each time we try to realize something and we encounter a resistance or an obstacle, or even a failure - what appears to be a failure - we should know, we should NEVER forget, that it is exclusively, absolutely, to make the realization more perfect. So this habit of cringing, of being discouraged or even feeling ill at ease or abusing oneself, saying, 'There, I've done it again ...' All this is absolute foolishness. Rather, simply say, 'We do not know how to do things as they should be done, well then, let them be done for us and come what may!' If we could only see how everything that looks like a difficulty, an error, a failure or an obstacle is simply there to help us make the realization more perfect. Once we know this, everything becomes easy.
page 207 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 6th Oct. - 1958



-505_Chaldean tradition.html



There is the whole Chaldean tradition, and there is also the Vedic tradition, and there was very certainly a tradition anterior to both that split into two branches. Well, all these occult experiences have been the same. Only the description differs depending upon the country and the language. The story of creation is not told from a metaphysical or psychological point of view, but from an objective point of view, and this story is as real as our stories of historical periods. Of course, it's not the only way of seeing, but it is just as legitimate a way as the others, and in any event, it recognizes the concrete reality of all these divine beings. Even now, the experiences of Western occultists and those of Eastern occultists exhibit great similarities. The only difference is in the way they are expressed, but the manipulation of the forces is the same.

page 219 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 4th Nov. - 1958

So personally, I am convinced that there was indeed a tradition anterior to both these traditions containing a knowledge very close to an integral knowledge. Certainly, there is a similarity in the experiences. When I came here and told Sri Aurobindo certain things I knew from the occult standpoint, he always said that it conformed to the Vedic tradition. And as for certain occult practices, he told me that they were entirely tantric - and I knew nothing at that time, absolutely nothing, neither the Vedas nor the Tantras. So very probably there was a tradition anterior to both. I have recollections (for me, these are always things I have LIVED), very clear, very distinct recollections of a time that was certainly VERY anterior to the Vedic times and to the Cabala, to the Chaldean tradition.
page 220 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 4th Nov. - 1958
There's also this old idea rooted in religions of Chaldean or Christian origin of a God with whom you can have no true contact - an abyss between the two. That is terrible. That absolutely has to stop. For with that idea, the earth and men will NEVER be able to change. This is why I have often said that this idea is the work of the Asuras,* and with it they have ruled the earth. Whereas whatever the effort, whatever the difficulty, whatever time it takes, whatever number of lives, you must know that all this doesn't matter: you KNOW you ARE the Master, that the Master and you are the same. All that's necessary is ... to know it INTEGRALLY, and nothing must belie it. That's the way out. When I tell people that their health depends on their inner life (an intermediate inner life, not the deepest), it's because of this.
page 457 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 25th Oct. 1960



-506_Inconscient.html


What is this spring? The spring? It means exactly this: in the deepest depths of the Inconscient is the supreme spring that makes us touch the Supreme. It is like the Supreme making us touch the Supreme: that is the almighty spring. When you arrive at the very bottom of the Inconscient, you touch the Supreme. So that is the shortest path! Not the shortest path! Already for me, it was hard to touch the bottom of the Inconscient, but for others it would take an eternity. It is something similar to what Sri Aurobindo has written in 'A God's Labour.'
Was it the Supreme at the very bottom of the Inconscient who cast you up directly to the Supreme?

Yes. Because at the very bottom of the Inconscient is the Supreme. It is the same idea as the highest height touching the deepest depth. The universe is like a circle - it is represented by the serpent biting its tail, its head touching its tail. It means that the supreme height touches the most material matter, without any intermediary. I have already said this several times. But that was the experience. I didn't know what was happening. I expected nothing and ... it was stupendous - in a single bound, I sprang up! If someone had had his eyes open, I assure you he would have had to laugh: I was bent over, like this, more and more, more and more, more and more, my head was just about to touch my knees when suddenly - vrrrm! Straight, straight up, my head upright in a single bound!

But as soon as you want to express it, it escapes like water running through your fingers; all the fluidity is lost, it evaporates. A rather vague, poetic or artistic expression is much truer, much nearer to the truth - something hazy, nebulous, undefined. Something not concretized like a rigid mental expression - this rigidity that the mind has introduced right down into the Inconscient.

This vision of the Inconscient ... (Mother remains gazing for a moment) it was the MENTAL Inconscient. Because the starting point was mental. A special Inconscient - rigid, hard, resistant - with all that the mind has brought into our consciousness. But it was far worse, far worse than a purely material Inconscient! A 'mentalized' Inconscient, as it were. All this rigidity, this hardness, this narrowness, this fixity - a FIXITY - comes from the presence of the mind in creation. When the mind was not manifested, the Inconscient was not like that! It was formless and had the plasticity of something that is formless - the plasticity has gone.

It is a terrible image of the Mind's action in the Inconscient.

page 232 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 11th Nov. - 1958



-507_Wednesday class.html



Two or three days after I retired to my room upstairs, [[Mother withdrew on December 9. In fact, She had been unwell for already more than a month before withdrawing. On November 26, the last 'Wednesday class' took place at the playground; on November 28 the last 'Friday class', on December 6, the last 'Translation class'; on December i, the end of Mother's tennis and the last visit to the playground.

page 252 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, Dec.. - 1958



-508_The Titan.html


Behind the Titan attacking us particularly now, there is something else. This Titan has been delegated by someone else. He has been there since my birth, was born with me. I felt him when I was very young, but only gradually, as I became conscious of myself, did I understand WHO he was and what was behind him. This Titan has been specially sent to attack this body, but he can't do it directly, so he uses people in my entourage. It is something fated: all those around me, who are close to me, and especially those capable of love, have been attacked by him; a few have succumbed, such as that girl in my entourage who was absorbed by him. He follows me like a shadow, and each time there is the least little opening in someone near me, he is there. The power of this Titan comes from an Asura. There are four Asuras. Two have already been converted, and the other two, the Lord of Death and the Lord of Falsehood, made an attempt at conversion by taking on a physical body - they have been intimately associated with my life. The story of these Asuras would be very interesting to recount ... The Lord of Death disappeared; he lost his physical body, and I don't know what has become of him.' As for the other, the Lord of Falsehood, the one who now rules over this earth, he tried hard to be converted, but he found it disgusting!
page 288 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 26th March 1959


-509_Dhammapada.html



When I began the readings from the Dhammapada, I had hoped that my listeners would take enough interest in the 'practical' spiritual side for me to read only one verse at a time. But quite quickly, I saw they found this very boring and were making no effort to benefit from the meditation. The only solution then was to treat the matter as an intellectual study, which is why I started reading chapter by chapter.

page 358 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 31st Jan. 1960



-510_Sat-Chit-Ananda.html


It happened last night. For approximately three hours, the physical ego disintegrated for the first time in such a total way. Nothing remained but the Force, nothing remained but Sat-Chit-Ananda,' and not only in the consciousness but in the physical sensation - the divine Satchidananda spreading in a constant flood throughout the universe. These experiences are always absolute, as long as they last; then, through certain signs that I know (I am accustomed to it), I notice that the body consciousness begins closing up again. Or rather, 'something' - evidently a Supreme Wisdom - decides it's sufficient for this time and that the body has had enough. It ought not to break, which is why certain precautions are taken. So this comes in several little stages that I know quite well. The final one is always a bit unpleasant because my body gets into rather peculiar positions as a result of the work. As it's only a sort of machine, towards the end I have some difficulty straightening my knees, for example, or opening my fingers - I think they even make a noise, like something forced into one position whose life has become purely spontaneous and mechanical. There are plenty of people like that, plenty, who enter into trance and then can no longer get out by themselves; they get themselves into a certain position and someone has to free them. This has never happened to me; I have always managed to extricate myself. But yesterday evening, the experience lasted a very long time. There was even a little cracking at the end, as when people have rheumatism. And during all this time, approximately three hours, the consciousness was completely, completely different. It was here, however; it was not outside the earth, it was on earth, but it was completely different - even the body consciousness was different. And what remained was very mechanical; it was a body, but it could just as well have been anything. All this power of consciousness that for more than seventy years I've gradually pushed into each of the body's cells so that each cell could become conscious (and it goes on constantly, constantly), all this seemed to have withdrawn - there only remained one almost lifeless thing. 1. Sat-Chit-Ananda: the three Supreme Principles, Existence (Sat), Consciousness (Chit), and Bliss (Ananda).
page 371 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 24th May 1960
During those three hours, there was nothing but the Supreme manifesting through the eternal Mother. But there was no consciousness of being Mother, neither eternal nor whatever: it was a continuous and all-powerful flood, and so extraordinarily varied, of the Lord manifesting Himself. It was as vast as the universe, a continuous movement - the movement of manifestation of something which was EVERYTHING at once, a single whole. There was no division. And such a variety of colors, vibrations, powers - extraordinary! It was one single thing, and everything was within it. The three Supreme Principles were very clearly there: Existence, Consciousness (an active, realizing consciousness) and Ananda. A universal vastness that kept going on and on and on ...
page 372 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 24th May 1960
But for years together I only slept 2 1/2 hours a night in all. I mean that my night consisted of 2 1/2 hours. And I went straight to Sat-Chit-Ananda and then came back: 2 1/2 hours were spent like that. But the body was tired. That lasted more than five or six years while Sri Aurobindo was still in his body. And during the day, I was all the time going into trance for the least thing (it was trance, not sleep - I was conscious). But I clearly saw that the body was affected, for it had no time to burn its toxins.' ... There would be many interesting things to tell about sleep, because it's one of the things I've studied the most - to speak of how I became conscious of my nights, for instance. (I learned this with Theon, and now that I know all these things of India, I realize that he knew a GREAT deal.) But it bothers me a lot to say 'I' - I this, I that. I'd rather speak of these things in the form of a treatise or an essay on sleep, for example. Sri Aurobindo always spoke of his experiences but rarely did he say' I' - it always sounds like boasting. Sri Aurobindo said that the true or yogic reason for sleep is to put the consciousness back into contact with Sat-Chit-Ananda (I used to do this without knowing it). For some people the contact is established immediately, while for others it takes eight, nine, ten hours to do it. But really, normally you should not wake up till the contact has been established, and that's why it's very bad to wake up in an artificial way (with an alarm clock, for example), because then the night is wasted.
page 381 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 4th June 1960

Do you remain conscious of yourself?
Oh, yes! I remain conscious. But nothing's there any more. It's clear, it's luminous, and there's absolutely nothing.
It is the state of mental tranquillity. Nothing exists for you any more?
I hear noises.
Ah!
I can still physically hear what's going on around me.
Then you're not in Nirvana.
But isn't it a sort of annihilation?
No. It's a total tranquilization, but not an annihilation.

(long silence
Mother tunes in to Satprem)

You probably enter into the state of pure Existence. First mental silence, then pure Existence, Existence outside of the Manifestation: the state of Sat. It is pure Existence, outside of the Manifestation. Whenever we've meditated together, I've always had the impression that you entered into that sort of rather blissful silence; it's something permanent, yes, but not an annihilation. It's Sat - the Sat that comes before Chit-Tapas. [[Sat: existence or being; Chit-Tapas: consciousness-energy; the third member of the trinity is Ananda: bliss. ]] In other words it can last an eternity with no sense of time, and be an infinity with no sense of space. But I tell you, it also has an EXTRAORDINARY utility: it automatically renews all the energies. Actually, that's the true reason for sleep: to be able to enter that state. And that's why those who can enter it consciously in meditation need much less sleep. Much less. It's what enables the body to last: Sat. And whenever I have meditated with you, I've always had a feeling of entering that state.
Pure existence, outside of the Manifestation. It is wonderfully luminous, immobile, tranquil, and ... a sort of bliss devoid of any vibration, beyond vibration. It is very useful. Actually, one should always keep this in the background of the consciousness and refer to it automatically to correct or avoid or annul ... all disturbances. It's what I use, for example, when the body has some trouble (I use it for the most ordinary and minor things: coughing when something goes down the wrong way, hiccups, things like that). All these minor problems of the body can be stopped almost instantly by entering that state. It takes a few seconds. It should be kept in the background all the time, all the time, all the time, as if supporting everything from behind. By nature it is absolutely silent, immobile, luminous.... Yes, it gives the sense of Eternity and Infinity. It is eternal, infinite, outside of time, outside of space, it's ... it's Sat. If one can keep that constantly in the background of one's consciousness, there's no further need to take off anywhere (ethereal gesture towards the heights): all you have to do is this (gesture of stepping back), and there it is. And it is the root cure of disorder. It is anti-disorder. That's how you can cure somebody, if he's able to receive it. It's the antidote to disorder, the perfect antidote to disorder.
Yes, one leaves that state refreshed, rested.
Yes, exactly.
page 397-98 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th Oct. 1962


I myself had an experience lasting the full half hour of the meditation.

Nothing was left but an immensity, without beginning, without end, neither in space nor in time - outside time. Outside time and space: an immensity of light. It was something of the same nature as light, but not light - far brighter, far ... not bright: far more intense than light. It was white, but not our physical white; it was a white ... at the time I couldn't define it. Afterwards, looking at it again in my consciousness, it seemed to be the light of a gold turned white, you understand: like when you bring something to white heat. Well, it was like gold becoming white through its intensity. It was ABSOLUTELY immobile - that is, I had the feeling you get in Sat. [[Sat: Pure Being or Existence. ]] Yet that immobility contained (how shall I put it?) ... yes, it actively contained - although its action wasn't perceptible - a sort of infinite Power, which could be the creative Power. And directed by an unmanifest Consciousness.... If you can make anything out of this, good for you!

It took me a long while to formulate it. What I am telling you now came gradually, slowly, through a sort of silent revelation. At the moment, it was nothing but Sat, an immobile Existence.

page 431-32 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Nov. 1962



-511_Abhay Singh.html



(In the presence of Pavitra and Abhay Singh,

* Mother recounts a vision she had during the night)


It was just at four o'clock in the morning, and it woke me up. It was exactly like this ... I was apparently in my bathroom, and I had to open the door between the bathroom and Sri Aurobindo's room; the moment I put my hand on the doorknob, I knew with an absolute certainty that destruction was awaiting me behind the door. It had the form or image of those great invaders of India, those who had swooped down upon India and destroyed everything in their wake ... But it was only an impression.

So the door had to be opened and I ... felt and said, 'Lord, may your will be done.' I opened the door and behind it was z2 in the same clothes he wears when he drives, and he was leaning against one of those big tractor tires - or perhaps he was holding it at the same time. I was so dumbfounded that I woke up. It took me a little while to be able to understand what it might mean, and afterwards ... Even now, I still don't know ... What was I? Was I India, or was I the world? ... I don't know. And what did Z represent? ... It was as imperative and clear, as positive and absolute as could be: the certitude that destruction was behind the door, that it was inevitable. And it had the form of those great Tartar or Mongol invaders, those people who came from the North and invaded India, who pillaged everything ... That's what it was like. But what Z was doing there I don't know. What does he represent? ... The first impulse was to tell Abhay Singh, 'Forbid him to drive the tractor.'

I. The disciple who managed the Ashram 'Atelier': mechanical workshop, maintenance garage, automobile service, etc.

2. A young disciple who worked in the Atelier.


(Pavitra:) What was he holding in his hands, Mother?

Huge tires ... He was standing there, like that, with a very majestic air. He was wearing his white outfit, those long pyjamas ...

(Abhay Singh:) Yesterday he drove the station wagon for the visitors.

Does it also have large tires?

(Pavitra:) A little bigger than jeep tires.

No, it came up to here (gesture to the top of the head). It seemed to be a tractor tire, but it did not have the heavy tread that tractor tires have.

(Abhay Singh:) There are tractor tires that have no tread.

Ah! So ... He was standing, and it came up to here (same gesture). So it must have been a tractor tire. What could it represent, he, and the tractor? ... I don't know ... It was not personal, you see - I mean this body. It had nothing to do with that.

(Pavitra:) The industrialization of India?

(silence )

I don't know.


page 189-90 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 30th Aug.





-512_Antonin Raymond.html


It's at the lake. The property belonged to the mission and at that time its manager was a very good friend of ours, even though he was a missionary. He said that he would arrange for us to have it. Everything was arranged, and I was to receive the money to buy it (they asked for more than fifty or sixty thousand rupees#). But then the money didn't come and our missionary friend left. He's no longer there; he's been replaced by someone else. (Mother looks at a piece of paper) 'Calling Antonin Raymond3.' The architect for the construction. Then there was also 'making ready temporary quarters for Z4.' But then Z left; he died. That's what happens - things change. It's not that the project stops, but it's forced to take other paths.
page 408-09 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 Aug. 1960

(Later, regarding a letter from the Raymonds, friends of Pavitra'sand the architects who built "Golconde," the Ashram's guest house.)
Have you seen the Raymonds' letter? ... They've written a very sweet letter. In their letter, they write something I didn't know, which Pavitra had never told me; they say that when Pavitra put them in contact with here, it completely changed their lives, the aim of their lives and everything. Raymond is a great architect. When they came here [[In 1937-38. ]] and built "Golconde," I asked Raymond to prepare the plan for the first Auroville I had conceived (that was when Sri Aurobindo was still alive), and it was magnificent! He didn't leave it here. But it was an Auroville with, at the center, Sri Aurobindo's house (gesture on a hilltop). Sri Aurobindo was alive, so we had put him at the center.

(silence)

Pavitra has remained wholly conscious, independent. For instance, when I was read this very letter of the Raymonds, it was Pavitra who listened!

And who had all the reactions .... It's very interesting. It's something quite unexpected .... There are times when I feel a slight inner duality, that is, for example, two reactions to one thing! It's quite funny. He had an extraordinary goodwill! I realize he really had goodwill, and a sort of modest endurance - never a sense of wanting to pull things to himself .... (Laughing) I know him better now!
page 216-17 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 11th June , 1969


(Later, regarding a letter from the Raymonds, friends of Pavitra'sand the architects who built "Golconde," the Ashram's guest house.)
Have you seen the Raymonds' letter? ... They've written a very sweet letter. In their letter, they write something I didn't know, which Pavitra had never told me; they say that when Pavitra put them in contact with here, it completely changed their lives, the aim of their lives and everything. Raymond is a great architect. When they came here [[In 1937-38. ]] and built "Golconde," I asked Raymond to prepare the plan for the first Auroville I had conceived (that was when Sri Aurobindo was still alive), and it was magnificent! He didn't leave it here. But it was an Auroville with, at the center, Sri Aurobindo's house (gesture on a hilltop). Sri Aurobindo was alive, so we had put him at the center.

(silence)

Pavitra has remained wholly conscious, independent. For instance, when I was read this very letter of the Raymonds, it was Pavitra who listened!

And who had all the reactions .... It's very interesting. It's something quite unexpected .... There are times when I feel a slight inner duality, that is, for example, two reactions to one thing! It's quite funny. He had an extraordinary goodwill! I realize he really had goodwill, and a sort of modest endurance - never a sense of wanting to pull things to himself .... (Laughing) I know him better now!
page 216-17 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 11th June - 1969



-513_Alice Bailey.html



But these people just can't get out of their education! Here is a lady [A. Bailey], quite renowned, it seems (she's dead now), who became the disciple of a Tibetan lama ... and she still speaks of Christ as the sole Avatar! She just can't get out of it! And each one has the absolute Truth!
page 181 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 25th April - 1961




The first thing I did this morning was to open this book by Alice Bailey (I've had it for several days, I had to have a look at it). So I looked ... Ah, I said - well, well! Here's a person who's dead now, but she was the disciple of a Tibetan Buddhist lama and considered a very great spiritual leader, and she writes, 'Christ is the incarnation of divine love on earth.' And that's that. 'And the world will be transformed when Christ is reborn, when he comes back to earth.' But why the devil does she put 'Christ'? Because she was born Christian? ... It's deplorable. And such a mixture of everything - everything! Instead of making a synthesis, they make a pot-pourri. They scoop it all up, toss it together, whip it up a little, use a bunch of words that have nothing to do with one another, and then serve it to you!
page 182 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 25th April - 1961



-514_A B Patel.html



So they kept pulling in opposing directions. Eventually they tried to set something up (which still didn't hold together), and finally they wrote me a little more clearly. (There is one very nice man involved, Y. He isn't particularly intellectual but has a lot of common sense and a very faithful heart - a very good man.) Y asked me some direct questions, without beating around the bush, and I replied directly: 'World Union is an entirely superficial thing, without any depth, based on the fact that Sri Aurobindo said "the masses" must be helped to follow the progress of "the elite" - well, let them go ahead! If they enjoy it, let them go right ahead!' ... I didn't say it exactly like that (I was a bit more polite!), but that was the gist of it.

page 109 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961



-515_Amal Kiran 's mother.html



There was an experience like that quite recently. A.'s mother was ill - old and seriously ill. Seeing her declining, A. wrote to me: 'If the time has come, make it happen quickly - don't let her suffer.' Then I saw very clearly that there was still something in her which didn't want to go; and when I applied the Force for the best to happen she suddenly began to recover! It must have coincided with a kind of inner aspiration in her - no more fever, she was feeling well. And A. began preparing to come back here. 'If she's recovering,' he said, 'there's no longer any point in my staying!' The same evening she had a relapse and he sent me a telegram. Meanwhile (it was evening) I had gone upstairs to 'walk'; suddenly The Will came (which is a very, very rare thing), The Will: 'Enough, now it must finish - it's enough as it is.' Within half an hour she was dead. These things are very interesting. They must form part of the work I have come on earth to do. page 233 , Mother's Agenda - volume 2 - 24th June , 1961




-516_Anil Mukherjee.html



Sri Aurobindo has written somewhere that the movement of world transformation is double: first, the individual who does sadhana [[Sadhana: spiritual quest and discipline. ]] and establishes contact with higher things; but at the same time, the world is a base and it must rise up a little and prepare itself for the realization to be achieved (this is putting it simply). Some people live merely on the surface - they come alive only when they stir about restlessly. Whatever happens inside them (if anything does!) is immediately thrown out into movement. Such people always need an outer activity; take J. for example: he fastened onto Sri Aurobindo's phrase, 'World Union,' and came to tell me he wanted....
He has been like that since the beginning (gesture expressing agitation), and he had a go at a considerable number of things - but none ever succeeded! He has no method, no sense of order and he doesn't know how to organize work. So World Union is simply to let him have his way, like letting a horse gallop. I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people ... I don't know about what. And during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of 'human unity'). So Z returned with the idea of forming a 'World Union,' and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M. [[A politician, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and friend of Jawaharlal Nehru. ]] and even by the Prime Minister, [[Nehru. ]] who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. That's how things began. I treated it as something altogether secondary and unimportant - when people need to gallop, I let them gallop (but I hadn't met Z). Then J. and Z left together on a speaking-tour of Africa and there things began to go sour, because Z was working in one way and J. in another. Finally, they were at odds and came back here to tell me, 'World Union is off to a good start - with a quarrel!' (Mother laughs) Z was saying, 'Nothing can be done unless we base ourselves EXCLUSIVELY on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and they are behind us giving support.' And J. said, 'No, no! We are not sectarian! We accept all ideas, all theories, etc.' I replied, and as it happens, I said that Z was right, though with one corrective: he had been saying that people had to recognize us as their guru. 'No,' I said, 'it's absolutely useless - not only useless, I refuse. I don't want to be anybody's guru. People should simply be told that things are to be done on the basis of Sri Aurobindo's thought. [[This is the text of Mother's reply to J.: 'I have read Z's account and your own letter on this subject. in the faith of his devotion, he must have been quite offended. The truth in what he says is that any idea, WHATEVER its degree of truth, is ineffective if it does not also carry the power acquired through realization, by a real change of consciousness. And if the proponent of this idea does not himself have the realization, he must seek the backing of those who have the power. On the other hand, what you say is true: an idea ought to be accepted on the basis of its inherent truth and not because of the personality expounding it, however great this personality may be. These two truths or aspects of the question are equally true but also equally incomplete: they are not the whole truth. Both of them must be accepted and combined with many other aspects of the question if you want to even begin to approach the dynamic power of the realization. Don't you see how ridiculous this situation is? Three people of goodwill meet in the hope of teaching men the necessity for a "World Union" and they are not even able to keep a tolerant or tolerable union among themselves, because each sees a different angle of the procedure to be followed for implementing their plan.' ]] So they kept pulling in opposing directions. Eventually they tried to set something up (which still didn't hold together), and finally they wrote me a little more clearly. (There is one very nice man involved, Y. He isn't particularly intellectual but has a lot of common sense and a very faithful heart - a very good man.) Y asked me some direct questions, without beating around the bush, and I replied directly: 'World Union is an entirely superficial thing, without any depth, based on the fact that Sri Aurobindo said "the masses" must be helped to follow the progress of "the elite" - well, let them go ahead! If they enjoy it, let them go right ahead!' ... I didn't say it exactly like that (I was a bit more polite!), but that was the gist of it. Now it has all fallen flat. They are carrying on with their little activities, but it's absolutely unimportant. They publish a small journal, and V, who writes for them, is far from stupid. She is rather intelligent and I have some control over her, so I will try to stop her from writing nonsense.
page 108 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961


-517_Amrita-da.html


But this way of seeing is too far removed from the state of mind and spiritual education in which X has lived,# of course, for him to understand. Nor am I in favor of proselytizing (to convince X); it would disturb him quite needlessly. He has not come here for that. He came here for something special, something I wanted which he brought, and I have learnt it. Now it's excellent, he is a part of the group in his own fashion, that's all. And in a certain way, his presence here is having a very good effect on a whole category of people who had not been touched but who are now becoming more and more favorably inclined. It was difficult to reach all the traditionalists, for example, the people attached to the old spiritual forms; well, they seem now to have been touched by something. When Amrita,3 seized with zeal, wanted to make him understand what we were doing here and what Sri Aurobindo had wanted, it almost erupted into an unpleasant situation. So after that, I decided to identify myself with him to see - I had never done this, because normally I only do it when I am responsible for someone, in order to truly help someone, and I've never felt any responsibility in regard to X. So I wanted to see his inner situation, what could and could not be done. That was the day you saw him coming down from our meditation in an ecstatic state, when he told you that all separation between him and me had dropped away - it was to be expected, I anticipated as much!
page 416 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 sept. 1960

I told this to X - or rather had someone tell him - to see his reaction. And I realized that he did not understand in the least! Once Amrita asked him how he himself SAW and KNEW things. So he tried to explain; he told Amrita that he had to pull his consciousness upwards by a gradual effort, to go beyond the heart, beyond the throat center ... to pull it right up here (the top of the head), and once there, you're divine, you know! All of a sudden, I understood that when I said it was there, above the head, it must have seemed absolutely impossible to him! For him, it's the crown of the head' (what they call the thousand-petalled lotus), just at the top of the head, whereas in my experience it opens, it rises and you go above, and then you settle there ...

page 432 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 11th Oct. 1960

Don't write all this down, erase it, because ... I'll speak of it later - once it's over, when I've reached the end. I don't want it to fall into anyone's hands by accident. And for you, keep it in your consciousness.

(silence)

I'm telling you all this because of what happened the other day. It's with such experiences that the ... the true Power is acquired. And then, at the same time, some rather interesting things are happening. Imagine, X is starting to understand certain things - that is, in his own way he is discovering the progress I am making; he's discovering it as a received teaching (through subtle channels). He wrote a letter to Amrita two or three days ago in which he translates in his own language, with his own words and his own way of speaking, exactly my most recent experiences - things that I have conquered in a general way. This interests me, for these things do not at all enter through the mind (he doesn't receive a thing there, he's closed there). So in his letter he says that this thing or that is necessary (he describes it in his own words), and he adds, 'This is why we must be so grateful to have among us the ... the great Mother* (as he puts it), the great Mother who knows these things.' - 'Good!' I said to myself. (It had to do with something specific concerning the capacity for discrimination in the outside world, the different qualities and different functions of different beings, all of which depends on one's inner construction, as it were.) So I see that even this, even these physical experiences, is received (and yet I hadn't tried, I had never tried to make him receive it); it merely works like this, you see (gesture of a widespread diffusion), and the experience is very - how should I say? - drastic, with a kind of ... (power of radiation). Imperative.
page 490 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 26th Nov. 1960

Now X is coming, and these days of meditation with trim.' What is going to happen? ... By the way, he no longer writes that he's coming to 'help the Ashram.' He wrote to Amrita that he's coming to have the opportunity (I can't exactly remember his words) ... anyway, to take advantage of his meditations with me so that he can make the necessary transformations! ... Quite a changed attitude. I had several visions concerning him which I'll tell you later.

page 493 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 13th Dec. 1960


It was the same thing when I made that overmental formation (we were heading for miracles!). One day Sri Aurobindo told me I had brought down into Amrita[[One of Mother's secretaries. ]] a force of the creative Brahma (it's the creative Word, the Word that realizes itself automatically). And I don't know what happened ... something, I can't recall what, that showed me it was working very well. Then a sort of idea occurred to me: "Why, we could try this power on mosquitoes: let mosquitoes cease to exist! What would happen?" (We were pestered by mosquitoes at the time.) Before doing it (the meditation was over, it would have been for the next time), I said to Sri Aurobindo, "Well, what if we tried with that force which responds; if we said, 'Let mosquitoes cease to exist,' we could at
least get rid of them within a certain field of action, a certain field of influence, couldn't we?" So he looked at me (with a smile), kept silent, and, after a moment, turned to me and said, You are in full Overmind. That is not the Truth we want to manifest.... I told you the story. It was on that occasion. We could have done things of that sort. He told me (Mother speaks with an ironic tone), "Oh, you can certainly perform miracles! People will be wonderstruck."

(silence)

page 75-76 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 9th March 1963


Once, Amrita also told me that for him, the Divine was something simply unthinkable. So I answered him, "No! That way, it won't help you. Just think that the Divine is everything (to the fullest possible extent, of course), everything we want to become in our highest, most enlightened aspiration. All that we want to become - that's what the Divine is." He was so happy! He told me, "Oh, that way it becomes easy!"


page 152 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 24th May - 1967


There were a few very difficult days when Amrita left, [[On January 31, 1969. Amrita was the person in charge of the Ashram's finances. Bharatidi's departure (on November 7, 1968) appears to have acted as a trigger, for it was followed by Amrita's, then Pavitra's (on May 16), then Satyakarma's (Mother's cashier) .... This calls to mind Satprem's vision of Sri Aurobindo, several of whose toes had been cut off, that is to say, several people. See Agenda VIII of July 5, 1967. ]] because a whole collectivity of people thought, "Ooh, so one can die." There. So that's how it is.

page 67-68 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th feb - 1969


People write to me ... Previously, all kinds of things were going on downstairs [in the Ashram's offices]; people would speak with Amrita and they would "sort it out"; now, they're writing to me! ... I've just heard a load of it, you know ... (gesture like a truckload being dumped). I did have a kind of sensation that things weren't right, but I'd never have thought they were like that.


page 174 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 10th May - 1969


Apart from that, in Amrita's case, it was something different again. [[ Amrita left his body on January 31, following a heart attack. ]] Amrita used to come in spite of his illness, he used to come and see me every day; he would come upstairs in the morning and sit down here, and once again in the evening (you saw how much work it was to climb the stairs). In his case, when he left ... The doctor had told him, "You can't go upstairs for a month," and it's after that, later on that day, that he came: he didn't accept, he left his body and came - he came straight to me. But he was IN HIS OWN FORM, more subtle, but precisely defined (Mother draws an outline showing Amrita's form), it was his form, in his likeness. And he remained there, now active and now at rest (he rests more than he is active, but now and then he is still active). It's like ... like a shadow, you understand, which is wholly in my atmosphere. And he has stayed there-he stays there, rests there. But in Pavitra's case, it was something else altogether: it's the entire conscious being which gave up ... (how can I put it?) its limits, the personal limit and form, so as to identify totally - he entered like that, like a stream of consciousness and force, but very material, very material: it produced a friction, I felt a friction, and for three hours. I had never seen that before, it was the first time - I had heard about it very often (it's often mentioned), that knowledge the great yogis had: they would go like that deliberately.


page 184 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 17th May - 1969



-520_Amarendra.html



(In the presence of Pavitra and Abhay Singh,

* Mother recounts a vision she had during the night)


It was just at four o'clock in the morning, and it woke me up. It was exactly like this ... I was apparently in my bathroom, and I had to open the door between the bathroom and Sri Aurobindo's room; the moment I put my hand on the doorknob, I knew with an absolute certainty that destruction was awaiting me behind the door. It had the form or image of those great invaders of India, those who had swooped down upon India and destroyed everything in their wake ... But it was only an impression.

So the door had to be opened and I ... felt and said, 'Lord, may your will be done.' I opened the door and behind it was z2 in the same clothes he wears when he drives, and he was leaning against one of those big tractor tires - or perhaps he was holding it at the same time. I was so dumbfounded that I woke up. It took me a little while to be able to understand what it might mean, and afterwards ... Even now, I still don't know ... What was I? Was I India, or was I the world? ... I don't know. And what did Z represent? ... It was as imperative and clear, as positive and absolute as could be: the certitude that destruction was behind the door, that it was inevitable. And it had the form of those great Tartar or Mongol invaders, those people who came from the North and invaded India, who pillaged everything ... That's what it was like. But what Z was doing there I don't know. What does he represent? ... The first impulse was to tell Abhay Singh, 'Forbid him to drive the tractor.'

I. The disciple who managed the Ashram 'Atelier': mechanical workshop, maintenance garage, automobile service, etc.

2. A young disciple who worked in the Atelier.


page 189-90 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 30th Aug - 1958




-521_Alexandra David Neil.html



You know, queer things are happening here. There are certain things that literally disappear, and then, after a few days, they reappear! (Mother looks for her note again) I prefer to exhaust all material explanations before making other suppositions. But even someone like Madame David-Neel (and God knows she was positivist in the extreme) herself told me an experience of that sort. I was explaining something to her and she replied, "I am not surprised, because the same thing happened to me...." She had a jewel (it was the time when she used to wear jewels) which she used to keep at the top of a box (inside the box, but at its top). It was a Chinese dragon, and she wanted to wear it one evening. She opened the box, the jewel wasn't there anymore (yet the box was locked inside a cupboard, and there wasn't any sign of theft). She tried, she searched for it, she couldn't find it. Then, four or five days afterwards, she opened the box again, and there was the jewel, just where it was supposed to be!

page 144 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 31st July 1964


Oh, if you want to be amused, I have received a letter from Alexandra David-Neel.... You know that we had been corresponding and that she was the "great protector" of Tibetan lames (one of them was her "son" and he died there, so she was feeling quite lonely). I told her that we had been put in contact with all those Tibetans[[Mother has received several Tibetans since the invasion of Tibet. ]] and I suggested she might take another one with her (because she had written to me about this). And I added that they would certainly be very glad to serve her in gratitude for the great intellectual progress they would be making with her - she never forgave me! Never forgave me. Because I wrote "intellectual" instead of "spiritual" (I consider she is quite incapable of making anyone progress spiritually, while intellectually, she is first-rate). And since that time, no more letters, nothing. The other day, I got a letter in which she writes (Mother imitates the supercilious tone of the letter), "Dear friend of the past, I have heard about the attack on the Ashram" (you should have read the letter, it was marvelous!), "and I hope that nothing untoward has happened to you. But now that the Ashram's invulnerability has been destroyed, attacks may recur, so I presume you will leave Pondicherry...."[[Satprem remembers that several years earlier, Madame A. David-Neel had in a letter already advised Mother to leave Pondicherry (it was Mother herself who told this to Satprem around or a little before 1960), because, she predicted, Mother would be "assassinated by her own disciples." That letter must still exist in the Ashram's archives. ]] (Mother laughs) I simply answered her, "Dear friend of always (laughing), do not worry, all is well. Above the forces of destruction, there is the divine Grace, which protects and mends," and I simply put, "Yours very affectionately." And I enclosed in the letter the message [[February 21: Above all the complications of the so-called human wisdom stands the luminous simplicity of the Divine's Grace, ready to act if we allow It to do so. ]] of the 21st.

That woman is eating herself away. Every time I had the opportunity, I spoke to her about Buddha's love; I told her, "But Buddha was full of love!" And that makes her blood boil! Well. page 34-35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 24th Feb - 1965


I remember, once, it was with Madame David-Neel. It's very interesting. She came to give a lecture (I wasn't acquainted with her, that's where I met her for the first time), I think it was at the Theosophical Society (I forget). I went to the lecture, and while she was speaking, I saw Buddha - I saw him clearly: not above her head, a little to the side. He was present. So after the lecture, I was introduced to her (I didn't know the kind of woman she was!), and I said to her, "Oh, Madam, during your speech I saw Buddha present." She answered me (in a furious tone), "Impossible! Buddha is in Nirvana!" (Mother laughs) Oho!... "Better keep quiet!" I thought. But he really was there, whatever she thought!
page 261 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 9th Nov. - 1966



-525_Abhijit.html



Rita:
"The actual fact of death evokes in me an experience in which one is thrust into space and soars up." Amusing! I found it very amusing. She is the only one, besides, the others are quite practical. [[This young girl, to whom death looked so graceful, was to die four years later. ]]
Dilip:
"A cessation of all physical activity caused by the absence of a source of energy (or soul)."
It's not clear.... The other two are quite practical (!)
Anand:
"When the brain stops functioning and the body starts decomposing, it's death."

(Mother laughs heartily)

The last one is quite matter-of-fact.
Abhijit:
"Blood circulation in the brain cells stops completely." That's death. As for me, I'll tell them this (Mother reads with difficulty): "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells making up the physical body. "Consciousness is, in its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it clothes itself in material forms that are durable to a greater or lesser degree. "The material substance is in process of transformation to become an increasingly perfect and durable multiform mode of expression for that consciousness." I am going to send it to them. But I appreciated their notes.... The interesting thing (for me) is that when I opened these four notes yesterday evening and read Abhijit's first, "When circulation stops ... ," then, I don't know, there certainly was a special grace over me, because I read those words and was instantly put in contact with the most objective, calm and detached scientific spirit - that was its way of seeing and describing the phenomenon: no emotion, no reaction, simply like that. And I saw (I understood and saw infinitely more than the boy put into it) a whole wisdom there, a scientific wisdom. And at the same time, the perception of the remedy in the evolutionary course of things. The most material remedy. It gave me a whole series of experiences in the night and the morning, certainly far exceeding the field covered by their four reflections.... With the little girl [Rita], there was the impression, the vision of all those to whom death is a gateway to a marvelous realization.

It all came so spontaneously and naturally that I felt as if it was THERE. Now that you've read it back to me (laughing), I realize it's not there! But it came so spontaneously: I sat there, reading those four notes, and it came one after another. Especially Abhijit's, this completely objective, or anyway completely detached vision of the phenomenon: "Circulation stops ..." As if you were looking at a small instrument or tool (Mother gestures as if fingering a small object), and you remarked, "Oh, it's stopped now ... that's why it no longer works." Like that. In other words, none of those uncertainties or anxieties or aspirations.... All that was emotions, sentiments, psychological phenomena - it was all completely absent.... A very simple little contraption (same fingering gesture) which you look at as you would a machine, and the machine stops "because it no longer goes like that." There. And as a result, this body was completely detached from all human anguish - from everything: not only from anguish, but from the habit, the whole human formation about death - it was all gone. As if I were all the way up above, like that, and looking all the way down - hup! it went away.
page 132-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968




-526_Anand Arya.html



Rita:
"The actual fact of death evokes in me an experience in which one is thrust into space and soars up." Amusing! I found it very amusing. She is the only one, besides, the others are quite practical. [[This young girl, to whom death looked so graceful, was to die four years later. ]]
Dilip:
"A cessation of all physical activity caused by the absence of a source of energy (or soul)."
It's not clear.... The other two are quite practical (!)
Anand:
"When the brain stops functioning and the body starts decomposing, it's death."

(Mother laughs heartily)

The last one is quite matter-of-fact.
Abhijit:
"Blood circulation in the brain cells stops completely." That's death. As for me, I'll tell them this (Mother reads with difficulty): "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells making up the physical body. "Consciousness is, in its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it clothes itself in material forms that are durable to a greater or lesser degree. "The material substance is in process of transformation to become an increasingly perfect and durable multiform mode of expression for that consciousness." I am going to send it to them. But I appreciated their notes.... The interesting thing (for me) is that when I opened these four notes yesterday evening and read Abhijit's first, "When circulation stops ... ," then, I don't know, there certainly was a special grace over me, because I read those words and was instantly put in contact with the most objective, calm and detached scientific spirit - that was its way of seeing and describing the phenomenon: no emotion, no reaction, simply like that. And I saw (I understood and saw infinitely more than the boy put into it) a whole wisdom there, a scientific wisdom. And at the same time, the perception of the remedy in the evolutionary course of things. The most material remedy. It gave me a whole series of experiences in the night and the morning, certainly far exceeding the field covered by their four reflections.... With the little girl [Rita], there was the impression, the vision of all those to whom death is a gateway to a marvelous realization.

It all came so spontaneously and naturally that I felt as if it was THERE. Now that you've read it back to me (laughing), I realize it's not there! But it came so spontaneously: I sat there, reading those four notes, and it came one after another. Especially Abhijit's, this completely objective, or anyway completely detached vision of the phenomenon: "Circulation stops ..." As if you were looking at a small instrument or tool (Mother gestures as if fingering a small object), and you remarked, "Oh, it's stopped now ... that's why it no longer works." Like that. In other words, none of those uncertainties or anxieties or aspirations.... All that was emotions, sentiments, psychological phenomena - it was all completely absent.... A very simple little contraption (same fingering gesture) which you look at as you would a machine, and the machine stops "because it no longer goes like that." There. And as a result, this body was completely detached from all human anguish - from everything: not only from anguish, but from the habit, the whole human formation about death - it was all gone. As if I were all the way up above, like that, and looking all the way down - hup! it went away.
page 132-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968




-527_Dr. Agarwal.html



I constantly see. At night (especially at night), I see moving forms that look like ... You know how J. is dressed, [[Like Punjabis, with a long jacket and tight-fitting pants. ]] or Dr. Agarwal [[Who wears a "Gandhi cap" and sports a long beard. ]] ... Oh, speaking of Dr. Agarwal, when Pralhad [his son] died, his mother was very anxious to know if he had come to me. I told her, "Nothing, I haven't seen anything." So I don't know if it's as a result of that or if I thought about it, but two days ago (the day before yesterday), I went for a stroll in a forest of the vital! ... Mon petit, it was beautiful! Oh, a magnificent forest, and so well maintained, so clean, oh, it was lovely! A really magnificent place, really magnificent. Then, I suddenly see a youngish Pralhad there, a mere lad, coming towards me and telling me (in a despairing tone), "I don't know, can't find the religion." I told him, "You don't need a religion!" He said, "Oh, there's another man here who can't find a religion." And that was Benjamin! [[A disciple who died six years earlier, in December 1962. See the story of his death in Agenda 4, January 12, 1963. ]] I said, "He's an idiot! He doesn't need to find a religion!" There you are: Benjamin lost in a mar-vel-ous forest (it's beautiful, you know!) because he can't find a religion! And Pralhad looking for a religion! ... So I wanted to send a line to his mother to tell her, "Be consoled, Pralhad is in a very beautiful place! ..." He looked very well. He was very well dressed...
page 277 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 9th Oct - 1968



-528_Anjini-bhen.html



Yes, exactly You see, A. wrote to me (she's a secretary to the government here), she wrote to tell me the results of the elections [the defeat of the Congress], and they were all desperate. So I saw, I said, "It's absurd, THEY are the ones who attract the catastrophe!" I answered her to keep "an unshakable and tranquil trust ...."


page 89 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 12th Mar - 1969



-530_Annadurai.html





-531_Albert''s father.html



The same thing with N.S. In his case also ... He had fallen on his head and fractured it (he fell in a faint in the street, that's how he died). He was taken to the hospital. But he went out [[Went out of his body. Mother narrated this experience in Agenda III, July 4, 1962. ]] and came to me right away (and so I knew: when I was told the accident had happened, I already knew something had happened because he had come to me). I kept him there, put him to rest, and he was quite peaceful - quite peaceful. They didn't even consult me about the time when he should be burned or anything (of course, a family of doctors!). Then, suddenly, brrt! (gesture of bursting) he went out of my atmosphere abruptly, like that. And no more sign of him.... It took me DAYS to recontact him - and that was the shock he had when they burned his body. It took me days to find him again, put him back to rest, gather him together. And one part had disappeared; his whole consciousness didn't return, because a part of his most material consciousness, of the material vital, must have been thrown out by the shock. I know it, because Albert's [[Albert: the Ashram's kind tailor. ]] father was operated on (it was more than a year later, maybe two), and when he was chloroformed, he suddenly saw N.S. in front of him (of course, even a part can take on the appearance of the whole being, Sri Aurobindo explained that, it's like a photograph). He saw N.S., and N.S. asked him news of his family, news of his wife, news of his children, and he told him, "I worry about them." It must have been the part tied to his family, which must have been separated from the rest of his being: when he came to me, he was complete, but afterwards, I don't know what happened (gesture of bursting under the shock). And it was so concrete that when Albert's father was woken up again, he said aloud, "But why are you cutting short my conversation with N.S.?" That's how they found out. He told them, "But I was talking with N.S., why have you interrupted my conversation?" So they found out.


page 324-25 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 4th Oct - 1967




-532_Armand Roider.html



Your healer has arrived, I am told.
Yes, this morning, I think.
So I asked A. to bring him to you - you're the one he has come to see.
Me!
Yes, of course (laughter), the author of your book! ... No, you can speak with him and see. You'll tell me how he is .... I put him up at "Castellini" because there's a large garden - I hope he'll be comfortable there. But you'll see, you'll try to make him tell a little what he is seeking by coming here.
Page 336 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Sep - 1969


So did you see this healer?
Yes, I saw him.

Tell me.
I am very much struck, I must say. First of all, to put thingsphysically, the first time I saw him, I remained with him for three and a half hours-he didn't stop talking ....
Oh!
But the extraordinary thing is that usually, when I am withpeople, after half an hour I am exhausted - after three and a half hours (I didn't budge, didn't stop looking at him), I was as fresh as a daisy! And so full of energy that I didn't sleep the whole night! And I spent three and a half hours listening to this man .... Yesterday evening (I was tired, Id had a rather heavy day), I spent only half an hour chatting with him - I was as fresh as a daisy.
Oh, but he's first-rate!
I was quite fresh, as I am not after resting .... But Id like to mention one thing: I saw him BEFORE he came to Pondicherry. The day he reached Bombay, I had a sort of vision I didn't under stand: I saw an enormous white horse, huge, but massive, like an enormous plough horse: not beautiful, but with an awesome massive power. A huge white horse. And when I saw him here, I thought, "But here's my white horse!"
Yes, surely.
A plough animal, you know, not beautiful but awesome.
And what does he say?
He's come here with a question-not a mental one .... But I should perhaps tell you the stages of his discovery. As you know, he discovered experimentally on himself what was going on. So he sought to understand: he bought books, went to see so-called "healers." The first people who taught him were "Spiritualists." They told him, "Use a pendulum." He used a pendulum to detect diseases, and it worked very well. Then, after a time, he thought, "But this isn't reality." And then his Pendulum stopped working! Afterwards, he went to see someone else, who told him, "But you

should do magnetic passes." He was taught how to do it, and it worked very well: with his fingers he could feel the organs that were out of harmony (because, for him, the key word is "Har mony" or "disharmony"). Then, after a while, he said to himself, "But this isn't reality either." And nothing worked anymore.
Oh, it's very interesting!
He thought, "But I have nothing left, neither a pendulum nor myhands nor anything ...." And all of a sudden he had a revelation: "You have nothing left because you no longer need anything!" Then he began, and he noticed that when his thought met with someone's thought or call, it was done in a split second. For instance, one day a woman sent him a wire in Paris: she had given birth and had a torn perineum. He got the wire, thought, and said, "She's cured." The next morning he went and saw her: the perineum had healed .... Another extraordinary case: a woman was dying in the fifth month of her pregnancy, dying of menin geal tuberculosis. The hospital was helpless, they brought her home. In reality, she didn't want her child. He went and saw her several times, and one day, she had terrible convulsions and died in his arms. Then, he says, "I had a sort of prayer at the bottom of my heart, I said, 'But this woman hasn't followed the law of love, it's right that she should die, but why should this child in her die? ... '" He had a sort of prayer. And five minutes later, the woman came back to life in his arms. She opened her eyes and said, "I am cured." She was indeed cured, but unable to move anymore. Two weeks later, she gave birth to a child, who was not only normal but viable and full-grown, which means that in those fifteen days, the gestation had accelerated and the child was just as full-grown as a nine-month-old child ....
Five months old ...
Yes. Then the woman died the day after giving birth, and thechild is now seventeen, I think .... He told me, "That's how it is: there is NO' power,' it doesn't exist - there is That, the Harmony; everyone has the capacity to call this Harmony, and It acts. And It acts in a second, instantly .... But then, he told me, "Here is my question" (as far as I can express what he said) .... Basically, he is aware of quite an extraordinary Power-though I should say I didn't feel a shadow of ego in this man, there's no trace of

ego .... He read my book, but that didn't teach him things, it only confirmed some experiences .... This man spoke to me for more than three hours, and apart from you and Sri Aurobindo, I have heard no one speak like him. It was a sage who spoke, a living experience that sprang forth, there wasn't one thing he said you wouldn't subscribe to: those "great Forces of Harmony" that must be embodied on earth, brought down on earth ... It was really a sage who spoke, and those were your words, Sri Aurobindo's words.
That's what A. told me; the first day when he received him, he told me, "I thought I was listening to you or to Sri Aurobindo!"
But the surprising thing is that when he spoke to me, it wasn'this mind that spoke: it was a living experience that sprang forth, that's what was extraordinary! ... He said, "I have the experience of the transformation, the experience of cellular regeneration .... I know from experience that there is intelligence, there is divin ity deep down in the cells - I know all that, but it has to be embodied. Something has to be done." So here's his question ....
What does he want to know?
He is conscious of this Power, but he says one needs to have the TOTAL vision, the vision of TOTAL Harmony. Because, he says, it's all an equilibrium, a wonderful harmony, and we mustn't cause any disequilibrium, we must obey the Law, follow the Law of Harmony, but it's a TOTAL Law, of course, and we mustn't make any mistake. "I need the total vision," he says. "Take the Ashram: it's a center of light where there is total harmony; then there's a circle around it, Pondicherry, which is already darker ...
Very dark!
" ... and less receptive; so you can't bring the Ashram's law intothat obscurity without causing a disequilibrium; you can only bring part of it, or something that can be adapted to that dark ness. Then there is a third, still darker circle, to which it's still harder to apply the law of total Harmony-so how to find out what one has to do depending on the particular point? How to know the right law, the total law? ..." He says, "I don't want to cause any disequilibrium, I want to obey the Law .....

A. told me you asked to come with him on Saturday?
It's not that I asked, I just thought it might be interesting for himto try and put himself his question to you.
The interesting thing would be to know what he feels when he sees me. [[This is precisely what was going to be a revelation for Satprem and a decisive turning point in his own understanding of Mother. ]] That would be interesting .... I'll see him tomorrow the first time, but it would be good if you brought him on Saturday. I don't think he'll speak tomorrow.
I told him, "Mother doesn't speak." He said, "But of course! It'snot words I need, expressing is useless; what I want is the vibra tion, the experience." He understands silence very well.
Then we'll see. In that case the result might come on Saturday.
Because it would be interesting if in front of you he tried toformulate his question outwardly ... He understands quite well that evolution has reached a point where things must accelerate and those Forces of Harmony must be brought into the world, but basically, he feels such a power in him that he wouldn't want to act arbitrarily: he wouldn't want to "break the equilibrium," but to "follow the Law." And for that, total vision is needed .... He told me, "The miracles Christ worked, for instance (there is no such thing as 'miracles,' by the way), all that I can do, but if I did it, with the means of communication of modern science, it would immediately be known the world over, and something of that sort could strike a 'great blow' to the ordinary mind which only believes in the truths of matter." He asks, "That would be a means of action, but should I do that? ..." His problem is one of action ....
What is he doing now?
Right now, for three days he has been fasting; he's stopped eating. He said, "I'll go and see Mother like this, without having taken any food." So for three days he has been taking nothing but water ... The wonderful thing is that there isn't an atom of men talization, it's all an experience that springs forth. And all that you've said, all that Sri Aurobindo said, he has experienced ....

He is conscious of the "Moment" in the History of the earth, hefeels all that. So he wants to participate in the Work.

(after a silence)

What is it that speaks in him, then? Is it his mind or his physical mind?
I think he's inspired. Because the first day, when I spent threehours and a half with him, the first hour (he's very slow to get started), it took a long time, he was groping for words, trying to express himself clearly. Later on, I tried to drive him into his experience, and it started flowing. What he said was beautiful, it sprang forth like that, spontaneously. It was really inspired .... And at the same time, so moved, because for the first time in his life he can talk about these things with people who understand him. He told me, "No one understands me - but here, everyone understands me." So it comes out, it springs forth.
I'll see him tomorrow. But I think it would be better to tell him it's only a first contact and won't last long, because tomorrow I have a list long like this - every day it's the same! And on Saturday he'll come back with you, he'll stay for some more time.
Page 345-50 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 24th Sep - 1969


(A.R., the healer, enters; Mother gives him a red rose.)
(A.R.:) Thank you ... I come to you as a child thirsting and hungering for Truth, Justice, and the Knowledge of spiritual laws. Please give me this nourishment that is the knowledge of the laws, so I may serve the Divine in the most perfect universal Harmony.

(silence)

(To Satprem:) Did you tell him that I don't speak?
(Satprem to A.R.:) Mother doesn't speak.
If he has something to say, he can do so.
(Satprem:) What is the central question that preoccupies you?
(A.R.:) The central question ... The central question for me,with regard to past experiences, is to understand the Law - to

understand it perfectly, not imperfectly, that is, not empirically, so that by fulfilling the conditions of the Law, we may re-create the same phenomena.
(Satprem:) You spoke of a "block" somewhere?
(A.R.:) Yes, exactly, the block is just that .... Ill give an image:when you know a law perfectly, you can't be in breach of the law; but if you know it imperfectly, you risk a fine at any moment.
(Satprem:) Mother, it's the knowledge of the Law that he wouldlike to have, so as not to make any mistake.
But I don't know any "law"! ... I don't know what he calls the "law" - I don't know any laws.
(Satprem to A.R.:) What do you call the "law"?
(A.R.:) The Law ... I think that if in deep meditation one realizes union with the Divine according to the right rules, every time you have the same meditation for the same cause, you must certainly obtain the same result.
In the manifestation, no two minutes are alike, it's a continuous movement; so when you come into contact with the Divine, what you collaborate with is the Truth of that Movement. That's probably what he calls "the Law."
(A.R.:) That's right.
In the manifestation, it's the Consciousness that expresses itself. And if you identify with it, this Supreme Consciousness, this Divine Consciousness is what makes you act. But as I understand it, the "law" he refers to is a mentalization of this Movement, and that's not necessary - what's necessary is the IDENTIFICATION of the consciousness .... It's a question of words.
(A.R.:) Exactly, I fully agree with Mother. But the problem remains in spite of this explanation. The question mark subsists, because, of course, I've had numerous opportunities to experi ment with it - it's something I frequently realize-and yet the results are different, I mean that one doesn't get the result one

might have hoped for, which seems (I say, seems) really normal in the circumstances.
(Satprem to A.R.:) You mean, when you want to cure someone?
(A.R.:) Yes, that's it.
(Satprem to Mother:) Mother, he says that when he wants toheal, for instance, there aren't two systems, there's only one: he goes into a deep, intimate communion with the Divine, and lets That come through ....
Yes, that's right.
(Satprem:) So he wonders why, in certain cases, the result isn't obtained?
But that's because on the supreme level it's decided that it shouldn't be obtained! It's a partial consciousness that has the idea that whatever he does, the result should always be the same, but it's not like that!
(Satprem to A.R.:) Yes, it's not like that. It's a partial consciousness that tells you there must be a result, but in the total Consciousness ...
(A.R.:) I had always taken it like that too, but I wanted a confirmation of it.
(Satprem to Mother:) That's how he had taken it, but he wanteda confirmation. Because, for example, he has the case of a man whom he knows intimately and who has become a paralytic. He put all his heart into curing him, and he says he feels the Forces entering this man, he finds him receptive ...
But he isn't cured.
(Satprem:) He isn't cured. He has even given me the photo of theman, and he'd like to understand why, in this instance, he doesn't get cured.

(Mother looks at the photo)


Does this man have faith?
(A.R.:) Well, in the beginning he didn't, but his faith has been growing.
It's because for everyone, what happens is the BEST thing to lead his individuality towards the goal - the goal of consciousness - and if he has faith, the action takes place in an even more precise way, and, we might say, even more rapidly. So in this case, it would mean that his paralysis helps him go faster towards his goal.
(A.R.:) Thank you.

(meditation)

Has he anything to ask?
(A.R.:) Yes, Id like to ask if you think it's good to carry on with this path of healing?
Oh, yes!
(A.R.:) Do you think it's a momentary limitation?
It's not a limitation, even the pettiest work isn't a limitation! It's only a means of expression; but it doesn't limit the possibility, that is to say, if one is capable of doing a general Work, it goes on CONSTANTLY, without a material occupation. I mean that the real Work is done like this (radiating gesture), in silence.
(A.R.:) Thank you.

(Mother gives a photo

and A.R. leaves)


Page 351-54 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 27th Sep - 1969



Did F tell you what the healer said to her? ... They met yesterday or the day before, and he "confessed" to her. He told her he came to India in the hope of finding a place where he could be left alone for a few weeks or even a few months, because he has found the way of healing everything, except a hernia he has, and he would like to be left alone so as to find a way to cure his hernia. Then F told him, "But you can be left alone right here." He replied, "Oh, but if I am asked to cure, I can't refuse." So it might be better to stop sending him people ... but he would have to move to a new house and be alone somewhere. He should be asked if it's all right with him. This is how things took place: the other day, the man who does the cooking with F. at Tout ce qu'il faut was running a high temperature, he was quite run down. F said, "I'll go and bring A.R." She brought him-in five minutes he cured him. And that's when he spoke to her. So you could see with him. If we don't send him anyone, no one will go. If he thinks this place is beneficial to his quest, we'll manage to find some spot where he can be left alone.
Page 359 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 1st Oct - 1969


(Mother starts writing

her note to the healer)

"The time seems opportune for you to make yourlast conquest over illness, and to do that, you need some rest in a solitary place. Everything can easily be arranged. Satprem will explain."

Page 364 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th Oct - 1969


But here in India, that stillness comes from contempt for the body: it must be nullified as much as possible. Its very existence must be nullified. And that's precisely what Sri Aurobindo rose up against, saying, "No! The body must PARTICIPATE in the experience." So naturally, A.R. is convinced that the body must participate in the experience, that's why he has the right attitude. But to be convinced, he wants to realize NOW the consciousness that will be the consciousness of what Sri Aurobindo calls the Supramental. That is to say, to BE the Divine, without distinction between the body and the rest-to be the Divine ....


Page 381 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 18th Oct - 1969


I'll tell you something .... The last time he came, I had him sit down and I thought, "We'll see." I started the meditation as usual, it was very good and he received - the same thing as before. It was exactly the same. Then I invoked (because it was the day of the pujas), I invoked the four Aspects of the Mother. They came. Two of them stood on one side of A.R., two of them on the other side. Then I waited. And after a while, I saw him lower his head, and ... suddenly, he started coughing [[Which means something he could not "swallow." ]] (which he had never done). Then I stopped. But I didn't ask anything, I gave him a ... consolation letter, and then this message I had given the other day:
"It is in the silence of complete identification withthe Divine that true understanding is obtained."
I gave him that without saying anything and let him go. I said "good-bye," he shook my hand like this (!) and left. Then, I'd asked F to give him the booklet The Mother, but when she came to his place, he was already in meditation with a number of people (they were all holding hands). So we don't know at all what his reaction was. All that I know is that the day before he left, A. R. and Z made the trip together, and she asked him what the result of his stay here was, what he had learned. He replied, "Oh, it's too early to know, I'll know later." Page 409 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 1st Nov - 1969


But it interested me. What A.R. said, "To be entirely governed by the divine Consciousness," appealed to him a lot, it's an approach he understood. He must have tried, and that's the result. I saw other people who had pains, but that one is more "alarming." Others have pains here or there or ... but when it touches the heart, people start being more alarmed. But in several cases, I saw that this Force doesn't act only here [in Mother]: it acts in others. And always, always, the moment of transition (it may be very brief, or it may take some time) is a bit ... difficult. One needs to be forewarned.

Page 445 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 22nd Nov - 1969



-534_Andre Malreaux.html



I believe he even came here to Pondicherry to see you. He hasmade a statement on the radio, and you know, he's a man who carries a lot of weight internationally: when he says some thing, he is listened to all over the world. So on French radio, he made a statement (you know that he was a minister under de Gaulle for a long time), a statement in favor of Bangladesh. He says:

The Indian Express, September 20, 1971

At 69, Malraux offers to fight in the ranks of Bangladesh.He says, "I receive many letters from young people who write: if you form a foreign legion, we are ready to fight for Bangladesh." Malraux admits he is too old to serve in the infantry, but he claims he could serve in a tank . "One cannot seriously help Bengal by merely talking in its favor," he says. "One should go there in person and fight for her." Malraux acknowledged, of course, that India had been created by nonviolence, but in the present case, that kind of tactics is not possible. "You are facing a Viet nam. Either you fight and you will have the whole world on your side, or you don't fight and the cause is lost." "While intellectuals are signing petitions in good faith, the Pakistanis are throwing tanks into the battle. Consequently, the only serious thing is the defense of Bengal. Do it intellectually if you like, but with the sup port of combat."

page 248 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 22nd Sep - 1971



-535_Astha.html



Only the children don't. They are so innocent. There's this little Asha who comes every morning. (She is the one who decided, I wasn't supposed to say no! She said, "I am coming.") She comes every morning. In the beginning she used to do a "pranam," but a serious one: she would remain there, rolling her head on my feet! But now she has found something else: she comes, doesn't say a word to anyone, looks at the people in the room, and when she sees everybody very busy, she slips under my table, catches hold of my hand, and then begins to play with it - kissing it, turning it, pulling it. Then when she has finished this side, she comes to the other side! And with such lovely joy and trust, so lovely, so trusting: "Oh, how a-mus-ing this is!" That's nice. Children are like that.
page 266 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 15th Nov. - 1966



-539_Bhasker's gingee drowning.html



(Soon afterwards, about a child from the School who drowned during a picnic organized by the School group of his age.)

I've got V.'s notebook. [[V. is a young disciple who puts questions to Mother in his "notebook." ]] He writes to me (rather bluntly, as they say in English), "When I learned that B. had drowned, it neither troubled nor affected me; I simply thought it wasn't true." And why? "Because you knew" (that's what he writes me), "you knew we had all gone out for a picnic, and therefore nothing could happen." (Mother laughs) I found this delightful - delightfully impertinent![[ The disciple's question was formulated thus: "When I heard in Gingy that B. had drowned in a pond, I was incapable of believing or being shocked by the news. The only question I asked in myself was, 'How could this have happened! Mother knew we were in Gingy, therefore Her protection was with each of us. So how could this have happened?'" ]]
But it's nice, too!
Yes, but the accident did happen. So I told him ... Because I looked, I immediately looked at it from THAT angle.... For my part, I see things very differently, never in that way. I am always surprised at the way people see things. To me, it's completely different, it's ... the Lord's Vibration crystallizing. That's all. And always, always - at all times. So there's no "why," no "how" - it's very simple, elementary in its simplicity. But I couldn't tell him that, he wouldn't have understood. So I looked at it from his standpoint, and all of a sudden I saw; I said, "Yes indeed, how did this come about?" (Mother laughs) So I answered him (I don't remember the words I used, but in substance): The protection acts on the entire group when it works in a coordinated and disciplined way, but if individuals in it have an action INDEPENDENT of the group, then they fall back into their own determinism, which means that the protection acts according to their personal faith, not at all as something collective: according to their personal state and faith, the action of the protection is greater or lesser. I saw it was clearly that. I saw how it had happened (because his question made me look at it, so I saw). There is an interesting point, it's that the mental initiative in swimming across that pond was P.'s and another's - so, humanly speaking, they are the ones who are "responsible" (but that's not true, it's not like that!). But anyway, they were outside the group, it was an action that had nothing to do with the group, and they did it because they were to rejoin the group at a precise time and they were late. So it was clearly an individual outgrowth. Walking round the pond would have taken three hours while there were hardly two hours left before nightfall, and they were in a jungle, without any light or anything. That was another impossibility. So with his reason and human common sense, he said, "The best is to swim across." But he hadn't foreseen (that was the reckless part) that the water would be icy.
(Sujata:) But P. had already swum across the water once, because he wasn't part of the group that had the accident: they called him from the camp, he came and swam through that water, and the accident took place on the way back. The others were on the other side.
He swam across twice, are you sure?
Yes, they called him; he had already swum across the water to come and meet them.
It was the second time.... Then it was still more reckless than I thought! He nearly met his end. Because as for me, I saw him, I knew before I got the news: I suddenly felt a great danger. But P. had faith and so he escaped, while the other one met his end. It was quite reckless because here, the body isn't accustomed to cold water, and when you are in water that's too cold, you get cramps. But P. was sufficiently protected to escape and be saved, while the other one met his end.
(Sujata:) It seems the three boys were calling you (there were four, you know), the three were calling you and the one who drowned was only calling P. to his aid. But the other three were strongly remembering you.
I know that very well! I always know it! I don't need to be told, I know it very well. And I knew that that boy hadn't called: he didn't feel it could help him. It's not even a mental question: one should FEEL here (gesture to the heart), be convinced that "it" [Mother's presence] is really active, that it's something real, that it really does protect. Not a thought "just like that," a metaphysical thought: a feeling. He didn't have that. If he had remained in the group, he would have shared in the protection over the group. Once he had a separate individual action, everything depended on his inner state - this is something they should all understand.
page 297-99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 17th Dec - 1966


Last year, you remember, there was a boy who drowned at Gingee: [[It was three years ago, in a pond, during an outing. See Agenda VII of 17 December 1966. ]] that was with P. [the group's captain]; and this little one, it was with B., R's sister [also a captain]. So I looked: outwardly, they are vitally very strong and very egocentric, which would be the external, material reason that allows the accident to take place-that is, no intuition of other's needs or state: no contact, they're like this (gesture closed in on oneself), but with an inner solidity on which, the psychic was leaning, for both of them [the two captains]. The other one too [the boy who drowned in the pond] wanted to go, but in his case it was very interesting: I saw Sri Aurobindo come and fetch him under water, and Sri Aurobindo said, "He will be born in the family" (he came back in a child), "he will come back in the first child to be born in the family." And this girl, I don't know yet what will happen, but her psychic being WANTED to go (for some reason or other). [[See in addendum Mother's comments to a disciple regarding this "accident." ]]
page 165 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 3rd May - 1969



-540_swamy Brahmanand.html



Now and then, for ... not even a few minutes (it's a few seconds), there is a clear perception of the true Identity, which is perfect Harmony, and then all disorders cease to exist - but ... materially they exist! Take a very simple instance: my teeth are all loose in my mouth - it s a FACT - and it's true that logically, such a condition should be very painful: it's not. And I see that it is so because of a Presence - that I understand very well. But it doesn't get cured, far from it! It's incurable. [[In a letter (see Cent. Ed., vol. 26, p. 352-353), Sri Aurobindo told the story of a yogi who could prolong his life at will (and lived for more than 200 years), but who kept the same toothache till the end, without ever being able to cure it. He was Swami Brahmananda, who, one day in the 1900s, told a disciple of his (Sardar Mazumdar), "As for the tooth, I have suffered from it since the days of Bhao Girdi," that is, since 1761. ]] This physical is truly ... a mystery.
page 289 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 26th Oct - 1968



-541_Bhao Girdi.html



Now and then, for ... not even a few minutes (it's a few seconds), there is a clear perception of the true Identity, which is perfect Harmony, and then all disorders cease to exist - but ... materially they exist! Take a very simple instance: my teeth are all loose in my mouth - it s a FACT - and it's true that logically, such a condition should be very painful: it's not. And I see that it is so because of a Presence - that I understand very well. But it doesn't get cured, far from it! It's incurable. [[In a letter (see Cent. Ed., vol. 26, p. 352-353), Sri Aurobindo told the story of a yogi who could prolong his life at will (and lived for more than 200 years), but who kept the same toothache till the end, without ever being able to cure it. He was Swami Brahmananda, who, one day in the 1900s, told a disciple of his (Sardar Mazumdar), "As for the tooth, I have suffered from it since the days of Bhao Girdi," that is, since 1761. ]] This physical is truly ... a mystery.
page 289 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 26th Oct - 1968



-542_Bharati-di.html


Have you seen Bharatidi? [[A long-time disciple (Suzanne Karpeles) and a member of the École Française l'Extrème Orient. ]]
No, you know how I am, I don't go out.
She saw your publishers in Paris and they told her they are impatiently awaiting (Mother is mocking) your book on Sri Aurobindo....
page 90 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 14th Feb 1961

(Later, about a disciple who is very talkative but full of ironic wit - Bharatidi.)

... She kept me almost an hour! She told me, "The next time, I won't chatter." So this time it was only half an hour! But she has a very pleasant way of saying things. And there is a strange phenomenon, which took place some two or three years ago, I don't remember now.... It was after the consciousness had entirely spread all over the world (all over the earth, in reality), but as if progressively, in the sense that it's more intense close at hand and less intense farther away. But then, with Bharatidi, it's not just a physical closeness: it's a sort of closeness of vibration in a certain domain; and in her, the closeness lay in a certain ... ironically benevolent observation. And while talking with someone, I don't know how many times I have caught myself having Bharatidi's voice and using her words! And in my ingenuousness, I told her, "Do you know, we have such an intimate relationship that at times - very often - when I speak I have your intonation and use your words." Ah, mon petit, since then ... But she isn't a bore! You can spend an hour with her without getting bored, which is remarkable.
page 300 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 20th Nov - 1965


(Regarding a visit paid by Satprem to Bharatidi, an old French

disciple, at the Vellore hospital where she is to be operated on.

Bharatidi, a member of France's Far East College, is well

known for her sparkling wit and

liveliness and her biting irony.)

So did you go and see Bharatidi?
Yes, Mother. She is fine, this Bharatidi, what force she has! And what sense of humor - she is really a queen.
Yes.
There's a great nobleness in that woman.
Oh, yes. Did you give her my note?
Yes, tears came to her eyes.
They're going to operate on her tomorrow.
Tomorrow morning.
But I wondered if it was really indispensable. They don't even know if it's cancer.
It's a tumor, which may be cancerous or a simple tumor.
Anyway, she is making arrangements, she has already distributed all her money.
They say that if they don't operate, it will go from bad to worse.
Yes. How old is she? [[Suzanne Karpelès, or Bharatidi, was born on March 17, 1890, in Paris. ]]
Over seventy, I think. They're preparing her with blood trans fusions. She's physically very weak, emaciated. But she has that energy....
She didn't know she had that?
No.... But it's heartening to see a human being with such dignity ...
Oh, yes.
... and recounting with humor the visit of missionaries and sisterstrying to convert her (because it's a Protestant hospital)....
Is it?
So there are bishops, nuns, and once they came into her roomto try and convert her. She tells the story with such humor: "I am not afraid of death, I know we are born more than once!" So the others have nothing left to say.
Yes, she sent me a message through M.: "I am not afraid of dying because I know we do not die." It's good.

(long silence)

There was a strange relationship between my mind and hers.... When I used to observe things and talk about them, I would have Bharatidi's voice and manner of speaking and seeing! I always wondered why, until I looked: there was a life when we were together, in a single body. That was very long ago. Strange. It was very interesting.... All of a sudden, I would speak with her voice: the sound, the words, everything was quite like her. [[See in Addendum a letter from Mother to Bharatidi, showing well enough the sort of relationship that existed between Mother and Bharatidi. ]] Yes, she has a lovely mind, really lovely. Before coming here, she was Buddhist [[Bharatidi was a specialist of Pali (used by the southern schools of Buddhism) and Sanskrit. ]] and Communist - fervently Communist.
page 303-04 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 6th Nov - 1968


ADDENDUM

(A letter from Mother to Bharatidi written about 1963, at a time

when Mother was not receiving any disciple, except sometimes

people about to marry. Bharatidi, then seventy-three, had

written to Mother to ask her if she should marry

to be entitled to see her....)

O Bharatidi, our dearest friend! Do not marry, that would be such a great pity for all - for you would have to leave the Ashram, at least during the honeymoon.... Let me tell you the truth. If I do not see you, it is because I cannot speak, and worse still, cannot hear, and how could I see you without hearing all the very interesting things you always have to tell me? My program is generally five minutes' meditation, sometimes even less - how can I ask you to climb two flights for that? If you do not mind, let us wait a little until the pressure (not the blood's!) has subsided. As for me, you know this, I have the great advantage of being with you without need of the physical presence, and your voice often resonates to my inner hearing - and I always answer in silence. I now add this long written discourse to send you my best wishes for the new year.

With all my tenderness

Signed: Mother


page 309 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 6th Nov - 1968


When I said goodbye to her, she had magnificent eyes. Shelooked at me ... luminous eyes, with such force, such beauty.
She knew she wouldn't see you again.
Oh, those magnificent eyes ... She knew she wouldn't see you again.
page 311 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 9th Nov - 1968




-545_Barin-da.html



A letter from Sri Aurobindo to his younger brother Barin.

April 7, 1920

Dear Barin, I have your letter, but have not succeeded in writing an answer till now. That I have even sat down to write now is a miracle; for me to write a letter is an event that takes place once in a blue moon - especially to write in Bengali, a thing I have not done for five or six years. If I can manage to finish this letter and put it in the post, the miracle will be complete! First, about your yoga. You wish to give me the charge of your yoga and I am willing to take it, but that means to give its charge to Him who is moving by His divine Shakti [Energy], whether secretly or openly, both you and me. But you must know that the necessary result of this will be that you will have to walk in the special path which He has given to me, the path which I call the path of the Integral Yoga. What I began with, what Lele[[Lele, a tantric guru Sri Aurobindo met in 1908, who gave him the realization of mental silence and Nirvana. ]] gave me, was a seeking for the path, a circling in many directions - a first touch, a taking up, a handling and scrutiny of this or that in all the old partial yogas, some sort of complete experience of one and then the pursuit of another.
Afterwards, when I came to Pondicherry, this unsteady condition came to an end. The Guru of the world who is within us then gave me complete directions for my path - its complete theory, the ten limbs of the body of this Yoga. These past ten years He has been making me develop it in experience, and this is not yet finished. It may take another two years, and as long as it is not finished I doubt if I shall be able to return to Bengal. Pondicherry is the appointed place for my yoga siddhi [realization], except indeed one part of it, and that is action. The centre of my work is Bengal, although I hope that its circumference will be all India and the whole earth. I shall write and tell you afterwards what this way of yoga is. Or if you come here I shall speak to you about it. In this matter the spoken word is better than the written. At present I can only say that its root-principle is to make a harmony and unity of complete knowledge, complete works and complete Bhakti [Devotion], to raise all this above the mind and give it its complete perfection on the supramental level of Vijnana [Gnosis]. This was the defect of the old yoga - the mind and the Spirit it knew, and it was satisfied with the experience of the Spirit in the mind. But the mind can grasp only the divided and partial; it cannot wholly seize the infinite and indivisible. The mind's means to reach the infinite are Sannyasa [Renunciation], Moksha [Liberation] and Nirvana, and it has no others. One man or another may indeed attain this featureless Moksha, but what is the gain? The Brahman, the Self, God are ever present. What God wants in man is to embody Himself here in the individual and in the community, to realize God in life. The old way of yoga failed to bring about the harmony or unity of Spirit and life: it instead dismissed the world as Maya [Illusion] or a transient Play. The result has been loss of life-power and the degeneration of India. As was said in the Gita, "These peoples would perish if I did not do works" - these peoples of India have truly gone down to ruin. A few sannyasins and bairagis [renunciants] to be saintly and perfect and liberated, a few bhaktas [lovers of God] to dance in a mad ecstasy of love and sweet emotion and Ananda [Bliss], and a whole race to become lifeless, void of intelligence, sunk in deep tamas [inertia] - is this the effect of true spirituality? No, we must first attain all the partial experiences possible on the mental level and flood the mind with spiritual delight and illumine it with spiritual light, but afterwards we must rise above. If we cannot rise above, to the supramental level, that is, it is hardly possible to know the world's final secret and the problem it raises remains unsolved. There, the ignorance which creates a duality of opposition between the Spirit and Matter, between truth of spirit and truth of life, disappears. There one need no longer call the world Maya. The world is the eternal Play of God, the eternal manifestation of the Self. Then it becomes possible to fully know and fully realize God - to do what is said in the Gita, "To know Me integrally." The physical body, the life, the mind and understanding, the supermind and the Ananda - these are the spirit's five levels. The higher man rises on this ascent the nearer he comes to the state of that highest perfection open to his spiritual evolution. Rising to the Supermind, it becomes easy to rise to the Ananda. One attains a firm foundation in the condition of the indivisible and infinite Ananda, not only in the timeless Parabrahman [Absolute] but in the body, in life, in the world. The integral being, the integral consciousness, the integral Ananda blossoms out and takes form in life. This is the central clue of my yoga, its fundamental principle.
This is no easy change to make. After these fifteen years I am only now rising into the lowest of the three levels of the Supermind and trying to draw up into it all the lower activities. But when this siddhi will be complete, then I am absolutely certain that through me God will give to others the siddhi of the Supermind with less effort. Then my real work will begin. I am not impatient for success in the work. What is to happen will happen in God's appointed time. I have no hasty or disorderly impulse to rush into the field of work in the strength of the little ego. Even if I did not succeed in my work I would not be shaken. This work is not mine but God's. I will listen to no other call; when God moves me then I will move. I know very well that Bengal is not really ready. The spiritual flood which has come is for the most part a new form of the old. It is not the real transformation. However this too was needed. Bengal has been awakening in itself the old yogas and exhausting their samskaras [old habitual tendencies], extracting their essence and with it fertilizing the soil. At first it was the time of Vedanta - Adwaita, Sannyasa, Shankara's Maya and the rest. It is now the turn of Vaishnava Dharma - Lila, love, the intoxication of emotional experience. All this is very old, unfitted for the new age and will not endure - for such excitement has no capacity to last. But the merit of the Vaishnava Bhava [emotional enthusiasm] is that it keeps a connexion between God and the world and gives a meaning to life; but since it is a partial bhava the whole connexion, the full meaning is not there. The tendency to create sects which you have noticed was inevitable. The nature of the mind is to take a part and call it the whole and exclude all other parts. The Siddha [illuminated being] who brings the bhava, although he leans on its partial aspect, yet keeps some knowledge of the integral whole, even though he may not be able to give it form. But his disciples do not get that knowledge precisely because it is not in a form. They are tying up their little bundles, let them. The bundles will open of themselves when God manifests himself fully. These things are the signs of incompleteness and immaturity. I am not disturbed by them. Let the force of spirituality play in the country in whatever way and in as many sects as may be. Afterwards we shall see. This is the infancy or the embryonic condition of the new age. It is a first hint, not even the beginning. ~ The peculiarity of this yoga is that until there is siddhi above the foundation does not become perfect. Those who have been following my course had kept many of the old samskaras; some of them have dropped away, but others still remain. There was the samskara of Sannyasa, even the wish to create an Aravinda Math [Sri Aurobindo monastery]. Now the intellect has recognized that Sannyasa is not what is wanted, but the stamp of the old idea has not yet been effaced from the prana [breath, life energy]. And so there was next this talk of remaining in the midst of the world, as a man of worldly activities and yet a man of renunciation. The necessity of renouncing desire has been understood, but the harmony of renunciation of desire with enjoyment of Ananda has not been rightly seized by the mind. And they took up my Yoga because it was very natural to the Bengali temperament, not so much from the side of Knowledge as from the side of Bhakti and Karma [Works]. A little knowledge has come in, but the greater part has escaped; the mist of sentimentalism has not been
dissipated, the groove of the sattwic bhava [religious fervor] has not been broken. There is still the ego. I am not in haste, I allow each to develop according to his nature. I do not want to fashion all in the same mould. That which is fundamental will indeed be one in all, but it will express itself in many forms. Everybody grows, forms from within. I do not want to build from outside. The basis is there, the rest will come. What I am aiming at is not a society like the present rooted in division. What I have in view is a Samgha [community] founded in the spirit and in the image of its oneness. It is with this idea that the name Deva Samgha has been given - the commune of those who want the divine life is the Deva Samgha. Such a Samgha will have to be established in one place at first and then spread all over the country. But if any shadow of egoism falls over this endeavor, then the Samgha will change into a sect. The idea may very naturally creep in that such and such a body is the one true Samgha of the future, the one and only centre, that all else must be its circumference, and that those outside its limits are not of the fold or even if they are, have gone astray, because they think differently. You may say, what need is there of a Samgha? Let me be free and live in every vessel; let all become one without form and let whatever must be happen in the midst of that vast formlessness. There is a truth there, but only one side of the truth. Our business is not with the formless Spirit alone; we have also to direct the movement of life. And there can be no effective movement of life without form. It is the Formless that has taken form and that assumption of name and form is not a caprice of Maya. Form is there because it is indispensable. We do not want to rule out any activity of the world as beyond our province. Politics, industry, society, poetry, literature, art will all remain, but we must give them a new soul and a new form. Why have I left politics? Because the politics of the country is not a genuine thing belonging to India. It is an importation from Europe and an imitation. At one time there was a need of it. We also have done politics of the European kind. If we had not done it, the country would not have risen and we too would not have gained experience and attained full development. There is still some need of it, not so much in Bengal as in the other provinces of India. But the time has come to stop the shadow from extending and to seize on the reality. We must get to the true soul of India and in its image fashion all works. People now talk of spiritualizing politics. Its result will be, if there be any permanent result, some kind of Indianized Bolshevism. Even to that kind of work I have no objection. Let each man do according to his inspiration. But that is not the real thing. If one pours the spiritual power into all these impure forms - the water of the Causal ocean into raw vessels - either the raw vessels will break and the water will be spilt and lost or the spiritual power will evaporate and only the impure form remain. In all fields it is the same. I can give the spiritual power but that power will be expended in making the image of an ape and setting it up in the temple of Shiva. If the ape is endowed with life and made powerful, he may play the part of the devotee Hanuman and do much work for Rama, [[Rama, the divine Avatar who killed the demon Ravana with the help of Hanuman and the other monkeys. ]] so long as that life and that power remain. But what we want in the Temple of India is not Hanuman, but the god, the avatar, Rama himself. We can mix with all, but in order to draw all into the true path' keeping intact the spirit and form of our ideal. If we do not do that we shall lose our direction and the real work will not be done. If we remain individually everywhere, something will be done indeed; but if we remain everywhere as parts of a Samgha, a hundred times more will be done. As yet that time has not come. If we try to give a form hastily, it may not be the exact thing we want. The Samgha will at first be in unconcentrated form. Those who have the ideal will be united but work in different places. Afterwards, they will form something like a spiritual commune and make a compact Samgha. They will then give all their work a shape according to the demand of the spirit and the need of the age - not a bound and rigid form, not an achalayatana [[A prison; a place where everything is regimented down to the last detail. ]], but a free form which will spread out like the sea, mould itself into many waves and surround a thing here, overflood a thing there and finally take all into itself. As we go on doing this there will be established a spiritual community. This is my present idea. As yet it has not been fully developed. All is in God's hands; whatever He makes us do, that we shall do. Now let me discuss some particular points of your letter. I do not want to say much in this letter about what you have written as regards your yoga. We shall have better occasion when we meet. To look upon the body as a corpse is a sign of Sannyasa, of the path of Nirvana. You cannot be of the world with this idea. You must have delight in all things - in the Spirit as well as in the body. The body has consciousness, it is God's form. When you see God in everything that is in the world, when you have this vision that all this is Brahman, Sarvamidam Brahma, that Vasudeva is all this - Vasudevah sarvamiti - then you have the universal delight. The flow of that delight precipitates and courses even through the body. When you are in such a state, full of the spiritual consciousness, you can lead a married life, a life in the world. In all your works you find the expression of God's delight. So far I have been transforming all the objects and perceptions of the mind and the senses into delight on the mental level. Now they are taking the form of the supramental delight. In this condition is the perfect vision and perception of Sachchidananda. You write about the Deva Samgha and say, "I am not a god, I am only a piece of much hammered and tempered iron." No one is a God but in each man there is a God and to make Him manifest is the aim of divine life. That we can all do. I recognize that there are great and small adharas [vessels]. I do not accept, however, your description of yourself as accurate. Still whatever the nature of the vessel, once the touch of God is upon it, once the spirit is awake, great and small and all that does not make much difference. There may be more difficulties, more time may be taken, there may be a difference in the manifestation, but even about that there is no certainty. The God within takes no account of these hindrances and deficiencies. He breaks his way out. Was the amount of my failings a small one? Were there less obstacles in my mind and heart and vital being and body? Did it not take time? Has God hammered me less? Day after day, minute after minute, I have been fashioned into I know not whether a god or what. But I have become or am becoming something. That is sufficient, since God wanted to build it. It is the same as regards everyone. Not our strength but the Shakti of God is the sadhaka [worker] of this yoga. Let me tell you in brief one or two things about what I have long seen. My idea is that the chief cause of the weakness of India is not subjection nor poverty, nor the lack of spirituality or dharma [ethics] but the decline of thought-power, the growth of ignorance in the motherland of Knowledge. Everywhere I see inability or unwillingness to think - thought-incapacity or thought-phobia. Whatever may have been in the middle ages, this state of things is now the sign of a terrible degeneration. The middle age was the night, the time of the victory of ignorance. The modern world is the age of the victory of Knowledge. Whoever thinks most, seeks most, labors most, can fathom and learn the truth of the world, and gets so much more Shakti. If you look at Europe, you will see two things: a vast sea of thought and the play of a huge and fast-moving and yet disciplined force. The whole Shakti of Europe is in that. And in the strength of that Shakti it has been swallowing up the world, like the tapaswins [ascetics] of our ancient times, by whose power even the gods of the world were terrified, held in suspense and subjection. People say Europe is running into the jaws of destruction. I do not think so. All these revolutions and upsettings are the preconditions of a new creation. Then look at India. Except for some solitary giants, everywhere there is your "simple man," that is, the average man who does not want to think and cannot think, who has not the least Shakti but only a temporary excitement. In India, you want the simple thought, the easy "word." In Europe they want the deep thought, the deep "word"; there even an ordinary laborer or artisan thinks, wants to know, is not satisfied with surface things but wants to go behind. But there is still this difference: there is a fatal limitation in the strength and thought of Europe. When it comes into the spiritual field, its thought-power can no longer move ahead. There Europe sees everything as riddle - nebulous metaphysics, yogic hallucination. They rub their eyes as in smoke and can see nothing clear. Still, some effort is being made in Europe to surmount even this limitation. We already have the spiritual sense - we owe it to our forefathers - and whoever has that sense has at his disposal such Knowledge and Shakti as with one breath might blow away all the huge power of Europe like a blade of grass. But to get that Shakti one must be a worshiper of Shakti. We are not worshipers of Shakti. We are worshipers of the easy way. But Shakti is not to be had by the easy way. Our forefathers dived into a sea of vast thought and gained a vast Knowledge and established a mighty civilization. As they went on in their way, fatigue and weariness came upon them. The force of thought diminished and with it also the strong current of Shakti. Our civilization has become an achalayatana [prison], our religion a bigotry of externals, our spirituality a faint glimmer of light or a momentary wave of religious intoxication. And so long as this sort of thing continues, any permanent resurgence of India is improbable In Bengal this weakness has gone to the extreme. The Bengali has a quick intelligence, emotional capacity and intuition. He is foremost in India in all these qualities. All of them are necessary but they do not suffice. If to these there were added depth of thought, calm strength, heroic courage and a capacity for and pleasure in prolonged labor, the Bengali might be a leader not only of India, but of mankind. But he does not want that, he wants to get things done easily, to get knowledge without thinking, the fruits without labor, siddhi by an easy sadhana [discipline]. His stock is the excitement of the emotional mind. But excess of emotion, empty of knowledge, is the very symptom of the malady. In the end it brings about fatigue and inertia. The country has been constantly and gradually going down. The life-power has ebbed away. What has the Bengali come to in his own country? He cannot get enough food to eat or clothes to wear, there is lamentation on all sides, his wealth, his trade and commerce, his lands, his very agriculture have begun to pass into the hands of others. We have abandoned the sadhana of Shakti and Shakti has abandoned us. We do the sadhana of Love, but where Knowledge and Shakti are not, there Love does not remain, there narrowness and littleness come, and in a little and narrow mind there is no place for Love. Where is Love in Bengal? There is more quarreling, jealousy, mutual dislike, misunderstanding and faction there than anywhere else even in India which is so much afflicted by division. In the noble heroic age of the Aryan people[[ In Vedic times. ]] there was not so much shouting and gesticulating, but the endeavor they undertook remained steadfast through many centuries. The Bengali's endeavor lasts only for a day or two. You say that what is needed is maddening enthusiasm, to fill the country with emotional excitement. In the time of the Swadeshi [fight for independence, boycott of English goods] we did all that in the field of politics, but what we did is all now in the dust. Will there be a more favorable result in the spiritual field? I do not say there has been no result. There has been. Any movement will produce some result, but for the most part in terms of an increase of possibility. This is not the right method, however, to steadily actualize the thing. Therefore I no longer wish to make emotional excitement or any intoxication of the mind the base. I wish to make a large and strong equanimity the foundation of the yoga. I want established on that equality a full, firm and undisturbed Shakti in the system and in all its movements. I want the wide display of the light of Knowledge in the ocean of Shakti. And I want in that luminous vastness the tranquil ecstasy of infinite Love, Delight and Oneness. I do not want hundreds of thousands of disciples. It will be enough if I can get a hundred complete men, purified of petty egoism, who will be the instruments of God. I have no faith in the customary trade of the guru. I do not wish to be a guru. If anybody wakes and manifests from within his slumbering godhead and gets the divine life - be it at my touch or at another's - this is what I want. It is such men that will raise the country. You must not think from all this lecture that I despair of the future of Bengal. I too hope, as they say, that this time a great light will manifest itself in Bengal. Still I have tried to show the other side of the shield, where the fault is, the error, the deficiency. If these remain, the light will not be a great light and it will not be permanent. The meaning of this extraordinarily long talk is that I too am packing my bag. But I believe that this bundle is like the net of St. Peter, only crammed with the catch of the Infinite. I am not going to open the bag now. If I do that before its time, all would escape. Neither am I going back to Bengal now, not because Bengal is not ready, but because I am not ready. If the unripe goes amidst the unripe what work can he do?[[. Translated from the original Bengali, Cent. Ed., IV.327. ]]
Your Sejda, [[Sejda: Elder brother. ]]
Sri Aurobindo

page 268-77, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 21th July 1962.





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It was to you that Baron [ Pondicherry's last French governor] said he wanted to be buried in my woolen blankets! (laughter) Yes, it seems he was cold. S. looks after him, and she wrote me that he would wake up shivering; she asked me, "Could you send him a blanket or two?" It seems there was in the meditation hall one of those big wooden trunks full of magnificent woolen blankets! So I sent him two. I only said, "Provided he doesn't carry them away with him ... because he's quite capable of taking them!" (laughter) Then he told F. he was, oh, so happy: "I'll ask to be buried in these blankets"! (laughter)


page 38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 10th Jan - 1970



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I will give you a concrete example, then you'll understand. When I.B. was killed, I had to gather up all his states of being and activities, which had been dispersed by the violence of the accident [[He was run over by a truck. ]] - it was terrible, he was in a dreadful state of dispersion. For two or two and a half days the doctors fought in the hope of reviving him, but it was impossible. During those two days I gathered up all his consciousness, all of it; I collected it over his body, to the point where, when it had come and formed itself there, such vitality, such life was coming back into his body that after some hours the doctors believed he would be saved. But it couldn't last (it wasn't possible - a part of the brain had come out). Well, when not only his soul but his mental being, his vital being, and all the rest had been properly collected and organized over his body and had realized that the body had become quite unusable, it was over - they gave up the body and it was over. I was keeping I.B. near me because I already had the idea of putting him immediately back into another body - his soul was not satisfied, it had not finished its experience (there was a whole combination of circumstances) and it wanted to continue to live on earth. Then, that night, his inner being went to find V., lamenting, saying he was dead and hadn't wanted to die, that he had lost his body and wanted to continue to live. V. was very perplexed. He let me know about it in the morning: 'Here's what has happened.' I sent word to him of what I was doing, that I was keeping I.B. in my atmosphere and that he should stay very calm and not get excited, for I was going to put him back into a body as soon as possible - I already had something in view. The same evening I.B. again went to find V., with the same complaint. V. told him very clearly, 'Here is what Mother says, here is what she is going to do; come now, be calm and don't torment yourself.' And he saw in I.B.'s face that he had understood (the inner being was taking on I.B.'s physical appearance, naturally); his face relaxed, he became content. He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put him into C'.s child. This correlation in the work is very interesting because it has quite practical effects - V. was able to communicate exactly what I had to say to I.B., and I.B. understood better through him than through me directly (because I do the work, but don't have time to deal with all the details, to tell each individual what to do).
page 235 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961


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The photo in the armchair ... it's a bit too late; he was already beginning to feel that ... the world wasn't ready to go to the end. There is already the expression of suffering on his face. But the other photo is good. That's how I knew Sri Aurobindo: he had just come out of the photo in profile, in which he is very thin. As for Cartier-Bresson's photos, they were taken in 1950.
It's a pity nothing was taken before.
Oh, he would never have let himself be photographed! But when I saw the photo [of Cartier-Bresson, taken in 1950], when I saw he had that expression ... Because, with me, he never had it; he never showed it. But I wasn't in the room when the photo was taken, and suddenly he ... (he was sitting there, of course), he slackened. When I saw the photo (because they came long after, we had to write and ask them to send them), I was dumbfounded.... He had that expression. I always saw him with a perfectly peaceful and smiling face, and above all, the dominant expression was compassion. That was what predominated in his appearance. An expression of compassion so ... so peaceful, so tranquil, oh, magnificent.
page 275 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 16th Oct - 1965



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(Two Americans have brought Mother photos of a former disciple who left for the United States:)

Do you remember C.? He has become a great guru there, with a group, and it seems he hypnotizes people.... And two Americans have come here (very nice people, one is a painter, the other is a sculptor); one was in C.'s clutches and it's the other who saved him by keeping him, almost brutally, materially far from C. for three days - the third day, he was free (which does seem to prove that he has a hypnotic influence) - and by telling him, "We're leaving for Pondicherry, you don't need an intermediary between the Mother and you." Because C. plays the great "intermediary" between Sri Aurobindo and the poor public.

(Mother looks at the photos)

Well, well, that's just it! Oh, just look at this....

(Then she reads the letter that accompanies the photos)

"... Z and I met with him a few times. Since I saw in him a devilish evil, we have broken contact. I leave this now in your hands."

Z lives in the forest with his friend S., in a house built with logs. I saw the photos some time ago. The forest is a marvel. But as for me, of course, I knew.... He asked for a visa as "preacher" (!) and it seems that in that case you are allowed to stay indefinitely; he no longer has to leave - that's very good, I am very glad he is there! Because when people are caught, it was their destiny and they needed to be caught. And you can even reach the Goal through a devil as well as through an angel - better, sometimes! (Mother laughs) But it was visible when he was here: a fantastic pride and ambition that were to end up like this. He has a nasty face, very nasty.
But still, the fact that he declares himself to be the Ashram's "envoy" is troublesome.
Ah, but I immediately wrote to Dr. Sanyal, who passed on my answer to all the people he knew. But this S. [an American], C.'s friend, is quite in a beatific adoration - that's very good, it had to happen to him.
The Americans have so little discernment. They rush headlong at anything.
Absolutely no discernment. He [C.] must have something, but I don't feel anything! (Mother makes a gesture as thin as cigarette paper.) It's something without force. But K., too, when she was in America, was quite under his thumb. And she said she had marvelous meditations with him! ... But I wrote to K., because he gave her advice on her life and on what she should and should not do; so she wrote to ask me, "How much am I to believe?" I answered, "Nothing! "... He had forbidden her to come to the Ashram; he had told her that it wasn't the place for her, that she was much too grown-up to come here! The Ashram is good for those who have nothing in them, who need to be kept well in hand, while someone with a capacity must live independently. That's how he catches them.
page 218-19 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 18th Aug - 1965




-555_Chhaya.html



And then, death ... Just yesterday (yesterday afternoon), I had an example. An accident took place, have you heard about it? [[A teenage girl drowned in the Ashram's swimming pool in the presence of her whole group. ]] They're really wondering how it happened. As for me, I INSTANTLY saw that there was in the girl a psychic will (which she wasn't conscious of: she only felt an unease), but there was a psychic will to die (why? I don't know, I haven't yet seen why). That was clear. And how everything was arranged to favor that, it's almost miraculous (you don't talk about it because people will say you're going mad if you call such a misfortune "miraculous"). But habitually, all those who go into the swimming pool have to put their name down when they go out (that's the rule). Yesterday, the man who kept the register had asked to go to Madras at 6, so he wasn't there and no one's name was noted down, and so they didn't know ... Things like that. She went to see the group's captain and told her, "I am tired, I don't feel well, I want to go"; the captain said, "Yes, yes, you can go." (Of course, it was foolish not to check that she had left; the captain was busy and just thought, "All right, she's leaving.") The girl was then at the shallow end of the pool - impossible to get drowned there, unless you do it quite deliberately (they found her at the other end). But the pool was full of people - nobody saw anything. You see, everything was arranged just to ... force her to die. [[Let us note that the girl's sister, who was very close to her, should have accompanied her to the swimming pool, but was away on that day And when the girl's body was taken to the hospital and put under an oxygen tent, after two minutes the oxygen was exhausted and there was none left in the whole hospital. ]] Every precaution is in place, and not one worked .... And as soon as they told me the news of the accident, as soon as I was told, I immediately looked, and I saw, in the place of her psychic, a peaceful will, like this (Mother stretches out her two arms in an immutable gesture). They were working hard: they worked for hours; first they took all the water out (they know how to do that), they drained the body of the water, then started working-tractions and all that to try to make her breathe again - they worked for hours (they were ready to work the whole night), they did all they could. And the psychic was like this (same gesture), that is, immutable, determined. But she didn't know [that she was going to die]: it came through her vital to reach her, and she felt quite ill at ease, she said, "Oh, I want to go out." So they told her, "Yes, that's right, you should go ...." And because she had said that, naturally no one was worried when they didn't see her (no one had put their names down, so they couldn't check); it's only when they found her clothes ... She had been under water for over an hour.


page 165 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 3rd May - 1969




-558_Chandulal Shah.html



There's a new phenomenon during the night. One phenomenon was there before, but has grown more precise: it's a place in the subtle physical where those with a body and those without a body are mingled without difference. They have the same reality, the same density and the same conscious, independent existence. There I see ... Last night (or the night before, I don't know), there were things like that: Chandulal [[Chandulal is the engineer who built Golconde. He left his body in November 1945 ... twenty-four years earlier. ]] was there, Amrita too, they met and talked, made plans together, just as they would have done physically on earth. It wasn't the first time they were meeting, and they said to each other, "I'll tell you tomorrow like that, regarding their ideal. Interesting things. There's another ... (Mother tries to remember) Ah, yes, Purani [[Purani left his body in December 1965. ]] also. They go about there. There's an extraordinary likeness to material life, except that you can feel they're freer in their movement. But that's not new, it's just growing more concrete and precise. What's new is what has taken place these last few nights ...


page 247 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th July - 1969


But didn't you see Mridu? [[Who was Sri Aurobindo's cook, and round as a barrel; she left her body seven years earlier, in September 1962. ]]
No.
She's there (huge gesture, laughing), just as she was! ... I saw Purani, I saw Mridu, and the other day (I told you) I saw Amrita and Chandulal talking together. That whole place looks like downstairs, but it's not downstairs. So it's the place all right.
page 255 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd July - 1969




-560_CR Das.html



They have found some letters -- some old letters -- from Sri Aurobindo to Barin and the lawyer[[C.R. Das, Sri Aurobindo's lawyer in the Alipore bomb case. There are three letters; one dated November 18, 1922, to C.R. Das, and the two others to Barin, Sri Aurobindo's younger brother, dated November 18, 1922 and December 1, 1922. The letters are included at the end of this conversation. ]] -- extraordinary! They are incredible. They give the measure of Sri Aurobindo as a man of action. Even in 1920, he intended to undertake an action. To organize centers all over India, the world, oh!... a plan!... And that was before the liberation of the country! He says that he has completely withdrawn to find his yoga, but once he had found it, he is going to start his action[[Even in 1928, when Tagore came to Pondicherry to visit Sri Aurobindo, he repeated his intention to go out of Pondicherry and launch an external action. But probably on the way, Sri Aurobindo realized ... just what Mother was discovering. ]].... page 270 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 20th Oct - 1971


(Letter from Sri Aurobindo to C.R. Das,
his lawyer in the Alipore bomb case.)

18 November 1922

Dear Chitta, It is a long time, almost two years I think, since I have written a letter to anyone. I have been so much retired and absorbed in my Sadhana that contact with the outside world has till lately been reduced to minimum. ... I have become confirmed in a perception which I had always, less clearly and dynamically then, but which has now become more and more evident to me, that the true basis of work and life is the spiritual, -- that is to say, a new consciousness to be developed only by Yoga. I see more and more manifestly that man can never get out of the futile circle the race is always treading until he has raised himself on to the new foundation. I believe also that it is the mission of India to make this great victory for the world. But what precisely was the nature of the dynamic power of this greater consciousness? What was the condition of its effective truth? How could it be brought down, mobilised, organised, turned upon life? How could our present instruments, intellect, mind, life, body be made true and perfect channels for this great transformation? This was the problem I have been trying to work out in my own experience and I have now a sure basis, a wide knowledge and some mastery of the secret. Not yet its fulness and complete imperative presence -- therefore I have still to remain in retirement. For I am determined not to work in the external field till I have the sure and complete possession of this new power of action, -- not to build except on a perfect foundation. But still I have gone far enough to be able to undertake one work on a larger scale than before -- the training of others to receive this Sadhana and prepare themselves as I have done, for without that my future work cannot even be begun. There are many who desire to come here and whom I can admit for the purpose, there are a greater number who can be trained at a distance; but I am unable to carry on unless I have sufficient funds to be able to maintain a centre here and one or two at least outside. I need therefore much larger resources than I at present command.
I have thought that by your recommendation and influence you may help Barin to gather them for me....

Yours,
Aurobindo

On Himself, XXVI.436


page 272-73 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 20th Oct - 1971





-561_C.S-free.html

-562_Catherine.html



I feel that it is the book that will give a new orientation there. That's why I am insisting. And Russia.... Russia, changed to the right side, it would be wonderful!... I don't know why.... Naturally I was Russian in a recent incarnation, when I was.... Is it Catherine?
Catherine, yes.
And that's very much alive in me. My impression is that if the whole Russian bloc were to turn to the right side, it would be a tremendous support.... And they are not satisfied; you know, they're in the state in which you're capable of doing something because you're not satisfied -- they are NOT satisfied. Their experience ... basically they don't want to admit it, but their experience has failed. page 61 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 3rd Mar - 1971




-564_Dilip Kumar.html



Didn't you ever see your body?
Never. [[This is in fact incorrect. Satprem remembers occasions when, while playing in his room as a child, he saw his body quietly asleep in bed - only to rush back into it. ]]
Well, it's safer that way than the other way! I've known several people, especially I., who worked with Dilip (she used to have visions, she danced also): when she went into meditation, it was all over; even when she tried to come back and move, she couldn't. Dilip had to come and pull her hands, disengage her fingers and move her body, till she began coming around. But you understand, that sort of thing won't do at all. Better be more on this side than on that side.
But it's an incapacity, all the same, isn't it?
It's a lack of connection! She doesn't have any control over her body, that's all. Something that has never, never happened to me.
page 114 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 20th April 1963




-565_Dimitri Manowilski.html


Dear Pavitra, The following passage, taken from the Revue des Deux Mondes of March 1960, was part of a course taught by Dimitri Manowilski in 1931 at the Lenin School of Political Warfare in Moscow: 'Our turn will come in twenty to thirty years. To win, we need an element of surprise. The bourgeoisie should be lulled to sleep. Therefore, we must first launch the most spectacular peace movement that has ever existed, replete with inspiring proposals and extraordinary concessions. The stupid and decadent capitalist countries will cooperate joyfully in their own destruction. They will jump at this new opportunity for friendship. As soon as their guard is down, we shall crush them beneath our closed fist.' (Quoted in the Revue Militaire d'Information, December 1959.) What does Mother think of this? Fraternally,
page 360 , Mother's Agenda - volume 1 , 14th April 1960



-566_D.html



When I went to get D this evening, she told me that she was in the grip of some difficulties, as if this mantra had provoked a backlash. X immediately did some little operation, and she left all smiling.

page 299 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 7th May - 1959


D. asked me if changing the time of her japa had much importance. I told her she can change the time if she has to, provided she remains sincere - that's the most important thing.

page 219 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd June , 1961





-567_Debou-da.html


(Then Satprem reads a passage relating to the "subtle physical " and exteriorization; among other things, he cites the experience of D., who, when he exteriorized for the first time, was unable to get back into his body because he tried to reenter through the legs! Here is the story: "I was lying on my chaise longue in concentration when all at once I found myself in my friend Z's house. He and several others were playing music. I could see everything very clearly, even more clearly than in the physical, and I moved around very quickly, unimpeded. I stayed there watching for a while, and even tried to attract their attention, but they were unaware of me. Then suddenly something pulled me, a sort of instinct: 'I must go back.' I felt pain in my throat. I remember that to get out of their room, which was all closed except for one small opening high up, my form seemed to vaporize (because I still had a form, though unlike our material one - more luminous, less opaque), and I went out like smoke through the open window. Then I found myself back in my room, next to my body, and I saw that my head was twisted and rigid against the cushion, and I was having trouble breathing. I wanted to get into my body: impossible. So I became afraid. I entered through the legs, and when I reached the knees I seemed to bounce back out; two, three times like that: the consciousness rose and then bounced back out like a spring. 'If I could only tip over this stool,' I thought (there was a small stool under my feet), 'the noise would wake me up!' But nothing doing. And I was breathing more and more heavily. I was terribly afraid. Suddenly I remembered Mother and cried out, 'Mother! Mother!' and found myself back in my body, awake, with a stiff neck.")

(Mother laughs and laughs.)

D. himself told me this story.

D., oh, what a dolt! He doesn't know where to reenter! But he never said a word about that to me - I would have told him! You must go out through here (the heart) - you can go out through the top of the head, but it's more difficult. You must leave through the heart and return the same way. It's quite natural; it's the first thing you learn when you want to exteriorize. The whole consciousness has to be concentrated here (the heart), and that's where you go out. And you must reenter the same way and maintain the link. It's interesting though, very interesting. No, he never told me that.... Trying to reenter through the feet! ... Some people try to do it through the head: that's a little difficult. It's a little difficult and you have to know how. But through the heart it's completely natural. Well, well! ... This story of yours is interesting. page 331 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 5th Sept 1962.



D. was telling me just now that he is advised to meditate with his eyes open (I know, it keeps you active somewhere), and he said that if by mischance he closes his eyes, he can't move any more! He is conscious but completely paralyzed: he can't get up, can't move, can't even turn his head! It's dangerous. So I advised him to be sure to keep his eyes open: it maintains a certain activity. When you close your eyes, you plunge into trance (you are perfectly conscious, but you go into trance and the body is absolutely stilled). That's what Théon had taught me: you free the body consciousness and train it in such a way that it can act on its own, so that while you are deep in trance, you can get up, write, speak, do anything - you are outside the body, there's just a link left. But it's a whole training. It's not too easy, but still it can be done. I did it to the point that even if the link is cut (I had the experience), the body can go on speaking. Very useful. I told D. that I will teach him later, because it's not good to be paralyzed like that: if someone came in abruptly, anything could happen. But it requires some work page 114 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 20th April 1963




-568_De Gaulle.html



Then, Y. asked me questions on de Gaulle (Mother gives another paper): "So long as one is for some and against others, one is necessarily far from the Truth. "All present politics is based on falsehood, and no nation can entirely escape this falsehood. "De Gaulle has an embryo of inner life, he knows that there is a force higher than the physical and mental forces - and that is why he is more receptive than many others. "But he has ideas, principles, preferences and so on, and as such, he can make gross errors as any other human being. "It is through this whole jumble and chaos that the Truth-Consciousness is at work everywhere, on all the points of the earth at once, in all nations, all individualities, without preferences or distinctions, wherever there is a spark of consciousness capable of receiving and manifesting It."

(July 29, 1967)


page 253 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 2nd Aug - 1967




-569_Dilip M.html



Rita:
"The actual fact of death evokes in me an experience in which one is thrust into space and soars up." Amusing! I found it very amusing. She is the only one, besides, the others are quite practical. [[This young girl, to whom death looked so graceful, was to die four years later. ]]
Dilip:
"A cessation of all physical activity caused by the absence of a source of energy (or soul)."
It's not clear.... The other two are quite practical (!)
Anand:
"When the brain stops functioning and the body starts decomposing, it's death."

(Mother laughs heartily)

The last one is quite matter-of-fact.
Abhijit:
"Blood circulation in the brain cells stops completely." That's death. As for me, I'll tell them this (Mother reads with difficulty): "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells making up the physical body. "Consciousness is, in its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it clothes itself in material forms that are durable to a greater or lesser degree. "The material substance is in process of transformation to become an increasingly perfect and durable multiform mode of expression for that consciousness." I am going to send it to them. But I appreciated their notes.... The interesting thing (for me) is that when I opened these four notes yesterday evening and read Abhijit's first, "When circulation stops ... ," then, I don't know, there certainly was a special grace over me, because I read those words and was instantly put in contact with the most objective, calm and detached scientific spirit - that was its way of seeing and describing the phenomenon: no emotion, no reaction, simply like that. And I saw (I understood and saw infinitely more than the boy put into it) a whole wisdom there, a scientific wisdom. And at the same time, the perception of the remedy in the evolutionary course of things. The most material remedy. It gave me a whole series of experiences in the night and the morning, certainly far exceeding the field covered by their four reflections.... With the little girl [Rita], there was the impression, the vision of all those to whom death is a gateway to a marvelous realization.

It all came so spontaneously and naturally that I felt as if it was THERE. Now that you've read it back to me (laughing), I realize it's not there! But it came so spontaneously: I sat there, reading those four notes, and it came one after another. Especially Abhijit's, this completely objective, or anyway completely detached vision of the phenomenon: "Circulation stops ..." As if you were looking at a small instrument or tool (Mother gestures as if fingering a small object), and you remarked, "Oh, it's stopped now ... that's why it no longer works." Like that. In other words, none of those uncertainties or anxieties or aspirations.... All that was emotions, sentiments, psychological phenomena - it was all completely absent.... A very simple little contraption (same fingering gesture) which you look at as you would a machine, and the machine stops "because it no longer goes like that." There. And as a result, this body was completely detached from all human anguish - from everything: not only from anguish, but from the habit, the whole human formation about death - it was all gone. As if I were all the way up above, like that, and looking all the way down - hup! it went away.
page 132-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968





-571_Dyuman - bhai.html



If he comes, he must come with money, because the situation here is critical. We spend three times more than what we have, so ... It's a sort of constant miracle. And the expenses keep increasing. This morning, D. [[D. looks after the dining room and provisions. ]] told me he cannot go on. That's how it is. And then, the government is raising taxes in a proportion of one to ten - ten times more. So everything is like that. And we are faced with ... a hole. So I can't take new people anymore, except those who can not only meet their own needs but also help the Ashram a little. Things are very, very, very difficult.

(long silence)

What we may call the "reign of money" is drawing to its close.
page 113 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 25th March - 1970




-574_David.html



No news? Tell me whatever you like.
David, the young Italian who made a documentary on Sri Aurobindo, now wants to film "The Gold Washer." But he wants to do it in the true spirit, with your help, showing how it inevitably leads to Sri Aurobindo and you.
Oh, very good! Very good.
page 299 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 21st Oct - 1972-1973



-577_E.html



Let me tell you about a recent occurrence. E. had sent a telegram saying that she had a perforated intestine (but it must have been something else because they operated on her only after several days, and when you are not operated on immediately in such cases, you die). Anyway, it was very serious and she was on the threshold of death - that much is certain. She wrote me a letter the day before the operation (what is interesting is that now she doesn't even remember what she wrote). It was a magnificent letter saying that she was conscious of the Divine Presence and of the Divine Plan. 'Tomorrow they will operate on me,' she said. 'And I am entirely aware that this operation has ALREADY been done, that it is a fact accomplished by the Divine Will; otherwise it could be a fatal ordeal.' And she said she was conscious of the supreme Will's action, in a perfect peace. It was a magnificent letter. And the whole thing went off almost miraculously; she recovered in such a miraculous way that the surgeon himself said, I must congratulate you, to which she replied, 'How surprising! You did the operation!' 'Yes,' he said, 'we did the operation, but it is your body that willed to be healed, and I congratulate you for your body's willpower.' Of course she wrote to me that she knew who had been there to see that all went well. And this feeling of the thing being already accomplished is a beginning of the consciousness Sri Aurobindo speaks of in the 'Yoga of Self-Perfection,' where one is simultaneously both here and there. Because, as Sri Aurobindo says, some people have managed to be entirely 'there,' but what he has called the 'realization' is to be both there and here simultaneously.

page 172 - Mother's Agenda - volume 2 , 18th April 1961


Do you know the story of the two simultaneous operations of E. and of T.? T. is that vice-admiral who came here and became quite enthusiastic - he had a kind of inner revelation here. The two of them were operated on for a similar complaint, a dangerous ulcer in the digestive system. He was in one town and she was in another, and they were operated on a day apart - both serious operations. And in each case, after a few days had gone by, the surgeon who did the operation said, 'I congratulate you.' Practically the same phrase in both cases. And they both protested: 'Why are you congratulating me?' (Each one wrote me about this separately; they were living far from one another and only met afterwards.) 'Why? You did the operation - you should be congratulated for my quick recovery.' And in both cases the doctor replied, 'No, no; we only operate, the body does the healing; you have healed yourself in a way which can qualify as miraculous, and I genuinely congratulate you.' And then the two of them had the same reaction - they wrote to me saying, 'We know where the miracle comes from.' And they had both called me. Moreover, E. had written me a remarkable letter a few days before her operation, where she quoted the Gita as if it were quite natural for her, and told me, 'I know that the operation is ALREADY done, that the Lord has already done it, and so I am calm.'

page 239 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961




-578_Eckart.html



What do you have?... You don't have anything?... Some people came to see you?
No, aside from one or two exceptions, I refuse to see anybody. Idon't know, but I've found that now it is better for me to remain quiet.
Because I was told about someone who came to see you.
The only person I've seen is E.
Oh, he's a nice man![[Quite a number of the tapes used to record these conversations were procured thanks to this very nice German man. We would also like to mention an American couple, M.R., who gave the majority of the tapes, and a few others, with gratitude. ]]
page 233 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Sep - 1971




-580_Emile Zola.html



These last few days I have had a very strong impression that ... I don't know if you remember (were you even born?) when Emile Zola said, "Truth is on the march." You weren't born. He told the court-martial a few home truths and it caused quite a row, and he was advised to leave France because he would have been put in jail. And once he reached England, he said, "It doesn't matter, Truth is on the march." It caused a resounding stir. And I still remember the impression - I was young, but still I was twenty.... There is more than twenty years' distance between us - how old are you? Forty?

page 194-95 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 24th July - 1965




-583_Ford.html



There was the story of Ford, who had sent word to Sri Aurobindo and me that he was coming here to ask us the question that tormented him: "What happens after death?" And he said he was ready to give his fortune to whoever could answer him. Someone had told him, "Yes, Sri Aurobindo can answer you." So Ford had sent word that he was preparing to come and ask us his question. And then he died!


page 254 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 3rd Nov - 1966




-584_Francis Xavier.html



There's something I SENSE there, without being able to express or understand it mentally. There must be some difference, even in the behavior of the cells, when you leave your body. It must be another phenomenon that takes place. During all that period of concentration and meditation on what happens in a body after death (I am speaking of the body's experience after what is now called "death"), well, several times the same kind of vision came to me.... I had been told (shown and told) of certain saints whose bodies did not decompose (there's one here, there was one in Goa - fantastic stories). Naturally, people always romanticize those things, but there remains the material fact of a saint who died in Goa, left his body in Goa, but whose body didn't decompose.[[ St. Francis Xavier. ]] I don't know the story in all its details, but the body was removed from India, taken away to China and remained buried there, in Hong-Kong, I believe (or somewhere in that region) for a time; then it was taken out, brought back here, buried again. For ten or twelve years it stayed buried in those two places: it didn't decompose. It dried out, became mummified (dried out, that is, dehydrated), but it remained preserved. Well, this fact was presented to me several times as ONE of the possibilities. Which means, to tell the truth, that everything is possible. page 272 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th Aug. 1963




-585_Francios B.html



(Mother listens to a few pieces of pop music brought to her by

François B., an enthusiastic visitor)

It's very amusing! (Mother laughs) It's the vital in full revolt against the mind, but it's magnificent! They reject the whole mind. It's interesting, very- interesting! You get the feeling that if they pushed a little farther on (gesture of piercing above), they would catch something.
(François B.:) Mother, a few groups have pushed much farther on. This one [the Rolling Stones] is the most vital of all the groups. But there are others, more open, less rough. They are really ready to recognize you, but they don't know.
It's clearly a complete rejection of all mental rules, and that's the first step needed to go beyond. There are two or three minutes when suddenly - hop! (gesture of piercing through) you feel it contacts something above. Is there something else?
(F.B.:) A lot more!
(Laughing) You can give me another piece or two!

("music")

(Mother laughs, greatly amused) It strikes me as a band of children freed from any mental yoke! Very amusing. It's all right.
(F.B.:) I'd like to have you hear something else, another kind. Butfrom the same generation. Something gentler.
All right ... But it's very amusing! There is behind this a mental form that looks like the I-couldn't- care-less of the perpetual Smile! It's strange .... I mean, that which smiles at the whole life and all its forms, but as if seen and felt by children.
These are more anxious!
(F.B.:) Another piece, if you like?
I think it'll do! (Mother laughs)
(F.B.:) There's a group which sings something rather humorous,and at the end they say, "0 Mother, tell me more, tell me more ... ... It's fantastic! Because the inspiration is so pure, and they really ask, "0 Mother, tell me more ... ...

(Mother laughs)

And these are "Commercial" things, I mean they're there in thepublic .... Do you think the time has come to contact them?

(Mother has not heard the question)

It's an open door. They must step through the door and go into the future (gesture of piercing above), towards ... what has not yet manifested.
(F.B.:) Can we help them?
It opens a lot of doors. All habits, the whole past civilization is as if walled in by mental rules; this music (gesture of breaking through) sends them flying! It strikes me as a band of children crying for something-and the open door. They must step through it, they must go farther - there are now possibilities that weren't there before, and this [the pop music people] is precisely all that wants to open up so as to receive those possibilities. So a few in the front must be the first to go through and receive what's on the other side. There. It's good.
page 132-33 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 16th April - 1969






-586_Francoise.html



(Mother hands a box to Satprem) F. and R. have come and she brought me some candied chestnuts from Paris....

Yesterday, for instance, I had to see F. and R., since they had just arrived the day before. I spent three-quarters of an hour with them, and by the time it was over they had literally EMPTIED the atmosphere of all spiritual sense - it had become empty and hollow. It took me two or three minutes of concentration (which isn't so long) to bring it all back to normal.

page 459 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 19th Dec. 1962




-587_Ganapatram.html



Do you have anything?... No questions, nothing to say?
There is a note from G., if you'd like me to read it.... He says:

"Mother,
"My health problem [serious heart attacks] has led me toreveal many hidden elements in the body, like Mother's love, grace, and Mother herself with me.... My body seems no more at the mercy of old beliefs. Thus, my confidence in the body is increasing more and more day by day, and I feel and see clearly that the body can throw away any kind of diffi culty in it by coming in the contact with Mother's love and grace. One day, I asked Mother from within not to allow more such attacks which bring me almost to a condition of collapse every now and then and, Mother, it never came afterwards since about ten days!..." [[ Original English. ]]

(Mother remains silent)

Yes, he told me he was very struck to discover practically that"laws" don't hold up, so-called laws disappear.

page 137 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 4th Apr 1970


(Satprem reads to Mother a letter from G.,

which ends with the following question.)

He asks a question?
Yes, at the end he says: "Mother, what sort of change may takeshape in life if one becomes just Thy Will but nothing else?"

(after a silence)

Supreme Peace, certitude, and even the functioning of the body can change.
page 274 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 23th Oct - 1971




-588_G-free.html

-589_General Choudary.html



Wait, I'll show you ... (Mother gets up and goes to get a photo of General Chaudhuri.) A little over a month ago (I don't remember, it was about one week before S.M. came[[S.M. (a confidant of the Government of India) came on July 16. It was therefore early July. ]]) ... I was looking for a man, I felt the need of a man in India, and then they proposed sending me the photo of the army chief. I said yes (he happens to be a cousin of K. here). The photo isn't good, but I see what I wanted to see; I saw it perhaps a month or a month and a half ago, and I have kept it under the accumulation of Forces, here (the photo is placed on a small table not far from Mother). He is the one who is now leading the armies. The photo isn't good, but the man is good! And long before there was anything active, he was with me. So I "charge" him with force.
page 244 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 15th Sept - 1965




-590_Gauri Pinto.html



Yet, by analogy (it's not an analogy, it's a correspondence), I can tell it has to do with what we call "this one" or "that one," this or that other person. Last night, for instance, I spent a long time with M. and G. who were frantically calling me (they left from here and have reached England), I spent a long time with them, but they were no longer "persons," the puppets we are, it wasn't that! Yet it was them. The contact was very accurate, very precise, the vibratory qualities were very clear. And there were forms: forms can be seen, but it no longer has the same quality. There's something hard, opaque and clumsy that disappears. It's the same thing in the transcription (pointing to the note). When it comes down, there is a will to write, and somewhere there, something might have said as I told you: "But it's a condensation of the consciousness." It wasn't explained, but it was clearly conscious: the time for that hasn't come. This consciousness is extremely, extremely conscious, not only of the thing, not only of the goal, not only of the means, but even of the conditions: all of it together. In this unfolding immensity, when That looks, It knows exactly that, at this moment, this is how things must be and how they must be done. It's free in an absolute way - spontaneously free. Spontaneously. All action is spontaneous. It's like a vision. A vision expressing itself.
page 137-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968


There have been two little things, very little things, but amusing.... A year or a year and a half ago (I don't remember), someone had sent me an album of photos of France, and Paris in particular, and I had looked at it; I looked at it, and as I looked, I saw a photo of the banks [of the Seine in Paris]. I saw it, looked at it attentively, in detail, saw the banks with all the bouquinistes [secondhand booksellers]. There was a bookseller in front, seated in the foreground, I saw him. Then I closed the album and put it aside. I wanted to mention it to someone and said, "Would you like to see what the bouquinistes in Paris look like? There's a photo ..." I turned page after page after page - not a single photo of a bookseller! I looked again and again ... not a single photo of a bookseller. [[See Agenda 5 of February 5, 1964. ]] It was enough of a problem for me to view the book several more times and even to try to find an explanation. And then ... M. and G. went to Paris and sent me a postcard of the banks with the bouquinistes - it was my photo! I received it yesterday. It wasn't in the album: I received it yesterday, exactly my phot


page 142-43 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 22nd May - 1968




-593_Hitler's asura.html



(Regarding an old "Playground Talk" of March 8, 1951, in which Mother spoke of the being that possessed and "guided" Hitler: "Hitler was in contact with a being whom he considered to be the Supreme: that being would come and give him advice and tell him all that he had to do. Hitler would withdraw into solitude and wait long enough to come into contact with his 'guide' and receive inspirations from him which he would afterwards carry out very faithfully. That being whom Hitler took for the Supreme was quite simply an Asura, the one called in occultism 'the Lord of Falsehood,' and he proclaimed himself to be 'the Lord of Nations.' He had a resplendent appearance and could pull the wool over anyone's eyes, except one who truly had occult knowledge and could thus see what was there, behind the appearance. He could have deluded anyone, he was so splendid. He generally appeared to Hitler wearing a breast-plate and a silver helmet (with a sort of flame coming out of his head), and there was around him an atmosphere of dazzling light, so dazzling that Hitler could hardly look at him. He would tell him all that he had to do - he would play with him as with a monkey or a mouse. He had set his mind on making Hitler do all possible kinds of folly ... until the day when he would come a cropper, which is what happened. But there are many cases like that one, on a smaller scale, naturally. Hitler was a very good medium, he had great mediumistic capacities, but he lacked intelligence and discernment. That being could tell him anything and he would swallow it all. That's what prodded him on little by little. And that being would do that as a pastime, he didn't take life seriously. For those beings, people are very small things with which they play as a cat plays with a mouse, until the day when they eat them up.") I knew that being very well (for other reasons ... the story would be too long to tell), and once, I knew he was going to visit Hitler - I went before he did: I took his appearance, it was very easy. Then I said to Hitler, "Go and attack Russia." I don't exactly remember the words or the details, but the fact was that I told him, "Go ... In order to have the supreme victory, go and attack Russia." That was the end of Hitler. He believed it and did it - two days later, we got the news of the attack. [[The lightning offensive of June 22, 1941. ]] And then, the next day, that is, when I came back from Hitler, I met that being and told him, "I've done your job!" Naturally enough, he was furious! But all the same, in that consciousness, there is with that being (the Lord of Falsehood, one of the first four Emanations), there is despite everything a very deep relationship, of course. He said to me, "I know, I know I will be defeated eventually, but before my end comes I will wreak as much destruction on earth as I can." Then, as I told you, the next day, the news of the attack came, and that was really the end of Hitler. As for Sri Aurobindo ... (you know that there is a place in Russia where they were defeated [[Stalingrad, on February 2, 1943. ]]), Sri Aurobindo had foreseen the defeat and had worked the night before, and that's how it happened - we knew ALL THE DETAILS. We never told this, of course, but it was perfectly precise. But I knew that being, I had already seen him in Japan - he called himself "the Lord of Nations." And he really was a form of the Asura of Falsehood, that is, of Truth which became Falsehood: the first Emanation of Truth, who became Falsehood. And he hasn't been destroyed yet.
page 18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 12th Jan - 1965






-594_Hohlenberg the painter.html


You speak of exteriorization - couldn't you show me a simple way of learning to do it?
You can't do it on your own, it's dangerous. Some people do it spontaneously, so of course you're not going to tell them it's dangerous. But it is dangerous, because if they do it just like that, without being watched over, and someone or something abruptly calls them back - some event, some circumstance or other - they can be cut off (gesture of the cord being cut). I would never let anyone without knowledge do it on his own. If it's spontaneous, it means it comes from previous existences, so they have the knack. But all the same it's a bit risky, someone should always be there to watch over your body. And as for teaching it to someone offhand - no. I did try once in France - with Hohlenberg, that painter who came here during the war [World War I] and then had to go back. [[He did a portrait in profile of Sri Aurobindo, looking towards the future. ]]
He came to France and asked me. He absolutely insisted. He had read all Théon's stuff and was well up on everything and very anxious to try. So I taught him how to do it; and what's more, I was there, he did it in my presence. And, mon petit, the moment he went out of his body, he was thrown into a panic! The man was no coward - he was very courageous - but it absolutely terrified him! Sheer panic.... So I said no, no, no.
page 58-59 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th Jan. - 1962



-595_Hu Shu.html



Hu.Shu.[[A Chinese disciple who translates Sri Aurobindo into Chinese. ]] has written to me, and there was a sentence in his letter that brought a certain problem to my attention. He said, "I have done so many hours of translation - it's a mechanical task." I wondered what he meant by "mechanical task" because, as far as I am concerned, you can't translate unless you have the experience - if you start translating word for word, it no longer means anything at all. Unless you have the experience of what you translate, you can't translate it. Then I suddenly realized that the Chinese can't translate the way we do! In Chinese, each character represents an idea rather than a separate word; the basis is ideas, not words and their meanings, so translation must be a completely different kind of work for them. So I started identifying with Hu.Shu., to understand how he is translating Sri Aurobindo's Synthesis of Yoga into Chinese characters - he's had to find new characters! It was very interesting. He must have invented characters. Chinese characters are made up of root-signs, and the meaning changes according to the positions of the root-signs. Each root-sign can be simplified, depending on where it's placed in combination with other root-signs - at the top of the character, at the bottom, or to one side or the other. And so, finding the right combination for new ideas must be a fascinating task! (I don't know how many root-signs can be put in one character, but some characters are quite large and must contain a lot of them; as a matter of fact, I have been shown characters expressing new scientific discoveries, and they were very big.) But how interesting it must be to work with new ideas that way! And Hu.Shu. calls it a "mechanical task." The man's a genius! And he has experiences, too. We've hardly ever spoken together, but I have seen some letters he wrote. To one person he said, "If you want the Taoist experience, all you have to do is come here and live at the Ashram - you will have the REALIZATION of Lao-Tse's philosophy." He's a sage!
page 392 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th Oct. 1962


(After a silence) There's a man ... First, there's our good S.H. [[A Chinese disciple. ]] here, but there's another man at Shantiniketan; I saw him, I know him, and he always said it was Sri Aurobindo's thought that could save China. But he came here because he wasn't a Communist and they filched all his goods - he gave them; when he was informed, he wrote [to the Chinese government] and told them, "I give them to you; you took them, but I give them to you." That was very good, very clever. So naturally, he is respected. But I don't think he can do much. But his own opinion is that it's only Sri Aurobindo's thought that can save China. China is extremely intellectual; if the Chinese intelligence were captured by Sri Aurobindo's thought, it would be ... That seems to be the sole, the only hope. But Formosa [Taiwan], which is nothing, is wholly with us. page 145 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969


(Mother gives "Transformation" flowers and slips one into her

buttonhole, then mentions again the translation of the

introduction of On the Way to Supermanhood.)

I also thought I would ask Shu-Hu to do it in Chinese. That would be good.
Shall I ask him for you?
Yes, tell him that I ask him to do it, if he wants to. If we could send it to China ... There's a Chinese in Santiniketan, but I am no longer in touch with him (he gave all his goods to Communist China, and he's staying there). He's a philosopher, a very intelligent man.... But anyway, for the translation it should be Shu-Hu.
page 344 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 10th Oct. - 1970




-596_Huta-bhen.html



I have finished my translation [of the Synthesis]. When you have finished your book and we have prepared the next Bulletin and we have a nice quiet moment, we'll go over it again. And then I've begun Savitri - ah! ... As you know, I prepare some illustrations with H., and for her illustrations she has chosen some passages from Savitri (the choice isn't hers, it's A.'s and P.'s and made intelligently), so she gives me these passages one by one, neatly typed (which is easier for my eyes). It's from the Book I, Canto IV.

page 37 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 30th jan 1963




-597_Indira Gandhi.html



And all night long (or a good part of it in any case), Indira Gandhi's thought was here, clinging to me (Indira Gandhi is Nehru's daughter), and the jewelry was sent to her. [[Mother sent a special messenger to Delhi with a symbolic gift of 925 grams of gold (some from her own jewelry), as a contribution to national defense. ]] It was handed over to Nehru, who passed it on to Indira.[[ Indira Gandhi will come to power four years later, in January 1966. ]] And she wrote me a letter I received yesterday - a very (Mother searches for the proper word) ... a very amicable letter; a letter from someone who has understood that this gift was an important element - not on a worldwide level (!), but because it was important that people know I have made a gesture of collaboration. But it didn't end there. The letter came yesterday; generally, of course, when I see a letter coming, I see it BEFORE receiving it; but here it was SHE, she herself, thinking [of Mother], thinking, thinking, thinking over and over again. (With Nehru, it's always very blurred: he doesn't have sufficient mental power for his position, he lacks the required strength of mind, so it's always hazy; when you tune in to him, that's the impression you get - blurred gesture - not solid.) But with her, it kept coming and coming and coming. They must be feeling ... or beginning to feel that something other than what they have is required.

page 427 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 20th November 1962


And that poor woman [Indira Gandhi] truly does the best she can with goodwill, a goodwill that tries to understand all sides at the same time.[[Indira Gandhi had been nominated prime minister of India two months earlier, on January 19. ]] She really does the best she can. Inwardly I support her as much as I can, because ...


page 65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 19th March - 1966


Sri Aurobindo once told me that one of the first results would be that governments would come under the supramental influence (not that WE would govern! But that governments would be influenced). And these last few days I have seen three ministers and five members of parliament! And I have received an offering from the prime minister [Indira Gandhi]. So it's going well! It's quite amusing.... Some come from Delhi just for a day, only to see me and go back. So one hopes - one hopes - that they will grow a bit wiser (!)


page 130 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd May - 1967


Then Mother takes up various notes: This is the message for the New Year [1970].
"The world is Preparing for a big change.
Will you help?"
And this ... the other day, I gave Indira four messages.
Was she receptive?
Yes. I didn't speak; she stayed here for fifteen minutes without saving a word. Then N.S. came in and she asked me a few questions. But these (Mother points to the notes) I had received before: one after another I received them.
"Let India work for the future and take the lead.Thus she will recover her true place in the world."
"Since long it was the habit to govern throughdivision and opposition.
"The time has come to govern through union,mutual understanding and collaboration."
"To choose a collaborator, the value of the man ismore important than the party to which he belongs."
It seems it was just what she needed to hear! But now it's always like that; when it comes in that way, I am sure that ... I gave it to her without saying anything; I put it in an envelope. And N.S. said, "It's just what she needed to hear."
"The greatness of a country does not depend on the victory of a party, but on the union of all the parties."

(Mother points to another note)


Page 363-64 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th Oct - 1969


I have received a letter from Indira.
Oh, really?

Revered Mother,

Through these critical months I have thought constantlyof you. I can find no words with which to express my gratitude for your support. Your blessings are a great source of strength. Our difficulties are not over....

(Mother nods her head)

... The American administration is most upset that itscalculations were so completely wrong, and they will use their power to try to humble us and specially to create division between Bangla Desh and ourselves. I think our nation has taken a step towards maturity. Yet there are many who look only to today. If India is to be great we must improve the quality of the minds of our people. I know that this is your desire. In my humble way I am trying to do what I can.

With respectful regards,
Yours sincerely,

Indira Gandhi

That's good, indeed. It's good. So I replied this:

To Indira

With blessings.
India must be proud of your leadership.
Let the country take its true place
in the world for showing the way
towards the supreme Truth.

with love

Mother

page 350 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 29th Dec - 1971


This is what I sent to Indira. You can read it to me, I don't even remember what I put.

"India shall take her true place in the world
only when she will become integrally
the messenger of the Divine Life." [[Original English. ]]
What was the occasion?
She wrote me a very nice letter to express her gratitude, and she asked if I had something to tell her, so that's what I replied. It seems she speaks in earnest about India's spiritual mission. She's worried about America. She wants to send people to America to try to create a harmonious atmosphere. We shall see.
page 162-63 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 26th Apr - 1972-1973




-599_Indra Vadan.html


I will give you a concrete example, then you'll understand. When I.B. was killed, I had to gather up all his states of being and activities, which had been dispersed by the violence of the accident [[He was run over by a truck. ]] - it was terrible, he was in a dreadful state of dispersion. For two or two and a half days the doctors fought in the hope of reviving him, but it was impossible. During those two days I gathered up all his consciousness, all of it; I collected it over his body, to the point where, when it had come and formed itself there, such vitality, such life was coming back into his body that after some hours the doctors believed he would be saved. But it couldn't last (it wasn't possible - a part of the brain had come out). Well, when not only his soul but his mental being, his vital being, and all the rest had been properly collected and organized over his body and had realized that the body had become quite unusable, it was over - they gave up the body and it was over. I was keeping I.B. near me because I already had the idea of putting him immediately back into another body - his soul was not satisfied, it had not finished its experience (there was a whole combination of circumstances) and it wanted to continue to live on earth. Then, that night, his inner being went to find V., lamenting, saying he was dead and hadn't wanted to die, that he had lost his body and wanted to continue to live. V. was very perplexed. He let me know about it in the morning: 'Here's what has happened.' I sent word to him of what I was doing, that I was keeping I.B. in my atmosphere and that he should stay very calm and not get excited, for I was going to put him back into a body as soon as possible - I already had something in view. The same evening I.B. again went to find V., with the same complaint. V. told him very clearly, 'Here is what Mother says, here is what she is going to do; come now, be calm and don't torment yourself.' And he saw in I.B.'s face that he had understood (the inner being was taking on I.B.'s physical appearance, naturally); his face relaxed, he became content. He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put him into C'.s child. This correlation in the work is very interesting because it has quite practical effects - V. was able to communicate exactly what I had to say to I.B., and I.B. understood better through him than through me directly (because I do the work, but don't have time to deal with all the details, to tell each individual what to do).
page 235 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961



-600_Ishit Patel.html



Yesterday I saw a seven-month-old baby ... who is a sage. He looks at you with his soul. When I looked at him, his eyes lit up. Doesn't cry, doesn't speak, but he made a sort of noise - he stretched out his arms to me and seemed to say, "Aaah!" Then I took him in my arms, and he laid his head there, on my heart - he didn't close his eyes, he became ecstatic. Extraordinary! I have never seen that before, it's the first time ever. Then Champaklal (who had brought the baby) didn't want him to go without having touched my feet (I thought it was going to cause a disaster): Champaklal put him on the floor, bent his head forward - as soon as the baby saw my feet, he caught them with his two hands, one hand on each foot! Seven months old! And not a noise: only that "Aaah!" He had never seen Champaklal before; Champaklal took him, he didn't say anything, didn't protest: he was upright, sitting upright on Champaklal's arm. His eyes! Eyes that look within already. When I looked into his eyes, there was an immediate response - a response I have rarely seen in people's eyes here. He didn't ask for anything, he was happy. And all of a sudden, that "Aaah!" I took him in my arms - he immediately put his head here, on my heart. Didn't move any more. I don't know who it is.
He is very small, very small, but not with a big head and a small body: well-proportioned. Very small, no bigger than this. Seven months old. But well-formed: lovely hands, lovely arms, lovely feet. Very well-formed. It's a new thing, I have never seen such a baby, never. He came to earth in America (that's already a sign), but his parents are Indians. Entirely conceived and formed, all nine months, in America. And born in America. He spent the first four or five months of his life in America. His mother, before marrying, told me, "I will have a child only when I want it and, I hope, in the way I want it." It was no accident. Ah, we'd better get to work!
page 161-62 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 3rd June 1963


It's about young I.
Oh! I.... - I. is Amenhotep. That was very amusing (I didn't tell his mother), but I saw him a year or two ago when he arrived from America with his parents. They came here to see me. I saw him, I wasn't thinking of anything, I was simply looking at him (meaning that I was taking him inside me). He wasn't quite like an ordinary child, he had rather princely manners. I noticed it, but nothing special apart from that. I saw him in the morning, then in the afternoon when I rested, I had a vision, that is to say, I relived a life in Egypt. It was ancient Egypt, I saw it from my costume, from the walls, from everything (I don't know if I have noted it there), anyway it wasn't modern. And I clearly was the Pharaoh's wife, or his sister (I don't remember now), and suddenly I said to myself, "This child is impossible! He keeps doing what he isn't supposed to do!" (Mother laughs) So I went out of my room, entered a great hall, and the little child was busy playing in a gutter! (Laughing) Which I found completely disgusting! So his tutor ran up to me immediately to tell me (I must have noted it): "Such is the will of Amenhotep." That is how I knew his name. What did I write? "I. in ancient Egypt. A temple or palace of ancient Egypt. Light- and fresh-colored paintings on the very high walls. Clear light. About the child, very bold, independent and playful, I hear the end of a sentence: 'Such is the will of ...tep.' The entire name is uttered very clearly, but when I got up (too abruptly), only the syllable 'tep' was retained by the memory of the waking consciousness. It was the tutor speaking to me about the child. I am the Pharaoh's wife or the high priestess of the temple, with full authority." That was my first memory on waking up. But he is Amenhotep. What's written there?
It's a note on Amenhotep: "Amenhotep III is the builder of Thebes and Luxor.... His palace, south of Thebes, was built with sun-dried bricks covered with painted stucco. His wife, Taia, seems to have come from a modest family, but was
showered with honours by him and their son. The son succeeded his father under the name of Amenhotep IV. He was a religious reformer who replaced the cult of Ammon with that of Aton (the Sun). He took the name of Akhenaton." [Encyclopedia Britannica]
That's the one. He's a tough little fellow, dear me! They have a hard time with him. I didn't tell his mother. When they are here, everything is fine. But as soon as they go to Bombay, where the husband's family is, he falls ill, he becomes absolutely unbearable, he is impossible - here, he is controlled. And strangely enough, they put in his bedroom friezes of simplified animals (I saw some photos, they look very much like Egyptian paintings), and he is very happy there, very calm. It's amusing. And I wasn't thinking of anything at all; I was looking at that child (who is obviously a conscious and very self-assured being), I looked at him and it amused me; then I put it out of my mind. And later on, I had that vision and I knew it was he - I saw him. "Such is the will of Amenhotep."
page 116-17 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 5th June - 1965





-601_Indra.html



Things are going very badly: a pack of enemies assailing me, friends deserting us - it's going very, very badly. Then yesterday evening, while I was walking for japa and all these 'good tidings' were arriving, I said to the Lord, 'Listen, Lord, you have Indra to help the good people - I beseech you, send him to me; he has some work to do!' (Mother laughs) Then my walk became so amusing! I was watching them come in as I walked - Indra and all the other gods - and they were hard at work. Delightful!

page 114 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961



-602_JF Kennedy.html



There's an American living in Madras, a rather important man, it seems, and an intimate friend of Kennedy, the new President. He has read and reread all of Sri Aurobindo's books and is extremely interested. He wrote to Kennedy that he would like him to come here so he can bring him to the Ashram. This man has posed a very interesting question, drawing an analogy.... Deep in a forest, a deer goes to quench its thirst; no one is aware of it, yet someone who has made a special study of deer hunting would know by the tracks that the deer had passed by - not only what particular type of deer, but its age, size, sex, etc. Similarly, there must be people with a spiritual knowledge analogous to that of hunters, who can detect, perceive, that a person is in touch with the Supermind, while ordinary people know nothing about it and wouldn't notice. So he asks, 'I would like to know by what signs such a person can be recognized?' It is a very intelligent question. I replied very briefly in English. I haven't brought my answer with me, but I can tell you right away that there are two signs - two certain, infallible signs. I know them through personal experience, for they are two things that can ONLY come with the supramental consciousness; without it, one cannot possess them - no yogic effort, no discipline, no tapasya can give them to you, while they come almost automatically with the supramental consciousness. The first sign is perfect equality as Sri Aurobindo has described it (you must know it, there's a whole chapter on equality, samata, in The Synthesis of Yoga) - exactly as he described it with such wonderful precision! But this equality (which is not 'equanimity') is a particular STATE where one relates to all things, outer and inner, and to each individual thing, in the same way. That is truly perfect equality: vibrations from things, from people, from contacts have no power to alter that state. In my reply I mentioned this first, though I didn't give him all these explanations. I put it in a few words as a kind of test of his intelligence, and in a somewhat cryptic form to see if he would understand. The second sign is a sense of ABSOLUTENESS in knowledge. As I have already told you, I had this with my experience [of January 24]. This state CANNOT be obtained through any region of the mind, even the most illumined and exalted. It's ... not a 'certainty,' it's (Mother lowers both hands like an irresistible block descending), a kind of absoluteness, without even any possibility of hesitation (there's no question of doubt), or anything like that. Without (how to say it ?).... All mental knowledge, even the highest, is a 'conclusive' knowledge, as it were: it comes as a conclusion of something else - an intuition, for instance (an intuition gives you a particular knowledge, and this knowledge is like the conclusion of the intuition). Even revelations are conclusions. They're all conclusions - the word 'conclusion' comes to me, but I don't know how to express it. This isn't the case, however, with the supramental experience - a kind of absolute. The feeling it gives is altogether unique - far beyond certainty, it is ... (Mother again makes the same irresistible gesture) it is a FACT, things are FACTS. It is very, very difficult to explain. But with that ... one naturally has a complete power - the two things always go together. (In my reply to this man I didn't speak of 'power' because the power is almost a consequence and I didn't want to speak of consequences.) But the fact remains: a kind of absoluteness in knowledge springing from identity - one is the thing one knows and experiences: one is it. One knows it because one is it. When these two signs are present (both are necessary, one is incomplete without the other), when a person possesses both, then you can be sure he has been in contact with the Supermind. So people who speak about receiving the Light ... well, (laughing) it's a lot of hot air! But when both signs are present, you can be sure of your perception. [[The following is the exact text of Mother's reply to this American gentleman: Two irrefutable signs prove that one is in relation with the Supermind: 1. A perfect and constant equality. 2. An absolute certainty in knowledge. To be perfect, the equality must be invariable and spontaneous, effortless, towards all circumstances, all happenings, all contacts, material or psychological, irrespective of their character and impact. The absolute and indisputable certainty of an infallible knowledge through identity. Mother then made the following commentary regarding the 'impact' of circumstances, happenings, etc.: 'There is no longer this kind of opposition between what is an agreeable impact and what is a disagreeable one. There are no more "agreeable" things and "disagreeable" things: they are simply vibrations one registers. Usually when people receive a shock they do this (gesture of recoil), then they reflect, concentrate, and finally restore peace. But equality does not mean that! That's not what it is. The state must be SPONTANEOUS, constant and invariable.' ]]

(silence)

It is quite evident that with these two things, you truly ... it's what Sri Aurobindo says: you step into another world, you leave this entire hemisphere behind and enter another one. That's the feeling. The day it's established, it will be good.
page 97-98 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 25th Feb 1961


Kennedy has been assassinated, that means the possibility of war. He was one of the instruments for the establishment of peace - it's a setback for the entire political history of the earth. But probably, it means basically that things weren't ready: some parts would have been overlooked. But I had been told this a few weeks ago, last month, while I was conducting a general survey. I heard someone who said ("someone" is a manner of speaking, I know who it is): Kennedy won't be able to do it. I thought the instrument was too small, I didn't think of this. page 389 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Nov. 1963


People want me to talk about Kennedy's death - I refused. There was a poor Negro here, very nice, who did all his studies in America, and who used to send me letters, sometimes as many as two a day. His country has just been liberated, it's one of those countries ... Nigeria, I think, and his ambition is to work so that his country will be one of the first ready for the transformation - a great ambition. And I received a cable from him the day Kennedy was shot, praying for my help. It's very touching. But it has triggered all kinds of things - in fact, that's in part why I had that long presence of Sri Aurobindo and that long work. As though it had served to trigger one of the movements of transformation of the earth. There are landmarks of that kind.... I had told you, you remember, how that great Asura (who in fact was the first born; it's for him that I had built a subtle body) had said he was going to China and that China's revolution (a long time ago!) would signal the beginning of the work of transformation of the earth.[[See Agenda III. January 15, 1962, p. 44. ]] Those things are like milestones on a road, and the Chinese revolution was like the first milestone, opening up the road. Well, Kennedy's assassination is one of those signs, one of the landmarks - I've been told this.

But this "trigger" you mention, Kennedy's death, will it precipitate things in the sense of a "shake-up"?
Yes. Its effect is like an electrical discharge that shakes up the tamas, shakes up inertia. page 394 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 27th Nov. 1963


It's the same thing, moreover, which brought about Kennedy's assassination. And I suppose that's why I had to intervene. Because Kennedy's assassination has upset many things from the point of view of the general work. And it was the same thing, because as soon as I had news of the assassination, I saw the same kind of vibration, the same black force - very, very black - and spontaneously, I said (it isn't "I" who said it), "Oh, that may mean war." In other words, a victory of that force over the one that tries to follow more harmonious paths. But I have been protesting and working since then, and what happened on the 9th is the outcome of it. But when you're right in it ... it isn't comfortable. page 412 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 11th Dec. 1963


... I saw S.G. this morning, the person who went to America, who knew Kennedy and even spoke to him about the possibility of openly joining with Russia so as to exert pressure on the world and prevent armed disputes (he said, "to settle all border and territorial disputes in a peaceful way," beginning, of course, with China and India). Kennedy had been enthusiastic. The Russian ambassador had been summoned at once, and he had telephoned Khrushchev: enthusiastic over the idea (but this Khrushchev seems to be rather a good man). They were supposed to sort it out during a meeting at the U.N. At this point, Kennedy makes off....[[Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. ]] But the idea has been taken up again through Khrushchev and he continues to be quite enthusiastic. [[Khrushchev will be dismissed nine months later, on October 15. ]] It seems (I don't know if it's quite true, because it's Z [a Russian disciple] who says so) ... but Z sent him my article "A Dream,"[[See Addendum. ]] on the possibility of creating a small "international center" (I don't like the word "international," but never mind), and Khrushchev answered, "This idea is excellent, the entire world should make it a reality." Well, I don't know whether it's correct, but anyway the gentleman seems to be well-disposed. And this S.G. is very intimate with the U.S. ambassador in Delhi.... In brief, S.G. has sent me the new proposal - the first one, I had approved it, I had even put my blessings on it, and he had gone to see Nehru: Nehru immediately called both ambassadors for
a conference. [[Nehru will die four months later, on May 27. ]] At the time, I worked a good deal and things were moving.... Now, it seems that the new president [Johnson] is, for the time being, continuing what the other did: he won't upset the apple cart.... We'll see. If it succeeds, it will give some concrete expression to the effort of transformation without violence. page 28-29 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 18th Jan 1964


(On Mother's table lies an issue of "The Illustrated Weekly" showing a large photo of President Kennedy with folded hands. This is the second anniversary of his death, November 22, 1963.)

Was he a religious man?
He was Catholic, I think.
Oh, Catholic! ... Ah, that's why he died.... You know he was truly in favor of freedom, and not only freedom but union. And he was receptive. You know how he worked for the Blacks there (moreover, that's the external cause of his death). But he was the one I counted on, not without reason, as he had shown signs of assent to a union with Russia to establish peace on earth. Talks had already started and they had seized the opportunity of China's aggression against India. Naturally, that wasn't quite to the extremists' liking, and in the atmosphere, the force which for centuries has acted behind the Catholic religion wasn't at all in favor of that plan; so things "worked out" well and they killed him. The other one in Russia who had responded, Khrushchev, didn't die because he left in time! But I didn't know, I thought Kennedy was Protestant.
page 299-300 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 20th Nov - 1965



-603_J.html


Sri Aurobindo has written somewhere that the movement of world transformation is double: first, the individual who does sadhana [[Sadhana: spiritual quest and discipline. ]] and establishes contact with higher things; but at the same time, the world is a base and it must rise up a little and prepare itself for the realization to be achieved (this is putting it simply). Some people live merely on the surface - they come alive only when they stir about restlessly. Whatever happens inside them (if anything does!) is immediately thrown out into movement. Such people always need an outer activity; take J. for example: he fastened onto Sri Aurobindo's phrase, 'World Union,' and came to tell me he wanted....
He has been like that since the beginning (gesture expressing agitation), and he had a go at a considerable number of things - but none ever succeeded! He has no method, no sense of order and he doesn't know how to organize work. So World Union is simply to let him have his way, like letting a horse gallop. I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people ... I don't know about what. And during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of 'human unity'). So Z returned with the idea of forming a 'World Union,' and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M. [[A politician, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and friend of Jawaharlal Nehru. ]] and even by the Prime Minister, [[Nehru. ]] who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. That's how things began. I treated it as something altogether secondary and unimportant - when people need to gallop, I let them gallop (but I hadn't met Z). Then J. and Z left together on a speaking-tour of Africa and there things began to go sour, because Z was working in one way and J. in another. Finally, they were at odds and came back here to tell me, 'World Union is off to a good start - with a quarrel!' (Mother laughs) Z was saying, 'Nothing can be done unless we base ourselves EXCLUSIVELY on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and they are behind us giving support.' And J. said, 'No, no! We are not sectarian! We accept all ideas, all theories, etc.' I replied, and as it happens, I said that Z was right, though with one corrective: he had been saying that people had to recognize us as their guru. 'No,' I said, 'it's absolutely useless - not only useless, I refuse. I don't want to be anybody's guru. People should simply be told that things are to be done on the basis of Sri Aurobindo's thought. [[This is the text of Mother's reply to J.: 'I have read Z's account and your own letter on this subject. in the faith of his devotion, he must have been quite offended. The truth in what he says is that any idea, WHATEVER its degree of truth, is ineffective if it does not also carry the power acquired through realization, by a real change of consciousness. And if the proponent of this idea does not himself have the realization, he must seek the backing of those who have the power. On the other hand, what you say is true: an idea ought to be accepted on the basis of its inherent truth and not because of the personality expounding it, however great this personality may be. These two truths or aspects of the question are equally true but also equally incomplete: they are not the whole truth. Both of them must be accepted and combined with many other aspects of the question if you want to even begin to approach the dynamic power of the realization. Don't you see how ridiculous this situation is? Three people of goodwill meet in the hope of teaching men the necessity for a "World Union" and they are not even able to keep a tolerant or tolerable union among themselves, because each sees a different angle of the procedure to be followed for implementing their plan.' ]] So they kept pulling in opposing directions. Eventually they tried to set something up (which still didn't hold together), and finally they wrote me a little more clearly. (There is one very nice man involved, Y. He isn't particularly intellectual but has a lot of common sense and a very faithful heart - a very good man.) Y asked me some direct questions, without beating around the bush, and I replied directly: 'World Union is an entirely superficial thing, without any depth, based on the fact that Sri Aurobindo said "the masses" must be helped to follow the progress of "the elite" - well, let them go ahead! If they enjoy it, let them go right ahead!' ... I didn't say it exactly like that (I was a bit more polite!), but that was the gist of it. Now it has all fallen flat. They are carrying on with their little activities, but it's absolutely unimportant. They publish a small journal, and V, who writes for them, is far from stupid. She is rather intelligent and I have some control over her, so I will try to stop her from writing nonsense.
page 108 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961



-604_JM-free.html

-605_Janina.html



I remember, the very day when Janina [[A woman disciple of Polish origin, who was a painter. ]] died (she died around 6 in the morning, I think), around 4 in the morning, something made me suddenly take interest in this question: What will the new form be like? What will it be? I was looking at man and at the animal, and then I saw that there would be a far greater difference between man and the new form than between man and the animal. I began to see certain things, and it so happened that Janina was there (in her thought, but a material enough and very concrete thought). It was very interesting (it lasted a long time, nearly two hours), because I saw all the timidity of human conceptions, while she had made contact with something: it wasn't an idea but a sort of contact [with a future reality]. And I had the sense of a more plastic Matter, more full of Light, much more directly responsive to the Will (the higher Will), and with such a plasticity that it could respond to the Will by taking on variable and changing forms. And I saw some of her own forms, forms that she conceived (rather like those beings who don't have a body as we do, but have hands and feet when they will it, a head when they will it, luminous clothes when they will it - things of that sort), I saw that, and I remember I was congratulating her; I told her, "Yours was a partial but partially very clear perception of one of the forms the new Manifestation will take." And she was very happy; I told her, "You see, you have fully worked for the future." And then, suddenly, I saw a sapphire blue light, pale, very luminous, with something like the shape of a flame (with a rather broad base), and there was a kind of flash - pfft! - and it was gone. She wasn't there anymore. I thought, "Well, that's odd!" An hour later (I saw that around 6 A.M.; all the rest had lasted about two hours), they told me she was dead. Which means she spent the last moments of her life with me, and then, from me, pfft! went off towards ... a life elsewhere.
It was very abrupt. She was so happy, you know, I told her, "How well you have worked for the future!" And all of a sudden, a sort of flash (a sapphire blue light, pale, very luminous, with the shape of a flame and a rather broad base), pfft! she was gone. And that was just the time when she died. It's one of the most interesting departures I have seen - fully conscious. And so happy to have participated! ... I myself didn't know why I was telling her, "Yes, you have truly participated in the work for the future, you have put the earth in contact with one of the forms of the new Manifestation."
page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 - 11th Aug 1964



-606_Julious Ceasar-free.html

-607_Jules Romain.html



All this came to me yesterday. I kept Z with me for more than half an hour, nearly 45 minutes. He told me some very interesting things. What he said was quite good and I encouraged him a great deal - some action on the right lines which will be quite useful, and then a book ... unfortunately mixed with an influence from that artificial world (but actually, even that can be used as a link to attract people). He must have spoken to you about this. He wants to write a kind of dialogue to introduce Sri Aurobindo's ideas - it's a good idea - like the conversations in Les Hommes de Bonne Volonté by Jules Romain. He wants to do it, and I told him it was an excellent idea. And not only one type - he should take all types of people who for the moment are closed to this vision of life, from the Catholic, the fervent believer, right to the utmost materialist, men of science, etc. It could be very interesting.

page 467 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 8th Nov. - 1960


You know the play by Jules Romains in which the doctor declares that a healthy man is a man who doesn't know he is sick? Well, that's the feeling it gives; the disorder is constant, and just because we live in another consciousness we don't see it, but if we observe we are sure to find it. You know, if I observe from that angle, there is absolutely nothing anywhere that is normal, that works harmoniously - nothing. Everything is like this (same zigzag gesture) and it's chaos, and it keeps on working simply because it isn't left to itself, because there is a higher Will that uses all that, making the best of a bad job. But it is a bad job.

page 167 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 19th July - 1965




-608_J.H.html




Did you have something to say?
(Satprem presents to Mother the manuscript of The Synthesis of Yoga before sending it to a new publisher in France:)

I pray that there may be no difficulties with J.H. and the formerpublisher ...
We'll see.
Did J.H. have a sort of free hand to do all he wanted?
He came here while Sri Aurobindo was here, and he asked [to publish Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's works], and Sri Aurobindo said, "Let him do as he pleases," like that! ... Everything was all the same to him.
I think we should try, because we must free ourselves from thishold. For the moment, anything published in France from Sr i Aurobindo and you is in their grip.
(Laughing) As far as I am concerned, it's all the same to me! We'll see, we're going to see.
I think that J.H. is pressuring us, but there's no such thing as this monopoly on an author!
It's blackmail. We'll see. (Laughing) We'll see!
page 81-82 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 3rd March - 1969




-609_Jyotin.html



Today is the birthday of Jyotin, the gardener. He brought me this, look! ... (Mother gives a double pink lotus) It's beautiful.


page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Jul - 1966



-611_Kamala-bhen.html



When I found myself at the first floor where everything was absolutely black, I wanted to go up again, but then I discovered that my hand was held by a young girl whom I could not see in the darkness but whose contact was very familiar. She pulled me by the hand telling me laughingly, 'No, come, come down with me, we shall kill the young princess.' I could not understand what she meant by this 'young princess' and, rather unwillingly, I followed her to see what it was. Arriving in the anteroom which is at the top of the staircase leading to the ground floor, my attention was drawn in the midst of all this total obscurity to the white figure of Kamala [[A disciple. ]] standing in the middle of the passage between the hall and Sri Aurobindo's room. She was as it were in full light while everything else was black. Then I saw on her face such an expression of intense anxiety that to comfort her I said, 'I am coming back.'

page 252 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, Dec.. - 1958



-612_K.html


K left his body. The operation had been extraordinarily, almost miraculously successful - one of those dreadful operations where they extract part of your body. He was quite all right for four days afterwards, then everything went wrong. During the operation and just afterwards, I had simply put the Force on him, as I always do in such cases, so that everything would turn out for the best. Then a few days ago, during my japa, a kind of order came - a very clear order - to concentrate on him so that he would be conscious of his soul and able to leave under the best conditions. And I saw that the concentration worked wonderfully: it seems that during his last days he was ceaselessly repeating Ma-Ma-Ma* - even while he was in a semi-coma. And the concentration grew stronger and stronger. The day before yesterday it became very, very powerful, and yesterday morning, around half past noon, it pulled me inward; he came to me in a kind of sleep, a conscious sleep, and I even said almost aloud, 'Oh, K!' It lasted fifteen minutes; I was completely within, inside, as if to receive him. But there is something interesting: when I went down at 2 p.m., I found the family had come to inform me that they had been notified by telephone that he had died at 11:45 a.m. Myself, I saw him come at 12:30. So you see, the outer signs ... It's not the first time I've noticed this - the doctors observe all the outer signs, then they declare you dead, but you're still in your body! In other words, he was still in his body. So it's probably during this period that people are 'resuscitated,' as they say. It must be during this period, for they have not left their bodies, they are not really dead, though the heart may give every appearance of having stopped. So K left his body at around half past noon, and officially it was at 11:45. Forty-five minutes later, in other words. And it takes place very gently, very gently (when it's done right), very gently, very gently, smoothly, without any shock. So this morning they're burning him.
page 375 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 28th May 1960




-613_Karan Singh.html



But mentally, you know ... (Mother makes a gesture: completely obtuse). There is a prince of Kashmir who came here once, a young man [[Yuvaraj Karan Singh. ]]; he went to England, and there he wrote a thesis on Sri Aurobindo's political life, Sri Aurobindo, Prophet of Indian Nationalism, with a preface by Jawaharlal Nehru. I read the preface, but afterwards, the day after I saw Nehru - it's awful! Understands nothing, he understands nothing, nothing, nothing, absolutely obtuse. It's very kind, but written by someone who understands nothing.... I will tell you the thing: between my first and second visits here, while I was away in Japan and Gandhi was starting his campaign, [[Gandhi arrived in India in January 1915 from Africa. He started his "noncooperation" campaign in 1920. ]] he sent a telegram, then a messenger, to Sri Aurobindo here, asking him to be president of the Congress - to which Sri Aurobindo answered "No." Those people never forgave him.
Yes, he never understood why Sri Aurobindo did not resume his political life.
No. And then, you see, he takes Gandhi's asceticism for spiritual life - always the same mistake! There's no way to pull them out of it. Unfortunately, the entire world has caught the same idea. Then when there was that Cripps proposal, [[See Agenda III, November 17, 1962, p. 420. ]] I believe it was Nehru (or Gandhi, I don't remember which of the two) who said, "He has withdrawn from political life, why is he meddling! It's none of his business." They never forgave him. That is to say, completely obtuse, unable to understand that one can have a knowledge higher than practical knowledge. There you are. page 173-74 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963


They've asked me for a message.... On the 19th, the prince of Kashmir, K.S., is holding in Delhi a big meeting of all the members of the parliament and the government to tell them that there is only one policy worth following, that of Sri Aurobindo. And he wants a message from me. Here it is: "O India, land of Light and spiritual knowl edge, wake up to your true mission in the world. Show the way to union and harmony." I deliberately didn't use the word peace; I said harmony. I don't want to say peace, because for them, peace means telling other nations platitudes so as not to fight (!). So I don't want to use that word.
page 256 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 12th Aug - 1967


Do you know K.S., the former prince of Kashmir? He has founded a sort of "committee for Sri Aurobindo's centenary." He's very active and they want to found ... an "institute" or something to "study Sri Aurobindo's works" and to "put them into practice" from a governmental and international point of view. He first thought of founding it in Delhi - I said, "Fine." But there was a big movement for it to take place here, in Auroville .... There are two things they want to do in Auroville: that institute, and in 1972, they want to launch an Indian satellite for "communications," and they've nearly decided that it will be launched from Auroville and will be called Sri Aurobindo .... And then, I already told you about a boat that will leave from America also in '72 - Sri Aurobindo's Boat. They're trying to do something ...


Page 479-80 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Dec - 1969




-614_King of Nepal.html



But this king[[King Mahendra and Queen Ratna. ]] is a remarkable man. He has a remarkable history, but it would be too long to tell.... I was in contact with him before (gesture of mental communication), and I had said, "I won't speak" - and I didn't speak. When he came he looked at me, then suddenly (he was standing), he remained standing in meditation, he closed his eyes and remained motionless. And then he asked me his questions mentally - I received them. And the answer came from up above, magnificent. An answer with a golden, superb force, and a power telling him that he had a great role to play and had to be strong and so on. A very, very intelligent man. And India's ambassador to Nepal (whom I had already seen once, he has a very remarkable wife, who was here too, she is very sweet) had me asked (because they're going to have a conference in Nepal about the Chinese claims), he asked me what solution I saw. I sent him my answer. It's really very interesting, the way I saw the thing. [[As far as Satprem remembers. Mother envisaged a confederation of all the small Himalayan states (and even the Asian states) to guard against China. India was to be the leader of this confederation. ]] And it seems, so they told me - "Oh, that's exactly what the Chinese want!" I said, "Very well, that's very good, but instead of it being with the Chinese, it will be with the Indians": a federation of all these states. All that is very good. It means there is really a Force on the march.
page 333 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 15th Dec - 1965




-615_Mr. kosingin-free.html

-616_US Ambassador - Keating-free.html

-617_KK Birla.html



(Then another note she had had read to K.K. Birla, one of India's foremost industrialists.)

"Truth is within men's reach,
but they care nothing about Truth."

page 214 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 11th Aug - 1971



-619_Kishore Gandhi.html



I am inundated by a horde of mental questions ... flat, superficial - everybody asks me questions in order to publish my answers! So I refuse. K.G. sent me five or six questions for his journal, each one more stupidly mental than the other, in connection with the supermind. I am asked to say whether it's "this way" or whether it's "that way" - the kind of questions you ask a good pupil to see if he has learned his lesson well!

page 103 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 27th March 1963




-621_L.Dfree.html

-622_Leonardo Da Vinci-free.html








-623_Lele.html



Another thing: we happened to talk of Sri Aurobindo and Lele.' Concerning Lele, X told me, 'He was a devotee of the Bhaskaraya School; this is why there is close connection ...' I do not know if this is so, but X seemed to know.

page 319 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 13th June



-624_Lalji-bhai.html


The most recent incident took place a few days ago, for there was a general excitement in the factory due to the expected visit of a government minister during the day. That afternoon, exactly at half past three, I felt that I had to make a little concentration. So I paid attention and saw poor L' praying to me. He was praying, praying, calling me - such a strong call that it pulled me. I was having my bath (you know what happens when I'm very strongly pulled - I'm stopped right in the very midst of a gesture, then the consciousness goes wandering off! And I can't do anything, it stops me dead. That's exactly what happened to me in the bathroom). When I saw what was happening, I straightened things out. Then they must have had their ceremony, for suddenly I felt, 'Ah, now it has calmed down, it's all right.' And I went on to something else. The next day, L came to see me. He told me that shortly before 3:30, the machine had stopped once again, but this time it was quickly set right; they found out right away what had to be done. And then he told me that at 3:45 he had started praying to me that all should go well. 'Oh, I know!' I said. Things can be done in this way. In truth, a lot can be done - it's man's ignorance that gets him in trouble. 1 The disciple who manages the sugar factory.
page 424 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 20th Sept. 1960 .



-626_Lal Bahadur Shashtri.html



There was this sudden death of Shastri. [[India's prime minister, during talks in Tashkent with Ayub Khan for the settlement of the Indo-Pakistani conflict. ]] To me it was obvious. Strangely enough, I was told (long ago) that they were to meet in Russia, and when I was told that, I spontaneously answered, "If he goes there, he will die." (I never knew why, but that's how it was.) Then it went out of my mind, and this time, I was told that the conference would take place, but I didn't hear or they didn't tell me (I don't know which of the two) that it would be in Russia, and so ... In between, someone met Shastri about my message [["India must fight until India and Pakistan have once more become ONE." ]] and he answered that for him it was the expression of the truth, but ... "What can I do about that? I am a small man."[[Italics indicate words or sentences spoken by Mother in English. ]] That's what he said. After that I kept quiet, and when I was told about the conference, I thought, "We should at least get the 'best' out of it" - I "charged" him to the full. But I "charged" him as if he were a
powerful man.... That's dangerous! [[Shastri died of a heart attack. ]] But I knew the time at which they were in conference, and all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, I was woken up with a start by someone calling for help - it was him. The next day, early morning, I was told he was dead. It didn't strike me as "news"! I said, "But of course! It goes without saying, that's how it is." And it seems (I heard all the details afterwards - long afterwards, in the course of the day), it seems the going was very tough and when the talks ended in what he considered to be a success (it was obviously the "best" (!) that could happen there), he was exultant and quite happy [[India agreed to withdraw from a few strategic posts it had occupied in Kashmir during the recent hostilities, and Pakistan proclaimed that it would not use force to settle its disagreement with India. ]]; then he went into his room and after a few minutes, opened the door and called for a doctor, and in no time it was over. That's probably when he called. But it was decided a very long time ago.
page 17-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 14th Jan - 1966




-627_Mridou-di.html




I have lived this in recent days. I have seen it. Last night or the night before, I spent at least two hours in a world - the subtle physical world - where the living mingle with the dead with no sense of difference, it makes absolutely no difference there. For instance, when Mridu [[ Sri Aurobindo's old cook, round as a barrel. ]] was in her body I used to see her at night maybe once a year (maybe not even that much). For years she was utterly nonexistent in my consciousness ... but since she left her body, I see her almost every night! There she is, just as she was, you know (rotund gesture), but no longer troubled, that's all. No longer troubled. And there were both living and ... what we call the "living" and the "dead" - they were both there together, eating together, moving around together, having fun together; and all in a lovely, tranquil light - pleasant, very pleasant. "There! " I thought, "and humans have drawn a sharp line, saying, 'Now he's dead!'" Dead! And what really takes the cake is the way they treat the body like an unconscious object, and it's still conscious!

page 374 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Oct. 1962


And the last two nights, the activities of the morning, those that take place in the subtle physical with Sri Aurobindo and all the people here, have suddenly become concerned with food! But in a very different form. It's always to give me indications about people, about things. The night before last, there was an amusing incident. You know that Mridu, the fat woman who used to cook for Sri Aurobindo, is in the subtle physical. When she died, Sri Aurobindo (I didn't even know she had died), Sri Aurobindo went to fetch her in her house, then brought her to me and put her at my feet here: that's how I knew she had died (I was told the next morning). But I didn't understand what had happened; I saw Sri Aurobindo go into Mridu's house, then come back (laughing) with a small bundle like this, and put it at my feet! I was flabbergasted, I saw it was Mridu, and I ran after Sri Aurobindo to ask him, "What on earth does this mean?!" Then everything vanished. The next day, I was told she was dead. And she lives like that, in the subtle physical, and I see her very, very often, very often (she is a little better than she was physically, but not much more intelligent!). But the other night, she brought me big prunes (they were this big), and I ate a few, and found them very good; then Pavitra came along, looked at those poor prunes and told me, "Oh, you shouldn't eat this, there's mold on it!" I remembered it because it amused me. And I looked, saying (laughing), "I don't see any mold, and anyway they are very good!" And last night, there was a man (whom I know very well, but I can't remember his name) who told me I absolutely must drink milk! (For years and years I haven't drunk a drop of milk.) And he showed me the milk saying, "You see, you should mix the milk in soup, in this, in that." I wondered, "That's odd, why all of a sudden...?" I never, ever used to have dreams of food! (They aren't dreams, by the way: I am not asleep, I am perfectly conscious.) It began two nights ago: first I ate prunes - big prunes like this - then last night, I was told to take milk! But it was so insistent that for a moment this morning I wondered if I should start drinking milk!
This is also new.
page 188-89 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 21st July - 1965


There are some people over there who lived on earth, but not many. That's where I met several times (very often during the first year after her death) the woman who used to cook for Sri Aurobindo. What was her name?
Mridu.
Mridu! She has also changed a lot, quite a lot, but ... (Mother smiles, amused) in a way she is still the same!
page 247 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 29th Oct - 1966


But didn't you see Mridu? [[Who was Sri Aurobindo's cook, and round as a barrel; she left her body seven years earlier, in September 1962. ]]
No.
She's there (huge gesture, laughing), just as she was! ... I saw Purani, I saw Mridu, and the other day (I told you) I saw Amrita and Chandulal talking together. That whole place looks like downstairs, but it's not downstairs. So it's the place all right.
page 255 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd July - 1969



-628_Mahatma Gandhi.html



Today we are finding that the old gods know how to transmigrate. Gandhi himself, seeing all those years of nonviolence culminate in the terrible violence that marked India's partition in 1947, ruefully observed shortly before his death: "The attitude of violence which we have secretly harboured now recoils on us, and makes us fly at each other's throats when the question of distribution of power arises.... Now that the burden of subjection is lifted, all the forces of evil have come to the surface." For neither nonviolence nor violence touch upon the root of Evil....

Page 351 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 22th Sept 1962


Have you read Sri Aurobindo's last letters on China? [[See Addendum. ]]
Oh, yes - he read them to me himself! (Mother laughs.) But everything Sri Aurobindo said has always come true. You know he also said (but it was in jest, he didn't write it) ... concerning reuniting with Pakistan he told me: "Ten years. It will take ten years." The ten years passed and nothing happened - OFFICIALLY nothing happened. But the truth is (I learned it through certain government officials), Pakistan did make some overtures in that direction, asking for a union to be reestablished (they would have kept some sort of autonomy, but the two countries would have UNITED, it would have been a UNION), and Nehru refused.
How foolish!
So Sri Aurobindo had seen it. He had seen it happen. After ten years, when that man who headed Pakistan died, [[This may refer to the death of Liaquat Ali, and the grave economic and political difficulties resulting in the dissolution of the Pakistani Parliament in October 1958, and General Ayub Khan's seizure of power. ]] they found themselves in grave difficulty and were unable to get organized; so they sent somebody (unofficially, of course) to ask India to reestablish union on certain bases - but they refused, the Indians refused. It was a repetition of the same stupidity as when Cripps came to make his proposal, when Sri Aurobindo sent a message saying, "Accept, whatever the conditions, otherwise it will be worse later on." That's what Sri Aurobindo told them. Gandhi was there and he retorted, "Why is that man meddling? He should be concerned only with spiritual life."[[In April 1942, when England was struggling against the Nazis and Japan, which was threatening to invade Burma and India, Churchill sent an emissary, Sir Stafford Cripps, to New Delhi with a very generous proposal which he hoped would rally India's goodwill and cooperation in the fight against the worldwide threat. In this proposal, Great Britain offered India Dominion status, as a first step towards an independent government. Sri Aurobindo at once came out of retirement to wire his adhesion to Cripps; he wired all of India's leaders, and even sent a personal messenger to Gandhi and the Indian Congress to convince them to accept this unhoped for proposal without delay. One of Sri Aurobindo's telegrams to Rajagopalachari (the future President of India) spoke of the grave danger, which no one seemed to see, of rejecting Cripps' proposal: "... Some immediate solution urgent face grave peril. Appeal to you to save India formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." No one understood: "Why is he meddling?" Had it accepted Dominion status, India would have avoided the partition of the country in two, the artificial creation of Pakistan, as well as the three wars that were to follow (and which we haven't heard the last of), and the blood bath that ravaged Bengal and the Punjab in 1947 at the time of the partition. (See in Addendum an extract from Sri Aurobindo's message on the occasion of India's Independence.) ]] page 420 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 17th Nov. 1962


But Nehru had a very good foreign press. They considered him almost a god in Europe and America. And Gandhi! ... Oh, they were.... The whole world is like that, mon petit - they don't understand. They don't understand. Nobody understands.

page 424 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th Nov. 1962


Yes, he never understood why Sri Aurobindo did not resume his political life.
No. And then, you see, he takes Gandhi's asceticism for spiritual life - always the same mistake! There's no way to pull them out of it. Unfortunately, the entire world has caught the same idea. Then when there was that Cripps proposal, [[See Agenda III, November 17, 1962, p. 420. ]] I believe it was Nehru (or Gandhi, I don't remember which of the two) who said, "He has withdrawn from political life, why is he meddling! It's none of his business." They never forgave him. That is to say, completely obtuse, unable to understand that one can have a knowledge higher than practical knowledge. There you are.
page 172-74 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963



-629_Michele.html



So their atmosphere is a problem. Unless one is in harmony with them, like this poor M., for instance. You know, when she went to the Vellore hospital, she felt as if she were entering a heaven. So, for her it will do a lot of good, it's harmonious (!)
But how can it be harmonious!
Mon petit, people who have vice are in harmony with vice; malicious people are in harmony with malice.
Yes, but she isn't like that.
She is a nurse - she is in harmony with doctors. And it has given her fresh heart. Because they have told her she had come in time - just in time - and that they would save her, so now she is full of trust. I got a letter, she has written in a letter, "I have taken fresh heart in life, I am at peace and certain that I will be cured, the fever has dropped, etc." Everything is relative in this world, there aren't two identical cases, there aren't two identical "diseases" - there isn't an absolute good and there isn't an absolute bad.
page 294 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 13th Nov - 1965





-630_Maggie.html



Now it has all fallen flat. They are carrying on with their little activities, but it's absolutely unimportant. They publish a small journal, and V, who writes for them, is far from stupid. She is rather intelligent and I have some control over her, so I will try to stop her from writing nonsense.

page 109 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961


I'm going to send this to V, asking her innocently, 'Has this appeared in your journal? Because it would be better if it didn't: we don't make propaganda.' Oh, I am hard on them, you know!

page 112 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961




-633_Maricar.html



But now they're beginning to think that perhaps that's not the way! (Mother laughs) And that perhaps they should try another way.... In a month I have already seen four ministers. One is from here, the Chief Minister; it seems I saw him when he was a child (I don't remember, but he remembers that I had caressed him), and when he came the other day he told me (I gave him a flower and a "blessings packet"), he said, "There, I will wear it on me, and with it I will do your work in the government." And quite resolute. A young man, about forty, I think, and rather strong. [[Farooq Marecar. ]]


page 258 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 12th Aug - 1967



-634_Mona-da.html



I wanted to show you something, then I forgot. Maybe you've seen it? It's something I am supposed to have said to M. years ago, many years ago, about Savitri; he noted it down in French, and quite recently (that is, perhaps three or four weeks ago), he showed me what he had noted.... And as it happens, he showed it not only to me but to others (!). They've translated it into English and now they want me to read it aloud so they can play it at the Playground. I wanted to revise the French with you, but they want it in English. The English isn't too good, but that doesn't matter.... They are all enthusiastic and happy - as for me, I don't like it, because the form of it is so personal.. Have you seen the French text? page 18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 6th Jan - 1968



-635_Mahesh yogi.html



Yesterday I was shown the photo of a man who is the guru of many people. [[Mahesh Yogi, whose disciples included the Beatles and a few Hollywood stars. ]] I do not know what he claims to be, but he is an Indian who went to Europe and America and has lots - thousands and thousands - of disciples, followers, believers. He says there is only one way to bring peace on earth, and that is total and complete freedom: intellectual and moral freedom, of course, but also vital and physical freedom. That is, freeing oneself from all subjections and all laws, living according to one's own impulsion. Then, he says, "something" (I forget what he calls it) will govern you and will make you do what must be done. It's not the individual who decides, it's "that." And if he is asked, "But how? How do you know 'that' is it? How do you find 'that'?", he simply answers, "Come and sit down beside me in meditation, and you will know." And he is convinced he can bring peace to earth with that. I saw his photo yesterday. Vitally, he is extraordinarily strong. I don't know if it's his own force or if it's what he receives from others, because you can find that out only through physical contact.
page 57 - 58 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 14th Feb - 1968



-636_Mazarin.html



I still remember what Théon used to say (Théon was quite against philanthropy), he said, "Philanthropy perpetuates human misery, because without human misery it would lose its raison d'être!" And you know, that great philanthropist ... what was his name? In the time of Mazarin, the one who founded the "Little Sisters of Charity"?
Vincent de Paul.
That's it. Mazarin once told him, "There have never been so many poor as since you started looking after them!"[[Someone had written to Mother, "I want my money to be used exclusively to conquer the causes of our sufferings and misery." Mother had replied, "That is what we are working towards here, but not in the artificial way of the philanthropists, who only deal with the outward effects. We want to eliminate forever the CAUSE of suffering, by divinizing matter through the integral transformation." ]] (Mother laughs)
page 104 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 10th Apr - 1968



-637_Mona Pinto.html



Yet, by analogy (it's not an analogy, it's a correspondence), I can tell it has to do with what we call "this one" or "that one," this or that other person. Last night, for instance, I spent a long time with M. and G. who were frantically calling me (they left from here and have reached England), I spent a long time with them, but they were no longer "persons," the puppets we are, it wasn't that! Yet it was them. The contact was very accurate, very precise, the vibratory qualities were very clear. And there were forms: forms can be seen, but it no longer has the same quality. There's something hard, opaque and clumsy that disappears. It's the same thing in the transcription (pointing to the note). When it comes down, there is a will to write, and somewhere there, something might have said as I told you: "But it's a condensation of the consciousness." It wasn't explained, but it was clearly conscious: the time for that hasn't come. This consciousness is extremely, extremely conscious, not only of the thing, not only of the goal, not only of the means, but even of the conditions: all of it together. In this unfolding immensity, when That looks, It knows exactly that, at this moment, this is how things must be and how they must be done. It's free in an absolute way - spontaneously free. Spontaneously. All action is spontaneous. It's like a vision. A vision expressing itself.
page 137-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968


There have been two little things, very little things, but amusing.... A year or a year and a half ago (I don't remember), someone had sent me an album of photos of France, and Paris in particular, and I had looked at it; I looked at it, and as I looked, I saw a photo of the banks [of the Seine in Paris]. I saw it, looked at it attentively, in detail, saw the banks with all the bouquinistes [secondhand booksellers]. There was a bookseller in front, seated in the foreground, I saw him. Then I closed the album and put it aside. I wanted to mention it to someone and said, "Would you like to see what the bouquinistes in Paris look like? There's a photo ..." I turned page after page after page - not a single photo of a bookseller! I looked again and again ... not a single photo of a bookseller. [[See Agenda 5 of February 5, 1964. ]] It was enough of a problem for me to view the book several more times and even to try to find an explanation. And then ... M. and G. went to Paris and sent me a postcard of the banks with the bouquinistes - it was my photo! I received it yesterday. It wasn't in the album: I received it yesterday, exactly my phot


page 142-43 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 22nd May - 1968




-644_M.html



(Mother first comments on the death of a disciple, M.)

How they treat those poor dead! ... Naturally, they rushed to cremate him; they asked me candidly (because his nephew was coming but not before the next morning, that is, a little less than twenty-four hours after Ml's death - nearly twenty hours), they asked me, "Should we keep him or not?" I answered, "It depends. If you ask me as far as HE is concerned, certainly the longer you keep him the better." Then I see eyes open wide, a mouth open wide - don't understand anything! I told them, "It takes QUITE A WHILE for the consciousness to come out slowly! Otherwise, when you burn him, it's pushed out violently, it gives a terrible shock." To tell the truth, people burn the dead in that way to destroy the vital, I am sure of it. The idea is not to have any ghosts. A little before his death he had asked me for a new name. He had nearly died twice, but he was saved (the doctors were sure he would die), he was saved by his faith; he had such faith, such an irresistible faith that twice it pulled him through: he was paralyzed, couldn't see any more, it was terrible. And twice all his faculties came back (his eyes weren't too good, but anyway he could talk and move around). The third time, he wanted to get completely cured, because he was a businessman and had made a resolve to earn ten lakhs [[One lakh: one hundred thousand. ]] of rupees for me (he had already given me four lakhs in the past, but he wanted to give me ten). So he absolutely wanted to live, but as he found himself not too well (he was quite deteriorated!), he called for one of those kaviraj (you know, those self-styled doctors), who finished him off: he couldn't eat or sleep any more. And the "doctor" went on telling him, "You're much better"! While the poor man was sitting up all night in a chair.... Finally, he was rushed to the hospital and died there. And the day of his death, about an hour later, I was informed that his son (he's not a child, he's a man) absolutely HAD to see me immediately. It was the time when I don't see people, but I said "all right" (I felt there was something to it), I said "all right" and went to receive him. It was 11:00 A.M. (I think he died at 9:30 A.M.). I go there (I don't remember if it was in the morning or early in the afternoon, anyhow it was very soon after his death), I sit down, the son is ushered in, and along with him comes a small boy, no taller than this (gesture), all golden, joyous, alive, happy! ... And he rushed to me. He stayed like that, leaning against me, quite still. And how he laughed! How happy he was! It was M., his psychic being. Ever so lovely! All luminous - luminous with a golden light - and so happy, so glad! Like a baby, no bigger than this (gesture). Waving his arms and legs about, so happy! He stayed there - stayed put. So naturally, I received him and did the needful. I've seen thousands of cases, you know, but it's the first time I've seen that! And he had a remarkable knowledge, because in order not to risk any hitch, he clung to his son and urged him to come to me so as to make sure of reaching me without mishap, without any interference from the adverse forces, from currents and all sorts of things. He clung to his son, who was quite unaware of it, except that something in him WANTED him to come to me. And the poor son was crying; I told him, "Don't worry, he is very happy"! (Mother laughs) And lovely! A lovely thing. The sight of it filled me with joy - so happy, so happy, he seemed to be saying, "At last I am with you! I won't budge now, no one can take me away." This small. But this one [M.] knew very little, he wasn't an intellectual, he was a man of action, very psychic - very much so! Lovely, oh, lovely! He was like a little child, naked, of course, a baby this big, with small arms, small legs - dancing about, he was glad, laughing and laughing, he was happy. And all luminous. I immediately told his son (he did a "pranam" and rose with his eyes full of tears), I told him, Don't weep, he is now where he wants to be and perfectly at rest. I didn't tell him the story - he wouldn't have understood a thing!

page 239 - 41 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 27th July 1963



-645_Madanlal-ji.html



(Another sign of the times. This conversation concerns one of

the Ashram presses which was, despite Mother's instructions,

about to sell fraudulently a cheaper edition of "Superman

hood" in Europe and Canada, while the rights to the book

were reserved. This cheaper edition was exclusively intended

for India. Satprem protests in particular against the jacket and

presentation of the book, which are patently designed to make

as much money as possible at a minimum cost.

Mother's face is swollen, her eyes too.)

I am disgusted. I can't trust anyone!
They're selling books the way you'd sell margarine or peanuts.
When someone lies like that, it's finished. I can't trust him anymore. You have to be very thick-skinned to lie to my face. I can order them to stop everything.
No, Mother. If it's for the presentation, people won't see thedifference.
That's true! Then I'll speak to M. [the manager of the press] about it, or would you rather speak to him yourself?
I can speak to him, but it would be good if you tell him also.
I'll tell him in any case.
page 81-82 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 3rd Apr - 1971




-646_Matteo.html


Did I tell you what happened to my brother? No?... My brother was a terribly serious boy, and frightfully studious - oh, it was awful! But he also had a very strong character, a strong will, and there was something interesting about him. When he was studying to enter the Polytechnique, I studied with him - it interested me. We were very intimate (there were only eighteen months between us). He was quite violent, but with an extraordinary strength of character. He almost killed me three times, [[On another occasion, Mother told Sujata more about these three times her brother almost killed her: 'One day we were playing croquet, and either because he got beaten or for some other reason, he flew into a rage and struck me hard with his Mallet; fortunately I escaped with only a slight scratch. Another time, we were sitting in a room and he threw a big chair towards me - I ducked just in time and the chair passed over my head. A third time, as we were descending from a carriage, he pushed me down under it; luckily the horse didn't move.' ]] but when my mother told him, 'Next time, you will kill her,' he resolved that it wouldn't happen again - and it never did. But what I wanted to tell you is that one day when he was eighteen, just before the Polytechnique exams, as he was crossing the Seine (I think it was the Pont des Arts), suddenly in the middle of the bridge ... he felt something descend into him with such force that he became immobilized, petrified; then, although he didn't exactly hear a voice, a very clear message came to him: 'If you want, you can become a god' - it was translated like that in his consciousness. He told me that it took hold of him entirely, immobilized him - a formidable and extremely luminous power: 'If you want, you can become a god.' Then, in the thick of the experience itself, he replied, 'No, I want to serve humanity.' And it was gone. Of course, he took great care to say nothing to my mother, but we were intimate enough for him to tell me about it. I told him, 'Well (laughing), what an idiot you are!' That's the story. At that moment he could have had a spiritual realization: he had the right stuff.
page 309 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 5th Aug. 1961.

She was down on her knees before my brother. My mother scorned all religious sentiments as weakness and superstition and she absolutely denied the invisible. 'It's all brain disease,' she would say! But she could say just as well, 'Oh, my Matteo is my God, he is my God.' The devil knows why, but in Alexandria she gave him the Italian name Matteo! And she truly treated him like a god. She left him only when he married, because then she really couldn't continue to follow him around any longer.

page 310 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 5th Aug. 1961.


Strangely, when he was ... sixteen, I think, or seventeen ... Did I tell you what happened to him?
Yes, a voice said to him ...

Yes, it said to him, "Do you want to be divine? ..." And he refused. [[See Agenda II of August 5, 1961. ]]
He refused!
Wonderful!
Out of fear or skepticism?
No: narrowness of consciousness. He didn't conceive of anything better than "helping others" - philanthropy That's why he became a governor. When he came out of Polytechnique, he had a choice between different posts, and he deliberately chose that post in the colonies, because he wanted to "help backward races to progress" - all that nonsense! Anyway, he did ONE good thing in his life, my brother. He was in the Ministry of Colonies, and the minister was a friend of his, a little older (I don't know what post my brother held, but anyhow, everything went through his hands). When the war broke out (I was here, it was the first of the World Wars), the British government asked the French to expel Sri Aurobindo and send him to Algeria - they didn't want Sri Aurobindo to be in Pondicherry, they were afraid. But we came to know of it (Sri Aurobindo came to know of it), and I wrote to my brother, saying, "This must not be passed." The expulsion order had gone to the Ministry of Colonies to be ratified, and he got the ratification paper in his hands - he put it at the bottom of his drawer. It disappeared completely, and we never heard of it again.
page 35 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 4th Jan 1969



-647_Mani-bhai.html



Did I tell you the miracle that took place? You haven't heard about it? ... In Auroville we're going to build a big factory to mill wheat, but something huge (it's to mill wheat for the whole of India!), huge. Machines are coming I don't know from where, huge too. And they chose to land them at Pondicherry because going from Pondicherry to Auroville is easier than from Madras to Auroville. Only, when the ship came and they saw the number and the size of crates, they got terribly scared - it wasn't possible. Here it's a woman, P., who owns the landing barges, and she refused. I had her told that I needed her help and she had to do it (because she had claimed she wanted to serve me, so I took advantage of it!). I told her, "I need your help, do it." She was obliged to do it. For two days, everything went well, but they had kept the biggest crate for the end - a six-ton crate, huge - and no one knew how to do it. They would have needed enormous cranes like the ones they have in Madras, but they don't have them here: they only had two puny cranes, which together didn't even WEIGH six tons! (Mother laughs) And those cranes were supposed to lift the crate from the ship and put it on the barge. There was no other way, only that way. So they tied the crate to the two cranes and started lifting ... and the two cranes went like this (gesture of tipping over). There were people below-people looking after the trans shipment - and everyone, including the ship's captain, everyone stood there, terrified. "That's it," they thought, "we're done for, it's catastrophe." The two cranes went like this (same gesture) ... and all of a sudden, they straightened up. No one ever knew how. They straightened up, carried the crate, and it was over. It was so obviously a miracle - the captain stood almost terrorstricken, everyone. And then, those crates were intended for someone here, Mani-bhai. (of "Aurofood"), to whom I had given a blessings packet the day before the landing, and he had it on him. So he went to see the captain and told him (showing the small packet), "See this, it's what straightened up the cranes." A very simple man. It was just stating a FACT, you understand: there was a crowd, so there was no arguing; the two cranes were like this, tilting, and everyone was expecting them to ... and they straightened up! (Mother laughs) The captain met L. and told him, "Couldn't I have one of those ... (Mother laughs) little packets!" So L. came to see me. I gave packets - four packets - for him and his men. It's the first time .... L. told me, "I have seen hundreds of miracles, but this one was so obvious, and of such considerable dimensions (Mother laughs) that no one could deny it!" It's interesting. I must say there really was a concentration of force, because we were faced with an impossibility (considered practically, it was an impossibility). So there was a concentration. It's amusing. And the accuracy of the transmission (that increases the power a lot), the accuracy I credit this Consciousness with. It's this Consciousness that made the power far more PRECISE in its action .... The superman consciousness. It's interesting. But we mustn't tell the story, that would instantly look like boasting, it's disgusting! It can go to the Agenda, but ...
page 88-89 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 12th Mar - 1969



-649_Mritunjay's sister.html



Not long ago M.'s sister died (psychologically, she was in a terrible state - she had no faith). Well, on that day, [[May 17, 1959. ]] just when I came to know that she was passing away, I remember being upstairs in the bathroom communicating with Sri Aurobindo, having a sort of conversation with him (it happens very often), and I asked him, 'What happens to such people when they die here at the Ashram?' 'Look,' he replied, and I saw her passing away; and on her forehead, I saw Sri Aurobindo's symbol in a SOLID golden light (not very luminous, but very concrete). There it was. And with the presence of this sign the psychological state no longer mattered - nothing touched her. And she departed tranquilly, tranquilly. Then Sri Aurobindo told me, 'All who have lived at the Ashram and who die there have automatically the same protection, whatever their inner state.' I can't say I was surprised, but I admired the mighty power by which the simple fact of having been here and died here was sufficient to help you to the utmost in that transition.
page 236-37 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961


-650_Manorajan-da.html


(Mother laughs) Yes! And I say: 'It doesn't matter if you don't say anything!' I knew you wouldn't! But it's going all right, it's all right. [319] Anyway, X has written to me (and to M. also), telling me he will be here on the 29th, but will have to leave on the 10th, so it won't be for very long - all because of various ceremonies.... [[Tantric ceremonies in the temple of Parvati. ]] He writes me that he's going to train someone to replace him for all these ceremonies so he can be freer to come here for longer periods. But to M. (the devil knows what M. wrote to him), he says something like, 'Yes, there is a very sorry situation in the Ashram and people's jealousy and envy are increasing more and more.' Yet nevertheless he feels so drawn by 'the Mother's' presence that he will come. I admit I didn't like this letter. But I don't hold him responsible because.... When people tell him things, he believes them. God knows what story M. told him!
page 320 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 25th Aug. , 1961


-651_Nata.html



There is a problem I'd like to put to you.
What problem?
A practical problem, not a yogic one! It's about Italy, N. and the publication of the book on Sri Aurobindo ["The Adventure of Consciousness"]. N. translated it and gave it to his friend S. to look after the publication in Italy. S. saw a publisher, who asked to read the book in French and found it interesting. And then, I don't know whether on the publisher's suggestion or S.'s, they are asking if it wouldn't be better to publish first a book by Sri Aurobindo like, for instance, "The Guide to Yoga."
That doesn't exist!
Yes, you know, fragments of letters were used to make "The Bases of Yoga" and so on, and they gathered it all under the title "The Guide to Yoga."
It's a compilation made by M. for beginners.
That's right.

It's not too good.
No.
It's not too good. (Laughing) It's like English without tears!
I find it rather limited.
That little book is all the way down (gesture at ground level). It's difficult to make a book that gives an idea of Sri Aurobindo. page 197-98 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 31st July - 1965



But I think N. is translating The Synthesis?
He told me he had asked you.
But that's agreed. I thought he had already started work. For serious people, it's The Synthesis and The Life Divine that should be chosen. page 199 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 31st July - 1965


So you can say this to N.: a biographical note in dictionary style to announce the publication of your book.


page 200 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 31st July - 1965



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A little later. Nirod is reading me his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo. Strangely enough, there are all sorts of things that I said much, much later, I had no idea he had written them! Exactly the same things. I found that very interesting. In the correspondence, he tells Nirod in one of his letters (he repeated it several times), "I may take a fancy to leave my body before the supramental realization ...." [[March 30, 1935. (Question:) Sri Aurobindo is bound to be wholly supramental and is being supramentalised in parts. If that is true-and it is-well, he can't die till he is supramental-and once he is so he is immortal. (Answer:) "It looks very much like a non-sequitur. The first part and the last are all right-but the link is fragile. How do you know I won't take a fancy to die in between as a joke?" (Question:) Some people say that yourself and the Mother would have been supramentalised long ago if only we had not kept you down. Is it really true? (Answer:) "I can't say there is no truth in it." (Cf. Bulletin, August 1975.) ]] He said that a few years before he died. He had sensed it.

(silence)

But he did speak of a transformation preceding the appearance of the first supramental being. That's what he had told me. He told me that his body wasn't capable of withstanding the transformation, that mine was more capable - he says it there too. But it's difficult. As I told you the other day. Especially, especially for food ... it's become a real labor.
page 42 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 19th Jan - 1972-1973



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I had already had the experience for the sense of smell - the divine vibration, the vibration of Ananda in odors. Just under my window, you know, Nripendra has his kitchen, where every morning and afternoon food is prepared for the children [[This refers to the Ashram dispensary, managed by Dr. Nripendra. ]] - it all comes wafting up on gusts of air. And when the Samadhi tree is in flower, the scent wafts up to me on gusts of air; when people burn incense down below, it comes wafting up here on gusts of air - each and every fragrance ('fragrance' - let's say odor). And generally it all comes while I am walking for my japa - an Ananda of odors, each one with its meaning, its expression, its ... (how to say it?) its motivation and its goal. Marvelous! And there are no longer any good or bad odors - that notion is gone completely. Each one has its meaning - its meaning and its raison d'être. I have been experiencing this for a long time.

page 210 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 19th may , 1961



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But there are all sorts of cases. Take N.D., for example, a man who lived his whole life with the idea of serving Sri Aurobindo - he died clasping my photo to his breast. This was a consecrated man, very conscious, with an unfailing dedication, and all the parts of his being well organized around the psychic. [[In Sri Aurobindo's and Mother's terminology, 'psychic' or 'psychic being' means the soul or the portion of the Supreme in man which evolves from life to life until it becomes a fully self-conscious being. The soul is a capacity or grace particular to human beings on earth. ]] The day he was going to leave his body little M. was meditating next to the Samadhi when suddenly she had a vision: she saw all the flowers of the tree next to the Samadhi (those yellow flowers I have called 'Service') gathering themselves together to form a big bouquet, and rising, rising straight up. And in her vision these flowers were linked with the image of N.D. She ran quickly to their house and - he was dead. I only knew about this vision later, but on my side, when he left, I saw his whole being gathered together, well united, thoroughly homogenous, in a great aspiration, and rising, rising without dispersing, without deviating, straight up to the frontier of what Sri Aurobindo has called 'the higher hemisphere,' there where Sri Aurobindo in his supramental action presides over earth. And he melted into that light. Some time before his heart attack he said to his children: the gown is old, it must be thrown away.
page 237 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961


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You know, someone who appreciates this work tremendously is Nolini. Once he timidly asked me, 'Could I have a copy'?' 'Fine,' I said. Oh, he really appreciates it. And when I have something amusing like these most recent notes, I give him a copy. With that, he's happy. So he blesses you! (Mother laughs) Oh! Without you, this would never have been done - you can be quite sure. Never.

page 412 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 Aug. 1960

(Concerning the last conversation where Mother spoke of the essential Sound, or the 'Word' of the Vedic Rishis.)

I promised Nolini I would show him this.
page 50 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 29th Jan. 1961

But otherwise.... Some of the things you note down I just put away. But some I show to Nolini (of them all, Nolini is the one who can best understand). I give him certain things to read, but otherwise, no. It is completely different between us, as I told you - completely different. If you benefit from it, so much the better! If it helps you in your inner development, good, I have no objection - on the contrary. It's quite natural, the natural consequence of our meetings.

page 51 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 29th Jan. 1961


I wanted to tell you first that Nolini had a very interesting experience. That was yesterday. He hadn't been well for the past day or two: he had spells of dizziness, could hardly walk, anyway rather miserable. Then, suddenly (he had to go to the bathroom and had to walk, but his steps weren't even steady), suddenly there came into him, "All this is because your physical consciousness doesn't have trust: it doesn't believe, doesn't have trust." Then, ALL AT ONCE, he felt something as if seizing him, and everything went away! He was perfectly fine, and it remained like that. He knew very well that in his physical consciousness there was doubt and all the old ideas - he swept it all aside and found himself perfectly fine. It happened in the morning; I saw him in the evening, and he was perfectly fine. That's interesting. There, that's all I wanted to say.
page 93-94 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th March - 1970




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When X does his puja, I clearly see the particular form of the Mother he is invoking - I see her descending.

page 213 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 25th Oct. - 1958


Last night, I thought, 'My god! If I have to ...' Individually, with this one or that one, by selecting the best, I could get somewhere, but this ... this mass.' Swami had told me so - he told me immediately after his first meditation (collective meditation at the Ashram playground), he told me, 'The stuff is not good!' (Mother laughs)

page 215 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 2nd Nov. - 1958


Later on, when Sri Aurobindo left his body, I said to myself, 'If only I knew what he had known, it would be easier!' So when Swami and later X came, I thought, 'I am going to take advantage of this opportunity.' I had written to Swami that I was working on transforming the cells of the body and that I had noticed the work was going faster with X's influence. So it was understood that X would help when he came - that's how things began, and this idea has remained with X. But I have raced on - I don't wait. I've raced on, I've gone like wildfire. And now the situation is reversed. What I wanted to find out, I found out. I experienced what I wanted to experience, but he is still ... He is very kind, actually, he wants really to help me. So, when I identified with him the other day during our meditation, I realized that he wanted to give silence, control and perfect peace to the physical mind. My own 'trick,' if you will, is to have as little relationship with the physical mind as possible, to go up above and stay there - this (Mother indicates her forehead), silent, motionless, turned upwards, while That (gesture above the head) sees, acts, knows, decides - all is done from there. Only there can you feel at ease.

Along the way, I once went down into this physical mind for awhile to try to set it right, to organize it a little (it was done rather quickly, I didn't stay there long). So when I went inside X, I saw ... It was rather curious, for it's the opposite of the method we follow. In his material consciousness (physical and vital), he has trained himself to be impersonal, open, limitless, in communication with all the universal forces. In the physical mind, silence, immobility. But in the speculative mind, the one there at the very top of the head ... what an organization, phew! ... All the tradition in its most superb organization, but such a ri-gi-dity! And it had a pretty quality of light, a silver blue - VERY pretty. Oh, it was very calm, wonderfully calm and quiet and still. But what a ceiling it had! - the outer form resembled rigid cubes. Everything inside was beautiful, but that ... There was a very large cube right at the top, I recall, bordered by a purple line, which is a line of power - all this was quite luminous. It looked like a pyramid; the smaller cubes formed a kind of base, the lower part of which faded into something cloudy, and then this passed imperceptibly downwards to a more material realm, or in other words, the physical mind. The cube on top was the largest and most luminous, and the least yielding - even inflexible, you could say. The others were somewhat less defined, and at the bottom it was very blurred. But up at the top! - that's where I wanted to go, right to the top.

page 417-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 sept. 1960

But this experience with X was really interesting. I learned many things that day, many things ... If you concentrate long enough on any one point, you discover the Infinite (and in his own experience he found the infinite), what could be called your own Infinite. But this is not what WE want, not this; what we want is the direct and integral contact between the manifested universe and the Infinite out of which this universe has emerged. So then it is no longer an individual or personal contact with the Infinite, it's a total contact. And Sri Aurobindo insists on this, he says that it's absolutely impossible to have the transformation (not the contact, but the supramental transformation) without becoming universalized - that is the first condition. You cannot become supramental before being universal. And to be universal means to accept everything, be everything, become everything - really to accept everything. And as for all those who are shut up in a system, even if it belongs to the highest regions of thought, it is not THAT. But to each his destiny, to each his work, to each his realization, and to want to change someone's destiny or someone's realization is very wrong. For it simply throws him off balance - that's all it does.
page 420 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 sept. 1960
Those people deny the reality of all physical needs. It's quite all right when you've come TO THE END, when you have totally mastered the body by means of the spiritual consciousness. But until then, I don't agree - I do not at all agree. It's the same as when X tells people, 'I am feeding you, so eat!' And he serves you ten times more than you can put in. If you tell him, 'My stomach can't digest it,' he answers that this is nonsense: 'Eat, and you will see!' And in fact, up above - that is, once you've mastered it - it's perfectly true. But we aren't there yet, far from it! He himself is sick all the time. Then he would answer,' Everyone is sick.' - But that's no reason.
page 438 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 19th Oct. 1960
Don't write all this down, erase it, because ... I'll speak of it later - once it's over, when I've reached the end. I don't want it to fall into anyone's hands by accident. And for you, keep it in your consciousness.

(silence)

I'm telling you all this because of what happened the other day. It's with such experiences that the ... the true Power is acquired. And then, at the same time, some rather interesting things are happening. Imagine, X is starting to understand certain things - that is, in his own way he is discovering the progress I am making; he's discovering it as a received teaching (through subtle channels). He wrote a letter to Amrita two or three days ago in which he translates in his own language, with his own words and his own way of speaking, exactly my most recent experiences - things that I have conquered in a general way. This interests me, for these things do not at all enter through the mind (he doesn't receive a thing there, he's closed there). So in his letter he says that this thing or that is necessary (he describes it in his own words), and he adds, 'This is why we must be so grateful to have among us the ... the great Mother* (as he puts it), the great Mother who knows these things.' - 'Good!' I said to myself. (It had to do with something specific concerning the capacity for discrimination in the outside world, the different qualities and different functions of different beings, all of which depends on one's inner construction, as it were.) So I see that even this, even these physical experiences, is received (and yet I hadn't tried, I had never tried to make him receive it); it merely works like this, you see (gesture of a widespread diffusion), and the experience is very - how should I say? - drastic, with a kind of ... (power of radiation). Imperative.
page 490 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 26th Nov. 1960

Now X is coming, and these days of meditation with trim.' What is going to happen? ... By the way, he no longer writes that he's coming to 'help the Ashram.' He wrote to Amrita that he's coming to have the opportunity (I can't exactly remember his words) ... anyway, to take advantage of his meditations with me so that he can make the necessary transformations! ... Quite a changed attitude. I had several visions concerning him which I'll tell you later.

page 493 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 13th Dec. 1960

Last night I had two consecutive experiences showing with extreme precision that black magic is at the root of all this (Mother is speaking of both general and personal difficulties, in the Ashram and in her body). First of all, on the mental plane (the physical-mind, the material mind) I saw an individual.... I am not entirely certain of his identity (when I saw him last night I didn't associate him with anyone in particular) but from his outer appearance he is evidently a sannyasi. He was pursuing me, blocking my way and trying to stop me from doing my work (it was a long, long affair). But I was very conscious and could foresee everything he was about to do, so it had no effect. After a long while I emerged from this - I had something else to do and I left - and on my way home he was everywhere, hiding and trying to catch me; but he didn't succeed in doing anything. And I knew he had been acting in this manner for a long time. Then I woke up (I always wake up three or four times during the night) and when I went back to bed I had an attack of what the doctor and I have taken to be filariasis - but a strange type of filariasis, for as soon as I master it in one spot it appears in another, and when I master it there it reappears somewhere else. Last night it was in the arms (it lasted quite a while, between 2:30 and 4 a.m.); but I was fully conscious, and each time the attack came, I went like this (gestures over the arms, to drive away the attack) and my arms were not affected at all. When it was over, I consciously entered the most material subtle physical, just beyond the body. I was sitting in 'my room' there (an immense, cubic room) reading or writing something, when I heard the door open and close, but I was busy and didn't pay attention, presuming it was one of the people usually around me. Then suddenly I had such an unpleasant sensation in my body that I raised my head and looked, and I saw someone there. Do you know how the magicians in Europe dress, in short satin breeches and a shirt? ... He was wearing something like that. He was Indian, tall and rather dark, with slicked-down hair - what you would normally call a 'handsome young man.' He seemed to have been 'drawn' [[Mother means drawn by a force not his own. ]] there because he was standing in front of me staring into space, not looking at me. [133] And the moment I saw him, there was the same sensation in all my cells as I have with what I've been calling filariasis (it's a special, minute kind of pain) and simultaneously all the cells felt disgust - a tremendous will of rejection. Then I sat up straight (I didn't stand up) and said to him as forcefully as possible, How do you dare to come in here! I said it so loudly that the noise woke me up! I don't know what happened then, but things went much better afterwards. The moment I saw this person I knew he was only an instrument, but a well-paid instrument - someone paid a great deal to have him do that! I would recognize him again among hundreds ... I can still see him ... I see him more clearly than with physical eyes. He is an unintelligent man with no personal animosity, merely a very well-paid instrument - someone is hiding behind him, using him as a screen. Before that experience, as part of the attack, I also got a sore throat. I didn't believe it would manifest, but around 9:30 this morning when I came downstairs for meditation with X, [[The tantric guru. ]] it did. It's nothing at all, though. The whole time I was with X (and even before, when I was waiting for him), it was halted completely - everything in that room came to a halt. It started up again only after he left and I came here. But it's nothing. X told me he has been doing something for me in his puja [[Puja: ceremony, invocation or evocation of a god (in this case, a tantric ritual). ]] - since December, it seems - so this morning I thought he should know about the experience and I sent Amrita to tell him. He replied to Amrita that this confirmed his certainty that Z has been making black magic against me since December. He had been told that Z was practicing black magic in Kashmir. Could this be the same person I saw before [during the December 1958 attack]? Since it was someone who concealed his identity, I can't say - but this form was robed as a sannyasi. Perhaps it's he, I don't know. I reserve my judgment because I don't know personally. But this is what X said, and he's going to redouble his efforts. That's the situation.
page 133-34 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 21st March 1961

(Later, concerning the disciple's very traditionalist guru who falls ill each time he comes to the Ashram:)

He seems to understand better. In his own way, he is 'progressive' - unfortunately, it always makes him sick! The Force is too great for his body to bear. He is used to maintaining a kind of poise, the poise of the traditional attitude of indifference towards everything material: 'It's an illusion, it has no importance, there's no need to be concerned with it. Nature is acting, not 1; Nature is acting and Nature is built like that, so why bother about it, why worry.' That's how he lived until he came here, and it's why he had this attitude of indifference. But here it began to change. And of course his body isn't used to it; it has difficulty keeping up, it lacks plasticity. The first thing he did was to go see the Doctor and ask him to heal his ear, heal his stomach, heal.... So the Doctor told him, 'But why do you eat just anything at any time of day? Naturally you're sick....' And then he was constantly running up against our ways of organizing material things here - people like him don't organize, they don't care, they just let things drift. Regarding his son, for instance, the Doctor told him, 'It's because you don't look after him. If you did, this wouldn't happen.' And X very bluntly replied, 'But why!?.. There's a gap.
page 158 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 8th April - 1961
So far, the meditations with X are much better than last time. Today especially it was very good. It's a contemplation going right up to the Supreme, with a constant, continuous Descent: something which doesn't waver the whole time ('doesn't waver' - I mean doesn't vary), during the whole meditation. But if I ask him what happened, he'll tell me a little story! Yesterday I saw N. and he told me, 'Oh! X had an experience during the meditation with you this morning.' 'Ah!' I said to myself, 'This is going to be interesting.' (I was wrong to think so, by the way, even for a quarter of a second.) 'Yes,' he told me, 'he saw what seemed to be a transparent golden veil descending over you; and by your side were flowers like roses, or colored like roses, with the feet of a child upon them.' All the 'psychics' tell you such stories!
page 227 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 17th June , 1961
X has written expressing his 'gratitude for all the revelations OF THE SUPREME' he has had during his meditations with me. This is something new he has accepted, because the Supreme doesn't usually appear in tantrism - they are in contact with the Shakti and don't bother about the Supreme. But here he has come to accept it. He has tried very hard to understand. But his spiritual conception has remained like this: one can - one MUST - master life, and in life, to some extent, a certain adaptation to the higher forces can be achieved; but there is no question of transformation: the physical world remains the physical world. It can be a little better organized, more harmonious, but there is no question of something else, of divinization - no question at all. And this is probably why there are things he can't make out in his contact with me, because he simply doesn't understand. For example, these physical disorders baffle him, they seem incompatible with my realization. As long as the question of transformation does not come into play, the realization I had was sufficient to establish a kind of very stable order - reaction against the transformative will is what causes these disorders. And this he does not understand - to him something seems not to be functioning properly. He must feel a contradiction between certain things he perceives in my consciousness and my contact with the material world. 'This being this,' he thinks, 'that ought to be like that; so why...?' He doesn't understand. [[X's astonishment raises an extremely important point, drawing the exact dividing line between all the traditional yogas and the new yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. To a tantric, for example, it seems unthinkable that Mother, with a consciousness so powerful as to scoff at the laws of nature and command the elements (if she wishes), could be subjected to absurd head colds or an eye hemorrhage or even more serious disorders. For him, it is enough to simply lift a finger and emit a vibration which instantly muzzles the disorder - yes, of course, but for Mother it is not a question of 'curing' a head cold by imposing a higher POWER on Matter, but of getting down to the cellular root and curing or transforming the source of the evil (which causes death as easily as head colds, for it is the same root of disorder). It is not a question of imposing oneself on Matter through a 'power,' but of transforming Matter. Such is the yoga of the cells. ]]
page 312 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 8th Aug. , 1961

Don't let this visit ruffle you. Essentially, his approach has always seemed peripheral to me, just one part of an immense whole. It represents ONE aspect of the quest for the Divine on earth,[[ X symbolizes the Tantric quest. ]] and it is part of an entire line, like all the sannyasins, all the saddhus, and so on. X happens to have come closer because he has worshipped the Goddess of Love so much, the Shakti's aspect of Love, and that naturally led him here, brought him close, but.... I see it as part of a whole world - among many other things. You know, there's that festival celebrated every ten years, I think, when all the saddhus go to bathe in the Ganges[[ The Kumbhamela: when hundreds of thousands of ascetics and pilgrims go to bathe in the Ganges. ]]; I've seen all the photos - it's painful. It's ... it's painful. It is no more beautiful or harmonious than a stampeding mob in a revolution. It's ... there is no special grace.

page 343 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 8th Sept 1962


I remember, the first time I gave X [a Tantric] a flower, my fingers touched his and he almost jumped; then, when he went out, he said to someone that there was a kind of vibration or ... (I forget his words) a current, I don't know, which went through his whole body, like an electric current. He simply touched my fingers when I gave him the flower. I think all this is the same thing, only it's their material notation of the Fact. That's all. To their intelligence it becomes much more real and concrete, but it's the same thing. The Lord in electric vibrations! (Mother laughs)
page 148 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 17th May - 1967



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As you know, N.S. has left his body. It was the result of an accident (he had a weak heart, and he worried about it). He took a fall, probably because he fainted, and fractured his skull: "loss of consciousness" due to cerebral hemorrhage (that's modern science speaking!). When the accident occurred, he came to me (not in a precise form, but in a state of consciousness I immediately recognized), and stayed here motionless, in complete trust and blissful peace - motionless in every state of being, absolutely ... (gesture of surrender) total, total trust: what will be, will be; what is, is. No questions, not even a need to know. A cosy peace ... a great ease. They tried, fought, operated: no movement, nothing moved. Then one day they declared him dead (by the way, according to doctors, when the body dies the heart beats on faintly for a few seconds; then it stops and it's all over). In his case, those faint beats (not strong enough to pump blood) continued for half an hour - the kind of heartbeats typical of the trance state. (They all seem to be crassly ignorant! But anyway, it doesn't matter.) And they all said, even the doctors, "Oooh, he must be a great yogi, this only happens to yogis! " I have no idea what they mean by that. But I do know that although those heartbeats aren't strong enough to pump blood through the body (thus putting the body into a cataleptic state), they do suffice to maintain life, and that's how yogis can remain in trance for months on end. Well, I don't know what type of doctors they are (probably very modern), but they're ignorant of this fact. Anyway, according to them he had those pulsations for half an hour (normally they last a few seconds). All right. Hence their remarks. And he was here the whole while, immutable. Then suddenly I felt a kind of shudder; I looked - he was gone. I was busy and didn't note the time, but it was in the afternoon, that's all I know. Later I was told that they had decided to cremate him, and had done so at that time. The violence of the accident had brutally exteriorized him, but when it happened he must have been thinking of me with trust. He came and didn't budge - he never knew what was happening to his body. He didn't know he was dead! And if.... Then and there I said to myself, "This habit of cremating people is appallingly brutal!" (They put the fire in the mouth first.) He didn't know he was dead and that's how he learned it! ... From the reaction of the life of the form in the body. Even when the body is in a thoroughly bad condition, it takes at least seven days for the life of the form to leave it. And for someone practicing yoga, this life is CONSCIOUS. So you burn people a few hours after the doctors have declared them dead, but the life of the form is every inch alive and, in those who have practiced yoga, conscious. It made me a bit.... Given the state he was in, it made NO difference to him whether he was dead or alive; that's what was interesting! He remained in a blissful, trusting, peaceful state and I probably would have gently led him either to the psychic world or elsewhere, according to the indication I received as to what he had to do. He would never have known he was dead. [[Later, Mother commented: "This experience is interesting. He would have been able to EXIST in a psychic state (psychically, of course, one is immortal), he would have existed not knowing that he was dead ... if they hadn't burned him." ]]

This opened a door for me.[[ Recall the conversation of June 12: "I don't know whether I am dead or alive.... A type of life vibration which is completely independent of.... I can't say 'I am alive,' it's something else entirely." ]] Because they cremated him he was abruptly (Mother violently shudders) and violently thrown into contact with the destruction of the body's form.[[. "I mean a SUBTLE form," Mother clarified, "it's the body's subtle form." ]] It must have been the life of the form; when hurled so brutally out of the body, the life of the form must have thrown itself at him! So of course....

(silence)

I immediately said to myself, "But he was still existing, living, having the experience, absolutely INDEPENDENT of his body - he didn't need his body to have his experience." And with my protection and knowledge I could have put him either in a place of rest or, if need be, in touch with another body - and that would have been the end of it. Now, of course, everything is disrupted and we have to wait for things to calm down. [[One week later, Mother added: "It has worked out: he has gone to the psychic domain for a while (I think it's only for a while) to concentrate." ]] But it is possible to die without knowing you are dead. And to retain full consciousness - he was totally conscious and blissful. I find that important, an important experience. I haven't told anyone what happened when they cremated him, because it would have made them all quite upset and miserable. I said only that he came to me. So don't say a word; they mustn't know. Not that it's irreparable, but still, it's not a pleasant experience. But it came as if to put me in contact with this possibility.

page 241-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.


What kind of conclusions can be drawn from N.S.'s experience? What does it open the door to, practically speaking?
It depends on the case. In this case, I let others decide because I don't attend to such matters; but I did suggest they keep him until the next day, and I would have done something during the night. They were in a hurry - they're always in a hurry.... I don't even say not to cremate people, because in AT LEAST ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it's the best thing to do. The only solution is for people to grow wise, and they're not wise. They accept a law, a principle, and then, having no wisdom, need to follow it blindly. Had I taken the responsibility (I purposely didn't, for other reasons), I would have said, "Keep him till tomorrow morning." And I would have done something overnight. But naturally, this is one case in a million. You can't make it a general rule.
No, I meant what conclusions for you, for your experience, can be drawn from this episode?
Ah, me, my experience! Why, it's that someone can die without knowing he's dead! Someone can die (what people call "dying") without knowing he's dead, so it's not crucially important. People say, " He has lost consciousness." They made this assumption in N.S.'s case because there were no vital signs and the consciousness in the body was reduced to a minimum; there was still some left (because it did react!), but it was a bare minimum, without much reacting power - he wasn't an accomplished yogi, after all, only an apprentice yogi. It would have been entirely different, for instance, and far more serious, for someone who had practiced hatha yoga. But I mean to say that N.S. was here beside me, fully conscious, and could have moved on to another mode of manifestation without having to go through the throes of death - that's not at all indispensable! Such is my experience, and I find it very important, tremendously important.
Besides, this is the first time it has happened. All those (like I.B., for example) who were hurled violently out of their bodies through an accident have, after a time, become conscious again - the consciousness gathers itself back together. But N.S.'s consciousness never scattered, he never lost consciousness. His time had come - the instant the accident happened, I knew it was time for him to leave his body. His time had come, but the circumstances had been arranged ("had been arranged" - you know, I don't say by whom ...), circumstances had been arranged to derive the utmost benefit. This made me understand a lot of things.... Practically speaking, you need a lot of experiences to learn anything. But to learn, to profit from such experiences, one must already be on the other side. Up to that point [April 13], I had learned plenty of things, but I was learning them from this side of the fence. Now I am on the other side of the fence. Not entirely, but in large part, at least. Voilà.
page 244-45 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962.

The same thing with N.S. In his case also ... He had fallen on his head and fractured it (he fell in a faint in the street, that's how he died). He was taken to the hospital. But he went out [[Went out of his body. Mother narrated this experience in Agenda III, July 4, 1962. ]] and came to me right away (and so I knew: when I was told the accident had happened, I already knew something had happened because he had come to me). I kept him there, put him to rest, and he was quite peaceful - quite peaceful. They didn't even consult me about the time when he should be burned or anything (of course, a family of doctors!). Then, suddenly, brrt! (gesture of bursting) he went out of my atmosphere abruptly, like that. And no more sign of him.... It took me DAYS to recontact him - and that was the shock he had when they burned his body. It took me days to find him again, put him back to rest, gather him together. And one part had disappeared; his whole consciousness didn't return, because a part of his most material consciousness, of the material vital, must have been thrown out by the shock. I know it, because Albert's [[Albert: the Ashram's kind tailor. ]] father was operated on (it was more than a year later, maybe two), and when he was chloroformed, he suddenly saw N.S. in front of him (of course, even a part can take on the appearance of the whole being, Sri Aurobindo explained that, it's like a photograph). He saw N.S., and N.S. asked him news of his family, news of his wife, news of his children, and he told him, "I worry about them." It must have been the part tied to his family, which must have been separated from the rest of his being: when he came to me, he was complete, but afterwards, I don't know what happened (gesture of bursting under the shock). And it was so concrete that when Albert's father was woken up again, he said aloud, "But why are you cutting short my conversation with N.S.?" That's how they found out. He told them, "But I was talking with N.S., why have you interrupted my conversation?" So they found out.


page 324-25 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 4th Oct - 1967




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I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people ... I don't know about what. And during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of 'human unity'). So Z returned with the idea of forming a 'World Union,' and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M. [[A politician, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and friend of Jawaharlal Nehru. ]] and even by the Prime Minister, [[Nehru. ]] who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. That's how things began.

page 108 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961


(Then Mother comments on the visit Pandit Nehru paid to her two days earlier, on June 13:)

With the visit, which we could call presidential, naturally there was a lot of hullabaloo here: everybody was excited (most people were, at any rate). The visit was, so to speak, forced upon me, in the sense that I didn't want to see him - I didn't feel I was in such a state that the visit could have a paramount importance. Some people had high hopes in this visit (here and there, even in Switzerland, even in America), they thought I would be able to do something.... But practically speaking, it was an illusion, naturally. And all at once, it came so clearly, as though the Lord Himself were arranging something, and it was translated into, "Give him a bath of the Lord." You understand, to make an atmosphere (no need to speak, no need for words), an atmosphere that is a bath of the Lord. So that all those who enter the atmosphere automatically enter the bath of the Lord. It was so lovely! And so simple, so smiling, nothing showy, no big words: something very simple and natural. So, early in the morning, I went to the room over there; I had many people to see beforehand, a host of people who came to see me in the morning, but nevertheless early in the morning I had already started preparing my bath of the Lord! I was finished seeing people about an hour before Nehru's arrival, so I stayed in the room, preparing the "bath".... It was very charming. He may have felt something - they are very thick-skinned, you know, necessarily so: overworked, full of self-conceit, naturally, and convinced that they know everything and can do everything (and unfortunately they can do a lot), so the whole of life is organized so as to BLOCK all inner receptivity. But he did have the bath! He was supposed to stay two or three minutes - he stayed fifteen minutes. I didn't say anything. Somebody who was there spoke. And towards the end, I could see (I had given him a comfortable armchair), I could see he wanted to get out of his armchair, as if to say, Now I must go. So I simply told him, You need a little rest - you should have seen the man's face: immediately everything relaxed. All the while, his fingers were fidgety like this (Mother drums her fingers on the chair's armrests), two fingers of his hand moving nonstop, even though I kept putting Peace and Quietness on him, but still his fingers were moving, because he was always active inside. And when I told him that, something relaxed in his face and the fingers stopped. But it was very late and everybody was waiting, so after a little while I let him go. It was very interesting: I simply told him, You need a little rest - everything stopped.
But mentally, you know ... (Mother makes a gesture: completely obtuse). There is a prince of Kashmir who came here once, a young man [[Yuvaraj Karan Singh. ]]; he went to England, and there he wrote a thesis on Sri Aurobindo's political life, Sri Aurobindo, Prophet of Indian Nationalism, with a preface by Jawaharlal Nehru. I read the preface, but afterwards, the day after I saw Nehru - it's awful! Understands nothing, he understands nothing, nothing, nothing, absolutely obtuse. It's very kind, but written by someone who understands nothing.... I will tell you the thing: between my first and second visits here, while I was away in Japan and Gandhi was starting his campaign, [[Gandhi arrived in India in January 1915 from Africa. He started his "noncooperation" campaign in 1920. ]] he sent a telegram, then a messenger, to Sri Aurobindo here, asking him to be president of the Congress - to which Sri Aurobindo answered "No." Those people never forgave him.
Yes, he never understood why Sri Aurobindo did not resume his political life.
No. And then, you see, he takes Gandhi's asceticism for spiritual life - always the same mistake! There's no way to pull them out of it. Unfortunately, the entire world has caught the same idea. Then when there was that Cripps proposal, [[See Agenda III, November 17, 1962, p. 420. ]] I believe it was Nehru (or Gandhi, I don't remember which of the two) who said, "He has withdrawn from political life, why is he meddling! It's none of his business." They never forgave him. That is to say, completely obtuse, unable to understand that one can have a knowledge higher than practical knowledge. There you are.
page 172-74 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963


And Nehru, you see (that's what Pavitra told me yesterday, he went to the town hall to listen to Nehru's speech), Nehru is an out-and-out social democrat who believes that the ideal organization for mankind, instead of only an "elite" being able to progress, is that the entire masses should progress (as if they wanted to! ... but anyway). It's an idea - everyone has his own ideas. But then it seems that when the Chinese attacked, it was a violent blow to his conviction: he thought it impossible that the Chinese would do such a thing (!) He was very deeply shattered. Naturally, they see no farther than the tips of their noses, and then they are surprised when circumstances (laughing) don't agree! But OUTWARDLY, there is nothing that can be done [to act on Nehru and the politicians]. It's only if you are sitting in your armchair, very quiet, that you can do something - provided not too many people are aware that you're doing something (!) So there you are. page 175 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963



-660_Nandini Satpathy.html



But is there a way for you to contact those people in Delhi andhave them told what you want?
Ah, if I sent someone they would receive him. It's this N.S. who is a member of the government, she has a whole group with her, a party that has grown fairly strong. It's quite recent, they've just asked us to send them someone. N.S. only knows N., so she told him, "Would you like to come?" N. has offered to go, but ...[[N.S. was to betray Indira Gandhi later, just as N. was to betray Mother. ]] He has a knack with people, but ...
No, he's not the man. He doesn't strike one as being pure and straight. He isn't a straight man.
(After a silence) He is still in the state in which one tries to please people....
A man like P.?
(Mother laughs) But he's not willing! He doesn't want to touch politics. Oh, in his field, he is strong indeed! (Mother laughs) But he isn't a politician.
page 176 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967







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-665_AB Purani.html


Sri Aurobindo had made certain statements about me in those letters, and Z deleted them. (Anyway, it makes no difference for your book, because I'm not at all keen on having any statements about me published.) But Z is not honest. He hasn't been honest at all.... We were forced to intervene once or twice because his deletions distorted the meaning. We finally told him (for the book published here), 'We won't publish it unless you restore these things.'

(silence)

I have also reread A.P.'s 'Evening Talks.'
Oh, in that, too, there are a lot of.... I myself wasn't present, so I don't know what Sri Aurobindo said, but I have a kind of feeling.... Just recently they wanted to publish something similar in Mother India [[A monthly review published by the Ashram. ]] - 'Conversations' with me noted by A. Luckily it was sent to me first: I Cut EVERYTHING! Such platitudes, my child! Oh, it was disgusting. I said, 'This is impossible. I have NEVER spoken like that, never!' It was flat, flat, flat, with a superficial, word-for-word understanding! Oh, horrible, horrible.... Whatever passes through people is terribly, terribly lowered - popularized, made commonplace. Anyhow.... Only Sri Aurobindo can speak of Sri Aurobindo. And as for their notes, it's still Sri Aurobindo A la Z, or Sri Aurobindo A la A, and all the more so since Sri Aurobindo wrote in very different ways depending upon the person he was writing to (gesture indicating different levels).
page 94 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th Feb 1961

Oh, I've had all sorts of examples! ... All these errors serve as tests. Take the case of P.: for a long time, whenever someone arrived from the outside world and asked to be instructed, he was sent to P.'s room. (I didn't send them, but they would be told, 'Go speak to P.!') And P. is the sectarian par excellence! He would tell people, 'Unless you acknowledge Sri Aurobindo as the ONLY one who knows the truth, you are good for nothing!' Naturally (laughing), many rebelled! (You see, out of laziness - so as not to be bothered with seeing people or answering their questions - one says, 'Go find so-and-so, go ask so-and-so,' and passes off the work to another.) Well, it was finally understood that this wasn't very tactful, and perhaps it would be better not to send visitors to P., since so many had been put off. But actually.... I was told about it afterwards and I replied, 'Let people read and see for THEMSELVES whether or not it suits them! What difference does it make if they're put off! If they are, it means they NEED to be put off! We'll see later.' Some of them have come full circle and returned. Others never came back - because they weren't meant to. That's how it goes. Basically, all this has NO importance. Or we could put it in another way: everything is perfectly all right.

page 113 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961

But in what sense did this realization mark a turning point in Sri Aurobindo's sadhana?
No, the phenomenon was important FOR THE CREATION; he himself was rather indifferent to it. But I did tell him about it. It was at that time that he decided to stop dealing with people and retire to his room. So he called everyone together for one last meeting. Before then, he used to go out on the verandah every day to meet and talk with all who came to see him (this is the origin of the famous 'Talks with Sri Aurobindo' [[Evening Talks, noted by A.B. Purani. ]] ... - Mother is about to say something severe, then reconsiders - anyway ... ) I was living in the inner rooms and seeing no one; he was going out onto the verandah, seeing everyone, receiving people, speaking, discussing - I saw him only when he came back inside.
page 299 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd Aug. 1961.

The subtle physical is right here (gesture on the surface of the skin). Some people are sensitive in the subtle physical; you move your hand near them and they feel it immediately. Others don't even notice - it depends on the subtle physical's sensitivity. And the circumconscient surrounds it like an envelope. If there are no tears in it, this envelope is a magnificent protection. [[We are not sure, finally, if this envelope and the circumconscient are one and the same thing, but this is how Sri Aurobindo speaks of it: 'The first thing one sees when one has broken the barrier is the vital-physical body. It is around the physical body and with the physical it forms as it were the "nervous envelope." The force of a disease has to break through it to reach the body - except for the attacks on the most material parts. You can then feel the disease coming and also feel in the nervous envelope the part of the body which it is going to, or intending to, attack because what is in the nervous envelope has a material counterpart in the body. Thus it is the vital-physical which is first attacked and then the force takes the form of a disease in the system. I had myself the experience of fever all around the body.' (A.B. Purani, Evening Talks with Sri Aurobindo, Volume 1, p. 232) ]] And it's not dependent on any spiritual or intellectual rationale, but on a harmony with Nature and life, a kind of stability in the material being. People with strong envelopes are almost always in good health and succeed in what they do. It isn't something mental - when they do a work it comes out nicely, if they want to meet someone, they meet him. Things of this nature.

page 304 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 5th Aug. 1961.


... My nightly work begins around nine, till four in the morning, and it's divided into three groups of activities (nightly activities). The last group is generally between two and four in the morning, and that's when I deal with all the people! ... That, mon petit! ... It's quite comical - it's not always too pleasant, but still it's comical, oh! ... I see people as they are (Mother laughs); not as they think they are or want to be seen: I see them as they are. I get information like that, all the time. Take Purani, [[A charming old disciple who passed away recently (on December 11, 1965). He was the author of Evening Talks. ]] for instance: I used to see him almost every night, and then some fifteen days ago (ten to fifteen days ago, I think [[For Mother, fifteen days = six months. It was on June 18, 1965 (see the conversation of that date). ]]), before he left his body here, like that, I saw him in a place ... It's a place which is entirely made of a sort of pinkish gray clay - it's sticky, gluey, and rather liquid (Mother makes the gesture of stretching chewing gum). There were lots of people. It was a place where lots of people were going to prepare themselves there for the supramental life - but not in their present bodies, which means they were preparing something in order to be ready for the supramental life in a future existence. And I had been taken there; there was a good number of people who had taken me there so I would see (so I would have an action of control there). But as for me, great care was taken to prevent me from being touched by that substance (it was important that I shouldn't be touched), so they wrapped me in golden veils and all sorts of things, and I was walking along. And I saw him ... I was walking on a sort of verandah (but it all had a very peculiar character, all was made of a ... bizarre matter), and there was a sort of large courtyard which was entirely made of that semiliquid, semigluey matter which looked like very diluted but very sticky clay (same elastic gesture like chewing gum). And suddenly I saw Purani rushing into it. From the far end he comes to me covered all over in that and sweeping through it with such strokes! He had it all over his face, all over everywhere! You could see nothing but that. I told him (laughing), "Oh, you like it!" He told me, "Oh, it's very nice, very nice!" Since that evening I haven't seen him again. And then, some twelve or fifteen days later, I don't remember, he left his body. It was a preparation. I see some very, very amusing things.
page 341-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 28th Dec - 1965


I saw Purani last night. It's the first time I have seen him since he went out of his body.[[Purani, a charming old disciple, who passed away on December 11, 1965. See Agenda VI, conversation of December 28, 1965, p. 341. ]] There were other people too. I saw him in a subtle physical world and he was all light blue and pink, and everything around him was pink and luminous (Mother makes a dancing gesture). He was pleased, oh, so pleased, he said, "Now I am happy!"


page 21 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 22nd Jan - 1966



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(In the presence of Pavitra and Abhay Singh,

* Mother recounts a vision she had during the night)


It was just at four o'clock in the morning, and it woke me up. It was exactly like this ... I was apparently in my bathroom, and I had to open the door between the bathroom and Sri Aurobindo's room; the moment I put my hand on the doorknob, I knew with an absolute certainty that destruction was awaiting me behind the door. It had the form or image of those great invaders of India, those who had swooped down upon India and destroyed everything in their wake ... But it was only an impression.

So the door had to be opened and I ... felt and said, 'Lord, may your will be done.' I opened the door and behind it was z2 in the same clothes he wears when he drives, and he was leaning against one of those big tractor tires - or perhaps he was holding it at the same time. I was so dumbfounded that I woke up. It took me a little while to be able to understand what it might mean, and afterwards ... Even now, I still don't know ... What was I? Was I India, or was I the world? ... I don't know. And what did Z represent? ... It was as imperative and clear, as positive and absolute as could be: the certitude that destruction was behind the door, that it was inevitable. And it had the form of those great Tartar or Mongol invaders, those people who came from the North and invaded India, who pillaged everything ... That's what it was like. But what Z was doing there I don't know. What does he represent? ... The first impulse was to tell Abhay Singh, 'Forbid him to drive the tractor.'

I. The disciple who managed the Ashram 'Atelier': mechanical workshop, maintenance garage, automobile service, etc.

2. A young disciple who worked in the Atelier.


(Pavitra:) What was he holding in his hands, Mother?

Huge tires ... He was standing there, like that, with a very majestic air. He was wearing his white outfit, those long pyjamas ...

(Abhay Singh:) Yesterday he drove the station wagon for the visitors.

Does it also have large tires?

(Pavitra:) A little bigger than jeep tires.

No, it came up to here (gesture to the top of the head). It seemed to be a tractor tire, but it did not have the heavy tread that tractor tires have.

(Abhay Singh:) There are tractor tires that have no tread.

Ah! So ... He was standing, and it came up to here (same gesture). So it must have been a tractor tire. What could it represent, he, and the tractor? ... I don't know ... It was not personal, you see - I mean this body. It had nothing to do with that.

(Pavitra:) The industrialization of India?

(silence )

I don't know.


page 189-90 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 30th Aug. - 1958

(Concerning two teachers at the Ashram's Center of Education

who wrote Mother asking if 'only' Sri Aurobindo should be

studied. Pavitra was present during this conversation.)

An eight page letter - nothing but passion. (Pavitra:) Yes, Mother. It's all from up here (Mother touches her forehead). (Pavitra:) Passion and reactions. Passion, passion - but this passion and these reactions are the same, thing. And then they stuff into it what they consider intellectual reasonings, but their intellectuality is not so terribly luminous - anyway ... (Mother shows the letter) Here, I'll read this to you for your edification (!).
'And finally, Sweet Mother, what I would really like to know is the purpose of our Center of Education. Is it to teach the works of Sri Aurobindo? And only these? All the works or some only? Or is it to prepare the students to read the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother? Is it to prepare them for the Ashram life or for 'outside' occupations as well? So many opinions are floating in the air, and even the old disciples from whom we expect some knowledge make so many contradictory statements ... (Laughing, to Pavitra:) I suppose that's for you! 'that we no longer know what to believe nor on what to base ourselves. So what should be our foundation upon which to work in the absence of a true and certain knowledge? Please enlighten us, Mother.' I answered. The letters must have left. I wrote (in English) that it's not so much a question of organization as of attitude - to begin with. Then I said, 'It seems to me that unless the teachers themselves get out of this ordinary intellectuality (!), they will never be able to fulfill their duty.' And this is what I wrote to Z (Mother reads): 'It is not a question of preparing students to read these or some other works. It is a question of drawing all those who are capable of it out of the usual human routine of thought, feelings, action; of giving those who are here every opportunity to reject the slavery of the human way of thinking and acting; of teaching all those who want to listen that there is another, truer way of living, and that Sri Aurobindo taught us to become and to live the true being - and that the purpose of education here is to prepare the children for this life and to make them capable of it. As for all the others, all those who want the human way of thinking and living, the world is vast and there is place there for everyone. We do not want large numbers; we want a selection. We do not want brilliant students; we want living souls.' Once I've drummed that into their heads long enough, they may end up understanding.
page 404-405 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Aug. - 1960

(Pavitra hands Mother a new French dictionary,

the 'All-in-One ')

Oh! French verbs! ...
(Pavitra:) Yes, Mother; in this dictionary each verb is shown - the category it is in, how it is conjugated ...
The verbs ...
... Take 'choyer' [coddle, pamper], for example ... (Pavitra shows Mother), it's conjugated like 'aboyer' [snarl, bark].
What a comparison! (Mother laughs) Oh, they have such psychological subtleties! But it's especially for the spelling of verbs. I believe I know how to conjugate!
(Pavitra:) It has everything - how to play bridge, how to play tennis, the art of carving a chicken ...
Fine. (Satprem:) 'All-in-One,' it's rather like yoga!

**

(After Pavitra leaves)

page 407 - Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 10th Aug. - 1960


Pavitra was telling me the other day that, according to the latest scientific discoveries, matter in its present state can be immortal. There's no reason that it couldn't change (for it changes all the time) enough to avoid decay. Nothing in matter's composition stands in the way of its immortality - immortality of form, I mean. If science simply follows its own course (and does not suddenly find itself confronted with something beyond its grasp), there's no reason it should not provide people who don't have a mystical or occult turn of mind with a way to use the present substance in imperishable forms, without recourse to anything from other realms. This is a great support for practical-minded people. page 215 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 20th June 1962


The other day, Pavitra said to me in passing, "Modern science would neither follow nor believe us." According to him, scientists acknowledge only "essential hypotheses," and not having the experience, would take our science for a set of "non-essential" hypotheses. I didn't argue, or else I would have told him, "We don't make any hypotheses, far from it, we simply state our experiences." They are free to disbelieve us or to think we're half crazy or hallucinating - that's up to them, it's their business. But we don't make hypotheses, we speak of things we know and have experienced. For several hours afterwards I had a vision of this state of mind and found absolutely no need to make hypotheses (you see, Pavitra was speaking of "hypothesizing" the existence of different states of being). It's just as I told you: I have passed that stage; I don't need inner dimensions any more.[[ See conversation of May 24, 1962. ]] And observing this materialistic state of mind, it occurred to me that, on the basis of their own experiments, they are bound to admit oneness - at least the oneness of matter; and to admit oneness is enough to obtain the key to the whole problem! page 239 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 4th July 1962


And Nehru, you see (that's what Pavitra told me yesterday, he went to the town hall to listen to Nehru's speech), Nehru is an out-and-out social democrat who believes that the ideal organization for mankind, instead of only an "elite" being able to progress, is that the entire masses should progress (as if they wanted to! ... but anyway). It's an idea - everyone has his own ideas. But then it seems that when the Chinese attacked, it was a violent blow to his conviction: he thought it impossible that the Chinese would do such a thing (!) He was very deeply shattered. Naturally, they see no farther than the tips of their noses, and then they are surprised when circumstances (laughing) don't agree! But OUTWARDLY, there is nothing that can be done [to act on Nehru and the politicians]. It's only if you are sitting in your armchair, very quiet, that you can do something - provided not too many people are aware that you're doing something (!) So there you are. page 175 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963


I had a rather amusing experience while walking [during japa]. I was looking at people's attitude (I mean those who think they lead a spiritual life, who think they have made a surrender), and how they are utterly vexed when things don't happen the way they want! (They don't always admit it, they don't always say it to themselves, but it's a fact.) Then all at once, I saw a huge robot - huge, magnificent, resplendent, covered with gold and jewels - a huge being ... but a robot. And all-powerful - all-powerful, capable of doing anything, anything at all; anything you could imagine, he could do it: you had only to press a button and he did it. And it was ... (laughing) as if the Lord were telling me, "See, here is what I am to them!" I couldn't have recounted the experience just like that, but I made a note of it. He said, "See, this is what I am to them." So I wrote it down.

(Mother first reads out the French version of her note)

Then I wrote it in English (if there's a "gap" in the Bulletin, I'll put it in!): "The Lord is not an all-powerful automaton that the human beings can move by ... (laughing) the push-button of their will ... It's very funny! ... the push-button of their will - and yet most of those who surrender to God expect that from Him." I read it to Pavitra; he said, "But still, that's rather like the way things work!" He didn't quite understand (Mother laughs).
page 184 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 22th June 1963


I'll give you the example of what Pavitra told me yesterday: he always used to go out of his body in his aspiration and to rise very high - I told him a hundred times that he shouldn't do it, it wasn't good (for HIM; to another I would have said to do it). He never understood, and every time he meditated, brrt! he would go out of his body. Then the other day he told me, "Ah, now I've understood! I was always seeking Mother up above, till suddenly I couldn't find anything any more. So I concentrated here [in the body], and I found Mother immediately." And he added, "It's because now Mother is here!" (Mother laughs) I didn't explain anything, but that was exactly the point! I didn't tell him anything, but I smiled as though he had made a discovery! People try to come into contact with something that's HERE! page 219 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th July , 1963


(Sujata:) Why is Pavitra in such poor condition?
The doctor predicted he wouldn't be able to move anymore at all, and he climbs the stairs, goes here and there. Only, it's quite an effort. But the doctor said, "He won't be able to move anymore, he will be bed-ridden." So it's already a big achievement. It's an ankylosis of all the muscles.[[In fact, a cancer. ]]
(Sujata:) When I see him in the morning, it's terrible. It takes him a long time before he's able to move, and he is in a lot of pain.
Yes, it hurts. Oh, he walks about through sheer willpower. I know that. I know, because as a rule you're finished, you can't move anymore.
page 334 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 18th Dec - 1965


Pavitra has been filing old letters, and ... I told you, didn't I, that since the 24th there was a CONSTANT insistence, every minute,
on giving full support to the Harmony and not allowing disorder, disharmony and confusion to manifest - from the physical, vital and mental points of view. Like that, like someone pounding something since the 24th (I told you the other day about the Force that came; it's been like that since then). And yesterday or the day before, Pavitra, while sorting out those letters, came across something I had written to someone in English: "Yes, the good-will hidden in all things reveals itself everywhere to that one who carries good will in his consciousness. This is a constructive way of feeling leading straight to the future." I found this very interesting (it was written years ago, at least more than a year ago, and Pavitra told me he hadn't even found it in a letter: it was loose among the files). And it was as if to tell me, "See, you were already speaking like this before." Because the "goodwill" is the Harmony (on the psychological level, of course), it's the will for everything to go well psychologically. I found this rather interesting.
page 127-28 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd May - 1967



(About Pavitra's departure. Pavitra was the oldest French disciple; chemist and engineer of the École Polytechnique, he came to the Ashram in December, 1925, after having pursued his quest all the way to Mongolia's lamaseries. [[Pavitra left some very interesting memoirs of his conversations with Sri Aurobindo and Mother in 1925 and 1926, which unfortunately were barbarously mutilated (with whole pages torn away, almost a third of Pavitra's notebooks) by his closest collaborator, under the pretext that it would be "better left unsaid." We shudder to think what would have been the fate of this Agenda had it come into the hands of those same "collaborators." As Mother remarked in Agenda V of October 14, 1964: "They cut out and remove all that bothers them and leave only what suits them." Thus invaluable treasures disappeared. (See Sri Aurobindo, Conversations avec Pavitra, Fayard, 1972.) ]] ) You know that I used to see Pavitra every day, in the evening. He was in a poor state. But I had been forewarned (long ago) that his inner being was waiting for A. [[A. lives in Paris. ]] to return before it would leave. I don't know whether he was aware of something in his outward consciousness, but at any rate he had never said anything. But I knew ... The day A. arrived, that very day [May 131, just before coming here, Pavitra fell down. He came here with quite a few scratches. I thought it would stop there, but the day after A.'s arrival (I don't remember, I never keep a clear memory of dates), at any rate between the 15th and 16th, at night, after 9 (I didn't look at the time, so I don't know precisely, but I was on my bed), Pavitra's whole individualized consciousness (but not in a form), his conscious, fully awakened consciousness, down to all that can come out of the cells, began to come and enter into me according to the ancient, the very old yogic practice of merging into the Supreme in that way that practice. It came while I was lying on my bed; it began, and it was so material that there was a very strong friction in all the cells, everywhere. It went on for three hours. After three hours, it became ... not exactly still, but no longer active. Then, the next morning, I saw A. (it was on the 16 h), I saw A. at about 8:30 (naturally, Pavitra had been in bed since the day before, they had put him to bed), and in the morning, A. told me that just as he was about to come here, Pavitra opened his eyes and looked at him ... So I told him, I don't know, but with a yogic knowledge of the process, quite an extraordinary knowledge" (he had never boasted of having it), "his conscious being melted last night and entered my body, this body ..." [[As a matter of fact, Mother looked quite surprised when A. told her that Pavitra had opened his eyes. ]] I told him, "We'll see." But half an hour later, they told me that just as I was talking with A., the doctor declared he had left.

Have you seen him? I am told he looks very good.
Oh, Yes!
I had first said that he would be buried this morning at 10 o'clock, since the end took place even before the doctors declared it was over, but I had it delayed until 4 .... I can't say he has remained separate [from Mother], not at all, but now and then, for one thing there's his way of reacting; it's quite interesting. And he has brought with him an extraordinary sense of satisfaction! As if, "Ah, at last ..." Like that. It's constant, night and day. I wanted to see last night whether something of him would still come, but it was all over, there was nothing more .... It was done as a super-yogi might do it! He'd never boasted about it, I don't even know whether he actively knew it. He did it wonderfully. You know, the stories that are told of those who would have themselves shut in a cave and who would leave like that - that's it. They didn't exactly pick him up, because he hadn't fallen down, but they found him standing, unable to move. It was after lunch (on the 15th he had his lunch with A.), and immediately after lunch, he asked A. to leave, [[Because he did not want to show A. the difficulty he had moving. ]] and wanted to go to his terrace - it took him an hour to go there! It's while coming back from there that he remained like that, standing - he nearly fell down, so they had to carry him to his bed (that was in the afternoon of the 15th), and during the night he did that. So then, I had said he would be buried this morning, that is on the 17th, then A. came and told me he was quite intact, not stiff (he went to see him with N., who's a doctor, and N. said that was because Pavitra was so thin), so I said we might as well wait till this afternoon. It has been postponed till 4 o'clock. But as for me, last night I saw carefully: there's nothing. [[No more consciousness left in the body. ]] Even if there is something, a little consciousness left, it's better to let it go peacefully.
But I wasn't expecting it, I didn't think about it, didn't even know that he knew how to go out like that-it must have been something deep down in him that knew. I didn't even know he knew how to do it. Because the evening before Pavitra left, A. told me what had happened at lunch time, and I told him, "Generally, I don't see Pavitra [at night], it's very rare, very rare, it happens quite accidentally, and it's more symbolic visions than ..." I said to him, I don't see him, I don't know, but this night (of the 15 th, that is) I'll inquire to see what it is, in what state he is, and see if he goes out of his body or comes to me ...." There was nothing in a form, nothing. And some time after I'd lain down, it started coming, but then with an extraordinary SCIENCE of the process! And for THREE hours without stop, continuously, in the most steady manner, like that: an action. After three hours, it was as it is now; I felt as if he said, "Now it's over." Only, you never know, of course: there might be some consciousness lingering in the body ... I thought it was better to wait till this afternoon, not to shut him up with something in his body. It has brought to the body consciousness a sort of sense of satisfaction: the appeasement that satisfaction gives. That's there quite concretely. Did he know it from a previous life, or ...? I don't know. Or else, he just didn't talk about it. Because the way he spoke, he didn't seem to know the secrets of yogic processes. [[We are convinced that Pavitra had learned many things in Mongolia's lamaseries, where a highly advanced occult science was practiced. ]] It was done with a rare perfection .... Three hours without stop, without flagging - three hours - continuous, continuous. Naturally, I was lying on my bed ....

page 181 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 17th May - 1969


But Pavitra's case, I really believe it's exceptional. It's the first time it has happened to me - with nobody, nobody else before. I told you, when Sri Aurobindo left, for hours he passed on to me the whole supramental force and consciousness he had concentrated in his body. It was immediately after he left. I felt he had called me; I stood there, near his bed, looking at him, and ... I saw it, you understand: he passed on to me the force, the whole supramental force he had concentrated in his body, and I felt him everywhere enter like that, with a friction. It lasted for hours. But that's quite an exceptional case, as I told you. But what took place with Pavitra is really ... it's really ... It's not the same thing: he simply came out of his body deliberately (and not his psychic being: it was as material as he could), and I felt him, felt it enter and enter everywhere, all over my body ... And now, if I look within, I can't say I see a form, but ... it's not completely fused. And for certain things - certain things that have to do with people, or the School [[ Pavitra was the School's director and the Ashram's general secretary. ]] - there's a very clear personal reaction. And then, those photos ... I think that's quite exceptional. I felt something in the brain. You know that since Sri Aurobindo gave me mental silence, it has been absolutely still; it never started up again as before, and the consciousness has been there (gesture above Mother), working from there. But then after Pavitra came here, something (gesture to the forehead) impelled me to ask (I asked what's here, within), "Could I get the mathematical knowledge you had?" I asked him that. And his answer was, "Of course, it would be easy if you set this in motion again!" But that I don't want to do. Anyway ... Anyway, that's how it is, as if I were talking to someone within! How happy he was! I think he loved you very much. He never spoke a word about all that. It has pleased him a lot.
page 190-91 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 21st May - 1969


Does anyone see Pavitra at night?
(Sujata:) I see him almost every night.
Oh, you see him.... Me, I see him just as when he was here; and he's busy doing things - a totally conscious and active life. Last night, he was speaking to some people, organizing meetings, he was extraordinarily active. Besides, he was among people who still have a physical body, who were sleeping, I mean who had come out of their body. He was so conscious! I've never seen anyone so ... so materially conscious, I could say. Exactly as if he were continuing his work. Mainly seeing people, talking to them, bringing them together.... You know that when he died, at the time of his death, he entered me?... [[See Agenda X, May 17, 1969. ]] I did my best to prevent him from blending [with Mother]: I kept him like this (gesture as an individual form). And after he recovered from the shock, he spontaneously came out and started to work. I see him almost every night. I've never seen anyone remain so much like himself. It's truly remarkable.
page 268 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 12th Aug - 1972-1973




-667_Paul Richard.html


Sri Aurobindo saw more clearly. He said - it was even the first thing he told the boys around him when I came in 1914 (he had only seen me once) - he told them that I, Mirra (he immediately called me by my first name), 'was born free.' And it's true, I know it, I knew it then. In other words, all this work that usually has to be done to become free was done beforehand, long ago - quite convenient! He saw me the next day for half an hour. I sat down - it was on the verandah of the 'Guest House', I was sitting there on the verandah. There was a table in front of him, and Richard was on the other side facing him. They began talking. Myself, I was seated at his feet, very small, with the table just in front of me
- it came to my forehead, which gave me a little protection ... I didn't say anything, I didn't think anything, try anything, want anything - I merely sat near him. When I stood up half an hour later, he had put silence in my head, that's all, without my even having asked him - perhaps even without his trying. Oh, I had tried - for years I had tried to catch silence in my head ... I never succeeded. I could detach myself from it, but it would keep on turning ... But at that moment, all the mental constructions, all the mental, speculative structures ... none of it remained - a big hole. And such a peaceful, such a luminous hole! Afterwards, I kept very still so as not to disturb it. I didn't speak, above all I refrained from thinking and held it, held it tight against me - I said to myself, 'make it last, make it last, make it last ... ' Later on, I heard Sri Aurobindo saying that there were two people here to whom he had done this and as soon as there was silence, they panicked: 'My God, I've gone stupid!!' And they threw it all overboard by starting to think again. Once it was done, it was done. It was well-rooted. For years, from 1912 to 1914, I did endless exercises, all kinds of things, even pranayama' - if it would only shut up! Really, if it would only be quiet! ... I was able to go out (that wasn't difficult), but inside it kept turning. This lasted about half an hour. I quietly remained there - I heard the noise of their conversation, but I wasn't listening. And then when I got up, I no longer knew anything, I no longer thought anything, I no longer had any mental construction - everything was gone, absolutely gone, blank! - as if I had just been born.
page 421-22 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 sept. 1960

the Master of the world, was the Lord of Falsehood; Richard was an emanation, a vibhuti, [[Indian tradition makes a distinction between a direct 'incarnation' (avatar) and a simple 'emanation' (vibhuti) coming from the consciousness of a god - or a devil. ]] as they say in India, of this Asura.

page 367 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 5th Nov. - 1961

He was a pastor at Lille, in France, for perhaps ten years; he was quite a practicing Christian, but he dropped it all as soon as he began to study occultism. He had first specialized in theological philosophy in order to pass the pastoral examinations, studying all the modem philosophy of Europe (he had a rather remarkable metaphysical brain). Then I met him in connection with Theon and the Cosmic Review, and I led him into occult knowledge. Afterwards, there were all sorts of uninteresting stories.... He became a lawyer during the early period of our relationship and I learned Law along with him - I could even have passed the exam! Then the divorce stories began: he divorced his wife; they had three children and he wanted to keep them, but to do so he had to be legally married, so he asked me to marry him - and I said yes. I have always been totally indifferent to these things. Anyway, when I met him I knew who he was and I decided to convert him - the whole story revolves around that. As a matter of fact, the books he wrote (especially the first one, The Living Ether) were based on my knowledge; he put my knowledge into French - and beautiful French, I must say! I would tell him my experiences and he would write them down. Later he wrote The Gods (it was incomplete, one-sided). Then he became a lawyer and entered politics (he was a first-class orator and fired his audiences with enthusiasm) and was sent to Pondicherry to help a certain candidate who couldn't manage his election campaign single-handed. And since Richard was interested in occultism and spirituality, he took this opportunity to seek a 'Master,' a yogi. When he arrived, instead of involving himself in politics, the first thing he did was announce, 'I am seeking a yogi.' Someone said to him, 'You're incredibly lucky! The yogi has just arrived.' It was Sri Aurobindo, who was told, 'There's a Frenchman asking to see you....' Sri Aurobindo wasn't particularly pleased but he found the coincidence rather interesting and received him. This was in 1910. When Richard had finished his work, he returned to France with a poor photograph of Sri Aurobindo and a completely superficial impression of him, yet with the feeling that Sri Aurobindo KNEW (he hadn't at all understood the man that Sri Aurobindo was, he hadn't felt the presence of an Avatar, but he had sensed that he had knowledge). Moreover, I think he always held this opinion, because he used to say that Sri Aurobindo was a unique intellectual giant ... without many spiritual realizations! (The same type of stupidity as Romain Rolland's.) Well, my relationship with Richard was on an occult plane, you see, and it's difficult to touch upon. What happened was far more exciting than any novel imaginable. But he was a man who.... He isn't dead and he's still terribly dangerous because of what's behind him [the Lord of Falsehood]. You didn't record that, did you?
Yes.
Ah, no! It must all be erased. Simply put a note in your book: 'Paul Richard, who met Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1910....' And you can mention that he was a theological writer or something of the sort to explain how he prompted Sri Aurobindo to write. When he returned, he told me he would take me there as soon as he could. The A rya began in June 1914, and the first issue was scheduled to come out on August 15, Sri Aurobindo's birthday; and the war broke out before the first issue appeared - on August 3, I believe - a very interesting point. June 21 was Paul Richard's birthday, [[On June 28, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated at Sarajevo. ]] so on that day we announced the coming publication of the A rya and that the first issue would appear on August 15. Between June 21 and August 15, the war broke out. But since everything was ready we went ahead and published it.
I wrote in my book that Paul Richard intended to bring out simultaneously in Paris a 'Review of the Great Synthesis.' Is this true? [[Satprem no longer remembers the source of this false information. ]]
No, it's not true! This was never intended, never! The Arya was bilingual, one part in French and one in English, but it was one and the same magazine published here in Pondicherry. There was never any question of publishing anything in France; this is incorrect, entirely false - a myth. Besides, it was I who translated the English into French, and rather poorly at that! I have noticed that as soon as one speaks of Richard one is unwittingly led to tell lies. That's why I am so terribly careful to avoid the subject. The first issue began with The Wherefore of the Worlds (the English following the French), and in it Richard attributed the origin of the world to Desire. They were in perpetual disagreement on this subject, Richard saying, 'It is Desire,' and Sri Aurobindo, 'The initial force of the Manifestation is Joy.' Then Richard would say, 'God DESIRED to know Himself,' and Sri Aurobindo, 'No, God had the joy of knowing Himself.' And it went on and on like that! When Richard went to Japan, he sent his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo, including The Wherefore of the Worlds and The Eternal Wisdom, and Sri Aurobindo continued to translate them into English. Frankly, it was a relief for Sri Aurobindo when we left; he even wrote to someone or other (but in a totally superficial way) that Richard's departure was a great relief for him. When we returned to France, Richard got himself declared unfit for military service on health grounds - a yogic heart ailment! But life in France was impossible; and my presence there was dangerous because monstrous things were going on, monstrous; as Sri Aurobindo said, my sitting at home all alone was generating revolutions - armies were revolting. [[Mother is alluding to the following aphorism of Sri Aurobindo: 'If when thou sittest alone, still and voiceless on the mountain-top, thou canst perceive the revolutions thou art conducting, then hast thou the divine vision and art freed from appearances.' This aphorism is completed by another: 'If when thou art doing great actions and moving giant results, thou canst perceive that THOU art doing nothing, then know that God has removed His seal on thy eyelids.' (Cent. Ed., Vol. XVII, p. 92) ]] I saw that happening and I didn't want the Germans to win, which would have been even worse, so I said, 'I had better go.' Then Richard managed to have himself sent
to Japan on business (an admirable feat!), representing certain companies. People didn't want to travel because it was dangerous - you risked being sunk to the bottom of the sea; so they were pleased when we offered and sent us to Japan. Once there (this would also make a great novel), Richard continued writing and sending his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo. Finally, when the Peace Treaty was signed and it was possible to travel, the English said that if we tried to return to India they would throw us in jail! But it all worked out miraculously, almost becoming a 'diplomatic incident': the Japanese government decided that if we were put in prison they would protest to the British government! (What a story - I could write novels!) In short, Richard returned here with me. And that's when the tragi-comedy began.... I will tell you about it one day - fantastic! It was certainly Sri Aurobindo's power that made Richard decide to leave. For twelve years I had been Richard's 'guru' (that's where our relationship stood), but I hadn't succeeded in converting him, and when we came back here I said, 'I'm through with it. I've tried and I've failed. I've failed completely. Ask Sri Aurobindo.' When Sri Aurobindo took him in hand, that was another story.... He couldn't take it - he left. But the whole affair was diabolic, you know; it had turned into something fantastic. Finally he left. This man clearly led a rather loose life. Right after he left here he spent some time in the Himalayas and became a Sannyasi. Then he went to France and from France to England. In England he married again - bigamy! I didn't care, of course (the less he showed up in my life, the better), but he was in a fix! One day I suddenly received some official letters from a lawyer telling me I had 'initiated divorce proceedings against Richard.' it seems I had a lawyer over there! A lawyer I had never asked for, whose name I didn't know, a lawyer I didn't even know existed - 'my lawyer'! The trial was taking place at Nice, and 'I' was accusing Richard of abandoning me without any means of support! (That was nothing new - I had paid all the expenses from the first day we met! But anyway .... ) Naturally, he couldn't plead that he was a bigamist; nor could he have me accuse him of being a bigamist, because it was true! So it seemed he hadn't been paying my expenses; but then I wasn't claiming anything from him in the case, no alimony - a little incoherent, all that.... After a few months I was finally informed that I was divorced, which was rather convenient for me as far as the bank was concerned. I had a marriage contract stipulating that our properties were separate; since I was the one with the money (he had nothing), I wanted to be free to do with it as I pleased. But the French were impossible in such matters: the woman was considered the minor party, so even if the money was the wife's and not the husband's, she couldn't withdraw it without his authorization. I don't know if it's still like that, but in those days the husband always had to countersign - an annoying situation! I got around this in Japan (the banker there found the rule stupid and told me to ignore it), but the bank here can be a pain in the neck, so it was good to get this cleared up. He remarried two or three more times. By now (I believe) he is the father of quite a large family, with grandchildren and perhaps great-grandchildren. He lives in America. Someone once told me he was dead, but I could sense that he wasn't. Then, out of the blue, E. arrived, full of admiration, telling me she had met Richard and how stunningly he could preach to people.... He had quite a life, you know! I don't like to talk about these things, though - they don't interest me. As Sri Aurobindo said, I lived my whole life absolutely free. I watched myself living through events like watching a movie. I had an inner vision, an inner will, and my inner reason for doing things was an Order received, an Order I was conscious of; but outwardly - fantastic! ... Naturally - how else could it have been? Here 'in Pondicherry, those last days might have become tragic (but of course it was impossible). There was the great argument (for he was perfectly aware of who I was): 'But after all,' he would tell me, 'since you are the eternal Mother, why have you chosen Aurobindo as Avatar? Choose me! You must choose me - me!' It was the Asura speaking through him. I would smile and not discuss it. 'That's not how it's done!' I would tell him (laughing). Then one day he said, 'Ah, so you don't want to.... (gesture to the throat) Well, if you don't choose me, then....' He was a strong fellow with powerful hands. I kept quite calm and said inwardly, My Lord, my Lord.... I called Sri Aurobindo and I saw him come, like that (gesture enveloping Mother and immobilizing everything). Then Richard's hands loosened their grip. There were marks on my neck. A few days later, it was the same scene again. It was always the same scene.... Then he would take the furniture (it wasn't ours, we had rented a furnished apartment) and start throwing it out the window into the courtyard!
page 368-72 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 5th Nov. - 1961


-668_Padma.html



When P. returns from Switzerland, she will have some very interesting stories to tell. She has written me of experiences she had with Swiss children, genuinely interesting experiences. It is going on everywhere, everywhere, everywhere, and in a much more precise and exact way than one would ever believe. Even in America.

page 239 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961


The action isn't limited. That is, it's probably limited to the earth ... although manifestations from other planets or other worlds seem to be multiplying, too. And there have been experiences lately, rather curious ones.
Other physical planets?
Physical. Yes, physical. I don't know if you've heard this, it's something P. told me. She was still in Switzerland, and shortly before she came back here, she had a vision (she was in her home, simply meditating, and she had a vision), and in her vision she saw five big "luminous cigars" going past like this, slowly, one behind the other, in single file. When she woke up, she wondered what it was.... And a few days later (maybe the next day or the day after, I don't know), she read in a newspaper the account of people in southern France (I don't remember in which part) who saw above the sea five "luminous cigars" go by, in single file, exactly the same color as those she had seen. But in their case, they saw it with their physical eyes. So that seems interesting. It was clearly a phenomenon of a subtle physical order (in its origin) or material vital (in its origin), but which manifested physically, and which may very well have come from other planets that are a little more subtle than the earth. There are many other experiences; this one I remember clearly. The Action is widespread.
page 222 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 7th Oct - 1964



-669_Pope.html



(Following a telegram from PL. announcing that he has been "excluded from the retinue" accompanying the Pope to the Geneva assembly.)
It seems to me to be a conflict between the Pope and the cardinals .... Have you got his letter?
Not yet. He simply says he has been 'excluded.
(After a silence) A. has told me that the two preceding popes had made considerable changes. I know that one of the changes was to recognize that life on earth was "purgatory" .... And apparently that was so much ground down and twisted that it all disappeared! Nothing remained. page 216 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 11th June , 1969


(Then Mother speaks of the new Pope, Paul VI, who was elected a few days earlier:)

Sri Aurobindo seems to have taken interest in the Pope's successor ... because two nights ago (not in the night, at four in the morning), I was with him - I spent a half hour with him (a half hour of OUR time, which is very long), he had just returned from a "tour," in Italy especially. We didn't directly talk about it, but some people were there (there were all kinds of things, many things), and from his comments to this or that person, or on this or that, I knew he was returning from Italy, where he had gone for the nomination of the new Pope. And he said something like: "It's the best that could be done under the present circumstances." That is, he appeared satisfied on the whole. I told you, didn't I, that I saw the death of Pope [John XXIII] without even knowing he was ill? ... One night, I suddenly saw in
the mental atmosphere of the EARTH quite an awesome movement, that is to say, quite global: there were great mental waves (nothing but mental), great waves of anxiety, as though all human thought were very upset; but it wasn't the anxiety of the believers, it was a very global movement - the earth's mental atmosphere was stirring with great movements of upheaval and anxiety (Mother draws waves in the air). I thought, "What's happening?... What's happening that can so upset men?" (as would happen, for instance, with a world war or events of that kind), "What's happening that can draw the attention of the whole earth's atmosphere, its mental atmosphere?" And the next day, I was told that just at that time, the Pope died. So I thought, "Indeed! ..." Afterwards (because I am not concerned with all those things), I learned what he was doing: his "Ecumenical Council" and all his reforms, his attempt, in short, to bring everyone together as much as he could (all the Christians, at least), and the fact that he had become a friend of the Russians, etc. So then, I concentrated, because according to natural logic (the logic of Nature's actions), the next Pope should be a horrible reactionary - in a word, it didn't bode well. I concentrated and tried to make things work out for the best. And I see that Sri Aurobindo did find the thing important, since he concentrated over there. According to the little popular wisdom, it seems his successor is a man with still more progressive ideas. I saw his photo ... (but it's a newspaper photo, they're generally very bad: you can't have any contact, you only see this much [gesture on the surface]). The thing that struck me most is a sort of insincerity. A benevolent and ecclesiastical insincerity - if you know what I mean?
Very well.
There was also the photo of the cardinal of India (the first and only cardinal in India), a straightforward man and a wholehearted believer - he must be a fanatical Catholic, but with a sincerity, a fervor. The other fellow is very intelligent - oh, he has a mouth I cannot look at, dreadful. Anyway, we'll see what happens. It seems Kennedy is Catholic. That is a serious matter. They say he was the first person the Pope saw after his ... what's the word for Popes?
Investiture?

I don't know. When he first appears in public: "Here is the Pope!" Anyhow, after the ceremony of investiture, he saw Mr. Kennedy: the first person. page 189-190 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 29th June 1963


At any rate, Sri Aurobindo is interested in world events, which means he considers the Pope's election has a certain importance.

page 192 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 29th June 1963


(This conversation took place a few days after the new Pope, Paul VI, was enthroned. Mother had asked Satprem to erase the recording, except for a few fragments, but he thought it fit to retain at least its integral transcription.)

Here, your flowers [roses]. A magnificent color.... Then I have another photo of the Pope (Mother shows "Time" magazine). It seems it's the photo he chose himself for the press, to announce his election. It's better than the last one. (Mother hands the photo to Satprem) So, what do you have to say?
You should be the one to say!
I have to say. I have to say that I know this man. I have met him several times. I don't know whether he is conscious, I mean I don't think he remembers when he returns to his body. But for a long time (not recently, certainly at least for a year, maybe two), the man has been involving himself in world affairs, which means he takes interest in global movements.[[Occultly speaking, Mother means. ]] I met him in this connection. I cannot say we've had interesting "conversations" or anything of that sort, but he is part of the organizations. I hadn't seen that at all in the other photo [published by the daily newspapers] ... it's his eyes. The mouth is bad as in the other photo, but bad in another way: he looks almost malicious. But the man has power - real power; not a Pope's power, I mean: real power, inside him.
Vital power, you mean, or spiritual?
Not spiritual! Not spiritual: power. Power - which means a somewhat higher mental capacity along with a vital realization. He's a man who, were he not the Pope, would have no scruples.
But he happens (laughing) to be obliged at least to appear good!
I get a sense of hardness.
Very hard. Just the opposite of the other one [John XXIII]. But he has publicly pledged to continue what the other one had begun. Only, the other one had no power whatsoever: he was simply a good man on earth. This one isn't a "good man"! He's an effective power in the terrestrial organizations. And now he has a position. It's a bit outdated [the papacy]. But not so much as one may think. I saw that when the other one died, oh, how it stirred the earth's mental atmosphere, it was considerable. Which means that many, many human beings are still governed by that. But I never concerned myself with that domain. Even when I saw the Pope, the one before the last one [Pius XII], who came to offer me the Keys (I told you the story, didn't I?), even with him, who had a SPIRITUAL rapport with the universal Mother, I never concerned myself. I never did anything for him, I never concerned myself with him. This time, for whatever reason, there is something that keeps pulling and pulling me in that direction. I don't know, maybe something decisive is going to be achieved? I don't know....
But is his power of organization a power for the "good," if I may say so, or what?
I tell you, it's a power of domination. But now he is the Pope, so his domination will have to be at the service of his position, you understand. But maybe ... The very fact that I met him (he may have been already thinking of becoming Pope, I don't know), but anyway, long before anyone except him thought of it, the fact that I met him while seeing to certain terrestrial arrangements shows that, probably unconsciously (I told you right away: I don't think he is conscious in his body), he is nevertheless under the influence, if not the control, of the higher forces. Why is my attention drawn all of a sudden in that direction? Generally, I am not interested in all those things. For the action, I am concerned only with the little field of experience I have been given, and my terrestrial action is of quite another nature; it's on a higher plane, very independent of individuals.
I find there are three noteworthy points: First, this man was already concerning himself with terrestrial affairs when he was a mere cardinal in Milan (in Milan he was very involved in labor problems - there are many workers in Milan - and that interested him, he liked to solve workers" problems). Then there is the continuation of the other one's work: the rapprochement, so to say, with Russia, which is truly interesting. Last, there is the fact that Kennedy is Catholic. And also, that all this is happening just now, I mean when AT LEAST (I don't say at best, I say at least) the foundation of the new world is being prepared.... The foundations are being prepared. We shall see. (Mother looks at the "Time" magazine photo again:) With these photos it's very interesting, I have intriguing experiences: all at once I'll see crystal clear (much clearer than I see physically), I'll see the individual very clearly - he comes alive, the eyes speak to me - and I'll say, "Oh, he's like this and like that...." Everybody brings me photos, because I am used to reading people's characters in their photos, that's very easy for me, elementary; but sometimes when I am given a photo, suddenly I see somebody and I say, "Oh, but it's such and such person, he's like this and like that...." But if I am shown the SAME photo a few days afterwards, it's just a photo and I see nothing. It's a method that's used to "let me know" certain things, and once I know them, it's finished. For instance, the first time I saw this photo of the Pope, when they brought it to me, I saw the man (I know him, you see) JUST AS I see him over there. But if I look at it now - it doesn't evoke anything in me any more, only the kind of things you see in a photo: a mouth that's not good, far from it.... Certainly, that he chose this photo means he LIKES authority - he wants to be seen in his aspect of authority. The odd thing is that he is seated [in the photo], while all the time I see him standing. He is seated with his hand on the armrest, but I keep seeing him standing - holding his head high, facing life, standing. He must be fairly tall: the man I know is fairly tall, he looks very much like this one. It's unmistakable, I mean, when I saw the photo I saw the man I knew. But I think ... not "think," I see that his belief is, first, simply a question of habit, because he was born in that religion, and then a question of political necessity - I don't think he has the conviction that it is the pure Truth. Whereas the previous Pope really believed in it. This one knows too much in his supraconscient to believe that Christianity is the pure and exclusive Truth. Only, you see, when you're lucky enough to be the Pope, you've got to believe that the Pope is the Pope! Try to imagine, look at the global situation from a distance: of course the whole world isn't Catholic, but there are Catholics all over the world. What seems ... bizarre to those who have gone beyond the petty, purely terrestrial limits - human terrestrial limits - is that belief in a SINGLE divine manifestation on the earth; all the religions are based on that, everyone says, "Christ was the only one," or "Buddha was the only one," or elsewhere "Mohammed was the only one," and so forth. Well, that "only one" is something IMPOSSIBLE as soon as you rise a little above the ordinary earth atmosphere - it appears childish. You can understand the thing and accept it only as a sort of recurrent movement of the divine Consciousness on the earth. Of course, officially there is only Christ; maybe for this man [Paul VI], he is still the greatest, but I would be surprised if he thought Christ was the only one. Only, Christ "has to" be the only one - you'd cut out your own tongue rather than say he's not! I don't think the question bothers him much (!) His concern is how to exert his power and keep people in it, so as, maybe, to prove his superiority. This much conviction they still have, you see, that their religion IS superior to all others, their power is superior to all others, and therefore they have to be more powerful than the others. That's the main idea: "To be the most powerful." And what's the way, now, for them to gain that all-powerfulness? Already for two or three generations, they have understood the necessity of a broadening: the narrowness of their dogma gave them too many weak points.... But he [Paul VI] understands maybe even better. We'll see what happens.
But he seems to me by far the most interesting Pope in a very long time.
It's strange, I got a sense of repulsion.
Repulsion? The only danger with these people is a spirit of Inquisition, but is that possible nowadays? I don't think so.
No, but under the cover of a "synthesis" or a broadening of the doctrine, they may very well be trying to expand further the power of Catholicism over the world.
Of course. Oh, but it's obvious. That's their intention. Only, there is always an irony in things: if they grow too vast, they'll be engulfed in their own magnitude! It cannot be otherwise. If, out of the need to enlarge, the Pope accepts, for instance, all the different sects (they've already started to accept the Protestants), if he accepts all those sects, (laughing) little by little they will either break apart or be drowned! You follow, if we look at it from above ... Let's even assume it's an Asuric power - it isn't ... (Mother hesitates) it isn't clearly and distinctly an Asuric power, because by his very position, the Pope is OBLIGED to recognize a god higher than himself; that god may, of course, be an Asura, but ... I have a sort of memory - the memory of a very ancient story no one ever told me ... in which the first Asura challenged the supreme Lord and told him, "I am as great as You!" And the answer was, "I wish you would become greater than I, because then there will be no more Asura." This memory is very living, somewhere.... If you become the Whole, it's finished - you see, the Asura's ambition is to be greater than the supreme Lord: "Become greater than I, then there will be no more Asura." On a very small scale, it's the same thing on the earth.
In a certain state of consciousness, it becomes absolutely impossible to worry about what may happen [[Mother is referring to Satprem's "worries" in the face of Catholic expansionism. ]]; everything becomes visibly, obviously, the work of one and the same Force, one and the same Consciousness, one and the same Power. So that sense and will and ambition to be "more" - more powerful, greater - is again the SAME Force which pushes you to expand to the Limitless. As soon as you cross the limit, it's finished. Those are old ideas - the old ideas of two powers opposing each other: the power of Good and the power of Evil, the battle between the two, which of the two will have the last word.... There was a time when children were entertained with such stories. They're just children's stories. page 199-203 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 3rd July 1963


Immediately afterwards, I had a visit from the Pope! The Pope [Paul VI] had come to Pondicherry (he does intend to visit India), he had come to Pondicherry and asked to see me (quite impossible things materially, of course, but they were perfectly simple and straightforward). So I saw him. He came, we met each other over there (in the music room), and we actually did speak to each other. I really felt the man in front of me (gesture of feeling), felt what he was. And he was very worried at the thought of what I was going to say to people about his visit: the revelation I would give of his visit. I saw that, but I didn't say anything. Finally he said (we were speaking in French, he had an Italian accent; but all this, you see, doesn't correspond to any thought: it's like pictures in a film), he said, "What will you tell people about my visit?" So I looked at him (inner contacts are more concrete than pictures or words) and I simply answered him, after staring at him intently, "I will tell them that we have been in communion in our love for the Lord...." And there was in it the warmth of a golden light - extraordinary! Then I saw something relax in him, as if an anxiety were leaving him, and he left like that, in a great concentration.

page 26 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 15th Jan 1964


In the Illustrated Weekly they have published photographs of the Pope's visit to Palestine, and there is one in which he is prostrating himself: he is kissing the ground on the Mount of Olives, where Christ, as the story goes, was informed that he would be crucified.

It put me again in contact with that man. And his intention is clear: to make religion quite real, in the sense that it isn't a myth, it isn't a legend - it's truly God who came, and so on. So, to him, this is "human greatness" prostrating itself before the "divine sacrifice." There is another photograph in which he is embracing the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church - heretics formerly, now they embrace each other. And all the people around him (they are well-dressed, you know, with modern suits) look like puppets, mon petit! Oh, it's awful! ... Awful. He at least has a force - or a will, at any rate. And he has a plan, he knows what he wants.

(silence)

He is also the first Pope to travel by plane, so they took his photograph in the plane - he gives a "broad smile," he looks very happy.

(long silence)

In sum, it is the glorification of physical suffering as a means of salvation. page 36-37 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 22th Jan 1964


A little later Have you seen the latest Illustrated Weekly? You know that the Pope is here, in Bombay, for the "Eucharistic Congress" - but what's the Eucharist, mon petit?
It's the Communion.
Ah, that's just what I thought!... There is in the Illustrated Weekly the history of those Eucharistic Congresses, and it seems a French lady was behind the origin of the first Congress (not so long ago, in the last century, I believe). And then (Mother smiles), there's a magnificent portrait of the Pope with a message he wrote specially for the Weekly's readers, in which he took great care not to use Christian words. He wishes them ... I don't know what, and (it's written in English) a celestial grace. Then I saw (he tried to be as impersonal as possible), I saw that in spite of everything, the Christians' greatest difficulty is that their happiness and fulfillment are in heaven. Instead of a celestial grace, they read to me, or I heard, a terrestrial grace! When I heard that, something in me started vibrating: "What! But this man has been converted!" Then I had it repeated and heard it wasn't that but really a celestial grace. This is the whole point.
Exactly.
They believe in a divine realization, but the divine realization isn't terrestrial, it's somewhere else, in a celestial world, that is, immaterial. And that is their great obstacle. page 305 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 2nd Dec - 1964


The Pope announced he was going to publish a message for non-Christians; I have asked to see it. Because in my mental conversations with him, two things have remained very precise.... He has a sort of political attachment. He is a very political man, in the sense that he does things for a reason, with a precise goal calculated according to his own understanding so as to make him most effective towards that goal - a political man. He has a political attachment to the dogma. For instance, after one of my conversations (I had a good number of conversations with him, three or four, on the mental level, and perfectly objective because his reactions were unexpected; to me they were very spontaneous, in the sense that I received answers that weren't at all those I might have expected - which proves it was genuine), but for example, before his election, I met him once (there is a part of his mental being, a higher intelligence, that's very well formed, conscious, individualized), and I had a spontaneous conversation that I hadn't sought and which was very interesting. But at one point, I replied to something he said, and I told him with the force I have there [on that higher plane], "The Lord is everywhere - even in hell the Lord is there." And then it caused such a violent reaction in him that, pfft! he vanished. I found it very striking.... I don't know the dogma, but it seems that in hell, according to the Catholics, what's worse than suffering, the fire and all that, is the absence of the Lord. It seems it's a dogma that the Lord is absent from hell; and me, I was speaking of universal Oneness and I told him that. There is another thing I remember very clearly, which struck me. It was after his election (but long before his trip to India was decided upon): he had come to India and he came to Pondicherry to meet me (not to meet me: he had come to Pondicherry, then he came and met me). Once in Pondicherry, he came and I saw him there, in the room where I receive people. We had a long conversation, a very long and interesting conversation, and suddenly (it was towards the end, it was time for him to go), when he rose, he was preoccupied by something. He told me, "When you speak to your children about me, what will you tell them?"... You understand, the ego showing itself. So I looked at him (Mother smiles) and said, "I will only tell them that we have been in communion in our love for the Supreme." Then he relaxed and left. It struck me. These things are very objective. But these are the little turns of the nature. Otherwise, his dream is to be the potentate of human spiritual unity. page 307 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 2nd Dec - 1964


Have you heard of the Pope's conversion?
The Pope's conversion! No!
I was very happy because it showed me that our conversations hadn't been in vain. I was wondering if he was conscious; I don't know if he was conscious mentally, but in any case it's interesting, you can read (Mother holds out a newspaper cutting to Satprem). Vatican City, September 26 The Pope, in an article published here last night, has said his journey to India in 1964 was "the revelation of an unknown world."
The Osservatore Romano published in an article excerpts from a forthcoming book of conversations with the Pope by a lifelong friend, the French philosopher and academician, Jean Guitton. "I saw, as is said in the Apocalypse, a limitless crowd, a multitude, an enormous welcome. In those thousands of faces I read, stronger than curiosity, a kind of indescribable sympathy," the Pope said. "India is a spiritual country. It has in its nature a sense of the 'Christian virtues'.... "Christian," he sees everything through his Christian word, but never mind. "If there is any country in which the Beatitudes of the Sermon of the Mount could ever become a reality for the mass of the country, that country is India," Pope Paul added.... Can you imagine! "What is nearer to the souls of Indians than poverty of spirit, sweetness, peace, mercy, and pureness of heart?" he asked. "While the leaders of the West are politicians, in the land of India they are mystics and sages.... Yes. "Life runs in contemplation. People speak in a low voice. Their movements are slow and liturgical. The country is born for the spirit," the Pope said. Still, it means he is receptive. And it explains the manner in which he received P. when he went there. P. [an Indian disciple], as you know, paid him a visit; he was taken there by an Italian who had come here (a very nice boy who showed him around Italy and took him to the Pope). The Pope gave him a private audience, and after talking, asking questions, replying (it was a whole conversation), he said to P. with a smile, "And now what will you give me?" (They spoke in French.) Then P. said, "I have only one thing, which I always keep with me and is infinitely precious to me, but I will give it to you," and he gave him Prayers and Meditations. And the Pope answered, "I am going to read them." So it all fits together. It's interesting. But this, a Pope saying this, is a new thing. It's new. And I had that mental contact with him perhaps just three weeks before he came to India (of course his thought was turned to India). We had a very interesting conversation, and all I said came to: "Spirituality is much vaster than a Church, and as long as you limit spiritual realization to a Church or a religion, you will be in complete Falsehood." He listened. And when he came to India, that's what he said! But I told you he was bothered by something. When he left, when it was time for me to get up and we had to leave each other, he looked at me with a sort of anxiety in his eyes, and said to me, "What will you say to your disciples about our meeting?" I smiled and said, "I will tell them that we were in communion in the ..." (not "identical" or "common," I forget the words) "love for the supreme Lord." Then his face relaxed and he left.... "We were in communion in the same ..." It wasn't "same" but ... I don't know, something expressing that both of us had been in communion in "the love for the Supreme Lord." And I said it like that, with a smile, which means it was Sri Aurobindo who spoke with his sense of humor.... His face relaxed and he left.


page 304-05 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 30th Sep - 1967




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X told me that in 6 months, he would come here to spend an entire month for the initiation and preparing for the initiation. He spoke to me of this in the street after having seen P, and in an enigmatic way he told me something along these lines: 'Yes, strong men are needed here. The Power is needed.' I did not clearly understand, for it was said with a lot of innuendo behind it.

page 289 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , March 1959




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In France, with Pétain, there was that grotesque affair of the "yellow star"; I think it has also left a very bad imprint.


page 98 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 30th April - 1966




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But is there a way for you to contact those people in Delhi andhave them told what you want?
Ah, if I sent someone they would receive him. It's this N.S. who is a member of the government, she has a whole group with her, a party that has grown fairly strong. It's quite recent, they've just asked us to send them someone. N.S. only knows N., so she told him, "Would you like to come?" N. has offered to go, but ...[[N.S. was to betray Indira Gandhi later, just as N. was to betray Mother. ]] He has a knack with people, but ...
No, he's not the man. He doesn't strike one as being pure and straight. He isn't a straight man.
(After a silence) He is still in the state in which one tries to please people....
A man like P.?
(Mother laughs) But he's not willing! He doesn't want to touch politics. Oh, in his field, he is strong indeed! (Mother laughs) But he isn't a politician.

(long silence)

The sign of true strength - true strength - is becoming ab-so-lute-ly calm, imperturbably calm in the face of danger - danger or the need to make decisions and do things. An unshakable calm, like that (inflexible gesture, like a sword), which is established immediately, automatically. That's the sign. It was very interesting. You weren't here when the Ashram was attacked, were you? [[On February 11, 1965 (see Agenda VI, February 19 and 24, 1965). ]] It was very interesting. You know, fires lighting up here, there, at the corner over there, people shouting, stones flying.... That day I had an unforgettable experience. The minute the actual news of the attack came, the consciousness was as if drawn into the universal physical consciousness, like that (widespread gesture). And it was from there, from the universal physical consciousness, that everything was watched. That's how I was able to see: I was able to see the reaction IN EVERYONE. It was really interesting, oh, really interesting! Anything that started vibrating (I am not even talking about fear - those who have fear, that goes without saying, it means catastrophe - not even fear: excitement), anything that started vibrating in that way attracted - ATTRACTED - things (I was looking at the whole scene at once), attracted danger. Naturally, my body was like this (imperturbable gesture), but that was nothing, because for me ... But P. became like this (same gesture), like an unmoving sword: calm, calm.... That's how I knew [what he was], I didn't know before. All the others ... (vibrating, excited gesture) phew! The headquarters were here, in this room, the whole night till midnight; everybody met here. And I saw in everyone - everyone. From above, it was such a clear, clear vision, and imperturbable, absolutely impersonal.... I saw what was going on everywhere, but everywhere. There was a movement of excitement and a stone came from the street and hit the wire screen of my window - only one. I knew why, who it was. It was quite interesting.
page 176 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967


Ah, let me show you a photo that was taken the other day, on P.'s birthday (Mother holds the photo out to Satprem). It's not me looking here: it's when I give a "bath of the Lord." Even in the photo, the light in the eyes can be seen. Some people get frightened, others on the contrary are happy - it's an instantaneous sorting. And I know, I know what this look is: it's the moment when there is no personal consciousness left, it's completely gone. There isn't the sense of a person anymore: it's the Force. But it's the first time it's caught in a photo. T. had asked for my permission to come and take photos. P. looks like a giant beside me.
page 358 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 28th Oct - 1967


Pranad-da speech , on December 4, 1973

"I arrived at about five past seven [in Mother's room, the evening of November 17] and saw that Dr. Sanyal was already there examining Her. Dyumanbhai [the disciple who brought Mother her meals] also had come. I went and felt the Mother's pulse. It was still there, beating at long intervals. There was still some respiration. But slowly everything stopped. The doctor gave an external heart massage to Her. It had no effect. Then he declared that the Mother had left Her body. This was at 7:25 p.m. Then, being present and feeling my responsibility, I thought what I should do. At that time there were present Andre [Mother's son], Champaklalji [the helper], Dr. Sanyal, Dyumanbhai, Kumud [the attendant] and myself. I talked with Andre and told him that I wanted to wait for some time and then take the Mother's body down, place it in the Meditation Hall for people to see. We would keep the body in such a way that it was not disturbed, then we would decide what to do. Andre agreed to my proposal. He wanted to remain with us but as he was not well I suggested that he should go home and take rest and come the next day. He left. We remained there and discussed what to do. Now we thought that if people immediately came to know about the Mother's passing there would be a big rush, and the crowd would all clamor to see Her. There would be noise and shouts and a tremendous confusion. So we thought of keeping the event secret for some time. Also Dr. Sanyal said that we must not disturb the body in any way for several hours. So the Mother was left as She was and after I I o'clock, when the gate of the Ashram was closed, we cleaned Her body with eau de cologne, put a nice dress on Her, arranged everything and then Dyumanbhai and I went down and called Nolinida. Nolinida came up, saw everything, and asked what we were going to do. I mentioned my plans to him. He said the Mother had once told him that if it looked to us that She had left her body we should not be in a hurry, but see that Her body was properly kept, and then wait. I said, "We are just about to do the same. We have cleaned Her, otherwise ants and insects would have come. We have put on Her a new dress and we shall carry Her quietly, carefully downstairs and lay Her in the Meditation Hall. After some time we shall call people." He agreed to our proposal.... At about 2 o'clock [in the morning] we brought the Mother's body down, placed Her on the bed, arranged everything. Then I went out, called Mona, told him to come and see me with four other boys, five of my lieutenants, so to say. When they came I explained to them what to do: to call the photographers first, then to call the [Ashram] trustees, then all those who were very close to Her.... From 3 o'clock the people who had been called started coming. While we were upstairs, we prepared some kind of statement that could go to the Press and to All India Radio so that no wrong information might go out.... Our draft of the statement we got corrected by Nirodda and gave it to Udar to circulate. At 4:15 in the morning we opened the gate of the Ashram for people to come in and have a last Darshan....
page 144-45 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 5th Apr - 1972-1973




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There's a problem. It's about P.L. - do you know who he is?[[A visitor who has been staying in the Ashram for some time. ]]
No.
He is one of the dignitaries of the Roman Curia.
I don't understand! He is a Catholic?
He's going to be appointed bishop in [such and such a country].
...!!!
So there's a problem. He is an important person, and he wantsto leave everything - this whole Christianity he rejects, he no longer wants it. He wants to leave his Church, his episcopate, everything, and remain here. He has "found" something here.

Yes, I saw that man: he was very much attached.
Yes, and he wants to leave everything. But it's a problem,because the slightest thing may cause scandals in Italy. The Communists are always ready to seize on the least opportunity: a priest who gives up the frock ... Not only a priest, but an apprentice bishop of the Roman Curia. So he would like it to take place without scandals. But how should he go about it?
I saw the man, and I found him very good.
He is very good. He has something. He has experiences with SriAurobindo, he sees Sri Aurobindo. But there too, there's a pro blem. First, he needs your force: he's a man without much force vitally and physically. When he goes out of his body ... The other day, he saw Sri Aurobindo at the Samadhi, and at the same time his body was being devoured by wild beasts and thrown out of his bed. He is attacked, he needs to be protected. Vitally and physically, he is weak. So you understand, if he goes back to Rome, those people won't let him go without a battle.... He'd like to ask you how he should proceed?
Is he from [such and such a country]?
Yes, and he is employed in Rome's Court, he looks after divorcecases. So on the one hand he needs your force to carry out this operation - it really is an operation - and then, what's the way to avoid a scandal? He told me he is the right-hand man of Cardinal T. [[Cardinal Tisserant, who died in 1972. ]]: "Should I use my influence with Cardinal T. to be given a sort of mission outside Rome, in Africa or in India, gradually distancing myself from Rome, keeping out of the limelight, and then disappearing? Or should I directly speak to the Pope and tell him clearly all that's going on?..." Because you know that when the Pope came to Bombay, P.L. was with him in the plane....
I prefer the solution of speaking to the Pope.
page 85-86 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Mar - 1968


P.L. has left. He had me asked for "blessings packets" to help him ... (laughing) through four different people, to make sure he got them! He said about the same thing to everyone - that he was about to do something very hard and he needed my very active help.... So I gave four packets!


page 100 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 10th Apr - 1968


I saw P.L. yesterday. He is still terribly nervous. He said he was much better, but the least thing makes his face tense up. And there's still around him ... So he must stay on to let all that be undone, cleared out, destroyed. It's interesting, interesting things are taking place.


page 140 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 22nd May - 1968




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Did I tell you the miracle that took place? You haven't heard about it? ... In Auroville we're going to build a big factory to mill wheat, but something huge (it's to mill wheat for the whole of India!), huge. Machines are coming I don't know from where, huge too. And they chose to land them at Pondicherry because going from Pondicherry to Auroville is easier than from Madras to Auroville. Only, when the ship came and they saw the number and the size of crates, they got terribly scared - it wasn't possible. Here it's a woman, Padmini., who owns the landing barges, and she refused. I had her told that I needed her help and she had to do it (because she had claimed she wanted to serve me, so I took advantage of it!). I told her, "I need your help, do it." She was obliged to do it. For two days, everything went well, but they had kept the biggest crate for the end - a six-ton crate, huge - and no one knew how to do it. They would have needed enormous cranes like the ones they have in Madras, but they don't have them here: they only had two puny cranes, which together didn't even WEIGH six tons! (Mother laughs) And those cranes were supposed to lift the crate from the ship and put it on the barge. There was no other way, only that way. So they tied the crate to the two cranes and started lifting ... and the two cranes went like this (gesture of tipping over). There were people below-people looking after the trans shipment - and everyone, including the ship's captain, everyone stood there, terrified. "That's it," they thought, "we're done for, it's catastrophe." The two cranes went like this (same gesture) ... and all of a sudden, they straightened up. No one ever knew how. They straightened up, carried the crate, and it was over. It was so obviously a miracle - the captain stood almost terrorstricken, everyone. And then, those crates were intended for someone here, Mani-Bhai . (of "Aurofood"), to whom I had given a blessings packet the day before the landing, and he had it on him. So he went to see the captain and told him (showing the small packet), "See this, it's what straightened up the cranes." A very simple man.
page 88 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 12th Mar - 1969



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Well, yesterday I saw R. He was asking me questions about his work and particularly about the knowledge of languages (he's a scholar, you know, and very familiar with the old traditions). This put me in contact with that whole world and I began speaking to him a little about what I had already said to you concerning my experience with the Vedas. And all at once, in the same [absolute] way as I told you, when I entered into contact with that world a whole domain seemed to open up, a whole field of knowledge from the standpoint of languages, of the Word, of the essential Vibration, that vibration which would be able to reproduce the supramental consciousness. It all came, so clear, so clear, luminous, indisputable - but unfortunately there was no tape recorder!

page 46 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 27th Jan. 1961


Not understood, of course ... Someone, C., wanted to translate Notes on the Way and A Propos into Hindi, in one volume. He spoke with R. about it, and R. wrote to me, "People don't understand anything," and he feels "the human language is unfit to express that, so how will it turn out in a translation? - A platitude. It would be better to wait." I fully agree, I told him it would be better to wait.


page 373 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 15th Nov - 1967


The other thing is about R., who had had an attack of filariasis a few years ago. He had told me about it and it had passed. Then it came back. It came back after some three or four years, very strongly, and he couldn't get rid of it. He wrote to me complaining. I told him there was a "drop in his faith." It appears it was the third time I'd written that to him (I knew nothing about it - I never know either why or how I write things). So he wrote back to ask me, "It's the third time you've told me that, what does it mean?" I explained it to him. But while receiving his letter and explaining it to him, I did what I always do (I always do it, all the time), I put him in contact with the Lord and asked for his intervention.... He got my letter, and today he writes to me that while he was reading it, in the space of about ten minutes, he actually saw (his foot had grown twice as big, his leg was swollen, you know how it is with elephantiasis), he actually saw it shrink and shrink, and in ten or fifteen minutes it was gone! He wrote it to me this morning.... I had told him that the Force was the same, it was his faith that was no longer the same, and that was why the Force no longer had the same effect. And he writes in his letter, "I was simply reading your letter, and it went away before my very eyes!" And this body, if you ask it, the only thing ... There are two things it's conscious of: a more and more intense adoration in the cells, oh, like this (gesture like a rising flame), and at the same time, such an acute sense of the extent to which the cells are not what they should be, of the unworthiness of their condition. Those two things are constant and constantly together. And that's all. And when I am told of cases like this one, of disease or something else (I am told three, four, five such cases every day, things like that constantly happen - I gave you this one as a very concrete example because it's happened just now and you know R.), the body isn't even aware of being used as an intermediary, because it's too conscious of its infirmity, of what it should be and isn't yet.... It's like that cure [of the swelling of Mother's face], it was a cure like R.'s,
page 143 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 22nd May - 1968


(Then Satprem prepares to read a new chapter of

Supermanhood: "The Bifurcation.")

We should get the introduction translated into Hindi. I'll see with R.
page 355 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 21st Oct. - 1970




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It's like that famous Nirvana - you can find it behind everything. There's a psychic nirvana, a mental nirvana, even a vital nirvana. I think I already told you about the experience I had with Tagore in Japan. Tagore always used to say that as soon as he started meditating he entered Nirvana, and he asked me to meditate with him. We sat together in meditation. I was expecting to make a very steep ascent, but he simply went into his MIND, and there ... (what I do, you see, is tune in to the person I am meditating with, identify with him - that's how I know what happens). Well, he started meditating, and everything quite rapidly came to a halt, became absolutely immobile (this he did very well), and from there he sort of fell backwards, and it was Nothingness. And he could remain in that state indefinitely! We did in fact stay like that for a rather long time; I don't remember how long, three quarters of an hour or an hour, but anyway it was long enough. I was keeping alert the whole time to see if, by chance, he would go on into something else, but there he stayed - he stayed there nice and calm, without stirring. Then he came back, his mind started up again, and that was that. I said nothing to him. But it was a true nirvana: Nothingness. Not a single sensation, not a movement - no thoughts, of course - nothing, not a vibration: just like that, Nirvana. So I quite naturally concluded that there is a nirvana behind the mind, since he went there directly. And through my own experiments in the different zones of the being I became aware that, indeed, there is a nirvana behind everything (there must be a nirvana behind the physical cell too - maybe that's what death is! Who knows, it's possible). A nothingness, nothing stirs any more. And nothing's there any more - nothing's there, there's nothing to stir (Mother laughs). It's the Nothing. page 395 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 30th Oct. 1962



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Rita:
"The actual fact of death evokes in me an experience in which one is thrust into space and soars up." Amusing! I found it very amusing. She is the only one, besides, the others are quite practical. [[This young girl, to whom death looked so graceful, was to die four years later. ]]
Dilip:
"A cessation of all physical activity caused by the absence of a source of energy (or soul)."
It's not clear.... The other two are quite practical (!)
Anand:
"When the brain stops functioning and the body starts decomposing, it's death."

(Mother laughs heartily)

The last one is quite matter-of-fact.
Abhijit:
"Blood circulation in the brain cells stops completely." That's death. As for me, I'll tell them this (Mother reads with difficulty): "Death is the phenomenon of decentralization and scattering of the cells making up the physical body. "Consciousness is, in its very nature, immortal, and in order to manifest in the physical world, it clothes itself in material forms that are durable to a greater or lesser degree. "The material substance is in process of transformation to become an increasingly perfect and durable multiform mode of expression for that consciousness." I am going to send it to them. But I appreciated their notes.... The interesting thing (for me) is that when I opened these four notes yesterday evening and read Abhijit's first, "When circulation stops ... ," then, I don't know, there certainly was a special grace over me, because I read those words and was instantly put in contact with the most objective, calm and detached scientific spirit - that was its way of seeing and describing the phenomenon: no emotion, no reaction, simply like that. And I saw (I understood and saw infinitely more than the boy put into it) a whole wisdom there, a scientific wisdom. And at the same time, the perception of the remedy in the evolutionary course of things. The most material remedy. It gave me a whole series of experiences in the night and the morning, certainly far exceeding the field covered by their four reflections.... With the little girl [Rita], there was the impression, the vision of all those to whom death is a gateway to a marvelous realization.

It all came so spontaneously and naturally that I felt as if it was THERE. Now that you've read it back to me (laughing), I realize it's not there! But it came so spontaneously: I sat there, reading those four notes, and it came one after another. Especially Abhijit's, this completely objective, or anyway completely detached vision of the phenomenon: "Circulation stops ..." As if you were looking at a small instrument or tool (Mother gestures as if fingering a small object), and you remarked, "Oh, it's stopped now ... that's why it no longer works." Like that. In other words, none of those uncertainties or anxieties or aspirations.... All that was emotions, sentiments, psychological phenomena - it was all completely absent.... A very simple little contraption (same fingering gesture) which you look at as you would a machine, and the machine stops "because it no longer goes like that." There. And as a result, this body was completely detached from all human anguish - from everything: not only from anguish, but from the habit, the whole human formation about death - it was all gone. As if I were all the way up above, like that, and looking all the way down - hup! it went away.
page 132-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 18th May - 1968



Soon afterwards I've been given the continuation of T.F.'s class about death. There are new notes.

(Mother holds out a paper to Satprem)

Sweet Mother, we have received your answer withjoy and send you our reflections and our questions about the first paragraph: "Death is the phenome non of decentralization and scattering of the cells...."
So then?
Abhijit says, "If a cell becomes conscious of itsown personality, there is a risk that it may act in its own interest without regard for the collective interest."
(Mother laughs) The interest of a cell!
Then?
Amitangshu asks two questions. The first is, "Doesthe decentralization take place all at once or in degrees?..."
It takes time. It happens like this: the central will of the physical being abdicates its will to hold all the cells together. That's the first phenomenon. The central will accepts dissolution. But everything doesn't just scatter all at once - it takes a long time. What precedes death is accepting to cease the centralization in the form for some reason or other. I have noticed that one of the strongest reasons (one of them, very strong) is a sense of irreparable disharmony. Another is a sort of disgust at carrying on the effort of coordination. There are, in fact, innumerable reasons, but there is a sort of effort of cohesion and harmonization, and what inevitably precedes death (unless it's caused by a violent accident) is that, for one reason or another, or for no reason, that will to maintain cohesion abdicates.
There's a second question: "Must each cell beconscious of its unity with the center?"
That's not how it is.

(after a long silence)

It's hard to make them understand.... It's still a semicollective consciousness, not an individual consciousness of the cells. Then?
Anand Arya asks this: "Does the decentralizationalways take place after death, or can it begin before?"
(Laughing) It often begins before!
Dilip M. asks, "Do the cells scatter in space or within the body? If it is in space, then the body must disappear with the cells?"
Naturally! Naturally, after death the body dissolves. But it takes a long time....
These children don't know because [in India] bodies are burned.
Rita asks, "In the phrase 'scattering of the cells,'doesn't the word 'scattering' have a particular meaning? If so, which one?"
I used the word in its quite positive meaning. I have even seen that those cells that have been specially developed and have become conscious of the divine Presence within themselves, when the concentration that gives shape to the body is stopped and the body dissolves (it dissolves little by little), all those conscious cells spread out and enter other combinations in which, through contagion, they awaken the consciousness of the Presence each of them had. So then, it's through this phenomenon of concentration, development and scattering that Matter in its totality evolves, so to speak, and learns through contagion, develops through contagion, experiences through contagion.
But what enters other combinations isn't the cell itself - it's thesubtle consciousness of the cells?
Yes, of course! The cell, too, dissolves. It's the CONSCIOUSNESS of the cells that penetrates others. It's very hard to explain to one who doesn't have the experience.
page 153-55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd June - 1968


"Is the will to progress sufficient to prevent thedeterioration that stems from time? How can the physical being prevent this deterioration?"
That's just what the body's transformation is about! It's when the physical cells become not only conscious, but RECEPTIVE to the true Consciousness-Force, that is, when they allow the working of that higher Consciousness. That's the work of transformation.... Not so easy!
The other question: "How does the central Willand Light, which is nonmaterial, act on the gross matter of the cells?"
It's exactly like asking, "How does the Will act on Matter?..." The whole Life is like that! It should be explained to these children that their whole existence is the result of the action of the Will; that without the Will, Matter would be inert and motionless, and the fact that the vibration of the Will has an action on Matter is precisely what permits Life, otherwise there wouldn't be any Life. If they want a scientific answer, the how, that's more difficult, but the FACT is there, it's a fact that can be seen every second.
page 203 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 17th July - 1968



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I said this to Rijuta the other day: there are immense periods during which things are prepared - the past wears out and the future is prepared - and those are immense periods ... neutral, drab, during which things keep repeating themselves over and over, and look as if they will always remain that way. Then, all of a sudden, between two such periods, the change takes place. Like the moment when man appeared on earth - now it's something else, another being. In any case, it is certain that we shall see the signs, or rather that we are now seeing the precursory signs.... I said that to Rijuta while announcing to her (she didn't know it) that the U.S. president would go to Moscow to sign a peace treaty with Vietnam. There were three wars, one of which had stopped but wasn't resolved: that was the war between Egypt and Israel, over which they have reached an agreement. I forget the third. And all three wars at the same time. But the most serious of the three was the war between America and Vietnam. So I said that to her; I told her, "This is a sign." And it isn't a mental conception, it's not ideas: at the time of saying it I SAW it, I saw. Yes, something is really changing.
page 144 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 22nd May - 1968


I had an experience which I found interesting, because it was the first time. It was yesterday or the day before (I forget), R. was here, just in front of me, kneeling, and I saw her psychic being towering above by this much (gesture about eight inches), taller. It's the first time. Her physical being was short, and the psychic being was tall, like this. And it was a sexless being: neither man nor woman. So I said to myself (it may be always that way, I don't know, but at that time I noticed it very clearly), I said to myself, "But the psychic being is the one that will materialize and become the supramental being!" I saw it, it was like that. There were distinctive features, but not very pronounced, and it was clearly a being that was neither male nor female, that had features of both combined. And it was taller than her, it exceeded her on every side by about this much (gesture extending beyond the physical being by about eight inches). She was here, and it was like this (gesture). Its color was ... this color that, if it became very material, would be Auroville's color [orange]. It was softer, as if behind a veil, it wasn't absolutely precise, but it was this color. And there was hair, but ... it was something else. Another time maybe I'll see better. But I found it very interesting, because that being seemed to tell me, "You're wondering what the supramental being will be - here it is! Here it is, this is it." And it was there. It was her psychic being. Then one understands. One understands: the psychic being will materialize ... and it gives a continuity to evolution. So then, I understood why the mind and the vital were sent away from this body, and the psychic being was left (naturally, it was the psychic being that governed all movements earlier, so it was nothing new, but there were no more difficulties: all the complications coming from the vital and the mind, which add their imprints, their tendencies, it was all gone). So I understood: "Ah, that's it, it's this psychic being that is to become the supramental being."


page 245-46 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 1st July - 1970






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You know that in the night that followed the darshan, they found Rishabhchand... [[An old and very faithful disciple whose body was found on the beach. This is the continuation of the series that began with Bharatidi, then Amrita, Pavitra.... Rishabhchand was the author of Sri Aurobindo - His Life Unique. ]] For almost a year he had asked me to leave. So, when he asked me to leave (he asked quite in earnest: he was suffering a lot, quite miserable), I did what I always do: I presented his request to the Supreme Lord and said to Him ... And then, he didn't leave. He recovered. He recovered and for some time he was much better. But his will to go remained. So then, on the day of darshan (I think he saw me, I don't know), he disappeared from his room, and they found his body partly on the shore, partly in the water. As it was a public place, the police asked for an autopsy, and it was done: there wasn't a drop of water in his stomach, which means he didn't drown. And it does seem, according to what people say, that he didn't drown (but I didn't see the body, so I am not absolutely sure), but one thing is sure, it's that he left his body, and another thing is sure, it's that he did not kill himself.... He went out before 4 in the morning (they don't know at what time - sometime in the night). At 4 they realized he had gone out. No one heard him leave. And he died, obviously but he did not kill himself. So what happened?... He had a bump at the forehead: he fell down.
There was a kind of hole. He must have fallen down and hit a rock.
But were there rocks there?
Yes, Mother, in front of the Distillery they are piling up tons of rocks.
Oh, it was in front of the Distillery!
It's not clear, because he was found on the sand, a little farther. But the face had been hit.
But he didn't drown, I am sure of that. It's a so-called "accident," which means he left ... You understand, he was really imploring to go, and he went out - he must have been guided where he had to go.
But then, I should tell you that some people are telling verystupid stories on Rishabhchand's departure.
Oh, what do they say?
Well, they say he committed suicide.
But that's not true!



(Concerning a disciple who wanted to finish

"The Life of Sri Aurobindo" left incomplete

by Rishabhchand.)

I thought Rishabhchand had finished "The Life of Sri Aurobindo."
He stopped where Sri Aurobindo comes to Pondicherry [in 1910].
That's enough. There's no need to add anything, just a note -- a sentence or two will do. There's nothing to say about his life here.... Basically no one really knows the life he led here. I am afraid they'll write a lot of nonsense. I would prefer that nothing be said -- they can say he retired to Pondicherry to lead the life of Yoga and henceforth only that mattered, and it's better not to speak of it. That's all. It doesn't have to be lengthy: just a chapter to close the series, to say that his life in Pondicherry was exclusively taken up with Yoga and that he wrote what he wanted to say, and consequently there's nothing more to add. We have everything he wrote, and it's much better than anything we can say about it.
page 66 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 10th Mar - 1971



-696_Swamy Ramalingam.html



Someone sent me a letter on the body's transformation, if you are interested.
Let's see....
It seems that a Tamil yogi [Swami Ramalingam] of this region,who lived around 1850, had experiences, which he described in a poem and appear rather connected.... Experiences of the trans formation of the skeleton, bones, etc. It's a Tamilian who sent me this letter, asking me to put the question to you.
All right.
"The Mother may throw light on the nature and extentof the transformation the Swami had in the last part of his life. The Swami often declared affirming the transformation and deathlessness of his body by the power of what he calls 'Arut Perum Joti,' the infinite or vast Grace-Light of the Divine. He also made the forecast and promise around the year 1870, that the supreme Divine would come soon to the earth for establishing his direct rule of Grace-Light (which the Swami also called as the Truth-Light) when a new race of people would arise defying disease, ageing and death...." [[Original English. ]]
It's interesting.
Then here is the text of this sage, translated from the Tamil:
Extract from "Joti Agaval" (Swami Ramalingam's poem, verses 725-740)
"O my unique Love which sprang from my heart and filledit so much that it made my life blossom. O my Lord of unique Love who has given himself to me wholly and by the Grace-Light has transmuted me. My Love that has entered and unified with me in my heart, so as to transform my body into a golden body. The skin has become supple, the influx of the nervous current all over the body is vibrating, with pauses in between; the bones have become pliable and plastic in their nature; the soft muscles have become truly loosened; the blood has become condensed within; the

semen has become concentrated into a single drop and con fined in the chest; the petals of the brain [[In traditional Indian experience, the centers of consciousness or chakras are compared to lotuses whose petals open or close. ]] have blossomed or expanded; amrita [nectar of immortality] is welling up into springs all over the body and filling it up; the luminous forehead perspires; the luminous face brightens up; the breath full of peace becomes cool and refreshing; the inner smile beams up; the hair stands on end; tears of joy flow down towards the feet; the mouth vibrates into the passion ate calling [of the Divine]; the ear tubes ring with the sense of musically humming sound; the body has become cool; the soft chest moves; the hands join [as in prayer]; the legs revolve or spin round; the mind melts sweetly, the intelli gence becomes full of light; the will becomes full of joy and harmony; the individuality has enlarged itself everywhere; the heart has blossomed into the universality of feeling so as to be felt by the world outwardly; the whole knowledge- body has become blissful; even the spiritual egoism of the senses has gone away; the senses (tattva) have been replaced wholly by the truth (sattva), the truth-principle or truth- substance which alone prevails now uniquely; attachment to objects of the senses and to things of the world has dissolved away, and only the aspiration and will towards the illimitable Grace grows and intensifies." [[This translation of the original Tamil text into English (with minor editing here) probably gives only a very rough idea of the experience. ]]
And how long did he live like this?
It seems it happened the him towards the end of his life, and Ithink it must have lasted for a few years. ...He said he would "return." [["The Swami dematerialized his body in January or February 1874, leaving a promise that he would return at the time of the God of the vast Grace-Light." ]]
1870?
Yes, he was born in 1823 and died in 1874.
He died two years after Sri Aurobindo's birth.
What did he say about the legs? I didn't understand.
He says that the bones have become supple.... "The body hasbecome cool; the soft chest moves; the hands join as in prayer; the legs revolve or spin round...." Which means, I suppose, that the legs can move in every direction, since the bones have become "pliable."

(long silence)

How many experiences of this kind people had without anyone to note them....
But you often wondered about the skeleton, in fact, you askedhow it could change.
In my case too.
Here, he says it becomes plastic, supple.
But then, how can he keep standing?
Through this "condensation" ...Is it because of this condensa tion of the blood he mentions?
What could that be?
I don't know what that condensation of the blood is.... But thereis one thing I haven't heard you mention and which Sri Auro bindo often refers to (in The Supramental Manifestation, for instance), that's the transformation of organs through the chakras, through the energy of the centers of consciousness. You very rarely mention the chakras or the role of the chakras.... Couldn't one conceive that these centers of energy may provide the body with a framework strong enough for it to stand?

page 254-57 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 11th July - 1970


Mother, one last thing, a question asked by the person who wrote the letter: he. asks whether the "vast Grace-Light" or "Truth- Light" the Swami mentions is the supramental light?
Which light?
The vast "Grace-Light."
Grace-Light.... Oh, I liked that very much in his letter. Grace-Light, that's what is working, you know: the work being done through this [Mothers body] is exactly like that, it's exactly like a Grace-Light. I liked that a lot. It's exactly that. You see, it's a light with several degrees, and in the most material it's slightly ... it must be the supramental force, because it's slightly golden, slightly pinkish (you know that light), but very, very pale.
page 259-60 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 11th July - 1970


"The translation of Swami Ramalingam's experiences wasread out to Mother, and she does not doubt their authentic ity; she particularly liked the manner in which the Swami called that light 'Grace-Light,' and she said it corresponds to her own experience. She remarked that over the ages, and even now, it is quite likely that a number of individuals, known or unknown, have had similar experiences. The only difference is that at present, instead of an individual possi bility, there is a collective possibility - that is precisely Sri Aurobindo's and Mothers work: to establish, as a terrestrial fact and a possibility for everyone, the supramental con sciousness or 'Grace-Light' as Swami Ramalingam called it."

But from what you said, I understood that this "Grace-Light"was the supramental light.
It's ONE of the actions of the supramental light. But it doesn't matter.
page 269 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 22nd July - 1970


"Did you really mean that Ramalingam was in DIRECTcontact with the Supramental?...
Why not!...
page 270 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 22nd July - 1970


Was this man alive recently?
No, around 1850. He died two years after Sri Aurobindo's birth,and he announced the coming of an incarnation of the Divine and a new race that would "defy death, ageing" and so on - one year before Sri Aurobindo's birth.

page 271 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 22nd July - 1970




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There was another case of a man who had been brought to the cremation ground, but a torrential rain started - no question of burning him. They left him there and said, "We'll burn him tomorrow." But the next morning when they came, he wasn't there any more! (Laughing) He was gone. But that's not all: thirty years later, he returned (he was a Raja): he had been picked up by sannyasins, taken into solitude, and had become a sannyasin, until, thirty years later, for God knows what reason, he thought it best to go and claim his possessions, so he returned with proofs that he was indeed the same man....[[It is the story of the Raja of Bhaowal, which created a sensation in the Indian press around 1930. ]]

page 273 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 10th Aug. 1963



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(A little later, regarding the music composed by Sunil on the theme of "The Hour of God":)

It begins with something he calls "aspiration" - oh, it's beautiful! ... I have rarely heard something with so pure and so beautiful an inspiration. All of a sudden, a "sound" comes, which is exactly the sound you hear up above. And it isn't too mixed (the fault I find with all classical music is all the accompaniment which is there to give more "substance," but which spoils the purity of the inspiration: to me, it's padding), well, with Sunil, the padding isn't there. He doesn't claim to be making music, of course, and the padding isn't there, so it's truly beautiful. I have decided not to play this year for January 1st. Even last year, I very much hesitated to play because I was absolutely conscious of the inadequacy - the poorness and inadequacy - of the physical instrument; but there was a sort of reasonable wisdom which knew how a refusal to play would be interpreted [by the disciples], so I played - without satisfaction, and it wasn't worth much. But the music I heard yesterday was so much THAT, SO much what I would like to play, that I said to myself, "Well, now it would be unreasonable to want to keep in a personal manifestation something that has a much better means of expression [Sunil]." So I have decided to say "No" for January 1st. But I will see if Sunil couldn't prepare something on the theme of next year's message, something that would be recorded and played for everyone, in an anonymous way - no need to say, "It's by this or that person," it's music, that's all. page 296-97 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 28th Nov - 1964


(This conversation took place in the music room. Mother had asked Sunil, the musician disciple, and Sujata to come.)

Can anybody play the harmonica? (laughter) I've just been given a harmonica! It comes from Germany. (To Sunil:) Don't you know how to play it?... No?
(Sujata:) Satprem would very much like to learn to play some instrument, Mother, you know.
(Satprem:) But not the harmonica!
(To Sunil:) Did they tell you why I called you? No? Don't you know French anymore, tell me? - He doesn't dare speak. Here is the thing: I like your music, and as for me, I no longer play! - I don't have the time. I never have an opportunity, I haven't played for the last twelve months; except when Sujata comes, then I run a finger over the keys. So it's quite impossible for me to play on January 1st, but I thought we could perhaps arrange something.... Today, I'll read you the message for the 1st (it isn't a "message"), I'll read it to you and then we'll try to do something with it. Do you know this instrument (the organ)? Can you play it?...
There are pedals, mon petit, enough to make your head swim! I can't play that! (laughter) So Sujata will play the pedals, and I'll play the keys! If something comes, you can use it and do me some music for the 1st. And then, instead of recording here, we'll record your affair for everybody!
(Sunil:) What you are going to play now I'll keep.
No! I'm not playing - I'll just pretend to! With that you will do something. You understand? Maybe nothing at all will come! I can't say. This morning ... This morning, I don't know, did you think of your visit here? Yes?... I heard magnificent music - magnificent! But it was music ... it took at least four hands to play it, or several instruments. If that came ... Wait.... The message (it isn't a "message"!) ... There is a photo of me in which I have my hands folded and I look happy (!), so I wrote underneath, Salut à Toi, Vérité. Then I was asked to put it into English - I said, Salute to the advent of the Truth. So this is the theme. We'll see now if we find something. This morning, it was magnificent.... But even if that were there, I wouldn't be able to play it: it would take almost an entire orchestra! And moreover, it's no longer there. It lasted ten or fifteen minutes ... I don't even remember what it was - it's gone. We'll try, we'll see.

(music)

There, enough! But what I heard wasn't that - it wasn't that at all! But it's absolutely gone....

(Mother starts playing the organ again)

It's really a pity I don't remember at all. That was really fine. It was "the hymn to the Truth." It resembled a certain symphony of Beethoven's (oh, I am going to say something dreadful) ... without the padding! All human music always has padding. They have an inspiration, and in between there's a gap, so they fill it up with their "musical knowledge." But this morning, it came straight from above and there was no padding. It was very fine.
Only, I didn't even make an effort to remember; I thought, "It will come," but it didn't! (To Sunil:) Didn't you hear some music this morning?
(Sunil:) What you have just played was very lovely.
It's nothing! Anyway, you'll do something with it. What this morning's music expressed was a sort of ascent of aspiration, like a conquest, and then it suddenly climaxed in a dazzling flash of light - an explosion. An explosion of light. And the explosion of light CASCADED over the world. It was very fine (!) I still see it, but I can no longer hear it. But that's how it will be: first the salute, "Salute to You, O Light." You understand, the Light is there, like this: it announces itself. And we salute it. Then the whole aspiration rises in conquest of this Light through successive ascents; that is, one sound rises, climbs, and establishes itself; then another climbs and establishes itself. And then, when we have come before the Light, it makes a sort of explosion, like a bomb exploding, an explosion of light. And afterwards, it falls back onto the world - with sparkles. And then, I would like at the end the great calm of the Truth. That will need something very vast and very calm - very vast. Very simple. A few very simple great notes. Voilà. Organ notes would be fine. The organ is fine for aspiration. page 308 - 10 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 7th Dec - 1964


(About the music composed by Sunil for January 1, 1965:)

It's odd, all that music of the past, European music, which I knew very well and admired, it seems to me almost void of substance, while here, there is a contact right up above: you plunge into it instantly.
Yes, that's right. When I heard his music for the first time, something suddenly opened up and I was right in the middle of the place I know, from which true Harmony comes - suddenly.
page 15 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 6th Jan - 1965


There is a rather curious development. For some time now, but more and more precisely, when I hear something, when someone reads something to me or I listen to some music or am told of some event, immediately something vibrates: the origin of the activity or the level on which it's taking place or the origin of the inspiration is automatically translated as a vibration in one of the centers. And then, depending on the quality of the vibration, it's something constructive or negative; and when at some point it makes contact, however slightly, with a domain of Truth, there is ... (how can I explain?) like the spark of a vibration of Ananda. And the thought is absolutely silent, still, nothing - nothing (Mother opens her hands Upward in a gesture of complete offering). But this perception is growing increasingly precise. And that's how I know: I know the source of the inspiration, where the action is located and the quality of the thing. What precision! Oh, an infinitesimal precision, in the details. For instance, the first time I felt this in a clear way was when I heard Sunil's music on The Hour of God; that was the first time, and at the time I didn't know it was something completely organized, a sort of organization of experience. But now, after all these months, it has become classified, and it gives me an absolutely certain indication, which doesn't correspond to any active thought or any active will - I am simply an infinitely sensitive instrument for receiving vibrations. That's how I know where things come from. There is no thought. That's how the vibration of Sujata's dream came to me (Mother gestures down, below her feet): it was in the realm of the subconscient. So I knew it was a recording. page 59 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 24th March - 1965


It's always the sound that guides me.... Do you know that Sunil has done some music for Savitri, and he is going to play it for me in early July. I don't think he wants to have an audience, it's quite private, because it must be played only in 1968 - in February '68 - and he will show me just a small piece to see if it's all right. But I thought you would be interested. I'll leave my windows wide open.
I like what he does very much.
Oh, not just once but very often, while listening to his music, a door is immediately opened onto the region of universal harmony, where you hear the origin of sounds, and with an extraordinary emotion and intensity, something that pulls you out of yourself (gesture of abrupt wrenching). It's the first time I've had this while listening to music - I myself have it when I am all alone. But I never had it while listening to music, it's always something much closer to the earth. Here, it's something very high, but very universal, and with a tremendous power: a creative power. Well, his music opens the door. Now, some people have heard his music, and in Russia, France and the U.S.A. as well, they have asked for permission to copy it and spread it around. And the strange thing is that those people don't know one another, but they have all had the same impression: tomorrow's music. So to those who have asked I've answered, "Have some patience, in two years we'll give you a musical monument." It's much better to begin with a major work, because it immediately gives the position, otherwise you might think it's passing little inspirations - not that: something that strikes you on the head and makes you bow before it. I read out the lines (in English, naturally), and with that he does the music. And the words are probably mixed in with the music, as he always does. But then, my reading is simply the clearest possible pronunciation, with the full understanding of what's being said, and WITHOUT A SINGLE INTONATION. I think I have succeeded, because at a week's interval (I don't read every day), the timbre of the voice is always the same.
page 142 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 25th June - 1966


Sunil asked me to play for him; I told him I had stopped playing: "I can't play anymore, my hands have lost the habit." The power to transcribe what comes is no longer there (I do hear the music, but I can't transcribe it anymore). It's like something that has been forgotten. Then he told me it didn't matter, that even if I played a few notes - three or four notes - it would be enough. But I have noticed that the first time I play after a long time without playing, I play much better than afterwards. You understand, I always try not to be the one to play, because I no longer know how to (how long has it been? At least sixty years since I truly played, except occasionally, so the whole knowledge of the hands has gone: they are clumsy, they can't play anymore). The only thing I try to do is to have someone (either a musical spirit or a musical entity) use these hands, to have something come and use these hands; and generally, it works fairly well the first time, then the hands start again wanting to "try to know," so it's all over. They must be absolutely plastic, without personal will. I've never been quite able to use this electric organ; I used to make much better use of my grand organ, the one I had before; it was far easier for me. This one is very complicated, very mechanical, very mechanical. It's a bit too mechanically modern and it doesn't respond to vital influence as well as my old organ did. My feet used to make it work, and they put such force into it! There was a force of vibration in the way the swells were worked.... This one, I would have had to get accustomed to it, to impregnate the instrument; but to me it's like an empty shell, with no soul behind it: it's an empty shell. You see, a sounding board responds a lot; in a piano, the sounding board, the keys, the strings, it all responds; it responds to the force. You can even make them vibrate without touching them. While this electric device is an empty shell....
page 180-81 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 24th Aug - 1966


In Sunil's music there are two or three of those associations of sounds that are evocative associations, and in his music it's the splendor of the future creation, oh, it comes like a dazzling sun. But even in very old music, or disjointed music, there is that association now and then: two sounds, a relationship between two sounds (two, sometimes three). And I don't think people are aware of it, but that's what puts them in contact with the state of consciousness. In reality, it's one way of looking at the problem, but it makes things simpler in a truly interesting way.... In other words, great transformations are merely the result of a change of state of consciousness.

(silence)

So, I wish you a good year.
page 249 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 29th Oct - 1966



(After listening to the music composed by Sunil

for the New Year.)

Did you like it?
It's very beautiful, very powerful.
Isn't it! And it creates an atmosphere. Usually I play some music for him, and he composes from it, but this time I didn't play, so he took some old pieces of mine; with that he makes contact and composes. An American musician has come here, and I sent him to Sunil (he's a pianist). He said he'd heard some of Sunil's music there, in America, and at first people are a bit bewildered, but that when they've heard it several times, they become quite enthusiastic. As for me, I find it creates an atmosphere: it BRINGS DOWN an atmosphere. And the human voice is quite lovely, well mingled.
page 357 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Dec - 1968


I wanted to tell you something amusing. You know that I haven't played [music] there for two years - impossible. The other day it was Sunil's birthday, and he told me, "Oh, you should play something to me for January 1st." I said, "I'll try." I went there, sat down, and my hands started playing. For a few minutes, I didn't hear a single sound of what I was playing! Then, little by little, the sound came, and I played for some ten minutes. And it came all by itself, as if I had last played yesterday! ... So I complimented my body! I said to it, "It's fine." I was happy because I thought, "It hasn't lost" - it was easier than the last times I played! It came like this (dancing gesture), it was having fun finding the notes. And someone played, I don't know who - not someone human. It consoled me somewhat! (Mother laughs) It was better than the last time, [[Two years earlier. ]] because there was no idea that I COULD do anything, the body was certain that it couldn't do anything at all, that it must have got out of the habit, but once I found myself seated, the hands started playing ....
Page 410-11 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th Nov - 1969


Yesterday, I heard Sunil's music (and it was so interesting because of that). It's very fine, his music, and then this Consciousness showed me how ... You see, the consciousness here takes a certain attitude, and it has the whole joy and harmony; the thing remains the same, but then ... (Mother makes a gesture of a slight tipping to the left) a very slight change in the attitude of the consciousness, and it becomes almost unbearable! Experiences of that sort, all the time, all the time ... to show you that in reality, only ONE THING matters, it's the attitude of the consciousness: the old attitude of the individual being (Mother makes a gesture of contraction into oneself), or this (gesture of expansion). Probably it must be (to put it into words we can understand) the presence of the ego and the abolition of the ego. That's it.


Page 490 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 27th Dec - 1969




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Today the doctor is leaving for America for a brain operation. [[It consists in inserting a "needle" into a very specific area of the brain in order to destroy a group of contagious cells. ]] It's far from being a safe affair, it's too new, there are still too many unknown elements. There have been a number of really very interesting things with him, but it's a sort of microscopic work, so it can't be told.... For instance, the way the auras, the vibrations, are mingled - it's very interesting.
I hope he is going to pull through?
He told me he wasn't afraid. But actually it's nothing but an adventure into the unknown, because there's no guarantee that they won't cure one thing at the expense of another.... You understand, when they start operating on the brain! Obviously a day will come when these operations will be common practice, but for the time being there are still too many unknowns. But because we have lived together constantly, there is quite a mingling of atmospheres [the doctor's and Mother's], and when he tried to pull his away ... (because he doesn't know yet how to remain everywhere at the same time - not many people know how to do it, so they pull their atmosphere away, which causes a sort of dislocation of many things and ...). He doesn't admit it to himself, but he is very disturbed. It's an adventure. page 72-73 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 4th March 1964


For a very long time the body hasn't felt in the least separate - not in the least. There is even a sort of constant identification with the people around ... which at times is troublesome enough, but which I see as a means of action (of control and action). I'll give an example: on the 4th, the last time I saw you, the doctor left for America. He had his lunch here (I told you he was very moved); he was given a sort of little ceremony for his departure. He was sitting on the floor as usual, next to me (I was seated at the table, facing the light), and they served him his lunch; he turned towards me to receive the things. He was in a state of intense emotion (nothing apparent at all; the appearance was very quiet, he didn't say or do anything extraordinary, but inwardly ...). At one point I looked at him to encourage him to eat, and our eyes met.... Then there came into me from him such a violent emotion that I almost started sobbing, can you imagine! ... And it's always there, in the lower abdomen (really in the abdomen), that this identification with the outside world takes place. There (gesture above the heart center), it dominates; the identification is here (gesture to the abdomen), but the Force dominates (Mother holds up her head); while here (the abdomen), it seems to be still ... it's the lower vital, I mean the lower vital OF MATTER, the vital subdegree OF MATTER. It's on the way to transformation, this is where the work is being done materially. But all those emotions have rather unpleasant repercussions.... Even, when I looked at it in detail, I came to think that there must be something analogous in you; you must be open to certain currents of force in the lower vital, and those kinds of spasms which you get must be the result. So then, the solution - there is only one solution, because immediately I called, I put the Lord's Presence there (gesture to the abdomen), and I saw it was extremely CONTAGIOUS. Because I had received the vibrations, they had entered straight in without meeting any obstacles; so the response had a considerable contagious power - I saw it immediately: I stopped the doctor's vibrations; it took me a few minutes, and everything was back in order again. Then I understood that this opening, this contagion was kept as a means of action - it isn't pleasant for the body (!), but it's a means of action.

page 74-75 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 7th March 1964


(About a letter from the "doctor," who had gone to the U.S.A. for a brain operation: "The operation was torture for four hours; it is done under local anaesthesia but not effective. They cut and scraped my skull and drilled it without any anaesthesia.... Nursing is not so good, my [nurses] are far better. They have no feeling and do not do things honestly.... Surgeons are also slack...." It may be noted that the doctor was himself a surgeon of repute in Calcutta.)

... And they want to come here to teach everything to the poor Indians who know nothing! It's disgusting. If they cure him, it's all right, but I have my doubts..

Those doctors, when you fall into their clutches ...

(silence)

And here he kept complaining that his nurses weren't up to the mark - now he'll understand! At least, after that experience, he will understand that what's here is exceptional - they always have to go outside to have this experience, they aren't sensitive enough to feel that here there is something that isn't found elsewhere. In order to compare they have to go elsewhere, and then be "tortured" a little. It's too bad - that's the way the world is, it needs to be tortured to understand that there is something else. page 88-89 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 21st March 1964


(This conversation is about Dr. S., who left for the U.S.A. for a brain operation. The operation consists in introducing a needle into the diseased spot and injecting liquid oxygen to destroy the group of affected cells. The first operation took place three months earlier, and the second was scheduled for this month.)

I've just received a long letter from Dr. S.... You know that one side was operated on and that ... To make it interesting, I should tell you the story from the beginning. Before his departure for America, when he spoke to me about the operation, I immediately saw not only that it was dangerous (that was obvious, he himself knew it), but that it couldn't be conclusive, and that at any rate one operation wasn't enough. When he spoke to me with the enthusiasm of someone who at last sees his salvation, I asked him, "Are you really sure it will be conclusive? That one operation is enough and the disease won't come again?" He almost got angry! He thought I was ... (laughing) an atheist of medical science! Anyhow, he left. Once he arrived there, they immediately told him that as the disease was affecting both sides, both sides would have to be operated on: they would perform the first operation on the right side to cure the left, and six months to a year later they would perform the second operation on the left side to cure the right - the first blow. Then, the operation was extremely painful, it lasted four hours, and the result was as I had perceived: the result is paralysis. (All they can do is paralyze, then they have to reeducate.) Anyway, it seems his reeducation has gone well. And the American doctor told him it was only a question of will. You see how hazardous that operation is which was claimed to be definitive and absolute. Well. Anyhow, the American doctor told him, "At any rate, there's nothing else I can do for another three months." So he has waited there for three months. And I, all that time - all the time, almost constantly - I kept seeing death written over the second operation. But I knew that if I sent a letter, it would be useless, it would only create an atmosphere of distrust, that's all. So I made formation upon formation, formation upon formation, on the American doctor. Finally, S. asked me for a talisman for the second operation - I sent it immediately, with a great concentration of force so that nothing fatal should happen. Recently, on July 20, S. enters the hospital for the second operation. The American doctor keeps him two days, three days, then tells him, "I can't, I won't run that risk...." It seems that during those three months, he had operated on several people for whom it was also a second operation, on the other side, as for S., and all of them ended in hemorrhage, paralysis, or death. So the American doctor declared, "I won't run the risk." S. replied, "It doesn't matter to me, I'd rather die than be crippled." But this American very cleverly told him, "I won't do anything without the permission of your 'Mother'!" So they sent me a telegram saying that the American doctor refused to operate because it was too dangerous, and they asked for my opinion. I answered, No operation. At the same time, there was a telegram from E. (who wanted to be present at the operation), an exultant telegram saying that for her (E.), it was proof that S. would be cured not by surgery, but by a supramental intervention. She said it to S. too, who was rather unhappy (!) Anyway, he is coming back.

But I was very happy with the American doctor's receptivity. And when I received El's telegram saying it was proof that S. would be cured by a supramental intervention and not by surgery, in her telegram there was a light - E. is a very impassioned person, but suddenly I saw the light of a revelation. So I thought, "That's why." But (laughing) S. isn't too enthusiastic! He doesn't have faith, you see. He says he will be "very glad ... to be worthy of this Grace," instead of saying, "I have faith that the Grace will ..." It's a polite way of saying (Mother laughs), "I don't believe in it." So he is coming back, crippled.
One side is cured.
The left side. And the American doctor isn't quite happy about the extent of the cure.... Which means, as always, that however things seem to be in the world, when they are brought into contact with the Light, that is to say, a concentration of Truth, they appear in their stark reality: all the ballyhoo about that operation and all the illusion gathered around that miraculous power of surgical cure, it all vanished into thin air. The American doctor himself, according to Dr. S.'s letter, was shaken and lost trust in the absoluteness of his system. But from the first minute, you know, I saw that there wasn't even sixty percent of truth in it. There is an entire obscure field, which they deliberately ignore and which showed itself in broad daylight in order to make itself known. And for Dr. S., it's the same thing: "A doctor COULD NOT be deluded," and he didn't want to admit it. When I told him that one operation might not be enough, he almost got angry: "Why do you say such things!" (Mother laughs) He knew it as well as I did, but he didn't want to admit it.
He will have gone through a terrible experience.
Oh yes, and very, very dangerous - he knew it. But to some extent I can understand: a surgeon who can no longer use his hands ... But from the beginning, I've seen that he couldn't be cured, because he doesn't really have faith. He has a sort of diluted knowledge that there are "forces behind" the material forces, but still, for him, the concrete reality is Matter and its mechanism, and so remedies must be mechanical. Because I tried to cure him several times, but there was no receptivity, none - like a stone, you know. Maybe it will be better now?... In any case, if he is to be cured in a supramental way, I don't feel called upon to do it, because he has no trust in me - he likes me, he has a sort of ... "worship" is too big a word, a worshipful feeling for a god who's very nice (!), but (laughing) from whom you shouldn't expect too much: "He's rather ignorant of the things of this world; now and then he may perform some miracles (Mother laughs out loud), but that's miraculous!"
It's strange that, with that kind of attitude, he came here.
Oh, he left everything to come here.
That's strange.
No, it's very strong inside him; the inner call is very strong: it's the outer reason that veils everything. He left everything, but he knows darn well that he left everything! He's very conscious of his "sacrifice," which means that in his consciousness there's no correspondence between what he gave and what he has received - what he gave, as when you stake everything on a future benefit. Anyway, he's coming back. page 139-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 28th July 1964


(Soon afterwards, about Dr. Sanyal, who has gone to Madras for a brain operation after an unsuccessful operation in America.)

The doctor is in Madras....
When are they going to operate?
I don't know. They'll telephone. First they will see if it can be done. Because the American surgeon had said it would be fatal, so this one is taking his precautions, I suppose. But the doctor says, "I'd rather try and die ..." He didn't have sufficient faith to be cured without outward means, that's the pity - but who has sufficient faith?... I don't know. There are some .... there are some who have that marvelous grace. He didn't have it: the reason, the intelligence were infinitely too active for him to have it. Yesterday evening, I gave him a little over twenty minutes of concentration. He was sitting and I was standing, holding his hands.... "Never pull down on yourself," it is said, but you can pull down on someone else - I pulled the Force all out. It was so powerful that his hand kept trembling [[The doctor has Parkinson's disease. ]] while mine was still! Afterwards, once it was over, I wondered how it could be, I didn't understand: my hand, which was holding his, stayed still, but his was shaking; I felt his tremor in my hand. Then I stopped, when, all of a sudden, everything came to a halt: he stopped moving. And relaxation came, a relaxation. I was concentrating there, on his head - relaxation. Then I stopped. Time was up, anyway. Therefore IT CAN BE DONE. But this lack of faith based on the higher intelligence, the higher reason, prevents it from staying: it brings back the difficulty instantly. But I saw - I saw it: it did stop. For me that was an obvious proof. And I did it deliberately. It's true that it is dangerous to "pull down" because if the resistance is too great, something gets demolished, but there was nothing to risk anymore since he himself was ready to go to Madras to be sent to another world. I did it. Truly, even materially and even in the present state of the world, nothing is impossible. All that is needed is the Lord's Sanction (sanction in the English sense of the word). And it was He who wanted it, it was He who willed it. I, who can't remain standing for more than ten minutes without my head whirling, stayed there half an hour MOTIONLESS: I didn't feel anything, I was quite beyond all "karmas"! It took half an hour for everything to come to a stop, and it was clearly a momentary effect, meaning that it could have lasted one hour, two hours, I don't know, but with the inner vibrations of his being (lack of faith and so on) it could only be momentary. But it happened. And it wasn't through an imposition: it was through a relaxation, with the Force descending like a mass, brrf! Tremendous, mon petit! ... Two or three times there was a loosening [in the doctor], then it resumed: it was as if driven out of the brain, and it came back into the brain; I drove it out and back it came. And the last time, there was a relaxation. Then I said, "Thank You, Lord, I thank You." Now I am sure. We shall see. Maybe the operation will convince him that it can be done (if the Madras doctor too is convinced it can be done). It can obviously be done - everything is possible. But those things are very interesting.... Because when he was in America, suddenly I saw he was going to get killed (after the first operation), and I said right away, "I don't want him to die there, it's stupid, it's a silly business, a defeat, I don't want it." I sent him a talisman I had myself prepared (so that his human intelligence might have a little faith), then I worked on the other doctor, the American surgeon. And when Sanyal went and saw the surgeon for his operation, the surgeon told him, "No, between your first operation and this one, I've had a series of catastrophes, of fatal experiences with people who died; I don't want to do it because I feel I am going to cause you to die and I refuse." Then Sanyal said, "I am willing to die," and the other answered, "But I am not willing to kill you!" And Sanyal came back here. And when he came back, I told him, "Please excuse me, but that's my doing!" Now we shall see. If the other doctor has trust and he too has trust, it's quite possible. But it's neither this doctor nor any other that will have done it: it's the Lord. Only He can do things. I told Sanyal when he came back from America, "It's only the Lord that can cure you, nobody." Then he told me, "Oh, yes, but there are means of intervening." I answered him, "Any means you like, it's all the same to me!"


page 331-32 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 10th Dec - 1965


Soon afterwards Sanyal's operation was yesterday. At 3:45 P.M., V. telephoned from Madras that the operation had succeeded, that the tremor had stopped in the right hand and right leg and there would be no paralysis. Today a letter from V. came which tells the whole thing. But after that there was a telegram saying that he spent a very restless night and had a temperature. That's the latest news.

(Mother hands V.'s letter [[Original English. ]] to Satprem)

"The operation is successful. Tremor of the right hand and leg have stopped. There is no paralysis. Dr. is feeling well. This morning Dr. had his coffee early in the morning. At 7:30 A.M. a barber shaved his head. Dr. then looked like a Buddhist monk (Mother laughs). At 9 A.M. he was removed near the operation theater N¡ 2. At that time he had a sterile dressing on his head. At 10 A.M. he was taken inside the operation theater. They brought him out at 3 P.M. and put him in the post-operative ward. On seeing all of us surrounding his bed, he started weeping. We all moved away from his bed. He then lifted his right hand and leg. There was absolutely no tremor. His head is covered with a big bandage. We all pray for Dr.'s recovery."[[The stoppage of the tremor was not going to last. ]]
page 333-34 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 15th Dec - 1965



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S, who was sitting in front of me, spontaneously asked me after wards what I had been holding in my hands during the meditation, and she described it thus: 'It was round, very soft and luminous like the moon.'

page 189 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 29th Aug. - 1958



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So, mon petit, I have talked the whole time and we still haven't done anything - another day without working! (Mother laughs) It's a curious thing ... speaking evidently helps me follow the experience. But I can't just begin speaking all alone up in my room! And talking to a tape recorder is useless. Up to now, it certainly flows the best with you - by far. I haven't tried with others, although occasionally I've said something to Nolini, but his receptivity is fuzzy (I don't know whether you can understand this impression: it's as though my. words were going into cotton-wool). Once, as I told you, I spoke with R., and with him I felt that three quarters of it was absolutely lost - and as a matter of fact it was. But with you I begin to SEE, and the need to formulate makes me concentrate on my vision. And this I experience with you more than I ever have with anyone. So.... So you are bearing the consequences! page 103 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 25th Feb. - 1961



Has Andre-da. spoken to you about this? ... Neelakantha told him that you were the bridge between him and me (he even spoke in English): 'Oh, Satprem was the bridge.' (Mother smiles) And a second later he added, 'But now we don't need it anymore!' (Mother laughs merrily) I was much amused!

page 326 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 10th Sep - 1961

(Satprem complains of his difficulties in writing the book on Sri Aurobindo. He says in particular that he has a feeling of being 'blocked')

I have asked Sri Aurobindo to help you. You know, we are surrounded by complications, but there is always a place where it all opens out simple and straight - this is a fact of my experience. You go around in circles, seeking, working at it, and you feel stuck; then something in the inner attitude gives way, and all of a sudden it opens out - quite simply. I have had this experience very often. So I have asked Sri Aurobindo to give it to you. And he says repeatedly, insistently: Be simple, be simple. Say simply what you feel. Be simple, be simple, insistently. These are only words, but as a matter of fact, when he spoke these words it was like a path of light opening up, and everything became very simple: 'Just take one step after another, that's all we have to do!' - that's how it seemed to me.
page 329 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 16th Sep - 1961


If you could just give me a hint....
(After a silence) Among those who have gone beyond the stage of needing successive reincarnations to develop their psychic beings, among those whose souls are conscious, fully developed, there are some who (what shall I say?) ... who are chosen or destined to participate in a certain terrestrial action. And in the process of reincarnation, there is always ... always some degree of confusion and disarray, you see. I can speak of my own case, if you like; despite every precaution, certain kinds of confusion couldn't be avoided ... and of course this complicated the work. It was the same for Sri Aurobindo. And all this confusion sometimes greatly disrupts the work. But there are a certain number of beings - not many - who have come back on earth ONLY to take part in a particular work, in a particular way. And outer things, personal and individual things, are virtually sacrificed to that. Certain faculties, for instance, whose source is the higher entity, faculties that in an ordinary life would result in a measure of power or fame or success or realization, are placed under conditions where their outer effect is subordinated to the needs of a particular work. Let me put it to you more clearly: your physical body, for example, should have been either stronger or more supple or endowed with certain very strong vital compensations, so that you wouldn't suffer from your working conditions.... Of course, for someone following a yogic ascent, whose soul is in the process of formation, the external conditions of life are normally what is best for inner development, whatever that may be - even if, on the surface, those conditions aren't good. So the only advice you can give such a person is, "Well, either renounce the spiritual life or else put up with it." But that's not your case. There is a Mission, a work, and a kind of gap between a certain physical formation and that Mission. So if you ask me plainly what I see, I can tell you plainly, instead of saying as I would to certain sadhaks or anyone sincerely wanting to do yoga, "Take it or leave it; you must learn to transform yourself inwardly to the point where you can master the body and its needs." I can't tell you that, because that's not how it is for you. I mean it may be - it may be - that even an inner transformation (a complete conversion of the vital being, for instance) wouldn't necessarily bring an improvement in your health. It is here where.... It's not something I see imperatively. And to go back to ordinary life would be the end of everything - of your physical life and your inner life too. page 165-66 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th May - 1962


Yet it may also be that up there in the mountains, all alone with the mountains, it would suddenly come. It is possible - everything is possible. There is nothing that doesn't hold a possibility of truth. Anyway, give me at least until Tuesday to look - I will tell you what I see. Au revoir, mon petit. page 169 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th May - 1962


(Mother then asks Satprem various questions about his japa, and, after a very long silence during which she seems to be elsewhere or "looking" into the distance, continues:)

It is very interesting, mon petit.... As you were telling me about it, I automatically went into that state. And there was a kind of - how shall I put it? I don't know what to call it.... It is a movement akin to will, but it has nothing to do with thought, it's a feeling: I wanted to take you into the experience. And it was shown to me - literally shown - that your whole relationship with the inner and outer worlds is situated here (gesture above the head); that's why it is so well expressed through intellectual activity. But here (gesture to the solar plexus) there's not much. And I was seeing this, you know, I was touching it. It only comes indirectly, as a consequence. And then down here (gesture lower down): NOTHING. It remains just the way it was formed when you came down to earth!
And here (umbilical region) I was shown that a sort of widening of the being is needed, a widening of the vibrations - a peace, a calm within the immensity. HERE - the prana, that is - is where there should be a widening into peace, peace, peace and calm. But within the immensity. And that's what will loosen you up. Here (gesture to the head and above) the work is done and will not be undone; there is no danger, the link is quite well established. All you have to do is this (Mother takes a breath) and there it is. To open here (gesture to the heart), the method is ... a bit too classical, in that you would inevitably fall back into classical learning, all the classical methods and means - it will happen by itself, quite naturally. And here (umbilical region): something like a quiet ease (there's no equivalent in French). A quiet ease. It has been all cramped up, and now it must widen. The inner life of the prana must be widened (the inner vital, the true vital, the being that has the experiences I told you about - the piece of glass, the glimpse of the sea); that's what must widen. And vast, vast.... It is all cramped up and it suffers. It has to be relaxed inwardly, by bringing in the Force, the Force of that new experience [April 13]: apply it there. And you ... simply let yourself go; if you could catch hold of the wave movement, that would be perfect. Like this: relax, relax, relax.... You're floating on an infinite undulating movement - floating, floating, floating. Shall we try? But don't get into a meditation posture! And don't tense up; just let yourself go, as if you simply wanted to rest - but not in an empty hole. To rest in a mass of infinite force ... a supple solidity.

(meditation)

A most luminous atmosphere.... page 174-75 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 29th May - 1962


Mon petit, you are the only person to whom I can say all this - there is not one, not one! Not one able to simply understand. Which makes things more difficult, because I am constantly weighed down by the stupidity of people's thoughts (stupidity in the sense of incomprehension), the thoughts of all those around me, who think I am ("I," what they call "I," you know, "me"), who think I am ill and ... I can't tell them a thing! If I hadn't spoken to you today, it would be gone. I would never have said anything. Well, that's the way it is.

page 111 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 6th April 1963


(Mother looks at Satprem for a long time)

I saw a new thing in front of you.
You were in a sort of golden light, rather solid, and then from here (the throat) down to here (the solar plexus), there were all the Tantric colors, you know, all the shades. I don't know if you have ever seen them: the Tantrics have an atmosphere with all the colors, not mixed together but side by side. It's a kind of "chart of powers," and according to the color they select and pick out, or use, it serves one purpose or another: one is for health, another for progress, another for understanding, and so forth. That chart was with you, and I saw your hand moving as if you were writing. I see those colors, I always see them in association with those who have practiced Tantrism. X always has them with him, and with his guru,[[ X's deceased guru, who several times appeared before Mother. ]] it's even much more, very strong and very intense. It was there in front of you, from there (the throat), that is to say the center of relationship with the world, down to here (the solar plexus).
page 294 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 21st Aug 1963


After a meditation with Satprem I again saw a square shape, like last time, in front of you, but this time it was different: there was a bright golden light, and that square shape was here (gesture between the throat and the solar plexus), in front of you, then it rose and rose and rose like that, slowly, very slowly, above your head, and there it spread out into a great light ... a very quiet light. I think it's the symbol of your meditation. A square - a perfect square, I mean, about this size, from there to there (from the top of the head to the solar plexus): that's you when you meditate. It's quite established, like something firmly established, and then slowly, very slowly, it rose and rose and rose above your head, and there ... not violently, of course, it didn't burst out, but it spread out into an Immensity of light. The symbol of your consciousness. It's always a square shape. Last time, I told you there were those Tantric lights; this time, there was a pale gold, very luminous, very tranquil, and the shape [of the square] was like a somewhat more golden vibration, a little darker (but not "dark"), and it stayed still a very long time, till suddenly I felt in your consciousness as if something were opening out, relaxing and opening out, like a sort of well-being in your consciousness. And no sooner did that happen than the square began to rise and rise and rise above your head, and there ... Is it the symbol of your meditation or the symbol of your consciousness? ... - The symbol of your consciousness. Did you feel, towards the middle of your meditation, a kind of sudden relaxing, an inner well-being?
Yes, I felt it.
Then that's it. As soon as you felt it, it started rising until ... as though it merged into an infinite. But it's good.
page 299-300 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 4th Sep. 1963


(About Satprem's mother, who has donated money to the Ashram:)

Is it your money?
No, she has given all her goods to her children and there is a part that was supposed to be for me, but it's hers, so it's just as well in your hands. She says she is "ventilating herself."
But it's true, you know. It's a very spontaneously true feeling in the being: you feel increased by what you give. As long as I felt people were giving to me, as a person, there was a shrinking, but now there's an absolutely concrete sensation (Mother makes a circular motion going through her): it circulates, circulates.... So now, there is the joy of the thing, because it circulates, nothing remains.
But she is sweet, your mother.... She is going to have the joy of her soul. You know, there is a joy in being more conscious of one's soul than of the material world - you may keep yourself busy, you may see clearly, you may understand, you may do what you have to do, all that remains, it's very fine, but, behind, there is ... a Light. A light, something warm, warm with a luminous, golden warmth. It's really the sense of immortality, of something that doesn't depend on a form or on circumstances. It's a consciousness in which one instantly has the feeling that there was no beginning, there is no end.... And a sort of very strong sweetness, very strong, behind everything. It takes you through life; even all the difficulties don't matter when you have caught hold of that. It's something very intimate, which expresses itself with difficulty, but which is like a support, something that holds you up always, in any circumstances. That's what your mother will have. She must be living it, maybe unknowingly; she must already have it a little, a beginning. But when one has it consciously, then ... then, in reality, circumstances don't matter much. And this money has arrived at a wonderfully appropriate time, as always!
page 337-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 25th Dec - 1965


(We venture to publish here a text written by Satprem on June

24, 1967, despite its daring or extreme predictions, for it may

hold a grain of truth that time will reveal, and above all

because it is obviously influenced by Mother's vision. The

following is therefore not so much an exercise in prediction

as food for thought.)

THE END OF THE ASURA


If, as Sri Aurobindo announced, the supramental Power is to enter a realizing phase in 1967 and if, as Mother said, the fate of the present civilization is to be settled in 1967, it is clear that the earth's many latent diseases must come out in the open and find a focus somewhere, as an abscess is the focal point for the disease of the body, our earth body. There are no "catastrophes." The Supramental is a force of order and harmony. So what may seem to us at first glance to be a catastrophe is bound to actually put things in order, work in every way and every detail towards putting the earth in order. September/October is generally the month of wars. There is but one place in the world where the issue is being played out really and symbolically - that is India. That is where, therefore, the disease of the earth must be focused. It is in the order of things that the last Asura should come and die at the feet of the Mother. But India, supposed to embody the forces of truth, is herself prey to the same Falsehood as is the rest of the earth. The Asura is also in India, perhaps more dangerous there as it is masked behind a veil of false truth. The awaited conflict will thus have to put the house of the Mother in order to begin with, at the same time as it will put the other houses of the earth in order. The devil will unmask himself and fall headlong into his own trap. India's Falsehood will necessarily attract like falsehoods: those of China and of Pakistan. The troubles on Bengal's borders are already preparing the way for China's aggression, and the falsehood of Tashkent has left the wound open in Kashmir. Here India shall receive the blessed blow that will liquidate her untrue government and will give way to a military government that will prepare a more truthful government. Here China shall receive the blow that will free her from her Maoist Asura, while at the same time bringing Russia and America closer together against the common danger. Here Vietnam will lose its two untrue henchmen, in the North and in the South, and will put its own house in order. Here Pakistan will have set its own trap by allying itself with China and will lose its rights over Bengal and the eastern part of India.[[ Bangladesh was born four years later, in December 1971. ]] Left only with its western unit, which cannot be economically self-sufficient, Pakistan will be obliged to form a confederation with India and to understand that its destiny is inseparable from that of India. Here a wiser Russia and a wiser America, and a frightened earth, will become aware that they too must form a confederation of the nations of the earth and that the fate of any one nation is inseparable from that of all the others. And order will be restored in the house. Man will be able to prepare himself for a vaster adventure. Ultimately, everyone commits the errors that will help towards the larger triumph of the Truth.

Satprem
24 June 1967

page 192-93 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 21st June - 1967



You have before you, here (gesture at chest level), Sri Aurobindo's symbol. The descending triangle is of an almost white light, but with a golden hue, and the ascending part is of an intense dark violet - I don't know why.... The ascending triangle is dark violet (the color of vital power), an intense dark violet, very, very strong, and with the descending triangle, that makes Sri Aurobindo's symbol, here, in front of you, like that. It's not luminous, but not dark: it has a rich and very intense color, a very intense violet. The ascending triangle is the creation's aspiration; the descending triangle is the Divine's response. And the junction of the two makes the square of the manifestation. It was there, in front of you, very clearly written.
page 66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Feb - 1968


(Regarding the message Mother has given to Satprem

for his birthday.)

"Here are the Light and the Divine Love which are always with you on the path, every outcome of which is only the starting point for a new stage." It's precisely the experience I've had these last few days (yesterday, I think), just before writing the card. We always set an end to things - but there isn't any. There isn't any. The truth is, one rises like this (Mother draws a curve that reaches a point in space), but it's in order to go like this (gesture of a new curve rising higher from that point on), and again like this - for ever and ever.
page 293 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 30th Oct - 1968


You are ... (Mother holds Satprem's hands). I don't know if you are aware of it, but you are associated in all this work of transformation, like this (gesture of being carried along in the wake) ... as if you were fastened to it.

(silence)

But the work is taking place in a region beyond words.
Yes.... For some time now I've been very much feeling your presence.
Ahh! ... As for me, I always feel you're there, as though you were clinging to me, so each time something is accomplished, it is naturally passed on to you. (Laughing) Clinging like a child.
Yes, I really feel it's the only solution.

(long smiling silence

while holding Satprem's hands)

All depends ABSOLUTELY - absolutely and uniquely - on the divine Will. If He has decided we will be transformed, we will be transformed. I myself am powerless - there is no "I," it doesn't exist as this! (indicating her body) For those who cling to me, it's the same as clinging to the Divine, because ... (Mother smiles exquisitely). Ultimately, what happens is His will. page 189 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 24th May - 1972-1973



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But this must be what you were thinking of, what you would like to use for your book. [[Strangely enough, some years earlier, when Satprem was writing L'Orpailleur, Sujata had a vision in which she saw him typing, and from the typewriter came, not typewritten lines, but music! ]]
Yes, I would certainly like to....
It will come. Ah, it will come! It's time for me to leave now. So there you are, petit; it will come.
page 329 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 10th Sept. , 1961

But Sujata, for example, was completely, COMPLETELY free of the whole ... (what shall I say?) what could be called the unhappy aspect of her karma - completely free. For I know the people around me and what they carry with them very well, and there was nothing - just one thing remained, the one part that was rather constructive, so I had left that totally intact. And when the events of her past life were revealed to her, I took the greatest care to destroy the revelation as it was being given. And I did it ruthlessly. You see, it was like dumping a load of mud on someone completely unsullied, and I didn't let it happen (I couldn't stop what entered through her physical brain, but inwardly ... I utterly annihilated it). The only thing I left untouched was the constructive part of the bond that had existed between you two, and so when she met you, she.... That's all I left, because it was good, pure, lovely - it was good. But all the rest.... And you saw how strongly I protested when I was told she had committed suicide. "No, no, no!" I said; even if somebody with perfect knowledge were to tell me so, I'd still say NO. She is untainted by all that - pure - and I won't stand for someone pure to be soiled. She was so much my child that after her death everything was carefully cleansed, arranged, put back in place, organized, purified. So she returned unblemished and pure, and I don't want her soiled. You see, a grace is actually working to drive those karmas away - sometimes far, far away - and it's no good to call them back. I have had dozens of similar examples.
page 63-64 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 3rd Feb. - 1962

For Sujata it's not quite so simple. From a strictly external standpoint, I have no doubt that it would be both pleasant and instructive. But Sujata is in a rather special relationship [with me] - in fact, she does the yoga without doing it; I mean she benefits automatically from the yoga that Sri Aurobindo and I do. And this would risk being damaged.

page 163 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th May - 1962


What you're asking of Sujata is nothing short of sacrifice. Not outwardly, perhaps, but it would be a sacrifice for her. She would be sacrificing something to you, something very precious.... To help you she would have to sacrifice her own realization. Well, that in itself has a place in the spectrum of realizations.
I understand.
She would inevitably come into contact with other people. page 164 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th May - 1962


(Sujata's vision the night of April 1)

One Thousand Years

(original English)

We enter the courtyard of a building, Satprem and I. We see sad faced people. Head bent, solemn and silent. The Mother is dead. Everybody thinks that The Mother is dead. A few are scattered here and there, individuals or groups of three or four. But most go out from a side door to our left. Another door is to the left at the top of a stairway which mounts from the court yard below and ends in a sort of bridge or passage. I see one or two
persons going out from this bridge-door. Turning to the right, this passage leads straight to the Mother's room. We enter Mother's chamber. The Mother is lying on a bed. She is dressed in white satin or silk (the couch also). Four or five people are inside, disconsolate. Slowly they wander out. One or two Pass to the adjoining chamber. Finally only Satprem and I remain. He is near the Mother's bed The Mother sits up and starts talking to Satprem. She is explaining to him about the transformation of the body. She talks for a long time. I am standing a little away and behind. Suddenly Sri Aurobindo beckons me from the adjoining chamber which is His. He too is lying on a cot. I draw near Him. He puts two fingers (index and middle) on my right palm, and says, "You have to carry faith and aspiration during one thousand years." Satprem and I come out from the Mother's chamber and take the passage leading to the left (exit) door to announce to the world that THE MOTHER IS ALIVE. My dream ends before we have crossed the threshold.
page 123-124 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 2nd Apr - 1972-1973


(Mother sees Sujata)

Strange feeling.... Since last night, a strange impression that the Divine has become ... (how to formulate it?) like a golden Force pressing down like this (gesture of pressure on the earth). They alone, who by their aspiration are able to pass through to the Divine Origin, will escape catastrophes. There was a catastrophe in Madras: one of our best cars was in a very serious accident. Only those who have an aspiration, a sincere and unconditional aspiration towards the Divine, only they will escape - they will stand in a golden glory. Extremely interesting. [[Noted from memory. ]]

page 175 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 4th May - 1972-1973



The Force I spoke of yesterday is more and more active (gesture pressing down). The Action is becoming imperative. Crushing.
page 180 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 7th May - 1972-1973


(Mother sees Sujata. On this day, thirty-four years before,

Sujata decided to stay with Mother. She was twelve and a half

years old, the youngest disciple in the Ashram. She had made

her first visit to Pondicherry when she was nine.

She gives Mother a spray of "Service" flowers.

This will be the last May 29th.)

It's from your tree.

(Mother holds the flowers for a long time,

then gives them back to Sujata)

I've put something there. For you and Satprem.
page 194 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 29th May - 1972-1973


(Mother sees Sujata, who has just lost her eldest brother, and

she comforts her. This fragment of conversation

has been noted from memory.)

What has to be done for each one is done. Our consciousness is limited (microscopic gesture), it sees only a little part. The divine Consciousness is ... (gesture): it sees. What has to be done for each one is done. If someone has given himself to the Divine and trusts the Divine, the Divine looks after him. And ... (how to explain?) for instance, all that has to be done for you is being done every minute; and if you in turn ask the Divine to look after someone, that too is done. And done for the best. But this best is as the Divine sees it. You must be in peace. The peace of absolute trust. Peace has the power to annul the obstacles.
page 211 , Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 18th June - 1972-1973



-704_Satyakarma.html



I know - I know He wants me to learn not to take seriously the responsibility ("responsibility" isn't the right word), the formidable task of finding 8,000 rupees a day to meet the Ashram's expenses - in other words, a colossal fortune every month. And I very well see (because I told Him several times, "You know, it would be great fun if I had plenty of money to play with"), so I see that He laughs, but He doesn't answer!... He teaches me to be able to laugh at this difficulty, to see the cashier send me his book in which the figures are growing astronomical ([laughing] it's by 50,000, 60,000, 80,000, 90,000), while the drawer is nearly empty! And He wants me to learn to laugh at it. The day when I can really laugh - laugh, enjoy myself - SINCERELY (not through effort - you can do anything you want through effort), when it makes me laugh spontaneously, I think it will change. Because otherwise it's impossible.... You see, we have fun with all sorts of things, there's no reason we couldn't have fun with more money than we need and do things in style! It will surely happen one day, but we should - we shouldn't be overwhelmed by the amount, and for that we shouldn't take money seriously. We shouldn't take money seriously. It's very hard nowadays, because all over the world people take money seriously, and that makes it very hard. Especially those who have money. Those who have money, how seriously they take it, oh, Lord! That's why it's difficult. We should be able to laugh - laugh, laugh frankly and sincerely, then it would be over. Well! ... All right, we'll talk about it again. page 34 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 14th jan 1963





-705_Surendra.html


Sri Aurobindo has written somewhere that the movement of world transformation is double: first, the individual who does sadhana [[Sadhana: spiritual quest and discipline. ]] and establishes contact with higher things; but at the same time, the world is a base and it must rise up a little and prepare itself for the realization to be achieved (this is putting it simply). Some people live merely on the surface - they come alive only when they stir about restlessly. Whatever happens inside them (if anything does!) is immediately thrown out into movement. Such people always need an outer activity; take J. for example: he fastened onto Sri Aurobindo's phrase, 'World Union,' and came to tell me he wanted....
He has been like that since the beginning (gesture expressing agitation), and he had a go at a considerable number of things - but none ever succeeded! He has no method, no sense of order and he doesn't know how to organize work. So World Union is simply to let him have his way, like letting a horse gallop. I used to send him around to the various centers (because he had to do something!), and he would visit, speak to people ... I don't know about what. And during one of his trips to Delhi he happened to meet Z, who had been sent by the government of India to the Soviet Union, where it seems he delivered an extraordinary speech (it must have been extraordinary, because I have been receiving letters from everywhere, including America, asking for the text of this sensational speech in which he apparently spoke of 'human unity'). So Z returned with the idea of forming a 'World Union,' and J. and Z met. Furthermore, they were encouraged by S.M. [[A politician, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and friend of Jawaharlal Nehru. ]] and even by the Prime Minister, [[Nehru. ]] who probably had a special liking for Z and had given him a lot of encouragement. That's how things began. I treated it as something altogether secondary and unimportant - when people need to gallop, I let them gallop (but I hadn't met Z). Then J. and Z left together on a speaking-tour of Africa and there things began to go sour, because Z was working in one way and J. in another. Finally, they were at odds and came back here to tell me, 'World Union is off to a good start - with a quarrel!' (Mother laughs) Z was saying, 'Nothing can be done unless we base ourselves EXCLUSIVELY on the teaching of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and they are behind us giving support.' And J. said, 'No, no! We are not sectarian! We accept all ideas, all theories, etc.' I replied, and as it happens, I said that Z was right, though with one corrective: he had been saying that people had to recognize us as their guru. 'No,' I said, 'it's absolutely useless - not only useless, I refuse. I don't want to be anybody's guru. People should simply be told that things are to be done on the basis of Sri Aurobindo's thought. [[This is the text of Mother's reply to J.: 'I have read Z's account and your own letter on this subject. in the faith of his devotion, he must have been quite offended. The truth in what he says is that any idea, WHATEVER its degree of truth, is ineffective if it does not also carry the power acquired through realization, by a real change of consciousness. And if the proponent of this idea does not himself have the realization, he must seek the backing of those who have the power. On the other hand, what you say is true: an idea ought to be accepted on the basis of its inherent truth and not because of the personality expounding it, however great this personality may be. These two truths or aspects of the question are equally true but also equally incomplete: they are not the whole truth. Both of them must be accepted and combined with many other aspects of the question if you want to even begin to approach the dynamic power of the realization. Don't you see how ridiculous this situation is? Three people of goodwill meet in the hope of teaching men the necessity for a "World Union" and they are not even able to keep a tolerant or tolerable union among themselves, because each sees a different angle of the procedure to be followed for implementing their plan.' ]] So they kept pulling in opposing directions. Eventually they tried to set something up (which still didn't hold together), and finally they wrote me a little more clearly. (There is one very nice man involved, Y. He isn't particularly intellectual but has a lot of common sense and a very faithful heart - a very good man.) Y asked me some direct questions, without beating around the bush, and I replied directly: 'World Union is an entirely superficial thing, without any depth, based on the fact that Sri Aurobindo said "the masses" must be helped to follow the progress of "the elite" - well, let them go ahead! If they enjoy it, let them go right ahead!' ... I didn't say it exactly like that (I was a bit more polite!), but that was the gist of it. Now it has all fallen flat. They are carrying on with their little activities, but it's absolutely unimportant. They publish a small journal, and V, who writes for them, is far from stupid. She is rather intelligent and I have some control over her, so I will try to stop her from writing nonsense.
page 108 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961


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After reading a hitherto unpublished letter of Sri Aurobindo's "... Although St. Paul had remarkable mystic experiences and, certainly, much profound spiritual knowledge (profound rather than wide, I think) - I would not swear to it that he is referring [["For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." (I Corinthians 15:53-54) ]] to the supramentalised body (physical body). Perhaps to the supramental body or to some other luminous body in its own space and substance, which he found sometimes as if enveloping him and abolishing this body of death which he felt the material envelope to be. This verse like many others is capable of several interpretations and might refer to a quite supraphysical experience. The idea of a transformation of the body occurs in different traditions, but I have never been quite sure that it meant the change in this very matter. There was a yogi some time ago in this region who taught it, but he hoped when the change was complete, to disappear in light. The Vaishnavas speak of a divine body which will replace this one when there is the complete siddhi. But, again, is this a divine physical or supraphysical body? At the same time there is no obstacle in the way of supposing that all these ideas, intuitions, experiences point to, if they do not exactly denote, the physical transformation."[[Cent. Ed., 24.1237. ]]

Sri Aurobindo
December 24, 1930


page 216-17 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 30th Sep - 1966



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I remember, long ago, right at the beginning (I think I had just moved into Sri Aurobindo's house), someone, I forget who (did Tagore have a sister?...[[It was not Tagore's sister but a relative of his, Sarala Devi Choudhurani, a revolutionary whom Sri Aurobindo had known in Bengal. ]]), she was a tall and strong woman, rather awe-inspiring, who had come to spend a day in the Ashram, and she told me, "Why don't you keep some rooms and rent them out to visitors? You would get ten rupees a day." (Mother laughs) I stared at her, I was flabbergasted (she was teaching me to be practical!). And at the end, she said, "God bless you." At that point I couldn't restrain myself, and I answered her, "It's already done!" (Mother laughs)


page 330 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th Oct - 1967



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I got today a letter from a Swedish lady, I think (Swedish or Norwegian, I don't know), who bought a crucifixion.... A HUGE painting - huge, I forget its size, but it's fantastic, something like thirty feet high. She asks me what she should do with it! She wants to send it to me.... So I've told her (she paid a good sum for it, but she's a very rich woman; only she wanted to make a gift of it to me), I've told her to make an exhibition in a large hall, with, written under the painting, "The Past." Then to put next to it, quite small, a photo of the galaxy, which is almost identical to Auroville's plan - a photo of the galaxy, big as this, and below, Auroville's plan big as this (gesture still smaller), and to write, "The Future." And she'll make people pay to come in and see! Do you know that photo of the galaxy? It's really lovely. One of the plans for Auroville is almost identical, and they did it without seeing the photo of the galaxy.... They'll put those two photos, and if people ask questions, they'll be told, "Write there, you'll get an answer." I thought it would be an interesting symbol. You understand, if I put anything else, I mean a photo of Sri Aurobindo, for instance, or books, it will look like ... it will be as if we wanted to start a new religion - I don't want religions, an end to religions! So it's an attempt to realize.
page 109-10 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Apr - 1968



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Do you know little S.?[[A twelve-year-old Tamil child, very dark-skinned, adopted three years earlier by a European disciple. ]] Have you ever spoken to her? ... I've heard she beats sixteen- and seventeen-year-old boys at logic and new mathematics. I saw her today. She is obviously quite remarkably intelligent. And yesterday was her birthday. You know that Y. [her adoptive mother] has gone into hospital; and when she went she asked me to send something to Thoth every day (you know who's Thoth, [[Thoth is an ape adopted by that same European disciple and would be, according to her, a reincarnation of the Egyptian god Thoth. ]] don't you?), because it seems that whenever he receives something from me, he is quite calm for two hours. Very well. So I sent something the first day (that was yesterday). And yesterday was little S.'s birthday. I thought that rather than for her to fetch from the secretary the fruit I give for Thoth, it would be better if she came to see me at 10 and I'd give her her card and bunch of flowers at the same time. But then, everything is disorganized and not too efficient: she wasn't informed. When she came it was too late because it was 10:30 or 11 while I had said "before 10." So she wrote me a letter.... I saw the girl today, she is really very intelligent, no doubt about that, and here is her letter. (Note that when she came to live with Y., she knew French because she had learned it with the Sisters - she was a pupil at the "Mission" some three years ago - and for three years Y. has been giving her French lessons.) So here is the child's letter:

Sweet Mother, I am absolutely ... [one word skipped here] having missed seeing you. Yesterday evening nobody came to tell me. And when they brought the presents for Thoth from You they didn't tell me nothing either. Sweet Mother, since yesterday big S.[["Big S." is the child. ]] wants to see you, and now that they say it's too late and I feel I'll miss seeing You, big S. is sad and I don't like that.

S.

It's not French, of course. You clearly feel that the thought isn't ordinary.... I found that very interesting. But for a French class, it would be riddled with errors.
Of course, but there is a "tone" in it....
Exactly. I was surprised, because Y. [the adoptive mother] knows French well, obviously, and she is quite capable of teaching her to write correctly: she hasn't taken the trouble, or didn't want to, I don't know why. But there is a certain force there.
page 54-56 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 18th Feb - 1967


This story of little S. has taught me much. Because I saw that little girl this morning. She is black-skinned, of course - she was all luminous. All luminous. And I don't think she is conscious of it (perhaps only in so far as Y. has flattered her - that's always possible), but it's very spontaneous in her, she wasn't trying to put on airs, she didn't come to strike a pose: she just came to take the fruit and flower for Thoth. She was here in front of my table; when I saw her come in I said, "Strange." This little girl who is so black-skinned ... she was clearer than others. And this letter is so strong! Yet she wouldn't pass an examination.
page 59 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 18th Feb - 1967



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You see, every national entity has a right to free and independent existence, provided it doesn't interfere in the free and independent existence of all other entities. Ambitions, territorial expansions - of course, all colonies and all of that - must be swept out of the picture. To defend themselves, the Egyptians say that the Israelis had publicly declared that Israel's border should be the Nile - I don't know if that's true. I don't know if it's true because everybody tells lies. On their part, the Egyptians publicly declared three years ago (it was a public declaration), they publicly declared that the Israeli nation had no right to exist and had to disappear.
Three days ago, Nasser declared that he wanted "the destruc tion of Israel: wiped off the map."
Yes, that's it. But three years ago, they declared that Israel shouldn't exist. So that clearly puts them in the wrong. I don't know how the others replied.... The whole world lives in falsehood, without a doubt, but one thing must be established in an absolute way: the right of each nation or country to individual existence, provided it doesn't interfere in another nation's right. That should be the base. Of course, they will start arguing: "BUT at that time, things were like that; at that time they were like this; and in the past this was ours; in the past ..." Endless arguments. So there should be a higher vision, which means a balanced and just and deep vision of things, capable of saying, "This is how it is." Otherwise there would be an indefinite source of arguments. For the moment, at any rate, all diplomatic relations are based on falsehood - and the crudest falsehood at that: it's recognized as a necessity and the only way out. That's how they consider it. So that's what must be abolished to begin with.

(silence)

There is a group in the new Indian parliament, a group of people dissatisfied with the position taken by India, who have declared their wish to act according to Sri Aurobindo's ideal and instructions. And they've asked if we could send someone from here to hold conferences in Delhi.... It's a "group" - naturally not the whole parliament. It's something to be envisaged. But the difficulty is to find the "someone," because it should be a man who knows Sri Aurobindo thoroughly to begin with, who is capable of receiving his inspirations directly (a very difficult condition), and has at the same time a very strong character with a power - a contagious power - and a force that can arouse the inert masses.... For years I have been looking for that man, without finding him. There was a man who would have done - not fully well, not with enough breadth of mind to fully understand Sri Aurobindo, but very straight and strong - he was assassinated in Kashmir.
Assassinated?
He is the one who came here when we wanted to have a conference for the opening of the University, he presided over it. [[Mother is referring to Shyamaprasad Mukherji. ]] A rather tall man, and strong. I forget his name. But it was in Kashmir that he was assassinated (not officially, of course: he "fell ill.") It wasn't perfect, it was a stopgap, but anyway he would have done. But now ... Among the young people whom I don't know?... What is needed is power combined with that breadth of mind capable of understanding Sri Aurobindo's inspiration and transmitting it; and along with that, vital power. The two things together. And it's not something for tomorrow: it's for right now, that's the problem, because the danger is now.
page 174-75 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 7th June - 1967





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.. Then there is little S.U. (do you know S.U.?), who isn't too happy with her work and asked me if I couldn't help her make some progress. So I told her, "Read Satprem's book ...." She started reading Satprem's book. She told me "If I don't understand something, what do I do?" I said, "If you can't understand, ask me." So yesterday, she quoted a bit of a sentence to me (you know how they do: they take a bit of a sentence and ask you, "Whatever does this mean?!"). I answered. It was a sentence in which it was said that there were two "positions": the materialist and the spiritualist; then you mention me, saying we should take another position, a "third position." She didn't understand (Mother gives Satprem the child's letter). [["I like Satprem's book which You gave me. But I have two difficulties. The first is with the words. There are some words whose meaning I do not know. And the second is that some passages are not clear. Here is one: 'What we may call with Mother a third position, a 'something else' we tenaciously need, we who are neither narrow materialists nor exclusive spiritualists.'" ]] My answer is prompt. But I felt like saying to her, "Another time, what if you went and asked Satprem?"
It wouldn't have the same effect!

No, but you could explain better! (Mother laughs)
Ah, no!
You can keep this if it amuses you ... my comments on your book! (Mother gives her reply)
"In the world, people generally classify themselves as materialists who believe in nothing but matter, or as spiritualists who reject matter in order to lean on the spirit alone.
"Sri Aurobindo is neither a materialist nor a spiritualist. He admits both, but wants a matter transformed, divinized by the spirit, capable of expressing the truth instead of constantly denying it."

page 217-18 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 25th June - 1969


But you know, this little S.U. (I've never said this; I forget when it was - years ago, she was big as a boot), when your famous Sannyasin [[The Sannyasin who initiated Satprem. ]] came here, he wanted to do a worship to the Mother, [[Mother is referring to a special puja or Tantric ritual (kumari puja) during which the officiant brings down certain forces - an emanation of the Mother - into a very young girl. This was on October 20, 1958. ]] and he did one thing ... which isn't regarded as very charitable (that individual had a certain capacity): he put into this child an emanation of a higher spirit (which he thought was an emanation of the Mother), he carried out the ceremony, and afterwards (it was infinitely too powerful for the child), he came to me and told me, "I'll send her to you for you to take out the emanation, we can't keep that!" So he sent me the child. And I saw that he had put something into her (which was fine, by the way; it wasn't at all a bad thing, it was fine), and for several days, I did the work to see what could be adapted without upsetting the child's consciousness too much, and to drive out what was too strong .... The work was interesting, and I did it successfully, so it gave the little girl a sort of trust in me (naturally I didn't say anything to her, no one has ever said anything to her), but it gave her a rather exceptional trust (she was very small, a tiny thing). Since then, for that reason, I have taken interest in this child. Because there really is an aspiration in her - it has created an aspiration in her being. And that's why I decided to help her, and why I've told you about it .... She had some stuff (he was rather sensitive, your Sannyasin, he felt she was receptive). If he had asked me before, I would have told him, "For heaven's sake don't do that, it's not something to be done!" - He might have upset the child's whole life. But at the time, he had some semblance of trust in me: he came to me and said, "Now this should be taken out" (Mother laughs) But the child knows nothing, she mustn't know. It seems that among those Sannyasins and others, it's often done ... but it's dangerous.
page 220 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 25th June - 1969


Oh, I've received this from little S.U., again in relation to your book:

(Mother holds out a letter)


Sweet Mother,
What is the idea behind this sentence from the "Adven ture": "Unfortunately, the West has too much intelligence to have much clear vision to translate outwardly, while India, too full within, is not demanding enough to match what she lives with what she sees"?

(Mother smiles and

dictates straight off)

It means that in the West (especially in France), the intellectual development has prevailed over the spiritual development and the contact with higher regions, while in India, the inner knowledge has remained more developed than the intellectual field.
We could put the sentence thus:
The West expresses more than it really knows.
India knows more than it really can express.
Enough!
page 223-24 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 25th June - 1969



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Did I tell you that in Italy a veterinarian has found a cure for cancer? ... This man has discovered that goats, the goat species (male and female), never have cancer! They even went as far as trying to make them have cancer, and they didn't succeed. Conclusion: in their makeup, there's something opposed to cancer; they've discovered that something in the stomach (I forget the details), and he made a serum. As he is a veterinarian, he doesn't have the right to give it, but he has doctor friends, and those doctors (a dozen or so) have tried it out - extraordinary cure, without fail. But with a difference: the female goat cures certain cases, while the male cures other cases; it's not the same with the male or the female, they cure different types of cancer (I understand nothing about it). Anyway, he lives somewhere in Italy, I don't know where, and I had him asked if he would like to come here - he has accepted. And he's going to come: there's a whole group of young Italians who want to come at the end of the year for Sri Aurobindo's yoga, and he'll probably come with them, or else he will come with Paolo if Paolo doesn't mind paying for his travel. My intention is to put him in touch with Dr. S., to let them study that together, and if it works well, I'll ask him to stay on. Because you know that S. now has a sort of dispensary in Auromodèle [in Auroville] (there's even a young French medical student who has come and stays there too, he is very happy). So we could open a "cancer clinic," that would be very interesting! Because with S.'s presence here, there's no difficulty - in Auroville he can do what he likes. That would be wonderful! He is coming before the end of the year. And the other man, the healer, is coming in September ... The other, we'll see if he wants to cure some people here, that would be good. It would straight away give an interesting direction .... "Auroville, the city of healing"! That would be good!
page 284-85 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 9th Aug - 1969



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S.M came the other day ... He's quite informed about events as only the government knows them. He brings me government news - not what they feed to the public. It doesn't look good. But as he has confidence, he wanted to know (so much confidence that he goes and tells Nehru and others, 'Oh, Mother said this, Mother said that.' And it turns out true, fortunately!). So after describing things at some length, he asked my opinion. Logically, according to reason, war seems unavoidable. But as he asked, I looked - I looked at my nights, precisely, as well as other things. And then I said, 'I don't feel it. I don't feel any war.'
page 398 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th July 1960

The other day, I had asked S.M. to come while Nehru was here (he is a friend of Nehru's and has his confidence), and S.M. did all the talking. But I saw that if he had been silent, if Nehru had been sitting in his armchair with me saying nothing and no one to listen to, he couldn't have stayed! He would have left. It would have been too strong, he couldn't have stayed. Whereas listening to S.M., he didn't pay attention, and slowly, slowly, I was able to do my work. Which means it can be done only in a COMPLETELY roundabout way, completely. After he left, there was almost an invasion ... a totally unexpected invasion [of Nehru's retinue]. When I saw that, I thought, "Well, well! That's how I am protected!" If anyone of those people had had some mischief in mind, he could have just walked in! An invasion of the whole Pondicherry government: the councilors. Like a crush of ... I don't know, if I say "a rough sea," I give them a compliment! I hesitated, I was about to say "a herd," but a herd doesn't have the vulgar skepticism of those people; a herd is harmlessly unconscious, while these are unconscious but harmful. page 175 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 15th June 1963



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... I saw S.G. this morning, the person who went to America, who knew Kennedy and even spoke to him about the possibility of openly joining with Russia so as to exert pressure on the world and prevent armed disputes (he said, "to settle all border and territorial disputes in a peaceful way," beginning, of course, with China and India). Kennedy had been enthusiastic. The Russian ambassador had been summoned at once, and he had telephoned Khrushchev: enthusiastic over the idea (but this Khrushchev seems to be rather a good man). They were supposed to sort it out during a meeting at the U.N. At this point, Kennedy makes off....[[Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. ]] But the idea has been taken up again through Khrushchev and he continues to be quite enthusiastic. [[Khrushchev will be dismissed nine months later, on October 15. ]] It seems (I don't know if it's quite true, because it's Z [a Russian disciple] who says so) ... but Z sent him my article "A Dream,"[[See Addendum. ]] on the possibility of creating a small "international center" (I don't like the word "international," but never mind), and Khrushchev answered, "This idea is excellent, the entire world should make it a reality." Well, I don't know whether it's correct, but anyway the gentleman seems to be well-disposed. And this S.G. is very intimate with the U.S. ambassador in Delhi.... In brief, S.G. has sent me the new proposal - the first one, I had approved it, I had even put my blessings on it, and he had gone to see Nehru: Nehru immediately called both ambassadors for
a conference. [[Nehru will die four months later, on May 27. ]] At the time, I worked a good deal and things were moving.... Now, it seems that the new president [Johnson] is, for the time being, continuing what the other did: he won't upset the apple cart.... We'll see. If it succeeds, it will give some concrete expression to the effort of transformation without violence. page 28-29 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 18th Jan 1964



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At I in the morning, I had to do another work, because one of our boys, T. (that boy has the makings of a hero), almost single-handedly saved the clinic, but it cost him a fractured skull. At the time, they thought he was done for. They brought me the news,
and when the news came I saw, I felt all of a sudden the other experience recede, and then that I was becoming the universal Mother with all the power of the universal Mother. And then, that T. became quite small, like this (gesture of something tiny in the hollow of the hand), and I held him in my hands - but he was all luminous, all luminous - I rocked him in my hands, telling him, "My child, my little child, my dear child ...," like this, and for several hours. That's what saved him, I think. Because his skull was fractured, it had caved in; it had stopped just short of damaging the brain - the caved-in piece was inside, they had to operate, cut open, and remove it. It had stopped just short of the brain. So he will pull through. And I know that that's what saved him. page 31 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 19th Feb 1965



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(Extract from a letter of Sri Aurobindo concerning the invasion of South Korea on June 15, 1950.)

June 28,1950

I do not know why you want a line of thought to be indicated to you for your guidance in the affair of Korea. There is nothing to hesitate about there, the whole affair is as plain as a pike-staff. It is the first move in the Communist plan of campaign to dominate and take possession first of these northern parts and then of South East Asia as a preliminary to their manoeuvres with regard to the rest of the continent - in passing, Tibet as a gate opening to India. [[Tibet was invaded four months later, on October 21. India did not protest. ]] If they succeed, there is no reason why domination of the whole world should not follow by steps until they are ready to deal with America. That is, provided the war can be staved off with America until Stalin can choose his time. Truman seems to have understood the situation if we can judge from his moves in Korea, but it is to be seen whether he is strong enough and determined enough to carry the matter through. The measures he has taken are likely to be incomplete and unsuccessful, since they do not include any actual military intervention except on sea and in the air. That seems to be the situation; we have to see how it develops. One thing is certain that if there is too much shillyshallying and if America gives up now her defence of Korea, she may be driven to yield position after position until it is too late: at one point or another she will have to stand and face the necessity of drastic action even if it leads to war. Stalin also seems not to be ready to face at once the risk of a world war and, if so, Truman can turn the tables on him by constantly facing him with the onus of either taking that risk or yielding position after position to America. I think that is all that I can see at present; for the moment the situation is as grave as it can be .[[Cent. Ed., Vol. XXVI., 404 & 416. ]] page 423 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 17th Nov. 1962



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Do you have things to read me?
Last time, we spoke about that book.... Would you like me toread it?
Yes, I am listening.
It's a first draft.
It's not the beginning of the book?
Yes, yes, but I mean, all that I've written, I really feel as if I were writing automatically.
Oh!...
So you know, it's really a ... for me it's something of an anguishto write this book. Not only I don't know what's going to come when I write a chapter, I don't know what's going to come when I write a paragraph, and when I start a sentence I don't know how I am going to end it.
Oh! That's interesting.
But I'm in anguish!
No! (Mother laughs) That's a blissful condition!
I have dedicated the book "At the feet of the Truth."
That's good.
It's entitled "On the Way to Supermanhood - Essay of Experimental Evolution." For the introduction, I start with a quotation from Sri Aurobindo. That quotation is:
"Or we may find when all the rest has failed Hid in ourselves the key of perfect change."
Where did he write this?
In "Savitri," Mother.
Oh, interesting.
(Satprem reads the introduction)
"Secrets are simple, because the truth is simple........ And whatlooked like a human impossibility will become child's play."
It's magnificent, mon petit, magnificent! It's just the thing needed. What could we do to spread it?... It should be ... (gesture in every direction). A book isn't enough. We need something that would go everywhere.

(Mother remains thoughtful)

And it's complete. It's the introduction, and it's complete in itself. It should be translated, under your supervision, into English, German, Italian, and it should be published all at once in a newspaper ... one of those widely circulated newspapers. But the translations should be ready and it should go like this (simultaneous gesture in every direction). The translations, you can have them done here. Do you have more?
I've written nine chapters in all.
Oh!... But this [introduction] stands on its own very well. Every time, you will read me one chapter. We have time, since you haven't finished, but this introduction is what must be spread (the book will be a study). It must go everywhere. Who could translate it?
In English, I don't know.... There's T, who translated my first book.
Tehmi can translate. In English, it's easy.
In Italian, there's N.
He is very busy, but I'll ask him. Just the introduction. For the rest, we have time. It's only the introduction that should be cast like that over the world.
What about the German?
A young man ... (Mother does not find). Only the introduction. And we should have thousands and thousands of copies.
We should reach the big magazines.
Yes. But I want it to come out everywhere at the same time - not one here, then six months pass by, and then ... No: all of it at the same time.

(silence)

Shu-Hu should translate it into Chinese. We could send him the French and the English, both. I will ask him to do the translation.
page 343 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Oct. 1970




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Albano, Regina Apostolorum, 13 January 1972

To His Excellency Msgr. A.R.

Archbishop of Pondicherry

Venerable Lord,
As Your Excellency knows, I have directed the Holy Congre gation for the Eastern Church for nearly twenty-five years, and one of my most cherished memories is the journey I made to your beloved country in 1953. I have always held a keen interest in your great nation, but even more so after I visited it. It was thus with a very special pleasure that I accompanied His Holiness Pope Paul VI to the International Eucharistic Con gress in Bombay.
On that occasion, the Holy Father expressed the wish tocome in contact with representatives of your country's main religious movements, and I know, Excellency, that he was given a biography of Sri Aurobindo.
It is in fact in connection with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram inPondicherry that I am taking the liberty of writing Your Excellency. I am sure you are aware of the reputation it has earned beyond India's borders; I have been following its work and achievements for years. Recently, I was told of the difficul ties encountered by those in charge of the Ashram in regard to
the proposed creation of a university - a project expressly favored by the Indian Government; some Catholic students, in conjunction with a few priests, are displaying a strong opposi tion to this project.
I therefore request Your Excellency kindly to use hisauthority to avoid any incident that, at all events, would be highly detrimental to the harmony that His Holiness Pope Paul VI so much desires, in accord with the rules laid down by the Ecumenical Council Vatican II.

With gratitude, I remain, Venerable Lord,

respectfully and faithfully yours,

Signed: Eugene Card. Tisserand


page 90-91 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 11th Mar - 1972-1973




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I learned all this through Theon. Probably, he was .. I don't know if he was Russian or Polish (a Russian or Polish Jew), he never said who he really was or where he was born, nor his age nor anything. He had assumed two names: one was an Arab name he had adopted when he took refuge in Algeria (I don't know for what reason). After having worked with Blavatsky and having founded an occult society in Egypt, he went to Algeria, and there he first called himself 'Aia Aziz' (a word of Arabic origin meaning 'the beloved'). Then, when he began setting up his Cosmic Review and his 'cosmic group,' he called himself Max Theon, meaning the supreme God (!), the greatest God! And no one knew him by any other name than these two - Aia Aziz or Max Theon. He had an English wife. He said he had received initiation in India (he knew a little Sanskrit and the Rig-Veda thoroughly), and then he formulated a tradition which he called the 'cosmic tradition' and which he claimed to have received - I don't know how - from a tradition anterior to that of the Cabala and the Vedas. But there were many things (Madame Theon was the clairvoyant one, and she received visions; oh, she was wonderful!), many things that I myself had seen and known before knowing them which were then substantiated.
page 219 - Mother's Agenda, volume 1, 4th Nov. - 1958

But generally - and this is something Theon had told me (Theon was very qualified on the subject of hostile forces and the workings of all that 'resists' the divine influence, and he was a great fighter - as you might imagine! He himself was an incarnation of an asura, so he knew how to tackle these things!); he was always saying, If you make a VERY SMALL concession or suffer a minor defeat, it gives you the right to a very great victory.' It's a very good trick. And I have observed, in practice, that for all things, even for the very little things of everyday life, it's true - if you yield on one point (if, even though you see what should be, you yield on a very secondary and unimportant point), it immediately gives you the power to impose your will for something much more important. I mentioned this to Sri Aurobindo and he said that it was true. It is true in the world as it is today, but it's not what we want; we want it to change, really change.

page 476 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th Nov. 1960

The Christians say it's the spirit of evil, but this is due to a lack of understanding. Theon always told me that the true interpretation of the Biblical story of the serpent in the Garden of Eden is that humanity wanted to pass from a state of animal-like divinity to the state of conscious divinity by means of mental development, symbolized by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. And this serpent, which Theon always said was iridescent, reflecting all the colors of the prism, was not at all the spirit of evil, but the power of evolution - the force, the power of evolution. And it was natural that this power of evolution would make them taste the fruit of knowledge.
Now, according to Theon, Jehovah was the chief of the Asuras, [[Asura: demon of the mental plane embodying the forces of division and darkness. ]] the supreme Asura, the egoistic God who wanted to dominate everything and keep everything under his control. And of course this act made him furious, for it enabled mankind to become gods through the power of an evolution of consciousness. And that's why he banished them from Paradise. Although told in a childish manner, there's a great deal of truth in this story, a great deal.
page 62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb. - 1961
Theon also taught me how to turn aside lightning.
Is it possible?!
Ah, yes-he used to do it.
But it must take a formidable power!
Oh (laughing), he had a formidable power! Theon had a formidable power.... One stormy day (there were terrible thunderstorms there), he climbed to the high terrace above the sitting room. 'It's a strange time to be going up there,' I said to him. He laughed, 'Come along, don't be afraid!' So I joined him. He began some invocations and then I clearly saw a bolt of lightning that had been heading straight towards us suddenly swerve IN THE MIDST OF ITS COURSE. You will say it's impossible, but I saw it turn aside and strike a tree farther away. I asked Theon, 'Did you do that?' He nodded. Oh, that man was terrible - he had a terrible power. But quite a good external appearance! Have you seen his photo? No? I'll have to show it to you. He was a handsome man, about sixty years old - between fifty and sixty.
page 65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb. - 1961
The recollection of those times is stored somewhere in the terrestrial memory, that region where all the earth's memories are inscribed. Those who contact this memory can tell you that the earthly paradise still exists somewhere. [[ This is the origin of such legends as Shangri-la. But 'psychics' most often confuse two planes of reality, attributing to their SUBTLE vision a physical reality which it does not have or no longer has: they have merely entered into contact with the memory of a place - for places, like beings, have a memory. ]] But it doesn't exist materially.... I don't know, I don't see it.

(silence)

Of course, these things can always be explained symbolically. Theon explained man's 'exile' like this: when the Being - the hostile Being - assumed the position of the Lord Supreme in relation to the terrestrial realization, he didn't want humanity to progress mentally and gain a knowledge permitting it to stop obeying him! ... That is Theon's occult explanation. According to Theon, the serpent wasn't the spirit of evil at all: it was the evolutionary Force. And Sri Aurobindo fully agreed; he used to tell me the same thing: the evolutionary power - the mental evolutionary power - is what drove man to gain knowledge, a knowledge of division. And it's a fact that along with the sense of Good and Evil, man became conscious of himself. Naturally, this ruined everything and he couldn't stay: it was his own consciousness that drove him out of Paradise - he could no longer stay. Then was man banished by Jehovah or by his own consciousness ? These are just two ways of seeing the same thing! In my view, all these old Scriptures and ancient traditions have a graduated content (gesture showing different levels of understanding), and according to the needs of the epoch and the people, one symbol or another was drawn upon. But a time comes when one goes beyond these things and sees them from what Sri Aurobindo calls 'the other hemisphere,' where one realizes that they are only modes of expression to put one in contact - a kind of bridge or link between the lower way of seeing and the higher way of knowing.
page 123-24 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th March - 1961
These things are very interesting. They must form part of the work I have come on earth to do. Because even before encounteringTheon, before knowing anything, I had experiences at night, certain types of activities looking after people who were leaving their bodies - and with a knowledge of the process; I didn't know what I was doing nor did I seek to know, yet I knew exactly what had to be done and I did it. I was around twenty.

As soon as I came upon Theon's teaching (even before meeting him personally), and read and understood all kinds of things which I hadn't known before, I began to work quite systematically. Every night, at the same hour, I was working to construct - between the purely terrestrial atmosphere and the psychic atmosphere - a path of protection across the vital, so that people wouldn't have to pass through it (for those who are conscious but without knowledge it's a very difficult passage - infernal.) I was preparing this path, doing this work (it must have been around 1903 or 1904, I don't remember exactly) for months and months and months. All sorts of extraordinary things happened during that time - extraordinary. I could tell long stories.... Then, when I went to Tlemcen, I told Madame Theon about it. 'Yes,' she told me, 'it is part of the work you have come on earth to do. Everyone with even a slightly awakened psychic being who can see your Light will go to your Light at the moment of dying, no matter where they die, and you will help them to pass through.' And this work is constant. Constant. it has given me a considerable number of experiences concerning what happens to people when they leave their bodies. I've had all sorts of experiences, all kinds of examples - it's really very interesting. Lately it has increased, become more precise.
page 234 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961


The way Theon told it, there was first the universal Mother (he didn't call her the universal Mother, but Sri Aurobindo used that name), the universal Mother in charge of creation. For creating she made four emanations: Consciousness or Light; Life; Love or Beatitude and (Mother tries in vain to remember the fourth) ... I must have cerebral anemia today! In India they speak only of three: Sat-Chit-Ananda (Sat is Existence, expressed by Life; Chit is Consciousness, expressed by Power; Ananda is Bliss, synonymous with Love). But according to Theon, there were four (I knew them by heart). Well, these emanations (Theon narrated it in such a way that someone not a philosopher, someone with a childlike mind, could understand), these emanations, conscious of their own power, separated themselves from their Origin; that is, instead of being entirely surrendered to the supreme Will and expressing only.... [279] Ah, the fourth emanation is Truth! Instead of carrying out only the supreme Will, they seem to have acquired a sense of personal power. (They were personalities of sorts, universal personalities, each representing a mode of being.) Instead of remaining connected, they cut the link - each acted on his own, to put it simply. Then, naturally, Light became darkness, Life became death, Bliss became suffering and Truth became falsehood. And these are the four great Asuras: the Asura of Inconscience, the Asura of Falsehood, the Asura of Suffering and the Asura of Death.

page 280 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 28th July - 1961

The other tradition - Theon said it was the origin of both the Kabbala and the Vedas - also held the same concept of divine life and a divine world as Sri Aurobindo: that the summit of evolution would be the divinization of everything objectified, along with an unbroken progression from that moment on. (As things are now, one goes forward and then backwards, then forward and backwards again; but in this divine world, retrogression won't be necessary: there will be a continuous ascent.) This concept was held in that ancient tradition - Theon spoke to me very clearly of it, and Sri Aurobindo hadn't yet written anything when I met Theon. Theon had written all kinds of things - not philosophy, but stories, fantastic stories! Yet this same knowledge was behind them, and when asked about the source of this knowledge he used to say that it antedated both the Kabbala and the Vedas (he was well-versed in the Rig-veda). But Theon had no idea of the path of bhakti, [[Devotion, love for the Divine. ]] none whatsoever.
The idea of surrender to the Divine was absolutely alien to him. Yet he did have the idea of the Divine Presence here (Mother indicates the heart center), of the immanent Divine and of union with That. And he said that by uniting with That and letting That transform the being one could arrive at the divine creation and the transformation of the earth. Theon was the first one to give me the idea that the earth is symbolic, representative - symbolic of concentrated universal action allowing divine forces to incarnate and work concretely. I learned all this from him.
Page 296-97 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 2nd Aug - 1961


Then comes what Theon called the 'nervous sub-level,' which lies between this subtle physical and the vital. And it acts as a protection: if it is stable, harmonious and strong, it protects you - it protects you even physically - from contagious diseases, for instance, and even from accidents. I experienced it when I was living at Val-de-Grâce. It was the year I resolved to attain union with the psychic being and I was concentrated on this from morning to night and night to morning. Every day I spent some time in the Luxembourg Gardens. They were right near the house, but to get there I had to go all the way down Rue du Val-de-Grâce and cross Boulevard Saint Michel, where there were streetcars, automobiles, buses - the whole circus. I would remain in my concentration the whole time, and once, while crossing the boulevard, I felt a shock about this far from my body [slightly more than arm's length], so spontaneously I jumped back - just enough for the streetcar to pass by. I hadn't heard anything; I was totally absorbed, and without that warning I would surely have been run over; instead, I jumped back just in time, and the streetcar sped by. I understood then that this nervous sheath was something entirely concrete, because what I had felt was not an idea of danger but a shock - a material SHOCK. So it's true that as long as this envelope is strong and undamaged, you are protected. But for instance, if you are over-tired or worried or flustered - anything that brings disorder into the atmosphere seems to make holes in this envelope, and all kinds of things can enter. Perhaps this is what Sri Aurobindo is speaking of. Page 303 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 5th Aug - 1961



Once when I was at Tlemcen with Theon (this happened twice, but I'm not sure about the second time because I was alone), my body was in a cataleptic state and I was in conscious trance.... It was a peculiar kind of catalepsy in the sense that my body could speak, though very slowly - Theon had taught me how to do it. But this is because the 'life of the form' always remains (this is what takes seven days to leave the body) and it can even be trained to make the body move - the being is no longer there, but the life of the form can make the body move (in any case, utter words). However, this state is not without danger, the proof being that while I was working in trance, for some reason or other (which I no longer remember, but obviously due to some negligence on the part of Theon who was there to watch over me), the cord - I don't know what to call it - went snap! The link was cut, malevolently, [[Through Theon's malevolence, in fact. ]] and when it was time and I wanted to return, I could no longer re-enter my body. But I was still able to warn him: 'The cord is cut.' Then he used his power and knowledge to help me come back - but it was no joke! It was very difficult. [[Satprem remembers that a few years earlier Mother had told him about the circumstances of this incident: during her work in trance, Mother discovered the location of the 'mantra of life'-the mantra that has the power to create life (and to withdraw it, as well). Theon, an incarnation of the Asura of Death, was of course quite interested and told Mother to repeat this mantra to him. Mother refused. Theon became violently angry and the link was cut (the link that connected Mother to her body). When he realized the catastrophe his anger had caused, Theon grew afraid (for he knew who Mother was) and he then, as Mother recounts, made use of all his power to help her re-enter her body. Later, Mother gave this mantra to Sri Aurobindo ... who let it quietly sink into oblivion. For it is not through a mantra that the secret of life (or death) is to be mastered, but through knowledge of the true Power - in other words, ultimately, knowledge of the reality of Matter and the mechanism of death: it is the whole cellular yoga of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. ]] And this is when I had the experience of the two different states, because the part that had gone out was now without the body's support - the link was cut. Then I knew. Of course, I was in a special state; I was doing a fully conscious work with all the vital power, and I was in control not only of my surroundings but.... You see, what happens is a kind of reversal of consciousness: you begin to belong to another world; you feel this quite distinctly. Theon instantly told me to concentrate (I was finding it all interesting - Mother laughs - I was making experiments and getting ready to go wandering off, but he was terribly scared that I would die on him!). He begged me to concentrate, so I concentrated on my body. When I re-entered, it hurt terribly, terribly - an excruciating pain, like plunging into a hell.
Into a ... ?
Into a hell (Mother laughs). It was frightful. it doesn't last long. He made me drink half a glass of cognac (he always made me take some every day after the trance because I would work in trance for more than an hour, which is generally a forbidden practice). Still, I am quite sure that with anybody but me and him, this would have been the end. I would not have reentered.

Page 306 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 5th Aug - 1961

I have done my best, all these years, to try to keep him at a distance. He has a power - a terrible asuric power. Between you and me, I saw him like that from the start - that's why I became involved with him. I never intended to marry him (his family affairs made it necessary), but when we met, I recognized him as an incarnation of the 'Lord of Falsehood' - that is his 'origin' (what he called the 'Lord of Nations'); and in fact, this being has directed the whole course of world events during the last few centuries. As for Theon, he was.... It was not by choice that I met all the four Asuras - it was a decision of the Supreme. The first one, whom religions call Satan, the Asura of Consciousness, was converted and is still at work. The second [the Asura of Suffering] annulled himself in the Supreme. The third was the Lord of Death (that was Theon). And the fourth, the Master of the world, was the Lord of Falsehood; Richard was an emanation, a vibhuti, [[Indian tradition makes a distinction between a direct 'incarnation' (avatar) and a simple 'emanation' (vibhuti) coming from the consciousness of a god - or a devil. ]] as they say in India, of this Asura. Theon was the vibhuti of the Lord of Death. It's a wonderful story, a real novel, which will perhaps be told one day ... when there are no more Asuras. Then it can be told. Anyway, it was because of Theon that I first found the 'Mantra of Life,' the mantra that gives life, and he wanted me to give it to him, he wanted to possess it - it was something formidable! It was the mantra that gives life (it can make anyone at all come back into life, but that's only a small part of its power). And it was shut away in a particular place, [[Not a physical place. See conversation of November 7, p. 380. ]] sealed up, with my name in Sanskrit on it. I didn't know Sanskrit at that time, but he did, and when he led me to that place, I told him what I saw: 'There's a sort of design, it must be Sanskrit.' (I could recognize the characters as Sanskrit). He told me to reproduce what I was seeing, and I did so. It was my name, Mirra, written in Sanskrit - the mantra was for me and I alone could open it. 'Open it and tell me what's there,' he said.
page 367 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 5th Nov. - 1961
About the discovery of the Supermind in the Veda and by Sri Aurobindo. There is something I don't quite grasp.
Because in the Veda it's incomplete. No, they had a hint, like a vision of the 'thing,' but there is no proof that they realized it. What's more, had they realized it, it seems to me that we would certainly have found some traces - but no traces remain. Theon knew something about it, and he called it 'the new world' or 'the new creation on earth and the glorified body' (I don't remember his exact terminology); but he knew of the Supermind's existence - it had been revealed to him and he announced its coming. He said it would be reached THROUGH the discovery of the God within. And for him, as I told you the other day, this meant a greater density - which seems to be a correct experience. Well, on my side, I have made investigations and had innumerable visions concerning the earth's history, and I spoke about it a good deal with Sri Aurobindo....
page 375 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 5th Nov. 1961

There is also what Theon and Madame Theon used to say. They never spoke of 'Supermind,' but they said the same thing as the Vedas, that the world of Truth must incarnate on earth and create a new world. They even picked up the old phrase from the Gospels, 'new heavens and a new earth,' [[II Peter 3.13. ]] which is the same thing the Vedas speak of. Madame Theon had this experience and she gave me the indication (she didn't actually teach me) of how it was to be done. She would go out of her body and become conscious in the vital world (there were many intermediary states, too, if one cared to explore them). After the vital came the mental: you consciously went out of the vital body, you left it behind (you could see it) and you entered the mental world. Then you left the mental body and entered into.... They used different words, another classification (I don't remember it), but even so, the experience was identical. And like that, she successively left twelve different bodies, one after another. She was extremely 'developed,' you see - individualized, organized. She could leave one body and enter the consciousness of the next plane, fully experience the surroundings and all that was there, describe it ... and so on, twelve times. I learned to do the same thing, and with great dexterity; I could halt on any plane, do what I had to do there, move around freely, see, observe, and then speak about what I had seen. And my last stage, which Theon called 'pathétisme,' [[A word coined by Theon, which might roughly translate as 'the sublime.' ]] a very barbaric but very expressive word, bordered on the Formless - he sometimes used the Jewish terminology, calling the Supreme 'The Formless.' (From this last stage one passed to the Formless - there was no further body to leave behind, one was beyond all possible forms, even all thoughtforms.) In this domain [the last stage before the Formless] one experienced total unity - unity in something that was the essence of Love; Love was a manifestation more... 'dense,' he would always say (there were all sorts of different 'densities'); and Love was a denser expression of That, the sense of perfect Unity - perfect unity, identity - with no longer any forms corresponding to those of the lower worlds. It was a Light! ... An almost immaculate white light, yet with something of a golden-rose in it (words are crude). This Light and this Experience were truly wonderful, inexpressible in words. Well, one time I was there (Theon used to warn against going beyond this domain, because he said you wouldn't come back), but there I was, wanting to pass over to the other side, when - in a quite unexpected and astounding way - I found myself in the presence of the 'principle,' a principle of the human form. It didn't resemble man as we are used to seeing him, but it was an upright form, standing just on the border between the world of forms and the Formless, like a kind of standard. [[By 'standard,' Mother means a sort of model or archetype. ]] At that time nobody had ever spoken to me about it and Madame Theon had never seen it - no one had ever seen or said anything. But I felt I was on the verge of discovering a secret. Afterwards, when I met Sri Aurobindo and talked to him about it, he told me, 'It is surely the prototype of the supramental form.' I saw it several times again, later on, and this proved to be true.
I think I made this experiment in 1904, so when I arrived here it was all a work accomplished and a well-known domain; and when the question of finding the Supermind came up, I had only to resume an experience I was used to - I had learned to repeat it at will, through successive exteriorizations. It was a voluntary process. When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, Sri Aurobindo had already brought the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. 'It's strange,' he said to me, 'it's an endless work! Nothing seems to get done - everything is done and then constantly has to be 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.' So instead of continuing to work in the Mind, both of us (I was the one who went through the experience ... how to put it? ... practically, objectively; he experienced it only in his consciousness, not in the body - but my body has always participated), both of us descended almost immediately (it was done in a day or two) from the Mind into the Vital, and so on quite rapidly, leaving the Mind as it was, fully in the light but not permanently transformed. It wasn't the first time; when I was working with Theon at Tlemcen (the second time I was there), I descended into the total, unindividualized - that is, general - Inconscient (it was the time he wanted me to find the Mantra of Life). And there I suddenly found myself in front of something like a vault or a grotto (of course, it was only something 'like' that), and when it opened, I saw a Being of iridescent light reclining with his head on his hand, fast asleep. All the light around him was iridescent. When I told Theon what I was seeing, he said it was 'the immanent God in the depths of the Inconscient,' who through his radiations was slowly waking the Inconscient to Consciousness. But then a rather remarkable phenomenon occurred: when I looked at him, he woke up and opened his eyes, expressing the beginning of conscious, wakeful action. page 378-381 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 7th Nov. 1961

But truly, EVERYTHING was changed at that moment: something was achieved. It was the perception of Power - the Power that comes from Love (what Love is to the Supreme Consciousness, which has nothing to do with what we usually mean by the word 'love'). And it was ... it was simple! None of those complications resulting from thought, intellect, understanding - all that was gone, all gone. A formidable Power! And it made me understand one thing, that the state I had been put in (by the Lord of Yoga, in fact) was for obtaining the particular power that comes through an identity with all material things, a power possessed by certain persons - not always yogis, certain mediums, for instance. I saw it with Madame Theon: she would will a thing to come to her instead of going to the thing herself; instead of going to get her sandals when she wanted them, she made the sandals come to her. She did this through a capacity to radiate her matter - she exercised a will over her matter - her central will acted upon matter anywhere, since she WAS THERE. With her, then, I saw this power in a methodical, organized way, not as something accidental or spasmodic (as it is with mediums), but as an organization of Matter. And so ... I began to understand: 'With this comes the power to put each thing in its place!'... provided one is universal enough.

page 414 - Mother's Agenda, volume -2 , 23th Nov. 1961

You spoke last time of putting a body on a vital being. Is that being still alive? Who was it?

I have spoken of this before. I told the story of the Chinese revolution, and how this being left me, saying.... It was just five years before the Chinese revolution. I've told the story.

I know I've told it - but it was never noted down.

I used to dictate. Théon taught me to speak while in trance (that is, he had taught my BODY to express itself), and I would tell him everything I was doing while doing it. And he never noted any of it down - I suspect he did it on purpose: he wasn't interested in making revelations. So it's all lost. But had it been noted down, hour by hour, minute by minute, it would have made an extraordinary scientific document on the occult - extraordinary! He never noted it down.

He stopped at the subtle physical - he refused to go any farther. It was Satan, the Asura [[Asura: demon of the mental plane embodying the forces of division and darkness. ]] of Light who, in cutting himself off from the Supreme, fell into Unconsciousness and Darkness (I've told the story many times). But anyway, when I was with Théon, I summoned that being and asked him if he wanted to enter into contact with the earth. It's worth mentioning that Théon himself was an incarnation of the Lord of Death - I've had good company in my life! And the other one [Richard] was an incarnation of the Lord of Falsehood - but it was only partial. With Théon too it was partial. But with Satan it was the central being; of course, he had millions of emanations in the world, but this was the central being in person. The others ... let's keep that for another time.

He agreed to take on a body. Théon wanted to keep him there: "Don't let him go," he told me. I didn't answer. This being told me he didn't want to be more material than that, it was sufficient - you could feel him move the way you feel a draft, it was that concrete.

And he said he was going to set up the Chinese revolution. "I am going to organize a secret society to set up the revolution in China," he told me. "And mark my words: it's going to happen in exactly five years." He gave me the date and I noted it down.

And EXACTLY five years later, it happened. Later I met people coming from China who told me it had all been the work of a secret society. They told me about it because that society used a certain sign, and instinctively, unknowingly, I had made that sign while one of them was talking to me (Mother puts one fist on top of the other). And the person said, "Ah, so you're one of us! " I didn't reply. Then he told me everything.

But it's really interesting because the exact date was given. "The revolution will take place in exactly five years," he told me. He knew it before he left. "And that," he continued, "will be the beginning, the first terrestrial movement heralding the transformation of...." (Théon didn't use the word "supramental"; he used to talk about "the new world on earth.")[[ The reader will remember the formation of the Kuo-min-tang and the troubles in the Yangtze Valley which took place in October 1911 and led to the fall of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912. Thus it was in October 1906, at Tlemcen, that Mother had the encounter she relates here. It was also in 1906 that Mao Tse-tung, at the age of fourteen, came into conflict with his father, a prelude to his revolutionary career. ]]

But I did note that down.

I had forgotten the whole story, because I now live constantly in the Becoming. But it came back to me.

And all the disbelief in the world can't contradict that piece of evidence.

The note itself was stolen from me while I was moving to a new house.

Two things were stolen: that note and the mantra of life (I have told you about that). And I have a suspicion that it was an occult theft, not an ordinary one, because no one even suspected the value of those papers - for most people they had no interest at all.

page 44 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 15th Jan. - 1962


But I also remember reading The Tradition, before I met Sri Aurobindo (it was like a novel, a serialized romance of the world's creation, but it was very evocative; Théon called it The Tradition). That was where I first learned of the universal Mother's first four emanations, when the Lord delegated his creative power to the Mother. And it was identical to the ancient Indian tradition, but told like a nursery story; anyone could understand - it was an image, like a movie, and very vivid.

page 55 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th Jan. - 1962


And to Théon, the God of the Jews and Christians was an Asura. This Asura wanted to be unique; and so he became the most terrible despot imaginable. Anatole France said the same thing (I now know that Anatole France had never read Théon's story, but I can't imagine where he picked this up). It's in The Revolt of the Angels. He says that Satan is the true God and that Jehovah, the "only God," is the monster. And when the angels wanted Satan to become the one and only God, Satan realized he was immediately taking on all Jehovah's failings! So he refused: "Oh, no - thank you very much!" It's a wonderful story, and in exactly the same spirit as what Théon used to say. The very first thing I asked Anatole France (I told you I met him once - mutual friends introduced us), the first thing I asked him was, "Have you ever read The Tradition?" He said no. I explained why I had asked, and he was interested. He said his source was his own imagination. He had caught that idea intuitively.

page 56 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th Jan. - 1962


There is indeed the case of Madame Théon's sandals, which came and put themselves on her feet instead of her feet going and putting themselves in the sandals, but that ... that belongs to yet another realm. It wasn't what you would call a "natural" phenomenon: she was applying her will and her action, and the substance of the sandals was becoming receptive. But does that mean the world will be that way? ... I don't know.

page 199 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th June 1962


"Mortality is the effect whose cause is disequilibrium. It is accidental and temporary...." According to Théon, you know, the world has been created and destroyed - creation and pralaya - six times. And each time, a particular attribute was manifested, but since that attribute couldn't reach fulfillment, the world was "swallowed up again." Now it's the seventh time, and the attribute is Equilibrium. And when Equilibrium is established, there will be uninterrupted progress - with no disequilibrium, naturally: that is, a deathless state, with no disintegration.
(Satprem continues the reading:)
"There is but one royalty, one aristocracy: the royalty and aristocracy of intelligence. "There are four classifications of terrestrial formations: mineral, vegetal, animal, and psycho-intellectual or human-divine. Among the four, in order, there are no divisions. "Divine unity, embodied and manifested by collective humanity...." It was in both French and English. He called it "Fundamental Axioms of Cosmic Philosophy." It was the work of a certain French metaphysician who was well known around the turn of the century - his name began with a B. He met Théon in Egypt when Théon was with Blavatski; they started a magazine with an ancient Egyptian name (I can't recall what it was), and then he told Théon (Théon must have already known French) to publish a Cosmic Review and the "Cosmic Books." And this B. is the one who formulated all this gobbledygook. There used to be the name of the printer and the year it was printed, but it's not there any more....
Yes, it is: "The Little Tlemcenian's Press."
It comes from Tlemcen?
Yes.
This B. seems to have had the idea that the perfect man, the immortal man, would be spherical! And then Théon always used to say (he told me the whole story himself): "I told him it wasn't possible, it would be too impractical - people couldn't kiss! " His idea of a joke. Théon also told me that when B. came to Tlemcen (they first met in Egypt, then again in Tlemcen), he saw the house Théon was building and asked, "Why is your house painted red? Does it have some mystical significance?" And Théon replied, "No, it's because red goes well with green!" So you get the picture. But I don't remember his name any more; in his time he was very well known, he was a contemporary of the fellow who wrote The Great Initiates.
Schuré?
Yes, Edouard Schuré. He was a contemporary of Edouard Schuré, a bit older (I met Schuré, by the way - a rather hollow individual). His name began with a B and he's the one who formulated these "Axioms."
You once mentioned someone called Barley....
Ah, that's it! Barley. Yes, it must be Barley. Madame Théon, who was English, was the one who wrote, but she used to write stories, while this ... this looks like Barley's work to me, because I read something at the end, on the last page, which is rather.... It's pathetic, actually, it's all really pathetic.

(Mother leafs through the pages, laughing as she reads:)

"The only legitimate cult is the cult of man...." Yes, that's the superman, whom he calls "psycho-intellectual." The superman - the only legitimate cult....
It all seems a bit flimsy....
Very. I don't think it's worth wasting your time on. But it was interesting to find these first pages because ... look at the symbol (Mother shows Satprem the first page). Yes, I saw it!
The symbol is interesting.
It looks like Sri Aurobindo's.
I am the one who designed Sri Aurobindo's, and I adapted it from this one. Look, they made the central square very elongated. The one done here is more correct: Pavitra made all the sides equal. But the one for the Cosmic Review was elongated, with the lotus in the center. It's the same [as the one for the Cosmic Review], only elongated so that the two triangles meet and form a square. I am keeping this to show Pavitra, because that's what I had first tried to make. But obviously the one we have now is correct. It was Théon who told me it was Solomon's seal. Now then, did you bring your book?
(Unenthusiastically.) Yes....

(Mother starts leafing through the "Axioms" again)

They make all kinds of recommendations here: for instance, when you go out of your body you should wear a loose-fitting robe, a robe kept specially for that.
Why is that? What's the idea?
A question of aura. The idea is that the forces accumulate. And she even used to say it was preferable not to wash the robe! "Ideas." There's something true behind. She also used to say that to stay in your body you should cover your feet with a piece of blue cloth (when you sleep, of course, your feet are bare); put a piece of blue cloth over your feet and it keeps you in your body.
???
It's the result of Madame Théon's occult experiences, from which they made a general rule. But the reason for a loose-fitting robe is obvious: it's important not to get cold during such experiences, and there shouldn't be anything hampering you. And also, it's important that nothing interfere with your circulation, which diminishes greatly and must be protected. These things are practical, but.... On the whole it's pathetic.
All those things put so neatly into paragraphs always look a bit flimsy and dogmatic.
Yes, they're stupid. They are affirmations of contradictions - I mean affirmations aimed at contradicting certain things. It's not meant at all to affirm something that has been SEEN, seen and transmitted, but to contradict all the stories of original sin and all the religions, which, according to Théon, always address themselves to more or less hostile beings. Théon also used to say that man was born perfect, but had taken a tumble.
The story of the earthly paradise?
No, Théon always said that the "Serpent" had nothing to do with Satan, it was the symbol of evolution (Théon was entirely pro-evolution), the spiral path of evolution, and that the earthly paradise, on the contrary, was under the domination of Jehovah, the great Asura who claimed to be unique, who wanted to be the only God. For Théon, there is no such thing as a one and only God: there is the Unthinkable. It's not a "God." But to me this seems to come from his Jewish background. Because Théon was Jewish, even though he never mentioned the fact (the Tlemcen officials made it known: when he arrived he had to tell them who he was). He never spoke of it and he had changed his name. They said he was of Jewish origin, but they could never say whether he was Polish or Russian. At least the person who told me never knew. But for the Jews it's the "Unthinkable," whose name must not be uttered (it is uttered only once a year, on the "Day of Atonement"; I think that's what it's called). It's the word Yahveh, and it must not be uttered. But the prayers speak of the "Elohim," and the Hebrew word "Elohim" is plural, meaning "the invisible lords." So there was no one and only God for Théon, only the unthinkable Formless; and all the invisible beings who claimed to be one and only gods were Asuras. He used to call Christ "That young man"! (Laughter) It was very funny. Anyway, that's the story. I found this again, and it amused me.
page 454-55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Dec. 1962

Even now, as soon as I remain quiet with you when you are here, there is always a sort of limitless immensity, with such a pure, tranquil light.... And it's white, but a white that might have some blue in it, but so pale that it's white. Théon gave a name to this region (he had special names for all those regions), I don't remember, but above it, there were only the regions he called "pathetism" (quite a barbarous name), which were regions belonging to the unmanifested divine Love. I myself experienced the passage through all these regions, and this one [the region of white light in which the meditation took place] was the very last belonging to the light ... I don't recall, he used to put together all the regions of light, and then, beyond them, the regions ... basically, they were regions of divine Love, but unmanifested, that is to say, not manifested as it is on earth. Those were the last regions before reaching the Supreme. And this one [in the meditation] was the last one belonging to the essence of light, that is, Knowledge. And it is ... oh, there's such peace, such tranquillity and such LIMPIDITY in it - especially that sense of limpidity and transparency. A tranquillity that's more than peace, but it isn't inert immobility, I don't know how to express it. It absolutely gives the sense of a vibration of extreme intensity, but ab-so-lute-ly tranquil, tranquil, luminous, without ... almost with a sense of motionlessness. And so limpid, so transparent! Whenever I remain outside action like that and you are here, that's always what comes, always. Last time also, when I saw those two curves of your being - the curve of the past and the curve of the future meeting on your birthday - well, it was again in this light. But today ... And limitless, you know, outside time, outside space - magnificent! The great, great repose. And when you are here, it's always like that. That must be where you draw your inspiration from. It must be from there. It's good! (Mother laughs) And very pleasant, I don't know how to explain. Very pleasant. And absolutely silent, but conscious, very conscious, and in perfect tranquillity - light, light, light, nothing but that: the essence of light. The ascending curve went beyond that, into those regions Théon had given that barbarous name of "pathetism." When one went beyond and entered those regions, then there was ... it was the Supreme outside the creation, beyond the creation. That's where I saw the representative form of the new creation (and that was before I ever heard anything about Sri Aurobindo and the Supermind), that's where I saw the form that must succeed the human form, like the symbolic representation of the new creation. That was two or three years before I heard of Sri Aurobindo and met him. So when he told me about the supramental creation, I said to him (laughing), "But of course, I know, I saw it up there!" No one had told me anything. It's only when I went to Tlemcen that Madame Théon told me what it was. She knew how to go through all the states of being, from one to the next, and on to the next ... leaving the body corresponding to each state of being in its region and moving beyond. So then, quite spontaneously and naturally, I learned to do it. And I did it there, that's how I saw this prototype, all the way up, all the way up. Theon's teaching wasn't at all metaphysical and intellectual: everything was expressed in a sort of pictorial objectification; and as I said the other day about that vision [of the "birds"], it's a richer expression, less limited than the purely intellectual and metaphysical expression. It's more alive. And that's pleasant - I like meditating with you. It's not "meditating," it's a silent and very pleasant contemplation-concentration. That's why, when you are here, I sit without uttering a word! But you lose the sense of time altogether.
page 232-33 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 12th Oct - 1966



"... It's a highly superior equilibrium. "It reminded me of Théon who used to say that the world had been put forth and reabsorbed six times; in other words, that there had been six creations and six pralayas. [[Pralaya: the destruction or end of a world. ]] And that now we were in the seventh creation, the last. The world would find a new, higher equilibrium, not static but progressive, which means there would be unending progress in equilibrium and harmony, without pralaya."
page 141 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 6th May - 1967


True, it could be the intermediary. But the other thing would really mean a different degree of energy - the absorption of a dif ferent degree of energy. As you used to do in the past when you breathed the smell of flowers, for instance, or as Madame Theon used to do when she put a fruit (I forget which) on her chest.
A grapefruit!... Oh, I saw that, it was extraordinary! She would put the fruit on her chest and ... it would dry out! She would simply put it there and ... she would keep it for a few hours, and when she removed it, it was all flabby, there was nothing left!
But I often thought it should be possible for you to feed on air.
Ah no, the air is disgusting! It's full of everybody's breathing. That's the problem, it's disgusting. Something else is needed.
page 218 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 27th May - 1970




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Yes, some 'Questions and Answers.' More small talk! Speaking of which, I looked at T's most recent questions on the Aphorisms again. All these children haven't the least sense of humor, so Sri Aurobindo's paradoxes throw them into a kind of despair! ... The last aphorism went something like this: 'When I could read a wearisome book from one end to the other with pleasure, then I knew I had conquered my mind.'# So T asked me 'How can you read a wearisome book with pleasure?'!! I had to explain it to her. And on top of that, I have to take on a rather serious tone, for were I to reply in the same ironic fashion, they would be totally drowned! It throws them into a terrible confusion!
page 473 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 12th Nov. - 1960

59 - One of the greatest comforts of religion is that you can get hold of God sometimes and give him a satisfactory beating. People mock at the folly of savages who beat their gods when their prayers are not answered; but it is the mockers who are the fools and the savages.
Poor T.! She asked me, 'What does it mean (laughing) to give God a "satisfactory beating"? How is this possible?...' I still haven't answered. And then she added another question: 'Many people say that Sri Aurobindo's teachings are a new religion. Would you call it a religion?...' You understand, I began to fume! I wrote (Mother reads her answer): 'Those who say that are simpletons and don't even know what they're talking about! It is enough to read everything Sri Aurobindo has written to know that it is IMPOSSIBLE (underlined) to found a religion upon his writings, since for each problem, for each question, he presents all aspects and, while demonstrating the truth contained in each approach, he explains that to attain the Truth a synthesis must be effected, overpassing all mental notions and emerging in a transcendence beyond thought. 'Your second question, therefore, makes no sense! Furthermore, if you had read what appeared in the last Bulletin, [[Bulletin of April 1961: 'What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world's history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme.' ]] you could never have asked it.
'Let me repeat that when we speak of Sri Aurobindo, it is not a question of teaching nor even of revelation, but of an Action from the Supreme; upon this, no religion whatsoever can be founded.' This is the first blast. page 190 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 - 29th April - 1961





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Then there is a doctor, V., who comes here twice a year to give a check-up to all who take part in the physical education program and all the children. He is an extremely honest and sincere man who believes in the mission of medical science. Each time he comes, I write something in his diary on the day of his departure (his whole diary is full of things I've written - they usually appear in the Bulletin or somewhere). On that very same day I learned that V. was leaving, and it suddenly came to me - so clearly! Falsehood in the body - that sort of juxtaposition of contraries, the inversion of the Vibration (only it doesn't really invert - it's a curious phenomenon: the vibration remains what it is but it's received inverted) - this falsehood in the body is a falsehood in the CONSCIOUSNESS. The falsity of the consciousness naturally has material consequences ... and that's what illness is! I immediately made an experiment on my body to see if this held, if it actually works that way. And I realized that it's true! When you are open and in contact with the Divine, the Vibration gives you strength, energy; and if you are quiet enough, it fills you with great joy - and all of this in the cells of the body. You fall back into the ordinary consciousness and straight-away, without anything changing, the SAME thing, the SAME vibration coming from the SAME source turns into a pain, a malaise, a feeling of uncertainty, instability and decrepitude. To be sure of this, I repeated the experiment three or four times, and it was absolutely automatic, like the operation of a chemical formula: same conditions, same results. This interested me greatly. And then, from a purely external and practical standpoint, I said, 'Illnesses are the falsehoods of the body' (there is no question of lie here, it is a matter of falsehood; in French we have only the one word "mensonge") 'and each doctor...' (here, of course, one would have to insert a little qualification: each sincere, honest doctor who truly wants to cure), '... each true doctor is a soldier in the great army of those who fight for Truth.' [[Here is the exact text of Mother's message: Truth is supreme harmony and supreme delight. All disorder, all suffering is falsehood. Thus it can be said that illnesses are the falsehoods of the body, and consequently doctors are soldiers of the great and noble army fighting in the world for the conquest of Truth. ]] That was the sentence I wrote for my doctor. And that's the story of these last two days.
page 343-44 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 2nd Oct. , 1961

I've just learned that others are beginning to feel. Do you know Dr. V? He was the head of the hospital here for a long time. He got very interested in A.R. [the healer], very interested, and I think that hastened something in him, so that for a few nights he's had "phenomena" which I've, myself had lots of times, but I knew what it was and wasn't alarmed. But he's a doctor (!) and was a little alarmed. It's a sort of discomfort with the heart - it can't be called a pain: it's a discomfort, followed by intense perspiration. I had one this morning again - maybe because I was trying to see what's going on in him (I was told about it yesterday, and I tried to see if it was that). That may be why I got that, I don't know. It may be because there was still something ...


Page 444-45 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 22nd Nov - 1969




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Yes, you say, "I wondered how they retrieved the names of the pharaohs and gods." Then you ask, "Is the Egyptians' language contemporary with the most ancient Sanskrit, or still more ancient?... Or is there another human language older than the oldest Sanskrit?" You also ask, "Is this hieroglyphic Egyptian language akin to the Chaldean line or the Aryan line?"
Yes, all that is very interesting, but I can't get an answer. There's a complete lacuna.
Had you heard sounds or what?

(After a silence) Listen, I'll give you an example. Some two years ago, I had a vision about U.'s son. She had brought him to me (he was almost one) and I had just seen him there [in the music room]. He struck me as someone I knew very well, but I didn't know who. Then, the same day in the afternoon, I had a vision. A vision of ancient Egypt, in which I was someone, the high priestess or I don't know who. (Because you don't say to yourself, "I am so and so"! The identification is total, there is no objectification, so I don't know.) I was inside a wonderful monument, immense, so high! But it was completely bare: there was nothing, except in one place where there were magnificent paintings. That's where I recognized the paintings of ancient Egypt. I was coming out of my apartments and entering a sort of large hall: there was a kind of gutter running on the ground all along the walls to collect water. And I saw the child playing in it, half-naked. I was very shocked, I said, "What! This is disgusting!" (But the feelings, ideas and so on were all translated into French in my consciousness.) The tutor came, I had him called. I scolded him. I heard sounds - well, I don't know what I said, I don't remember those sounds. I heard the sounds I uttered, I knew what they meant, but the translation was in French, and I didn't keep a memory of the sounds. I spoke to him, telling him, "What! You let this child play in that?" And he answered me (I woke up with his answer), saying (I didn't hear the first words, but to my thought it was), "Such is the will of Amenhotep." I heard "Amenhotep," I remembered it. So I knew the child was Amenhotep.[[Mother had recounted this vision before: See Agenda VI of June 5, 1965, and Agenda IV of June 3, 1963. ]]

Therefore, I know I spoke; I spoke in a certain language, but I don't remember. I remembered "Amenhotep" because I know the word Amenhotep in my active consciousness. But otherwise, the other sounds didn't stay. I don't have the memory of sounds. And I know I was his mother; at that moment I found out who I was, because I know that Amenhotep is so and so's son (and also I looked up in history books). Otherwise there's no connection: a void.
page 143 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 10th May - 1967




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There is a boy here, V., who is especially interested in what happens at the moment of death (this seems to be one reason why he has reincarnated). He's a conscious boy, a remarkable clairvoyant, and he has a power. And we have had (how to put it?) some quite interesting correlations of experiences concerning people who pass away here. Extremely interesting and extraordinarily precise: he sends word to me, I reply, and at night when the disincarnated person comes he says, 'Mother has done this and says to do that,' and the person does it. And we don't need to speak - such precision!
This happens in sleep?
He might do this work in sleep, or sometimes in meditation, or in a kind of trance he enters into - it depends on the case.
page 234 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961
I will give you a concrete example, then you'll understand. When I.B. was killed, I had to gather up all his states of being and activities, which had been dispersed by the violence of the accident [[He was run over by a truck. ]] - it was terrible, he was in a dreadful state of dispersion. For two or two and a half days the doctors fought in the hope of reviving him, but it was impossible. During those two days I gathered up all his consciousness, all of it; I collected it over his body, to the point where, when it had come and formed itself there, such vitality, such life was coming back into his body that after some hours the doctors believed he would be saved. But it couldn't last (it wasn't possible - a part of the brain had come out). Well, when not only his soul but his mental being, his vital being, and all the rest had been properly collected and organized over his body and had realized that the body had become quite unusable, it was over - they gave up the body and it was over. I was keeping I.B. near me because I already had the idea of putting him immediately back into another body - his soul was not satisfied, it had not finished its experience (there was a whole combination of circumstances) and it wanted to continue to live on earth. Then, that night, his inner being went to find V., lamenting, saying he was dead and hadn't wanted to die, that he had lost his body and wanted to continue to live. V. was very perplexed. He let me know about it in the morning: 'Here's what has happened.' I sent word to him of what I was doing, that I was keeping I.B. in my atmosphere and that he should stay very calm and not get excited, for I was going to put him back into a body as soon as possible - I already had something in view. The same evening I.B. again went to find V., with the same complaint. V. told him very clearly, 'Here is what Mother says, here is what she is going to do; come now, be calm and don't torment yourself.' And he saw in I.B.'s face that he had understood (the inner being was taking on I.B.'s physical appearance, naturally); his face relaxed, he became content. He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put him into C'.s child. This correlation in the work is very interesting because it has quite practical effects - V. was able to communicate exactly what I had to say to I.B., and I.B. understood better through him than through me directly (because I do the work, but don't have time to deal with all the details, to tell each individual what to do).
page 235 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961

There's a fellow (he's neither young nor old) who has been living for twenty-five straight years at one of the sources of the Ganges, in a small cave carved into the mountainside - a tiny, bare space, an earth floor and a tiger skin. He sits on the tiger skin stark naked, without a stitch, naked as a newborn babe, in the dead of winter as well as in summer - outside everything is covered with snow. He eats ... sometimes passers-by bring him fruit, which he dries in the sun, then puts into water and drinks. That's all. He hasn't once left there in twenty-five years. One of our children, V., a courageous boy, went up there all by himself. In winter it's completely isolated, there's nothing nearby. It was May and still frightfully cold, it seems, snow still covered the ground. And the man was sitting there stark naked as though it were perfectly natural! He even asked the boy, "Do you want to spend the night here? ..." That was a bit too much! Anyway, V. went there, sat down next to him, and after a while the man went into a sort of trance and began to tell V. about his life (the boy's life, not his own!). So V. was interested and wanted to know more. "Where do I come from?" he asked. The man answered, "Oh, from an ashram by the sea ... the sea is there." Then he began to speak (I must mention that outwardly he knew nothing about Sri Aurobindo or me or the Ashram, absolutely nothing at all), and he told V. that a "great sage" and "the Mother" were there, and that they wanted to do something on earth that had never been done before - something very difficult. Then, I don't know whether he mentioned I was alone now (I have no idea), but he said, "Oh, she has had to withdraw [[Mother's "withdrawal" did not last long. 1962 is perhaps Mother's one quiet year. In 1963, the pitiless crowd will start up again. ]] because the people around her don't understand and ... life there has become very difficult. It will be very difficult until 1964." Perhaps he was reading the boy's mind (I don't know), but not his conscious mind. And he said several times, "They want to do something that has never been done before, it's very difficult - very difficult - and that's why they came, to do that." I learned about this two days ago. It interested me: "Something never done before, something entirely new."[[A few days later, Mother remarked with a kind of admiration: "It's almost a miracle for such people to admit that someone is doing something entirely new! That's the great problem with those who have attained some realization, they shut the door: 'Now we have realized what the Forefathers said, and that's enough.' So to find a man who knows nothing outwardly and who FELT that we wanted to do something never done before ... I found that extremely interesting. It means he has an opening, an opening above, higher than the ordinary spiritual atmosphere." ]] There were many other things, but it seems he speaks a particular Hindi which is very hard to understand. But this was quite clear, and he said it several times. It interested me. And that's really it, that's what Sri Aurobindo came for, and what I came for. And that's what was present above my head when I was quite young: something new and very difficult (Mother smiles). Very difficult. It seems he said that if we could make it to 1964, afterwards the difficulties would disappear. (But this is a very strong formation - what did he pick up? Is it Sri Aurobindo's formation? Is it the boy's thought, or what?...) But he's a wonderful mind-reader; he must have a marvelous power of vision in the mental world. It really amused me. If you asked ... if you asked people here, not too many would have such a clear idea: "They have come to do something entirely new and very difficult." It's lovely. page 313-14 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 14th Aug 1962.


Now, do you remember the story of that man who has been living at the source of the Ganges for twenty-five years?... Here he is (Mother shows his photo). He was in his cave and V. said to him, "I'd like to take your picture." "All right," he answered, and came out and sat down in the snow - stark naked. (Mother looks at the photo) There is something in his forehead, eyes and nose (why the nose?...) that's very similar in all who have experienced the inner contact. He's more like an example of what human beings can achieve: he's a forerunner more than a worker. He isn't a creative force on earth: he's an example. Yes, these are "siddhis" rather than evolutionary developments: things imposed on Nature.

They are more like seeds, capacities destined to develop later in the new race, and the seed has been made to grow and bloom as an example, before the thing happens on a larger scale - they are examples.


page 343 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 8th Sept 1962


I met V., he had a vision two or three days ago. He saw a peacock coming down, and on the peacock someone was sitting, erect, who wasn't Kali but like Kali (the naked Kali) and was holding in her hand the severed head of a man.
Did he see whose head it was?
No, I asked him if it was a Western head, or a Chinese one, anyway what it was. He told me it rather looked like an Asiatic head.
Asiatic, that's vague.
He told me, "I felt it was the sign of a catastrophe or a war."

It may be the sign of a victory.
Yes, he said, "Afterwards, there was peace."
V. is a very good clairvoyant. When you spoke to me, I saw the twisted face of a Chinese. But it could be a previous formation.
page 279 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 14th Nov - 1964


What was Kali sitting on?
On the peacock. It wasn't Kali, but like Kali, and naked.
It is clearly a victory through the disappearance of a man or a country. I don't know why, while you were speaking to me, I saw the twisted face of a Chinese. Immediately I set to work (it lasted for hours), and the night was spent counteracting it: I tried to find which higher vibration could counteract it, until I succeeded in clarifying the atmosphere. But the memory remained very precise. And very recently (maybe a day or two ago), they told me that the Chinese had chosen an Indian territory, in the North, to test a certain kind of atomic bomb, and that they had exploded a certain bomb there. When they told me this, the memory of my odor abruptly came back. [[The Chinese exploded their bomb on October 16, the day after Khrushchev's dismissal. ]]

So when I said that ["the twisted face of a Chinese"], it seems to be beside the point, but that's because when those two things coincided, [[Mother is probably referring to the Chinese explosion and Khrushchev's dismissal (?). ]] Kali suddenly became furious - I saw Kali furious, as when

she decides that it will be "paid for." So V.'s vision adds a few landmarks. Oh, you know, when she goes into a fit of power ... you really feel that the earth is shaking. page 280-83 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 14th Nov - 1964


V. has again seen something. Something unexpected. Everyevening, he comes to meditate at the Samadhi, and there he has never seen anything in his whole life: for years there has just been Sri Aurobindo, that's all, never anything else. The other day he came, and all of a sudden he had a vision: he saw Kali coming out of the Samadhi from the spot where Sri Aurobindo's head is - an all-blue Kali, covered with gold ornaments.
On which day?
Some four or five days ago.

What surprised him was that instead of being naked, she was covered with gold.

Never mind, what did you say about Kali?
What surprised him was that she was covered with gold instead of being naked.
She was coming out of the Samadhi? No, that doesn't surprise me. [[Let us recall that gold is the color of the supramental. ]] But my reflection was regarding Bharatidi.... That is to say, she mustn't die, because that's a very bad place to die.
page 308 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 6th Nov - 1968




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You know, this telegram ... (Mother looks for it and hands it to Satprem).
"Deep gratitude for blessing. I am alwaysat thy service."

V. V. Giri

He was elected, and this telegram was sent immediately: the time coincides .... Don't you find it interesting?
page 307 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd Aug - 1969


But I told you (did I see you after I saw the President?), I told you that when the President was here, suddenly this Consciousness started pressing on my head: "Say this." I didn't feel like speaking, so I kept quiet. Then the pressure became so strong that I started perspiring all over! So I made up my mind and spoke. And it was over. It was ... Without the Force in it, it's a platitude, but at the time, it had the power of a revelation, you know, when it made me say ...

(Mother tries to remember)

What did I say?
"Let us work ..."
Ah, it was in English - that's it (I was trying to remember in French!), "Let us all work for the greatness of India." You understand, it's a platitude - it became a revelation. I notice this: when it makes me say something and I see it later with the ordinary consciousness, I find it such a platitude! Or something perfectly obvious, or which isn't worth saying. But when it descends, it takes such a force! And it HAS a force (Mother brings down her two fists).
Page 339 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Sep - 1969




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But I know differently and so does my body - to me it's all foolishness and has no importance. For instance, when Vinoba Bhave came to see me [[ In 1956. ]] (the man who takes care of poor people), he looked at me and said, 'Oh, you'll live a hundred years!' And I simply said, 'Yes,' it all seemed so natural.

page 77 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 11th Feb 1961




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Oh, listen, it was Y.'s birthday the other day. I told her to come. She came: her face was exactly like her monkey's! She sat down in front of me, we exchanged a few words, then I concentrated and closed my eyes, and then I opened my eyes - she had the face of the ideal madonna! So beautiful! And as I had seen the monkey (the monkey wasn't ugly, but it was a monkey, of course), and then that, "Ah!" it struck me, I thought, "What wonderful plasticity." A face ... oh, a truly beautiful face, perfectly harmonious and pure, with such a lovely aspiration - oh, a beautiful face! Then I looked a few times: it was no longer one or the other, it was ... it was something (what she usually is, I mean), and it was behind the veil. But those two visions were without the veil.

page 114 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 2nd June - 1965







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Now this kind of attack has stopped, it is no longer like that. But there are beings who send dreams. For example, some dreams were sent to Z (who, as you know, is quite clairvoyant), in which she was told I would be 'broken to pieces.' She was very upset and I had to intervene. Is your dream of this nature, or ... are you being forewarned? I don't know, I can't say.... If the doctor were asked, perhaps he would say that if it continues like this, obviously ... (you see, one thing after another is getting disorganized), if it continues in this way, how long can the body last?

page 77 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th Feb. - 1961



And it keeps coming and coming. Many come and are not even aware of it! And I keep going and going. Consciously, most of the time, but also quite often not consciously. Here's an example: someone is very ill, someone who truly loves me (it's Z, A.'s wife). A. informed me she was ill. So I increased the dose (everyone is inside, I am with everyone, that goes without saying, but when something goes wrong I increase the dose). I increased the dose. I expected an improvement but it didn't happen. So I increased the dose again. The next day, I received a letter from A. saying that the night before, Z had had an interesting experience. She has asthma (asthmatics feel as if they are dying, it's very painful, and she is very sensitive, very nervous - she was really unwell, so they drugged her, and so ...). Well then, during an acute attack of asthma, she sat up in her bed, her legs hanging down. Then her feet began to feel cold and she reached out for her slippers; she bent down, and instead of her slippers she felt something soft and alive. Astonished, she looks down - and sees my feet. My feet were there with the sandals I used to wear to go out - my bare feet. So she touched my feet and said, "Ohh, Mother is here!" Immediately she lay down again, fell asleep ... and woke up cured.

And she didn't make it up: my feet WERE there. "My feet," I mean something of me which took that form to be perceptible to her. All this makes for work.
page 27-28 - Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 12th jan 1963



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There is something interesting (not the faintings!). You know that Z has started a yoga in the body (I didn't ask her to do anything, she did it spontaneously); she wrote to me her first experiences, and there were observations quite similar to those I had made and with an accuracy that interested me - I have encouraged her. She is going on. I don't have the time to read her letters: they're piling up there. But what I found very interesting is that yesterday I was read a letter from an English writer (a lady): she has a little group there, they meditate together, and they had a sort of Indian guru (I don't know who) who was teaching them meditation. Then they came across Sri Aurobindo's writings, and they began to study and follow his indications and try to understand. As it happened (about a year ago now), during their meditation, instead of their making an effort of ascent to awaken the Kundalini and rise towards the heights, all of a sudden the Force - the Power, the Shakti - began to descend from above downward. They informed their guru, who told them, "Very bad! Very dangerous, stop it, terrible things are going to happen to you!" That was about a year ago. They weren't quite sure that the gentleman was right and they went on, with very good results. Then, yesterday, that lady wrote, giving a detailed notation of their experiences - almost the SAME WORDS as Z! Now that's beginning to be interesting. Because it represents an impersonalization of the Action, in other words it doesn't express itself subjectively according to each individual: it has a WAY of acting. I was very happy, I wrote her a note to congratulate her.
page 273 - Mother's Agenda , volume 5 , 12th Nov. - 1964



-756_Bhaskaracharya.html



In this regard, perhaps you know that X is the tenth in the line of Bhaskaraya (my spelling of this name is perhaps not correct), the great Tantric of whom you had a vision, who could command the coming of Kali along with all her warriors. It is from X that Swami received his initiation.

page 270 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 14th Jan. 1959


Another thing: we happened to talk of Sri Aurobindo and Lele.' Concerning Lele, X told me, 'He was a devotee of the Bhaskaraya School; this is why there is close connection ...' I do not know if this is so, but X seemed to know.

page 319 - Mother's Agenda , volume -1 , 13th June



-757_Anatole France.html


These children don't understand [Sri Aurobindo's irony]. They read it prosaically (gesture indicating the surface). Strangely enough, it's the same phenomenon when they read Anatole France. And Anatole France, read without understanding his irony, is abominably commonplace. They don't grasp the irony. Sri Aurobindo had it. He understood the irony of Anatole France so well, he had this same thing - so subtle, so refined ... 'Very good,' he would say while reading La Révolte des Anges 'Yes, it is true, which of the two should we believe?'# (Mother laughs).
page 293 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , Undated 1959


And to Théon, the God of the Jews and Christians was an Asura. This Asura wanted to be unique; and so he became the most terrible despot imaginable. Anatole France said the same thing (I now know that Anatole France had never read Théon's story, but I can't imagine where he picked this up). It's in The Revolt of the Angels. He says that Satan is the true God and that Jehovah, the "only God," is the monster. And when the angels wanted Satan to become the one and only God, Satan realized he was immediately taking on all Jehovah's failings! So he refused: "Oh, no - thank you very much!" It's a wonderful story, and in exactly the same spirit as what Théon used to say. The very first thing I asked Anatole France (I told you I met him once - mutual friends introduced us), the first thing I asked him was, "Have you ever read The Tradition?" He said no. I explained why I had asked, and he was interested. He said his source was his own imagination. He had caught that idea intuitively.

page 56 - Mother's Agenda, volume 3, 27th Jan. - 1962



-758_Annapurna.html



Annapurna:
'She who nourishes the world,' wife of Shiva, one of the aspects of the supreme Mother.

page 296 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , May - 1959




-760_Doctor Z.html



I see Z every day, yet he asked me, 'Why do you do nothing for me?'!! 'Each time you come here,' I told him, 'I am NECESSARILY doing something for you, it cannot be otherwise!' But since it's just a part of his work,' it doesn't count! Of course, I don't say, 'All right, now let's meditate! ...' So on his birthday I'll have to sit down and tell him, 'Now we are going to meditate' - that way he'll feel sure. What childishness! It's so funny - the thing in itself doesn't exist for people. What's important to them is their attitude towards the thing, what they think of it. How odd! Each thing carries within itself its own truth - its absolute truth, so luminous and so clear. And if you are in contact with THAT, then everything falls into place so wonderfully; but men are NOT in contact with that, they are always in contact through their thought: what they think of something, what they feel about something, the meaning they attach to it (or sometimes it's worse) - but the highest they go is always the thought they have of it. That's what creates all this mixture and all this disorder - things in themselves are very good, and then they get confused. 1. Z's work involved seeing Mother everyday to watch over her health and her food.
page 437 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 15th Oct. 1960 .



-761_Pramod Kumar.html


(No sooner had Mother finished telling this story than, by acurious 'coincidence,' someone brought her a portrait drawn by P.K., one of the Ashram artists. Several days earlier, at about two in the morning during an uncommonly violent lightning storm, P.K. had suddenly SEEN amidst the flashes of lightning in the sky a rather terrible, demoniacal head in front of his very eyes. Having nothing else available, he hastily drew his vision in chalk on a schoolchild's slate, which is the portrait Mother speaks of here:)
Well, well! So P.K. is clairvoyant! It's him, for sure - this is the being behind those people. That's why they had so much power. And he came here because of that - he was furious. Quite a demon! I also saw him that night. 'You fools with your small crackers,' he said, 'I will show you what real crackers are!" - and those flashes of lightning, such an astonishing violence ... Oh, he proclaimed all kinds of things, disasters, what not ... But these are very complex matters and it's better not to go into detail. (Some days later, Mother added the following:) Merely by looking at that portrait, one child came down with fever!
page 454 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 25th Oct. 1960

I listen, I answer. 'It's not satisfactory!' I told them. But they've kept to their idea, they like it. When that first storm came some time back (you remember, with those terrible bolts of lightning and that asuric being P.K. saw and sketched): 'Don't you want us to destroy something? ...' I got angry. But it was ... This influence was so close and acute that it gave you goose bumps! The whole time the storm lasted, I had to hold on tight in my bed, like this (Mother closes her fists tight as in a trance or deep concentration), and I didn't move - didn't move - like a ... a rock during the entire storm, until he consented to go a bit further away. Then I moved. And even now, it comes - from others (there's not just one, you see, there are many): 'How about a good flood?' A roof collapsed the other day with someone underneath, but he was able to escape. So roofs are collapsing, houses ... 'Arouse public sympathy, we must help the Ashram!' 'It's no good,' I said. But maybe that's what's responsible for this interminable rain. And they offer so many other things ... oh, what they parade past me! You could write books on all this!

page 476 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th Nov. 1960


-762_Egypt days.html


Let me see the wallet (Mother looks at it) ... Ah, so that has nothing to do with it! As soon as the meditation began, I started seeing quite familiar scenes from ancient Egypt. And you, you looked a little different, but quite similar all the same ... The first thing I saw was their god with a head like this (gesture of a muzzle), with a sun above his head. A dark animal head with ... I know it VERY WELL, but I don't remember exactly which animal it is. One is a hawk,' but the other has a head like ... (Mother makes the same gesture) Like a jackal? Yes, like a jackal, that's it. Yes, that's what it was. With a kind of lyre above its head, and then a sun.# 1. Horus, the sun god, child of Isis and Osiris. 2. According to tradition, Anubis, the jackal-headed god, helped Isis to rebuild the body of her spouse, Osiris, who had been killed and dismembered by his brother Set. Osiris was the first god to rule over men. Owing to certain special rites, Isis, helped by Anubis, succeeded in bringing him back to life. So we are not very far from the legend of Savitri and Satyavan.
And this god was very intimately related to you, as if you were melted together; you were like a sacrificial priest and at the same time he was entering into you. And this lasted quite long (it's what I saw most clearly and what I best remember). But there were many, many things - old things that I know - and certainly a VERY INTIMATE relationship which we had in the days of Egypt, at Thebes. It's the first time I saw this for you - it was very, very ... 'Was it by chance the wallet that brought this to mind?' I wondered right at first. I had the impression of having given you something Egyptian, but I could no longer remember what it was - I'm happy it wasn't that! ... I hesitated for barely a moment, then said to myself, 'Why?' And what came is that everything, even apparently accidental things, is organized by the same Consciousness for the same ends - it's obvious. But I found this interesting, so I began looking, and I LIVED the scene, all kinds of scenes of initiation, worship, etc., for quite some time. When that lifted, a light much stronger than the last time (during the last meditation) came down, in a wonderful silence. (I might add that the first thing I did, at the beginning, was to try to establish a silence around you, to insulate you from other things so as to keep your mind quiet; it kept jumping a little, but once this light came down ... ) And it came down with a very hieratic quality and ... (how can I put this?) Egyptian in character - very occult, very occult, very, very distinct, very specific, like this (gesture indicating a block of silence descending). And then there came a long moment of absolutely motionless contemplation ... with something that now escapes me - it may come back. page 459 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 30th Oct. 1960


-763_Chittangong.html



Chittagong was hit by a cyclone, there were tidal waves somewhere else ... The cyclone went up the wrong side! - for according to X's predictions, it was Karachi that should have disappeared.
He said only in 1962 or 1963 would Karachi totally disappear.And three-fourths of Bombay underwater!
page 472 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 12th Nov. - 1960




-764_Japan.html



And just a while ago some volcanoes erupted, so the sea rose and swept away all kinds of things in Japan and all along its path, but it didn't come all the way to India. When I was in Japan, one island was swallowed up just like that, along with its 30,000 inhabitants, glub!

page 472 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 12th Nov. - 1960



-765_The Secret of the Veda.html


Speaking of which, I looked at T's most recent questions on the Aphorisms again. All these children haven't the least sense of humor, so Sri Aurobindo's paradoxes throw them into a kind of despair! ... The last aphorism went something like this: 'When I could read a wearisome book from one end to the other with pleasure, then I knew I had conquered my mind.'# So T asked me 'How can you read a wearisome book with pleasure?'!! I had to explain it to her. And on top of that, I have to take on a rather serious tone, for were I to reply in the same ironic fashion, they would be totally drowned! It throws them into a terrible confusion! It's a lack of plasticity in the mind, and they are bound by the expression of things; for them, words are rigid. Sri Aurobindo explained it so well in The Secret of the Veda, he shows how language evolves and how, before, it was very supple and evocative. For example, one could at once think of a river and of inspiration. Sri Aurobindo also gives the example of a sailboat and the forward march of life. And he says that for those of the Vedic age it was quite natural, the two could go together, superimposed; it was merely a way of looking at the same thing from two sides, whereas now, when a word is said, we think only of this word all by itself, and to get a clear picture we need a whole literary or poetic imagery (with explanations to boot!). That's exactly the case with these children; they're at a stage where everything is rigid. Such is the product of modern education. It even extracts the subtlest nuance between two words and FIXES it: 'And above all, don't make any mistake, don't use this word for that word, for otherwise your writing's no good.' But it's just the opposite.
2. The actual aphorism reads: 'When I read a wearisome book through and with pleasure, yet perceived all the perfection of its wearisomeness, then I knew that my mind was conquered.
page 473 , Mother's Agenda , volume 1 , 12th Nov. - 1960

But I am well aware that this surrender has an effect on the action only to the extent that the Supreme Lord has decided upon the action, and those movements stretch over long periods of time [[Later, on the 27th, Mother remarked: 'I was reading about this very thing yesterday in The Secret of the Veda, in the first hymn translated by Sri Aurobindo (the reference is to the colloquy between Indra and Agastya, Rig Veda 1.170 - cf. The Secret of the Veda, Cent. Ed., X.241 ft.), and it helped me put my finger on the problem. In this hymn there is a dispute between Indra and the Rishi because the Rishi wants to progress too quickly without first passing through Indra [the god of the Mind], and Indra stops him; finally they reach an agreement. Sri Aurobindo's commentary is quite interesting: when one has the INDIVIDUAL power to go directly, but neglects the steps which are still necessary for the whole, for the universal movement, then one is stopped short. That is absolutely my experience.' ]] : all sorts of things may happen before the final Victory is won. Because, for us, the scale is very small; even if it were of terrestrial proportions, it would be a very small scale; but on a universal scale.... These forces have their place and their action, their universe, and as long as their place and their action are maintained, they will be here. So before their action can be exhausted or become useless, many things can happen....

page 37 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , jan 22, 1961




I must say that after this, when I read The Secret of the Veda as I do each evening.... In fact, I am in very close contact with the entire Vedic world since I've been reading that book: I see beings, hear phrases.... It comes up in a sort of subliminal consciousness, a lot of things are from the ancient Vedic tradition. (By the way, I have even come to see that the pink marble bathtub I told you about last time, which Nature had offered me, belongs to the Vedic world, to a civilization of that epoch. [[A few days later, Mother rectified: 'I have looked at the experience again and realized that it's not Vedic but pre-Vedic. The experience put me into contact with a civilization prior to the Vedas - the Rishis and the Vedas are a kind of transition between that vanished civilization and the Indian civilization which grew out of the Vedic Age. It was yesterday [January 26] that I perceived this, and it was quite interesting.' ]] ) [39] There were - there are always - Sanskrit words coming up, sentences, bits of dialogue.... This is of interest, because I realized that what I had seen the other day (I told you about it) and then what I saw yesterday - that whole domain - was connected to what the Vedas call the dasyus - the panis and the dasyus [[In the Vedas, the panis and dasyus represent beings or forces hidden in subterranean caves who have stolen the 'Riches' or the 'Lights', symbolized by herds of cows. With the help of the gods, the Aryan warrior must recover these lost riches, the 'sun in the darkness,' by igniting the flame of sacrifice. It is the path of subterranean descent. ]] - the enemies of the Light. And this Force that came was very clearly a power like Indra's [[ Indra represents the king of the gods, the master of mental power freed from the limitations and obscurities of the physical consciousness. ]] (though something far, far greater), and at war with darkness everywhere, like this (Mother sketches in space a whirling force touching points here and there throughout the world), this Force attacked all darkness: ideas, people, movements, events, whatever made stains, patches of shadow. And it kept on going, a formidable power, so great that my hands were like this (Mother clenches her fists). Later when I read (I happened to be reading just the chapter concerning the fight against the dasyus), this proximity to my own experience became interesting, for it was not at all intellectual or mental - there was no idea, no thought involved.

page 39 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , jan 22, 1961

Now I have begun reading those hymns [[The Vedic hymns translated by Sri Aurobindo (cf. On the Veda, Cent. Ed., X.241, ff.). ]] .... Oh, now I understand! All those obstacles were a preparation straight from Sri Aurobindo. Now I understand! (What I mean by 'understand' is that it's a help for making progress.) I understand the nature of certain obstructions and certain difficulties, and what allows certain forces to oppose each other - I understand it quite clearly. I have read only two hymns so far. By the time I reach the end ... I will probably have found something.
page 55 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 30th Jan. - 1961



-766_Yama.html


But it's explained very well in Savitri! All these things have their laws and their conventions (and truly speaking, a really FORMIDABLE power is needed to change anything of their rights, for they have rights - what they call 'laws') ... Sri Aurobindo explains this very well when Savitri, following Satyavan into death, argues with the god of Death.' 'It's the Law, and who has the right to change the Law?' he says. And then comes this wonderful passage at the end where she replies, 'My God can change it. And my God is a God of Love.' Oh, how magnificent! And by force of repeating this to him, he yields ... She replies in this way to EVERYTHING. It's all right for winning a Victory, but not for stopping the rain for one day! So I'm trying to come to an understanding, to reach an agreement - these are very complicated matters (!). For it's a whole totality ... You see, we are trying something here which really is contrary to all those laws and practices, something which disturbs everything. So 'they' propose things that have me advancing like this (sinuous motion), without disturbing things too much, and without having to call in forces ... (Mother makes a gesture of a lance thrust into the pack) forces a bit too great, which may disturb things too much. Like that, we can keep tacking back and forth. A while ago ... You know that I have TREMENDOUS financial difficulties. In fact, I have handed the whole matter over to the Lord, telling Him, 'It's your affair; if you want us to continue this experience, well, you must provide the means.' But this upsets some of 'them,' so they come along with all kinds of suggestions to keep 1. Yama: the god of Death. He is also the guardian of the Law.
page 475 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 12th Nov. 1960


-767_Ego.html


(Regarding the ego and the ancient religious initiations which taught: 'You are That' or 'You are the All.)

A moment comes when self-observation is no longer possible. Even in these expressions 'All is You' or 'You are the All' (and the same holds for 'You are the Divine' or 'The Divine is you'), there is still something watching. A moment comes - it comes in flashes and doesn't easily remain - when it's the All who thinks, the All who knows, the All who feels, the All who lives. There's not even - not even - the feeling that you have reached this state. Then it is good. But up to this point there is still a small corner [of the 'I'] somewhere - generally the observer, the witness who is watching.

(silence)

I don't know if it's worth keeping this. Or rather let's keep it for later. It's a little too much.... We have to go by stages. It's not correct to say that you know you have no more ego. The only correct thing would be to affirm that you are ON THE WAY to having no more ego.
page 28 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , undated 1961


-768_Word - the primal sound.html



It was about the Word, the primal sound. Sri Aurobindo speaks of it in Savitri: the essence of the Word and how it will express itself, how it will bring in the possibility of a supramental expression that will take the place of languages.... I began by speaking to him about the different languages, their limitations and possibilities; and I warned him against the deformations imposed on languages with the idea of making them a more flexible means of expressing something else. I told him how completely ridiculous it all was, and that it didn't correspond at all to the truth. Then little by little I began ascending to the Origin. So yesterday again, I had this same experience: a whole world of knowledge, of consciousness and of CERTAINTY - precluding the least possibility of contradiction, discussion, or opposition; the possibility DOES NOT EXIST, it doesn't exist. And the mind was absolutely silent and immobile, listening with obvious pleasure because these things had never before come into my consciousness; I had never been concerned with them in that way. It was completely new - not new in principle but completely new in action.

The experiences are multiplying.
A sound that can bring in the supramental Force?
Yes. While speaking, you see, I went back to the origin of sound (Sri Aurobindo describes it very clearly in Savitri: the origin of sound, the moment when what we called 'the Word' becomes a sound). So I had a kind of perception of the essential sound before it becomes a material sound. And I said, 'When this essential sound becomes a material sound, it will give birth to the new expression which will express the supramental world.' I had the experience itself at that moment, it came directly. I spoke in English and Sri Aurobindo was concretely, almost palpably, present. Now it has gone away. page 48-49 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 27th Jan. 1961



-769_Albert Einstein.html


There are a few secrets like that - I feel them as secrets. And now and then it's as though I am given an example, as though I am being told, 'You see, that's really how it is.' And I am dumbfounded.... In ordinary language, one would say, 'It's miraculous!' But it isn't miraculous, it is something to be found. And we shall find it! [[In the equations of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, quantities as 'immutable' as the mass of a body, the frequency of a vibration, or the time separating two events, are linked to the speed of the system where the physical event takes place. Recent experiments in outer space have allowed the validity of Einstein's equations to be verified. Thus a clock on a satellite in constant rotation around the Earth will measure sixty seconds between two audio signals, while an identical clock on Earth measures sixty-one seconds between the same two signals: time 'slows down' as speed increases. It is like the story of the space traveler returning to Earth less aged than his twin: you pass into another 'frame of reference.' It is striking that Mother's body-experiences very often parallel recent theories of modern physics, as if mathematical equations were the means of formulating in human language certain complex phenomena, remote from our day to day reality, which Mother was living spontaneously in her body - perhaps 'at the speed of light.' ]] So, mon petit, that's all.
page 57 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 30th Jan. 1961

In being THAT, it might be said, Mother thus resolves the famous question of the "unified-field theory," the theory to which Einstein devoted the last years of his life in vain, that would describe the movements of both planets and atoms in a single mathematical equation. Mother's body-consciousness is one with the movement of the universe, Mother lives the "unified-field theory" in her body. In so doing she opens up to us not merely one more physical theory, but the very path to a new species on earth, a species that will physically and materially live on the scale of the universe. The posthuman species might not simply be one with a few organs more or less, but rather one capable of being at every point in the universe. A sort of material ubiquity. It may not be so much a "new" as an ubiquitous species, a species that embraces everything, from the blade of grass under our feet to the "far" galaxies. A multifarious, undulating existence. A resume or epitome of evolution, really, which at the end of its course again becomes each point and each species and each movement of its own evolution.

page 148 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th May 1962



-770_Serpant.html


What does the serpent represent physically? What does it embody in the material world?
The vibration of evolution.
I don't mean symbolically, but physically, materially: the animal itself.
A formidable concentration of vitality - of all animals, the serpent has the most vitality. It's tremendous! And energy ... progressive energy, energy of movement (progressive in the mechanical sense). Its meaning has been changed to a psychological one, but it's a force of movement.

page 62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb. - 1961
One could almost say that of all animals, the serpent is the most sensitive to hypnotic or magnetic power. if you have it (magnetic power comes from the most material vital), you can easily gain a mastery over snakes; all the people who like snakes have it and use it to make snakes obey them.... That's how I got out of my encounter with the cobra at Tlemcen [[Tlemcen: a town in northern Algeria. ]] - do you know the story? Theon had told me about this power and I was aware of it in myself, so I was able to make the cobra obey and he left. Afterwards (I've told this story, too), I was visited by the King of Serpents - I mean the spirit of the species. He came to me in Tlemcen after this and another incident when I helped a cat overpower a little asp (there are asps over there like Cleopatra's, very dangerous) - a big russet angora cat. At first it started to play with the asp, but then naturally grew furious. The asp struck at the cat, but the cat leapt aside with such swiftness that the asp missed it (I watched this going on for more than ten minutes, it was extraordinary). Just as the snake darted by, the cat would swat at it with all his claws out - and the asp got scratched each time, so that little by little it ran out of energy, and at the end.... I stopped the cat from eating it - that part was disgusting! Then after these two incidents, I received a visit one night from the King of Serpents. He was wearing 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, and he was wonderful! A formidable beast, and ... wonderful! He said he had come 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?' 'I not only promise that serpents won't harm you,' he replied, 'but that they will obey you. But you must promise me something in return: never to kill one of them.' I thought it over and said, 'No, I can't make this promise, because if ever one of yours attacks one of mine (a being that depends upon me), my pact with you could not stop me from protecting him. I can assure you that I have no bad feelings and no intention of killing - killing is not on my program! But I can't commit myself, because it would restrict my freedom of decision.' He left without replying, so it remains status quo. I have had several experiences demonstrating my power over snakes (not so much as over cats - with cats it's extraordinary!). Long ago, I often used to take a drive and then stop somewhere for a walk. One day after my walk, as I was getting back into the car to drive away (the door was still open), a very large snake came out, right from the spot I had just left. He was furious and heading straight towards the open door, ready to strike (luckily I was alone, neither the driver nor Pavitra were there, other-wise ... ). When the snake had come quite near, I looked at him closely and said, 'What do you want? Why have you come here?' There was a pause. Then he fell down flat and off he went. I hadn't made a move, only asked him, 'What do you want? Why have you come here?' You know, they have a way of suddenly falling back, going limp, and prrt! Gone!
page 63-64 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb. - 1961
The Darshan went rather well, much better than I was expecting; but the following two days it was difficult here [in the body]. Then one night (I don't remember which), I ... I can't say 'grumbled,' but ... (it wasn't my body 'grumbling,' it is very docile and doesn't protest), but I sometimes find that ... well, I found it a little exaggerated that day. 'All the same,' I said, 'this may be demanding a bit too much of it!' And then (Mother laughs) the whole night through, each time I awoke and looked (not with my physical eyes), I saw serpents! They were drawn up straight in a circle - magnificent cobras with white bellies, pearl gray backs and flecks of gold on their hoods! They surrounded me, watching, exactly as though they were saying, 'All the necessary energy is there! You needn't worry!' So I concluded that this whole affair [[The physical disorder that had principally attacked Mother's legs. ]] must have its utility - it can't be simply the body's lack of plasticity and incapacity to receive. It must have a usefulness - but what? ... I haven't understood. Perhaps I will get the explanation later, once it's over. And the next afternoon, I closed my eyes while I was bathing and what did I see but an enormous, magnificent cobra! It gazed at me, almost smiling, and stuck out its tongue! 'Good,' I said, 'then everything is all right! (laughing) I have only to hold on.' So, that's all I have to say.
page 96 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 25th Feb 1961
According to Theon, the serpent wasn't the spirit of evil at all: it was the evolutionary Force. And Sri Aurobindo fully agreed; he used to tell me the same thing: the evolutionary power - the mental evolutionary power - is what drove man to gain knowledge, a knowledge of division. And it's a fact that along with the sense of Good and Evil, man became conscious of himself. Naturally, this ruined everything and he couldn't stay: it was his own consciousness that drove him out of Paradise - he could no longer stay.

page 124 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 14th March - 1961



-771_Garden of Eden.html


The Christians say it's the spirit of evil, but this is due to a lack of understanding. Theon always told me that the true interpretation of the Biblical story of the serpent in the Garden of Eden is that humanity wanted to pass from a state of animal-like divinity to the state of conscious divinity by means of mental development, symbolized by eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. And this serpent, which Theon always said was iridescent, reflecting all the colors of the prism, was not at all the spirit of evil, but the power of evolution - the force, the power of evolution. And it was natural that this power of evolution would make them taste the fruit of knowledge.
Now, according to Theon, Jehovah was the chief of the Asuras, [[Asura: demon of the mental plane embodying the forces of division and darkness. ]] the supreme Asura, the egoistic God who wanted to dominate everything and keep everything under his control. And of course this act made him furious, for it enabled mankind to become gods through the power of an evolution of consciousness. And that's why he banished them from Paradise. Although told in a childish manner, there's a great deal of truth in this story, a great deal.
page 62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb. - 1961


-772_Jenovah.html


Now, according to Theon, Jehovah was the chief of the Asuras, [[Asura: demon of the mental plane embodying the forces of division and darkness. ]] the supreme Asura, the egoistic God who wanted to dominate everything and keep everything under his control. And of course this act made him furious, for it enabled mankind to become gods through the power of an evolution of consciousness. And that's why he banished them from Paradise. Although told in a childish manner, there's a great deal of truth in this story, a great deal.
page 62 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb. - 1961
According to Theon, the serpent wasn't the spirit of evil at all: it was the evolutionary Force. And Sri Aurobindo fully agreed; he used to tell me the same thing: the evolutionary power - the mental evolutionary power - is what drove man to gain knowledge, a knowledge of division. And it's a fact that along with the sense of Good and Evil, man became conscious of himself. Naturally, this ruined everything and he couldn't stay: it was his own consciousness that drove him out of Paradise - he could no longer stay. Then was man banished by Jehovah or by his own consciousness ? These are just two ways of seeing the same thing!
page 124 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th March - 1961



-773_Lord of Snow.html


The pine tree story is also from Tlemcen. Someone had wanted to plant pine trees - Scotch firs, I think - and by mistake Norway spruce were sent instead. And it began to snow! It had never snowed there before, as you can imagine - it was only a few kilometers from the Sahara and boiling hot: 113' in the shade and 130' in the sun in summer. Well, one night Madame Theon, asleep in her bed, was awakened by a little gnome-like being - a Norwegian gnome with a pointed cap and pointed slippers turned up at the toes! From head to foot he was covered with snow, and it began melting onto the floor of her room, so she glared at him and said:
'What are You doing here? You're dripping wet! You're making a mess of my floor!' 'I'm here to tell you that we were called to this mountain and so we have come.' 'Who are you?' 'The Lord of the Snow.' 'Very well,' replied Madame Theon, 'I shall see about that when I get up. Now go away, you're spoiling my room!' So the little gnome left. But when she awoke, there was a puddle of water on the floor, so it couldn't have been a dream. And when she looked out the window, all the hills were snow-covered! It was the first time. They had lived there for years but had never seen snow. And every winter after that, the hillsides would be covered with snow.
page 66-67 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th Feb. - 1961


-774_Human nature.html


'You ask me what you must do. It would be better to ask what you must be, because the circumstances and activities in life have not much importance. What is important is our way of reacting towards them.' This is where it begins.... 'Human nature is such that when you concentrate on your body you fall ill; when you concentrate on your heart and feelings you become unhappy; when you concentrate on the mind you get bewildered.' (Laughing) And it's absolutely true! 'There are two ways of getting out of this precarious condition. 'One is very arduous: it is a severe and continuous tapasya. It is the way of the strong who are predestined for it. 'The other is to find something worth concentrating upon that diverts your attention from your small, personal self. The most effective is a big ideal, but there are innumerable things that enter into this category. Most commonly, people choose marriage, because it is the most easily available (Mother laughs). To love somebody and to love children makes you busy and compels you to forget your own self a little. But it is rarely successful, because love is not a common thing. 'Others turn to art, others to science; some choose a social or a political life, etc., etc. 'But here also, all depends on the sincerity and the endurance with which the chosen path is followed. Because here also, there are difficulties and obstacles to surmount. 'So, in life, nothing comes without an effort and a struggle. 'And if you are not ready for the effort and the struggle, then it is better to accept the fact that life will be dull and unsatisfactory, and submit quietly to this fact.'
That's for the complainers.
page 70 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 7th Feb 1961


-775_Hostile attacks.html



It all began with some extremely violent attacks. So if your dream is not premonitory, then it must be the result of 'their' formation, by which they intend to disseminate the conviction everywhere, as much as possible, that this is the end.... Two years ago, when I had to retire to my room, a formidable campaign was set into operation upon all the Ashram people; and all those who were a little receptive, either in dreams or through an openness to suggestions, heard it clearly announced: 'On the 9th of December of this year [1958], Mother will leave. There's no doubt about it, it's sure.' It was said to me as well: 'This will be the end, you will leave.' It was repeated to everybody, everybody, a great many people heard it - they were virtually awaiting it. And this is why (you know how extremely ill I was at the time, I was really ill), this is why I didn't react, but all the same I didn't go to the lake [the lake estate where Mother was to have gone on the 9th of December], because I told myself, 'If anything happens there, it will be awkward - I had better not go.' [76] But still I knew it wasn't true, I knew it. Now this kind of attack has stopped, it is no longer like that. But there are beings who send dreams. For example, some dreams were sent to Z (who, as you know, is quite clairvoyant), in which she was told I would be 'broken to pieces.' She was very upset and I had to intervene. Is your dream of this nature, or ... are you being forewarned? I don't know, I can't say.... If the doctor were asked, perhaps he would say that if it continues like this, obviously ... (you see, one thing after another is getting disorganized), if it continues in this way, how long can the body last? But this body feels so strongly that it exists ONLY because the divine Power is in it. And constantly, for the least thing, it has only one remedy (it doesn't think of resting, of not doing this or that, of taking medicine), its sole remedy is to call and call the Supreme - it goes on repeating its mantra. And as soon as it quietly repeats its mantra, it is perfectly content. Perfectly content.
page 76-77 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 11th Feb 1961

I know for certain that if I can keep going until 1964, then.... That isn't long, but it will be dangerous until 1964. It's these years in particular: '61, '62 ... '63 is better, '64 is decidedly better, and from 1965, we should be on the safe side.

page 81 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 11th Feb 1961



-776_Mother India.html


I have also reread A.P.'s 'Evening Talks.'
Oh, in that, too, there are a lot of.... I myself wasn't present, so I don't know what Sri Aurobindo said, but I have a kind of feeling.... Just recently they wanted to publish something similar in Mother India [[A monthly review published by the Ashram. ]] - 'Conversations' with me noted by A. Luckily it was sent to me first: I Cut EVERYTHING! Such platitudes, my child! Oh, it was disgusting. I said, 'This is impossible. I have NEVER spoken like that, never!' It was flat, flat, flat, with a superficial, word-for-word understanding! Oh, horrible, horrible.... Whatever passes through people is terribly, terribly lowered - popularized, made commonplace. Anyhow.... Only Sri Aurobindo can speak of Sri Aurobindo. And as for their notes, it's still Sri Aurobindo A la Z, or Sri Aurobindo A la A, and all the more so since Sri Aurobindo wrote in very different ways depending upon the person he was writing to (gesture indicating different levels).
page 94 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 18th Feb 1961


-777_Sir Akbar.html



For example, there's someone here, Mridou (you know her, she's as round as a barrel [[Sri Aurobindo's old cook. ]] ), who gossips to everybody. She had quite a clientele for a long time because she used to make Indian sweets and the Europeans went to her place for snacks. She is a woman who, when there isn't any gossip, invents it! She tells all the dirt imaginable to all her visitors - a fact which was brought to my attention. I recall that a long time ago Sir Akbar from Hyderabad warned me, 'You know, she's the second Mother of the Ashram, be careful!' 'It's a good test,' I replied, 'people who don't immediately sense what it is aren't worthy of coming here!'

page 111 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 4th March 1961



-778_Genesis.html



It was certainly with the progress of evolution, the march of evolution, when the mind began to develop for and in itself, that ALL the complications, all the deformations began. Indeed, this story of Genesis that seems so childish does contain a truth. The old traditions like Genesis resembled the Vedas in that each letter [[In Genesis, Hebraic letters. ]] was the symbol of a knowledge; it was the pictorial résumé of a traditional knowledge, just as the Veda contains a pictoral résumé of the knowledge of its time. But what's more, even the symbol had a reality in the sense that there was truly a period when life upon earth (the first manifestation of mentalized Matter in human forms) was still in complete harmony with all that preceded it. It was only later that....

page 121 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th March - 1961



-779_T.html



Oh, such humorous things happen.... The other day I saw T. Her old mother lives in Moscow; she's very old and on her deathbed, and has asked T. to come see her. So T. is going to go there. It's a risky adventure. She wrote to ask if she could see me before leaving (I don't see anyone and I had no intention of receiving her, but it was decided in spite of me and I let her come). She had been told not to speak, but that's impossible for such a chatterbox!

page 266, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 18th July 1962.



-780_Cosmic Review.html


ADDENDUM

(Extract from the 'Cosmic Review' of 1906)

A VISION

(of Mother's)

From sleep, I now emerge awakened. I slept upon the westward waters and now I plunge 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, I am borne straight 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, as I gaze above me, I glimpse something roseate; I draw nearer and discern what appears to be a shrub, as large as a tree, held fast to a blue reef. The denizens of the waters glide to and fro, myriad and diverse. 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 - no separation, no gap is there between stationary beings and mobile. Colors everywhere, brilliant and shimmering, or subdued, 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 marvelous are the depths of the sea! Everywhere the presence of the One in whom all harmonies reside is felt! Ever westward I advance, without weariness or hesitation. Spectacle succeeds spectacle in incredible variety; here upon a rock of lapis lazuli stretch fine and delicate seaweed like long blond or violet tresses; here great, rose-hued fortress walls, all streaked with silver; here flowers seem chiseled from enormous diamonds; here goblets, as beautiful as if carved by the most gifted sculptor, are filled with what appear to be droplets of emerald, alternately vibrant with light and shadow. Presently I find myself between two rock walls of sapphire blue, upon a path flecked with silver; and the water becomes ever purer and more luminous. A sudden turn in the path and I come to a grotto which seems fashioned of crystal, scintillating in 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, snow-white fins. Beholding me, he steps aside against a pillar to let me pass. Scarcely have I crossed the threshold when an exquisite melody strikes my ears. The waters are all iridescent here, the ground aglow with glossy pearls; the portico and the vault, hung gracefully with stalactites, are opaline; 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 turn my steps. There are great rays of gold, silver, sapphire, emerald and ruby, radiating outward in all directions, born from a center too distant for me to discern; to this center I feel drawn by a powerful attraction. Now I see that these rays emanate from a recumbent oval of white light encircled by a superb rainbow, and I sense that the one whom the light hides from my view is plunged into a profound repose. For long I remain at the outer edge of the rainbow, trying to pierce through the light and see the one who is sleeping encircled by such splendor. Unable to discern anything, I enter the rainbow, and thence into the white and shining oval. Here I see a marvelous being: stretched on what seems to be a mass of white eiderdown, his supple body, of incomparable beauty, is garbed 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 gentle 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. Then, wreathed by the splendid colors of the rainbow, enveloped by lulling melodies and exquisite perfumes, beneath his gaze so powerful, so tender, I drift into a beatific repose. And during my sleep I learn many beautiful and useful things. Of all these marvelous things, understood without the noise of words, I mention only one. 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, the supreme terrestrial evolutor. [['Evolutor': a word coined by Mother. ]]

page 283-85 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 28th July - 1961


-782_Datta.html


Then I went into Sri Aurobindo's room and told him, 'Here's what I have seen.' 'Yes, I know!' he replied (Mother laughs) 'That's fine; I have decided to retire to my room, and you will take charge of the people. You take charge.' (There were about thirty people at the time.) Then he called everyone together for one last meeting. He sat down, had me sit next to him, and said, 'I called you here to tell you that, as of today, I am withdrawing for purposes of sadhana, and Mother will now take charge of everyone; you should address yourselves to her; she will represent me and she will do all the work.' (He hadn't mentioned this to me! - Mother bursts into laughter) These people had always been very intimate with Sri Aurobindo, so they asked: 'Why, why, Why?' He replied, 'It will be explained to you.' I had no intention of explaining anything, and I left the room with him, but Datta began speaking. (She was an Englishwoman who had left Europe with me; she stayed here until her death - a person who received 'inspirations.') She said she felt Sri Aurobindo speaking through her and she explained everything: that Krishna had incarnated and that Sri Aurobindo was now going to do an intensive sadhana for the descent of the Supermind; that it meant Krishna's adherence to the Supramental Descent upon earth and that, as Sri Aurobindo would now be too occupied to deal with people, he had put me in charge and I would be doing all the work. This was in 1926.
page 301 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd Aug. 1961.



-783_Lakshmi.html



I knew how it was with her because I remember the days when Sri Aurobindo was here and I used to go downstairs to give meditations to the people assembled in the hall. There's a ledge above the pillars there, where all the gods used to sit - Shiva, Krishna, Lakshmi, the Trimurti, all of them - the little ones, the big ones, they all used to come regularly, every day, to attend these meditations. It was a lovely sight. But they didn't have this kind of adoration for the Supreme. They had no use for that concept - each one, in his own mode of being, was fully aware of his own eternal divinity; and each one knew as well that he could represent all the others (such was the basis of popular worship, [[Each devotee of a particular cult knows perfectly well that his god is simply one way of representing something that is One. ]] and they knew it). They felt they were a kind of community, but they had none of those qualities that the psychic life gives: no deep love, no deep sympathy, no sense of union. They had only the sense of their OWN divinity. They had certain very particular movements, but not this adoration for the Supreme nor the feeling of being instruments: they felt they were representing the Supreme, and so each one was perfectly satisfied with his particular representation.

page 298 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 2nd Aug. 1961.

Let's see if I remember my Sanskrit.... My eyes are no good, I've lost all my power of expression because of that (Mother takes her magnifying glass to draw). Before, I used to do these letters so easily, and now I can't see any more.... Here. Now, it has life, you understand. It has life. And it's the correct drawing, I mean it should be a square (not a rectangle as you did), a square divided into nine smaller squares. It is the image of the realization (not realization - gestation), the birth of Mahalakshmi's consciousness in Matter, that is to say, the form of divine love in Matter.
page 137 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 11th May 1963.


And this [the Sanskrit letter] is HRIM.
It's one of the three essential sounds. I don't remember now, but each of them represents one aspect of the Mother. Sujata told me it's Mahalakshmi.

I was hesitating between Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati.
(Mother remains concentrated)
It is clearly taken as a symbol of the gestation of the new birth, the second birth, the divine birth. That's certain. page 134-35 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 11th May 1963


You see, Mahalakshmi is the Divine Mother's aspect of love, the perfection of manifested love, which must come before this supreme Love (which is beyond the Manifestation and the Nonmanifestation) can be expressed - the supreme Love referred to in Savitri when the Supreme sends Savitri to the earth: For ever love, O beautiful slave of God!

(XI702)

It's to prepare the earth to receive the Supreme's manifestation, the manifestation of His Victory. Seen in that way, it becomes clear - comprehensible, and comprehensive, too: it has a content. page 135 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 11th May 1963


Let's see if I remember my Sanskrit.... My eyes are no good, I've lost all my power of expression because of that (Mother takes her magnifying glass to draw). Before, I used to do these letters so easily, and now I can't see any more.... Here. Now, it has life, you understand. It has life. And it's the correct drawing, I mean it should be a square (not a rectangle as you did), a square divided into nine smaller squares. It is the image of the realization (not realization - gestation), the birth of Mahalakshmi's consciousness in Matter, that is to say, the form of divine love in Matter.

(Mother pores over the diagram for a long time.
It should be noted that the figures of the diagram must be read
and written in a particular order to have their full power.)

Oh, there's a music!

(Mother starts humming the music or the vibration which has come to her and corresponds to the diagram and the birth of Mahalakshmi's consciousness in Matter.)

page 137 , Mother's Agenda, volume 4 , 11th May 1963



-784_Mother's signature.html


I have a convenient signature....
Your signature takes wing!
Oh, yes - it's a bird! It's the Bird of Grace descending from heaven. The dot at the end is very important. The dot is the seeing consciousness: the eye. There's a tail, a wing, another wing, and the eye-the seeing consciousness. Mind you, I didn't think of it in advance! The awareness came later - I looked and said, 'Ah! ...
page 313 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 11th Aug. , 1961


-786_Supreme Consciousness.html


And, over and above this, for the realization to be total, there are two other conditions, which aren't easy either. Intellectually, they're not too difficult; in fact, for someone who has practiced yoga, followed a discipline (I am not speaking here of just anyone), they're relatively easy. Psychologically too, given this equality, there's no great difficulty. But as soon as you come to the material plane - the physical plane - and then to the body, it isn't easy. These two conditions are first, the power to expand, to widen almost indefinitely, enabling you to widen to the dimensions of the supramental consciousness - which is total. The supramental consciousness is the consciousness of the Supreme in his totality. By "totality," I mean the Supreme in his aspect of Manifestation. Naturally, from a higher point of view, from the viewpoint of the essence - the essence of that which in Manifestation becomes the Supermind - what's necessary is a capacity for total identification with the Supreme, not only in his aspect of Manifestation, but in his static or nirvanic aspect, outside of the Manifestation: Nonbeing. But in addition, one must be capable of identifying with the Supreme in the Becoming. And that implies both these things: an expansion that is nothing less than indefinite, and that should simultaneously be a total plasticity enabling one to follow the Supreme in his Becoming. You don't merely have to be as vast as the universe at one point in time, but indefinitely in the Becoming. These are the two conditions. They must be potentially present. Down to the vital, we are still in the realm of things that are more than feasible - they are done. But on the material level it results in my misadventures of the other day. [[The faint: Mother spreading physically over the world. ]] But even accepting all these misadventures a priori, things remain difficult because there's a double movement: both a cellular transformation and a capacity for '"something" that could replace expansion with readjustment, a constant intercellular reorganization. [[Mother later clarified the meaning of this sentence: "I saw that to follow the Supreme in the Becoming one has to be able to expand, because the universe expands in the Becoming - the amount of expansion in the universe is not matched by an equal amount of dissolution. So it is really necessary to be able to grow, as a child grows, to expand; but at the same time, for things to progress, this process of expansion demands a constant inner reorganization. As the quantity is increased (if we can speak of quantity here), so must the quality be simultaneously maintained by an ongoing internal reorganization of intercellular relationships." ]]
page 35 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Jan. 1962

But when you have the positive experience of the sole and exclusive existence of the Supreme and that everything is just the play of the Supreme with Himself, instead of its being something disquieting or unpleasant or unsettling, it's on the contrary a sort of total security. The only reality is the Supreme. And all this is a game He plays with Himself. I find this much more comforting than the other way around.
page 119 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 25th May - 1966


This Supreme Consciousness almost seems to put you in contact with quite forgotten things that belong to the past - that are even, or that were or seemed, completely erased, with which you no longer had any contact: all kinds of little circumstances, but seen now in the new consciousness, in their true place, and because of which all life, all human life is such a pathetic, miserable, mean whole. And then, there's a luminous joy in offering all that for it to be transformed, transfigured.


page 130 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 8th June - 1966


(To Satprem:) Oh, you know, I asked this Consciousness what was needed to receive it without distorting it, and it answered me (Mother reads out a note): "One must be able to stand in the light of the Supreme Consciousness without casting a shadow."
page 135 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 16th April - 1969


One day, I received someone here (it was R., in fact), and the body asked this Consciousness, like that, it asked, "How, how to make sure there is no mixture of all the lower movements with this light?" Then (I was sitting here), there came down a sort of column wide like this (gesture of about five feet), here (gesture in front of Mother), like a column of light. But it came down IN THE ROOM, mon petit! It wasn't "elsewhere" - it was here. To such a point that I saw it with my own eyes. A light ... indefinable, dazzling, but ... I don't know, so tranquil! I can't say, I don't know how to explain ... so steady, so tranquil. Dazzling. And without any vibrations. And its color ... indefinable, in the sense that it was neither white nor golden nor ... It was ... as if EVERYTHING were there. It can't be described. Wonderful. Then this Consciousness took my consciousness and went like this (gesture in a circle starting from Mother on her left, going through the column of light, then returning to Mother on her right) .... I felt it [the column of light, when Mother's consciousness went through it]. I felt it, but I didn't see anything [i.e., no shadow]. I didn't see anything, I only saw a slight movement, but ... It was like a slight movement, but it was the same light. [[The "slight movement" is Mother's consciousness going through the column of light, which means that Mother's consciousness had the same color or the same light as the column's. ]] Then it went through the column, and came back [into Mother]. And then it took RA consciousness (same gesture in a circle starting from R., taking her consciousness through the column, and coming back to R.), it went through, and there was an outline [while crossing through the column of light], an outline, and in the place of the head, it was blue, it had become blue [i.e., a shadow in the light]. That was R.'s effect: an outline. Then it said something to me (wordlessly, but it was instantly translated into words, in English):
"When you stand in the light of the SupremeConsciousness you must not make a shadow."
And with that experience, it was so real and intense! ... It said, "That's the condition - the condition." Then, half an hour later, it said it to me in French; it was translated into French. I gave the text to the person. It can't be published as it is, because it requires a whole explanation (and I think it's better not to publish it, I don't know). It requires a whole explanation. Or else, we could put:
"To be able to receive the new consciousness without deforming it ...
Then the text:
" ... One must be able to stand in the light ofthe Supreme Consciousness without casting a shadow."
Words ... if one hasn't had the experience, words are ... They don't have what the experience gave - that power. It was so intense, you know! Since then, the body has been constantly "thinking" Of that: "Don't cast a shadow, don't cast a shadow ...." And the transformation of the body's consciousness is taking place at a tremendous speed. But my eyes were open, I wasn't in trance, I was talking with R. I saw it like that: it took my consciousness ... (same gesture in a circle).
Did it envelop you or ...?
No: it [the column of light] was in front of me, like that, between me and R. In front of me, like a layer. Between me and the window. And then, my consciousness was as if seized and taken through it (same gesture). I looked and didn't see anything [i.e. any shadow or trace], but I felt. I felt: there was a slight quiver [while going through]. Then, to give a demonstration, it took R.'s consciousness inside the column, and there was an outline of the head: the outline was seen, just an outline; overall it had become somewhat gray, but not dark at all. And at the place of the head, it was more blue; it was blue, opaque: the head, the shape of a head, like that - an outline. So I wholly understood what it meant: "When you stand in the light of the Supreme Consciousness, you must not make a shadow." It was an experience given TO THE BODY - L tell you, my eyes were open. I felt the consciousness ... (same gesture in a circle). It can't be described, can't be expressed. Since then, the body has been full of an intensity of vibration, of aspiration, of ... And a tremendous will to get rid of all possible falsehood, all of it.

(silence)

It remained for a long time. It remained for at least a quarter of an hour - a long time. And I felt like doing this (Mother rubs her eyes as if in disbelief). It's the first time the physical body has had an experience of that sort, with the eyes wide open. I saw it come down, come down like that, settle down and stay there. And all the cells seemed to be thirsting and thirsting for that - it was wonderful! Inexpressible.
page 136-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 16th April - 1969


It was seen, like that. Afterwards, it made me write (Mother points to her note). I first wrote it without the first line:
"To people of ill-will"
I first wrote without putting any title, then it insisted, it said, "No, you must put it, it's very important."
"The harm you have caused willfully always comes back to you in one form or another.

(said by the S.M. consciousness)"

And, you understand, it's something practical: it was DONE like that; he [Sri Aurobindo] showed me it was like that: "You do like this." So if what he showed me is really now established in the world, it must have extraordinary consequences. On the mental heights, Buddhism had already said something like that: your thought, your will goes around the world and comes back to you. "Do not think you can do something with impunity," it says, "because it goes around the world and comes back to you." But here, it was ... He showed me bad vibrations with their will to harm, he showed how they came, like that, and how, with this Consciousness there around someone, the vibrations hit and went back, they bounced back as if against a wall - they hit and went back. And on their way, they modified themselves so as to take the very form needed to strike the person [who sent them]. That's what I SAW. Then it made me write that afterwards, as if I were speaking to those people.
page 154 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 26th April - 1969



-787_Overmind vs Supermind.html



I would especially like to understand the difference between the overmind and the Supermind - to understand it concretely, not abstractly.
The overmind isn't part of the intellect. It's the domain of the gods. It is the domain of the gods, and that's what has been ruling the earth. All the gods men have known, worshipped and had contact with are there. Yes, a domain of gods, with godlike lives and godlike ways - it's not the Supermind.
Yes, precisely - but what exactly makes the difference?
I don't believe the gods have access to the Supermind.
Yes, the gods stop at the overmind.
I am unfamiliar with the purely Hindu traditions, but the gods are the beings the Vedas and people of Vedic times were in touch with - at least I think so. I learned what I know about the gods before coming here, through the other tradition, the Chaldean. But Théon used to say that this tradition and the Vedic (which he knew well) were outgrowths of a more ancient tradition common to both. The story goes, according to him, that the first Emanations, who were perfectly independent, separated themselves from the Supreme in their action, creating all the disorder - that's what caused the creation's disorder. Afterwards the gods were emanated, to repair the evil that had been wrought and to organize the world according to the supreme Will. Of course, this is a childlike way of putting it, but it's comprehensible. So all these gods work in harmony and order. That's what the ancient tradition says.
As far as I've understood, the Indian tradition has embraced everything that came from the first Emanations, since all the gods of destruction, of unconsciousness and of suffering are included in its pantheon. In the end, I think it's up to each one to name what he wants the way he wants. That's how I have always felt. Even in Hindu tradition it is written: "Man is chattel for the gods; beware of the gods." All this is merely a question of language to me - words to suit each one according to his nature. I've had conscious contacts with all the beings of the tradition Théon made known to me, and with all the beings described in Indian tradition; in fact, as far as I know I've had contacts with all the deities of all the religions. There's a gradation (gesture of levels). These beings are found all the way from ... there are even some in the vital; in the mental realm, man has deified many things: he has readily made gods out of whatever didn't seem exactly like him. If you are eclectic, you can have contacts with them all. And they all have their own reality and existence. This region just overlooks the earth and the mind (including the very highest mind). But evolution - I mean TERRESTRIAL evolution, with its particular rhythm which is more condensed, more concentrated and, you could say, more focused than universal evolution as a whole - this terrestrial evolution has, with the human species, created a kind of higher intellectuality capable of passing through the overmental region, the region of the gods, and reaching a higher Principle directly. But this overmental region, this region of the gods with the power to govern the universe and, PARTIALLY, the earth, does have its own reality. You can come into contact with it and use it; the Vedic "forefathers" used it, occultists use it, even Tantrics use it. But there's another path which, distrusting the gods, bypasses them through a kind of intellectual asceticism, as it were, wary of forms, of images, and differing expressions, which rises straight as an arrow, proud and pure, towards the supramental Light. That is a living experience. Sri Aurobindo preached the integral yoga which includes everything, so one can have all the experiences. Indeed, the universe was clearly created as a field of experience. Some people prefer the short, straight and narrow paths - that's their business. Others like to dawdle along the way - and that's their business!

And some are drawn to have all the experiences, and thus they often wander for a long time through the overmental world. And of course, the vast majority of those who have RELIGIOUS aspirations are thus put in touch with various deities, where they stop - it's enough for them. But everything I've just said is only one tiny part of the whole story. Actually, this domain of the gods belongs to our side, although on a godlike scale: with the gods' power, their possibilities, their consciousness, their freedom; and their immortality, too. In other words, a godlike life - I think most human beings would be more than satisfied with it! And as all the stories tell us, sometimes the gods come to earth to have some fun. I know that some come and take on a human body to have a psychic being - but not all. Most of them simply enjoy having human contact. In any case, they have bodies in their own domain - there's no sense of being bodiless. They have bodies - immortal ones.
Yes, but in the Supermind as well?...
But the gods don't go to the Supermind!
No, what I mainly want to know is the difference when you cross to the other side, into the Supermind - the difference in vision between the Supermind and the overmind.
I don't know what Sri Aurobindo would tell you.... This is just what I am observing these days. To me, the overmental consciousness is a magnified consciousness: far lovelier, far loftier, far more powerful, far happier, far ... with lots of "far more's" to it. But.... I can tell you one thing: the gods don't have the sense of Oneness. For instance, in their own way they quarrel among themselves, which shows they have no sense of Oneness, no sense of all being one, of all being various expressions of the Divine - the unique Divine. So they are still on this side, but with magnified forms, and powers beyond our comprehension: the power to change form at will, for example, or to be in many places at the same time - all sorts of things that poor human beings can only dream of having. The gods have it all. They live a divine life! But it's not supramental. The Supermind is knowledge - Pure Knowledge. Yes, it is knowing - knowing what is to be known. There is no longer a play BETWEEN oneself and things, it's.... Truly, the sign of the Supermind is Oneness. Not a sum of a lot of different things, but, on the contrary, a Oneness ... at play with Itself. There's nothing of the way gods relate to each other and the world, for they are still part of the realm of diversity, though FREE from Ignorance. They don't have Ignorance, they don't have what we human beings have here. They have no Ignorance, they have no Unconsciousness, but they have the sense of diversity and of separation.
What about Sri Aurobindo's experience at Alipore, then? You know, that well-known experience when he saw Narayana in the prisoners, Narayana in the guards, Narayana everywhere?...
That is the Supreme. Oneness.
Is it a supramental experience or....
It is supramental.
Supramental?
Yes, the supramental experience. He called it Narayana because he was Indian.
It's supramental, not overmental?
No, no. It's like the message of the Gita as Sri Aurobindo explained it: not overmental, but supramental. It is Oneness, the experience of Oneness. The experience of the gods has never been more than a distraction for me - an amusement, a pleasant diversion; none of it seems essential or indispensable. You can treat yourself to the luxury of all these experiences, and they increase your knowledge and your power, your this and your that, but it's not particularly important. THE thing is altogether different. We can do without the gods. We can have access to the Supermind without any of these experiences, they're not indispensable. But if you want to know and experience the universe, if you want to be identified with the Supreme in His expression, well, all this is part of His expression, in varying degrees and with varying powers. It's all part of His experience. So why not treat yourself to that luxury? It's very interesting, very interesting - but not indispensable. I think that once you are identified with the Supreme and He has chosen you to do a work on earth, then He quite naturally grants you all these things, because it increases your power of action, that's all. That's all. As for me, there are no more problems, no more problems! This classification [of the planes of consciousness] is very convenient and necessary at a given moment, especially when you are ascending and awakening; but afterwards....

(silence)

Sri Aurobindo didn't put too much emphasis on the Overmind. The one significant point is that the Overmind has ruled the world through the different religions. And it is the dwelling place of all the gods, all the beings humans have made into gods in their religions. Those beings exist in their own world, and some humans, coming in touch with them, have been overwhelmed by their powers and their superiority, and have made gods and religions out of them. But it's better not to emphasize this [in your book]. As I have said, we can bypass that plane, or even pass through without knowing it. It interested me to read in the Vedas that if you don't ascend the way you're supposed to, if you try to bypass the gods, then unpleasant things happen to you and your way is blocked - do you remember that? [[This must refer to the colloquy of Rishi Agastya and Indra (The Secret of The Veda, Cent. Ed., X. 241), commented on by Mother in the 1961 Agenda (Vol. II, p. 37). ]] That gives you an idea of what it is. It's like an intermediary zone, far superior to the earth, but still intermediary. Some have tried to cross it without stopping; and there, they say, you run into trouble. Personally, I am not sure, I can only speak of my own experience: there was always a sense of fraternity - as you can imagine! I knew them, I was on friendly terms with them, so there was no question of bypassing them or not! But I have a strong impression that that world is still a magnified version of our own, and part of the old path; it has nothing to do with the Supramental Creation, which will bring to earth the sense of the Supreme and the Unique. Basically, it's part of the old path, a consequence of all that has happened, of the whole universal formation as we know it. People who believe in essential Evil would say it's a consequence of "the accident" of creation. But is it an accident? I have my doubts. It has yet to be revealed. And we won't know until ... until it's over. I am speaking in riddles, but what else can I do! ... I mean that the why and the how of it won't be known until ... until the curve is completed. But the gods belong to the present curve. The overmind belongs to this curve. Those gods are all very nice! For some people they're unbearable at times (Mother laughs), but they're really very nice! They have their faults, they have their good points, but with me they have always been very nice! No more (Mother makes an X across her mouth).
Anyway, the important thing is what you told me: the experience at Alipore is supramental.
Oh, yes! He used the word Narayana because he hadn't yet developed his own terminology; but he isn't referring to the gods: it's the supramental experience.
page 352-58 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 26th Sept 1962


-788_Benjamin.html



I've had a very interesting experience (not personal). Did you know Benjamin [[An old disciple who has just died. ]]? ... His psychic being had left him quite some time ago and, as a result, to the surface consciousness he seemed a bit deranged - he wasn't deranged but diminished. And he lived, as I said, out of habit. The physical consciousness still held a minimum of vital and mind and he lived out of habit. But the remarkable thing is that sometimes, for a few seconds, he would live admirably, in full light, while at other times he couldn't even control his gestures. Then he left altogether: all the accumulated energy dwindled little by little, little by little, and whatever remained left his body. It was just on his birthday, on December 30 (the night of December 30). He left. So they did as is always done: they cleaned his room, took out the furniture. Since then, there had been no sign of him. Yesterday evening, after dinner (which is about the same time he left twelve days ago), I was in concentration, resting, when suddenly here comes a very agitated Benjamin who tells me, "Mother, they've taken all the furniture out of my room! What am I to do now!?" I told him gently, "Do not fret, you don't need anything any more." Then I put him to rest and sent him to join the rest of his being. Which means it took twelve days for all his elements to form again. You see, they burned his body. (He was Christian, but his family - his wife is alive and his brother too - found it less costly to let us handle it than to bury him as a Christian! So they had him cremated.) We cremated him, but I demanded a certain interval of time, [[Before the cremation, so as to give the consciousness time to come out. ]] although in his case it was really a gradual exhaustion and nothing much remained in his body; nonetheless, even then the consciousness is flung out of the cells violently - it took twelve days to form again. It wasn't his soul (it had already left) but the spirit of his body that came to me, the body consciousness gathered in a well-dressed, neat Benjamin with his hair neatly brushed. He was quite trim when he came to me, just as he would have been in life: he always wanted to be well-groomed and impeccable to see me, that was his way. It took twelve days to gather together because I didn't see to it (I can do it in a few hours but only if I see to it), but in his case, his soul having been at rest for a long time, it didn't matter much. So over twelve days it took form again and when he was ready (laughing), he came to reoccupy his room! ... And there was no furniture left, nothing! I found that very funny. And he had been living for more than a year, almost two years, I think, just out of a habit of living. There is also here the sister of the old portly doctor, she is (I think) five or six years older than I - she is getting on for ninety. She has been dying away too, for several months. The doctors (who don't know the first thing in these matters) had declared she would die after a few days. "Wait a little," I told them, "this woman knows how to enter a state of rest, she has a very peaceful consciousness - it will last long, it may last for years." She is in bed, she can't move much, but ... she lives. She too lives out of habit. In reality, the body should be able to last MUCH LONGER than human beings think. They knock it about: as soon as someone is unwell, they drug or knock his body about, they take away that kind of calm vegetative serenity that can make it last a very long time. The way trees take a very long time to die. Interesting. page 24-25 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 12th January 1983


-789_Dr. Venkatraman.html



We have a great mathematician here who comes from Madras regularly, Dr. V. (you know him, don't you?), and for my birthday,[[Mother was eighty-five on February 21. ]] he played around with the figures of my date of birth and made up with them a square with small compartments (what a painstaking work it must be!): any way you read it, it always adds up to the same figure. Admirable. The figure is 116. Heavenly mathematics, all that (!) and it is supposed to be my number of years. But I find it a little on the short side. Because if the present pace is any indication, 116 doesn't leave me many years, thirty years or so ... yes, some thirty years, that's all. What can you achieve in thirty years?! The way things are moving, oh! ... When Sri Aurobindo said three hundred years, I think he gave the minimum figure.

page 57 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Feb 1963



-791_Barley.html



And do you know how he received me when I arrived there?... It was the first time in my life I had traveled alone and the first time I had crossed the Mediterranean. Then there was a fairly long train ride between Oran and Tlemcen - anyway, I managed rather well: I got there. He met me at the station and we set off for his place by car (it was rather far away). Finally we reached his estate - a wonder! It spread across the hillside overlooking the whole valley of Tlemcen. We arrived from below and had to climb up some wide pathways. I said nothing - it was truly an experience from a material standpoint. When we came in sight of the house, he stopped: 'That's my house.' It was red! Painted red! And he added, 'When Barley came here, he asked me, "Why did you paint your house red?"' (Barley was a French occultist who put Theon in touch with France and was his first disciple.) There was a mischievous gleam in Theon's eyes and he smiled sardonically: 'I told Barley, "Because red goes well with green! "'With that, I began to understand the gentleman.... We continued on our way uphill when suddenly, without warning, he spun around, planted himself in front of me, and said, 'Now you are at my mercy. Aren't you afraid?' Just like that. So I looked at him, smiled and replied, 'I'm never afraid. I have the Divine here.' (Mother touches her heart.) Well, he really went pale. page 65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 2 ,February 4, 1961



-792_Z - He is not honest.html



And part of 'The Secret of the Veda,' as well as two other things because they contain many of Sri Aurobindo's letters: I re-read Z's book on Sri Aurobindo, since there are many letters in it, and....
Yes, only unfortunately he has tampered with it.
Sri Aurobindo had made certain statements about me in those letters, and Z deleted them. (Anyway, it makes no difference for your book, because I'm not at all keen on having any statements about me published.) But Z is not honest. He hasn't been honest at all.... We were forced to intervene once or twice because his deletions distorted the meaning. We finally told him (for the book published here), 'We won't publish it unless you restore these things.' page 93-94 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 18th Feb. - 1961



-793_Equality.html



I replied very briefly in English. I haven't brought my answer with me, but I can tell you right away that there are two signs - two certain, infallible signs. I know them through personal experience, for they are two things that can ONLY come with the supramental consciousness; without it, one cannot possess them - no yogic effort, no discipline, no tapasya can give them to you, while they come almost automatically with the supramental consciousness. The first sign is perfect equality as Sri Aurobindo has described it (you must know it, there's a whole chapter on equality, samata, in The Synthesis of Yoga) - exactly as he described it with such wonderful precision! But this equality (which is not 'equanimity') is a particular STATE where one relates to all things, outer and inner, and to each individual thing, in the same way. That is truly perfect equality: vibrations from things, from people, from contacts have no power to alter that state. In my reply I mentioned this first, though I didn't give him all these explanations. I put it in a few words as a kind of test of his intelligence, and in a somewhat cryptic form to see if he would understand. The second sign is a sense of ABSOLUTENESS in knowledge. As I have already told you, I had this with my experience [of January 24]. This state CANNOT be obtained through any region of the mind, even the most illumined and exalted. It's ... not a 'certainty,' it's (Mother lowers both hands like an irresistible block descending), a kind of absoluteness, without even any possibility of hesitation (there's no question of doubt), or anything like that. Without (how to say it ?).... All mental knowledge, even the highest, is a 'conclusive' knowledge, as it were: it comes as a conclusion of something else - an intuition, for instance (an intuition gives you a particular knowledge, and this knowledge is like the conclusion of the intuition). Even revelations are conclusions. They're all conclusions - the word 'conclusion' comes to me, but I don't know how to express it. This isn't the case, however, with the supramental experience - a kind of absolute. The feeling it gives is altogether unique - far beyond certainty, it is ... (Mother again makes the same irresistible gesture) it is a FACT, things are FACTS. It is very, very difficult to explain. But with that ... one naturally has a complete power - the two things always go together. (In my reply to this
man I didn't speak of 'power' because the power is almost a consequence and I didn't want to speak of consequences.) But the fact remains: a kind of absoluteness in knowledge springing from identity - one is the thing one knows and experiences: one is it. One knows it because one is it. When these two signs are present (both are necessary, one is incomplete without the other), when a person possesses both, then you can be sure he has been in contact with the Supermind. So people who speak about receiving the Light ... well, (laughing) it's a lot of hot air! But when both signs are present, you can be sure of your perception. [[The following is the exact text of Mother's reply to this American gentleman: Two irrefutable signs prove that one is in relation with the Supermind: 1. A perfect and constant equality. 2. An absolute certainty in knowledge. To be perfect, the equality must be invariable and spontaneous, effortless, towards all circumstances, all happenings, all contacts, material or psychological, irrespective of their character and impact. The absolute and indisputable certainty of an infallible knowledge through identity. Mother then made the following commentary regarding the 'impact' of circumstances, happenings, etc.: 'There is no longer this kind of opposition between what is an agreeable impact and what is a disagreeable one. There are no more "agreeable" things and "disagreeable" things: they are simply vibrations one registers. Usually when people receive a shock they do this (gesture of recoil), then they reflect, concentrate, and finally restore peace. But equality does not mean that! That's not what it is. The state must be SPONTANEOUS, constant and invariable.' ]]

(silence)

It is quite evident that with these two things, you truly ... it's what Sri Aurobindo says: you step into another world, you leave this entire hemisphere behind and enter another one. That's the feeling. The day it's established, it will be good page 97 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 25th Feb. - 1961




-794_the Great Secret.html



Even the body, the body itself, has the constant perception of bathing in the vibration of the CONCRETE divine Presence; so certainly from a psychological standpoint there is not the slightest shadow in the picture. Even from the material standpoint, this Presence is here. Yet although it is here, felt, perceived and experienced, there is still this disorder! (I call it disorder.)

(long silence)

It is a great Mystery ... oh!

(silence)

All is a great Mystery.

(silence)

What Sri Aurobindo calls 'the Great Secret' - a GREAT secret. The day we find it ... things will change. page 102 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 25th Feb. - 1961




-795_Divine Perfection.html



From the true standpoint, the divine perfection is the whole (Mother makes a global gesture), and the fact that within this whole nothing can be missing is precisely what makes it perfect. [[Mother later clarified this point: 'It is impossible for anything to be missing because it is impossible for anything not to be part of the whole. Nothing can exist apart from the whole. But I am taking this now to its extreme limit of meaning - not down-to-earth, but to the heights, to the extreme limits of meaning. I will explain: everything is not necessarily contained within a given universe, because one universe is only one mode of manifestation - but all possible universes exist. And so I always come back to the same thing: nothing can exist apart from the whole. If we give the whole the name of "God," for example, then we say that nothing can exist apart from Him. But words are so earthbound, aren't they?' (Mother makes a down-to-earth gesture.) ]] Consequently, perfection means that each thing is in its place, exactly what it should be, and that relationships among things are also exactly what they should be. Perfection is one way to approach the Divine; Unity is another. But Perfection is a global approach: all is there and all is as it should be - that is to say, the perfect expression of the Divine (you can't even say 'of His Will,' because that still implies something apart, something emanating from Him!). It could be put like this (but it brings it down considerably): He is what He is and exactly as He wants to be. The 'exactly as He wants to be' takes us down quite a few steps, but it still gives an idea of what I mean by 'perfection'! Divine perfection implies infinity and eternity - all is coexistent beyond time and space.
page 254 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 7th July - 1961


But Perfection is only one side, one special way of approaching the Divine. There are innumerable sides, angles, aspects - innumerable ways to approach the Divine. When I am walking, for example, doing japa, I have the sense of Unity (I have spoken to you of all the things I mention when I am upstairs walking: will, truth, purity, perfection, unity, immortality, eternity, infinity, silence, peace, existence, consciousness - the list goes on). And when one follows a particular tack and does succeed in reaching or approaching or contacting the Divine, one realizes through experience that these many approaches differ only in their most external forms - the contact itself is identical. It's like looking through a kaleidoscope - you revolve around a center, a globe, and see it under various aspects; but as soon as the contact is established, it's identical.

page 256 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 12th July - 1961


While 'walking' in my room, a series of invocations or prayers have come to me [[See 'Prayers of the Consciousness of the Cells,' Agenda 1, pp. 337-350. ]] (I didn't choose them - they were dictated to me) in which I implore the Lord to manifest his Perfection (and I am quite aware of how foolish this expression is, but it does correspond to an aspiration). [[As Mother had previously said that 'all is as it should be ... the Divine is what He is and exactly as He wants to be,' one shouldn't need to 'implore' Him to manifest his Perfection. ]] [254] When I say 'manifest,' I mean to manifest in our physical, material world - I'm asking for the transformation of this world. And the moment I utter one of these invocations, the sense of the particular approach it represents is there; that's why I am now able to give such a lecture on Perfection - Perfection is one of these approaches. 'Manifest this,' I tell Him, 'Manifest that, manifest Your Perfection....' (The series is very long and it takes me quite a while to go through it all.) Well, each time I say 'Manifest Your Perfection,' I have an awareness of what constitutes Perfection - it is something global.

page 255 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 7th July - 1961



-796_On Rules.html



In some instances, my work has been thoroughly mucked up, and I don't like that. It happened again recently: K.'s sister came because she had lost her son - it had just occurred and he was still here (he hadn't left yet). So I arranged everything, saw to the mother's condition and so forth; I arranged it all nicely, very carefully keeping the son here and telling his mother he would shortly return in some family member. Everything was well organized. But naturally that was against "the rules" - I make a habit of doing everything against the rules, otherwise there would be no point in my being here; the rules could just go on and on! So they went to see X. They shouldn't have said anything, but they did. And that was that - all sorts of things were said and my work was completely mucked up. So now it's all going according to "rule," because that's the way it "has to" be.... I am not bothering with it any more. Myself, I have learned a lot of rules I didn't know before (thank God!) - the divine Grace saved me from that whole hodgepodge of rules about how this happens and how that can't happen and how that must happen and how.... Oh, good Lord!... I saw things very simply, without a single rule in my brain, and so I did them just as simply, with no rules in my head - it worked very, very well, I didn't run into any trouble. Things worked out quite naturally and simply. And if I was told, "That can't be" - "Well, sorry," I would say, "but it's already done." page 64-65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb - 1962


Besides, if you remember the beginning of Savitri (I read it only recently, I hadn't known it), in the second canto, speaking of Savitri, he says she has come (he puts it poetically, of course!) to (laughing) kick out all the rules - all the taboos, the rules, the fixed laws, all the closed doors, all the impossibilities - to undo it all. I went one better; I didn't even know the rules so I didn't need to fight them! All I had to do was ignore them, so they didn't exist - that was even better. But now I have first to undo and then redo - a sheer waste of time. page 65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb - 1962



-797_K's sister.html



In some instances, my work has been thoroughly mucked up, and I don't like that. It happened again recently: K.'s sister came because she had lost her son - it had just occurred and he was still here (he hadn't left yet). So I arranged everything, saw to the mother's condition and so forth; I arranged it all nicely, very carefully keeping the son here and telling his mother he would shortly return in some family member. Everything was well organized. But naturally that was against "the rules" - I make a habit of doing everything against the rules, otherwise there would be no point in my being here; the rules could just go on and on! So they went to see X. They shouldn't have said anything, but they did. And that was that - all sorts of things were said and my work was completely mucked up. So now it's all going according to "rule," because that's the way it "has to" be.... I am not bothering with it any more. Myself, I have learned a lot of rules I didn't know before (thank God!) - the divine Grace saved me from that whole hodgepodge of rules about how this happens and how that can't happen and how that must happen and how.... Oh, good Lord!... I saw things very simply, without a single rule in my brain, and so I did them just as simply, with no rules in my head - it worked very, very well, I didn't run into any trouble. Things worked out quite naturally and simply. And if I was told, "That can't be" - "Well, sorry," I would say, "but it's already done." page 64-65 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 3rd Feb - 1962



-798_Perseus the Deliverer.html



These past few days I have been reading Perseus [[Perseus the Deliverer, a play in five acts by Sri Aurobindo. ]] - it was performed here, so I knew a little of it but it never much interested me. But reading it the way I read now, I have found it VERY interesting, I have discovered all kinds of things, all kinds. Yes, I have noticed that in the space of (I don't remember when we performed it,[[ The play was performed some eight years earlier, in December 1954. ]] you were already here) ... between then and now there is at least a good fifty years' difference - a fifty-year change in consciousness. But in practice, I am always up against the same problem. Looking at it as a difference in attitude, the question is readily cleared up. But if I want the truth - the true truth behind this difference, it becomes very difficult. And that is exactly what I have seen in the light of the events described in Perseus. If you don't take the problem generally but specifically, down to the least detail.... But it evaporates as soon as you formulate it. Only when you feel it concretely, when you get a grip on it, can you grasp both things....
The problem is roughly this: nothing exists that is not the result of the divine Will. Always the same problem. Always the same problem. page 71 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 6th Feb - 1962


But this one [the tall white Being] is not of human origin; it was not formed in a human life: it is a being that had already incarnated, and is one of those who presided over the formation of this present being [Mother]. But, as I said, I saw it: it was sexless, neither male nor female, and as intrepid as the vital can be, with a calm but absolute power.... Ah, I found a very good description of it in one of Sri Aurobindo's plays, when he speaks of the goddess Athena (I think it's in Perseus, but I am not sure); she has that kind of ... it's an almighty calm, and with such authority! Yes, it's in Perseus - when she appears to the Sea-God and forces him to retreat to his own domain. There's a description there that fits this Being quite well. [[A whiteness and a strength is in the skies... Virgin formidable In beauty, disturber of the ancient world! ... How art thou white and beautiful and calm, Yet clothed in tumult! Heaven above thee shakes Wounded with lightnings, goddess, and the sea Flees from thy dreadful tranquil feet. (Perseus the Deliverer, Cent. Ed., VI. 6.) ]]

page 223 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th June 1962



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It's very interesting, but it means at least eight pages! Premonitory dreams.... There are different kinds of premonitory dreams. Some are immediately realized - you dream at night what will happen the next day - while the realizations of others are staggered over varying spans of time; such dreams are seen in different realms corresponding to the time they take to be realized. The closer you approach absolute certainty, the greater is the time span, because the realm of such visions is quite close to the Origin, and a long time can pass between the revelation of what will be and its realization. But being so near the Origin, the revelation is very certain. When one is identified with the Supreme, there is a place where all is unequivocally known: in the past, in the present, in thefuture and everywhere. But when they return, those who go there usually forget what they have seen. A particularly strict discipline is needed to remember. That's the only realm where you can't be mistaken.
But the links of communication are seldom all there, so one rarely remembers. Anyway, to go back to what I was saying, depending on the plane of one's vision, one can judge approximately how much time it will take to be realized. Immediate things are already realized, they are self-existent and can be seen in the subtle physical - they already exist there, and the reflection (not even transcription) or projection of this image is what will take place in the material world the next day or a few hours later. In this case you see the thing accurately, in all its details, because it's already there. Everything hinges on the precision and power of your vision: if your vision is objective and sincere, you will see the thing as it is; if you add personal sentiments or impressions, it gets colored. Accuracy in the subtle physical depends exclusively on the instrument, the one who sees.
Take the case of someone you know well and are used to seeing materially: seeing him in the subtle physical, certain aspects become more prominent, more visible, more marked; physically they went unseen because in the material grayness they had blended with many other things. Certain character traits that never showed up physically now become so marked as to be quite visible. When you look at someone physically, you see the color of his complexion, the shape of his features, his expression.... Seeing him at the same moment in the subtle physical, you suddenly notice different colors on different parts of the face, in the eyes an expression or a particular light you hadn't seen before - a strong impression of a very different overall appearance, which to our physical eyes would seem rather outlandish. But for the subtle vision it's all very expressive and revealing of the person's character, or even of the influences he's under (what I am talking about is something I observed a few days ago). So, according to the plane where you are conscious and can see, you perceive images and see events from varying distances and with varying degrees of accuracy. The only true and sure vision is the vision of the Divine Consciousness. The problem, therefore, is to become conscious of the Divine Consciousness and constantly maintain it in all life's details. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of ways to receive indications. That exact, precise and ... (what's the word?) habitual vision certain people have may stem from various sources. It may be a vision through identity with circumstances and things when you have learned to expand your consciousness. It may be an indication from some chatterbox of the invisible world, who has got it into his head to let you know what's going to happen - this is often the case. Then everything depends on your "harbinger's" morals: if he is having fun at your expense, he spins stories for you - this almost always happens to those who receive their information from entities. To bait you, they may repeatedly tell you how things are going to turn out (for they have a universal vision in some vital or mental realm); then, when they are sure you trust them, they may start telling you fibs and, as they say in English, you make a fool of yourself. This happens frequently! You have to be in a higher consciousness than these fellows, these entities (or these minor gods, as some call them) and able to check from above the value of their statements. With a universal mental vision, you can see (and this is very interesting) how the mental world operates to get realized on the physical plane. You see the various mental formations, how they converge, conflict, combine and relate to one another, which ones get the upper hand, exert a stronger influence and achieve a more total realization. Now, if you really want a higher vision, you must get out of the mental world and see the original wills as they descend to take expression. In this case, you may not have all the details, but the central FACT, the fact in its central truth, is indisputable, undeniable, absolutely correct. Some people also have the faculty of predicting things already existing on earth but at a distance, far from physical eyes - they're generally those who have the capacity to expand and extend their consciousness. Their vision is slightly more subtle than physical vision, and depends on an organ subtler than its purely material counterpart (what could be called the "life" of this organ). So, by projecting their consciousness, and having the will to see, they can clearly see things that already exist but are beyond our ordinary field of vision. Those who have this capacity - sincere people who tell what they see, not bluffers - see with perfect precision and exactness. Ultimately, absolute sincerity is the great deciding factor for those who predict or foresee. Unfortunately, because of people's curiosity, their insistence and the pressure they exert (which very few can resist), an almost involuntary mechanism of inner imagination comes to add just that small missing element to something not seen with precision or exactness. That's what causes flaws in prediction. Very few have the courage to say, "Ah no, I don't know this, I don't see that, this eludes me." They don't even have the courage to say it to themselves! So then, with a tiny drop of imagination, which acts almost subconsciously, the vision or information gets rounded out - it can turn out to be anything at all! Very few people can resist this tendency. I have known many, many psychics, many extraordinarily gifted beings, and only a handful were able to stop just at the point where their knowledge stopped. Or else they embellish. That's what gives these faculties their slightly dubious quality. One would have to be a great saint, a great sage, and completely free from other people's influences (I don't speak of those who seek fame: they fall into the most flagrant traps); because even goodwill - wanting to satisfy people, please them, help them - is enough to distort the vision. page 94-95 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Feb 1962

I'm tempted to ask one question.... Once events are already prepared in the subtle physical and one sees them, is it too late to alter their course? Can one still act?
There's one very interesting example I always give. The man involved told me about it himself. A long time ago (you must have been a baby), every day the newspaper Le Matin published a small cartoon of a boy dressed like a lift attendant (he told me the story in English), or a sort of bellboy, pointing with his finger to the date or whatever. This man was traveling and staying at a big hotel in some city (I don't remember which), a big city. And he told me that one night or early one morning he had a dream: he saw this bellboy showing him a hearse (you know, what they use in Europe for taking people to the cemetery) and inviting him to step inside! He saw that. And when he got ready that morning and left his room (which was on the top floor) there on the landing was ... the same boy, identically dressed, inviting him to go down in the elevator. It gave him a shock. He refused: "No, thanks!" The elevator fell to the ground. It was smashed to pieces, and the people inside were all killed. After this, he said, he believed in dreams! It was a vision. He saw the bellboy, but instead of the elevator, the boy showed him his hearse. Then, when he saw the same boy making the very same gesture (really just like the cartoon), he said, "No, thanks! I'll walk down." And the elevator (a hydraulic one) broke. It crashed down, crushing all those inside it. He asked me about it and my explanation was that an entity had forewarned him. The image of the bellboy indicates an intelligent, conscious intermediary - it doesn't seem to come from the man's subconscient. [[Mother elaborated "What makes me think it was an entity is the image, normally, the subconscient would have simply forewarned him of the fact itself." ]] Or else he had seen it in the subtle physical and his subconscient knew - but then why did it present him with such an image? I don't know. Perhaps something in his subconscient knew, because the accident already existed in the subtle physical. Before it occurred here, the accident - "the law of the accident" - existed. Of course, in every case there is invariably a time-lag, sometimes a few hours (that's the maximum), sometimes a few seconds. Quite frequently things announce their presence, but to come in contact with your consciousness, it may take them a couple of minutes or just seconds. I am constantly, constantly aware of what's going to happen - utterly uninteresting things, as a matter of fact; knowing them in advance changes nothing. But they exist all around us, and with a wide enough consciousness we can know it all. For example, I know that so and so is going to bring me a parcel, that someone is about to come, and so forth. And it's like this every day. Because my consciousness is spread far and wide - it comes into contact with things.
But the thing already exists, so it can't be called a premonition; it's just that to come true for us it needs a few seconds to make contact with our senses, because a door or a wall or something prevents us from seeing it. I've had many such experiences. Once I was walking along a mountain path wide enough only for one: on one side, a precipice, on the other, sheer rock. Three children were behind me and a fourth person brought up the rear. I was in the lead. The path skirted the rock so you couldn't see what lay ahead. It was quite dangerous, besides: one slip and you fell off the cliff. I was walking in front when suddenly, with other eyes than these (yet I was carefully watching my steps), I saw a snake lying on the rocks around the bend. Waiting. I took one soft step and a snake was actually there! This spared me the shock of surprise (because I had seen it and was advancing cautiously), and as there was no shock of surprise, I could say to the children without scaring them, "Stop, be quiet, don't move." A shock might have caused a mishap - the snake had heard us and was already on the defensive, coiled before his hole, head swaying - a viper. It was in France. Nothing happened, but with confusion and commotion, who knows?... page 97-99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Feb 1962


I have had hundreds and hundreds of experiences like that - informed just at the last moment (not one second too soon) - and in very different circumstances. Once in Paris I was crossing the Boulevard Saint Michel (I had resolved to attain union with the psychic presence, the inner Divine, within a certain number of months, and these were the last weeks - I was thinking of nothing but that, engrossed in that alone). I lived near the Luxembourg Gardens and was going there for a stroll, to sit in the gardens that evening - still indrawn. I came to a kind of intersection - not a very sensible place to cross when you're interiorized! So, in that state, I started to cross when all of a sudden I had a shock, as if something had hit me, and I instinctively jumped back. As I jumped back a streetcar rushed by. I had felt the streetcar at a little more than arm's length. It had touched my aura, the protective aura (that aura was very strong at the time - I was deep into occultism and knew how to maintain it). My protective aura was touched, and it literally threw me backwards, just like a physical shock. Accompanied by the driver's insults! I leapt back just in time, and the streetcar passed by. There are loads of stories I could tell - but I don't remember any more right now. It can happen in different ways. Quite often I was informed by a small entity or some being or other. Sometimes the aura protected me - all sorts of things. My life was rarely limited to the physical body. And this is useful, it's good. Necessary also - it enhances your capacities. Théon told me right from the start: "You people deprive yourselves of the most useful kind of senses, EVEN FOR ORDINARY LIFE." If you develop your inner senses (he gave them fabulous names), you can.... And it's true, absolutely true, we can know infinitely more than we normally do, merely by using our own senses. And not only mentally but vitally and even physically as well. page 99-100 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Feb 1962



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There's a kind of extension of the physical senses. In American Indians, for instance, the senses of hearing and smell are far more extended than ours (in dogs too!). When I was eight or ten years old, I had an Indian friend who came with Buffalo Bill in the days of the Hippodrome - that was a long time ago, I was around eight. He was so sharp that he could put his ear to the ground and tell, from the intensity of the vibrations, how far the sound of footsteps was coming from. All the children immediately said, "I'd really like to know how to do that! " And so you try.... That's how you prepare yourself. You think you're just having fun, but you are preparing yourself for later. Voilà. page 102 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 27th Feb 1962



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There is a way of looking at things - an all too human way - which sees me as VERY dangerous, very dangerous. It has been said time and time again.... There was an Englishwoman who came here after an unhappy love affair. She had come to India seeking "consolation," and stumbled onto Pondicherry. It was right at the beginning (those English Conversations[[ Conversations with the Mother, 1929. ]] are things I said to her; I spoke in English and then translated it - or rather said it all over again in French). And at the end of a year's stay, this woman said to me (with such despair!), "When I came here I was still able to love and feel goodwill towards people; but now that I've become conscious, I am full of contempt and hatred! " So I answered her, "Go a bit farther on." "Oh, no! " she replied. "It's enough for me as it is!" And she added, "You are a very dangerous person." Because I was making people conscious! (Mother laughs) But it's true! Once you start, you have to go right to the end; you mustn't stop on the way - on the way, it gets to be hard going.

page 210 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th June 1962



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Do you know the story of the two simultaneous operations of E. and of T.? T. is that vice-admiral who came here and became quite enthusiastic - he had a kind of inner revelation here. The two of them were operated on for a similar complaint, a dangerous ulcer in the digestive system. He was in one town and she was in another, and they were operated on a day apart - both serious operations. And in each case, after a few days had gone by, the surgeon who did the operation said, 'I congratulate you.' Practically the same phrase in both cases. And they both protested: 'Why are you congratulating me?' (Each one wrote me about this separately; they were living far from one another and only met afterwards.) 'Why? You did the operation - you should be congratulated for my quick recovery.' And in both cases the doctor replied, 'No, no; we only operate, the body does the healing; you have healed yourself in a way which can qualify as miraculous, and I genuinely congratulate you.' And then the two of them had the same reaction - they wrote to me saying, 'We know where the miracle comes from.' And they had both called me. Moreover, E. had written me a remarkable letter a few days before her operation, where she quoted the Gita as if it were quite natural for her, and told me, 'I know that the operation is ALREADY done, that the Lord has already done it, and so I am calm.'

page 239 - Mother's Agenda, volume 2, 24th June - 1961



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Here, I'll give you an example: A. wrote to tell me, "If you know how to get in touch with Agni, [[Agni: the fire of inner aspiration. In the Vedas it is represented by a particular god. ]] let me know, because I need him"!

I gave the natural reply, that what's needed is aspiration for progress, a will for perfection, and that you kindle the fire by burning your desires. I told him this in a way I call very concrete. Well, he answered (laughing), "Ohhh! You're living in abstractions. That's not what I want, I want a living god" - a personality, you see! That's how people are. Psychology: that's abstract. What they want is: on such and such a date he went to this place, saw these people and did this - all the most external and banal sorts of things. Even yoga boils down to: he sat down and stayed there for so many hours, he had this vision, he tried out that method, he did asanas and breathing exercises.... That, for them, is concrete. That and that alone. Psychology is thoroughly abstract - thoroughly. It's unreal to them. page 292-93, Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 31th July 1962.



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And then there have been certain political problems [[Mother is probably alluding to difficulties in obtaining the dismissal of the Defense Minister, Krishna Menon. It might be recalled that, under Nehru, India's foreign policy was quite pro-Chinese (the slogan of the day was Hindi-Chini-bhai-bhai: Indians and Chinese are brothers), and when China began to sweep down into India, the Defense Minister calmly left for London on some mission or other, declaring: oh, it's nothing! ]] - all this making for a bit of work, which turned out rather well. But it's always mixed, never the full thing; there's always a result, but not THE result.... I don't think "the" result is possible with the present conditions on earth: it would be a miracle, upsetting too many things. The consequences would be worse than....

page 416 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 17th Nov. 1962



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Have you read Sri Aurobindo's last letters on China? [[See Addendum. ]]
Oh, yes - he read them to me himself! (Mother laughs.) But everything Sri Aurobindo said has always come true. You know he also said (but it was in jest, he didn't write it) ... concerning reuniting with Pakistan he told me: "Ten years. It will take ten years." The ten years passed and nothing happened - OFFICIALLY nothing happened. But the truth is (I learned it through certain government officials), Pakistan did make some overtures in that direction, asking for a union to be reestablished (they would have kept some sort of autonomy, but the two countries would have UNITED, it would have been a UNION), and Nehru refused.
How foolish!
So Sri Aurobindo had seen it. He had seen it happen. After ten years, when that man who headed Pakistan died, [[This may refer to the death of Liaquat Ali, and the grave economic and political difficulties resulting in the dissolution of the Pakistani Parliament in October 1958, and General Ayub Khan's seizure of power. ]] they found themselves in grave difficulty and were unable to get organized; so they sent somebody (unofficially, of course) to ask India to reestablish union on certain bases - but they refused, the Indians refused. It was a repetition of the same stupidity as when Cripps came to make his proposal, when Sri Aurobindo sent a message saying, "Accept, whatever the conditions, otherwise it will be worse later on." That's what Sri Aurobindo told them. Gandhi was there and he retorted, "Why is that man meddling? He should be concerned only with spiritual life."[[In April 1942, when England was struggling against the Nazis and Japan, which was threatening to invade Burma and India, Churchill sent an emissary, Sir Stafford Cripps, to New Delhi with a very generous proposal which he hoped would rally India's goodwill and cooperation in the fight against the worldwide threat. In this proposal, Great Britain offered India Dominion status, as a first step towards an independent government. Sri Aurobindo at once came out of retirement to wire his adhesion to Cripps; he wired all of India's leaders, and even sent a personal messenger to Gandhi and the Indian Congress to convince them to accept this unhoped for proposal without delay. One of Sri Aurobindo's telegrams to Rajagopalachari (the future President of India) spoke of the grave danger, which no one seemed to see, of rejecting Cripps' proposal: "... Some immediate solution urgent face grave peril. Appeal to you to save India formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." No one understood: "Why is he meddling?" Had it accepted Dominion status, India would have avoided the partition of the country in two, the artificial creation of Pakistan, as well as the three wars that were to follow (and which we haven't heard the last of), and the blood bath that ravaged Bengal and the Punjab in 1947 at the time of the partition. (See in Addendum an extract from Sri Aurobindo's message on the occasion of India's Independence.) ]] page 420 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 17th Nov. 1962



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Have you read Sri Aurobindo's last letters on China? [[See Addendum. ]]
Oh, yes - he read them to me himself! (Mother laughs.) But everything Sri Aurobindo said has always come true. You know he also said (but it was in jest, he didn't write it) ... concerning reuniting with Pakistan he told me: "Ten years. It will take ten years." The ten years passed and nothing happened - OFFICIALLY nothing happened. But the truth is (I learned it through certain government officials), Pakistan did make some overtures in that direction, asking for a union to be reestablished (they would have kept some sort of autonomy, but the two countries would have UNITED, it would have been a UNION), and Nehru refused.
How foolish!
So Sri Aurobindo had seen it. He had seen it happen. After ten years, when that man who headed Pakistan died, [[This may refer to the death of Liaquat Ali, and the grave economic and political difficulties resulting in the dissolution of the Pakistani Parliament in October 1958, and General Ayub Khan's seizure of power. ]] they found themselves in grave difficulty and were unable to get organized; so they sent somebody (unofficially, of course) to ask India to reestablish union on certain bases - but they refused, the Indians refused. It was a repetition of the same stupidity as when Cripps came to make his proposal, when Sri Aurobindo sent a message saying, "Accept, whatever the conditions, otherwise it will be worse later on." That's what Sri Aurobindo told them. Gandhi was there and he retorted, "Why is that man meddling? He should be concerned only with spiritual life."[[In April 1942, when England was struggling against the Nazis and Japan, which was threatening to invade Burma and India, Churchill sent an emissary, Sir Stafford Cripps, to New Delhi with a very generous proposal which he hoped would rally India's goodwill and cooperation in the fight against the worldwide threat. In this proposal, Great Britain offered India Dominion status, as a first step towards an independent government. Sri Aurobindo at once came out of retirement to wire his adhesion to Cripps; he wired all of India's leaders, and even sent a personal messenger to Gandhi and the Indian Congress to convince them to accept this unhoped for proposal without delay. One of Sri Aurobindo's telegrams to Rajagopalachari (the future President of India) spoke of the grave danger, which no one seemed to see, of rejecting Cripps' proposal: "... Some immediate solution urgent face grave peril. Appeal to you to save India formidable danger new foreign domination when old on way to self-elimination." No one understood: "Why is he meddling?" Had it accepted Dominion status, India would have avoided the partition of the country in two, the artificial creation of Pakistan, as well as the three wars that were to follow (and which we haven't heard the last of), and the blood bath that ravaged Bengal and the Punjab in 1947 at the time of the partition. (See in Addendum an extract from Sri Aurobindo's message on the occasion of India's Independence.) ]] page 420 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 17th Nov. 1962



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Though it does happen. It happened this morning. Some people had left their daughter here; she has been here for the last four or five years, and all the while they didn't bother about her at all. She was in Ml's dormitory - M. has been a real mother to her, she looked after her dresses and everything, her parents did nothing (I think they were sending their hundred rupees regularly, that was all, they didn't have a thought for their daughter). This little girl's home was here. Then her parents came for the Darshan, they found their daughter not warm enough, not loving enough, that she far too much loved being here - conclusion: they're taking her away. I found that ... so shameful! Shameful, so stupidly selfish. I tried to intervene in several ways. They had taken the little thing with them - she cried day and night, nonstop. Won't eat, cries all the time. And she says, "I want to go back, I want to go back.... I want to stay here, I don't want to go away." "Ah, so that's how you are! Very well, we're taking you away." What cruelty! One of the ugliest things you can imagine. Yesterday I tried once again (they're leaving today, I believe), I
had something conveyed to them, the answer was, "The father finds his daughter has forgotten him and no longer loves him, so he doesn't want to leave her here and will take her away." I replied, "Does he think by bullying her he can force her to love him?" The fool just won't understand, nothing sinks in. I didn't see the gentleman. But then, they had brought a four-year-old with them. Today was his birthday. They sent me some money for the child and asked for a card of blessings. I refused to give the card and threw the money back at them - quite bluntly. I said, "Tell these people that they are selfish and stupid, and I want nothing from them." And I banged on the table.... Oh, oh! ... Everyone was petrified. (Mother laughs) The doctor was there, and Nolini, Champaklal, Amrita.... Something in me was laughing a lot! Oh, they thought I was in a terrible fit: "They'll see what will happen to them! ..." And you know, those vibrations are familiar to me - they're terrifying, mon petit. Not human. When it comes, it's fearsome, people are in a cold sweat. And I watch it all like a spectator! Fairly often, it's Sri Aurobindo. But this time it was entirely impersonal. It was something that WILL NO LONGER tolerate in the world a certain kind of selfish stupidity - to trample this child's finer feelings just because she isn't stupidly attached to her family (who didn't even give her a single thought all the time she was here, she didn't exist for them). If you want your children to love you, you should at least love them a little, care for them a little, no? It's elementary, you don't have to be very bright to understand that - but they won't understand: "It is a child's DUTY to love his parents"!! And if you don't fulfill your duty, you're put in jail. All right. But those people will live to regret it. The little girl struggled as if she were drowning, you know. She went everywhere - took refuge at the School, took refuge in Pavitra's room, begged G. in tears to intervene. M. was absolutely desperate. Everybody is trying to dissuade them, everybody is scandalized - it's their "right"! Brandishing their right, they grab the girl and squeeze her: "You'll love us, or else!" And they think they will succeed! Unfortunately, it is always the best who suffer. Some were taken away like that, and they fell so gravely ill that once they recovered sufficiently, the doctors said to send them back here. It has happened at least a dozen times. Those who have an inner life feel at home here. Well .. page 60-61 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Feb 1963



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Didn't you ever see your body?
Never. [[This is in fact incorrect. Satprem remembers occasions when, while playing in his room as a child, he saw his body quietly asleep in bed - only to rush back into it. ]]
Well, it's safer that way than the other way! I've known several people, especially I., who worked with Dilip (she used to have visions, she danced also): when she went into meditation, it was all over; even when she tried to come back and move, she couldn't. Dilip had to come and pull her hands, disengage her fingers and move her body, till she began coming around. But you understand, that sort of thing won't do at all. Better be more on this side than on that side.
But it's an incapacity, all the same, isn't it?
It's a lack of connection! She doesn't have any control over her body, that's all. Something that has never, never happened to me.
page 114 , Mother's Agenda , volume 4 , 20th April 1963


But did I tell you the story of I. who was with Dilip? Before meeting Dilip, she had been with a guru, a sannyasin or whatever, and he was absolutely furious at her leaving him, so he cursed her. His curse gave her a sort of thrombosis (you know, when the blood stops flowing and coagulates), anyway it was here, in the neck, near the right arm, I think, and it was very painful - it was even dangerous. She told me about it. I in turn told Sri Aurobindo about it and Sri Aurobindo told me to protect her. I sent my light to the gentleman. That man, frightful things happened to him! He died of a horrible disease. I. went and saw him at that time, a little before he died, and the man (who was conscious) told her, "Here is what your Mother has done with me." He had been conscious. Then I saw that my affair was perfectly objective, because I had never said a word about it to anyone, nothing. And above all, that light had gone through Sri Aurobindo.... I quite simply did that, I put the light, and the gentleman left ... for the curse to stop. And as he wasn't too pure, it resulted in a horrible disease.


page 175 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 10th July - 1965



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Someone here, whose name is S., a man over forty (oh, yes, much older than that, I think he is approaching fifty), has been learning French, but so energetically that he writes French really remarkably. He regularly sends me questions in French, and because of the care with which he writes, I reply. The other day, he wrote to me (I forget his exact words, but it was very well put) that he had just realized that aspiration for progress and the result of the aspiration were both the divine Grace, the effect of the divine Grace.... So I thought, "Well, well, let me see if he knows French well enough to have a sense of humor." And I replied this:
"One could say humorously that we are all divine but scarcely know it, and it is just what in us does not know it or is unaware of being divine that we call ourselves!"
I'll see his reaction. Afterwards something came, and I wrote it in its definitive form (in English it's better): "For the Truth-vision all of us are divine, but we scarcely know it and in our being it is just what does not know it that we call ourselves."
page 214-15 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 15th July - 1967


I told you there is someone here learning French (and learning it very well, I must say) whom I answered with a joke to see if he had a sense of humor. And the next day he, in turn, sent me a joke! "In the work of transformation, who is slower in doing his work, man or God?" My answer: "To man, God is too slow in answering his prayer. " To God, man is too slow in opening to His influence. " But to the Truth-Consciousness, everything is going as it should!"

(Mother laughs)

page 228 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 22th July - 1967




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And then, what goings-on ... The goings-on of the School, oh, those are ... priceless stories! But yesterday evening, I suddenly became indignant about a boy, the boy who had been accused of copying. He asserted he hadn't copied, and I saw he hadn't (but what I saw was almost worse!), and I said, "No more exams" - a dreadful row everywhere! Then K., who is really a good boy, wrote to me, "Should I not rather tell the boy that you decided he hadn't copied, because he must be worrying?" I thought, "Poor K.!" But anyway, it was a nice gesture, so I said yes. Then he called the boy, told him what he had to, also that exams were abolished and the whole matter was over and done with. As soon as the boy left him, he went and told his friends a world of lies: that I had asked K. to apologize, to express regret and reinstate the boy, and a lot of fibs ... a series of terrible lies (and lies about me). You understand, I had had a movement of sympathy for K. for what he had done; it shows a sort of nobleness of soul in him: he was so convinced, but he accepted what I said and made that gesture because he thought the boy must have been worrying. Then the boy's thoroughly disgusting reaction ... I had to restrain myself (inwardly): I was displeased. I had hoped, on the contrary, that that goodwill would give rise to a somewhat noble response, but all that is a sort of degradation.... Yesterday, I was on the point of giving the child an inner slap - I stopped myself from doing so, but he has clearly put himself in a bad spot. Now they write to ask me, "How can we know whether the children follow if we don't have exams?" I had to explain the difference between a sort of individual control coming from observation, a remark, an unexpected question and so on, which allows the teacher to place the child, and the other method in which you are told, "You will have an exam in eight days and the subject will be what you have learned" - so everyone starts reviewing what he has learned and preparing himself, and that's that: the student with a good memory is the one who passes. I explained all that. [[Here is the text of Mother's fourth and last note on the subject: "Naturally the teacher has to test the student to know if he or she has learnt something and has made a progress. But this test must be individual and adapted to each student, not the same mechanical test for all of them. It must be a spontaneous and unexpected test leaving no room for presence and insincerity. Naturally also, this is much more difficult for the teacher but so much more living and interesting also. I enjoyed your remarks about your students. They prove that you have an individual relation with them - and that is essential for good teaching. Those who are insincere do not truly want to learn but to get good marks or compliments from the teacher - they are not interesting. "(July 25, 1967) ]]
If I had been a teacher, my objection to this decision would notat all have been from the teachers' point of view, but from the students' because I remember my studies, and had you not been obliged every three or six months to review what was learned in school, well, you know, you'd have just let it slip away.
Well, too bad!
But it's a sort of discipline that makes you review things.
If you aren't interested enough in the subject to try and remember it and retain the result of what you've learned, well, too bad, it's too bad for you. The students' point of view is false, the teachers' point of view is false. The students' point of view: they learn just to appear to know, pass their exam and cram their heads with all kinds of things.... The teachers' point of view is to have as easy a control as possible and be able to give marks without giving themselves too much trouble, with as little effort as possible. As for me, I say: each student is an individuality, each student should come not because he wants to be able to say, "I have studied and am going to take my exams," but because he is eager to know and comes with the will to know. And the teacher must not follow the easy method of giving a subject and seeing how everyone answers, whether the answer is good or bad, conforms to what he has taught or not: he must find out whether the student's interest and effort are sincere, and everyone according to his own nature - for the teacher it's infinitely more difficult, but that's education. And they protest.
As regards the teachers' point of view, I certainly agree entirely ...
Yes, but they are the ones who protest! (Laughing) The students don't. But I wrote the teachers: the students who want to please their teacher or learn by heart in order to seem to know what they haven't understood, well, those students aren't interesting - and they are always the ones about whom I am told, "He is a good student!"
page 257-38 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 26th July - 1967












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