PART I: Letters of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother

 

 

1929: The Mother setting out for an evening drive

Sri Ramakrishna with the image of Mother Kali
Painting by Champaklal

 

Nirodbaran and Champaklal

Aspire Sincerely

My dear Champaklalji,

Namaskar.

1. Kindly convey my humble salutation to the Mother and Sri Aurobindoji.

Done.

2. I have not received any letter from Pondi. I am anxious to know as to the progress made by various sadhaks. I do not know whether you can communicate with me on this matter. If necessary ask permission of the Mother.

Sadhaks are progressing all right. As you can see there is no obstacle to my communicating with you.

3. When are we to expect Sri Gurudev to appear in public.

On the 24^th instant Sri Aurobindo will “appear in public” for a few hours.

4. Any service?

It is not easy to have the privilege of being of some service to Sri Aurobindo, but if you sincerely aspire for it, it may come.

5. Love to all.

Love from all.

The Mother
9 November 1927

 

Aspire for Peace and Purity

1. The lower power of lust resists violently. How should I treat it?

It is not possible to get rid of it at this stage. Look at it calmly without getting troubled, dissociate yourself from it and do not indulge it. If you quietly persist, it is likely to lose gradually its force.

2. My wife seems to be an obstacle to me. She says that she will progress in yoga but she does nothing except occasional meditation. How should I treat her?

Leave her alone. It is not your business to force her into sadhana. Attend to your own sadhana.

3. In meditation I place myself under the feet of the Mother in the heart region with whatever little devotion I have got. But thoughts come and disturb. What change should I adopt in order to progress?

Continue, but aspire or pray for peace, purity and true earnestness in the sadhana.

4. May I send my savings to Pondicherry or to my family? I get Rs. 50/- per month.

This is not for us to decide. What is your idea or feeling in wishing to send your money here? It depends on that.

Sri Aurobindo
27 November 1927

 

Intensive Sadhana

Motiben is quite happy here and she is progressing very well in her sadhana. If she goes away from here, the progress will be stopped and much of what she has gained may be lost. An intensive and concentrated sadhana once begun has to be persistently continued in the right atmosphere. If it is kept up only for a short time and then dropped for another kind of life in which the concentration is diffused and weakened, there is no likelihood of fruition. For this reason we would disapprove of her departure.

Sri Aurobindo
9 January 1928

 

Caste

To Dayaben,

The moment one enters the life of the Ashram and takes up the yoga, he ceases to belong to any creed or caste or race; he is one of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and nothing else. To cut jokes about what he was in the past is altogether incongruous and in bad taste, and only helps to keep up in both him and the speaker an old and wrong mental attitude.

The Mother
January 1929

 

The Teacher of Alexander

Diogenes was not the teacher of Alexander. They only met once. The teacher of Alexander was the philosopher Aristotle.

Sri Aurobindo

 

Kishensingh

Mother never said that Kishensingh was Alexander. Kekoo [K.D. Sethna] must have made some confusion in his mind about this. There is no truth in this identification.

Sri Aurobindo
January 1929

 

Right Attitude and Illness

If this is his only illness, there is absolutely no reason why it should not be cured, if he keeps proper habits and diet and above all the right attitude. I expect that the reason why the illness has such a hold and strong effect on him is in the imagination and the nerves more than anything else. There is something there that expects the illness, accepts it when it comes and gives it free play. He must learn to keep calm and quiet in the mind and vital being, to refuse to regard the illness and the tendency to it in the body as something normal to it, regarding it rather as something imposed from outside, and he must believe firmly that it must and will go. If he can keep this attitude and open to the true force, the mind and the nervous being, once strengthened, the illness and weakness will disappear.

Sri Aurobindo
January 1929

 

Biscuits

(B asked me the names of the biscuits and chocolates which the Mother uses, as someone wanted to offer them. — Champaklal)

Chocolates are not necessary — as for the biscuits only: Reveillon (Pernot).

The Mother
12 October 1929

 

Freedom

It is not my intention to oblige you to wear mill cloth if you do not want to.

All I said was that I have only mill cloth to give.

When one becomes free in mind and heart, one’s way of looking at all those things changes entirely. But until the freedom has come, there is no compulsion.

It is by allowing bad thoughts and doubts to approach you that you have come out of the protection.

 

The Burden of the Past

Champaklal,

Tell D on behalf of myself and the Mother that she must not allow herself to be crushed by the burden of the past. All she has to do is to turn her back on this past and sexual weakness, for which she was not herself primarily responsible, — and to consecrate herself entirely to the divine. If she so consecrates herself, the past will be wiped out and a new life begin for her. This is the true atonement and the only one asked from her.

Sri Aurobindo
8 April 1930

 

Yoga and Self-Control

Say to K that it appears from what has happened that he is unable to control himself and hardly even seems to will to do so; for otherwise he would not have indulged his sexual instincts in this way and by importunity force them on another. If that is so, he cannot lead a life of Yoga or sincerely follow the Ashram life; it would be mere hypocrisy to appear outwardly as a sadhak and secretly do what is inconsistent with this life and its discipline. It would be much better not to attempt what he cannot do; his proper course would be to go back and marry and live in the ordinary way. Without self-mastery and self-control there can be no Yoga.

Sri Aurobindo

 

Inward Separateness

The protection and help will be there as they were here. You have only to keep yourself open to them and live inwardly seeking to become more and more conscious so that you may feel the Divine Presence and Power.

As to the Bombay atmosphere, keep inwardly separate from it, even while mixing with others, see it as a thing outside and not belonging to the inner world in which you yourself live. If you can achieve this inward separateness, it will not be able to cloud you, whatever its daily pressure.

Sri Aurobindo
18 May 1930

 

During the Pranam

During concentration I am unable to do anything except to offer pranams to the Mother. Am I proceeding correctly?

In spite of my efforts to reject the movements of lower nature there has been a lapse. I am ashamed and I beg for pardon.

Write to him that what he is doing is quite right. While making the Pranam he should aspire to be open to the Mother’s influence and her workings in him and to become conscious of her workings. He need not be discouraged by what has happened. It is not to be expected that the old movements of the nature would change at once.

Sri Aurobindo
18 May 1930

 

Onesidedness Is Not Helpful

How do you expect others to keep to an arrangement when you are not doing it yourself?

How do you hope to get out of your shallowness if you remain always onesided in your perception of things?

The Mother
June 1931

 

Bad Suggestions

You were having these bad suggestions (that I do not love you and that you want to go away), because you were disobeying me. But now that you have taken the resolution to act according to my will, the bad suggestions will disappear.

Nobody has told anything against you to me.

The Mother
24 December 1931

 

Too Human

If you are quite sincere, you will agree with me that you are complaining of my being not too Divine but not Divine enough. For if, in my physical body I had assumed, for instance, the appearance cherished by the ancient Indian tradition, how convenient it would be! Imagine, if having several heads and a great number of arms, possessing the power of ubiquity, when S comes to manicure my hands and so unceremoniously knocks at the door to inform me that she is there, (I cannot tell her not to knock because she is very busy) if I could send her a pair of hands for her work and still be in my small room to answer to D who is sitting with me there, how nice it would be!. . .

So, you see, I fear I have accepted to become too human, too much bound by the human laws of time and space, and thus not capable of doing half a dozen things at the same time!

The Mother
12 January 1932

 

We Can’t Be Strict

We can’t be as strict for visitors as for inmates of the Ashram.

Sri Aurobindo

 

Art Requires a Sound Training

To Sanjiban

The Mother has seen his pictures. If he wants to take up painting he must undergo a complete training under competent teachers. He must train his eyes to see things as they appear to artistic vision and his hand to execute that vision with perfect technique. In art a liking for it or even a faculty for it is not enough; what is required is a sound training.

Sri Aurobindo
1932

 

Family Life and Spiritual Life

Sunderlal,

There are many kinds of truth and in the Shastra you will find all kinds, some seeming in conflict with others. Service to parents is part of family and social duty. It has nothing to do in itself with yoga. Yoga is truth not of family or society, but of spiritual life, and in spiritual life the seeking for the Divine takes precedence over everything.

If we ask you to remain still with your father and mother, it is not from the point of view of Truth, but of charity. Four of their children have already left them to come to the Ashram; it would be too hard a blow if you also left them now. As you have remained with them so long, you might remain a little longer. Even while in the family, you can prepare yourself for the spiritual life, by remembering the Divine in all you do and by doing it as a sacrifice for the sake of the Divine.

Sri Aurobindo
17 February 1932

 

Titanic Forces

The 6 couches: The seats, basis of the powers of creation (6). One still occupied by the titanic forces (the last, most material one).

The servant: Who showed us the way through the “labyrinth”, gave us some food and even a smoky light (torch, very poor) to find our way in the dark, the lower nature, she asked to be paid for her services, saying that the “other gentleman” (titan) was always paying her.

The place: some vital layer in the physical consciousness.

The Mother
20 February 1932 (2am)

 

Liberty and The Divine

What is liberty?

Liberty is to depend only on the Divine.

What is the Divine?

The Divine is what you adore in Sri Aurobindo.

The Mother
28 March 1932

 

Why Be Sorry?

“Why be sorry and feel miserable when my playmates abuse me? If they are right in what they say, I have only to be glad for the lesson and correct myself; if they are wrong, why should I worry about it — it is for them to be sorry for their mistake. In both cases the best and the most dignified thing I can do is to remain strong, quiet and unmoved.”

This lesson which I was giving to myself and trying to follow when I was eight years old, still holds good in all similar cases.

To my dear little child, with my best love.

The Mother
1 May 1932

 

Superior to All

X might be told that apart from the superficiality and shallowness of his reasons for not coming for pranam, there are others, much more advanced in Sadhana than he is, who do come. What about these?

He is always trying to prove that he is far superior to all the other sadhaks. That is the root of his mistake.

The Mother
May 1932

 

True Dignity

You should be very polite with those who depend upon you for their living. If you ill-treat them, they feel very much but cannot reply to you as man to man for fear of losing their job.

There may be some dignity in being rough with your superiors, but with those who depend on you, the true dignity is to be very courteous.

The Mother
23 June 1932

 

Her Motive Must Be Pure

She can try to do yoga, but her motive must be pure, for if she decides to do yoga in order to join you here, nothing good can come out of it.

The Mother
23 June 1932

 

The Symbolism of a Snake

Generally a snake symbolises a movement of falsehood. When something in the nature is in affinity with falsehood snakes are attracted. The nature of the falsehood is indicated by the nature of the snake and the plane where it appears.

The Mother
30 Aug 1932

 

Your Vision Was Correct

In the rooms I wear only a dhoti — so your vision was correct.

It is remarkably good.

Sri Aurobindo
23 September 1932

 

Children in the Ashram

My four years old nephew cries and insists constantly to come to the Ashram. What should I do?

He is too young and undeveloped yet. It is only after a certain age that the being takes on a definite individuality except in rare cases. It is only after the age of ten that children can come here, as a rule.

Sri Aurobindo
23 September 1932

Stop Quarrelling

S,

You cannot expect the whole world to be at your service and everything to happen as you fancy it to be more convenient for you.

You must stop quarrelling with everybody and about everything, otherwise how can you expect to make any progress in yoga?

The Mother
23 September 1932

 

Sign of Welcome

I had just remarked to Sri Aurobindo (yesterday also): “I did not see D while I was walking on the terrace”, and I was wondering why. . .

It must have been the darkness, I suppose, that prevented me from making you out in the shadows of the street.

After all I am glad to know that you did come, although I am sorry I missed the opportunity of giving you a sign of welcome.

The Mother
23 October 1932

 

Death

You say that it is through a newspaper that the news came of your nephew’s death. So the child died a few days ago. Did S and P find any difference in their atmosphere, their feelings, their thoughts, their sensations, — a difference, an uneasiness, or a sense of loss, which would give a real ground for their sorrow? I am pretty sure that they did not. So their sorrow, if they have any, is not true but the result of conventional thoughts and feelings; it is all illusion coming from the family idea which is one of the most artificial and false of all conventions.

In truth the child was not in their atmosphere, otherwise they would have become aware of his death without needing to receive the news of it; he was no more in their atmosphere than any one of the 2 million human beings who die everyday — for the average death of human beings is 2 millions a day. Do they know that? Is not death the most common and everyday happening and can they reasonably expect that none of those they know will escape this general law?

The Mother
24 December 1932

 

A New Birth

Do you want a new birth, a new start, a new opening of the consciousness? Then come tomorrow at 9.30, we shall sit to call it down.

The Mother
24 December 1932

 

Things Also Have a Consciousness

It was an act of ignorance.

Received in the right spirit the curtains could have lasted 2 or 3 years more. Received wrongly they might have gone to pieces within a month. Things also have a consciousness of their own.

The Mother

 

Secret Societies

I have gone through the papers you sent me.

The historic part of the papers seems to be true. The founder must surely have been acquainted with the Kabbalah and with some mystics of Asia Minor. The original appears to have been written in Latin with adjunctives of Hebrew words (probably taken from the Kabbalah). But the Osiris-Isis part looks to me like a more recent addition which came in something like 50 or 60 years ago.

The whole thing is from its origin a very well made, a very strong and elaborate mental formation, powerfully designed to catch hold of certain vital elements and forces (both outside and inside the individuals) to rule and use them and through the vital to exercise a partial power over the physical.

Formations of this kind are numerous; they translate upon earth into secret societies. (I have met many of the kind more or less ancient, more or less powerfully organized, but all of a similar type). They are not, in their natures, spiritual. If there is any spirituality in them it comes, not from the formation itself, but from the presence, in the society, of one or several personalities with a spiritual character and achievement.

I will speak of certain details in this connection, next time we meet. Until then I shall keep the papers with me. (Sri Aurobindo and myself alone will see them.)

In the first dream we can take the theatre as the symbol of this world where all is a play — the appearance of something and not the thing itself. Here the kings and queens are not such because of an inner and divine right but as a result of the confusion of circumstances and birth.

I suppose the obstacles which were standing in the way of your joining me represent the difficulties (inner and outer) which are to be overcome in order to realise the union with the true consciousness.

The second dream seems to be an embodiment of old expressions left in the subconscient of social surroundings and your reactions to them.

In the third the train is, as always, an image of the way and the journey towards the goal. The sets of people are the various groups (secret societies etc.) that have been formed for this purpose. The one you were supposed to join was the society to which you became attached — composed of the boys who were with you at your first “school”, the image is clear, but an association which you did not feel to be definitive.

The Mother

 

Divine Love

Why didn’t you come yourself? I would have seen you for a few minutes and told you something interesting and helpful as an answer to your letter of this morning.

For, in speaking it would have been better than anything I could write. At Pranam time I felt that you were still depressed. I thought that I would try to pour on you some of the Divine forces. I was looking at you for such a long time and it was Divine love that I was pouring on you with a strong will that you should become conscious of the Divine Presence in you and see all your sorrows turn into ananda. I saw to my great joy that you were very receptive to all these Divine forces, and absorbing them without resistance as they were pouring down.

When I read your letter and saw that you thought you had received only some human kindness, it struck me that it was only a misunderstanding of the mind, almost a question of vocabulary that was standing in the way and if you could see this all or most of your doubts would disappear for ever, and with them your painful difficulties.

For what I was pouring in you was not merely human kindness — though surely it contained all that human kindness can be at its best — but Mahalakshmi’s love, Mahasaraswathi’s care, Maheshwari’s embracing and enveloping light. Do not think of Divine Love as something cold or impersonal or distantly high; it is something as warm and close and tender as any feeling can possibly be. It does not abolish whatever is pure and sweet in human love, but intensifies and sublimates it to its highest. It is this love that the Divine has to give and that you must open yourself to receive. I think if you realise this, it will be easier for you to force through the mental veil and receive what you are longing to receive.

The Mother

 

Give Me a Promise

After all the affection and trust I had shown you yesterday morning after having taken you so much in my heart’s intimacy, I never expected that you would go back to X in the old spirit in which you went and I have been truly grieved by it. Now I want you to promise that you will never do it again. I need this from you in order to wipe out a movement that ought not to have taken place, so that what was being established may not suffer. Will you give me this promise which you must faithfully keep?

The Mother

 

Basis of Marriage

To Kowsiki for her marriage —

To unite your physical existences and your material interests, to associate yourselves so as to face together the difficulties and successes, the defeats and victories of life — this is the very basis of marriage — but you know already that it does not suffice.

To be united in feelings, to have the same tastes and the same aesthetic pleasures, to vibrate together in a common response to the same things, one by the other and one for the other — it is good; it is necessary — but it is not enough.

To be one in profound sentiments, your affection, your feelings of tenderness for each other not varying in spite of all the shocks of existence; withstanding weariness, narrow limitations and disappointments, to find under all circumstances, one in the presence of the other, rest, peace and joy — it is good, it is very good, it is indispensable — but it is not enough.

To unite your mentalities, your thoughts harmonising and becoming complementary to each other, your preoccupations and intellectual discoveries shared between you; in a word, to realize your spheres of mental activity identical through broadening and an enrichment acquired by the two at the same time — it is good, it is absolutely necessary — but it is not enough.

Beyond it all, at the bottom, at the centre, at the summit of the being, there is a Supreme Truth of the being, an Eternal Light independent of all circumstances of birth, of country, of environment, of education; the origin, cause and master of our spiritual development — it is this that gives a definite orientation to our existence; it is this that decides our destiny; it is in the consciousness of this that you should unite. To be one in aspiration and ascension, to advance with the same step on the spiritual path — such is the secret of a durable union.

The Mother
March 1933

 

Categories of Love

1. Is human love the combination of the mental, vital and physical loves or the predominance of one or another? And does it depend upon the largeness, purity and harmony of the nature that this love can take an unselfish, noble and pure form and expression? But after all, is it not a mixed affair of the human folly, ignorance, attachment, passion and desire? And although one should offer the best thing of it in one’s aspiration and opening towards the Divine, is it not absolutely necessary in order to be free from all ties and bondage, not to allow this human love and relation to grow?

Human love is mostly vital and physical with a mental support. It can take an unselfish, noble and pure form and expression only if it is touched by the psychic. It is true, as you say, that it is more usually a mixture of ignorance, attachment, passion and desire. But whatever it may be, one who wishes to reach the Divine, must not burden himself with human loves and attachments, for they form so many fetters and hamper his steps — besides turning him away from the concentration of his emotions on the one supreme object of love.

2. Is there anything like psychic love?

There is such a thing as psychic love, pure, without demand, sincere in self-giving — but it is not usually left pure in the attraction of human beings to one another. One must also be on one’s guard against the profession of psychic love when one is doing sadhana, — for that is most often a cloak and justification for yielding to a vital attraction or attachment.

3. What is universal love? Is it based upon the sense of oneness in all?

Universal love is the spiritual, founded on the sense of the one and the Divine everywhere and the change of the personal into a wide universal consciousness, free from attachment and ignorance.

4. What is the nature of the Divine Love? Can you say that it is in its nature free from all lower bondage, vast, pure and luminous?

Divine love is of two kinds — the Divine love for the creation and the souls that are part of itself and the love of the seeker and love for the Divine Beloved; it has both a personal and impersonal element, but the personal is free here from all lower elements or bondage to the vital and physical instincts.

5. As a definition can it be said that the personal sense is that which affects the little human egocentric ‘I’ and all the consequence of its self-will, habits and notions and to efface it is to be released into the wideness of the true consciousness and in the full awareness of the true self?

There are two forms of personality in the being — the little ego personality which is what you describe and the true person which is a conscious portion of the Divine.

Sri Aurobindo
13 December 1934

 

The Conditions of the World

I have already spoken about the bad conditions of the world; the usual idea of the occultists about it is that the worse they are the more probable is the coming of an intervention or a new revelation from above. The ordinary mind cannot know — it has either to believe or disbelieve or wait and see.

As to whether the Divine seriously means something to happen, I believe it is intended. I know with absolute certitude that the Supramental is a truth and its advent is in the very nature of things inevitable. The question is as to the when and the how. That also is decided and predestined from somewhere above; but it is here being fought out amid a rather grim clash of conflicting forces. For in the terrestrial world the predetermined result is hidden and what we see is a whirl of possibilities and forces attempting to achieve something with the density of it all concealed from human eyes. This is, however, certain that a number of souls have been sent to see that it shall be now. That is the situation. My faith and will are for the now. I am speaking of course on the level of the human intelligence — mystically — rationally, as one might put it. To say more would be going beyond that line. You don’t want me to start prophesying, I suppose? As a rationalist, you can’t.

Sri Aurobindo
28 December 1934

 

The Illusion of Sex

Why does the illusion of sex not disappear?

Too many roots in the human vital. Sex has a terrible tenacity. Besides, universal physical nature has such a need of it that even when man pushes it away, she throws it upon him as long as possible.

The Mother
17 January 1935

 

Difficulties and Victories

You can be reassured, it is quite certain that Sri Aurobindo cannot make such a mistake!

As he says that you are sure to succeed, it means that you will succeed and become quite a good Yogi after all.

Don’t let troubles and difficulties depress you, the greater the difficulties, the greater the victory hereafter.

I expect to see a cheerful D at this afternoon’s distribution.

The Mother

 

The Divine’s Grace

The whole thing is so powerfully symbolical and expresses so clearly how dangerous it is to be under the leading of an arrogant and ignorant human mind which relies on its own power alone and refuses the help of the Divine’s Grace.

I do not need to enter into any detailed explanations; for with this clue you can easily understand the whole affair. Do you remember that I was asking you with some insistence who was driving the car and when you told me it was your driver, I felt relieved. But it was not your driver who held the steering wheel and the poor fellow suffered for the change.

What makes the whole thing much more striking is just the conversation I had with V. I asked him if he was interested in yoga. He said as a philosophical speculation it interested him but not as a thing to be lived. On my remark that it might come to him later on, he said, “Oh no! I am an atheist, you see, I do not believe in God.” I asked smilingly, “Then how do you arrange your universe?” He felt the irony and replied: “I have taken a scientific attitude: I deny nothing but I believe in nothing.” I felt the danger for X and said with some force: But, I suppose, you do not interfere with the beliefs of others and you will leave X free to think and feel as she likes. “Certainly”, was his answer; but I did not believe him.

Tell X to keep her faith intact whatever pressure may be put upon her to change her mind and attitude. She may have to meet some difficulties, but she must never forget to call on the Divine’s Grace with confidence and the protection and help will surely be with her.

As for yourself do not worry or apprehend dangers for X. Her difficulties, — and life is never without them, — are not likely to be of the more external kind, and the others she can meet and overcome by keeping her faith.

The Mother

 

Beware of Downward Pulls

Beware of what pulls you downward. Do not yield to any lower instinct. Keep intact your aspiration for the Divine.

The Mother

 

To Bluff

Is it not permissible for a sadhak to bluff under certain conditions?

To be like that is always improper for a sadhak.

Sri Aurobindo
6 June 1935

 

Lying

Can’t a sadhak speak a lie even when dealing with dishonest people?

Because one is dealing with dishonest people, that does not justify one in going down to their own level.

If you think that the prices are too high or simply if you want them to be lower you can say so and ask for a reduction but it is not right to support your demand by a false statement.

No one is bound to speak the truth when it would be harmful or to speak whatever is in one’s mind; it is always permissible to keep silence or evade a reply and not to say what one does not wish or think it right to tell. But to tell a lie is superfluous and not justifiable.

It is usually out of weakness (moral and mental) that people lie; those who are strong in nature do not need to lie.

A sadhak has to be strong and not weak. Straightforwardness does not mean of course that one has to babble out everything to everybody; to keep a thing to oneself, not to tell what should not be told is very necessary; but falsehood is not the right way. To conceal things that have not to be told, the right way is silence.

Sri Aurobindo
7 June 1935

 

Beauty Through Painting

What you write about the expression of beauty through painting and the limitations of the work as yet done here is quite accurate. The painters here have capacity and disposition, but as yet the work done ranks more as studies and sketches some well done, some less well than as great or finished art. What they need is not to be easily satisfied because they have done some good work, but always to see what has not been yet achieved and train vision and executive power till they have reached a truly high power of themselves. Nandalal’s saying is true, but the three have to be combined and developed and harmonised in their combination to a sufficient degree before they bear the fruit of finished or great art.

Sri Aurobindo
10 January 1936

 

Permission to Go

Nowadays I feel intensely like going to Gujarat. If you give me permission, I will go. But only if you will.

You can have permission to go. But one knows when one goes, one does not know whether or when one will come back. But if you really want to go, we cannot refuse permission.

Sri Aurobindo
26 March 1936

 

Sri Aurobindo Is Seeing Nobody

You can reply that Sri Aurobindo is seeing nobody and speaking with none. He only comes out to give Darshan to his disciples and some others on two or three fixed days in the year; but even then he does not speak with anyone.

Sri Aurobindo

 

Be Conscious of the Passion

Your mind is driven by passion and, to support the passion, it gives a twist which prevents you from seeing the truth of things. Guard against the twist, be conscious of the passion.

Action perverted by such a twist looks like insincerity.

Be always on your guard against this persistent defect.

This is my gift for the New Year.

The Mother

 

Indications in Dreams

These are mostly dreams made out of impressions recorded in the subconscient. They are not remembrances of actual events or circumstances, but are sensations and impressions left behind by circumstances of the same type or a somewhat similar nature. The unexpectedness and newness of the incidents occurring in the dreams are due to the fact that impressions not connected with each other are associated haphazard because the consciousness is not awake in its fullness. The dreams carefully scrutinized will disclose something of the condition of the subconscient and they can help to correct some movements of the waking state.

For instance, the first dream indicates a tendency to give when in action an undue importance to small superficial and artificial details at the cost of a larger and deeper view which would lead to a more true and successful action.

The second dream gives a similar indication to the one you already had about the lake, the path and the sea; it shows an unwillingness to take risks, an idea that one must not proceed till everything is safe.

The third dream must have been largely influenced by your preoccupation in the waking state, with the world situation linking itself to the memory of the past.

The fourth dream seems to be made up of old impressions mostly.

The last dream indicates a tendency, in some part of the material being, towards material comfort and a pleasant indolence, which is suppressed in the waking state, but comes up in sleep from the subconscient. The two servants may be small vital entities who take pleasure in encouraging this tendency and conspiring how to do it.

The Mother

 

Conscious Force

But what seems to me of more importance is to try to explain how things are worked out here. Indeed very few are the people who understand it and still fewer those who realize it.

There has never been, at any time, a mental plan, a fixed programme or an organization decided beforehand. The whole thing has taken birth, grown and developed as a living being by a movement of consciousness (Chit-tapas) constantly maintained, increased and fortified. As the conscious force descends in matter and radiates, it seeks for fit instruments to express and manifest it. It goes without saying that the more the instrument is open, receptive and plastic, the better are the results. The two obstacles that stand in the way of smooth and harmonious working in and through the sadhaks are:

1. The preconceived ideas and mental constructions which block the way to the influence and the working of the Conscious Force,

2. The preference and impulse of the vital which distort and falsify the expression.

Both these things are the natural output of ego. Without the interference of these two elements my physical intervention would not be necessary.

You are quite right when you do not believe in “Mother likes”, “Mother dislikes”; it is quite a childish interpretation.

There is a clear precise perception of the force and the consciousness at work, and whenever this force and the consciousness are obscured in their action, I have to interfere and rectify the movement. In most cases things are mixed up and there again I have to intervene to separate the distorted transcription from the pure.

Otherwise a great freedom of action is left to all, because the conscious force can express itself in innumerable ways and for the perfection and integrity of the manifestation no ways are to be a priori excluded; a trial is very often given before the selection is made.

The Mother

 

Hurried Work

Too strong a fire burns the food, spoils the vessel and wastes the fuel. A slow fire means a little longer time for the cooking but also a nicer result in cooking.

Hurried work is always bad work; time must be given if you want good results.

The Mother

 

“Surrender of Falsehood”

Mother, please tell me the significance of the flower ‘Surrender of falsehood’.

My dear child,

I received your letter after 11.00 p.m. It was too late to read it, but I just glanced at the first sentences and saw that you had misunderstood my intention in giving you the flower of “Surrender of falsehood”.

For me this flower has nothing to do with lies. The falsehood it represents is all that in the mental, the vital and the physical and especially in the matter, the subconscient, and the inconscient is contrary to the Divine Truth that must descend upon the world. It is a flower I give very often because we must always be reminded that our exterior superficial being lives in falsehood and we must throw it off (surrender it) to emerge in the light of Truth. For instance, when somebody is ill I give it because all illnesses are falsehood in front of the Divine. You must not see any special intention in my giving you this flower and above all you must not worry about it.

I may add that I always considered you as a very truthful person and have no reason to think otherwise.

That is all I wished to say now.

This evening I shall read your letter and if any additional answer is needed I shall send it to you.

With my love and blessings.

The Mother
7 September 1940

 

Change in Attitude Needed

Anilbaran,

Mridu’s letter is all right and I accept it as the apology I demanded from her. But things cannot be quite as before: she must make reparation for her fault not only in words but in her conduct; that must change and change altogether. That she can change it, if she chooses to do so, was shown when she began taking my darshan and her behaviour for some weeks was quite satisfactory. Afterwards she called back into her the bad forces which I had thrown out of her and the recent outbreak was the result. That must not happen once more. It is not possible any more that the Mother should show the same indulgence and leniency under great provocation as she did before or that I should remain silent and let such things pass. Our attitude towards her and treatment of her must depend on her attitude towards the Mother and her behaviour.

In the recent outbreak she practically took the position that she refused to change anything wrong in her nature — rather she regarded what is bad and wrong in her as something noble, great and admirable. If that remained her position, she cannot expect that we should accept it, nor would there be any reason for my giving her darshan. People are here to change what is wrong in their nature so that they may do an effective sadhana. If they refuse to do that or even to try, they are not real sadhaks or disciples and can expect nothing from myself or from the Mother.

What was worse, she seemed prepared to be the instrument of an alien force, acting against Mother, claiming victories against her, trying to lower her in the eyes of the sadhaks, asserting itself and its ways, traducing the Ashram and impairing the respect due to the Mother and spoiling my work as much as possible. It cannot really succeed in this, but it can give trouble, and I do not see why I should tolerate it. If she was not conscious of what she was doing or the evil Force that used her, the sooner she becomes conscious the better.

Arrogance, violence and self-assertion have always been the bane of Mridu’s character. But in her relations with the Mother these things must go. She must learn not to force her will on the Mother but to accept the Mother’s will in everything without opposition or murmur. That is the main point. If she does not take this resolve, she will always go on as she has done and relapse into revolts and that will bring no good to her. In short, however difficult it may be to her nature, she must learn self-surrender to the Divine. A “bhakti” which claims everything from the Divine and does not give itself is not real bhakti.

I point out some details. There should be no more clamouring and shouting and violent insistence when something happens which she does not like. There should be no disrespect, aggressiveness or constant contradiction when she speaks to the Mother. If she has anything to represent she can do it quietly and without violence. And she must accept the Mother’s decision in all matters.

She should respect the Mother’s time and the heavy work she has to do. She has been allowed to see the Mother very often in the day but she must not abuse the privilege by wasting unnecessarily the Mother’s time. There is a heavy strain on the Mother allowing her no time to rest and she must not increase the strain.

In her upstairs work she should try to be in harmony with others and not a cause of disturbance or inconvenience.

She should not push herself everywhere and take up a position not authorised by the Mother. I am referring especially to her interference above the stairs when the Mother is giving pranam to the sadhaks. To intervene, speak to people and give them instructions is not in her province and only disturbs the Mother’s work.

In her talk with sadhaks and visitors, she should refrain from gossip of a bad kind or drawing a black picture of the Ashram which makes a bad impression on those who have joined recently and have had no personal experience of how things are, and on people from outside. There should be no attacks on the Mother or accusations against her. All that is harmful to my work and I want it to change.

That is enough for the present; but it is a wholesale change in her attitude and conduct that I demand of her. If she is prepared to make a firm resolution to get rid of these habits and keeps the resolution, all will be well. If she is not prepared, then why is she here and what is the meaning of her professed bhakti for myself or for the Mother?

Sri Aurobindo
23 May 1944

P.S. Explain all this carefully to Mridu.

It may be best to make a translation of this letter and give it to her to keep with her.

 

The White Flame of Purification

If you had understood and reacted in the right way, you would have passed the test and got rid not only of this special difficulty but probably of this hostile’s influence altogether. But you failed and got possessed. And only one thing was left to me to do, it was to flood you with the pure light, the white flame of purification to chase from inside you the intruder. It is what you took probably for a cut in our relations, a wall of separation between us; there was nothing of the kind; I was inside you, penetrating you as usual but in the form of this supreme purity which is so foreign to all that is anti-divine or even to all ordinary human movement.

This adverse entity is not only vital, it is also mental and supports its desires by some apparently reasonable principles which become aggressively stupid by their rigidity. When this seizes you, you seem to lose all common sense and the most elementary understanding.

No wall at all — only the pure light, the white flame of purification penetrating right through, from outside inside, from inside outside.

Now I can tell you what has happened with a chance of being understood.

The Mother

 

Recover Your Poise

I shall be sorry to see you go and hoped it would not be necessary. But if you are feeling so miserable and so little sure of yourself, it might be better to go for a while and recover your poise. I will leave the door open for you and as soon as you become strong enough, you will come back.

My blessings are and will always be with you.

And if next time you can come for the yoga and to lead the Divine life, then everything will become easy.

The Mother

 

The Western Mind

The western mind always finds it difficult to submit totally to a Guru and without total and unquestioning surrender to the Guru his help to you is paralysed. That is why generally I advise westerners to find the guidance and the Presence within themselves; it is true that this process is very often open to uncertainty and self-deception, mistaking some voice of the ego in disguise for the Divine’s guidance.

In both cases, it is only an absolute sincerity and an unmixed humility that can be your safeguard.

With my blessings.

The Mother

 

Sri Aurobindo Leaving His Body

I was painfully shocked when I heard the translation of the leaflet you are distributing here in the Ashram. I never imagined you could have such a complete lack of understanding, respect and devotion for our Lord who has sacrificed himself totally for us. Sri Aurobindo was not crippled; a few hours before he left his body he rose from his bed and sat for a long time in his arm chair, speaking freely to all those around him. Sri Aurobindo was not compelled to leave his body, he chose to do so for reasons so sublime that they are beyond the reach of human mentality. And when one cannot understand, the only thing to do is to keep a respectful silence.

The Mother
26 December 1950

 

Value of the Relation

This is a very good opportunity to test the value of the relation. You must absolutely stop all quarrels. They are harmful for the sadhana of both of you.

Try your level best, and if you cannot succeed, then you will have to give up the relation.

The Mother
23 September 1951

 

Politics and Spiritual Help

Sri Aurobindo says that it is impossible for him to take up political action and enter the political field which would involve a sacrifice of his spiritual work.

His spiritual help is given to the country and individually to all those who aspire for it. He is ready to continue this help and even to increase it if it is necessary. But he is convinced that written messages alone are not sufficient to have permanent effect or even a sufficiently wide effect.

Among the members of the Ashram he sees nobody whom he can send to represent him effectively.

The Mother

 

Rumours

I have already warned those who go on spreading rumours, more or less false, on what I am believed to have said or not said, that this is an act of treachery.

As this pernicious habit does not seem to stop I must add that those who persist in so doing will be treated occultly as traitors.

The Mother

 

That Is Justice!

If I see X or anybody else twice then I must see Y too twice, and that is justice! And what about so many other people?

Will it be injustice if I don’t see eighty people separately twice a day? . . .

The Mother

 

Sincerely Misbehave?

Do you think sincerity and fearlessness mean to sincerely misbehave?

The Mother

Two Falsehoods

You must remove two falsehoods from your mind.

1. What you get from me has nothing at all to do with what the others have or have not. My relation with you depends on you alone; I give you according to your true need and capacity. Even here already you were alone with me; if there were no others you would receive nothing more.

2. It is a great mistake to think that physical nearness is the one thing indispensable for the progress. It will do nothing for you if you do not establish the inner contact, for without that you could remain from morning to night with me and yet you will never truly meet me. It is only by the inner opening and contact that you can realize my presence.

The Mother

 

Go Deep Inside

Say to your mother to go deep inside her heart and she will feel that the Divine Grace is with her. I am sending her a card with my blessings. You can translate for her what is written upon it. You can tell her also that the consciousness of your father had left his body at the time of the accident. That is why he did not move or speak, there is nothing astonishing in that and no reason to be especially sorry about it.

The Mother

 

Avoid Quarrels

This is my answer —

It is because of all your quarrels, shouting, restlessness, nervousness, agitation, discords and disputes, that C is unwell. I told from the beginning that she needed rest and quietness. But especially it was indispensable and she has been surrounded by the opposite atmosphere — no wonder if she is ill. She weeps and trembles because her nerves are overtaxed and they are overtaxed because all of you have no mastery over yourselves and no control over your speech.

Cooking for her is quite nice, but it is not sufficient, you must let her have enough peace and quietness to be able to eat.

The Mother

 

Human Love Is Fugitive

Do not grieve. Human love is fugitive. It is only the Divine’s love that never fails.

With love and blessings.

The Mother

 

My Physical Existence

Reply to a letter from an objective point of view

If the supreme consciousness is incarnated and manifests itself in this body, all the negations in the world cannot prevent this from happening.

And, in any case, my physical existence can be interesting only for those who have faith and who, by virtue of this faith, can, through me, enter into contact with the supreme consciousness.

The question has no importance except for these, and others have no need at all to be concerned about it. For such a faith, in order to be sincere and effective, cannot be the object of any propaganda, either for or against it. Its birth must be free and spontaneous. It cannot be obtained through coercion nor destroyed by negation.

He who feels the need to fight violently against any kind of conviction or faith proves, by that very fact, that some part of his being however tiny, is touched by this conviction, whilst another part of himself, generally speaking more important and external, altogether refuses to accept a faith which seems to him the more dangerous the more sensitive he is to it, and his wanting to deny it forcefully comes from the necessity of convincing himself.

From the subjective point of view, I know what I am. But this living knowledge finds its worth only in my sincerity; and of this sincerity the Supreme alone can be the judge.

The Mother
7 November 1951

 

My Answers

It is a pity you have shown my answers to your questions. They were meant for you alone and nobody else. This has partly damaged the experience, as it was the vital and the mental wanting to take advantage of the situation to satisfy their own desires.

The Mother

 

Pleasures of the Palate

If you prefer the pleasures of the palate to the union with the Divine, it is your own lookout and I have nothing to say, except that I do not approve, but each one must be free to choose whether he will rise above his lower nature or sink down in the material pit. My help is always for those who choose the higher path.

The Mother

 

Be Conscious

It seems to me, on the contrary, that the best way is to remain where you are and make effort to discover your own faults — you are bound to have some as everybody has — and try to correct them. To be conscious of one’s own mistakes is the surest way to come out of a difficulty.

The Mother

 

Interpretation of Dreams

Both of these dreams (are they only dreams?) are of a quality far superior to the former ones.

The first seems to be one of those symbolic transcriptions of the inner condition and action which one so often gets in sleep. What appears to me most clear is how pointedly this dream shows the lack of any true ground for the apprehension you felt while swimming (the fear of not being able to reach the goal). For the protection showered from the shore to be reached brings you there even when in appearance conditions or circumstances seem to be driving you away from it.

To say exactly what the motor launches stand for is difficult in the absence of details.

The second is certainly not a dream but a reality, a very charming expression of the reality of the constant presence of Sri Aurobindo and of his help given through an intimate and true relation, even though veiled to the outer consciousness. This is a precious experience worth being kept in the most sacred corner of the remembrance.

The Mother

 

Change of Nature

When you feel unhappy like that it means that you have a progress to make. You can say that we always need to progress, it is true. But at times nature gives its consent to the needed change and then everything goes smoothly, even happily. On the contrary, sometimes the part that has to progress refuses to move and clings to its old habits through inertia, ignorance, attachment or desire. Then, under the pressure of the perfecting force, the struggle starts translating itself into unhappiness or revolt or both together.

The only remedy is to keep quiet, look within oneself honestly to find out what is wrong and set to work courageously to put it right.

The Divine Consciousness will always be there to help you if your endeavour is sincere; and the more sincere your endeavour the more the Divine Consciousness will help and assist you.¹)

The Mother
19 May 1952

 

Studies in England

I intended to let you go for your studies to England without telling you anything about it, because each one must be free to follow the path he has chosen. But after what you have written I feel compelled to write to you.

No doubt from the exterior point of view, you will find in England all that you want for learning what human beings generally call knowledge, but from the point of view of Truth and Consciousness, you can find nowhere the atmosphere in which you are living here. Elsewhere you can meet with a religious or a philosophic spirit, but true spirituality, direct contact with the Divine, constant aspiration to realize Him in life, mind and action are in the world realised only by scattered individuals and not as a living fact behind any university teaching however advanced it may be.

Practically, as far as you are concerned, there will be a great risk of drifting away from the experience you have realized and then you cannot know what will happen to you.

That is all I wanted to say — now it is left to you to choose and decide.

With my blessings
The Mother
22 October 1952

 

Surrender Your Sorrow

Your father died because it was his time to die. Circumstances can be an occasion but surely not a cause. The cause is in the Divine’s will and nothing can alter it.

So, grieve not and surrender your sorrow at the feet of the Divine. He will give you peace and freedom.

The Mother

 

A Key Word for Japa

It often occurs to me to beg Thee for a key word for japa.

OM.

The Mother

 

The Demands of a Sannyasi

A sannyasi who makes demands is not sincere. To be sincere a sannyasi must be perfectly satisfied with what is given to him and ask for nothing more. In all that happens to him, he must see the Divine’s Grace and be at once happy and grateful for it.

Moreover he who wants to do “intensive sadhana” must be able to isolate himself from his surroundings and to sit if necessary in deep meditation even on a battlefield in the midst of the roaring guns.

The Mother

 

Your Path and the Ashram

Each one has the right to follow the path he has chosen, but it must be at the right place, and obviously this Ashram is not the place to follow the path you have chosen.

The Mother

 

Others Also Are Legitimate

He is quite legitimate in thinking and feeling as he does, but he ought to understand that the others also are legitimate although their thinking and feeling differ from his and he ought not to despise them and call them by bad names.

The Mother

 

Sympathy and Understanding

If you have sympathy for them and true understanding of their difficulty you can always help them.

The Mother

 

Cure of Illness

Wake up in yourself a will to conquer. Not a mere will in the mind but a will in the very cells of your body. Without that you can’t do anything, e.g., you may take a hundred medicines but they won’t cure you unless you have a will to overcome the physical illness.

I may destroy the adverse force that has possessed you. I may repeat the action a thousand times. But each time that a vacuum is created it will be filled up by one of the many forces that try to rush in. That is why I say wake up the will to conquer.

The Mother

 

Sri Aurobindo Is with Me

I do not deny that you have got a connection with something of Sri Aurobindo, the something that was interested in you and in what you are doing. This something might have remained with you to inspire and help you in your work in America and elsewhere. But it is only a part, a very, very small part of the Sri Aurobindo whom I know and with whom I lived physically for thirty years, and who has not left me, not for a moment — for He is still with me, day and night, thinking through my brain, writing through my pen, speaking through my mouth and acting through my organising power.

The Mother
5 May 1952

 

New Birth

Bonne fête!

Let it be, for you, a new birth of your consciousness, the constant and conscious contact with your psychic being and for your co-workers a new start of unselfish and real collaboration in the work.

The Mother
10 April 1954

 

Political Polemic

Anilbaran,

It is important and urgent that the people of your Unity Party should rise to a higher level of consciousness and stop all attacks of a petty political character on persons. They must learn to fight for the Truth and the Divine Realisation and not against any political party. From the Divine’s point of view there is truth behind all sincere convictions. It is in the mental and practical application to life and action that the falsehood appears and disfigures everything. The time has come when all those who are more or less connected with the Ashram and wish to base their action on Sri Aurobindo’s or my teaching must abstain from all these low movements of political polemic and remain on the higher levels of the spirit.

I expect that you will take at once the necessary steps.

The Mother
31 January 1955

 

Curing Congenital Diseases

Her mental disease was congenital, that is to say, caused by her physical constitution, and it would have happened to her wherever she would have been and whatever life she would have lived. In fact, I made her last here one and half years more than she would have lasted elsewhere.

These congenital diseases can be cured only by an integral transformation of the body itself and we have not reached yet that period in the sadhana; otherwise it is only a so-called “miraculous” cure that can take place and that kind of “miracle” can happen only as the result of an absolute sincerity in the consecration to the Divine and an unshakable faith in the Divine Grace. This was not the case; she was full of fears, desires and demands and terribly concentrated on her exterior being and what she called its needs. This is just opposite of a sincere consecration.

The Mother
25 March 1955

 

“Cubism” and Other Ultra-Modernism

If these painters were sincere, if they truly painted what they feel and see, the picture would be the expression of a confused mind and an unruly vital. But, unhappily, the painters are not sincere and then these pictures are nothing else than the expression of a falsehood, an artificial imagination based only on the will to be strange and to bewilder the public in order to attract attention and that has indeed very little to do with beauty.

The Mother
27 March 1955

 

Commercial Activities

If business cannot be done with the true attitude of consecration to the Divine, then business will be stopped and banned from the Ashram as politics are banned for the reason.

So unless the consciousness of the sadhaks recovers from this sad condition of confusion and pettiness, I shall find myself under the necessity of forbidding all commercial activities as it will be proved that they cannot be done in the true spirit.

The Mother
25 May 1955

 

Trust Is Needed

You have asked to meet — but I do not see any use in this interview. What you could tell me you have already expressed abundantly in speech and numerous writings. As for me I have already conveyed to you several times in writing what I had to tell you. I can only add this:

Quite evidently you are not satisfied with what I am doing for you. But that is the maximum that I can do and the means at my disposal do not allow me to do more. You seem to believe, rightly or wrongly, that elsewhere you would receive a treatment more in conformity with your needs. I should not like to deprive you of the possibility of improving your condition, and if other institutions which — in opposition to the Ashram — are making a financial profit from your work, can and should make you profit in some way from their gains, I do not want to prevent you from sharing in this profit.

Here, altogether on the contrary, far from earning money with your work, we are at times obliged to invent some work to keep you occupied.

And this is why I took the decision which was communicated to you on the 7th March last. It is well understood that I am always ready to welcome those who are really satisfied and trust in the sincerity of my goodwill.

The Mother

 

Offering

It must not be forgotten that the offering is made to the Divine’s Work and not to any human enterprise. So the only thing that can be done is to express some appreciation in a few words.

The Mother

 

The Knowledge of a Work

I have read your letters and am well satisfied with the confidence you have in your capacity to do the work. It is true that you have the capacity, but you will agree that there is a difference between having the capacity and having the knowledge; and to have the knowledge of a work it must be learned.

So you must first learn from those who know and the best way of learning is to see them do. When you will know and have proved your thoroughness, steadiness and faithfulness in doing the work then I will entrust you with the full responsibility and give you the entire management of the work.

The Mother

 

Soul’s Blossoming

Your soul blossoms to the Light as a flower opens to the sun.

The Mother
30 May 1956

 

Keep a Cool Head

How can we prepare ourselves to be your most faithful sadhaks during the possibly exciting events of this year?

Keep a cool head and strong and very quiet nerves and complete trust in the Divine Grace.

The Mother

 

Wickedness

Why was not man created good from the beginning?

It is not God who made man wicked.

It is man who makes himself wicked by separating himself from God.

The Mother
1 January 1957

 

He Commanded Me

A child’s question: When the supreme Lord told you to make the world, how did you know what was to be done?

I had nothing to learn for that, because the supreme Lord contains everything in Himself: the whole world, the knowledge of the world and the power of making it. When He decided that there should be a world, first He put out the Knowledge of the world and the power of making it, and this is myself, and then He commanded me to make the world.

 

Become What I Am

Why have you come just as we are? Why didn’t you come as you really are?

Because if I had not come as you are I would never have been able to be near you and I would never have been able to tell you: “Become what I am.”

The Mother
25 September 1957

 

Temple of the Spirit

Why did I did not give meditation yesterday evening?

Because one does not enter the temple of the spirit with an unclean mind.

The Mother

 

Stop Hypocrisy

Simultaneously with the progress and intensification of the sadhana there is increasingly felt the imperative need that all hypocrisy and compromise should stop.

The Mother

 

True Happiness

It is not in order to be happy that we are upon earth, for in the present conditions of terrestrial life happiness is an impossibility. We are upon earth to find and realise the Divine, for the Divine Consciousness alone can give true happiness.

The Mother

 

My Duty

Everyone has to follow his own path which, necessarily, is the best and the swiftest for reaching the goal.

As I happen to know the way, it is my duty to show it to them.

The Mother

 

Bad Conduct

That one feels sad for one’s own faults, — this may, if necessary, be useful to strengthen one’s resolution to correct them.

But that one can be offended by another’s bad conduct, this has truly nothing to do with the spiritual life and the service of the Divine.

The Mother

 

One Meets in Life What One Is

About what you say on the last page of your letter. Things are not altogether what you think them to be. For some years already, I have had much to say on the subject. But what is the use. . .there are certain waters which are best left unstirred. In any case, I would like you never to forget this: What each one meets in life is always exactly in accordance with what he is. Not in the way ignorant human justice understands it, but according to a law that is much more subtle, more deep, more true. Let us never forget that the supreme Lord is behind everything and that it is He who is the master of our destinies.

The Mother

 

To Profit by One’s Stay Here

You have answered the trustful welcome given to you by an arrogant and uncomprehending attitude, judging everything from the viewpoint of an ignorant and presumptuous morality which could only alienate from you the sympathy so spontaneously extended to you as to all those who come here in quest of the spiritual life. But in order to profit by one’s stay here, a minimum of mental humility and generosity of soul is indispensable.

The Mother

 

Have Confidence

Have confidence, I am near thee.

With all my tender love

The Mother

 

Your Birthday Is an Occasion

Let this day of your birth be for you an occasion to give yourself a little more, a little better to the Divine. Let your consecration be more total, your devotion more ardent, your aspiration more intense.

Open yourself to the New Light and walk with a joyful step on the path.

Resolve on this day that it may be thus and the day will not have passed in vain.

The Mother

 

Mental Knowledge

Now, what the intellect has understood let the whole being realise. Mental knowledge must be replaced by the flaming power of progress.

The Mother

 

Have Full Faith

Have full faith in your experiences, they come from true spiritual source.

The Mother
12 December 1957

 

Fight Against the Ego

Your ego, at the slightest thing that displeases it, is in the habit of opening the door of your being to an evil spirit of arrogant and impudent disbelief which passes its time in throwing mud and filth on all that is sacred and beautiful and especially on the aspiration of your soul and the help from the Divine’s Grace.

If this is allowed to continue it will end in a sure catastrophe and ruin. Strong steps must be taken to put an end to this, and for that the collaboration of your soul is needed. It must wake up and join in the fight against the ego by resolutely closing the door to this evil spirit.

The Mother
9 April 1958

 

Allow Your Soul to Wake Up

You have allowed an evil spirit of arrogance and impudence to possess you. It is leading you to ruin and perdition. Allow your soul to wake up and save you from this catastrophe.

The Mother
9 April 1958

 

All Belongs to the Divine

It is your attitude that must change — because nothing is personal, all belongs to the Divine and is meant for collective use if necessary. And as a concrete illustration of this, I must ask you to leave your present quarters and to go to a new house where you are given some lodging. I advise you to take this decision as a manifestation of the Grace.

The Mother
16 April 1958

 

Working for the Divine

There is no question at all of “position” — nor of prestige. V has a lot of knowledge and experience of the stage that we do not have. She is willing to share it with us. So the only sensible thing for us to do is to learn as much as we can and to be grateful for it.

Moreover never forget that we are working here for the Divine and that no egoistic feeling can be allowed to intervene and spoil the work.

Always present with you.

The Mother
9 November 1958

 

To Be True to Oneself

What has happened was more or less expected. Each one in life acts according to his own nature, and those who are not steady in their faith cannot be steady in their love either.

Surely I am not angry with you and my help is always there whenever you want it. As for doing anything wrong, all human beings do wrong things so long as they live in this world of ignorance, because even if they wish to do right, they do not know what is the right thing to do, until their consciousness is transformed, and for transformation the first thing needed is complete sincerity, not only to speak the truth, this goes without saying, it is an indispensable elementary condition, but to be always true to oneself and the Divine.

The Mother

 

To Be with Me

I know that to be with me is, for you, neither a need nor a joy but a duty, and that you are happier elsewhere, with some others. So I call you only when it is necessary — not when it pleases me, for it is long since I have put my pleasure in my pocket and left it there.

The Mother

 

Go Through the Experience

If there is somewhere in some part of your being, still the need for human affection and love, it is better to go through the experience of life, it is the best preparation for Yoga.

The Mother

 

Take Hardship as a Boon

Whenever, in your life, you meet with a hardship, take it as a boon from the Divine’s Grace and it will become so.

The Mother

 

Worry Is No Cure

My advice is not to worry. More you think of it, more you concentrate upon it and, above all, more you fear, more you give a chance for the thing to grow.

If, on the contrary, you turn your attention and your interest elsewhere you increase the possibilities of cure.

The Mother

 

A Big Confusion

You are making a big confusion between the maternal feeling which is the translation in the physical of the force of the universal Mother and the maternal act of procreation which is something altogether animalish, most often even bestial, and which is but a means Nature has found for perpetuating the different races.

The Mother

 

Human Friendship

You preferred human friendship to divine friendship but human friendship is unsteady, and now you feel cut off from both, not that the Divine has withdrawn His friendship from you, never does He withdraw it, but you have got into a state of vital incapacity for enjoying it.

The Mother

 

Expectation From the Divine

At last it has been possible to go through all your communications. I shall see what can be done.

Meanwhile here are two questions that do not call for a reply.

What have you done for the Divine to make so many demands? What have you done to the Divine, to receive so many blows?

The Mother

 

To Do the Right Thing

Certainly to do the right thing is not cruel or selfish. What is cruel and selfish is to follow blindly one’s weakness and thus to drag another with oneself in a pit from which it is always difficult to come out and never without losing much of one’s time and energy, if not much more and much worse. So do not worry; try now seriously to find out the meaning and the aim of your life and prepare yourself to carry it out thoroughly and sincerely.

My help, love and blessings are with you.

The Mother

Ideal Friendship

A friendship free from desire and attachment might be the ideal solution, but to be carried out it requires a perfect mastery over oneself and an unshakable discipline of the vital and the body. And as for the moment it is not yet the case, it is wiser not to tempt the devil and to cut all relations.

The Mother

 

Using a Mantra

I am not eager to be the Guru of anyone. It is more spontaneously natural for me to be the universal Mother and to act in silence through love.

But as you put the question, I shall answer.

From the time you started using a mantra, I had put in it the power to make it effective. Now that you stated what is the word of this mantra, I am confirming the power into it.

It can be useful for a time to have certain inner experiences, but this attitude is not to be kept permanently as it is only a partial truth and far from the whole truth of the integral yoga.

The Mother

 

The Light of the Truth

I received your letter. My deepest sympathy is with you.

We must pray for the day when the light of the Truth will reappear in the consciousness. Meanwhile my love and blessings are always with you.

The Mother

 

Be Ready to Accept

I have forwarded your prayer to the supreme.

But if you want to live in Ananda you must not try to impose your will on the Lord, but on the contrary to be ready to accept all that comes from Him, with an equal peace, because He knows better than us what is good for our progress.

The Mother

 

Call the Grace

I have sent for the “delinquent” to tell him that this kind of activity is out of place in the Ashram, though unfortunately it is only too often practised here; but I am sending you this letter before seeing him so that you may know that he has nothing to do with what I am writing to you.

But the second part of your letter made me see that, without justifying the aggression, for an aggression cannot be justified, at least your state of mind warrants it. I have rarely seen such a display of hatred and envy, bitter criticism and commonplace morality arising from unsatisfied and repressed desires.

All this is not very nice and immediately takes away the sympathy one could have felt because of the blows you received.

I thank you for reminding me that my position as. . . gives me duties and responsibilities, but it is better to call the Grace rather than justice, for if it were to come into action very few would be those who could stand before it.

The Mother

 

Keep an Unshakable Confidence

What can be done will be done, but it is a matter of regret that you waited so long for the warning.

In any case, the only thing which is really effective is to will what the Divine wills, and to keep an unshakable confidence in the supreme compassion of the Divine Grace; for through that it is always the best that happens; not the best according to human ideas but the best according to the supreme Truth.

Be calm and full of a solid and pure faith.

My love and blessings are with you.

The Mother

 

Give Yourself

My love is always with you; if then you do not feel it, it is because you are not capable of receiving it. It is your receptivity that is lacking and should be increased; for this you must open yourself, and one opens oneself only if one gives oneself. Surely you are trying more or less consciously to draw the forces and the divine love towards you. The method is bad. Give yourself without calculating and without expecting anything in return, and then you will become capable of receiving.

The Mother

 

Source of True Happiness

Do not worry. It will pass.

It is the vital’s amour-propre that has received a fine knock on the face, it is vexed and gone on strike. When it starts understanding that it is a foolishness and that this leads to nothing, it will become reasonable again and listen once again to the wise advice of the psychic which tells it to be quiet and do its work well, that nothing of true value is lost, that true love is always there, immutable, and that only those movements which were not in conformity with the Divine Work have been destroyed.

For it is to the Divine Work that one must exclusively belong because it alone can, in our life, give us true happiness.

The Mother

 

Invoke My Will

In order to be cured, my child, not only is it necessary to stop all these unseemly practices completely, but it is necessary to get rid of all these unhealthy desires from your thought and sensation, for it is desires that irritate the organs and make them ill. You must ruthlessly clean up everything and your will is not strong enough for that; invoke my will, call it sincerely and it will be there to help you. You are right when you say that with my help you will surely be able to conquer. That is true, but you must sincerely want this help and let it work within you and in all circumstances.

The Mother

 

Rise to the Divine

The initial error was to hope to recommence the same experience as the one you had in your youth.

In life experiences are not repeated identically, and if they are not better, that is, higher and more true, they become necessarily worse.

After a happy and favourable experience it is necessary to rise from the human to the divine, otherwise one risks falling into the infernal and diabolic.

The Mother

 

The Buddha’s Smile

Friend, sister of former days and always,

In your letter of the 9^th June which has just arrived, you write that the Buddha “is smiling with gentle irony”, but the Buddha’s smile can only be a smile of perfect understanding before a luminous accomplishment.

And in this state in which already the physical life has lost for you so much of its concrete reality, whether one is in the solitudes of the Himalayas or in the solitude of a house on the road to N., it should be equally easy to live in the deep peace of the immense Buddhist compassion.

The Mother

 

Widen Your Consciousness

The whole trouble comes from the fact that you cannot harmonize with someone unless he is in agreement with your own ideas and his opinion and way of doing things are in conformity with yours.

You must widen your consciousness and understand that everyone has his own law. It is necessary to find the ground of understanding and harmony in a happy combination of individual wills and not to try that all may be the same in an identical will and action.

The Mother

 

“I Am with You”

I am writing to tell you that surely you should be able to feel my presence everyday. I am with you so concretely, I see you so clearly, we speak together, we contemplate the harmony of a beautiful park; I explain to you and show you how to keep within oneself always this great peace which makes you live in eternity, beyond all human miseries, in the Presence (Truth) of the Lord.

The Mother

 

The Supreme Guidance

Evidently, according to human laws I was wrong in telling you that I shall see you every month, since I was not sure of being able to do so, even whilst not forgetting what I had said.

In truth, I live from moment to moment, according to the supreme Guidance and, consequently, am incapable of making plans. I know that this is not comfortable for the human mentality which believes it can decide everything in advance. But from the spiritual point of view it is inevitable.

The Mother

 

A Genuine Call for Sadhana

I am sorry, but for the moment we are not in a position to increase the number of inmates. It is already difficult to manage with those who are here — exception made of the very few cases of those who might come with a genuine call for sadhana.

The Mother
1 August 1959

 

The Cause of All Problems

So my dear child,

Your letter of the 24^th November has just come, bringing me your problem which, by the way, is the problem of the life of all human beings, specially when they have reached a certain degree of inner development but are not yet on the summit of spiritual freedom through the unification of their being around their conscious soul. For it is the lack of unification which is the cause of all problems. One part of the being pulls one way, another pulls the other way, sometimes one is stronger and gives a certain orientation of life, sometimes it is the other and then the orientation suddenly changes, and the result is an incoherence. . . And as it is the unsatisfied part which usually comes to the surface to express its want of satisfaction, so unless one is a sage, one is never satisfied with the life one leads and always misses the life one could have led — whether in one direction or the other.

In your case there is something more. As your soul remains very closely linked with my being, as the contact with the supramental consciousness grows more and more total and constant, it acts very strongly on your soul like an almost irresistible attraction. This is what happened in ‘58. . .

To conclude, “an easy and pleasant life” can only satisfy the outer being; but what answers in the physical being to the soul’s influence needs for its flowering a life more in conformity with the soul’s needs and “languishes” when it cannot find it.

The Mother
3 December 1959

 

No Attachments

There was a time when you were very passionate and your affections degenerated immediately into passions with all the disequilibrium that this entails.

But now you are more sober and undoubtedly you are more calm and quiet until the day there will be no attachments any longer but luminous and sweet sympathies without any demand or egoism.

The Mother

 

An Imbecilic Act

It is clumsy and unbecoming enough to kiss a girl when she likes it; but kiss her when she does not want it is a coarse and imbecilic act.

The Mother

 

Regaining Your True Self

You ask if you can retain the same relation with me if you stay away for some time more. Well, it will surely depend on the length of the time.

Because little by little you forget that you have (or had) a true being and you will get so accustomed to be a “thoughtful”, “tactful” and “reasonable” creature that you will no more dream of being otherwise.

In any case you have to take yourself the decision, neither your parents nor I can take the decision for you. They have no more than I have the right to interfere in your destiny. I can say only one thing, if ever and as soon as you feel disgusted of being a thoughtful, tactful and reasonable creature, run away from there, quick and without hesitation, and come back here. I shall give you back your true self.

The Mother

 

True Renunciation

You speak of absolute renunciation, but to give up the body is not the absolute renunciation. The true and total renunciation is to give up the ego which is a much more arduous endeavour. If you have not renounced your ego, to give up the body will not bring freedom to you.

The Mother

 

Soul and Ego

As usual, it is only a misunderstanding, and also as usual, the ego of each one, by its reaction, magnifies the thing and aggravates it. But it is easy to arrange, and, with the goodwill of all, I am sure that all will be well.

I consider that we are at an excellent occasion for collective and individual sadhana and that is why I engage myself in it and take special interest in it.

We do not work for the success of X’s play, or of Y’s dance, or of Z’s scenario.

We want to render in physical terms, as perfectly as possible, the inspiration sent by the Lord for the accomplishment of His work upon earth.

And for that each individual soul is a helper and a collaborator, but each human ego is a limitation and an obstacle.

The Mother
1960

 

Spiritual Need

I did not reply because her mind was in such a confusion as a result of her desires, that she would not have been able to understand what I would have written. Since then I have tried to work on her mental and vital being to make it a little more open and receptive, so that she may understand that love for children and the growing hope for future that they represent in the creation, does not mean that each one and everybody must have children. To each one I disclose what is the best for him or her according to their nature and their spiritual need. But surely it is not always in keeping with the desires.

The Mother
October 1960

 

Change Your Nature

It is indeed indispensable that something should change radically in your nature before you are fit for staying here. You are far too ego-centric to lead a spiritual life; and it is also the cause of this catastrophe and of the suffering it has brought to you, which is the natural consequence of the whole affair. Indeed it is good if you go to face the ordinary life now and learn to live with the others and for the others instead of making of the Ashram life an excuse for living selfishly for yourself.

I shall see you and give you blessings in the afternoon just before your departure.

The Mother
September1961

 

Always Remember

Always remember that on the happiness you give will depend the happiness you get.

The Mother
2 June 1963

 

The Body Must Learn

The inner progress has been sufficiently rapid for the exterior being to find it difficult to follow. Now the body must learn to receive the Divine Force and to keep it.

The Mother

 

Not to Cheat

The will not to cheat but also that of not being cheated.

With blessings.

The Mother

 

Opinions

It is not necessary to attach any importance to the opinions of people because they are the passing results of passing impressions; other times and new impressions easily change them.

The Mother

 

Master Your Lower Nature

My blessings are always with you, but never forget that, as much outside as in the Ashram, if you want to live a happy life, you must be the master of your lower nature and control your desires and vital impulses. Otherwise there is no end to the troubles and the miseries.

The Mother

 

As Long as We Are in a Body

Dear friend.

Your letter came bringing me news I knew already, because often your thought comes bringing me your remembrance and keeps me in touch with your tribulations. Everyone, in truth, has his own and you know as well as I that is only in the inner attitude that peace is found.

So long as we are in a body, whatever its age and difficulties, it is certain that we have something to do or learn in it, and this conviction gives the necessary strength to face all vicissitudes.

I had hoped, in putting you into touch with the Tibetan refugees, that among them there would be one who would be happy to consecrate his or her life to have the opportunity to develop intellectually and learn all that you would be able to teach him or her in exchange for this service.

Would this not be possible?

For me the Grace is an active reality which guides our destiny through the ages.

One must not be in a hurry and hasten the departure, even if it is for the eternal repose or the beatitude of nothingness. As long as we are in a body, undoubtedly we have yet something to do or learn therein.

The Mother

 

Collecting Funds

I have received your letters and answered inwardly, confident that you are capable of receiving these intimate communications.

But I feel something must be added to what I wrote to you already.

There is no question of going to people and collecting funds. The thing to be done is to find one man, or one financial group, or one foundation that is in a position to dispose of the total amount needed and is ready to go into this adventure and to run the risk for the sake of doing something new and worthwhile.

Such men or such people exist. There is only to make the two poles meet.

The Mother

Clinging Impediments

Could it be that you are a little impatient about what you consider as a slow advance?

Is it that you are restless and eager to taste soon the fruit of your efforts?

Moreover I cannot see how to be plunged again, even for a few weeks only, in the very atmosphere which is responsible for the thickness of the surface-crust through which your soul has to pierce to make itself felt exteriorly, can in the least help you to get rid of the “clinging impediments”.

You are quite conscious of the aspiration and the aim of your soul; you are quite conscious of what your soul wants you and expects you to become. It is only some consequences of this present physical formation that stand in the way, and now, it is only a steady and patient working out of these impediments that can solve the difficulty.

So, from the yoga point of view, any “taking leave” would be a kind of “giving way” to the obstinacy of the resistance. This for me, is quite clear.

But are you quite sure that there is not the remembrance of an attachment lurking in some corner of the mind which makes you answer unknowingly to the insistence of a pressure coming from outside? In that case the problem would have to be considered from another angle.

The Mother

 

Moments of Depression

This is a misunderstanding.

The sentence in French was clear enough. I meant that at these moments of depression or of revolt, no fresh decision must be taken under the impulse of the wrong movement, but practically one must go on with the usual routine quietly and undisturbed.

The Mother

Success in Our Yoga

Do not forget that to succeed in our yoga one must have a body strong and in good health.

For that the body must do exercise, have an active and regular life, eat well, work physically and sleep well.

In good health lies the path towards perfection.

Blessings.

The Mother

 

An Unselfish Aim

When you give yourself to the accomplishment of an unselfish aim, never expect the ordinary people to praise and support you. On the contrary they will always fight against you, hate and curse you.

But the Divine will be with you.

The Mother

 

Map of True India

(About the map of India at the Ashram playground)

The map was made after the Partition.

It is the map of the real India despite all fugitive appearances; and it will always remain the map of the true India, whatever men may think about it.

The Mother
29 July 1964

 

The Power of Kali

Behind all destructions, whether the immense destructions of Nature, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, floods, etc., or the violent human destructions, wars, revolutions, revolts, I find the power of Kali, who is working in the earth-atmosphere, to hasten the progress of transformation.

All that is not only divine in essence but also divine in realization is by its very nature above these destructions and cannot be touched by them. Thus the extent of the disaster gives the measure of the imperfection.

The true way of preventing the repetition of these destructions is to learn their lesson and make the necessary progress.

The Mother

 

The Joy of Giving

How can we know that we are receptive?

When we feel the urge to give and the joy of giving to the Divine’s work, then we can be sure that we have become receptive.

The Mother
12 July 1965

 

Always with You

Always with you in a growing light and peace.

Forward, always forward in love and joy and a peace rising ever higher.

The Mother

 

The Incidents of Life

Do not give too much importance to the little incidents of life.

The importance of these incidents lies in the extent to which they have served you to make a progress.

And once the progress has been made, the consequences of past errors, if there are any, disappear through the intervention of the divine Grace.

The Mother

 

Our Path Is Not Easy

It is obvious that your inner being is not very strong and does not have the power to counteract the pernicious influence of an environment full of sterile doubts, defeatist pessimism, egoism and unfaithfulness.

Our path is not easy, it demands great courage and untiring endurance. One must work hard and make a great effort with quiet stability to obtain results which at times are scarcely perceptible outwardly.

There are many human beings who need to roll in the mire in order to feel the necessity to cleanse themselves.

If the desire is too persistent for you to have the strength to overcome it, ask the people you know to find you a post (this is usually not too difficult for the young people going out from the Ashram) and go and face the ordinary life until you learn the true value of the life you would have left.

One must have heroism to be a precursor; for, generally, men have faith only in what is already accomplished, evident, visible and recognised even by the most sceptical.

The Mother

 

The Kind of Attraction

All depends upon the kind of attraction.

If it is a physical attraction, the need, the instinct of the animal pushing it to reproduction, the best thing is that you leave the place and not see X again. For this would mean that this person’s influence awakens and encourages the lower instincts.

If it is a vital attraction you can try to purify and control it, by avoiding a too close intimacy and cutting down your relation to what is indispensable when living in the same house.

If it is a sentimental and emotional attraction, it is easier to channelize and turn it to the Divine by confining your relations to a common seeking for the Divine and the spiritual life.

Then all will depend on your sincerity and reciprocal goodwill.

The Mother

 

Truth

Truth does not depend on any external form and shall manifest in spite of all bad will or opposition.

Blessings.

The Mother
12 February 1966

 

Forget the Past

To forget the past and to lose habits of thinking is indeed a difficult thing and generally requires a strong “tapasya”. But if you have faith in the Divine’s Grace and you implore it full-heartedly, you will succeed more easily.

Blessings.

The Mother
22 November 1968

 

Perseverance

It is a wrong use of a great quality — perseverance.

Make a good use of it and it will be all right.

Be obstinate in your efforts towards progress, and your obstinacy will become useful.

The Mother
29 May 1971

 

Faith and Confidence

If you have faith and confidence, it is not the human form of the Guru that you worship, but the Supreme Lord who manifests through him.

Be not troubled and give yourself unreservedly to the Supreme Lord through whatever channel helps you.

With love and blessings.

The Mother
12 November 1971

 

An Ardent Faith

In an ardent faith lies salvation.

In the final analysis, it is the Supreme Lord who does all.

We must be faithful instruments.

The Mother
29 August 1972

 

 

Our Best Help

To Indira,

Our best help is faith — the Divine is all merciful.

With love and blessings.

The Mother
12 September 1972

 

Nothing Can Remain Hidden

Apart from the fact that the Ashram is not meant for those who seek the satisfaction of their vital or sentimental desires, but for those who aspire to perfect their consecration to the Divine, I have to warn you that here you must do only what can be done publicly because nothing can remain hidden.

The Mother

1. ( Mother said that this writing was very important and significant. She said that I should read it peacefully at my place and if I could not understand it then to ask her. — Champaklal [↩]