December 23, 1961The Mother
Agenda
Volume 2
December 23, 1961
(Concerning the Sri Aurobindo manuscript, Mother advises against replying to the publisher too hastily, because she sees a possibility that could change the situation.)
There is something deeper. And within this deeper thing there was: quiet, quiet, quiet, we will wait; and the impression (but vague, distant and uncertain) of some attempt being made to introduce a very good possibility into the atmosphere. I never see on the purely physical plane, you know (it's always on the subtle physical, the plane of possibilities – that's more real to me; the purely physical generally eludes me, but I see the subtle physical clearly), and I was seeing... I don't know, it was like something higher, from above, trying to make someone enter the field of possibilities, a brain that would suddenly be touched by the book and reverse the situation. I don't know who, I don't know what, I don't know how.... Ah, you know that yellow rose I just gave you? It's fringed in pink. Well, what came was like a slender pink fringe winding through the atmosphere of this situation.
It's possible – all is possible!
I can see from the publisher's letter that he has been touched much more than he thinks. His outer mentality may have responded the way it did, but something was vibrating within – I felt it as soon as you read me his letter. And he is violently denying it of course! It would disturb him a good deal, so he defends himself violently; but this just might give him the idea of having others read it – and it could touch someone. I don't know, I am giving you an explanation of what I saw, of the sensation it gave me: “Wait, don't move.” And then: “You will be informed when it is necessary to act.” So let the first of the year go by, and then we will see.
Well then. And you?
Me? .... Not much progress.1
Within it is going very well, as you will notice in a while! But it takes time.
It takes time and occasionally it takes on bizarre appearances. I can see that this whole peculiar period I've been passing through was a tremendous progress... and I didn't know it. I am not at the end yet, but now I understand what it is. And it's something of capital importance.
Yes, I felt you were going through a strange period.
Now I know the outcome, and that's what I didn't see before. But it will take time. For the moment it seems.... You know, it wasn't pleasant: everything appears useless, impossible in that condition.... But that's very good! (Mother laughs) Very good. But while these things are happening, we shouldn't speak of them. So... nonetheless, we still need a Bulletin!
(For the next “Bulletin,” Satprem reads to Mother from “Questions and Answers,” dated January 4, 1956.)
“...And so a time comes when one would be incapable of saying, ‘This is divine and that is not ....’
Oh, that's a wonderful thing – at times it's truly stupendous!... But go on, continue – it would take too long to go into that!
“...Because there comes a time when one perceives the entire universe in such a total and comprehensive way that, in truth, it is impossible to remove anything from it without disturbing everything. And going a couple of steps further, one knows for certain that things which shock us as contradictions of the Divine are simply things out of place. Each thing must be exactly in its place, and what's more, be supple enough, plastic enough, to admit into a harmonious, progressive organization all the new elements constantly being added to the manifest universe. The universe is in a perpetual movement of internal reorganization, and at the same time it's growing: it's becoming more and more complex, more and more complete, more and more integral – indefinitely. And as the new elements manifest, the whole reorganization must be built on a new basis, and thus there isn't a second when ALL is not in perpetual movement.
And when the movement is in accord with the divine order, it's harmonious, so perfectly harmonious that it's almost imperceptible.... Now, if you descend from this consciousness towards a more external consciousness, you begin naturally to have a very precise feeling of what helps you attain the true consciousness and what bars the way or pulls you backwards or even fights against your progress. And so the perspective changes and you are obliged to say: this is divine or a help towards the Divine; and that goes against the Divine, it's the Divine's enemy. But this is a pragmatic standpoint, geared to action, to movement in material life – because you haven't yet attained the consciousness surpassing all that; because you haven't reached that inner perfection where you no longer have to fight, since you have gone beyond the field or the time or the utility of struggle. But before reaching that state in your consciousness and action, there is necessarily struggle; and if there is struggle, there is choice; and to choose, you need discrimination.”
(Mother remains silent)
*
* *
(Satprem again reads from the same “Questions and Answers” of 1956.)
“All things are attracted to the Divine. Are the hostile forces also attracted to the Divine?”
You know, I can say one thing about this.... There's a type of woman I have met more or less periodically throughout my life. These beings are under the influence, or are incarnations of, or in any case are responsive to forces which Théon called “passive” – not exactly feminine forces, but on the Prakriti2 side of the universe: the dark Prakriti side (there is an active dark side, the asuric forces, and a passive dark side). And these are terrible beings, terrible! They have wreaked havoc in life. They represent one of the creation's biggest difficulties. And they are attracted to me!
Mon petit, they adore me, they detest me, they would like to destroy me – and individually they CANNOT do without me! They come to me like... like fireflies to light. And they hate me! They would like to crush me. That's how it is.
I have met five women like that, the last two here (they were the most terrible). It's a phenomenon of hate and rage mixed with love's greatest power of attraction – no sweetness, of course, no tenderness, nothing like that – but NEED, love's greatest power of attraction, mixed with hate. And they cling, you know, and then... what fun!
I had a session like that some days ago – it's a work I'm pursuing. (Likewise, I have constantly been with the adverse force I once told you about,3 who keeps incarnating especially to harass me – so there's also this phenomenon, amiably passing from one being to another!) Anyway, not long ago I had given an appointment to this woman and had decided not to say anything – because there was nothing to be done (the most beautiful things go rotten, there's nothing to do). So I remained silent, indrawn, fully in contact with the Supreme Presence, with the external personality annulled (this experience, in fact, lasting almost one hour, is what gave me the key to everything that has been happening lately). There was only the Supreme, nothing else – the Supreme THERE, in that very body, mon petit, in that whole agglomeration and in that apparently absolutely anti-divine influence – HIS Presence was there!
It was a truly stupendous experience, petty though the object is (she is insignificant, without any great substance or power – a very minor incarnation; she does have certain not quite human capacities, but they are so veiled by a tiny human personality that scarcely anyone but I can see them).
And in the experience there was no difference between my physical and my inner being (actually, it's that way more and more for me); even physically, externally, there was a kind of love full of adoration, and so spontaneous – not even any sense of wonder! And there was such a formidable Power in it, formidable from the standpoint of the entire earth.... It lasted one hour. After an hour, the experience slowly began to fade (it had to fade – for purely practical reasons). But it left me so confident of a radical change – not a total change, for it wasn't permanent – but so radical that even outwardly, way down below in me, something was saying, “Ah, how will the meditations with X be now?” I caught Myself... not thinking, not “myself”: someone thought like that, somewhere way down below. This pulled me out of the experience and I wondered, “That's strange, who's thinking like that?” It was one of the personalities4 (in terms of work, it's the one that gives each action its proper place), someone way down below, spontaneously feeling: “But that's going to change the meditations! What will they be like now?” When I returned and began to look at things with the usual discernment, I told myself that perhaps there actually will be a change.
But truly, EVERYTHING was changed at that moment: something was achieved. It was the perception of Power – the Power that comes from Love (what Love is to the Supreme Consciousness, which has nothing to do with what we usually mean by the word “love”). And it was... it was simple! None of those complications resulting from thought, intellect, understanding – all that was gone, all gone. A formidable Power! And it made me understand one thing, that the state I had been put in (by the Lord of Yoga, in fact) was for obtaining the particular power that comes through an identity with all material things, a power possessed by certain persons – not always yogis, certain mediums, for instance. I saw it with Madame Théon: she would will a thing to come to her instead of going to the thing herself; instead of going to get her sandals when she wanted them, she made the sandals come to her. She did this through a capacity to radiate her matter – she exercised a will over her matter – her central will acted upon matter anywhere, since she WAS THERE. With her, then, I saw this power in a methodical, organized way, not as something accidental or spasmodic (as it is with mediums), but as an organization of Matter. And so... I began to understand: “With this comes the power to put each thing in its place!”... provided one is universal enough.
Well, I have understood. And now I know where I stand.
Far from the goal, but at least the way ahead is clear.
And if to this material capacity of identification, of exercising the will, is added that Something which was there during my experience and is truly the expression.... I don't know if it's the supreme expression, but for the time being it's certainly the highest I know of. (It's far superior to pure Knowledge through identity, to knowing the thing because one IS it – it's infinitely more powerful than that.) it's something formidable!
It has the power to change everything – and how!
One is simply That – one vibration of THAT.
(silence)
Since this experience (three or four days ago, five days, I'm not sure), there has been a constant multiplication of FACTS of identification (one is it, and so one DOES it), for all the small things of Matter, the most trivial things in the material world.
(Mother gets up)
But it will take a long time. We mustn't imagine that it will be done in the blink of an eye – I am ready to spend years on it (if it comes quicker, so much the better).
But it's the key. The key.
And when it becomes permanent, people will have to watch out when they're with me! (Mother laughs)
This Power... is it Love?
Well... yes .... It is the essence of Love.
it translates itself into Love. And of course I am not at all speaking of the human, physical quagmire; I am speaking of the most wonderfully beautiful and pure Love imaginable. This Power is the origin of that Love, and it is in the Supreme.
(Mother sits at the organ)
And it has always been said that That and That alone could bring the adverse forces to a halt.
(Music)
1 Satprem did not keep the full text of his reply, still under the erroneous impression that his personal questions had no place here.
2 Prakriti: Nature or the executive force, as opposed to Purusha, the conscious Soul which sees, knows and creates through its vision. These are the two principles, feminine and masculine, of the universe.
3 See Agenda of March 26, 1959 (Vol. 1, p. 288): the Titan sent especially to attack Mother's body, and who uses the people around her for this purpose.
4 One of Mother's personalities.