SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY         The Mother         The Mother's writings and recorded conversations have been published in the original French and in English translation (Pondicherry, Sri Aurobindo Ashram).         A birth centenary edition of the Mother's Works in English translation has been published as:         Collected Works of the Mother - Centenary Edition (17 Volumes). Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram.         The following titles are currently available as individual volumes, including letters to disciples which are not included in the Centenary Edition.         Commentaries on Dhammapada       Commentaries on Elements of Yog

PREFACE   A learned professor once told us in a lecture, "If I do not understand a subject, I write a book about it." This is certainly a good method in the field of academe, but it has only a limited validity in the spiritual field where many a truth may elude the seeker during his whole life. How much more do we become conscious of our limitations if we write about a cosmic personality such as the Mother! And yet it is not a vain task, for even if we may not comprehend Her being in its totality, we can yet receive here and there, by intuition, a ray of light from Her immense Sun.   In order to give a safe foundation to the book

III. PARIS AND TLEMCEN (1905-12)         The Mother's high inner realization and spiritual radiance soon attracted towards her many seekers. In 1906 a small group was formed under her guidance, which was named Idea. They met regularly on Wednesday evenings at her house, first in rue Lemercier, later in rue des Lévis and after 1910 in rue Val de Grâce. Apart from spiritual topics they also discussed occult experiences. The Mother herself had many occult experiences, but she never made them an end in themselves: they were strictly subordinated to her main object, spiritual realization and manifestation. The following quotation clarifies her attitude towards the occult: "Occult knowledge without s

. THE MOTHER A SHORT BIOGRAPHY     WILFRIED         SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY PONDICHERRY First Edition: 1986 Tenth Impression: 2011     Rs. 60.00 ISBN 978-81-7060-015-2     © Sri Aurobindo Society 1986 Writings and photographs of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are copyright Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry Published by Sri Aurobindo Society Pondicherry - 605 002   Website: sriaurobindosociety.org.in Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA

XVIII. THE MOTHER LEAVES HER BODY         We have already referred in the Introduction to the suffering which the Mother took upon herself for mankind, since her body was, through its identification with earth-consciousness, like a nucleus of this world and had an ineluctable interrelationship with it. The 'world' at the present stage is still dominated by forces of Falsehood which resist transformation, since a new order according to the laws of evolution of consciousness would entail the fall and decline of all those whose outer position in life is entirely disproportionate to their inner qualification.         Perhaps it was these resistances in the world or obstacles deep in the ma