19 May 1954 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Elements of Yoga, Chapter 7, “Love”. There is a pure affection for the Divine and a pure love for the Divine. What is the difference? That depends upon the meaning you give to your words. It depends upon what you call affection. I don't know, but generally affection means something personal and external and a little superficial; it depends altogether on the meaning you give to your words. Usually, when someone says, “Oh! I have much affection for him”, this means that one has good feelings, a sort of friendliness but it is nothing very deep; but one may also use the word in a deeper see. It is very difficult to

26 May 1954 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Elements of Yoga, Chapter 8, “The Psychic Opening”. Sweet Mother, when we see you in a dream, is it always a symbolic dream? No, not necessarily. It can be a fact. This means that instead of seeing physically, one sees in the subtle physical or the vital or the mind. But one sees something of me: for instance, if I send out a force or a thought or a movement, an action to someone, in his atmosphere this takes my form, in his mental consciousness it takes my form. So he sees it. It is a fact. I send something and he sees it. It is not my whole being (there the interpretation goes wrong most of the time), but it i

THE MOTHER - 1954

17 February 1954 This talk is based upon Mother's essay “Psychic Education and Spiritual Education”. Once the being has entered into contact with the psy- chic, why does the psychic again hide itself? It is not the psychic that hides itself, it is the being which returns to its ordinary consciousness!... It is difficult for it to remain at its highest. One slides down, falls back. Only, the second time the discovery is easier. And each time the road is easier until one no longer falls back. Sweet Mother, I don't understand this: “Normally this discovery [of the eternal principle in oneself] is asso- ciated with a mystic feeling, a religious

10 February 1954 This talk is based upon Mother’s essay “Mental Education”. What is the method of increasing the “capacities of expansion and widening”? I say there that a great variety of subjects should be studied. I believe that is it. For instance, if you are at school, to study all the subjects possible. If you are reading at home, not to read just one kind of thing, read all sorts of different things. But, Sweet Mother, at school it is not possible to take many subjects. We have to specialize. Yes, yes! I have heard that, especially from your teachers. I don’t agree. And I know it very well, this is being continuously repeated to me

5 May 1954 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Elements of Yoga, Chapter 4, “Sincerity” and Chapter 5, “Faith”. “Q: What is the right attitude to stick on to this path till the Supramental Truth is realised?” “A: There is the psychic condition and sincerity and devotion to the Mother.” What is “the psychic condition”? The psychic condition? That means being in relation with one's psychic, I suppose, being governed by one's psychic being. Sweet Mother, I don't understand very clearly the dif- ference between faith, belief and confidence. But Sri Aurobindo has given the full explanation here. If you don't understand, then...  

30 June 1954 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Elements of Yoga, Chapter 14, “Some Explanations”. “Q: What is the place of occult power in Yoga? “A: To know and use the subtle forces of the supraphysical planes is part of the Yoga “Q: What is the meaning of occult endeavour and power? “A: It depends on the context. Usually it would mean power to use the secret forces of Nature and an endeavour by means of these forces. But ‘occult’ may mean something else in another context. “Q: Has every Yogi to pass through occult en- deavour? “A: No, everyone has not the capacity. Those who do not have it, must wait till it is g

24 March 1954 This talk is based upon Mother's essay “The Four Austerities and the Four Liberations”, Part I. If one eats a heavy meal, why is the sleep disturbed by nightmares? Because there is a very close connection between dreams and the condition of the stomach. Observations have been made and it has been noticed that in accordance with what is eaten, dreams are of one kind or another, and that if the digestion is difficult, the dream always turns into a nightmare – those nightmares which have no reality but still are nightmares all the same and very unpleasant – seeing tigers, cats, etc...  Or else you experience things like...   for instance, you are fa

14 April 1954 This talk is based upon Mother's essay “The Four Austerities and the Four Liberations”, Part III. Sweet Mother, I did not understand this: “At the beginning of this manifestation, in the purity of its origin, love is composed of two movements, two com- plementary poles of the urge towards complete one- ness. On the one hand there is the supreme power of attraction and on the other the irresistible need for absolute self-giving.” There is nothing to understand; it is a fact. You don't know what “the power of attraction” means? You don't know what “the need for self-giving” means?... Well, you put them face-to-face and whe

10 March 1954 This talk is based upon Mother's essay “The Fear of Death and the Four Methods of Conquering It”. Why have you written “The Fear of Death” just now? Because it was necessary to say this. So far you had not said it, Mother, why do you say it now? Ah! There are many things I have not said. One must indeed begin one day. I don't think or have the impression that there was any occasion for it so far. Perhaps it came as the result of an experience...  Why, yes, I thought later that people would see a special significance in it, but there isn't any! (Laughter) Perhaps within you there is something. There is one thing I have noticed, that