GUIDANCE IN WORK Correspondence with a Disciple GUIDANCE IN WORK Correspondence with a Disciple THE MOTHER SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM PONDICHERRY First edition 1988 Second impression 1996 ISBN 81-7058-134-6 © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1988 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA

GUIDANCE IN WORK Correspondence with a Disciple Mother Divine,1 It seems that yesterday's Pranam was a great blessing for me. For the whole day I remained in a state which I cannot describe. Happiness and joy were the most predominant factors. But a little heaviness — no, the word does not convey my sense — some sort of disappointment was also there. I think that my dying ambitions were responsible for it. Sri Aurobindo: It was due to the resistance of the vital which feels that under the pressure of the Light it will have to give up its desires. In meditation I felt as if the whole of my body, beginning from the head, were changed into a very

Publisher's Note This book contains the Mother's correspondence with a disciple who is identified in the text simply by his initial, R. Raised in Gurukul Kangri in Uttar Pradesh, the disciple came to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in July 1938, at the age of twenty-one, and has remained ever since. He sought to serve the Mother especially through his work, and this concern is reflected in his letters, most of which deal directly with problems of work. The disciple began corresponding shortly after his arrival. At first his letters were answered by Sri Aurobindo, but from 1939 onward it was the Mother who replied. The correspondence covers the thirty-three-year period from 1938 to 19