B G PATEL     I was born at Matvad, near Navsari on 12th Oct, 1926. Studied at Matvad Primary School and went to Navsari for further study. I went to Northen Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1941 and for further education I had to go to Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). I am married, our eldest daughter Asha studied at the Ashram School and stayed as a shadhika from 1972. Our two daughters were also given permission to study at the Ashram School, but we couldn't make it, so our 4 daughters settled in U.

What does the Lord want ?   An Unpublished talk of the Mother to Huta         It was on 4th October 1963, when I went to the Mother. I showed her a message given by her:       " What have you given to the Lord or done for Him       that you ask the Mother to do something for You ?       She does only the Lord's Work. "       I wondereed, what does the Lord want as He has everything? What can be done for Him, as He is capable of doing everything?         And here is the Mother's reply :         "The Lord doesn't demand anything except Surrender. Your wish, your want, your will, your thoughts and feelings, you must offer

SOME LINES FROM "SAVITRI   THE BOOK OF YOGA         I guide man to the path of the Divine       And guard him from the red Wolf and the Snake.       I set in his mortal hand my heavenly sword       And put on him the breastplate of the gods.       I break the ignorant pride of human mind       And lead the thought to the wideness of the Truth ;       I rend man's narrow and successful life       And force his sorrowful eyes to gaze at the sun       That he may die to earth and live in his soul.       I know the goal, 1 know the secret route :       I have studied the map of the invisible worlds ;       I am the ba

The Mother's Reply to" Mother, Where Are You?"   (Questions and Answers)         Q: O Mother, what should I do? I am completely unconscious. Mother, Where are You ?       In your psychic being - I am always present there. It is there that you can find me and must find me, and when you have found me there, in the depths of your heart, you will also recognise me in my physical form. *       Q: Mother, I shall capture You in my heart...       You will not have to go far to seize me, for I am already in your heart and as soon as your eyes are opened you will see me there; turn your faculty of feeling inward instead of letting it project outwa

OPENING TO THE UNIVERSAL FORCES   WORDS OF THE MOTHER         I knew young people who had always lived in cities-in a city and in those little rooms one has in the big cities in which everyone is huddled. Now, they had come to spend their holidays in the countryside, in the south of France, and there the sun is hot, naturally not as here but all the same it is very hot (when we compare the sun of the Mediterranean coasts with that of Paris, for example, it truly makes a difference), and so when they walked around the countryside the first few days they really began to get a terrible headache and to feel absolutely uneasy because of the su

Most Effective Way of Conquering Desires         Usually all education, all culture, all refinement of the senses and the being is one of the best ways of curing instincts, desires, passions. To eliminate these things does not cure them; to cultivate, intellectualise, refine them, this is the surest means of curing. To give the greatest possible development for progress and growth, to acquire a certain sense of harmony and exactness of perception, this is a part of the culture of the being, of the education of the being. It is like the people who cultivate their intelligence, who learn, read, think, compare, study. These people's minds widen and they are mu

Mother Answers   To a sadhak who has lived in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram since 1963. He corresponded with the Mother between 1966 and 1970.       3         (The Mother asked the disciple to formulate four prayers.) The four prayers are formulated thus: Let the psychic dominate my whole being. Let the divine purity fill me. Let me belong solely and integrally to You. Let me unite with the Divine. Now it is Your turn, isn't it, O Divine Mother, to grant my prayers and make me succeed!       VERY well, the prayers are granted. As for the speed of success, it depe

A Cure by Repression of Desires         Desire belongs to the vital domain but at the core of this desire there is always a thought, and the desire becomes all the more active and dynamic when it holds in itself the power of mental formation and the power of vital realisation. The vital is the centre of dynamism of the being, of active energy, and the two combined make something very strong which has a considerable tendency towards realising itself - besides, everything in the universe tends towards manifestation, and things which are prevented from manifesting lose, by that very fact, their force and capacity. Most of the methods aiming at self-control have

PAIN         When pain comes, it comes to teach us something. The quicker we learn it, the more the need for pain diminishes, and when we know the secret, it will no longer be possible to suffer, for that secret reveals to us the reason, the cause, the origin of suffering and the way to pass beyond it.         The secret is to emerge from the ego, get out of its prison, unite ourselves with the Divine, merge into Him, not to allow anything to separate us from Him. Then, once one has discovered this secret and realises it in one's being, pain loses its justification and suffering disappears. It is an all-powerful remedy, not only in the deeper parts of the being, in the so

The Most Important Surrender (Words of the Mother)         Q: Does not surrender consist in offering one's work like a good servant ?         Work is a good discipline. But it is not this idea, it is not the idea of a passive, unconscious and almost involuntary submission. It is not that. It does not lie only in work.         The most important surrender is the surrender of your character, your way of being, so that it may change. If you do not surrender your very own nature, never will this nature change. It is this that is most important. You have certain ways of understanding, certain ways of reacting, certain ways of feeling, almost cert