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PART I
LETTERS OF SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER
LETTERS OF SRI AUROBINDO AND THE MOTHER ASPIRE SINCERELY My dear Champaklalji, Namaskar. 1. Kindly convey my humble salutation to the Mother and Sri Aurobindoji. Done. 2. I have not received any letter from Pondi. 1 am anxious to know as to the progress made by various sadhaks. I do not know whether you can communicate with me on this matter. If necessary ask permission of the Mother. Sadhaks are progressing all right. As you can see there is no obstacle to my communicating with you. 3. When are we to expect Sri Gurudev to appear in public. On the 24th instant Sri Aurobindo will "appear in public" for a few hours. 4. Any service? It is not easy to have the privilege of being of some service to Sri Aurobindo, but if you sincerely aspire for it, it may come. 5. Love to all. Love from all. 9 November 1927 THE MOTHER Page - 3 1. The lower power of lust resists violently. How should I treat it? It is not possible to get rid of it at this stage. Look at it calmly without getting troubled, dissociate yourself from it and do not indulge it. If you quietly persist, it is likely to lose gradually its force. 2. My wife seems to be an obstacle to me. She says that she will progress in yoga but she does nothing except occasional meditation. How should I treat her? Leave her alone. It is not your business to force her into sadhana. Attend to your own sadhana. 3. In meditation I place myself under the feet of the Mother in the heart region with whatever little devotion I have got. But thoughts come and disturb. What change should I adopt in order to progress ? Continue, but aspire or pray for peace, purity and true earnestness in the sadhana. 4. May I send my savings to Pondicherry or to my family? I get Rs. 50/- per month. This is not for us to decide. What is your idea or feeling in wishing to send your money here? It depends on that. 27 November 1927 SRI AUROBINDO Motiben is quite happy here and she is progressing very well in her sadhana. If she goes away from here, the progress will be stopped and much of what she has gained may be lost. An intensive and concentrated sadhana once begun has to be persistently continued in the right atmosphere. If it is kept up only for a short time and then dropped for another kind of life in which the concentration is diffused and weakened, there is Page - 4 no likelihood of fruition. For this reason we would disapprove of her departure. 9 January 1928 SRI AUROBINDO To Dayaben, The moment one enters the life of the Ashram and takes up the yoga, he ceases to belong to any creed or caste or race; he is one of Sri Aurobindo's disciples and nothing else. To cut jokes about what he was in the past is altogether incongruous and in bad taste, and only helps to keep up in both him and the speaker an old and wrong mental attitude. January 1929 THE MOTHER Diogenes was not the teacher of Alexander. They only met once. The teacher of Alexander was the philosopher Aristotle. SRI AUROBINDO Mother never said that Kishensingh was Alexander. Kekoo [K.D.Sethna] must have made some confusion in his mind about this. There is no truth in this identification. January 1929 SRI AUROBINDO
If this is his only illness, there is absolutely no reason why it should not be cured, if he keeps proper habits and diet and above all the right attitude. I expect that the reason why the illness has such a hold and strong effect on him is in the imagination and the nerves more than anything else. There is something there that expects the illness, accepts it when it comes Page - 5 and gives it free play. He must learn to keep calm and quiet in the mind and vital being, to refuse to regard the illness and the tendency to it in the body as something normal to it, regarding it rather as something imposed from outside, and he must believe firmly that it must and will go. If he can keep this attitude and open to the true force, the mind and the nervous being, once strengthened, the illness and weakness will disappear. 26 May 1929 SRI AUROBINDO (B asked me the names of the biscuits and chocolates which the Mother uses, as someone wanted to offer them. Champaklal) Chocolates are not necessary as for the biscuits only: Reveillon (Pernot). 12 October 1929 THE MOTHER It is not my intention to oblige you to wear mill cloth if you do not want to. All I said was that I have only mill cloth to give. When one becomes free in mind and heart, one's way of looking at all those things changes entirely. But until the freedom has come, there is no compulsion. It is by allowing bad thoughts and doubts to approach you that you have come out of the protection. THE MOTHER Champaklal, Tell D on behalf of myself and the Mother that she must not allow herself to be crushed by the burden of the past. All she has to do is to turn her back on this past and sexual weakness, for which she was not herself primarily responsible, and to consecrate herself entirely to the divine. If she so consecrates herself, the past will be wiped out and a new life Page - 6 begin for her. This is the true atonement and the only one asked from her. 8 April 1930 SRI AUROBINDO
Say to K that it appears from what has happened that he is unable to control himself and hardly even seems to will to do so; for otherwise he would not have indulged his sexual instincts in this way and by importunity force them on another. If that is so, he cannot lead a life of Yoga or sincerely follow the Ashram life; it would be mere hypocrisy to appear outwardly as a sadhak and secretly do what is inconsistent with this life and its discipline. It would be much better not to attempt what he cannot do; his proper course would be to go back and marry and live in the ordinary way. Without self-mastery and self-control there can be no Yoga. SRI AUROBINDO
The protection and help will be there as they were here. You have only to keep yourself open to them and live inwardly seeking to become more and more conscious so that you may feel the Divine Presence and Power. As to the Bombay atmosphere, keep inwardly separate from it, even while mixing with others, see it as a thing outside and not belonging to the inner world in which you yourself live. If you can achieve this inward separateness, it will not be able to cloud you, whatever its daily pressure. 18 May 1930 SRI AUROBINDO
During concentration I am unable to do anything except to offer pranams to the Mother. Am I proceeding correctly? In spite of my efforts to reject the movements of lower nature there has been a lapse. I am ashamed and I beg for pardon. Write to him that what he is doing is quite right. While making the Pranam Page - 7 he should aspire to be open to the Mother's influence and her workings in him and to become conscious of her workings. He need not be discouraged by what has happened. It is not to be expected that the old movements of the nature would change at once. 29 August 1930 SRI AUROBINDO
How do you expect others to keep to an arrangement when you are not doing it yourself? How do you hope to get out of your shallowness if you remain always one sided in your perception of things? June 1931 THE MOTHER
You were having these bad suggestions (that I do not love you and that you want to go away), because you were disobeying me. But now that you have taken the resolution to act according to my will, the bad suggestions will disappear. ' Nobody has told anything against you to me. 24 December 1931 THE MOTHER
If you are quite sincere, you will agree with me that you are complaining of my being not too Divine but not Divine enough. For if, in my physical body I had assumed, for instance, the appearance cherished by the ancient Indian tradition, how convenient it would be! Imagine, if having several heads and a great number of arms, possessing the power of ubiquity, when S comes to manicure my hands and so unceremoniously knocks at the door to inform me that she is there, (I cannot tell her not to knock because she is very busy) if I could send her a pair of hands for her work and still be in my small room to answer to D who is sitting with me there, how nice it would be!... Page - 8 So, you see, I fear I have accepted to become too human, too much bound by the human laws of time and space, and thus not capable of doing half a dozen things at the same time! 12 January 1932 THE MOTHER
We can't be as strict for visitors as for inmates of the Ashram. SRI AUROBINDO To Sanjiban The Mother has seen his pictures. If he wants to take up painting he must undergo a complete training under competent teachers. He must train his eyes to see things as they appear to artistic vision and his hand to execute that vision with perfect technique. In art a liking for it or even a faculty for it is not enough; what is required is a sound training. 1932 SRI AUROBINDO FAMILY LIFE AND SPIRITUAL LIFE Sunderlal, There are many kinds of truth and in the Shastra you will find all kinds, some seeming in conflict with others. Service to parents is part of family and social duty. It has nothing to do in itself with yoga. Yoga is truth not of family or society, but of spiritual life, and in spiritual life the seeking for the Divine takes precedence over everything. If we ask you to remain still with your father and mother, it is not from the point of view of Truth, but of charity. Four of their children have already left them to come to the Ashram; it would be too hard a blow if you also left them now. As you have remained with them so long, you might remain a little longer. Even while in the family, you can prepare yourself for the spiritual life, by remembering the Divine in all you do Page - 9 and by doing it as a sacrifice for the sake of the Divine. 17 February 1932 Sri Aurobindo
The 6 couches: The seats, basis of the powers of creation (6). One still occupied by the titanic forces (the last, most material one). The servant: Who showed us the way through the "labyrinth", gave us some food and even a smoky light (torch, very poor) to find our way in the dark, the lower nature, she asked to be paid for her services, saying that the "other gentleman" (titan) was always paying her. The place: some vital layer in the physical consciousness. 20 February 1932 (2 a.m.) THE MOTHER What is liberty? Liberty is to depend only on the Divine. What is the Divine? The Divine is what you adore in Sri Aurobindo. 28 March 1932 THE MOTHER
"Why be sorry and feel miserable when my playmates abuse me? If they are right in what they say, I have only to be glad for the lesson and correct myself; if they are wrong, why should I worry about it it is for them to be sorry for their mistake. In both cases the best and the most dignified thing I can do is to remain strong, quiet and unmoved." This lesson which I was giving to myself and trying to follow when I was eight years old, still holds good in all similar cases. To my dear little child, with my best love. 1 May 1932 THE MOTHER Page - 10 X might be told that apart from the superficiality and shallowness of his reasons for not coming for pranam, there are others, much more advanced in Sadhana than he is, who do come. What about these? He is always trying to prove that he is far superior to all the other sadhaks. That is the root of his mistake. May 1932 THE MOTHER
You should be very polite with those who depend upon you for their living. If you ill-treat them, they feel very much but cannot reply to you as man to man for fear of losing their job. There may be some dignity in being rough with your superiors, but with those who depend on you, the true dignity is to be very courteous. 23 June 1932 THE MOTHER
She can try to do yoga, but her motive must be pure, for if she decides to do yoga in order to join you here, nothing good can come out of it. 23 June 1932 THE MOTHER Generally a snake symbolises a movement of falsehood. When something in the nature is in affinity with falsehood snakes are attracted. The nature of the falsehood is indicated by the nature of the snake and the plane where it appears. 30 August 1932 THE MOTHER Page - 11
In the rooms I wear only a dhoti so your vision was correct. In the rooms I wear only a dhoti It is remarkably good. 23 September 1932 SRI AUROBINDO
My four-years-old nephew cries and insists constantly to come to the Ashram. What should 1 do? He is too young and undeveloped yet. It is only after a certain age that the being takes on a definite individuality except in rare cases. It is only after the age of ten that children can come here, as a rule. 23 September 1932 SRI AUROBINDO S, You cannot expect the whole world to be at your service and everything to happen as you fancy it to be more convenient for you. You must stop quarrelling with everybody and about everything, otherwise how can you expect to make any progress in yoga? 23 September 1932 THE MOTHER
I had just remarked to Sri Aurobindo (yesterday also): "I did not see D while I was walking on the terrace", and I was wondering why... It must have been the darkness, I suppose, that prevented me from making you out in the shadows of the street. After all I am glad to know that you did come, although I am sorry I missed the opportunity of giving you a sign of welcome. 23 October 1932 THE MOTHER Page - 12
You say that it is through a newspaper that the news came of your nephew's death. So the child died a few days ago. Did S and P find any difference in their atmosphere, their feelings, their thoughts, their sensations, a difference, an uneasiness, or a sense of loss, which would give a real ground for their sorrow? I am pretty sure that they did not. So their sorrow, if they have any, is not true but the result of conventional thoughts and feelings; it is all illusion coming from the family idea which is one of the most artificial and false of all conventions. In truth the child was not in their atmosphere, otherwise they would have become aware of his death without needing to receive the news of it; he was no more in their atmosphere than any one of the 2 million human beings who die everyday for the average death of human beings is 2 millions a day. Do they know that? Is not death the most common and everyday happening and can they reasonably expect that none of those they know will escape this general law? 24 December 1932 THE MOTHER
Do you want a new birth, a new start, a new opening of the consciousness? Then come tomorrow at 9.30, we shall sit to call it down. 24 December 1932 THE MOTHER THINGS ALSO HAVE A CONSCIOUSNESS It was an act of ignorance. Received in the right spirit the curtains could have lasted 2 or 3 years more. Received wrongly they might have gone to pieces within a month. Things also have a consciousness of their own. THE MOTHER Page - 13 I have gone through the papers you sent me. The historic part of the papers seems to be true. The founder must surely have been acquainted with the Kabbalah and with some mystics of Asia Minor. The original appears to have been written in Latin with adjunctive of Hebrew words (probably taken from the Kabbalah). But the Osiris-Isis part looks to me like a more recent addition which came in something like 50 or 60 years ago. The whole thing is from its origin a very well made, a very strong and elaborate mental formation, powerfully designed to catch hold of certain vital elements and forces (both outside and inside the individuals) to rule and use them and through the vital to exercise a partial power over the physical. Formations of this kind are numerous; they translate upon earth into secret societies. (I have met many of the kind more or less ancient, more or less powerfully organized, but all of a similar type). They are not, in their natures, spiritual. If there is any spirituality in them it comes, not from the formation itself, but from the presence, in the society, of one or several personalities with a spiritual character and achievement. I will speak of certain details in this connection, next time we meet. Until then I shall keep the papers with me. (Sri Aurobindo and myself alone will see them.) ' In the first dream we can take the theatre as the symbol of this world where all is a play — the appearance of something and not the thing itself. Here the kings and queens are not such because of an inner and divine right but as a result of the confusion of circumstances and birth. I suppose the obstacles which were standing in the way of your joining me represent the difficulties (inner and outer) which are to be overcome in order to realise the union with the true consciousness. The second dream seems to be an embodiment of old expressions left in the subconscient of social surroundings and your reactions to them. In the third the train is, as always, an image of the way and the journey towards the goal. The sets of people are the various groups (secret societies etc.) that have been formed for this purpose. The one you were supposed to join was the society to which you became attached — composed of the boys who were with you at your first "school", the image is clear, but an association which you did not feel to be definitive. THE MOTHER Page - 14
Why didn't you come yourself? I would have seen you for a few minutes and told you something interesting and helpful as an answer to your letter of this morning. For, in speaking it would have been better than anything I could write. At Pranam time I felt that you were still depressed. I thought that I would try to pour on you some of the Divine forces. I was looking at you for such a long time and it was Divine love that I was pouring on you with a strong will that you should become conscious of the Divine Presence in you and see all your sorrows turn into Ananda. I saw to my great joy that you were very receptive to all these Divine forces, and absorbing them without resistance as they were pouring down. When I read your letter and saw that you thought you had received only some human kindness, it struck me that it was only a misunderstanding of the mind, almost a question of vocabulary that was standing in the way and if you could see this all or most of your doubts would disappear for ever, and with them your painful difficulties. For what I was pouring in you was not merely human kindness — though surely it contained all that human kindness can be at its best — but Mahalakshmi's love, Mahasaraswathi's care, Maheshwari's embracing and enveloping light. Do not think of Divine Love as something cold or impersonal or distantly high; it is something as warm and close and tender as any feeling can possibly be. It does not abolish whatever is pure and sweet in human love, but intensifies and sublimates it to its highest. It is this love that the Divine has to give and that you must open yourself to receive. I think if you realise this, it will be easier for you to force through the mental veil and receive what you are longing to receive. THE MOTHER after all the affection and trust I had shown you yesterday morning after having taken you so much in my heart's intimacy, I never expected that you would go back to X in the old spirit in which you went and I have been truly grieved by it. Now I want you to promise that you will never do it's gain. I need this from you in order to wipe out a movement that ought not to have taken place, so that what was being established may not suffer. Will you give me this promise which you must faithfully keep? THE MOTHER Page - 15
To Kowsiki for her marriage To unite your physical existences and your material interests, to associate yourselves so as to face together the difficulties and successes, the defeats and victories of lifethis is the very basis of marriagebut you know already that it does not suffice. To be united in feelings, to have the same tastes and the same aesthetic pleasures, to vibrate together in a common response to the same things, one by the other and one for the other it is good; it is necessary but it is not enough. To be one in profound sentiments, your affection, your feelings of tenderness for each other not varying in spite of all the shocks of existence; withstanding weariness, narrow limitations and disappointments, to find under all circumstances, one in the presence of the other, rest, peace and joy it is good, it is very good, it is indispensable but it is not enough. To unite your mentalities, your thoughts harmonising and becoming complementary to each other, your preoccupations and intellectual discoveries shared between you; in a word, to realize your spheres of mental activity identical through broadening and an enrichment acquired by the two at the same time it is good, it is absolutely necessary but it is not enough. Beyond it all, at the bottom, at the centre, at the summit of the being, there is a Supreme Truth of the being, an Eternal Light independent of all circumstances of birth, of country, of environment, of education; the origin, cause and master of our spiritual development it is this that gives a definite orientation to our existence; it is this that decides our destiny; it is in the consciousness of this that you should unite. To be one in aspiration and ascension, to advance with the same step on the spiritual path such is the secret of a durable union. MARCH 1933 THE MOTHER Page - 16
1. Is human love the combination of the mental, vital and physical loves or the predominance of one or another? And does it depend upon the largeness, purity and harmony of the nature that this love can take an unselfish, noble and pure form and expression? But after all, is it not a mixed affair of the human folly, ignorance, attachment, passion and desire? And although one should offer the best thing of it in one's aspiration and opening towards the Divine, is it not absolutely necessary in order to be free from all ties and bondage, not to allow this human love and relation to grow? Human love is mostly vital and physical with a mental support. It can take an unselfish, noble and pure form and expression only if it is touched by the psychic. It is true, as you say, that it is more usually a mixture of ignorance, attachment, passion and desire. But whatever it may be, one who wishes to reach the Divine, must not burden himself with human loves and attachments, for they form so many fetters and hamper his steps besides turning him away from the concentration of his emotions on the one supreme object of love. 2. Is there anything like psychic love? There is such a thing as psychic love, pure, without demand, sincere in self-giving but it is not usually left pure in the attraction of human beings .to one another. One must also be on one's guard against the profession of psychic love when one is doing sadhana, for that is most often a cloak and justification for yielding to a vital attraction or attachment. 3. What is universal love? Is it based upon the sense of oneness in all? Universal love is the spiritual, founded on the sense of the one and the Divine everywhere and the change of the personal into a wide universal consciousness, free from attachment and ignorance. 4. What is the nature of the Divine Love? Can you say that it is in its nature free from all lower bondage, vast, pure and luminous? Divine love is of two kinds the Divine love for the creation and the Page - 17 souls that are part of itself and the love of the seeker and love for the Divine Beloved; it has both a personal and impersonal element, but the personal is free here from all lower elements or bondage to the vital and physical instincts. 5. As a definition can it be said that the personal sense is that which affects the little human egocentric 'I' and all the consequence of its self-will, habits and notions and to efface it is to be released into the wideness of the true consciousness and in the full awareness of the true self? There are two forms of personality in the being the little ego personality which is what you describe and the true person which is a conscious portion of the Divine. 13 December 1934 SRI AUROBINDO
I have already spoken about the bad conditions of the world; the usual idea of the occultists about it is that the worse they are the more probable is the coming of an intervention or a new revelation from above. The ordinary mind cannot know it has either to believe or disbelieve or wait and see. As to whether the Divine seriously means something to happen, I believe it is intended. I know with absolute certitude that the Supramental is a truth and its advent is in the very nature of things inevitable. The question is as to the when and the how. That also is decided and predestined from somewhere above; but it is here being fought out amid a rather grim clash of conflicting forces. For in the terrestrial world the predetermined result is hidden and what we see is a whirl of possibilities and forces attempting to achieve something with the density of it all concealed from human eyes. This is, however, certain that a number of souls have been sent to see that it shall be now. That is the situation. My faith and will are for the now. lam speaking of course on the level of the human intelligence mystically rationally, as one might put it. To say more would be going beyond that line. You don't want me to start prophesying, I suppose? As a rationalist, you can't. 28 December 1934 SRI AUROBINDO Page - 18
Why does the illusion of sex not disappear? Too many roots in the human vital. Sex has a terrible tenacity. Besides, universal physical nature has such a need of it that even when man pushes it away, she throws it upon him as long as possible. 17 January 1935 THE MOTHER
You can be reassured, it is quite certain that Sri Aurobindo cannot make such a mistake! As he says that you are sure to succeed, it means that you will succeed and become quite a good Yogi after all. Don't let troubles and difficulties depress you, the greater the difficulties, the greater the victory hereafter. I expect to see a cheerful D at this afternoon's distribution. THE MOTHER
The whole thing is so powerfully symbolical and expresses so clearly how dangerous it is to be under the leading of an arrogant and ignorant human mind which relies on its own power alone and refuses the help of the Divine's Grace. I do not need to enter into any detailed explanations; for with this clue you can easily understand the whole affair. Do you remember that I was asking you with some insistence who was driving the car and when you told me it was your driver, I felt relieved. But it was not your driver who held the steering wheel and the poor fellow suffered for the change. What makes the whole thing much more striking is just the conversation I had with V. I asked him if he was interested in yoga. He said as a philosophical speculation it interested him but not as a thing to be lived. On my remark that it might come to him later on, he said, "Oh no! I am an atheist, you see, I do not believe in God." I asked smilingly, "Then how do you arrange your universe?" He felt the irony and replied: "I have Page - 19 taken a scientific attitude: I deny nothing but I believe in nothing." I felt the danger for X and said with some force: But, I suppose, you do not interfere with the beliefs of others and you will leave X free to think and feel as she likes. "Certainly", was his answer; but I did not believe him. Tell X to keep her faith intact whatever pressure may be put upon her to change her mind and attitude. She may have to meet some difficulties, but she must never forget to call on the Divine's Grace with confidence and the protection and help will surely be with her. As for yourself do not worry or apprehend dangers for X. Her difficulties, and life is never without them, are not likely to be of the more external kind, and the others she can meet and overcome by keeping her faith. THE MOTHER
Beware of what pulls you downward. Do not yield to any lower instinct. Keep intact your aspiration for the Divine. THE MOTHER
Is it not permissible for a sadhak to bluff under certain conditions? To be like that is always improper for a sadhak. 6 June 1935 SRI AUROBINDO
Can't a sadhak speak a lie even when dealing with dishonest people ? Because one is dealing with dishonest people, that does not justify one in going down to their own level. If you think that the prices are too high or simply if you want them to be lower you can say so and ask for a reduction but it is not right to support your demand by a false statement. Page - 20 No one is bound to speak the truth when it would be harmful or to speak whatever is in one's mind; it is always permissible to keep silence or evade a reply and not to say what one does not wish or think it right to tell. But to tell a lie is superfluous and not justifiable. It is usually out of weakness (moral and mental) that people lie; those who are strong in nature do not need to lie. A sadhak has to be strong and not weak. Straightforwardness does not mean of course that one has to babble out everything to everybody; to keep a thing to oneself, not to tell what should not be told is very necessary; but falsehood is not the right way. To conceal things that have not to be told, the right way is silence. 7 June 1935 SRI AUROBINDO
What you write about the expression of beauty through painting and the limitations of the work as yet done here is quite accurate. The painters here have capacity and disposition, but as yet the work done ranks more as studies and sketches some well done, some less well than as great or finished art. What they need is not to be easily satisfied because they have done some good work, but always to see what has not been yet achieved and train vision and executive power till they have reached a truly high power of themselves. Nandalal's saying is true, but the three have to be combined and developed and harmonised in their combination to a sufficient degree before they bear the fruit of finished or great art. 10 January 1936 SRI AUROBINDO
Nowadays I feel intensely like going to Gujarat. If you give me permission, I will go. But only if you will. You can have permission to go. But one knows when one goes, one does not know whether or when one will come back. But if you really want to go, we cannot refuse permission. 26 March 1936 SRI AUROBINDO Page - 21 SRI AUROBINDO IS SEEING NOBODY
You can reply that Sri Aurobindo is seeing nobody and speaking with none. He only comes out to give Darshan to his disciples and some others on two or three fixed days in the year; but even then he does not speak with anyone. SRI AUROBINDO
Your mind is driven by passion and, to support the passion, it gives a twist which prevents you from seeing the truth of things. Guard against the twist, be conscious of the passion. Action perverted by such a twist looks like insincerity. Be always on your guard against this persistent defect. This is my gift for the New Year. THE MOTHER
These are mostly dreams made out of impressions recorded in the subconscient. They are not remembrances of actual events or circum- stances, but are sensations and impressions left behind by circumstances of the same type or a somewhat similar nature. The unexpectedness and newness of the incidents occurring in the dreams are due to the fact that impressions not connected with each other are associated haphazard because the consciousness is not awake in its fullness. The dreams carefully scrutinized will disclose something of the condition of the subconscient and they can help to correct some movements of the waking state. For instance, the first dream indicates a tendency to give when in action an undue importance to small superficial and artificial details at the cost of a larger and deeper view which would lead to a more true and successful action. The second dream gives a similar indication to the one you already had about the lake, the path and the sea; it shows an unwillingness to take risks, an idea that one must not proceed till everything is safe. The third dream must have been largely influenced by your preoccupation Page - 22 in the waking state, with the world situation linking itself to the memory of the past. The fourth dream seems to be made up of old impressions mostly. The last dream indicates a tendency, in some part of the material being, towards material comfort and a pleasant indolence, which is suppressed in the waking state, but comes up in sleep from the subconscient. The two servants may be small vital entities who take pleasure in encouraging this tendency and conspiring how to do it. THE MOTHER
But what seems to me of more importance is to try to explain how things are worked out here. Indeed very few are the people who understand it and still fewer those who realize it. There has never been, at any time, a mental plan, a fixed programme or an organization decided beforehand. The whole thing has taken birth, grown and developed as a living being by a movement of consciousness (Chit-tapas) constantly maintained, increased and fortified. As the conscious force descends in matter and radiates, it seeks for fit instruments to express and manifest it. It goes without saying that the more the instrument is open, receptive and plastic, the better are the results. The two obstacles that stand in the way of smooth and harmonious working in and through the sadhaks are: (1) The preconceived ideas and mental constructions which block the way to the influence and the working of the Conscious Force, (2) The preference and impulse of the vital which distort and falsify the expression. Both these things are the natural output of ego. Without the interference of these two elements my physical intervention would not be necessary. You are quite right when you do not believe in "Mother likes", "Mother dislikes"; it is quite a childish interpretation. There is a clear precise perception of the force and the consciousness at work, and whenever this force and the consciousness are obscured in their action, I have to interfere and rectify the movement. In most cases things are mixed up and there again I have to intervene to separate the distorted transcription from the pure. Otherwise a great freedom of action is left to all, because the conscious force can express itself in innumerable ways and for the perfection and Page - 23 integrity of the manifestation no ways are to be a priori excluded; a trial is very often given before the selection is made. THE MOTHER
Too strong a fire burns the food, spoils the vessel and wastes the fuel. A slow fire means a little longer time for the cooking but also a nicer result in cooking. Hurried work is always bad work; time must be given if you want good results. THE MOTHER
Mother, please tell me the significance of the flower 'Surrender of falsehood'. My dear child, I received your letter after 11.00 p.m. It was too late to read it, but I just glanced at the first sentences and saw that you had misunderstood my intention in giving you the flower of "Surrender of falsehood". For me this flower has nothing to do with lies. The falsehood it * represents is all that in the mental, the vital and the physical and especially in the matter, the subconscient, and the inconscient is contrary to the Divine Truth that must descend upon the world. It is a flower I give very often because we must always be reminded that our exterior superficial being lives in falsehood and we must throw it off (surrender it) to emerge in the light of Truth. For instance, when somebody is ill I give it because all illnesses are falsehood in front of the Divine. You must not see any special intention in my giving you this flower and above all you must not worry about it. I may add that I always considered you as a very truthful person and have no reason to think otherwise. That is all I wished to say now. This evening I shall read your letter and if any additional answer is needed I shall send it to you. With my love and blessings. 7 September 1940 THE MOTHER Page - 24 Anilbaran, Mridu's letter is all right and I accept it as the apology I demanded from her. But things cannot be quite as before: she must make reparation for her fault not only in words but in her conduct; that must change and change altogether. That she can change it, if she chooses to do so, was shown when she began taking my darshan and her behaviour for some weeks was quite satisfactory. Afterwards she called back into her the bad forces which I had thrown out of her and the recent outbreak was the result. That must not happen once more. It is not possible any more that the Mother should show the same indulgence and leniency under great provocation as she did before or that I should remain silent and let such things pass. Our attitude towards her and treatment of her must depend on her attitude towards the Mother and her behaviour. In the recent outbreak she practically took the position that she refused to change anything wrong in her nature rather she regarded what is bad and wrong in her as something noble, great and admirable. If that remained her position, she cannot expect that we should accept it, nor would there be any reason for my giving her darshan. People are here to change what is wrong in their nature so that they may do an effective sadhana. If they refuse to do that or even to try, they are not real sadhaks or disciples and can expect nothing from myself or from the Mother. What was worse, she seemed prepared to be the instrument of an alien force, acting against Mother, claiming victories against her, trying to lower her in the eyes of the sadhaks, asserting itself and its ways, traducing the Ashram and impairing the respect due to the Mother and spoiling my work as much as possible. It cannot really succeed in this, but it can give trouble, and I do not see why I should tolerate it. If she was not conscious of what she was doing or the evil Force that used her, the sooner she becomes conscious the better. Arrogance, violence and self-assertion have always been the bane of Mridu's character. But in her relations with the Mother these things must go. She must learn not to force her will on the Mother but to accept the Mother's will in everything without opposition or murmur. That is the main point. If she does not take this resolve, she will always go on as she has done and relapse into revolts and that will bring no good to her. In short, however difficult it may be to her nature, she must learn self- surrender to the Divine. A "bhakti" which claims everything from the Divine and does not give itself is not real bhakti. Page - 25 I point out some details. There should be no more clamouring and shouting and violent insistence when something happens which she does not like. There should be no disrespect, aggressiveness or constant contradiction when she speaks to the Mother. If she has anything to represent she can do it quietly and without violence. And she must accept the Mother's decision in all matters. She should respect the Mother's time and the heavy work she has to do. She has been allowed to see the Mother very often in the day but she must not abuse the privilege by wasting unnecessarily the Mother's time. There is a heavy strain on the Mother allowing her :no time to rest and she must not increase the strain. In her upstairs work she should try to be in harmony with others and not a cause of disturbance or inconvenience. She should not push herself everywhere and take up a position not authorised by the Mother. I am referring especially to her interference above the stairs when the Mother is giving pranam to the sadhaks. To intervene, speak to people and give them instructions is not in her province and only disturbs the Mother's work. In her talk with sadhaks and visitors, she should refrain from gossip of a bad kind or drawing a black picture of the Ashram which makes a bad impression on those who have joined recently and have had no personal experience of how things are, and on people from outside. There should be no attacks on the Mother or accusations against her. All that is harmful to my work and I want it to change. That is enough for the present; but it is a wholesale change in her attitude and conduct that I demand of her. If she Ls prepared to make a firm resolution to get rid of these habits and keeps the resolution, all will be well. If she is not prepared, then why is she here and what is the meaning of her professed bhakti for myself or for the Mother? 23 May 1944 SRI AUROBINDO P.S. Explain all this carefully to Mridu. It may be best to make a translation of this letter and give it to her to keep with her. THE WHITE FLAME OF PURIFICATION
If you had understood and reacted in the right way, you would have passed the test and got rid not only of this special difficulty but probably of this hostile's influence altogether. But you failed and got possessed. And only one thing was left to me to do, it was to flood you with the pure light, the white flame of purification to chase from inside you the intruder. It is what you took probably for a cut in our relations, a wall of separation between us; there was nothing of the kind; I was inside you, penetrating you as usual but in the form of this supreme purity which is so foreign to all that is anti-divine or even to all ordinary human movement. This adverse entity is not only vital, it is also mental and supports its desires by some apparently reasonable principles which become aggressively stupid by their rigidity. When this seizes you, you seem to lose all common sense and the most elementary understanding. No wall at all only the pure light, the white flame of purification penetrating right through, from outside inside, from inside outside. Now I can tell you what has happened with a chance of being understood. THE MOTHER
I shall be sorry to see you go and hoped it would not be necessary. But if you are feeling so miserable and so little sure of yourself, it might be better to go for a while and recover your poise. I will leave the door open for you and as soon as you become strong enough, you will come back. My blessings are and will always be with you. And if next time you can come for the yoga and to lead the Divine life, then everything will become easy. THE MOTHER
The western mind always finds it difficult to submit totally to a Guru and without total and unquestioning surrender to the Guru his help to you is paralysed. That is why generally I advise westerners to find the guidance and the Presence within themselves; it is true that this process is very Page - 27 often open to uncertainty and self-deception, mistaking some voice of the ego in disguise for the Divine's guidance. In both cases, it is only an absolute sincerity and an unmixed humility that can be your safeguard. With my blessings. THE MOTHER SRI AUROBINDO LEAVING HIS BODY
I was painfully shocked when I heard the translation of the leaflet you are distributing here in the Ashram. I never imagined you could have such a complete lack of understanding, respect and devotion for our Lord who has sacrificed himself totally for us. Sri Aurobindo was not crippled; a few hours before he left his body he rose from his bed and sat for a long time in his arm chair, speaking freely to all those around him. Sri Aurobindo was not compelled to leave his body, he chose to do so for reasons so sublime that they are beyond the reach of human mentality. And when one cannot understand, the only thing to do is to keep a respectful silence. 26 December 1950 THE MOTHER
This is a very good opportunity to test the value of the relation. You must absolutely stop all quarrels. They are harmful for the sadhana of both of you. Try your level best, and if you cannot succeed, then you will have to give up the relation. 23 September 1951 THE MOTHER
Sri Aurobindo says that it is impossible for him to take up political action and enter the political field which would involve a sacrifice of his spiritual work. His spiritual help is given to the country and individually to all those who aspire for it. He is ready to continue this help and even to increase it Page - 29 if it is necessary. But he is convinced that written messages alone are not sufficient to have permanent effect or even a sufficiently wide effect. Among the members of the Ashram he sees nobody whom he can send to represent him effectively. THE MOTHER
I have already warned those who go on spreading rumours, more or less false, on what I am believed to have said or not said, that this is an act of treachery. As this pernicious habit does not seem to stop I must add that those who persist in so doing will be treated occultly as traitors. THE MOTHER
If I see X or anybody else twice then I must see Y too twice, and that is justice! And what about so many other people? Will it be injustice if I don't see eighty people separately twice a day?... THE MOTHER Do you think sincerity and fearlessness mean to sincerely misbehave? THE MOTHER You must remove two falsehoods from your mind. 1. What you get from me has nothing at all to do with what the others have or have not. My relation with you depends on you alone; I give you according to your true need and capacity. Even here already you were alone with me; if there were no others you would receive nothing more. 2. It is a great mistake to think that physical nearness is the one thing indispensable for the progress. It will do nothing for you if you do not establish the inner contact, for without that you could remain from morning Page - 30 to night with me and yet you will never truly meet me. It is only by the inner opening and contact that you can realize my presence. THE MOTHER
Say to your mother to go deep inside her heart and she will feel that the Divine Grace is with her. I am sending her a card with my blessings. You can translate for her what is written upon it. You can tell her also that the consciousness of your father had left his body at the time of the accident. That is why he did not move or speak, there is nothing astonishing in that and no reason to be especially sorry about it. THE MOTHER This is my answer It is because of all your quarrels, shouting, restlessness, nervousness, agitation, discords and disputes, that C is unwell. I told from the beginning that she needed rest and quietness. But especially it was indispensable and she has been surrounded by the opposite atmosphere no wonder if she is ill. She weeps and trembles because her nerves are overtaxed and they are overtaxed because all of you have no mastery over yourselves and no control over your speech. Cooking for her is quite nice, but it is not sufficient, you must let her have enough peace and quietness to be able to eat. THE MOTHER
Do not grieve. Human love is fugitive. It is only the Divine's love that never fails. With love and blessings. THE MOTHER Page - 31 |