11 June 1969

Some more material about the Mother has come into my hands. It seems that the Divine is taking interest in this class! I will read to you some stories from Srinvantu³⁴ dated 24 April 1969. Some of you must have heard them when you were little children, but they are always fresh, always inspiring, and they never seem to become old. Let me first tempt you with the pictures, if you're interested in them. Come closer - I don't know whether you have long sight or short sight!

I remember I once asked Sri Aurobindo about his revolutionary days:

33Francis Thompson, "Kingdom of Heaven".

34A magazine in Bengali, published from Bengal.

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When you wrote that you look upon India not as an inert dead mass of matter, but as the very Mother, the living Mother in bones and flesh, I believe you saw the Truth - or was it just the expression of a poetic or patriotic sentiment ?

Sri Aurobindo: My dear sir, I am not a materialist. If I had seen India as only a geographical area with a number of more or less interesting or uninteresting people in it, I would hardly have gone out of my way to do all that for the said area.

Merely a poetic or patriotic sentiment - just as in yourself only your flesh, skin, bones and other things of which the senses give their evidence are real, but what you call your mind and soul do not self-exist, being merely psychological impressions created by the food you eat and the activity of the glands. Poetry and patriotism have of course the same origin and the things they speak of are quite unreal. Amen.

On one occasion, when nothing seemed to be going right for one person, the world seemed to be going wrong, and many people were upset, Mother consoled that person, "Don't you worry. I'm the Soul of India."

One experience of this sort (identification of consciousness) is worth a hundred books - if you're interested in books. I don't say you'll get it immediately but by persistence you can. She has given you all the ideal conditions for it, you have only to do it.

***

As regards trees, you're not allowed to cut down trees in the Ashram without Mother's permission. Our Service tree³⁵ is sacred, and even to cut its branches we had to take Mother's permission.

I remember, when I was a young fellow, I was doing some gardening - you may find it strange. I am not interested in flowers actively - only passively, like you; I'm more interested in vegetables! A small plot was given to me, beside which was a tree (you might know its flower -Health³⁶). It was a useless tree; its branches obstructed the sunlight.

35The tree near Sri Aurobindo's Samadhi has been given this name by the Mother.

36Indian tulip, a small yellow flower of the Portia tree, belonging to the Malvaceae or Mallow family.

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I chopped off some branches and the next day thought of chopping some more. We used to write all sorts of things to Sri Aurobindo at that time. I wrote, "Going to cut off some more branches." He wrote, "No, no, don't. Mother doesn't like it." So, you see, She was so particular in detail.

***

When we used to talk to Sri Aurobindo about politics or other mundane subjects in our evening talks, I used to think: since Sri Aurobindo takes part in all our talks and jokes, where is the Divine Consciousness ? I used to ponder and speculate - when I speak, I forget the Divine Consciousness! He answered me, a bit annoyed, "When I write to you, do you think I cut off the cosmic connection?"

And I realised He has all three levels of consciousness together -universal (cosmic), transcendental and individual. When He is talking to me, He knows what's going on in China or Russia, etc.