Part Two
1939-1967
(Reproduced overleaf: letter of
August 30,1945. See text p. 136.)
(After the accident to his leg on 24 November
1938, Sri Aurobindo wrote less frequently to
the sadhaks. Most of the following letters
are thus from Mother.)
Prithwi Singh,
Well, I surely know very little of human mother's ways because I never dreamt of getting rid of one of my children by giving him or her something!...
Anyhow I had nothing of the kind in my mind and I had a fan put in your room because I knew that you were feeling hot—for, you believe that I have withdrawn, but it is quite a wrong belief—I am with you as I always was and know quite well your inner and outer condition.
If you were not hypnotised by appearances you would surely feel my presence living in and around you at all times.
With my love and blessings
Mother
P.S. The fan is meant to make your room a little cooler— I hope you will use it for that purpose.
27 April 1939
* * *
My dear child,
Since several days I was feeling like writing to you that it might be better to speak to Nirod about your health. I was hesitating to do so because I am under the impression that you are not very fond of doctors and medicines, but it is impossible to let your body fall into this bad habit of becoming weak. You did well to write as it has put an end
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to my hesitation, and now I would be very much pleased if you spoke a little to Nirod about your body's condition. Sometimes a very little push wakes up once more the receptivity.
My love, help and blessings are always with you.
Mother
27 June 1939
* * *
My dear child,
I quite agree with your way of looking at the problem and gladly grant your prayer of trying one year more to get out of the difficulty without calling in the medical atmosphere which—I must confess—is more often a hindrance than a help to the working of the Force. But you will have to keep me more often informed of the results of our attempt and concentration. Twice a week does not seem to me too much—I shall answer only if necessary.
With my love and blessings
Mother
P.S. Is there anything to eat that you would find helpful? More milk? or some fruits? I ask you to answer very frankly.
29 June 1939
* * *
Mon cher enfant [My dear child],
Your description of the nature of your difficulty regarding your health is quite correct. It is the way in which the subconscient opposes the descent of the Force. But by a very patient and persistent endeavour it is finally conquered.
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The two girls can come for "darshan". You can order the two suspensory bandages—and the pair of leather sandals. With my love and blessings
Mother
24 July 1939
* * *
Mon cher enfant,
C'est trés bon signe que vous commenciez a sentir I'effet de la Force dans le subconscient; cela implique un progres veritable.
Mon amour et mes benedictions veillent sur vous.1
Mother 21
August 1939
* * *
Mon cher enfant,
The fourth slice of bread is fully approved, but it seems to me that you ought to take it without discontinuing the extra milk as I am convinced that the milk is helping in making your body stronger.
You can ask Bula to take away the fan until the next hot season.2
The description of your experience is not quite precise enough (the nature of the touching, from where the kundalini rose to where)—but the disc of light would seem to _
1."My dear child,
"It is a very good sign that you are beginning to feel the effect of the Force in the subconscient; it means a true progress. "My love and blessings are watching over you."
2.We have included letters of this kind to show how Mother bestowed even material care on her children, and also Mother's eye for detail.
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indicate that you became conscious of the Presence in you centres.
My love and blessings
Mother
7 September 1939
My dear child,
The collection1 is indeed very well arranged and quite interesting. I am thinking of reserving a special shelf for it and then I will ask you to come and arrange the boxes on the shelf.
With my love and blessings
Mother
6 January 1941
*
* *
My dear child,
In the physical the joy of being is the best expression of gratitude towards the Divine.
Will you come Wednesday the 18th at 6 p.m. for pranam?
My love and blessings
Mother
16 June 1941
* **
My dear child,
Surely there will be no need of your going. Dhir Singh has written for permission to come for April Darshan. He will take back the money with him.
1. A collection of coins.
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The ultimate victory of the Divine is certain beyond all doubt.
With my love and blessings
Mother
6 April 1942
*
* *
My dear child,
Your attitude towards work is the right one and I see no changes to suggest.
The work done through love and because of love is surely the most powerful.
With my love and blessings
Mother
8 June 1942
My dear child,
I understand that it is almost impossible to keep one's patience when hearing all the nonsense that certain people say here, and I cannot blame you for your hot reply, which, I must say, did not inconvenience me in the least.
With my love and blessings
Mother
20 July 1942
* **
I am sending you two French sentences written with your pen:
"Seigneur, donne-nous le bonheur veritable, celui qui ne depend que de toi."
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"Nous avangons sans hate parce que nous sommes surs de I'avenir."1
Mother
Undated (1942?)
*
* *
(Prithwi Singh asked whether he should use
spectacles)
... Please let me know what you think, Mother. I am stopping Agarwal's medicine. I prefer to invoke your aid, as I have been doing; if I am able to open myself to your Force, a miracle might happen, as also if the Force wishes to act unconditionally. Otherwise what has to happen will happen and there is no reason for any regrets after one has received your blessings. I have written frankly so that you may give your decision without hesitation.
With deep devotion and pranams at Thy Feet
Prithwi Singh
I think that glasses will help you both outside and for your work, so I advise you to take two pairs, one tinted, one untinted; probably from England they will be more satisfactory.
With my love and blessings
Mother Undated
* **
1. "Lord, give us the true happiness, that which depends on You alone." "We advance without haste because we are sure of the future."
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My dear child,
I truly appreciate the feelings and the consideration you have expressed in your letter, and I accept your proposal to write only once in two weeks—but you must continue to come for "pranam" every Tuesday, as you did last year.
With my love and blessings always
Mother
4 January 1943
* * *
(In the course of his proofreading of The Life Divine, Prithwi Singh put a few questions to Sri Aurobindo regarding some rare or newly coined words.)
Dynamis
Dynamis is a Greek word, not current, so far as I know, in English; but the verb dunamai, I can, am able, from which it derives, has given a number of words to the English language including dynamise, dynamics, dynamic, dynamical, dyne (a unit of force), so that the word can be at once understood by all English readers. It means power, especially energetic power for energetic action. It is equivalent to the Sanskrit word, Shakti. Philosophically it can stand as the opposite word to status, Divine Status, Divine Dynamis.
* * *
Sri Aurobindo
Undated (1943?)
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Ineffugable
"Infinity imposes itself upon the appearances of the finite by its ineffugable self-existence." (The Life Divine, Vol.1, p. 10)
Ineffugable is a new word, like dynamis, introduced into the English language by Sri Aurobindo. It means inescapable, inevitable, not to be avoided. A similar word was used by Blount in 1656 with slight change of form—ineffugible. Etymologically it is an adaptation of the Latin ineffugibilis, from effugere, to flee from, avoid. (Vide, Oxford English Dictionary.)
Ineffugible is the correct formation, but it has not force or power of suggestive sound in it. The a in ineffugable has been brought in by illegitimate analogy from word like "fugacious", Latin fugare, because it sounds better and is forcible.
1 October 1943
* * *
My dear child,
I am sorry you are still having these moments of depression. I hoped they were gone for good. You know that even when you do not feel me I am always with you. Keep this faith in you, and my presence will become a living fact.
Lallubhai has not yet returned the book nor did he even speak to me about it.
With my love and blessings
Mother 1 May 1944
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Sublate
(The first part of the reply was in answer to the question as to the meaning of the word "sublate" occurring in The Life Divine, Vol. II, p. 267: "It claims to stand behind and supersede, to sublate and to eliminate every other knowledge____"
The second part was in explanation of a quotation from the Hegelian Philosophy taken from the Oxford Dictionary and with reference to the special meaning it gave to the word :
"Hegelian philos. (rendering G. aufheben, used by Hegel as having the opposite meanings of 'destroy' and 'preserve') See Quot. : 'Nothing passes over into Being, but Being equally sublates itself, is a passing over into Nothing, Ceasing-to-be. They sublate not themselves mutually, not the one the other externally; but each sublates itself in itself, and is in its own self the contrary of itself.'")1
"Sublate" means originally to remove: it implies denial and removal (throwing off) of something posited. What appeared to be true, can be sublated by a greater truth contradicting it. The experience of the world can be sublated by the experience of Self, it is denied and removed; so the experience of the Self can be sublated by the experience of Sunya; it is denied and removed.
Hegel could not have used the word "sublate" as he wrote in German. I do not know what word he used which is here translated by sublate, but certainly it does not
1. Prithwi Singh's note.
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mean both destroy and preserve, nor in fact does it mean either. Being passes over into Non-being, so it sublates itself, changes and eliminates itself as it were from the view, becomes Non-being instead of being; but so also does Non-Being, what was Non-being passes over into being; where there was nothing, there is being; nothing has eliminated itself from the view. This, says Hegel, is not a mutual destruction by two contraries each of which was outside the other. Being inside itself becomes nothing or Non-Being; Non-Being or Nothing equally inside itself passes into being. They do not really sublate or drive out each other, but each sublates itself into the other. In other words it is the same Reality that presents itself now as one and now as the other.
Sri Aurobindo
31 July 1944
Aufheben, if that is the German word, must mean the same as the Latin word subtollere p.p. sublatus, to heave up and off, or throw, from which "sublate" is taken.
* * *
My dear child,
I am glad to have read your letter. Noren Singh1 has already spoken to me enthusiastically about the new arrangement and the money they will return to you. All your children are a fine lot and I am very happy to have them here. To be truthful I must add that I love them dearly and their father also.
Of course, the books you mention can be ordered from England.
1. Prithwi Singh's third child.
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It is understood that whenever, for one reason or another, you cannot come to see me on Tuesday, you must come the following evening.
With my love and blessings
Mother
3 August 1944
* * *
My dear child,
I hope you are giving no importance whatever to these silly talks about "spiritual nearness" and the rest. There is no truth behind it. No time to answer in details—but I must ask you never to judge on appearances and still less on what people say....
With my love and blessings
Mother
6 November 1944
My dear child,
I did not even notice that you detained me. I always stand for a minute or two at that place concentrating upon you and others that might be there. So I have nothing to forgive and send you my love and blessings.
Mother
19 April 1945
My dear child,
It seems to me quite natural that the children wish to have a little privacy, and as soon as it is materially possible I shall fulfil their wish. Only one thing I shall say, that if the rest of the inmates were as your children are my work would be infinitely easier; they are among those
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who give me the least trouble.
With my love and blessings
Mother
23 July 1945
* * *
Ma douce Mere,1
... Sisir has given me Sumitra's and Suprabha's2 monthly progress report for signature. I had supposed that this business of guardianship ceased with my coming here, but I am told that you particularly want it and the whole thing is initiated by you. If that is so, I shall certainly sign the report. But it seems to me that the School is tending to become rather too officious while the method of real teaching is still very fluidic. The grading of students leaves much to be desired, but perhaps I am treading on forbidden grounds. In any case this monthly system would entail too much useless work for you, and the report could be easily made quarterly.
I had to take that step because of the carelessness, laziness and indiscipline of the children refusing to do their tasks and to obey their teachers. It is unfortunate for I would have liked to avoid all these common place measures.
... Sweet Mother, Thou who fillest the infinite spaces with a little of Thy presence, yet holdest Thyself in a tiny little body so that Thy children may know Thee and worship Thee, Thou who standest transcendent
1."My sweet Mother."
2.Prithwi Singh's last two children.
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beyond the worlds and yet art so near to us in a holocaust of hue, to Thee I offer my pranams with bended knees. May I learn to surrender to Thee all my demands in a complete submission of the being so that Thy will alone triumphs.
Thy child
Prithwi Singh
P.S. I should confess to you that I felt sad at the use of the atomic bomb.1 It was too heartless. I should frankly like to know from you, Mother, whether this feeling was right or wrong—for it was a regret felt for the action of the Allies, for those who had stood so gallantly against the barbaric onslaught of the Germans, those who had been on the side of the Divine—even though maybe not consciously. And it was also mixed with a feeling of sympathy for the Japanese in spite of all their savagery and dark treachery for which this swift retribution has overtaken them.
The atomic bomb is in itself the most wonderful achievement and the sign of a growing power of man over the material Nature. But what is to be regretted is that this material progress and mastery is not the result of and keeping on with a spiritual progress and mastery which alone has the power to contradict and counteract the terrible danger coming from these discoveries. We cannot and must not stop progress but we must achieve it in an equilibrium between the inside and the outside.
My love and blessings
Mother
28 August 1945
1. At Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few weeks earlier.
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My dear child,
I do not see that the Supramental will act in the way you expect from It. Its action will be to effectuate the Divine's Will upon earth whatever that may be. On men Its action will be to turn their will consciously or unconsciously on their part towards the way in which the Divine's Will wants them to go.
But I cannot promise you that the Divine's will is to preserve the present human civilisation.
My love and blessings
Mother
30 August 1945
* * *
My dear child,
In all opinions there is something true and something false. It is indeed a great and useful thing to be able to listen to the opinions of others without losing one's temper and I am glad you have been able to do so.
With my love and blessings
Mother
5 October 1945
* * *
My dear child,
I am very sorry for the recurrent illness; it evidently shows a lack of receptivity in the body, but no definite cause can be given to it, except a definite tendency to pessimism and despondency....
However I hope you will soon feel better, and send you my love and blessings.
Mother
10 March 1946
Page-136
My dear child,
You did quite well to state your difficulties and that has not displeased me in the least. But you will allow me to say that, along with most of the human beings, something in you dislikes all sudden changes unless your own mind has itself decided these changes. So, in the present case, the best thing is to wait a little and see if, after becoming accustomed to the new arrangement, you do not discover that it has also its advantages....
With my love and blessings
Mother
18 March 1946
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
... With regard to filaria, I find that great apprehension persists in the obscure corner of the mind that the attack may be coming again as soon as the body has sufficiently recovered from the effects of the last attack. This is surely bad and not at all helpful in the process of elimination of this poison from the system. Only today I have discovered it. I pray that this may go away by your Grace, Mother; otherwise if the attacks continue at frequent intervals the body will go to tatters. May I accept with joy and happiness whatever be Thy Will for me.
With deep devotion I prostrate myself at Thy Beloved Feet and offer my grateful pranams.
Prithwisingh
Yes, the first step for all progress as well physical as
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spiritual is to eliminate all fear.
With my love and blessings
Mother
15 January 1947
** *
My love and blessings.
Catch hold of a deep inner peace and gently push it in the cells of your body. With the peace will come back the health.
Mother
20 April 1947
** *
Ma douce Mere,
Thou who protectest us ever with Thy divine solicitude, Thou who art our Mother and Friend and Guide, Thou to whom we always turn in our difficulties, to Thee, O sweet Mother, I prostrate myself again and again with salutations of surrender. Humbly I kneel down at Thy Feet and with folded hands pray to Thee for the fulfilment of Thy Will in me—whatever that may be.
With my heart full of gratitude and devotion I offer my pranams to Thee and to my Lord on the eve of my birthday.
Thy child
Prithwisingh
My dear child,
Sri Aurobindo sends you his blessings and I join mine with all my love on the occasion of your birthday. I shall
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see you at Pavitra's place at 6.15 p.m.
Mother
2 June 1947
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
It is with great regret that I have to discontinue terrace darshan. As it is becoming terribly late for you in spite of the notice and as the Library now opens at 12,1 have to go earlier to the dining room or not work at all that time. Therefore poor Prithwi Singh has to make his exit except for a rare glimpse of you now and then by the vagaries of some happy chance. At this rate perhaps the Supermind by the impact of its descending Force will at no distant date throw me completely out into Nirvana or some impersonal Void or lull me into a somnolent sleep of self-oblivion. However, till that fate overtakes me I prostrate myself at the sweet Feet of my beloved Mother and offer my pranams, however platonically it may be.
Prithwi Singh
My dear child,
It seems to me that you have a very pessimistic view of things and especially of the working of the Supermind. However it is not quite my experience of it ... but facts will speak better than words. Meanwhile I suggest that you should replace the morning "darshan" by an evening "darshan" and come up every day after meditation.
With my love and blessings
Mother
Undated (1947?)
Page-139
Ma douce Mere,
As Keshavdeo1 is insisting on his point in spite of your silence, perhaps it is better to give him a reply— departmentally. I have drafted a reply which you will kindly change, Mother, wherever you think necessary. He thinks that by troubling you thus he will have his point: therefore I thought that it would be better to give him a straightforward reply. Also his constant reference to his offerings "all this money belongs to you" smacks of a typical Marwari mentality. Besides he is trying to exploit too much the money he has offered for the publication work. However you will do, Mother, as you think best.
With deep devotion I offer my pranams at your Feet.
Prithwisingh
Certainly you can send the letter although it may be that Keshavdev won't like it. It may help him to see the problem through a new angle.
With my love and blessings.
Mother
3 February 1948
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
In view of the strong impetus given to games and sports and other aids for the development of the body at the present time, there is a general feeling that it
1. Keshav Dev Poddar, the future Navajata, who a few days after Mother's departure appointed himself president of the Sri Aurobindo Society in her place, and went on to extend his hold over the Ashram and Auroville.
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is an indispensable part of sadhana and therefore those who are not taking part in it in some form or another have divorced themselves from the full action of the Force, leaving these parts in the obscurity and inertia of the inconscient. Because of this feeling many, I am not
While recognising unreservedly as an axiomatic truth that whatever threads are taken up by you, whatever activities encouraged howsoever mundane to outward view, must be full of a deep spiritual significance, even essential—for the time being at least — for the general welfare in the life of the Ashram, one wonders whether this encouragement can be interpreted as a sign that everybody irrespective of age must follow up the line. But I do not know. I have personally kept myself aloof from these activities, the overriding reason being bad sight though in my younger days for some years at least I had done a lot of exercises, dumbbells etc. and some asanas. There is also certain temperamental disinclination and I would therefore particularly wish to know very frankly from you, Mother, whether this means that my physical body as it is formed in this life, is incapable of opening to your Light and therefore incapable of change, progress in sadhana being conditioned by this unplasticity. Perhaps the inability to recover full health yet, especially to throw off filarial attacks completely, may be an indication in this line.
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With deep devotion I prostrate myself at Thy Feet and offer my pranams again and again.
Prithwi Singh
Do not be anxious—there is no necessity of doing physical exercise for realising the supramental!
To explain in details what is happening now would take too much time—but one thing is certain: each one must follow his own line irrespective of what the others do and the goal is open to all sincere and steady endeavour.
PS. Mother, I am glad to say that Piloo1 is proving a very useful worker. She is just the type of assistance I needed for book sales work. If she makes up her mind to stay on and is permitted by you to do so, gradually there will be some relief for me, as she can do both account work and typing and can take dictations also quickly. Only her health is not very good, for three days she had hardly been taking any food; I told her today that if she wants to stay she must get over her feeling of nausea for food and take normal quantity to keep up her strength. I hope things will be all right by your Grace, Mother.
I am glad that Pilu proves useful. She is indeed a nice girl.
With my love and blessings
Mother
11 June 1948
* * *
1. A young Parsi girl. She stayed on. Mother gave her a new name, Sutapa.
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Ma douce Mere,
With regard to proof-reading... I would like to propose the following arrangement for the reading of Sri Aurobindo's books for your kind consideration. ...
As my work is increasing in the matter of book sales, correspondence, accounts, etc., added by the further difficulty due to want of space and helpers, it would be difficult for me to see more than one format a day, but as many books are waiting to be reprinted sometimes they would be needing two formats a day in
order that the machine may not remain idle____/ am
seeing Essays on the Gita, Series I, and along with it Bases of Yoga has also to be seen. This Ranju can do, and he told me that he is quite willing to do, if you approve, Mother. Of course, for bigger books like The Life Divine and the Essays / shall try to do as much as I can to go through the proof-reading work____
With regards to the Letters - 2nd Series, a few mistakes unfortunately have remained For these mistakes Kishore Gandhi1 was bullying Dasgupta.2 He forgets that after he had seen and put his signature more than three dozen errors have been corrected. I have told Dasgupta not to mind these things, and he also very nicely said that if Sri Aurobindo scolded him he would take it as his blessing, as his prasad. I am sorry for the mistakes I have overlooked and pray that you will forgive me, Mother.
1.A disciple then working for the Bombay Circle. Later, he was to be the editor of Sri Aurobindo's letters in the Centenary edition.
2.Noren Dasgupta, manager of the Ashram Press. Previously he was with the Arya Publishing House, besides being a professor of philosophy at the Dacca University.
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With deep devotion I prostrate myself at Thy Feet and offer my pranams.
Prithwi Singh
Your proposal is quite all right and has my approval. With my love and blessings
Mother
6 March 1949
Prithwi Singh,1
Suicide is never the right thing to do, but its psychic consequences can be mitigated by the spirit in which it is done or if some feeling of sacrifice or self-offering enters into it as in the case of the Sati. It is always possible to help departed souls in their passage if one has the necessary psychic feeling towards them and the psychic force to make it effective. Contact can also be maintained so long as this passage does not carry them beyond the borders of the communication possible or into the region of psychic sleep or trance in which they remain within themselves and prepare their new birth in future.
The experiences related are of a high character and show an advanced state of the consciousness. The overhead station especially is not common and is usually attained only after a considerable psychic and spiritual growth. It is always possible indeed to ascend and descend in the consciousness reaching very high in planes above the head but usually one does not stay there.
There are always two things possible for the spiritual
1. This is the last letter of Sri Aurobindo found in Prithwi Singh's papers.
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seeker, remain among others and then they can act, as she puts it, as a ferment, the other to congregate together and even to form a separate body for a common sadhana or for a common work or both as in this Ashram. Which is to be done depends on the urge of the spirit within or on a call from above.
Sri Aurobindo
4 April 1949
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
... The Master has sent word to me through Nirod that I must look carefully through the proofs myself, comparing it very carefully with the original. I humbly pray, Mother, that I may perform this task well by your Grace and help.
I am totally against giving these important books [of Sri Aurobindo] for publication to outsiders. If the Bombay Circle really wish to pay the costs, they can do so, but why so much demand to have it for their own publication ? I am giving a note to Nolini in a day or two, and to avoid unpleasantness and being bothered, you can simply throw the whole thing on me, Mother; I will be very glad indeed.
I know that money can never be the sole consideration where the publication of Sri Aurobindo's books is concerned, and it is very doubtful how long Keshav-deo can or will continue this arrangement, after the amount he has set apart is exhausted. However this much I also must add that if for any reason whatever you decide, notwithstanding what you had written to me, to give these to the Bombay Circle, I will take it
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as the right and the best thing giving up all my mental prejudices. For I have full faith that whatever you decide must always be right, and even if it is altered or reversed from time to time, it must still in each instance be the right thing, the differences in action being necessitated in each case by the demand of the occult working in material circumstances, however ungrasped the reason to the limited human mind.
With deep devotion I prostrate myself at Thy Feet and offer my pranams. May I always remain faithful and obedient to my beloved Mother.
I shall do my best not to give any more books of Sri Aurobindo to Keshavdeo. My love and blessings
Mother
21 July 1949
* * *
My Lord,
With regard to glossary of Sanskrit terms from your complete works, I have so far done both series of the Gita, The Life Divine, and some smaller books; I think it may take another year to complete this work. I have fixed the meaning in the majority of cases in your own words, and as this is a sort of lexicon, I have freely given different shades of meaning wherever necessary, even explanatory definitions, so that the reader Indian or Western may find no difficulty in understanding these terms wherever they may occur....
[Prithwi Singh asks a few questions of detail, which Sri Aurobindo briefly answers.]
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With deep devotion I offer my pranams at Thy Feet.
Prithwi Singh
12 October 1949
Ma douce Mere,
... Perhaps as things are taking shape, first and special editions may be published by us and cheaper editions in America for us for sale in India so that other Publishers will be naturally eliminated. The Arya Publishing House affairs will need a looking into to cut down establishment charges and in this matter we can receive a good deal of help from the present members of Pathmandir committee as Dhir Singh assured me. I am just mentioning; you will decide of course in your right time. Only from the sale reports it is evident that Tarapado is doing very little for the A. P. House work____
With deep devotion and a prayer rising from my whole being to give myself more and more completely to Thee, I prostrate myself at Thy Feet and offer my pranams.
Prithwi Singh
I have already said to Tarapada that the A.P.H. will become a distributing concern and no more a publishing one.
My love and blessings
Mother
20 November 1949
Page-147
Ma douce Mere,
... Hymns to the Mystic Fire requires reprinting. I had already written about it, but perhaps the Lord will revise it later. Evolution, Kalidasa and some other smaller books also would need to be reprinted soon. First series of Letters also, and with regard to this book you will decide, Mother, if it is to be reprinted by us or by the Bombay Circle.
Prithwi Singh
Sri Aurobindo will be asked about it. With love and blessings
Mother
15 December 1949
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
Yesterday a big glass pane of one of the doors at the farther end of the room where I work in the Library was broken by the boys while playing. The actual person Krishnamurti who had broken it while pushing aside a spinning top of another boy admitted it himself and cleaned the room full of scattered bits of splintered glass. Fortunately no one was sitting there at the time.
The children play and shout so lustily before Satyen's1 room that after 10 or ten-thirty it becomes difficult to work. When told they move away a little farther, but again return after a few minutes and start their noisy game.
1. A disciple from Bihar, and a teacher of French.
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It is not the children so much as their parents who are more to blame. Their contention is that the Mother is looking after them and they have no responsibilities. But when the milk is a little short of supply they are the first persons to howl, lamenting about the ill nourishment of their children and the danger of illness, etc., etc., in spite of the very nourishing general diet of the Ashram, supplemented by almost cent per cent of the families here by extras, prasad or otherwise. Then nobody remains satisfied by reposing on the Mother's responsibility!
But I hope, Mother, that it may be possible to do something to prevent the Ashram building from being turned into another playground.
With deep devotion I prostrate myself at Thy Feet to offer my pranams.
Prithwi Singh
All that you say above is quite true—as for the children playing, we shall try to stop them. With my love and blessings
Mother
31 December 1949
Ma douce Mere,
Joyce has written a letter which I am sending for you to read. Her experience seems to be remarkable and perhaps this blue and gold light must be connected with some action of the Force for healing which has gone out from you. I myself have this experience
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even now, almost every day and this has a very soothing effect over the nerves.
...In utilising material aids one must always be conscious and have the faith that these are means through which the Force works and cures and not the Doctor and his "highly developed" science—
It is all right.
My love and blessings.
Mother
21 June 1950
* * *
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(From Prithwi Singh's diary.)
The passing of Sri Aurobindo [on 5 December 1950] is an event of such deep significance for the earth evolution and shrouded in such sublime mystery that it is impossible for the mere mind to pierce through its veils, to see the pulsations of a greater life behind the apparent triumph of Death, that it is best for us to keep within the limits of what the Mother has revealed on the point in her messages1 and not to indulge in wild fancies of our own, not founded on the bedrock of a yogin's seeing by identity of knowledge. This fatal blunder has entirely vitiated the writing of Kishore Gandhi under the caption "A Daring Attempt" published in the Ninth Number of the Sri Aurobindo Circle Annual, in spite of his sincere though blundering attempt to find a satisfactory explanation of the event and has landed him to a number of self-contradictions and remarks that had no foundation in fact. The article shows in addition a lack of philosophical understanding and is confusing rather than helpful.
It is better therefore to look into some of these major contradictions before we can state clearly in a few words our views on the subject in the light of the Mother's revealing words.
Undated (1951)
* * *
1. Among them, let us note this message of February 1951: "The lack of the earth's receptivity and the behaviour of Sri Aurobindo's disciples are largely responsible for what happened to his body. But one thing is certain : the great misfortune that has just beset us in no way affects the truth of his teaching. All he said is perfectly true and remains so. Time and the course of events will make this abundantly clear."
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Ma douce Mere,
This is to tender my unreserved apology to you for some boastful remarks in my last letter. I humbly pray for your forgiveness. When one is in a passion one loses all sense of humour, the intelligence is bewildered and one indulges in things that would appear absolutely silly and vain in a sober mood. I am ashamed and frankly confess my error and pray again for your forgiveness. I shall sincerely try not to repeat it, Mother. I know well my severe limitations, and whatever little I am able to do by your Grace, may I always do with feelings of gratitude and a sincere devotion and with my whole being full of joy and pride, if pride there still must be, for the opportunity of such service as you have graciously granted to me.
I wanted to see you, Mother, because certain things were told in your name that had rather hurt me, I frankly confess. Naturally I don't want to write such things. But I know you have no time and now it is no longer necessary. With a strong effort I think I have freed myself from that painful vibration, especially after having heard something from Jayantilal and guessed. It is all right now as far as I am concerned and I wanted to write to you about this also.
With prostrations of surrender I bow myself again and again at Thy worshipful Feet as I pray for your protection and help and offer my pranams.
Prithwi Singh
My dear child,
I am not aware of having said anything that could give you the slightest pain—so I advise you not to listen to
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what people say—most of them take a very great pleasure in disturbing others; and when they have nothing nasty to repeat they invent. With my love and blessings
Mother
8 February 1951
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
I have received two bits of hair of our Lord. They are so precious and sacred that I should not keep them without your knowledge and permission.
I am sending the sacred treasure to you, Mother, through Dyuman and if you graciously return, I shall be very happy to keep it. But you will do, Mother, as you think best and whatever you decide I shall always be happy to accept knowing that it is for the best.
With deep devotion and pranams
Prithwi Singh
They are in the envelope enclosed.
You can keep them, with my blessings and love.
Mother
8 April 1951
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
On the occasion of the auspicious day of the 21st of February I humbly offer this poem at your sacred Feet and pray that it may be acceptable to you.
... Recently I had two experiences of which after a
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long hesitation I have decided to inform you.
Last January—it was on the 3rd, I remember—when I was laid up with an acute attack of filarial fever attended with severe pain and shivering, suddenly in the midst of calling your name and the attempt to bear the suffering as quietly as possible, the consciousness separated itself entirely from the body. The detachment was almost complete and after the first moments of bewilderment I realised what a wonderful thing it was. I was observing the pain of the body, in sympathy with it for its sufferings, but not touched by it. For the first time I had this experience of the witnessing consciousness and what a tremendous release it is, Mother!
The same night I had a dream-experience, almost a waking vision. I saw two beings whose faces I could not see, two tall and sturdily built persons wearing what seemed to be heavy fur coats (later I thought they may be carrying on their backs a heavy load of herbs, as some light was gleaming out at times) approached me and looked at me. I had no fear at all, but simply said, "If you have come from the Mother, you can do what you like, if not I have nothing to do with you whoever you may be. I firmly withdraw from your influence and you cannot touch a hair of me." With that I was quietly taking your name and withdrew to myself. They talked a while with each other, I suspected they smiled at my remarks. Drew something from behind their backs as the light gleamed. But other details I could not follow. Then they slowly left and I was fully awake.
Well, the only result I notice is that this time the
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fever and the swelling subsided quicker. But the filarial trouble is still there. The body is still unopen to the Force.
I am curious to know who were they, looking almost like twins riding on horseback ? And in such cases what is the attitude to take ? Obviously there should be no fear, but is there any particular way by which a sort of occult tact can be developed to discern the true nature of the embodied Force or the Being?
If there was anything wrong in the attitude I had taken, kindly let me know, Mother. If nothing needs to be said, at this stage, then of course you will not reply and I will understand your silence, Mother.
With deep devotion I prostrate myself at Thy Feet and offer my pranams. May I remain always open to Thy Will.
Prithwi Singh
Your attitude was quite correct and the best one to have in the occurrence.
They might have been the Aswins, the twin riders, the healers.
With my love and blessings
Mother
18 February 1952
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
Last night with the experience of the rising of Kun-dalini I saw near the heart centre a large serenely luminous crescent for quite a long while. The experience filled the being with strength and joy and a feeling
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of deep restful repose.
I will now write to you of these things so that if there needs anything to be said, to be corrected or set right, you will please indicate it.
With deep devotion and pranams at Thy Feet again and again.
Prithwi Singh
This is a very good experience, the luminous crescent meaning spiritual progress. With my love and blessings
Mother
10 November 1952
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
Yesterday, for the first time I had the experience of the ascent of Kundalini in the waking state, while I was sitting on the chair, meditating at 11:30 or so in the night. Long had been my aspiration for it, but however hard I might try I had never succeeded before. The Force was ascending from the heart centre to the head and it continued three times, each time as I concentrated at the heart. I could see somewhat the inside of the body, though it was very vague and opaque. In between I saw the open pen and the paper also on the table.
It was not a new experience, but what elated me was that it came in the full waking state. A feeling of strength, restfulness and an inner quietude still continues. The head is cool. But the difficulty is with the thoughts. Unless the mind can be stilled, the effects cannot last. Naturally I remembered you at the time
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and afterwards prayed to you. Then I sat two minutes at the Samadhi to offer my prayers to Sri Aurobindo and then went to bed.
I just write this to let you know of it, Mother....
Prithwi Singh
This is very good and will surely have excellent results even on the condition of your body With my blessings
Mother
Undated (1953?)
* * *
(From Prithwi Singh's diary)
Yesterday I had two remarkable experiences. I saw a woman come close to me and I embraced her. She began to laugh in a derisive manner, but I severely told her, 'You see not a hair of my body shivers. This is Tantra Yoga. I care not for your derision." With a surprised air she slowly went away. And then I saw another woman trying to choke my throat and kill me. I felt almost suffocating. It was painful, but there was no fear. In absolute fearlessness, without screaming, I tried to strike back, to get free from the terrible pressure that was to squeeze my life out. I could not raise my arm, it was paralysed, held by a force that could not be repelled by ordinary force. Then with a tremendous concentration that seemed to increase with the increasing pressure of that hostile Power, I called repeatedly the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. And with the call came the help. The being seemed to be
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surcharged with a superhuman energy and the heat that flowed from it began to sap the strength of the Adversary. Then I was free and master of myself and nothing could touch me. With gratitude and thankfulness I began to utter the name of the Mother and Lord. Then in place of the woman I saw the Mother's divine Face looking at me with her compassionate eyes of Love and joy, showering her blessings.
Nothing can harm those who turn to the divine Mother and Sri Aurobindo.
23 February 1953
* * *
(A letter from Prithwi Singh to Mother)
In course of my interview with the Mother which she had graciously given me on the 3rd [Prithwi Singh's birthday ]
The Mother heard it attentively and when I asked her if I could take it that the Master's return is certain, she revealed to me the following wonderful happening. I note it down in her own words as far as I remember. She said:
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"At 1:26 in the morning1 when I was in his room, he was steadily coming out of his body into mine; it was so much that I felt a physical friction in the cells of my body; with it a great power entered into me and I felt capable of resuscitating him. But when I told him, he said, 'No. It is purposely that I have left my body, I will not come back into it, I will return in a new body, the first body built in the supramental way.'"
And she hastened to add: "But he did not tell me the time when he would return."
Then I told her: "Certainly you know the time, Mother, but if I were to ask you would not say it and I know it is good not to ask."
She smiled sweetly.
I am sending you the corrected version—but it is for yourself alone and not to be shown to others. With my love and blessings
Mother
12 June 1953
Ma douce Mere,
About 4 or 5 days back during an experience of the ascending and descending force of Kundalini, I felt or rather saw a strong pressure of light pushing through the eye nerves to clean them as it were.
The effect on the external physical is not visible however; maybe the feeling is mere imagination, a sort of a wishful thinking. It may also be that this
1. On December , 1950. 160
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kind of subtle action of your Force may take time to be effective on the material physical plane.
[Mother circled the last sentence and wrote on the margin:] This is correct.
Or it may be a complete misreading of the action of the Force which was for some other purpose. But I just write to you, Mother, because it was so vivid.
With deep devotion and pranams at Thy Feet.
Prithwi Singh
Keep quiet in your mind as much as possible and let the force work. It is bound to have an effect although it may take some time before the effect can clearly be felt.
With my love and blessings
Mother
18 May 1954
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
Somebody has told me of a sentence either written or spoken by you. I am writing it down here for verification. The wordings are such that it seems it must be from you. It is also in line with what had been long predicted in connection with the numbers 12 3 4 etc.—23rd of April 1956 in the case.
I shall be happy to know, if it has been said by you, Mother. Here it is :
"1956 will be the golden harvest of the difficult sowing now in the rocky soil."
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With pranams at Thy Feet again and again
Prithwi Singh
It reads more like Amal's1 style than mine. I can only hope that it will be true! With my blessings
Mother
15 December 1955
* * *
My dear child,
Up to the night I did not know that you were not coming to the Play Ground for blessings. Otherwise I would have sent you a written word of blessings.
So now, a little late, but never too late, I tell you
Bonne fete! et
Bonne annee !2
with all my love and blessings.
Let this year be a year of radical progress on all planes.
Mother
7 June 1956
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
I wanted to ask about two things:
Last time when I was with you upstairs on my birthday [3rd June], there was a feeling as if time was not there. Not the experience of timelessness in the
1.Amal Kiran or K. D. Sethna.
2.Happy birthday and Happy New Year!
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spiritual sense, but just a feeling that only I and You were there, and nothing and nobody else existed.
[Mother underlined the last part of this sentence, and added:] It is exactly the experience I wanted you to have. I am glad for your receptivity.
Just for a few seconds, but an entirely new experience. I suppose it may be due to exclusive concentration on me at the time. But I don't know. And in the evening at the Playground it was not so.
Another thing is about an experience I had on three occasions during meditation on the Playground. After some half-sleep unconscious state, suddenly as the consciousness became fully awake and alert, there was an exquisitely fine feeling or rather acute perception that every cell of the body was throbbing with a Force of Light in a vibrant stillness of the whole being. It was different from the experience of total silence I once had. It was, though lasting for a minute or two at the most, an awareness for the first time of the innumerable cells of the body and the action of 'your Force in them, pouring in them a stillness so luminous and thrilling that words cannot describe it. What was it, Mother?
[Mother underlined this part of the sentence also, and wrote:] It is the experience I am giving during the meditation. So this also is quite correct and I am glad you were conscious of it.
With my love and blessings
Mother
9 June 1957
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This is a confession and an expression of deepest gratitude. I had hoped that on the occasion of my birthday I might have an opportunity of speaking to You quietly about certain things of a personal nature. In the afternoon with so many people around, it was not possible. But apart from this I was not confident if I could avoid feeling very awkward due to bad eyes in coming to You through a large number of people who usually sit there. But I did one good thing. I pushed away all these thoughts from my mind and tried to remain quiet by remembering You.
The half-hour meditation I had in Sri Aurobindo's room at 1 p.m. due to the goodness of Champaklal was excellent. And a little over an hour and a quarter's waiting also did me good.
I came before You with Dyuman—and I made my pranam. I had a feeling that I was kneeling before a divine Presence which was majestic, omnipotent yet gracious. It is only the Divine who can lean so under-standingly, so compassionately on man.
It was then that I had a most strange feeling—I could not see Your Face, but I could see at least something of the form and the wonderful pose in which You were sitting. It was awe-inspiring, yet full of compassion and love. It was then that I felt strongly the Presence of Sri Aurobindo. Also when You caressed my head with Your fingers just before I came away, I had the same feeling that it was Sri Aurobindo's hands with the added sweetness of the Mother-touch. Even now, as I recall the experience, I am overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude. I do not know if it was a purely
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mental imagination or if there was an iota of truth in it. It was an experience I cannot forget and I then fully understood with profound gratitude why purposely no interview was given.
When You gave me the two Prayer Flowers with the Rose, it was clear to me that my letter was read by You and perhaps the English poem also, although I do not actually know.
For all this I again express my profound gratitude to my beloved Mother.
Prithwi Singh
Prithwi Singh, my dear child,
Your experience, on your birthday, was concretely true.
Sri Aurobindo was there to bless you and I am glad you have been aware of it.
With love and blessings
Mother
17 June 1960
* * *
(Regarding Prithwi Singh's attempt to
translate Savitri into Bengali.)
Prithwi Singh, my dear child,
If you want me to express frankly my view of this affair, I must say that I consider Savitri as untranslatable and will never encourage a translation of it except as a personal exercise for the sake of concentration on this unique marvel; but surely not for publication. That is why I cannot attach any importance to this contention.
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With my love and blessings
Mother
14December 1961
*
Prithwi Singh
Certainly you can continue the translation of Savitri for your own benefit and I am sure that the help from Sri Aurobindo will always be with you.1
With love and blessings
Mother
15December 1961
* * *
On my last birthday, June 3,1961, when The Mother had so sweetly given me meditation, I had the experience that I was completely immersed in fire. The fire was of a pinkish colour and it seemed to me somewhat like the roseate fire of which I had read in Savitri. It was so vivid that even when I opened my eyes I saw that the whole room was full of this fire. It was as if I was inside a sea of fire. This continued for a pretty long time. Afterwards when I thought of it somehow the feeling came that this was a tremendous act of Grace. My whole physical being, nerves and cells, the very pores of the body, were being cleansed by this purifying fire. I felt that one result of this would be that my filarial fevers would greatly diminish if not altogether go. I wanted therefore to wait for a considerable time and then, if my expectations were justified,
1. Prithwi Singh did continue, and the portion of Savitri which he translated is included in Kabita, Natok O Probandho.
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to write to You. I am now therefore informing You, after over eight months.
I found that during the first two months the tendency to habitual fever which was coming every month, sometimes even after a fortnight, became much less noticeable. There was slight fever twice during the first two months. Then it completely disappeared except for once in January of this year. The filarial ulcerations also are now very slowly, but perceptibly, disappearing. Complete elimination is still not there but they are very much less.
During this time I clearly experienced that the seeds of this chronic ailment sprout up from the inconscient. Many a time I had a queer feeling that it ought to come and then immediately, with a strong will I put it down knowing the source of this habit and praying for the Mother's Force to break down altogether the hold of the inconscient in throwing up this disease.
Now fortunately I do not have this feeling. There is no expectation of recurrence. Here I may also say that once, in course of the ascension of the kundalini, when the consciousness rose with a tremendous speed a little over the head, I saw the whole room, myself and all, filled with this fire. It was a marvellous experience. I was fully awake and it was quite real, I suppose. The result of all this has been more powerful than could ever be obtained by the use of medicine.
I am writing this simply to express my deep gratitude and love to my Beloved Mother for all She is doing for me.
16 February 1962
* * *
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Ma douce Mere,
The meditation given on the 15th of August1 was very intense and deep. Just in the beginning I felt a deep silence as if someone was squeezing out thoughts. There was also a feeling as if at some great presence the whole Ashram became still and silent. I don't know what it was but it lasted only for a short while. After some time thoughts began again to disturb the mind.
I just inform The Mother what I had felt on that grand day.
With pranams at Thy beloved Feet,
Prithwi Singh
Sri Aurobindo immense and very concrete (in the subtle physical) was sitting over the whole compound during all the meditation.2
Mother
28 August 1962
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
I would like to know about one thing.
It is said that a man has five sheaths or vehicles. The physical sheath falls away at the time of death. The vital and the mental get dissolved when the soul arrives at last at the psychic plane of rest where, in a trance sleep, it assimilates its experiences of past lives for
1.Sri Aurobindo's birthday. Everyone assembled around the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo in the big courtyard when the Mother gave meditation at 10 a.m. for half an hour.
2.See Mother's Agenda of 18 August 1962 for an account of Mother's experience during this darshan.
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a future birth. Now what happens with regard to the causal body—supramental ? bliss vehicles ? Perhaps they are not dissolved but do they detach themselves from the soul to join with it in its next birth or, as a cause it is always there, even in the psychic world, so long as the individual retains his individuality and does not lose himself in the transcendence or in Nirvana ?
I would like to know, Mother, about this thing.
With deep devotion and pranams at Thy Feet.
Prithwi Singh
Alas! as yet there is no supramental body formed! This has still to be realised.
Mother
23 September 1964
* * *
(Regarding recent riots against the Ashram.)
What has happened now does not seem to be due to anti-Hindi agitation. Taking advantage of it some unsocial elements have simply turned it to anti-Ashram activities but against the Divine they cannot stand. This opposition however shows that the time is near when even surface things will change. All this is happening to delay the inevitable destiny of earth. May the Mother's Force be victorious over all obstacles.
Prithwi Singh
Nothing can delay the inevitable realisation.
Mother
16 February 1965
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(Prithwi Singh wrote to Mother the substance of what he had heard about her statement on the comet Ikeya-Seki and prayed to her to correct it if it was not quite all right. Mother very graciously made corrections and additions and remarked:)
It is not quite correct and difficult to make all right. This is an approximation.
Blessings
Mother
(A second time Mother again corrected the text he sent. But she also added a word of caution.)
This is fairly correct although incomplete, but it is better to withdraw it from circulation and to stop making it an object of gossip.
Mother
(But Mother got fed up when a third time he sent Udar's text—supposedly corrected by Mother— and also what he had heard from Amal. Mother crossed out a part of the former; and crossing out heavily the entire text of the latter, she wrote in the margin: "fanciful expression. "Then she added:)
Both are hopelessly distorted and not at all what I have said.
Mother
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(And finally Mother burst out:)
I wish that all these copies distorting ridiculously an interesting experience should be withdrawn from circulation and replaced by a quiet silence which is the only proper attitude.
Mother
29 October 1965
*
Addendum
(Extracts from Mother's Agenda 30 October &
November 3,1965 regarding the comet Ikeya-Seki)
Something amusing has happened. You know that there is a new comet?... This morning around four, I saw the comet, and suddenly I found myself in a state above the earth, and I saw a being who seemed to be associated with this comet. He had red hair (but not an aggressive red), a white body, but not pure white: a golden white, as if he were naked, but he didn't give an impression of being naked, or of wearing any clothes either (I have noticed this several times already), sexless—neither man nor woman. And it was a young being, charming, full of a sort of joy ... and he was spreading in the earth atmosphere a sort of substance that was heavier than Matter— not heavier, but denser—and jelly-like. It was as though he had taken advantage of the comet passing near the earth to spread that substance. And at the same time, I was told it was "to help for the transformation of the earth." And he showed me how to make that substance
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circulate in the atmosphere.
It was charming: a young being, full of joy, as if dancing, and spreading that substance everywhere.
It lasted a long time. For several hours I remained in
it.
*
The other day I told you about that comet, and something amusing has happened. Just for fun I said to myself, "Oh, it would be quite interesting to see this comet as it can be seen through the most powerful telescope ever invented." And barely had the thought come (it was last night) when I heard, "Look." So I opened my eyes, and I saw the comet, big like this, very big, as it could be seen with the most powerful telescope, quite bright, with its tail! And the interesting thing was that just beside it (not like the comet's tail, but just next to it), there was a star, a sort of star, but quite small, and very bright, which seemed to me of a very peculiar interest.
And the effect is going on. That substance I told you about is still acting in the earth atmosphere.
* * *
Ma douce Mere,
I am sending herewith 6 copies of my book of translation [Bengali] of Sri Aurobindo's Poems in Quantitative Metre. Only 12 copies have arrived today. I will send more copies when they come.
I hope the Mother will like the general get-up of the book. The price will be Rs. 2.50____
Prithwi Singh
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The get-up is very good.
Blessings
Mother
19 May 1966
* * *
(Written at the time of the Six-Day War.)
Ma douce Mere,
... The war in the Middle East is perhaps a direct result of the resistance to the Supramental working.
It seems, in Sri Aurobindo's words, that "Rudra still holds the world in the hollow of his hands."1
In this connection I would like to know what attitude one should keep with regard to this developing Arab-Israel war. Whether our thoughts should be on the Israeli side or otherwise. Or we should be indifferent to the victory of either if none incarnates the Divine in its fight. In any case, I am sure it will not affect the realisation, as the Mother had once written to me, "Nothing can delay the inevitable Realisation."
Prithwi Singh
Those who serve the Truth cannot take one side or another.
Truth is above conflict and opposition. In Truth all countries unite in a common effort towards progress and realisation.2
Mother 7 June 1967
1.In Essays on the Gita (Cent. Ed., vol. 13 p. 372).
2.See Mother's Agenda, vol. VIII, 17 June 1967.
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Ma douce Mere,
I was struck by the power and intensity of Love when I saw You on my birthday. It was the same feeling when I received Your kind message on the Israeli war. All this has made me convinced, not mentally alone, but from the depth of my being, that the power of Divine Love is greater than the power of Divine wrath.
Now I will pray to be enlightened on one point. At present the working is going on with direct Supramental Force. Its immediate action on the world of selfishness, strife and disharmony is not encouraging. We see everywhere clashes; the world is going on in the old way as usual, perhaps worse. One is reminded of the old legend that the first thing that arose from the churning of the Ocean of Life was poison. Nectar came last. The action now looks to be similar. India is going on in the same old way, placating Pakistan and the Mussulmans and Russians.
One sentence in the Mother's reply in connection with the Israeli-Arab war seems to me to be very ominous: "Ce n'est pas ce conflit qui decidera de l'avenir de notre civilisation."1 Does it mean that there will be another bigger conflict in which the present civilisation will be destroyed though the world will be saved ? Or it means that there may not be any war at all and the fate of our civilisation may be decided by natural evolution of consciousness? But the last one seems very unlikely except that the complete transformation of the Mother's physical will produce such
1. "This is not the conflict that will decide the future of our civilisation." See Mother's Agenda, vol. VIII, 21 June 1967.
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tremendous effect everywhere that disharmony will become impossible.
I am particularly praying for an answer to this question as many, like myself, think that there is a possibility of another war that will decide the future of our civilisation.
With deep devotion and pranams at Thy Feet,
Prithwi Singh
It looks evident that if the transformation undertaken could be achieved in its totality, the necessity of another world-war would no more exist.
But purposely, for the sake of the work, the future is not revealed. So your question cannot be answered. Thus for everyone the wisest is to open oneself as much as possible to the force that is pressing for manifestation, to keep sincerely an ardent aspiration and an unshaken faith ... and wait patiently for the result.
With blessings
Mother
19 July 1967
* * *
What should we expect in music ? How to judge the quality of a piece of music ? How to develop good taste (for music) ? What do you think of light music (cinema, jazz, etc.) which our children like very much ?
The role of music lies in helping the consciousness to uplift itself towards the spiritual heights.
All that lowers the consciousness, encourages desires and excites the passions runs counter to the true goal of
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music and ought to be avoided.
It is not a question of designation but of inspiration—and the spiritual consciousness alone can be the judge there.
Mother
22 July 1967
** *
Ma douce Mere,
l am sending a letter from Mr. Coats. You will please see his remarks about what You have written on music. It is very appreciative____
I shall be very thankful if the Mother will please ask Satprem to give a typed copy of the recorded statement of the Mother about August Darshan. I will easily get it translated from the French.
With deep devotion and pranams at Thy Feet
Prithwi Singh
What I have said to Satprem, is not to be published. Satprem is keeping a record of all I say about the body sadhana which I am doing now.1 But that record is not to be published, at least for the moment, nor circulated.
The parts of this record which are considered useful for others are published in the Bulletin under the title "Notes sur le chemin".
Blessings
Mother
12 September 1967
** *
1. That is Mother's Agenda.
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