And when X came, they took him to Auroville, [[A first nucleus near the Great Lake. ]] and there is there a small Ganesh temple that was bought along with the land, on condition that the small temple be respected and people be allowed to come and offer prayers if they want to. They showed him the temple, he was very glad, then they asked him what should be done for the rites - "Oh, Ganesh will look after that, don't worry!" (Mother laughs) He said that very nicely. page 101 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 29th May , 1965 |
Have you heard of Auroville?... For a long time, I had had a plan of the "ideal city," but that was during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime, with Sri Aurobindo living at its center. Afterwards ... I was no longer interested. Then, we took up the idea of Auroville again (I was the one who called it "Auroville"), but from the other end: instead of the formation having to find the place, it was the place (near the Lake) that caused the formation to be born; and up to now I took a very secondary interest in it because I hadn't received anything direct. Then that little H. took it into her head to have a house there, near the Lake, and have a house for me next to hers to offer me. And she wrote to me all her dreams; one or two sentences suddenly awakened an old, old memory of something that had tried to manifest - a creation - when I was very small (I don't remember what age), and that had again tried to manifest at the very beginning of the century when I was with Théon. Then I had forgotten all about it. And it came back with that letter: suddenly I had my plan of Auroville. Now I have my general plan; I am waiting for R. to make the detailed plans because since the beginning I have said, "R. will be the architect," and I have written to R. When he came here last year he went to see Chandigarh, the city built by Le Corbusier up there in Punjab, and he wasn't very happy (it seems to me rather mediocre - I don't know, I haven't seen it; I only saw photographs that were dreadful). And when he spoke to me, I saw that he was feeling, "Oh, if I had a city to build! ..." So I wrote to him, "If you want, I have a city to build." He is so very glad, he is coming. And when he comes, I'll show him my plan, then he will build the city. [[It was only three years later, in February, 1968, that Auroville would be founded. ]] My plan is very simple. It will be up there, off the Madras road, on top of the hill. (Mother takes a piece of paper and starts drawing) Here we have (naturally in Nature it's not like this: we'll have to adapt - it's like this up there, in the ideal), here, a central point. This central point is a park I had seen when I was a little girl (perhaps the most beautiful thing in the world with regard to physical, material Nature), a park with water and trees like all parks, and flowers, but not too many (flowers in the form of creepers), palm trees and ferns (all species of palm trees), water (if possible, running water) and, if possible, a small waterfall. From a practical point of view, it would be very good: at the edge, outside the park, we could build reservoirs that would provide water to the residents. So in that park I had seen the "Pavilion of Love" (but I don't like to use that word because men have turned it into something ludicrous); I am referring to the principle of divine Love. But it has been changed: it will be the "Pavilion of the Mother"; but not this (Mother points to herself): the Mother, the true Mother, the principle of the Mother. (I say "Mother" because Sri Aurobindo used the word, otherwise I would have put something else - I would have put "creative principle" or "realizing principle" or ... something of that sort.) And it will be a small building, not a big one, with just a meditation room downstairs, with columns and probably a circular shape (I say "probably" because I am leaving it for R. to decide). Upstairs, the top floor will be a room, and the roof will be a covered terrace. Do you know the old Indian Mogul miniatures with palaces in which there are terraces and small roofs supported by columns? Do you know those old miniatures? I've had hundreds of them in my hands.... But this pavilion is very, very lovely: a small pavilion like this, with a roof over a terrace, and low walls against which there will be divans where people can sit and meditate in the open air in the evening or at night. And downstairs, at the very bottom, on the ground floor, simply a meditation room - a place with nothing in it. There would probably be, at the far end, something that would be a living light (perhaps the symbol [[Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's symbol. ]] made of living light), a constant light. Otherwise, a very calm, very silent place. Adjoining it would be a small dwelling (well, a dwelling that would still have three floors), but not of large dimensions, and it would be the house of H., who would act as keeper - she would be the keeper of the pavilion (she wrote me a very nice letter, but she didn't understand all this, of course). This is the center. All around, there is a circular road that separates the park from the rest of the city. There would probably be an entrance gate (there has to be one) into the park. An entrance gate with a keeper of the gate. The keeper of the gate is a new girl who has come from Africa and has written me a letter saying she wanted to be the "keeper of Auroville" to let in only the "servants of the Truth".... (laughing) It's a very nice plan (!) So I will probably put her as keeper of the park, with a little house on the road, at the entrance. But the interesting thing is that around this central point, there are four large sections, like four large petals (Mother draws), but the corners of the petals are rounded and there are small intermediate zones: four large sections and four zones.... Of course, this is only in the air: on the ground it will be an approximation. We have four large sections: the cultural section in the north, that is, in the direction of Madras; in the east, the industrial section; in the south, the international section; and in the west, that is, towards the Lake, the residential section. I will explain myself: the residential section, where there will be the houses of people who will have already subscribed, and all the others who come in their numbers to have a plot in Auroville. That will be towards the Lake. The international section ... We have already approached a number of ambassadors and countries so each country would have its pavilion there: a pavilion for every country (that was my old idea); some have already accepted, anyhow it's under way. Each pavilion has its own garden with, as far as possible, a selection of the plants and produce of the country represented. If they have enough money and space, they can also have a sort of small museum or permanent exhibition of the achievements of the country. And the pavilion should be built according to the architecture of the country represented: it should be like a document of information. Then depending on the amount of money they want to put in, they can also have quarters for students, conference rooms, etc.,the country's cuisine, a restaurant of the country - they can have all sorts of developments. Then the industrial section ... Already many people, including the Madras government (the Madras government is lending money) want to set up industries, which will be on a special basis. This industrial section is in the east, and it's very large: there is plenty of space; and it must slope down to the sea. North of Pondicherry, there is indeed a rather large expanse which is totally uninhabited and uncultivated; it's by the sea, going northward along the coast. So this industrial section would slope down to the sea, and, if possible, there would be a sort of wharf (not exactly a harbor, but a place where boats can berth), and all those industries with the necessary internal means of transport would have a direct possibility of export. And here, there would be a big hotel, the plan of which R. has already done (we wanted to build the hotel here, in the place of the "Shipping Company," but the owner, after saying yes, said no - that's very good, it will be better there), a big hotel to receive visitors from outside. Quite a few industries have already signed up for this section; I don't know if there will be enough space, but we'll manage. Then in the north (that's where there is the most space, naturally), in the direction of Madras: the cultural zone. There, an auditorium (the auditorium I have dreamed of doing for a long time: plans had already been made), an auditorium with a concert hall and grand organ, the best you find now (it seems they make wonderful things). I want a grand organ. There will also be a theater stage with wings (a revolving stage and so on, the very best you can find). So, here, a magnificent auditorium. There will be a library, there will be a museum, exhibition rooms (not in the auditorium: in addition to it), there will be a cinema studio, a cinema school; there will be a gliding club: already we almost have the government's authorization and promise - anyway it's already at a very advanced stage. Then, towards Madras, where there is plenty of space, a stadium. And a stadium that we want to be the most modern and the most perfect possible, with the idea (an idea I've had for a long time) that twelve years (the Olympic games take place every four years), twelve years after 1968 (in 1968, the Olympiad will be held in Mexico), twelve years after, we would have the Olympic games in India, here. So we need space. In between these sections, there are intermediary zones, four intermediary zones: one for public services (the post, etc.), a zone for transportation (railway station and, if possible, an airfield), a zone for food supplies (that one would be towards the Lake and would include dairies, poultry farms, orchards, cultivation, etc. - it would spread to incorporate the Lake estate [[Which has already been cultivated. ]]: what they wanted to do separately will be done as a part of Auroville); then a fourth zone (I've said public services, transportation, food supplies), and the fourth zone: shops. We don't need many shops, but a few are necessary to get what we don't produce. These zones are like quarters, you see. And you will be there, in the center?H. hopes so! (Mother laughs) I didn't say either yes or no to her, I told her, "The Lord will decide." It depends on my "health." Moving from here - no: I am here because of the Samadhi, I remain here, that's quite certain; but I can go there on a visit (it's not so far away, it takes five minutes by car). Only, H. wants to be in peace, silence, far from the world, and it's quite possible in her park with a road around it and someone to stop people from entering - one can be really in peace - but if I am there, that's an end to it! There will be collective meditations and so on. So if I have signs (physical signs, first), then the inner command to go out, I will go there in a car and spend an hour in the afternoon - I can do it from time to time.... We still have time, because it will take years before everything is ready. You mean the disciples will remain here.Ah, the Ashram remains here - the Ashram stays here, I stay here, that's quite clear: Auroville is ... A satellite.Yes, it's the contact with the outside world. The center in my drawing is a symbolic center. But that's H.'s hope: she wants a house where she would be all alone, and next to it a house where I would be all alone - the second part is a dream because for me to be "all alone" ... you just have to see what goes on! It's a fact, isn't it, so it doesn't go well with the "all alone." Solitude must be found within, it's the only way. But on the level of life, I will certainly not go and live there, because the Samadhi is here; but I can go there on a visit. For instance, I can go for an opening or certain ceremonies - we'll have to see, it won't be for years. It's going to take years to be realized. So, Auroville is meant more for the outside.Oh, yes! It's a town, so it is the whole contact with the outside. And an attempt to achieve on earth a slightly more ideal life. In the old formation I had made, there had to be a hill and a river. A hill was necessary because Sri Aurobindo's house was on top of the hill. But Sri Aurobindo was there, in the center. It was arranged according to the plan of my symbol, that is to say, a central point with Sri Aurobindo and all that concerns Sri Aurobindo's life, then four large petals (which weren't the same as in this drawing, they were something different), then twelve petals around (the city proper), then around that, there were the disciples' was even N. who was a sailor and who said he would obtain a sailing boat from England to sail up the river, collect all the products and bring them back to us here - everything was very well seen to! Then they set that condition. I asked if it was possible to remove it, then Sir Akbar died and it was over, the whole thing fell through. Afterwards I was glad it hadn't worked out because, with Sri Aurobindo gone, I could no longer leave Pondicherry - I could leave Pondicherry only with him (provided he agreed to go and live in his ideal city). At the time I told Antonin Raymond, who built "Golconde," about the project, and he was enthusiastic, he told me, "As soon as you start building, call me and I will come." I showed him my plan (it was on the model of my symbol, enlarged), and he was quite enthusiastic, he found it magnificent. It fell through. But the other project, which is just a small intermediate attempt, we can try. I am under no illusion that it will retain its purity, but ... we will try something. Much will depend on those you will entrust with the financial organization of the project.The financial organization, for the moment, is looked after by N., because he is the one who receives the money through that "Sri Aurobindo Society" and who has bought the lands - there is already a good amount of land bought. That's going well. Naturally the difficulty is to find enough money, but for example, for the pavilions, it's each country that will meet the expenses for its pavilion; for the industries, it's each industry that puts its money into the business; for the residents, each will give the money necessary for his land. And the government (Madras has already promised it to us) gives between 60% and 80% (partly a grant, which means it's given, and partly a loan, free of interest and repayable over ten years, twenty years, forty years - a long-term repayment). N. knows his way about, [[He knows his way about very well indeed: he is the one who will become the "proprietor" of Auroville after Mother's departure, taking advantage of the money collected for Auroville. He will have the Aurovilians who will not consent to this fraud sent to jail and expelled from India, while Auroville will be reduced to a state of siege and funds meant for Auroville will be used to corrupt. ]] he has already got results. But depending on whether money comes in fast or only little by little, it will go faster or slower. As regards the construction, it will depend on R.'s plasticity.... page 139-145 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 23rd June - 1965 |
A few weeks later, on September 7, Mother was led to put the project of Auroville in perspective: Auroville wants to be a universal town ... A universal town - not international: universal. ... where men and women of all countries will be able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creed, all politics and all nationalities, straining to realize human unity. page 150 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 23rd June - 1965 |
(Later, regarding a letter from the Raymonds, friends of Pavitra'sand the architects who built "Golconde," the Ashram's guest house.)Have you seen the Raymonds' letter? ... They've written a very sweet letter. In their letter, they write something I didn't know, which Pavitra had never told me; they say that when Pavitra put them in contact with here, it completely changed their lives, the aim of their lives and everything. Raymond is a great architect. When they came here [[In 1937-38. ]] and built "Golconde," I asked Raymond to prepare the plan for the first Auroville I had conceived (that was when Sri Aurobindo was still alive), and it was magnificent! He didn't leave it here. But it was an Auroville with, at the center, Sri Aurobindo's house (gesture on a hilltop). Sri Aurobindo was alive, so we had put him at the center. (silence) Pavitra has remained wholly conscious, independent. For instance, when I was read this very letter of the Raymonds, it was Pavitra who listened! And who had all the reactions .... It's very interesting. It's something quite unexpected .... There are times when I feel a slight inner duality, that is, for example, two reactions to one thing! It's quite funny. He had an extraordinary goodwill! I realize he really had goodwill, and a sort of modest endurance - never a sense of wanting to pull things to himself .... (Laughing) I know him better now!page 216-17 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 11th June , 1969 |
Two nights ago, I spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo, and I showed him all that was going to descend for Auroville. It was rather interesting. There were games, there was art, there was even cooking! But all that was very symbolic. I explained it to him as if on a table, in front of a large landscape; I explained the principle on whose basis physical exercises and games were going to be organized. It was very clear, very precise, I even did a demonstration, as if showing him on a very small scale: a representation on a very small scale of what was going to be done. I moved people, things ... (gesture as if on a chessboard). But it was very interesting, and he was interested: he gave kinds of broad laws of organization (I don't know how to explain) page 202 - Mother's Agenda , volume 10, 31st May , 1969 |
Mother hands Satprem a brochure on Auroville The photos are very pretty. One is quite like a nebula. Practically, is it moving?It seems to be going quite well. A very widespread collective response, and from the two opposite sides: the whole Communist side is moving, and the whole financial, American side is moving. There is an effervescence. It's sure to work, I KNOW it exists - the city is already there (it has been for many, many years). Interestingly, my creation was with Sri Aurobindo in the center, then when Sri Aurobindo left, I let it all rest, I didn't budge anymore. Then it suddenly started coming again, as if to say, "Now is the time, it must be done." Very well. The Muslims would say, "It's fated." It's fated, it's sure to exist. I don't know how much time it will take, but it seems to be going fast. The city already exists. And the remarkable thing is that I simply told R. [the architect] the broad outlines, asking him if he was interested. Then he went back to France and he received my formation (my old formation, which I myself had left asleep); he received it there. I found that very interesting. He received it, he said to me, "It came all at once, I seemed to be possessed by something, and in one night the whole thing was done." And the interesting point is that an architect friend of his came and worked with him and participated in the creation; he is now quite enthusiastic, and he is a man who has very extensive contacts with all Communist Europe, including Russia. And he is thrilled to pieces. So, on that side, it's working well. And in America, too, it seems to be working. And that's precisely what I want - that these two countries clashing with each other should come here, and each of them have a pavilion of their culture and ideal, and that they should be here, face to face, and shake hands. page 91-92 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 23rd April - 1966 |
A little later We're still receiving heaps of letters. Lots of people want to come and are asking questions. There's going to be a crush of people - some are arranging planes! So yesterday I said, "We'll have a direct yearly flight: Paris-Auroville!" And they're going to prepare an airfield. We are already in negotiations with the government for the land: it's huge, we could make four or five airfields! There will be a landing field in Auroville: Paris-Auroville! (Mother looks very amused.) It seems that in 1972, there will be a new plane that will fly from Paris to India (Paris-Auroville!) in four hours. Which means that if they leave Paris in the evening, they'll reach here at daybreak (you know that some time is lost while coming here). And if they leave here at noon, they'll reach Paris at 10 in the morning - two hours before they left. page 160 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Jul - 1966 |
Another one is Communist. He is a Russian who lives in Paris. He asked me if all the Auroville workers shouldn't meet and "talk over" (Mother laughs) the necessity of a "moral conduct"! (I have heard he keeps them all talking away till 3 in the morning.) So I answered him (laughing) that morality has only a very relative value from the standpoint of the Truth; that it changes with countries, climates and ages! I also told him that discussions were generally sterile and nonproductive. And so as not to be only critical, I answered him that if everyone made an effort to be perfectly sincere, straightforward and goodwilled, that would be enough to create quite a sufficient base to work on.... The poor fellow! page 172 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 10th Aug - 1966 |
You know that scores of people have come for Auroville.... Instead of working, they spend their time talking and chatting! And they send me letters. Their whole mental ego is bubbling with excitement, all of them. Have you seen them? They've already begun discussing what the city's political situation will be - even before the first stone has been laid! And one of them, the one with a Communist creed (he is the one who has the greatest energy and power of realization), is scandalized: he wrote to me yesterday, saying he couldn't take part in something that wasn't "purely democratic"! ... So I answered him this (Mother hands Satprem her note): "Auroville must be at the service of the Truth, beyond all social, political and religious convictions." I told him many things (Mother makes a gesture of mental communication), but above all, I insisted a lot on the fact that it would be better to build the city first! And that we would see afterwards. Because he told me it was important for him that we should remain in the democratic system "until something better has been found." I felt like answering him, "How do you know that something better hasn't been found?" But I didn't say anything. Then I also wrote something for J. He had asked me for a "message" for his school (Mother hands another note): "He who lives to serve the Truth is unaffected by any external circumstance." page 173-74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 13th Aug - 1966 |
I had a revelation, in the sense that it was more on the order of a vision. For external reasons, I was looking at the sorry state in which all countries find themselves, the truly painful and dangerous conditions of the earth, and there was a sort of all-embracing vision showing how nations (men taken as nations) have acted and are increasingly acting in a growing Falsehood, and how they have used all their creative power to create such formidable means of destruction, with, at the back of their minds, the really childish notion that the destruction would be so terrible that no one would want to use them. But they don't know (they ought to know, but they don't) that things have a consciousness and a force of manifestation, and that all those means of destruction are pressing to be used; and even though men may not want to use them, a force stronger than they will be pushing them to do so. Then, seeing all this, the imminence of the catastrophe, there was a sort of call or aspiration to bring down something that could at least neutralize that error. And it came, an answer ... I can't say I heard it with my ears, but it was so clear, so strong and precise that it was indisputable. I am obliged to translate it into words; if I translate it into words, I may say something like this: "That's why you have created Auroville." And with the clear vision that Auroville was a center of force and creation, with ... (how can I explain?) a seed of truth, and that if it could sprout and develop, the very movement of its growth would be a reaction against the catastrophic consequences of the error of armament. I found this very interesting because this birth of Auroville wasn't preceded by any thought; as always, it was simply a Force acting, like a sort of absolute manifesting, and it was so strong [when the idea of Auroville presented itself to Mother] that I could have told people, "Even if you don't believe in it, even if all circumstances appear to be quite unfavorable, I KNOW THAT AUROVILLE WILL BE. It may be in a hundred years, it may be in a thousand years, I don't know, but Auroville will be, because it has been decreed." So it was decreed - and done quite simply, like that, in obedience to a Command, without any thought. And when I was told that (I say, "I was told," but you understand what I mean), when I was told that, it was to tell me, "Here is why you have made Auroville; you are unaware of it, but that's why...." Because it was the LAST HOPE to react against the imminent catastrophe. If some interest is awakened in all countries for this creation, little by little it will have the power to react against the error they have committed. I found this very interesting, because I had never thought about it. And naturally, when I was shown that, I understood; I perceived how the creation of Auroville has an action in the invisible, and what action. It's not a material, outward action: it's an action in the invisible. And since then, I have been trying to make countries understand it, of course not outwardly because they all think they're much too clever to be taught anything, but inwardly, in the invisible. It's fairly recent, it dates from two or three days ago. I had never been told this. It was said very clearly - "said," I mean seen, shown like this (gesture of a scene offered to the sight). So my interest in Auroville has considerably increased since then. Because I have understood that it isn't just a creation of idealism, but quite a practical phenomenon, in the hope ... in the will, rather, to thwart and counterbalance the effects - the frightful effects - of the psychological error of believing that fear can save you from a danger! Fear attracts the danger much more than it saves you from it. And all these countries, all these governments commit blunder upon blunder because of that fear of the catastrophe. All this is simply to tell you that if nations collaborate in the work of Auroville, even to a very modest extent [such as this offer of money from the French government], it will do them good - it can do them a lot of good, a good that can be out of proportion to the appearance of their actions. You speak of the imminence of a catastrophe, but still Auroville will take some time to be realized?No! I am speaking of the countries' collaboration in CREATING something. It's not when Auroville has been completed: it's the nations' collaboration in creating something - but creating something founded on the Truth instead of a rivalry in Falsehood's creation. It's not when Auroville is ready - when Auroville is ready, it will be one town among all other towns and it's only its own capacity of truth that will have power, but that ... remains to be seen. No, the point is a combined interest in building something founded on the Truth. They have had a combined interest (combined without any mutual liking, of course) in creating a power of destruction built on Falsehood; well, Auroville means diverting a little of that force (the quantity is minor, but the quality is superior). It's truly a hope - it's founded on a hope - of doing something that can be the beginning of a harmony. No, it's RIGHT NOW, right now. The force of propagation is far greater, it's out of proportion to the transmitting center [Mother], which, on a world scale, is so to say unknown and almost nonexistent. But the center, the power of radiation and propagation is out of proportion, it's rather remarkable: the response [to Auroville] is everywhere, everywhere; a response from new Africa, a response in France, a response in Russia, a response in America, a response in Canada, and a response in numerous countries, in Italy ... everywhere, everywhere. And not just individuals: groups, tendencies, movements, even in governments. What's proving to be the most refractory (and the irony of it is wonderful) is ... the United Nations! Those people are outdated, oh! ... They haven't yet gone beyond the "materialistic, antireligious movement," and they made a derogatory remark about the Auroville brochure, saying it was "mystic," with "religious" tendency. The irony is lovely! Unfortunately, following the present tendencies, for Auroville they are trying to get UNESCO'S support (!) I, of course, knew beforehand that those [UNESCO] people couldn't understand, but ... they are trying. Because everywhere people (it's a sort of superstition), everywhere people say, "No, I'll open my purse strings only with UNESCO's approval and encouragement" - I am talking about those whose contribution matters, lots of people, so ... Only, to me, all this is the crust, the quite superficial experience - the crust; and things have to happen underneath, beneath that crust. It's just an appearance. I said that to those who look after Auroville, I told them, "Those people [of UNESCO] are two hundred years behind the earth's march, so there's little hope they'll understand." But anyway, I didn't tell them not to deal with them - I don't give any advice. But tiny details such as the one we spoke of just before [the French government's offer of a pension] are an indication: it's countries collaborating in the Truth without knowing it. And it's very good, it will do them good. It's good for them. It doesn't matter if they aren't aware of it (smiling): they won't have the pleasure of having done it, that's all! (silence) But I was the first to be very interested, because it came like that (gesture of irresistible descent), with all-powerful authority: "That's why Auroville has been created."page 204-08 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966 |
There is a perception of forces - the forces that act directly in events, material events, which are ... illusory and deceptive. For instance, the man who fought for his country's freedom, who has just been assassinated because he is a rebel, and who looks defeated, lying there on the edge of the road - he is the real victor. That's how it is, it clearly shows the kind of relationship between the truth and the expression. Then, if you enter the consciousness in which you perceive the play of forces and see the world in that light, it's very interesting. And that's how, when I was in that state, I was told, clearly shown (it's inexpressible because it isn't with words, but these are facts): "That's why you have created Auroville...." It's the same thing as with that photo. [[Mother gestures to show the man shot lying victorious on the roadside, implying that Auroville's modest appearances are quite out of proportion to its true role in the invisible. ]] page 209 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966 |
There, you'll keep this. *** A note on Auroville by Mother:"Humanity is not the last rung of terrestrial creation. Evolution continues and man will be surpassed. It is for each one to know whether he wants to participate in the advent of the new species. For those who are satisfied with the world as it is, Auroville obviously has no raison d'être."
page 210 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 21st Sep - 1966 |
(Then Mother shows two notes on Auroville.) "At last a place where one will be able to think of nothing but the future." "Auroville is doing well and growing more and more real. But its realization is not progressing in the habitual human way, and it is more visible to the inner consciousness than to the outer vision."page 30 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 21st Jan - 1967 |
And when you are on the very lowest rungs of the ladder of consciousness, those manners of speaking become increasingly concrete, absolute, hard, and exclusive of all that isn't themselves: those are religions.... Oh, by the way, it seems the Pope was approached about Auroville and he asked if there would be a Catholic church! ... They put the question to me. I said, "No. No churches, no temples." page 51 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 8th Feb - 1967 |
But now, with this "new logic" and "new mathematics," a whole set of new signs is beginning to be universal, that is to say, the same signs express the same ideas or things in all countries, whatever language is used in the country, quite independently. These new thoughts and new experiences, this new logic and new mathematics, are now taught in higher classes, but all the primary and secondary studies have remained in the old formula, so I have been very seriously thinking of opening primary and secondary schools in Auroville, based on the new system - as a trial. page 57 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 18th Feb - 1967 |
"Auroville is the shelter built for all those who want to hasten towards a future of knowledge, peace and unity." We have a small place called "Promesse," where there will be six or eight rooms, an office which will be Auroville's first administrative office, and also a guest house with a few rooms, five or six rooms for visitors. It's quite a small place, with a pretty garden and trees, on the Madras road. It's on Auroville's outer border.And so it's being built. There will be a lotus pond in the middle and a sort of big bowl, made of marble, I think, on which this text will be engraved (in French) to let people passing by know what Auroville is. page 130-31 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd May - 1967 |
A. writes that he received in Paris people who asked for information on Auroville. He answered with a letter, and when he was about to send it, he thought, "Maybe I'd better show it to Mother, after all." He sent his letter - and well he did! Those people asked him the conditions to be admitted to Auroville; he replies, "Oh, that hasn't been decided yet!" (Mother laughs) So I've prepared a little note; because he just says, "Oh, nothing has been decided, we'll see," as though there weren't any Aurovilians yet. I don't know if he did it purposely to discourage people; at any rate, it's not good to write like that. At least three or four hundred Aurovilians have been accepted and I signed them in. So one can't answer like that.... I know what he based himself on: I had told him that, naturally, from the material point of view, the CONDITIONS OF LIFE in Auroville were not arbitrarily fixed in advance. Here is what I wrote: "From the psychological point of view, the essential conditions are: 1) Being convinced of the essential human unity and having the will to collaborate in the advent of this unity. 2) The will to collaborate in all that furthers future realizations." That's all, it's not complicated. Then, from the material point of view: "The material conditions will be worked out as the realization progresses." It's not too complicated. Of course, we'll add a note saying that for the time being, after they have read the brochures on "Why Auroville?" and have adhered to that, people will have to send their photograph along with their request, and I am the one who will accept them or not. As long as the number remains limited, a few hundreds, it's very easy to see their photos and thus have a minimum guarantee that tricksters won't come in. Because it's very easy to say, "Oh, I am thoroughly convinced and eager to participate," but that's just words.... I can't see each and every one, but even with their photograph one can see clearly enough whether they are sincere or not. page 165-66 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd June - 1967 |
I saw Y. on the 31st. She stayed for about an hour and told me of her hopes: she sees the possibility of a sort of world television (I don't know how that would be arranged), with a telephone and a central office where answers to all possible questions would be collected - each question answered by someone eminent or qualified. The result would be the organization of a universal - well, a world education that would really be an education for all countries, in which the knowledge and best qualities of every country in the artistic, literary and scientific fields would be gathered in a kind of transmitting center, and all you would have to do would be to get into communication with it. So then, instead of having more or less incapable teachers to teach what they know also more or less, you would have the answer to every question, the most competent and best answer. Thus there would really be all over the earth an education that would be the best possible, from which everyone would receive only what he wants; you wouldn't have to attend classes, a number of useless classes, in order to catch the little you want to know: you would have it just by getting into communication with the center; you would ask for such and such a number and would get your answer If it could be realized, it would be very good. It means that the most beautiful works of art, the most beautiful teachings, all the best of what humanity is GOING to produce, would be collected and within the reach of all those who had a television. There would be pictures along with the explanation, or a text or speech. A kind of imposing central building where everything would be gathered. I found it rather attractive. I told her that we would have that in Auroville (not the central office: just a receiving set). She said that instead of teachers who teach poorly what they know, there would be the best teaching for each subject.... (I didn't ask her WHO would select those people - that remains the somewhat delicate point.) But I found the idea very attractive. She said things are moving in that direction. page 167-68 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 3rd June - 1967 |
(About an Indian disciple from South Africa who has been jailed for a few months in Syria under the pretext that his banknotes were counterfeit.) ... They have no government to protect them. Before India's independence they had a British passport, but now the government of South Africa doesn't recognize them, the government of India doesn't look after them, so they're like that, neither fish nor fowl, and with no one to protect them. It's rather peculiar. There are a few here [in the Ashram] who still have a British passport, and they don't know what to do. They're neither this nor that, they're nothing I To those who are nice I say, "Never mind, you will become Aurovilians." That saves everything. Because the principle has been recognized by UNESCO, they've recognized the idea: everyone becomes Aurovilian, no more separate nationality. So it's very good. As an idea, it's interesting. Only, I've warned them to be careful about admissions, because ... (Mother laughs) it could be seen as a refuge for brigands who have been driven out of their country! ... As long as I control admissions it's all right, but after?...page 199 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 30th June - 1967 |
Auroville I met Y. They're preparing an issue on Auroville, and she came with a list of questions this long (gesture), saying, "I don't know Auroville's sociology too well." I told her, "Neither do I!" Then she asked me questions (very intelligent ones, mind you), and I answered her. But there was one thing about the selection of people and admissions to Auroville; I told her that naturally, the essential condition to be able to select people was that preferences, attractions and repulsions, likes and dislikes, all moral rules, all of that must have completely disappeared - not that one should be on the way to overcoming it, it's not that: it must have disappeared (laughing), there must be no more ego! Then I told her, "It's not a judgment, it's not that you look at people and judge whether they are fit to be there or not, destined to be there or not, it's not that at all - you don't 'judge'...." And after she left, I noted the end of the thing (Mother takes a note and reads it out): page 334 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 11th Oct - 1967 |
Requests for admission to Auroville have been pouring in at a frightful pace these last few days - every day a stack big as this - so naturally, everyone must send his photo along with his request and say why he wants to be in Auroville, what his skills are, and which category he belongs to: there is the category of those who want to work to build Auroville, and the category of those who want to come and sit peacefully in it once it's ready. And what a humanity, mon petit! ... In fact, all those who come are generally dissatisfied people. Now and then, one of them has a light in his eyes and a need for something he hasn't found (then it's very good). There are those that weren't successful in anything and are completely disgusted, so they wonder if they might not be successful here. Then there are the old ones who worked hard and want to rest. There are very few young people - the few young people are all people of worth (the ordinary youth aren't interested). And the few I have seen are those who want to work: they don't want to come and take advantage from others' work, they want to work. So we'll soon have a rather interesting team. But (laughing) with the satiated old ones, I ... postpone decision, put under observation (Mother laughs). Yesterday, there were a number of them. We'll see: if they want to be useful, that is, give money or things, or propose to do something, then we'll see; but as such, the satiated fat fellow with his leaden-seated fat missis who want to come and spend the rest of their lives in peace, to them we say, "Wait a bit, we'll see!" The workers aren't asked anything, that is, they don't have to pay: they can come and work, on condition that they prove they are useful. But those who want a piece of land or a house to live in have to pay. And then, some have limited confidence (laughing) and say, "I'll give you a little money right now and will pay the rest little by little, in installments" - those I generally turn down. Some are so eager to come that they send money in advance, and when there's some life or something in them, I accept them. But to nearly all, except two or three, I say, "Under observation" - we'll see how they react! page 341-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 14th Oct - 1967 |
Once I asked Sri Aurobindo (because we had talked about Auroville a great deal, there were lots of difficulties), I asked him (because it was an idea I had - not an "idea" but a need that expressed itself some thirty years ago - more than thirty, almost forty years ago), so I asked him, and he answered me this (which I told you, I think): "It is the best chance men have to avoid a general conflict."[[See Agenda VII of September 21, 1966. ]] There. So, since he told me that, I have been working very seriously. Of course, it wasn't "said," it was LIVED. Only, I see quite clearly that they don't believe in it, there is no one who feels. So does it ...? And the concrete materialization of the spirit of Auroville hasn't taken place yet, it doesn't exist, there isn't in the earth atmosphere a formation of the "spirit of Auroville," which is a spirit ... (Mother remains absorbed for a long time) ... At bottom it is "The art of building unity out of complexity." Without uniformity, you understand: unity through harmony in complexity, with each thing in its place.... It's very difficult. When R. [Auroville's architect] was here last time, he told me, "When are we going to create Auroville's atmosphere? Everyone is quarreling!" (Mother laughs) I said, "Yes, that's the difficulty...." And it's going on. But anyway, there is a Pressure from above, like that, a Pressure. We shall see. It's still a symbol. Each little group thinks it is a symbol - that too is a symbol. And as the formation descends in order to manifest, all oppositions arise, contradictions arise, complications arise, and within you clearly see that they don't understand. So I spend my time telling them, "Don't try to organize, don't try, you are going to fossilize the whole thing before it's begun." page 355-56 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 25th Oct - 1967 |
(Mother extracts from a heap of papers, letters and envelopes of all kinds, a note on Auroville, which was based on her words but written from memory.) (Laughing) All this hangs together in a marvelous balance!"Auroville will be a self-supporting township. "All who live there will participate in its life and develop ment. "This participation may be passive or active. "There will be no taxes as such but each will contribute to the collective welfare in work, kind or money. "Sections like Industries which participate actively will contribute part of their income towards the development of the township. Or if they produce something (like food stuff) useful for the citizens, they will contribute in kind to the township which is responsible for the feeding of the citizens. "No rules or laws are being framed. Things will get formu lated as the underlying Truth of the township emerges and takes shape progressively. We do not anticipate." Is that all? I thought I had said more than that. Because inwardly I said a lot, a whole lot about the organization of food and so on.... We are going to try things out. Some things are really interesting. For instance, I'd like ... To begin with, every country will have its pavilion, and in the pavilion, there will be a kitchen from that country, which means that the Japanese will be able to eat Japanese food if they want to (!), and so on, but in the township itself, there will be food for vegetarians, food for nonvegetarians, and also a sort of attempt to find "tomorrow's food." The idea is that all this work of assimilation which makes you so heavy (it takes up so much time and energy from the being) should be done BEFORE, that you should be able to immediately assimilate what you are given, as with things they now make; for instance, they have those vitamins that can be directly assimilated, and also (what do they call it?... [Mother tries to remember] I take them every day.... Words and I aren't on very good terms!) ... proteins. Nutritive principles that are found in one thing or another and aren't voluminous - you need to take a tremendous quantity of food to assimilate very little. So now that they are clever enough on the chemical level, that could be simplified. People don't like it, simply because ... they take an intense pleasure in eating (!), but when you no longer take pleasure in eating, you need to be nourished and not to waste your time with that. The amount of time lost is enormous: time for eating, time for digesting, and the rest. So I would like an experimental kitchen to be there, a sort of "culinary laboratory," for a try. And according to their tastes and tendencies, people would go here or there. And you don't pay for your food, but you must give work, or ingredients: for example, those who had fields would give the produce of their fields; those who had factories would give their products; or else your own work in exchange for food. That alone does away with much of the internal circulation of money. And in every field things of that sort could be found.... Ultimately, it must be a town for studies - studies and research on how to live both in a simplified way and in a way such that the higher qualities have MORE TIME to develop. There. It's only a small beginning. page 425-27 , Mother's Agenda , volume 8 , 30th Dec - 1967 |
Then I've written something else.... They wanted to prepare a sort of brochure on Auroville to distribute to the press, the government, etc., on the 28th,[[February 28, Auroville's inauguration. ]] and before that, there is in Delhi in two or three days a conference of all nations ("all nations" is an exaggeration, but anyway they say "all nations"). Z is going there, and she wants to take with her all the papers on Auroville. They have prepared texts - always lengthy, interminable: speeches and more speeches. So then I asked, I concentrated to know what had to be said. And all of a sudden, Sri Aurobindo gave me a revelation. That was something interesting. I concentrated to know the why, the how and so on, and all of a sudden Sri Aurobindo said ... (Mother reads out a note:) "India has become ... It was the vision of the thing, and it instantly translated into French words. "India has become the symbolic representation of all the difficulties of modern mankind. "India will be the land of its resurrection - the resurrection to a higher and truer life." And the clear vision: the same thing which in the history of the universe made the earth the symbolic representation of the universe so as to concentrate the work on one point, the same phenomenon is now taking place: India is the representation of all human difficulties on earth, and it is in India that the ... cure will be found. And then, that is why - THAT IS WHY I was made to start Auroville. It came and it was so clear, so tremendously powerful! So I wrote it down. I didn't tell them how or why, I told them, "Put this at the beginning of your paper, whatever it is; you can say whatever you like, but put this first." It was very interesting. It remained the whole time, for more than an hour, such a strong and clear vision, as if suddenly everything became clear. I often used to wonder about it (not "wonder," but there was a tension to understand why things, here in India, have become such a chaos, with such sordid difficulties, and all of it piling up), and instantly, everything became clear, like that. It was really interesting. And immediately there was: "Here is why you have made Auroville." I didn't know it, you understand, I did the thing under pressure, and it took larger and larger proportions (it's becoming really worldwide), and I would wonder why.... For a time I thought it was the only present possibility to prevent a war, [[See Agenda 8, September 21, 1966. ]] but it seemed to me a somewhat superficial explanation. Then it came all of a sudden: "Ah! That's why." And as that whole power was in it, I said, "Put it." We'll see - they won't understand anything, but that doesn't matter, it will act. page 41-42 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd Feb - 1968 |
Soon afterwards Ah, now let's get down to work. Do you know what we have to do?... We have to prepare Auroville's "Charter"! They will put it into the earth; when they throw in the earth from every country, they will put a metal box with the Charter in it, written on a piece of parchment. So we have to write it down.... I have a few little ideas. But first there is the charter prepared by G. and the one prepared by Y. Read them out to me, we'll see (Mother holds out G.'s charter). Auroville's Charter (G.) 1. Auroville is the first crucible of planetary man.Ah, "planetary," he put that in as Y.'s disciple! Y. loves "planetary." 2. Auroville offers itself to discover the deep sources of man's unity with the universe, of knowledge in joy and love.I don't understand - doesn't matter! 3. Everything in Auroville belongs to the whole earth and Auroville's members are all the beings of the earth.Heaven? What heaven? Here is the other one (Mother holds out Y.'s charter). It's more literary (!) Auroville's Dedication (Y.) 1. We solemnly found this city as the first center of a planetary society ...Ah! ... tomorrow's society.There you are! ... destiny, that this city may become the cradle onew humanity.Is that all? It's better, but that's not it. As for me, I didn't put any solemnities.... I didn't write it [at one go], because it's never mental, so it's not organized (Mother looks for scattered scraps of paper). From a mental point of view, it's worthless, it's not organized, but a few things did come. It's in fragments, it doesn't hang together (Mother goes on sorting out her scraps of paper). I don't even remember what I said.... It's not organized, I don't know in which order I am going to put it ... Ah! (Mother pulls out a piece of paper) ... First there is a material point which G. clumsily tried to express: it's that everyone is a citizen of Auroville. Here is the true thing (we won't put any solemnities, it's not necessary) ... (Mother unrolls a big parchment on her windowsill, facing the Samadhi. Perched on a low stool and armed with a huge black felt-pen that draws cuneiform-like letters, she starts copying Auroville's Charter while commenting on it.) 1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.... So this is the material fact. Auroville belongs ... I didn't put "to no nation" because India would have been furious. I put "belongs to nobody" - "nobody" is a vague term which I used precisely so as not to say "to no human being" or "to no nation." And I put "Auroville belongs to humanity AS A WHOLE because it amounts to nothing! Since people can't agree together, the thing is impossible! I did it deliberately. Then I don't say anything about "citizens" and all that, I say: ... But to live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness. They will all balk at "Divine," but I don't care! You understand, it's the explanation of the Matrimandir [[The "temple of the Mother" at the center of Auroville. ]] at the center. The Matrimandir represents the Divine Consciousness. All that goes unsaid, but it's like that. Then: 2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. And then: 3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries ... All discoveries, that is, philosophical, spiritual, moral, scientific, everything - taking advantage of the past. ... of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations. And finally, there are two versions: "4. Auroville will be a site of research for knowledge and means of existence leading to a human unity based on mutual understanding and goodwill." On another piece of paper, we have, "To give a living body to an actual human Unity." So we'll alter a little. 4. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity. There. (Mother steps down from her stool) It's not me who wrote all this.... I noticed something so interesting: when it comes it's imperative, there's no room for arguing; I write it down - whatever I may be doing I am FORCED to write it down. But when it's not there, it's just not there! Even if I try to remember, nothing comes, it's not there! So it's clear that it doesn't come from here: it comes from somewhere above.(Auroville, the free international township. page 50 - 53 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 7th Feb - 1968 |
But I never said Auroville was the city of love, never, not once! The word is too subject to misuse. It would be better not totalk about it.In fact, the word "love" can be used only with the word "divine" before it. It's the only way it can be used. Without the word "divine," it becomes impossible. And these people refuse to use the word "divine." Yes, they're afraid of it.So what are we going to do?... If I send her paper back without saying anything, she will say I have approved of it; if I tell her it won't do, she'll get still more furious.... And she looks after everything, pokes her nose into everything - legitimately, in a sense, since I told her I put her in charge of education. But it's AFTER that she became like this. At that time, she was a bit cranky, but still quite decent. It's troublesome. (Mother remains silent for a while) Should I send her this: "Beware of the word 'love' if it is not preceded by the adjective 'divine,' because in the general mentality the word evokes sexuality." Just this, nothing else, no opinion about what she's done, but this. (Mother writes her note) I find her paper noxious, because not only does it say nothing,it also opens the door to ambiguities. And it says nothing: the hippies too are the "sons of love," it's their great doctrine. To tell the truth, when I opened that paper, I got a sense of disgust. No, if I trusted her, I would put it differently, I would right away add, "... Which from a spiritual point of view is a disaster." But ... it's no use making people angry. She has no trust whatsoever, she thinks she is infinitely superior. Only, from a political point of view, she is very careful not to come into visible conflict [with Mother], because she feels that would hamper her action. She wanted - and she said I had allowed her (which is standing truth on its head) - she wanted to open an LSD club in Auroville. Because I wrote to her ... being as objective as possible, I wrote it could be useful only under the control of people who have the spiritual knowledge AND the power to control and assist. So she turned it upside down and said, "Mother has given her permission on condition that there are people with knowledge who control ..." So there. And the "people with knowledge," of course ... page 62 - 63 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 17th Feb - 1968 |
Auroville's Charter 1. Auroville belongs to nobody in particular. Auroville belongs to humanity as a whole.
2. Auroville will be the place of an unending education, of constant progress, and a youth that never ages. 3. Auroville wants to be the bridge between the past and the future. Taking advantage of all discoveries from without and from within, Auroville will boldly spring towards future realisations. 4. Auroville will be a site of material and spiritual researches for a living embodiment of an actual Human Unity.page 66-67 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Feb - 1968 |
I told you that the Soviet consul is enthusiastic! He saw the Charter - in English first (in English, there is Divine's Consciousness, with the apostrophe[[In the final English version, the apostrophe was removed: "... To live in Auroville one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness." ]]). He said, "It's a pity, it evokes the idea of God." And S., who had been there, said, "It's not that at all! There's nothing religious in all this affair. We'll show you the French." Then he read conscience divine [divine consciousness], and he was satisfied. He said, "This is just what we want to realize, and without these words it would be officially recognized and supported by the Soviet government." Then they asked him to translate it into Russian, but finally what's being read out in Auroville isn't his translation, it's the one by T. She has just come, and words don't frighten her. But I sent him my permission: I had it explained to him that words were just a more or less clumsy transcription not only of the idea, but of what is above the idea - the principle; that it didn't matter much whether these or those words were used (each one uses the words that suit him best), and that, therefore, I allowed him to use the words that would be acceptable to his government. The Soviet consul said yes, he was very glad. He said, "When the Soviet government officially supports something, it's serious." - It's true, I know it, they are very generous. So I hope it will have a favorable result. And you see, it's just what I wanted: in America, for a long time they have been enthusiastic - which is good, but perhaps they don't understand so well; the Russians, in their nature, are mystic, and as that has been oppressed, suppressed, naturally it has gained a lot of force. And now it tends to want to burst. But if both together support Auroville, we won't have any more financial hassles! It has been coming little by little, little by little. I told you what Sri Aurobindo revealed to me about India's condition, which was the symbolic representation of the present condition of mankind; and that's why, Sri Aurobindo told me, that's why Auroville has been created.' Then I understood. Since then, it has become very clear - "clear," I mean he seems to have made it spread and people seem to begin to understand. So there. page 68 - 69 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Feb - 1968 |
(From a conversation between Mother and a disciple about Auroville.) One needs to have an absolutely transparent sincerity. Lack of sincerity is at present the cause of difficulties. Insincerity is in all men. There are perhaps a hundred totally sincere men on earth. Man's very nature is what makes him insincere. It's very complicated, for he is constantly cheating with himself, hiding the truth from himself, finding excuses for himself. Yoga is the way to become sincere in all the parts of one's being. It is difficult to be sincere, but one can at least be mentally sincere - this is what one can demand from Aurovilians. The Force is there, present as never before; what prevents it from descending and being felt is men's insincerity. The world is steeped in falsehood, all relationships between men have so far been based only on falsehood and deceit. Diplomacy between nations is based on falsehood. They claim they want peace and on the other hand arm themselves. A transparent sincerity in man and between nations will alone permit the coming of a transformed world. Auroville is the first attempt in the experiment. A new world will be born if men consent to strive for transformation and the search for sincerity - it can be done. It took millennia to evolve from animal to man; today man, thanks to his mind, can accelerate things and will a transformation towards a man who will be God. This transformation with the help of the mind, through self-analysis, is a first stage; afterwards, vital impulses must be transformed - which is far more difficult; then, most of all, the physical: each cell of our body will have to become conscious. It is the work I am doing here. It will allow the conquest of death. It's another story; that will be future mankind, perhaps in centuries, perhaps sooner. It will depend on men, on peoples. Auroville is the first step towards this goal.page 69 - 70 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 28th Feb - 1968 |
I didn't want to make rules for Auroville, but I am going to be forced to start formulating certain things, because ... there happens to be difficulties. I don't know what to do. What I wanted to say came; it's very simple (Mother takes a written note), simply like this (it's about very small things): "One must choose between getting drunk and living in Auroville, the two are incompatible." It's not an innocent drunkenness, I mean it results in acts of violence, it verges on madness. So of course, if we start along this road, we may also say this (Mother takes another note): "One must choose between living in falsehood and living in Auroville, the two are incompatible." May it be true! We could say that those who get drunk do it to forget; but one doesn't come to Auroville to forget: one comes to Auroville, on the contrary, to remember.Yes, we might rather put it in that form. But the idea was mostly to insist on the CHOICE. Living in Auroville is a CHOICE. It's a choice, an attitude you adopt, a decision you make. Living in Auroville is a choice, you choose a certain life. But once you choose one thing, some others become incompatible.... At any rate, living in Auroville is an ACTION, a decision you make, an action. page 97-98 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 6th Apr - 1968 |
R. [Auroville's architect] has come for five days, and he wants to make what he calls a "district" of Auroville, that is to say, instead of tackling the problem of ten or twenty thousand people at once, he wants to start with two or three thousand, on the level of infrastructure, but above all to see how it will work: the experiment of life in Auroville.... I had thought about it, and when I spoke to you last time, that's what came: in what direction should the experiment be carried out? You see, Y. has ideas in the field of education (I am not intervening); as for R., he has ideas in the field of construction (I am not intervening); but no one has studied the problem on the level of administration or organization, and of money, and that was precisely what I spoke of to you about last time. So if you could read me what I told you, if it does I'll give them the text.... There is also this communist Russian architect, who has become quite enthusiastic: to him Auroville is the ideal realization. He is a very strong boy, with some power (also a power of conviction over people). So it would be interesting if he could have a glimpse of the direction in which we're going. page 107 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 13th Apr - 1968 |
(Mother holds out a note on Auroville) (Question:) How dependent is the building of Auroville upon man's acceptance of spirituality? (Mother's answer:) The opposition between spirituality and material life, the division between the two has no sense for me as, in truth, life and the spirit are ONE and it is in and by physical work that the highest spirit must be manifested.page 109 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Apr - 1968 |
(Mother shows a brochure on Auroville; the first photograph in it shows the all-white urn under a vast sky.) It's very fine. It has something ... I don't know (Mother drives her fist down into the Earth), like a Law of Destiny: something that imposes itself.Did I tell you that a Swedish or Norwegian lady wants to send me a big crucifixion?... I did. But I didn't show you the two texts. You see, I chose a photo of the galaxy, then a photo of Auroville that somewhat looks like the first, and then, under the crucifixion, we'll have in big letters (Mother reads): "The Divine Consciousness crucified by man's desires." Then, in very small letters, like this, we'll put under the photo of Auroville: "The Divine Consciousness manifested through human unity." We'll see! The lady has a lot of goodwill, we'll see the response in her country. (silence) Yesterday, they came from the press with the brochure on Auroville and said, "Oh, there's a mistake, we've been told that the text of Auroville's Charter had to be changed." Someone told them I had said that "Divine Consciousness" had to be replaced throughout by "Perfect Consciousness." I stared at him: "What!" "Yes, that's what we've been told." Then I said (laughing), "Who's the idiot who told you that!" "But he said you had said so!" Then I asked him, "Tell me his name so I may give him a good slap!"Naturally, there's no question of changing anything. What happened was that people in Russia, Yugoslavia who translated it ... (it was translated into a certain number of languages, now I don't remember), they asked me for an alternative to the word "Divine," because ... In Russia, they go one better, the word is banned! Using the word "divine" is forbidden! So I said all right. I said, "FOR RUSSIA, you may, if you wish, put 'Perfect Consciousness' instead of 'Divine Consciousness.'" I pointed out to them (laughing), "It's somewhat diminished, it's brought down a little, but never mind!" Here, in the French brochure, it's "Divine." I said if they wanted another word in Russian or German (in German T. translated it into "the highest" [Consciousness]; I told her, "It's rather poor, but anyway"), well, I said I wouldn't protest. In Chinese it's "Divine." I think it's "Divine" in Japanese too. In German, they asserted, "Oh, if we put 'Divine,' people will immediately think of God...." I replied (laughing), "Not necessarily, if they're not idiots!" But it has given me a very precise picture of what would happen if for some reason or other I were no longer here.... Everyone would use my name to ... (Mother laughs) It would be frightening! page 110-11 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 20th Apr - 1968 |
Auroville, as Sri Aurobindo said, is a practical means to create a human unity that would be strong enough to fight against war. It's to be seen. We may try. page 156 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 5th June - 1968 |
" For millennia, we have been developing outer means, outer instruments, outer techniques of living - and finally those means and techniques are crushing us. The sign of the new humanity is a reversal in the standpoint, and the understanding that inner knowledge and inner technique can change the world and master it without crushing it. "Auroville is the place where this new way of living is being worked out, it is a center of accelerated evolution where man must begin to change his world through the power of the inner spirit." page 221 , Mother's Agenda , volume 9 , 3rd Aug - 1968 |
In this connection, yesterday R. [Auroville's architect] asked me questions so as to be able to answer people; he asked me if it was necessary to have organization and so on. And then it came, but in such an imperative manner; I replied that organization was discipline in action, and that to live, discipline is quite indispensable. I said that the body's whole functioning is a discipline, and if there is a part that no longer wants to follow the discipline - out of revolt or incapacity or ... for any reason - if it stops following the discipline, you fall ill. It came so clearly that I told him. That paper is with R., I've asked him to give it to me. [[We publish in addendum R.'s notes on Auroville's organization. ]] page 52 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 8th feb - 1969 |
Did I tell you the miracle that took place? You haven't heard about it? ... In Auroville we're going to build a big factory to mill wheat, but something huge (it's to mill wheat for the whole of India!), huge. Machines are coming I don't know from where, huge too. And they chose to land them at Pondicherry because going from Pondicherry to Auroville is easier than from Madras to Auroville. Only, when the ship came and they saw the number and the size of crates, they got terribly scared - it wasn't possible. Here it's a woman, P., who owns the landing barges, and she refused. I had her told that I needed her help and she had to do it (because she had claimed she wanted to serve me, so I took advantage of it!). I told her, "I need your help, do it." She was obliged to do it. For two days, everything went well, but they had kept the biggest crate for the end - a six-ton crate, huge - and no one knew how to do it. They would have needed enormous cranes like the ones they have in Madras, but they don't have them here: they only had two puny cranes, which together didn't even WEIGH six tons! (Mother laughs) And those cranes were supposed to lift the crate from the ship and put it on the barge. There was no other way, only that way. So they tied the crate to the two cranes and started lifting ... and the two cranes went like this (gesture of tipping over). There were people below-people looking after the trans shipment - and everyone, including the ship's captain, everyone stood there, terrified. "That's it," they thought, "we're done for, it's catastrophe." The two cranes went like this (same gesture) ... and all of a sudden, they straightened up. No one ever knew how. They straightened up, carried the crate, and it was over. It was so obviously a miracle - the captain stood almost terrorstricken, everyone. And then, those crates were intended for someone here, Mani-Bhai . (of "Aurofood"), to whom I had given a blessings packet the day before the landing, and he had it on him. So he went to see the captain and told him (showing the small packet), "See this, it's what straightened up the cranes." A very simple man. It was just stating a FACT, you understand: there was a crowd, so there was no arguing; the two cranes were like this, tilting, and everyone was expecting them to ... and they straightened up! (Mother laughs) The captain met L. and told him, "Couldn't I have one of those ... (Mother laughs) little packets!" So L. came to see me. I gave packets - four packets - for him and his men. It's the first time .... L. told me, "I have seen hundreds of miracles, but this one was so obvious, and of such considerable dimensions (Mother laughs) that no one could deny it!" It's interesting. I must say there really was a concentration of force, because we were faced with an impossibility (considered practically, it was an impossibility). So there was a concentration. It's amusing. And the accuracy of the transmission (that increases the power a lot), the accuracy I credit this Consciousness with. It's this Consciousness that made the power far more PRECISE in its action .... The superman consciousness. It's interesting. But we mustn't tell the story, that would instantly look like boasting, it's disgusting! It can go to the Agenda, but ... page 88-89 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 12th Mar - 1969 |
Two days ago (not yesterday, the day before), this Consciousness told me something; I said, "Very well," but it went on saying the same thing again and again and again, until I'd written it down! So here it is (Mother holds out a note). And it explained to me why there was "we." We will strive to make Aurovillethe cradle of the superman."Ah ... it's important news! (Mother smiles) So then, I said, "Why we'?" It answered, "It's because the attempt will be to get those who will live in Auroville to collaborate." Then, once I'd written it, it left me in peace, but until I did, it came back again and again .... page 99 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 22nd Mar - 1969 |
The trouble is that all these people take their desires for inspirations. And then ... I have this difficulty with Auroville too, that's why I take every opportunity to repeat to them (they all keep saying that they come to Auroville "to be free"), I answer them that one can be free only if one is united with the Supreme; and to be united with the Supreme, one must have no more desires! page 113 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 2nd April - 1969 |
Auroville also, I am constantly telling them two things (hammering gesture): "For those who want to be free, there is only one freedom, that is to be united to the Supreme; and to be united to the Supreme, one must no longer have any desires!" So they're like this (Mother remains open- mouthed). Very amusing! So I've put the same thing here: (Satprem reads) "A new consciousness is at work upon earth toprepare the coming of the superhuman being. "Open yourselves to this consciousness if youaspire to serve [[Mother first wrote "collaborate with," then changed it to "serve" and made a few other minor corrections. ]] the Divine Work. "To come into contact with this new consciousness, the essential condition is no longer to have any desires and to be wholly sincere."That's what they must be told again and again (same hammering gesture). I am constantly, constantly impelled to repeat it to them. page 122-23 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 9th April - 1969 |
America is extremely interested in Auroville. Russia is extremely interested in Auroville. The Chinese ... nothing, absolutely nothing, no response. page 145 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969 |
The Mother said that Auroville is the only hope for preventing a new world war. Tensions are growing and the situation is becoming very critical. But only the Idea of Auroville, if it can become more widespread, can prevent world war. page 148 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 19th April - 1969 |
Two nights ago, I spent more than three hours with Sri Aurobindo, and I showed him all that was going to descend for Auroville. It was rather interesting. There were games, there was art, there was even cooking! But all that was very symbolic. I explained it to him as if on a table, in front of a large landscape; I explained the principle on whose basis physical exercises and games were going to be organized. It was very clear, very precise, I even did a demonstration, as if showing him on a very small scale: a representation on a very small scale of what was going to be done. I moved people, things ... (gesture as if on a chessboard). But it was very interesting, and he was interested: he gave kinds of broad laws of organization (I don't know how to explain). page 202 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 31st May - 1969 |
I have wondered if we couldn't have in Auroville a publishing house, because Auroville is an international township, and so we could have an INTERNATIONAL publishing house. There would be books in every language. That would be interesting. Auroville is beginning to be fairly well known in America. There's a lady (I told you about that) who is planning to come in a boat for 1972 - she is very interested in Auroville, she has gatherings and is in touch with the government. It seems to be moving fairly well there. So we could have a publishing house in several languages. page 268 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 30th July - 1969 |
Did I tell you that in Italy a veterinarian has found a cure for cancer? ... This man has discovered that goats, the goat species (male and female), never have cancer! They even went as far as trying to make them have cancer, and they didn't succeed. Conclusion: in their makeup, there's something opposed to cancer; they've discovered that something in the stomach (I forget the details), and he made a serum. As he is a veterinarian, he doesn't have the right to give it, but he has doctor friends, and those doctors (a dozen or so) have tried it out - extraordinary cure, without fail. But with a difference: the female goat cures certain cases, while the male cures other cases; it's not the same with the male or the female, they cure different types of cancer (I understand nothing about it). Anyway, he lives somewhere in Italy, I don't know where, and I had him asked if he would like to come here - he has accepted. And he's going to come: there's a whole group of young Italians who want to come at the end of the year for Sri Aurobindo's yoga, and he'll probably come with them, or else he will come with Paolo if Paolo doesn't mind paying for his travel. My intention is to put him in touch with Dr. S., to let them study that together, and if it works well, I'll ask him to stay on. Because you know that S. now has a sort of dispensary in Auromodèle [in Auroville] (there's even a young French medical student who has come and stays there too, he is very happy). So we could open a "cancer clinic," that would be very interesting! Because with S.'s presence here, there's no difficulty - in Auroville he can do what he likes. That would be wonderful! He is coming before the end of the year. And the other man, the healer, is coming in September ... The other, we'll see if he wants to cure some people here, that would be good. It would straight away give an interesting direction .... "Auroville, the city of healing"! That would be good! page 284-85 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 9th Aug - 1969 |
Yes, oh! ... And you know, if you ask Y (it's truthful people who told me), if you ask her, she says, "The Bulletin belongs to the past," "Sri Aurobindo's teaching belongs to the past." While they're in advance. And they're so convinced of it! ... She's chosen M. as the god of her new creation, so you understand ... But that's a way of kneading the dough .... They will have either to change or to go - without telling them anything, without having to tell them anything, with the pressure of the Consciousness alone. Either they will have to change, or they will be compelled to go. page 304-05 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd Aug - 1969 |
There's a druid (laughing), a still-existing druid, from Brittany, who has written a letter to F. saying he had heard about Auroville from friends of hers and wants to come. He says, "I am poor, I am not bringing anything" (he is married, he and his wife intend to come together). He writes that he will bring a book; a book by one of his friends, who has had "the economic and financial vision" of the world. He will bring it - he says it's a revelation - for it to be used in Auroville. So in my answer, I intend to tell him, "Here is the basis on which Auroville is established ..." (Mother hands her note) "Money is not meant to make money ...I wrote this in English very long ago, and sent it to America: it caused a revolution! Most people were indignant that one might think such a thing! " ... Money is meant to prepare the earth for the new creation."So we'll see the druid! ... That makes the fourth person: we have a healer of cancer coming; we have a healer pure and simple coming; we have ... (Mother tries to remember) ah, yes, a Persian inventor who has made "extraordinary inventions" for education (he sent a paper), especially for children's education; he is coming in September. ... All that will be very amusing!Yes, at least we'll have variety! But the druid said he is penniless, so we'll send him to R. [Auroville's architect], who might be able to arrange something .... He has studied all religions, and ... (laughing) stopped at druidism. He is Breton. page 311-12 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 27th Aug - 1969 |
Things are beginning to come for Auroville (Mother points to several written notes); there are many, many others, but there is above all the internal financial question: I would like there to be no money within Auroville (we would have to work out something), I would like money to be retained only for relations with outside. But that I haven't written; I wrote something else (Mother gives a first note). This I have told you several times: "Auroville wants to bethe cradle of the superman.Then, this one: "Auroville, Bravo! "... They are replaced Oh, all this is splendid!It's for now. It's to be done now. Yes, no army, no police. Oh, yes!And then (Mother points to a third note), this is for entry, because there's a port in Auroville, so naturally entry is free, but conditional: we have no borders, no walls, we're overflowing in India, so I can't impose my law to the whole of India (!), but it will be replaced by a control at the port: we'll let in only what can be consumed within Auroville - so as not to be used as a clandestine entry for a deluge of free goods. (Satprem reads) "No customs, but permission to import grantedonly for goods meant to be consumed in the town."That' all. Yes, to avoid smuggling with the rest of India.Yes. If people were honest, it would be fine, but they aren't! No police and no army. Yes, that's fine! North of Pondicherry, there are places by the sea where nothing could ever be done (they're constantly flooded), but there's a way to make use of them, so I am trying to get the government's permission to occupy it all. If we can get all of it, then we can have a free port, a free airport, an airfield (but more inland), also cultivation based on the new methods of irrigation with sea water, and naturally the transformation of sea water - but they've found something to transform sea water into drinkable water (Mother takes a brochure by her side). It's French, I think, and an economical method; it's very interesting. It's under way, and if we wait for a few more years, they'll have perfected it quite well. page 313-14 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 30th Aug - 1969 |
I've written something for Auroville .... "The earth needs a place where people can live sheltered from all national rivalries, all social conventions, all contradictory moralities and antagonistic religions. A place where, freed from all those slaveries of the past, human beings will be able to wholly dedicate themselves to the discovery and practice of the Divine Consciousness that wants to manifest. "Auroville wants to be that place, and offers itself to all those who aspire to live tomorrow's truth."Now things are in the habit of coming like this (Mother brings down her two arms), and they keep pestering me until I've written! Once I write, it's over. page 332 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 17th Sep - 1969 |
Have you seen this?
Auroville is the ideal placefor those who want to know the joy and liberation of not having any more personal possession.It's the last thing that has come. "Personal possession" in the singular: I mean the sense of personal possession. Page 336 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Sep - 1969 |
And Auroville is a great Adventure. I see how it's being organized, it's really interesting, really interesting. [[ See in addendum Mother's latest notes about Auroville. ]] Have you met the Persian? No, I haven't seen him.He isn't an intellectual. What does he want to do?He's an inventor, a man of action - I might say, an "inventor-adventurer," but I won't: he's still here! (Mother laughs) But it's really interesting. But what does he want to do here?Oh! ... He wants to "help" in the creation of Auroville. He already has a society, "Auroville International," and he is going to start his action - he's traveling here and there. He's a man who knows four or five languages, and he has the mind of an inventor. It seems his invention ... some engineers here saw it and said it was remarkable, so ... As for me, I can't judge. It's for these machines (Mother points to the tape recorder), it's a transformation of receiving and recording machines. I don't know, but others told me it was remarkable. He likes to organize, but he is ... as I said, he loves adventure, it's in his temperament (after all, inventions are adventures, and that's how he is). So he's already founded a society called "Auroville International" with members in Europe and its head office in the United States ... the whole outfit. As for me, I watch and have great fun! In appearance he's very surrendered and devoted, but ... For the moment, I don't have proof it's anything other than a "necessary appearance." But he's nice and a man of real goodwill ... but I see him with a plume in his hat! So we'll see. Did he react to the reading of the "Great Sense"? [[Mother had given him that text. ]] Oh, he did, he has "savoir-faire," mon petit (!) He said, "It's very beautiful" - in a tone a great conviction! But ... I don't know, I didn't see him enough later on to see whether it had changed his point of view I think it made him shrink back a little, I noticed he inwardly reacted. And what I saw was that it has made him a bit cautious towards me! ... Maybe it made him feel I could see through him! (Mother laughs) But he is among those people who really aren't bourgeois from the standpoint of money, that is, who don't have much notion of personal property. So then I caught myself (that's how I caught myself!) .... I myself made an effort to reach the viewpoint that money is a force that must circulate and must not be a personal property. In the consciousness, everything is fine, but the body has its old habit, and it observed the state in which this man is: for him money is a force that must circulate, go where it has to go, it doesn't belong to this or that person - so it [the body] first had this reaction: "Oh, watch out, he's an adventurer." (Mother laughs) I caught myself, I said, "See, you preach, and when someone does as you say ...!" I found it very amusing. But I saw how he is enthusiastic about the idea of Auroville, and it seems to be quite sincere, he even said it's what he has been looking for for a long time. So he goes about it "fair and square" .... He was a minister in Persia, but there were revolutions in Persia and he left, he is in America. But he's a man who's used to earning money. I really caught myself there, I had some real fun. I said to myself, "See, you've come across the man who understands you!" (Mother laughs) It's funny, you know! This Auroville is going to be a very interesting experience. At first glance, Auroville isn't made up of people burdened withmorality!Oh, no! ... Ah, we have many little Aurovilians, lots of them, but you know, among them some are absolutely remarkable from the point of view of consciousness; they're tall as a boot, mon petit, and they're conscious! It's splendid. A few days ago, I held a Tamil baby in my hands, he was as big as this, like a doll (delightfully shaped, with exquisite tiny feet), and with this child I wanted to make the experiment: I took him on my lap, and I put the Force - you should have seen the transformation of his expression! His eyes aren't open yet, but a blissful peace seemed to come over him. I thought, "Let's see whether he's asleep or conscious." Then I touched his foot - he started, which means he wasn't asleep at all. Wonderful! A wonderful expression .... I know another one who isn't yet two years old, but, mon petit, his way of seeing and acting is that of a five-year-old child! So something is happening nevertheless. And the last experience is a woman (she came with the "caravan"), who had a first child in France: she suffered for thirty-five hours to give birth. She gave birth to another one here (the day before yesterday, I think): one hour and without suffering. An hour later, when it was over, she was up and about! So she said, "That's Mother, because I don't know how it's done!" Something is happening. Page 427-29 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 15th Nov - 1969 |
Who took the initiative of Auroville?The supreme Lord. Who is participating in the financing of Auroville?The supreme Lord. If one wants to live in Auroville, what does it mean for oneself?Striving towards the supreme perfection. In order to live in Auroville, must one be a student of yoga?All life is a yoga. Thus one cannot live without practicing the supreme yoga. Will family life continue in Auroville? If one has not gone beyond that. Can one keep religion in Auroville?If one has not gone beyond that. Can one be atheistic in Auroville?If one has not gone beyond that. Will there be a social life in Auroville?If one has not gone beyond that. Will there be compulsory community activities in Auroville?Nothing is compulsory. Will money circulate in Auroville?No, it is only with outside that Auroville will have money dealings. Who will be the owner of lands and buildings?The supreme Lord. In which languages will teaching be given?In all languages spoken on earth. October 8, 1969
Will a day come when there will be no more poor people and no more suffering in the world?That is absolutely certain for all those who understand Sri Aurobindo's teaching and have faith in him. It is with the intention of creating such a place that we want to found Auroville. But for this realization to be possible, everyone must make effort to transform himself, for most of the sufferings of human beings are the result of their own physical and moral errors. November 8, 1969 How do you think there will be no more suffering in Auroville - as long as people who come to live in Auroville are men from this same world, born with the same weaknesses and the same faults?I never thought there would be no more suffering in Auroville, because men, as they are, love suffering and call it, while at the same time cursing it. But we will endeavor to teach them to truly love peace and to try and practice equanimity. It is involuntary poverty and begging that I was referring to. Life in Auroville will be organized in such a way that that will not exist - if beggars come from outside, either they will have to go or they will be hospitalized and taught the joy of work. November 9, 1969 What is the fundamental difference between the Ashram's idealand Auroville's?There is no fundamental difference in the attitude with regard to the future and the service of the Divine. But people in the Ashram are regarded as having dedicated their lives to the yoga (except naturally for the students, who are here only for their studies and who have not been asked to choose in life). While in Auroville, the goodwill to carry out a collective experience for the progress of mankind is alone sufficient to get admitted. November 10, 1969 Page 430-32 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 15th Nov - 1969 |
I've asked them to start a school at "Auromodèle." Who will look after the school?There's a French woman who was a primary school teacher (I was told she's nice, I haven't seen her), and then an Indian woman (whom I saw) who wants to teach in Auroville, and she's fine, I mean her mental attitude is good. So the two of them will start (laughing): there are five children! Some interesting people have come to Auroville, people who are really seeking something .... So I leave them to stew there and we'll see what comes out of it! Page 479 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 20th Dec - 1969 |
Then I have a letter from Paolo....I'll see him this afternoon. I told you that I saw the central construction of Auroville.... I have a plan. Would you like to see it?... There are three scrolls there (Mother unrolls the plan while explaining): There will be twelve facets. Its a circle. And, at the same distance from the center, twelve columns. At the center, on the floor, my symbol, and at the center of my symbol, there are four symbols of Sri Aurobindo, upright, forming a square. And atop the square, a translucent globe (we don't yet know what substance it will be made of). Then, from the top of the roof, when the sun shines, a ray of sunlight will fall on the globe (only there, nowhere else); when there is no sunlight, electric spotlights will shine a beam (ONE beam again, not a diffuse light) just there, on the globe. Then, no doors, but ... after going deep down one comes back up into the temple; one goes under the wall and comes back up inside - it's again a symbol. Everything is symbolic. And then, no furniture, but first a wooden floor, probably (like here), then over the wooden floor, a thick foam rubber, and over it, a carpet, like here. We have to choose the color. The whole thing will be white. I am not sure if Sri Aurobindos symbols will be white ... I don't think so. I didn't see them white, I saw them with an undefinable color, between gold and orange. A color of that sort. They will stand upright, carved in stone. And a globe not transparent but translucent. Then, at the bottom [of the globe], a light will be projected upward and will enter the globe diffusely. And from outside, rays of light will fall onto the center. No other lights: no windows, an electric ventilation. And no furniture, nothing. A place ... to try and find one's consciousness. Outside, it will be something like this (Mother unrolls another plan).... We don't know if the roof will have a pointed shape or ... Very simple, very simple. It will hold about two hundred people. So then, Paolo's letter? Very sweet Mother, I saw R. on Sunday, he came to my room and. we hadlunch together. With love I arranged beautiful flowers for You and R. You were with us. We spoke a lot. I felt R. like a brother. I told him that Auroville cannot be born like any other city (urban, social, economic problems, all of them to be seen later). The starting point must be "something else." That is lever, our fixed point, the thing we can lean on to try and leap to the other side - because it's only from the other side And that Center must be a form manifesting in Matter the content that You can transmit to us on every plane (occult included). As for us, we should only be the open and sincere means through which you can concretise that. Then I told him how I felt the need for all of us to approach all this while living the experience inwardly and unitedly - people from the East and the West - in a vast movement of love, because it is the only "concrete" possible for building "something else"....What he says is fine. ... And that Center can give us that love right now, becauseit's the love of You! I told him that, on the practical level, we could begin witha moment of silence, gathered together, try to make a complete blank, and in that blank, with everyone's aspiration, bring down the signs for the beginning. But all of us united and together, especially the more spiritually advanced - the Indians. R. agreed entirely. He said we should really do that. (Mother nods her head) I'll see Paolo this afternoon to give him this plan. Because that's just what I saw. We'll do it in white marble. L. said he would go and get the marble, he knows the place.The whole structure in white marble?Yes, yes. But Paolo told me one tiling which I felt to be correct. He said,We'll build this Center, we'll put all our heart and aspiration into it, into this Center ... Yes, yes. And over the years, it will get more and more "charged"....Yes. So this Center should be definitive, we shouldn't remove thistemple to build a larger one later on.I said that to calm people who think we need something huge. I said, "We'll begin with this, and then we'll see," you understand. I said this Center should be there until the city is completely built, and afterwards we would see - afterwards we won't feel like removing it! Because a lot of people thought of something "huge." But Paolo says that from an architectural standpoint, it's quitepossible to extend the thing from outside without touching what's already built.Oh, yes, it's quite possible. You see, R. asked me, "And then, what are we going to do afterwards?" I said, "Well, we'll think about it afterwards!..." - That's the trouble, they don't know ... they don't know that one must NOT THINK. As for me, I wasn't thinking about it at all, not at all - one day, I saw it like that, as I see you. Even now, it's still so living that I only have to look and I see it. And what I saw was the Center and the light falling on it, and then, QUITE NATURALLY, while observing, I remarked, I said, "So that's how it is." But it wasn't "thought," I didn't think, "Twelve columns and twelve facets and ..." I didn't think any of that: I saw. It's like those symbols of Sri Aurobindo.... When I speak of the Center, I still see those four symbols of Sri Aurobindo joined at their angles, like this, and that color ... strange color ... I don't know where we'll be able to find that. It's an orange gold, very warm. And it's the only color in the place: all the rest is white. Paolo said he would inquire right now in Italy, at Murano wherethey make large crystals, whether they can make a one-foot globe, say, in crystal.The exact size must be on the plan, it should be written there. They have big glassworks there.Oh, they do marvelous things there. Isn't the size of the globe written there? Two feet four inches.It could be hollow. It need not be solid, so as not to be too heavy. (silence) He's fine, Paolo.Yes, Mother.That underground passageway into the room ... People will enter some thirty feet away from the wall, at the foot of the urn. The urn will mark the starting point of the descent. I'll have to choose the exact direction.... Then, later on, the urn might very well be INSIDE rather than outside the enclosure. So perhaps we could simply have a big wall all around, and then gardens. Between the surrounding wall and the building to be constructed, we can have gardens and the urn. And that wall will have an entrance (one or several ordinary gates), so that people will be able to move around in the garden. Then there will be certain conditions to be met before one is allowed to descend into the underground passage and emerge into the temple.... It will have to be a bit initiatory: not quite "like that," not just anyhow. (silence) To R. I said, "We'll see that in twenty years!" So that kept him quiet. But the first idea was to surround that with water, to have an island so that people would cross the water to reach the temple. It's quite possible to have an island...page 34 - 37 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 10th Jan - 1970 |
Someone from Auroville wrote to me that he thought he had come here to obey no one but himself (or words to that effect), but he noticed there are rules and laws. And he said, "I am not going to do any of this; I am a free man and refuse to do this." This was reported to me, naturally, [[One of the most irritating practices in that Ashram was the compulsive habit almost everyone (at least among those who had access to Mother) had to "report" to Mother, as in a boarding school. As if they had nothing better to do. And Mother would "absorb." ]] so I wrote to him (I don't remember): "One is free only when one is conscious of the Divine and conscious that it is the Divine who makes decisions in everyone, otherwise one is the slave of one's desires, one's habits, of all conventions...." I sent him that, and he kept quiet. page 74 , Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 7th Feb - 1970 |
But the Power is more and more massive, I feel.Yes, yes. Oh, and at times ... Listen, yesterday I saw a boy who'd taken a wrong turn (he is in Auroville). He'd taken a wrong turn, had rebelled and didn't want to do anything anymore. Anyway ... So I wrote him to come. Every Tuesday, they come from Auroville, four of them. He came with them. He came in ... closed, blocked. I said absolutely nothing, I looked at him, simply looked ... (gesture). After a few minutes, brrt! everything melted. And then he expressed it. Without saying anything, not a word, simply ... Such things take place all the time, all the time. It's odd, the body acts as an intermediary (gesture radiating through the body), like that, simply like that. page 142-43 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 8th Apr 1970 |
I have something for you ... (Mother points to a written note). It was two or three days ago, it came imperatively like that, in connection with some business. They have gatherings in Auroville, at "Aspiration"; I think it's meditations, or something of the sort, I don't know. One of them came and put my photo; so another rushed to his room and came back with a cross!... And he said, "Well, if you put a photo of Mother, I'll put my cross." They told me that story. They told me, because the one who put the cross had come to see me with the others (they come once a week, a few of them, four or five), but I didn't know. He came and sat in front of me.... I found him a rather inquisitorial air (I didn't know anything, you understand), and after they left I asked who he was. Then they told me he is a Catholic, and they told me the story. [[A few months later (October 21), Mother gave Satprem this note written to a French disciple, which seems to fit well with the story she has just recounted: "I am told that you intend to distribute a reproduction of the portrait you did of me. It would be better not to introduce in this gathering anything personal that might suggest the atmosphere of a nascent religion." ]] page 177 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970 |
Strangely, two days ago it came to me almost like an experience:religion is the mental world.Yes, yes! It's a mentalization, an attempt to mentalize ... what far exceeds the mind. "... Religions make up part of the history of man kind and it is in this guise that they will be studied at Auroville - not as beliefs to which one ought or ought not to fasten, but as part of a process in the development of human consciousness which should lead man towards his superior realisation." page 178 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970 |
So then, "Programme" ... [Mother laughs]: Programme Research through experience of the Supreme Truth. A life divine but NO RELIGIONS. That's fine!page 179 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970 |
Oh, very fine!... It's only the word "religious" there, it bothers me.Then we'll take it out! Because you do say, "No religions."No, I took "religious" in the other sense, but it will always create a confusion. It has taken on such a false meaning.Yes. I'll explain: I did not want to put "spiritual," first because in French, the word spirituel has a different meaning [i.e., witty], and then because people living a "spiritual" life reject Matter, while we do not want to reject Matter. So that would be false. I admit that "religious" isn't a good word, because it immediately ... I used "religious" in the sense of "a life essentially occupied with the discovery or the search of the Divine." There are no words in French, and it's not "spiritual." "Divine"?We have to find a word - we could put this: "Auroville is for those who want to live a life divine ..." Yes, "a life essentially divine," yes. "Divine," that's vast, Mother. page 179 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970 |
That too should be said. (Mother writes) "Our research will not be a search effected bymystic means. It is in life that we wish to find the divine." [[Let us note that Mother wrote "divine" with a small "d." Later she added this sentence: "And it is through this discovery that life can really be transformed." ]] page 180 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970 |
Shall we put a title to these notes on Auroville?... For instance, "Auroville's Stand on Religions"? What about "We Want the Truth"?... I use the word because no one in the world would dare to say, "We don't want the truth"! (laughter) For most people, that's how it is: "What WE want is the truth"! (laughter) I showed R. the "Programme" (laughing), and his hair stood on end: "But ... but people can't tolerate this now!" - Ah ... So then, Aurovilians must want the Truth WHATEVER IT MAY BE.... They call "Truth" what they want, while they must want the truth whatever it may be. (Mother writes her last note on Auroville)
For most men, it is what theywant that they label truth. Aurovilians must want the Truth whatever it may be.I put "Truth" with a capital "T." (Mother laughs) Because, to tell the truth, that's not the word. It is: "We want THE DIVINE." But then they instantly start arguing! So it's better to put "Truth." page 181 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 2nd may - 1970 |
And also this: In Auroville, nothing belongs to anyone inparticular. All is a collective property. page 188 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 13th May - 1970 |
Yesterday we started a work for Auroville, that is to say, we're basically trying to give people from "Aspiration" an idea, simply, of what Aurovilians want: why they are here and what they want. Because it appears that... in fact they've no idea about it. Each one of them came expecting something, but all that isn't coordinated, it's not clear. So R. asked me to clearly express important points. I thought it would be better to do it with the people so as to know what they themselves want, and to have them make an effort to find out. Otherwise ... So we started yesterday (Mother takes out a piece of paper). Yesterday I asked C. [a resident of Aspiration], "But why does one live in Auroville? So he gave me the first paragraph: To be a True Aurovilian 1. The will to consecrate oneself entirely to theDivine.That's what HE said. I found it fine. After listening inwardly, I added this: 2. The Aurovilian must not be a slave to his desires.The idea is this: "We come to Auroville to escape social and moral rules that are artificially practiced everywhere, but it is not to live in the licentiousness of the satisfaction of every desire: it is to rise above desires in a truer consciousness." Something like that.... It appears they quite need this! (Mother laughs) So we should add it. We could draw up a whole program, that would be interesting enough. Yes, but in the practical order, until people go a little behindappearances and stop living on the surface of themselves, nothing will mean anything!But all that is precisely what they need to be told! So the first necessity is to go deep down into themselves, a little.Because even if you tell them "the Divine," what does it mean to their surface consciousness?Yes.... For him, this boy, it has a meaning, but for most others ... Yes. it doesn't mean anything.So we should put: "The first condition is the inner discovery...." In the ideal order, the first condition is to need something otherthan the present world and human conditions.That goes without saying. Then, to reach there, the first condition is to descend deep downin oneself to find out what one IS behind all these hereditary, social, cultural appearances - what one truly is. Then, at that stage, things take on a meaning, but before that they don't mean anything. Before that, they have the meaning given in morality, religion, philosophy - they mean nothing.So we'll put (Mother writes): First essential condition ... It's more than a condition, it's a necessity. 1. The first necessity is the inner discovery so asto find out what one truly is behind all social, moral, cultural ... Racial?Oh, yes. ... racial, hereditary appearances.But then, we should tell them that there IS a discovery to be made, because many don't know it at all! (Mother laughs) In the center, there is a free being, vast andknowing, which awaits our discovery and must become the acting center of our being and our life in Auroville. Then, after that, shall we put this (Mother points to the former first point on the consecration to the Divine), or something else?... It seems to me that this is more an accomplishment, something that comes at the end. (long silence) We should teach them to free themselves from the idea of personal possession.... You see, everything belongs to the Divine, and the Divine gives you not only a center (the center of your individuality), but also the possibility of the personal use of a number of things; but you must take them all like that, as things LENT to you by the Divine. The Divine is eternal, of course, he is everlasting, as they say in English, and at the same time as he creates this individual center, a number of things are there to be used for his work, so those things are LENT. That's exactly the point: you hold them in your possession for a time. It's to uproot the sense of personal possession.(silence) That would be interesting: "The description of the citizen of tomorrow's city."There's the second paragraph on desires, and the third would beon personal possession.The only true way to cure desires is to give oneself to the Divine and accept what He gives you as the only things you need. But that's already very advanced. At the beginning, you said that Aurovilians have come "to escapemoral conventions, etc., but not to give free rein to licentious ness. ..."Yes, that's right (Mother writes): 2. One lives in Auroville to be free from moral and social conventions; but that freedom must not be a new slavery to the ego, its desires and ambitions.Is that all? It's enough for today! If you want to connect this to the other paragraph, might we saysomething like, "Desire is the most powerful distorter of the inner discovery"?Ah, yes. (Mother writes) The fulfillment of desire bars the road to theinner discovery, which can only take place in the peace of perfect disinterestedness. One word comes to me, Mother: not only peace, but transparency.Yes (Mother writes): ... in the peace and transparency of perfect disinterestedness.It'll become something interesting! That's the basis. Then there's the third paragraph. You said, "TheAurovilian must free himself from the idea of personal posses sion. "But it's not the "idea," it's the "sense"! (Mother writes) 3. The Aurovilian must free himself from thesense of personal possession. For our transition in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and action is put at our disposal.... You don't say by whom?(Mother laughs) No!... By the All-Possessing! ... according to the place we are to occupy. Mother, I'd like to add: The more we are in contact with ourinner being, the more the exact means are given to us.Oh, that's fine (Mother writes): The more we are CONSCIOUSLY in contact with our inner being, the more the exact means are given to us.It'll become interesting! It gives them the basis.Oh, but we'll be able to do something interesting! page 223 - 27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 3rd June - 1970 |
Wouldn't it be good to do the rest of the "Program for Auroville"with Aurovilians, since you started it?...I had them speak to see what they would tell me.... Almost all of them are terribly lazy, so I'd like to tell them that manual work ... (Mother writes) 4. Work, even manual work, is indispensable tothe inner discovery. If one does not work, if one does not put one's consciousness into matter, it will never develop. To let conscious ness organize some matter through ones body is very good. To put things in order around oneself helps to put things in order in oneself.Another point: One should organize one's life not accordingto external and artificial rules, but according to an organized inner consciousness, because if one leaves life alone without imposing on it the control of a higher consciousness, it becomes hazy and inexpressive. It means wasting one's time, in the sense that matter remains without conscious utilization. page 228 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 6th June - 1970 |
We have to complete our "program" for Auroville.... Auroville has come to prepare the coming of the new species. 5. The whole earth must prepare for the advent of the new species, and Auroville wants to consciously work to hasten that advent. 6. What this new species is to be will be progressively revealed to us. In the meanwhile, the best way is to consecrate oneself entirely to the Divine.Enough!... To be continued!... page 232 - Mother's Agenda , volume 11 , 13th June - 1970 |
(Mother hands to Satprem a note that she sent to an Aurovillian) "It is the old methods of yoga that demand silence and solitude. page 34 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 27th Jan - 1971 |
(Mother replies to an Aurovillian:) (Question:) You said you did not want to make rules forAuroville. But recently you wrote, "Drugs are forbidden in Auroville." Have you changed your view of Auroville?Perhaps Aurovillians have not yet attained the level of consciousness expected of them. * * * "You must rise high enough in your consciousness so as to be above contradictions. That is the solution."page 62 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Mar - 1971 |
(On the occasion of the laying of the first stone of the Matrimandir on February 21, Satprem had written a letter to the architect of Auroville.) I saw your letter (I saw it in English), the letter you wrote to R. for the "Matrimandir".... It's interesting, it's good.... They have a bulletin, a "Gazette," it will be published there.[[Satprem's letter was misunderstood and published abridged to suit the comprehension of the editors. ]]I get a lot of requests from all sorts of people, either to say something or do something or comment on something or.... I feel it's not so good.What do they ask you? One thing or another, a commentary, an explanation, "what doI think of...."But does it come from Auroville? Most of it, yes.Listen, there's quite a lazy group in Auroville! Oh, that, yes!People who don't want to work. Now they say that according to your book, to get the true consciousness, one doesn't have to work! Yes, that's it. I heard that also. They say, "Work belongs to theold world"...!Yes, that's how they understand it. So, what can you do?... What did you reply to them? I spoke to R. I told him what I thought. I said that work is thefoundation.Yes. It's by being and working in matter that one can bring a littleconsciousness into oneself.Yes, that's it. And if there isn't any work, there isn't any transformation.Yes, that's exactly what I wrote to them. [[Here is Mother's text: "Consciousness develops best through work done as offering to the Divine. Indolence and inaction lead to tamas: That is a fall into unconsciousness, it is contrary to all progress and light. To overcome one's ego, to live only in the service of the Divine -- that is the ideal and the shortest way towards acquiring the true consciousness." ]] He told me, "They couldn't care less." Oh, yes, that's true!Maybe they would listen to you if you told them that. If you like, I can write.Yes, you can write. Maybe they would listen to you, because they're saying that in the name of your book, you see! Oh, you know, in the name of my book they also say that SriAurobindo and Mother are now obsolete, and that in a way my book supersedes all that!Yes, oh, exactly! (general laughter) I've heard just about everything.Yes, that's it! (laughter) So, what can I say in the face of such things!? (Mother laughs) One even wrote me, "So, Sri Aurobindo didn't have the key tothe superman."Oh, really? Yes, I'm the one who's given it, you see.Good heavens! It's bewildering!(Mother laughs) I think there are no limits to human stupidity. Oh, yes! (silence) One doesn't know what to do or say because it's....No, they have to be told: you're talking nonsense. Oh, I told them, you know, but still.... I told them theyhad a lot of nerve. And I asked them, "But where do you think I learned what I've written!?"Exactly! (Mother laughs) They're terribly angry with me because I told them discipline is indispensable. But of course!That's old hat, you see. But, Mother, I told R. that the basic mistake is that when thosepeople came here, everything was handed to them: he gave them ready-made houses, they were given all they needed to eat -- they got everything on a silver platter. While these people should have been made to build their own houses and to plant their own potatoes if they wanted to eat; they should have done everything by themselves.Yes, exactly. with coolies? One does not make a new world with hired labor!"I think a whole group of those people should go. Yes, that's my feeling. (silence) To one of them I said, "If I went over there, I'd go with a whip!"(Mother laughs) There's really a subhuman group over there. Yes, certainly.... But how can you eliminate that? (silence) Another example: they even have a hired cook to do theircooking, those people! Oh!... There's a fundamental flaw in all that, you know.But how can that be? That's the way it is, you see. They have a hired cook.Heavens! (long silence) What do you propose then?Nothing, I don't know, Mother. (silence) I feel R. should organize things in such a way that people are compelled to work.Yes.... Yes, we'll have to do something. That way, the sorting out would be done right away.Yes.... But I need to know the number of people in the group, both those who work and those who do nothing. And then.... (silence) Of course, we could take very "drastic" steps.Yes.For instance, so many hours of work per day are required in order to be fed, or else you eat only if you pay for it. Yes, Mother, it should be done. Because, you see, they are so crafty that they all say they work: they putter around here and there, they go to work on the Matrimandir for half an hour or so.... So, to them, they've "worked." You see, they just putter around. (after a silence) I suddenly felt I had lost my influence over those people. I tell them things -- they couldn't care less. You could speak to R. and see.Yes, Mother.... But R. says, "Mother doesn't want to interfere . Mother doesn't want to make any decisions." But I think perhaps it's up to him to make a decision.But no one will listen to him. You see, I can't make decisions anymore because they don't listen to me. As long as they listened to me, it was easy -- it was easy, there was an influence. Now, something has happened, I don't have any authority at all anymore, so what can we do?[[Nor do we know what kind of report Mother was getting from the trio of intriguers who were already quarreling over the direction and funds of Auroville. Certainly there was a lazy group in Auroville, but that group quickly disappeared on its own. Is it a "lack of authority" over the Aurovillians or over the trio, whose rivalries were beginning to arouse the mistrust of the Aurovillians? ]] Well, if you tell R., he will see that it's done. (Mother goes within for a long time) We'll have to find some way....Mother, it seems to me you could call together those who areresponsible and take some decisions.Yes, good idea. The trouble is that when several of them are here together, they talk among themselves, I don't hear. So.... If it would help, I can be there.I think it would. (long silence I really feel it is necessary to start again on a new basis and theentire place must be swept clean of all those people. We have to start afresh in a new location and make them work. Yes, but how about the accommodations? In the meantime they could live in huts, which they wouldbuild themselves.But they're in huts. I mean with thatched roofs. (silence) I'll see. I'll try to arrange something. I'll tell you Saturday.page 108-14 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 28th Apr - 1971 |
"I disapprove totally of violence. Each act of violence is a step back on the path leading to the goal to which we aspire. The Divine is everywhere and always supremely conscious. Nothing must ever be done that cannot be done before the Divine."That's for someone rather primary, but anyway.... (some more papers) All that is for Auroville. I am giving them to you so you'll know.page 129 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 12th May - 1971 |
(Sometime in August the message that follows was circulated in the Ashram and Auroville, and published in an Ashram periodical. It is interesting to note that the text is an alteration of a much older original text that Mother had given to Satprem. The original text is included afterwards.) "The task of giving a concrete shape to Sri Aurobindo's vision has been entrusted to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society, expressing and embodying the new consciousness, is the work undertaken by her. In the nature of things, it is a collective ideal calling for a collective effort to realize it in terms of an integral human perfection. The Ashram, founded and built up by the Mother, has been the first step towards the fulfilment of this goal. The project of Auroville is the next step, "more exterior," seeking to widen the base of this endeavor to establish harmony between soul and body, spirit and nature, heaven and earth in the collective life of humanity."(original manuscript) (First version) The task of giving a concrete form to Sri Aurobindo's vision has been given to the Mother. (Second version) The task of completing Sri Aurobindo's vision has been given to the Mother. The creation of a new world, a new humanity, a new society expressing and embodying the new consciousness is the work she has undertaken. By the very nature of things, it is an ideal because the state of Nature that makes it necessary must be surpassed. We aspire for the time when Sri Aurobindo will no longer have to die.page 215-16 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , Undated Aug - 1971 |
But take this other example: I am trying to make Auroville a link between the old way of being and the new, but they are all sunk in.... I mean they use their freedom to live in the most ordinary way. So ... it's discouraging. There are some -- a few -- who are good, but the majority is a subhumanity, an altogether animal humanity. So.... page 234 - Mother's Agenda , volume 12 , 4th Sep - 1971 |
(Notes from Mother) Auroville is intended to hasten the advent of the supramental reality upon earth. The help of all those who find that the world is not what it ought to be is welcome. Each one must know if he wants to associate himself with an old world on the verge of death, or to work for a new and better world ready to be born. *** The first thing the physical consciousness must realize is that all the difficulties we encounter in life arise from the fact that we do not rely exclusively on the Divine to find the help we need. The Divine alone can liberate us from the mechanism of universal Nature. And this liberation is indispensable for the birth and development of the new race. Only if we give ourselves entirely to the Divine with total trust and gratitude will the difficulties be surmounted. page 51 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 1st Feb - 1972-1973 |
(A message from Mother to some Aurovilians) From a spiritual point of view, India is theforemost country in the world. Its mission is to give the example of spirituality. Sri Aurobindo came on earth to teach this to the world. This fact is so obvious, that even a simple,ignorant farmer here is in his heart closer to the Divine than all the intellectuals of Europe. All those who want to become Aurovilians mustknow that and behave accordingly, otherwise they are unworthy of being Aurovilians.page 55 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 8th Feb - 1972-1973 |
I will tell you that we are preaching unity - unity of humanity - and we are all quarreling - horrible quarrels, resentments and all sorts of urgings that we condemn in the others. We are giving a nice example, and people laugh! Voila. It has come to me from many quarters. Begin with yourself, they say, and they are right. Each one, all of you have good reasons, everybody seems to lie. Everybody has "good reasons." You know, the ego is the most clever rogue I have ever met. He takes such nice, nice appearances, and each one says: "I would, but I can't." Voila. And I tell you, from some places far away and from near, from far and from near, from India and from other countries: Begin with yourself. That is, we are ridiculous - ridiculous. And such good reasons we have! - all the people have good reasons. It is above reason, it has nothing to do with reason, nothing to do with that, we want ... a new creation. If the Divine had only for one hour the same feelings as men have, there would be no more world. That I can tell you. I have seen clearly - you believe me if you want - I have seen the world with the eye of the Divine. It is something so terrible, you know, so contrary to what it must be, that if the Divine said "only He," brrt! everything would go, there would be no world, there would be no men, there would be only That. Des ego pulverises [smashed egos]. It is difficult, it is the most difficult thing - we are here to do difficult things. We are in the period of transition. I can't tell you: be like this or be like that, because there is no example as yet. It is being done, and we are just at the time of the transition. It is very, very difficult - but very interesting. For centuries and centuries, humanity has waited for this time. It has come. But it is difficult. I don't simply tell you we are here upon earth to rest and enjoy ourselves, now it is not the time for that. We are here ... to prepare the way for the new creation. The body has some difficulty, so I can't be active, alas. It is not because I am old - I am not old. I am not old, I am younger than most of you. If I am here inactive, it is because the body has given itself definitely to prepare the transformation. But the consciousness is clear and we are here to work - rest and enjoyment will come afterwards. Let us do our work here. So I have called you to tell you that. Take what you can, do what you can, my help will be with you. All sincere efforts will be helped to the maximum. Now is the time to be heroic. Heroism is not what people say, it is to be completely united - and the divine help will always be with those who have, in all sincerity, resolved to be heroic. Voila. You are here now, I mean on earth, because you once chose to be - you don't remember it, but I know; that's why you are here.' Well, you must stand up to the task. You must make an effort, you must conquer pettiness and limitations, and above all tell the ego: your time is over. We want a race without ego, with the divine consciousness in place of the ego. That's what we want: the divine consciousness, which will enable the race to develop and the superman [[Mother later corrected "superman" to "supramental being." ]] to be born. If you think I am here because I am bound, you are wrong. I am not bound. I am here because my body has given itself for the first attempt at transformation. Sri Aurobindo told me so, he told me, "I know of no one who can do it, except you." I said, "All right, I will do it." It's not ... I don't wish anyone to do it in my place, because ... because it's not very pleasant, but I am doing it gladly, because everybody will benefit from the results. I ask only one thing: don't listen to the ego. That's all. The time of the ego is over. We want to go beyond humanity and its ego, to leave it behind, we want a race without ego, with a divine consciousness in place of the ego. There, that's all. Anything to say? (silence) If there is a sincere "yes" in your hearts, you will have satisfied me fully. I don't need words: I need your hearts' sincere adherence. That's all.(silence) (To the architect:) Did you follow?Yes, Mother.Are you in agreement? Fully in agreement. (To N. and U.:) You and you, you must agree. You are here for that. You have come to this place at this time for that. We must give to the world the example of what must be, not petty egoistic movements, but an aspiration towards the manifestation of Truth. Voila. (silence) I can assure you that all sincere effort will be pleinement, fully helped by the Divine. Of that I am sure. And I can assure you of that.(silence) That is all I had to say.page 124- 27 - Mother's Agenda , volume 13 , 2nd Apr - 1972-1973 |
(Mother gives Sujata the manuscript of a note she wrote for Auroville.) "Jesus is one of the many forms the Divine hasassumed to come in contact with the earth. But there are and will be many others. Auroville's children must replace the exclusivism of one religion by the vast faith of Knowledge."
|