There's an American living in Madras, a rather important man, it seems, and an intimate friend of Kennedy, the new President. He has read and reread all of Sri Aurobindo's books and is extremely interested. He wrote to Kennedy that he would like him to come here so he can bring him to the Ashram. This man has posed a very interesting question, drawing an analogy.... Deep in a forest, a deer goes to quench its thirst; no one is aware of it, yet someone who has made a special study of deer hunting would know by the tracks that the deer had passed by - not only what particular type of deer, but its age, size, sex, etc. Similarly, there must be people with a spiritual knowledge analogous to that of hunters, who can detect, perceive, that a person is in touch with the Supermind, while ordinary people know nothing about it and wouldn't notice. So he asks, 'I would like to know by what signs such a person can be recognized?' It is a very intelligent question.

I replied very briefly in English. I haven't brought my answer with me, but I can tell you right away that there are two signs - two certain, infallible signs. I know them through personal experience, for they are two things that can ONLY come with the supramental consciousness; without it, one cannot possess them - no yogic effort, no discipline, no tapasya can give them to you, while they come almost automatically with the supramental consciousness.

The first sign is perfect equality as Sri Aurobindo has described it (you must know it, there's a whole chapter on equality, samata, in The Synthesis of Yoga) - exactly as he described it with such wonderful precision! But this equality (which is not 'equanimity') is a particular STATE where one relates to all things, outer and inner, and to each individual thing, in the same way. That is truly perfect equality: vibrations from things, from people, from contacts have no power to alter that state.

In my reply I mentioned this first, though I didn't give him all these explanations. I put it in a few words as a kind of test of his intelligence, and in a somewhat cryptic form to see if he would understand.

The second sign is a sense of ABSOLUTENESS in knowledge. As I have already told you, I had this with my experience [of January 24]. This state CANNOT be obtained through any region of the mind, even the most illumined and exalted. It's ... not a 'certainty,' it's (Mother lowers both hands like an irresistible block descending), a kind of absoluteness, without even any possibility of hesitation (there's no question of doubt), or anything like that. Without (how to say it ?).... All mental knowledge, even the highest, is a 'conclusive' knowledge, as it were: it comes as a conclusion of something else - an intuition, for instance (an intuition gives you a particular knowledge, and this knowledge is like the conclusion of the intuition). Even revelations are conclusions. They're all conclusions - the word 'conclusion' comes to me, but I don't know how to express it. This isn't the case, however, with the supramental experience - a kind of absolute. The feeling it gives is altogether unique - far beyond certainty, it is ... (Mother again makes the same irresistible gesture) it is a FACT, things are FACTS. It is very, very difficult to explain. But with that ... one naturally has a complete power - the two things always go together. (In my reply to this man I didn't speak of 'power' because the power is almost a consequence and I didn't want to speak of consequences.) But the fact remains: a kind of absoluteness in knowledge springing from identity - one is the thing one knows and experiences: one is it. One knows it because one is it.

When these two signs are present (both are necessary, one is incomplete without the other), when a person possesses both, then you can be sure he has been in contact with the Supermind. So people who speak about receiving the Light ... well, (laughing) it's a lot of hot air! But when both signs are present, you can be sure of your perception. [[The following is the exact text of Mother's reply to this American gentleman: Two irrefutable signs prove that one is in relation with the Supermind: 1. A perfect and constant equality. 2. An absolute certainty in knowledge. To be perfect, the equality must be invariable and spontaneous, effortless, towards all circumstances, all happenings, all contacts, material or psychological, irrespective of their character and impact. The absolute and indisputable certainty of an infallible knowledge through identity. Mother then made the following commentary regarding the 'impact' of circumstances, happenings, etc.: 'There is no longer this kind of opposition between what is an agreeable impact and what is a disagreeable one. There are no more "agreeable" things and "disagreeable" things: they are simply vibrations one registers. Usually when people receive a shock they do this (gesture of recoil), then they reflect, concentrate, and finally restore peace. But equality does not mean that! That's not what it is. The state must be SPONTANEOUS, constant and invariable.' ]]

(silence)

It is quite evident that with these two things, you truly ... it's what Sri Aurobindo says: you step into another world, you leave this entire hemisphere behind and enter another one. That's the feeling.

The day it's established, it will be good.

page 97-98 - Mother's Agenda , volume 2 , 25th Feb 1961

Kennedy has been assassinated, that means the possibility of war.

He was one of the instruments for the establishment of peace - it's a setback for the entire political history of the earth.

But probably, it means basically that things weren't ready: some parts would have been overlooked.

But I had been told this a few weeks ago, last month, while I was conducting a general survey. I heard someone who said ("someone" is a manner of speaking, I know who it is): Kennedy won't be able to do it. I thought the instrument was too small, I didn't think of this.

page 389 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 23rd Nov. 1963

People want me to talk about Kennedy's death - I refused.

There was a poor Negro here, very nice, who did all his studies in America, and who used to send me letters, sometimes as many as two a day. His country has just been liberated, it's one of those countries ... Nigeria, I think, and his ambition is to work so that his country will be one of the first ready for the transformation - a great ambition. And I received a cable from him the day Kennedy was shot, praying for my help. It's very touching.

But it has triggered all kinds of things - in fact, that's in part why I had that long presence of Sri Aurobindo and that long work. As though it had served to trigger one of the movements of transformation of the earth.

There are landmarks of that kind.... I had told you, you remember, how that great Asura (who in fact was the first born; it's for him that I had built a subtle body) had said he was going to China and that China's revolution (a long time ago!) would signal the beginning of the work of transformation of the earth.[[See Agenda III. January 15, 1962, p. 44. ]] Those things are like milestones on a road, and the Chinese revolution was like the first milestone, opening up the road. Well, Kennedy's assassination is one of those signs, one of the landmarks - I've been told this.


But this "trigger" you mention, Kennedy's death, will it precipitate things in the sense of a "shake-up"?
Yes. Its effect is like an electrical discharge that shakes up the tamas, shakes up inertia.

page 394 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 27th Nov. 1963

It's the same thing, moreover, which brought about Kennedy's assassination. And I suppose that's why I had to intervene. Because Kennedy's assassination has upset many things from the point of view of the general work. And it was the same thing, because as soon as I had news of the assassination, I saw the same kind of vibration, the same black force - very, very black - and spontaneously, I said (it isn't "I" who said it), "Oh, that may mean war." In other words, a victory of that force over the one that tries to follow more harmonious paths. But I have been protesting and working since then, and what happened on the 9th is the outcome of it.

But when you're right in it ... it isn't comfortable.

page 412 , Mother'ds Agenda , volume 4 , 11th Dec. 1963

... I saw S.G. this morning, the person who went to America, who knew Kennedy and even spoke to him about the possibility of openly joining with Russia so as to exert pressure on the world and prevent armed disputes (he said, "to settle all border and territorial disputes in a peaceful way," beginning, of course, with China and India). Kennedy had been enthusiastic. The Russian ambassador had been summoned at once, and he had telephoned Khrushchev: enthusiastic over the idea (but this Khrushchev seems to be rather a good man). They were supposed to sort it out during a meeting at the U.N. At this point, Kennedy makes off....[[Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. ]]

But the idea has been taken up again through Khrushchev and he continues to be quite enthusiastic. [[Khrushchev will be dismissed nine months later, on October 15. ]] It seems (I don't know if it's quite true, because it's Z [a Russian disciple] who says so) ... but Z sent him my article "A Dream,"[[See Addendum. ]] on the possibility of creating a small "international center" (I don't like the word "international," but never mind), and Khrushchev answered, "This idea is excellent, the entire world should make it a reality." Well, I don't know whether it's correct, but anyway the gentleman seems to be well-disposed. And this S.G. is very intimate with the U.S. ambassador in Delhi.... In brief, S.G. has sent me the new proposal - the first one, I had approved it, I had even put my blessings on it, and he had gone to see Nehru: Nehru immediately called both ambassadors for

a conference. [[Nehru will die four months later, on May 27. ]] At the time, I worked a good deal and things were moving.... Now, it seems that the new president [Johnson] is, for the time being, continuing what the other did: he won't upset the apple cart.... We'll see.

If it succeeds, it will give some concrete expression to the effort of transformation without violence.

page 28-29 , Mother's Agenda - volume 5 , 18th Jan 1964

(On Mother's table lies an issue of "The Illustrated Weekly" showing a large photo of President Kennedy with folded hands. This is the second anniversary of his death, November 22, 1963.)

Was he a religious man?

He was Catholic, I think.
Oh, Catholic! ...

Ah, that's why he died.... You know he was truly in favor of freedom, and not only freedom but union. And he was receptive. You know how he worked for the Blacks there (moreover, that's the external cause of his death). But he was the one I counted on, not without reason, as he had shown signs of assent to a union with Russia to establish peace on earth. Talks had already started and they had seized the opportunity of China's aggression against India. Naturally, that wasn't quite to the extremists' liking, and in the atmosphere, the force which for centuries has acted behind the Catholic religion wasn't at all in favor of that plan; so things "worked out" well and they killed him. The other one in Russia who had responded, Khrushchev, didn't die because he left in time!

But I didn't know, I thought Kennedy was Protestant.


page 299-300 , Mother's Agenda , volume 6 , 20th Nov - 1965