I have lived this in recent days. I have seen it. Last night or the night before, I spent at least two hours in a world - the subtle physical world - where the living mingle with the dead with no sense of difference, it makes absolutely no difference there. For instance, when Mridu [[ Sri Aurobindo's old cook, round as a barrel. ]] was in her body I used to see her at night maybe once a year (maybe not even that much). For years she was utterly nonexistent in my consciousness ... but since she left her body, I see her almost every night! There she is, just as she was, you know (rotund gesture), but no longer troubled, that's all. No longer troubled. And there were both living and ... what we call the "living" and the "dead" - they were both there together, eating together, moving around together, having fun together; and all in a lovely, tranquil light - pleasant, very pleasant. "There! " I thought, "and humans have drawn a sharp line, saying, 'Now he's dead!'" Dead! And what really takes the cake is the way they treat the body like an unconscious object, and it's still conscious!

page 374 - Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 12th Oct. 1962

And the last two nights, the activities of the morning, those that take place in the subtle physical with Sri Aurobindo and all the people here, have suddenly become concerned with food! But in a very different form. It's always to give me indications about people, about things. The night before last, there was an amusing incident. You know that Mridu, the fat woman who used to cook for Sri Aurobindo, is in the subtle physical. When she died, Sri Aurobindo (I didn't even know she had died), Sri Aurobindo went to fetch her in her house, then brought her to me and put her at my feet here: that's how I knew she had died (I was told the next morning). But I didn't understand what had happened; I saw Sri Aurobindo go into Mridu's house, then come back (laughing) with a small bundle like this, and put it at my feet! I was flabbergasted, I saw it was Mridu, and I ran after Sri Aurobindo to ask him, "What on earth does this mean?!" Then everything vanished. The next day, I was told she was dead. And she lives like that, in the subtle physical, and I see her very, very often, very often (she is a little better than she was physically, but not much more intelligent!). But the other night, she brought me big prunes (they were this big), and I ate a few, and found them very good; then Pavitra came along, looked at those poor prunes and told me, "Oh, you shouldn't eat this, there's mold on it!" I remembered it because it amused me. And I looked, saying (laughing), "I don't see any mold, and anyway they are very good!" And last night, there was a man (whom I know very well, but I can't remember his name) who told me I absolutely must drink milk! (For years and years I haven't drunk a drop of milk.) And he showed me the milk saying, "You see, you should mix the milk in soup, in this, in that." I wondered, "That's odd, why all of a sudden...?" I never, ever used to have dreams of food! (They aren't dreams, by the way: I am not asleep, I am perfectly conscious.) It began two nights ago: first I ate prunes - big prunes like this - then last night, I was told to take milk! But it was so insistent that for a moment this morning I wondered if I should start drinking milk!
This is also new.


page 188-89 - Mother's Agenda , volume 6, 21st July - 1965

There are some people over there who lived on earth, but not many. That's where I met several times (very often during the first year after her death) the woman who used to cook for Sri Aurobindo. What was her name?

Mridu.
Mridu! She has also changed a lot, quite a lot, but ... (Mother smiles, amused) in a way she is still the same!


page 247 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 29th Oct - 1966

But didn't you see Mridu? [[Who was Sri Aurobindo's cook, and round as a barrel; she left her body seven years earlier, in September 1962. ]]
No.
She's there (huge gesture, laughing), just as she was! ... I saw Purani, I saw Mridu, and the other day (I told you) I saw Amrita and Chandulal talking together. That whole place looks like downstairs, but it's not downstairs. So it's the place all right.


page 255 , Mother's Agenda , volume 10 , 23rd July - 1969