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 - Mother's Agenda , volume - 2 , 25th Feb. - 1961