Punishment All tremble when faced with punishment; all fear death. Seeing others as ourselves, do not strike, do not cause another to strike. All tremble when faced with punishment; life is dear to all. Seeing others as ourselves, do not strike, do not cause another to strike. Whosoever hurts creatures eager for happiness for the sake of his own happiness, nevertheless will not obtain it after his death. Whosoever does not hurt creatures eager for happiness for the sake of his own happiness, will obtain it after death. Never speak harsh words to anyone, for they will be returned to you. Angry words

30 June 1929 What is the ground of the repulsion that one instinc tively feels towards certain animals, such as snakes and scorpions? It is not an inevitable necessity that one should feel this or any other repulsion. To have no repulsion at all is one of the fundamental achievements of Yoga. The repulsion you speak of comes from fear; if there were no fear, it would not exist. This fear is not based on reason, it is instinctive; it is not individual, but racial; it is a general suggestion and belongs to the consciousness of humanity as a whole. When one takes up the human body, one accepts along with it a mass of these general suggestions, race ideas, race

 Impurity                    Now you are like a withered leaf; the messengers of Yama await you. It is the eve of your departure, and you have made no provision for your journey! Quickly make for yourself an island of refuge, strive hard and become wise. When you are cleansed and purified of all impurity, you will enter the heavenly home of the Noble Ones. Now your days are numbered, you are in the presence of the God of death. You have no resting-place on the road, no provision for the journey. Quickly make for yourself an island of refuge, strive hard and become wise. When you are cleansed and purified of all

 The Thousands Better than a thousand words devoid of meaning is a single meaningful word which can bring tranquillity to one who hears it. Better than a thousand verses devoid of meaning is a single meaningful verse which can bring tranquillity to one who hears it. Better than the repetition of a hundred verses devoid of meaning is the repetition of a single verse of the Teaching which can bring tranquillity to one who hears it. The greatest conqueror is not he who is victorious over thousands of men in battle, but he who is victo- rious over himself. The victory that one wins over oneself is of m

ON THE DHAMMAPADA Conjugate Verses Every Friday I shall read out to you a few verses of the Dhammapada, then we shall meditate on that text. This is to teach you mental control. If I think it necessary I shall give you an explanation. The Dhammapada begins with conjugate verses; here is the first one: In all things the primordial element is mind. Mind predominates. Everything proceeds from mind. Naturally, this concerns the physical life, there is no question of the universe. If a man speaks or acts with an evil mind, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the bul- lock that pulls the cart. That is to say, ordin

5 March 1951                Mother reads a passage about natural calami- ties (Questions and Answers 1929, 5 May).                              Why do disasters occur? Because a higher consciousness wants to manifest it- self in the world, and man and Nature resist it. This is partly true. But I don't think Nature has this feeling. When there is an earthquake, for instance, or a volcano erupts, if there are men staying nearby and these events cause their death, obviously it is for these men a catastrophe, but we could very well imagine that for Nature it is good fun ! We say, “What a terrible wind !” Naturally, for men it is “terrible”, but not

-00_Publisher^s Note.htm Publisher's Note This volume contains the Mother's talks from December 1950 to May 1951. It is worth noting how they originated. The Ashram school was founded in 1943 and by 1950 the first students had learned French fairly well, By this time many more children had come and there were not enough teachers of French. So, when the school year commenced in December 1950, the Mother decided to take the highest class in French three times a week. This was the beginning of these gatherings, which came to be called "Mother's classes". The Mother usually began by reading a passage from her own writings or from the French translations of Sri

13 January 1951 “An aimless life is always a miserable life.” “The Science of Living”, On Education * Why? If one has an aim, one can follow quietly the way which leads to the goal. It is not necessary to have a goal in order to follow the way quietly. So many men who have no goal follow quite calmly the course of their daily round without making any effort! An aim gives joy. Sometimes it takes an entire lifetime to attain one's aim; one would then find joy only at the end of one's life! An aim is an ideal and an ideal is an enrichment. Yes, but one may have an altogether material ideal; it is not the ideal which gives joy.

31 March 1951                Mother reads a question asked during her talk in 1929:              “Can all physical ailments be traced to some disorder in the mind?” Questions and Answers 1929 (16 June) * If there is one mental disorder which can bring about all illnesses, it is fear. But, each man can make his own experiment. If one has a bad throat, this may be due to the fact that the day before one was in a state of depression. Or perhaps one is very unhappy, dissatisfied, one finds everything very bad, and the next day one gets a cold in the head... Everyone must make his own observations. “Each spot of the body is symbolical o

5 April 1951 “Everything here is followed by the supermind; the mind movements and not less the vital, the material movements, all the play of the universe have for it a very deep interest, but of another kind. It is about the same difference as that between the interest taken in a puppet-play by one who holds the strings and knows what the puppets are to do and the will that moves them and knows that they can do only what it moves them to do, and the interest taken by another who observes the play but sees only what is happening from moment to moment and knows nothing else. The one who follows the play and is outside