17 April 1951 “The spiritual life reveals the one essence in all, but reveals too its infinite diversity; it works for diversity in oneness and for perfection in that diversity.” Questions and Answers 1929 (4 August) * This is the very motive of the creation of the universe, that is to say, all are one, all is one in its origin, but each thing, each element, each being has as its mission the revealing of one part of this unity to itself, and it is this particularity which must be developed in everyone, while awakening at the same time the sense of the original unity. This is “to work for unity in diversity”. And the perfection in that diversity lies

20 January 1951 “To complete this movement of inner discovery, it is good not to neglect the mental development. For the mental instrument can be equally a great help or a great hindrance. In its natural state the human mind is always limited in its vision, narrow in its under- standing, rigid in its conceptions, and a certain effort is needed to enlarge it, make it supple and deep.” “The Science of Living”, On Education * Unfortunately, most people, the more they think, the more they believe themselves superior. The mind is satisfied with itself and does not aspire much for progress – thinks it knows everything. And many pe

14 March 1951 “When you come to the Divine, you must abandon all mental conceptions; but, instead of doing that, you throw your conceptions upon the Divine and want the Divine to obey them. The only true attitude for a Yogi is to be plastic and ready to obey the Divine command whatever it may be...” Questions and Answers 1929 (19 May) * What is “plasticity”?                              That which can easily change its form is “plastic”. Figuratively, it is suppleness, a capacity of adaptation to circumstances and necessities. When I ask you to be plastic in relation to the Divine, I mean not to resist the Divine with the ri

10 March 1951 “The power of money is at present under the influence or in the hands of the forces and beings of the vital world. It is because of this influence that you never see money going in any considerable amount to the cause of Truth. Always it goes astray, because it is in the clutch of the hostile forces and is one of the prin- cipal means by which they keep their grip upon the earth. The hold of the hostile forces upon money- power is powerfully, completely and thoroughly organ- ised and to extract anything out of this compact organisation is a most difficult task. Each time that you try to draw a little of th

14 April 1951                Mother reads a question asked during her talk in 1929:              “Is not surrender the same as sacrifice ?” Questions and Answers 1929 (4 August) * Who is going to answer? What is the difference? Surrender comes spontaneously.                              I congratulate those whose surrender is spontaneous ! It is not so easy. No, that is not the difference. Sacrifice diminishes the being.                               That is true, but why ? One thing is so, so simple – is the very meaning of the word. To sacrifice means to give up something to which one clings. To sacrifice one's life is

3 May 1951 “Money is the visible sign of a universal force, and this force in its manifestation on earth works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life. In its origin and its true action it belongs to the Divine. But like other powers of the Divine it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego or held by Asuric influences and perverted to their purpose. This is indeed one of the three forces – power, wealth, sex – that have the strongest attrac- tion for the human ego and the Asura and are most generally misheld and misused

12 April 1951 What is the difference between Japanese art and the art of other countries, like those of Europe, for example?                              The art of Japan is a kind of directly mental expression in physical life. The Japanese use the vital world very little. Their art is extremely mentalised; their life is extremely mentalised. It expresses in detail quite precise mental formations. Only, in the physical, they have spontaneously the sense of beauty. For example, a thing one sees very rarely in Europe but constantly, daily in Japan: very simple people, men of the working class or even peasants go for rest or enjoyment to a place where they can

10 February 1951 “You must be able, if you are ready to follow the Di- vine order, to take up whatever work you are given, even a stupendous work, and leave it the next day with the same quietness with which you took it up and not feel that the responsibility is yours. There should be no attachment – to any object or any mode of life. You must be absolutely free.” Questions and Answers 1929 (14 April) * I would like someone to tell me what he understands by “be absolutely free”, for it is a very important question. I shall tell you why.  Most people confuse liberty with licence. For the ordinary mind, to be free is to h

28 April 1951 “But so long as the lower nature is active the personal effort of the Sadhaka remains necessary.”                Sri Aurobindo, The Mother, p. 6 *                              Outwardly, one believes in one's own personality and one's own effort. So long as you believe in personal effort, you must make a personal effort. There is one part of the being which is not at all conscious of being a part of the Divine. The whole of the outer being is convinced that it is something separate, independent and related only to itself. This part of the being must necessarily make a personal effort. It can't be told, “The Divine does the sadhana for you”,

12 March 1951 In the vital world, forces exist: do mental forms exist in the mental world? Yes, there is a concrete mental world and there are mental forms which do not resemble vital forces but have their own law. There are many, innumerable mental forms. They are almost indestructible; one can only say that they change forms and relations, it is something very fluid, and moving all the time. “...You can understand only what you already know in your own inner self. What strikes you in a book is what you have already experienced deep within you... The knowledge that seems to come to you from out- side is only an occasion for bringing out t