APPENDIX FOUR LETTERS BY Sri Aurobindo I have said that the Divine does the Sadhana first for the world and then gives what is brought down to others. There can be no Sadhana without realisations and experiences. The Prayers are a record of Mother’s experiences. 4 January 1939 * In some of the Mother’s Prayers which are addressed to “divin Maître” I find the words: “avec notre divine Mère”. How can the Mother and “divin Maître” have a “divine Mère”? It is as if the Mother was not the “divine Mère” and there was some other Mother and the “divin Maître” was not the Transcendent and had also a “divine Mère”! Or is it that all these are addressed to something impersonal?

December 4, 1914       AFTER long days of silence, entirely occupied by outer work, it is at last given to me to resume these pages and continue with Thee, Lord, this conversation which is so sweet to me....     But Thou hast broken all my habits, for Thou wouldst prepare me for liberation from every mental form. Certain mental forms, more particularly powerful or adapted to the temperament, are sure guides to supreme experiences. But once the experiences are over, Thou wouldst have them free in themselves from bondage to any mental form, however high or pure it may be, so as to be capable of expression in the new, most true form, that is, the one most suitable to

November 3, 1914       FOR quite a long time, Lord, my pen had fallen silent.... Yet hast Thou given me hours of unforgettable illumination, hours in which the union between the most divine Consciousness and the most material grew perfect, hours when the identification of the individual being with the universal Mother and of the universal Mother with Thee was so complete that the individual consciousness could perceive simultaneously its own existence, the life of the entire universe and Thy eternity beyond all change. Beatitude was at its height in an ineffable and infinite peace, the consciousness luminous and immeasurable, complex and yet one, existence all-powe

Prayers and Meditations November 2, 1912 * Although my whole being is in theory consecrated to Thee, O Sublime Master, who art the life, the light and the love in all things, I still find it hard to carry out this consecration in detail. It has taken me several weeks to learn that the reason for this written meditation, its justification, lies in the very fact of addressing it daily to Thee. In this way I shall put into material shape each day a little of the conversation I have so often with Thee; I shall make my confession to Thee as well as it may be; not because I think I can tell Thee anything – for Thou art Thyself everything, but our artificial and exterior way

January 1, 1914       TO Thee, supreme Dispenser of all boons, to Thee who givest life its justification, by making it pure, beautiful and good, to Thee, Master of our destinies and goal of all our aspirations, was consecrated the first minute of this new year.     May it be completely glorified by this consecration; may those who hope for Thee, seek Thee in the right path; may those who seek Thee find Thee, and those who suffer, not knowing where the remedy lies, feel Thy life gradually piercing the hard crust of their obscure consciousness.     I bow down in deep devotion and in boundless gratitude before Thy beneficent splendour; in the name of the earth I give Th

23 June 1954 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Elements of Yoga, Chapter 13, “Sex – Food – Sleep”. “Q: Is taking very little food helpful in controlling the senses? “A: No, it simply exasperates them – to take a moderate amount is best. People who fast easily get exalted and may lose their balance. “Q: If one takes only vegetarian food, does it help in controlling the sees? “A: It avoids some of the difficulties which the meat-eaters have, but it is not sufficient by itself.” Any questions? What happen if one eats meat? Do you want me to tell you a story? I knew a lady, a young Swedish woman, who was doing sadhana; and sh

22 September 1954 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Bases of Yoga, Chapter 1, “Calm – Peace – Equality”. “Calm, even if it seems at first only a negative thing, is so difficult to attain, that to have it at all must be regarded as a great step in advance. “In reality, calm is not a negative thing, it is the very nature of the Sat-Purusha and the positive foun- dation of the divine consciousness. Whatever else is aspired for and gained, this must be kept. Even Know- ledge, Power, Ananda, if they come and do not find this foundation, are unable to remain and have to withdraw until the divine purity and peace of the Sat- Purus

4 August 1954 This talk is based upon Chapter 5 of The Mother by Sri Aurobindo. Sweet Mother, what is the difference between a serv- ant and a worker? I don't think there is much difference; it is almost the same thing. Perhaps the attitude is not quite the same, but there is not much of a difference. In “servant” there seems to be something more: it is the joy of serving. The worker – he has only the joy of the work. But the work that is done as a service brings still greater joy. What does “self-love” mean? I think self-love is a pleasant word for vanity. Self-love means that one loves oneself more than anything else; and what he implies by this, yo

21 April 1954 On this date Mother began the reading of  Elements of Yoga by Sri Aurobindo. The book contains his answers to elementary questions about Yoga which were asked during the years 1933 to 1936. The following talk is based upon Chapter 1, 1“The Call and Fitness” and Chapter 2, “The Foundation”. You have asked some questions. Now you are going to put questions on your questions. Yes? Mother, here it is written: “In our Yoga our aim is to be united [with the Divine] in the physical conscious- ness and on the supramental plane”; then, when the physical consciousness is united with the Divine, does transformations fol

-00_Publisher^s Note.htm Publisher's Note This volume contains the talks given by the Mother to the students, teachers and sadhaks of the Ashram in her "Wednesday Classes" of 1954. The classes generally began with a reading from one of her writings or her French translations of Sri Aurobindo's works. She then commented or answered questions on the texts or on other subjects. The talks from January 2 to April 14 are based upon her essays on education and self-development (now published in On Education, Volume Twelve of the Collected Works), the others upon Sri Aurobindo's Elements of Yoga, The Mother and Bases of Yoga. The talks, given in French, were tape-rec