August 17, 1963 (Mother prepares another aphorism for the next "Bulletin.") What aphorism do we have? It's about "renunciation." There is that thing I said: acceptance and struggle - both together. What did he say about renunciation? 94 - All renunciation is for a greater joy yet ungrasped. Some renounce for the joy of duty done, some for the joy of peace, some for the joy of God and some for the joy of self-torture, but renounce rather as a passage to the freedom and untroubled rapture beyond. And your question? I always hesitate to ask you questions, because it sets you on a certain line which isn't necessarily what would come to you.... (silence) I never had m

December 11, 1963 There was in the Subconscient a frightful battle in the night from the 8th to the 9th - oh! ... It was like a return of the attack on me when you went to Rameswaram (long ago[ [In 1958. ]]); X said it was a Tantric who had made that formation (it happened on December 9 too and I was very sick, I didn't go out). Well, it was an attack of that kind. I don't know if it comes from the same ... I can't say "person," but from the same origin of forces. And very violent, during the night. It went on during the meditation on the 9th: for the first time during those meditations, there was a tremendous battle, in the Subconscient. And the body was in a state ... a not too happ

September 18, 1963 I had an interesting experience the day before yesterday. In a very concrete way, there was the consciousness that everything is the Lord and that everything is His will, His action, His consciousness and so forth; at the same time, the perception of the world as it is ("as it is," anyway ... as we feel it). And as there was no longer any notion of good and evil and all that, there was a sort of almost candid surprise, a very spontaneous surprise, not thought out, at reprobation, anger, disapproval, scorn for all the people who are called "bad," who do evil and have bad will. It seemed so strange that one could lose one's temper because of that! Then there arose

July 17, 1963 Nolini told me that every day since the Force has been on the increase, there's a shower of letters from people who cry out their misery, whether moral or material. It's a general cry for help, and, he told me, "The remarkable thing is that no one asks for material help," they all ask for my blessings and say (because they have faith) it brings them relief. He said, "It's the identical note in almost all the letters." Contacts with the outside have increased considerably; formerly, it was only with people who knew me, but now it's with scores of absolutely unknown people. During the part of the night reserved for the work (generally between 2 and 4:30 in the morning ... i

June 15, 1963 I've received a letter from a friend in France who speaks at length of someone who has written three volumes entitled "Gnosis." Ohh! That person lives in Switzerland, he's a Russian named B.M. He has a center with disciples. I asked for his photograph and I'd like you to help me understand what type of man he is. (Mother studies the photo) He is an intellectual, at any rate - clearly not a spiritual man. He may have some vital powers (that's generally what gets hold of people). Yes, an intellectual, an idealist. Page 169 Do you have his handwriting? No. He's terribly well-mannered, that's what bothers me! (laughing) A well-mannered gentleman! I had t

July 10, 1963 (Regarding the English translation of "The Adventure of Consciousness":) ... What's impossible to translate is the musical rhythm of the sentence - that's impossible. Because the English rhythm and the French rhythm are very different in character, and if you translate literally something that has a poetic rhythm in English, it may not come out poetic at all in French. So a translation is a translation, we have to settle for it.... But there will still be quite enough ideas left to do people some good! Yes, but sometimes it becomes quite jerky. The French has a staccato, powerful rhythm, so in English it gives an impression of small bits cut and pasted together. But an

November 13, 1963 (Regarding an old Playground Talk of January 8, 1951, in which Mother said: "The history of the earth seems to be a history of victories followed by defeats, and not of defeats followed by victories.... [But] in truth, the movements of Nature are like those of the tides: things go forward, then backward, then forward, then backward ... which implies, in universal life, even in earthly life, a progressive advance though apparently broken with retreats. But those retreats are only an appearance, as when you take a run in order to jump. You seem to move back, but it's only to enable you to jump higher. You may tell me that this is all very well, but how do you give a ch

December 14, 1963 Did W tell you his experience? No?... He says that lately he had the experience of an extraordinary force, like a kind of power going out of him through every pore and spreading, and he felt he had an extraordinary power; it lasted for hours. A very good experience. What force? (Mother smiles) You know, there are, broadly speaking, two categories of people: those who by nature receive, are receptive; who receive and like to receive and to feel they are receiving; and those who like to give and like the feeling of giving. So those who like to receive have the experience of receiving, while those who like to give (laughing) have the experience of giving. But b

November 30, 1963 (After a meditation with Mother) Do you believe in Muses? In Muses?!... [Satprem is taken aback]... I believe in inspiration. Because I saw ... It was so precise, so concrete, material, that for a moment I wondered whether it was physical or not. There was only the arm and shoulder of someone who stood behind you, but veiled, that is, as if behind a mist so as not to be seen. It was a woman's arm, very young, a very milky white, and a little rounded - not fat (!), but without angles. There was a hand and an arm, very white-skinned - a milky white - and I could see the beginning of a sort of silver dress. She had words and sheets of paper, and she was arrangi

December 18, 1963 (Mother reads a letter by Sri Aurobindo:) "It is equally ignorant and one thousand miles away from my teaching to find it in your relations with human beings or in the nobility of the human character or an idea that we are here to establish mental and moral and social Truth and justice on human and egoistic lines. I have never promised to do anything of the kind. Human nature is made up of imperfections, even its righteousness and virtue are pretensions, imperfections and prancings of a self-approbatory egoism.... What is aimed at by us is a spiritual truth as the basis of life, the first words of which are surrender and union with the Divine and the transcendence