June June 2, 1961 (Regarding an earlier 'Questions and Answers' - March 13, 1957 - where Mother says: 'And finally, isn't the Divine the best friend one could have? The Divine to whom one can tell all, reveal all, because here is the source of all mercy, of all power to efface error when it no longer recurs....'Surprised, Satprem blurts out.) But there's no more problem when the error no longer recurs! Isn't it when the error recurs that it needs to be effaced? When one does not repeat one's past mistakes, the divine power, the power of the divine Grace, abolishes their consequences - their karma - in the being. But as long as mistakes are repeated nothing can be abolished, beca

May 19, 1961 (During the work, the difficulty of competently translating Sri Aurobindo comes up.) Something is inevitably lost in translating; we translate, we lose something. Not something - a great deal. A great deal. The more I see these texts, the more.... At first I had the impression of a certain nebulous quality in the English text, and that precisely this quality could be used to introduce the spirit of another language. Now I see that this nebulousness was in my head! It was not in what he wrote. Yes, I see what you mean - there's a sense in the way it is put. Every word, mon petit! Every word and the POSITION of the word in the sentence - even the position of

November 7, 1961 (Regarding Satprem's letter to Mother on the Veda:) This has confronted me with a problem.... You are asking about the process, aren't you? Yes. Page 377 My impression from the Veda is not the same as yours. You say that when they reached the heights they went into trance and then tried the other method. When I read the Veda ... at least what Sri Aurobindo translates for us, because otherwise I have no direct knowledge.... But they say nothing about this. I know my own experience and I can speak of it in detail; and according to what Sri Aurobindo told me, it was the same for him - although he NEVER wrote of it anywhere. But since it has been m

July 15, 1961 Before coming downstairs I felt like writing a few words. These words ... are the result of everything now being done. They almost expressed a protest. After all, I thought, to be a saint or a sage is not very difficult! (Mother laughs) But the supramental transformation is another affair. Oh! And it has become acute since .... [[Since Mother began reading Sri Aurobindo's letters in On Himself, which seemed to put her into contact with all the difficulties of the Work. ]] No, I don't read these days, because I've had a hemorrhage in this eye. There have been too many letters, and it's difficult for me to decipher handwriting - the result is this hemorrhage. So I have gone

January 7, 1961 I came down at 9:30 sharp, thinking half an hour would be enough to cross the corridor and get here. Apparently not! (Mother gives Satprem a rose.) This is the Tenderness of the Divine for ... for himself! The tenderness He has for his creation. 'Creation' ... I don't like that word, as if it all were created from nothing! It is He himself, creating with all his tenderness. Some of these roses get quite big; they're so lovely! And I am ... how to put it? Nothing we say is ever absolutely true, but, to stretch it a bit, while I am ... not worried, not perturbed, not discouraged, I feel I can't get anything done; I spend all my time, all my time, seeing people, re

February 7, 1961 (Mother reads the following letter aloud in English, before sending it to a disciple.) 'You ask me what you must do. It would be better to ask what you must be, because the circumstances and activities in life have not much importance. What is important is our way of reacting towards them.' This is where it begins.... 'Human nature is such that when you concentrate on your body you fall ill; when you concentrate on your heart and feelings you become unhappy; when you concentrate on the mind you get bewildered.' (Laughing) And it's absolutely true! 'There are two ways of getting out of this precarious condition. 'One is very arduous: it is a severe

DECEMBER December 16, 1961 (Mother comes in with a rolled-up paper.) Here's my original manuscript - although it's not very 'original.' It's a message for the first of January. One day ... (I'm translating the last section of The Synthesis of Yoga, 'The Yoga of Self-Perfection' - it plunges you into bottomless gulfs ... ) and one day (I think I've told you this), I had a vision of the gap between ... not even what ought to be, because we probably haven't the slightest idea of that, but between our concept of what we would like to be and what is. And it was so dreadful that the body was thrown into, oh ... an anguish, a horror; and along with it an intensity of aspiration, a pr

February 28, 1961 I have brought you the exact text of that sentence on Sri Aurobindo I told you about the other day. [[ See conversation of February 18: 'Sri Aurobindo is an Action...' ]] It was in reply to a letter.... You know this mental habit (which people take for mental superiority!) of lumping everything together on the same level: all the teachings, all the prophets, all the sects, all the religions. You know the habit: 'We are not prejudiced, we have no preferences - it's all the SAME THING.' A dreadful muddle! It's one of the biggest mental difficulties of this age. Anyway, in reply to this nonsense, I have said: 'Your error, to be precise, is that you go to the Th

June 24, 1961 I have received your note [[Satprem no longer has the text of this letter. ]] and it didn't surprise me, because just about a month ago I received what seemed like an SOS from your mother, telling me your father was rapidly declining. I have done what I could, mainly to bring in some tranquillity, some calm, some inner peace. But I haven't done.... You see, there are always two possibilities when people are so seriously ill: they can be Page 231 helped to die quickly, or else made to linger on for a very long time. When I have no outer or inner indications, all I ever do is apply the consciousness for the best to happen to them (the best from the soul's standpoint, of

March 11, 1961 Good morning! I have to fight to get out of there! I began to scold them all, saying they were wasting all my time - then I was able to come. Otherwise, impossible. (Satprem puts a cushion under Mother's feet) It's almost a luxury these days! When was it? ... Not last night, but the night before, I was with you; and while I was with you I heard the clock strike. I didn't count, but I told myself, 'It's 4 o'clock!' and got out of bed.... One hour later I saw that it was 4 a.m.: I had risen at 3, and by then we had been together for quite a long time. I had gone ... where? I don't know. I was living some place (certainly somewhere in the Mind) and we were toge