July 3, 1971 You know, it's as if the two extremes -- a marvelous state and a general decomposition -- were here like this (gesture of being inextricably intertwined). Everything, but everything is falling apart: people you count on give way, it seems there's a general dishonesty spreading, people getting sick all the time.... As difficulties go, there have NEVER been so many, never, and compounded: big difficulties with ruinous ones. But at the same time, for ... a flash (it comes for a few minutes, then it goes away), there is a ... marvelous state (the body feels it), unimaginable, you know, like the extreme opposite. As if it wanted to take over -- but the other fights back fierce

September 12, 1964 (Satprem reads Mother an old "Talk" of February 24, 1951, in which she refers to the memory of past lives and the unbridled imagination of certain people.) I didn't name her, but it was Annie Besant. She recounted all her lives with all the details - right from the ape! I didn't read her books, incidentally. Oh, I tried several times, but it's really all stories, it gets on your nerves. Yes, that's what I call "spiritual storybooks." Worse than that: spiritual pulp novels! It's shallow. And it has done a great deal to devalue true knowledge. (Mother nods her head) * * * Page 187 (Then Satprem reads a passage in which Mother talks about yo

December 10, 1964 (From Sujata to Mother, following a visit to Pondicherry's hospital) Little Mother, Satprem says he loves you dearly and he asked me how you are. Your child, Signed: Sujata (Mother's answer) Sujata, tell Satprem that I love him very much and that I am Page 311 with him all the time. If he follows Sri Aurobindo's advice, Live inside, he is sure to feel this. Tenderness Signed: Mother Page 312

November 21, 1964 Mother looks weary. She is holding her palms on her eyes. ... They stupefy me with material, mechanical things to be done, and as they're all in a hurry and disorganized, they come at the last minute and the thing has to be done "immediately." All this to explain to you that I am completely stupefied. Page 284 If you like, we can do some translation, because then it's you who's working, not me! But do you have anything to say? ... If you do, tell me. Oh, there are always things to be said, but... Ah! Tell me, then. They're personal things. Yes, fine, tell me. I don't quite understand my position now. I have the feeling that my existence

January 18, 1964 ... I saw S.G. this morning, the person who went to America, who knew Kennedy and even spoke to him about the possibility of openly joining with Russia so as to exert pressure on the world and prevent armed disputes (he said, "to settle all border and territorial disputes in a peaceful way," beginning, of course, with China and India). Kennedy had been enthusiastic. The Russian ambassador had been summoned at once, and he had telephoned Khrushchev: enthusiastic over the idea (but this Khrushchev seems to be rather a good man). They were supposed to sort it out during a meeting at the U.N. At this point, Kennedy makes off....[[Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 19

September 30, 1964 W has come back from his "Tantric course" - after having fallen ill! It seems X gave him a new mantra, which must be repeated in three periods of several lakhs each, and he told him, "So far, none of those to whom I have given this mantra have been able to reach the end." And he warned him, "You will be attacked in your thought, your feelings and your body." Sure enough, W got a fever, a sort of discomfort all over, and all kinds of suggestions that sprang up from below. I must say it left me pensive.... To go and do battle with the adverse forces in their own domain, to provoke them, is indeed a peculiar method.... I told W (and in any case I'll see to it that the

October October 7, 1964 Things (not from the ordinary point of view, but from the higher point of view) have clearly taken a turn for the better. But the material consequences are still there: all the difficulties seem to have worsened. Only, the power of the consciousness is greater - clearer, more precise. Also the action on those who have good-will: they are making rather considerable progress. But the material difficulties seem to have worsened, which means ... it's to see whether we bear up! From the standpoint of money, it's serious, the situation is serious. From the standpoint of health, everybody is sick. And from the standpoint of quarrels (!), the quarrels are more bitt

July 22, 1964 I had an experience some time ago (about something unimportant, but anyway). I took some notes, I don't remember where they are (they were in English, in the form of an answer to a letter). I saw, almost simultaneously, love as people "practice" it, if we may say so, and feel it, and divine Love in its origin. Both were as if shown to me side by side, and not only were they side by side, but I saw also the difference (it was almost simultaneous) between the two actions: how human action is generated and how divine action is produced or manifests. It came through a series of examples or absolutely concrete experiences, lived one after the other, as if a superior Wisdom had

August 8, 1964 ... There are some strange things. When I went to Japan, I met a man there who was a striking reproduction of my father - the first moment, I wondered if I was dreaming. I think my father was already dead, but I am not sure, I don't remember exactly (my father died while I was in Japan, that's all I know). But he was the same age as my father, which means they were born together, at the same time. My father was born in Turkey, while this one was born in Japan - but anyway, it WAS my father! And this man took to me with a paternal passion, it was extraordinary! He wanted to see me all the time, he showered me with gifts.... And we could hardly talk to each other, as he knew

March 29, 1964 (Note from Mother to Satprem)