(The night of the 5th, a violent cyclone struck Pondicherry. At Nandanam, in the middle of the devastated garden, a white hi biscus bloomed. Satprem places the flower on Mother's knees.) A "Grace" flower bloomed in the thick of the cyclone, Mother. (silence) (One can hear the axes hacking away at the broken branches of the great yellow flame tree called "Service," which spreads its foliage above Sri Aurobindo's tomb.) The tree that gave me all my "Transformation" flowers [from Satprem's garden] is broken. The "Service" tree also: some of its bra

I remember, long ago, right at the beginning (I think I had just moved into Sri Aurobindo's house), someone, I forget who (did Tagore have a sister?...[[It was not Tagore's sister but a relative of his, Sarala Devi Choudhurani, a revolutionary whom Sri Aurobindo had known in Bengal. ]]), she was a tall and strong woman, rather awe-inspiring, who had come to spend a day in the Ashram, and she told me, "Why don't you keep some rooms and rent them out to visitors? You would get ten rupees a day." (Mother laughs) I stared at her, I was flabbergasted (she was teaching me to be practical!). And at the end, she said, "God bless you." At that point I couldn't restrain my

Hu.Shu.[[A Chinese disciple who translates Sri Aurobindo into Chinese. ]] has written to me, and there was a sentence in his letter that brought a certain problem to my attention. He said, "I have done so many hours of translation - it's a mechanical task." I wondered what he meant by "mechanical task" because, as far as I am concerned, you can't translate unless you have the experience - if you start translating word for word, it no longer means anything at all. Unless you have the experience of what you translate, you can't translate it. Then I suddenly realized that the Chinese can't translate the way we do! In Chinese, each character represents an idea rather than a sepa

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 sai

Did you feel the earthquake?... It was in the morning of the day before yesterday, at 4:30. I didn't feel anything. But some people felt it and told me. Over there it was quite bad. [[In the Indian state of Maharashtra. ]] My mother reached Bombay on that day and felt it. All the dogs were howling; for three seconds houses were shaken. A small town has completely disappeared. [[The village of Konya. ]] But it's strange.... I wasn't asleep but was outside my body, so I didn't notice anything. It didn't wake up my body. But it must have been very weak here. I was awake but didn'tfeel anything.

As I appeared to be doubting, X told me, 'There is no "suspicion " [doubt], the war will take place in November' (in fact, it is to occur some time between September and November), and for the rest of the talk, he had a tone of absolute certitude: 'The first atom bomb will fall in China. Russia will be crushed. It will be a victory for America. Not more than 2 or 3 atom bombs will be used. It will be very quick.' And he repeated that the starting-point of the conflict would be situated in India due to the aggression of Pakistan, then of China. The earthquake he mentioned promises to be a kind of 'pralaya' (as X put it), for not only Bombay will be t

Yes, some 'Questions and Answers.' More small talk! Speaking of which, I looked at T's most recent questions on the Aphorisms again. All these children haven't the least sense of humor, so Sri Aurobindo's paradoxes throw them into a kind of despair! ... The last aphorism went something like this: 'When I could read a wearisome book from one end to the other with pleasure, then I knew I had conquered my mind.'# So T asked me 'How can you read a wearisome book with pleasure?'!! I had to explain it to her. And on top of that, I have to take on a rather serious tone, for were I to reply in the same ironic fashion, they would be totally drowne

Today is the birthday of Jyotin, the gardener. He brought me this, look! ... (Mother gives a double pink lotus) It's beautiful. page 155 , Mother's Agenda , volume 7 , 27th Jul - 1966

You know, someone who appreciates this work tremendously is Nolini. Once he timidly asked me, 'Could I have a copy'?' 'Fine,' I said. Oh, he really appreciates it. And when I have something amusing like these most recent notes, I give him a copy. With that, he's happy. So he blesses you! (Mother laughs) Oh! Without you, this would never have been done - you can be quite sure. Never. page 412 , Mother's Agenda , volume - 1, 20 Aug. 1960 (Concerning the last conversation where Mother spoke of the essential Sound, or the 'Word' of the Vedic Rishis.) I promised Nolini I would show him this. page 50 , Mother's Ag

Here, I'll give you an example: A. wrote to tell me, "If you know how to get in touch with Agni, [[Agni: the fire of inner aspiration. In the Vedas it is represented by a particular god. ]] let me know, because I need him"! I gave the natural reply, that what's needed is aspiration for progress, a will for perfection, and that you kindle the fire by burning your desires. I told him this in a way I call very concrete. Well, he answered (laughing), "Ohhh! You're living in abstractions. That's not what I want, I want a living god" - a personality, you see! That's how people are. Psychology: that's abstract. What they want is: on such and