Somewhere in the overmind (beyond the higher mind and from the overmind onwards), things are luminous IN THEMSELVES. Light doesn't have to strike them: things themselves are luminous. And this makes a considerable difference in vision. Things are no longer lit from outside, they are luminous in themselves. This is the main difference in the quality of the light. page 345 , Mother's Agenda , volume 3 , 15th Sept 1962 I would especially like to understand the difference between the overmind and the Supermind - to understand it concretely, not abstractly. The overmind isn't part of the intellect. It's the domain of the god

For example, there's someone here, Mridou (you know her, she's as round as a barrel [[Sri Aurobindo's old cook. ]] ), who gossips to everybody. She had quite a clientele for a long time because she used to make Indian sweets and the Europeans went to her place for snacks. She is a woman who, when there isn't any gossip, invents it! She tells all the dirt imaginable to all her visitors - a fact which was brought to my attention. I recall that a long time ago Sir Akbar from Hyderabad warned me, 'You know, she's the second Mother of the Ashram, be careful!' 'It's a good test,' I replied, 'people who don't immediately sense what it is aren't worthy of coming here!'

(Long silence) With France's intellectual quality, the quality of her mind, the day she is truly touched spiritually (she never has been), the day she is touched spiritually, it will be something exceptional. Sri Aurobindo had a great liking for France. I was born there - certainly for a reason. In my case, I know it very well: it was the need of culture, of a clear and precise mind, of refined thought, taste and clarity of mind - there is no other country in the world for that. None. And Sri Aurobindo had a liking for France for that same reason, a great liking. He used to say that throughout his life in England, he had a much greater liking for F

S.M came the other day ... He's quite informed about events as only the government knows them. He brings me government news - not what they feed to the public. It doesn't look good. But as he has confidence, he wanted to know (so much confidence that he goes and tells Nehru and others, 'Oh, Mother said this, Mother said that.' And it turns out true, fortunately!). So after describing things at some length, he asked my opinion. Logically, according to reason, war seems unavoidable. But as he asked, I looked - I looked at my nights, precisely, as well as other things. And then I said, 'I don't feel it. I don't feel any war.' page 398 , Moth

Sri Aurobindo has written somewhere that the movement of world transformation is double: first, the individual who does sadhana [[Sadhana: spiritual quest and discipline. ]] and establishes contact with higher things; but at the same time, the world is a base and it must rise up a little and prepare itself for the realization to be achieved (this is putting it simply). Some people live merely on the surface - they come alive only when they stir about restlessly. Whatever happens inside them (if anything does!) is immediately thrown out into movement. Such people always need an outer activity; take J. for example: he fastened onto Sri Aurobindo's phrase, 'World Union,' and

Wait, I'll show you ... (Mother gets up and goes to get a photo of General Chaudhuri.) A little over a month ago (I don't remember, it was about one week before S.M. came[[S.M. (a confidant of the Government of India) came on July 16. It was therefore early July. ]]) ... I was looking for a man, I felt the need of a man in India, and then they proposed sending me the photo of the army chief. I said yes (he happens to be a cousin of K. here). The photo isn't good, but I see what I wanted to see; I saw it perhaps a month or a month and a half ago, and I have kept it under the accumulation of Forces, here (the photo is placed on a small table not far fro

At times I sense there's an extraordinary secret to discover, just there at my finger tips; I feel that I am going to catch the Thing, to know ... Sometimes, for a second, I see the Secret; there is an opening, and again it closes. Then once again it is unveiled for a second and I come to know a little more. Yesterday the Secret was there completely clear, wide open. But it's not something that can be explained: words are silly, it must be experienced. Sri Aurobindo speaks of this Secret almost everywhere, especially in his Essays on the Gita. He tells us that in the Gita itself one gets glimpses of this thing which

The Darshan went rather well, much better than I was expecting; but the following two days it was difficult here [in the body]. Then one night (I don't remember which), I ... I can't say 'grumbled,' but ... (it wasn't my body 'grumbling,' it is very docile and doesn't protest), but I sometimes find that ... well, I found it a little exaggerated that day. 'All the same,' I said, 'this may be demanding a bit too much of it!' And then (Mother laughs) the whole night through, each time I awoke and looked (not with my physical eyes), I saw serpents! They were drawn up straight in a circle - magnificent cobras with white bellies, pearl gray backs and flecks of gold o

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