30 November 1955        Mother reads from {The Synthesis of Yoga},  “The Four Aids”. How is Time a friend? It depends on how you look at it. Everything depends on the relation you have with it. If you take it as a friend, it becomes a friend. If you consider it as an enemy, it becomes your enemy. But that's not what you are asking. What you are asking is how one feels when it is an enemy and how when it is a friend. Well, when you become impatient and tell yourself, “Oh, I must succeed in doing this and why don't I succeed in doing it?” and when you don't succeed immediately in doing it and fall into despair, then it is your enemy. But when you tell

19 January 1955 This talk is based upon  Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3,  “In Difficulty”. Sweet Mother, what is the work of the higher mind?            Work? What exactly do you want to know? What it ought to do? Or what should one…? Its role. The role of the higher mind? It ought to receive inspirations from above, ought to transmit them in the form of ideas to the most material mind, so that the latter may execute things, make formations. It serves as an intermediary between the higher power and the active mind. The higher mind is a mind of idea-formation and at the same time… (The noise of the wind drowns Mother's voice for a moment.) That'

Ten Order   Men in ancient India had a very poetic idea about the earth and the world – an idea intended to express order.  The land inhabited by men was called Jambu Dvipa and it was surrounded by a sea of salt. Then came a ring of land and then a sea of milk. Another ring of land, and a sea of butter. More land, and a sea of curds. Land again, and a sea of wine. More land, and after that a sea of sugar. Still more land, and at last, the seventh and final ring of pure water: the sweet, the sweetest of all seas!  If you look at a map of the world like the ones we now use in schools, you will not find the sea of sugar, or the sea of milk,

4 June 1912 What improvements can we bring to our meetings?   We said one day with regard to the numerous groups that form and disappear almost immediately, that this phenomenon of rapid decay is a result of the conventional and arbitrary factors which enter into the organisation of these groups. In fact, they are founded upon an ideal prototype originating from one or several minds – a formula which is sometimes very beautiful in theory, but which takes no account of the individuals who with their difficulties and weaknesses must form the living cells of the group. In my opinion, it is impossible to give an arbitrary form to any being,

On Dreams At first sight one might think that the subject of dreams is an altogether secondary one; this activity generally seems to have very little importance compared to the activity of our waking state. However, if we examine the question a little more closely, we shall see that this is not at all the case. To begin with, we should remember that more than one third of our existence is spent in sleeping and that, consequently, the time devoted to physical sleep well deserves our attention. I say physical sleep, for it would be wrong to think that our whole being sleeps when our bodies are asleep. A study based on certain experiments con

Three Cheerfulness One afternoon, in a large town in a rainy country, I saw seven or eight vehicles full of children. That morning, they had been taken into the country to play in the fields, but the bad weather had made them return home early in the rain.  And yet they were singing, laughing and waving merrily to the passers-by.  They had kept their cheerfulness in this gloomy weather. If one of them had felt sad, the songs of the others would have cheered him. And for the people hurrying by, who heard the children's laughter, it seemed that the sky had brightened for a moment.  Amir was a prince of Khorasan, and he lived i

Part Two Meetings In 1912 a small group of seekers met regularly with the aim of gaining self-knowledge and self-mastery.  At the end of each session, a general question was set, which each member was to answer individually. These answers were read out at the next meeting. Then, to close the session, a small essay was read out. Here are the essays. Page - 45 7 May 1912 What is the most useful work to be done at the present moment? The general aim to be attained is the advent of a progressing universal harmony. The means for attaining this aim, in regard to the earth, is the realisation of human unity through the awakening in all and the manifes

* THE MOTHER - Tokyo - 1916

Words Of Long Ago The Path of Later On “The path of later-on and the road of tomorrow lead only to the castle of nothing-at-all.” By the wayside, many-coloured flowers delight the eye, red berries gleam on small trees with knotty branches, and in the distance a brilliant sun shines gold upon the ripe corn. A young traveller is walking briskly along, happily breathing in the pure morning air; he seems joyful, without a care for the future. The way he is following comes to a cross-roads, where innumerable paths branch off in all directions. Everywhere the young man can see criss-crossing foot-prints. The sun shines ever bright in

Part Five Notes and Reflections Found, with this title, among the Mother's manuscripts On the Mysteries of the Ascent towards God To judge the events of history, a certain distance is needed; similarly, if one knows how to rise high enough above material contingencies, one can see the terrestrial life as a whole. From that moment, it is easy to realise that all the efforts of mankind converge towards the same goal.  It is true that collectively or individually, men follow very different paths to reach it; some of these paths twist and turn so much that they seem at first sight to move away fro