Aspects of the Mother's Life in the Ashram   The Mother's Music   It is not by knowledge of music that the understanding [of the Mother's music] comes; nor is it by effort of the mind  —it is by becoming inwardly silent, opening within and getting the spontaneous feeling of what is in the music. 1932   *     I feel within me a tendency for music, but I understand nothing of harmony, tune and rhythm. Yet sometimes when I hear the Mother's music, I am spellbound and lose all sense of time. It is not necessary to have technical knowledge in order to feel what is behind the music. Mother of course does not play for the sake of a technical musical eff

Section Two   The Mother, Sri Aurobindo and the Integral Yoga   Two in One   One Consciousness   The opposition between the Mother's consciousness and my consciousness was an invention of the old days (due mainly to X, Y and others of that time) and emerged in a time when the Mother was not fully recognised or accepted by some of those who were here at the beginning. Even after they had recognised her they persisted in this meaningless opposition and did great harm to them and others. The Mother's consciousness and mine are the same, the one Divine Consciousness in two, because that is necessary for the play. Nothing can be done without

Helpers on the Way   Sadhana through the Mother and Sri Aurobindo   These are questions that I cannot answer  —it is not for me to reply to such queries.1 I can only say that the final aim of the Yoga here is to bring down the supramental Truth (all other aims and stages being preliminary and instrumental) and organise its action. The Asram proceeds on the assumption that this has to be done through myself and the Mother and in accepting this aim and the descent of this Truth the sadhaks accept myself and the Mother and must be guided by us and receive from us what is descending and cannot attain it otherwise. If they follow or want some othe

    VOLUME 32 THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 2012 Published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry PRINTED IN INDIA     The Mother   with Letters on the Mother     Publisher's Note   This volume consists of two different but related works of Sri Aurobindo: The Mother and Letters on the Mother. It also includes his translations of passages from the Mother's Prayers and Meditations. These three constituents make up the three parts of the volume.

The Mother in Visions, Dreams and Experiences   Seeing the Mother in Visions and Dreams   Recently I notice that before the Mother comes down from the terrace in the evening she stands there for a long time. I feel that at that time she gives us something specially, so I concentrate to receive and feel what she gives. But this evening suddenly I saw (while looking at her) that her physical body disappeared  —there was no sign of her body, as if she were not there! Then after a few seconds her figure reappeared. I felt at that moment that she mixed with the ether and became one with all things. Why did I see like this? The Mother makes an invoca

The Mother's Presence   She Is Always Present   Why do I sometimes feel myself far from the Mother? I want to be able to feel her constantly with me. The Mother is always there with you. You have only to throw away the forces of Ignorance to feel her with you always. 1 August 1933   *     You have said: "Always behave as if the Mother was looking at you; because she is, indeed, always present."1 Does this mean that the Mother knows all our insignificant thoughts at all times, or only when she concentrates? It is said that the Mother is always present and looking at you. That does not mean that in her physical mind she is t

The Mother as Guru and Guide   The Mother's Way of Dealing with Sadhaks   The difficulty about meeting your demand that the Mother should plan out and fix a routine for you in everything which you must follow is that this is quite contrary to the Mother's way of working in most matters. In the most physical things you have to fix a programme in order to deal with time, otherwise all becomes a sea of confusion and haphazard. Fixed rules have also to be made for the management of material things so long as people are not sufficiently developed to deal with them in the right way without rules. But these things of which you write are diff

  The Mother and Sri Aurobindo giving darshan on 24 April 1950   Part One   The Mother     The One whom we adore as the Mother is the divine Conscious Force that dominates all existence, one and yet so many —sided that to follow her movement is impossible even for the quickest mind and for the freest and most vast intelligence. The Mother is the consciousness and force of the Supreme and far above all she creates. But something of her ways can be seen and felt through her embodiments and the more seizable because more defined and limited temperament and action of the goddess forms in whom she consents to be manifest to her creatures.   Passage

On Conversations with the Mother   Comments on Specific Conversations1   The Mother asks: "What do you want the Yoga for? To get power?" [p. 1] Does "power" here mean the power to communicate one's own experience to others? Power is a general term  —it is not confined to a power to communicate. The most usual form of power is control over things, persons, events, forces. "What is required is concentration  —concentration upon the Divine with a view to an integral and absolute consecration to its Will and Purpose" [p. 1]. Is the Divine's Will different from its Purpose? The two words have not the same meaning.

The Mother, the Divine and the Lower Nature   The Consciousness and Force of the Divine   Please explain to me what is meant by the Divine Mother. The Divine Mother is the Consciousness and Force of the Divine  —which is the Mother of all things. 24 June 1933   *     You have written in The Mother that the Mother is the consciousness and force of the Ishwara, but here my experience is that the Ishwara is the consciousness and force of the Supreme Mother. Could you please make it clear to me? The Mother is the consciousness and force of the Divine  —or, it may be said, she is the Divine in its consciousness —force. The Ishwara as L