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

Nine Right Judgment   Choose a good straight stick and dip it half-way into some water: the stick will appear to be bent in the middle. But that is an illusion, and if you were to think that the stick was actually bent, your judgment would be wrong. Pull out the stick and you will see that in fact it is still straight.  On the other hand, it is possible for a stick that is actually bent in the middle to appear straight if it is carefully placed in a particular way in the water.  Well, men are often like sticks. If you look at them from a certain angle, you may not see them as straight as they are, and sometimes too, they may have a

Part Three Between 1911 and 1913 the Mother gave a number of talks to different groups in Paris. Two of them, “On Thought” and “On Dreams”, appear in Part 1. The same talk was sometimes presented to two or more groups with suitable variations. Additions and alternative versions have been given here as footnotes. The first piece in this part is a note found among the Mother's manuscripts. Page - 71 That which is speaking to you now, is a faithful servant of the Divine. From all time, since the beginning of the earth, as a faithful servant of the Divine, it has spoken in the name of its Master. And as long as earth and

Part Six Essays, letters, etc. written in Japan between 1916 and 1920 Woman and the War You have asked me what I think of the feminist movement and what will be the consequences of the present war for it.  One of the first effects of the war has certainly been to give quite a new aspect to the question. The futility of the perpetual oppositions between men and women was at once made clearly apparent, and behind the conflict of the sexes, only relating to exterior facts, the gravity of the circumstances allowed the discovery of the always existent, if not always outwardly manifested fact, of the real collaboration, of the tr

Six The Simple Life The Prophet Mohammed, who devoted his life to teaching the Arab people, cared not for ease or riches.  One night he slept on a hard mat, and when he awoke his skin bore the marks of the knots and fibres of his bed.  A friend said to him, “O Messenger of Allah! This bed was too hard for you, and if you had asked me I would joyfully have prepared a softer one, so that your rest might have been better.”  The Prophet replied, “A soft bed is not for me. I have a work to do in the world. When my body needs rest, I give it rest, but only as a horseman who ties his horse for a little while under the shade of a tre

Fifteen The Family A traveller in Morocco noticed that in the evening when the flocks of ewes and the flocks of lambs were brought together after having been separated all day, the good creatures ran eagerly here and there as if they were looking for something. In fact, each ewe was looking for its lamb, each lamb was looking for its mother.  A monkey had young ones and she loved them, but her love was like a fountain, giving drink not only to her own children, but pouring out on all. She found other little monkeys and was kind to them. Not only that, she took puppies and kittens with her as if she had adopted them. And when she had fo

Four Self-Reliance Hatim Tai had a great reputation among the Arabs of old for the lavishness of his gifts and alms.  “Have you ever met anyone more excellent than yourself?” his friends once asked him.  “Yes,” replied Hatim Tai.  “Who was he?”  “One day I had forty camels sacrificed and I offered a feast to whoever would like to come and share in it. Then I set out with several chiefs to invite guests from far and wide. On the way we came across a woodcutter who had just cut a bundle of thorns. This was the way he earned his livelihood. Seeing that he was poor, I asked him why he did not go to the many feasts given by Hati