August 10, 1968 (Mother looks a little stronger: she remains standing while giving flowers to Satprem and Sujata. Satprem gives Mother the offering of his pension.) Satprem has become a rich man! (Mother laughs) Is there nothing we had to do? ... I am sure I had to show you something ... which I had to do with you. (silence) It's something I did with you last night. (Mother goes into a long contemplation) There's a perceptible improvement, but it's still impossible to speak. Did you have something to ask? What's the time?... Quarter past eleven. It's a LONG TIME since I could rest so peacefully - a long time. [[Satprem will not see Mother again for

September 7, 1968 Someone has sent me a quotation from Sri Aurobindo which seems very good for the November issue of the Bulletin, it's from Thoughts and Glimpses: "The changes we see in the world today are intellec tual, moral, physical in their ideal and intention: the spiritual revolution waits for its hour and throws up meanwhile its waves here and there. Until it comes, the sense of the others cannot be understood and till then all interpretations of present happening and forecast of man's future are vain things. For its nature, power, event are that which will determine the next cycle of our humanity." Sri Aurobindo (1917) The quotation of August,

October 16, 1968 What do you have to say? Nothing?... It's sad to see you like this. I don't understand what's going on. Unless it's all the same thing [from the Vatican], but then it's really very obstinate. Oh, the other day, I got a wave of their magic. It came back and went away. It remained for a day. Ah? It's something that takes hold of the brain and leaves you in a daze. No, today it isn't the brain, it's ... (After a long silence) I can't even say what it is. Page 281 Doesn't Sri Aurobindo say anything? I haven't seen him these last few days. (long silence) I don't understand. I do nothing but cough all the time. This state I am in now b

October 5, 1968 (Mother is unwell again. Satprem could not see her for a week.) Everything is in a daze. I can no longer see, no longer hear, I spend my nights coughing. The doctor can't make any sense of it. Medically, everything is supposed to work very well, then in a few minutes everything gets disorganized. I see you as if through a thick fog. All that is inside seems to want to come outside.... I am familiar with this sort of magic. V. has had another vision. He went to the Vatican. To the Vatican! ... In his sleep? He wasn't asleep: he could hear the noise of the [Ashram's]generator. It was a vision at 5:30 in the morning. He found himself in an immen

June 8, 1968 I was looking at a problem.... Basically, if you remove the veneer - the veneer of good manners - man admits the existence of the Divine only on condition that his sole occupation be to satisfy all of man's needs and desires - it may be collective desires, even "planetary" desires as Y. would put it, but it boils down to that. And it's like that especially, especially with the notion of a Divine who put on a body.... In fact, they found it quite natural that Christ should be crucified for their own salvation - I find it monstrous. I've always found it monstrous. But now, I see it's ... quite spontaneous. Here in India, with the notion of guru, of Avatar, you may re

November 20, 1968 (Mother looks weary. Her face is swollen by a tooth abscess.) Do you have anything? Yes, news from the Vatican. Oh! ... tell me, it's interesting. P.L. has sent photos of the man supposed to be doing magic. You know that he is an intimate friend of the Pope's, his private collaborator, and at the same time archbishop at the State Secretariat of the Holy See. Here's his photo. Oh, he wears such a big hat! (Mother looks for a long time) And what does V. say? [[V. is the disciple who had a vision of a prelate repeating mantras. ]] He isn't here at the moment. Page 322 Are archbishops dressed like this? What nationality is he? He i

May 18, 1968 (Satprem expresses his surprise at the speed with which Mother has been cured of the swelling, without a trace. Mother laughs.) I know the knack! Then ... there's something else. The pupils, we're trying to knock the rough edges off them! They're given subjects to study and research, and I was asked to give a subject for them. I gave, "What is death?" One class took it up, and they sent me the pupils' notes - four of them. (Mother holds out four sheets, which Satprem reads:) Rita: "The actual fact of death evokes in me an experience in which one is thrust into space and soars up." Amusing! I found it very amusing. She is the only one, beside

August 28, 1968 (Mother receives Satprem and Sujata in her new, low armchair made of rosewood, which will remain till the end. She no longer gets up to fetch flowers for them.) Come here, I am more deaf than ever! How are you? It's been a long time without seeing you! It was interesting, mon petit. I've kept all these notes, we'll see them. It's not over. It's not over and I don't know when it will be. But anyway, I'll be able to see you again in the morning. First, you must be famished! No, not at all! (Mother gives Satprem soup packets) Do you have news? Page 226 No, Mother. I saw something before August 15, one nightaround August 11. I saw a hu

January 12, 1968 I have a question, but ... A question? There is a fact you are probably aware of ... Which one? You had the visit of E., that Italian, and his wife? So then? He asked me questions on "left-hand Tantrism," you know, the "Vama Marga".... What's that? It's those so-called Tantrics who make a "yoga" out of sexuality. And he asked me all sorts of questions on the place of sexuality in yoga, adding that for a year, he and his wife have been trying to live on another level and in a different way. So I tried to tell him the true standpoint, and I gave him a letter I had written a year earlier on the subject - a letter I was really inspired t

April 17, 1968 (Mother spends the entire time in contemplation. Towards the end:) ... Don't feel like talking. Anything to ask? You look a little grave? No, it's not that. It's ... Page 108 (After a long silence) It's very hard to say, but it's clearly the phenomenon of material transformation. It begins with what we may call a "change of government": instead of a personal, inner being governing, it's directly the Consciousness, the supreme Consciousness. So then, there is the transfer of all movements, all activities - the entire functioning. The transfer of the personal being. Instead of obeying a personal being, it's under the Influence of and directly IMPEL