July 18, 1957 (Letter to Mother from Satprem) Pondicherry, July 18, 1957 Sweet Mother, I have just received a letter from my friends in charge of the French Archaeological Expedition to Afghanistan. They need someone to assist them on their next field excavations (August 15 December 15) and have offered to take me if I wish to join them. If I must have some new experience outside, this one has the advantage of being short-termed and not far away from India, and it is also in an interesting milieu. The only disadvantage is that I would have to pay for the trip as far as Kabul. But I don't want to do anything that displeases you or of which you do not really approve. In the

August 20, 1960 (While filing various old papers, notes, etc., Mother happens upon the plan for a film studio at the lake') It's at the lake. The property belonged to the mission and at that time its manager was a very good friend of ours, even though he was a missionary. He said that he would arrange for us to have it. Everything was arranged, and I was to receive the money to buy it (they asked for more than fifty or sixty thousand rupees#). But then the money didn't come and our missionary friend left. He's no longer there; he's been replaced by someone else. (Mother looks at a piece of paper) 'Calling Antonin Raymond3.' The architect for the construction. Then ther

June 7, 1960 ... I have to see some fellow again whom I saw yesterday. But I told him to come at 11 o'clock. So if I leave here at 10:55, that will give me enough time. They brought these people to 'Prosperity' to introduce them to me. You know, I had precisely the impression that they feed only on banknotes! (Mother laughs) It makes you gray, oh! ... And dry like dead wood. They came to see their son (son, son-in-law, nephew ... anyway, it's the same person) about some business - some money matter. Then one of them asked to see me. I thought they would simply send some woman - not at all: the whole group, face to face and in a circle, and they began lecturing me on business! ... So

September 20, 1960 X has spoken to me several times of his lack of esteem formost people in the Ashram: 'Why does Mother keep all these empty pots?' he says. If he imagines for one moment that I believe all the people here are doing sadhana, he is grossly mistaken! The idea is that the earth as a whole must be prepared in all its forms, including even those least ready for the transformation. There must be a symbolic representation of all the elements on earth upon which we can work to establish the link.' The earth is a symbolic representation of the universe, and the group is a symbolic representation of the earth. Sri Aurobindo and I had discussed the matter in 191

October 15, 1960 I see Z every day, yet he asked me, 'Why do you do nothing for me?'!! 'Each time you come here,' I told him, 'I am NECESSARILY doing something for you, it cannot be otherwise!' But since it's just a part of his work,' it doesn't count! Of course, I don't say, 'All right, now let's meditate! ...' So on his birthday I'll have to sit down and tell him, 'Now we are going to meditate' - that way he'll feel sure. What childishness! It's so funny - the thing in itself doesn't exist for people. What's important to them is their attitude towards the thing, what they think of it. How odd! Each thing carries within itself its own truth - its absolute truth, so luminous

January 27, 1959 (Letter to Mother from Satprem) Rameswaram, January 27, 1959 Sweet Mother, So X will to do a special work for you for eleven days, and if at the end of this period the suffering still persists, he will send me to Pondicherry to deliver something directly into your hands. I, too, would like very much to do something to alleviate your suffering. By a special grace, X gave me both stages of the tantric initiation at the same time, although they are normally separated by several years; then if all goes well, he will give me the full initiation in 6 months. I have thus received a mantra, along with the power of realizing it. X told me that a realization sho

November 13, 1957 Widen yourself as far as the extreme bounds of the universe - and beyond. Take upon yourself always all the necessities of progress and dissolve them in the ecstasy of Unity. Then you will be divine. Page 115 ISBN 2-902776-33-0

June 4, 1960 (The disciple complains of his bad nights) If you wake up tired in the morning, it is due to tamas, nothing else - a dreadful mass of tamas. I became aware of this when I started doing the yoga of the body. And it's inevitable as long as the body is not transformed. Myself, I go to bed very early, at eight o'clock. It's still quite noisy everywhere, but I don't mind; at least I'm sure of no longer being disturbed. First you must stretch out flat and relax all your muscles, all your nerves - you can learn this easily - become like a 'dishrag' on the bed, as I call it; there should be nothing left. And if you can also do that with the mind, you get rid of a lot of idiotic

April 26, 1960 (Letter to Mother from Satprem) Rameswaram, April 26, 1960 Sweet Mother, There are days when everything is so simple, when I see and feel that all one needs is to let oneself be carried - and everything is light. I have really to be done with this 'me'. It will be a joy to be with you again and resume the work. Here, I am sparing as many hours as I can to correcting The Human Cycle ... I follow X perfectly in his inner life, unreservedly, but I have to force myself to follow him in his outer life. Mother, I am at your feet, with my love and my gratitude. Your child, Signed: Satprem Page 365 May 6, 1960 At times I sense there's an extrao

September 1958 (Fragment of a conversation concerning the translation into French of Sri Aurobindo's aphorism:' ... Knowledge is so much of the truth, seen in a distorted medium, as the mind arrives at by groping; Wisdom what the eye of divine vision sees in the spirit.' Page 190 Mother compares the Truth to a pure white light, then continues:) ... But this white, precisely, is composed of all the colors. So when you perceive a thing, instead of seeing it as white, there are a certain number of colors that completely elude your perception: you see red, green, yellow, blue or something else, but it does not make white because some colors are missing. This is a