15 July 1953 “Each man has some fad or one preferred shibboleth or another, each thinks that he is free from this or that prejudice from which others suffer and is willing to regard such notions as quite false; but he imagines that his is not like theirs, it is for him the truth, the real truth. An attachment to a rule of the mind is an indication of a blindness still hiding somewhere.” Questions and Answers 1929 (19 May) * Are superstitions mental rules? No, not rules but mental formations. Generally a superstition originates in an experience. For instance, there is a certain superstition in Europe, and you are told: “Never wa

30 December 1953 What do you mean by the instinct of destruction in children? It is not there in all children. I have known many who, on the contrary, were very careful. Children are not as “concretised”, materialised in their physical consciousness as older people - as one grows up, it is as though one is coagulated and becomes more and more gross in one’s consciousness unless through a willed action one develops otherwise. For instance, the majority of children find it very difficult to distinguish their imagination, their dreams, what they see within themselves from outer things. The world is not as limited as when one is older and more precise. And they ar

16 December 1953 Sweet Mother, you have said: “…Many methods have been framed to attain this perception [of the psychic being in us] and finally to achieve this identification [with the psychic being]. Some methods are psycho- logical, some religious, some even mechanical.” “The Science of Living”, On Education * Will you give some examples of this? Mechanical, these are the Asanas, Hathayoga. It is done with this intention. Religious, these are for those who believe in a particular religion and pray and perform religious ceremonies. When one believes in a religion – no matter which – one abides by the discipline of the religion and p