24 August 1955        Mother reads from Lights on Yoga, “Surrender and Opening”. So? Sweet Mother, when we concentrate on one of your photos – there are many photos, each one with a dif- ferent expression – does it make a difference for us, the one on which we concentrate? If you do it purposely, yes, of course. If you choose this photo for a particular reason or that other one for another reason, surely. It has an effect. It is as though you were choosing to concentrate on one aspect of the Mother rather than another; for example, if you choose to concentrate on Mahakali or Mahalakshmi or on Maheshwari, the results will be different. Tha

13 April 1955 This talk is based upon Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5,  “Physical Consciousness, etc.”. Now, has anyone any questions? Sweet Mother, here it is written: “I find it difficult to take these psycho—analysts at all seriously… “ It means that he is laughing at them, simply that. (The child continues reading) “… when they try to scrutinise spiritual experience by the flicker of… “ “… of their torch-lights”. It is a joke; it's to say that it is a very tiny light of nothing at all and that they think they can judge spiritual experiences with this light which is no better than a small torch-light; it means something that has no strength. It i

5 January 1955 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Bases of  Yoga, Chapter 3, “In Difficulty”. Sweet Mother, how can we create “the attunement of the nature with the working of the Divine Light and Power”? How can you do it? By trying. First you must be conscious of the kind of attunement you want to realise. You must become aware of the points where this harmony does not exist; you must feel them and understand the contradiction between the inner consciousness and certain outer movements. You must become conscious of this first, and once you are conscious of it, you try to adapt the outer action, outer movements to the inner ideal

29 June 1955        Mother reads from Lights on Yoga, “Planes and Parts of the Being”. Sweet Mother, has the vital nature of man come out from his true vital being? Come out? What do you call coming out? You mean that first there was the true vital being and that this expresses itself in the physical nature, the earth nature, by the vital which we see? Yes! Mother, why is it so contradictory? Why is the external world so total a contradiction of the divine world? It is exactly the same thing. It is like that. The vital being, the true vital being which Sri Aurobindo describes, is the vital being which is in contact with the Divine, which is e

12 October 1955        Mother reads The Great Secret: The Unknown Man. When is it going to happen, eh? There. That's the question I was waiting for.  (To a child) What did you want to ask? What you said just now. You see, I know how to read thoughts. And so, if I were to say that it depends upon you? It is not altogether true, but still there is something true in it. I think that this will happen the moment there is a sufficiently large number of consciousnesses which feel absolutely that it cannot be otherwise. Now, most people, the immense majority among you have to make an effort to imagine what it will be, and at best, speculate up

16 November 1955 Mother reads from {The Synthesis of Yoga}, “The Four Aids”. (To a child) Have you prepared a question for your Birthday? What is the significance of 18? Of the number 18? It depends on how it is read. It can be read as 10+8; it can be read as 9+9; it can be read as 12+6. And each of these readings has a different meaning. If we take 10+8, it can indicate something quite immobile: because 10 indicates a static perfection, something which has reached its perfection and stops there; and 8 is a double enclosure, that is, something which is framed in, surrounded, demarcated, and which naturally stops there. So if we put 10 and

1 June 1955 Mother reads from The Human Cycle, Chapter 14, “The Suprarational Beauty”, second paragraph. What do you want to ask about this? Sweet Mother, what is an aesthetic conscience? It is the consciousness of beauty. Aesthetic means that which concerns beauty, art. There are people, for example, who move around in life and see landscapes, see people and things and have absolutely no sense of whether it is beautiful or not; and into the bargain, it makes no difference at all to them. They look at the sky, see whether there are any clouds, whether it will rain or be clear, for instance; or whether the sun is hot or the wind cold. But there are others –

12 January 1955 This talk is based upon Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, “In Difficulty”.  “To question, to resist in some part of the being in- creases trouble and difficulties.” For instance, when the guru tells you to do something, if you begin to ask, “Why should I do it? What is the necessity of doing it? Explain to me what I must do. Why do I have to do it?” This is called questioning. To resist means to try to evade the order and not accomplish it. So naturally this increases the difficulties very much. There is the explanation later. Sri Aurobindo says that this was the reason why an absolute unquestioning surrender was demanded; no argument was all

21 December 1955 Mother reads from {The Synthesis of Yoga},  “Self-Consecration”. “Often he (the sadhak) finds that even after he has won persistently his own personal battle, he has still to win it over and over again….” Yes. So? Then does this mean that others profit by his sadhana? You understand, it's like that for everyone. If there was only one, it could be like this: that he alone could do it for all; but if everybody does it... you understand... You are fifty persons doing the Integral Yoga. If it is only one of the fifty who is doing it, then he does it for all the fifty. But if each one of the fifty is doing it, each doing

6 April 1955 This talk is based upon Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, “Physical Consciousness, etc.”. What is this psychoanalysis of Freud, Sweet Mother? Ah, my child, it is something that was in vogue, very much in vogue at the beginning of the century… no, in the middle of the century! (Mother turns to Pavitra) Do you know, Pavitra, when it was in fashion? (Pavitra) At the beginning of the century. At the beginning of the century, that's it. This is what Sri Aurobindo says: dangerous, useless, ignorant, superficial; and it was in fashion because people like these things, it corresponds precisely with all that is unhealthy in their nature. You kno