July 18, 1961 66 - Sin is that which was once in its place, persisting now it is out of place; there is no other sinfulness. I don't feel any inspiration. Do you have a question? Sin is said to be something no longer in its place. But has something like cruelty, for example, ever had a 'place'? Exactly what came to me - I receive all the questions people ask. The question arises immediately: if one kills out of cruelty, for instance, or inflicts pain out of cruelty, did that ever have a place? ... For even though deformed in appearance, it is nevertheless (we always come back to the same thing) an expression of the Divine. What lies behind, tell me? Sri Aurobind

February 5, 1961 O my Lord, If this swelling of the legs is useful for Thy work, let it be. But if it is only an effect of my stupidity, I ardently pray that Thou shouldest remove it quickly. February 5, 1961 [69] Page 69

April 8, 1961 After more than a month I have resumed my translation [of The Synthesis of Yoga], and I fell exactly - it's splendid! - exactly on the passage that helped me understand what has happened, why there are all these difficulties. And the Synthesis and the Veda go hand in hand, so reading that passage brought some improvement; it's like being able to shift position, you know, so that now it's a bit better. Anyway.... * (Then Mother listens to a reading from the 1960 'Agenda.' At the end, Satprem remarks, as though to excuse himself for noting some apparently irrelevant details.) All these things are interwoven, you see - each time, you seem to be adding a touch. Even a

March 21, 1961 Last night I had two consecutive experiences showing with extreme precision that black magic is at the root of all this (Mother is speaking of both general and personal difficulties, in the Ashram and in her body). First of all, on the mental plane (the physical-mind, the material mind) I saw an individual.... I am not entirely certain of his identity (when I saw him last night I didn't associate him with anyone in particular) but from his outer appearance he is evidently a sannyasi. He was pursuing me, blocking my way and trying to stop me from doing my work (it was a long, long affair). But I was very conscious and could foresee everything he was about to do, so it

November 6, 1961 (Letter to Mother from Satprem: [[This letter survived because Mother returned it with her reply written on the reverse. ]] ) Sweet Mother, When I read the Veda I thought I understood that the Rishis, finding the passage blocked above (since they would fall into Page 376 ecstasy and lose their hold over the body), set out to find the Supermind by the downward path. But reading Sri Aurobindo, I seemed to understand the opposite: that FIRST he rose up, and then made the Light redescend to open the passage, and that the pressure of the Light from above is what opens the doors below, in Matter. I would like to understand the process. With all my l

February 14, 1961 Sri Aurobindo speaks here of the 'higher soul.' [[The Synthesis of Yoga, Cent. Ed., Vol. XX, p. 303. ]] Yet we can't translate it by 'âme supérieure,' as if there were an 'inferior soul,' can we? Sri Aurobindo wants to make the distinction between the progressive soul (the soul which has experiences and progresses from life to life), what can be called the 'lower soul,' and the higher soul, that is, the eternal, immutable and divine soul - essentially divine. He wrote this when he was in contact with certain Theosophical writings, before I introduced Theon's vocabulary to him. For Theon, there is the 'divine center' which is the eternal soul, and the 'psych

March 17, 1961 Aphorism 57 -Because the tiger acts according to his nature and knows not anything else, therefore he is divine and there is no evil in him. If he questioned himself, then he would be a criminal. What might be man's true, 'natural' state? Why does he question himself? Man on earth [[Satprem later asked if this 'on earth' wasn't superfluous and Mother replied: 'This precision is not superfluous; I said "on earth" meaning that man does not belong only to the earth: in his essence, man is a universal being, but he has a special manifestation on earth.' ]] is a transitional being and as a consequence, in the course of his evolution, he has had several successive na

August 8, 1961 X has written expressing his 'gratitude for all the revelations OF THE SUPREME' he has had during his meditations with me. This is something new he has accepted, because the Supreme doesn't usually appear in tantrism - they are in contact with the Shakti and don't bother about the Supreme. But here he has come to accept it. He has tried very hard to understand. But his spiritual conception has remained like this: one can - one MUST - master life, and in life, to some extent, a certain adaptation to the higher forces can be achieved; but there is no question of transformation: the physical world remains the physical world. It can be a little better organized, more

March 7, 1961 (Mother arrives late ... as usual. Crossing the corridor was like crossing through a jungle and has taken her almost one hour.) How long it has taken me ... oh, it's disgraceful! I'll have to start coming down at 9 a.m., but then I won't get anything done upstairs, that's the problem. Page 114 But Mother, the earlier you come down, the more of your time they'll take! Anyway.... I have brought you a whole discourse! (Mother gives Satprem some flowers) First, the goal of the Vedas: Immortality. [[Gomphrena globosa (purple Amaranth). ]] That was their goal: the Truth that led to Immortality. Immortality was their ambition. I don't think it was physical

April 18, 1961 The subconscient is seething.... We shall see. And you? I stumbled upon a sentence from Sri Aurobindo yesterday or the day before. From the occult standpoint it has to do with a rather important problem, and I would really like some light on this question: 'The man who slays is only an occasion, the instrument by which the thing done behind the veil becomes the thing done on this side of it.' It means exactly this (I am going back to the preceding sentence): Who can protect the one whom God has already slain? [['Whom God protects who shall slay? Whom God has slain who shall protect?' (The Ideal of the Karmayogin, Cent. Ed., Vol. III p. 354) ]] He has already been