October 27, 1962 (An unfortunate series of power cuts prevented the recording of most of this conversation, except for a few passages. Satprem noted down the missing parts from memory, and Mother then supplemented his notes with a number of comments and additions.) We're going to build a little room on the terrace for the harmonium. I feel like making some experiments.... There used to be a bad attitude in the body, which always hampered my playing, and now that it has gone, I would like to see what happens. It was something in the subconscient standing in the way: everything you learn when you study music, that you can't play this note with that note and so forth and so on.

February 9, 1962 (Concerning a European disciple who praises the merits of a certain pseudo-spiritual book, which Mother calls "spiritual romanticism":) It's very European - they're like that. Page 77 They want to compare - they want to compare teachings: you mustn't get stuck on any one thing; you have to be "broadminded," eclectic. And so.... That's what they want, plenty of vital, plenty of imagination, and just enough falsehood to match their own turn of mind! Take Z, for instance - she told me that Maharshi [[Maharshi: a famous South Indian yogi, now deceased. ]] wrote in his book that if I were Hindu and did asanas every day, all India would be at my feet! This

February 24, 1962 Something seems to have changed. For a long time, several months, things were constantly on the brink, and dangerously so; I felt they could go either this way or that. Then on my birthday[[Mother was 84 on February 21. ]] something suddenly tilted. All at once a formation seemed to have been lifted, a formation weighing Page 85 terribly on ... I won't say on what, because it appeared to be everything ... it was lifted with the sweep of a hand, exactly the same movement Sri Aurobindo used for taking away illnesses. [[Mother used to say that when Sri Aurobindo cured somebody, one often saw a subtle hand come with a current of blue force and seize, as it were

June 12, 1962 (Unexpectedly, this conversation led into the subject of Satprem's break with X, who had been his guru for the past few years. Here then, briefly, is the story behind the rupture: No sooner had Satprem brought X to the Ashram than a swarm of disciples threw themselves at him. Conspicuous among these were the moneymen, the same wheelerdealers who, eleven years later, after Mother's departure, were to reveal their ambitions in Auroville as well as Pondicherry. Satprem's somewhat straightforward manner soon got in the way of their schemes. He had a deep affection for X and when he repeatedly saw that these people - spiritual scoundrels is the only word for them - were, in the h

November 20, 1962 (Mother looks weary.) The situation is bad, very bad. They're on the verge of taking Assam - things are very bad. But for what reason? Why are they doing this? It seems they're circulating maps in China showing Nepal, Bhutan, Assam and the rest as all part of China. So that's their intention - to settle there. It's not very clear why. National ambition. To put a constant pressure on India and force it to go communist. To impose their rule, you see - they're at the door and can enter whenever they want. Why did they take Tibet? And then they've declared that Gaurishankar is Chinese - the summit of the earth is China, not India at all....

November 7, 1962 (Mother again speaks of the experience of SAT or pure Existence in the background of consciousness, and describes the movement of consciousness needed to enter that state.) .,. It's somewhat similar to collecting one's thoughts. It's part concentration, part interiorization, and both together - like drawing back, but without movement. After a while, it becomes almost automatic; I do it hundreds of times a day. It's difficult to describe, because the description makes it too concrete. But it's a drawing back, an interiorization - a self-gathering. But all those words seem dense, heavy; too material, too heavy. Yet it's a very concrete sensation, very concrete, whi

July 31, 1962 (At the start of this conversation, Mother listens to Satprem read an unpleasant letter he has just received from P.A.L., his Paris publisher.) Here's what he says: "I read with great interest the Introduction to your new book on Shri Aurobindo. I must confess that Page 291 if I have been late in replying it is because I am still very hesitant. The text reads well, but it leaves doubts as to how well the book that follows will conform to the norms of our 'Spiritual Masters' series. I greatly fear that we will both end up disappointed again. The book you want to write is, I feel, very personal, whereas this series must consist of books which are essentially exposit

November 10, 1962 (Mother listens to Satprem read a chapter from his manuscript entitled "Under the Sign of the Gods, " in which he speaks of the overmind's inadequacy for attaining the plenitude of evolution, Afterwards, Mother tells what she saw while he was reading.) There's a kind of cadence.... (Mother "listens" for a long while) Some people found it interesting, mon petit! First of all, Sri Aurobindo was there - it was like a large hall: a very large room with scarcely any walls, just enough so it didn't seem wide open to everything. And then there was a kind of musical instrument, like a grand piano, but much bigger and higher, playing its own music: nobody was playing

October 12, 1962 What shall we do? Do you have another aphorism? 79 - God is infinite Possibility. Therefore Truth is never at rest; therefore, also, Error is justified of her children. 80 - To listen to some devout people, one would imagine that God never laughs; Heine was nearer the mark when he found in Him the divine Aristophanes. Yes, he means that what is true at one moment is no longer true at another. And that's what justifies the children of Error. Perhaps he means there's no such thing as error! Yes, it's the same thing, another way of saying the same thing. In other words, what we call error was at one time truth. Error is a timebound notion. But there a

September 29, 1962 (Concerning an old Talk of October 3, 1956, to be published in the next "Bulletin":) This is what you say: "Beyond the shadow of a doubt, modern scientific perception comes much closer to expressing universal reality than, say, Stone Age perceptions did. Yet even science will suddenly find itself completely surpassed and probably turned upside down by the intrusion of something that DID NOT EXIST in the observed universe...." The trouble is, Sri Aurobindo said the thing was INSIDE already, involved. He always says it's "involved" and then evolves. Yes, but "involved" simply means unmanifested. The intrusion of the new, supramental element is the intrusi