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11 May 1967
You see, in the present condition of the world, circumstances are always difficult. The whole world is in a condition of strife, conflict, between the forces of truth and light wanting to manifest and the opposition of all that does not want to change, which represents in the past what is fixed, hardened and refuses to go. Naturally, each individual feels his own difficulties and is faced by the same obstacles. There is only one way for you. It is a total, complete and unconditional surrender. What I mean by that is the giving up not only of your actions, work, ambitions, but also of all your feelings, in the sense that all that you do, all that you are, is exclusively for the Divine. So, you feel above the surrounding human reactions − not only above them but protected from them by the wall of the Divine’s Grace. Once you have no more desires, no more attachments, once you have given up all necessity of receiving a reward from human beings, whoever they are − knowing that the only reward that is worth getting is the one that comes from the Supreme and that never fails − once you give up the attachment to all exterior beings and things, you at once feel in your heart this Presence, this Force, this Grace that is always with you. And there is no other remedy. It’s the only remedy, for everybody without exception. To all those who suffer, it is the same thing that has to be said: all suffering is the sign that the surrender is not total. Then, when you feel in you a “bang”, like that, instead of saying, “Oh, this is bad” or “This circumstance is difficult,” you say, “My surrender is not perfect.” Then it’s all right. And then you feel the Grace that helps you and leads you, and you go on. And one day you emerge into that peace that nothing can trouble. You answer to all the contrary forces, the contrary movements, the attacks, the misunderstandings, the bad wills, with the same smile that comes from full confidence in the Divine Grace. And that is the only way out, there is no other. Page - 419 This world is a world of conflict, suffering, difficulty, strain; it is made of it. It has not yet changed, it will take some time before changing. And for each one there is a possibility of getting out. If you lean back on the presence of the Supreme Grace, that is the only way out. That I have been telling you since two or three days, like that constantly. Now?
What to do?
What? For your work there is nothing to say. You are doing it perfectly well, exactly as it has to be done; it is all right. Your work is quite all right. . That is what I wanted to ask: whether this work is in any manner needed or not? Why should I go on doing it?
Excellent, go on doing it. You do it perfectly well. Don’t expect human appreciation − because human beings don’t know on what grounds to appreciate something, and, moreover, when there is something that is superior to them, they don’t like it. . But where to get such a strength?
Within you. The Divine Presence is in you. It is in you. You look for it outside; look inside. It is in you. The Presence is there. You want the appreciation of others to get strength you will never get it. The strength is in you. If you want, you can aspire for what seems to you the supreme goal, supreme light, supreme knowledge, supreme love. But it is in you − otherwise you would never be able to contact it. If you go deep enough inside Page - 420 you, you will find it there, like a flame that is always burning straight up. And don’t believe that it is so difficult to do. It is because the look is always turned outside that you don’t feel the Presence. But if, instead of looking outside for support, you concentrate and you pray − inside, to the supreme knowledge − to know at each moment what is to be done, the way to do it, and if you give all you are, all you do in order to acquire perfection, you will feel that the support is there, always guiding, showing the way. And if there is a difficulty, then instead of wanting to fight, you hand it over, hand it over to the supreme wisdom to deal with it − to deal with all the bad wills, all the misunderstandings, all the bad reactions. If you surrender completely, it is no more your concern: it’s the concern of the Supreme who takes it up and knows better than anybody else what is to be done. The only way out, only way out. There, my child. . One thing is that whatever I do there, it is not liked by my own people.
Your own people are all mixed up, as everybody is. . But my feeling is so strong − not only strong but it is as clear as daylight, as if I am just sitting in your presence − that I do not do anything myself. This is such a great, clear experience to me for all these years. Whatever is being done by me, it is being done by some Force and not by me at all. And it gets it done, but then the…
What ! You expect the world to understand that ? . No. They may not understand, I don’t want any credit for that. But you see, the obstacles and the… Page - 421 If you consider this: that I can understand and know, then you have my full support. I never told you that you were doing wrong, did I? Now, once and for all you must understand that unless people are true yogis, out of the ego, completely surrendered to the Supreme, they can’t understand. How could they? They see with all the exterior eyes and knowledge; they see exterior things and appearances. They don’t see the inside. When we have stopped expecting appreciation from the outside, that is from human beings, we have no reason to complain. They appreciate, so much the better for them. They don’t appreciate, it doesn’t matter. It’s their own look-out. We do things not to please them, we do things because we feel that that is to be done.
I have never expected appreciation, Mother.
Perhaps things are coming to compel you to take up that position − because that is the liberation, that is the true liberation.
Not from ego, but I am a sadhu by nature. I don’t need anything at all.
That is all right, but also you must not need the appreciation of your own family.
With all my failings and weaknesses, I don’t need anything at all. I don’t need any appreciation.
Then you can’t suffer. Because the only thing that you need is the support of the Divine, and you have it. Then you can’t suffer.
But I am suffering very much.
Yes, there is a conflict in your being. One part of your consciousness knows but there is still one part that is the slave of circumstances. Page - 422 (Silence)
Perhaps all that has been coming upon you for the supreme and the total liberation. And if you take it as the expression of the Grace, you will see the result. Peace, a peace that nothing can disturb, perfect equanimity and a strength that never fails.
(Long silence) Take it as a new birth today. The new life that is beginning. Page - 423
I took my seat, it was almost time, perhaps half a minute before, and all of a sudden, without preparation, like that, like a hammer blow: a descent so powerful − completely immobile − of something… It was as though Sri Aurobindo spoke to me at the same time (because the definition came at the same time as the experience: it was a vision that was not a vision, it was wholly concrete) and the word was: golden peace. But so strong! And then it did not move. During the whole half-hour, it did not move. It is something new that I had never felt before. I cannot say… It was perceived, but not like an objective vision. And spontaneously, other persons told me that as soon as they were seated for meditation (gesture of massive descent), something came down with a tremendous power, completely immobile, and a feeling of peace that they had never felt in their life. Golden peace. And it is true, it gave the impression of the golden supramental light. But it was… a peace ! Concrete, you know, not the negation of disorder and activity, no: concrete, concrete peace. I did not want to stop. The time was over, still I remained two minutes, three minutes. When I stopped, it was gone. And it has made a great difference for the body − the body itself − such a difference that when it had gone, I felt quite uneasy, I needed half a minute to regain my equilibrium. It came and it went away. It came for the meditation and then it went away. For more than half an hour, thirty-five minutes. And in the evening, at the balcony,¹ there was a crowd. I believe it was the biggest crowd that we have ever had: it spread out into all the streets; as far as I could see, the streets were full of people.
¹On August 15, Sri Aurobindo’s birthday, Mother gave Darshan by standing for several minutes on the balcony of her upstairs room and looking upon those assembled on the streets below. Page - 424 Then I came out, and as I came out, there arose from this crowd like a… something between an imploring, a prayer and a protest about the condition the world is in, particularly this country. And that rose up in waves. I looked at it, and then (it was extremely insistent) I said to myself: “It is not my day, it is Sri Aurobindo’s day.” I went like this (gesture of withdrawal) and I put Sri Aurobindo in front. And when he was put in front, standing in front he simply said, simply: “The Lord knows best what he is doing.” (Mother laughs) Immediately, I began to smile (I did not laugh, but I began to smile) and there came the same peace as in the morning. There you are. “The Lord knows best what he is doing”, with his most perfect sense of humour. And immediately everything became calm. Page - 425
What must be done to pull the country out of its difficulty ? Sri Aurobindo has foreseen all the troubles and he has given the solution. Just now we are approaching his Centenary; it seems arranged, you know, divinely arranged, because this would be a wonderful occasion to spread his teaching all over the country: the teaching, the practical teaching, his teaching about India, how to organise India, the mission of India. It seems to me that taking the Centenary as an occasion, his teaching could be spread all over the country with a little more organising − so that his ideas get spread. Those people who are interested can take it up and teach it, hold meetings and give the light and the knowledge to the people. It is a wonderful occasion. And it is only this that gives a clue to all these difficulties. About all that has happened and all that is happening now, he has said clearly that to go back to it is useless. We must give the country its true position, that is, the position of relying on the Divine. Naturally, this is at the other end of what people try to believe now. But Sri Aurobindo explains it in such a way that even those who are against it can agree. You understand? He has found a way of saying it which can be understood by everybody. That’s the only solution, as far as I can see; it is the only solution. All the rest will mean complication, contradiction and fighting. Just now we have two years in front of us to organise a kind of demonstration of what he was teaching. And this is above politics, you see. It is not a question of party, it’s not that: because some are for it, others will naturally not be. It is above all politics. It is to organise the country beyond politics. And it is the only way. In politics it is always fight and ugly fight − ugly. And it has become so bad. He was telling me always that things would become worse and worse, because it is the end of this age. We are entering into an age where things must be organised differently. It is a difficult time because of that. Page - 426 Because we know what will come, we can help to make it come sooner and with less turmoil. There is no hope in going backwards; it would make things last endlessly. We must go forward, absolutely, and go beyond, beyond party. And nobody can explain that better than Sri Aurobindo, because he was so much, so much beyond party; he saw the advantages and disadvantages of all ties and he stated them exactly. If you read carefully what he has written − so much − you will find the answer to all these questions. And at the same time you will know that you will have the full support of the Divine Power. The Power that was behind him is behind this transformation. It is time for transformation. We can’t cling to the past. The best way to go beyond politics is to spread the message of Sri Aurobindo. Because he is no more a political element wanting to take power; there are only his ideas and ideals. And, of course, if people could understand and realise his programme, the country could be very strong, very strong. Those who understand the teaching can take up the work of organising and spreading it.
But Mother, unless Mother’s children come into the government…
(Mother laughs) They will break. And they themselves will feel so restricted. If there is a man who feels like going in for politics, that is different; but I think the others will be stronger without being inside.
But the government will be there in any case. If Mother..
But they must be political people in temperament. Page - 427 Politics is always limited by party, by ideas, by duties also − unless we prepare a government that has no party, a government that admits all ideas because it is above parties. party is limitation; it is like a box: you go into the box (Mother laughs). Of course, if there were some people who had the courage to be in the government without a party “We represent no party ! We represent India” that would be magnificent. Pull the consciousness up, up, above party. And then, naturally, certain people who couldn’t come into political parties − that ! that is truly working for tomorrow. Tomorrow it will be like that. All this turmoil is because the country must take the lead, must go above all these old political habits. Government without party. Oh, it would be magnificent ! Page - 428 |