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2 April 1972
Extracts from a conversation with some disciples. Mother spoke the first four paragraphs in English.
For centuries and centuries humanity has waited for this time. It is come. But it is difficult. I don't simply tell you we are here upon earth to rest and enjoy ourselves, now is not the time for that. We are here ... to prepare the way for the new creation. The body has some difficulty, so I can't be active, alas. It is not because I am old, I am not old. I am not old, I am younger than most of you. If I am here inactive, it is because the body has given itself definitely to prepare the transformation. But the consciousness is clear and we are here to work – rest and enjoyment will come afterwards. Let us do our work here. So I have called you to tell you that. Take what you can, do what you can, my help will be with you. All sincere effort will be helped to the maximum. It is the hour to be heroic. Heroism is not what it is said to be: it is to become wholly unified – and the Divine help will always be with those who have resolved to be heroic in full sincerity. There! You are here at this moment, that is to say upon earth, because you chose it at one time – you do not remember it any more, but I know it – that is why you are here. Well, you must rise to the height of the task. You must strive, you must conquer all weaknesses and limitations; above all you must tell your ego: “Your hour is gone.” We want a race that has no ego, that has in place of the ego the Divine Consciousness. It is that which we want: the Divine Consciousness which will allow the race to develop itself and the supramental being to take birth. Page - 307 If you believe that I am here because I am bound – it is not true. I am not bound, I am here because my body has been given for the first attempt at transformation. Sri Aurobindo told me so. Well, I am doing it. I do not wish anyone to do it for me because ... because it is not very pleasant, but I do it willingly because of the results; everybody will be able to benefit from it. I ask only one thing: do not listen to the ego. If there is in your hearts a sincere Yes, you will satisfy me completely. I do not need words, I need the sincere adhesion of your hearts. That's all. Page - 308
Mother hands the disciple a card on which is printed her photo and the following text:
No human will can finally prevail against the Divine's will. Let us put ourselves deliberately and exclusively on the side of the Divine and the victory is ultimately certain.'' The Mother
It is strange how human nature resists that. Ordinary human nature is such that it prefers defeat through its own will to victory gained otherwise. I am discovering things... incredible – incredible. The depth of human stupidity is incredible. Incredible. It is as though this Force of which I have spoken¹ was going down like that (gesture of an imperturbable descent), deeper and deeper, towards the subconscient. In the subconscient, there are things ... incredible – incredible. I am passing night after night seeing that. And the Force goes down and down, imperatively. And then the human subconscient cries out, “Oh! Not yet, not yet – not so soon!” And it is against that that one must struggle. It is the general subconscient. And naturally, the resistance brings about catastrophes, but then one says, “Just see, see how beneficial is your action! It brings catastrophes.” Incredible, incredible stupidity. One must remain ... remain clinging to the Divine. Don't you see? Has it not good reasons for itself? It says, “Just see, just see where it leads, you see.” ... Oh! It is ... it is not merely resistance, it is perverse.
¹ The descent of 21 February 1972 (“a frightful Pressure to bring about the desired progress” Page - 309 Yes.
It is a perversity.
Yes, yes, Mother, I see it very clearly. I see very clearly that it is really a perversity.
It is a perversity.
But one has the feeling that there is something which obeys nothing.
No, there is only to ... If one were able not to listen, it would be better; but if you listen, you have only to answer, “I don't care, I don't care” – all the while. “You will become a fool” – “I don't care.” “You will spoil all your work” – “I don't care.”... To all these perverse arguments you answer: “I don't care.” If you can have the experience that it is the Divine who is doing everything, then with an unshakable faith you say, “All your arguments have no value; the delight of being with the Divine, conscious of the Divine, surpasses everything – surpasses the creation, surpasses life, surpasses happiness, surpasses success, surpasses everything.” (Mother raises a finger) That! Then everything is all right, there is an end of the thing. It is as though That was pushing into the light, was forcing into the light, into contact with this Force all the worst that there is in the nature ... so that it may be ended. And then That clings to what in us was of goodwill. A moment does come when it is absolutely wonderful, but you pass through hours that are not pleasant.
Yes, yes, there are moments when one asks oneself if everything is not going to be swept away.
(Mother laughs) That is absurd, absurd! It is the resistance Page - 310 that will be wholly swept away. But ... (Mother goes within.)
I have more and more the feeling that there is only one way.... (Mother laughs) It makes an amusing picture: sit upon the mind. Sit upon the mind: “Keep quiet.” That is the only way. You sit upon the mind (Mother gives a little tap): “Keep quiet.” (Silence)
In the subconscient there is the memory of bygone pralayas, so it is this memory that always gives the feeling that everything will be dissolved, everything will collapse. But if one looks with the true light, it can only be one manifestation that will dissolve and there will be a more beautiful manifestation. Théon had told me that this was the seventh and the last. I told Sri Aurobindo what Théon had said and Sri Aurobindo agreed, because he said: This one will see the transformation towards the Supramental. But for that, for the Supramental, the mind must fall silent: and that gives me always the feeling (Mother laughs) that a child is sitting on the head of the mind and playing (gesture, of a child beating with his legs) on the head of the mind!... If I could still draw a picture, it would be truly amusing. The mind – this fat earthly mind (Mother puffs out her cheeks) which considers itself so important and indispensable, and then the child sitting on its head and playing! It is very amusing. Ah, my child, we have no faith. As soon as one has faith ... We say, “We want the divine life” – yet we are afraid of it! But as soon as fear goes away and we are sincere ... everything changes truly. We say, “We do not want any more this life”, and (Mother laughs) something is there that clings to it! Page - 311 It is so ridiculous. We cling to our old ideas, our old ... to this old world which must disappear – and we are afraid! And the Divine child seated on the head of the mind and playing !... I wish I could draw this picture, it is wonderful. We are so stupid that we even come to say (Mother assumes a tone of offended dignity): “The Divine is wrong, he should not do like that.” It is comical, my child. (Silence)
For me, the best remedy (that is to say, the easiest) is: “What Thou willest. What Thou willest”, in all sincerity. And then – then comes understanding. Then you understand. But you do not understand mentally, it is not there (Mother touches her head). “What Thou willest.” Page - 312
Mother “looks inwardly”.
Do you see something? (Silence)
I believe I already told you that there is as though a golden Force which is pressing down (gesture of pressing) that has no material consistence and yet seems to be tremendously heavy ...
Yes, yes.
...and which is pressing upon Matter, thus, to compel it to turn towards the Divine inwardly – not an outward escape (gesture upward), but inwardly to turn to the Divine. And so the apparent result is as though catastrophes were inevitable. And yet along with this perception of inevitable catastrophe, there are at the same time solutions to the situation, events which come about that are by themselves altogether miraculous. It is as though the two extremes were becoming more extreme, as though what is good was becoming better and what is bad becoming worse. It is like that. With the formidable Power that is pressing upon the world – that was my impression.
Yes, it is perceptible.
Yes, it is felt like that (Mother fingers the air). And then in the circumstances, many things that happen generally in an indifferent way become acute; situations, differences become acute; bad wills become acute; and, at the same time, extraordinary miracles – extraordinary! People are saved who were Page - 313 about to die, things that were inextricable all of a sudden get sorted out. And then, for individuals also, it is the same thing. They who know how to turn towards ... (how to say it?) who sincerely call the Divine, who feel that it is the only salvation, the only way out, and who sincerely give themselves, then (gesture of breaking through) in a few minutes it becomes wonderful. For the smallest things – there is nothing small or big, important or unimportant – it is all the same. The values change. It is as though the vision of the world changes. (Silence)
It is, as it were, to give an idea of the change in the world by the descent of the Supramental. Truly things that were neutral become absolute: a little error becomes categorical in its consequences, and a little sincerity, a little true aspiration becomes miraculous in its result. The values have intensified in people, and even from the material point of view the smallest fault, the very smallest, has big consequences, and the least sincerity in the aspiration has wonderful results. The values have intensified, become precise.
Mother, you speak of fault, error – I do not know if it is an aberration, but I am having a more and more precise impression that fault, error, all that is not true. It is not like that. It is a means ... how to say? Yes, it is a means for widening the field of aspiration.
Yes, yes, perfectly so. The perception of the whole is that everything is... everything is willed with a view to the conscious ascent of the world. The consciousness is preparing to become divine. And it is perfectly true: Page - 314 what we consider as faults are altogether part of the ordinary human conception, altogether, altogether.
The only fault – if there is any – is not to want the other thing. But from the time one wants the other thing...
But it is not a fault, it is an imbecility! Well, it is very simple. The whole creation must want nothing but the Divine, nothing but to manifest the Divine. And all that it does, even all its so-called errors, are only means towards making it inevitable for the whole creation to manifest the Divine – but not the “Divine” as man conceives him to be, “this and not that”, with all kinds of restrictions: a Totality of tremendous power and light. It is truly the Power in the world, a new and tremendous Power that has come into the world and must manifest itself and must make “manifestable” (if one may so put it) this Divine All-Power. I have come to this conclusion. I have looked, I have observed and I have seen that what we call “supramental”, lacking a better word, this Supramental makes the creation more sensitive to the higher Power; we call that “divine” because we... It is divine in relation to what we are, but ... It is something (gesture of descent and pressure) which must make Matter more sensitive and more ... “responsive” to the Force. How to say it? At present whatever is invisible or insensible is unreal for us (I mean to say for the human being in general). We say that there are “concrete” things and things that are not so; yet this Puissance, this Power that is not material, becomes more concretely powerful upon earth than earthly material things. Yes, it is that. This is the protection and the means of defence for supramental beings. It will be a thing which is not material in appearance but which has a greater power over Matter than material things. This is becoming more and more true from day Page - 315 to day, from hour to hour – the feeling that this Force, when it is directed by what we call “the Divine”, it can, truly it can – you understand – it has the power to move Matter, it can produce a material accident; and it can efface the consequences of an absolutely material thing – it is stronger than... Matter. This is what is altogether new and incomprehensible; and therefore it produces a kind of panic in the ordinary consciousness of people. Yes, it is that. It seems... it is no more what it was. And truly there is something new – it is no more as it was. All our common sense, all our logic, all our practical sense is dashed to the ground! Useless! It has no force any more, no reality any more; it no longer corresponds to what is. It is truly a new world. (Silence)
It is this in the body which finds it difficult to adapt itself to this new Power and creates the disorder and difficulties, the illnesses. But all of a sudden one feels that if one were wholly receptive, one would become formidable. That is the impression – the impression I am having more and more, that if the whole consciousness (the whole of the most material consciousness – the most material) were receptive to this new Power... one would become for-mi-da-ble.
(Mother closes her eyes.)
But one essential condition: the reign of the ego must be ended. The ego is now the obstacle. The ego must be replaced by the divine consciousness – Sri Aurobindo himself called it “supramental”; we can call it supramental so that there might not be any misunderstanding, because when one speaks of “the Divine”, immediately people think of a “God”, and that spoils everything. It is not that. No, it is not that. (Mother slowly brings down her closed fists) It is the descent of the supramental world, which is not a purely imaginative thing (gesture Page - 316 upward), it is an absolutely material Power. But (Mother smiles) it has no need of material means. A world which wants to take a body in the world. (Silence)
Several times there have been moments when my body felt a kind of new unease and anxiety; and there was as though something which was not a voice, but which translated itself in words in my consciousness: “Why are you afraid? It is the new consciousness.” It came several times. And then I understood. (Silence)
You understand; it is this which in the human common sense says: “It is impossible, that has never been”; it is this which has come to an end. It is finished, it is foolish. It has become a stupidity. One might say: it is possible because it has never been. It is the new world and it is the new consciousness and it is the new Power, it is possible, and this is and will be more and more manifested because it is the new world, because it has never been. It will be because it has never been. (Silence)
It is beautiful: it will be because it has never been – because it has never been.
(Mother enters into a long contemplation.)
It is not material and it is more concrete than Matter!
Yes. It is crushing almost. Page - 317 Crushing, yes, it is that.... Oh! It is... All that is not receptive feels the crushing, but whatever is receptive feels on the contrary something like a ... powerful widening.
Yes, but it is very strange, it is both!
Both at the same time.
Yes, one feels something like a swelling, as though the whole thing is going to explode, and at the same time there is something that is crushed.
Yes, but that which is crushed is the thing that resists, that is not receptive. It has only to open itself. And then the thing becomes as though... a formidable thing.... It is extraordinary. It is our habit of centuries, is it not, which resists and gives this impression; but whatever opens out... one feels as though one became large, large, large.... It is magnificent. Oh! It is... Page - 318 |