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WAY OF WORKING
People say that you always admire the things we do, no matter what they are.
What a strange idea! There are plenty of things and actions that I find bad and that I do not admire at all. 12 May 1934
I spent quite a lot of grey matter, putting before you argument after argument. But you have not argued back. You are quite happily unconcerned. Page – 92 All the reasonings in your letter come from the external physical mind. You cannot expect me to come down to that level and discuss with you from there. I see things from another plane and in a different way. 19 July 1942
It is quite inexact that in my consciousness there is a will to be late. The truth is that the will to be ready in time does not take precedence in me over the other wills: it is in its place among the others, not exclusive and unique but forming part of the whole in which degrees of greatness and importance may not conform to what you think or feel. In fact, your sense of relative importance is not the same as mine. Moreover, you consider the problem in a linear and exclusive way, as if it were separate from other accompanying problems. It is nothing of the kind; each problem exists not in itself but in relation to all the others; and in order to be true, the solution must not neglect any of them. If you can understand that, your difficulty is sure to disappear easily. 16 November 1950
Evidently, according to human laws I was wrong in telling you that I would see you every month, since I was not sure of being able to do so, even while not forgetting what I had said. In truth, I live from moment to moment, according to the supreme Guidance and, consequently, am incapable of making plans. I know that this is not comfortable for the human mentality which believes it can decide everything in advance. But from the spiritual point of view it is inevitable.
Each sadhak must remember that he is not alone. As far Page – 93 as possible I am trying to give satisfaction to everybody and to give answers to reasonable questions whenever it is necessary.
It is a way of saying, a crude description of something that actually happens but is much more subtle than that. If I were busy with one single person I could keep perhaps in my memory such precisions, but as I am consciously dealing with more than a thousand people such precise details are not usually noted ― and it is not necessary either ― because the Consciousness always does the work in the way it has to be done. There is always a great difference between what people are and do and what they ought to be and do. The consciousness is quite aware of this and is constantly working to rectify and to change but it does not work on separate points in a spasmodic way. It works on the whole in a total and all-comprehensive way. The advance seems slow but it is more complete and nothing is forgotten.
Truly speaking, I have no opinion. According to a vision of truth, everything is still terribly mixed, a more or less favourable combination of light and darkness, truth and falsehood, knowledge and ignorance, and so long as decisions are made and action is undertaken according to opinions, it will always be like that. We want to give the example of an action that is undertaken in accordance with a vision of truth, but unfortunately we are still very far from realising this ideal, and even if the Page – 94 vision of truth expresses itself, it is immediately distorted in its implementation. So, in the present state of affairs, it is impossible to say, “This is true and that is false, this leads us away from the goal and that brings us nearer the goal.” Everything can be used for the progress to be made; everything can be useful if we know how to use it. The important thing is never to lose sight of the ideal we want to realise and to make use of all circumstances in view of this goal. And finally, it is always better not to make an arbitrary decision for or against things, and to watch the unfolding of events with the impartiality of a witness, relying on the Divine Wisdom which will decide for the best and do what is necessary. 29 July 1961
My way of seeing is somewhat different. For my consciousness the whole life upon earth, including the human life and all its mentality, is a mass of vibrations, mostly vibrations of falsehood, ignorance and disorder, in which are more and more at work vibrations of Truth and Harmony coming from the higher regions and pushing their way through the resistance. In this vision the ego-sense and the individual assertion and separateness become quite unreal and illusory. When some extra confusion is created in the already existing confusion I direct upon it some special vibrations to restore as much as possible a better harmony. It is not the individuals as such that feel the “blow”, it is their clinging to or siding with the disharmony... In such cases there is never one side right and one side wrong, but all are to blame in the measure of their adhesion to falsehood and confusion. Page – 95 You don't understand the way of my working. You can as well say, “You have the supramental force, why don't you use it and finish all this muddle?” But it is not like this that the work can be done. The world is not ready for the supramental force and if it is used without preparing the base, things will shatter completely. I have to prepare the base and then bring down the force. Your human vision sees things in a straight line. For you it is either this way or that way. For me it is not like this. I see the whole thing as a mass of consciousness moving towards its end or goal. For every small movement I have to see what its reactions will be on the whole mass, what repercussions may follow. When I say something should be done in this way or that way, your human mind takes it as a principle and tries to apply it rigidly in all cases. For me it is not like that. For me there are no rules, no regulations and no principles. For me each one is an exceptional case, to be dealt with in a special way. No two cases are similar. In the movement of this mass of consciousness I know that a certain point should move in a certain direction for reaching the goal more easily. With this point in view I declare that this should be done or not done, but I find that sometimes there is a big obstruction in the way. Now, it can be dealt with in two ways: either I should allow the point to change its direction and leave the barrier alone for the time being till more and more light falls upon it and it gets changed, or I should break the barrier. As I have said, every small movement has its reactions and repercussions on the mass, so this breaking also will cause a chain of reactions which may affect a much larger field. I am no respecter of persons, but I have to see at every moment the changing circumstances due to the change of the person or persons concerned and the change of time and the channel through which the thing passes. I have to see with all these changes how best the thing can be done so that it may help the progress of Page – 96 the mass. I have to see whether it is worthwhile to break the barrier and have all the resulting consequences or whether it would not be better to leave it for the moment and tolerate the human stupidity. What appears to you to be contradiction is not contradiction when the whole thing is seen as one. There are various ways to reach the same end. So if I find that breaking will cost much more than what it is worth, then I allow you to go the way you like. But that does not prevent me from condemning the obstruction and saying that it ought to go. After all, sooner or later each and everything in this mass of consciousness has to move towards the same goal. But to lead the consciousness towards that goal I have to allow human beings to move with me and I have to appear in their own form and speak in their own language. I have to adopt a crude expression. I can see the stupidity of the way in which I have to speak and lay down rules and regulations, but this is a concession that I must make to humanity; otherwise it would not be able to understand anything. Even when I speak in their own language, people misunderstand me and make a mess. If I were to speak in the language of the light, then the whole thing would pass over their heads and they would be left gaping without understanding anything. X has a very well-developed mind. I can say that his mind is very open towards the light. Twice I tried to speak to him in the language of what Sri Aurobindo calls the mind of light, but even he could not understand it. He could catch a little, but the fullness of the sense escaped him. With the others it is still worse; they fail to understand anything and look dazed. For the sake of these people I have to make a compromise. I say that a certain thing is stupid, but I see that you cannot remain without doing it, so I have to tolerate it. I see the relative value of things and adopt the way that may be helpful in making the progress. In your interest and in the interest of the progress of the whole mass of consciousness, I may have to allow a good many things, but it does not mean Page – 97 that I am blind to them and cannot see their stupidity. Sometimes it is necessary that you should have an experience and so the thing is allowed. But when I say No definitely, it is dangerous to oppose it. There can be many reasons for the same action; but it is not possible to explain them to your mind. In this particular case I had said No. Then Y intervened. Now Y is a very nice person and he is very sincere in some parts. I know that he is weak and has the habit of grabbing and possessing. I could have refused. But that would have given a big shaking to him. It would have been difficult for him to adjust himself. As I told you, I see the relative values and I saw that the thing was not worth the shaking and so I have given my permission. But that does not prevent me from saying that it is not the right thing.
Mother of joy, I am surprised to find there are people who think that You call only those sadhaks who cannot receive Your Grace from afar; and that it is a sign of weakness on the part of those who see You from time to time.
Don't bother about what people believe or say; it is almost always ignorant stupidities. I always wonder at people's thinking they can know the reasons of my actions! I act differently for each one, according to the necessities of his particular case. Page – 98 I would advise you never to listen to what sadhaks say especially advanced sadhaks. 29 December 1931
It is certainly not at all true that I don't care for the sadhaks and their sadhana. Why should the world conditions being bad make me cease to care! It would be rather a reason for insisting more on a quick spiritual realisation as the only way out of the impasse. You should not believe in what you hear from people; so constantly nasty and disturbing things are being said which are quite untrue. 8 October 1940 My dear child, All your letters are answered, but in the silence of your heart; you must learn to hear the answers there and not through the mouth of others. All help is given to you always, but you must learn to receive it in the silence of your heart and not through exterior means. It is in the silence of your heart that the Divine will speak to you and will guide you and will lead you to your goal. But for that you must have full faith in the Divine Grace and Love. 18 January 1962 Little child of mine, When your first letter came, I simply wrote a word in French upon it and left it on my table ― as I was expecting the second one; being quite sure that you would receive my silent answer. To comfort you, I can say immediately and once and for all, that I never pay any attention to what people say of one another, whoever it is who speaks ― and on your side I ask you never to take seriously what somebody (whoever it is) says in Page – 99 my name, because even with the best of wills it is always distorted. Now I ask you also not to worry about this school affair. I will not write about it, but one day I intend to call you and to explain how I see the whole thing. Afterwards you shall see how you feel about it. Meanwhile let the mind be at rest so that the Light may pass through. With all my love and blessings. 27 October 1963 When will you learn not to listen to all the rumours going about this place? 15 July 1967
Yes, all these false and idiotic rumours have come to me after turning round the Ashram. I attached no importance to them because most of the people here seem to live only for gossip and falsehood, and once and for all I have closed my consciousness to all that, in order to avoid a Kali or a Durga manifestation. I hope that those who are faithful and have common sense will not lose their time listening to all that. All that you say about the food business was known to me ― but you will admit that there is always a way of improving one's action and making it more luminous and comprehensive.
You must not get worried about the mistakes and weaknesses of others, the only thing necessary is not to believe what people say to you, especially if they speak in my name. Page – 100 When we get bitter we lose our Divine contact and become very “bitterly” human. Beware of what is repeated to you in my name the spirit in which it has been said is lost! Be very careful to let no influence diminish your confidence in me and allow nothing or nobody to separate you from me.
A great misunderstanding has taken place. You seem to believe that I say one thing when I mean another. This is absurd. When I speak, I speak plainly and always mean what I say. When I say: the first condition for yoga is to keep quiet and calm ― I mean it. When I say that talk is useless and leads only to confusion, waste of energy and loss of the little light one may have I mean that and nothing else. When I say that I have given nobody the right to speak in my name and to interpret my words according to his own fancy, I mean that and nothing else. I hope that this is clear and decisive and this singular misunderstanding will now come to an end.
I have already warned those who go on spreading rumours, more or less false, on what I am believed to have said or not said, that this is an act of treachery. As this pernicious habit does not seem to stop I must add that those who persist in so doing will be treated occultly as traitors. Page – 101
It is absolutely forbidden to send to anybody one of my unpublished writings without my express permission. I am told that you have the intention of doing it so I hasten to inform you that it must not be done and ask you to return to me at once all the typed copies you may have. 18 June 1964
To do something scrupulously is to do it with the utmost care, as honestly, as thoroughly as one can do it. Another time if there are words in what I have written that you do not understand, it is better to send me back your book asking for an explanation. I will always give it to you and thus you will avoid speaking to others of what I have written to you ― because it is not good to do so.
It is a pity you have shown my answers to your questions. They were meant for you alone and nobody else. This has partly damaged the experience, as it was the vital and the mental wanting to take advantage of the situation to satisfy their own desires.
About Mother's playing tennis with sadhaks and students)
I was told that our boys (young or old) like to play with me (the exact words were “to give me a game”) for some reason or another, but to play truly and to learn to play they must play among themselves. Page – 102 You have this extraordinary opportunity of being able to play a game and to take exercise in an atmosphere filled with Divine Consciousness, Light and Power in such a way that each of your movements is, so to say, permeated by the consciousness and the light and the power which is in itself an intensive yoga; and your ignorant unconsciousness, your blindness and lack of sensitiveness is such that you believe you are giving a game or even helping to play a good old lady for whom you feel a little gratefulness and some kind of affection! 5 June 1949
I did not answer because their minds are terribly restless, they do not know how to make use of the force and they spoil my formations. But you need not tell them that ― send them only blessings. 13 May 1955
You must understand one thing. Before giving an answer to a question, I look at all the sides of the problem present and future, so when the answer is given it is final. It is no use coming back to the question any more. 12 June 1955
From Your long experience of over sixty years, have You found that Your expectation from us and from humanity has been sufficiently fulfilled?
As I am expecting nothing I cannot answer the question.
X says, “It depends upon the Mother.” Page – 103 No, it does not all depend upon me. If it did, everything would go smoothly. But there is always a person's character in between. 20 August 1961 How can I give wise advice to foolish people?
Here are two questions that do not call for a reply: What have you done for the Divine to make so many demands? What have you done to the Divine to receive so many blows?
What have you given to the Lord or done for Him, that you ask me to do something for you? I do only the Lord's work.
Where you are mistaken is to believe that I am cheated ― this is impossible because their ”intention” is for me much clearer than their words. But if I were to be strict with all those who try to deceive me, very few would escape this strictness.
Have you never been mistaken in any of your decisions? Yes, you have been mistaken, haven't you? and many a time. Then, by what right do you think that when my decision is not the same as yours, it is I who am mistaken? Page – 104 I know that to be with me is, for you, neither a need nor a joy but a duty, and that you are happier elsewhere, with some others. So I call you only when it is necessary - not when it pleases me, for it is long since I have put my pleasure in my pocket and left it there.
This is why I did not see you, because I knew that it was quite useless, as our respective outlooks upon life and action are actually much too different.
What can you do against me? You live in your body-conscious-ness and your body is perishable. I live in my spirit-consciousness and my spirit is immortal.
There we are, Lord, it is those very people to whom you have shown most love who make you responsible for their difficulties. Page – 105 |