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THE MOTHER
SRI AUROBINDO
Contents
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LIGHTS AND VISIONS OF THE MOTHER THE MOTHER AND THE LIGHTS
All the lights are put out by the Mother from herself. DIFFERENT FORMS OF LIGHT
Light is a general term. Light is not knowledge but the illumination that comes from above and liberates the being from obscurity and darkness. But this Light also assumes different forms such as the white light of the Mother, the pale blue light of Sri Aurobindo, the golden light of the Truth, the psychic light (pink and rose), etc. 13-10- 1934 THE MOTHER'S WHITE LIGHT
The lights are the Mother's Powers ― many in number. The white light is her own characteristic power, that of the Divine Consciousness in its essence. 15-7-1934 *
The white light is the Mother's light and it is always around her. 22-8-1933 *
The pale blue light is my light ― white light is the Mother's (sometimes gold also). People generally see either the white or both the white and the pale blue around her. 4-9- 1933 *
Page - 83 The white light is the Mother's light. Wherever it descends or enters, it brings peace, purity, silence and the openness to the higher forces. If it comes below the navel, that means that it is working in the lower vital. 31-7-1934 *
The important experience is that of the white ray in the heart ― for that is a ray of Mother's light, the white light, and the illumining of the heart by the light is a thing of great power in this Sadhana. The intuitions she [a Sadhika] speaks of are a sign of the inner consciousness growing in her ― the consciousness which is necessary for Yoga. 28-7-1937 *
It [the Mother's light] is always there in the inner Purusha.
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That means the light of the divine consciousness (the Mother's Consciousness, white light) in the vital. Blue is the higher mind, gold the divine Truth. So it is the vital with the light of the higher mind and the divine Truth in it emanating the Mother's light.
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What you saw in vision was a supraphysical body of the Mother made probably of her white light which is the light of the Divine Consciousness and Force that stands behind the Universe. 30-1-1935 *
Q: Today while meditating in the Pranam Hall I saw in vision a range of mountains from which white light was coming out. What does this signify ? To which plane does this vision belong ?
Page - 84 A: Mental. The mountain is the symbol of the ascent from the the higher. The white light is the Mother's light, the light of the Divine Consciousness descending from the heights. 7-8-1933 *
It [the white water-lily] is the Mother's flower, the flower of divine consciousness. 15-4-1933 *
Q: Today as soon as the Mother took her seat in the Pranam Hall I saw that white light was playing both on her left and right sides. Was there any particular reason why I saw like this ? A: No. One can always see white light around the Mother, is her light, always there. 8-8- 1933 *
Q: Last evening when the Mother was walking on the terrace I saw a light on Her body. What was it ? A: Many see light around the Mother. The light is there always. 26-7-1933 THE MOTHER'S AURA
What people see around the Mother is first her aura, as it is called nowadays and, secondly, the forces of Light that pour out from her when she concentrates, as she always does on the roof for instance. (Everybody has an aura ― but in most it is weak and not very luminous; in the Mother's aura there is the full
Page - 85 play of lights and powers.) People do not see it usually because it is a subtle physical and not a gross material phenomenon. They can see only in two conditions, first if they develop sufficient subtle sight, secondly if the aura itself begins to become so strong that it affects the sheath of gross Matter which conceals it. The Mother has certainly no idea of making people see it ― it is of themselves that one after another, some 20 or 30 in the Ashram, I believe, have come to see. It is certainly one of the signs that the Higher Force (call it supramental or not) is beginning to influence Matter. 15-11-1933 *
If seeing the Mother's light is a mistake or a mental or vital formation, then the realisation of the Divine and all spiritual experience can be questioned as a mental or vital formation or a mistake and all Yoga becomes impossible. 6-9-1933 THE MOTHER'S DIAMOND LIGHT
(a) It [the. diamond light] means the essential Force of the Mother. (b) The diamond light proceeds from the heart of the Divine Consciousness and it brings the opening of the Divine Consciousness wherever it goes. (c) The Mother's descent with the diamond light is the sanction of the Supreme Power to the movement in you. (d) The Mother's diamond light is a light of absolute purity and power. (e) The diamond light is the central consciousness and force of the Divine.
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The diamond is the symbol of the Mother's light and energy ― the diamond light is that of her consciousness at its most intense. 13-11-1936 Page - 86 THE GOLDEN LIGHT OF THE MOTHER'S MAHAKALI FORM
The Mother's light is white ― especially diamond white. The Mahakali form is usually golden, of a very bright and strong golden hue. 12-10-1935 *
The golden light is the light of the Divine Truth on the higher planes above the ordinary mind ― a light supramental in origin. It is also the light of Mahakali above the mind. The golden light is also often seen emanating from the Mother like the white light. 17-9-1933 *
Q: I have heard that the colour of Kali is black and she has four hands. But I saw her in my vision with only two hands and her colour was bright white. Why did I see her like this ? A: The black Kali form is a manifestation on the vital plane of Mahakali ― but Mahakali herself in the Overmind is golden. What you saw was the Mother herself in her body of light with the Mahakali power in her, but not the actual form of Mahakali. 26-9- 1933 *
It depends on the shade of the yellow. If it is golden white it comes from above the mind and the combination suggests the Maheshwari-Mahakali power. Higher Mind colour is pale blue. 21-3- 1938 *
The line of golden light is a line of the light of the higher Divine Truth encircling the ākāśa of the heart and the diamond mass is the Mother's light pouring into that ākāśa. It is therefore a sign of these powers working on the psychic-emotional centre. 17-12-1936 Page - 87 SOME VISIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF THE MOTHER
Q: Yesterday when the Mother came down in the evening to give Darshan, I saw her face shining with crimson light like the sun in the early morning. What is the meaning of crimson light ? A: Crimson light indicates the manifestation of love in the material atmosphere. 5-6-1933 *
Q: Today while meditating in the Pranam Hall before the Mother came down, I saw in a vision that from a high place the Mother was descending wearing a rosy-coloured sari and having a "Divine Love" flower in her hair. What is the signficance of this ? A: It is a symbol of the descent of Divine Love. 5-6-1933 *
Q: Two days back I saw in a dream that I was lying in a bed in a room and the Mother entered with a rosy-coloured horse. Seeing the horse I told the Mother that he would bite me but the Mother replied that he would not do so. What is the meaning of this dream ? A: Rose is the colour of psychic love ― the horse is dynamic power. So the rosy-coloured horse means that the Mother was bringing with her the dynamic power of psychic love. 3-8-1933 *
Q: Today while meditating in the Pranam Hall I saw that from a sky filled with blue light a beautifully-paved
Page - 88 path was coming down on earth and the Mother was slowly descending on this path. The Mother's entire body was of white and golden light which was spreading out on all sides. When the Mother reached the end of the path and came down on earth her body got mixed with the earth. Then I suddenly woke up from meditation. Was this a vision ? What does it signify ? A: Yes, it is a vision from the plane of mind (not ordinary, but higher mind). It indicates the descent of the Mother with the light of purity and Truth (white and golden) into Matter. 5-8-1933 *
Q: Two days back I saw in a dream that the Mother was standing on a high place and before her there was a pillar with the Tulsi plant on it. What does it signify ? A: That she has brought down and planted Bhakti, I suppose. 5-6-1933 *
Serpents are energies ― those of the vital are usually evil forces and it is these that are usually seen by people. But favourable or divine forces are also imaged in that form, e.g., the Kundalini Shakti is imaged in the form of a serpent. Serpents turning over or round the Mother's head would rather recall the Shivamurti and would mean numberless energies all finally gathered up into our infinite energy of which they are the aspects. 28-10- 1936 *
Q: I had a dream in which I saw that the Mother was near me. Once when she smiled, I felt as if I saw all the worlds in her mouth, as Jasoda saw them in Krishna's
Page - 89 mouth. Immediately after seeing this, I felt myself lifted up above the world and looking at it as a free witness. Was this a real dream-experience and did I really see the Mother, or was it some other influence ? A: I don't think it was another influence. It reads like a very genuine experience. 19-6-1935 *
Q: While looking at the Mother when she came on the terrace, I suddenly saw in her lap a baby whom I took to be Jesus Christ as it resembled his figure. The vision lasted for about a minute and I saw it with open eyes. Could it be true ? A: It may be so ― as Jesus was the child of the Divine Mother. 25-11-1933 *
You seem to have ascended into a plane of the Higher spiritualised Mind with a descent into it of Maheshwari bringing the power of the Divine Truth. The result in the physical consciousness was a perception of the One Consciousness and Life in all things and an illumination of the cells of the body with golden light of the higher Truth. October, 1933 *
Q: Last night I saw in a dream that from the Mother's body light was coming into my body and transforming it. Both these bodies were longer than the physical bodies and were of a shadowy colour like that of stones. What does this signify ? A: Good, it is the opening of the physical consciousness to the Page - 90 Mother. It was probably the subconscient physical that you saw ― that would explain the shadowy character ― the stone indicates the material Nature. 30-9-1933 *
Q: Recently I notice that before the Mother comes down from the terrace in the evening she stands there for a long time. I feel that at that time she gives us something specially, so I concentrate to receive and feel what she gives. But this evening suddenly I saw (when I was concentrating by looking at her) that her physical body disappeared, ― there was no sign of her body, as if she were not there. Then after a few seconds her figure reappeared. I felt at that moment that she mixed with the ether and became one with all things. Why did I see like this ? A: The Mother makes an invocation or aspiration and stands till the movement is over. Yesterday she passed for some time beyond the sense of the body and it is perhaps this that made you see in the way. 29-8-1932 *
Q: Today while meditating in the Pranam Hall I saw in a vision that the Mother was absorbed in deep concentration. Why did I see her like that ? A: The Mother is always in a concentrated consciousness in her inner being ― so it is quite natural that you should see like that. 5-6-1933 *
Q: It was in sleep or meditation, I don't remember. I
Page - 91 was approaching the Mother with a dish of various flowers. Before making my Pranams I offered her three flowers of "Divine Love". Has this any correspondence with my Sadhana ? A: It is not quite clear what this number 3 means in this connection. Possibly it is the aspiration for the Divine's Love in the three parts of the being. 12-7-1936 *
Q: I saw the Mother in the colour of the flower "detachment". Does it have any meaning ? A: It must mean that that was the force which she was offering to you or else which you needed from her. 10-1-1934 *
Q: The Mother sitting on the peak of an icy mountain; a narrow path leads there and I am gradually advancing towards that. A: This is simply a symbol of the purity and silence of the higher consciousness which has to be reached by the path of Sadhana. The mountain symbolises the difficulty because one has not to slip to one side or the other, but go straight.
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Q: Let me tell you what happened during my noon nap. I was on the lap of the Mother. She had put her transforming palm on my head. With her thumb she was pressing or rather opening the Brahmic centre of my head. I began to feel as if something were received from there. Then all on a sudden there was a shifting of the consciousness
Page - 92 into some other world. A supraphysical light was experienced in the cells of the body which was already flooded with the light. The physical itself was taken up. Will you please explain this phenomenon ? A: There is nothing to explain. It was what you describe: At once the raising of the consciousness to a higher plane and the descent of that into the physical. 5-9-1934 *
Q: Over my head I see a plane of infinite and eternal peace. The Mother is the Queen of this plane. From there I feel a ceaseless glow coming down towards me. It first touches my higher being and passes through it without any resistance. But on its way downwards its flow narrow to a small current which passes through the Brahmic hole. How do you find this description ? A: That is quite correct. In many however it descends in a mass through the whole head and not in a current through the Brahmic hole. 13-2-1936 *
Q: The Mother sitting on her seat. A cobra with many hoods behind her covering the head. It has a shining golden colour; in the centre of each hood a shining red round spot. A: The cobra is an emblem of Nature-Energy; golden = the higher Truth-nature; many hoods = many powers. Red is probably a sign of Mahakali power. The cobra covering the head with its hoods is a symbol of sovereignty. 23-1-1937 *
Page - 93 Q: I see a rough rock. The sunlight falls upon it and the figure changes: in the centre a hollow circle is made and rocks arrange themselves round the circle. In the centre of the circle appears a stone image of Shiva about two feet high; afterwards from this image of Shiva emerges the Mother. She is in meditation. The sunlight falls just behind the Mother's body. What does it signify ? A: Rocks = the physical (most material) being. An opening in the material making room for the formation of the spiritual consciousness there. Stone image of the Shiva = the realisation of the silent Self or Brahman there (peace, silence, wideness of the Infinite, purity of the witness Purusha). Out of this silence emerges the Divine Shakti concentrated for the transformation of the material. Sunlight = Light of Truth. 12-10-1936 *
Q: The other day you asked me to be conscious in trance; I tried it hard and this is the result: I saw a Holy Woman entering a place where a few of the Sadhaks were assembled for her Darshan. She went into a closed room where we were to go one by one. I noticed that everyone was allowed one or two minutes as is done on our Darshan days. My turn was last. In the centre of the room the Holy Woman was seated wearing simple clothes. Without looking at her face I put my head on her lap. She placed her hands on my head and caressed me softly, meanwhile murmuring to herself something like "Let him have..."; the last word of the sentence I had caught quite distinctly then, but cannot recollect now. It was the name of some spiritual power. No sooner had she said this, I felt a sudden rush of that power entering through my head. After a few seconds she uttered the name of another
Page - 94 power. This power knocked me with a tremendous force ― it was shattering in its intensity. After a while I raised my head and looked at the Holy Woman for the first time. Her face appeared like the Mother's. Then I told her, "May I ask you a question ?" She did not seem to like this, but as she had not refused, I repeated the question. This time she said, "I don't like questions". (I wanted to inquire about her two gifts of different powers conferred on me.) Then I don't remember what I said. After a long time we both came back to consciousness, for we had both entered into a trance together. We knew it only when we asked the door-keeper how much time we had spent together. Afterwards I told her, "You must have entered into a trance and I simply followed you." This whole phenomenon is beyond my understanding. 1. Who was the Holy Woman ? 2. Why did she grant me the gift of her powers ? 3. A trance within a trance ! This is something new ! A: Obviously the Holy Woman was the Mother herself in a supraphysical form. It was natural that she should not like questions ― the Mother does not like mental questions very much at any time and least of all when she is giving meditation as she was doing in this experience. It is rather funny to ask "why" (your eternal why) higher powers should be given. People do not questions the gifts of the Shakti or demand reasons for her giving them, they are only too glad to get them. Trance within trance of course, since your Sadhana was going on in the trance, according to the ways of trance. It is also in this way that it can go on in conscious sleep.
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Q: Whilst I was having a nap in the afternoon, I had a vision of a very beautiful woman sitting under the sun. The rays of the sun were either surrounding her or were emanating from her body ― I can't precisely say
Page - 95 which. The appearance and dress seemed to be more European than oriental. A: It is not a woman. A woman does not radiate and is not surrounded by rays either. Probably a Sun Goddess or a Shakti of the inner Light, one of the Mother's Powers. 20-12-1935 Q: X told us today that the Mother was trying to bring down the personality of Durga on the Puja day. A: There was no trying ― it came down. Q: When I came for Pranam, the Mother's appearance made me feel that she was Durga herself . I don't know whether such a feeling arose out of the association with the Puja on that day, or quite independently of it. A: All that is the silliness of the physical mind which thinks itself very clever in explaining away the inner feeling or perception. Q: These feelings are so vague and momentary, and not accompanied by a concrete vision. A: What else do you expect the first touches to be ! Q: To give you one instance: I heard as if the Goddess Bhagawati were telling me, "I am coming" and many other things which I don't remember now. A: These things are at least a proof that the inner mind and vital are trying to open to supraphysical things. But if you belittle it at once the moment it starts how can it ever develop ! Page - 96 Q: I have started concentrating in the heart now. Last Sunday while I was meditating I had the vision of your face floatin g before me for about an hour or so, accompanied by a deep joy. I was fully conscious, but the body became utterly numb. Has anything in me opened up ? Is all this the fulfilment of the promise given by Bhagawati ? A: It looks like it. At any rate there is evidently an opening heart-centre or you would not have had the change or the vision with the stilling of the physical consciousness in the body. VISION OF THE MOTHER AND REALISATION
Q: Could a vision of the Mother or seeing her in dream or in waking be called a realisation ? A: That would be an experience rather than a realisation. A realisation would be of the Mother's presence within, her force doing the work ― or of the Peace or Silence everywhere, of universal Love, universal Beauty or Ananda etc., etc. Visions come under the head of experiences, unless they fix themselves and are accompanied by a realisation of which they are as it were the support ― e.g. the vision of the Mother always in the heart or above the head etc. 12-3-1934 FACULTY OF VISION AND SPIRITUAL PROGRESS
Q: Some people see light etc. around the Mother but I do not. What is the obstruction in me ? A: It is not an obstruction ― it is simply a question of the growth of the inner senses. It has no indispensable connection with spiritual progress. There are some very far on the path who
Page - 97 have very little of this kind of vision if any ― on the other hand sometimes it develops enormously in mere beginners who have as yet had only very elementary spiritual experiences. 1-12-1933 *
Q: X told me, "I was in constant touch with the Divine Mother long before I entered Pondicherry. I saw her not only in meditation or vision but before my wide-awake eyes, in a concrete form. I often used to converse with her, specially during my difficult periods when she would come and tell me what to do. Only, I did not know till I visited this place that the Divine Mother was no other than the Ashram Mother and had cast herself into a physical mould". Well, I am too pragmagtic to believe all such things, specially her claim of seeing Mother with the naked eyes, which would mean an advanced Sadhana.
A: But there is nothing improbable in it. It means simply that she externalised her inner vision and experience so as to see through the physical eyes also, but it was the inner vision that saw and the inner hearing that heard, not the physical sight or hearing. That is common enough. It does not indicate an "advanced" Sadhana, whatever that phrase may mean, but only a special faculty. 2-7-1936 *
These things [seeing and conversing with the Devata of one's worship] are extremely common among those who practise Yoga everywhere. In the Ashram the Sadhaks are too intelligent, sceptical and matter of fact to have much of that kind of experience. Even those who might develop it are deprived by the outward-mindedness and physical-mindedness that dominates the atmosphere. 2-7-1936 *
Page - 98 It is quite usual at a certain stage of the Sadhana for people who have the faculty to see or hear the Devata of their worship and to receive constant directions from him or her with regard or to Sadhana. Defects and difficulties may remain, but that does not prevent the direct guidance from being a fact. The necessity of the Guru in such cases is to see that it is the right experience, the right voice or vision ― for it is possible for a false guidance to come as it did with X and Y. 8-7-1936
SEEING THE MOTHER IN DREAM
Q: I saw Mother's form in a dream last night. Was it real or was imagination only at work ? A: What du you mean by real ? It was the form of Mother in a dream experience. Imagination applies only to the waking mind. 3-7-1933 *
Q: But cannot false forces take the form of the Mother ? A: If false forces take the form of the Mother, it will be with some bad object. If there is no attack or wrong suggestion, you need not suppose that it is false forces that have done it. Of course it is always possible that something in your own consciousness has constructed a dream about the Mother or put her figure there when she herself was not there. That happens when it is only a dream, a number of ideas and memories etc. of the mind put together and not experience on another plane. 5-7-1933 *
Necessarily, Mother can manifest in many other forms besides
Page - 99 her physical one, and though I am rather less multitudinous, I can also. But that does not mean that you can take any gentleman for me or any she for her. Your dream- self has to develop a certain discrimination. That discrimination cannot go by signs and forms, for the vital beggars can imitate almost anything ― it must be intuitive. 23-5-1935
HEARING THE MOTHER'S VOICE
Q: In your book, "Bases of Yoga" one reads, "It is with the Mother who is always with you and in you that you converse". Could you kindly explain to me how one converses with the Mother ? A: One hears the voice or the thought speaking inwardly and one answers inwardly. Only it is not always safe for the Sadhak if there is any insincerity of ego, desire, vanity, ambition in him ― for then he may construct a voice or thought in his mind and ascribe it to the Mother and it will say to him pleasing and flattering things which mislead him. Or he may mistake some other Voice for the Mother's. 2-7-1936 *
Q: Can one rely solely upon the voice from within and be thus guided by the Mother ? A: If it is the Mother's voice; but you have to be sure of that. 7-7-1933 *
Q: Is it not a fact that to hear the Mother's voice inwardly and to recognise it as hers is easy ?
Page - 100 A: No, to hear and recognise the Mother's voice within is not easy. 8-7- 1933 *
Q: When is one said to be ready to hear the Mother's voice from within ? A: When one has equality, discrimination and sufficient Yogic experience ― otherwise any voice may be mistaken for the Mother's. 7-7- 1933 *
Q: At Pranam while putting my head in the Mother's lap I heard some voice. It was felt to be the Mother's. Did she really say something to me inwardly or was it a mere illusion of mine ? A: It may have been that the Mother conveyed something to you. At this moment she does not remember. 27-4-1933 Page - 101 |