COOKING AND EATING 

      When you want to add wheat flour to the vegetables, it is better to mix it first in a separate sauce-pan with a small quantity of water or, better, of vegetable soup. You give it a first boiling in this sauce-pan, stirring it all the time, very carefully, with a circular movement. After it has reached the boiling point you can safely add it to the vegetables, it will no more stick to the bottom of the pan.

8 February 1932

      Too strong a fire burns the food, spoils the vessel and wastes the fuel. A slow fire means a little longer time for the cooking but also a nicer result in cooking.

      Hurried work is always bad work; time must be given if you want good result.

      To say that your cooking is bad would not be fair. At most what I can say is that it is not always equally good, but bad it is not, and some dishes are  quite successful. It may be that a period of inner difficulty has passed over you, but you are bound to come out of it stronger than before. When the inner difficulty  

Page - 288

is removed, the cooking will be as regularly good as it was before.

      24 December 1937

      I have heard so many contradictory reports on the effects of food, spices, etc. that logically I have come to the conclusion that it must be − like all the rest − a personal affair and consequently no general rule can be made and, still less, enforced. This is the cause of my leniency.

      Nothing was told to me about the aluminum vessels of which I do not approve because aluminium is not good for cooking. I am speaking of my own experience.

      You know that I am not enthusiastic about servants handling the food − but many people seem to like it, through laziness I suppose!!

      In the kitchen, cleanliness is the most indispensable thing.

      To avoid hair falling in the cooking, it is better to cover the head while cooking.

      Special care must be taken to prevent insects from falling into the pans.

      If you do not like the atmosphere created by taking food with others I do not see why you should do it.

13 September 1940 

Page - 289

From the physical point of view, it is obviously better to eat quietly and without hurry, and I am quite sure that most often one can manage to get time for it. It is all a question of organisation.

27 September 1943  

      All quarrels in the place where food is prepared make food indigestible. The cooking must be done in silence and harmony.

March 1969 

A childish question: Do animals and birds get the taste of food as we do?

Yes, but they do not think about it as we do.

BORROWING BOOKS FROM THE ASHRAM LIBRARY 

Dear Mother,

I am told I need your permission for the following: (1) Borrow books from the library; (2) Purchase bread from the bakery. May I have your approval?

Bread you can receive freely unless you want an unusual quantity.

      As for the books, we have been obliged to stop lending them because too big a number of them had disappeared — but if  

Page - 290

you keep them only for a short time and promise to be extra careful, I can give the permission.

      Blessings.

11 January 1963 

Sweet Mother,

May I borrow books from our library from time to time for my studies? You had already given me permission some years ago.

You may borrow books if you take great care of them and follow the library rules.

      Blessings.

12 March 1964  

Mother Dear,

May I have your permission to take the book “The Puppet Theatre”, by Jan Bussell to show to X for making hand-puppets for gifts to the children for Christmas?

Yes, on loan and with care.

26 November 1964  

Sweet Mother,

Could I take books from the library to read at home? I need them for my English and other studies.

If Y [the head librarian] agrees, and if you take scrupulous care of them.

23 December 1964 

Page - 291

Mother,

Will you allow the students in my class to borrow books from the Library during the 1965 vacation and the 1966 school year? These books (list attached) will be useful to them for their French classes.

Very well.

      P.S. Of course they must take great care of these books and return them clean and in good condition before the new term begins.

11 October 1965 

(To the head librarian)

Z would like to borrow some books from the library. He says he will take great care of them. Are you willing to lend them to him?

13 February 1966 

PAINTING

      It seems to me that a few sketches from nature would be useful, especially from the point of view of the proportion of legs and arms and the harmony of form.

25 January 1934

(About a design for a crown for the Mother)

The design is very pretty indeed and will surely make a very successful crown.

7 September 1934  

Page - 292

      This idea of fresco seems to be a very good one and the wall of A’s room on B’s terrace quite an ideal place. There is only one point: will the lime hold on that wall which is now painted? This is to be asked of C.

      It would be very nice to have a sea view there.

7 September 1934

(About some cards done for people associated with the artist in his work, whose names were sent along with the cards)

The cards are all very nice, some extremely pretty. I am sending them back for distribution except one that D has chosen and kept with great pleasure.

      All the names are all right.

27 October 1935

About sketches for paintings on asbestos sheets to be fixed on the walls of the Town Hall)

Yes, it is all right. When the sketches are ready they will have to be shown to the Mayor and the Governor and this will take some time. That is to say between the sketches and the actual beginning of the painting there will be plenty of time for the exhibition and the Darshan.

      As I told you, it would be good to show the sketches to the Governor on the 10th of this month or about − because the “Conseil Général” is sitting just now and the final decision has to be taken by this “Conseil”. Four sketches and the elevation of the room will be sufficient.

1 November 1935 

Page - 293

(About the sketches for the Town Hall painting)

They are truly very fine. I see no change to suggest.

3 November 1935

(About the exhibition of paintings by Ashram artists held at the end of December 1935. Some paintings were presented to the French Governor.)

I forgot to tell you that the two pictures for the Governor have to be signed before they are framed. Will you inform E of this?

      The exhibition seems to have been a great success.

      With our blessings.

6 January 1936 

I am sending you some art books for your opinion. I want to know your opinion about Cézanne and Van Gogh, because they are praised so much by modern critics.)

The pictures by Cézanne and Van Gogh in the books you have sent are very beautiful (especially those of Cézanne). I shall return the books in one or two days − I want to look at them carefully.

12 March 1936

      If you feel no true urge to paint, I see no necessity of your painting.

      Blessings.

April 1939  

Page - 294

      Your way of approaching art is the right one and if you continue, keeping an absolute sincerity in your attitude and your attempt, you are bound to succeed.

      There is something correct in your appreciation of oriental art, but it is incomplete. However we shall leave the subject for the moment, for I have no time to explain all that just now. As for Léonard de Vinci, Michel Ange¹ and Raphael, I cannot put them on the same level. The two first are far greater than the last. They both belong to the world of creative force, Léonard with more subtlety and quiet, deep vision and purity, Michel Ange with more force and power especially in his sculptures which are incomparably magnificent. Raphael is more mental and superficial.

      30 June 1939

X told me that you have given permission for the decoration of the meditation hall. I had intended to decorate only the room where you used to sit for Pranam. I hear you would like the whole hall and the space up the staircase to be done. This is a very big scheme. But Y also intends to do the work and, if asked, X may also join.

      What I wish to tell you is that to make the work harmonious and quiet only one person must design the whole thing, and all must work in the same manner. I would like to know from you if you have any subject matter. I wish to know from you how the thing should be done. Please let me know your idea.

I agree that one person alone must design the whole thing, the others can join in the execution only.

      I have no subject or scheme. I only wish that the decoration

¹ The Mother spelled these two names in the French way 

Page - 295

should be quiet from the point of view of colour and also of composition.

      Do some sketches and projects, and send them to me.

      Blessings.

31 July 1939 

Page - 296