{"id":1515,"date":"2013-07-13T01:35:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1515"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:35:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:22","slug":"16-some-explanations-vol-25-the-mother-volume-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/25-the-mother-volume-25\/16-some-explanations-vol-25-the-mother-volume-25","title":{"rendered":"-16_Some Explanations.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nSOME 
\nEXPLANATIONS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSIGNIFICANCE 
\nOF  THE  MOTHER’S  SYMBOL<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:  <\/b>I
\nhave been frequently thinking of the Mother’s symbol of  "Chakra" 
\nand its significance.  I have understood it as follows:<\/i> ,<\/font><\/p>\n

Central circle \u2014
\nTranscendental power.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

Four inner petals
\n\u2014 Four powers working from the Supermind to Overmind.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

Twelve outer petals
\n\u2014 Division of four into twelve powers from Overmind to Intuition and mind.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

Do you think I have
\nunderstood the significance correctly ?<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nEssentially  (in general principle)  the 12 powers are the vibrations
\nthat are necessary for the complete manifestation.  These are the 12 seen
\nfrom the beginning above the Mother’s head.  Thus there are really 12 rays
\nfrom the sun not 7, 12 planets etc.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to the exact interpretation of the
\ndetail of the powers, I see nothing against the arrangement you have made. 
\nIt can stand very well.<\/font><\/p>\n

15-4-1934<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n

\n\t\t
\n\t\tSIGNIFICANCE 
\nOF  THE  MOTHER’S  FLAG<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the blue flag.  I presume
\nyou mean the flag with the white lotus.  If so, it is the Mother’s flag,
\nfor the white lotus is her symbol as the red lotus is mine.  The blue of
\nthe flag is meant to be the colour of Krishna and so represents the spiritual or
\ndivine consciousness which it is her work to establish so that it may reign upon
\nearth. This is the meaning of the flag being used as the Ashram flag, that
\nour work is to bring down this consciousness and make it the leader of the
\nworld’s life.<\/font><\/p>\n

14-3-1949<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 359<\/p>\n

\n


\nCONQUERING 
\nTHE  POWERS  OF  THE  LIFE  FOR  THE  MOTHER<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This Yoga does not mean a rejection of the
\npowers of live, but an inner transformation and a change of the spirit in the
\nlife and the use of the powers.  These powers are now used in an egoistic
\nspirit and for undivine ends;  they have to be used in a spirit of
\nsurrender to the Divine and for the purpose of the divine Work.  That is
\nwhat is meant by conquering them back for the Mother.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nUSE 
\nOF  EXTERNAL  MEANS  AS  AID  TO  YOGIC 
\nFORCE<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, one must use these external
\nmeans and there one must be careful so as to have as many factors as possible on
\none’s side and give as little handle as possible to the adverse forces. 
\nBut no outward action can be for us sure of success unless behind it is the
\ngrowing Yogic vision and Yogic power.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have had ourselves serious
\ndifficulties from the outside, petitions made against us to the Minister of
\nColonies in Paris and a report demanded from the Governor here which if acted on
\nwould have put the Ashram in serious jeopardy.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We used outward means of a very slight
\nand simple character i.e. getting the Mother’s brother  (Governor in French
\nEquatorial Africa)  to intervene with the Ministry (and also an eminent
\nwriter in France, a disciple), but for the most part I used a strong inner Force
\nto determine the action of the Colonial Office, to get a favourable report from
\nthe Governor here, to turn the minds of some who were against us here and to
\nnullify the enmity of others.  In all these respects I succeeded and our
\nposition here is made stronger than before;  especially a new and
\nfavourable Governor has come.  Nevertheless we have to remain vigilant that
\nthe situation may not be again threatened.  Also one disadvantage has
\nresulted, that we have been asked not to buy or rent more houses but to build
\ninstead.  This is difficult without land and much money;  so we are
\nfor the moment unable to expand.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In certain respects, however, this is
\nnot a disadvantage, as I have been long wishing to put off further expansion and<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 360<\/p>\n

\n

consolidate the inward life of the Ashram in a more completely spiritual
\nsense.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I give this as an example of how things have to be dealt with from the point
\nYogic point of view.<\/p>\n

20-3-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPHYSICAL  EXPANSION 
\nAND  INNER  PROGRESS<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  Is
\nhaving more houses by the Mother a sign of progress of her work ?<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>   It is a sign of
\nphysical expansion.  The progress depends upon what is behind;  if the
\ninner progress is not there, the physical expansion is of no great use.<\/font><\/p>\n

7-7-1933<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 
\n
\nCOMMERCE 
\nAND  SPIRITUAL  PROFIT<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you give the money to
\nthe Mother, that can’t be commercial;<\/font>  commerce
\nimplies personal profit, and here your profit is only spiritual.<\/font><\/p>\n

2-4-1944<\/b><\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER  AND  THE  EXPRESSION  OF  BEAUTY<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\tQ:<\/b> 
\nPourquoi la M\u00e8re s’habille-t-elle avec des v\u00eatements riches et beaux ?<\/font><\/i> 
\n(<\/font>Q:<\/b>   Why does the
\nMother put on rich and beautiful dresses ?<\/font>)<\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nAvez-vous donc pour conception que le Divin doit \u00eatre
\nrepr\u00e9sent\u00e9 sur terre par la pauvret\u00e9 et la laideur ?  (<\/font>A:<\/b> 
\nIs it your notion that the Divine should be represented on earth by poverty and
\nugliness ?<\/font>)<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Beauty is as much an
\nexpression of the Divine as Knowledge,<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 361<\/p>\n

\n

Power or Ananda.  Does anyone ask
\nwhy does the Mother want to manifest the divine consciousness by knowledge or by
\npower and not by ignorance and weakness ?  It would be a more absurd or
\nmeaningless question then the one put by the vital against her wearing artistic
\nand beautiful dress.<\/font><\/p>\n

27-2-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b>  Does
\nit make any difference to the Mother’s consciousness
\nwhether she puts on the best saris or the old ones, whether she lives in a
\npalace or in a forest ?  What do these outer things add to the inner
\nreality ?  More probably they may be causing its diminution.<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/i><\/b> 
\nOuter things are the expression of something in the inner reality.  A fine
\nsari or a palace are expressions of the principle of beauty in things and that
\nis their main value.  The Divine Consciousness is not bound by these things
\nand has no attachment, but it is also not bound to abstain from them if beauty
\nin things is part of its intended action.  The Mother, when the Ashram was
\nstill unformed, was wearing patched cotton saris;<\/font>  when
\nshe took up the work, it was necessary to change her habits, so she did so.<\/font><\/p>\n

22-10-1935<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t
\n\t\tLIVING 
\nIN  THE  SUPERMIND  AND  INTEREST  IN  THE 
\nWORLD<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  Is
\nit at all possible for the Mother or anyone living above the Overmind or even in
\nthe silence to take any interest in the world, since the world would be felt
\nfrom there as a mere speck ?<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It all depends upon
\nwhat basis one lives in the silence or above.  A speck can be of as much
\ninterest to the Divine Consciousness as an infinity.<\/font><\/p>\n

8-8-1934<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 362<\/p>\n

\n

LIGHT – HEARTEDNESS  AND 
\nYOGIC  CHEERFULNESS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for light-heartedness and
\ninsouciance<\/i> \u2014 a light don’t-care attitude is the thing we would recommend
\nto anybody.  The Mother spoke of cheerfulness, and if she used the word
\nlight-hearted, it was not in the sense of anything lightly or frivolously gay
\nand careless \u2014 although a deeper and finer gaiety can have its place as an
\nelement of the Yogic character.  What she meant was a glad equanimity even
\nin the face of difficulties and there is nothing in that contrary to Yogic
\nteaching or to her own practice.  The vital nature on the surface 
\n(the depths of the true vital are different)  is attached on the one side
\nto a superficial mirth and enjoyment, on the other to sorrow and despair and
\ngloom and tragedy, \u2014 for these are for it the cherished lights and shades of
\nlife;  but a bright or wide and free peace or an ānandamaya <\/i>intensity
\nor, best, a fusing of both in one is the true poise of both the soul and the
\nmind \u2014 and of the true vital also \u2014 in Yoga.  It is perfectly possible
\nfor a quite human Sadhak to get to such a poise, it is not necessary to be
\ndivine before one can attain it.<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTRUE 
\nLOVE  AND  JEALOUSY<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only one thing I must note so that no
\nwrong idea may linger in your understanding.  You seem to say in one
\npassage of a letter that the Mother had said to you that jealousy is inevitable
\nin true love in ordinary life, and if it is not there when one sees the other
\nloving elsewhere, then they don’t love each other !  You must have
\nstrangely misheard and misunderstood the Mother.  It is just the opposite
\nof what the Mother has always said and thought and the very contrary of all her
\nknowledge and experience.  It is the idea of the ordinary mind about
\njealousy and love, not hers.  She remembers very well having told you just
\nthe opposite that, even in ordinary life, one is not<\/i> jealous if one has
\nthe true love.  Jealousy is the common movement of the human egoistic lower
\nvital with its grasping possessive instinct and it cannot be anything else. 
\nI thought it better to make this clear so that there might be no misleading
\nimpression that such movements of the<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 363<\/p>\n

\n

lower vital nature have any sanction or support in the truth of the soul; 
\nthey belong to the vital Ignorance, they are fruits of the vital ego.<\/p>\n

1-2-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nERROR  OF EXTOLLING 
\nVITAL  LOVE<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whatever may be the glamour of a vital
\nlove, once it falls away and one gets to a higher level, it should be seen to
\nhave been not the great thing one imagined.  To keep this exaggerated
\nestimate of it is to hold the consciousness back from the pull towards the
\ngreater thing with which that cannot for a moment compare.  If one keeps a
\nfervour like that for an inferior past it must make it more difficult to develop
\nthe entire person for a higher future.  It is indeed not the Mother’s wish
\nthat anybody should look back in a spirit of enthusiastic appreciation to the
\nold vital love.  It was indeed  "so little"  in any
\ntrue estimate of things.  It is not at all a question of comparison or of
\nextolling the vital passion of one at the expense of that of the other.  It
\nis the whole thing that must dwindle in its proportions and recede into the
\nshadowy constructions of the past that have no longer any importance.<\/font><\/p>\n

1934<\/font><\/b>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tDECEPTIVE 
\nIDEA  OF  REMOVING  SEX – HUNGER  BY  INDULGENCE<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother has already told you the
\ntruth about this idea.  The idea that by fully indulging the sex-hunger it
\nwill be finished and disappear for ever is a deceptive pretence held out by the
\nvital to the mind in order to get a sanction for its desire;  it has no
\nother raison d<\/i>\u2019<\/font>\u00eatre<\/i> or truth or
\njustification.  If an occasional indulgence keeps the sex-desire simmering,
\na full indulgence would only sink you in its mire.  This hunger like other
\nhungers does not cease by temporary satiation;  it revives itself after a
\ntemporary abeyance and wants again indulgence.  Neither sops nor gorgings
\nare the right treatment for it.  It can only go by a radical psychic<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 364<\/p>\n

\n

rejection or a full spiritual opening
\nwith the increasing descent of a consciousness that does not want it and has a
\ntruer Ananda.<\/font><\/p>\n

23-4-1937<\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  APPROVAL  OF  RIGHT  EXPRESSION <\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why should you think the Mother does
\nnot approve of expression, \u2014 provided it is the right expression of the right
\nthing, \u2014 or suppose that silence and true expression are contradictory ? 
\nThe truest expression comes out of an absolute inner silence.  The
\nspiritual silence is not a mere emptiness;  nor is it indispensable to
\nabstain from all activity in order to find it.<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  APPRECIATION  OF INDIAN  MUSIC<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What can be stranger than this idea of
\nyours that the Mother likes only European music and does not like or appreciate
\nIndian music \u2014 that she only pretends to do it or that she tolerates it so as
\nnot to discourage people !  Remember that it is the Mother who has always
\npraised and supported your music and put her force behind you so that your music
\nmight develop into spiritual perfection and beauty.  In your poetry it was
\nI that supported you most, in detail;  the Mother could only do it with a
\ngeneral force because she could not read the original  (though she found
\nthem in translations very beautiful), but in music it has been just the other
\nway round.  You surely are not going to say that all that was unfelt ? 
\nAnd the development of X ?  That too was Indian music, not European. 
\nAnd then when I write to you in praise of your music, do you think it is only my
\nopinion that I am transmitting ?  Most often it is her words that I use to
\nexpress our common feeling.<\/font><\/p>\n

20-12-1932<\/b><\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 THE 
\nMOTHER’S  MUSIC<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother’s music has
\noften been recognised by X as Indian<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 365<\/p>\n

\n

of this or  that rāga.<\/i> 
\nThe Mother plays whatever comes through her \u2014 she does not usually play any
\nprecisely composed music whether European or Indian \u2014 the latter in fact she
\nhas never learned.<\/font><\/p>\n

11-9-1934<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother has played music from her
\nchildhood upwards \u2014 so it is no trouble to her to sing or play several times.<\/font><\/p>\n

15-9-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is not necessary to have technical
\nknowledge in order to feel what is behind the music.  Mother, of course,
\ndoes not play for the sake of a technical musical effect, but to bring down
\nsomething from the higher planes and that anyone can receive who is open.<\/font><\/p>\n

15-9-1933<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not by knowledge of music that
\nthe understanding  [of the Mother’s music]  comes;  nor is it by
\neffort of the mind \u2014 it is by becoming inwardly silent, opening within and
\ngetting the spontaneous feeling of what is in the music.<\/font><\/p>\n

1932<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYes.  All that is very true. 
\nIt is a prayer or an invocation that Mother makes in the music.<\/font><\/p>\n

1-6-1935<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/b> 
\nIs it true that when the Mother plays on the organ<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 366<\/p>\n

\n


\nshe calls down the
\nGods of the higher planes to help us ?<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b><\/font> 
\nNot consciously.<\/font><\/p>\n

9
\n-2-1934<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b> 
\nDoes it mean that the Gods are attracted to her music and come down ?<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n


\nA:<\/font><\/b> 
\nThey may be.<\/font><\/p>\n

10-2-1934<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> 
\nDoes the Mother bring out something while playing ?<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nIf she did not bring something, why should she play at all ?<\/font><\/p>\n

19-4-1934<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 
\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t
\n\t\tMUSIC 
\nAND  MAHALAKSHMI<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:  <\/b>I<\/font>
\n<\/i>was so deeply moved on hearing the
\nsongs of X and Y at today’s music that the question came to my mind whether it
\nis the Mahalakshmi aspect of the Mother that is working these days.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nOn the music days it is always the Mahalakshmi aspect that is prominent.<\/font><\/p>\n

25-12-1933<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nA 
\nTHRILLING  EXPERIENCE<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  When
\nI heard the Mother reading out  "Pri\u00e8res et M\u00e9ditations" 
\nmy body was thrilled.  How ?<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nWhen an intense Power is put out, it will naturally give a thrill to those who
\nreceive it.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 367<\/p>\n

\n

 
\nART  AND  TRADITION<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother finds the pictures of X
\nhideous and monstrous, she would not dignify them with the name of art. 
\nBut it is not because they depart from tradition.  The Mother does not
\nbelieve in tradition \u2014 she considers that Art should always develop new forms
\n\u2014 but still these must be according to a truth of Beauty which is universal
\nand eternal \u2014 something of the Divine.  As for your picture, she finds it
\nexpressive.  She felt at once what it meant \u2014 so the criticism of Y does
\nnot stand.<\/font><\/p>\n

8-12-1933<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tIMPORTANCE 
\nOF  CONTACTING  RIGHT  INFLUENCES  IN  ART<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother had told you once that in
\nyour human figures you did not seem to be in contact with the right Influence
\nand you had said that you felt the contact with an eternal Beauty in Nature but
\nhad not the same contact with regard to the human figure.  It will be
\nbetter then, now that you are practising Yoga and to be in contact with right
\nInfluences only is very important, to avoid dealing with the human face and
\nfigure at present.  In Yoga what may seem to the mind a detail may yet open
\nthe door to things that have strong effects on the consciousness, disturb its
\nharmony or interfere with the sources of inspiration, vision and experience.<\/font><\/p>\n

1933<\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nKNOWLEDGE 
\nOF  FRENCH  AND  CLOSENESS  TO  THE  MOTHER<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  Is
\nit right to say that those who know French will be able to serve the Mother
\nbetter in the years to come ?<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nIt is mostly that it brings a certain closeness to one side of the Mother.<\/font><\/p>\n

3-5-1945<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 368<\/p>\n

\n

 
\nIDENTIFICATION 
\nWITH  THE  MOTHER’S  CONSCIOUSNESS  THROUGH  READING 
\nHER  BOOKS<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  When
\nI read the Mother’s  "Prayers"  and 
\n"Conversations"  I often feel as if I come in contact with her
\nconsciousness.  This makes me think whether it is possible by reading her
\nbooks to make one’s consciousness so intense as to identify it with hers and as
\na result to elevate the vital and other parts also.<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nIt is possible to intensely identify oneself with the Mother’s consciousness
\nthrough what you read \u2014 in that case the result you speak of could come. 
\nIt could also have an effect on the vital up to a certain point.<\/font><\/p>\n

21-8-1935<\/b><\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nGURU,  THE  DIVINE  AND  THE  AVATAR<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have only now had time to go through
\nthe three letters you sent me.  X can of course have the Conversations.<\/i> 
\nAs to what your other friend asks, it is quite possible for him to receive where
\nhe is without coming here if he has the adoration of the Mother in his heart and
\nan intense call.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the question of the Avatar, I do
\nnot think it is useful to press in the matter.  It has become very much the
\ntendency, especially in Bengal, to regard the Guru as the Avatar.  To every
\ndisciple the Guru is the Divine, but in a special sense \u2014 for the Guru is
\nsupposed to live in the divine consciousness, to have attained union and when he
\ngives to the disciple, it is the Divine that gives and what he gives is the
\nconsciousness of the Divine who is within the Guru.  But that and
\nAvatarhood are two different things.  It is mostly in East Bengal recently
\nthat those have come who were acclaimed as Avatars;  those who came had
\neach of them the idea of a work to be done for the world and the sense of a
\nDivine Power working through them, which shows that there was a pressure for
\nmanifestation there and something came in each case, for something of the Divine
\nPower always comes<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 369<\/p>\n

\n

when it is called, but it does not look
\nas if there was anywhere the complete descent.  It is this that may have
\ncreated the idea that the Avatar was born there.  It has always been said
\nof the Advent that is to come now that there would be many in whom <\/b>it
\nwould seem that it had come, but the real Avatar would work behind a veil until
\nthe destined hour came.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not gather from what is quoted as
\nsaid by your Guru that he claimed to be the Avatar.  It seems to me that he
\nclaimed to be a Power preparing the way for the work of the Divine Mother and
\neven to indicate that all that he meant would be manifested not only by his own
\nfollowers but by other groups  (samprad<\/i><\/font>ā<\/font><\/i>ya<\/i>),<\/i>
\nconsisting evidently of those who had not had him for Guru but had some other
\nHead and Teacher.  This is also confirmed by the saying that some other one
\nthan his disciples might be the means of his prak<\/i><\/font>āś<\/font><\/i>a
\n\u2014<\/i> that is to say, would be the means of carrying on his work and aiding
\nthe manifestation of the Mother.  If this meant proclaiming him as the
\nAvatar, I do not see how it can agree with the other saying that after his
\nleaving of the body the Avatar would come to the Ashram he had created.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not quite know what is meant by ayoni-sambhava.<\/i> 
\nAn incarnation is always through a human mother, though there have been one or
\ntwo cases in which a virgin birth has been proclaimed  (Christ, Buddha). 
\nThe only other meaning \u2014 unless we suppose an unprecedented miracle \u2014 might
\nbe a descent such as sometimes happens, the Godhead manifesting in somebody who
\nat birth was a Vibhuti, not at once the full incarnation.  But in the
\nabsence of a clear statement from your Guru himself, these are only
\nspeculations.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have written this much as an answer
\nto your question, but I doubt whether it is necessary or advisable to write
\nanything of it to your friends.  They have their own feeling about the
\nmatter;  it seems to me better not to challenge or disturb it.<\/font><\/p>\n

25-8-1935<\/b><\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  SPEAKING  OF  PAST  BIRTHS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother only speaks to
\npeople about their past births when<\/font><\/p>\n

Page – 370<\/p>\n

\n

she sees definitely some scene or
\nmemory of their past in concentration, but this happens rarely nowadays.<\/font><\/p>\n

30-6-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nMother does not usually look into past
\nlives;  only when things come of themselves from the past she looks.<\/font><\/p>\n

24-7-1934<\/b><\/font>
\n <\/p>\n


\nMEETING 
\nTHE  DEAD<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When Mother said that it was not good
\nto try to meet the dead, she was speaking from a spiritual standpoint which is
\nnot usually known or regarded by the spiritists.<\/font><\/p>\n

25-8-1936<\/b><\/font> <\/p>\n

 
\n
\nHELP 
\nTO  DEPARTED  SOULS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> 
\nIs there any indication you have received to tell you that my brother’s soul
\nreally wanted at the end to come to Mother’s Light and the Master’s ?<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nMother cannot say particularly because so many people come to her in the night
\nfor the passage to the other side whom she has not known in the body.  Your
\nbrother may very well have been one of them and in view of X’s account, there is
\nlittle doubt that he must have been.<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nDANGER 
\nOF  WEAK  SYMPATHY<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  I
\nhave observed that a sensitive disposition becomes very prone to easy admission
\nof vital forces from persons who are full of them, especially when an attitude
\nof emotional sympathy is taken towards them out of a philanthropic desire to
\nhelp them in their difficulties.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

Page – 371<\/p>\n

\n

A:<\/b> 
\nThat is very interesting \u2014 <\/i>for it agrees with the Mother’s constant
\ninsistence that <\/b>to feel sympathy or any emotion of the weak philanthropic
\nkind with those possessed by vital forces is most dangerous as it may bring an
\nattack upon oneself  which may take any form.  One must do what is to
\nbe done but abstain from all such weakness.<\/font><\/p>\n

11-10-1936<\/font><\/b>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 EFFECTIVE  CHANNELISING  OF 
\nTHE  MOTHER’S  HELP<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One can be a channel for the Mother’s
\nhelp, but the idea of oneself helping others comes in the way and so long as it
\nis there one cannot be a truly effective channel.<\/font><\/p>\n

17-4-1935<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 
\n <\/p>\n

 AN 
\nOCCULT  EXPERIMENT  OF  THE  MOTHER<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

X probably referred to an experience in
\nwhich the Mother being in Algiers appeared to a circle of friends sitting in
\nParis and took up a pencil and wrote a few words on a paper.  Having
\nsatisfied herself that it was possible she did not develop it any further. 
\nThat was at a time when she was practising occultism with Th\u00e9on in Algiers. 
\nMaterialisation is possible but it does not happen easily \u2014 it demands a very
\nrare and difficult concentration of forces or else an occult process with vital
\nbeings behind it such as materialises objects, like the stones that were daily
\nthrown in the Guest House, when we were there.  In neither case it is a
\nmiracle.  But to do as you suggest, make it a common or everyday
\nphenomenon, would be hardly practicable and spiritually not useful, as it is not
\na spiritual force which gives the power but an occult mental-vital force. 
\nIt would turn the Yoga into a display of occultism, rather than a process of
\nspiritual change.<\/font><\/p>\n

20-10-1935<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 372<\/p>\n

\n

The Mother spent many years entering
\nthe occult worlds and learning all that was to be learnt there …. She sees
\nthings always when she goes into a trance.<\/font><\/p>\n

8-7-1936<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE  MOTHER  SEEING 
\nOF  NARAD<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am afraid I don’t know
\nmuch about Narad.  Mother once saw <\/i>him standing between the Overmind
\nand Supermind where they join as if that was his highest station.  But he
\nhas his action on the lower plane also \u2014 only I don’t quite know what it is. 
\nIn the Puranic tales pure love and Bhakti on the one hand and, on the other
\nhand, a pleasure in making human beings quarrel seem to be his salient
\ncharacteristics.<\/font><\/p>\n

5-5-1935<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 
\n
\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  GOING  TO  OTHER  PLANETS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  I
\nhave been wondering whether the Mother has been able to establish a direct
\nconnection with Mars or any other far off planet which is probably habitable and
\ninhabited.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nA long time ago Mother was going everywhere in the subtle body but she found it
\nof a very secondary interest.  Our attention must be fixed on the earth
\nbecause our work is here.  Besides, the earth is a concentration of all the
\nother worlds and one can touch them by touching something corresponding in the
\nearth-atmosphere.<\/font><\/p>\n

13-1-1934<\/b><\/font> <\/p>\n

FACULTY 
\nOF  GETTING  RIGHT  PERCEPTIONS<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

X has reported Mother’s
\nobservation correctly, but he does not<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 373<\/p>\n

\n

seem to have understood it.  The
\nMother never meant that by merely willing one could know at once what was in
\nsomeone else or that all one’s impressions about him would be spontaneously and
\ninfallibly correct.  What she meant was that there is a faculty or power 
\n(an occult or Yogic faculty)  by which one may get the right perceptions
\nand impressions, and if one has the will to do so, one can develop it.  Not
\nat once, not by easy method \u2014 tra la la<\/i> and there you are:  it may
\ntake years and one has to be careful and scrupulous about it.  For these
\nare intuitive perception and intuition is a thing that can be easily imitated by
\nmany other movements of consciousness that are much more fallible.  Your
\nimpressions may be mental or vital and a mental or vital impression may have
\nsomething to justify it or may not \u2014 but even in the first case there is no
\ncertainty at all that it will be correct;  even if it is the same thing, it
\nmay be incorrectly caught \u2014 or caught with much mixture of error, twisted into
\nfalsehood, put in the wrong way, etc.  And there may be no justification at
\nall;  it may be a mere wrong formation of your own mind or vital or of
\nsomebody else’s wrong impression conveyed to you and accepted by you as your
\nown.  Your impressions may be the result of a want of affinity between you
\nand the person, so that if he impresses you as null and neutral, it is because
\nyou cannot feel what is in him, it does not come home to you, or if you feel
\nthat he is in the wrong condition, it may be only because his vital intuitions
\nrub yours the wrong way.  There are lots of things like that which one must
\nhave the power to distinguish very carefully and exactly;  until one knows
\none’s own consciousness and its operations well, one cannot know the operations
\nof the consciousness of others.  But it is possible to develop a certain
\ndirect sight or a certain direct feeling or contact by which one can know, but
\nonly after much time and much careful, scrupulous and vigilant observation and
\nself-training.  Till then one can’t go about saying that this is an
\nadvanced Sadhak or that one is not advanced and that other is no good at all. 
\nEven if one knows, it is not necessary always to air one’s knowledge.<\/font><\/p>\n

9-2-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 374<\/p>\n

\n

TRICK  OF  REVERSING 
\nTHE CONSCIOUSNESS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the Mother said that it was just a
\ntrick of reversing the consciousness, she meant that:  that instead of
\nallowing always the external mind to interfere and assert its own ordinary
\ncustomary point of view, it should turn itself round, admit that things may work
\nfrom in outwards, and keep itself sufficiently quiet to see that developing and
\nbeing done.  For then an inner mind shows itself which is capable of
\nfollowing and being the instrurment of the invisible Forces.<\/font><\/p>\n

2-8-1932<\/font><\/b>
\n <\/p>\n


\n   <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n


\nFEELING 
\nOF  SHOCK  IN  EXTERIORISATION<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A feeling like that of the shock and
\nthe stopping of the breath for a second and as if of falling down comes to many
\nwhen the consciousness for a moment or a longer time exteriorises itself 
\n(goes up out of the body);  the shock comes from the going up of the
\nconsciousness or from the return into the body.  The Mother used to have
\nthat hundreds of times.  It is not anything physical  (the Doctor, as
\nyou say, found nothing).  When this movement of the consciousness is more
\nnormal, the feeling will probably disappear.<\/font><\/p>\n

1-10-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n


\n                   <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n


\nNUMERICAL 
\nHARMONIES  IN  THE  MOTHER’S  ACCOUNTS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ: <\/b> X
\nshowed me his account book today in which the total was Rs. 7 As. 7 Ps.7. 
\nIt is also the 7th day of the 7th month of the year and after I decided to write
\nto you about this I saw that the house where I was working had also number 7. 
\nElsewhere one does not come across such a play of numbers.  I think it
\noccurs here because the numbers  <\/i>(perhaps the occult beings of
\nnumbers<\/i>)  feel at ease in our atmosphere, like the sparrows in the
\nmain Ashram Building, and like to play in such harmonies.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

Page – 375<\/p>\n

\n


\nIn government
\ndepartments and other places they feel the atmosphere mechanical, heavy and
\nrigorous and so they do not find any joy in such play.<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\n<\/i>I suppose your explanation is correct at least from the occult point of
\nview.  The Mother is always having these numerical view.  The Mother
\nis always having this numerical harmonies in her accounts.<\/font><\/p>\n

7-7-1936<\/b><\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nGIVING 
\nNAMES  TO  CATS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother gave names for cats because
\nthey understand and answer;  she has never given any for birds and does not
\nwish to do it.  Now even for cats she is not giving names.<\/font><\/p>\n

28-4-1932<\/b><\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nACTION 
\nOF  MEDICINES  ON  THE  MOTHER’S  BODY<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Medicines have quite a different action
\non the Mother’s body than they would have on yours or X’s or anybody else’s and
\nthe reaction is not usually favourable.  Her physical consciousness is not
\nthe same as that of ordinary people \u2014 though even in ordinary people it is not
\nso identical in all cases as "science"  would have us believe.<\/font><\/p>\n

1-2-1937<\/b><\/font>
\n 
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nTHE
\nMOTHER’S VIEWS ON MEDICAL MATTERS<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What the Mother says in the matter is
\nwhat she said to Dr. X <\/b>with his entire agreement \u2014 viz. reading from
\nsymptoms by the doctors is usually mere balancing between possibilities 
\n(of course except in clear and simple cases)  and the conclusion is a
\nguess.  It may be a right guess and then it will be all right or it may be
\na wrong guess and then all will be wrong unless Nature is too strong for the
\ndoctor and overcomes the consequences of his<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 376<\/p>\n

\n

error \u2014 or at the least the treatment
\nwill be ineffective.  On the<\/font> contrary
\nif one develops the diagnostic flair one can see at once what is the real thing
\namong the possibilities and see what is to be done.  That is what the most
\nsuccessful doctors have, they have this flashlight which shows them the true
\npoint.  X agreed and said that the cause of the guessing was that there
\nwere whole sets of symptoms which could belong to any one of several diseases
\nand to decide is a most delicate and subtle business, no amount of book
\nknowledge or reasoning will ensure a right decision.  A special insight is
\nneeded that looks through the symptoms and not merely at them.  This last
\nsentence, by the way, is my own, not X’s.  About development of intuition
\nafterwards \u2014 no time tonight.<\/font><\/p>\n

6-4-1937<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is no use discussing these matters. 
\nThe Mother’s views are too far removed from the traditional nostrums to be
\nunderstood by a medical mind, except those that have got out of the traditional
\ngroove or those who after long experience have seen things and can become
\ndevastatingly frank about the limitations of their own 
\n"science".<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ideas differ.  Both the Mother and
\nX were horrified at the idea of a child of four months being given a purgative. 
\nThe leading Children’s Doctor in France told the Mother no child under 12 months
\nshould be given a purgative, as it is likely to do great harm and may be
\ndangerous.  But here we understand it is the practice to dose children
\nfreely with purgatives from their day of birth almost.  Perhaps that and
\nover-administration of medicines is the cause of excessive infant mortality.<\/font><\/p>\n

4-4-1937<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAll  "science" 
\ndoes not recommend castor oil for children \u2014 I think it is a nineteenth
\ncentury fad which has prolonged itself.  The Mother’s 
\n"children’s doctor"  told her it should not be done \u2014 also in
\nher own case when a child the doctors peremptorily<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 377<\/p>\n

\n

stopped it on the ground that it
\nspoiled the stomach and liver.  I suppose you will say doctors disagree ? 
\nThey do ! <\/font><\/p>\n

9-4-1937<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother meant that wrong food and the
\npoisons created by wrong assimilation were a great obstacle to the prolongation
\nof life.<\/font><\/p>\n

14-1-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n*<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/font><\/i><\/b> 
\nThe Mother once said that there is hardly a disease that cannot be cured by
\nYoga.  Can cancer be cured by it ?<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nOf course it can, but on condition of faith or openness or both.  Even a
\nmental suggestion can cure cancer \u2014 with luck of course, as is shown by the
\ncase of the woman operated on unsuccessfully for cancer, but the doctors lied
\nand told her it had succeeded.  Result, cancer symptoms all ceased and she
\ndied many years afterwards of another illness altogether.<\/font><\/p>\n

11-10-1935<\/b><\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nMILLENNIUM 
\nWITHOUT  HOSPITALS<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:  <\/font><\/b>I
\ndreamt that the Mother is building a very big hospital.  Dream of a
\nmillennium in advance ?<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nIt would be more of a millenium if there were no need of a hospital at all and
\nthe doctors turned their injective prodding instruments into fountain pens \u2014
\nprovided of course they did not make misuse of the pens also ….<\/font><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b>  Why
\nfurious about injective instruments, sir ?  They are supposed to be very
\neffective.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

Page – 378<\/p>\n

\n

A:  <\/b>That
\ndoes not make an increase of hospitals, illnesses and injections the ideal of a
\nmillennium ….<\/font><\/p>\n

Q<\/font><\/b>: 
\nBut why the deuce are those instruments to be replaced by fountain pens ?<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b> 
\nI was simply adopting the saying of Isaiah the prophet,  "the swords
\nwill be turned into ploughshares", but the doctor’s instrument is not big
\nenough for a ploughshare, so I substituted fountain pen.<\/font><\/p>\n

19-7-1937<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 379<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOME  EXPLANATIONS   SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  MOTHER’S  SYMBOL   Q:  I have been frequently thinking of the Mother’s symbol of  "Chakra"  and its significance.  I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-25-the-mother-volume-25","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}