{"id":1516,"date":"2013-07-13T01:35:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1516"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:35:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:23","slug":"12-the-mother-and-the-working-of-the-ashram-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\/12-the-mother-and-the-working-of-the-ashram-vol-25-the-mother-volume-25","title":{"rendered":"-12_The Mother and the Working of The Ashram.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\nTHE  MOTHER  AND  THE  WORKING  OF 
\nTHE  ASHRAM<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n


\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  SADHANA  IN  THE  SADHAKS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Naturally, the Mother does the Sadhana in each Sadhak \u2014 only it is
\nconditioned by their zeal and their receptivity.<\/p>\n

4-1-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Mother has her own experience in bringing down the things that have to be
\nbrought down \u2014 but what the Sadhaks
\nexperience she had long ago.  The Divine does the Sadhana first for the
\nworld and then in others.<\/p>\n

12-9-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

I have said that the Divine does the Sadhana first for the world and then
\ngives what is brought down to others.  There can be no Sadhana without
\nrealisations and experiences.  The Prayers  <\/i>(Prayers
\nand Meditation<\/span><\/i><\/b>s <\/span><\/i>
\nof
\nthe Mother.  See Part Three<\/span>) 
\nare a record of Mother’s experiences. <\/p>\n

4-1-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

PSYCHIC 
\nCONTACT  IN  THE  ASHRAM  AND  OUTSIDE<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is certainly quite true that the psychic contact can exist at a distance
\nand that the Divine is not limited by place but is everywhere.  It is not
\nnecessary for<\/i> everybody<\/i> to be in the Ashram or physically near the
\nMother in order to lead the spiritual life or to practise the Yoga, especially
\nin its earlier stages.  But that is only one side of the truth, there is
\nanother.  Otherwise the logical conclusion might be that there was no
\nnecessity for the Mother to be here at all, or for the existence of the Ashram,
\nor for anyone to come here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 219<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

The psychic being is there in all, but in very few is it well developed, well
\nbuilt up in the consciousness or prominent in the front; in most it is veiled,
\noften ineffective or only an influence, not conscious enough or strong enough to
\nsupport the spiritual life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is for this reason that it is necessary for those drawn towards this Truth
\nto come here in order that they may receive the touch which will bring about or
\nprepare the awakening of the psychic being \u2014 that is for them the beginning of
\nthe effective psychic contact.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is also for this reason that a stay here is needed for many \u2014 if they
\nare ready \u2014 in order that under the direct influence and nearness they may
\nhave the development or building up of the psychic being in the consciousness or
\nits coming to the front.  When the touch has been given or the development
\neffected, so far as the Sadhak is at the moment capable of it, he returns to the
\noutside world and under the protection and guidance even at a distance is able
\nto keep the contact and go on with his spiritual life.  But the influences
\nof the outside world are not favourable to the psychic contact and the psychic
\ndevelopment and, if the Sadhak is not sufficiently careful or concentrated, the
\npsychic contact may easily be lost after a time or get covered over and the
\ndevelopment may become retarded, stationary or even diminished by adverse
\nmovements or influences.  It is therefore that the necessity exists and is
\noften felt of a return to the place of the central influence in order to fortify
\nor recover the contact or to restore or give a fresh forward impulse to the
\ndevelopment.  The aspiration for such nearness from time to time is not a
\nvital desire;  it becomes a vital desire only when it is egoistically
\ninsistent or mixed with a vital motive, but not if it is an aspiration of the
\npsychic being calm, deep and without clamour in it or perturbing insistence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This for those who are not called upon or are not yet<\/i> called upon to
\nlive in this Ashram under the direct pressure of the central Force and Presence. 
\nThose who must so live are those called from the very beginning or who have
\nbecome ready or who are for some reason or another given a chance to form a part
\nof the work or creation which is being prepared by Yoga.  For them the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 220<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

stay here in the atmosphere, the nearness are indispensable;  to depart
\nwould be for them a renunciation of the opportunity given them, a turning of the
\nback upon the spiritual destiny.  Their difficulties are often in
\nappearance greater than the struggle of those who remain outside because the
\ndemand and the pressure are greater;  but so also is their opportunity
\ngreater and the power and the influence for development poured upon them and
\nthat too which they can spiritually become and will become if they are faithful
\nto the choice and the call.<\/p>\n

7-10-1931<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs there any special effect of physical nearness to the Mother ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is indispensable for the fullness of the Sadhana on the
\nphysical plane.  Transformation of the physical and external being is not
\npossible otherwise.<\/p>\n

18-8-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs it possible to receive the Mother’s contact and help almost in the same way
\nat a great distance \u2014 say Bombay or Calcutta \u2014 as here in the Ashram ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  One can receive everywhere and if there is a strong spiritual
\nconsciousness one can make great progress.  But experience does not support
\nthe idea that it makes no difference or is almost the same.<\/p>\n

18-8-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDECISION 
\nTO  JOIN  THE  ASHRAM<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There should be no desire or anxiety in your mind to get these people or
\nothers to come here.  These things ought to be decided<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 221<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

on one side by their call and fitness and on the other by the will of the
\nMother.<\/p>\n

28-6-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nCHOICE 
\nFROM  WITHIN<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not possible for the Mother to tell you to remain, if you are yourself
\nin your mind and vital eager to go.  It is from within yourself that there
\nmust come the clear will on one side or the other.<\/p>\n

24-2-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPERIOD 
\nOF  PROBATION<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, it is better not to write anything too positive.  Nowadays,
\nespecially, the Mother takes people in such circumstances on probation, she does
\nnot give them large immediate assurances, but waits to see how they open. 
\nIf he justifies his aspiration all will be well.<\/p>\n

26-2-1943<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nFULL 
\nACCEPTANCE  BY  THE  MOTHER<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWhen a person begins to do Yoga under the Mothers care, is he not fully taken up
\nby her ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/i> <\/b>
\nNot until he is ready.  <\/b>He has first to accept her and then then
\ngive up more and more his ego.  There are Sadhaks who at every step revolt,
\noppose the Mother, contradict her will, criticise her decisions.  How can
\nshe take them up fully in such conditions ?<\/p>\n

21-6-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs there really any difference between the Guru, the<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 222<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Divine and the Truth in our Yoga ?  I have
\nbeen considering that the Mother and yourself are not only the Gurus but also
\nthe Divine, and that whatever either of you say is the law of the Truth. 
\nWhy then are you using <\/i> (in reply to
\nmy question on discipline<\/i>)  these three different words ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  I wrote the general law of spiritual life and obedience. 
\nYou have to know that as well as its special application here.  Moreover
\nmany here are satisfied with saying,  "The Mother is divine", 
\nbut they do not follow her commands \u2014 others do not really regard her as
\nDivine \u2014 they treat her as if she were an ordinary Guru.<\/p>\n

13-6-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:  <\/i><\/b>Yesterday
\nyou spoke about the Mother’s commands. What are they ?  I want to try
\nto follow them.<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  They are supposed to be known.  You have to do the right
\nthing and follow the Yoga sincerely.<\/p>\n

14-6-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWe are told the Mother can act best if a Sadhak is sincere.  But what is
\nmeant by this ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  What is meant by sincere Sadhana ?  In the Mother’s
\ndefinition of sincere, it means "opening only to the Divine Forces"
\ni.e.  rejecting all the others even if they come.<\/p>\n

21-4-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

SPIRITUAL 
\nPOSSIBILITY  DUE  TO  THE  MOTHER’S  PRESENCE<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Certainly very few seem to realise what a possibility has been given them
\nhere \u2014 all has been turned into an opportunity for<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 223<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the bubbling of the vital or the Tamas of the physical rather than used for
\nthe intended psychic and spiritual purpose.<\/p>\n

7-3-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

I was not speaking of any particular thing \u2014 but the whole spiritual
\npossibility due to the Mother’s presence here.  Very few realise what that
\nmeans and even those who have some idea of it take little advantage and allow
\ntheir lower nature to block the progress.<\/p>\n

9-3-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Because people are living here under the Mother’s shelter and saved from the
\ngreat sufferings and tragedies of human life, they must needs spin despairs and
\ntragedies out of nothing.  The vital wants to indulge its sorrow sense and
\nshout and groan and weep and if it can’t have a good or big reason for doing it,
\nit will use a bad or small one.<\/p>\n

1-3-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nNECESSITY 
\nOF  TRANSFORMING  THE  VITAL  FOR  SUCCESS  IN 
\nYOGA<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: <\/i><\/b>
\nI had a belief that all those who have been called to do this Yoga will realise
\nthe Divine in this very birth sooner or later.  But I heard from someone: 
\n"The Mother has of course chosen only those who have got capacity to do
\nthis Yoga, but they will reach the goal only if the vital gets transformed. 
\nIf not, they will realise in the next birth".  Is it so ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Mother has never spoken anything to be done in the next
\nbirth.  Naturally the vital has to be transformed if one is to succeed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

15-1-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Page – 224<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

REASONS 
\nFOR  SADHAKS  GOING  AWAY  FROM  THE  MOTHER<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nHow is it that some who come to the Mother with a clear aspiration and call go
\naway from her after some time ?  What is it that takes them away ? <\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Through the suggestions of the hostile forces, because of
\npride, egoism, ambition, sexual desire, vanity, greed or any other vital impulse
\nurged by the hostile Powers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nAre the vital forces so strong that in spite of a clear aspiration and Divine
\ncall in a person they can draw him away from the  Mother ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Every man is free at every moment to consent to the Divine
\ncall or not to consent, to follow the lower nature or to follow his soul.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nDoes their leaving the path not mean that they were unable to judge by their
\nknowledge whether their call for the Divine was true or not ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:  <\/b>All this about judging is nonsense.  You feel the call
\nor you do not and if you feel the call, you follow it without calculating or
\ncounting risks or asking whether you are fit or not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWhen people strongly feel the urge to leave the Sadhana and go away from the
\nMother, what is the best way for them to counteract this urge and stick on to
\nthe Mother ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  By understanding that it is the Devil who tempts them and not
\nlistening to the <\/b>Devil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 225<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nCan those Sadhaks, who have lived in the Ashram for many years, forget the
\nMother’s Grace after leaving it ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Some of them seem to forget<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs there any possibility of their returning to do the Sadhana under the Mother ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It depends on the person.<\/p>\n

6-9-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

When the psychic being has been once fully awake, then it is not possible for
\nthe Sadhak to revolt and go away;  for if he does, he leaves his soul
\nbehind with the Mother and it is only the outer being that lives for a while
\nelsewhere.  But that is too painful a condition;  one has either to
\ncome back or life becomes hardly worth living.<\/p>\n

20-11-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

What you have written is quite correct.  To say that the Divine is
\ndefeated when a Sadhak goes away is an absurdity.  If the Sadhak allows his
\nlower nature to get the better of him, it is his defeat, not the Divine’s. 
\nThe Sadhak comes here not because the Divine has need of him, but because he has
\nneed of the Divine.  If he carries out the conditions of the spiritual life
\nand gives himself to the Mother’s leading, he will attain his goal, but if he
\nwants to lay down his own conditions and impose his own ideas and his own
\ndesires on the Divine, then all the difficulty comes.  That is what
\nhappened to X and Y and several others.  Because the Divine does not yield
\nto them they go away;  but how is that a defeat for the Divine ?<\/p>\n

27-5-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page -226<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

WORKING 
\nOF  THE  CONSCIOUS  FORCE  IN  THE  ASHRAM<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What seems to me of more importance is to try to explain how things are
\nworked out here.  Indeed very few are the people who understand it and
\nstill fewer those who realise it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There has never been, at any time, a mental plan, a fixed programme or an
\norganisation decided beforehand.  The whole thing has taken birth, grown
\nand developed as a living being by a movement of consciousness 
\n(Chit-Tapas)  constantly maintained, increased and fortified.  As the
\nConscious Force descends in matter and radiates, it seeks for fit instruments to
\nexpress and manifest it.  It goes without saying that the more the
\ninstrument is open, receptive and plastic, the better are the results.  The
\ntwo obstacles that stand in the way of a smooth and harmonious working in and
\nthrough the Sadhaks are:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(1)<\/b>  the preconceived ideas and mental constructions which block
\nthe way to the influence and the working of the Conscious Force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(2)<\/b>  the preferences and impulses of the vital which distort and
\nfalsify the expression.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Both these things are the natural output of the ego.  Without the
\ninterference of these two elements my physical intervention would not be
\nnecessary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You are quite right when you do not believe in  "Mother
\nlikes",  "Mother dislikes":  it is quite a childish
\ninterpretation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a clear precise perception of the Force and the Consciousness at
\nwork, and whenever this Force gets distorted or the Consciousness is obscured in
\ntheir action, I have to interfere and rectify the movement.  In most cases
\nthings are mixed up and there again I have to intervene to separate the
\ndistorted transcription from the pure one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Otherwise a great freedom of action is left to all, because the Conscious
\nForce can express itself in innumerable ways and for the perfection and
\nintegrality of the manifestation no ways are to be a priori<\/i> excluded, a
\ntrial is very often given before the selection is made.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

22-8-1939<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 227<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

THE 
\nMOTHER  AND  THE  ASHRAM’S  DISCIPLINE<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

… He said, according to <\/b>X,<\/b>  that the absence of
\ndiscipline was the great bane in India: neither individuals nor groups had any
\ndiscipline.  Then why did he weep merely because he was not allowed to put
\nhis hand – bag in a place not intended for it ?  I do not agree myself with
\nhim in the idea that there is perfect discipline in the Ashram;  on the
\ncontrary, there is a great lack of it, much indiscipline, quarrelling and self –
\nassertion.  What there is is organisation and order which the Mother has
\nbeen able to establish and maintain in spite of all that.  That
\norganisation and order is necessary for all collective work;  it has been
\nan object of admiration and surprise for all from outside who have observed the
\nAshram;  it is the reason why the Ashram has been able to survive and
\noutlive the malignant attacks of many people who would otherwise have got it
\ndissolved long ago.  The Mother knew very well what she was doing and what
\nwas necessary for the work she has to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

        Discipline itself is not something especially Western;  in Oriental
\ncountries like Japan, China and India it was at one time all-regulating and
\nsupported by severe sanctions in a way that Westerners would not tolerate. 
\nSocially whatever objections we may make to it, it is a fact that it preserved
\nHindu religion and Hindu society through the ages and through all vicissitudes. 
\nIn the political field there was, on the contrary, indiscipline, individualism
\nand strife;  that is one reason why India collapsed and entered into
\nservitude.  Organisation and order were attempted but failed to endure. 
\nEven in the spiritual life India has had not only the free wandering ascetic, a
\nlaw to himself, but has felt impelled to create orders of Sannyasins with their
\nrules and governing bodies and there have also been monastic institutions with a
\nstrict discipline.  Since no work can be done successfully without these
\nthings \u2014 even the individual worker, the artist for instance, has to go
\nthrough a severe discipline in order to become efficient \u2014 why should the
\nMother be held to blame if she insists on discipline in the exceedingly
\ndifficult work she has put in her charge ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don’t see on what ground you expect order and organisation<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 228<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

to be carried on without rules and without discipline.  You seem to say
\nthat people should be allowed complete freedom with only such discipline as they
\nchoose to impose upon themselves;  that might do if the only thing to be
\ndone were for each individual to get some inner realisation and life did not
\nmatter or if there were no collective life or work or none that had any
\nimportance.  But this is not the case here.  We have undertaken a work
\nwhich includes life and action and the physical world.  In what I am trying
\nto do, the spiritual realisation is the first necessity, but it cannot be
\ncomplete without an outer realisation also in life, in men, in this world. 
\nSpiritual consciousness within but also spiritual life without.  The Ashram
\nas it is now is not that ideal, for that all its members have to live in a
\nspiritual consciousness and not in the ordinary egoistic mind and mainly rajasic
\nvital nature.  But, all the same, the Ashram is a first form which our
\neffort has taken, a field in which the preparatory work has to be done. 
\nThe Mother has to maintain it and for that all this order and organisation has
\nto be there and it cannot be done without rules and discipline.  Discipline
\nis even necessary for the overcoming of the ego and the mental preferences and
\nthe rajasic vital nature, as a help to it at any rate.  If these were
\novercome outward rules etc. would be less necessary;  spontaneous
\nagreement, unity, harmony and spontaneous right action might take its place. 
\nBut while the present state of things exists, by the abandonment or leaving out
\nof discipline except such as people choose or not choose to impose upon
\nthemselves, the result would be failure and disaster …. On that principle
\nthe work also would have gone to pot, there would have been nothing but strife,
\nassertion by each worker of his own idea and self-will and constant clashes; 
\neven as it is, that has abounded and it is only the Mother’s authority, the
\nframe of work she has given and her skill in getting incompatibilities to act
\ntogether that has kept things going.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not find that Mother is a rigid disciplinarian.  On the contrary, I
\nhave seen with what a constant leniency, tolerant patience and kindness she has
\nmet the huge mass of indiscipline, disobedience, self-assertion, revolt that has
\nsurrounded her, even revolt to her very face and violent letters overwhelming
\nher with the worst kind of vituperation.  A rigid disciplinarian would not<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 229<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

have treated these things like that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not know what ill-treatment visitors have received, apart from the
\ninsistence on rules of which you complain;  but it cannot be a general
\ncomplaint, otherwise the number of visitors would not be constantly increasing
\nnor would so many people want to come back again or even come every time or so
\nmany want to stay on if the Mother allowed them.  After all, they do not
\ncome here on the basis of a social occasion but for Darshan of those whom they
\nregard to be spiritually great or, in the case of constant visitors, for a share
\nin the life of the Ashram and for spiritual advantage, and for both of these
\nmotives one would expect them to submit willingly to the conditions imposed and
\nnot to mind a little inconvenience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As regards Golconde and its rules \u2014 they are not imposed elsewhere \u2014
\nthere is a reason for them and they are not imposed or nothing.  In
\nGolconde Mother has worked out her own idea through Raymond, Sammer and others. 
\nFirst, Mother believes in beauty as a part of spirituality and divine living;
\nsecondly, she believes that physical things have the Divine Consciousness
\nunderlying them as much as living things;  and thirdly that they have an
\nindividuality of their own and ought to be properly treated, used in the right
\nway, not misused or improperly handled or hurt or neglected so that they perish
\nsoon and lose their full beauty or <\/i>value;  she feels the
\nconsciousness in them and is so much in sympathy with them that what in other
\nhands may be spoilt or wasted in a short time last with her for years or
\ndecades.  It is on this basis that she planned the Golconde.  First,
\nshe wanted a high architectural beauty, and in this she succeeded \u2014 architects
\nand people with architectural knowledge have admired it with enthusiasm as a
\nremarkable achievement;  one spoke of it as the finest building of its kind
\nhe had seen, with no equal in all Europe or America;  and a French
\narchitect, pupil of a great master, said it executed superbly the idea which his
\nmaster had been seeking for but failed to realise;  but also she wanted all
\nthe objects in it the rooms, the fitting, the furniture to be individually
\nartistic and to form a harmonious whole.  This, too, was done with great
\ncare.  Moreover, each thing was arranged to have its own use for each thing
\nthere was a place, and there should be no mixing<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 230<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

up, or confused or wrong use.  But all this had to be kept up and
\ncarried out in practice;  for it was easy for people living there to create
\na complete confusion and misuse and to bring everything to disorder and
\nruination in a short time.  That was why the rules were made and for no
\nother purpose.  The Mother hoped that if right people were accommodated
\nthere or others trained to a less rough and ready living than is common, her
\nidea could be preserved and the wasting of all the labour and expense avoided.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the crisis of accommodation came and we were forced to house
\npeople in Golconde who could not be accommodated elsewhere and a careful choice
\ncould not be made.  So, often there was damage and misuse and the Mother
\nhad to spend 200\/300 Rupees after Darshan to repair things and restore what had
\nbeen realised.  Y has taken the responsibility of the house and of keeping
\nthings right as much as possible.  That was why she interfered in the
\nhand-bag affair \u2014 it was as much a tragedy for the table as for the doctor,
\nfor it got scratched and spoiled by the hand-bag \u2014 and tried to keep both the
\nbag and shaving utensils in the places that had been assigned for them.  If
\nI had been in the doctor’s place, I would have been grateful to her for her care
\nand solicitude instead of being upset by what ought to have been for him
\ntrifles, although, because of her responsibility, they had for her their
\nimportance.  Anyhow, this is the rationale for the rules and they do not
\nseem to me to be meaningless regulation and discipline.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, about financial arrangements.  It has been an arduous and
\ntrying work for the Mother and myself to keep up this Ashram, with its
\never-increasing numbers, to make both ends meet and at times to prevent deficit
\nbudgets and their results;  specially in this war time, when the expenses
\nhave climbed to a dizzy and fantastic height, only one accustomed to these
\nthings or who had similar responsibilities can understand what we have gone
\nthrough.  Carrying on anything of this magnitude without any settled income
\ncould not have been done if there had not been the working of a divine Force. 
\nWorks of charity are not part of our work, there are other people who can see to
\nthat.  We have to spend all on the work we have taken in hand and what we
\nget is nothing compared to what is needed.  We cannot undertake<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 231<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

things that would bring in money in the ordinary ways.  We have to use
\nwhatever means are possible.  There is no general rule that spiritual men
\nmust do works of charity or they should receive and care for whatever visitors
\ncome or house and feed them.  If we do it, it is because it has become part
\nof our work.  The Mother charges visitors for accommodation and food
\nbecause she has expenses to meet and cannot make money out of air;  she
\ncharges in fact less than her expense.  It is quite natural that she should
\nnot like people to take advantage of her and allow those who try to take meals
\nin the Dining Room under false pretences;  even if they are a few at first,
\nyet if this were allowed, a few would soon become a legion.  As for people
\nbeing allowed to come in freely for Darshan without permission, which would soon
\nconvert me into a thing for show and an object of curiosity, often critical or
\nhostile curiosity, it is I who would be the first to cry  "stop".<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have tried to explain our standpoint and have gone to some length to do it. 
\nWhether it is agreed with or not, at any rate it is a standpoint and I think a
\nrational one.  I am writing only on the surface and I do not speak of what
\nis behind or from the Yogic standpoint, the standpoint of the Yogic
\nconsciousness from which we act;  that would be more difficult to express. 
\nThis is merely for intellectual satisfaction and there there is always room for
\ndispute.<\/p>\n

25-2-1945<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is very true that physical things have a consciousness within them which
\nfeels and responds to care and is sensitive to careless touch and rough
\nhandling.  To know or feel that and learn to be careful of them is a great
\nprogress of consciousness.  It is always so that the Mother has felt and
\ndealt with physical things and they remain with her much longer and in a better
\ncondition than with others and give their full use.<\/p>\n

16-4-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 232<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

The Mother has never objected to people who  "cannot pay" 
\nresiding or visiting the Ashram without paying;  she expects payment only
\nfrom visitors who can pay.  She did object strongly to the action of some
\nrich visitors  (on one occasion)  who came here, spent money lavishly
\non purchases etc.  and went off without giving anything to the Ashram or
\neven the smallest offering to the Mother \u2014 that is all.<\/p>\n

21-10-1943<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTWO 
\nFOUNDATIONS  OF  THE  ASHRAM’S  MATERIAL  LIFE<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What your vital being seems to have kept all along is the 
\n"bargain"  or the  "mess"  attitude in these
\nmatters.  One gives some kind of commodity which he calls devotion or
\nsurrender and in return the Mother is under obligation to supply satisfaction
\nfor all demands and desires spiritual, mental, vital and physical, and, if she
\nfalls short in her task, she has broken her contract.  The Ashram is a sort
\nof communal hotel or mess, the Mother is the hotel-keeper or mess-manager. 
\nOne gives what one can or chooses to give, or it may be nothing at all except
\nthe aforesaid commodity;  in return the palate, the stomach and all the
\nphysical demands have to be satisfied to the full;  if not, one has every
\nright to keep one’s money and to abuse the defaulting hotel-keeper or
\nmess-manager.  This attitude has nothing whatever to do with Sadhana or
\nYoga and I absolutely repudiate the right of anyone to impose it as a basis for
\nmy work or for the life of the Ashram.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are only two possible foundations for the material life here.  One
\nis that one is a member of an Ashram founded on the principle of self-giving and
\nsurrender.  One belongs to the Divine and all one has belongs to the
\nDivine;  in giving one gives not what is one’s own but what already belongs
\nto the Divine.  There is no question of payment or return, no bargain, no
\nroom for demand and desire.  The Mother is in sole charge and arranges
\nthings as best they can be arranged within the means at her disposal and the
\ncapacities of her instruments.  She is under no obligation to act according
\nto the mental standards or vital<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page -233<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

desires and claims of the Sadhaks;  she is not obliged to use a
\ndemocratic equality in her dealings with them. She is free to deal with
\neach according to what she sees to be his true need or what is best for him in
\nhis spiritual progress.  No one can be her judge or impose on her his own
\nrule and standard;  she alone can make rules, and she can depart from them
\ntoo if she thinks fit, but no one can demand that she shall do so. 
\nPersonal demands and desires cannot be imposed on her.  If anyone has what
\nhe finds to be a real need or a suggestion to make which is within the province
\nassigned to him, he can do so;  but if she gives no sanction, he must
\nremain satisfied and drop the matter.  This is the spiritual discipline of
\nwhich the one who represents or embodies the Divine Truth is the centre. 
\nEither she is that and all this is the plain common sense of the matter; 
\nor she is not and then no one need stay here.  Each can go his own way and
\nthere is no Ashram and no Yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If on the other hand one is not ready to be a member of the Ashram or bear
\nthe discipline and is still admitted to some place in the Yoga, he remains apart
\nand meets his own expenses.  There is no discipline for him on the material
\nplane, except the rules necessary for the safety of the work;  there is no
\nmaterial responsibility for the Mother.<\/p>\n

11-4-1930<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  PRINCIPLE  OF  ACTION  AND  WASTE<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I did not consider it necessary to say anything about the question of waste
\nbeyond assuring you that the undertaking of useless and unnecessary work only in
\norder to keep the men employed was no part of the Mother’s principle of action. 
\nThe Mother did not know to what pipe you referred and had no time or inclination
\nto make enquiries about it.  It is quite true that, so long at least as the
\nSadhaks are not Siddha Yogis, self-control is the law;  they have to learn
\nto refrain from indulgence of excess in any direction \u2014 the provision made for
\nthem being ample for a Sadhak and much more than is allowed elsewhere \u2014 and
\nfrom negligence, greed or the pursuit of individual fancy.  When they<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 234<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

do these things, the Mother does not intervene at every moment to check them;
\na standard has been set, they have been warned against waste, a framework has
\nbeen created, for the rest they are expected to learn and grow out of their
\nweaknesses by their own consciousness and will with the Mother’s inner force to
\naid them.  In the organisation of work there was formerly a formidable
\nwaste due to the workers and Sadhaks following their own fancy almost entirely
\nwithout respect for the Mother’s will;  that was largely checked by
\nreorganisation.  But waste to a certain extent continues and is almost
\ninevitable so long as the Sadhaks and workers are imperfect in their will and
\nconsciousness, do not follow in spirit or detail the Mother’s recommendations or
\nthink themselves wiser than herself and make undue room for their 
\n"independent"  ideas.  Here too the Mother does not always
\ninsist, she watches and observes, intervenes outwardly more than in the
\nindividual lives of the Sadhaks, but still leaves room for them to grow by
\nconsciousness and experience and the lesson of their own mistakes and often
\nemploys an inner in preference to an outer pressure.  In these matters she
\nmust exercise her own judgment and vision and there is no use in anybody
\noffering his approval or censure \u2014 for she works from a different centre of
\nvision than theirs and they have not a superior light by which they can judge or
\nguide her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As regards waste, I must point out that in our view free expenditure is not
\nalways waste, to have a higher standard than is current in this very tamasic and
\nbackward place is not necessarily waste.  In matters of building and
\nmaintenance of buildings as in others of the same order the Mother has from the
\nbeginning set up a standard which is not that current here \u2014 the usual system
\nbeing to use the cheapest possible materials, the cheapest labour and to
\ndisregard appearance, allowing things to go shabby or making only patchwork to
\nkeep them up.  I suppose  "thrifty"  minds would
\nconsider the local principle to be sound and a higher standard to be waste. 
\nIf the higher standard has been kept, it is not for the glory of anyone, the
\nAshram or the Mother \u2014 the principle of glory being foreign to Yoga, but from
\nanother point of view which is not mental and can only be fully appreciated when
\nthe consciousness is capable of understanding the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 235 <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

vision of things with which the Mother started her work.  I do not
\nconsider it useful to write about that now, \u2014 the general misunderstanding in
\nthese subjects can only disappear when the Sadhaks have got rid of the ordinary
\nmind and vital and are able to look at things from the same vision level as that
\nfrom which the conception of the Yoga and the work took its rise….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the same reason I refuse to answer criticisms, attacks and questionings
\ndirected against the Mother. Whether in work or in Yoga, the Mother acts
\nnot from the mind or from the level of consciousness from which these criticisms
\narise but from quite another vision and consciousness.  It is perfectly
\nuseless therefore and it is inconsistent with the position she ought to occupy
\nto accept the ordinary mind and consciousness as judge and tribunal and allow
\nher to appear before it and defend her.  Such a procedure is itself
\nillogical and inconsequent and can lead nowhere;  it can only create or
\nprolong a false atmosphere wholly inimical to success in the Sadhana.  For
\nthat reason if these doubts are raised, I no longer answer them or answer in
\nsuch a way as to discourage a repetition of any such challenge.  If people
\nwant to understand why the Mother does things, let them get into the same inner
\nconsciousness from which she sees and acts.  As to what she is, that also
\ncan only be seen either with the eye of  faith or of a deeper vision. 
\nThat too is the reason why we keep here people who have not yet acquired the
\nnecessary faith or vision;  we leave them to acquire it from within as they
\nwill do if their will of Sadhana is sincere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have written at length on this question once for all;  I do not
\npropose to repeat it.  People no longer expect it from me; even those who
\ndid expect it formerly have ceased to do so.  On other questions, so far as
\nthey are not connected or mixed up with these things, I may answer hereafter as
\nI find time.         <\/p>\n

26-12-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Mother does not provide the Sadhaks with comforts because she thinks that
\nthe desires, fancies, likings, preferences should be satisfied \u2014 in Yoga
\npeople have to overcome these things.  In<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 236<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

any other Ashram they would not get one tenth of what they get here, they
\nwould have to put up with all possible discomforts, privations, hard and
\nrigorous austerities, and if they complained, they would be told they were not
\nfit for Yoga.  If there is a different rule here, it is not because the
\ndesires have to be indulged, but because they have to be overcome in the
\npresence of the objects of desire and not in their absence.  The first rule
\nof Yoga is that the Sadhak must be content with what comes to him, much or
\nlittle;  if things are there, he must be able to use them without
\nattachment or desire;  if they are not he must be indifferent to their
\nabsence.<\/p>\n

7-1-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDEMAND 
\nAND  DESIRE<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWhat sort of things can come under the category of  "demand and
\ndesire" ?  What is the exact form of  "demand and
\ndesire" ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  There are no special sort of things \u2014 demand and desire can
\ncover all things whatsoever \u2014 they are subjective, not objective and have no
\nspecial form.  Demand is when you claim something to get or possess, desire
\nis a general term.  If one expects that the Mother shall smile at him at
\nthe Pranam and feels wronged if one does not get it, that is a demand.  If
\none wants it and grieves at not getting it, but without revolt or sense of an
\nunjust deprivation that shows desire.  If one feels joy at her smile, but
\nremains calm in its absence knowing that all the Mother does is good, then there
\nis no demand or desire.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nYou have said about the Divine:  "He may give all that is truly needed
\n\u2014 but people usually interpret this idea in the sense that He gives all that
\nthey think or feel they need.  He may do that \u2014 but also He may
\nnot".  But it is said that He supplies all our psychic needs.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 237<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

A:<\/b>  In the end, yes;  but here too people expect Him to
\nsupply them constantly, which does not always happen.<\/p>\n

30-1-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIf our desires are to be rejected, why does Mother<\/i>
\nsometimes satisfy them ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is you who have to get rid of them.  If the Mother
\ndoes not satisfy at all and the Sadhak keeps them, they will get stronger by
\nsuggestion from outside.  Each one has to deal with them from within.<\/p>\n

4-9-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nX told me that if anything comes to us without our asking for it we should not
\nreject it.  For example, someone offers us sweetmeat:  we may accept
\nit.  But we should not be depressed when things desired by us are not given
\nto us.  What do you say about that ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  How can such a rule stand ?  Supposing someone comes and
\noffers you meat or wine, can you accept it ? Obviously not.  A
\nhundred other instances could be given where the rule would not stand. 
\nWhat the Mother gives or allows you, you can take.<\/p>\n

24-3-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  SOLE  AUTHORITY  OVER  THE  ASHRAM  WORK<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If anybody in the Ashram tries to establish a supremacy or dominating
\ninfluence over others, he is in the wrong.  For it is bound to be a wrong
\nvital influence and come in the way of the Mother’s work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All the work should be done under the Mother’s sole authority.  All must
\nbe arranged according to her free decision.  She<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 238<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

must be free to use the capacities of each separately or together according
\nto what is best for the work and best for the worker.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

None should regard or treat another member of the Ashram as his subordinate. 
\nIf he is in charge, he should regard the others as his associates and helpers in
\nthe work, and he should not try to dominate or impose on them his own ideas and
\npersonal fancies, but only see to the execution of the will of the Mother. 
\nNone should regard himself as a subordinate, even if he has <\/b>to carry out
\ninstructions given through another <\/b>or to <\/b>execute under supervision
\nthe work he has to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All should try to work in harmony, thinking only of how best to make the work
\na success;  personal feelings should not be allowed to interfere, for this
\nis a most frequent cause of disturbance in the work, failure or disorder.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you keep this truth of the work in mind and always abide by it,
\ndifficulties are likely to disappear;  for others will be influenced by the
\nrightness of your attitude and work smoothly with you or, if through any
\nweakness or perversity in them, they create difficulties, the effects will fall
\nback on them and you will feel no disturbance or trouble.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

There is one thing everybody should remember that everything should be done
\nfrom the point of view of Yoga, of  Sadhana, of growing into a divine life
\nin the Mother’s consciousness.  To insist upon one’s own mind and its
\nideas, to allow oneself to be governed by one’s own vital feelings and reactions
\nshould not be the rule of life here.  One has to stand back from these, to
\nbe detached, to get in their place the true knowledge from above, the true
\nfeelings from the psychic within.  This cannot be done if the mind and
\nvital do not surrender, if they do not renounce their attachment to their own
\nignorance which they call truth, right, justice.  All the trouble rises
\nfrom that; if that were overcome, the true basis of life, of work, of harmony of
\nall in the union with the Divine would more and more replace the trouble and
\ndifficulty of the present.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 239<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

In your letter to the Mother I note that you profess to be writing a
\nconfession, but the tone of it is rather a justification of your faultless self
\naccompanied by an accusation against the Mother of  favouritism, bad
\ntemper, and injustice.  I observe also that your statement of facts is
\nincorrect and as far as it concerns the Mother, grotesque.  You lay stress
\ntoo on a point in which you can justify yourself, and you ignore all the rest in
\nwhich you were in fault.  I will assume, however, that all this was
\nunintentional and that, in writing such a letter, you were unconscious of the
\nmovements of your vital being which inspired its spirit and tone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I would suggest that in your relations with others, \u2014 which seem always to
\nhave been full of disharmony, \u2014 when incidents occur, it would be much better
\nfor you not to take the standpoint that you are all in the right and they are
\nall in the wrong.  It would be wiser to be fair and just in reflection,
\nseeing where you have gone astray, and even laying stress on your own fault and
\nnot on theirs.  This would probably lead to more harmony in your relations
\nwith others;  at any rate, it would be more conducive to your inner
\nprogress, which is more important than to be the top-dog in a quarrel. Neither
\nis it well to cherish a spirit of self-justification and self-righteousness and
\na wish to conceal either from yourself or from the Mother your faults or your
\nerrors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for your doubts about the Mother, they are not likely to disappear so long
\nas you think you can read the Mother’s mind by the light of your own and pass
\nyour mental judgments on her and her action from those erroneous data.  Nor
\ncan they easily disappear if your faith breaks down every time that she does
\nsomething which your limited intelligence cannot understand or which is
\ndispleasing to the feelings and demands of your vital nature.  If you do
\nnot believe that she has a consciousness greater and wider than yours and not
\nmeasurable by ordinary standards and judgments, at the very least a Yogic
\nconsciousness, I do not see on what ground you are practising Yoga here under
\nher guidance.  Those who constantly doubt and criticise and blame or
\nattribute her actions to the most common and vulgar human feelings and motives
\nand yet pretend to accept her or to accept myself and my Yoga, are guilty of a
\nstupid and irrational inconsequence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page -240<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

As for understanding, that is another matter.  I would suggest that you
\nmust grow out of the ordinary mind and become conscious with the true
\nconsciousness before you can hope to do it.  And for that faith and
\nsurrender and fidelity and openness are conditions of some importance.<\/p>\n

6-11-1929<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

How can you do like the Mother or do the work that she can do ?  That is
\nthe ambition and vanity coming up.<\/p>\n

5-11-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

There is no reason for your seeing the Mother nor is this the time for it. 
\nNor is there any room for discussion in this matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are two things that must be clearly understood.  The work here is
\nthe Mother’s and she has the right to give her orders in whatever way she
\npleases and they must be obeyed.  No one can be allowed to flout her
\norders, however conveyed, or insist on his own ideas, will or fancies.  If
\nyou are prepared to respect and obey her orders without making conditions, you
\ncan be allowed to continue the work, otherwise you must discontinue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Secondly, all violence must stop.  If you want to remain in the Ashram,
\nthis kind of conduct must cease.<\/p>\n

18-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  WORK  IN  THE  VITAL  PLANE<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your dream was evidently a symbolic representation of some part of the vital
\nplane  (corresponding to a part of human nature also)  in which the
\nMother had made her house  (established something of her consciousness). The village represented some formation of human life in which there is outward
\nbeauty and harmony as in certain parts of European life, but no touch of the
\nDivine.  The jungle represented the surroundings in which this formation<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 241<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

has been made \u2014 it is made in the midst of a vital nature which is wild and
\nsavage and full of dangerous things \u2014 the village, the formation is therefore
\nsomething quite insecure and artificial.  That is indeed the nature of much
\nof human civilisation, an artificial construction in the midst of a dangerously
\nunregenerated vital nature, and it can collapse at any moment.  The sea is
\nthe vital consciousness itself, for water is often a symbol of the vital. The footpath seems to indicate something the Mother wants the Sadhaks to build,
\nto form in that part of the vital, but which is not easy to make and only can be
\nmade by constant perseverance which will finally prevail against the instability
\nof the vital.  Vital dreams of this kind are often very interesting and
\ninstructive if one can get the clue to their symbols, but to get the clue is not
\nalways easy.<\/p>\n

13-2-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

My description of the vital applied to that part of it which you saw in dream
\n\u2014 it does not describe the vital in the Ashram but of certain sides of
\nordinary human existence.  Nevertheless the human vital everywhere, in the
\nAshram also, is full of unruly and violent forces \u2014 anger, pride, jealousy,
\ndesire to dominate, selfishness, insistence on one’s own will, ideas,
\npreferences, indiscipline \u2014 and it is these things that are the cause of the
\ndisorder and difficulty in the Ashram work.  The rule established in order
\nto control or combat these tendencies is that the Mother’s will and the rule and
\ndiscipline established by her shall be followed and not each worker be led by
\nhis own ego.  But there are many who insist on their own ego and resent
\ndiscipline.  They are ready to follow the Mother’s will and rule and
\ndiscipline only in name and so far as it agrees with their own ideas and
\npreferences.  There is no cure for this except by an inner change.  In
\noutside life discipline is enforced because refusal of discipline is visited by
\nsevere penalties or else results in so much discomfort of various kinds that the
\nindisciplined man has either to submit or to go.  But here in the Ashram it
\nis not possible to enforce the rule in this way.  An inner obedience has to
\nbe given as the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page -242<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

source of the outer obedience.  The only remedy is the descent into the
\nconsciousness of that golden lotus which you saw in your vision.  Everyone
\nin whom it is established or even who feels its influence will become a centre
\nof the true consciousness and true action which will change life in the Ashram.<\/p>\n

14-2-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

NECESSITY 
\nOF  DEPARTMENTAL  HEADS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not physically possible for the Mother to give the work direct to each
\nworker and exercise a direct control, so that physically as well as inwardly he
\nmay offer it to her.  For every department there must be a head who
\nconsults her in all important matters and reports everything to her, but in
\nminor matters he need not always come for a previous decision \u2014 that is not
\npossible.  X is there in the Building Department as the head because he is
\na qualified engineer.  That is a necessity of outward organisation which is
\nunavoidable here as elsewhere and has to be accepted if the work is to be done. 
\nBut it does not mean that X or any other head is to be considered as a superior
\nperson or .that one has to surrender to his ego.  One has to get rid of his
\nown ego as far as possible and regard the work done under whatever conditions as
\nan offering to the Mother.<\/p>\n

20-8-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is quite impossible for the Mother to see to every detail of the
\norganisation of the Ashram in person;  even as it is, she has no time free
\nat all.  It is understood that you can have …, but it is with those who
\nhave charge that you must insist on the execution of any arrangement.<\/p>\n

20-7-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It was the Mother who selected the heads  [of departments]  for her
\npurpose in order to organise the whole;  all the lines of the work, all the
\ndetails were arranged by her and the heads trained<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 243<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

to observe her methods and it was only afterwards that she stepped back and
\nlet the whole thing go on on her lines but with a watchful eye always.  The
\nheads are carrying out her policy and instructions and report everything to her
\nand she often modifies what they do when she thinks fit.  Their action is
\nnot perfect, because they themselves are not yet perfect and they are also
\nhampered by the ego of the workers and the Sadhaks.  But nothing can be
\nperfect so long as the Sadhaks and workers do not come to the realisation that
\nthey are not here for their ego and self-indulgence of their vital and physical
\ndemands but for a high and exacting Yoga of which the first aim is the
\ndestruction of desire and the substitution for it of the Divine Truth and the
\nDivine Will.<\/p>\n

9-1-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

What I meant in my letter was that the Mother does not usually think about
\nthese things herself, take the initiative and direct each one in each instance
\nwhat they shall do or how, unless there is some special occasion for doing so. 
\nThis she does not do, in fact, in any department of work.  She keeps her
\neye generally on the work, sanctions or corrects or refuses sanction, intervenes
\nwhen she thinks necessary.  It is only a few matters in which she takes the
\ninitiative, plans and designs, gives special and detailed orders.  In the
\nline of embroidery, X refers to her anything necessary or any of the workers
\nundertakes something and informs the Mother that she would like to do something
\nfor her, handkerchief, apron, cover or sari.  The Mother approves or
\ndisapproves what is suggested or suggests something herself or changes what is
\nproposed.  Work done in this way is as much work done according to the
\nMother’s will as anything initiated, thought of and planned in whole and detail
\nby her alone.  I do not quite understand why you should consider that this
\nway of work implies an absence of unity with the Mother’s will or of surrender
\non your part.  It is the offering within you that is important and brings
\nin time the full completeness of surrender.<\/p>\n

17-9-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 244<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

I do not quite understand on what you want the anumati.<\/i>  If it is
\nabout embroidery, I have said that to follow the existing arrangement, viz.,
\nwhen you have the will or the inspiration to do some work of embroidery, then to
\nput it before the Mother and take her sanction or ask for her decision, is quite
\na right way to work according to the Mother’s will;  it is not at all
\ninconsistent with surrender.  But if you prefer to leave everything to the
\nMother and not suggest or propose anything yourself, you can do that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother only asked me to write to you about the way things are usually done,
\nbecause as she is not in the habit of thinking herself about these things, it is
\nnot as easy for her to remember and think out something as to decide upon
\nsuggestions put before her.<\/p>\n

18-9-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nNEED 
\nOF  LEARNING  SUBORDINATION  AND  CO-OPERATION<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother has her own reasons for her decisions;  she has to look at
\nthe work as a whole without regard to one department or branch alone and with a
\nview to the necessities of the work and the management.  Whatever work is
\ndone here, one has always to learn to subordinate or put aside one’s own ideas
\nand preferences about things concerning it and work for the best under the
\nconditions and decisions laid down by her.  This is one of the main
\ndifficulties throughout the Ashram, as each worker wants to do according to his
\nown ideas, on his own lines according to what he thinks to be the right or
\nconvenient thing and expects that to be sanctioned.  It is one of the
\nprincipal reasons of difficulty, clash or disorder in the work, creating
\nconflict between the workers themselves, conflict between the workers and the
\nheads of departments, conflict between the idea of the Sadhaks and the will of
\nthe Mother.  Harmony can only exist if all accept the will of the Mother
\nwithout grudge and personal reaction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Independent work does not exist in the Ashram.  All is organised and
\ninterrelated, neither the heads of departments<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 245<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

nor the workers are independent.  <\/b>To learn subordination and
\nco-operation is necessary for all collective work;  without it there will
\nbe chaos.<\/p>\n

10-3-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is impossible for the Mother to arrange the work according to personal
\nconsiderations as then all work would become impossible.<\/p>\n

25-7-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

IMPORTANT 
\nPOINTS  FOR  WORKING  IN  THE  RIGHT  SPIRIT<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are certain things that A must fix in his mind and feel and act in
\ntheir spirit, if he is to get rid of his depression and unrest and feel happy
\nand at home.  You will explain clearly to him what I write here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.<\/b>  He is not here as B’s nephew, but as a child of the Mother.<\/p>\n

2.  <\/b>He is not here under the care, guardianship and control of B,<\/b>
\nbut under the Mother’s control and care and he owes allegiance to her alone.<\/p>\n

3.<\/b>  The work given to him in the stores is the Mother’s work and
\nnot B’s;  he must do it with that idea, as the Mother’s work, and no other.<\/p>\n

4.<\/b>  B is at the head of the stores, garden, granary and receives
\nhis directions from the Mother or reports his arrangements to her for approval
\n\u2014just as C in the B.D.  (Building
\nDepartment<\/span>) 
\n<\/span>or D in the Dining Room or E or F in their departments.  Others in
\nthese departments are supposed to receive their directions from the head and act
\nin accordance.  But this is because it is necessary for the discipline and
\ngood order of the work;  it does not mean that the work is B’s or the
\nbuilding work is C’s or the Dining Room work is D’s \u2014 all is the Mother’s work
\nand must be done by each, by the head as by the others, for her.  It would
\nnot be possible to<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 246<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

get the work done if each and every worker insisted on being independent and
\ndirectly responsible to her or on doing things in his own way;  there is
\ntoo much of this spirit and it is the cause of much confusion and disorder. The Mother cannot see to the whole work herself physically and give orders
\ndirect to each worker;  therefore the arrangement made is indispensable. 
\nOn the other hand, the head of a department is also supposed to act according to
\nthe Mother’s directions \u2014 or in their spirit when he is left free \u2014 and not
\notherwise;  if he does according to his mere fancy or obeys his own
\npersonal likes and dislikes or misuses his trust for his personal satisfaction
\nor convenience, he is answerable for any failure in the work that may result or
\nwrong spirit or clash or confusion or false atmosphere.<\/p>\n

5.<\/b>  Any work done personally for B or another  (not for the
\nAshram)  is not part of the Mother’s work and the Mother has nothing to do
\nwith that;  if such work is asked, A may do it if he likes or not do it if
\nhe thinks it improper.<\/p>\n

6.<\/b>  A has been given one work at least by the Mother direct \u2014
\nthat is the cleaning of the kitchen vessels.  Let him do it according to
\nthe Mother’s directions and with scrupulousness and perfection;  it will be
\nan opportunity for him to show what he can do and the rest can be seen to
\nhereafter.<\/p>\n

7.  <\/b>He is not bound to accept food from G and B or presents etc.; 
\nif he does not like it, why does he receive these things ?  He is perfectly
\nfree to refuse.  His staying here and everything else does not depend on B,
\nbut on the Mother alone \u2014 so he has no reason to fear.<\/p>\n

8.<\/b>  Finally, he should clear his vital of restlessness and
\ndesires \u2014 for that in him as in everybody is the root cause of depression and,
\nif he were elsewhere and under other circumstances, the depression would still
\ncome because the root cause would still be there.  Here if he turns
\nentirely to the Mother, opens to her and works and lives turning towards her, he
\nwill get release and happiness and grow into light and peace and become in all
\nhis being a child of the Divine.<\/p>\n

19-3-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 247<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It is very good that you have spoken and cleared up things.  Certainly,
\nit is quite true that the inner being should be turned to the Mother and to her
\nalone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the work, the inner development, psychic and spiritual, is surely of
\nthe first importance and work merely as work is something quite minor.  But
\nwork done as an offering to the Mother becomes itself a part of Sadhana and a
\nmeans and a part of the inner development.  That you will see more as the
\npsychic grows within you.  Apart from that the work is important because
\nnecessary to the maintenance of the Ashram, which is the frame of the Mother’s
\naction here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A is not wrong in giving importance to persons.  It is quite true that
\nthe work would go on if the persons now in charge were not there and others were
\nin their place, but in most cases it would go on badly or at least worse than
\nnow and there would be no certainty that those others would be adequate
\ninstruments of the Mother’s will.  For the work of the charge of
\ndepartments for instance done by men like A, B, C, there is needed a combination
\nof qualities, a special capacity, a personality and the power of control called
\norganisation and above all fidelity and obedience to the Mother’s will, the
\nfaith in her perceptions and the desire to carry them out.  It is not many
\nin the Ashram who have that combination.  Before the Mother took up
\ndirectly through A the work, now concentrated in Aroum\u00e9 and the granaries, all
\nwas confusion, disorder, waste, self-indulgence, disregard of the Mother’s will. 
\nNow though things are far from perfect, because the workers are not at all
\nperfect, still all that is changed.  In that change your presence in the
\nkitchen and D’s in the granary has counted for much;  without you there it
\nwould have been far more difficult to realise the organisation of things the
\nMother wanted and in these two parts of the work it might even have been
\nimpossible.  The Divine Will is there but it works through persons and
\nthere is a great difference between one instrument and another \u2014 that is why
\nthe person can be of so much importance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Certainly, I cannot say that the ideas you put forward in this<\/p>\n

Page – 248<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

letter are true.  They are errors of the physical mind which seldom gets
\nhold of the real truth of things.  It is not a fact that the Mother got
\ndispleased and frowned on you every time you wrote about A.  That is the
\nkind of thing the Sadhaks are always thinking and saying about the Mother, that
\nshe is frowning on them in displeasure for this reason or smiling on them for
\nthat, and the reasons they assign are those suggested by their own physical
\nminds, but have nothing to do with anything in the consciousness of the Mother
\nwhich is not in a constant bubbling of human pleasure and displeasure.  I
\nhave tried to explain that to the Sadhaks again and again but they prefer to
\nbelieve that their own minds are infallible and that what I say is untrue. 
\nSo I will only say that your idea is mistaken.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is also not a fact that you cannot do Sadhana, for you were doing it for a
\ntime and doing it very well.  But your physical mind came across and took
\nyou outside and is trying to keep you outside instead of allowing you to go and
\nremain within.  That is why I have been trying to persuade you to go within
\nand not live in these outside ideas and reactions of the physical being which
\nprevent Sadhana and only give trouble.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not a fact that the Mother wants you to be a puppet of A.  As
\nregards the work it is not at all clear that all you think is right and all A
\ndoes is wrong.  You speak of your personality and what you seem to say is
\nthat A is in the work trying to impose his personality and that you want to
\naffirm yours against it and the Mother ought to have supported you, but she does
\nnot regard your personality at all but insists on your subordinating it to A’s. But the Mother does not at all look at it from that standpoint or regard
\nanybody’s personality.  In her view people’s personalities which 
\nmeans their ego ought to have no place in the work.  It is not your work or
\nA’s work, but the Divine work, the Mother’s work and it is not to be governed by
\nyour ideas or feelings or A’s ideas or feelings or B’s or C’s or D’s or anybody
\nelse’s, but by the vision, perception and will of the Mother which does not
\nexpress any human personality  (if it did there would be no justification
\nfor the existence of this Ashram)  but proceeds from a deeper
\nconsciousness.  It has been the great obstacle to the full success and
\nharmony of the work that everybody almost has had<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 249<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

this idea of his own personality, ideas, feelings etc.  and more or less
\ntried to insist on them \u2014 this has been the cause of most of the difficulties
\nand of all the disharmony and quarrel.  We want all this to stop; for when
\nit stops altogether then there will be some possibility of the differences and
\nturmoil ceasing and the work will better serve the purpose for which the Mother
\ncreated it.  That is why I have been trying to explain to you about the
\nnecessity of subordinating the personality and doing the work for the Divine,
\nnot insisting on one’s own personality, ego, ideas, feelings as the important
\nthing.  There remains the question what is to be the relation between A and
\nyourself in the work \u2014 this, as there is no more time today, I will write in
\nanother letter.<\/p>\n

4-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S.  When I say that you are mistaken or do not agree with you, you
\nseem to think my letters show displeasure and that my disagreeing with you means
\nthat I am vexed with you for writing your views; but that is not so. If I
\nanswer what you write, it must be to tell you what seems to myself and to the
\nMother the true way of seeing things and acting.  That does not imply any
\ndispleasure.
\n                                                                                                 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

I do not think I said anywhere you had done anything contrary to A’s
\ninstructions in your work.  I was speaking of what you had written in
\ncriticism of his way of doing things, and especially I wanted to remove your
\nidea that the necessity of acting under his instructions meant a disregard of
\nyour personality or a desire on the Mother’s part to make you a puppet of A. 
\nWhere there is a big work with several people working together for a purpose
\nwhich is common to all and not personal to any, it cannot be done unless there
\nis a fixed arrangement involving subordination and discipline in each worker. 
\nThat is so everywhere, not here alone.  A has to act under the Mother,
\ncarry out her instructions, work according to ideas she has given him.  She
\nhas laid down the lines on which he must work, and whatever he does must be on
\nthose lines.  He is not free to change them or do anything contrary to the
\nideas given him.  Where he makes decisions in details<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 250<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

of the work, they must be in consonance with these lines and ideas.  He
\nhas to report to the Mother, to take her sanction and accept her decisions on
\nall matters.  If the Mother’s decisions are contrary to his proposals or
\ncontradict his own ideas of what should be done, he has still to accept them and
\ncarry them out.  The idea that the D.R. work is done according to his ideas
\nand not the Mother’s is an error.  But all that is simply the necessity of
\nthe work, it is not a disregard of A’s personality.  In the same way you
\nhave to carry out A’s instructions because he is charged by the Mother with the
\nwork and given authority by her.  All the D.R. workers are in the same
\nposition and are supposed to carry out his instructions and keep him informed,
\nbecause he is directly responsible to the Mother for everything and unless he
\nhas this authority he cannot carry out his responsibility.  In the same way
\nB has been asked to carry out your instructions in the kitchen because you are
\nat the head of the kitchen.  All that is not a disregard of your
\npersonality or of B’s personality or an assertion of A’s \u2014 it is the necessity
\nof the work which cannot be smoothly done if there is not this arrangement. 
\nThat is what I wanted you to understand so that you might see why the Mother
\nwanted you to do like that, not for any other reason, but for the necessity of
\nthe work and so that it may be smoothly done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the other hand as you are at the head of the work and the practical
\nworking is in your hands, you have every right to put any difficulties before A
\nand ask for a solution.  He on his side will often need information from
\nyou and may need also to know what you think should be done. But if even after
\nknowing, he thinks it right to follow his own idea of what should be done and
\nnot yours, you should not mind that.  He has the responsibility and must
\nact according to his lights subject to the sanction of the Mother.  Your
\nresponsibility finishes when you have informed him and told him your idea. 
\nIf his decision is wrong, it is for the Mother to change it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I hope I have made the conditions clear.  There is no necessity for you
\nto agree with A’s ideas nor outside the work are you under any obligation to do
\nwhat he wants you to do.  There you are quite free.  It is only in the
\nwork that there is this necessity in action \u2014 for the sake of the work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 251<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

I have written so much because you wanted to know what the Mother expected
\nyou to do.  It is not meant as a pressure upon you, but only to explain
\nthings and show you the way and the reason for which they have to be done.<\/p>\n

5-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

For the Sadhana, it is not true that some are here only because they give
\nmoney and others because they are workers only.  What is true is that there
\nare many who can prepare themselves only by work, their consciousness not being
\nyet ready for meditation of the more intense kind.  But even for those who
\ncan do intense meditation from the beginning, Sadhana by work is also necessary
\nin this Yoga.  One cannot arrive at its goal by meditation alone.  As
\nfor your own capacity, it was evident when for a fairly long period an active
\nSadhana was proceeding within you. Everybody’s capacity however is limited \u2014
\nlittle can be done by one’s own strength alone.  It is reliance on the
\nDivine Force, the Mother’s Force and Light and openness to it that is the real
\ncapacity.  This you had for a time, but as with many others it got clouded
\nover by the coming up of the physical nature in its full force.  This
\nclouding happens to almost everybody at that stage, but it need not be lasting. 
\nIf the physical consciousness resolves to open itself, then nothing more is
\nneeded for progress in the Sadhana.<\/p>\n

10-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

If you leave it to the Mother entirely, then what the Mother would want you
\nto do is to go on with the work as best you can without allowing yourself to be
\ndisturbed or troubled by these things which you enumerate in your letters,
\nwithout insisting on your own ideas or vital feelings.  That is indeed the
\nrule that all ought to follow, to do their work here as the Mother’s work, not
\ntheir own;  the worker must not insist on the work being done according to
\nhis own ideas;  for that is to treat it as his own work,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 252<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

not the Mother’s.  If there are inconveniences, troubles, things done
\nnot as he would like them to be, still he should go on doing his work as best he
\ncan under the circumstances.  That is a rule of the Sadhana, to remain
\nunconcerned by outward circumstances and quietly do what one has to do, what one
\ncan do, leaving the rest to the Mother.  It is not possible to have
\neverything perfect at present, even supposing that what one thinks to be right
\nis the best.  There is much in the Ashram and the work that is not as
\nperfect as the Mother would like it to be, but she knows that the perfection she
\nwould like is not yet possible because of circumstances and the imperfection of
\nher instruments;  she arranges all for the best according to what is now
\npossible.  The worker should do his work in this spirit according to the
\nMother’s arrangements and he should use his work as a means for growing
\nspiritually in devotion, obedience, self-offering to the Mother, not insisting
\non himself, his ideas, his feelings and preferences.  To be able to do that
\nmakes the consciousness ready for inner experience and progress in Sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have tried to explain what the Mother wants and why she wants it.  She
\nwants you to do her work quietly, taking all inconveniences, defects and
\ndifficulties quietly, and doing your best;  what X does or arranges should
\nnot disturb you \u2014 if he makes mistakes he is responsible for it to the Mother
\nand it is for the Mother to see what is to be done.  That is what she wants
\nfrom you \u2014 if you can do it, then things will go more smoothly and she will be
\nable more easily to lead things in the direction she wants.  It is also, as
\nI have tried to explain to you, the best thing for your own Sadhana.<\/p>\n

5-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 253<\/p>\n

\n


\nTHE  MOTHER  AND  THE  WORKING  OF 
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n


\n    THE  ASHRAM<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You must remember what I wrote to you before that the Mother wants you to
\nremain quiet and do your work as well as you can under the circumstances without
\nallowing yourself to be upset by these things.  Any improvement in the
\nconditions of life and work in the Ashram depends on each one trying to progress
\nand open within to the true consciousness, growing spiritually within and not minding about the faults or conduct of others.  No change can
\ncome by outer means;  for this reason the Mother has long ceased to
\nintervene outwardly in the clashes and disagreements between Sadhaks.  Let
\neach progress inwardly and then only the outer difficulties will disappear or
\nbecome negligible.<\/p>\n

21-4-1938<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is quite impossible to take you away from the kitchen and leave the others
\nto work in your place.  Such a solution would be very bad for you; 
\nfor it would mean your losing a work in which the Mother’s force has been long
\nwith you and sitting in your room with your thoughts which will not be helpful
\nor according to your active nature.  It would be very bad too for the
\nkitchen;  your place cannot be filled by anyone else there however well
\nthey may work in their own limits \u2014 none of them could be trusted with the
\nresponsibility the Mother has given to you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The difficulties you have are the difficulties which are met in each
\ndepartment and office of the Ashram.  It is due to the imperfections of the
\nSadhaks, to their vital nature.  You are mistaken in thinking that it is
\ndue to your presence there and that if you withdrew all would go smoothly. 
\nThe same state of things would go on among themselves, disagreements, quarrels,
\njealousies, hard words, harsh criticisms of each other.  A’s or any other’s
\ncomplaints against you are because you are firm and careful in your management;
\nthere are the same or similar complaints against B and others who discharge
\ntheir trust given to them by the Mother scrupulously and well.  There are
\nagainst them the same murmurs and jealousies as are directed against you in the
\nkitchen because of their position and their exercise of it.  It would be no
\nsolution for B or others trusted by the Mother to withdraw and leave the place
\nto those who would discharge the duty less scrupulously and less well.  <\/b>It
\nis the same with you and the kitchen work;  it is not the way out. 
\nThe way out can only come by a change in the character of the Sadhaks brought
\nabout by the process of the Sadhana.  Till then you should understand and
\nbe patient and not allow yourself to be disturbed by the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 254<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

wrong behaviour of the others, but remain quietly doing your best, sustaining
\nyourself on the trust and support given you by B and the Mother.  It is the
\nMother’s work and the Mother is there to support you in doing it; put your
\nreliance on that and do not allow the rest to affect you.<\/p>\n

14-7-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

I am rather surprised at your description of the people who show contempt
\ntowards you.  Leaving aside A who is not in question, there is nobody
\nworking with you who is far advanced in Sadhana or is regarded by the Mother as
\nmore specially her own than are others.  You are certainly as much her own
\nas anybody else in the kitchen; she has always owned you as her child and little
\nstar and what can anybody be more than that ?  I see no reason therefore
\nwhy you should care so much if anybody is not behaving well with you.  I
\nhave told you already that people in the Ashram \u2014 it is true even of those who
\nhave inner experiences and some opening \u2014 are not yet free in their outer
\nselves from ego and wrong ideas and wrong movements.  It is no use getting
\ndistressed or depressed by that.  What you must do is to be turned only to
\nthe Mother and relying on her go forward quietly with your work and Sadhana
\nuntil the time when the Sadhaks are sufficiently awakened and changed to feel
\nthe need of greater harmony and union with each other.  Let only your
\nspiritual change and progress matter for you and for that trust wholly in the
\nMother’s force and her grace which is with you \u2014 do not let things or people
\ndisturb you, \u2014 for compared with the truth within and the journey to the full
\nLight of the Mother’s Consciousness these things have no importance.<\/p>\n

6-12-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

I do not know why you suppose that the Mother was displeased with you for
\nyour letter.  I think my answer was quite kind and without any touch of
\ndispleasure in it.  I was silent about most<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 255<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

of what you had written, because when there are letters of this kind I take
\nit as an unburdening of the mind and always either remain silent in so far as it
\nconcerns others or else I say that we must rely on the growth of inner
\nconsciousness to get rid of the faults and deficiencies and mistakes of the
\nSadhaks.  Silence does not imply that these defects and mistakes do not
\nexist.  But all have defects in various forms and make mistakes and the
\nbest Sadhaks are not exempt.  The human way is to get angry and rebuke and
\ncondemn and, if the Mother does not do the same or is not severe, to think she
\nis unjust or partial or unseeing or wilfully blind to the defects of her
\nfavourites.  But the Mother is not blind;  she knows very well the
\nnature of all the Sadhaks, their faults as well as their merits;  she knows
\ntoo what human nature is and how these things come and that the human way of
\ndealing with them is not the true way and changes nothing.  It is why she
\nhas patience and love and charity for all, not for some alone, who are sincere
\nin their work or their Sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is strange also that you should conclude that she puts no value on you. 
\nFrom the first the Mother has had a special kindness for you;  she has
\nappreciated and supported you so steadily that people have accused her of blind
\npartiality towards you just as they accuse her with regard to A.  When you
\nwere in trouble and difficulty with suggestions and revolts, she was love and
\npatience itself and helped and supported you through all. Afterwards since your
\nSadhana opened, we have been watching solicitously over it, \u2014 I have been
\nspending time daily writing answers, giving you knowledge of what you should
\nknow, trying to lead you forward with love and care.  Why should all this
\nhave been done, if we had no value for you ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You know these things but your physical mind has become too active and
\nclouded your perception for a time.  You must get back from it into your
\ninner self.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n30-8-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wrote that your letter showed an attack of the old consciousness because of
\nits tone  "I will not bear these things \u2014 it is better for<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 256<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

me to go away from here etc".  These are the old suggestions, not
\nthe attitude of your inner being which was to give yourself and leave all to the
\nMother.  The attitude of your inner being must also extend to your attitude
\nto these outer things \u2014 knowing that whatever imperfections there are have to
\nbe worked out from within by each one, just as your own imperfections have to be
\nworked out from within yourself by the Mother’s aid and working in you.<\/p>\n

That is with regard to your former letter.  As to the present \u2014 to say
\nwhat you see is all right but there is also in what you write a judgment passed
\nupon what you see.  These judgments you have expressed in a statement of
\nwhat you think to be X’s wrong motives, actions and mistakes.  You put
\nthese statements and judgments before the Mother \u2014 for what ?  That she
\nmay take some action ?  But for that she must form her own judgment, and
\nthis she cannot do without facts, precise facts \u2014 she cannot act on a general
\nstatement by anyone.  It is only if the person whom X blindly trusts is
\nnamed that she can judge whether X is making a mistake in trusting him.  If
\nhe listens to certain people and not to others, she must know who these people
\nare and what are the circumstances in which he did that;  then only can she
\njudge whether he is right or wrong in doing so.  So with everything. 
\nMany general statements have been made against X by others, but whenever it has
\ncome to particulars in dispute, the Mother has seen that it is only sometimes in
\ndetails that she had to change what he decided, his general management was in
\naccordance with what she had laid down for him as the lines to follow. Ways of speech, defects of character, errors of judgment in particulars, these
\nare a different matter.  Each one has them and, as I have often said, they
\nmust be changed from within;  but I am speaking of outer things, particular
\nactions, particular ways of doing things.  There she must be told with
\nprecise facts what is complained of in his action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If it is not a general complaint you make about the D.R. and Aroum\u00e9 work but
\nin regard to yourself and your work particularly, there too you must give the
\nprecise facts of what he has done or failed to do before the Mother can judge or
\nsay or do anything.  What is it that he has not reported to her or has<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 257<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

stated wrongly to her about your work or you ?  What are the
\nconveniences that he has not conceded to you ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I write all that because you seem to expect the Mother to do something. 
\nBut she must know what it is, what it is based on and whether she can do it or
\nnot with benefit to the work.  Quarrels and clashes of ego there have been
\nplenty in the D.R. and Aroum\u00e9, but that she cannot accept as a base of her
\naction;  she does not side with one or against another in these things. 
\nWhat is proper or necessary for the work is the thing she has to consider.<\/p>\n

3-10-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

All that has happened between you and <\/b>X,<\/b> as described by you,
\nare trifles and a little good sense and good will on both sides should be enough
\nto deprive them of importance and to get over any slight disturbance they may
\ncreate.  Quarrels take place and endure because both sides think the other
\nis in the wrong and has behaved ill;  but neither side can be in the right
\nin a vital quarrel.  The very fact of quarrelling like that puts both in
\nthe wrong.  Moreover, it is not right to be so sensitive about being
\ndominated or controlled.  In the work especially one must accept the
\ncontrol of anyone whom the Mother puts in charge, so far as the work goes. 
\nIn other matters, one can keep one’s due independence without breaking off
\nrelations or any kind of quarrel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There would be no use in changing your work or your residence, even if it
\nwere possible under the circumstances.  It is the inner attitude that has
\nto be kept right, the will to harmony must be fully established.  A change
\nof work is not the remedy.  The idea of a good atmosphere or bad atmosphere
\nin the house is also a thing not to be indulged.  One must create one’s own
\natmosphere not penetrable by other influences and one can always do that by
\nunion and closeness to the Mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2-10-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

What you write is no doubt correct.  These are very wrong ideas in the
\nminds of the workers and not at all the right attitude.  But<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page- 258<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

we have not to do the work for the satisfaction of the Sadhaks, but rather
\nbecause it is the Mother’s work, the divine work and it has to be done well and
\nin the right way.  If the workers or others are not satisfied, it has still
\nto be done well and in the right way.  When their nature changes and they
\nsee their mistake, then they will recognise the truth and change their attitude. 
\nSome have good will and have only to learn to see more clearly and get free from
\ntheir mental misjudgments.  Others are more obscure and egoistic and will
\ntake more time to get the right poise.  Till that happens we must go on
\nwith a quiet firmness and resolution and a great patience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WORK 
\nIN  THE  ASHRAM  AND  THE  MOTHER’S  WORK<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whose work is it if it is not the Mother’s work ?  All that you do, you
\nhave to do as the Mother’s work.  All the work done in the Ashram is the
\nMother’s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All those works, meditation, reading Conversations,<\/i> studying English,
\netc. are good.  You can do any of them dedicating them to the Mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meditation means opening yourself to the Mother, concentrating on aspiration
\nand calling in her force to work and transform you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

18-9-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

REASONS 
\nFOR  ALLOWING  WORK<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, that is correct.  Mother does not care for the food for itself; but
\nshe allows X to do it as an offering.  So with the work \u2014 although the
\nwork has its own importance.  Y and Z are not given physical or practical
\nexternal work because their energy cannot run in that direction and they cannot
\ndo it \u2014 not because training in physical and practical work is not good for
\nall.  In ideal circumstances a many-sided activity of the being would be
\nthe best \u2014 but as yet it is not always practicable.<\/p>\n

26-9-1933 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 259<\/p>\n

\n

KARTAVYAM 
\nKARMA  AND  WORK  SANCTIONED  BY  THE  MOTHER<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nCan it be said that all the work sanctioned by the Mother is 
\n"kartavyam karma" ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  If the Sadhak has a strong insistence or a strong desire, the
\nMother may say  "Yes"  or  "Do as you like" 
\nor give her sanction to the thing requested or demanded.  That does not
\nmake it a  "kartavyam karma", <\/i> but simply a thing
\nwhich the Sadhak can do.  Again if a thing is indifferent or
\nunobjectionable and the Mother is asked by somebody if he can do it, and she
\nagrees, that does not exalt it into a  "kartavyam karma".<\/i><\/p>\n

31-7-1937 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:  <\/i><\/b>So
\nfar I had the belief that all work sanctioned by the Mother was her work and
\nwork done for her is our  "kartavyam karma".  Is this not so
\n?  If a person gives up all duties to the family, country and society and
\nsincerely does work only for the Divine, as a offering to the  Mother, is
\nhe not doing the Mother’s work and is it not his  "kartavyam
\nkarma" ?  Outside it ma by difficult to decide this, but here, under
\nthe living Presence of the Mother, is this not an assured fact ?  If not,
\nthen what is really meant by  "kartavyam karma" ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/i><\/b>  I was asked whether everything done that had the
\nMother’s permission was not a  "kartavyam karma". <\/i>
\nPeople ask for permission to a host of things dictated by various reasons \u2014 it
\ndoes not follow that the Mother’s permission to all these things are her
\ndictates.  What work is given by the Mother is her work \u2014 also whatever
\nwork is done with sincerity as an offering to the Mother is her work also \u2014
\nthat goes without saying.  But Karma covers all kinds of actions and not
\nwork only.<\/p>\n

31-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 260<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

PROPAGANDA 
\nWORK  FOR  THE  MOTHER<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother does not set much value on propaganda, but still work of that kind can
\nbe her work.  Only it has to come from her impulsion, be done with
\nquietude, with measure, in the way she wants it to be done.  It is from the
\ninner being that it should be done in union with the Mother’s will, not from the
\nvital mind’s eager impulse.  To concentrate most on one’s own spiritual
\ngrowth and experience is the first necessity of the Sadhak \u2014 to be eager to
\nhelp others draws away from the inner work.  To grow in the spirit is the
\ngreatest help one can give to others, for then something flows out naturally to
\nthose around that helps them.<\/p>\n

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

  <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  APPROVAL  AND  POSSIBILITIES  OF  SUCCESS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Approval or permission !  People get it into their heads that they would
\nlike to do some music, because it is the fashion or because they like it so much
\nand the Mother may tolerate it and say  "All right, try".  
\nThat does not mean they are predestined or doomed to be musicians \u2014 or poets
\nor painters according to the case.  Perhaps one of them who try may bloom,
\nothers drop off.   X starts painting and shows only a fanciful dash at
\nfirst, after a time he brings out remarkable work.  Y does clever facile
\nthings;  one day he begins to deepen and a possible painter in the making
\noutlines;  others \u2014 well, they don’t.  But they can try \u2014 they
\nwill learn something about painting at least.<\/p>\n

May,
\n1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  ATTITUDE  TO  ERRORS  IN  WORK<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nFrom what Mother said yesterday it seems that one should attach little
\nimportance to one’s errors in work and not mind or correct those of others. 
\nAlso, since<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 261<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the material world is only one of the several
\nworlds, only a small portion of the total manifestation, should we not attach
\nvery little importance to material things, material work and its details ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: <\/b> What Mother said was that she was perfectly aware of errors
\ndone in the work, but as she had to work out a certain Force in these things
\nlooking at them from an inner viewpoint, not with the external intellect, she
\nfound it often necesary to pass over imperfections and errors.  This does
\nnot at all mean that the Sadhak-worker has not to care whether there are errors
\nin his work where he is responsible.  If other Sadhaks commit errors that
\nis their responsibility, one can observe and avoid similar mistakes in oneself,
\nbut one Sadhak cannot correct the errors of others unless that comes within his
\nresponsibility \u2014 each has to correct himself and his own defects and mistakes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are here in this material world and not in the others except by an inner
\nconnection.  Also our life and action lie here, so it will not do to
\nneglect the material world and things, though we should not be attached and
\nbound to them by āsakti <\/i>and desire.  We have to acquire a
\nknowledge of the nature and powers of other worlds  (planes)  so far
\nas they are connected with this one and we can use them to help and uplift the
\naction here.  But still the field of action is here and not elsewhere.<\/p>\n

21-8-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nEXTERNAL 
\nORGANISATION  AND  INNER  HARMONY<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mistakes come from people bringing their ego, their personal feeling 
\n(likes and dislikes), their sense of prestige or their convenience, pride, sense
\nof possession, etc.  into the work.  The right way is to feel that the
\nwork is the Mother’s \u2014 not only yours, but the work of others \u2014 and to carry
\nit out in such a spirit that there shall be general harmony.  Harmony
\ncannot be brought about by external organisation only,  though a more and
\nmore perfect external organisation is necessary;  inner harmony there<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 262<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

must be or else there will always be clash and disorder.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nYou have written  "Harmony cannot be brought about by external
\norganisation only … inner harmony there must be or else there will always be
\nclash and disorder".  What is that inner harmony ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A: <\/b> Union in the Mother.<\/p>\n

21-4-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Mother’s victory is essentially a victory of each Sadhak over himself. 
\nIt can only be then that any external form of work can come to a harmonious
\nperfection.<\/p>\n

12-11-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The remedy for these things is to think more and more of the Mother and less
\nand less of the relations of others with yourself apart from the Mother. 
\nAs X is trying, so you should try to meet others in the Mother, in your
\nconsciousness of unity with the Mother and not in a separate personal relation. 
\nThen these difficulties disappear and harmony can be established \u2014 for then it
\nis not necessary to try and please others \u2014 but both or all meet in their love
\nfor the Mother and their work for her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE 
\nMOST  NEEDED THING<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The one thing that is most needed for this Sadhana is peace, calm, especially
\nin the vital \u2014 a peace which depends not on circumstances or surroundings but
\non the inner contact with a higher consciousness which is the consciousness of
\nthe Divine, of the Mother.  Those who have not that or do not aspire to get
\nit can come here and live in the Ashram for ten or twenty years and yet<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 263<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

be as restless and full of struggle as ever, \u2014 those who open their mind
\nand vital to the Mother’s strength and peace get it even in the hardest and most
\nunpleasant work and the worst circumstances.<\/p>\n

October,
\n1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nORDINARY 
\nFELLOWSHIP  AND  UNITY  IN  THE  NEW 
\nCONSCIOUSNESS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother has not laid stress on human fellowship of the ordinary kind
\nbetween the inmates  (though good feeling, consideration and courtesy
\nshould always be there), because that is not the aim;  it is a unity in a
\nnew consciousness that is the aim, and the first thing is for each to do his
\nSadhana to arrive at that new consciousness and realise oneness there.<\/p>\n

31-10-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nNO 
\nPLACE  FOR  VITAL  RELATIONS  IN  YOGA<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The whole principle of this Yoga is to give oneself entirely to the Divine
\nalone and to nobody and nothing else, and to bring down into  ourselves by
\nunion with the Divine Mother-Power all the transcendent light,  force, 
\nwideness,  peace,  purity,  Truth-Consciousness  and 
\nAnanda of the supramental Divine.  In this Yoga, therefore, there can be no
\nplace for vital relations or interchanges with others;  any such relation
\n<\/b>or interchange immediately ties down the soul to the lower consciousness and
\nits lower nature, prevents the true and full union with the Divine and hampers
\nboth the ascent to the supramental Truth-Consciousness and the descent of the
\nsupramental Ishwari Shakti.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother is pressing for the sex-trouble to go out of the Sadhaks \u2014 as it
\nis a great obstacle.  So it must go.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

29-10-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Page – 264<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

LEARNING 
\nTO  LIVE  WITHIN<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have to learn to live in yourself with the Mother, in contact with her
\nconsciousness, and meet others only with your exterior surface.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

If it is like that, it is probably because you are living outside, allowing
\nyourself to be disturbed by outward contacts.  One cannot find happiness of
\na lasting character unless one lives within.  Work, action must be offered
\nto the Mother, done for her sake only, without any thought for yourself, your
\nown ideas, preferences, feelings, likes, dislikes.  If one’s eyes are fixed
\non these latter things, then at every step one gets some friction either in the
\nmind or vital or if these are comparatively quiet on the body and nerves. 
\nPeace and joy can only become stable if one lives within with the Mother.<\/p>\n

2-1-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

That is all right.  But what I wrote was not put down as a rule for you
\nalone.  It is one which everyone ought to follow, X and everybody else. 
\nFor it is only when work and action are done in that way, without insistence on
\none’s personal ideas and personal feelings but only for the Divine’s sake
\nwithout thought of self that work becomes fully a Sadhana and the internal and
\nthe external nature can arrive at a harmony.  It makes it more possible for
\nthe inner being to take up and enlighten the outer action and grow conscious of
\nthe Mother’s force behind it guiding it in its works.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3-1-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

To fix times is not possible or desirable \u2014 you must yourself organise your
\nday in such a manner as to make the best use of it and let the Mother know how
\nyou do it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 265<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

The most important thing is to be turned inwardly towards the Mother and to
\nHer alone, to avoid too many outward contacts is necessary only to help in this
\n\u2014 but it is not necessary nor desirable to avoid all contact with people. 
\nWhat is necessary is to meet these contacts with the right mind and
\nconsciousness, not throwing yourself out \u2014 treating them as things of the
\nsurface, not getting attached to them or absorbed by them in any way.<\/p>\n

Yes, of course, it was an inner concentrated condition in which you could
\ncome, in contact with the Mother.  The flowers indicate always an opening 
\n(usually psychic)  in some part of the consciousness.<\/p>\n

28-10-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nMOTHER’S 
\nDISAPPROVAL  OF  COMPLETE  RETIREMENT<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother does not at all approve of the idea of a complete retirement.  It
\ndoes not bring the control, only an illusion of a control because the untoward
\ncauses are removed for a time.  It is a control established while in
\ncontact with the outward things that is alone genuine.  You must establish
\nthat from within by a fixed resolution and practice.  Too much mixing and
\ntoo much talk should be avoided, but a complete retirement is not the thing. 
\nIt has not had the required result with anyone so far.<\/p>\n

27-11-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDIFFERENCES 
\nIN  THE  MOTHER’S  WAY  OF  DEALING  WITH 
\nSADHAKS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have spoken of your singing.  You know well that we approve of it,
\nand I have constantly stressed its necessity for you as well as that of your
\npoetry.  But the Mother absolutely forbade A’s singing.  So you see
\nthat to music for some she is indifferent or even discourages it, for others she
\napproves as for B, C and others.  For some time she encouraged the
\nconcerts, afterwards she stopped them.  You drew from the prohibition to A
\nand the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 266<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

stopping of the concerts the conclusion that the Mother did not like music or
\ndid not like Indian music or considered music bad for Sadhana, and all sorts of
\nstrange mental reasons like that.  Mother prohibited A because while music
\nwas good for you, it was spiritual poison to A \u2014 the moment he began to think
\nof it and of audiences, all the vulgarity and unspirituality in his nature rose
\nto the surface.  You can see what he is doing with it now.  So, again,
\nwith concerts though in a different way:  she stopped them because she had
\nseen that wrong forces were coming into the atmosphere, which had nothing to do
\nwith music in itself:  her motives were not mental.  It was for
\nsimilar reasons that she drew back from big public displays like <\/b>D’s. 
\nOn the other hand, she favoured and herself planned the exhibition of painting
\nat the Town Hall.  So you will see that there is no mental rule, but in
\neach case the guidance is determined by spiritual reasons which are of a
\nflexible character.  There is no other consideration, no rule;  music,
\npainting, poetry and many other activities which are of the mind and vital can
\nbe used as part of spiritual development or of the work and for a spiritual
\npurpose:  "it depends on the spirit in which they are done".<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That being established, these things depend on the spirit, the nature of the
\nperson, its needs, the conditions and circumstances.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Sadhana is done by the Mother according to the Truth and necessity of
\neach nature and of each plane of Nature.  It is not one fixed process.<\/p>\n

13-9-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Concern yourself with your own progress and follow there the lead the Mother
\ngives you.  Leave others to do the same;  the Mother is there to guide
\nand help them according to their need and their nature.  It does not in the
\nleast matter if the way she follows with him seems different or the opposite of
\nthat which<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 267<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

she takes with you.  That is the right one for him, as this is the right
\none for you.<\/p>\n

25-10-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Mother speaks or writes much more pointedly and sharply to those whom she
\nwishes to push rapidly on the way because they are capable of it, and they do
\nnot resent or suffer but are glad of the pressure and the plainness because they
\nknow by experience that it helps them to see their obstacles and change. 
\nIf you wish to progress rapidly you must get rid of this vital reaction of abhimāna,<\/i>
\nsuffering, wounded feeling, seeking for argument of self-justification, outcry
\nagainst the touch that is intended to liberate \u2014 for so long as you have
\nthese, it is difficult for us to deal openly and firmly with the obstacles
\ncreated by the vital nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In regard to the difference between you and X:  The Mother’s warning to
\nyou against the undesirability of too much talk, loose chat and gossip, social
\nself-dispersion was entirely meant and stands;  when you indulge in these
\nthings, you throw yourself out into a very small and ignorant consciousness in
\nwhich your vital defects get free play and this is likely to bring you out of
\nwhat you have developed in your inner consciousness.  That was why we said
\nthat if you felt a reaction against these things when you went to X’s, it was a
\nsign of your  (psychic)  sensitiveness coming into you \u2014 into your
\nvital and nervous being, and we meant that it was all for the good.  But in
\ndealing with others, in withdrawing from these things you should not allow any
\nsense of superiority to creep in, or force on them by your manner or spirit a
\nsense of disapproval or condemnation or pressure on them to change.  It is
\nfor your personal inward need that you draw back from these things, that is all. 
\nAs for them, what they do in these matters, right or wrong, is their affair, and
\nours;  we will deal with them according to what we see as necessary and
\npossible for them at the moment, and for that purpose we can not only deal quite
\ndifferently with different people, allowing for one what we forbid for another,
\nbut we may deal<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 268<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

differently with the same person at different times, allowing or even
\nencouraging today what we shall forbid tomorrow …. A human soul and nature
\ncannot be dealt with by a set of mental rules applicable to everybody in the
\nsame way;  if it were so, there would be no need of a Guru, each could set
\nhis chart of Yogic rules before him like the rules of Sandow’s exercise and
\nfollow them till he became the perfect Siddha !<\/p>\n

25-10-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nThe Mother does not seem to turn away from people who are not faithful. 
\nShe often allows them to do what they like.<\/i><\/p>\n

A: <\/b> It is the Mother’s business.  She alone can say what is
\nthe right way to deal with people.  If she were to deal with people only
\naccording to their defects, there would be hardly half a dozen people left in
\nthe Ashram.<\/p>\n

26-3-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Whatever is done by the Mother is for the good of the Sadhak and the Sadhana.<\/p>\n

9-12-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nHow can one make the vital being understand that the Mother is never partial ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:  <\/b>One way is to have entire faith in the Mother \u2014 the other
\nis to believe that she is wiser than yourself and must have reasons for
\neverything she does which are better than your mind’s judgments.<\/p>\n

22-3-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nI am sure that for everything the Mother does there is a reason, and that what
\nshe does is according to the<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 269<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

need of each one, but the vital das not believe
\nit, and it is not yet well established in the mental.  How can this be
\nfirmly established in the mental so that it does not yield to any temptation ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It should be established \u2014 that is all.  So long as
\nthe vital or mental think themselves wiser than the Mother and able to judge her
\nhow do you expect these stupidities to disappear ?<\/p>\n

22-3-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nCan the physical mind have a correct understanding of the Mother’s dealings ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Not until it is enlightened by the true consciousness and
\nknowledge from above.<\/p>\n

4-7-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  USE  OF  THE  MAHAKALI  METHOD<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All these things depend on the person, the condition, the circumstances. 
\nThe Mother uses the method you speak of, the Mahakali method, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(1)<\/b>   with those in whom there is a great eagerness and a
\nfundamental sincerity somewhere even in the vital, <\/p>\n

(2)<\/b> with those whom she meets intimately and who, she knows, will not
\nresent or misunderstand her severity or take it for a withdrawal of kindness or
\ngrace, but will regard it as a true grace and a help to their Sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are others who cannot bear this method \u2014 if it was continued they
\nwould run a thousand miles away in misunderstanding and revolt and despair. 
\nWhat the Mother wants is for people to have their full chance for their souls,
\nbe the method short and swift or long and tortuous.  Each she must treat
\naccording to his nature.<\/p>\n

9-5-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 270<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

If you are afraid of the Mother’s scoldings, how will you progress ? 
\nThose who want to progress quickly, welcome even the blows of Mahakali, because
\nthat pushes them more rapidly on the way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs it possible to have that relation with the Mother in which she would feel
\nfree to correct me and tell me, without any kind of consideration for my
\nfeelings, what I must do and must not do ?<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Certainly, when the Divine Consciousness is fully realised,
\nthere will be no difference between the Mother’s will and the Sadhak’s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For a relation to exist in which Mother can do as you say, the Sadhak must
\nnot be afraid of the Mahakali aspect and ask only for sweetness.  He must
\nbe able to take the blows of Mahakali as a blessing.  He must also believe
\nin her vision and judgment and word, otherwise when she says or does something
\nunpleasant to his ego that ego will go sulking, justifying itself, calling her
\nnames etc.  as is the habit with so many in the Ashram when she does not do
\nwhat they like.  There are very few here who can take this attitude even
\nimperfectly, but it is with them that the Mother has this relation.  With
\nothers who have a different nature, she cannot but behave differently \u2014 for
\nshe has to act with each according to his nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE 
\nMOTHER’S  WAY  OF  WORKING<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The difficulty about meeting you demand that the
\nMother should plan out and fix a routine for you in everything which you must
\nfollow is that this is quite contrary to the Mother’s way of working in most
\nmatters.  In the most physical things you have to fix a programme in order
\ndeal with time, otherwise <\/span>all becomes a sea of confusion and haphazard. 
\nFixed rules have also to be made for the management of material things so<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 271<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

long as people are not sufficiently developed to deal with them in the right
\nway without rules.  But these things of which you write are different; 
\nthey are concerned with your inner development, your Sadhana.  In fact,
\neven in outward things the Mother does not plan with her mind and make a mental
\nmap and rule of what is to be done;  she sees what is to be done in each
\ncase and organises and develops it according to the nature of each case. 
\nIn matters of the inner development and the Sadhana it is still more impossible
\nto map out a plan fixed in every detail and say,  "Every time you
\nshall step here, there, in this way, or that line and no other". 
\nThings would become so tied up and rigid that nothing could be done;  there
\nwould be no true and effective movement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the Mother asked you to tell her everything, it was not in order that she
\nmight give you directions in every detail which you must obey.  It was in 
\norder, first, that there might grow up the complete intimacy in which you would
\nbe entirely open to her, so that she might pour more and more and continuously
\nand at every point the Divine Force into you which would increase the Light in
\nyou, perfect your action, deliver and develop your nature.  It is this that
\nwas important; all else is secondary, important only so far as it helps this or
\nhinders.  In addition, it would help her to give whenever needed the
\nnecessary direction, the necessary help or warning, not always by words, more
\noften by a silent intervention and pressure.  This is her way of dealing
\nwith those who are open to her;  it is not necessary to give express orders
\nat every moment and in every detail. Especially, if the psychic consciousness is
\nopen and one lives fully in that, it gets the intimation at once and sees things
\nclearly and receives the help,  the intervention, the necessary direction
\nor warning.  That was what was happening to a great extent when your
\npsychic consciousness was very active,  but there was a vital part in which
\nyou were not open and which was coming up repeatedly, and it is this that has
\ncreated the confusion and the trouble.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everything depends on the inner condition, and the outward action is only
\nuseful as a means and a help for expressing or confirming the inner condition
\nand making it dynamic and effective.  If you do or say a thing with the
\npsychic uppermost or with<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 272<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the right inner touch, it will be effective;  if you do or say the same
\nthing out of the mind or the vital or with a wrong or mixed atmosphere, it may
\nbe quite ineffective.  To do the right thing in the right way in each case
\nand at each moment one must be in the right consciousness \u2014 it can’t be done
\nby following a fixed mental rule which under some circumstances might fit in and
\nunder others might not fit in at all.  A general principle can be laid down
\nif it is in consonance with the Truth, but its application must be determined by
\nthe inner consciousness seeing at each step what is to be done or not done. 
\nIf the psychic is uppermost, if the being is entirely turned towards the Mother
\nand follows the psychic, this can be increasingly done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All depends therefore not on a mental rule to follow in practice, but in
\ngetting the psychic consciousness back and putting its light into this vital
\npart and making that part turn wholly to the Mother.  It is not that the
\nquestion of your going too much to X is of no importance, \u2014 it is of
\nconsiderable importance \u2014 but to limit the contact is effective only as a
\nmeans of helping your vital part to withdraw from this servitude to old
\nmovements.  It is the same everywhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The kind of outward obedience you lay stress on, asking for a direction in
\nevery detail, is not the essence of surrender, although obedience is the natural
\nfruit and outward body of surrender.  Surrender is from within, opening and
\ngiving the mind, vital, physical, all to the Mother for her to take them as her
\nown and re-create them in their true being which is a portion of the Divine; 
\nall the rest follows as a consequence.  It would not then be necessary to
\nask her word and order outwardly in every detail, the being would feel and act
\naccording to her will;  her sanction would be sought as the seal of that
\ninner unity, receptiveness of her will and obedience.<\/p>\n

11-6-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

THE 
\nMOTHER’S  REGARD  FOR  TRUTH<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother heard that X had objected to your working in her room, but she brushed
\nit aside at once saying that that could have no<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 273<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

importance.  It has nothing to do with her decision which was made on
\nother grounds quite independently of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

P.S.  <\/b>A lie is a lie whoever speaks it.  If you give credit
\nto what someone or another thinks or says as Mother’s motive in an action, take
\nher statement of her motive as untrue and somebody else’s who cannot know as
\nsound and true and on that challenge Mother for want of frankness, is the
\nresulting upset our fault ?  It is a question of greater confidence in the
\nMother than in the statements or interpretations of Sadhaks or the hasty
\nassumptions or inferences of your mind or the feelings of your vital made
\nwithout having the needed information.  If you could get rid of that
\nmovement, things would be easier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

15-5-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nHow can the maxim  "a lie is a lie"  apply to all ?  It
\ncan apply only to those who are bound by moral and social codes, or as a
\nprinciple only if the intention behind is wrong.  If a higher motive
\ndemands a concealing or misrepresenting something by words I would hardly call
\nit a lie.  The motive, the basis, are all superhuman and cannot fall in the
\nsame category.  I think Krishna did not always speak the exact truth and
\nhis half-lies always provoke an understanding smile in all who listen to his
\nstories.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  If the Mother did a thing for one reason and said that she
\ndid it for quite another she did not have, I fail to see how it can be anything
\nbut a falsehood.  No superhuman motive can make a falsehood not a
\nfalsehood.  Moreover, if you really believe that the Divine can speak what
\nis not true  without being untrue and that that is a part of divinity, why
\ndo you resent when you think the Mother has done it and grow sorrowful and
\nindignant over her supposed unfair and uncandid treatment of you and cry she
\nought to have been frank, etc. ?  You ought rather to think she is acting
\nfrom superhuman motives and accept gladly whatever<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 274<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

she does.  At least that seems to be the logic of such a position.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You base yourself evidently on the position that the Divine Consciousness is
\nabove good and evil.  But that does not mean that it does evil and good
\nimpartially.  It can only mean that it acts from a light that is beyond
\nthat level of human consciousness which makes the human standard of these
\nthings.  It acts for and from a greater good than the apparent good men
\nfollow after.  It acts also according to a greater truth than men conceive. 
\nIt is for this reason that the human mind cannot understand the divine action
\nand its motives \u2014 he must first rise into a higher consciousness and be in
\nspiritual contact or union with the Divine.  But if anyone recognises that,
\nhe can no longer judge the divine action with his human mind and from his human
\npoint of view.  The two things would be quite incompatible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But this does not fall under any such explanation.  To allege a false
\nmotive cannot be a movement of a greater Truth and consciousness.  To keep
\nsilence and not reveal one’s motive is one thing \u2014 to say I did not act from
\nthat motive when I actually did so, is not silence, it is falsehood.  It is
\na matter not of moral, but spiritual importance.  The Mother cares for the
\nTruth and she has always said that lying and falsehood create a serious
\nobstacle to realisation.  How then can she herself do that ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not remember any lies or half-lies told by Krishna, so I can say nothing
\non that point.  But if he did according to the Mahabharata or the Bhagawata,
\nwe are not bound either by that record or by that example.  I think Rama
\nand Buddha told none.<\/p>\n

17-5-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is good if you have freed yourself from this bondage.  Love of Truth
\nis divine, but this kind of truth is a very mixed product accompanied as it is
\nby hardness or a fierce anger.  Truth does not insist on a blind adherence
\nto the spoken word \u2014 as for instance, if a man says that he will kill another
\nunder the impression that that other has done him a grievous wrong and
\nafterwards carries out his word even when he has found out the other was
\ninnocent<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 275<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

and no wrong done.  That is what literal adhesion to the spoken word
\nwould come to, if scrupulously held as a principle.  Truth, on the contrary
\ndemands that a man shall cleave to the principle of Truth in things only, and in
\nthe case above the principle of Truth would demand that he should break his vow
\nand not keep it.  If a man pledges himself to something that is against the
\nprinciple of Love and Compassion, or against that of obedience and surrender to
\nthe Divine, it is not Truth to keep that pledge \u2014 for it would be a pledge to
\nfollow falsehood \u2014 and how can Truth be held in allegiance to falsehood ? 
\nThat would be an Asuric, not a divine Truthfulness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the Mother, one will not find in her this blind adherence to an
\narrangement once made.  If, for instance, she told someone, next time you
\nyield to sex-passion in any way, you will have to leave the Ashram, and if the
\nman did it and repented, she too might relent and not insist in following out
\nher menace.  These matters or interviews are not promises, contracts or
\nengagements, \u2014 they are arrangements only and can be altered.  If she has
\narranged for half an hour she can make it instead three-quarters of an hour \u2014
\nor diminish it to twenty minutes.  There is a plasticity needed in the
\nmovement of time and the habit of life cannot afford to be rigid in its
\nmovements, otherwise life would either be turned into a mere mechanism or break
\nto pieces.  But in this case there was no intention;  it was a pure
\naccident;  by some oversight your name had not been written in the morning
\nlist and Mother came to the door when those on the list were finished.  She
\ncould not go back because it was extremely late and it had been a long and
\nexhausting morning spent in a continual struggle with adverse forces and she had
\nto come in, do what still she had to do and come to me to report what had
\nhappened.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But even if she had intended it for some reason not known to you, your
\nreaction was not the right one.  For the basis you have taken for your Yoga
\nis to obey the Will whatever it may be.  These things \u2014 seemingly
\naccidental \u2014 happen when they are predestined and they come in as an ordeal
\nfor something in the vital which has by this painful process to accept change.<\/p>\n

28-9-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 276<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

FUTILITY 
\nOF  JUDGING  MOTHER’S  ACTIONS  BY  MIND<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obviously.  Neither Nature nor Destiny nor the Divine work in the mental
\nway or by the law of the mind or according to its standards \u2014 that is why even
\nto the scientist and the philosopher Nature, Destiny, the way of the Divine all
\nseem a mystery.  The Mother does not act by the mind, so to judge her
\naction with the mind is futile.<\/p>\n

5-5-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Mother does not discuss these mental problems with her disciples. 
\nIt is quite useless trying to reconcile these things with the intellect. 
\nFor there are two things, the Ignorance from which the struggle and discord
\ncomes and the secret Light, Unity, Bliss and Harmony.  The Intellect
\nbelongs to the Ignorance.  It is only by getting into a better
\nconsciousness that one can live in the Light and Bliss and Unity and not be
\ntouched by the outward discord and struggle.  That change of consciousness
\ntherefore is the only thing that matters, to reconcile with the intellect would
\nmake no difference.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MISREPRESENTATION 
\nOF  THE  MOTHER’S  WORDS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not X alone, but many or most who turn things  [spoken by the
\nMother]  in that way \u2014 the tendency is almost universal in human nature. 
\nIt is not from dishonesty that he or others do it \u2014 it is because when they
\nlisten, their minds are not silent but active and the thought of their minds
\nmixes with what they have heard and gives it another turn or shape or colour. 
\nOften also the vital interferes and exaggerates or reshapes according to the
\ndesire or the convenience.  This is much more often unconsciously than
\nconsciously done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the present instance, the Mother spoke quite generally, not about Y or
\nwhat had happened in Z’s case, and she meant that what ought to be remembered is
\nnot remembered because of<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 277<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

some strong immediate desire which pushes the memory behind until the desire
\nis fulfilled and then only, if at all, the recollection comes.  X evidently
\nadded his own ideas, applied it specially to Y’s action and thought that the
\nMother had said it was consciously done \u2014 that Y remembered and yet went
\nagainst her conscious sense of right in order to fulfil her desire.  That
\nwas not what the Mother said or meant by her general statement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

30-3-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is only when the Mother speaks directly that you can say  "The
\nMother has said".<\/p>\n

9-7-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DANGERS 
\nOF  "ALL  FROM  THE  MOTHER"  THEORY<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you write is in itself unexceptionable \u2014 it is indeed what was offered
\nto the Sadhaks at the beginning \u2014 but the difficulty is precisely there, in
\nthe complete sincerity of the nature.  Few have been able to rise to it and
\nonly a distant approximation  (if the phrase can be accepted)  has
\nbeen attained by some.  Apart from incomplete sincerity, there is the
\ndifficulty that the brain is clouded by egoism and desire and imagines it is
\ndoing the very thing when it is doing something else.  That is why I spoke
\nof the danger of the theory of all from the Mother.  There are people who
\nhave taken it that all that comes from the ego or the vital comes from the
\nMother, is her inspiration or what she has given them.  There are others
\nwho have taken it as an excuse for going on in the old rut independently, saying
\nthat when the Mother wants she will change things !  There were even some
\nwho on this basis created a subjective Mother in themselves whose dictates,
\nflattering to their ego and desire, they pitted against the contrary dictates of
\nthe Mother here, and came to think that this external Mother is after all new
\nand the real thing is the inner one or that she was putting them through an
\nordeal by contradicting the inner dictates and seeing what they would do ! 
\nThe<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 278<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

truth remains the truth, but this power of twisting by the mind and other
\nparts of the nature has to be kept in sight also.<\/p>\n

17-10-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  WORK  AND  TIME<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not because your French is full of mistakes that Mother does not
\ncorrect it, but because I will not allow her to take more work on herself so far
\nas I can help it.  Already she has no time to rest sufficiently at night
\nand most of the night she is working at the books, reports and letters that pour
\non her in masses.  Even so she cannot finish in time in the morning. 
\nIf she has to correct all the letters of the people who have just begun writing
\nin French as well as the others, it means another hour or two of work \u2014 she
\nwill be able to finish only at nine in the morning and come down at 10-30. 
\nI am therefore trying to stop it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Mother never avoids opening letters or any other work because of absence of
\ntime:  she deals with all the work that comes to her even if she is ill or
\nif she has no time for rest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

15-2-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Mother prefers that when she walks on the terrace people should not be
\nlooking at her because it is the only time when she can concentrate a little on
\nherself\u2014apart from the necessity of taking some fresh air and movement for the
\nhealth of the body.  If she has to attend to the pull of so many people,
\nthat cannot be done.  The interview she gives you is a different matter; 
\nshe has to arrange it herself and it is part of her work, so there is no need to
\nchange.  What was said was only for the walk on the terrace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Mother has a very limited time for seeing people \u2014 she has so<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 279<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

much to do.  So it is only when there is a strong necessity that she
\nsees except for those who have work to do with her.<\/p>\n

1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nRIGHT  WAY  OF  MEETING  THE  MOTHER<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The right attitude to approach the Mother when she sees one is to keep the
\nbeing perfectly quiet and open to receive, without any activity of the mind or
\ndesire in the vital, with only the surrender and the psychic readiness to accept
\nwhatever is given.<\/p>\n

23-2-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

When one comes to the Mother, one must not come with these things in the mind
\n\u2014 but in quietude and light solely to receive from her what one can
\nassimilate.<\/p>\n

10-4-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Mother does not usually speak with those who come for an interview before
\nstarting.  If she had to speak, she would not give an interview at all to
\nmost, for she would have no time.  Moreover it is not by speech or
\ninstruction or answering questions that Mother works on the consciousness of the
\nSadhaks, it is by a silent influence to which they have to learn to open
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for your readiness for the Ashram life, it should be evident to yourself
\nfrom your reactions especially about your family that you are not ready \u2014 you
\nwould have been pulled away by these feelings and it would have been a serious
\nfall for you.  <\/b>To <\/b>be told the truth about themselves and get
\nthe guidance unasked \u2014 that is a grace which Sadhaks accept with gladness \u2014
\nto weep and feel hurt is a reaction of the vital which must be got over. 
\nPsychic weeping, a weeping from the soul deep within, tears of the soul’s
\nyearning, of sorrow for the resistance of Nature, of joy  or love or Bhakti
\ndoes not cause a fall, it can help and open up the inner soul from its veils; 
\nbut this weeping has <\/b>no strain or<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 280<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

suffering in it, it is something very deep and quiet and brings a sense of
\npurification and release.  That is not so with the weeping which comes from
\nthe vital and is born of hurt or abhimāna<\/i> or disappointment or
\nshakes or disturbs the nature.<\/p>\n

16-3-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:  <\/i><\/b>I
\nintend to sweep out the lower forces before meeting the Mother tomorrow. 
\nFailing it I do not like to show my face to her.<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  That is the suggestion of  <\/i>the <\/i>lower
\nforces.  They want to create an excuse for your remaining aloof like that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIt seems I have learnt a lot about myself during yesterday, my birthday, on
\nwhich Mother had given me an interview.  It may be perhaps a kind of
\nexperienced knowledge aided by Her Force.  I no more feel myself so weak,
\nhelpless or a slave to my defects and imperfections.  Rather there is a
\ngrowing surety that I shall be able to get rid of my whole lower nature.<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is what we call growing conscious \u2014 a perception of
\nwhich the base is the psychic though it may take place in the mind or vital or
\nphysical.  No doubt the Force that woke it up came from the Mother.<\/p>\n

9-9-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Why should you decide beforehand that your birthday is spoiled ?  You
\nhave only to throw off all these undesirable ideas and feelings which proceed
\nfrom a still imperfectly purified part of the external being and take the right
\nattitude which you should always have when you come to the Mother.  There
\nshould be no<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 281<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

idea of what others have or have not \u2014 your relation is between the Mother
\nand yourself and has nothing to do with others.  Nothing should exist for
\nyou but yourself and the Divine \u2014 yourself receiving her Force flowing into
\nyou.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To secure that better, do not spend your time at your disposal in speech \u2014
\nespecially if anything of the depression remains with you, it will waste the
\ntime in discussing things which cannot help the true consciousness to
\npredominate.  Concentrate, open yourself and let the Mother bring you back
\nto the psychic condition by what she will pour into you in meditation and
\nsilence.<\/p>\n

16-5-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSIGNIFICANCE  OF  BIRTHDAY  MEETING<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs there any special significance in the Mother’s seeing the Sadhaks on their
\nbirthdays ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b>  About the birthdays. 
\nThere is a rhythm  (one among many)  in the play of the world-forces
\nwhich is connected with the sun and the planets.  That makes the birthday a
\nday of possible renewal when the being is likely to be more plastic.  It is
\nfor this reason that Mother sees people on their birthdays.<\/p>\n

18-5-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nYou wrote once that on birthdays the physical is more open and receptive to the
\nMother than on other days.  Is that why she gives special blessings to us
\non our birthdays ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b>  It is not a question of a
\nphysical birthday or of the body \u2014 it is taken as an occasion for opening, a
\nnew year of life with a growing new birth within.  That is the meaning in
\nwhich the Mother takes the birthday.<\/p>\n

7-10-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 282<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

MEETING 
\nTHE  MOTHER  IN  DREAM<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nFor a long time 1 was thinking of meeting the Mother but was hesitating to ask
\nfor an interview.  Last night in dream I met her and had a talk with her. 
\nWas it the real Mother I met or some constructed figure of my dream-mind ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Of course, it was the Mother you met and the meeting must
\nhave been due to your thought about meeting her.<\/p>\n

9-6-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nKindly let me know the significance of my frequently coming to the Mother on the
\nsupraphysical plane.  Did my vital come to the Mother for refreshing its
\nenergy, for purification, etc. ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  This kind of vital coming to the Mother all the Sadhaks have
\nin their sleep and dream, if they are a little conscious there.  Even those
\nwho are not Sadhaks or others who do not know her come, but they are not aware
\nof it.  The vital plane is a supraphysical plane.  The vital moves
\nabout in its own plane and is not limited by the physical mind or its
\nconsciousness or experience.<\/p>\n

13-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It  [coming to the Mother on a supraphysical plane]  may be for any
\nobject or without any specific object \u2014 there is no rule in such matters.<\/p>\n

14-7-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nI saw twice in dream that the Mother was giving me soup with her hand and I was
\nbowing down at her feet.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 283<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Why did I see like this ?  What is the
\nspiritual meaning of the soup which the Mother was giving us ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  The soup was instituted in order to establish a means by
\nwhich the Sadhak might receive something from the Mother by an interchange in
\nthe material consciousness.  Owing to the past association probably you see
\nlike that when your material consciousness in dream receives something from the
\nMother.<\/p>\n

27-7-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

THE 
\nMOTHER’S  ACTION  IN  MEDITATION<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I spoke of the inner mind of the Ashram, I was only using a succinct
\nexpression for the  "minds of the members of the Ashram" 
\nand I was not thinking of the collective mind of the group.  But the action
\nof the Mother in the meditation is at once collective and individual.  She
\nis trying to bring down the right consciousness in the atmosphere of the Ashram
\n\u2014 for the action of the minds and vital of the Sadhaks does create a general
\natmosphere.  She has taken this meditation in the evening as a brief period
\nin which all is concentrated in the sole force of the descending Power. 
\nThe Sadhaks must feel that they are there only to concentrate, only to receive,
\nonly to be open to the Mother and nothing else matters.<\/p>\n

November,
\n1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

About the meditation and the seat, the Mother gives this meditation only<\/i>
\nfor bringing down the true light and consciousness into the Sadhaks.  She
\ndoes not want it to be turned into a formality and she does not want any
\npersonal questions to arise there.  It should solely be a meditation and
\nconcentration without personal or other desires or claims or ideas rising there
\nand interfering with her object.<\/p>\n

2-11-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 284<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It is not by the physical presence but the Mother’s concentration at the time
\nof meditation which brings the quiet to those who can receive it.<\/p>\n

6-3-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is only Mother who can give orders here.<\/p>\n

What Mother would like you to do is to come to the Meditation and Pranam
\nputting aside all feelings of ego, anger, quarrel with others, demand for this
\nor that, thinking only of your Sadhana and making yourself quiet to receive from
\nher the only things that are really precious and needful.<\/p>\n

22-9-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWhen I try to meditate in the presence of the Mother, there is always a
\ndisturbing rush of thoughts as to what she is bringing down etc.<\/i><\/p>\n

A:  <\/b>It is simply a bad habit of the mind, a wrong activity. 
\nIt is not in the least useful for the mind to ask or try to determine what the
\nMother wills or is bringing \u2014 that only interferes.  It has simply to
\nremain quiet and concentrated and leave the Power to act.<\/p>\n

11-1-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nDuring the period of concentration I get all sorts of useless thoughts and
\ndesires, which I forget afterwards.  How am I to remember them and open
\nthem to the Mother ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Aspire at the time \u2014 they will of themselves be open to the
\nMother.<\/p>\n

26-6-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 285<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nDuring the general meditation with the Mother, my consciousness rose upwards in
\nan utter passivity.  I became unaware of my body up to the neck.<\/i><\/p>\n

A: <\/b> It means the whole mind was
\nliberated for a while from imprisonment in the body sense and became free in the
\npassivity of the wider self.<\/p>\n

16-8-1834<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nI feel that when the Mother comes down to give meditation in the Meditation
\nHall, the atmosphere of the Hall extends to all the Ashram houses.  
\nAm I right in my feeling ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is natural that it should be so as the Mother, when she
\nconcentrates on the inner work, is accustomed spontaneously to spread her
\nconsciousness over the whole Ashram.  So to anyone who is sensitive, it
\nmust be felt anywhere in the Ashram, though perhaps more strongly in the nearer
\nhouses on an occasion like he evening meditation.<\/p>\n

7-11-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nMOTHER’S  ACTION  DURING  PRANAM<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nDuring Pranam does Mother work from Overmind ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A: <\/i><\/b> <\/i>Not from the
\nordinary Overmind, but from the Power above it.  Naturally the Overmind has
\nto be used as a channel.<\/p>\n

22-11-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nRIGHT 
\nUSE  OF  DARSHAN  AND  PRANAM<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Physical means  [like Darshan and touch in the Pranam]  can be and
\nare used in the approach to divine love and worship;  they<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 286<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

have not been allowed merely as a concession to human weakness, nor is it the
\nfact that in the psychic way there is no place for such things.  On the
\ncontrary, they are one means of approaching the Divine and receiving the Light
\nand materialising the psychic contact, and so long as it is done in the right
\nspirit and they are used for the true purpose they have their place.  It is
\nonly if they are misused or the approach is not right because tainted by
\nindifference and inertia, or revolt or hostility, or some gross desire, that
\nthey are out of place and can have a contrary effect \u2014 as the Mother has
\nalways warned people and has assigned it as the reason why she does not like
\nlightly to open them <\/b>to <\/b>everyone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

No one should look upon the Pranam either as a formal routine or an
\nobligatory ceremony or think himself under any compulsion to come there. 
\nThe object of the Pranam is not that Sadhaks should offer a formal or ritual
\ndaily homage to the Mother, but that the Sadhaks may receive along with the
\nMother’s blessings whatever spiritual help or influence they are in a condition
\nto receive or assimilate.  It is important to maintain a quiet and
\ncollected atmosphere for that purpose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

If you attach any value to the Darshan it is better to be recueilli. 
\n<\/i>If her coming is only one incident of the day’s routine like taking dinner,
\nthen of course it does not matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recueilli<\/i> means drawn back, quiet and collected in oneself.<\/p>\n

24-7-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The best way for Darshan is to keep oneself very collected and quiet and open
\nto receive whatever the Mother gives.<\/p>\n

12-2-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 287<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

INADVISABILITY 
\nOF  BRINGING  SICK  AND  INSANE  PEOPLE  FOR 
\nDARSHAN<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother cannot see her.  The most we can concede is that she may be
\nbrought for Darshan in the way proposed, but she must simply take the blessing
\nand pass, there must be no lingering.  It is a mistake to bring sick people
\nor the insane to the Darshan for cure \u2014 the Darshan is not meant for that. 
\nIf anything is to be done or can be done for them, it can be done at a distance. 
\nThe Force that acts at the time of Darshan is of another kind and one deranged
\nor feeble in mind cannot receive or cannot assimilate it \u2014 it may produce a
\ncontrary effect owing to this incapacity if received at all.  If the Force
\nis withheld, the Darshan is useless, if received by such people it is unsafe. 
\nIt is similar reasons which dictate the rule prohibiting children of tender
\nyears to be brought to the Darshan.<\/p>\n

13-8-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

WRONG 
\nSUGGESTION  OF  MAKING  PRANAM  TO  OTHERS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It  [the wish to make Pranam to others]  is a wrong suggestion from
\nsomewhere.  It is very necessary not to take the attitude of Pranam to
\nothers or to give even in though a place at all approaching or similar to the
\nMother’s.<\/p>\n

27-7-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPRANAM 
\nAND  THE  MOTHER’S  CONTACT<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother’s contact is there all the day and the night also.  If one keeps
\nthe right contact with her inwardly all day, the Pranam will bear its right
\nfruit, for you will be in the right condition to receive.  To make the
\nwhole day depend upon the Pranam, the whole inner attitude depend on the most
\nouter aspect of the outer contact is to turn the whole thing topsy-turvy. 
\nIt is the fundamental mistake made by the physical mind and vital which is the
\ncause of the whole trouble.<\/p>\n

16-3-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 288<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It is only if one can feel the inward touch of the Mother without the
\nnecessity of the physical contact that the true value of the latter can be
\nreally active.  Otherwise there is a danger of its becoming like a mere
\nartificial stimulant or a pulling of vital force from her for one’s own benefit.<\/p>\n

2-3-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

If they are so dependent on the physical touch that they cannot feel anything
\nwhen it is not there, this means that they have not used it at all for
\ndeveloping the inner connection;  if they had, the inner connection after
\nso many years would already be there.  The inner connection can only be
\ndeveloped by an inner concentration and aspiration, not by a mere outward Pranam
\nevery day.  What most people do is simply to pull vital force from the
\nMother and live on it \u2014 but that is not the object of the Pranam.<\/p>\n

4-3-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Yes, but the vital’s test is very foolish.  If the Sadhana goes on
\nwhether you see the Mother or not, that would rather show that the psychic
\nconnection is permanently there and active always and does not depend on the
\nphysical contact.  The vital seems to think the Sadhana ought to cease if
\nyou do not see the Mother but that would only mean that the love and devotion
\nneed the stimulus of physical contact.  The greatest test of love and
\ndevotion is on the contrary when it burns as strongly in long absence as in the
\npresence.  If your Sadhana went on as well on non-Pranam as on Pranam days
\nit would not prove that love and devotion are not there, but that they are so
\nstrong as to be selfexistent in all circumstances.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8-6-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q: <\/i><\/b>
\nIt is curious that I feel Mother nearer at Pranam<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 289<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

time than when she meets us and speaks to us
\nfamiliarly.  Is it because of a defect of the physical mind ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Yes \u2014 or at least of some part of the physical
\nconsciousness.<\/p>\n

30-4-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nJust after making my Pranam to the Mother I experienced an unimaginable depth in
\nthe heart and a fire bursting out.<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  That is of course the psychic depth and the psychic fire.<\/p>\n

5-5-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWhen the Mother pressed her hand on X’s head to bless, I felt her touch
\nconcretely on my head !  How does this happen ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It shows that the subtle physical is growing conscious and
\nfelt the touch and blessings of the Mother which is always there.<\/p>\n

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

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

There is always a touch coming from Mother at Pranam, one has to be conscious
\nand open to receive it.<\/p>\n

14-11-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs it possible to receive the Mother’s influence at a distance in the Ashram in
\nthe same way as we receive it at Pranam ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 290<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

A:<\/b>  It is possible to receive, but not in the same way. 
\nThere is an element, a touch on the physical consciousness that is wanting.<\/p>\n

30-5-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIn the evening when I am late and miss the Mother, do I receive Her Light as I
\nwould if I were present ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  You can receive the Light at all times\u2014even if less
\nconcretely than in the physical presence.<\/p>\n

1-9-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nYou wrote:  "Without the inner touch the inner being cannot
\nwork".  I do not understand how this explained my question.  The 
\nMother’s inner or subtle touch felt before had not the same effect as her
\nphysical touch during the Pranam.  The former came and disappeared within a
\nfew seconds, leaving practically no effect, whilst the latter left its impress
\nfor a long time even in spite of depression and resistance.<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is because you lived in your outer and not in your inner
\nbeing that it is like that.  But unless you open to the inner touch, the
\ninner being cannot develop.<\/p>\n

3-2-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The inner touch is the Mother’s influence felt in the inner being.<\/p>\n

6-2-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWhen I had experiences and realisations why did I not feel the inner touch.,
\nsince it is said that none can<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 291<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

have experiences  (which are the fruits of
\nthe inner being’s development)  without it ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  You did not feel it because the inner being was not awake to
\nit \u2014 it felt only the results \u2014 and these results were not experiences in
\nthe inner being itself but the self above.<\/p>\n

6-2-1937<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE 
\nINNER  AND  THE  OUTER  CONTACT<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let the inner contact with the Mother increase \u2014 unless that is there, the
\nouter contacts if too much multiplied easily degenerate into a routine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

I mean the inner contact in which one either feels one with her or in contact
\nwith her or aware of her presence or at the very least turned towards her
\nalways.<\/p>\n

16-3-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nToday I had an intense desire to go in the Mother’s rooms upstairs so as to be
\nnear and close to her.<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  But the coming near to the Mother should be in the inner
\nrooms, not the outer.  For in the inner rooms one can always enter and even
\narrange to stay there permanently.<\/p>\n

8-3-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nHow is it that in writing a letter to you the higher things increase and become
\nstronger ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A: <\/b> I suppose it is because in the act of writing or rather in
\nits<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 292<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

beginning you enter into contact with the Mother and the Force.<\/p>\n

10-5-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

TWO 
\nWAYS  OF  THE  MOTHER’S  GIVING<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother gives in both ways.  Through the eyes it is to the psychic,
\nthrough the hand to the material.<\/p>\n

29-9-1932<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Obviously, the time has nothing to do with it.  <\/b>One hour’s touch
\nor a moment’s touch \u2014 as much can be given by the one as by the other.<\/p>\n

18-4-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It was not because of any fault of yours that the Mother gave only a short
\nblessing;  she has to do that for all who come at the beginning because
\nthey need to go quickly to their work.  If you want a longer blessing, you
\nmust come afterwards.  But, when you have to come early, you can get as
\nmuch out of the Mother’s short blessing, if you are quiet and open.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SIGNIFICANCE 
\nOF  THE  MOTHER’S  GIVING  OF  FLOWERS<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:  <\/i><\/b>What
\nis the significance of the Mother’s giving us flowers at Pranam every day ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is meant to help the realisation of the thing the flower
\nstands for.<\/p>\n

28-4-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nAre flowers mere symbols and nothing more ?  Can<\/i><\/p>\n

Page – 293<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the flower symbolizing silence, for example, help
\nin the realisation of silence ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is when the Mother puts her force into the flower that it
\nbecomes more than a symbol.  It then can become very effective if there is
\nreceptivity in the one who receives.<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nWe do not get from the Mother the flowers which our mind thinks we should get.<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Obviously not \u2014 the mind
\nchooses according to likings or fancies or else to some mental idea of what
\nshould be;  the Mother chooses by intuitive observation of what is needed.<\/p>\n

9-7-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPHYSICAL 
\nNEARNESS  TO  THE  MOTHER  AND  PROGRESS  IN 
\nSADHANA<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is a mistake to think that those who meet the Mother physically are any
\nnearer the goal of perfection than those who do not meet her except at Pranam
\nand meditation.  All depends on the inner being and how it can meet her
\nfrom within and receive her force and profit by it.  Of course, if people
\nmeet her with their psychic prominent, and not with the outer consciousness
\nonly, it should be different, but\u2014<\/p>\n

29-7-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/i><\/b> 
\nMany people believe that those whom the Mother gives frequent interviews and
\nsends things often are very near to her and are progressing rapidly while those
\nwhom she does not see often or to whom she does not send things are only given a
\nchance to do their Sadhana.  Is this belief true ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 294<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

A:<\/b>  It is all nonsense.  Some of the best Sadhaks are among
\nthose whom the Mother seldom or never calls and she sends them nothing. 
\nNor do they expect it \u2014 they feel the Mother always with them and are
\nsatisfied and ask for nothing else.<\/p>\n

27-7-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nYou have said that those who do Sadhana outside the Ashram cannot do it fully
\nbecause the physical nearness to the Mother in the Ashram alone can bring a
\npossibility of transformation.  Carrying this idea a little further, it
\nnaturally follows that even in the Ashram, those who live physically nearer to
\nthe Mother and meet her more often are of the inner circle, more intimate even
\noutwardly, and therefore nearer transformation.  Q.E.D. ?<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  Living in the Ashram is one thing, living with the Mother in
\nclose proximity is another.  Your Q.E.D. like most mental logic is
\ncontradicted by the facts of life.  One could argue on that basis that A
\nwho lives in the same house as the Mother is nearer perfection than B and much
\nnearer than C or D who live outside.  E never meets the Mother except at
\nPranam and on her birthday, so she must be an utterly backward person and F who
\nmeets the Mother daily for five, ten, fifteen or twenty minutes must be far
\nahead of her, well on towards perfection.  But these things are not so. 
\nSo the argument breaks down at every point.  Progress in Sadhana or
\nsuperior capacity is not dependent on one’s being near the Mother or meeting her
\nmore often.  Q.E.D.<\/p>\n

30-7-1936<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nPeople who approach the Mother often must be very fortunate, is it not so ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  If one has the desire or the claim, one brings in all sorts
\nof demands, angers, jealousies, despairs, revolts, etc. which spoil<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 295<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the Sadhana and do not help it.  To others the nearness of the Mother
\nbecomes a mixture.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The Mother was giving freely of her physical contact in former years. 
\nIf the Sadhaks had had the right reactions, do you think she would have drawn
\nback and reduced it to a minimum ?  <\/b>Of <\/b>course if people know
\nin what spirit to receive from her the physical touch is a great thing, but for
\nthat the constant physical nearness is not necessary.  That rather creates
\na pressure of the highest forces which how many can meet ?<\/p>\n

22-4-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is the ego that wants the satisfaction of being the first or specially
\nsingled out.  It is this egoistic vital demand with all its consequent
\nresults and disturbances that made it necessary for Mother to limit the physical
\nmanifestation of nearness to a minimum.<\/p>\n

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

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

The one thing important is to keep the inner attitude and establish the inner
\nconnection with the Mother independent of all outward circumstances.  It is
\nthat that brings all that is needed.  Those who are most deep in the Yoga
\nare not those who physically see most of the Mother.  There are some who
\nare in constant nearness or union with her, who apart from the Pranam and the
\nevening meditation come to her only once a year.<\/p>\n

13-11-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

There is more profit to be had by being open to the Mother than by coming
\nphysically to her at the present stage.  Some even who make a point of her
\ncalling them go backward rather than forward \u2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 296<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

because they make a point of it, introducing thus a basis of vital demand
\nwhich makes a very shaky foundation for relations with the Mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:  <\/i><\/b>Is
\nit not true that one who sees the Mother more often and talks with her receives
\nmore Light by being in her presence ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  No.  It depends entirely on the condition of the person
\nand his attitude.  Especially, if they insist on seeing her or on remaining
\nwhen she wants them to go or are in a bad mood and throw it on her, it is very
\nharmful for them to see her.  Each should be contented with what the Mother
\ngives them, for she alone feels what they can or cannot receive.  Mental
\nconstructions of this kind and vital demands are always false.<\/p>\n

3-4-1933<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

There is a confusion here.  The Mother’s grace is one thing, the call to
\nchange another, the pressure of nearness to her is yet another.  Those who
\nare physically near to her are not so by any special grace or favour, but by the
\nnecessity of their work, \u2014 that is what everybody here refuses to understand
\nor believe, but it is the fact:  that nearness acts automatically as a
\npressure, if for nothing else, to adapt their consciousness to hers which means
\nchange, but it is difficult for them because the difference between the two
\nconsciousnesses is enormous especially on the physical level and it is on the
\nphysical level that they are meeting her in the work.<\/p>\n

27-4-1944<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nIs it not true that those who are bodily nearest to the Mother are those who are
\nopen to her, one with her<\/i><\/p>\n

Page – 297<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

will and close to her in their inner being ? 
\nIs it not also a fact that there are certain special advantages in being bodily
\nnear to the Mother ?<\/i><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is not so easy to be  "one with the will" 
\nof the Mother or to be entirely open.  To be bodily close imposes a
\nconstant pressure for progress, for perfection, which no one yet has been able
\nto meet.  People have romantic ideas in this matter which are not true.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The demand  [of A]  was to live inside or have free access 
\n(to the Mother’s rooms)  at all times  (which is not allowed to
\nanybody, neither to B or C nor anyone else)  and to be on an equality with
\nor superiority over those who were admitted.  Such a demand shows a total
\nignorance of the reasons which are behind the admission  (it has nothing to
\ndo with special grace or favour)  and also of the fitness of things. 
\nIf she had been allowed, she would not have been able to bear it even for a few
\ndays …. B and C are different \u2014 they have special work to do which
\nmakes it necessary for them to come close to the Mother or see her often. 
\nIt has nothing at all to do with any superiority in Sadhana, as you have
\nyourself pointed out by quoting the examples of D etc.<\/p>\n

7-3-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

What I meant was not that bodily closeness is important but that it is not
\neasily bearable.  The touch at Pranam and bodily closeness do not mean the
\nsame thing.  By bodily closeness I meant living with the Mother or in
\ncontinued and frequent physical contact with her …. As for bearing the
\ncloseness, most people do that usually by shutting themselves as much as
\npossible to the pressure, \u2014 when they can’t do that they get upset by it. 
\nThat is the whole fact of the matter.<\/p>\n

5-8-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

I am afraid all these are mental constructions.  You are constructing in
\nyour mind what X ought to feel.  But as a matter of fact<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 298<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

neither X’s nor anybody’s difficulties are removed by their coming to Mother
\nor by their sitting one hour or two hours or even three hours with her. 
\nPlenty of people have done that and gone away as glum, desperate and revolted as
\nthey came.  Among the people who see the Mother like Y are some who have
\ncrises as bad as yours…and as frequent …. It is also not true that those who
\nhave talked much with Mother  (about houses, repairs, servants, etc.) 
\nunderstood her better.  In former days some people used to see much of
\nMother in another way, i.e., to talk with her on all sorts of subjects \u2014 but
\neven those did not really understand her.  I repeat that all that is mental
\nbuilding and constructed inference and does not square with the facts.  It
\nis only when one is inwardly open to her that one profits by the 
\n"contact"  with her, not the physical but the spiritual or inner
\ncontact, and then the mere thought of her or a mere thought from her can set
\nright anything wrong;  then the physical contact also can help, but it is
\nnot indispensable.  And as for understanding her, it is only by entering
\ninto the spiritual consciousness that one can understand her, or if not
\nunderstand in the mind, at least feel and respond to what she is through an
\nincreasing oneness.<\/p>\n

4-8-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It would be most foolish to call back this meaningless delusion \u2014 for
\nnothing can be farther from the actual and practical truth than to suppose that
\nthose who are in physical nearness to the Mother or have frequent physical
\napproach are happier or more satisfied than others \u2014 it is not in the least
\ntrue \u2014 or to allow it to prevent the progress of the inner peace.  If you
\nwould only get rid of this delusion, nothing would be able to prevent the growth
\nof the Peace and that inner nearness which alone makes people in this Ashram
\ndivinely happy. Happiness comes from the soul’s satisfaction, not from the vital’s or the body’s.  The vital is never satisfied;  the body soon
\nceases to be moved at all by what it easily or always has.  Only the
\npsychic being brings the real joy and felicity.<\/p>\n

8-9-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 299<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Quite so.<\/i>  None need be jealous of anything or anybody, since
\neach has his own point of contact  [with the Mother]  which nobody
\nelse has \u2014 apart from what all have.  <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
\n4-1-1934<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

WRONG 
\nIDEAS  ABOUT  THE  MOTHER’S  SMILE  AND  TOUCH 
\nAT  PRANAM<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother deals with each one in a different way, according to their need
\nand their nature, not according to any fixed mental rule.  It would be
\nabsurd for her to do the same thing with everybody as if all were machines which
\nhad to be touched and handled in the same way.  I t does not at all mean
\nthat she has more affection for one than for another, or those she touches in a
\nparticular way are better Sadhaks or less so.  The Sadhaks think in that
\nway because they are full of ignorance and ego.  Instead of thinking
\nwhether the Mother favours one more or the other less, comparing and watching
\nwhat she does, they ought to be concerned at Pranam with only their own
\nspiritual reception of her influence.  Pranam is for that and not for these
\nother things which have nothing to do with Sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jealousy and envy are things common to human nature, but these are the very
\nthings that a Sadhak ought to throw out of himself.  Otherwise why is he a
\nSadhak at all ?  He is supposed to be here for seeking the Divine \u2014 but
\nin the seeking for the Divine jealousy, envy, anger, etc., have no place. 
\nThey are movements of the ego and can only create obstacles to the union with
\nthe Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is much better to remember that one is seeking for the Divine and make
\nthat the whole governing idea and aim of the life.  It is that which
\npleases the Mother more than anything else;  these jealousies and envies
\nand competitions for her favour can only displease and distress her.<\/p>\n

31-10-1935<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/i><\/b> 
\nAt the Pranam ceremony I am not able to fathom<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 300<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the
\nmystery of the Mother’s working:  what she gives and how I
\nreceive it.  What is the inner meaning of
\nher touch on my head or her look into my eyes.<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/i>
\nA: <\/b> You
\nhave to develop the inner intuitive response first<\/span>
\n<\/font>\u2014<\/FONT> i.e. to think and
\nperceive less with the mind and more with the inner consciousness.  Most people
\ndo everything with the mind and how can the mind know ? The mind depends on the
\nsenses for its knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n10-7-1936<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nAll this idea
\nabout the Mother’s looks and her hand in the blessing which is current in the
\nAshram is perfectly irrational, false, even imbecile.  I have a hundred times
\nwritten to people that the whole thing is wrong and rests on a false suggestion
\nof the adverse forces made in order to create a disturbance.  The Mother does
\nnot refrain from smiling or vary her smile or her manner of
\nblessing in order to show displeasure or because of anything the Sadhak has
\ndone.  She does not, as certain people annoyingly believe, dose out her smiles or
\nblessings in such a way as to assign a number of marks for each Sadhak according
\nto his good behaviour or bad behaviour. These variations are not intended to
\nassign a competitive place to each Sadhak, as to schoolboys in a class.  All
\nthese ideas are absolutely absurd, trivial and unspiritual.  The Ashram is not
\na schoolboys class nor is the Yoga a competitive examination.  All this is the
\ncreation of the narrow physical mind and vital ego and desire.  If the Sadhaks
\nwant to get a true basis and make true progress, they must get these ideas out
\nof their minds altogether.  Yet they cling obstinately to it in spite of all I
\ncan write, so dear is this falsehood to their mind.  You must get rid of it
\naltogether.  At the Pranam the Mother puts her force to help the Sadhak
\n<\/span>\u2014<\/FONT> what he
\nought to do is to receive quietly and simply, not to spoil the occasion by these
\nfoolish ideas and by watching who gets more of her hand and smile and who gets
\nless.  All that must go.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n8-12-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nPage – 301<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Q:<\/b>  During Pranam what does the Mother
\nwant to show us by her special expression ?  Does it express her liking or
\ndisliking any action of the persons concerned ?<\/I><\/FONT>
\n

 

A:<\/b>  She wants to show you nothing;  it has
\nnothing to do with the doings or misdoings of the Sadhaks.  Pranam is not
\nintended for watching the Mother’s expression or what she does with this
\none or that one or in what way she smiles or with how much of her hand she
\nblesses \u2014 the Sadhaks’ preoccupation with these things is childish and for
\nthe most part full of mistaken inferences, imaginations, often curiosity,
\ndesire for gossip, criticism etc. Such a state of mind is a hindrance, not a
\nhelp to Sadhana.  The proper attitude is one of self-dedication and simple and straightforward receptivity to what the Mother wishes to give, an
\nundisturbed and undisturbing openness to her working in the being.<\/FONT>

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>


\n\t\tUnderstand once for all that the Mother
\nis not using the Pranam to show her pleasure and displeasure;  it is not meant
\nfor that purpose.  The only circumstance under which the Mother’s attitude
\nat Pranam is likely to be influenced by the actions of the Sadhak is when
\nthere is some great betrayal or a violent breach of the main rules of
\nspiritual life …. or when the Sadhak has become positively hostile to the
\nMother and the Yoga.  But then it is not a special show of displeasure at Pranam, but a withdrawal of the gift of grace which is quite a different
\nmatter.<\/FONT>

 <\/P>
\n\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n\t\t


\n\t\tMany of the Sadhaks are in the habit of
\nthinking the Mother is displeased, not smiling at them, angry when it is
\nquite otherwise.  This usually happens when their own consciousness is not
\nat peace or when they are thinking or conscious of faults or
\nwrong movements or wrong acts that they may have done.  The idea that the
\nMother is angry is an imagination;  if there is anything not as usual, it is
\nin the Sadhak himself and not in the Mother.<\/FONT><\/P>
\n


\n\t\t <\/P>
\n\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n

Page – 302<\/P><\/p>\n

\n

The Mother’s force can come down quite
\nnicely and gently \u2014
\nthere is no need of palpitations, giddiness or nausea for that.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother was not at all angry with
\nyou.  I suppose you
\nexpected her to be angry and see like that ?<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All the Sadhaks do that \u2014 and I have
\nnot yet been able to
\ncure them of this seeing their own imaginations in the Mother’s
\nface or manner.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tQ:<\/b>  We depend very much on finding in the
\nMother’s
\nways a manifestation of her love for us.  We feel we can
\nprogress when we get it.<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  This demand for physical
\nmanifestation of love must go. 
\n<\/b>It
\n<\/b>is a dangerous stumbling-block on the way of Sadhana.  A progress made by indulgence of this demand is an insecure progress
\nwhich may any moment be thrown down by the same force that
\nproduced it.<\/font><\/p>\n

8-10-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b>  I have heard that many Sadhikas
\nlove the Mother
\nso much that they are ready to die for her.  But if there
\nis no physical expression of the Mother’s love for them,
\nthey can’t love her and some go so far as to revolt, weep
\nor fast.<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  It is self-love that makes them do
\nit.  It is just the same
\nkind of vital love that people have outside  (loving someone for
\none’s own sake, not for the sake of the beloved).  What is the
\nuse of that in the Sadhana here ?  It can only be an obstacle.<\/font><\/p>\n

15-10-1935<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\t\t

 <\/P>
\n


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is not the mind but the lower
\nvital that gets troubled after
\nPranam \u2014 all the rest comes in as suggestions because the gate
\nhas been opened to them by this trouble.  There are certain stock<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 303<\/p>\n

\n

tricks of the adverse Force to disturb
\nthe Sadhana and one of
\nthem is this notion in the lower vital of not having been perfectly
\nblessed at Pranam or not having got a smile or not the proper
\nkind of smile or of the Mother’s face being serious and severe. 
\nWhoever lets in that feeling, immediately suggestions of revolt,
\ndepression or dissatisfaction pour in into his mind.  The only
\nthing to be done for that is to cast off patiently all acceptance
\nof this feeling, knowing that it is a drop of poison from the
\nAdversary.<\/font><\/p>\n

28-7-1936<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nIt is certainly your imagination which
\nmakes you think that the
\nMother was  "indifferent"  or  "hard"  to you at Pranam.  The
\nMother, on the contrary, made a special concentration in her
\nblessing to help you.  There are a certain number of Sadhaks
\nwho, when she does that, invariably ask,  "Why were you displeased and hard with me today ?", while there are others who
\ncry out if there is the slightest departure from the ordinary movements, assuming that the Mother must have had a deliberate
\nintention in it and that intention necessarily unfavourable to
\nthem, an intention of indifference or displeasure, and very often
\nwhen she smiles more than usual in order to give them courage,
\nthey write to her that she was very serious that day and did not
\nsmile at all.  Do not allow yourself to catch the infection and
\nbecome one of them;  for it creates a great obstacle to the help
\ngiven and opens the door to serious vital troubles.  Open yourself simply to the Mother’s help with trust and confidence, that
\nis the best way of not feeling far from her.<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother did not know at that time of
\nyour having spoken
\nto X.  So your conjecture of that being the cause of her fancied
\ndispleasure is quite groundless.  It is quite wrong to think that the
\nMother gets displeased and angry with the Sadhaks and shows it
\nwith her actions at Pranam.  This kind of idea of the Divine or
\nof the Mother is a very mistaken one and you should not allow
\nit to get hold of you.<\/font><\/p>\n

5-7-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Page – 304<\/p>\n

\n

When the Mother does not smile at Pranam, it is not from<\/font> <\/font>displeasure but in almost every case
\nfrom some reason not connected with any action of the Sadhak, \u2014 either from absorption
\nor concentration on something that is being done.  As you say,
\nit does not matter \u2014 what is important is to receive what has to
\nbe received.<\/font><\/p>\n

4-11-1934<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nIt is a mistake to think that
\nthe Mother’s not smiling means either
\ndispleasure or disapproval of something wrong in the Sadhak. 
\nIt is very often merely a sign of absorption or of inner concentration.  <\/b>On this occasion the Mother was putting a question to
\nyour soul.<\/font><\/p>\n

31-7-1938<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nIt is a great pity you allowed the
\nthought that the Mother was
\nsevere with you to come in and throw you down. These thoughts
\nare never true and whenever a Sadhak indulges it, he is always
\ninvaded by the old movements. The Mother’s love and kindness have always been the same and will always remain the same
\nto you, so you should never accept this idea that she is displeased
\nor severe.  But whatever the mistakes or difficulties, our help will
\nbe with you and the Mother’s force will work to bring you out
\nand get you back the psychic openness and peace which you had
\nfor many days this time and which is bound to return and become
\npermanent after a while.<\/font><\/p>\n

19-11-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ: <\/b> People get troubled when
\nthey see the Mother looking serious instead of smiling.  They find it difficult not
\nto feel that they have displeased her in some way or<\/i><\/font> other.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page –
\n305<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

A:<\/b>  The whole foundation of the
\ndifficulty is erroneous.  It is the
\nwrong idea that if Mother is serious it must be because of some
\npersonal displeasure against  "me" \u2014 each Sadhak who complains of being the  "me".  I have repeated a hundred times to
\ncomplaints that it is not so, but nobody will give up this idea \u2014
\nit is too precious to the ego.  The Mother’s seriousness is due to
\nsome absorption in some work she is doing or, very often, to
\nsome strong attack of hostile forces in the atmosphere.<\/font><\/p>\n

19-4-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b>  Sometimes the Mother looks at us
\nwith a smile as if
\nshe were pleased;  at other times quite differently, in a
\nrather serious way.<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n

A: <\/b> Why not ?  The Mother cannot be
\nserious, absorbed in herself ?  Or do you think it is only displeasure against the Sadhaks
\nthat can make her so ?<\/font><\/p>\n

18-6-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b>  One sometimes catches from
\nthe atmosphere a
\ndepression when people are passing before the Mother
\nfor Pranam;  it is chiefly connected with her smiling or
\nnot smiling.<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  That is because many Sadhaks are
\nfull of this idea.  They are
\nlooking to see if the Mother smiles or how she smiles or what she
\ndoes, instead of being quiet and concentrated to receive from
\nher.  So the atmosphere is full of that.<\/font><\/p>\n

6-10-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q:<\/b>  The physical being feels the need
\nof the Mothers
\nsmile when it meets her look.  Is it a kind of desire ?<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 306<\/p>\n

\n

A:<\/b>  Yes.  There has to be no disturbance
\nwhen it does not come  (knowing that its absence is not a sign of displeasure or anything of the kind)
\n\u2014 then the Ananda of receiving it will be purer.<\/font><\/p>\n

11-12-1933<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nYou should certainly throw away the
\nvital demand and the disturbance which it creates in your Sadhana. Mother gives her
\nsmile to all and she does not withhold it from some and give it to
\nothers.  When people think otherwise, it is because some vital
\ndisturbance, depression or demand or some movement of jealousy, envy or competition distorts their vision.<\/font><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nOn that day the Mother did not smile at
\nanybody.  It was not
\npersonal to you.  A particular Power was acting in her which did
\nnot act in the ordinary way.<\/font><\/p>\n

10-4-1934<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

If the Mother does not put her hand on
\nthe head in Pranam, it
\ndoes not mean that she is displeased \u2014 it may have quite other
\ncauses.  People have this idea but they are quite mistaken.  Sometime ago the Mother failed to put her hand on the head of a Sadhika at Pranam for two days.  People mocked at her and
\nlooked down at her.  As a matter of fact she was having remarkable realisations and getting more power from the Mother at
\nPranam than on ordinary days.  The whole idea is an error.<\/font><\/p>\n

2-8-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

Q: <\/b> If the ego determines its revolt according
\nto the
\nMother’s failing to smile or to put her hand on our head,<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage – 307<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhow is it that at times it can remain
\nquiescent in spite of
\nher failing to do so ?<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>  The ego acts according to
\nthese things when it dominates;<\/font>  <\/font>when it does not dominate or is not
\npresent then these
\nmotives can have no effect.  The whole question is whether the
\nego leads or something else leads.  If the higher consciousness
\nleads, then even if the Mother does not smile or put her hand at
\nall, there will be no egoistic reaction.  Once the Mother did that
\nwith a Sadhika, being herself in trance \u2014 the result was that the
\nSadhika got a greater force and Ananda than she had ever got
\nwhen the Mother put her hand fully.<\/font><\/p>\n

11-11-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b>  Yesterday it happened that
\nthe Mother did not bless
\nme with her hand during Pranam.  But I was more delighted and cheerful than usual.  Why did this bring me
\nmore happiness ?  Why does it take place with me alone ?<\/i><\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: <\/b> That is not so.  It has taken place
\nwith others.  One of them
\nat least found that she felt on such an occasion even more force
\nof the Mother than usual flowing through her than on ordinary
\noccasions.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt is not true.  There are
\ninstances in which Mother did not smile
\nor put her hand at all  (being in trance)  but the Sadhak being in a
\nright and receptive attitude received far more than ever before.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tYour idea about Mother’s mysterious
\nsmile is your own imagination \u2014 Mother says that she smiled with the utmost kindness
\nand took the most helpful attitude possible towards you.  I had
\nwritten to you already that you must not put these imaginations<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

Page – 308<\/font>\n <\/p>\n

\n

between yourself and the Mother;  for
\nthey push the help given
\naway from you.  These imaginations and their effect on you are
\nsuggested by the same vital forces that are disturbing you so that
\nyou may not get free from the disturbance.<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My help and the Mother’s help are there
\n\u2014 you have only <\/b>to keep yourself open to it to recover.<\/font><\/p>\n

27-3-1933<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nWhy should you think that the Mother
\nwill be angry ?  We have
\nourselves told you to write everything frankly and conceal nothing
\n\u2014 so there is not the least likelihood that she will resent what you
\nwrite.  Moreover, she knows perfectly well the difficulties of the
\nSadhana and of human nature and if there is a goodwill and a
\nsincere aspiration such as you have, any stumblings or falterings
\nof the moment will not make any difference in her attitude to the Sadhak.  The Mother thinks you must have had a wrong impression about her putting her hand just a little only \u2014 for she
\nwas just the same with you as always and there has been no reason
\nwhy there should be any change.<\/font><\/p>\n

17-4-1933<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nI do not at all understand why you
\nshould think that the Mother
\nwas displeased with you for any reason whatever.  She was just as
\nshe is always with you.  Even if you had made any mistake, the
\nMother now is disposed to overlook mistakes and leave it to the
\npressure of the Light and the psychic being of the Sadhak to set
\nthings right.  But why on earth should she be displeased because
\nyou wanted to stop the French lessons with X or for any such
\ntrivial reason !  Whether you continue or suspend your lessons is a
\ndetail which has to be settled in accordance with the condition of
\nyour mind and the needs of your Sadhana and it can be settled
\neither way.  It is surprising that you should think Mother could
\nshow displeasure over so slight a matter.  You must get over a
\nnervousness of this kind and not disturb your good condition by<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 309<\/p>\n

\n

imaginations \u2014 for it is an imagination
\nsince it had no reality
\nbehind it.  Have a more perfect confidence and do not let your
\nmind create difficulties where there are none.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tMother was not in the least displeased
\nabout the tea, why should
\nshe be ?  Nor was she angry with you at all. She smiled at you
\nas usual \u2014 you must have been thinking of something else
\nand not observed it.  There is no reason at all for your sadness
\ntherefore \u2014 you should throw these ideas aside, Mother does not
\nget displeased about such trifles.<\/font><\/p>\n

30-11-1933<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nExactly, I say  "the Mother’s smiling or
\nnot smiling has nothing
\nto do with anything in you".  I say also  "It is yourself becoming
\nconscious, it is not any displeasure of the Mother that makes
\nyou conscious \u2014 it is her mere presence that makes it possible
\nfor you to become conscious of yourself, it is not any displeasure,
\nit is not any sad looking that does it".<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tThere is no chance of the Mother giving
\nyou the  "look"  you
\nfear.  On your side do not imagine one when it is not there \u2014
\nany number of people are still doing that !<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt is, of course, the resistance
\nof the old vital in the past that is
\nbeing redeemed which creates this irritation and these imaginations about the Mother’s displeasure.  For, as a matter of fact,
\nthere was no dissatisfaction against you in the Mother’s mind
\nand this idea is usually a suggestion to the Sadhak’s mind from
\nthe Force that wants to create the wish to go or any other kind of
\ndiscontent or depression.  It is a curious form of delusion that
\nhas taken root, as it were, in the Ashram atmosphere and is cherished<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

Page – 310<\/font>\n <\/p>\n

\n

not so much by the individual
\nvital as by the forces that
\nwork upon it to break, if possible, the Sadhana.  You must not
\nallow any harbourage to that or else it will create any amount
\nof trouble.  The absence of proper sleep naturally brings a state
\nof fatigue in the nerves which helps these things to come \u2014 for
\nit is through the physical consciousness that they attack and if it
\ncan make that consciousness tamasic in any way, their entry is
\nmore easy.<\/font><\/p>\n

15-9-1936<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nThe Mother has in no way changed
\ntowards you nor is she
\ndisappointed with you \u2014 that is the suggestion drawn from your
\nown state of mind and putting its wrong sense of disappointment
\nand unfitness on to the Mother.  She has no reason to change or
\nbe disappointed, as she has always been aware of the vital obstacles in you and still expected and expects you to overcome
\nthem.  The call to change certain things that seem to be in the
\ngrain of character is proving difficult even for the best Sadhaks,
\nbut the difficulty is no proof of incompetence.  It is precisely this
\nimpulse to go that you must refuse to admit \u2014 for so long as
\nthese forces think they can bring it about, they will press as much
\nas they can on this point.  You must also open yourself more to
\nthe Mother’s Force in that part and for that it is necessary to get
\nrid of this suggestion about the Mother’s disappointment or lack
\nof love, for it is this which creates the reaction at the time of Pranam.  Our help, support, love are there always as before
\n\u2014
\nkeep yourself open to them and with their aid drive out these
\nsuggestions.<\/font><\/p>\n

26-1-1937<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\nMother put her hand just as usual.  Not
\nonly so, but as she saw
\nyour condition needed special help, she tried to give it.  But
\nwhen you are in this condition, it is unfortunate that you are so
\nmuch occupied with the feeling of misery as to feel nothing else,<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 311<\/p>\n

\n

nothing that does not minister to or
\nincrease the misery.  Support you always have;  there is absolutely no reason why we
\nshould withhold it.  If anyone is in serious trouble in the Ashram,
\nthat falls on us and most on the Mother \u2014 so it is absurd to suppose that we can take pleasure in anyone suffering.  Suffering,
\nillness, vital storms  (lusts, revolts, angers)  are so many contradictions of what we are striving for and therefore obstacles to our
\nwork.  <\/b>To end them as soon as possible is the only will we can
\nhave, not to keep them in existence.<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you could only acquire the power to
\ndetach yourself somewhere in you when these storms come, not to be swept away by
\nthe push or the thoughts that rise !  Then there would be something that could feel the support and be able to react against these
\nforces.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

28-6-1935<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

It is entirely untrue that Mother was
\npushing you away today. 
\nThere may be days when she is absorbed and therefore physically
\ninattentive to what her hand is doing.  But today she was specially
\nattentive to you and at the Pranam she was putting force on you
\nfor peace, tranquillity and the removal of difficulty.  If she at all
\nacted by the palm or anything else, it was for that she was acting. 
\nAbout this there can be no mistake, for she was specially conscious of her action and purpose today.  What must have happened was that something must have felt the pressure and intervened and persuaded your physical mind by suggestion that it
\nwas you<\/i> she was pushing away, not the difficulty.  This is a very
\nclear instance of how easy it is for the Sadhaks to make a wrong
\ninference and think that the Mother is doing the very opposite of
\nwhat she is doing.  Very often when she has concentrated most
\nto help them by pressing out their difficulties, they have written
\nto her  "You were very severe and displeased with me this morning".  The only way to avoid these wrong reactions is to have full
\npsychic confidence in the Mother, believing that all she does is for
\ntheir good and out of the Divine Mother’s care for them and not
\nagainst them.  Then nothing of this kind will happen.  Those who<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page – 312<\/p>\n

\n

do that, can get the full help of her
\nconcentration even if in her absorption she does not touch the hand or smile. That is why I have constantly told the Sadhaks not to put their own
\ninterpretations on the Mother’s appearance or actions at the Pranam \u2014 because
\nthese interpretations may always be wrong and make an opening for an unfounded
\ndepression and an attack.<\/FONT>
\n

23-1-1935<\/B><\/FONT>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nThe obsession about the smile and touch
\nhas to be overcome and rejected because it has become an instrument of the
\ncontrary Forces to upset the Sadhaks and hamper their progress.   I
\nhave seen any number of cases in which the Sadhak is going on well or even
\nhaving high experiences and change of consciousness and suddenly this
\nimagination comes across and all is confusion, revolt, sorrow, despair and the
\ninner work is interrupted and endangered.  In most cases this attack brings
\nwith it a sensory delusion so that even if the Mother smiles more than usual or
\ngives the blessing with all her force she is told  “you did not smile, you
\ndid not touch”  or  “you hardly touched”.  There have been any number
\nof instances of that also \u2014 the Mother telling me,  “I saw X disturbed or else a
\nsuggestion coming towards him and I gave him my kindest smile and blessing”, and
\nyet afterwards we get a letter affirming just the contrary,  “you did not
\nsmile, etc”.  And you are all ready to give the Mother the lie, because you
\nfelt you saw and your senses cannot be deceived !  as if a mind disturbed
\ndoes not twist the sense observation also !  as if it were not a common fact
\nof psychology that one constantly gets an impression according to his mood or
\nthought !  Even if the smile or touch were less, it should not be the cause
\nof such reproaches, if there is not an intention in it and there is no intention
\nat all as we have constantly warned all of you.  Of course, the cause is
\nthat the Sadhaks apply the movements of a vital human love to the Mother and the
\nordinary vital human love is full of contrary movements of distrust,
\nmisunderstanding, jealousy, anger, despair.  But in Yoga this is most
\nundesirable \u2014 for here trust in the Mother, faith in her divine Love is of great
\nimportance;<\/FONT>
\n

 <\/p>\n


\nPage – 313<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

anything that denies or disturbs it opens
\nthe door to obstacles and wrong reactions.  It is not that there should be
\nno love in the vital, but it must purify itself of these reactions and fix
\nitself on the psychic being’s  trust and confident self-giving.  Then
\nthere can be the full progress.<\/FONT>
\n

30-6-1935<\/B><\/FONT>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nThese things ought to be entirely
\nrejected.  When they rise they often twist the consciousness so much as to
\nfalsify sometimes the vision itself and always the feeling.  The Mother has
\nobserved constantly that the people on whom she has smiled tell her she has been
\nglowering and severe or that she has been displeased when there was no
\ndispleasure in her and then on the strength of that they go wrong
\naltogether.<\/FONT>
\n

10-4-1933<\/B><\/FONT>
\n\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nQ:  <\/B>I see
\nthat every evening some being throws false suggestions upon me, saying, 
\n“The Divine does not like you”.  Lately their force of insistence has
\nincreased.  I try my best to reject them but without any success.  May
\nthe Mother prevent this being from approaching me ever !<\/I><\/FONT>


\n\t\tWhat is that being
\n?  From some vital world ?<\/I><\/FONT>
\n


\n\t\t 

A:<\/B>  Yes, it is a being of
\nfalsehood from the vital world which tries to make one take its false
\nsuggestions for the truth and disturb the consciousness, and get it to leave the
\nstraight path and either get depressed or turned against the Mother.  If
\nyou reject and refuse to listen or believe always, it will disappear.<\/FONT>
\n

30-3-1933<\/B><\/FONT>
\n


\n

 


\n
\n\t\tINADVISABILITY  OF  LISTENING  TO  FALSE 
\nCRITICISM  OF  THE  MOTHER<\/FONT><\/B>
\n\t\t

 

It might be charitable to warn X not to
\nlisten to imbecile remarks<\/FONT>
\n

 <\/p>\n


\nPage – 314<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

of this kind  [against the
\nMother]  from whomsoever they may come, and, if he hears them, to do
\nnothing to propagate them.  He had been progressing extremely well because he
\nopened himself to the Mother;  but if he allows stupidities like that to
\nenter his mind, it may influence him, close him to the Mother and stop his
\nprogress.<\/FONT>
\n

 

As for <\/B>Y,<\/B> if he said and
\nthought a thing like that  [about the Mother]  it explains why he has
\nbeen suffering in health so much lately.  If one makes oneself a mouthpiece
\nof the hostile forces and lends oneself to their falsehoods, it is not
\nsurprising that something in him should get out of order.<\/FONT>
\n

7-1-1932<\/B><\/FONT>
\n


\n

 


\n
\n\t\tCAUSES  OF  THE  MOTHER’S  ILLNESS<\/FONT><\/B>
\n\t\t

 

The Mother has had a very severe attack
\nand she must absolutely husband her forces in view of the strain the 24 th
\nNovember will mean for her.  It is quite out of the question for her to
\nbegin seeing everybody and receiving them meanwhile \u2014 a single morning of that
\nkind of thing would exhaust her altogether.  You must remember that for her
\na physical contact of this kind with others is not a mere social or domestic
\nmeeting with a few superficial movements which make no great difference one
\nway or the other.  It means for her an interchange, a pouring out of her
\nforces and a receiving of things good, bad and mixed from them which often
\ninvolves a great labour of adjustment and elimination and in many cases, though
\nnot in all, a severe strain on the body.  If it had been only a question of
\ntwo or three people, it would have been a different matter; but there is the
\nwhole Ashram here ready to enforce each, one his claim the moment she opens her
\ndoors.  You surely do not want to put all that upon her before she has
\nrecovered her health and strength !  In the interests of the work itself \u2014
\nthe Mother has never cared in the least for her body or her health for its own
\nsake and that indifference has been one reason, though only an outward one, for
\nthe damage done \u2014 I must insist on her going slowly in the resumption of the
\nwork and doing only so much at first as her health can bear.<\/FONT>
\n

 <\/p>\n


\nPage – 315<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It seems to me that all who care for her
\nought to feel in the way I do.<\/FONT>
\n

12-11-1931<\/B><\/FONT>
\n

 


\nI had hoped to write shortly, but I have
\nnot been able to do so.  Therefore, for the moment, since I have promised you
\nthis letter in the morning, I can only repeat, on the other matter, that I have
\nnot said that you in any degree or the Sadhaks generally were the cause of the
\nMother’s illness.  To another who wrote something of the kind from the same
\npersonal standpoint, I replied that the Mother’s illness was due to a struggle
\nwith universal forces which far overpassed the scope of any individual or group
\nof individuals.  What I wrote about the strain thrown on the Mother by the
\nphysical contact was in connection with her resumption of work \u2014 and it concerns
\nthe conditions under which the work can best be done, so that these forces may
\nnot in future have the advantage.  Conditions have been particularly
\narduous in the past owing to the perhaps inevitable development of things, for
\nwhich I do not hold anyone responsible;  but now that the Sadhana has come
\ndown to the most material plane on which blows can still be given by the adverse
\nforces, it is necessary to make a change which can best be done by a change in
\nthe inner attitude of the Sadhaks;  for that alone now can make \u2014 until the
\ndecisive descent of the supramental Light and Force \u2014 the external conditions
\neasier.  But of this I cannot write at the tail-end of a letter.<\/FONT>
\n

16-11-1931<\/FONT><\/B>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nI have not yet said anything about the
\nMother’s illness because to do so would have needed a long consideration of what
\nthose who are at the centre of a work like this have to be, what they have to
\ntake upon themselves of human or terrestrial nature and its limitations and how
\nmuch they have to bear of the difficulties of transformation.  All that is
\nnot only difficult in itself for the<\/FONT>

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 316<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

mind to understand but difficult for me
\nto write in such a way as to bring it home to those who have not our
\nconsciousness or our experience.  I suppose it has to be written but I have
\nnot yet found the necessary form or the necessary leisure.<\/FONT>
\n

19-11-1931<\/B><\/FONT>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nIt is much easier for the Sadhak by faith
\nin the Mother to get free from illness than for the Mother to keep free \u2014
\nbecause the Mother by the very nature of her work had to identify herself with
\nthe Sadhaks, to support all their difficulties, to receive into herself all the
\npoison in their nature, to take up besides all the difficulties of the universal
\nearth-Nature, including the possibility of death and disease in order to fight
\nthem out.  If she had not done that, not a single Sadhak would have been
\nable to practise this Yoga.  The Divine has to put on humanity in order
\nthat the human being may rise to the Divine.  It is a simple truth, but
\nnobody in the Ashram seems able to understand that the Divine can do that and
\nyet remain different from them \u2014 can still remain the Divine.<\/FONT>
\n

8-5-1933<\/B><\/FONT>
\n


\n 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nQ:<\/I><\/B> 
\nPeople in the Ashram believe that their difficulties and illnesses are taken by
\nthe Mother on herself and therefore she has sometimes to suffer.  But at
\nthat rate there would be too much onrush of these things on her from many
\nSadhaks.  An idea comes to me of taking upon myself some of these
\ndifficulties and illnesses so that I can also suffer with her pleasantly
\n?<\/I><\/FONT>
\n


\n 

A:<\/B>  Pleasantly ?  It
\nwould be anything but pleasant either for you or for us.<\/FONT>
\n

 

It is rather a crude statement of a
\nfact.  The Mother in order to do her work had to take all the Sadhaks
\ninside her personal being and consciousness;  thus personally  (not merely impersonally)<\/FONT>

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 317<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

taken inside, all the
\ndisturbances and difficulties in them including illnesses could throw themselves
\nupon her in a way that could not have happened if she had not renounced the
\nself-protection of separateness.  Not only illnesses of others could
\ntranslate themselves into attacks on her body \u2014 these she could generally throw
\noff as soon as she knew from what quarter and why it came \u2014 but their inner
\ndifficulties, revolts, outbursts of anger and hatred against her could have the
\nsame and a worse effect.  That was the only danger for her  (because
\ninner difficulties are easily surmountable), but matter and the body are the
\nweak point or crucial point of our Yoga, since this province has never been
\nconquered by the spiritual Power, the old Yogas having either left it alone or
\nused on it only a detail mental and vital force, not the general spiritual
\nforce.  It was the reason why after a serious illness caused by a terribly
\nbad state of the Ashram atmosphere, I had to insist on her partial retirement so
\nas to minimise the most concrete part of the pressure upon her.  Naturally,
\nthe full conquest of the physical would revolutionise matters, but as yet it is
\nthe struggle.<\/FONT>
\n

31-3-1934<\/B><\/FONT>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nQ:<\/B>  Is it not inevitable that
\nin the process of conversion and transformation all these resistances,
\ndisturbances, revolts should arise in every Sadhak ?  Could they be
\neliminated by anyone from the very beginning of his Sadhana so that there would
\nbe less of these things for the Mother to take upon her own self
\n?<\/FONT><\/I>
\n

 

A:<\/B>  The nature of the
\nterrestrial consciousness and of humanity being what it is, these things were to
\nsome extent inevitable.  It is only a very few who escape with the slighter
\nadverse movements only.  But after a time these things should disappear.  It
\ndoes so disappear in individuals \u2014 but there seems to be a great difficulty in
\ngetting it to disappear from the atmosphere of the Ashram \u2014 somebody or other
\nalways takes it up and from him it tries to spread to others.  It is, of
\ncourse, because there is behind it one of<\/FONT>
\n

 <\/p>\n


\nPage – 318<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

the principles of life according to
\nthe Ignorance \u2014 a deeply rooted tendency of vital Nature.  But it is the
\nvery aim of Sadhana<\/FONT> to overcome that and
\nsubstitute a truer and diviner vital Force.
<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n

1-4-1934<\/FONT><\/B>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nWhat you saw is correct, but if the
\nattitude of the Sadhak is the true psychic attitude, then the Mother has not to
\nsuffer;  she can act on them without anything falling on her.<\/FONT>
\n

22-1-1937<\/FONT><\/B>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nIt is due to the impurities of the
\nSadhaks thrown on the Mother.<\/FONT>
\n

 

There seems to be no remedy possible
\nbefore the physical change.  If the Mother puts an inner wall between her
\nand the Sadhaks, it would not happen, but then they would be unable to receive
\nanything from her.  If all were more careful to come to her with their
\ndeepest and highest consciousness, then there would be less chance of these
\nthings happening.<\/FONT>
\n

 


\n\t\tThe danger of helping others is the
\ndanger of taking upon oneself their difficulties.  If one can keep oneself
\nseparate and help, this does not occur.  But the tendency in helping is to
\ntake the person partially or completely into one’s larger self.  This is
\nwhat the Mother has had to do with the Sadhaks and the reason why she has
\nsometimes to suffer \u2014 for one cannot always be on guard against any backwash
\nwhen one is absorbed or in action.  There is also the difficulty that the
\npersons helped get the habit of drawing and pulling on your forces instead of
\nleaving it to you to give just what you can and ought to give.  And many
\nother smaller possibilities one who helps others has to face.<\/FONT>
\n

29-1-1935<\/FONT><\/B> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\t\t


\n\t\t*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 319<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

There are many who did that in the
\npast.  I don’t know that he does it now.  But all bad thoughts upon
\nthe Mother or throwing of impurities on her may affect her body as she has
\ntaken the Sadhaks into her consciousness nor can she send these things
\n<\/FONT>back to them as it might hurt
\nthem.<\/FONT><\/FONT>
\n

17-3-1936<\/B><\/FONT>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nThere is not the slightest necessity for
\nthe Mother drawing impurities into herself \u2014 any more than for the Sadhak
\ninviting impurity to come into himself.  Impurity has to be thrown away, not
\ndrawn in.<\/FONT>
\n

18-3-1936<\/B><\/FONT>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nThe idea of unburdening desires,
\nimperfections, impurities, illnesses on the Mother so that she may bear the
\nresults instead of the Sadhaks is a curious one.  I suppose it is an
\nimitation of the Christian ideal of a Christ suffering on the cross for the sake
\nof humanity.  But it has nothing to do with the Yoga of
\ntransformation.<\/FONT>
\n

1-11-1936<\/B><\/FONT>
\n


\n


\n\t\t 


\n\t\tREASONS  OF  THE  MOTHER’S  TEMPORARY 
\nRETIREMENT<\/B><\/FONT>
\n\t\t

 

There will always be doubts, upsettings
\nand confusion of the physical mind and vital, so long as the vital approaches
\nthe Mother from the wrong standpoint, \u2014 e.g. if it insists on judging her by her
\nresponse to its demands and ideas of what she ought to give it.  Not to
\nimpose one’s mind or vital will on the Divine but to receive the Divine’s Will
\nand follow it, is the true attitude of Sadhana.  Not to say  “This is
\nmy right, want, claim, need, requirement, why do I not get it ?”, but to give
\noneself, to surrender and to receive with joy whatever the Divine gives, not
\ngrieving or revolting, is the right way.  Then what one receives<\/FONT> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 320<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

will be the right thing for one. 
\nAll this you know very well;  why do you constantly allow your outer vital
\nto forget it and drag you back towards the old wrong attitude ?<\/FONT>
\n

 

As for the Mother drawing back from the
\nold course, routine etc. of her action with regard to the Sadhaks, it was a
\nsheer necessity of the work and the Sadhana.  Everything had got into a
\nwrong groove, was full of mixed movements and a mistaken attitude \u2014 and
\nconsequently things were going on in the same rajaso-tamasic round without
\nany chance of issue \u2014 like a squirrel in a cage.  The Mother’s illness was
\nan emphatic warning that this could not be allowed to go on any longer.  A
\nnew basis of action and relations has to be built up in which no further
\nsanction will ever seem to be given to the past mistaken movements of the
\nSadhaks which were standing in the way of the descent of the Truth into the
\nphysical  (material)  nature.  The basis cannot be built in a
\nday, but the Mother had to stand back, otherwise to build it at all would be
\nimpossible.<\/FONT>
\n

7-12-1931<\/FONT><\/B>
\n

 


\n*<\/font><\/P>
\n

 <\/P>
\n


\nIt is not a fact that the Mother is
\nretiring more and more or that she has any intention of going inside entirely
\nlike me.  Your remarks about the privileged few are incomprehensible to
\nme;  we are not confiding in a few at the expense of others or telling them
\nwhat is happening while keeping silent to you.  This is an old complaint of
\nyours and it has no foundation.  If anybody claims to have the special
\nconfidence of the Mother, he is making an egoistic claim which is not
\njustifiable.  Your real point seems to be about the Mother’s not taking up
\nthe soup and its accompaniments again.  I have told you already why she was
\ncompelled by the experience of her illness to stand back from the old routine \u2014
\nwhich had become for most of the Sadhaks a sort of semi-ecclesiastical routine
\nand nothing more.  It was because of the mistaken attitude of the Sadhaks
\nwhich had brought about an atmosphere full of movements contrary to the Yoga and
\nlikely to lead to disaster \u2014 as it had already begun to do.  To
\nresume<\/FONT> the soup on the old footing
\nwould be to bring back the old conditions<\/FONT>
\n

 <\/p>\n


\nPage – 321<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

and end in a repetition
\nof the round and wrong movements and the same results.  The Mother has
\nbeen  slowly and carefully taking steps to renew on another footing her
\ncontrol of things after her illness, but she can take no step which will allow
\nthe old dark movements to return \u2014 movements of  same of which I think you
\nyourself were beginning to take notice.  The next step is for the Sadhaks
\nthemselves to take;  they must make it possible  (by their change of
\nattitude, by their resolution to rise on the lower vital and physical plane into
\nthe true consciousness)  for a union with the Mother on that plane in
\nthe right way and with the right result<\/I> to become possible.  More I
\ncannot say just now;  but I fully intend to be more explicit hereafter \u2014 so
\nfar as I can without special reference to individuals;  for there are
\nthings personal to people’s Yoga that can often be spoken of only to themselves
\nand not to others.<\/FONT>
\n

 

As for your other questions I shall
\nconsider them in another letter.  I will only say that what happens is for
\nthe  “best”  in this sense only that the end will be a divine victory
\nin spite of all difficulties \u2014 that has been and always will be my seeing, my
\nfaith and my assurance \u2014 if you are willing to accept it from me.  But that
\ndoes not mean that your sadness and depression are necessary to the movement
\n!  The sooner they disappear never to recur again, the more joyously the
\nMother and I will advance on the steep road to the summits, and the easier it
\nwill be for you to realise what you want, the complete Bhakti and Ananda.<\/FONT> <\/p>\n

28-12-1931<\/B><\/FONT> <\/p>\n


\nPage – 322<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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