{"id":2967,"date":"2013-07-13T01:44:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2967"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:44:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:58","slug":"16-the-mothers-force-vol-32-the-mother-with-letters-on-the-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/32-the-mother-with-letters-on-the-mother\/16-the-mothers-force-vol-32-the-mother-with-letters-on-the-mother","title":{"rendered":"-16_The Mother^s Force.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

 The Mother’s Force
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat Is the Mother’s Force? <\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is the Yoga shakti? What is Yogic mind
\n\u2014force, Yogic
\nlife \u2014force and Yogic body \u2014force? <\/p>\n

In the Yogic consciousness one is not only aware of things, but
\nof forces, not only of forces, but of the conscious being behind the forces. One is aware of all this not only in oneself but in
\nthe universe. There is a force which accompanies the growth of this new consciousness and at once grows with it and helps it to
\ncome about and to perfect itself. This force is the Yoga shakti. It is here asleep and coiled up in all the centres of our inner
\nbeing (chakras) and is at the base what is called in the Tantras the Kundalini Shakti. But it is also above us, above our head
\nas the Divine Force  \u2014not there coiled up, involved, asleep, but awake, scient, potent, extended and wide; it is there waiting for
\nmanifestation and to this Force we have to open ourselves  \u2014to the power of the Mother. In the mind it manifests itself as a divine
\nmind \u2014force or a universal mind \u2014force and it can do everything that the personal mind cannot do; it is then the Yogic mindforce. When it manifests and works in the vital or physical in the same way, it is then apparent as a Yogic life
\n\t\u2014force or a Yogic
\nbody \u2014force. It can awake in all these forms, bursting outwards and upwards, extending itself into wideness from below; or it
\ncan descend and become there a definite power for things; it can pour downwards into the body, working, establishing its
\nreign, extending into wideness from above, link the lowest in us with the highest above us, release the individual into a cosmic
\nuniversality or into absoluteness and transcendence.<\/p>\n

\n

23 March 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 192<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

You often speak of the Mother’s Force. What is it? <\/p>\n

It is the Divine Force which works to remove the ignorance and
\nchange the nature into the divine nature.<\/p>\n

\n

18 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why do I feel that it is I who do this thing or that? For is it not
\ntrue that it is the Mother’s force which does everything in us? <\/p>\n

When I speak of the Mother’s force, I do not speak of the force of
\nPrakriti which carries on things in the Ignorance but of the higher Force of the Divine that descends from above to transform the
\nnature.<\/p>\n

\n

4 August 1933 <\/p>\n


\nProgress in Sadhana and the Mother’s Force
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you say to someone, “You are open to the Mother”, do
\nyou mean open in a general way? Are not all in the Asram more or less open to the Mother as soon as they have accepted her
\nas the Mother? And when the Mother has accepted a sadhak, does her Force not begin to work in him and is it not always
\nwith him? <\/p>\n

All are not open to the Force. X <\/i>never was in the least degree and
\nthere are others who shut themselves up in their own self \u2014will or their own formations, ideas or desires. If there is no opening,
\nthe Force may act for a long time without response  \u2014and if there is an insufficient opening then the progress will be slow
\nand chequered by great difficulties. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let nothing and nobody come between you and the Mother’s force. It is on your admitting and keeping that force and responding to the true inspiration and not on any ideas the mind may form that success will depend. Even ideas or plans which
\nmight otherwise be useful, will fail if there is not behind them the true spirit and the true force and influence. <\/p>\n

23 March 1928 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 193<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

The illnesses you have are the signs of the resistance of your physical consciousness to the action of the Divine Power. <\/p>\n

If you cannot advance in your sadhana, it is because you are divided and do not give yourself without reserve. You speak of
\nsurrendering everything to the Mother but you have not done even the one thing which she asked of you and which you have
\npromised more than once. If after having called the action of the Divine Force, you allow other influences to prevail, how can
\nyou expect to be free from obstruction and difficulties?<\/p>\n

\n

20 November 1928 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nowadays my vital nature gets excited about anything and
\neverything, even trifles. From morning to night it is in an unhappy condition. I have my doubts whether it can be changed.
\nI know that it is not in my power to do the work; the Mother’s Grace alone can do it. My outer mind needs some rays of hope. <\/p>\n

It is to be assumed that you are capable of the change since you are here in the presence and under the protection of the
\nMother. The pressure and help of the Mother’s Force is always there. Your rapidity of progress depends upon your keeping
\nyourself open to it and rejecting calmly, quietly and steadily all suggestions and invasions of other forces. Especially the nervous
\nexcitement of the vital has to be rejected; a calm and quiet strength in the nervous being and the body is the only sound
\nbasis. It is there for you to receive, if you open yourself to it always. <\/p>\n

27 August 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I look at the way the Mother deals with people, I feel that she does not love them equally in an outward way. Is this
\nfeeling true? <\/p>\n

The Mother’s Force is working in all alike, according to their
\ncapacity they will receive it and it will work in them; if there is any difference, it is their own nature that makes it. <\/p>\n

6 February 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 194<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

This restless mind and unquiet vital are not peculiar to you; they are the human nature from which every sadhak starts. What
\nyou have to get is the Mother’s force and grace bringing with it deliverance, peace and Ananda which you say you from time
\nto time experience. That in the beginning does come only for a short time, but as you persist in the path, it increases in frequency
\nand stays longer until it can be made a permanent experience. It is this that will cure the defects of which you complain. <\/p>\n

16 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once you wrote, “Before you read offer it to the Mother and call down her force.” Is her force not already in us and
\nworking? <\/p>\n

If it is, then you will have no difficulty. <\/p>\n

4 August 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is not every sadhak ready to receive and contain the Mother’s force at any time and in any circumstance? Who would not
\nwant to hold its constant action? <\/p>\n

It is not a question of mental wish but of capacity and whether
\nall the parts of the being are ready and can retain it. If everybody were containing the constant action of the Mother’s force, the
\nsadhana would be finished by now and the siddhi complete.<\/p>\n

\n

7 August 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it not time for me to let the Mother’s Force take charge of
\nthe Yoga, instead of allowing the Adhar to think it is doing the Yoga? <\/p>\n

That can be only when all is ready. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn that case is it necessary for the mind to aspire? Because once the Force
\n\tis there, it will set everything right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 195<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

The system has first to be accustomed to the Force working.<\/p>\n

\n

9 May 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All has to be done by the working of the Mother’s force aided
\nby your aspiration, devotion and surrender.<\/p>\n

\n

30 October 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother has already given you orally the answer to your
\nletter and the directions you asked for. As she told you, your concentration should be in the heart centre and all the rest 
\n\t\u2014the rising above the head etc.  \u2014should come of itself in the natural process of the sadhana. Through the heart you will get
\nthe closer and closer touch of the Mother and the working of her Force in the whole being. <\/p>\n

9 December 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a dream yesterday I was walking in the street, carrying some kind of big flat drum. Just for fun I touched it with my fingers
\nand very sweet musical sounds were produced. Perhaps it was a broken drum, for no one expected any music to come from
\nit, but as I went on playing, fine music was coming out. <\/p>\n

It is a symbol of the harmony that can be brought out of the
\nhuman nature in spite of its present imperfection when one gives it the true touch, that is, puts it under the true psychic
\ninfluence. <\/p>\n

People around me were charmed by the music. I was very
\nhappy and played more and more; many new fine tunes were coming from the drum as if they were simply ready made. <\/p>\n

Always keep open to the Mother’s Force 
\n\u2014let the inner consciousness develop  \u2014only that will help and deliver from all
\ndifficulties as the openness in the physical grows in you.<\/p>\n

\n

12 January 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 196<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

There are some people here who remain constantly in despair and gloom because they have become conscious of their
\nminutest imperfections, but they are unable to get rid of them. <\/p>\n

They are unable for two reasons: (1) because they yield to despair
\nand gloom and the illusion of impotence, (2) because they try only with their own strength and do not care or know how to
\ncall in the working of the Mother’s force.<\/p>\n

\n

10 June 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sometimes I feel a thick wall between me and the Divine. At
\nother times there is a pressure on me and I feel quietude come into me. <\/p>\n

Persevere in spite of the fluctuations. The Mother’s force is at work all the time<\/i>, even when the thick wall is there, so that there
\nmay be no wall in future.<\/p>\n

\n

24 June 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have written that “the Force is there”. Why then do I not
\nfeel it except for a short time after pranam? Formerly I felt that the Force above was doing the sadhana. Why do I not
\nfeel it now? <\/p>\n

The Mother’s Force is not only above on the summit of the
\nbeing. It is there with you and near you, ready to act whenever your nature will allow it. It is so with everybody here. <\/p>\n

15 November 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This evening X <\/i>told me, “Fill your entire nature with the Mother’s power.” In my past sadhana I have never consciously
\ninvoked power; the entire stress has been on purity and clarity. But if that is the need of my nature, I will pray for power along
\nwith other things. <\/p>\n

It is not necessary to ask for Power. It is the Mother’s Force that
\nmust work in the being and if it is there, all necessary power will come. <\/p>\n

c. 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 197<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

When a sadhak works with the right attitude and the higher Force acts in him directly, how does the Force work to purify
\nor remove his defects and imperfections? <\/p>\n

It acts by awakening the inner consciousness gradually or swiftly,
\nby replacing the principle of ego \u2014service by the principle of service of the Divine, by making him watch his actions and see
\nhis own defects and pushing him to rectify them, by establishing a connection between his consciousness and the Mother’s
\nconsciousness, by preparing his nature to be taken up more and more by the Mother’s consciousness and force, by giving him
\nexperiences which make him ready for the major experiences of Yoga, by stimulating the growth of his psychic being, by opening
\nhim to the Mother as the Universal Being, etc. etc. Naturally it acts differently in different persons. <\/p>\n

7 May 1937 <\/p>\n

\n\tReliance on the Mother’s Force
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My mind is not yet quiet and that is why I am not getting any joy in my sadhana, any experience or realisation 
\n\t\u2014nothing at
\nall. This makes me very sad and unhappy. May the Mother bestow on me the flow of Peace and help me to open my closed
\nheart \u2014centre. <\/p>\n

There has always been too much reliance on the action of your
\nown mind and will  \u2014that is why you cannot progress. If you could once get the habit of silent reliance on the power of the
\nMother  \u2014not merely calling it in to support your own effort  \u2014the obstacle would diminish and eventually disappear. <\/p>\n

14 July 1929 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You should not rely on anything else alone, however helpful it may seem, but chiefly, primarily, fundamentally on the Mother’s
\nForce. The Sun and the Light may be a help, and will be if it is the true light and the true Sun, but cannot take the place of the
\nMother’s Force.<\/p>\n

\n

28 May 1930 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 198<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

There is no aspiration in me, no capacity to follow something higher. I feel dullness inside. But I do feel quiet from the pressure on my head. I must be patient and keep faith 
\n\u2014then you will make me conscious. <\/p>\n

Quietude first; with it confidence in the Mother’s Force that is working on you. When the physical mind is obliged to be
\nquiet, it has this impression of inactivity and dullness at first. When it opens more and more to the Force, that impression will
\ndisappear.<\/p>\n

\n

12 November 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If one gives full and constant consent to the Mother’s working, how can the attempt of other beings to enter into one succeed? <\/p>\n

If you give consent to the Mother’s working alone, then it cannot. <\/p>\n

It is not always an attempt. One receives the thoughts and feelings of the others without any attempt or intention of theirs,
\nbecause they are in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\n

31 July 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe depression has come upon you because you accepted the thought that you
\n\twere not doing what you should and not using the chance Mother had given
\n\tyou. Such thoughts should never be indulged for they open the door to
\n\tdepression and depression opens the door to the old movements; they used to
\n\tcome formerly from the idea that you were unfit, now it is this idea that
\n\tyou are not doing all you ought to do. As a matter of fact you have been
\n\tprogressing with a surprising rapidity for the last days at a rate that we
\n\tourselves did not expect from you. But whether the progress is rapid or
\n\tslow, the attitude should always be an entire faith and reliance on the
\n\tMother; just as you do not think that the progress was the result of your
\n\town effort or merit, but of your taking the right attitude of reliance and
\n\tthe Mother’s force working, so you should not think that any slowness or
\n\tdifficulty was due to your own demerit but only<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 199<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

seek to keep this attitude of reliance and let the Mother’s Force work, 
\n\u2014slowly or rapidly does not matter. <\/p>\n

The dream was again one of these experiences of test or ordeal on the vital plane which you have been having 
\n\u2014here it
\nwas the test of temptation by power, comfort, riches, attractive things, as it was formerly the test by fear, difficulty, trouble. The
\nevidence of all these tests is that your inner being is perfectly ready and free to go unwaveringly to the goal. There is nothing
\nthere that is wrong or defective. <\/p>\n

Keep the reliance steady in your heart and do not allow selfdistrust, depression or sadness to invade you from outside.<\/p>\n

\n

14 November 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can I do Yoga when I know nothing about your Yoga? I
\ndo not even know what to do. <\/p>\n

There are two ways of doing Yoga, one by knowledge and one’s
\nown efforts, the other by reliance on the Mother. In the last way one has to offer one’s mind and heart and all to the Mother for
\nher Force to work on it, call her in all difficulties, have faith and bhakti. At first it takes time, often a long time, for the
\nconsciousness to be prepared in this way and during that time many difficulties can come up, but if one perseveres a time comes
\nwhen all is ready, the Mother’s Force opens the consciousness fully to the Divine, then all that must develop develops within,
\nspiritual experience comes and with it the knowledge and union with the Divine. <\/p>\n

9 April 1937 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You say after several years you have not changed your nature. I only wish the external nature were so easy to transform that
\nit could be done in a few years. You forget also that the real problem  \u2014to get rid of the pervading ego in this nature 
\n\u2014is
\na task you have seriously tackled only a short time ago. And it is not in a few months that that can be done. Even the best
\nsadhaks find after many experiences and large changes on the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 200<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

higher planes that here much remains to be done. How do you expect to get rid of it at once unlike everybody else? A Yoga
\nlike this needs patience, because it means a change both of the radical motives and of each part and detail of the nature. It
\nwill not do to say, “Yesterday I determined this time to give myself entirely to the Mother, and look it is not done, on the
\ncontrary all the old opposite things turn up once more; so there is nothing to do but to proclaim myself unfit and give up the
\nYoga.” Of course when you come to the point where you make a resolution of that kind, immediately all that stands in the way
\ndoes rise up  \u2014it invariably happens. The thing to be done is to stand back, observe and reject, not to allow these things to get
\nhold of you, to keep your central will separate from them and call in the Mother’s Force to meet them. If one does get involved
\nas often happens, then to get disinvolved as soon as possible and go forward again. That is what everybody, every Yogi does 
\n\u2014to be depressed because one cannot do everything in a rush is quite contrary to the truth of the matter. A stumble does not
\nmean that one is unfit, nor does prolonged difficulty mean that for oneself the thing is impossible. <\/p>\n

The fact that you have to give up your ordinary work when you get depressed does not mean that you have not gained in
\nsteadiness  \u2014it only means that the steadiness you have gained is not a personal virtue but depends on your keeping the contact
\nwith the Mother  \u2014for it is her force that is behind it and behind all the progress you can make. Learn to rely on that Force more,
\nto open to it more completely and to seek spiritual progress even not for your own sake but for the sake of the Divine 
\n\u2014then you will go on more smoothly. Get the psychic opening in the most external physical consciousness. That and not despondency is the lesson you ought to draw from your present adverse experience. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tBecoming Conscious of the Mother’s Force
\n\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tYesterday I felt a great Peace and Power. I felt the Mother’s atmosphere
\n\taround me and a strange nearness to her. I thought<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 201<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

that the Mother’s thought or consciousness must be with me. Is this true? <\/p>\n

The Force is always around you, for the Mother has put her consciousness there 
\n\u2014but it works with especial force when we
\nthink of you, and that is what you feel. Your consciousness of it  \u2014what you describe of your feeling about it, is quite correct 
\n\u2014to become clearly conscious in all parts of the being takes time. <\/p>\n

6 July 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

X <\/i>told me that he does not feel it is the Mother’s force that works in him, since with his own force he is able to lift 40 lbs.
\nof grain. <\/p>\n

What is meant by one’s own force? All force is cosmic and the
\nindividual is merely an instrument  \u2014a certain amount of the force may be stored in him, but that does not make it his own. <\/p>\n

There are certain possibilities in the way of the experience. First there is the faith, or sometimes a mental realisation and
\nthis of itself is enough to make one open to the Mother’s force so that it is always available at need or call. Even if one does not
\nfeel the Force coming, yet the results are there and visible. The next is when one feels oneself like an instrument and is aware of
\nthe Energy using it. A third is the contact with the Power above and its descent (spontaneous or at call) into the body 
\n\u2014this is
\nthe more concrete way of having it, for one physically feels the Force working in one. Finally there is a state of awareness of
\nclose contact with the Mother (inward) which brings a similar result. <\/p>\n

12 May 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I have to see is that my consciousness supports the working of the Mother’s Force in me. For example, if my being
\nconstantly supported the Mother’s work, there would hardly be any halt in sadhana due to the tamas in me; the tamasic
\ninertia would get transformed into peace without rising up and darkening the
\nother parts of the being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 202<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Yes, that is how it should happen 
\n\u2014but it is difficult so long as the inner being is not conscious and receptive at all times and
\nin all conditions  \u2014and it is difficult and takes time to establish such a condition. <\/p>\n

23 January 1935 <\/p>\n

\n\tDescent of the Mother’s Force
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you feel streaming down must be the Mother’s overhead Force. It flows usually from above the head and works at first
\nin the mind centres (head and neck) and afterwards goes down into the chest and heart and then through the movement of the
\nwhole body. <\/p>\n

It is the effect of this working which you must be feeling in
\nthe head up to the shoulders. The Force that comes down from above is the one that works to transform the consciousness into
\nthat of a higher spiritual being. Before that the Mother’s Force works in the psychic, mental, vital and the physical plane itself
\nto support, purify and psychically change the consciousness. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you began to meditate, you saw the Mother’s face; that is very good, it means that there is an inner connection established.
\nThe absence of the smile does not mean that she is displeased or that you have done anything against her will. At the same time
\nthe Mother’s force descended on you, it was the pressure of her Force that you felt on the head and breast 
\n\u2014everybody feels in
\nthe beginning this pressure  \u2014and what you felt in the breast was the working of the Force. In the Yoga these are signs of the
\naction of the Yoga and you must observe quietly what happens without getting disturbed, remembering the Mother always and
\ntrusting in her action upon you.<\/p>\n

\n

25 June 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When there is obscurity or habitual thoughts, the narrowness
\nof the physical mind becomes prominent. But now and then, the physical mind seems to become limitless, thoughtless and
\nwithout obscurity. Is this a true feeling?   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 203<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Yes. All the parts that have to be changed must widen like that before the higher consciousness can descend into them. <\/p>\n

Is there any relation between the Mother’s descent into the physical parts and the descent of the forces that are working
\nin me? <\/p>\n

Certainly. In a sense, the descent of the higher forces is the
\nMother’s own descent  \u2014for it is she who comes down in them.<\/p>\n

\n

21 December 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As I sat to pray, I felt an electric force pass through my spinal
\ncord. It was like the electricity from a battery passing from the crown of my head down to the end of my backbone. The
\nmore it went downward, the more strong and joyous was the rapture I felt. What is this? <\/p>\n

It is the descent of the Mother’s Force from above through the spinal cord 
\n\u2014it is a well \u2014known movement. There are two or
\nthree kinds of descent. One is this touching the base of the centres which rest on the spinal cord. Another is through the
\nhead into the body going from level to level till the whole body is filled and opening all the centres of consciousness. Another is
\na descent enveloping the Adhar from outside.<\/p>\n

\n

1 February 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last night I felt that the Mother’s Force, instead of descending
\nthrough the head as usual, came down directly through the forehead centre. <\/p>\n

It can come in anywhere, but the normal way of descent is through the head. <\/p>\n

8 May 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the Peace is established, this higher or Divine Force from above can descend and work in us. It descends usually first
\ninto the head and liberates the inner mind centres, then into the heart centre
\nand liberates fully the psychic and emotional <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 204<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

being, then into the navel and other vital centres and liberates the inner vital, then into the Muladhara and below and liberates
\nthe inner physical being. It works at the same time for perfection as well as liberation; it takes up the whole nature part by part
\nand deals with it, rejecting what has to be rejected, sublimating what has to be sublimated, creating what has to be created. It
\nintegrates, harmonises, establishes a new rhythm in the nature. It can bring down too a higher and yet higher force and range
\nof the higher Nature until, if that be the aim of the sadhana, it becomes possible to bring down the supramental force and
\nexistence. All this is prepared, assisted, farthered by the work of the psychic being in the heart centre; the more it is open, in
\nfront, active, the quicker, safer, easier the working of the Force can be. The more love and bhakti and surrender grow in the
\nheart, the more rapid and perfect becomes the evolution of the sadhana. For the descent and transformation imply at the same
\ntime an increasing contact and union with the Divine. <\/p>\n

That is the fundamental rationale of the Sadhana. It will
\nbe evident that the two most important things here are the opening of the heart centre and the opening of the mind centres to all that is behind and above them. For the heart opens to the psychic being and the mind centres open to the higher
\nconsciousness and the nexus between the psychic being and the higher consciousness is the principal means of the Siddhi. The
\nfirst opening is effected by a concentration in the heart, a call to the Divine to manifest within us and through the psychic to take
\nup and lead the whole nature. Aspiration, prayer, bhakti, love, surrender are the main supports of this part of the Sadhana 
\n\t\u2014accompanied by a rejection of all that stands in the way of what we aspire for. The second opening is effected by a concentration
\nof the consciousness in the head (afterwards, above it) and an aspiration and call and a sustained will for the descent of the
\ndivine Peace, Power, Light, Knowledge, Ananda into the being  \u2014the Peace first or the Peace and Force together. Some indeed
\nreceive Light first or Ananda first or some sudden pouring down of Knowledge.
\n\tWith some there is first an opening which reveals to them a vast infinite
\n\tSilence, Force, Light or Bliss above them <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 205<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and afterwards either they ascend to that or these things begin to descend into the lower nature. With others there is either
\nthe descent, first into the head, then down to the heart level, then to the navel and below and through the whole body, or
\nelse an inexplicable opening  \u2014without any sense of descent  \u2014of peace, light, wideness or power or else a horizontal opening
\ninto the cosmic consciousness or, in a suddenly widened mind, an outburst of knowledge. Whatever comes has to be welcomed 
\n\u2014for there is no absolute rule for all,  \u2014but if the peace has not come first, care must be taken not to swell oneself in exultation
\nor lose the balance. The capital movement however is when the Divine Force or Shakti, the Power of the Mother comes down
\nand takes hold, for then the organisation of the consciousness begins and the larger foundation of the Yoga. <\/p>\n

11 September 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The experiences you have are a good starting
\n\u2014point for realisation. They have to develop into the light of a deeper state
\nin which there will be the descent of a higher consciousness into you. Your present consciousness in which you feel these
\nthings is only a preparatory one  \u2014in which the Mother works in you through the cosmic power according to your state of
\nconsciousness and your karma and in that working both success and failure can come 
\n\u2014one has to remain equal \u2014minded
\nto both while trying always for success. A surer guidance can come even in this preparatory consciousness if you are entirely
\nturned towards her alone in such a way that you can feel her direct guidance and follow it without any other influence or force
\nintervening to act upon you, but that condition is not easy to get or keep 
\n\u2014it needs a great one \u2014pointedness and constant singleminded dedication. When the higher consciousness will descend, then a closer union, a more intimate consciousness of the Presence and a more illumined intuition will become possible.<\/p>\n

\n

17 November 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 206<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

The stream which you feel coming down on the head and pouring into you is indeed a current of the Mother’s Force; it is so that
\nit is often felt; it flows into the body in currents and works there to liberate and change the consciousness. As the consciousness
\nchanges and develops, you will begin yourself to understand the meaning and working of these things. <\/p>\n

21 August 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Something is growing in you, but it is all inside 
\n\u2014still if there is the steady persistence it is bound to come out. For instance, this
\nwhite dazzling light with currents, it is a sure sign of the Force     <\/i>
\n (the Mother’s) entering and working in the adhara<\/i>, but it came to you in sleep 
\n\u2014that is to say, in the inner being, still behind
\nthe veil. The moment it came out, the dryness would disappear.<\/p>\n

\n

5 February 1937 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What the Mother did was to light the fire within 
\n\t\u2014if you did
\nnot feel it, it must be because the outer covering has not yet allowed it to come through into the outer consciousness. But
\nsomething in the inner being must have kept it and opened more widely  \u2014that is shown by your experience in sleep, for that was
\nevidently an action of the Mother in the inner being. The descent of this current in the spine is always a descent of the Mother’s
\nForce working in the centres to open them; the strong force of the current which you felt is an evident proof that the wider opening
\nis there. You have only to persist and the effects both of the fire and the force will come out in the surface consciousness 
\n\t\u2014for
\nalways there is a preparatory work behind the veil in the inner being before the veil thins or disappears and all the working can
\nbe done with the participation of the outer consciousness.<\/p>\n

\n

22 April 1937 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Mother’s force can come down quite nicely and gently  \u2014there is no
\n\tneed of palpitations, giddiness or nausea for that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 207<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n


\nPressure of the Descending Force
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the meaning of your experiences: <\/p>\n

(1) The power of the Divine Mother from above is descending upon you and the pressure you feel on your head and the
\nworkings of which you are aware are hers. <\/p>\n

Put yourself completely into her hands, have entire confidence, observe carefully and accurately all that happens and write that here. There is no need of special instructions since
\nwhat is needed is being done for you. <\/p>\n

(2) The first pressure was on your mind. The centres of the
\nmind are (a) the head and above it, (b) the centre of the forehead between the eyes, (c) the throat and the vital mental (emotional)
\nand sensational mind centres from the breast downward. It is  .<\/i>
\nthis latter which is the first prana<\/font>m <\/i>of which you became aware. The action of the Power was to widen these two parts of you
\nand raise them up towards the lowest centre of the higher consciousness above your head, so that hereafter they might both
\nbe consciously governed from there and that these might both move in a wide universal consciousness not limited by the body.
\n .<\/i> <\/p>\n

(3) The other
\n\tpranam<\/i>, the restless one of which you became
\naware, is the vital being, the being of desire and life \u2014movement. The work of the Power has been directed towards quieting the
\nrestless movements and making it wide in consciousness as with the Mind. The large body you felt was the vital body, not the
\n   \u00b4  <\/i>  physical, sthūla śatīre<\/i>. <\/p>\n

(4) The basis of your Sadhana must be silence and quiet,
\nśānti, niravata<\/i>. <\/p>\n

You must remain and grow always more and more deeply
\nquiet and still both in yourself and in your attitude to the world around you. If you can do this, the sadhana is likely to go on
\nprogressing and enlarging itself with a minimum of trouble and disturbance. <\/p>\n

Never mind your family difficulties and say nothing to your people. Go on quietly trusting to the Power that is at work in
\nyou.<\/p>\n

\n

8 September 1927 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 208<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

It is the pressure of Mother’s force. If you keep quiet and don’t resist, then instead of being uneasy, it will make you happy. <\/p>\n

11 August 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From time to time there is a feeling of pressure and heaviness in different parts of the body as the pressure comes down.
\nWhen it passes, the mind is at peace, the heart free, the body light and easy. <\/p>\n

The pressure is that of the Mother’s force. When there is a resistance, you feel the pressure. When the resistance is cleared
\naway, there is the lightness and ease.<\/p>\n

\n

4 October 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nowadays in the evening I try to remain calm and pray for
\nhalf an hour. Then I feel a weight or pressure on my head. It is so calm and cool, yet has such force and fire. Then I am
\ndisturbed by nothing whatever. Formerly I also felt this on certain days, but then I lost it due to some disorder of the
\nconsciousness. <\/p>\n

This weight or pressure on the head is always the sign that the
\nMother’s Force is in contact with you and pressing from above to envelop your being and enter the Adhar and pervade it 
\n\t\u2014usually
\npassing by degrees through the centres on its way downward. Sometimes it comes first as Peace, sometimes as Force, sometimes
\nas the Mother’s consciousness and her presence, sometimes as Ananda. <\/p>\n

When you lost it before, it must have been due either to some uprising of vital imperfections in yourself or an attack
\nfrom outside. Of course the pressure need not always be there, but if things take the ordinary course, it usually recurs or else
\ncontinues until the Adhar is open and there is no further obstacle to the descent of the higher consciousness. <\/p>\n

18 September 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nFrom time to time, I feel a pressure above my head and also in my head and
\nforehead. For the last few days, when I sit for<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 209<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

meditation, there is a feeling as though ants were crawling at the top of my neck and in the spinal cord. Does this have any
\nvalue? <\/p>\n

You can write to him1<\/sup> that the pressure he feels on his head
\nis the pressure of the Mother’s force (the force of the higher consciousness) preparing an opening through the three upper centres (brahmarandhra, base of sahasradala; inner mind centre in the forehead; and the heart or psychic
\n\t\u2014emotional centre). The
\nfeeling in the spine is due to a very slight flow of the current of the Shakti from above 
\n\t\u2014the spine being the base of all the
\ncentres and the channel through which the Force tends most easily to flow from one centre to another (Sahasradala = the
\ncentre where the human or mental and the higher or spiritual consciousness meet). <\/p>\n

15 September 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the term “pressure” is a wrong one to describe the Mother’s recent dealings with me,2<\/sup> what is the sense in which it is used
\nin The Mother <\/i> \u2014she “puts on them the required pressure” [p. 18<\/i>] and “the vehemence of her pressure”? [p. 20<\/i>] <\/p>\n

I was speaking of your case only 
\n\u2014it was not my intention to say that the Mother never uses pressure. But pressure also can
\nbe of various kinds. There is the pressure of the Force when it is entering the mind or vital or body 
\n\u2014a pressure to go faster, a
\npressure to build or form, a pressure to break and many more. In your case if there is any pressure it is that of help or support
\nor removal of an attack, but it does not seem to me that that can properly be called pressure. <\/p>\n

In the same book you say “her hands are outstretched to strike and to succour”. [p. 19<\/i>] What do you mean by “strike” here? <\/p>\n

It expresses her general action in the world. She strikes at the Asuras, she strikes also at everything that has to be got rid of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t1 <\/sup> Written by Sri Aurobindo to his secretary, who replied to the enquirer. 
\n\u2014Ed.<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t2<\/sup>
\nSee letter of 5 June 1936 on pages 118 \u00ad 19.  \u2014Ed.<\/i>
\n <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 210<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

or destroyed, at the obstacles to the sadhana etc. I may say that the Mother never uses the Mahakali power in your case nor the
\nMahakali pressure.<\/p>\n

\n

5 June 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The suggestion that the pressure of sadhana is unbearable has
\ngot fixed in my mind, particularly after reading in two places that those whose nerves are weak are better off living outside
\nthe Ashram. One place is in one of your letters, and another in the Conversations<\/i>, where the Mother says: “You must have
\na strong body and strong nerves. . . . If you have to bear the pressure of the Divine Descent, you must be very strong and
\npowerful, otherwise you would be shaken to pieces.”3 Are these things applicable to me? <\/p>\n

These things refer to beginners who are not open and have not a fit Adhar, yet want to do the sadhana. <\/p>\n

Your body is not weak and you have considerable vital strength. Moreover you have the openness to the Force and the
\nhabit of receiving it, and there is no reason why there should be any upsetting by the Force. It is not the Force, but the suggestion
\nof these vital Forces that produces the upsetting.<\/p>\n

\n

7 September 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The feeling of the vibration of the Mother’s force around the
\nhead is more than a mental idea or even a mental realisation, it is an experience. This vibration is indeed the action of the
\nMother’s Force which is first felt above the head or around it, then afterwards within the head. The pressure means that it is
\nworking to open the mind and its centres so that it may enter. The mind \u2014centres are in the head, one at the top and above it,
\nanother between the eyes, a third in the throat. That is why you feel the vibration around the head and sometimes up to the
\nneck, but not below. It is so usually, for it is only after enveloping and entering the mind that it goes below to the emotional and <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t3<\/sup> The Mother, <\/i>Conversations 1929 \u00ad 1931 (Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram,<\/i>
\n2003 <\/i>), p. 11.<\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 211<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

vital parts (heart, navel, etc.) 
\n\u2014though sometimes it is more enveloping before it enters the body. <\/p>\n

24 March 1937 <\/p>\n

\n\tFaith and the Working of the Mother’s Force
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it so difficult to have faith and confidence in the Mother? Even with a little of that attitude, the descent was taking place in you. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want to get back your faith and keep it, you must first
\nquiet your mind and make it open and obedient to the Mother’s force. If you have an excited mind at the mercy of every influence
\nand impulse, you will remain a field of conflicting and contrary forces and cannot progress. You will begin to listen to your own
\nignorance instead of the Mother’s knowledge and your faith will naturally disappear and you will get into a wrong condition and
\na wrong attitude.<\/p>\n

\n

March 1928 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Put your faith in the Divine Shakti, set your mind at rest and let
\nthe Mother’s Force work.<\/p>\n

\n

26 August 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no reason to be discouraged. Three years is not too
\nmuch for the preparation of the nature and it is usually through fluctuations that it gradually grows nearer to the point where a
\ncontinuous progress becomes possible. One has to cleave firmly to the faith in the Mother’s working behind all appearances and
\nyou will find that that will carry you through.<\/p>\n

\n

31 August 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can try to call down the Mother’s Force, but faith and surrender would require a wonderful Yogic poise and power possible only in born Yogis, I think. <\/p>\n

Not at all. A wonderful Yogic poise and power would usually bring self
\n\u2014reliance rather than faith and surrender. It is the simple
\npeople who do the latter most easily.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t10 August 1936<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 212<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\n\tSurrender to the Mother and the Working of Her Force<\/a><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it the Purusha who consents to the Mother’s Force acting in
\nthe whole being? <\/p>\n

Yes. <\/p>\n

If the Purusha does not consent to the working of the Mother’s Force, does it mean that the other beings (mental, vital, physical and psychic) also cannot come to the front to enable the sadhak to receive the Mother’s Grace? <\/p>\n

No. The Purusha often holds back and lets the other beings consent or reject in his place. <\/p>\n

22 April 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Make the central surrender. The Mother’s Force will do the rest.<\/p>\n

\n

25 October 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this process of the descent from above and the working it
\nis most important not to rely entirely on oneself, but to rely on the guidance of the Guru and to refer all that happens to his
\njudgment and arbitration and decision. For it often happens that the forces of the lower nature are stimulated and excited by the
\ndescent and want to mix with it and turn it to their profit. It often happens too that some Power or Powers undivine in their nature
\npresent themselves as the Supreme Lord or as the Divine Mother and claim the being’s service and surrender. If these things are
\naccepted, there will be an extremely disastrous consequence. If indeed there is the assent of the sadhak to the Divine working
\nalone and the submission or surrender to that guidance, then all can go smoothly. This assent and a rejection of all egoistic forces
\nor forces that appeal to the ego are the safeguard throughout the sadhana. But the ways of Nature are full of snares, the disguises
\nof the ego are innumerable, the illusions of the Powers of Darkness, Rakshasi
\n\tMaya, are extraordinarily skilful; the reason is an insufficient guide and
\n\toften turns traitor; vital desire is always <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 213<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

with us tempting to follow any alluring call. This is the reason why in this Yoga we insist so much on what we call
\nsamarpaṇ<\/font>a<\/i>
\n.<\/i>  \u2014rather inadequately rendered by the English word surrender.
\nIf the heart centre is fully opened and the psychic is always in control, then there is no question; all is safe. But the psychic can
\nat any moment be veiled by a lower upsurge. It is only a few who are exempt from these dangers and it is precisely those to whom
\nsurrender is easily possible. The guidance of one who is himself by identity or represents the Divine is in this difficult endeavour
\nimperative and indispensable.<\/p>\n

\n

11 September 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nothing is impossible if the nature of the psychic being is awake
\nand leading you with the Mother’s consciousness and force behind it and working in you. <\/p>\n

19 October 1935 <\/p>\n

\n\tAssimilation of the Mother’s Force
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Allow a quiet and steady will to progress to be settled in you; learn the habit of a silent, persistent and thorough assimilation
\nof what the Mother puts into you. This is the sound way to advance. <\/p>\n

March 1928 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the Mother’s force, when one receives it the best is to be quiet till it is assimilated; afterwards it is all right, not lost by
\noutward movements or mixing.<\/p>\n

\n

24 January 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ramana Maharshi says that if “you meditate for an hour or
\ntwo every day, you can then carry on with your duties. If you meditate in the right manner . . . ” <\/p>\n

A very important qualification. <\/p>\n

\n\t"then the current of mind induced will continue to flow even in the midst of
\n\tyour work. It is as though there are two ways <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 214<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

of expressing the same idea; the same line which you take in meditation will be expressed in your activities.”4 <\/p>\n

If the meditation brings poise, peace, a concentrated condition or even a pressure or influence, that
\ncan <\/i>go on in the work,
\nprovided one does not throw it away by a relaxed or dispersed state of consciousness. That was why the Mother wanted people not only to be concentrated at pranam or meditation but to remain silent and absorb or assimilate afterwards and also
\nto avoid things that relax or disperse or dissipate too much  \u2014precisely for this reason that so the effects of what she put on
\nthem might continue and the change of attitude the Maharshi speaks of will take place. But I am afraid most of the sadhaks
\nhave never understood or practised anything of the kind  \u2014they could not appreciate or understand her directions. <\/p>\n

9 February 1936 <\/p>\n

\n\tCalling the Mother’s Force
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I tried to meditate, but I simply had to give it up as the mind would not cooperate. <\/p>\n

When you cannot meditate, remain quiet and call in the Mother’s Peace or Force. <\/p>\n

8 April 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suppose I am in a fix and call down the Mother’s force which is above me. Now, how am I to know whether or not it has
\ndescended? <\/p>\n

By the feeling of it or the result. <\/p>\n

And suppose it has descended, and I am doing my lessons  \u2014can I then order it to guard me from outer influences and
\nsimultaneously keep me in complete touch with the Mother? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t4 Paul Brunton,
\n<\/i>A Search in Secret India (London: Rider & Company, [1934] 1943),<\/i>
\np. 156. The quotation is a paraphrase of Ramana Maharshi’s words by Brunton. 
\n\t\u2014Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font>
\n216<\/font><\/i> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 215<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

You can’t order anything to the Mother’s force; the Mother’s force is the manifestation of the Mother herself. <\/p>\n

I cannot understand how this force can deal with action. <\/p>\n

You think the Mother’s force has nothing to do with action or
\nthat it is too feeble to act? Or what? What is a force meant for but to act? <\/p>\n

26 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am again feeling that depression, but I cannot find out its cause. I feel a burning pain inside me and then some part
\nin me becomes very hostile. There is also some inertia in the nature. <\/p>\n

These are the two difficulties, one of the vital dissatisfaction and restlessness, the other of the inertia of the physical consciousness
\nwhich are the chief obstacles to the sadhana. The first thing to do is to keep detached from them, not to identify yourself mentally
\nwith these movements  \u2014even if you cannot reject them  \u2014next to call on the Mother’s force quietly but steadily for it to descend
\nand make the obstacles disappear.<\/p>\n

\n

31 January 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My mind becomes quiet for some time, but then many absurd
\nthoughts rush in and I cannot quiet them down. Then I feel very much harrassed. How long will it take to calm down my
\nmind? <\/p>\n

What is still restless in the vital has to quiet down for the peace
\nof mind to be even and constant. It has to be controlled, but only control will not be enough. The Mother’s Power has to be
\ncalled always.<\/p>\n

\n

10 April 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Please initiate me into a tangible form of Yoga. I make this
\nassurance that I shall follow your instructions to the very letter and refer to you my doubts and difficulties on the way.
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 216<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

There is no method in this Yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to
\ntake up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between
\nthe eyebrows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and
\nthe aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be.
\nFor the rest one must not depend on one’s own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a
\nreceptivity to the Mother’s Power and Presence.<\/p>\n

\n

30 November 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When these attacks of illness come, remain quiet and call on the
\nMother’s Force to remove them.<\/p>\n

\n

17 February 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To stand separate and not let the mind be overcome, is the first
\nstep. The next is to learn how to call down the Mother’s Force whenever the attack comes, so that the attack may be pushed
\naway at once or at least very soon before it can affect the outer vital and the body. If that can be done, the body will recover
\nvery soon with the inflow of the forces. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What should I do so that my work becomes an offering? What should I do so that I can always be with the Mother? <\/p>\n

What you should do is to have confidence and try to remain always confident and cheerful. If you feel depressed call for the
\nMother’s Force to remove the depression. If you fall ill, call the Mother’s Force to cure you. When you work call the Mother’s
\nForce to support you and do the work through you.  
\n218<\/i> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 217<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n


\nReceptivity and Openness to the Mother’s Force
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do not allow yourself to be troubled or discouraged by any
\ndifficulties, but quietly and simply open yourself to the Mother’s force and allow it to change you. <\/p>\n

10 March 1931 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you decided to tell the Mother, it had the effect of opening something in your physical consciousness and the Mother’s
\nForce acted. It often happens so  \u2014the action of the Mother’s Force depends on a certain power of receptivity in the mind or
\nvital or body  \u2014and openness is the first necessary condition for the receptivity. <\/p>\n

29 May 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to become one with the Divine? <\/p>\n

Open yourself to the Mother’s Force and aspire 
\n\t\u2014in time you
\nwill become one with the Divine.<\/p>\n

\n

15 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital defects and difficulties are the same in all and also
\nthe shortcomings of the mind. One has to open in faith and confidence to the Divine; the Mother’s Force will gradually put
\neverything right.<\/p>\n

\n

15 September 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am overcome with disappointment and depression. After
\nreading your last letter, everything crumbled down in a wave. You said you would increase the Mother’s light and consciousness in me, but I can’t receive them correctly when I feel like this. I used to believe that the Mother was always
\nthere to help, but now you have uprooted that blind faith of mine. Why did you write like that? A little encouragement from your side would make me stronger to reach the destination. <\/p>\n

I wrote so because the action of the sadhana does not depend on the Mother alone, but also on the attitude, will and openness
\n   <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 218<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

of the sadhak. That is a well
\n\u2014known fact of the spiritual life which everybody is supposed to know. The Mother’s Force can
\ndo everything only when there is a real and true and complete surrender and openness to the Mother. All these things have
\nbeen written again and again and it ought not to be necessary to repeat it to each one as if it were a new and unheard
\n\u2014of idea. <\/p>\n

12 January 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had a terrible headache today. What is this all about? If it is Yogic in origin, I will have some comfort. Is the Mother
\nbreaking some resistances inside? <\/p>\n

No. To make people ill in order to improve or perfect them is
\nnot Mother’s method. But sometimes things like headache come because the brain either tries too much or does not want to
\nreceive or makes difficulties. But these Yogic headaches are of a special kind and after the brain has found out the way to receive
\nor respond, they don’t come at all.<\/p>\n

\n

20 June 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If one remains in full confidence in the Mother and psychically
\nopen, then the Mother’s force will do all and one has only to give consent and keep oneself open and aspire. <\/p>\n

12 November 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is no use giving way to depression or self
\n\u2014distrust, they are only obstacles to the change you want and which the Mother is
\nworking at in you. The suggestions which raise these things are always one \u2014sided and exaggerated and one ought not to listen to
\nthem. It is not by his own strength or good qualities that anyone can attain to the divine change; there are only two things that
\nmatter, the Mother’s force at work and the sadhak’s will to open to it and trust in her working. Keep your will and your trust
\nand care nothing for the rest  \u2014they are only difficulties that all meet in their sadhana. <\/p>\n

13 May 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 219<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

I feel the descent of the Mother’s peace and power and the action of her Force down to the physical. Why then does
\nthis trouble still persist? Is the nervous part of my being not receiving the Force or is it receiving it but refusing to change? <\/p>\n

The Peace and Force come down, but the nervous weakness also rises up and resists and counteracts their influence and prevents
\nthem from settling in the being. That is because your mind assents to the nervous weakness, accepts its suggestions as true,
\nis full of apprehensions and doubts, believes even that it is the Force which creates the nervous trouble. If you fear the action
\nof the Force, how can the Force do its work?<\/p>\n

\n

5 September 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is certain that one’s own effort is necessary, though one cannot
\ndo the sadhana by one’s own effort alone. The Mother’s Force is needed, but the sadhak must open himself to it, reject what
\nopposes the Force, put his full sincerity, aspiration, will power into the sadhana. It is only when all is open and there is the
\nfull surrender that the Divine Power takes up the sadhana so entirely that personal effort is no longer necessary. But that cannot happen at an early stage 
\n\t\u2014one must go on opening oneself, consecrating oneself, making the surrender till that later stage
\ncomes. This has been explained in the book The Mother<\/p>\n

17 March 1937 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Open what is closed. The Mother does not withhold her force
\nfrom anyone  \u2014it is there for all in abundance. Her pleasure is in giving her force, not in withholding it. But if you keep your mind
\nfilled with thoughts of this kind, about X <\/i>and others, and your needs and grievances, you shut yourself up in that and there is
\nno room for the higher consciousness and its force to come in. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tPulling the Mother’s Force
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tI am depressed that the Divine has made me meditate the wrong way for three
\n\tand a half years without letting me know <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 220<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

it was wrong. Why did I feel that I must stimulate my aspiration through great concentration in meditation in order to
\nexpedite my progress? Why only now has the Mother told me that I have been meditating in the wrong way, with too much
\nstrain and stiffness and tension? This makes me sad beyond words. The more I think about it, the sadder I become. I am
\nso bewildered and confused. <\/p>\n

\n

What am I to do? It seems to me that before I was trying
\nto fit the wrong key into the lock of the faery palace, but now I have been left with no key at all. <\/p>\n

What is needed is to profit by the discovery and get rid of the impediment. The Mother did not merely point out the impediment;
\nshe showed you very expressly how to do it and at that time you understood her, though now (at the time of writing your letter to
\nme) the light which you saw seems to have been clouded by your indulging your vital more and more in the bitter pastime of sadness. That was quite natural, for that is the result sadness always does bring. It is the reason why I object to the gospel of sorrow
\nand to any sadhana which makes sorrow one of its main planks  <\/i>
\n(abhimana<\/i>, revolt, viraha<\/i>). For sorrow is not, as Spinoza pointed out, a passage to a greater perfection, a way to Siddhi; it cannot
\nbe, for it confuses and weakens and distracts the mind, depresses the vital force, darkens the spirit. A relapse from joy and vital
\nelasticity and Ananda to sorrow, self \u2014distrust, despondency and weakness is a recoil from a greater to a lesser consciousness, 
\n\u2014the habit of these moods shows a clinging of something in the vital to the smaller, obscurer, dark and distressed movement out
\nof which it is the very aim of Yoga to rise. <\/p>\n

It is therefore quite incorrect to say that the Mother took
\naway the wrong key with which you were trying to open the faery palace and left
\n\tyou with none at all. For she not only showed you the true key but gave it
\n\tto you. It was not a mere vague exhortation to cheerfulness she gave you,
\n\tbut she described exactly the condition felt in the right kind of meditation 
\n\t\u2014a state of inner rest, not of straining, of quiet opening, not of eager or
\n\tdesperate pulling, a harmonious giving of oneself to the Divine Force for
\n\tits working, and in that quietude a sense <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 221<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

of the Force working and a restful confidence allowing it to act without any unquiet interference. And she asked you if you
\nhad not experienced that condition and you said that you had and knew it very well. Now that condition is the beginning
\nof psychic opening and, if you have had it, you know what the psychic opening is; there is of course much more that afterwards
\ncomes to complete it but this is the fundamental condition into which all the rest can most easily come. What you should have
\ndone was to keep the key the Mother gave you present in your consciousness and apply it 
\n\u2014not to go back and allow sadness
\nand a repining view of the past to grow upon you. In this condition which we term the right or psychic attitude, there may and
\nwill be call, prayer, aspiration. Intensity, concentration will come of themselves, not by a hard effort or tense strain on the nature.
\nRejection of wrong movements, frank confession of defects are not only not incompatible, but helpful to it; but this attitude
\nmakes the rejection, the confession easy, spontaneous, entirely complete and sincere and effective. That is the experience of all
\nwho have consented to take this attitude. <\/p>\n

I may say in passing that consciousness and receptivity are
\nnot the same thing; one may be receptive, yet externally unaware of how things are being done and of what is being done. The
\nForce works, as I have repeatedly written, behind the veil; the results remain packed behind and come out afterwards, often
\nslowly, little by little, until there is so much pressure that it breaks through somehow and forces itself upon the external
\nnature. There lies the difference between a mental and vital straining and pulling and a spontaneous psychic openness, and
\nit is not at all the first time that we have spoken of the difference. The Mother and myself have written and spoken of it times
\nwithout number and we have deprecated pulling5<\/sup> and straining and advocated the attitude of psychic openness. It is not really
\na question of the right or the wrong key, but of putting the key in the lock in the right or the wrong way, 
\n\t\u2014either, because of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t5<\/sup> There is a steady drawing of the Force possible which is not what I mean by pulling 
\n\u2014drawing of the Force is quite common and helpful.
\n  <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 222<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

some difficulty, you try to force the lock turning the key this way and that with violence or confidently and quietly give it the
\nright turn and the door opens.<\/p>\n

\n

5 May 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is meant by pulling? When we want something from the
\nMother with a vital desire, is it pulling? What is its effect on us? <\/p>\n

Yes; that is one kind of pulling 
\n\u2014its effect is to blind and confuse the consciousness. But there is also a pulling for right things
\nwhich is not bad in itself, and most people use  \u2014e.g. for Light, Force, Ananda. But it brings more reactions than a quiet opening
\nto the Divine.<\/p>\n

\n

1 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Can you explain in a few master strokes what you mean by
\n“pulling down”? As I understand it, it is when one makes mental efforts of concentration and meditation without having
\nany eagerness for it. <\/p>\n

That is not what is meant by pulling. When one is open and too
\neager and tries to pull down the force, experience etc. instead of letting it descend quietly, that is called pulling. Many people
\npull at the Mother’s forces  \u2014trying to take more than they can easily assimilate and disturbing the working. <\/p>\n

7 April 1935 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Mother’s Force and the Forces of the Lower Nature
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is in me a revolt of the vital against the Light resulting in much vital confusion. I hope that one day all my desires
\nand ambition will go away and I will depend completely on the Mother. In the meantime, as these things too come from
\nthe Mother, there is nothing to do but wait. <\/p>\n

What things? The vital confusion and desires? It is entirely false
\nto say that these things come from the Mother. They come from the lower Nature and its darkness and ignorance. The Mother’s
\nForce is not <\/i>the lower Nature, it is the Power of the Divine<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 223<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Truth and Light working upon the lower Nature to drive out the confusion and falsehood and desire from it and to transform
\neverything into the Truth and Light. <\/p>\n

It is equally false to say “so there is nothing to do but wait”.
\nThere is something to do and I have repeatedly told you what it is  \u2014I have told you not to go down into the lower vital unless you
\ncan go there with the Mother’s Force and Light supporting you. If you are pushed or fall into the lower vital confusion, then to
\nremain quiet (not discussing or consenting to whirl round in the lower vital chaos), to reject the vital suggestions and experiences
\nand open yourself calling down the Mother’s Force to change this part of the being. <\/p>\n

Instead of that you begin “experiencing” the chaos and trying to follow every jump and whirl in it and speculating about
\nit with the result that you get falsehoods like these two  \u2014the falsehood that “these things too come from the Mother” and
\nthe falsehood that “there is nothing to do but wait” and you consent to them! <\/p>\n

When will you learn to remember and follow the plain instructions I have given you instead of believing in the ignorant
\nmind and the confused suggestions of this vital chaos?<\/p>\n

\n

10 June 1930 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am practising with the feeling that the Mother is in everything. When I make a mistake, I think: “This also the Mother has done through me to bring me to full consciousness.”
\nI believe that the sadhaks cannot consciously commit mistakes. <\/p>\n

The Mother does not make people commit mistakes; it is the Prakriti that makes them do it 
\n\u2014if the Purusha does not refuse
\nhis consent. The Mother here is not this lower Prakriti, but the Divine Shakti and it is her work to press on this lower Nature
\nto change. You can say that under the pressure, the Prakriti stumbles and is
\nunable to reply perfectly and makes mistakes. But it is not the Mother who makes
\nyou do wrong movements or does the wrong movements in you  \u2014if you think
\nthat, you <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 224<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

are in danger of justifying the movements or their continuance.<\/p>\n

\n

11 April 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is the truest and surest means to recognise the Mother’s
\nForce when it acts and to distinguish it from other egoistic or ignorant forces? <\/p>\n

One has only to be perfectly sincere, not to justify one’s own desires and faults by the mind’s reasonings, to look impartially
\nand quietly at oneself and one’s movements and to call on the Mother’s Light 
\n\u2014then gradually one will begin to discern everything in that light. Even if it cannot be done perfectly at once, the judgment and feeling will get clearer and surer and a right
\nconsciousness of these things will be established. <\/p>\n

If a sadhak cannot fully discriminate between the Mother’s
\nForce and the egoistic and ignorant forces and cannot reject the lower forces, what will be his condition? And what is the
\nbest step for him to take on the path of Yoga? <\/p>\n

All these questions are met by my answer. One cannot be perfect
\nin discrimination at once or in rejection either. The one indispensable thing is to go on trying sincerely till there comes the
\nfull success. So long as there is complete sincerity, the Divine Grace will be there and assist at every moment on the way. <\/p>\n

1 July 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are two cosmic Forces 
\n\u2014one the higher Cosmic Shakti which is a form of the Mother, the other a Power of the Ignorance. You have not to open to the latter, only to the Mother.<\/p>\n

\n

25 October 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I told you that when I make some mistake, then the lower
\nforces rise up to trouble me, but you replied: “It is not necessarily due to some mistake or fault that they rise.” But my
\n  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 225<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

experience is that so long as the Mother’s name is on my lips nothing undivine can touch me. It is only when I am careless
\nand forget to say her name that mistakes occur. <\/p>\n

And what does the carelessness come from? It is because the
\nhabit of the lower nature makes you forget. That is an action of the lower forces. It is only by the higher force meeting the
\nlower forces and its pressure on them (this is the contact) that the habit of forgetfulness disappears. <\/p>\n

25 January 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How is it that the Mother cannot or will not move the hostile forces to action, since even the Asura and Rakshasa and
\nPisacha are her children? <\/p>\n

As for the Asuric forces, their movement is part of the ordinary
\ncosmic movement in the Ignorance, but Mother is not here to encourage that movement, but to bring down the higher Truth
\nin which they have no place. If then she moves the hostile Forces to act against her and her work and the sadhaks (which they
\nare quite ready enough to do of themselves), it would mean that she is working against herself and trying to frustrate her own
\npurpose in being here! Such an action would be absurd in the extreme. <\/p>\n

8 April 1935 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Mother’s Force and the Three Gunas
\n\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When one feels that it is the Mother’s Force that acts through one and not one’s own force, is it the Mother’s Force alone
\nthat works in one’s actions while the gunas remain quiescent? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, the gunas are there and not quiescent 
\n\t\u2014for they are the
\ninstrumentation. If the force and the inner consciousness are very strong then there is a tendency for the rajas to become like
\nsome inferior form of tapas and the tamas to become more like a kind of inert shama. That is how the transformation begins,
\nbut usually it is very slow in its process.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t29 January 1936 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 226<\/font><\/p>\n

\n


\nConditions for the Working of the Mother’s Force
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you can receive the Mother’s peace in the mind and heart,
\nit will act on the vital also and calm it. Once the vital is calm then force can be there in it and give it strength. <\/p>\n

There is no intention of test or ordeal. But for the Mother’s force to act certain conditions are necessary. There must be
\na certain acceptance, a will steady and persistent to reject what comes in the way of her action and to receive her force
\nalone. <\/p>\n

But why should you be always thinking about X <\/i>or others?
\nYou have very little to do with X <\/i>now, and it is no use thinking only of the past. Leave him to the Mother to deal with and forget
\nall that. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If ego
\n\u2014sense comes back upon you so strongly, it must be because something in you admits it. The Mother’s force is there always
\nand can help you to get rid of these things, but you on your part must with faith and sincerity accept the Mother and put
\nyourself entirely on her side so as to make it possible for the Force to work with effect. When bad thoughts come, you must
\nreject them, not assent to them in your mind, not give voice to them in your speech, not believe in them or their suggestions.
\nThese things cannot vanish in a day, but if you do like that, they will diminish and lose their power to lay strong hold of you and
\ndisturb you, and in the end they will disappear. <\/p>\n

21 April 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I wish to become ceaseless in aspiration. I feel that it is the
\nMother’s Force that is aspiring in me. But if the Mother herself does not increase my aspiration through her Grace, how can
\nI become ceaseless in it? <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is true that it is the Mother’s Force that aspires in you, but if the
\n\tpersonal consciousness does not give its assent, then the Force does not
\n\twork. If the personal consciousness ceaselessly looks for the Divine and
\n\tassents to the working, then aspiration <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 227<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and the working of the Force becomes also ceaseless.<\/p>\n

\n

9 April 1933 <\/p>\n


\nDiscrimination and the Working of the Mother’s Force
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is dangerous to think of giving up “all barrier of discrimination
\nand defence against what is trying to descend” upon you. Have you thought what this would mean if what is descending is
\nsomething not in consonance with the divine Truth, perhaps even adverse? An Adverse Power could ask no better condition
\nfor getting control over the seeker. It is only the Mother’s Force and the divine Truth that one should admit without barriers.
\nAnd even there one must keep the power of discernment in order to detect anything false that comes masquerading as the
\nMother’s Force and the divine Truth, and keep too the power of rejection that will throw away all mixture. <\/p>\n

Keep faith in your spiritual destiny, draw back from error and open more the psychic being to the direct guidance of the
\nMother’s light and power. If the central will is sincere, each recognition of a mistake can become a stepping
\n\u2014stone to a truer
\nmovement and a higher progress.<\/p>\n

\n

24 May 1930 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to recognise that a particular thought, feeling or impulse
\nto action has come from the Mother herself and not from some universal force or anything else? If it is apparently a
\nforce from the Falsehood it can be recognised as such, but there are many others of a different character and sometimes
\none goes on thinking that they are prompted by the Mother from within. <\/p>\n

It can only be done by discrimination, care, sincerity, a constant control with regard to the mind’s movements and the growth of
\na certain kind of psychic tact which detects any mental imitation or false suggestion of its being the Mother’s. <\/p>\n

27 April 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 228<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

About my weaknesses you have mentioned the “inertia and fundamental resistance in the consciousness”. How can I become free of them? <\/p>\n

There is only one rule for all these things 
\n\t\u2014to watch oneself
\nclosely so as to detect these things always when they show themselves, to reject them always and persistently when seen, to
\naspire always for their removal, to call always the Force of the Mother to help to remove them. But the most entirely effective
\nthing is if you can feel the Force of the Mother working in you and support its action always. <\/p>\n

29 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have written: “But the most entirely effective thing is if you can feel the Force of the Mother working in you and
\nsupport its action always.” What is the meaning of “support its action always”? <\/p>\n

To support its action means that one must recognise the Mother’s force when it acts and distinguish it from other egoistic or ignorant forces and give assent to the one and refuse the others. It is again a general rule 
\n\u2014its application each sadhaka has to see
\nfor himself.<\/p>\n

\n

1 July 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother’s Force may do everything but one has to become
\nmore and more conscious of one’s own being and nature and what is below in it. <\/p>\n

It is not a question of mental judgment, 
\n\u2014that is of little use in these matters,  \u2014but of the consciousness feeling and seeing. <\/p>\n

Supermind is not organised in the lower planes as the others are. It is only a veiled influence. Otherwise the supramental
\nrealisation would be easy.<\/p>\n

\n

22 May 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tAs to the Force, you said, "It creates its own activities in the mind or
\n\telsewhere." In that case does the mind or any other part on which the Force
\n\tacts express only what the Force has created?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 229<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

That is the ideal condition when the Force is the true Force only 
\n\u2014but there is too much mixture in the nature for that to be
\npossible at this stage of sadhana.<\/p>\n

\n

3 August 1934 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You say: “That is the ideal condition when the Force is the
\ntrue Force only.” Does this mean that what my consciousness feels as the Force is not the real Force of the Mother? <\/p>\n

I have said that it gets mixed with the action of the present mind, vital and body. That is inevitable since it has to work upon them.
\nIt is only after the transformation that it can be fully the Mother’s Force with no mixture of the separate personality. If the Divine
\nForce in all its perfection without mixture were to act from the beginning, not taking any account of the present nature, then
\nthere would be no sadhana, only a miraculous substitution of the Divine for the human without any reason or process. <\/p>\n

4 August 1934 <\/p>\n

\n\tMental Knowledge and the Working of the Mother’s Force
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During the evening meditation my mind tries to become conscious of the thoughts which the Mother brings down. Is this
\nthe right activity? <\/p>\n

It is not altogether the way 
\n\t\u2014if the mind is active it is more
\ndifficult to become aware of what the Mother is bringing. It is not thoughts she brings, but the higher light, force etc. <\/p>\n

22 March 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With reference to the Mother you once said, “Ask for the consciousness of her force.” Does it mean that I should aspire
\nto know her consciousness and her force? <\/p>\n

Yes 
\n\t\u2014not know with the mind only, but to feel them and see
\nthem with the inner experience.<\/p>\n

\n

18 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 230<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

My mind fails to make out the present state of the being. It
\ndoes not understand what the Mother’s Force is doing. <\/p>\n

Plenty of people progress rapidly without understanding what
\nthe Force is doing  \u2014they simply observe and describe and say “I leave all to the Mother.” Eventually the knowledge and understanding come.<\/p>\n

\n

17 July 1933 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Mother’s Force and the Body
\n\t<\/a> <\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When can it be said that the material being is ready for the
\nDivine? <\/p>\n

If the material consciousness is open, feels the Mother’s Force
\nworking in it and responds, then it is ready.<\/p>\n

\n

11 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I feel the Mother’s light, peace, beauty, joy and love descending
\nfrom above into each strand of my hair. The whole body, calm and still, becomes absorbed in deep peace. <\/p>\n

It can be there in all the atoms of the body since all is secretly conscious. <\/p>\n

5 October 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One thing I wish to say about the condition of my body: Do not arrange any medication for me. Medicines are insignificant
\ncompared to the Mother’s Force and Compassion. Everything will come all right through her Love and Force 
\n\t\u2014this is my
\nstrong faith. <\/p>\n

For the Mother’s Force to work fully in the body, the body itself
\nand not only the mind must have faith and be open.<\/p>\n

\n

9 October 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tI pray that the Mother’s Force may help my body. Kindly let me keep her
\n\tLight and by that Light mould me through Peace and Love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 231<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Aspire and concentrate for the purification and illumination of the vital. The vital once clear with the Mother’s Light and Force
\nin it, it will be easier for the Force to work on the body.<\/p>\n

\n

11 October 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today while I was sitting with others, slowly something came
\ndown and filled up all my body. The body became very heavy, like a statue 
\n\u2014I could not move. My body, especially the chest,
\nwas expanding. Peace! Calm! Ananda! Afterwards, the upper portion of my body slowly became smaller and smaller. Then
\nsomething entered from the soles of my feet, and I came back to the physical consciousness. <\/p>\n

That is very good. It is the Force and Presence of the Mother from above that comes down like that into the body 
\n\u2014first in
\nthe head and chest and afterwards into the whole body. It is the first fundamental experience of the sadhana from which all the
\nrest begins  \u2014for until it comes all else is only preparation. Very often it takes people years to bring it into the body, and with
\nmost it comes only by degrees. That it should come in a mass like that and even down to the chest shows that what I told you was
\ntrue  \u2014that once you get free from the old obstacles that were obstructing you, you can have the Yoga experiences as well as
\nanyone else here.<\/p>\n

\n

3 December 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is the heat that I felt in the body the heat of the fever or the
\nheat of the Mother’s Force? It exerted a tremendous pressure on my mind, life and body. <\/p>\n

That has still to be seen. It is most probably the tapas heat; the question is whether it is turned partially in the body into fever. <\/p>\n

7 June 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis quite true that the Mother has been putting a constant pressure of her Force
\nto help you in overcoming this illness. I<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 232<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

am very glad you have been so vividly aware of it. We do not think it is correct that the Mother can only take the pain away
\nbut cannot replace the organs in their right place. This also is possible for the spiritual Force to effect in time. But it is desirable
\nthat you should not allow any inner condition of yours which makes the working easy to yield to one like those you speak
\nof which would make it difficult by allowing the old forces to return. Even if that happens, the Mother will still work of course
\nto restore the previous condition until the thing is set right. But a continuous openness is very desirable. <\/p>\n

22 October 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mother is not opposed to your going to Madras for treatment if you feel it necessary; but she is not at all sure that it will result
\nin a radical cure  \u2014it may or it may not and, if it does not, it may return worse; so neither can she recommend your going. It
\ndepends on your own decision. <\/p>\n

The illness has no doubt a physical cause, but there is associated with it a strong resistance to the Force 
\n\t\u2014which is evidently seated in the subconscient, since you are not aware of it. This
\nis shown by the fact that after Mother put a concentrated force there yesterday, the whole thing returned more violently after
\nan hour’s relief. That is always a sign of a violent and obstinate resistance somewhere. It is only if this is overcome or disappears
\nthat complete relief can come. <\/p>\n

Your experiences related in the letter were quite sound and
\nvery good. There is no delusion about the Force working in the body, but there are evidently points where there is still much
\nresistance. The body consciousness has many parts and many different movements and all do not open or change together.
\nAlso the body is very dependent on the subconscient which has to be cleared and illumined before the body can be free from
\nadverse reactions.<\/p>\n

\n

15 April 1938 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Mother’s Force is always pouring down  \u2014your body must<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 233<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

now forget its habit of depression or sadness. Let the happiness come into it also. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First the Mother organises the inner parts of the being; then she
\nbegins to work on the outer being. Does this mean that when the inner parts are brought under control, then she begins to
\nwork on the physical nature? <\/p>\n

It is the usual course, but some work is always being done in the
\ninner parts at all times, because they are interdependent. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Mother’s Therapeutic Force
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While working, I suddenly felt a pressure of weakness, a depression in the chest. When I became conscious of it, I opened
\nmyself and called the Mother’s force. After a few minutes it disappeared. Was it the divine strength that supported me in
\nsome mysterious way, or was it the inherent strength of the body that awakened? <\/p>\n

The inherent strength of the body does not do things like that. It is the Mother’s force that does it, when one calls and opens
\noneself. Even people who never did Yoga and are conscious of nothing, get cured like that without knowing the reason or
\nfeeling the way in which it was done. The Force comes from above or in descending it envelops and comes from without
\ninside or it comes out from inside after descending there. When you are conscious of the play of the Forces, then you feel the
\nworking.<\/p>\n

\n

5 May 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I got up from sleep, I found that a cold had already entered my head.
\n\tMy consciousness brought down the Mother’s Force and the cold disappeared.
\n\tFormerly the consciousness used to say passively, "Let the Force work it
\n\tout", but the effect was not the same. I want to know if the method adopted
\n\tfor the Force is quite the right way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 234<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

It is quite the right way. It is very good that you are learning to use the Force. <\/p>\n

27 August 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every time I receive the Mother’s touch at Pranam, I feel a sense of strong nourishment, even in the physical being. When
\nshe presses her fingers on the opening point of the spinal cord at the top of my head, I feel something subtle coming in which
\nmakes my inner being overflow with joy. This sense of nourishment (as if a new substance is being created within) is so
\nstrong that even when I am unwell and weak, it completely dominates with its sense of joy and security. <\/p>\n

As you suffer from ill
\n\u2014health, Mother presses the nourishment of the divine strength and health into your physical being, renewing
\nits substance with that.<\/p>\n

\n

4 November 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If we want the Mother to help someone outside with her Force,
\nbut we give her wrong information, does the help she sends miss its mark or does it go automatically where it should?
\nYesterday I suppose the Mother acted before X <\/i>gave the wrong information about my uncle, but if she had been misinformed
\nfrom the start, what would have happened? <\/p>\n

Yes, Mother had worked before, but wrong information coming
\nacross the working creates a confusion so that it is no longer possible to say what is the result of the working. Of course
\nif the wrong information came at the beginning, it would be still worse. It is very necessary that information given should be
\ncorrect.<\/p>\n

\n

10 June 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I remember the Mother once saying that there is hardly a
\ndisease that cannot be cured by Yoga. I was surprised, much surprised, and thought, “What about cancer, then, the most
\ndeadly enemy of present civilisation? Can it be cured by Yoga?" What is your
\n\topinion? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 235<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Of course it can, but on condition of faith or openness or both. Even a mental suggestion can cure cancer 
\n\u2014with luck, of course,
\nas is shown by the case of the woman operated on unsuccessfully for cancer, but the doctors lied and told her it had succeeded.
\nResult, cancer symptoms all ceased and she died many years afterwards of another illness altogether. <\/p>\n

11 October 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had a heated but pleasant discussion with X <\/i>about the action of the healing force. He argued: “Now that the healing force
\nhas arrived here, it is likely to operate in other parts of the world and any Tom, Dick and Harry can wield it even if not
\nspiritually developed.” <\/p>\n

It may operate but not through every T, D and H, at first at least. <\/p>\n

I contended that the healing force will act only if a man is open to the Mother in some way, through devotion, faith or some
\nkind of rapport. I also said that most probably the healing force can act only if the healer is directly in physical contact
\nwith her. Certain conditions are necessary for cure. What do you say? <\/p>\n

At first it will be no doubt like that if it is to be the true Force, but when once it is settled in the earth
\n\u2014consciousness a more general
\nuse of supraphysical force for healing may become possible. <\/p>\n

It is not always necessary either that the rapport you speak
\n\u00b4 of should be conscious. Coupe for instance was in rapport with
\nthe Mother without knowing it  \u2014she told me of his getting something of the force and of the beginning of his work long
\nbefore he was known to anyone (of course she did not know his name but she described him and his work in such a way that the
\nidentification was evident).<\/p>\n

\n

3 February 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\n <\/p>\n

X <\/i>
\n\twrites that her hip \u2014joint pain is gone and wants me to thank the Mother for
\n\tremoving it. She calculates that her first letter to me mentioning the pain
\n\tmust have reached me on Thursday and her hip pain almost vanished
\n\tmiraculously at eight in the<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 236<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

evening that day. But I did not write to the Mother about X<\/i>‘s complaint until Friday. Could it be that when
\nX<\/i>‘s letter entered
\nthe Ashram atmosphere a response came? <\/p>\n

Y <\/i>spoke to the Mother about X<\/i>‘s pain on the same day 
\n\t\u2014so
\nit is not necessary to suppose an automatic effect of the letter itself. But such an automatic effect does often take place either
\nimmediately after writing or when the letter enters the Mother’s atmosphere. <\/p>\n

17 April 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I generally rely in my practice on medicines impregnated with the Mother’s force.
\nX <\/i>is now convinced that there is nothing
\nof any medicine left after potentisation except Homeopathic philosophy (the Mother’s force). What is
\nyour <\/i>opinion? <\/p>\n

I never have opinions 
\n\u2014except for the purpose of writing or conversation. To the eye of the Yogin all opinions are true and all
\nare false. It is only realities and results that matter. The Mother’s force is a reality and the cure is a result 
\n\u2014the medicine is perhaps
\na phenomenal link between the two.<\/p>\n

\n

2 June 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was precisely out of solicitude for you because the suffering
\nof insomnia and the spasms had been excessive that I proposed to you to take the help of treatment. It is a fact of my experience
\nthat when the resistance in the body is too strong and persistent, it can help to take some aid of physical means as an instrumentation for the Force to work more directly on the body itself; for the body then feels itself supported against the resistance from
\nboth sides, by means both physical as well as supraphysical. The Mother’s force can work through both together. <\/p>\n

1 September 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the last two weeks there has been no improvement in my nervous trouble. I had the belief that the Mother’s look and
\ngrace at the Sunday Pranam would ease my situation, but it has not. Shall I
\nundergo medical treatment or rely solely on<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 237<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

the Mother’s grace and influence which I shall receive at the Sunday Pranam? <\/p>\n

Sunday Pranams are not the only way of receiving Force, one can do it at any time by opening to receive in a quiet concentration.
\nIf you can do that, any illness can be cured either at once or, if it is chronic, in time. That should be done in any case. But where
\nthere is not the full openness, medical treatment can help as an auxiliary. If you like to consult
\nX<\/i>, he may be able to understand
\nbetter your case than by second hand and you can see whether you would care to try any remedies he suggests. <\/p>\n

28 March 1937 <\/p>\n

\n\tReceiving the Mother’s Force at a Distance
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I write from Comilla to present to you the sad story of a sad person’s life. For over twenty
\n\t\u2014five years I have suffered from
\nleucorrhoea. I have taken all kinds of treatments, but never succeeded in removing it. My body is becoming weaker day
\nby day. I feel that no doctor can remedy this disease. You and the Mother have come on earth to remove people’s sufferings.
\nI pray that you will rid this poor thing of her sufferings for ever. <\/p>\n

It is possible for her to be cured,6 but only if she has sufficient and complete faith and can receive the force of the Mother. If
\nshe can put herself into the true contact, she will cure. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to what your other friend asks, it is quite possible for him to receive where he is without coming here if he has the adoration
\nof the Mother in his heart and an intense call.<\/p>\n

\n

25 August 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You spoke of my friend X <\/i>as receiving the Mother’s Force. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t6<\/sup> Written by Sri Aurobindo to his secretary, who replied to the enquirer. 
\n\u2014Ed.<\/i> <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 238<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

“In contact with<\/i>” the Divine Force which is the force of the Mother 
\n\u2014that was what I wrote, I believe. <\/p>\n

But which Mother? <\/p>\n

How many Mothers are there? <\/p>\n

Ours or some universal Mother as people say? <\/p>\n

Who is this some universal Mother? How many of these some
\nuniversal Mothers are there? <\/p>\n

I ask because I do not understand how, without invoking the
\nMother, he gets her Force. <\/p>\n

Have you not put him by the photograph and his letter in connection with us? Has he not turned in this direction? Has he not met Y <\/i>and been impressed by him 
\n\t\u2014a third channel of contact?
\nThat is quite sufficient to help him to a contact if he has the faith and the Yogic stress in him. <\/p>\n

2 February 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Has Mother really been sending force to my friend? <\/p>\n

I don’t know whether Mother is sending force in the accepted
\nsense; I haven’t asked her. In any case anyone can receive the force who has faith and sincerity, whose psychic being has begun
\nto wake and who opens himself,  \u2014whether he knows or not that he is receiving. If
\nX <\/i>even imagines that he is receiving, that may
\nopen the way to a real reception,  \u2014if he feels <\/i>it, why question his feeling? He is certainly trying hard to change and that is the
\nfirst necessity; if one tries it can always be done, in more or less time. <\/p>\n

28 June 1943 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was 1 a.m. at night when my brother in excruciating pain called me and asked if Sri Aurobindo could heal him. I took
\nout some Prasad flowers that were with me and touched the<\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 239<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

affected part with them. And lo! the pain vanished and he began to recover. I want to know if you were aware of this
\nand heard my prayer. <\/p>\n

What happens in such cases is that when someone is accepted,
\nthe Mother sends out something of herself to him and this is with him wherever he goes and is always in connection with her
\nbeing here. So when he does anything like what you did in this case with faith and bhakti,
\n\tit reaches, through that emanation of herself which is with him, the
\n\tMother’s consciousness inner or outer and the Force goes in return for the
\n\tresult. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 240<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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