{"id":4281,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4281"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:49","slug":"01-series-one-vol-16-some-answers-from-the-mother-volume-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/16-some-answers-from-the-mother-volume-16\/01-series-one-vol-16-some-answers-from-the-mother-volume-16","title":{"rendered":"-01_Series One.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\nSome Answers from the Mother<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE MOTHER – 1970<\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\n
\nSERIES ONE<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nSeries One <\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n


\nLetters from the
\nMother to Her Son <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nOur community is
\ngrowing more and more; we are nearly thirty (not counting those who are
\nscattered all over India); and I have become responsible for all this; I am at
\nthe centre of the organisation, on the material as well as the spiritual side,
\nand you can easily imagine what it means. We already occupy five houses, one of
\nwhich is our property; others will follow. New recruits are coming from all
\nparts of the world. With this expansion, new activities are being created, new
\nneeds are arising which require new skills. <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n16 January 1927 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI think I told you
\nabout our five houses; four of them are joined in a single square block which is
\nsurrounded on all sides by streets and contains several buildings with
\ncourtyards and gardens. We have just bought, repaired and comfortably furnished
\none of these houses and then, just recently, we have settled there, Sri
\nAurobindo and myself, as well as five of the closest disciples.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWe have joined the
\nhouses together with openings in some of the outer walls and outbuildings, so
\nthat I may walk freely in our little realm without having to go out into the
\nstreet this is rather nice. But I am busier than ever now, and I can say that at
\nthe moment I am writing to you in a hurry.<\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n16 February 1927<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt is true that
\nfor a long time I have not slept in the usual sense of the word.<\/span>\u00b9<\/span>That
\nis to say, at no time do I fall into the inconscience <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span>Written
\nin connection with a newspaper article in which it was stated that the Mother
\nhad not slept for several months<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 3 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nwhich is the sign
\nof ordinary sleep. But I do give my body the rest it needs, that is, two or
\nthree hours of lying down in a condition of absolute immobility in which the
\nwhole being, mental, psychic, vital and physical, enters into a complete state
\nof rest made of perfect peace, absolute silence and total immobility, while the
\nconsciousness remains perfectly awake; or else I enter into an internal activity
\nof one or more states of being, an activity which constitutes the occult work
\nand which, needless to say, is also perfectly conscious. So I can say, in all
\ntruth, that I never lose consciousness throughout the twenty-four hours, which
\nthus form an unbroken sequence, and that I no longer experience ordinary sleep,
\nwhile still giving my body the rest that it needs.<\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n3 July 1927 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nIn this letter I
\nam sending you a few photographs of the Ashram which will no doubt interest you
\nsince they will give you an idea, however incomplete and imprecise, of the
\nsurroundings in which I live; in any case they will give a very limited
\nimpression, for the Ashram at present consists of seventeen houses inhabited by
\neighty-five or ninety people (the number varies as people come and go). <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nI am also sending
\nyou conversations 14 and 15. I hope that you have received, in several
\ninstalments, the complete series of the first thirteen; I had them mailed to you
\nas they were published .<\/span>\u00b9<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n 25 August 1929  <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nI shall not
\nendeavour to reply to your opinion on the \u201cconversations\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span>These
\nfifteen \u201cconversations\u201d are published in Questions and Answers, Collected Works
\nVol. 3, pp. 1-120. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 4<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nalthough there are
\ncertain points which you do not seem to have fully grasped; but I suppose that a
\nsecond reading later on, at your leisure, will enable you to understand those
\nparts which eluded you at first glance. Moreover, these \u201cconversations\u201d make no
\nclaim to exhaust their subjects or even to deal with them thoroughly. Rather
\nthey are hints whose purpose is more pragmatic than didactic; they are a kind of
\nmoral stimulus meant to goad and spur on those who are on the way. It is true
\nthat in my answers many aspects of the question have been neglected which could
\nhave been examined with interest that will be for another time. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n21 October 1929 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nThe Ashram is
\nbecoming a more and more interesting institution. We have now acquired our
\ntwenty-first house; the number of paid workers of the Ashram (labourers and
\nservants) has reached sixty or sixty-five, and the number of Ashram members (Sri
\nAurobindo’s disciples living in Pondicherry) varies between eighty-five and a
\nhundred. Five cars, twelve bicycles, four sewing machines, a dozen typewriters,
\nmany garages, an automobile repair workshop, an electrical service, a building
\nservice, sewing departments (European and Indian tailors, embroideresses, etc.),
\na library and reading-room containing several thousand volumes, a photographic
\nservice, general stores containing a wide variety of goods, nearly all imported
\nfrom France, large gardens for flowers, vegetables and fruits, a dairy, a
\nbakery, etc. You can see that it is no small affair. And as I am taking care of
\nall this, I can truly say that I am busy. <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n 23 August 1930  <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nI have also
\nreceived the Grande Revue <\/span>\u00b9<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/i>and I
\nread the article you mention. I found it rather dull, but apart from that not
\ntoo bad.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span>A
\nliterary monthly published in France until 1939<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 5 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

\nBut the Mukerjee
\nquoted there must have lived for many years outside India (in America, I
\nbelieve) and has become completely westernised; otherwise he would not give
\nGandhi and Tagore as the two most popular <\/span>
\nfigures in India<\/span><\/i>.
\nOn the contrary it is outside India that they are most popular; and for
\nforeigners these two men seem to be the only ones who represent Indian genius.
\nThis is very far from the truth, and if they are so well known in Western
\ncountries, it is probably because their stature does not go beyond the
\nunderstanding of the Western mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIndia has far
\ngreater geniuses than these and in the most varied fields, scientific, literary,
\nphilosophic, spiritual. It is true that the young people from Shantiniketan come
\nout refined, but without any force or energy for realisation. As for Gandhi’s
\nyoung people, they may have more energy and power of action, but they are
\nimprisoned within the four walls of a few narrow ideas and a limited mind.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nI repeat, there is
\nbetter, far better in India, but this India does not care for international
\nglory. <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n4 August 1931 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nJust a word about
\nyour remark that having children is the only way to perpetuate the human race. I
\nhave never denied this, but I wish to add that there is nothing to fear in this
\nrespect; if it is Nature’s plan to perpetuate the human race, she will always
\nfind as many people as she needs to carry out her plan. The earth will surely
\nnever suffer from a dearth of men. <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n28 September 1931 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nThe things that
\nare awaited they alone can remedy the sorry state of affairs you mention in your
\nletter of October 9th; and it is certainly not confined to the small states of
\ncentral Europe. What you have described is pretty much the state of the whole
\nworld: disorder, confusion, wastage and misery.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 6<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

\nIt is no use
\nlamenting, however, saying: Where are you headed! The final collapse, the
\ngeneral bankruptcy seems obvious enough\u2026 unless\u2026 There is always an \u201cunless\u201d in
\nthe history of the earth; and always, when confusion and destruction seem to
\nhave reached their climax, something happens and a new balance is established
\nwhich extends, for a few centuries more, the life of declining civilisations and
\nhuman societies in delirium. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nDo not start
\nthinking I am a pessimist. I certainly do not like things as they are. I do not
\nbelieve, however, that they are worse than they have been many times before. But
\nI want them to be different, I want them to be more harmonious and more true<\/i>.
\nOh, the horror of falsehood spread everywhere on earth, ruling the world with
\nits law of darkness! I believe that its reign has lasted long enough; this is
\nthe master we must now refuse to serve. This is the great, the only remedy.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n3 November 1931 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nAfter a very long
\ntime I was happy to receive your letter of January 5th, especially since you
\nthink of Pondicherry as an ideal resting place. True, I think that it could
\nprovide a perfect place of cure for the restless even if one seeks diversions
\nthere are none; on the other hand the sea is beautiful, the countryside is vast
\nand the town is very small: a five minute drive and you are out of it; and, at
\nthe centre of it all, the Ashram is a condensation of dynamic and active peace,
\nso much so that all those who come from outside feel as if they were in another
\nworld. It is indeed something of another world, a world in which the inner life
\ngoverns the outer, a world where things get done, where work is carried out not
\nfor a personal end but in a selfless way for the realisation of an ideal. The
\nlife we lead here is as far from ascetic abstinence as from an enervating
\ncomfort; simplicity is the rule here, but a simplicity full of a variety of
\noccupations, of activities, of tastes, tendencies, natures; each one is free to<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 7<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

\norganise his life
\nas he pleases, the discipline is reduced to the minimum that is indispensable to
\norganise the existence of 110 to 120 people and to avoid movements that would be
\ndetrimental to the achievement of our yogic aim. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nWhat do you say to
\nthis? Isn’t it tempting? Will you ever have the time or the possibility to come
\nhere? Once you did let me hope for a visit. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI would like to
\nshow you our \u201cestablishment\u201d. It has just acquired four houses which I bought in
\nmy name to simplify the legal technicalities; but it goes without saying that
\n{I do not own them<\/i>. I think I have already explained the situation to you
\nand I want to take advantage of this opportunity to remind you of it. The Ashram
\nwith all its real estate and moveable property belongs to Sri Aurobindo, it is
\nhis money that enables me to meet the almost formidable expenses that it entails
\n(our annual budget averages one \u201clakh\u201d of rupees, which at the present rate of
\nexchange corresponds approximately to 650,000 francs); and if my name sometimes
\nappears (on bank accounts, purchase of houses, of automobiles, etc.), it is, as
\nI already told you, a matter of convenience for the papers and signatures, since
\nit is I who \u201cmanage\u201d everything, but not because I really own them. You will
\nreadily understand why I am telling you all this; it is so you can bear it in
\nmind just in case. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n 10 February 1933 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nYour last letter
\nrefers to current events and betrays some anxiety which is certainly not
\nunfounded. In their ignorant unconsciousness men set moving forces they are not
\neven aware of and soon these forces get more and more out of their control and
\nbring about disastrous results. The earth seems to be shaken almost entirely by
\na terrible fit of political and social epilepsy through which the most dangerous
\nforces of destruction do their work. Even here, in this poor little nook, we
\nhave not escaped the general malady. For three or four days the forces at work
\nwere<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 8<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

\nugly and could
\njustifiably cause anxiety, and a great confusion was beginning to set in. I must
\nsay that under the circumstances the Governor (Solmiac) showed great kindness
\nand resolve at the same time. His goodwill is beyond all praise. Finally, it all
\nended quite well, considering the difficult circumstances. But now more than
\n14,000 workers are out of work. The largest factory is closed, no one knows for
\nhow long, and the other one was burned down. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe sign of the
\ntimes seems to be a complete lack of common sense. But perhaps we see it this
\nway simply because nearness makes us see all the details. From a distance the
\ndetails fade and only the principal lines appear, giving a slightly more logical
\naspect to circumstances. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt may be that
\nlife on earth has always been a chaos whatever the Bible may say, the Light has
\nnot yet made its appearance. Let us hope that it will not be long in coming.
\n<\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n23 August 1936<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nA small booklet is
\nbeing published in Geneva, containing a talk I gave in 1912, I think. It is a
\nbit out-of-date, but I did not want to dampen their enthusiasm. I had entitled
\nit \u201cThe Central Thought\u201d, but they found this a little too philosophical, so it
\nhas been changed to \u201cThe Supreme Discovery<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00b9<\/span>
\nRather pompous for my taste, but\u2026 <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n24 April 1937<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nSpeaking of recent
\nevents, you ask me \u201cwhether it was a dangerous bluff\u201d or whether we \u201cnarrowly
\nescaped disaster\u201d. To assume both at the same time would be nearer to the truth.
\nHitler was certainly bluffing, if that is what you call shouting and making
\nthreats with the intention of intimidating those to whom one is talking and
\nobtaining as much as one can. Tactics<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n.<\/font><\/span>\u00b9<\/span><\/font>Published
\nin Words of Long Ago, Collected Works Vol. 2, pp. 38-44.<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 9<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

\nand diplomacy were
\nused, but on the other hand, behind every human will there are forces at work
\nwhose origin is not human and which move consciously towards certain ends. The
\nplay of these forces is very complex and generally eludes the human
\nconsciousness; but for ease of explanation and understanding, they may be
\ndivided into two main opposing tendencies: those that work for the fulfilment of
\nthe Divine work upon earth, and those that are opposed to this fulfilment. The
\nformer have few conscious instruments at their disposal. It is true that in this
\nmatter quality compensates by far for quantity. As for the anti-divine forces
\nthey have only too many to choose from, and always they find wills which they
\nenslave and individuals whom they turn into docile but nearly always unconscious
\npuppets. Hitler is a choice instrument for these anti-divine forces which want
\nviolence, upheaval and war, for they know that these things retard and hamper
\nthe action of the divine forces. That is why disaster was very close even though
\nno human government consciously wanted it. But at any cost there was to be no
\nwar and that is why war has been avoided \u2013 for the time being. <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n22 October 1938<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 10<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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