{"id":4413,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:49","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4413"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:49","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:49","slug":"07-10-march-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/06-questions-and-answers-volume-06\/07-10-march-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-07_10 March.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\n10 March 1954<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This talk is based upon Mother’s essay
\n\u201cThe Fear <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

of Death and the Four Methods of
\nConquering It\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why have you written \u201cThe Fear of Death\u201d just now? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Because it was necessary to say this. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

So far you had not said it, Mother, why do you say it now? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! There are many things I have not said.
\nOne must indeed begin one day. I don’t think or have the impression that there
\nwas any occasion for it so far. Perhaps it came as the result of an
\nexperience…\u00a0 <\/span>Why, yes, I thought later
\nthat people would see a special significance in it, but there isn’t any!
\n(Laughter) Perhaps within you there is something. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is one thing I have noticed, that
\nevery time somebody dies in the Ashram, many people are seized by panic. Now, I
\ncannot say I appreciate this very much! Perhaps it was because of that that I
\nwrote this article. For truly it is high time we were free from these things \u2013
\na sort of trembling. I remember, the first time someone died in the Ashram,
\nthere was a veritable panic. I know lots of people of this kind, whom I won’t
\nname; they came here (they were already quite old) with the idea that, because
\nthey lived here, they would not die! It was an old idea, a very long time ago.
\nAnd the first time someone died, it literally caused a panic. We received heaps
\nof letters saying: \u201cHow is it possible? But then we are not safe!\u201d I was
\nobliged to tell them that immortal life is something acquired with much effort,
\nand not only much effort but the renunciation of so many things that there is
\nnot one among all those who were protesting
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 46<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

who would give up his attachments for this
\nimmortal life. That is, they would prefer to die and keep their old habits to
\nliving immortally and losing them! There are many things, which must be given
\nup…\u00a0 <\/span>I have just mentioned this by the
\nway in that article, but there are yet many more. All the small personal
\nsatisfactions, generally, must disappear \u2013 satisfactions of all kinds. I
\nremember having spoken to someone \u2013 that was a long time ago \u2013 of the
\npossibility of physical transformation, and I told him that one of the results
\nwould be that one would no longer need to eat, that one would recuperate
\nstrength directly from the universal forces or else from the Divine. And this
\nperson in an absolute consternation said to me, \u201cAnd all the fine things one
\neats!\u201d (Laughter). So, it is like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If we become immortal, then creation must cease? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Which creation? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The birth of men. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh! naturally. Why, even long before
\nbecoming immortal. If anyone wants in the least to transform himself, this is
\nthe first thing that must stop. I have said it elsewhere, but…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is fear the only cause of death? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, no! Not at all. That is not what I
\nhave said, besides. I said that if one wanted to conquer death it was necessary
\nto begin by not fearing it, which is quite a different thing. But I have not
\nsaid that it was fear that brought about death. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You have said: \u201cOne can neither hasten nor delay its hour.\u201d But death
\ncomes if one stops progressing. So, if one progresses, one can put off the
\nhour. Or does this mean that from one’s birth the day and the
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 47<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

moment of death are predestined? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No. This is altogether something else and
\non another plane. I have written elsewhere that one dies only when one consents
\nto die which seems to contradict what I have said here. But this is the truth.
\nI have told you this once already, I believe; in any case, I have written it
\nsomewhere. There are two points of view. Here I have taken quite an ordinary,
\nmaterial point of view, that of the physical consciousness. But I have
\nexplained somewhere that there are, as it were, different \u201clayers of
\ndeterminisms\u201d in our being. The physical existence has a determinism; the vital
\nexistence has a determinism; the mental existence has a determinism; the higher
\nmental, the psychic have a determinism. And then the higher existences have
\ndeterminisms \u2013 the supramental existence has a determinism. And the determinism
\nof everyone comes from the combination of all these determinisms (I am sure I
\nhave written this somewhere). If, for instance, at a given moment, when the
\nentire physical determinism must necessarily bring death, you suddenly enter
\ninto contact with an extremely high determinism, like the supramental one, for
\nexample, and you succeed in joining the two, you change your physical
\ndeterminism completely at that moment: death which had been determined by the
\nphysical determinism is abolished, and the conditions change and are pushed
\nback. <\/span><\/p>\n

I do not speak of this in that article. I
\nhave taken a purely material point of view. I have given the example of people
\n(and people who lived almost exclusively in their material consciousness, their
\nphysical consciousness, you understand, mental, vital and material), and who
\neagerly wanted to die from the time they were fifty \u2013 they lived to be
\neighty-seven! I have had an instance of that. I had another example the very
\nopposite of this, of someone who ardently wanted to live very long, who felt
\nthat he had many very important things to do and that he must not die, and he
\ntook all kinds of precautions against \u2013 that and yet he died. There may be
\ncases which seem contradictory, but that
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 48<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

is only an\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>appearance. There are explanations for all
\nthese things, they obey different laws. Here I have taken the purely material
\npoint of view. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you do not make a higher determinism
\nintervene, truly you can change nothing. That is the only way of changing your
\nphysical determinism. If you remain in your physical consciousness and want to
\nchange your determinism, you cannot… During the First War I knew a boy who
\nhad been told he would die of a shot (you know in war one dies easily), and he
\nhad even been given an approximate date. And that caused him such agony that he
\nhad succeeded in getting a long leave. He came to <\/span>Paris<\/span> on leave. He was an officer and had his
\npistol in his pocket. He jumped from a tram and fell down, the pistol went off
\nand he was killed on the spot. He could not escape. <\/span><\/p>\n

I could narrate any number of such
\nexamples to you. But this belongs to a single plane, the material plane \u2013 the
\npurely material physical, mental and vital plane. It is only a higher knowledge
\nand a contact with the higher planes and the descent of these higher planes
\ninto the physical plane, which can change circumstances. So too, if one
\nsucceeded in bringing down the supramental plane permanently into the physical
\nlife, physical life would be transformed, that is, it would change totally. But
\nonly on this condition. I do not speak of this in that article, that’s another
\nsubject. <\/span><\/p>\n

Anything else? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why does one feel afraid? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have been told \u2013 and this was one of the
\nteachings of a very old tradition \u2013 that, it was the influence of the adverse
\nforces upon earth that had created fear, for it was their way of acting on
\nhuman beings. But animals also feel fear. So that takes away a little from the
\nstrength of the argument, for I don’t think the adverse beings have any special
\ninterest in creating fear in animals.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 49<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Fear is a phenomenon of unconsciousness.
\nIt is a kind of anguish that comes from ignorance. One does not know the nature
\nof a certain thing, does not know its effect or what will happen, does not know
\nthe consequences of one’s acts, one does not know so many things; and this
\nignorance brings fear. One fears what one does not know. Take a child, if it is
\nbrought before someone it does not know (I am not speaking of a child with an
\nawakened inner consciousness, I am speaking of an ordinary child), \u2013 you bring
\nit before someone it does not know, its first movement will always be one of
\nfear. Only very rare children \u2013 and they have another consciousness \u2013 are very
\nbold. It may also be a mixture of apprehension, a kind of instinct. When one
\ninstinctively feels that something is dangerous and hasn’t the means to remedy
\nit, when one does not know what to do to protect himself from it, then he is
\nafraid. There are, I believe, countless reasons for fear. But it is a movement
\nof unconsciousness, in every case. <\/span><\/p>\n

That which knows has no fear. That which
\nis perfectly awake, which is fully conscious and which knows, has no fear. It
\nis always something dark that is afraid. <\/span><\/p>\n

One of the great remedies for conquering
\nfear is to face boldly what one fears. You are put face to face with the danger
\nyou fear and you fear it no longer. The fear disappears. From the yogic point
\nof view, the point of view of discipline, this is the cure recommended. In the
\nancient initiations, especially in Egypt, in order to practise occultism, as I
\nwas telling you last time, it was necessary to abolish the fear of death
\ncompletely. Well, one of the practices of those days was to lay the neophyte in
\na sarcophagus and leave him in there for a few days, as though he were dead.
\nNaturally, he was not left to die, neither of hunger nor suffocation, but still
\nhe remained lying there as though he were dead. It seems that cures you of all
\nfear. <\/span><\/p>\n

When fear comes, if one succeeds in
\nputting upon it consciousness, knowledge, force, light, one can cure it
\naltogether. There is indeed the Christian religion which says that fear comes
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 50<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

of our having eaten the apple in the
\nGarden of Eden \u2013 that with knowledge came fear; and upon earth it is always
\nthis fear which governs all life, for all human beings. Only, here again I
\nrepeat my argument that animals also have fear \u2013 animals have not sinned,
\nhaven’t eaten the apple, so they shouldn’t have any fear! It is a
\nhalf-consciousness mixed with a sort of ignorant instinct, which stresses a
\ndanger and at the same time does not know its remedy. But certainly, the fact
\nis that the adverse beings, beings of the vital world who fight against the
\ndivine Work, make an extensive use of fear. It is through that that they have
\nthe strongest hold on human beings. Besides, they are not the only ones: there
\nare also all the political and religious means which are of that type. There
\nare religions, which found their power over the believers simply through the
\nfear of death and of what will happen thereafter, and of all catastrophes,
\nwhich await you after death if you do not obey blindly the laws, they dictate
\nto you. <\/span><\/p>\n

This fear may also come from an antipathy,
\nthat is, a lack of affinity with something. Some people are especially afraid
\nof fire, some especially fear water, others have a special fear of one animal
\nor another. It comes from a disharmony between the vital vibrations. And then
\nit is translated in this body-unconsciousness by fear. The body is a terribly
\nunconscious thing. How one has to work to give it just a very little
\nconsciousness! It lives automatically, by habit. It is terribly unconscious. <\/span><\/p>\n

So, the sequel? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hour of death seems therefore to be inexorably fixed, except for a
\nvery few individuals who possess powers that the human race in general does not
\ncommand.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is exactly what I have just
\nexplained. It is a very few who are capable of bringing down another
\ndeterminism into the physical determinism. These can change the hour of death.
\nThis is exactly what I have just been explaining at full length. The
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 51<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

power lies in bringing down a higher
\nconsciousness into the material consciousness, and with the higher
\nconsciousness bringing down a higher determinism, which changes the material
\ndeterminism. And not many have that power. I have said a very few do. In fact
\nit is a very, very few. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n


\n              <\/span>The last method, you have said, is to enter the domain of death
\ndeliberately and consciously while one is still alive…\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the difference between entering consciously into death and
\nconsciously going out of one’s body? Many people can go out of their body,
\ncan’t they? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, but they don’t all go into the world
\nof death. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it the same method as for going out of one’s body? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, but that is only the beginning. One
\nbegins by learning how to go out of one’s body. Many people, when they sleep,
\ngo out of their body. They do it more or less consciously \u2013 the majority
\nunconsciously, but still there are a few who do it consciously. They go out of
\ntheir body but remain in the physical domain. At the most they go into some
\nmental region but they do not go into the domain of death. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are some who go there, but then, for
\nthe process to be complete… you must know that when one goes out of one’s
\nbody, one remain tied to the body by a certain number of links \u2013 what shall I
\ncall them?… They may be vital links, links of the mind, psychic links \u2013 when
\none goes out, it can be all kinds of things which go out of the body. Usually
\nwhat goes out is something quite subtle, like the mind or the higher vital, and
\nmuch remain in the body, enough for the body not to enter into <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 52<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

trance. Among sleepers some even move
\nabout often in their sleep: there is one part of their being which is
\nexteriorised but the most material part of their vital being is in the body.
\nAnd as long as that is there, it is altogether in the domain of life. First of
\nall, it is not easy to detach from the body exactly that part which leaves it
\nat the moment of death. This asks for a very rigorous discipline practised for
\na very long time. There is a process of exteriorisation to follow in order to
\nsucceed in making all the parts\u00a0 <\/span>which
\nleave at death go out; and in this case the body enters into a cataleptic
\nstate. It goes into the state in which it is found when one dies. It even
\nbecomes very rapidly completely rigid. Well, this is something one must learn
\nto do, and it is not very easy; and if one wants to do it quite completely,
\nsomebody must always be there to watch the body so that nothing may happen. One
\ncan never do it all alone. Somebody must be there to guard the body. <\/span><\/p>\n

But even if one does all that, that is not
\nquite the experience I am speaking about. The experience I am speaking about is
\nstill much more difficult. Once one has gone out like that and left his body in
\na cataleptic state, one cuts the links. So, one is really dead; that is, the
\nheart beats no longer. But as there is still \u201cthe life of the form\u201d, and it is not
\nthrough an accident that one has left, as it is by an act of will with
\nknowledge and power, one can force one’s way back, re-establish the connection
\nand come back forcibly into one’s body. It is not a comfortable business \u2013 the
\nwhole thing is difficult. Like that, on paper it seems to be nothing at all.
\nBut it is not easy. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You have said here: \u201cIt is within the reach of so few.\u201d So this means
\nthere are people who have done it. Hence they have attained immortality, but so
\nfar…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Immortality! No, I have not said that this
\nwas immortality. I have said that they got rid of all fear of death. That is
\nquite a different thing.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 53<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

But they enter the domain of death, don’t they? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, but at that moment<\/i> the body is in a good condition. The body is in good
\norder and one can find it again \u2013 it is not a question of remaining outside for
\nlong like that! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But they have had the experience, so when they really die they try once
\nagain the same thing? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If their body is in good condition. But
\nusually, when one dies something has happened to the body, you know. There is
\nsomething seriously out of order in the body. But still, it is not yet certain
\nthat having gone out of one’s body, one cannot keep the ability to put what is
\ndisturbed back into order unless it is something very serious like a stab in
\nthe heart or when the head’s cut off! That is grave enough but still if the
\nbody remain intact, if it is only a disequilibrium, it can be re-established. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, what happen if the links are broken? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If the links are broken?\u00a0 <\/span>One dies. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But the part that has gone out of the body? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That, if it is conscious, remain
\nabsolutely conscious. It has its own independent life, it remain absolutely conscious.
\nCut off or not, that changes nothing in its life. It does not give it more
\nconsciousness, does not take away any from it \u2013 the consciousness it has, the
\nknowledge it has, the power it has, these it keeps. One who is able to do this
\ndoes not depend upon the body. That is, in order to be conscious, one does not
\ndepend at all \u2013 at all \u2013 upon the body. He has an altogether independent
\nconsciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDomain of death\u201d means what? <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 54<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Every religion has spoken about it
\ndifferently. The Greeks had their \u201cElysium\u201d, one crossed over in a \u201cboat\u201d.
\nThere are all the paradises, all the hells. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, not religions. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Generally, \u201cdomain of death\u201d is the name
\ngiven to a certain region of the most material vital into which one is
\nprojected at the moment one leaves one’s body. The part \u2013 how to put it? \u2013 of
\none’s life that’s usually the most conscious is projected there at the moment
\nof death. Well, that region, that material vital world is very dark, it is full
\nof adverse formations having desires at their centre or even adverse wills, and
\nthese are very, very elemental entities which have a very fragmentary life and
\nare like vampires, in the see that they feed on all that is thrown out from
\nhuman beings. And so, at that moment, from the shock of death \u2013 for very few
\ndie without a shock, go out consciously, in full knowledge of the thing, there
\nare not many such \u2013 usually it is an accident: a last accident; well, at that
\nshock of death, those entities rush in upon this, upon this vitality that goes
\nout, and feed upon it. So long as a person is alive, they cannot touch him.
\nFor, you have all had the experience of a nightmare in which, when the
\nsituation becomes really very dangerous, suddenly you wake up \u2013 you come back
\ninto your body, for the body is your protection. In the physical they can do
\nnothing to you but when you are completely outside the physical (and even this
\nlink I spoke about serves as a protection to a certain extent when you go out),
\nbut if the links are broken and you are entirely without a body, well, unless
\nyou take advantage of special circumstances… as for instance when a person is
\nmuch loved by others who are yet alive; if at that moment these people who love
\nhim concentrate their thought and love on the departed one, he finds a refuge
\ntherein, and this protects him completely against those entities; but one who
\npasses away without anyone’s having a special attachment for him, either
\nbecause he is surrounded by
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 55<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

people he has harmed and who do not love
\nhim or by people who are in a terribly unconscious state \u2013 he is like a prey
\ndelivered to these forces. And that indeed is an experience that’s difficult to
\nbear. They cannot touch anything else except what belongs to their own domain,
\nthat is, the most material vital \u2013 the higher vital escapes them altogether, they
\ncan do nothing there. And so, this material vital goes out but the other
\nremain; and this higher vital is attacked by other dangers, simply that. And if
\nit also disappears, the mind remain. But behind all this is the psychic being
\nwhich nothing can touch, which is above all possible attacks, and it indeed is
\nfree to go where it wants. Usually \u2013 unless it has a special opportunity and
\nhas reached a state of complete development \u2013 it goes to rest in the psychic
\nworlds. There it enters into a kind of beatific contemplation, in which it
\nremain, and this is an assimilation of all its experiences, and when it has
\nfinished assimilating them and resting, well, it starts preparing to come down
\nagain for a new life. That being nothing can touch. But so very few are conscious
\nof their psychic that one can hardly say that it is such and such a person whom
\none has known, for people as we know them are made of what? \u2013 of all their
\nphysical experiences, all their vital reactions, all their mental formations \u2013
\nthat is, the body, the character, the thought \u2013 and with these we have a human
\nbeing! Well, all that cannot persist after death unless it is organised and
\ncentralised around the psychic being and to the extent it is perfectly unified
\nwith the psychic. Otherwise all this mixture is dissolved and the psychic being
\nalone remain, at times just as a flame, at times as a completely conscious
\nbeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

This of course is the general law. Now
\nthere are bridges, as it were, \u201cprotected passages\u201d which have been built in
\nthe vital world in order to cross over all these dangers. There are
\natmospheres, which receive people leaving their body, give them shelter, give
\nthem protection. There are all kinds of other conditions; what I have told you
\njust now is the normal state of those who die, of ordinary human beings, but as
\nsoon as we come to a
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 56<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

little higher type of humanity, all these
\nconditions change. The general law remain unless there is a special higher
\ndevelopment within the being. There are people with so total a cohesion in
\ntheir being that they no longer depend upon the body \u2013 not at all \u2013 whether it
\nbe there or not there. <\/span><\/p>\n

But all this development does not come
\nabout just like that, simply by thinking about it from time to time, desiring
\nit still less often and forgetting it most of the time \u2013 no, it is not like
\nthat that it can happen. These are disciplines, I may say, at least as arduous
\nas the strictest spiritual disciplines…\u00a0
\n<\/span>Essentially it is for this that we are on the earth. Truly speaking,
\nhuman beings were made for this purpose, to do that work, and it is perhaps
\nbecause they refuse to do it that there is so much chaos in the world. If they
\ndid it truly, things would go much better. <\/span><\/p>\n

My children, it is 9.20; if you have a
\nvery interesting question to ask, ask it! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You had said you would tell us the story of the stones. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That is quite another domain. That’s not
\nthe domain of death; it is a domain of the material vital, the most material
\nvital, that which controls the physical, is just behind the physical \u2013 the
\nmaterial vital. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was a time we were living in the
\nGuest House.<\/span>1<\/sup> Sri Aurobindo lived on the first floor, in the room
\nright at the end which is now the meditation-room of the children’s boarding. I
\nbelieve there are two rooms side by side one used to be a bathroom but is now
\nan ordinary room, and a room next to it, which was mine the bathroom, and
\nanother room. Sri Aurobindo was on one side. <\/span><\/p>\n

How many of us were there in that
\nhouse?… Amrita was there (turning to the disciple), weren’t you, Amrita, do
\nyou re- <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n1<\/span><\/sup>Sri Aurobindo lived in the Guest House (41 rue Francois Martin) between
\n1913 and September 1922. The incident related by Mother here occurred in 1921,
\nsometime in the middle of December.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 57<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

member that day? (Laughter)\u00a0 <\/span>We had a cook called Vatel. This cook was
\nrather bad-tempered and didn’t like being reproved about his work. Moreover, he
\nwas in contact with some Musulmas<\/span> who had it seems,
\nmagical powers \u2013 they had a book of magic and the ability to practise magic.
\nOne day, this cook had done something very bad and had been scolded \u2013 I don’t
\nknow if any of you knew Datta, it was Datta who had scolded him \u2013 and he was
\nfurious. He had threatened us, saying, \u201cYou will see, you will be compelled to
\nleave this house.\u201d We had taken no notice of it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Two or three days later, I think, someone
\ncame and told me that stones had fallen in the courtyard \u2013 a few stones, three
\nor four: bits of brick. We wondered who was throwing stones from the next
\nhouse. We did exactly what we forbid children to do: we went round on the walls
\nand roofs to see if we could find someone or the stones or something \u2013 we found
\nnothing. <\/span><\/p>\n

That happened, I believe, between four and
\nfive in the afternoon. As the day declined, the number of stones increased. The
\nnext day, there were still more. They started striking specially the door of
\nthe kitchen and one of them struck Datta’s<\/span> arm as she
\nwas going across the courtyard. The number increased very much. The interest
\nwas growing. And as the interest grew, it produced a kind of effect of
\nmultiplication! And the stones began falling in several directions at the same
\ntime, in places where there were neither doors nor windows; there was a
\nstaircase, but it had no opening in those days: there was only a small
\nbull’s-eye. And the stones were falling on the staircase this way (vertical gesture<\/i>); if they had come
\nthrough the bull’s-eye, they would have come like this (slantwise movement<\/i>), but they were falling straight down. So, I
\nthink everyone began to become truly interested. I must tell you that this
\nVatel had informed us that he was ill and for the last two days \u2013 since the
\nstones had started falling \u2013 he hadn’t come. But he had left with us his
\nunder-cook, a young boy of about thirteen or fourteen, quite fat, somewhat
\nlifeless and a little quiet, perhaps a little stupid. And
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 58<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

we noticed that when this boy moved
\naround, wherever he went the stones increased. The young men who were there \u2013 Amrita
\namong them \u2013 shut the boy up in a room, with all the doors and windows closed;
\nthey started making experiments like the spiritists<\/span>
\nit (laughing): \u201cClose all the doors, close all the windows.\u201d And there was the
\nboy sitting there inside and the stones began falling, with all the doors and
\nwindows closed! And more and more fell, and finally the boy was wounded in the
\nleg. Then they started feeling the thing was going too far. <\/span><\/p>\n

I was with Sri Aurobindo: quietly we were
\nworking, meditating together. The boys cast a furtive glance to see what was
\ngoing on and began warning us, for it was perhaps time to tell us that the
\nthing was taking pretty serious proportions. I understood immediately what the
\nmatter was. <\/span><\/p>\n

I must tell you that we had made an
\nattempt earlier to exhaust all possibilities of an ordinary, physical
\nexplanation. We had called in the police, informed them that there was somebody
\nthrowing stones at us, and they wanted very much to come and see what was
\nhappening. So a policeman \u2013 who was a fine good fellow \u2013 immediately told us,
\n\u201cOh! You have Vatel as your cook. Yes, yes, we know what it is!\u201d He had a
\nloaded pistol and stood waiting there in the courtyard \u2013 not a stone! I was on
\nthe terrace with Sri Aurobindo; I said to Sri Aurobindo, \u201cThat’s a bit too bad,
\nwe call the police and just then the stones stop falling! But that is very
\nannoying, in this way he will think we haven’t told the truth, for no stones
\nare falling.\u201d Instantaneously the stones began falling again.<\/span> <\/span>(Laughter) <\/span><\/p>\n

You should note that the stones were
\nfalling quite a long way off from the terrace and not one of them came anywhere
\nnear us. <\/span><\/p>\n

So the policeman said, \u201cIt’s not
\nworthwhile, my staying here, I know what it is, it is Vatel who has done this
\nagainst you, I am going.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

It was after this that we made the
\nexperiment of shutting up the boy, and the stones began to fall in the closed
\nroom and I
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 59<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

was informed that the boy had been wounded.
\nThen I said, \u201cAll right, send the boy out of the house immediately. Send him to
\nanother house, anywhere, and let him be looked after, but don’t keep him here,
\nand then, that’s all. Keep quiet and don’t be afraid.\u201d I was in the room with
\nSri Aurobindo and I thought, \u201cWe’ll see what it is.\u201d I went into meditation and
\ngave a little call. I said, \u201cLet us see, who is throwing stones at us now? You
\nmust come and tell us who is throwing stones.\u201d…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I saw three little entities of the vital,
\nthose small entities which have no strength and just enough consciousness
\nconfined to one action \u2013 it is nothing at all; but these entities are at the
\nservice of people who practise magic. When people practise magic, they order
\nthem to come and they are compelled to obey. There are signs there are words.
\nSo, they came, they were frightened \u2013 they were terribly frightened! I said,
\n\u201cBut why do you fling stones like that? What does it mean, this bad joke?\u201d They
\nreplied, \u201cWe are compelled, we are compelled…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>(Laughter)\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span>It is not our fault, we have been ordered to do it, it is not our
\nfault.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I really felt so much like laughing but
\nstill I kept a serious face and told them, \u201c Well, you must stop this, you
\nunderstand!\u201d Then they told me, \u201cDon’t you want to keep us? We shall do all
\nthat you ask.\u201d \u201cAh!\u201d I thought, \u201cLet us see, this is perhaps going to be
\ninteresting.\u201d I said to them, \u201cBut what can you do?\u201d \u2013 \u201cWe know how to throw
\nstones.\u201d (Laughter) \u2013 \u201cThat doesn’t interest me at all, I don’t want to throw
\nstones at anyone…\u00a0 <\/span>but could you
\nperchance bring me flowers? Can you bring me some roses?\u201d Then they looked at
\none another in great dismay and answered, \u201cNo, we are not made for that, we
\ndon’t know how to do it.\u201d I said, \u201cI don’t need you, go away, and take care
\nspecially never to come back, for otherwise it will be disastrous!\u201d They ran
\naway and never came back. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was one thing I had noticed: it was
\nonly at the level of the roof that the stones were seen \u2013 from the roof
\ndownwards, we saw the stones; just till the roof, above it there were no
\nstones. This meant that it was like an automatic formation.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 60<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

In the air nothing could be seen: they
\nmaterialised in the atmosphere of the house and fell. <\/span><\/p>\n

And to complete the movement, the next
\nmorning \u2013 all this happened in the evening \u2013 the next morning I came down to
\npay a visit to the kitchen \u2013 there were pillars in the kitchen \u2013 and upon one
\nof the pillars I found some signs with numbers as though made with a bit of
\ncharcoal, very roughly drawn \u2013 I don’t remember the signs now \u2013 and also words
\nin Tamil. Then I rubbed out everything carefully and made an invocation, and so
\nit was finished, the comedy was over. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, not quite. Vatel’s<\/span>
\ndaughter was ayah<\/i> in the house, the
\nmaid-servant. She came early in the afternoon in a state of intense fright
\nsaying, \u201cMy father is in the hospital, he is dying; this morning something
\nhappened to him; suddenly he felt very ill and he is dying, he has been taken
\nto the hospital, I am terribly frightened.\u201d I knew what it was. I went to Sri
\nAurobindo and said to him, \u201cYou know, Vatel is in the hospital, he is dying.\u201d
\nThen Sri Aurobindo looked at me, he smiled: \u201cOh, just for a few stones!\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>(Laughter)\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That very evening Vatel was cured. But he
\nnever started anything again.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How could the stones be seen? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s what is remarkable. There are
\nbeings that have the power of dematerialising and rematerialising objects.
\nThese were quite ordinary pieces of bricks, but these pieces materialised only
\nin the field where the magic acted. The magic was practised for this house,
\nespecially for its courtyard, and the action of vital forces worked only there.
\nThat was why when I sent away the boy and he went to another house, not a
\nsingle stone hit him any more. The magical formation was made specially for
\nthis house, and the stones materialised in the courtyard. And as it was
\nsomething specially directed against Datta, she was hit on her arm. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was yet something else…\u00a0 <\/span>Ah, yes! We came to know
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 61<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

later to which magician Vatel had gone. He
\nhad gone to a magician who, it seems, is very well known here and he had said
\nthat he wanted definitely to make us leave that house \u2013 I don’t know why. He
\nwas furious. And so he asked the magician to make stones fall there. The
\nmagician told him, \u201cBut that’s the house Sri Aurobindo lives in!\u201d He said,
\n\u201cYes.\u201d \u2013 \u201cAh! No, I am not going to meddle in this business; you manage it, I
\nam not getting involved.\u201d Then Vatel insisted very much; he even promised him a
\ngreater reward, a little more money. The magician said, \u201cWell, look here; we
\nare going to make a rule: in a circle of twenty-five metres around Sri
\nAurobindo\u201d \u2013 I think he said twenty or twenty-five metres \u2013 \u201cthe stones will
\nnot fall. Always there will have to be twenty-five metres’ distance between the
\nstones and Sri Aurobindo.\u201d And he arranged his order of magic in this way. And
\nthat was why never did a single stone come anywhere near us, never. They fell
\nat the other end of the courtyard. <\/span><\/p>\n

They know how to do all that, it is
\nwritten in their books. These are words and ceremonies having a certain power.
\nNaturally, those who do that must have a vital force. A vital force is
\nnecessary \u2013 a little mental force also, not much, even very little \u2013 but quite
\na strong vital power to control these little entities, govern them. And these
\npeople rule them precisely through fear, for they have the power to dissolve
\nthem, so these entities fear this very much. But upon all these formations, all
\nthese entities, it is enough to put simply one drop of the true, pure light,
\nthe pure white light \u2013 the true, pure light which is the supreme light of
\nconstruction \u2013 you put one drop upon them: they dissolve as though there had
\nbeen nothing at all there. And yet this is not a force of destruction; it is a
\nforce of construction but it is so alien to their nature that they disappear.
\nIt is this they feared, for I had called them by showing them this white light;
\nI had told them, \u201cLook, here is this! Come.\u201d But their offer was touching: \u201cOh!
\nWe shall do everything you want.\u201d I said, \u201c Good what can you do?\u201d \u2013 \u201cThrow stones!\u201d
\n(Laughter) <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 62<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

10 March 1954   This talk is based upon Mother’s essay \u201cThe Fear of Death and the Four Methods of Conquering It\u201d.   Why have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","wpcat-125-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}