{"id":4456,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:07","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4456"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:07","slug":"08-17-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\/08-17-march-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-08_17 March.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div class=\"Section1\">\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">17 March 1954<\/font><\/span><\/b><b><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"2\">This talk is based upon Mother&#8217;s essay<br \/>\n\u201cThe Four <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"2\">Austerities and the Four Liberations\u201d,<br \/>\nPart I. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Here you have said: \u201cThe avowed purpose of such [ascetic] practices is<br \/>\nto abolish all sensation so that the body may no longer stand in the way of<br \/>\none&#8217;s flight towards the Spirit.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>In the old spiritual doctrines, the body<br \/>\nwas always considered incapable of being transformed and only as something<br \/>\ninert and useless obstructing the path \u2013 the spirit had to be made to go out of<br \/>\nits body so that, free, it could have all possible experiences. And so they<br \/>\nill-treated the body as much as they could to take away from it its vitality<br \/>\nand strength, to keep it very quiet like something utterly useless. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The physical consciousness was for them<br \/>\nsomething to be done away with. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>That was it. I am speaking as they<br \/>\nthemselves spoke. I am putting myself in their place. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Last time, in the text it was said: \u201cThey [those who have faith in a<br \/>\nGod, their God] belong to him integrally; all the events of their lives are an<br \/>\nexpression of the divine will and they accept them not merely with calm<br \/>\nsubmission but with gratitude, for they are convinced that whatever happen to<br \/>\nthem is always for their own good.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>What is the difference between a calm and a grateful<br \/>\nsubmission? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>A calm and a grateful submission?&#8230;<span>\u00a0 <\/span>When you receive an order, you may carry it<br \/>\nout with resignation because you have<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 63<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>resolved to submit; so you carry out this<br \/>\norder without any joy or pleasure, just very <span class=\"SpellE\">drily<\/span><br \/>\nand superficially, and you tell yourself, \u201cI was told to do this and I am doing<br \/>\nit.\u201d This means that you do not try to understand and make no effort to adhere<br \/>\nwillingly to what is asked. This is resigned submission. You accept your fate<br \/>\nand if you do not complain it is because you have determined not to complain,<br \/>\nit is because of this determination, otherwise you would complain. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The other instance is of understanding why<br \/>\nan order was given, of grasping its inner value and wanting to express what has<br \/>\nbeen asked with all one&#8217;s strength, with the knowledge and joy that it is<br \/>\nsomething, perforce, that&#8217;s bound to bring the Divine closer and give you full<br \/>\nsatisfaction. Then you are happy, you are satisfied and you collaborate. That<br \/>\nmakes quite a orderable difference. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>In a calm submission, doesn&#8217;t one feel happy? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Usually one is very proud of oneself! One<br \/>\nbecomes vain, tells oneself that one is doing something remarkable. One doesn&#8217;t<br \/>\nquestion, doesn&#8217;t try to understand: one obeys, and besides is resigned. One doesn&#8217;t<br \/>\neven ask oneself if it is good or not: one is too superior! One is puffed up<br \/>\nwith pride. There are many people of this kind here. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>So it is not a true submission, is it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I think the other one is better. At least<br \/>\nhere one has the satisfaction of understanding why he does things; one does<br \/>\nthem with joy and feels strengthened through the very fact of doing them, while<br \/>\nin the first instance one bends the head lower and lower and feels as though<br \/>\none were a poor victim of some despotic authority crushing one with its<br \/>\nomnipotence. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>In the temples people offer animals to the Divine. In<\/span><\/i><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 64<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span>this case can it be called<br \/>\ncruelty? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>This comes much closer to ignorance and<br \/>\nunconsciousness than to cruelty. They don&#8217;t do it because they are cruel \u2013 there<br \/>\nare exceptions \u2013 but still, generally speaking, it is not that they feel a<br \/>\nspecial pleasure in killing but they are afraid of a particular god and think<br \/>\nthat by such killing they will win his favour. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Close by here, near the seashore, there is<br \/>\na fishermen&#8217;s temple \u2013 <span class=\"SpellE\">Virampatnam<\/span>, I think; when you<br \/>\ngo as far as <span class=\"SpellE\">Ariancouppam<\/span> and from there turn to the<br \/>\nleft and go towards the sea, at the end of the road there is a temple. It is<br \/>\nthe temple of a strange godhead&#8230; it is one of the Kalis. Well, extraordinary<br \/>\nstories are told about this Kali, but in any case, the custom is to kill a<br \/>\nfairly large number of<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<span class=\"SpellE\">chicke<\/span><\/span><span class=\"SpellE\"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>ns<\/span><\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;every year in her<br \/>\nhonour. I happened to go down there \u2013 I believe it was the day after the<br \/>\nfestival had been celebrated: one could still see all the feathers scattered on<br \/>\nthe sands \u2013 and, above all, there was in that place an atmosphere of creepy<br \/>\ndread and total ignorance, and also (I don&#8217;t know the practice \u2013 who eats the<br \/>\nchickens? whether it is the one who kills them or the priests \u2013 but here truly<br \/>\nthere were too many! If the priests ate all that they would be quite sick! So<br \/>\nit must probably have been also the people who had killed the chickens), there<br \/>\nwas that atmosphere of greed, not only greed but of gluttony, of people who<br \/>\nthink about eating. And there was that Kali who was particularly satisfied with<br \/>\nall the vital forces of all those poor little chickens; they had been killed<br \/>\noff by hundreds and each one had a little vital force which escaped when its<br \/>\nthroat was cut, and so that Kali was feeding upon all that: she was very happy.<br \/>\nAnd there was evidently \u2013 I don&#8217;t know if it could be called cruelty, it was<br \/>\nrather greed, \u2013 greed of vital forces, of a very unconscious vital force, for<br \/>\nthese poor chickens don&#8217;t have anything very conscious. And the whole thing<br \/>\ncreated a very low, very heavy, very unconscious and painful atmosphere, yet<br \/>\nnot of the intensity of cruelty. So it can&#8217;t be said that this practice is due<br \/>\nto cruelty, I don&#8217;t think so. Per-&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 65<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>haps some of these people, had they to<br \/>\nsacrifice a little kid, a little lamb they loved, perhaps they would even find<br \/>\nthis a little sad. It is rather a great unconsciousness and a great fear. Oh,<br \/>\nfear! In religions there is so much fear! Fear: \u201cIf I don&#8217;t do this or that, if<br \/>\nI don&#8217;t cut the throat of a dozen chickens, disastrous things will happen to me<br \/>\nall my life through or at least the whole of this year. My children will be<br \/>\nill, I shall lose my job, I won&#8217;t be able to earn my living; very, very<br \/>\nunpleasant things will happen to me.\u201d&#8230;<span>\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\n<\/span>And so, let us sacrifice the dozen chickens. But it is not from the<br \/>\ndesire to kill. It can&#8217;t be said that it&#8217;s through cruelty: it&#8217;s through<br \/>\nunconsciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>What did that Kali do when you went to see her? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>You know the story, don&#8217;t you?&#8230; I did<br \/>\nnot know the place, but there is a bit of a road between <span class=\"SpellE\">Ariancouppam<\/span><br \/>\nand this temple. And so, half-way, I was seated quietly in my car knowing<br \/>\nnothing \u2013 I knew nothing, neither the story of that Kali nor of the chickens<br \/>\nnor anything \u2013 I was seated in my car when suddenly I saw a black being coming,<br \/>\nwith hair all <span class=\"SpellE\">disheveled<\/span>, who asked me to make a<br \/>\npact. And she assumed a tone of great supplication and told me, \u201cAh! If you<br \/>\nwish, if you wish to adopt me and come to help me, how many people would come,<br \/>\nhow very glorious this place would become.\u201d She was a funny little creature.<br \/>\nShe was black, dishevelled, quite thin, she didn&#8217;t seem to be flourishing much!<br \/>\nLater I was told \u2013 I don&#8217;t know the story exactly, I can&#8217;t say \u2013 that some<br \/>\nmisfortune had befallen her: her head had been cut off, wasn&#8217;t that it?<br \/>\nSomething like that. (<i>Turning to a<br \/>\ndisciple<\/i>)<span>\u00a0 <\/span>Amrita, do you know the<br \/>\nstory of the Kali of <span class=\"SpellE\">Virampatnam<\/span>?&#8230; No, you don&#8217;t?<br \/>\nSomeone had related it to me, anyway it was not very interesting, it was an<br \/>\nunfortunate Kali. I told her to remain quiet and that I did not understand what<br \/>\nshe wanted of me, that I came&#8230; that if she had a sincere aspiration, well,<br \/>\nthere would be a response to her aspiration. The next moment we reached the<br \/>\ntemple; then I began<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 66<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>to understand that this was the person for<br \/>\nwhom the temple had been built. Later we went to walk on the seashore under the<br \/>\ncasuarinas trees, and there we saw all the feathers and drops of blood and the<br \/>\nremain of the fire \u2013 the fire on which, evidently, people had cooked their<br \/>\nchickens. And we asked for the story. And I knew then the story of that Kali<br \/>\nand how, for that festival, chickens were massacred in great numbers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>So, that&#8217;s it. I don&#8217;t suppose that<br \/>\ncreature felt any considerable satisfaction in seeing the chickens killed I<br \/>\nknow nothing about it. As I said, all the profit she could get out of it was<br \/>\nthe absorption of some vital forces coming out of the chicken. But it was<br \/>\nevident that she felt an enormous satisfaction in seeing a large crowd \u2013 the<br \/>\nmore people came there and the more chickens were killed, the greater was the<br \/>\nsign of success. This proved that she had become a person of considerable<br \/>\nimportance! And so in her ingenuousness she came to ask my help, telling me<br \/>\nthat if I wanted to help her and give her something of my vital force and vital<br \/>\npresence, there would be still more people and more chickens! Then that would<br \/>\nbe a very great success. I replied that as things stood it was quite enough,<br \/>\nthat she should remain quiet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>To what plane did she belong, Mother? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The most material vital. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Why is she called Kali? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I don&#8217;t know. It is one of the Kalis \u2013 I<br \/>\nhave a vague impression that her head was cut off or that she was buried up to<br \/>\nthe neck or I don&#8217;t know what. Something like that. There is a story of a head<br \/>\nwhich comes out of the sand, buried up to the neck. But that, anyone in this country<br \/>\nwill tell you the story, I don&#8217;t remember it. It is a form of Kali \u2013 there are<br \/>\ncountless forms of Kali. Each believer has his image, has his particular<br \/>\nrelation with a<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 67<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>certain Kali. Sometimes it is their own<br \/>\nKali: there are family Kalis \u2013 lots of family Kalis. I knew families who had<br \/>\nvery dangerous Kalis. If what they wanted was not done, always some misfortune<br \/>\nbefell the family members. There was a very strong formations. I suppose it was<br \/>\nthe family members who were still more responsible than their Kali. And I knew<br \/>\npeople who, when the misfortune came, a real misfortune in the family \u2013 someone&#8217;s<br \/>\ndeath \u2013 took the image of Kali and went and threw it into the <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Ganges<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>This Kali has no connection with Mahakali, has she? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>No. She has a very close connection with<br \/>\nthe human mind. I believe these are almost exclusively constructions of the<br \/>\nhuman mind&#8230;<span>\u00a0 <\/span>But I have found that<br \/>\nthere is really a Ganapati \u2013 something I didn&#8217;t believe. I used to think it was<br \/>\na purely human formations, that story of the elephant head \u2013 but there is a<br \/>\nbeing like that. I saw it, it is quite alive, and it is not a formations. So<br \/>\ntoo there is a black Kali with her garland of skulls and her huge hanging<br \/>\ntongue. I have seen her. I saw her entering my room with her eyes wide open. So<br \/>\nI am sure she exists. And it was not a human formations: it was a being \u2013 a<br \/>\nreal being. Now, it is possible that some of the details may have been added by<br \/>\nhuman thought. But still the being was a real being, it was not purely a<br \/>\nformations. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>What does that black Kali do? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Well, I believe she does fairly bad<br \/>\nthings! It is obvious that she takes a great pleasure in destruction. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>That one \u2013 it was at the time of the First<br \/>\nWorld War, the early days of the First War. I was here. I was staying in the<br \/>\nhouse on <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:  12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Dupleix Street<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>, Dupleix House. From the terrace of that<br \/>\nhouse could be seen Sri Aurobindo&#8217;s room, the one in the Guest House. Sri<br \/>\nAurobindo was staying there. He had two<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 68<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>rooms and the small terrace. And from the<br \/>\nterrace of Dupleix House the terrace of the Guest House could be seen. I don&#8217;t<br \/>\nknow if it can still be seen; that depends on the houses in between, but at<br \/>\nthat time it could. And I used to sit on the terrace to meditate every morning,<br \/>\nfacing Sri Aurobindo&#8217;s room. That day I was in my room, but looking at Sri Aurobindo&#8217;s<br \/>\nroom through a small window. I was in meditation but my eyes were open. I saw<br \/>\nthis Kali entering through my door; I asked her, \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d And she<br \/>\nwas dancing, a truly savage dance. She told me, \u201c<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Paris<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> is taken, <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Paris<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> will be destroyed.\u201d We used to have no<br \/>\nnews; it was just at the beginning of the war. I was in meditation. I turned<br \/>\ntowards her and told her, \u201cNo, <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Paris<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> will not be taken, <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Paris<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> will be saved\u201d, quietly, just like this,<br \/>\nbut with a certain force. She made a face and went away. And the next day, we<br \/>\nreceived the \u201cdispatch\u201d. In those days there were no radios yet, we had<br \/>\ntelegraph messages, \u201cdispatches\u201d, which were proclaimed, posted on the gate of<br \/>\nthe Government House. We got the news that the German had been marching upon <\/span><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Paris<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>, that <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Paris<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> was not defended; the way was quite open,<br \/>\nthey had to advance only a few kilometres more and they would have entered the<br \/>\ncity. But when they saw that the road was clear, that there was nobody to<br \/>\noppose them, they felt convinced that it was an ambush; that a trap had been<br \/>\nset for them. So they turned round and went back! (<i>Laughter<\/i>)<span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And when the<br \/>\nFrench armies saw that, naturally they gave chase and caught them, and there<br \/>\nwas a battle. It was the decisive battle: they were stopped. Well, evidently it<br \/>\nwas that. It took this form: When I said to Kali, \u201cNo\u201d, they were<br \/>\npanic-stricken. They turned back. Otherwise, if they had continued to advance<br \/>\nit would have been all over. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>What is Mahakali like? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Well, my children, when you see her, you<br \/>\ncan tell me! She is not like that Kali. All I can tell you is that she is not<br \/>\nblack, she<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 69<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>doesn&#8217;t stick out a big tongue, and she<br \/>\ndoesn&#8217;t wear a necklace of human heads! <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Here you have said: \u201cThe <span class=\"SpellE\">sadhu&#8217;s<\/span> recourse to<br \/>\nthe bed of nails or the Christian anchorite&#8217;s resort to the whip and the<br \/>\nhair-shirt are the result of a more or less veiled sadistic tendency, <span class=\"SpellE\">unavowed<\/span> and <span class=\"SpellE\">unavowable<\/span>; it is an<br \/>\nunhealthy seeking or a subconscious need for violent sensations.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Ah! You know there are ascetics who sleep<br \/>\non nails. Have you never seen them? I have seen some photographs myself. This<br \/>\nsort of thing is done; they sleep upon a nail-bed. Even quite recently I saw a<br \/>\nphotograph like that. Well, they do that for&#8230;<span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I don&#8217;t know if it is to prove their<br \/>\nsaintliness. You know, when they do this in public, one always suspects that it<br \/>\nis a bit of histrionics. But still there are those who can do it sincerely, in<br \/>\nthe see that they don&#8217;t do it for display. And so these, if they are asked why<br \/>\nthey do it, say that it is to prove to themselves that they are detached from<br \/>\nthe body. And there are others who go still farther: they say that the body<br \/>\nmust be made to suffer in order to liberate the spirit. Well, if you ask me, I<br \/>\nwould say that behind this there is a vital taste for suffering which imposes<br \/>\nsuffering on the body because the vital takes a very perverse pleasure in<br \/>\nsuffering. I have known children who had hurt themselves somewhere or other and<br \/>\nwho pressed as hard as they could on the injury to make it hurt still more! And<br \/>\nthey took pleasure in it. I have known grown-ups also. Morally, it is a very<br \/>\nwell known fact. I spend my time telling people, \u201cIf you are unhappy, it is<br \/>\nbecause you want to be. If you suffer, it is because you like suffering,<br \/>\notherwise you would not suffer.\u201d This sort of thing I call unhealthy, for it is<br \/>\nagainst harmony and beauty, it is a kind of morbid need for strong sensations. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I don&#8217;t know if you know that <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>China<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> is a country where the most frightful<br \/>\ntortures have been invented, unthinkable things.<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 70<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>When I was in <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Japan<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> I asked a Japanese, who liked the Chinese<br \/>\nvery much (which is very rare) and always spoke very highly about <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>China<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>, why this was so. He told me, \u201cIt is<br \/>\nbecause all the peoples of the <\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Far East<\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>, including the Japanese themselves, have<br \/>\na very blunted sensitivity. They feel very little; unless the suffering is<br \/>\nextremely strong, they feel nothing. And so this has compelled them to use<br \/>\ntheir intelligence to invent extremely acute sufferings.\u201d Well, all these<br \/>\npeople who are unconscious, the more unconscious they are, the more tamasic<br \/>\nthey are; the more blunted their sensibility, the more do they need strong<br \/>\nsensations to feel something. And usually this is what makes people cruel, for<br \/>\ncruelty gives very strong sensations. That kind of nervous tension obtained<br \/>\nthrough suffering imposed upon somebody, that gives a sensation, and they need<br \/>\nit in order to feel; otherwise they feel nothing. And that is why entire races<br \/>\nare particularly cruel. They are very unconscious \u2013 vitally unconscious. They<br \/>\nmay not be unconscious mentally or otherwise, but they are unconscious vitally<br \/>\nor physically \u2013 above all, physically. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Can those who have a see of beauty also become cruel? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>That&#8217;s a psychological problem. It depends<br \/>\non where their sense of beauty is located. One may have a physical see of<br \/>\nbeauty, a vital sense of beauty, a mental sense of beauty. If one has a moral<br \/>\nsense of beauty \u2013 a sense of moral beauty and nobility \u2013 one will never be<br \/>\ncruel. One will always be generous and magnanimous in all circumstances. But as<br \/>\nmen are made of many different pieces&#8230; For instance, I was thinking about all<br \/>\nthe artists I knew \u2013 I knew all the greatest artists of the last century or the<br \/>\nbeginning of this century, and they truly had a sense of beauty, but morally,<br \/>\nsome of them were very cruel. When the artist was seen at his work, he lived in<br \/>\na magnificent beauty but when you saw the gentleman at home, he had only a very<br \/>\nlimited contact with the artist in himself and usually he became some-&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 71<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>one very vulgar, very ordinary. Many of<br \/>\nthem did, I am sure of it. But those who were unified, in the sense that they<br \/>\ntruly lived their art \u2013 those, no; they were generous and good. <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I remember a very amusing story that Rodin<br \/>\ntold me. You know Rodin \u2013 not the man but what he has done? Rodin put a<br \/>\nquestion to me one day; he asked me, \u201cHow can one prevent two women from being<br \/>\njealous of each other?\u201d (<i>Laughter<\/i>)<span>\u00a0 <\/span>I said to him, \u201cAh, here&#8217;s a problem indeed!<br \/>\nBut won&#8217;t you please tell me why?\u201d Then he told me, \u201cIt&#8217;s like this: most of my<br \/>\nwork I do in clay, at least much of it, before sculpting it in stone or casting<br \/>\nit in bronze. And so this is what happen: at times I go away for a day or two<br \/>\nor more. I leave my clay models covered with wet cloth because if it dries up<br \/>\nit cracks and all the work is lost, I have to do it over again.\u201d All sculptors<br \/>\nknow this. And this is what happened to that poor man: he had a wife, and he<br \/>\nhad his favourite model who was quite&#8230;<span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<\/span>very intimate in the house, she came in when she liked \u2013 she was the<br \/>\nmodel he used for his sculptures. Now, the wife wanted to be the wife. And when<br \/>\nRodin was absent, she came early every morning to the studio and sprinkled<br \/>\nwater on all the cloths, all the heads or bodies, everything. It was all<br \/>\ncovered up, wrapped in wet cloth. Water is sprinkled upon it as on plants. So<br \/>\nshe came and sprayed them. And then, after a while, two or three hours later,<br \/>\nthere came the model who had the key to the studio. She opened the studio and<br \/>\nshe sprayed them. She saw very well that it was all wet, but she had the<br \/>\nprivilege of looking after the sculpture of her sculptor \u2013 and so she sprayed<br \/>\nit. \u201cAnd so,\u201d said Rodin to me, \u201cthe result is that when I return from my<br \/>\ntravels, all my sculpture is flowing and nothing of what I had done is any<br \/>\nlonger there! <\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>He was an old man, already old at that<br \/>\ntime. He was magnificent. He had a faun&#8217;s head, like a Greek faun. He was<br \/>\nshort, quite thick-set, solid; he had shrewd eyes. He was remarkably ironical<br \/>\nand a little&#8230; He laughed at it, but still he would have preferred to find his<br \/>\nsculpture intact!<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 72<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"WW-PlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-GB\"><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>And what was your reply? (Laughter) <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I don&#8217;t remember now. (Laughter) Perhaps I<br \/>\nanswered by a joke. No, I remember one thing, I asked him, \u201cBut why don&#8217;t you<br \/>\nsay: this one will sprinkle the water?\u201d He then pulled at the little hair that<br \/>\nwas left on his head and said, \u201cBut that would be a war to the knife.\u201d (<i>Laughter<\/i>)<\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span class=\"SpellE\"><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Voil<\/span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u00e0<\/span><\/span><span lang=\"EN-GB\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>, good night. <\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span><font size=\"3\">Page &#8211; 73<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>17 March 1954 &nbsp; This talk is based upon Mother&#8217;s essay \u201cThe Four Austerities and the Four Liberations\u201d, Part I. &nbsp; Here you have said:&#8230;<\/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-4456","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\/4456","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=4456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}