{"id":5672,"date":"2013-07-13T02:03:33","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T02:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=5672"},"modified":"2013-07-13T02:03:33","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T02:03:33","slug":"045-april-5-1972-vol-13-volume-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/03-agenda\/13-volume-13\/045-april-5-1972-vol-13-volume-13","title":{"rendered":"-045_April 5_1972.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><H3>April 5, 1972<\/H3><br \/>\n<P align=\"center\"><i>(The first part of this conversation concerns the translators<br \/>\nof<\/i><P align=\"center\"><i>&nbsp;&quot;Notes on the Way.&quot; One of them wants to give up<br \/>\nthe work.)<\/i><br \/>\n<P>It&#8217;s the ego demanding that things be done without forgetting its due respect &#8211; <i>(laughing) <\/i>Mister Ego wants to continue enjoying all due respect! &#8230; It complains shrilly before departing.<br \/>\n<P>Oh, I have seen such fascinating things, mon petit! For hours I was a spectator &#8211; the consciousness witnessed an encounter between the Ego and the superman&#8217;s consciousness &#8230; <i>(laughing) it <\/i>was like a duel! The ego was arguing so glibly! It seemed to be saying, &quot;See, if you send me off, the world will become hellish!&quot; And it was showing the most frightful scenes: &quot;If I withdraw from this one,&quot; it said, &quot;this is what he will do; if I withdraw from that, this is what will happen &#8230; <i>(Mother laughs) <\/i>Horrible things, you know, the most staggering catastrophes! &#8230; It went on for hours.<br \/>\n<P>At night I don&#8217;t sleep, you know; I remain very still, and I am then a spectator of all those scenes.<br \/>\n<P>Told in detail, they would be very interesting&#8230;. Later, perhaps?<br \/>\n<P align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">Page 136<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P align=\"center\"><i>The Characters in the Play<\/i><br \/>\n<P>The following conversation makes it necessary to explain the<P>&nbsp;physical<br \/>\nconditions Mother was living in. Alas, at the time I was<P>&nbsp;still<br \/>\nhalf-blind to these conditions, for Mother had wrapped me in<P>&nbsp;such a<br \/>\ncocoon of light that I could not really see what was happen<P>ing &#8211; she knew my<br \/>\nimpetuous nature, she knew I would never have<P>tolerated the situation in her<br \/>\nroom nor people&#8217;s petty intrigues had<P>&nbsp;I known what was really happening<br \/>\nthere. But gradually I did<P>&nbsp;become aware of certain things.<br \/>\n<P>Unknowingly, I was a witness to a tragedy.<br \/>\n<P>But &quot;tragedy&quot; is afterwards, when it&#8217;s too late. At the time, there<P>&nbsp;are<br \/>\nonly people coming and going, with their everyday gestures,<P>&nbsp;their empty<br \/>\nwords and simmering little desires, no worse or better<P>&nbsp;than anybody<br \/>\nelse, and who don&#8217;t really know what they are doing<br \/>\n<P>or where they are going. And yet the tragedy is already sealed in<P>&nbsp;this<br \/>\nlittle gesture, that careless action, those few fleeting words.<P>&nbsp;Was the<br \/>\nTrojan War not taking place &quot;every day&quot;? Did Alexander<P>&nbsp;not die on &quot;one<br \/>\nfine day&quot;? Destiny seizes upon a few beings and<P>&nbsp;abruptly crystallizes a<br \/>\ngreat moment in History, but the players are<P>&nbsp;neither &quot;cruel&quot; nor<br \/>\n&quot;gentle&quot; &#8211; they are much like everyday people,<P>&nbsp;but with only a tiny<br \/>\ndistinction in their hearts. Each player plays<P>&nbsp;his part, in black or<br \/>\nwhite, for an unfathomable goal where every<P>thing is reconciled &#8230;<br \/>\n<P>But in the meantime&#8230;.<br \/>\n<P>Mother&#8217;s immediate entourage was then composed of: Pranab,<P>&nbsp;her &quot;bodyguard,&quot; a former boxer, a violent and arrogant man<P>&nbsp;whose flagrant flaws were the reverse side of a Love he never<P>&nbsp;accepted, because it would have meant surrendering himself. &quot;A<P>&nbsp;for-mi-dable pride,&quot; Mother once told me. [[See <i>Agenda VIII<\/i>, August 2, 1967. ]] <i> He trusted nothing<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;except his biceps and was frustrated in his dreams of &quot;superman&quot;<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;without any tangible physiological realization. In his own way, he<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;was perfectly devoted, as a sportsman who knows he has lost the<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;game he had hoped to win but sportingly plays on till the end. He<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;treated Mother like a brute and talked to her like a brute, but he<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;served her brutishly, sparing no pains, although with a growing<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;impatience. He served Mother for more than twenty-five years.<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;Pranab had an instinctive aversion toward me, as he had toward<\/i><P align=\"center\"><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">Page 137<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P> <i> &nbsp;Pavitra (whom he badly mistreated), and in general toward any<\/i><P> <i> thing that exceeded his primitive intellect &#8211; Pranab could only love<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;what he was able to dominate. He was also openly xenophobic: the<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;&quot;sahibs,&quot; as he would say, forgetting, or maybe not, that Mother,<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;too, was a &quot;foreigner.&quot; There were never any exchanges between<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;Pranab<br \/>\nand myself, we lived in completely different worlds and the<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;work<br \/>\nof one did not infringe upon that of the other. He only showed<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;his<br \/>\nannoyance and contempt for me when, entering Mother&#8217;s room<\/i><P> <i><br \/>\nponderously, he would find her in contemplation, holding my<\/i><P> <i> &nbsp;hands<br \/>\n&#8211; perhaps he was eager for a Love that eluded him. I never <\/i><br \/>\n<P> <i> spoke a word to him. He never said anything to me.<\/i><br \/>\n<P><i><br \/>\n<P>The second person in Mother&#8217;s entourage was her -physician, Dr.<P>&nbsp;Sanyal. A completely devoted, clear and uncalculating man but<P>&nbsp;with a total lack of faith, except in his medicine and medical<P>&nbsp;methods. He lived for some twenty years with Mother with<P>&nbsp;no understanding of what she was doing, sowing her body<P>consciousness<br \/>\nwith his doubts and medical impossibilities. Mother<P>&nbsp;has referred to him<br \/>\non several occasions in this Agenda.<\/i><i><br \/>\n<P>The third person was Mother&#8217;s helper, Champaklal, who had also<P>&nbsp;been Sri Aurobindo&#8217;s attendant. A pure-hearted man, simple and<P>&nbsp;utterly devoted There is nothing to say about him, except my<P>&nbsp;respect. He had come from his Gujarati village straight to the<P>&nbsp;Ashram, some fifty years earlier, at the age of eighteen. There was<P>&nbsp;nothing between his village and Sri Aurobindo.<br \/>\nHe understood<P>&nbsp;nothing of what was happening &#8211; he simply served and did<br \/>\nas he<P>&nbsp;was bidden.<\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>The fourth and last person was Mother&#8217;s new attendant. She is  <\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>going to appear in the following conversation. I was particularly<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;blind about her because she was young and affectionate &#8211; but she<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;was completely under Pranab&#8217;s thumb and ruled by her passions. I<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;had, of course, noticed that she was listening in on my conversa<\/i><P><i>tions with Mother, thus subtly clouding the atmosphere, invisibly<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;breaking in upon Mother&#8217;s free expression; for, needless to say,<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;Mother sensed all that went on in the atmosphere. How many times<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;did she stop in the middle of a sentence, invisibly interrupted: &quot;I<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;can&#8217;t speak&quot; &#8211; that was not just because she was short of breath.<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;Hence, the atmosphere of our conversations was no longer what it<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;had been for the last fifteen years, until 1970. But in addition, we<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;were responsible for a new and sad turn of events. We knew that  <\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>Mother frequently spoke about Auroville, or with one disciple or<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;another, and we regretted the loss of those words &#8211; to us each of<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;her words seemed to have so much importance for the world, even<\/i><P align=\"center\"><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">Page 139<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P>&nbsp;<i>if we were not yet fully able to understand all that she was saying.<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;So with her approval, we managed to obtain a small, easy-to-<\/i><P> <i>operate cassette recorder. It had been agreed with Mother that her<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;attendant would record all the important conversations in  <\/i><br \/>\n<P> <i>Mother&#8217;s room, then pass them on to me to be added to the Agenda.<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;At first, I noticed that the attendant was keeping the tapes, but an<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;innate shyness kept me from saying anything lest I appear to<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;&quot;monopolize&quot; things or seem pushing, and also I didn&#8217;t know<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;exactly whose instructions she was obeying. Then, gradually, the<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;attendant stopped giving me the recordings altogether, even those<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;of Mother with Sujata. At that point, the situation in Mother&#8217;s<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;room was so fragile that I didn&#8217;t want to say anything, for fear of  <\/i><br \/>\n<P> <i>sparking an outburst that would have ultimately bounced on<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;Mother. I was already feeling also the invisible barrier against<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;Sujata, whose name was systematically crossed off the list of  <\/i><br \/>\n<P> <i>visitors under one pretext or another, along with those of the few<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;young women who were the Ashram&#8217;s positive &#8211; and silent &#8211;  <\/i><br \/>\n<P> <i>elements. And how could we possibly argue when Sujata was told,<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;&quot;Mother cannot see you &#8230; Mother is sick &#8230; &quot;? Once, Sujata<br \/>\nmen<\/i><P> <i>tioned it to Mother, but when the same incident occurred three,<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;four,<br \/>\nten times, there was nothing to be said. Without knowing<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;why, I<br \/>\ntoo was feeling my own meetings with Mother threatened<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;and<br \/>\nprecarious. In fact, we were alone, facing an obscure league of<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;opposition.<br \/>\nWhy the opposition? There is no answer &#8211; except<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;human pettiness,<br \/>\nwhich does not understand and hates everything<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;that exceeds it.<br \/>\nEven Mother&#8217;s own son was jealous of my place<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;near her, not to<br \/>\nmention the others, the &quot;liars&quot; pure and simple, as <\/i><br \/>\n<P> <i>Mother used to call them, who were, and still are, directing the<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;Ashram.<br \/>\nFinally, much later, I discovered that the notorious<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;cassette<br \/>\nrecorder, whose recordings I was no longer even receiving,<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;was<br \/>\nclandestinely used to record my own conversations with<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;Mother &#8211;<br \/>\non whose behalf?<\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>That was the end. The atmosphere had become so rotten that, <\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>obviously, it could not last much longer &#8211; Mother was suffocating<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;there. I later discovered in my own body and from direct experi<\/i><P><i>ence that all bad thoughts are agonizing to the body, they create a<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;sort of oppression as if you were short of air. Yet, even when they <\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>closed Mother&#8217;s door on me, a year and a month later almost to the<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;day, on May 19, 1973, I COULD NOT believe it was the end. I was con<\/i><P><i>vinced that this was the last stage, that Mother was finally going to <\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>shake off the old slavery to food: the last tie to the old physiology<\/i><P><i>. But, as we now know, her &quot;bodyguard&quot; would not let her. In his<\/i><P align=\"center\"><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">Page 139<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P><i>&nbsp;speech on December 4, 1973, he declared, &quot;In the beginning [from<\/i><P><i>&nbsp;May 201, She refused to take any food or drink, but somehow we <\/i><br \/>\n<P><i>persuaded Her to take them.&quot; [[We would like to know how they &quot;persuaded&quot; her. I cannot help thinking of the vision I had eleven years earlier <i>(Agenda II, <\/i>February 11, 1961), in which Mother had &quot;died&quot; because she had eaten -a grain of rice.&quot; ]] <\/i> <i>She did fight as much as she could,<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;and then&#8230;. At times, I seemed to hear her faltering little voice up<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;there: &quot;Where is Satprem? Where is Satprem?&#8230;&quot;<br \/>\nand then<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;silence. Had I attempted to force the barrier, this<br \/>\nAgenda would<\/i><P> <i>&nbsp;never have seen the light of day. In a way, the<br \/>\nfollowing conversa<\/i><P> <i>tion is therefore prophetic.<\/i><i><br \/>\n<P>Such was Mother&#8217;s immediate entourage: a devoted but uncom<P>prehending helper, a doctor with no faith, a violent and despotic<P>&nbsp;bodyguard, and a blind and blinded little being controlled by her<P>&nbsp;passions and by Pranab.<\/i><i><br \/>\n<P>Henceforth, we will let the facts speak for themselves.<\/i><br \/>\n<P align=\"center\">*<sup>*<\/sup>*<br \/>\n<P align=\"center\"><i>(After a silence, Mother resumes the conversation.)<\/i><br \/>\n<P>The body has been weakened by the transformation, the doctor says it is showing signs of weakness.<br \/>\n<P>What is true is that it feels a kind of tension whenever it has to exert too great an effort. But I think that will pass. I am convinced &#8211; as I have already told you &#8211; that if I reach one hundred, at one hundred I will be strong.<\/p>\n<p><i>But what about the other day, Mother, when you told Sujata<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;again<br \/>\n  about the possibility of your body becoming apparently<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;lifeless, &quot;dead,&quot; as they say &#8230;<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>Yes.<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8230; as part of the process of transformation. And if this were to<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;occur,<br \/>\n  we should make sure not to put you into the hole&#8230;.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>Yes.<\/p>\n<p><i>But why? &#8230; Did the thought occur again that you may have<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;to&#8230;.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">Page 140<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P><br \/>\n<P>Yes&#8230;. I don&#8217;t know. At any rate, I would like someone to prevent such a stupid thing, because then all the work would be ruined.<\/p>\n<p><i>Yes, of course. But people like K. will be there [Satprem turns <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>toward the bathroom door and gestures to Mother&#8217;s attendant<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;to come closer].<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>Yes.<\/p>\n<p><i>People like K. will be near You.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P>Yes, mon petit, but K. is a young girl, she does not have any authority.<\/p>\n<p><i>Of course, she does, Mother! [K. laughs]<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>(Sujata:) As a matter of fact, Mother, we don&#8217;t have any<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;authority<br \/>\n  either.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>People with some authority should be there and say <i>(Mother speaks forcefully): <\/i>YOU MUST NOT DO THIS &#8211; Mother DOES NOT WANT.<\/p>\n<p><i>(Satprem:) Yes, Mother, but I see only K. or Sujata near you<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;who<br \/>\n  could say that &#8211; I mean, what can the others possibly say?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>Yes, and what about you?<\/p>\n<p><i>Me? What say do I have? Who will listen to me? They&#8217;ll say<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;I&#8217;m crazy &#8211; they won&#8217;t even let me enter your room! [[On May 19,1973, six months before Mother left, Pranab closed Mother&#8217;s door on Satprem, and on everyone else as well, including Sujata. ]] <\/i>\n  <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P align=\"right\"><i>(Mother laughs with a sort of surprise)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>It&#8217;s true, they won&#8217;t allow me to enter your room. But people<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;who are here, like K. or Sujata, WITH THEIR FAITH, they can do<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;something &#8211; or Pranab. But Pranab, only you can&#8230;.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>But Pranab &#8230; Pranab will think I am dead!<\/p>\n<p><i>Yes, that&#8217;s so.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">Page 141<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P>Exactly.<\/p>\n<p><i>Yes&#8230;. Yes, Pranab doesn&#8217;t believe, he doesn&#8217;t have faith.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P align=\"right\"><i>(Mother nods)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Personally, I think that only the faith of people like &#8211; well, yes,<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;&quot;little girls&quot; like K. or Sujata<br \/>\n  can have authority with their<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;faith. That&#8217;s all I can think of. They will have to be there.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P align=\"right\"><i>(Mother nods approvingly,<br \/>Sujata remains silent till the end)<\/i><br \/>\n<P>Possible, but not certain it will happen [the deep trance]. Sometimes, when I see all these things, I am&#8230;. My difficulty of speech is caused by that weakness, you see; I have trouble expressing myself; all of a sudden, I feel &#8230; I feel a sort of &#8230; I don&#8217;t know, I can&#8217;t say fatigue or exhaustion but &#8230; as though life were literally drained out of me &#8211; and yet the consciousness is more ALIVE, stronger than ever!<br \/>\n<P>Suddenly, the body doesn&#8217;t know if it will be able to go through it &#8211; that&#8217;s what happens.<br \/>\n<P>So, for this reason, appearances may be very deceptive.<\/p>\n<p><i>(Satprem, aside to K.:) But couldn&#8217;t someone like Champaklal <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>understand that?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>(K.:) I don&#8217;t think so.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P>The big difficulty is the government, you see: a bunch of dimwits who know nothing outside of their rules and regulations.<\/p>\n<p><i>(Satprem:) No, no, Mother, I can assure you that&#8230;.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>(K:) No, no!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>(Satprem:) In any event, as long as we&#8217;re alive, we will do<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;everything<br \/>\n  we can to safeguard you&#8230;.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>Yes.<\/p>\n<p><i>For sure.<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">Page 142<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P><br \/>\n<P>Mon petit&#8230;.<br \/>\n<P align=\"right\"><i>(silence)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>No, I really don&#8217;t think anything will happen, Mother.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>(K:) I don&#8217;t either.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>(Satprem:) I don&#8217;t think anything will happen. If you must<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;remain for a given number of days in a state of apparent<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;samadhi, well, you will be protected and everything will be all<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;right, that&#8217;s all.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P align=\"right\"><i>(Mother nods approvingly)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>All that&#8217;s needed is ONE person with real faith.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P>Yes, YES, exactly. Exactly so. Yes.<\/p>\n<p><i>Well, there are at least three of them right here with real faith!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P><i>(Mother laughs) <\/i>Yes.<\/p>\n<p><i>Even four! [Vasudha, Mother&#8217;s former assistant, has just<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;entered the room. [[Stricken with cancer, Vasudha could no longer serve Mother actively but came and saw her every day for a few moments. Her exit was a real tragedy. Had she been there, nothing would have happened &#8211; she knew and she understood. For so many years she had discreetly kept watch not only over Mother but also over the privacy and secrecy of our conversations with Mother, making sure that no one disturbed us and above all encroached on the time Mother gave us. I can never express enough gratitude to her &#8211; and my infinite regret. There was <i>someone <\/i>in that pack who understood and that someone was taken away from Mother &#8211; why? ]] ]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P align=\"right\"><i>(The clock chimes <br \/>Mother takes Satprem&#8217;s hands <br \/>she looks reassured<br \/>long silence)<\/i><br \/>\n<P>So, K. has recorded a lot of things &#8211; did she give them to you?<\/p>\n<p><i>This morning?<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">Page 143<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><i>(K.:) Not today &#8211; yesterday.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>(Satprem:) Yesterday, yes, Mother. I haven&#8217;t yet looked<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;at<br \/>\n  them.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>I no longer speak with the force I used to have, because speaking is difficult. What I say doesn&#8217;t have the power it used to have.<\/p>\n<p><i>But there&#8217;s power behind it!<\/i><\/p>\n<p><P>Yes, the consciousness is stronger than it has ever been.<\/p>\n<p><i>Exactly! &#8230; No, I really find that the power is still there,<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;behind<br \/>\n  &#8230;. True, you don&#8217;t speak like an orator!&#8230;<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>That&#8217;s right! Far from it! Well, my children, there. We&#8217;ll do what we can, we&#8217;ll do as best as we can.<\/p>\n<p><i>Yes, and we&#8217;ll look after you well and &#8230; WE WON&#8217;T LET YOU<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;DOWN.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P>Good. Well, all right, then! <i>(Mother laughs)<\/i><br \/>\n<P>Au revoir, mon petit.<br \/>\n<P align=\"right\"><i>(to Sujata, very tenderly)<\/i><br \/>\n<P>Mon petit &#8230;.<br \/>\n<P align=\"center\"><i>PostScript<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&quot;We won&#8217;t let you down &#8230; How these words still ring with an<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;agonizing question mark, eight years later! What could we possibly<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;do? A scandal? Useless &#8211; it would only have unleashed the pack<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;before we had time to get this Agenda to safety. Here are the facts,<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;as reported in English by Pranab himself in a public speech, on<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;December 4, 1973:<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P><br \/>\n<P>&quot;I arrived at about five past seven [in Mother&#8217;s room, the evening of November 17] and saw that Dr. Sanyal was already there examining<P align=\"center\"><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">Page 144<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P>&nbsp;Her. Dyumanbhai [the disciple who brought Mother her meals] also had come. I went and felt the Mother&#8217;s pulse. It was still there, beating at long intervals. There was still some respiration. But slowly everything stopped. The doctor gave an external heart massage to Her. It had no effect. Then he declared that the Mother had left Her body. This was at 7:25 p.m. Then, being present and feeling my responsibility, I thought what I should do. At that time there were present Andre [Mother&#8217;s son], Champaklalji [the helper], Dr. Sanyal, Dyumanbhai, Kumud [the attendant] and myself. I talked with Andre and told him that I wanted to wait for some time and then take the Mother&#8217;s body down, place it in the Meditation Hall for people to see. We would keep the body in such a way that it was not disturbed, then we would decide what to do. Andre agreed to my proposal. He wanted to remain with us but as he was not well I suggested that he should go home and take rest and come the next day. He left. We remained there and discussed what to do.<br \/>\n<P>Now we thought that if people immediately came to know about the Mother&#8217;s passing there would be a big rush, and the crowd would all clamor to see Her. There would be noise and shouts and a tremendous confusion. So we thought of keeping the event secret for some time. Also Dr. Sanyal said that we must not disturb the body in any way for several hours. So the Mother was left as She was and after I I o&#8217;clock, when the gate of the Ashram was closed, we cleaned Her body with eau de cologne, put a nice dress on Her, arranged everything and then Dyumanbhai and I went down and called Nolinida. Nolinida came up, saw everything, and asked what we were going to do. I mentioned my plans to him. He said the Mother had once told him that if it looked to us that She had left her body we should not be in a hurry, but see that Her body was properly kept, and then wait. I said, &quot;We are just about to do the same. We have cleaned Her, otherwise ants and insects would have come. We have put on Her a new dress and we shall carry Her quietly, carefully downstairs and lay Her in the Meditation Hall. After some time we shall call people.&quot; He agreed to our proposal&#8230;. At about 2 o&#8217;clock [in the morning] we brought the Mother&#8217;s body down, placed Her on the bed, arranged everything. Then I went out, called Mona, told him to come and see me with four other boys, five of my lieutenants, so to say. When they came I explained to them what to do: to call the photographers first, then to call the [Ashram] trustees, then all those who were very close to Her&#8230;. From 3 o&#8217;clock the people who had been called started coming. While we were upstairs, we prepared some kind of statement that could go to the Press and to All India Radio so that no wrong information might go out&#8230;. Our draft of the statement we got corrected by Nirodda and gave it to Udar to circulate. At 4:15 in the morning we opened the gate of the Ashram for people to come in and have a last Darshan&#8230;.<P align=\"center\"><br \/>\n<font size=\"2\">Page 145<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><i>Thus, SIX HOURS AND THIRTY-FIVE MINUTES after Mother&#8217;s so-called<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;death,<br \/>\n  they brought her downstairs, they removed her body from <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>the peace and protection of her atmosphere &#8230; and then they threw<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;her to thousands of avidly curious visitors amidst glaring neon<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;lights and droning fans, just EIGHT HOURS AND FIFTY MINUTES after<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;her heartbeat stopped &#8230;<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>What universal complicity bound all these people together, who<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;ALL<br \/>\n  fully knew that Mother&#8217;s body was to be left in peace in her<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;room, who ALL were fully aware of Mother&#8217;s &quot;instructions&quot;?<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>Had they wanted to get rid of her, they could not have rushed<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;any<br \/>\n  faster.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>Pranab himself brazenly declared in his speech:<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&quot;One thing She repeated to me often quite some time back, and to<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;some other persons also. She said that all the work She was doing on<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;Her body could be spoilt in two ways-one, this force She was pulling<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;down on Her could be so strong, so great, that the body would not be<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;able to tolerate it and the body might fail. [[Which was not the case, since in Pranab&#8217;s<br \/>\n  own words, &quot;it [Mother&#8217;s passing] looked to me as if a candle was slowly<br \/>\n  extinguishing.&quot; ]] That was a possibility.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;The second thing was that if ever She went into a deep trance and it<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;looked to us that She had left Her body, then if by mistake we put\n  <\/p>\n<p>Her in the Samadhi [tomb], that would absolutely spoil Her work.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;And She gave instructions that we should give the body the necessary<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;protection, we should watch, and only when we would be absolutely <\/p>\n<p>sure that She had left Her body we should put Her in the Samadhi. I <\/p>\n<p>think we have done as She had wanted.&quot;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>True, they did all that was necessary &quot;to be absolutely sure.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><br \/>\n  &quot; Removing her from her room was in effect condemning her to a<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;sure death.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>Naturally, no one ever informed us of anything. We were not<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;among those &quot;close&quot; to Mother. It is Sujata&#8217;s brother, Abhay Singh<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;&#8211; himself alerted by the public rumor, who sent word to us. We<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;arrived at the Ashram around six in the morning, stunned, to find<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;thousands of people in line, waiting their turn &#8211; it had been six<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;months since we had last seen Mother. Less than five minutes later,<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;Nolini called me to translate the press release into French as<br \/>\n  well<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;as his own &quot;message&quot; &#8211; they all had a &quot;message&quot; ready. He handed <\/i>\n  <\/p>\n<p><i>me a piece of paper. I could not believe my eyes. I read like an<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;automaton:<\/i><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">Page 146<\/font><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<p>&quot;The Mother&#8217;s body belonged to the old creation. It was<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;not meant to be the<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;New Body. [[This last sentence (&quot;It was not meant to be the New Body&quot;) was later deleted for the official version of the message, probably in part because of Satprem&#8217;s<br \/>\n  reaction. ]] It was meant to be the pedestal of the New Body. It served its<br \/>\n  purpose well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;The New Body will come&#8230;. The revival of the body <\/p>\n<p>would have meant revival of the old troubles in the<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;body. The body troubles were eliminated so far as could<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;be done being in the body-farther was not possible. For<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;a new mutation, new procedure was needed. &#8216;Death&#8217; was<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;the first stage in that process.&quot;<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>I read once again, in speechless outrage: &quot;The Mother&#8217;s body  <\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>belonged to the old creation. It was not meant to be the New<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;Body &#8230;&quot; I looked at all those people staring at me in Nolini&#8217;s <\/i>\n  <\/p>\n<p><i>room. A terrible silence fell. And then I said NO. &quot;I will NOT<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;translate that.&quot; They looked at me as if I had gone mad I left.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i>The battery of droning fans, the huge crowd, the glaring lights<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;reflected<br \/>\n  on the zinc ceiling. Her little white figure, which seemed<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;to be absorbed in a powerful, almost fierce concentration. Scream?<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;Scream what? To WHOM? Could my screams bring her back to her<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;room? Were they going to cancel their messages and prepared<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;statements? There was no one to listen. They had arranged every<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>thing to perfection. There was not a single dissenting voice. The<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>&nbsp;collusion was total.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><P align=\"center\"><font size=\"2\">Page 147<\/font><\/p>\n<p><\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"right\" style=\"margin-top: 0;margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April 5, 1972 (The first part of this conversation concerns the translators of&nbsp;&quot;Notes on the Way.&quot; One of them wants to give up the work.)&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-13-volume-13","wpcat-140-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672","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=5672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}