The "Formation of Death"<\/i>
\n
On several occasions since the beginning of this year 1972 – and<\/i>
actually
\neven in a conversation of September 8, 1971, where some<\/i>
of
\nMother’s words had a strange ring to them – Mother mentioned<\/i>
the
\n"formation of death" she was up against. Today, again, in the<\/i>
following
\nconversation, Mother speaks of that "formation. "<\/i>
\n
In occult terms, a "formation "is a strongly "formed" thought, or<\/i>
a
\nconcentration of force with a specific goal and a permanent exis<\/i>
tence
\nof its own. Formations can be negative or positive. In everyday<\/i>
life,
\nfor example, wills or desires or long-nurtured suggestions one<\/i>
day
\ncome to their happy or sorry fruition. The day, the success, or <\/i>
\n
the "accident" were prepared by the constant repetition of insignifi<\/i>
\ncant little thoughts, which eventually exude their cancer or dazzling<\/i>
success.
\nThus Mother, who for long had had no "thoughts" or "will"<\/i>
of her
\nown, except "what You will," was extremely sensitive and<\/i>
vulnerable
\nto anything coming from the "outside," precisely<\/i>
because there
\nwas no more "outside" for her, she was directly and <\/i>
\n
instantly bathed in everything: she was "in" people. "My body is<\/i>
excessively
\nsensitive," she said, "and needs to be protected from all <\/i>
\n
those things coming in. As if it had to work inside, as in an egg."<\/i>
(February
\n26)<\/i>
\n
We are here trying to find out what happened on November 17,<\/i>
1973:
\nthe why of things. A "tragedy" does not occur at a particular <\/i>
\n
minute or hour in History. It is the result of all the hours and little<\/i>
minutes
\nthat have prepared that particular minute or made it inevi<\/i>
table. As I
\nsaid earlier, I was thunderstruck on that November 18,<\/i>
1973. I
\nwas certainly the blindest of all the characters taking part in <\/i>
\n
the tragedy, for they all seemed to know in advance that she was<\/i>
going
\nto die – at least those in her immediate entourage. But that <\/i>
\n
"knowing in advance" bears a terrible implication. Here we put<\/i>
our
\nfinger on the "formation of death" Mother was imbibing daily<\/i>
-"a
\nperpetual discomfort," she used to say. In those repeated little<\/i>
minutes
\nwe can pinpoint the cause of what happened at 7:25 p.m.<\/i>
on
\nNovember 17,1973.<\/i>
\n
There is no better eyewitness than Pranab, Mother’s "bodyguard"<\/i>
since
\nhe was almost constantly physically present and even slept in<\/i>
Mother’s
\nroom. Asked about the cause of Mother’s departure, this is <\/i>
\n
Page 255<\/font><\/p>\n what he stated in a public speech on December 4, 1973 [in English]:<\/i><\/p>\n \n "On one side She had to fight the onset of decay and old age and on<\/p>\n the throwing upon Her. But more the failing body I hold responsible for<\/p>\n what happened. Often I have seen that She was trying to counteract<\/p>\n these forces but when She saw that She could not concentrate much,<\/p>\n She could not talk much, She could not write much, She could not see<\/p>\n people, She could not do as She wanted, because the body was failing,<\/p>\n and the dirt and dust that we were throwing upon Her was increasing,<\/p>\n increasing and increasing, I felt and I have seen also some kind of\n <\/p>\n despair…."<\/p>\n<\/p>\n We know that all too well, alas: they thought she was old and<\/i> disabled But Pranab the magnitude of the real tragedy – we could almost say the horror<\/i> Mother remember "This thing which came now [in November 1973], I think She had <\/p>\n prepared me enough for it from quite a long time back. Long before,<\/p>\n say, in the year 1948, when Sri Aurobindo was still living, She told\n <\/p>\n me, "I am not willing to go, I will not go, and this time there will be<\/p>\n no tragedy: but if it so happens that I leave my body, then put my\n <\/p>\n body under the Service Tree." … And lately, say, AFTER 15th AUGUST<\/p>\n 1972, I felt that perhaps what has happened was going to happen. I<\/p>\n could not tell anybody and everybody, but to my close associates I<\/p>\n said what I was feeling. Afterwards, I felt strongly that it was to happen, I was counteracting this idea, saying that it should not<\/p>\n happen. But behind everything the idea was there."<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Thus, day in and day out Mother was imbibing their thoughts of<\/i> death: things had become "concrete" for her. Her body, the consciousness <\/i> of her body felt itself in the grip of death.<\/i> As in all tragedies in human History, there is not a particular<\/i> person to blame. Humans only incarnate certain types of force or<\/i> character-they come, die, triumph and vanish – but the forces<\/i> remain and continue to animate millions and millions of unknown <\/i> little humans here and there, who are silently "responsible" and<\/i> the invisible actors in the drama. There is no one to put on trial <\/i> here- except millions who are but ourselves. It would therefore be<\/i> absurd to say that Pranab that "formation" should die!" she said), but he certainly fostered it and transmitted<\/i> it, had to breathe that horror constantly. Ultimately there remains <\/i> this haunting question, the only one perhaps: Could it have been<\/i> otherwise?<\/i> **<\/sup>* Would you like a portrait of Sri Aurobindo? Blue or all golden? Gold’s better! (silence)<\/i> There are two formations like this (gesture confronting each other), <\/i>like two wrestlers: <\/i>one formation is that I will die on Sri Aurobindo’s birthday; the other formation is that I am undergoing the necessary transformation to span humanity to the Supramental. Both formations are as … they’re like this (same gesture facing each other) <\/i>and…. When this formation [of death] makes itself felt, an awareness comes that there’s hardly any difference between life and physical death, in that anything, at any time, can send you over to the other side. Then, with the other formation, there’s a feeling that … (how can I put it?) the body’s frailty is due to a need for the consciousness to change so it can manifest the Supramental. And I am like this (gesture between the two).<\/i> But the body has learned to remain quiet in either case. (silence)<\/i> Why, but why am I not told what will happen? I don’t know…. I think it’s to insure a kind of very passive state. (silence)<\/i> And you? How are you?<\/p>\n Well, I would really like to understand the mechanics of the<\/i><\/p>\n subconscient’s transformation. I just don’t understand the<\/i><\/p>\n word "transformation." "Dissolution," is understandable; I<\/i><\/p>\n mean, some movements come to the surface (sometimes you<\/i><\/p>\n even see them symbolically the night before), they rise to the<\/i><\/p>\n Page 257<\/font><\/p>\n surface, perform their little trick, their little mischief, you<\/i><\/p>\n more or less control them, then they come in contact with the<\/i><\/p>\n Light, and pff! sink back again….<\/i>[257]<\/p>\n<\/p>\n (Mother nods)<\/i><\/p>\n But at the first opportunity, they surge up again, and everything starts anew.<\/i><\/p>\n Horrid. It’s just what is happening to me now.<\/p>\n But then, how do you … ? You seemed to be saying that it gets<\/i><\/p>\n transformed like it isn’t transformed at all: it simply sinks into the depths<\/i><\/p>\n and surges up again at the first opportunity.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n No, something is transformed, but it’s slow, slow, slow…. (silence)<\/i><\/p>\n It’s like asking a rock to become air!<\/i><\/p>\n (silence)<\/i><\/p>\n And what I find fascinating is that the more microscopic and tiny it is, the more power it seems to have!<\/i><\/p>\n Really! … (Mother takes Satprem’s hands<\/i> and Page 258<\/font><\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" August 2, 1972 The "Formation of Death" On several occasions since the beginning of this year 1972 – and actually even in a conversation of September…<\/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-5708","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\/5708","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=5708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5708\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
\n other She was fighting against this dirt that we were constantly<\/p>\n
\nadds the following, which suddenly gives us <\/i>
\n
\nhad to face in her body. This is what he says, and let us<\/i>
\nwe are today in August 1972:<\/i><\/p>\n
\n going<\/p>\n
\nshe was GOING to die. And for her this was no "thought": <\/i>
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nwas the author, or the sole author, of<\/i>
\n("Everywhere, there are wills that it [the body]<\/i>
\nPage 256<\/font><\/p>\n
\n
\nand because he was physically present all the time, Mother <\/i>
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n by coming in contact with the Light. But it looks <\/i><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\nplunges in till the end)<\/i>
\n