August 1969

02. August 1969 – Christianity shouldn't be unified

As for me, I’ll add something. You understand, they made an attempt to unify all of Christendom, and the Pope went to Geneva to unite with the Protestants – which wouldn’t have been so good. That’s not the thing needed, because it would have strengthened Christianity – division takes away some of its power. It’s the unification of ALL religions that’s needed, not the unification of Christianity – they haven’t reached that point. So after looking a good deal, I saw it was, on the contrary, a divine grace that it didn’t work out.

If you have the opportunity, you can tell him that.

I don’t know if he himself is still Christian....

All that gives strength to Christianity isn’t good. Christianity hoped to dominate the earth, and it’s this division that prevented its domination. In other words, I don’t think uniting with the Protestants would help the general work of unification. And for the time being, they can’t in the least conceive of anything else than putting all Christians together.

06. August 1969 – No Separation between the two Worlds

(Mother laughs)... Last night, I spent the whole night with Sri Aurobindo somewhere, I don’t know where, but there were lots of people. The two of us were alone, but we saw a multitude of people pass by But the peculiar thing is that when I wake up, it doesn’t go away! And when I lie down again, it’s there, just where I had left it: it goes on. There’s no longer a... You know, in dreams, you have a dream, and then (gesture of breaking off to another level), the consciousness you’re in suddenly changes, and it’s over, you have to make an effort to recapture your dream or the state – but this doesn’t budge! It doesn’t budge, it’s there like this (Mother slips the fingers of one hand between those of the other), all the time: it goes on, whether I concern myself with it or not.

It’s rather new.

I no longer feel I am dreaming, you understand: it’s an activity I grow conscious of.

But Sri Aurobindo was... it’s odd, he looked as if younger. He was happy, and very amused, passing all kinds of remarks – remarks full of humor, you know! – about things and people. I noticed he was... as if brighter, I don’t know how to put it.

Last night it was very particular. I no longer have the impression of dreaming, no longer at all. It no longer has anything to do with a dream: it’s an activity that goes on and on. If I remain very tranquil, like that, it goes on.

(long silence)

In the end, it’s all a question of consciousness.

The body is growing INTENSELY conscious of what responds to the true Influence, and what’s still the residue of habit and the universal, terrestrial development (general, terrestrial), very conscious. Sometimes, it’s... almost painful, you know, that old way of being.

And at certain times, the vision is almost veiled, as though I were seeing through a veil; at other times it’s ABSOLUTELY precise. I can’t believe it depends on the eyes.

With some people, when they come I see them absolutely precise; with others, I hardly see, hardly perceive where their eyes are, or their mouth.... It must depend on something else.

It was that world I was telling you about... as if it wanted to ENTER into this world (and there is indeed a great power in it), and, I don’t know how to explain... as if it wanted to force its way into this world. And it came... (you know, it comes without the least personal will, I am like this [still, silent gesture]), it comes and IMPOSES itself, it settles with such power. And the relationship with things and people and the consciousness works differently It came very strongly, and you were IN it: you weren’t outside, you were in it. So I was hoping you had felt something.

09. August 1969 – Tolerance: First Step towards Wisdom

Tolerance is only the first step towards wisdom. The need to tolerate indicates the presence of preferences. He whose consciousness is one with the Supreme Consciousness meets all things with a perfect equanimity.

09. August 1969 – The Experience with Sri Aurobindo

Have I seen you since that experience?... I spent one night (but I forget which), it was strange.... I was with Sri Aurobindo, but a Sri Aurobindo... (how can I put it?) quite joyful, full of liveliness, and slightly more material than what I usually see, as though... not material, but (I don’t know how to explain) more precise, and we spent hours working together, seeing things, seeing people, doing things, and so on. But then, the strange part, the peculiar part was that it didn’t depend on my body being asleep: it didn’t sleep, it was simply quiet; and in the middle of it I had to get up, but when I did, that consciousness and activity didn’t cease. It was the ordinary consciousness (that is, the perception of ordinary things, of the room and all that) which was somewhat less precise. It was as if topsy-turvy, you understand. And it remained for a long time, even in the morning, until I was obliged to see people and do things.

It was very particular, it’s the first time it has happened like that. Which means that this slightly inner consciousness was more concrete than the ordinary consciousness.

The funny thing is that this ordinary consciousness, these ordinary things, it’s not that they fade away and are effaced: they become... like paper! (Mother laughs) Paper, or bark, or... something dry-dry and thin and devoid of true reality, simply like a thin appearance. The sensation is like this (Mother makes the gesture of feeling something), like paper or bark.

It’s the first time it has happened.

And a quite joyful Sri Aurobindo.... It’s strange... as if he were very happy at the way things are going.

This Consciousness which has been at work since January insists a lot on the need to become conscious and do things at will: one should be born at will, die at will, fall ill at will – will must be the dominant principle. It insists on that a lot.

I think that would change a lot of things.

16. August 1969 – Democracy is idiotic

I think democracy... Already at the age of ten, I found democracy to be idiotic (there, in France), but anyway... It’s idiotic there, in France (but that doesn’t matter), but at any rate I don’t think democracy is AT ALL, at all an organization in accord with India’s spirit – not in the least. And the proof is that it’s not at all the collectivity of people that controls things, it’s a few scoundrels who push themselves forward, saying, “I represent this, I represent that...

16. August 1969 – Right Living; One can change the World

In the end, I am absolutely convinced that confusion is to teach us to live from day to day, that is to say, without being preoccupied with what may happen or what will happen, just concerning ourselves from day to day with what we have to do. All thinking and foreseeing and devising and all that furthers disorder a lot.

From experience I know it’s the state in which ONE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. One becomes a sort of instrument (which is even unaware of being an instrument, you understand), which is used for... (gesture showing the flow of forces through the instrument) projecting forces (gesture in every direction from the central instrument). You know, the brain is far, far too small-even when it’s very large, it’s too small to understand; that’s why there is this blank in the mind. And the “thing” takes place.

So then, you realize that for the purposes of the very small life you represent, it takes place automatically, and it simply makes you do every minute what you have to do, without... without calculation, without speculation, without decision, without anything, like this (same gesture of flowing through the instrument).

I’ve had the experience, but then a personal one, that if something in the body is upset (a pain or an unease, or something not working as it should), when you’ve gone through that state, the pain goes – it goes, it vanishes. Sharp pains, you know: completely vanished, you don’t even know how! “Ah, it’s gone,” like that.

And in the contact with people and the contact with the things of life, the simplicity of a child. That is, you do things without... above all, without speculation.

27. August 1969 – True Work

That’s the first lesson one must learn in order to do the work: not to have any self-regard. Things must roll off you without affecting you. That’s VERY IMPORTANT.

23. August 1969 – Resistance like iron

But I must say that from the standpoint of action (not even merely material action, because I have almost no material action left, so to say), but of invisible action, with this Consciousness I have learned a LOT, quite a lot. It has... our means are very childish, and, you know, it has such a wonderful sense of humor, a way of making people face their stupidity, which is really... really charming. And I see it constantly, all the time, for very small things, for big things, for a country’s politics or the organization of a house – all the same thing. And with a delightful irony – and so benevolent: no sense of reprobation, no... The idea of evil and sin and all that – prrrt! all gone.

It’s only the pressure of the Consciousness on the inconscient and then, in people, the measure of the resistance or of the receptivity. it’s like that. In some people (and not always the apparently bad ones), there’s such resistance!... It’s like... like iron. While others...

It’s going much faster. Things are moving fast just now.

27. August 1969 – Story about a possessed woman

(This note is about a person physically close to Sri Aurobindo, who tried to destroy Mother and separate her from Sri Aurobindo. In fact, it is clear and understandable that the darkest shadow is right under the light, and that he or she who comes to do the divine work must take on himself or herself the whole burden of the Opposer. Thus is it near Sri Aurobindo and Mother that the greatest adversaries will be found. That also explains Mother’s departure and the ensuing murky situation in Auroville and in the Ashram. For obvious reasons we will not publish Mother’s note or the long conversation that followed in its integrality, but only a few brief extracts, insofar as they illustrate the problem,” or perhaps the mystery, of Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother’s departures, for they have one and the same reason.)

She went as far as to tell him that I was betraying his work – everything and anything conceivable.

He (Sri Aurobindo) had this conviction so strongly, “It’s the Supreme Lord who does everything.” So... it must be like that.

But there was a great Asura behind her! There were the adverse forces behind. The woman herself was nothing, but she was very receptive to those forces.

Oh, he didn’t want to. He was all compassion, goodness, patience...

Twice I saw him get angry with her – twice. But he instantly got a grip on himself.

A sad story, but anyway... Afterwards, I saw, I understood. Now I know. From the point of view of the work, it was... it was what had to happen.

I never said anything, Sri Aurobindo never said anything – all that I wrote is this (Mother points to her note), I never said anything.

Infinitely greater. And he didn’t leave the work, you understand; he has never left me, never left the work. The amount of supramental force he had accumulated in his body he passed on to me – and I received it. The rest went into the subtle physical, where he has done the whole work. And he said, “I will take on a body again only when it is a supramental body.”

(silence)

It was... monstrous, you understand.... I didn’t say anything, I never said anything.... Yes, once, she was so awful that I made her leave Sri Aurobindo’s room, and she was so dreadful that I gave her a slap. And when I came back, Sri Aurobindo told me, “You ought not to have done it...”

It was... It is the highest, the most – the most sublime way, one might almost say, of exhausting the hostile force.

One has the right not to intervene only when one is constantly – constantly and intimately – united with the Supreme: when one is the REPRESENTATIVE of the Force, of the supreme Consciousness. That’s all. Otherwise, one must intervene. And he had that sense to the utmost, you understand, it was with him that I learned not to intervene.

Otherwise, it’s the play of forces, and it’s NECESSARY to intervene. But there, if one is like this (still gesture, turned upward), then it’s the Supreme Power that comes. Then...

27. August 1969 – Money

Money is not meant to make money. Money is meant to prepare the earth for the new creation.

30. August 1969 – Spending a whole Night with Sri Aurobindo

I spent a good part of the night (almost the whole night till 3 in the morning) with Sri Aurobindo, and he not only showed me and explained to me, but he himself WAS what he was showing me: he was preparing himself for the new creation. And last night he told me, he showed me how this or that thing would be, how the body would be. I remember that when I woke up, he was lying down on a bed, I was kneeling beside the bed, looking at him, and while he was that new body, he at the same time explained to me how the superman’s body would be (the supramental being). And it was so living that even when I woke up, it remained – I can still see it. But the details... (how can I put it?) the memory doesn’t have the precision that enables it to explain (I don’t know how to put it). I still have the vision... it had a color... it wasn’t casting rays of light, not that, but... and not luminescent like an object, but with a special luminosity which had that light... a little like Auroville’s flower (but it wasn’t like that, it looked perfectly natural). He was showing me his body; he was lying down, and showing me his body, saying, “Here is how it is.” The form was almost the same, with some... I still have the memory there (gesture in the atmosphere), but I don’t know how to explain.... Lately, I had been wondering, “It’s odd, we don’t at all know how it [the new body] will be.” And I was saying to myself, “There’s no one to tell me.” Because this Consciousness that came, it acts through the consciousness, but not so much through the vision. So then, I had that last night. For a long, long time I was with Sri Aurobindo, a long time, for hours. It has entered the consciousness, it will come out again one day But I kept the memory of the last thing: I saw myself, I was in two places at the same time (and maybe I too wasn’t quite as I am, but that didn’t interest me: I was looking at him, who was lying down and explaining to me), and it was... it was the same thing as a luminescent body, but it wasn’t luminescent, it was... if I am not mistaken, it was the color of this sari (Mother points to Sujata’s sari), something like that.

30. August 1969 – Experiences

Ah, I had an experience like that (I don’t know if it was this morning or yesterday morning or in the night, but anyway). For some time, I was in a consciousness in which the separate individuality no longer existed, but the principle... (how should I Put it?) the particular principle of each individual persisted in the universal Consciousness. And then everything became so marvelous!... It lasted maybe for an hour, a little more or a little less, I don’t know, but anyway long enough to... (Mother smiles), I mean, to lounge in it. There was no more, NO MORE separation, that had disappeared, but a certain... (how to explain?), almost like an outlook; each individual’s outlook (not just the outlook, but at the same time the stand in action – “stand,” that is, the part of the action initiated by that outlook), that persisted. It persisted in the One – no separation. And then, each thing has its own place with the whole marvelously effective. At the same time... I can’t say, words are impotent. At the time of the experience, I remembered a sentence of Sri Aurobindo in which he said that in the end, the Lord is only a child at play (you know it, he put it in a certain way), and I understood WHY he used those words, it was... it was something... which our language obviously can’t formulate, but to LIVE in that, to live that is... you understand, it’s the impression of so, so perfect an omnipotence, so harmonious, and at the same time, yes, so harmonious that it’s all smiling. It’s inexpressible. Inexpressible. I had the experience, then it went away It got mixed up with the daily work.

And I remember... It’s interesting because while I was in that state, I remembered the question you’d asked me about Pavitra, whether the principle of individuality persists; so something in me said to you, “Now you see, it’s like this!” (Mother laughs) I remembered your question, I said, “It’s like this, there is NO MORE separation, but... but this marvel of complexity remains – the marvel of a complexity.” And the impression is that everything, but everything that is has its own place, but when it’s in its place, then it’s perfectly harmonious.

Oh, it was... it was a real revelation.

I think all those experiences are part of the consciousness of the supermind, the superman (what name will he give himself? We don’t know).

It was this morning, after my night with Sri Aurobindo, and it was there (Mother points to her bathroom). I was doing something else, but it doesn’t matter in the least – the marvelous thing is that those experiences don’t demand that all the rest should stand still! They come, you can go on doing something, and at the same time you see yourself doing it, it’s quite funny... It was this morning (not long ago). I had a beginning of it yesterday, then the night’s experience, and then this morning...

Well, that’s worth living.

The impression is, “Yes, this is life! This is something.” All the rest is... All the rest, even the body, constantly feels as if it’s knocking against obstacles: lack of understanding, unresponsive things. It constantly feels it’s knocking about like that, and then, there you are this (vast, all-encompassing gesture).

Well, a being who lives constantly in that state... And I saw, I told you, I saw: the body was doing something else, that’s no hindrance – no hindrance. You see, I was even able to remember something you had said. All of it together.

Maybe that’s how the superman will be?...

He will have a power to change life.

30. August 1969 – Auroville

Auroville wants to be the cradle of the superman. Auroville, the free international township. No army, no police… They are replaced by a battalion of guards, consisting of athletes and gymnasts.