AGENDA

November 1961


05. November 1961 – Richard: The Lord of Falsehood

(Mother would prefer Satprem not to mention Paul Richard by name in his book on Sri Aurobindo.)

I have done my best, all these years, to try to keep him at a distance. He has a power – a terrible asuric power. Between you and me, I saw him like that from the start – that’s why I became involved with him. I never intended to marry him (his family affairs made it necessary), but when we met, I recognized him as an incarnation of the ‘Lord of Falsehood’ – that is his ‘origin’ (what he called the ‘Lord of Nations’); and in fact, this being has directed the whole course of world events during the last few centuries. As for Théon, he was....

It was not by choice that I met all the four Asuras – it was a decision of the Supreme. The first one, whom religions call Satan, the Asura of Consciousness, was converted and is still at work. The second [the Asura of Suffering] annulled himself in the Supreme. The third was the Lord of Death (that was Théon). And the fourth, the Master of the world, was the Lord of Falsehood; Richard was an emanation, a vibhuti, as they say in India, of this Asura.

Théon was the vibhuti of the Lord of Death.

It’s a wonderful story, a real novel, which will perhaps be told one day... when there are no more Asuras. Then it can be told.

Anyway, it was because of Théon that I first found the ‘Mantra of Life,’ the mantra that gives life, and he wanted me to give it to him, he wanted to possess it – it was something formidable! It was the mantra that gives life (it can make anyone at all come back into life, but that’s only a small part of its power). And it was shut away in a particular place, sealed up, with my name in Sanskrit on it. I didn’t know Sanskrit at that time, but he did, and when he led me to that place, I told him what I saw: ‘There’s a sort of design, it must be Sanskrit.’ (I could recognize the characters as Sanskrit). He told me to reproduce what I was seeing, and I did so. It was my name, Mirra, written in Sanskrit – the mantra was for me and I alone could open it. ‘Open it and tell me what’s there,’ he said.

(All this was going on while I was in a cataleptic trance.) Then immediately something in me KNEW, and I answered, ‘No,’ and did not read it.

I found it again when I was with Sri Aurobindo and I gave it to Sri Aurobindo. But that’s yet another story....

(silence)

As soon as you enter the occult world, it’s fantastic what can exist and be lived there – but that’s for later, when the time comes to speak of such things.

At any rate, you understand that I’m not very keen on having Richard introduced into the book – the simple fact of mentioning him attracts him.

(Richard died in the United States in 1967, then made a vain attempt to reincarnate in Auroville. Thus the danger of ‘attracting him,’ at least under this form, seems remote.)

He was a pastor at Lille, in France, for perhaps ten years; he was quite a practicing Christian, but he dropped it all as soon as he began to study occultism. He had first specialized in theological philosophy in order to pass the pastoral examinations, studying all the modern philosophy of Europe (he had a rather remarkable metaphysical brain). Then I met him in connection with Théon and the Cosmic Review, and I led him into occult knowledge. Afterwards, there were all sorts of uninteresting stories.... He became a lawyer during the early period of our relationship and I learned Law along with him – I could even have passed the exam! Then the divorce stories began: he divorced his wife; they had three children and he wanted to keep them, but to do so he had to be legally married, so he asked me to marry him – and I said yes. I have always been totally indifferent to these things. Anyway, when I met him I knew who he was and I decided to convert him – the whole story revolves around that.

As a matter of fact, the books he wrote (especially the first one, The Living Ether) were based on my knowledge; he put my knowledge into French – and beautiful French, I must say! I would tell him my experiences and he would write them down. Later he wrote The Gods (it was incomplete, one-sided). Then he became a lawyer and entered politics (he was a first-class orator and fired his audiences with enthusiasm) and was sent to Pondicherry to help a certain candidate who couldn’t manage his election campaign single-handed. And since Richard was interested in occultism and spirituality, he took this opportunity to seek a ‘Master,’ a yogi. When he arrived, instead of involving himself in politics, the first thing he did was announce, ‘I am seeking a yogi.’ Someone said to him, ‘You’re incredibly lucky! The yogi has just arrived.’ It was Sri Aurobindo, who was told, ‘There’s a Frenchman asking to see you....’ Sri Aurobindo wasn’t particularly pleased but he found the coincidence rather interesting and received him. This was in 1910.

When Richard had finished his work, he returned to France with a poor photograph of Sri Aurobindo and a completely superficial impression of him, yet with the feeling that Sri Aurobindo KNEW (he hadn’t at all understood the man that Sri Aurobindo was, he hadn’t felt the presence of an Avatar, but he had sensed that he had knowledge). Moreover, I think he always held this opinion, because he used to say that Sri Aurobindo was a unique intellectual giant... without many spiritual realizations! (The same type of stupidity as Romain Rolland’s.) Well, my relationship with Richard was on an occult plane, you see, and it’s difficult to touch upon. What happened was far more exciting than any novel imaginable.

But he was a man who....

He isn’t dead and he’s still terribly dangerous because of what’s behind him [the Lord of Falsehood].

You didn’t record that, did you?

Yes.

Ah, no! It must all be erased. Simply put a note in your book: ‘Paul Richard, who met Sri Aurobindo for the first time in 1910....’ And you can mention that he was a theological writer or something of the sort to explain how he prompted Sri Aurobindo to write.

When he returned, he told me he would take me there as soon as he could.

The Arya began in June 1914, and the first issue was scheduled to come out on August 15, Sri Aurobindo’s birthday; and the war broke out before the first issue appeared – on August 3, I believe – a very interesting point. June 21 was Paul Richard’s birthday, so on that day we announced the coming publication of the Arya and that the first issue would appear on August 15. Between June 21 and August 15, the war broke out. But since everything was ready we went ahead and published it.

I wrote in my book that Paul Richard intended to bring out simultaneously in Paris a ‘Review of the Great Synthesis.’ Is this true?

No, it’s not true! This was never intended, never! The Arya was bilingual, one part in French and one in English, but it was one and the same magazine published here in Pondicherry. There was never any question of publishing anything in France; this is incorrect, entirely false – a myth. Besides, it was I who translated the English into French, and rather poorly at that!

I have noticed that as soon as one speaks of Richard one is unwittingly led to tell lies. That’s why I am so terribly careful to avoid the subject.

The first issue began with The Wherefore of the Worlds (the English following the French), and in it Richard attributed the origin of the world to Desire. They were in perpetual disagreement on this subject, Richard saying, ‘It is Desire,’ and Sri Aurobindo, ‘The initial force of the Manifestation is Joy.’ Then Richard would say, ‘God DESIRED to know Himself,’ and Sri Aurobindo, ‘No, God had the joy of knowing Himself.’ And it went on and on like that!

When Richard went to Japan, he sent his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo, including The Wherefore of the Worlds and The Eternal Wisdom, and Sri Aurobindo continued to translate them into English.

Frankly, it was a relief for Sri Aurobindo when we left; he even wrote to someone or other (but in a totally superficial way) that Richard’s departure was a great relief for him.

When we returned to France, Richard got himself declared unfit for military service on health grounds – a yogic heart ailment! But life in France was impossible; and my presence there was dangerous because monstrous things were going on, monstrous; as Sri Aurobindo said, my sitting at home all alone was generating revolutions – armies were revolting.

(Mother is alluding to the following aphorism (120) of Sri Aurobindo: ‘If when thou sittest alone, still and voiceless on the mountain-top, thou canst perceive the revolutions thou art conducting, then hast thou the divine vision and art freed from appearances.’ This aphorism (119) is completed by another: ‘If when thou art doing great actions and moving giant results, thou canst perceive that THOU art doing nothing, then know that God has removed His seal on thy eyelids.’ (Cent. Ed., Vol. XVII, p. 92))

I saw that happening and I didn’t want the Germans to win, which would have been even worse, so I said, ‘I had better go.’ Then Richard managed to have himself sent to Japan on business (an admirable feat!), representing certain companies. People didn’t want to travel because it was dangerous – you risked being sunk to the bottom of the sea; so they were pleased when we offered and sent us to Japan.

Once there (this would also make a great novel), Richard continued writing and sending his manuscripts to Sri Aurobindo. Finally, when the Peace Treaty was signed and it was possible to travel, the English said that if we tried to return to India they would throw us in jail! But it all worked out miraculously, almost becoming a ‘diplomatic incident’: the Japanese government decided that if we were put in prison they would protest to the British government! (What a story – I could write novels!)

In short, Richard returned here with me. And that’s when the tragi-comedy began....

I will tell you about it one day – fantastic!

It was certainly Sri Aurobindo’s power that made Richard decide to leave. For twelve years I had been Richard’s ‘guru’ (that’s where our relationship stood), but I hadn’t succeeded in converting him, and when we came back here I said, ‘I’m through with it. I’ve tried and I’ve failed. I’ve failed completely. Ask Sri Aurobindo.’ When Sri Aurobindo took him in hand, that was another story.... He couldn’t take it – he left.

But the whole affair was diabolic, you know; it had turned into something fantastic.

Finally he left.

This man clearly led a rather loose life. Right after he left here he spent some time in the Himalayas and became a Sannyasi. Then he went to France and from France to England. In England he married again – bigamy! I didn’t care, of course (the less he showed up in my life, the better), but he was in a fix! One day I suddenly received some official letters from a lawyer telling me I had ‘initiated divorce proceedings against Richard.’ it seems I had a lawyer over there! A lawyer I had never asked for, whose name I didn’t know, a lawyer I didn’t even know existed – ‘my lawyer’! The trial was taking place at Nice, and ‘I’ was accusing Richard of abandoning me without any means of support! (That was nothing new – I had paid all the expenses from the first day we met! But anyway....) Naturally, he couldn’t plead that he was a bigamist; nor could he have me accuse him of being a bigamist, because it was true! So it seemed he hadn’t been paying my expenses; but then I wasn’t claiming anything from him in the case, no alimony – a little incoherent, all that.... After a few months I was finally informed that I was divorced, which was rather convenient for me as far as the bank was concerned. I had a marriage contract stipulating that our properties were separate; since I was the one with the money (he had nothing), I wanted to be free to do with it as I pleased. But the French were impossible in such matters: the woman was considered the minor party, so even if the money was the wife’s and not the husband’s, she couldn’t withdraw it without his authorization. I don’t know if it’s still like that, but in those days the husband always had to countersign – an annoying situation! I got around this in Japan (the banker there found the rule stupid and told me to ignore it), but the bank here can be a pain in the neck, so it was good to get this cleared up.

He remarried two or three more times. By now (I believe) he is the father of quite a large family, with grandchildren and perhaps great-grandchildren. He lives in America. Someone once told me he was dead, but I could sense that he wasn’t. Then, out of the blue, E. arrived, full of admiration, telling me she had met Richard and how stunningly he could preach to people....

He had quite a life, you know!

I don’t like to talk about these things, though – they don’t interest me. As Sri Aurobindo said, I lived my whole life absolutely free. I watched myself living through events like watching a movie. I had an inner vision, an inner will, and my inner reason for doing things was an Order received, an Order I was conscious of; but outwardly – fantastic!... Naturally – how else could it have been?

Here in Pondicherry, those last days might have become tragic (but of course it was impossible). There was the great argument (for he was perfectly aware of who I was): ‘But after all,’ he would tell me, ‘since you are the eternal Mother, why have you chosen Aurobindo as Avatar? Choose me! You must choose me – me!’ It was the Asura speaking through him. I would smile and not discuss it. ‘That’s not how it’s done!’ I would tell him (laughing). Then one day he said, ‘Ah, so you don’t want to.... (gesture to the throat) Well, if you don’t choose me, then....’ He was a strong fellow with powerful hands. I kept quite calm and said inwardly, My Lord, my Lord.... I called Sri Aurobindo and I saw him come, like that (gesture enveloping Mother and immobilizing everything). Then Richard’s hands loosened their grip.

There were marks on my neck.

A few days later, it was the same scene again. It was always the same scene.... Then he would take the furniture (it wasn’t ours, we had rented a furnished apartment) and start throwing it out the window into the courtyard!

A novel....

(silence)

And you understand, it wasn’t the struggle of a man against a god, but the struggle of a god against a god. And when he was like that, he clearly had a formidable, formidable Power! He forced everybody to obey him – but it was Falsehood. And he preached an ascetic spirituality, you can’t imagine! He was incredibly convincing, but he couldn’t see a petticoat without.... Boys, girls, nothing got by him!

Fantastic.

He wrote ‘The Lord of Nations’.... And I saw him, oh! I saw this Lord of Nations. During the last war [World War II] I had some dealings with him again, but not through Richard – directly. The being who used to appear to Hitler was the Lord of Nations. An incredible story!... And I knew when they were going to meet (because after all, he’s my son! That was the funniest part of it); and on one occasion I substituted myself for him, became Hitler’s god and advised him to attack Russia. Two days later he attacked Russia. But upon leaving the ‘meeting’ I encountered the other one [the real Asura] just as he was arriving! He was furious and asked me why I had done that. ‘It’s none of your business,’ I said, ‘it’s what had to be done.’ ‘You will see,’ he replied, ‘I KNOW, I know you will destroy me, but before being destroyed I will wreak just as much havoc as I can, you can be sure of that.’

When I returned from my nocturnal promenades I would tell Sri Aurobindo about them.

What a life!... People don’t know what goes on. They know nothing – nothing. But it’s fantastic.

Occasionally some people were slightly conscious. For instance, during the last war I spent all my nights hovering above Paris (not integrally, but a part of myself) so that nothing would happen to the city. Later it came out that several people had seen what seemed to be a great white Force with an indistinct form hovering above Paris so that it wouldn’t be destroyed.

Throughout the war Sri Aurobindo and I were in such a CONSTANT tension that it completely interrupted the yoga. And that is why the war started in the first place – to stop the Work. At that time there was an extraordinary descent of the Supermind; it was coming like that (massive gesture), a descent! Exactly in ‘39. Then the war broke out and stopped everything cold. For had we personally continued [the work of transformation] we were not sure of having enough time to finish it before ‘the other one’ crushed the earth to a pulp, setting the whole Affair back... centuries. The FIRST thing to be done was stop the action of the Lord of Nations.

05. – 06. November 1961 – Veda and Supramental Vision

Because in the Veda it’s incomplete.

No, they had a hint, like a vision of the ‘thing,’ but there is no proof that they realized it. What’s more, had they realized it, it seems to me that we would certainly have found some traces – but no traces remain.

Théon knew something about it, and he called it ‘the new world’ or ‘the new creation on earth and the glorified body’ (I don’t remember his exact terminology); but he knew of the Supermind’s existence – it had been revealed to him and he announced its coming. He said it would be reached THROUGH the discovery of the God within. And for him, as I told you the other day, this meant a greater density – which seems to be a correct experience. Well, on my side, I have made investigations and had innumerable visions concerning the earth’s history, and I spoke about it a good deal with Sri Aurobindo....

(silence)

According to what Sri Aurobindo saw and what I saw as well, the Rishis had the contact, the experience – how to put it?... A kind of lived knowledge of the thing, coming like a promise, saying, ‘THAT is what will be.’ But it’s not permanent. There’s a big difference between their experience and the DESCENT – what Sri Aurobindo calls ‘the descent of the Supermind’: something that comes and establishes itself.

Even when I had that experience [the ‘first supramental manifestation’ of February 29, 1956], when the Lord said, ‘The time has come,’ well, it was not a complete descent; it was the descent of the Consciousness, the Light, and a part, an aspect of the Power. It was immediately absorbed and swallowed up by the world of Inconscience, and from that moment on it began to work in the atmosphere. But it was not THE thing that comes and gets permanently established; when that happens, we won’t need to speak of it – it will be obvious!

Although the experience of ‘56 was one more forward step, it’s not.... It’s not final. And what the Rishis had was a sort of promise – an INDIVIDUAL experience.

But reading Sri Aurobindo, I seemed to understand the opposite: that FIRST he rose up, and then made the Light redescend to open the passage, and that the pressure of the Light from above is what opens the doors below, in Matter.

It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the Inconscient as well.

When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low.

But GENERALLY it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature.

There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did), they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of inconscience and obscurity.

07. November 1961 – Mother on the Rishis’ experiences in the Veda

My impression from the Veda is not the same as yours. You say that when they reached the heights they went into trance and then tried the other method. When I read the Veda... at least what Sri Aurobindo translates for us, because otherwise I have no direct knowledge....

But they say nothing about this.

I know my own experience and I can speak of it in detail; and according to what Sri Aurobindo told me, it was the same for him – although he NEVER wrote of it anywhere. But since it has been my experience, I naturally feel that it’s the simplest method.

There is also what Théon and Madame Théon used to say. They never spoke of ‘Supermind,’ but they said the same thing as the Vedas, that the world of Truth must incarnate on earth and create a new world. They even picked up the old phrase from the Gospels, ‘new heavens and a new earth,’ which is the same thing the Vedas speak of. Madame Théon had this experience and she gave me the indication (she didn’t actually teach me) of how it was to be done. She would go out of her body and become conscious in the vital world (there were many intermediary states, too, if one cared to explore them). After the vital came the mental: you consciously went out of the vital body, you left it behind (you could see it) and you entered the mental world. Then you left the mental body and entered into.... They used different words, another classification (I don’t remember it), but even so, the experience was identical. And like that, she successively left twelve different bodies, one after another. She was extremely ‘developed,’ you see – individualized, organized. She could leave one body and enter the consciousness of the next plane, fully experience the surroundings and all that was there, describe it... and so on, twelve times.

I learned to do the same thing, and with great dexterity; I could halt on any plane, do what I had to do there, move around freely, see, observe, and then speak about what I had seen. And my last stage, which Théon called ‘pathétisme,’ a very barbaric but very expressive word, bordered on the Formless – he sometimes used the Jewish terminology, calling the Supreme ‘The Formless.’ (From this last stage one passed to the Formless – there was no further body to leave behind, one was beyond all possible forms, even all thought-forms.) In this domain [the last stage before the Formless] one experienced total unity – unity in something that was the essence of Love; Love was a manifestation more... ‘dense,’ he would always say (there were all sorts of different ‘densities’); and Love was a denser expression of That, the sense of perfect Unity – perfect unity, identity – with no longer any forms corresponding to those of the lower worlds. It was a Light!... An almost immaculate white light, yet with something of a golden-rose in it (words are crude). This Light and this Experience were truly wonderful, inexpressible in words.

Well, one time I was there (Théon used to warn against going beyond this domain, because he said you wouldn’t come back), but there I was, wanting to pass over to the other side, when – in a quite unexpected and astounding way – I found myself in the presence of the ‘principle,’ a principle of the human form. It didn’t resemble man as we are used to seeing him, but it was an upright form, standing just on the border between the world of forms and the Formless, like a kind of standard. At that time nobody had ever spoken to me about it and Madame Théon had never seen it – no one had ever seen or said anything. But I felt I was on the verge of discovering a secret.

Afterwards, when I met Sri Aurobindo and talked to him about it, he told me, ‘It is surely the prototype of the supramental form.’ I saw it several times again, later on, and this proved to be true.

But naturally, you understand, once the border has been crossed, there is no more ‘ascent’ and ‘descent’; you have the feeling of rising up only at the very start, while leaving the terrestrial consciousness and emerging into the higher mind. But once you have gone beyond that, there’s no notion of rising; there’s a sense, instead, of a sort of inner transformation.

And from there I would redescend, re-entering my bodies one after another – there is a real feeling of re-entry; it actually produces friction.

When one is on that highest height, the body is in a cataleptic state.

I think I made this experiment in 1904, so when I arrived here it was all a work accomplished and a well-known domain; and when the question of finding the Supermind came up, I had only to resume an experience I was used to – I had learned to repeat it at will, through successive exteriorizations. It was a voluntary process.

When I returned from Japan and we began to work together, Sri Aurobindo had already brought the supramental light into the mental world and was trying to transform the Mind. ‘It’s strange,’ he said to me, ‘it’s an endless work! Nothing seems to get done – everything is done and then constantly has to be done all over again.’ Then I gave him my personal impression, which went back to the old days with Théon: ‘It will be like that until we touch bottom.’ So instead of continuing to work in the Mind, both of us (I was the one who went through the experience... how to put it?... practically, objectively; he experienced it only in his consciousness, not in the body – but my body has always participated), both of us descended almost immediately (it was done in a day or two) from the Mind into the Vital, and so on quite rapidly, leaving the Mind as it was, fully in the light but not permanently transformed.

Then a strange thing happened. When we were in the Vital, my body suddenly became young again, as it had been when I was eighteen years old!... There was a young man named Pearson, a disciple of Tagore, who had lived with me in Japan for four years; he returned to India, and when he came to see me in Pondicherry, he was stupefied. ‘What has happened to you!’ he exclaimed. He hardly recognized me. During that same period (it didn’t last very long, only a few months), I received some old photographs from France and Sri Aurobindo saw one of me at the age of eighteen. ‘There!’ he said, ‘That’s how you are now!’ I wore my hair differently, but otherwise I was eighteen all over again.

This lasted for a few months. Then we descended into the Physical – and all the trouble began. But we didn’t stay in the Physical, we descended into the Subconscient and from the Subconscient to the Inconscient. That was how we worked. And it was only when I descended into the Inconscient that I found the Divine Presence – there, in the midst of Darkness.

It wasn’t the first time; when I was working with Théon at Tlemcen (the second time I was there), I descended into the total, unindividualized – that is, general – Inconscient (it was the time he wanted me to find the Mantra of Life). And there I suddenly found myself in front of something like a vault or a grotto (of course, it was only something ‘like’ that), and when it opened, I saw a Being of iridescent light reclining with his head on his hand, fast asleep. All the light around him was iridescent. When I told Théon what I was seeing, he said it was ‘the immanent God in the depths of the Inconscient,’ who through his radiations was slowly waking the Inconscient to Consciousness.

But then a rather remarkable phenomenon occurred: when I looked at him, he woke up and opened his eyes, expressing the beginning of conscious, wakeful action.

I have experienced the descent into the Inconscient many times (you remember, once you were there the day it happened – it had to do with divine Love); this experience of descending to the very bottom of the Inconscient and finding there the Divine Consciousness, the Divine Presence, under one form or another. It has happened quite frequently.

But I can’t say that my process is to descend there first, as you write. Rather, this can be the process only when you are ALREADY conscious and identified; then YOU DRAW DOWN the Force (as Sri Aurobindo says, ‘one makes it descend’) in order to transform. Then, with this action of transformation, one pushes [the Force into the depths, like a drill]. The Rishis’ description of what happens next is absolutely true: a formidable battle at each step. And it would seem impossible to wage that battle without having first experienced the junction above.

That is MY experience – I don’t say there can’t be others. I don’t know.

One can realize the Divine in the Inconscient rather quickly (in fact, I think it can happen just as soon as one has found the Divine within). But does this give the power to TRANSFORM DIRECTLY? Does the direct junction between the supreme Consciousness and the Inconscient (because that is the experience) give the power to transform the Inconscient just like that, without any intermediary? I don’t think so. I simply haven’t had that experience. Could all these things I’ve been describing be happening now if I didn’t have all those experiences behind me? I don’t know, I can’t say.

One thing is certain – as soon as one goes beyond the terrestrial atmosphere, beyond the higher mind’s ‘highest’ region, the sensation of ‘high’ and ‘low’ totally vanishes. There are no longer movements of ascent and descent, but (Mother turns her hand over) something like inner reversals.

I think the problem arises only when you try to see and understand with the mental consciousness, even with the higher mind.

I am telling you this because, as soon as I got your letter, I replied with what I’ll read to you now; then I was immediately faced with something I couldn’t formulate, the kind of thing that gives you the feeling of the unknown (all I knew was my own experience). So I did the usual thing – became ‘blank,’ turned towards the Truth; and I questioned Sri Aurobindo – and beyond – asking, if there were something to be known, that it be told to me. Then I dropped it, I paid no more attention. And only as I was coming here today was I told – I can’t really use the word ‘told,’ but anyway, what was communicated to me concerning your question was that the difference between the two processes [the Rishis’ and the present one] is purely subjective, depending upon the way the experience is registered. I don’t know if I can make myself clear.... There is ‘something’ which is the experience and which will be the Realization; and what appears to be a different, if not opposite, process is simply a subjective mental notation of one SINGLE experience. Do you follow?

That’s what I was told.

Now I’m going to read you my reply – it’s the first reaction (when something comes, I stay immobile; then an initial reaction comes from above my head, but it’s only like the first answering chord, and if I remain attentive, other things follow; what I have just told you is what followed). My immediate written response is based upon my own experience as well as upon what Madame Théon told me and what Sri Aurobindo told me. (Mother reads:)

‘It is by rising to the summit of consciousness through a progressive ascent...’ (that’s what I meant just now by ‘leaving the body,’ but without going into details), ‘that one unites with the Supermind. But as soon as the union is achieved, one knows and one sees that the Supermind exists in the heart of the Inconscient as well. When one is in that state, there is neither high nor low. But GENERALLY,’ (I emphasized this to make it clear that I am not making an absolute assertion) ‘it is by REDESCENDING through the levels of the being with a supramentalized consciousness that one can accomplish the permanent transformation of physical nature.’ (This can be experienced in all sorts of ways, but what WE want and what Sri Aurobindo spoke of is a change that will never be revoked, that will persist, that will be as durable as the present terrestrial conditions. That is why I put ‘permanent.’) ‘There is no proof that the Rishis used another method, although, to effect this transformation (if they ever did) they must necessarily have fought their way through the powers of inconscience and obscurity.’

Yes, the Rishis give an absolutely living description of what you experience – and experience continually – as soon as you descend into the Subconscient: all these battles with the beings who conceal the Light and so on. I experienced these things continually at Tlemcen and again with Sri Aurobindo when we were doing the Work – it’s raging quite merrily even now!

As soon as you go down there, that’s what happens – you have to fight against all that is unwilling to change, all that dominates the world and does not want to change.

Ignore the spelling mistakes!

Now, if there’s something else you want to ask me, perhaps it will come....

(silence)

After reading your letter, I had a very strong feeling that you put the problem like that because you were considering it from a mental plane, which is the only plane where it exists; if you go beyond, there are no more oppositions or problems. These things are subtle, you know, and as soon as you try to formulate them, they elude you – formulation deforms.

What I mean is that it’s not necessarily in trance, in another world, that one gets the supramental consciousness....

No.

It’s something the Rishis realized with eyes wide open, in day to-day life, if I understand rightly.

I don’t know how they did it....

But I myself have never had it in trance, and neither did Sri Aurobindo – neither of us ever had trances! I mean the kind of trance where contact with the body is lost. That’s what he always said, and one of the first things I told him when we met was, ‘Well, everybody talks about trance and samadhi and all those things, but I have never had them! I have never lost consciousness.’ ‘Ah,’ he replied, ‘it’s exactly the same for me!’

It depends upon the level of development, that’s what Théon used to say: ‘One goes into trance only when certain links are missing.’ He saw people as made up of innumerable small ‘bridges,’ with intermediary zones. ‘If you have an intermediary zone that is undeveloped,’ he said, ‘a zone where you are not conscious because it’s not individualized, then you will be in trance when you cross it.’ Trance is the sign of non-individualization – the consciousness is not awake and so your body goes into trance. But if your consciousness is wide awake you can sit, keeping full contact with things, and have the total experience. I could go out of my body with no need of trance, except when Théon wanted me to do a particular work. That was a different business – the vital force (not the consciousness, the vital force) had to go out for that work, so the body had to go into trance. But even then.... For instance, very often when I am ‘called’ and go to do something in response, my body does become still, but it’s not in trance; I can be sitting and, even in the middle of a gesture, suddenly become immobile for a few seconds. But I was doing another type of work with Théon – dangerous work, at that – and it would last for an hour. Then all the body’s vital energy would go out, all of it, as it does when you die (in fact, that’s how I came to experience death).

But it isn’t necessary to have all those experiences, not at all – Sri Aurobindo never did. (Théon didn’t have experiences, either; he had only the knowledge – he made use of Madame Théon’s experiences.) Sri Aurobindo told me he had never really entered the unconsciousness of samadhi – for him, these domains were conscious; he would sit on his bed or in his armchair and have all the experiences.

Naturally, it’s preferable to be in a comfortable position (it’s a question of security). If you venture to do these kinds of things standing up, for instance, as I have seen them done, it’s dangerous. But if one is quietly stretched out, there is no need for trance.

Besides, according to what I’ve been told (not physically), I believe that the Rishis practiced going into trance. But I suppose they wanted to achieve what Sri Aurobindo speaks of: a PHYSICAL transformation of the physical body permitting one to LIVE this consciousness instead of the ordinary consciousness. Did they ever do it?... I don’t know. The Veda simply recounts what the forefathers have done. But who are these forefathers?

But surely this supramental consciousness is something to be found in the body?

When one has these experiences, like the ones I’ve had in the subtle physical, for example, the body is certainly in trance – but the part having the experience doesn’t AT ALL feel deprived or lacking in anything. The experience comes with a fullness of life, consciousness, independence, individuality. It’s not like going out in trance to accomplish a work and feeling linked to the body – it’s not that: the body no longer exists nor has any reason to! It’s simply not there. And it’s a nuisance to go back into it – ‘what is this useless burden!’ you wonder. As a result, if this experience becomes permanent, you live in a world that’s just as concrete, just as real and just as TANGIBLE as our physical world, with the same qualities of duration, permanence and stability.

It’s very difficult to express, because as soon as we notice it....

While having this experience, you are free (as I said, the body no longer exists, it has even no reason to exist, and you don’t think of it), and you have just as concrete an OBJECTIVE functioning – even more so! It is more concrete because you have a MUCH CLEARER and more tangible perception of knowledge than ordinary physical perception; our ordinary way of understanding always seems so hazy in comparison. It’s not the same phenomenon as going off into trance and being linked to the body, depending upon it for expression, and so forth.

But a certain work [of adaptation] is required to express this experience, and the first impression upon returning is that there’s no way to do it. It simply doesn’t correspond to anything.

16. November 1961 – Mother in trance

In the middle of my walk, I go into trance, something that has never happened to me before! I find myself standing, immobilized, entirely surrounded by white light, in total silence, with absolutely nothing in my head – nothing.

Standing up in that state is rather dangerous, so I lie down on my bed. And it continues – I hear nothing, see nothing but this white light. No more thought, not one idea in my head, nothing at all, to such an extent that if anyone enters noiselessly, I don’t know it. But I do feel the pressure of someone watching me; I can sense it, so I open my eyes and there is actually someone there.

But work, mon petit.... I can’t work. I can’t remember even the simplest things I am supposed to remember! I wanted to tell you when my free days were, but I no longer recall them.

Yet it produces an extraordinarily keen perception of what is behind things. For instance, I’ve just seen the [school] children;

I’m more or less familiar with them all, and I can see – not with images – their inner natures much more clearly than usual. The inner perception, the perception of what people are feeling and thinking, is very acute, so much so that I see thoughts and feelings more that I see physical appearances.

But work – not a stroke. Ah, yes, I am translating “The Synthesis of Yoga” and it seems much easier. I go slower, a certain tension has disappeared, and the meaning is far clearer than usual. In other words, I’m interiorized – there you have it.

But it’s deplorable from an external viewpoint! Unread letters are piling up; I don’t reply to people, I forget everything – I don’t even try to remember. From an external point of view, I’m pretty worthless.

It will last just as long as it lasts.

And of course, as always, there’s an accumulation of people, of visitors asking to see me.... There is always this external contradiction.