October 1967

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04. October 1967 – A story of healing hands

Power to heal?... I saw in Planète the story of a man born in 1905, who for thirty-five years has been healing people by the laying on of hands! His father was Italian, his mother Spanish, and he was born in France, he is French. For thirty-five years he has been practicing the laying on of hands; he has treated five million people — five million. Out of them two-thirds were cured, and he has been taken to court countless times... by doctors, naturally: he had no right to heal people because he wasn't under oath!... At one of the hearings (I'll tell you the beginning of the story after — the beginning at the end!), maybe one of the last hearings, suddenly his lawyer arrived very ill, with an attack of sciatica that prevented him from moving one leg, he was in acute pain. The judge, thinking himself very clever, told him, "Well, why don't you cure your lawyer to begin with?" The man got up, laid his hands on his lawyer, and five minutes later the lawyer was cured: "Oh, but I am cured!" (Mother laughs) He was convicted just the same. Wonderful. Anyhow, when he was quite small, that is, five or six, he had stolen a fish from his father who had gone fishing, and the fish couldn't be found. Fifteen days later, his parents found the fish among his things, with his toys... absolutely dry and perfectly intact! Then the father tried an experiment to see: they had a fishbowl with goldfish; he took out two goldfish and gave one to his son, putting it in the hollow of his son's hand — the fish started drying up. As for the second fish, a few hours later it was rotten. Then they mentioned it to doctors (they were living in Toulouse, that was a little later, when he was twelve or thirteen). One doctor had in his hospital a patient whose wound he had been trying to heal for weeks and weeks in vain: it was horrible, purulent. The doctor called the child, who laid on his hands — twenty four hours later, the wound was healed.

And this man (I saw his photo, he has a magnificent head) says, "I live in God's presence." That's what he says, and I don't think he makes any fuss — besides he doesn't have the time because he goes to bed after midnight and gets up at five every day, starts work at five-thirty and spends the whole day working, that is, seeing people and people and more people (when that was read out to me, I thought, "And I complain!"). It's admirable. He did some studies, but he isn't a philosopher, he doesn't have any theories: he seems to have been born like that, with healing hands. He probably gets rid of infections by dehydrating them, so he cures all the diseases of that nature. And they did (poor man, they must have made his life impossible!), they did encephalograms, cardiograms and so on, and they noticed that just when he lays his hands (for a few seconds, two or three minutes at the most), at that moment his heartbeats suddenly go up from sixty to eighty, then fall back to normal. And he doesn't seem to be making any fuss, unlike that German I told you about — nothing at all, very simple, very nice.

I liked that story.

A beautiful head, a tall man, very strong, who eats very little. And he has only two or three hours' sleep each night, dreamless (that I can understand!).

Interesting.

Sometimes people went to him only once, and he got worried, wondering why the person hadn't come again — "Yes, I was cured!" Then, trial upon trial, and an official of the tax department who, incognito, was present at some of his treatment sessions, said he had never asked for money, not once. And out of... (I don't know, while the official was there, I think a little over two hundred people were treated), out of two hundred, sixty gave something. So the tax department was forced to acknowledge that he wasn't contravening the law.

All the same, he was convicted.

It's rather lovely: you have no right to heal unless you're under oath!...

04. October 1967 – A critical hostile voice; sudden death

There is a text I find very interesting, I had never read it. I already told you about that:

"There is always this critical hostile voice in everybody's nature, questioning, reasoning, denying the experience itself, suggesting doubt of oneself and doubt of the Divine. One has to recognise it as the voice of the Adversary trying to prevent the progress and refuse credence to it altogether."

Sri Aurobindo

It interested me greatly, because I noticed it was in the PHYSICAL consciousness, and very widespread, and one had to constantly, constantly fight against it — in oneself, in others, everywhere. It's like that, "underneath," as you said. So I find it interesting to tell.

There was the case of C. He had learned to go out of his body, he knew how to do it: he would go about and see things; he would see, note things, and come back into his body. Then, when he was operated on, the doctors didn't take the necessary precautions and the heart couldn't withstand the shock of the operation: five days later, it was over. But he was in the habit of going out, so he went out and came to me (that's how I knew it before they came to tell me he was "dead" because he came to me). But he wasn't at all aware of being dead: he had gone out of his body as he used to, and he came to me, he was with me. So then, it was quite fine, he remained at peace. Then, at a certain point... (he died in hospital, and naturally, at that time nobody listened to me: they burned him much too soon — it would have been too soon anyway, because in his case, precisely because he had that practice, much precaution and time would have been required; but it was all rushed through), then all of a sudden, when they burned him (I didn't even know the time of the cremation), he suddenly came into my room, you know, terrified... terrified, crying, miserable: "But I am dead! I didn't know I was dead, but I am dead and they've burned me, they've burned me!..." Oh ... it was horrible, horrible. So I calmed him down, told him to stay there, be calm, be with me, and that I would find him another body. And for a long, long time I had him consciously near me. Then I taught him to reincarnate — it was all done in detail. So I know...

07. October 1967 – About religion and sin

Sri Aurobindo once said (jokingly, as it were), while talking with those around him (I was there and we were talking about Christianity and the "new Christ"), he told them, "Oh, if the new Christ comes, the Church will crucify him!"

Sri Aurobindo always used to say, "I don't want people to do the same thing with what I have said...."

One must always go farther.

And he continues to tell me new things, it's very interesting.... This morning again, for a long time, it was as if everything established were swept away: "Ah, no! A little farther, a little higher, a little truer...."

What do these people call "sin," to begin with? What is sin?... When I am told about sin, I answer, "You know, sin is not being Divine."

So the whole world is in sin.

To them, to Catholics, sin is that miserable affair of sex. Yet they do bless marriage! They bless marriage, and when you are married by the Church, it's for eternity! If you go to hell, you go to hell together; and if you go to heaven, you go to heaven together — but you can never separate! (Mother laughs) Word for word, I am not making anything up.

11. October 1967 – Durga

(Soon afterwards, concerning the "Durga puja" or festival and ceremony to the Universal Mother, which had taken place this same morning.)

This morning I had a visit from Durga. She pays me a visit every year, but this morning it was interesting because she explained to me her point of view, how she feels existence, and at the same time.... You know that she came last year, I told you the story. (Previously, when I used to go downstairs to give darshan, she would not only come but stay there for the whole time.) But when she came last year I told her, "Very good, it's very good, you fulfil your universal function very well, but you are missing something...." And I explained to her what it means to be in conscious and attentive contact with the Supreme Will and she understood. She understood and adhered, she said yes. And during the year she must have tried, because when she returned this morning, there was really a difference, especially a difference in the understanding, and she explained it to me. Then I spoke to her about the physical human nature and its infirmity, and she told me, "There is in this body something we — all of us up above — do not have and cannot have: the possibility of a constant Presence and of a constant contact with the Divine." She had never thought of it before! It is since last year And she said it with such intensity — such intensity and understanding and meaning.... It was as though all human miseries immediately disappeared in front of this EXTRAORDINARY thing — that one could feel the divine Presence in each cell.

It was really interesting. The morning was really interesting.

She stayed here while I was bathing, and she told me, "See, you can do all this, and not for a minute, not for a second do you lose the contact with That, with the supreme wonder. And we who are full of power, and of... without any of your petty miseries, any of your petty difficulties, we are so used to our way of being that we don't see the value of it, it's something obvious, almost inevitable." And she said (Mother smiles), "We never think of the Divine, because we ARE the Divine.... So there isn't that will to progress, that thirst for ever better, ever more — we totally lack it."

It was really interesting. I am putting it into words (of course, she didn't speak to me in French!), but it was very simple, the contact was very simple (gesture of inner exchange), and very natural, very spontaneous. At one point I even asked her (laughing), "Do you enjoy all this worship people give you?" She said no. "No, I don't care." She is too used to it, she doesn't care.

(long silence)

But the gods have a divine ego. That's what was really interesting this morning.... They feel they exist in themselves, by themselves, for themselves (Mother clenches her fist). Only, of course, there's no comparison with the sordidness of the human ego.

But that's what was so interesting this morning.... Once these divine egos have abdicated, and depending on the extent of that abdication, it will mean an EXTRAORDINARY transformation in the creation. It was like a vision being worked out slowly (Mother closes her eyes), almost with images, as if you saw the entire earth (gesture like a hall) and the image of Durga (gesture enveloping the earth), and the two together, it was quite lovely.

The earth in her arms...

(silence, with eyes closed)

And in those visions (let's take this one, for instance), Durga has a visible, defined form, while this body (Mother's) isn't there because this body belongs here, on earth; so it's a radiating centre of white light that can take a form (but doesn't have a form), a radiance of light, a vibration of light, of consciousness — of conscious light. And that's very interesting.... (Mother remains with her eyes closed) It was as if to see how this — this consciousness, this light — can manifest in feasible forms on earth without losing something of the purity and radiance of the consciousness....

(Mother goes into a long contemplation)

There was there (gesture between Mother and the disciple), like that, one of those kinds of lamp stands, like the ones they make with snakes, you know — but it was high, this high (gesture about one metre fifty centimetres). It was in copper, with inlays, designs in it, and at the top was a ball that contained all the lights, as if each snake's head was a light — it was magnificent! Really magnificent. And it was burning. There were "Power" flowers (red hibiscus) forming garlands around the base. And then, someone said, "Isn't this more beautiful than material reality?..."

And that was the artistic construction — mental, artistic — which was "more beautiful than reality." That's it, the guiding idea of the person in question. That's it you see; "Isn't this more beautiful than real nature?" There.

It was very beautiful, a beautiful thing, but... it's the mental fossilization of the Thing. It was very interesting — unexpected, I didn't expect to see that: a shape of a coiled snake, in bronze, with bronze inlays, but magnificently wrought! And the burning lamps, the burning light... superior to reality: "Isn't this superior?"

And the symbol of it was so clear to me that I was astounded.

It is, so to speak, the acme of mental evolution.

(silence)

The Lord makes use of everything, and He has no fear. He makes use of everything.

It's interesting, very interesting.

How He has used the gods, how He uses everything, how He has used the Adversaries... everything.... It's all ways of being, and everything leads... where we must go.

14. Oct 1967 – Durga’s victory; Auroville; before the Divine Power

All of a sudden, yesterday afternoon towards evening (around six, or a little before), there came a sort of atmosphere of... (what should I call it?) a kind of discouraged pessimism in which everything had become lacklustre, grey, dissatisfied. When you see things from above, in a certain atmosphere of totality, each thing plays its part and collaborates in a general manifestation, but there, it was like something shut in itself, with no reason to be except that it was. It had neither aim, nor motive nor reason to be, neither was it a special circumstance or a particular event: it was a kind of self-enclosed formation, a state of being which was obviously morbid, but not violent, nothing violent.... Yes, in which each and everything was without reason or aim, without any satisfaction — neither oneself nor others, nor things. And I was DELIBERATELY shut in it, in order to feel it. The consciousness wondered, "Why? What does it mean? Why is it like this?" And at the same time (you know that yesterday was the day of "Durga's Victory" for those who worship Durga), so I asked myself, "Why does she choose to shut me in this state just on the day of victory? What does it mean? What does it mean?..." It was indeed like a factual demonstration of the perfect uselessness of that way of being, which had no reason to be, which could be turned to anything, any time, without reason and without motive. It was like the symbol of disgruntled uselessness. But it went on.... I looked and looked at it, trying to find the slightest clue to the cause of that state: what, when, who, how?... And the curious thing is that it's very, very foreign to my nature, because even when I was in real trouble, I never wasted my time being like that. And it went on, as things go on when I have to study them, understand them, and do what needs to be done. Then, at a certain point I said to myself, "Oh, perhaps this is what Durga intends to conquer this year?" And at the same time I remembered (like that, far away on the fringes of the consciousness), I remembered the time when Sri Aurobindo was there; every year, on the "Victory day," I would tell him, "Well, this is what Durga has done this year," and he would corroborate it. I would say, "This is what Durga has conquered, this is what Durga..." Every year, over a long time. And so that memory was there, far away in the light, as if to tell me, "See, do you remember that?" And I said to myself, "Well, this may be what Durga wants to conquer?" Then I thought, "But what's to be conquered in this? It's silly!" It's a silly state. (Lots of people are in that state, I know, but it's absolutely silly, it has neither reason nor cause nor aim, it's like something that comes in without one knowing how or why.) It went on for a good while (I don't remember exactly how long). Then, when I had seen clearly, understood clearly what it was, I asked Durga, "Is this what you want to do?..." And it was suddenly as if... a very strange thing, as if it evaporated before my eyes, pfft!... It went like this (gesture of bursting), and then... I tried and tried — the memory of it and everything had completely vanished! In one second it had completely gone.

While it was there, it was... yes, as if something without any truth in itself, something that didn't rest on any truth. A morose, dissatisfied, grumpy state, and it was grey, grey, grey, lacklustre, looking at everything from the angle of uselessness and stupidity. Then there was a sort of bursting: all of a sudden, poff! like that, and it was all over. And now it's a sort of vague memory which I can hardly recapture, which no longer exists.

When it came, I said (laughing), "What a victory!" Then came the memory, the vision of Sri Aurobindo's time, and the impression, "Well, is this" (Durga was there, watching), "is this what you want to vanquish?" She didn't answer me, she smiled. And a few minutes later, poff! (same gesture of bursting), like that, I don't know how to explain it. But it was strange, I had never seen that before.... The other times, when Sri Aurobindo was there, whenever she overcame something, the impression was of a power surrounding a falsehood (gesture as if to pull out a tuft of grass), surrounding it like that, forcibly isolating it, paralyzing it and taking all support away from it; but this time... it was an odd phenomenon. Something totally nonexistent, without any truth in it. And all that way of being was as if hanging over the earth, in contact with certain people, but as if wrapped inside a bag: you understand, it had no contact with the rest, but once you were inside it, impossible to get out! You were shut in, it was impossible. Then it burst all at once: "Ah!..." And nothing was left.

It was interesting in that it was the first time I was the witness to such a thing. And really it was as if I tried to feel, to touch it — I tried, but there was nothing left! It was oppressive, you know: you tried to get out of it, but it was impossible — you were shut in, a slave, powerless.

So now I hope it will have repercussions.

A little later, regarding Auroville:

Requests for admission to Auroville have been pouring in at a frightening pace these last few days — every day a stack as big as this — and naturally, everyone must send his photo along with his request and say why he wants to be in Auroville, what his skills are, and to which category he belongs: there is the category of those who want to work to build Auroville, and the category of those who want to come and sit peacefully there once it's ready. And what a humanity!... In fact, all those who come are generally the malcontents. Now and then, one of them has a light in his eyes and a need for something he hasn't found (then it's very good). There are those that weren't successful in anything and are completely disgusted, so they wonder if they might not be successful there. Then there are the old ones who have worked hard and want to rest. There are very few young people — the few young people are all people of worth (the ordinary youth aren't interested). And the few youth I have seen are those who want to work: they don't want to come and take advantage of others' work, they want to work. So we'll soon have a rather interesting team. But (laughing) with the well-fed old ones, I... postpone decision, put under observation (Mother laughs). Yesterday, there were a number of them like that. We'll see: if they want to be useful, that is, give money or things, or propose to do something, then we'll see; but those such as the well-fed gentleman, or the well-established fat lady who want to come and spend the rest of their lives in peace, to them we say, "Wait a bit, we'll see!"

The workers aren't asked anything, that is, they don't have to pay: they can come and work, on condition that they prove they are useful. But those who want a piece of land or a house to live in have to pay. And then, some have limited confidence (laughing) and say, "I'll give you a little money right now and I will pay the rest little by little, in installments" — those I generally turn down. Some are so eager to come that they send money in advance, and when there's some life or something in them, I accept them. But to nearly all, except two or three, I say, "Under observation" — we'll see how they react!

(Soon afterwards, regarding a photo of Mother at the Playground in 1954, surrounded by children and disciples.)

That was when I declared that I wanted to be Indian, to have dual nationality.... The government of India told me it was a "memorable day in India's history...." I wasn't aware of it!

(Mother studies the photo) It's amusing. When I look back at all those things, I have a very acute sensation of looking at my childhood, it all seems to me so childish!... Still in the illusion of the world.

And since how many years?... Since something like 1915, I felt — constantly felt — I was acting on the Command: the Command from above. The personal impulsion had disappeared. Since as long as that, 1915, and in that condition, there has been a whole evolution and transformation. And now, when I look back, not only all I used to do, but the way of looking at things, especially the way of looking at things... [seems childish to me]. The reaction was already like this (wide-open, even gesture), because great care had been taken to correct any ignorant reaction; the reaction was already very much like this (same wide open gesture), but it was VOLUNTARILY so, not spontaneously so. That's the great difference. You understand, that sort of universal equality like this (same gesture) was voluntary, it was the effect of a constant vigilance and a constant will. Now also the vigilance is constant, but it's replaced by the vigilance and will to be constantly like this (Mother turns the two palms of her hands upward, like a bowl and forming an upside-down triangle at the level of her forehead), all the time like this inwardly, turned inward, as though each cell were turned inward, towards its centre of light — that's how it is. And there is still a vigilance not to forget, not to flag — all the cells turned inward towards That. So all that outward play, oh, how childish it all looks! And now I do things that are far more childish, lots of little things that are, to the ordinary human outlook, totally useless and quite childish — but all that isn't the same thing... it's ... (a vast, supple, slow gesture) like the waves and rhythm of a divine Harmony expressing itself.

I might put it like this: at the time of this declaration (of 1954), I was still taking things seriously. At the time of the "classes," when I spoke, I was taking all those things seriously.

Now it's not indifference, it's... I don't know, words can't express it, because "detachment" wouldn't be correct. I don't know, there are no words.

There is certainly a kind of perception that mankind has given gravity, importance, and... It's obviously the mental structure, all that the mind has added in the world: first, differences in value, differences in importance, then a kind of solemnity, and, yes, gravity, an importance, a dignity.... All those things. All that is the mind's addition to life. And now it makes me smile.

Like peoples' need of a cult, the religious feeling, that sort of awe (what's the word in French?... Fear, terror?) before the divine Power — all of that is what the mind has brought into life — now it makes me smile.

When people come and see me with that sort of graveness, when they come like that, I instantly feel like bursting into laughter! So I laugh, I smile, I welcome them like old friends! (Mother laughs)

19. October 1967 – Times of extremes and conflicts

Too many, too many people are in the mind: mental difficulties mental difficulties.... You can't get through (impenetrable gesture) it doesn't go through, it doesn't touch. It's an endless process. And that's what makes those... bang! those battles, wars, conflicts necessary.

You know, an ardent faith, a psychic aspiration, a fervour, a self-giving, instead of being forever turned in on oneself, turned in on oneself.... A self-giving, that's what is needed to save the world!

(silence)

Mental faith isn't enough, psychic fervour is necessary — self-giving, self-abnegation.

The body itself is learning that every time it thinks of itself, there's a small catastrophe — not "catastrophe," but I mean on the body's scale: a cellular catastrophe every time there is even a slight turning in on itself. It must forget itself completely, forget itself, and most importantly, it must not try to find support, comfort, understanding, help or anything of the sort (horizontal gesture all around) — only there (gesture with palms open upward and the two hands forming a kind of upside down triangle): the only support is the Divine. The only support. The only help, the only responsibility. All the rest.... There isn't one thing coming from or towards a human being that isn't mixed; and the moment it's mixed, it means conflict.

This is a time of extremes, even extremes in the downright material. Did I tell you both the other day that I had received the first flower of a plant which visibly was supramental power — a flower like this (gesture), a hibiscus? And yesterday there was the first flower of another plant, also a hibiscus, this big, snow-white, with such a colour at the centre! An indefinable colour, it can't be described.... It's golden pink, but so beautiful that you wonder how such colours can be physical. A flower this big (gesture, about fifteen centimetres), the first flower was yesterday. And that was VISIBLY (it expressed itself, you know) the Victory of Love, the Power of Love.... It's as if all this physical Nature were, oh, like this (gesture of intense aspiration), trying — she tries, and there is a Response. They are blessed not to have a mind.

It was beautiful. It doesn't keep, otherwise I would have kept it to show it to you. How beautiful it was! Like this (same gesture of ardent aspiration): a thirst, a thirst for the Divine, a thirst for the Divine. All those mental ratiocinations and mental complications, it all goes round and round in circles. Yes, it does bring about what's now happening: a sordid conflict, really sordid, between Falsehood and Truth.

And the government is rotten. People whose tactics and principle of action are falsehood: to deceive and deceive and deceive. And naturally, to deceive themselves.

You know that these are the Puja days: there were Durga's days, and there will soon be Kali's day. So then, all the Powers are like this (gesture ready to strike), at the slightest hint they would charge down. And one is obliged to hold them (immobilizing gesture), to take great care not to have the least indignation, otherwise...

And the supreme Consciousness above, looks on, and so... That's the supreme Smile.

I told you about the meeting with Durga. Kali is there, waiting. And naturally, it's the great power — the great power, a power... you understand, they are stronger, more powerful than this teeming humanity, so if you let them loose... As for me, I want Love to be victorious RIGHT NOW — she will have the victory, she will, but... not after so much wastage.

(silence)

We have reached a paroxysm, because the impression is really that mind is triumphing over Matter, and it is convinced of it. Convinced — we go everywhere of our own sweet will, we know all that goes on everywhere... and we don't even know what goes on inside ourselves.

21. October 1967 – There is no death

In reality, to put it practically (but it's not any longer the thing), what people call "death" is when the instrument of expression — the instrument of connection with the milieu, and of expression — has deteriorated to the point where it can no longer be used, and so there comes a moment when the consciousness... abandons it. Probably for all sorts of reasons (there must be different reasons in each case), but the consciousness abandons it because it can no longer be used.

But yesterday it came well; now it's nothing. It was lived. Lived, and so clear, so concrete, so obvious, it was, "But men know nothing, nothing, nothing at all!..." Only now it sounds like a platitude.

(silence)

The vision was so clear (not vision: lived, the experience), it was so clear that it contained in itself the purpose of the creation. You could see the work of the consciousness to permeate the inconscient and make it progressively more capable of manifesting the consciousness (gesture like a flower rising out of the earth), with increasing complications, but the complications are the result of the inability of the inconscient — of inconscient matter — which adds one device to another in the hope of reconstructing the supreme Possibility. Then, through all those complications, and as the substance becomes increasingly permeated with consciousness, the need for "devices" will diminish, and we will be able to return to the higher Simplicity.

But all that was lived, seen — seen, and so clear!

(silence)

And in each "life," as men call it — that is to say, the utilisation of a portion of matter organized in what we call a body — how that utilisation aims at the greatest possibility of manifestation (reception and manifestation) of the consciousness.

Naturally, this can be done because even in the inconscient, at its very bottom, there is consciousness; but that's philosophy. Yesterday, it was the perfectly concrete and material experience of it all.

And individualization is part of the process, it's a necessity of the process, because it permits a more minute and direct action.

And when Matter will be supple enough to be transformed under the action of the consciousness — a CONSTANT transformation — then this need to abandon there something that has become useless, or is in impossible conditions, will no longer exist. That is how it may happen, at least for the requirements of the transformation, to have at will a continuity, of existence for a form which was transitional.

But yesterday, the impression was that it [death] is now only an old habit, no longer a necessity. It's only because... First of all, because the body is still unconscious enough to (how should I put it?), not to "desire," because that's not the word, but to feel the need of total rest, that is, inertia. When that is abolished, there is no disorganization that cannot be mended, or in any case (the field of accidents hasn't been studied, but in the normal course of things), no wear and tear, no deterioration, no disharmony that cannot be mended by the action of the consciousness.

It's only this residue (a considerable one), this residue of inconscient that asks for rest (gesture of dissolution). What it calls rest is the state of inertia, that is to say, the refusal to manifest the consciousness. It's only that.

There is also that FORMIDABLE collective suggestion... weighing down. That suggestion of ageing... ageing, wearing out and death ("death," anyway what they call death, which isn't dying — what does "dying" mean? Annulment does not exist, nothing is annulled), but anyway, giving up the form because the form refuses to be transformed (that's nearly what it is) and isn't receptive, it accepts a progressive deterioration because of the formidable weight of the collective suggestion — the habit of millennia: "It's always been like that, that's that." The great argument. Which isn't true, besides.

But there is such idiocy in this body. For instance, there is at each moment (each second or minute), at each moment there is the choice between the continuation of the old habit or progress towards consciousness. It's constantly like that. And through... (what can I call it?) sloppiness (what is it?... It's not bad will because it's idiotic; it's more idiotic than bad will), there is a spontaneous tendency to choose deterioration rather than the effort of progress, and it's only when there is something like a slightly awakened consciousness that says, "You silly fool! You've gone through many more difficulties than the little difficulty of making an effort of progress," then that has some weight — not always.

There is a sort of passive knowledge (not that the body doesn't know how it is, it knows how it is — it's sloppiness), but when it knows and makes the effort, it is always, every time, expressed as lights, yes, like vibratory waves, and those of progress are the ones which have all the colours, that stippling of all the colours: a light made of a stippling of all the colours. Those are the lights that choose the immediate little effort to reject the sloppiness.... But they are not important events: it's something going on each minute, for everything, all the time, all the time, all the time — for everything.

It must be a phase. I don't know how long that phase will last, but it must be a phase because it's obviously a transitional state. And then, when there is that inner aspiration, oh!... I have seen the cells, I've seen them saying like this, "Oh, will there be a possibility to be You effortlessly?" Then there comes such a marvellous Response! For a few seconds it's... (blissful gesture), then the old routine starts up again.

But the great difficulty is mental observation: the observing mind (not a personal mind: an observing Mind), and that makes things much more difficult. If one can keep the mind busy, it's easier. Because the mind is something extremely hard, dry, positive, phew! and logical, reasonable — it's dreadful. Dreadful. And yet, to put things at their best, the general waves are full (especially now, in our time) full of doubt — such a foul and obstinate doubt! They treat all this as fantastic imagination.

You are led to tell the mind, "I'd rather be mistaken this way than be mistaken in your way."

(silence)

Then, in the psychological makeup, there are all those old things that come from human atavism: you must be reasonable, prudent, perspicacious... you must take precautions, be provident, oh!... The whole fabric of ordinary human equilibrium. It's so sordid. And it's like that, the whole mentalization of the cells is like that, full of that, and not only in your own way of being, according to your own experience, but in the way of being of your parents, grandparents, the people around, and... oh!

25. October 1967 – World Union and Auroville

But you know I see more and more how horrible the mind's action in life is. Of course, in the long run, at the end of the curve, the mind will bring a precision and accuracy that didn't exist without it, but men come to regard that precision and accuracy as the truth, and that has spoilt everything. When it becomes nothing more than an INSTRUMENT of manifestation, it will be very useful. But for the moment it's still... I am beginning to see in small details how its action is to add something to the manifestation, but in its daily labour it's horrible.

And people flood me with questions more and more — a flood, at the rate of twenty-five, thirty, forty letters a day, and on top of it all, not even two are worthwhile; even those are from beginners trying to find the way, so you can give them a little push, like that. Otherwise I take great care to keep the mind quiet.

"Because men still imagine that in order to do anything useful, they must gather together in groups. It is the caricature of organization."

It will do, won't it?

World Union!... They really did imagine they were going to make humanity progress!... But when I tell people that the creation of a city like Auroville has more weight in the earth's history than all the groups in the world, they don't believe me. They don't believe me, to them it's totally unimportant, a fancy.

Once I asked Sri Aurobindo (because we had talked about Auroville a great deal, there were lots of difficulties), I asked him (because it was an idea I had — not an "idea" but a need that expressed itself some thirty years ago — more than thirty, almost forty years ago), so I asked him, and he answered me this (I think I told you): "It is the best chance men have to avoid a general conflict." There.

So, since he told me that, I have been working very seriously. Of course, it wasn't "said," it was SEEN.

Only, I see quite clearly that they don't believe in it, there is no one who feels. So does it...? And the concrete materialization of the spirit of Auroville hasn't taken place yet, it doesn't exist, there isn't in the earth atmosphere a formation of the "spirit of Auroville," which is a spirit.... (Mother remains absorbed for a long time) At bottom it is: "The art of building unity out of complexity." Without uniformity, you understand: unity through harmony in complexity, with each thing in its place....

It's very difficult.

When R. (Auroville's architect) was here last time, he said to me, "When are we going to create Auroville's atmosphere? Everyone is quarrelling!" (Mother laughs) I said, "Yes, that's the difficulty...." And it's continuing. But anyway, there is a Pressure from above, like that, a Pressure. We shall see.

It's still a symbol.

Each little group thinks it is a symbol — that too is a symbol.

And as the formation descends in order to manifest, all oppositions rise up, contradictions rise up, complications come, and within you can clearly see that they don't understand. So I spend my time telling them, "Don't try to organize, don't try, you are going to fossilize the whole thing before it's begun."

For my part, I wanted it to grow like that, spontaneously, with the full play of the unexpected. But then, you are confronted with all the rules and regulations: we are in a country [India] — we should do it on a desert island! But that no longer exists on earth, there isn't an island left that doesn't belong to a nation — we are caught, bogged down.

Anyway, we'll muddle along as best we can.

It's an attempt, that's all.

But what Sri Aurobindo meant was that the movement, the general movement was towards a catastrophe, and this was to divert the current of force.

But I have wondered whether the Tower of Babel, insofar as the story is true, wasn't a similar attempt, an attempt to harmonize men?... It's presented to us the other way round, but I have wondered if it wasn't that.

We'll see.

Now there is integrally, even for the most material consciousness, the body consciousness, this: to leave the entire responsibility to the Lord — what He wants will be, and that's all. When He wants us to do something, we do it, but after all... We do it simply because He tells us to do it. And what will happen will happen. Then, if you want to know, you put yourself in the attitude of the Witness and look on. And that's very amusing! As soon as you are in the attitude of the Witness, it becomes very interesting — very interesting — and you smile.

That's how it is.

The body too has learned to be like that for the smallest things. Then it's fine.

30. October 1967 – Symbols of the Yoga

As you know, it's always the symbol of the yoga, the discipline one follows, and everyone has his own form of transport(!) For some it's a plane; for others, a train; again others... But most often it's a ship, especially this great, classic sailing ship. And for you, it's very clearly the symbol of your advance towards realization.

The ship is the development, the means of advance towards that realization. It all came like that.